Chapter 4 – Carl
I was about ready to explode. I was sitting on a seat that was too small for me beside Virginia, who was the hottest young woman I had ever set my eyes on. I had nowhere to go, we were on an aircraft! On our way to Alaska! Not that it should have been a problem, but the fact was that she was also my best friend’s daughter. I clenched my fists on my sides and hoped that she couldn’t see.
“Has my dad told you anything about what’s going on?” she asked, and I had no choice but to look at her. Virginia had said very little since she got into the car earlier, and I had assumed it was because everything was happening so fast.
“Very little. All I know is that your life is in danger back home, and he wants me to keep you safe; at least for a few days till he can figure everything else out,” I told her and she looked away from me and out of the window at the passing clouds.
It was strange that the kiss had changed everything. Before her eighteenth birthday, when I had set my eyes on her body in that short black dress she was wearing, Virginia had been nothing more to me than my best friend’s cute kid. I had watched her grow up in front of my eyes. I’d been there when she was in pigtails, drawing absurd shapes in crayons.
I had no idea when she had grown up and turned into this gorgeous woman. At eighteen, it was the first time I’d really noticed her.
“You know, all it would have taken was for my dad to just explain it to me. Instead, he told me to pack up and get in the car,” she continued, turning back to me. Now that she was sitting right there beside me in such close proximity, I noticed that she had the widest green eyes. Her eyelashes were long and dark and the skin of her cheeks was smooth and soft, the color of peaches and cream.
How had I not noticed these things about her before?
“Mike is panicking. You mean the world to him, and it is only natural that he wants to keep you safe,” I said, trying to hold an actual conversation with this girl I was secretly fantasizing about.
That kiss had happened out of nowhere. One moment, we were standing in the backyard, looking up at the stars. There were people inside the house, drinking and dancing and celebrating her eighteenth birthday. The next moment, she was in my arms and my tongue was pushing her lips apart.
I knew I had been drinking. We had been talking casually and she followed me outside when I decided to have a smoke. But how drunk did I have to be to kiss my best friend’s eighteen-year-old daughter?
I’d stopped it immediately, and walked away from her. Back in the party, I’d pretended like nothing had happened and once I was back in the safety of my apartment, I vowed to make sure that I never ran into her again. Well, that plan was totally ruined.
“And there’s no man for the job like Carl, is there?” Virginia said and a soft smile tugged the corners of her pouty pink lips. Lips I had already tasted and had tried so hard to forget.
It had been two years since that kiss. She was twenty now but still twenty-five years younger than me! No matter how old she got, that fact was never going to change. Nor the fact that she was my best friend’s daughter!
I shrugged my shoulders and took in a deep breath.
“He trusts me,” I said.
“You are his best friend,” she added, and she was staring at me with bright sparkling green eyes. Almost like she was trying to tell me something.
“I’d do anything for Mike,” I stated and looked away from her before I did something stupid.
Virginia had long chestnut straight hair, which she had tied in a sleek ponytail now. She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, that accentuated the curves of her hips and her thighs. She was wearing a thick wine-colored turtleneck sweater, and I hadn’t failed to notice how the material stretched over her perfect breasts.
I shook my head, trying to stop thinking about her breasts. I was here to keep her safe! That was the job that her father had entrusted me with. Fantasizing about Virginia’s breasts was completely inappropriate.
“I’m planning on enjoying myself,” I heard her say and I looked over at her again. Some of the bangs on her forehead had fallen into her eyes. She had the perfect heart-shaped face and I gulped.
“You should. This should be more like a vacation for you,” I said encouragingly and tried to smile at her. Virginia nodded her head, matching my smile with one of her own dazzling ones.
“So, you can be responsible for safety, and I’ll be responsible for fun!” she exclaimed and laughed lightly. Her laugh did something strange to me; I was reminded of how I liked watching her smile and laugh. It wasn’t just the fact that she had the most perfectly suckable pair of breasts, but the fact that she was also a happy presence to be around.
“Yes, that’s a good idea. I don’t think there’s much use if it’s the other way around,” I said and Virginia laughed harder. I noticed her pink bubblegum tongue, and I felt a movement in my pants. Fuck!
“Yeah, if I’m responsible for safety, we’ll be walking around in tin hats and camouflage gear like we’re in the jungle. And if you’re responsible for fun, we’ll be sitting in our hotel rooms, trying to memorize the fire exits and the floor-plan!” she said and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.
What had I gotten myself into?
***
When we landed at the Juneau Airport, I rented a car and drove us to the hotel that I had booked for us for the night. Even though I had booked two separate rooms for us, I had no choice but to make sure that they were right beside each other, for Virginia’s safety.
It was a beautiful hotel, and she seemed pleased as she walked down the lobby and I followed her to the rooms.
“What are we doing for dinner?” she asked, as she stuck the keycard into the lock on her door.
“We could go down to the restaurant,” I suggested and she smiled and nodded her head.
“Give me a few minutes to freshen up and I’ll meet you there,” she said.
I took the time to check the perimeter of the hotel, and make sure that I knew where the exits were and which blind spots to keep an eye on. By the time I arrived at the hotel’s restaurant, I found that Virginia had already taken a seat at a table and was looking through the menu.
The restaurant was a cozy romantic setting and as I walked towards the table, I noticed the floating candles in the bowl between the two chairs. She had picked out a table for two in a dimly lit corner of the restaurant and I had no other choice but to go along with it.
Virginia had changed into a black dress and she’d let her hair down. The dress reminded me of what she was wearing at her eighteenth birthday and I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Her hair looked lush and shiny as it fell over both her shoulders, and her eyes glowed in the flickering light of the candles between us.
“I think I’m going to go for the fish,” she said, slapping her menu shut.
“I’ll go for the same,” I said as a waiter turned up at our side.
“But you haven’t even looked at the menu!” she remarked with the same laugh in her voice and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’m not a picky eater,” I said and she placed the order to the waiter. I also asked him for a finger of whiskey, and when he was gone Virginia looked into my eyes and smiled.
“I can’t usually order drinks around Dad,” she said and I toyed with the glass of water by my side.
“So, you shouldn’t order drinks around me, either,” I told her and Virginia tucked in some stray strands of hair behind her ears and sat back in her chair.
“But you’re not my dad,” she said and our eyes met. There was a playful expression on her face, and I couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was. How had Mike produced this perfect specimen of female gorgeousness? It was all his fucking fault.
“No, I am not, but I’m responsible for you,” I told her and Virginia arched her eyebrows at me.
“You’re responsible for keeping me safe, not for keeping me well-behaved,” she said and she was smiling again. She was right on that front, but I wasn’t going to admit it.
“So, this thing with my dad. Do you really think it’s going to blow over soon or are we going to be stuck here longer than just a week?” she asked and I shrugged my shoulders, just as the waiter brought me my drink.
“I really don’t know, but I trust Mike to be doing everything in his power to sort it all out as quickly as possible. I’m sure he doesn’t like the fact that he had to send you away like this,” I told her and Virginia wasn’t smiling anymore. She was looking down at her lap and seemed to be playing with her fingers.
“Dad thinks that I don’t have it all figured out – that I’m just his little princess who needs to be shielded and protected from everything. That’s partly mom’s fault too . . . but I’m not an idiot. I’m twenty years old, I am well-read and educated, and I know what his business involves,” Virginia said, and she fixed a steady stare on me. I had been watching her lips move, the perfect bow-shaped arch of her mouth.
“I’m sure you do, but he wants to shield you from his life because it can be dangerous and he doesn’t want you getting involved in any of it,” I told her, taking a large sip of my whiskey.
Our food had arrived and the waiter was placing the plates between us. Virginia was quiet again as we began to eat.
“Carl, thank you for doing this. I’m sure my dad’s thanked you, too, but I don’t want to behave like a spoilt brat and take your help for granted,” Virginia said and our eyes met again. She was right, she wasn’t just Mike’s little princess anymore. She was a grown woman with her own opinions, but that didn’t make me wanting her okay either.
“You don’t need to thank me, Virginia. You’re my best friend’s daughter, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe,” I said and she popped a piece of fish into her mouth and chewed. Her lips moved as she ate, and even though I looked back down at my plate, I could sense her eyes on me.
“Before this vacation ends, I want every embarrassing story on dad that you can give me,” she said. Virginia was smiling again and a smile was spreading on my face too; I couldn’t stifle it anymore.
“You mean like when your dad lost his pants at a rave and was too high to remember where he’d left them?” I asked and she broke into immediate laughter. Virginia put her cutlery down on the plate and placed her chin on her palm and stared at me with a smile.
“Tell me more,” she said, and I happily obliged.