Immortally Yours (5 page)

Damn, his body was certainly ready, therefore the
ambivalence had to be coming from his mind. It had to be his control issues.
She was trying to take control and that didn’t sit right or feel comfortable.

He pulled his face away enough to look into her eyes. He saw
no guile there, just raw desire. Gently stroking her cheek, he said in his
sexiest voice, “Maybe
I
want to be the one to seduce
you
.”

“Oh,” she squeaked.

Her little pink mouth in that perfectly rounded
O
would feel so perfect wrapped around his hard-on. He suddenly couldn’t wait to
get her between his bare legs, no matter who controlled the path to get there.

Immortality—A fate worse than death.

Edgar A. Shoaff

Lizette unbuttoned his shirt. He had said he wanted to seduce
her, but he wasn’t doing it right.
Damn it. Do I have to tell him everything
?
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a frustrated whoosh. “Colin, I
need a good fucking. I’m sorry about my language. Maybe I should say
pardon
my English,
but if you’re going to seduce me, I wish you’d get on with it.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty clear.” He lifted himself to rest on
his elbow and looked her up and down. Letting his free hand roam over her
abdomen, he began to rub her torso over the negligee.

Okay, so desperation wasn’t sexy. “Would you like me to take
it off?” she whispered.

“I’m doing the seduction, remember? I’ll take it off when
I’m good and ready.”

“Mmm…Very smooth. You’re absolutely irresistible.”

“Was that sarcasm?”

“Yes.”

Colin leaned over and kissed her. Probably to shut her up
but, dear
Lord
, his kisses sent shivers through her and made her womb
clench. Their tongues mated and swirled. He increased the pressure of his lips
on hers. His breathing deepened and his hand found her breast. She arched and wanted
to moan but didn’t want him to stop kissing her—ever.

He loomed over her. Predatory instincts seemed to finally
take over and he pressed his mouth to hers urgently while his hand stroked and
kneaded her breast. Then he pinched her sensitive nipple and her heart beat
wildly. Heat poured off him—or was it coming from her? All she knew was that he
had fanned the embers of her desire and she felt ready to burst into flames.

She broke away, panting. “Wait.”

His eyes rounded. “Wait? I thought you wanted to—”

She pressed a finger to his lips and said, “Shhh… Of course
I do but I want to make you feel good first. Please?”

A smile hit his eyes even before the corners of his mouth
lifted. “Oh? And how would you like to do that?”

“Take off your clothes and I’ll show you.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He rolled onto his back,
unzipped his slacks and kicked them off. Next, his socks and tighty-whities
joined the pants on the floor. Finally, he whipped off his shirt. His back
muscles showed a nice delineation and his biceps were larger than she imagined.
He lowered his back to the mattress with his hands folded behind his head,
displaying his impressive erect cock.

“
Mon dieu
! I hope I can fit all of that in my mouth.”

He grinned. “So do I.”

She had seen one cock bigger than his, but in her opinion,
that was a
real
one-eyed monster and a little frightening. Colin’s was
perfect. She wrapped her hand around the large shaft of silk over steel. Then
she stroked. His groan encouraged and gratified her. Her mouth watered and she
scooted down until she was even with her target.

Her tongue slid up the inside of his thigh. The dark hair on
his legs felt coarse against her tongue and he shuddered. His musky male scent
made her mouth water and drove her straight to his ball sac, where she licked
him, swirling her tongue. His scrotum contracted as he moaned his appreciation.
Lizette loved bringing him pleasure, so she sucked each ball separately and
thoroughly before coming up for air.

“Oh, sweetheart, that felt so good.”

“And I’ve only just begun,” she said with a wink.

“To be honest, I don’t think I can take much more without
giving you a nasty surprise.”

“There’s nothing nasty about it, Colin. I love to make a man
come.”

“Of course you do. It affirms your feminine power—but trust
me, you have that in spades. I want our first time to be perfect.”

He hauled her up to his face and she squealed. Without
meaning to, he had touched her most ticklish place and she giggled.

“I like to hear you laugh,” he said, and tickled her
again…on purpose. She laughed uncontrollably and rolled, trying to get away
from his maddening fingers.

“Stop,” she cried. “Please stop.”

“Only if you’ll promise to laugh more often.”

Between hysterical giggles, she managed to blurt out, “I
will. I promise.”

Colin drew her close to his strong body and stroked her back
as he gazed into her eyes. “You are so beautiful when you laugh.”

“Colin?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’d rather you tell jokes instead of tickling me.”

Colin chuckled and kissed her forehead. “I’ll have to try
out a few on you—later. Right now I want to do this…”

He rolled her onto her back and pulled her negligee up and
over her head. With her breasts bared, he bent his head, captured a nipple in
his hot mouth and sucked. The exquisite, visceral sensation shot straight to
her womb and made her muscles clench. “Ooo…” she moaned.

Fortunately, Colin wasn’t one of those men who wanted to
hurry to the next step. He took his time, thoroughly loving each breast in
turn. At some point, he added a slow massage to her pussy and a finger
penetrated her wet channel. Then he added another finger and finger-fucked her
while she writhed with pleasure.

She loved Colin touching her in her most intimate place. She
wanted him there. It was so unlike the old days when, as a mistress, she was
obligated to share every part of her body with her lover.

When her breasts were so sensitive she thought she’d scream
if she didn’t come, he moved down the mattress and buried his face in her soft
skin, leaving little kisses all over her thighs and labia while continuing to
fuck her with his long fingers. When she undulated in delightful agony, he
laved her clit with his tongue. Electricity surged and shot to her center,
making her clench. He latched onto her acutely sensitized clit and sucked while
his tongue flicked across it.

Her thighs shivered as the exquisite tension built quickly.
She catapulted to a sudden climax and burst without warning. Riding the high of
her orgasm, she gripped the sheets and screamed. He stayed on her clit, not
letting up while she gasped in air and screamed some more. Her whole body
vibrated and convulsed. Finally, after what seemed like the most powerful
orgasm of her long life, she jerked with the last thrilling jolts and was
spent.

“Colin,” she said, barely above a whisper. He wiped her
juices from his face and smiled.

“I don’t think I can move. You can do anything you want to
me right now and I’d be powerless to stop you.”

“Is that a dare?”

“I think it’s a fact.”

He chuckled. “What do you want me to do?”

“I can’t even think right now. I’ll let you decide.”

With a glint in his eye and a grin on his face, he flipped
her body prone and slipped an arm under her abdomen. Then he lifted her onto
her hands and knees.

“Ah, I like this position.”

“I thought you might.” His voice sounded far away as he
backed off the bed. She glanced over her shoulder to see where he was going. As
soon as she caught sight of the foil packet, it made sense. Of course he used
protection. That was just like him.

Without further preliminaries, Colin poised his cock at her
creamy opening and thrust. He filled her. She felt every luscious inch of hard
male rod as he penetrated her core and withdrew, then surged again. He found an
easy rhythm she could match and, even as tired as she was, she needed to rock
against him.

He smoothed her hair down her shoulders. “Does that feel
good, sweetheart?”

She nodded, almost at a loss for words.

“What if I add a little reach around?”

“Oh, yes,” she whimpered.

His fingers played on her sensitive skin, stopping along the
way to stroke or lightly scrape. When he reached his goal she was sure she
would explode at the first touch, but he continued to tease with slow circles
and excruciatingly slow thrusts of his cock. The pressure continued to build.

“More,” she cried.

Instead, he moved his free hand to her nipple and pinched.
“Not yet. I want it to last.”

But his concluding word rode a groan and his pace increased.

“Ooh,” she moaned. She felt every stroke filling her and her
own wetness dampening the tops of her thighs. She needed it faster, harder, but
he was back in control. Every now and then, he’d lean over to whisper sweet
words of encouragement and nuzzle her neck.

“That’s it. Feel my body in yours. Let’s not miss a moment
of this. Don’t worry, I’ll make you come and come hard. And then, if you want,
I’ll fuck you all over again.”

Dear God! She wanted to come just from his words.

“Please, Colin. Please!”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’re getting there.”

That did it. “Now. I need it now!” She shrieked in
frustration and bucked against his hand, angling until his finger pressed
directly over her sweetest spot. He gave her clit a little pinch for her
impertinence, but the damage was done. There would be no stopping her orgasm
now.

It was his turn to cry out and bury his face in her neck as
her inner muscles gripped his rod. His thrusts accelerated to Mach speed as his
cock pounded into her.

Somehow he managed to hang on with his finger zeroed in on
her clit. The friction felt like being attached to a live wire in a puddle of
liquid heat. She felt her face flush, her skin burning white hot until at last
she tumbled over, shattered and cried out in bliss and relief.

At that moment, he grunted and jerked several times in
succession. Finally complete, they collapsed, she on the bed, he on top of her.
She couldn’t move. She didn’t want to. As long as she could draw in breath,
Colin could lay atop her grateful, boneless body for as long as he wanted to.

* * * * *

What was I thinking?
Colin raked his fingers through
his hair and paced across his living room. Sleeping with a woman on a first
date! Of course he had enjoyed making love to Lizette, but what if she got the
wrong idea? What if she thought the relationship was serious already? He
usually liked to know the woman a little better before committing. The same
thing had happened to him once before and the woman in question had stalked
him. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he had come home to a rabbit boiling in
a pot on his stove.

It was almost as if the fascinating Lizette held some kind
of thrall over him. Maybe she
was
a vampire!
Crap.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized this
was his fault. She was beautiful. She needed him. She fit all the things he
liked in a woman—honest, independent, adventurous and amusing. Although Lizette
didn’t always know when she was being funny.

No, he had simply lost his head. Both of them.

But what should I do now? Should I take a step back?
Extract myself from the relationship altogether?
That second idea wasn’t
what he wanted to do at all. He had to talk to her. In public. No funny
business.

He picked up the phone and dialed Lizette’s number. Oddly
enough, he knew it by heart. He’d always been good with numbers, but to
remember seven consecutive digits after only using them once…one might almost
think it was meant to be. Someone without a scientific mind like his.

“’Allo?”

“Lizette, it’s Colin. Can I meet you for lunch?”

“Today?” She sounded surprised. Maybe he was being an idiot.
Maybe she didn’t expect anything more than a friendship with occasional
benefits.

After a short pause, she said, “Yes, I can go out today.
Actually, that would be good, because I think I have a meaningful activity for
my life that might also earn money.”

“Excellent!” He couldn’t have been happier to hear that.
“What is it?”

“Photography. My camera is old but it still works quite
well. It occurred to me that as soon as the print is on paper, no one can tell
what kind of camera took the picture, right?”

Remembering her technological aversion, he had to think in
simple terms. “What kind of camera do you have?”

“Something called a Nikon? It takes 35 millimeter film.”

“That’s a great brand.” Now he was getting excited. “Do you
know how to use it?”

“Well, I know the basics but I could probably use it better
if I knew more.”

“Do you know what an F-stop is?”

“A what?”

He chuckled. “Never mind. Bring your camera to lunch and
I’ll take a look at it. Not that I know a lot about cameras, but I think of
myself as an amateur shutterbug. I like to snap pictures while I’m hiking.
Maybe there’s a photography class you can get into. I’ll check around online.”

“Okay. Be sure it isn’t too expensive.”

“I’ll see what I can find. In the meantime how about having
lunch at Panorama? It’s near you and has some fantastic photographic décor.”

“That would be wonderful. If you want to try out my camera,
I’ll need to buy some film. What time?”

“One o’clock?”

“It’s a date.”

He almost responded with “It’s a lunch,” but caught himself
in time. He didn’t know what it would be but if it helped give her some focus,
no pun intended, he was all for it.

A neurosis is a secret that you don’t know you are
keeping.

Kenneth Tynan

When Colin arrived, he saw Lizette admiring the blown-up
aerial photography that decorated all the walls inside the restaurant. He
paused a moment to watch her. Unfortunately, a couple of male patrons appeared
to be watching her too.

A nip of jealousy raised the hair on the back of his neck
and he strode over to her, placing a possessive arm around her waist.

“Do you like the pictures?”

She pivoted and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Very much.
Thank you for meeting me here. I’ve walked past this place but never bothered
to come inside.”

“Let’s get in line. Looks like it could be a minute.”

The upscale, cafeteria-style sandwich shop required patrons
to hungrily wait in line to place their orders, though thanks to the flu
epidemic, the line wasn’t as long as it usually would have been. Colin’s
stomach growled.

Lizette giggled. “Somebody’s hungry. He must have worked up
an appetite last night.”

“Yeah and skipped breakfast.” He didn’t tell her his foolish
neurosis kept him from remembering to feed himself.

She dug around in her oversized purse. “I have a granola bar
in here somewhere.”

He stilled her hand. “No, thanks. I think I’ll live until we
make it through this line. Is your camera in there?”

“Yes. Would you like to see it?”

“Absolutely.”

What she extracted from her purse was a Nikon AF. A small,
surprisingly heavy 35mm camera. No wonder she didn’t know what an f-stop was.

“When did you buy this?”

She shrugged. “When it first came out. I think it was the
early Eighties. I like it because you just point and shoot. You don’t have to
wind it after each picture. The flash even pops up when you don’t have enough
light.”

He studied it. “Seems like a nice little camera. It looks
like you can use different lenses with it.”

“Oh yes, I bought one of those. It makes the pictures all
soft and fuzzy looking.”

Colin smiled, thinking of those old photos of kids and
puppies playing in fields of daisies with blurred edges. That was an Eighties
fad, all right.

“Does it still work?”

“Yes, it works fine. I’ll show you.” She stepped back a
couple of feet and aimed the camera at him.

“Wait a min—”

The flash popped up and
zap
, he was temporarily
blind. He shook his head and looked at Lizette through purple spots. “I wasn’t
ready.”

People in the restaurant stared at them.

“Oh, sorry. Did you want to pose?”

“No, but let’s take your pictures outdoors for now.”

Her lower lip protruded in a pout. “I had hoped to take
pictures indoors too.”

“What did you want to take pictures of?” He pictured still
lifes, or maybe she wanted to be a fashion photographer utilizing both a studio
and the outdoor settings.

“Nudes.”

Colin’s jaw dropped but he recovered quickly. “Er…yeah, I
guess you’d need to be indoors for that. Why nudes?”

They reached the front of the line and gave their orders. He
paid for them and Lizette moved down the line to wait for their lunches.

When he rejoined her she asked, “The human body is
beautiful, no?” She ran her hand over his biceps and shoulders, watching every
ripple of movement. “I should like to see you draped with fabric, but no more
than that, and posing for me.”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, no!”

She frowned and looked confused. “Pardon?”

He shook his head and chuckled. “You rattled me. I mean, yes
the human body is beautiful, but no, I shouldn’t pose for you.”

“But why not? I don’t know anyone else I could ask and your
body is so sculpted and taut. Like a Greek statue.”

Colin laughed out loud at that. “I’m glad you like it but
there are plenty of others that are more impressive. It’s not like I spend
several hours a day at the gym. I just go a few times a week.”

“I don’t like all those bulky muscles. I like you. Strong
and natural.”

Arriving at the end of the counter, they suspended their
conversation to pick up their orders. By the time they received their beverages
and found a table Colin thought he had solved her problem.

“There are life models you can hire. I’m sure the local art
schools have contacts.”

She frowned and sipped her coffee. “‘Hire’ sounds expensive.
What if I don’t like working with the person? That money will be wasted.”

Colin stared at her with his best no-nonsense expression and
said, “I’m not posing for you. Period.”

She shrugged.

“You know those pictures can’t be developed at the
drugstore, don’t you?”

“So? I’ll go to Walmart.”

“No store will develop nude photos.”

Her expression jumped from surprised to frustrated in a
nanosecond and she demanded, “Well, where am I supposed to get them developed?”

“Don’t worry. I have a way to solve the problem.”

“And that way is?”

“A buddy of mine has his own darkroom. Maybe he can teach
you enough to do your own developing and perhaps you can rent his darkroom from
him when you need to.”

She cocked her head. “How much will he charge? A hundred
dollars an hour?”

He shook his head.
She’s never going to let me forget how
much she paid me. Maybe I can find a way to give it back.
“Not everyone
charges as much as I do. If it’s too steep, I’ll pay for your time.”

“Stop. You can’t pay for everything I want. And this is
getting much too complicated.”

“Of course I can’t pay for everything you
want
, but I
might be able to help out with what you need. Please don’t give up on this. It
might be the key to your future—to your very survival.” And she
had to
survive.
Hell, he wanted her to do more than merely survive. She had been doing that on
her own. He wanted her to find the joy in life again. He’d do everything in his
power to ensure her happiness.

She sighed. “I guess I’ll have to get rich and famous
quickly so I can pay you back.”

“There’s another thing you could do that would save you a
lot of headaches.”

“What?”

“Just let me buy you a digital camera, a computer and a
printer.”

“Ha!” she exclaimed. “Just all that?”

People in the restaurant turned and stared in their
direction.

Colin leaned in close to whisper, “Let me help you, Lizette,
please. At least indulge me by going to a secondhand store after this to see
how much used equipment would cost. We might be able to pick up some bargains.”

* * * * *

“Let me do the talking,” Colin said. “These guys will try to
get you to pay more than something’s worth and sell you more than you need.”

“Well, since it’s your money, I’ll
let
you do
whatever you like.”

Colin grinned. “Now that’s what a guy likes to hear.”

Lizette rolled her eyes.

He placed his hand on the small of her back and held the
door for her as they stepped inside a pawn shop.

The thin, stringy-haired clerk immediately eyed them up and
down. “What can I help you find?” he asked.

Colin held up a hand and said, “We’ll just browse for now,
if you don’t mind.”

The guy behind the counter shrugged and said, “Suit
yourself.”

Colin took Lizette’s hand and led her to the shelves of
electronic gear. He scanned the shelves, then stepped closer to examine one
system. “Decent PC if they’re not asking a fortune. Good-sized monitor. Looks
like it comes with a printer and an ergonomic keyboard.”

“Is all that good?” Lizette asked.

Colin chuckled. “It’s good for your purposes. Come on, let’s
see if they have any lights.” He strolled to the end of the store and found
nothing in the way of professional lighting. “Well, let’s see what kind of
digital cameras they have.”

Lizette followed him to the front of the store, where
several cameras sat on shelves behind the counter.

“What do you have for taking professional digital pictures?”
he asked.

“What price range are you looking at?”

Colin cocked his head. “What do you have?”

The guy behind the counter smiled. He reached behind him and
said, “There’s this little ELPH for a hundred. Easy to carry around in your
pocket.”

“Give me a break. The damn thing didn’t cost much more than
that brand new. Now I know you must have something decent for less than that.”

The salesman’s smile disappeared. He swiveled and studied
his shelves. “All right.” He grabbed a more substantial looking camera with the
Canon brand on it. “I can let you have this one for eighty. There’s a tripod
for it in the back.”

Colin took the camera and handed it to Lizette. “See how
that feels in your hands,” he said. She held it easily. “Oh, it’s for the
lady?” he asked.

Lizette stared at him. “Yes, it’s for me, but he’s paying
for it.”

The guy nodded. “Well, I’m sure he’d want you to have the
best…”

Before he could get another word in, Colin interjected, “Of
course—and I’m sure you’d only sell me the best for a fair price. Tell you
what, seventy-five dollars and throw in the tripod, then I’ll talk to you about
that Dell computer system you have back there.” He nodded toward the shelves
down the aisle that housed the computers.

“You drive a hard bargain. What do you want to know about
it?”

“How old is it and what are the specs?”

“Do you want it for documents and the internet or for art
and photography?”

Talking about her as if she weren’t there annoyed her, so
Lizette piped up. “I want it for photographing nudes.”

The guy raised his eyebrows. “Well, then you might rather
have an Apple product. They’re better for artistic stuff.” He eyed her up and
down. “I have a newish Mac that just came in.”

Colin placed a protective arm around Lizette’s shoulder.
“Can we see it?”

“Sure. I have a guy in the back who can show it to you.” He
opened a door behind him and yelled, “Hey, Jim. Can you show this guy the Mac?”

A voice called back, “Sure. Send him in.”

Colin looked conflicted about leaving Lizette’s side.
Another thing that annoyed her. She pushed his shoulder. “Go. I’ll be fine here
for five minutes.”

He must have received the tone of her message since he let
go of her and walked around the counter to enter the back room.

As soon as Colin was out of sight, the guy behind the
counter handed her a business card and said, “Hey, if you ever have any
questions about the equipment that your boyfriend can’t answer, give me a call.
Unless you’re afraid to. He seems like the jealous type.”

“Of course I’m not afraid.”
The very idea!
Lizette
glanced at the card. It showed the name of the shop and “Hank Peterson,
Proprietor”
.
She thought his title sounded pretentious for a pawnshop owner,
but whatever… She tucked the card in her pocket.

“You know,” he said, “you might want to call me anyway. I
can teach you a few things that will impress him.”

“Hmmm…I’ll think about it. Thank you.” He probably wasn’t as
interested in teaching her how to use a computer as he was in getting into her
pants, but she knew how to handle men.

* * * * *

Back at Lizette’s apartment, Colin helped her set up her new
computer and printer in the bedroom and a makeshift studio in the living room.
She had him push furniture around into three different configurations and he
seemed about to protest when she decided the layout met her needs.

Her round dinette and two straight-back chairs found a
corner in the kitchen to occupy. Her overstuffed chair and sofa came away from
the wall and faced the TV, which was now on the opposite side of the room from
where it had been. He said it was less of an eyesore since it was no longer the
first thing a person saw when they walked in.
Eyesore, indeed.
Now the
first thing a person saw upon entering was a big empty space.

“And where will you keep your camera equipment?” Colin
asked.

“Where I always do. In my closet.”

“Okay. If you want professional results, you’ll need some
special lights. They’re usually very large and bright. You need to be able to
set them up and move them around to either eliminate shadows or cast the
shadows you want.”

She sighed and her face crumpled. “More money. You’ve
already spent too much.”

“Photography can be expensive. Professional photographers
spend thousands on all kinds of gizmos and props. Different cameras and lenses
to capture different images. Whole darkrooms. You don’t need to go that route.
Lighting is basic, though.”

When she didn’t respond, he jumped in front of the long,
white wall and stood about a foot away from it.

“Do you see the shadows I’m casting against this wall?”

“Yes, but, so what? Everything casts shadows. That’s why I
decided to replace my lace curtains with solid ones. The shadows looked like
spiders. Shadows are part of nature but I prefer spiders outside.”

“Do you have a magazine around? Maybe a fashion magazine?”

She sighed and reached under her coffee table where she
found the current copy of
Vogue
.

She tossed it to him.

Colin took the magazine and thumbed through it. “Here we go.”
He handed it to her open to a page with an anorexic model standing in long
shadows. The ad was for shoes and the only part not in shadow were the
beautiful stilettos.

“What does that prove?”

Colin took the magazine back and pointed to the shadows.
“Here, the photographer wanted to show shadows and he accomplished that with
his lighting. Suppose you want to show shadows like that to convey a certain
mood or accent one thing while obscuring another.”

“Okay, I understand. But how much will professional lights
cost? I didn’t see any at the pawn shop.”