Temptation

"This is just the right size," Zelma giggled as she held up one of the largest dildos and shoved it to the rest of the assembly. Many nodded while others murmured agreements. "Bigger than any man, and better as well, I should think," Zelma droned on accompanied by the collective giggles from her friends.

"Even

this

is bigger than my former date's," Tess joined in and held up the tiniest but-plug the representative from the sex shop had brought along.

Another burst of laughter escaped from the group of friends and set the stage for a perfect evening with the girls, Amy thought as she relaxed back in her chair while the representative demonstrated a set of high-tech vibrators with anal stimulation. Questions and suggestions poured on as they ooh-ed and aah-ed over the different shapes and sizes.

"I want this one," Tess stated as she stared dumbfounded at a G-spot vibrator in bright pink colour. "Who needs a man when I have this baby?"

"As long as you remember to charge the batteries once in a while," Zelma suggested cheekily. "Otherwise you're back to the real thing, honey."

"Maybe you would like to have a look at some of the lingerie as well?" the representative suggested and opened up a trunk filled with underwear in different colours and made of silk and lace. She grabbed a red corset and held it before the assembly and a collective gasp of excitement went through the room.

"How about some sexy underwear to present to your man or perhaps simply to wear for your own pleasure?" The entire group of women launched themselves into touching the smooth lace and gasping over French crotches and silky babydolls.

Suddenly the door bell rang loudly and for so long that Amy suspected someone of leaning their entire weight on it. Great. What now?

Amy jumped up and went quickly to open the door but Tess had already beaten her to it. Before Amy managed to prevent her, Tess produced a squeal of delight that made the entire group look their way.

"A male stripper. Gosh, can this evening get any better. You sneaky girl," she said to Amy as she came up to them. "You really know how to arrange a party," she continued delightfully. "Come on in, Officer," she smiled happily at the policeman standing right outside.

"Ahem, that's not a stripper," Amy replied. "That's just my annoying neighbour, and he is actually a real live cop."

"No, you must be kidding. He must be a stripper. What use would the police have of such a perfect specimen of manhood?" Tess droned on. "Or what do you say, girls?" she asked the others who sighed with expectations pasted on their faces.

The perfect specimen only leaned casually against the door while crossing his arms in front of his chest, making every bulge even more apparent than before. A collective sigh went through the room. Amy knew that his easygoing manner was just an act. This man was not to be trifled with and she had had more than one encounter with him since her stupid brother had entrusted him with looking after her while her brother was away on one of his expeditions.

"Settle down everybody," Amy interrupted and turned to the man roaming his eyes all over the different outfits and sex toys cluttering her living room. "What do you want, Nick? Trying to ruin another fine evening with your crude remarks about safety and my general tendency to do stupid things? Or perhaps you have another set of good advice from my surly brother that you want to share with me? What is it this time? Stop seeing jerks, or simply stop going outside?"

"None of those yet, but they sound like some good advice to me. Maybe you should consider them?" he chuckled. "Although I would not recommend you walking outside wearing that," he said heatedly as he stared at the red corset she was unaware of carrying around with her.

"Huh?" she said with a puzzled frown before following the direction of his stare, and almost dropping the article as she became aware of the corset she was holding. She quickly hid it behind her back.

"Otherwise I might be tempted to arrest you for indecent exposure," he added and gave her a wink. "And don't think I would let you off easily just because I know your family," he continued in a more icy tone.

Damn the arrogant man, Amy thought indignantly. He could always be counted on the make her lose her composure in zero time. Was she ever going to stand up to this childhood friend of her brother? He rattled her as no one else did even though she was grown now and shouldn't let him shake her anymore. She straightened her stance and glared at him. Even if he frightened her she would not give him the benefit of shoving it.

"Are you sure you didn't want anything, Nick? Apart from ruining our party, that is?"

"Party?" He looked behind her. "Must be a boring party. You don't have any men around."

"You fancy joining us then?" Amy bit out. "How about doing a little striptease for us? I'm sure some of the ladies would appreciate it," she added disinterestedly as she gave a nod in the direction of her guests.

He laughed outright. "Sorry, I need to get to work. Have some real criminals to catch. You ladies will have to make do with your restocking and get home to your hubbies. Besides, no strippers are allowed in this building."

"Says who?" Amy asked outright. "What can stop us from ordering a stripper as soon as you're out of the door, huh? I believe we could order a hunk in a police uniform at any time," she teased.

"Nothing could stop you from ordering, except for a few spies I have planted in the building," Nick said icily. "Just imagine what would happen to you when they phone me about what Jeff's little sister is up to?" He almost cornered her against the door and his stance left her in no question of him thinking up some terrible ways to torment her.

"And what would you do about that?" Amy wondered.

He answered by placing a large hand against the wall beside her head and crowding her against the door frame.

"Just pray that you won't find out, Missy," he hissed as her in a firm voice that betrayed him capable of almost anything when it came to keeping his word. She felt a shiver move down her spine as she looked up into his dark eyes and tried to decipher what he was up to.

Still, her sub-conscience was quite clear of what her next action should be. Back off, it said loud and clearly, making every part of her body heighten in awareness to his closeness. She tried to shake off the feeling of weakness and straightened her stance.

"Aren't you taking this looking-after-thing a bit too far? I'm sure Jeff never asked you to go these extremes when he asked you to look after me. After all, he's only gone for a couple of months."

"I wouldn't call an eleven months long expedition to the Himalayas 'just a couple'," he glared at her before he backed off a step. "Besides, I'm only doing what I would have done toward my own sister."

"Seems more like stalking, if you ask me," she said ironically.

"Stalking?"

"Yep, you're practically stalking me. Or what else would you call moving into the same building complex as I live in and following my every move. Even Jeff has never been this annoying."

"It's definitely not stalking," he replied icily. "I just happened to find an apartment I liked and it just happened to be in the same complex where you were staying. Simple as that."

"Well, you could at least have located an apartment on the other side of the building. Not just across the hall. A typical example of

Stalking

, as I said."

He came closer again and looked her deep into the eyes. Mesmerized, she could not take her eyes away from his, even though she wanted to escape the determination she could clearly see in his eyes. This was not a man to be trifling with, she thought as she shuddered inside as an involuntary response to his domineering behaviour.

"You haven't seen me stalking -- yet," he said slowly and emphasising every word. "But, if you would like an example I can easily give you one. Just think of it as a lecture," he murmured as his eyes kept her spellbound.

Her breath hitched before she mentally collected herself and gave him a hard shove, forcing him to give her more distance to breath.

"You're a sick bastard," she snarled at him. "Jeff should never have entrusted you with anything."

"Jeff trusted me to do the job properly -- not making you happy about it. He wanted you to be safe and I'm doing just that, even though you are too spoilt to notice."

Finally remembering they had an audience, she cleared her throat and started again. "What did you want, Nick? Have you come to arrest anyone of my friends just in case they're planning to do some crimes later this evening?" she asked glumly

"Not yet," he said just as glumly. "But if you don't move that car of yours I might be tempted to arrest

you

. You're blocking mine."

"Only if you ask nicely and add a

please

," Amy bit back.

"All right. You had the offer. I'll just ram it then. Just remember that it's a felony to prevent an officer from doing his job. I might even have to arrest you for it," he said casually and started to walk away.

"And what is ramming my car? I would say

that's

a felony!" she shouted after him. "Oh damn," she muttered as she grabbed her keys and ran after him. That annoying man was really getting on her nerves.

***

Returning to her party, Amy was still seething with anger at the sheer arrogance of the man. Did he think he was some kind of god or something? He always managed to make her hate the very sight of him. The nerve he had in making his every wish come true and treating her as his slave.

Damn Jeff for asking him for any favours at all and not believing that his little sister could manage on her own. In fact, she had managed quite nicely for many years now, but the men didn't seem to have noticed her hitting the old and wiser age of 28 yet. Or they simply refused to be cast aside. Inflated male egos as they were.

"Wow, who was that?" Tess asked as soon as Amy entered her apartment again.

"No one special. Just my annoying jerk of a neighbour and a friend of my brother."

"He's really hot and a cop as well," Tess said dreamingly. "He could guard my door at any time. I'm always weak for a hunk in uniform."

A collective sign spread through the room.

"No, you wouldn't," Amy interrupted. "The man is a complete annoyance and you should be lucky he's not on

your

tail. Jeff made the stupid mistake of asking him to look after me while he was away and now I have this

hunky maniac

stalking me."

"I wouldn't mind having a specimen such as that hanging around

my

doorstep," Zelma toned in. "He can guard my virtue any time."

"What virtue?" one of the other women asked and laughter spread as Zelma playfully tried to punch the speaker in the face.

"Good idea. Why don't you borrow him for a few days and report back what you think of him afterwards. I'm more than willing to share both his almightiness and arrogance, for that matter," Amy said generously.

"I wouldn't mind having something like that to look at every morning," Tess said dreamily. "Is he single?"

"Think so. Who would want to live with that temper, eh? Besides, in his case, looks are definitely deceiving. He's practically stalking me for the time being. Nagging and complaining about all and everything. I'm seriously considering moving out just to avoid him."

"Well, maybe he's just sexually frustrated and need to jerk off?" Zelma said.

"How typical of you to think so," Tess laughed. "You think everyone is sexually frustrated."

"Well, most often they are," Zelma insisted. "I think we should buy him a toy to help him out."

"Help him out?" Amy asked. "With what? A penis-ring? Or condoms? I don't think that will help much. Might as well go for a cup and a porn magazine. Or perhaps buy him a prostitute for the evening."

"I think he's a whip-kind-of-guy," Tess intervened.

"No, please," Amy pleaded. "He might try to use it on his surroundings and then he'd be even more intolerable. You'd be better off giving him some sleeping pills. Perhaps he'll lose some of his grumpiness then. A good night sleep can work wonders for some people."

"Oh, now I know," Zelma replied. "He needs some Viagra. That will solve his problem, I'm sure."

The whole room burst out laughing.

"How about some handcuffs?" Tess suggested.

"He's already got that," Amy replied. "Might as well get him an inflatable doll, just for the fun of it. No, forget about him, and let's get on with trying the underwear, shall we?"

***

As the girls left for the evening, a package was dropped into the letter box of one Nick Elliot, accompanied by some half-repressed female giggles.

"That should do the trick," Zelma said knowingly.