by Naomi West
She absently rubbed her neck where the metal had worried away at her skin. “What now?” she asked, as he went back over and turned the water off.
He held his hand out to her in offering. “Now, we bathe you,” he replied.
She smiled and glanced away, seeming almost embarrassed by the attention. She took his hand, though, and Zed pulled her over to the tub. He held her hand as she gingerly stepped in, then sank down below the foamy, billowy piles of suds. Abby sighed as she submerged into the steaming water, a smile growing on her face as she relaxed back into the heat.
“Now, let's try this again,” Zed said, his voice soothing and honest. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he'd tried to bathe her, in his first failed overture. Now, after all they'd been through, particularly their bout of rough love on the office floor, he hoped this second attempt would be more fruitful.
She murmured appreciatively as he soaped the loofah again and began to soap first her arms, then her shoulders and back. “That feels wonderful,” she practically purred, lying back in the tub, her lips slightly parted, as he gently soaped and rinsed her arms again.
Zed smiled to himself. Not because he thought his plan was working, but because he was genuinely making her feel good and relaxed. Something about watching her face change from slight apprehension to one of true pleasure lit a small candle in his soul. It made him remember he wasn't a completely monstrous psychopath. Maybe it was doing the same for her.
He continued bathing her in silence, then, as the water began to cool, he helped her step out of the bathtub. Her body glistened with water as he started the shower to help her rinse off. He couldn't keep his eyes off her tiny frame as she stepped into the stall.
As she passed by, she gave him a quick glance with one eyebrow cocked, as if to ask why he wasn't joining her.
He just looked away and crossed his arms.
God, he wanted to, though. But this wasn't about him, or his wants and needs. This was about her, and making the pleasure so great it sank down into her bones. With that in mind, he put a few items on the nightstand.
Soon, she was finished in the shower, and he was waiting for her with a fluffy, black bath towel. He swept her up in its folds and carefully dried her body, leaving her back a little damp for what he planned next. With her enfolded in its warm, cotton embrace, he led her out to the bedroom.
“On the bed,” he said, his voice softer, but still carrying that subtle hint of command. “Now.”
She simply nodded and climbed onto the bed, her eyes sweeping over the bottle of scented oil he'd placed on the nightstand while she was showering.
“Roll over,” he said, as he picked up the bottle.
“A massage, sir?” she asked, confused, as she rolled over on the bed.
He shushed her as he squeezed the oil into the palm of his hand, then began to lather up the rich lubricant. She groaned as he touched palms and fingers to skin and began to knead her muscles. He pressed into her back, working out the knots he found.
She winced a little, at first. “No,” she said, when he stopped. “Go ahead. It feels good.”
He smiled a bit at that, realizing it made sense from everything they'd done already, and began to work on her again. He moved lower, massaging her lower back and lumbar. She wiggled a little and spread her legs as he squirted some oil on first one cheek, then the other, and began to massage her ass.
The way her creamy body looked, the way it glistened with the oil, and the way it felt as his hands moved over her was all causing a mildly uncomfortable reaction for him. He had to pause and readjust himself as he moved lower and began massaging the insides of her thighs.
She moaned louder as he moved down to her knees and calves, her legs spread wider.
He could smell her excitement, now, and could see it glistening like dew on her sex. He rubbed each of her dainty feet, little toe to big, and the arch. She sighed and groaned as he worked her muscles and her extremities, her body increasingly more and more relaxed.
He moved back up to her thighs, and she spread her legs leisurely for him. He slipped higher, rubbing in small circles that increasingly took him closer to her sex.
Her breath seemed to come faster as she spread her legs fractionally further. She pushed back a little, dipping her sex closer to his fingers, close enough that her blonde hair brushed across the tip of his methodically moving digits.
She groaned appreciatively as he slipped inside her wetness. He closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of being inside her like this for the first time. First times were the most amazing part of any relationship, because you knew you could never have that first again.
He scooped up some of her moisture and slipped out of her, his fingers finding her clit. He rubbed either side of her little hooded pleasure point, the pressure light, even, and predictable.
She sucked in a sharp breath and moaned louder as she pushed herself back onto his hand. “Oh, sir,” she groaned, her hands fisting the bedsheets. “Please, don't stop, sir.”
He had other things in mind, though. He took his fingers from her and flipped her over onto her back.
“What—?” she asked, but stopped as he climbed onto the bed between her legs. “Oh!” she groaned, as he pushed her thighs apart and dipped his mouth to her dripping sex.
He kissed her thigh wetly, his tongue tracing a figure-eight on her skin. Her clean skin and the scented oil mixed together, giving her a spicy, musky aroma that set his mouth to watering.
“Oh, sir,” she purred as his lips and tongue moved to her sex, kissed her lips, his tongue parting her in a long, lazy movement. She pushed herself into his mouth as he grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her for a better angle. Her hands came down, then, and moved to his hair.
He glanced up at her and swept her wrists up in one hand.
She groaned and pushed her head back into the pillow as he firmly locked both wrists together in one iron grip, keeping them away from him. She pushed herself into his mouth as his tongue found a spot to focus just above her clit, the tip of his tongue moving in perfect time as she spilled down over his lips and chin.
She tasted more wonderful than he could ever have imagined. Just like a woman should. Just like his woman should. He looked up at her through hooded eyes, and she looked back at him, her eyes half-closed, her lips parted as she panted her approach to her first climax.
“Oh, sir,” she groaned, pushing her hips into his mouth to encourage him along. “Oh, please, sir, don't stop,” she said, her voice rising to a little whine at the end that made Zed even harder.
She began to buck under his tongue, and he held her in place with one hand, his other straining to keep her thrashing arms together. She tensed and trembled under him, hips thrusting as he growled and moaned, his lips closing around her clit.
“Sir! Oh!” she moaned, her body shaking again, her abs clenching under him, and her sweet nectar filling his mouth as he went back to licking her sweet lips. She whined wordlessly, begging for him to come up to her.
He let go of her arms and crawled up between her legs. Her naked, oiled body clung to him like he was a life preserver and she a woman lost at sea. “Sir,” she groaned, her body shaking again in an aftershock “That was wonderful. Why?”
“Why what?” he asked, as he encircled her in his arms and held her close. He leaned down and kissed her forehead as she gazed up at him.
“Why are you being so . . . nice?” she asked, almost breathlessly.
“Because, despite what happened with the files, I think we still need to work together,” he said, after a moment's thought. “And that can't happen unless we trust each other.”
She closed her eyes and looked away, sighing as she settled into his strong arms. She seemed so tiny and powerless, nestled in like this. But, he knew better. She was the strongest woman he'd ever met.
“I want you to trust that I won't hurt you, in the end, and that we can make sure everything will work out the way it's supposed to.”
; Abby turned back to him, her eyes misting a little from his words.
He licked his suddenly dry lips, smelling and tasting her still on him. “Abby, I just want to set you free. I want to unbind you from your obligations to this company, and your responsibility for what happened. By helping to cover for them, you're just as complicit. Even the courts will see that.” She nodded a little as he gave her a warm, comforting squeeze. “But you need to help me do that. Only you can unbind yourself.”
They lay there in silence for a minute or two after Zed had finished speaking, Abby just nestled against him like a longtime lover, her hands on his arms and chest, idly drawing patterns with her fingers. After a while, she spoke. “There are backups for what I deleted,” she whispered, almost too quietly for Zed to hear.
He perked up at the good news, like he'd just received word of the governor's pardon. “Backups? Where?”
“Back at the office,” she admitted, “on my work computer.”
He could barely contain his smile, and he leaned down to kiss her. It was a soft, light kiss, like two rose petals barely touching the other. Abby smiled up at him, like she knew she'd made his day. He beamed back at her, feeling for the first time like there actually was a bit of goodness left in the world.
She had the files still! God, he hadn't heard such good news since …well, he didn't know when.
“Get some more rest,” he whispered, then kissed her again. He settled her back down onto the mattress and slipped off the bed. He crossed her room and stopped at the door, glancing back at her for one long moment, taking in the beauty of her naked form.
As he watched her drift off to sleep, though, another thought entered his mind. It was one that caused his smile to fade for a moment.
The files were at Pharma-Vitae. That still meant he needed to figure out a way to get them.
# # #
Abby
The doorbell awoke them both the next morning.
They'd slept the whole night together, their bodies entwined like two serpents, their limbs pulling them close. She must have been out like a light after the evening of pampering Zed gave her, because she didn't even remember his joining her in the bed.
Her eyes fluttered open as Zed jerked awake and hopped from the bed. He busily pulled on his clothes as Abby, rubbing her wrists idly, watched him get ready.
“What are you doing?” Zed hissed, as he pulled his slacks on and buckled his belt. “Someone's at the door.”
“What?” Abby asked, forgetting for the moment that she'd been effectively kidnapped by this hunk of a psychopath, and that this wasn't some romantic weekend getaway like her body was suddenly insisting. “Oh!” she yelped. “Shit!”
“Who could it be?” he asked, as he pulled on his dress shirt and began to button it. “Mark?”
Abby shook her head as she searched through a dresser drawer and pulled out a fresh pair of panties. She shivered wonderfully at the memory of the last pair she'd had on, and how it was still in the pile with her other clothes, torn to shreds by Zed's hands. “No,” she said, as she stepped into a bikini cut, “Mark wouldn't ever come here. Not in a million years!”
“Who, then?” he insisted, finding his gun and strapping it on.
“Probably Jackie,” Abby said, pointedly looking at the shoulder holster and the big, ugly piece of metal stuffed into it. “I haven't spoken to her in a couple days, and she's probably just worried.”
Zed glanced down at the gun under his arm, sighed, and shook his head.
“You can't wear a suit coat in the house, sir,” Abby said. “And, no matter who's at the door, they're going to think you're crazy for wearing a gun in the house. Besides, I thought we were trying to trust each other more, sir.”
“Shit,” he grumbled and went to take it off. “Guess you're right.” He stuffed it in the nightstand, on his side of the bed.
Abby shook her head as she realized that it had, in fact, become his de facto side of the bed. She'd officially come home from work with a pet psycho, and it didn't look like he was leaving anytime soon. She sighed, pulled on a pair of jeans, and began to find a t-shirt as the doorbell rang again.
Soon, they were both out in front entryway. Zed was tense, a bundle of frayed and raw nerves, and looked like he might jump out of his skin at any moment. Abby touched his arm as they approached the door, and he nearly leaped from his skin.
“Hey, hey,” Abby soothed. “It's going to be okay, all right? It's probably just Jackie. I've already told her about you, right?”
He nodded, taking a deep breath. “Right. Yeah, you're right.”
“She's probably just here checking in on me,” she reminded him.
He glanced away, his jaw muscles working so hard she was surprised she couldn't hear his teeth grinding.
She touched his arm and maneuvered to the side to get a good look at him. “Relax, okay? Everything's going to be fine,” she said, as she squeezed his bicep.
He grumbled as his eyes bore into hers, like two diamond-tipped drills. “Just remember,” he growled, as he snatched up her wrist, “I might not be armed, but I can snap you in two.”
There was the man she remembered. She took a step back and nodded. Plastering a smile on her face, she turned away from him. She ran her fingers back through her hair as she approached the door and put her eye to the peephole. She had been right. It was Jackie standing on the front porch, checking her phone, and looking awkwardly around.
Abby closed her eyes and tried to channel the spirit of Natalia Winters. She remembered how her mom would always receive producers and directors she was working with, men she couldn't stand. She remembered how she'd deal with the press, more people she couldn't care less about. The trick was to seem exuberant when you saw them, and to remember one of their good features while you spoke to them.
Compared to what mother had done, this was easy. She genuinely loved Jackie as a friend, not just an employee. If this had been any other situation, she'd have been overjoyed to unexpectedly see her.
After a fraction of a moment, she nodded to herself and opened her eyes. “Jackie!” Abby called, as happily as she could manage, and began to unlock the door. “How are you?” she called, as she swung the door open.
“Abbs?” Jackie asked. She peered inside, a wide, somewhat uncertain smile on her face. “Hey! Just stopping by so I could check in and see how everything was going.”
As Jackie spoke, Abby felt Zed step up behind her, his body a looming presence that was somehow both menacing and comforting at the same time. She could hear him breathing and could feel his strength behind her, so close he was almost pressed against her body.
“Things are great,” Abby replied, still grinning from ear-to-ear.
Jackie glanced around as she stood on the doorstep, did a little rocking motion and settled back on her heels. “Well, that's great!” she said, looking around again, her eyes settling back on Abby. “Mind if I come in?”
“Let her in,” Zed whispered, then took a step back into the entryway, still out of view of the front door.
“Oh my God,” Abby said, shaking her head at herself. She pulled the door open all the way and waved Jackie in. “Where are my manners? Come on in.”
“I always forget how beautiful your house is,” Jackie said, as she stepped over the threshold.
“I try,” Abby said. “It's a big place, and it gets lonely sometimes.”
“Not too lonely, I hope,” Zed said, as he stepped around the corner, a warm, transformative smile on his face.
Abby was struck by how his body language had changed in just those few short moments, with the smile even reaching up to his eyes. He looked genuinely happy to have an unexpected guest. It was stunning enough that she mused to herself that Natalia Winters could have learned a couple lessons.
Jackie took one look at Zed and glanced at Abby, a confused look on her face. “So, this is the guy you met?” she asked, laughing. “How'd that happen?”
“Long story,” Abby said, ho
nestly, as she closed the front door.
“It was fate, I guess,” Zed said, still smiling like a hunky charmer. “She got into the accident, and I happened to be right in the same area, so I hopped out to help.”
“Right,” Abby agreed, as she moved around Jackie. Zed slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, his strong arms almost seeming to fit perfectly around her tiny body. She had to keep herself from melting into his crazed warmth.
“And we've been inseparable ever since,” Zed added, laughing.
“Well,” Jackie said in a slightly sing-song voice, “I know you two are sort of in the honeymoon phase still, but you really need to check in at the office. There's always something going on, and I can only run cover for so long.”