| Maria looked at her watch, 15 minutes more until she was off. She had just finished reviewing and updating her charts. Having a few minutes to spare, she quickly dialed her number and entered her code. She nearly dropped her phone as she listened to her messages. She had been so busy that there was little time to think about anything, other than work. Listening to Tess’ message brought it all back. Maria didn’t think she had to deal with Michael just yet. All the courage or pseudo-courage that she summed up this morning was all gone. Giggling to herself, she remembered how she reacted and Michael’s surprise at her reaction. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes to block out everything. She could have stopped it last night, but she was planning to blame it on her own drunken state, but she was a lot more coherent than he was. Maria sat there trying hard to figure out how all of it happened, but much of it was a blur. She remembered them talking the whole night at the bar because Max and Liz had left early and Kyle had been moody because Tess wasn’t there. They both made Kyle go home, since they were baby-sitting. She drank him under the table, who knew such a big guy couldn’t hold his drinks? Michael was so wasted that she had to walk him home. Thank goodness his apartment was only a few blocks away, but with her heals, it seemed like miles. It was really hard to keep him walking straight since he was looking up at the sky and telling her to do the same, to look at the stars. She tried to appease him by saying nice things and agree with him, but he persistently wanted her to look at the stars. So she finally did, to make him happy, and that was when it all started. Maria looked up and saw nothing. They were in the city with all the lights, so she knew Michael was only seeing the stars in his head. She was about to say something when he lost his balance and fell down, pulling her along with him. Her back was on the hard cement and Michael was on top of her. “Michael! Get off! You're heavy!” Maria tried to push him to the side, but he was like a dead log, heavy. She choked as Michael tried to speak, inhaling the alcohol that wricked in his breath. “You know Maria, Maaaaaaaaaariiiia - you, you… are verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry purrrrtie. Purrty-” Michael slurred his words. His eyes started to focus on her’s, cleared of all signs of intoxication. Maria started to pound her head against her arm at the disbelief of what happened next. She couldn’t believe it! She shook her head in denial; she must have blocked it out of her memories, because it was unbelievable. It was the hand on her shoulder that shook her back into reality. “Is everything alright Maria?” The concerned look on his face made Maria smile. “I’m fine, Doc.” She looked at her watch once more. It was past eleven already. “You sure? You looked kind of distracted. You were hitting your head against the desk.” Brody gave her a weary smile. Maria covered her embarrassment with her hand as she stood up. “Thanks Dr. Davis. But it’s really nothing. You know, one of those funny thoughts.” Maria glaced at her watch once more as she fidgeted with it. “It looks like I caught you at a bad time. Seems like you need to be some where already,” Brody said as he pointed to her wrist. * Maria took a couple of deep cleansing breaths before she finally hit the call button for his apartment. She looked around to survey her surroundings, trying to distract herself from the nervousness in her stomach. Michael lived a few blocks away from the clubs, but people would park around his building, so they wouldn’t have to pay for valet. Michael lived in the historical area of the city. His building was an old office building that had recently been renovated. It was a four-story red brick building that still had 'Cotton Exchange' carved across the arched doorway. She often wondered how he was able to afford to live in such an expensive place. To tell the truth, she was actually jealous because she loved the area because of its charm. The little restaurants, cafe and shops that lined the bottom floor of the buildings were her favorite place to hang out. The shops were filled with so many different things from all over the world. But she despised downtown on the weekends, too many people around and she had to park and walk to his building. She thought about double parking, but didn’t want to get towed again. The strength she summed up on the ride over had disappeared on the walk to his building. She hit the button again, what was taking him so long? Maybe she should think of something else. Brody Davis, MD. Maria laughed at the thought of Dr. Davis. He was one of the best pediatrician in the city and a really nice man, but with his hair, it made him look like one of those troll dolls that were so popular a long time ago. His English accent was so adorable and he had a way about him that made him so cute, but she never thought much of him other than that. It took her by surprise that he wanted to have dinner with her. The realization just hit her like a brink. Did he just ask her out? Maria knew at times that she could be a little blonde, but not that blonde. Scrunching up her nose in disgust, she was going to give Michael a piece of her mind for screwing with her head. She was thinking about him when it all happened, so no wonder she didn’t pick up what Brody was trying to say. She did decline nicely to him, right? Thinking hard, she recalled saying something about Cookie and home and a rain check. Maria started to pound her head against the door wondering when the day would end. She finally stopped her self-inflicted punishment when she heard the intercom click and a druggy voice saying hello. She hit the button and spoke into the intercom. “Michael. It’s Maria.” She didn’t realize she had stop breathing. “Yeah, come up.” The electronic lock clicked open. * Michael rubbed his right shoulder where it hit the floor when he fell off of the couch. Today had been a very unusual day of many surprises, not to mention him falling all over the place. He was never that clumsy. He was dreaming when he heard the buzzing of the intercom, which woke him up from a very erotic dream and made him fall off the couch. He looked down and his hard on was still apparent. He hadn’t had a dream like that since he was in high school. Running his hand through his hair Michael tried to get the thoughts of the dream out of his head. He leaned against the wall; he was waiting for the elevator to come. His stomach started to act up when he heard the elevator door open. “Hi-” "Hey-" Michael scratched the back of his head. He was looking at her, waiting for her to say something, but she found something on the floor more interesting. Maria was never a quiet person. She usually was either talking or moving around like she was on speed, so this silence was very uncharacteristic of her. They stood around like this for a while. Was she waiting for him to say something? Michael couldn’t take it anymore; the silence was defining. "Well I guess you came to pick up Cooks?" Maria raised an eyebrow at the new name for her dog. "-Yeah. So, ammm- Where is she?" "Around- and you owe me a new pair of shoes." "What? No! She didn't!" Michael answered with a nod. "Which one?" Maria asked as she fisted her hand and joined them in front of her mouth, anticipating his answer. "The one you bought for me-” Maria covered her mouth in horror. No! Not the one she gave him for his birthday! They were not cheap. Those were her favorite shoes. Polished black leather booties, it looked good with everything, and Cookie chewed it up. Maria made a face, asking for forgiveness, which Michael laughed at. Her demeanor changed to irritation at Michael's humor. Maria rolled her eyes at Michael's ability to laugh when she was trying to apologize. "And I was planning on buying you new ones." Maria took a few steps closer to him. "-Well not any more Buddy!" She poked him one on the chest, emphasizing her point. Maria blankly stared at him, but quickly dropped down when she noticed the darkness in his eyes. “Amm- so where is my dog?” Maria slowly swallowed, as she looked around his loft. “Cookie c’mere-” Maria called as she stepped down into the main room, away from Michael. A little black head popped out from behind the leather couch, then disappeared again. Maria called for Cookie once more, but she didn’t come out from hiding. This was unusual behavior for Cookie. She always came when Maria called for her. Maria spun around to see Michael with his hand in his pocket, looking very smugly. “What did you do to her?” “I didn’t do anything.” “Than why is she afraid to come out?” “The hell I know. And who say she’s afraid?” Maria knelt down and started to pat on the floor while calling out Cookie’s name. She tried her sweetest words and voice, but nothing could coax Cookie out of hiding. It was the whistle from behind her that got the black dog running out from behind the couch towards her. Maria opened her arms ready to catch Cookie, but instead of running to Maria, Cookie ran towards the origin of the whistle. Maria’s mouth hung open as she saw her dog sitting at Michael’s foot and wagging her tail while she was looking up at him. What just happened here? Her own dog didn’t go to her; instead she went to the bad-hair-oaf. "What did you do to my dog? “I didn't do anything.” “Whatever! Look at her! She went to you!” Michael just shrugged. If Maria were a cartoon, billows of steam would be coming out of her head. This was just wrong. Seeing Maria’s face, Michael smirked; he waved his hand towards Maria indicating Cookie to go to her. Slowly, Cookie walked over to Maria, who scooped up her dog and hugged her tight. Cookie quickly became lively and started to kiss Maria all over her face. “Well she seems fine to me,” Michael said looking at Maria sprinkling affection on the mutt. “What?” It took a while before Maria realized that he even spoke. She wasn’t doing to let it go that easy. “You brainwashed MY dog! She won't even come to me without your permission.” "I did no such thing. That mutt doesn't even have a brain.” "What! I can't believe you call my dog dumb! I can’t believe you just said that. It's all your fault!” "What? What's all MY fault. I didn't do anything! "Whatever! You brainwashed her! She doesn't love me!" Maria was annoyed at his smugness, and it was making her more nervous that he could be so calm. Her body was holding too much pent up nervous energy that she started to pick up things that were scattered along the floor and throwing them at Michael. "Whoa! It isn't my fault that she has good taste!" Michael snapped, lunging towards the right as a shoe flew by his head. He finally ducked behind the couch as Maria looked around to find more objects to throw at him. During the commotion, Cookie jumped out of Maria’s arm and went chasing the things that Maria was throwing. Michael was not a violent man, but this was getting old. He didn’t want to use force to stop Maria, but she was making a huge mess of his place. Keeping himself low to the ground Michael finally caught her arms in mid throw. Although Maria was no match for him she put up a good struggle to get her arms free from him. Trying not to hurt her anymore, he pushed her back against the wall pinning her arms above here head. After a few seconds Maria stopped struggling but her breathing was still ragged. Looking deeply into her eyes Michael noticed the fire that lived there. “If I let you go, you promise not to start throwing things at me?” he said in a low whisper. Maria nodded without taking her eyes off of him. Satisfied with her response, Michael slowly let got of her arms and took a few steps back, just in case he had to run. Maria started to rub the soreness on her arms, where Michael had held her. She took a few steps towards him and put her arms out in front of her to show Michael what he did and gave him a pout. Michael started to scratch the invisible itch on his eyebrow as the looked at the damage that he had caused. Maria was the kind of girl that tended to get a little childish when she got hurt. Michael blamed it on Kyle’s over protectiveness; Kyle tended to spoil his sister. He reached out and started to rub Maria’s arms, his way of saying he was sorry, it brought back so many memories of their childhood. Maria inwardly smiled at herself. She always had been able to manipulate Michael; he was so easy to read. They've played like this when they were younger and she always had him feeling sorry for hurting her. Maria looked at Michael's hands as they were slowly rubbing the soreness; she never knew he had such powerful hands. She looked up and caught Michael looking at her, staring. With one quick move, Maria jerked her arms away from him, invaded his personal space and kissed him hard. Her hand started on his face but quickly moved down to feel his strong chest muscles. Maria moaned softly in Michael’s mouth as their tongue gently grazed each other. Michael's right hand was gently holding the base of her head as his other hand was on the small of her back, pressing her smaller frame close to his bigger one. Maria stopped the kiss that lingered on forever for some air. Her breathing was ragged, and as much as she tried to clam down to breath easier, she couldn’t. “-what’s going on?” “I don't know,” Michael said breathlessly, still holding her close. “I'm sorry.” “No, don’t be.” Maria quickly started to kiss Michael again as she wrapped one leg around him getting her body close as possible to his. “You sure?” Michael questioned as he regrettably broke away from her lips. “Positive-” Maria whispered then slowly licked her lips. She looked up to see that he was mimicking her as his tongue sneaked out and slowly re-entered the recesses of his mouth. He was intently looking at her, trying to read her. Finding what he was looking for in her eyes, Michael lifted Maria up and started to attack her mouth with passion. Cookie sat there waggling her tail happily as Michael picked up Maria and stumbled his way through the mess towards his bed. TBC |
| Part 4 |
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