We both collapsed from orgasmic pleasure, I felt the exhaustion of the night overwhelm me. It only took a moment and I had fallen asleep, tucked close up against Chris and feeling happier than I had in months.
Chapter 27
The next morning I was awoken by the hotel phone ringing. It startled me and took me a few seconds to figure out where I was. I let my hand slide across the bed and felt Chris and that helped me figure out where I was.
“Katelyn, you sold all of your photos!” Sarah said as loud as I think she could have possibly said it.
“What? All of them? There is no way!” I said as I sat up in the bed.
“Yep, you did. And there was a bidding war over the picture from the woods. It sold for over twenty thousand dollars.”
“Holy fucking shit!” I stood up and went to the hotel window.
“Yeah, everyone was asking when you will have another show and if you have any other work. Do you have other photos ready?”
“Hell no! I don’t have anything else ready. I mean I have millions of photos, but it took me months just to find those pictures. I can go through my stuff and see if there is anything else I like.”
“That would be great. I’d love to do another show with you whenever you are ready.”
We hung up and I stood at the window looking over Kansas City. It was amazing. I couldn’t believe I had sold all my photos. I couldn’t believe how much money they had sold for. It was a dream come true. A dream that I had not dared to actually let myself dream of before that very moment. My life had never been a fairy tale and that was alright with me.
“You do know you’re naked standing in front of a window right?” Chris said as he started to stir in the bed.
“Well, Kansas City will just have to deal with my nakedness.”
“I don’t think anyone will mind. So that was good news about your show?”
“Yes, great news. I sold everything. Can you believe that?”
“Yes.”
He said it so quickly and so confidently that I couldn’t help but hug him. It felt so great to have someone to share that moment with. It also felt really good to be around someone who had such an intense ability to calm me.
“I just can’t believe it. One of the pictures went for over twenty thousand dollars. That is so insane to me.”
“Which one?”
“The one of the moon through the woods. It was the one I took the night you had to carry me home.” I laughed just thinking about it. I didn’t add that it was also the night that he carried me up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn’t add that it was the first night I had been with a man since losing Michael. I also didn’t add that the night was a memory that was still firmly embedded in my mind.
“Hmmm I remember that night very well,” Chris said as he kissed me.
He headed over to the phone and stood there naked while he dialed a number. It was impossible not to enjoy watching his body. Especially while he was standing there naked in front of me. I knew he had a lot of muscles, but seeing him in all of his glory it just made me want to try something new.
“Yes, we are in room 1205. We need strawberries and champagne, please.”
“What? It’s eight o’clock in the morning. Are you crazy?” I said as I grabbed a t-shirt from my suitcase and a pair of shorts and put them on.
“It’s never too early to have a celebration. But yes I could possibly be crazy.”
His smile hid something very interesting and I loved how he winked right after saying the word crazy. I certainly didn’t think he was crazy, but I did really want to know more about him. There had to be more to him than a ripped muscular body that always rescued me from situations.
“Well I’m only going to have one glass, I want to get home and get to my own bed this afternoon. I’m exhausted. Someone kept me up most of the night.” I jokingly pushed Chris toward the wall.
“Who would do that? It must have been a crazy man.” Chris winked at me again. He pulled me close to him and I let my head rest on his chest. Feeling his arms wrapped around me made me feel so safe. Like no one and nothing in the entire world could ever harm me. I liked that feeling and I liked Chris’ arms wrapped around me.
When the champagne came, Chris popped the cork and poured us a couple of glasses. It was the first time I had actually tasted champagne and it was delicious. I didn’t stop at one glass and was soon lying in bed drinking my third or fourth glass and eating a giant strawberry, with Chris sitting right next to me. It was by far one of the best celebrations I had ever had. The simplicity of it made it perfect.
Luckily Chris had only one glass of champagne and was able to drive us around Kansas City on a little sightseeing tour while I relaxed. We went downtown and even drove past the Royals baseball stadium. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of baseball, but it was neat to see the big stadium.
Around five in the evening, we went back to the hotel to gather our things and head home for the night. I felt comfortable with driving by then and I really did want to sleep in my own bed. I wanted Chris to sleep with me in that bed too, but I would have to work on that idea when we got back to Bain.
Chapter 28
I followed Chris for the whole drive back to town and I felt like he was purposely driving slowly. Otherwise, he drives like an old lady. I had always been a slower driver, but since we were just getting started I would have driven faster to keep up with him. After following him to the airport the other day though, I knew he typically was not so cautious and probably was just driving slow for me. It made me smile to think that he was thinking about me on his drive back to town.
When we both parked our cars in our garages, we met in between them to say goodnight. It was almost midnight and I was exhausted. I certainly knew I would be asleep in only a few minutes after I got to bed.
“Well goodnight,” Chris said as he hugged me.
“Night.” I turned to walk back to my house but then stopped to look at him. “Do you want to come over?”
He didn’t hesitate at all and was standing right next to me within three seconds. His enthusiasm over the invitation to come visit my house was really exciting to him.
“I think that’s a perfect idea,” Chris said as we walked into my house.
“I don’t know how exciting and fun I’ll be, I’m pretty tired.”
“Well, I would be happy to just lay next to you for the night.”
And that is exactly what we did. Both of us were so tired, we lay down on the bed and fell asleep on top of the covers, fully dressed, our bodies on top of the comforter and fully dressed in our shorts and t-shirts from the night before. It was the first time I was going to bed with Chris without having sex. That wasn’t something I had even thought about after our first meeting. But now I was starting to get closer to him and this was just one more step in that direction.
Somewhere in the middle of the night Chris and I moved under the covers because the draft from the old house was just too much. It was nice to fall asleep next to Chris. The feeling of being next to him made it so much easier for me to actually get some sleep. Just before dawn I woke up to Chris peering out the window at his house. He was hiding from someone and just barely had the blinds open.