FIVE
As Saturday went on, Aaron served Macy a late lunch in bed and sexed her after they ate. That evening, he took her to the kitchen, and together they prepared a steak dinner, Macy again dressed in the black silk robe and Aaron deliciously naked as he’d been when he made her lunch. They took dinner in the dining room, and when they were done, Aaron pushed their plates and utensils to the far end of the table, put Macy on top of the table, and topped her as he had earlier on the kitchen island. Macy wrapped herself around him and squeezed his body with her arms and legs, receiving hard wood from him while lying on the hardwood table. She was surprised they didn’t set fire to the thing, so combustible was their after-dinner sex.
Sunday, he hardly let Macy out of bed at all except to go to the shower and the bath. He brought their meals right to bed. Between eating and napping, all was sex—glorious, fantastic sex that Macy and Aaron both felt in the marrow of their bones. They lost count of the number of times he took her, all through Sunday and into the early hours of Monday morning.
When at last Monday morning came, the usual melancholy at the start of another work week was doubled for Macy, for it meant that Aaron, who had so gloriously worn little or nothing since late Friday night, would once again don one of his expensively tailored suits and cover up the body that she had enjoyed more than she had enjoyed anything else in longer than she cared to remember. It meant that he would have to seal away the dragon’s dragon between his thighs, which had shown her a pleasure beyond anything that she ever thought she would know. He was the handsomest creature she had ever seen fully dressed, but that paled in comparison with the naked Aaron, naked and erect and ready to plunder and thrill and delight her to the point of delirious bliss.
Macy had nothing to wear home Monday morning but the party dress and coat in which she had arrived Friday night. She could not remember the last time she had gone home in the morning dressed that way. Had it really been that long ago? What had she been doing with herself? What had she been making of her life? She had built a successful business that was getting attention and recognition in one of the richest and most competitive markets in the world. Occasionally, she had dated and gone to bed with an attractive man. There had been brief relationships. There had been pleasure and fun. She had made a great living and a life that she could enjoy when business permitted. But again, Macy had never had anything in her life like Aaron. Which was why their conversation of Saturday afternoon was now coming back to haunt her. She had made every bit of the point that she was the sophisticated New York City lady whose heart was not easily broken by a passing fling. But standing with Aaron now in his living room after breakfast, clad in that black dress that he had hiked up in the wine room to begin the rapture of their weekend, she felt every bit the fraud.
Aaron sensed the subtle melancholy about her. He had sensed it since right after their morning sex. He had done everything to lift her mood with shower sex before breakfast, but here it was again. She was not looking at him, and he enjoyed the look in her eyes when she looked at him. He wanted that look back. He gently put his arms around her face, holding her close. “Macy, is there something wrong?” Aaron asked. “Tell me.”
“Oh, Aaron,” she said. “It’s nothing. I’m just…looking to the week ahead.”
“Why? What’s going on this week?”
“I’m going into a busy time. Meetings with clients, meetings with copywriters, going over scripts. Casting sessions, looking at locations, booking directors, scheduling tapings…”
“That’s routine stuff,” he said knowingly. “That shouldn’t bother you. Tell me what it really is. I want to know.”
Macy looked up into his face. He had shaved now. He had not shaved all weekend. That face, so blindingly handsome, had kissed her and nuzzled her bosom and sucked her nipples and descended between her legs with a roughly sexy dusting of stubble all weekend. He was as sexy with his face smooth as he was unshaven. She almost couldn’t speak. All she could do was reach up and touch that face, as she wanted to touch the rest of him again.
“Oh, Aaron…” she simply repeated.
Something inside Aaron melted. He could feel it coming into his expression. Suddenly, it was hitting him that this would be a more difficult goodbye than he expected. How was it that after so many nights and weekends in bed with so many women, and so many goodbyes afterward, this of all partings felt so difficult? He answered her with a kiss. Just a kiss, into which so many feelings flowed. She put her arms around him and gave herself into this most bittersweet kiss she’d ever had.
At the end of it, he kept her close and said, “Damn, Macy. All I want to do right now is carry you over to the sofa and give you such a f..king, you’d feel it all week long.”
“I didn’t want to do the When Will We See Each Other talk, Aaron,” she said. “I wanted to live up to what I told you Saturday, that I’m okay with this being goodbye, and I’ll just take these three days and remember them and be glad we had them. That’s what I wanted. But Aaron…”
“I still want you too,” he finished for her. “Look, we both meant everything we said, right? When sex is as good as what we’ve been doing to each other for the last couple of days—and it has been incredible—you don’t just walk away not wanting more. When I say I want to go to bed with a woman and screw her again, you can believe I mean it. It’s going to happen. I’m going to be in you again. As soon as I can, as much as I can. I’m only sorry we can’t peel all these f…ing clothes off and I can’t get in you one more time right now. I want you, and I’m going to have you. Believe that, okay?”
Macy listened, and she believed. “Okay,” she said.
He kissed her one more time, a kiss that she could feel was meant to last until the next time, whenever that might be. It was only with the greatest reluctance that he parted the kiss and let her out of his arms.
“I’ll get your coat,” said Aaron.
He stepped out of the living room to the closet in the entrance hall, and Macy watched him go, winding back the hours and the days once again to that surprising but oh, so exciting first time in the wine room, and that moment when he took down his trousers and his briefs to show her what the birthday boy had to offer his favorite guest. And she still wanted it so much. She still wanted all of him—face, body, and dragon’s dragon—so very much. Macy let the roads of his promise of a moment ago echo in her mind. He would have her again, all right. And she would have him, no matter what.
_______________
Aaron was in his office and had just finished his coffee when the intercom from Debra’s desk sounded. He hit the button: “Yes, Debra?”
The receptionist’s voice came back: “Video call from Eamon Larch, Mr. Bedford.”
Aaron rolled his eyes at the name. He might have known he would be hearing from this man, now of all times. He thought they had concluded their business. He should have known better. “All right,” he replied to Debra, “I’ll take it.”
He logged onto his computer and called up his video conferencing app, and the face of the caller at once appeared. Eamon Larch, who ran a conglomerate of his own, was a man only a little older than Aaron and not quite as handsome. His hair was a little more salt-and-pepper, his face a little gaunter. His manner was something to which Aaron had always responded with a careful civility. Aaron expected he would be needing all the civility he could muster in the next few minutes.
"Good morning, Eamon," he said.
"Good morning, Aaron,” answered Larch. “And may I take this opportunity to extend good wishes, belatedly, for your birthday."
"Thank you. How can I help you today, Eamon?" As if I couldn’t guess, Aaron added in the privacy of his thoughts.
Larch began, "You know the reason for my call. I'm on my way to New York now. I'll be there by this afternoon. I'm anxious to get the relocation bid started, and I wanted to speak again about the matter we've discussed previously: the proposal that I had delivered to you."
"We went over that in depth, Eamon,” said Aaron. “And I gave you my answer. I didn't think there was anything left to discuss. As far as I know, everyone attending will be putting in their separate bids with the Dragon Watch. Separate. I haven't heard of any joint ventures."
Larch was as insistent as ever. "There's still time to reconsider the joint venture that I proposed. As the presentations haven't started, neither has the bidding. There's still time to come together on this. Our joint bid, your company and mine together, will be stronger. Success will be better assured if we work together. It could make all the difference in the world. It could make all the difference for the world."
Aaron answered firmly, "Eamon, a single venture—my own bid—is the way I want to go. Everything will be simpler that way. This needs to be simple for the good of everyone."
"'The good of everyone' will not be served if both sides are not involved," Larch argued.
Aaron did his best to hide his frustration at this latest variation on a conversation he was tired of having. "We've talked about this plenty of times already, Eamon. What's good for us all is to keep our focus on what we know is true, what's been proven. The Vonsahlans left the Beacon here in accordance with their laws, which ours agreed to uphold. The power in the Beacon is for us to use only to help the Vonsahlans if and when they come back. Otherwise, it's to be kept hidden and held under guard. The bidding is to keep the responsibility for the Beacon between the Dragon Watch and one Nathairfear company with the resources to keep it completely safe. Having different companies involved at the same time will bring needless complications. As I said, this way is simpler."
Larch was unmoved. "'As you said...' You're an expert at saying exactly as much of what you mean as serves your own convenience. Your own qualification—'if and when they come back'—speaks volumes."
"I don't want this to get into the same conversation again, Eamon. We've been doing this for years. I know what you believe."
Larch pressed his argument. "It's not me alone, Aaron. They are coming back. They will return. We know this is true."
Aaron was unimpressed. "'We' know this... Some of us aren't so mystical about it."
Larch fixed him with a steely look through their respective computer screens. "You've never answered one question directly, Aaron. Do you accept the Prophecy of the Dragons Three? Do you accept the fact that the Vonsahlans will return one day, or don't you?"
Wearily, Aaron replied, "I accept that they can. I even accept that someday they probably will. But it's a big universe out there—an endless number of universes. The Vonsahlans are exploring more universes than we can guess. There's no way to know when they'll ever get back around to us. They left the Beacon to find their way back, but they didn't give our people permission to activate it—and use the power in it—whenever we like. If and when they come back, it's better for them to come back in their own time, not because we did something we were on our honor not to do. It'll be breaking our people's word to them. Is that what you want?"
"What I want,” answered Larch, not doing as well as Aaron at hiding his irritation, “is to see them return to a world that is safe and whole. The power of the Beacon can ensure that. They'll find that we've used it to protect and preserve the world against what the humans are doing to it, and themselves—which affects us. If the humans destroy everything, as you know they can, what will the Vonsahlans return to? What will they find when they come again? Will there even be any Nathairfear to greet them?"
Since Larch was laying his cards on the table now, Aaron saw no reason not to do likewise. "You accused me of talking around the issue, Eamon, but you're putting it plainly enough for me or anyone. I don't want a joint venture because I don't want to be entangled with any centuries-old prophecies, which is what your group has always done. I didn't want to be blunt, because then it'll get into accusations of disrespect for your beliefs, and I don't want to go there. But you're paranoid about the humans, and paranoia makes you grasp for power. You're doing exactly what they do. Think like a dragon, not a human. Let this happen the way it needs to happen."
Larch made a bitter look at him. "Is it better to be what you call paranoid—or be a fool? Or just as bad, to be naive? You know as well as I do what humans are capable of doing. That's why we kept ourselves a secret for so long. We've come out in the open, learned to live openly among them. But they haven't grown any wiser."
"Even if we did enter into a joint venture and your people had access to the Beacon,” Aaron pointed out, “you know what's required to activate the thing. You don't even have what you'd need to do it."
Larch replied, "That's all the more reason to be in control now rather than later. If we are in control now, everything will be in readiness when the prophecy is fulfilled. My associates are already searching for the ones who'll be needed someday. When we find them, everything must be in place."
Aaron scoffed, "You don't even know how long it'll take to find them, Eamon. I know you're doing all kinds of tests and searches, but this three-dragon prophecy of yours... Look at the humans. They've had all kinds of prophecies of their own about all kinds of things. You could practically set your clock by their predictions of the end of the world. Guess what? It never comes."
There was an edge in Larch’s voice now. Aaron could feel it right through the screen. Larch answered, "Their prophecies concern myths. The Vonsahlans are as real as you or me. They are coming back, and when they return, three properly trained minds must open the Beacon for them."
"We will have trained people to interact with the technology in the way they need to,” said Aaron. “The whole thing about them needing to have special gifts is just a myth that… some of us…” he was careful to keep that in general terms, “…have laid on top of the story. There's no need for this."
Larch was adamant. "The activators of the Beacon must be superior minds—minds of superior power."
Aaron was ready for that. "And it won't hurt if they're also three Nathairfear taught to believe the right things, believe in the superiority of our people just for being what we are..."
"...what the Vonsahlans created us to be!"
"They created us to help them and protect their technology—not lord it over the humans. When the Vonsahlans themselves were here, they didn't lord it over humans. Why should we be any different?"
"Because we are more than they are!"
Aaron made no attempt to hide his disdain for that thought. "Part of what we are is them. We're not ‘better.’ Just different. This is exactly why I've never wanted any kind of venture with you, including this one. This is why I left the orthodox Nathairfear church and never looked back. I don't believe in mixing religion with business—or anything else. Especially a religion about thinking you're better than others. Why don't you try joining forces with someone else, someone who’s still in the faith? Why waste your time with me? I have nothing to do with any of that anymore."
"I have always tried to encourage you to come back into the fold because I honor the relationship that our families still have. We are of the same scales, wings, and horns. Our families are both of the first breed. We’re both descended from the original weredragons of Kinross Green, directly, without crossing with humans. If I do join forces with someone else, it will be our combined strength against you. I'm giving you the chance to succeed, Aaron."
Aaron was ever wearier. Eamon’s talk of having descended from the original weredragons and his professions of faith in prophecies made at a time centuries past when it was easy to take travelers from other dimensions as gods, were as bad as the talk of humans at their worst. And just like the worst of humanity, Eamon was too blind to see his own dogmas, or see past them. With a calm resolve, he answered, "I think the Dragon Watch will be more impressed with a simple, streamlined plan than a plan with too many parties involved. I'll take my chances."
Larch said bitterly, "Then you'll stay a fool, and you'll stay naive. I began by wishing you well for your birthday. I look forward to your congratulating me on my victory in the bidding, Aaron."
With a sarcastic half-smile, Aaron said, "To paraphrase an old human saying, Eamon: Don't count your dragons before they hatch."
"As you like it,” said Larch. “I'll see you at the bidding."
"See you then, Eamon."
Aaron was never so relieved to sign out of a video chat as he was at that moment. He leaned back in his seat, shaking his head at the now-blank screen and the memory of who had just been on it. He would have to deal with Eamon Larch in person soon enough, and Aaron was thankful that they would both have plenty to keep them occupied over the next few days. His week was just beginning.
———————-
The days that followed were, otherwise, mostly uneventful for both Macy and Aaron—at least not eventful in the way they both wanted most. Before leaving Aaron’s penthouse, they had swapped phone numbers and E-mail addresses, for want of other things they would like to swap. The week after Aaron’s party was almost as sexy as that weekend had been. While both immersed in business with little time to spare, they had made time to connect via phone and computer. It began with the texts. They sent messages back and forth about the things they had done, reliving the hours they had spent together, speaking only in general terms, no details, no specifics. They were both careful about that. Aaron wanted to send her more, and engage with her much more intimately, but there were issues of security and ethical conduct involved. So first, they texted, which led to phone calls and then to video chats. Macy enjoyed the video chats the best; she appreciated being able to see him, not just have him as words on a screen or a voice in her ear. It was during one of the video chats late in the week, as Macy sat on her bed with her MacBook on her lap, that they had a most intriguing conversation. It began when Aaron mentioned that he would not be able to see her for a while and would be out of touch for a while, because in the next week, he was due to leave town on business that he couldn’t discuss.
“This sounds really big,” said Macy. “Will you be going out of the country?”
“I can’t even say where I’m going,” Aaron answered. “It’s that secret, and it’s that important. But I’ve been in talks with some of the other business leaders in my community…”
“You mean other weredragons in business? Other weredragon CEOs and executives and heads of companies?” She did not want to say “other weredragon billionaires,” but it was not necessary. Aaron took her meaning.
“Yes,” he replied. “They all came into New York, and there have been meetings and luncheons and dinners all week. We’ve all been making presentations and proposals and bids, and it’s been pretty much a week of competition. There’s something going on that…again, I can’t talk about it, but the other power players among my people all wanted in on it, and so did I. We’ve all been jockeying for position about this. This week, frankly, it’s been the most grueling time I’ve ever had.”
Macy was glad they were video chatting now instead of just using a voice call, because she could see from his expression that his week was exactly what he said it had been. “It certainly sounds like you’ve been under a lot of pressure,” she said.
“I’ve been up against it, yes. And it came down to the wire. But finally…I won the bid. It was the narrowest scrape I’ve ever had, and I hope to hell I never have one like that again. But I won, and the contract is mine. And I have to go away for a week now to get it all set up.”
Macy’s eyes lit up at the news. “You won? You closed the deal, got the contract? You got it?” She was actually proud of him without knowing what she was being proud of.
Aaron himself looked proud to see her reaction. He felt like a teenager, a Big Man on Campus, having just impressed the prettiest girl in school. He found it a silly way to be feeling at his age; his teens were long behind him, and he had nothing to prove. And yet, Macy being happy for him felt like as much of a reward as the success of the deal. “I won. I got it. There were times I thought we were going to go dragon and come out with claws flying—but I got it. It’s mine, and I’m going ahead with it.”
“From the sound of it,” said Macy, “when this whole thing shakes out, you’ll be even richer than you already are.”
“Believe it or not,” said Aaron, “it’s not about the money. It’s not about how much I’ll be spending to make this happen. And…it’s not exactly money I’ll be getting out of it.”
Macy blinked and looked off, genuinely puzzled. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What kind of business deal is it where it’s not about profit? Unless it’s one of those government things… No, that doesn’t make any sense. If it’s a government contract, I know what kind of money those things pay.”
“It’s not a government project,” said Aaron flatly.
“I don’t understand, then,” Macy said. “All those people, flying in to New York to make all those bids on something that isn’t for profit, probably millions or even billions of dollars at stake…”
Aaron cut her off. “We bid on it like a business contract, but…this is something more like an honor. A really huge honor.” He sounded more serious than Macy had ever heard him. There was a mysterious tone in his voice that she had never heard from anyone. “This is the most important thing I’ve ever done, Macy. Probably the most important thing I ever will do. It’s something that all the most important Nathairfear wanted, and something I wasn’t even sure I could get. But this is the biggest responsibility I’ve ever taken on in my whole working life.”
“It sounds so intimidating,” Macy said.
“I really can’t say what it is,” Aaron told her. “As a matter of fact, I probably shouldn’t have told you this much. But…you kind of have an effect on me. I think maybe if you were anyone else, I wouldn’t even have brought it up. But because it’s you, I did. And in spite of the fact that it is you, I can’t say anything else. I’m sorry; I know it sounds as if I’m acting like the big corporate warrior who’s gone out and scored this victory that’s too big and important and complicated for regular people to know about. I must sound really self-important and arrogant, but…this is about my people. Some things, dragons only talk about with other dragons. I’m sorry, Macy.”
She could not help but be touched. At this moment, he could have been proud, conceited, even haughty and swaggering. Instead, there was a quality about Aaron right now that, if Macy had to put a word to it, she would almost call…vulnerable. Was he really this way now only because he was speaking to her? Was his manner really so different from this when talking with his own kind or with those who worked for him?
From nowhere, Macy asked, “It is legal, right?”
And equally from left field, Aaron chuckled. “Yes, Macy, it’s completely legitimate. Trust me, I came by my money honestly, and I use it honestly. There’s nothing shady. Only secret. You can believe me.”
“I do,” Macy said, and she meant it. After a beat of silence, with the two of them gazing at each other through their respective screens, Macy ventured to ask, “Aaron…is that true, what you said a minute ago, before I asked if it was legal?”
“What?”
“The thing you said about me. You said I have an…effect…on you. Do I really?”
“Sweetheart,” Aaron replied, “you could see the effect you had on me all weekend.” And he made a smile that was more than suggestive while pointing down to a place below the screen—and below his waist—then making the less-than-gentlemanly gesture of putting the index finger of one hand through a loop made by the thumb and index finger of the other hand, then pointing right at her.
“That’s not the effect I meant,” Macy said with a grin.
“Well, you know it’s the effect you had. Or one of the effects. The other one is… I suppose I just feel comfortable with you. Or I feel as if I can talk to you about…that…and other things. I guess I’m saying I have a feeling about you, and it tells me I can trust you. It tells me that if I could talk to you about what I’ve been doing this week and what I’ll be doing next week, I could trust you with it. Even if you’re not Nathairfear. I guess it’s because…you’re just you. Does that make any sense?”
Macy smiled at him with the most touched and moved feeling that she had ever felt for anyone in her life. They’d had total intimacy together on the weekend of his birthday, but this was a different intimacy altogether, an intimacy that did not need their bodies. Aaron was telling her that he trusted her. His trust, in its own way, felt as good as his sex.
“You know what?” Aaron went on. “Since I feel like I can trust you, maybe there’s something I can let you in on.”
Macy’s heart leapt a bit at that. He had actually used the word: trust. She loved the sound of that word coming from Aaron, loved it more than she ever expected she could.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“There is something that one of my companies has been working on. It’s only a secret for now; we’ll be going public with it. But for now, it’s in the testing stage. There’s this new app that we have; it’s a new security app that prevents phone calls and video chats from being recorded. Other companies have this, and other companies are working on it, but this is our version. I’ve got a copy of it, and I think maybe this is a good time to test it. So, I’m going to trust you with it. This doesn’t go any further than your computer and mine. Deal?”
She nodded, feeling very honored and very special. “Okay. Deal.”
“Okay. I’m going to log out of this and E-mail you a code. When you get the code, I want you to log out of here and then log back in and use the code I’m sending you. It’ll bring you back into chat, but there’ll be no way for anyone else outside to pick it up. This will be private—really private.”
Macy’s eyes widened. She gave him a bemused look through her screen. “Aaron, what do you have in mind?”
“You’ll see,” he said. “I’m logging out now. Go and watch your E-mail.”
Aaron logged out, and Macy did as he asked. In a few seconds, his message appeared in her inbox. She copied the code she found there, returned to her video chat app, logged back in, reconnected with his app, and submitted the code. At once, Aaron was back on her screen—with a difference that made Macy feel as if sparks of electricity were dancing on her skin.
He was sitting at his desk where he had been sitting when they spoke a moment ago—but his shirt was gone. It was Aaron, bare-skinned from the waist up, showing her once again the splendor of his muscles.
Running a hand across his prodigious pecs, Aaron pursed his lips sexily at her and asked, “Still want this?”
Macy almost giggled like a teenager. “What do you think?”
“I think you still want this,” said Aaron. “And I’ll bet I know what else you still want.”
Slack-jawed at what she knew he had in mind, Macy blurted, “Aaron, you’re not going to…! Not like this!”
“Why not?” he said lasciviously. “No one can see or hear. Or record. It’s just us. And it’s just this.” He stood up and showed her that his trousers were still on. He moved his hand to his belt buckle, showing her that it was a condition that would quickly change.
Right there on his computer’s camera, Aaron took down his trousers and briefs and unleashed the monster again.
Her mind crowded with memories of that weekend. Macy sighed, “Oh, Aaron…”
Aaron shook the beast between his legs at her. “You want some more of this, don’t you?”
Macy felt herself blush like a tomato. “Aaron! Really…?”
“Yes, really. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? Aaron, we’re on computers…”
“And what? We’re using the app. It’s private. It’s as private as it was when we were alone at my place. Are you feeling awkward about it because we’re not in the same location? You only feel that way because it’s something different. You’ve probably never had virtual sex before, right?”
Macy leaned back in her seat. His use of the word “awkward” was very apt. But she was transfixed at the sight of him, standing there with his trousers and briefs down around his knees, letting her see his ample hose change to a large and powerful pipe. “No, I never have,” she admitted. “And I guess you have.”
“Actually, no. But life is full of things we’ve never done before. There was a time when you’d never been to bed with a dragon man. This is new. But it’ll be fun. Take off your clothes. Touch yourself for me.” He began to run his fingers along his stiffened length as Macy wished she could do. “Watch me stroke it off. Think about how good it’ll be when we’re in the same room again. Come on—for me.”
Macy frowned—not an angry frown, but the kind of frown one makes when screwing up one’s courage. Which made Macy wish all the more that she were about to be on the receiving end of a different kind of screwing. Deciding that the best way to take on a challenge was simply to jump in and do it, she set her MacBook down on the bed and kept herself in full view of the screen for him while beginning to peel off her own clothing.
Her heart felt as if it were jumping hurdles in an equestrian show through the long, combustible minutes that followed.
At the end, Macy lay propped up against the headboard of her bed, naked, her legs curled and her breasts in full view, with a fluttery feeling of post-climax making her feel as if she were lowering herself down from the clouds. On her screen sat Aaron, back in his chair, stroking and squeezing the last dollops of man-custard from his softening hose. His stomach was covered with the sticky wet whiteness of his own eruption.
“Mmm…” Aaron said, extracting the final bit of sap from his vine. He reached over to a place off-camera on his desk and drew back a handkerchief—obviously he’d been prepared to talk her into this—and began to wipe himself off. “That was good. Remember that time I splurged on your boobs? I wish I’d done that right now. Or better, I wish I’d splurged inside you. Didn’t I tell you this would be fun?”
Sighing, Macy replied, “I can’t believe I let you talk me into that.”
“You don’t get to be a billionaire without being able to persuade people sometimes. But admit it: this was good. Not as good as actually being in that bed with you—but good.”
Still fluttering a bit, Macy conceded, “Yes. It was almost as good as it was…at your place.” She hugged herself a bit, wishing the arms around her were his.
“We’ll have more of that, Macy, I promise,” he said. Instead of pulling his briefs and slacks back up, Aaron bent down while still sitting and stripped them off, letting them rest on the floor off-camera. Somewhere in her heart, Macy continued to wonder how a creature as gorgeous as he was could even exist. “When I get back from my trip, I’m getting you back in bed and banging you ‘til you don’t know what year it is.”
Inwardly, Macy answered with, Hurry back. Please. Outwardly she said, “It’s going to be a long week.”
Gesturing to the pertinent place, Aaron said, “You know what else will be long. And very, very hard.”
Macy curled herself up a little tighter, still showing him her breasts, suddenly not caring how naked she was on the bed by herself, and sighed at him.
_______________
And that was the last that Macy saw or heard from Aaron. That was Friday night, the anniversary of their first night together. The next morning, he sent her a text that he was flying out of town and would see her the first chance he got when he returned. That left Macy alone with her work and her thoughts of Aaron, his body, and his lap lizard, which were a terrific distraction to her—until another distraction presented itself.
It started on Tuesday. Macy noticed she was not going to the bathroom very much and that she felt dehydrated in general; she began to drink a lot more water than she usually did. She drank mostly coffee or tea, but now she needed more water—and yet she did not need the bathroom as much as she should for what she was drinking. By Wednesday, she was suffering the most wicked, persistent, pounding headache she’d ever had in her life, and gulping aspirin was not helping. Compounding this was a frequent racing of her heart, and not in the good way that it raced in the presence of the naked and erect Aaron. For no apparent reason throughout the day, Macy’s heartbeat sped up, and she felt hot and dizzy. On Wednesday afternoon, she actually needed to lie down on the sofa in her office, letting work start to back up. In spite of how busy she was, Macy decided to delegate her work to staff and go home in case she was coming down with the flu. If she were to spread it to others on staff, her problems would only multiply. On the way back to her apartment, she stopped at the drugstore to pick up some flu medication and wished she had thought to get herself a shot. While there, she passed by a certain aisle where certain products were kept, but pushed the thought of those things and their intended purposes from her mind. She had caught the flu, she convinced herself, and she had better spend the next few days resting up and recuperating. As it was, when Aaron came back, she might have to delay their reunion a bit, a notion that she did not care for.
The headaches and racing heart persisted through Wednesday night until Macy got herself to sleep. Then came Thursday morning, when in spite of the woozy, groggy feeling that made her feel as if she had turned to swirling slush inside, she lunged from her bed, clutching at her stomach and covering her mouth, and leapt and bounded to the bathroom, where she emptied what little food she’d been able to eat during the previous day into the toilet.
Pulling herself to the mirror and seeing a shaky, sickly woman staring back at her, Macy suspected she could no longer dismiss the contents of that particular aisle of the drugstore, and that she had better get back there and buy herself a couple of those things. She called in and took the morning off, and got herself back to the pharmacy.
She returned home and did not even bother to take breakfast before opening what she had bought, taking it back into the bathroom, and following the instructions.
Two plus signs on two sticks greeted Macy’s panic-stricken eyes. When Aaron returned to pick up where they had left off, they would be continuing from a place that neither of them had bargained for.