Lucky

Part 4

When Vickie woke up, she realized, even through the dark curtains, that it had to be mid/late afternoon. She heard a sound and saw a vague light over her shoulder, turned in the bed and could see that Elle was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. The tall, naked woman sleepily exited the bed and met her naked companion in the bathroom.

"Suddenly felt a need for oral hygiene, short-stop?"

Elle grinned through her brushing, "Sorta. Grab a toothbrush-" she pointed to a few of them on the counter, "all the comforts of home in this joint."

Vickie amiably opened a toothbrush, applied some paste and went to work. As she brushed, Elle finished, then wrapped her body around Vickie's from behind and kissed her on the back. "We need to talk, Victoria. Really talk."

Vickie mumbled, "It's going to be hard with a mouth full of paste and a gorgeous blonde pasted to my back, but I'm willing."

She spat out her toothpaste, grabbed a handful of water, swished it around and spat again. "Can we talk in bed?"

"Nowhere better. Do you mind if we just leave the bathroom light on? It'll be easier for me in the dark."

"No problem, sweetheart. I like the dark."

As they both settled themselves in bed, Vickie could see Elle's face, her green eyes dimly illuminated by the light shining through the nearly closed bathroom door. Elle whispered, "I have two things I need to talk about, what happened to me and safe sex."

"In that order?"

"If you want."

"No. What you want, sweetheart. That's what's important."

"Okay, what happened, first."

Vickie looked into her bedmate's frightened eyes and suddenly felt a non sequitar was in order. "First it is. But, before that, what do you like to do?"

"Do?"

"Yeah-I don't know anything about you. I want to know something about you. What do you like?"

Elle's nose crinkled as she smiled and thought. "What do I like? I like not getting a ticket when I park illegally. But I love food. I love to read. I love to write. I love to hike. I love yoga and meditating and traveling. I love many disciplines of martial arts."

She paused, thought, and added, "I love animals and riding horses-but only if someone rides with me, because they're so big. I love music and I love the sound of rain, but rain outside when I'm somewhere safe and warm." Elle suddenly felt very shy, "You know, stuff like that. I'm a lover-not a liker."

Vickie grinned and asked, "Could you be more perfect?"

"Perfect for what?"

"For me."

Elle's face became a portrait of gloom, "I'm not perfect for anyone. I haven't told you one really, really important thing."

"What, honey?"

"I hate clowns."

Vickie's smile broke and brightened like the morning sun, "Oh, thank God. I hate clowns, too."

Elle answered with a smile, then became incredibly somber, "And, you haven't heard what happened."

Vickie ran a hand through Elle's blonde hair, "I want to hear what happened because you want me to know but it won't make one bit of difference to me."

"It might."

"You let me be the judge of that. In fact, you're looking at someone who might be a future judge. I'm full of confidence-the sort of confidence only a lawyer possesses. It's genetic-it's omnipotent, it's-"

"Now who's gabby?"

"No. You're Gabby Laurence. I'm Victoria Xanthis."

"Xanthis, That's Greek, isn't it? That's hot"

Vickie lounged deeper into the bed, "It is Greek and I'm glad you think so. I'm here solely to please you with my hotness."

Elle grinned at the bed, but not at Vickie.

"Elle, tell me what you need to tell me."

Vickie watched as Elle's eyes slightly glazed, slightly filled with tears. "There were two lies I told you last night. I don't have brothers-I'm an only child. I told you I hadn't made love in years. That was a lie. I have never had a relationship but I have freely given myself sexually exactly once. Every other time I've had sex, I was being raped or was being paid for it."

Vickie took a deep breath, "Did you feel like you were being raped last night?"

Elle shook her head. "No. Of course not. I wanted what happened with us last night and, as I told you, I would have wanted it regardless of the circumstances."

Her eyes looked terribly sad, "But it doesn't change the way it started or the fact that you paid me for it."

Vickie nodded, "That's true. But if anything happens tonight-I'm not paying for it, Elle. And I want that for us. I want something real between us."

Elle suddenly sat up in the bed, wrapped her arms around her knees and began rocking, gently, "IknowIknowIknowIknow."

Vickie stayed just where she was, reached out and patted Elle's back, "Shhh…shhh, my darling. Just relax, pretty girl, and tell me what happened. I'm right here."

Elle continued to rock gently, and began. "I was 21-it was Paris. I'd just finished a very prestigious internship for my master's degree." She glanced at Vickie and grinned, "Maybe it's not all that apparent that I'm a bit precocious, but I am-or was at one point."

"Anyway, since I'd devoted all my time to study, I was about four years ahead of schedule and blah, blah, blah. So I'd never really had a social life. I mean, I went out with friends at school every once in a while and had a couple of drinks but I'd never really dated, never had sex, never nothing."

"I'd just finished-and everyone was over the moon about me. I was the top of my class and it was seriously obvious I'd have my choice of killer jobs in Paris. Everything I'd wanted and worked for. So I just went out that night-I wanted to think about it-enjoy it, just fucking glory in the fact that I'd done it. I didn't need anyone else-didn't want anyone else to go with me."

Vickie answered, "I understand that perfectly. I've won some really major cases and, when everyone else wanted to go have a drink, I wanted to go off by myself and meditate-or just gloat."

The blonde glanced at her, "You would. And evidently, so would I."

As Elle recited her story, she sounded alternately like herself and alternately like someone who had been on a witness stand, which Vickie strongly suspected she had.

"I walked to this little bar I knew-ordered a glass of white wine and after about 20 minutes, I was sent another glass of wine. I asked who'd sent it and the bartender pointed at a table. At that table were seated the most attractive man and woman I'd ever seen-up to that point, I mean. I hadn't seen you."

Vickie winced, "I told you that you don't-"

"And I told you that's the truth. My story. I'm sticking to it. And speaking of stories, back to the one at hand. I walked over to thank them. They invited me to join them and I told them why I was there. They complimented me-on my achievement and on my accent. And you know, or maybe you don't, how fucking snobby Parisians are about their French? High praise, you see? They seemed incredibly nice, cultured and, actually-damn my soul-attractive enough, to join them, so I did."

"Their names were Jacques and Giselle. Jack and Jill. That's how I thought of them, after everything."

Vickie sighed, "Jack and Jill, huh?"

"Yeah-and I came tumbling after. They were, literally, the most charming, intelligent and attractive people I'd ever met. They were about 10 years older than I was, but we seemed to click-know what I mean?"

Vickie nodded, "Sure."

"I knew I was attracted to men and women and here it was-it looked like I'd hit the jackpot. I asked them if they'd like to go to dinner and they agreed. I suggested Thai and they both recoiled-I swear to God-as if I'd offered garlic to vampires. I backed off of that and we agreed on Persian and that's what we had."

Elle began to rock harder and her hands began to tremble violently, "That's when I should have known-yeahyeahyeahyeah. They were fucking pod people, Vickie. They weren't even real."

"Shhh---tell me what happened next." Vickie gently took Elle's right hand in her own and, before she could kiss it, Elle pulled it away, "No! No touching for this part!"

She jumped out of the bed and clothed herself. Vickie didn't move.

Once Elle had donned her t-shirt and boxers, she paced in front of the bed, "It was like this-they could see I was attracted to both of them. And, after about four glasses of wine, I told them I was a virgin. Soooo….they said they'd love to introduce me to the 'pleasures of love' as it were, but their one big sticking point-their one big deal-was that it had to be safe sex. What better could the fucking dumb-ass, gullible, American virgin ask for, right?"

"We got in their car. I got into a stranger's car!" Elle stopped and glared at Vickie, "How many times do you have to hear it to get it into your fucking idiotic skull, Vic?" She smacked herself on the side of the head to punctuate, "Don't take candy from strangers! Don't get into a stranger's car."

"We drove and drove to this really amazing house out in the middle of nowhere-somewhere that said big and old money, know what I mean?"

Vickie nodded, sat up in the bed and watched her friend pace.

"You know what, Vic? There are people who are geniuses at fixing cars or plumbing or computing or the piano. Those two were sexual geniuses. Now that I've had my share of sex, I can tell you, I've never met anything like them."

"My first experience of sex with anyone-with them-was a dream. It was safe sex but it was the hottest thing that's ever happened to me. And that was the one time I've had consensual, non-professional sex."

"After we'd finished, we all had another glass of wine to celebrate. And that wine was drugged. I woke up the next morning in four-point restraints ready to start my next 316 days of rape and torture."

Vickie covered her eyes briefly.

"Too tough for you, sugar?" Elle's voice was hard.

Vickie uncovered her eyes and stared into the green eyes of her companion. "Ready when you are."

"For the first two months or so, as far as I could tell, they kept me like a sex toy. They were nothing but amazing lovers but every time, before they started, they'd say, "Do you want this?"

"And of course, I'd say 'No! No, I want you to let me go.'"

"So they'd laugh at me and say, you realize that means we're raping you-and you're enjoying every minute of it, aren't you?"

Elle looked at Vickie with absolute ferocity and pointed her finger at her, "Do you know what our bodies are, Vic? Our bodies are traitors! Fucking traitors! You can, physically, enjoy the most degrading things that ever happen to you!"

Elle's face was a mask of fury but her voice was suddenly quiet, "Did you know that, Victoria? That you can be raped-and raped again and raped again-and you can still climax-again and again? And that makes it seem like you want it-like you're enjoying it?"

The blonde stood in one place for a few seconds and said, rapid-fire, "You know-every human body's wired like that. I know that now but I didn't know that then. After I was free, I read all about it. But at the time-all I had to go on was my sexual reaction to two people I wanted to fucking ax-murder if I could get out of that goddamned bed!"

Elle took a few deep breaths and began to pace again,

"Of course, they didn't keep me in the bed all the time. They'd let me get dressed, put a leather collar on me and, early on, they showed me there really was nowhere to run. All the doors and windows were locked with keys. I ate with them; they'd lock me in my bedroom with books and television. And every day, weather permitting, they'd attach my leather collar to a metal line run in their garden, so I could get some exercise. I shit you not, exactly like a dog." Elle sniffed and glanced at Vickie, "I'll give them this-it was a really pretty garden."

Vickie obviously didn't know what to say, so Elle continued, pacing back and forth, "When I finally stopped talking, which didn't take long, and wouldn't verbally say I was enjoying what they were doing to me, they started on my back. Look it up on the Internet-you can find out how to make scars as big as mine are. You can also look up the fact that some people can't have scars removed-because they only get worse if you try. That's me, too!"

Elle stopped for a few seconds, then snarled, "I'll grant them one other thing-they had safe sex with me every time and they created and kept my wounds in absolutely as sterile a situation as they could. I never had any infection. But the scars were meant to teach me-as they explained, what I really was. I was a whore. I was a slut. I was their little bitch and most of all, I was their Willing. Little. Cunt."

Elle's eyes burned with anger and shame, "And they were right! They made me that! That's what I was! That's what I was!"

Although Vickie's voice was quiet, it was also sharp. "Elle Laurence! Stop that right this second! Take off those clothes and get in this bed."

Elle stopped pacing immediately, shook her head in confusion.

Vickie's voice softened, "Turn out the light and come hold me."

Elle looked entirely shocked. "What?"

"Turn out the bathroom light, take those clothes off and come hold me."

"What? Why?! You need comfort from me after what I told you?"

Vickie rolled her eyes wildly, "Of course not, you jackass! You need comfort. You need an entire world of comfort but I'm certainly not going to grab you to give it to you and I wouldn't even attempt to hold you. All I can do is let you hold me and get any comfort you can from that. If you want to. Only if you want to."

Elle scowled ferociously, and couldn't even believe it as she did it but she crossed the room and turned off the bathroom light. As she took off her clothes, she mumbled, "Are we still going to dinner?"

"Talk about a one-track mind. Yes, nutball. Now, get in this bed and cuddle with me, darling."

Elle sank into the bed and wondered again at the sheer warmth and comfort she felt as soon as she touched Vickie's skin.

As she wrapped her arms around Vickie, she whispered into her ear, "Don't you want to know how I got away-what happened next?"

"Shhh. No, sweetheart. We still haven't had our first date yet , remember?"

Elle rubbed her nose on Vickie's neck, which felt fantastic. Then Vickie heard a soft voice, "Here comes the un-romantic part."

Vickie laughed because she couldn't help herself and said, "You mean that story wasn't the romantic part?"

Elle couldn't help herself either, laughed aloud and smacked Vickie on the ass much harder than she'd intended. She felt Vickie's back arch in surprise, and the woman said, "O-kay. Wow." After a couple of seconds, the taller woman continued in a whisper, "If you keep that up, we're not going to dinner."

Elle smiled and whispered back, "I told you that you were submissive."

"Not to my knowledge."

"So, later on, you'd really rather not have another swat on that pretty little ass of yours?"

Vickie thought for a second, "I…didn't say that, exactly." She shook her head in disbelief. "But I don't even know where the hell that came from-it's not like me, at all, in real life. And I've never wanted that from any lover."

Elle kissed Vickie's neck,"Maybe something about me reminds you that you were a real ass-kicker in a past life or something. Payback, baby."

Vickie's body was virtually humming with desire for the woman behind her, "Well, to use the parlance of my profession, that's still to be proven in cross, but I think that you've brought up some interesting issues with your witness, counselor."

She pushed back against the woman behind her, "So what's the unromantic part of the evening?"

"When did you last have unsafe sex?"

"Eight months ago, when I first found out Chris couldn't be trusted."

"Last STD test?"

"One month ago. All clear."

"You were the first person I've had sex with in six months. I had a test after my last sexual encounter. I had a test before this one. All clear."

"Your point?"

"I want to have real-I guess…no, I know, that I want to have real intimacy with you tonight. I don't think we need safe sex. If you trust me."

Vickie smiled and snuggled into her pillow, "I trust you-but why do you want that, Elle?"

Vickie felt the blonde stiffen against her back, then slowly relax, "Because I've never had it. It's about all that's real about me that I have to give to anyone. And I'd like to give it to you."

Vickie pulled Elle closer. "We'll probably need to order room service. You know we're probably damned near going to hurt each other once we get started." She added, quickly, "In a good way. In a very good way."

She felt Elle whisper into her neck, "No-we have to go have Thai food."

Vickie took Elle's hand and kissed it. "Thai it is. No pod person here, baby."

***

When Vickie awoke, it was entirely dark in the room. She looked at her watch. 6:00. Elle was still tightly snuggling against her. Vickie gently took one of Elle's hands, pulled it toward her face and kissed it. "Rise and shine, sleepy-head."

Elle grumbled, sleepily, "Is shining strictly necessary? I might-I just might be able to rise."

Vickie kissed her hand again, "You don't have to do either-if you're not hungry."

The blonde sat straight up. 'Are you kidding me?"

"Okay, here's the deal. I'm going home, taking a shower and picking you up in an hour and a half."

"I thought we were meeting at-"

Vickie turned on the bedside light. "No. This is a real date, damn it. That means I pick my girl up and she's dressed casually, so I can undress her as quickly as possible when I get her home."

As Vickie dressed, Elle dressed as well.

"One thing you said that worries me, Elle," Vickie said, as she moved to picked up her purse, "Getting into cars with strangers. Don't you ever worry that-"

Vickie found herself in a whirlwind of movement, slammed against the room wall-but she effortlessly caught Elle's hand as it moved toward her throat.

Elle's hand shook, astonished to find herself in a vise-like grip. "What the FUCK? I'm a black-belt in four disciplines. What the fuck are you?"

Vickie's eyes were two blue ice chips. "I have truly superior reflexes. I always have had."

She forced Elle's hand away from her, released it and in two seconds, the taller woman had grabbed Elle and pushed her up against the wall. "Don't you ever do that to me again. Or I could really hurt you."

Elle shook her head to clear it, "But you let me pull you down last night."

"Yes. Because that was affectionate. What you did just now was meant to prove a point, intimidate and scare me. Don't you ever, ever make that mistake again. I could hurt you-and not even mean to. I am very, very dangerous if you provoke me. I don't know how or why I am-but I am."

Vickie's voice softened and she said very gently, "Would you kiss me and say that you're sorry for scaring me?"

Elle kissed her and offered, "Just a quick clarification-you just scared the shit out of me, not the other way around. But I am sorry. Very sorry."

"I forgive you. And one more thing. If I give myself to you tonight, it will be because I want to be yours. That's what two loving people do with each other. I'll be giving myself to you. You won't be taking anything from me. I'll be the one that's giving. I won't tolerate your intimidating, scaring or humiliating me. I might-just might-want you to love me in a way that's possessive or rough. But that will be my choice and my gift to you. Do you understand that?"

Elle nodded.

Vickie gently encased Elle's face in her hands. "I really don't think you do, sweetheart. But that's not your fault. Listen to me, really listen. When we love each other tonight, my giving myself to you is a gift I'll be giving. It will never be something you're taking. It's a gift you'll only be able to accept, not take from me. And I promise I will never take anything from you. I'll only accept what you willingly give me. Alright?"

Elle nodded, but had begun to cry and Vickie wiped her tears.

The blonde said, again, "I'm so sorry."

Vickie smiled and kissed her gently, tenderly. "You've already apologized. I already forgave you. It's over," she kissed her again, "like it never happened. At least now I know that you have the skills to keep yourself safe."

Elle looked up at her with watery eyes, "And God knows, now I know you do, too."

Vickie smirked. "I have many skills."

***

When Vickie picked Elle up exactly two hours later, she found herself ogling her date. Elle was wearing a green blouse that matched her eyes, gorgeous Madras flats and the tightest jeans Vickie had ever seen. Vickie had donned a blouse that also matched her eyes and crisp, grey linen slacks.

As Elle got into the car, she said, "Speaking of clichés? A lawyer? A Jag?"

"I didn't say I was immune to clichés-I just said that I could recognize one when I saw it."

Elle grinned as she fastened her seatbelt, "Okay, counselor, why are your eyes so big?"

"I was just trying to imagine how you put those jeans on? Was spray-paint involved?"

"So you noticed?"

"Of course I noticed. Any person with a working optic nerve would notice."

Elle beamed, "I wanted you to have to sit across from me at dinner and really, really want me."

"If you wore a burlap sack, I'd really, really want you."

"Okay, then. Next restaurant we go to, make sure burlap sacks are de rigueur and I'll wear one."

***
Twenty minutes later, after they'd ordered their entrees, Elle said, "Vic-for fuck's sake-there were five chili peppers next to that on the menu!"

Vickie raised her shoulders only slightly; it wasn't even a shrug. "I love hot food."

"What's the hottest food you've ever eaten?"

Vickie took a sip from her glass of wine. "Korean. My first date with a really sweet guy. The waiter tried, really tried to talk me out of it. He said, "You understand, miss, that this is a very spicy dish?"

"Now-that sort of seemed like a challenge and I couldn't lose face in front of my date. So I pooh-poohed him-told him I knew, of course, that it was hot. What was weird was that it was this mélange of noodles and cucumbers-and it was served cold."

"The damned chef sneaked out when it was presented to me-I saw him-the whole wait-staff stood waiting to watch the crazy lady take the first bite of this dish."

"When I put that first bite in my mouth, I realized I'd made a serious mistake. Mexican or Ethiopian food is usually hot in your mouth and Asian food is usually hot in your sinuses, you know? But this was something of an entirely different order of magnitude. It tasted great but I felt like I was ingesting something, literally..." Vickie paused to think of a description…"lethally radioactive."

"What'd you do?"

"I ate it-or at least about three-fourths of it. I was sweating like a pig. And I don't mean shining, glistening or gleaming like a lady. Sweating like a cart-horse. So there went all my interest in romance."

"That had better not happen tonight."

Vickie thought for two seconds and said, "Waiter!?"

****
As they were eating, Vickie asked, "If you don't mind telling me, what's the weirdest costume anyone's ever asked you to wear?"

Elle smiled as she took a sip of wine, "I assume you don't mean the Armani of international business?" Off Vickie's look, she continued, "I don't mind telling you-if you don't mind the fact that it's definitely not polite dinner conversation."

Vickie's voice was almost a whisper, "Neither is the fact that I want to bury my face between your legs, but that's not polite dinner conversation, either."

The blonde woman's eyes widened. "Wow."

Vickie immediately blushed, "I'm sorry. Was that too crude? Was that-"

Elle reached across the table, took her dinner partner's hand and gave her an incendiary look. "No, it wasn't. I liked it. I want you to tell me what you want and you can put in any language you like. That's not a pro thing; that's my personal preference. So, if you keep talking like that, I can promise that the particular dish you were just referencing will be the new hottest thing you've ever put in your mouth."

Vickie kissed the inside of Elle's wrist, then released it, furrowing her brow, "I can't believe I just did that. In public. Straight people don't do that sort of thing, do they?"

Elle raised an eyebrow and continued to eat, "No-they don't. But I'm not straight. If you, however, would like to maintain the appearance that you are in this restaurant, I would do two things if I were you: One. Stop kissing me. Two. Stop so obviously undressing me with your eyes."

Vickie scoffed, "I am not undressing you with my eyes."

Elle continued to eat, "Yes, you are. But that's okay. That doesn't make you gay. You can fuck me, have dinner with me and fuck me again and that won't make you gay. It's not that big a deal. It's only sex, Vic."

Vickie put her fork down. "You know it's more than that for me."

Elle stopped eating, glared at Vickie and said, "I told you what I am-I am not the-"

Vickie hissed, "Don't start that again! Not one more word-admit it. It means more than that to you, too. Or doesn't it?"

Vickie watched as Elle's hands began to tremble and she almost imperceptibly began to rock in her chair, then closed her eyes. Her voice was a whisper, "I don't know how to-if I say that-if I say it's more to me, what will that mean?" She opened her eyes, and they were filled with tears.

The brunette exhaled, not even realizing that she'd been holding her breath. "It'll mean that we'll continue with dinner, I'll continue to undress you with my eyes and you'll tell me about the strangest costume you've ever worn."

Elle slowly, slowly stopped rocking, wiped her eyes and picked up her fork, "I think we need more basil rolls, don't you?"

"Elle?"

The blonde looked up shyly. "What?"

"Lean forward-way forward-toward me."

Elle leaned forward and Vickie met her and gently kissed her on the lips.

As they separated, Vickie said, "I didn't want people to think I'd undress a girl with my eyes without kissing her first."

Elle nodded, "I think that's entirely appropriate."

***

"A nurse's uniform doesn't seem that kinky or funny," Vicki said.

The blonde stuffed an entire basil roll into her mouth, then pointed to her bulging cheeks, "I'm so sorry-I know that was uncouth, but these are fantastic." She spoke through her appreciative chewing, "It wasn't the uniform, it was what Ralph wanted me to do in it that was funny and that's where we ran into trouble."

The taller woman was surprised to see true, vibrant affection in Elle's eyes as she continued. "The poor bastard probably weighed about 400 pounds, okay, and Jesus only knows where he got a hospital gown that would cover him. But he had, so here I was, all dolled up in this nurse's uniform, except with my tits hanging out the front of it. The whole point of the gig was-I was supposed to take his rectal temperature!"

Vickie stopped chewing for a moment and Elle said, "Hey! I told you it might not be dinner conversation."

"No-I'm fine, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around that."

"Welcome to hooking, Vic. God knows why people want or ask for the things they do, but it's all part of the job."

"So here I go-I've got the thermometer and I see the lube by the side of the bed. Now, Vic, as I saw it, there were two impediments to the successful completion of this operation: One-the sheer mechanics of it! How could I even do it, given the weight of the 'patient' and the relative position of said 'patient's' asshole? Flat on his back? No way! Two-where were the gloves?"

Elle began to chuckle, "So I'm trying to keep in character, see, and I said, all shocked, 'Why, Mr. Smith! I don't see any gloves in the room!'"

"What I really meant, was that if he thought I was going within a foot of his ass without latex gloves, he had two fantasies, one of which was not happening."

"I swear to you, Vic, I was chewing the inside of my cheek not to scream with laughter. And then he looked at me, you know? Really looked into my eyes-and I really looked into his and he started to howl with laughter. Howled! And he kept repeating, 'Why, Mr. Smith!'"

"He was laughing so hard, he was crying and started to look a little blue, so I told him that he absolutely had to stop laughing or I was gonna have to call an ambulance. And I would have! Which would have been a first for me. So he said, 'Put those tits away and change your clothes or I swear to God this will kill me.'"

Elle's expression was very tender. "Then he said, 'Would you put something else on if I gave it to you?' Just like you did, last night, my dear."

"Of course, I had to ask, 'Jesus, Ralph, what now? ''Cause this nursing gig was borderline dangerous.'"

"He raised one finger, and said, 'Do not make me laugh again.' He gave me one of his sweatshirts that went down to about mid-calf on me. We popped some popcorn, drank Coke and played UNO for the rest of the night. And what a great guy! I gave him my email and cell and we stayed in touch until he died about four years ago. I flew home from Europe for the funeral. He's the one other personal relationship I've made through my part-time job and he was a real and honest human gem."

Vickie smiled, "I wish I'd met him."

"You probably would have liked him. I adored him. Sometimes he'd just leave me a voice-mail message that said, 'Why, Mr. Smith! I don't see any gloves in the room!' And then he'd laugh until he wheezed and hang up."

Vickie laughed, "So you really do meet all kinds-everywhere."

"Absolutely. And to tell the truth, I've met a hell of lot more true cock-suckers in my board-room business life than I ever have hooking."

***
As they drove toward Vickie's home, the blonde said, quietly, "You know, don't you, Victoria, what we're doing tonight is pushing-no." She thought for a second, "Pushing is not the word. This is obliterating every boundary I have, boundaries I have worked very hard to create and maintain. For years."

Vickie nodded and answered tenderly, "I know that, Elle."

The blonde stared out the window at the night, "It frightens me badly. Very, very badly-and I'm a little afraid I might be really rough with you at first. I won't try to hurt you or humiliate you-but I'll probably have to really assert myself to know that I'm safe. I mean, I think I will. I have no reference for this-at all."

The brunette reached out and took Elle's hand, "I thought we'd established earlier that I just might enjoy a little rougher treatment." She could feel Elle's hand trembling in hers. "I'm willing to give you that, sweetheart."

The blonde began to rock gently, "I mean-I'm not nuts or anything. If you tell me to stop, I'll stop."

Vickie answered, "I thought we'd also already established that I can stop you myself, if I need to."

Elle winced, "Oh yeah."

Vickie laughed, but gently. "I'm physically more powerful than you are, baby. That's just true. But, tonight, you can have every ounce of the sexual power between us. You can have the emotional power, everything. I'm giving-and you can accept. You won't be taking anything. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Two things I want to ask from you tonight, though."

Elle smiled, "I've heard that before. Believe me, there'll be more later."

Vickie pinched Elle's ear. "Two. First-I can't have any marks on my neck tomorrow because of work and because we're going to dinner at my family's house."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "I didn't agree to dinner but I suspect it's not optional, so okay."

"I won't mark you anywhere but marking me anywhere and everywhere else is also not optional. I want it."

Elle's eyes widened again and she glanced at her companion, "You do realize, don't you, Vic, that you're going to turn out to be a bigger pervert than I am?"

"Second. When we get home tonight, I want you to truly ask for what you want-don't censor yourself and don't think you'll freak me out. I'll tell you if I can't give it to you."

"Granted-but only if you do the same thing."

"I will, baby, but this is your show tonight, not mine."

TBC