| Fan Fiction |
by Eli =)
Mikee grinned. In his early twenties, the inn's night manager stood behind the old, battered bar that served as the reception desk. "Going to finish that Stephen King book tonight?"
"I plan to."
"Let's see" - Mikee checked his watch - "it's almost midnight. Want me to send someone up to check on you in a couple of hours, just in case the book scares you to death?"
Gerald chuckled. "That won't be necessary. There are very few things in life that scares me."
Just then, he heard the sounds of a car skidding to a stop with a crunch of gravel, a muted thud, and the crash of something breaking.
With his foot on the first step of the stairs, Gerald glanced at Mikee. "You'd better go see what's happened."
"I hope no one's hurt," Mikee said, going around the desk.
Following his long-standing practice of letting his staff handle all routine aspects of running the inn, Gerald continued up the stairs. "Let me know if you need me."
Mikee reached the front door and pulled it open just in time for a young woman to lurch through the doorway, holding the root ball of a geranium in one hand and a Louis Vuitton suitcase in the other.
"The pot is on the critical list," she said, slightly breathless, "but the geranium will pull through." Her lovely eyes glimmered with friendliness, but were shadowed with fatigue. She glanced at his name tag. "I assume I can call you Mikee?"
From his position at the top of the stairs, Gerald didn't hear Mikee's reply. All his attention was riveted on her. Her voice had made him stop. It was warm, soft, with an innocent seductiveness. Then he had turned and seen her. Intrigued, he had remained rooted on the spot.
She was tall, with long, slender legs and delectable curves that were shown off to spectacular advantage in what seemed to be a three-hundred dollar pair of designer jeans and a fifteen-dollar souvenir T-shirt emblazoned with a map of Nevada. Her hair was hung half in and half out of a long braid. Mikee, he noticed, couldn't seem to take his eyes off her, and he understood why.
"I'm Kimberly Chiu," she said, "but call me Kim. I can't tell you how glad I am to finally be here." She handed him the geranium. "I'm afraid the pot is in pieces on the driveway, but the geranium will live if you replant it. You will replant it, won't you? Promise me you'll replant it."
"Ahhhh......I'll make sure our gardener does."
"Good. Naturally I'll pay for the new pot, plus the post I hit. Just let me know how much..." Her voice died as her mind switched gears and she noticed her surroundings. Polished oak floors, sisal area rugs, nautical-theme paintings, comfortable furnishings, and brass light fixtures greeted her tired eyes. Her first impression was that the inn offered peace and refuge, two things she was in desperate need of. She smiled at Mikee. "This is wonderful, but then an inn called Happiness couldn't be anything less than fantastic. Right?"
"May I help you with your bag?" Mikee asked.
"No, thanks. I can handle it." She transferred her bag from one hand to the other, and the locks opened, the entire contents of the suitcase spilling onto the oak floor. With a disgusted scowl she gazed down at the rainbow of silken lingerie punctuated by an assortment of shoes, clothing, and a hair dryer.
Mikee was at her side at once. "Let me help you."
She sighed and dropped the Louis Vuitton bag to the floor as if it were a paper sack. "Don't worry about it, I'll pick it up in a minute. For now let's just get me checked in." She rubbed her back, then proceeded to the reservation desk. "I'm exhausted. I've been driving for days to get here. I can't tell you exactly how many days it's been since I left New York, but it's been a lot."
Mikee hurried around the desk and worriedly gazed at her. "You don't have a reservation, do you?"
She rewarded his perceptiveness with a smile that lit up her whole face. "No."
Mikee stared at her, his expression one of ecstatic fascination.
"You see, I have this bothersome tendency to get lost. I have no sense of direction, and I've never been able to acquire one." She shrugged. "I even have a GPS in my car, but it confuses me and I can't bring myself to trust it. I mean what if it's wrong? I'm certain GPS aren't foolproof. Very few things in life are, don't you agree? Anyway, I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get here, and it would have been unfair of me to ask you to hold a room for me when I couldn't tell you the exact date I would be arriving." She took a breath. "You understand, don't you?"
Mesmerized, Mikee managed to nod. "I understand completely."
"I was sure you would."
"Yes, but......I hate to tell you this, but I'm afraid we're all booked up." With apparent anxiety over his inability to give her a room, Mikee wrung his hands together. "We usually are on weekends."
She looked at him blankly. "Weekends?"
"It's Saturday night," he said gently.
"I didn't realize....I think I was in Montana when I lost track of the days."
"Montana?"
She wiped a hand over her face. "Maybe it was Iowa. That's where I took the wrong turn. Or, at any rate, the last BIG wrong turn." She gnawed on her bottom lip, thinking that she was almost positive it had been Iowa. She had visited a prehistoric Indian burial site there......Her mind switched gears again as an odd thing happened. The air along her right side seemed to turn several degrees warmer. Curious, she looked in the direction of the warmth and saw a man standing there. He had brown eyes that penetrated her weariness and awakened her sense and chiseled features that made her completely lose her train of thought. There was only one thing she could think of to say. "Hi."
He gave a slight nod.
As he continued to remain silent, her brow pleated. There seemed to be no reason for his sudden appearance, but then she had never been overly bothered by things that didn't make sense. She turned back to Mikee. "There's got to be some place here I can sleep tonight. A broom closet, a corner of the kitchen, maybe an elevator you don't use too often....."
He shook his head with regret. "I'm afraid not. But if you go back out to the main road and drive south, you'll find several hotels and motels -"
"No that won't work. I'd never be able to find them."
"I'd be happy to draw you a map."
"It wouldn't help." She reached across the desk and covered his hand with hers in a confiding manner. "You're going to have to trust me on this. I'd end up in Alaska. Not that I don't want to see Alaska one day. I do. In fact, I think at one point during this trip I was just a few miles from the border, but-" She saw Mikee's eyes cut to the man at her right. She also looked toward him, just in time to see him nod.
Mikee cleared his throat. "It turns out we do have one room we can let you have."
"Really?" Kim gazed at the brown-eyed man. "Thank you." She paused and considered the matter. "What exactly am I thanking you for? You're not giving up your room, are you, because I couldn't let you do that."
With another look at the man, Mikee spoke up. "No, it's a room on the third floor that's kept for special guests. As it happens, no one's staying there now, and you're welcome to use it until another room opens up."
"That's really very kind of you," she told the man even though he hadn't said a word. There was probably something significant here she should grasp, she thought. And she was vaguely aware of the urge to comb her hair and put on some lipstick. He was so wildly attractive....But all in all she was too tired to care or to even question.
Abruptly he strode over to the suitcase, dropped to a knee, and began putting her clothes back in. She followed and came down beside him. "Please don't bother with this. I'm used to cleaning up my own messes, and I can manage."
He held up an emerald-green silk teddy and gazed straight into her eyes, silencing her. "Pretty."
Slightly bemused by the sight of her undergarment dangling from his hand, she took the teddy from him. "Thanks." Even as tired as she was, she didn't have to wonder why she found him so compelling. He reeked of sensuality and masculinity that seemed to her as powerful as a force of nature. Just being near him had her tingling from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. But she just got out of the frying pan. She had no intention of jumping into the fire.
Carefully, competently, he folded another teddy and neatly placed it in the suitcase. He seemed quite accustomed to handling feminine clothing, she thought, grasping several chemises and shoving them into the suitcase. "Look, don't worry about being neat. I never do. I've always felt that spending a lot of time packing is a huge waste of time. I mean, you just have to unpack again at the end of the trip. Don't you agree?" She didn't actually expect him to agree with her - it was a rare occurrence when someone did - but she had expected some sort of response. There was nothing. She gazed at him through her thick lashes. "You don't talk a lot, do you?"
"The contents of your suitcase make it look like a lingerie shop."
She would rather he commented on the weather rather than on her wardrobe of intimate garments, but at least he had spoken a complete sentence. "Yeah, well, I never know what color I'm going to want to wear on what particular day, so I buy all the colors." It rarely bothered her to explain things about herself. People always seemed to be questioning one aspect of her life or another. "I love vivid colors, don't you?"
It would be easy to grow attached to her vivid coloring, he thought. He had never known that long black hair could make him want to wrap himself in its silky strands. And he had never known that he could be so intrigued by eyes that shadowed with fatigue, along with something else that wasn't so easy to read.
He picked up a pair of royal-blue tap pants; a light but definitely sensual scent drifted up from the fabric. From the corner of his eyes he saw Mikee hovering. "Is this all your luggage?" he asked her.
"No. The rest is in the car out front, the one that looks as if it's trying to climb the steps of the inn."
"Mikee."
"Right away." The tone of his voice clearly expressed regret that he was going to have to leave the interesting scene. "Do you have your keys, Miss Chiu?"
"Call me Kim. And the keys are still in the car. Oh, and you'd better take a cart. Besides the suitcases, there are several boxes in the backseat with souvenirs I've bought on the trip. I tried to keep them organized, like using one box per section of the country, but I'm afraid I kept forgetting which box was which. Be especially careful of the Indian headdress."
She could only imagine her mother's reaction to the headdress, not to mention the assortment of ashtrays and candlesticks, though she knew her mother would temper her reaction by finding something positive to say about them. Her mother had always been loving and supportive, quick to praise her smallest accomplishments. There was no doubt in Kim's mind that her mother wanted her happiness. Unfortunately her mother's definition of happiness didn't agree with her own. Jake was a prime example of that.
Frowning, she picked up a T-shirt that said the words "Nothing without Providence." She turned it so that he could see the slogan. "Is this California's state motto?"
"No."
"Then it must be Colorado's motto." She tossed it into the suitcase.
"Are you staying long?"
"I plan to. I hope to. But then again, I'm not entirely sure." She shrugged. "My plans have a habit of changing themselves."
"Why is that?"
"I don't honestly know. My father says the reason nothing holds my attention for very long is because I'm so bright I get bored easily. My mother says it's because I have a short attention span and get preoccupied with other things."
"What do you think?"
No one had ever asked her that before. "They're probably both right, but personally I wish they wouldn't worry about it so much."
He stared at her for a moment, then glanced down at her hand. Was there a faint impression on the third finger of her left hand where a ring had been? He wouldn't be surprised. He couldn't imagine this vivid creature unattached. She was made for a man to love. "Are you traveling alone?"
"Yes."
Gold streaks radiated out from her pupils, creating a star formation. Unable to help himself, he reached out to brush a thick lock of hair from her eyes and tuck it behind her ear. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have stars in your eyes?"
His touch heated her entire body, and she felt as if she were in danger of dissolving on the spot. She tried hard to convince herself it was because she was tired. She wasn't successful. "My eyes are a little strange, aren't they?"
"I didn't say that."
She swallowed. "I wonder if you would mind taking your hand off me. You see, you have the strangest effect on me, and I'm just not up to it right now."
He slowly smiled. "You say everything you think, don't you?"
Her pulse was racing, making it difficult for her to know exactly what she was thinking. "Not everything. At least I try not to, but yes, I guess I do. Sometimes. Especially when I'm tired....or nervous."
"What do you have to be nervous about?"
"You."
He stared at her. "Saying everything you think could be dangerous."
"I know," she said softly, meeting his steady gaze. "It can also be quite embarrassing. I'll work on it, I promise."
He released her and lifted another top. She grabbed it from him and thrust it into the suitcase.
His attraction to her was an immediate, pulsating shock to his system. And it made him extremely uneasy. He bunched his muscles to rise, then saw more of her clothing. Without looking at her, he quickly scooped the rest of her things into the suitcase and snapped it closed.
A second later both locks opened again.
Kim glanced at him and saw that he was staring in bewilderment of the locks. "I don't know what the problem is. The locks have been acting temperamental since Chicago. I probably should have bought a roll of tape while I was there. Have you ever been there? Lovely place."
His piercing gaze shifted to her.
Mikee returned, rolling the luggage cart in front of him. Gerald surged to his feet, and holding the suitcase closed, he placed it on the cart. "Be careful of this one. The lock's broken."
Mikee nodded and looked at Kim. "I parked your car for you. By the way, it doesn't look as if it was damaged."
"I wasn't worried."
No, Gerald thought. She had been more worried about the plant than her car, or the fact that she was waltzing into a popular weekend getaway spot without reservation and without even knowing what day it was.
"Are you ready to go up to your room?" Mikee asked her.
"Yes." She returned toward the man. "Thank you for helping me with my bag. I really appreciate it."
"No problem," he said, knowing he was lying. If ever he had seen a problem, she was it.
He folded his arms across his chest and watched as she and Mikee disappeared into the elevator. Only minutes earlier he had told Mikee that there were very few things in life that scared him. But he might have just come face-to-face with one of those things.
KIM
It wasn't as if she had done anything alarming. On the contrary, she had been very pleasant and friendly. But, oh man, she bothered him. Despite being tired, despite the enigmatic shadows in her eyes, she was upbeat, quirky, direct, and with a beauty that irritated him. What's more, she didn't seem to fit into any category of woman he'd ever known.
His gut instinct told him she came with invisible strings that were capable of reaching out to a man and binding him to her so securely that he might never escape. She made a man want to bring her into his life, take care of those puzzling shadows in her eyes, and make sure she never lost her way again.
He had always carefully managed his everyday life. He got up when he wanted to; he went to bed when he wanted to. If at a moment's notice he wanted to take off to Australia to surf, he did. If he wanted to go to Africa for a safari he didn't have to consult anyone. He had no desire to be tied to one place or one woman.
No one would ever call him a coward, but why tempt fate? He knew himself and what he wanted, and he intended to steer completely clear of Kim Chiu. In fact, now might be a good time to take the boat down to Catalina Island......