Seduction

by Geneva Holliday

  CHAPTER

  Fifty-one

  Three days later, Mildred dialed Tony's number.

  “Hi, Tony this is Mil—I mean, Karma.”

  Tony was in bed. He turned over onto his side and raised himself up on one elbow.

  Tony grinned. He knew she'd call, even if it did take three days. They always called.

  “Hey, how are you?”

  “I'm well, and yourself?”

  “Couldn't be better.”

  Tony was good at the small talk. He knew how to make women feel comfortable, how to make them feel safe.

  After a few minutes of this it was Mildred who lunged forward and said, “I'd really like to see you again.”

  Tony wasn't surprised. They all wanted to see him . . . again.

  “Sure. How does tomorrow evening sound?”

  “Tomorrow will be fine.”

  “I'll pick you up—”

  “No, that's okay. I'll meet you. Just tell me where.”

  Tony's mind raced for a minute. Tomorrow was Sunday night. He knew the perfect place.

  “Okay, meet me at Tam's Wok on First Street in Holetown.”

  “Will do,” Mildred said.

  Tony flipped his phone closed and then turned to look at the beauty that was currently splayed out naked beside him.

  “Who was that?” the woman asked, flipping her blond hair away from her eyes.

  “My mother.” Tony's response was nonchalant as he reached over and pulled her on top of him.

  “Didn't sound like any conversation I've ever heard a man have with his mother,” she remarked in her British tongue.

  Tony grunted, slapped her on the ass, and said, “Are we here to dissect my conversations, or are we here to fuck?”

  The woman, Tony couldn't quite remember her name. He thought it was Ginger or Ginseng . . . something like that. But it didn't matter—she was flying out that evening and he was sure he would never see her again.

  “I like it from behind,” she purred into his ear.

  Fine by him! Tony hastily flipped her onto her belly and mounted her from behind.

  “I like it rough,” she called to him over her shoulder.

  “As you wish!” Tony laughed as he gripped her hips and jerked her roughly up onto her knees.

  He rolled the condom onto his penis and was about to enter her when she pulled away.

  “What?”

  “I like it in my ass,” she said coyly as she batted her fake eyelashes at him.

  Tony grinned; he liked it there too.

  He stuck four fingers of his left hand into his mouth, then pulled them out and ran them down the center of Ginger's crack, moistening her exit way. Ginger moaned and flung her long blond hair over her shoulder. “Grab my hair,” she said, and Tony did. Took hold of it the way a cowboy would take hold of his mare's reins.

  He slowly glided the tip of his dick into her anus. It was tight, and the pleasure was immediate. Before he knew it he was completely in, stroking as easily as if he'd entered her missionary-style.

  Ginger screamed, “Deeper, harder, faster!”

  And Tony wrapped his hands tighter around her mane of hair and began to oblige.

  Sunday night was karaoke night on First Street, and the street came alive with partygoers, like a scaled-down version of the famous Memphis Beale Street.

  Tam's Wok, a Chinese Thai restaurant, was located directly across from the karaoke tent. When Tony made the dinner reservations, he specifically requested that he and his date be seated on the outside terrace, which overlooked the bustling sidewalk.

  Mildred had piled her twists high on her head and clasped her hair with an ornately decorated mocha-colored band. She'd chosen a long pale blue linen tube dress that hugged her curvaceous figure like a second skin. When she climbed into the backseat of the taxi, the driver gave her an approving glance in the rearview mirror and said, “What a lucky man.”

  Mildred had been lost in her thoughts. “ 'Scuse me?”

  “I said, what a lucky man.”

  Mildred was confused. “Who?”

  “Why, your husband, of course!”

  “No, I'm not married.”

  “Well, then, your boyfriend?”

  Mildred shook her head.

  The man smiled so broadly that his white teeth filled the rearview mirror.

  “Well, I'm free and single myself . . .”

  Mildred half listened as the man droned on and on about how he could make her happy and how he would love her like no other.

  Ever since she'd lost the weight and had the boob job done, it'd been one man after the other making passes at her. At first she had to admit that she was flattered, but after a few weeks she began to become tired of the attention and then annoyed.

  “I'm gay,” Mildred announced drily.

  The driver gave her one last pitiful look and then said no more.

  It took less than twenty minutes to get to Holetown. Earlier that day she'd felt nervous about the date, snatching up the phone on more than one occasion to call Tony and cancel. But then she'd think back on all of the pain, suffering, and humiliation he'd caused her and find strength again.

  A devious smile flashed across her face as she envisioned herself smiling sweetly across the table at him before yelling out her real name and then plunging the butter knife into his chest.

  “Fifteen dollars,” the driver said without looking at her.

  Mildred handed him a twenty, adjusted her dress, and started toward the restaurant.

  Heads turned as she snaked slowly through the crowd. Women threw her nasty looks while the men slowly undressed her in their minds.

  She ignored the few who had the nerve to approach her.

  “Karma,” Tony sang, his face bright with approval. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” Karma smiled back. “And you look very handsome.”

  Tony had donned a white pair of chinos and a black silk T-shirt.

  He thanked her and pulled the door open.

  Seated at their table, the conversation was bumpy at first, because Mildred still couldn't believe that he didn't recognize her. Finally she fell into a familiar groove and began to engage him the way she had when she thought he really loved her. After that, the conversation flowed as smooth as cream.

  Mildred hadn't even thought of a backstory, but the fantastical lie spilled out of her as if it'd been rehearsed a million times:

  Karma Jackson was the daughter of wealthy parents who didn't understand her. A Barnard graduate. Five years with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then off to Princeton for her master's.

  After that, a year abroad.

  Where?

  Why, Europe, of course!

  Did she have a boyfriend?

  Well, no, she didn't. In fact, she'd had only one boyfriend in her entire life—a man she thought she would marry, but he'd broken her heart.

  Tony took her hand; he was sorry. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. But that man's irresponsibility was his good luck, because she was there with him now.

  What are your aspirations?

  Marriage. Family. Happiness.

  Me too.

  In between the getting-to-know-you stuff, Karma laughed until tears spilled from her eyes at the horrible karaoke contestants.

  Tony liked her laugh.

  They got up from the table when the island's most popular karaoke singer jumped up onto the stage: Gabriele, a long, lanky, damn near toothless Rastafarian.

  The audience erupted in applause, not because he could sing but because he was horrible. Horrible to the point that people pressed their hands to their ears and scrunched their faces in pain. Even so, they begged for more, because Gabriele had heart and he had character and was apparently oblivious to the fact that he couldn't sing.

  Mildred laughed until a realization smacked her squarely in the face, and then she was suddenly serious.

  She and Gabriele were very much alike.

  “What's wrong?”


  Mildred snapped back. “Oh, nothing—just zoned out for a minute.”

  They went down to the street and moved close to the stage to watch a white man belt out Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive.”

  “Why don't you go on up there? You look like you have a pretty good set of lungs on you.”

  Tony's eyes slid over Mildred's perky breasts before climbing her neck and resting on her face.

  “Nah.” She waved her hand. “I can't sing.”

  Tony pointed at the person who was currently bouncing across the stage singing the Stevie Wonder classic “Do I Do.” “And he can?”

  Mildred laughed. Yeah, this guy was even worse than Gabriele.

  “C'mon, go ahead.” Tony nudged her gently.

  “Why don't you?”

  Tony raised his hands. “Are you crazy? I live here. You, on the other hand, are just here on vacation.”

  Mildred nodded.

  Why the hell not?

  “Okay, I'll do it.”

  Together they walked to the side of the stage and flipped through the massive leather-bound songbooks.

  “Oh, I see one,” Mildred chirped, snapping the book shut before Tony could see it.

  She signed her name to the list and found that she could barely contain herself as she waited through the two people ahead of her.

  “So here now we got Karma Jackson coming up to the mike to sing that famous Rick James and Tina Marie love song, ‘Fire and Desire'!”

  Mildred walked nervously to the microphone, tapped it twice, and then nodded her head that she was ready to begin. When the musical introduction began, Mildred realized to her horror that she'd have to sing both parts—male and female.

  Just as Rick James began his monologue, Gabriele appeared and slid across the stage on his knees, coming to dramatic stop at Mildred's feet.

  The crowd exploded as he croaked through the Rick James portion of the song.

  Mildred didn't consider herself a singer, but she could hold a note with the best of them, and when the Tina Marie part came up, Mildred threw her hands into the air and gave it all she had.

  Tony, who'd been leaning up against a light pole talking to a friend of his, was stunned, and he began to applaud loudly.

  Mildred belted out passionate line after passionate line, and at some point she would swear she felt her body and soul separate, and when they joined together again, she felt less like Mildred Johnson and more like Karma Jackson.

  Toward the end of the song, she found Tony's face in the crowd, and he was looking at her in a way he never had when she was Mildred Johnson.

  CHAPTER

  Fifty-two

  Errol listened as Tony rambled on and on about this new woman he'd met. He couldn't remember a time when Tony had sounded this excited about a woman.

  “And her real name is Karma?”

  “Yeah, I know. It's an odd name, but it fits her, it really does.”

  “How so?”

  “I don't know how to explain it. I mean, she's gorgeous and she's got this great spirit . . . she's just perfect.”

  Errol pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it. He could swear, just from the sound of Tony's voice, that he was swooning on the other end.

  “Damn, all of this after just one date? Sounds to me like you're whipped, and she ain't even give you none yet!”

  Tony laughed and waved his hand in the air. “C'mon, man. It ain't nothing like that.”

  “Sounds like everything like that.”

  “Whatever, dude. So when you coming down?”

  “My secretary is making the arrangements, so I'll let you know when I know.”

  “Cool.”

  “So how's your moms doing?”

  Tony didn't really know. He hadn't spoken to her in weeks.

  “She's all right,” he lied.

  Errol shook his head.

  “You know,” Errol carefully ventured, “there's a saying—”

  “Oh, here we go!”

  “Now, just humor me for a minute . . . There's an old saying that goes, ‘See how a man treats his mother, and know how you too will be treated,’ and I'm paraphrasing here.”

  Tony jumped to the defensive. “What are you trying to say, Errol?”

  “I think you know.”

  “Yeah, whatever. I gotta go.”

  “Ciao.”

  Tony wasn't going to let Errol kill his good mood with all his righteous bullshit. He would call his mother as soon as he had time.

  CHAPTER

  Fifty-three

  What the hell are these?” Mildred stared curiously down at the pair of small gray metal balls Chevy held in her hand.

  “Kegel balls.”

  “Kegel balls? What the hell is that?”

  “They're used to tighten your vagina muscles.”

  Mildred just stared at her. “And?”

  “And”—Chevy took a step closer to Mildred, bringing the balls eye level to Mildred's face—“it can't hurt.”

  Mildred was still confused.

  “Can't hurt what?”

  Mildred could be so exasperating. “It can't hurt that when you finally fuck him, you'll be able to squeeze the hell out of his dick and give him the most explosive orgasm he's ever fucking had,” Chevy calmly advised.

  Mildred's eyes popped.

  Chevy gave her a sly look.

  “Isn't that the way he got you, Mildred?” Chevy started walking an ominous circle around her as she rolled the Kegel balls in her hand. “He used his good looks, his charm, and his . . . sex?”

  In actuality he'd had her at hello . . . but Chevy did have a point.

  “It's obvious that he likes you. How many times has he called since you two went out?”

  “Four.”

  “And that's just been in two days. At least we know he's interested.”

  Mildred nodded.

  “This needs to be a systematic undoing. Break him down layer by cruddy layer until he is . . . well, what you were when you arrived at Chimbarosa,” Chevy said as she pressed the balls into Mildred's hand.

  Mildred gave the balls a doubtful look. “How do I use them?”

  “Well, my dear,” Chevy began, a mischievous smile on her face, “you just insert them up inside you and hold them there.”

  Mildred sat on her bed for an hour, staring at the balls. She couldn't believe what her life had suddenly come to. How did I arrive at this point? she asked herself as she rolled the steel balls round and round her palm.

  She raised her sundress and slowly slipped off her thong. Lying down on the bed, she slipped one ball up inside her and then the other.

  She lay there for a minute, allowing herself to become accustomed to the foreign objects in her body.

  After a while, she slowly slipped off the bed. She stood, her legs pressed tightly together as she contracted and released her vagina muscles. Giggling, she realized she was actually getting a little thrill.

  Contract.

  Release.

  Contract.

  Release.

  She began snapping her fingers to the rhythm.

  Contract.

  Release.

  A knock came at the door. “Ms. Mildred?”

  Mildred froze. “Yes?”

  “It's Mike from maintenance. I understand you have a problem with your toilet?”

  “Oh, yes,” Mildred said, and sat down on the bed. “Come in.”

  Mike pushed the door open and walked in. Today he was dressed in a clean white sleeveless T-shirt and his blue work pants. His muscles rippled as he shifted his tool bag from one hand to the other.

  “Hello, Ms. Mildred,” he said, and gave her a shy smile.

  They had been engaged in a light flirtation ever since he'd given her that compliment. Now, as he stood there before her, Mildred felt herself starting to become excited.

  “Hello, Mike,” she said.

  “You're looking very nice today, Ms. Mildred,” he said, his eyes undressing her.

>   Mildred blushed, casually crossed her legs, and said, “Thank you.”

  They stared at each other for a long moment before Mike cleared his throat and said, “What can I do for you today?”

  Mildred had a few suggestions. First he could strip out of those clothes and then he could put his dick right in her hot, throbbing . . .

  Mildred shook the thought away.

  “Oh, um, the toilet . . . it's just not flushing right,” Mildred responded in a small voice.

  Had it gotten warmer in the room since he'd walked in? She thought it had, because she had a line of perspiration across the top of her lip.

  “Okay,” Mike said, and started toward the bathroom.

  Mildred watched him go and then suddenly realized that she had some of her intimates drying on the shower curtain pole. That's not anything she needed him to see.

  “Oh, wait a minute,” she blurted, jumping up and making a mad dash into the bathroom.

  Mike waited patiently as he observed the black net thong that had been forgotten in the middle of the floor.

  Mildred reentered, two pairs of panties balled safely in her fists. Mike smiled slyly at her and then nodded at the forgotten undies on the floor.

  Mortified, Mildred bent over and snatched them up. When she was upright again, she had a sheepish grin on her face. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  “No problem,” he said as he looked deep into her eyes. He started to turn around and then turned back to face her again. “Ms. Mildred, I—”

  Mildred grabbed hold of him and pressed her mouth against his. The tool bag clanged noisily to the floor as a surprised Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled him to her.

  Their tongues probed hungrily in each other's mouths and Mildred's knees went weak when she felt Mike's cock push eagerly against her thigh.

  What am I doing? she thought as they clung to each other and awkwardly stumbled toward the bed.

  Mike quickly pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor as Mildred feverishly worked at pulling off her sundress. She had it halfway up when the unthinkable occurred.

  Clump, clump.

  Mildred looked down and could have melted away with shame. She'd forgotten about the Kegel balls, and now there they were on the floor, gleaming with her juices, rolling slowly between Mike's feet.

  Mike watched them in amazement. “Did those just come out of you?”