“Woo-hoo.” Cheryl fanned herself. “I thought he’d be a powerhouse, and I was right.”
“But that’s just it! I’m right back where I was, with me wanting him so much I can’t stand it, and he…he fell asleep on me! But then I think of the yellow rosebush and Billy Joel on his CD player and I wonder if maybe he’s really into me.”
“Sounds like it.” Cheryl looked as if she wanted to say something more, but instead she went back to drinking her iced coffee.
“But what if all those things are only his way of getting sex? And don’t forget that he fell asleep right after!”
Cheryl put down her drink. “Guys do that. I wouldn’t read too much into it.” Then she grinned. “Maybe you wore him out.”
“I’m scared, Cheryl. I’m scared I’m going to do something stupid like blurt out that I love him or something.”
“Do you?”
Katie hesitated, turning the concept over in her mind. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ve tried really hard not to, but it looks like I might. I’m having all these white-picket-fence yearnings, too.”
“What about your grandmother’s house?”
“Exactly! How can I be in love with someone who’s ready to put up a parking garage on the property?”
“Katie, it’s not his decision. He was hired to do a job. I’ll bet he doesn’t even know it’s your grandmother’s house.”
“Yes, he does. He found out yesterday. But he didn’t say anything to me like Oh, in that case, I’ll see what I can do to save it. So he can’t have those same kinds of feelings for me, can he?” She needed Cheryl to put her logical lawyer’s brain to work on this question.
“I don’t know what he could do to save it. He could jeopardize his career by refusing to build the parking garage on the site, but that seems like a stupid sacrifice. They’d fire him and hire somebody else. You don’t want him to fall on his sword for no good reason, do you?”
“No.” Katie couldn’t see a way out. “But if he goes ahead with it, I can’t pretend he wasn’t involved. I’d always remember that, which could be a real deal breaker. If I win and he can’t finish the project, he’ll be just as upset with me. So I think I have to stop seeing him. That’s aside from the fact that he fell asleep on me.”
“Oh, dear.” Cheryl frowned. “You’re really going to stop seeing a guy who gives you multiple orgasms? I think that goes against the Women’s Code of Reasonable Conduct.”
Despite her misery, Katie laughed. “You made that up.”
“Well, if there isn’t such a thing, there should be, and you’d definitely be in violation of it. He hasn’t started building that parking garage, has he? How about you wait to get mad at him until he actually does that?”
Katie’s spirits lifted as they usually did whenever she talked to Cheryl. “And in the meantime I soak up all that great sex?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
“What about this falling-in-love business?”
“Maybe you are and maybe you’re not. You’re operating under the influence of all those terrific orgasms, which could be skewing your thinking. If you end up losing your grandmother’s house, which I hope you don’t, but if you do and you still have feelings for him, then it’s probably love and not just sex.”
“And if I succeed and his project isn’t built, then he’ll dump me.”
Cheryl looked at her over the rim of her plastic drink glass. “Unless he’s falling in love with you.”
Katie couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought of that. There was a moment last night as he’d pulled off her blindfold when she could have sworn she’d seen something in his expression, something deeper than mere lust. But she didn’t trust herself. She might be indulging in wishful thinking.
JESS SPENT MOST OF HIS spare moments debating what to do about Katie. He’d planned to take the lace teddy to her at the station after her show. If he handed it to her in something like a bag or a box, it wouldn’t be embarrassing for her. He’d spent a fair amount of time wondering what he should put it in.
If she’d never worn it, he could get some kind of a box and tissue paper, the way you did with new clothes given as a gift. But he wasn’t sure that was appropriate under the circumstances. A brown paper sack was too tacky, and he obviously couldn’t just hand it to her.
The teddy was his reason for seeing her again, so he had to handle the presentation right. After listening to Gabe’s mini lecture, he’d realized he couldn’t go over to the station tonight and risk being seen there again. From now on he had to keep his relationship with Katie under wraps.
So long as Gabe was the only one who knew what was going on, Jess figured he was safe. He worried some about Gabe’s opinion, but not enough to stop seeing Katie. She might be through with him—no guarantees on that—but at least he would give it another shot on the pretense that he’d intended the teddy as a gift and wanted to give it to her.
Finally he could find no alternative except to show up at her apartment. He wouldn’t pick the lock this time. Once would qualify as an interesting stunt to get her attention. Twice was venturing into stalker territory.
Because her apartment was a fair distance from his house, he decided to drive the Jag over and listen to her show on the way. It wasn’t the wisest choice, because hearing her voice made him hot. That was even before she began describing her Kama Sutra tip of the night.
“Tonight we’ll talk about the role of biting in sexual play,” she said.
“Biting?” He turned up the volume. Sure, he’d nipped her skin a few times, but he’d never considered an actual bite. Maybe that was a mistake on his part.
“I’m sure most of the women out there have been given a hickey at one time or another. You probably think men are more likely to use their teeth on a partner. Not so.”
Jess had never given Katie a hickey. He thought guys who had to mark their girlfriends had to be insecure dweebs.
“Surprisingly women actually do more biting than men. One theory is that men express their passion with larger movements, like…shall we say…vigorous thrusting.”
Due to his growing erection, Jess decided to pull into the right-hand lane and slow down. Speeding along while Katie talked about thrusting could end badly for him and his fellow motorists. Unfortunately that put him behind a motor home from Illinois going ten miles under the speed limit.
“Biting can increase the sexual tension, but we’re not talking werewolves and vampires here, folks. Let’s not break the skin. Let’s not draw blood. Little nips at key times can be exciting for both of you. Immediately prior to or during orgasm, for instance. It can be a signal that you’re really turned on by what’s happening.”
Katie sounded as if she wanted more of that. He’d remember to keep that in his routine. Come to think of it, he wouldn’t mind a few love bites from her. Maybe she didn’t do that unless a guy drove her wild. That was a depressing thought.
If she’d let him into her apartment tonight, he could try to get her worked up enough that she’d feel like biting him. Damn, now it seemed like a mark of excellence. If he didn’t leave her place with tooth marks, then he hadn’t done his job.
“Where to bite? I’ll leave that up to you, but here are a few guidelines. Guys—concentrate on her erogenous zones, primarily her breasts and thighs. As you move up her thighs in search of that all-important buried treasure, take it easy when you reach X marks the spot. And ladies—nibbling on his package works fine, but don’t get rough or the fun will be all over.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was giving him suggestions for the next time they had sex. But she hadn’t indicated there would be a next time. He’d thought about calling her today and had chickened out.
He didn’t want to hear bad news over the phone. If she didn’t want to see him again, she’d have to tell him to his face. And then he’d try to talk her out of it.
“We have to take a short commercial break, but don’t go away. I’ll be right back with toni
ght’s featured guest, Dr. Edna Reid, who will tell us why little boys dig huge holes in the ground and why some continue that obsession as adults, using tractors and earthmovers for the same infantile satisfaction. Don’t touch that dial!”
Jess couldn’t believe there were this many weirdos in the world and that Katie knew how to get in touch with all of them. During the commercial he got back into the passing lane and gunned the engine to get past the motor home.
So Katie was into biting. He had to face the fact that she was way more experienced than he was. For example, there was the blindfold thing. At the moment she’d suggested it last night, he’d wondered if she’d want to go from there to some kind of bondage game.
Her answer drifted through his already fevered brain. Not this time. She obviously liked to spice up her sex with a little adventure, and here he was, going over there empty-handed except for the teddy in a little gift bag he’d bought today. Maybe he’d better stop somewhere and pick up…something.
He’d have to miss part of her show, but if he expected to come out at the end of the evening with teeth marks, he needed a plan. He needed props. He needed a copy of the Kama Sutra.
Thirty minutes later he was back on the road, headed for her apartment. Katie and her wacky sociologist were now in the call-in segment of the show.
“Hi, this is Gabe,” said a familiar voice. “I want to get this theory straight.”
Jess swore under his breath. Gabe was doing this on purpose, knowing Jess was probably listening. Gabe had obviously appointed himself as Jess’s conscience tonight.
“What’s your question, Gabe?” Katie asked in her radio-perfect voice.
She did have the perfect voice for radio, too—sassy and sweet yet with a firmness and authority that made people believe what she was putting out there. Shoot, Jess even found himself starting to believe her nonsense about his construction urges being tied in with his sex drive.
He loved hearing her voice on the radio, but mostly he loved hearing it when he was deep inside her or when he settled his head between her thighs and made her come. She didn’t use her radio voice then. What came out of her mouth was much more wild and untamed.
“Dr. Reid says guys dig holes in the dirt because we’re trying to get back to the womb?”
“That’s correct,” said a woman who was not Katie. Obviously the good professor.
“And guys have sex for the same reason?”
“Exactly,” said Dr. Reid.
Jess sighed. He could see the protest signs now—Go Home to Mama, Little Boys. His crew would be furious.
“So why do women have sex then? Are they wishing they had a di—”
“Oh, my, we’re late for our commercial break,” Katie cut in. “Thank you, Gabe, for calling in.”
Jess pulled into the parking lot of Katie’s apartment complex. This situation was getting out of hand. He sure didn’t need to have his foreman calling in to Katie’s show to heckle. Maybe the crew expected someone to defend them, and Gabe had appointed himself to the job.
Tomorrow the crew would be giving Gabe high fives for the comment he’d almost made, the one the audience would know he’d been about to make before Katie cut him off. Jess didn’t like the direction this was going. Emotions were running way too hot on this issue.
He knew trying to get Katie to back off would be doomed to failure. This was a personal fight for her, and in the end he had no leverage to force her to do it. But Gabe worked for him, so he should be able to convince Gabe that he wasn’t helping by stirring up more controversy.
Under the circumstances, Jess knew he should turn his car around and leave this parking lot. He was literally sleeping with the enemy. But when he was in bed with Katie, she didn’t feel like the enemy. She felt like paradise.
In any case, he needed to give her the teddy. After work he’d bought a red gift bag—a compromise between a plain paper sack and a box with tissue paper—and he’d folded the teddy and put it inside. If he didn’t give it to her tonight, he might as well throw it in the Dumpster, and he couldn’t bear to do that.
His more recent shopping trip had netted a few other goodies, including an illustrated edition of the Kama Sutra. Katie’s show was almost over, thank God, but she wouldn’t be home for another fifteen or twenty minutes. He might as well wait in the parking lot and read.
Switching the ignition to alternate current, he rolled the car windows down and left the radio on so he could hear the last of her show. Then he took a flashlight out of the glove compartment in order to read the book. He should have picked up a copy three days ago. Then he might not be lagging behind so much.
“Not only do men like to dig holes,” Dr. Reid said, “but they love muddy holes even better. If that’s not an indication of their mind-set, I don’t know what is.”
Jess shook his head. Dr. Reid had some twisted theories going on. Opening the book, he switched on the flashlight and started looking at the pictures.
“I used to like playing in the mud when I was a kid,” Katie said. “Was I trying to get back to the womb?”
“Of course, but you don’t play in muddy holes now, do you?”
Katie laughed. The sound teased Jess’s nerve endings. He wanted her to come home so he could hear her laugh, hear her sigh, hear her moan…. Even with all the problems she was causing, he just plain wanted her.
“I don’t play in mud holes anymore,” Katie said. “But I’ve had some interesting experiences with fudge sauce.”
“That’s a whole other topic, food and sex,” said Dr. Reid. “Ask a man to slice a cucumber and watch his face. They don’t like doing it.”
“Give a woman a cucumber and some vegetable oil and she doesn’t need a guy,” Katie said.
“Oh, yeah?” Jess muttered. He was feeling sexually frustrated and more than a little cranky. Plus the pictures in the Kama Sutra were extremely arousing. “Try getting a cucumber to go down on you. See how that works out.”
“Okay, buddy, out of the car!”
Startled, Jess looked up into the bright glare of a much bigger flashlight than the one he was holding. “What?”
“Security!” The guy sounded big and mean as he opened the driver’s-side door. “Out of the car, and keep your hands where I can see ’em. Don’t bother zipping up either.”
“I don’t know what…” But then he figured it out.
What an idiot he’d been. He’d been so engrossed in his multiple problems that he hadn’t realized how it would look with him sitting there with the radio tuned to Katie’s show and a book full of naked people on his lap.
Obviously by doing that he’d attracted the attention of a gung ho apartment-complex security guard who thought he was sitting in his car playing a tune on his personal flute. Worse yet, he had a woman’s lace teddy in the bag on the passenger seat. And that wasn’t all.
In the other bag, the one from the adult store where he’d shopped on his way here, was an X-rated video. But the video wasn’t nearly as damning as the pair of fur-lined handcuffs he’d added to the purchase just in case Katie wanted to try them out. And then there were the nipple clips.
Wasn’t this a peachy situation? And if he didn’t handle it carefully, he was liable to be arrested for public indecency.
16
WHEN KATIE PULLED INTO the front parking lot of her complex, she noticed that Ted, the security guard, was busily interrogating someone. Ted’s golf cart was parked next to the intruder’s car, and Ted’s new Taser was deployed and ready to drop the man standing in front of him if he made a wrong move.
Katie slowed down to take a closer look. A couple of shopping bags sat on the hood of the guy’s car. Could it be drugs? She’d always wondered if the complex was wasting money on a security guard, but maybe not. He’d actually found some weirdo to point his Taser at, although not too many weirdos drove Jags.
There was something familiar about the set of the guy’s broad shoulders, and the style of his hair reminded her of—Jess. Oh, dear
God. Jess had been collared by the fuzz. She hoped to hell he hadn’t tried to break into her apartment again. He’d been damned lucky Ted hadn’t caught him at it the first time.
She’d better get over there and save his butt before Ted called in Tucson’s finest. But she was pleased that Jess had chosen to come over here tonight. That was a good sign. She had decided to wait and see if he’d make the next move.
If he’d done nothing, she’d have done nothing. She wasn’t about to run after him. If he seemed willing to show up and have sex with her, fine and dandy. She’d take whatever she could get.
Cheryl had made a good point. Jess might build a parking garage where her grandmother’s house now stood, but he hadn’t done it yet. Until the wrecking ball arrived, Katie might as well scoop up as many orgasms as possible. No telling if she’d ever find anyone who could pass them out as abundantly as Jess.
Parking her car one space away from Ted and his quarry, she got out of her car. “Hi, Ted! What’s up?”
“I have the situation under control, Katie.” Ted kept the Taser pointed at Jess. “Don’t worry. This guy won’t bother you while I’m on duty.”
“I’m not here to bother anyone,” Jess said. “I—”
“Oh, sure,” Ted said. “That’s why you’re sitting in your car with a sex book on your lap and a bag full of pornographic items on the seat next to you.”
What an interesting development. Had Jess decided to study up? “You don’t want to arrest this guy, Ted,” she said. “He’s my research assistant.”
Jess groaned. “Katie, please don’t help.”
“Research assistant?” Ted glanced at her in disbelief. “That makes no sense. This here’s Jess Harkins, the owner of the construction company putting up that building next to your station. You hate that construction. How can he be your research assistant?”
Jess rolled his eyes. “I’m not—”
“He prefers to keep his side job quiet,” Katie said. “For obvious reasons. Jess and I have known each other for years. We happen to be on opposite sides of the fence on this construction issue, but we aren’t letting that affect our friendship or our research into human sexuality. Right, Jess?” She gave him a bright smile.
Talking About Sex... Page 16
