Good Girl (11 page)

She let out her breath in a long stream.
Why did it feel like he could see right inside of her? Like he had ripped off
her protective shell and was calmly surveying the grubby worm that squirmed in
front of him.

But his eyes were compassionate. Like he
really cared about her. Like he saw potential in her that no one else had ever
seen.

“How do you know?” she managed to get
out.

“Because I’ve been there. You have to
strip everything bare to be a real artist. And it’s not easy. But easy isn’t
always the best.”

Things felt so different now for her. In
only a few blocks, she felt the light romance of their date slip away and turn
into something much deeper. A true intimacy. He saw her. And he liked her.

Something eased inside of her, letting
go. She didn’t have to guard herself with him. She didn’t have to pretend.

She wasn’t sure it was real, but it felt
glorious. He stayed silent, letting her absorb it, reassuring her by walking
with his arm around her. Her throat was so tight she couldn’t have spoken at
that moment.

They crossed over the walkway to the
edge of the island, and it was like they stepped into another world with the
lights reflecting off the river. The open air and the sound of the lapping
water, the moonlight and tiny streamers of glowing clouds far above were the
opposite of the closed-in city streets. The muted sound of traffic was behind
them, and in front nothing but the black river that sparkled on the surface
with a million lights.

They boarded a little yellow ferry taxi.
They were among a couple of dozen people taking the ferry back to Brooklyn.

As the lines were cast, and the boat
smoothly turned into the river, Hunter asked, “Are you cold?”

As the wind picked up, Kali shivered. “A
little.”

“We can go inside.”

“No, I like it out here. Let’s go to the
back.”

She went to the corner of the railing in
the stern closest to Manhattan. Behind them was the dark outline of much lower
buildings in Queens and Brooklyn. In front, Manhattan spread out with its
crowded skyscrapers. Lit windows made a checkerboard pattern everywhere she
looked.

Hunter put his arms around her,
surrounding her with his warmth. She leaned back into him, feeling how solid he
was. Her head rested in the curve of his chest next to his breastbone, and he
nuzzled her hair with his face.

Finally!

The way he held her, and breathed deep
of her, made her close her eyes and sigh in pleasure. It felt so good!

She didn’t dare speak, her heart was too
full. She turned her face up to him, to his questing lips. Then they were
kissing, and she was twisting in his arms, reaching up to touch his face with
her fingertips.

She had never touched him before. He had
always touched her, holding her arms or her hair.

For the first time, they kissed like
lovers.

His lips were soft and eager on her
mouth, as he pulled her close by the waist. She stroked his face as he kissed
her, loving the roughness of stubble on his cheek. Then his hair, so silky that
her eyes opened in surprise as she caressed the back of his neck.

It was heaven! Everything she had
dreamed of. His own passion drove her higher and higher—

Hunter suddenly broke off, glaring over
her shoulder at a guy who was leaning against the rail, edging too close to
them. She could feel his body changing to defensive in an instant, as he
shifted to stand between her and the stranger, curling his arm around her
protectively.

But the guy didn’t take a hint and move
away. She could feel Hunter getting tenser, like pressure was building inside
of him.

“Come on,” Hunter murmured to her.

He took her hand and led her inside the
ferry. But the bright lights made them both wince, and when he opened a door,
she followed him instantly without realizing where they were going.

It was a tiny bathroom, not much larger
than the one on an airplane. There was barely enough room for both of them to
stand in front of the toilet, with a sink on one wall. There was a hatch
overhead that was lifted up, letting in a fresh stream of air. It was not as
bright in the bathroom with only one dim light bulb.

He cupped her face and kissed her again.
Suddenly she didn’t care that she was in a bathroom. She didn’t think about
anything. She had to touch him, any way she could.

Kissing him was like waltzing to music only
they could hear. By turns tender and fiercely eager, he kept pausing as if to
try to cool them both down, as they stood there breathing each other in, their
foreheads pressed together and his hands gently touching her face.

His eyes searched her, wondering and
amazed, as if he was surprised to be so overwhelmed. She felt the same way. It
was sudden, almost shocking how quickly she wanted to dive into this man.

Hunter saw it, like he saw everything
with his piercing eyes. He reached down to her dress, pulling it up, letting
his palm trail over her naked thigh. His teeth caught his lip, and she drew in
her breath in a long release, lifting her face for him to kiss again.

“Please, Kali,” he murmured in longing.
“I must have you.”

He ran his hands over her butt cheeks,
squeezing and lifting up her skirt.

It felt so good.
“Yes,” she breathed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

Suddenly it was all movement, like they
couldn’t do it fast enough. He helped her pull down her panties and they ended
up somewhere, she had no idea where and she didn’t in the least bit care. All
she wanted was his skin on hers, his hot, musky smell, the way his cheek
scraped against hers as he pulled her against him, lifting her leg high. She
braced her foot against the wall behind him, shamelessly opening her legs for
him as he pulled out a condom and tore it open. He smoothed it down his dick,
letting her see it for the first time. She gave his erection a stroke through
the condom as he slid it all the way on. A cock so long, and fat enough she couldn’t
touch her finger and thumb around it. So fine…

He drew in his breath with a hiss. So
she stroked him again, feeling his cock jump in her hand.

Hunter pushed her hands away, grabbing
her thigh and pulling her against him again. “I must have you,” he demanded, as
if he couldn’t stand it another moment, not being inside of her.

She arched her back and lifted herself
for him, letting his cock press just a bit inside her pussy. She was so wet and
ready! But he was so big that he had to ease inside her with gentle pressure.

She grabbed his shoulders to brace
herself, her butt resting on the edge of the sink and one leg against the wall.
He slowly sank his cock all the way inside of her, drawing a deep moan from
her. They were locked together, his arm around her waist and holding up her
leg, his fingers digging into her thigh. She could hardly move, she was pinned
against the walls of the tiny space, as he began to plunge into her again and
again.

He moaned out loud, throwing his head
back. She held onto his neck as she panted faster, tension building inside of
her, muscles straining to hold on, ready to burst. Never had it happened so
fast! So hard, so fast…

Then he was staring into her eyes again,
piercing her inside and out, demanding she surrender to him. “Yes, Kali,” he
growled. “Give it to me!”

Unable to look away, mesmerized by his
eyes, her climax ripped through her. She cried out, on and on, as she came.
Until she couldn’t see him anymore. Until the bursting lights tore her away
from herself.

He made a strangled sound. “Kali!” he
cried out.

It almost made her come again, pleasure
washing through her. She wasn’t sure how long it went on. “Kali,” he kept
murmuring into her hair.

They clung together, supporting each
other, breathing heavily. She was flushed and moist now, and his neck was
sweaty. She gave his skin a lick, loving the fresh saltiness. She wanted to
kiss him all over, like he had done with her the other night.

His cock was still deep inside of her.
Impaling her like she would never be able to break free.

All of a sudden she remembered where
they were. There were people sitting on the seats just on the other side of the
door; a barely adequate door with a large crack along the bottom.

Embarrassment shot through her. “Oh,
no!”

“Oh, yes!” He laughed out loud at the
shock on her face.

Chapter 8

Hunter thought she was even more
beautiful, all bashful and ducking her head when they finally left the
bathroom. The boat was docking and there was only one guy who was close by watching
them as they came out, but nobody else seemed to have noticed. Hunter stared at
the guy until he backed down and looked away. He wasn’t taking any chances with
Kali again. Everyone would know he was in complete control.

Even if he wasn’t.

He didn’t want to admit it to himself,
and he didn’t want Kali to know, but he wasn’t in control. He never came like
that, surprising himself, unable to hold back. He was known for fucking for
hours if he wanted to.

It was shocking. He wanted her so bad he
could taste it, like the tang of blood on his lips. His hand tightened on hers,
feeling not at all like the conquering hero, even though she had just given
herself to him in the bathroom of a ferry taxi. Instead he felt like she was
about to float away from him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Do you need help?” Kali asked an older
woman who was trying to push a wire handcart over the lip of the ferry onto the
Brooklyn dock.

Hunter called his mind back to order and
he lifted the handcart over the ledge and carried it all the way up the dock.
It was too bumpy to pull it on the uneven boards of the dock. Kali walked next
to the old woman, patiently listening to her explain something about feeding
the cats in Gracie Mansion Park.

Kali was truly a sweet person. There was
no reason to be nice to a crazy old cat lady, especially while she was dealing
with her own embarrassment over their very public sex. But it wasn’t just a
show she put on for the world. She had been so gracious to the Chinese woman at
the noodle shop, smiling and putting her hands together in a slight bow,
imitating the woman’s thanks to them for coming to her shop. And then she had
stood with him in the park long after it got dark talking to the director of
the Conservancy Garden, when she had thought she would be relaxing with a drink
on a date after a long day at work.

He took hold of her hand again, even
though he wasn’t big on hand-holding. But he wanted contact with her. Actually,
to be honest with himself, he needed that contact.

But it didn’t help. As they walked to
Kali’s apartment, he felt himself pulling further and further away, in spite of
their touch. She barely spoke, and only glanced at him a few times. He knew it
was a natural reaction on her part to distance herself, especially if she had
never done anything that wild sexually. For him, a little public sex was
nothing. For her, she was confronting preconceptions about exhibitionism and
slut shaming that every girl got growing up in America.

One thing he loved about her was how
open and uninhibited she was when they were playing together. Still, she had no
grounds for comparison, so of course she would naturally withdraw to regroup.

But for the life of him, it freaked him
out.

And that freaked him out even more. He
didn’t want to care that much, so his own defenses snapped into place. He could
hardly keep holding her hand, but he knew if he dropped it, she might never
come back to him.

By the time they got to her place, he
didn’t feel like himself at all. He kissed her forehead, and then gently her
lips. “I won’t come up tonight,” he said. “But I’ll see you tomorrow morning at
work.”

She blinked at him like she did when she
was confused. “Okay.”

Then she hesitated as if she thought he
was going to walk off. But he waited at the bottom of the stoop for her to
unlock the door and let herself inside. Once she went through the inner door,
he finally turned away.

Screwed, I’m seriously screwed,
he thought. She had been as distant as he had felt there at the end, and he
hoped he hadn’t messed everything up. Why did he jump her on the ferry? Part of
him desperately wanted to go upstairs with her, and curl up in bed with her,
and wake up tomorrow with her.

That was the part of him that had let go
of everything and came inside of her like a geyser. His dick throbbed in
remembrance.

The other part of him, the sane part,
said he needed to get a grip. He was letting his balls take over his brain, and
that was the sure road to ruin. It was crazy to rush into things, especially when
it involved the biggest project he ever got. This could be everything for him.
Was he that self-destructive that he would self-implode just as he was reaching
for the brass ring?

He swore to himself he would take a
break. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t see Kali tomorrow. He needed to get
some distance on this thing to get control of himself again.

***

Kali really wished their evening hadn’t
ended that way. It had been going so well, until she made love to him in a
restroom! Their first time… romance had left the building for good now.

Not that it wasn’t the most intense
thing she’d ever felt. It was thrilling and awful at the same time. Just
thinking about it made the muscles between her legs twinge, as if her body
remembered and was begging for more.

But it was a public restroom! Why
couldn’t she hold out until they got back to her place? It would have been so
much better to lie with him on her bed afterwards and float in that wonderful
feeling of release, rather than getting all freaked out because people were
watching them as they came out. And the way that old lady had winked at her as
they walked up the dock, she must have been listening, too.

Humiliating!

She knew from the start that she would
get wild sex from Hunter. She knew this wasn’t the start of a life together.
And now she had proof. He could have waited fifteen minutes. If he wanted to
make love to her like a real lover, he would have waited until they got to her
place. But he didn’t.

And then he left.

Kali knew full well that she couldn’t
handle casual sex with him. She needed to get out now, before her heart got
crushed.

But she couldn’t stand the idea of not
seeing him again. Not kissing him again. Never feeling his arms hold her so
tightly…

She was suddenly crying and didn’t
remember how she got started. It hurt so bad, but thinking about him felt so
good…

One more time
,
she bargained with herself.
I have to touch him one more time.

It was bound to fall apart sooner rather
than later. Look what happened tonight! They both weren’t happy in the end. If
they’d been happy, he would be here right now, lying in bed with her, his arms
around her.

She turned off the light. One more time,
she promised herself.
If
she could get it.

***

Hunter realized the next day at work
that it was going to be hard to keep it cool with Kali while he was working
with her. He kept admiring her curves as she leaned over the plans on the
table, or the way she kicked off her heels when she sat down, sometimes
dangling one to show her high arched instep. He hadn’t even explored her feet
yet, or her legs, or even her pussy…

No, he had been too greedy, rushing to
take her the first second he could, like a stupid teenager. And he was paying
the price for it.

He found himself thinking about Kali
rather than his project, and had to drag himself back over and over again. But
he did it. He was determined to succeed. If he couldn’t control himself, he
shouldn’t be allowed to control another person.

By the end of the day, his concentration
had returned. He had closed the door on the Kali room in his mind, and focused
on getting the last details in place for the demolition crew to start.

She also seemed to relax as the day went
on, and they worked well together until it was past six. Then they ran into
each other waiting at the elevator. There wasn’t anyone else around, and Lindy
had already left the reception desk.

Hunter was determined to keep his
promise to himself. He wouldn’t see her tonight. But he was tempted, very
tempted. She was looking at him expectantly.

Suddenly he recognized this moment. He
knew what would happen if he was friendly but didn’t say anything about getting
together. She would feel snubbed, and she would be put off balance by his
sudden lack of pursuit. It was the best way to get a woman to want him more. It
was the first crack of the whip, the first call to heel.

He had done it before. Hell, he did it
with Minx like second nature. Their entire relationship was built around him
pushing her away and her crawling back to give him more. The only thing that
made it okay for him was the fact that she was merrily polyamorous and was
having sex with a number of other people, including her girlfriend who she
lived with. If he ever thought Minx was falling in love with him, he would end it
immediately. He didn’t want to torture someone for real, he only wanted to
“torture” them.

So he hesitated because it was a habit
with him, and because he knew he needed to get control of himself. But her
smile faltered as she realized he was pushing her away, and he knew there was a
difference between getting control over himself and controlling her.

“How about dinner tomorrow?” he asked.

Kali’s face lit up and that made it
worth it. “Sure.”

“We’ll meet at the deli then, after
work.”

They took the elevator down together
talking about what they needed to do for work the next day. But he split off
from her outside, saying, “I’ve got a few things to do in the city. But I’ll
see you tomorrow.”

He didn’t want to get on the subway with
her for the ride home, and have those protective feelings surge up inside of
him again. He didn’t think he would be able to resist walking home with her.
Then she would invite him in, and there was no way he would be able to keep his
cool, not when he had just barely recovered it.

That way lies madness…

She gave him a little wave good-bye. It
felt strange as he turned around and walked away without even touching her
hand, but there were SunTech employees passing right by them. Selina must have
her own network of spies, so he had to keep it absolutely professional at work
or that would be the sure way to screw himself with her. He had to be
careful—the ways he could screw himself were multiplying with every passing
day.

It was tough to walk away from Kali, but
he made himself do it. And after he got home, he forced himself to go over the
plans for the demolition. He didn’t let himself think about Kali until he was
lying in bed in the dark, and then he masturbated over how luscious her body
was, and the heady feeling of being inside of her. He used her panties he had
kept from the ferry taxi, wrapping them around his cock.
He could smell her
on them.
She probably thought they had been left behind in the bathroom,
but they were his guilty secret.

He came almost as quickly as he had on
the ferry. It was kind of galling, like he was thirteen years old again.

But he fell asleep almost instantly, so
it worked out okay.

The next day the crew came in to set up
the plywood barricade around most of the plaza. They left the portico running
along the inner curve of the building open with an entrance to the sidewalk on
either side. The center of the plaza was encircled by plywood, so everyone had
to walk along the curving front of the building to get to the doors to the
building in the center. Typical of most construction fencing, there were a few
strategically placed diamond-shaped holes in the blue-painted wood so that
people could see inside.

It was good, hard work, and Hunter
helped out. He only spoke to Kali once and saw her another time after that as
she left the building for lunch. She was smiling as usual, and both she and
Debby, the graphic designer, waved to him as they passed by.

He took a few minutes in the afternoon
to make two phone calls to set up their romantic date. It was the same plans he
had canceled on Monday after he got the call from the Conservancy Garden.

He was feeling like himself again by the
time work was over. He went to the deli early so he could buy Kali a flower. A
single perfect red rose.

It felt like he waited outside the deli
for a long time, but was only a few minutes after six when she finally walked
up. He met her and presented the rose to her with the appropriate flourish. She
laughed in delight. But he still held back from touching her, afraid that a
SunTech employee would pass by.

He had never imagined that
he
would be the one in need of reassurance, but one look from her laughing eyes
threw him off balance again. Two days of hard work getting himself under
control, and all he wanted to do was kiss her and never stop.

“Here’s our car,” he told Kali, as a
black limo car pulled up.

“For us?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes, tonight you can put your heels
back on. But I do love how much of a walker you are. I’d usually rather walk or
bike than anything else.”