'He was ten feet away from me.'
I shrugged.
She shifted her weight, holding her head in one hand, her elbow cocked against the bed. Her breast was an inch from my face. The dark nipple looked tiny against the white globe. I kissed it. Her hand pulled against me in response.
'He's really that fast?'
'Faster.'
Belle moved her head into my chest again. Her hand slid down the shaft, cupping my balls, lifting them gently, like she was trying to guess their weight. Her voice was all soft curves, hardness flexing underneath, the same as her body. 'Tell the truth. When you saw me in the club - in the play - and you wanted to answer my prayers?'
'Yeah?'
'What did you want to do?'
'I'm not sure . . .'
'Tell me!' she whispered hard against my chest, her hand closing on me.
'I wanted to rescue you,' I said.
She moved her hand back to the shaft, shifting her body on top of mine, fitting me inside her. She was wet - I slid in like a bullet being chambered. Her hands were on either side of me, taking her weight, her breasts brushing my face. I moved my hands to her butt as she started to grind against me.
Her mouth came down to mine. 'Rescue me,' she said.
36
When I woke up a while later, Belle's face was on the pillow next to mine, her body still covering me. I couldn't see my watch. I flexed my shoulders to see if I could slide from under her without waking her up.
'You want a cigarette, baby?'
'I didn't know you were awake,' I said.
'I never went to sleep. I've been here all along.'
'How come you didn't get up?'
'I was guarding you,' she said, her face close to mine. 'I knew the only way you'd sleep is if I didn't move.'
She padded over to the kitchen, opened a door next to the refrigerator. I heard water running. Belle came back with a big glass ashtray, cigarettes and matches inside, a washcloth over one shoulder. She bent over me, set the ashtray on the far side. She put a cigarette in her mouth, fired it up, handed it to me. Lit one for herself.
She smiled down at me in the darkness. 'Are you my boyfriend now?'
I thought I was going to laugh - it came out kind of a snort. 'Your boyfriend?'
'Yes, my boyfriend.'
'What does that mean?'
'I don't know. I never had a boyfriend. But if you rescued me, you have to be my boyfriend, right?'
'If that's what it takes to rescue you, there must have been a thousand applicants for the job.'
She bent to kiss me. 'You're a sweet man. But that was a down payment. I'm not rescued yet.'
She ground out her cigarette, pulled the washcloth off her shoulder. Started to clean me off, not being that gentle about it. The washcloth was wet, warm. I felt myself growing in her hands.
I finished my cigarette. Belle was still scrubbing me like she was going to use my cock for surgery, kneeling on the floor, her body at right angles to mine. I lit another. She tossed the washcloth aside, climbed on the bed, her knees next to my chest. She bent forward and took me in her mouth, her butt in the air, blocking my view of the rest of the world.
She took her mouth from me, peeking back over one shoulder, licking her lips. 'Put out your cigarette.'
'Why?'
'I don't want you to burn me.'
'I wouldn't burn you.'
She caught the warning in my voice. 'I didn't mean on purpose, honey,' she whispered. 'I know you're not like that.'
I held the cigarette in my left hand, took a deep drag, my right hand stroking her outside thigh.
'Just don't keep it in your mouth,' she said, bending forward again, nibbling at my cock. She swallowed the engorged tip, sucking hard. I put the cigarette in my mouth, dragging deep, letting the smoke bubble out my nose, lost in the feeling.
Belle moved her inside foot against me, sliding it onto my chest. I shifted the cigarette to my left hand as she threw her leg over, straddling me, her butt still in the air, now squarely in front of me. She wiggled her rear, sucking, working her tongue. I took another drag. Her butt came down, moving toward my face. I flashed my right hand hard against her cheek, a sharp crack in the quiet room.
She pointed her butt in the air again, pulling her mouth off me. 'Was that a message - or did you just want to see what it felt like?'
'A message,' I told her.
'Why didn't you just tell me?'
'There wasn't time.'
She pivoted on her knees so her face was close to mine. 'You don't want to taste me?'
'No.'
'Why not, honey? Don't you think I'd be sweet?'
'It's not that.'
'You think a man doesn't do stuff like that?'
I snubbed out the cigarette. 'I don't think that. It's just not me.'
'Prison?'
'It's not that simple. There's no code against it.' I laughed. 'The only cons who swear they've never eaten a woman are pimps.'
Belle rubbed her face against my chest. 'Wouldn't you do something to make me happy?'
'Some. Things. You understand?'
'I'd do whatever you want.'
'The only way it works is if you do what you want, Belle. That's the only thing that goes the distance.'
She lit a cigarette for herself.
'Do you have a woman?'
'Yes.'
'With you?'
'No.'
'Where is she?'
'I don't know.'
The tip of her cigarette flared. 'But you love her - you're waiting for her?'
'Yes.'
'She's coming back?'
'I don't know.'
She ran her hands through her hair, holding it in a bun on top of her head, looking down at me.
'Will you love me?'
'I never thought I would love her,' I said.
She held the cigarette to my mouth. Her face was intent in the light it threw. She didn't have to ask me to tell the truth - he knew it when she heard it.
'I'm going to love you, Burke. And you're going to rescue me.' She moved her hand away from my face, leaving the cigarette in my mouth.
'If I try to sit on your face again, you going to give me another smack?'
