PluckingthePearl

by Afton Locke

  She stared at the eddies of water stirred up by Leroy’s oar, thinking she’d rather sit in this boat all night than go through with her date.

  When they reached the cottage and got out of the boat, Charlie showed them the stack of boards and cans of paint near the front door.

  “What in heaven’s name is all this?” Wilma asked.

  The older man shrugged. “A fellow from the hardware store delivered it a couple of hours ago.”

  Wilma bent down to inspect it more closely. “What a pretty shade of blue. Well, who’s it from?”

  “I asked him,” Charlie said. “Wouldn’t say.”

  “I bet I know where it came from,” Sadie said. “I’m surprised the paint’s not white.”

  Aunt Wilma flicked her behind the ear. “And I told you to hush with that talk. Come on inside. We got to get ready for Jimmy.”

  Despite a hard day of work, Wilma acted as animated as a bird in springtime as she straightened the cottage and heated up some cabbage-and-pork soup. Pearl pushed up the sleeves of her sweater to the elbows and helped the best she could. At least it got her mind off men. She wished the weather was even colder so she and Jimmy would be forced to stay indoors under the eyes of the family. Outside, anything could happen.

  Half an hour later, Wilma ran to the window. “He’s here! He’s tying up his boat. Now you all act proper or you’ll hear about it later.”

  After exchanging greetings, they sat down to eat. Pearl struggled to eat her soup but her appetite was gone. She wanted oysters with Caleb, not this. Conversation flowed around her and she was glad there were enough people there to keep it going.

  Uncle Charlie cleared his throat and looked at Jimmy. “How many gallons did you shuck today?”

  “Thirty, sir.”

  Aunt Wilma clasped her hands together. “I declare, Jimmy. You must earn so much money you burn it like firewood.”

  He smiled and bowed his head. “Well, it’s not quite like that but I’m planning to build me a nice house close to the inlet. It’ll have a big yard for children to play in.”

  Wilma closed her eyes and shuddered as if imagining it. The inlet, Pearl knew, had refreshing breezes in the summer and very few mosquitoes. She felt like shuddering herself but not with happiness. This was exactly what she used to want before Caleb had turned her life upside down.

  “We thank you kindly for those extra building supplies,” Wilma said.

  Jimmy’s spoon paused in midair. “Building supplies?”

  “The new paint and wood outside,” Wilma explained. “We sure do need to fix this place up.”

  “I wish I’d thought of it,” Jimmy said, “but it didn’t come from me.”

  Wilma flung her hand toward him. “Isn’t he something? Won’t even take credit for his generosity.”

  “I can help you fix up the place, though, after work every evening.” He smiled at her. “It’ll give me a chance to spend more time with Pearl.”

  Every evening? Her throat constricted as she swallowed her soup. She had no idea how she was going to get through tonight as it was.

  Sadie toyed with her spoon. “I don’t think you’ll see much of Pearl. She’s usually real busy at night.”

  Pearl’s cheeks prickled with fear as she looked at her cousin to see what she’d say next.

  “Right,” Jimmy replied. “You have that extra job.”

  “She really enjoys her job too.” Sadie paused to giggle into her hand. “She likes it so much she dreams about it at night.”

  Pearl gripped the edge of her soup bowl, one second away from flinging it in her cousin’s face as her heart lodged in her throat.

  Wilma slapped the table. “Sadie, you go start cuttin’ that apple pie for dessert.”

  “But, Mama, I’m not finished my soup yet.”

  “Right now, Sadie.”

  When her cousin left the table, Pearl’s heart returned to its normal spot and she smiled apologetically to Jimmy. She probably had nothing to worry about. Now that he’d seen how crazy her family was he wouldn’t want anything more to do with her.

  After they ate dessert, Wilma shooed the two of them out to the porch where they could be alone. Pearl wished there were separate chairs instead of the bench to sit on.

  “You have quite a family,” Jimmy said after they sat down.

  “They’re pretty frightening, aren’t they?”

  He reached for her hand. “I don’t frighten easily.”

  “So tell me about the house you plan to build.” She hoped hearing some details about her perfect future would make her want it.

  As she’d predicted, Jimmy talked about his plans with lots of enthusiasm. His eyes glittered and his hands waved as he talked. She caught a few words here and there but her mind was at the plant. What was Caleb doing now? Did he miss her as much as she missed him?

  “I asked what color you think I should paint the nursery,” Jimmy said.

  “The nursery?” she repeated.

  “Pink or blue would limit it to girls or boys. Do you like yellow?” he asked her.

  Even though the air was cool, it was still thick with marsh smell. For some reason, she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

  “Yellow is pretty,” she said.

  “So are you.”

  When he bent close to kiss her, Pearl fought the urge to bolt off the bench and run toward the creek. This evening was turning out to be ten times more difficult than she thought it would. Would it ever end?

  She would never get a marriage proposal, she knew, if she didn’t at least kiss the man. Clenching her fists at the sides of her thighs, she kept her face still. Jimmy’s lips were dry and gentle, and they made her feel absolutely nothing.

  She longed to feel the scrape of Caleb’s moustache and the demands of his lips and tongue—hot, hard and wet—instead.

  Jimmy kissed her again, more firmly this time. Although he closed his eyes, she kept hers open, staring toward the creek and seeing a vision of Caleb on the yacht. Despite trying as hard as she could to feel nothing, emotion pricked the backs of her eyes.

  The breath of Jimmy’s sigh brushed her face as he pulled back.

  “Is something the matter, Pearl? I get the feeling you don’t enjoy kissing me.”

  She put her fingers to her lips, wishing she could wipe away the kisses she hadn’t wanted.

  “I’m just not used to such things.” She pointed to the windows looking over the porch. “Besides, my family might be watching.”

  He nodded, looking relieved. “You’re shy. That’s one of the things I like about you. I guess I moved too fast.”

  “It’s getting late,” she hinted.

  He slapped a mosquito on his arm. “I’d better be getting home. I’ll be back tomorrow to help with fixing up your place.”

  “I’ll be at work,” she reminded him.

  “I know but maybe I’ll still be here when you get home.”

  She hoped not. Seeing him after being with Caleb? It was unthinkable.

  Pearl stood up. “You really don’t need to trouble yourself. You should be working on your own house instead.”

  “Our house,” he corrected. “Or at least it could be.”

  The clammy air pressed around her as crickets sang. Why couldn’t she breathe?

  “Good night, Jimmy.”

  Looking uncertain, he stood, squeezed her hand and left. When she went inside the cottage, she found Wilma sitting at the kitchen table with a hundred questions in her eyes.

  “How did it go? Did he kiss you?”

  Pearl decided to ignore the last question. “He’s going to help with the repairs so he’ll probably come by tomorrow before I get home.”

  Wilma beamed with approval. “Yes, indeed. He’ll make a fine husband. Did he say anything about marriage, child?”

  “Not really. I’m very tired, Aunt Wilma. Good night.”

  Pearl practically ran toward her pallet. The only thing that kept her from flinging herself on it and crying was looking
forward to seeing Caleb tomorrow night.

  * * * * *

  When Pearl’s shift ended the next night, she went upstairs to Caleb’s office. He was out while the floor men worked but she knew he’d be back. In the meantime, she followed the instructions on the note he left to clean his window blinds.

  Working beside Jimmy all day had been awkward after the uncomfortable evening they’d spent together. Every now and then he’d smiled at her and she’d smiled back because she felt she had to. Her facial muscles ached from it.

  When the building grew quiet except for one set of footsteps on the stairs, Pearl’s heart sped up. What did he plan to do to her tonight? Would she have the strength to say no? She’d have to. Another man was courting her. Just spending time with Caleb was all she needed.

  He closed the office door and locked it, which he’d never done before.

  “We’re not going downstairs?” she asked.

  “Not tonight.”

  A breath of relief washed through her. He was going to make this easy for her but why was his face so sober and impossible to read?

  “Did you have a bad day?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Some fool from the city crashed his boat into my unloading dock yesterday. Having a piece of my daddy’s company damaged took something out of me too. I can’t even expand it without the mayor’s approval now.”

  The powerful plant owner had a vulnerable little boy inside him, Pearl realized as she touched his cheek.

  “Close the blinds, will you?”

  She did as he asked while he sat in his desk chair mere inches from her.

  “Straighten them, please,” he said next as his gaze burned through her clothes. “I love to watch the way your sweet little ass moves under that flowered dress when you work.”

  He didn’t even have to touch her to make flames dance across her skin. His words were enough. While she fixed the blinds, he absent-mindedly ate a wedge of tomato from the salad plate on his desk. The vegetables on it were all askew, as if he’d picked it to pieces. She didn’t see any oysters either.

  “How was your date?” His voice sounded mechanical, as if he were asking about the weather.

  “It was…fine. Caleb, is something wrong?”

  “Come here.” He pulled her onto his lap and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I missed you. The past two days seemed to last forever.”

  She buried her face against his neck. “Oh, Caleb. I missed you too. I was so miserable last night.”

  “Did he kiss you?”

  “You shouldn’t ask me that,” she told him. “This is our time together.”

  He toyed with the coil of hair pinned behind her ear. “I’ve been torturing myself wondering what he did to you. Please tell me.”

  She looked away. “He did kiss me but I didn’t feel anything. I’d rather kiss you.”

  He grinned. “What’s stopping you?”

  Decency. One kiss couldn’t hurt, though, she decided. She’d missed Caleb so much.

  “Nothing,” she replied as she slid her hands behind the neck of the man who affected her like no other. She lowered her mouth to his. A whimper of pleasure escaped her when the familiar moustache brushed her upper lip. She inhaled his breezy scent and absorbed the warmth of skin through his shirt as she kissed him.

  “I take it you didn’t forget about me,” he said after she finished.

  Were his blue eyes more intense than ever or did the dim light from his desk lamp just make them look that way?

  She stroked his cheek while she shook her head. “I’ll never forget you. Caleb, I don’t know if I can go through with this with Jimmy. I was so miserable last night.”

  He gripped her hand. “It’s for the best. I can’t give you the life you need but it eases my mind to know you’ll be taken care of.”

  Sitting on his lap with his arms around her made her feel safe enough but she knew it was only an illusion, a stolen moment.

  “Speaking of which, thank you for those building supplies.”

  “What building supplies?” he asked. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Wood and paint. It arrived yesterday from the hardware store.”

  “I have no idea but I do know I don’t want to spend our precious time talking about hardware.”

  “Caleb, I’m afraid I can’t let you explore me tonight.” Nevertheless, the memory of his kisses between her legs made her belly full and hot.

  He placed her hand over his crotch. “That’s all right because this time you’re going to explore me.”

  Longing, quick and fierce, stabbed straight through her. She tried to move her hand away but he held it fast.

  “I can’t. You know I’m being courted by another man.”

  He dragged his other hand through his hair. “Please, Pearl. I brought you pleasure so many times. I need you to make me come.”

  The thought of making him explode inside the way she had intensified the heat between her legs.

  “I love this mouth,” he said, tracing her bottom lip with the pad of his finger. “It expresses everything you think and feel. I need to be inside it. Please don’t refuse me.”

  Tiny sparks shot from his light touch. She could never seem to resist when he asked her to do something. Always so polite, so endearing…so incredibly handsome. He gave her so much—she needed to give something back just this once, especially tonight since he looked so sad.

  “You know it would be wrong,” she said.

  “I know, but I looked forward to this so much all day,” he said, still holding her hand in place. “After tonight, no more messing around, I swear.”

  Moisture trickled into her step-in panties as she caressed the bulge. “But I thought you had to keep it contained so you can stay in control.”

  “I’ll be all right if you keep your clothes on,” he promised.

  She got off his lap and stood beside him, wishing she were strong enough to fight the passion pouring through her veins like molten fuel. She needed to see him climax so she wouldn’t wonder about it the rest of her life.

  “Tell me what to do,” she said.

  Caleb leaned back in his chair, smiling for the first time all evening. “Surprise me. You can start by unbuttoning my trousers.”

  Her heart fluttered as she bent over and reached for the fastenings of his trousers and undershorts. Within moments, his cock leaned toward her, erect and impressive. She explored him with her fingers, encircling the head and trailing them down the shaft. His scent was strongest here and she closed her eyes, breathing it in.

  She longed to be naked as her nipples swelled and pressed against the inside of her bra. Slick juices oozed from the tip of his erection again and she couldn’t resist running her fingers through it and smearing it over the rest of the rigid flesh.

  Caleb groaned and arched his back. “That feels so nice. Explore the rest of me too.”

  Curious, she tangled her fingers through the wiry, black hair at the base of his shaft. The sac of skin there was cooler and softer. She reached into his trousers to put the bundle in her hand.

  This is where children come from, she realized. When a vision of doing this with Jimmy flashed through her mind, she yanked her hand away. She would never be able to do it with him. This was her man. Every touch she gave him made him hers.

  Caleb’s blue stare reached her from half-closed eyes. “I guess you’re not used to a man’s anatomy. I hope you’re not too disgusted.”

  She clasped his shaft with both hands. “Of course not. You’re wonderful. Every inch of you.”

  How would that rigid tower of white-pink flesh feel gliding inside her? Her cunt ached at the thought. If only she could experience it with him someday.

  He reached up to stroke her hair. “I want you to put your mouth on me.”

  It seemed a strange thing to do but he’d put his lips on her most private places. Her mouth watered as she wondered how he’d taste.

  The usual doubt and guilt c
omplained from the back of her mind but the blood rushing through her ears drowned it out.

  “What part would you like me to put my mouth on?” she asked.

  “All of it,” he whispered. “Lick me and suck me the way I did you.”

  “Will that make you come?”

  “I’m sure it will,” he replied, “but I have to warn you it’ll be a little different from yours. There will be a lot more fluid than what you see now and it’ll shoot out of me fast and hard.”

  The idea mystified and excited her at the same time. Her cunt ached so much she wished he’d put his finger inside her again.

  “Will it hurt me?” she asked.

  He chuckled while he stroked her ear. “Not unless I squirt you in the eye, honey. I think I’m entitled seeing as how you’ve already scratched me, pulled my hair and knocked me on the floor.”

  She laughed too. More of his juices seeped under her hand as she stroked him slowly.

  “I want to see my semen on your face,” he added. “You can even swallow it if you like. I’ll leave that up to you.”

  “If it’s part of you, I want to taste it,” she said.

  He got up and pointed to his chair. “Why don’t you sit there and I’ll stand here.”

  Caleb’s waist blocked her view of the desk light, leaving his straining cock in the shadows. His scent overwhelmed her as she gripped his shaft and pulled the round, swollen head to her open mouth.

  She started by licking the drop of pearly juice at the tip. When more came out to take its place, she licked again.

  “I’m probably doing this wrong,” she said.

  “No, it’s perfect, honey. Perfect.”

  To guide her, he pushed the head into her mouth. Instinctively, her lips closed around him just as her pussy lips had cradled his thrusting finger days ago. Groaning, he pushed more insistently. Her tongue explored the sculpture of him as he slid back and forth into her mouth.

  His ragged breaths filled the room and told her how much he needed this. She needed it too. This is my man, she thought as she made love to his shaft with her mouth. This is the only cock I ever want to touch my body. Ever.