High Score

by Sally Apple

  To keep the playing field even, he pressed the random button on his wrist control to send occasional unexpected jolts to the vibrator egg inside her. After a few seconds, she twitched and chirruped like a bird.

  He felt a little bad, seducing her a week before her wedding, but she’d come to him, after all. She could have stood him up tonight—he’d more than halfway expected it—but here she was. And he couldn’t resist her offer.

  His motto held firm—all’s fair in love and war.

  Problem was, she had grown on him. He’d spent hours just today thinking about her, wondering if she would meet him tonight or not, agonizing over whether he ought to call her and confirm. When she’d walked through the front door of his store, his heart had expanded with joy.

  But time was running out. This weekend was their last chance to be together before her relatives started arriving in town and things got real hectic.

  “Are you sure you want to get married?” he asked. “What’s the big rush?”

  “What? I, uh—we’ve been planning the wedding for months.”

  “But why him? What’s-his-face—Dickie?” Just the sound of the babyish name made Thor want to kick his butt.

  “Well…nobody else has made me an offer lately.”

  He snorted in disgust. “Do you have any idea how lame that sounds?”

  “I like Dickie.” Her voice sounded rebellious. “He’s kind, he’s polite, he’s never moody. We’re very compatible.”

  “Except in bed!”

  “I’ll change that. With what I’m learning this weekend—”

  “Shit! Who are you trying to convince? You don’t want to marry that clown!” Thor downshifted and stomped on the gas, trying to dissipate the surge of jealousy. His body pressed into the seat as her spunky little car leaped forward. Leaving the city limits behind, he roared through the farmland on a secondary road. “Never mind. Sorry I mentioned it.”

  Why had he initiated that conversation? After tiptoeing around the subject through the time he’d spent with her, why bring it up now? Was he a glutton for punishment?

  She fell silent, except for the occasional squeak when the egg randomly switched on.

  He was still fuming when he turned into his driveway and parked in front of the house.

  “Thor, is something wrong?”

  “Not a damn thing.” He switched off the ignition, but didn’t move to open the door.

  “Did I upset you? Because, if I did—”

  “It’s not you, it’s me. I hate the thought of you marrying someone who won’t make you happy.” He filled his lungs with air and let his breath out slowly, struggling to suppress his fury.

  A combination of depression, frustration and rage had been fermenting inside him for days, building to impossible proportions as the deadline of her wedding day loomed. He wasn’t going to get a chance to woo her properly before someone else snatched her away—someone who didn’t fully appreciate what he was getting.

  Thor had never before realized just how precious time could be. In fact, he had been extravagant with it in the past, lavish in his wasteful expenditure. Now the grains of sand were slipping through the hourglass in a rush. And it was killing him.

  If only he’d met her sooner. He’d only met her a week ago, not enough time to develop a relationship. Why he cared about her as much as he did was the biggest mystery of all time.

  A future with Shelley was forbidden, beyond his reach, unattainable. For my own good, I’ve got to let her go!

  “You’re right, of course,” he said. “It’s none of my business, anyway.”

  She murmured something that sounded like she wished it was.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I was just…wishing things were different. I wish I had more time to get to know you.”

  “What more do you need? You know I’m selling my store so I can manage the Bad Boys. You know where I live. You know I can give you a climax whenever you want one.”

  She smiled at that. “True. And I know you’re hung like a horse. But I don’t know whether you’ve ever been married. Have you?”

  “Once. For a year. It didn’t work out.”

  “Did you have any children?”

  “Never had a chance. She didn’t want any.”

  “You were with me last weekend, and brought me home with you tonight. Does that mean you don’t have anyone else in your life right now?”

  “You could say that.” He turned toward her. “Shelley, I find you very attractive. You’re a lovely person. In fact— I wish to hell you weren’t getting married next week. That purely sucks!”

  “Even if I weren’t, I don’t see how it would change anything between us. You’re going on the road with the Bad Boys, and you won’t be around for quite a while. I wouldn’t fit into your life—”

  “I know, I know.” He shook his head, feeling confused and out of sorts. He gritted his teeth to keep a rein on his temper. No sense taking his wrath out on her. “I just wish— What the hell, let’s go in the house. I’m going to give you something to remember me by.”

  She smiled and reached for the door handle.

  He grabbed her duffel bag out of the backseat and followed her up the sidewalk to the porch. Just for kicks, he lifted his wrist, selected a button on the remote and raised the vibration level on her egg. She did a little two-step jig going up the steps.

  Pausing in the entry to shut the door behind him and peel Shelley out of her jacket, he felt a rising urgency to get her to the bedroom. He tossed her coat onto the coat tree, shrugged out of his leather vest and threw it in the general direction of the tree, as well.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him, obviously waiting for direction. With one stride, he closed the space between them. With his hands on her ribs, he swiveled her toward him and pulled her tight against his body.

  “Give me a kiss.” He didn’t wait for her to comply, but tipped her chin up and lowered his mouth to hers. Cupping her head with his left hand and sliding his right one around her waist, he held her firmly as his tongue slipped between her parted lips and teeth. He explored her mouth and tangled his tongue with hers. His breath grew deeper and heavier, anticipating what he would do to her once he got her naked.

  He crowded her, stepping past her a little, causing her to stagger backward off balance. Step by step, he continued inching toward the bedroom, kissing her all the way. Held upright in his arms, she had no choice but to cling to his neck and stumble along.

  Inside the doorway, he halted. Gazing into her eyes, he pushed her gown off her shoulders and down her arms. It pooled on the floor at their feet. He gathered her in his arms and lifted her onto the king-sized waterbed. Her panties hummed against his forearm as he laid her down.

  “Let’s get those off you.” He pushed buttons on his wrist control, as well as the smaller remote in his pocket. “You don’t need ‘em now. You’ve got me.”

  He opened the duffel bag and dropped both remotes into it, then pulled her double-duty thong panties down her long legs. Those went into the duffel bag, too.

  “Pull your knees up.” He placed his hands on her thighs to nudge them wider. Gently, he removed the vibrator egg and set it aside. “I’m going to fuck you like you’ll never be fucked again.”

  She watched his every move as he stripped out of his clothes. He didn’t believe he’d ever seen a more beautiful sight in the world than this woman lying on his bed, vulnerable, waiting for him. Her blonde hair fanned around her head on the bedspread. Her lithesome body shifted restlessly, as though she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  He’d been intrigued with her from the first moment she’d entered his store a week ago, young and innocent. Now, having experienced sex in all its glory, she had the utterly intoxicating look of a vamp. His intrigue had doubled.

  As he pushed his jeans and shorts down, his cock leaped free. Her gaze focused on his swollen shaft.

  She smiled like a kid with a hundred dollar bill in a toy store. “I can’
t get over how big you are!”

  “And it’s all yours—every inch.” He lowered himself to his hands and knees on the bed, moved into position over her. An overwhelming desire to take her and claim her as his own burgeoned out of control. “You’re mine, baby. Tonight, you are all mine.”

  She spread her legs, cradling his hips. He had fallen a little short of covering her, a deliberate move on his part, so his mouth could sample her breast. He suctioned her nipple between his teeth and teased the tip of it with his tongue.

  She moaned and writhed.

  He pressed his belly against her mound and rubbed forward and back.

  Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes.

  He cautioned himself not to push her to the brink too soon, and raised himself on his elbows and knees. He liked coming simultaneously with her, experiencing her inner spasms around his cock, enjoying a wonderful boost toward his own orgasm.

  Shifting himself further up her body, he aligned his shaft between her legs, probing her soft wetness with the blunt tip of his cock. “You’re hot, baby,” he breathed. “You don’t need any extra lubrication tonight.”

  “I’m ready for you, Thor,” she agreed. “I can’t wait any longer. Take me, please. Deep and hard!”

  He sank into her, feeling her tightness impede his progress, holding him back. Waves of pleasure radiated outward through his body as he pushed beyond that minor constriction, putting his weight behind his thrust. His craze for more of her made him lightheaded and slightly delirious. Beset by the familiar tunnel vision, his only thought was of possessing her, absorbing her essence and making her a part of himself. For this moment in time, they were one.

  She whimpered her pleasure.

  He pumped twice, three times, seating himself as deeply inside her as he could. God, he loved the sensation of invading her like that, of pinning her to the bed, immobilizing her with his superior weight and strength. She lay beneath him, surrendering all, offering the ultimate prize.

  And he took it greedily. In return, he was driven to give her all he had.

  “Oh, yes, Thor! Yes!” she cried.

  He shoved himself deep and ground his pelvis against hers. In this position, she would never be able to stir, let alone get away from him. What would it be like, he wondered, to have her captured like this forever?

  With one hand he pulled her right leg higher and slid his palm over her hip, following the contour of her rounded buttock until his fingers encountered the tender flesh between her cheeks. He drenched his fingertips in the lavish juices collecting below her vagina. So thick and slippery, it was made to order for overcoming any resistance. Probing her anus, he slipped one finger inside, craving nothing more than to invade her every way there was.

  Her mouth latched onto his neck, kissing and sucking his flesh like a frustrated vampire.

  He began moving inside her again, wanting to prolong the ecstasy, yet unable to lie still for long.

  She trembled in his arms, breathing hard. Little spasms inside her squeezed his cock, fueled his passion and sent exquisite shockwaves through his system.

  As he repeatedly sank his length into her, the tension built to an unbearable level. Exhilarated, intoxicated, driven to the point of inevitable release, he teetered on the brink for an excruciating moment.

  She climaxed violently, with cries of passion. Her contractions pushed him over. Mindlessly, blissfully, he pumped her full of his semen.

  For several moments, he sprawled atop her, completely spent. Gathering his waning strength, he shifted the weight of his torso to the side without disengaging so she could catch her breath more easily.

  “Oh, no. We did it again.” she murmured.

  “Did what?”

  “We forgot the condom again!”

  He gasped as the realization hit him and punched the pillow. “Well, shit!”

  She pushed him off her and struggled to sit up. “We forgot! How could we forget?”

  “When I’m with you, I’m a mindless idiot!” He sat up. Gazing into her wide eyes, noting her alarm, he experienced a twinge of unexpected satisfaction. He could have impregnated her! Why did that fact make him want to gloat?

  “Oh, Thor! What am I going to do?” she whispered.

  His gaze shifted, moved the length of her body, and focused on her lower belly. He placed his palm over her womb and experienced a rush of emotion he couldn’t identify. He was appalled, wasn’t he? Certainly he didn’t want her to have his baby.

  Do I?

  “We’ll have to hope for the best,” he said. “Where are you in your cycle?”

  She covered her face with her hands. “Somewhere in the middle.”

  Thor shrugged and grinned, wondering at his own calmness in the face of this possible catastrophe. "The pharmacy down the street should have a morning after pill. Personally, I don't put a lot of faith in those, but we can try."

  * * * * *

  When Shelley arrived home late Sunday morning, she dropped her duffel bag full of sex toys beside the front door and headed for the kitchen. Her stomach growled loudly. Having skipped breakfast in order to enjoy fun and games with Thor as long as possible, she’d built up an appetite.

  She poured a glass of water and swallowed one of the "morning after" pills she'd picked up at the pharmacy on her way home. This had better work!

  The fruit bowl on the counter contained one slightly shrunken orange, two apples, and a nicely speckled banana. She peeled and mixed the fruit together, then carried the bowl to the dining table.

  It had been difficult parting with Thor, knowing she probably wouldn’t see him again. And he hadn’t wanted to let her go. She’d recognized his anguish, because it matched her own. But he’d had a previously scheduled appointment to meet with his cousin Joe to finalize their plans for the sale of High Score, so she’d dropped him off at his shop and gone home.

  Knowing that he was gearing up to leave town, she hadn’t admitted how she felt about him. The truth of that had hit her like a thunderclap as she lay in Thor’s arms reeling in the aftermath of an orgasm. Choosing a lifelong partner didn’t have as much to do with sexual prowess and techniques as it did finding someone she could trust, someone with whom she had no reservations, no barriers to intimacy. She had given her body to Thor with abandon. If he had asked, she would have given him her heart.

  Her mouth was full of fruit when a knock on the front door told her she had a visitor. She wiped juice from her chin with a napkin and went to answer the summons.

  “Dickie!” She stepped aside to let him enter.

  He stepped past her without a word. His troubled expression gave her notice that all was not right in his world. Her eye fell on the High Score duffel bag by the door, and she wondered what he would think if he knew what it contained. Would he recognize the logo on it?

  “What’s wrong?” She shifted position to block his view of the bag. Surreptitiously, she kicked it around to hide the logo.

  Usually cheerful, today he appeared positively glum. “I owe you an apology.”

  “Oh? What for?” As if she didn’t know! She closed the door behind him with more impact than she intended.

  Dickie flinched at the sharp sound and gave her a startled look.

  “Come in and sit down.” She waved him toward the living room.

  Hands in his pockets, he shambled to the sofa and slumped down. Never had he looked so dejected. She took the chair set at right angles to the sofa, the better to watch his face and try to figure out where he was coming from.

  He took a deep breath as though gathering courage. “I’m sorry. I was a shit, and I don’t know how you put up with me!” Leaning forward slightly, he braced his elbows on his thighs and linked his fingers together between his knees. He kept his eyes focused on his hands.

  “You mean, about…” She bit her lip to keep from putting words in his mouth.

  Give him rope and let him hang himself.

  “I lied when I said I didn’t know what Skeeter had planned f
or the party,” he said, without looking at her. “He and the other guys hired a woman to come and, uh…”

  “A stripper?”

  “Yeah. And they reserved a room for us—her and me—at the Hilton.”

  “And?” She crossed her arms over her chest, unable to believe he was spilling his guts about his indiscretion after the fact. What devious impulse made him want to rub it in now? She’d never heard a more pathetic apology.

  “She was supposed to, you know, have sex with me.”

  Resentment flared inside her. She couldn’t hold it back. “What about our agreement, Dickie? You insisted that we wait.”

  “I know. But the more I thought about it, the more ignorant I felt, and the more I dreaded being a disappointment to you.”

  She glared at him, but the miserable coward still wouldn’t look at her. “Why didn’t you tell me how you felt? We could have discussed it.”

  “I know. And I am.” For the first time, he lifted his gaze to hers. He had the nerve to look hopeful, like a puppy that had piddled on the floor and thought that groveling would put him back in her good graces.

  Fat chance!

  She straightened her spine and pressed her lips firmly together. “Go on.”

  “I want to apologize for even thinking about going back on my word, and for lying to you. I’ve been feeling terrible about it. I wouldn’t hurt you for the world.”

  A small righteous voice in her head suggested this might be a good time to confide in him about her own indiscretions. Before she could act on that impulse, however, another wiser voice countered, advising her to stay quiet and let him have his say first.

  “I couldn’t do it,” he continued. “I kept thinking about how you would feel if you knew. And I couldn’t do it. I walked out on her.”

  “You what?” Her jaw dropped.

  “I felt like crap even considering being unfaithful to you.” He reached out and gripped her nerveless fingers with his own, pulling her arm away from her defensive posture. “I wanted you to know what happened, because what you heard was right. You knew about the stripper, and even though I denied it, you didn’t believe me—as well you shouldn’t have! And I’m so sorry, Shelley. Please say you forgive me.”