dark heiress

She’d acted so needy, and he denied her! How embarrassing. Not to mention the sounds she was making just to make him hear her–hear the fun she was having without him. Now, she would have to face him after all of that. 

“I’m up!” she squeaked, throwing the covers off and hopping up out of the bed. 

She hurried to dress into her scrubs, layering a warm henley underneath since the forecast didn’t show it getting any warmer. The hospital was already frigid enough, not counting the outside being colder than usual. Tying her hair up in her routine pony, she was out her door in five minutes. 

But, as she turned down the hall, Caleb stopped abruptly in the entrance. 

“I was just ‘bout to try again.” He said, smiling and rubbing the back of his neck. He was already dressed for the day, white tee, blue jeans, jacket, ballcap, and tool belt on. 

“Thanks, I totally crashed after…” She trailed off, not knowing what to say. What was she supposed to say–after masturbating to him too hard? “Dinner. I forgot to set my alarms.” 

He chuckled in a knowing way that made her feel uneasy. “Yeah, I figured you did. That’s why I took it upon myself to become your alarm for the day,” Her eyes couldn’t meet his, but she stared at his feet as he moved out of her way. “Breakfast is waiting on you.”

“Oh, you really didn’t have to–” she cut herself off upon glimpsing the breakfast feast on the dining room table. Eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, the whole nine yards. “You made all of this?”

“Don’t sound too surprised–I might get offended,” he joked, picking his mug of coffee up from the counter. 

“No, it’s just… I haven’t had breakfast in so long.” she said, ogling the food laid out before her. “But, really, I can’t take anymore of your food without giving you some grocery money.”

She began shuffling through her purse for some cash, but he stopped her with an iron-ladden grip on her shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt her, but enough to show her that she should stop. 

“Don’t even think about touching your pocketbook while you’re here, little lady. You’re my guest, and I don’t want a dime,” his tone was serious, but his smile sincere. How could he still be so forward after last night? She felt like hiding from him. He handed her a clean, porcelain plate, and said, “Now eat. It’s gettin’ cold.” 

Avoiding his gaze, she took the plate from him, and picked through the various dishes. She ended up with eggs, bacon, and a biscuit, not wanting to take too much of his food. 

He peered at her from the kitchen counter, still sipping on his coffee. “Come on now, you need to eat more than that. Get some sausage for more protein.” It was his nice way of saying that she was going to turn into a bag of bones if she didn’t start eating more. 

Not wanting to cause any trouble, or talk to him really, she piled more food on her plate until he seemed satisfied. She shoveled the food into her mouth, watching the clock intensely from the kitchen. If they didn’t leave in the next five minutes, she was going to be late. Not that a few minutes would kill her, but she still didn’t want to accidentally bump into Dr. Zayne. In fact, that’s the last thing she wanted. 

Caleb watched her steadily, analyzing her, trying to figure out what each of her expressions meant. He could tell that she was uncomfortable from the moment he set his eyes on her this morning. That told him that some part of her regretted what she did last night, which didn’t make him feel good. But the last thing he would do is push her into something she wasn’t ready for. 

She finished her plate, readied her bag to leave, and they were out the door. Caleb already had the truck warming up in the parking lot. As they walked out the door, the chilly air hit MC, causing a visible shiver to rake down her spine. Caleb noticed immediately, and stopped to take his jacket off, handing it to her without a single word. Like it was expected. 

Staring at it, she didn’t take it for a long moment. “Won’t you get cold?”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I’d rather be the one freezin’ than to see you shiver.”

It felt wrong to leave him cold like that, but she’d quickly figured out that there was no arguing with him when it came to her needs. So she took the jacket and put it on. The relief was instant, the heat enveloping her like a warm hug and melting away all the chill bumps on her arms. The zip-up jacket hung almost to her knees and completely covered her hands, but she didn’t think she’d ever put something more comfortable on in her life. 

The truck was also warm, so she didn’t worry as much about Caleb catching a cold. Again he’d insisted on opening her door, this time ensuring that she’d buckled herself in before closing it. Their trip was filled with silence, but this time it was uncomfortable. Neither talked to the other in fear of facing last night's events. They each chose to ignore it entirely, as if it never happened, but they knew what happened and thought about it constantly that day. 

By the time Caleb pulled up outside the employee drop-off, they hadn’t spoken a word to each other. 

“Is this the right place?” he asked, breaking the silence. 

She gave him a sheepish nod and went to open the door, but he locked the doors before she could get out. He hopped out, jogging over to her door to open it for her. She cursed, having not wanted anyone to possibly see him and assume they were together. Hurrying, she gathered her bag and didn’t take his offered hand to get out of the truck. 

Even as she was trying her best to get the hell out of dodge, his words stopped her. 

“Ma’am?” she turned to face him, finally meeting his eyes for the first time that morning. An emotion she’d never seen in them appeared. He began to speak, but nothing came out. Shutting the passenger door, he finally spoke. “Don’t walk home. It’ll be cold, so I’ll pick you up. Six o’clock, right?”

She wasn’t going to argue. She knew it would do no good, so she nodded. As she walked into the building, his eyes followed her even as she disappeared behind the automatic glass doors. Muttering a curse, he walked over to the driver side again, hopping in his truck, speeding out of the parking lot. Part of him regretted telling her how he felt so soon, but he couldn’t take it back now. 

Even after the breakfast ordeal, she made it to her station right on time. And she got to her work right away. That is, until she was paged to Dr. Zayne’s office. He hadn’t done that since he decided to break things off between them. Nerves broiled low in her stomach as she marched towards his office, trying to dream up different reasons why on earth he’d call her down there. By the time she reached his door, she thought she might throw up the breakfast Caleb made for her. 

Taking in a deep breath, she lightly knocked on his door. A few seconds later, she heard him telling her to come in. She couldn’t make herself open the door immediately, but eventually worked up the courage. Purposefully, she didn’t look towards his desk at first. She marched into his office, clipboard in hand, professional as ever. Even when they were… whatever they were, she would do this to avoid suspicion from other members of the staff. 

“You wanted to see me, sir?” she asked, trying to keep her tone level as she couldn’t make eye contact with him. 

“Yes,” he answered simply. She half expected a monologue about what had been going on in the hospital recently, but he said nothing. Almost as if he was having trouble talking to her too. 

Her eyes searched the room, and nothing was out of place, including the pen she’d gifted him for his birthday last year. He didn’t throw it away. She thought that would make her happy, but it did nothing other than further confuse her. Wouldn’t he throw it away if she meant nothing to him?

After many beats of silence, she spoke up, finally daring to look him in the eye. For once, it didn’t unnerve her. “Is there anything in particular you wished to discuss, Doctor?” 

Like he was pulled from a daze, he stuttered. “Um, yes, a-actually. I was just curious about something.”

Patience wearing thin, she replied, “Please, ask anything.”

“Who was that man who dropped you off this morning?” 

The statement took her aback. That was the last thing she expected him to ask her about. His office didn’t overlook the employee parking lot, but the window just outside his office did. He must’ve stayed overnight yesterday and watched her get out of Caleb’s truck. After all, he didn’t care about her enough to make it official between them, so what made him care about another male? 

“Sir, with no disrespect, that is none of your business,” she said frankly. Turning to leave she continued, “If that’s what this is about, then I must be on my way.”

His cold hand latched around her wrist. “Wait… please,” That was odd–Dr. Zayne doesn’t beg. “I know it’s none of my business, but I had to ask.”

She stopped, turning to face his hazel eyes dead on. “A friend. Is that a satisfactory answer?”

His brow furrowed like the words caused him pain. “A friend in what way? A platonic friend… or friends–like we were?” 

The question lit a fire in her belly that she didn’t know she had within her. “You know, Zayne, I really don’t see how that would matter to you since you’re the one who didn’t want to take the next step. You knew how willing I was. Yet, you don’t act like you care until you see me with someone else? That’s low. Even for you.” Her words were harsh, but true. 

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he stated, eyes boring into hers. “You were wearing a jacket that was rather large on you. Clearly not yours. Was it his?” She stayed silent, avoiding his gaze. “He even dropped you off this morning. I thought carpooling was our thing.” Her silence drove him to speak more, and make an even bigger ass of himself. “I guess… When I saw you with him, everything became real. It felt like that was it–like you would never come back to me. I hate to admit that the sight made me immensely jealous. To think that you were someone else’s so soon.” 

“I was never yours to begin with,” She stated clearly, despite her voice threatening to waver through her tears. 

The statement was eerily similar to something he’d said the last time they spoke. A hitch in his breath showed that he noticed it too. She faced away from him, but his grip on her wrist tightened, dragging her to him so his chest was to her back. Her breath caught in her throat as she met the hard plane of his chest, and something stiff against her back. 

“Please, give me another chance. I promise not to squander it this time.” He sounded as if he was nearly in tears himself. 

This time her voice betrayed her, but she stood firm. “Do me and yourself a favor, and leave me alone. You’ve already lost every chance I was willing to give you.” 

“Please,” he begged, tears evident in his voice now. Small strangled sobs escaped his throat. 

She had to repeat to herself that this was all because he’d seen her with Caleb–it wasn’t because he loved her and really wanted a relationship with her. She tried to get out of his grasp, but he just wouldn’t let go. He held her harder. She struggled in his grip. Then, she thought of all the times he led her on to believe they really would be a couple one day. The anger gave her enough strength to pull out of his grasp entirely and march toward the door. 

Before she could open it, his words stopped her in her tracks. “Please, just tell me it’s not him.”

She knew exactly what he was talking about. But still, she answered with nothing as she opened the door to his office and rushed into the nearest empty supply closet to cry. The five minutes she allowed herself to let out her emotions didn’t last nearly as long as she needed it to. Alas, duty called as her pager went off. This time, it wasn’t Dr. Zayne, but a real-live patient she needed to wait on. 

So, she dried up her tears with the sleeve of her thermal, and walked out of the closet like nothing happened. It didn’t help that she could hear Zayne mumbling to someone in his office–his co-worker Greyson or Yvonne, if she had to guess. The rest of the day dragged on so slowly that, for once, she had all the time in the world to hyperfixate on her interaction with Zayne. 

Every moment felt like she was battling how she felt internally with how she presented herself externally. On the outside, she tried to appear happy for her patients like always, but inside she felt like she would break down any minute. Each one felt like a millenia. Not even thoughts of Caleb could make it better. In fact, it made the situation worse. 

Should she feel bad for connecting with Caleb so soon after her split with Zayne? It wasn’t on purpose. She knew she shouldn’t feel guilty–her and Zayne weren’t even official. But, their earlier conversation made her feel like she should feel guilty. Like she owed him time to heal. But what about her healing?

The thought hadn’t yet occurred to her as she pulled her bag up on her shoulder after a long twelve hour shift. Her legs threatened to buckle beneath her, so she hoped Caleb was serious about the car ride home. She was physically and emotionally drained. Trudging herself and her bag to the employee entrance doors had never seemed more difficult. 

She half expected him to be late, but as the automatic doors opened, she saw him. He didn’t wear his usual, easy-going smile, but he propped himself on his passenger door. Waiting in the cold on her. This time he’d worn a heavy, black work jacket. She’d put on the jacket he’d lent to her. His eyes snapped to hers the moment he heard the automatic doors open, and he wasted no time rushing over to get her bag from her. 

It was odd, she thought, how he always knew exactly what she needed and did it without a single word nor complaint. He let her silence drag on as he opened up the door, sitting her bag on the floorboard. When he turned back around she was already staring at him, lip trembling. He didn’t know what to say. 

He knew the last thing she wanted was to talk to him, but he couldn’t help himself. “You look tired.” Was the best he could come up with. 

She choked on nothing, and stared down at her hands. “Yeah, I am. Very tired.” she said, her voice wavering. 

Without another word, he went to her, picked her up bridal-style to carry her a few short steps to the empty seat waiting on her. He sat her down gently, pulling her seat-belt buckle across her body and snapping it in place. She stared at him the whole time, silently questioning whether or not this man was real. Reaching up, she stroked his face.

It caught him off guard, causing him to stop dead in his tracks to feel her touch on his face. “I’m not complainin’, but what’s that for?” he asked, a boyish smile returning to his features. 

Tears welled up in her eyes, but despite that she smiled. “You just…” she paused trying to think of the right thing to say. “I’ve had such a shitty day.” A tear escaped her eye. 

He quickly brushed it away, moving to cup her face with both of his hands. “Hey, now, don’t cry. Why are you cryin’, ma’am?” 

She sniffled, attempting to hide her face in her hands. “This is embarrassing.” she complained. 

Moving her hands away so he could see her face, he said, “No it’s not, talk to me. I’m here to listen.” 

She waved him off, covering her face once again. Muffled by her hands, she said, “Just get in the car.” 

Begrudgingly, he did as she said and gently shut her door even though his nerves screamed at him to stay there and get the truth out of her. Although, he didn’t drive as soon as he got into his seat. He sat, watching helplessly as she broke down in the passenger seat, face covered by her own hands. So, he tried again, this time leaning over to her. 

He tried to brush her hands away from her face, but she wasn’t having it. “I’m not driving ‘til you tell me what happened, ma’am,” His tone was gentle, but his words were firm. He brushed her hair back, trying to sooth her. “I hate seeing you like this,” he rambled on, overwhelmed by the need to get to the bottom of the reason for her tears. A thought struck him, and his next question slipped out without thinking twice. “Was it him? Did he do something?”

At that, her sobs paused. 

Certain that he’d hit the nail on the head, he said, unnervingly calm, “What did he do?”

Finally, her head lifted from her hands. Her entire face was wet with tears, eyes bloodshot red, and some snot leaked from her nose. She was no less beautiful to him as she had been last night or this morning. But, he hated the tears–despised seeing her sad like this. It made him want to hurt people, and he didn’t think he’d ever wanted to do that before. 

“Ma’am, my control is wearin’ thin. If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to go ask the doctor myself.” His white-knuckled grip on the headrest told her that was not a joke nor a bluff. 

“H-He…” she sobbed, sniffling. Caleb handed her a tissue. She blew her nose and wiped away some of her tears. “He called me into his office a-an-and he asked wh-who dropped me off and he got upset that I wouldn’t tell him who you were and he grabbed me and–”

Caleb cut her off. “He did what now?”

“He grabbed me and pulled me to him and b-begged for another chance…”

“And you said?”

“I told him no.”

“Did he let go?’

“No, but I got out.”

“Alrighty.” Caleb inhaled long and loud, like he was trying to center himself with some long-forgotten yoga method. “Do you want me to knock his brains out?”

Despite knowing that he was being completely serious, the sentence made her laugh out loud. She tried to stop, but she couldn’t. The laughs kept pouring out of her like a never-ending well. Although Caleb was beyond livid that the doctor did that to her, he couldn’t help but be happy to see her smile. 

“Please say that’s a yes.” Caleb said just to see her smile widen. 

It worked. She laughed harder. “Don’t be insane, Caleb. You’d be taken to jail.”

“I don’t care to take a trip down the road,” he shrugged. “But, you don’t want me to?”

She shook her head, smile fading. 

He couldn’t take it. He had to see her smile again, if not for hers, for his own sanity. “Too bad that I’m actually insane,” he sighed, throwing the truck into drive. Under his breath he mumbled, “Over you.”

“What?” she asked, not entirely picking up on his last words. 

“Oh, nothing.” 

Meanwhile, there Caleb was, fanning the smoke that had accumulated around the alarm. 

“What happened?” she rushed to ask, choking on the smoke.

“It’s okay, Pips–just forgot to turn the fan on. It’ll go off…” he cut himself short as he glimpsed her in only a towel, dripping in his kitchen. After what he’d just heard, and what he’d done just outside the door, he couldn’t make eye contact with her. Especially not when she’s naked under that lone towel. “Uh, Pips, can you put some c-clothes on? I’ve got things taken care of.”

She noticed the shift in his demeanor and frowned. “Are you okay, Caleb?” 

He couldn’t look. He might do something irrational if he did. More harsh than he intended, he snapped, “Yes, Pips. Nothing to worry about. Now go get dressed.” 

MC knew there was something off about him. He always looks at her while they talk, sometimes so fervently that she has to look away to avoid letting him see her blush. Was it because she was in a towel? The thought made her heart race with insecurity. He still saw her as the little girl he was obligated to take care of. 

“Yeah, okay,” She said, clipped. The alarm had finally gone off, and she stalked back to the bathroom door. Her hand gripped the doorframe, a slight rush of anger flooding her cheeks. She cut back to say, “You don’t have to be such a dick, you know.” 

She shut the door before he could say anything. But he couldn’t say a word, he was too stunned. Sure, his tone might’ve come out a little more intense than usual, but he’d talked like that to her before and she didn’t get angry. He wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong. He knew if she stood there much longer, mere feet away with nothing but a towel on, he wouldn’t be able to contain himself. 

Of course, she didn’t know that her adoptive brother was fighting to keep himself at bay. She was completely unaware of how his fingers itched to touch her in that way every time he saw her. And if she did know, it would be catastrophic. He feared that she’d never see or speak to him again if she knew how he truly felt about her. If she knew what he just did, she’d probably file a restraining order tomorrow. He couldn’t risk that. 

MC toweled the water off of her hair, glaring at herself in the mirror. Maybe if she looked more mature–would that trick Caleb into seeing her as an option? She was twenty, completely of age. She no longer wore the colorful tops and skirts she’d worn when she was younger. Nor did she wear her hair in those braids that Caleb liked to do. Instead, she chose tops with lower cuts, pants that fit her snug, and she wore her hair straight. 

So why did he still see her as a kid?

Feeling stuck, she groaned. Her mind couldn’t help but replay the look of guilt she saw on Caleb’s face when she called him that name. It was a brief moment of anger that she took out on him, when in all reality, it was her fault for wanting someone she knows she can’t have. Sure, Caleb always doted on her, but he’s always done that. 

It didn’t mean anything. After all, he was supposed to be her protector, always by her side. As a friend. The only time they’d been anything more, it was pretend. Caleb didn’t like when girls around campus would fawn over him. He hated it so much that he regularly asked MC to help him out in getting them to back off. 

Asking to wear her hair ties, taking her as his plus one to parties, telling them that the girl as his screensaver was his girlfriend and he was happily in a relationship. That was normal, right? Everyone on campus thought they were dating. The only people that knew the truth were those in their close friend group. Needless to say, dating was difficult because everyone already thought she was taken by the golden boy. 

Not that she didn’t want to be mistaken as such–quite the opposite. She wished it were real. She might fall over and die if Caleb were to ever get a real girlfriend. Her jealous nature couldn’t take it, and she would probably explode. Even now when they were out and a girl tried to make a move, her immediate reaction was to stake her claim on him regardless of whether they were “pretending,” or not. 

But, she hated to admit that when they were pretending it felt all too real and… sometimes she enjoyed it. Since they were young, MC looked up to Caleb. He’s always been the golden boy, so it was natural to idolize him. As they grew older the feeling morphed into something deeper. Craving him, longing after him. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help the feelings she had for him. 

How could she not have feelings for him? He didn’t allow anyone else to worm their way into her heart. He made sure of it–always being there for her, being everything she needed him to be, taking care of her, and most of all, understanding her. She felt it all and knew he would do anything for her. Anything to keep her safe and happy. 

Even though he didn’t know that she would come to him crying so soon after dropping her off, the first thing he did upon getting home was make sure she could take a warm shower after a long day. Not only that, but going as far as to warm up her towel and leave her some clothes out? That was dedication. That was understanding. And it didn’t help her overwhelming need for him. 

She stared at the pile for a long while. Of course it was his clothes too. Her favorite to wear. She often wore his shirts to sleep in her dorm. Picking up the neatly folded jersey knit shirt, she shoved her nose in it. His smell was all over it, a blatant claim on her as she wore it. A successful attempt to not let her think about anyone else while she was wearing it. 

Once she was dressed and calmed down, she opened the door and found him in the kitchen, plating their meal. He didn’t notice her presence, so he wasn’t hiding the emotions so plainly visible in his face. His eyes were wide, brow pinched in the middle, and mouth downturned at the corners. Still, he tried his best to salvage the meal he made. She couldn’t shake the thought that he too had a long day of classes, yet he was making her favorite food, taking care of her.

And she had the nerve to call him an dick. Why? Because her pride got hurt and feelings got the best of her. So naturally, she snuck up behind him. Wordlessly, her arms wrapped around his torso and he stilled beneath her touch. A silent apology. She wasn’t much on saying “I’m sorry,” outright, but he knew that about her. He knew the meaning immediately. 

His hand pet hers soothingly. “It’s okay, Pips,” his voice was low, quiet. “We’re even.”

“No we aren’t!” she insisted, tears pricking her eyes. “I took my anger out on you and here you are making a meal for me. I don’t deserve it.”

He heard the quiver in her voice and turned to face her. “Don’t talk like that now. You made one mistake, and so did I. We’re human, and we’re just trying our best to… just trying our best,” he corrected, kindly smiling down at her tear filled eyes. “Now let’s eat.”

But she didn’t let him go. Instead, she buried her face in his chest. “My Caleb is always so good to me.”

He tried to steady his heart beat, slow it down to not give himself away. He failed. Petting her hair, his lips grazed the top of her head, a kiss so light that she couldn’t even feel it. “Your Caleb always.”

Their meal turned out to be better than usual despite the smokey mishap. They talked and made small talk over dinner like normal. Caleb successfully covered up his nerves with his charm, but ever since he’d heard his name on her lips, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Replaying it in his mind. Worst of all, it gave him hope. 

Hope that he shouldn’t have. It was hope that possibly, by some divine intervention, his prayers were answered and she felt the same way about him as he did her. Except there was no way that could be real life. He refused to let himself believe it. So, he acted as if nothing happened. He never listened to her pretty sounds, he never took another pair of her panties, and she never muttered his name while touching herself. 

After their meal, they sat on his couch and she pulled out her laptop. It was just then five o’clock, so her advisor was still working. Once she finally got ahold of them, Caleb could tell that nerves were wracking her body again. Out of instinct, he laid his hand on her thigh to steady her. What he didn’t know is that it only made it worse. 

  She stuttered through the phone call, barely able to focus on the task at hand. Caleb thought it was just her nerves, but no. Still, she got through it, telling her advisor what honestly happened. Her advisor looked at her class plan, going through each of the classes offered that semester that she still needed to take for her major. All of the spots were filled. Every single one of them.

Then, her advisor had to tell her the unfortunate news that if she were to drop the class, not only would it put her behind schedule, but she would also have to pay out of pocket for the entire class regardless. She’s a broke college student. She can’t afford an over a thousand dollar charge. Needless to say, she’s stuck in the class as long as she doesn’t want to be behind or stuck with a bill she can’t afford. 

Voice wobbly, she thanks her advisor and hangs up the phone. Immediately, she buries her face in her hands, letting out the shaky breath she’d been holding the whole phone call. 

“I’m so stupid,” she weeped, voice cracking. 

Caleb straightened, petting her back, trying to sooth her. He tried to come up with a solution, but they’d gone over every possibility with her advisor. The only thing he could do was pay for the class himself. And he would if he wasn’t also a broke college student.  

“Pipsqueak, please don’t cry. You know how I hate it when you cry.” 

It was true. It made his stomach plummet every time, as if he were feeling the emotions with her. Even though Caleb was not a crier, each time she did, he wanted to cry for her. Take away the worry, stress, or whatever it was for himself to bear. But he knew he had to show her strength. He had to show her that she could depend on him more than anyone else in this world or the next. 

Thus, he pulled her weeping form onto his lap, cradling her, caging her in. Making her feel safe and as if the world could never touch her as long as she was in his arms. It was comforting to know that he was always there, her shoulder to cry on. There for her through smallest disappointments to the biggest problems. He gave her a sense of comfort she’d never found in anyone else. 

Tears subsiding, she looked into his eyes that were already staring at her. His expression was pained, seeing her like this. It was the same expression he wore when he thought she wasn’t looking. Anything that hurt her, hurt him too, she realized. Her hand reached up, smoothing the worry lines written across his face. It softened in response, expression turning into something more akin to longing. 

His thumb stroked her tears away, just as they did earlier. She leaned into his touch, savoring it. Their faces inched closer, unconscious they were doing so. Like gravity itself was pulling them into each other’s orbit. Caleb’s thumb had a mind of its own, brazenly brushing across her bottom lip, coaxing her lips to part. And they did.

Until they were jerked back into reality with a loud ping from MC’s phone. Both stopped abruptly, eyes widening upon realizing just how close they were. She could feel his warm breath fanning across her damp lips. He could see every perfect pore, every individual hair of her eyelashes. Neither moved, daring the other to make the first move.

Another loud ping broke their staring contest, forcing them to return to the present. MC slid off of his lap, picking up her phone to look at what was so important that she got two notifications in a row. Caleb coughed, feeling awkward. His hands found a home gripping his thighs, needing to hold onto anything to resist the temptation to grab her, pull her back into his lap, and kiss her senseless. 

He watched as her face morphed from confusion to surprise to relief. 

“What is it?” he asked, eyes bouncing from her smile to her now bright eyes. 

“I think… I’m saved,” she said, running her hand through her hair, unable to believe her own eyes. “My TA just sent out an email to the class telling us that tutoring opens tomorrow and each session is worth a good amount of extra credit points, and if I attend all of them, it could make up for my test grade!”

Caleb rose from the couch, throwing his arms around her shoulders. “I knew it would all work out.” Well, he hoped it would or he would’ve made it happen once he figured out a way. 

Here, now he had an indefinite amount of time with her huddled up in his apartment. He would get to see her in the morning when she woke up and before she laid down at night. If he’s lucky, he’ll get to see her in between too. And he couldn’t wait. 

He didn’t expect her to come so willingly. Whenever she mentioned that she could ask the doctor if she could stay over at his place, there was no way that he was going to let that happen. Caleb would pay for a room before he would. Luckily, he didn’t have to worry about it since she’ll be in his apartment. 

In his quarters. 

Caleb kept a clean space. Everything was already perfectly neat as they walked into the living area. His unit was bigger than most since it was specifically intended for the long-time post of maintenance man. It was in a more secluded area on the bottom floor, away from all the other units. 

“Welcome to my humble abode.” Although Caleb’s arms were filled with her bags, he still lifted them easily, welcoming her into his space. 

She looked around, mouth gone slack. 

“I’ve never seen a man’s space so… clean.” She commented, trailing her finger over the dining table–not a spec of dust. 

And she thought Zayne’s house was clean. Of course it was clean, but he still had things like papers sprawled out on tables, and dirty coffee mugs not yet cleaned. But everything in Caleb’s apartment had a place, and that’s where it sat. Neat and organized. Not even a single pillow out of place. It made her think of all the dirty dishes in her sink during their first meeting, and she cringed. He must think my place is a pigstye compared to this, she thought. 

He chuckled, opening the first door down the hall on the right. “I run a tight ship,” he admitted. 

“You must hate coming to my place to see everything out of order then,” she commented, trailing him into the room. 

The guest bedroom was bigger than her own master bedroom. 

Caleb sat her bags down, then shrugged. “It looks good to me. Everything always seems neat, save for a pillow or blanket left out. But that’s no biggie.”

A grin crept onto her face. “So you have noticed,”

His expression mirrored hers. “Maybe a little,”

“Ugh! You’re gonna hate me by the time you’re done with my study,” she said, secretly hoping it would be the exact opposite.

“No, I won’t. If I have to, I don’t mind picking up after you. I know I’m pretty intense when it comes to cleaning up–I don’t expect you to be the same,” he reasoned, silently helping her unpack all of her belongings. 

She packed enough for a week’s stay, since that’s how long Caleb estimated the repairs would take. That was more of an overestimation, but it was purposeful. He wanted as much time as possible with her, so fixing the room will be on the last on his list of priorities. That is, unless she complains about wanting to go home. Then, he will try to understand and get it done as soon as possible. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. 

After finishing with helping her unpack, he left the room, telling her that he would be in the shower if she were to need anything. Shower. Her brain short-curcuited at the word. That meant nakedness. He would be naked not even fifty feet away, separated only by a wall. When her brain finally rebooted, she found herself unable to sit still. Left to her own devices, she chose to take the time to give herself a tour around his apartment. 

It wasn’t weird, right? She was the one in a new environment. One she would be in for the whole week. She has a right to get to know her surroundings. Except, she wasn’t doing that. If anything, she was snooping. She used the excuse to convince herself, but her true intentions were to get to know him. 

One’s home reflects a lot about them. 

He was clearly neat, precise, and maybe a little obsessive about it. That was clear from the moment she walked in the door. His windows were spotless–not a streak on them. The couch looked like stiff, unforgiving leather. Sitting down, she found that it actually wasn’t bad. One of the comfier leather couches she’s sat on. It looked brand new, but she could see one spot where it was more worn down.

“So he’s not a psycho who never sits on his couch, got it.” she whispered to herself. 

His coffee table had few items on it, as expected. He seemed like the type of person to not like useless clutter. As opposed to her who loved to collect knick-knacks and store them around the house. The only things on it was a book about a war she knew nothing about and a model airplane. Wait, model airplane? A clue about him. He liked planes, or was proud of putting together this particular one at least. 

Other than that, there wasn’t really much else to the living room besides a few lousy cushions and a television. Which led her to the kitchen. There were no dishes in the sink, so she assumed that he must order out a lot. The only visible thing on the counter was a bowl of apples, a coffee maker, and a can full of coffee grounds. 

It made her think of the first time she talked to him–he said that he would take coffee as his payment. He must really like it if that’s the case. The real question was–what did he have in his cabinets? She felt like that was the most revealing thing about a person. Did he keep snacks? If so, which ones did he choose? 

She opened the door to one of the cabinets, peaking inside. This one just had plain dinner plates and glass cups. So, she checked the next one, hitting the jackpot. It was full of various kinds of cereal, gummy snacks, chips, and even some candy. She giggled to herself–Caleb had the same diet as she did in elementary school. It looked like you handed a kid forty dollars to go and pick out whatever junk food they wanted, and this is what they chose. 

Suddenly, a warm heat enveloped her along with his honeyed voice. “Hungry?” he asked, slight amusement in his tone. 

She turned around with a smile still on her face, but upon taking him in, it dropped much like her (metaphorical) panties. There he was, hunched behind her not even a full foot away, clad only in a white towel and beads of leftover water. He was close enough that his hair, still wet, dripped onto her lip. 

“Oops,” he chuckled, bringing his hand to her jaw, tenderly brushing the water droplet off of her lips much too slow to be friendly. “Must’ve not dried my hair good enough.”

MC was unable to speak, to think with him so close. The last time they were close like this, she’d been drunk and ready to pounce on him, mostly due to the alcohol. This time, she was stone-cold sober and he still had the same effect on her. Was this a taunt? Did he want her to touch him like that again?

The answer to both of those questions was yes.

Caleb smiled smugly, knowing that he had an effect on her. It was clear in her dilated pupils and her slightly parted lips that she wanted him too, and it made him feel better knowing that it wasn’t just because of the wine that day. But, she wasn’t the only affected one. He was too. Her too-tight short skirt and v-neck sweater had been taunting him all day. Not to mention that he couldn’t forget about how she’d answered the door in that robe he loved. 

Blood rushed to his groin even after he’d just got off in the shower. Shit, shit, shit, he repeated in his mind, trying to think of anything other than her. A hard-on in only this towel would be glaringly obvious. The last thing he wanted was to freak her out. So, being the disciplined man he is, he straightened and backed away, but not without great effort. 

He inconspicuously placed his hands over his groin–one, to hide his semi-hard on, and two, to control his hands. Otherwise, he might’ve taken her right there on the counter. 

He swallowed thickly, picking up on the last thing he said. “If you are, I can make something for us.”

She blinked a few times, remembering herself. Trying to drum up a response, her brow furrowed. “Wait, you cook?”

He nodded, cheeks flushed. “Yeah, sometimes. I’m not a bad cook, I just really never have a reason to.” he reassured. 

But he would, for her. 

Maybe it wasn’t a pipe dream. Just an hour ago, she was fantasizing about just this–him fresh out of the shower, and a man willing to cook for her. Possibly, it wasn’t a fantasy she was living in right now. But damn was it close. 

“Yeah, I’m a bit drained after today. And…” she clutched her stomach, hunger pains suddenly taking over. She said, absentmindedly, “I don’t think I’ve eaten today.”

Caleb’s eyes widened, a look of worry descending his features. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would’ve gotten you something while we were out.”

She shrugged, uncomfortably hollow. “I just… forgot, I guess.”

Caleb pursed his lips, giving her a disappointed look. If she couldn’t remember, then he would have to remind her. “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to have a snack, and while you’re getting ready for bed, I’m gonna whip us up somethin’ to eat. Sound good?”

While MC generally didn’t enjoy being told what to do by a man, when Caleb did it, she found it difficult to protest. He didn’t do it in a mean or demanding way, but in a firm way that ensured she would do anything he told her to. And she loved it. It made her wonder if he would be the same in bed. 

She nodded, throat too tight to speak. 

“Good. Which snack do you want?” he walked over to the cabinet that she stood below, halfway caging her in. 

He started naming off the various things in the cabinet, attention steadfast on getting something into her growling stomach. But her attention wandered down his body from his chest, to his perfectly sculpted abs, and… oh god. Was that his cock? Better yet, was that hard or soft? If the latter, she feared for her safety. Even though she feared it, she had to fight the urge to not yank the towel down.

Caleb waited for an answer, but he found that she wasn’t paying attention to him, but little him. Her bottom lip was tucked between her teeth, brow furrowed, and cheeks aflame as she looked at it. 

Panicking, Caleb blurted, “I’m not hard, I promise.”

A choked sound clambered out of her throat as she realized she’d been caught. “Sorry–I didn’t mean to stare,” she giggled nervously, feeling awkward. “It’s just–wait, what?”

Caleb couldn’t keep the smile off of his face now. He chuckled, also flushing a bright shade of red. “I think you heard me.”

They stood like that for a long moment, staring at each other. She tried to fathom how, if given the chance, she was going to take him. He was desperately trying and failing to keep himself at bay. With her eyes staring into his, he took the opportunity to hide his now hard member against the counter. 

She cleared her throat suddenly, feeling parched. Breaking their stare, she said, “I’ll have cereal.” Then pointed to the box she wanted the most. 

Before she could get the box down, he’d already grabbed it, along with a bowl. He turned around, carefully avoiding turning toward her. Looking down, his towel stuck out, a painfully stiff member underneath. He got the milk and poured it, making sure he was hidden the entire time. Once he put the spoon in the bowl, he walked away, leaving her to eat the cereal. 

“I’ll be back in a minute, I’ve gotta change.” he said woodenly, trying his best to not turn around and ravish her. 

She responded, but he had no clue what she said as he quickly shut his bedroom door behind him, yanking off his towel. His pulsing cock sprang free of its restraints, bobbing up and down. He gripped its base, wanting to strangle it for acting so irrationally and almost getting him caught. Stalking back into the bathroom, he turned on the vent, hoping it would drown out the sound of the shower. 

Turning the knob all the way to the left, he hopped in and stood under the freezing water. Minutes ticked by, but his little guy didn’t seem like he wanted to go down at all. He tried to think of everything he could to get him to go down. Puppies–they’re so cute! He pictured one, and cuteness aggression seemed to override the overwhelming need for her. 

But then a new picture came up–MC holding a cute little puppy, smiling, giggling, playing with it. Her smile alone was enough to get him standing right back up. He felt like a teenager all over again, but worse. He couldn’t recall a time ever being like this–painfully hard at a simple touch, a look from a woman. No, he’d never felt this way about any woman. But he did for her. 

MC tried on various pajama sets, but nothing was working. What outfit was suitable enough for dinner and sleeping, but screamed “bang me on the counter,”? Although, the more important question she should be asking herself was if she was ready for that yet. It was no secret that she was still getting over Zayne. Plus, she still has to share a space with this man for a whole week. 

There were so many reasons not to, so why did she want to so badly? It wasn’t just because of his looks, she’d been out with plenty of attractive men and been able to resist temptation. So maybe she was attracted to more than just his body or his face and was scared to admit it to herself. 

She was attracted to Zayne certainly, but he never let her in far enough to really fall for him. He was closed off in that regard. Caleb was the complete opposite. She’d be willing to bet her next paycheck that he would open up to her if she wanted him to. 

She caught herself thinking–falling for Caleb would be as easy as breathing. 

Quickly, she erased the thought from her mind. She couldn’t be thinking such disastrous things. Having real feelings for someone was not something MC had ever experienced. Truthfully, the thing that bothered her the most about her breakup, if you could call it that, with Zayne was the rejection and the thought of what could’ve been. She felt something for Zayne, but it was more akin to great respect for him rather than love. 

It made her think of what Caleb had said the night she stupidly told him everything about her lovelife–that she was lovestruck. She hadn’t stopped to think of what the term implied. Lovestruck. Struck, like lightning, brief but powerful. It didn’t mean that she’d fallen for him in a short amount of time. Hell, she’s had years of friendship to do that. No, struck just like it dawned on her that this could be a suitable partner. 

So, pursuing it, she found that her and Zayne weren’t quite a match. And that was okay. Was she hurt? Yes, she was allowed to be hurt. Did it bruise her ego quite severely? Absolutely. But did any of that mean that she wasn’t good enough for him? Fuck no. It wasn’t his fault for making her feel that way–he’d never said explicitly why he didn’t want to commit to her. 

If she was honest, that’s what bothered her the most. 

She finally decided that she wasn’t going to try to impress him with some skimpy pajama set. She was going to be herself. No pressure, no expectations. Just real, raw her. So she chose what she would really wear to bed on a regular Monday night. Old, baggy sweatpants that she stole from a college hookup, glasses she never let anyone see, and a double XL hoodie. Don’t forget the frumpy grippy sock-slippers she insisted were the only thing that kept her feet warm during this time of year. 

With her hair pulled up, she looked positively dressed to not impress any man. Fighting down the nerves of being her vulnerable self, she stepped out of her new room to “casually,” pad into the living room. Purposefully, she didn’t look at Caleb as he slaved away on their meal in the open concept kitchen. At first, he was too focused on quickly making her something to eat to notice her presence. 

But when he heard the television suddenly flip on, his attention was drawn straight to her. He stilled. There she sat on the couch–not a stitch of makeup on, wisps of hair flying out of her updo, clothes swallowing her whole, and he was once again disproven. She really did get cuter every time he saw her. 

It should be impossible. 

But for her, it wasn’t. He didn’t know how she did it–continued to leave him speechless without a single word or even a look. She cuddled up on his couch under his knitted throw. It made his heart thump harder. This felt intimate. Way more intimate than the moment they’d had earlier. It felt like they were a real couple, both tired from a long day of work, but sought rest in each other’s presence and silence. 

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” what was meant to be a thought slipped from his mouth involuntarily as he admired her. 

Her head whipped toward him, startled by the sudden speech. She tossed him an unsure smile. 

“Yeah, I usually don’t wear them in front of people, but my head was hurting from my contacts.” she explained, looking uncomfortable. 

“Why not?” he couldn’t help but be curious. 

She gave another shy smile. “I don’t really like how they look on me,” she shrugged, unable to make eye contact with him. “They make my eyes look weird.”

He saw an opportunity, so he took it. “It’s a shame you think that ‘cause…” Was this crossing a line? Fuck it. “I think you look really pretty with them,” Her expression was stunned, but not disgusted or uncomfortable, so he trudged on. “But you’re always really pretty, so I shouldn’t be surprised.” 

The woman was too stunned to speak. 

Meanwhile, Caleb was too chickenshit to look at her after the declaration. He continued to plate their food quietly, hoping for some response. 

“Thank you,” she said after a long, drawn out silence. “I think I really needed to hear that.”

For a moment, he was quiet, smiling to himself. Then he picked up their plates, carrying them into the living room where she was stationed. He sat her plate in front of her.

Getting bolder, he said, “You know, if you need to hear it some more I can do that. I’m quite passionate about the topic.”

She giggled. “Is that right?”

He then looked her straight into her eyes. “Yeah, it is.” he said, completely honest and serious. 

She knew then that he wasn’t being funny or trying to make her feel better. He was very serious. He thought she was pretty. Really pretty, as he stated. Unable to shake the new knowledge, she couldn’t stop smiling. She smiled throughout their entire meal, chatting with him. Laughing with him–about life, work, her choice of show, a reality show that he made sure to tease her about, but got very invested in halfway through the episode.

It felt natural–like they were meant to do this. No awkward silences, comfortable ones that they could sit in between lulls in conversation. No pressure, no expectation. Perhaps the most important–no need to prove herself to him. She didn’t feel like she had to. He enjoyed the real, unfiltered her. 

They sat on the couch parallel to the television. They’d started out on opposite ends, but as they ate their meal and chatted, their distance seemed to shrink. Neither of them noticed being too enthralled in the drama of the episode. 

“So you’re telling me that Jason should’ve just–what? Pulled her off to the side and–” 

“No, no, no!” MC exclaimed, pausing the show. She readjusted so she was facing him on the couch. “There is a certain way to do these things, Caleb.”

“Please enlighten me,” he said, completely enamored with her enthusiasm. 

Just then, he noticed how close they were. Her knee was overlapping his thigh as she sat criss-crossed to his right. She clearly didn’t notice as she prepared to give her monologue about how to properly make a move on a person. The couple on the show were made to go out on a date, but MC believed that neither one of them were giving the correct social cues to let the other know they were interested. 

Both of them wanted each other as they stated in their confessionals, but neither were making the proper moves to do so. Caleb believed, of course, that the man was showing all the proper cues, but he didn’t go further because the woman seemed like she didn’t want to. 

“Okay, so they were sitting there–mind you, plenty of space on that sofa,” That made Caleb chuckle despite himself. “She turned toward him–the right social cue, but he just sat there with his hands in his lap like a nervous little virgin.”

She clearly couldn’t see the irony between the show and her current situation. 

Caleb retaliated, making a calculated move to near her face. “But you’re forgetting that before that she said she wasn’t interested in a hookup, so that probably made him think she doesn’t want him in that way.”

“No, see, this is why men don’t get laid. They don’t listen,” The comment made Caleb throw his head back, chuckling. “She meant that she doesn’t sleep around, not that she was opposed to the idea of getting it on with him!”

“Then what should he have done? To let her know he was interested without making it seem like he just wanted a hookup.” Caleb asked, genuinely curious as to how her mind works. 

“Something simple, but forward. Something clear.”

“Like…?” 

She pondered on that for a moment, looking at the awkward couple on the screen. “Like… caressing her cheek or pulling her chin up to meet his eyes.”

“And if you were her, what would you do in response to that?” Caleb asked, no hint of amusement in his tone. His usually light tone turned into something heavier.

“Probably… g-get on top of him.” she stuttered out honestly, laughing. 

Suddenly, a warm hand trailed along the side of her face, cupping it gently. Testing the waters. When she didn’t shrink away in fear, he took it a step further. Warm, rough finger pads gripped her chin softly, steadily urging her to face him. She did willingly, breath catching in her throat. For a long moment, neither of them moved. Both too afraid. 

“Am I giving the right social cues? Because you don’t seem to be moving,” Caleb came off as confident, but he couldn’t mask the insecurity in his choice of words. 

Her eyes flickered between his and his lips. Up, down, then up again. On one wobbly knee, she threw her other leg across his lap, straddling him. 

Breathless, he smiled. “Now what should he do? To show that he’s interested.”

It was clear that they were no longer talking about the couple on the show. 

Her heart hammered heavily against her chest so loud that he could probably hear it. “Touch her.”

His hands settled on her waist, pulling her down so that she was flush against him. She could feel all of him rub against her. She could tell that he was big even through the multiple layers of fabric holding him back. Her cunt salivated in response. Shameless, she rolled her hips against it, eliciting a barely contained moan. 

He couldn’t help but groan, throwing his head back. With his hands, he guided her hips to do it again. She moaned, louder this time and involuntarily, his hips bucked up, causing a high gasp to fall out of her mouth. She continued rolling her hips, basking in the feel of his hard cock and the sounds he was trying and failing to contain. 

Gasping for air, he asked, “What should be his next signal?” 

Mind in a daze, it took her a second to respond. On a breathy moan, she said, “Fuck her on the couch.” She changed the motion of her hips to go up and down, making her want clear. 

His laugh was breathy and fanned against her collarbone where he hovered. “Greedy girl, you don’t get my cock so soon.” He licked a solitary stripe across her collarbone before she could protest. 

While she was distracted, he stilled her hips, not allowing them to move. She whined, trying to roll them again, but she was trapped in his grip. 

“Not fair,” she whined. 

“Maybe not, but I have to consider my feelings in this as well,” he said, looking like it pained him to stop. Her eyes finally opened, still blissed out. “You know how I told you that I’m not the kind of person to have hookups?”

She nodded shallowly. 

“It’s because I can’t handle them. There’s somethin’ about connecting in that way with someone that… Well, I can’t just have it once. I’m not fuck-buddy material either. My feelings are strongly attached to my actions. Once I’m with someone in that way, I can’t just let it go. I have to let it play out,” he confessed. What he meant was–I can’t have you just once. “I’m telling you this because I want you to know what you’re getting into with me. I feel like I’ve made my feelings clear, but… I can’t tell what yours are.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek at the confession, not knowing what to say back. 

“And you clearly don’t know either,” he smiled, already knowing some of her tics. 

She tried to cover it up. “No, it’s not that–”

He cut her off before she could fib. “It’s okay. I’m not going to stop likin’ you because you haven’t had the proper time to figure them out. I’m just putting myself out there, making my feelings clear. That way you’re not confused as to why I do certain things.”

She swallowed thickly. She’d never had a man be so straightforward before. It only made her want him more. But, she knew it wouldn’t be fair to her or him to do anything before she was ready–before she knew whether she wanted him in a relationship. She’d never been offered it so plainly before, or rather, never at all. 

Here, sat just below her was the hottest, kindest guy she’d ever met, offering himself to her. It felt wrong to deny him like this. But, technically, she didn’t have to. He was willing to wait for her to know her true feelings. Already, that was more than any other guy had ever given her. 

“Please say something,” he pleaded, trying his best to not sound as desperate as he was feeling. 

Despite being annoyed over how worked up she was, she smiled down at him. “Thank you,” Then, she planted a kiss on his brow.

The place where she kissed him blazed with heat. He smiled back at her, satisfied in knowing that he didn’t scare her away with his confession. All of a sudden, she got off of his lap and shuffled toward the hallway. 

“Hey, where are you going?” he asked, following her movements. 

Stopping, she tossed him a sly smile. “To take care of the mess you created.” 

At first his brows furrowed, not knowing what she was talking about. Upon feeling the cool wet spot on his lap, his eyes dragged down to see the puddle she’d left in her wake. She soaked him. His eyes climbed back to her as she smiled evilly at him. There, he could see the damp outline on her pants, larger than his. 

Seeing what exactly he’d done to her made him really regret not taking care of it for her. 

Her smile widened. “Have fun by yourself, I know I will!” she said, dashing into the hall, into her room. 

He hopped up off of the couch, but she’d already shut and locked the door before he could reach it. He knocked three times, more urgent than normal. 

“Ma’am?” he asked, desperation now fully evident in his voice. “Please, I can take care of it for you,”  

It was like music to her ears. 

On the other side of the door, MC giggled to herself. She made sure every one of her movements could be heard. From the rustling of her clothes being taken off to the motions of getting her vibrator out of her bag. 

“What’re you doing?” he asked from outside the door. 

“Taking care of business.” she answered simply, a smile evident in her voice. 

“Ma’am, please, I-I’m sure I can satisfy your needs much better,” Caleb begged. “Please open the door.”

She was silent for a few minutes, laying back on the bed. She hoped he’d be so needy that he knocked the door down. Instead, she was disappointed when she heard his footsteps walk away, and shut the door to his room. Little did she know that was part of his plan–he still stood right outside her door, listening carefully. 

The vibrator lay next to her, taunting her. Knowing that she wouldn’t need any lube, she clicked it on, and started circling her clit with the tip. Caleb’s eyes widened as he heard the unmistakable sound, cock throbbing in his sweats. Would it be wrong to… take it out? If she was playing with herself, he could too right?

Slowly, she pushed the vibrator in, imagining it was him. She knew he’d be bigger than this–she’d felt it right against her core. Replaying the scene in her mind, a wave of pleasure crashed over her, gushing out of her. Pumping the device in and out, obscene squelches could be heard throughout the apartment from how wet Caleb had made her. 

Outside the door, Caleb’s dick twitched in his palm, precum already spilling from his tip. Quiet, breathy moans floated out from underneath her door, making his palm pump faster up and down his slick shaft. He struggled to stay quiet himself as her moans progressively got louder, and the squelches got quicker. He cursed himself for not just giving in–what he would give to have her sounding like that underneath him right now. 

However, she couldn’t hear anything but the vibration in her core. She imagined him brutally pounding into her for not opening the door when he begged her to. Writhing, her tits bounced up and down as she moved on the toy, her bed creaking with her movements. Not able to hear it, she couldn’t care less as she chased her high on the pink vibrator. 

“I know you’re bigger than this stupid fucking toy,” she whispered, imagining it was him she was talking to. 

And, she actually was talking to him. 

His head fell back, imagining what he’d see if only he opened the door. What she would look like as he took the toy out and replaced it with himself. Would she scream for him? The answer was looking like a yes.

“I want your cock so bad,” she whined pathetically. 

Caleb’s cock twitched at the words. “You can have it, all of it,” he whispered back, but she couldn’t hear him, too lost in her pleasure. 

Her whimpers turned into cries, causing him to fuck his fist faster and harder. 

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum! C-Caleb!” she whisper-screamed. 

“Ma’am, I’m g-gonna,” he said, unable to finish before he painted the inside of his boxers in white. 

Curiosity got the best of him, so he chose to grab every paint sample sheet he could find. Now he was standing at her door, paint samples in hand. How much more obvious could he get? From the moment he heard her whispering to herself on the other end of their first phone call, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her. 

There was something so familiar about her. Her demeanor, her laugh, even her facial expressions. He couldn’t place it, but when he was around her, he felt at ease. She could make him laugh whether she meant to or not. Not to mention the ever-growing want and need to take care of her. It should’ve scared him, and it did, just not enough to keep him away from her. 

He thought it was obvious–his attraction towards her. No, it was something stronger than attraction. A pull. He knew she at least felt attraction toward him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have tried to kiss him. He told himself that she only made a move to distract herself from the pain she was experiencing, but that still meant something. He’d hold onto that. 

So he knocked. Three taps. Not loud, but firm. 

There wasn’t an immediate answer. It made sense–she’s a woman who lives alone, so she’s not gonna alert anyone that she’s home without looking first. But, there wasn’t a response for several minutes. He knocked again, and nothing. Odd. He knew from the security cameras that she couldn’t have left–she just got home from her shift not even thirty minutes ago. 

Just as he’s pulling out his phone to call her, the sound of the door unlocking made him quickly stuff it back in his pocket. She opens the door, a smile already on her face. He almost swore. It seemed that she kept getting more beautiful every time he saw her. This time, her hair was wet, a clear sign that she just got out of the shower. 

She was in the same robe she’d been wearing the first time he saw her. Although, this time, it seemed to have an even stronger effect on him. Shameless, his eyes raked down her body, slowly traveling back up, drinking in the way she looked–memorizing it for later. He tried to speak, but his tongue felt too big for his mouth and all the blood in his body had rushed downward. 

Thank god for his toolbelt. 

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” she asked, wringing out her hair with a towel. 

She was oblivious to his blatant attraction. 

“Oh… uh,” he tore his eyes away long enough to scramble to his back pocket. He plucked them and held the stack out for her to take. “Got you these at the store today. Thought you might wanna pick out the color since I’m gonna be repaintin’ the whole thing.”

Her eyebrows climbed up her forehead looking at all the different paint samples. “Oh my… you must’ve gotten every one of them! There’s so many.” She took the stack and moved away from the door, a silent welcome into her apartment.   

As he walked in, he could smell her scent all throughout the apartment from her shower. Apple scented body wash or shampoo permeated the air–he made a note of it in his mind. It did nothing but make his ever-growing problem worse. 

“I’ve wanted to paint, but I didn’t know we were allowed to. I could’ve swore Carl said something about no painting when I moved in. But it’s good because I’m sick of this beige.” she said, flipping through the various samples. 

Caleb smiled to himself, having been right about the no neutral color hypothesis. But, it turned into a frown as he remembered that she was right about the no painting rule. Eh, he does the inspections, so Carl will never figure out about it, he reasoned.

“Heh, yeah, I don’t blame you. It’s a boring color.” Yet, his walls were the same. 

He took her silence to really look around her apartment since he hadn’t the time before. He’s always either been too distracted by her or his work to memorize all of it. In the middle of the room, covering most of the floor of the living space, was a dark, ornamental rug. Her couch looked worn-in, but lumpy and comfortable. It was brown with large cushions strewn across it. 

The windows were framed by dark, drapey curtains–one set thick and heavy, and one sheer and lacy. Her lighting came from two arched floor lamps and a glass one she’d hung in the corner–that most definitely went against code. He would never tell though. The over-head light never seemed to be turned on, he noticed.

“Hey, why do you never turn on your over-head?” 

She met his gaze suddenly, and furrowed her brow up to where he was pointing. Then she shrugged, and said, “Oh that? It went out months ago.”

A pang of heat lanced his chest. Half-annoyance, half-jealousy. Another time he could’ve seen her earlier, but didn’t. Another time when that guy could’ve stepped up to help her, but didn’t. The light wasn’t difficult to change, but he could see why she didn’t. It wasn’t as simple as screwing in a new light bulb. 

He cleared his throat, a signal of his disapproval. “Why haven’t you told me about it?” he asked, trying to sound casual and failing. 

She didn’t notice, still picking through the colors. “I just forgot about it.” Something in her expression told him that she didn’t, not really. 

He didn’t prod, but he sensed it had something to do with him. The doctor. Every time he was brought up in conversation, she’d get the same pained expression. But, this gave him an opportunity. One to show her just how he’d treat her if she was with him. 

“You know, since I’m gonna have to re-do the floors and trim and everything, do you wanna pick that out too?” Everything about this was against the rules set for him by his boss. He didn’t care. 

Her head snapped up. “Really?” She looked surprised, but thrilled by the idea. “Do you have samples for those too?”

“No, but I could take you to the store to pick ‘em out.” he offered, heart hammering in his chest.

Was he being too obvious? To him, this would be an opportunity to get to know her outside of the apartment complex. You’d be surprised how much you can tell about a person based on what flooring they pick. 

The hesitation was blatant on her face. Her eyes didn’t meet his as she thought about it, narrowing her gaze back on the paint samples. His heart sunk to his toes. Preparing himself for rejection, he stared out her window at the busy street below. 

“You know what? Yeah. As long as you don’t mind, that is,”

His head snapped back to her. “I don’t mind one bit.”

She smiled–broadly like she couldn’t suppress it. His answering smile mirrored hers. They stared at each other for a moment too long. He hadn’t realized how close they were standing. 

Just as he dared a step closer, she said, “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be ready!” 

With that, she took off down the hall, paint samples forgotten on the coffee table. She’d picked the spreads she liked the best, separating them from the others. All those dark, moody colors that mirrored her furniture, he mused. But one she’d torn off and kept separate from the rest. A deep, rich brown–black bean. 

– 

“Here she is!” Caleb presented his fifteen year-old, white pickup with two firm pats to the hood. “She’s not some fancy car, but she’s mine.”

Caleb was used to his buddies making fun of him for driving the single cab truck, but deep down it was his pride and joy. 

She smiled, admiring the truck. “No, I love it. I’d much prefer this over a fancy car.” Caleb expected a “just kidding!” to follow up the sentence, but it never came. “I’d kill to have any vehicle, really. As long as it got me from point A to B, I’d be satisfied.” 

His brow furrowed. “Wait–you don’t have one? Then how do you get to work?”

Caleb knew her schedule–how early she went in and he knew the trains nor buses don’t run that early in the morning. 

She shrugged, smiling. “I have two legs and I use them,” she looked like she wanted to say more, so he stayed silent to let her have the room to talk. “But when Zayne and I were still… together, I guess, he’d take me if we got off at the same time.”

But only if they got off at the same time, he deduced. Not when it was inconvenient for him to help her out. When she leaves for work, it’s still dark outside. That’s not a safe environment for a lady to be walking the streets alone. It made him nauseous to think about all the times she’s walked to and from the hospital alone. It wasn’t some short walk–at least thirty or forty-five minutes if he had to guess. 

If he had the privilege of working with her, he’d make sure she got to and from the hospital safely even if it was inconvenient for him. Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

He scoffed, leaning against his passenger door, saying sarcastically, “What a guy.”

“What? I thought it was… nice of him.” She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. 

If he had as much money as he was sure the surgeon had, he’d already bought her a car. 

“It’s… the bare minimum,” he said honestly. 

“How is–what do you mean?” she stuttered, getting flustered. 

“When he was giving you a ride,” he paused, cringing at the double meaning that probably had. “Was he taking you here or to his house?”

He already knew the answer. 

“Both,” she answered defensively. He arched an eyebrow at her. “Mostly his, but still.” 

Caleb chuckled, half scoffing. “Like I said… what a guy,” he clicked his tongue, turning around and opening the passenger door he’d been leaned up against. “Right this way, ma’am.”

Her eyes widened, bouncing from him to the open seat. She took slow steps, unsure. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, holding out his hand to help her up. 

Her eyes flicked to his hand, then the handlebar, and chose the latter. “Nothing… just not used to getting the door opened for me.”

He stared at her for a long moment, disbelieving, but he could see it in her eyes that she was telling the truth. The bar is in hell. He laughed to himself thinking about all the ways he was going to spoil her so she wouldn’t accept anyone else’s treatment but his, and shut the door with a thud. 

Caleb got into the driver’s seat, turning the ignition until the truck roared to life. His eyes wandered over to the passenger seat. Her hands were folded in her lap and she was looking straight ahead. He could tell by her pained expression that she was thinking about the doctor again. 

Feeling the need to get her mind off of it, he said, “Buckle up, buttercup!”

“What?” She asked, snapping out of her daze just like he wanted. 

“You heard me. No passenger of mine travels unsafely.”

She raised her brows, and he learned that meant she was about to protest. “This passenger is fine without one.”

He laughed. “Maybe I wasn’t clear enough,” he risked leaning toward her, propping himself on the middle seat with his arm. She didn’t back away. “You will not ride with me without a seat belt,” he reached past her and she stiffened. Grabbing the seat belt, he pulled it across her agonizingly slow, their gazes never leaving each other’s. He clicked it in place, then lightly placed his hand on her knee. She jerked at the sudden contact and he couldn’t help the smile that split his face. It was supposed to be a friendly, innocent gesture, but they both knew it was anything but. “Precious cargo always gets strapped in for the ride.”

Her lips parted slightly, and he was tempted to take them with his own. But Caleb had restraint and discipline. He wouldn’t do anything until he was one-hundred percent positive she wanted him too–and not just for a hookup or to get over the doctor. This was not a woman he could just have once. It would drive him insane for the rest of his life.

So he pulled back with a satisfied smirk on his face. If he hadn’t turned her on, then at least he’d gotten her flustered. He could see that plain as day. He could still feel her eyes on him, so he made sure he looked his best. Putting the truck in reverse, he braced his right arm against her seat to look through the rearview window, making sure he was flexing enough to have his veins and muscles out, but not enough to be noticeable. 

When she sharply inhaled and looked away, he knew that had flustered her even more. His smirk deepened, proud of his success. She was attracted to him, he knew that for sure, but if he was going to have her, it had to go deeper than that. She would have to care about him. What better way to do that than showing her that he cared too?   

After a few minutes of silence, he broke it. “You know, I was just thinkin’ about you walking to work every morning. Don’t you go in early? Like it's still dark early?”

She was puzzled for a minute, questioning how he knew that. Then she must’ve remembered their first meeting. It was five in the morning. Caleb remembered it because he’d just had his first cup of coffee when she called.

“Yeah, why?” 

“Well… I thought that maybe since we start around the same time that I could give you a ride to work. So you wouldn’t have to walk alone…” when it was still nighttime to all those waiting to find their prey. “It’s more dangerous in the city, especially for women.”

She smiled, looking somewhat uncomfortable, but not for the reasons Caleb was thinking. “I appreciate your offer, but I’ve made it this far. Over a year without any incidents. I think I’ll be fine.” 

His heart dropped to his stomach. 

Unable to keep the disappointment out of his tone, he said, “Fine. Suit yourself. But remember it’s getting colder and I know those walks get pretty chilly during this time of year. I have a fully functional heater and seat warmers in this truck.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “So what’s the catch?”

“What catch?”

“There has to be something you want in return. I’m not stupid, Caleb.” She scoffed, crossing her arms. 

Caleb brought the truck to a complete stop in the middle of rolling traffic.

“What?” He was completely offended and appalled. 

Who made her think that every nice gesture had a cost?

Cars were honking and swerving around him, but he didn’t care. 

She was wide-eyed staring at him. “You need to move!” she urged. 

He cleared his throat, biting his tongue. He let off of the break, and went on. His jaw feathered and the steering wheel creaked as he gripped it harder. 

“I know you don’t know me very well, ma’am, but I’m not the kind of man that would expect anything for doing somethin’ nice. You may have encountered other boys who have those expectations, but I’m not them,” he paused to give her a serious look. “You should never worry about returning any favors to me. I don’t expect anything in return. Ever.”

His stare was so intense that she had to turn away to keep herself contained. After all the things he just said, all the small gestures he’d done, she was ready to put her hair up and really return the favor to him. 

“Wouldn’t it be out of the way for you to leave work to take me, then come back?” she asked, trying to reason through every excuse he could have to back out and hurt her feelings.

“Not at all. I go to the hardware store around that time every morning. The hospital isn’t far from it, so it would be a small detour if anything.” 

MC tried to trudge up anything he could have for an excuse. “Well… can I depend on you to get me there on time? My boss is a stickler over time.” she asked, knowing full well that she was not in the slightest. 

“Yes ma’am,” he nodded confidently. Warmth spread in her gut at the name he so often called her. It should make her feel old and he most likely said it to all of his lady tenants, but it made her flutter every time. “But that one might have a slight problem.”

She expected it, but her stomach still dropped with disappointment. She sighed, saying, “Which would be?”

“If you haven’t had breakfast before your shift, I would have to insist that you eat something, which could make you late,” He broke his gaze at the road ahead to smile at her. Of course, he caught her startled expression. It made his smile even wider. 

“I don’t eat breakfast…” She would love to, but she couldn’t afford more than one meal a day. 

“Well, be prepared to start come Monday mornin’.” 

MC just stared at him, baffled and questioning if this man was real. 

When they pulled into the hardware store, he threw the truck in park and hopped out, locking the door behind him. Which left her locked inside. Before she could protest, he was already back at her door, unlocking and opening it for her with that shit-eating grin. It told her that he knew exactly what effect he had on her, and that was proof enough that he was, in fact, real. 

He, of course, got the shopping cart and followed behind her as she picked everything out. Flooring, trim, paint. Neither paid attention to how much money all of it was. Black bean was a premium paint offered only in stores. The trim was carved and painted by hand. The flooring was real hardwood, not the cheap linoleum he usually stuck down in everyone else’s apartments.

He didn’t care as long as she got what she wanted. Caleb could only imagine what she would pick out for their own house if they were to get one together. He could just picture them buying a fixer-upper and redoing all of it together. Together, meaning she picked out the materials and he did all of the work. She wouldn’t like it, so he’d give her a small task like taping all of the trim off. 

His imagination ran wild until he rang up everything and saw the total. Needless to say, with all these materials, his estimate was one-third of the actual price. He didn’t sweat it since he had plenty of money saved up. But her cheeks heated when she saw the total, thinking about how much it would’ve cost her if Caleb hadn’t lied for her. Then, she realized how much trouble he could get into if Carl were to figure it out. 

When he pulled out the card, she narrowed her eyes on the name: Caleb Xia–not Carl. Caleb. And she seriously doubted Carl would pay for a card with Caleb’s name on it. She then noted that it wasn’t a credit card, but a debit card. She’d never known of a business to give a card for materials that wasn’t a credit card. It just wouldn’t make sense. 

The realization hit her–he was paying for it himself. 

She went to stop him, but he’d already paid and she didn’t want to make a scene. So she went silent, questioning everything he’d been doing for her. There was no way he was just doing it out of the goodness of his heart–no one had ever done anything for her like that. If he didn’t want sex, then he must want something else, she reasoned. 

But what?

Throughout the entire ride back, she was silent, debating on this question. Even as they parked, she came up blank. So, she decided that she would analyze him. 

He insisted on carrying all the materials up by himself, only letting her carry the bag with the extra paint brushes. Meanwhile, he lugged up a paint can, a bucket full of trim pieces, then went back down to get all the boxes full of flooring. Still, MC hadn’t spoken a word since he paid at the store. She wasn’t mad, just shocked and confused. 

In her distraction, she hadn’t been paying attention when Caleb emerged from the study with a solemn look on his face. 

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news, ma’am.”

She palmed her forehead. “What is it now?”

“Well…” For the first time she saw his face turn a shade darker. The red tint on his cheeks was barely noticeable, but it was there. “I happened to forget the protocol for this situation. Since there’s mold in your apartment, for safety reasons, you’re supposed to vacate the unit until the problem is taken care of. And it just so happens that we don’t have another unit to put you in currently.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” she sighed, covering her face again. One bad news after another, it just kept coming to her like she was cursed. She stood, pacing the length of the room. “I can’t afford a hotel right now, and I don’t have any friends to stay with. I guess I could call him–” She thought out loud. 

“No, you don’t need to do that.” Caleb said quickly. 

“Oh, really? Then what’s my other option? ‘Cause it doesn’t look like I have any!” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. 

Not only was she upset about not being able to stay in the place she pays rent for each month, but she also felt lingering annoyance over the confusion about him. 

He stilled her pacing by grabbing her raised fists, and turning her to face him. Her breath caught as she looked him in the eyes. With one simple look, he was able to not only calm her down, but send her pulse skittering up at the same time. 

“I have an extra bedroom in my apartment complete with a king sized bed, television, and an empty closet. It’s yours if you want to take it,” he said, eyes bouncing all around her face, unsure of where to look to gauge her reaction. “It’ll just be for a few days ‘til I can get the carpet taken up and out and clean underneath it.”

Multiple things would affect her decision. For starters, she didn’t know Caleb all too well. She couldn’t see his motivation behind this. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t doing this to try to hurt her–he’s had plenty of opportunities to do so, but he’s been nothing but nice and respectful. Not given her a single red flag. 

Another major thing she had to consider was how she felt about him. It was safe to say that she found him more than attractive. According to her, he was one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen. Not only that, but he was helpful and a pure gentleman. Living even just for a few days with that? Forget him making a move on her. She didn’t know if she’d be able to keep her hands off of him. 

And if that did happen–what would be the repercussions? 

Well, she didn’t know or think about any of this because she said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, absolutely. I don’t care one bit. Be my guest.” 

“Okay, yeah.” she said stupidly, thinking with what was between her legs instead of her mind. 

She just couldn’t stop thinking of him without a shirt on, doing daily pick-up around the house. Or even better, cooking, even if it seemed like a pipe dream for a man to cook for her. And him fresh out of the shower, a towel hanging low on his waist and hair still wet? She wasn’t going to make it through this. This is the worst thing she could have agreed to. 

“Great,” he patted her shoulders, lifting off of them. She suddenly realized what a bad idea this was without his hands on her. “Show me what you need and I’ll take it down there for you.”

Flustered, she stumbled over her words. “Y-Yeah! Just give me a few.” 

But, she didn’t remember again until she stepped in a puddle on her carpet. On her carpet. Inside. Not outside. The chilly wetness seeped through her sock, causing an uncomfortable, unwelcome chill down her spine. When she looked at where the leak was coming from, she couldn’t help but to stop and stare at it. A leak in the window. It was plain as day. 

She let out a growl of annoyance, stomping her foot in the shallow puddle. 

How was she going to fix this?

Oh yeah, she doesn’t have to. Realizing that the maintenance man Caleb was one call away, an odd warmth spread in her gut. And before she could stop it, a smile made its way to her face. She whipped out her phone, searching for his contact and pressed the call button. When she heard the ringing, it couldn’t help but stir the butterflies in her stomach. All this excitement for the maintenance man. 

Over the past week, she’d begun taking the elevator once again which caused her to see Caleb a lot more often since he’d been working on them. He had her do test runs on it, ensuring that it was completely safe–he just wanted her to see what a smooth ride they were after his tinkering. There was one day that she was so dead on her feet from the hospital that Caleb offered to take her bag, and escort her to her door. Being completely over-tired, she accepted his help, but now she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. 

And him. 

How much of a gentleman he was, how sexy his smile was, and how much she wanted to pin him down and– 

The thought was cut off by Caleb’s voice. “Are you there, ma’am?”

“Yeah!” she said a little too brightly after being pulled from her daydream. “Um… do you have a minute to come up here and look at this? I think I have a leak.”

“Yes ma’am, I always have a minute for you,” even though the comment was probably one he told to all of his tenants, she couldn’t suppress how her heart raced and blood pressure racketed up. “Where’s it at?”

She stuttered after the comment. “Oh… it’s in my study.”

“Your study?” Caleb asked, and she didn’t think she’d ever heard him use that tone with her. It wasn’t mean, but just a tiny bit more harsh than his normal easy-going lilt. His next sentence almost sounded pained. As if already knowing, he asked, “Is it a window?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” she said, gritting her teeth, bracing herself for impact. 

“Damnit,” he sighed, huffing loudly. MC’s wince had him realizing that she probably thought he was mad at her. “It’s not you–it’s just–well, Carl, as you probably know, did the maintenance on this building before he got too old to do it. About five-ish years ago he replaced all the windows. Turns out the old fart doesn’t know how to properly seal them. I’ve had to go back and redo all of ‘em, and I must’ve missed yours.”

“No, I didn't know that. That explains why everything is so…” she looked around, remembering the paint over the lightswitches and the off-color patches of carpet she’d covered with a rug. “Poorly done.”

That was the nicest way to put it. 

“Yep. And now I’m havin’ to clean up after him,” he sounded like his aggravation was disappearing. 

Three knocks at her front door startled MC. 

“Someone’s at my door.” she spoke in a hushed tone as if they might hear her all the way in another room. 

“Oh, no… maybe you should check and see who it is.” Caleb said, speaking in a hushed tone that matched hers. 

“You’re right.”

She walked through the hall, into the living room right to the door. Through the peephole, she was met with the image of a very large eyeball. 

“Ah!” she shrieked, stumbling back. 

Caleb, still on the other line, sounded amused as he whispered, “What’s wrong?”

That’s when she realized the giant eye had a purple iris. It was him. She hung up the phone, undid the lock and opened the door. She was met with Caleb smiling ear-to-ear like a cat. 

“Not funny.” She insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

The flush in her cheeks deepened, but not from fear or embarrassment. 

“I thought it was pretty funny.” 

“I didn’t. Now, come look at this.” She stomped through the halls and Caleb couldn’t help but think of how cute she looked–like a pissed off baby elephant. 

He found that he kind of liked to piss her off.

“This is bad.” is all Caleb could come up with. 

He’d discovered that the window had been leaking much longer than a day or a week. This had to be months worth of water damage. When he took the boards around the window up, they practically crumbled from being soaked in water. The paint below the window peeled right off. 

“What about the carpet?” MC asked, chewing on her nails out of a nervous habit. “Do you think it’s molded?”

He sighed, pulling out a tactical knife, flipping it open. “Only one way to find out.”

With that, he made a slice in the gushy carpet, dragging the knife through it easily. He was going to have to replace all of it anyway. Tossing the piece back, it revealed a greasy patch of mold. MC gagged and backed away from the sight. 

“Mold confirmed, I’m afraid.” 

“What are we going to do?” she asked, sounding scared. 

We. He liked how that sounded when she said it. Perhaps too much. It made his mind go places he knew he wasn’t allowed to go.  

He hated that he had to tell her this. Hated that it was a rule. “Well, according to your contract, technically since you didn’t call me when it happened and it’s sat like this… you’re supposed to take care of it.”

At that, she went silent. He looked up at her and she was covering her face with her hand. When she took her hand off, it was red. Stupidest fucking rule, he thought.

Shakily, she asked, “How much do you think it’ll be?” 

“Um…” He tried to think of a way to soften the blow, but came up with nothing. He knew she struggled with money. After all, that’s why most of the people in the building lived there. “Probably at least half a grand?”

That was bare minimum and would only cover materials, if that. Of course, he wouldn’t charge her for labor. 

She made a little choking sound. “I’ll be right back.” 

With that, she left the room and turned down the hall, shutting the door to her bedroom with a soft thud. After a few moments of silence, Caleb couldn’t stay still any longer. He hopped up, pressing his ear to the wall. He could swear that he could hear silent little sobs and mumbling. They hit him like a blow to the chest. 

She didn’t deserve to pay for what that asshole did wrong. Caleb knew why she hadn’t noticed it until now, and it irked him. Since she was staying over at that guy’s place all the time and this room wasn’t being used, there was no way she could’ve noticed it. In no way was it her fault, and he didn’t care if that sounded biased. To him, that was the truth. She didn’t deserve to have to pay for something that wasn’t her fault. If anything, the guy should’ve been taking care of these things for her. 

He had to fix this somehow. 

Carefully, he stepped into the hall. He rapped three little knocks on her door. 

“Ma’am?” he asked in a gentle voice. 

“Just a minute.” she choked out, and he could tell that she was trying to steady her voice, but failed. 

He winced. “I-I know you're upset. Will you please open the door?” He’d never heard himself sound so soft before. 

At first, there was no answer. Just as he was about to knock again, the door slowly opened. Her room was dark, but he could still see the tears that had streaked her face. Not only that, her eyes were still glassy and red. He wanted to give her a hug and tell her it would all be okay, but he knew that he’d probably get a complaint to Carl for his behavior. He didn’t know why, but he felt the need to take care of her and take all her stress away. 

Before he could think better of his plan, he said, “I know how we can get past the rule.” 

Her eyes lit up, and it made him feel lighter too. “How?”

He couldn’t stop staring at her raised brows and the little “o” her mouth made. “I’ll write in the logs that it was from those storms last week,” he made it up off the top of his head. “That way, you won’t have to pay for any of it.”

She gasped, and smiled finally. It quickly turned back into a frown and furrowed brow. “But, wouldn’t that mean you’d have to lie to Carl?”

He hadn’t thought that out. “Yep.”

“You’d do that for me? I mean, you shouldn’t. That would risk your job and–”

He cut her off. “Yes… I would,” for a moment, she looked stunned or startled. He cursed himself–he shouldn’t be so forward. Even though she’d almost kissed him, it didn’t mean that she wanted him. But he wanted her. “I’ve been in your spot before and if I can help you out, then I don’t mind doing it. He won’t notice the difference.”

Yes he would. Carl went over each of his logs meticulously. He knew what everything should cost. 

Quickly, she closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around his torso. Now he was the stunned one. Not expecting the sudden contact, he slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders in return. It felt so good to finally touch her. She smelled divine–like red apples and cinnamon. She pulled back, staring up at him like he hung the moon. Then she smiled.

She nodded. “Yep. How could I have ever found this room without you, Caleb?” Sarcasm was heavy in her tone. 

He chuckled and took her hand in a gentle grasp, squeezing it lightly. Oddly, her heart leapt. “One of these days, you’ll be thankful for my directions. They might just help you when you’re least expecting it, you know,” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Caleb knows best and all that, but I need to hurry if I’m gonna find a good seat,” she said, gently trying to pull her hand free from his. 

He squeezed it tighter, not letting her go. “Are you still coming to my place after you’re done? I’m making your favorite and–” he cut himself short, thinking. “I might have a surprise for dessert if you do,”

Her cheeks burned. A surprise?

Intrigued, she asked, “What is it?”

“Pips, I just said it was a surprise,” he gives her a gentle smile that he preserved for her and her only. “So… are you?”

“Let me think…” she trailed off, tapping her index finger against her cheek. “I guess I can fit it into my schedule.”

His smile grew brighter. “Alright, I’ll be back here to pick you up after class.” 

He finally loosens his hold on her hand, and they drop to her sides, but the two remain in steady eye contact with one another. Why did it suddenly feel too hot? Between them, the air seemed too thick to breathe. She catches herself staring at him and quickly blinks the unfamiliar thoughts away, turning her attention to the rather boring tile floor. 

She throws him an awkward smile and a bob of her head before stumbling toward the classroom door. Her thoughts were muddled. She’d never felt that way before. Something about that moment had gotten to her. Whether it was the way his gaze was laser-focused on her, making her feel like the only person in the world, or the kind gesture of making her favorite food after her first grueling day of classes, she didn’t know. 

It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Caleb to do things like this. He makes her favorite meals all the time. He always stares at her like that. But never before had she noticed how that stare made her feel. Important. Cared for, even. He’d always made her feel that way, but something had shifted in her subconscious. 

Of course, she chose to ignore her feelings as she plopped down into one of the seats in the back of the classroom. She was early, so there were only a few other people in the classroom. Plenty of time to prepare. From her bag, she pulled out a blue three-subject notebook, the one dedicated solely to this class. Caleb insisted that the one subject wouldn’t be enough paper for the entire semester. Three subjects were just the right amount for the amount of writing the class would require.  

Soon, students began flooding in, filling the rest of the seats in the classroom. Out of her periphery, she could see someone take up the lone seat beside her. Being too busy preparing her notes, she didn’t glance over to see the person. She decorated the top of the page with the date, class, and a pretty doodle of a DNA double helix. 

The Professor finally walked in right on time, carrying a stack of papers in his hand. He made a beeline for the back of the classroom where MC was sitting. She prepared to introduce herself to him, but instead, he turned to the left.

The papers hit her neighbor’s desk with a slap. “Zayne, hand one of these to everyone,” he orders, leaving to assume his position in front of the class. 

She recognized the name. Zayne? It couldn’t be…

As she looked over at the student, sure enough, it was Zayne Li from her childhood. But taller and a lot more handsome. 

Her breath caught in her throat as she gasped out, disbelieving, “Zayne?” 

His eyes didn’t meet hers as he replied, “MC,”

She huffed a nervous laugh. “Oh, my goodness, I was scared you wouldn’t remember me. How are you?” 

“Fine,” he said, laying a sheet of paper on her desk. 

As he tried to move on to the next person, she quickly asked, “What are you doing in this class?” 

He stopped, still not turning to face her. “I’m not,” he said coldly. “I’m the teacher’s assistant.”

“Oh, I see…” MC replied, leaving the conversation at that. 

He made it clear that he was in no mood to talk. Most people would take offense to this, but she knew Zayne. That was just his personality. Rigid and indifferent towards most. Especially those he wasn’t close with. And it must’ve been… at least six years since she’d last seen him. It was safe to say that they were no longer good friends like they had been back in the day, which explained his icy demeanor toward her. 

Trying to busy her mind with other thoughts than embarrassment, she looked down at the sheet before her. On it, there were multiple-choice questions, short answers, and even a small essay question. What was this for? Surely the professor wasn’t handing out tests on the first day of class. 

“Mr. Li, your TA, is handing out your first assessment of the year. You should’ve already reviewed the first few chapters in your textbook. The test will be going over the reading from them,” the professor announced. 

MC’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. We were supposed to read? She looked around the classroom for anyone else who seemed confused about this, but there were none. All had already started on the test and looked confident while doing it. She’d never had a professor give out a test on the first day of class, especially not one that counted for an actual grade. Possibly this was just a practice test. 

As Zayne took the seat next to her once again, she leaned over and whispered, “So… this isn’t for an actual grade, right? Giving a test on the first day is a little… absurd. Don’t you think?”

Zayne didn’t look at her but whispered back, “I’d recommend you focus on your test; otherwise, it won’t be graded at all.” 

“So, it is for a grade?”

Zayne squeezed his eyes shut, blowing out a long breath. “Stop talking or you–” 

“Miss!” The professor called out. “Is there something you’d like to share with the class since you think it’s necessary to talk to Mr. Li during our test?”

“No, I was just asking him a question.” 

The professor began marching towards her desk. She froze under the scrutiny of his eyes. 

Yanking the sheet of paper off her desk, he said, “Cheating will not be tolerated in my classroom.” With that, he put her paper in the garbage.

She rose from her desk, barking out, “No, sir, you don’t understand. I was merely asking if the test was for a grade.” She turned to Zayne, who was staring down at his desk. “Tell him, Zayne,”

Zayne says nothing while keeping his gaze locked on his desk. When she turns back to the Professor, he has a gleaming, evil smile on his face. 

He laughed at her, spittle splashing across her face. “You’re excused from class. Come back when you’re actually prepared.” 

MC stared in shock at the professor. He looked satisfied at the tears welling in her eyes. 

She turned to Zayne. “Zayne, please… do something. Say something,” she said, unable to keep the cracks from shining through in her voice. 

Once again, Zayne didn’t meet her gaze. “You heard Professor Yang, MC.”

Any hope of redemption was lost in that moment. Her mouth wobbled, betraying her. She rushed to put her blue notebook in her bag, forgetting her new pens entirely. Sniffling, she rushed out of the room, and as soon as she entered the hall, the tears that had formed in her eyes fell to her cheeks. They cascaded down her jaw to her neck, ruining her makeup. 

Through blurry vision, she made it to Caleb’s apartment, barging in with the spare key he’d given her when he moved in. It looked like Caleb had only been there for a moment himself, putting up groceries he had delivered. But upon seeing the absolutely wrecked state of MC, he dropped everything to rush over to her. 

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, Pips? I thought you were in class,” he panicked, picking her face up between his palms, brushing her tears away with his thumbs. He tried to get her to look at him, but her eyes were squeezed shut, tears flowing from their corners. “Am I going to have to kill someone?” 

His tone was light, seemingly unserious, except he was anything but. It made her laugh, and it made him feel better since that was his goal. 

“No, Caleb,” she said, and her eyelids finally opened, revealing bloodshot, glassy eyes. 

Caleb’s heart dropped to his feet, then picked up its pace when thinking about the revenge he was going to inflict on whoever made her like this. Still, he couldn’t help but attempt to make her smile again. 

“Give me a name,” he said, brushing back the stray hairs plastered to her wet face. “And you won’t have to worry about them bothering you again.”

She blinked, realizing he was completely serious. “It was just my professor. I was asking a question–” she cut herself off, realizing she was about to mention Zayne. She wasn’t happy with Zayne at the moment after what he’d just done, but if Caleb knew that Zayne wouldn’t help her out of trouble, there was nothing stopping Caleb from fighting him. Since it would risk Caleb being expelled if he were to challenge a professor, she didn’t worry about telling him that part. “And he claimed that I was cheating on the test.”

“Test? On the first day?” Caleb looked shocked, even for an aerospace engineering major. So, this wasn’t the norm for upper-level classes. “You’re supposed to be going over the syllabus, and maybe half of a lesson. Not take an assessment,” 

“That’s what I thought too, but apparently I missed the reading before the start of term, and now, since he thought I was cheating, he threw away my test!” she said, lip quivering like she was about to burst into tears once again. 

Caleb hurried to make her look at him before she could cry anymore. “It’s not your fault, Pipsqueak. I’ve never had a professor hand out a test that was worth a grade on the first day. He’s probably just some pretentious prick who loves to see his students fail,” he soothed, stroking his thumbs along her cheeks. 

She leaned into his palm, closing her eyes. She was shaking. It set a fire in his belly. He was going to make that bastard pay for making her upset. 

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do. There’s no way I’m passing the class now with a zero for a test grade,” 

Caleb smiled down at her, already setting up a plan in his head. “There’s still time to switch into another class and take that one next semester,” he reassured, finally letting go of her face. “But, it’ll have to wait ‘til after dinner. Now, you are going to go take a shower to wash away all the day’s worries while I cook. Afterwards, we can call your advisor together.”

Her tear-stained face faintly smiled up at him, digging up memories of when they were small and she’d look at him just like this. It made his heart sing. Could she hear it singing for her? 

“Thank you. I knew you’d fix it for me.” She blew out a shaky sigh of relief and clung to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

That simple, innocent gesture made it all worth it. “What else am I for but to take care of everything for you?” Caleb asked, not realizing the truth in what was supposed to be sarcasm. 

She smiled back up at him, mascara now dried under her eyes. “Do you still have the bodywash I like?” 

“Of course, what do you think I am? An amateur? I’ll have you know that I earned a one hundred percent on my annual MC exam–passed with flying colors,” Again, she giggled, like music to Caleb’s ears. “That’s why I know that you didn’t bring a change of clothes, so I have some already waiting for you in the bathroom. Along with two towels already in the warmer,” 

To MC, this was nothing out of the normal. “I’d expect nothing less.”

With that, she was waltzing to the bathroom, almost back to her normal self. She left her bag discarded in the doorway, per usual. Caleb, of course, picked up after her as was his duty. Shortly after, he continued preparing the ingredients for braised chicken wings. While he was cooking, he could faintly hear her singing from the shower.

It made him feel better to know that the professor didn’t entirely ruin her day. At least she could get some enjoyment out of it. He’d just added the wings back to the pan when he heard a precarious sound come from the bathroom. No, he thought, she couldn’t be. But then there it was again. A gasp, then a high, keening sound. 

She was touching herself. In his shower. He hadn’t heard her in so long, not since they’d been out of Gran’s and at college. He couldn’t stop himself from going to the door, pressing his ear to it. He stared at the handle. Knowing she’d left it unlocked, he was so tempted to open it. The continued sounds had him rubbing his member through his pants, attempting to suffocate it. This was a total infringement on her privacy, and he shouldn’t be doing this. 

He forced himself to push away from the door, but when he did, it creaked open. She hadn’t even shut it all the way. A sure sign of her unwavering trust in him. Trust he didn’t deserve. It revealed steam billowing out of the top of the shower, and her sounds were now unmuffled and unmistakable for anything else. While he couldn’t see anything, his mind was filled with images of what could possibly be going on behind that shower curtain. His eyes wandered, trying to pry himself away and shut the door. 

Caleb, being the horrible planner he was, decided to put his laundry basket directly next to the door. And what do you know, his eyes found them immediately. Her panties. He’d told himself he wouldn’t do this again. Take them again. But they were his favorite–the red lacy ones with a heart-shaped hole in the front. It was almost like she placed them on top just for him to see. 

Unable to help himself, he took them from the pile. Upon further inspection, they were soaked. Not from water. From her. But what had turned her on to the point of drenching her panties? Her vagina couldn’t have cried along with her. Caleb imagined that it was because of him–he’d let himself think that for a moment, although it could never be true. 

Bringing the pair up to his nose, he inhaled the fresh scent of her sex. His cock made a bid to burst through his zipper. He couldn’t do this, not now. She could get out of the shower at any moment. Then he looked down. He had to do something about it; otherwise, she’d see just how much her noises affected him.

His tongue brought the gusset of the panties into his salivating mouth, and he moaned. He couldn’t help it. She tasted like everything he’d ever wanted on his tongue. Pulling the door closed just like she had it, he hid himself behind the wall and unzipped his pants. He immediately shoved his hand down his pants, gripping his shaft.

The contact alone, mixed with her sounds and her taste, was almost enough to undo him on the spot. He began pumping into his hand as his tongue explored every inch of wetness on the garment. As he did so, her cries were getting more helpless and louder, almost like she couldn’t control them. It made him move faster, rapidly approaching the edge of his orgasm. And then she said two little words. So small and so quiet that he shouldn’t have heard them. 

But he did. 

“Fuck, Caleb!”

There he went, tumbling over the edge like the words had pushed him over. Muffled by her panties in his mouth, he chanted her name much softer than she had his–just like he always did when he came. The load he spurted out was enough to coat his boxers. His hand shook around his still pulsating cock. 

That couldn’t have been his name on her tongue, right? It was impossible. He had to have heard her wrong. His ears had to be making things up, hearing incorrectly. 

It was now the weekend and all she wanted was a hot bath after the week she had. So, of course, she forced herself to pick up the phone. She saved his number under “Maintenance Guy,” since she didn’t want to put his full name in her phone. It felt too close and she knew it would just be a temptation to do something that’s against the code of conduct. Although she didn’t think she saw a “no hooking up with the maintenance guy” rule, it would only make things awkward if it were to not work out or end badly.  

Before pressing the call button, she stopped herself. Was she doing this because she really wanted a bath or because she’s two or three glasses of wine deep and it was having some affect on her reasoning? She pressed the button anyways and took another long drag of her wine. 

It rang, rang, rang, until she was forwarded to voicemail. 

Why would the maintenance man not answer her call? Oh yeah, it’s the weekend and he’s not working–duh. It was obvious even in her drunken state, but she couldn’t suppress the pang of disappointment she felt in her chest. Just as she was about to toss her phone on the table, it started ringing. 

Like an answering a prayer, it read, “Maintenance Guy,”

She answered, “Hey, Caleb! I’m sorry for bothering you. I totally forgot that you probably don’t work on weekends.”

“Hello to you too,” he greeted, chuckling. “And you’re not a bother–you can call whenever you need me. I’m… on call,” there were sounds in the background of wherever he was. It kind of sounded like the background noise in a grocery store. “So what do you need?”

Realizing that she’d been quiet, she spoke suddenly, “A bath,”

The other line was quiet for just a second too long. “Uh… do you want me to give you one, ma’am? I mean, I can do that–” he said, and his voice sounded heavier. 

“Oh my god, not what I meant–sorry, my brain is fuzzy,” she cut him off, giggling nervously. She wanted to tell him hell yes, one-hundred times yes, but she knew she couldn’t and he probably didn’t really want that. “I meant my hot water has been out and I need a hot bath after the week I had.”

He cleared his throat before speaking again. “Oh. Did you have a tough week?” He almost sounded concerned. 

“Um… yeah,” she said, taken by surprise, but opted to say no more.

Sensing that she didn’t want to talk about it, he changed the subject. “Did I hear you correctly when you said your hot water has been out?” 

She went quiet, trying to think of a lie, but her mind was too clouded by the alcohol. “What if I said no–would you believe me?” She tested the waters with her sweet, sugary tone. 

“How long’s it been?” An exasperated Caleb asked, drawing the sentence out in a way that sounded like he was teasing. 

She groaned. “Can you come fix it or not?” 

“I will as soon as you swear that you’ll call anytime you have a problem. It’s my job to take good care of my tenants, and if I remember correctly–you said that you have plenty of things for me to fix,” 

“It’s true, my apartment is practically falling apart,” she fell back on the couch, feeling warm inside and maybe a little hot outside. “Fine, I swear.” 

“Great! Now that I have that on recording, I can hold it against you in a court of law if you were to go back on it,” Caleb said, sounding intense. It made her think he was being serious. The other line was quiet, so he filled the silence quickly. “I’m joking. Just let me get finished at the store and I’ll be there,”

“Oh, okay yeah,” she laughed finally, but it sounded unsure. “Don’t drive fast. I’d hate not to get my hot bath because you were rushing.”

Luckily, he chuckled at her little joke. “Yes ma’am. See you in a bit.” 

“See you.” she said, quickly hanging up the phone.

Little did she know just how quick he’d rush to fix her water heater. 

– 

It wasn’t a half hour later that Caleb was knocking at her door. He came prepared–tool belt, bag, the whole sha-bang. What he wasn’t prepared for was her. Specifically the state she was in–an old t-shirt hanging off her shoulder, old short-shorts, hair braided back messily, and the cherry on top of it all was the flush in her cheeks. Somehow, she’d gotten even prettier since he last saw her. 

Which was impossible because he’d glimpsed her just yesterday taking the stairs while he was fixing the buttons to the elevator conveniently at the same time she got off from her shift. Not that he was keeping count of all the times he saw her, but it’d been forever since he’d gotten a real good look at her. And damn was it hitting him differently now that she looked up at him with too-wide pupils. Too wide to be normal, he thought absentmindedly. 

“You’re here.” she said, looking as if she’d just come out of a daze. 

He smiled widely. “Yes I am,” her answering grin was lazy, but tempting at the same time. “May I come in?”

She didn’t answer but giggled, moving out of the doorway. Her steps faltered slightly as she walked over the threshold of the living room. He noticed and his hand shot out instinctively to keep her from falling, but she didn’t need it. As soon as he spotted the used wine glass and nearly empty bottle on the table, he knew why she was in such a state. She was drunk. 

She was drunk and she wanted a hot bath. It made sense–she said that she had a rough week. He could tell. If that was a new bottle of wine, she’d almost drank the entire thing by herself. And she didn’t seem like the binge-drinker sort of gal. But he shouldn’t press–especially not when she’s vulnerable like this. 

Instead he opted for, “Where’s your water heater?” Fixing that would be the best thing he could do for her right now. 

“I have no idea.” She replied, plopping herself down on the couch. 

He laughed, unable to hold back his amusement with her. “You have no idea where your water heater is, and you’ve lived here for how long?”

He knew it was well over a year from checking her housing agreement for her name, which totally didn’t break any confidentiality agreements. 

She finished her glass off with a satisfied hum, wasting no time pouring another cup. “Isn’t it your job to know all that stuff?” As she finished her sentence, her glass was filled but her bottle was bare. She stared at the empty bottle like it betrayed her. 

“Every apartment is different since the building’s old and taken on by many owners over the years,” Caleb explained, ignoring the little voice in his head that told him to ask her what was wrong. But damn was it nagging. “Do I have your permission to search for it?”

She raised her wine glass to him. “Mi casa es you casa… or is it yu?” 

“It’s tu,” Caleb laughed, trying to sound light-humored. “How many of those have you had?”

“Oh… I dunno,” she thought, placing her pointer finger to her chin. “Five… maybe six. Six sounds right.”

That had to be the whole bottle. Good thing she was out. Otherwise, Caleb would feel the need to step in, which would cross a boundary that he wasn’t supposed to. He’d seen plenty of his tenants drink while he was working on their stuff and it never bothered him–really, he hadn’t even paid any mind to it. So what was different when it came to this one–was it because he sort-of knew the reason for drinking–that she was sad? And why did that bother him?

Whatever it was, it made him feel funny. Antsy, but warm in the middle. 

“What’s the occasion?” he asked, trying to sound casual. 

She hesitated. “Do I need one?” It was clear in her tone that she took offence to his line of questioning. 

“No, no… I was just wonderin’ if there was one.” he began looking for a closet. 

Most water heaters in the building ended up being in the hall just off the living room, so he could still hear her. And just as he entered the hall, the first door he opened–there it was. 

“It’s my pity party. No one but me showed up, clearly.” She was attempting to sound light-hearted, but he could tell that she was just sad beneath it all. 

In a careful, teasing tone, he said, “Not true! I showed up, did I not?”

“Ah yes,” she giggled, her head falling back against the arm of the couch. He could see more strands fall from her braid. He’d never seen someone so effortlessly beautiful. “The maintenance man, my guest of honor–here to save me from the arctic showers I’ve been taking all week.”

She’d gone a week without hot water? Caleb had to bite his tongue–it would do no good to scold her right now even if it was meant lightheartedly. Still, he had to suppress a laugh. 

“Careful, Miss. Keep talkin’ like that and you won’t get a warm bath tonight. You should appreciate your guest of honor.” He knew it was an empty threat, but he liked teasing her. 

Her head shot up to look at him, her mouth agape like she was scandalized. “You wouldn’t!” she said, a devilish grin creeping onto her mouth. 

Caleb had to look away to keep her from seeing his smile. “Try me.” he egged on. 

All of a sudden, warmth loomed behind him. When he turned around, there she was, wine glass in hand nearly empty. 

She tilted her head up at him, the perfect picture of innocence. She dared a step closer, pressing one finger to his chest. Caleb’s breath hitched, ears and cheeks growing hotter by the second. “It would really be a shame to leave me like that. All alone…” she trailed her finger along with her sentence. “And cold.”

As she pressed in on him closer, her heat enveloped him, begging him to come closer. His restraint hung on one dangling thread, ready to snap. No, he reasoned, she’s drunk and not in her right mind. She’d regret it tomorrow, and hate herself for it. 

“But you’re so warm…” he gasped out, intently staring at the way her wide pupils marveled him. 

She chewed on her bottom lip, finally making eye contact with him again. His breathing turned shallow. 

“Can you feel how warm you make me?” she whispered, nearly inaudible. 

He wasn’t completely sure he’d even heard her correctly, but he didn’t have time to think about it as she tripped trying to step forward. Instinctively, he caught her by the waist, but that didn’t keep the wine in her hand from sloshing onto his perfectly clean, white shirt. 

Immediately, she sobered, and realized what she’d done. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, scrambling toward the bathroom. 

“No, it’s fine. It’s nothing. I’m sure I can get it out.” Caleb really wasn’t worried about his stupid shirt. 

Yet, she came back with a damp towel in hand, blotting the excess wine off. “Really, I swear I didn’t mean to–how awkward you know? Here I am, desperate, and then I go and spill my wine all over you. Geez–I’ve gotta get ahold of myself–”

He had to cut her off. He stilled her shaky hands with his own. “Don’t apologize. I couldn’t care less about this shirt,” he gave her an earnest look. “But I think someone needs to talk about her feelings out loud instead of, correct me if I’m wrong, bottling all of it up. And since I’m your guest of honor, who better?” He offered her a reassuring smile. 

She could see the truth in his words. She didn’t correct him because what he said was an accurate assumption. With that, he hovered over her until she made it back to the couch and laid down. He sat on the adjacent armchair. The picture of the two of them was ironic–it was like looking in on a therapy session except the therapist was a handy-man and the patient was drunk. 

At first, she made it clear that she didn’t want to tell him her reasons for being sad. But, he was right. She was bottling all of it up. MC didn’t have anyone to talk to–she didn’t have any friends in the city. Well, she had one friend, but of course she had to go and blow that up too. That one “friend,” if you could even call him that, had become very close with her over the past year. 

She moved to the city for better job opportunities as a certified nursing assistant. Turns out, one of her good friends just so happened to be working at the same hospital. They worked in different wards, but neither being accustomed to the city, they relied on each other for company. Perhaps a little too much. After almost six months, what was once just a friendship became more in a matter of a night after a stressful day at the hospital.

 Seeking comfort, they locked onto each other. Needless to say, they became friends with benefits, a situationship, whatever you want to call it. After all, they neither could put a label on it. And that’s exactly what was wrong. See, last weekend, MC insisted that they have a serious talk. She couldn’t go on any longer in this limbo of he loves me, he loves me not. It was holding her back.

He, of course, was opposed to the idea of putting a label on anything. That’s when she gave him the ultimatum–become official or lose her. And he chose the latter. Of course, she told all of this to her maintenance man in detail because she was still tipsy and hurting inside. 

“To think, I was stupid enough to honestly believe that he would choose me.” She finished dragging in a shaky sigh.

Caleb spoke for the first time since she began spilling her guts to him. “He’s the stupid one.” he said as if stating a fact. 

Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, her head perked up. “What? No, he’s very intelligent–”

“That’s not what I meant,” he paused, weighing his words. “He’s stupid for not choosing you.”

To his surprise, she laughed at the statement. “No, it was the right thing to do. It was the smartest decision he could make. I’m just a CNA that struggles to pay rent for a run-down apartment–no offense–”

“None taken. Carl hasn’t cared for this place like he should’ve,”

“And he’s a surgeon with a bountiful career ahead of him. I don’t need to be in his way.” She finished by taking a long swig of the water bottle Caleb insisted she drink and imagined it was wine instead. 

He paused again to piece his thoughts together, desperately trying to keep in mind that he’d just met this woman. But it was hard since he felt like he already knew her. Finally, he looked her directly in the eyes. “I’m going to be brutally honest with you, is that okay?”

She nodded her head, eyes wide and curious. 

“Any man who is willing to lose you over making things official never wanted to truly be with you.” 

The statement almost knocked the breath from her lungs. She rubbed her chest, uncomfortable tightness swelling. “Geez, could you have been more blunt?”

He chuckled softly, trying to ease the tension. “I gave you a fair warning, but I’m telling the truth. Take your apartment for example–any man who is serious about you wouldn’t have let your place run down.” 

“But we stayed at his place most of the time.” She attempted to reason. 

He sighed. “Did he know about the leak?”

“Yeah…”

“Did he do anything about it?”

“No.”

“Was he aware that your landlord kept putting off calling me?”

“Yes.”

“And I’m guessing he didn’t even try to have a talk with him?”

“No.”

Caleb threw his hands up, shrugging his shoulders, as to say that was proof enough that he was right. 

“Okay, I see your point,” she huffed, putting her head in her hands. “So, I was just a… booty call?”

“Ew, who says booty call anymore?” Caleb laughed, earning a pillow to the head. “Okay, I deserved that.”

“I’m so stupid.” She shook her head. 

“No, just lovestruck.” he raised from his seat, padding over to the closet with the water heater. 

She raised up, eyes following his movements. Damn it all, he started working on the water heater again. The sun was hanging lower in the sky by this time–he probably wanted to get home. The thought made her think–

“Then… where’s your lady? You know, since you’re an expert on these topics.” 

He huffed a laugh. “Don’t have one,”

“Oh, then what makes you qualified to give me advice?” she challenged, smiling and crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Well, for starters I’m a man–I know how we operate–”

She cut him off with a laugh. “I see… so you have plenty of booty call-ers.” she said, laying back, confident in the validity of her statement. 

“Nope. Hookups never interested me.” He said without missing a beat. 

“Ah I see… relationship guy,” she said, making a gagging sound. “You probably have a lot of baggage, don’t you?”

“Surprisingly, no,” he broke his focus to smile up at her. “I don’t think so at least.”

She decided to ask for the basics. “How many, how long, and how did it end?”

“Three, two of them not longer than six months and one for over half a year. One cheated on me, one said I smothered her, and the other one moved away,” he recalled as he tinkered with the elements of the water heater. “What about you?”

A crease formed between her eyebrows. How many people had she dated? “This is embarrassing to admit, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a real relationship. They’ve all been situationships now that I think about it. Like I have never had a guy ask me out.”

Caleb’s wrench clattered to the floor. “What? Do you have a crazy streak I haven’t discovered yet?”

“There’s a lot of things about me you haven’t discovered yet.” She waggled her eyebrows and took another sip of her water bottle, and Caleb couldn’t help but stare. 

For a moment, she didn’t answer, stunned that he’d finally offered up the maintenance man’s number to her after asking for months. For months she’s gone with various things around her apartment breaking and he’s been too lazy or forgetful to give the guy a call. The sink was her last straw. 

“At the ready,” she replied, smiling since she’d finally gotten somewhere. 

Carl supplied her with the man’s name, number, and address that was conveniently located on the ground floor in case she couldn’t reach him. Immediately after hanging up, she called the man’s number. After just two rings, there was an answer. 

“Hello, Caleb speakin’,” 

A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She whispered to herself, “And here I thought he’d given me a fake number,”

“Um… ma’am?” The man on the line almost seemed amused. 

Realizing that he heard all that, she said in a rush, “Oh! Sorry, I’m just so glad I finally have your number. Listen, I have work in an hour and my kitchen sink is leaking. Is there any way you can fix it before I leave?” 

The maintenance man, Caleb, chuckled, amused by her straightforwardness. “And your apartment number is?”

“Right, it’s E701–and just warning you now, there’s a lot of stuff I need you to do because Carl has been putting off calling you for me for months. So be ready to work, okay?” 

“Yes ma’am,” MC discovered that he had one of those warm voices–the ones that you can tell that they smile all the time. Or at least, he sounded like he’d been smiling the whole phone call. In a convincingly serious tone, he said, “But it’ll come at a cost.”

Her stomach dropped. She couldn’t afford that right now. “What? Carl said that maintenance is included in my rent–I should’ve known that bastard is a lying, cheating, son of a–”

“Hey, hey, I just meant a cup of coffee…”

Her palm hit her forehead. “Sorry for the dirty words… It's early and I’m really fed up with Carl. Also, don’t hate me, but I don’t drink coffee.”

Caleb had the random thought that she had the best voice for dirty words. Quickly, he realized he wasn’t answering. “No, no, that's understandable if he’s let you go months without any repairs. And it’s not an upfront payment. I can be paid back later.” he reassured. 

“Good! How long are you gonna be?”

“I’m here,” he said, and with that there were three firm raps on the door. 

She hopped up to glance out of the peephole in the door. What she saw had her heart picking up its pace. He stood a few paces back from the door, wearing a fitted white t-shirt, jeans that hung low on his waist, a ballcap, and a worn tool belt, every spot filled by a tool. Another tool bag hung from his shoulder. But his face was the best part–floppy brown hair, nice strong nose, and orchid colored eyes. 

This was bad. She’d expected a middle aged man with a beer gut halfway hanging out of his shirt–not a guy around her age that looks like he could be on the front cover of a magazine. Clearly, she didn’t anticipate this because she was still in her robe with no clothes on underneath, hair still up in her rollers, and bunny slippers that had lived with her for nearly a decade now. 

“Ma’am?” she heard through the door and her phone. 

That’s when she realized she was staring. “Give me a sec!” 

Hanging up the phone, she sat it on the counter. One by one, she undid her curls, shoving the rollers into a drawer. Then she kicked her bunny slippers off onto her shoe rack. She tried to make her boobs look the least saggy as possible but it was difficult since the silk robe gave her no support. Instead, she settled on putting her forearm underneath her breasts to push them up. 

All of a sudden, she swung the door open, hinges creaking so loud that it sounded like they just might fall off. 

“Good mornin’, ma’am,” Caleb almost stuttered on the words as he took in the woman before him. 

Her hair fell in curls down her back, across her shoulders. The robe she had on did little to hide her feminine figure, although he could tell that she was poorly attempting to hide her breasts. She didn’t make eye contact with him, but made a sharp, abrupt left toward the kitchen. He followed, unable to listen to her chatter as her hips swayed back and forth. 

She bent down and Caleb had to turn his head away to keep from looking, even if he wanted to very badly. 

“See right there? That’s where the leak is,” she told him. 

Something else was about to leak if she doesn’t straighten up, he thought. He knew he had to look over to see where she was pointing, but he knew he couldn’t without his eyes betraying him. And he was nothing if not a gentleman. 

“Yep, I see it.”

“You’re not even looking,” she retorted. 

Slowly, he peeled his eyes away from the decor on top of her refrigerator to where she was pointing. And that only–no straying eyes here. “Oh yeah, I see it now.” he reassured. 

Finally, she stood upright again and he could breathe again. “Good. You got it from here?”

“Yes ma’am.” he nodded, looking her in the eye for the first time. 

Just then, he felt like he’d been hit with a truck. But the truck was desire and it’d been going seventy miles an hour heading straight for him. Her eyes looked just a little puffy like she’d only woken up moments before calling him. While he was struck by the woman, he knew he had to be strictly professional. At least, while he was on the job. 

“I’m going to be getting ready–just let me know if you need anything,” 

“Sure thing.” he nodded, not really registering what she said. 

Once she disappeared into her bedroom, he regained consciousness, and knew that now was the time to get to work. 

Meanwhile, MC busied herself with her makeup, clothes, and whatever else she could do to get her mind off of the man in her kitchen. Every so often she’d peek in to see what he was doing. At one point, he had his cap turned backward, shirt front soaked and hiked halfway up his stomach. Upon seeing the sight, she couldn’t stop staring at the way his abdomen flexed under his shirt.