I couldn't explain what it was about her stance that caused the stirring in my pants, but her annoyance with me seemed to have the unlikely effect of turning me on. That was probably something I needed to talk to a therapist about, right?
"Look, when things need to happen, I make them happen. You know that, Penny, and you will figure that out soon enough, Ava. My goal is to keep you both safe, and that's what I'm doing. You didn't need to be dillydallying around that apartment. You're here now, and you have your things, so what's the problem?"
Both women changed their stances as if they could not believe I could possibly be this thickheaded. But I broke the intense gaze from each of them and turned to the men. "Take that stuff to the room all the way at the end of the hall to the right."
"You can't possibly expect for these men to have gotten everything that she would need, Spencer?" Penny stopped short. "Ava? You didn't tell me you're working on a new bust?"
"What?" Ava asked in surprise and looked over to the boxes, and sure enough, there was some sort of clay sculpture covered in clear, plastic wrap.
I only saw it for a moment, but it appeared to be of a naked man, and it just piqued my interest even more as my eyes shot to Ava's in question. Her face colored furiously as she ran after the men yelling, "Wait! Please, be very careful with those pieces!"
It took a lot in me not to go after her and examine what all was in those boxes. The thought of Ava toiling away in her small apartment, molding and shaping a naked man made my blood boil in more ways than one.
For some reason, the notion that she could've been sculpting the body of a naked man while I had been pawing at myself the evening before just seemed to light a new fire inside of me. It would take a lot of studying to create that kind of form and thoughtful, artistic, pondering to decide exactly what one wanted to sculpt. That wasn't the kind of piece that a person just slapped together at a moment's notice, and I was dying to fix my eyes upon what took up Ava's time when she wasn't teaching the impressionable youth.
There was a commotion towards the back of the hallway, then the two movers I'd hired hurried down the hall, looking worried. "I think that's everything, boss. Um, if it's alright with you, we're just going to get out of here."
I snickered. "Am I to assume that the formidable Miss Moretti scared you two?"
The two men started shaking their heads unconvincingly. "No, no, nothing like that. I mean, come one, she only comes up to here on me," one of the men said, raising his hand chest high.
"There was just so many instructions on how to handle her projects. I got a little nervous," the other man admitted somewhat defensively.
Penny chuckled from behind me. "God help anyone that messes with Ava's works in progress. She guards those like a Rottweiler protects its food."
I looked to the two men with a fair amount of disgust at being cowed so easily by Ava's ire.
"You're dismissed," I told them coolly, and they got out of there like their asses were on fire.
"I wouldn't look so smug, big brother. I seriously doubt that she's going to let it go that you sent them to her place without her permission to paw through her stuff."
I gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Penny, I'll handle her."
Her eyes widened, then she smiled slowly, almost feline-like. "I'll pray for you," she said in all seriousness.
I laughed. "Come on, it can't be all that bad."
Penny's smile only broadened. "I think I'll just let you find out for yourself. As good of a show as I'm sure it's going to be, I prefer to keep my drama to Real Housewives, so I think I'll be on my way." She grabbed her bag and headed toward the mouth of the hallway, calling out, "Ava! Sweetie, I'm heading out, I'll call you later!"
There was a not quite distinguishable answer that made Penny laugh, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there were several four-letter words that floated down the hall.
"Alright, love, well, you have fun with that," Penny answered back, turning to me with a mischievous smile as she marched toward the front door, patting me consolingly on the shoulder as she passed. "Good luck. You're going to need it," she said with a little too much glee.
"I've been warned," I said doubtfully. "Just promise me that you'll be careful, and if anything looks or feels off, call me immediately."
Her mirth disappearing, she looked at me seriously. "You know I will. Call me if you need help talking down your new fiancée," she said, and just like that, her amusement came flooding back as she laughed before she made her exit.
For a brief moment, I wondered what I'd gotten myself into as I continued to hear Ava’s angry murmurs drift down the hall. I could have just ignored it and let her cool down. That probably would have been the smart thing to do. But curiosity got the better at me, and her colorful cussing lured me in like some sort of siren song.
I found her, frantically bent over a hunk of clay, pulling it this way and that, making sure it looked just so. I couldn't explain it, but just standing there in the doorway watching her hands work was mesmerizing.
I couldn't help but wonder what those long, slender fingers could do to me. How they would look wrapped around my cock. Would she be tentative in her strokes, or would she be just as sure and confident as she was in that moment with the morning sun pouring in through the huge window, caressing her beautifully bent neck?
I hadn't realized that I was staring, but God, I couldn't look away.
She looked so beautiful standing there, so utterly focused on her work. She stiffened suddenly when she sensed my presence, moving to cover her work but not ceasing her alterations to it. Without looking up, she said in an irritated voice, "Just because this is your place doesn't mean you can just stand and stare at me anytime you please."
Oh, dear Ava, that's where you're wrong. So very wrong.