Page 41 of Stumped

“But you showed up anyway?”

“Well, I miss you and our benefits include food, right?” She chews on the inside of her cheek, still watching me cautiously. “Do you…do you want me to go? I don’t mean to overstep,” I say, realising this might have been the wrong move. It seemed so simple and romantic in my head. But we don’t do that, right? We’re not in the romance zone, we’re in the fucking like animals section of relationships. Or whatever the fuck this is.

She shakes her head and her shoulders drop. “Sorry, it’s been a really long day and I’m tired. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ve barely had time to eat or pee, so looking at my phone has been the last thing on my list. Sorry I didn’t reply to your texts.”

“It’s okay,” I repeat softly and set the pizza and wine on the table in front of her couch. I take a few steps forward and Vera collapses into me. My arms wind around her and she sinks into the embrace, her hands settling on my back. Her familiar fragrance wraps around me and I nuzzle into her hair as we stay like that for a long moment. It’s only when someone knocks on the glass do we pull apart and I find the young man from earlier smiling sheepishly as he pushes the door open slightly.

“Do you need me for anything else, Ms. Thomas?”

“I thought I sent you home hours ago, James.”

He shrugs. “I didn’t want to leave until I was sure you were done with work.”

“Please, go home. And I’ll see you next week.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely,” she insists and pats him on the shoulder. James glances at me and I raise a hand in an awkward wave. Vera turns to me and I smile. “He knows who you are.”

“What can I say, I’ve got one of those faces.”

“The whole office is going to know by Monday.”

I open up the pizza and pull out the wine. “For all they know, we’re friends and nothing else.”

“Do you hug all your friends that way?”

“You should be so glad I didn’t grab your ass.”

Vera snorts and unties her hair, dark strands falling down past her shoulders. Even after a long day of work, she’s a sight to behold. Her eyes drift over the spread on the coffee table thenlift to my face. There's something in her eyes that looks a lot like longing.

Impossible.

I clear my throat, not wanting to dwell on what IthinkI saw. “Dinner.”

A soft raspy laugh slips from her and she shrugs out of her jacket, leaving her in a tight sleeveless white top that hugs her breasts in a way I wish my hands could. Vera drops onto the couch, a groan falling from her lips. She’s made that sound, and others, because of what I’ve been doing to her body. Hearing it again in this casual setting is distracting. I hand her a slice before filling up one of the reusable glasses with wine. She takes both, but doesn’t do anything other than stare at me.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Admiring you is all.”

Heat creeps up my cheeks and I dip my head. “Don’t let me stop you,” I say and take a bite of the pizza, settling back against the couch.

She chuckles and releases a sound that’s part moan, part something else. It wakes my dick up. Everything about Vera has me alert and on edge right now, but I’m not looking to do anything more than eat this delicious pizza with her. When I glance over her eyes slip shut and teeth sink into the slice, soft lips pressing against the greasy pieces of pepperoni. It’s silly to get bent out of shape over something like this, but this woman could be twirling a pencil and I’d be enraptured.

“I wish this pizza was big enough to wrap me up like a blanket, then I could take nibbles out of it whenever I’m hungry,” she says, almost slurring from exhaustion.

“While that might be impossible, I could provide the pizza every single day in the future?”

She eyes me and takes another large bite. “Will you add some sweets to the package?”

“Dessert is a no brainer.”

“No,sweets. Kaju katli?2 and dharwad peda?3. I’d even kill for some Mysore pak?4 right now too.”

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