Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last

A few weeks have passed since the night Nicole blew off Eric, hoping to get the drop on Dorian. During that time Nicole was able to lie, and convince Eric that Dorian was merely checking up on her. Deep down inside Eric knew that was not the truth. But he wanted to believe that Nicole was not capable of such a treacherous act, so he just took her word for it, and left it at that.

At this point Nicole played it safe at work. She was no longer overly affectionate towards Eric. Since she knew this would draw suspicion. She also finally came to the conclusion that Eric was just too nice for her, and she met her match with Dorian. Deep down inside that is what she wanted. Someone who could beat her at her own game. She saw Eric as a dependable safety net, someone who would be there to catch her when she fell. Nicole knew that one day that some girl was going to come along and take Eric away, but until then she was going to milk the friendship for all it was worth.

"What the fuck does he want with me." Eric whispered under his breath, as he made his way to Dorian's office. As he opened the door, he saw the back of a woman's head sitting in one of the chairs.

"Oh Eric it is so nice of you to join us." Dorian said in a slightly condescending manner. "Let me introduce you to Tara Davenport. She will be over seeing the new operating system, we're installing."

By then the woman stood up, and not since Nicole has Eric been stricken by a woman. Tara was a little under six feet, with long burgundy colored hair, green eyes, and skin lightly kissed by the sun. Though it looked like she weighed more than Nicole, it did not take a genius to figure out that the only place Tara had fat was in her chest, which complemented the rest of her frame.

Tara stood up and extended her hand, which Eric took, expecting a dainty handshake. But he was caught by surprise when Tara gripped his hand firmly, and made sure her eyes met his.

"Looks like we will be roommates." She said while squeezing Eric's hand.

"Roommates?" Eric asked, waiting for further explanation.

"Ah yes." Dorian chimed in. "You have the biggest office space and you're so easy to get along with, we figured Tara would be the best fit in your office."

"Hopefully I won't be in your way too much." Tara said, as she continued to focus her attention on Eric.

"Oh um not at all." Eric stammered, trying to break away from Tara's eerie gaze.

"Well if you would excuse us Eric, we have a few more things to catch up on." Dorian said, as if he wanted Eric gone.

"Oh ok." Eric said, thankful to have any excuse to leave. "Oh before I forget, when does this move take place?"

"Sometime next week. So feel free to stay after work a few days this week, in order to get things ready." Dorian said, as he smiled at Tara. Hoping she would be impressed with the way he flexed his authoritative muscle.

"Sounds good. It will give me a chance to rearrange things." Eric said. "Well I better get going, Tara it was nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Tara said. Trying to prevent a smile from crossing her lips, while admiring Eric's well built stature.

What Dorian did not know, and Eric would soon find out, is that Tara was quite the alpha female. While Dorian's charm would work on most women. It was a complete turn off for Tara. She liked the quieter guys like Eric. The fact that he was black added to her excitement. Since most black guys she met came off as chauvinistic. It was refreshing to see that all black guys were not like that.

"Ohh he has no idea what he is in for. I am going to have fun with this little arrangement." Tara said to herself, as Eric left the office.

Eric made his way back to his office, not sure if he should feel upset about having to share his space, or happy that his new office mate was so attractive. But it was something about the way she looked at him that rattled Eric a little bit. "Why was she staring at me like that?" He wondered. "Who knows maybe I am just reading into something that is not there."

Next week had come in the blink of an eye. As Tara had offically moved in. The first few days Eric and Tara only exchanged small talk. Which was fine with Eric. Since he was still in a recovery period from Nicole. But this was not going how Tara had planned. She figured she would have had greater success by now.

On the third day Dorian stopped by to check on things. "So I take it you two haven't killed each other yet?"

"Nope, not yet." They both said simultaneously.

"Oh ok. Well don't let me keep you. I was just checking in. Let me know if you need anything." Dorian said as he left the office.

"What a douche." Tara said as Dorian left. "I know his type. Swears up and down he can have anything or anyone he wants."

"You don't know the half of it." Eric chuckled.

"Oh really." Tara perked up. "Do tell."

Since it was still a sore subject for Eric he immediately shut down. "Never mind, forget I said anything."

"Damn it." Tara thought to herself. "Just when he was about to open up. I am sure I can get it out of someone though. But all in due time." She told herself.

Since Tara was in charge of making sure the new operating system was running smoothly, she used this as an opportunity to get to know people, and more importantly find out how to solve the mystery known as Eric. It took some time, but soon she got all the information she needed. Now all she had to do was wait on the right time to make her move.

Ever since Tara moved into the office with Eric, he has managed to create some distance between Nicole and himself. While it was just mainly sex between her and Dorian, Nicole still wanted to be the one that was the center of Eric's world, since she was not getting any emotional fulfillment from Dorian. Even though they did not talk much, she felt she could have Eric do anything she wanted, if the timing was right. So feeling threatened by Tara, and with Eric acting distant, Nicole decided to make a move, to gauge where her and Eric's friendship stood.

Eric's phone buzzed. "If you are not busy then we should do lunch. It will be my treat."

Eric cocked an eyebrow as he read the message. Not sensing any sort of catch, "yeah sure," he replied.

Before the message was sent off good, Nicole was in his office hoping Tara was there so so could show off her power over Eric. But much to her dismay Tara was nowhere to be seen. So Nicole had to hide her disappointment, and carry on with the facade.

Lunch consisted of small talk and light hearted banter. All major topics were avoided. The more Eric sat there with Nicole the less he became attracted to her. When they first met she seemed so witty, outgoing, and just a joy to be around. But due to recent events, and the fact that Tara was around. He started seeing things differently.

"Thanks for lunch." Eric said, using a formal tone.

"You are welcome. No need to get prim and proper on me now." Nicole almost said more, but thought it wise to keep her mouth shut, since she was skating on thin ice.

"You are being silly. There is no harm in thanking a friend for lunch. It is the nice thing to do." Eric said, putting an emphasis on nice. "Anyway work calls. So I'll catch ya later."

"Ok bye." Nicole said as Eric walked away. "That bitch must really have a hold on him." Nicole muttered quietly. "Either that or he is growing a pair, and I don't see that happening anytime soon." Nicole laughed to herself, as she made her way back to the medicine room.

"Ok so where is mine?" A voice said, as Eric entered his office.

"Oh I thought you were um going elsewhere for lunch." Eric said apprehensively. Not knowing if Tara was joking or not.

"Oh lighten up Eric I was only teasing. But next time you go be sure to invite me." Tara said in a half joking, half serious manner.

"Only if I..ahh never mind." Eric's voice trailed off, still refusing to discuss Nicole with anyone.

"One day you are going to start talking in full sentences, even if I have to come over there and pry open that mouth of yours."

"I would like to see you try." Eric said slowly letting his defenses down around Tara.

Seeing an opening, Tara went for it. "Oh I am sure you would like that wouldn't you."

"Like I said come and try." Eric said, knowing his bark was worse than his bite.

It took every ounce of willpower that Tara possessed not to hop in Eric's lap and show him who was in charge. "All in due time." She reminded herself. "Ok you called my bluff. I am quite harmless. I just like to talk a big game." Tara relented.

"Whatever you say Tara." Eric shook his head, and went back to work.

As the weeks went on Tara was finally gaining some ground with Eric. He told her about what made him move to Nashville, and how someone, he didn't name names, but Tara knew who he was speaking of, broke his heart and he still had a small soft spot for this person. Listening to Eric talk made Tara want to hug him, and hit him at the same time. "Poor guy." She thought to herself, "Nobody deserves to be treated like that. Especially a good looking guy like Eric."

Despite the fact that Eric's meekness sent her hormones into overdrive, there was something that Tara genuinely liked about him. Maybe it was the fact that he treated her like a human, instead of a piece of meat, or maybe it was their shared taste in eclectic music. Who could say for sure but one thing is for certain Tara was definitely getting antsy around him.

"Ahh man. Stupid phone." Eric grumbled, as he tinkered with his phone.

"What's the matter?" Tara said, Looking up from her computer screen.

"Oh nothing. Just my stupid phone is acting up is all."

"Here let me see it." Tara said extending her hand.

"Umm ok but are you sure? I don't want you to stop doing what you are doing on my account."

"Give me that phone." Tara said in a playful manner.

"Never mind the porn. Just something I watch in my spare time." Eric joked.

"Ahh why watch that stuff. The real thing is always better." Tara said, while tinkering with the phone.

"So I have heard. But I've only done it one time, and it was not that great. So I would not know anything about that." Eric said coyly.

"You are such a liar." Tara shot back. "There is no way I am going to believe that someone as attractive as you are don't have a collection of panties in your drawer."

"Umm first of all yuck, used panties are unsanitary, and second of all I am not some womanizer like some people. Although women seem to like the womanizing sort."

"Not me." Tara protested. "I like the quiet shy type." She said, as she handed Eric back his phone. "The screen just froze. But it should be fine now."

"Says every woman in history." Eric said under his breath, as he took the phone. "Anyway I need to go run a few errands. Thanks for fixing my phone. I owe ya one."

"No problem. We can discuss payment another time." Tara shouted out, as Eric was already halfway out the door.

That next day Tara came in the office still feeling sore from her workout. "Man I must have overdone it." She told herself, as she sat down and started working.

Eric came in shortly afterwards, and noticed that Tara was wincing as she typed. Finally determined to make some sort of move, Eric made his way towards Tara, and stood behind her.

"What do you think you are doing?" Tara said curiously.

"Oh nothing. Just repaying you back for helping me out with my phone." Eric said as he began to rub Tara's shoulders. Working his fingers at the base of her neck, then moving to her shoulder blades.

"Oh you don..." was all Tara could manage to say before a soft moan of pleasure escape her lips, and her eyes started to roll.

"What were you about to say." Eric said, as he stopped momentarily.

"Oh..um...I...uh..nothing." Tara mumbled, feeling flustered that Eric stopped rubbing her shoulders.

"If you want me to stop I can." Eric said. "I can just go back to working on my spreadsheet."

"Don't you dare." Tara said, with a slight hint of forcefulness in her voice. "Don't you know it is not nice to offer a massage then not finish."

"But I."

"But nothing. Finish what you started or else." Tara said, with an evil smirk on her face.

"Ok you don't have to twist my arm." Eric said feigning dejection.

"Oh I was going to twist more than your arm, if you left me hanging."

"Such a violent woman. A few weeks ago you wanted to pry my mouth open, now you want to twist body parts." Eric said as he went back to rubbing Tara's shoulders.

"Ohh shut up. You know you like it." Tara said before closing her eyes and softly moaning with pleasure.

While they were in their own world. Eric's phone went off without either one of them hearing it, and after a few more minutes passed, Nicole made her way into the office, and felt her jaw almost drop, seeing Eric rub Tara's shoulders.

"Ahem." Nicole said, clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Oh hey Nicole." Eric said not breaking his attention from Tara's shoulders. "Is there something you needed?"

"Yeah I sent you a text asking for the weekly client incident report. I guess you didn't get it." Nicole said, restraining her anger.

"Oh I am sorry I'll get that to you shortly." Eric said, as he felt Tara's shoulders tense up.

"Yeah whatever, take your time. Since it looks like you are already busy." Nicole said, as she left the office almost slamming the door behind her.

By this point Tara was livid. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her fingers around Nicole's neck and squeeze the life out of her. But she stayed calm. "Guess you better get that report finished, before someone has a meltdown." Tara said, as Eric rubbed the tension from her shoulders.

"Ahh she will be just fine. Those reports are not due for another day or so."

Tara kind of smiled to herself as he heard Eric speak about Nicole in a dismissive manner. "Maybe he is truly getting over her. Well it's about damn time."

As Nicole left Eric's office she was still fuming mad when she ran into Derrick. "You need to talk to your friend about appropriate workplace interaction."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Derrick asked, with a confused look on his face.

"Just tell your friend what I said, he will know what I am talking about." Nicole said as she stormed towards Dorian's office.

"Ok." Derrick said, shaking his head.

Nicole made her way into Dorian's office, relieved that no one else was in there. "How much time until your next meeting?" Nicole asked.

"Not for another thirty minutes. What's going on?"

Without saying a word Nicole locked the door, and made her way over to Dorian, getting down on her knees and undoing his pants. She then used her nimble fingers to stroke his cock alive, before deep throating all nine inches in one breath, using her tongue to lick the underside of his manhood, while her lips massaged his member. All Dorian could do was lay back, and let grunts of pleasure escape his lips. Determined to make Dorian cum quickly. Nicole started nursing his balls, while her hand worked his cock over, and before he could cum she sealed her mouth over the head of his cock, and swallowed as much of his seed as she could. Afterwards, she stood up and grabbed a napkin to clean her hands, and wipe off her mouth.

Even Dorian was stunned by this action. "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He said weakly.

"I just felt like doing it is all. Is that a problem?" Nicole said, as she made her way into Dorian's personal bathroom, to freshen up.

"No problems here." Dorian said. "I was just curious is all."

"Let's just say that was a warm up for what's to come tonight." Nicole said, while cleaning up. Then she left, before Dorian said anything else.

Later on that day Derrick bumped into Eric. "Dude I don't know what you did to make Nicole mad, but she was pissed."

"Oh really? Are you serious." Eric said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"So what the hell did you do?" Derrick inquired.

"Only thing I did was give Tara a shoulder rub, and Nicole just so happen to walk in on us." Eric said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Gotcha. So have you sealed the deal on that yet, or are you going to fuck it up like you did with Nicole?"

"I'm working on it. I just don't want to rush things." Eric said in a slightly defensive manner.

"That is your problem man, you wait too long to do something. Plus you know nothing would make me happier than to see Nicole's face when she finds out you and Tara hooked up"

"Yeah you are right I need to quit lollygagging. I am sure opportunity will come knocking soon." Eric said, before making his way to the break room.

That chance would come the next day, when Tara decided to take things upon herself to move things forward.

"So any plans for the evening?" Tara asked casually.

"Unfortunately I have to go to one of the group homes to do some training. But other than that I got nothing. Why what's up?" Eric asked, hoping it was not some sort of impossible favor.

"Oh well I was just wondering if you could squeeze some time in and go to the gym with me? I promise not to get you too sweaty and dirty." Tara said, as her lips formed a mischievous grin.

"Getting sweaty and dirty is part of the fun." Eric blurted out, as his hormones started to take over.

"You know to be mister virgin, you sure have a dirty mind." Tara said, as her grin got a little bigger.

"See, I never said I was a virgin. I said I don't have a panty collection of all my conquest like other people I know, and I only did it once."

"Oh yeah you did say that. It was Dorian that had the panty collection." Tara said jokingly.

Eric did not find it funny at all, and almost immediately shut down, and made no secret about it either. "Yeah I guess." Eric said with a feeling of dread starting to wash over him.

"Damn it." Tara cursed herself. "I went too far. Time to do some damage control." She said to herself. "I'm sorry that was a bad joke, I really didn't mean that as a compliment towards Dorian. Would you please come to the gym with me?" Tara pleaded.

Knowing he had to get past this whole Dorian and Nicole thing sooner or later Eric agreed. "Sure. Why not. A good workout would be just the thing I need before going back into work tonight."

"Ok good." Tara said relieved that she did not muck things up. "I won't be back in the office for the rest of the day. I have some programs to install. But I will see you at the gym around five."

"Yeah five works for me."

The rest of the day went by at a moderate pace, which caused Eric to be relieved, and nervous at the same time. He was happy the day was almost over, but nervous about hanging out with Tara outside of work. Shortly after five Eric made his way inside the gym. Tara had already beat him there, because he spied her doing the wall climb. Even though she dressed modestly for work Eric could tell she had a body on her. Until now he had no idea how much she was hiding. He peered up and saw her ass form a perfect tight bubble, and he was transfixed on the way her calf muscles popped, as she made her way up the wall.

As she finished, Eric stood at the bottom of the stairs, and waited on her. It took no time for her to spot Eric, since he was one of the tallest people in the gym.

"Well I'm glad you finally decided to show up mister." Tara said, as she playfully slapped Eric on the shoulder.

"You did say around five. So how is it my fault you decided to show up early." Eric said.

"You are right I suppose." Tara admitted. "So are you just going to stand there and look cute, or shall we get down to buisness?"

"Wait isn't it the guy that usually takes charge and says that?"

"Yeah but there isn't a law that says a woman can't take charge sometime." Tara said as she gave Eric a wink. "Now come on. Time to get physical." Tara slapped Eric on the butt, as they made their way to the cardio machines.