Stacey and Maverick

Stacey put away her sketchbook and quickly went downstairs. She skipped her dinner because of things bothering him like the man staying with her. He's good at everything and even fixed her garden. Is she falling in love too quickly? She's such a flirt but the man responded to her with flirtatious jokes.

"Are you hungry?" He asked. He's in the living room from the dim light reading some books from her shelves.

"Yeah,"

"I can make you newly cooked foods."

"Let's order something. I want maki at the moment."

"Maki is bad for dinner."

She approached him and slouched on the couch on the other side.

"Why are you reading in dim light? Just turn on the other lights."

"I open one light to save energy and money at the same time."

"Hayss,"

"So, I cut a few lights off and turned off your big freezer which has become useless since I moved the goods to the refrigerator freezer." Maverick closed the book. "What are you stressed about?"

"I can't focus…" She exhaled. "Lots of things are on my plate now that include the problems in the family and problems in the work."

"Mind sharing?" He asked as he put away the book. She looked at him with a pout and puppy eyes.

"I'm hungry."

He chuckled and stood.

"I'm going to cook. What about ramen?"

"Do we even have that?"

"Yeah, we do. You bought lots of ramen noodles and it will expire in three months." He walked toward the kitchen and she followed him. In the kitchen, he stretched out his arms to the cabinet and took out three noodles.

She sat on the barstool and watched him boil water on the casserole as he took out ingredients from the fridge. Like baby onion leaves, then shrimps, she licked her lips as he took out the shrimps even though it's frozen and put them in the water.

"So, you are reading about business stuff? Is it, Marketing?"

"Yeah,"

Stacey grinned.

"I have a spare computer. I'm not using it since I have a laptop. You can move it to your room."

"Really?" He creased his brows surprised by her effort.

"Yeah, sure. So, how much do you know about computers?"

"I knew a few about software when I was eleven years old. Lots of things changed at the moment."

"How old exactly are you?" She asked again. He grinned.

"I'm just two years older than Kenzo."

"Kenzo is like twenty-four. So, you are twenty-six."

He nodded. She watched him cook expertly with few muscles flexing. She squeezed her legs. Damn! She never got horny to anyone but to this guy. This guy knows how to cook. This guy knows how to clean the house and also that includes the bathroom. Then, he landscapes the backyard beautifully too.

"Do you have boiled eggs?"

"Yes," he said and opened the egg boiler. "I at least boiled ten for two days. Since eggs are good for health."

"Nice…" She nodded and thought about the muscles behind that thin tank top. She swore that she wasn't hungry for food anymore but him. She stealthily licked her lips as he put the noodles on the boiling casserole with the spices and shrimps. Also, together with the beef meat from the fridge that was leftover two days ago.

"So, what are you working for?"

"Book covers, advertisement… animations… it's all hard but good."

"And how about the problems in your office?"

"That darn thing!" She grunted. "Well, they are pushing hard things toward me and my ex-boyfriend who was in the other department got a high position. Then, he's courting one of my colleagues and showing off. It's distracting."

"Well, why won't you show him that you already moved on?"

"To whom should I move in?" Stacey thought. Maverick chuckled.

"You are naughty."

"Well, that jerk cheated on me. To someone who was sexier and more beautiful with a fair face."

"Fair face?"

"Yeah, I caught them cheating. Jaya was there too." She chuckled. "It's just fun at the thought of catching our boyfriends cheating. It's good that I didn't sleep with such a cheater. I would rather have a one-night stand to any guy… no string attached!"

"Then, let's celebrate with ramen!"

"Yeah, I will." Then, a thought came into her mind. "Let's post photos together."

He stopped for a while.

"If you are planning for revenge, I am up for it, but my face couldn't be shown to any social media."

"Why is that?" Stacey asked out of curiosity.

"I'm too handsome, that's why." He said casually.

"I'm serious. Just two pictures?"

He thought for a while and lifted his shirt.

"You want this?" he asked her using his abdominal. She sneered at him and stood as she showed her abdominal too. It's flat and has a beautiful curve but with marks of muscles started showing.

"Nice little one." He said. Stacey put her shirt down.

"Well?" She asked.

"Let's do something else."

"Like?" She asked.

"I'll finish this and you should take photos of it."

"And photos of you naked." She added. He chuckled.

She quickly jumped off from the barstool and ran. Maverick smiled as he turned off the stove. The girl was full of surprises. He liked her but he can't love her. He didn't want her to mix up with his dangerous life. Living with her is already dangerous for the girl.

He arranged the food on the bowl and plated it in a palatable way with the boiled eggs.

She came quickly.

"Hey," She got his attention in a husky voice.

"There's the same car outside." She said and showed her latest camera to him. "I managed to zoom it in."

He creased his brows seeing the plate number. He had seen it before. The one who was chasing him has the same plate number and he's not dumb not to take note of it. Did they already find him?

"Did you happen to be in a gang?" Stacey asked.

"No." He shook his head. He adjusted the camera and took a photo of her. She was shocked. He smiled and checked it. She's also photogenic.

He took a photo of the two ramen and then, he gave the camera to her. She started taking photos of him while he's taking them to the living room.

"Don't upload it."

"Okay." Stacey completely trusted the man and she respected his decisions.

"So, how are we going to take photos and you act as my boyfriend?"

"I already had an idea."

She sat down and put the camera down.

"Where's your phone?" He asked. She stood and ran upstairs. She came back with her phone. He patted the space beside him and she sat down too close to him as she unlocked her phone. Then, he slid his hand to her abdomen. She's not wearing any brasserie so her nipples were molding a bit from her wide shirt. He shoved his face to her hair and she took photos of them. She smiled and made some goofy face as he covered her chest from the camera. He either hides on her hair, or her neck, or behind her.

She teasingly lifted his shirt to show his abdominal and smirked on the camera, with his face hiding from it. She's satisfied with it as she checked the photos. Then, she gave it to him to check it.

"There," she moved a little bit away from him and took the bowl of ramen close to her.

"This is good. Post it now."

"Then, I should warn Caleb about this." She said as she smiled down at the camera.

"Nah, just go to it." He laughed as he started eating his ramen even though it's hot. She posted the photo.

"Late snack with a big baby." She giggled as she typed it. Then posted it to her status. They looked at each other and high five.

"Good job."

She settled it down and started eating. After thirty seconds, her phone vibrates like crazy. Probably her friends or her family or that ugly bastard who cheated on her. She enjoyed her ramen and let her phone vibrate and chime in the notification. She turned on the television as they watched some news from the parliament.

"The family of Belmont, finally showed their first picture in the Public this year, Blah, Blah, Blah…"

"Isn't that the second lady of their family?" She asked. Maverick stayed quiet as he stared at the familiar people on the news. "I think they have only one son. How come that lady's face changed?"

"The first wife is dead. And their son is dead too. That's the second wife,"

"Second wife? Don't tell me that he had an affair with that woman? Their son looked older than the original."

"Hmm," he slurped on his ramen trying to control his emotion toward that news. "Let's change the news into something else."

"Yeah, I think Caleb had porn here."

Maverick stopped and turned to her. She burst into laughter and changed the channel. On that channel, a couple is making love but it's a romantic movie and it's just them covered with the blanket.