The rain must have made the temperature drop considerably outside, because the room had cooled off quite a bit. She would have loved to open the window and smell the rain, but an open window might not be a great idea, considering that she didn't know Joey's whereabouts. So she'd stay right here in bed, lumpy though it was, and enjoy the fact that she was lying next to Harry. Waking up next to Harry on a regular basis would be sweet, but it wasn't something she should wish for. Her life wasn't destined to turn out like that.
"What time is it?" Harry's voice, sleepy and relaxed, flowed over her, making her smile.
She turned to find him gazing at her in a dreamy, unfocused way. He looked so lovable and cuddly. "Nearly six."
"You know, this could be the worst bed I've ever slept in. It creaks and groans and I'll bet there's staffing coming out of the mattress. But I don't even care."
"Neither do I," she said. "But it is pretty bad. Lumps everywhere."
"And swaybacked. There's a big dip in the middle."
"I noticed. Oh, look what it made me do." She rolled toward him and kissed him on the mouth.
"I take it back. This is a terrific bed." He returned the kiss in spades, wrapping his arms around her and flopping onto his back so she was sprawled on top of him. Sprawled on top of Harry was a terrific position to be in, and she planned to make the most of it.
She got situated so her bottom touched his ever-ready penis. She thought of the drug his father had taken, the one that had caused Harry to be conceived, and wondered if a tiny bit of the drug had been passed on somehow. If she'd paid more attention in biology class, she might know if that could be possible.
In any case, Harry sure made a girl feel wanted when his pride and joy stood proud and joyous at a moment's notice. She rubbed her breasts lazily over his chest as he kissed her and stroked her back. Apparently they were both ready for round three.
She lifted her mouth from his. "Did you count the condoms?"
"Six left."
She ran her tongue around his mouth. "We're about to use another one."
"Yeah, we are." Gazing up into her eyes, he reached out with one long arm, patting the surface of the night table as he searched for the black case holding their stash.
"Wait, you're going to knock it on the floor." Bracing one hand beside his head, she stretched her other arm toward the case and laughed as her nipple hit his nose.
"Easy there." He caught her swaying breasts in both hands. "You could put out an eye."
"Which would give you an incredible story to tell, now wouldn't it?" She fished in the case and pulled out a black foil packet.
"No kidding." His voice grew husky. "Stay like that a sec, if you can. I want to—"
Yes, he certainly did. She would hold still for this kind of treatment any day. Gripping the side of the night table, she balanced above him while he sucked on her nipples until a glorious pressure built low in her belly.
Maybe it was his enthusiasm. Maybe it was his technique. Maybe it was simply the kind of magic that happened whenever he touched her. Whatever the reason, within moments she trembled on the edge of a climax.
"You have to stop." She eased away from him.
"Why?"
"Because I was about to come, and then I would have lost my balance and fallen on you. I pictured teeth being knocked out and black eyes. It wouldn't have been pretty."
He grinned at her. "Really? You were that close?"
"I was. Embarrassing, huh?"
His dark eyes shone in the faint light from the window. "No, wonderful."
"I'll tell you what's wonderful." She got on her hands and knees so that she could edge backward until she'd cleared his elegant package. Then she sat on his thighs and waved a hand toward his penis. "This. This is wonderful."
"That old thing? I've had it for years."
"I must say you've maintained it beautifully. It looks practically brand-new." She ripped open the condom packet. "And now I'm going to dress it up so it can go visiting."
She'd never put a condom on a man, but now she had a burning urge to try it with Harry. She had a burning urge to try all sorts of things with Harry. No telling when she'd get to have sex again.
"Don't do it yet."
"No?"
He groped on the night table once again and found his glasses. "I want to watch you put it on." Sliding his glasses onto the bridge of his nose, he propped his hands behind his head. "Okay, go."
"You don't think I know how, do you?"
"I have no idea if you do or not, but I've always wanted to watch a woman do this, and nobody's ever offered before."
"Well, guess what? I've never offered before, either." "You haven't?"
"Never felt like it." She took the flattened roll of latex out and tossed the foil package on the floor. "Ready?"
"Yeah ... and I'm glad you feel like it this time."
She glanced at him, and even in the dim light she could see the tender look in his eyes. "You're not falling for me, are you?"
"Why?" he said softly, too softly.
"You are, aren't you? Harry, don't fall for me. I'm the wrong girl for you, and you know it."
He didn't say anything to that, just continued to look at her with that warm, melting expression on his adorable face.
"I mean it." She pointed a finger at him. "When this is over you're going to have to forget about me."
"That'll be tough." His voice held twenty kinds of caring in it. "I've never had a woman sitting astride me with her red wig half off and a condom in her hand. How am I supposed to forget that?"
She put the condom between her teeth and adjusted the wig.
"Or that." His smile flashed in the pale light.
She took the condom back out. "I'm glad I'm entertaining you." Secretly she was glad. She knew he wouldn't be able to forget her any more than she'd be able to forget him, but she wanted him to remember the fun times, not the woman who'd filled the floor of his car with used tissues while she sobbed.
"I've never been more entertained in my life."
"Good. And now, for my next trick, I'll roll on this condom. No, wait. I think it's better if I suck on it first."
His tone changed from soft to eager. "Suck on what?"
"The condom, so it goes on easier..." She smiled when she saw his obvious disappointment. "You thought I meant something else, didn't you?"
"Uh, well, I—"
"I should have thought of that, instead. I'll bet the condom would go on slick as a whistle afterward, too."
He trembled and swallowed hard. "M-maybe."
"How about if I just tuck this condom behind my ear for now, so I won't lose it?"
He gave a little gasp of laughter. "You're too much."
"Let's see if I am or not." She wrapped her fingers around his penis and lowered her mouth.
Harry tasted as good as he looked. In the past she'd performed this task to please the guy, because they all seemed to love it to death, but she hadn't exactly relished the experience. Either five years had changed all that, or Harry made the difference. Whatever the reason, she was having a great time.
From what she could tell from Harry's reaction, he was having a pretty good time, himself. He moaned a lot and blew air out between his clenched teeth. After a few minutes he begged her to stop before he came.
She lifted her head, more than ready to climb aboard, but she also wanted to give him whatever he wanted. Making him happy was becoming a favorite thing of hers. "You're sure? Because if you're liking this, I can go the distance."
"I know. Take that thing out from behind your ear." His voice was tight with strain. "And be careful how you put it on."
"You've got it." She put the condom in her mouth for good measure, getting it good and moist before settling it in place. "Are you watching?"
"You bet."
She rolled the condom down, taking it slow so that she'd do it right and be careful, like he'd said. "Just like a stocking," she murmured. "There
you go." She gave him a little pat. "Was that fun?"
He dragged in a breath. "Yeah. Almost came twice. Yeah. Fun. Now do me."
She was on a short fuse, herself, and quite ready to make use of his magic wand to whisk them both to paradise. As she lowered herself, taking him in, she sighed with pleasure. This was so good. So very good.
"Nice." Breathing hard, Harry bracketed her hips with his large hands. "Go for it."
"Hang on." She braced her palms on his chest.
His grip tightened. "I've got you."
Taking a deep breath, she moved up and down slowly at first. Slow didn't last long, though. Soon she felt the need for speed, and the room filled with their moans. She loved being in charge, loved hearing him urge her on.
"Yes!" he called out, panting. "Like that... there ... I'm coming!"
And so was she, blasting through the barriers between them. For a precious few seconds she knew the miracle of merging with another human being. For a precious few seconds, she allowed herself to be in love.
Lainie was right, Harry thought as they lay side-by-side in the aftermath of another fantastic round of sex. He was falling for her. And that wasn't good.
Shrouded in darkness, perfectly suited to each other sexually, they could push aside all the issues and enjoy themselves in this bed until morning. But this bed wasn't reality. It was a magic-carpet ride, but eventually they had to come back to earth.
He should probably break this idyllic mood before he completely lost focus. "I know this is a touchy subject," he said. "But I think, given the stakes, we can assume Joey won't just go away."
She greeted his comment with silence.
"Would you rather not talk about it?" he asked, starting to cave already. Okay, so maybe they could stay on this magic carpet a while longer.
She cleared her throat. "I need to talk about it."
Rolling to his side, he propped his head on his hand. Security lights outside the window provided just enough light for him to see her profile. She seemed so vulnerable, and he wanted desperately to help.
"So I was thinking," he began, "that if you called his hand and took him to court, you might be able to demonstrate that he's been an indifferent father and bring up his drinking problem. That could give you some leverage."
"I, um... maybe."
"If it's the money that's stopping you, let me—"
"No, Harry." She swallowed. "I couldn't accept that kind of financial help. I'm already feeling guilty about what you've done so far."
"Don't." He reached over and stroked her cheek. "In case you can't tell, I'm having the time of my life."
She took a long, shaky breath. "Me, too, except when I start thinking about Joey."
"I know, and I wouldn't have brought him up except that you have to leave here with a plan."
"Uh-huh." She stayed quiet for a little while. "But even if I took him to court, I might be going up against the Benjamin empire. All Joey has to do is convince his father to try and get Dexter away from me, and I'm toast."
"Maybe not." But Harry could see her point. Usually the person with the most money had the best legal team.
"I've thought about taking Dexter and disappearing, and I might have done that before I found out why Joey wants him. Now I have to consider what's fair to Dexter. He has a chance to inherit a billion-dollar business."
"But it' that means somehow being separated from you, the money isn't worth it."
She turned over and pulled his head down for a gentle kiss. "Thank you for saying that," she murmured.
"It's true." He cupped her cheek in his hand. "He needs your influence."
"I think so, too, but if he's the rightful heir to that fortune, I can't stand in his way." She sighed. "I don't want to have to work out a deal with Joey, because I really don't like him or trust him with Dexter, but I may have no choice."
Resistance to that idea made Harry's stomach knot, but he had no right to reject anything she came up with. Dexter was her kid. "Do you think Joey would be willing to compromise, so everybody wins?" So far, Harry didn't see Joey as the compromising sort.
"Honestly? I don't have a lot of hope that he would, especially if he's drinking. But I don't know how else this can be solved." She paused. "And all this discussion is giving me an appetite. Are you getting hungry?"
"Yeah." He was surprised to discover that he was once again starving, but when he concentrated on her, he was able to block out all thought of food. "Yeah, I'm getting hungry. I guess we should order from room service again."
"Harry, let's not. Let's take a drive into town and cat there. I think we need to get some fresh air and clear our minds."
"You mean clear our minds of all this sex?"
She laughed. "All the fresh air in the world won't do that, but I like being outside. I'm not good at being cooped up too long."
He remembered Dexter had told him that, which had led him to believe she'd be bored with a stick-in-the-mud accountant who liked to sit quietly and play chess. So far she hadn't acted bored, but now she wanted some different scenery. If only he could agree, without worrying about consequences.
"I know what you mean," he said, although he could have stayed in with room service, no problem. "But I don't know if it's safe. Leo said—"
"I know what Leo said, but Harry, Leo might be a mobster. You told me it was possible."
"It's possible." Even probable, he thought.
"So naturally, Leo is going to expect the worst from Joey and imagine all kinds of bad things, like Joey will want to bump me off, or have me bumped off, just because that would give him clear access to Dexter."
Harry had to admit that's exactly what Leo was worried about. Consequently he'd made Harry worry about it, too.
"Joey is not going to try to kill me, or even have me killed," she said. "That's the kind of thing you see in the movies, but I know this guy. You have to have more grit than Joey has to pull off something like that. Even if Joey showed up, so what? I need to talk to him."
"What if he shows up drunk and starts acting unreasonable?" Harry remembered all too well the bellowing idiot who'd appeared outside her apartment door. Joey under the influence seemed capable of almost anything, despite what Lainie said.
"If that should happen, we'll get the restaurant to call the police. An arrest for disorderly conduct can only help my cause, right?"
She was making lots of sense, and he was beginning to feel like a little old lady, afraid of his own shadow. "You're right," he said. "We'll take a drive into town. What could happen?"
Chapter Eighteen
Although Rona loved showing off Dexter to the TITS, when dinnertime arrived she decided he'd had enough stimulation for one day. Dexter might think differently, but she had to be the grown-up and choose for him. Smart as he was, he was still only four years old.
She stood up from the poker table during a break in the action and stretched. "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm exhausted."
"Not me!" said Dexter, who was almost hidden by a mountain of M&M's.
Rona had expected him to say that, but she'd seen him rubbing his eyes two minutes ago. She glanced at Suz, who could be counted on to back her up most times. "How about you, Suz? You about ready to pack it in?"
"I am. Tomorrow's another day, right, Dexter?"
"We're gonna quit?" He looked crestfallen.
"Even Fred's worn out." Rona pointed to the little dog, who was conked out in his bed in the comer of the kitchen.
"But I'm not," Dexter insisted. "I could play for eons, which is a really long time."
"So I've heard." Babs winked at Rona. "You know what? I'm not only tired, I'm hungry." She patted the spot where her tight pants stretched over her tummy.
"Have some M&M's." Dexter scooted a handful toward her. "I have about five hundred here."
Babs glanced down at the handful she had left in front of her. "I noticed. And thank you for offering, but I was thinking pizza. Do you like pizza?
"
"Yes, if it's cheese. I don't like it with staff on it."
"Oh, me, neither." Trixie's long earrings flapped against her neck as she shook her head. "I hate pizza with staff on it."
"I like staff," Babs said. "Lots of stuff. We need to split this order."
"And after pizza, we call it a night," Rona said. "Okay?"
"Then I say we wait on the pizza," Dexter said. "If anybody's really hungry, they can have as many M&M's as they want. My treat."
"I know what we can do." Cherie tapped her maroon nails on the table. "We can order the pizza, one cheese and one with staff. Then we'll bet on exactly what time the pizza guy gets here. It'll be like the grand finale."
"Yeah!" Dexter brightened.
"And we can bet on how many mushrooms they put on," Suz said.
"And olives, and green peppers, and tomatoes," Babs said.
"Not the tomatoes," Suz said. "You'll get little mooshed-up pieces and you won't know how to count them if they're, like, torn but almost attached."
Dexter nodded. "I think we need some rules."
And the debate was on. Rona could see it taking way too much time. "You can all hammer out the rules. I'm ordering. One plain cheese and one with everything."
"Except anchovies!" Babs said. "Ick."
"Babs, you always do that," Suz said. "And I love anchovies."
"Well, I put up with pepperoni because of you."
"Three pizzas, then." Rona was by God going to get this show on the road. "One plain cheese, one everything but anchovies, one everything but pepperoni."
"That's silly," Suz said. "Get one with pepperoni and anchovies. I'll pick off the pepperoni and Babs can pick off the anchovies."
"Ask me if I'll even touch an anchovy. Gross!" Babs said.
Suz turned to her. "Then I'll pick them off for you. What a baby. Here, have an M&M and be quiet." She picked up one from Dexter's pile and popped it in Babs's mouth. "Now let's get the rules for this pizza bet settled."
The Nerd Who Loved Me Page 20