by Hazel Keys
Once they were laying spent together on the bed, Bella’s head resting on his chest, she heard him speak gently.
“Are you truly happy right now, Bella?” he asked quietly, kissing her forehead.
“I am happier than I have ever been,” she whispered back gently, exhaustion quickly overtaking her as she kissed his chest. “I’m so glad that you asked me to marry you.”
He smiled at that, and after drawing the blankets over their two bodies, they fell asleep.
***THE END***
FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS
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Dirty at the Office
Chapter One
Amun
Even though he had been following the same routine for over three years now, Amun still hadn’t quite mastered the art of gracefully getting out of bed. He hated hearing his alarm go off each morning, though the upbeat Justin Timberlake song that he had chosen for his alarm made it hard for him to be in an outright bad mood. He yawned and proceeded to stretch in bed, a small grunt escaping his lips as he felt the joints of his back popping gently. He was the kind of person who always woke up feeling stiff, a condition that had afflicted him ever since he had been a younger boy growing up in India with his parents.
He pushed the heavy woolen blanket that he used each night to cover up with off of his body, noting that there seemed to be a faint sheen of sweat covering his torso. He noticed that his standing fan had shut off at some point during the middle of the night. That would explain why he had felt so warm in comparison to usual while sleeping. He slowly slipped off of his bed and walked over to it, tapping the power button on top and frowning when the fan didn’t seem to respond. He peered past it to the power cord, the sunlight streaming into his bedroom window helping him to see that it was plugged in just like normal. That had him slightly confused, and he slapped the side of the fan in exacerbation before walking away from it.
That is just what I needed, Amun thought as he walked over to his bathroom, closing the door behind him before brushing his teeth. The minty taste of the toothpaste coating his mouth was almost enough to make him gag since he wasn’t a fan of mint at all, but he managed to get through it. He gargled before spitting into his sink, letting the flow of water from his sink wash the basin clean before shutting off the faucet. He gazed at his own reflection in the mirror, taking in his features the way he did every morning. He wasn’t vain by any means, but having worked in sales so long had taught him that his appearance was very important to him. If he looked good, his sales would usually be good too.
He ran a hand over his smooth-shaven chin, his dark brown eyes peering out of his face at his own reflection. His face was angular and sharp, though there was a slight roundness to his face that softened out the hard angles of his facial features. He was a rather slim guy, only weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds, which he carried well on his six-foot-tall frame. The curly black hair on his head was well-trimmed and styled so that it looked slightly like a cockatoo’s crest in reverse. It was a style that his friend Tristan had encouraged him to get, and though he had been hesitant about it at first the style had long since grown on him.
It apparently wasn’t that bad of a hairstyle anyway, since Isabella had agreed to go out with him despite it. That had been one of the happiest moments of his life despite the incredible anxiety that he had felt leading up to his asking of her out. Tristan had asked their coworker Bella out the same day, and yet they were already married now. Amun hadn’t even considered the prospect of marriage yet, not wanting to make Isabella think that he was rushing things just so he could keep up with Tristan. Their relationship was their own, and Amun wanted to give Isabella as much time as she needed before they started talking about such an important milestone in their lives.
He took a long shower, standing there with his eyes closed as the scalding hot water flowed over his naked body. He took extra time in washing his privates since he had his foreskin that needed to be kept thoroughly clean, and once he felt that he was acceptably cleaned up he shut off the water and stepped out. He quickly dried himself off with one of the dark blue towels that filled his bathroom, blue being one of his favorite colors, and walked naked out into his bedroom so that he could rifle through his dresser to see what he felt like wearing that day. His father used to joke with him about how he took as much time as a woman to get ready for the day, but since he always woke up early before work he saw no reason for him to rush about. If he was going to be forced to wake up early each day, he may as well go about his morning at his own pace.
He found himself feeling rather hungry as he made his way down to the kitchen from the second floor of his one-bedroom townhouse, pulling open the door to his Kenmore refrigerator and letting his eyes roam over the myriad of food items contained within. He didn’t really want to go through the trouble of preparing something for breakfast since that would only make dishes that he would either have to rush to clean before work or would be waiting for him at home when he got off. His eyes fell on a foam take-out container, a smile spreading across his lips as he remembered that he still had stir-fry from the night before that he could warm up in the microwave.
As he sat at the kitchen table listening to the hum of the microwave, he couldn’t stop his thoughts from turning to his girlfriend, Isabella. Even now, the image of his golden-skinned goddess filled his mind, and he felt a small surge in his pants as he found himself getting hard at the thought of her. He willed himself to calm down, not wanting to allow himself to be distracted from what would no doubt be a very heavy workflow that day. The sound of the microwave going off helped sidetrack his slightly horny mind, and after a few bites of his takeout, he found that his thoughts had managed to return back to normal, focusing on savoring the rich taste of the chicken lo mein and the spicy chicken dish he had gotten the night before.
Despite how much of a pain it could be to wake up so early, Amun would be lying if he didn’t say that he enjoyed the quiet time of reflection that each morning granted him. He didn’t have that many stresses outside of work since his job more than provided for his lifestyle choices, but it was still good to take the time to center yourself before going about your day. It was one of those things that he had learned through yogic meditations, and he had been quite adamant on keeping up his meditative habits despite how hard for time he often found himself. It was one of the reasons he was able to do such a good job at work, or at least he liked to think so.
Once he had finished his meal and thrown the carry out bin into the garbage can that sat next to the kitchen entrance he went back up to his room to grab his laptop bag. While RushIt! provided computers for each of their employees, Amun had simply found it easier to use his own. He kept all of his work on his laptop, and the hassle of transferring the files he would need to a flash drive so that he could do his work on his company computer just didn’t seem like it was overly worth it to him. It also meant that he wouldn’t accidentally forget to transfer files back onto the flash drive and end up putting himself in an unfavorable position. It was simply easier for him to have all of his work in one place.
Once he locked his front door he made his way over to his car. It wasn’t anything fancy, just an old 2010 Pontiac Civic, but he had done his best to keep it in good condition. So far, he had been pretty successful with that, and as he looked the vehicle over he couldn’t help but feel satisfied. The silver paint job gleamed in the early morning sunlight, his hand sliding over the top of the hood. He had considered buying himself a new car a few times, but it seemed unnecessary to buy a new car when the one he had was still fully functional. He pulled open the
driver’s side door and slid inside, pulling the door gently behind him and pulling his seatbelt into place before starting the vehicle. The engine rumbled to life immediately, the car humming gently beneath him as he pulled the shifter in reverse and slowly pulled out of his driveway onto the nearby street.
He listened to NPR as he drove, shaking his head slightly at the increasingly abysmal news. Ever since the election had ended and the new president had taken office there had been no shortage of persons who wanted to share their views on how the new leader of the country was doing. Amun had done his best to stay out of the political spectacle that the newest Administration had served to be, but he wasn’t about to allow himself to get caught up in the drama. He had never liked keeping track of politics since it always ended up with him getting overly aggravated for no real honest reason. The last time that he had made the mistake of saying anything even remotely political on his Facebook page he had been hounded by a series of trolls and other people who thought their opinions were right and everyone else was wrong if they didn’t agree completely.
He had neglected to make himself coffee that morning, though since he had run out of coffee the day before that came as no surprise. He made a mental note to himself to remember to pick some up when he got off of work and decided that he would stop at the coffee shop down the street from the office to grab a cup of his morning pick-me-up. He hummed quietly to himself as he walked in the front door, quickly taking his place in the surprisingly long line that had formed in front of the register. He looked around to see if anyone he recognized was there, and once he was content to see that there was no one he pulled out his phone and scrolled through Facebook to kill time.
The shop was filled with the mouth-watering aromas of a variety of different blends of coffee, the smell of freshly brewed Java smelling heavenly to him. There was also the smell of different flavored donuts and pastries that the shop sold, the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies sorely tempting him towards a purchase. The shop door swung open behind him as another person came in but Amun didn’t look back, focusing instead on the now rapidly moving line. Another employee had come up to take orders, so the line wasn’t moving as slowly as it had been before, which was a welcome relief. Amun soon found himself standing in front of one of the registers, looking at the smiling, young redhead who waited for him to place his order.
“Could I go ahead and get a blueberry mocha, please,” he asked kindly, his eyes scanning over the menu as he spoke. “And could I get two chocolate chip cookies as well?”
“You most certainly may,” the young barista said kindly, her fingers dancing across the register as she typed in his order. “Is there anything else that I can get you this morning, sir?”
“No, that will do just fine. Thank you for asking,” he replied cheerfully, doing his best to keep a friendly smile on his face.
“Alright. One blueberry mocha and two chocolate chip cookies. That comes out to $6.50. Cash or credit?” she inquired, gazing back into his face as she spoke.
Amun’s hand moved towards the back pocket where he usually placed his wallet, his eyes opening slightly as his hand groped at air. He patted his back pocket, then reached his other hand around to feel his other pocket. A sense of dread rapidly began to flow through his body as he came to the horrifying realization that his wallet was not in either of his pockets. In his rush to leave the house he must have forgotten to grab his wallet from his bedside table, so all of his cash and credit cards were still sitting at home. He silently cursed himself for not having checked for it before he left, a blush spreading across his cheeks at the embarrassment that the current situation was causing him.
“I-I’m sorry, I seem to have forgotten my wallet at home,” he said sheepishly, his eyes moving to glance down at the floor. He could almost feel the eyes of the other customers on him, which was only serving to make him feel even more humiliated. He was about to tell her to cancel his order when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Someone seems to be in a bit of trouble. Need me to bail you out, Papai?” The voice that spoke in his ear was one that he recognized immediately, his heart fluttering rapidly in his chest as he turned around slowly, coming face to face with his girlfriend Isabella.
“I forgot my wallet at home,” he said simply, a mildly bashful look on his face. “I’ll pay you back when we head over there tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you haven’t done the same kind of thing for me before,” she said with a smile, the golden-skinned Puerto Rican moving to stand beside him as she addressed the barista. “Could you add a strawberry smoothie to that order?”
“I most certainly can. Would you like anything else?” the barista asked, tapping the buttons on the register to add Isabella’s item.
Isabella tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully, looking back at Amun. “Should I get one of their donuts?”
“I actually was going to get a cookie for you,” Amun said, smiling gently at her. “That’s why I ordered two of them. I don’t like sweets nearly enough that I would eat two of them myself.”
“I guess that is true. You ended up sharing your Valentine’s chocolates I bought with me too, now that I think about it,” she said with a smile, fishing into her purse to pull out her own little wallet as she spoke. “Though I can’t say I didn’t enjoy having you feed me chocolates.”
Amun blushed good-naturedly at that, though the smile on his face still hadn’t disappeared since Isabella had shown up. He knew he probably looked goofy with such a grin on his face, but he honestly couldn’t help it. Seeing Isabella always just seemed to put him in a good mood. He watched as she handed the barista a twenty-dollar bill, the loud ding of the register drawer as it slid out echoing through the shop. He checked the time on his phone, sighing as he realized that there were only about twenty minutes until his workday began. Hopefully, today would go by quickly so that he and Isabella could get to their date.
“You aren’t usually this forgetful,” Isabella said as she lounged against the counter while their drinks were being made, her pale green eyes boring into his slightly. “Something on your mind?”
“Nothing special,” he said dismissively, his hand waving in an irreverent manner as he spoke. “I guess I was just so focused on getting to work that I didn’t give myself a once over to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. My wallet is slim, so I barely ever feel it when I have it in my pocket anyway. I can see how I wouldn’t have noticed it sooner.”
“Lucky for you I was here to save the day,” she said playfully, leaning over to give his cheek a gentle kiss. “You would have had to spend all day without coffee if it wasn’t for me.”
“You are truly a goddess,” he said with a smirk, enjoying the sound of her giggling gently in response to his statement. “My coffee and cookie buying goddess.”
“Surely those aren’t the only things I am a goddess of,” she said, pouting playfully as she looked back at him.
“Of course not, but some of the other things that you are a goddess of I wouldn’t want to say in public,” he said cheekily, his grin widening as a blush began to spread across his girlfriend’s face.
“Oh you,” she said, swatting him playfully on his chest. “Don’t say such embarrassing things,” she murmured, though a small smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth as she spoke.
“Sorry babe,” he said, smirking as he gave her a gentle kiss on her lips.
“It’s alright, honey. Just try not to do it again,” she said in a mock stern voice, turning back towards the barista when the younger woman gently cleared her throat to get their attention.
“One strawberry smoothie, one blueberry mocha, and two chocolate chip cookies. Thank you for your patronage!” she said as she set the items on the counter for Isabella and Amun to grab, waving politely as they headed out of the coffee shop. Isabella hitched a ride in Amun’s car so that he could park it across the street from the office, giving him a long lingering kiss before th
e two of them climbed out. Amun grabbed his laptop bag from the back seat and slung it over his shoulder before the two of them made their way inside, Amun’s arm wrapped gently around Isabella’s waist as they went.
Chapter Two
Isabella
Thank god that the workday went by so quickly. It had been quite a busy day for Isabella, the Customer Service office where she worked having been bombarded with calls from potential new customers who had questions about how the catalog worked or about different items that the company offered for purchase. Isabella had spent the entirety of the day with the details on the catalog printed out and sitting next to her desk, rifling through it in order to answer each of the various questions that each caller seemed to have. At least everyone who called her seemed patient and willing to listen, Isabella having had more than her fair share of unruly customers in the past.
She let out a sigh of relief as she pushed back from her desk, her computer currently going through the shutdown process as she went about quickly collecting her things. She slipped her arm through the loops of her designer purse, holding the little bag tightly against her tall and curvy body. She had been blessed with the kind of curves that most women could only dream of, no doubt in a large part to her Puerto Rican heritage. All of the women in Isabella’s family had been striking in their youth, but Isabella was by far the most beautiful. Even her mother and Vovó, her grandmother, said as much.
She smiled as she came out of her office just in time to come in contact with Rachel, who had just come down from her office to leave. Isabella was mildly ashamed to admit that she was surprised to find that Rachel wasn’t showing any signs of pregnancy since she spent so much time with Brad each day, and Isabella was too smart to think that they weren’t fooling around. She was too classy to ask Rachel for details since no matter how good of friends they were even Isabella thought that would be a little nosy for her to do. She was just grateful to have her friend around to talk to, even if they were incredibly busy. Isabella just chalked it up to Rachel trying to catch up on the work that she had missed while she had been out sick.