Chapter Three

Daniel Rohan was mentally sorting a dozen priorities as he ended the phone call and stepped back into the living room. Moving to this part of the country had never been part of his plans but it was necessary. But his job came first and he had to. And besides his friend Frank had assured him that the place was okay. Daniel and Frank had met in college too. But they hardly saw each other since they lived in different states. They had just kept in touch with each other and hung out when they could once in a while.

A young woman stood inside chatting up Frank...Or Karen. He didn't know which and to be honest he really didn't care. She was beautiful. The fabric of her singlet pressed against her modest chest, her long brunette hair was twisted into a bun and rested on top of her head. A few tendrils had excaped from the bun and were all over her face. Long curls fell in disarray past her shoulders. He wondered what it would feel like to reach out and tuck them behind her ears. The look was wildly seductive, as if she had just left her bed. She wore no makeup, not that she needed any. That buttermilk skin would light up any room—most specifically a darkened bedroom.

A compulsive this one's for me resounded in him. He had grown out of picking up women, especially young, free-spirited ones. From his midtwenties on, he'd preferred the convenience of longer-term arrangements with women in his social circle. Now that he was hitting thirty, however, even those comfortable situations came with expectations of a more serious future. His own mother badgered him ceaselessly to marry and give her grandchildren.

Perhaps his interest in this pretty young woman was reflexive pushback against his mother's latest efforts because he found himself mentally rearranging his priorities again, now allowing for a shared dinner sometime —with plenty of time allotted for other potential entertainments to develop.

"Hi" he said as he moved towards her.

The woman turned to look at him and stilled as though transfixed. He thought of artwork that depicted angels of grace and goddesses of fertility, none of which had ever caused such a brilliant thrust of heat to swell in him. Oh, yes, this one was definitely his.

"Oh hello" she replied.

She had some wicked curves. She wasn't a tall stick figure like half the women he usually met. Instead she was petite, very rounded with the kind of full curves, generous hips and lush breasts revealed in the tight singlet she was wearing. She wasn't putting on anything fashionable but still his heart pick up its pace and his recently dormant cock came awake in his pants. The woman was sexy in a way that women didn't seem to allow themselves to be sexy anymore. Her looks, however, merely started the fire in his gut. Her untouchable, out-of-place demeanor stoked it until it almost engulfed him.

He glanced down, probably not even aware he was doing it. The glance was quick, not offensive, probably almost reflex considering the need to check out a woman's breasts seemed inbred into male genes. His gaze rose to her face, but not so quickly that she didn't see the way his jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed, shining with dark intensity and appreciation, all traces of any easygoing good humor disappearing. Hers disappeared, as well. Not to be replaced by anger but by pure physical awareness. The roam of his stare over her body affected her just as thoroughly as a real touch from anyone else would have.

He smiled inwardly. He liked what he saw. It had been a while since a woman had attracted his attention that way. Maybe moving here hadn't been a bad idea after all. Suddenly she seemed in a hurry to leave. He found himself wishing she had invited him to share that bottle of vodka with her. He really needed it.

But at least he knew she lived in the apartment next to Frank's. They had all the time in the world.

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It was Monday morning. Another stressful week filled with work about to begin. Emma sighed as she got out of bed. Not that she was complaining She loved her job. It took alot of her time and she worked really hard. The pay was good and Emma believed in putting her best into everything she did. She took a quick shower and drove to her office. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long day and she was right. Immediately she got to the office she was met a lot of paper work on her desk. The financial statements for the last month were out and she had to go through every single transaction so as to check for errors and discrepancies. Everything had to be done carefully.

Before 2:00pm she was already very tired. She had a feeling her fatigue was not just because work. It was also because she hadn't been getting enough sleep since she met Daniel. Okay she had met attractive guys, but none had had such an effect on her. Here she was, days later thinking about him. Damn he was hot. She kept having really dirty thoughts about him. He had the sexiest lips she had seen on any guy. She wondered how it would feel to have those sexy lips on hers. She wondered how it would feel if he kissed her all over her neck.

God.. She wanted him to hold her and touch her and kiss her everywhere. Her mind kept wandering.

Lying in the deep tub in her bathroom that evening when she got home from work, Emma tried to empty her mind. She slowly sipped from a glass of wine and let the water ease away her cares and worries, hoping one of her greatest pleasures would distract her from the thoughts running rampant through her head.

She soaked for a half hour, adding hot water when it became lukewarm, nursing the glass so she wouldn't have to step out too early. Her mind, however, wasn't cooperating. Instead it kept going over the attractive man she had met days before.

She didn't want to be attracted to him. She didn't even know the guy. Hell she wasn't attracted to him, she told herself. The way he had stared at her didn't mean anything. The way she felt didn't mean anything.

"Liar" she murmured, sinking deeper, watching the way the slick water caressed the curves of her breasts, making her skin shimmer and gleam in the candlelight. It did mean something. She wanted him. Probably because she hadn't been with a guy for a while.

Emma wasn't used to men looking at her the way he had. But while she'd never admit it out loud, she had almost enjoyed it.

"Almost ?" she whispered. "When did you become such a liar"

Blowing at a bubble on the puckered tip of her breast, she reached up and lightly brushed it away, acknowledging, at least here in the privacy of her bathroom, how much she wanted the hand on her body to be Daniel's. Her fingers were slender and soft, smooth and easy as they slid down, beneath the water, gliding across her wet skin. His were big and strong and would feel deliciously rough.

"Especially here", she whispered, closing her eyes as she touched herself even more intimately. In her mind, though, the touch was all his. And within moments, the possibilities playing in her mind had her thrusting against her own fingers, longing to be filled but taking the only form of pleasure she could manage at the moment. Emma sighed, gasped, stroked the lips of her sex and the hard nub of flesh at the top of it, wondering how on earth she'd gone for so long without a man's hands on her.

Not just any man's hands, she reminded herself. There was only one pair of hands she wanted. One mouth. One body. One person she visualized as she spiraled toward a climax.

Emma shook her head and tried to focus her thoughts on other things. She wasn't successful tho.

She took a deep breath. He wanted her too. She knew that. That was lust she saw when he'd looked at her. Pure and undisguised, unhidden by social demands or proper breeding that insisted it wasn't polite to visibly covet a woman. He was coveting. She was being coveted. They were both caught in the tension of it.

There was no point thinking about him this way. She told herself. Yeah he was hot and attractive and all that. But guys like him were bad news. She didn't need anyone to tell her that. Though her mind knew better, her body couldn't help responding. Her skin puckered, tiny goose bumps rising on the deep of her cleavage, her nipples tightening.

It was a bad idea. She knew that. And maybe should could think about him and fantasize about him. But she wasn't gonna act on it. For her own peace of mind.

Maybe Karen was right. She needed to get laid. Maybe that was all she needed so she could focus on completely on her job.