Finding Katherine (Katherine Series: Book One) (3 page)

As the night goes on, Katherine can hardly
even remember her ex's name and is quite annoyed when a man on
stage interrupts the comfortable conversation by announcing a game
that is about to take place.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are going to play a
fun little game that is all about showing off your dance moves. We
are going to pick out 20 people from the crowd to compete with one
another and only one can be crowned the winner. The winner will
receive one free week’s stay at our resort.”

The whole place seems to erupt with loud
cheers. You can feel the excitement and electricity in the air. He
continues, “The contestants will need to do their best to mimic
some dance moves of some of the locals here in the Bahamas."

Katherine scoots down in her chair, praying
not to be picked - something like this would be her worst
nightmare. People go around the room picking out people to compete
and Jack is one of them. He reluctantly stands up. It’s the first
time Katherine gets a peek at his whole body, as she eagerly looks
him up and down.

He appears to be tall, which Katherine loves
in a man, muscular but not so muscular that he looks like a hulk
like obsessed body builder. He is dressed well with a white shirt
and a pair of smart pants.

The contestants go the stage and Katherine
can see that there is a pretty even mixture of both men and women
preparing to dance. Jack is the only one who was chosen from her
table. Some music begins to play that has a great beat to it and
Katherine notices how well Jack is moving to the music.

Trying his best to dance to follow the
locals, he definitely outshines the competition. The 20 competitors
are cut down to 10. Another song plays and those 10 are cut down to
5 and finally 2 - Jack and another man.

Katherine's table whoops and cheers for Jack,
especially herself and Jacqueline - as he cheekily grins in their
direction from the stage.

The man organizing the event approaches both
men going over to the other guy first.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Shaun and I'm from Vegas baby!"

The audience cheer as the man asks him a
couple more questions before turning his attention to Jack.

"Who are you on vacation with Jack?"

"I'm with my family and I've met some great
people here tonight." He says, looking squarely at Katherine who is
watching from the crowd.

The last song plays and Jack and Shaun both
get ready to dance. The local jumps way up in the air and does a
swan dive right down to his chest as a part of the next routine
that Jack and Shaun need to repeat. Katherine is nervous. Can Jack
pull off something like that?

Jack goes first, which gives Shaun the
advantage. Jack jumps up way in the air and comes down every so
softly into a perfect swan dive. Katherine and Jacqueline jump out
of their seats and scream for Jack. They are both thoroughly
impressed.

Although they both put on an amazing
performance - Shawn seems a little more fluid. A winner is declared
based on who the crowd cheer the loudest for. To Katherine both
sets of cheers seem exactly the same. Shaun ends up walking away
with a trophy and a free weeks’ vacation though.

Jack comes back to the table breathing heavy
and a little disappointed. Everyone at the table tells him what a
good job he did. Everyone feels wide awake after the competition
and in the mood to have fun as some more music plays through the
room.

"Would you dance with me" Jack asks
Katherine, holding out his hand. "I am the second best dancer you
will find in the Bahamas after all."

She laughs and grabs his hand as he spins her
onto the dance floor. Yet again everyone who is around seems to
dissolve into nothing as Jack moves his arms around Katherine's
waist and they dance together to the beat of the music. Their faces
become closer together as the music softens and they look into each
other’s eyes anticipating what is about to come next.

"JACK!" A voice shouts over the microphone.
They stop their dancing and the man calls out again, "Jack from the
dance competition, get up here - we have a little something for
you."

Jack proceeds to walk to the front of the
room and onto the stage where the man running the event, presents
him with an envelope.

"You did such a great job in the competition
Jack that we all feel that you deserve more than a runner up pat on
the back. That is we would like to give you two tickets for a free
stay back in this beautiful resort anytime within the next
year."

The crowd cheers with applause and Jack
becomes humbled as he genuinely thanks the organizers of the event
before joining Katherine and the rest of the excited vacationers in
the room.

A short while after the dancing competition
finishes, the event comes to a close and the merry vacationers
leave the room and go back to their own lives. Jacqueline,
Katherine, Jack and Stacy leave together before Jacqueline pulls
Katherine to one side.

"Katherine, Juan just texted me to meet up.
Do you mind if I go?"

"Of course not, go get your massage man."
Katherine giggles as Jacqueline hugs her and speeds of.

"I'm going to go back to my room, I'm beat."
Stacy yawns.

Katherine and Jack say their goodbyes before
they are left in the lobby of the hotel together. Following a few
seconds of silence, Jack says "Do you want to do something?"

Katherine's heart jumps into her throat as
she queries the possibilities to Jack's question. Eventually the
twosome decides to visit a casino that is located right next to the
resort. Katherine is not much of a gambler but agrees, desperate to
spend as much time with this man as possible and not really caring
about what that entails.

Since Katherine isn’t much of a gambler, she
decides to play the nickel slot machines. Neither one of them is
really paying attention to the game. They are paying much more
attention to each other. Drunkenly giggling, Katherine feeds the
nickels into the machine when it unexpectedly lights up and music
begins to play.

'CONGRATULATIONS' shows up on the machine and
Jack picks Katherine up and swings her around.

"You won, you won the jackpot! You've won
thousands."

Katherine screams as Jack releases her and
jumps up and down on the spot. The machine spews out more nickels
than the both of them have ever seen and they begin to fill up
buckets with them. They manage to fill about 10 buckets and take it
to the counter clerk to have it changed. It is then that they
realize, Katherine has only won $150. She has won thousands of
nickels. LOL.

"I guess my new car and villa will have to
wait." Katherine laughs returning to Jack and they decide to go for
a ride on Jacks moped. He wraps his leather jacket around her
shoulders as the night is getting a little cooler and she is still
in the thin play suit from earlier in the evening.

With Katherine's arms tightly folded around
Jacks waist as he drives her around the streets, she can't help but
smile to herself. Who would have thought that this time the
previous evening, she was crying herself to sleep after an
upsetting encounter with a rude stranger?

She buries her head into his t shirt,
inhaling the smell of his cologne. Not knowing if this will go
anywhere fills her with dread but the spark that is evident between
them makes her excited and happy.

Jack finally stops his moped at a local
beach, they jump off and walk towards the sandy shore.

For the first time since they have met, there
is a soft silence between them when neither of them know what to do
or say. This makes the sexual tension even more evident than it had
been previously as they stand on the deserted beach, close enough
that they can feel one another’s breath.

Jack leans himself down onto the sand, so he
is almost laying down and stretches out his arm for Katherine to
snuggle into, to which she obliges.

"Tell me about yourself." he says.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Katherine laughs, "That could take a
while."

"I've got the time."

"I'm a computer programmer. I work for a high
tech company in Boston."

"Well look at you, I know who to come to if
my computer needs fixing." laughs Jack "So you live in Boston
huh?"

"Yes, how about you?"

"Washington. I'm in the CIA."

"Oh my god and you thought my job was
impressive, that's amazing."

"It's hard work but very rewarding." answers
Jack.

The conversation flows for hours with both of
them feeling so confident and happy with another that they open up
fully. They have laughs and also speak about more serious topics to
which they have not spoken to anyone else before. Every subject has
been delved into except the all-important one, love.

Katherine holds her breathe before asking,
"Have you had many relationships?"

"...I'm married."

Katherine bolts upright her eyes wide, Jack
bursts out laughing grabbing her by the arms.

Due to the initial shock of those words and
her bad experience with Tony, Katherine does not realize that Jack
is not being serious and starts to storm off down the beach. Tears
sting her eyes as she desperately tries to hold them back.

"Katherine, wait!" Jack shouts after her, as
he chases her. "I was kidding."

"Why would you say that?" Katherine stops and
turns around to face him, now tears evidently streaming down her
face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you would take it
seriously. Why are you crying?" Jack reaches out his fingers and
uses them to wipe the tears from Katherine's eyes.

She turns pink with embarrassment and
gestures towards the two of them, "I don't know what this is but I
just..." her voice lowers "It killed me to think that you belong to
anyone else."

"I don't belong to anybody. Now yet anyway.
Why? Do you know anyone who'd be interested?" He playfully raises
his eyebrows at her and holds her around the waist.

Their eyes lock, they stare silently for a
while until Jack gently leans in and kisses Katherine softly on the
mouth. Her emotions soften and she wraps her arm around his neck as
they start to make out while standing in the sand.

This is passion. Katherine thinks as she gets
butterflies in her stomach, a feeling that she has never
experienced before but one that she takes as a good sign. They pull
apart and Katherine gets a good look at Jack's face, it's now that
she really notices the blueness of his eyes and the dimples when he
smiles.

"Are you OK?"

Katherine nods and sits on the beach,
motioning for Jack to join her. She is desperate for more of him,
all of him. Tonight.

Jack sits next to her and goes to kiss her
lightly on the lips, she pulls him closer and slips her tongue into
his mouth. He responds for a moment or so before pulling away,
aware of where this is going and she sits hurt.

"You don't like me."

"I more than like you." Jack replies.

"Then make love to me." Katherine whispers so
quietly that Jack almost doesn't hear it.

"You've known me for five hours."

"I know that but I know what’s right and I
know what I want...tell me you don't feel it."

"I feel it Katherine. Do you have any idea
how much I want you right now?”

Jack runs his fingers gently down Katherine’s
cheek and smiles at her. “You’re so beautiful. You’re smart and
funny, what’s not to like. But you've been drinking and I don't
want you to wake up in the morning and regret anything."

Katherine bites her lip, she knows she would
never regret anything that happens with this gorgeous, kind man but
the visions of the previous night remind her she is right.

"I want to know you. Properly know you until
you give yourself to me."

Katherine tries to stifle a giggle from
Jack's cheesy old fashioned way of thinking, before she nods "OK,
we can still kiss though right?"

Jack grins and Katherine feels herself
getting so horny for him, even more so now that he has said nothing
can happen. She pulls him on top of her and they make out, the
passion builds and Katherine can feel the bulge in Jack's pants.
His growing excitement verifies for her that he really does want
her and everything that he has said is true.

Katherine moans, wrapping her arms around
Jack and slipping her hands under his shirt. She feels his sweaty
skin and stops kissing him for a second to whisper something in his
ear.

"When we do, I'm going to blow your
mind."

"I have no doubt about it baby."

Where has this naughty confident vixen come
from? Katherine thinks to herself as she continues to rub Jack up
and down. Jack jumps off of Katherine and after a little while
starts to continue chatting only to get no reply. He thinks that he
has upset her again before noticing that her breathing is
heavy.

He moves to look at her face only to see that
she is fast asleep. He kisses her on the head and then curls up
with her and he too falls asleep.

Katherine wakes the next morning, to find
herself still wrapped in Jack's arms. She smiles, relieved that
meeting him was not a dream and gently nudges him awake as she
realizes that the sun is starting to rise.

"Good morning beautiful." Jack rubs
Katherine's arm and she tries to hide her face from him.

"Beautiful at this time of the day? I think
not!"

Jack laughs before looking out at the ocean.
"Wow, would you look at that."

The sun begins to rise and the horizon is a
whole mixture of oranges, yellows, pinks and red.

"Incredible. I think we have probably have
the best view of the sunrise than anyone in the Bahamas." Katherine
exclaims.

"I'd say your right and who better to watch
it with?" Jack says before they kiss gently on the lips in the
morning heat.