Page Ch. 04

The last comments get my hands a squeeze and a big smile from her, "Thanks for bringing me here."

We both pick up our menus and start looking through them in silence for a minute or so, when Marcus arrives at our table to deliver a fresh loaf of pumpernickel bread on a cutting board with butter and tells us about their specials and takes our drink orders. We both get tea and want to think about the main course.

Once he's gone she asks, "What did you get when you were here before?"

"Drafted," I say with a laugh. "This is where Gary convinced me to run. But to answer your question, we both had almond encrusted fresh caught trout. I don't think that's on the menu this time of year, although they may have frozen. The steak special sounded good."

"I wanted something a little lighter, maybe the salmon cooked on a cedar plank?"

"Definitely, I've had that too," I say turning to see Marcus just back at our table.

"Have you two decided?" he asks, as he placed crystal tea glasses between us.

"I think we both want the grilled cedar-plank salmon," Page answers.

"Did you like the sides that come with that?"

"Lemon risotto and asparagus sounds good to me," I say.

Page agrees with a nod of her head and Marcus says, "Any appetizers?"

"No, we'll save room for dessert though," she says with a little giggle.

"Okay, I'll have that out for y'all in just a bit," Marcus says and departs for the kitchen.

"I can't tell you how hungry I am," I say as I take her hand and give a wink.

"You can't still be hungry," she teases back. "You already had an appetizer earlier."

"I know, but -"

"No buts," she giggles throwing my words back at me from early this morning. "I promise I will be making you ask for mercy within the week."

"A promise like that must be tested."

"You may have noticed that I've had a lot of pent up -"

"Yes, yes you have."

We sit holding hands across the table in silence. I am drinking in this glorious woman who looks just radiant in the lamp light. I notice she's removed all but one earring from each ear and marvel at the fact I hadn't noticed before when she was dressing, although there were other things to distract me.

"What?"

"Nothing, Page, you're just beautiful."

Before she can reply, Marcus is back with a tray. The smell is wonderful as he places Page's plate first and then mine. There is steam arising from the food, which is as fresh as can be.

"You let me know if there's anything else I can get you," he says and is off again.

I take a sip of my tea and realize we haven't touched the bread or our tea since he'd brought it out. Additionally, we are both hungry from the days 'activities' and we are both enjoying the food. The salmon is perfect with a smoky cedar taste which plays off the lemon risotto. The asparagus is slightly al dente, just how I like it.

"This is so, good," she says after having finished about half her salmon and all of her asparagus.

"Not bad for a smallish town, right?"

"I think I'm in love with this place."

We each finish most of the food on our plates. Marcus has been visiting our table periodically but hasn't interrupted us when we were in conversation or eating as lots of wait staff seem to do. He's filled our glasses with tea a couple of times, but didn't speak. Now that we appear finished, he is back with a big tray of goodies.

"You mentioned you might want dessert, so I brought out the sample tray."

"Oh, I want that chocolate thing," Page says immediately.

"I'll just share hers. Can we get some coffees too?"

"Absolutely, I'll have that right out."

He is back in just a moment and what he brings out looks even better than the sample. It is a piece of chocolate art, with thick mousse and cake layered and a thin frosting of dark chocolate with several large strawberries and liquid chocolate spiraling out around the design. Two thin dark chocolate wedges are stuck into the construction with a dab of whip cream between them and a sprig of mint on top.

I'm adding cream to my coffee while Page enthusiastically starts into it and her eyes grow wide as the first taste melts in her mouth.

"This is sinful."

I take a small fork full and have to agree. "Yes and it pairs with the coffee very well."

The meal date seems to be a big hit, I am daydreaming about what I might get her for Christmas. She has all that money and seems to buy anything she or I need. Plus, I worry how I might be able to hide any shopping from her in the few remaining days before Christmas. Suddenly, I remember that I'd gotten some diamond stud earrings earlier this year and I'd actually stashed them under the foam of one of the gun cases. I'd totally forgotten about them after Natalie broke up with me this summer. It feels a little odd considering giving them to Page now, but with her sitting here before me in this light with just two simple earrings in, I can't think of a more fitting gift.

"Page to Ryan, come back to earth. Are you going to eat any more of this before I kill myself with it?"

"Oh - um - yes. I'll have a couple more bites."

"Where were you just now?"

"We are going to have Christmas together, just the two of us."

"It'll be nice," she says. "Now eat your dessert, or you might not get any."

"Yes ma'am," I say and have several quick bites. It's almost too much for me, but the promise of dessert later, spurs me on into a near chocolate coma.

We finish and I pay the bill and tip Marcus handsomely, all with cash at Page's insistence. I help Page into her coat and we are back outside and it is quite dark. Inside the car, I note that the clock reads 6:50 PM. I exit the parking lot and drive around looking for a Christmas tree lot and finally find one. They don't have many left and I hope Page won't be too disappointed.

We get out of the car and walk through the entire lot. There are a couple that aren't too bad, but she doesn't look very enthused and I'm determined not to let her down on this.

Making a command decision, I say, "Page, we should go to a store, get a stand, decorations and a saw. I'll just cut one of Gary's trees."

"You sure he won't mind?" she says with her eyes shining brightly.

"I'm pretty sure, but we can call and ask before we do it. If not, we'll go out again tomorrow and find one somewhere else."

With that, we get back in the car and head over to the local hardware store. Inside we find the decorations fairly picked over as well, but they've just gotten a fresh batch of LED lights in and there are plenty of tree stands. I leave Page to pick out some ornaments while I go to get a decent saw. When I come back she's got three dozen clear colored glass ornaments of varying size and four strands of LED lights that fade from one color to another.

As we walk together towards the checkout, I notice a display of pods next to the appliances and grab a container to do laundry, since I hadn't seen any at the cabin. Page has her arm in mine and the lady at the old-timey cash register gives us an approving smile.

Page pays for it all in cash again and the lady seems kind of surprised. "Most folks don't bother with cash these days."

"We don't want to run up any debt, we're going to buy a house," I offer.

"Oh, good. You two look like a great couple. Hope to see you around. Y'all have a Merry Christmas."

"Thanks so much; you too!" Page says cheerfully.

Outside we pack the items in the trunk of the car, I assist her back into the passenger seat and then get in myself. As I start the car to head back for the cabin, she leans across the console and hugs me tight.

"You are the best, Ry."

"What's all this about?"

"You don't know how happy all of this makes me."

"I'm glad," I say, thinking it's just a tree.

We arrive back at the cabin and she's at the trunk waiting for me to let her get the items out.

"We don't have the tree yet, we'll have to cut or get one tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know. I just like looking at the lights."

Inside Page first pulls all the boxes out of the bags and looks them over again. I swear, Dad must have neglected her more than she's told me. She leaves the glass ornaments in the boxes, but hooks up two of the LED lights in a chain and spreads them over the curtains of the front window. Their color fading effect seems to sooth her. I go to the kitchen to make another round of espressi with cream. When I bring hers back out into the main room, she's at the desk checking things on her computer.

"You aren't going to like this," she says, as I place her cup beside her. "Someone has been in the condo and I'm detecting an array of devices on your network that weren't there before."

"I guess that means we're staying a while longer?"

"I don't know why they would be so blatant about it though, it's like they want to be discovered."

"You have some pictures?"

"Yes take a look," she says scrolling through some. "They were careless, although they did wear hooded jackets and they waited until it was dark."

"That's why they are black and white?"

"Yep, that's the infrared."

"Hey, go back one."

"You know this face?"

"I don't know her, but I've seen her. I'm trying to remember where."

"She looks Asian. I wonder if we're dealing with multiple groups?"

"What the fuck have I gotten into?"

"We're closing in, Ryan."

"I felt so good being with you this afternoon and evening. Now, I feel like everything is upside down."

"Here's something good, though. Our honeypot trap has finally gotten us full access to bpodq's laptop. I'm collecting some documents from her now. We're going to get to whomever is behind her soon. I just need to get this information to Leda, my Russian isn't very good."

"I didn't know you knew any," I say, astounded as I watch her paging through a document.

"Well, there are a lot of technical words in here that I can make out. I think it's authorization to spy on you, and there is something in here about the election too."

"No way, really; where?" I ask, momentarily thinking I might understand something.

"This paragraph here is about the election, see here's the date."

I see the date, my name, my opponents name and I am at a loss but words tumble from my mouth, "There should be no reason for them to care about my reelection. I'm not on any defense or top secret committees, just the Education and Workforce House Committee. Why would they bother?"

Then Page's words from a moment ago register with me and I ask, "Wait, Reba knows Russian?"

"Fuck, I really suck at this part. I keep saying things out loud that I should keep in my head. Look, we'll get her in an encrypted chat tomorrow and see how bad things are."

"I think you're doing great Page, I couldn't do any of that shit. You keep amazing me from one moment to the next. When you arrived, you were my sister whom I thought needed help. Instead you've become my lover and protector. You're this woman who's got skills I'll probably never understand: hacking, espionage, languages and some kind of fucking ninja moves."

"It's Krav Maga, not nijutsu."

"Okay, Kav Marga, whatever that is," I say thinking I'm going to have to start looking up this stuff.

"Krav Maga," she sighs and then mumbles, "- and I keep freaking saying too much." She turns back to the laptop and starts typing furiously. "I've got to get these off in a secure drop box for Leda to look over, and you've got to stop calling her by her name."

"Right, I forgot. I'll try to remember. She's Leda and you're Shiva. What's my name?"

"You're Quirinus."

"What kind of character is it?"

"A warrior, hey get your laptop. We'll play a little."

"You're done?"

"Yes all finished. I put everything I've gathered in a secure drop."

I get my laptop from the bedroom and sit next to her at the long desk. Pressing the on button the thing comes right on, I log in and I launch the correct VM that has the game. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself and I even remember how to log in to the game without looking in the password file. Maybe I've got some of that eidetic memory too? Over the next hour, she shows me how to move around, get on my mounts, fight with NPCs and duel one another. It's kind of fun, I have to admit.

"I didn't think I was going to like this," I say through a yawn as we are shutting things down.

"See, there is some stress relief in it, although we weren't doing anything hard yet."

"Yeah, it's an escape from reality. I could probably get addicted," I say powering off the laptop.

"Come here you," she says. "You can't be getting sleepy, you haven't had seconds on dessert yet."

I take her in my arms and hug her tightly. "Would a gentle love making suffice?" I ask softly as I nibble her ear.

"That would be perfect, my handsome rugged warrior," she says, as she rubs the stubble of my beard.

With that I pick her up, carry her to the bedroom and place her on the unmade bed. We pull each other's clothes off and settle into an easy missionary position. It is so relaxing and loving that all the worries melt away. I repeatedly tell Page how much I love her and adore her. When I feel her crescendo, I begin building to my own climax as slowly and methodically as I can muster. I furtively wish we were somewhere else away from these other issues, living our bliss filled lives out together. I can see us on a farm or some secluded mountain place like this one, without all the other baggage we seem to be carrying. It's all surreal and I just want her to be happy. I return to myself as I hear her moaning my name repeatedly in sheer ecstasy.

"God, I love you, Page," I whisper in her ear as I cum inside her with a shivering orgasm like none I've ever felt.

I hold myself firmly inside her until she settles. "I can't believe how they just keep getting better," she sighs at last.

I want to tell her right now, I just can't figure out how. Page is the one, she's everything I ever wanted all wrapped in this gorgeous intelligent woman that just happens to be my sister. I slide off and spoon into her. I know I should tell her before it is too late. Maybe she knows already, but I should say.

"Maybe we should run away together again?"

"You always know what I'm thinking and go right for the weakness."

"We could get away from all this craziness. I have plenty of money."

"Get married and have some kids?"

"Umm, yeah, I'd have your babies. They'd be smart and good looking," she says, snuggling closer.

Hugging her tightly, I can see us together in that future. It's a realistic possibility that I couldn't have imagined a week ago. She's made it all seem possible, attainable and ever so desirable.

I awake early to the sound of Page cussing in the bathroom. "Fucking bitch traced back my phone!"

"So we need to leave?"

"No, she didn't really back hack, she just let me know she knew my number," she says tossing the batteries she'd removed on the bed. "We'll just have to get new ones."