* * *
Jon did indeed bring a girlfriend, a pleasant woman named Amber. I didn't think the relationship would last, but they seemed happy together. I found the present I'd brought for a random girlfriend and put her name on it. She was very surprised and pleased to receive a gift.
I flirted lightly with Karen throughout the day and she flirted back. Mom pulled me aside later and said, "Your father and I like her."
"It's just a job," I told her. "It's ending in a week. But thank you."
New Year's EveThe run up to the New Year's Eve party was stressful. I coordinated with the caterer, made sure we had a sufficient alcohol supply, and changed out the house decorations somewhat. I kept the lights and garlands but got rid of the Christmas tree and any decorations directly related to Christmas.
Once all that was done, things settled down, and New Year's Eve day arrived without any major stresses.
Karen, of course, went to work. She promised to be home by five.
"And don't threaten me," she said, smiling. "I promise, five PM, no later." She paused. "Please call me at three thirty and again at four."
I laughed.
Invitations had said eight PM, so I had a relaxed day. It felt odd, like I was forgetting something. I kept roaming through the house, wondering what I should be doing.
At three thirty I called Karen. "Hello, girlfriend," I said.
"Hey." I could hear the smile in her voice. "Hang on." She muffled the phone, and I could vaguely hear talking in the background, then she said, "Talk to me. I am getting up and leaving right now."
"You're coming home early?"
"I wanted to spend time with you," she said.
My heart skipped a beat.
I talked to her until she got in the elevator and her cell phone cut out. She called me again as she was leaving the parking garage, just to tell me she had indeed left the office and hadn't been waylaid on the way out the door. She was home by four.
I was in the kitchen, checking on things that didn't need checking, when Karen walked in the door. She walked straight to me and pulled me into her arms, kissing me deeply.
I kissed her back, clutching at her.
"Wow," I said when she was done. "What was that?"
"That was thank you," she said. "For everything you've done." Then she took my hand and pulled me upstairs and to her bedroom.
"Um."
She laughed. "I want to change into something comfortable for a few hours," she said. "And spend time with you."
I smiled and sat on her bed while she changed out of her work clothes and into a bathrobe. Then she took my arm and pulled me back downstairs with her. We sat down on the sofa, and she pulled me into a cuddle.
"Is something wrong?" I asked her.
"Getting in character," she said.
"Uh huh," I said. "What is really going on?"
She didn't answer right away, but when I looked up at her, she looked a little sad. "Tonight is the last event. I don't want you to leave."
"Even if the sex is lousy?"
"Yes. Even if the sex is lousy."
She was sitting at the end of the sofa, turned slightly, and I was to her left, my legs curled up underneath me, as I lied against her, her arm wrapped around me. She was warm and soft, and it felt so comfortable. I snuggled in a little tighter and didn't say anything. We sat like that for a while.
"I'll keep paying you," she said after a while. "Not as much, but I'll keep paying you. Stay here."
"As what?" I asked quietly.
"I don't know," she said. "The way it's been, I suppose."
"Your fake girlfriend?"
She paused. "If that is what you want."
"No real job."
She was quiet for a while before answering. "No. You'll have virtually no living expenses except your car. I could claim you as a domestic partner and put you on health insurance at work. I'd tell the boss the truth, but we have a good relationship, and he'd let me do it. And I'd pay you."
"Karen," I started to say.
"Please think about it. You've been happy."
"This has been the best month since June," I said. "But what would I do? You've kept me busy with the events, but even with those I'm starting to run out of things to do. I'm not going to sit home and crochet."
"Is it my hours?"
"No. I need something to do."
"You could do volunteer work," she suggested. "Meet me for lunches a couple of times a week. Take cooking classes. I'll let you redecorate the house however you want. You could start dancing again. You can host events here as often as you like."
We sat quietly for a while. I thought about what she was asking. "I miss the travel with Marsha."
"I will take you anywhere in the world you want to go. The boss has been bitching at me to actually use my vacation time. I am supposed to use six weeks a year. I use about one. I couldn't be gone for more than two weeks at a time, but you could use my vacation time however you want."
"Karen-" I started to say.
She put her fingers over my mouth and then lifted my face to see her. Her face was filled with emotion. "Madeline, I'll give you anything in my power. Please think about what you want."
I buried my face against her shoulder and neck. "I'll think about it."
We cuddled on the couch for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I'd never felt so good and so troubled at the same time. Then Karen's stomach growled, and I laughed.
"I have a salad for us," I told her. "With a little leftover salmon from last night."
* * *
The caterers arrived at six. They were only going to deliver food and set up, but were not staying to serve. They would come by on the second to pick up their warming trays and other equipment.
They set up quickly and soon disappeared. Karen went upstairs to get dressed. I roamed through the house, checking on everything, then also went upstairs.
I showered, coifed, then put on my most provocative dress. I examined myself in the mirror and decided I looked damned good. All the cooking I'd done throughout December had threatened to ruin my dancer's figure, but I'd increased the intensity of my morning workouts and so far hadn't gained weight. The dress showed off my figure, and it was backless, so I'd get to feel Karen's hand on my back when we danced.
I liked that idea.
Karen made it back downstairs before I did. She was fluttering around the base of the stairs when I came down. She stared up at me.
She looked fabulous. Judging by her reaction, she thought I did too.
I descended the stairs slowly and put a little sway in my hips. I watched as she checked out my legs. I smiled.
I stopped while still on the last stair. "Come here," I ordered.
She closed the distance to me. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her. It was a passion-filled kiss, although I still didn't give her tongue entrance.
"I like being taller than you sometimes," I told her when we broke from the kiss. She laughed.
I stepped down the last step and looked up at her. "We seem to have confused the relationship," I told her. "Does that bother you?"
"No," she said. She paused. "I wouldn't mind more."
I laughed. "If you spend the evening courting me, I'll let you kiss me like that again at midnight."
Karen smiled and slipped her arm around my waist. Then she realized the dress was backless, and her fingers moved up to caress my back. I shivered. After that, Karen made a point of resting her fingers against my bare skin whenever she had a chance.
People started to arrive shortly after eight. I knew a lot of them by now. Karen had invited her staff; some of them came. Everyone from the dinner party was there. I spent the first hour meeting people and helping to host.
At one point while I was asking Ursula and Irina about Russia, Karen wandered up behind me. She kissed the back of my neck and placed her hands on my shoulder blades, the fingers caressing me lightly. I sighed in enjoyment. She stepped up to my left, her right ar
m wrapped around me with her fingers inside the back of my dress.
I wanted to stay just like that for a while, but the contact broke.
A few minutes later I turned to Karen and said, "Why am I not dancing?"
She smiled, took my hand, and immediately pulled me downstairs. There were already a bunch of people down there. Music was going but no one was dancing. Karen pulled me to the far end of the room and changed the music out.
"This is now a tango dance floor," she announced and immediately pulled me into her arms. Her fingers found the skin of my back again, and she caressed it once before weight shifting and beginning the dance.
"Is this what you meant by courting?" she asked me in a whisper.
"Yes." We danced for a while before I told her, "I like the attention you give me."
After that, I didn't leave the dance floor until it was starting to approach midnight. I had one couple ask me to teach them the dance I'd been doing. I taught them the basic walks and directed them to a real dance teacher if they were truely interested. Sally and Loraine asked me to teach them something new, so I asked if they knew ocho cortado. They didn't. I grabbed Sally and told her to lead, then I back led my way through an ocho cortado a few times. I did the same thing with Loraine. Loraine usually led when they danced, so I taught her the men's part, then I led for Sally, teaching her the lady's part. After that, they tried it a bunch of times. I stepped in both as a follow and a lead to make sure it felt right with both of them. Soon they were on their own.
Karen wandered in and out. She made a point of caressing my back every chance she got, and I found myself pressing myself against her more tightly each time she did it.
"I've got your number," she said.
"I know," I said. "Are you going to take advantage of it?"
"Absolutely."
"Good."
Shortly before midnight, we moved back upstairs. We passed out glasses of champagne and counted down to midnight.
When Karen's tongue asked for entrance, I opened for her. I think she was surprised, but she took full advantage, then she had to hold me up when my knees grew weak.
When she finally broke the kiss, her arms were around me and I was clutching at her. Her eyes searched my face. I smiled, then pulled her in for another kiss, somewhat more chaste.
Then I found myself pulled into Ursula's arms and got a quick kiss from her. By the time the kissing was over, I'd kissed several of Karen's friends, including a quick kiss from Steven and a slightly longer one from Sue. Sue pulled me into a hug and began whispering in my ear. "Please tell Karen 'yes'."
"She told you?"
"She took me to lunch the day before yesterday and told me everything, including the whole fake girlfriend thing. Madeline, she's in love with you, and you are good for her."
"As a fake girlfriend?"
"I saw that kiss, Madeline. Were you faking?"
I didn't answer.
"Please stay with her. She needs you."
"Is that what all this affection is about from everyone?"
"No, no one else knows. I didn't tell Steve. Everyone likes you."
After that I pulled out of her arms. "I don't know yet, Sue. Maybe."
Karen slipped back up to me and ran her fingers down my back. My eyes glazed over at the touch, and Sue smiled at my reaction.
Shortly after, we were wishing everyone a good night. I had my arm around Karen's waist, and she had her fingertips teasing my back. We closed the door, and she started to pull away, but I pulled her back to me and put my head on her shoulder. She kissed the top of my head and continued to stroke my back. I let her do that for a few minutes before I said, "Help me turn off the lights?"
Instead, we found ourselves back downstairs. The tango music was still playing, and I found myself in her arms again. She danced me around the room until the song ended. I stared up at her before pulling away and turning off the lights. I took her hand as we climbed the stairs together.
Upstairs outside her room, we look at each other. She was teasing my back with her fingers again, but I pulled away from her and said, "I have an answer for you. You may not like it."
Her expression fell. "Can I change your mind?"
"No. I don't want to be your fake girlfriend anymore. If I'm staying, it will be as your real girlfriend."
She stared at me, and I could tell she was repeating in her head what I had just said.
She didn't answer, so I stepped past her, opening the door to her bedroom, and stepped inside, leaving her where she'd been standing.
"Have I misread you, Karen?" I asked quietly when she didn't join me. "Did I just hopelessly embarrass myself?"
She turned around and walked into the bedroom, stepping right to me so I was looking up into her eyes.
"My hours."
"You are mine from nine PM every night. You will give me one full day every weekend and one full weekend every month. I want more than that, but you will promise this much as a minimum."
She searched my eyes but still wasn't touching me. I let her think about it, but she just stood there. The longer she stood there, the more I started to wonder if I had completely misunderstood everything that had been going on.
I finally looked down, feeling hurt and embarrassed.
"Right," I said after we'd been standing there for a good long time. "I'm sorry."
I started to slip past her, but she pulled me into her arms, and the moment her fingers were on my back, I melted against her. I lifted my lips, and she began kissing me.
I parted immediately for her, and she slipped her tongue into my mouth, invading me completely. I moaned into the kiss.
This felt so right. Her arms, her mouth, her body, we fit so well, and I wanted her so badly.
She broke the kiss and looked into my face. She held me, not moving, not taking my clothes off, not taking me to her bed, and not kissing me again.
"I don't understand, Karen."
"I could accept you as my fake girlfriend," she said.
I started to pull away, immediately getting angry and hurt.
"Wait, please, let me finish," she said. I stopped struggling, but I was hurt.
"Are you just curious, Madeline? What's it like to bed a woman?"
"Karen, listen to me. I don't do anything without thinking it through. Do you want me or not?"
"I want you more than I've ever wanted anyone in my life," she said.
"Then why am I still wearing clothes?"
At that she pulled me into another kiss, her tongue immediately invading my mouth again, and I surrendered to her entirely. The kiss went on and on, and I clutched at her, moaning, pulling myself more tightly against her.
She eventually pulled her mouth from mine and her eyes searched my face. I fluttered my eyes for a moment before focusing on her. "I don't know what to do, Karen."
"I do."
She had me out of my clothes in record time, touching my bare skin everywhere she removed clothing. She set my clothes over a chair then turned to look at me. "Please stand right there," she said, then began circling me.
I started to color from the attention, but it felt good to be appreciated it. She closed the distance to us and kissed me again, pushing me towards the bed as she did. She was still dressed, and I began grabbing at her clothes, but she pushed my hands away and pushed me up onto the bed.
"Madeline, are you sure? If you're not sure, you'll break my heart."
"Take me, Karen. I'm sure. I love you. I want you. I want you to take me. How else can I say it?"
She smiled then slowly began removing her own clothes while I watched, her clothes joining mine on the chair. Once she was standing naked in front of me, I eyed her up and down. I liked what I saw.
"You've never done this?"
"Not with a woman."
"Well then," she said, walking closer. She reached out a hand to the back of my head and guided my mouth to her breast. I took her into my mouth and used my lips, my gentle teeth, and my tongue to tease
her nipple.
I loved her subtle, distinct taste on my tongue, and I began to suck greedily at her. She arched her back as I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her tightly to me.
My heart was pounding. Part of me couldn't believe this was happening. The rest of me was crying out, "Yes! More!"
I reached a hand down and clasped her bottom. It was small and tight and fit my hand well. I caressed her, still teasing the now engorged nipple.
She pulled away, then guided me to the other nipple, and soon it was just as engorged as the first one. She pulled me away, then pulled my mouth to hers for another soul-wrenching kiss. She pushed me further onto the bed, following me, never breaking this kiss, and I soon found myself flat on my back with Karen straddling me, her mouth still ravaging mine.
One of us moaned, perhaps both of us, before she pulled away.
"Are you going to change your mind, Madeline?"
"Please take me."
She pushed me flat against the bed with her hands on my shoulders, lowering her mouth to my own breast, teasing my nipples erect. I pulled at her with my hand, but she clasped my wrists and forced them to the bed over my head. She released my nipple and looked at me. "I am taking you. This is a one way trip, Madeline. Are you sure?"
"Yes. Don't stop, Karen."
My heart kept pounding in my chest, and I felt myself grow wet as she attacked my mouth. She released my hands, but when I reached for her, she grabbed them again. She pulled away. "Do I need to tie you?"
I looked up at her. "Is that what you want?"
"Sometimes."
"Now?"
She smiled. "No, but maybe tomorrow."
I returned her smile. "Do you hurt?"
"Never."
"Make me yours, Karen. I'll behave."
She shoved my hands firmly to the bed above me, and when she withdrew her hands, I left them there. She kissed me, and I closed my eyes. Then she lowered her lips to my collar bone and began to suck. I struggled weakly under her as she left her mark on my skin. When she was done, she pulled away and growled, "Mine."
"Yes."
Her hands began caressing me again, and then she reached between her legs, and I felt her fingers begin to caress the outside of my vulva. I began squirming.
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