Slim fingers slipped smoothly beneath material of the ice blue satin blouse and began to lift it off the wriggling blonde.

"God, Max! We can't," moaned Gillian as she tried to keep her blouse from being discarded.

Sucking an earlobe into her mouth, Max grinned. "Sure we can, Honey. We already did...several times."

Green eyes burst open as the artist looked down at her snickering wife. "Not with my shirt off we didn't!" Playfully smacking strong hands away and reaching for Max's shirt, Gillian waggled her brows. "But you are absolutely right. We.. . <kiss>... certainly ...<kiss kiss> ...can." Popping three buttons quickly, Gillian watched her lover become slowly aware that the stripPER had become the stripPEE. "Mmmmm," she moaned into the cleavage before her, "let's go for five. My favorite number..."

"Excuse me, Ms Max. We're about five minutes from our destination. You asked me to let you know."

The voice startled both women into silence, then laughter. Gillian licked her lips and lifted her brows while emerald orbs danced in the darkness. Max caught the small hands in her own and blue eyes darted from the now unbutton-able shirt to an smirking blonde.

"Five huh? I'll remember that later when I decide how many minutes to let you sleep tonight." Max leaned into the kiss Gillian offered.

"Promises. Promises," whispered the blonde as she moved in for another kiss.

Placing two fingers against her favorite lips, Max smiled. "Thank you, James. You can turn the intercom off now. I'll assume, when the car stops, next we have arrived."

Gillian rolled her green eyes. "You could have told me he could hear us."

Max snickered again. "He could only hear us just now. Nothing else, my love. Nothing else."

"Yes Ma'am," came the masculine voice followed by a hollow click which Gillian was absolutely certain was preceded by baritone laughter.

"Mmmmhmmmm, nothing else, huh?" She teased her wife.

"C'mere you," was all the brunette said or needed to say. By the time the car stopped only minutes later both women groaned at the interruption.

James, being the consummate gentleman, rapped on the window before opening the limousine door. Max led with a long leg as the driver smiled and offered his hand to the tall beauty.

"Thank you, James."

"Ma'am," came the courteous reply before he turned to the blonde whose jacket had mysteriously found it's way onto her wife's body...backwards.

Giggling at Max and glancing around at her surroundings, Gillian smiled at the driver. "Thank you, James. Where are we?"

The artist had half way expected some airport or exotic locale. This was....well...this was the goddamned wilderness motel. No. Actually, this wasn't even a motel, Gillian looked around in mild surprise. There was nothing here but this ....this...cabin. Glancing skyward she wrinkled her brow.

Max winked at James and grinned at her wife. "Um, Sweetheart, they're not there. You won't find any wires going to the cabin my love. No phone lines. No power lines. If you could scan the ground you would note there is no cable access either.

"But..." the blonde looked around as the smiling driver removed only the bags Max indicated and locked everything else into the large trunk...including her ...gulp...briefcase.

"Relax, Honey. Mine is going in there too. See?" Max tossed her own briefcase in after it's mate.

"But..." sputtered Gillian.

Max pulled her wife close to her and moved toward the door and put the key in the lock before turning back to James. "Thank you, James. We'll see you in two days, just after sunrise."

"What!?" gasped Gillian.

"Only teasing," chuckled Max. "Make it just past noon, James. See you then."

Green eyes darted from the driver who had gotten into the car and was pulling away to her gorgeous, if insane, wife. "Max, you can't be serious. We can't stay out here for two days. There's nothing here!"

Scooping her all too serious wife into her arms, Max kicked the door open. "Sure there is, Sweetheart. We're here. Just you, me and all the things I had brought in earlier. No one and nothing to interrupt us. My sweet love...two days won't be nearly enough."

Emerald eyes looked around and soon began filling with silent tears. There was a fire in the fireplace with a King Sized Mattress on the floor about two feet away. The 'bed' was literally covered in roses of every color the blonde had ever seen, and then some. There were two small tables at opposite ends of the room, each holding about six tall scented candles. Gillian breathed in the aroma and smiled. It was unmistakably the delicate blend of Vanilla, Cinnamon and Peppermint.

Max stroked the tear kissed cheek of her beautiful wife. "I love you, Gillian. I always have. Here.." she whispered as she led her by the hand into the next room.

"Oh my God," gasped Gillian as she peeked into the huge bathroom with steam rising from the double sized tub surrounded by a similar assortment of candles. Just beneath the rising layer of steam the blonde could make out the floating rose petals. "Max! How on earth did you.." but her words were lost in the kiss.

Max pulled back gently and tugged the small hand. "One more room to go, Babe." Grinning in anticipation the dark haired lovely introduced her wife to the best stocked kitchen imaginable...and all without a bit of electricity. Max had an old-fashioned Ice Box and a wood burning stove and cupboards filled to overflowing. The butcher block table held a crystal vase with a dozen perfect red roses. Standing against the vase was a small card.....

I will hold you close tonight

And romance you with candle-light

I will love you for all time

"Will you be my Valentine?"

Love, your Max

"Oh, Max. I love you so much. I swear, you are the most romantic soul. How long have you had this planned? It's so incredible. And you just sent part of my gift to you away in the damn Limo." Gillian was talking so fast she barely took time to breathe, so overwhelmed was she at her wife's loving gift.

"Well," Max sighed in Gillian's left ear. "Guess you'll have to be my gift, then."

"Um..." Gillian felt herself being lifted as Max's kiss sent everything else into a glorious haze.

Kneeling beside the make-shift bed, Max lay Gillian in front of the flickering fireplace. "Works for me, you know? You are the greatest gift of a billion lifetimes, Gillian. When I bought this place six years ago, I never dreamed I would use it for anything other than an escape from the world. Tonight, it's become my own personal Shangri-La."

"I love you Max," whispered Gillian.

"To answer your question, I began planning this the day we met. It just took me a while to find the right time to do it. You didn't answer MY question," smiled the blue eyed lover.

"I didn't?" asked Gillian. Then she giggled a little. "Well, Max, with the roses and the candles and the fireplace and the.." The blonde found herself wrapped in the arms of the love of her life as she was kissed nearly senseless. "The...the kisses. God, the kisses. How can I be expected to remember anything when you keep kissing me like that?" Gillian stroked the soft face. "What was the question again?"

Crystal blue eyes peered into emerald green and it seemed so like a dream, but it wasn't..not anymore.

"I asked: Will you be my Valentine?" Long legs stretched out as Max awaited her answer.

Small hands gently removed the coat still on the larger body, backwards. Dancing green eyes caught the glow of the candles and gleamed wickedly as all remaining buttons burst from the shirt and two perfect breasts were exposed. Glancing up just once before kissing the warm flesh before her, Gillian smiled.

"I've always been your Valentine, my love. It just took me a long time to find my dream. Now that I have, I may never sleep again." Blonde brows waggled to be certain she was clearly understood.

"Oh yeah," Max moaned as she pulled Gillian on top of her. "We won't be needing Mysti tonight."
 

In a quiet bedroom, unattended, Mysti: Mistress of Dreams lifted the cloth draped so lovingly over the painting. Somehow, the artist had managed to capture a moment in time and seal it forever upon the canvas. Amid swirling images of two women's dreams were two sets of eyes: Crystal Blue and Emerald Green. They were locked together as if in eternal embrace. Across the bottom of the painting were the words: "For My Valentine". The artist's signature was tucked neatly in the corner, GMM.

Mysti wept.

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A new adventure with Max and Gillian is already in preparation. Thanks for reading.