by Jack Parker
Life was simpler here, and under Luci's tutelage, perhaps I might become something more.
CHAPTER 11
Nearly a week after she gave me the Ipod, I strolled into her office one afternoon to find her struggling to install a brand new scanning machine, printer and desk top computer that sat atop a new dark brown and shiny wooden desk, perpendicular to her own. She glanced up at me helplessly with flushed cheeks and a wire in each hand.
"This contraption is a contemporary torture device," she commented and dropped the cords to the floor with a thunk. Between the two of us, it only took an hour before we called for Mattison to help us. She laughed when she saw the twisted cords and frustrated faces that met her in Luci's study.
"What is this for?" She asked as she wiggled underneath the desk. A strip of her toned stomach played peek-a-boo with me, distracting me. Luci followed the gaze with narrowed eyes.
"I think Lauren would fare better using a computer than my ledger." I grinned at her thoughtfulness. She'd effectively answered Mattie's question without revealing my weakness with words and numbers and left no room for questions or discussion on the topic with her tone.
Mattie grunted beneath the desk and reached for the cord in my hand. Luci leaned over the desk and watched as Mattie hooked everything into its proper place within a few moments, her keen eyes observing and remembering everything. The young woman squirmed and wriggled until her head was clear of the space and sat up, spinning easily on the hardwood floor. She pressed a button on each machine and lights flashed as the computer awakened from its powerless slumber. She set up the speakers, connected us to the Internet, and showed us how to install the printer and scanning machine using her knees to level her eyes with the wide flat screen monitor instead of the new office chair that sat across the room.
"My deepest gratitude, Mattison." Luci thanked her graciously clearly relieved to be released from the task of figuring out the modern machine, and Mattie smiled brightly.
"No problem. Just wait until the programs finish installing and then follow the instructions that will appear." I nodded in unison with Luci. Mattie smiled again and bounded towards the door. Luci stepped towards her.
"Mattie?" The girl stopped and faced us again expectantly.
"Would you mind terribly if I asked you to help Lauren muddle her way through the new programs this evening?" I jerked in surprise. For a month, Luci and I had spent our evenings together in the back courtyard, and the sudden change of schedule disappointed me. I'd lived with Luci for nearly a month, and she never spontaneously changed her schedule.
"Of course not. After dinner?" Mattison seemed genuinely pleased to be needed, and I felt her contagious joy seeping into my bones, erasing the disappointment.
"Wonderful. Eight o'clock sharp. I will be working here until seven-thirty and wish to be undisturbed. Please let Berta know that I will be taking dinner in my study tonight instead of the dining room."
"Sure thing, Luci!" She turned and skipped out the door, presumably in search of the grouchy cook who rarely emerged from the kitchen, at least not where I saw her.
"You're working tonight?"
"I am." She crossed the room and retrieved the new mesh-back office chair, still favoring her right knee slightly from our scuffle a few weeks ago. She claimed it didn't bother her, but she hadn't worn her signature high heels since that night, opting for casual flats instead.
"On what? Shouldn't I be there for the experience?" I lowered myself into the chair when she reached the desk and fiddled with the seat adjustments.
"I'm not certain I have prepared you for this particular sort of experience. I have an investment I am hoping to lock in by this evening. There stands only one other competitor in my way, and he shall be dealt with this afternoon. It's a rather nasty business, and I would prefer to spare you the experience until much later." She slipped around her own desk and immediately buried herself in her notes and ledger.
I waited for more, but the reticent woman offered nothing. I worried my lower lip and studied her tensed facial muscles. Something bothered her. She got like that sometimes, but she never spoke about her thoughts. Prodding only led to anger and sometimes my dismissal from her study. "So, what is all of this for anyway? I thought you hated computers." I changed the subject.
"That is why the wretched contraption is not on my desk." She answered without looking up from her work and checked something off a list on the notepad. "Its purpose is to aide you in learning how to manage my books. According to the helpful gentleman I spoke with at the store in Ellie Hill, every receipt and invoice can be entered into the computer automatically." She gestured towards the small scanner with the tip of her pen, eyes stilled focused intensely on the papers I'd not yet been privileged to.
"There is another program that has not arrived yet that… how did he phrase it?" She bit the tip of her pen distractedly. "It allows you to 'highlight' words which will then be read aloud by the software and also allows you to control everything by voice activated commands. I expect a printed report each day for my own records." She had returned to her notes, genuinely disinterested in the technology.
"Thank you, Luci." I rounded her desk before I thought too keenly on my actions and leaned down to hug her awkwardly from the side.
Even though she clearly anticipated the contact, she stiffened under the touch. Her muscles took longer than before to relax, but she eventually gave up on trying maintaining the barrier between us and sighed into the contact. The earthy scent of her shampoo surrounded me, and electricity zinged through my fingertips when she placed a warm hand over mine and squeezed lightly. It soothed me, like that first puff of a cigarette in the morning. I had been going through withdrawal and had finally been relieved of the ever-present nagging torture that came with an addict's deprivation of their favorite vice. I could not find the strength to release my hold now that I'd felt her in my arms again.
When she turned her knees towards mine, wrapped her arms around my waist, and leaned her head into my small breasts, I knew that she felt exactly the same relief. Every inch of my body vibrated with unspoken need and adrenaline. I opened the silver clip at the base of her neck and tossed it atop her notepad, my fingers finding immediate purchase in those silky tresses. She hummed against my chest, and my eyelids fluttered as my stomach fell between my legs, like being dropped from a significant height too quickly. When the quiver shook my body gently, Luci looked up at me around my humble cleavage.
Her previously brilliant blue eyes collected a subtle haze. Her chest suddenly pressed against my hips erratically as her breathing heightened, and another quake erupted in my body. Her arms slowly slipped away until only her graceful hands gripped my hip bones. My eyes slipped shut as my racing mind and pounding heart struggled with the effort of adjusting to the new sensations that were slowly pushing me towards the brink of submission to my hidden desires. They opened wildly when the tips of Luci's fingers brushed beneath the hem of my ragged black t-shirt, and she stilled the movement but did not relinquish her grasp. Her wide misty eyes grounded me in the moment, and my body released its tension and simply allowed the fresh feelings to rush through me. I wanted this, and I refused to be afraid of it any longer.
I smoothed the hair from her face with both of my hands and did not hide the emotions dancing in my eyes. I wanted her to see me, needed her to show me the same fear and apprehension and arousal and desire in her own eyes. A small surprised gasp escaped my lips and my hands gripped her shoulders when she moved her hand to the back of my right thigh and pulled it closer. My knee easily slipped between her hip and the soft arm support as I practically straddled her chest. I briefly worried that I would leave evidence of my arousal on her perfectly pressed blue dress shirt when I pulled away again but decided that I did not care.
Her hand traced my leg and slid heatedly over the modest but muscular bump of my ass before slipping beneath my shirt again. The gentle pressure of her hand on my lower back just above the back belt loop
of my jeans pulled me closer. I had not frozen or panicked but patiently followed her silent instructions. Perhaps the newfound confidence I felt after I'd begun my self-defense training had strengthened my willpower and belief that I could handle any situation. I did not run like I had before in the dark hallway that separated the East and West wings of the house.
Luci pressed me tightly against her chest, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her neck, hands clutching at her hair and shoulder. This was it. She would kiss me. I hadn't intended my simple affectionate gesture to be transformed so passionately but it had. The intensity of the new sensations coursing through my body fell beyond my understanding, so I ignored every thought on the subject and focused on her eyes, the delicious tingle rising in my spine, her slightly parted lips. She paused so close, afraid, shaking. Her shoulders pulled away, but my body followed the jerking motion. She ran this time, and I followed.
"Excuse me, Miss Luci," David's Southern drawl called just before his boots thudded into the room. I jerked back violently, but he had already entered. He sputtered a few times and then turned his back. I pulled at my shirt and hiked my jeans upward nervously.
"Miss L-lauren, I was j-just lookin' for you." He stuttered uneasily and wrung his hands. "We usually meet at one o'clock, and it's one-thirty and…"
One hand flew to my forehead and the other rested on my hip, and I turned from Luci and attempted to reconcile the interruption with reality. I'd just been caught straddling my boss with her hand up my shirt by my coworker, and my racing thoughts failed to cope with any of the emotions that flared in Luci's hazy blue eyes. She cleared her throat behind me, and I heard a faint shuffle as she stood.
"What is it, David?" Luci's gravelly voice demanded. She may have regained her senses more quickly but had not recovered fully. Whether from the passion of the moment or the discovery of it, I could not be certain.
"I was just letting Miss Lauren know that I had finished clearing the brush from the back courtyard and was available to help her with her path, Miss Luci." He glance towards us over his broad shoulders.
"Great!" I exclaimed superficially, hearing the fake emotion in my own ears. "That's actually why I was here, Luci. I got distracted by the computer." I pulled a folded slip of paper out of my back pocket and held it out to her. She took it. "It's a preliminary list of items we need." I cleared my throat and finally met her eyes. They keenly observed my every move and begged me to stay and finish what we'd started.
I ran.
"If you don't need anything else, I'm going to go start clearing the brush and stuff out of the way." I didn't wait for an answer. I didn't need one. I knew she would let me go without resistance and wait patiently until I felt ready to return. I slapped David on the back amicably as I slipped past his large frame and did not look back. The dull thud of his boots told me that he was following, and in that moment, it was all I needed to know.
My stride purposefully led me across the front yard. David followed and did not speak for a long while unless he was asking a question or directing me while we worked. I could have kissed him for his understanding of the sensitive situation, but I knew that I would only feel disappointed that his broad shoulders and scratchy stubble had not given away to the slight form and smooth skin of Luci Pravitas.
In addition to his discretion, he treated me as an equal. Though he watched me with hawk-like eyes for my protection, he never once offered to lift a log or carry a prickly piece of brush for me. I appreciated his respect greatly. We plopped down on a damp, rotting log after a while and gulped from his water jug when the sweat trickling into our eyes stung too much to ignore any longer, and he finally asked the question he'd been holding back.
"Are you okay, Miss Lauren?"
"David, please just call me Lauren. And, yes, I'm just fine." I swished water from the jug in my jaws and spit it out when it became warm and gooey in my dry mouth. He picked at dirt caught beneath his thumb nail with a twig distractedly.
"If it helps, I think you make her happy." The twig dropped from his fingers and bounced off a crease in his jeans before landing on the ground. "Since I've been working for her, I don't think I'd ever seen her smile until she met you," he confided quietly and then pulled the water jug from my fingers and gulped several swigs of the cool liquid.
"How long you been working for her?"
"Goin' on seven years now." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Since my wife left me for my best friend."
"That's harsh. I'm sorry." I leaned my head on his strong shoulder, sensing the pain that still clung to the memory of his former love.
"It's alright, Miss Lauren, but thank you." He covered me with his big arm, and I scooted closer and leaned my head on his chest. I'd had the arms of many men around me, but David's felt differently, almost fatherly. He sniffled above me, and I nuzzled closer.
"So, what happened?" I pried after a few quiet minutes.
"Miss Luci gave me a job. I sort of lost it a little after my divorce. I used to work as an EMS, but I grew up on a farm, so I knew how to fix things. After I'd been with her about six months, she offered to pay my wife a settlement just to get her to stop harassing me for alimony."
I jerked in surprise. Was there no end to Luci's generosity. She hadn't lied when she spoke of her employees becoming her family. Perhaps she wasn't as alone in the world as I thought. "And did she? Stop harassing you, I mean."
"Yes and no. One day she just sort of disappeared. I'm not even sure if she'd gotten the money yet, but one day she was living in my house with my best friend and then they were both gone. I think Miss Luci might have had something to do with it. Her influence reaches much deeper than mine. I think she pulled some strings and made her go away. I owe her my life." His voice turned reverent in his reference to his boss. His loyalty to her scored far deeper than a substantial paycheck.
"Guess I joined the right club, then," I quipped and glanced up at him. His chuckle vibrated my head, and I pulled away to study his brown eyes properly. They were so kind and so gentle, like Craig's eyes when he'd taken me in all those years ago. He brushed my bangs aside and looked at the faint scar on my forehead.
"That healed good. Better than I thought, actually." I smiled at him and nodded. He was the reason the wound had left minimal scarring, but he'd have never taken credit for it. I was happy he was in my life. Despite his misfortune, David had found happiness and contentment with his lot in life because Luci had given him an opportunity when no one else would. It inspired me to believe that maybe I could be happy, too. He smiled at me and slapped my back sharply.
"Time to get going." He hoisted his lumberjack form from the log and pulled me up at the same time.
A comfortable silence enveloped us again as we worked. The brush and fallen logs piled up along the emerging path, and I knew it require more work to carry it out of the forest to be burned than to gather it. The sweat cooled my skin, and I shivered in the setting sun before we spoke again. David pulled his leather gloves off, shoved them into the back pocket of his jeans and ran a giant hand through his salt and pepper hair. I chuckled when the motion caused his short hair to stick out all over the place like a cartoon character that had been electrocuted.
"I think it's dinnertime." He slung a heavy arm across my shoulders and steered me towards the mansion. The weight was almost painful, but I enjoyed the friendly contact too much to shrug it away.
"You're a trooper, Miss Lauren. I like a woman who doesn't mind getting dirty." If the statement had been made by any man other than David, I would have perceived it as a flirtatious compliment, but his encouraging words warmed my heart. I beamed up at him proudly as something shifted in my brain. His approval and satisfaction with my work ethic made me want to happily cry unexpectedly, and I tucked the foreign emotions away for later analysis.
Berta glared at our dirty hands and clothes when we entered the dining room, but we ignored her and heartily filled our grumbling tummies with her scrumptious feast. I doub
ted the woman's ability to smile, but her food definitely never disappointed. I swore I heard her growl when Mattison bounced into the room with headphones stuck in her ears. I wondered briefly why Cal never joined us for meals, but my thoughts did not linger long on the man I had yet to properly meet. Save the clinking of forks, dinner passed without conversation, and as Berta's gaze intensified, I squirmed in my chair. I'd bumped into Berta a few times without Luci's company, and the old cook seemed polite but reticent and usually shooed me from her presence after a few moments.
"Mattie, you ready to get to work?" I asked suddenly, and the girl punched a button on her IPod.
"Luci said eight o'clock. It is seven-thirty. Let me shower and change, and I will be right down." She replied and scooted her chair from the table. "Thank you, Berta, for the wonderful dinner." She kissed the old woman on the head and then bounded from the room before Berta retaliated.
I stood and repeated Mattie's sentiment and appreciation of the delicious dinner, minus the kiss. A shower appealed very much to my weary muscles, and I practically sprinted to my room. The water revitalized my spirit after the hours of manual labor, and I entered Luci's office feeling comfortably exhausted, the type of peace your soul felt after a good day of hard work. Mattison already sat in front of the new computer and clacked away at the keyboard intently. Some type of violin music with a fast tempo and slightly techno-sounding bass thrummed from the speakers. She smiled at me when I pulled Luci's office chair around her desk and settled it next to mine currently occupied by Mattison.
"It is very easy. You should learn it quickly." She showed me how to start the program and the correct functions and commands to click. I nodded at her instructions as my body swayed slightly with the contagious rhythm and cadence music.
