by Golden Angel
"Yeah, isn't she supposed to be our friend?" Justin asked. "Now she's on Lexie's side about getting into the club."
Even though they were finished eating, none of them seemed inclined to get up and leave. Rick was especially enjoying the camaraderie. Hanging out during the day and just talking wasn’t something he’d gotten to do when he’d lived in Virginia. Before his move, he'd always gotten been the last grape on the vine, getting his gossip at the club or when someone called him.
"I might have to burn my eyeballs," Adam said dryly. "I was already having nightmares about those nipple shirts she was wearing. There was less tape every week. Thank God she stopped that."
"Isn't anyone else curious about why she stopped it?" Rick looked at both of his friends who seemed a little surprised at his question. "Seriously, she's been pushing the limits the entire time she's been working at the club, why suddenly stop doing something that she knew was getting to us?"
They all looked at each other in silence, mulling over the question.
"Maybe she realized it was really upsetting us?"
Adam gave Justin a look of complete disbelief. "Yeah, she's seemed real concerned about that."
“Maybe Patrick said something to her,” Rick suggested, just to see his friends’ reactions to having Patrick and Lexie mentioned at the same time. Justin coughed and looked up in the air while Adam shifted uncomfortably in his seat and stared at his desk. Yeah. “You know he’s going to let her in there sometime. Probably with him.”
“Better him than someone else,” Adam said, although he didn’t sound entirely convinced. Like Patrick, he definitely would have preferred it if Lexie was entirely vanilla and had no interest in being at the club. Although, he also hadn’t been hovering over Lexie as much since he’d started coming to the club with Angel; his girlfriend definitely took the majority of his attention.
Justin shook his head. “I guess… I mean… it’s just weird. I don’t like thinking of her like that.”
“I don’t think Patrick does either.” Adam sighed, rubbing his hand over his goatee, the way he often did when Angel was badgering him about something. A sign of frustration and resignation. “I doubt she would have listened if he’d told her to cover up, anyway.”
"Who can understand women anyway," Rick said, thinking about Maria's inexplicable behavior.
For all her self-assuredness, she seemed to have had some very set ideas about how he would react to her. Not to mention her brazen flirting at his door in contrast to how she'd acted with him this morning, which had been mostly friendly with just a little bit of flirting. Both of which had appealed to him. Really, it was just her that was appealing, in any form.
He still couldn't decide if she'd toned back her approach because of his reaction, or if she was just naturally flirtatious and trying to be friendly. Trying to figure out what was going on in her head was completely impossible. After he'd basically threatened her with a spanking, he thought he wouldn't see her again. Just a few days later she was ambushing him at the pool and showing off all those gorgeous curves.
Better than at his door where he had to fight off his urge to drag her back to his bedroom. Run his tongue along her curves and see what she tasted like. Bury his hands in all that wild hair. See if her body was as soft and welcoming as it looked.
"I think we've lost him again," Justin whispered, making Rick blink and focus back on his two friends.
They were grinning at him expectantly. Like teenage girls awaiting a particularly juicy bit of gossip.
"So... about that neighbor..." Adam drawled.
"Oh look at the time, better get back to work!" Rick said, pushing his chair back as he stood and grabbed the remains of his lunch to throw away. He definitely wasn't going to talk about Maria to his friends. Just mentioning her to Jared had already had unforeseen consequences.
And there wasn't any point in mentioning her, because there wasn't anything going on.
Chapter 6
"So if you had a time machine, and could go back to anytime, where would you go and what would you do?"
Rick gave Maria a look. "Seriously?"
It was the fourth day in a row that she'd shown up early enough to see him at the pool once he'd finished his work out. The first two days they had just chatted while she dangled her legs in the water next time him; yesterday there had been someone else wanting to use the lap lane and so they'd both ended up in the main part of the pool, floating around and talking. She'd learned that he had a married older brother who lived in Pennsylvania. Rick spent the holidays with when they weren't visiting their parents, who had retired to Florida. This was the first summer in a long time that he hadn't spent teaching summer school, and he told her about the odd jobs that he was doing for some of his friends. From what he said, she definitely got the impression that his group of friends were very close and spent a fair amount of time together. Something that she envied, considering her recent revelations about her lack of close friends outside of her family.
So she was trying to get to know him better. And flirt a little. So far, the more she got to know him, the less frightening being spanked by him sounded. Although it still didn’t sound like something that would be good.
Splashing him a bit, she cocked her head inquisitively. "Seriously. Where would you go and what would you do? This answer will give me great insight into the workings of your mind. I swear."
Rick rolled his gorgeous blue eyes and leaned back into the water, letting it roll over his shoulders. Damn. She never got tired of looking at him and seeing the way the water shifted over his muscles. Little droplets that ran down the lines of his body and made her want to press her tongue against his skin to lick them up.
They didn't touch each other, ever, while they talked. They just kind of circled around each other in the water, half-treading it. It was almost a metaphor for the way they were dancing around their attraction to each other.
"You know, my immediate thought is to say that I would go back and see one of Shakespeare's plays at the original Globe, during the time he was writing, but the other day I was listening to a comedian who said he'd go back and stop George Lucas from making the first three Star Wars movies. I think I'd have to do that."
"Really? You were listening to a comedian who was talking about this exact topic?" Maria couldn’t help but laugh; Rick had definitely not struck her as a sci-fi kind of guy. Good thing she hadn’t actually said anything like that out loud; he didn’t need to know that she’d still been trying to fit him into some kind of box. She really needed to cut that out.
"Patton Oswald," Rick said, grinning at her. "He's not the only one. Dane Cook did a segment on time travel too."
"Okay, so why stop the new Star Wars movies?"
This time the look that Rick gave her was frankly disbelieving, with a little bit of shock thrown in for good measure. "Are you kidding me? You actually liked them? I might have to..." His voice trailed off, which was too bad because it had gone kind of growly and hot.
"What?" Maria looked at him curiously. Had he been about to say “spank her?” Because of some movies? Or was she just being hopeful? And how stupid was it that she would hopeful about something like that?! Maybe just because, as flirtatious as he’d been, he definitely hadn’t hinted at wanting to do anything with her past talking at the pool in the mornings. Knowing that he was still interested in doing naughty things to her would be nice. At least, that’s what she told herself, ignoring the tingling excitement and hope that she’d felt when she had thought he was going to threaten to put her over his knee.
Rick just shook his head. "Nothing. Never mind.” His voice had gone back to normal, although laced with near-horror and disbelief. “But you actually liked them?"
Maria just splashed at him, shaking her head as she laughed. Boys. They got so serious about the weirdest things.
"I've never seen them."
"Oh, well that explains it."
"I never saw the originals either." She knew that wo
uld get him.
Clutching at his heart, Rick went down. Laughing, Maria bounced forward to grab for him as his other hand waved dramatically above the water, like he was trying to signal for help. Latching onto his wrist she pulled him back up. It didn't even occur to her that this was the first time they'd touched since... well, since she'd been in his apartment. And now they were both slick and wet, and practically naked since bathing suits really didn't cover much of anything.
His hard body skimmed along hers as he came back up, not even an inch away from her. The suddenness of his nearness made her gasp a bit and she felt her nipples immediately hardening. Shaking the water from his hair and face, Rick snapped his arm around so that suddenly he was holding her wrist instead of the other way around. His strong grip was like a shackle around her arm and she couldn't even explain why she felt suddenly breathless.
The slow smile that spread across his face made her want to melt and she was starting to lean into him, sure that he was going to kiss her, when he gently pushed her away. At the same time, his smile changed into something less fraught with tension. Maria scowled. He was distancing himself again. Acting like she was too dumb to decide for herself whether or not she was interested in him.
Well, maybe dumb wasn't the right word. Burt he did act like she was a little kid who didn't know any better and was about to play with fire. It bugged the crap out of her because, with him, she had started to think that she wouldn't mind getting a little bit singed.
"How can you never have seen the original Star Wars?"
Back to being nothing but friendly. Maria inwardly sighed. "I grew up with all sisters remember? I might have seen them when I was little and just not remember it, but I don't think so. It just wasn't our thing. We liked some guy stuff, like superheroes and stuff but none of us were ever into Star Wars or Star Trek."
"Such a deprived childhood."
Laughing, she splashed him again. "I didn't know you were such a nerd."
"Star Wars isn't just for nerds!" Rick said looking affronted. "Although even if it was, they're still great movies. You should watch them sometime."
"Maybe if I had someone to watch them with," Maria said, giving him a flirtatious little smile. Angling for that little bit of attention from him that would push the boundary line he'd drawn between them.
He just gave her that stupid neutral smile that she was starting to hate so much, as he glanced up at the clock. "Yeah, they're more fun to watch with company. Anyway. I have to go."
"Alright, bye," Maria drawled, as if she couldn't care less, still feeling a bit miffed. She made sure to "accidentally" splash him again as she turned away. It wasn't that her feelings were hurt, exactly, because she was pretty sure that he was definitely attracted to her. The way he acted with her wasn't quite like rejection, it was just like he was trying to warn her off or something.
So why bother talking to me in the first place?
"I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, actually sounding like he wanted to. And that was what got her hooked back in all over again. Hope; always that little bit of hope that kept the door between them open.
"Yeah," she replied, flashing a little smile over her shoulder. She would be here.
Sneaking peeks at him as he got out of the pool, she almost wanted to fan herself. Seriously, the man was smoking hot. He already had taken over a pretty much permanent place in her sex fantasies. Every time she had a hot one, it was with a guy that looked exactly like Rick. Except that he wouldn't push her away or put up walls to keep her out. It wasn’t just that he was sexy and she was attracted to him, she liked finding out the little things about him that broke her assumptions. Like the fact that he comedians and loved Star Wars. She felt comfortable with him, like she could talk to him about anything. Rick had to be one of the most nonjudgmental people she’d ever met. He didn’t care if she talked about being a little envious of her sisters, or how she’d once cried when she went jeans shopping for two hours and couldn’t find a single pair that actually fit, or that she once broke into a pool after hours to go skinny dipping. Not something she could do at this pool unfortunately. And no matter what they talked about, he just accepted her for who she was.
If only he would take that one step further and accept the attraction between them.
Lying on her back, Maria floated, determined not to look at him because she didn't want him to catch her peeking. It was embarrassing enough to keep practically throwing herself at him. He did respond though - he did - before he'd back off. So it wasn't like she was making a complete fool out of herself, although she was starting to feel foolish.
He’d already warned her that he wanted to spank her. If she was still flirting with him, didn't that send the message that she was willing? At least, she was willing to try. Sure it was a little weird, but she could deal with that. As long as he didn't want to actually beat her or anything.
It was damn frustrating.
Maybe she needed to be more direct again.
******
Feeling a bit like he had a target on his back, Rick got out of the pool. He enjoyed spending his mornings with Maria, he truly did, but it was getting harder and harder to control himself around her. Today, when she'd touched him, he'd nearly forgotten that he'd decided to be hands-off with her.
They were attracted to each other, but that didn't mean she had any real idea of the things he wanted to do to her... even though she'd stopped acting like all he wanted was a fuck buddy or a one night stand, she still didn't seem to take him very seriously. He liked her. A lot. Taking things farther would make it too hard for him not to get emotionally involved – heck he already was and they weren’t doing anything more than talking on a daily basis.
It was better to just keep things on a friendly basis until and unless he was really sure she wanted something more.
Looking back over his shoulder, he nearly groaned out loud. It was only the nearby presence of a couple of older women, old enough to be grandmothers, that kept him from doing something so obvious. Maria was floating on her back again, her breasts looking like soft purple mounds, water droplets decorating her stomach, her eyes closed as if she was in bliss. It made him want to get right back in there with her.
Fortunately, he was helping out Liam at the dojo today so he was forced to leave the pool area. Otherwise, he didn't know how much longer his self-restraint would have held out.
If only she was submissive and wanted a relationship.
The words rang in his head like a taunt. If only, if only, if only...
******
Another Friday night at the club and being here was more frustrating than ever. After spending close to two weeks talking to Maria almost every morning, he didn't feel the slightest glimmer of interest in any of the very attractive, very willing submissives that gave him inviting little looks. When he'd come in, Lexie had smirked at him and told him that word had gotten out that he was looking for something more serious than just club play.
Just what he needed on a night that he couldn’t gather up any kind of interest in the women here at all.
"You look like shit."
Great. More of just what he needed.
"Well thank you darling, and you look stunning, as usual," he said, baring his teeth at Olivia in a poor imitation of a smile. He'd chatted with Andrew for a bit before settling down at one of the bar tables. Once Andrew had gotten too busy to talk, Rick had been keeping an eye on the submissives who were settling down in the lounge area, waiting for a Dom to ask them to play. Looking at a distance was more appealing at the moment. More than one of the subs was trying to catch his eye, but since he was sitting far away, he could pretend not to notice.
"As if I care what you think," Olivia said, but she was smiling as she said it. She did look good, her breasts tucked into bright red vinyl, her favorite color, and the rest of her covered in black leather. The red should have looked terrible with her hair, but somehow it never did. Going by the tight fit of her clothing, he assumed she proba
bly wasn't there to do any serious play either. Not unless there were some hidden invisible flaps or something to allow easier access to her body. Maybe she was just in the mood to beat on some naughty subs. "Seriously though, you look like shit."
"I'm feeling better and better by the minute with you here to cheer me up." Sad, but true. Olivia's ribbing had actually put a small smile on his face that he couldn't quite push back. "Just like shit in general or in a specific manner?"
"Well, before I sat down you had the vacant look of a stoner, combined with the circles under your eyes, the wrinkles on your forehead from scowling and trying not to, and you don't look remotely interested in playing with any of the subs who are trying so hard to get your attention. Which, considering all your talk about moving here so that you can have an actual relationship with someone, is highly illogical. Oh, and you haven't touched your drink in the past two minutes."
"What are you, Sherlock Holmes?"
Olivia just smiled smugly, but her blue-grey eyes were concerned. "I hear you're having girl troubles. Want to talk to an actual girl instead of those useless wankers we call friends?"
"Okay, now I know you've been watching BBC again, you only call us wankers when you're on a British kick."
"See? I'm not the only one with powers of deduction. So what's up?"
Sighing, Rick leaned back slightly. It was doubtful he'd be able to shake Olivia unless someone more interesting came in and since he knew that Adam and Angel were upstairs in one of the private rooms. Justin, Chris and Jessica were down in the Dungeon, he’d watched the two Doms tie their girlfriend to a spanking bench before he’d wandered back upstairs. Watching the triad was always hot, but he hadn’t been able to shake the melancholy envy that had wrapped around him, stronger than ever, while they’d been starting their scene. Liam and Hilary weren’t coming in, so at least he didn’t have to watch them, too. He wondered if Liam might propose this weekend. So far they were all waiting for the announcement, but Liam was keeping them all on tenterhooks, waiting for him to actual get down on one knee. Jared was off for the night and Lexie was at the front desk which meant that Patrick was probably barricaded in his office. Unless something really crazy happened at the bar with Andrew, he had Olivia's undivided attention.