Tap Dance (18 page)

"And you taste as good as you smell," he whispered, moving to feast on the other protruding tip.

He shoved his hand down again, straight in to my panties again to torment my erect clit.

I was right on the edge of peaking, of convulsing.

"Not yet," Ram said removing his fingers and taking a step back.

His eyes raked over me and my sex pulsed in response.

He began to unbutton his shirt.  He removed his belt and undid the hooks on the waistband of his trousers before sitting down in one of the reading chairs by the window.

I watched as he tossed one of the throw pillows on the floor between his feet.

"Come here, Marianne," he said as he slid down in the chair, his chiseled chest barely exposed by his open shirt.

I teetered over to him, my legs shaking with the force of my want. 

"Take off your panties and hand them to me," he directed.

I slid the now sopping scrap of lace down my legs and stepped gingerly out of them, careful not to snag them on my heels.  I handed them to him and watched as he brought them to his face.

"I want to feel your mouth on me," he said softly, his eyes moving from my mouth to my breasts to my sex and back again.

I dropped to my knees on the pillow he had provided and moved to unzip his trousers. 

My hands captured his hot, hard length pulling it out into the open.  I glanced up to gauge his reaction and saw that his eyes held mine in a hot stare.

 I licked my lips and heard his soft growl.

Rising up onto my knees, I gripped him with both my hands and began to stroke his thickness.  I watched as a glistening drop of pre-cum appeared.

"Don't tease.  I want your mouth on me."

I smiled up at him as I dipped my mouth to capture his fluid with my tongue, engulfing the crown with my lips.

His hands went to my hair as he gathered it to hold away from my face.

I raised my eyes to his, drawing his length into my hot mouth to torment and tantalize him in much the same way as he had done to me earlier.  I spent several minutes using my tongue, my lips, my mouth to pleasure him.

"Enough," he said softly.  He released the hold he had on my hair.

I raised my head and saw his eyes were tightly closed and he was holding himself by the base of his cock.

"You okay, honey?"

He opened his eyes, eyes that were filled with desire, eyes that didn't seem to move from my swollen mouth.

His groan was the only answer he gave.

You would've thought that my arousal would have subsided a bit when I was mouthing him but, if anything, it increased.  I was still swollen and wanting.

While waiting for him to recover or, if I read his body language correctly, to get a grip, I snuck a hand down for a quick stroke to relieve the pressure between my legs.

I was still gazing up at him, centering on his beautiful face, when I saw his eyes flare.

"Are you touching yourself?" He asked with a note of wonder in his voice.

"Uhm, yeah."

"May I watch?"

"Only if I get to watch you stroke yourself," I whispered.

"Deal," he whispered back.

So we moved up to the bed, where he brought out a small bottle of baby oil from the bedside drawer.  He positioned us so that we were facing one another, our legs open and draped over one another.

And we touched ourselves.

It was hot to watch.

It was hot to
be
watched.

It was amazing in every sense of the word.

Chapter Twenty One

When is a 'walk of shame' not a shameful walk?  When you could care less who saw you being walked by your Chief of Police boyfriend to your Aunt's door wearing the same clothes from the night before. 

I turned to Ram on the stoop to tell him good-bye and instead he opened the door and came inside with me. 

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Ram pulled me into his arms and kissed me with such thoroughness that I was dizzy when he raised his head.

"May I see you after work this week?"

"Yeah, I guess.  I mean, if you gotta…"

"Can I call you?"

"No, Ram, you should never call me again.  As my boyfriend, I'm absolutely forbid…" And Ram put a lid on my teasing by kissing me.

He released the pressure of his mouth and rested his lips on mine.

"I
will
call you and we
will
see one another this week.  And we
will
have another date on Saturday," he said softly against my mouth.

"I love it when you're forceful," I said our mouths still touching.

"I could tell,
Pyari
, from how sweetly your body sang for me last night."

Geez.  The man was pretty good at having the last word.

He released his hold on me with a smile.

"What are your plans for the rest of today?"

"I'm going to the apartment, so that I can have a measure of control when I meet with the Claims Adjuster tomorrow and I have to get in touch with my cousin.  What about you?"

"I'm going back to my house and sleep since a curly-headed sex goddess kept me up most of the night."

"Sleep well, honey."

"Do you want me to go with you to the apartment?"

"I think I need to do it alone."

"Call me if you need me," he said before dipping his head and capturing another kiss.

"See you, Sailor," I mumbled against his lips.

"Yes, I'll see you,
Pyari
," he mumbled right back.

*.*.*.*.*

For some reason, it seemed easier to walk up the steps and open the heavy front door of the apartment building than it had the previous two times.  My heartbeat was only a little accelerated, my breathing only a little bit shallow.

I put my key in the lock of my apartment and took a deep breath before turning it and twisting the doorknob.  I braced myself, but the destruction was no different than the other two times I'd been there and, for whatever reason, the lack of change helped me keep a grip on my emotions.

It was still bad. 

It was still upsetting. 

But it wasn't, at this viewing, overwhelming.

I kept the apartment door open, though.  Just in case those feelings came back and I had to get out quickly.

I pulled out my small notebook and a pen and made notes of what I would need to replace and what was not destroyed.  I was glad to see my mother's Hummel collection was untouched.  My father had given her a Hummel piece on each anniversary.  I'd had the collection insured since a number of the pieces were out of production and were increasing in value.

Ram had been right when he said all the soft furnishings and my clothes were destroyed.  I had pictures and receipts for my bed and living room furniture but how do you place a value on your clothes? 

The clothes from the dresser as well as the closet had been dumped in the middle of my bed, each piece cut in some way that rendered it unable to be worn. 

My shoes were intact, but my handbags were cut beyond redemption.

I checked the linen closet and saw that it, too, had been ransacked.  I added towels and bed linen to my list.

I was so focused on my list that I didn't realize I was no longer shaking and my heartbeat had gone back to normal.

This was a good thing. 

A very good thing.

I was standing at the breakfast bar, still reviewing my notes when I heard Sara.

"Hey, Marianne."

"Hey, Sara.  How are you?"

"A helluva lot better than you.  Damn, they got you good, huh?"

"Yeah, they did."

"I hadn't seen it before.  Man, this is bad." Her eyes travelled over the mess of what had been my living room.

"I'm meeting with the Claims Adjuster tomorrow and just wanted to get a list going of what I'm going to have to replace."

"Are you in a hurry or can you come up for a visit?"

"Loved to.  Just give me a few minutes and I'll be right up, Sara."

She smiled and waved as she moved through the opened door.

I finished my list and gave another look around.

As soon as the Adjuster had completed his thing, I was calling the removal people that Jake recommended.

It will all be behind me soon, I told myself.

I locked up and made my way up to Sara's apartment.  She lived directly above me and, since she was on the second floor, had a great view through her windows.

"C'mon in, Marianne.  Soda?"

"Sounds good.  Wow, I love what you've done with your place."  Her color combination of taupe with vibrant leaf green and a lilac was feminine but not girly.

"Thanks.  Have you given any thought to color change since your stuff has to be replaced?"

"Funny you should mention that!  I have, indeed.  I haven't decided on anything yet, but I have thought about it."

We both laughed.

"Sometimes things happen that force us to change even though we aren't quite ready to do it all on our own," Sara said quietly.

"Here's to change," I said holding up my can of soda.

"To change," Sara repeated holding up her own can.

"Has this thing spooked you guys?"

"Not really, only speaking for myself, of course," Sara said.  "Julie seemed a bit freaked but she settled down.  I haven't seen Layne at all since the party."

"I'll try and touch base with her, make sure she's alright." I pulled out my notebook and jotted down a reminder.

"Did you ever find Floyd?"

"Oh, yeah.  Gosh, I should have let you guys know.  Paul Adler found him at the Animal Shelter."

"That's good news.  Are you still seeing Paul?"

"Mmm, not so much.  I'm kind of seeing someone else now."

I watched as a huge smile crossed Sara's pretty face.

"What?" I asked, smiling back.

"This new person that you're 'kind of' seeing wouldn't happen to be a fine, exotic hunk of maleness that just happens to be the Chief of Police, now would it?"

I know my jaw dropped.

"How'd you know?" I whispered.

"Marianne, you should've seen his face at the party.  I don't think you were out of his sight any longer than it took to blink.  Everyone there saw it.  In fact, I was surprised you didn't hear other people talking about it.  And, then, when he showed up when the officers were called out?  Girl, when a man shows up that fast and has you tucked underneath his arm within five minutes of being here?  Shoot.  It was a done deal."

I started giggling half-way through her speech and was full out laughing when she finished.

She may have had a point.

I remember his tone of voice that night I was walking down the hall.  Now that I know him better, his tone was possessive, assertive and he was staking his claim.

Aw, geez.

I would've
given
him the freaking claim if I'd known he was interested!

"Speaking of men and watching people react, what's with you and Jake?"

Sara looked down at her soda can, her smile completely gone.

"Oh, honey.  Sorry.  Forget I asked, okay?"

"No.  I've wanted to talk to you about it. So you can warn her."

"Warn who of what, Sara?"

"Caitlin.  Warn Caitlin about Jake."

I tried to keep my face from showing any emotion but, as I told you before, I am terrible at poker because my face registers everything I'm thinking.

"I can do that.  What about Jake, honey?" I asked softly.

Sara looked out the window but I could tell she wasn't admiring the view.

After a while she started to speak.  To speak in a flat, emotionless voice.

"I don't remember when I first saw Jake.   But I'd loved him for a long, long time before I was old enough to hang with his crowd.  He was funny, smart and just great to be around, you know?"

I didn't say anything, but just let her talk.

"Not to mention, how good looking he was then.  When all the other boys looked like boys, Jake already had taken on the silhouette of a man.  And, those eyes, those crazy golden eyes.  If he turned those eyes on a girl she was caught.  And I mean caught with a capital "C".  And if everything in the universe was aligned just right, then he might ask you out."

"So, it was a big deal to have a date with Jake, then, huh?"

Sara turned her eyes to me.

"Oh no, you didn't date him.  Nuh-uh.  You went out with him.  Once.  And every girl he had been with said the same thing.  'Stay away from Jake'.  You got one opportunity to be with him then he'd act like he didn't know you as soon as you were finished."