A Favor

by Fiona Murphy

  “Good morning, I made a scramble and had plenty left over.” He gestures with his cup of coffee and I nod my thanks.

  Blindly, I turn toward the cupboard for a cup, desperate for any reason to look away. He’s dressed in a plain white button down shirt and dress slacks and looks so good it’s hard not to stare at him. They are normal clothes, how the hell did he look so good in them? Fumbling with the sugar, I manage to get most in the actual cup and then pour some coffee. It smells different than my usual coffee. Taking a sip it’s good, it has a hint of coconut and a light sweetness to it. “Where did this coffee come from?”

  “I was up early and went to the grocery store. Thanks for the offer but there wasn’t much that appealed. I was in the coffee aisle for what felt like forever and a woman noticed me lost in the variety and suggested it.”

  Taking off the cover I ignore the stab of jealousy at a woman chatting him up in the grocery store, it was probably a grandmother or something. “This looks good.” Green peppers, red peppers, and tomatoes are mixed with bacon and eggs and it tastes even better than it looked. “Thanks, this is better than my usual oatmeal. Good coffee too, good suggestion. You must have been up pretty early.”

  “Pretty early, I don’t sleep as well as I used to. The coffee was a very good suggestion, I felt like I had to buy it though because she wrote her number on it.”

  I choke down a swallow of coffee and set down the cup harder than I intended. Refusing to look up, sure I’ve shown myself for an idiot enough, I pick up the fork and move the food around on my plate. The appeal of it gone in an instant.

  “Don’t look so cranky, Zoe, I’m not going to call her. It seemed easier to just buy it and smile and walk away. I didn’t want to be rude, that was all.” He gets up and leans down and kisses me on the forehead, “Eat, baby and we’ll get going.”

  I watch him walk away and tell myself to ignore the twisting inside my chest at his casual kiss and reassurance. Instead, I turn my attention back to my food and make quick work of the rest of it. I’m up rinsing off the plate when he comes back into the room wearing a jacket but no tie. It’s a casual look but on him it looks anything but casual, it looks very good. The jacket fit too well to his broad muscular frame to not be cut to fit, my mouth goes dry and only my phone going off stops me from doing something stupid.

  “Hello.”

  “Is Sam coming in with you?”

  “Yes, we’re leaving now.”

  “Good girl, see you soon.”

  Sam moves to wait by the door, his eye on his watch. I pick up my purse and slip into my flats and pick up the keys. Setting the alarm, I follow him out of the house.

  Traffic is a snarl, which is normal. Thankfully, it isn’t far into the downtown office.

  “The office takes up all five stories of a small building at the edge of downtown. There are people in the office twenty four hours a day, due to our contacts and people being all over the globe. There’s a gym with showers, a day care center and a kitchen that does healthy lunches along with breakfast and dinner that could be eaten at work or ordered to be taken home. The food isn’t free but it is fairly priced. Even in the dead of night there’s at least one person in the kitchen but there is also a well stocked choice of items prepared and ready to heat and eat. The second floor is human resources and administrative support. The third floor is intelligence gathering, fifteen people make up those that sift through what is gathered and there are six translators there to assist. Fourth floor is IT everything, support but also those that dig in and search out more intelligence. Fifth floor is Taylor and Chris Stanton used to be here but Taylor bought him out only two years in. Chris Stanton had been former Special Operations, a former Delta, he was the muscle to Taylor’s money and businessman. Now it’s just Taylor, my office and Dr. Keno the resident psychologist and his assistant. He has extensive training dealing with PTSD and all our employees have open access to him. He’ll also administer testing to our prospects but don’t worry he doesn’t share anything private he’ll simply say yes or no or yes but needs further treatment.”

  Finishing going over the company as I pull into the garage, I park in Taylor’s usual spot. Relief fills me to see my little car in its space.

  “What happened with Stanton?”

  Biting my lip from inside my mouth I press my thumb into the scanner. A screen pops up and I identify myself and Sam to Ricky, one of the security guards. The door is buzzed open and I greet Ricky and Stan working the front desk as I make my way to the elevator. I scan my badge to get the elevator to move.

  “He was everything you accused us of being. Cocky, impetuous and I mentioned no civilian casualties in the last six years, but this company has been in operation for nine years. Taylor was pissed by how cavalier Chris was and bought him out. He put the measures in place that exist now, the rules that the men are supposed to conduct themselves under. Now, people have to be so clean they squeak before they even make it as far as an interview, even then if their temperament is wrong they aren’t hired. We added some female assets as well and it was welcomed by DOD.”

  The elevator opens and Taylor is waiting. “Sam, good to see you. Zoe, I knew you’d come through for me. Can Zoe get you anything, coffee or some water? Then, come on through and let’s talk.

  Zoe, I left some things on your desk for you to handle from yesterday.”

  I get the message, normally I sit in on interviews, take notes and we discuss them but this wasn’t an interview. Taylor already wanted Sam, this time Taylor would be pitching hard. Watching the door close, I’m longing to be on the other side.

  I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that less than ten minutes later Taylor’s door opens again. Taylor seems proud, and just a bit smug so I’m hopeful it’s good, because the company needs Sam.

  “Zoe, I’m going to give Sam the tour and then take him out to the training facility. I heard back and Tim Nielson is coming in for an interview out of California on Friday. He has a sister he’ll be staying with in San Antonio before the interview but he was relieved to hear about the offer of the house so you might have another guest at the house.”

  “I saw him on the schedule. I’ll make sure Dr. Keno leaves space open for him.” Keeping my eyes on my computer screen is hard but when they leave I’m relieved enough to bury my head in my hands. My stomach is twisting, would Sam accept?

  The phone rings and I’m glad for the distraction, it feels like it’s going to be a long day.

  Chapter Five

  My eyes stray to the clock for what is likely the tenth time in the last twenty minutes. Taylor had often done the walk and tour, he would have taken Sam out to the training facility that is southwest of Austin about a half hour out of the city, it sits on fifteen acres. The training compound held four buildings, one of them housed the sleeping and living quarters of the trainees and staff, the other three buildings were for training. The training lasts four months, during that time trainees stayed on the grounds and every two weeks they had four days off. Training happens at all hours, even the dead of night, most ops were carried out in darkness and it was standard to train for those.

  They should have been back by now. I want to be here when they get back to know if Sam is going to accept the job. Taylor was very good at selling his company but Sam is different he didn’t want to buy so wouldn’t that make it harder?

  When my stomach grumbles for food the third time I give in and run down for a chef’s salad and practically run back to my desk. Tossing the empty container in the trash by my desk, my stomach is still twisting when I hear the elevator and then Sam’s deep voice. Relief fills me, and when I look up as they come in, I can’t hide it.

  “Zoe, why don’t you go ahead and leave early to make up for yesterday. Tomorrow first thing Keno will meet with Sam and we’ll go from there. Robert’s prospect coming in on Monday still needs to be looked into. I’ll put Elissa on that today and tomorrow I want you to pick up from where she leaves off.”

  “Are
you sure? I can run Sam home and come back, I don’t mind.”

  “Zoe, go home and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I nod and shut down my computer and grab my purse from the drawer I keep it in. Sam is waiting at the open door and I pause for only a moment before I brush past him to get out. When his hand settles into the small of my back my whole body comes alive. “Sam.” It was supposed to be a warning but it came out as only an exhalation of breath.

  “I love it when you say my name like that.” He pulls me closer to him and I go without even trying to tell myself not to. It feels so good to be against him and I don’t even question it, just enjoy the feel of him. When the doors open on the ground floor I try to move away but he doesn’t allow me to budge from him and I don’t fight him.

  “Taylor made fun of your car but he didn’t actually tell me what it was. Where in the world did you get this? I’ve seen one once before but that was a car show and the guy was quite proud he had one of the few here in the States.”

  “Don’t make fun of my car, it is one of the few in the States. I had a neighbor for four years, sweetest little old lady who was British and she gave this to me before she went back to England to be with her family. I think she’s adorable.” Yes, I named my car a dark green Rover Mini produced in 1990.

  Sam smiles, “I’m not making fun of her, you just surprised me and what’s her name?”

  “Gertrude, after the lady who gave her to me. It really saved me, my car had just died and I didn’t have the money to repair it. Gertrude let me borrow her car as she had gotten older and the standard transmission was hard for her and the hills in the city so she rarely drove it. Then her daughter begged her to move back to Bath and she finally gave in. Before she left she said she didn’t want to deal with the hassle of shipping it back with her. I tried to pay for it but she wouldn’t let me. I’d done errands for her and some shopping, we traded books and just talked for years and she said it was more than enough.” Sam gets in and he takes up half the car. “Okay, yes it’s small but so am I and I fit just fine and that’s all that matters to me.”

  “I bet you have to have more upkeep on it than you thought though.”

  “Yes, don’t look so smug. It’s more than I thought and sometimes when I look back on all the things I’ve had to do, I think I should just buy a new one but I love her too much to sell her now.”

  Our drive home is relatively short in the late afternoon traffic. When we get inside and I key in the code on the alarm pad, I feel him close behind me and shiver in reaction.

  “I’m going to get changed and take advantage of the free time and paint. I’ll be in the back, the little room in the back, my studio.” Blindly, I motion as I make my way to my room.

  Turning to close the door, I gasp in surprise, to see Sam at the door his palm up to keep me from closing it. “Sam?”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something, Zoe? I was promised a kiss once we got here and I talked to Taylor. I’m here, I talked to Taylor and we’ve agreed to a six month trial. Now it’s time for you to pay up.”

  My brain goes fuzzy with him so close, his hands are on my hips and he’s backing me up towards the bed. All I hear is six month trial. “A six month trial?”

  “I told you, baby, I don’t need the money and I’m not looking for anything permanent. If after six months it’s still going well then I stay, if not then I go.” He barely presses me and I’m down on the bed. “A kiss, you promised, given freely.”

  I can only nod, finally admitting I’ve thought of nothing else but this moment since I woke up this morning. His soft lips are at my temple but his hands are at my waist. Closing my eyes I offer my mouth to him but for a long moment there is nothing. Then his hands shift me and unzip my skirt and pull it down. So caught up in the feeling of his hands sliding down my body I don’t even think of telling him no. His hands slide back up and catch in the top of my panties and with a squeeze of my ass pulls them off much faster than my skirt.

  “A kiss for the prettiest lips I’ve ever seen. Using my tongue on the sweetest pussy I’ve ever tasted.” A whimper escapes me as his fingers edge in and then out again to play in the soft hair. My hands move into his hair and I’m sure I’m going to stop him but my fingers won’t obey and my voice catches in my throat.

  Velvet, hot and wet slides over the seam of lips slick with need, at that first stroke my hips come up begging for more. But his hands tighten and hold me in place for him. Whispered words of praise for my scent and the taste of me flows up to me and he was right he could talk much dirtier than he had and it made me wetter to hear the shockingly graphic words. I open wider, needing more from him and he gives it. Thick fingers open me for him and his tongue delves deeply, greedy and hungry one moment then gentle and teasing the next. It isn’t enough and then so much more than I’ve ever felt it’s almost painful but I want more. Sam is demanding his name from me and I gasp it again and again and he rewards me with the feeling of two thick fingers slipping inside my slick channel.

  “Fuck, how the hell are you so tight? My dick is a hell of a lot thicker than two fingers and your pussy clings to them. You like that baby? So wet, you taste so damn good. We’ll have to go real slow when the time comes, but I promise I’ll make it good for you.” His mouth is back on me, sucking deeply and moaning about how good I taste. My hips meet his fingers as they work in and out of me, I’m so close, and he knows it. His tongue flicks across my clitoris and I cry out, begging for my climax but he holds me back, his tongue tasting me deeper where his fingers move in and out of me. If I hadn’t been so needful of my orgasm I would have been ashamed at the slurping sounds he made but I have no shame of my need for him and what he does to me.

  “Please, Sam, please.” My fingers tug in his hair but he refuses to be led. He moves his fingers out of my channel and finds a spot that has me coming off the bed as he jacks his fingers in and out over it. A few strokes, faster and faster and then his mouth moves over and sucks my throbbing clitoris into his hot mouth. He sucks hard while his tongue flicks over the tight flesh again and again. I come in a gush far stronger than anything I have ever felt before. It’s so strong it’s scary and I scream his name, as the world fades away.

  When the world comes back into focus, I’m surprised to find I’m alone, and my door is closed. Rolling over onto my side I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad he’s gone. He’d done what he set out to do and proven I want him and I can’t tell him no. He had accepted the job and I know it’s because of me. If he had gone home, it would be over, he wouldn’t have pressed for the kiss. I know it deep down, he wouldn’t have started something if he had no intention of seeing it through.

  So if I let go of the fear Sam keeps reassuring me isn’t necessary about hurting him, then I could enjoy some extremely hot and good sex for awhile. But all I can think about is he’s gone now and that he’d only agreed to six months. At his house he’d said he wanted me but not a relationship and it could take a few months to get a need as strong as he had for me out of his system. Was that his offer, six months and then he’d walk away? I should be happy, jumping for joy but laying on my bed alone and still trembling from what he had done to me, where I want him most, him inside me, I feel empty. Is it my turn now to be the one who got hurt at the end?

  Chapter Six

  Once I’m able to move, I get up and change into my painting clothes. As I’d lain in bed the picture had formed in my mind and I want it out. All my painting clothes are old and worn and it wouldn’t matter if I get paint or turpentine on them. Undressing, I look but can’t find my panties and can only shrug. I had worn them for Sam so I’m not bothered that he has taken them. At home I prefer to go braless and without panties so I don’t bother with putting on another pair of panties and I take off my bra. To compensate for going without a bra, I put on an old mans sleeveless undershirt and an even older button down pale blue mans dress shirt and then a loose pair of jean shorts that I had made from too long jeans bought from a second hand
store. They are a little shorter than I would have liked. When I first cut them I hadn’t picked the right scissors and the ends had been extremely uneven and ragged and I had to do it again. To clean the ends up I had to go shorter, I figure since I only wear then inside to paint it’s not that big of a deal.

  I pull my long hair into a messy bun as I go to the backroom that I had taken over as my studio. It had also been added on, but this wasn’t done quite as well as the extra bedroom. As perhaps the person adding it on had intended it to be a work room, there is one lone vent from the air conditioning and there was almost no installation. It could get really hot and uncomfortable in the heat of the summer.

  I clean my palette thankful the paint is almost gone. I pick my paints and line them up and then one by one apply them to the palette, making sure to leave enough room between each one for blending. Sometimes when I paint, I have a picture for reference. Sometimes I went to the scene and painted there but often I paint from the memory of something that had stuck in my head, adding to the dreamy quality of many of my paintings, that and I have a huge love of the Impressionists.

  Once I get going I’m lost in the painting and it isn’t surprising that Sam came in and wandered around for a few minutes before I’m aware he’s there. It isn’t until he’s almost at my back that I feel him and my eyes come off the canvas. He’s silent, just staring and my stomach starts to tighten. Would he be mad? I hadn’t known until I felt the need to paint that the scene began taking shape in my mind.

  “You’re good, it’s exactly how I felt after not seeing it for so long and it’s how it felt to be there.”

  The scene is Sam’s home and the buildings around it, it’s rare for my lines to be so perfectly straight, but there was nothing soft and dreamy about the feeling of Sam’s home. A sigh escapes me, I had captured the desolate, empty feeling I felt upon pulling into the long drive and taking everything in. “Thanks.”