Ken Douglas - Gecko

“ Julia never told me.”

“ Julia never knew.”

“ How?”

“ The first time we did it she was too drunk to notice my fumbling around. After that first night I was an expert.”

“ She was pretty experienced,” Roma said.

“ She once told me she made a lot of men very happy, in her own shy way,” Jim said.

“ That’s my sister. I love her dearly, but she always was a little slut.” Roma laughed. “She was always faithful to you though. After she got married she stopped her catting around.”

“ Till she met Kohler,” Jim said.

She sat still in the armchair and eyed him.

“ Take your pants off,” she said with a sly grin.

“ No,” he said.

“ I’ll bet you’d take them off for Julia.”

“ You’re not her.”

“ Pretend I am.” She smiled wider.

“ I don’t know if I can,” he said.

“ Don’t be a prude, take them off,” Donna thought.

“ Stay out of this,” He thought back.

“ Take ’em off!” Roma commanded.

“ Do it!” Donna commanded.

He stared at Roma’s rising and falling breasts and he felt Donna inside him.

“ I can feel it getting hard,” Donna thought.

“ I told you to stay out of this.” He wondered if it was possible to forget about Donna for a while.

“ Come on, Jimmy, slip them off,” Roma chided.

He moved his gaze up to her eyes and was trapped in her exotic stare. He pulled down the zipper, slipped the pants off, taking the underwear along for the ride.

“ Julia said you were big.” She eyed his erection.

“ Wow, look at it, sticking up hard as a rock. I can feel it. It’s so great. No wonder men get so horny.” Donna’s excitement caused Jim to shiver and he blushed.

“ Now the tie.” Roma laughed and he whipped it off, then the vest, followed by the shirt. Jim ignored the buttons, lifting it over his head and tossing it on the floor with the rest of his clothes, leaving himself naked, except for his socks and his cast. He lay back against the headboard and met her eyes.

“ Socks off,” she kidded.

He was speechless, but not powerless. He took off the socks, tossed them after the rest of his clothes.

“ Now it’s my turn.” She stood up, keeping Jim locked in her stare and finished unbuttoning the Levi’s. Jim tore his eyes away from hers and moved them back down to her breasts. Her nipples were hard, pointed and perfect and they quivered as she worked at her pants. His eyes roved down from her breasts and watched what her hands were doing. He smiled and felt the heat of his erection run through him, when the pale pink of her panties peeked through. He returned his gaze to her erotic eyes.

She winked and offered him her half smile, while hooking her thumbs into the pant waist and pulling the Levi’s off. She stood and faced him for a few seconds, clad only in pale pink panties, the black vee of her pubic hair clearly showing through.

“ She’s beautiful. So beautiful,” Donna offered. Jim ignored her as Roma slipped the panties off and kicked them out of the way.

“ We were made for each other.” Roma faced him, nude, with her arms at her sides and tears in her eyes. “If you only knew how much I need you right now.”

“ I need you too,” he said, meaning it like he’d never meant anything before. All his troubles seemed to fade away. At that moment he only had eyes for Roma. She was the beginning, middle and end of his life. “And I love you.”

“ I love you too.” The half smile turned full as she approached. She eased onto the bed, snuggled up next to him, reached between his legs, taking him in her hand, gently squeezing.

“ Oh my, that feels sooooo good, don’t let her stop.”

But Jim wasn’t listening to Donna. After a few minutes he rolled Roma onto her back and kissed her breasts, before moving up to her mouth and covering her lips with his. He tasted the salt from her tears and started to pull away, when she wrapped her arms tightly around him, drawing him to her. He entered her and they made love, slowly at first, feeling each other out, then gradually they increased the tempo till they turned into a runaway train.

They climaxed together, silently, holding on to each other, not like it was the first time for them, but like it was the last time for forever. When it was over they hugged like young lovers, fiercely and tenderly and Jim lay lost with the wonder of her and wondered how differently things would have turned out if he’d married her instead of her twin.

“ I’d love to stay and spend more time with you, but I gotta get next door before Edna gets back.” She laughed. “Listen to me, I’m acting like she’s my mother and I might get in trouble.” But she got out of bed and started dressing.

Too quickly he was alone with his thoughts, then he closed his eyes and the last thing he remembered before he fell asleep was Donna in his head, saying, “So that’s what it’s like for a man. It’s so wonderful.”

Hugh Washington walked through the hospital lobby with a spring in his step. Walker had surprised him. The man had given him a new lease on life. Maybe this was the shot in the arm that would put his marriage back together. He hoped so. He was tired of being a weekend father. Tired of sleeping alone. Tired of eating alone. And tired of begging Jane to come back.

He’d been separated a long time. He’d changed. The gray moods were gone. Mostly he owed that to Glenna and her perennially positive attitude. Amazingly, she handled the rape and shooting of her attacker much better than her parents had. They blamed each other. She lay all the blame on the doorstep of the dead rapist.

Maybe it was the superb counseling, maybe it was just her make up, but whatever it was, she hadn’t gone through the period that most women go through after a rape. She never blamed herself. Even though she had lied to her parents about where she was that day. Even though she had invited the young man into her home. Even though she should have known better. Even after all those “even thoughs,” she had no blame left over for herself. As far as she was concerned the incident was closed. The guy got what he deserved. Justice was done. Life was living for the present and the future. The past was dead and gone.

He was halfway through the lobby when he realized he didn’t have a car. He turned to the information desk and asked a young receptionist where the phones were. He flashed her a grin when she pointed down a corridor and felt his heart flutter a little when she smiled back. Then he went to the public phones and called a cab.

Thirty minutes later, as he was paying the cabbie, he remembered that he had a lunch date with his daughter. He silently cursed himself for almost forgetting. Glenna had been out on her own for the last month, living with a girlfriend in a small apartment on the north side of the Long Beach State campus. She worked full time and went to school nights. She was proud of her independence and he knew that she was looking for a chance to show it off by buying him lunch.

The Jim Monday investigation would have to put itself on hold, because nothing was ever going to come between him and Glenna.

He took the steps up to his bachelor apartment two at a time. He had a little over three hours before he was supposed to meet her. Plenty of time. He shucked his suit jacket onto the sofa bed and finished undressing, tossing the rest of his clothes in a heap on the floor.

He felt good in the steamy shower, so he stayed under the spray until it started to turn cold. Then he turned it off and got out, drying as he padded from the bathroom back to the living room. He thought about folding the bed back into a couch, but what was the point, he’d only have to take it out again tonight. Besides he hadn’t planned on company. So, for the twenty-first day in a row, he ignored the sofa bed and dressed.