Double Shot

My First Erotic Story -

Everything that could go wrong for Erica that day, had gone wrong. Getting in to her car that morning to go make a presentation to a new client she spilled tea across the passenger seat of her car. Running late, all she had time to do was throw her work out towel over the seat.

The presentation had gone badly, the director of the non-profit seemed to know exactly where the weaknesses in her pitch were, and honed in on each and every one of them.

To top it off, she got back to her car to find a parking ticket.

She fought tears on the entire drive back from downtown. She had needed that new account, the weight of the medical bills from her deceased husbands long illness still hung over her, and her teenage daughter Julia was already thinking about college. What she needed was a quiet cup of tea before she got home to cook dinner. She stopped at her favorite coffee shop, Jitterbug, in the late after noon, many hours past her normal mid morning stopping time.

"Charlie I need something to calm me down." she told the friendly barista.

"I've got just the thing, my famous Take Five chamomile blend." he responded bringing down a tin from the shelf next to the espresso machine. He made up a large mug, filled it with hot water and handed it to her. "Just breathe in the scent for a few moments, then sip it slowly, and soon you'll be floating on a tropical lagoon. Better than Prozac and no prescription needed."

She took the mug over to the counter by the wall, took off her jacket, and sat on one of the high stools. The tea did smell lovely, chamomile mixed with licorice and maybe spearmint. Whether it was the smell of the tea, or the quiet calm of the shop, she felt better. Looking around while she waited for the tea to cool she saw that there was only one other customer, a man seated with his back to her sketching a picture on a large pad, a log with a slight shimmer as if submerged in water.

How nice, she thought, to be able to just sit in a coffee shop, drawing pictures without a care in the world. "That's beautiful." She offered.

When he turned towards her, looking up in response to her compliment, she was stunned by the power of his strong Mediterranean face, Roman nose, generous smiling mouth, the whole package surrounded by black curly hair shot with gray.

His dark eyes drew her in, causing feelings long dampened to arise, a wave of desire washing over her body. The suddenness and intensity of this attraction scared her, which only increased the longing.

Feeling like she would drown in the heat of his gaze, she looked down and found herself equally caught by his strong dexterous hands. Happily she noted the lack of a wedding ring. His forearms were thick and powerful, the left one had a scar running diagonally across it. This was not like her at all, she had not really thought about a man in this way since the beginning of her husband's illness some four years ago. Caring for him up to his death, after helping him endure two painful years of the cancer, becoming a single mom, having to find a way to support herself and Julia, she had submerged her needs to the needs of her family, and then, suddenly, this.

"It's an exploratory drawing for a sculpture that I might do. It may be a fountain, I'm trying to see what it will look like under water." He told her.

"Ah, I get it." She stammered, bringing her gaze to his mouth and finding it, if anything more distracting than his hands. His lips were full and very kissable. Her mind drifted into ideas of where he might use those lips. I've got to get control of myself she thought. Thank goodness her cell phone rescued her by choosing that moment to sing Julia's favorite Mary J. Blige song. "Don't need no hateration, holleratin' In this dancery. Let's get it percolatin', while you're waiting."

"Sorry", Erica told him, "My daughter put that ring tone on my phone and I can't figure out how to change it." Silently thanking Julia for the chance to regain her composure, she turned away to answer the call, "What's up sweetie?"

"Can I stay over at Sophie's tonight?" Julia asked. "We're working on a big project for bio that we've got to finish by Wednesday. Are you okay with being alone tonight?" ***

Vaughn had noticed her when she first walked in, admiring the way her skirt hugged her nice full ass as she ordered at the counter, loving the bold way that she wore her long silver hair in a thick braid down her back tied off with an orange scarf. The artist in him admired her use of color, the orange of the scarf was picked up by the orange in the batik pattern of her silk jacket.

He wished that he had the chutzpah to strike up a conversation with her. With her voluptuous figure, long hair, and creative clothing she was near to his ideal woman, but coming to his senses, he turned back to his drawing. He was not going to get trapped by his libido again. After Tracy it was going to take more than a nice ass to get him to trust a woman.

Even two years after the fact, the anger was still there. His lover had left him for a woman. At an intellectual level he knew it shouldn't make it worse than if it had been a man, but it did. Any time he thought about starting up something there was always that undercurrent of distrust. Would this one lie to him too?

The drawing was going well, the tree trunks slightly out of focus under a few inches of water. The sculpture would work as a fountain. As he drew, his mind started to work on the mechanics, figuring out where the pump would go, how the water would flow. It was one of the skills that had contributed to his success, his ability to be artistically creative, yet also understand the mechanical side of sculpture. He was deep into this process when she interrupted the flow, complementing the drawing with an alluringly throaty voice. He had to hesitate a moment before he turned towards her, struggling to appear civil. It isn't her fault, she isn't Tracy he told himself, as he forced a smile.

As soon as the words "exploratory drawing" came out of his mouth he knew he had blown it. He sounded like some pompous art critic. She had beautiful hazel eyes. He stayed focused on them, even though he wanted to scope out the rest of her figure, wanting to know if the front view matched the back. She had an inviting face, smooth skin with just the right amount of color, a pert nose with a slight crookedness as if it might have been broken once, a friendly smile, straight white teeth.

She dropped her eyes and he braved a chance to check her out, and the hook was set. Her large breasts were perfectly in proportion to her body, the body exactly the right size, not the anorexic model body that most of the women he met seemed to be striving for these days. He was glad to see that her left hand didn't have a ring.

He tried to fight it, but she drew him in. Did she realize the power she had over him at that moment? Okay he'd pursue her, but only for that wonderful body, he was not going to let her capture his heart. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Her gaze returned to his face, although avoiding his eyes.

She said something in response to his idiotic description of the drawing. He didn't catch exactly what it was, his mind was so intoxicated with the possibilities of her body. Thank God her phone went off at that moment, giving him a chance to compose himself. ***

"That would be fine honey." She told Julia. "I'll see you tomorrow." Her mind raced like a adolescents, knowing that she didn't have to hurry home to cook dinner. She tried to have dinner with Julia, whenever possible, but with a busy teenager she had more and more nights alone.

Normally she would just read a book or catch up on "The Closer" or one of the other TV shows she followed. Occasionally she went out to dinner with friends. Sometimes they tried to match her up with a guy, but she always put the kibosh on that, until now the thought of spending time with a man hadn't interested her.

Pulling her self together she decided to go for it and introduce her self to this delicious creature. She extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Erica. Are you just a sculptor or do you sell your drawings too. I really like that one you're working on."

"I'm Vaughn. I mostly do sculpture, but do sell some drawings," he responded gripping her hand firmly. His touch, even though it was just holding her hand, was electric, causing a warmth in her pussy, a sensation almost unfamiliar, it'd been so long since she'd felt it. His voice matched his appearance, deep, with a magnetic element, that was almost as powerful as his eyes and his touch. She was starting to feel like a boat caught in a vortex, being pulled in deeper and deeper with every minute.

"Do you work here in the coffee shop often?" She said wanting to keep the conversation flowing.

"The espresso here is great, a double shot gets me going early every morning. Since I work so much by myself I come here later in the day to be around people a few times a week. My studio is in the neighborhood. Charlie, the owner, is an old friend of mine, I helped him with the remodel and help with maintenance. I guess this is sort of my office. I use the wi-fi to check my email, I haven't gotten internet at my studio yet. Several of us do the same thing, so I sort of have a work group, although none of the others are artists. I haven't seen you here before."

"I stop in occasionally to pick up a cup of chai to go, usually mid-morning, on my way in to town, running errands. I live out in Aloha with my daughter." She was feeling a bit more in control. The conversation was flowing nicely, and he seemed interested in her. "Do you have any sculptures that you are working on right now?"

"Three works in progress. One is a commission for a park back in Connecticut, it's a fountain with shad swimming up through rapids. Then I have a spec piece of a woman discus thrower. It's a bit of stretch for me, I haven't done a lot of human figures, but I was looking for a change, I was getting tired of trees and animals. And I also have an abstract piece I've been playing with for years now."

"That sounds interesting. I'd love to see them sometime." She could hardly believe herself being this aggressive. She wasn't sure if he would be put off by it, but what did she have to lose?

He seemed to hesitate a moment before responding. "Why not now. It's a nice day for a walk. Things are a bit of a mess in the studio, but if you promise not to criticize my housekeeping I'd be happy to give you a tour."

"I don't know, we've just met." She said, struggling to keep her voice steady. She hadn't expected an invitation so quickly. What was she getting herself into here? She didn't know this man from Adam, yet something told her that she could trust him.

"I promise to behave," he said with a laugh and a wink.

"It is beautiful out. It isn't far?"

"No, just a few blocks." ***

"I'm going to say good-bye to Charlie." he told Erica as they got up to leave. He had just reached the counter when the sound of the door opening violently and slamming against the wall caused him to turn around. A large man came bursting in wielding a knife. He grabbed Erica and held it to her throat. From the way he held the knife Vaughn could see that he'd had no training in using it as a weapon, but he was big and muscular, and with a hostage, he had the upper hand. Looking outside another large man stood keeping watch. This didn't look good. Charlie was a gentle man, an outstanding barista, but not someone who would know how to deal with thugs like this. It was all on Vaughn's shoulders.

"Stay where you are and no one gets hurt!" the criminal shouted. "I want all the money in the till and I want all your wallets."

Erica looked frozen, things had happened to suddenly for fear to set in. The man moved her forward towards the counter. Vaughn forced his body to relax and assume a non-threatening submissive posture. "It's okay man, we'll do what ever you want." he said quietly, faking a scared tremor in his voice.

In his experience big guys like this, unless they'd done a lot of fighting tended to discount smaller people as a threat. Vaughn kept his eyes downcast, not looking at the criminal directly but still keeping a close eye on the thug and Erica. Vaughn could see him relax somewhat as he started to feel in control of the situation.

"We don't want anyone to get hurt here. I'll give you whatever is in the till." He heard Charlie say from behind him.

As the thug approached him, Vaughn saw the moment and seized it. Moving in quickly he grabbed the knife hand and twisted the weapon out and to the side under some tables where it would be hard to recover. He stepped between the man and Erica and brought his head back forcefully into the bad guy's face, feeling the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking. This caused the tight grip on Erica to loosen so he could push back away from her. He stepped behind, but kept a grip on the hand, using leverage he slammed the man face first into the floor, knocking him unconscious.

"Charlie, he's out cold for now, get some of those zip ties we were using on the wiring the other day to bind his arms behind him, and to tie up his feet together. I'll take care of the other guy."

Looking outside Vaughn could see that the lookout, too focused on threats from outside, had not noticed yet that his partner was down. Before the other criminal had time to notice, he stepped outside to confront him. The lookout was about the same size as the man that Vaughn had just taken down, but didn't appear to be armed or at least didn't have anything in hand. As the door opened the spotter turned around with a look of surprise on his face. "What the hell?" he said rounding on Vaughn.

Vaughn moved quickly away from the doorway so he couldn't be trapped against it. The outside man was not trained either. As he advanced Vaughn was able to get in a perfectly timed groin kick which dropped the big criminal to the ground with a thump like a sack of concrete.

Vaughn darted back inside where Charlie was still working on binding the other man with zip ties. "I'll need four of those." Taking them he want back out and trussed the man's arms behind his back and then bound his legs together. He wasn't going anyplace.

As he came back inside Erica told him from across the room, "I've called police, I've got 911 on the line and they said that the cops should be here in a couple of minutes. I called as soon as the first guy went down."

"Good job!" He was impressed at her presence of mind. Most people would have locked up when presented with the quick violence of what had happened.

He would have preferred having the two criminals right next to each other, but trussed as they were there was little chance of either of them causing much trouble. The one inside the shop was still out cold, blood streaming from his nose. "You two keep an eye on him and come and get me if he starts struggling, I'll stay outside with his sidekick." He said as he went back out.

The lookout was just getting his breath and starting to struggle against his bonds. Vaughn put his foot on the back of his neck and pushed down. "The cops will be here in a few minutes. You aren't going anyplace, don't even try." The thug stopped struggling and glared at him.

A cop showed up quickly as promised. "I'm Officer Randall, more cars will be here in a minute or two. What happened? "

Vaughn gave him a quick run down. Officer Randall inspected the man on the ground, went inside to look at the one there, then came back out. "We've been after these guys for months, the Barista Bandits. They've been hitting up independent coffee shops all across the metro area. How did you take them down? They're pretty hefty compared to you."

"I've had some training from the military." Vaughn replied.

More cop cars showed up, and took the criminals away. Officer Randall took identification information and statements from all three of them. Vaughn was again impressed with how matter of fact Erica was about the whole situation. Giving a detailed commentary without any dramatics. He had a small cut on the back of his head probably from the first thugs teeth. He had Erica swab it with major amounts of alcohol from Charlie's first aid kit. Bite wounds had a nasty way of getting infected if you weren't careful.

After the cops had left, and Charlie had thanked him, Vaughn and Erica were left standing in front of the coffee shop. "So are you still up for a visit to my studio?"

Erica paused for a minute, then started laughing, after a moment her laughter turned to tears. Vaughn put his arms around her and she leaned in to his shoulders. After a minute she regained her composure, pulled a kleenex out of her purse and blew her nose. "I'm sorry, this isn't like me at all, its just that armed robbery seems like the perfect finale to my day."

"No need to apologize, I've seen trained soldiers do worse than you did in a situation like that." He told her. "You didn't freak out or scream. You handled it perfectly, called the cops as soon as you could. It's okay to lose it a bit now that it's over."

"Calling the cops just made sense."

"Not everyone would thinks so fast. I'm impressed."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Lets go." He said walking her in the direction of his studio. ***

Erica was amazed at how calm Vaughn was as they walked. He'd just rescued her from two much bigger men, it wasn't even much of a fight, he took them down like bowling pins, then moments later he was walking calmly with her as if nothing had happened.

"Your not just an artist are you?" She asked.

"No, I was in the military for five years, and since I got out I continue to do contract work for a small government agency. I've dealt with much tougher customers than those two low lives."

That gave Erica something to think about as they walked. She didn't have anyone in her circle of friends who had been in the military. She wanted to ask him some more about this part of his life, but his tone of voice indicated that he didn't want to discuss it further.

So instead she asked him about his art. He filled her in about the process of creating bronze castings as they strolled.

"My studio is down here." He said opening a gate to a tree shaded driveway. "The trees sold me on the property the moment I saw them."

The temperature dropped several degrees as they walked under the trees. The sounds of traffic and the city faded away, bird calls increased, she also heard frogs croaking. They came around a bend in the drive to find a lush green lawn with a pond at the end, and next to the pond a large red barn.

"Is the whole barn your studio?" she asked.

"All of the main floor. I live upstairs in the loft where they used to store hay."

"You've always lived here by yourself?"

"Not the whole time. Someone lived with me for several years, but she left about two years ago. I've been alone since then." Vaughn's voice had a touch of sadness, and also anger as he said this.

She hadn't realized how much she missed being with a man, just walking and talking. They stood for a bit next to the pond, admiring the beauty, listening to the chorus of frogs. She felt so comfortable, so protected and sheltered by this man that she shocked herself by reaching over for his hand. His grip was firm and warm."It's so peaceful back here. Hard to believe a busy road is only a few blocks away."

Vaughn turned to her, looking into her eyes. His lips started to move as if he were going to say something in response, but instead he reached up, stroked her cheeks, then pulled her lips to his. The kiss was tender yet with an underlying strength and urgency. He tasted sweet with a hint of coffee. His tongue moved tentatively, then more forcefully into her mouth. His powerful arms pulled her tightly to him. The hard insistence of his cock pressing against her belly caused a similar arousal in her clit. God it had been so long since she had felt that masculine need. Knowing that someone wanted her so much caused a wave of ardor to course through her body.