"Okay," said Grace, "I'll slip into something more comfortable. Any suggestions?"
"How about just a dolphin?" he leered at her.
"Hmmm...I'll think about that." She lowered herself from his car. "Don't be long," she waved and turned to go inside.
Gary was on duty at the desk. "Well, look at you!" he exclaimed. "No more crutches."
"Isn't it great?" said Grace, "I feel like I'm doing everything at hyperspeed. But check this out." She pulled her pant legs halfway up her calves.
Gary couldn't resist laughing. "I see some suntanning in your future."
Grace laughed along with him. "You don't have to be a psychic to figure that out." She moved off to the elevator. "Nick's looking for a parking spot. When he comes in, just send him up, okay?"
Gary's stomach fell. He had seen Nick drive off and was hoping he was gone for the night. "Sure, Grace, no problem." The elevator door opened and she disappeared inside. Gary wondered if she was like that with everyone, flirting and showing her body, and then going off with someone else. A girl could get herself in trouble that way if she led on the wrong guy.
When Nick came through the lobby a few minutes later, Gary barely glanced at him, just waved him to the elevator. Nick's quick pace and intent look told Gary all he needed to know about what was about to take place in 4B. He made a note in his logbook and reached for one of his magazines.
Nick stepped off the elevator and walked up the hall. He stopped in front of Grace's door. He took a deep breath and said a small prayer. Please God, this is important. Please don't let me mess this up. He tried the door. It was unlocked. He stepped in and closed and locked the door behind him. He didn't see Grace anywhere. The big room was lit up from the streetlights outside, but there were no lights on. A ribbon of light shone from the bedroom doorway. Nick made his way toward it.
"Grace?" he called gently, "It's Nick." Dumb thing to say, he thought, but he didn't want to startle her.
"I certainly hope so," she answered.
Nick walked into the room. Grace stood by the bed, wearing the green satin robe from earlier. He smiled at her. "I seem to remember this from before." He ran his hands down her arms. "Soft and smooth," he muttered, half to himself.
Grace's hands began undoing the buttons on his shirt. When it was open, she began kissing his chest, running her fingers and her lips over his tattoo. Nick shrugged the shirt off his arms. He reached for the sash on her robe and tugged it free. He reached one hand inside and began fondling her breasts. He ran the other hand down her back.
Grace's hands moved down to his belt. She brushed her hand over him and could feel his need for her. She undid his belt and the button on his pants. His erection was straining the material and she found the zipper difficult to maneuver.
Nick let go of her and undid the zipper himself. Then he reached out and pulled the robe gently from Grace's shoulders. She stood before him, the tiny dolphin glinting in the light. He took in every part of her with his eyes. Then he looked at her face. "I think I need to make love to you now," he whispered, his voice husky with passion.
"Yes, please," she whispered back.
Nick removed his pants and they stood naked before each other. Grace ran her fingers down his stomach to his erection. She lightly outlined its shape with her fingertips. Her delicate touch drove him wild. He pulled her to him pressing his swollen member against her stomach. He kissed her neck and her shoulders. He guided her backwards and laid her on the bed. "I want you so much," he whispered, kneeling beside her.
"I'm not very good at this." The confession was a plaintive whisper. She wasn't sure if he heard her.
Nick knelt between her legs. He kissed her ankle sweetly and then moved his lips up her leg. His fingers followed the same path up the other leg. Lips and fingers met at the top, coming together at her centre. He gently caressed her with his fingers, separating her folds and massaging her, while his mouth left little fiery prints along her stomach from one hipbone to the other. Finally, he lowered his mouth over her. Grace gripped the bedspread in her hands. She could barely breathe. Nick used his tongue and his lips and his teeth. And then, Grace was gone - spiraling out of orbit, rocketing through space, stars exploding all around her.
Nick felt her orgasm move through her. He lifted his mouth from her and moved it up her body slowly, his tongue circling her navel and then poking in. Upward to her breasts, where he sucked on each one, gently and then with a growing intensity. He moved himself between her legs and positioned himself at her opening. He raised his head to look in her eyes, as he began to enter her and he saw...TERROR! Stark, heart-stopping terror. It was only for a moment, but it was there. He moved back from her.
"No," moaned Grace. "Keep going. It's okay."
But it wasn't okay. Nick lifted himself away from her and lay alongside her.
"Please, Nick, please," begged Grace. "It's okay. It's your turn."
My turn? What the hell? Nick's erection dissipated rapidly, as confusion flooded his brain.
Grace started trembling and tears began trickling from her eyes. Her hands fluttered over his chest and then downward. She grasped him in her hands and tried frantically to manipulate him back to where he had been.
Nick couldn't figure out what the hell was going on but he knew he needed time to think. "Grace, don't," he said, knocking her hands away and turning, so that she no longer had access to him.
"I can do other things," she said and he felt her sliding her body downward.
“No!” he said, jumping off the bed and grabbing his boxers. “Grace, you’re not a whore. You don’t have to make me come. You don’t keep score, for God’s sakes!” Nick tried to control his words; he could see that each one of them was like a slap to her. But he couldn’t help it. This whole situation was so different from what he expected. He kept pulling on his clothes.
Grace huddled at the top of the bed, with her legs pulled up and her arms crossed in front of her in a defensive posture. She rocked her body and stared at her hands.
“Grace…” Nick softened his voice, but she wouldn’t look at him. “Grace, I need to think. Grace, do you hear me?”
She nodded faintly.
He moved toward her, but she recoiled. “Go,” she whispered sadly. “Just go.”
So he did.
******************************Gary was barely halfway through one magazine when the elevator door opened and Nick came hurtling off. He was out the front door and gone almost before Gary had registered his presence. That was not a happy man, thought Gary with satisfaction, wondering for a moment what had happened. He happily noted Nick's exit in his logbook and turned back to his magazine with a shrug.
******************************Upstairs, Grace lay on the bed, curled up in as tight a ball as she could make of herself. She rocked back and forth and moaned. The moans turned into wails and the tears finally came, great sobs wracking her body - all the tears she had been unable to shed, the tears she had been afraid to shed, because deep in her heart, she believed that it was those unshed tears that were the glue holding her mind together and if she ever let them go, she would be lost forever. Lost forever. The words became her mantra as she lay rocking and sobbing and chanting. Lost forever.
