by Vinson, Tami
After she had complained one night about hearing Cheri and her new boyfriend Randy have sex, her roommate had started turning the music up on her stereo to cover the sounds coming through the paper thin walls. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely eliminate the suspicious thump of the bed hitting the wall that no amount of noise could hide.
Sighing wearily, she put her purse on the counter and went into the kitchen instead to get something to eat. Not wanting to cook anything on the stove that dominated the small kitchen, she mentally ran through what was left and settled on a bag of microwave popcorn.
Opening the cabinet where she always kept her things, she reached for the popcorn box sitting in there and found it suspiciously light. She already knew what she’d find before she even opened it, but some part of her was obviously a glutton for punishment. As if she couldn’t help herself, she looked inside the box anyways.
Empty. Not even one packet left.
Damn.
She felt irritation rise up in her like an angry snarling beast as she threw the box in the trash under the sink. As she did so, a burnt half empty popcorn bag fell out onto the kitchen floor spilling its black charred contents.
She had to count to ten and pray to Jesus as she got down on her knees to pick up the mess that was solid proof of Cheri and Randy’s disrespect.
“Really?!” She all but yelled. Here she was, talking to herself like a crazy woman. She was so mad.
She’d gone to all the trouble of marking all her food with her name on it like a kindergartener on crack and they still managed to buzz through it like they couldn’t read…
That was it.
Do what you will, but don’t mess with the kettle corn!
She marched to the hallway leading to her roommate’s door and knocked hard to be heard over the music that was still blasting. Hearing laughter come from the other side of the door only further inflamed Winter as she stood waiting for Cheri to answer.
When the door opened, she stepped back in shock at what she saw. Instead of Cheri standing there, Randy in all his sleazy glory stood there wearing Cheri’s much smaller robe on his tall lanky body. She didn’t know what offended her worse: his bare bony chest so grossly displayed or the stupid smirk on his face.
“What did you want Winnie?” He taunted in his annoyingly nasally voice as he casually leaned against the door frame. As a result the folds of the robe moved even further apart.
Eww!
She quickly closed her eyes and inwardly cringed wanting to erase the nasty image of him from her mind. She turned away before she could start dry heaving all over the place and give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to her yet again.
It would serve him right if she blew her cookies all over his raunchy butt! She thought taking a deep breath.
“Tell Cheri I want to speak to her in the kitchen.” She called over her shoulder as she hurried away from his offensive presence.
Not for the first time lately, she thought about moving out. The lease would be up in a month and she really needed to start exploring her options because things were getting ridiculous. It was at the point where she didn’t even want to come home anymore because she was tired of feeling like she’d been taken hostage by their relationship.
Making it back to the kitchen, Winter leaned back against the off white countertop and looked out of the small window above the sink trying to clear the confused thoughts playing tag in her already tired mind.
For what seemed like the millionth time, she asked herself: What did Cheri see in him? She honestly didn’t get it. They were total opposites. Cheri was a sweet and bubbly country girl while Randy was just…well Randy. Nasty, crude and rude. She’d heard of opposites attracting, but this was beyond that. Winter never would have moved in with Cheri if she’d known things were going to be this way.
What would it take to break Cheri of her cult-like devotion and make her see that Randy was no good? Winter knew she had to try to talk some sense into her friend some kind of way.
“I’m sorry about that Win.” Cheri said calling Winter by her nickname as she breezed by in the exact same robe Randy had worn just a few minutes ago.
“You know how Randy likes to joke around a lot.” Cheri said opening the fridge and taking a swig straight from the orange juice container.
Frowning at the inconsiderate action, Winter mentally marked off one more thing she wouldn’t be eating or drinking if she could help it. She might get Randy cooties by association.
“Why is Randy here all the time Cheri? It feels like he never goes home…” Looking at Cheri, Winter tried to keep the disgust from rising up in her at the memory of him standing in the doorway just now.
“Well….I told him he could stay with us for awhile until he gets back up on his feet.” Her words came out in a rush as she threw a guilty but challenging look Winter’s way.
“You did what?” “When?” Winter asked as she went and sat on a bar stool next to Cheri hoping she had heard her wrong.
“Today… well last week—but you don’t have to worry Winter. You won’t even know he’s here, I promise.” Cheri’s confident promise had no effect on her as she thought of all the drama about to ensue. This isn’t what they agreed at all when they originally moved in together. Winter couldn’t believe Cheri was sitting there changing the rules on her now.
“I thought we had an agreement to ask each other about things like this before we did them. What happened to that Cheri?” She had to hold Cheri accountable for this one.
Waving off her concern Cheri said, “That’s why I’m mentioning it now, silly.” She went on drinking her juice not realizing how much her flip statement was twisting knots in Winter’s stomach.
Sitting the now empty container down on the counter, she reached over to pat Winter’s shoulder when she saw her panicked stricken expression. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay. You’ll see. You won’t even know he’s here.”
When Cheri got up and left, Winter sat there contemplating the problematic situation she now found herself in. There was no way in hell she could live here with Randy living here too.
It was official; she would have to find somewhere else to live. The only problem was affording the whole amount of rent by herself and still continuing to send money home to help Charlene take care of Aunt Sophie.
Oh, and let’s not even talk about packing up all her stuff and moving it.
This was so not something she wanted to deal with right about now.
Tired, hungry and now stressed to boot, Winter headed to her own bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment. She just wanted to lay her head down and pretend like the last few minutes didn’t happen.
But sleep didn’t come easy that night because she couldn’t help the unsettling feeling that everything was about to blow up in her face. And there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it.
****
Saturday morning, Winter wearily pulled up to the iron gates of Eric’s Scottsdale mansion and buzzed herself in. Watching the gate smoothly close behind her car, she rubbed her tired dry eyes as she continued on the familiar cobblestoned driveway to the house.
She didn’t know how much longer she could go on in the state she was in. Not only had she taken another lukewarm shower, but thanks to Cheri and Randy’s antics she had only got a couple hours of sleep last night.
Her nerves were shot.
This morning she’d woken up and hustled out of the apartment at the crack of dawn to void running into either one of them. As a temporary solution she had decided that until she could find somewhere else to live, she would just avoid them as much as possible.
When she’d thought of a way to do that, the only thing that had come to mind had been the vivid beautiful colors of the flowers that grew abundantly around Eric’s home. She’d spent many quiet moments while Eric was away just walking around the grounds touching and smelling the various blooms.
Now, as she glimpsed the beautiful colors of the landscape sh
e felt her frayed nerves slowly relaxing. For just a moment, she imagined what it would be like to live here and call the man who owned it hers. It was one of her favorite daydreams and it instantly put her in a good mood making her lips stretch into a soft smile.
Her tired mind couldn’t fully wrap around the impossible dream, but she had a pretty good idea that it would be pure heaven. She decided right then and there that today she would leave her problems at home and enjoy her time away. With that decided she drove the rest of the way up the driveway to the house to start her day.
Parking her car in the spacious six car garage in her allotted space, she reached to the passenger side and got the two bags of groceries she’d picked up earlier. When she got out making her way to the house, she caught the flash of an envelope on the SUV Eric was trying to get her to drive. The letter sized envelope was tucked in the passenger door window with her name boldly hand-written on it. Curious, she slowly reached to remove it off the window and opened it.
It read:
Donate your pumpkin Cinderella. Your carriage awaits…
Winter felt a full fledge laugh bubble up as she stood looking at the silver gleaming SUV that sat silently mocking her poor little car.
How could she resist the man and his charm? The answer was simple. She couldn’t.
Continuing on her way to the house, Winter made a note to thank Eric for being so thoughtful. She knew when to give in gracefully.
Walking through the short hallway leading to the immaculate Tuscan themed kitchen she called her domain; she sat the grocery bags down on the earth-toned granite counter. She felt excitement move through her when she thought about seeing Eric for the first time in a week.
He had told her he would be home this weekend for a big charity event at some candy millionaire’s mansion. She remembered seeing the notice in the social section of the newspaper and wondering who he was taking with him as his date for the evening.
Feeling slightly guilty, she remembered what she’d found while searching the internet for information on Eric a few months ago:
He wasn’t married and he was one half of one of the biggest security technology companies in the country with his partner Quinn Pierson. Those were things she’d already known.
Not satisfied with that, she’d dug a little deeper and had been depressed by what she’d found.
The random photos of him with model-like drones suggested that he had certain type and clearly it wasn’t anything remotely looking like her.
Snapping out of her disturbing thoughts, she silently chastised herself for being so nosy. She had to be careful not to let her infatuation for Eric get out of hand because of the contract she’d signed when she first got hired. She knew all she needed to know as his employee and that would have to be enough.
He was decent, honest and he paid her a good salary. So what if she longed to know him on a more personal level. She also wanted to win the lottery too, but that wasn’t going to happen either.
Making her way determinately through the house, she heard the faint sounds of a familiar bass pumping song flowing from the home gym on the other side of the house. It further signaled he was already up getting his customary morning workout done.
She’d always felt that the gym always felt like the one room in the whole house that had his personal stamp all over it. He was the only person she’d ever known to actually use all the random equipment in the wall to wall mirrored room.
The man was ruthless when it came to pushing his sculpted physique to the limit and it showed.
And oh did it show.
She thought of the emblem-like tattoo on his upper left shoulder. The military looking insignia must have something to do with the discipline he showed in every aspect of his life as well as maintaining the muscular bulk his expensive tailored suits fit to perfection.
She had to hand it to him. Shaking her head and grinning. Even though she was now taking better care of herself, she knew that there would have to be a loaded gun involved if she had to work out every day the way he did.
Eric, she knew kept his routine through rain, sleet or snow. And that was not only in the gym, but also in business as well. He was always flying out for meetings with different clients all over the country and that was why she tried to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible for him here.
Humming the words to the song she heard thumping in the background, she made her way back to the kitchen to put away the groceries and got started on making the usual Saturday morning breakfast. She knew despite his healthy physique that the man could eat like a horse and he had a sweet tooth that would make a five year old jealous. She often wondered where he put it all.
It just wasn’t fair…
*****
As soon as Eric saw the flash of Winter’s small car drive pass the bank of windows to his gym, he’d fought with himself to keep his concentration on what he was doing. He must not give into the impulse to go near her like he desperately wanted to.
With the bulky muscles of his body now glistening and protesting the intense session of mixed martial arts, he knew punishing himself for his obsession still wouldn’t kill the strong need to be in her presence.
It always came back to her, no matter what he did to try and take away the craving for her.
And from the faint grumbling sound coming from his stomach, apparently it wanted the same thing as the smell of bacon mixed with the heavenly scent of coffee seduced him where he stood. It seemed almost unfair that Winter be an absolute goddess in the kitchen as well as being the physical embodiment of one too.
Giving into temptation, he took a towel and wiped his sweat soaked face and bare chest and changed into another pair of shorts. With that done, he left the gym on a mission to feed both his appetites.
Passing the staircase leading to the second floor, he could hear her soft alto voice singing in the mists of the tantalizing smells coming from the kitchen. He paused to stand at the threshold of the brightly lit area to watch as she stood with her back to him pulling a cookie tray out of the oven. The simple but sensual sight kept him rooted to the spot.
Tight jeans and a plain white tee shirt had never looked so good as his eyes ate up the fluid motion of her hourglass shape as she sat the tray on a cooling rack and leaned over to check something else on the stove. And if that wasn’t enough, her hips started swaying in time to the song she was singing causing his blood pressure to shoot thru the roof. He was so drawn to the mesmerizing poetry of her movements that he did not realize that he had come all the way into the room until he stood right behind her.
In some small part of his brain, he knew he was crossing the line, but just couldn’t seem to help himself.
On close range, the smell of food took a back seat as he was able to pick up on the sensual scent of vanilla and cinnamon that always seem to cling to her. Not giving a damn at that point, he leaned forward to inhale more of the intoxicating scent causing her to turn right into his arms with a startled yelp.
“Eric—“
Instead of kissing her like he wanted to, he grabbed a chocolate chip cookie off the cookie sheet beside her and took a desperate bite.
It was a poor substitution, but it would have to do for now.
“Mmmm…” Warm gooey milk chocolate melted across his tongue making him hum his pleasure.
At the sound of Eric’s low moan, Winter felt oddly proud of herself. It was just too bad the reason for his almost orgasmic moan wasn’t her.
Could a girl be jealous of a cookie?
Hell yeah! She thought as she watched him sink his perfect white teeth into the chocolaty softness of her fresh baked cookies. Smirking, she thought he was the sexiest cookie monster she’d ever seen.
“I just pulled those out of oven…” She warned as she watched him continue to balance the soft hot double chocolate chip cookie on his finger tips. Because she knew it wouldn’t stop him, she quickly turned to get a paper towel to relieve him of his hot stolen cookie.
> “Hmmm—“ He ignored the paper towel and continued on eating as if she hadn’t said anything.
“You’re worst than a little boy!” She chastised him and shook her head laughing helplessly as she watched him fearlessly take bite after bite until it was all gone. He even had the nerve to grin mischievously like the little boy she proclaimed him to be as he reached past her to boldly grab another one.
“In that case, you’re contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the outraged expression on her pretty face at his flippant accusation.
“You get your way much too often, you know that? If I wasn’t afraid of getting fired I would swat your behind.” The words slipped out as she thoroughly enjoyed this playful side of him.
