The Drazen World: The California Limited (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

“These look uncomfortable,” he said as he took off her shoes, glancing up to see a small amused smile on her face, and placed them on the floor.  He massaged one foot, then the other, then stood.  “Can we take this beautiful dress off?”

She nodded and stood, moving her hands to slip it from her shoulders, but his eager ones got there first.  “Let me,” he said, his thumbs sliding it off her shoulders.  He stepped back to appraise her again, his eyes flitting everywhere.  Then he wrapped a hand around her nape, gently stroking, his fingers deliberately messing her hair.  “This rolled crown is perfect. 
Was
perfect, I should say.  Can we loose it?”

Her hand shot to smooth her hair.  A reflex.  Then she nodded.  “Give me a minute.”  She retreated into the bathroom.  He moved quickly to shed his Brooks Brothers suit, cursing his cuff links, until he stood in nothing but his drawers.  A moment later she emerged, stockings and garters gone, long, dark hair falling in a drape to her lush breasts still hugged by the gold bra, the tap pants flirting from her waist over her hips.  At her sides, her fingers seemed to move unconsciously, a nervous tic. 

He walked to her, placing a reassuring hand where her neck met her shoulder, and gave her a tender kiss.  When he dragged his lips along her jaw to her ear, he brushed his hand from her neck down the middle of her back.

His mouth warm and wet as he whispered in her ear, “What is that delicious smell?” he asked, breathing her in.  She shuddered.  “You smell like roses and pears and some subtle heat.  I want to devour you.”  He took her earlobe in his mouth and sucked and she moaned again.

“Do you want to touch me, Minnie?” he asked still kissing around her ear.

“Yes.”

He stepped back and threaded one of his hands through hers, drawing it up to his hard chest.  A natural athlete, in prime physical shape for each season, he was neither bulky nor lean but well defined.  He was proud of his body.  “Then touch me.”

Timidly her hands brushed over his broad chest, the tips circling the flat disks around his nipples and falling into hard-cut furrows.  As she did this, he smoothed her hair away from a shoulder and dragged his open mouth across it, tasting and kissing lightly, sliding the strap of her bra aside.

Then he moved down to her collarbone and the hollow in between as he unhooked her bra, letting it slide to the floor.  He stepped back to look at the most luscious pair of tits he had ever seen.  “This is the sight I have wanted to see ever since these beauties slammed into me.”  His dick was painfully full and getting fuller as he cupped her breasts, squeezing them hard, probably too hard, but her sigh told him that she liked it.

He moved to take them in his mouth, first one nipple, then the other, lapping and suckling, her body going limp even as her hands still explored him.  He cupped her bottom through her pants, again likely squeezing too hard, his fingers dangerously close to the center of her heat.  Then he dared, his forefingers dipping in to find her core swollen and wet.  He moaned, unable to help himself.  “Oh, Minnie.  Oh, God, my sweet girl.” 

He dragged his hands to the waist of her tap pants and tugged them down until they fell to the floor.  Then he did the same to his drawers and stood back.  They stared at each other for the longest minute of their lives, their chests rising and falling with heated breaths.

He moved to cup her face with his hands, brushing one thumb along her lips, then pressing the other into her mouth, her lips closing around it.  Closing his eyes, he moaned again as she sucked, flicking her tongue around it, if possible making him harder.  “Perfect,” he said, as he pulled his thumb out and pressed another kiss to her lips.  As he kissed her, he traced his hand down her neck to her chest, circling a nipple and tugging, then down her navel, and down further still to thread through the dark down that hid her sex.

He pressed a finger inside and both of their breaths faltered, her chest hitching in stuttering moans.  “Lay down before I take you against a wall.”  She nodded and scrambled to obey as he fell down on top of her, parting her thighs with his.  Her hands were pressed tightly between their chests and he drew them over her head.  “Keep them right there.  Right there, for now.”  He peered into her eyes, nodding and she nodded back.

Then he pressed a thumb to the little bundle of nerves above her sex and began to move it in tiny circles.  She threw her head back into the pillow, her chest arching as if her breasts begged to be touched.  So he did, taking a nipple with his thumb and forefinger, twirling and tugging as her body began to shake.  “That’s it.  Just relax into it and let go.”  His dick ached to get inside her, still he tortured himself by rubbing it along the outside of her sex.  He could feel she was near and when she fell, he would be hard and slicked wet to drive right in.

Her breath coming in halting bursts and her thighs shaking, finally she cried out her release and he drove in, thrusting all the way to the hilt, bursting through a barrier he had not known was there.  She flinched and he gaped.

“A-are you—I mean, were you a virgin?”

“Yes.”  She looked contrite.

He stroked her hair.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Does it matter?”

His mind turned feverishly.  He thought women either ripe and receptive or chaste and enduring, never imagining there could be both in one.  His mother’s divide seemed to be as strong in him as in her.  He had never fucked a virgin, and that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, was lying under him hot and open, he barely knew what to think, let alone what to say.

He must have paused too long, his confusion playing across his face, and she tried to push him off.  “Get off me.”  Her eyes were filling with tears.  “Get. Off.”  His rock hard dick in the sweetest place on earth, now was not the time to be having an existential crisis.  He needed to get control of himself.  Of the situation.

“No.  Shh.  Shh.”  He took her arms and wrenched them over her head as he kissed her lips, her cheeks, the tears falling to her temples.  “I’m sorry, baby. 
Not
for making love to you.”  His desperate dick was reminding him that he was not even close to being done.  “I’m sorry that I reacted the way I did.  Just now.  If it doesn’t matter to you, then it doesn’t matter to me.”  He paused and looked into her eyes, hoping to see what she might be unwilling to say.  “All right?”  She nodded.  “All right.”

He pulled out and rocked back in all the way and they both exhaled on a moan.  He continued like this, a deep, grinding fuck, a slow rhythm until he found his release.  Then he collapsed on top of her, his face nuzzling her breasts as her arms came around him, holding him tight.

“Thank you,” she said after some time like this.

He reluctantly pulled himself up from the place he had just decided was his heaven to look at her.  She was mussed and flushed and smiling.

“God, you’re beautiful.  I should be thanking you.”  He pecked the tip of her nose, then her lips, then again for good measure and pulled back.  “Thank you.  Are you all right?”

She nodded, a sly smile spreading.  “Better than all right.”

After he cleaned them up, she stood and collected her bra and tap pants.

“What are you doing?” he asked, taking them from her.

“I—I thought to return to my coach car,” she said.

“No.”  He gently directed her back to the bed.  “Why should you?”

“My things.  I don’t know…”  She paused as if thinking.  “…what is right or appropriate.”

“This is right, darling.  And we’re long past appropriate.  Stay with me.  You’ll sleep soundly here and we’ll have your things fetched.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at him, her brow furrowed.  Then she relaxed and fell back into bed.  “All right.”

Chapter 4

26 hrs. to Los Angeles

Jack woke with a warm body curled into him.  He had slept soundly, as soundly as he always did after fucking, as if his body were always agitated in search of sex, the deep calm after, temporary relief.

His arm resting under her neck, her messy dark-roast colored hair tickling his chest, he pressed his nose into her hair, inhaling the faint floral and pear musk that seemed to be imprinted on her.  How, he realized just then, had he ever settled in to sleep entangled with a woman?  He hated that.  It had always felt smothering.  Yet somehow, his unconscious self had allowed her in and all around him and he had relaxed into it as if it were right, the rightest thing in the world.

Yes, his canary was beautiful and he felt privileged beyond measure that she had chosen him to be her first.  As to that, it was not at all what he had expected.  Though he hadn’t given it too much thought, when he imagined taking his wife’s virginity on their wedding night, he saw this tight, pale woman with frightened eyes giving herself over to him reluctantly, clutching her crucifix while he thrust, her lips mumbling the mysteries.  What a ridiculous caricature.  He chuckled.  It wasn’t at all like that with Minnie.  Still, he had to remember that she was merely a temporary distraction.  Lovely and sweet, but temporary.

She stirred with a subtle moan, part waking and part sex.  Her body pressed into his side, he stroked a hand down her back and she stretched like a languid cat.  He tenderly kissed the top of her head and she moaned again, more sex than waking this time.  He had been lying in a state of semi-arousal for some minutes as he woke.  Now he was rock hard.

His hand trailed down her back again, slipping under the sheet to slide over her bottom.  He rubbed in circles while she shifted and moaned.

“Good morning, sweet,” he said, his voice low and gravelly from sleep and wanting.

She dragged her head up from his chest, brushing her messy hair out of her eyes to look at him with a timid smile.  “Hmm, good morning,” she said as if she were tasting the condition of finding herself in his arms.  “That was possibly the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had, this cozy bed, the sound of the train on the rails, wrapped in your arms.  I’m sorry if you felt swaddled by me.”

“Strangely, no.”  He smiled reassuringly as he thread his fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face and down her back.  A long pet.  “I slept surprisingly well, too.  Come here, love.”  He pulled her up to kiss her, but she shook her head and slammed a hand over her mouth before he could.

“Un-un.  I need to brush before you kiss me,” she said behind her hand. 

She tried to pull away, but he held fast to her, shifting them in one swift move to put her on her back, his cock poised at her sex.  “I won’t kiss you there,” he said as he rubbed his hard length over her, kissing her jaw and down her neck to her breasts, taking a nipple in his mouth.

Her breath left in a huff.

“How do you feel this morning?” he asked as he moved to take the other nipple in his mouth.  “Are you sore?”

Her chest rose as she sucked in a deep breath.  “Yes, but I couldn’t care in the slightest,” she said in a breathless exhale.

He smiled to himself as he dragged his lips around the underside of her breast.  “Good.”  He made a path of wet kisses from her chest to her navel, his tongue flicking in lightly, then moving down further still.  “I’ll kiss you here instead.”  He spread her thighs wide and took her sex in his mouth and she might have broken in half arching up from the bed. 

“What are you doing?”  She clutched his head, trying to pull him off, but he grabbed her hands and held them down at her sides.

“Does it feel good?” he asked, pausing to peek at her with an amused smile.

“Yes,” she said in almost a shaking sob.

“Then does it matter?”  And he resumed kissing and tasting her, his fingers pressing her bud of nerves and inside her until her breathing grew ragged and she came.

Satisfied, he climbed up her body and thrust inside her, the spasms of her release still there but fading.  He took her hard and with more urgency because he was running out of time.  As hard as he thrust, he grit his teeth and slowed down, drawing out the pleasure and the time with her.  Fast or slow, he would fuck her out of his system so they could part in a day with warm memories and no regrets.  Finally he allowed himself release.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked into her neck, still trying to catch his breath.  She tightened her arms around him and he pulled up to look at her.  “Are you all right?”  She nodded.  “Because—this is new for me.  If—if I’m hurting you, please tell me or I won’t stop.”

“I’m perfect,” she said, smoothing a thumb over his furrowed brow.  “Perfect.”

Some time later, Minnie emerged from the bathroom freshened and coiffed for breakfast in the dining car.  “Do I look different?”

She wore again the eggplant dress, the same gloves and shoes, as if it were her uniform for the ride.  Her hair was fashioned in the same rolled crown that swept behind her ears and above her nape.  But she looked completely different.  A slight blush on her cheeks of the freshly fucked.  A wisdom in her eyes that had not been there last night.  She looked
had.
  And clearly, her fingers twitching at her sides, her tongue running over her lower lip, she was nervous about it.

“No,” he said as he came to her and kissed her forehead.  “You look perfectly the same.”  He took her hand to lead her from the car, but she hesitated.

“I feel as if I have a scarlet letter on my dress.  I’m…embarrassed.”

“Are you ashamed of what we did?”  His tone was clipped and defensive.  “Do you wish we hadn’t?”

“No.”  Her face softened.  “I’m glad we did.  More than you realize.  Only…”  Her words trailed off as her eyes flitted, her mind searching.

With two fingers, he lifted her chin.  “Then remember, you’ll not see anyone on this train again.  And believe me, no one will notice anything different, nor if they did would they care.”

24 hrs. to Los Angeles

“What would you like to do today?” Jack asked, then took a sip of coffee as he glanced out the window where Middle West plains had turned into West sheared shelves of red earth. 

They sat before the remnants of their breakfast, plates that once held piles of French toast and sausage and fruit that now looked like it had been picked clean by scavengers.

“I thought you already knew what you wanted to do,” Minnie replied, swallowing a smile behind her juice.

“
I
do.  Yes,” he said.  “But I thought I would be polite and offer you a choice before I made the rules in the sleeper.”

She lowered her voice.  “The sleeper has rules?”  Then she glanced around the dining car to see if anyone might be listening.

“Only two and easy enough, sweetheart, I assure you.”

Again she flicked a glance around the car then back to Jack.  She leaned towards him.  “All right.  What are they?”

He leaned towards her and whispered.  “Naked at all times, of course.”

“Of course.”

He smiled widely, pleased that she was entering into the spirit of it.

“And you must tell me if I am hurting you.  In any way.  You’re the first untried girl I’ve ever been with and…I’m quite smitten.”  He winked.  It seemed a casual enough gesture to deflect from the truth of it.

“Now arriving in Las Vegas, New Mexico,” came an announcement, the train slowing as it pulled to a stop in front of a small, two-story, red brick Spanish Mission-style building.

Minnie choked on her juice, her hand shaky as she set it down, her gaze narrowed and panicked as she peered out the window.  Then she yanked the curtain down and bolted to standing.

“This is Las Vegas?”

Jack stood, his brow furrowed as he dropped his napkin on the table.  “Yes.  What’s the matter, doll?”

She left the dining car heading towards his sleeper, her breath coming in exaggerated huffs.  “This. 
This
is Las Vegas.”

“One of them.  There’s bound to be more.  In fact, I know there is.  One in Nevada near that new dam they’re building.”  He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, examining the terror on her face.  “What is all this?”

She ducked and glanced quickly out another window.  “One in Nevada and one here.”

He nodded, cupping her face gently.  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Let’s go back to the sleeper.”

He closed the door as the train got underway and turned to find a relaxed and chagrined Minnie.  She fell back on the bed, arms splayed wide, as he approached.  “Kiss me.  I’m hungry for something else now.”

He straddled her, peering down at her as he slowly shook his head.  “Not until you tell me what that was all about.”

She stroked his cheek with her hand, smiling warmly.  “Be a darling and forget it, will you?  I’m so embarrassed now and I was mistaken.”

“No.  You were terrified.  And you’ll tell me why.”

She chuckled dismissively.  “It’s a silly nothing.  Please forget it.”

“I
will
forget it.  Only tell me the silly nothing.  I live for those.”

She made an exasperated face.  “You’re going to think me a child.”

“No.  I’ll think you worldly.  Now, go on.”

She pursed her lips and sighed.  “My mother preferred that I stay in Racine, though I was determined to go, you see.  For weeks she told me all sorts of harrowing tales of the West, including of how train robbers and bandits waited at every station, around every corner.  She particularly liked to use Las Vegas.  I’m almost certain it was Nevada, not New Mexico.”

He nodded tentatively.

She rolled her eyes.  “I’m plain humiliated at how childishly terrorized I was.  When we get to LA I plan to issue her a strongly-worded telegram.  ‘Arrived safely.  Stop.  No thanks to your ridiculous tales.  Full stop.’  Now you see?  A silly nothing.”

He stared at her for another moment, then nodded.

20 hrs. to Los Angeles

Jack and Minnie lay naked and sex-tousled on the bed.  They had had sex twice since returning to the sleeper.  The first after Minnie’s explanation, Jack pulling her off the bed, bending her over it, and taking her from behind.  The second a short time later when he had trapped her coming out of the bathroom, taking her pressed to the door.  He would take her as many times as she could tolerate, so he could wake up the next morning and find her stale.

Empty lunch dishes waited for pick-up on a table.  A deck of cards used to play Hearts was splayed around them.  Minnie lay on her belly, her head resting in arms tucked under her chin while Jack lay on his side stroking the graceful curves of her back and bottom.

“I’m waiting to tire of this,” he said.

She smiled and turned her head towards him, though she was closer to his knees.  “Mm.  I can’t imagine tiring of this.”  She yawned.  “Though I
am
getting tired.  I’m just going to close my eyes for a bit.  You may keep petting me if you want.”

“Oh, may I?”  Jack moved so that he lay in a similar position as Minnie, looking in her eyes.  “You can’t sleep.  I forbid it.  Rule #3, let’s say.”

She chuckled sleepily.  “You can’t make rules on the fly.”

“Who says I can’t?”

“Am I allowed to sleep tonight?” she asked.

“No.  Not even tonight,” he said.

She turned on her side and began running her hand down his arm.  “I have to sleep, Jack, or I’ll be no good tomorrow.”

“Where are you staying when we get there?  Have you a place?”

She smiled indulgently.

“I’m only curious.  I won’t turn up outside your window at three in the morning, if that’s what you’re worried about.  Unless you want me to.”

“I haven’t a place.  Not yet.  But there are rooms for rent for struggling starlets like myself.  It’s Hollywood I’ve wanted and Hollywood I’m bound for.  I thought I’d stay in a hotel for a few nights while I look.”

He nodded and kept nodding, playing and replaying in his mind what he would say and how it would sound.  “I’ve got a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  You—you might consider staying there—at the hotel, that is, while you’re looking.”  Hell, he’d give her his bungalow, his charge accounts.  Anything for another piece of her.

Her hand moved to graze a pectoral, nails lightly scratching, teasing.  He stilled it and brought it down to wrap around his dick.  “See what you’re doing to me?”

She smiled and pulled her hand away, tucking it under her head again.  Her blinking grew longer, slower, her body lax, and he pressed his body to hers and whispered in her ear.  “I see you fading, my canary, and soon you’ll be asleep.  Against my very strict rules, remember.  Here’s something for you to think about in your dreams:  What if there was a Lucky Lounge in Hollywood?  Just for you.  And you’d star there whatever the energy of the crowd any night of the week.  A regular gig.  Regular pay.  With your voice and performing chops, you’ll be a star.”