Chapter 8

Monday evening, Steve and Ingrid strolled across the parking lot of Maurice's, their arms around each other. Their idyllic weekend was coming to an end and they would be returning to their regular lives tomorrow.

They had avoided talking about what came next as neither had a fixed idea of where their relationship would turn. They had been so absorbed in enjoying their three days and nights together on the 'Matron', they had conveniently deferred any thought of their future.

They knew now they were destined to be together, and Ingrid was convinced that Steve had fallen in love with her. He had bridged that gap on Saturday morning when he told he was falling in love with her, but he hadn't mentioned the subject again for the rest of the trip.

"Tired?" he asked her quietly as they approached his car.

"A bit. We didn't exactly have a regular sleep pattern, did we?"

"When do you want to talk about us, where we go from here?" he asked.

"How about in bed tonight?"

"OK, but I don't think we'll be coming to any big decisions there, do you?" he replied with arched eyebrows.

She turned and looked into his eyes with a sober expression. "I should be taking this more seriously, shouldn't I?"

"It's up to you. This is about what's right for you too, Ingrid," he said quietly. "You've had your heartaches. You've already told me you didn't want to rush into a new relationship."

"I know," she said as her eyes searched his. "Do you love me, Steve?" she asked simply.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," he smiled. "No doubts ... no ifs ... no ands ... no buts. You've given me what I knew I had to have. This is the real thing for me, Ingrid ... and I'll wait until it's the real thing for you too."

Ingrid's face melted and the tears began to flow. She pulled Steve to her and kissed him with all the energy she could summon. She stepped back after a moment and smiled a wrinkled smile.

"Let's go home and plan our future," she said at last.

"Yes, but ... whose home?" he smiled gently.

"Ladies choice. My place," she said happily though her tears. "But I guess this puts the pressure on me to get your ... I mean ... our... new home ready, doesn't it?"

"Come on, let's go home," he said, opening the passenger door and guiding her in.

When he awoke on Tuesday morning, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. Ingrid's bedroom, but he was alone in the bed. He wondered where she was. He hadn't been here before and the surroundings were strange. The clock radio on her night table said it was just after seven thirty.

There was no ensuite in the master bedroom of the older home. He slid out of bed and padded toward the hallway. He stopped and went back for his shorts but couldn't find them. He wandered up the hallway. No one was in the bathroom and the kitchen was empty as well. He walked into the living room and peeked out through the curtains. His car was gone!

"Damn it!" he thought, "Someone has stolen my car!" But that didn't make sense. He walked back to the bedroom and checked his pockets for his keys. Nothing! My cash and wallet and other pocket stuff were all on the table where I had left them, but my keys were gone.

"Ingrid!" he realized. "She must have taken the car. Of course, she couldn't get her car out, so she took mine. But where?" he wondered.

He pulled on yesterday's shirt and pants and slipped his bare feet into his boat shoes. It was another beautiful West Coast day and likely to be warm as well. The only thing he would need to move from his apartment would be his laptop and some clothes. Well, maybe some cooking utensils as well.

He walked into Ingrid's kitchen to familiarize himself with the layout. A bit older than his, but all the essentials were there. He poked around in the cupboards and found few pots and pans. He'd need some of his to supplement this motley collection. He found the coffee maker and the coffee, and put the machine to work.

He returned to the living room and pulled the curtains open a couple of feet. He wondered when Ingrid would return. In the meantime, he became aware of his somewhat ripe body and recognized he needed a shower. They'd been too tired to clean up last night.

He undressed in the bedroom and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He found plenty of bath towels in the closet and for soap and shampoo, he would use Ingrid's. He stood in the shower for several minutes, relaxing and cleaning his skin of the last of the salt and sweat from their weekend voyage.

After drying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked back to the bedroom. He headed for the closet and jumped back when he came face to face with Ingrid, standing in the closet with a big grin on her face.

"Good morning," she smiled brightly. She leaned forward and kissed him.

"Oh, Hi," he sputtered. "Where did you go?"

"Over to your place to get some clothes and your computer," she said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Well, aren't you the clever one."

"I like to think so," she said haughtily, her nose in the air.

"Well, since you are the hostess, what's for breakfast?" he asked brightly.

"I don't know about you, but I'll be having my normal, workday breakfast. Juice, yogurt, fresh fruit, muffin and coffee."

"That's not my regular, but it sounds sensible. Mind if I mooch your supplies?" he asked.

"I think that's how it's supposed to work, Steve," she said laughing.

He poured coffee for both of them and sat at the kitchen table.

"So this is domestic life, is it?" he sighed, smiling.

"Yep, this is it. You bored already?"

"Not yet."

They sat at the table and ate their morning meal. It was sunny and warm and Steve briefly thought about sitting outside on Ingrid's small deck. He decided the view indoors was better and savored his first cup of coffee.

Steve suddenly looked up and snapped his fingers.

"I've forgotten something," he announced. He rose quickly, walking to the front door and out to his car. He rummaged around in the back for a moment and then stood up, closed the hatch and returned to the house. He was holding a box and a medium size manila envelope. He sat back down at the kitchen table and began to open the envelope.

"This is the design program I told you about, Ingrid. I have some notes from the designers. They said we just need to load it onto your computer, and then follow the instructions."

"Wonderful ... oh I can't wait to see it," she chirped.

She picked up the disc containers and quickly walked into the living room to her PC and loaded the first disc into the tray. There were two discs and it took a few minutes to load and dump the contents into the hard drive. Happily it wasn't a huge pile of data. Ingrid's machine was limited for hard drive capacity. When she had finished loading and installing the program, she hit the 'Open' icon and watched the new program boot up.

There were a number of screens declaring the license and beta development data after which the main program appeared on screen. Steve passed the instructions to Ingrid, pulled up a nearby chair and sat down to watch Ingrid work through the tutorial, options and base development screens. The only sounds were the clicks of the mouse, the clack of the keystrokes and Ingrid's occasional 'ohhhh' or 'ahhhh' as she worked he way through the screens.

After a few minutes, Steve asked her if she wanted a coffee refill and she shook her head wordlessly. He walked into the kitchen with a satisfied smile on his face. She was totally absorbed in the screens, and he hoped that it might be the answer to her business needs. If not, there would be another coming along in a couple of weeks, and maybe that would be the solution.

He sat at the kitchen table again, watching her face from a distance. She was completely absorbed in the computer screen and he could see her eyebrows rise as she discovered something new or special. Her smile was evidence that he may have found a winner, and he was delighted for her.

He turned his attention to the carton and quietly opened it and unpacked the contents. On the spur of the moment, he had wandered into the duty-free electronics store at San Francisco airport before his flight home. He strolled about for a few minutes, perusing the various items until he came to the digital camera display. He remembered Ingrid's little 35 mm flash camera and an idea popped into his head.

A clerk approached him and Steve described what he was looking for in general terms. The sales assistant showed him three or four cameras and Steve settled on one and purchased it. It was a simple to use, all weather, waterproof, dustproof, two megapixel Kodak that would be perfect for both her job and their time together on the boat.

While Ingrid was absorbed in her new toy, Steve assembled his gift and inserted the batteries. He booted it up, corrected the settings to the day's time and date, reviewed the program options, and quietly went to the back of the house to test the camera without Ingrid seeing him. With a few quick shots inside, he again slipped by the living room and sneaked out the back door to try the outdoor shots. As best he could tell from the little view screen, the camera was working just fine. He turned it off and returned to the kitchen.

Ingrid had been at the computer screen for over an hour when Steve heard her exhale and push back from the computer screen.

"It's fantastic!" she hollered, hoping Steve would hear her. "It's everything I could have hoped for. Easy to use, quick to change, and capable of handling odd sizes and shapes. It even has a decorator's program where I can add paintings or drapes or lamps or all kinds of accessories including furniture."

Steve walked into the room and stood by Ingrid's side, his hand on her shoulder.

"Glad to hear it," he said smiling. "Don't forget, you have some feedback to send DataScope in San Jose. I think their reply form is on the second disk."

"It's fabulous. I can't wait to use it on a real job," she enthused.

"Great. By the way, in all the excitement Friday morning, I forgot to give you a gift I got for you on my trip."

"Oh Steve, you didn't need to do that. Our weekend and this program is all I could ever want."

"Well, call it a spur-of-the-moment decision," he said.

He walked back into the kitchen and picked up the camera and brought it back to her.

"For you, love." He smiled and he bent to kiss her cheek and hand her the camera.

"Oh, god, you shouldn't have." She was on the verge of tears.

"Oh yes I should have," he said firmly. "First of all, it's another aid for your business and secondly it perfect for use on the boat. Call it an early Christmas present," he grinned.

"Christmas is seven months away," she laughed. "You are spoiling me ... and I love it," she added, standing to throw her arms around him and kiss him soundly.

He spent a few minutes showing her how the camera worked and the options that were built into the programs inside. They loaded the software onto her computer and downloaded the test pictures he had taken. They were clear, color-correct, and perfect for her program. She hugged him again, her ever present smile lighting up the room.

"You deserve a reward for all this," she grinned.

"It's not necessary, but then again ... what do you have in mind?"

Ingrid adopted a sly grin and reached up with her hand to gently pinch his earlobe.

"You realize the true advantage of both of us working from home, don't you?"

"Probably, but tell me anyway," he smiled, turning to kiss her wrist.

"We can take a 'sport break' any time we want," she said brightly.

"And what exactly is a 'sport break', young lady?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"A combination of mental rehabilitation and physical exercise," she replied, her face only an inch or two from his. "Very therapeutic, I understand," she continued, grinning. "Are you up for it?"

"I will be soon. I suggest we retire to the gymnasium for this activity," he responded slyly.

Ingrid took his hand and led him down the hallway to her bedroom. She pushed him onto the still unmade bed and began to undo his belt and lower his zipper. Steve reached up and slid his hands under her tank top, removing it in a single upward motion. In less than a minute they were naked and rolling on the bed, their hands exploring every inch of the other's body.

Steve pushed Ingrid up the bed as he moved between her thighs with his mouth moving directly to her rapidly engorged nether lips. She was already moist, and as he attacked her with his tongue she quickly became very wet, her hips responding to his aggressive actions. Ingrid's hands slapped down on his shoulders and then moved to his hair, grabbing handfuls as she held on while Steve's tongue brought her quickly to orgasm.

It was a wild and uninhibited sexual adventure. In their brief time together, there had been moments, but this was a reckless, no-holds-barred raw sex-fest. They were fucking, pure and simple. Every possible position they could imagine was tried and abandoned as they looked for that instant of gratification. While Ingrid was the initiator, Steve became the leader, looking for new ways to satisfy his beautiful lover.

Ingrid's orgasms were explosive and irregular. She came twice while Steve ravished her orally. She came before and during Steve's first orgasm as he took her from behind. She sucked him aggressively, revitalizing his flagging cock, then rode him, first forward, then reverse "cowgirl" to bring herself to yet another orgasm.

Then it was sixty-nine as Ingrid brought Steve to the brink, then backing down as she demanded he finish her with a "power fuck." He obliged her, pushing her thighs up onto his shoulders, folding her back and driving the last few long strokes into her from above as they both came within seconds of each other.

They lay beside each other, not touching, but each looking at the other, gasping for breath.

After what seemed several minutes, Steve spoke.

"Ingrid?"

"Yes love."

"I think we need to change the sheets."

Ingrid burst into laughter, alternately gasping for breath and holding her stomach.

"I think we'd better get some extra bedding if we're going to behave like this," she laughed.

"That was wild! Now I know for sure that 'goody two-shoes' story of yours is B.S."

"I'm just using stored up energy," he replied lamely.

"Oh sure! Every young innocent knows all those bedroom tricks, don't they," she snorted.

"It's true! Until we made love on Friday, I hadn't had sex for almost three years," he said seriously.

"You can't hide this forever, you know," she lectured him. "Sooner or later you're going to have to tell me how you know all this dynamite sex technique stuff."

"I told you, I learned it all by reading," he said, gamely trying to sound sincere.

"You don't seriously expect me to believe that, do you?" she shot back.