Bulma yawned, taking a moment to pull an elastic hair tie off of her wrist and throw her hair up in a messy ponytail.
She wasn't feeling her best. She had gotten pretty drunk last night while celebrating with Yamcha. She smiled to herself, sitting at her desk with a large, steaming mug of hot coffee.
She was so proud of him. He may not be the toughest warrior out there, but he worked hard and was finally seeing some results with baseball. She knew he could make it in the major leagues.
Steam curled up from her mug, wafting up towards her face. She blew on the coffee, hoping to cool it down faster so she could get some of that sweet, sweet caffeine as soon as possible.
Looking over her schematics, she considered what needed improvements and what she could reuse from her old designs. She made some notes for herself, spending a couple hours on her plans, slowly draining her coffee and waking herself up.
She stretched in her desk chair, rolling her shoulders and trying to crack her neck. It never cracked when she wanted it to. She just wanted that relieving pop! She continued bending her stiff neck out from side to side, trying to loosen it up.
"Woman, would you stop trying to break your own neck and fix my damn bots."
Her eye twitched. She stiffly rolled her chair around to meet the bristly saiyan that snuck up on her. "Will you stop womaning me? It's Bulma. Bul-ma."
This time he smirked at her instead of scoffing. "Right. Okay, Bulma," she felt her stomach do a flip. Had he ever said her name before? "Why don't you…" he stepped forward until he was inches away from her, crouching down slightly to hold her gaze. "...stop fucking around and build me my gods damned bots?"
It felt like dozens of butterflies were suddenly in her stomach, and they were also fighting to the death. Vegeta was so close to her, she could see his eyelashes.
She swallowed, reminding herself that he was being an asshole. "Listen here, your Majesty," she started, trying to summon all the venom she could. "You are not my boss."
"Tch. If I was, you'd be fired by now. Or decapitated," he added with an evil smirk.
Why was her heart racing? He didn't scare her. "I'm working on it, you have to give me some time if you want improvements."
He stood back up to his full height. "You said that they would be ready today."
Bulma racked her brain, trying to remember exactly how their last conversation went. "Listen, I just said I would resume working on them today. I can't promise exactly when they'll be done! You can't rush perfection."
He balled his hands into fists. "Do you want me to save your damn planet or not, woman?!"
She rolled her eyes, spinning her chair away from him and back to her desk. "Yes, yes, we all want you to save us," she told him, voice dripping with sarcasm. She returned to stretching her neck left and right.
"What are you doing?" Vegeta asked from behind her, exasperated.
"I have a horrible crick in my neck, I'm trying to crack it so I can focus on these stupid fucking bots!" She swore she felt a vein throbbing in her temple. Any patience she had was now at zero.
She picked up her pencil and tried to ignore the man looming over her shoulder.
Suddenly, she felt strong, soft fingers ghosting her shoulders. Her stomach dropped and her heart picked back up to an incredible pace. Was Vegeta…touching her?
"What are you-"
"Be quiet, woman," he quietly demanded.
She fell silent. This time, she didn't dare challenge him.
His fingers gently moved up to the base of her neck, thumbs brushing against her spine. His fingertips grazed against her throat. It took every last ounce of effort for her not to moan when he pushed his thumbs against her neck, rubbing her with a surprising tenderness.
What the fuck was happening?!
He took his time, the tips of his thumbs kneading their way from her neck to her shoulders. His touch was firm enough to bring relief to her knotted muscles, but still so gentle. She bit her bottom lip to keep a sigh of pleasure from escaping her.
She allowed herself to relax for just a moment, enjoying the massage on her aching muscles. His thumbs were working the strained spots in just the right way….
"Stay still."
Before she could respond, he placed one hand at the top of her head, the other on her chin. He then gave her neck a snap.
"Ah- ahhh." Bulma closed her eyes. For a brief moment, she thought he had finally had it and was about to just break her neck and be done with her. Then an incredible relief washed over her. She let out a satisfied sigh.
He quickly pulled his hands away, and she brought hers up to her neck. "Th…thank you," she stammered out.
Vegeta remained silent for so long she wasn't sure if he was still there.
After an eternity, he finally said, "Just build me the damn bots," before stalking off.
As soon as he left, Bulma jumped out of her seat and ran to the lab door. She shut it and turned around, leaning her back against it, her heartbeat still out of control. She tried to steady her breathing.
What…just happened?
It was all so sudden. They went from their typical back and forth arguing to…him touching her? To him helping her?
It was such a shock that Vegeta would even think about helping anyone other than himself. Not to mention, his skin was so…soft. It must be from him wearing gloves most of the time.
She shuddered against the door.
Bulma wasn't sure what freaked her out more, the fact that Vegeta could've killed her and didn't, or the fact that he went out of his way to make her feel better. To soothe her pain.
Either way, she was suddenly incredibly turned on.
She really needed to get laid.
—
Once again, Vegeta had fled to his little sanctuary down the hall of Capsule Corp., although this time he was unable to slam his door shut. He opted to hide from the rest of the humans in his small, en suite bathroom. In an attempt to keep calm, he slowly eased the door shut. It clicked into place, granting him privacy.
He approached his reflection in the mirror, hands gripping the sink so hard he felt the porcelain fracture under the pressure of his fingertips. Little fissures cracked through the sink like lighting, popping bits of the delicate ceramic across the room like hail.
He grit his teeth, finally raising his head to peer at his own reflection.
What. The fuck. Was that?
He had come to hound her about her laziness, when he saw the woman acting strangely. Shifting her own neck at strange angles, grumbling and stretching. When he realized she was in pain from muscle soreness, his hands acted on their own. He found himself reaching out to touch the bare skin on her neck without even thinking, without stopping to wonder if it was a good idea to allow himself to touch the Earthling.
She was soft. Her skin was warm, and she smelled like something he couldn't place. He had never been this close to her before. His nose was practically in her hair.
Vegeta felt it, of course. His fingertips brushed her throat, he could feel her pulse quicken along with his. Was she nervous? She was probably terrified of him. She probably thought he was going to kill her right there for all the disrespect and attitude that she showed him, a prince.
But no. He felt her heartbeat pulsing, and as he worked his fingers into her knotted and sore tissue, he felt the change. Her heart was still thumping quickly. But her stiff spine leaned back. The breath she was holding escaped her lips. It was subtle, but she leaned into him, instead of bolting away from his touch like he expected.
It felt like she was melting under his fingers.
She let him touch her. Her body was asking for more of it.
He felt a surge of something jolt through him.
He had assessed her problem almost immediately. Vegeta knew humanoid bodies very well after years of experience breaking them. But something in him wanted to savor this moment. To remember exactly how this felt. She wanted him to touch her. She liked it. She craved it.
This would never happen again, of course. To her, he was the psychotic, murderous royal that was given permission to stay at her family home simply as a courtesy to the Earth. Nothing more.
He told her to remain still while he put his hands in place to give her the neck crack she desired. He knew exactly which joints needed to be stretched for her to feel that relief. With a firm motion, he solved her issue.
She made a little whimpering noise, followed by a sound of satisfaction.
That…that sound she made….
He snapped his hands away from her with incredible speed. She thanked him, breathless.
A thrill of desire shot through his body, right to his groin. He suppressed a groan.
He stood there staring at the back of her head, watching her run her hands over the spots his hands had just touched her, as if amazed. He couldn't stop staring at her creamy, delicate skin. Her tousled blue hair, tied up high. She smelled incredible. He would give anything to bring his lips to her neck right now-
"Just build me the damn bots."
He had to get out of there.
What was with this woman and causing him to run? He never ran from his problems.
But then again, he didn't usually want to fuck his problems.
He groaned at his own reflection, his erection growing.
Shit.
A/N: hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I wanted to mention, my plan is to keep it mostly canon, but we'll see how it goes! Thanks for reading.