One Hand On The Podium (2 page)

“No kidding,” he answered, eyeing his bride. Alex was madly in love with Mary. In all his years of dating her, he had always been captivated by her looks. She had long blond hair that she usually wore tied back in a cute, bouncy ponytail. Her eyes were brown and her full lips shone with soft red lip gloss. Her teeth were bright white and almost perfectly straight. She created higher cheek bones with her rouge and darkened her brown eyebrows to accent her eyes. She wasn’t drop dead beautiful, but she was pretty and she took great care to present herself in public that way. Her breasts were large and her stomach flat. Alex always complimented her on what she wore. She liked it when he did.

Alex had a certain amount of insecurity about him that normally made it necessary to choose a partner who didn’t garner a lot of attention from other men. He had a jealous streak and hated when Mary had lunch or private meetings with other men. But for the most part, he felt safe with her. Maybe it was because he felt she truly loved him.

Alex was easily aroused when she tossed her head, flipping her hair back and glancing at him over her shoulder in that sexy way she had. In return, he told her — maybe more often than he should have but he couldn’t help spoiling her — that she was pretty and he loved her madly. She liked that too.

Mary lay back on the bed, her blue-flowered cotton dress hiked up, revealing her thighs. He wanted to pull off her pantyhose, to feel the warmth of her skin against his.

“Lock the door,” she told him. He immediately went to the door and locked it, then walked back to Mary while unbuttoning his shirt. She lay very still on the bed watching him in the dimming daylight. It was almost six. The St. Louis streetlights flickered on in the streets below and the room was filled with shadows cast from the small table lamp.

Alex removed his clothes and let them fall to the floor beside the bed, never taking his eyes off her. His naked body glistened with nervous anticipation as their eyes met. The message they conveyed held the longing for one another they had denied the past few years.

***

Mary Spencer had saved herself for this moment. Alex was not her first relationship. She had sex with other men before meeting him. But after a lousy relationship with a man who led her on about getting married, she rediscovered her Catholic faith after she unceremoniously dumped him. She promised herself that she would never again have premarital sex and made it clear to Alex when they first met that her faith forbade it.

It was a hard pill for Alex to swallow, especially since he knew she had slept with her previous boyfriend, but he came to the conclusion that Mary was the girl he would spend the rest of his life with and he sincerely respected her beliefs and wishes. Since he came from a Catholic family, too, he had no problem understanding, and eventually accepting her wishes. He began to learn more than he ever knew before about being a practicing Catholic. It made them even closer than he could imagine. They were on this journey together, and he respected her, doing his best to maintain his self-control when they were together. It was tough.

This was the day he had waited for and Mary knew how important it was to him. She was ready.

***

He reached down to her feet, then carefully removed her shoes and pushed them aside. She felt her passion building, her body crying out for him.

Alex leaned into the sweet scent of her perfume and reached under her dress, all the way to her waist. His warm fingers, without pausing, found the elastic waistband of her panty hose and slowly pulled them down. She lifted herself slightly to allow him to get them past her small, shapely hips. He smiled as though to thank her for assisting. Mary breathed deeply, her well-endowed chest about to burst through her buttoned-up dress.

“Oh, Alex, I love you,” she moaned.

“You’re my beautiful girl, Mary. You’re my one and only,” he whispered.

Her eyes begged for him, but he continued, slowly, moving her legs apart enough to reveal what he had been so anxiously waiting for. His knees touched the end of the bed as he lowered himself between her trembling limbs. He pressed his face to her soft skin, kissing her flat belly, and teasing her with his tongue then moved lower. Mary placed her hands on his head and let her fingers gently massage his thick scalp as he sought the spot that took her breath away.

With one hand stroking her thigh, he let the other find the tiny buttons where the front of her dress covered her chest. Seconds later he was vigorously squeezing her right breast.

“Easy, easy, Baby,” she moaned in pain, grabbing his hand for a moment.

He lifted his face to look up at her. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”

She smiled and pushed his head back where it had been, then placed the end of his fingers where they were before, getting them started in a slow circling motion. She moaned her approval and tilted her head back, eyes closed, enjoying the sensation.

***

When Alex first met Mary in Washington she was a congressional assistant on Capitol Hill. They had come in contact with each other through telephone conversations. One of his duties was to pass on certain information from his department to some of the Congressmen. Mary’s job was to insure the information got to the proper people. Eventually, after more than a few phone conversations, Alex’s curiosity got the best of him. He was attracted to Mary’s soothing, quiet voice, and made excuses to call her just so he could hear it. Eventually he got brave enough to ask her out to dinner and a play. She showed little enthusiasm toward his first offer, but after meeting him, it was love at first sight.

Mary told all her friends her relationship with Alex was like a fairy tale romance. Her girl-friend, back in Washington, knew everything she had been through in her previous troubled relationships and was a sounding board to Mary’s late-night phone calls. She was always there to listen and offer Mary support.

From the moment they met, Alex and Mary were inseparable. Even after Mary quit her job to continue her education, there wasn’t a day they weren’t together. They grew to be the perfect pair.

***

Mary touched Alex’s back with her soft fingers, sending shivers through his body. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Alex sat up, feeling clumsy and irritated by the interruption. Mary grabbed at the material of her dress and pulled it down to cover herself, worried someone would just walk right in, even though she had seen Alex lock the door earlier.

“Who is it?” Alex called out as he moved towards the door.

“Bellman, Mr. Spencer,” a young boy’s voice answered.

“Yes?”

“I have your luggage, sir.”

Alex turned to Mary, smiled and whispered, “Oh, yes, of course.” He turned to face the door, “Just one moment, please.”

“You take care of him, Alex. I’m going into the bathroom and getting rid of this dress. Come get me when he’s gone.”

“Good idea. I won’t be long,” Alex smiled. He would make this short.

Mary got up from the bed and began to undo the remaining buttons on her dress as she made her way to the bathroom in the corner of the suite. Alex put his trousers back on; carefully pulling up the zipper to avoid pinching himself, then opened the door.

The bellman walked into the room with their luggage and set it on the floor next to the bed, realizing what he had interrupted when he saw the disheveled covers on the bed. As Alex handed him a five-dollar tip, he had to keep himself from laughing when he saw the bellman’s blushing face.

“Thank you,” he offered.

“Thank you very much, Sir. Sorry for the interruption.”

“No problem, no problem,” Alex said with a big grin.

He showed the man out and moved away from the door toward the bathroom. “Okay, he’s gone, Mary. You can come out now.”

There was no response.

“Mary, I said he’s gone. You can come on out now.”

Still there was no response.

Alex moved close to the door, grabbed the handle, and tried to open it. It was locked.

“Mary,” he called out again while trying not to sound worried. “Why is the door locked?” He gave the door a couple raps with his knuckles.

He could hear her rummaging around in the bathroom. “Mary, let me in. What’s wrong?” he asked, shaking the doorknob.

Alex heard her unlocking the door and stepped back, waiting for her to come out. The door swung open, banged into the doorstop, and bounced partially closed, barely missing Mary who flew past Alex and threw her cosmetic bag on the bed. “Unbelievable.” She shook her head, looking up at the ceiling, her hands on her hips. “Just…un-be-
leeee-
vable.”

Alex stood quiet, bewildered. “Mary, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Bad timing, that’s what’s wrong. Rats!” She pounded the bed where she sat picking up the various toiletries that had shot from her airborne bag.

“Please,” Alex begged. “Tell me. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s not you. It’s me,” she shot back, throwing the scattered items back in her bag.

“Then what is it? This is our honeymoon.”

“Yes, Alex, this is our honeymoon, and that makes it all the worse. I started my period. Our whole night is ruined.”

He paused and thought about what she was saying for a moment, then smiled and moved to comfort her. He may have paused long enough to let her know he was disappointed, too. But he recovered and said, “It’s alright, Mary, for goodness sake. It’s not your fault. There’s plenty of time for that. We have a whole life together, right?”

“But I wanted this week to be special, and now we’re going to have to wait to make love. Oh, Alex, I’m so irritated.” She tossed a travel size container of shampoo into her bag and jerked the zipper closed.

Alex sat next to her on the edge of the bed and held her tight. “Well, it’s happened, there’s nothing you can do except continue being your gorgeous self and,” he lifted her head so he could look in her eyes, “…never forget that I love you. You got that? There is nothing you could do to make me love you less. You are everything in the world to me, Mary.”

Her big eyes looked up at him, still sparking from frustration. “I love you so much, Alex.”

He wiped the tears from her cheeks then kissed her on the forehead. “Tell you what, why don’t we get dressed up, find a fancy restaurant, and enjoy a nice candlelight dinner. Maybe we can go to that theater we saw up the street. Come on, let’s do it.”

“Okay.” She reached up, touching her cheek with her soft pale fingers.

“Good. It’s settled. Tonight we paint the town, tomorrow we complete my investigation, email my report back to Washington, and then we can be on our way to Chicago and get this honeymoon going. How does that sound to you, Mary?”

“Oh, that sounds great, Alex.” He pulled her into his arms and felt her melt into him. Oh, well, he thought, there’ll be plenty of time later, and caught her in a passionate kiss.

***

Mary stood in front of the hotel dresser mirror in a creamy silk slip, her beautiful breasts exposed. She and Alex had awakened early and were looking forward to the drive across the Mississippi River to the Air Force base near Belleville, Illinois. Alex eyed her as he walked out of the bathroom, and pretended to sneak up behind her as she watched him in the mirror. Each hand found a breast and his lips explored her neck. She set down the brush she was holding and leaned her head back as far as she could, sighing and moaning as Alex sucked her smooth skin from one shoulder to the other. “Mm, I could stay here all day, but I guess we’d better get dressed,” Alex said, reluctantly letting her go.

He put on a navy blue, chalk stripe suit, white shirt, and burgundy silk tie. Mary wore a beige, two-piece suit accented with a bright silk scarf around her neck and set off to the right above her jacket pocket. Both dressed as they would have back in Washington when they were conducting business. Although Mary’s outfit was basic and very much to the point, she looked absolutely stunning and Alex couldn’t wait to show her off. He knew any man would be envious.

They arrived at the base around nine that morning and passed through a security gate after Alex showed the guard his credentials. He directed them to an imposing brown stone building with a concrete sign above the main entrance that read HEADQUARTERS.

Alex carried his black briefcase. “My, don’t you look official,” Mary teased him. They both laughed as they made their way inside to the front desk.

An airman approached, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Alex answered, pulling out some documents from his inside jacket pocket, which he then passed to the aide.

“You’re Alex Spencer?”

“Yes.”

“From the Pentagon?”

“Yes.”

“And you want to see the colonel?”

“Colonel Moss, Colonel Simon Moss.”

“You’re from Washington, D.C.?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve come a long way, haven’t you? Just wait one minute, sir. I’ll tell the colonel you’re here.”

The aide moved from behind the desk, walked down a long hallway, turned to his right, and stopped. Alex noted he was talking to someone in another room. Moments later he returned. “Follow me, please, Mr. Spencer.”

Alex turned to Mary, “Why don’t you wait here? I’ll only be a little while.”

Mary sat on a long wooden bench, the only piece of furniture in the entrance hall. “You go ahead, Darling. I’ll be just fine.” They traded smiles and touched hands then Alex followed the aide to the room down the hall.

As Alex approached the doorway, he noticed a small nameplate off to the side that read, Colonel Simon Moss.

“The colonel will see you now, Mr. Spencer,” the aide said, leaving Alex standing just inside the office.

A man near a long dark cherry bookshelf against the wall looked up from a book he was skimming through and peered over his reading glasses at Alex. The room looked like someone’s private library, office, and living room combined. A desk that matched the bookcase dominated the room. Two high-backed, leather-seated chairs sat in front of it. A worn leather couch rested against one wall, with an ornate coffee table in front of it, that might have been a souvenir from the Far East. The wallpaper had a Gothic theme running throughout, and the room had an overall masculine feel to it.