“That we develop six or eight patterns and use them over and over. Butt two together if it has to make a larger piece. Put three or more together if it needs to be larger still.”

“Hey Doug, this is why I go to you.”

“When do you need drawings?”

“End of week?” he was stretching, he knew it.

“Caitlyn, is that enough time for you?” I asked.

She looked at me in shock. Her face completely changed as she turned to him. She smiled at Frank and said. “That will be plenty, we’ll have drawings to you by Friday afternoon. Thanks Frank.”

What a pro.

“Together with our cost estimate proposal,” she said as she smiled to me.

Oh the devious little wench.

“What makes you think that I can design a bunch of lilies?” she asked as we drove away.

“If you can design and draw up that tattoo of yours, you can design and draw up a bunch of stupid lilies.”

She was grinning as we drove along.

We stopped by Talbot’s dress shop on the way home. Caitlyn had horror written all over her face as we approached the older sales lady. “Could you please set up this young lady with a sexy dress? Something flowery and feminine? Preferably pink. I’ll be back in a half hour to pay for it.”

“Certainly, come right this way dear.” She smiled and held her hand out to Caitlyn.

Caitlyn took the lady’s hand and turned her face to mine. Poison darts flew at me together with an upturned middle finger behind her back.

I left the store chuckling.

On my way to the food court I sussed out a couple of other stores. Shoes and a handbag. Plus make-up. All pink.

Caitlyn was going to kill me.

It was perfect.

I didn’t see her in the dress, it was packed up ready to be paid for when I got back.

We went to the other stores. I sat on the bench outside as she sorted herself out inside. I just showed up at the cash register at the right time.

By the time we made it to Victoria’s Secret the look of horror on her face had been completely replaced with a mischievous smirk.

I needed to figure out a coming out event.

Dinner that night was T-bone steaks, fried potatoes dashed with paprika, peas and carrots with melted butter and a lettuce, cucumber and avocado salad with a lemony vinaigrette dressing.

She followed me outside to watch me barbeque the steaks. I flipped them onto the hot grille. Steak on a gas barbeque? Man’s world stuff, right?

Wrong.

“Not like that,” she said as she lifted the steaks off. She repositioned them at a forty five degree angle to grille.

“And when you flip them, flip them a hundred and eighty degrees so it’s still at a forty five degree angle to the grille. Then the next flip is at ninety degrees,” she showed me with her hand, “and then the final flip is a hundred and eighty degrees. And that’s it. No more flipping. That way the steaks will have perfect X’s from the grille marks, back and front.”

I stood then with my mouth open in disbelief.

“And turn it up to high,” she said as she walked away.

“Yes ma’am.”

She was right. They were perfect. They tasted the same I suppose, but they certainly looked better.

“So when did you lose your virginity?” I asked as I gathered salad on my fork.

“Oh gees, it seems like last week. I remember his name, yes, it was Doug Jenner.”

“Fuck off, I wasn’t your first.”

She chewed her steak for a while then said smiling, “Maybe not my first, but certainly my best.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet. Liar.” I cut into the steak. Maybe it tasted better too?

“It was only when I went to art school. I was a virgin all through high school.”

“Really?”

“I told you,” she said, “no one wanted to date me.”

I sliced another piece of steak and chewed for a moment, then said “As I remember high school, yes there were a number of dates that I went on, but for the most part it was a bunch of kids hanging out together. That’s where the social and sexual interaction took place.”

“Is that how it worked for you?” she asked and then added, “when did you lose yours?”

“It was exactly like that. It was a house party. I was fourteen. So was she. Maria Lopez. I’ll never forget her.”

“Was she cute?”

“Cute and drunk. So was I.”

“Cute?”

I smiled at Caitlyn and sliced another piece of steak, purposely ignoring the last question. I said, “You must have been in similar social situations during high school, you know, hanging around with other kids and then fooling around.”

“Yeah, I did I guess. But that’s how girls got reputations, like my friend Carly did.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and it’s not fair,” she said, “if a girl sleeps with four or five different guys she’s called a slut, but if a guy does that…”

“Then he’s gay. Most definitely he’s gay.” I interrupted smiling.

She laughed.

“So you managed to avoid having a reputation in high school by not having sex?” I asked.

“I didn’t say I didn’t have sex,” she corrected me, “I just said I remained a virgin.”

“And you avoided getting a reputation?” I asked.

“Yes, but that was by mutual threat. I told Billy that if he told anyone that I sucked his cock I would tell everyone the truth.”

“Which was?”

“That he had a tiny cock, which was true.”

“Oh so you came to a mutual agreement. Did you only suck him off once?”

“Hell no. And he’d eat my pussy and fingered me. We just never fucked.” She smiled at me.

“So you did have a normal high school upbringing.” I said.

“I guess,” she answered as she picked out the last of her salad. “I remember my first time. Looking back on it now it was quite comical. He came in about three seconds.”

“Poor bastard,” I said, “quick and tiny.”

“Yeah,” she laughed, “he was a bit of a nerd.” She bit into her last piece of steak and asked, “Do you remember your first blow job?”

“Yeah, I do.” I answered. The image of Gina popped in my mind.

“Did you swallow?” she asked smiling.

“Fuck off!” I threw my crunched up napkin at her.

“What, you’ve never had a gay experience?” she asked grinning.

“No, have you?”

“Maybe,” mock innocent eyes again.

“Get off, you did not.” I said.

“All I can say is that art college was full of crazy chicks.”

I stood up and picked up our empty plates. “That is quite evident,” I said.

She smiled as she followed me into the kitchen with the salad bowl.

We cleaned up and made our way upstairs.

After brushing my teeth and doing all the usual stuff I walked out of the bathroom naked. She was already on the bed, naked too. It was that little bit of an awkward moment. We knew what we wanted to do, just didn’t know how to get it started. I lay down next to her and rubbed her pussy gently.

“Cate, tell me, what was the best sexual experience that you ever had?”

“Honestly?”

“Seriously, what was it?”

“The first time we made love.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

I tried to recall exactly what we did. I licked her pussy. Pulled my fingers out in a vee. I remembered that. Then we fucked. She came first. A lot. I remembered that too. Still, that couldn’t have been so special.

“What was so special?” I asked.

“It was when you came inside me. The other times when we’ve fucked, I was still convulsing from my own orgasm and I didn’t really notice you cumming. But that time, I could feel you cum inside me. Every pulse. It was unbelievably sexy. I think about it a lot. It drives me wild. So fucking sexy.”

“Really?”

“Duh?”

“Do you want me to do it again?” I was grinning.

She rolled over onto me and planted a big fat kiss on my lips. “Do it again.”

Music to my ears. I had to think it through for a moment but then I said, “Masturbate for me.”

I rolled to the side and then perched myself between her legs. They were splayed wide open. Nothing was hidden. She was a glorious sight.

Her fingers found her clit.

Mine found my shaft. It was hard already.

Our eyes, briefly, found each others.

I focused on her pussy as she rubbed it. She, laser like, stared at my cock. I stroked it languidly up and down.

She licked her lips.

I stroked. Up. Down. Up. Down.

Her fingers were busy on her clit.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Her nostrils flared.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Her fingers were a blur on her clit. Her left hand fingers were on her left nipple ring. I added my fingers to her right.

Up. Down. Up, down.

She stared at my cock. Up. Down. Up, down.

She was in a frenzy.

Up. Down. Up, down. I squeezed my cock and brought a dribble of pre-cum out.

“Ohhh!” she reacted immediately. Her head bobbed down. She couldn’t resist.

“Lick only,” I said, “don’t suck.”

She licked. Big time. She hit the vee under my cock head, my eyes rolled in their sockets as she did. Her fingers never let up on her clit. Her face was all red when she lifted it.

I kept stroking myself. She kept watching. Her whole body was twitching.

Briefly, she glanced into my eyes. Her green eyes were glassy. Her mouth hung open. Nostrils were flared. She was breathing hard.

I continued to stroke. I squeezed some pre-cum out of my cock. I scooped it up with my finger and slipped it into her mouth. Her eyes closed as she licked my fingers. I could see the satisfaction in her face.

Her fingers were still a blur. We both tugged at her nipples.

Up. Down. Up, down.

“Fuuuuckkkk!” she screamed as her entire body convulsed before me. What a sight to behold. The whole bed shook. I had to let go of the nipple for fear of permanently damaging her.

I watched her vagina contract and open and contract again, over and over. She was oozing Caitlyn heroin from her pussy. I couldn’t help myself. I scooped some up with my finger and popped it into my mouth.

Bliss.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down Up. Down. Up. Down.

No longer were they languid strokes. I was going to cum soon. We both knew it.

Caitlyn sat back and opened her legs up wide, knees bent. I lunged forward. I pushed my dick into her, balls deep.

“Ohhh!” she gasped.

“Lay still,” I managed to get out.

My flaring cock pulsed inside her pussy, ready to blow off. That was what she wanted. Me too.

She was breathing hard. “Lay still,” I whispered. She did.

It only took me two slow strokes before I got to the point of no return and stopped, deep inside her. I held my breath.

My sphincter contracted as I shot my semen. And again. And again. And again.

I took a deep breath and the last of my cum escaped from my cock.

I’m sure my face was contorted into a grotesque. It felt like I pumped a ton into her. Her pussy was suddenly warm and wet.

Aside from breathing hard, she didn’t make a sound. Her eyes rolled around her head.

Her face reddened, her breathing accelerated and her pussy muscles contracted. Over and over and over. She didn’t make a sound aside from a gulp at the end of it.

I guess she liked it.

We lay there for a few moments. I needed oxygen. My dick started to shrink and slip inside of her.

“Don’t fucking move,” she commanded in a low voice.

I complied.

Her body shuddered again.

“How do you do that to me?” she whispered.

“Do what?”

“Make me cum like that,” she answered.

“It’s all in your head,” I whispered.

“No, it’s all in my cunt.”

“Do you want me to feed it to you?” I could feel my cock slipping in her warm hole.

“You bet.” She smiled and her eyes sparkled.

I pulled my cock out and immediately placed my fingers at her opening. Cum oozed out. I scooped it with my fingers and fed it to her open mouth. She licked my fingers with relish. My fingers made it back just in time to catch another dribble. I repeated the process. On the fourth scooping I had to push my two fingers inside her to coat them with cum.

She insisted that I put my elongated, softened cock into her mouth so that she could clean it off too. I hadn’t realized that she fingered herself as she cleaned me off.

That glistening finger found its way into my mouth as I pulled my cock out from her and repositioned myself on the bed. How does she do that?

“Do you like it?” she asked with a playful list to her voice.

“No, not particularly.” I answered to her giggles.

“You know you have a cum fetish,” I said.

“No I don’t. I have a Doug Jenner fetish.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Crazy about you.”

I kissed her cum drenched lips. She plunged her tongue into my mouth.

We hugged and kissed. I tickled her nipples. She played with my flaccid cock. I gave her a full body massage. She rubbed her clit to orgasm again. She scratched my back.

I fell asleep.

*

The next morning Caitlyn got busy with the drawings. I told her what size each should be. I suggested five be 9″ wide by 36″ tall that could be used side by side and that two should be 8″ x 8″ and one 4″ x 12″. I had all kinds of paper to draw on, tracing paper too and pencils and erasures galore.

I showed her an example of how to draw a bas-relief pattern.

I showed her how to work the scanner/photocopier/printer unit.

She set herself up in the little office at the drafting table. I didn’t bug her or check in on her. I could see her working away through the window. Sometimes the pencil would be set in her lips. Sometimes she was referencing something on the internet. She seemed to be really enjoying herself.

It warmed my heart.

By the end of the day she didn’t have eight drawings. She had twenty four. Each drawing came in three versions. Sparsely carved, luxuriantly carved and an intermediate between the two. The most astonishing element was that with the five large drawings, she had managed to pattern the work such that every panel perfectly aligned with every other panel creating a continuous carving of lilies in abundance. The five could be mix and matched in any number of possibilities. Each one became a unique pattern of lilies.

I was stunned.

“Do you like it?” she asked with trepidation in her face.

“I can’t believe what I’m looking at Caitlyn, this is amazing! Do I like it? It’s unbelievable. You’re unbelievable.”

She was beaming.

I put the drawings down, “Come here give me a kiss,” I said.

“Unh unh unh, not in the shop,” she said wagging a finger at me but still smiling.

“Step outside then lady.” She skipped to the door. I followed.

We hugged and kissed. “You absolutely amaze me,” I told her as we embraced. She hugged me tightly. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “You really are beautiful you know.” More tears flowed.

“I was afraid you weren’t going to like them.”

That inner insecurity was still there. “I love them,” I said. I wondered if I loved her too. It was sure getting to feel that way.

“Any chance you can stay the night?” I asked, still hugging her.

“Sorry I can’t tonight,” she frown up at me, “it’s my dad’s birthday.”

How disappointing. Right then and there I realized just how hard I’d fallen for Caitlyn.

*

It took me pretty well all of Wednesday to price up what Caitlyn had drawn and to prepare the proposal. They could buy only a little carving work or a lot, depending on their tastes and budget. I let her read the final draft. She marked it all up in red pencil greatly improving it all.

While I was preparing the proposal, Caitlyn had carved a sample of one of the 9″ x 36″ panels.

She went home that night, much to my dismay.

*

Thursday we delivered the proposal and sample to Frank Proulx. He flipped through the proposal, looked at the drawings, examined the sample and flipped through the proposal again. He looked at me, at Caitlyn, then said, “Next time, I’m just going to Caitlyn. This is amazing. The client is going to love it. Your proposal and design is perfect. It gives them any number of options to choose.”

Caitlyn squeezed my hand under the table.

We talked about money for the project. Frank said he was a little baffled, the client hadn’t given him an overall budget. He would simply go to the client, offer them several options and they would pick one and the working budget was adjusted accordingly. Or they would send him away in search of another solution.

He explained that he was going nuts trying to find landscape lighting that would satisfy the client. The client was adamant that the fixtures be shaped like a Day Lily. It’s something he had promised his wife.

On our drive back, Caitlyn asked me why we couldn’t make a light fixtures that are shaped like a lily.

“It’s a light fixture. It’s made of metal, it’s got glass, something that the light bulb has to plug into and wire.” I said.

“So?”

“Caitlyn, we have a wood shop, not a metal shop.”

“So, we design it and we sub it out.”

“Caitlyn, what do you know about designing a light fixture?”

“Nothing, Doug. What I do know is that Frank has a problem which is essentially a design and manufacturing problem and we design and do effectively small manufacturing.” She glared at me with that ‘duh’ look.

She was absolutely correct. “I do know a couple of metal shops,” I said, then added, “and a custom glass blowing place. You’re brilliant, you know that.”

She smiled and grabbed my hand squeezing it.

“Let me call Frank,” I said. I called him from the pick-up truck as we drove along. He picked up.

“Frank, it’s Doug. I’ve got Caitlyn beside me, we’re on speakerphone.”

“Yes?”

“Caitlyn’s got an idea for your lighting problem.”

“Okay?”

“What if we put a drawing together of what the light fixture should look like…,” I said.

“Fixtures.”

“Okay fixtures. We’ll design them so they more or less follow the same pattern as the wood carvings and we’ll have a metal shop make them up. I know a glass guy.”

“Caitlyn?” Frank asked, “Can you really do that?”

“Yeah, why not?” she said.

“Sounds great,” he said, “can you do it in stainless steel?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Anything can be done for a price. But never mind the money right now. How many different types of fixtures are required and how many of each?”

“A downlight pendant, an uplight spot, wall scones and lights for the steps, but those I’ve got figured out. So, three types. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me right now but call it two hundred pendants, fifty spots and fifty wall scones. And you know what? I know a guy who can actually make the fixtures, you know, do the wiring and all that, but he can’t make the decorative part.”

“That’s perfect Frank,” Catlin said leaning into the cell phone, “when do you meet with the client?”

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

She said, “We’ll have drawings for you by then, concept drawings anyway. Can you send us something that shows us what you’re looking for functionally? Like some catalogue cuts?”

“I can email you what I’ve proposed so far and the lighting plans. I can do that right now.”

“Great.” We both said.

“Caitlyn, you’re brilliant. Doug, do you have any idea how lucky you are to have Caitlyn?”

“Every day is a new surprise Frank,” I smiled at her, she was beaming back, “and I count my blessings every day.”

We ended the call. Caitlyn was almost bouncing in her seat. I was so happy for her.

“Thanks Doug,” she said smiling and squeezing my hand.

“Caitlyn, I didn’t do anything. This is all coming from your brain.”

She couldn’t stop grinning as she looked out the window. On top of everything else she had good business acumen too. Just how lucky could I get?

“I need to work a little late tonight. Do you mind if I stay at your place?” she asked with mock innocence in her face.

I was getting to know that mock innocent look.

“You expect me to cook?” I asked.

“No,” she laughed and then added, “take-out.”

“Deal.” She hugged my bicep as we drove.

When we got back to the shop Caitlyn ensconced herself in the little office again. I did some shop work and then cleaned up, leaving her working in the office.

After showering, I took off to pick-up Chinese food. They don’t deliver where I am. As I pulled in with the food I noticed the shop light was off. Caitlyn was up in the shower. On the dining room table were six drawings. Three were free-form sketches, one of each lily fixture type. The other three were drawings that showed each fixture in front, side and top views complete with dimensions, just like a professional draughtsman would make.

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