This made Maria snort. “Slept with? I have no idea how many women Daniel Stone has fucked, though I know it is many, many more than five! No. This is not just sex, these were the five who he made a contract with.” Placing her fork down beside her plate, she began to count them off on the fingers of one hand. Watching her, Kris sipped her wine again in horrified fascination.
“There was an American woman, in her forties. The oldest of the lot, though age doesn’t matter. It is more a question of... personality, as well as impeccable looks and breeding of course. Some women are more beautiful in their sixties than most of the young trollops you see in the street. She worked in corporate banking, and her gift was an emerald bracelet. The second was Haitian, though I think he met her in Miami, another lawyer, though not as gifted as I. She was very beautiful, stunning in fact. She did not last long, though. Three months, but she received a very rare necklace of pearl. The third and fourth were Europeans, Slovenian and a Serb, if I remember correctly. The Slovenian... I think she may have been a teacher of some kind, in a university. Hers was a necklace of garnets, wonderful to see. For the Serb, I can’t remember what she did. I can’t remember if she did anything, but she was very pleased with her gift of fire opals. And the fifth... the fifth was a Japanese woman. That was more successful, I think. Certainly it lasted longer than most of them. Another high flier in finance, and her gift was a very old amethyst and silver pendant, quite a prize.” Maria’s face looked a little bitter as she spoke. “But I am very fond of my ruby.”
“And... how long did... did Daniel remain with these women?” Kris was not sure she wanted to know the answer.
Maria did not answer immediately, but instead looked across the room and applauded as another song ended. Without looking Kris in the eye, she said: “Trying to work out your shelf life? None of them was as long as me. I think two years... two years is too intense for that kind of relationship. What you have to do... it will leave you nothing left if it goes on too long.” She turned her green eyes back towards Kris, fixing them on the younger woman’s face. “My advice is this: take what you can and get out before it consumes you as well.”
Chapter Ten
They spoke for nearly an hour in the restaurant, consuming another bottle of wine between them. As their conversation continued, Maria’s mask appeared to soften and Kris felt a secret sense of exultation inside her. Whatever had happened between this French lawyer and Daniel, it was not the same as now.
When they went outside, Kris’s head was spinning slightly. She stumbled on the pavement but the alcohol had deadened any pains in her legs. Nonetheless, she grabbed hold of the other woman’s arm to support herself and Maria stood patiently beside her. She had a long, dark coat on which covered her naked arms and bare shoulders but also emphasised the sleek and trim flow of her waist and hips. Despite her feelings of triumph, Kris had to admit that Maria was very beautiful. She could well understand how such a woman—confident, slender, tall, successful, stunning in appearance—would be the kind of woman that Daniel Stone would desire. Daniel Stone, yes, but what of Daniel Logan?
“Come,” said Maria very softly, almost whispering in her ear. “You can’t walk like this. Let’s go to the hotel and call Jorge to take you home.”
“It’s okay,” Kris replied, waving her hand and leaning back too far. Rectifying her balance, she fumbled against Maria and felt the warm fabric of her coat, smelled her expensive perfume which, for a second, made her even more drunk. “It’s okay, really. Just a little fresh air. I can get a taxi... a taxi on the main road.”
“Perhaps,” Maria replied. “Though they don’t appear to be as regular at this time of night. If we don’t see one, I’ll get Jorge to pick you up from the hotel.”
“It’s too late for him,” Kris told her a little irritably. “We shouldn’t disturb him.”
Ignoring her irritation, Maria raised a hand very gently to Kris’s face. “Haven’t you learned anything yet? Whatever Daniel wants, he gets. For you, he will want you protected every hour of the day. If we can’t get a taxi, Jorge will be ready to collect you. Believe me.”
As she guided Kris down the hill, the younger woman unsteady in her high heels, Kris could feel the lingering trace from her hand, a touch that prickled her skin in a way that made her feel slightly uneasy. I shouldn’t have drunk so much, she thought to herself.
Beside her Maria was humming one of the Fado songs that they had heard in the restaurant.
“Primavera,” Kris said to her.
“What?” Maria looked at her for a second as though she was a mad woman.
“The song. Primavera. All the love that had tied us... was... was as if it was of wax,” she translated. “And I was condemned... I was condemned to live with my crying, and to live... to live without you.”
The smile that Maria gave her was the saddest she had seen all evening. “How appropriate,” she replied at last. “Le succube verdâtre et le rose lutin, t’ont-ils verse la peur et l’amour de lueurs urnes?”.
“I don’t understand,” Kris told her, resting on Maria’s arm to support herself. “But it sounds beautiful.”
“Green succubus and rosy imp, have they poured both fear and love into one glass?” Maria’s voice, Kris realised, was itself so musical when she spoke. “Baudelaire.”
“I love Baudelaire,” Kris replied. Forgetting herself, for a moment her head rested on Maria’s shoulder as they walked and she clutched the other woman’s arm, drunk and happy. “I love poetry, and music.”
“And art?”
“Of course! I would die for my art.”
Maria gave a low laugh at this. “No need for that, surely. You must show me your paintings one day. Has Daniel seen them?”
This brought Kris back to earth and she jerked up her head and loosened her grip from Maria’s arm. “Not yet.”
“Why?”
“They’re... they’re not ready. Not yet. They’re not good enough. I lack... I lack the discipline to make them good enough.”
“Discipline,” murmured Maria very quietly. “Oh, Daniel will give you that, I’m sure.”
No taxis passed them on the way, and within a few minutes they were standing in front of a tall, luxurious building with expensive boutiques and residential blocks on either side. Before them was a narrow lane with a tree lined avenue before the main dual carriageway that carried traffic down the Liberdade. Plenty of cars were travelling back and forth, but no taxis appeared to be waiting before the hotel.
“Come on, let me phone Jorge,” Maria told her, holding Kris by the elbow as she reached into her bag for her phone. As Kris was made to rest on her own two feet, the pain in her ankle suddenly made her wince.
“Is everything alright?”
“My damn leg, that’s all.”
Maria let her phone drop back into her bag and gently but firmly took her arm, leading her into the hotel lobby. “Come,” she commanded. “Come inside for a moment. You should rest.” Something about her tone would not brook disobedience, and in any case Kris was too tired and drunk to resist.
The hotel lobby was spacious and rich, with deep ochre painted walls between flat pillars of dark brown marble. At the desk, a delectable youth was manning reception and smiled at the two of them as they went by. “How was your evening, Madame Gosselin?” he asked.
“Very well, thank you,” Maria replied breezily, guiding Kris across the tiled floor towards the elevators. “Come on,” she whispered to Kris. “You should rest for a while, then we’ll phone Jorge.”
The motion of the lift made Kris’s head spin and her stomach lurch, and for one horrible moment she thought she would be sick. Her embarrassment at such a possibility made her feel terribly ashamed, and she didn’t even dare to open her mouth in protest when Maria pressed a button for the fourth floor. The scent of the other woman’s perfume in this enclosed space was filling her nostrils, and although the night had been cool, cold even, in this tiny box she felt unbearably hot.
At last they made their way to Maria’s room, where the lawyer placed an electronic key to the door. A light flashed and Maria pushed it open, gently coaxing Kris inside. “I’ll be okay, really I will. I’m fine. I just need to sit down a little while, then I’ll go.”
“Of course,” Maria replied, her green eyes flashing with concern and... something else as she looked down at Kris.
The room beyond was huge, with a wide, open living space-cum-office in which was a large, mahogany desk with chairs and a couple of sofas. Beyond was an equally luxurious bedroom and through a doorway Kris caught a glimpse of a capacious bathroom, all marble and white tiles.
“Here,” said Maria, leading her slowly to one of the chairs. With some relief Kris let herself fall down and sat there motionless, the room spinning round for a while until her head began to settle.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “Fuck! I haven’t been this drunk in a long while. I try not to drink, with Daniel.”
“Oh, he has many vices,” she heard Maria say as she walked to the other side of the desk, opening up a mini bar, “but alcohol isn’t one of them.”
“No,” agreed Kris, raising a hand to her face. It felt clammy against her skin, and she realised she was sweating slightly. “Just let me get my breath back... wait for this fucking ache in my leg to go... then... then I’ll be out of your hair.” She was struggling with her coat, drunkenly trying to remove it. When Maria returned behind her, she had not even realised that the other woman had come back from the bar and was now helping her remove her outer garment.
“There, feel better?”
Kris nodded. Maria took her coat and placed it carefully across the back of the sofa. In turn she removed her own long, dark overcoat and let it fall alongside Kris’s. Her blue dress was long, falling almost to her feet, her heels peeking beneath the hem. As she moved, Kris couldn’t take her eyes from her pale, bare arms and shoulders, the skin so smooth, the narrowness of her waist and the elegance with which she moved.
Maria went towards the table, and Kris saw she had placed two glasses there, small and half-filled with a deep red liquid. With an amused expression, Maria took both of them and returned to the chair where the younger woman was seated, holding herself upright with some effort.
“You know, I had always thought of port as an old man’s drink,” Maria told her, holding out one of the glasses. “But here they drink it everywhere. I must admit, I’m gaining something of a taste for it.”
Kris raised her hand. “Not for me. I’ve drunk too much already.”
Maria shrugged and bent down to place one of the glasses on the floor next to the chair. As she leaned over, Kris saw the front of her dress fall forward slightly, a flash of shadowy pale skin. There was no bra and the nipples were pink and surprisingly stiff, the flesh of her breasts hanging down only slightly from her chest.
Instead of standing, Maria knelt down so that her head was roughly level with Kris’s. The room was still spinning, and Kris wondered if it was that effect which made Maria’s eyes so hypnotic. Not like Daniel’s, she thought. Nobody’s could be like Daniel’s, but these had the same intensity when they stared at her.
Maria took a delicate sip. “You should try some,” she said, and Kris found herself tipsily gazing at her lips where a slight trickle of fortified red wine stained the lipstick. “What is it that you English say? Hair of the donkey?”
Despite herself Kris laughed at this. “Hair of the dog. But that’s meant to be the morning after,”
“Oh, but it is morning already.” Her face was closer now to Kris, barely inches away, and she raised her hand to press the cool glass to Kris’s lips. Instinctively, those lips opened and a small pool of liquid burst onto her tongue, not too sweet and with a fiery savour. Kris’s tongue moved of its own accord in her mouth and a hot sensation flowed down her throat.
“Oh, God,” Kris murmured. “I am so drunk. I’m bloody tired, but the room keeps spinning.”
Maria smiled at this, and as she did so Kris could not help but think how beautiful she looked. “Then we shall have to keep you awake.”
“How long?” Kris asked quietly.
“For as long as it takes.”
Maria took another sip from the glass and then leaned even closer into Kris until her lips were almost touching. Again, with an instinct that did not come from her conscious mind, Kris opened her mouth and felt the trickle of sweet, hot wine enter her, followed by the warm creature of Maria’s tongue. A hand came up to her breast beneath her dress, squeezing her gently, making her moan.
Not knowing what she was doing, but eager, hungry, thirsty, Kris raised her own arm around Maria’s waist and pulled the other woman close, their tongues sliding into each other, the sensitive insides of their mouths bursting as they ate one another. As Kris slid from her chair, Maria lowered herself alongside her, gently guiding her, controlling her.
Looking down, Maria saw that the glass beside the chair had toppled and spilt, a dark red stain spreading across the carpet and seeping into Maria’s blue dress. This was her last defence, though she was barely aware of it. “Your dress, I’m so sorry…” she began to apologise.
Maria merely smiled as she looked down. Kris was semi-reclined on the floor as she stood up, placing hands on the fabric around her hips and pulling it up, lifting her dress. First Kris saw the pale, naked legs and thighs, so slender and graceful, then the narrow hips and the tuft of light hair that dappled her pubis just above the bulge of her pudenda. As the cloth rose higher, her belly, so enviably flat and lightly muscled, came into view, followed by her small, firm breasts.
Maria’s own breath was coming more quickly now, and her rib cage rose and fell as she pulled the dress from her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. There was a glint in her eyes that was almost demonic as she glared down at Kris. The younger woman knew this was wrong, but her own desire was rising like a madness inside her, and between her legs she felt such incredible wetness.
As Maria moved forward, looking down at her with those glittering green eyes, her breasts small and swollen, light pink nipples erect and pointing outwards, she opened her legs so that she straddled Kris’s body. Her sex was parting, glistening slightly, and the bud of her clitoris was unfurling from its hood. The smooth flesh of her inner lips was slick and soft, and alongside the perfume of her body Kris could smell another scent, a sharp and seductive tang.
When that sweet and tempting slit was aligned with her mouth, though Kris was a virgin where another woman’s body was concerned she knew what to do. By instinct once more her tongue flickered out, tracing the length of Maria’s vulva while a single finger rose up and began to stroke the opening lips. Maria gave out a low groan, her own hands seeking out Kris’s long, dark hair, fingers digging into her scalp, holding her there as the young woman licked along her and buried her face between her legs.
It was not long after that when Maria led Kris into the bedroom, naked but for the heels that she wore, still taller than her prey. She smirked as she took Kris’s hand and turned upon her, lowering her to the bed and sliding her hands beneath the hem of Kris’s dress, lifting it upwards, higher.
“No,” mumbled Kris, preparing to resist for a fumbling, faltering moment, but with her other hand Maria easily slapped aside her victim’s defences. Maria’s own arms showed the same, slightly sinewy muscle as the rest of her body, and Kris was surprised at how strong she was. That was the last time she resisted, and when Maria lowered herself between her thighs she opened them eagerly, as wide as possible, lost in the sensations of the other woman’s mouth as it worked along her sex, fingers probing and exploring her.
It was dark when she woke. No light entered the room, and for a split second Kris thought that perhaps it was all a dream, just some bad, drunken fantasy. The jolt of her body as she woke, however, made the person beside her stir and she felt a slender arm thrown across her skin. Between her thighs her sex and her anus were sore, and she felt slight aching burns across her breasts and ba
cks. The sheets beneath her were sticky, unbelievably damp. Had she wet herself? Oh God, she thought, not that humiliation as well.
Vague recollections flashed through her mind and she felt sick. What had she done? Oh God, what the fuck had she done?
Very carefully, she lifted the arm of the sleeping woman from around her chest and slid from the bed. Between her legs was a drying mess and she felt disgusted with herself. She really needed to shower, but instead she just wanted to get out of this hotel room as quickly as possible before Maria woke up.
Fumbling along the floor, she found her dress and first one shoe, then another. God alone knew what had happened to her bra and knickers, but she was keen to leave as soon as she could. Her head was thumping, a stabbing pain behind her eyes, and as she put down her damaged ankle she felt another griping pain through her calf muscle. The pain brought back with it a vision, a woman’s leering face, blonde haired and green eyed, with skin as white as death and lips as red as life in death, and her body stretched as though on a rack of pain and ecstasy.
No. Not that. Not now. The armour of her skin prickled over her body, her hackles rising as her limbs went stiff. She stumbled into the living area, and began to dress herself as noiselessly as possible. As she was pulling on her shoes, a pool of light suddenly cast shadows from her legs.
Looking behind her, she saw Maria lying on top of the bed. Her face was calm, impassive but for the faintest trace of amusement around her eyes and lips.
“Going so soon?”
Kris nodded, her face blushing as she half glanced in Maria’s direction but refused to look at her fully.
Maria patted the bed next to her, opening her legs. She exposed her slit, which looked as though it must have been as raw and painful as Kris’s own, with that tuft of pale hair above it. She was shameless as she looked at Kris. “Come back to bed and fuck me,” she told her.
Kris shook her head. “No, I have to get back.”
Fragile Crystal: Rubies and Rivalries (The Crystal Fragments Trilogy) Page 10
