“That was beautiful, baby,” Ryan said after he’d come back down from his sexual high.
“I’m glad you liked it and hope you’re not angry about what I did to you.”
“Cut me loose and I’ll show you exactly how I feel.”
I undid the Velcro straps on the handcuffs and he quickly pushed me down underneath him. For a split second, I wasn’t certain if he was angry or not. The look on his face didn’t give me a clue, but when he began to kiss me, I felt relieved. It was a passionate kiss that would have knocked my socks off—had I been wearing any. Instead, it stoked the fire that had been steadily simmering in my furnace.
Ryan ran his tongue and hands down the length of my body through the silk of my underwear. When he got down to my thighs, he slowly undid my garters and rolled the stockings down and off one leg at a time. When my legs were bare, he ran his tongue over the tender, sensitive skin of my inner thighs, making me squirm. Even though it was damn pleasurable, I couldn’t help but think he was evening up the score. Finally he stopped and kissed my pussy through my lacy, barely-there silk thong. Lifting my buttocks, he sucked and licked me through the thin material, teasing me. I wanted to rip off that silky barrier, but he prevented me. Instead, he slipped a finger inside and stroked my clit as he continued the torture. Finally, he slipped the thong off me and removed my bra.
He reached up and took hold of my beaded nipples, fanning them as he sank his tongue deep within me. By now I felt the first tremor of my orgasm beginning and allowed myself to be swept into the vortex of pleasure as it took over my body. I moaned loudly as my entire body pulsated with one heavenly wave of bliss after another.
That had been a night to remember. I’d gotten up the courage to experiment and it certainly paid off. My last thought before falling asleep was where it all might lead us.
* * *
The following morning, persistent knocking on Ryan’s apartment door woke us.
Ryan whispered, “I’ll just see who it is and get rid of them,” he said, planting a kiss on my forehead.
But I was already awake and needed to use the bathroom. Getting out of bed, I could hardly miss what was being said, since the voices carried.
It was Bill. I heard him apologize for waking Ryan. “I didn’t realize you had company. Who is it this time? The blonde from the seventh floor?”
“No, Sarah.”
“Sarah? Sarah who?”
“The librarian.”
“The librarian? That black broad? You’ve got to be kidding. You won the dare fair and square. No need to take the stray home.”
Dare? Stray? Those words and their implications echoed mercilessly in my head. All this between us, did it really mean nothing to Ryan? Had I been an interlude or perhaps an experiment? He’d probably never had any black sugar before. And I thought he cared. Boy, did I buy the bridge he was selling. I grabbed my clothes and ran into the bathroom as the first tears slipped from my eyes. Whoever coined the words “the truth hurts” couldn’t have been more right. My original gut instinct had been bang on. It had been all too good to be true. The only reason Ryan asked me out in the first place was to win a lousy dare! Our entire relationship had been built on a lie. A damn bet! How could I believe anything Ryan said now?
Ryan knocked on the bathroom door. “Sarah, are you all right?”
I came out fully dressed.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Tell me, Ryan, how much did Bill pay you to sleep with me?”
“You heard what Bill said?” he asked, trying to put his arms around me.
“Let me go!” I wrestled away from his grasp.
“No. I want you to stay.”
“I have nothing to stay for.”
“At least hear me out,” he pleaded, following me from the room like a puppy at my heels.
“It’s true I initially asked you out on a dare. I just never expected to fall in love with you.”
“Too bad, it was all a sick joke,” I said, and walked out of his apartment, slamming the door behind me in finality.
I cried all the way home. It was a wonder I got home at all. I had no idea how I was going to get over Ryan. I only knew that I had to if I intended to get on with my life. I decided to take a leave of absence from the library. Getting away for a while seemed like the best solution. Maybe I’d find a job in another city with different scenery and start a new life.
Memories of my childhood came flooding back. All those terrible foster care homes, where all I meant was an extra few bucks for the woman and an easy target for her husband or boyfriend of the week. Just an easy mark? Was that all I was to Ryan, too?
The telephone began to ring. I knew it had to be Ryan. I had no desire to talk to him, feeling as hurt as I did, so I took the phone off the hook. Then I realized that he’d probably come over.
Frantically, I threw some things
