After Midnight

33
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

Tore my blouse wide open.
My buttons went pup-pup-pup. The tail came jerking up out of my skirt’s waistband.
Murphy shoved the blouse off my shoulders, then stopped and held it there. “How’s that so far?” he asked. His voice sounded pretty shaky.
“Not bad at all,” I said.
“Thanks.”
“Now, hit me in the face.”
“I can’t hit you.”
“Go ahead.”
“No way.”
So I slapped him, knocking his head sideways and putting a handprint on his face. He looked startled. “Like that,” I told him.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” he said.
“You don’t think so?”
“Why don’t I just go to the bank and…”
Hooking a finger under the right cup of my bra, I stretched aside the flimsy red fabric, freeing my breast.
Murphy stared at my naked breast and moaned.
“Go ahead and feel,” I said.
“I don’t think…”
“Don’t think, just do,” I said. With that, I took hold of his wrist, pulled his hand away from my blouse and pressed it against my breast.
His hand felt smooth and cool.
He had a look on his face like a teenage kid who’d never done anything like this before. Embarrassed, confused, astonished, thrilled, grateful.
I was giving the guy a real treat.
Maybe giving myself a treat, too.
“Now what’re you gonna do?” I asked. I had a little tremble in my voice that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Staring into my eyes, he squeezed my breast gently and then let go and put his arms around me. He pulled me toward him and touched his lips softly against mine. With one hand, he took off his glasses. He set them on the back of the couch, then kissed me again, this time pushing firmly against my open lips, his mouth open slightly, his breath going into me.
I started feeling soft and lazy inside. As if the kiss was sapping my strength away. And my worries. And my plans. I felt all vague and peaceful. I almost could’ve drifted down into sleep, but I felt a curious eagerness about what Murphy was doing to me and what he might do next.
His phone rang.
We both flinched.
It rang again.
He took his mouth away from me and whispered, “I’d better get it.”
I nodded.
Murphy grabbed his glasses, then got up from the couch.
I untwisted myself and leaned back against the cushion. I felt as if I’d been dragged roughly from a wonderful place and abandoned.
I felt a little better, though, when he sidestepped past my knees and I saw the front of his shorts.
Arriving at the lamp table, he picked up his phone just after the fourth ring.
“Hello?…Oh, hi, Harold…No, it’s fine. What’s up?”
He turned toward me, made a face that made me smile, and ogled my exposed breast. Then his eyes lowered to my belly as if drawn by my injury down there. I knew how awful it looked, but I didn’t try to cover it. He frowned at the bruised and gouged skin, then met my eyes with a look of concern.
I wiggled my eyebrows at him.
Brightening up slightly, he said into the phone, “Yeah. Sure I’ve heard of him…Yeah, I saw those movies…He does?…” Looking me in the eyes, he suddenly grinned. “The most exciting book he’s read all year? Cool…Uhhuh…Sure…Yeah, maybe we’ll at least get an option out of it…Right, can’t hurt…Five copies? Geez. I guess they think I get ’em free…Yeah, I know…Today? They can’t get them today. Don’t they know I’m out here in the boonies? Where are they, in L.A.?…Oh. Same difference. Anyway, I don’t care who they are, I’m not driving to Culver City. Not today. It’s about a six-hour drive, and I’ve already got plans.”
He gave me a smile.
I flexed a muscle to make my breast hop, and his eyes got very wide.
“I don’t care,” he said into the phone. “The best I can do is send them overnight express, and I’m not too sure about that…Well, they’re always like that. They want everything yesterday, and then you drop everything to get the books off and you end up never hearing from them again anyway…I know…Well, let me have the address. I’ll get the books to them as soon as I can.”
He couldn’t seem to find a pen or paper on the lamp table.
Leaning forward, I snatched a ballpoint and the TV Guide off the cluttered table in front of me. Then I twisted around and reached them over to him.
“Thanks,” he whispered.
He dropped the TV Guide onto the lamp table and started to write on its back cover.
“Got it,” he said, and read the address back to Harold. Then he listened and nodded and said, “Okay. No problem. And thanks. You never know, maybe this’ll turn into something…Right. Take it easy. Bye.”
He hung up the phone and said, “My agent.”
“Sounds like he had some good news for you.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Well, sort of. Some bigwig movie producer’s all hot for The Dark Pit. I’m supposed to drop everything and…”
“I heard.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“They want to make a movie out of your book? Sounds like a big deal to me.”
“These things usually don’t go much of anywhere. These movie people…They’ll tell you it’s the greatest book in the history of the world, then they’ll offer you about three hundred dollars for an option.”
“Three hundred? You’re kidding.”
“That’d just be for rights to fool around with the book for six months or something. And then you’d get maybe a hundred thousand if it goes into production.”
“That’s a lot.”
“But you never get it, because nothing ever gets that far.”
“Some stuff must.”
“Yeah. But not much. It’s mostly a big waste of time. I don’t jump through hoops for those guys anymore.”
“I would, if I were you.”
He smiled and said, “You being you, you might.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not me standing here looking at you right now.”
“I’ll keep,” I told him, and drew my blouse shut to hide my breast. “You shouldn’t pass up a fabulous opportunity like this.”
“I know,” he said, and leered.
“I don’t mean me.”
“I do,” he said.
He held out a hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. I stepped around the end of the coffee table. When I was standing in front of him, he let go of my hand. With both his hands, he slipped my blouse off my shoulders and down my arms. It drifted to the floor behind me.
“What’ll you do about the books?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe call Federal Express.”
“You don’t want to deliver them today?”
“I’ve got better things to do,” he said, and slid his gaze down my body.
Blushing, I said, “I could go with you.”
“It’s an awfully long drive.”
“I don’t mind. I could tell you my story on the way.”
“We’ll see.”
“If I can stay awake.”
“Maybe you can take a nap while I go to the bank. You do still want your money, don’t you?”
“Darn right,” I said.
“And I can’t go get that till after I’ve raped you?”
“Darn right again. So you’d better get to it.”
“Are you sure you feel up to it?”
“You bet.”
“You’re awfully banged up. What happened to you? All these bruises and everything?”
“Rough night.”
“Were you in fights?”
“Sure. Fights, falls, collisions. You name it, it happened. But don’t worry. I’m fine.” Bending down, I raised a foot and started to pull off my shoe.
Murphy put a hand on my shoulder to hold me steady.
“Thanks,” I said. I tossed the shoe toward the couch. It landed on the floor with a thump. “They’ve gotta be artfully arranged,” I explained.
He shook his head. “Of course.”
I shifted to my other leg, pulled off my other shoe, and tossed it across the room. Then I stood up straight and smiled at him.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Just be a little careful around my stomach.”
“What happened there?”
“Nailed by a tree branch. Walked right into it in the dark. But maybe I’ll tell you all about it in the car. If we ever get there.”
“I guess you want me to get on with it.”
“Good guess, Sherlock.”
“Where do you want me to start?”
“Surprise me.”
With a silly smile on his face, he put his arms around me and drew me forward. His mouth came at mine. I slapped him. The blow sent his glasses flying off his face. He looked startled and hurt.
“None of that kissy stuff,” I said. “Get rough. This has to look good.”
“Why does it have to look good? Nobody’ll ever know it happened.”
“They will if you double-cross me.”
“I’d never…”
“You’re a guy. Guys do stuff like that.”
“Not me.”
“Guys’ll stab you in the back, lie…”
“Not me.”
“But I don’t know that for sure, do I?”
“Guess not,” he admitted. Then he started to unhook the back of my bra.
And I suddenly realized that I still had the miniature cassette tape from Tony’s answering machine hidden inside my panties. If this went much further…
“Rough!” I snapped and shoved him away.
As he came back at me, I tore the bra off, myself, and threw it to the floor. “Take me to your bedroom,” I gasped.
He grabbed my arm, but I pulled free.
He looked confused.
“My God, do I have to draw you a picture?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
“Pretend it’s a game.”
“But…”
I whirled around and ran from him.
Instead of coming after me, he went hunting for his glasses. So I stopped. With my back to him, I quickly slipped a hand down my skirt and plucked the cassette out of my panties. It was wet and slippery.
What’ll I do with it?
My purse was on the couch, all the way across the room. No way of getting there without Murphy seeing me and wondering what I was up to.
I had no idea where to hide the cassette, so I kept it in my hand. I wiped it against the back of my skirt as I turned to face Murphy again.
He didn’t seem to know where his glasses had landed after I’d knocked them off his face.
“There on the table,” I said, pointing.
“Ah.” He found them, picked them up, checked them out, and put them on his face. “Thanks,” he said.
“Now come and get it,” I blurted, and ran.
This time, he chased me.
All right!
He probably could’ve caught me if he’d tried, but he stayed a stride or two back. I made straight for the doorway of his bedroom and lunged through it.
Murphy close on my heels, I raced across the floor and leaped onto his bed.
Luckily, his curtains were shut.
I stopped in the middle of his springy mattress. Bouncing, I turned around to face him.
He stopped at the foot of the bed and gaped up at me, his face strange with perplexity and delight.
“What’re you staring at, big guy?”
He didn’t answer, just watched.
Even though I wasn’t bouncing very hard, my breasts were flying around like crazy. And he was gazing at them as if mezmerized by how they jumped and lurched.
“What’re you gonna do now, hotshot?” I asked. “Just gonna stand there gaping at my boobs?”
Bending over, he reached out and grabbed my ankles and pulled.
I let out a squeal and landed on my back.
He jerked my ankles wide apart. My left leg came out of the slit in my skirt, and was bare all the way up to my hip. “How’s that?” he gasped.
“Shut up and f*ck me,” I said.