thought in the seconds before one of the intruders grabbed him from behind and snapped his neck with a vicious twist.
As she savored his final spasms, Ingrid smiled and murmured, “Your biggest yet, my love, exactly as I promised.”
The Plaza Hotel, New York
“Happy New Year, Kathleen,” Steve Patton said, raising his champagne glass as revelers all around them blew party horns, threw streamers, and showered the gilded ballroom with confetti.
“Really, Steve?”
“Of course.”
“But that depends partially on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t continue the way we’ve been.”
He froze, still holding his drink toward her.
“I’m just not able to compartmentalize sex the way you do,” she continued. “That’s not a criticism. It’s simply that I don’t have it in me to be one of your string of women. It messes me up.”
He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign tongue.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Steve,” she added. “You are what you are, an elegant rascal and a wonderful lover. What you gave me this last year was exactly what I needed, in a raw sort of way, but now I must move on with my life. I guess I’m old-fashioned enough to require more from a man. Above all, I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and it’s vital we remain close colleagues, especially now, with so much important work to be done—”
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Kathleen, I’d welcome a chance to be the man who gives you more. I just thought you wanted room and no commitments. My affairs are dalliances, marvelous interludes between me and consenting women that harm no one, and I don’t apologize for them. But never think what I have with you is so casual. You’re my best friend, and this past year I’ve felt like the luckiest man alive.” He took her hand. “Let’s you and I move in together.”
She pulled back. “Steve, you’re kidding me.”
“I had liaisons because they fit my lifestyle. On the road, traveling around the country, and living most of the year in hotel rooms. My work, I always figured, made it impossible to have anything with a woman. You changed all that, Kathleen.”
“Steve, what are you saying?”
“Come back to my apartment and let me show you.”
He made love to her that night with more intensity and passion than she’d ever known from him. His fierceness liberated her, igniting a shamelessness that she abandoned herself to as she sat astride him and brought them both to the limits of their pleasure, held them there, quivering on the edge, until their ecstasy ebbed enough that she could resume the rhythm and repeat the deliciously slow ascent.
Then his phone rang. To her surprise he answered, yet motioned her to continue.
She hesitantly went on with her movements, suddenly feeling shy about being overheard.
“Hello,” he said in that familiar husky voice, raising his hips and thrusting deeper into her, making her let out a moan in spite of her sudden self-consciousness. Grinning mischievously, he arched higher just as he said, “Why, Mandy, Happy New Year to you, too.” She felt him throbbing inside her, urgent and imploring.
At first she hesitated, then thought, What if Mandy was the one with him the other night? A delicious excitement flooded through her, releasing an impulse to let the woman know what it felt like to be listening at the other end of the phone, and she ground into Patton, withholding nothing, determined to take him to climax in earshot of her rival. This time it was his turn to moan. He let the receiver fall onto the bed, grabbed her buttocks, and they both came noisily together. She then collapsed onto his chest, giggling and thinking, Take that, Mandy, whoever you are.
An hour later as she rode home in a cab, she felt shaken by what she’d done and the feelings she’d experienced. On one level it had been fun, but on another, her electric response to his kinkiness disturbed her, and the prospect of where
As she savored his final spasms, Ingrid smiled and murmured, “Your biggest yet, my love, exactly as I promised.”
The Plaza Hotel, New York
“Happy New Year, Kathleen,” Steve Patton said, raising his champagne glass as revelers all around them blew party horns, threw streamers, and showered the gilded ballroom with confetti.
“Really, Steve?”
“Of course.”
“But that depends partially on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t continue the way we’ve been.”
He froze, still holding his drink toward her.
“I’m just not able to compartmentalize sex the way you do,” she continued. “That’s not a criticism. It’s simply that I don’t have it in me to be one of your string of women. It messes me up.”
He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign tongue.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Steve,” she added. “You are what you are, an elegant rascal and a wonderful lover. What you gave me this last year was exactly what I needed, in a raw sort of way, but now I must move on with my life. I guess I’m old-fashioned enough to require more from a man. Above all, I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and it’s vital we remain close colleagues, especially now, with so much important work to be done—”
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Kathleen, I’d welcome a chance to be the man who gives you more. I just thought you wanted room and no commitments. My affairs are dalliances, marvelous interludes between me and consenting women that harm no one, and I don’t apologize for them. But never think what I have with you is so casual. You’re my best friend, and this past year I’ve felt like the luckiest man alive.” He took her hand. “Let’s you and I move in together.”
She pulled back. “Steve, you’re kidding me.”
“I had liaisons because they fit my lifestyle. On the road, traveling around the country, and living most of the year in hotel rooms. My work, I always figured, made it impossible to have anything with a woman. You changed all that, Kathleen.”
“Steve, what are you saying?”
“Come back to my apartment and let me show you.”
He made love to her that night with more intensity and passion than she’d ever known from him. His fierceness liberated her, igniting a shamelessness that she abandoned herself to as she sat astride him and brought them both to the limits of their pleasure, held them there, quivering on the edge, until their ecstasy ebbed enough that she could resume the rhythm and repeat the deliciously slow ascent.
Then his phone rang. To her surprise he answered, yet motioned her to continue.
She hesitantly went on with her movements, suddenly feeling shy about being overheard.
“Hello,” he said in that familiar husky voice, raising his hips and thrusting deeper into her, making her let out a moan in spite of her sudden self-consciousness. Grinning mischievously, he arched higher just as he said, “Why, Mandy, Happy New Year to you, too.” She felt him throbbing inside her, urgent and imploring.
At first she hesitated, then thought, What if Mandy was the one with him the other night? A delicious excitement flooded through her, releasing an impulse to let the woman know what it felt like to be listening at the other end of the phone, and she ground into Patton, withholding nothing, determined to take him to climax in earshot of her rival. This time it was his turn to moan. He let the receiver fall onto the bed, grabbed her buttocks, and they both came noisily together. She then collapsed onto his chest, giggling and thinking, Take that, Mandy, whoever you are.
An hour later as she rode home in a cab, she felt shaken by what she’d done and the feelings she’d experienced. On one level it had been fun, but on another, her electric response to his kinkiness disturbed her, and the prospect of where
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