Running on Empty
Fumes
Larry dropped them all off at Theo’s condominium.
“Where is your home?” Eleni asked Simo.
“Right up there. Across from the pool.”
“There?” Eleni pointed.
“Yes,” Theo interjected.
“I will see you both in the morning. Get some rest,” Simo said.
“I’m not the one who needs a rest. Look in the mirror, Malaka.” Eleni smiled ruefully.
“Yeah, yeah.” Simo chuckled, waved goodbye, and began the short walk to his condo. He basked in the warm California evening as he took his time walking the short distance to his place. Going inside, he locked the door behind him. No sooner had he entered the kitchen than his doorbell rang.
Perplexed, Simo looked through the front door’s peephole and saw long blonde hair, then Lilly’s beautiful face. “Fuck,” Simo sighed as he ran his hand down his face, then adjusted his ponytail and opened the door.
“Surprise,” Lilly smiled cautiously.
“Lilly…”
She interrupted quickly. “I’m sorry to surprise you like this! I—I just missed you… and—and I guess I wasn’t thinking. I should have called… I, uh, brought dessert?” She held up a Cheesecake Factory box.
Simo wanted to tell her to leave, but guiltily capitulated at her offer of dessert. He opened the door wider to let her in.
“Oh!” Lilly smiled and quickly stepped inside.
“Would you like an Ouzo or some wine?” Simo asked, trying hard to not sigh, more from weariness than Lilly being there.
“Oh, yes! I can get it. You look really tired. Sit down. I’ll dish up!”
Simo paused, then nodded. He let Lilly direct him back to his family room, and she sat him down on his chair, picked up the remote, and quickly found a sports channel for him. She tentatively kissed his cheek. “I’ll get dessert dished up. It’s your favorite, cheesecake with cherry topping.”
“Thanks,” Simo replied. Suddenly, a thought struck him.
She had to have been waiting outside for him, and now she would have questions about Eleni.
He groaned inwardly and watched Lilly’s lithe body walk into his kitchen.
Within moments, Lilly had a tray with the cheesecake dished up, a glass of wine for herself, and a tumbler of Ouzo over ice.
She set a napkin on Simo’s knee, then set his Ouzo down on his side table.
He reached for the small plate she had in her hand, but she waved him off with a ‘tsk’.
She kneeled down slowly, and soon had a bite of cheesecake on a fork, ready to feed Simo.
As Simo opened his mouth to complain, she put a forkful of delicious cheesecake in Simo’s open mouth. “Got you,” Lilly laughed.
Simo felt some of his resolve slip away as she slowly slid the fork out from between his full lips.
He knew what she wanted… but he was so damned tired.
She made feeding him as sexy as she could without being corny.
When his cheesecake was gone, instead of wiping his lips with a napkin, she leaned close and licked his lips softly with her tongue.
With her pearly white teeth, she lightly bit down on Simo’s bottom lip and ran her soft, wet tongue over his lip.
Despite his exhaustion, he felt himself rise to Lilly’s occasion.
In the dark recesses of his mind, a part of him wanted to push her away and tell her no.
But the other, the physical side, was not to be denied.
Tired of fighting with himself, and knowing how she wanted it, he kissed her back, hard.
“Oh!” Lilly whispered sexily, surprised.
“What?”
“I—I was expecting… resistance.” Lilly smiled sexily.
He wanted to say something sexy in return, but his mind was slower than his mouth. “Too tired,” he smirked.
Reaching down and inside his pants, she grabbed his manhood and sighed with desire. “It’s been a long time… since I, I mean we... did it.”
Simo nodded his head. “It has.”
Almost reluctantly, Lilly let go of him.
Slowly, she stood up as she stared at the bulge in Simo’s pants.
She began wiggling her hips and pulling up her skirt, revealing her long, gorgeous legs…
but Jessie’s were longer. With deliberate gyrations of her hips, she hiked her skirt up past her hips, revealing that she was not wearing any panties.
With a coy smile, she bent over and unzipped Simo’s pants.
From the wall, to bending her over the chair, to her with her belly flat on the floor, Simo used all his energy to please the beautiful Grammy Award songstress.
He enjoyed himself as much as he could, but he never got lost in the passion of their sex like he remembered with Jessie.
Although, he did enjoy Lilly’s sex sounds.
When she orgasmed, she sang out like her final note at one of her concerts.
Rolling off of her, he collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted and spent. He could feel her twitching next to him as she labored to roll over. Finally, she managed and draped her long arm across his chest.
“My God…” she panted.
“You ok?” Simo muttered tiredly.
“Oh, yeah.” She smiled.
“Lilly… I’m sorry, but I am so tired.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “I know… I feel bad, but I needed you.”
“It’s ok,” he whispered, closing his eyes.
“Simo?”
Slowly, Simo opened one eye. “…yes?”
“Was that the Eleni from Greece you hugged by Theo’s condo?”
Simo’s eyes popped open as he looked into Lilly’s, anxious eyes. “Spying?”
“Well… I was waiting for you in my car. I saw you from where I was parked…”
“Ah. Yes, that was Eleni. Why?”
“Oh… nothing.”
Simo shook his head. “It’s never just nothing…” Simo replied.
“Well? It’s just that she’s pretty… in a hard kinda way.”
Simo shrugged. “Never really thought of that.”
“Really?” Lilly gasped.
“Yeah, really. She’s a soldier and cop.”
“Oh… has, has she ever killed anyone?”
“Lilly…”
“I’m sorry! I know that’s bad. I was just curious, that’s all.”
Simo watched her beautiful face and wondered why he couldn’t fall for this gorgeous woman who obviously loved him with all her heart. Meeting her eyes, he held them for a long, quiet moment. “Yes, she has.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t worry…”
Lilly put her finger on his lips, silencing him. “Does she know about me?”
He thought it would be a loving thing to kiss her soft finger, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He gently moved her hand away and nodded. “She does.”
In near desperation, she blurted out, “Does she know that I love you?”
“Why?” He watched her look away and stare up at the ceiling. He could see her eyes beginning to water. “Lilly?”
Lilly’s soft hands shot up and covered her face as she sobbed. “I… I saw the way she looked at you as you left… we girls know that look. She wants you, Simo. She wants you…”
Simo’s heart fell a little. Reaching over, he pulled her close.
“Hey. We joke about it, that’s all…” Thinking that would help proved the exact opposite.
Lilly tried hard not to burst out crying.
He could see her shoulders and bare belly quiver under the strain, and he pulled her closer. “I’m sorry.”
Lilly sniffed from under her hands. “I’m fine. Really, I am.”
Simo knew she was far from fine and could feel her withdrawing. “What can I do?”
Pulling her hands away from her tear-streaked face, she stared at him. “You can’t.” She sniffed as she collected herself.
“Uh, can’t what?”
Her tears came rolling down her cheeks as she extricated herself from his arms. Sitting up, she turned to him, tears running down her cheeks, and bared her soul. “I know you don’t love me... like I love you.”
“Lilly…”
“Simo! Stop! You know? Every day I hope and hope… hell, I even pray that you will fall for me! But… but with your past catching up to you here. I know…” She sobbed and gently pushed Simo’s consoling hand away.
“I know that your heart is locked away from me. I said I would fight for you, but, but seeing that Eleni looking at you; I’m afraid she would hurt me… ”
“Stop this!” Simo blurted out. He sat up as Lilly looked at him in surprise. “Eleni would never do anything to hurt you! That is fucking ridiculous! We are trained to help and protect people!”
“I—I…” Lilly began.
Glaring her into silence, Simo reached for his pants, pulled out his phone from the pocket, unlocked it, and opened up the phone’s internet browser, and thrust the phone at Lilly. “Google the Turkish hijacking in Athens. Do it.”
With nervous hands, Lilly accepted the phone and did as she was told.
Simo watched her eyes widen as the scene from the hijacking with him and Eleni years ago played out for Lilly.
He watched her hand shoot up and cover her mouth as she let out a squeak.
He guessed she was watching the scene where he tossed the dead hijacker's body down the stairs to clear the area to the cockpit. He continued to watch her, and knew by the soft look in her eyes that she was watching the newscast when the boy hijacker, whom he was ordered to kill and didn’t, kissed his cheek on the tarmac.
She was wiping her tears away as she handed him back his phone.
“That is what we do. We kill to protect others. I still do... mostly.”
Lilly nervously fidgeted as she worked through what she saw. The man she loved killed another human being. Swallowing hard, she looked up at Simo. “Was the boy a hijacker, too?”
Simo sighed heavily. “Yes. I was ordered to kill him… to kill them all. I couldn’t… the boy is slow… he was duped. His gun wasn’t even real… I disobeyed direct orders. I lost my job, lost my wife, and lost my country.”
“What? Your country? You never told me this!”
“Very long story, but yes, I was told to leave Greece or else. I can’t tell you more, I’m sorry.”
“I see… um, so what happened to the boy?”
“He is in high school in Greece. A family adopted him... His brother is out of our equivalent of a boot camp. He has a job at the American Embassy and sees his little brother regularly. Their lives are better than what they had in Turkey… it’s all they wanted in the end.”
“Wow…” Lilly smiled suddenly. “You helped them, didn’t you?”
Simo rolled his eyes. “Maybe.”