Bit of a Risk Ch. 03

Having just come from a crazy experience with a kid named Terry, I was feeling a little bit down.

Here I was, a middle aged widow, acting like a silly schoolgirl at the idea of some young fellow giving me what I concede was one fine roll in the hay.

Desperate for companionship, desperate for touch, desperate for love, I lost all control of myself for a few short days.

My husband Tom was gone, lost in what was a stupid accident at his work, and there was no way to ever go back. No way to ever recapture the wild and insane love I felt for that man.

All that remained for a long time were the dreams.

Now my grief was over, it was time to move on.

Having some young fellow bounce me all over the bedroom was fun, and just what I needed. The only problem with that is no matter what I said to myself, I was still not completely in control of my emotions.

So after just one time, a massage that went far beyond that, then the evolution to the next logical step of sex, irrational fantasies came pouring into my head. I was thinking of being with him, all the things we could do together. Terry and me, a couple.

His comment? "Don't say anything, my girlfriend will kill me." This as he dropped me off.

So there it was, perfectly clear. I was a plaything, a sexual conquest. I know I didn't really let my reactions show, my ingrained training in bedside manner as a physician served me well.

So, by God, the truth was that Terry was MY sexual conquest!

At least that is what I told myself, and that was helpful.

I reached out and touched his cheek, smiled. I got out of the car and watched him drive away, knowing he was headed back to his life and his own hopes and dreams.

I took several deep breaths, felt a tear trickle down my cheek. "Get hold of yourself, Sally!" I told myself. All that had been was an orgasm, a spur of the moment joining of two people.

Just a fast fuck, simple as that. I suppose as time passes I am getting less and less ladylike, I do know that several years ago I would not have even typed that word, I certainly would never have spoken it.

Walking into the little nightclub to visit with Pam, I looked over and that man I had noticed before was sitting there. I just marched up to him and said hello. He turned to look at me, a mix of surprise and pleasure in his expression.

"I'm Sally." I smiled at him pointing at the stool next to him.

"Carlton." He answered, and he actually shook my hand, stood up to hold the seat for me.

"So do I call you Carl for short?" I asked, just making conversation.

"No. My name is Carlton!" His voice took on a slight edge.

"Well, excuse me, asshole!" I thought.

"Oh, OK. Carlton, that's a nice name." I said, smiling sweetly.

He nodded, took a sip of his drink. I sat there for awhile, he said nothing. After a few minutes, I began to wonder, Carlton was not exactly an amazing conversationalist.

I asked him what he did, saw his hesitation.

"Accountant, for a construction company."

"My late husband ran a construction company, I am a Doctor." I told him. I managed to get the hint that "I might be available and I am not a hooker" with that comment in there in one short sentence.

He just nodded.

I had myself slightly turned towards him, I let my left shoulder slip forward enough that I knew he could see a nice bit of my cleavage. I saw his eyes drop down and quickly back up. Then he looked away.

I was wondering what it took with this guy. I looked him over carefully, there was a slight gray at his temple, his clothing was expensive and in style. He had on a leather jacket, one of those with a brushed look to it.

All in all, a fine looking man. A fine looking man who was paying little if any attention to me, also. I had begun to notice more men paying attention to me, I liked that.

Maybe just shy, I thought? I let out a quiet sigh. He turned and looked at me.

"Is something wrong?" He asked me.

"No, not really. I am just feeling down." Then I began to pour it out of me, Carlton sat there and listened quietly as I told him about how I had been married but lost my man in an accident nearly a year before. I barely managed to keep myself from blurting out my frustrations at the recent incident with Terry.

"That's too bad." He said politely when I managed to stop my silly yammering.

"I know how it feels, my wife wasn't there when...I got back."

"Got back?" I asked.

"Yes, I was in the mid east, we were apart for a very long time and I guess it was too much for her."

"Oh, I am sorry."

Carlton looked at me, just nodded.

"I have seen you in here before." That was matter of fact.

"Yes, I come in to chat with Pam." I glanced her direction, she was pointedly pretending to ignore us but I knew her much better than that.

He offered another nod.

After a few awkward moments of silence, I excused myself, went down to the end of the bar to visit with Pam. She worked her way down to me.

"What's up?" She grinned, glancing back at the man who still sat there quietly.

"Not much." I told her about how it went with Terry.

"Kids, fun to play with but you sure don't want one to keep." She laughed.

"Yes, probably true. Hey, how about making me a Kahlua and Creme?"

The drink appeared almost before the words left my mouth. I seldom drink but I was in the mood. I was halfway through it when two young men came in. They looked around, spotted a couple sitting at one of the tables. There was some short conversation, the man sitting there got up and things got very loud all of a sudden. The man that was sitting there was knocked down and the other man started kicking him, then I saw one of them reach out and jerk the woman to her feet. His hand drew back to slap her as she tried to put an arm up to protect herself.

The blow never landed, Carlton slid off his bar stool and stopped it. He didn't actually seem to leap or move suddenly, it was just a flow of unwasted motion and he was there. Both men turned to him, there were some words I didn't quite get, a flurry of movement and both of them were on the floor.

The man they had attacked managed to get to his feet, he and the young woman left in a hurry. Carlton just picked up the chairs and set them back by the table, turned and went back to his stool.

I looked back in time to see Pam set the phone down.

"What was all of that?" I asked her.

"I think she was dating one of them and then the other is all. Wow, did you see what that guy just did?"

Actually, I hadn't really, it was all too fast. I looked back down the bar just in time to see the one man head for Carlton again, the other one was just getting to his feet. Carlton set his drink down, it was almost like in slow motion, then he turned on his stool and reached out, stopping the man's fist in midair. The other one was to his feet and just starting to step that way also when Carlton's hand flashed out and the first man went down again.

The second man came to a stop, looked down at his friend. He held his hands up, palms out.

"Time to go." Carlton said simply. The man nodded and helped the other one to his feet. They left, Carlton looked our way.

"Sorry, ladies." Then he sat back down. I swear he was blushing.

I realized he reminded me of someone, a ghost from the past. My friend Lee's husband Ted had a past, one I never knew anything about really but I had met him, and I had heard a few stories. There was that same attitude of complete confidence about this man.

"Who is that guy?" I asked Pam.

"I'm not sure, honey, but he sure is one hunk of a man." She grinned at me, leaned in and whispered, "You should go get yourself some of that!".

Pam winked at me and went down the bar, sat a drink in front of him.

"Thanks, on me." I overheard her say. He just nodded.

I finished my drink and went home.

It was at least a week later before I went back, I sat down at my usual stool, my usual glass of fruit juice slid to a stop in front of me. I looked around, there were a few people there but none I knew.

"Haven't seen him tonight, honey." Pam said, reading my mind.

"Haven't seen who?" I lied.

"Oh, come on. That guy, I know you are interested." I just laughed.

"Fat chance with that one, he didn't seem to be too excited about me."

"Well, he asked about you a couple of days ago."

"He did?" That pleased me. "What did he say?"

"He said he wanted to bend you over the back of his couch." She teased.

"Oh, he did not."

"No, he just asked if you had been in, is all." I smiled to myself at that, sipped my drink.

I came back in the next night, and the night after that. A couple of times I had to reject some advances, the usual half drunk male types taking their shot. Pam and I did our normal sexy banter, cracking jokes about how bad it was to wake up with a drunk on top, basically mindless chat.

She had just sat down a drink in front of me when I saw her eyes look past me.

"Get yer bait ready, sweetie, he's here." She grinned. I sensed him right behind me, started to turn.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked, pointing to the bar stool beside me.

"I would like that!" I gave him my very best smile. He settled into the stool next to me, Pam slid a drink down the bar, she had a big grin on her face.

"I hope I didn't upset you." He said finally.

"Oh, you mean the fuss last week? No, it's OK. I just didn't know what was happening."

"I couldn't let that guy hit the woman."

"No, I suppose not."

"I'm also not really an accountant." He said.

"I guess I kinda figured that."

"People ask sometimes, I need something to tell them, is all."

"I see." I really didn't.

"I just want us to get off on the right foot." He looked at me, I suddenly realized he had deep blue eyes.

"Us?" I thought. Now that sounded odd.

"So what do you do?"

"Nothing. I mean...I am retired..military."

"Retired? But you are only..." I let that trail off.

"I'm 46. Scorpio." He said.

I blinked, this conversation was strange.

"..Cancer, are you into the Zodiac?" I asked.

"No, not really. Maybe a little bit, we are compatible then. Perhaps a little stormy, but compatible."

I blinked again at that one.

"May I take you out to dinner?" He asked.

"I already ate, it's 10:30. Maybe another night?" I smiled at him.

"OK. I would like that. I will give you a call." He stood up, sipped his drink, set it down and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute, I didn't give you my...." He was already at the door. I shook my head, what in the hell was that? I turned to look at Pam, if her head was leaning any further my way trying to hear, she would have fallen over.

"Pam! Did you...?" She laughed, went to the other end of the bar. I knew right then that she had given him my number.

Later, she leaned her elbows on the bar in front of me.

"So what do you think?" She asked. I knew what she meant.

"I think that is the strangest man I ever met."

"Yea, but he is cute as a bug's ear, and he can handle himself so why not dig in there a little bit and see what's under the surface?"

"I don't know how to talk to him."

"Maybe he has a big one and you won't have to." Pam laughed.

"You really are terrible." I grinned at her.

"Honey, I already tried to jump his bones and got nowhere, but you? He came looking for you."

"You tried to..."

"Yea, ya gotta bounce the bait to catch a fish!" She giggled and bounced on her tiptoes, making her breasts jiggle. A guy way down at the end of the bar let out a holler.

"Shut up, Harry!" She yelled at him, then grinned and went back to work.

It was two days later that the phone rang, at 7:30 in the morning. I was still wet from the shower, a towel wrapped around myself.

"Hello, it's me, Carlton. We met at the bar the other night?"

"Good morning."

"Sorry to call so early but I wanted to catch you before you left for your office. Is tonight all right?"

"Tonight? For what? Oh you mean for dinner? Sure, I would love to."

"OK. I will pick you up from your work, we can go for a drive first and visit."

"OK." He hung up, then it hit me. He knew where I worked? He knew when I went to work. He knew my phone number, where I lived. He knew way too much about me and I didn't even know his last name.

Sighing, I went into my bedroom and packed a carry case with a change of clothes, I could just shower at the office after work.

____________________________________

I was just putting on the finishing touches to my makeup when Michelle knocked on my office door.

"There is a hunk waiting for you out front!" She grinned, sticking her head in.

"How is he dressed?" I asked.

"Slacks and a sports shirt, leather jacket. Where did you find that one, he looks like a winner! Hell, I was hoping he was one of my clients!" She beamed.

Michelle was one of my office partners, and she has the reputation of "bending" the rules, her clients all love her and she loves her job.

"Keep your mitts off of him." I joked.

"Greedy bitch!" She retorted, laughing, then closed the door. I smoothed down my slacks, checked myself in the mirror. Slacks and a conservative blouse, I had guessed right on how he would be dressed. I started to undo a button on my blouse, then thought better of it.

"Hi, Carlton!" I smiled, walking into the waiting room.

"Ready?" He looked me up and down and smiled. Holding out his arm, I slipped my hand into the crook in his elbow as the office girls all leaned out to see what was up. Carlton was one the few men any of them had ever seen me with.

He smiled at me, I felt my breast touch his arm, I wasn't wearing a bra.

"We can just leave your Impala here, I will bring you back for it afterward."

This man even knew what car I drove, I realized.

We walked up to a huge vehicle, I wasn't sure what it even was but it was long with deep brown metallic paint. It even had fender skirts on the rear. It was absolutely spotless, and gleamed.

"What kind of car is this?" I asked him. The back end of it stuck out twice as far as the car next to it.

"Oldsmobile 98, 1973 model. I like big cars." He held the door for me. The door was huge, the machine was a two door model. The front seat looked like it was bigger than my couch at home.

"It looks like you could actually live inside this." I smiled.

"Well, a few times I have. I bought this new."

"New? You mean in...1973?"

"Yes." He started the engine, it rumbled to life, making a throbbing noise as it idled.

"Wow, that's a long time for one vehicle. What do you drive normally?" I was thinking this was a collector car, I knew people did that a lot.

"This. It's the only car I have." He smiled at me, then pulled out into traffic.

"Can't drive two at once anyway." He gave me a short grin.

We drove up to the top of the area known as Council Crest, there was a small park looking out over the city. A few times on the way up I was sure the car was going to rub on both sides of the road but it didn't. Carlton pulled up and parked, leaving the engine running.

He reached into a small case and pulled out an old 8 track cassette, plugged it in. It was Bob Segar. "Up on the Stage" filled the air, he reached over and adjusted the volume lower.

Then he patted the seat beside him expectantly.

"I like this tape, I used to play and sing a bit myself." The vision of Carlton in a cowboy hat with a guitar popped into my head, he would fit that look, I thought.

I slid over next to him and we sat there quietly, watching the city and everyone down below moving around. A few cars came up from time to time but there was no conversation, he reached down and took my hand in his as the music filled the air around us.

A couple of times I started to say something, getting a quiet shush from him. I glanced at my watch once as it started to get dark, the streams of traffic down below became streaks of light, red going away and bright facing us.

Somehow it was mesmerizing.

The quiet throb of the engine, music just below the background noises seemed to lull me into a trance of some kind, it was so peaceful. Carlton turned to me after what was a very long time.

"All of those people, all living their lives. Working, shopping, eating, fighting, making love, so much going on, so many souls, so many we will never know." His voice after what must have been nearly two hours was almost startling.

"It's something to think about, to realize that all of this is just a tiny piece of so much that is going on out there in the world."

I looked at him, his face turned towards mine. What kind of man had I found here, what in the world was he? He leaned down and his lips met mine, that seemed to be exactly right at that moment.

How can I explain that? My head swam, my body responded, I felt the tinglings, and all he did was kiss me. He broke the kiss, leaned back and studied my face. If he had not leaned back I swear I would have had an orgasm right then, from just his kissing me.

The next thing I knew we were moving, headed back down the hill. We pulled up at a nice restaurant.

"Salad bar, right?" He asked, smiling. He knew that about me, too.

"Yes, fine." He opened the door for me, took my hand. I could feel the roughness of his fingers, his palm. I was completely aware of the feel of his hand. There was a power there, he was more than just a man, it was like I was being twisted and turned somehow, fitted to him like a piece of a puzzle. I had no idea at all what was going on, it was like I was in some kind of daze.

Dinner was nice, conversation was light. I kept studying his face, he knew that and just looked back at me.

Once more he took my hand, led me to the massive machine. I was ready, I was his. He had completely overwhelmed me without doing anything at all. I barely knew him, but I wanted him pressed against me, invading me, holding me tight against the world.

Back at my office building, he once again held the car door for me. I was waiting for him to ask me to go with him, I wanted him to ask me to go with him.

Instead, he took me in his arms, his big hands resting lightly on my hips. His lips once again met mine, my head swirled, lost in that sensation.

"Not yet." He smiled down at me.

"Not yet?" I asked, not sure what he meant.

"You will see. Good night Sally, thank you."

He got into his giant car, sat there waiting until I got into mine. I saw his headlights behind me, waved as he pulled out the other way.

I let out my breath with a sigh, I had been holding it in.

I slept that night soundly, waking up the next morning to the remains of a dream of his lips touching mine. I showered, dressed, and went to work.

By the middle of the next week I was beside myself, there had been no call, nothing. I drove down to the bar to visit with Pam. She wanted to know everything of course, but what did I have to tell?

"That's all? He just kissed you and went home?"

"Yep, that's it. I don't know what he is, but it's different. He had me and I think he knew that and he just...didn't?" I sipped the Kahlua I had ordered.

I was just getting ready to leave, head for home when Carlton walked in the door. He saw me and came over, sat down.

"I figured you would have called me by now." I said, mildly miffed.

"I got busy with some things, sorry."

"You could have called."

"No, I couldn't." He just looked at me. I blinked, not understanding.

"Anyway, you are ready now." He got up and reached for my hand, waving off Pam who headed over to see if he wanted a drink.

"Ready for what?" I took his hand and got up.

"To go home with me." He smiled.

"What? Just like that? You think I am going to go home with you?"

"Yes. You are." He smiled, then turned to leave, still holding my hand. I felt myself just go with him. The last thing I saw when I looked over my shoulder was Pam standing there with a big grin on her face.