"Philip, darling?" Kate called as she walked through Philip’s open door. Her attention was drawn to her youngest son looking as if he were about to kiss a girl she’d never met. Did Philip have a girlfriend and had somehow neglected to tell her?

"Mom?" Philip asked, as if surprised to see her.

"Well of course, silly," she smiled. Chloe immediately saw that this was a woman to be reckoned with. Kate’s light brown hair was streaked with blonde highlights, and her heavily made-up face was done with the precision of a professional. Manicured hands smoothed a black linen skirt that was matched with a fitted black suit jacket. It was immediately apparent where Philip had gotten his high cheekbones and straight nose. Chloe’s finely honed instincts told her that Kate Roberts was bright, sophisticated, and dangerous. She stepped back from Philip while his hand fell loosely to his side.

"Mom, this is Chloe Lane, a friend from school. Chloe, this is my mother, Kate Roberts." Kate extended a soft hand in Chloe’s direction, and Chloe quickly shook it. "Pleased to meet you Ms. Roberts," Chloe said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Kate smiled. She turned to face Philip. "May I speak to you for a moment?" Kate headed out into the hallway without bothering to see if Philip was following, simply because she presumed that he, of course, would.

Chloe sat on the edge of Philip’s bed. Why did she feel so out of her league here?

Philip knew that he should be listening to his mother. He heard phrases here and there, "talk to your father" "getting married" "married soon" "what you and I both want". It was the same words his mother had been saying over and over to him since his father had returned from the nursing home. He knew he should be giving his mother his full attention, but all he could think was that he was tired of the interruptions - that he needed to take Chloe somewhere that they wouldn’t be interrupted. Philip’s gaze went down the length of the hallway to the twelve-foot tall window at the end. He could see the stables at a distance. He smiled as a plan began forming. The lake was beautiful, especially at sunset. What could be more romantic than a first kiss in a place like that?

There was a pause. Philip knew he was supposed to respond. "Sure Mom, I’ll do what I can."

Kate hugged him. "Thank you so much sweetie. I just want us to be a family again." Kate pulled back. "And maybe you and your friend should go downstairs. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of you having a girl alone in your room." Kate whirled and left, leaving behind a cloud of expensive perfume.

Philip returned to his room and had to gulp at the image of Chloe sitting on his bed, expectantly waiting for him. Go slow, he reminded himself. Don’t scare her.

"How do you feel about horseback riding?" Philip asked.

"You mean like on a horse?" Chloe responded. Weren’t they going to work on the project?

"That is the traditionally accepted format for horseback riding, yes. On a horse," Philip teased. "The grounds here are beautiful. It’d be fun to show it to you."

Chloe’s glance darted back to the window. "It looks a little overcast."

Philip shrugged. "It isn’t supposed to rain today. Besides, Mother Nature wouldn’t dare rain on a Kiriakis without our permission," he smiled.

Chloe crossed her arms and gave him a look. "So now you even command the forces of nature?"

Philip laughed and held out a hand to Chloe. He studied her with his intense blue eyes. "Will you come with me?" The question went beyond that of the obvious. He wasn’t talking just about the horse ride.

"Yes," Chloe said, and put her hand in his.

**************************************************

Horses were much bigger in person than she’d ever imagined. The stable hands had saddled two horses for Philip and Chloe to take out. Philip’s horse was a magnificent black stallion, riddled with impressive muscles. The horse reminded Chloe of Philip with its proud bearing and obvious power. Chloe had been given a smaller chestnut brown mare. Philip was holding his horse’s face in his hands, talking to it, rubbing its nose. "This is my horse Apollo," Philip said when he noticed that Chloe was watching him.

Chloe reached out a tentative hand to touch the horse she was supposed to ride. "Does my horse have a name or do you only bother to name the males?"

Philip smiled and reached out a hand to pet Chloe’s horse. "This is Leto, Apollo’s mother."

"Do you name all your horses after Greek myths?" Chloe asked. Philip raised an eyebrow, as if impressed. "It’s a tradition my father insists on."

Philip walked over to the left side of his horse. Chloe watched as he grabbed the horn with his left hand, put his left foot in the stirrup and pulled himself up. He threw his right leg over the horse and grabbed the reins. Chloe went to look up at him. The clouds had pulled away from the sun for a moment, and Philip blocked the sun with his body, causing a ring of light to appear around him. Chloe stopped breathing for a second. Mimi was right. Philip really did look like a Greek god.

Philip began giving Chloe instructions on how to get on the horse. Chloe easily pulled herself up and listened as Philip told her how to guide the horse, how to get her to stop, how to get her to go. Chloe started to worry a little. Philip could see that she was nervous and flashed her a smile. "You don’t have to worry. Leto is the gentlest mare we have. Besides, I’d never let anything happen to you."

Chloe looked at him. "I know you wouldn’t." She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did. It was something she just felt.

They set off at a slow walk. Philip glanced over at Chloe. He found himself wondering if Chloe would ever consider going as Lady Godiva for Halloween. He smiled as he imagined her wearing nothing but her long hair to cover herself, riding horseback.

"Philip, watch out!" Philip had been so caught up in his fantasy that he almost smacked forehead first into a low hanging branch. He ducked and heard Chloe’s laughter. "I’m glad that my potential pain amuses you so much," he called out to her.

"Maybe you should pay attention," Chloe scolded back. "Should we work on our project while we’re out here?"

"Our project?" he asked. He was taking her out on a romantic horseback ride and she wanted to talk schoolwork?

"The part about how we met, how you proposed, where we went on our honeymoon," she explained. She thought that this was the perfect setting to talk about that sort of thing.

"Okay…" Philip said, thinking. "Well, I went to school at Princeton, and you were at…"

"Julliard," Chloe finished.

"Right. And we met when your school was giving a final concert at the Met, and you were a soloist. My father took me to New York as a graduation present, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you while you sang," Philip said.

"You met me backstage and took me to the Four Seasons for dinner. It was love at first sight," Chloe sighed.

This was actually kind of fun, Philip thought. "We dated for awhile, and then I flew you to Paris and took you to the most romantic spot imaginable overlooking the water and asked you to be my wife. I told you that I loved you, that I needed you, that I couldn’t possibly imagine my life without you."

"I immediately accepted, much to your parent’s dismay. They wanted you to marry someone from their set, and they disowned you." Chloe liked playing pretend with Philip. She hadn’t done something like this since she was small.

"So we had to elope," Philip continued. "And for our honeymoon, my brother Lucas managed to sneak me the keys to my family’s lodge up in Green Mountain."

"You have your own ski lodge?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, great place. Fireplaces in every bedroom, has that whole Swiss chalet thing happening for it. I should take you up there sometime. You’d love it."

Chloe smiled. She liked the way Philip was talking, as if he wanted to see her again, take her places. They rode in a companionable silence for a time as Chloe took in the breathtakingly beautiful forest that ringed the meadow they were crossing.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you like to do?" Philip asked. He knew she loved opera, that alcohol didn’t agree with her, that she loved strawberries, that she loved to read and was a good student, and that she had the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. But beyond that, he really didn’t know what she did for fun.

Chloe shrugged, not sure what she should say. "I don’t know. Mostly I hang out and do stuff."

"Yeah, I was into that for awhile," Philip teased. "Now I’m mainly into goofing off."

"Also a valid life choice," Chloe smiled back. Philip brought Apollo alongside of Chloe so close that she could easily reach out and touch him.

"Chloe?"

"Yes?"

Wait until the lake, he thought. He’d set up a perfect moment there. "That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say."

"My name?" Chloe asked, amused.

"I like saying your name," Philip said. "I like it even more when you say mine."

Okay, screw the lake, he decided. Philip reached out to grab Leto and felt small droplets of water beginning to fall onto his arm. No, not now! he thought. It couldn’t start raining now!

Chloe also noticed the rain. "Shouldn’t we head back? It looks like it’s starting to rain."

Philip sighed and nodded. He turned Apollo around and began to walk when he saw a streak of lightning hit the ground next to him, followed by thunder so loud that the earth seemed to shake. He was able to keep Apollo calm, and he turned just in time to see Leto rearing back on her hind legs, and then taking off at a full gallop.

"CHLOE!" Philip screamed as blinding rain began to fall on his face.

Chloe somehow managed to hold on tightly to Leto – she had a death grip on the reins. She leaned in so that her body was almost flat against Leto’s back. Chloe wasn’t particularly religious, but she began to pray out of fervent desperation. Chloe had never been so absolutely terrified in her entire life. She had a sick silvery taste in her mouth – the taste of pure fear. Every fiber in her body shook with terror. She couldn’t even think of how to get out of this predicament – she could only follow her instinct and hang on.

Philip immediately set Apollo in a run after Chloe and Leto. He gripped Apollo tightly with his legs and leaned against Apollo’s neck, urging him to run faster. Leto was headed for the trees. Chloe could get severely hurt in there if he didn’t reach her in time. He was so horrified at the possible dangers to Chloe, that he had to push them from his mind. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this scared.

The rain continued to fall in blinding torrents. So much for Philip being able to control the weather, she thought giddily. It was as if her mind was trying to distract itself from what was actually happening to her.

Philip got alongside of Chloe and he returned to a semi-sitting up position. If he tried to grab Leto’s reins, she might pull his arm off. His safest best would be to grab Chloe. "Let go of the reins!" he hollered.

Chloe could see Philip and felt instant relief wash over her. He was going to save her. It didn’t occur to her to question or to refuse, and she immediately obeyed. The next thing she felt was Philip’s strong arm around her waist, pulling her to safety. She crashed against him as he pulled her on top of Apollo. Philip was able to absorb Chloe’s weight, and kept them upright on the horse. Philip held her closely, and she could her him murmuring "thank God" over and over into her hair. Philip slowed Apollo down as he looked around to see if there was somewhere he could take her, so that he could make sure she was okay. He saw a bough of trees where the canopies were intertwined. He knew he should stay away from the trees with the lightning that he’d just witnessed, but he wanted to get Chloe out of this rain. Besides, it seemed like the thunder was moving farther and farther away, although the rain didn’t seem to be relenting.

Chloe was sitting in front of Philip, his arm still holding her tightly against him. Chloe put a hand to her face and realized that at some point she’d lost her glasses. Once she had started to calm down, Chloe became very aware of Philip’s leg muscles underneath her thighs, of his chest against her back. She leaned her head back against him, thankful for the comfort and safety that he was giving her right then. Even through the rain she could feel warmth emanating from Philip. The next thing she knew, Philip had directed the horse into a small grove of trees where there wasn’t much rain falling. He leapt off of the horse, tethered the reins to a branch, and grabbed her waist to help her down.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over to make sure that she hadn’t been hurt.

"Philip," she said, getting his attention. "I’ve never felt more okay in my whole life."

Philip looked at her, and knew. This was the moment. He looked at her, taking her eyes into his own. A funny shivery sensation ran up and down her spine as the butterflies in her stomach started doing cartwheels. She’d never had anyone look at her like that, with almost a hunger in his eyes - as if he’d been dying to kiss her and couldn’t stand to be away from her any longer. Philip continued to study her face. He wanted to always remember this moment. Her hair was dripping wet and water ran in small streams down her face. Her warm luminescent eyes gazed back at him, urging him to continue. He looked down at her mouth and wanted to sigh. It was the most kissable mouth he’d ever seen in his whole life. His stomach suddenly knotted and his mouth went completely dry. His heart started banging so hard against his rib cage that he feared it might actually leap completely from his chest. He looked from her mouth back up to her eyes.

As if it was happening in slow motion, Philip moved his hands up to hold the sides of her face. Chloe started to swallow nervously. She wanted so much for him to kiss her. She caught her breath at his lightning-edged expression, and could do nothing but watch him in total fascination. Philip saw the soft blue awareness in her eyes of what he intended, and then watched as her lashes drifted slowly shut. He moved closer and closer to her until his lips delicately touched hers. Chloe’s hands moved up to catch on his wrists, as if she needed to hang onto him to stay standing. Philip pressed his lips against hers a little harder, and then pulled away slightly, hovering near her so that her shaky but sweet breath could move over his face. Had he imagined it? Her eyes fluttered open, her long dark lashes slowly rising to frame her exquisite eyes. He wasn’t done, was he? she thought.

Philip was far from done. He leaned in to kiss her again. Her lips were so soft, so warm and welcoming. He hadn’t imagined it. The electricity that he felt between them arced again as he began moving his lips against hers in bone-melting tenderness. Chloe felt her heart stop as her knees turned to liquid. Then her heart burst back to life and leapt up into her throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe. She’d never felt anything so sweet, so gentle, but so filled with passion at the same time. As Philip’s mouth continued to move over hers, she could sense that he was holding back, that he was trying not to scare her. And while a small part was still scared, there was also a sense of excitement, of pleasure, of total security and safety in kissing him. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she’d found where she belonged - here with Philip holding her. Tears threatened to form in her eyes. She couldn’t believe how tenderly and gently he was kissing her, as if she were a china doll in jeopardy of breaking.

Philip had kissed a lot of girls. But never, never had he felt what he was feeling right then. It was like lava was pouring through his veins. As if millions of fireworks were exploding inside him at the same time. As if he had stuck a wet finger into an electrical socket. Every inch of him felt alive; every part of him wanted more of this kiss, more of Chloe. Never in his life had he been required to use such control, and he could feel the control ebbing away as his body urged him to continue, to take what he wanted. His breath was coming out in short jagged spurts. He needed to stop before he lost it.

The kiss ended as slowly as it had begun, and Chloe opened her eyes languidly, reluctant to return to reality. His eyes searched hers, to see for himself that he hadn’t gone too far, that she was okay, his hands still cupping her face. His eyes warmed with a smile when he saw the look of wonder in Chloe’s eyes. He brushed his fingers across her cheek to wipe away some of the rain, and then his hands fell away. Chloe was left momentarily staggered by a sense of loss. She suddenly realized that it was still raining, pouring. She had been completely oblivious to everything around her except Philip’s lips on hers. Her senses began returning to her. She could hear the torrential storm, smell the damp earth and rain, but mostly she could still feel the memory of Philip kissing her.

"Chloe?"

She could only stare at him.

"Blink twice if you’re okay," he smiled, pleased that the kiss had had as strong an effect on her as it had on him. She could still only gape at him. Her hand reached up to run her fingers over her still tingling lips. The feelings whirling around inside her threatened to overwhelm her. Chloe’d never had an emotion she couldn’t control, and it frightened her. She was struck by an urge to run, to get away. She did just that, fleeing out into the rain.

But this time, Philip wasn’t willing to let her go.