On Thursday morning, Mercedes summons Eleanor into her office.

Mercedes goes into a long & confused spiel about a house she & her husband want to sell, out by Lake Tahoe. But what it comes down to is she wants Eleanor to go out to Tahoe his weekend & show the house to her friend Corrine on Saturday. Mercedes is vague as to why to she can't make it herself as she planned, some mysterious 'family thing' that came up. What Mercedes does make clear is that Eleanor is to have the next day off, to drive up to the house a day early & air it out, and that she is permitted to take Justin along with her.

In fact, Mercedes is quite insistent on this point. "Do bring your boyfriend along, it's lovely vacaton house, really, and I'd hate to completely steal your weekend." Consideration of others is not one of Mercedes' strong points: it's hard to believe she would even care about taking up Eleanor's time: she thinks she owns it, anyway. And Eleanor was going to bring Justin whether Mercedes offered or not: he purposefully keeps his weekends completely free for her, as it is the only time she can promise is his, but having Mercedes' approval does make it more comfortable. It's an amazing piece of good news, not only is she & Justin going to be spending the weekend in a vacation home on Lake Tahoe, but she's going to have another opportunity to present herself to Corrine, editor of Livin' Large.

Eleanor meets Justin outside the plaza on Montana Ave: his last appointment for the day was in Santa Monica & she is able to catch him by his car to tell him about the Tahoe plan. A deep furrow creases his brow when she tells him Mercedes specifically invited him to join her, "I don't trust her," he says. "You hardly know her, Justin," Eleanor laughs, "I don't trust her either...but what could possibly be wrong with it? And I have to go, she's my boss. You will come with me won't you?" she asks, suddenly a bit concerned, he can get a bit a funny about surprises.

"Of course I'll go with you, Princess," he says as he kisses her. "I wouldn't miss a weekend alone with you for anything." She didn't think so.

It's an 8 hour drive from L.A. to Tahoe, so they leave early in the morning and arrive at Mercedes' house in the late afternoon. Eleanor's first road trip was a sheer joy: watching Justing drive on the open road, off the traffic burdened L.A. streets & freeways, the way his hand caresses the stick as he shifts gears, the liberated fire in his eyes as he pushes his foot down on the accelerator, it gave her the same excited thrill as watching her horses run used to do.

On a whim, Eleanor wore the only skirt she owns, an outfit she bought at Xtina's insistence when they were shopping together on Melrose. Xtina & the shopgirl had teamed up to assure Eleanor she didn't look like a fool with so much leg showing, but once she got it home, she never could put it back on & wear it outside in front of people. Of course she never bothered to return it; it all just went on her parents' credit card. At 4am it seemed like a fun idea to try it out, since only Justin would see. And Justin noticed immediately, she saw the glow in his green eyes as they fixed on her legs, and all through the drive, when his hand wasn't on the stick it was on her thigh. As soon as they get into the kitchen, Justin lifts her onto a counter and slides his hands over her knees, opening her legs. "We have to go into town & find a store: we need food," he says, his lips brushing gently against hers, making the most mundane statement seem sexy.

"I don't want to go out dressed like this," she says, "Let me get changed first." Justin laughs softly as he kisses her neck & pulls down her zipper, "I like you best with no clothes at all, Elle," he whispers, and she's undressed faster than she thought possible.

Eleanor would have never imagined she'd ever find herself making love on the kitchen counter of her employer's vacation home. But then she'd never meant to engage in this sort of activity at all, and now that she has, she's taking every opportunity fate brings her to explore her flowering sexuality with Justin. He pulls her tight against him, locking her in his muscled grip, and his face nose to nose with hers he whispers her name, three times, "Eleanor, Eleanor, Elle." She'd like to respond, to call his name & tell him that she loves him, but a sweet bliss overtakes her and her cry of joy has no words.

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