Chapter 1
Demon Queen's Notice: The following piece was commissioned by T-GF, whose DeviantArt account can be found HERE. In the near future, 3D art by T-GF will be added. Please enjoy!
Emma’s breath was ragged. Her dark, wavy hair was pulled back in a ponytail that normally ended in an upward flourish. In the heat of the run, however, her hair had lost its volume from sweat and wind. She had a bewildered, wide-eyed expression on her face that quickly hardened into a steely glare when Cody turned to grin back at her. She couldn’t stay serious though andended up breaking into a reluctant smile. Cody was pushing her buttons and trying to tempt her into a proper race.
Cody started to slow as theyapproached a wooden bridge, the paint of which was a faded, chipping red. Internally, Emma thanked God. She really couldn’t keep up that pace much longer; the workload she’d been under lately had taken its toll on her energy. As Cody’s footsteps tapped onto the planks of the bridge, he slowed to a walk, lifting his arms and placing his hands behind his head.
Emma loved this spot. Willows hung over the bridge, which crossed over a small cascade of stones. Water from the pond next to them flowed down beneath the bridge, trickling down the stonesinto a stream a few feet below. It was serene and had a certain magic to it, reminding her of the imagery woven in her favorite fantasy novels. The weeping branches of the willows formed a tunnel over the little stream, almost seeming to invite her to into the depths of the wood. She always rested here when she had the time.
“This is the spot you talked about so much, right?” Cody said, between breaths.
Emma couldn’t help but smile to see him struggling, too.
“Ohhhh! Oh! You’re going to give me that smug smile? Here I am finding your favorite spot and all I get is a gloating smile,” he said, smiling mischievously.
Emma raised her eyebrows, ready to banter, but she knew she was never quite as fast with comebacks as him. She’d let him have this win.
“Smug smile? No,” she said, “I’m smiling because this is my favorite spot. And I’m very thankful to share it with my favorite person, no matter how tired we are.”
“I will say it took some cunning investigation to discover your favorite place. Deduction, of the most Sherlockian variety.”
Now she knew he was teasing her.
“Oh, well in that case I sure am glad I have a big, smart engineer boy in my life…”
“Being an engineer has nothing to do with it. Trust me, if you knew the other guys in my major, you’d never trust a bridge again in your life. I’m good at this stuff because I’m a true romantic, whose heart transcends his mortal career.”
Emma couldn’t stifle her laughter. Cody had this way of spinning these exaggerated responses right off the cuff. She could never keep up with him. She always ended up being the one laughing first. Cody was smiling at her. He held out his arms to her and she acquiesced to him. They stood that way on the bridge for some time, Cody with his arms wrapped around Emma as she leaned against the guardrails. The soundscape was hypnotic, ducks splashed around the shoreline of the lake, there was a gentle buzzing of a nearby beehive, and the water gurgled down into the woods behind them.
Emma sighed deeply. Times like this were a sanctuary from a busy life. Emma loved her life, but there was no denying that advertising was a brutal and taxing industry to work, even if she did excel within. Since college it had been a constant upward surge for her. She’d found the nervousness of her college years washed away by a surprising knack for diplomacy and deal-making. She had a nice home in an upscale neighborhood, and all of this well before her thirties. Work was work though, no matter how passionate, and she would surely collapse if not for regular self-care time with Cody.
She had been with Cody for nearing two years, and they’d easily formed the best relationship of her life. Cody was kind, intelligent, and funny. He wasn’t quite as ambitious as her, having taken a few years off before jumping into an engineering program at the nearby state university, but he made up for it with his charm and work ethic. His grades had helped him pay for school with very little financial challenge. Soon, they’d both be employed in jobs that paid quite well, and all the stressors that drove so many would be gone like dust in the wind.
“Hey, it’s getting a bit late,” Cody said, kissing Emma and pulling her from her thoughts.
“Yeah…”
Emma had to shake herself back awake. She slipped out of Cody’s embrace and jogged in place.
“Yeah, let’s get going,” she said, upbeat and cheerful.
Cody nodded and smiled. He quickly stretched and then the two of them took off to finish the park loop. They arrived at Cody’s car with time to spare; the break had put them in high spirits and encouraged a faster pace. The car ride home was quick, and they each caught a shower before heading back out the door. Cody drove, as he often did on mornings where he needed the car to go to university.
“You meeting up with the guys?” Emma asked as they cruised onto the highway.
“Yeah, we’ve got a few exams coming up, and of course, they’ve been partying the last few nights so I need to whip them all back into shape or we’ll all fail,” Cody responded.
Emma rolled her eyes. Cody’s college friends were overall great, but they had a tendency to lose track of assignments in their rowdiness. They made Cody happy, and kept him busy though, so she couldn’t be too mad at them. She knew that somehow, despite all his charm, Cody had always found it hard to keep involved socially. Socializing seemed to be a learned trait for him, as opposed to an intrinsic one. He was, interestingly, much more skilled at study and personal industry.
“I’ll probably be home late again tonight,” Emma said, sighing, “I’ve got to prepare for my presentation for the partners. I can catch the bus back.”
Cody nodded. He usually liked to pick her up, but it got complicated when she was there late. Traffic in the city was rough these days. Thankfully, the drive in wasn’t shaping up to be too bad and Cody was soon able to grab a parking spot by Emma’s building. Emma kissed him twice, once on the lips, once on the cheek.
“Love you! See you tonight!” Emma said, gathering her bag.
“Love you too. Don’t let the pressure get too high…or I might have to find a creative way to relieve it,” Cody said back to her, putting on a devious grin.
Emma shook her head, smiling, then made her way into the ground floor lobby. It was bustling already. She slipped into an almost-full elevator headed upwards, and was glad to find that the button for the 30thfloor was already lit -- no need to reaching through the awkwardly spaced crowd. She quickly scanned the faces in the elevator, wondering who was on here with her.
Oh great, it’s Coleen.
Coleen had tightly-curled dyed blond hair, foundation a shade too tan for her skin, and heavy eyeshadow. Emma knew her primarily as the office gossip. She was a designer who, unfortunately, worked rather close to Emma’s desk. Her company had recently transitioned to a hip, new open-desk policy which was meant to encourage a feeling of equality, but, Emma suspected, was really designed to increase accountability since no one had screen privacy anymore. Only the partners in the firm had their own offices, and even though Emma was a top seller, she still had some time before she’d make partner.
Since the new policy, Emma had been constantly bombarded with Coleen’s endless gossiping. It was a miracle she ever got anything done. Contrary to prediction, however, Coleen actually seemed to be a rather talented designer. That fact didn’t make her any more enjoyable to work near, though.
Coleen made eye contact and forced a smile, waving in the cattiest style imaginable, with each finger folding down one by one from right to left. Her exaggerated French tips didn’t help make the wave any friendlier. Emma just nodded and forced her own smile. She didn’t hate Coleen by any means, she just didn’t trust her or enjoy her presence. She sighed in relief as the muggy elevator approached the 30thfloor. A welcome ding gave her the smallest boost in mood.
Unfortunately, her relief was quickly sucked away by the appearance of the only other person in the office she considered herself on bad terms with, who was standing outside the elevator door when it opened.
Bruce.
Bruce was a heavyset man in his late 30s who seemed unable to express anything but disgust. He always seemed to be looking down his sizeable nose at others. He had a fondness for jewelry, giving him the appearance of a cheap Liberace wanna-be. Emma had always been baffled by his seeming success in the agency; he didn’t seem capable of being anything but rude and pushy. Additionally, he loved to pass work onto others. It was a common occurrence for him to leave customers waiting near end-of-day, leaving those with a more hearty work ethic running very late. Worst of all, he and Coleen hated one another. They bickered constantly, and publicly.
If there was one good trait in Coleen, it was that she had no fear in confronting Bruce. Unfortunately, it was complicated by one of her other bad traits: her volume. She always talked so loud. This time was no exception. As Bruce tried to get onto the elevator, rudely pushing through those trying to escape from the muggy and awkward space, Coleen called him out.
“Why don’t you wait your turn Bruce! If you had a little patience, it’d make sense to you to let people off before you squeeze on,” she said, rather shrill.
“Why don’t you stick your nose where it actually belongs. I don’t need you to tell me how to live,” Bruce shot back.
The door was closing. Coleen only had enough time to sneer at him before he was, thankfully, gone. Emma tried to rush away, but Coleen was already addressing her.
“God, do you believe that man? He is just so freakin’ gross!”
Emma frowned, nodding. She didn’t disagree, but it wasn’t her style to talk about people in the office, even people she didn’t like at all.
“How that man still works here is beyond me. I bet he’s a freakin’ pervert or something,” Coleen said, making her way over to her desk.
“Sorry about that Coleen, it was pretty rude of him pushing in like that. Have a good day though!”
Coleen’s trademark fake smile distorted her face as she nodded and immediately began chatting to her desk neighbor. Emma settled in at her desk. Despite its lack of privacy, it was a nice little desk. She had a little solar-powered dancing flower trinket one of her nieces had given her and a number of photos of Cody and her taped around her computer monitor. When things got stressful, she always liked to glance over to them to remind herself to push on through for the greater good.
She powered on her computer and got straight to work, answering a flood of sales inquiries before settling in to a focused state on her project. The presentation was proving to be the hardest part. She needed something that would really wow them above and beyond. She needed to make this a presentation that would stick in their memory. Just as she hit a peak of inspiration, a loud voice pierced her mental bubble.
“Are you serious right now Bruce? Why wouldn’t you submit these to me earlier?”
Coleen and Bruce were at it again. Any time they ended up on the same project, it was a disaster like this. Emma turned around, finally giving in to frustration.
“You work fast. I was very busy,” Bruce said, his hairy-knuckled hand gripping a folder of design documents.
“You seem to think you’re the only one around here who is overloaded with work. It takes nothing to send an email requesting design changes. I oughtta just…”
“Hey, you two, look,” Emma interjected, “I know you don’t get along at the moment, but can you please set aside your differences momentarily? Your project is almost over right? So if you just fix this stuff you won’t have to worry about each other much longer.”
Bruce grimaced.
“That will be quite the relief,” he said, his voice gruff and low.
Coleen snatched the documents from his hand.
“I’ll make the changes,” Coleen responded, “But you send me these things a least a WEEK before deadline next time, got it?!”
Bruce laughed, shaking his head before walking away. His arrogance really was astounding. Coleen was muttering to herself going over the documents.
Not even a thank you…
Emma sat down, now totally on edge. She hated this type of confrontation. It always cranked her anxiety up, and the rest of the day came with shoddy focus as a result. Conflict was the opposite of what she needed at the moment.
Emma ended up staying at work three hours after her usual end of day. Even with the extra time, she felt like she got nothing done. Thankfully, the meat of the project was completed and she just needed to put the polish on it. She always felt, though, that the polish was where the best of a project was brought out. With a glance at the clock, Emma sighed and saved her project files before shutting down her computer. The office was almost empty, and she needed food and some cooldown time before the presentation tomorrow.
The bus ride home was uneventful, though she found her thoughts drifting to projections of the worst possible outcomes for her project. When she finally got to her stop, she rushed off the bus and nearly jogged home. Quiet time was important for her; she needed space to organize her thoughts, and that had most certainly not happened today.
She opened the door to her home and immediately smiled. Cody was dozing quietly on the couch in the front room, his hand loosely gripping a gamepad at his side. The television screen was glowing softly red reading “You died…”
Oh my god! Did he fall asleep while playing?
Emma couldn’t stifle a giggle. Her soft laughter seemed to be enough to wake Cody, who groaned as he realized what had happened. His hair was mussed up in a way that was surprisingly attractive to her.
“Hey hun, I must have dozed off…” Cody said, his voice deep and gravelly from sleep.
“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed,” Emma said, laughing, “I think you died.”
He laughed out loud.
“Oooooops. Damn!”
Cody sat up, smiling and rubbing his eyes.
“Alright, I’ll get dinner started. You go ahead and take my place here on the couch.”
Emma smiled as her boyfriend got up. His spot on the couch was cozy and felt safe. She settled in, flipping the TV from the game input to a movie streaming service she liked. Her favorite show had just started a new season, and there were a few episodes she had to catch up on. It was a supernatural romance show, a little cheesy, but sweet and endearing. She could hear Cody clanging around in the kitchen prepping their meal.
As the episode of her show ended, she heard Cody getting silverware, and she got up to go to the dining room. Cody had made fettuccini alfredo, one of her favorite dishes. The scent and flavor was just perfect.
After dinner, they cleaned up the kitchen together and headed upstairs. Cody drew a bath for her without her even having to mention it. He even added a scented bath bomb. Unexpectedly, he began to strip down alongside her. His skin was smooth and his muscles flexed beautifully as he removed his clothing. He wasn’t a bodybuilder, but he was most certainly fit, having a natural six-pack and just enough body hair to be masculine without it being overwhelming. His chest was dark and a line of hair ran down his stomach towards his cock, which was large even when soft. His pubic hair was groomed carefully.
“Oh! So we’re having a together-bath, huh?” She said, pleasantly surprised.
He nodded and stepped into the water. Their house was equipped with an extra-large tub, which made duo bathing easy and comfortable.
“It wouldn’t be right to have you going into your presentation tomorrow without all unnecessary tensions relieved…”
As she stepped in, he slid his hands up her legs slowly, massaging her legs in a long, careful motion. He guided her into the water, bringing his lips to her thighs and kissing her ever so softly. Arousal flooded her body. He teased her, kissing everywhere but her most sensitive spots. Sinking into the warmth was calming like nothing else.
She couldn’t help but sigh as Cody brought his body over hers, kissing her neck and face. The swirl of sensations was incredible. Before long, she felt his cock harden, brushing her thighs and her belly as he kissed her lips.
Cody was always slow and gentle. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the buildup and the foreplay before sex. It was something she loved about him, something that made him stand out far above all other men she had ever dated.
When he finally made the move to enter her, she was wholly relaxed and entirely ready. His cock slid inside perfectly, stretching her out just enough to hit the maximum of pleasure before pushing inwards towards her g-spot. His hand slid down between them, gently teasing at her clit, ramping the arousal and pleasure higher. The heat of the tub was giving her a head-rush that only seemed to make sex even better. He was thrusting into her rhythmically, running circles around her clit with his fingers.
Emma moaned, and as she did so his lips met hers and he increased his pace. Gradually growing faster and harder he pushed into her. She could feel climax rushing towards her. Before long, she was moaning out involuntarily, her voice telegraphing the incredible pleasure that radiated out from her womanhood.
Wave after wave of pleasure spread outwards as Cody artfully slowed his pace, teasing out every second of pleasure her body could muster. She sighed when he finally slid out of her, that motion alone bringing its own form of pleasure.
“What about you…” she started to say, hazy in her afterglow.
“Tonight is all about you, babe,” Cody said gently, kissing her on the forehead.
He changed positions in the tub, motioning for her to turn, and began to massage her back and neck. No matter the difficulties of the day, Cody’s care of her succeeded in bringing her calm. When Emma and Cody left the tub, they both drifted peacefully into an easy sleep.
