Disclaimer: Not mine.

Helpless 9

Game plan

"You must be getting sick of staring at these walls," Marron said, turning back to the computer. "I know I would, if I were stuck in here."

"I might, if I didn't have such charming and intelligent company. And a great cook, besides. What more could any man ask for?"

She felt herself blushing again. There he went with the sweet talk again, she told herself. He never missed an opportunity to throw off balance. Not that she ever let him know she was affected by it. That would be playing right into his hands, and she wasn't about to amuse him at her own expense again.

She had to admit, though, he was beginning to get through her defenses. She wasn't used to being so formal with people, and the strain of keeping it up was getting on her nerves.

Trunks seemed determined to break down her resistance, and he never let up on his attempts to make her smile. If nothing else, she had to admit, he was persistent to a fault. She rather liked that. It showed he had some strength of character at least.

She was, in fact, beginning to lose her resolve to stay aloof with him. It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain a professional attitude when her employer was spouting bad imitations of Mister Satan or Clint Eastwood, or slashing a wild Z in the air with his crutch while shouting that he was Zorro.

She could quite see what women saw in him. He was not only good-looking, he was fun to be around, and that combination of sophisticated charmer tempered by mischievous little boy would be tough to resist.

Deciding to call a limited truce, she asked him about his work as they sat sharing a large plate of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs for lunch.

She was surprised when he described some of the buildings he'd designed. She recognized two or three of them from when she'd worked in the city, and she was really impressed when he showed her a photograph of a beautiful, enormous country-style mansion that he'd designed.

Huge, ivy-covered portals at the top of the front steps gave the house its majestic air, while massive firs offered shelter and seclusion. It was a house someone like a movie star would live in, she thought, gazing wistfully at the latticed windows and slanting roofs of the quaint dormers.

The kind of house a woman would fall in love with on sight. A dream house, like the one she longed to own one day.

She would have liked to ask who lived in it, but she had the feeling it was someone important who no doubt valued his privacy. "It's beautiful," she murmured, handing him back the picture.

He smiled. "I must admit I'm rather partial to that one myself."

Marron thought about the article she'd read. It had focused entirely on Trunks' conquests with women. There hadn't been one word about his achievements. Yet in spite off all his trips overseas, and his hectic social life, he must have worked very hard to have achieved the kind of success that allowed him to live the way he did.

No wonder he didn't want any of his fancy friends coming over to see him. He was probably ashamed of the River Rat, and didn't want anyone to know that the infallible Trunks Briefs had made such a lousy investment.

She prepared the stew for him and set it on the stove that afternoon, and by the time she was ready to leave, the entire house smelled of onions and fragrant herbs. Trunks kept sniffing every now and again, demanding, "Isn't it ready yet?"

Finally she dished him up a huge plateful and set it in front of him at the table, together with a plate of bread rolls she'd taken out of the freezer earlier.

"There's plenty left," she said, feeling a warm glow of satisfaction as she watched him hungrily attack the food. "Enough to see you through the weekend."

He paused with his fork midway to his mouth and looked up at her dismay. "You won't be back until Monday?"

"I don't work weekends," Marron reminded him firmly.

"Oh, right."

She took one look at his crestfallen face and weakened. "I could look in on you tomorrow, though, just to see how you're doing."

"Great! Then perhaps you could cook those steaks I saw in the freezer. It seems like years since I had a good steak."

What else? Marron thought, annoyed with herself for being such a pushover. There were plenty of things she could do with her weekend rather than waste it catering to a bored womanizer who didn't have enough conscience to let his friends know where he was.

Aware that she was being uncharitable, she weakly nodded. "All right, I'll stop by and cook your steaks."

"You'll stay for dinner?"

Her first instinct was to refuse, but then she thought about him spending the long, lonely hours alone in that desolate place. After all, it wasn't as if she had anything better to do. She hadn't been in Pisces long enough to make any friends. "All right," she said at last. "I'll stay for dinner."

"Great. I'll look forward to it, then. Let's make an evening of it."

She felt a tinge of apprehension, wondering how she'd get through an entire evening without work to fall back on. Then she had an idea. "Do you play Scrabble?"

His eyes lit up. "Do I play Scrabble? Boy, do I play Scrabble. Of course I play Scrabble. I always play Scrabble. Doesn't everybody play Scrabble?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "How many times have you played Scrabble?"

He looked sheepish. "None. But you could teach me. I'm a fast learner. Specially if we play for money."

She shook her head. "No money. We'll play for candies."

"Candies?"

"You don't have to eat them."

"Aw, that's half the fun."

"Okay," she said, relenting, "You can eat them. That's if you win any. I'm a good Scrabble player."

He grinned. "Now I'm really looking forward to it."

She got out of there before he noticed her getting flustered again.

She had to stop feeling sorry for him, she told herself as she drove back to her apartment that evening. That was always her undoing. She saw someone in need and she had to rush in and help. One of these days her eagerness to take charge was going to get her into big trouble. If it hadn't already.

I just got home to my pc and I'm now eating a bowl of Double Dutch ice cream. Want some? *offers ice cream to beloved readers*

Thank you for the reviews! Judging by their amount and the quantity of stories updated and/or posted, most of the people have probably gone to the beach or the mall or somewhere out there to enjoy their summer break. Lucky people. And here I am, slaving away. Well, not really. I like what I'm doing. Although I could really appreciate having more access to a pc during the week. My stock of chapters is running low.

My org in the uni is celebrating its anniversary so I'll be really busy next week. And since it has a lot to do about Japanese culture, I'll most definitely be able to get free Japanese food again. Mmmm. maki. yum.