Author's Notes: Getting back into writing after a hiatus that was too long. The original genesis of this story comes from way too many hours staring at a highway on a long trip from Alabama to Wyoming. While driving across Kentucky, I heard Collin Raye's "I Can Still Feel You" on the radio, and the words began to mesh with the story I wanted to tell. I originally began writing it in a run-down motel room in St. Louis in 2002, but it laid unfinished on my hard drive for six years until I finally swore I would finish it in 2008. It was originally slated to be a standalone story, but I reworked it into the second half of the "Desert Nights" series, so be sure you're read that story first! Apologies to Collin! I Can Still Feel You by Shilah (shilahwolf@gmail.com) I can still feel you just as close as skin ... A horn blared. Two cars swerved. Baksa cursed at the traffic on the 101 as he merged into it, his aging 85 Plymouth Reliant almost getting plowed under by a youngish-looking Vixen in an SUV that was way too big for her. Talking on her phone, she barely noticed Baksa as she swerved in front of him. He slowed down, settling back in traffic. Rush hour. After six months, he still wasn't used to it. After a half-hour or so of bumper-to-bumper traffic, Baksa steered the aged car off the highway and around a few corners, avoiding the crazy drivers and pedestrians. Well the well-manicured lawns of Silicon Valley were spread before him with a multitude of small office complexes interspersed with trendy expensive apartment complexes. Pedestrians strode among the various buildings, some with backpacks, and bikers biked on the sidewalks and the streets, making the drive a bit of an obstacle course. Finally, he turned into a small office complex that looked like many of the dot-com era office complexes: a three story concrete affair with tinted glass and engraved letters on the front door reading Valley Internet Voice. Baksa parked the Reliant as close as he could to the front door. The radio had mentioned the possibility of rain, though the closest he could get to the door was still a good few hundred yards. He grabbed his sack lunch and made his way across the parking lot and inside, taking shelter from the rising heat inside the coolness of the building. He stopping by the front desk to clock in and hang his coat up, then made his way down several hallways, past the break room and the server hall to the tech support room. He took his seat at an open cubicle, logged onto the machine, and put his head shackle on. He sighed. Every day was just like the one before. His mind flashed back... All by myself in a crowded room on my empty bed ... The old lioness smiles at him, "Oh I know it hurts right now. But cheer up, hon. You never know what the road might bring..." ... Baksa watched the sign speed past him: "You are leaving New Hope, Nevada; Population 27. Please Drive Safely!" He revved the engine, the Reliant's four-cylinder engine protesting. The desert spread out before him, seeming cut in half by the straight and narrow two-lane strip of blackness. The low shrubs and joshua trees of the yellowing desert sped past him as he accelerated up. He set his cruise control and kicked his legs up on the dash. He already missed Kai; he missed him the moment he woke up and found him gone. But the lioness was right: today was a new day and he had no clue what the road would bring. He chuckled softly and began to doubt whether or not he would even see him again. All around him the car, loaded down with every possession Baksa had, shuffled and rocked on the uneven sun-baked pavement. He turned the radio up to an old country music station and cruised on... ... the abrupt ringing brought him back to reality. Baksa sighed and clicked the answer button. "Good morning. Valley Internet Voice. How may I help you?" Baksa spoke into the mic. "Hello," the voice on the other end said. "I just moved to the area and I'm looking to sign up with your voice over IP service. But I'm having trouble getting this little doohickey connected." That voice... "Well, sir," Baksa said, "What exactly is the PAP2 doing?" "Well," the voice said. "I plug it in and the top two lights flash a little bit, then the other two lights come on. But when I go to make a call I can't hear the person on the other end and they can't hear me." I KNOW that voice, Baksa thought. "This sounds to me like an issue with your firewall. What kind of router do you have?" "A Linksys WRT54G," the caller replied. "Okay," Baksa said, tapping a few keys on his keyboard. "I'm going to put you on hold for a few moments while I look up the details on that one." "I know that voice from somewhere." Baksa mumbled to himself, pulling up a web browser and browsing to an interior site. He clicked back onto the call. "Okay, sir." Baksa said. "You need to put your PAP2 into your router's DMZ. This is actually a fairly common procedure; what you need to do is point your web browser at your router's IP address, log in, click Applications and Gaming, then DMZ. Enter the IP address of your PAP2 and you should be all set." "Thank you, Baksa." the caller said, then hung up. Baksa blinked. Did I tell him my name? There's a place you've touched, with your love, that no one gets close to ... The rest of the night was a succession of calls, some big and some small. Baksa could never really get in the rhythm - that first call was still bothering him. He knew he knew the voice on the end of the phone, but he couldn't place it. It was like something out of a dream from long ago. Finally, seven o'clock came, and Baksa logged out of his console and headed out, stopping at the desk to clock out and take his coat. He found a rainy evening with the light of day dimming. He ran to the car and started up, pulled out. He barely noticed the minivan pull out behind him. I can still feel you ... Baksa pulled off the 101 and took a couple of rights, cursing the drivers that couldn't drive in the rain. He was beginning to become aware of a vehicle that was following him, though he mostly chose to ignore it. After all, who would want to follow me, he thought. As he pulled into his apartment complex, the vehicle pulled in behind him. Baksa was now aware that he had been followed and was starting to get a bit nervous about it. As he made his way to the back building of the apartment complex, the vehicle continued around the complex behind him. I can still feel you ... Baksa was almost panicked. He didn't know what this person wanted with him. He found the closest parking place to his apartment, though unfortunately he was on the upper floor. He was trying to figure out how to get up to the floor at a running gait when a figure emerged from the vehicle, which he now could vaguely make out through the darkness and rain as a minivan. Just as he was about to make a break for it, he noticed a figure getting out of the minivan; vaguely canine in form. Tall, though Baksa couldn't make out any detail through the darkness and rain. The figure began moving toward the apartment building, and Baksa eased off a bit. Just paranoia... I can still feel you ... Baksa made his way through the rain to the door of his apartment and up the stairs to the second floor. He fumbled with the keys, trying to find the right one in the darkness, idly thinking that he should really replace that outside light. Just as he opened the door of his apartment and switched the hallway light on, he heard a voice behind him. "Still driving that old piece of shit?" Baksa was startled. He dropped the keys that were still in his paw and whirled around, dropping back into a defensive stance. That voice! It was the same voice on the phone! A stalker?! It was the same canine figure that had been following him in the minivan. From the outline provided by the dim streetlights diffused by the rain, Baksa could tell that the canine was wearing a long, flowing trench coat and a fedora. But he could tell no more detail. I can still feel you! Lightning flashed. Baksa saw his visitor revealed in a flash before he stepped into the light of the hallway. Baksa screamed! "Kai!" He ran to him, wrapping his arms around Kai and kissed him deeply on the muzzle, tears streaming down his cheeks. Together, they stood wrapped in each other's arms, kissing passionately for almost a minute before Baksa broke the kiss. He put his head against Kai's shoulder and cried unmercifully, all the while Kai's lovingly stroked his head. Sniffling, Baksa looked up. "Oh Kai!" \* \* \* "I felt really bad about leaving you that morning." Kai said, taking the Chamomile Tea Baksa offered him. They both had stripped off their shirts to towel off from the wet weather that was still pouring down outside Baksa's small apartment. Baksa had set the lights dim. "Where did you go?" Baksa asked, peering at him above his cup. "Out into the desert," Kai said, blowing the steam clear. "There's an old abandoned mine a few miles north of town. My old man used to live up there until he drank himself to death; he was convinced there was still gold in the mine. I used to camp up there when I a teen - it's where I would always go when I wanted to think about things, and it's where I was going to go to die the night I found you. I stayed up there for a few days just trying to determine if what I felt was right, or whether I was just clinging to the last vestiges of life. I cried a lot, wandered around in the mine and, really, just tried to get my head screwed on straight again. After it was over, I came away knowing I had to find you." "When I woke up and you were gone, I didn't know what to do." Baksa said, snuggling up with his head against Kai's chest. "I could hardly think straight. I knew the minute I met you that you were the one I've been looking for." Kai smiled down at him. "I felt the same way. That's why I came here after you." "How did you find me?" Baksa asked. "Well," Kai began. "I remembered you telling me you were heading to San Fran. I settled outside about a month ago and got a job working in a garage over in Oakland. I needed phone service and, since I didn't have a lot of money, Valley was a good bet. But I couldn't get connected, so I called tech support. When I heard that voice, I instantly knew it was you. I dropped the phone and drove to the Valley office, and waited there for you to leave." "Kai?" "Yes, love?" Kai answered, smiling down at him. "Please don't ever leave me again. I don-" A lightning bolt flashed, a bright light illuminated the room as a transformer exploded outside the window, then the room was plunged into darkness. A single match illuminated the darkness. Baksa lit the candle on the coffee table providing flickering illumination to the room. He snuggled back up to Kai's chest, and was almost dozing off listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat that he jumped when he felt Kai lick his ear softly. Baksa turned, looking up into Kai's shining amber eyes, peering for deeper meaning. It seemed almost fast as Kai's muzzle bridged the distance to kiss Baksa deeply. They lay intertwined together on the sofa for almost fifteen minutes before Kai broke the kiss. Kai smiled down at him, reaching to nibble softly on an ear. Baksa began to lick gently on Kai's chest, nibbling softly around his nipple. Kai let out a little moan, and lifted his chest up to Baksa's licking. Baksa slowly worked his way down his chest, nibbling the other nipple and tongue bathing Kai's navel before he arrived at the waistband of his jeans. Baksa looked up at Kai and, with a huge grin on his face, popped open the button and pulled down the jeans, allowing Kai's hardening member to spring free from its cloth prison. Kai murred deeply as he felt the cold air around his unsheathing cock. Baksa smiled, taking the opportunity to catch Kai by surprise. He pushed him down to the couch and, sat on his lap. Baksa reached into the end table drawer, quickly fishing out a tube of K-Y and applying a generous amount to his paws. He spread some on Kai's stiff rod and some on his tailhole. He looked down at Kai through slitted eyes and, while whispering, "I have dreamed about this since that desert night months ago," he lowered himself slowly onto Kai's engorged wolf cock. Kai's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he tried with all his self-control to keep himself from roughly ramming his entire length into Baksa. With excruciating slowness, Baksa sank onto Kai's cock until he was sitting at the knot. He smiled down at the wolf, who's eyes were closed and tongue was lulling from his muzzle. Kai's hands immediately went to Baksa's waist, lifting him up and slowly letting him sink back down onto his member. Before long, they had developed a good rhythm as evidenced by the obscene smacking sound emanating from their entwined loins. Baksa's own member had hardened and was hanging out from his sheath; Kai took one hand from his waist and began to jack him off, instigating a deep murr from the fox. Baksa felt the knot of Kai's wolf member knocking at the delicate door of his tailhole. He took a deep breath and, with the next downstroke, slammed himself onto Kai's waist and taking the knot in one single stroke. He let out a bark-yip, eyes closed as he felt himself become one with the one true love he had met in the desert so many months ago. Kai shortened his strokes, thrusting himself up into the fox as much as he was able to now that they were locked together. He was sweating and panting, and was very, very close to an enormous climax. Baksa, too, was thrusting circular motion, grinding himself against Kai's waist and thrusting forward at Kai's deft work with his sensitive fox cock. The grinding was too much for Kai. He arched his back, letting out a howl and planted his seed deep into Baksa's fox loins. Baksa came at the same moment, panting and howling and emptying his swollen balls all over Kai's chest. Baksa sat on Kai's cock, looking down at him as the glow of their erotic lovemaking seemed to radiate through the entire apartment. Kai's eyes finally opened to see the pure love looking back at him from the fox that sat upon his still-engorged member. He sat up to kiss Baksa deeply, letting his tongue do the talking. Kai wrapped his arms around Baksa and, with him still tied to his cock, picked him up and, with Baksa's arms wrapped lovingly around Kai's neck, carried him back to the bedroom where they collapsed in a heap into the disheveled sheets. Baksa fell asleep, still connected to Kai. \* \* \* The first rays of sunshine peered tentatively through the blinds of Baksa's apartment. He heard a figure in the move in the room. The door let out a soft squeak. He drifted back into darkness. \* \* \* Baksa sat bolt upright in the bed suddenly. The light was shining through the blinds of the room as the first rays of the sun peaked through the window, warming his face. He rubbed his eyes, waiting for the fog of sleep to clear. He looked around and found no Kai... ... then he smelled something ... ... bacon ... eggs ... sausage ... and coffee! He was just about to get up when Kai appeared in the door carrying a tray. Kai smiled as Baksa turned beet red. He sat down the tray on Baksa's lap, smiling. "Breakfast in bed for my one true love." Baksa smiled back. "You sure know how to sweep someone off their feet." "That wasn't really necessary," he answered back. "You were laying down." The both laughed at the cheesy joke for what seemed like fifteen minutes. \* \* \* The desert wind whipped through Baksa's hair, stirred by the air rushing around the open top of the convertible Volkswagen Bug. All around him played out a scene of glorious desert desolation: low shrubbery, cacti and joshua trees mingled with the occasional sand dune and reddening hills in the distance. There was nothing out here; the only sign of any civilization was a two-lane highway that bisected the desert valley, straight as an arrow. Baksa glanced over at Kai, who was driving. He had fixed the Bug in his spare time at the shop, and they had decided to take a little trip out into the Nevada desert. He smiled at Kai, resting his hand on Kai's knee. "Where are we, love?" he asked, looking around. The sun was beginning to set, causing the hills to burst forth in a fiery display of red colors. "We're about an hour out of New Hope. Wanna stay there for the night? We can continue to Vegas in the morning." "Sure!" Baksa kicked his feet up out the side of the convertible, enjoying the sensation of the wind on his paws. Kai tuned the radio to a country station as the Volkswagen cruised off into the desert night. I can still feel you just as close a skin, every now and then. All by myself, in a crowded room, on my empty bed. There's a place you've touched with your love no one else gets to... I can still feel you, I can still feel you, I can still feel you. I can still feel you! End. Copyright (c) 2006 Shilah