CHAPTER 36 YOU’VE GOT HER IN YOUR POCKET
YOU’VE GOT HER IN YOUR POCKET
Phoenix
A few nights later, the sting of Orchid’s repulsion had dulled but not dissipated.
“Wanna come up?” Rina asked, one hand on the door to her brownstone. Phoenix had swilled enough wine over the evening that he paused before uttering his customary, “Not tonight.”
“Come see my tree,” she said, interrupting his hesitation.
“Is that a euphemism for—?”
“No,” she said dryly, turning her key in the lock, “That’d be, I want to see your tree.”
“Very funny.” He put up a finger to indicate that his driver should wait for him, and then followed Rina.
“You’re the ad guy, but you seem to find me funny.”
“Always have,” he agreed.
They traversed a narrow hallway. Rina unlocked a beige door with a jangle of keys and led him into her apartment.
The flicker of multi-colored holiday bulbs and electric candles in the street-facing windows lit the tiny living area.
A wall of warm air met them. She flooded the room with light from a standing lamp, which reduced any chance for her décor to charm.
“That’s your Christmas tree?” he asked, not trying to hide the skepticism in his squint.
“Yup. The upstairs neighbors lent me their old artificial tree. Lights are theirs, too,” she explained, closing the door behind them and hanging her jacket up.
“Old is the operative word there. They doing you a favor, or are you doing them a favor?” he asked, looking around. The furnishings were spare. He shrugged out of his overcoat and handed it to her.
“What am I going to do? My stuff’s all in Canada. I’m lucky I got three suitcases on the plane,” she said, placing his coat onto a hanger and smoothing it with one hand, in a gesture both tender and possessive. “Would you like a drink?”
“Sure, what do you have?”
“Some of those first-class airline bottles.” She took the handful of steps to rummage around a kitchen drawer. “Will this do?” She held up a curvy green glass, a miniature version of a full-size liquor bottle.
“Crème de menthe? Sure, if we’re going to throw an ice cream social.”
She threw him a sour look.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a tour instead.”
“That should take all of two minutes,” she said, waving a hand around the narrow room. “Living room, dining room, kitchen combo. Manhattan special.”
“I’ll bet the place came furnished,” he noted. “Except for the tree, of course.”
“You betcha. Next, you’re going to tell me your tree is better than mine.”
“Euphemisms again.”
When she faced him, he bent towards her. Soft lips brushed his. She smelled earthy, like musk mingled with brown sugar.
“Okay, we won’t talk in code. Come with me.” She led him by the hand to the back of the apartment where a small room housed a bed, side table and closet. Streetlights shone through the bare window.
She let go of him to pad through the dark room and flip on a soft light next to her bed. She returned with a wrapped box. “Merry Christmas,” she said.
“I thought we already exchanged gifts.”
She touched a hand to the chain around her neck. “We have, and I absolutely love my gift. This is just a little something more.”
He tucked the parcel under his left elbow and loosened the tape at the edges.
“Want help with that?”
“No, thanks.” The offer irritated him. He tore at the surface one-handed. Then, the holly-covered paper ripped to reveal a logo. Rina blushed.
“Condoms? Is this a present for you?” He held up the box for inspection.
“Hope so,” she smiled up at him.
He caught her wrist to prevent her from flipping on the overhead light switch. He didn’t want to see his body. Why would anyone else? Yet, desire tussled with self-protection and its resulting abstinence.
He leaned down to touch lips to hers. “I haven’t been with anyone since the accident,” he murmured between kisses. He kept his voice even but he could feel the tightening of fear in his throat. Where will this lead? Rejection? Repulsion?
“Sounds like it’s about time then.” Rina wriggled free and stepped farther into the room, looking back to watch him following her. She peeled off her slate-gray jacket. “Your driver okay?” She slung the jacket over a chair.
“Yeah, I’m sure he can wait.” He watched Rina unfastening the pearl orbs holding her silk blouse together.
“You joining me?” she asked, as she revealed pale skin against a petal pink bra. She placed the top over the blazer. Her pants followed. She’s really very pretty.
Phoenix walked over to the side table and placed the condoms onto a pile of business books. “Are you sure about this?”
She slipped over to face him and reached out, grasping his arm and his hand. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Why not? I can give her reasons. Two, to be exact.
“Of course, my trained actuary, you’re pretty sure about everything, aren’t you?” He stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around her naked waist, one side not reaching all the way around.
“I’m going with fifty-fifty odds on that,” she retorted, slipping his buttons out of their openings until she reached his waistband and stripped away his shirt. He avoided his reflection in her bureau mirror.
He buried his face into her hair. “You smell great,” he said. He kissed her, and threaded fingers through her hair. He let the silky strands flow through his grasp.
“You smell amazing, too,” she confessed, her expression softer than it seemed in her business attire.
He stepped back to loosen his pants and let them fall to the floor. Rina’s gaze slid down his body to the carbon fitting holding him up. He pictured what she was seeing. The stretchy fabric of his liner reached up his thigh. Below his knee, a tapered metal cylinder attached to a metal pole.
He felt shame flame his cheeks and threw a glance at the bedspread, seeking a way to cover himself. Aw, shit. Abort mission.
“Maybe I should take you up on that crème de menthe after all. Any booze will do.”
She closed the small distance between them. “Hey, Walker, did I ever tell you that you’re the hottest guy I know?” She touched a finger to one shoulder and sprang back with a smile. “Ouch!”
She ran a finger down his truncated arm. “You let me know if you need me to do something or not do something, okay?”
“I would, except I have to tell you, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
“Me either. I’m a virgin.”
“Really?” His mind backed up, how was he going to figure out how to move his unbalanced form and teach her at the same time?
“I’m kidding.”
“That’s a relief. I wish I was joking about not knowing what I’m doing.”
She pointed at the bed. “You want to give it a try?”
“Um, you know walking with a prosthesis has given me a really strong butt?”
“I’m already sold.” She glared at him.
He sat and tugged off his artificial leg and prosthetic sock, avoiding her gaze. What the hell could any sane woman be thinking, seeing his body, malformed like an unfinished painting?
Screw it. He pulled them both onto the soft expanse of the mattress.
In one hasty motion, Rina stripped off her petal-pink panties. His body responded to the satin of her flesh. He leaned on an elbow and rolled on a condom, slowed by the awkwardness of performing a new task one-handed.
“You want me on the bottom?” she asked.
“Let’s try it.” He maneuvered over her and threw the blanket over his leg. He tried balancing on the end of his arm. “Ouch.”
“You okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” he lied. He lowered himself onto his elbows and entered her warmth. She wrapped her legs around his. What does she make of the blank space below my left knee?
He kissed the corner of her mouth. She shifted with him languidly, then with more urgency.
The sensations triggered his hips to rock against hers of their own volition.
She bucked and pushed, urging him to pound faster.
He tried to comply, slipping on the leg that could find no purchase.
He ignored the cramp in his thigh holding an unaccustomed position.
Then, they found their rhythm and he lost himself in their movement with no sense of time passing.
Her tension ascended into a crescendo. She threw her head back, arched up and cried out. He could feel her tighten around him. Before she descended from her high, he came with a shudder that ran the length of his body. His lungs expelled with a release like no other.
Their panting slowed until their breathing was in sync.
“What’s so funny?” He lay on her, heavy and unmoving. Not his best performance.
She pressed her mouth into his shoulder, trying to control herself. She shook her head. “It’s not you. I’m a bad girl.”
“I’m getting a complex here. How was that?”
“Better than I could’ve imagined. You?” She rubbed his back and kissed one shoulder.
He leaned up on an elbow to look at her. “I’m good.” He studied her for a few moments more, brushing hair back from her face. What the hell was she thinking?
“I hate to do this to you, but I have to go. You okay if I don’t stay?”
She nodded and mumbled, her ability to speak as relaxed as the rest of her body. “Yeah, I’m okay. Your driver is waiting.”
He pulled on his briefs, leg and pants, and stood to zip them. Then he shrugged into his shirt.
She watched him slip on his shoes. “Thanks for my Christmas present, hot stuff.”
He grabbed his belt and leaned over to nuzzle Rina’s cheek. “Thank you. I like your tree.”
He paused at the bedroom door. She waved a hand, energy apparently sapped.
“See you next weekend,” she called, blowing a kiss.
“Hockey, right?”
He wasn’t really asking for confirmation. He’d teased her about arranging tickets for something in which he was barely interested. As he turned to go, he caught the reflection of his asymmetry in her mirrored bureau.
He winced.