Chapter 4: The tables are turned

Lisa's point of view

I slowly came to realize that the sense of well-being and comfort came from Ted. I was too drowsy to react but I could feel hands caressing me, touching me. Firm hands gently squeezed my breasts and pinched my nipples. The heat inside me built and I moaned softly. I wanted this, I realized. I welcomed it.

Lips kissed my neck and down the curve of my ribs, pausing for a few glorious minutes where the hands had been before. I arched my back and gripped the sheets in pleasure.

Gently, the lips kissed lower, the tongue caressed my belly button at length. I groaned. With gentle fingers, my flower was spread. Hot breath blew on my nub, shooting sparks up my spine and I tried to push myself onto the lips but they pulled back.

Suddenly, a tongue dug into my sex. I almost flew off the bed, arching and crying out. With a gentle savagery, I was tortured, bringing me higher and then letting me cool only to do it again. Once, twice, three times, I was at the brink and then allowed - no, forced - to settle before the lips began tirelessly arousing me further.

When I was almost there again, I felt fingers slide into me and the lips locked onto my clit, focused on my pleasure. The fingers rubbed that special spot inside me and I came explosively. I arched my back and a scream of pleasure erupted from my lips.

As I caught my breath, I smiled and looked down. Between my thighs, green eyes, framed in long black hair, sparkled back at me as Detective Hawkins kissed my most intimate place.

I sat bolt upright, breathing hard. I was alone in bed, clutching the sheets around me, feeling the soft cotton of my nightgown soaked in sweat. It had been a dream - only a dream.

My mind slowly cleared from the dream and realized I was not in my bedroom. I remembered going to sleep with Ted and now I was on his side of the bed, his pillows by my face before waking.

The memory about the horrible events of last night and where I was came flooding back. I felt a terrible emptiness inside me but it was quickly filled with anger. Someone had tried to kill me and had taken my friend away from me.

Throwing the covers back, I sat on the edge of the bed. I let the chilled hardwood floor ground my feet and me along with it. The clock on the nightstand told me it was after eight in the morning. I never slept that late. I felt a spike of guilt at not being up.

I recalled the conversation from last night. I didn't really know Ted, though we had talked about a lot of things - I think - but he had been more of a gentleman than most men I had dated. I remembered offering myself to him and him refusing. I didn't think any man would say no to a woman he wanted. At least, not till now.

That must be why I dreamed... No, at least not all that dream was because of Ted. The thought of making love to Ted excited me. I felt a very strong attraction toward him despite the short time we had known one another. If it had been reality instead of a dream, I would have been happy to make love to him.

On the other hand, I'd never considered myself bisexual but I had to admit a strange attraction I felt toward Hawkins. I remembered the momentary thrill when I realized she had been looking at me. That she found me attractive. I don't know that I would ever make love to a woman but I think I could fantasize about her.

With a shake of my head, I climbed out of the bed and stepped over to the dresser. I nearly shrieked when I saw my hair. I must have gone to sleep with it wet because it looked like a flock of gulls had been nesting in it. With all the wine last night, I didn't remember clearly but the evidence spoke for itself.

There was a light knock at the door. "Are you decent?" Ted asked.

"No," I squealed as I bolted for the bathroom. "Give me a few minutes!" I slammed the bathroom door and locked it. There was no way I was letting him see me with my hair like this. No way in hell.

I stripped off the nightgown and climbed into the shower. The hot water slowly brought me back to life. I saved my hair for last and gave it a good washing. Shutting off the water, I dried it as well as possible and wrapped a towel around it. When I dried my body, I found it still reactive and sensitive. I smiled wryly.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I dropped the towel and looked at myself in the mirror. I saw a woman in good shape for her thirty years. Long legs, a generous swell of hips, trimmed thatch of blonde pubic hair shaped to entice. I did that for Ted, in case I decided to go through with the fantasy that had been plaguing me all week. The flat stomach, my larger than average breasts with the small nipples. Too large for my chest, I thought. Not as firm as they used to be. Finally, a long neck and a slender face that I think still looked good, framed by long, blonde hair.

I pulled Ted's robe off the hook by the door and slid it over my shoulders, belting it tightly. His scent lingered strongly on it. I pulled it up around my neck and face to breathe it in. I had it bad.

When I came out of his room, the fragrance of something delicious cooking enticed me toward the kitchen. I realized I was parched. I needed to get something to drink. It felt like I had run a couple of miles - or had sex. I grinned but stopped and chided myself. How could I be thinking of sex now?

I could almost feel Calvin standing behind me; his presence was strong within me. Like a ghostly voice in my mind, I knew what he would tell me: "That's just being stupid, girl!"

I snorted softly. It wouldn't be right to run out and party but it wouldn't be right to deny myself, either. I'd just have to figure out a happy medium. I was sure Ted must be uncertain of what I wanted now. We'd have to talk it out today. It wasn't fair to him to keep him in the dark. After last night and this morning, he deserved better than that. It would be a while before I knew what direction to move in the investigation of the attack. If Hawkins thought I was going to steer clear and not look for my friend's killer, she was sadly mistaken.

As for Ted, I had to admit to myself that I wanted him, too. It had been two years and a couple of months since I had taken the job down here. It had been so busy, that I had never felt like dating. Was I a virgin again after two years of celibacy? I laughed silently at myself. Horny bitch.

I walked down the hall and stepped into the kitchen. Ted was flipping a pancake on the griddle. He was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt that proclaimed the merits of Stansbury Vineyards. Scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, orange juice and coffee were set out on the table. He looked over at me and smiled. His eyes, brown, not green, sparkled and I couldn't help but feel a shiver inside me.

I took a moment to catalog him in my mind. He was about my own 5' 8", fit and handsome, in a rugged sort of way. Brown hair and a winning smile capped my impression. Stepping close to him, I kissed him softly on the lips, and then I drew back, holding him at arms length.

"Thank you for being a gentleman, Ted. I really, really needed that last night. I appreciate you not giving in to temptation. Calvin was right when he told me you seemed like a class act. I won't forget it."

Getting a glass from the drainer, I filled it with tap water and drank deeply before putting it in the sink. Then, pulling out a chair, I flipped it around and sat straddling the back. I knew it would be very suggestive to him. When his eyes caressed my legs, I smiled wider.

"No good deed goes unpunished."

Ted laughed. It sounded so - normal. Not average, mind you. Normal. Like today were any other day, and yesterday was a bad dream. Maybe one day it would really feel that way to me. For now, I needed to think about something else.

"It was hard to tell you 'no' last night. It took a lot of willpower to be a gentleman." He blushed at the memory.

That was so sweet. I didn't think a male older than twelve could be embarrassed by being attracted to a woman. That was a rare thing these days. It was then that I saw the fresh bunch of grapes and thought they looked almost as good as Ted. Ted must have noticed because he nodded and said, "Picked fresh this morning just for you. I left the alarm off so no one would wake you up till you were ready to wake up."

"It's not your thoughts that make you gentlemanly," I said firmly, "it's what you do about them. You respected me and let me get my bearings. I would have made love to you last night, if you had come into my bed. But I would have been wondering this morning if it was the right thing to do. When you turned me down, you proved to me that this isn't just about sex or physical attraction on your part. I thought about it before I slipped into your room last night. I want to spend time with you, get to know you better. Does that scare you?"

Ted smiled and put the last of the pancakes onto a platter on the table before sitting down opposite me.

"Some," Ted admitted. "The few times I have been intimate with someone, it ended badly." He shrugged. "I'm not going to say it was their fault or mine. Everyone's, probably. I was in college and I'm afraid we all were more self-absorbed than I like to admit. Then my parents died and I had to work the vineyard with my brother and sister. There just weren't enough hours in the day." He smiled wryly. "There still aren't. I resisted spending my time away from here even a few nights a week until Stan dragged me out by my hair six months ago and it's taken me this long to really even talk to a woman."

I stood, stared at him, flipped the chair back around and leaned over the edge of the table as I sat again. "Are you telling me that you haven't dated since college? How long ago was that? Ten years? After I left my old boyfriend, Donny, to take the job here I haven't dated either and I thought that two years was a long time!"

Ted looked up at the ceiling and I could tell he was counting. It had been so long that he couldn't remember how much time had passed. God, had it been so long that he didn't even remember what she looked like or maybe even her name? My eyes grew wider. I was teasing this poor, deprived man and he still kept his hands to himself with me in his bed? He wasn't a gentleman, he was a saint. Saint Ted, patron of self-control. I gulped and pulled my expression back under control before he looked back down.

"Eleven. Give or take," Ted said matter-of-factly. "After the first couple of years, it's not such a big deal anymore. Like being a monk, I suppose." He started piling pancakes and the fixings on a plate as I sat there feeling like an idiot. "Is something wrong?"

I closed my mouth with a snap. "I should apologize for teasing you like I have been. It seems cruel, now." I pulled a plate over and started filling it with a selection of food.

"It isn't cruel," he disagreed. "I've enjoyed it. Let me put this into a wine frame of reference. When a taster drinks a fine wine, he opens the bottle, and examines the cork. He pours the wine into a glass slowly and swirls it to examine the body of the wine. He'll then bring the glass to his nose and take in the bouquet of the wine. He takes a small sip, holds it on the center of his cupped tongue and breathes in through his mouth slowly to draw the taste across his tongue to get the whole flavor. Finally, he swallows and savors the aftertaste the wine leaves in his mouth. Just drinking it would leave so much out of the experience."

Ted smiled widely at me. "I think I'm about at the smelling of the wine stage with you. I'm looking forward to tasting you."

My breath froze in my body at the emotions his description evoked in me. I don't know that I had ever been made love to with as much passion as he spoke about tasting wine. My heart beat faster within my breast and I felt myself melting inside. The connection between us seemed to be getting deeper with every second I stared into his eyes. It was like a flame moving between us. Did he feel it, too?

Before I could delve deeper into that, I heard the slam of a door somewhere in the house. It startled me. The sound of shoes on marble and a shout followed.

"Ted!"

Ted's brother, Stan, came barreling into the room, looking a bit disheveled. He caught Ted as he was rising from the chair and slapped a bear hug on him. "I heard about the explosion this morning! I thought you were dead!"

As they clutched each other, I felt my eyes mist over. I wasn't sure if it was because of the expression of love they had for each other or my own loss. I almost missed Dina coming in behind him. She came over and hugged me. "I'm so sorry."

I held her for a moment and then let go. "It still seems unreal."

Stan released his brother and came over grabbing me into the same kind of bear hug he gave Ted, surprising me. "I was so worried about you, too!" His embrace shocked me and I stared at Ted over Stan's shoulder. Ted smiled and shook his head.

"Stan doesn't have any casual acquaintances. He knows your name and he likes you so you're a friend."

I smiled and hugged Stan back. "Thank you, Stan. That means a lot."

Stan released me and stepped back to Dina, slipping his arm around her waist. "Oh, food! We haven't eaten." He sat down and wanted to know everything we knew, which wasn't much. I talked while Ted served. The heat in the room seemed to have cooled but I felt a spark every time Ted spoke.