Gentlemen Prefer...

I never would have noticed her if it weren't for the hat. I mean, let's be honest here, cigarette girls are a dime a dozen, and the way I went through nightclubs, I'd seen a hundred dollars' worth already. Her hat came bobbing through the crowd, keeping that hot swing beat, with those short maple-wood waves under it shining in the lights off the big bandstand. Call her what you want, a dame, a doll, a pinup waiting to happen, anybody could see that there was something about her that begged for your eyes. It wasn't just the hat.

But it sure as hell was a good way to keep tabs on her. I leaned back on the bar and amused myself watching the way she went zigzag through the crowd at the edge of the dance floor. The black feather stuck up like an exclamation point, like she was just so damn excited about selling you her Lucky Strikes or Marlboros or what have you. Black, of course, to match the tight black number she had on. The skirt was down to her calves almost, but not hiding a great pair of gams with that big slit up the side. A red sparkly flower at the top of the slit matched the hat, and black gloves gripped the sides of her tray. The hat's little mesh veil was saucily raised up on her hair like she had nothing to hide. Mark my words, though, son. Even if they're only hiding their true hair color, well, Blondes always have secrets.

Her technique was great. When she sold a pack to some joe, she tilted her head to let her chocolate brown eyes peek out from under deep dark lashes with a sultry sideways look and a smile. Her lipstick was the same smooth red as the hat but just a shade glossier than satin. I itched to touch it with a fingertip and feel the slick way it covered her soft lips. Her nose wrinkled when she laughed at their stupid comments, and she would lean forward to show the tray again when she did. You could see them reaching for another pack as they took a long look at her bosom, brought up nice and tight by the tray's straps. The cigarette girls at Frankie's are normally dumb as rocks, so I wondered if he knew she was in here, or if she had cut a deal. I don't know how long I stared at her, but I know I wasn't finished when I had to stop.

She might have remained an object of my idle curiosity, if only she hadn't wobbled on those anklebreaker heels and spilled her and her entire tray straight into my boss's lap. You might think a big guy like me can't move that fast, but there's no fat under this suit. I'm no Jesse Owens, but I was through that crowd in seconds. Never let it be said that Johnny Mac slacks on the job.

Of course, I also wanted to be the first one to lay hands on her. The cute way her full white underpants showed under the flipped-up skirt made it look like Paolo was about to spank her tipped over his knee. But as I reached them, she was already pulling herself up, apologizing as she went, cheeks red as the hat. Paolo was giving her the leer down that tight dress, his free hand never leaving the Martini on the table. It was beneath him to help, of course. Hell, it was beneath me, but I like to think I'm a gentleman when it comes to blondes, bottled or not. Her smokes were all over the place, and I bent down by Paolo's chair, grabbing the packs and handing them to her.

That is, until the shot. Both of us were on our knees, and when the shot came her warm brown eyes looked full into mine and she was not surprised. Not one bit surprised. So I knew I had to grab her and carry her away, before she gave up everything. Marco was there, and so was Jimmy. They could have seen it in her face like I did. Paolo fell to one side, his blood ruining all the cigs on the floor, plus my socks. Marco and Jimmy were lying under the table now, aiming all around at nothing. I thought the shot came from the dance floor, but I didn't want to know. Everybody was shrieking and screaming, running. It would have been easy for her to get trampled, so I picked her up. Besides, now I knew that I owed her one.

We shoved our way through the panicking crowd, my left arm tight around her shoulders, and I got her out to my Packard Six at the corner. After I got her settled inside, I patted the little angel on the hood for luck as I ran around to my side. It was all still good. Marco and Jimmy could catch me later. Nobody knew. Except maybe the girl, and I could handle that.

As we raced through the dots of light that the streetlights made on Wilshire, she finally spoke. Her voice was low, throaty. It gave me chills. And a hard-on.

"The name's Valerie. And that was almost ten dollars' worth of cigarettes."

Blondes. Without saying a word, I reached into my jacket and brought out a fifty. She took it in two gloved fingers and held it up.

"I don't have any change."

I gave her the look. The one I practice in the mirror, the one that makes guys who don't know me piss their pants, and the ones who do, to run the fuck away.

She giggled.

A gloved hand pointed at the corner. "Turn left here."

"Why?"

Her hand came over to rest on my knee. "Because my house is on the next block. I think I can find some change there."

I followed her directions and pulled up at a tiny bungalow, the kind that starlets rent at the Beverly Hills Hotel on their first paycheck, except that this was all the house there was. It looked like a kitchen and a bedroom, if you liked sleeping on the stove. I'd been in cars that were bigger.

She pushed the switch and a small table lamp came on. It was draped with a scarf in a rose pattern, which gave the tiny room a soft pinkish glow. The outline of a Murphy bed took up one wall, and the screen across the corner draped with clothes told me I was right about the house. I was standing in the living/changing/dining/bedroom, and the door I could see in the kitchen had to be the bathroom. The house was claustrophobic, but it smelled like her perfume, sweet and springlike, so I didn't mind.

Valerie glided right behind the screen without a word, elegance with ripped stockings. I flopped down in the only chair and watched her clothes make a slow, tantalizing pile. She just had to be a professional. I decided to check in and let everybody know I was going to be back later. I hoped it was a lot later. And I hoped that the fifty covered whatever I was about to get.

"Can I make a call?"

Her voice was muffled by the screen, but it still spoke straight to my dick.

"I don't have a phone."

That figured. Cheap house, no phone. I was surprised there wasn't a roommate too. I pictured the two of them in their nighties, with rollers in their hair, squished together in the Murphy bed at night. My dick liked that idea. I rearranged.

She came out from behind the screen in a pale yellow kimono robe printed with red flowers. When she paused in front of the lamp, the sudden illumination of her silhouette from behind made me suck in my breath. I wondered where the white panties had gone.

The light made her seem very young, giving her face and hair a golden pink glow. Without the hat, her hair was all short waves and curls. Even tousled like it was, she looked like a movie star. I wanted to stand as she walked toward me, and not have such bad manners, but my prick was not about to cooperate. I figured she was used to it anyway. I held out my hand to her, and that fabulous smile came on full strength. I pulled her down sideways in my lap. If she was even halfway decent in bed, I might set her up in a better place. Maybe Paolo's murder was a fate thing.

She stayed sitting up, looking into my eyes, then spread out her hands like she was bowing. "Do you like my 'change,' Johnny Mac?"

I laughed. "Does this answer the question?"

I shifted until my rock-hard prick was poking her thigh. Then I put my hands on either side of her little waist, feeling the warmth of her skin bleeding through the silky robe, and slid them upward until my thumbs were just under the swell of her breasts. Like I thought, she had nothing on underneath.

Valerie shivered and leaned close to me, her hand sliding around my collar. The long sleeve of her kimono fell back down her upraised arm and trailed down into my lap. Her hand was a slight pressure on my neck as her red lips brushed mine softly and withdrew, making me want to grab her head and pull her back. I resisted the urge, and she did her teasing kiss again almost immediately, but after the first brush of her lips, she pressed against me for longer this time. I tested her with a touch of my tongue, and she answered immediately with hers, opening her mouth to mine.

My hands slid around, and I pulled open the front of her robe. In the delicious softness of her breasts were two hard tips for my thumbs to press and stroke. I picked up one heavy breast and then the other, weighing them on my palm. She was still kissing me, giving little bites to my lower lip, and this time I pulled back. Valerie sat back, surprised, and I smiled and bent forward to take a luscious strawberry nipple into my mouth. I rolled it on my tongue, flicking over the tip, and listened to her breathing change. Her thighs parted slightly and then flexed. Her fingers threaded through my short dark hair as I kissed and licked at the points of her nipples. She made me suck in my breath again when I saw her other hand slide over

The kimono fell away when she untied the sash to help me. Her thighs parted farther, and I understood the invitation. I watched her hand move slowly in the deep v between her legs, and I slid my hand along her silky inner thigh as I stared at her, mesmerized. She had to move her breasts against my mouth again for me to go back to what I had been doing. I covered her hand with my own and decided it was time to dip into the honey pot below. As her fingers stroked and danced at the top of her slit, I parted her legs in order to slip a finger inside her.

A little "huh" sound came out of her mouth as the tip probed at her. I found the slippery opening to her box and slowly worked my finger in all the way. The heat inside her was incredible. I began to slide another finger in and out, her juices building up until I could get both of them inside her. A frown drew her curved eyebrows together as she concentrated on her orgasm, eyes scrunched closed. The hand on my shoulder clutched rhythmically at my collar, tightening with every push of my fingers inside her, her own fingers working hard on herself. My prick was screaming to be let out, but I was too close to getting her there to care. A little "mmm" built up slowly out of her throat, and her hips began to move up to meet my fingers as I stroked them into her.

I took my mouth off her nipple and started whispering. "That's it, baby. Come on, doll, come on, Valerie."

Her cheeks flexed and tightened on my thigh as she moved. Finally, she jerked hard, thrusting wildly against my hand as that amazing voice said, "Uh, huh, uh, OH," in my ear.

She went limp against me, so I stood with her in my arms, and returned her to the chair. After hanging my shoulder holster on the back, I found the pull to bring down the bed. Act two was about to begin, and my cock had suffered enough. I stripped. Valerie gave me a smile and went behind the screen again.

"This is not the reaction I was hoping for," I called.

"Don't be so impatient."

I heard some clunking and then the unmistakable hiss as she put on a record. The Andrews Sisters' "Bei Mir Bist du Schön" came on. Valerie's head peeked out.

"Don't ruin this now," she said. Her bare feet made little padding sounds across the hardwood floor. She walked toward me, hips swaying, completely naked and unconcerned. It was beautiful.

Her chin lifted as she looked up. "I want you to dance with me, John. All those nights standing in the crowd with cigarettes- Dance with me... please?"

Like I said, I like to think I'm a gentleman when it comes to blondes. My dick wouldn't let me say no to a nude woman anyway. Without her heels, the top of her head came to the middle of my chest, which meant my erection poked her firmly in the stomach as we swayed. It didn't last long. I picked her up again and held her in my arms to kiss her, and carried her to the bed.

I laid her on her back in the pink sheets, taking the time to look at every inch of her. Light brown hairs covered her mound, with a tiny wispy trail up to a perfectly round bellybutton. I kissed it, poking her with my tongue while she laughed and squirmed. Her toenails had that deep red polish. I kissed them too. I started at her ankles and kissed my way up those long creamy legs of hers. I only got a few licks laid in across her clit, when she bucked and pulled me up by my hair until we were face to face.

"Not that."

I frowned. Most girls were crazy about it.

She laid her hand over her mound and grinned with one side of her mouth. "It's had too much fun already. Give me some time." She took her hand and wrapped it slowly around the base of my shaft. "You need some attention, too."

I wasn't going to argue. Her hand drifted up and down my cock, squeezing and stroking. Her nails flashed in the little bit of light that made it to the bed. I balanced on my hands over her, loving the way that her thumb circled up under the head and then over, smearing the traces of come that were drooling out of me around and around. God, she was good.

Then she asked, "You're the one who hired us, aren't you?"

Her hand moved as she spoke, squeeze and stroke and that fast little movement with her thumb. There wasn't much I could say. I tried, though.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

She looked up at me, and put one hand on my ass while she kept working my cock. "To kill Paolo Lucchesi, of course. You hired us."

"And what makes you say that?" I was gasping, trying not to move with the tight firm strokes of her hand. I didn't want to come until I was inside her.

"Give me some credit, Johnny. Don't I know your name?"

"Lots of women do."

She frowned. The hand on my ass tightened. "And why weren't you upset or even surprised that the man you were supposed to be guarding was shot right next to you? Not that good of a bodyguard, are you?"

"What're you, the Bodyguard Review Commission? So what? Paolo wasn't a very nice guy, you know?" A drop of sweat rolled off my nose and splashed onto her throat. My fingers tightened in the sheets.

"Oh, I know," she said. "Otherwise Billy wouldn't have accepted your offer. He's strange that way."

"Billy, huh? Your...?"

"Brother."

My prick stiffened up again. There's nothing I hate more than to shoot some poor jake who walks in on me and the Mrs.

Valerie sensed I was too close and eased up a little, stroking with soft light touches of her fingertips. I wanted to move and shove myself deep inside her, but the hand on my ass was firm, and now I halfheartedly wondered if Billy was hiding in the bathroom.

"I still didn't say it was me."

She smiled. "You didn't have to. You didn't even check to see if your boss was really dead, you just wanted to get me out of there, help me even when I looked guilty."

"So you do this all the time, killing people? What are you, Hollywood Bonnie and Clyde?"

Her tits bounced as she laughed. "The first and last for me. Billy had trouble telling Marco and Paolo apart, so he asked me to show him. It worked out better for you, anyway."

"How's that?"

"For one, you wouldn't be naked in my living room with my hand on your dick. Second, standing at the bar all night was going to make someone notice. You should be glad that you came over when you did, so nobody questions your loyalty. Someone might figure out it was you. I don't think that a big Irish mick like yourself is going to go far in the mafia anyway."

"That's not what Jack Dragna says."

Her hands stopped moving, and she looked me in the eye. "Say it, and you can fuck me."

"Say what?"

"Admit it. Tell me that you paid to have Paolo killed."

"Why the hell would I do that?"

She wiggled down below me until her chin was just under my balls. Her pink tongue came out to a point, and she flicked it against the underside of my sack. I couldn't keep myself from shuddering. She ran her hands up the insides of my thighs and blew her hot breath against the wet spots on my skin. I think my cock jerked. A drop of pre-come rolled down.

Her deep voice was vibrating under me. "Come on, Johnny. I know it was you. Tell me and you can have my wet pussy. Tell me and you can slide that nice fat cock of yours up inside me." She raised up and I stared as her tongue came out again and ran up the length of my shaft. She looked up at me and smiled, then kissed and licked me at the base where my balls start. If she touched me just a little more, I knew I could come.

She whispered, "Wouldn't you like to be inside me, Johnny? I bet it would feel sooo good to come inside me. I'm so wet from the orgasm you gave me. I bet it's just dripping out of me down there." Her fingers stopped and she lay there smiling up, her hands on my thighs again.

Dammit.

I pulled her back up until my prick was at her entrance. "I admit..." I said, "that I want to fuck you really bad." I moved so the tip pressed hard against her lips, and I parted them as I moved it up and down against her. When I brushed it over her clit, she squirmed again.

"I further admit... that I am a bad guy who's killed a lot of people."

I pushed slightly until the tip of my cock was inside. She was so tight and hot. What the hell did I care if she knew? I had a gun for chrissakes, and she weighed maybe a hundred pounds against my two. I leaned close to her ear and whispered.

"And I confess that I put the hit on Paolo Lucchesi, the scum of God's green earth."

Her eyes, which had been tightly closed, opened. "Good," she said, "You owe me another twenty for the dress. His blood's all over it." As her body shook in laughter, I slid into her and knew I was home. My mouth came down on hers, and I replayed her touching herself in my lap, the way she walked so casually naked across the floor to me as the music played. Yes, I was going to set this one up for sure.

Her long legs wrapped around my waist as I pumped deep inside her velvet pussy. I watched her face change as the strokes got faster and faster, and I pulled her legs far apart to watch my cock disappear inside her. When I was getting close again, her hand reached down to touch herself, one finger rubbing and stroking at her clit. I felt her legs tense and try to close on me, and I sped up until the bed's creaking noises must have been heard on the next block. I grabbed at her hips to keep up the incredible rhythm. Her head came forward onto her chest, and her features were screwed into a grimace as she shook on my cock and made those little "huh" noises in time with my strokes. The clenching of her pussy around me made me come so hard I almost broke my jaw from clenching my teeth. It was perfect. Perfect.

I flopped down beside her, sweating everywhere but my eyes. Valerie was smiling. In the corner, the record player started over.

"I love this song, but I still don't know what they're singing."

I traced her profile with a fingertip and leaned over to kiss that cute button nose of hers. "It means, 'with me you are beautiful.' And you are."

She rolled onto her side and draped a leg across me. "Was that an invitation? The 'with me' part?"

"Of course. But if we're going to be together, can you do me one favor?"

"What's that?"

"Could you make your hair red? Anything but blonde."