Page 7 of James

James watched his submissive, admiring the light, loving energy that filled her when she talked about her family.

Wait, what? His?

He needed to explore this possessive feeling later, but he had to focus on this conversation first. There was something about the way she mentioned her father that set off his Dom-radar. He also stored that awareness away for later examination. What he’d learned about her so far, he liked a great deal. Not only was she attractive with an appealing submissiveness, she was also compassionate and completely loyal to her loved ones. The way her brain kept kicking in and the way she had reacted verbally, he was confident she was an intelligent woman, which would be a relief after his experiences with his ex-wife, who was gorgeous but shallow and self-absorbed.

He could have listened to Laura’s voice all night, but she was clearly uncomfortable talking about herself for too long. He let her change the subject to him, hoping that would make her more willing to talk later.

For now, he smiled and said, “Thank you for sharing. I’m divorced, too. Cindy and I were high school sweethearts and we had amazing chemistry at the time, but –” He shrugged. “— I grew up and she didn’t. We split about five years ago. The separation was mutual and fairly amicable. I think you could still call us friends. She’s been remarried for about a year now. Seems like a nice guy, even if he does take his steaks well-done.”

“You still keep in touch?” she asked and when he nodded, went on in an over-casual tone, “For the kids?”

“Ha! No, no kids. I’ve had a couple of brief relationships since then, but nothing serious.” He paused and pulled her higher on his lap, and then continued, “I don’t have any living relatives. My parents died in a caraccident when I was ten, and I was raised by my grandfather. He was the one who taught me about restoration and renovation – the need to respect old things and buildings. He had this cool chair in the library of the house. It was high-backed, like a throne. It was oak, stained dark. When I was fourteen or fifteen and roughhousing with some friends of mine, we accidentally broke one of the arms off. I thought my grandfather was going to be furious, but no. He was really patient and taught me how to repair it. That’s what got me into carpentry, woodworking, and eventually my own company. Now I work in construction with my best friend. We renovate older buildings and remodel a lot of bathrooms and kitchens. You know, modernizing without losing the history, or the style.” He caught her much smaller hand in his and ran his thumb over the soft skin. “What do you do for a living?”

Laura laughed. “I guess you’d call me a geek. I’m a software engineer. I design and program applications for an international company.”

James chuckled, “A geek, huh? I don’t see you wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary and those who don’t.’”

Laura started laughing as well, “Okay, I guess you’ve got me there. I don’t own many T-shirts, but a lot of people at work do wear them. My favorite is, ‘Most Computer Issues are Caused by a Faulty Connection Between the Chair and the Keyboard.’ So, I’m not a geek, just a woman doing geeky things.”

James turned his arm so he could glance at his watch, which showed it was already past 11 pm. The storm was still thrashing around the building. There was no way they could leave safely. “How about this? Let’s try to getcomfortable and wait out the storm in here, maybe get some rest. We’ll see how things stand in the morning.”

As if on cue she smothered a yawn and nodded sleepily, “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Together, they busied themselves to create a makeshift bed out of musty old clothes. “Can you believe what people leave behind in a laundromat?” she asked, holding up a comforter.

“Pity it’s a single, not a double.” James laughed, holding up two different socks: “I was afraid we’d have to make a mattress out of these. God knows there are enough.”

Laura couldn’t agree more. It was astonishing how many single socks there were in here. With smiles on their faces, they lay down and made themselves comfortable for the night.

CHAPTER FIVE

When James awoke, he took a few moments to get his bearings. It was dark, much darker than his bedroom ever got, with no sign of any of the soft glows of modern conveniences. The streetlamp outside his curtained window, the phone charger, the smoke detector — all absent. He appeared to have fallen out of bed onto a discarded blanket that provided a very thin cushion between him and the hard floor, and then pulled…something down with him to snuggle. He was not a weighted body pillow kind of guy, so he couldn’t begin to guess what it could be, except that it was soft and heavy and very warm, not merely absorbing his own heat but radiating heat of its own. This discomfort was amplified by the fact that his air conditioner wasn’t working, and he’d been basting in his own sweat all night, and the night wasn’t even over. Why was it so dark?

Then memories of the previous day rushed back, and all these things sort of made sense again, especially the soft, warm weight lying against him.

Laura was still sleeping with her head on his shoulder,and where their skin touched, they were stuck together.

Interesting. During the night they had cuddled together, even in the stuffy heat. He wondered what time it was, but his watch was on the arm pinned underneath Laura. There were no windows to the small room, but the silence told him the storm was past. Maybe they could leave the building and get better acquainted in a nicer environment.

James touched her cheek in the dark, traced the contours of her face, then kissed her temple and nuzzled her hair. “Honey, it’s time to wake up.”

She shifted, her sleeping half-embrace tightening as she roused, then relaxing again. “Hi,” she murmured.

Why did it have to be so dark?He could imagine her sleepy smile, the morning flush pink in her cheeks, her hair splayed messily over both of them, but imagination was all he had. However, she wasn’t recoiling or panicking in his arms, and that felt pretty good too.

She stirred and slowly sat up. “What time is it?” she asked sleepily.

James gave his watch a pinch and tipped his arm so she could see the glowing face for herself: 7:04.

“Did we sleep all night?” she gasped and then cocked her head to the side. “Wait, I don’t hear the wind anymore.”

He nodded. “I think we can explore a bit and find out if it’s safe to leave.” He got to his feet, using the glow of his watch to locate the flashlight. Once that was on, he held out his hand to her, and felt a bloom of satisfaction when she took it. James helped her up and pulled her flush against him for a hug and a deep drugging kiss. “Good morning,” he whispered against her lips.

Before she could berate him, he pulled her to the barricaded door. Together they made swift work of the shelves blocking it and they stepped through the door into the laundromat’s back room. It didn’t look too bad at first glance. Some of the little windows had broken, letting the rain in, and the restroom door had beaten a hole into the wall where the wind had been blowing it open all night, but that was all.

But when James opened the back door, even before he had processed the flattened landfill that used to be a small strip mall, he heard a sizzling sound. Dropping his gaze, he stared in horror at the high voltage electric cable wriggling on the ground in front of him like a king cobra. He froze until he felt Laura behind him, trying to squeeze through the doorway and see for herself.

“Don’t move.” James stepped back, blocking the doorway with his arm to prevent her taking his place, and pointed at the cable.

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