Brenda's Dreams
Chapter Eight

When she turned, she found that Jax had come up behind her. Again their
eyes met and she felt it impossible to look away. His eyes were blue flames
of desire, sparking a warm glow inside of her. She saw his hands reach for
her and she swayed towards him, unable to no longer deny her need for him to
hold her.

Then, she was in his arms, pressed hard against him, aware of nothing, but him.
His lips came down on hers in a kiss that flared through her like wildfire.
She clung to him, buffered by the by the enthralling needs of passion, lost in
a warm, whirling wonderland of erotic witchery.

No man's touch had ever affected her so acutely. The sorcery of his first
kiss cast a spell she couldn't shatter. She could only wish for a talisman to make
the kiss last forever.

Larry's angry squawking brought her back to earth. Jax lifted his mouth from
hers, his breath rasping as they both looked for the gull. All that could be see of
Larry was his tail feathers sticking out of the end of the picnic basket. She
pushed away from Jax and hurried to free the trapped gull.

"Any bird stupid enough to climb into a picnic basket deserves to stay there." Jax
muttered, angrily.

"And you were just telling me what a smart bird he was." Brenda was still shaken
and breathless and was surprised when she spoke in an even tone. She managed to
work her fingers on to each side of the struggling gull, grasp his body, ease him
out and set him on the sand.

After one final, loud complaint, Larry began to preen his ruffled feathers.

Jax glared at the gull, still unable to forgive him for the interruption. Brenda's
taste still lingered on his lips. He couldn't control his need to touch her again, to
feel the softness of her body against his and the arousing wrath of her mouth
under his. He reached out to grasp her shoulders and pull her back to him.

Brenda pulled away from him.

For a few minutes he couldn't hide his disappointment and the feeling of loss.
Then he slowly came to his senses. She was right. Another kiss would inevitably
lead to more involvement. Just what he didn't need, what he had decided to stay
away from.

"This is the world's worst excuse, but I didn't mean to kiss you."

Brenda shrugged her shoulders. "Neither did I mean to let you."

Jax smiled slightly. "I can forgive you if you can forgive me."

She smiled in return, but the smile was forced and he knew the picnic had come
to an end.

It was the weather, Brenda tried to tell herself as the boat made its way back to
the mainland. She had been seduced by the beauty of the day and the
surroundings into forgetting to keep her vow to herself not to get involved with
Jax.

Once she was back home and alone though, she caught herself leaning against
the window frame, staring dreamily out at the blue water of the sound as it
darkened in the early evening and remembering the moments she had spent in
Jax's arms. She ran her tongue over her lips, trying to bring back his intoxicating
taste, a taste that, come to think of it, had held a slight flavor of turkey. She
smiled, remembering how he had enjoyed her turkey sandwiches. She was not the
worlds most talented cook and the compliment had really pleased her. What else
did they share? The kiss: they had certainly shared that!

Enough. Why, you would think she had never been kissed before. The trouble
was, she hadn't been...not the way Jax had kissed her.

Brenda pressed her lips together. If she was going to behave like a moonstruck
young girl, there was only one solution. Catch the next flight back to California so
that she wouldn't be tempted to see Jax again.

Immediately, all the reasons she couldn't flashed into her mind. Larry. What
would happen to the see gull? Despite Jax's assurances, she didn't believe Larry
would survive on his own.

I'll put him in a box and take him over to the caretaker. I know Fred will take
good care of care of Larry.

Your return ticket won't let you leave early.

Call and get it changed to an earlier flight.

I'm not ready to leave.

Your as ready as you'll ever be. You can't stay here forever.

The airline was able to put her on an early morning flight two days from now.
Fine, she assured herself. I'll pack, get a good night's rest and leave as soon as
its light.

She couldn't fall asleep. Every time she began to relax, Jax's image slipped into
her mind, and trying to get him out only brought the tension back. After tossing
and turning for hours, she finally drifted off only to be jolted awake by a
tremendous crash of thunder.

Brenda leaped out of bed and ran to the window, pulling up the shade just as a
wicked slash of lightning forked its way across the sky. In its vivid glare she saw
gigantic waves lashing at the beach. Rain hammered the window pane.
Between roars of thunder, she heard the wind howl as it attacked the house. The
attic shutter, loose again, slammed against the house with each gust. She
hugged herself against the chill, listening.

She should have realized the unseasonable warmth would be an indication for a
storm. There would be no use in fixing the shutter. The wind would just tear it
out of her hand. But since she would not be able to sleep with the racket she
might as well stay up. She would go downstairs and turn up the heat while she
was at it, for the house was really cold. Turning to locate her slippers. Brenda
suddenly froze.

Larry! Where was he? The other gulls would have sensed the storm long before it
would have began and would have found a safe place to wait out a storm, but he
couldn't fly to safety.

Biting her lip, Brenda threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt. She ran downstairs,
grabbed the old green jacket from the closet and hurried to open the door. The
wind tore it out of her hands and slammed the door all the way open against the
house. As Brenda struggled to close it, wind blasted inside, tossing the pages of a
newspaper she had been reading into the air before scattering them all over the
floor.

When she finally managed to get the door shut, she plunged into the storm,
fighting against the wind. She ducked her head to try and keep the pounding rain
out of her eyes as she took advantage of the lightning to look for the gull.

Icy water formed at her feet, and she realized with a shock that the storm-driven
waves were coming up over the dunes. "Larry! Larry!" she shouted desperately
into the wind, over and over, aware that her calling was useless but unable to
stop.

She didn't know when she began to cry, tears mingling with the rain and the sea
spray on her face. She only knew she was tired from battling the wind and
struggling to keep the water from pulling her off her feet. She would have to
return to the house.

"Larry!" she shirked in despair as another searing green-yellow flash split the sky.

Her heart pounding in unbelievable happiness as she caught sight of something
white bobbing up and down in the turbulent waters in front of her.

It must be Larry: an uninjured gull would not have been caught in this storm. She
had to get to him. With his damaged wing keeping him unbalanced in the water,
he never would make it to safety.

Brenda lunged for the gull, lost her footing and fell headlong into the stormy sea.
Waves slammed into her. She fought to keep her head above the water.
Choking and sputtering, she tried to scramble to her feet but the water sucked at
her legs, drawing her back under. Desperate, she struggled to the surface and
gasped for air, trying to stand erect.

Numb with cold, she stumbled towards safety, battling the waves. She thought
she heard a cry and sobbed as she tried and failed to locate the gull.