Carol was on her second cup of coffee, sitting on the couch watching a morning news program when she finally heard Daryl clunking around in the kitchen. A few minutes later he appeared in the living room with a mug, messy hair and dark circles under his eyes. But she only noticed his face for a matter of seconds because her eyes started to wander down the rest of his body. Daryl was shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of black track pants, sitting ridiculously low on his hips. They were so low she was actually wondering how they were staying on. When she started to hope they would fall off Carol decided she needed to focus on something else.
Unfortunately her next distraction was his broad shoulders and sexy, well defined collarbones, which didn't leave her with any more ability to speak than she'd had looking at the waistband of those damn pants. Get yourself together, she thought. "Morning," she said sweetly. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than I look," Daryl groaned. He set down the coffee mug and stretched. That's a matter of opinion, Carol decided.
"Your pants are gonna fall down," she muttered, peeking over her cup of coffee, wishing she didn't want it to happen as badly as she did. Daryl was her buddy, but he was a man, an incredibly sexy and very flirty man, and she was a woman who certainly appreciated a fine male form.
"Hmm? Oh…" he said, looking down. "Unfortunately for you…" Daryl flipped the waistband to reveal a hidden drawstring. "They're not going anywhere." Carol tried to hide her disappointment and the fact that she got a quick glimpse of his pubic hair confirming her suspicion that there was not a thing under those pants. Daryl plopped down on the couch beside her.
Carol gave him a smirk, "I changed the channel."
He looked confused for a minute and then a smile slowly spread across his face. "Too bad, they play some fantastic movies in the morning."
"Define 'fantastic'," Carol said, likely heading into inappropriate territory yet not really caring… yet. She tried to be more conservative with him but their personalities were so complimentary that even a simple conversation could quickly turn into something altogether different.
"Well I ain't gonna say the acting is fantastic," Daryl chuckled. "But the porn scenes… yeah, those are pretty fantastic." He gave her a flirty smile. "I usually sit right there," he added said, pointing to where she was sitting. "While I…" he made a gesture that could only mean one thing. "I can reach the tissues from there." From time to time she would still catch a shade of pink on his cheeks when they talked about things of a sexual nature, but he had certainly come a long way over the years.
"There are some things I just really don't need to know," Carol groaned. Truth was, it wasn't the first time he'd brought up masterbation in her presence and it wouldn't be the last. The bigger truth was, it wasn't the first time she'd been turned on hearing him talk about jerking off and… it likely wouldn't be the last.
I really need to get laid, Carol thought, annoyed at how horny she was feeling at 8:30 in the morning with a guy she surely wouldn't be having sex with anytime soon - if ever. She quickly squashed the voice in her head that peeped up with a "why not?" She'd been over the list of why she would not get involved with Daryl many times. It was long and she continued to add to it the more time she spent with him and the more famous he became.
"So what's the plan?" she asked. She decided to change the subject before it got any further out of hand.
"I can be ready in 15," Daryl replied, taking another drink of coffee. "You wanna grab some grub first? I can call my real estate buddy and see if he has any ideas of where to start."
"Works for me," Carol replied.
Half an hour later they were in a little cafe eating fresh baked croissants and drinking more coffee. "Okay, so he gave me an address of a place that's vacant right now. He called over and building security is gonna let us in to have a look," Daryl said after hanging up his cell. "If this one don't work he has one more to try, but I already don't like the location… rough area. I wouldn't be comfortable letting you stay there." Carol rolled her eyes, but didn't argue.
They finished up their breakfast and caught a cab to an apartment building several blocks away. She climbed out of the cab and wrapped her coat tightly around her. January in New York was a lot different than January in Atlanta. It was gonna take her a while to get used to the colder weather. By the time they got inside and made it up to the apartment she was shivering and shaking. The heat in the apartment was either really low or turned off completely because it didn't feel a whole lot warmer than it was outside.
"Oh c'mere," Daryl said, pulling her into a hug. "There, there, my little southern Belle," he teased her. "By the time you get back home you'll be complaining it's too hot."
"Yeah I don't think that's gonna happen," Carol replied, enjoying the warmth of his hug. She tucked her face into his neck and closed her eyes. Before long the shivering stopped, yet Daryl continued to hold her and she continued to enjoy it. When it started to get a little awkward she pulled back. "Thanks," she said. "Let's check this place out."
The apartment was nice. It was a bachelor style, fairly small, with a loft bedroom. But the best feature was the massive wall sized window that overlooked the New York skyline. The view was incredible. Daryl on the other hand was very obsessed with the loft. "Carol, come check this out," he called from up above. "It's like sleeping in a tree stand." She climbed the steps and joined him. "Come over here," he said, from the far side of the bed. "Okay, stand right there," he turned her to face out. "And bend over just a bit…" She obeyed and saw that from the angle she was at you could actually see out the top of the lower level window and had an even better view of the city.
"Don't you miss it?" Carol said, still leaning forward to look out the window. Even though it was a beautiful view it was buildings and cars and city. "The trees, and wildlife and… quiet."
Daryl settled his hands on her hips and leaned forward a bit with her. She didn't miss the fact that they were in a very compromising pose, but she ignored it when he spoke. "I do - quite often," he admitted. "But when you live here… there's just something special about the city that gets ya. Can't really explain it…" His voice trailed off. "But I'm always happy to come back to Georgia too. It's always gonna be home."
Carol was supposed to be looking out the big window, but she found herself closing her eyes to enjoy the feeling of having him close. The way his hands felt on her hips, and his groin area pressing into her ass lightly. Her heart started to pound and she forced her eyes open. She pressed up on him indicating she wanted to stand, needing to get away from him and put some space between them.
Be cool and calm, Carol told herself. "Okay, so this place should be fine… How much is it? And what do we do next?" She asked.
"Let me call him back and find out," Daryl replied, pulling out his cell. "It's a pretty decent price," he said after hanging up. "Only $5200…" Carol was nodding until he finished the sentence. "Per month."
"What? Are you serious?" Carol sputtered. "I wasn't even paying that much for the entire stay at the other place."
"In Manhattan?" Daryl looked at her curiously. She nodded. "How much was the guy charging?"
"5 grand for the whole stay," Carol replied.
"Holy shit," Daryl looked shocked. "He your ex boyfriend or does he owe you something?"
"What? No, of course not," she scoffed. "He said he was only charging me what he pays."
"Then he has got to be fucking his landlord… or it was a dive… but in that area… there aren't many dives…" Daryl looked extremely perplexed.
"Well, I don't know… but this place is way too expensive," Carol insisted.
"And I ain't even taking you to that other neighborhood," Daryl was firm on that so she didn't bother to argue. He would know better than her anyway.
"Well I might as well just find a hotel I guess," she sighed. She knew it would be extremely difficult to find a last minute, short term rental right in the city and she really didn't feel like heading out to one of the boroughs and having to rent a car and commute every day.
"Carol," he said. "Stay at my place."
"No," she replied quickly. "I can't. I'm not sleeping on a couch for 2 months and I won't take T-Dog's room. Where would he sleep when he visits?"
"Well, first of all he won't be visiting while you're here. He really doesn't stay with me that often." Daryl explained. "And secondly, I have a third room. I would just have to clear it out a bit and have a bed delivered."
"You're not gonna buy a bed so I can stay with you for a couple months," Carol replied, crossing her arms.
"I was gonna do it soon anyway," Daryl shrugged. "I'm thinking of getting a different place and they suggested I make it look more like the three bedroom it really is."
"You're gonna move?" Carol asked in surprise. As far as she knew he loved the apartment.
"Maybe," he replied. "The building is getting old and there are some newer places not too far away… just something I've been thinking about." He smiled at her. "Come on, stay at my place. It'll be fun. We get along well. We can live together for a couple months." He looked so excited about the idea already. "We'll be like… like… Three's company - without Chrissy." Carol eyed him, wondering if he knew how Three's Company ended. "Say yes, you know you wanna," he pleaded. "I'll be on my best behaviour and I have like 3 damn cons so I'll be away a bit and you'll have the place to yourself… Please?"
Oh no, he was pulling out the puppy dog eyes. As much as she wanted to say no… as much as she thought it was a terrible idea… as much as her mind was telling her to be firm… her heart gave in. "Okay, we can give it a try," she said, watching his eyes light up. "But I'm holding you to the best behaviour thing… even if it is your place," Carol warned.
"Yes," he exclaimed, looking so happy it made her feel, at least for a moment, like she'd made the perfect decision. "Let's go," Daryl said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Where are we going now?" Carol asked.
Daryl grinned and pecked her quickly on the cheek, "We're going bed shopping, Pookie."
