Claudia let go of Artie's arms and let him fuss around some more, watching him as he watched her just out of the corner of his eye. Each bending or stretching movement she made, he was taking great care to not be caught noticing.
Of course he was caught, Claudia just didn't let him know.
She liked the attention. It was better than having Pete around; he had started to suffer from the "Big Brother Syndrome." Every time a man or anyone looked at Claudia and Pete was around, he grew overly defensive. The rest of the day would be filled with murmurs of how no one should look at Claudia like she was meat. Claudia and Myka laughed it off.
Artie had been cautious around Pete though, knowing full well that the ex-Marine and current Secret Service agent could easily kick his ass. And one kick would probably do it.
But now that they would be spending a few days traveling plus a few days getting a hold of the artifact, and then a few more days traveling back, Artie was sure he could sneak some glances as the young beauty bent over. Her jeans, that were tight while she stood, would stretch over her round bottom as she riffled for something at the bottom of the box.
One time Claudia had bent over so far that the top of her panties became exposed. They were a black lace that almost stopped Artie's heart.
That was the one time she called him out on it. Pete and Myka had just communicated to him through the Farnsworth that they had finally landed from their first flight after being stuck at the airport for twelve hours. Artie spun around to shake Claudia from her musical daydream, her earphones visible against the dark clothes she wore.
The lace was only slightly exposed. At first Artie was unsure if it was even her bottoms. But when she stretched for the opposite corner of the box and a little more was exposed, he made a breathless groan.
Claudia whipped her head around.
"You okay Old Man?" She paused when she realized he was not looking her in the eyes. "Artie!" She wiggled her jean clad bottom.
"Huh?" Artie shook his head and began to mess with his glasses.
"Are you okay?" She smiled.
"Uh, yeah. I'm, I'm fine. How's the search for the hair clip coming?" Artie had been so startled by the beautiful sight of her panties and the thoughts of what the rest of them might look like that he'd forgotten to pass on the message that Claudia needed to feed the nameless ferret living in Myka's room.
Claudia sighed. There was no sign of it.
"Hey Artie, why don't we call it a night? I'm exhausted. You're not doing much but sitting there fiddling with your glasses for the ten thousandth time. How 'bout that movie you promised me earlier?" She ran her hands down her sides and over her bottom, patting her back pockets.
Artie's mouth was open. He really wanted to just be near her. He'd never noticed before but Claudia had sprouted into this beautiful woman at some point. And now he was going to take her upstairs to watch a movie.
In his bedroom.
Possibly in his bed.
'Where'd all these feelings come from?' Artie was lost in his thoughts.
"Artie! Snap out of it! Movie, now," she whined. Bouncing on the balls of her feet brought Artie out of his daydream of being so near to Claudia that maybe he could get another small kiss out of her.
"Okay, okay," he said as he put his glasses back on. He rose from the chair and made his way to the stairs. "Please, you first my dear."
He couldn't deny that he was to take advantage of this situation. Such a round backside in front of his face with a wild imagination of what the rest of the black lace panties looked like, Artie was happy he always wore such long and baggy shirts.
"So, this is your room huh? Never thought you'd be one for a swing bed Art," Claudia plopped down on the bed, her legs swinging under the mattress.
Artie's bed, a very large version of a swing with the world's most cozy mattress as the seat was unique. But so was the owner. He'd turned the empty storage room into his own for nights when the warehouse needed him late into the evening. Then again, he stayed there most nights, late or not.
There were antique dressers and bookshelves all over. One might think the whole room to be decorated with artifacts, but Artie was keen on antique furniture. He thought it matched the warehouse well.
Claudia scooted back and stretched out with her red hair contrasting against the white pillows.
Artie smiled, still standing in the doorway. The young woman looked absolutely beautiful on his bed. Her lean frame sank into the blankets. The bottom of her shirt inched up to expose her pale and taught flesh. Her eyes closed and she moaned softly.
"Artieeeeee, this bed, I'm stealing it."
Artie just chuckled, but Claudia sat upright.
"You think I'm joking?" She slipped her shoes off and tossed them to the corner. She stood on the cloud like mattress. Artie took a few tentative steps forward. "Movies. Where are they?" She asked, jumping off the bed. Artie told her all he had was what was on the tv. "Well, it's a good thing I've hacked us into some internet related streaming of movies!" She plopped down cross legged and clicked the power button on the remote. The tv screen remained black with a signal lost box on it. Claudia was at a loss.
Sure it was snowing outside, but there mustn't be this much of a problem with the signal.
"Kiddo," Artie said after she tried for seven minutes to get the signal to boost. "We'll just have to watch it on the local station."
He sat along the opposite side of the bed, cautious enough to keep some distance between the two of them. Claudia made herself comfortable by wiggling her way under the blankets, pulling them tightly over her body.
"Did you want to use the blankets?" She asked him with wide eyes, more telling than asking.
Artie shrugged, but Claudia flipped back the free corner of the blankets to let him crawl under with her. She waited for him to get completely under the blankets before she made her move. Claiming that she didn't know what channel had the best movies, she forked the remote over to the older man and stretched out.
Her hand brushed against his bare arm, sending goosebumps all over his body.
"Claudia," Artie paused his channel changing and shifted to look her directly in the eyes. "I don't know why it's taken this long for me to," he noticed a gleaming gem in her hair. "What's that?"