by TorreS, Pet
"Stop here!"
Larsson says something to his private driver and his car stops gently, after all, the vehicle is moving without too much speed.
Larsson opens his car door, gets out and at this moment I stare at him as he crosses in front of his car and walks towards a small square. There is a popcorn stand painted in red and white.
A man in his fifties, with a red cap, white shirt, jeans and red apron fills some white bags with candy popcorn. Minutes later, I hear a noise on the window to my right. The driver presses a button and the dark glass slides down before my eyes.
Larsson's green eyes cross mine while he is partially bent over my window. He raises his hand and offers me a bag of fresh popcorn filled with condensed milk.
"I believe you like popcorn."
He tries to be gentle again, perhaps to undo this tense and strange atmosphere that is surrounding us after our lips almost collided in that club.
My surprised look meets the bag of popcorn in front of me and I politely hold it, but the word 'thanks' comes out of my mouth with no force. Larsson crosses behind his car and returns to sit on the car seat closing the door. His driver moves on.
I slowly eat my first sweet popcorn with condensed milk. I realize that Larsson is watching me discreetly, while he keeps his elbow resting on the glass of the car and his index finger touching his lips.
The condensed milk pours into the v of my breasts above the neckline of my dress.
"You're smearing yourself with condensed milk!" He exclaims with his hoarse but gentle voice and his forefinger glides over my soft, delicate skin between the neckline of my dress and removes all the condensed milk from me.
My heart races. I feel a shudder inside me, my eyes widen in fear.
What does his audacious attitude wish for?
The condensed milk or me?
I look in his direction and he slowly licks the condensed milk on his forefinger as his intense eyes seem to magnetize mine.
"It's a delight!"
Again I shudder at his seductive voice. His driver raises his neck and tries to see through the rearview mirror.
Larsson understands my shyness through my cheeks which are now burning with shame, so he looks forward and tries to ignore his sassy attitude.
"Sorry," he finally says, pulling his overcoat over his body. His gaze remains on the front windscreen of his car. "I scared you."
"I am not used to hearing these kinds of insinuations, it sounds like..."
I am interrupted.
"Indiscreet." He concludes.
I agree with him. He takes advantage of my silence and orders me, "Finish eating your popcorn!" His elbow remains against the glass and he touches his lips again with his index finger. "And lick your fingers!"
He looks at me. "They are sticky with condensed milk.”
I remain silent and quietly I touch the tip of my tongue on my thumb and also on my index finger and remove all the condensed milk from them. Larsson looks discreetly at me, at my fingers getting the touch of my hot wet tongue.
He smiles with closed lips at me. My acts seem to get twisted in his mind, which seems to be the mind of an experienced man.
Chapter 6
"At the same time, I feel I am so safe in your arms. I also feel I am so lost in them,"
~Emily says.
We go into his house and Larsson walks to a bar counter made of steel, with four black chairs and several crystal glasses hanging down from the bar ceiling.
On the wall there is a collection of drinks of all kinds. He holds two glasses between his fingers and puts them on the bar counter. Then he picks up an imported pineapple-brandy and slowly fills the two glasses.
I remain standing in the doorway and observe all his gestures. He wants to persuade me to accompany him in an alcoholic beverage, I imagine.
"Approach me!" he orders, raises his glass, drinks his lightly colored liquor and exclaims, completely seduced by it, “Pineapple Liquor."
I take my time walking toward the counter and stand before his bar. He is on the other side, still standing.
"Try it! You'll love it!"
I stare frightened at the glass on the counter. He tries to hold back a laugh with his fingers on his lips.
"Sorry," he says. "I find your scared stance somewhat amusing! Relax! I will not steal your virginity."
I blush and remain silent. The word 'virginity' sounds so intimate and talking about it bothers me.
"If you still have it, that is." He insists, looking into my eyes again. He drinks his liquor and savors it as if he were savoring the taste of a woman.
I turn my body and begin walking away from there but in reality I’m walking away from him.
"I’m going to sleep," I inform him with a rebellious tone.
Larsson abandons his glass on the counter, walks with his long steps and stops in front of me.
"I'm sorry Emily," he says as he touches my face with the back of his hand. "I say these things in jest."
I raise my head and stare at his face.
"Excuse me Larsson TIGER, but I do not approve of these types of jokes."
His hand moves down to my neck, over my shoulder and stops near my left breast.
"Your heart is beating strongly."
He is making an insinuation. He then removes his hand from me. The little brightness that comes from the house lights slightly lightens our faces.
"Sometimes you scare me!" I confess to him and keep my lips parted. We stare at each other intensely and his eyes are so bright, so intense and my mind wants nothing more than one kiss from him.
He gets closer and gazes at my breasts. His arms cross my ribs and he presses me against his own body. I feel his hot breath against mine.
"At the same time, I feel I am so safe in your arms. I also feel I am so lost in them," I whisper closer to his chest, closing my eyes and then opening them again.
His right hand goes up to my neck and pulls my hair strongly, making me stare at his face. Another tug, much more intense and I look into his attractive eyes.
As green as the Amazon jungle.
His lips move smoothly over the skin of my neck and travel through to the tip of my chin. Our breathing becomes panting and then he removes his lips from my chin and walks away from me.
"Let's sleep! And do not take into consideration that little slip!" Larsson orders with indifference and keeps walking slowly.
I remain standing like a lifeless sculpture. My eyes are fixed on nothing, showing my disappointment at the second insinuated kiss that never eventuated.
"Why do you never kiss me?" I ask him as I keep my back to him.
He keeps moving. "Because I avoid compromising acts."
He goes ahead and I hear his footsteps going up the stairs. I close my eyes and try to hold back the tears but one of the tears is so stubborn and rolls down my face.
Chapter 7
"I so easily seduce women."
~Larsson TIGER says.
"Go in, fuck you!"
I hear a male voice murmuring as I carefully approach a partially darkened room.
Before my eyes I see the varnished wooden walls, some pool cues hanging on a wall, a pool table and three red lights above it, which are hung on a white ceiling. On another wall are pictures of tigers in wooden frames.
My apprehensive look encircles the dark room and stops before Larsson TIGER's image, standing beside the pool table, holding an ivory cue.
"It's your turn, Larsson Tiger," he says in low voice to himself.
Larsson bends over, aims his cue at a red ball and shoots his cue against it. The red ball rolls on various angles and falls into the second hole to the left of the pool table.
At that moment, he looks toward the passage and sees a shadow beside the door which is slightly ajar.
"I am not used to playing with people watching me on the sly."
His voice sounds rude and I feel it as a scolding.
"Sorry, I'll leave you alone," I answer still hidde
n behind the door.
"Stay!" He orders and rests his cue tip on the ground.
I stop moving and walk slowly into the playroom. I do not know what my interest in staying there is, especially as I have no interest in pool table games.
However, my answer comes quickly when I face Larsson TIGER's green eyes, being illuminated by red lights. Parts of his body are dark due to poor lighting in the room.
My eyes run down and go below his half naked chest. He is in his pajama pants in black satin and also a robe in black satin. He rounds the pool table and I can see an image of a tiger embroidered on the back of his satin robe. His feet are bare and he steps lightly on the playroom floor.
I stop beside the pool table to watch him play.
"Are you in the habit of playing alone?"
He looks at me, holds a chalk and smoothes the tip of his cue. "I challenge myself."
He blows on the tip of his cue, removing the excess chalk from it.
My eyebrows rise as I seem to find all this very exotic - someone who challenges himself. This attitude seems more like the attitude of a person who does not like or never accepts losing.
"Apparently, you hate to lose!" I comment looking at the yellow ball on the table with a green surface.
He realizes that I'm looking at the yellow ball. Then he takes aim at that ball with the tip of his cue and thrusts forward with a fierce shot. The ball rotates six or seven times and falls into the last right hole next to me.
He raises his head, stares at me and his eyes are lit and more brilliant. "I always win."
I shrug my shoulders and tremble before his audacious, challenging and stunning look. He seems to invite me to play another type of game. This involves caresses, whispers, moans and much pleasure. In that game, all the people involved in it never lose.
He walks to the other side and takes aim at the last black ball with another flawless shot. The ball falls into the second hole to his right.
He stands up straight and stares at me again with his green eyes ablaze. He drops his cue on the table and walks slowly towards me.
Larsson TIGER stands before me and stares at me from head to toe, seizing me and finally realizing that I'm in a marked-waist dress in salmon color. His cold stare makes me move backward and my hands and back lean against the side of the pool table.
I feel like my skin has started burning and flaming with desire. How I wish he would touch me and kiss me on my lips.
He remains motionless however, just daring me with the magnetism of his eyes.
If this is one of his games of seduction, he knows how to do it perfectly. Right now I'm dying to fly over there, place my hands around his neck and beg him to kiss me. Of course, I lack the courage to do it.
My lips are parted expecting the soft touch of his lips on mine but nothing ends up happening. I slide my hands on the pool table and try to hold it as if I was holding Larsson TIGER's flesh.
He looks at the movement of my hands and smiles seductively, already imagining what they represent.
His lips come near my chin and I automatically close my eyes, as I am already waiting them to feel them on my lips. But his mouth slides onto my left ear. He slides the tip of his tongue over it and says quietly next to my ear, "I so easily seduce women."
He smirks and continues saying, "And I always leave them wanting a kiss from me."
He removes his face from my ear and walks back, still looking at me. I am flushed, angry and ashamed of my desire.
It is me who should be doing this little game of seduction and not him, I think.
What the hell! Why does he never kiss me?
He walks on and stops at the game room door and even though he is with his back to the game room and to me, he tries to say with a teasing smile, "It's funny!"
Then he walks down the hall and goes to his luxurious bedroom.
Chapter 8
I also walk to my room and shut the door behind me. I lean my back against the wooden door and look up at the ceiling. I close my eyes and try to feel TIGER Larsson's lips on mine.
What feeling would his kiss provoke in me?
I shudder and heave a sigh as I imagine his hands covering all my body.
I open my eyes and walk to my bed, pull my dress from the bottom up and remove it from my body above my head. I throw my dress on the bed. Now I'm just in my cotton panties.
I turn off the table-lamp and everything gets dark. I lie in bed and try to fall asleep without trying to imagine what the taste of Larsson TIGRE’s kiss would be like.
That would steal my serene sleep for many hours.
Chapter 9
“I don’t like anyone making my tiger angry.”
~Larsson TIGER says.
Seven o'clock in the morning.
Larsson turns to one side in his bed. He is lying on a dark bed, full of huge black cushions with prints of tigers. His blanket is black with a tiger's face printed on it.
Beside his bed, there is a small table with a black lamp and some personal items. Behind his bed, there is a glass wall, through which he can clearly see his mansion’s garden.
He opens his green eyes after he hears a distant roar.
"ZULU!" He exclaims to himself, throws his blanket aside and comes out of his bed wearing only his black satin pants.
***
My fingers slide through the bars of a huge cage. A tiger stares at me and roars at me as he looks annoyed. The animal runs in the cage and I stand watching him and I am dazzled by his wild beauty.
I realize that Larsson is obsessed with tigers, but not to the point of him having such an animal in his home.
The caramel animal with black strips roars strongly and walks toward me. Even though I am standing outside the cage, I feel threatened and turn back and try to run away. I feel my body crashing into another body.
I look at the floor and see bare feet. My eyes move up slowly and I see black satin pants. Above them is a sculptured abdomen. My lips open partially when I see that flushed chest with a gold tiger in the middle.
He sees I am tousled and in my blue dress.
His green eyes are before mine.
My eyes go downward to his waistline. I feel a desire to touch him as this is the first time I see him completely shirtless. I stare at his left and then see a tattoo of a tiger on his ribs.
I imagine how much he must worship this animal to have it tattooed on his flesh, wounding his own skin and leaving it with a permanent mark.
My fingers lightly touch his tattoo and I feel a shudder when I realize that his skin is fluffed up.
Larsson holds my left wrist strongly and removes my hand from his body. I look up at his face without understanding his evasive reaction. As always he is so obscure.
"You went too far!" He affirms and his tiger inside the cage roars at us, as if he were jealous of his owner.
"You made Zulu angry," he says, moves out of my way and walks toward the cage. “I don’t like anyone making my tiger angry.”
He stretches out his hand between the barriers and the tiger approaches his owner. Larsson caresses the head of his animal with extreme care.
Chapter 10
"You are an angel. I will never forget all you have done for me."
~Emily says.
"Where are you taking me?” I question Larsson after his driver turns the corner of his mansion, driving at high speed.
I know I'm going away from Larsson TIGER's home forever, since he made sure I took all the clothes he bought for me.
He keeps his rude stance, just looking toward the windshield of his vehicle. Before long, he pulls out a cigarette and a lighter from the right pocket of his dark trousers.
His overcoat is open in front and the sharp curves of his abdomen are bulging. He lights his cigarette and inhales it nervously. The smoke rises and soon he responds to me dryly, "Soon, soon you will know."
A few more miles and finally the black Opal parks in front of a two-storey mansion with antique furniture. The walls are
painted with pastel dye. Doors, windows and ceilings are painted in white.
At the main entrance of the house, there is a lady with red hair and blue eyes. It seems she is in her fifties. She is well dressed in her knee-length black skirt, caramel satin blouse and black high heeled shoes. She keeps her firm and obedient posture.
"Mr Larsson, Sir," she smiles slightly and shows satisfaction at seeing him again.
Larsson gets out of his car and his driver opens the car door for me. I get out with all my bags.
The red-haired woman looks at me and smiles politely, but I keep my face serious as I am unhappy to be there.
"Constancia, this is Emily," Larsson finally tells after he inhales his cigarette again.
The woman looks at me again, trying to gain my trust.
"From this day on, Emily will live in this house," Larsson declares.
I lower my head and look down at my blue dress. I think.
Did I do something so wrong that he would bring me to this house and keep me away from him?
"I want you to take good care of her," he says to Constancia and winks at her.
Constancia nods at him. "Yes, sir."
Larsson turns sideways and looks at me for a moment. His gaze is one of farewell.
Maybe a goodbye.
I despair as I think I will never see him again. My tears come down my cheeks and I try to control my sobbing.
Constancia stares at Larsson, afraid. He throws his cigarette away, approaches me and tries to reassure me.
His hands touch my back and he pulls me to him, but my bags prevent me from feeling the warmth of his chest which is almost naked. He rests his chin on the top of my head and when I can control my tears, I look up at his face and ask him,
"Will I not see you again?"
He smiles at me and looks up at the sky, and soon after his green eyes meet my eyes wet with tears. His hands hold my face firmly.