Upside Down (23 page)

“So, you really meant it when you said ‘no sex’?”

“Cindy, I’m shocked,” I exclaimed in an exaggerated tone. “How unladylike of you! This is our first date, remember?”

She shook her head as we stood up to leave the restaurant and whispered in my ear.

“You are a very strange woman.”

I ignored the goose-bumps that her throaty voice, along with some very naughty images inside my head,
raised in my body. We took the taxi, I gave the driver her address, then, turned to her and said it. Just like that.

“I don’t know if I’m in love with Mark because of you.”

She looked genuinely shocked. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times but didn’t say anything. Finally, she managed to whisper.

“What do you mean, Carol?”

“I think I love him, most of the time. When I’m with Mark, I’m pretty sure of that. When you are around, I’m not so sure anymore. This attraction I feel for you baffles me. Plus, I’m navigating completely uncharted waters, here. I’ve never loved anybody and I’ve never been attracted to a woman, either.”

“Do you think of me when you’re with him?”

“Sometimes,” I answered truthfully but was embarrassed to admit it, so, I looked away. She grabbed my chin to make me look back at her.

“Do you think of him when you’re with me?”

“Sometimes.”

“You said ‘no sex’ so there isn’t much I
can
do, other than this.”

She held my face and crushed my mouth, biting my lower lip. The shocking pain spread through my body but concentrated in my mid-section and lower parts. I gasped at it and she invaded me with her tongue. I realized I had missed her, so, I
ran my fingers along her neck and shoulders. I caressed her throat and breasts and she lessened the pressure of her teeth and lips but didn’t let go of my mouth. We got lost in a breathtaking kiss until the taxi pulled over. I opened an eye and saw we had stopped in front of her building.

S
he tongued my ear then whispered into it, “Did you think about Mark?”

“I wasn’t thinking at all.”

“Good girl!”

She was still chuckling when she climbed off.
I gave my address to the driver and he took me there in less than ten minutes. I wished he had taken longer because maybe then I would have been able to walk straight when I left his car. I just hoped he thought I was drunk.

* * * *

The next day was a bittersweet one for me. I found a million little excuses to walk by the reception counter during the morning just to get a glimpse of Cindy. Every time I did so, my heart skipped several beats at the sight of her and my innermost parts clenched at the memories of how much pleasure we have found together.

By mid-morning, I had done absolutely nothing useful for my company and was feeling like a third-
grade schoolgirl with a crush on the new kid. I needed to do something about it if hoped to get any work done. I buzzed Cindy and asked her to see me. The little tramp took her sweet time with that, too. She was toying with me and she knew I knew it. But, she was such a wonderful, gorgeous, delicious little tramp I was way past the point of being annoyed by her games. I had had a miserable night dreaming of her and the endless possibilities. Now, I just wanted to check for myself if reality would live up to my expectations. I had had a pretty good idea of it during our scene in the shower but I still wondered what a whole night of Cindy would do to my life. I trembled at the thought. She chose that instant to open my door and I asked myself if she could read minds, too.

“Hi, there, Cindy. Have a seat.”

I pointed at the chair opposite my table but she ignored it and came towards me like a bullet train. She leaned down and framed my face with her hands. There was a raw hunger in her eyes that I didn’t remember seeing in them before. My mouth went dry and breathing became a fiery action as air burned in my lungs and air passages as it went in and out of me. I swallowed hard at her predator expression.

“You’ve teased me all morning, haven’t you? Parading your sweet little ass around the reception every five minutes, making me want to scream in frustration.”

Before I could process that information, she pulled me up. I snaked my arms around her as her round thigh parted mine and I felt the edge of my table on the back of my thighs. I wound my hands in her hair as she cupped my bottom and pushed me against her softness. Our mouths were inches apart but our eyes were locked together. Our breaths mingled, heartbeats gone wild. I saw there was a vein in her neck that seemed about to explode but I was certain mine was the same because I felt it throbbing in rhythm with other parts of my body. I eliminated the couple of inches separating our lips and whispered softly. My words made our mouths touch. It was a butterfly touch but it sent a wildfire throughout my nerve endings.

“
You did the same to me.”

“Prove it.”

I took great pleasure in the challenge. I licked her lips, teasing her without really kissing her. My hands in her hair kept her from moving her head much but her hands squeezed my buns. I smiled against her lips, licking them again.

“Eager much?”

She gasped when I abandoned her lips and traced a moist line with the tip of my tongue until I found her earlobe. I played with it for a while as I inserted my thumb in her mouth. She sucked at it, then, said, “You’re a tease.”

“You have no idea, missy.”

But, for me, teasing time was over because I couldn’t stand the wait any longer. I pulled away just enough for our eyes to meet and mine bored into hers. The dark blue pools of desire told exactly what I needed to know. She was as turned-on as I was. Good.

“Would you like to
wrap this up later tonight? At my place?”

My irony wasn’t wasted on her. She smiled and sighed.

“What are the terms for this negotiation?”

“No predetermined
terms,” I stated.

“Anything goes?”

Her sensual smile made my knees weak and I was glad she was still holding me tight.

“Anything goes, Cindy,” I agreed but my voice sounded hoarser than usual because my insides h
ad turned to embers, slowly burning for her. I pecked her lips, teasing both of us, for the last time. “I can’t wait.”

She always had to have the last word so she kissed me deeply and thoroughly. We were out of breath when she let go of me and pulled away.

“I’ll be there at eight.”

I got home around seven in order to prepare the apartment. I dimmed the lights, spread dozens of scented candles around and prepared dinner. I got the bottle of wine I had selected on Sunday and put it in a b
ucket full of ice in the middle of the table.

Cindy arrived on time and I served dinner. She smiled, but this time, it was a sincere grin.

“You’ve got many hidden talents, Ms. Sullivan. I never pegged you as the domestic type.”

“I would
n’t say I’m domestic but I love cooking.”

She took a bite of the roast beef and sighed.

“This is delicious. Congratulations.”

I bowed my head and we ate in silence for a while.

“Cindy, what about your job at the bar? How is it going?”

“I
quit it last Sunday. It was only a temporary thing, anyway. I’ve been doing a lot of overtime at Horizon and learning so much there that it made sense for me to quit the temporary job.”

“You’re right.”

I couldn’t really concentrate on what she was saying because I was hypnotized by her lips. I watched them move as she spoke and imagined all the things I wanted to do to those luscious lips and everything they could do to me. I lost track of the conversation.

“Carol?”

She snapped her fingers in front of my face and I startled.

“Hey, what happened? You seemed to have turned off. Are you OK?”

I decided, then and there, that I had wasted too much time already. I needed to get my life back on track. I had to be direct to accomplish that.

“Cindy, I’ve got to be honest with you. Lately, I haven’t been myself. Sometimes, I think it’s because I’m going to turn thirty in a couple of weeks. Other times, I think I’ve changed after I met you. Truth is, I don’t know why
, but I know I’m different.”

“How so?”

“I’ve always been a sexual predator. I like dominating my sex partners. I like rough sex. I didn’t use to get much satisfaction from vanilla sex.”

“I remember you told me that when we
hooked up.”

“Exactly. That day, you showed me how much pleasure I could get from a very soft touch, a woman’s touch. Mark, since he told me he loved me, has been doing the same. He has shown me I can get a lot of satisfaction from making love instead of fucking.”

When she didn’t comment on that and didn’t seem uncomfortable with the subject, I continued.

“In a nutshell, my world has turned upside down and I’m trying to straighten it out and find myself in the process. For the first time, I’ve considered having a long-term relationship. I want to try it with Mark but I can’t do it until I’m sure of my feelings for you. That is why I’ve asked you out yesterday and today.”

“Is that why Mark is on vacation?”

“Yes. While he was around I felt like I was cheating on him and for all my reckless, wild behavior
, I’ve never been unfaithful to my partners. Again, until I met you. That day you took me by surprise and I used that excuse to justify my behavior, both to myself and to Mark. I know the truth, though, and it is that I could have stopped you. If I wanted to, I could have said ‘no’. I’m sure you would have listened to me. Isn’t that right?”

“You would have needed to convince me you didn’t want me, first. Just saying ‘no’ wouldn’t have been enough because all my senses said otherwise.”

“This is precisely my point. I did want you. I still do. How can I be truly in love with Mark and lust for you at the same time?”

“
Carol, they are two distinct things. So, in my opinion, your first question should be - do you love Mark?”

“I don’t know. I know that
I’ve never thought about having a long-term relationship before. Now, I do. I guess that’s what I want,” I reached her hand across the table and covered it with mine. “Except, when I’m with you. When I hold you, all I can think of is how good you make me feel. Do you feel the same?”

“Carol, I told you yesterday I’ve been
in love a couple of times. What I feel for you looks like it, but I can’t tell for sure. It’s too soon,” she played with my fingers while she spoke, then, she took my thumb into her mouth and licked it like she would do to a popsicle. My whole body felt the amazing sensations her mouth stirred. I moaned and closed my eyes. “Now, what I can say for sure is that you’re killing me here. Let’s get down to business.”

The sultry smile that followed her words melted the rest of my logical thinking.
We stood up at the same time and before I knew how we were hugging and kissing each other with renewed passion.

I caressed her face and neck as she pulled my shirt off. I tugged at her blouse but my fingers were shaking and I couldn’t open the buttons. Meanwhile, she unzipped my skirt and pulled it down my legs. She pulled off her own blouse as I
opened her pants and took them off. For a moment, we stood there, in the middle of the dining room, looking at each other. All her sinful curves were exactly as I remembered them.

“Gosh, you’re more beautiful than I remembered,” she gave me a tempting smile as she tossed her hair over her shoulders.

“You are exactly as I remembered,” I opened my arms for her. “Come here,” when she covered the short distance between us and her warmth enveloped me, I closed my arms around her, pulling her close and kissed the tip of her nose. “I missed you.”

I showered her face with butterfly kisses and teased her mouth with my tongue and teeth. I played with her for a while until we were both panting, then, I grabbed her face in my hands and kissed her
, deeply and with all my heart. I swirled my tongue inside her soft mouth, inviting hers for a sensual dance. She returned the kiss, nibbling at my lower lip and sliding her tongue against mine.

All the while, my hands kneaded the soft flesh
of her shoulders and back, until I found her buttocks. There, I splayed both hands over her firm, round bottom and molded her to me. She whimpered inside my mouth as I ground her crotch against mine. I set a rhythmic movement to the grinding that matched the way I darted my tongue in and out of her mouth, then, her ears.

We both gasped when her cool hands found the hard nipples under my lacy bra. She didn’t bother open
ing the fragile piece of underwear. She skillfully cupped my breasts and pushed them up and out of their confinement in such way that the bra pushed them up together making both breasts jut up. She looked down at her handiwork and grinned. Desire glinted in the dark blue depths of her eyes. She licked her lips and I sighed.

“They look like an offering, don’t they? So beautiful,” she caressed them and my heart stopped for a second or two. “They are begging to be kissed, don’t you think?”