“Both.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked guilty.
“Oh boy, this is bad. You think the intense gene will transfer to our kid?” I feigned a horrified face.
“Maybe.” His eyes threatened.
“Oh God, you mean we might have an Egbert or a Eugene?” I planted my hands on my face in horror.
“Perhaps a Bertha or a Phyllis.” I loved that he was playing along.
“Oh God, Alec? What should we do? This is horrible.” I pretended to shake. “Is there any hope?”
“Sex, we have to have tons of sex,” he chimed in like a lunatic.
“And how exactly is that going to save our child from Geekdom?”
“We’ll infuse him or her with the primal energy of love.” He was nuts.
I shook my head. “Right. That.” I started to laugh. Despite all my weird and warring emotions, I finally gave into mirth. “Getting away will be fun. Thank you, Alec. When you proposed yesterday, I sort of hated you. I mean, at the time I didn’t realize it was all a fake, even though you’d explained it, when you busted out that ring and told the world I was pregnant, I just … you’d ripped the last little shred of me out of my life.” I wasn’t really wanting to go for that much honesty, but there it was.
“Yeah, well, you kept running away. I couldn’t lose you again, but maybe a little more communication and planning would have been prudent. For a nerd, I can be quite impulsive and erratic.”
“Oh yes, you can.” My eyes widened.
“This will all work out, I promise.” He drew me into an embrace.
I was remarkably comfortable in his arms, and so I just remained there for the rest of the trip. He turned on the television, and we watched The Blue Marigold, a current film which was a thriller with a little romance thrown in. There were a few jumps in the movie that got my heart pumping, and at the one very gory part, I laughed like a maniac as gruesome stuff always made me giggle with discomfort. Alec just shook his head in confusion.
We arrived at the house while it was still light enough outside to witness the spectacular view.
“Are you serious?” I asked as I emerged from the car to find a massive solitary mansion at the apex of Lake Ontario. “What the hell do you do with all of this, Alec?” I wasn’t accusing, I was genuinely curious.
“It has been in the family for eons. I had it renovated, or I dare say you wouldn’t have been so impressed. Tacky wallpaper, eighties furniture … it was scarier than the movie.” He picked up our bags and nodded to the driver who pulled out of the massive turn around the driveway and headed back out to the road.
“You don’t have people buried under the floorboards, do you? The movie wasn’t some kind of macabre foreshadowing? We are pretty all alone out here.” I playfully backed away from him.
“Yes.” He headed toward the house, and I had no choice but to follow him. “I couldn’t wait to get you up here …” He did his best sinister laugh as I reluctantly chased behind him, nervous giggle and all.
When we entered, my mind was blown. The foyer towered two stories up, and everything was made of glass. The sunlight illuminated the space beautifully.
“Wow, can’t think of a better place to be buried.” I turned a full circle without realizing I’d done it.
He grabbed me before I circled again. “So, before I hack you to bits, what would you like to do? We have just enough light to take out the speedboat and hit the lake, do a little water skiing perhaps, or there’s a nice hike not too far away. We’d have to leave right this very instant for that, though. I don’t want us stuck out in the woods after dark.”
“I vote speedboat.” I was literally feeling giddy.
I’d been on plenty of speedboats, yachts, fishing boats, dinghies, but the idea of speeding around the lake with my erratic lover and the father of my child with whom I’d spent less than seventy-two hours with seemed exhilarating.
“Speedboat it is then.” He set our things down, grabbed a set of keys from a peg at the door.
We walked down to the dock and boarded the boat floating tethered to a line knotted to a pristine white wooden post.
“Does everything just stay here suspended in time waiting for you?”
He helped me into the boat.
“No, I have a staff of people, they make the magic. I called ahead.” Okay, there are some fun places on the lake I think you should see. But first, do you want to water ski or just sightsee?”
“Sightsee sounds good. I want to save my strength for later.” I winked at him.
Suddenly, having sex with him was really all I wanted to do. He brought out the crazy in me. I hadn’t had many men, but when I did, I loved sex. Sex with Alec was erotic, a little terrifying, and oh so sexy. I felt better able to deal with him having seen the effort he was making to help me feel more at home in his presence. The cool winds whipped my hair, and my heart sped with the boat careening across the lake as the trees and mountains lazily meandered by.