by Pepper Pace
“Nicole, you’re not wearing your sling.”
Her arm was held close to her body. “Yeah…I’ve been able to move it more without it.”
He nodded. She really didn’t need him to go into over-protective mode right now.
Eventually, after some idle chatter and the enjoyment of a good meal, the sexual tension faded and the events that happened upstairs were placed on the back burner. Marty grabbed his keys.
“Look, I’m going to head to the restaurant for a couple hours. I need to deposit some money and check on everything.” He did need to do those things but he also wanted to clear his head. He sighed. “I’m not going to treat you like a baby—but don’t do anything too strenuous like self surgery, acrobats-”
“Bye, Marty.” She scowled.
“Nicole. Call me at the restaurant or on my cell,” He quickly jotted the number on a pad by the telephone. “…if anything happens.
“Yes, Dad.” She mocked.
He gave her a stern look. “And no parties young lady!” Then he slammed out the door. Once outside Marty took in a deep breath. He couldn’t help but to shake his head at how much he enjoyed her company.
Nicole was chuckling to herself. God, why was that man single? He was incredible looking. She allowed herself the pleasure of reliving the feel of Marty’s hands on her breast and the life returned to her core. It had been years since she had been touched like that. With a guilty sigh she pushed the thoughts away and went to the kitchen to do the dishes. It took three times as long as it should have but eventually she got them washed dried and put away.
She straightened the living room, put away the movies and turned on the television getting comfortable on the couch again. Before long she was asleep.
She felt something fuzzy against her face and opened her eyes alarmed. In her experience, something fuzzy touching you meant a rat had just scampered across your bed; whether that bed was a mattress or a pallet on the floor. Marty was covering her with an afghan and she relaxed.
“I didn’t mean to wake you. You’re a light sleeper.”
She stretched and yawned. “What time is it?”
He sat down next to her. “Almost two.”
“In the morning?!”
“Yes.”
“Marty! You’ve been up all day!”
“I don’t sleep much.” He explained with a nonchalant shrug. He seemed more concerned with her. “Are you going to sleep on this couch all night? You can if you want.”
“No. I’m going to go up. How was everything at the restaurant?” She sat up and covered her mouth as she yawned again.
“Well…I had to make some changes. Kendall’s doing your station. Fred’s been doing mine. I’m going to go in tomorrow to help get her trained. When you wake up I won’t be here. But I brought some food home from the restaurant so all you’ll have to do is nuke it. I’m going to call you tomorrow so be sure to answer the phone when it rings, ok?”
“Okay.” She stood up and rubbed her stiff arm. At least it was no longer sore. “Are you coming up?”
He purced his lips and she realized how suggestive that sounded. “No. I need to unwind. I’m going to watch TV for a bit.” Nicole went upstairs under his watchful eye.
“Goodnight.” She called.
“Talk to you tomorrow.”
She went to the restroom and then changed into an old t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts. She didn’t hear the hum of the TV so she figured he must be unwinding in the weight room or behind his computer. She climbed into bed marveling that his spare bed was a million times more comfortable then her real bed. Hers was just a lumpy pull out job that she got from a second hand store.
She sighed, feeling completely comfortable and at home. Her mind began to drift and to replay all the new things that she’d learned about her boss. Then, she remembered the way his hands had looked holding her breasts. His skin was tanned and reddened from work, but still pale against the brown of her breasts.
Nicole pressed her thighs together, feeling herself flame back to life. She didn’t masturbate often because she found nothing to desire…but now, she imagined his lips closing over her nipples and her hand came up to stroke the hardened peaks. She sighed as her hips began to roll. She started to chuckle softly. This was all so strange. She was actually masturbating in Marty’s bed, but the thought was so sexy!
Nicole’s fingers slid between the heated folds of her lower lips and she was amazed to feel that she was already slick with her desire. She bit back a shuddered moan as her fingers began to work faster, her mind envisioning Marty doing things to her body that no man had done in years. Her voluntary celibacy seemed ridiculous when just touching herself brought so much pleasure. When she came, she muffled her cries into the pillow and spent a full minute trembling afterward. God what was that man doing to her?
Marty watched the ceiling of his bedroom. He hadn’t been interested in watching tv and too tired to concentrate on book keeping, so had just come up to bed while Nicole was still in the bathroom.
Now his covers were pooled at his feet, his fist was gripping his swollen dick and he was mentally counting the number of soft sighs that were coming from Nicole’s bedroom. He thought about lifting weights or taking a cold shower. But if he moved to get up then she’d know that he could hear everything she did…because she would hear him.
Damned vents that not only allowed for perfect eavesdropping, but amplification. His dick was too hard to ignore and he stroked himself in time to her breathing, imagining that he was pushing inside of her causing those sighs. Suddenly her sighs had changed into a low shuddering moan and Marty knew that she was cumming and he bit his lip hard enough to taste blood as he quickened his strokes. It took everything in him not to cause the bed springs to squeak as he pumped rapidly into his closed fist. One low grunt was all that marked his orgasm, that and a fistful of creamy white cum.
He quietly pulled off his t-shirt and cleaned up. This is not good, this is not good, this is not good, he kept chanting in his mind. How am I going to do this?
~***~
Just as he said, Marty wasn’t home when she woke up. The house felt empty without him. She went through the refrigerator and found a cornucopia! She nuked herself a ham, egg and cheese croissant and had a glass of o.j. and then went into the den to catch up on school work.
It was very hard to concentrate. Not only was she behind on her work, she also was having a hard time remembering the things that she had just been taught in school. Trying to remember only caused her to develop a headache so she cut off the computer and left the room. Call it forgetful or the accident but she realized that she was late on her medication. The instructions on the medicine bottle indicated that if a dose was missed to skip it and take it at the next regular interval so she did just that.
Nicole tried to watch TV but after about an hour, her head was pounding so bad that she couldn’t stand the sound of it and the sun coming through the windows made it that much worse. She went upstairs to the bathroom for aspirin found it. Perfect. She took four.
She splashed her face with cold water, hoping that it would make her feel less nauseous, but when that didn’t work she went back downstairs to nuke herself some hot tea. She was deciding between raspberry pomegranate and regular Lipton’s when the phone began to ring. She hurried to the living room to answer it, feeling a bit disoriented.
“Hello.” She said breathlessly.
“Hey…” Marty said. “What are you doing, running a marathon?”
“No.” She sighed. “Nuking some hot tea.”
“Why didn’t you answer the phone?”
She scratched her head confused. “What? I did-”
“No. I didn’t get an answer so I called back. I gave you about a minute, maybe two. How are you feeling?”
She was rubbing her head. “Um…headache.”
Marty didn’t say anything.
“Marty?”
“I’m on my way home.” He hung up. She looked at t
he receiver for a few moments before hanging it up and heading back to the kitchen to finish making her tea. Why was he coming home? Was he going to do that every time she complained about a freaking headache? She would have to convince him that she wasn’t a delicate china doll. Nicole stared at the lukewarm water in her mug. It had just been steaming hot, now it was lukewarm. What the…?
~***~
Nicole felt like she was being swung around in a circle like a kid on one of those playground torture devices. Gasping, she clutched at the nearest thing to her, which happened to be Marty. He was holding her in his arms a look of fear in his eyes.
“Marty?”
“You fell. When I came in you were lying on the floor.” She reached up ignoring the straining in her shoulder and felt the back of her head. It didn’t feel any more sore than normal.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.” He said breathlessly as he hurried to the door.
“No.”
“Nicole-”
“STOP!” He did, surprised. “Put me down.” Reluctantly he did. “Marty, I didn’t hit the back of my head.”
“Let me see.” He said, moving behind her and pulling aside sections of her afro. Tentatively he touched her head with his fingertips. “Maybe you didn’t.” He sighed and she decided not to tell him about the excruciating pain or he really would make her go to emergency.
“Nicole…that’s it.” His eyes narrowed. “I am not leaving you alone again.”
“Marty-”
He stalked away from her and walked back into the kitchen, picked up a fallen bar stool and angrily slammed it onto its legs. One minute she was risking a blackout in the shower, the next she was lying on the floor. Her head could have…
Nicole just stood in the doorway because his attitude reminded her of the tomato incident, when he was so angry at her. But this wasn’t her fault!
He glanced at her and then hesitated. “I’m not mad at you, Nicole…but I am pissed. I am so mad at that lady that hit you! I am pissed that she left you there all alone.” He raised his hands palm up. “And really, all I can think of doing is …is-” He sat on the barstool silently feeling useless.
Nicole sat down next to him. “I understand.” She realized that she finally did understand.
~***~
For the next few days Marty did stay close to Nicole. He took her to her doctor’s appointment. He gave her his hands to squeeze when the Doctor removed the stitches from her scalp. He asked the pertinent questions about her seizures and blackouts and headaches and anything else he could think of. He made her healthy meals and even convinced her to go for walks around the neighborhood and eventually through the park. Donning sunglasses and a hat she was even persuaded to go out to a casual seafood restaurant that Marty loved. In the evenings they settled down to watch a movie on the home theater or she would do a few hours of schoolwork in his den.
Their routine was very comfortable and Nicole knew that she would never be able to see Marty the way she had prior to her accident. She wondered what it would be like once she went home and they had just a working relationship again. She’d miss him, that was for sure.
Although they never discussed work or each other’s past, she had grown to know him well, and he her. There was no more of the flirting but at times the sexual tension was nearly overwhelming. They both recognized that there was a mutual attraction. And they both knew that it was dangerous to play a flirting game.
By Tuesday morning Nicole’s bruising had virtually disappeared and she was becoming anxious to get back to work. She glanced at Marty who was scrambling eggs wearing a pair of loose fitting athletic shorts and a worn t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. He had just finished working out and his muscles seemed very pumped. With a swallow, Nicole tried to suppress her rising desire.
“Marty.” He raised a brow without answering. “Let’s go to work today.”
Silently he scooped the steaming eggs onto their plates. “Okay.”
She smiled, “Really?” He put the skillet back on the stove then sat down next to her.
“Yeah…But, Nicole. I think it’s too soon for you to start working-”
“But-”
“Hear me out. It’s just been a week since the accident. Three days ago you had a seizure. Let’s see if you can go the rest of the week without one and I’ll consider it. Deal?”
She hadn’t had any other incidents since; no black outs, no seizures, not even a significant headache.
“I guess I can stay here and work on the computer-”
“I don’t think so. There’s a computer in my office at work.” He hadn’t been kidding when he swore never to leave her alone again. Even when she took a long bath he’d knock on the door after fifteen minutes or so to check on her.
Her sigh of frustration was real. “Marty, what’s everyone going to think when they see me sitting in the office and not working?” Really, if he was intent on keeping their relationship secret then that would be a dead give-away!
“Even though I haven’t told anyone that you’re staying here with me, I’m sure they’ve figured out that I’ve not been around is because I’m with you. So tell them whatever you want. Tell them to mind their own business.” He glanced at her. “But you would never say anything like that to anyone, Baby Girl. You’re so sweet and nice.” His tone was playfully mocking. She thought he’d be truly surprised to learn just how UN-nice she used to be.
“You don’t care that they know you’ve been with me-short of them knowing that I’m staying here, of course?”
Marty’s look was guarded, but he smiled. “No. Maybe they’ll stop thinking I’m so mean. You think that will change their opinion of me, Baby Girl?” He was always poking fun at her about the mean issue.
Nicole smiled. “You are awfully mean, Marty.”
“I guess.” He placed a mug in front of her then filled it with coffee. She was having a difficult time connecting this Marty with the Marty from work. She guessed that she’d see the other soon enough.
~***~
Nicole kept sneaking looks at Marty as he drove them to the restaurant, trying to determine how he felt about this. He had turned on the radio to an oldies channel and was humming to an Eagles song. He didn’t even seem concerned. Well why should he be concerned? No one was going to be bombarding him with questions concerning the nature of their relationship.
Nicole wasn’t at the restaurant 2 hours before she began to regret her suggestion to come in, not that Marty would have let her stay home alone and she felt horrible keeping him away from work. But every time she began to get absorbed in her studies, the office door would pop open and someone would tell her how bad she looked.
When Kendall opened the door she was ready to scream, instead she just smiled. “Hey, Girlie.”
Kendall’s mouth just dropped. “Damn…”
“I look that bad?”
“No…but you do look like you got hit by an SUV. You okay, girl?”
Nicole shrugged. “A lot better than last week.”
“Well I tried calling you but your phone just rang and rang.” Kendall gave her a knowing look. She shut the door and sat on the corner of the cluttered desk. “Okay, Girl. Give up the goods.”
“What goods?”
“The goods on Marty.”
Nicole gave her an innocent look. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Kendall rolled her eyes. “Boyfriend closed the restaurant for you—for several days. Marty NEVER closes, not even when he had the flu!”
Nicole tried to appear nonchalant. “I don’t have a driver’s license. I guess I put Marty on the spot to help me out with Doctor’s appointments, getting medicine…I feel real guilty about it.”
Kendall just smiled. “Fred would have done any of that for you. I think he has a crush on you.” Nicole scowled. She was so off the mark. “So…You don’t think Marty sucks anymore?”
“I never said that he sucked! I just thought he was mean…But he’s been real cool to me
, so I won’t complain.”
Kendall stood. Nicole could tell that her interest in the conversation had expired and she had moved onto something different. “Marty is more than cool. He is the bomb!” She squealed.
Nicole frowned. “The bomb?”
“Yes! He’s been training me. I don’t know what it is Nicole, but he hasn’t been his usual mean self…I think he wants me just as bad as I want him!”
