Author's note
Here comes a romance of roughly 9k words. It's a stand-alone without further instalments. I hope you enjoy it and leave a vote or a comment.
The sexual content is only hinted at, so if you're looking for quick stimulation, I'm afraid this isn't the right story for you.
My thanks go to my editor who prefers to remain anonymous. His contribution makes my story far better than it would have been otherwise.
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"Tracy! Hi!" I said as soon as I answered the phone, knowing from the caller ID who it was.
"Hi, Stephen! How are you doing?"
My reply came a bit hesitatingly as my older sister had addressed me with my given name. That could only mean she wanted something from me. Don't get me wrong. We love each other, but usually she calls me 'Little One', 'Youngster', 'Baby Bro', or something along these lines. Mostly because she knows I hate it. But she is also aware that I treasure her endearments as they are one of her ways to say she loves me.
We exchanged the usual pleasantries but she was clearly in a hurry and soon came to the reason for her call.
"Can you do me a favour?"
I grinned and started to save the files I'd been working on so I could turn off the computer.
"I don't know. I'm awfully busy today. I have to water the cactus and really need to empty the dishwasher."
I know. Childish banter, but that's part of how we communicate. We both knew I would help her if her request wasn't totally unreasonable and I can't think of much that could be considered as such. She would do the same for me.
"Can you pick up Jim and Scott from school at four?"
My ten-year-old nephews, identical twins. If you took an encyclopaedia and looked up the word 'rascal' you'd find a photo of them next to it. I loved them to bits.
"Sure. Do you want me to take them to dinner?"
"You can, of course, but it's not necessary. I'm just running half an hour late."
My sister worked in the marketing department of an international clothing chain. She was probably stuck in a meeting or something. I, on the other side, am self-employed. Companies hire me to challenge their IT security. That means, once I'm hired, I try to hack into their networks to gather information - anything from cleaning plans for the housekeeping to the deepest secrets of their R&D departments - and then give them recommendations on how to improve their defence.
"So, I pick them up and deliver them home? Shouldn't I stay with them until you're back?"
"That would be great but if you're busy, I think the house can survive half an hour of them without supervision."
It wasn't a regular occurrence, but occasionally she asked me to help her out with the logistics of her boys. Today's request was the first time in this school year and it was already February.
"Consider it done."
"Thanks. I need to get back to my meeting. Bye, Dwarf."
Standing at one eighty-five, I was a good fifteen centimetres taller than her, and have been since my growth spurt when I was a teen, but that didn't stop her from using the childhood tease. Her voice revealed her grin as she bid goodbye. Now that she had my promise, she returned to her normal teasing ways. Of course, there never was any doubt about my help unless I had been really unavailable. In that case, she would have understood and found a different solution without it being a problem between us.
One of the perks of self-employment is that I can mostly work when it suits me. Obviously, I have to meet customers on their schedule but the actual labour, trying to breach their security or writing the final documentation and recommendations, could be done whenever I felt like it. Of course, you don't talk about an eight-hours-a-day-job when you are self-employed. But you can decide for yourself whether you work from midnight to four in the afternoon or from eight in the morning to midnight. Nevertheless, I took a break to have a quick coffee at the restaurant on the ground floor of the apartment block I lived and worked in before I had to leave to pick up my nephews.
While I sat in the restaurant, Mom called to update me on the latest family gossip and try to make me feel guilty about not giving her any grandchildren to spoil. I lost track of the time a bit talking to her. When I realised that I was running late, I simply threw enough cash on the table to cover the bill and jumped up. As Murphy's Law demands, the waitress walked past me right then and I pushed the chair into her path. Of course, she stumbled and doused me with the beers she was about to serve to another table.
We both apologised to each other but I had no doubt that it was my mistake. Still, running late, there wasn't much I could do but apologise again and promise I'd be back to cover the damage. I was a regular and often ate lunch or dinner here, so they knew me well and had no problem with me running off. I quickly pondered to go upstairs and change but I was already tardy unless the traffic lights all worked in my favour. Therefore, I scurried down the stairs that took me to the underground parking where I threw the jacket, which had also been soaked, in the boot.
I didn't run any red lights nor did I speed excessively, but my driving was at the upper limit of what I regard as morally permissible. I parked in the pick-up zone outside the school ground several minutes late. If I had been on time, I would have had difficulties finding a space among all other cars waiting to pick up children. As it was, there were no vehicles left.
As soon as I stopped the car, I looked over to where Jim and Scott should be waiting. What I saw changed my perception of the world as I knew it. I had an instant of absolute clarity. I understood in that very moment how Archimedes had felt when he saw the water level rise as he climbed into his bathtub or what went through Isaac Newton's mind when he was hit by the apple. Time stopped, the world came to a screeching halt and for a tiny, fleeting, eternal instant I was one with the entire universe. I had laid eyes upon the most heavenly creature to ever grace the surface of earth.
She had mesmerising, light brown, almost golden eyes. They drew my gaze and I barely registered the face around or the body beneath them. Even over the dozen or so metres distance, I spotted a foreshadowing of the paradise in them. Their sparkling promised delights that went beyond anything a human should be allowed to experience.
My body started moving of its own accord, opening the car door, and climbing out. Somehow I managed to almost lose my right shoe in the process and I clumsily tried to slip it back on while walking, fighting to keep my balance.
Scott looked up and waved when he saw me approach the gate. My hand acted autonomously as I returned his greeting while my eyes were locked on those iridescent golden gems that had attached themselves to my innermost core.
I still hadn't managed to slip back into my shoe when this divine messenger said something to my nephews. I couldn't make out the words but her voice was so melodic, it was worthy of leading the heavenly choir. The sound was so beautiful that it completely confounded my neural system. With the signals from my brain interrupted, my feet stopped walking while my upper body followed the laws of inertia and continued onwards. I stumbled stupidly, only catching myself because I lost eye contact with this creature that must have descended straight from the Garden of Eden.
At last, I managed not to faceplant myself and put the shoe back on. I looked up to the boys and who I supposed was their teacher. This time, I was minimally prepared and kept my wits mostly together.
"Hey, boys! I'm sorry, I'm late."
