Good Karma (19 page)

“Positive.” Talking about all this was
strangely freeing. She felt like she was molting, shedding old
layers of herself to reveal more of the woman within.

He sighed and sat back. “Okay then, it’s your
turn. Pick a card and ask me a question.”

She could tell that, at some point, Richard
would come up again, even if only in passing or indirectly.

“Okay,” she said, picking up a card. She
snickered when she read it. “This is a good one. What’s the most
flexible sex move you can do? Tell me why it’s
awesome
?” She
emphasized awesome even though it wasn’t emphasized on the
card.

Mark burst into laughter. “What? Seriously?”
He grabbed the card and read it to himself.

Karma laughed, which was a nice change from
the oh-so-serious line of questioning she had just endured. And
maybe channeling all that seriousness was why she and Mark both
continued laughing a little too hard for several seconds.

“I can’t say that I have any flexible sex
moves,” he said, flicking the card toward the table. It fluttered
and spun on the air before gliding to the floor. “Unlike you, I
don’t do yoga. I think I’d break something if I tried to get
flexible. Ask me another,” he said. “I didn’t like that one and
can’t answer it, anyway. Besides, I owe you after that last round
of questioning.”

She snagged the next card on the stack.
“Would you rather be lightly spanked in bed or have a feather run
softly over your whole body?”

“Mmm.” Mark sank into the cushions and looked
up at the ceiling. “Definitely the feather. Or maybe hair.” He
turned his eyes on her. “I like a woman’s hair to glide down my
chest and stomach.”

There was only one time a woman’s hair would
glide down his chest and stomach, and that was if she was taking
her mouth
down there
. So, yeah, this game had just taken an
interesting turn.

“Has anyone ever used a feather on you?”

He licked his lips. “Once or twice.”

Her mind took the next logical step. “Have
you ever used a feather on anyone?”

His single dimple dug into his right cheek.
“Once or twice.”

“And…?”

“It can be very pleasurable,” he said.
“Perhaps I’ll show you sometime.” Before she could say anything
further, he grabbed the next card on the deck. “My turn.” He read
it to himself first. “What’s the first thing that pops into your
head when I say oral?” He lowered the card and gave her a slightly
wicked smile. There was no doubt where his mind had gone.

And considering where her thoughts had just
been a minute ago with the whole hair-on-his-body idea, her mind
had gone there, too, because her first thought was of giving Mark a
blow job. But no way was she going to say that, especially when she
had never given one. There had to be a law that stated if you’d
never given a blow job, you couldn’t use the term.

“Hygiene!” she said a little too
forcefully.

His left eyebrow rose as he narrowed his
eyes. “Why don’t I believe you?”

She shrugged and quickly picked up another
card, trying to hurry ahead before he could entrap her into another
long line of questioning that was sure to embarrass her. “Have you
ever been aroused at work? Give me details.”

“Yes,” he said. “I have been aroused at work.
Very recently in fact.” He sat forward and leveled her with a look
that held enough steam to hard boil an egg. “Friday, when I
suggested that you unbutton your blouse, and when you did…?” His
gaze swept her face, and a wistful smile played over his mouth.
“That really turned me on.”

Oh wow, okay, so…uh-huh. The game was
definitely getting more interesting.

He held her gaze for a long moment then
picked up the next card as he cleared his throat. His smile
brightened as he read the question to himself. “I like this one,”
he said. “I can’t wait to hear your answer.” He looked up, eyes
twinkling. “What physical trait of mine first caught your eye?”

Way to put her on the spot. She pressed her
lips together, thought about it for a second, and tried to envision
him sitting beside her at the blackjack table. She had turned
toward him, and a split second before she looked at his face, she
saw his hands. He had rugged, sure hands. The kind that when they
held you made you feel like you were really being held. She hadn’t
known that at the time, but she’d found out soon enough.

“Your hands,” she said definitively.

“My hands.” He glanced at them.

“Yes. Then your eyes, then your mouth, and
then your chest when we were dancing.”

A glimmer of recollection crossed his face.
“Ah, yes, I remember.” He grinned, making her blush as she recalled
feeling him up. “You did seem a little taken with my chest at one
point.”

Looking down, she forced herself not to
laugh. “I guess you caught that.”

“Mm-hm. It was cute how you reacted when I
caught you, too.”

She sighed. “Okay, you can stop embarrassing
me now.”

He laughed and settled into the cushions
again. “Are you a chest woman?”

“A chest woman?” She frowned in confusion.
“What’s a chest woman?”

“You know how some men are leg men, some are
boob men, stuff like that. Are you a woman who likes men’s chests?
Do they turn you on?”

“I never thought about it that way, but yes,
I guess so. I also seem to notice a man’s arms and his hands, too.”
She gestured toward his. “Obviously, since that was the first part
of you I noticed. Hmm…chests, arms, hands, shoulders. I guess I’m
more of an overall upper body kind of gal.”

“I see.” The file he was building on her
sounded like it had just grown a bit more interesting, much like
the conversation.

She snagged the next card before she could
dork out any more than she already had then almost choked as she
read the question. “Do you think toe sucking is totally hot or
really gross?” She started laughing. Toe sucking? Really? Who came
up with these questions?

“Totally hot, for sure,” he said without
hesitation, cutting off her thoughts.

Karma’s mouth fell open. “What? Really?”

He nodded emphatically. “Oh God, yes.” He
glanced down at her sneakered feet. “I’m what is called a foot
man.” As evidence, he lifted hers and unlaced her sneakers without
pulling them off, even though it looked as though it took all his
willpower not to as he caressed her ankles. “I thought you would
have figured that out already. I haven’t done a very good job
hiding my interest in your feet.”

She remembered how he’d looked at them last
Friday at the department store, how he’d moaned just a little, and
how he’d seemed so affected when he’d told her she had beautiful
feet, but the thought had never occurred to her that there were men
in the world who got turned on by feet or that he was one of them.
Discovering this little nugget about Mark was like finding a chunk
of gold in her carpet, and his reasoning for asking her to wear the
black peep-toe pumps to the concert suddenly made more sense.
Finally, this game had given her something she could slip into her
mental Mark file.

“You mean, if I took off my shoes right now…”
She gently pushed her toe against the heel of one sneaker so that
it pushed halfway off her foot. His eyes instantly flared as he
dropped his gaze. “Does this distract you?” She grinned daringly as
the vixen side of her personality shoved her conservative persona
into the shadows.

He moaned and laid his head back, taking a
heavy breath. Then he cast her a warning glance. “Yes, that
distracts me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said as innocently as
she could muster as she began to tuck her foot back into her shoe.
“I’ll just put my shoe back on and—”

He grabbed her foot and pulled off her
sneaker. “No. Don’t.” His heated gaze raked her face. “Please.” He
dropped her sneaker to the floor, pulled off the other, and dropped
it as well. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you to keep your shoes
off.” His breathing sounded labored, as if he was forcing himself
to calm down, and his eyelids drooped, giving him a sexy, drowsy
appeal.

His expression lit something primitive and
debased in the pit of her stomach. “My feet really turn you on that
much?”

He blinked heavily, and as if he were holding
a sacred gift, he lifted her right leg by the ankle, opened his
legs, and nestled the sole of her foot against his crotch. He was
hard. Very hard. An airy moan broke in his throat. “Yes. Your feet
really turn me on that much.” He took a heavy breath and blew it
out like he was trying to meditate. Then he swallowed and, holding
her sole against him, leaned over and picked up a card. “Your
turn.” He took a moment to compose himself then read the question.
“Which do you think is hotter: sex standing against a wall or bent
over a table?”

Karma had never done either, so how could she
answer honestly? “I don’t know.”

“Let me guess, you have no experience with
either way, right?” He still sounded sexually bent but a bit
calmer.

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Does one sound more interesting than the
other?”

She thought about it for a moment then shook
her head. “Not really.”

Mark grinned as if making a mental note.
“Well, we’ll just have to help you figure that out, won’t we?”

Gulp.

“I guess.” She grabbed the next card. It
certainly was getting warm in here, especially with her foot still
pressed to his erection. After reading the card to herself, this
next question wasn’t going to cool things off, either. “On a scale
of one to ten, how sensitive are your…uh…your nipples?” The words
caught in her throat, and she coughed before reading the second
half of the question. “How would you like me to…um…touch them?” She
slowly lifted her gaze.

He looked like a wolf ready to devour
her.

“My nipples are pretty sensitive, so I’ll say
about an eight or nine.” His voice had grown deeper. “I like when a
woman touches them or licks them. Or bites them.” He cleared his
throat and shifted on the couch, making her foot rub down the hard
length of him. “And you have sexy teeth.”

“Sexy teeth?”

He nodded. “Oh yes. Very sexy. I want you to
do naughty things to me with your teeth. No drawing blood or
anything like that, but…”

She felt light-headed. “No, of course
not.”

“It’s just that…” He licked his lips. “I like
the idea of your mouth on me, Karma.”

And she liked the idea of his on her.

Mark waited a moment before grabbing the next
card from the deck. The corner of his mouth ticked upward. Oh boy,
this was going to be a good one. She could just tell.

“Describe exactly what it feels like when you
orgasm.”

Thud!

“Um, well…” She exhaled heavily through
pursed lips, making her cheeks puff out.

Mark set down the card and casually sat back,
waiting for her answer, a patient smile on his face.

“Okay, so…” Her fingers twisted in her lap.
“You already know I’ve never had an orgasm during…um…sex.”

“From what you’ve told me, I assumed that was
the case. But you have had an orgasm, haven’t you?”

If she said yes, she would be admitting to
masturbation, and something about that felt too personal.

“Karma,” he said, his voice lilting as he
rocked himself against her foot. “Do you give yourself
pleasure?”

“Oh hell,” she said, huffing as she rolled
her eyes. “Fine. Yes. Yes I do. God, this is so embarrassing.”

“And…what does it feel like?”

She set her jaw and slapped her hands on her
thighs. “Good, okay? It feels good.”

He threw his head back and laughed so hard
his whole body shook. “Fine, I’ll take that. But…” He held up his
index finger as if making a point. “An orgasm you give yourself
rarely feels as good as one someone else gives you, and almost
never as good as one you have during sex.”

“Oh, and you know this how?” She plucked the
next card off the pile. “Oh wait, let me guess. Lots of practice,
right?”

His single dimple creased his cheek.
“Something like that, yes. But I’ve also read a lot on the
subject.” His eyebrows shot up as if he’d had a Eureka moment. “As
a matter of fact, I’m going to build you a reading list. I have a
few books in mind that I think you’ll enjoy.”

She lowered her face into her left hand and
groaned. “I feel like Luke Skywalker being trained in how to use
The Force.”

Mark burst into laughter again. “Are you
calling me Yoda?”

She had to admit, it was pretty funny. “No.
You’re better looking than Yoda.”

“I certainly hope so.” He pointed to her
card. “Okay, ask me.”

She read the card. Her heart performed
another perfect swan dive into the pit of her stomach, and she
glanced warily at him.

“Go ahead,” he said. “I can already tell this
one’s good.”

He had no idea.

“Okay, um…” She looked back down.
Here
goes.
“Take me to a place in the house where we haven’t had
sex.” Her gaze flicked nervously to his before she continued. “Kiss
me…and then whisper what you would do to me if we were to…get it on
there.” She lowered the card to her lap and kept her head down.

Mark waited a moment then lifted her foot
from between his legs, leaned toward her, and reached for her hand.
Without looking at him, she took it. As he moved into the middle of
the couch, he tugged her onto his lap and situated her so that she
faced him. Her legs straddled his thighs.

Her heart beat like a wild drum in her
chest.

“Come here,” he whispered, caressing her
cheek in such a way that drew her face to his. His lips found hers
and held them in a static kiss. He didn’t move, and neither did
she. All that mattered was the simple, chaste connection and the
way a thousand tiny starbursts exploded throughout her body. His
kiss seemed so innocent, and yet it sent shards of erotic desire
into her blood.