by Suz deMello
She bit her finger. “Yeah, true. After work every day, I come home and take a shower before I do anything else.”
“Your job sucks. Of course I’m grateful that there are cops around to keep order, but I sure don’t envy you.” He headed westward toward her neighborhood.
Liza’s building was typical of that area of San Francisco, a cream-colored, multi-story apartment building with red brick trim that housed only two units on each floor. On the third floor, her place had an ocean view when the weather was decent, which wasn’t often since she was only a couple of blocks from Ocean Beach. Despite the ever-present fog, she loved her place, and wondered what real estate magnate James Li would think of it.
First thing she noticed was that he was intensely curious, briskly walking around the entire structure and scrutinizing it. “I didn’t have much time yesterday morning,” he told her. “I didn’t know when you would wake up, and I wanted to get your bike here, get your stuff and get back. And it was strange being in your place without you. I felt peculiar, checking everything out behind your back.”
She smiled. “It’s okay. I appreciate what you did.” They’d fought about this subject yesterday, and she was happy to get the air cleared about it. “So, umm, what do you think?”
“I’ve always liked this area, and I like this building. Built in the late forties, I’d guess, and renovated about, umm, seven or ten years ago?” He raised inquiring eyes to her.
She nodded, impressed by his insights. “So I’ve been told.”
“It looks as though it’s in pretty good shape. Let me know if it comes on the market.” He stuck his hand in his pocket, took out her keys, and opened the front door.
Inside the vestibule -- mostly dark wood and white walls -- Liza picked up her mail and her newspaper, then led James to the wooden staircase. Lit by crystal wall sconces, its creaks were muffled by a red runner. On a Sunday afternoon, her building was quiet, as usual. Most people were either out or relaxing. The scent of the morning’s Sunday brunches -- mostly bacon, toast and coffee -- lingered in the halls.
She unlocked her door, opened it, and ushered James in. Her apartment consisted of four rooms: her bedroom, a sitting room in which she kept a small desk as well as a sofa, the kitchen, and her lavish bathroom. She’d furnished the entire place from IKEA, figuring that was simplest. The building’s dark wood and white walls predominated, but she’d bought aqua leather furniture to give her place a lighter feel.
James took off his jacket and looked at everything, picking up all her knickknacks, especially interested in the photos of LaDonna and Liza taken on special days: her college graduation, police academy, the day she got her detective’s badge. While he poked around, she went to her desk and opened her laptop, clicking to the Keller file. It was too bad Liza couldn’t get Keller to sign a statement -- going back to that sleaze pit was out of the question -- but having had James present as a corroborating witness was good enough.
Absorbed in her work, she didn’t notice when he slipped behind her. He rubbed her stiff shoulders, digging into the knots that had developed. “You’re all tense again, honey,” he remarked. “Do we need a nice suck in the shower to relax?”
“Yeah, baby.” She stretched her arms above her head, twisting her torso. Vertebrae popped and snapped. She hit the “save” key, then sent the document to her computer at the SFPD. “Okay, I’m done.”
He pulled her up out of the chair and kissed her. “You were hot today,” he murmured in her ear. “You’re so sexy when you do the cop thing.”
“Umm, so maybe being a cop is okay?”
“Whatever you decide is okay. But never throw away your handcuffs, hmm? I might want you to cuff me to the bed and have your wicked way with me.”
“Or vice versa.”
His eyes gleamed. “Yeah, baby.” He walked her over to the couch and kissed her some more while he eased her down onto the cushions. When she put her hand on his fly, his cock practically jumped into her hand.
He raised his head long enough to say, “Open my pants and take me into your mouth.”
“My, aren’t we greedy?”
“I didn’t get to come at Galway’s. You did.”
She laughed. “Sauce for the goose. You’ve been teasing me all weekend.”
“Yeah, and you love it.”
Grinning, she wrestled his snug jeans and boxers to his knees. His cock wasn’t fully erect, and she went down on him, first licking his length and, as he thickened, running her tongue up and down him as he groaned with pleasure.
She sucked hard on the round head, squeezing the rim with her lips before flicking at the sensitive slit in the top. Pre-come flowed, bathing her tongue with its unique slickness. He was close. Should she prolong his pleasure, or bring him off quickly?
She played with his balls, bouncing them up and down in their cozy sac while considering the question. She was enjoying the power she had over James’s pleasure. Putty in my hands, she thought with delight.
His cock jerked in her mouth, bumping against the back of her throat. His groans grew in volume, and she decided it wouldn’t be fair to make him wait. What for? She deep-throated him, flexing hard, while running a nail over his ball sac.
“Oh, baby, I’m gonna come.” His body wrenched, and he shot spurt after spurt of hot jism down her throat. She took it all, swallowing as fast as she could, with only a thin trail of come escaping. His flavor was salty, sweet, acrid, spicy ... indescribable.
When he finished, he licked his jism off her cheek, then kissed her mouth. “Thank you, baby. That was sweet. Do you want to fool around some more?”
“I’m not sure I can. I think we rubbed all the skin off my pussy and clit.”
“Can I check?”
“Sure, why not?” She went to her bedroom, dropping clothes along the way.
After stripping, James followed her like an eager puppy on the trail of an especially tasty snack. She stopped short near her bed, and he bumped into her.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s as though we haven’t touched each other at all.” Turning, she regarded him, her heart filling. “I still want you. So much.”
He took her into her arms. “Me too.”
She shivered.
“Don’t be afraid of us, baby. What we have is so special.” His persuasive mouth covered hers while he walked her over to her bed. He tore off her clothes as he kissed, pulling away from her only to yank her sweater over her head. After pushing her atop her bed, he licked her breasts, lighting twin fires in the tips, then ran his tongue down her midline to her navel, leaving a cool trail in his wake. He blew on the damp line he’d drawn, and every tiny hair on her belly lifted.
After unbuttoning her jeans, he dragged the snug denim past her hips and down to her ankles, but not off. She remained confined, bound by the jeans wrapped around her feet. He snared both wrists in one hand. She tried to kick off her pants while he grabbed her feet, holding them high. “Be still,” he commanded.
Resistance didn’t work, so she stopped struggling. His hold on her wrists strengthened, showing her who was boss. With his other hand, he reached between her upraised legs and fumbled for her clit, tugging on her labia.
“I like to tie you up and make you come.” His voice was low and intense. Releasing her wrists, he knelt behind her legs. He dove between her bent knees to her wet pussy like a hot, thirsty man into a stream in August.
Grabbing the headboard, Liza abandoned herself to pleasure. Her skin seemed sensually supercharged. She was aware of every crease in her white cutwork counterpane, every line of embroidery scoring her back, every stroke of James’s talented tongue on her cunt.
He opened her lower lips to examine her clit. “Looks gorgeous to me.” Using his teeth, he tugged the tender nubbin of flesh.
Arousal snapped through her like a whip cracking. Her hips jerked, and she groaned.
“How did that feel?” he asked, his voice gently mocking.
Her ragged br
eath ripped through her throat. “You -- you know how it feels.”
“Tell me.”
“F-fine.”
“Just fine?”
“B-better than fine. Marvy. Super-deluxe. James, you’re killing me!”
“Want more?”
“Yes!”
“Say please.”
“You bastard.”
He slapped her ass, and the smack vibrated through her pelvis to her tingling clit. “Bad girl,” he said. “Be sweet or I’ll stop right now.”
“Please!”
“Okay, baby. I’m yours.” He lowered his mouth to her again. The touch of his lips caressing her hungry pussy flooded her with bliss.
She moaned beneath the thorough tongue-lashing, her pleasure heightened by the jeans restricting her ankles. He licked her through her first orgasm, then pushed her legs over her head to shove his thick, hot erection into her slit. He hadn’t opened her with his fingers, and her sheath had tightened when she’d come. Now she could feel his cockhead pushing into the snug channel, breaching her fast and hard. One orgasm merged into the next. Her hips jerked and pumped and banged against his, the slap of flesh against flesh raunchy, sexy, a total turn-on.
The aroma of their lovemaking scented the air, pungent and different than the smell of sex with anyone else. With Liza drinking his come and James eating her pussy juices, they’d combined essences into a new and unique flavor, one particular to them alone.
He pumped hard and long and forever, pounding relentlessly in and out while she wondered how could he do it? He’d just come, had come countless times in the past thirty-six hours -- how did he have more to give?
But he did, lasting until he tore off her jeans so he could open her legs and bend over her, covering her body with his. He slid his tongue in and out of her mouth, penetrating her with the same rhythm as his cock.
The sense of being taken by him, dominated by him was indescribable, sexy, arousing to her heart as well as her body. It turned him on, too; she could tell, because his dick swelled inside her and he hammered into her faster, harder, coming in a rush of hot jism and heated groans of completion.
They lay together bathed by the afterglow until Liza said, “I have another question.”
He chuckled. “Of course you do.” He propped himself up on his elbows looking down at her, still covering her body with his, and eyed her inquisitively.
“I noticed that on Friday night, everyone was using condoms, but later, you didn’t. What was that about? I’m not worried about getting pregnant or contracting an STD, but I’m, umm, curious.”
“I already told you why I used a rubber in your ass the first time. I wanted to last for longer than two strokes. Later, it didn’t matter.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “As for Rigo and Kevin ... frankly, I didn’t want anyone but me coming inside you. If you’re going to get pregnant, it’ll be by me.”
“What?”
He sighed. “The thought mystified me also, but I had to accept my feelings.”
“Is it a guy thing?”
“Yeah, I guess. I feel very possessive about you and ... I’ve, uh, never felt that way before. I’m usually not dog-in-the-manger about women.”
“I’m not either. Until now. I don’t want to think about what you do with other, umm, people.”
More silence as each absorbed the implications.
“Are we, like, going steady? Should I pin you or something?”
James laughed.
Liza chuckled. “Can I wear your letterman’s jacket?”
“I don’t even know where it is.”
“Did you letter in a sport in high school or college?”
“Actually, I did, in wrestling.”
“Cool.”
“I bet my mom has that jacket,” he said thoughtfully. He rolled off her to one side.
“Umm, where do your parents live?”
“Near Chinatown, but sort of off the beaten track. Their house is on a little street near Broadway and Stockton.” He shot her a quick, assessing glance. “We could go there for dinner next Sunday if you want.”
“Whoa.” She blinked. “We really are going steady.”
* * * * *
2:00 p.m., Monday
“Bowman, into my office.” His voice brusque, her boss loomed at the opening of her cubicle.
He slammed shut his office door and didn’t mince words. “I saw you with James Li. What case did that concern?”
She swallowed. “Sindie Keller. Here’s my report.” She tossed it onto his desk.
“You nailed Li for the Keller kidnapping?”
“No, Mr. Li didn’t have anything to do with it, but we jointly pried the truth from Derrick Galway. Keller was found working in Galway’s O’Farrell house. You’ll find a statement from her in my report.”
He cast her a shrewd look. “Li helped you?”
“Yes, he did. He, umm, got to the truth a lot faster than I could have.”
“He use some, ah, unorthodox methods?”
“Yeah. I was concerned that there could be, umm, repercussions, but Galway seemed to be in a forgiving mood. I don’t think he’ll be filing against anyone for assault and battery.”
“You sound a little too grateful, Bowman.”
She shrugged. “Just giving credit where credit’s due. Listen, I don’t think we can let what Ray White did go by.”
Her boss leaned back in his chair. “Talk to me.”
“Keller’s alleged disappearance was a setup to frame Li for abduction. Galway says he didn’t know about it, and showing he had prior knowledge would be hard to prove unless White fingers Galway. According to Galway, White said he’d take care of the James Li problem but didn’t say how. Galway assumed that the lawsuit White filed against China Doll Enterprises, the Li family real estate company, was how White planned to take care of Li. Apparently it wasn’t. The sex diary shows that Keller was White’s mistress, and that he sent her into a known haunt of James Li’s -- I believe in order to trap him.”
“Galway’s bar in North Beach,” her boss said.
“Yeah. But Ray White didn’t tell Galway what he was doing, and Galway assumed that Keller was a working girl poaching on his territory. On Galway’s orders, Keller was drugged and taken to work in Galway’s O’Farrell Street strip club. I took her statement there.”
Her boss fingered the report. “What’s her story?”
“It’s consistent with her diary and with what both Galway and Li said. But not with what Ray White has said. She stated that she went to Galway’s bar, drank several coffees and passed out. When she awakened, she was being raped. She thought that Ray White, who’s apparently more than a little kinky, had set up the whole thing. “
“Ray White’s kinky? Hoo-boy. Maybe we can nail him on something.”
She laughed. “Fortunately for most of this city, kinkiness isn’t a crime.”
“But White’s dirty.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s Galway’s man all the way, and he’s overextended financially. He’ll do ... whatever.” She shrugged. “Keller told me that she phoned White and told him she was at Galway’s strip club, so we can certainly nail him on filing a false police report and obstruction. Anyway, Galway told Keller she could work for him or die. She chose to stick with Galway. As far as I know, she’s still happily turning tricks.”
“Well done, Bowman.”
“Thank you.”
“Now explain to me why I saw you two hours ago at Max’s with James Li.”
“I was eating lunch.” She shot him a stony stare. With whom she ate lunch was none of his business.
He glared back. “You don’t want to get too big for your britches, Bowman. Already, a lot of people don’t like you. They don’t like the way you’ve risen through the ranks on your back.”
She jumped to her feet. “I’ve aced every promotional test I’ve ever taken. I’ve solved every case that’s come my way. Name names, Bill. Who in this department thinks I don’t deserve my rank?”
She did, still steaming with fury.
“Look, I’m just trying to help you out. You’re a cop. You can’t have, uh, a social relationship with someone like James Li.”
She hated the way her boss sneered James’s name. As far as she was concerned, Bill Hester wasn’t good enough to shine James’s shoes. “A social relationship? Is that what you call it?” she snapped. “Were you seeing Cherise, uh, socially?”
“Your question’s out of line, Bowman.”
“Excuse me, but I wasn’t paying for my pleasure. Were you?”
“That’s not the point. I was just using one of Li’s whores.”
“Cherise is a person. A rather nice person.” Liza loathed the contemptuous way he talked about James’s renters. So far, Cherise, Veronica, and the gang had treated her better than anyone at the department. “The people who rent from James are just trying to get along, same as the rest of us.”
“You see James Li again, unconnected to a pending case, and ...” He shook his head slowly. “You don’t have the pull to get away with that.”
She pointed a finger at him. “You can pay for sex, clearly a misdemeanor, and I can’t see someone I like? Without money changing hands? That’s wacko.”
“That’s enough.” He slammed his fist down onto his desk. His mug jumped, and coffee sloshed out onto Liza’s report.
“Yes, it certainly is.” Liza opened her handbag and took out her wallet. She threw her badge onto her boss’s desk, followed by her gun.
She was surprised at the relief she felt.
* * * * *
One year later
It was a mild but windy day, and when Liza stepped out of her taxi to meet James at City Hall to pick up their marriage license, she had to clip back her hair to keep it from blowing into her eyes. She wore a demure powder blue suit that set off her sapphire engagement ring and her blue eyes while thoroughly covering her phoenix tattoo and James’s charm, which hung from her nipple.
A diamond watch circled her left wrist; it hadn’t been a gift from James, but she’d bought it for herself when her new business, Bowman Security Services, had hit ten thousand dollars per month in receipts.