by Ronnie Allen
“Nope. Kindergarten is where I stay.”
He pivoted her around and their eyes met. “That could be part of your problem. You act like you’re five.”
“I do not!”
“Well, that you’ll have to prove to me.” He knew what he desired, but he was unsure if he’d get it. He led her to the lounge built for two.
“Can I get you a drink or something?”
“No, I’m good, thanks. I’m stuffed.”
“Anything hard?”
“I think I’ll take care of that.”
She laughed. “Does everything boil down to sex with you?”
John cocked his head and grinned. He reclined on the left side of the lounge in a prone position, taping the spot on his right. “Come here.” Vicki cozied up next to him and brought her legs up onto the lounge. He drew in a deep breath and relaxed on the lounge. “This is really great out here, so relaxing, peaceful under the stars. Can’t find this in New York.”
“I know. I love it.”
“How long are you living in this house?”
“Twelve years.”
“Alone?”
“Just me and Duchess.” He glanced at her. “My German Shepherd,” she clarified. “I had to put her down just last week. It was cancer. And I’m still not over it. I never cried so hard in my life.”
He hugged her tighter. “Oh, Vicki, I’m sorry. I truly am. How old was she?”
“Twelve. She was a K-9 but flunked out of the academy. That’s how I got her.”
“How did that happen?”
“She was too hesitant. When they were trying to train her, she didn’t focus right away. They want a dog that will follow directions immediately. So I took her at four months. Believe me, John, putting her down was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life, but I couldn’t let her suffer.”
“I know she had a wonderful life with you,” he said, hugging her. “You made the right decision.”
She glanced up at him. “I know.”
He caressed her face and lifted it slightly so he could deposit a tender kiss on her lips. She turned on her side and reciprocated with a longer, but still gentle, kiss.
His protectiveness extended through his energy field and radiated through hers. Right away, he felt her tense muscles relax.
His left hand slipped under the lounge, and he managed to find the lever that made it flip down into a bed. They both flopped down, but he secured her in his arms to brace the impact, though it was light. “Oops, I wonder how that happened.”
She giggled. “You know the thing that made me so attracted to Duchess?”
He caressed her with his arms around her, twirling her hair between his fingers. “What was that?”
“We had the same birthday. March twenty-third. What’s yours?”
“Really? June ninth, Gemini. And you’re an Aries. March twenty-third. You know, that’s Artemis’ Festival Day.”
“Who’s Artemis?”
“That’s right, you don’t teach Greek Mythology in kindergarten. She’s the Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt and the protectress of children. She loved being out in the woods and the wilderness and she traveled with the deer.”
“Ooh--Just like me. Wait a minute, now I remember her from an English Lit course. Wasn’t she a virgin goddess? Uh oh,” she cooed, teasing him. She tickled him on his waist.
Content that she’d loosened up, he hugged her, tighter. “Not virginity as we know it. Psychologically virginity means autonomy. The woman could take care of herself without a man. Like, you’re still single.”
“Very funny! So are you! But didn’t she also take a vow of chastity?”
“No, not at all.” He kissed her neck gently and then more aggressively in between talking to her. “The virginity thing was political. The Greeks wanted to dominate women. They told them myths.” His lips explored her skin down to her cleavage. She relaxed giving out little sighs of contentment as his breath touched her body. “If they did that, there would have been total male control. There was never any monogamy,” he added.
She was aroused to the point he wanted her at, for now. He let her hands wander down his muscular chest. She raised her body up, leaned over, and pulled off his tank top, letting it fall to the ground. That was the go ahead he was waiting for.
“Then she was promiscuous?” she asked. “That’s not me.”
“Well, the women of Sparta were wild.” He slipped off her tank top as she talked, flipped open the clasps on her bra, and slid it off, ogling her. “They are perfect. You are perfect.” He cupped her right breast in his hand and lowered his head to suckle her.
She arched her back and breathed heavily as she quivered and moaned with delight. He sucked a little more forcefully on her breasts, declaring them his.
He was still testing the waters on how far he could go without intimidating her. He’d done enough of that at dinner. Now he wanted her to feel like a woman, a very much-desired woman. Amidst her soft gasps and hungry moans, he removed her shorts and dropped them on the ground. Then he removed his own.
“And they’re all mine, if I might add,” she teased as he fondled her breasts.
“Affirmative. I can tell.” His mouth salivated as his tongue teased the pink skin around her nipples, making them pebble and then peak. Intermittently, as he talked, his lips and teeth took turns gently tugging at her hardened buds. “They had sex in the streets. When an Artemis woman is in sync with her libido, her lovemaking is well...uh, ferocious, like gorillas making love.”
He imitated growling sounds on her midriff and stomach with his warm breath, feeling her tingle and quiver with excitement beneath him. At this moment, he was thankful that he could feel a woman’s energy. With his tongue, he tasted the deliciousness of her clean fragrant skin. His hands caressed her legs as she let out soft involuntary moans, and then her body moved rhythmically toward him as he reached her tight, round bottom, letting his fingers roam on the small of her back.
Vicki couldn’t get enough. “Oh my God.”
He wanted to make sure she knew he was the one man who could make her feel wonderful--like a treasured woman--taking the time to find out what pleasured her most. He wanted her to float toward the heavens. “So now, my Artemis woman, you can trash those trusting issues,” he whispered in her ear, causing her to gasp. He picked up on that and kissed her again, stronger, wetter, from her ear down to her neck, until he felt her tremble underneath him. He loved that a woman could climax this way.
She turned over onto his chest, breathless. Her satiny, smooth body lay directly on top of his defined muscles, and she wanted to kiss him. He gently opened his mouth and eased his tongue between her lips. He was welcomed with fervor.
Their passion increased and the rapture of that kiss propelled them both to another galaxy. Their breathing intensified and they clutched onto each other tighter. Even with his eyes closed, he envisioned the stars. He was never letting her go. His hands glided up and down her body, faster and with more pressure, squeezing her bottom. Then he grasped her hand, wedged it between them, and placed it on his hard length.
Her breath hitched when she first touched him, but her intimidation was gone. She caressed him, her palm sliding up and down. Her thumb lingered on his tip, causing him to moan, shudder, and release pre-cum. He felt as if they had known each other a long time and he relished in her gentle, but confident touch. She fondled him and her fingers encased him as she intermittently and gently scratched his underside with her fingernails.
He rolled her over onto her back, still savoring her lips, and ran his warm hand down her stomach. She spread her legs, giving him permission to explore her. She was so wet and so excited, her moaning so uninhibited, she held nothing back and neither did he, both uttering sounds of pure pleasure, and he loved her for it.
“I want you in me,” she whimpered.
He slipped two fingers into her and glided them up and down, over her G-spot. She moaned, louder than before, as if uncontrolled, and
her juices enveloped his fingers. Her mound swelled. He slipped his fingers from her entrance and slid them up and over her clit, knowing that she was more than ready for him.
She let out multiple short gasps. “Oh, God, John.”
Her quivering told him she was close to the apex. After putting on a condom, he mounted her and held her hips. She spread wide and high for him as he penetrated her, pausing to wait for her signals to continue. She was so warm, wet, and welcoming as he thrust into her, pumping slowly at first. She gasped with pleasure, and when he felt her body responding by moving beneath him, in-sync with his rhythm, he thrust harder and faster. Her arms wrapped around him and glued to his slick, shiny with sweat torso. He wanted her in his arms forever. He felt her sheath contracting around his length and, a couple of minutes later, at the same moment, they both trembled with a rich spontaneous release, the intensity of which neither of them expected.
Their hearts pounded, their bodies quivered. Their emotions were drained, their senses heightened. For the first time, he had been truly satiated. She was the woman he had been waiting for. He embraced her and had no intention of letting her go.
This innocent country girl had captured this free-spirited playboy’s heart.
He collapsed on top of her, wiped out and drenched from his own body heat. Taking some time to recover, but not too much, he rolled onto his side. “You’re good, kid. Real good. And you smell so darn good.” He hugged her in appreciation, his pleasuring her still on the agenda.
“You’re not so bad yourself. And yes, Doctor, I would say that you cured what ailed me. That was wonderful, darlin’. Thank you.”
He laughed. “You’re welcome. Come here.” He coaxed her to lie on top of him again.
She rested her head on his pecs, moaned, and snuggled with him. “Where did you learn to kiss like that?”
“I only give out personal information when I’m good and ready. Isn’t that what I was told by a feisty miss?”
“I want you to keep kissing me forever.”
I will be kissing you forever.
His hand slid through her hair to the back of her head, pulling her close so their lips interlocked in passion again. Her sleek, warm body molded into his muscular frame, and they both sizzled from the moisture emanating from each other.
Then drop by drop, they sensed it. He wasn’t sure what it was. She shielded him. The drops came faster. Then they heard it, the thunder. And the lightning.
“Oh my God, it’s lightning. Let’s go inside.”
“No, it feels too good.”
“John, it’s going to pour.”
“No, I’m not letting you move. I’m way too comfortable. No way, kiddo.” He devoured her, kissing her neck and shoulders. The rain poured harder. She laughed and pulled away from him.
“John, Florida rainstorms are heavy and sudden, and there’ll be a downpour any second. The thunder and lightning can be deadly. Come on.”
“No.” Then it happened. The downpour. “Oh, man! You weren’t kidding.”
They became drenched, cooled down but drenched! The rain was strong, constant, and the thunder was not to be taken lightly. She jumped up off him and grabbed her soaked clothes off the ground. He did the same, both laughing, as the thunder and lightning continued. He had never been in such a torrential rainstorm like this, naked no less. The bushes and trees trembled in the wind. Some huge branches on the trees in her yard made horrific sounds as they crashed down, just missing the lanai frame. The impending danger startled him. The lightning flashes pierced the sky, illuminating the woods as if it was daylight behind them. They made it into the house, splashing through puddles on the lanai with the rain running off their bodies and dripping onto her tile floor.
***
She darted to her bathroom, grabbed towels, and tossed one to him.
“Here. Let me do it,” he said. He was only concerned with her. He wrapped her up and dried her off, rustling her hair and rubbing her down from head to toe before taking care of himself. From that moment, he hoped he would be pampering her and taking care of her forever.
***
They made it into her adjoining bedroom with light gold tone walls and Colonial furniture. Teal carpeting added to the warmth of the welcoming room. John was in awe of a hand-painted mural on the wall behind the bed--a wild stallion with a flamboyant mane and tail, running in a field. The rich vibrant colors of the greens and teals created the pasture and leaves going through a trellis. Multi-shades of brown, which were used to create the image of a life-like stud, made a perfect backdrop for her headboard. The wrought iron headboard was like a fence and, on the wall, painted in the same spiral pattern, was an archway over the horse. Gold and silver threads of paint were wisped through the mane and tail, giving it the three dimensional appearance of the stud jumping off the wall.
“This is amazing. Who did this?” He glided his fingers over the mane. “Really nice.”
“Thank you. A local artist.”
Laughing, she plopped down on her back on the bed, still nude. He felt as if nothing in the world could disrupt this tranquility, not even the thunder and lightning outside. He lay down on his stomach very close to her, his right arm across her body, and cuddled with her. He kissed her stomach and she giggled. When he picked up his head he saw it, the flashing red dot on the wall through the spiral pattern in the headboard. He almost missed it with the complicated design and colorations on the mural. Was that deliberate? Without hesitation, he threw the blanket over them.
“Stay under the covers.”
“Why? What?”
He reached down and put on his soaked briefs.
Oh, man! That’s cold! Brutal!
“Just do as I say.” He sat up, snatched his NYPD consultant ID out of the pocket of his shorts, and stared up at the wall in front of the bed. Inside an antiqued gold picture frame was a red light flashing. He got out of bed, opened his ID folder, and held it up to the light. “Dr. John Trenton, NYPD consultant. I expect a call within thirty seconds on the house phone.” The phone on her night table rang. He picked it up on the second. “Who is this?”
“Commander Mark Marin, Sun County SWAT. I’m Vicki’s twin brother.”
“You’ve been watching us?”
“The entire house is wired, inside and out.”
John felt a mixture of fury and embarrassment.
What the hell is going on here? What kind of invasion of privacy is this?
“So you’ve been watching us all evening?”
“No. We shut it down on the lanai.”
“And exactly when did you do that?”
“When you were watching the deer. You triggered the system again when you went into the bedroom.”
“And the house is wired because?”
“Look, it’s to protect Vicki. Our father is an elected official. She can be a target anytime for anyone’s revenge. We knew you were safe. The lanai was clear. She didn’t have her weapon with her.”
“Weapon? She’s armed?” He looked at her with arched eyebrows. “You’re armed?”
She smiled and shrugged.
“Have a good night, Doc.” The call disconnected without warning.
“Why do you carry?” He sat on the bed, wanting the answer to this one. He removed his uncomfortable briefs and then got under the snuggly blanket already warmed by Vicki.
“It’s a right to carry state, and I carry because I can,” she said in between more kisses. “And my dad is top cop. You think he’s going to let me go unarmed?”
“So I’m assuming you have more than one?”
“This house is an arsenal.”
He was astonished. “What do you have?”
“A couple of Glocks, .38 caliber, Smith & Wesson, a 357 Mag stainless pistol with a six-inch barrel, a Ruger lightweight .38 special, and a 9mm Luger. I’m exhausted. You wiped me out. Let’s get some shut eye.”
John didn’t know what to think. What would this do to their relationship? He hated guns and woul
dn’t have carried even if he could.
Yet his future wife was Annie Oakley. But then again, she wouldn’t be able to carry in New York.
CHAPTER 22
Present Day:
Clancy looked around at the destruction he’d just created in Barbara’s modest living room in her apartment in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn. Just enough. Just what he wanted. And he was smart enough to wear latex gloves and put surgical booties over his shoes.
Smashed glass landed everywhere. An imported French chandelier ripped down from the ceiling, which left the live electrical wires dangling, exaggerated the statement he wanted to make. That was the most exorbitant item in the room. Very fitting where he hurt her. With the money. He sliced the matching fabrics on the couches and chairs, causing the foam stuffing to spill out onto the furniture. He knocked pictures off the wall and threw them on the floor. He stomped on them to crack the glass. He smashed nick-knacks from shelves with a hammer. The sound of the extra loud ring startled him. It transferred to voice mail. “Hi. This is Barbara. You know what to do and you know when to do it.”
“Come on, Barbara. It’s Morgan. You still can’t be pissed off at me. How about dinner? And you can give me some return on all the money I gave you.”
Clancy stewed. “I sure do know what to do. I’ll get rid of you too, fella.” He slipped a transmitter for an explosive device out of his pocket as if he caressed a fine timepiece. He depressed the shiny red button. The light flashed with a very subtle blink. It was set. The bomb would only affect the surrounding three hundred square feet. He meandered around to find a spot to station it and saw the ideal location under a silk pillow still left on the couch. After placing it for maximum effect, he escaped the apartment.
In his apartment, Clancy checked his clock. 3:30. “It’s that time. Boom!” He gave a vulgar laugh.
