Bella

The man in front of them moved closer holding the knife at waist height. He said in English two words, "Your wallet."

Arnold reached into his pocket and removed his wallet but as he offered it, Bella put out her hand to stop him. In the local language she said calmly, "Move out of the way, you're spoiling our walk."

The man snarled, "Shut up bitch," and made a threatening gesture with the knife.

Arnold was not exactly sure what happened next. He thought he saw Bella move her right hand but when he looked again, both her arms were hanging loosely at her side.

He heard the knife clatter onto the path and the man dropped in a heap. She turned casually as the second man came at her and this time it was no empty gesture. He had his knife poised to bury it in her stomach.

Her foot lashed into the man's genital area and as he clutched himself and lurched forward she jabbed upwards with the heel of her hand. His head snapped back and Arnold saw something leave his mouth.

As the man thudded onto his back, Arnold felt a wave of nausea. Blood was gushing from the man's open mouth and he was missing a chunk of his tongue.

He realised suddenly that he was going to faint and staggered sideways to lean against a tree. Bella was instantly at his side to support him and said, "Just take a few deep breaths; you'll be okay in a minute."

He dropped to one knee with his head against the tree and sucked in a lungful of air. For the next few seconds he fought against passing out and slowly his head began to clear. He tried to stand but his legs were too weak. Bella knelt beside him with her cool hand on his brow and waited patiently.

Eventually he was able to rise and turned to look at the two muggers. He was relieved to see that they were both moving. The first one was on his knees and gasping for breath. The second one was crawling away into the darkness.

He took a few unsteady steps with Bella's arm around his waist as she steered him carefully around the kneeling man. She stared anxiously into his face as they walked in silence along the remainder of the path until they reached the exit.

Once back in the brightly lit thoroughfare he relaxed and tried to gather his thoughts. He felt humiliated and ashamed and remained silent. When they arrived at the apartment block he left her standing in the corridor and shut his door behind him.

He slumped into a chair and put his head in his hands. He muttered, "You spineless cowardly wimp." He decided never to endure the embarrassment of facing her again and groaned, "Oh God, why are you such a pathetic failure?"

Ten minutes went by before he heard the tap at his door. He ignored it until the third knock and then forced himself to his feet. When he opened it she stepped in and wrapped her arms around his waist with her head into his chest.

She whispered, "Oh Arnold I'm so sorry; I spoiled a lovely evening with my selfishness. Will you ever forgive me?"

He reached behind and unwrapped her arms. He said, "Sit down Bella I have to talk to you."

She sat down obediently with a straight back and her hands folded on her knees. She stared at him with her lower lip protruding and her eyes were solemn and anxious. He felt an impulse to put his arms around her but then remembered that he was the one who was blameless.

He assumed a serious expression and said, "Bella let's get a few things straight. First of all I'm an academic not a commando. I avoid violence, I don't seek it. Tonight you gave me the most frightening and humiliating experience of my life and I can never look myself in the mirror again. You are obviously a Kung Fu expert or something while I can't even beat an egg."

She lowered her eyes and he wondered if she was going to cry.

He continued, "Now then; this is the important bit. Who are you and why are you here?"

She looked up and answered, "I will tell you I promise, but not now. Please, I just want you to forgive me because I will never do anything like that again."

He leaned back with a sigh and said, "All right I forgive you, but only this once."

She leapt from the chair and knelt at his feet. She said, "Thank you Arnold, I'll be a good girl from now on I promise. It's just that sometimes I can't help doing the things I do. I'm impulsive and I forget that normal people are different."

He looked puzzled, "Are you not normal then?"

She looked at him with a strange expression. "It's a long story and please may we leave it for another night? Tomorrow I want to start my job as your new trainee and be normal."

He lay in bed with a feeling of foreboding. His life was generally well ordered but that day his routine had been shattered. An angel had walked into his life but he wondered if she was really a she-devil.

He had difficulty in putting the evening's horrors out of his mind before he finally drifted into sleep.

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The following morning he knocked at her door and reeled back in surprise when she opened it. She was dressed in a plain dress that hung well below her knees and she wore brown stockings and flat shoes. But the biggest shock was her facial appearance .She had donned a brown wig and was wearing spectacles. She looked ten years older and bore no resemblance to the attractive girl from the previous evening.

He gasped, "What the hell have you done to yourself Bella? I hardly recognised you."

She replied, "Am I not a school teacher? I can't turn up for my first day looking like a tart. And incidentally my name is Rebecca Henderson or at least that's what it says on my passport. But you can call me Miss Henderson."

The day passed uneventfully at the school. He introduced her to the staff and pupils and although she had spoken the language fluently in the park, she now struggled haltingly with it.

On the way home she said quietly, "For the next few evenings I'll be going out and I probably won't be home until late. I don't want you to worry; it's just that I have things to do. I'll be eating alone for a while but next week I'll cook you that meal I promised. Is that okay with you?"

He nodded and replied, "Whatever you say. I know you can look after yourself and your business is none of my business." She leaned sideways and kissed him softly on the cheek.

When he returned from his evening meal, he tapped on her door but there was no reply. Most evenings he would read or mark school papers and always watched the television newscasts. He had a music centre and would sometimes listen to his collection of classical music. That evening he retired early but was unable to sleep. He lay in the darkness and strained his ears for the sound of her returning and it was after one-thirty before he finally heard her door close.

His role with Trove was to report on a weekly basis or sooner if there were items of special interest. He had been told to watch particularly for anything concerning an Alek Dimitrov whom he knew by reputation to be the local crime boss. The method of communication was always by encrypted email. For his services, his account was credited with a small stipend which was a welcome addition to the meagre salary he received from the school.

On the second day of Bella's visit he received an email that his software could not decipher. It was marked for Bella's attention. He called her in and she stared briefly at the confusing jumble of characters. Then without comment she tapped a few keys and it vanished. He said, "Aren't you going to decode it?"

She answered, "I will later."

"But you just deleted it."

She smiled and tapped the end of his nose with her forefinger. "Don't worry yourself about it."

As soon as she had left, he clicked on his recycle bin but the email was not there. He did a search and got the same result. It had vanished completely.

For the next few days her same routine continued. She would leave her apartment in the mid-evening and return home in the early hours. During their conversations to and from the school she made no attempt to disclose her activities and he did not pry.

A week after her arrival she announced, "Tomorrow I'm going to cook you that meal so we'll do some shopping on the way home."

The next afternoon she told him to drive to the local supermarket and wait in the car. She returned thirty minutes later with two laden shopping bags. She said loftily, "Drive on Simpson, the chef is waiting for the goodies."

Back at the apartment she inspected his kitchen. "Jesus I've cooked in better field kitchens than this. Now these are the rules. If you come into the kitchen while I am cooking I will knee you in the balls, and if you take a peek when I go to change, I will know. Is that understood?"

He nodded obediently.

"Dinner will be ready on the dot of eight so I will expect you to be scrubbed up and looking presentable at that precise moment. Is that clear?"

He nodded again.

Just before seven-thirty she left the kitchen and paused at the apartment door. Silently she pointed her finger at him and then to the bathroom and he arose immediately.

He had two suits; one he wore every day and one he kept for best. He donned his best suit and a silk tie that his niece had given him for Christmas. He considered splashing on some aftershave but decided against it.

He had given her his spare key and at seven minutes before eight she let herself back in.

As she entered, his heart beat faster. She was wearing a sleek black cocktail dress cut well above her knees and with a plunging neckline. The sides of her tanned breasts were completely exposed and he knew that she was not wearing a bra. She had pendent earrings and a matching necklace that sparkled so brightly, he wondered if they were real diamonds.

She struck a classic pose and asked, "Do you like what you see?"

He had to swallow before he was able to answer. He said in a hushed voice, "I am gazing at the most wonderful vision it has ever been my joy to behold."

She replied, "Good, so now sit down." She turned off the main light leaving just two table lamps illuminating the room and then lit a solitary candle on the table.

He glanced surreptitiously at his watch as she served creamy oyster soup and it was six seconds before eight o'clock.

She poured a crisp Sauvignon Blanc to accompany the fish course and then uncorked a Durif Shiraz to go with the beef tenderloin. How she had managed to caramelise the crème brûlée was beyond his comprehension.

At the end of the meal he sat back and said, "Bella, I don't want to go over the top but that was five star quality."

She smiled delightedly and replied unashamedly, "I know."

It was unquestionably the most delicious meal he had ever eaten and must have cost a fortune. He said, "I know it's very rude of me to ask but how did you manage to afford all of that."

She replied, "Trove never question my spending, it's one of the perks of the job."

He shrugged his shoulders and as he did so he belched. He put his hand over his mouth in dismay and said, "I do beg your pardon."

She laughed and said, "I've eaten with people who consider it rude if you don't belch after a meal. In fact I actually practiced the art. She took a deep breath and released a reverberating belch that made him snort with laughter and applaud. She said, "You go and relax while I clear up."

He stood up unsteadily and tottered to an armchair. He said apologetically, "I think I'm a little bit drunk."

Within a few minutes she had cleared the table and he heard dishes being stacked. He was relaxing in an armchair when she returned and knelt at his feet. He looked down and then quickly away again because the smooth sides of her full breasts were so exposed he could see between them to her navel.

She observed his reaction and murmured, "It's all right; I don't mind if you look at my breasts. That's why I'm wearing this dress."

He felt himself growing hot with embarrassment. He looked back into her face and said awkwardly, "I'm afraid I'm a bit of a fuddy duddy and not used to looking at breasts. In fact I'm not used to female company at all and certainly not someone as beautiful as you."

Bella asked softly, "Shall we have sex now?"

For a second or two he thought he had misheard her. He stared at her in disbelief and his mouth sagged open as he gasped, "What did you say?"

"I asked you if we should have sex now. That is unless you want to wait for your dinner to go down."

He gazed at her in shock and tried to think of something to say, but eventually he managed to gasp, "I can hardly believe my ears. Are you seriously asking me to make love to you? My dear young lady, I don't think you realise who you are dealing with. I've only had sex twice in my life and I made a mess of both attempts. I'm a dyed in the wool bachelor and a very boring one at that."

She reached up and put her hand to the side of his face. "No you are not. You're a charming person and a gentleman. I like you very much and if you like someone it's nice to have sex with them."

He put his hand to his brow and closed his eyes. "Bella your candid approach to life is refreshing but it is also very disconcerting. Let us assess this situation. In the first place I must be close to twice your age and secondly, I don't know if I'm even capable of sex any more."

She asked innocently, "So you didn't taste the Viagra in the oyster soup then?"

He jumped as if he had been stung and shrieked, "What?"

Bella laughed and said, "I'm just kidding so don't have a heart attack. Anyway I'm going to make love to you and I promise that you won't need Viagra. All you have to do is enjoy it.

She went to her bag and produced a disk which she inserted into his music centre. As she returned to him, music drifted softly into the room.

She reached down and said, "The first thing that comes off is your tie; and now your jacket." She removed both and began to unbutton his shirt.

He grabbed both her hands and said beseechingly, "Please stop. You terrified me in the park and now you're frightening me again. Don't you understand; I'm no good at sex and I'll only make a fool of myself. Are you doing this deliberately to humiliate me?"

She slid onto his lap and taking his face in her hands she said firmly, "Look into my eyes. You are under my spell and you will obey all of my commands. I am your mistress and you are my slave."

He gazed into her eyes of unfathomable hue and her lips crept ever closer. Then he felt the warmth of her mouth closing over his and her breasts pressed against him. Her lips moved first gently and then firmly against his mouth while her fingers caressed his neck. Her tongue writhed against his and he tasted the sweetness of her. He was drowning in an ocean of honey and losing the desire to save himself.

She drew back an inch or two and fixed her eyes into his. She murmured to him softly, "Now are you going to be a good boy and do as you are told?" He nodded in helpless surrender.

She removed his shirt and said admiringly, "Mm, nice body."

"I used to be a rower."

When she had finally left him with just his underpants to cover his manhood, she rose to her feet and began to dance slowly to the music. She danced Asian style making provocative gestures with her arms and fingers.

Then she turned away and eased the straps of the dress from her shoulders. He found himself holding his breath as it slipped to the floor and she stepped out of it and turned to face him. But she had her arms crossed over her breasts and he felt a twinge of frustration.

She turned away again and began to slide her black panties down below her hips and then allowed them to flutter to her ankles. She kicked them away and slowly revolved to face him.

She lowered her arms to her side and he sucked in his breath as he drank in the sheer magnificence of her body. He could see that she was muscular and yet her lines were feminine. She looked powerful but she moved with the grace of a gazelle. Her breasts were full and firm and perfectly proportioned for her stature. Her dark pubic hair had been left naturally in an unruly tangle.

He felt his penis hardening and quickly covered it with his hand. He stared at her in admiration and all he could say was, "Bella, there is no creature in the world more beautiful than you."

She moved forward and knelt before him. She lifted his hand from his bulge and said, "What is it that you are hiding in here?" She pulled down the band of his underpants and he was fully erect. She looked up to him and said, "Well, well, you certainly are a man of surprises. Were you a pole-vaulter as well as a rower?"

He replied disconsolately, "There is no point in having a big one if you don't know how to use it."

She whispered, "Close your eyes because I'm going to take you to Paradise."

He leaned back and held his breath as he felt her mouth close over his penis. She began to use her lips and tongue to tease him and the tantalising caresses forced groans from his lips. First she would gently suck the glans and then quickly slide all of it deep into her throat. Every time his orgasm became imminent, she anticipated it and gently squeezed the glans to stop him.

Suddenly she stood up and shuffled forward with her legs either side of his lap. She took his hand and placed it between her thighs and he felt the soft wetness of her. She leaned forward until her lips were brushing against his and whispered, "Now it is your turn tease me."

He stroked her gently at first until he learned which caresses gave her pleasure. When he inserted his fingers into her, she kissed him passionately and when he touched the firm nodule of her clitoris he felt her legs tremble.

He concentrated on her clitoris, caressing it gently at first and then rubbing it increasingly faster while she responded with soft moans. Suddenly her fingers gouged into his back and she cried out as if in pain. He felt a warm splash on his upturned palm and her body stiffened. She seemed to stop breathing for a few seconds but then she exhaled with a long shuddering gasp.

Slowly she lowered herself to his lap and rested her forehead on his shoulder. He had no idea what to do next so he waited. When she lifted her head to look at him, her eyes were black and heavy lidded. She kissed him gently and murmured, "You have just taken me to paradise."

He felt elated. Had he actually given her pleasure?

His penis was rigid when she lowered herself on to it. He felt her vagina muscles grip him and slowly twist left and then right and pull upwards. She lowered herself again and as she repeated the same dragging movement he felt as though he was being milked.

At her third attempt his orgasm exploded. His stomach tensed as the exquisite pain flooded his loins and he groaned aloud. He could feel himself spurting and she held him tightly to her.

Finally his orgasm was over and he rested his head against her bosom and slowly relaxed. When he could lift his head, she kissed his lips and whispered, "You are a very enjoyable lover Mister Simpson."

He had never felt so proud. "Am I really or are you just saying that to make me feel good?"

"You made me come didn't you; I didn't fake it."

She climbed from his lap and went into the bathroom while he rested in contentment. She returned to retrieve her panties and slipped them back on.

While she was dressing he took his clothes with him to the shower. When he returned she arose from her chair and slid her arms around his neck. As she kissed him, she pushed her pelvis into his and rubbed against his bulge. She murmured, "Look after that Arnold, I would like to make use of it again."

After seeing her safely into her apartment, he leaned with his back against his closed door. He had just made love to a beautiful girl and given her an orgasm. His life was now complete.

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