Chapter 4
Chris woke up to a hangover, along with a groggy feeling in his mind and heart. He couldn’t stop thinking of the man who had interrupted their meeting, and wanted to beat himself up for putting up with that menacing smile of his.
He could still remember details of the dream he had just had, the reason behind the boner he woke up with despite the hangover. In the dream, Chris was back to the period of his life with Tania, one of the times when she tied him up to the bed, and had her way with him. In his dream though, instead of Tania, there was Roxanne, still wearing the loose shirt she had walked into his shop with, except no tank top under it.
After having gone on for a while, it was when the dream reached her riding his cock, her pussy sliding up and down his erection, that he started feeling this nausea. Suddenly the dream floated away, and he opened his eyes.
It was a struggle getting out of bed, and Chris had to curse all the possible gods in order just to move his limbs. Eventually realizing that this was not a day he was going to be his most productive, he allowed himself to sleep for a few minutes more, but right as he was about to fall back into deep sleep, his message ringtone rang.
He opened his eyes in disbelief, expecting something or the other to have gone bad again. He picked his phone up and was surprised enough to drop his phone upon discovering that the message was from Roxanne.
‘Hey Chris. I sincerely apologize for yesterday, and hope you don’t think low of me. I was thinking of coming to get the necklace again, let me know if I can do that, if yes, when can I show up. Thanks.’
Chris’ heart did somersaults while reading those words. In one second, the hangover seemed to have disappeared, and he sprang up on his bed. With dizzy vision, he wrote a message in reply.
“Hey Roxanne, there is absolutely no need to apologize. The only thing I feel about yesterday is guilt for not locking the door, or not helping you once he was inside. I was wondering myself whether you were planning on stopping by again to purchase a necklace. Please show up whenever is convenient for you, the shop timings are nine to five for weekdays, and nine to three for Saturday. Looking forward to meeting you again. Regards, Chris Bradley.”
He only had to wait a few seconds, and his phone buzzed again.
‘It’s great to hear that. I’ll be coming in a bit if that’s okay.’
‘Yes, perfect.’ Chris replied.
After pressing send, Chris immediately ran into the shower and woke himself up with some piercingly cold water. He cleaned himself in less than five minutes, and then stepped out and dried his body. It took him almost no time to put on his clothes, comb his hair, dab some cologne, and tie his shoelaces. In less than half an hour after sending her the last message, Chris was standing inside his shop, cleaning the jewelry.
Of course it helped a lot that Chris lived in the apartment right above his shop. He often wondered whether he was ever going to take one of the customers upstairs, but would always tell himself that he wasn’t supposed to shit where he ate. Regardless, in the midst of all the glamour and beauty, it was hard for Chris to keep his mind from getting distracted.
He had made his way downstairs, and very quickly conditioned the whole shop, running a quick cloth over the shelves. He waited on the sofa with the three necklaces he had shown Roxanne still lying on the table, while he sipped his coffee.
Suddenly he remembered that he hadn’t checked for other appointments before telling Roxanne that she could come. He quickly grabbed his laptop from the drawer under the counter, and sitting back down on the sofa, rummaged through his emails, confirming that he was indeed free that morning.
He did have a client coming in at four o’clock, but he decided to reschedule it for the next day, having no idea where the meeting with Roxanne was going to go, or how long it was going to take. He sent that client an email, apologizing profusely and offering a discount as compensation. As much as he liked Roxanne, he wasn’t going to compromise on his customers’ experience, or his own credibility.
There was a nagging thought of whether this time the man was going to be following her, but just the fact that she was coming again was enough to flush his mind of all other thoughts. Soon enough, there was a shadow behind the frosted glass of his shop door, knocking at the door of his heart ever so slightly.
With a straightened spine and a puffed-out chest he went to open the door.
“Hey there. Good to see you again!” he said, forcing a cheery smile.
“Um, hi. I hope I’m not disturbing anything. I completely forgot to ask whether you had other clients in.” she said, brushing her hair aside kittenishly.
In that moment, Chris was quite glad that he had checked the emails before she arrived, and dealt with the required processes of the shop in time. Had he not done so, the aura of manliness that he carried would have disappeared at her statement, and he wouldn’t have sounded as reassuring when saying no.
“Don’t you worry about a thing.” he replied, adding, “I told you to come today, of course I had time otherwise I wouldn’t have.”
Roxanne smiled at him, admiring for the first time the pale blue color of his eyes.
“Thank you very much. I wanted to apologize for the last meeting as well.” She said while looking down at the ground in shame.
He could not bear to see guilt on her face on top of the unbearable innocence, the way she pursed her lips, and looked to him sadly for forgiveness. He saw no need for her to apologize at all, and was confused about why she was blaming herself for a creep following her.
“Are you kidding me? It wasn’t your fault. I’m glad I could help, and that you weren’t alone.”
Her eyes glistened while hearing this, and her face became relaxed and calm. He took notice of her clothing, this time she was wearing a red skirt falling to her feet, and a blouse like black shirt over it. He felt an attraction to her that didn’t seem to match her look at all, and wanted to curse himself for thinking of her that way.
But he couldn’t stop imagining how it would feel to hold this delicate piece of art in his hands, to kiss her, to make love to her. But he was surprised how hot she looked in his imaginations, in which he was spanking her, tying her up, fucking her rough, doing all the things he would do with Tania. But the thought of Roxanne in those settings was turning him on like nothing else.
“Thank you very much for that by the way, I would not have been able to deal with him on my own at all.” she replied, gratuitously.
“I assure you there’s no need for that at all. Why don’t we skip all these formalities and get to the main part?” he said with a slight flirty hint in his voice, and directed her inside.
*****
The two were seated back on the sofas, and Chris started defining the details of the jewelry he was presenting to her, where they were from, when he got hold of them, and so on. In the description of these objects and their histories, Chris delved briefly into his sexual affairs in other countries, but noticed that Roxanne exhibited a certain averseness to the topic, and hence withdrew.
“I really like these, you have an amazing collection!” she said, quite impressed by how knowledgeable and passionate he was about his art.
“I’ve barely even showed you anything so far, but thank you!” he replied.
“Really? I would definitely like to see more.” she said, unable to contain the attraction she was starting to feel towards him.
She found it strange that she was getting so comfortable with a shopkeeper, simply because he saved her from trouble, though she had to consider that not everyone would have been up to intervene in that circumstance. She could sense that he was looking at her as more than just a customer, and was enjoying the attention quite a bit.
“Well you can come by whenever you want. So have you decided which one you’re buying?” he replied.
“Ugh I’m really bad at this. Can you help me out? Which one do you think I should get?” she said, getting flustered.
He smiled hearing this, and replied, “Well you were going to try them on, no? Before we got interrupted I mean.”
The two laughed at this comment, relieved that the incident yesterday was not going to create any awkwardness between them.
“Oh right, you even got the mirror. I apologize.” she said, and picked up the Chinese necklace after Chris informed her with a nod that it was okay to touch it. He could see just how clean, pure, and delicate her skin was, how it was completely harmless to any precious gem one could find.
He could see that she was having trouble managing her hair along with putting on the necklace, having forgotten to tie her hair today. He went to the counter and got a hair tie, one of the many specifics he had learned that were what really counted in attracting customers.
Roxanne handed him the necklace delicately, straightened her back, her legs crossed on the sofa, and tied her hair with the pony. Her head was at the same height as his crotch, and her posture and just the act of her tying up her hair, was suggestive of something he wanted to keep his mind away from for now, but the struggle was catching up to him.
“You want me to help you with that?” he asked, observing that she wasn’t able to do the necklace hook.
“Yes, please. Thank you.” she said in a soft voice, putting her hands down on her knees, and looked into the mirror while waiting for him.
He placed himself directly behind her, and took the two ends of the necklace from her hands. He was reminded of Tania, this one time when he was fucking her from behind and choking her from her necklace. He’d do this almost every day for several customers, but Roxanne was the first time that in the act his mind was pulling him so strongly in that direction.
She felt a certain warmth in giving him hold of the necklace, him putting it on her body. She had never allowed herself to be this close to a stranger before, not in such a setting, which for some reason felt intimate. She found herself hoping that his hands touch her neck in the process, and that they did.
Her skin was cold, and softer than anything Chris had ever touched. While putting the hook on, he propped his hand against her neck, and after having done it, he looked into the mirror to find her looking at him admiringly. She looked away immediately, as if he had caught her in theft, and his mind was pulled even further in the exact direction he was trying to avoid.
“So what do you think?” she asked, waiting curiously for his opinion, and at the same time trying to cover up the slight awkwardness she had just caused.
“I think it looks…
beautiful.” he answered boldly, and watched her take a deep breath in response.
She put her hand in her chest, and thanked him for the compliment, and then looked to the second case.
“You want me to take this one off?” he asked, offering to continue helping.
“Yes, if that’s not too much trouble.” she answered while smiling shyly and looking down at the ground.
Both of them were enjoying this beating around the bush, when it was pretty much clear that the two were attracted to each other. Roxanne was an innocent girl having no idea how to initiate, having had no such experiences to date, and Chris on the other hand wasn’t sure if he was mistaking her innocence for submission.
After they had gone through two to three pieces, and discussed just how pretty they looked on her, she still sat there in indecision, and looked at him guiltily for help.
He could sense now, that he would have to make the decision for her.
“You really were forced to come here weren’t you?” he said while laughing.
“To be honest, yes. Otherwise I have no interest in such traditional jewelry, no offence to you.” she replied.
“None taken. I must ask though, why did you come back a second time after what happened?” he asked with a smirk, enjoying how he left her speechless.
Roxanne was paralyzed and blushing, not knowing how to response, and not wanting to say anything to discourage his advances. She hated herself for not educating herself in such dynamics, but who could she blame, she was always convinced that her family was going to make the advances for her.
After getting no response from her from a while, he asked, “I want you to look at this one necklace that is not for sale, something tells me it will look just perfect on you.”