I saw Kate walking along the shoulder of the road as I was driving to her place one afternoon. I slowed to a stop next to her. “What are you doing out here?” I called out to her.

“SUV crapped out again,” she said, turning to face me.

“Get in. I’ll take you back to get it.”

She looked at me with a little smile. “My mother told me to never get into cars with strangers--and I don’t know anybody any stranger than you,” she told me.

“Are you going to get in, or do I get out and put you in the damn vehicle?” I wanted to know.

“Try it,” she challenged playfully.

I put the car in park and started to get out. “You wouldn’t,” she laughed. She started to run.

“You leave me no choice.” I got out and caught her, scooped her up, then carried her around to the passenger side of my Land Rover. She laughed even harder as I deposited her in the vehicle.

“I didn’t think you’d actually do it.” She continued to laugh as I pulled the seatbelt across her chest, lingering for a moment before fastening it.

Neither did I, until that moment. I’d never been the kind of man who engaged in such juvenile behavior. But now I found myself enjoying the way Kate and I played with each other. We teased, taunted, everything but what I really wanted.

The one thing I couldn’t have. Not yet, anyway.

“I told you that damn thing wasn’t going to hold up,” I said as I turned around and headed back to retrieve her SUV. “While I’m here, I’ll take you car shopping.”

She sighed heavily. “Jamie--”

“Don’t argue with me. What if this had happened late at night?” I asked.

“I can take care of myself,” she said stubbornly.

“Really?” I didn’t have any trouble overpowering you,” I reminded her.

“You didn’t overpower me,” she insisted. “I let you pick me up.”

“Oh?” I looked sideways at her, trying to keep my focus on the road ahead. “And what else would you let me do to you? Should I park here and drag you into the back seat?”

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned, laughing again.

She didn’t realize I was serious.

***

After checking out the SUV, I determined that I’d need some items from an auto repair store before I could get it running well enough to take it back to her house. We drove to the nearest town to get the parts, and ended up making a stop at a local fast food restaurant.

“I’ll bet you’ve never done this before,” Kate chided me as we waited in line.

“Fast food? Actually, I have,” I said. “I take my sons out for fast food from time to time.” Liz didn’t approve. She wanted the boys to only have healthy food, but I knew what it was like to be a small boy. A guy just had to have his burger and fries from time to time.

“Hey, Katie,” the young woman behind the counter greeted her. “Who’s the hunk? New boyfriend?”

Kate laughed. “Friend, not boyfriend.”

I was flattered that a teenage girl thought I was a hunk. Most girls her age consider a man of thirty-three ancient.

“What’s wrong with you? He’s a hottie. And you two look so great together.”

I liked that even more than being called a hunk. Buoyed by the flattery, I grabbed Kate’s bottom playfully. She swatted it away. “Yeah, Katie, what’s wrong with you?” I winked at the girl behind the counter.

“If you want to keep that hand, keep it to yourself,” Kate warned in a low voice. “You may be a catch, but you’ve already been the catch of the day, remember?”

“I prefer the bait on your hook, honey.”

“Behave yourself,” she scolded.

We got our food and found a booth. Kate had chosen a rather large chicken sandwich. “If these things get any bigger, we’ll have to adapt genetically,” she predicted as she unwrapped it.

“Adapt genetically?” I didn’t get it.

“Yeah--have our genes spliced with snake genes so we can unhinge our jaws to eat.”

I was always surprised by her appetite. She was so slim, yet she put away that entire sandwich easily. “I’d weigh three hundred pounds if I weren’t so active,” she said, as if reading my mind.

I wondered if she had such a voracious appetite for all things.

I thought of Liz at dinner, eating only small, very small, portions and worrying that she’d gained an ounce and might not fit into her latest designer purchase.

Kate finished her sandwich and licked mayonnaise from her fingertips. She was driving me crazy, unaware of how erotic I found the sight of her licking her fingers. “You have a little on your face,” I told her.

“Where?” She dabbed her chin with a napkin.

“Here.” I took the napkin and gently wiped the corner of her mouth.

“Careful,” she warned with a little smile, “people will talk.”

“Let them,” I said in a low voice. “We’re in a public place, and we’re not doing anything wrong.”

Unless thinking about it counts. I’d been thinking about it a great deal.

***

I drove Kate’s old SUV back to the house, in case it broke down again. She took my black Land Rover. In spite of her insistence that she had no need for a new vehicle, she clearly enjoyed driving mine. She raced off down the highway, her arm extended through the window, waving to me.

I called her cell. “Hey, there, hot stuff. Wanna drag?” I challenged her.

“Sure. Got a chain?”

“Funny.” I hesitated, but only for a moment. “Tell you what, beautiful. Winner is the loser’s slave for, say, a weekend.”

“Hope you like the taste of dust,” she laughed.

Now, if I could only have made her old wreck go fast enough to beat my new Rover. Why hadn’t I made that bet before we switched vehicles?

I looked down and saw a CD lying on the passenger seat, then back at the road--just in time to see her swerve wildly. “Hey, what was that all about?”

“Just dodging a raccoon,” she said. “I like your ride, Randall.”

“It could be yours,” I suggested.

“Yeah, for how much?”

“I’ll give it to you.”

“No, you won’t.”

“You want to buy it?”

“If the price is right.”

“I’m sure we can work something out.” She could have the Rover in the driveway if I could have her in the bed. Trouble was, I wanted her in and out of bed. I wanted all of her. But I couldn’t give her all of me. Not yet.

“See you back at the house.” She took off, disappearing on the horizon.

I picked up the CD and put it in the player, hoping that, at least, still worked. It did, and the music came on almost immediately. Natasha Bedingfield. Unwritten.

Kate and I had been together--been friends--for almost a year now, and every time I was with her, it was harder for me to leave. I wanted to tell her I loved her. I wanted to hear her say she loved me. I wanted to make love with her. I wanted to plan a future with her and my kids. I wanted to have more kids, with Kate. I pictured a little girl with red pigtails, a tomboy who’d give her older brothers fits.

A little girl who would look like Kate, I thought. We’ll call her Kitty.