Siren's Garter: Issue One August 2016 (18 page)

Since they moved in together, they
developed an understanding. He woke up at six whether he needed to
go to work or not, and kept the noise down so she could sleep. She
burned the midnight oil playing video games, with or without
him.

Right above his head, something
fell from the bed. The weak spot in the floorboards creaked under
the pitter-patter of her feet. The toilet flushed. Her electric
toothbrush vibrated.

Kyle set out two glasses of orange
juice.

The feet clunked down the stairs.
To be small boned and only five-four, Karen made a lot of
noise.

He was washing dishes when she
strolled into the kitchen. She greeted him with a hard smack on the
ass.

“
Good morning, sunshine,” said
Kyle.

“
Yup,” she said, throat raspy.
Karen opened the fridge and stared inside. She wore her pink fluffy
robe, tied just enough to reveal her flat bosom.

He didn’t care for her padded bras,
much preferring her teacup sized boobs the way they were. But she
thought her bras made her look sexy, and Kyle was smart enough not
to argue.

“
Juice on the counter.” He pointed
to the nook.

“
Ugh, huh,” she said, slamming the
fridge door shut. She shambled over to the nook and chugged her
glass of juice. She sucked in a breath through her nostrils, stood
in a tree pose, and slammed back his glass too.

“
Coffee’s about ready.”

“
Good.”

He poured her a cup and mixed in
cream the way she liked it.

Color flushed to her cheeks when
she brought the cup to her lips and drank. Karen’s face glowed. For
her, caffeine was an aphrodisiac.

More precisely, a means to
squeezing in more sex after work and after the sun went down. She
had to work off the excess energy from video games somehow, or so
she told him often enough.

“
How do you do it?” Karen
said.

“
Say what?” he said, hiding behind
his own mug.

“
I fuck you three ways silly last
night. And yet you’re up at the ass-crack of dawn. How do I defeat
you?”

Kyle shrugged. “Precision and
grace?” The first reference to one of her favorite games, that he
could think of.

“
Fuck you!” Karen threw a kitchen
rag at him. Square in the face. He caught it one handed, but only
after it fell past his hips.

“
Glad you’re in a good mood this
morning,” he said.

“
And if I was in a bad mood?” she
said.

“
Run for shelter?” He turned his
back to her and poured batter on the griddle.

“
Oh, I’d find you.”

The sunlight now came in through
the window, entirely too bright. A crisp stream of light that made
a rainbow in his kitchen sink. He closed the blinds. The room
darkened only slightly. But at least the sun couldn’t peep
in.

“
You already done with your
first?” he said.

“
Yes, please.” She pushed her
coffee cup towards him. Half gone. He freshened it anyway, taking
the opportunity to glance down at her half open robe. Karen thanked
him profusely and took a careful sip.

Kyle flipped the pancakes. “Any
plans? You know. Day off and all.”

“
Oh, I have plans,” Karen twiddled
her fingers together like a cute mad genius.

“
And you’ll let me
know?”

“
Soon as my belly is
full.”

A minute later, Kyle handed her a
short stack with two crispy pieces of bacon. Karen dabbed a smidgen
of butter on the top pancake, and then flooded the plate with
syrup. Then she piled a handful of fresh fruit and whipped cream on
top of everything.

Kyle sat down next to her with his
own plate of bacon and pancakes.

“
More joe, please.” She placed her
cup next to his. The coffee pot sat within arm’s reach of both of
them.

“
I think you need to slow down,
short-round,” Kyle said.

“
I’ll flash a boob if you pour me
coffee.”

“
We have a deal!”

He poured coffee, one eye on what
he was doing, one eye on what she was doing. As best he could, at
any rate.

Spilled not a drop.

Karen pulled back one side of her
pink robe. Just enough for Kyle to spot the pink nipple crowning
the tiny mound. He reached out to cop a feel. The fuzzy robe
tickled the end of fingers…

She slapped his hand
away.

“
I said nothing about touching,”
she said.

“
I was sure you did,” said
Kyle.

“
Nope.”

“
What’s it cost to
touch?”

Karen shoved a bite full of pancake
into her mouth and chewed slow. She made the appearance of
thinking—thumb under chin, eyes pointed up, cute dimples in her
cheeks.

He was certain she’d never
answer.

“
Look, buddy,” she said at last.
Karen drank some coffee. “I worked damn hard last night. All for
naught, apparently. You can let a girl eat.”

“
What do you want to eat?” Kyle
said, lifting an eyebrow and winking.

“
Pancakes.” Karen back-hand
slapped him and turned away. “Seriously, I’m hungry.”

“
Me too.”

“
Good.”

“
Yes.”

“
So, shut up already.”

Kyle and Karen ate, mostly in
wicked silence. He glanced at her, she at him. They washed away the
taste of syrup with cantaloupe.

He fed her one last piece of fruit.
And then he picked up her plate.

“
Leave it,” said Karen. She stood,
loosening the robe. “Come into the living room.”

“
Why?”

“
I’ll show the cost of touching.”
Karen picked up the can of whipped cream.

2

Kyle got towels from the upstairs
bathroom and hurried back down. His girlfriend was spread out on
the couch, hands behind her head, feet crossed. The whipped cream
sat on the coffee table.

The drapes were drawn shut tight.
Scented candles burned over the mantlepiece. One might’ve been
hickory. The other was almost certainly the lavender one he bought
for her birthday. He never could be certain of scents.

Karen wiggled her toes at
him.

He stood in the doorway, towels
under one arm, erection already popping up. How could he be in the
mood after last night?

“
What’s the price?” he said. “For
touching.”

“
You’ll see,” said Karen. She
didn’t move. The image of pure laziness. Well deserved, he might
add.

“
You don’t even know, don’t
you?”

“
I like to make this up as I
go.”

“
So I’ve noticed
lately.”

“
You don’t approve?” She sat
upright, as if doing a sit-up. The robe slipped, revealing her
creamy skin. Her tone was serious, high pitched a bit. He had no
idea if she were teasing him.

“
If I didn’t?”

Karen smirked, and lifted her chin.
“You like it. Say it.”

“
I like it very much.”

“
Say my name.”

“
Now you’re being
silly.”

She pulled the robe tight across
her bosom and crossed her arms. The pout on her face was to die
for. Innocent and wicked at the same time.

“
Karen.”

“
You give up too easy.”

“
Guess I’m easy like
that.”

Karen crossed her legs under her.
Indian style, like they used to call in school.

Kyle tossed the towels on the edge
of the sofa. He remained standing, hands crossed in front of
him.

“
Well don’t be,” she said. “I’ll
get bored.”

“
Don’t want that.” He wanted to
follow up with some snarky response. Nothing came to mind, so he
remained silent. And waited for Karen to take the lead. Something
she excelled at. “Tell, what’s the price?”

“
Now you’re jumping ahead of
yourself,” said Karen. “You have another price to pay
entirely.”

“
What’s that?”

“
I’m cold.” She shrugged her
shoulders high and hugged herself. The room temperature was
perfectly fine. Kyle was a little warm, if anything.

He suspected the warmth had nothing
to do with the heat kicking in or the air conditioner not working.
His erection had gone down, back to normal. From the glance
downward, he guessed Karen had noticed.

She made him warm. The way she
looked at him. The posture she was in, like a princess waiting to
be waited on. The damned candles got to his head, making him feel
woozy.

No. Not woozy. This was different,
and he’d experienced it plenty of times around Karen. Now they’d
been together for a year, and lived in the same house for the last
month.

His girlfriend had an uncanny way
of making him feel small. Despite her short stature and wiry frame.
She had a strong chin and a big nose. Patrician. People who didn’t
know her, assumed she was arrogant. Or stuck up.

Kyle knew better.

She volunteered at the animal
shelter. Wanted to adopt cats, but patiently waited for the “right
one” to need a home. She generously loaned money to friends, and
never expected to paid back. She was shrewd at business, and gave
to charity.

“
What are you staring at?” Karen
said.

Kyle got down on his knees. He took
both her hands in his. Her finger bones were so small and delicate
compared to his rough hands. The nails were painted bright red, the
skin satin smooth except for the left fingertips, the guitar
calluses.

He kissed her knuckles.

“
That’s a start,” she
said.

“
How much debt do I have to
go?”

“
Don’t think about that. Think
about what you’re going to do to me.”

“
With pleasure. Might have to stop
thinking though.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Too much thinking, I’ll stop
doing.”

He kissed her wrist. The fuzzy robe
tickled his nose. He sneezed, turning his head away just in
time.

“
That was sexy,” he said. He
pushed the sleeve up her arm.

“
But can you recover?” she said,
false mockery in her voice.

“
You have doubts?”

Karen responded with a half grin,
and tilted her head to one side.

He placed his hands on her knees
and parted the robe just slightly. She wore nothing underneath,
naked. Her privates were prickly with hair. She had shaved down
there as an experiment, and now it was growing back. Kyle didn’t
let her shave him.

Karen had been disappointed, but
didn’t take it as a rejection. They had worked on their
relationship in small steps, earning trust little by
little.

Wow, had it payed off.

Kyle kissed her ankle. Another,
lower. Still lower. Over the tan lines on her feet, where her
strappy sandals covered. He knew what was coming.

She bucked and kicked her foot
away.

“
Hey!” she said, squirming.
“That’s not part of the price.”

“
Give me some
direction.”

Karen nodded. The wicked grin
played across her face again. “Go north, young man.”

He kissed her ankle again, and
avoided touching her foot. Little, soft kisses up. One hand on the
back of her calf, the other stroking around the kneecap. He did the
same with the other leg, going only to the knees.

Karen played with his hair the
whole time. Stroking, pulling, grabbing a fistful of hair. She
yanked his head, to focus his kisses where she wanted.

He massaged her leg muscles. Her
waxed skin was smooth to the touch, luxurious. Easy on the fingers
and lips. She still tasted like the wild sex party from last
night.

Tasted like a mixture of her and
him.

Then he pressed further north. Head
between her legs now, alternating his kisses on her thighs. Until
he focused on one leg, closer to the sweet spot. She quivered
beneath him, fingers pulling apart the robe more. One of her
fingers brushed her clit, just once, but not very long.

Kyle pulled away.

“
No, no, no,” Karen said. “You’re
not done yet.”

“
I know what the price is,” he
said, voice husky. Needy. “And we’re both going to pay
it.”

He picked up the whipped cream
can.

“
Oh God,” she said.

AFTER HOURS ON
THE FULL MOON

1

He sat at the far end of the bar,
near the front doors and far away from the stage, facing away from
Cheryl. A handsome man, but not like the regulars at all. Clean
shaved, dark, roguish good looks but not Hollywood stunning. He
wore jeans and a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled
up.