A Thankful Blizzard Pt. 04

"Wait wait wait... wait..." Kat interrupted me. She looked confused. "Why didn't he just kill you then, like the rumor goes, that he does with anyone who crosses him? Why go to all that effort to scare you and keep you alive? And he had someone drive your Explorer out there??"

"I have two theories. First, it's possible he has always wanted to be caught all along. I remember some profiling episode on some channel, where they mentioned that sometimes, a criminal will purposely leave a trail, to spice it up or make it more entertaining for themselves." Kat frowned at this idea. "What? I heard it on TV. The Discovery Channel, I think. It might not even be that true. I'm a scientist, not a psychologist or anything."

"Ok, so what's theory number two?"

"This theory seems more likely to me, but I wonder if the first one has some truth to it. Well, my second theory is largely based upon what he actually said. He told me he would like to kill me, but the papers I wrote a few years ago were holding him back. He thought that if he hurt me, specifically now, after I'd been around you, somehow the authorities would come poking around, asking him questions, putting two and two together - bad for his business, so he says."

"Paul, what are the papers actually about?"

"I mentioned earlier they were about climate change, right?" Kat nodded, so I continued. "Specifically, I discovered a connection between snowflake formation and the expelling of exhaust fumes from factories and industries. The gist of one of the papers is that pollution has to lessen soon, otherwise there is a strong likelihood that we will start seeing serious ramifications in our snowfalls, snowmasses, and snowfall patterns. In another paper, I demonstrated how I was able to synthesize a structure based on an organic substance that grows similarly to ice crystals, which catches pollutants that would normally escape into the atmosphere. The resultant compound is a biodegradable solid that looks like salt crystals. I hadn't expected the paper to be published in a journal right away, nor had I anticipated the responses. I had attack letters from big businesses and manufacturers, letters praising my work from environmentalist groups, conservationists, and other scientific communities heralding my discovery."

"Paul... that's like, a global impact. You're gonna be famous real soon, huh?"

"Well, I doubt it. I'm just a chemist, and a young one at that. Several groups doubt my discoveries. Even though another lab was able to reproduce my results, I just don't have the respect from the scientific community to really make waves."

"I bet it'll have a bigger impact than you think, Paul. I mean, it really sounds like it'll change business and..." She paused, her eyes turning serious. "Wait, you said Edmond was concerned now that you've been around me? Why's that?"

"Oh, well... it turns out the process of compounding this synthetic substance uses several components of a very common and natural ingredient - something I didn't realize your family made almost half of in the entire US..."

"Lettuce!?" Kat jerked back to rest on her elbows. "You've got to be shitting me... Global warming can be combated with lettuce???"

I chuckled. This was the reaction I had gotten from most people who couldn't follow the intricate mathematical and chemical details of the process. I suspected Kat would, if I sat down with paper and pencil, going over every step - but that seemed tedious and pushing my luck with how much she was actually interested in my work.

"Not exactly, Kat. Lettuce has some molecular chains in it that are key components necessary for the stability of the synthetic substance - otherwise it deteriorates way too fast."

"Well, I can tell why Edmond's pissed and scared - it's direct competition to his businesses and direct benefit to his most hated rival, not to mention that if this becomes an industry standard or some EPA mandate, it's extra expenses he'd be incurring that he would think wouldn't be necessary." Kat said everything so matter-of-fact, with no hesitation. She was so observant, so astute, and so very quick.

"Wow... I've been thinking about this the entire evening, just reaching that conclusion not too long ago, but you got it in seconds? That, Kat, is one of the things that I find so attractive about you." As I watched her, I saw a blush creep up her face. It seemed like such a turnaround from when I'd first met her, when I was the one blushing, and she was the one complimenting me.

"Thanks, Paul. I have to admit - you're the first guy I've met who can challenge me intellectually and not be intimidated by my intelligence," she said with a huge grin.

"Guys can get intimidated by a smart woman?" I actually laughed. "What, do most guys expect women to be dumb and obedient or something?"

"Yeah, the past boyfriends I've had all wouldn't see me after the first few dates. One of them I cornered, asking him why. He said, 'You're too smart, I feel so dumb and useless next to you.'"

I scoffed at that, ready to call the guy all sorts of lame names, but Kat continued.

"But anyway, that makes sense now, why he didn't just kill you, or leave you for dead in the desert or something. He was just concerned that you'd get linked back to me, with the result of your research - stuff that supports my family - being stuff that would negatively affect him. Plus, it's not like it's a secret that his family largely detests WFC. Any detective worth his salt would find reason to find him suspect."

"Yeah..." I couldn't help but stare at Kat with a profound sense of respect. This woman had endured a family pressuring her to do something she didn't want to do, a kidnapping, well, two kidnappings now, and God knows what else - which she still had to tell me about - yet she was razor sharp and caught on very quickly - not to mention how observant she was, a quality clearly borne out in her artistic talents.

As if my thoughts were being broadcast, Kat suddenly got up, searching through the hotel room. I enjoyed watching the contrast between her nude lower half and clothed top half. She found what she must have been after - a pencil and a notepad. She plopped onto the other bed with her findings.

"It's small," she gestured to the paper. "But I had to make a quick sketch. Can you continue telling me how you made the connection or whatever you did to find me?"

"Sure..." I wasn't as surprised as I had been the first time this happened, but I still found it fascinating to see her use a cheap pencil and start sketching. I was curious what she was suddenly inspired to create, but I did as she asked and continued telling her how I figured it out.

"So, like I said, that video suggested he was really into irony, right? I didn't know it at the time, or register it, until I was at an internet café trying to search anything I could about Edmond McMahon. And there it was. Blanco's Sno-Cones. It was like a giant 'X marks the spot' moment. It had irony written all over it - mainly the white and snow aspects. If he'd made a point to tell me how he wanted to see me ironically chopped up in the very stuff I studied, then I figured he'd be stashing you there."

Kat looked up from her sketching for a moment. "That was a pretty clever deduction. So then what, you bought smoke grenades?"

I chuckled. "The stuff for making them - sugar and saltpeter, then a portable stovetop burner, a pan, containers, and matches for the 'pins' you saw me using."

"Paul, that is so... fucking cool. I can't think how else to describe it." Kat clasped her hands together. "I'm so glad my hero is also a genius." I blushed a bit at that remark. I caught sight of an edge of her drawing and I was instantly curious exactly what it was.

"Is your sketch finished yet?"

"Almost. How'd you get in the facility?"

"Oh, I just climbed the fence in a dark corner and spotted a side door and snuck in behind a smoker." I paused, recalling the conversation I'd overheard in the locker room. "Oh, I think that factory is a front for drug-smuggling or somehow involved in drugs."

Kat laughed. "Figures it'd be the cones." She jumped up, reminding me that she was still naked from the waist down. "Here, it's finished." She handed me the sketch.

"Holy... fuck." I wondered if I was ever going to have an intelligent response the first time I saw her artwork. This one was no exception to the awe-inspiring pieces I'd already seen her create. On the back of a hotel notepad piece of paper, Kat had drawn me with wings once again, in full flight and carrying her out of a window of a building. That same light she'd had on me from before was illuminating me, while she had made smoke, looking incredibly realistic, pouring out from the building, swirls of it in our wake. I still didn't understand how she was able to create such brilliant sketches in such a short time with sub-quality tools. I thought about chemistry, my specialty, how if I started with sub-par equipment, none of the results would be reliable.

"Well... besides being dumbfounded, what do you think?" She was leaning close to me, having sat on the bed next to me.

"I, uh... am completely without adequate words to describe the profoundly mesmerizing effect of your artistry."

Kat laughed, leaning in and hugging my arm. "You're sweet, Paul." She planted a soft kiss on my cheek. "And you're a dork. Something I really love about you." That made me recall, earlier she had said 'I love you' to me. I wondered if it was spurred on by the heat of the moment, the adrenalin and stress we must have been feeling prompting those words, perhaps? I thought I'd find out by being bold - something that, until meeting Katherine White, had seemed impossible to me.

"There are lots of things I love about you, Kat."

"Awww!" The smile on Kat's face told me these were the perfect words. She grabbed my head in her hands and kissed me. She threw her arms around me, embracing me tightly. "Paul?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"Is it too soon to love you?" Her soft words were so charming, endearing, and heartwarming. The only women I'd ever known who'd said 'I love you' to me were my mom and aunts, and my grandma. Of course, I already knew I was falling in love with this woman. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to such lengths to save her. In fact, thinking about what I did at the snowcone factory just made me that much more convinced I loved her - God that was rash, dangerous, and incredibly daring. Those words had never been applied to me before now, particularly not in my own mind. Before I thought too much more, it seemed prudent to answer her question, lest she worry about having said it.

"Was a few days ago too soon for me to love you?" I chose to counter her words. She smiled widely and pressed against me hard, forcing me onto my back. As she crawled on top of me, I realized since our oral ministrations on each other, I hadn't pulled my pants back up. My rapidly hardening cock immediately made contact with her moist pussy lips. "Ohhh... Kat."

"Yesss..." Kat reached between us, guiding me to her opening. "Then let's make love, Paul." She sank down onto my cock, arching her back and moaning as she reached bottom, our hips fully contacting each other. She wiggled her hips a few times, but kept me fully inside her as she leaned forward to kiss me. We kissed for several minutes, lazily moving our hips together. This was a coupling of love, that much I was sure. There was no need for fervent motions, for animalistic grinding and humping. I reveled in the taste of Kat's mouth on mine, the way her tongue would trace along my lip, teasing me to bring my tongue out so she could suck gently on it before resuming our full kisses. I could have spent hours just kissing this woman and be content, but having my cock buried fully inside of her was infinitely more delightful. My hands roamed her back, realizing she still had her shirt and bra covering the creamy soft skin I desired to see right now. I reached down to tug the shirt up over her head, but Kat just leaned back and did that special woman-magic-trick of sliding the shirt up and over her head in one fluid, sensuous motion. I immediately leaned forward, kissing the tops of her breasts, gently rolling my hips forward, enjoying the ever so slight and ever so sexy feeling of being so deep in her and sliding slowly around.

"Hmm... gotta see 'em." I whispered into her cleavage, as I used my fingers to unsnap her bra, much more gracefully than I had the first time. She shrugged her shoulders forward, letting the straps slide off her and in turn allowing the cups of the bra to fall free from her breasts. I never grew tired of seeing her fully nude breasts, with their perfect roundness accentuated by hard nipples and crinkly areolas. Sucking one nipple into my mouth, I caressed the other breast, tracing around the nipple but not touching it. I felt her torso twisting, and realized she wanted me to treat her other nipple the same way. I happily obliged, tasting and teasing the other with my mouth. As we'd been sitting up, Kat pulled on my shoulders and fell back on to the bed, dragging me with her. I had to unlatch from her nipples, but it put me in the perfect position to kiss her neck, a place on her body I had grown especially fond of.

"Ahhh... Paul... love me... keep loving me..." Kat was whispering now, soft moans and hisses of pleasure as I began to slowly press in and out of her. I felt Kat's legs wrap around my back, then her feet hooked into the pants I still had on, tugging them off my body. I wiggled my legs the best I could and was able to kick them off the side of the bed, returning once more to kissing her neck, trailing up to her ear, where I chose to whisper more words to her.

"Kat... When we were coming down from that mountain pass and stopped at that rest area, things just felt so perfect and right with you. I felt like you were a part of my life and not just some poor girl I was returning to her home." I pulled slowly out of her and then pushed in a little bit quicker. "You are even better than my ideal dream of a girl. You are incredibly talented," I caressed the side of her breast as I whispered, "You are so passionate about what you want, you are so caring and kind-hearted," I placed my hand above her breast, "A heart that, I think, wants to pour out the love it feels inside." I grabbed her hand and placed it on my chest, realizing I was still wearing my shirt, but made my point anyway. "And this heart is beating for you, right now. In this heart, I have a deep desire to be with you, to watch you reach for your art dreams, to support that and assist any way I can. This heart wants to wake up next to you every day, talk to you about your day, my day, anything and everything. This heart," I kissed her fully, trying to put every ounce of compassion and love I could summon up into it, "wants to love you, Katherine White."

"Aww, Paul..." She was gripping me tightly, cradling my head with her hands. She kissed me back, as firm as I had. "I... I love you."

"I love you too, Kat." Wow! That felt so good to say. It also felt right, as though I'd grown up saying it.

Kat started tugging at my shirt now. "Then get this thing off and keep making love to me!" She teased, giggling at my struggle to tear the shirt off of me as fast I could. When I finally discarded the offending garment, she pulled me on top of her, our nude skin pressing together. We moaned in unison. Her nipples were extremely hard and I could feel them pressing into my chest. Her legs wrapped back around me and started encouraging me. My movements picked up pace, small and slow thrusts stretching into faster, fuller and longer thrusts. Kat began moaning, her hands tracing all along my arms and back, my chest and face. "Oh Paul, that feels so good! God, I love you, Paul, I love you, ugh, ah, ah, yes..." Her chants were like little jolts of pleasure to my whole body. Hearing her say 'I love you' made me feel like the luckiest man on the planet.

"Kat, oh, Kat, I love you, I love you, I love you," became my new mantra, spoken with each long full stroke I was using. Everything was culminating into what was going be another intense orgasm. Her moans were turning into sharp gasps of pleasure and then I felt it - the tightening of her vaginal walls around me, the pulsing sensation of her contractions.

"Uh, hmm, hmm, hmm... aaaahhhh! Oh God, cum with me, Paul... fucking cum in your lover, fill me up, my love!" Kat nearly squeaked. Those words did it, pushing me over the edge. I grunted and pushed as far into her as I could. I felt my toes curling, my insides quivering with each blast of my cum.

We held each other long after our orgasms subsided, whispering words of love and admiration to each other. Whatever our future had in store for us, I was beginning to picture Kat with me, right by my side, and myself with Kat, right by her side. That's how I wanted it to be, forever. I had fallen in love with her.

"Goodnight, my love," I heard Kat whisper. We had just adjusted and moved to get back under the covers, me spooning into her back. My arm was hooked around her, resting just under her breasts. She had her arm resting on mine - it felt as if she wanted to be sure I wasn't going anywhere. She just seemed to fit perfectly against my body. I'd never been this comfortable before in my entire life.

"Goodnight, Love." I whispered back, kissing the nape of her neck. My head rested next to her luscious red curls. Being as comfortable and content as we were, I slowly slipped into an incredibly peaceful sleep.

*****

The chirping of a weird sound woke me up from my sleep. What was that sound? I looked around the room, seeing Kat looking around confused, too, before I found the prepaid phone next to us on the end table. I frowned, wondering who could possibly know the number for this phone and call at 5 in the morning. I cautiously picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Oh, thank goodness I reached you, Sir. I wanted to let you know that there were two very large and scary looking men asking about your room, Mr. Ford. They kept calling you Mr. Goodman, though. I thought they had the wrong guy, until they described your vehicle. They looked angry, so I wanted to warn you. They're waiting for you just outside right now." That had to be the teenage girl who was at the desk of the first hotel I had stopped at, before everything got crazy. It made me speechless, really, to hear how much this teenager cared, how concerned she was for my welfare.

"Oh, uh, thank you. Can you let them know you saw me head out toward Yuma?"

"Of course, Sir. Um, when will you be back? I worked a double shift last night, and I saw this morning that you had swapped cars with me." Oh shit, that car belonged to her? Fuck, I hadn't considered that possibility.

"Um... if they leave, go into my room, and you'll see my keys there. You can take my Explorer. And, if anyone follows you or asks, just let them know I let you borrow it."

"Ok, thank you, Sir, and good luck!" The call ended with that, leaving me with a feeling of unease and guilt. I really hoped nothing would happen to that poor girl.

"Kat..." I began.

"Yeah, who was that?"

"Uh, a long story... but it means that they're looking for us. And it probably won't be too long before they find where we are hiding. We need to get moving, and find a way to get to the FBI office."

"But won't it be covered by their guys?"

"Yeah... you're right." What were we going to do? Something had to be done to stop Edmond McMahon and his influence.

BAM! BAM! BAM! The three sudden pounds at our door made both Kat and me jump.

"Housekeeping!" A voice that was a little bit too gruff sounding called out.