Holonovel, Chapter 2

Posted on Wed Jul 11, 2018 @ 1:23pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Civilian Opal Oliver (Deceased) Dr

2,405 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Holodeck 3
Timeline: MD4 1900

Returning excitedly for day two of their holonovel at Gino's, Opal was wearing a broad grin at the prospect of resuming Carrie's acquaintance with the gorgeous and mysterious Mister Black.

Holonovel Restart: Day 2::

In the morning, Carrie White was up early as usual, and she had bread baking, bacon cooking and coffee in a pot on the firestand before she started outside to collect the eggs she would need, plus a few more for the pantry, in time to return to take the pan off the skillet and cook the fresh eggs as the last ingredient.

She served up two plates and looked back out of the door to see if she could call "Shane...Mr. Black," she corrected herself, calling out his name to summon him from wherever he was out there, to have breakfast.

Shane emerged from the barn. He’d already been up an hour and gotten a start on chores. Now that breakfast was ready, it was time for a break. In the week he had been working on the farm, several improvements had been made. The leak in the chicken coop roof had been patched, the picket fence around the little front yard had been whitewashed, and the hog trough had been repaired.

“Mornin’, ma’am,” Shane greeted, his dark eyes meeting Carrie’s. Some sort of electricity seemed to leap between them through that gaze as he pressed past her into the house, his firm, muscled chest against the soft roundness of her breasts. The kitchen seemed suddenly warmer, despite the cool morning air coming in through the open door. “Breakfast smells good.” But then her cooking was always amazing. He flashed her that handsome smile of his and went to the stove to pour himself some coffee.

Carrie stood where she was, not daring to trust her knees to keep her up if she tried to walk straight away. Within a moment however, she joined Shane at the table, fetching the coffee pot first to pour them both a tin mug of the dark liquid. Returning the pot to the fire stand, she came back to sit down to her breakfast, stopping initially to let Shane say grace again if he wanted to. If he didn't offer again, she would do it, but she wanted to let him have the first choice.

Shane nodded to Carrie. It was her house, and so her place. When she was finished, he picked up his coffee and took a sip, perking up. “Anythin’ in particular ya want done today, ma’am?” Shane asked. “Ah thought Ah might take a whack at that big ol’ stump in the middle of the yard.” He nodded out the window. A large tree stump was prominent in the yard, something her husband had never had much luck with removing. “Might be an all day project, though, so if there’s somethin’ else ya need done t’day, let me know.”

"I'm very happy for you to pick out what you want to do, Shane. It all needs doing, and I'm not fussed about the order it happens in. Whatever you feel like doing, whichever day you want to do it. Perhaps even the weather will influence your choices." She smiled, happily eating her breakfast and trying to be subtle about watching him. She would wait until he went outside, then she could watch his muscles rippling with the semblance of modesty that standing at the kitchen sink and pretending not to be looking out could offer. He really was a sight for sore eyes, even at the table, inactive apart from eating. Outside, with his shirt off, he was...well, temptation on legs.

Shane nodded to Carrie, his dark eyes studying her. She was quite the beauty, widowed too young. He smiled and was about to say something when there came a bit of a commotion from outside.

Shane stood up and went to the window. He frowned a bit and left for the barn without a word.

When Carrie looked out the window, she saw a group of cowboys with a small herd of about two dozen head of cattle. They had just snipped the wire around her garden and were now driving the animals through the garden to get to the river. She recognized the brand and the horses of her neighbor Jarred Kincaid.

Carrie's eyes widened in a mix of horror and anger, and she rushed to the fireplace, wiping her hands on her apron as she ran, and taking down a perfectly maintained and well cared for rifle, which she took to the front door, checking the bullets as she hurried outside.

She opened her mouth to shout at the cowboys before they could cut the fencing to let the cows out at the other side of the now trampled garden and home crops. She levelled the rifle sight and looked along the length of the gun, aiming to clip a shoulder and take one of the invaders off his horse, but before she'd had chance to even get a sightline, or a word out, something happened that stopped her in her tracks, causing her to look round.

One of the cowboys had his six gun levelled at Carrie. “Ah’d put that down, ma’am,” he said. “The cows just need a bit of a drink, an’ then we’ll be on our way.” He leered at her. “Lessin’ ya want us ta stay around an’ keep ya comp’ny,” he said lecherously. “It’s gotta be awful lonely since yer husband passed. A woman’s got...needs. Or mebbe yer gettin’ yer companionship offa that drifter ya hired. Ya ridin’ that cowboy, ma’am?” he leered as the cows moved into the river to drink. Her garden was more or less ruined.

"You are trespassing!" she growled, glaring at him despite the gun he was pointing at her. She did lower her own rifle though. It seemed wise in the circumstances. "You have cut my fences and ruined my vegetables - Your boss will be getting a large bill for this." she threatened, hoping he might actually believe she could bill Jarred in some way. It was all very unlikely that she could even get the Sheriff to intervene. He was very good at turning a blind eye if he could get away with it.

She seethed but stood still under the threat of the six-gun pointed at her ear.

Shane emerged from the barn. He had a black gun belt at his waist now, with a pair of low slung Colt Peacemakers with pearl handles and silver finish. She hadn’t seen them before. His black hat was pulled low over his eyes.

“Ah’d move that piece of iron from the lady, if Ah were you, friend,” Shane said. His thumbs hooked casually at his belt buckle, his legs apart, his body loose and casual, but his dark eyes staring down the cowboy.

The cowboy turned to see the person attached to that voice and froze as he took in the guns in their holsters, the agile way that Shane stood ready and dangerous, his eyes shaded by the now lowered brim of his hat and the focus of a man who knew how to use those very impressive guns.

Carrie drew in a shuddering breath. She didn't know if it was from the adrenaline from having just had death aimed at her ear, or that which was coursing through her veins at the sight of her rescuer and his magnificent presence, poised like a big, sleek, black mountain lion. waiting. The tension in the air was electric.

The cowboy gave Carrie a little shove and a smile. “Sorry yer fence got in the way of our cattle gettin’ water,” he told her. He gave a head jerk to the other cowboys, and they whistled and turned their horses, moving to wrangle the cattle back onto ranch land.

Shane just stood at the barn door watching until they rode out of sight before he crossed the yard to Carrie.

“Are you okay, Mrs. White?” he asked her, his deep, dark eyes searching hers as his strong hands rested on her shoulders.

"Thanks to you, Mister Black," she said, a little hoarsely. "I'm so grateful you were here." Her whole body seemed to melt beneath the touch of his hands on her shoulders, and the power of his fabulous eyes seeming to see right into her soul. She breathed in deeply, partly as she began to recover from the combination of anger and fear that the whole incident had filled her with, but also partly because of Shane and his seductive presence. She drew in his scent and sighed, instinctively leaning against his supportive hands.

She tore her eyes off him to glance at the wrecked garden, but was too distracted by him to be appropriately distraught about her produce and all the work and time she had expended on growing them.

“Ah’ll take care of cleanin’ it up, ma’am,” Shane said, using a rough finger to turn her gaze back to him. “Don’t you worry about it none.”

Their eyes locked a moment, time seemed to slow, and he leaned in slightly, his strong, muscled chest pressing against the swell of her breasts. Carrie almost leaned in too. She had to catch herself and pull back to avoid it, but she had to use all her willpower to do it. She felt his breath on her lips, they were so close, and she breathed in his scent. He was overpoweringly attractive, and she had been lonely for a long time. She fought to keep her breathing even, but it did seem ragged to her, despite her best efforts.

"Thank you, Mister Black," she breathed, her voice almost a whisper. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here." She hadn't leaned in closer, but neither had she moved back much either. She felt frozen and distant, and warm, so warm inside. She could feel her cheeks burning now, and knowing she was blushing only made her flush more. Her fingers defied her and moved of their own free will, upwards towards his face, but their tips stopped just a hair's length from his lips before she could even think what she was doing.

Inside Carrie, Opal was burning for Caleb, and it was exquisite. This was a brilliant idea. She was trying so hard not to influence what her character did with what she wanted her to do. It was not easy at all. The scenario, the romance, the whole sexy black leather outfit. It was so exciting. She shivered with anticipation and tried harder to stick to the storyline, but gods, he was gorgeous!

The holostory moved on, time seeming to have stopped for the two characters on the porch. Couldn't Opal just ravish him there on the porch and... Oh, but...no. She had to play the part. Carrie lowered her face and eyes, modestly stepping back. It wouldn't do for a widow alone like this to be, well, too grateful, but then he was a complete saving grace for her situation, and she would have been very grateful indeed, and he was so sexy and amazing in that leather, and…

Opal broke out in perspiration. This was hard. What would Carrie have done? Opal had to try to work that out without ripping Caleb's clothes off just because he was, oh gods, so yummy! Wouldn't Carrie have found him irresistible too? Of course she would, but then these were very different times. She couldn't have just... After all, he was sleeping in the barn to save her reputation. She would surely have to do her own part in trying to save it too? Wouldn't she?

Caleb stared into Opal-Carrie’s eyes, fighting with his own desires to stay in character. He would like nothing more than to take Opal there on the porch, ravish her completely. But that wasn’t supposed to happen in this chapter. He didn’t want to short circuit the experience. His desire was evident in his dark eyes, though, in the hardness against her thigh beneath his jeans.

Shane stepped back. “Ah best get ta work, ma’am,” he said, his voice husky with need. He turned and hopped off the porch, heading to the garden, taking deep, steadying breaths.

Carrie leaned against the porch rails and needed them to hold her up, due to an almost complete failure of her knees again. She watched "Mister Black" as he worked to tidy the garden and mend the fencing. Ordinarily a woman like her who would have had to do all of this by herself in the past would have offered to help and toiled beside him, but it was all she could do to go indoors and fetch out a jug of water and two bottles of the root beer he liked. She took them over to him and avoided his eyes as she set the tray down onto an upturned water trough that he hadn't yet had time to set back upright and repair.

“Thank ya, ma’am,” Shane said, flashing her a smile.

Chapter Complete, came the computer’s voice, and Caleb stopped and turned back to Opal with a grin.

“Damn, woman! Yer makin’ this so hard!”

"Me?" Opal sputtered and threw off her costume, which in itself was no mean task. She did, however, sneak a quick leer at him when he took off his shirt and dissolved into a fit of giggles like a teenager when he caught her watching him.

"How is it my fault you're so bloody sexy?" she asked, pretending to be defensive and not actually having to act at all as it happened. He was amazing. She got dressed into her own clothes and when he was ready to leave she put her arm into his and walked down the corridors in a very "proper" way, a smirk playing at her lips whenever she thought he wasn't watching. That was until they got inside his quarters where she started to ask what he wanted for supper and didn't actually get a clear answer... Well, not for a long time!

FIN

Cdr. Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

Dr. Opal Oliver
Civilian Surgeon
NPC Amia Telamon

 

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