been. I remembered too well how they’d had to scramble to find work, how Mom cleaned houses and Dad did yards until they’d eventually built up their vacation-rental management business.
I’d come out to San Francisco because I wanted Rafe’s body. I wanted to experience sex with someone who knew what he was doing, and his behavior confused me. First he seduced me with his letters and got me out here. Then he put on the brakes and said he wanted to get to know me. Today he’d caved to my sexual pressure and we’d ended up in bed, but even that was confusing.
On the one hand, he’d certainly known what he was doing with his mouth and his hands, but on the other—no condom? That clumsy grasping, pumping himself over me, leaving me no way to give back to him?
I didn’t know what Rafe wanted from me. It almost seemed like he didn’t, either.
All of a sudden the weight of his arm and leg felt stifling. I eased out from under him, sliding gently to the edge of the bed and out from under the sateen spread.
He slept on. I loved the shine of late-afternoon sun on his long, tumbled bronzy hair, the round of his shoulder marked by an eagle, the curled open hand that rested in the dent where I’d lain.
I looked around the gorgeous suite. At the open bottle of champagne, at the view.
This room was costing poor Rafe the earth, and the longer I stayed, the more it would cost, and worse, the more vulnerable I would be to the hold he had on me. A hold that had begun to feel suspiciously like falling in love.
It seemed he wasn’t going to have sex with me, and that’s what I’d come for. So what I needed to do was leave before things got any worse, before my heart broke any more at leaving him.
I needed to get back to school and figure out what the hell I was doing with Henry and Sam. Breaking up with everyone right now seemed like an excellent idea. It was about time I remembered I’d come to college to get an education in something more than sex.
I pulled up my skirt from the carpet, stepped into it, and zipped it up. Found my shirt and yanked it on. Dug my panties out of my purse and put them on. Buttoned my jean jacket over my loose breasts.
I found a little bathroom kit containing a comb and a rubber band, and in the bathroom I braided my long bright hair, still damp and fragrant from that memorable shower.
I splashed water on my face.
My cheeks were pale now. The flash had gone out of my eyes when I stared at myself in the mirror.
I had two more days here, and now I had to find a way to avoid Rafe.
I picked up my purse and sneaked out, closing the door gently. Out in front of the hotel, I hailed my first San Francisco cab and took it back to Rafe’s boardinghouse.
Lisa, the innkeeper, met me packing my things into my backpack in the little sitting room where I’d been sleeping on a couch. “Where are you going?” she asked sharply, hands on her hips.
“Things aren’t working out with Rafe.” I felt my eyes fill spontaneously. “I need to find a place to stay until I fly out.”
“Oh, girl.” Lisa’s warm ebony arms encircled me, and she drew me in to her remarkable bosom. “I’m so sorry. I thought he was really into you. More than anyone I’ve seen him bring home.”
“Ha.” I sniffled, grabbing a tissue out of a nearby box. “No. It’s just not happening with us. I don’t want to see him anymore. It’s too embarrassing. Can you tell me a cheap hotel to go to?”
“I’ll take you to a friend’s,” Lisa said firmly. “I don’t want you to end up in one of those nasty places in the Tenderloin.”
“Thanks. But you have to promise not to tell him where I am. No matter what.”
“Cross my heart,” she said, with a gesture over her left breast. “Now come with me.”
We got into her purple VW Beetle, and she drove me to another house made into temporary boarding rooms, this time with her friend Triad.
Triad was another gorgeous Puerto Rican woman. “Po’ thing,” she
I’d come out to San Francisco because I wanted Rafe’s body. I wanted to experience sex with someone who knew what he was doing, and his behavior confused me. First he seduced me with his letters and got me out here. Then he put on the brakes and said he wanted to get to know me. Today he’d caved to my sexual pressure and we’d ended up in bed, but even that was confusing.
On the one hand, he’d certainly known what he was doing with his mouth and his hands, but on the other—no condom? That clumsy grasping, pumping himself over me, leaving me no way to give back to him?
I didn’t know what Rafe wanted from me. It almost seemed like he didn’t, either.
All of a sudden the weight of his arm and leg felt stifling. I eased out from under him, sliding gently to the edge of the bed and out from under the sateen spread.
He slept on. I loved the shine of late-afternoon sun on his long, tumbled bronzy hair, the round of his shoulder marked by an eagle, the curled open hand that rested in the dent where I’d lain.
I looked around the gorgeous suite. At the open bottle of champagne, at the view.
This room was costing poor Rafe the earth, and the longer I stayed, the more it would cost, and worse, the more vulnerable I would be to the hold he had on me. A hold that had begun to feel suspiciously like falling in love.
It seemed he wasn’t going to have sex with me, and that’s what I’d come for. So what I needed to do was leave before things got any worse, before my heart broke any more at leaving him.
I needed to get back to school and figure out what the hell I was doing with Henry and Sam. Breaking up with everyone right now seemed like an excellent idea. It was about time I remembered I’d come to college to get an education in something more than sex.
I pulled up my skirt from the carpet, stepped into it, and zipped it up. Found my shirt and yanked it on. Dug my panties out of my purse and put them on. Buttoned my jean jacket over my loose breasts.
I found a little bathroom kit containing a comb and a rubber band, and in the bathroom I braided my long bright hair, still damp and fragrant from that memorable shower.
I splashed water on my face.
My cheeks were pale now. The flash had gone out of my eyes when I stared at myself in the mirror.
I had two more days here, and now I had to find a way to avoid Rafe.
I picked up my purse and sneaked out, closing the door gently. Out in front of the hotel, I hailed my first San Francisco cab and took it back to Rafe’s boardinghouse.
Lisa, the innkeeper, met me packing my things into my backpack in the little sitting room where I’d been sleeping on a couch. “Where are you going?” she asked sharply, hands on her hips.
“Things aren’t working out with Rafe.” I felt my eyes fill spontaneously. “I need to find a place to stay until I fly out.”
“Oh, girl.” Lisa’s warm ebony arms encircled me, and she drew me in to her remarkable bosom. “I’m so sorry. I thought he was really into you. More than anyone I’ve seen him bring home.”
“Ha.” I sniffled, grabbing a tissue out of a nearby box. “No. It’s just not happening with us. I don’t want to see him anymore. It’s too embarrassing. Can you tell me a cheap hotel to go to?”
“I’ll take you to a friend’s,” Lisa said firmly. “I don’t want you to end up in one of those nasty places in the Tenderloin.”
“Thanks. But you have to promise not to tell him where I am. No matter what.”
“Cross my heart,” she said, with a gesture over her left breast. “Now come with me.”
We got into her purple VW Beetle, and she drove me to another house made into temporary boarding rooms, this time with her friend Triad.
Triad was another gorgeous Puerto Rican woman. “Po’ thing,” she
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