Authors: Natasha Rostova
The Naked Truth (8 page)
‘Excuse me?’
Callie started slightly and turned at the sound of the male voice. ‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.’
Her gaze fell on a pale-skinned man wearing black trousers, scarlet shirt with ruffles down the front and a black trench coat. As if to match his ensemble, his close-cropped hair was dyed black and his lips were stained a deep maroon colour. The faint, spicy scent of incense rose from his clothing.
‘You must have been paying attention to your thoughts, at least,’ he said.
Callie smiled. ‘Yes, a little too much attention to those, perhaps.’
‘Is Tess around?’
‘She’s just gone to get some lunch. Can I help you with something?’
‘I’m looking for some Tarot cards for my mother. She wants to learn how to read them.’
‘We have several different kinds of Tarot card sets,’ Callie replied. She went behind the front counter to the glass case in which the expensive sets were stored. ‘Were you looking for something in particular?’
The Goth shrugged. ‘Just a regular set, I guess.’
‘Well, most of these have the same cards,’ Callie explained. She removed several boxes and placed them on the counter top. ‘So, often people choose the cards based on the style of the illustrations. This Russian set is one of my favourites.’
‘Do you read them?’
‘A little.’
Callie removed some of the thick, slippery cards so that he could see the illustrations. He leant forward to peer at them. ‘Those are nice. I don’t have a clue what she wants, though. I ought to just give her the money and let her buy them.’
‘Oh, no, it’s best if Tarot cards are a gift,’ Callie told him. ‘And it would be especially nice if you gave them to her in a silk scarf so that she can store them properly.’
‘What’s the deal with that?’
‘The cards should be stored in silk or some sort of natural fibre,’ Callie explained. ‘It’s a way of keeping the deck pure and treating it with respect.’
‘Interesting. Hey, why don’t you test them out for me? Give yourself a reading. An ex-girlfriend used to be into these, but I never learned how to read them.’
‘OK.’ Callie picked up the deck of cards and began shuffling them. She spread six cards out in a cross pattern and another four cards vertically along the side. She tapped her finger on the two overlapping cards in the centre of the cross. ‘Each of these card positions means something different,’ she explained. ‘These two cards indicate what’s most important to me now. This one is the six of Pentacles.’
He peered at the cards. ‘Six of what?’
‘The six of Pentacles,’ Callie said. ‘It’s the card of having and not having, and of dominance and submission. See, there’s a picture of a man giving coins to a beggar and holding the scales of justice. It’s an ambiguous card, one that means I have to question what’s truly going on in my life.’
‘And who’s in control?’ the Goth murmured.
Callie gave him a startled look. ‘That, too, I suppose.’
She looked quickly down at the second card. ‘This one is the High Priestess, who represents the unconscious and the experience of the senses.’
‘Meaning that you should examine your unconscious and experience your senses?’
Callie’s eyebrows rose. ‘You’re sure you don’t know more about Tarot readings than you’re letting on?’
He gave her a disarming smile. ‘No, I’m just brilliant. So what’s in your future?’
Callie touched the card on the top of the cross. ‘Well, this card represents what I’m worried about or what could come into being in the future.’ She stared at the card for a moment, feeling her heart sink.
‘Something wrong?’ the Goth asked.
‘No. I just . . .’ She cleared her throat. ‘This is the Devil. He represents darkness, of course, or bondage and loss of independence. The feeling of being tied down against your will.’
‘Damn. That’s it for you, then?’
‘No. There’s this card.’ Callie tapped the card on the right of the cross. ‘This one indicates possibilities for the future in terms of approaching influences or something unresolved that has to be dealt with. This is the Magician, the active male principle of the deck. He represents the force of creativity and tapping unknown resources inside yourself.’
‘Well, that sounds more reasonable for a future.’
Callie thought she had just escaped the powerful male principle, not to mention lack of independence. She eyed her customer curiously.
‘I thought all you Goths were into gloom and doom thinking.’
‘Whoever said I was a Goth? And that’s a royal misconception, as is the idea that all Goths think they’re vampires and worship the devil.’
‘What do you think you are, then?’
‘I’m quite the opposite. I think I’m the devil and I worship vampires.’
There was a pause, and then the young man laughed. ‘I’m kidding. I actually consider myself to be a romantic.’
Callie couldn’t help smiling. She scooped up the cards and arranged them into a neat stack. ‘I’m sure your mother can give you a good reading if need be. Would you like the Russian set?’
‘Yes, I’ll take it. And you’d better give me one of those silk scarves over there. Wouldn’t want to screw with the order of the universe.’
‘Good philosophy,’ Callie approved. She rang up the purchases and placed them in a paper bag.
‘You know, they’re showing a revival of the film
Nosferatu
over at the Riverrun next weekend,’ he said, handing her some bills. ‘Interested?’
Nosferatu
over at the Riverrun next weekend,’ he said, handing her some bills. ‘Interested?’
Callie looked at him in surprise. She thought he’d be far more interested in bloodless, white-skinned young women wearing black eyeshadow. ‘You’re asking me on a date?’
‘No. I don’t date. I’m asking you if you want to join me at the cinema.’
‘OK,’ Callie agreed before she could even process the request.
‘I’ll meet you here at six on Friday.’
He was out of the door before Callie could even collect her thoughts enough to reply. She stared after him, realising that she’d never even considered going out with another man in ages. Let alone a Goth.
Slowly she put the bills into the cash register. Technically, she was still married, of course, but heaven knew she’d been feeling little sense of loyalty towards Logan lately. She didn’t think she even knew how to act around another man.
‘Here, I got you a veggie burger anyway, since I don’t want you eating mine.’ A paper bag landed on the counter with a light thud.
Callie glanced absently at Tess. ‘Thanks.’
Tess pulled herself up to sit the counter and began unwrapping her burger. ‘What was Eldrich doing here?’
‘Eldrich? That’s his name?’
Tess shrugged. ‘That’s what he says his name is, anyway.’
‘He was buying Tarot cards for his mother,’ Callie explained. ‘You know him, do you?’
‘Yeah, we’re cool.’
‘I agreed to go to the cinema with him.’
‘You did? Good for you. About time you got laid by someone who might actually know how to do it.’ Tess glanced at Callie. ‘Not that I’ve ever fucked him myself, you know.’
‘I didn’t say I agreed to fuck him!’ Callie said. ‘We’re going to see
Nosferatu
.’
Nosferatu
.’
‘Come on, Callie. Don’t tell me it didn’t even occur to you. Especially after your
pleasant
sex life with Logan.’
pleasant
sex life with Logan.’
‘Well, it may have crossed my mind,’ Callie admitted.
‘Eldrich is safe, Callie.’ Tess bit into her burger. ‘I can promise you that, so if you want to fool around a little, he’s a good one to do it with.’
‘He’s a little odd.’
‘And Logan isn’t?’
‘Point taken,’ Callie muttered.
Eldrich the Goth who wasn’t really a Goth remained on Callie’s mind throughout the day as she finished cataloguing the books and helped customers. Tess headed home at five, and Callie locked the shop door before going upstairs to the loft. Rather nice to simply walk up a set of stairs and be at home, she thought. She opened the window to let in the balmy evening air and went to take a shower.
Feeling warm, clean and slightly tired, she stretched out on the bed in her cotton nightshirt and allowed herself to think about what it would be like to fuck another man. A man like Eldrich, totally different from Logan. Eldrich was probably in tune with his feelings and would delight in expressing them. Callie would put money on the fact that he even wrote poetry. She wondered what his lovemaking style was like. Candles and incense, no doubt, with some haunting church music in the background. Flickering shadows and deep, red wine.
Callie slipped her fingers to the hem of her nightshirt and touched her bare thigh. Her skin was warm and slightly damp, cooling swiftly from the evaporating droplets of water from her shower. Callie closed her eyes and pictured Eldrich in her mind, stripping him of his clothes to reveal a thin chest covered with a mat of light hair that narrowed down to his groin. His cock projected forth from a nest of curls, making Callie want to get down on her knees in front of him and take him in her mouth the way Logan never allowed.
Eldrich wouldn’t respond like that. At least, not the Eldrich of her fantasy, the one standing before her with a heavy-lidded expression and a slender cock waiting to be sucked. Callie reached over to the bedside table and removed her vibrator, feeling her cunt swell at the thought of Eldrich and taking that length of hard flesh in her mouth. She imagined that his shaft would taste tangy and slightly salty against her tongue. And his hands, they would be buried in her hair, clutching her head so that he could thrust himself in and out of her mouth. She might even clutch his hips, or slide her palms around to grasp his buttocks. Maybe she would slip her fingers into the crack of his arse and explore there.
A shudder of sheer pleasure raced through her blood, intensified by the caress of night air against her damp skin. She pulled her nightshirt up above her breasts, pinching her hard nipples between her thumb and forefinger. Eldrich would love to touch her breasts, she knew that. Not like Logan, who usually just shoved her nightshirt up to her hips. Eldrich would rub her tits until her nipples pressed against his palms, and then he would take the stiff peaks between his lips until she writhed underneath him. He would worship her body.
Callie’s skin warmed at the mere thought, as images flashed behind her closed eyelids. She rubbed the tip of the dildo around a nipple, letting the gentle vibrations flow into her skin. Slowly, she ran it along the length of her body. She was hardly surprised by how quickly she responded to the stimulation. The freedom of having left Logan, combined with the forbidden fantasy of another man, was a potent aphrodisiac.
With a little moan of pleasure, Callie slid the vibrator into her folds and began stroking gently. Her pussy reacted with a generous rush of moisture as a familiar ache began to tighten in her loins. And oh, how vivid were the pictures flashing in her mind: scenes of Eldrich stroking her sex with his fingers and murmuring husky phrases in her ear. ‘Hungry, are you, precious? Do you want to feel my cock here, thrusting into you? Do you want me to really fuck you good and hard?’
God, yes, she did. She wanted a man to pound his penis into her until she begged for mercy. She pushed the dildo into her body as far as it would go, crying out as her muscles clamped around it. Grasping the base, Callie thrust the shaft back and forth. Pressure built, enveloping her like hot ribbons. Just as she felt her climax begin to climb to the edge, she took the dildo out and rubbed it lightly over her labia. Her heart raced as she forced herself to prolong her release.
‘Fuck me, Eldrich. Fuck me hard.’
She imagined whispering those words to him as their sweat-dampened bodies writhed on the bed. And he would, too. He would slide his cock into her and pump with such strength that even the neighbours would hear the wet, slapping sounds of sex and their impassioned moans echoing through the walls. Maybe he would even take his cock out, slick with her juices, and tease the tight ring of her arsehole. And then he would slowly ease into her, filling her beyond belief in the most taboo of places.
Thrilled by the mere thought, Callie pressed the vibrator tip against that very hole. A shudder raced up her spine. Experimentally, she pushed it a little farther, stunned by how the vibrations reverberated through her entire body. With her other hand, she began to manipulate her clit. The double sensations were too much to take, and an explosive orgasm rocketed through her within seconds. Callie cried out with pleasure, thrusting the dildo in even more as she rode out her release.
Gasping, she let the vibrator fall to the floor as the last twinges pulsed through her body. Oh, yes. Who needed Logan Waterford now?
Chapter Four
‘
Y
ou think she’s doing someone else?’ Adam looked at the private investigator with a hint of eagerness. He thought it would be pretty cool if this case involved secret lust and betrayal. ‘I mean, like, having a full-blown affair?’
Y
ou think she’s doing someone else?’ Adam looked at the private investigator with a hint of eagerness. He thought it would be pretty cool if this case involved secret lust and betrayal. ‘I mean, like, having a full-blown affair?’
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