“We were just leaving,” Ethan said.
Andy just grunted and stood, digging some crumpled bills out of his pocket.
Ryan took a final drink of his Mountain Dew and half-turned.
“So soon?” Sadie asked in a whispery Marilyn Monroe voice. She slithered like a snake onto Ethan’s lap, sliding her arms around his neck and drawing him close.
“Sadie, come on—” but the rest of his protest died before it gained any real momentum.
She gazed into his eyes with her alluring sorceress’s stare, and then she brushed her lips lightly against his. Ethan was frozen for just a moment, enrapt by her spell, her perfume like an exhilarative drug that he breathed as he came under her control. She kissed him softly. She hiked up one leg, and then lightly took his hand with her own, and laid it upon her bare thigh.
Ethan’s pulse raced. To his horror, an erection stiffened the crotch of his jeans.
Sadie guided his hand slowly up between her legs. The smooth skin of her leg was like satin, and as she ran his hand higher, he felt heat beneath the skirt.
“Dude,” he heard Ryan say in a quiet tone of awe.
“I want you, Ethan James,” she said. And then she kissed his neck, pushing his hand all the way until he felt the thin fabric between her legs, felt the moist heat radiating through silken panties, the soft shape of her folds as she spread just a little wider ...
He opened his eyes and saw Andy standing there, jaw hanging open. On the other side of the table, Ryan sat with much the same attitude, eyes wide as pinballs. And the vision of his lovely Carly, smiling at him through the gloom of the movie theater on their first date two years ago, clandestine, of course, when they’d gone with friends with the sole intent of seeing each other. Her eyes, so full of love and innocence ... the ache of knowing how much she loved him and how much he truly wanted to be with her gave rise to a revulsion inside of him that finally snapped him out of Sadie’s spell.
“No, Sadie,” he said. He pulled his hand away. He pushed her off him, and she rocked precariously on his lap, one side of her skirt still bunched high on her thigh. Ryan stared at her bare thigh like it was the Treasure of the Sierra Madres and he’d never seen so much gold in his life. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ethan said.
She tossed her head full of golden hair and laughed. It was a girlish laugh, with all the trimmings of her lost innocence. He pushed her away and she let him go, spinning like a girl used to sitting on laps, standing and smoothing her skirt, primping her hair with a couple of quick moves.
“Have it your way, Ethan James.” Sadie turned to Christine. “Did we get what we needed here, dear?”
“Oh, we’ve got plenty,” and Christine smiled. She cocked her head and her red hair bounced sideways like a girl ready to stick out her tongue at the boys and run away. She winked at Ethan.
In her hand she held her phone. A phone with a camera.
Sadie came around behind Christine and looked at the phone’s display as she pressed buttons. “Oh, lovely, darling. Those are fantastic shots if I do say so myself.”
Sadie took one last look at Ethan and gave him a licentious grin. “We would make such a beautiful couple.”
Ethan felt himself trembling. Fear spread black tentacles through his body. He stood stiffly, eyes on Christine’s phone.
“Give that to me.”
The girls laughed and walked away. Hoss called their number from behind the counter and the other two girls brought everything back to their table. They chattered as they sat down, all of them looking up at Ethan and giggling. Sadie winked at him and waved.
“Dude,” Ryan said. This time, awe was replaced by a tone of doom.
Andy just blinked at him. It occurred to Ethan that Andy had probably seen all the way up Sadie’s skirt from where he stood. Ethan looked down at his hand as if it was some noxious thing that had suddenly latched onto his body and he’d like to cut it off. He shook his head and looked at his friends.
“Hey,” Ryan said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, Ethan, let’s hit it. Get away from these bitches. Don’t worry, man, we’ll vouch for you with Carly. Tell her what really happened.”
What had really happened? He knew, and he could have killed himself. He should have pushed that nasty bitch down onto her ass the moment she touched him.
Oh Carly, he thought, and realized he could cry. He swallowed hard but the ache in his throat only grew. Ethan felt like a black hole was sucking at his chest from the inside. He set his jaw and shot a final venomous look across the room at Sadie. They weren’t even looking at him now, chittering and laughing about whatever it is harpies talk about at pizza parlors.
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gavin sat on the hearth, adding a log and stoking the fire. It crackled and threw sparks up the chimney as hot flames intertwined, casting a renewed glow into the living room. He closed the fireplace glass and admired Karen across the room. She was lovely, her dark hair absorbing the shadows, her alabaster skin smooth and ageless despite her forty years. Her brown eyes sparkled when she noticed him watching her. She smiled, a glass of cabernet in her hand shimming with the reflection of flame.
“Are you going to come over here so we can watch the movie?”
Gavin smiled. “Just enjoying the view.”
“Aww. Careful now. That kind of talk can get you in trouble.”
He could have responded with something deliberately intended to get him in “trouble” but he didn’t want to go that route right now. He didn’t want her to think this was just some booty call, that it was okay for her to come around as long as sex was part of the package.
Not to say that wouldn’t be nice after the week I’ve had.
He’d insisted that she come casual, so she’d worn dark, snug bell-bottom jeans with black high-heeled boots. Her white blouse was unbuttoned to a tasteful but enticing level, just enough to show the top of her cleavage and a wood-beaded necklace that matched her ear rings. Casual or not, she looked stunning, her black hair tumbling over her shoulders in thick half-curls. He tried very hard not to compare her to Beth. That was the one thing he absolutely had to remember not to do. It wasn’t fair to Karen, and it was part of what had almost killed their relationship. He couldn’t let go of Beth’s memory—not that Karen ever insisted that he should—but he sure felt that Beth shouldn’t be in the fore of his mind every time they were together.
He sat on his end of the couch and picked up the remote, aiming it at the television to start their movie.
“Dinner, by the way, was absolutely exquisite.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Fettuccine Alfredo with garlic chicken and broccoli is my specialty.”
“You are a talented man.”
He grinned. Again, he could have taken the bait. They’d been down this road before. Twisting innocent comments into sexual innuendos, and then one thing led to the other and before they knew it they were stripping each other’s clothing.
Karen’s wine glass made a tiny chiming sound as she set it down on a coffee table coaster. Her red nails shone as if wet with blood. “Gavin,” she said, “is something the matter?”
He blinked at her. “No,” he said, surprised. “Not at all. In fact, I was just thinking how nice it is to just relax and spend some time together.”
“Okay. I guess it just seems like ... I don’t know, like you’re standoffish. Maybe it’s just me—because we just had the break-up talk a week ago, and now here we are again, but ...”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be distant. I just don’t want you to think I only invited you over so we could ... well, you know. I don’t want it to be about that.” He gave a deep sigh and leaned back. “I guess I’m a little worn out, too. Work has been hell, to put it nicely.”
Karen moved closer to him on the couch. He smelled her shampoo, the faint scent of her soap as she reached out for him, running her fingers through his hair. Her touch rose goosebumps over his skin and he could have melted. God, he’d missed her.
“Anything you can talk about?”
“Not really, but frankly, I don’t know much more than what you’ve probably heard on the news. Three dead kids, and I had to tell the kids’ parents that they’d never come home again. Add to that the crazy stories that everyone at the party tells about what happened and I’ve got myself a funeral-sized headache.”
“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”
There is. He wanted to say it and then pull her into an embrace, but again he stopped himself.
“You’re a sweetheart, Karen.” He laid his hand on her knee, giving her a light squeeze. She stopped running her fingers through his hair and starting rubbing his neck. He moaned and closed his eyes. “You have no idea how good that feels.”
“Your muscles are hard as a rock.”
“Tense,” he said.
She rubbed for a couple of minutes as new warmth from the stoked fire filled the room. The TV murmured. Finally, she stopped and he heard the sounds of zippers as she removed her boots, pulling them off. She dropped them onto the floor and tucked her legs underneath her, curling up next to him on the couch.
“Did you want to watch the movie, then?”
“Mmmm,” she said. “This is nice.”
He smiled as she laid her head on his chest and he felt the warmth of her body. He put his arm around her, felt the gentle rise and fall of her breathing, the soft down of her hair.
“It is.”
They were silent, and he was afraid to move and ruin the moment. It had been so nice having her here with him tonight. But he knew the words he’d said to her last week were probably still lingering, giving her a sense of unease about this. Maybe fearing that he might suddenly feel that way again, and then it would all be over.
“Karen,” he started, and then he wished he’d just been quiet, just let it rest and let time heal the wounds, but he knew this had to be said, hard as it was to bring it up when they were resting so nicely on the verge of normalcy. “I ... thanks so much for coming tonight. If you’d told me to get bent, I would have deserved it.”
She lifted her head from his chest and he looked into her eyes. He thought he saw them glaze with tears and said a quick prayer that she wouldn’t cry. Instead, she smiled and took up his hand in both of hers. Her skin was cool and smooth.
“It’s okay, Gavin. I know you’re going through a lot. I just want to be here for you, that’s all.”
“I don’t want Beth’s memory to haunt every part of our time together. I just felt like it wasn’t fair to you to make you have to compete with her memory.” He shrugged. “I don’t know really how to put this into words. It was just that, I guess I was pissed off at myself for dragging you through the muck with me, saddling you with all my baggage. It’s been six years for Christ’s sake. You’d think I’d be able to move on.”
“Gavin, maybe it won’t happen until you open up to someone, though. Whether it’s me or someone else. Though I’ll have you know that if it was someone else, it would probably kill me. I’ve never felt so strongly about a man in all my life as I feel about you.” Karen’s eyes were imploring, and she seemed to revert to a younger age for a moment as she gently chewed her bottom lip, maybe wishing she hadn’t said it, afraid it was too much to drop on him right now.
He wrapped his arm behind her and gently stroked her back to let her know it was okay.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything. When you called tonight, I was so excited, but I had to keep myself from getting carried away.”
Gavin swallowed an ache in his throat. “I ... Karen, I know our relationship has been tough, and I know it’s been me making it hard.”
“I understand. You can’t take this lightly. I can only imagine what you’re having to go through. I can see it in your eyes. I just want you to know, I’m here for you, no matter what.”
Gavin studied Karen, running through the litany of things he wanted to tell her, how he’d rehearsed the discussion over and over in his mind—in the truck over the past few days, in his quiet moments at the substation, in the bathroom while he was getting ready just a couple hours ago—and now that the moment had arrived, none of it seemed necessary. She didn’t require him to explain himself. He didn’t have to talk to her about Carly and the issues of her mother’s potential replacement, or how he felt when Beth died, or the shame he felt when grief was occasionally alleviated by a sense of relief that she was gone. Beth’s bi-polar disorder had dragged their whole family into the heart of her darkest depressions, taken them all to the edge and back again. When her bleakness subsided, and just when it began to feel good and normal and right in their home, the ugliness reared its head again, a monster inside of her, threatening to tear them apart from the inside.
The thought of Beth made him feel weary. Like his mind wasn’t willing to run through it yet again. Not here, not after recognizing a new life was possible for the future, after so long feeling alone. “Thank you.”
Karen closed her eyes, inclining her head toward him. He met her halfway and felt the press of her soft lips against his. It sent a thrill through him. He tasted her lipstick, breathed in the faint scent of make-up and floral perfume. When they parted, the blue reflections of the television shone like facets in her eyes, which seemed black in the gloom. She reached up and ran her fingertips over his cheek, tracing his jawline. His pulse quickened and he was hungry for her.
He pulled her close, one hand at the base of her neck, gently cradling her head at the perfect tilt to kiss her again, sliding his other hand down to the small of her back as she followed his lead and lay next to him on the couch. Their bodies pressed together, their next kiss deeper than the last. He swept her hair slowly out of her face and her beauty struck him like a bolt of electricity—the way she gazed at him with desire flashing in her eyes, a fever of intoxication, her mouth pursed to taste him again. She made a small sound of need, a gasp and moan, and he responded with another kiss and hands that roamed the slope of her slender neck, brushing the edge of her breast through the fabric of her blouse.
Karen twisted on the couch to accommodate him, arching her head back as he kissed her neck and slid his hand into her shirt, sliding his palm over her breast and rolling a nipple between his finger and thumb. Karen slid her leg over his, and he slowly bent his leg so that his thigh was clamped firmly between her legs. Her hands traced his abdomen, skimming down to massage his bulging erection. Gavin caught his breath. Her mere touch was almost enough to set him off and he wanted this to last.
He reached down and stopped her. She pulled away, her hair tousled, and his heart skipped a beat at how stunning she looked.
“Is everything okay?” she panted.
“God yes. I just think we might want to move to the bedroom.”
“Let’s go.”
She climbed up off the couch, uncoiling from him, gripping his hand in hers. He felt his age as his knee and hip popped getting up. It almost caused him to fall but he laughed and caught himself on the arm of the couch.
“Can’t break down on me yet,” she said with a sultry grin, her blouse open.
“Oh, we’ll work something out.”
* * *
In the bedroom, light cascaded from the master bath where she’d gone to primp before coming back to the bedroom even lovelier than he’d seen her before. She wore black-laced boy shorts that were more lace than silk. As she came to the edge of the bed she unsnapped the latch of her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Her shape in the light made him catch his breath—strong but feminine shoulders, perfect breasts, her flat slope of stomach tight from three da
ys a week at the gym. Her hips were those of a woman, not like all the girls they put in ads these days, a pronounced curve with the legs of a runway model.
He lay on his side, propped up on one elbow as she crawled onto the bed next to him. She shoved him over onto his side, and he fell, laughing.
“Hey, not so rough,” he said.
She crawled on top of him and gave him a deep kiss, her hands going straight to his jutting erection that made a tent of his boxer shorts. She gripped his shaft and he groaned, wanting to be inside of her right away. His rough hands roamed the bare skin of her torso and found the lace of her panties. He slid his hands down over the material to cup her between the legs, and she responded by pressing firmly against him. Instantly he repositioned and slid his fingers beneath the material, roaming over the thin silken hair and finding the crease of her opening. He explored with his fingertips, finding her wet, and he lifted his fingertips just a bit higher, resting the pads of his fingers on her clitoris and gently massaging.
“Oh God,” Karen gasped into his chest, her grip on his erection tightening as thrills shivered through her body. She stroked him and he massaged. It was just a few moments before she let go of his rigid shaft and pressed her clutching hand against his chest. She moaned, her voice echoing into the hallway. A tremor that began deep in her core trembled to the surface and she cried out, thrusting her pelvis against his hand, still rubbing against her clit as she came and he felt the heat of her wetness dampen the cloth of her panties. As her body relaxed on the bed, he slid the panties down over her firm thighs. She curled her legs for him and flicked the panties off with one foot, sending them in an arc across the room.
“Mmm,” she said and sat up, pulling his boxers off of him. She smiled and licked her lips and he laughed. She pushed him back as he started to sit up. “Nuh-uh.” Prone on his back, she crawled on top, straddling him. She grabbed his erection and pressed its head against her smooth folds. She was wet and warm, and as she lowered onto him he felt the exhilaration of sliding deep inside her and the sensation of her tight muscles constricting on him made him gasp.
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