Interlude (14 page)

“You did that on purpose!” She said in
astonishment.

“That's for buying me a car against my will.”
He said, leaning down over her with a look of dark passion. She
glared up at him with those same smoldering eyes as before. She had
been victimized... by a cupcake! And it was his fault! She grabbed
his tie and pulled his lips to hers. Kissing him furiously, she
stumbled out of the chair as she jumped up to wrap her legs around
his waist. He admired his own handiwork as he carried her upstairs,
kissing her and tasting his own culinary prowess on her lips.

He dropped her onto the bed, the soft
comforter fluffing out underneath her in a billowy wave. He removed
his pants with such speed he couldn't even remember how they had
come off. She sat there, hands behind her as he began reaching up
her legs. He raised her snug gray dress as he went, hiking the
fabric up over her thighs. She wriggled as he finally dragged the
garment over her head and tossed it on the hardwood floor. As she
sat there, only wearing her white bra and matching g-string, Cal
finished undressing. He playfully threw his shirt at her as he
finished. She grabbed it and inhaled his scent. Her toes curled
with grinding, driven pleasure as she reached her hands up over his
naked body. Cal had paused his assault to relish her hands on his
skin. He cried out when she bit him on his hip!

“Someone's a biter!” He said as he grabbed
her hair reflexively. She growled with an odd mix of anger and
arousal as she reached for Cal's belt, still looped through his
pants on the bed. Before he knew it, she had looped the brown
leather belt around his upper arms. In one smooth motion she
snugged the belt all the way down, pinning his arms behind him. She
then pivoted and pushed him down on the bed, his arms now behind
him as he lay facing upwards at his captor! She unfastened her bra
with uncanny speed and threw it at his face. As he shook it off,
she crawled up his body with his tie in her teeth. Grabbing his
hair, she wrapped the tie around his eyes like a blindfold,
blocking his vision as she slid off of him slowly. He could hear
her opening drawers in the nightstand as he struggled against his
bindings.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” She cautioned.
Her voice was low and breathy.

Cal sat helpless as he felt her sit on his
legs. She grasped his rock hard manhood roughly as he heard her
click some kind of button. A familiar buzzing sound alerted Cal to
her intentions.

“I don't think you've met my little friend.”
She lilted musically as she slowly rubbed the vibrating toy over
his manhood. He felt her sit harder on his legs as she pushed the
tip harder against him. He began climaxing quickly, and Karen
stopped her assault to let him calm back down. She began again with
the same attack, and stopped again when he came close to
release.

“I want to hear you say it.” She said. Her
voice was controlled and calm.

“Say what?” Cal asked in a breathless
voice.

“Please.” She said simply.

“Why please?” Cal asked. His mind was
beginning to fade as she continued to bring him to the edge, and
pull back.

“I want you to beg for you orgasm!” She said
with more force.

“No.” Cal said with a grin.

“I'll find a way to make you regret that!”
She countered.

“Sure, whatever,” He responded nonchalantly.
With that, Karen climbed up his body. He felt her straddle his lap
as she reached down to bite his chest! He cried out in pain as
Karen pushed his rod deep inside of her. Her shuddering sigh echoed
throughout her entire body as she bounced up and down on him. She
unhooked the belt and threw it in the corner. Then, she brought his
left hand up to her breasts, as she guided his other hand to the
vibe. He moved the toy in light, circular motions over her clit as
she screamed out her release in hopping bursts of ecstasy, her
round breasts bouncing in his hands. Cal had never felt so used
before! His own massive release left them a pile of nude flesh on
the white comforter. He smiled quietly as he listened to her
heartbeat as they lay in the dark bedroom.

“I have to ask, what was in that cupcake?”
She finally said.

“It's a secret recipe. It all hinges on very
high quality ingredients, and an almost unsafe amount of salted
butter.” He said with pride. She touched his chest as they rested
on the bed.

“So, what do you want to do for our six month
anniversary?” She asked.

Cal panicked momentarily in the dark room. Of
course! They had met online almost six months ago.

“I don't know. How about we exchange gifts
and get dinner somewhere nice? As it turns out I now have a stellar
wardrobe and new luxury SUV for the occasion.” He joked.

“Does it really bother you that I bought you
a car?” She asked after a long silence

“No. I think you did it to be nice. We just
come from different tax brackets, so it's new to me. I just want
you to know that I don't care about your money. I never have and
never will.” Cal said.

“I would never think that.” She whispered, as
she drifted off to sleep.

Cal awoke to the light coming in through the
curtains. He looked over to see Karen still sleeping soundly. He
quietly slipped out of bed to go make breakfast.

Now at home in the kitchen, he set to work on
his specialty breakfast. He looked over his shoulder with a smile
as he heard Karen coming down the stairs. She was wearing nothing
but a white tank top and bikini underwear.

As she slipped her arm around him in a long
hug, she peered over his shoulder to see what he was making.

“Eggs Benedict. With my great grandma's
Hollandaise sauce.” Cal said, reading her mind.

“This isn't going to make me come too is it?”
She asked him with a giggle.

“I can make it do that. You wanna try me?” He
joked, turning around to return the big hug.

“Ugh, we have to go to the Ukraine tonight.”
She moped.

“Why tonight? Can we arrange it for later?”
He asked, plating breakfast for the two of them. While they sat at
the granite island, Karen informed him of their usual protocols for
transferring goods across borders.

“All it takes is lots of bribes.” Karen
finished. She put her plate in the sink as Cal finished his
eggs.

“So, you just bribe the officials and you're
good to go?” He thought it odd that governments could be so
corrupt.

“Well, you have to find contacts and
informants to help move goods through the right channels. We've had
stuff end up on the other side of the planet because somebody
didn't catch a shipping container at the right time. That's when
you find different contacts to move your stuff.” She said in her
business-like tone.

“And nobody steps up to get you in trouble?”
Cal asked.

Upstairs, they both got dressed as Karen
continued her discussion. “No. A lot of our international
transactions are actually known about by the CIA and Interpol. They
figure if they can't stop it, they can at least account for where
it goes. The CIA repays us favors now and again as well too. We've
done pro bono deliveries for them to stay in favor.” Karen said as
she shimmied into her jeans.

“So the CIA knows you do what you do?” Cal
asked, buttoning his shirt.

“Sort of, they know, and we know that they
know, but they can't acknowledge that they know, or that we know
that they know ...you know?” She said.

“No.” Cal said with a confused look.

“It's just a matter of greasing the right
wheels.” She paused, shifting gears, “I know this is weird and new
for you, but I really want us to work. I want you to be a part of
this. In whatever capacity you want to be.” She said as she tied
his tie for him.

“I want that too.” He said with a warm smile.
They spent the day at the fake insurance office going over arranged
drop offs with foreign contacts. Cal kept himself busy by looking
over the trio's collection of near antiquated technology. Beige CRT
monitors cluttered dusty desks that failed to resemble anything but
abandoned. The fact that they were so laziz faire about their
network security was disturbing to him to say the least.

The flight out of LAX was hectic, but not
unmanageable. Cal had only flown once in his life. It was a trip to
see distant relatives in England. This was certainly taking him out
of his element as they checked bags and itineraries. Karen shot off
more emails to Soren to double check a job they were working on in
Bulgaria. He overheard something about tank parts before she hung
up. She grasped his hand as they lifted off from the tarmac and
glided over the flowing lights of the 405 Freeway.

Cal stayed busy with his programming, his
large laptop straining the flimsy seat tray. He sent off emails as
the first-class attendant brought around drinks. Karen took the
time to quiz him about his prowess in the digital world.

“I thought you were just an IT guy?” She
chided him jokingly.

“I used to be, but that wasn't my original
goal in life. Before I meet Alice I was going to be remotely
reprogramming satellites for Jet Propulsion Labs. It was going to
be post grad stuff, but Alice's family thought it would be too much
for me when my folks died. So, I was trapped into maintaining their
servers and fixing PCs for people who couldn't install a thumb
drive on their own.” He chuckled at that thought as the glowing
screen illuminated his face, intent and focused as it was. Karen
reached out to touch his manhood under the tray. He jumped, and
then he gave her a smile as she continued to ask him questions
about networks and technology. She loved hearing him speak. Most of
what he said went right over her head, but it didn't matter. His
voice, strong and confident in his element, was so alluring to
her.

“Say something sexy in nerd speak,” She
whispered to him in a low, breathy voice.

Cal leaned in close. With his lips almost
touching her ear, he whispered, “Dongle.”

Karen suppressed a startled laugh as Cal gave
her more.

“Hard drive,” He said in the same low
voice.

“Ooh.” Karen responded, shifting closer to
him in her seat.

Cal though of another one, “Binary logic
gate,”

“Mmm”, Karen cooed happily.

“TCP/IP protocol,” He countered.

Karen squirmed in her seat as he slowly
muttered more tantalizing tech speak to her waiting ear. They were
really getting going when they were cut short by the decent into
Boryspil International Airport.

Cal stumbled around the expansive, confusing
airport. “Karen must do this all the time.” He thought to himself
as they waited for a cab outside. She had already exchanged some
cash for Hyrivnia, buying them both a Starbucks at the airport
lounge on the way out. Cal was groggy with jet lag as he tried to
get his bearings in this alien place. As they made their way to
Edem Hotel, Karen filled Cal in on how things were going to work
with the transaction.

“We won't be here long.” She offered as a
kind of consolation.

“I kind of like it here.” Cal said, craning
his head around in the cab to look at the passing scenery. Kiev
rolled by in all its glory. Cal had mistakenly thought it would be
snowy and cold. But if it's summer in California, it's summer here
too. The slightly humid weather served to make the women of Kiev
wear less clothing. Cal looked out the window at the girls, lost in
thought until Karen's phone shook him out of his daze. She looked
at the screen, offered a puzzled expression, and then answered.

“Karen.” She answered, her face scrunching up
into a look of shock, or surprise. Slowly, a smile crept across her
face that. As she paused to listen to the person on the other side,
she made more facial expressions that Cal couldn't read. “I don't
know, I wasn't planning on it, but I suppose it could be arranged.
Do you have people here that can assist?” She looked over to Cal,
giving him a look that portrayed equal parts confidence
and....arousal? She turned her attention aback to the call, “No,
please do so. We'll be over to look at it after our transaction.
Thanks a lot, you're a sweetie.” She finished with a big smile. Cal
gave her an admonishing look.

“Sweetie eh,” He joked with her.

Karen placed her hand on his leg to placate
him, saying “Oh please, you know Sergei likes boys. I'm more
worried about him making googley eyes at you.”

“So, what was the surprise you weren't ready
for?” Cal asked as he placed his hand on hers. The stuffy cab,
combined with the unfamiliarity of his surroundings, was starting
to make him feel woozy. She gave him the same weird look, sort of a
smile that held too much confidence. It really put Cal on edge,
being in this strange place and seeing Karen shape shift into some
kind of predator of the underground.

Karen, sensing his unease, notched down the
excitement and gave Cal an appraising look. She was so happy to
have him here! How many men had she dated? All of them were alike,
for the most part. They held certain qualities that she thought she
needed. The truth is, she didn't know what she needed until she met
Cal. He was her match in ways she didn't think she would ever need
someone to be. As he sat there, he didn't know what he was doing,
or really where he was even going. He was just here to be with her.
He could have said no, but he didn't. He wanted to come and be by
her side, to protect her in some gallant way that made her cherish
him even more. How would she break this news to Cal? Her heart
struggled with the thoughts he might feel.

She wanted him to be in this with her. No
other man ever was. She could never get that far in a relationship
before the others would show their true colors and leave her
doubting their ability to be in this life. There was one other, the
one that Karen thought she would be happy with. Now she had a deal
that should put the company in the black for the next year, but she
would have to go through him. She puzzled at how Cal would react to
meeting him. Would he be mad? Upset? Cal was different. He seemed
fragile to her at first. It was this quality of his that originally
drew her to him. As it turned out, he was stronger than she could
have ever imagined. He was disarming and honest, so truly honest,
that he could use it like a weapon. She smiled, thinking back to
lunch the other day. How he had opened up to all the girls. How he
had put Cassie in her snotty little place! That was the Cal
she....loved? She inhaled, her body language already personifying
the big deal that Cal was about to get thrown in his lap.