Good Karma (28 page)

She sucked in her breath, suddenly
self-conscious.

“And your breasts, Karma,” he said softly,
leaning down so that his chin almost rested on her shoulder. “Are
you worried they’re too small?”

Licking her lips nervously, she gave a tight,
shaky nod. Couldn’t he loosen his hold on her shirt?

“Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
He drew even closer and whispered, “I think they’re perfect.
Absolutely perfect.”

Perfect? He thought those slight mounds under
her shirt were perfect?

“That’s right, Karma. They’re perfect. A nice
handful, a bit perky. Did you know that when you walk just so that
they actually bounce a little?”

She shook her head, unable to speak. Did she
actually have ample enough breasts that they bounced? Really?

“Well, they do. And it drives me wild.” He
slowly released her shirt. “Do you trust me?”

Seeing herself through fresh eyes, in a way
she never had before, she swallowed, briefly pressed her lips
together, then whispered, “Yes.”

His hands slid around to her stomach, on the
outside of her blouse, and she watched the reflection as they
slowly crept upward as he kissed the side of her neck. With racing
heart and quickened breath, she blinked drowsily as his thumbs
pressed against the underside of her breasts. Pausing, he seemed to
be gauging whether or not she was going to let him continue. When
she didn’t resist, he drew his palms up and over her breasts.

“They’re supple and sexy,” he whispered in
her ear. “The perfect handful. And anything more than a handful is
a waste, if you ask me.”

She had never thought of her breasts as sexy
or supple. Least of all perfect.

He squeezed gently, and her nipples hardened.
“Still trust me?” he said quietly.

Thunder rolled outside.

He had just made her see herself with new
eyes. Hadn’t he proven himself over and over by now. “Yes.” She had
never trusted anyone more.

Keeping his left hand where it was, Mark
dipped his right hand under the hem of her blouse. She knew what
was coming, but unlike before, she was ready. His fingers brushed
like feathers up the side of her stomach, his hand pushing the
shirt away. The sultry caress left a tingling trail up her abdomen.
In the mirror, the outline of his fingers approached her breast.
Then his hand cupped her, and the warmth of his palm pressed
against her. And then his left hand joined the right, and both
hands held her breasts, skin to skin, heat to heat.

“Put your hands on mine,” he said, pressing
more firmly against her from behind. She could feel his erection
against her bottom, and a torrid fantasy of being bent forward and
forced to watch him take her in the mirror broke unbidden inside
her thoughts.

She did as he said and covered his hands with
hers. If she thought kissing him had been exciting, watching in the
mirror as his hands shifted under her blouse, and feeling his
fingers curl around her flesh, was damn near the most erotic thing
she’d ever experienced.

“Now do you understand?” he said against her
ear. His deep, gravelly whisper reached down and cupped her between
the legs.

Panting, she nodded and rested the back of
her head against his shoulder. Between Mark’s erection on her
backside and his hands on her breasts, she was in sensory
overload.

“Better?” he said.

She nodded. This was much better. Much, much
better. “Yes.”

“Every day,” he said, “I want you to look in
this mirror and imagine me behind you. I want you to touch your
breasts like I am…” He squeezed, softly raked his blunt nails in as
he made loose fists, and then circled them around as he spread his
fingers once more. “I want you to touch yourself and realize how
beautiful you are…how perfect your breasts are…how sexy you
are.”

Blind to everything but his palms massaging
under her shirt, she nodded, eyelids drooping. Right about now, she
would do anything he asked. She was putty in his hands.

“Will you do that? Every day?”

Again, she nodded. “Yes.” She would if only
to relive this moment again and again in her mind.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck right
outside her building. Under the Mark Strong onslaught, Karma hadn’t
even realized how close the storm had come, but as her eyes darted
to the window, she could see how violent the wind was. Trees swayed
as lightning flashed again. The power blinked then cut off and
blinked back on. The instant explosion of thunder was so powerful
it shook the walls. Karma yelped.

“Holy shit!” Mark jerked behind her, his
hands clamping down on her breasts, and then he burst into nervous
laughter as he let go and pulled his arms from under her shirt.

She looked over her shoulder, laughing with
him. “Scared?”

“Goddamn, that was loud.” He continued to
laugh as he looked toward the window then scrubbed his hands up and
down his face.

The thunder had jarred them both out of their
erotic interlude, which was probably a good thing. If they’d kept
on the way they were, they would have ended up back in bed, and
while the idea of making love with Mark sent a shard of
yes-please
through her blood, she kind of liked the slow
seduction happening between them. Besides, if he was as big as he
alluded, she really did need to prepare. It had been far too long
since she’d been with a man.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” she said,
glancing back toward the mirror.

“Oh you will, will you?” He met her gaze in
the reflection and smiled.

“Sure.” She grew more serious. “Especially
since you’ve taken such good care of me.”

He blinked, bent forward, and kissed her
shoulder. “My pleasure.”

She smiled. “Mine, too, because, once again,
that was pretty, uh…pretty nice…what we just did.” She paused and
looked at her reflection. Mark had opened her eyes. She cocked her
head to the side as she studied herself in the light from the
bathroom. She no longer saw the little girl. She saw the woman.
“Thank you.”

He hugged her from behind. “You’re welcome.”
He said it as if he knew exactly why she was thanking him.

But that was Mark. He always seemed to know
what she was thinking and almost knew her better than she knew
herself. And maybe, in some ways, he did.

Chapter 22

When
genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it
hot.

-D.H. Lawrence

After holding her a while longer and listening to
the storm rumble past, Mark left Karma’s place around eleven
o’clock and returned to his condo. Upstairs, he changed into sweats
and lay down, only to reach for his phone less than a minute later.
He simply couldn’t let the night go. It didn’t feel complete.

“Hello?” He heard the smile in Karma’s voice
as she answered.

“Hi.” An easy quiet came over his body as he
settled more comfortably into the mattress.

“Did you forget something?”

That was a loaded question, because he felt
like he’d forgotten to bring her home with him. She should be here,
beside him, in his arms, dozing. What did she look like when she
slept?

“Just one thing.” He shut off the bedside
light, bathing the room in darkness except for the faint glow
coming through the windows from the street lamps. “I was supposed
to have helped you tonight…with the first step of your
training.”

“You did help.”

He frowned into the darkness. “What do you
mean?”

She giggled. “Ummm…I’m…uh…”

Then it occurred to him. “You are? Right
now?”

There was a short pause. Then, her voice
soft, airy, and graced with self-conscious guilt, she said,
“Yes.”

“Mmm, well then I’m glad I called. I was
going to ask if you’d like me to help you over the phone.”

“How?”

“Have you ever had phone sex?”

“No.” Curiosity and anticipation infused her
voice.

“Do you want to?”

After another short pause, she whispered,
“Yes.”

He was hard. So damn hard for her. He pushed
the waist of his sweats down to release his erection. “Are you in
your bedroom?”

“Yes.”

“On the bed?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is the light off?”

“No.”

“Turn it off.”

There was a rustling sound, then a soft
click, and then she came back. “It’s off.”

“What are you doing?” He still hadn’t touched
himself, but his erection ached for contact. “Do you have the
smallest dildo with you?”

“Yes.”

“And…do you have it inside you?”

“I did a few minutes ago, but not now.”

Oh Jesus, the thought almost made him moan.
“Did it hurt?”

“Not much. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You sound different.”

“I’m turned on.” He blew out a heavy breath.
“
Really
turned on. Aren’t you?”

She hesitated. “Yes.” But she sounded shy,
too, which only made him want to hear her come that much more.

“Slide it up and down for me,” he said. “Up
and down your clit…tease yourself.”

“I am.”

Oh, God.
“Are you wet?”

“Yes.”

“How wet?”

She moaned and sighed. “Very wet.” After a
silent moment, she whispered, “I’m always wet around you.”

Fuck.
It was a good thing he wasn’t
with her. He wasn’t sure if he could merely be a bystander. “That’s
good, because you make me hard. I feel like I’m always hard lately,
and it’s because of you.”

She moaned again.

“Is your clit swollen?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Rub the tip of the dildo over your clit for
me, Karma.” He reached down and wrapped his hand around his cock.
“Rub it in small, slow circles. Imagine it’s me…my cock on
you.”

She sighed into the phone.

“You like the idea of that, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Me, too. Are you rubbing yourself?” He began
stroking in long, easy pulls, palming the head before stroking back
down.

“Y-Yes.” He heard her shudder.

“You feel so good,” he whispered.

“You can feel me?”

“Yes. Very much.” He really almost could.
“Tell me how I feel against you, rubbing the head of my cock on
your clit?”

Another shuddering breath, followed by a
muffled sound, as if she’d shifted on the bed. “You feel…good.”

“Just good?”

“Hard. You feel…hard.”

“I
am
hard.” His breathing deepened
and he gripped himself more firmly. “Put me inside you, Karma.
Slide me in.”

She panted lightly into the phone before she
uttered a long, soft groan.

He closed his eyes and imagined himself above
her. How would she feel? “You’re tight. Am I hurting you?”

“No.”

“Does it feel good?”

“Yes.” She drew the word out on a breath.

“That’s because you’re very wet and very
ready for me.” And he was ready for her, too. He didn’t want to use
his hand. He wanted her touching him right now.

“Are you…touching yourself?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Omigod,” she whispered quickly, almost
unintelligibly.

He grinned. “You like that I’m touching
myself?”

“Yes.” She whimpered.

“It turns you on that I’m here, stroking
myself, wishing it was you touching me instead.”

“Mark…”

“Hold the dildo inside you, Karma, and use
your thumb. Rub your clit. Make yourself come for me. I want to
hear you.”

“I am…”

“That’s good.” He couldn’t stand it and
stroked himself in earnest now.

“Mark…?”

“Yes?”

“I’m close.”

“Me, too.”

She grew extremely quiet, almost too quiet.
Then, after several seconds as his orgasm flamed to life at the
base of his spine, she gasped. Once. Twice. And again, her pitch
rising with each breath.

“Come, baby.” He almost growled the words as
his own orgasm tightened his scrotum, making his shaft swell.

She cried out, and it sounded like she
dropped the phone, because everything grew muffled, but he could
still hear her in the background, gasping and moaning.

Hearing her like that, lost to lust and
depravity, sent him over, and with a grunt, his release shot out
onto his stomach. Every muscle in his body clenched again and again
through each throb, until finally he growled out a long, heady
exhale and sank into the mattress.

A moment passed then Karma spoke into his
ear, as if she were really there beside him. “That was sexy.”

Breathless, he managed a weak, sated chuckle.
“Back atcha. I wish I could have seen that.”

“Me, too.”

He smiled and blinked his eyes open. “Soon
enough.”

“I can’t believe I just did that.” The smile
was back in her voice.

“Believe it. You’ve made quite a mess of me.”
He glanced down at the glistening splatter on his stomach.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was worth it.” He took another
breath and blew it out as he reached for a Kleenex. “I’m glad I
called.”

She giggled. “Me, too.”

He wiped himself down and tossed the tissue
aside. “I want you to use that dildo every day, even if you don’t
masturbate. Okay? You can even slip it in and leave it there while
you watch TV or something, or as part of your Kegels. Do that for a
few days, then switch to the next one.”

“And you’ll help me?”

“If you want me to, yes.” He would gladly
assist. “You sounded like you were already doing a fine job on your
own, though, but I can always offer my services, if necessary.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’d like that.” Mark pulled up his sweats,
rolled off the bed, and started for the bathroom. “I’ll let you get
to bed, but thank you for a lovely evening. It was…” He thought
about all she had revealed earlier and how touched he’d been that
she’d shared something so personal. Then he recalled standing
behind her at the mirror, holding her from behind, staring at her
beautiful reflection. “Enchanting.”