possessively as he plunged into me with his finger, stroked me with his thumb.
My pleasure crested. Broke over me, an ocean wave of satisfaction. I gasped through the release. Sighed into the afterglow. His hand gently wound me down.
Awareness returned and I remembered just where this sort of abandon led. It felt like heaven, but the consequences were hell. I had duty. I had dreams.
I scrabbled off his leg. At first he held on to me, but when it turned into an actual fight, he removed his hand from my pants and set me firmly on my feet, his fingers circling my upper arms until I found my balance. When he did let go, he backpedaled like I’d erupted in full-body pustules.
Which hurt, but I’d started it. Or ended it. Whatever. “That was unacceptable.”
“You seemed fine with it at the time.” The music in his voice was as tight as his expression.
“Seduction does that to a gal.” I tried to put a sneer in my own music, fell short. “Don’t do that again.” I jerked out keys, tried to stick one in the lock and was mortified when the keys jangled from my shaking.
He slid them from my hands, thrust one and opened the door. Sighed. “Junior, wait. I—”
“Don’t. Just—don’t.” I retrieved the keys and slipped into the dark hall. Closed the door by pressing my back to it. Or maybe the door was holding me up. I took a deep breath to calm my thundering heart.
A click.
The light blared on. “Do you know what time it is, young lady?”
My mother was waiting up for me.
The bright, bald glare of light burned my eyeballs. The voice glared too, pitched to scrape old guilt raw.
Great Galloping Galbraith. Must have pissed off the demons of the bottom line. I hoped like hell she hadn’t heard me orgasming against the door.
She stood before me, hair as black as mine, body as slender. My height too, but the way she stood, hands on hips, spine ominously straight, made her seem ten feet taller. The Egyptian-style headwrap straight out of Aida didn’t help.
I was the mirror image of her physically. I’d run from Glynn because I was afraid I was like her on the inside too.
No. I took a deep breath. I’d escaped the worst of the lustful urges that had been her downfall.
“Where have you been?” And when she got a look at my well-kissed mouth— “And what have you been doing?”
“Nothing.” The fallback of every child from two to sixty-two.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Gunter Marie Stieg.” She wagged one scolding finger as she spoke. Chunky gold bracelets jingled, underlining her scold. Maybe a stereotype, but my Italian mother very definitely talked with her hands, and by thunder, I’d better listen to both gesture and voice.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, Mother.” I quickly ran through the eightfold path. Used Business Truth #5, “Tell the customer, not what you want to jabber about, but what they need to hear”. “I was investigating a new sales avenue.”
Hey, I wasn’t lying, I was marketing. Besides, this was an emergency.
“New sales. After midnight?” Her flying hands shouted her disbelief.
“A business opportunity.” I added a Sales Maneuver, “Distract with any truth that’s not The Truth”. “You know how the mayor pulled in Broadway stars for the PAC opening?”
“Actors.” She sniffed, like she hadn’t been one herself. “They have no money.”
“Well, one of them does. Or rather, her guardian does. Maybe you’ve heard of him.” I paused for effect. “Kai Elias?”
My mother’s stare was an awl. She glared like I was lying so bad I wouldn’t sit down for a week. Although if Glynn was doing the spanking… She scowled. “Elias, of Steel Security. Of half a dozen more Fortune 500 companies. Billionaire recluse Kai Elias sponsors an actor .” Again she sneered the word, but it was the flicking finger that made me wince. “Next you will be telling me he lives in Nowheresville, Iowa.”
“Mom, really. His ward Mishela is Dorothy, here with
My pleasure crested. Broke over me, an ocean wave of satisfaction. I gasped through the release. Sighed into the afterglow. His hand gently wound me down.
Awareness returned and I remembered just where this sort of abandon led. It felt like heaven, but the consequences were hell. I had duty. I had dreams.
I scrabbled off his leg. At first he held on to me, but when it turned into an actual fight, he removed his hand from my pants and set me firmly on my feet, his fingers circling my upper arms until I found my balance. When he did let go, he backpedaled like I’d erupted in full-body pustules.
Which hurt, but I’d started it. Or ended it. Whatever. “That was unacceptable.”
“You seemed fine with it at the time.” The music in his voice was as tight as his expression.
“Seduction does that to a gal.” I tried to put a sneer in my own music, fell short. “Don’t do that again.” I jerked out keys, tried to stick one in the lock and was mortified when the keys jangled from my shaking.
He slid them from my hands, thrust one and opened the door. Sighed. “Junior, wait. I—”
“Don’t. Just—don’t.” I retrieved the keys and slipped into the dark hall. Closed the door by pressing my back to it. Or maybe the door was holding me up. I took a deep breath to calm my thundering heart.
A click.
The light blared on. “Do you know what time it is, young lady?”
My mother was waiting up for me.
The bright, bald glare of light burned my eyeballs. The voice glared too, pitched to scrape old guilt raw.
Great Galloping Galbraith. Must have pissed off the demons of the bottom line. I hoped like hell she hadn’t heard me orgasming against the door.
She stood before me, hair as black as mine, body as slender. My height too, but the way she stood, hands on hips, spine ominously straight, made her seem ten feet taller. The Egyptian-style headwrap straight out of Aida didn’t help.
I was the mirror image of her physically. I’d run from Glynn because I was afraid I was like her on the inside too.
No. I took a deep breath. I’d escaped the worst of the lustful urges that had been her downfall.
“Where have you been?” And when she got a look at my well-kissed mouth— “And what have you been doing?”
“Nothing.” The fallback of every child from two to sixty-two.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Gunter Marie Stieg.” She wagged one scolding finger as she spoke. Chunky gold bracelets jingled, underlining her scold. Maybe a stereotype, but my Italian mother very definitely talked with her hands, and by thunder, I’d better listen to both gesture and voice.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, Mother.” I quickly ran through the eightfold path. Used Business Truth #5, “Tell the customer, not what you want to jabber about, but what they need to hear”. “I was investigating a new sales avenue.”
Hey, I wasn’t lying, I was marketing. Besides, this was an emergency.
“New sales. After midnight?” Her flying hands shouted her disbelief.
“A business opportunity.” I added a Sales Maneuver, “Distract with any truth that’s not The Truth”. “You know how the mayor pulled in Broadway stars for the PAC opening?”
“Actors.” She sniffed, like she hadn’t been one herself. “They have no money.”
“Well, one of them does. Or rather, her guardian does. Maybe you’ve heard of him.” I paused for effect. “Kai Elias?”
My mother’s stare was an awl. She glared like I was lying so bad I wouldn’t sit down for a week. Although if Glynn was doing the spanking… She scowled. “Elias, of Steel Security. Of half a dozen more Fortune 500 companies. Billionaire recluse Kai Elias sponsors an actor .” Again she sneered the word, but it was the flicking finger that made me wince. “Next you will be telling me he lives in Nowheresville, Iowa.”
“Mom, really. His ward Mishela is Dorothy, here with
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