'Okay? That's it? Okay? I know why you're here. I know what you want.'
'Sure.'
'Don't be slick— you don't have the looks for it. I could save you a lot of time, point you straight. That's not your secret— that's mine. You want it?'
'Maybe.'
'People wait for me, I told you. You can wait too. You know how it works— you want something, you have to pay, yes?'
'How much?'
'A lot. Not money. I don't need money. You want to pay, you have to play. Play with me, get it?'
'No.'
She walked over to the bureau, rummaged around, like she knew what would be in there. Came up with a fat white hurricane candle. She held it out to me.
'Light this,' she said, her voice rough–edged, insistent.
I cracked a wooden match, held it to the wick. Her hand was steady. When the candle flickered into life, she went back to the bureau, held it in one hand over her head as she swept everything onto the floor with the other. She planted the candle, stepped back, watched the flame in the mirror over the bureau, adjusted it until she was satisfied.
'Go turn out the lights,' she said, still giving orders. 'Do it now.
I stepped back, hit the switch, still watching her.
The black dress had a wide zipper all the way down the front, anchored with a silver pull–ring the size of a half–dollar between her breasts. It made a metal–singing sound as she pulled it down. She shrugged her shoulders and the dress fell away. Then she stood facing me, hands on hips. Her breasts were bare. A humming sound came off her, not from her mouth. She hooked her thumbs in the waistband to the thong, pulled it slowly over her hips. When she had it worked down to just above her knees, she wiggled her legs and it dropped to her ankles. She stepped out of the little piece of black silk, hooked the toe of a blue spike heel into the pile and kicked the thong over in my direction. I felt it brush against my feet but I never dropped my eyes from her face.
She turned her back to me. Put one knee on the bed, looked over her shoulder. Climbed the rest of the way onto the bed, on her hands and knees, facing away from me.
'You want to play now?' she whispered.
I took out a cigarette. Walked over to the candle, got a light. I took a deep drag, put the cigarette on the dresser top. Her butt looked like a piece of white marble, the dark stockings setting it off like a centerpiece. The spikes of her heels were pointed back at me.
I took off my clothes, watching, breathing through my nose, something telling me I needed to keep a control card in my deck.
I hung my clothes over the back of a straight chair. Stepped to her. I put one hand on her hip, touched her deep with the other. She was wet. I entered her slowly. She snapped her hips to the side, throwing me out.
'Kiss first,' she said, not turning around.
I put my hands on her shoulders to pull her around. She locked her arms rigid, resisting.
'Kiss my ass,' she ordered. 'Kiss it good.'
I stepped back. 'Not this year,' I told her. Calm, not arguing.
'Make you mad?' she challenged. 'Here!' handing me the riding crop, still not turning around.
I tossed it onto the floor, still watching her. The marble glistened in the candlelight.
I went back over to the bureau. Took another drag from my cigarette. She didn't move.
A piece of time passed. I walked back to her, put one hand on each of her cheeks, stroked with my thumbs.
'No!' she snapped. 'Kiss it or whip it, that's all there you get. I don't do vanilla sex.'
I stepped back again. Finished the smoke. Ground it out on the dresser top.
'Well?' she demanded, her voice thick.
'I don't like the choices,' I told her.
She looked over her shoulder, still on her hands and knees. 'It looks like you do,' she whispered.
'That's my body,' I said. 'Not me.
She dropped her face to the sheet, arched her back. Her dark sex bloomed in the candlelight, framed in marble. 'Last chance,' she whispered. Sugar threats.
I shook my head. It was as though she could see it without looking. She backed toward me, backed all the way off the bed. Stood up. Walked over, put the dress on like it was a coat, bent at the waist and zipped it up. Snuffed out the candle with two fingers and stalked out to the front room.
I followed her. She was pulling on the long coat. I grabbed her from behind. She ground her hips into my crotch. I slipped my hands into the side pockets of the coat. Pulled out a bunch of keys, stepped back. The keys were all anchored to a piece of wood in the shape of a tiny cane. I rifled through the keys, picked out the one to the apartment, pulled it off the ring. She turned to face me. I handed her the rest of the keys. She held the keys so the tiny cane dangled.
'You know what this is?'
