Mercy

Things had definitely been strange since the incident with Stacy two days ago. Nikki hadn't spoken to or seen Leland since she ran out of the office. She had been holed up in her house, hiding from the world, drowning her sorrows in ice cream.

"You're gonna make yourself sick." Duane Lee says, taking the ice cream away from her and sitting it down on the nightstand. Nikki gives him the evil eye, and takes it back from him.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone." she says pouting, thinking back to the conversation they had when he brought her home. He hadn't left her side since then.

"Since when have I ever listened to what you have to say?" he says laughing and taking the half empty carton away from her again. "Don't you think you should get out of the bed...take a shower..." he says pushing her toward the edge of the bed that they'd been occupying for the better part of the day.

"You're more than welcome to do whatever you want." she says looking over her shoulder at him as he pushes her closer to the edge. "Its your fault that I'm eating ice cream... you brought it to me." she says laughing as he tickles her sides, trying to get her to move. When she doesn't, he gets out of bed, pulling her up by the hands. "Lets take a shower." he says nuzzling his head in the crook of her neck. "Please." he begs, kissing that sensitive spot just behind her ear.

"I'm not in the mood to be sweet talked." she says trying to keep a straight face as he runs his hands up her side. "Who said anything about talking?" he asks, pulling her nightgown over her head. Her nipples hardening as the cool breeze coming from the fan hits them. She instantly covers them with her hands. "Come on, I'll warm you up." he says pulling her by the hand, into the bathroom.

"You could fit four people in this shower ..." Duane Lee says, turning the water on. "Why is your shower this big, are you having orgies or something in here?" he says, giving her that smirk he'd perfected.

"You caught me!" she says with a giggle. As she stood there, Nikki didn't know when she'd become so comfortable just walking around naked, especially with man she really didn't know a whole lot about, other than he liked to have sex with her. At this point in her life, that worked for her. No commitment, no heartache, she thought to herself as she watched him take his clothes off. She smiled as he winked at her, holding out his hand for her to take.

"You're pretty." she says giggling as he closes the shower door. He chuckles and says, "Not as pretty as you."

Nikki started to feel better as the warm water flowed over her body. "Thanks for making me get out of the bed." she says turning to face him, he gave her a genuine smile and picked up the body wash, squirting some onto a wash cloth.

"Turn around." he says to Nikki. She obeys and he begins to wash her body, forgoing the wash cloth for his hands as he lathers her chest, massaging her breasts. She braces herself on the shower wall, moaning as he cleans her body. "You have the best hands..." she says, closing her eyes.

"Do you plan on getting married?" he asks out of the blue, turning her around to face him. Nikki makes a face then, "Yeah... Why?" she asks slowly.

"I don't know... I was just thinking that I'm getting older, and I still want to have kids." he says, leaning her head under the running water. "Do you plan on having kids?"

"Uh huh..." she says, as he washes her hair, unsure of where this conversation was going. "I'm thirty six and you're what twenty five?" he says, massaging her scalp. "That's only an eleven year difference... not all that bad."

"Yeah.... just say what ever it is you want to say." she finally tells him.

He clears his throat. "I just thought that if in a few years you don't get married, we should get married. I mean, we obviously get along...we have great sex. What more do you really need?" he says, blue eyes staring down at her.

Nikki didn't know how to feel about the unusual proposal he had offered up. Of course she wanted to get married one day and have children, but at twenty five, she hadn't really given it too much thought. Maybe it was time to start thinking about it.

"What about love?" she asks, holding onto his waist as she looked up at him. He shrugs, "Ive been burned so many times that I don't think love has much to do with it anymore, you know?" he tells her, as he wipes some soap from her forehead.

"Ive never been in love, so I cant really say."

"Never, not even once?" he asks, surprised, sitting down on the tiled seat of the shower.

"I thought I was in high school, but then I realized he was just using me. He was only worried about what I could give him, either sexually or monetarily. I told him that I loved him once...and he laughed." Nikki says sadly, turning the shower off. She hands him a towel and dries herself off, stepping out of the shower.

"I'm sorry." he says sincerely, stepping out of the shower behind her. "Thanks." she says with a small smile. "So...maybe you're right, maybe love doesn't have much to do with it.... You've got a deal. If we're not married or with someone in the next...three years, I'll marry you." she says holding out her hand for him to shake.

He smiles, shaking her hand. "The possible, future Mrs. Chapman." he says kissing her softly.

"So is this going to be a marriage of convenience?" she asks, sliding a pair of panties on, then her jeans. In a small way it excited her that he had sorta/kinda asked her to marry him. Even if she had been the one to put the conditions on it.

"What do you mean?" he says, handing her a shirt to wear.

"Like my parents." She says, hoping he might understand. When he looks even more confused, she laughs, sitting down on the bed next to him. "My parents aren't married because they love each other. My parents are married because it looked good. And because they could each get something out of the other person. My dad, for example wanted arm candy to show off to his business partners and people like that."

"Wow." Duane Lee says, laughing.

It was a sad, but true fact that Nikki's father had only married her mother for looks. "Yeah I overheard my mother telling one of her friends that on the phone one day... So then you have my mother, who of course in classic fashion only married my father for money. Then I came along and she started sleeping with his best friend. That's been going on about... twenty four years." Nikki says thinking back to what she'd overheard one of the maids saying one day about her mother not even waiting until her daughter was old enough to walk before she started sleeping around.

"That's f**ked up babe." he says, following Nikki out of her bedroom and down the stairs. She slides on a pair of flip flops and starts to dig through her purse.

"That's Mommy and Daddy for you." She says, pulling her cell phone out of her purse. "I better try to call Leland." she says, changing the subject. "Or should I wait? What should I do?" she says, looking up at him, for answers.

Duane Lee glances down at his watch. "He's probably at the gym, better wait another hour to call." he tells her.

"Let me ask you something." Nikki, says sitting down in a barstool. "If you're willing to marry me three years from now, why not ask me out now and do it the right way."

"Because you love my brother." he says, without hesitation. "I see the way you look at him. The way you react when he touches you, is different than when I touch you." he says looking away.

"I don't think I love him in that way. He's my friend." she says biting her lip. Of course she loved him, she just couldn't believe Duane had figured that out. She had tried so hard to never let onto her feelings for Leland...most of the time she wouldn't even allow herself to think about it.

"Yeah, so you say..." he says.