I Heart Geeks (25 page)

“You okay with this?” I didn’t want him to be pressured into anything. It’s just that I really wanted him. I hadn’t felt this way about a guy in a long time.

“I’m fine. More than fine.” He helped me ease his pants and briefs down to his ankles and stepped out of them for me. He was right. He was more than fine.

“May I?” I had the feeling that if I just grabbed him, his involuntary jump would smack him against the ceiling.

“Please.”

He was hard and warm in my grasp and I heard him hiss air in between his teeth.

“Need help with the dress?”

“Over the hips, not over the head.” I let go of him briefly and we got my dress off with minimal shoulder pain. Then I took him in hand again.

“Penny, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I’m not going to last very long if you keep doing that.”

“Maybe we should cut to the chase, then. Doggy style? Keeps both our shoulders off the bed.”

“No.” He pressed his lips together to emphasize his rejection of my suggestion.

“Care to elaborate? Religious reasons?”

He tentatively cupped my breasts and rubbed his thumbs over the nipples. I purred.

“Not intimate enough. Not for a first time.”

I ducked in for a kiss which he gave me. “Gotcha. Sit on the edge of the bed.”

He backed up and I stayed with him to keep my breasts under his hands. He was becoming more confident, rolling the nipples and hefting my breasts in his hands.

“Condom?” I had some but I wanted to give him the chance to step up.

“Pants pocket. Sorry.”

“No worries.” I swooped down and grabbed his discarded pants. I rooted through the pockets and retrieved two packages. Ian looked at me warily.

“I didn’t know how many to carry with me so as not to be offensive or over-confident. Besides you said tonight would just be a goodnight kiss.”

“It’s good you anticipated my right to change my mind at a moment’s notice. Suit up sweetie.”

We got the condom on and I gave him a little push to make him sit down on the bed. I eased down onto his lap and stretched my legs on the bed behind him. Automatically, he grabbed my forearms to keep me from tipping backward.

“This position is called ‘Edge of Heaven’,” he told me.

“That’s nice, Ian.” I scooted forward and he slid home, as easily as if we had been doing this for years. I took a moment to adjust to his width, and then leaned back slightly, trusting him to keep his hold on my arms.

“Jesus.” He trembled all over.

“Okay?”

“Yes. It’s all happening a bit more quickly than I anticipated.”

“Yeah, sorry for the rush. I do that when I’m nervous. It’s kind of like get you inside quick before you change your mind.” His eyes lit up at my confession and I was glad I had made the explanation.

“Not changing my mind any time soon, Pen.”

I sat there for a moment, savoring the feel of him. He was just the right size as far as I was concerned. I slid forward, then back and was rewarded with a groan. I hoped he’d lose this hesitancy in the future but right now it was rather endearing.

“Kiss?” I asked.

He leaned forward and I hummed with pleasure as he sank deeper. I caught his mouth with mine, delicately running over his teeth with the tip of my tongue. I felt his hands tighten on my forearms as he pulled his hips back and surged forward.

He took my gasp into his mouth and thrust a few more times. He scowled and pulled back.

“This isn’t working for me.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. No one had ever said that to me in the middle of lovemaking. He wasn’t even giving this a chance. He saw my expression.

“No, sorry, I meant I want to try something. Hold on to my neck, above my burn, please.” He hooked his arms under my legs and stood up, still deep inside me. “This is called ‘Ascent to Desire’.”

I couldn’t help it. I started laughing and his groan told me he felt my insides shaking around him. He shuffled over to the dresser and slid my bottom onto it, pushing my make-up and lotion bottles aside. He tried a test thrust and grunted in satisfaction.

“What’s this position called?” I asked.

“Screwing on a hotel dresser,” he replied and started a pounding rhythm. I reached behind and removed my hairbrush from the tender skin of my buttock. Leaning back intensified the sensations and, after a few minutes, I came nosily and appreciatively. Ian kept pounding, looking grim

“Ian, baby?”

“Yeah?” Cripes, I could see the tendons standing out on his neck.

“Time to gear down from rampant elephant to slightly crazed baboon.”

“Shit. You’re not enjoying this. I can do better.”

“Okay, stop thrusting. Stop. Yeah, good. Now look at me.” He held still but he was trembling.

“You listening to me?”

“Yeah.”

“This is great. Didn’t you feel me come? No? That’s because you are determined to be Ian Rusach, Superstud. I want you to be having a good time too and you’re not.” I stroked his hair and felt the shuddering ease. He was still hard inside me so I hadn’t discouraged him with the pep talk.

“This is really important to me,” he admitted.

“It’s just sex, baby.”

He drew up in offence. “It’s not casual for me.”

“That’s not what I meant, honey. You’re not just sex to me. You’re the whole package of which sex is a part. I’m not going to ditch you if you can’t make me come five times per session or do no-arm penis push-ups. Yeah?”

“No-arm penis push-ups? How do you even..?”

“Focus, Eenie. I will like anything you do as long as you are having a good time as well. Now, start moving but at the pace you like. I’ll be right there with you, okay?”

“Okay, Pen.” He started moving again and if he tried a little too hard to angle for my G-spot, I didn’t complain. I came again when he did. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment, then stepped back. I shivered at the sensation of him leaving my body. He lifted me down from the dresser and went to the bathroom to get rid of the condom. I padded over to the bed and slid under the sheets, wincing and wishing for a higher thread count against my burnt skin. When he returned, he stood at the edge of the bed looking down at me.

“Requests?” I asked.

“Stay the night?”

“Granted.”

He slipped into bed. “Ow, it hurts.”

“Sleep on your tummy,” I told him and flipped over myself. As I drifted off, I felt his hand come to rest on the small of my back.

The drum riff from Phil Collin’s
In the Air Tonight
was playing in my dream.

“Penny, your cell is ringing.”

I blinked blearily at the digital clock beside the bed. Three in the morning. I woke all the way up. Immediately.

“Hello”

“Penny, it’s Emma.”

“What’s happened?”

“Pam had some sort of seizure. The paramedics are here, putting her on the gurney. They’re taking her to All Saints. I’m going with.”

“Crap, crap, triple crap. Okay, I’ll get home as soon as I can. Keep me posted.”

“Will do, sweets.” She hung up and I turned to Ian.

“Bad news?”

“Yeah, Pam had a seizure. She’s going to All Saints with Emma.” The last word got high and squeaky.

“Okay, I’ll take care of things. You pack.” He swung out of bed and, grabbing his discarded pants, produced a cell phone of his own.

“None of the charter flights come in until Friday.” I needed to be with Pam now.

“Didn’t come on a charter. Go pack. I’ve got this, Penny.”

I threw things into my suitcase, barely listening to Ian’s phone conversations. He was getting a plane refueled and sending his people to All Saints.

“Done,” I told him and, still on the phone, he took my suitcase from me and led the way to his room. He started to pack one handed and I touched his wrist to get his attention.

“I’ll pack for you.”

He let me do it and I found the simple job of collecting all his belongings and packing them calmed me.

The Resort was very sympathetic and called a cab for us. Ian handed them a credit card and told them to put both rooms’ additional expenses on it. Ten minutes later we were in a cab heading for the airport.

“What do you mean, you didn’t fly charter?”

“Private plane, belongs to the company. I got hold of the pilot and he’s having it fueled right now. We can take off immediately.” His tone was brusque.

“It’s not your fault, Ian.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“Remember what I told you? Pam and I don’t do angst.” He was pulling away from me. I was losing him before I could really appreciate what I had. I couldn’t let Pam know. She’d think it was Chris all over again and it wasn’t. It was something else.

On the flight back, I got updates from Emma and Ian got reports from his team. Pam had a CAT scan and it was looking like a small aneurysm had burst. Now she was in surgery. I was numb and hunched down in my seat, trying to hide from the reality of it all.

“Do you want to sleep? I can wake you if there’s more news.” The plane had eight passenger seats, empty except for ours. Ian was sitting beside me.

“I can’t sleep until she’s out of surgery,” I told him.

“Okay. Lean against me and close your eyes. You don’t have to sleep.” He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me part way onto his chest.

“But then I’ll sleep,” I protested but without much conviction. I was so tired, I couldn’t see straight anymore.

“Trust me to wake you, Pen.” His thumb was stroking my hair where it lay across my shoulder. Maybe I hadn’t lost him.

“’kay.” I fell asleep and didn’t wake until we were landing. The bump of wheels hitting tarmac jolted me awake. I looked around wildly.

“Relax, Pen. We’ve landed.” Ian still had an arm around me.

“Any news?”

“She’s out of surgery, resting quietly. I wanted to let you sleep and it was good news.”

“I need to get to the hospital.” I wasn’t even sure where we would end up. Some special hanger for private jets, no doubt.

“After we’ve cleared Customs, I’ve arranged for a limo take us to the hospital,” Ian told me. We were taxiing and the plane jounced to a stop, the engines powering down.

“Thank you for taking care of everything, Ian.” I gave his bicep a little rub.

He looked away. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Don’t do this, Eenie. The Allens went into this with our eyes open.” I thumped his arm to make him look at me.

“I shouldn’t have let you persuade me to do the double mutation sub-group. There wasn’t enough evidence that the treatment would work for them.” He was angry but not at me.

“It was the power of the Donut Dolly uniform. Or was it my reasoned argument? I think the latter, n’est-ce pas?”

“Pam shouldn’t pay the price for my misjudgement.” Stubborn man.

“Like the guy in the single mutation group.” I nodded sagely.

“Don’t be facetious. I know that was unrelated to the treatment. And, no, I’m not oblivious to the point you’re making but I have a really bad feeling about Pam. I think I missed something.”

I sighed. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. I leaned on him as we shuffled through Customs, Ian answering for both of us. Then we were in the limo. It was late afternoon, local time and we had to fight rush hour traffic. The limo stopped illegally in front of the Emergency door and let us out. Ian led me past all the watchdogs to Pam’s room. Emma was at the door and enveloped me in a hug.

“Oh, Penny. There was no warning. One minute we were watching
Aliens
and the next she was flipping around on the sofa.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I should have been here.”

Emma pushed back from me. “Are you kidding? Pam was ecstatic that you were going to have a vacation on a beach. With Ian. She set it all up. Whatever happens, she had that pleasure.”

I shook my head, not ready to buy her argument and slipped by her to Pam’s bedside. There was a little bandage on her neck. They had gone up through an artery to repair the damage. I took her hand and sat down in the bedside chair. I wasn’t going to take my eyes off her until she woke up. I don’t know how much later it was when I realized Ian was gone.

The funeral was beautiful in its simplicity. Despite her being housebound the last few years, Pam had kept all her friends close and they were all there. We sang
Amazing Grace
, her favorite hymn, and
Over the Rainbow
, a request from the handwritten instructions she had left. She was already cremated and the cloisonné vase sat on a simple plinth at the front of the chapel.

I was in the front pew in a flowered sundress because Pam had forbidden black. Emma was beside me, holding my hand loosely, and wearing cherry red. I took the opportunity to turn slightly and scan the attendees. I didn’t see him at first but on the second go round, I spotted him at the back. He had a suit on, a violation of Pam’s Rules but he didn’t know. My gaze was caught briefly by a woman in a taffeta ball gown, apparently her favorite item of clothing in accordance with the Rules of Pam. When I looked back, Ian was gone. I sighed and faced front again.

“You spot a certain depressed researcher?” Emma was shamelessly craning around.

“Yeah but he’s in the wind now.”

“He’ll come back when he gets his head straightened out.”

“No doubt.” I had gone to a meeting with the Alltex people. Ian hadn’t been there. A nice gray-haired doctor had explained that Pam’s double mutation status caused weakened blood vessels in the brain. As with the single mutation guy, it was the physical stress of going through the treatment that had caused the aneurysm. It was valuable information. They would use that to screen and pre-treat other double mutation people before giving them Ian’s treatment. When I stood to leave, I shook the doctor’s hand and asked him to thank everyone for their dedication on behalf of Pam and myself.

“There is one more Pam Rule we have to follow,” Emma reminded me.

“Double fudge sundaes at Smidges on the way home from the service. Yep.” I unlocked the car and looked one more time for Ian before getting in.

“You good to drive, Pen?” Emma watched me closely.

“Yeah. Calories here we come.” And I
was
good or as good as could be expected. I had my moments when I spoke to Pam without thinking in the apartment or when I had to suddenly stop whatever I was doing to let the chest squeezing pain of loss pass. I didn’t know if us having hope at the end was good or bad. I like to think it was good. Pam thought she now had a long life ahead of her. Then that little vessel went pop and she didn’t know that wasn’t true. Then the second one popped and she went to see Dad and Mom.