Michael entered her cabin, initially concerned. When he saw her standing there frozen, and saw what she was looking at, he started to laugh.
“You think this is funny? Look at the size of that thing!”
“Yep... that’s a dock spider,” he said as he sat on the bed. “...a nice one.”
“Well, isn’t it supposed to be onthe dock?” Angela wasn’t impressed.
“Sometimes they make their way over here.”
“Sometimes they make their way over here. How reassuring,” she said, sarcastic.
“It’s just a spider Angela. There’s no concern.”
“Well, kill it,” she ordered. It’s the least he could do for making her sleep in this bug infested cabin.
He threw his leg up and killed it with his foot. Just like that. “There.” He grabbed a tissue from the box on the dresser and wiped the remains.
Her heartbeat slowing, Angela felt suddenly foolish, standing there, the damsel in distress in her flowery granny flannel nightgown. She wished she had worn something a little sexier.
“Well...thanks,” she said, self conscious. How silly she must have looked.
“No problem,” he said, scanning her from head to toe, smiling. “Good choice. You’ll be nice and warm in that.”
“Um...thanks. It’s a little granny-ish, I know,” she said, touching the frills on her collar.
“Well, you are one sexy granny,” he teased her as he made his way to the door. “I better go now because I don’t know if I can resist you in that sexy nightgown,” he joked as he stepped out.
Michael quickly made his way to his cabin. He had pretended to be teasing, but he was dead serious. Even in that frumpy night gown, she was driving him wild. How he would love to get his hands under there. She kept drawing him to her, and he honestly didn’t think she was doing it on purpose. She was almost as innocent as could be. It wasn’t her fault she was a beautiful woman, and that he was insanely attracted to her. She had done nothing wrong. Neither had he; with the exception of a little flirting.
With hesitation, Angela pulled out the covers and snuggled into bed. As she turned out the light, she was stunned by the darkness; it would have been pitch darkness if it weren’t for the glow coming from Michael’s cabin. She was thankful he was there. She wasn’t sure if she could sleep in this cabin, all by herself. It would be fine she told herself; what were the odds of two dock spiders in her cabin. Michael had said theysometimesmake their way over. He hadn’t used the wordrarely;wassometimesmore often thanrarely. She felt a little uneasy as she pondered the question.
As she stared into the darkness, she slowly drifted off. It was quite late and she had had a long day. She was almost off when she felt a sharp burning feeling on her thigh.
“Crap. Owww!” She screamed even louder than she had before. What the hell was that?
She quickly scurried out of the covers and pulled her nightgown up, her leg burning. She could instantly feel a stinging warmth on the inside of her thigh. She reached for the light.
“You said there wasno concern,” she yelled, livid.
Michael made his way to her cabin, yet again.
“What is it?” he asked, concerned.
“I think a spider bit me,” she told him, covering her exposed leg.
“You didn’t get bitten by a spider,” he laughed.
“You think everything is funny, don’t you.”
“It wasn’t a spider bite. Dock spiders don’t bite. Maybe black widows, but I don’t think we have any of those around here,” he explained. “Show me,” he asked her.
She slowly hiked up her nightgown to reveal her thigh. Upon inspection, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Are you sure you’re not making this up to get me back in here?” he asked playfully. “I am not,” she yelled. “This burns like you can’t imagine.” She was not in the mood for joking.
“Get up,” he told her as he helped her up. He took the blankets and briskly pulled them off the bed and shook them. No perpetrator to be seen.
“It could have very well been a red ant. I’m not sure,” he said as he put the blankets back on the bed. “Although I’m not sure what an ant would be doing in your bed. We have lots of them, but they’re usually outside.”
