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Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'll put them back when I'm done.
Chris began to look over the contents of the refrigerator and the cupboards. He turned to Karen who has hopped onto the bar, "Well, we have some pretty uncomplicated fair here."
"How uncomplicated?" Karen smiled.
"Well, there are fresh vegetables in the refrigerator and some canned chicken, rice, and spices in the cupboard. How about Teriyaki Chicken-Ramsey Style?"
"Sounds like a great idea. Word has it that you're a wonderful chef."
"It's all true," He smiled, getting vegetables out of the fridge and smiling at her, "Want to be an assistant? You can chop vegetables."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Fix the chicken. If this canned stuff isn't done right, it'll taste way nasty."
Karen laughed, "Okay, I'll trust you then." She hopped off the bar and dug around in a drawer to find a knife. She began to chop vegetables while Chris put on the rice and worked on the chicken. He put the chicken on to cook and smiled reaching over to grab a small piece of carrot from the pile of veggies and chomping on it. Karen smacked his hand when he went for another piece, "No more of that or there won't be any left for the chicken."
"The chicken is dead. I'm the one that's hungry," He smiled.
"Well if you don't quit, you'll be dead too, Ramsey," Karen smiled, pointing to the knife in her hand, "I know how to use this, you know."
"Uh oh," He grinned, "I think I'm worried now. Karen Wexler, psycho knife wielding maniac."
"Chris Ramsey, psycho vegetable stealing fool."
Chris laughed, stirring the chicken and smiling, "Come on. Just one more piece."
Karen looked down at the vegetables and then back at him, "Which one?"
"I don't care. Surprise me," He said, turning his full attention to the chicken.
Karen picked up a cauliflower floret and held it up to his mouth. Chris took it between his teeth and winked at her. She giggled, "You are a terrible flirt."
"I only give as good as I get, Dr. Wexler."
"I haven't done anything of the sort."
"Need I remind you of the beach?" He grinned devilishly.
"No thank you," She laughed, "It wasn't flirting really."
"Okay, just blatant sexual fantasy, huh?"
She colored pink, "I hate you."
"I know."
She smiled and picked up a bottle of wine. She read the label and smiled, "I don't know who your neighbors are, but they have great taste."
"Why's that?"
"This is the good stuff. Think they'd mind if we drank it?"
"Like they'd mind if we cooked their food or used their cabin?" He smiled, "I don't think it would be a big deal. I'll just repay them for everything."
"You're not going to just take it for yourself," She asked, rummaging in a drawer before finding the corkscrew. She opened the wine and began searching for two glasses. She had to stretch to reach them in the cupboard and Chris grinned over at her.
"What?" She asked, catching his eyes on her.
"Nothing."
"No, you had something going through that mind of yours. What was it?"
"I was just thinking that you're a beautiful woman."
She smiled slowly, "Thank you, Chris. I needed to hear that."
"Not convinced of it?"
"Let's just say that I don't seem to be the type of woman that men want."
"Joe wanted you."
"Until he betrayed my trust."
"I don't know the whole story, Karen, but I don't think that Joe did it all on his own. I think Courtney must have helped along the way."
"You were dating her, right?" She asked, filling the glasses and handing one to him.
He took the glass from her hand and allowed his fingers to brush against hers in a whisper of movement. He smiled and took a sip of wine, "Yeah, we were dating."
"Is that the woman you were talking about earlier? The one that's with someone else?"
"No, not by a long shot," He said before adding the vegetables to the mix and seasoning the dish, "Courtney was convenient. Nothing else."
"You didn't care about her at all?"
"If I answer that honestly, you'll deck me."
"I might not."
"Yes, you would. It's a woman thing. You all stand together in defense of one another even if you hate each other."
Karen laughed softly, "Courtney's not a woman. She's a snake."
"No, wait a minute. I get classified as a snake by most people in Port Charles. I refuse to be placed in the same category as her."
She laughed, "Okay, she's lower than that."
"Much lower," He laughed.
"Okay, then tell me the truth. Did you care about her or not?"
"No. It was just for sex. That's all."
"So why did you stay together for so long? Relationships based on sex usually don't last long."
"She was scamming me. I had to find out why, and it took a while to get around to the truth."
"Chris Ramsey on a search for the truth. Who would've guessed?"
"That's not funny," He smiled, stirring the rice, "Do me a favor. Find us some plates. This is almost ready."
"Okay," Karen said, opening the cupboard and removing two plates, placing them near the stove, "So, why was she scamming you?"
"It was a plan to get back at me. It was actually Frank's plan."
"Frank? Frank hates Courtney."
"Yeah, that's what had me stumped for a while, but as it turns out, Frank was using Courtney to get at me. Little did he know that I could have cared less if Courtney came or went."
"What did Frank hope to accomplish by that?"
"He wanted to get at the money for the DL-56 patent. Problem was, I didn't have the money. Julie had it all."
"So, why did they keep up the scam?"
"That gets even more complicated."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere," Karen smiled, teasing.
"No, you're not. I guess that means I have a captive audience."
"I guess it does."
Chris grinned as he served the vegetables and chicken on a bed of rice, "Dinner is served."
"It smells great."
"Just wait until you taste it."
"I honestly can't wait," She smiled, taking the plate from him and walking to the table with her glass of wine. Chris grabbed a plate of his own, his glass of wine along with the bottle, and made his way to the table to sit next to her at the small table.
Karen took a bite and smiled, "This is good."
"I told you."
"I'm serious, Chris. This is really good. You'll have to cook for me again. If you do this good in a pinch, I can't wait to find out what you can do when you're prepared."
He smiled, "Uh oh, there you go stroking my ego again."
"I haven't stroked anything yet," She smiled, flirting with him again.
"Be still my heart. I do believe the lady was flirting with me again," Chris smiled, placing a hand over his heart.
"I might have been. I don't plan to make a habit of it though."
"That just means I have to savor these moments," He smiled, before taking a bite of the dish, "Could have used some more soy sauce."
"No way. That would have ruined it."
"Different tastes," He smiled, walking back over to the refrigerator to retrieve the bottle of soy sauce and sprinkling some more on his plate. He sat down again and took another bite, "Now that's perfect."
Karen laughed softly, "I guess different tastes is what makes this world so wonderful. It would be completely boring if we all liked the same thing."
"Yes it would," He smiled, raising his glass of wine in a toast, "Here's to different tastes."
Karen smiled, and joined in the toast. They both took a drink of their wine before replacing the glasses on the table. They ate their dinner among little conversation. When Karen was finished, she sat back in her chair and sighed happily as she took another sip of wine, "That was the best meal I've had in a long time."
"Now I am going to get egotistical," Chris smiled, leaning onto the table and drinking his own wine.
"It's been a while since I've enjoyed really good cooking that didn't come from the Grille or I didn't make myself. It's nice to have something different."
"I'll make you a deal. I'll cook for you when we get back to Port Charles on the condition that you return the favor sometime."
"Deal," She agreed as he refilled her glass, "You know, I never thought of you as the conversation type."
"What type did you think I was?"
"Honestly?"
"Yes, honestly."
"I thought you were the no foreplay, straight to the bed type."
His eyes widened and he grinned, "You keep talking like that, you're bound to find out all sorts of things you didn't know about me, Karen."
She smiled, "I'm just telling you the truth."
"Well then, let's go a little further. Did you ever think about what it would be like? Me and you?"
"Having sex?" She asked.
"Making love," He replied.
She blushed slightly. She really shouldn't be having this conversation with him. This could be dangerous. This was Chris Ramsey, the man that couldn't be trusted with anything. He was also a very good looking man, and she had no reason to not tell him the truth. She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I thought about it."
He smiled coolly, wondering what had brought on this idea. Sure he had thought about having sex with Karen, mostly just to piss Joe off, but now that he thought about it, sex with Karen couldn't be so bad. She always came off as being innocent, but her past said otherwise, and he was quickly learning that she had lots of unexplored facets of her personality. He took a sip of wine and licked his lips to taste the bittersweet liquid, "And what did you think about it?"
"I thought it would be wild and passionate. Totally uninhibited."
"Lots of moaning, heavy breathing and sweat?" He said more than asked, but the meaning was clear.
"Yeah," She whispered, nodding looking directly into his deep brown eyes. She was really turned on just talking about this with him.
He wanted her. He wanted to reach across the table and kiss her. He wanted to push everything off the table and put her on top of it, showing her just how totally uninhibited it would be between them. Instead, he took a deep breath and another sip of wine. He looked at the glass and decided that after drinking champagne at the wedding and the wine at dinner, he was only thinking on alcohol.
Still the topic of conversation hung heavy in the air between them. Karen couldn't tear her eyes away from him. Why hadn't he touched her or kissed her? She could have sworn that she saw the desire for her in his eyes before he'd torn them away from her. She had to be kidding herself. Why would Chris Ramsey want her? She wasn't exotic enough or wild enough anymore to attract a man like him.
She took a slow even breath and removed her plate from the table, taking it to the sink. Chris followed her and stood directly behind her, close enough for his breath to warm the skin of her neck. He placed his plate on top of hers, their arms side by side. He slowly moved his fingertips over her forearms to her elbows where he urged her to turn to face him.
Chris watched her turn as if in slow motion, more of her beautiful face being revealed to him by the moment. To hell with the alcohol, he did want to kiss her and he was determined that he would.
Karen turned to face him, feeling anxious to see his face, to lock eyes with his, to see if he was feeling near as hot as she was. When she stood facing him, she lifted her eyes to his and saw what she thought was there a minute ago. He did want to kiss her. He might even want her. She felt herself get slightly weak in the knees and she braced herself my leaning against the sink.
He watched her, moving his eyes from hers over her cheek to rest on her lips. He looked over the full pink flesh before slowly moving a thumb over her bottom lip. She watched him intently and saw his lips moving toward hers.
She wanted him to. She wanted him to kiss her. Didn't she? Suddenly she was afraid. What if something more happened between them? How would she live with herself?
Just as he began to press his lips against hers, Karen slipped from his reach, walking back into the den. Chris closed his eyes against disappointment and rejection and stood there for a moment, trying to calm the fire in his blood.
Karen was only silent for a moment. She stood in front of the fireplace, suddenly cold but at the same time, burning from the inside out. She turned to face him and tried to play it cool as she smiled, "So what else is there to do up here?"
Chris took a deep breath and turned towards her, smiling half-heartedly, "Well, there's always a deck of cards."
"Do you play gin?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then, let's play, Dr. Ramsey."
He took another deep breath before finding
the deck of cards on the counter and joining her near the fire.