I hope you like this new storyline. I plan on making it a chapter story. Please let me know what you think.
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"Sean, I need a new couch. Where am I going to find one that I can afford?" Maddie asks, her brother looking at her casually from the floor where the couch just deposited him, the springs giving out completely.
Laughingly, he responded "Just look in craigslist.com. There are always people selling things around here. You never know. You may just find a date while you look."
"Puh-lease!" she squealed, tossing a pillow at his head. "But, I might just find a couch for cheap." She turned around in her desk chair and typed in the search.
Sean hopped up and watched over her shoulder. "Hmm...here's one...newer couch, microfiber overstuffed and comfortable. Never has had a bare ass on it. Dark blue. One hundred fifty dollars. Send me a note to user id @hotmail.com." He smirked. "This looks like a perfect couch for you. No naked asses."
Maddie sighed and turned around to glare at her brother. "Why do I care if a naked ass has been on the couch? I mean, yeah, eew, but who cares?"
"Well, at least you know that no one has gotten laid on it."
Maddie turned back to the screen and typed an email message to the owner, asking for a picture. Amazingly, she turned back to talk to her brother and her computer beeped. "New message? I'm not expecting...wow...It's from the seller already!" She moused over the message and clicked to open it.
"Well, the picture looks like it's a great couch, sis. And look there! He is offering to cut twenty five dollars off if you pick it up tomorrow."
"Okay okay...I will get it. Can you and some of your friends pick it up for me? I will see if he can meet me somewhere for lunch to pick up the payment. You never know. He might be a weirdo or something."
"That's my sis."
Rolling her eyes, Maddie responded to the email, setting up a lunch appointment with him for the next day. Luckily, he was able to go to her favorite lunch spot, just down from where she worked.
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Maddie was late as usual. A meeting kept her later than expected at work, but she got to the little café and Zach was still there, thankfully. She ordered, as the waitress practically stalked her to her seat, and introduced herself.
"Hi Zach. It's nice to finally meet you."
"And I, you, Madeline. Is everything ok? You look flustered."
Sipping her water, she responded "You can call me Maddie. Most everyone does. I just use my full name in my email address. Everything is fine. I just got held up at work. Sorry I am so late. Thank you for waiting."
"It's no problem at all. I work from home, so the boss can't complain. If I complained about myself, someone might lock me up," he laughed, gazing across the table. She was much different than he imagined. Her dark hair, sometimes a beautiful chocolate brown, but when the light hit, it danced with fiery highlights, was in a neat ponytail extending more than halfway down her petite back. She was a tiny thing, no more than five foot two, maybe, without the heels she was wearing. Dressed in the latest fashions, he would put her at about 28 years old if he didn't know better. He found out from a friend who knows her family that she was closer to 35. He couldn't think of any other word to describe her than beautiful.
"Somedays I wish I worked from home. I would stay in my jammies and fuzzy slippers all day."
She smiled and leaned back as their lunch came. "How do you motivate yourself to even get dressed?"
"Who says I do? Today is a fluke. I couldn't come out to lunch in my boxers, could I?" he flashed her a smile before taking a bite out of his burger. Swallowing, he looked over and asked, "Would you like to see the couch? I would hate for you to buy it then not like it. The pictures don't do it justice and I only live about a block away."
Picking at her salad, she looked across the table at him. He seemed normal. Nice looking with dark brown hair and the darkest brown eyes she had ever seen, he looked roguish and Spanish. She replied "Sure. My afternoon meeting was canceled, so I have some time before I need to be back from work. Thank you!"
After lunch, he paid the bill with a wink to Maddie. "I'll add it to the price of the couch."
"Gee, thanks. And here I though you were being chivalrous."
"Me, chivalrous? Maddie, you have no idea," he said, a laugh lightening his voice. He would love to show her how chivalrous he could be with his hands caressing her fit-for-a-king body. "Down boy! You don't even know her!" he said to himself, willing his eyes to look anywhere but on her.
They walked the block to his apartment and he let her in. "It's in the living room. Let me go let my cat out of her room before she starts screaming. Take a look."
"Thanks. What kind of cat do you have?" she asked absently, walking to the couch to look it over.
"Just your run of the mill stray. She followed me in one day and won't leave. I wouldn't have it any other way," he yelled from the hallway. He walked back in the living room, cat at his heels, to see Maddie standing in front of the couch. He walked around in front of her, lifted her chin and kissed her slowly, his mouth firm on her soft lips, sliding his tongue alongside her own.
She started, then relaxed, wondering what she was doing. She was in a stranger's apartment, being kissed and she was not even fighting back!
He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead into hers. "I wanted to do that since you sat down at the table in the café," he said as he ran his hand over her cheek then down her arm.
