"Love at First Sight (Pt. 2)" by Travis W. Herring

Lynx was waiting on the curbside when Adam pulled up that Friday. Dressed in a simple summer dress done in a light blue pattern with a floral pattern, underneath was a gold lame’ two piece which did not leave much to the imagination. She was looking forward to the look in his eyes when she shed the dress.

He, in turn, was clad in long surfer shorts and a short sleeve white button-up. He showed up driving a two-door Mercedes, silver in the morning light. As soon as he pulled to a complete stop, he bounced out of the car, a big smile on his face. It was almost ten am.

"You look chipper," Lynx said, grinning at his exuberance. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, leading her around to the passenger side. He opened her door and saw her in.

"Guess what I did this morning," he said, smiling that dashing smile of his.

Lynx eyed him as she sat down. She pulled her tail to her side so it wouldn’t get caught in the door as he shut it. "What?" she said.

He leaned in the window, dropping to a crouch on the street side of the car. "You’re the one who likes to play guessing games," he said, grinning. "Guess!"

"Oh, I don’t know," she said, rolling her eyes. The interior of the car was done in soft leather and real wood, much like his NSX. "Eggs and bacon?"

"Not what I HAD, Lynx," he said, getting up and walking back around the front of the car. A pair of cars had just whizzed past, inches away from his backside. She breathed a sigh of relief and stared at him. "What I DID!"

"I have no idea."

"You’re no fun," he said, grinning. "Come on. It’s one of your suggestions!"

"You took the day off and went surfing?"

"BINGO!" he said. He put the car in gear and pulled out, merging smoothly into the traffic.

"I don’t believe it."

"Well, when my beer-serving psychiatrist tells me to do something, I do it!" He was obviously happy with himself. Lynx was pleased.

"And?"

"And it was great!" he replied, turning and looking at her. He reached over and took her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing it again. "Thanks for the idea. I haven’t felt this good in at least two years!"

"Sounds like it," she replied. His grin was, as ever, infectious. "Were your friends there?"

Adam waved a hand. "Some of them. Most of them have gone on to real jobs, I guess. Found life was just too much for them to just ignore, I suppose."

"Much like yourself, it seems."

He turned and looked at her for a moment. "Yeah. I guess. You look fantastic!"

Lynx looked down at herself, the lower third of her furred thighs visible beneath the short, curve-hugging dress. Her calves were firm and tight. "I have a feeling," she said, smiling, "that you’d say that if I showed up wearing nothing at all."

"Oh, I’d say you looked a lot better than fantastic if you showed up wearing nothing at all," he replied, his grin (if possible) widening further. "But I don’t think we’d get much surfing done."

Lynx smiled, exposing canines at this point. Her muzzle was tightened to a point where it was almost uncomfortable. She’d never smiled this much or this widely. He certainly was something! She reached out and pressed a palm into his cheek.

"You’re sweet," she said.

"I try," he replied.

She looked up at the roof, the hard plastic container above visible through the sun roof. "So, what’s in there?"

"Surfboards," he replied. "Mine and one I got for you."

"You didn’t need to do that…" Lynx started.

"That’s okay. And yes I did. You can’t surf without a board. We can get you a personal one if you decide you like it." He winked at her. "Besides, I get a discount."

Lynx just smiled at him. "Ah."

They fell silent, enjoying the sunshine and each others’ company. Marissa had asked twenty questions the next day. She’d done her able best to avoid answering most of them. The squirrel-sculpt had walked away unhappy, but had forgotten her displeasure for the time being. She’d started again when Lynx had told Sylvester she wouldn’t be in the next Friday.

"Got a thing going, huh?" the squirrel-femme had teased.

"Thing?" Lynx had replied. "I don’t know if I’d go that far, Marissa. After all, coffee is not a ‘thing.’"

"Two dates?" Marissa had replied, grinning like a shark, "That’s a record for you, Lynx. Ever since you’ve been here, you’ve been on two dates with, what? How many guys?"

Lynx had thought for a moment. "Two, I believe. And this isn’t the second date! That was just coffee!"

"So this is your first date then?" Marissa had responded.

"That it is," Lynx had replied firmly.

"Well then," the squirrel had replied, "You’ll just have to give me all the first date details when I see you Saturday!"

"We’ll see," Lynx had replied.

Sylvester, of course, had nothing to say except, "Be careful."

Lynx came back from her reverie to realize Adam had reached across and taken her hand.

"I really appreciate that idea," he was saying. One hand on the wheel, the other caressing her fingers, he glanced at her as often as was safe while driving. Los Angeles might be relatively safe to drive in after midnight, but during the day, it’s a nightmare.

"Which one?" Lynx replied. "The one about going surfing?"

"Yeah. I got to thinking about it after we talked. I called a meeting yesterday and cancelled all of them for today. Told them I was going to go do some research." He offered that amazing smile again.

"And they said?"

"Nothing," Adam replied, startled. "I think one of them actually said something to the effect of ‘it’s about time’!"

Lynx giggled. "See?"

"Yeah. I guess that means you’re good for me, huh?" The tone it was said in was flippant. Lynx calmed instantly. One didn’t say such things without reason.

"Yeah."

They fell silent for a time, Lynx watching the streets of Santa Monica fall behind them as they entered West Los Angeles and entered the freeway system. A queue of cars sat at the on-ramp, the computerized system launching each one into the mass of vehicles on the roadway at precise intervals. They looked at each other occasionally in silence, considering their words, but still enjoying each other’s company. When it was their turn, the vehicle locked into the DMV system, the automated controls coming on as the city-wide traffic computer took over.

Lynx had never liked the on-ramp experience. She’d heard of times when there’d been nothing but a light and the obedience of the drivers to keep people from launching into traffic. Hell, she’d even heard of times when there hadn’t been anything to keep people from just driving up and onto the fastest roadways in the United States. She always hated that sense that you weren’t in control of your own vehicle. That your fate was tied up in the mainframe system sitting somewhere in the city in a temperature-controlled room so far beneath ground level that even a massive earthquake couldn’t knock it off its precision-timed calculations.

They went from sitting still at the register gate to seventy miles an hour, in the midst of wall-to-wall traffic, in a matter of seconds. The acceleration threw them back against the seats, their heads caught by the high seat backs. There’d be a few legal battles when the system had been applied to vehicles with seats too low to catch the driver and passengers’ heads. Soon after, all vehicles were coming with some variant on bucket seats for each person inside.

Once on the freeway, they traveled at a consistent eighty miles an hour. The only vehicles going faster were the cycles, which used the computer-controlled spaces between the lanes as jet courses along which they could blast at speeds closing in on two-hundred miles per hour. Accidents between cars had been abolished on the freeway once the computer system had been installed. When the cyclists realized they could split lanes at even higher rates of speed, the only accident had become the one between a car that quickly and surely changed lanes before them, and the cyclist who inevitably died in the accident that followed.

They left the freeway just a few exits down from where they’d entered, the entrance and exit point having been entered while they sat at the registry gate. They’d never left the slow lane.

Lynx sighed when the vehicle began to roll on its own down the incline toward the light at the bottom. Adam took control of the car and swerved a few lanes over to avoid an accident, where someone had been snoozing, their vehicle under the control of the computer so long that when he’d exited, he hadn’t been aware that he was doing so. Happened sometimes. A small truck had its back end shoved into the front end of the snoozer’s car.

"I HATE that," Lynx breathed, looking back as they pulled into the street and turned.

"Don’t much like it myself," Adam replied. He chuckled. "But, it gets us there quicker and it would have taken at least two hours to come as far as we just did."

It was an unfriendly fact that it regularly took several hours just to cross the basin of the city in less than two hours without getting on the freeway. It had long been that way, Los Angeles having never been actually planned for the routes that became popular. Only the AEV drivers ever actually got anywhere within less than forty-five minutes, and that sometimes included a simple trip down the street and around the corner. Los Angeles had gone from the gridlock capitol of the world, to the grid-STOP capitol.

They pulled into a warehouse district a short time later, Adam controlling the car with a surety that said he’d been there many times.

"So what’s this about surfing in a warehouse?" Lynx asked. They were pulling into the parking lot in front of a large warehouse. "SCOTT" was printed in large letters across the front of it. A small side building poked out the front on the right side. A short staircase led up to a keycard and camera unit, a single halogen standing over the area. At night, with the halogen lit, it would be impossible to approach the door without being seen.

"You’ll see," Adam said, parking the car in one of the spaces and turning it off. He unbuckled and got out a moment later. Lynx was obliged to follow.

Stepping out of the car, she walked around the back, to where Adam was unlocking the plastic case that sat along the driver’s side of the roof. As she passed, she looked down, seeing a small white bumper sticker just along the edge of the bumper. "Kung Fu Kitty Academy," it said. It was done in black and red letters, a series of Chinese figures lining the top portion of it. On the left, a highly stylized version of a nude lynx-sculpt (complete with tufts at the tips of the ears) was in a martial arts position.

Lynx stopped, staring in complete and total surprise.

"You like that?" Adam asked, leaning now on the roof of his car. His grin was stellar. "I’d hoped you’d walk around the back of the car when I picked you up, but that didn’t work out. You like?"

"Like?!" Lynx asked, a huge grin on her face, "That’s hysterical!" A hand rose to cover her fangs as she stared. A helpless, childlike laughter began somewhere within and forced itself out. "You’re absolutely incorrigible!"

Adam looked at her for a second, a blank look on his face. "I don’t know what that means," he said, grinning, "but I’d probably agree if I did."

Lynx nodded. "Yes," she said, "you would."

Without further ado, Adam opened the case on the roof and carefully pulled a pair of surf boards out, setting them beside the car. Nearby, three vehicles that had to belong to surfer types were parked. Each had some sort of board locks on its roof (or side, in the case of one strangely-shaped Japanese van). Adam explained how she was to carry it, hefted his own, and headed for the staircase. Lynx followed, doing her level best to keep her large board from scraping the ground either in the front or the back.

Beside the door was a time and rate schedule, as well as the obligatory locking mechanism. A camera had been mounted in the keycard mechanism, but was not lit as they approached. Adam pulled a black card from his pocket and slid it through, the door swinging open after the code was authorized. He stepped in, smiling over his shoulder as Lynx wrestled her board up the incline.

Inside, the building was almost empty, or at least, it seemed so at first. Four stories tall, the majority of it was open to the iron supports and rafters, a few windows placed high along the edge of the wall where it met ceiling. Beneath, a monstrous wave pool filled the place from wall to wall, high Plexiglas walls that had been painted to look like either a sunset (although, one of the surfers from Sydney always argued it was a sunrise) surrounding it on three sides. The pool was filled to a depth of around eight feet at the deepest end. Large rolling waves moved with regularity down the length of the thing, almost fifty feet from end to end. Three surfers were plying their hobby on the waves, a trio of others watching from a lunch area at the "beach" end. A two story building stood independent of all the walls, the top floor lined in glass windows, behind which desks had been set at regular intervals. The Scott logo was plastered all over the place.

"Interesting," Lynx said, walking in behind Adam. He’d set his board in a stand-up rack with three others, and was approaching the trio of waiting surfers as she came in.

The lunch area they stood in appeared to be made of redwood, a rectangular area having been circled off and filled with matching lunch tables, a small kitchen against the inner wall, rows of quick-made foods listed on a push board. Modern Surfer/Rave music blared from speakers placed strategically around the enclosure.

"Guys," Adam was saying as Lynx approached, "this is Lynx. She’s here for her first lesson, today." He grinned as he waved an arm toward her.

"Whoa," one of them said, taking her in. "Crucial realm!"

"Nice sculpt," another said.

"Heya," the third replied.

Adam turned and gestured at each. "This is Potato," he said, gesturing at the first. "Couch, his buddy," he waved at the second, "and Leo. So called because that’s his sign and he’s about to tell you about it."

"Thanks man!" the third said, jostling Adam good-naturedly. He turned to Lynx. "You’re a Sagittarius, right?"

"That’s right!" Lynx said, impressed. "How’d you know?"

"Just by looking at you," Leo replied. "Maybe we can talk some later?"

Lynx just looked at him for a moment, grinning. "I think maybe Adam will be the one trying to take up my time today, Leo. Thanks for asking though."

"No prob," Leo replied, looking at the man she’d shown up with. "No harm in asking."

"No harm, no foul," Adam replied.

Lynx turned to the other two. "Couch and Potato? You two live together?"

"That’s about it," the one called Couch said. "Describes our lifestyles to the T."

Adam laughed. "Yeah. I’ve never known either of these two to ever work a day in their life, but they’re here at least once a week. Don’t know how they do it."

"It’s Ma-gick," Couch said, smiling. The surfers were checking Lynx out without bothering to hide it. She enjoyed the attention. Her tail was flickering calmly behind her.

"Listen, why don’t you head back to the locker room and get changed," Adam said. He turned and looked upstairs at a young man who was watching them through the glass. "I’ve got to go take care of a little business and then we’ll hit the waves."

"I don’t need to hit the locker room," Lynx replied, grinning. The guys around her started grinning.

"Gonna do it in the fur?" Potato asked, a lascivious grin on his face.

"No," Lynx replied. She reached down and grabbed the bottom of her dress, pulling up quickly and exposing the gold lame’ two-piece she had on beneath. White strings ran between the triangles at breast and waist, nothing else to the outfit save fur and curves. Wolf whistles went off immediately.

"HO-ly!" Couch said.

"Aiyee!" Potato cried.

Leo just put a hand to his heart and acted as if he was fainting.

Lynx struck a pose and grinned at Adam. "Hurry back," she purred.

Adam swallowed and then nodded, heading quickly toward the stairs and whatever work he had waiting. Lynx watched him disappear up the stairs and then turned to look out at the odd construction taking up two-thirds of the huge area.

"So," she asked, eyeing one of them (she thought it was Couch), "what’s this thing?"

"Surfer’s paradise," Leo replied, stepping around behind her for a better view of her tail and other things.

Lynx watched him out of the corner of an eye, grinning constantly now. The guys were almost drooling over her.

"Perfect wave, every time," Couch said, leaning casually against the red wood railing. His eyes couldn’t decide whether to settle on her or the surfers making their way through the waves.

"Guess that makes it easy," Lynx commented.

The guys nodded. "Adam’s got the perfect setup," Potato said, turning and looking up at the second floor. Adam was standing in the window, looking down at Lynx where she stood with the others, their boards located in the rack nearby. In the background a surfer shouted as he lost control and did an end-o into the waves.

"Best thing," Couch said, nodding in the direction of the surfer who’d just gone flying, "there’s no sand to crawl up your shorts; no rocks to worry about ripping your face on."

Lynx frowned. This wasn’t sounding so comfortable suddenly.

Potato saw her reaction and punched his friend softly. "Don’t say that kind of thing," he said. "You’re scaring the lady!"

"It’s not that bad," Leo agreed. "Learn here and you’ll be spoiled. Most times the water doesn’t play the same way. It really is a surfer’s paradise."

"You’ve got the best teacher there is," Couch said, trying to make up for his faux pas. "Adam’s been out there for longer than I can remember."

"Well then," Lynx said, turning and looking up at the second floor. Adam wasn’t there anymore. He was coming out the opening below. He tossed his shirt over the railing to the lunch area and walked up to them all. He’d shed his shoes some time before. "Guess it’s time to learn!"

"Ready?" Adam asked. He turned and looked at the pool, seeing the surfers still out there. The speaker came on suddenly, the gentleman upstairs telling them that this was their last run. One of them started coming out of the water, heading for a pair of chaise lounges set up near the waterline. He grabbed a towel from one and started sponging off.

Lynx grinned. Even the girls had their own fake sun-tanning spot. "Don’t get many girls here, do you?" she asked, heading toward the water with her board.

Adam looked over his shoulder at the threesome, who were attentively studying Lynx’s backside. "No," he said, grinning. "None who look like you, at least."

"I hope my fur doesn’t get thrashed because of this," she said. "Chlorine’s not particularly good on it."

"Ah, damn," Adam admitted, reaching the waterline. The other two came out of the waves, staring at Lynx and then remembering to nod at Adam. They walked to their towels and met the other three waiting by the lunch area. Chatter started up almost immediately. There was no question what the topic of discussion was. "I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to see about getting something nicer on the fur sometime soon."

Lynx shrugged. "I’ll just have to take a long shower afterwards."

Adam grinned again, stepping into the water. It was cool. Not uncomfortable, but cold enough to let you know it was there. He kept going. The Pacific was colder than this most of the time. "If you need any help with that," he said, "Let me know."

Lynx matched his grin, cringing as she stepped into the water. "I’ll think about it."

Soon, they were lying atop their boards, Lynx’s fur wet and pasted to her skin so that there was no real sense that she was a sculpt except for the fact that her skin was striated the way her fur normally was. The guys she’d been chatting with had gone their own ways, a few of them standing around watching Adam teach her.

He started with a few simple practice runs using just her body along the board, to get an idea for the way the waves worked. Then, once she’d gotten the hang of how to catch a wave, they began to work on standing up. She crashed and burned more than a few times, her augmented ears hearing the thundering sound of thousands of gallons of water moving around her as she struggled her way back to the surface. Each time, Adam was there to make sure she was okay and to give her constructive advice.

Before long, they were on a monstrous Hawaiian board, Adam on it behind her, standing up as she did and keeping her on her feet until they slid off due to some slight misplacement. Lynx was surprised and pleased that she never hit her head on the damned thing.

Eventually, however, despite her physical fitness, the full-body workout that was surfing took its toll and they climbed out of the water. Lynx dropped onto a chaise lounge while Adam went for the towels, coming back and grinning before dropping her towel on her stomach.

"What?" she asked, exhausted.

"You look like a half-drowned cat," he said, smiling. He, of course, did not seem the slightest bit tired.

"Ha ha," she replied, smiling. She blew out her nose, sending her whiskers quivering. She pulled her tail out from beneath her and acted like she was wringing it out. In reality, she sluiced water along it until it dripped off the end. She really was more wet than she looked.

Adam stood over her for a moment longer, just smiling down at her, admiring her body. Wet and soaked to the skin, it was more obvious what her body had been shaped to when she’d altered herself to be a cat. Not that he thought much had been necessary. He hoped.

In response, she stared back up at him, admiring him as well. His long years as a surfer had sculpted him so that he was slender, lightly muscled and very attractive. While he didn’t have a six-pack, he was toned beyond that of a normal male. Even wet, his hair was standing on its own. Cute AND rich. What had she done to deserve this?

"Where are we eating?" he asked suddenly. "I’m ready to eat a horse."

Lynx slit her eyes and looked up at him. "I still have a small problem," she said softly. She plucked at her fur. "Remember?"

Adam crouched beside her, as naturally as if he’d been doing it all his life, which, for all she knew, he had been. Behind him, Couch and Leo went out into the water, making sure that the two by the chaise lounge were done before committing themselves. They’d waited their turn quite patiently, Lynx thought. Adam had reached out and was feeling the fur on her thigh experimentally. She liked the feel of his fingers on her flesh. It send a small thrill up her spine.

When she turned to look at his hand, he grabbed a tuft between his fingers and rubbed. He nodded. "Yeah, I can feel it."

"You can?" she asked.

"Yep. Gonna have to do something about that next time."

Lynx raised her eyebrows. She felt sticky. "Next time," she asked. "You sure there will be one?"

Adam shrugged. "I hope there will be," he replied. "You didn’t enjoy yourself?" He seemed truly concerned.

"Oh, I had a nice time," she said, looking into his eyes. "But a girl’s got to do what she can to preserve her beauty!" Growing serious, she said, "I’m going to need a serious salon job to get this stuff out of my fur. Regular conditioners aren’t going to do anything for this." She noticed Adam hadn’t stopped rubbing her thigh.

"I’ll take care of it," he said. "Where do you normally go?"

Lynx eyed him oddly. "BioSyn salon," she said slowly. "Westwood, usually."

"Call them," he said. "I’ll cover the bill. It’s my fault your fur’s messed up. I’ll take care of it."

"You don’t have to…"

"I know," Adam said, smiling. "But you didn’t have to go surfing with me, either. Call it even?"

Lynx smiled in response. There really wasn’t a lot of choice when it came down to it. When Adam smiled, she felt obligated to do the same, even if she didn’t quite agree with what he was saying. She reached out a hand and touched his cheek again. "Adam, you don’t have to spend money on me…"

"Let me," he said quietly, their eyes looking deep into each other. "It’s the least I can do for a beautiful woman who’s going to be puffy for the rest of the day if I don’t."

Lynx frowned. He had a point, there. Even with a proper home conditioning, the chlorine she’d just been swimming in was going to make taking care of her fur a living hell for the next few days. A trip to the salon would fix it up instantly.

"If you’re sure," she said quietly.

"I am," he replied. "Let’s go."

Helping her to her feet, Adam grabbed his board and watched as she took up her own. Together, they moved back to where she’d left her dress on the beam separating the main entrance from the lunch area. She too, was feeling hungry at this point, but there was just no way she’d ever go out in public looking the way she did. They left, waving goodbye to the newcomers and Leo, who’d returned at some point. Lynx was beginning to wonder if surfers ever actually WORKED.

The salon was just as Lynx remembered it when she walked in. Light blue walls surrounded tall mirrors along two of the walls, potted plants and marble accenting the room to make it look both upscale and comfortable at the same time. Computer monitors played images of BioSyn’s spokesmodel, Karla Pierce, whom Lynx had learned had been kidnapped the night of the Olympus party.

Diana, her fox-sculpted assistant when she visited the salon, was waiting for her when she walked in the front doors. Adam found his way into the comfortable waiting area and took a seat on the couch there as the women muttered over the state of Lynx’s fur. His newfound girlfriend was going to be a while, what with the ‘tsk’ing sounds the attractive fox was giving off as they went into the back.

While Adam found a comfortable place and a drink, Lynx was led back to the conditioning rooms, where she was submerged in a chemical bath that enveloped her in luxury. A fruit drink was left in her hands, Diana leaving her for a short time to prepare for the primping and treatments to follow. Massages with specially designed oils, long slow combing sessions, and the latest in sculpt treatment were waiting. It was a day spent in utter luxury.

When the transformation from sticky, puffy-furred sodden feline to the comfort Lynx normally lived with had completed, she changed into a second set of clothes. She hadn’t brought any, but Diana had offered her a set she’d left the last time and then forgot. The staff had set them aside for her, cleaning them and placing them in her locker. She wore a simple half-length, backless, faux-satin tank top done in a light purple, her tail fed through a small hole cut in the back of a worn pair of black jeans.

When Lynx reappeared in the salon’s waiting room two hours later, her fur was the glistening luster it had been before she’d ever set foot in the pool at the warehouse. More, even. She positively glowed, and Adam’s response when he first saw her told her exactly what he thought.

"Oh, my God," he whispered. Adam’s first reaction was to stare, and then to reach out and touch her. He stopped himself halfway, however.

"Wow," she replied, embarrassed and pleased at the same time. "That good, huh?"

Adam could not speak. He only nodded.

He’d taken a shower while he waited. His hair was back in its neat do, a fresh set of clothing having appeared from nowhere Lynx could think of. He had on a pair of chinos and a cool-looking long-sleeve white shirt that glistened when the light hit it.

Lynx shuddered softly, enjoying the look in his eyes far more than she knew she should have. There was just some kind of chemistry there. It was terrifying in its intensity, but that was what kept pushing them further and further. Stepping to his side, she pressed her forehead to his, their noses touching. Their eyes met, and for a long second, neither said anything.

"You’re not so bad yourself," she finally whispered. Her hands picked at his shirtsleeves for lack of anything better to do. His had come to rest on her hips, his fingers finding purchase in the fur at either side of her waist.

It was the closest they’d come yet. Lynx liked the feel of him close to her. He had a musky scent to him, even after showering. His hands were soft on her, adoring.

"It’s not designer," she said, referring to her dress, "but it’ll do for where we’re going." She felt heat in her ears from a slowly building embarrassment.

"Where are we going?" Adam asked. She could all but hear his stomach rumbling. His eyes hadn’t left hers.

"Ye Olde King’s Heade," Lynx replied. She smiled suddenly, pulling back with a sheer force of will she did not particularly want to display. She’d liked it there, close and friendly with him!

Adam gave her a strange look.

"It’s down the street from the Santa Monica Pier," she offered in explanation. She shrugged slightly. "I thought we might want to walk off dinner afterwards."

Adam winked. "Well, any more time I can spend with the woman of my dreams is a good thing," he said. Again, that miraculous smile. Lynx grinned back.

For a moment, she wondered just what she’d gotten herself into. Adam was overflowing with compliments for her, either about her appearance, her fur, her simple presence… It was too much, too fast, she knew. After all, they were only on their first date!

Still, though, she could not deny that there was something between them. When she was with him, it felt like her blood was a-boil; her thoughts caught up in the way he looked, the way he looked at her, the things he said. She’d never been paid attention to the way he was paying attention to her.

In his own way, she thought, he was perfect.

"That’s quite a compliment," she whispered. "I hope I can live up to it."

"You already have."

Ye Olde King’s Heade is an old-fashioned English pub located in the heart of the Santa Monica entertainment zone. On one side is a monstrous outdoor shopping mall, while in the other direction lies the pier. On the blocks surrounding it can be found an English tea shoppe, several small sex shops, and a knick-knack and curio shop that Lynx occasionally wandered through when the thought struck her. Hidden behind a pair of wilting trees that had seen better days several decades earlier, the King’s Head was a bastion of Britain in the midst of Californian sunshine and bathing suits.

They drew only the slightest of attention when they walked in. Even from the service crew.

"Typically British," Lynx said, smiling. Taking Adam’s hand, she walked him toward the bar, which was through the main dining area. Chatter filled the room, along with the smell of batter-fried fish and chips. A few of the more conservative members of the dining room quieted to follow the gorgeous feline woman and her handsome escort.

The bar was busy, but not so much so that they couldn’t get a drink. The bartender did not look twice at them. They were holding pints of dark ale shortly thereafter.

"We’ll drink a pint here, while we wait," Lynx shouted amidst the din.

"But no one said anything when we entered!" Adam replied.

"They saw us," Lynx answered, grinning. "Don’t worry!"

She was right, of course. About the point where Adam was considering ordering another drink, a plain looking blonde woman stepped into the room and tapped Lynx on the arm. Smiling emotionlessly at her, she led them back out into the rest of the place, to a table beside a fireplace that hadn’t been lit in several months. The crumbled black ashes of a Christmas fire sat forlornly beneath the brick façade. They were handed a pair of hard-paper menus and left to their own devices.

"Cozy place," Adam said after a while. He watched the other people at the tables, most of whom were chatting in that English accent he found so alluring.

"A bit of home," Lynx replied. "Like PFs is for sculpts, this place is for Englishmen and women. You’d be surprised sometimes how much you get to miss the sound of people talking with the same accent you are. The same language, sometimes."

"But we speak the same language!" Adam protested.

Lynx shook her head, raising a finger and doing the same. "No," she replied. "You speak American. WE speak English."

"What’s the difference?"

"Worlds," Lynx replied. The waitress walked up then. Lynx ordered them both fish and chips, a pair of hard ciders to go alongside. The woman took the menus with, tossing them behind the counter by the door. It was all very informal.

"Cider?" Adam asked.

"Hard Cider," Lynx corrected. "You’ll see."

When the drinks arrived, Adam was pleasantly surprised to find that Hard Cider was effectively an alcoholic apple juice. Tart and with a bit of tang to the flavor, he found that he enjoyed it, and watching Lynx sip at it over the edge of her oversized glass was just too much fun. Her feline muzzle fit in the glass and was quickly wet with cider. She lapped it off a moment later, exactly as a cat would.

Dinner was slender cuts of white albacore, dipped in a batter which rose and lightened when dropped in the vat. The chips were thick, warm slices, spiced ever so slightly so as to give exactly the right flavor. A tangy tartar sauce came with it all. They proceeded to devour their meals, Adam making only the slight homage to the fact that Lynx was a cat and here they were eating fish!

Afterwards, they drank coffee and relaxed in the ambiance. The customers around them were keeping the place at a low thunder when it came to conversation, and the pair simply relaxed in the informal atmosphere. There were frequent sequences where they’d look across the table at each other only to see the other had been staring for some time. These were met with grins, the occasional giggle, and the occasional touch of hands across the table. Lynx began to realize that she really DID like being with him. How often could she spend time with someone not even talking about anything? As a bartender, it was something worth noting.

"Ready to go?" he asked after a while. They’d gone through two cups of coffee and an explosion of shouts and yelling from the bar. An English football game had been playing on a television in the bar. Apparently, it was coming to a satisfactory end.

"I think, yes," Lynx replied. The check had come and gone with only the small obligatory attempt by Adam to pay the bill. Lynx had persevered, however. She’d chosen the place. It was her turn!

"Right." Adam stood, looking about and waiting for her to stand and follow. They grabbed each other’s hand without realizing it and stepped out into the cool evening air.

Lynx tilted her head toward the beach, which they could smell nearby. Even with the fumes of gas and the miscellaneous smells of the city pulsing around them, the clear tang of the sea air could be felt and scented in the coppery twilight. The sun was setting, filling the clouds with an odd orange fire.

"The beach is just a block down that way," she suggested. "You want to take a walk?" Internally, she wondered at what she was suggesting. A sunset walk on the beach with this man? What would he think?

"Sure," he replied. His smile was the same as always. It was unreadable, though. Lynx wanted to reach in and draw some other kind of reaction from him suddenly. Instead, she clenched his hand tighter, and set out.

They reached the beach a short time later. It was quiet, the parking lot for the Santa Monica pier just a few streets over. Here, it was only expensive apartments and hotels that traded on exactly what the sunset was doing tonight. What cars were parked nearby had people sitting on their hoods as they practiced a ritual many of them took part in almost nightly.

The sun was setting. Far be it from any proper sun-lover to let it go down unnoticed.

They reached the sand at the bottom of the incline and stopped, the sun still an indistinct disk in the afternoon clouds, smog, and mist. The sky had only deepened in color. It was a deep, profound bronze. The air had an unreal feel to it. Those people who had chosen to take in the sunset from the sands seemed transfixed by it. Lynx took Adam’s hand once again (they had separated while coming down the single-wide stairway to the beach proper) and began to walk in the direction of the pier.

It truly had been an odd week, she thought as they walked. Marissa had ridden her on occasion about not paying attention to what she was doing, Sylvester even commenting when she failed to answer a question about the inventory on Wednesday. She’d been thinking of Adam at the time. Of how he seemed to want to worship her in some ways. He seemed to exult in just being able to touch her.

She glanced at Adam, seeing him caught up in his own thoughts for the moment. She LIKED him, she knew. He was confident, handsome, and relaxed in a way she’d never seen anyone in a position like his. He’d gone from living in a garage to being the president of a company that bore his name, all within a few years, and all because he’d felt obligated to do something to help his friends. What kind of lover must he be, she wondered. Her ear tips wiggled in betrayed emotion as she considered. Her tail thrashed, giving away the emotions she was feeling if only he knew how to read it.

The sun was a half circle on the horizon, she noticed. It was shrinking into the line of the ocean second by second. She stopped walking when Adam did. They both turned to look out at the panoply of light in the clouds. People everywhere around them had frozen much as they had. It was the moment of change. That moment when you know the day has ended and the night is just beginning. When light becomes dark, when the gray of twilight reaches out and takes hold of that which was brilliant just minutes before. They stood, silent and still until it had disappeared.

"I love that," Adam whispered, turning to face her in the afterglow. His eyes… No, his entire being held that amazing intensity Lynx was rapidly falling in love with.

They stayed as they were, eyes searching each other again, as they had before. Only this time, with the encroaching darkness filling up the shadows as they stood, something in the chemistry went BANG!

Adam leaned forward, Lynx tilting her head back slightly. Their lips touched. A soft exchange which promised so much more. They held the contact for a long moment, the light dimming almost entirely around them before they pulled away. The sky had turned indigo around them. The waves crashed a short distance away, the smell of salt in the air. Her lips had been soft on his. His hands had made their way up her waist to her midriff, fingers buried in the silky fur there.

They pulled away without saying a word, soft smiles on their faces as they both realized the other had enjoyed the contact; welcomed it. They interlaced fingers again, and began walking. Around them, the ritual had ended, people packing up portable chairs and heading to their cars for yet another night. They would be back in the morning, most likely. Adam remembered times like that.

The beach having gone almost pitch black with the loss of the sun, the pair made their way up onto the long runway that was the beach-side end of the Santa Monica Pier. It was well lit, multi-colored bulbs glowing in long strands along either side of the huge structure. A monstrous Ferris wheel spun lazily out on the pier, the music of a midway crashing in waves over and through the noise of evening partiers enjoying a comfortable evening out.

Lynx and Adam made their way down the midway, going to one end and then returning, sparking many looks as the norms out for the evening turned and stared at the amazing-looking feline-sculpt making her way down the boards. But even they had to stop when a pink-furred rabbit-sculpt wearing little more than a long strand of pearls made her way past, surrounded by male norms who couldn’t get enough of her attention. Lynx’s and her eyes met, a friendly, knowing smile passing between them.

"Know her?" Adam asked as the troupe surrounding the pink bunny-sculpt turned and went into a video arcade. At least she knew what age group she attracted, Lynx thought.

"No," Lynx admitted. "Pretty though."

"Pretty brave," Adam replied, taking Lynx’s hand and squeezing it. "Walking around in just your fur is a good way to get the wrong kind of attention." He too, was watching the archway to the arcade. "Still…"

"With that kind of group around her," Lynx replied, "I don’t think she’s got much to worry about. She’s got a small horde of do-gooders who’ll defend her just to get her to pay attention to them." She smiled lopsidedly. "I wonder if those pearls were real?"

"Dunno," Adam said. They moved to one side of the wide walkway to get away from the crowds for the moment, needing a break. People were everywhere. They found a dark section of the pier and stood, staring out over the water. They leaned on the railing, looking out at the lights of Malibu to the north. The pier lights reflected in the black water below them. Lynx could barely make out their reflections, flickering in the moving water.

She turned and looked at Adam suddenly, realizing that, for the moment, they were alone amidst a small sea of humanity. A short distance away, down a side rail that ran behind the midway tents and buildings, a small, slender path ran along the outermost edge of the pier. Occasional lights pointed out at the water showed where fishermen plied their hobby in the darkness, hoping for that rare bite to make their evening worth it. The multi-colored lights of the rides were reflected farther out, the lights of the truly huge Ferris wheel even further out on the turbulent water. She turned and moved to stand in front of Adam, blocking him against the rail.

"You know," she whispered, leaning her forehead against his once more. She smiled. It seemed that, without even realizing it, she’d come to a decision. "I don’t think anyone has paid me this much attention since I left England. Maybe even before that."

Adam raised his eyebrows, smiling at her in their self-made shadow. "Really?" he whispered. He tilted his head, bringing their lips in contact with one another. His elbows slid off the railing behind him, his hands coming to rest on her lower back, where his fingers spread to take her in and pull her close. Their kiss deepened.

They pulled back only after threatening to go much further. His hands had found their way beneath the few strings that held her top on. He extracted them carefully, certain to not undo the threads that kept the front precariously balanced against her body.

"Now," he whispered huskily, "Why would that be?"

Lynx could only look into his eyes, something akin to stunned amazement rushing through her brain. Adrenaline, hormones and lust suddenly shot through her, the free ranging of his hands doing something to the controlled Englishwoman she was beneath the fur. He wanted her, she knew. She could feel it where they were touching at the waist. Had wanted her almost since the moment he’d seen her.

She did not answer, instead throwing them both headlong into another kiss. Thought swirled away on a rush of feeling. She put her arms around his shoulders, crushing herself against him. Again, his hands went to their searching. Up and then down her back they went, fingers spread wide for maximum sensation. Where his fingers met jeans, he paused, slipping back up, trying to avoid untying her top, despite the amazing rush of hormones telling him otherwise. They ended up in her hair, holding her close as the kiss deepened from a friendly kiss that said ‘I want you,’ to one that said much, much more.

They pulled away in a rush of breath, trying to recover from the dizzying heights they’d managed to take themselves to. Still locked together by their mutual wrapping of arms about each other, neither made any move to separate, instead meeting the other’s eyes and matching the intensity they found there.

"I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you," Adam whispered softly. Passion thudded beneath his words. Lynx could feel it in more ways than just his voice.

Lynx grinned, embarrassed suddenly that they’d both lost so much control, and in public even! "Why are you so crazy for me?" she asked. She loosened her grip and ran a finger across his lips and down his neck, watching his mouth as he spoke.

He tilted his head, closing his eyes as she caressed him, her claw only just scratching the skin. "When I was younger," he whispered, "I had a cat. She was a gray tabby, named Mistress."

"Mmhmm," Lynx replied, looking down as she toyed with his collar. His hands were still meshed into her fur, massaging her sides softly as he spoke. She had begun purring without realizing it. It added yet another thrill. Yes, she’d been altered so as to be able to pull that off. She’d never really had the chance to use it, and thus, was as startled to hear it as he was. She grinned, letting it increase in volume as he spoke.

"Mistress used to come in and sleep with me every night," Adam continued. They met eyes, hers glowing slightly in the night, her genetically altered eyes seeing almost as if it were daylight around her, while his had dilated so they were huge in the darkness, just so he could see her.

"She was my ultimate companion," he said. "I used to wish at night that she was a real woman, she was so perfect. She loved me without asking anything of me, was there for me when I wanted or needed her, and yet she was her own person. She was beautiful.

"I’ll never forget her," he finished softly. He leaned forward, kissing Lynx softly.

"And I remind you of her," she whispered softly upon pulling away again.

"You do," Adam replied. "But that’s not the only reason I’m nuts for you."

"I should hope not," Lynx said, laughing seductively.

Adam chuckled, knowing it would be a terrible thing if Lynx thought the only reason he wanted her was some adolescent memory of his. He shook his head. "There are lots of reasons I think I’m crazy for you." He straightened softly and kissed each of her ears, returning to look into her eyes. "You’re more than a woman," he said quietly. "You’re beautiful, but not in the way any woman can be. You’re unique."

"Unique," Lynx said, smiling.

Adam smiled back, regaining something of that stunning quality of his. "When I kiss you," he said quietly, "I can feel your muzzle pull back." He paused, looking into her eyes, searching for the right words. "You PURR, for God’s sake!" His hands continued their aimless caress on her back and sides. Slowly and surely, she was getting turned on without meaning to.

Lynx chuckled, throaty purr still emanating from her. She tilted her face, letting her whiskers twitch across his nose and causing him to flinch, sniffing at the sensation. "I’d hope you’d think more of me than just what I look like," she whispered seriously. The purr did not stop. Even if he DIDN’T, she realized she didn’t care. At least, not for the mean time.

Adam shrugged in her arms. "I hardly know anything about you," he admitted. "But what I do know, I like. I’ve never met a bartender who takes as much time getting to know her customers… I’ve never met a woman with as much… class."

"I don’t get to know ALL my customers as well as I’ve gotten to know you," Lynx said. She shrugged slightly, not wanting to break contact more than necessary.

"I should think not," Adam replied, smiling back. He turned and looked beyond her, seeing a large crowd of people coming back from the arcade. The pink bunny-sculpt was in the middle, as before. They seemed to be heading for the Ferris wheel. "Come on," he said, concerned at the potential for a fight that the pink sculpt represented. That many guys fighting for one woman’s attentions? It was a recipe for a riot, waiting to happen. "Let’s get out of here."

Lynx turned to look over her shoulder. Seeing what he sensed, she turned back and smiled lightly at him. She still hadn’t pulled away, and his hands hadn’t stopped. She bumped her head against his cheek, rubbing her ears against him, closing her eyes with the sensations. She’d never done this before! This just felt good!

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Adam turned to look at her, forgetting everything he’d just been saying when their eyes met. "I was thinking we could go to my place," he said hopefully. "I have a great view of the city from my place. It’s quieter…" He trailed off, his intent made obvious.

Lynx kissed him again, this time passionately, her hands rising to pin his head in place while she did the kissing. Her tail had become a lashing whip, her emotional roller coaster obvious in its gyrations. His hands ceased their motion about her back, pulling her close to him, intensifying their contact. When they pulled away again, she only nodded, smiling privately.

She knew what waited in Malibu, just as he did. But now, at least, he knew that she knew.

His place was far out beyond even La Roma. They passed it on the way, Lynx thinking back to the other day when they’d first met. Adam’s hand, when not on the gear shift, was on her own, his fingers caressing hers without his being aware of it. The walk back to the car had been broken by the occasional need to turn and kiss or be kissed for no apparently good reason. The ride back was a chance to reflect on the passion that had heated so quickly between them.

Adam seemed entirely infatuated with her. He’d come in, ordered drinks that felled larger men, but had not reacted to them. He’d gotten beneath that semi-rigid ‘bartender’ shell she lived behind most of the time, and infected her with his smile. He’d told her his problems, and she’d managed somewhere along the way to realize that she was very attracted to him. Now, here she was, on the way to his place, with the knowledge that they were both ready to throw down and go to things, without even a real chance to give it a second thought.

And she hadn’t had a good time out with a man since before she’d become a sculpt. She hadn’t had time, and didn’t have the same level of interest with any that she HAD gone on as she had with him. Adam, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have even the slightest qualm about this, but men rarely did, she considered.

She turned and eyed him from where she sat in the Benz, watching as he turned slowly to take her in and caught her looking at him. They smiled, realizing sheepishly somewhat later that they’d been staring. He broke the contact and went back to watching the road. Whatever waited at his place, they were both looking forward to it, and there was no denying it to either of them.

Adam pulled the Benz through a high, gated fence, into a paved courtyard between a three-car garage and a long, slender, two-storied house. His NSX sat in the shadows beneath the carport, the entrance to the home down a side yard that disappeared beneath an overhang and between large ferns that seemed to screen off even the view of the door from the parking area. Adam pulled in and turned off the car, turning and just grinning at her in the darkness before moving to get out. Lynx followed suit, stepping out and getting a better look at the place.

It was long, spread along a singular axis pointed out at the sea. The carport was on the backside of the house. The front was hidden from both the parking area and the highway beyond the walls, there being only a few windows opening in this direction. Privacy was assured. She began to have thoughts of wandering ‘in the fur’ about the place without any sort of fear of being seen. It brought a grin to her face, one which drew an odd look from Adam. She dared not give an explanation, at least, not yet.. They disappeared into the shadows surrounding the path to the front door.

Inside, the place had been built in a single room, the upstairs nothing more than a balcony on the first, a single, long room stretched out along the entire front of the house. To the left, a long wall of glass offered an amazing view of the city, glowing in the distance. At the sea-side end, built far out over the water, stood a living room complete with stone fireplace, monstrous vid-screen, and white couch and carpet. Sliding glass doors led out to a low-walled patio. A Jacuzzi sat beneath a wooden roof, waiting. Along the right-hand wall as they came in were the kitchen, stair to the second floor, bathroom, and guest room, in that order. Above, the bedrooms opened onto the main room below, providing the same view from above as from below. A second bath was hidden from view, near the main bedroom. The sound of surf crashed through the open windows, Adam’s security system more than enough to keep criminals out of the place unless they came by sea and could climb the pylons that supported it.

"What do you think?" he asked. He stepped inside, turning and speaking to the room at large. "Lights. Low. All." Around them, the lights in the various recesses of the room came on, the low setting doing little more than providing ambient light they could walk safely in without running into things. Simple, formless modern art lined the walls, plants in places he couldn’t have thought to put them in. Someone kept the house in proper shape for him. He just lived here.

"You have a nice decorator," she said, impressed despite herself. She’d never in her entire life considered the possibility of ever seeing into one of these places. The crashing of the surf from outside drew her to the sliding doors, where she stared out at the water and the glow of Los Angeles in the distance.

Adam had stepped into his kitchen. She heard him set his keys down and do something with a computer screen. He was ordering something. She ignored him for the moment, choosing instead to marvel at the view.

"This is amazing," she said quietly. A moment later, she jumped, Adam’s hands coming to rest on her shoulders, his chin beside her neck.

"You like?"

Lynx nodded.

He kissed the side of her neck, where it joined her shoulder. "Care for a soak in the hot tub?" He was grinning when she turned to look at him.

"Why did I know you would ask that?" she said, turning and putting her arms around him. She smiled widely, enjoying the feel of his hands as he wrapped his arms around her waist once more. One of his hands closed around the base of her tail, drawing a deep sigh and an instant purr. Until that moment, she’d never realized how good that felt.

"Hmm," he replied, kissing her on the muzzle. "I’ll have to see if I can find more spots that’ll make you react like that."

Lynx opened her eyes, meeting his. They seemed to match stare for stare for a long moment, and then that chemical thing happened again. Suddenly, she was shedding clothing, reaching back and slipping the knot loose that held her top on and letting it drop to the floor. Their lips locked together, hands working clothing off as they hurried to strip, the lights coming on low out on the patio, the Jacuzzi firing up seemingly on its own.

"I think I’m going to like it here," she said.