by S. J. Lewis
Claudia selected a dish equally incendiary and smiled just as sweetly back at Anna. No, they were never going to be friends. Anna was every bit as competitive as she was.
“So, what did you think of him?” Anna leaned forward over the table and asked, grinning.
“Who?” Claudia turned her head to look at the back of their rapidly receding waiter. He was average height, average build, latino, as were most of the staff, and young.
“Not him!” Anna laughed. “Sam…Sam Pender.”
“Oh.” Claudia shrugged. “He was very polite. Officer Pipes doesn’t seem to like him, though.” She tried to keep her expression neutral. Anna apparently had some interest in Sam. This was another reason to dislike her.
“Pipes is afraid of him,” Anna shrugged. “But…come on, you didn’t get a little bit warm around Sam?”
“I just met him,” Claudia protested. “Anyway, I’m here on business.” She remembered the cell phone he’d passed to her. Her hand slid up to pat her shirt pocket. It was still there. What did he intend for her to do with it?
“That should be all it takes.” Anna leaned a little bit closer. “Unless…you prefer women?”
“What?”
“No offense!” Anna protested mildly, sitting back, showing her palms. “I’m sorry. It’s just that our Sam usually has an immediate effect on women.”
“I’m sure he does,” Claudia responded calmly, even though her heart was galloping. The look in Anna’s eyes when she asked the question had been a little disturbing. Anna’s tastes seemed to be eclectic. “But, really…I’m here on business. I can’t afford to be distracted.”
Anna smirked. “Best to keep away from Sam, then,” she said. It sounded like a warning.
***
Now back in her hotel room, Claudia kicked off her shoes and flopped down on the small couch. At least Simonds Assurance didn’t do things on the cheap. They’d rented her a small but very comfortable suite. She wondered how much it cost per night.
After a moment, she got up and began pacing. It helped her to think, and anyway, her meal was making it difficult to sit still. She usually enjoyed spicy food once in a while. She’d also thought that a girl raised on Midwestern barbecue could handle just about everything, but she realized now that had been a vain hope. It had not been a dinner so much as a contest between her and Anna Turco. She thought she could at least claim a draw, especially if Anna felt just like she did at this moment.
After their long, rambling conversation over dinner, she thought she had Anna figured out now. As long as she was on the job, Anna would be helpful. She said she wanted the matter settled as much as anybody, and she’d certainly acted that way so far. Once Anna figured they were off the clock though, everything became a contest between them. Anna kept trying to set the forum and the rules. Just knowing this was going to be a distraction, on or off the clock. Worse yet, she kept remembering that look in Anna’s eyes. Something about it…she shivered. No, that couldn’t be. Dianne was the only woman she’d ever done that with, each time only after some harrowing experience when they’d both served on the force. She’d been too long away from Sam. That had to be it.
That reminded her of the cell phone again. She fished it out of her pocket and held it up to look at it. It was incredibly small, thin, and light. She flipped the cover open. A scrap of yellow paper fluttered out and landed on her lap. She retrieved it. There was a phone number written on it. She knew Sam’s handwriting. Whoever had written the number down, it wasn’t him. This writing looked feminine.
She debated calling the number now, but decided against it. She was tired. The clock might say it was early in the evening, but her body kept telling her it was much later. She wanted a shower and a good long sleep, but she’d need something to help settle her stomach if she was going to sleep at all. She sat up and used the hotel phone to call room service.
She was just getting out of the shower when she heard a knock at her door.
“Who is it?” she called out. She picked up a towel and began to dry herself.
“Room service.” The voice was muffled coming through the door, but it sounded like a young woman’s.
“Just put it on the table, thanks,” Claudia called out again, a bit louder. She heard the door open. A little later, she heard it shut. She picked up another towel and used it to dry her hair. She’d have to brush it out later, or it would look like a brillo pad in the morning, but she could do that just before she turned in. The hotel provided bathrobes to go along with the towels. She wrapped one around herself and padded barefoot out into the front room of her suite.
She was busy belting the robe, so she was looking down. When she looked up, she saw a man sitting in one of the chairs. She yelped, jumping backwards, her heart suddenly hammering at her ribcage.
“Easy, Red,” Sam grinned at her. “It’s just me.”
Claudia took a deep breath to steady herself. Then she walked briskly over to him. She slapped him hard across the face. Sam let her.
“Don’t DO that!” she hissed. “You could’ve let me know you were here!”
“Yeah, I guess I could’ve at that,” he admitted. He rubbed at the cheek she’d slapped. “Sorry, Red. I couldn’t resist.”
“And what happened to ‘we don’t know each other’? Who let you in? Room service? That’s a helluva way to keep things secret!”
Sam just grinned up at her. “Amparo’s not gonna tell anybody.”
“How do you know that?”
“Her father works for me,” he shrugged. He stood up, facing her, very close. She had an urge to step back and an equally strong urge to hurl herself at him. So, she just stood there, looking up into his eyes. Her heart was still hammering, but it wasn’t from surprise and shock now.
“Sam, what’s going on?” she asked. “Please tell me.”
“I will, Red,” he nodded. His hands reached out. He began unfastening the belt to her robe. “But first…I’ve missed you.”
She wondered absently if all the drapes had been drawn. Then he had the belt off. He held it in one hand and began to slide the robe off of her shoulders. He went slowly. Claudia found herself transported back to their first meeting years ago, when he’d done the same thing. This time, though, they were alone. There were no other men, no naked, blindfolded and handcuffed Dianne to complicate things. She closed her eyes and felt the robe slide off of her onto the floor. Sam took her into his arms. He kissed her, hard. Her arms went around him. His face felt bristly against hers, and his clothes felt rough against her bare skin. She wallowed in the sensations.
“Sam…” she gasped, breaking the kiss. “Sam, wait…”
“I missed you, Red,” he huffed. He was breathing as hard as she was.
“Sam…” she almost sobbed. “Don’t speak. Tie me up and fuck my brains out. Use me. Use me hard.”
He used the belt from her robe to tie her hands behind her painfully tight. Then he spun her around to face him. He slapped her, but nowhere near as hard as she had slapped him. When he put his big, hard hands on her shoulders and pushed down, she offered no more than a token resistance before she sank to her knees on the thick tan carpeting. She looked away as he unbuckled his belt and pulled it free of the loops. He put it around her neck and pulled it snug. She whimpered, but kept her eyes on the floor. She heard the sound of a zipper. A moment later, he slapped her again…this time with his cock. He was already big and hard for her. She turned her head away and he cock-slapped her again. When he gripped her by her hair, she whimpered and opened her mouth for him. She kept her eyes closed.
He wouldn’t let go of his belt or her hair, so in the end she had to seek for him with her mouth. She could just smell the faint trace of his musk. It tickled something at the back of her nose, making her ready for him, hungry for him. She closed her lips around the head of his cock and took him in, shallowly. If he wanted to go deeper, he would have to do something about it himself.
He did. He pulled her head towards him,
easily overcoming her weak attempt to resist. She felt his cock hit the back of her throat. The feeling made her shudder and moan.
Now he let go of both his belt and her hair. His hands clamped around her head, holding her still as he fucked her mouth, slowly and deeply. She grunted with each stroke. She knew it excited him and knowing that in turn excited her. If he wanted to come in her mouth, she was ready for that, even eager. He would be just as hard and just as hungry for her an hour or so later.
He didn’t come in her mouth. She felt him pull out, then another hard slap with his cock. He gripped her hair again to pull her to her feet and then lifted her and threw her over his shoulder. Her head hung down behind him. He slapped her ass hard once. It stung. She stifled her yelp as best she could and he carried her into the suite’s bedroom. He threw her down onto the bed so hard that she bounced, and then he was on top of her, pinning her down, stuffing a wad of white cloth into her mouth. She struggled and squirmed as he thrust first one knee, then the other, between her legs, forcing them apart. He gripped the end of his belt again, using it to keep her from wriggling away while he used his other hand to guide his cock into her. She didn’t make it easy for him. She could still move her hips in an erotic little game of keep-away, but she knew that, one way or another, Sam would win.
He rammed himself into her hard and deeply and she squealed through the cloth stuffed in her mouth. She could have spat it out at any time. Instead, she kept it clenched in her teeth so she could make as much noise as she wanted without waking the whole hotel. She kept on struggling as he fucked her, whimpering and moaning like an unwilling victim. He held her as still as he could, plowing into her again and again until her whole world narrowed down to his cock in her pussy.
“Tight,” he grunted. She felt her little world explode.
***
“So now can you tell me what’s going on here?” She stirred against him in the bed, loving the feel of his body next to hers. She took another sip of the milk that room service had brought. It hadn’t quite gone warm while they were playing. “What’s with all the secret-agent stuff?” She brushed at her hair with the fingers of her free hand. It was a mess.
“Don’t you think it’d make your job a little harder if people knew we knew each other?” Sam countered. They were sitting side by side in the bed. He had his arm around her. His fingers were brushing against the side of her breast. He’d turned the lights down and the air conditioner up.
“Fair enough,” Claudia shrugged. “But why slip me the phone in the elevator if you were going to come here tonight anyway?”
“Wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get here,” he shrugged. “How could I tell if you were gonna order room service?”
“And the phone number?”
“It’ll get you to me, but not directly. A woman’ll answer it. She’ll call me and I’ll call you right back.”
“Who’s the woman?”
“Just a friend, Red. She’s sixty-two, so don’t get jealous.”
It was her turn to shrug. She took another sip of milk. It seemed to be helping to settle her stomach. “I have a question…questions, rather.”
“Shoot. I’ll answer what I can.”
“Something’s been bothering me. Why was that company running such a large payroll in cash? Isn’t that kind of unusual these days?”
“Oh, that.” Sam shook his head. “Everybody here knows, Red, but no one’ll tell you. What do they call it? An open secret?”
“You’ll tell me,” she prodded.
“Yeah, I will. You remember what I said about this town bein’ a cesspit?”
“Yes.”
“Too much money floatin’ around makes some people real greedy. They’re puttin’ up a power plant out there. It’s supposed to burn trash. They got some kind of government grant for the construction. The contractor didn’t want to pay union wages, so he went and hired a lot of guest workers…mostly Mexicans. Now they’re a month behind schedule because the work force is willing but inexperienced.” He shook his head. “Anyway, that’s not the point. All those guest workers get paid in cash, once a month. The story is that the workers don’t trust American banks. Some of ‘em don’t, but that ain’t the real story.”
“What is?”
“What’s the one thing about cash that can make it more useful than electronic money, Red?”
“Cash isn’t as traceable.”
“Right. And every one of those guest workers, each and every month, has to pay a nice little kickback to the construction company. If any one of ‘em objects, they yank his papers and truck him back to the border.”
“That’s…”
“That’s what they’re used to, Red. You want anything done back home, you gotta pay la mordita. They come here and it’s the same. They’re used to it.”
“La what?”
“La mordita. The little bite. The bribe.”
Claudia pulled away a little and looked at him. She felt cold. “Just how involved in this are you?”
“Not at all, Red.” He looked straight back at her. “My company did some preliminary work on the plant, a feasibility study. When we told ‘em that if they built it there was no way they could ever run it at anything but a loss they thanked us kindly and hired another outfit to tell ‘em what they wanted to hear. That was some time ago.”
“So…why are you here now? Do you live around here?”
Sam chuckled. “No,” he said. “My ranch is clear over in the next county.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“They still owe my company for the study, Red. They paid only half of what they owe us. I come back from time to time to try and get the rest. Arrogant bastards think they can do as they please.” The look in his eye when he said that chilled her. She drained the last of the milk, set the glass aside on the nightstand and snuggled closer to him for warmth. His hand cupped her breast now.
“You got anything, Red?” he asked. “I know it’s early…”
“Nothing yet, Sam,” she admitted. “But I just started.”
“Right.” He nodded. They were both silent for a moment.
“Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know an Anna Turco?”
“Met her once or twice. She worked with James.”
“James? Not Jim?”
“Didn’t feel right callin’ him Jim, Red. He wasn’t the type. Callin’ him ‘Mr. Andersen’ didn’t feel right after a while either.” He sighed. “Smartest man I ever knew when it came to some things. Learned a lot from him.”
“What do you think of Anna?” Claudia steered the conversation back on topic.
Sam shrugged. “Smart woman, kinda intense close-up. Puts me off.”
“Attractive?”
“Red,” he sighed. His hand squeezed the soft flesh of her breast gently. “I met her after I met you. She could be every other man in the world’s most gorgeous piece of ass ever. It wouldn’t matter to me at all. Like I said…after you, evr’y other woman I met was like plain vanilla, over an’ over again.”
Claudia let it go. She thought that Anna Turco would be more like Rocky Road than vanilla, but Sam was totally sincere. “I missed you,” she said.
“Missed you somethin’ awful, Red,” he replied. He kissed her forehead. His hand on her breast began teasing her nipple.
“Sam.”
“Red?” The tone of her voice stopped his wonderful manipulations.
“What are we going to do after this is all over?”
“I wish I knew, Red,” he sighed. “All I know for sure right now is I don’t wanna miss you again.”
She didn’t want to miss him again either, but she could see no way to avoid it. They both had businesses to run. They lived at opposite ends of the country. It was impossible, and she didn’t want to think about it, not now with him so close to her.
She threw back the covers and clambered out of bed.
“Red?” Sam seemed worried.
She pa
used to grin at him. “Gotta use the bathroom,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” Her grin turned lickerish. “I have something special in mind for when I do.”
She was longer in the bathroom than she’d expected to be. Her hair was nearly a hopeless tangle, and it took a while to get her coppery locks brushed out. If she didn’t get that done tonight she’d look like a frayed mop in the morning. She didn’t want to appear that way in the morning…especially not in front of Anna Turco.
Sam had apparently been waiting patiently just outside the bathroom door. When she came out, he grabbed her and gave her a quick kiss.
“My turn,” he grinned. “If you get tired of waiting, start without me.” He shut the door behind him.
Claudia chuckled. She could at least set things up. She retrieved a thin belt of her own and looped it around her neck. The belt from her robe was lying on the floor next to the bed where Sam had dropped it after he untied her. She used it to hobble her ankles together before realizing she’d gotten slightly ahead of herself. Oh, well. She shuffled back over to the dresser and selected two scarves. When Sam came out of the bathroom, he found her kneeling on the floor, bent over so that the tip of her nose was just touching the carpet. Her wrists were crossed together behind her back. She’d seen an actress do something similar once in a rented video, except she’d offered her partner a pair of handcuffs first. It had been a powerfully erotic scene, especially after her partner actually used the handcuffs.
She heard Sam come over to her. He just stood there for a moment. She was sure he was looking at her intently, maybe storing her image away in his memory. She hoped she looked as sweetly submissive as that actress had.
He tied her hands behind her with the scarf, taking his time. He paused for a long moment after he was done. Was he wondering what to do with the other scarf? She could tell him, but that would kind of ruin the setup.