2.

I opened my eyes and immediately saw Teresa’s smiling face. Her reddish-brown hair fell over her shoulders and upper arms like a blanket.
“Hello handsome,” she said and smiled. Her giant gray eyes seemed to sparkle in the morning light.
I tried to move and realized that my body was far heavier than it should be. I was completely pinned to the floor. It was a strange feeling though; I could feel the hardwood of the floor pressing against my back, it hurt. The weight holding me down was soft, it was like a heavy cloud had settled on me. It weighed a lot, but it was extremely soft and comfortable. I thought about the bronze armor I had seen Teresa wearing last night before I went to sleep. I would definitely feel that pressing against me. I thought. That was when reality finally caught up to me.
“Umm Teresa, why are you on top of me, and what are you wearing?” I asked. I could already feel my body starting to tremble.
“The bed was so lonely and uncomfortable, but you looked so warm and cozy down here on the floor I had to snuggle in with you.” she said.
“Sure, that makes perfect sense, the floor is always more comfortable than the bed.” I said sarcastically. “And my other question?”
Teresa sat up. Her hair fell to the side and revealed her almond-colored flesh. My heart started pounding and my breath caught in my throat.
“Oh god you're naked, and you’re on top of me. Am I dressed?” I asked and looked down to see if I was wearing clothes. The dingy collar of my white night shirt brought me a small bit of relief.
“I am not naked. I have this on.” Teresa said and raised her left arm to show off her silver bracelet.
My eyes reflexively shifted from her wrist to her melon sized breasts. Once I realized I was staring at them I immediately jerked my head upwards and looked at her face. A sly grin spread across her face.
“Oh, what’s that? It feels like at least one part of you likes what it sees,” she said and wiggled her hips a little.
My entire body suddenly felt hot. I panicked and somehow found the strength to toss Teresa off me and stand up. It was the fastest I’d moved in 20 years. She lay on the flat on her stomach frowning at me.
“If you’re going to be staying here Teresa, you need to respect my personal space,” I said while trying not to stare at her firm, round butt.
“Simeon, my love, I not only respect your personal space, I adore it and want to caress it.” she said with a far off look in her eyes.
“That’s not what I mean,” I said and sat on the bed.
“Speaking of personal, I looked at your biography,” she said.
“Violation, continue” I said feeling defeated.
“So, you’ve never been married, or had any children and it looks like the only job you’ve ever had is at that tavern.” She said with her head slightly tilted.
I suddenly felt like I was the person not wearing any clothes. Was there anything about me she didn’t know?
“Okay, so what?” I said, trying to hide how shaken I was.
“That made me wonder what else you were lacking in and so I looked at your levels next, naturally.”
“Violation” I said again and quickly averted my eyes from her butt. That thing was like a magnet for my eyes.
“Your level 60 charisma is by far your highest level. You have almost no strength, speed, or stamina. You’re not a spring chicken so that’s understandable. What shocked me was how low your confidence level is. Normally charisma and confidence work hand in hand, why is yours so low?” She asked.
“I don’t know, I guess being a lowly barkeep with nothing else going on, makes it difficult to feel confident, when you're constantly surrounded by better people than yourself” I said honestly. I didn’t even attempt to look away this time.
“Better people? You can't be talking about those so-called adventurers and heroes” She gagged a little on the word heroes. “None of them is worth even half as much as you. We just need to get you to see that as well.” She said and smiled.
“That's the problem though. I’ve never been a confident person. Even when I was young,” I said.
“Well, that’s where I come in. I have a skill called Contagious confidence. It gives my teammates a times two modifier to the skills they work on in my presence,” she said and stood up.
I dropped my eyes to the floor so fast I got slightly dizzy.
“That can only work if I do something that I feel confident doing. I don’t even feel confident bartending and I’ve been doing that for over 30 years” I said to the floor.
“Oh, that’s the easiest part of this. The right encouragement can make anyone feel confident in what they do.” Teresa said and grunted strangely.
I looked up to see what was wrong and saw her bent over, facing away from me, exercising. I panicked and covered my eyes with my hands. Shocks like this couldn’t be good for my heart.
“So, when do we start working on making you rich and powerful?” she said.
I had almost forgotten about the bag of gold and my desires for more of it. I glanced past her to the pouch of gold sitting on the table by my bed. I wished I knew what to do next with it.
“I don’t know where we should start,” I said.
“Well let’s break it down. The most powerful person in the kingdom is who?” She said and sat next to me.
“The King, obviously,” I said. “Is this the part where you get dressed yet?”
“Correct, the king is the most powerful person, but not the richest. That title belongs to Mr. Ward. He owns everything.” She said and ignored my second question.
“Including the tavern, I work at,” I said.
“So maybe step one should be buying the tavern from him,” she said thoughtfully.
I thought about that for a second. If I bought the tavern, I would have to pay every cost associated with it. I would also collect all the profits from it as well. I could also run it the way I wanted to. There were definitely some changes to the places I would love to make. The thought of the tavern being all mine excited me, until I thought about having to talk to Mr. Ward about it. I suddenly felt deflated.
“That face right there tells me that your confidence has bottomed out again. So that means it’s time to start training,” she said and stood in front of me. My whole head dropped to the floor this time.
“Okay, I can handle a little training. What are we gonna do, light exercise, maybe spar a bit, teach me a few new moves,” I said, getting psyched up again.
“Oh, don’t worry I’m sure you’ll learn plenty of new moves, and get a great workout,” she said and pushed me onto my back.
“I don’t think I know this exercise,” I said as she climbed on top of me.
“I’m sure you’re a fast learner,” she said and kissed me.

Chapter end