Thunder In Her Body (3 page)

Blaze’s frown softened to a tender smile, as though a window had opened to her psyche and he alone was permitted to climb in through that secret entrance.

“I’ve always wanted a cabin in the woods – even since childhood,” Lynette explained.  “When I decided to try to find a place up here, it was at about the time that this area got
discovered!
  There was an article in the Wall Street Journal back in 2009 or 10 about the last undiscovered mountain hideaway in the southern Rockies, and when that came out, I knew I’d better find something then, or I’d never be able to have anything up here, ever.”

“I remember that article,” Blaze admitted. “It caused quite a stir here.”

“Me too,” Aaron agreed.  “Things started hopping right after that.”

“I heard that people all over the country were contacting realtors, buying places on their recommendation, or at best, looking at properties on the internet and buying them based on the photos,” Blaze said.  “There were a number of lots and a good deal of acreage that almost immediately disappeared from the market,” he added, casting a knowing glance over at Aaron.

“My realtor took me to what we could call cabins.  I was thinking of a fixer upper that I might turn into my own special place -  put my own special touch on it, paint it red, or have log siding put on it…you know, have that little log cabin in the woods, where the glow of the sun turns the log walls inside a gleaming golden color,” Lynette shared.  “You know what I mean?”

“I do,” Blaze answered, with a clear knowledge of the picture she was painting.

“She told me that the price she had in mind wouldn’t even buy a ramshackled hovel by the time she made the decision to buy,” Clare offered.

“What did you finally do?” Blaze asked out of curiosity.

“I settled on a large two bedroom, two bath condo over in the high valley section.  It isn’t the cabin in the woods, but it has mountain views on all sides, it’s easy to get to when it’s snowing during the winter, and it was what I could afford.  Best of all, it came fully furnished, even with all the linens and stuff.  I got a deal!  You know sometimes, when you’re older, you come to realize that compromise becomes more and more important for sanity’s sake.  I’m not sad that I don’t have my cabin in the woods.  I accept the fact that the Universe may have provided me with better than what I wanted personally.  So I’m pretty content,” Lynette finally wound down.

“Are y’all ready to order?” the waitress asked kindly.  Lynette glanced up briefly to see what this woman must have in her mouth to form thick, slow words as she did.

“Lord, we’ve been so busy talking, we haven’t even looked at the menu,” Aaron apologized with a big, blustery laugh.  “Give us a few more minutes, L’il Lady,” he asked politely.

So the four very relaxed, but hungry people, perused the extensive menu.  The guys ordered huge steaks, Clare got the 10 ounce sirloin, and Lynette who had suggested they eat at the steakhouse, ordered the 12 ounce ribeye.  She wanted plenty meat.

The enormous, colorful salad bar came with the steak dinner.  Lynette slipped out of the booth and Blaze followed closely behind as they made the few steps to the brightly lit serving center.  He reached around her just as she leaned forward to pick up a large salad plate, and gently placed the plate in her hand.  In doing so, his chest pressed warmly against her left shoulder.  She wondered if it was just the close proximity, or if it was deliberate.  She turned to him, smiling, and in her fake, fun
Texas accent said “Why-y thank ya’ kind stranger.”

“Not for long,” he said quietly over her shoulder, the breath from his mouth blowing across her ear.  She didn’t turn around, but there was a rush of something warm that coursed all over her.  His advance was not sleazy or inappropriate; it simply felt like the move of a confident, fun-loving man who enjoyed teasing, and maybe pleasing, a woman he liked.  Aaron had not lied about his appetite.  He piled his plate six inches deep with salads of all types.  Clare was careful not to choose anything that would upset her sometimes delicate stomach.  More interested in the steak and country fries to come than much salad, Blaze watched to see what Lynette chose.  When she had a bit of difficulty reaching across for the big serving spoons, he anticipated her need, turning the handles so they almost fit into her hand.  She liked his attentiveness.  She looked back at him and smiled in a very appreciative way.

The steaks arrived noisily, brazier hot, with a small hot loaf of bread, double cups of sour cream, piles of potatoes and all the accoutrements.

“Tell us a little bit about you all,” Clare asked, as the men began to eat with relish.

“I’m a rancher and a semi-retired lawyer,” Aaron said putting a sizzling, juicy piece of pink steak into his mouth after he spoke.  Lynette laughed and shook her head.

“What’s funny?” Blaze asked.

“You wanna tell them what you do for a living,” Lynette smiled at Clare.

“Now don’t tell me you’re a lawyer, too,” Aaron half shouted.  “Where’d you go to law school?

“
University of Nebraska,” Clare replied.

“
University of Arizona,” Aaron responded.

“You still practicin’?” Aaron quickly inquired.

“Yes,” Clare said, “I’m with a State agency, and a part-time adjunct professor at the University of Texas.

“I’m winding my practice down to just about nothing now,” Aaron advised.  “Been in the business almost 27 years.  Done pretty well for myself, but I think I wanna finish out the rest of my life as a gentleman rancher,” he offered, with a sound of contentment in his voice.

Both Lynette and Clare did the math in their heads though neither looked up from her steak. 
Graduated from lawschool at about 24 - 27 years in practice – about 51 or 52 years old.
  Clare noticed that he looked younger than 50 despite the silvery white hair.  And, he was well taken care of.  No big belly.  Just a few small love handles.  Maybe it was the color of his hair that made his face look more weather-worn than it really was.  It really didn’t matter much.  He was a good looking man, obviously well-educated, didn’t seem to take himself too seriously, and he certainly was a gentleman.  Clare liked his manner and secretly wondered what he’d be like in bed.

“And you, Blaze,” Lynette asked, “what about you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Spent a little more than twenty years in the Navy,” he started.

Aaron interjected that Blaze had been a decorated Navy Seal.  Blaze shook off the obvious accolade as if it meant nothing out of the ordinary.

“Retired sometime back and moved back up here where I was born and raised.”  He paused to put a country fry in his mouth, chewed it well and then added, “I ranch up here also.  I’ve got some cattle, a few horses, a little bit of land, and I, too, love this mountain,” he said almost solemnly, connecting directly with Lynette.  “Got my degrees in Biology while in the service.  Sometimes I contract to help the forest service with surveys of wildlife, sometimes with the bugs and pests that threaten the forest.”

“My.  It seems like both of you have found your niche,” Lynette observed.  She wondered how they had come to know each other.  Maybe they became friends due to proximity.  This was a very small town which lay adjacent to an Indian reservation.  Maybe Blaze had gone to Aaron for some legal advice.  She was curious, but decided not to be too nosey.  Blaze reached across to the wooden cutting board, and sawed off a piece of the hot loaf of bread they shared. The softened butter turned into a yellow liquid as he spread it deliberately, and slowly.  There was a sensualness in the way he moved the knife across the bread.  He looked up at Lynette, searching her face, following her throat down to where her olive skin disappeared beneath her turquoise shell before he spoke.  His eyes penetrated her garment, her flesh, her bones, and went deep inside her.  She felt like he was seeing into her heart, watching each chamber begin to beat faster under his gaze.  He knew, that she knew, he was examining her, in some mysterious way, listening to the blood rushing through her arteries; tuning in to the rhythm of her heart, monitoring her controlled breathing.  She allowed it; she sat still, looking back at him.  She was both titillated and calmed by his attention.

              “And what about you?  You still with that fella you came here with some years ago?,” he asked, before he bit into the bread.  He never blinked.  He just looked through the portals of her eyes, into her mind.

“Oh, heavens no.  That’s been over for a long while,” she replied quickly, struggling to pull her eyes away from his.  Reaching for her glass of iced tea, she could hear Clare saying something to Aaron, but she was so connected to Blaze that Clare seemed a long way away.  “I’m divorced from my children’s father.  That guy, Robert, and I lived together for a couple of years. It just wasn’t destined to be a permanent relationship.  But, that’s another story,” she said, anxious not to get further into that part of her life.  She knew why he asked.  She was glad she could answer “No.”

“I’m a trainer and training consultant by profession now.  I retired from State government just last year.  I particularly like what I do and I conduct training sessions off and on throughout the year.  Some seasons are extremely busy.  At other times, I’m at my leisure.  I like having large blocks of time off and I love traveling.  I hope to spend a lot more time up here in Crystal Bend,” she said, and wondered if she needed to say that.  Was she trying to tell this beautiful man across from her something?  Sure she was.

Both Aaron and Blaze frowned, question marks written all over their faces.  Aaron put his fork down on his plate and looked hard at Lynette.

“You’re either an experiment from one of those labs over at Los Alamos, or you’ve found something in the waters at Jemez Springs that nobody else knows about.  There ain’t no way you’re old enough to be retired from anywhere.  Hell, I’m gonna be 52 my next birthday, and I’m trying as hard as I can to get there.  What’s your secret Li’l lady?” Aaron asked unabashedly.

“It’s called 25 years in cubicle hell
,”
Lynette responded jokingly, brushing bread crumbs off her breasts.  When we lived overseas I worked for the federal government while I was married. My husband was career military.   Combining the federal service and state service, I’ve done 25 years in harness so to speak,” Lynette added.  She could see the computers running in both men’s minds.

“Well somehow, right now, these nice gentlemen must think that my birth certificate was printed on papyrus, and Moses was the county clerk” she joked, a little chagrined.  “I’ll be 46 in June,” she admitted quietly.

Lynette was proud that the unhappiness in her life and the years didn’t show harshly on her face.  She had good genes; her mother was living proof of that, and with her racial mixture, she figured she’d gotten some of the best from all of her ancestors.  She often declared (among her confidants) that she’d come from the really deep end of the gene pool!  However, she was also aware that, at her age, she was at a tricky point in a woman’s life.  No longer the young, nubile, barely-touched flower, now she was a mature, self-actualized woman and was proud that still no petals had fallen off her yet!

“And while she was working like a dog, living all over the world with her husband, and raising two children, she completed her undergraduate degree  and now she’s got her Master’s,” Clare chimed in, obviously very proud of her best friend.

              “Some of the most beautiful things in this world are old and tested,” Blaze said in an almost sultry voice, his eyes boring again into Lynette’s.  “Look at
our mountain
.”  There was something very, very personal when he used the term
our
  - he’d even paused for an instant before he said
our
.

“Damn man, you didn’t just say that did you?” Aaron admonished as he turned sort of sideways in his seat to better face Blaze.  “Old and tested!  Are you sayin’ that this lovely lady here is old as the hills?” he sputtered!

There was a brief, awkward silence.  Blaze’s head shook side to side.

“No…I…that’s not at all what I was trying to say,” he spoke in a chagrined way.  Another pause, and then they all four fell into uncontrolled, loud laughter.  Tears ran down Clare’s face as she choked on her salad.  Food shot from Aaron’s mouth before he could slap his napkin up to his lips.  Lynette’s head fell forward almost into her plate.  Her long pony tail flopped into her tea, and she came up laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath. Blaze laid his head back against the booth and threw his napkin onto his face.  His shoulders shook so hard, the napkin fell off and into his plate.  He leaned forward with his elbow on the table and his head in his hand.  None of them could contain their laughter.  They all knew what he was trying to say.  It came out clumsily and comically and they enjoyed the gaff all too much.  As Blaze recovered himself, he reached across the table for Lynette.  With one hand she dabbed at the wet ends of her hair using her napkin; the other she lifted from her lap and laid it into his outstretched palm.   He closed his fingers tightly around her delicate hand.

“M’am, Lynette,” he studdered, “you know I didn’t …that came out wrong…,Oh shit,” he tried to say, searching for some redemptive words. Still snickering and trying to help him out of this really awkward situation, she said, “Blaze, Aaron is just giving you grief.  I know exactly what you meant.  Actually that comparison was very sweet.  Thank you,” she said with gentle grace.