CHAPTER FIFTEEN
No one stopped her this time. After some experimentation and failure, she was able to operate Jonathan's boat and get back to the hotel. She ran up the stairs to her room, too impatient to wait for the elevator. She couldn't finish her packing too quickly! Her only thought was to get out and get far away.
She threw open the door of her room and saw Dr. Ciardi lounging in the only chair, smoking a cigar. He started when she burst in, then smiled in obvious relief.
'Thank God you're back!' he sighed. 'I was beginning to worry about you! I've been waiting for hours, to apologize for this afternoon. I really shouldn't have treated you like that.'
'Apologies accepted,' Jennifer said shortly. She hurried to the suitcases on the bed and got on with her work of departure. But curiosity moved her to add, 'Just what were you up to, anyway? Was I right? Were you just trying to get laid?'
He laughed. 'Yes and no. That is, I do have a powerful need for you, I admit it… But I also want to help you.'
'You could be an enormous help to me,' she said, 'if you'd call a taxi. I'll be ready in five minutes.'
'You're really frantic to leave, aren't you? Why? What's so repulsive about this place?'
'Oh, my God,' she sighed. 'I don't think you have any idea what goes on around here! Oh, you mentioned hanky-panky, innocent fun, but them's much more to it than that!'
Ciardi looked at her intently through his cigar smoke. 'Tell me about it. I want to understand just what's driving you away.'
She told him. Somehow she wanted to convince this strange, burly, mocking man that she was not crazy, that she had a compelling reason to leave. She began with the day of her arrival at the hotel and described everything up to the present, leaving nothing out, not even her relations with her brother. Towards the end she was blushing and stammering, and Ciardi was looking studiously at the floor. But she told it all, and he listened without interrupting her.
When she had finished and turned away to continue her packing, her hands trembling, she heard Ciardi's deep slow voice. 'Jennifer, I must apologize again. I was wrong about you, entirely wrong. I thought you were a silly, hysterical, uptight girl who was just imagining things. Now I know differently. Those people are different. Oh, I don't put them down for what they do in private and with mutual consent – that's none of my business. But to force an innocent girl to participate, to make you do all those things against your will – my God, that's awful! It's sick! I'd like to beat the shit out of that brother of yours! I've got half a mind to go out there right now and…'
'Charles.' She blushed as she used his first name at last. 'Please, let's not make waves. I don't want any more arguments, any more contact with those people. I just want to leave.'
'And where will you go? What will you do?'
'I don't know,' she admitted. 'I have no place in mind, I'm not trained for any particular work, but I'll find something.'
'Oh, to be sure,' he said bitterly. 'Maybe clerking in a dime store or waiting tables! Have you any money?'
'Very little, I'm afraid,' said Jennifer, hanging her head. 'I spent almost all my savings to fly over here.'
Ciardi seemed angry. 'Look in your purse. How much money do you have?'
Jennifer blushingly obeyed. 'Twenty dollars and some odd cents,' she announced.
'Jesus Christ!' snorted Ciardi. 'You propose to go out into a country you know nothing about, find work without being trained for anything, on twenty dollars? That's ridiculous!'
Jennifer stamped her foot. 'All right, so it's ridiculous! I agree! But since you're all-wise, tell me what else I can do! I can't stay here, can I?'
'No,' he said gently. 'You can't. I never meant to suggest it. I have a much more satisfactory plan in mind.' He rose and walked to her and put his arms around her. 'At the risk of sounding corny, let me take you away from all this, Jennifer.'
'What?' she gawked at him. 'You can't leave your job!'
'Oh, yes, I can,' he answered firmly. 'I've been thinking about it for along time. There's no pride, no professional satisfaction in a job like this – lolling around on my ass all day, collecting fees for treating imaginary illnesses. I want to do some real doctoring with real people, people who need me. I can't do that here. I have in mind a small town, somewhere here on the West Coast, where there's a desperate need for more doctors. I wouldn't make a much money as I do now, of course, and I'd have to work a helluva lot harder, but it's what I really want. How don it strike you, Jennifer? Would you enjoy that kind of life? Could you even tolerate it?'
She laid her head against his chest. How could she have been so blind? Here was a good man, an honest man, one who seemed to care for her sincerely, and she hadn't even recognized it until now. She trailed her arms around his neck, over his massive shoulders, his broad chest, and she felt warm and secure – and abruptly aroused. He was not only a good man, he was a very sexy man, another fact she'd been trying to hide from herself. She wanted to touch him all over, everywhere at once, but she restrained herself. This was too big a thing to rush into.
'Charles,' she said meekly. 'I need to think. I'm very fond of you, I like your plan – but everything seems so sudden. Give me a while, will you?'
'Of course.' He smoothed her hair. 'Give me a kiss, though.'
She complied willingly, and it was as good as before. She loved the sheltering expanse of his chest and heavily muscled arms, the way she could sink against him and feel secure, the way he kissed her – softly at first, then with growing excitement and insistence, working her lips open, slipping his tongue deep into her mouth and holding it there as if to proclaim his possession of her. She sighed, then started a little as she felt his warm hand on her breast. She began to draw away, then stopped. There was something about his touch, she couldn't understand what – but she was suddenly, violently horny! She blushed as he went on kissing her, fondling her tits, wondering at herself. Never had she been so powerfully turned on to a man before, so wild with desire for him. Her passion embarrassed her and she fought against it. But somehow he began to sense her arousal.
He broke the kiss. 'Jennifer,' he whispered. 'Don't fight it! Remember what I told you this afternoon – it was all true! If you want me, want me completely, then don't hold back!'
He kissed her again and, responding to his words, she thrust her tongue into his mouth lustily. He was right, she should hold back nothing. For the first time in her life she felt aggressive with a man, wild to seduce and enjoy him, ready to take tie initiative. She felt no shame. Even as she played her tongue around in his mouth, she fumbled for his crotch, found the warm bulge of his cock, and began to stroke it. He moaned deeply in his throat. She snaked her hand downward, found his balls beneath the cloth, and stroked there, too. He moved his hips back and forth, feeding his testicles to her squeezing hand. Jennifer could not understand his effect on her, her sudden wild horniness, but she was not ashamed when she felt her cunt beginning to seep its hot juices.
Ciardi pushed her gently away and began easing her dress down over her shoulders. His face was flushed and excited, and his big hands shook as he drew the dress down over her naked breasts, over her hips, uncovering her tiny pink panties. The dress slipped to the floor and Jennifer stepped out of it. Ciardi swallowed hard and bent to cup and kiss and suck her pretty tits. She let him do it for a few moments, her cunt creaming heavily as his hot tongue made her nipples quiver and spring erect.
Then she pushed him away and gave him a mischievous look.
'This is my seduction,' she grinned. 'I'm in charge! You just stand there and blush while I leer at you and undress you!'
He didn't blush, but he stood still as she began to unknot his tie. She felt him trembling almost imperceptibly. She grinned at him lewdly while she removed his tie and shift. His chest was thick with black hair, and she impulsively rubbed her breasts against him, enjoying the furry feeling. Then she reached for his belt buckle, smiling to herself at the huge bump of his crotch. Oh, she was turning him on, all right, even though he was trying to remain silent and dignified! She urged him out of his pants, shoes, and socks. His shorts were another matter – by now his cock and balls were so swollen that her work was difficult. At last, however, she had him completely undressed, and she stood back to admire her work, licking her lips as she gazed at his powerful, hairy body.
