Big All Over

by Demented20
edited by michael-leonard

Coming home was the favorite part of Roger Macmillan's day. He enjoyed the freedom of being on his own time. He enjoyed the elevator ride up to his twelfth floor apartment, and most of all he loved walking in to see Addison, his girlfriend of six years. He would always look at her and somehow she could make him feel all right. No matter what had happened at his boring-as-hell job, Addison seemed to be the cure.

Out of college, Roger'd had aspirations of going to law school to become a tax attorney, but one procrastinative thought after another had lead him into settling for a job at a health care company. He did the normal office shuffle. Always the same shit, only the dates were changed to protect his sanity. It didn't matter. Addison brought home enough bread for both of them. She did go to law school. He told himself that supporting her emotionally and financially while she was in school was his gift to her, and worth his not going. He kept telling himself that it wasn't too late, but he and Addison knew that he would never see the inside of a law classroom.

Roger stepped off the elevator and could almost see Addison's tight body bathed in the sunlight coming through the large patio doors and the large windows that had no blinds or curtains. Addison loved light, and the light loved her. In his mind he could picture her tight body in those tight workout pants that she loved to wear around the apartment. Every bit of her was covered with the long hard muscle of a triathlete. She had been competing for the last three years and did quite well. Roger's hands itched in anticipation of feeling her every contour. In normal clothes she looked slender or even skinny, but close inspection revealed that her body was sharpened to a razor's edge. Roger and Addison had both been active in high school but had let themselves go just a little while in college. They had started training together. Six years later, they still trained together sometimes, but Roger didn't go to the gym as often as he used to. Roger had helped Addison get her body where it was now, but she had bypassed him. He couldn't run as far or bike as fast, but he didn't care. He loved her.

Roger smiled and rounded the corner towards their apartment. He closed his eyes and pictured Addison's shiny blond hair and beautiful green eyes. It was those emerald green eyes that had caught Roger's attention back in their college days, but quickly he had been attracted to her wonderfully soft and smiling face, but these days she wore a frown or serious expression more often than not. Around him her gaze was much softer, but Addison was a driven person and didn't tolerate mediocrity or anyone who she thought was wasting her time. Roger shook his head. If people only knew her as well as he did, they would understand what a wonderful person she was. Roger slid his key in the lock and pushed the door open. He had a smile on his face, and in his mind, but they turned to confusion after he stepped inside.

Addison was in their living room dressed in those tight exercise pants that Roger loved so much, leaning over lifting a box. He could see her hammies tighten under those pants as she stood up straight and placed this box atop another. The room was full of boxes, big boxes and small ones. Everything was packed and sealed and there was a stack of things behind their white leather sofa that Roger couldn't see. He could see though that Addison looked a little tired. She must have really been working hard because it took a lot to make her tired. He could also see that she had made her mind up about something. She had a certain look once she had figured something out and had set her mind to doing it. Once Addison had made up her mind, it took an act of god to keep her from achieving it.

"What's going on?" Roger asked, the confusion changing the pitch of his voice.

Addison looked up at him, but didn't say a word. She lifted a box and put it down, starting a new stack.

"Wh--What? Are you leaving me?" Roger managed through the suddenly blinding headache. This couldn't be real.

"No," Addison said after a moment. "You're leaving, Roger. This is all your stuff."

Roger dropped the nearly empty briefcase to the floor. "You're putting me out?" He couldn't believe it. His throat had gone dry, and his head was growing with every beat of his racing heart.

"Yes, Roger, I am. And don't tell me that you didn't see this coming. I was hoping that you would stay late at work, and I would be finished before you got here, but it doesn't matter."

"Why are you doing this to me... to us?"

"I have to, Roger. You're a decent guy, but you're holding me back. I can't keep supporting you like we're still fresh out of college."

That raised Roger's hackles. "Wait a damned minute. I supported you when we were fresh out of college!"

"And what have you done since? You have the same job, and you haven't even been promoted. It?s been all this time, and you still have the same fucking chair for Pete?s sake, Roger!" Her face softened, and she stepped towards him. "I can't do this anymore."

Roger looked at her stone hard body as she stood in front of him, but looked back up. "I still don't understand."

Addison shook her head. "Roger, I'm about to be made a junior partner at the firm. I'll be the fastest one in the history of the firm, and the first in my class to make it that high at a major firm. You on the other hand... I don't know how to put it, Roger, but I'm not doing this anymore."

Roger took a step back and his face went red with anger and embarrassment! She couldn't talk to him like this! He had prospects! He wasn't a bum! He had pride! He'll show her!

"Well, you see how great you do without my support then, Addison. You just see! 'Oh, Honey, could you do this for me, I'll be late in the office'. Or, 'Could you take this to so-and-so?' I'm always there for you, and you do this to me because I don't fit your little high-priced lawyer mold."

Addison didn't say anything.

Roger felt like he was on a roll. He reached down and snatched up his briefcase. "Yeah, I don't need this relationship either!? he yelled. He put his finger in her face. "And I'm going to stop payment on my check for half the rent!"

"You only pay a quarter of the rent," she deadpanned. Roger's entire being shrunk.

"You can't afford half. Most of the time I put your little rent money back in your account to keep you from getting overdrawn."

Roger had nothing left to say. He turned and walked outside into the hallway. He still had his key, but it didn't matter. He was sure the locksmith would be there before the day was out. Addison was thorough. She had even organized all his belongings, catalogued them and labeled the boxes that she had put them in. She was better than he was a packing his own stuff. Roger felt more than defeated as he trudged towards the elevator. As he stood there waiting for the stainless steel doors to open, he didn't know what to do. He had a few bucks in the checking account and a few more in a savings account, but not much more than that. He had nowhere to go. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the one person who he knew wouldn't let him down. There was an answer after a couple of rings.

"Hello, Mom," Roger began. "Is there any way I could stay there for a couple of days? And can I borrow Dad's truck?"

A couple of days turned into six months, six months of sleeping in the same bed he had slept in while he was in high school. Now though, Roger was once again on his own. It felt good and bad to be out of his parents' hair. Good because that nagging feeling of being a complete failure was gone, but bad because all he could afford was a one bedroom flat in a question-able part of town. To make matters worse, Addison had been right. In the six months since she had dumped him, not only had she been made a junior partner, but she had also won two high profile cases. Her name was all over the place. There were people even talking about her running for district attorney, or being made a federal prosecutor. It was one thing for Addison to tell Roger that he was a stone around her neck, it was quite another for her to prove it true.

Roger went on with life, though not the same as he once had. He didn't get out much, and he wasn't very social at work. He had become the invisible man, able to slip in and slip out without anyone noticing him. No one even thought to notice him, but Roger understood. He figured that there was nothing to see anyway.

The only outlet that let Roger be himself was when he would occasionally chat online. His screen name, 'Easygo,' was pretty well known in chat circles, and he had a list of friends that he chatted with on a regular basis. They thought that he was a funny, witty guy, who always had time to listen to their problems while never mentioning his own. Roger figured that there was no need to chat about his problems, because there was no need in letting the online community know what his regular acquaintances already knew. Roger wasn't quite a loser, but his life was permanently stuck in low gear.

One day, he was trolling around looking for someone to talk to. Some of his friends were online, but he didn't feel like talking about ?chinachef's cat, or about ?mixnmatch's teenaged son. He kept searching when he got a message out of the blue. He didn't look at it right away. He hated unsolicited messages, but finally he looked. It was from some calling herself ?BAOgirl?. The message simply read: "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure,? Roger typed back.

"Oh, thanks. I was just wondering if you knew a good gym in town? I just moved here and I saw on your profile that you like to work out."

Roger frowned. He really needed to update his profile. He used to love to workout, but he had gotten out of the routine. He hadn't seen the inside of a gym in quite a while. He still knew some good ones though.

"Are you a casual aerobics type of person, or more hardcore?? he asked.

"I'm pretty hardcore," was 'BAOgirl's reply.

Roger nodded. He had always liked a girl who kept in shape. That led his mind back to Addison. He sighed and pushed her away.

"Go to Steele's Fitness, and talk to a guy named Ronnie. He'll set you up. Its a place for people who like their workout without lots of distractions."

"Perfect... Are there a lot of bodybuilders there?"

"Several, some men and some women and some powerlifters too."

"Ah Cool! Sounds like a nice place. You've been a big help."

Roger closed the little boxes and went back to looking for new people to chat with. He thought about updating his profile, but what for. He had been more interesting back in those days. These days his profile would be blank.

A couple of days went by and he hadn't bothered to chat, but one night he got on and soon after he signed in, he got a message from 'BAOgirl'.

"Thanks. The gym is great. I just got home from a good workout."

"Glad you, liked it." Roger didn't want to get into this.

"Do you go to Steele's Fitness?"

"Used to," was Roger's quick reply. "I used to train there with my ex-girlfriend, but then we switched gyms, and I don't really train like I used to."

"Aww too bad. Working out is so much fun. I think I'd go crazy if I didn't hit the gym. You can't tell me that you don't miss it."

Roger thought about it. "Not really"

"Liar. You miss that high when your muscles are pumped and your blood is flowing and you feel so alive that you could fly."

Who did 'BAOgirl' think she was, telling him how he was feeling. But she had a point. "OK, so maybe I miss it a little."

"There. Admitting it is the first step. Now what's the second step?"

Roger smiled and pulled the keyboard closer to him. "Maybe I might make some time to workout a couple days a week."

"You'll thank yourself," 'BAOgirl' told him.

They chatted for a couple more minutes, but Roger had some work to do. As he prepared for sleep, Roger thought back on when he had been more active. He took his shirt off and stood in front of the mirror. It looked like his father's body with his head on top. That wasn't going to work. He made up his mind then and there.

It was a week before he ran into 'BAOgirl' online again. He had admitted to himself that he had been looking for her. "Hey, I joined a gym. And I worked out four times this week," he messaged her.

"Great!" was her quick reply. "Get ready though. You haven't worked out in a while and your body is going to be really sore."

Roger laughed. "I'm already going through that, but even the pain feels good. It felt so great to get back out there and get the muscles worked up. Thanks for the encouragement."

"No problem," 'BAOgirl' told him. "Did you join Steele's again?"

"No, I picked one closer to where I live now. Not nearly as hardcore as Steele's, but not bad. This gym has lots of posers with no muscle who constantly stare at themselves in the mirror."

"LOL, doesn't every gym have those?"

"Yeah, but most of the folks at Steele's at least have something to flex," Roger typed.

"True," 'BAOgirl' allowed. "But most of us aren't as ugly or as pretty or as strong or as weak as we think we are. Like right now, I feel like I could do anything, but not really of course."

"So you just finished a workout?"

"No, not today unfortunately. My poor muscles feel neglected, and I think my biceps are really revolting more than the rest of them because this was supposed to be their day."

"LOL! Tell your biceps to behave themselves, or somebody'll have to teach them a lesson."

"I don't know, Easygo. My arms are pretty strong, and I'm scared of pissing them off. I'll work 'em extra hard next time to make up for missing today."

Roger laughed. The subject changed after a while, they chatted for more than an hour. He learned that 'BAOgirl' was 25 (going on 26), and that she had just finished grad school. She didn't give much detail, but he did find out that she worked in education. Roger had contem-plated lying about his job, but instead he told the truth, but tried to make it seem more fun than it actually was.

"You hate your job don't you?? 'BAOgirl' asked him during a conversation a month after they had first started chatting.

"What makes you say that?"

'BAOgirl' laughed in her bedroom. "Because every time you mention it, you feel compelled to give me some sort of adjective telling how 'fresh' it is, or how 'wonderful' it is. Just admit that you hate it."

"OK, fine. If it makes you happy, my job has to be the most boring, tedious, insanely mono-tonous job put on this earth by the devil himself to crush all beneath the mighty weight of its banality! Furthermore, I am a lesser man for having this job and allowing it to keep its greasy brain killing tentacles wrapped around me!"

"I bet that felt good. You probably feel like new money."

Roger chuckled. "I feel old money freshly pressed by a steamy iron. Crisp to the eye and limp to the touch"

"LOL, you're crazy. I wonder what you're like in real life?"

"Not nearly as interesting as I am online I'm afraid," Roger typed the unfortunate truth.

"I don't believe you. I bet you are the same, just keep everything tucked under a tortoiseshell."

"You are like my little online Freud, but before I go to far I don't have to pay for this do I?"

"Only if you want. I'm not rich, so I will take tips."

"Tips eh?"

"LOL yeah. I still have student loans to pay."

"I already told you about my job. It sucks, and I suck for having it. The only tip I could give you is not to plant your corn early."

Roger expected an immediate reply, but it didn't come.

"Your job isn't keeping you down. You're keeping your job down."

"I don't know what that means, but I'll take your word for it."

A couple of weeks later, Roger sent 'BAOgirl' a message that didn't get a reply for nearly half an hour. It showed that she was online. He shrugged his shoulders. He was about sign off when he saw a reply.

"Sorry, I was a little busy."

"Its cool. What were you up to?"

"I hate to admit, but I was looking in the mirror."

"Forgot what you look like?" Roger typed with a chuckle.

There was a pause. "I am so pumped right now! I can't believe it. I just had a workout, and it seemed like everything just clicked. I know what I normally look like, but right now I feel like I'm a goddess or something. I apologize if I type slow. I'm typing with one hand and feeling my muscles with the other. This is just so much better than it is normally. I just don't get this big all the time. Might not be everybody's thing, but to me this is about as good as it gets. I feel so strong!"

Roger paused, and he saw Addison in his mind again. He missed her so much still. He had seen her from a distance with her new boyfriend a few weeks earlier. He was an investment banker, tall, handsome, and rich. There were rumors that they were going to get married. She looked as happy as Roger could remember her being.

"I had a girlfriend with muscles once," Roger typed.

"I bet she doesn't have muscles like mine."

"I don't know, maybe."

"I've never met her, but I doubt it. My muscles are pretty big, and oh-so cut right now. I'm flexing my left arm, and man I think my skin is hurting the muscle is peaking so much. It?s like a hill in the middle of a prairie. Just rising up from nowhere."

"Hmm."

"Don't believe me?? 'BAOgirl' sent back.

"No, I believe you." Roger didn't want to hurt her feelings.

There was no reply for a few moments. "I feel so narcissistic, but man this is amazing. The separation in my chest is just phenomenal. I can feel the pecs tightening up and all that. I don't mean to bore you with it, but right now I just feel really big."

"Big eh?"

"Yeah, Big All Over," she wrote.

"Ah-ha, so that's what 'BAOgirl' stands for."

"Yep, that was my nickname when I was younger for different reasons, but I keep it as a screen name."

"I've always liked a girl with muscles; I don't know why more girls don't build their bodies up. Of course I haven't seen you, you could be putting me on."

There was a long pause. Roger wondered if he had pissed her off. He started to type something to fill the void, but a message came before he was finished.

"I don't send pics over the net, but we can meet up maybe."

"Really?" Roger frowned. "I've never done this before. You know meet up with someone I met online."

"Me neither, but you seem like a good guy. It doesn't have be anything official or anything, but I would like to meet you face to face."

"OK,? he agreed quickly. They settled on a place after a few suggestions. "My name is Roger by the way. How will I know you?"

"I'll be wearing a blue dress I think, and I'll sit near the front. My name is Megan."

"OK, Megan, I'll be there. Please don't stand me up, I don't think my fragile male ego could take it."

"I'll be there."

"Cool, and make sure you bring your muscles with you."

"lol! They go everywhere I go."

Roger had thought about bringing a gift or something, but decided against it. This wasn't a date after all. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked inside the market. The place felt like it was completely open with the sun streaming in, but it was covered with a glass ceiling. There were shops lining both sides of the long thorough- fare, and there were people filling most of the seats in the area next to a couple of restaurants. Roger scanned the area for a woman sitting alone, and he didn't have to look for long.

Megan was sitting at the second table from the front wearing an airy cobalt blue dress. Roger couldn't recall what had caught his eyes about her first. It could have been the radiance of her bronzed skin, or the shape of her body beneath the dress, but most likely it had been her entire physique. She hadn't been lying about any of it. Roger saw her bare arms, and his eyes traced the roundness of her delts that swept down then his eyes fought with one another. His right eye wanted to trace the shape and contour of her triceps muscles, but his left eye could not be torn from her resting, but still perfectly shaped biceps. He could see a hint of a vein running over her peak. Then he went down her forearms, but his eyes wandered over to her chest. Her breasts filled the dress up pushing it out away from her skin a little. Her breasts were backed and flanked by hard muscles. He could see her muscles flex slightly as she moved in her seat then checked her watch. He watched the muscles and sinews of her arm bulge ever so slightly just with that little movement.

Then she uncrossed her right leg from the top of her left and switched putting her left leg over. Roger could not take his eyes off her. She reached down and slid her sandal back onto her foot before it slipped all the way off. Roger's eyes once again fought with one another as he made his way up her legs. Her calves looked oh-so hard and he traced the artery that ran from the inside of her ankle up her calf and branching out and continuing up her leg and under her blue dress.

He didn't know what her best body part was, but he knew what held his interest the longest. Megan's body was the ideal vision of female muscle, not too big to look anything other than perfectly healthy and natural, but big enough to see that she had put long hours of work into her physique. As perfect as her body was, Roger's eyes lingered on her face. He felt like he needed to squint to gaze upon her. Megan's face shined like a light. Even though he could tell that she was getting nervous that he wouldn't show, her face looked so caring and sensitive and yet at the same time he knew that there was a wit and a bit of a cut-up inside her.

Roger tore himself away and walked from behind the hotdog stand that had been shielding him. When he came out into the open, she saw him and her face lit up. She waved.

"I was starting to get worried that you wouldn't show," she said to him as he got closer. She stood up from her chair as he came over.

"Oh, no. I wouldn't do that to you. I was coming. So, Megan, we meet at last."

There was a moment where both just stood there. She leaned over then and hugged him. Her skin was so warm and soft and vibrant and smelled so nice. He could feel the hardness and the suppleness of her body as she held it against him for that brief moment. "I feel like I know you already," she told Roger.

"Yeah me too." He tried to say in as natural a manner as he could manage, but he already suspected that he didn't know her as well as he wanted to.

They sat down and the waiter came out and took their order. "So, Roger. Do you think I was lying about the muscles?"

Roger laughed. She loved his smile. "No, Megan, you weren't lying. My ex-girlfriend has nothing on you. How long have you been working out?"

The waiter came and brought her water with lemons. She talked as she squeezed. "Since I was 16."

"Did you start for sports?"

Megan shook her head. "No, I didn't play any sports in high school. Like I said earlier my nickname was big all over. My butt, my hips, my thighs, my breasts, and my belly. I tried basketball once, and I got tired running the lap around the gym so I gave up on that. The last straw was when the new high school councilor sent me a flyer about teenaged pregnancy. I wasn't pregnant then nor have I ever been, but I couldn't take it anymore. So I started working out at the end of junior year."

"Ah man, you didn't tell me all that online."

Megan shrugged her shoulders causing her traps to harden and then relax quickly. "Never really came up. Besides the past is the past. I don't have any negative emotions about it. I'm happy with my body now, and I don't even worry about those days."

"Damn. I wish I could be like you when I grow up!"

Megan laughed. It was the first time Roger had heard it, and it rang a chord within him. "You are crazy aren't you?"

"Maybe a little, but my shrink says that I should make a full recovery."

Megan laughed again and this time Roger saw the outline of her abs under her dress, but his eyes quickly went back to her face. It was so expressive and vibrant. As Roger sat there, he felt like he was looking at a woman who represented all that was good in life. That first meeting lasted so long that Roger called into work and took the rest of the day off. He had chosen to meet Megan on his lunch break as a precaution against a terrible and awkward waste of time. If she was horrible in real life then he could always use work as an excuse to get away, but as he sat there at the cafe, work was the furthest thing from his mind. Some-where between the sandwiches and a second refill of drinks, their meeting became a date.

Megan talked and laughed with Roger, finding him as easy going in person as his screen name suggested. As she had been sitting there waiting, she had been all nerves, but he could make anybody feel... well at ease, just like him. Their meeting/date ended finally, but Megan hadn't wanted it to. She wanted it to last and last because she wasn't sure if she knew a guy quite like Roger.

Roger and Megan began officially dating shortly after that first meeting. He found himself at her apartment all the time, and she was just as often at his. They loved each other's company, but were slightly surprised at how much they loved it. Roger always had a wisecrack and Megan always seemed to have some sort of sage's wisdom that defied her youth. Their personalities just meshed somehow. Roger was changing the longer he stayed around Megan. Her optimism was completely contagious. That part of Roger that Addison had killed was coming back to life and everyone around him was seeing it. Roger didn't think that deeply about his situation. He just knew that he was happy, and Megan was happy. She excited him in every way that a woman could excite a man.

Roger loved the feel of her body as they lounged on the sofa. He loved her to lie against him. The feeling of being around her was something like he had never experienced. His ex had a nice body for sure, but Megan's muscles were lush and thick, and when she flexed them hard as granite. She didn't flex for him because Roger hadn't asked her to. Roger had to be content to just watch them flex while she used her body to do mundane things. He loved her muscles, but he didn't want to let on just how much they excited him. He didn't want to come off as a creep. He told her how beautiful she was, but left it at that. Of course, Megan was more perceptive than he gave her credit for.

Sometimes Roger's useless job actually forced him take work home. His boss, Mr. Howlen, had given Roger a load of accounts to go over because he had pulled several members of the staff off to do some special project. Roger wondered what sort of project it could be, but it didn't matter. People like him didn't get picked to do special projects. Instead he got left with the crap after the more important office staff got picked. Roger didn't let it get him down though. He sat at his little home desk and tried to do the best he could.

He was working when he heard a gentle tap at his the door. He was pretty annoyed, because he had just gotten into a rhythm on his work. He looked over at the clock. It was nearing 10 pm and no decent people moved around this late in his neighborhood. He stood up and went to the door. He thought about pulling his baseball bat close, but shook his head. He looked through the hole, but didn't see anyone. He opened the door partially and stood in the opening so he could look both ways. He turned to his right, but the pair of hands came from the left. They took him by his t-shirt and pulled him a little before pushing him back into his apartment. The push wasn't hard enough to make him fall, but he did take several steps back.

Roger regained his balance and looked up to see Megan darkening his doorway. For the first time since he'd met her, she had pulled her hair back and it made her normally sweet face look a little more stern and serious. Her eyes bored into him and her demeanor left Roger more off balance than her push had. She was wearing a long winter coat. The weather was starting to get cool, but this coat was a little much. She had it wrapped tightly around her as she stood there looking.

"What's this?" Roger asked as Megan closed the door behind her.

She sighed before she spoke. "You're a good guy, Roger," she began. Roger didn't like this already. "I think I like our relationship and all, but it needs to go to the next step."

She came forward and to him she seemed less like the person he had fallen for and more like a panther hunting her prey. "I don't understand," Roger bumped into his chair and had to use its back to steady himself.

Megan stopped advancing. Her chin was low and her beautiful brown eyes peered up at him through her lashes. "Roger, I know my body excites you no matter how you try to hide it."

"What?" Roger tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Every time we cuddle you feel my arms and my chest. When I move you look at all the details of my body, but you always pretend that you don't."

"B--but but--"

"But nothing, Roger. I'm so proud of my muscles." She came towards him. Her stilettos clicked against the floor as she came closer. She took Roger by the shirt again and pulled him close to her. Usually it was he who took a whiff of Megan's scent, but this time she flared her nostrils and inhaled deeply.

"Megan, what are you doing?" Roger raised his hands from his side, but didn't touch her. She seemed electric.

"I'm going to make sure you know all about me, Roger."

She pushed him down into the chair and went to his stereo. She slid in a CD then turn to face him. Before the music started, Megan began to untie the sash of her coat.

"You know most of me, Roger." Her grin made Roger's loins stir, but then her coat fell away and Megan's wonderful body was displayed in all of its glory. She wore only the thinnest bikini top with a nearly invisible bottom. Her skin was oiled and every curve and shape of her sculpted body seemed to project from under her skin. She put her hands on her hips and almost imperceptibly she flexed her lats causing her back to flare and widen. She tightened her pecs then, reveling in the feeling of the muscle separating and flexing out making her already nice chest into something breathtaking, literately. Roger's body had to force him to cough to make him breathe. He felt himself stiffen from the sight of her.

Chris Isaak's Wicked Games started playing on Roger's stereo and Megan slowly brought her arms up. While still keeping her lats flexed, she stretched her arms out to her sides. The anticipation on Roger's face looked like it was killing him. She curled her arms up agonizingly slowly. The rising peak of her biceps was almost unnoticeable. The fibers of her lush arms gathered and bunched until they began to rise and rise. The fibers of her biceps etching themselves under her soft skin until the striations completed themselves like acolytes serving their purpose beneath the towering peak of Megan's biceps. He biceps' peak rose the more she brought her arm up until her forearm was at 90-degrees. She had been watching and admiring her own arm, but she turned her head and looked at her man.

Roger didn't have to say a word. His thoughts were plain on his face and in his shorts. He made no attempt to hide his erection, the tip of which was already starting to appear from the waistband of the boxers. His eyes were glued to Megan's body.

She held her flex and smiled just a little. Her cute little face scrunched up, and she squeezed her fist tight. Her flex had looked complete, but it was nowhere near. Her peak rose again and thickened with hard muscle. A trickle of sweat ran down her shoulder and down the groves and shapes of her body. The vein atop her peak throbbed in time with her beating heart, sending fresh blood and fresh strength to Megan's swollen muscles.

"I worked out for you today, Roger. I made my muscles so hot and sweaty, and pumped just for you!" Her voice was heavy with the growing passion within her. "Do you like them? Do you like how pumped my muscles are?" Roger nodded his head like his neck was broken.

Megan grinned again, and brought her arms down in front of her body. She pressed the heels of her hands together and flexed her pectorals until each head of the muscle defined and tightened. "Oh they're so big, and hard and I can make them harder for you, Roger." She closed her eyes and began pumping her pecs, releasing the flex and extending her arms only to bring them back down and flex harder. She thrust out her left leg close to Roger and flexed her chest at the same time tightened her quad causing cords and ropes of muscle to tighten and wrap themselves into a perfectly formed female muscle. Roger's hands itched to touch her, and his loins burned with the lust of it all. His member was more than fully erect, but he sat there completely entranced by Megan and her muscles.

"Tell me to flex harder! Tell me, Roger. Make my muscle flex harder for you!"

"Harder," came Roger's coarse whisper. "Flex as hard as you can"

Megan set her teeth on edge and a soft grunt escaped her glossy lips as she flexed her body only a foot from Roger. She pulled her leg back and crunched down on her abs. She twisted her hips in Roger's face. Her razor sharp waist and the muscles under her smooth skin caused Roger's body to tingle. She snapped her arms up and flexed. Her grunts grew louder as she flexed harder. Her fist shook and veins popped to the surface of Megan's skin as her muscle fibers bunched and gathered, making her muscles bigger and harder. Her soft grunts had deepened. Sweat poured from the top of her head, but she flexed for Roger, harder and harder. She turned towards him. Her beautiful, sweat covered face, was still twisted in the effort of her flex as she looked at Roger.

"Is that hard enough for you, Roger? Does that turn you on?"

She turned back to her muscle and willed it to flex even harder. It was all more than Roger could take. His hard on was raging and it began to spew as Megan's bicep peak reddened and grew. One shot after another came from Roger's dick. He threw his head back as the orgasm flowed through his body. Finally he was finished. He slowly raised his head. His eyes focused on Megan. She was no longer flexing. Instead she was smiling. Just before she giggled.

"I haven't been able to do that to a guy since freshman year in college." She put her fingers in front of her mouth and looked up at Roger who suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, but that kid could probably get it right back up so he could have some real fun." Roger looked down at the mess he had made of himself and of his floor. He must have been a little backed up, he thought.

Megan got down on her knees and put her hands on his thighs. She looked up at him. "Yeah, he got it back up, and I bet you can, too." Then, before Roger could say a word, Megan leaned forward and took his entire length in her mouth. He stiffened almost instantly. All Roger could do was moan as Megan brought him to another -- even stronger -- climax.

"Oh my," Roger began through deep breaths.

Megan stretched up and kissed him. Roger leaned forward and reveled the moment when their lips touched. She pulled her lips from his and she stood up. Her chest and stomach were in Roger's face. He reached out and pulled her to him and buried his face into her abs while Megan pulled off her top.

"That's twice, Roger," Megan said.

"Yeah, I know." Roger felt so proud of himself.

She took a step back and pulled down the bikini bottoms. "Now we can have some real fun."

"Umm, Megan, I don't know about three times." Roger looked down at his little fella. It was still completely limp.

"Three?" Megan laughed. She leaned down and flexed her arm in Roger's face. Her muscle was so hard and round and perfect. She pushed it to Roger's face. "Kiss it!? she ordered and Roger obeyed. "Feel it with your tongue!"

Roger's wet tongue started at her beautiful peak and worked his way down. Before he knew it, he was hard again. Megan pulled her arm away and stepped over him. She lowered her self onto his lap. Feeling her body against his made him tingle all over again. Her body warmed him. She raised her hips, and Roger entered her for the first time. It felt like his head would pop off his body. Megan worked him as expertly as she worked her own body, and Roger was in heaven all night long.

"So, do you feel like new money now?" a very tired Megan asked as she and Roger lay next to each other in bed.

"No, I feel like a smoked joint."

Megan laughed and hugged him close to her. Roger could feel her nipples pressing against him under the sheet. "Don't worry. I won't throw you away though."

"Thanks. I've been thrown away before."

Megan propped herself up on her elbow and the cover slid down uncovering her shoulders and the top of her breasts. "Roger you have to let that go."

"It's hard to do that, no matter how happy I am at this minute. It just doesn't go away just like that." He snapped his fingers to make his point.

Megan just laughed. "Sure it does. Don't you know that human beings and grudges are polar opposites? Why do you think its called 'holding a grudge'? Because if you let the grudge go, it'll leave and never come back."

Roger shook his head and kissed her sweet lips before letting his head fall to the pillow. "I'm convinced that you're some ancient oracle reincarnated." Roger didn't say much else that night. He was too tired. He eventually fell asleep with his arms wrapped around his new girlfriend, but his mind was active. He thought about all the things she had told him over the couple of months that they had known each other. Little by little Megan was having an affect on Roger. She was taking the best of what he was and enhancing it. It would bear fruit very soon.

"I'll only be in the shoe store a minute or two," Megan told Roger, her boyfriend.

He twisted his mouth and looked at her. "Come, on Megan. Women can't go in a shoe store for a couple of minutes, unless its has no shoes left."

She smiled and continued. "Do you want to come in or not?"

Roger laughed, and answered her question with one of his own. "Do you want me to answer that truthfully, or say want you want to hear?"

Megan slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "What, you don't want to watch me shop?" She pulled closer to him and their bodies touched. They had been dating a while now, but Roger still got a chill when Megan was close. "I know it can't be that you don't like toes. Not after what you did last night."

Roger's face reddened slightly, and he grinned. "That was fun, but all toes aren't created equal." He looked over Megan's shoulder at a couple of women going inside. She looked over her shoulder, then turned back to him.

"I'll relieve you of this duty, but don't stray far." She pulled from Roger's arms and bounced into the shoe store. Roger watched her absolutely perfect body go as she entered the door. He marveled at how Megan had sculpted her body so that no one muscle or group of muscles outshined another. They all worked in harmony with one another to create her wonderful shape. It was something that couldn't be explained at first glance, but was appreciated nonetheless. Roger shook his head after she disappeared through the door. She was such a physical specimen. He didn't know a woman of such perfection could exist, but here he was dating her.

It wasn't just her body. Megan already had two master's degrees and was working on her doctorate. She worked with special needs children and wanted to research better ways of educating them. It was the sort of things that lots of young girls say they would like to do when they grow up, but Megan was actually doing it. She was so full of life. She knew it, and she wanted to share it. That made Roger love her even more.

Roger found a bench and dumped all of Megan's bags down before he took a seat next to them. They had been shopping for a couple of hours. She had bought some dresses, and some more dresses, and a couple of more dresses, and then some jeans, and some tops, before she had bought some lingerie. She hadn't showed Roger the lingerie, but he was fairly certain that he would see it soon enough. She had seemed quite pleased with her choices. She had given him that naughty look that he had come to love, because when she had that look on her face, he knew it was time to clear his schedule.

As fun as their sex life was, they had a full service relationship. At first Roger had been scared to put full emotion into it. In his mind there was no way a woman so wonderful would stick with a guy like him. Even at his best, Roger wasn't going be considered "man candy". And there was the irritating fact that after seven years he still had the same entry-level job at Cebis Health Care Company.

None of that seemed to matter to Megan. She cared for him, and it seemed like that was enough. Roger was fairly certain that he had fallen in love with Megan, but he wasn't sure. Whatever it was, he had never felt it before. Roger wasn't sure if Megan felt for him like he felt for her, but he damn sure hoped so.

Roger looked back over his shoulder when he saw someone come out of the shoe store. He had hoped that it was Megan, but he should have known better. For all her great attributes, Megan was, like most women, a born shopper. Roger, like most men, was a born hunter. He went to the store with a plan to get what he wanted and didn't even bother to look at anything that he didn't want. For all of Megan's unnerving wisdom, that concept seemed totally foreign to her.

As Roger sat there looking at people he didn't know coming and going, he caught sight of a person he knew very well. She was walking right towards him, but Megan's bags were obscuring his face. He stood up when Addison came closer. She was surprised enough to jump back.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Roger began. "I didn't want to scare you, just to say hello." He smiled at her. It was the smile he used to give her when they had first met.

"Roger." She was startled enough to let it show before regaining her composure and that cool air of superiority that she had gotten used to recently. "I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, I was hidden." He motioned towards the bags on the bench.

Addison frowned. "Those aren't yours."

Roger chuckled. "No, I volunteered to help a friend shop."

"You did always like to be the good guy."

"I know," he began. "Its a character flaw; I should work on it. So how have you been? You look good. Got a new do?"

Addison touched her hair gently. It was shorter than Roger had seen it and more rounded. "You noticed. I just had it done in the salon. Nate, my fianc?, said it would make me look more in charge."

"I don't know about all that, but congratulations on the engagement," Roger said with all sincerity.

"He just asked me week before last." Addison seemed to enjoy that Roger was so interested.

"Any idea when it might be? I know an invite is out of the question, but maybe I could send a gift or something. As long as your wedding falls near the 1st or the 15th."

Addison pressed her lips together and shook her head in the most condescending manner. "Still have the same job? It?s been almost a year since I've seen you and nothing has changed."

Roger tilted his head a little. "Actually, a whole bunch as changed,? he assured her.

"You're still the low man on the totem pole, Roger. I thought that you would have at least attempted to do something with your life. You know I put you out partly for your sake, too. You can't go through life satisfied with mediocrity."

Roger laughed. "You're absolutely right. After you put me out, I vowed never to settle for mediocre ever again."

Just then Megan came out of the store carrying two large bags stuffed with shoeboxes. She had a smile on her face as she came over and stood next to Roger.

"Oh, Addison, I'd like you to meet, Megan. Megan, this is my former girlfriend, Addison."

"Nice to meet you," Addison said without meaning it. "You must be the friend who twisted Roger's arm into coming shopping with you. When we dated, Roger would never go shopping with me."

Megan frowned and looked up at Roger. "That's funny. Since we've been going out Roger goes shopping with me all the time. Isn't that right, Honey?"

Roger shrugged his shoulders. "I just can't say no."

That look of supreme smugness fell from Addison's face when she realized that the beautiful woman to Roger's right was not just a friend, but was his new girlfriend. Addison started taking stock and comparing herself to Megan in her own completely honest and analytical way. Addison hated to admit it, but on a purely physical basis, Roger had indeed taken a step up. Megan was younger, even more fit, and she had a pretty face, that was made even prettier by her sunny disposition. Now she understood what Roger had meant by mediocre. That made Addison angry. She was thinking of something to say, when Megan said something first.

"Hey, Roger could you go get the car? I'll stay here with the bags."

Roger looked at her before he started towards the parking lot.

Addison smirked. "Didn't want him to stay around. Afraid of the competition?" Addison shot after Roger was gone.

Megan's face changed from sweet and playful to completely serious. That took Addison off guard. Megan looked Addison up and down before she spoke.

"You're no competition for me at all. There's rarely competition when I'm dating a guy. I just keep them as long as I want, and then I let them down easy when I'm ready to move on." She paused and crossed her arms under her full breasts. "I don't know why you dumped him, but I think Roger's a keeper. He's perfect for a girl like me."

"What, a girl with low expectations? Roger is a nice guy, who will always finish last." Addison crossed her arms too, but somehow it didn't have the same effect as when Megan did it.

"No, I'm hopelessly optimistic, and I know that about myself. It can rain for a week straight, and I wake up every morning expecting to see sunshine. Roger's a half-full person too, but he has just enough melancholy to keep me honest. He keeps me grounded... and turned on."

Addison felt sorry for the poor girl. "He's just going to disappoint you. That's all Roger's really good at. Sure he's a half-full person. He deludes himself into seeing the glass as half full even when the glass is completely empty."

Megan frowned and shook her head. "You are so negative."

"I'm just real."

While Megan and Addison were talking, Nate, Addison's investment-banker fianc?, came out of the salon. Instead of coming over to his future bride, he started checking himself out in the mirror.

Megan saw him from the corner of her eye, but kept her focus on Addison. "I bet you miss Roger, and you have for a while."

"No, I've moved on even if he hasn't."

Megan laughed. "Today is the first time he's mentioned your name in months. I doubt he even thinks about you anymore, and I bet he doesn't mention your name once after we leave the parking lot."

Addison looked at Nate for a moment before turning back to Megan. She was tiring of this conversation and of this woman's crap. "Look, I have a new man who has it all. He has a great job, loads of money, loads of influence, and he has me. We're going to have each other. You just wait until you and Roger are living paycheck to paycheck eking out a living while Nate and I will be living the good life."

Megan looked at Nate again, who was still primping in the mirror, before she turned back to Addison. "You mean Narcissus over there?" Megan laughed again. "I'll take my chances with Roger. You know, my mother told me once, to never date a guy who thought he was prettier than me. I bet you wish your mother had told you the same thing."

Addison's face flushed.

Megan turned and grabbed up all her bags as Roger drove into view. Megan's biceps flexed under her blouse sleeve as she easily lifted all the bags. She started towards the car, but sighed and glanced at Nate, who was still looking in the mirror.

She turned to a still upset Addison. "Look, all girlie cat-fighting aside, you should dump Nate, and do it as soon as you can."

"Oh really?" Addison was so mad she had to force herself not to yell. "Trying to give me advice, little girl?"

"Yeah, he's bad news, and I know that Roger wouldn't want to see you hurt. I just have a knack of reading people. You say you're happy now, but a year from now you won't be."

"Well, I'll take my chances with Nate. You take Roger, and a year from now we'll see who's happier!"

Megan shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess we will." Roger helped load Megan's bags into the car and waved at Addison before hopping into the driver's seat. Addison didn't wave back.

"What did you say to her, because she looks pissed?" Roger asked as he pulled away from the curb.

"I just told her the truth. I don't think she liked what I had to say," Megan replied.

"They say the truth hurts," Roger said as he pulled out into traffic. The subject changed on the ride to Megan's apartment, and Addison wasn't spoken about the rest of the night.

Nate finally pulled himself away from his reflection well after Roger and Megan had pulled off. He found Addison and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Do you like my cut? The stylist said she would try it a different way."

"I think it looks wonderful,"? Addison told her fianc?.

"Great, lets get something to eat." Nate led Addison by the hand towards his Aston Martin, but he didn't once mention anything about her new hairstyle.

A couple of days later, Roger was leaning over the sink basin slapping some water on his freshly-shaven face. He gave his face a quick once over in the mirror and figured that it was good enough. He was about to head back to his bedroom to finish dressing, when he turned profile to the mirror he saw that there was a lot less of him than there used to be. Several months ago he had been a little on the chunky side, but now that he was on a regular workout regimen he was not only smaller, but his muscle tone was near as good as it had been when he was in his early 20's. He needed a tan, but there wasn't much he could do about that in the middle of winter. He put his hands on his waist and sucked in the little bit of belly that he had left. He puffed his chest out and tensed up his muscles.

"Not bad," he said aloud then twisted and flexed his arm. His arm flexed up pretty good. He smiled and let it drop. How silly could he be, flexing in the mirror when he had to get dressed for work. He turned to leave again, but he couldn't help it. He faced the mirror, brought both his arms up and flexed them as hard as he could. He was admiring his own shape when the reflection of two more arms appeared from his sides. He couldn't see Megan's head or body because she was smaller than he, just her arms. Megan was also shorter than Roger so her arms were just below his. She curled her arms, but didn't flex yet. She was satisfied to just let the muscle bunch on its own for a moment and admire the contrast in Roger's slightly pasty complexion and her always-radiant tanned complexion.

Roger smiled broadly and flexed really really hard. His arms shook and his biceps tightened as much as they could. He was pretty pleased with what he saw, and then Megan flexed her arms. She buried her fingers into the palms of her hands and squeezed her fists tight. Her biceps jumped to life like twin sleeping giants. She hadn't pumped them or anything and her biceps were already peaking like nobody's business. Roger tried to flex even harder. A couple of veins appeared on his arms.

"What do you think about that?" Roger challenged.

Megan rolled her eyes behind his back, and this time she really flexed. She twisted up her cute face and her biceps erupted into shredded behemoths. It was amazing what her muscles did when she flexed them. She extended her arms and pumped her muscles one time. That was all it took for all her vascularity to come out. The veins ran up and down and around her forearms then snaked over her upper arms and on to her perfect delts.

"OK, you win," Roger admitted defeat.

He turned to face her. She held her flex and smiled up at her boyfriend before she let her arms drop. "Not bad, Roger. I'm proud of you." Megan patted him on his chest and started towards the bedroom wearing nothing but a bra and panties. She had to get dressed for work too.

"What?!?? Roger called out. "Proud of me? I can't even out-flex my girlfriend!"

Megan popped back into the room and gave Roger a sly look. "Every girlfriend doesn't have an arm like this." She flexed her arm while keeping it low giving Roger the rear view. She knew that was his favorite angle. He could see just how crazy her peak was from that angle. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and Megan chuckled when she saw it start to tent.

Roger lowered his head and rushed Megan. He wrapped his arms around her.

She giggled and pretended to struggle. "Come on, Roger. You know we both have to be at work."

He lifted her off her feet. "Yeah, Baby, I know; but you started it." He threw Megan on the bed. She bounced a couple of times and then she lay there. Her hair splayed out behind her and her legs were lying atop one another.

"We're going to be late."

"Just a quickie then! We'll save the rest for later" Roger grinned and pulled his towel off to reveal the hard-on that the cotton had barely hidden.

He took a step forward and Megan stuck her leg out. He walked into the sole of her foot. She pressed the ball of her smallish feet into his chest and flexed her calf. Roger's breath quickened and he put his hand right on the muscles. He traced the shape of it and felt it as she pumped the muscle. Roger took another step closer, but she put her other leg out. This time she flexed her quad. Roger put both hands on her lower quad and squeezed his fingers together as hard as he could. Megan moaned and arched her back as she felt the pressure. Roger grit his teeth and squeezed harder just to the edge of her tolerance. Megan flexed her quad harder making his fingers spread apart. He redoubled his efforts, but his fingers were only able to sink in as far as her skin. There was no chance of denting the muscle.

"Oh yeah," Roger growled. He took Megan by her ankles and lifted her legs up. She didn't try to resist. He rushed forward. He held Megan's ankles in one hand and he guided himself with the other. Megan's body shuttered when he entered her. Roger usually worked himself up, but this time he went for it from the beginning. He thrust hard and fast. Megan quickly got the rhythm and worked her hips to complete the movement. Roger's eyes nearly bucked from his head as he watched her ultra hard and lean lower abs flexing and writhing under her skin as she worked. Harder and harder they flexed as they went at it. Megan thrashed her head from side to side and reached out for Roger with her right hand, but he was too far away. She ran her soft sole up and down Roger's chest. He worked harder, his own face a mask of pleasure and effort. He took her ankle again and pulled her foot to his face. He took her toes painted apple red and wet them with his tongue. Then she pushed her leg forward forcing all of her toes into Roger's mouth. He still worked his tongue. He started gasping and his pumping became more frantic.

"Tell me, Sweetie! Tell me!"

'Not yet!' he thought. His hands roamed her body. His left hand grabbed her right breast, and he squeezed gently before taking her hard nipple between two fingers. Megan let out a long passionate sigh as Roger worked from one nipple to the other. His hands traced between her breasts all while keeping up his furious pace.

"Tell me when!" Megan called out when Roger's pace quickened even more.

"Ahhh, now? now!"

He pulled back, but his hips wouldn't stop completely. Megan rolled over in one quick, insanely powerful movement and took Roger into her mouth. His knees nearly collapsed. "Oh my God, I love you!"

"You're not just saying that in the heat of the moment are you?" Megan asked as she rolled over and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She had missed just a little bit.

Roger did sink down to his knees then. He moved a few locks of Megan's hair from her face, and he gazed down into her beautiful brown eyes.

"No, of course not." He leaned down and kissed her squarely on the lips. Megan smiled on the outside and on the inside. She wasn't sure if Roger knew how much that kiss meant to her. Most men would just walk away not wanting to get near the product of their own loins. That had happened the first time Megan performed that little sex act. When the guy had walked away, it had made her feel like nothing more than a slut. It was the worst feeling after sex ever. She had promised herself never to do that again, but she had taken a chance and tried it with Roger the first time they'd had sex. He'd kissed her without urging. He just did it, just like he did it this time. Roger was pretty good at sex, and he was even better after sex.

Roger started back towards the bathroom. He looked upside down to as she lay on the bed with her head hanging over the end. She was completely convinced that Addison was crazy for letting this man go.

"It?s going to be my turn tonight!" Megan called out to Roger before he shut the bathroom door. He stuck his head out and raised his eyebrows a couple of times before ducking back inside. Tonight is going to be fun, Megan thought to herself then rolled over onto her stomach. She smiled as she thought about that night. Megan already knew the dangers of anticipation, because Roger wasn't going to come home at all that night.

"Oh, hey, Roger, how are you doing?" Sue asked as she passed her co-worker in the hall.

"I'm doing good," Roger said with a smile. "How've you been?" he asked while still shuffling papers in his hands.

"Can't complain. I haven't seen you in a while. I thought you had moved to another office or something."

Roger frowned. "No, I've been here the whole time."

Sue twisted her face a little. "Hmm... I guess I've been preoccupied. Well, have a nice day. See you later."

Roger waved and continued along his way. He was a little confused because he saw Sue every single workday. For a while he had been thinking about changing his name to Claude Raines, The Invisible Man, but not anymore. Sometimes it felt strange, but he guessed his personality was completely alive again. Roger turned and watched Sue as she rounded the corner towards the other side of the office. There was a time when he'd had a crush on her, but he had been dating Addison at the time. These days though, he couldn't get Megan from his mind. She occupied every spare minute, and he even found himself thinking about her while he was on the phone about business. He made it back to his desk and looked at the clock. It was only a couple of minutes before the end of the workday. He lifted the receiver and dialed the only woman he thought about.

"Hello," Megan answered on the first ring.

"Hello, Madam, and how are you this afternoon?" Roger asked with a mock English accent.

Megan chuckled. "Better since you called."

Roger felt like his body had lifted from his chair, but he played it cool. "I have been known to have that effect on people. You should be careful though. Too much of me is like a cocaine high."

Megan laughed, and the conversation continued well after quitting time. Roger looked around at the darkened and empty office. It was strange without all the activity he was used to, but he didn't care. There wasn't a damn reason for him to go home. Megan had to stay late and wouldn't be home for at least another couple of hours; he figured that he would stay on the phone until he got hungry then go and wait for her. But fate intervened.

Roger saw his boss going, and then coming quickly. He had a serious look on his face and seemed more than a little agitated. Roger looked on with curiosity, but nothing more. He kept talking to Megan until he saw the look on his boss' face change from agitation to worry and even beyond to despair.

"Hey, Megan, I hate to do it, but I have to go,? Roger told her. He waited for her to say good-bye then hung up the phone. His boss had walked out. Roger didn't know what was going on. Then the boss came back in.

"Excuse me, Mr. Howlen. Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, Roger. Something's wrong, but I don't think you can help with it." The man went into his office and closed the door hard behind him.

Roger picked up his suit jacket and the briefcase Addison had given him a couple of years earlier, and turned towards the door, but something told him not to go. He walked slowly towards his boss' door and knocked gently. There was no reply, so Roger turned the knob and stuck his head in. Mr. Howlen was in his swivel chair with his back to Roger. He wasn't moving, and he didn't turn when the door opened. "Mr. Howlen. I know you said that there was something wrong. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't offer to help. Whatever it is."

Mr. Howlen looked down at the .38 pistol sitting on his lap and tucked it under his leg before turning his chair around. Roger had to keep his face neutral because Mr. Howlen looked terrible.

"For the last year-and-a-half we've been working at getting a contract with Honda Motors. Every single member of the board of directors says that the future growth of the company is dependent on this deal. Managers all over the place are working on this deal. They put me in charge of getting the cost structure statement together. It was all finished, but now its gone. The deadline is tomorrow. When the board and the negotiators don't get that statement, the deal will fall apart, and I'll be without a job. Without a means of supporting myself, my family, or anybody, everything will fall apart. Everything," Mr. Howlen's voice trailed away at the end and he felt the shape of the pistol under his leg.

Roger stepped into the office. "Sir, do you have any of the data for the cost structures?"

Mr. Howlen opened a big drawer, pulled out a large filing box, and threw it on his desk. "Here! All of this has to be processed and condensed into a statement by tomorrow!"

Roger looked at the box then pulled some sheets from the top. He put his coat on the back of a chair and looked down at the figures. "I guess then, sir, that you and I should get busy."

"What?"

"Yes sir. I can think of a few better ways to spend a Thursday night, but this will do. As long as you pay for the Chinese food. Can't do a job like this without Chinese food." Roger smiled and after half a minute, Mr. Howlen's face brightened. He slipped the pistol into a drawer where Roger couldn't see.

"OK, young man, let?s get to it."

The sun was rising when Roger and his boss finished the statement. Mr. Howlen remarked that this one was more accurate than the first had been anyway. Neither man knew what had happened to the first one, but it didn't matter. Mr. Howlen sent the statement to the head-quarters, and by the end of the next week the deal had been struck. In that week Roger's stock within the company had soared, and Mr. Howlen had been promoted to Senior Vice President of the entire company. That left an opening for lead manager of the local office. The directors gave him a say in who would take his place. They had wanted him to list five people for them to consider, but Mr. Howlen had written only one name, and he had given Roger such a glowing recommendation that the directors acted to make Roger the new head of the local office.

It took a couple of weeks to finalize, but in the end, 30-year-old Roger Macmillan, who had been in the same entry-level job for 7-plus years, was bumped over everybody else, even his old supervisor, to become the boss.

Megan was ecstatic at the news. "I said you had it in you." She was bubbling with glee.

"Yeah, you did. You believed it more than me. I've been bumped up like Dwight Eisenhower."

Megan tsked and shook her head. "No, baby, you aren't quite like Ike. He was a major for 16 years before being promoted. You were more like a private."

"Thanks a lot."

"Just being honest. But now you're a general." She looked up at him. "You know this calls for a celebration, right?"

Roger put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "What do you have in mind?"

Megan's eyes took on that look that Roger loved so much. She pushed him down into the chair, raised her arm then slowly bent her elbow. Her bicep started rising beneath the white sleeve of her blouse. The tight sleeve accented the shape and roundness of her muscle. She paused when her arm was not quite all the way up. "I think we can come up with a few things."

Roger could feel a stirring in his pants again. Then Megan continued her flex. Her arm came up and the peak rose higher and higher until the unmistakable sound of ripping fabric filled the room. Roger was once again taken over the edge. His eyelids fluttered as the bliss went through his body. Megan was smiling at him again when he regained his senses.

This time he chuckled. "At least now I can afford to buy new pants."

"And me a new blouse," Megan began, "Because this one isn't going to last the night." She raised both her arms and flexed her back before she slowly began to flex her arms. The sounds of more tearing and ripping filled the air mixing with the sound of Roger's trousers hitting the floor. In the old days one orgasm had been a good night, but with Megan, it wasn't even foreplay. He was in for a very special night, and it was just getting started.

Her lats and biceps and delts and traps tore through the fabric of the blouse before she took hold of the still- buttoned front with one hand and ripped the remnants from her body. She stood before her man with her muscles pulsating, just waiting for action.

"You remember last time, Roger? I said it was going to be my turn, right?"

"Umm yeah, but that was before I became the boss." Roger looked at Megan and gave her a sideways grin.

Megan turned profile to him and slowly started pulling down her skirt. She let it slip over her ass and then she slowly slid it down her legs. Roger's eyes narrowed and focused on those oh-so strong and muscular legs as the skirt headed towards the floor. She let it drop then stepped out of it.

"OK, Roger, on your knees," Megan ordered with a grin.

"Nope." Roger shook his head and smiled up at her, wondering what her next move would be.

Megan laughed and took a step back. Before Roger could react, she jumped towards him feet first, like a drop kick. Her body went parallel to the floor, then she spread her legs slightly. Roger's eyes bulged as he saw Megan's crotch coming right at him. He didn't get that far between her legs because she clamped them tightly around his head. Roger wanted to cry out from the sudden pressure, but he couldn't. Megan had calculated this move. She had planned to arc her body and bridge down to the floor, but she hadn't counted on the chair leg breaking like a dried branch. It snapped and the chair went over backwards in a hurry. Megan's abs tensed as she quickly compensated by raising her body up. Roger started over backwards towards the floor with Megan still attached to his head like a vice. Instead of letting him go, Megan clamped on tighter and went over with him. Roger's butt and lower back hit the floor, but then Megan's feet hit the ground and Roger's head was suspended between her thighs keeping the back of his head from slamming down. She let him go once she gained her balance.

"Oh, my God! Roger, are you OK?" She sank down to a knee and took his head in her hands.

Roger coughed, moaned, and then smiled up at her. "Trying to kill me?"

"No, I'm so sorry. The stupid chair broke. I was just going to..."

Roger laughed at Megan. She was starting to get upset with herself. He grabbed her head and pulled her down to him. He kissed her deeply and then pulled her head away. "I'm fine,? he assured her.

"You're really okay?" Megan had to wipe a little moisture from the corner of left eye.

"Yeah, Megan, its kinda fun. You came at me like superwoman."

She leaned down and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Oh, so now you want to play nice,? Roger said while running his hands over her thighs. He started to sit up, but Megan stepped one leg over him then plopped down on his chest. He let out a loud grunt.

Megan's face changed again as she looked down at Roger. "Since, you're okay, that means that you still haven't given me what I want."

Roger gazed up at Megan's beautiful form. His hands ran all over her thighs then to her hips and butt before going to her inner thighs and higher. She felt so wonderful. He could feel her body reacting to his touch. "I don't know, Baby," Roger began. "You play too rough." He had to stop and laugh. "I'm thinking about taking my johnson and going home."

Megan tried not to, but she laughed anyway. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah!" Roger laughed along with her.

"You just try making it out the door." She inched up his chest so that her sex was just below his chin and her legs were on either side of his head.

Roger swallowed and felt himself stirring. Megan shifted her hips slightly forward as Roger's fingers began inching towards her crotch. He brought his head up slowly. "You win again, Baby. You're going to love this. It's going to be way better than last time," Roger said and leaned towards her.

Megan held a handful of Roger's hair as he craned his neck nearing her. She waited until he was close then she pulled his hair. Roger's eyes had been focused on her sex, but he quickly looked up at her face. A sense of dread went through him when he saw her. Megan had that look again, but this time there was more to it.

"You're right, it?s going to be better than last time." Roger saw Megan's beautiful face quickly change to a look of concentration in the instant before she straightened her legs trapping his head and his hands between her thighs. Megan stretched back putting her hands on his ankles preventing him from kicking too much, and giving her even more leverage. She threw her head back, and gave Roger a good squeeze. She didn't have to see her own thighs at work. She didn't have to see the heads of her quads bulging out above her knee, or see the cords of muscles tightening and tightening around her thighs as she squeezed her boyfriend's head between her legs. She didn't have to see her inner thigh muscles flexing hard and pressing into Roger's temples. Megan didn't have to see any of it, because she could feel it. She could feel Roger trying to pull his head back, but without his hands he could only use his neck, and his neck was no where near strong enough to escape her legs.

Roger's hands were caught, but he still wiggled his fingers, and since they were just so high up, that wiggling caused tingles to go through Megan's entire body. Roger should have stopped moving his fingers because those tingles caused Megan to squeeze more, but finally she released and his head fell to the floor.

Roger was completely red and lines covered his face where Megan's thighs had wrinkled his skin. He took in a deep breath and moved his head side to side a little. He finally opened his eyes, but it took them a moment to focus. They focused on Megan's face, usually as pleasant a sight as anything on the planet, but not now. Megan's hair partially covered her face and her eyes were focused on Roger with huntress-like intensity.

"You okay?? Megan asked Roger like he was a baby who had tripped on a rug.

Roger coughed again, and his hands went up her thighs. Her quads were even harder now since she had used them. He could feel the muscle fibers and the hundreds of small capil-laries and veins that fed those hungry muscles. Her skin was hot to the touch. He looked up at her. "What was that for?"

Megan shifted on his chest. "That was for making me have to beg. I don't like to beg, and you know it."

Roger grinned. "Oh yeah, well that was before I became the boss!"

Megan threw her head back and clamped her legs around Roger's head so quickly that he barely saw it coming. Just the gathering darkness of the shadow between her legs. Roger's entire body reacted from the sudden pain. His legs kicked and his arms flailed a bit, before he took both hands and tried to pry Megan's legs off. He had a good grip, and he pulled with all he was worth. He managed to relieve some of the pressure, but only for a moment.

Megan growled and locked her ankles. Much to Roger's dismay, she hadn't even done that yet. She had been squeezing with mostly her adductors, now she really squeezed. Her thighs ballooned with hard muscle as she poured on the pressure. She ran her own hands over her mushrooming thighs as the heads of her quads striated and tightened. She ran her fingers over channels and grooves created by her perfect muscles. She could feel herself getting more and more turned on, the harder she squeezed and the harder Roger pulled. After one more sustained squeeze she opened her thighs and Roger's head bounced against the floor. His head went slowly from side to side.

"That's like being trapped in a wonderful sweaty prison. You know you're in jail, but for some reason you don't ever want to get out,? Roger said dreamily without opening his eyes. If he had, he would have seen Megan stifling a giggle.

"Oh, so you like that?" She turned around and looked at his completely erect member. "Well, I guess you do."

"I bet you won't do it again," Roger teased and ran his hands over her legs. They were beyond anything he had seen or felt. Her soft moist skin felt so wonderful under his fingers. He worked his way up and pulled her panties to the side. He licked his finger and started working it over her labia and clitoris. Megan tossed her head from side to side and moved closer. Roger worked his finger quickly applying just the right amount of pressure. Megan moved up his body until she was sitting on his upper chest. That was close enough. Roger licked his finger again. This time he straightened it and pushed it inside. Megan moaned, but he wasn't finished. He raised his head and sucked directly on her clit.

Megan had been moaning, but now she growled. Roger worked his tongue and his finger at the same time. Megan involuntarily began to work her hips. "Faster!? she ordered and Roger obeyed. "Ahh! Yeah, that's it right there! Right there!" Roger stopped working different spots and stayed right where he was. He saw Megan's skin flush and her body began to be racked with wave after wave, but none of those waves sent her over the edge until Roger slid one more finger inside.

"AHHHhhhhh!? Megan cried out as a wave of pleasure finally broke and sent her over the edge. Her body quaked and trembled. Her breath came in pants for what seemed like forever, until the tide of pleasure retreated. She felt warm all over and her head seemed to be floating.

She looked down at Roger. Her face had never seemed too beautiful to him. She was sweaty, tired, and happy. She leaned down and kissed him passionately and lovingly. "That was great," she managed through deep breaths.

Roger let his head back to the floor. "Whew. I didn't think you were ever going to cum. My tongue was about to give out."

Megan laughed. "I hope you recover quickly. I let you do that one the easy way, the next one you're going to have to work for." Megan reached down with both hands, took her panties by the elastic and pulled. Her upper body flexed rock hard for an instant before the band surrendered to her strength. She pulled the ruined fabric from her body and repositioned herself on Roger's chest.

"Hey, wait a minute. Why don't you-" Roger never got a chance to finish. Megan's legs wrapped around his head again. Her muscles flared out and turned diamond hard in an instant. Roger grunted.

"Make me cum again, Roger, and you better be quick about it!" She raised her butt off his chest and poured pure power into his skull as she tightened her already impossible muscles before she relaxed a little.

"Make me cum, fast, Roger. The longer you take, the harder I squeeze." Her loins ached in anticipation. Her glutes tightened as she punctuated her demand. Roger could hear her -- ?barely. Her crotch was right in his face, and he started working her with every trick he knew.

Megan moaned and her eyes fluttered as she felt Roger between her legs. She humped feeling herself rub against his chin as his tongue worked furiously to please her. She tightened her thighs, though. She had already locked her ankles and every muscle in legs was pumped hard, but she was just teasing him. He penetrated her with his tongue. That made her shudder, but it wasn't enough. She tightened again. The cords and ropes of her thighs slid past each other like pythons crushing their prey. Roger's body reacted to the pain. Every instinct told him to fight to get free, but he knew better. He worked on Megan. He could feel her juices lubricating his face and making his little pocket of life harder to live in, but there was no place he would rather be. He could feel the pressure on his jaw increasing; that made him work more. He felt Megan tense more.

"Oh, you're close! Do it, Roger! Do it! Now!" Megan worked her hips, but kept tightening her thighs. Roger's ears popped and his jaw was making funny noises as he worked his tongue, but he kept at it. Megan's muscles swelled like never before when Roger sent her over again. Megan came and she came hard. She flexed every muscle in her perfect body as hard as she could. Her biceps, triceps, pecs, lats, and abs looked chiseled from granite itself, but her thighs were otherworldly. Every striated muscle fiber was pumped and strained to the ragged edge as Megan came, and instantly came again as Roger still worked between her legs still.

"Mmm," Megan grit her teeth as she came again. Roger could feel every single contraction of her body. He worked her, but it was more than he could take and he, too, came again. Finally, they both relaxed. Megan rolled from atop Roger and lay with her back on the hardwood floor. She stared at the ceiling trying to catch her breath.

"Was that good enough?" Roger asked in a horse voice.

"Oh yeah," was all Megan could manage. She rolled to her side and took Roger in her arms. His face was beyond blue. She had squeezed him hard enough to bruise, but he seemed satisfied. She kissed him. They just lay there for a while.

"So, Megan since we made such a big mess, do you think we should actually have sex so we can have something to show for it?" Roger asked with a chuckle. He expected Megan to laugh with him, but she didn't. Instead she smiled and pushed herself to a sitting position. She looked down at Roger then put one of her still pumped legs him before she worked herself towards his crotch.

"No, no, Megan I was just joking. I don't think I can take anymore."

Her grin had just a tinge of sinister to it. "You're the boss, remember, " Megan teased and started working Roger's flaccid dick. It came alive quickly. "And, the boss always gets what he wants."

Before Roger could respond, Megan raised her hips and took all of him inside her in one long stroke. Roger was caught in that place between pleasure and pain as Megan worked him ragged. He would have thought that he was bone dry, but Roger came one last time. Megan rolled off and patted him on the chest before she wrapped her arms and legs around him. She was so weary that she could hardly raise her arms; after all she had done most of the work all night.

"Did the boss get what he wanted?" Megan asked as she caught her breath.

"Oh, hell yeah, and then some. As they say, 'Its good to be the king??

Megan rolled her eyes and laid her head on his chest. She would wait to tell Roger that the 'king' was going to have to clean up the mess they had made of her living room.

— | –

The sunlight streamed in giving every room an energized yellow glow as Roger walked into the apartment that he and his girlfriend Megan now shared. Normally Roger would announce his presence, and Megan would rush up to him. It seemed everyday that she was just as happy to see him as the day before. This time though, Roger said nothing. He walked through the light towards the back of the apartment. He chewed the inside of his jaw as he came further into the apartment. He rounded a corner, came down a hall, and there she was, dancing to the music coming from her headphones. Relief, peace, appreciation, and love came over Roger as he stood there looking at Megan move to music that only she could hear.

The world was often so ugly, so corrupt, and so mean, but here was a woman who seemed above it all, or rather outside it all. Roger had described it like the sun shined on her 24 hours-a-day no matter what as going on around her, and if you stayed near her long enough, the sun would start to shine on you too. There was connection to the joy of life inside Megan that most other people just didn't have.

Megan had been organizing her teaching material for the next week of classes, when she turned around to find something that she had set down, and saw Roger. She smiled the warmest smile and pulled the phones from her head. "Sneaking up on me?? she asked.

"I don't know, maybe," Roger replied and shrugged his shoulders. He was still locked in that state between reality and emotion.

Megan glanced up at him and put some papers in her folder. "Why are you looking like that?? she asked.

"You're best thing that's ever happened to me, Megan. Sometimes I just can't believe its real."

She tilted her head and came over to him before stretching up and kissing him passionately and gently. Roger put his arm around her. "Real enough?" she asked.

"I love you, Megan."

"I love you, too, silly creeping boyfriend guy." She laughed and pulled herself away.

Roger chuckled at himself. "Hey, take it easy on me. Sometimes even a shallow guy like me gets introspective."

Megan turned with a frown. "You're not shallow. You just think that somehow you aren't worthy, but isn't that my decision to make?"

Roger looked at the floor and nodded. "It most certainly is."

"Good. Now that my free will has been reestablished in this relationship, you can get dressed for the gym. You know what happens when I don't get my workout in."

Roger pulled himself from his emotional haze and headed towards the bedroom rubbing his neck. The last time Megan had missed a workout, it had been his fault. Her biceps had revolted, and she had been forced to squeeze him with her arms until her biceps became thoroughly tired. Roger didn't want to go through that again.

Steele's Fitness was located in a purpose-built building with everything a person needed to train and none of the crap they didn't need. It was for people who were serious. They didn't all have to be bodybuilders or competitive athletes, but people who were there for the wrong reasons didn't last long. Ronnie Steele and his wife, Keisha, wanted it that way. Roger and Megan walked into the door and Ronnie saw them right away.

"There's my favorite girl!" Ronnie called and came from behind the information desk. He hugged Megan. "And look who you made show his face again."

She was all smiles. "I told you I'd bring him back."

"Yeah, yeah, you did. I hate to say I didn't believe you. I thought Roger was afraid to come back where the real people stay fit."

"Hey, I wasn't afraid. Just waiting on the right time."

Ronnie laughed and slapped his thigh. Nothing at all jiggled. Ronnie was a jovial guy and it was a good thing because he was about 6'3" 250 pounds of solid ex-NFL linebacker.

"Glad to have you back; let's get you signed up."

Megan started towards the locker room. "I'll catch up with you later," she told Roger and bounced off to towards the back.

Roger watched her go. She was wearing black spandex pants that showed off her lower body. Roger could think of nothing other than wrapping his arms around her legs until Ronnie brought him out of his daydream with a slap on the back.

"Man, Keisha and me can't thank you enough for sending that girl to our gym."

"Excuse me?" Roger asked while he filled out his updated personal information for a new membership.

"Yeah, ever since Megan's been here, we've signed up a boatload of new members, men and women. The guys join cause they think they got a shot at her, and the women want to find out how the hell she got to look like that. She's great with everybody, especially the woman who come in a little overweight. She starts them out on a routine for free, and she has higher retention rates for those women than even the personal trainers who specialize in that stuff. Megan's a walking gold mine. You're a lucky man, Roger."

Roger nodded and looked up. "Tell me about it."

After getting all the paper work signed and the check written, Ronnie got Roger set up with a training group that was about at his fitness level. Roger looked around the area as he came in. There were a few pieces of new equipment, but the place looked very familiar. The weights area wasn't even packed. There were some serious bodybuilding guys working in one corner and some more guys who had just started exercising. There were a group of teenage boys in there, too. Ronnie took Roger to a group of five guys who were just about to get started. The group included four guys who came to the gym regularly, and one other new guy named John. One of the regulars named Mike used to be a personal trainer there at Steele's, and he really knew his stuff. Everybody introduced themselves quickly.

"Oh! So you're the guy Megan keeps telling us about?" Rick, one of the guys exclaimed.

Roger nodded. "Yeah, that's me. You look disappointed," he joked.

Mike laughed. "Yeah, we'd expected Don fucking Juan."

Roger chuckled. "Instead you get Joe fucking Blow. I understand."

The guys laughed with him. "Its not like we're calling you Quasimodo or anything," Paul began.

Roger nodded. "I do clean up good."

The guys laughed again, but John was confused. "Who the hell is Megan?" he asked.

Mike tapped John on the shoulder then pointed over his shoulder. "That's Megan."

She was walking from the locker room area, and the six guys all turned and looked in unison. She came out seemingly oblivious to their stares. She had changed into a tight, low cut, apricot colored sports bra that showed off her lean midsection, her sculpted arms and shoulders, but it absolutely framed her chest. Megan worked hard to keep her body in pro-portion, but her breasts were large already and the muscles that lurked beneath her skin made her chest that much more impressive. As wonderful as her upper body was, her lower body could not go unnoticed. She had taken off her black pants and replaced them with a pair of blue compression shorts that sat low on her waist and showed off the beautiful sweep of her thighs and the roundness and firmness of her backside. Roger could have told the guys that her body was as strong as it looked, but it was none of their business. Megan continued into the weight room like she had no cares at all. She ended up near the wall and pulled on her lifting gloves before she started stretching.

"That's your girl?" John seemed incredulous.

Roger sighed then looked up at John. "Blows my mind, too."

After the talk of Megan subsided a little, the men got into their workout. They were going to do a total body workout, but not take it too intense, to help break in the new guys. After warming up on the bikes, Roger and his partner headed towards the bench press. Roger didn't try to break any personal bests on weight, he just stayed in a comfort range with his lifting partner. He had worked up a decent sweat by the time they had done a couple of sets on the bench. They moved on to curls and met up with the rest of the group over there. Roger was doing pretty well. He wasn't in the best shape of the group, but he was pretty close to the best shape of his life.

Five of the six guys in the group were focused on their workout, but John couldn't get his mind off of Megan. He stole glances at her whenever he got an opportunity. He watched as she went from one exercise to another alone. The guys said that she had two very fine training partners, both of whom were AWOL this evening. John didn't know if the two missing women were as beautiful as Megan or not, but it didn't matter. He could feel the lust inside him. He had to speak with her.

At the curling bench, Megan closed her eyes as she squeezed her biceps at the top of the rep. Her skin was moist from perspiration, and it made her already chiseled body look even more defined. Megan's face was pressed in concentration and effort as she worked her biceps to failure. Her muscle fibers burned and flexed as Megan worked her arms again. They stretched out showing the leanness of Megan's muscles, and then her biceps peaked insanely as she held this rep before she brought the weight down again. One more rep. Her hands shook and her muscles threatened to quit, but Megan wouldn't let them. She brought the weight up slowly. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she fought fatigue to get the bar to the top. Once there she squeezed the rep for all she it was worth. Her biceps' peaks flexed up like volcanoes that were about to blow. Megan glanced down at her crazy peaks before she extended her arms and put the bar in the cradle. She blew some hair from her face as she caught her breath. She shook, and then messaged her arms before she stood up from the chair. She went to the mirror and looked at herself. Megan always felt a little tinge of vanity when she looked at herself in the mirror, but she couldn't help it. She was so pumped. She faced the mirror, raised her arms and flexed hard. Megan was as vascular at this moment as she ever was, and her biceps simply bulged. With her perfect unflexed proportions it was amazing how her muscles exploded when she was really pumped.

"Oh, good gracious," Megan exclaimed under her breath. She felt larger than life. She relaxed her flex and let her arms dangle. She wasn't trying to show off and she wasn't trying to draw lots of attention. She turned, but tensed her pecs really quickly, just to see and feel them get hard. She didn't hold the flex for long. She had a couple of more exercises to do, plus she didn't want any attention, but it was too late.

John peeled away from the rest of the group while Mike went to answer a phone call at the front desk, and Roger went to the locker room for a bathroom break. John took a long look at Megan, as she readied to do triceps extensions. He came over towards her. She had such a wonderful shape; the classic hourglass figure with a healthy dose of female muscle thrown in. If anyone had asked John yesterday, he would have said that she wasn't his type, but as this fit woman stood right in front of him, she was most certainly his type.

"Can I help you?" Megan asked as John got closer.

"I don't mean any disrespect, but is that guy Roger really your man?" John had to fight extra hard to keep his eyes on Megan's face. He failed a couple of times, but she was rather impressed with his self-control.

"Roger's my man," Megan replied with an exaggerated frown. "I'm sorry..."

"John."

"Well, I'm sorry, John, but this girl is off the market." She smiled at him and patted him on the arm.

John felt a rush when she touched him. He laughed. "Are you sure? I might be able to show you a good time."

Megan was smiling at him, but her eyes narrowed just a bit. "I bet you could show me a great time, John, but what would your wife think?"

The smile fell from John's face, and he raised his hands up. "Wife? I don't see a ring on this finger." He looked like he had no idea what she was talking about.

Megan put her hand on her hip and shook her head. "How's that for a husband? First you try and get with me, and then you deny that you're married all together. I bet she's a really devoted mother and wife, too. She probably irons your clothes in the morning before you even wake up."

John had been trying to keep up his charade, but Megan's last statement broke though. "How the hell do you know that?"

Megan shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't until just now."

"Bu-- but you got all that stuff right. How did you even know I was married? My band got bent a while ago, and I haven't worn it in months. How the hell did you know?"

Megan had been smiling, but now she showed him one of her more special smiles. "You wear your ring all over you. You don't need one on your finger for it to show. I'm surprised that a guy like you would even try and hit on me."

"I'm sorry. Well, you see... I didn't mean anything by it. It?s just that you're really a beautiful woman, and I-"

Megan held up her hand for him to stop talking. "Your wife's body isn't the same as it used to be since she's birthed your children. She's not still pregnant is she?"

John hung his head like a scolded student. "No, she just had little Eric six months ago."

"She's having a hard time getting the weight off, and you just don't seem to have the same hots for her that you used to?" Megan asked in a soft voice.

John looked up. "I love my wife, and she's a beautiful woman inside and out. She looked so sexy after our oldest was born, and she got hot again after our second, but this time.... We still make love, but I'm ashamed to say it, its not the same as it used to be." John had just met this woman and for some reason it felt completely natural for him to be telling her his inner thoughts.

"Have you told her how you feel?"

"No, of course not!"

Megan inhaled and thought for a moment before putting her hand on John's shoulder. "What's your wife's name?"

"Marisol."

"Pretty name. You make up some excuse or whatever, and you get her to come here to this gym. I don't care what the reason is. You just make sure Marisol and I get a chance to talk. I'll take care of the rest."

"You'd do that for her... for us?"

Megan nodded. "Yeah, I'd love to. I'm here most every day. Just make sure we meet."

John agreed and walked back to the group happy and amazed. He had never been that open with a stranger in his entire life, but he didn't regret a word he had said.

The group was finishing its workout now. A couple of the guys finished a little early and headed to the showers. Roger lingered at a Smith machine where he, John, and Mike had been doing single leg squats. It was a movement that Roger had never done before, but he was sure feeling the burn in his quads. Roger leaned against the side of the machine and looked at the teenagers who were also finishing up their workout. A couple of those kids were pretty big boys. They looked like football players while the third kid was a lot smaller in size and height.

Roger looked on as one of the guys got in position under a loaded bar for a squat. He did a quick count of the weights, and raised an eyebrow when he finished counting. That kid was about to attempt 585lbs. His partners were psyching him up before he took the weight on his broad shoulders. His legs shook just a little, but he started down with good form then he powered back up. He wasn't satisfied with one rep, so the 18 year old did another one. His friends shouted at him as he struggled to take the one step necessary to rack the bar. His buddies slapped him on the back, but he just leaned against the bar and smiled.

Roger smiled. He could remember his days as a high school football player. He had never gotten close to squatting that much weight, but he had been a pretty fair receiver back in those days. Roger would wish that he had pulled himself from his daydream just a little sooner than he did, because it would have saved him some pain. Instead he didn't see the group of rookie lifters start taking the weights off of the bar hanging on the squat rack. They had taken off 180lbs. by the time Roger even glanced up. He noticed then that the guys had taken four plates off of one side and hadn't balanced by taking plates from the other side. It was an accident waiting to happen.

Roger's partners were finished and started heading to the locker room. Roger was about to go in with them, but he saw the smaller of the three kids go over by the squat rack to start removing the weights because he too saw how dangerous it was to have an unbalanced bar. He had started to pull the weights off from outside the rails, but when he touched the bar it had almost turned over. He pushed it back on and decided to tug the bar a little to center it better so he could get the weights off. He looked for his two friends, but they weren't close. It didn't matter. He would take care of this. He was just happy that those two had let him come workout with them. He stepped between the rails and pulled on the bar, but it didn't budge.

Roger saw that and stood up. He headed over towards the kid. The word "Stop" was on his lips when the teenager took a good grip and really pulled. The entire rack lost balance and started over. The teenager lost balance, too. He tried to use the weight of the bar to help him regain his footing, but instead he pulled it off the rack and towards him.

Roger moved as fast as he could. The kid was falling towards the rail with the rack and the bar not far behind. Roger took two long strides and bent down. He got his shoulders beneath the bar as it fell. He used the falling rack as best he could. He felt the weight press down on his shoulders, his back, his knees, and even his ankles. He pressed up and forward as hard as he could. He pushed the falling bar against the falling rack and slowed both, but he was in an awkward position, with his left shoulder against the upright member of the squat rack and his right hip pressed against the safety rail with the teenager pinned next to him and a heavy bar on his shoulder. The rack was still going down.

"Hey, help!" Megan yelled as she sprinted across the room. She had seen the end of the events. All she knew was that she had to get to Roger. She jumped over and around equipment. She was the first one there. She took in the situation quickly. For a split second her thoughts were chaotic. Roger was in too much pain even to scream, while the teenager screamed at the top of his lungs. Despite the noise and confusion, Megan gathered her thoughts quickly.

She saw that the light side of the bar was still partially in the rack. She hoped it stayed there. She ran under the falling squat rack and put her hands and shoulder under the heavy end of the unbalanced bar. Megan set her teeth on edge and pushed up with all her might. Every single muscle in Megan's incredible body flexed hard. Her thighs swelled and bulged out making her compression shorts work extra. Her abs and her back and her shoulders ballooned with sharp muscle too as the weight stopped falling, but only for a moment.

Sweat poured down Megan's forehead as she pushed up. Her thighs and calves split and tightened as she pushed harder. She knew that she could only hold this for so long, but she never got a chance to panic. The two big teens came over and added their considerable strength to the effort. Mike and John came back into the room quickly enough to help as well. In less than half a minute it was all over.

The trapped teen jumped out of the way and paced to the other side of the room trying to calm his racing heart. Megan put her hands on her knees and gulped in air as quickly as she could. The two big teens were embarrassed that they hadn't stripped their own bar. The two rookies who had started the whole mess were nowhere to be found... and Roger lay on the floor.

"You okay, Sweetie?" Megan asked through deep breaths."

"I think so. I just tweaked my back I think,? Roger replied through gritted teeth.

"What the hell happened?!? Ronnie Steele demanded as he came rushing into the room.

"We have it under control now, Ronnie," Megan began. She stood up straight and put her hand on his massive upper arm to steady herself. "We really could have used you about a minute ago though." She smiled and then went to Roger. She helped him to his feet, but he couldn't force himself to stand up straight.

"You okay, Roger?" Ronnie asked after Mike had explained what had happened.

"Yeah, I think I'll be all right." He was trying to walk it off, but the more he walked the tighter his back became. "I tell you what, if it hurts like this tomorrow, I'll go to the doctor."

It took Roger twenty minutes to convince Ronnie not to call an ambulance. In the end he had hobbled out to the car, and Megan had driven home. During the ride to their apartment his back had tightened even more. He could walk, but it hurt like hell. Megan hated to see Roger in such pain. She was sore and tired too, but seeing Roger struggle so much without com-plaining made her feel all warm inside. She had been supporting him under his shoulder, but he grimaced with every step. He paused they came to the stairs. Megan looked up at the stairs and at Roger, who stood there trying to gather himself. Megan took a deep breath, bent and put her left arm behind Roger's knees, and with a grunt of effort, lifted him off his feet.

"Hey! Megan, what the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like," Megan grunted in reply. She wobbled a little bit then cautiously put her foot on the landing of the first step.

"Oh come on, Megan, there's no need in both of our backs hurting."

Megan took the first step and put her other foot on the landing before she started up the second one. "My back won't be hurting. Just shut up before I drop you on purpose."

Roger made a show of zipping his lips. Megan turned her head and grinned. She had to concentrate because carrying Roger up the stairs wasn't easy, but her confidence grew with every step, so did her soreness.

Roger had been nervous at first, but as they made it to the first landing, he felt pretty safe in Megan's arms. It was then that it dawned on him how cool this was. He outweighed Megan by a good 70 pounds, but she was carrying him in her arms up stairs and then down the hall. He ran his hand down her arm. Every line in her arm was etched because her muscles were all completely rock hard. Her body felt like living steel beneath Roger as she made small adjust-ments to keep her balance. He let his arm drop just so he could feel her thigh as she came up the last step. Her quad muscle was swollen to bursting with iron hard muscle. Megan grunted as she came to the top. It wasn't far now.

"You know this is turning me on?" Roger whispered in Megan's ear.

She chuckled. "You better stop rubbing all over me before I drop you, this time not on purpose. And get your key out."

Roger obeyed. She stopped long enough for him to get his key out and then to open the door. She swung his legs through and carried him to the sofa, where she finally was able to put him down.

"That was the coolest thing ever," Roger said before trying to get comfortable.

Megan was once again bent over, hands on her knees. "I only did that because you hurt yourself helping somebody, and you didn't once complain about it."

"So if I had hurt my back trying to out lift another guy, you would have made me suffer."

Megan tilted her head down and looked up at him through her lashes. "I would have come straight up here and waited with the door locked until you dragged yourself home." She leaned over and kissed him. "But tonight you're my little hero, so I'll be nice to you. I'm going to get some ice."

Megan not only got his ice, but cooked a meal and brought it to him. "You never told me that you cooked!" Roger exclaimed after finishing the meal.

Megan had come back into the living room holding two glasses of wine in one hand and a bottle in the other. She set the bottle on the coffee table, handed one glass to Roger, and settled in next to him. He wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled in close, putting one of her legs between his and running her smooth skin against him.

She looked up at him after pushing some hair back. "Of course I can cook. I'm 'BAOgirl', remember. I just don't like to cook. And don't expect a meal like this every time when I do cook."

Megan spent the next several minutes explaining to him the nutritional information on every-thing she had just prepared. She went on and on, but Roger's eyes had already glazed over. He wasn't listening to her so much as he was observing her. He started to get that feeling again. He tried to get his mind to think of something else, but it was too late. As he sat there looking at her and feeling her body against him, he felt completely vulnerable again. This woman was holding his whole heart in her hands whether she knew it or not. If she ever decided to crush it, Roger knew that he would never recover.

"You're looking at me like that again,? Megan said after taking a sip of her wine.

"L-- like what?"

"Like you were earlier today. What is it?"

Roger sighed. "When I'm with you Megan, I don't know if I'm the luckiest guy in the world or a complete fraud. You're so wonderful, and I'm just me."

Megan pushed some hair from in front of her beautiful face and looked up at Roger with her expressive brown eyes. Roger could look in those eyes and see that joy inside her. "I happen to think you're pretty wonderful too." She leaned forward and kissed him.

Roger grinned and pulled away. "I'm just a Joe Blow."

"Wrong!" Megan began. "You're my Joe Blow, and don't ever forget it." She kissed him again.

"Sometimes, Megan, I feel scared. I know it doesn't make sense and it?s not your fault, but sometimes I feel like at any minute all of this good stuff could get snatched away. The new job, the new paycheck, and... and you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Roger. I'm with you through thick and thin. Remember, I was with you before you made enough money to get those squeaky brakes on your car fixed."

"And the air-conditioner," Roger added.

"Yes, and the air-conditioner. You know come to think about it, the heater in there wasn't all that hot."

"So you're saying I need a new car."

"No, not exactly, you could keep driving that one. There's no law against it now that it doesn't break the noise ordinance every time you apply brakes." Megan looked at Roger and grinned.

"You really don't care about that material stuff do you?"

"Not since I realized that it?s not important."

"Too bad more people don't think like that."

Megan grinned at him. "Wrong again. If everybody thought like that then you and I wouldn't have met because you would have still been with your last girlfriend."

"True," Roger chuckled and drank more wine. "I'm being silly about all of this aren't I?"

Megan nodded. "For some reason, Roger you think that I would be as happy without you as I am with you, and that's just not the case. You're the guy I didn't think existed. You're the guy that lights up my day."

Roger looked at Megan's beautiful features. "You light up everybody's day, and everybody's attracted to you. I mean it?s rare that you meet a person as beautiful as you are inside and out. I'm so lucky to have you. You're like the perfect woman."

She chuckled and had to put her hand to her lips to keep from spitting out wine. "I'm far from that. I'm definitely a work in progress." Roger saw a faraway look in her eyes before she mentally pushed away whatever she was thinking about. "Kind of like my body,? she continued. She held the wine in her left hand while she held up her right arm and curled it slowly. Roger was mesmerized as Megan's bicep started to rise. She didn't quite get her arm all the way up before she grimaced a little.

"Stiff?" Roger asked.

"Yeah," Megan complained.

"Turn around." Roger put his glass down and started working Megan's back and shoulders with slow strong movements of his fingers and hands.

Megan purred. "Why are you waiting until just now show me that you know how to give a proper massage?" Her back bowed and her muscles began to relax. Roger was working his way down towards her lower back and around towards her lats. Her muscles were so tight that he had to work hard.

He chuckled. "Because I have to keep some things held in reserve to stay interesting."

"Well, how did you learn... ooohhh. How did you learn how to do this?"

Roger leaned forward and put his mouth near her ear. "Story for another day. You were saying."

"Hmm, where was I? Oh yeah, work in progress." Megan's voice took on a more serious tone. "You think that you aren't worthy of all this, and you talk about how lucky you are. Did it ever occur to you that I might be the lucky one? Did you ever think that maybe you're not the only person who's been hurt by someone you cared about?"

Roger felt like an empty fool. He had worried so much about his emotions that he had neglected to think about hers. "I didn't know..." Roger stammered.

"How could you know? You only see me now, but you didn't see me when I was trying to put my life back together. You see Roger, I've always been a little different. As a kid I was strange, but it didn't matter. I had all kinds of friends. They would come over on the weekends when I was little and fill our house and our yard. My dad was a truck driver in those days, and he would come home to house so full of kids that he had to work to find me and my brother. I was completely outgoing, and I had no fear of social interaction whatsoever. You needed a kid to stand up in front of church, pick me. If you needed a kid for a demonstration on stage, pick me. I had no fear of what anybody did or said. I just guessed that everybody in the world was like me that they felt this overwhelming joy everyday when they woke up in the morning, ready to take on a new day and meet new people and learn new things." Megan smiled thinking back on it while Roger worked hard at massaging her sore shoulders and traps. It would have been better if he had some oil, but she seemed to be enjoying it.

"Anyway, as I got older all the other kids lost that childlike innocence except for me. It wasn't cute for me to be the way I was. I became the weird kid, so I started observing people. I had to know what made them fit in. I studied every single little thing people did or said, and after a while I figured it out. I didn't know why I had to put on a front in order to fit in, but so be it. By high school I had become Miss BAO: big all over including my brain. I was everybody's nerdy chubby buddy. People came to me for help with everything from schoolwork to girlfriend/ boyfriend problems. Now mind you, I had never had a real boyfriend at that time. I talked to all the cool people in school, but I was BAO so I didn't hang out with them. I hung out with the other outcast kids. Some of them were my fellow nerds, some were the artistic kids, while some were just the kids who sucked at life."

"Suck at life?! Megan, that's mean."

She laughed. "Oh come on, Roger. You know those kids, every school has some. They're kind of funny looking so they can't get by on looks. They aren't athletic, so no sports, and they aren't really smart either. Anyway, I made that group of friends jealous because, even though I was technically one of them, the cool kids would talk to me when we ran into each other at the mall or whatever. It was a strange feeling. It's almost like the cool people wanted me to be with them, but there was something in the way. I didn't figure out that it was my appearance until junior year. Well I didn't figure it out at all; Mrs. Cringle, the new school counselor figured it out for me.

"She's the one who gave me the pamphlet on teen pregnancy because she thought I was pregnant with Matt Cline's baby. He was captain of the football team and stuff. I used to help him with algebra -- and with his girlfriend, Cindy Walsh -- but he didn't want anybody to know that I was helping him with either, so we would sneak off after school. I tried to explain that to Mrs. Cringle, but she wouldn't have any of it. To her way of thinking, the only reason a guy like Matt would sneak off with an unattractive fat girl like me was because I was an easy lay.? Megan had spit the words out of her mouth like they had been laced with venom, but as quickly as the bad feelings came, they went away and Megan's face was once again neutral.

"She made me feel like a... like an I don't know what, but I started working out. After a while the weight started coming off. I was actually scared when I would look in the mirror over the summer between junior and senior year. I had worked out so hard, and I had lost so much weight that I wondered what the people would think. I was BAO to them, and now I wasn't big. I was afraid that the girls would shun me because I was a threat to them now with the boys, and I was afraid that the boys would just make fun of me.

"I was completely wrong. The guys encouraged me. They would say stuff like, 'Hey, Meg, you're lookin pretty hot, but I hope you didn't stairmaster your brain away because I need help with physics.' And the girls took me shopping with them and taught me how to show off my new assets. I got asked out on a date, and I went to prom and everything."

Roger frowned as he worked his fingers into Megan's lower back muscles and her upper glutes. "That didn't sound bad. I thought you hated high school."

"Hated it!? No, I loved it. I mean my screen name is 'BAOgirl' for a reason."

"I thought it was to motivate you to never get like that again or something?"

Megan twisted to face Roger. "No, I don't need any motivation to not get fat again. I made that name because I wanted all my old high school friends to be able to find me. I chat with some of them quite often. Even a couple who sucked at life back in those days." Megan laughed, but it faded. "My problems didn't really start until college."

Megan downed the rest of her wine and filled the glass again. She knew that she was going to need some alcohol to get through this. She wanted Roger to know. She knew deep down that he had to know how much he meant to her and this was the only way. Megan drank some more wine to find some more courage.

"When I got to college, I decided that I wanted to start a new life for myself and leave Miss BAO behind. I wanted to be Miss Popular instead. I figured I knew what cool people did and now that all the guys said that I was hot, I would use what I had learned to be an "It" girl. It worked. I had loads of friends, just like when I had been younger. I tutored and I found a local special needs school and started mentoring there. Everything was great. I mean it was just great when guys would compliment me on my body. It made me work out harder to stay in shape. I wasn't so interested in gaining size then. That came later, but anyway I felt on top of the world. I even had sex for the first time. I had heard so many people talk about it, that I had to know for myself. Most of the girls I talked to in high school hated their first time. I didn't. I loved it. I loved it so much that I went to another guy's room and had sex with him too that same night. If I hadn't had an 8 am class the next day, I probably would have done another guy. After that, I knew that I liked sex and I wasn't going to make any apologies for it. Now I don't want you to think less of me, Roger, but I mean, I didn't learn all of that bedroom stuff we do by being a prude."

Roger looked Megan in the face as he worked his fingers into the tissue of her still tight left calf. "I understand, Baby. As long as you understand that I didn't learn how to do this by practicing on old ladies."

Megan gave Roger that naughty look that made him stir under his shorts. He grinned at her and kept working her tired muscles. She drank some more wine, because she had been stalling in her mind. She was rarely that mentally undisciplined, but this wasn't going to be easy for her. When she continued her voice told the story of her emotions.

"Everything was all good until a coach noticed me one day tutoring another freshman in the library. He asked if I could help tutor in the athletic department. After that I started tutoring only athletes, and by the end of freshman year I was dating athletes; just a couple of bench warmers, but I liked going to games and parties. Then I started dating the star quarterback. That was like a whole new life. I was more than fitting-in now, I was the center of attention.

"The cameras loved me, and I loved them too. I never got tired of people saying how wonderful I was or how beautiful I was. I figured that I deserved all of this. He took me to New York for the first time for the Heisman ceremony. He took me to the NFL draft and to all the parties, but we broke up because I refused to leave school and move to Buffalo, even if he was the 5th overall pick. He was a really good guy, but I didn't feel that connection with him. He was strong physically and he liked me to be strong physically too, but emotionally he wasn't strong enough for me. I could manipulate him too easily and I didn't like that. I wanted a guy who was strong enough to challenge me and to make me even more popular. Negative comments tend to roll off my back, but praise just sticks with me and goes straight to my head. I wanted all the praise I could get.

"Then I met Travis, a couldn't-miss basketball blue chipper. The coaches wanted me to tutor him -- or more like do his work, because Travis didn't give a damn about schoolwork. This was just a pit stop on the way to the NBA and he knew it. Of course we started dating and he took my life to another level.

"He loved the fast life, and everything about it. He seemed to adore me, and we went all around the world. I've been to clubs in New York, LA, Vegas, Miami, even London, Paris, Macao... you name it Travis took me there. If it was a hot spot with hot people, Travis and me were there. The boosters gave him whatever he wanted. If he heard that there was a party in Nice on the weekend, one of the boosters would send a private jet and off we would go. He made the boosters send me expensive gifts because it could only be the best for his girl. He had special outfits made up for me. He made me wear the skimpiest things he could so that he could prove to the other guys that he had the hottest girl at the club. Now that wasn't always the case, but I guess I was close enough that there was at least a healthy debate. But for everything Travis gave me, he took two things away." Megan drank more wine and had to work at keeping her voice even. She failed.

"He had me convinced that I could have anything in the world that was to be had, and even some things that weren't. He was convinced that he had the whole world in his back pocket and that all he had to do was reach in and take whatever he wanted. Of course all of this attention was making my ego the size of an arena. I thought that I was strong enough to keep my sense of self through anything. I was the girl that other people came to for help. I was the strong shoulder that people leaned on, and although it sometimes felt like Travis was using me, I always believed that deep down I could use my intellect to put him in his place if I had to.

"Boy was I wrong. He had done what nobody else had done. My love of everything new, that light you talk about Roger, he pretty much put it out. In so many words he told me why. He told me why he had to crush me and make me the way I needed to be. He made me stop talking to certain friends that I had kept from freshman year. He would explain to me in detail how I couldn't be concerned with nobodies. I had to focus only on the people who could get me ahead. He was so convincing, and I couldn't see though all his bullshit because I wanted to believe it. I didn't want to stop being the center of attention, and he used that against me.

"I gave and gave and gave. He convinced me to stop teaching the special needs children. Even as stuck up as I had become, I still enjoyed doing that; it helped keep me grounded. But he told me one day, 'I can't have a picture of my girl feeding some slobbering retarded kid being shown all over the net.' So instead of doing what I loved, I quit." Megan paused again and wiped her eyes. "I was horrible,? she cried. "If you had met me then, you would have hated me."

"I could never have hated you,? Roger tried to assure her.

"I hated myself. I let notoriety rule me. He even told me how to work out. He told me once, 'I can't have my girl havin? better abs than me. I had my trainer make a workout for you and a diet. I want you in shape, but damn girl you can't make my shit look bad.' So now I didn't even workout for myself anymore. I worked out for him and his people. They told me how lean to be, or how much size I could gain or lose, but I went along with it. I kept telling myself that this is the price of fame, but he told me that I had to make myself less than I wanted to be so I couldn't outshine him. That included my personality. I would be with him when he would give interviews and some reporters asked me questions. They wanted to hear what I had to say because I was more interesting, but he hated that. I had to be the best player's girlfriend in the world, but I couldn't be better than him, ever. I went along with it. I hated every day, but I kept at it because this was the ultimate end to what I had wanted. I had even strained my relation- ship with my family. I had said and done some pretty bad things to some good people just because I could." Megan started to say something else, but she couldn't. She was sobbing openly now, and it would only get worse.

Roger was working on her legs as Megan drank more wine. He wanted to tell her that she didn't have to tell him all of this if she didn't want to, but before he spoke, Megan continued.

"You can't do wrong without it eventually finding its way back to you. I went back home one weekend to try and smooth things with my family. I was walking down the street, and I came across one of the kids that I used to mentor back when I was high school. He was a teenager by then and he had enrolled in a regular high school, which was a big step for him. He was doing great. He called my name, and I tried to ignore him, but he caught up to me. He was so excited. I don't care to recall how I greeted him, but at the end he looked up at me and said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, Miss. I thought you were the nice woman that I used to know named Megan. You look like her a little bit, but I liked her better. I'm sorry to bother you.' He turned and ran back to the other side of the road." Megan wiped her tears with the back of her hand and looked at Roger before lowering her eyes.

"I cried like a baby that night, Roger. I felt sick to my stomach, but it wasn't enough to make me change. That happened a couple of weeks later when Travis came back. He wanted sex hard and serious that night, but after sex he blew me off like I was nothing but some syco-phant. I felt like nothing more than a slut. I went back to my room feeling like a complete joke. It was like my entire world was crumbling and I couldn't make sense of it. I had built this life for myself, but it was all a sham. I had contorted and twisted myself completely to fit his idea and I had given up on all of my own ideas. I didn't even know who the real me was, so I had to blow it all up. I had to find that little light inside of me that I used to have when I was happy." Megan closed her eyes and the tears dropped down her cheeks. She made no attempt to wipe them, so Roger did. Megan put her hand on his as he touched her cheek softly.

"I remember sitting on my bed and laughing after crying all night long. I had cried so much that I don't think I could have made any more tears. I was a complete failure at life. Trying to fit in had ruined me completely, so I had to start all over. I left school for a year, went home, and started teaching the kids again. I knew that I needed something to ground me. I needed something that made my mind work for the good. I got a job at TGI Friday's so I could get used to serving people again, literally. I had to retrain me to love myself and to love life. That's why I'm a work in progress."

Roger nodded solemnly. "But where do I fit in?"

Megan leaned up and kissed him. "I'm getting to that." She paused and wiped her face.

"It's not hard for me to attract people. I mean once I stopped giving a damn about fitting in, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I march to the beat of my own drummer and so be it. I like being happy. I like always thinking that tomorrow is going to be better than today, and I like always trying to find the good in people rather than the faults. I'm weird, I'm opinion-ated, and now I've got enough life under my belt that I can see through almost anybody's bullshit. I'm stronger as a person. I don't need somebody like me because then one of us would be redundant, but I need a strong man. I need a guy strong enough to ground me because I tend to be able to rationalize anything inside my own head. I need someone with a strong sense of themselves, but a good person. I didn't think I was ever going to find that person, and then I happened to send you a message.

"When we chatted, I could tell that you were funny and witty... and sad, but you weren't supposed to be. But, you could make fun of yourself and of your sadness. Then we met in person and I couldn't quite figure you out. I still can't. You can make me laugh because I have no idea what you're going to do next. I can't read you, and I don't want to. You're the guy that I can't live without. And over time, I realized how strong a guy you are. You're the strongest guy I've ever been around. You don't even know it."

"Megan, I hate to say it, but I'm just ordinary."

She gave him one of her special smiles and cupped his cheeks in her palms. "You aren't ordinary, you're exceptionally ordinary which is the missing piece of me. I'm not ordinary at all and it took 22 years of living for me to figure that out. You don't try and bring me down, or belittle me, or change me. You don't get embarrassed when maybe you should, and you don't fuss at me when I don't see things the way you do, and you indulge me when I'm just being odd. You love my hyper-happy, too optimistic, quirky self, and I love you for loving me. You're my rock that keeps me from floating off into failure again. I feel that as long as you stay with me, I can do anything or be anything." Megan's tears started all over again. This time Roger didn't wipe her eyes. He had to tend to his own. She rose up to meet him.

"I guess we're lucky to have each other.? Roger managed.

"Yeah, and don't ever forget it." Megan wrapped her arms around his shoulders and they held each other for a long time. Neither said anything, because they had both said enough that night. They ended up in bed later, but neither had sex on their mind. They just held hands and watched the late news.

"Is that Nate?" Megan asked with surprise after a long period of silence.

"What huh?" Roger was falling asleep after taking a couple of painkillers.

She reached for the remote to raise the volume. "Yeah, isn't that Addison's fianc Nate? I warned her about him."

Roger turned and looked. When he did he saw Nate being lead to a police car in handcuffs. Megan turned up the volume in time to hear the reporter explain that Nate Billingsly was being arrested on federal charges of operating a corporate espionage ring that had hit companies all over the country. Then they showed a list of local companies that had been targeted. Roger saw Cebis Health Care on the list.

"Oh my God," Roger breathed as things fell to place in his head.

"What is it?" Megan asked with concern.

"Addison's firm represented all those local companies on that list. She personally oversaw at least two of those accounts including Cebis Health Care, the company I work for." Roger felt completely unsettled. "Could you hand me the phone?" Roger asked. Megan reached over and handed it to him quickly.

Roger dialed the long distance number from memory. His old boss answered. "Hello, Mr. Howlen, this is Roger Macmillan. You remember that cost statement that went missing way back when? Well I think I know what happened to it."

To be continued? Perhaps...