Temptation

As the time was coming closer to 9, Amy was still drifting nervously around her apartment, looking for new tasks she could indulge herself in. Anything that would allow her to stop thinking about Nick's suggestion.

If she dared?

What sort of challenge was that? Meet him at 9 and let him strip down and show her his hardened cock and allow her to give him a blowjob or two? That hardly sounded like something an independent and grown up woman would do to a neighbour and least of all to her brother's best friend. No way.

Still, she could stay in her apartment, occupy herself with important tasks like talking to Stella on the phone, and watch a nice movie. And at the same time, she could work on convincing herself she was not acting like a coward but as a calm and collected woman that didn't give a damn about what he thought of her.

She groaned aloud. She was really tired of spending this much time thinking about Nick and what he thought and did not think about her. Damn the man, but he was really becoming a major annoyance in her life and she spent far too much time thinking about him. No, this had to stop.

Resolutely, she grabbed a few romance novels and vowed to read them all before she fell asleep and dreamt of some real male heroes for a change. If that didn't help she would masturbate while fantasising about some hot-blooded male that had no resemblance whatsoever with her annoying neighbour.

***

As sleep finally overtook her the resolution was obviously long forgotten and her dream self was floating about having the most delicious sex with a man very similar to Nick. She struggled to keep away from him, away from his hardened flesh that was tempting her to ride him both fast and slow at the same time. But still she kept drifting back to the large male body that tempted her more than she could withstand.

"Take me," she begged of him.

"With pleasure," the dream-Nick replied. His bad temper been replaced by a skilful and playful lover. He put her down on a soft bed and bent down between her spread legs and placed a kiss directly on her clit. She screamed in joy as he continued to lap on her hungry flesh and she spread her legs wider to accommodate him and take his tongue even further inside of her aching flesh.

"Harder," she begged. "Take me harder."

He obliged by tonguing her pussy even further than before, making her moist and prepared for his entrance. She arched her body and placed both her hands behind his head to keep him in position, preparing herself to orgasm with such intensity that she both anticipated and feared the outcome.

She felt her clit harden and blood poured into her pussy as she prepared for the final ascent into a free fall. She was so ready, so ready, she could almost taste the pleasure starting in her centre and moving outwards. Just a little bit more and she would fly...just a little bit more...

But as she prepared her body for that final stroke of his tongue against her pussy, she came awake in a flash. The sheets had gathered around her body and her pussy was aching with need as she awoke into a feeling of being robbed of something big and beautiful. Frustration was pouring through her and she felt like screaming in frustration.

"No," she gasped. "No, this can't be true," she groaned out loud. That damn man was now invading her sleep as well. "Damn him to hell," she cursed out loud, before she sank back onto the mattress.

Her hands roaming to her aching clit, she placed her left hand on top of her clit and rubbed fiercefully several times, allowing herself the release she felt she had been robbed of in her sleep. "Mmph," she gasped as her entire body convulsed in several waves as the orgasm poured through her.

As soon as it had arrived, the feeling of relief vanished and an unknown ache was still present. Her body was content for the time being, but the relief hadn't even come close to the anticipated one. She needed a man – and badly, she concluded. She just had to find someone else than that neighbour of hers and then she would gain some real satisfaction.

***

A couple of days later, Amy was sitting in her kitchen trying to write the next instalment in the erotic story she had begun writing. On the stove she could hear her dinner cooking slightly. Leftovers were a career woman's best friend, she thought vaguely as she concentrated on a passage she had some difficulty with.

He slid his hand along her thigh and gradually closed in on her wet cunt. A shiver went through her body as he finally hit the jack-pot and started rubbing her aching centre.

Yes, that could work out, she murmured to herself, but was

slid

the right word for it, she wondered? Wouldn't it be better if he started on top and moved downwards instead? It would be much more credible as men usually focused on breasts and moved from there. Yep, that was it, she concluded and bent down to start changing the passage she had just written.

At the same time she heard the fire alarm start yelling right above her.

"What the hell...?" she started and finally noticed the black smoke that was coming from the stove.

"Oh, no. Not again," she screamed as she ran toward her stove, grabbed a towel and tried to remove the burning pan from the stove.

"Ouch!" she screeched as she got burned by the handle. The towel didn't help a thing. She looked around for something else to use on the fire. Water. She needed a bucket of water. She ran toward her bathroom, trying to locate the bucket she used for cleaning.

In the panic she barely registered the ruckus that had gathered outside of her apartment. Someone was pounding on her door, but she ignored it and instead concentrated on extinguishing the fire.

"Open the door, Amy!" she heard Nick shout from outside her apartment. But he would have to wait his turn. First things first, and the source of that black smoke was her primary concern right now. The annoying jerk outside would have to wait in line.

She grabbed the bucket and started to fill it with cold water. The fire alarm was still filling the air with its loud noise but she tried to ignore it and concentrate on solving the most pressing problem: extinguishing the fire.

Back inside her kitchen she hoisted the bucket as high as she could and threw the content over the burning pan. The stove was filled with water and the fire died down immediately while her stove answered with a few sounds of complaint that could only mean a short circuiting had just occurred. Great. She sighed. Just great. Now she would have to buy herself a new stove. That had really sounded like the last breath from her present stove.

At the same time she heard a loud bang behind her, and as she turned she noticed the door hanging in a strange angle and Nick came running toward her with a worried expression on his face.

"Are you all right?" he shouted at her through the thick smoke and the loud ringing. Never noticing her nod, he simply grabbed her and dragged her with him to the outside of her apartment. She noticed that the smoke had spread into the hallway and the other residents were wandering worriedly along the corridor, trying to figure out the extent of the damage and whether the entire building was burning beneath their feet.

"Are you all right?" Nick asked again, lower this time. Amy finally felt as if her hearing was returning to normal.

"Of course," she snarled at him. "I just had a little accident with my dinner, that's all."

"A little accident?" he almost screamed at her. His voice barely resembling his usual calm tone as he shook her violently and roamed his hands all over her. Obviously he had to be assured that she was okay. "And what do you call this then?" he asked and held up her hand. A small burn was visible on the back of her hand.

"A small burn mark," she answered truthfully.

"Why didn't you answer when I knocked on your door?" he continued. "I was worried sick about you, with the black smoke pouring out of your apartment."

"Sorry," she said. "I was too busy extinguishing the fire. It was just a little dry-boiling, that's all."

"Dry-boiling? Are you crazy, woman? Why didn't you just flee and leave the fire to the experts? Talk about a dim-witted female putting yourself in danger like that," he roared on as he shook her as if to awaken her and make her start thinking properly again.

At the same time the fire department arrived and Nick grabbed her aside and pointed into her apartment. "It's in there. I think she stopped it in time, but you'd better make sure."

"But what happened to my door? You slammed it down?" Amy snarled at Nick as she finally took in the sight of her ruined door.

"Yes, I had to. You weren't particularly forthcoming with information."

"And you call yourself a fucking

Detective

?" Why not investigate before you start acting like a he-man on the rescue? I managed quite well on my own," Amy said angrily.

"He-man? He-man? Is that what you call saving your butt? I was just pure luck you didn't get badly hurt instead of just that small burn mark on your hand. Do you realise you could have died, woman?" he shouted at her.

"The fire is out," one of the firemen pronounced. "She practically drowned both the fire and the entire kitchen as well."

"Good. Thanks, guys," Nick said while steering Amy back inside her apartment. The firealarm had finally stopped and the firemen had opened a window, allowing the black smoke to evaporate and show the real extent of the damage that had occurred. Inside was a gigantic mess. The front door was barely hanging on one of its hinges and her kitchen was soaked in water. The stove looked the worst, and her pan had been fried beyond recognition.

"Oh my god," she gasped as she took in the destruction of her cosy little kitchen. "This will take a few days to fix."

Nick had finally calmed down enough to stop the shouting. Now he was taking in the damages in her kitchen and concluded. "Try weeks. You need a new kitchen, it seems."

"Damn, I really liked my old one. Maybe a good washing can make some improvement."

"You'll need a new door, as well. And a stove."

"Yes, I know," Amy said depressingly. This was really not the best time for her kitchen to burn down. Her savings would hopefully cover the expenses but she had really planned on buying herself a new car for that money. Oh well, there wouldn't be a new car, but a new kitchen. That was easy to conclude.

"Well, you can't stay here. You'll need to air out the entire apartment and get yourself a new door. I can lend you a sofa for a few days, if you don't prefer sharing a bed, that is," Nick smirked at her.

"I prefer the sofa, thank you very much. You're having a bad conscience for ruining my door perhaps? Or perhaps it was on purpose? To induce me to accept your offer of sleeping in your apartment?"

"Now, listen here, you ignorant woman. You could have died from smoke inhalation and we both know it. It's just damn luck you got out of here with only a small bruise on your hand. I think some gratitude is definitely in order on your side," he snarled as he gave her an angry stare.

"All right, all right. I'm eternally grateful of you dodging every fire and obstacle to save my sorry ass. Now, was that better?"

"Only slightly. I'm sure you could have worked some more on the sincerity-part," he grumbled and went to open some more windows to clear the air inside.

In silence they started cleaning up the water and burned metals on top of what used to be her stove.

"How did you manage to forget the pan for such a long time?" Nick suddenly asked.

"I...uh...well...I...," she stopped immediately as she finally realised her computer was visible to every person in the room. "Oh my god," she gasped as she ran toward it and looked at the screen. She gave a relieved sigh as she noticed her screen saver had started. Saved by the bells, she thought, and quickly turned off her computer before Nick could discover what she had been writing earlier.

Hopefully, the firemen hadn't noticed it either. It would be embarrassing if their report would contain something in the line of:

Cause of fire: Writing pornographic novels while cocking

. Even smoking on the bed was less embarrassing than that.

"What was that?" Nick asked as she tried to hide her computer.

"Uhm, just a project I was working on."

"A project, eh? Must be interesting since it caused this entire ruckus."

"Yes, well, it was just a slight mistake. No one got hurt and my kitchen will probably be quite as before when I get to clean it a bit."

"You really think so?" Nick only glared at her, obviously questioning her sanity or simply her eye sight.

***

For the next half hour they cleaned and tidied her messed up kitchen. Nick was all the time making complaints about careless and stupid females, and telling her she had to be more careful.

"Look Nick, you can stop complaining right now. I don't want to hear anything more about how terrible it is to baby-sit someone like me, and how I'm giving you grey hairs before your time and all that."

"Oh, but you are. If it weren't for a certain hellcat I promised to keep out of trouble, my life would be one easy existence, let me tell you."

"Yes, right."

"It would. Especially now that I've a line of other problems on my hand I could easily do without fires and spoilt females."

"What problems? Do you have some trouble is your love life or something?" Nick just stared at her, refusing to take her bait. "No ladylove threatening to move into your messy bachelor life and start arranging your underwear by colour? Well, I thought not. Never pictured you having a love life, anyway. Only, just let me know if I can be of any assistance in scaring away unwanted females. I owe you for that door, remember?" she said ironically.

"Look, Missy. If you would only think about

my

welfare for a start, that would be a great improvement."

"Your welfare? What about it? Is your shoulder troubling you too much, Nick? You know, no one asked you to break down my door in the first place, so you won't get any sympathy for that one. Besides, I thought you policemen had extensive training in beating down doors, but what do I know about these things," Amy said innocently as she watched Nick's frowning face.

"No, my shoulder is fine. I'm more worried about my manhood."

"Your...uhm...what?" she almost swallowed her own tongue in surprise.

"Jeff will probably do something horrible to me once he learns his sister nearly died from smoke inhalation with me standing just a few meters away."

"Aha, and this is supposed to make me feel sorry for you? Forget it, Nick. I've already apologised for given you a fright, but I'm all right and I'm sure Jeff would never do anything horrendous to your person because of me. Especially not by cutting of a body part you will probably miss sometime. Now, where has that bucket gone to?" Amy asked as she looked around the room for the bucket she had filled with soapy water.

"Believe me, he will," Nick replied glumly. "The question is only

how

he will punish me. I never thought babysitting you would be quite so difficult, to be frank."

"Huh, thanks a lot, Nick. Besides, I seem to recall that I put out the fire myself. You know, just before some obnoxious male Tarzan-wannabe came barging through the door and yelling from the top of his lungs. Maybe you should simply retire from this babysitting thing altogether. I think we'll both live longer then."

"Look, do you want to lend that sofa or not?" Nick said threateningly. "Right now I'm seriously considering withdrawing my offer and put you in a drunk cell or something."

"Gee, Nick, I wonder how anyone can resist that charm of yours," Amy chuckled as she cleaned some of the mess that had once been a part of her kitchen.

***

In the end Nick lent her his spare bedroom and not just the sofa in his living room. Amy gathered her most precious belongings before she dragged them across the hall and into Nick's apartment. He even cooked a decent dinner, she discovered later that evening. Definitely a domestic material if one was looking for that sort of man, she thought glumly. Which she wasn't, she reminded herself.

The conversation floated easily and she learned a lot more about her brother's best friend, which music he liked, and his hobbies. He was actually quite nice once he put his mind to it and when he wasn't acting the arrogant brute, she thought.

But, there was one major problem with living so closely together. His scent followed her everywhere and the bathroom was the biggest problem. She felt surrounded by his male cologne as well as surrounded by his presences after having lived so many years alone – only interrupted by the presence of a temporary boyfriend. So far, she preferred living alone and making her own decisions.

This twosomeness felt crowded and there was some tension in the air that she couldn't quite put her hand on. But something was definitely there to torment her and trigger some unwanted thoughts about feeling safe and protected and somehow aroused? No, that couldn't be.

It was probably just a result of the shock of having been exposed to a fire in her home. Of having survived something dangerous and now the relief of being alive presented itself. It sounded stupid, even to her ears, but it was the better solution all in all.

The alternative was much worse. Of believing herself sexually aroused just by having Nick around; that his scent and presence would cause her cunt to moisten was almost ridiculous. Yep, that had to be it. Ridiculous, that's what it was.

Content with having come to terms with her own strange feelings, she grabbed her toothbrush and strode toward the bathroom. No matter what the tension was about, this was only a temporary arrangement. In a few days time she could move back to her own apartment again.

Besides, it was much easier to move across the hall than to the other part of town and sleep on a sofa in Zelma's apartment, she thought as she barged into the bathroom and stopped thinking completely by the unexpected sight that met her eyes.

Bared in front of her eyes was more naked and bronze coloured skin than she had seen in ages. His well trained muscles was clearly portrayed in every movement he did and she swallowed a gulp as she followed the thin patch of brownish hair from his strong chest and further down across a stomach rippled with muscles and down until the sight was interrupted by the lining of his jeans.

Oh my god, she thought, as she suddenly realised there had to be a god somewhere, and that she was definitely female. Anyone who could produce such a specimen to torment the earthly females was bound to be a female herself. Oh my god, she repeated while barely moving her lips, so shocked she could not even produce a sound to her words.

And all that had been hidden beneath those clothes of his all that time. No wonder he kept himself covered, or he would have a hard time fighting off salivating women. She roamed her eyes across every naked part of him, trying to plaster as much as possible into her memory and let it provide nourishment to her next hundred wet dreams.

"Whoa there," Nick said smilingly as he dried the water from his face with a towel. In the cramped bathroom, Amy just stared at his naked chest that was displayed just in front of her eyes, making her salivate just by the thought of all that male skin.

Oops, she thought, as she mentally chastised herself for acting like a complete ninny. She raised her eyes but could not prevent them from taking in every detail from his muscular stomach, following every detail of his bronze coloured chest, up to his strong shoulders.

"Oh my god," Amy declared without knowing she had finally said something. Her mouth was still open and she blurringly registered that Nick reached out a hand and lifted her chin, closing her mouth in the process.