by Jen Andrews
He had been completely, tragically blindsided.
Feeling like a complete jerk, I straddled his lap, facing him, my hands resting on his chest. “Of course you have, I’m sorry. What a horrible question.” I searched his eyes for the acknowledgment that he knew I was referring to his family.
It didn’t take more than a second to get it. I rubbed my fingertips through the whiskers along his jawline on either side of his face. I knew he was going to do it himself, like he always did when we talked about his family. I’m not sure he even realized he did it, but I definitely noticed.
I gave him a light kiss on his nose, right on top of his scar. I knew losing his family still broke his heart, and it killed me to see the pain in his eyes.
“I’ve been completely blindsided three times in my life, Zoey,” he said thoughtfully, after a minute. “When my parents and sister were killed, when I came home to divorce papers sitting on the table, and the last time was in this room, when you came in here this morning. What made you do it?”
“I don’t know. I can’t explain why I did it. I felt like I needed to please you somehow. Like I needed you to see how I feel about you. I’m sorry, is this making any sense to you?”
He looked me in the eyes. “It makes sense, and I feel the same way. I want you to know I loved every second of it.” He kissed me, then held my hand flat over his heart and covered it with his. I don’t think he even realized he did it because it was such an effortless movement.
It was getting late, and we needed to be at work soon, even though I would rather spend all day with him. I pressed my lips to his. “We should get to work,” I grumbled between kisses.
It was daylight outside already, and there was no way I was walking back across the courtyard in my pajamas and fuzzy slippers. With my luck, I would run in to my dad or brothers coming to work early.
“Can you do me a huge favor?” I asked him.
“Anything,” he mumbled as he kissed me.
“Can you go over to my apartment and get me some clothes?” I laughed and glanced down at my pj’s. “I can’t exactly go outside looking like this. You never know who’s going to arrive at the shop to start work early.”
He shot me a cocky half-smile as he peeked down at my lack of clothing. “No, I guess you can’t go out like that, can you? You can always stay here all day, so I can come to see you on my breaks and lunch and have my way with you.”
That had us both laughing after my shock wore off. All I could think at that very moment, was I totally would’ve let him. However, we needed to get to work and try to keep our relationship away from work time. It was now our rule, not only mine.
After I lifted myself from his lap, I helped him off the floor.
“What do you want me to get for you while I’m at your place?”
I thought for a minute. “I’ll need everything. Jeans, shirt, socks, my Chucks, panties, bra, toothbrush, and my hairbrush. I think that should cover it.”
That gorgeous, wicked grin of his spread across his face, while he, no doubt, had dirty thoughts about something. “I get to go through your panty drawer and pick out what you should wear?”
I smiled sweetly and nodded. “Yes, sir, I’ll wear anything you choose.”
He flipped his wrist to look at his watch. “Twenty minutes till eight, I’d better get going.” Andy smiled and rubbed the palms of his hands together excitedly, then gave me a kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Fifteen minutes later, he came back with a bag full of my belongings.
“What took you so long?” I asked impatiently as I unpacked the bag.
“I had a really hard time picking out the panties and bra I wanted to picture you wearing all day. You have a lot of racy things in your drawer, you know? I’m kinda thinking I like that Victoria’s Secret store.”
That’s what I thought. I glanced over at him, and he was grinning like a kid in a candy store. “Did you like rifling through my underwear, Andy?”
“Oh, yes. Very much, actually,” he replied mischievously. “Zoey, for future reference, you should never send a horny man to pick out your underwear.”
He really needed to get to work, so I attempted to send him on his way. “Get to work, Sexy. We don’t want boss lady punishing you, now do we?”
He started unbuttoning his shirt with a naughty grin on his face. “Fuck that. I’m staying home, now. I could probably use a good spanking or two!”
Oh. My. God. This conversation was going to the gutter fast. But it was fun, so I decided to go with it. I walked over and swatted him hard on his very firm ass. It actually stung my hand, so I am sure it stung him a little too.
“Go to work, now!” I giggled and then rubbed my hand across where I smacked him to relieve the sting. “You’re gonna be late and boss lady frowns on being tardy.”
He grasped my face in his hands and kissed me hard. “See you later.” With that, he turned and was out the door.
Lucky for him, he only had to go down a flight of stairs and through the back door to get to work. I was definitely going to be late. Oh well, it was worth it.
I sorted the clothing he brought me on his bed and found he did really well picking out my clothes. Of course, he chose some red, super lacy boy cut panties and a matching bra for me to wear. I assumed he liked those the best. I changed and threw my pajamas and the panties I was wearing into his clothes hamper.
My hair was crazy, and I had forgotten to ask him to bring my blow dryer, so I brushed it as flat as I could get it. Not being able to condition it at his place, it took a few extra minutes to detangle. I would end up putting it in a ponytail when I went to work anyway.
When I was finished brushing my teeth, I added my toothbrush to the toothbrush holder next to his. Might as well leave it here, since he has one at my place.
As I walked through the apartment to leave, I noticed he’d unpacked all of his boxes since the last time I was there. He had framed photos displayed on the living room walls and tables.
From the end table, I picked up a photo of Andy and his family. He looked like he was around fifteen years old at the time. His sister seemed quite a bit younger than he was. In the photo, they were on a beach. A huge white beach house was behind them, and the entire family was smiling and happy. Andy resembled his dad, with the same eyes and hair color.
They were a lovely family, and he was so very lucky to have had them.
Looking at the photo made me sad for him. He had lost everyone close to him. I never had anyone until I was adopted, so I didn’t really know what it was like to lose someone to death. My grandmother died when I was twenty, but she’d been sick for a while, and we were expecting it.
As Andy had mentioned earlier, he had been completely blindsided when his family died. It’s totally different if you know it’s coming. Suddenly, I felt the urge to talk to my mom. I found Andy’s phone and called her.
“Hi, Mom,” I said when she answered the phone.
“Hola, Mija, how are you?” she asked. “Are you calling from Andy’s?”
Darn caller ID. “Yeah, I am. I was visiting him. He went to work already, so I thought I would call you to say hi and see if you’re doing family dinner on Sunday. I’d like to invite Andy, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, I don’t mind, Zoey. He’s welcome here anytime, so you don’t need to ask,” she replied. I heard the smile in her voice, and it made me smile myself.
We talked a while longer about what we were going to fix for dinner on Sunday. After we hung up, I headed over to the store to see how the morning was going so far. It looked like it was going to be another busy day. It finally dawned on me that the store and shop were so busy due to the weather.
Nor Cal was in a constant state of drought, and although it was chilly outside, we were not getting any rain. The store and shop business was beginning to pick up because of it. I had work to do at the shop that day, so I finished what I needed to at the store, and went to the shop. Before I sa
t down at my desk to go through the mail, I glanced out the window to the closest work bay, which happened to be Andy’s.
I was feeling a little flirty after our shower that morning, so I sent him a text while he was working underneath a car that was high in the air on the car lift.
Can you stop looking so sexy in those pants? You’re very distracting. Love the short sleeves too. I can see your tattoos when you lift up your arms.
I hit send before I changed my mind.
A minute later, he fished his cell phone out of his back pocket. Andy read the message and laughed as he glanced back in the direction of the office. He dropped the grease rag he was holding in his hand onto the floor in front of him, and then slowly bent over to pick it up.
To tease me further, he reached up and did something to the undercarriage of the car, but when he did it, he flexed his biceps. He shot me a wicked grin over his shoulder as he did so. My pretending to be shocked by his actions only made him laugh even more.
Thank God the office phone rang a second later. I shouldn’t be distracting him like that at work. I broke our rule. Not good, Zoey. Not good.
At lunchtime, he came into the office and asked me if I would like to go on our first official date with him that night. Of course, I agreed.
After work, I took a shower, picked out an outfit to wear, and did my hair and makeup. I was ready to go a little early, so I decided to turn on some music. I picked a book from my bookshelf and headed to the couch to read while I waited for Andy.
After a while, I heard a knock on my door. A second later, a key slid into the lock. The door opened, and Andy stepped inside the apartment.
He was wearing a pair of fitted jeans, faded in all the right places, and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. The bright white of the shirt and the golden hue of his hair and skin had turned his eyes to a bright cornflower blue.
“Um, Andy…I thought we were just doing dinner and a movie, so I didn’t need to dress up?”
“What do you mean?”
I smirked. Did the man not know how fucking gorgeous he was? I stood, walked over to him, and gave him a kiss. Yep, I could not keep my hands or lips off him. “Let me put it this way, I will probably be beating girls off with a stick to keep them away from you.”
He raised his eyebrows and chuckled. He didn’t seem to believe me. I took his hand in mine and dragged him to my bedroom, where I planted him in front of my full-length mirror.
“Look at you!” I exclaimed while he checked himself out in the mirror.
Jokingly, he turned and looked at his ass, and then flexed his muscles for me.
“You are absolutely, by far, the sexiest man I have ever seen in my life,” I stated matter-of-factly. “Why are you here with me?”
An annoyed expression washed over his face. He pulled me in front of him, so I faced the mirror too. “Zoey, don’t say things like that. Look at you. You are perfect. I don’t ever want to hear you say something like that again, alright?”
Our eyes locked on each other in the mirror.
“Now look at us,” he said as he stepped beside me.
Doing what he asked, I observed us together in the mirror, and I had to admit, we looked good together. Both of us were tall and lean. Whereas I was feminine, he was masculine, and each of us had different shades of blue eyes and blond hair.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m a little hard on myself sometimes, I guess.” I studied us again in the mirror. We appeared happy and content. When was the last time I could say I was happy? I honestly couldn’t remember, but I knew it was because of Andy, so I turned and kissed him. “Let’s get out of here.”
Andy took me to an Italian restaurant I’d never been to before, and we sat in a small booth near the front of the dining area. It was nice and cozy, with a red and white checkered tablecloth and a large candle in the center of the table. I slid into the booth, and instead of him sitting across from me, he slid right in next to me. The waiter handed us menus and took our drink orders.
Andy placed his hand on my thigh and rested it there while we scanned over our menus. I loved being so close to him. The waiter came back with our drinks, and we ordered our food.
“Are you still going to help me buy a laptop this weekend, so I can see you while you’re gone on vacation?”
My heart sank a little from his reminder. I hadn’t forgotten about it, but I was trying not to think about leaving for a month. I was going to miss him like crazy.
“Of course I’m going to. There’s no way I’m leaving here without a way to see you while I’m gone. I’m not sure if I even want to go now,” I said sullenly.
He reached over to stroke my cheek with his fingertips. “As much as I’m going to miss you, I know you need a vacation. You’ve been through a lot lately and deserve a nice long break, but you better promise me you won’t go there and find someone else.”
I looked him in the eyes. “Remember what you told me in front of the mirror earlier?” He nodded. “I don’t want to hear you say that again either.”
He kissed me on the cheek and then the lips. “Okay, Beautiful.”
As soon as our food arrived, we ate as quickly as possible to make the late show. Fortunately, the theater was close to the restaurant, and we made it to our seats right as the movie started. Not that we saw much of the movie. Turns out it was terrible, and we were more interested in each other. We left the theater early and went back to his place.
“Sorry about the movie,” he said as we sat down on his couch.
“I don’t mind. It’s been a long week, so I was a little tired anyway,” I admitted. I remembered about family dinner on Sunday. “Oh, by the way, you’re invited to family dinner on Sunday. You game?”
He smiled. “Of course I’ll come. Should I bring anything?”
“Nope, Mom and I are going to barbecue some steaks. You can play cards with the guys while we’re cooking.”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied.
I leaned back onto the throw pillow and stretched, covering a yawn with my hand.
“Are you going to stay here with me tonight?” he asked.
“Do you want me to?” I hope so.
He stood and held his hand out to me. “Of course I do. Let’s go to bed.” Yes, please. He hoisted me off the couch and shut off the lights, and we walked to his bedroom.
He pulled two drawers open on his dresser, grabbed a pair of flannel shorts out for himself, and handed me a T-shirt. I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I brushed my teeth, stripped down to my panties, and pulled the plain black shirt over my head. It was super soft, like the New Zealand shirt I stole from him. It also barely covered my butt.
After I finished in the bathroom, I went back to his bedroom.
“I’ll be right back. Hurry and get in bed. It’s cold in here.”
On his way to the bathroom, he turned up the thermostat on the control panel in the hallway. It was freezing, so I huddled under the covers to try to rid myself of my goose bumps. When he was ready for bed, he climbed in next to me.
“Zoey, your legs are so cold,” he said as his bare legs brushed against mine. “Let me get you some of my flannel pants.” He started to get out of bed to get them.
“No,” I said, shivering from the cold. “Stay. I’ll be warmer now that you’re in here.”
Andy let out a long sigh. “Fine, be that way,” he said, sarcastically.
He stripped off his flannel shorts, pulled them out from under the covers, and threw them over his tattooed shoulder onto the floor. “You’ll get warm faster this way, at least.” He smiled his most smoldering smile. “I hope you can handle my bedroom attire for one night,” he said, draping his arm over me and scooting closer.
I laughed. “I think we threw that rule out the window this morning, don’t you?” He could wear what he wanted to bed. On the other hand, he could wear nothing at all. I was fine with it, now that I’d seen him completely naked and had my hands and
mouth all over him. I also knew I would have a hard time resisting him, no matter what he was wearing.
But, I promised myself not to move any faster than we already had. I frowned when my mind drifted away from my happy thoughts. This was a big step for me, and I was still overwhelmed with my feelings for him. Feelings that were completely new to me.
“What were you thinking just now?” he asked. “You got the exact same look on your face this morning. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine,” I lied.
He caressed my face and combed my hair back over my ear. “Zoey, don’t lie to me. If this is moving too fast for you, we can slow down. I don’t want to lose you by going too fast. After this morning, it will be hard but—”
“Andy?” I interrupted. He was lying so close to me, I could feel his erection pressed against my belly.
“Yeah?” he replied seriously.
“It feels like it’s already hard,” I joked, giggling as I ran my hand over the front of his boxer briefs and gave him a firm squeeze.
He sucked in a shocked breath. “God, I love you, Zoey,” he groaned, as he flipped me onto my back.
We laughed as we wrestled around playfully, and he pushed my legs apart. Andy hovered over me, pressing his erection directly where I desperately wanted it to be. I would rather it was without the two thin pieces of fabric from our underwear in the way though.
Fuck. He stared me right in the eyes and rocked his hips forward, pressing harder against me. I wanted him so badly right then, but I knew better.
“I’m not ready for sex yet, but everything else is fair game,” I told him as I pushed his boxers down over his ass and hips.
Still hovering over me, he moved in to kiss me. “Whatever you want is fine with me,” he mumbled with his lips pressed against mine.
Once he was completely naked, I wound my fingers around his rigid cock and started stroking him. He broke our kiss, and then sat up on his knees in between mine, causing me to lose my grip on him.
He helped me to a sitting position and pulled his shirt off over my head, leaving me wearing only my panties. I laid back and dragged him down with me, which caused his bare erection to press firmly against me.
