"So it's okay?"
"No it's not okay Aaron it's breathtaking, thank you so much. I can't wait to take it home and hang it up." She put her present down and came around to his side of the booth, knelt on the seat and kissed him softly. "Aaron I never dreamed you could have such talent. I wish...I don't know how to thank you."
"Just knowing you like it and having you kiss me is thanks enough."
"Is the rest of your work this good?"
"I don't know. I will admit to spending extra time on your present though." Joyce gave him a second soft and brief kiss and then returned to her side of the table. For the remainder of the time she was with him she kept looking over at her picture.
Joyce hated to leave him but she finally said, "Aaron I have my appointment to get my hair done but I hate to leave. I don't feel like I've thanked you enough for my present. You even signed and dated it." Aaron left money on the table and walked out with her. Before they parted Joyce gave him one last quick kiss and said, "That's a small show of my appreciation." Aaron just stood there and watched her put the present in the backseat and then got into her car. She smiled and gave him a wave and he waved back as she pulled away. Aaron just stood there and touched his lips remembering her kisses. In the almost three years that he had known and dreamed about her that was the first time she had ever kissed him.
Joyce drove carefully so her portrait wouldn't be damaged and endured her hair appointment. All she wanted to do was go home and study her living room and decide where to hang her gift. She remembered his comment that he was glad she enjoyed it and then
something about her kiss. Did something as simple as that mean that much to him or was he just being a gentleman?
Joyce took her time studying her living room and ended up removing one of her other pictures and hanging her portrait there. Over the next days she would find herself looking at it often as she tried to figure out how he could capture her in a way that made it look almost like she might move inside of that nice oak frame. Her hand went to the side of her head and she felt her hair as she looked at the picture and smiled. She noticed how he captured her hair where she had the habit of brushing her hair back behind her ear.
The next Thursday Larry was over he saw her portrait and asked, "Where did that come from?"
"That was a gift from a coworker. He's a fantastic artist don't you think?"
"I don't know. I don't think that looks so much like you." Joyce just looked at him but let the subject drop. She knew it was very well done and he was just jealous. When Saturday came Larry called her and said, "Let's go to Comstock to that steak house."
She only paused a moment and said, "I'm feeling just a little punk Larry. I'm going to take a hot shower and just read myself to sleep and see if I can shake this off." He had just assumed that she would say yes so he was a little surprised by her rejection.
After a moment he just said, "Oh...well okay then."
"I'll call you the first of the week. I'm sure I'll be feeling much better by then."
"Yeah okay." Joyce didn't know if she really was feeling punk as she had claimed but she didn't feel like going out or being with anybody either. After a light dinner she lingered over a cup of coffee and then went for that hot shower she had intended but turned it into a long soak in the tub instead. With only one small light on she leaned back and rested her head on the rim of the tub, closed her eyes and let the magic of the hot water work on her. She let herself almost float and her mind wander until the water started to cool and then got out and toweled down. She looked at herself in the mirror as she used the blow dryer and brushed her hair out letting it drape down her back. As she looked at herself she remembered her portrait and without so much as a robe she wandered out to the living room and dropped onto the couch and looked at the charcoal drawing. She put her feet up and just let her whole body relax and her head drop back onto the high back of the couch and stared at her gift.
It was so subtle at first. An almost imperceptible sensation near her neck and above her right breast. It was like a warm and gentle caress. Like a loving hand that was lightly touching her as it stroked from her neck down to the top of her breast. A loving and sensual sensation that made her close her eyes. She even put her hand up there for a second in response to the sensation to prove to herself that she was indeed alone in her apartment. Again that long gentle touch and this time it drifted down and over the outer margins of her breast before stopping. Then again but on the other side and this time it touched more of her breast. She licked her lips and kept her eyes closed as she leaned back and welcomed the unexplainable feeling. Joyce sighed and moved slightly to get more comfortable but didn't want to miss any of those touches. A moment later she was being caressed again and this time it slipped over her left nipple and then down below her breast. Without realizing it she had arched her back slightly in response to this wonderful experience. She wasn't even aware that her nipple stiffened slightly or that her breathing had changed. She was also unaware of the passage of time because where her mind was time wasn't important. The long gentle caresses continued and both nipples were hard and begging for more and her breathing was faster and shallower. Then they stopped.
She waited and then opened her eyes and moistened her lips again as she looked around the room. She felt excited and restless but confused. Was she drifting off to sleep and dreaming again? She took a deep breath and walked around the apartment as she tried to gather her thoughts and then slipped on her silky pajamas and robe and read until she was ready for bed.
Chapter Three
All day Sunday she would look at the couch and remember being naked and leaning back as phantom hands caressed and teased her. Just remembering those soft caresses made her smile and yet made her want more. Monday was like any other day at work and when she saw Aaron she thanked him yet again for her portrait. Then at the end of the day she did a rare thing. She stopped for dinner and then was ready to just go home and get out of her work clothes. She tossed her purse in the chair and went to her bedroom and stripped to her bra and panties, but then for reasons unknown to her she took them off too and after grabbing a cookie in the kitchen went to the living room. She smiled at her portrait, which was becoming something of a ritual for her, and dropped onto the couch. She put her feet up on the coffee table again and leaned back. It wasn't a conscious process but somewhere in her mind she was hoping she would experience those magic touches again. For some reason her favorite position on the couch wasn't comfortable for her so she turned and stretched out on the couch and bent her right leg up slightly and looked to her left to her picture before she let her eyes close. She moved her head slightly to get more comfortable and then took a deep breath as she relaxed. It didn't even occur to her that this was the second time she had lounged nude in the living room, something she had never done before the arrival of the portrait.
It didn't seem that she was going to be visited by those sweet sensations this time but she was still content to lie there for a little longer. The first touch made her take a quick breath but her eyes never opened and she slowly let her breath out and submitted herself to the experiences to come. It was just like it had been Saturday night. Long slow caresses but this time they might start at her neck or upper chest and then slip down over her breasts or they would come up from her sides and then over or very close to her breasts. It was a sweet torture for her. A tease like none she had ever experienced before. Then for the first time she felt fingers touch just her right nipple and a soft pinching motion that made her squirm and moan softly. She was having trouble keeping still but her right leg stayed as it was with her knee raised slightly. Her breathing was faster as her left nipple was treated to that soft pinch and her breast was bathed with attention. Her mouth was open and her moan had a whimpering sound to it as she suffered through yet more teasing. She tried to tell herself to just get up and escape the teasing but she couldn't seem to make that happen. Then from her nipples the hands moved down between her breasts and didn't stop until they were past her belly button. She was holding her breath as that happened and moved her hands like she was trying to join that hand that was teasing her so much. Her hands stopped then and resumed their position by her side as two phantom hands moved over the area just below her breasts and down until they were right at her mound. She couldn't help but mumble, "Oh God," and tip her hips up to meet the invisible hands. Then with a few more strokes up to and just touching her breasts they stopped again. Joyce almost cried in sweet frustration at the loss. She lay there for some time in a futile hope that more would be coming but it was over. Joyce wasn't prone to touching herself in a sexual way but she was so very close to doing that very thing right then. It took her quite awhile to settle down after she put on her pajamas but she was finally able to relax enough to sleep.
Larry called her after work Tuesday and suggested, "Let's go over to Nightspot and get a drink."
"I think I'll pass Larry."
"You still sick?"
"Not sick really just out of sorts."
"You been to the doctor?"
"No I don't need a doctor. I'll be okay, I just need some time."
"Joyce is there somebody else?"
"No of course not."
"Okay. I'll call you in a few days then."
"Okay. Sorry."
Joyce fixed some dinner and made herself try to relax in the kitchen as she ate and sipped her iced tea. She gave that up, cleaned up her mess and went for a quick soak in the tub again.
She didn't give it a second thought anymore. She dried off from her bath and came out naked. It was her new routine now. She didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to stand the teasing but at the same time she didn't know if she could make herself stay away from her phantom lover.
She paced around her apartment but it didn't help. She suddenly felt the hands touch her again and she was quickly lying on the couch in her knee up position and her eyes closed. The hands neglected her breasts this time and seemed to concentrate on her lower belly and her hips. It felt so good but it wasn't pushing her into her sensual and sexual nirvana again. She sighed and just let the experience flow. She found it relaxing and yet sexy as she pictured the hands having free access to her nakedness. She had to wonder how she would be responding had there been a person attached to those mystery hands. Larry was an adequate lover but he never spent a lot of time caressing her or seeing to her emotional needs and desires. This phantom lover was just the opposite. She was being teased and caressed until she wanted to scream but there was nobody there to make love to her. She realized she wanted and needed both. She needed the loving, caressing and teasing as much as making love.
