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Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'll put everybody back when I'm done.
There they stood. Man and wife. She was everything that a bride should be: radiant, deliriously happy, and wearing a priceless smile that proved to everyone just how in love she was with her new husband. The groom stood beside her, champagne glass in hand, smiling towards his beautiful bride. They were the very picture of happiness.
Courtney stood in front of the wedding guests and smiled as she presented the couple, "Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present tot you, Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Collins."
Kevin set his champagne glass on the table and escorted Eve to the door where outside the wedding guests had formed an aisle for the newlyweds to pass through. She smiled brightly at him and they made their way through the guests while bird seed showered over them. Eve waved toward her friends before getting into the limo with Kevin.
Chris sat at a table after the newlyweds left. He sipped his champagne and glanced around at the remnants of the wedding reception. It had been a beautiful ceremony, a beautiful bride, a beautiful day. There was only one problem. The bride should have been his.
Chris sighed as Karen sank into a chair beside him. They had been each other's escorts down the aisle for the ceremony. He smiled trying not to depress himself too much, "Think they'll be happy?"
Karen smiled faintly, "I hope so."
"What's got you down?"
"This wedding. It was supposed to be me and Joe first."
"I'm sorry, Karen," He said, leaning forward onto the table, "It's funny how things work out, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," She answered, watching Courtney and Joe laughing and holding onto one another.
"Makes you sick, doesn't it?" Chris spoke, noticing where Karen's attention was centered, "Seeing the person you love fawning over someone else?"
"Yes, it does," Karen replied, taking her eyes away from the heart breaking scene and focusing on Chris, "And just who is it that makes you sick to watch?"
"I won't tell," He grinned slyly.
As Chris finished his sentence, Courtney and Joe gathered everyone's attention. Joe smiled as he got down on one knee before her and proposed. Courtney couldn't say yes fast enough and Karen felt like someone stabbed her through the heart.
"I've got to get out of here," Karen said, taking her purse and going for the door. She stepped out into the cold winter air as the last light of the day tickled the nearby mountains. She went to her car and tried to start the engine. It was dead. She tried several times before getting out and cursing the vehicle for everything it was worth.
Chris watched her cursing the car as he stepped out into the chilly air. He smiled and walked over to her, "Car trouble?"
"Yeah, it won't start."
"Need a lift back to Port Charles?" He asked, car keys in hand.
"I don't know," She answered unsure.
"Come on, Karen. It's a long drive. I could use the company," He grinned, "I promise to be on my best behavior."
Karen smiled, "Okay, I'll trust you just this once."
"That's all I ask. Was that so hard?" He smiled offering her his arm.
She took his arm and grinned, walking beside him across the parking lot, "No, I guess not."
Chris unlocked the doors and opened hers to help her in. Karen climbed inside before he closed the door and walked around to get in himself. He started the car and switched on the heater, "I didn't realize it would be this cold tonight."
"I know. It's kind of late in the year.""
"I wonder if there's any news on the weather," He asked as snow flakes began to drop onto the windshield.
"I heard it was suppose to snow," She answered as they left the parking lot.
"I hope it doesn't get too bad. I'd hate to be stranded."
"Me too."
"You'd like my company. Go on. Admit it."
"You're so full of yourself, Chris," Karen smiled.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind being stranded with a beautiful woman like yourself."
Karen felt some pink touch her cheeks as she rolled her eyes, teasing back with him, "I thought you just said that you didn't want to be stranded."
"Not in the car is what I meant," He winked at her before turning his attention back to the road, "I can think of much better places to be stranded."
"I'll bet you can," She laughed gently watching the snow fall.
Chris smiled as the tone of the conversation became less tense, almost relaxed, "I'm curious. If you had to be stranded somewhere, where would it be?"
She smiled and unbuttoned her jacket as the car became warm, "Right now, I'd take a deserted island with lots of sand and sun."
"As long as there are margaritas, I'm there."
"I thought you were into martinis."
"I am, but a beach calls for margaritas," He smiled as the snow came down harder, "I'd give just about anything to be sitting on a beach right now."
"Me too," She agreed, watching the snow fall.
"We have something in common after all."
"Not a lot," She said readjusting her position in her seat.
"Come on. I may be as rotten as they come, but I'm still a human being. I'll bet we have a lot in common, and we just don't know about it."
Karen sighed and watched Chris. He was right. They probably did have a lot in common. She'd never let herself be interested in anything Chris Ramsey did or said, but now he had piqued her curiosity. Maybe being friendly with Chris wasn't so bad after all.
She decided that it was a long drive back to Port Charles, and she didn't want to spend it fighting with him or in silence. She smiled, "Okay, Chris, you asked me where I'd want to be stranded. Let's play this game then. If you were going to be stranded, what three things would you want to have with you?"
"Martinis, shelter, and a beautiful woman."
"Not fair, Chris," She laughed, "I said things. A woman doesn't qualify as a thing."
"Did I just show myself to be a sexist pig?" He grinned, glancing over to her.
"Almost."
"Well, there you go," He smiled, "Those are still the three things I'd want."
"No clothes?"
"If I'm stranded on a beach, I wouldn't need them."
Karen laughed and pictured it. When she did, she felt her temperature rise. Chris was an attractive man. There was no denying it. She looked away from him, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Was she so desperate that she would turn to the likes of Chris Ramsey? Was she so untrusting of men that she would want the one man that she could trust not to be trustworthy?
Chris noticed Karen's blush and grinned, "What?"
"Oh nothing. I was just thinking."
"About me with no clothes on?" He asked, hoping it was so. He liked the idea that the goody goody reformed bad girl would think of him in that way. He thought about what Karen would be like with no clothes and felt his body stir. If he thought like that, they'd wreck. He directed his attention fully at the road before him.
Karen blushed even more that he'd asked her. She smiled and admitted, "Yeah, actually I was."
He grinned, "Did you like what you were thinking about?"
"Yeah, I did," She flushed even more.
He looked over at her. He couldn't see her in the dark but he would bet that she was blushing cherry red, "Well, well, full of surprises, aren't we Doctor?"
"You have no idea," She said, smiling. She was embarrassed right down to her toes.
"Well," He smiled focusing on the road, "What about you? What three things would you want if you were stranded on an island?"
"I don't know," She sighed, trying to get the red out of her cheeks, "Food, shelter, and some good books."
He smiled, teasing, "No clothes?"
Karen burst out in laughter, "I asked for that one, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did. I think it's my turn to do some thinking."
"Don't even think about thinking about it," She laughed.
"I did promise to be on my best behavior, didn't I? I should have made you promise the same thing."
Karen laughed harder, "Too late now."
Chris smiled, watching the road ahead of him, "I don't think we're going to make it back to Port Charles."
"Why not?" She said, looking at the road before them. The ground was becoming covered quickly and visibility was low, "I see what you mean. What are you planning to do?"
"Well, we've got two choices. We can turn back and hope they've still got rooms available at that little motel in town, or we can go to a place I know nearby. My neighbors own a cabin up here that they let me use every once in a while. It's only about five minutes from here. If we turn back, it'll be a thirty minute ride, and it looks like the visibility is only going to get worse."
Karen sighed, "If I go to this cabin with you, you promise to stay on your best behavior?"
"I swear and this time you have to promise the same thing," He smiled.
She laughed softly, "Okay, I promise."
"Then, it's a deal," He said, turning off the main highway to go towards the cabin.
"Somehow I didn't picture you as the cabin in the woods type."
He grinned, "I bet you really have me figured wrong. I mean, yeah you know my rotten side, but that's only part of me."
"Why is that? Why do you only show your rotten side?"
"That way, people aren't disappointed when I do something wrong. They expect it."
"I think you're right. I just might have you figured wrong."
"Don't go thinking I'm really a nice guy."
"You? Nice? I'd never think something like that," She teased.
Chris laughed as he parked in front of the cabin. "Here we are. Come on inside. I'll start a fire, and maybe we can get warm and comfortable."
"Sounds great to me."
Karen followed Chris into the cabin. Best as she could tell, there were only two rooms, the bathroom and the rest of the cabin. Chris walked over to the fire place where plenty of wood had been stacked nearby, "Go ahead and take a look around if you'd like."
"Thanks," She said before moving around the cabin. The fireplace was big and made of stone, a rustic looking fixture to the rest of the mountainesque feel of the place. There was an older looking plush sofa in front of the fireplace while just beyond the sofa was a king size oak bed with a homemade quilt laid a top it and lots of fluffy pillows at the head of the bed. Further around the room was a kitchen and dining area with an oak table and a beautiful artificial wildflower arrangement on the table. She smiled at the beauty of the cabin, "Did you bring me here to seduce me, Dr. Ramsey?"
"Seduce you?" He asked, standing up as the fire was lit and began to pop softly, "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"The fact that this place is perfect. It's gorgeous and cozy. And you have to admit, the fireplace, the big beautiful bed, the wine on the kitchen counter... It's all very appealing."
"Are you saying that if I did set this
up all in an effort to seduce you, it would have
worked?"
Karen blushed. When she first spotted the fireplace on the way in, she had immediately spun a romantic fantasy of making love in front of it, and then when she had seen the large bed, she imagined rolling around in it.
"Maybe. Maybe you rigged my car so that it wouldn't start just so I would ride with you. Maybe you have a thing for me and never told anyone."
Chris grinned slowly, "I'm not the one who was picturing me naked on a beach, now was I?"
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" She asked, looking directly at him.
"You might. One day. But once my ego has been stroked, it has a mind of its own."
"Is it really your ego we're talking about now?"
"You tell me."
Karen stood looking across the room at him and smiled. How come she'd never noticed just how handsome he was until now? She walked to the sofa and took a seat, "Maybe, maybe not."
"Now who's trying to seduce who?"
She laughed gently, "So tell me, Chris, why does this place look like it's a love nest?"
"Well, there's the truth or there's something I could cook up just for you," He smiled.
"It's supposed to be best behavior tonight."
"The truth it is, then," He smiled, taking a seat on the sofa beside her, "My neighbors were supposed to come up here last weekend to celebrate their wedding anniversary. But the wife caught the flu and they never made it. They brought food and cleaned the place up to get ready. Good thing for us though."
"Good thing?" She smiled, "For you to seduce me??"
"No, that the food's here, but the other
could be arranged if you're so inclined," He
teased.
She smiled slowly, avoiding that one altogether, "Food? Hmm, sounds good. Wanna demonstrate your culinary skills?"
"Tease," He winked at her, "Okay, I'll cook. You just keep me company, okay?"
"There's no way you'd get rid of me right now."
He smiled, "Good, come on," He took her
by the hand and led her to the kitchen.