Dedicated to xThePineappleGirlx because I love Laylaa the fish even though she keeps calling me Baguette and Skunk :)

7

If there ever was a man I think I'd do anything for it was Stephen. I handed him his pencil as he sat down at the desk. He would occasionally type on his laptop and write on a notepad beside him. He wore reading glasses, his eyes attentive on the screen as he leaned back into his chair. I watched him lick his lips, leaning against the edge of his desk and feeling the corner of it dig into my hip but the pain was insignificant.

Eventually, Stephen looked over at me gesturing for me to come over to him. I sat on his lap, my eyes following the words on the screen as he read what he had written out loud, his words catching my every attention. My eyes narrowed, re-reading over one part before I came to a conclusion, "This sentence feels off."

I leaned forward, my ass pressing against his crotch as I looked closely at the screen. I could feel Stephen tense underneath me, his hands gripping my thighs with control. HIs voice was low, "How does it feel off?"

I shifted once again, the heat pooling between my thighs at not just the friction of our clothes against one another but what was underneath. "Read it. It's an awkward sentence it doesn't make the piece flow properly."

"Juliana. Don't tease." He said sternly, his fingers digging into skin. He leaned forward, his chin on my shoulder. His hands went on my hips, squeezing them for me to stop rubbing against him. For him to gain control over himself. "Oh, I see what you're talking about."

I turned to look at him over my shoulder, his eyes were hooded and his lips slightly parted. They way he was looking at me sent a shiver down my spine. I ignored it, turning my gaze back to the computer. I held the delete button, clearing out the sentence he said sounded off and rewrote a new one. "Does this sound better?"

Stephen wasn't paying attention. That restraint of control slipped away the second his lips planted themselves on my neck and his fingers were quickly unbuttoning my jeans. "You're not even going to read it over?"

"Forget the piece. Isn't this what you wanted?" He said, adjusting me on his lap. I was straddling him, my hands quickly unbuttoning his shirt. When I pushed his shirt aside, my hands pressed against his warm chest. I let out a sigh when his fingers slipped underneath my panties and in return, I let one of my hands cup over him. With a light squeeze of my hand, Stephen responded, his teeth grazing lightly along my neck.

With that motion, the light headache that had been ignorable for the past minutes had slowly managed to intensify. I quietly winced, getting off his lap and removing his hand where it once was. Stephen looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Just, um, just a headache." I took a deep breath.

I felt Stephen's eyes on me for a moment and I avoided them, trying my best to imagine that it didn't feel like the pounding in my head was getting worse every beat my heart made. Stephen realized it too. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over to the kitchen and lifted me up easily, setting me on the counter.

I watched him warily as he moved around and when he came back, there were two tablets of Tylenol in one hand and water in the other. "Here, this should help."

"Thanks," I mumbled, taking them from him. I moved towards the window. Stephen pressed himself against my back and I was certain that with the rain falling from the sky and hitting the ground, he was calm. He was content, Of course, because he loved the rain.

He loved the rain almost as much as I loved him.

"Genevieve told me. About the doctor. About the MRI. About the treatments-"

"I'm okay. Everything could have been worse." I said quietly, swallowing the tablets down with the water.

Since I almost drowned, I repeated in my head for the hundredth time in the past week. A sudden thought was in the back of my mind and I looked at his face. "Can I ask you a question?"

"More questions Juliana," There was a slight curve on his lips as he took his eyes off the depressing view of the sky. "You never run out of them."

The pitter-patter of the rain outside postponed my question for a brief moment. The gray clouds outside and the crackle of thunder became my greatest distraction until Stephen brushed his fingers against my arm, catching my attention promptly. I spoke deliberately, "The day we first met. When I had a, um, circumstance and you called for help. You saved me. Indirectly. Stephen, you already knew how to swim and you could have easily gotten me out of that water. I know you could have. Why didn't you rescue me yourself?"

Stephen's fingers left me, the warmth leaving as fast as it came, leaving me bereft. His eyes, those bright eyes held a sudden darkness in them. Like the sun had been dominated by the moon, still bright just different. When he spoke, his voice was low, almost a baritone lower and I got the feeling was emotional distress emitting from simply looking at his eyes.

"I froze. You-drowning, suffocating in water only reminded me of an egregious event that happened during my childhood."

I stayed silent.

He licked his lips, finally making eye contact with me. "You know I don't talk about my parents. They don't talk to me. I don't talk to them. They gave me money and I was instantly out of their lives because I was accused of killing this girl. She had drowned."

I didn't say anything for a second but when I opened my mouth I was certain of the next words I spoke. "But you didn't."

"No. No I didn't. I didn't kill her. I did the opposite. I tried to save her. I failed."