Thief (9 page)

Chapter 17.

- I might take over again before you get
too
carried away.

- Not a bad idea. Is it me, or is it a bit
warm
in here?

- No, it's
you
. Please try to control yourself.

- Your soul is sterile. You don't have a
speck
of romance in you anywhere.

- Yes, I do. I have
lots
. But unlike
you
, I keep it securely locked away until needed.

- Yeah,
yeah
. Whatever.

- Shut up.

We arrived home with everybody a little uptight. The sexual tension in the car on the ride home was so thick it was almost visible. Once inside the door, there were a few hurried goodnights and we immediately split into two groups of two: Kim and Martina almost
ran
into Kim’s room and Bella and I ended up in my room almost as quickly.

Bella looked around as I closed the door.

“Nice,” she commented. Then she added, “So, this is
your
room, eh?” She was silent for a few moments. “
Nice
,” she said again.

I went over to her and took her hand. “Sweetie, I can
see
you’re nervous. Are you having second thoughts about this?”

She vigorously shook her head in swift denial. “No, no,” she said with certainty. “I want to be with you more than I can say, but I am a little….
edgy
.”

“For heaven’s sake,
why
?” I challenged, curiously. “I don’t mean to be crude, but with what you do and all, this must be almost routine for you.”

Bella flushed as she looked away. “This is totally
different
,” she explained, determinedly. “You’re the first man I’ve ever cared about, Paul. I feel like I’m a young girl again, out on my first date.”

I put my fingers under her chin and gently turned her face back to me. “Oh, sweetheart, that is so
cute
,” I told her, amused. “Okay, let’s pretend it’s a first date then. Will you allow me to undress you?”

Bella nodded in agreement and stood still with closed eyes as I slowly removed her clothes. She trembled a little and gave a small gasp as each garment was taken away. When she was fully naked she opened her eyes and stared at me apprehensively. “Okay,
now
I’m having second thoughts,” she commented. “I’m still struggling to fully believe this…… God, I’m so sorry,” she abruptly wailed contritely. “I
know
you love me, Paul, and accept me for who I am, but I can’t get past my conditioning that deep down, I’m just pathetic and worthless.”

I hugged Bella and told her “That’s rubbish, honey! I know that deep down you’re an amazing and loving individual. If I wasn’t convinced of that, I wouldn’t be here with you right now.”

She sniffed back a few unshed tears and asked hopefully, “Do you really
believe
that?”

“As sure as I’m standing here,” I assured her. Then I added facetiously, “You know, for a first date, you sure ask a
lot
of questions.”

Bella laughed helplessly. “I do, don’t I?” she agreed. She stroked my cheek in gratitude. “
Thank
you, Paul. You can always make me feel better. I honestly don’t know what you see in me.”

“Right now I’m seeing a beautiful, desirable woman,” I answered, kissing her with conviction. “In fact, I see someone who’s driving me crazy by making me have all
sorts
of naughty thoughts.”

Bella laughed again. “Well, we’d better do something about that, then,” she said amorously. “I know this is a
first
date and all, and I don’t want to get a reputation of being ‘easy’, but I think it’s about time we got into bed, don’t you?”

I feigned reluctance. “Well, I don’t know, now. This will be my first time, you see. Are you going to make a
man
of me?”

“Man?” Bella snorted. “Hell, I’m going to make a
tyrannosaurus
of you. Come
here
!” She pulled me into a tight embrace, kissed me passionately and dragged me onto the bed. I was absurdly pleased that I had managed to overcome her self-doubts and had also stirred her hidden passions.

I was very careful how I went about the next half hour. Bella had experienced copious quantities of men so far in her life but, by her own admission, none of them had moved her to any depth of feeling. I wanted to be different. I wanted her to discover how wonderful and joyful the process could be. To this end, I spent a lot of time in foreplay, trying to motivate her interest in the
pleasure
side of what we were doing. She was astonished at the extent of her arousal and responded with amazed little cries of gratification.

“I never
realized
that it could be like this,” she panted with delight, when we had a small break in proceedings. “I feel all tingly and quivery. What are you
doing
to me, Paul? Why didn’t I know about this
before
? Oh my god, I feel so….so
happy
! No, not happy…… Yes, I
am
happy, but more…..physically
excited
. Like all my
nerves
are sparkling!........Will you listen to me? I can’t seem to stop babbling. I’m sorry for yapping on, Paul, but this is so….so
magical
! It’s something I’ve never felt before. Is
all
sex like this? No, it
can’t
be. I’ve done it so many times, but this is something new. It’s
you
! You’re doing something to me. What
is
it? What are you
doing
?”

“
Calm
down, sweetheart, or you’ll blow a gasket,” I cautioned her with a grin. “Take a few deep breaths. We’ve only just started.”

“You mean there’s
more
than this?” Bella exclaimed in amazement. “It doesn’t seem possible. What’s going on? Please tell me.
Please
?” She sat up and grasped my shoulders, giving them a little shake.

Smiling, I looked at her eager face. Apparently, not a single
one
of her numerous male clients had ever bothered to take the time to pleasure her. “Unhand me, woman,” I mischievously commanded, “and I'll
tell
you.” She settled back down on the bed and I lay beside her, propping my head up on one elbow. I tenderly brushed aside an errant curl from her cheek and tried to explain.

“It's simple, honey. There's no magic involved. I'm doing what I'm doing because
your
happiness makes
me
happy. That's what love
does
. That's all there is to it, really.”

Bella's face went blank as she absorbed my words. “That's all there
is
to it?” she echoed, almost disappointed. I could see her mind beginning to churn over this new concept. She started to chew on a fingernail with absent-minded ferocity. I gently captured the finger and took it away from her mouth. “So it's all about
love
, then?” she inquired, looking up at me thoughtfully. “That's
all
it is?”

“That's all,” I confirmed.

“Oh,” she said pensively. “Just
love
, eh?” Her eyes drifted away from mine as her thought processes stored this novel information. Then her attention suddenly snapped back to me. “We'd better get
on
with it then,” she unexpectedly announced. “I want to know all about this. I think you'll find that I'm an eager student.” So saying, she jerked upright and flung herself playfully on top of me. “Well, don't just lie there like a stunned fish! Let's get
going
! I haven't got all day!” She paused. “Well, actually, I
do
have all day, but I'm too impatient to wait that long.” She began kissing me passionately and I felt myself responding accordingly. From then on, things proceeded as you would normally expect, except that I made sure that most of my energy was directed towards
Bella’s
happiness. At the end, she was weeping tears of pure bliss and exhilaration, and that gave me the
most
pleasure of all.

Chapter 18.

- Well, that was a marathon performance.

- Hey, without being rude or boasting, I was quite proud of myself that night.

- And you
should
be, sweetie. You changed Bella's life around by that session. She was a totally different person from then on.

- Yes, it did go rather well, didn't it?

- You needn’t be so smug. I know you're great at relationships and I'm not, but pride comes before a fall you know. Anyway, I want to describe what happened with me and Martina.

- Fire away. I'm all ears.

- No, you're not. If you
were
all ears, you wouldn’t be able to talk. Or eat. Or move around. Or anything.

- Don't be silly. Just get on with it.

- Don't get testy. Stress isn’t good for someone your age.

When we got home from the dance, I noticed that my brother was practically salivating at the prospect of getting Bella into bed……

- Hey! It wasn't like that at all!

- Yes, it was.

- Okay, maybe it was. But anyway,
you
should talk.

- Point taken.

Granted, I was feeling pretty much the
same
with regards to Martina. As I've said before, I hadn't had a relationship for simply ages, and that lack was beginning to hurt deep inside. I glanced across at Martina. She was so young and idealistic, I thought. What was I
doing
here? Our age difference was too great. I was far too old for her. Was I letting my need for companionship override my common sense? I should be wrapped up in a shawl, sitting in front of a fire and knitting socks, not trying to lure pre-kindergarten girls into my clutches. I was a horrible,
horrible
person.

At this stage of my gloomy mental soliloquy, Martina came up beside me, threw her arms around my waist and hugged me enthusiastically.

“Kim, my darling,” she exclaimed ardently, “you're the
best
thing that ever happened to me. I love you so much it scares me. Please don't
ever
leave.”

My heart melted and all of my dismal ponderings abruptly disappeared. I returned Martina’s hug with gratitude. Who could question such fidelity and commitment? Martina loved me and that should be enough for anyone.

I closed the door to my room and turned around, only to find Martina standing on the bed and bouncing up and down like a little kid.

“What the blazes are you
doing
?” I exclaimed in amazement. “
Stop
that!”

She giggled. “I'm just
enjoying
myself,” she answered, gaily. “You're so serious all the time, Kim. You
never
let your hair down. Come on, let yourself go once in a while. It'll do you good. Celebrate the inner child.”

I was half annoyed and half amused. Blast it, she was
wrecking
the mattress but, on the other hand, it did look like a lot of fun. My mind was in a whirl. Being with Martina was certainly expanding my horizons. I would
never
have thought of jumping on the bed up until now. I wondered what
else
she’d end up teaching me, I reflected, as I joined her. I hoped I wasn’t too set in my ways not to listen.

After a few minutes of frantic aerobic exercise, we stopped and sat on the bed, laughing.

“Come on now, Kim,” Martina asked with a grin, “admit that you enjoyed yourself.”

I tousled her hair. “Yes, you little scamp, I
did
. It was fun. So, what's next?”

“
This
is,” she answered solemnly, imprisoning my face in soft, gentle hands and kissing me ardently. I couldn't help but respond to her zealous urgency. My arms curled around her body and held her tightly. All my doubts about our liaison vanished. I couldn't fight it any more. I truly loved this girl and that was that. End of story.

We undressed each other and made love. The words ‘
made love
’ sound so prosaic and unsatisfying, but the reality was a world of difference. Now that I was committed to our relationship, I found that my sexual pleasure increased exponentially. I delighted in making Martina squirm with ecstasy, not that it was all that difficult to do. My merest touch anywhere on her body made her shiver in delight. Enviously, I wished that I could be aroused as easily. But Martina wasn’t selfish. Her manipulations alternated with mine and we both achieved a glorious ending almost at the same time. It was delightful.

Afterwards, we lay entwined in each other's arms, almost asleep.

“Thank you, Kim,” Martina whispered drowsily, as she snuggled closer. “That was breathtaking.”

“No, my lovely,” I contradicted. “I'm the one who should be thanking
you
. You're so good for me. You give my life new meaning.” I brushed back her sweat-drenched hair and kissed her affectionately on the forehead. “I love you, Martina.”

“And I’ll love you
forever
, Kim,” she softly replied, her voice drifting off into sleep. I lay awake for little longer, fuzzily contemplating the wondrous emotions that I felt, all due to this young woman slumbering in my arms. “I really don't deserve
any
of this,” I thought to myself as I slowly floated into oblivion.