Morning After August 23

Andy's Bachelor Pad

The day after their date

She found herself flat on her stomach, her soft cheek resting on a fluffy pillow that emanated a mildly pleasant masculine scent as she slowly waked into consciousness. She didn't bother to open her eyes and get up but sighed dreamily, nestling further against the nest of pillows that reminded her so much of Andy's cool masculine scent.

She scolded herself for thinking about him so early in the day. She hugged the enormous pillow that covered almost half of her body. I can hardly wait to go to work and see him again. She smiled to herself like a giddy little school girl.

She suddenly sat up in bed, her eyes flung open in shock as sobriety hit her like a kick in the gut.

Where am I? She never had these much pillows in her bedroom as she finds too much pillow cluttering. She gasped in horror when she realized she was down to her lacy matching black brassiere and underwear. Was I raped? She thought in panic, trying to feel if there was any bruising or pain in her body. There was none except for the throbbing in her head due to the rush of blood in her head for the sudden movement to sit up. She massaged her temples to abate the headache.

She glanced around the room decorated in wallpaper the shade of turquoise and grey. It was neat, void of any clutter, discarded laundry or empty soda cans. Hard Bound books were methodically arranged on the bookshelf occupying a quarter of on one side of the wall.

There was a door on her right which she assumed led to the bathroom and walk-in closet.

Despite the reassurance she gave herself she was not raped or assaulted, fear did not abate until her attention was drawn to a framed black and white photo hanging on the wall. She got off the bed to get a closer look.

It was a very young Andy Flynn. He looked no more than 30. Bare chested, clad in denim jeans and boots. He was standing beside a huge oak tree, one arm resting on one of its huge branches while his other hand was tucked in the pocket of his jeans. He was staring intently at the lens of the camera, his slightly long, jet black hair tousled. Sharon swallowed hard as she found herself tracing her fingers on his muscular shoulders and broad chest. He was one hell of a handsome bad boy, she thought.

Unable to tear her gaze away, she treaded lightly away from the photo, grazing her bare foot on a thorn of the scattered roses on the floor.

"Ouch!" she cried.

As she bent down to gather her roses, snippets of the previous night came in flashes in her head. She remembered hugging her precious flowers before they tumbled on the floor when she and Andy fell on the bed torridly kissing each other. A blush crept on her face as a memory of Andy unzipping her dress and throwing it before crushing himself atop her. Trembling, she quickly dressed after finding her dress underneath the bed as it had been in the sudden flash of memory.

Anger replaced her embarrassment as she stormed out of the room. She found Andy clad only in the bottom of his pajamas, sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room. For a moment she stared at his bare chest, mentally noting that despite his age, mother nature had been kind to him. Despite the few age lines on his forehead, his physique was similarly the same as the photo inside his room except for the slight rounding of his stomach.

She forced herself to forget the physical attraction and hit him repeatedly with the square throw pillow she grabbed beside him.

"How dare you, Andy! How dare you do that to me!" she screamed as she hit him with the pillow.

Andy caught Sharon's hand before she could hit him again for the third time. He stared at her, forcing to dissipate the sleep in his being.

"Sharon! What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously, noting the fire in her emerald eyes.

She calmed down a little after he grabbed her hand and drew her beside him on the sofa bed but she was still obviously upset.

She heaved a sigh a few times before she could utter a response.

"I… I thought you were my friend then why did you ravish me last night?"

Andy laughed that Sharon hit him again feeling quite insulted.

"Ravish you? If you had not drunk the entire bottle of champagne as though it were the last of its kind, then you would have a better recollection of the events last night."

Without releasing her hands, Andy drew her closer she was almost atop him. Sharon avoided his eyes.

"Sharon, sweetheart. First of all, if I had ravished you, I certainly wouldn't leave a piece of clothing on your delectable body. Second of all, I feel insulted that you would think the worse of me. I would never take advantage of your stupor."

A pang of guilt washed over Sharon. She noticed the redness that appeared on Andy's cheek where she had hit him with the pillow.

Instinctively, she cupped his face with her hands to sooth the side of his face. She peppered him with small chaste kisses at the side of his face.

"I'm so sorry, Andy. I… must be the champagne…I saw you kissing me… in my head"

Andy flashed her a smile. "You really have a bad memory… I didn't kiss you. You kissed me!"

"I did not!" protested Sharon, laughing.

In a flash, Andy flipped them over and Sharon found herself flat on her back on the sofa bed with Andy atop her.

Both stopped their merriment and playful banter as both became acutely aware of Andy's bulging desire pressed intimately against her.

Sharon found herself drowning in the pool of his dark eyes once again. She called them 'dangerous' because whenever she looked into them there was no turning back. Her lips parted in its own volition as though inviting Andy for a kiss.

Andy took all his restraint not to devour her parted lips that seemed to be begging him.

He knew if he gave in to the kiss, he would not stop. He was not a saint to stop twice in a row.

He leaned over her and whispered. "And Sharon…If something had happened between us last night, every inch of you would know because not an inch of you would be left untasted."

"Perhaps, we should substantiate your claim that I ravished you," teased Andy.

"Andy!" she cried

He saw the fear clouding her emerald green eyes and groaned helplessly. This was pure torture… having her so close with nothing between them but her black dress. His thumb gently grazed her inner wrists back and forth as he held her on the bed, his expression in agony. He knew he had to let her go.

What he didn't realize was Sharon was terrified not of him but of herself. She knew if Andy insisted on his way she would not be able to deny him. Deep inside she loved him with all her heart, but she was not ready to admit it to the world. Just a touch, just a kiss from him was pure ecstasy. No… she could not deny him if he started kissing her and if his knees pried her legs apart she would give in.

"Let me take a shower and then I'll take you home," groaned Andy before releasing her.

This had been one of those days Rusty had too much coffee to drink. He had an espresso from their machine before he left the house that morning for school, and in school he ended up getting a couple of Iced Coffees while he and his groupmates worked on a project. Before heading home, he met with some old friends in Starbucks and he had a venti Latte. He had suffered the consequence by having a light sleep tonight. He found himself constantly awakened by very little sound. He wakes up every time a car drove by their condominium and when a dog barked from a distance. Even the rustle of leaves whenever the wind blew seemed to wake him up.

It was five in the morning when he heard low, whispered voices from the foyer. For a moment he feared there was a burglar but then it occurred to him Sharon had not returned home. Lt. Flynn gave him a call that they were finishing a case in the office.

He jumped out of the bed and cautiously walked to the door to investigate whose voices he heard outside.

Sharon had her Jimmy Choos by her left hand as she slowly tiptoed inside the hallway. Her right arm carried her 50 Ecuadorian Roses.

"Andy, why don't you sit down on the couch while I take a shower," whispered Sharon.

Andy had his back to her as he tried to lock the front door without any light other than the dim light from his cellphone.

"Okay. I'll wait for you. Don't make a sound or the kid will wake up," said Andy.

Before Sharon could take a step further to her bedroom the living room lights went on.

"Mom!" exclaimed Rusty.

Sharon ashamedly stared at him as though she was a kid caught with her hand inside the cookie jar.

"Mom! Why are you sneaking in like a thief!" said Rusty.

"I wasn't… I just woke up and started preparing for work," she replied.

"You told me before, never to sneak out of the house…"

"I wasn't sneaking out…" said Sharon.

"Right, because you and Lt. Flynn are sneaking in!"

Rusty stared from her to Andy and wriggled his nose in distaste.

"You look terrible, mom. Where did you come from?" he muttered.

" Like I said we stayed the whole night in the office," said Andy.

"Oh yeah, then why is Sharon in her black cocktail dress… and since when do you get dozens of expensive flowers from PAB."

Sharon tucked her hair behind her ear in uneasiness. How does she get out of this one?

She smiled. "Remember, we were supposed to go out on a date but the case came up so Andy gave me this before we got called for the case," she reasoned.

Rusty eyed Lt. Flynn as he sat on the living room.

"You look kind of immaculate and neat for someone who stayed up in the office the whole night."

"Go back to bed or shut up and wait for the pancakes I would make for breakfast," said Andy.