"LOOK! LOOK! It's going! It's going!"
'Going' might have been the wrong word. The bowling ball was moving so slow that I was sure it was going to stop. It was also rolling dangerously close to the bumper. Jake leaned over, put his hands on his knees, and started to blow. Lauren giggled.
"He bowls just like you do," she whispered in my ear. Her arms slid around my waist.
"Hey now, you like it when I take it slow and blow," I said. I didn't look at her; I watched Jake give one more huge huff.
"I like it fast too," she reminded me. She nuzzled my neck. At the same moment, Jake's ball miracuously got to the pins. It nudged up against the head pin. The pin wavered uncertainly and fell, taking three more with it. The ball rolled out of sight. Jake hopped up and down.
"FOUW PINNIES! FOUW PINNIES!"
"YAY!" Lauren and I shouted. Lauren clapped and bounced up. The bumpers lowered themselves back down. Jake ran and took the empty seat beside me. He was grinning ear to ear. Sure, he only had twenty points compared to Lauren's 190 and my (well, we won't mention my score), but he was happy and that was what mattered most.
"Having fun?" I asked. He pulled on the laces of his bowling shoe and laughed. "Yeah-huh!"
I watched Lauren. She had perfect form. She was like a gazelle. I saw her lips pucker as her eyes studied the pins. Her body shifted in preparation. Then, as if it was choreographed, she twisted her frame, lifted her right leg and let the ball go.
"HER BALL GOES FAST!" Jake declared. He had been saying that all game. It seemed like only a split second before the ball made contact with the pins. The pins knew better than to fight Lauren Kitt; they quickly dropped in surrender. Above us, the screen showed a big X.
"Daddy's turn! Daddy's turn!"
Lauren pointed finger-pistols at me. I stuck my tongue out as we brushed against each other as she walked past. I grabbed my bowling ball (black with orange flames), and hoisted it up. I made a big show of polishing it with my sleeve.
"C'mon Carter!" Lauren yelled.
"C'mon CAWTAW!" Jake mimicked.
I looked at the pins. They had teased me with a spare, but I hadn't gotten a strike. I was getting tired of all my little slashy face guys in comparison to Lauren's X's. I took a deep breath.
I didn't really have a form. I was more of the chuck-and-pray type. I tossed the ball and closed my eyes.
It was better if I didn't watch.
I heard the ball tear down the lane; so far I hadn't heard the telltale thunk of a gutter. Jake was doing a little 'go, go, go!' chant behind me. I heard the ball connect. I opened my eyes.
I had gotten just the corner pin.
"Use my ball!" Jake said. "It works better!"
"He's got a point," Lauren said. She gave me a smirk.
I bit my tongue, but I picked up Jake's ball. It was as light as a feather. The finger holes were too small, but I managed to get my middle finger into the thumb hole for some kind of grip. I waited for the pins to reset.
My mission was clear. I had nine pins to go. I studied the arrows on the lane, shuffled to the right, and started at a run. I bent over, and let the ball go.
Unfortunately, my middle finger didn't want to leave the ball. My whole body fell forward. I slid halfway down the lane, screaming like a little girl.
"It's fine, I got ya."
My legs wobbled uncertainly. Kevin wasn't lying. His hands were placed securely on my waist. Of course, that in and of itself was a distraction. I let out a heavy breath; it caught the air and formed a huge white puff in front of my face.
The exercise Kevin had in mind hadn't been the sweatsock variety or the rolling-around-in-bed variety. It was the ice skating variety.
I couldn't remember the last time I had been ice skating. Wait, I take that back. I had been about nine. My tiny little sister had shown off for all of our friends doing nice fancy figure eights. I had fallen on my ass just trying to skate a straight line.
"Just push forward," he said. I moved my right leg. I tilted to the side.
"Woah," he said. He helped me get my balance. Then he didn't a jerky thing.
He let me go.
"Hey, wait!" I said. My hands flew helplessly at my sides. Kevin skated easily around me. He stopped in front of me and held out his hands. He smiled.
"Gimme your hands," he said. I looked at him uncertainly, but I put my mittened hands in his own leather gloved ones.
It was really hard to understand why a guy in such amazing 'should-be-a-sculpture' shape was so interested in me. He started to skate backwards, and I started following, completely leglocked.
"Your only problem is you need to relax," he said. I laughed.
"I can't relax," I said.
"Yes you can. Trust me. I used to be the most uptight person anyone had ever met. After awhile, you just gotta learn to live Shay. Otherwise all the good stuff's going to pass you by."
I looked at him. He seemed to have it all together. The man had been through a divorce, was forced to be away from his son for a whole month, and yet he found reason to be happy.
It started with a smile. Even though I felt like screaming for Jesus to save me, I fought down the fear. I pushed off with my left leg. I relaxed my back.
"There you go," Kevin encouraged. "Beautiful."
I don't know how 'beautiful' I was all bundled up, but the trip wasn't as horrific as I thought it was going to be. After getting used to the ice, I was able to keep myself going. Kev dropped one of my hands and we skated side-by-side. I looked around. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun's rays reflected off of the white snow piled up in happy little puffs around the rink. Little kids flew by with their pom pom hats and mittens hanging off of their coats so they didn't lose them. Somewhere a bird that hadn't flown south started to chirp.
"This is nice," I said softly. Kevin squeezed my hand. He let it go and I was disappointed. He was part of that nice. We had skated close to the outer edge of the rink. He stopped. I stopped.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing's wrong," he said. His cheeks were red. His arms wrapped around my waist. "It's just...I didn't come here just to ice skate with you."
I blinked in surprise. "Wha--"
He caught me in a kiss. Compared to the air around, his kiss was smouldering hot. My mittens grabbed onto the front lapels of his wool coat. Twenty minutes later, we were back in my hotel room. My mittens were the first thing to go. After all, how could a girl undo a guy's coat wearing mittens? Kevin unwound the scarf from my neck; his lips brushed against the skin. I pushed his coat off his broad shoulders. My head fell back as he kissed my throat.
His sweater was next. Even with his lips as a distraction, I couldn't resist seeing the man's body. His lips pulled away from my skin as he brought the gray sweater over his head. I'm pretty sure I let out a whine.
The man didn't have an ounce of fat on him. I didn't give a damn that he was almost forty; guys half his age didn't have the six pack he did. My hands reached for him greedily. Instead, Kevin ended up pushing me down on the bed. He stood between my legs his hands sliding up my shirt. I shivered; desire was written all over his face.
My sweater was off in no time. My bra came next. Kevin slid over me. His head lowered; his tongue licked hungrily in the V between my breasts. My hands ran along his back; they slid into the back of his jeans. When I wormed my way in the front, there was yet another amazing surprise waiting for me. Kevin's hot breath in my ear as he began describing all the things he wanted to do to me took my last drop of sanity. Lust took over. I know that those Harlequin romance books describe in great detail every little sexual nuance during the all-important love scene. In real life, if you have time to remember everything that happens, you're not getting the best sex of your life. The best sex of your life results in moments of sheer lapse of all thought.
As much as I enjoyed (big understatement) the sex, I was dreading the 'after' part. I had never gotten that far with Nick. Richard-friggin-Simmons had burst in and well...y'know. I feared the awkwardness. My tongue felt tied as I lay there, gasping for breath. I really needed to exercise more. If I got winded doing this...
"Shay," Kevin whispered. His lips pressed against my bare shoulder.
Crap. This was the moment. This was the embarassing part where he announced he was hungry and jumped up to get dressed while I tried to cover my belly and other fat-deposited areas asap.
"What do you feel like having?" I found myself asking. Chicken, Chinese, Mexican...
"Having?"
I turned and looked at him. His hand trailed down my side. He looked confused.
"Well, I, er," I stuttered. He shut me up with a kiss.
"That was amazing," he said. He slid his finger through one of my tangled curls from my now bed-head. "I feel like having the rest of the day to stay in bed with you. We'll order room service and waste as much time as possible before I leave," he said. I was stunned. But, the best was yet to come. He propped himself up on his elbow. He kissed me again.
"I love you."
