Lovesick (2/?)

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2. Thermite

The BMW was smooth as silk and the roads were empty, as they should have been at two-something in the morning.  Nedra’s encounter with Victor was all in her head, all over her body, thrumming through her nerves like a live wire.  She turned on the iPod.  Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” was the last song she’d been listening to.   Nedra rolled down the windows, cranked the volume and tried to forget about Victor.  She looked at the lily on the dashboard and it stared right back at her, ensuring that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.  The existence of the gorgeous black flower screamed a truth she had to deal with.

‘He found me.’

‘He didn’t forget about me.’

She shifted gears and one hand wandered between her thighs as the car shot forward.  Beyoncé was singing about fucking her husband and Nedra latched on to the lyrics, thinking, recalling, allowing the memories to surge forth as her fingers slipped inside her red satin panties.  She hit the highway doing 60, on autopilot, listening and remembering everything about that night and she couldn’t help herself.  He’d been sitting behind his desk, looking like a dirty pile of clothes with six weeks’ worth of bed-head when she walked in.  It didn’t take long for her to discover that he found her appealing enough to proposition her.

Or maybe it was the fact that she was a real live woman standing in his living room and not some live-sex bimbo dancing naked on a computer screen.  It didn’t matter to her because she wasn’t going to leave without him…which meant that she ended up in his bed.  Nedra and Victor soon discovered that they were a pair of world-class shit talkers.  She told him her pussy was the Promised Land and it was more addicting than cocaine.  He told her that he would have his way with her all over and that his sex game was never off.

Stumblin all in the house/time to back up all of that mouth/that you had all in the car/talmbout you the baddest bitch thus far

Neither had lied.

Nedra licked her lips and bit them, thinking about the man’s superlative head game.   He used his tongue like an artist used a fine-tipped paintbrush.  His lips curved around her clitoris in tender, featherlike kisses and he was positively greedy when it came to drinking the nectar of the Promised Land.  Victor made no secret of how much he loved her taste; he said it was like cherries and how he could come just from eating her out, or his weakness for grabbing her ass.

Can’t keep your eyes off my fatty, daddy/I want you na na

Drunk in love, we be all night

She licked her lips again and played with her pussy as she flew down the interstate, the speedometer steadily creeping past 70…75…80…as she recalled how easily he lifted her in the shower, bent her over the chair…worshipped, blessed, adored, revered every inch of her body and the Promised Land.  She recalled his kisses; how awkward he’d been when she first kissed him and how great he’d gotten at kissing by the time she left the next day…his sweet, sweet lips and the way his moustache and beard felt against her clit…the man certainly learned fast.

Talmbout you be reppin’ that third/I want to see all the shit that I heard/Know I sling Clint Eastwood/Hope you can handle this curve uhhn

The speedometer continued to creep…85…90…95…100…Nedra curled her fingers inside, squeezing her thighs and alternately biting and licking her lips as she masturbated, thumbing her clit and hating the fucker for bringing forth the memories; all of them, even the ones she worked hard to bury deeper than dead bodies.  She had been asleep and he woke her up with head and then dick…and there were angry words, commands…

“Your pussy curves to my dick; have you realized that…Do you feel that?  How well we fit together…Like a hand in a glove?  Do you feel that, Nedra…do you feel it?  I want this every day and I have to have it and you want me to have it…do you feel that, Marine?  The way I fit inside of you?  It’s perfect…You may have to get fucked everyday but you don’t get fucked like this everyday…but I bet you want to…Do you feel that, Marine?  Do you feel that, Nedra?”

That particular time, he had been relentless in his passion and he never offered an explanation as to why he’d been so…intense.

“I want this every day and I have to have it and you want me to have it…”

She didn’t need an explanation.  She already had one.  Victor was crazy.

Catch a charge I might/beat the box up like Mike

But in spite of that significant detail, her fingers stroked and probed, and her tongue ran over her lips continuously as the memories became a movie caught in a loop.  He had been unstoppably horny and once she fully woke up, she met him at that level.

“Your pussy curves to my dick…Do you feel that, Marine?  Do you feel that, Nedra?”

She felt it.  She did.  Yes lawd, she did.  Nedra found her G and pressed.

“The way I fit inside of you…Like a hand in a glove…Do you feel that, Nedra?”

She felt it, all right, as her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip.  Her climax was brusque with a sweet, painful edge.  She was grateful that the Bima’s alignment was exquisite because her hands were everywhere except the wheel and she had been driving with her knees.  Her lip started bleeding and to her dismay, she saw flashing lights behind her.  Nedra looked at the speedometer.  She was driving over 120 miles an hour with her hand in her panties, a swollen, bloody lip, smelling way too much like her secret self with King Bey’s sexy jam on repeat.

Fucking Victor fucking von fucking Doom.  That fucking bastard!  She wanted to kill him.  She never got speeding tickets!

The lily stared at her with its broken stem and shredded red bow; its ends red and raggedy just like her emotional state, bringing forth the real truth in all its glory. 

He’s a bastard all right, but one that you want, no matter how much you try to fight it.

Nedra slowed down and pulled over, looking for something to wipe her wet fingers with and coming up short.  Quickly she turned off the iPod.  She hadn’t yet outfitted the Bima with necessities such as tissues…or a damn towel, in this case.  Fuck.  She’d have to clean the seat when she got home.  She wiped her hand on her dress after sucking the tang off her fingers and did the best she could to straighten her face and lick the blood from her lip.  Nedra was grateful that the windows were open and maybe the cop couldn’t smell her that much.  She put her hands on the wheel as the trooper walked towards her car and asked for her license and registration.

“My purse is right behind me, officer,” she said.  “If I could reach back and get it…I can do it with one hand.”  She kept a copy of her registration in her wallet because there was always at least one of her guns in her glove compartment and she did not need Officer Friendly to see that she was packing heat.  That wouldn’t end well for her, even though she had a permit.

“Take your time,” he said.

Nedra kept one hand on the wheel but lifted herself high enough to grab the bag’s handles and swing it to the front seat.  She caught a strong whiff as she lifted her hips and closed her eyes in mortification.  What would her graduate students think?

Honestly, she didn’t give a shit what anyone thought.  Not even Officer Friendly.  She fished out her license and registration and handed it to him with the hand she’d used on herself.  He sniffed, stared at it and then at her, the flashlight not quite full in her face.

“Ma’am, your lip is bleeding.”

“I’m aware.  I bit it a little while ago.  I have strong jaws,” she replied.

“Do you know how fast you were going, Miss Nix?”

“Way over the limit.  120, I think.”

“125.  That’s 55 miles over, Miss Nix.”

“I know,” she said.  At this point, she just wanted him to give her the damn ticket and let her go home.  “I wasn’t paying attention.”  She wasn’t going to apologize for speeding because why the hell for?

“I’ll be right back,” he said.  Nedra nodded and leaned back in her seat and let the cool night air calm her nerves.

Victor.  Fucking Victor, coming up out of the depths like a damn shark.  She had to get it together, because she couldn’t lose control like this again.  This wasn’t her.

Nedra walked into her apartment forty-five minutes later with a speeding ticket in her purse and her shoes in hand.  She was furious with herself but could do little more than make it to her bedroom and collapse on her bed in exhaustion.

The calla lily was also in her purse.

~~~~~~~~~

Across town, Victor lay in bed, arms folded behind his head, still holding the broken stem of the lily.  His ceiling fan was on and he watched the blades turn in a daze, listening to Prince’s “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore,” thinking about how after almost six weeks, he’d finally laid eyes on Nedra Nix…and she was just as fiery as he remembered.  He had waited patiently for over an hour, sitting in his Range Rover until the SMS he’d been expecting came through from Security.

She’s coming down in Elevator 4.

He picked up the calla lily and went to wait by her car; a shiny, gleaming FUCK YOU to those who had the audacity to hate a woman they didn’t know just because she was superb at hustling money from wealthy patrons.  One of the bits he’d heard was that it was a gift from one of Nedra’s benefactors, for “services rendered.”  Hearing that irritated him, because it was clearly said in ignorance and out of spite.  The blonde who said it didn’t even know Nedra’s name, but casually referred to her as “that black bitch in physical chemistry,” to which another woman nodded and offered her own negative perspective.

Victor, not one for listening to gossip or fueling it, wasn’t about to listen to Nedra get raked over the coals just because some other women were jealous of her success.  He poked his head in their conversation and both of their expressions changed immediately, as did their tones.  Seeing the immediate change made him wonder about what Nedra had told him about other women fighting over him.  But that wasn’t important now.

“Do you even know whom you’re talking about?” he had asked.

“What do you mean?” the blonde asked.

“That ‘black bitch in physical chemistry,’ you called her.  Do you know her name?”

“No,” the blonde said, her lips drawing up in a moue of distaste.  “No one does.”

“Why would you insult her like that, then?  Is she a bitch because she’s good at what she does?”

“Well…um…no…”

“Is it because she is black?”

“Uhhhmmm…”  The blonde looked completely uncomfortable.  The brunette eyed her watch and looked away.  The blonde could expect no help from her.

“Why insult her then?  You just called her a bitch and a whore.  She could have easily bought the car herself.  When did it become a bad thing for a woman to be successful at what she does and yet you insult her because you don’t like the way she looks.  You’re disgusting.”

The woman found herself caught in his angry gaze, and she had no weapon with which to fight. 

“Or is the reason for your vitriol simply because she has dark skin and curly hair and is more successful and powerful than you are?”  After Nedra had explained how much Franklin depended on her, Victor had done some checking and quickly learned that the older man was justified in having her as an ally.

The blonde had no immediate comeback and the woman she was talking to quickly left.

“You’re pathetic,” Victor said before walking away.  He now understood Nedra’s desire for anonymity and why sightings of her were so rare.  If that kind of hate was what she had to deal with on a daily basis…

He leaned up against her beautiful new car, fingering the delicate black lily.  It was not the same complexion as Nedra’s earth-brown skin, but when he laid eyes on it, he knew it was the flower he wanted to give her.  He didn’t take her for a flowers-and-candy type of woman, but the chocolate calla called to him and he had to order it for her.  He couldn’t go to her empty-handed; that was some lame punk-ass shit Johnny or Reed would do.

Soon he heard the clicking of her shoes and the sound of her voice as she talked to her wack-ass boyfriend. 

Victor rolled his eyes.  The man in her life was nothing more than a ploy she kept throwing in his face.  But he was obsessed with seeing Nedra again.  All he wanted was to lay eyes on her once more.  He hadn’t seen her since she put on her jeans, grabbed her boots and ran out of his apartment.  She’d been in such a hurry to leave that she left her panties.  He understood her anxiety; they’d just finished executing a Kama Sutra position and while extremely enjoyable, it was physically taxing for them both. He had barely had the strength to gently lay her on the floor before collapsing beside her, out of breath.  Nedra’s legs were trembling uncontrollably, as were his own.  She couldn’t get enough breath to form words and tiny tears were in the corner of her eyes as her chest heaved and her body quivered.

“I’m not going to be able to go to work tomorrow,” she moaned after a few minutes.

Victor was thusly affected.  It took a long time for his legs to stop shaking and he turned on his side to look at Nedra, who couldn’t face him.  She sat up, practically by will and crawled over to her jeans and pulled them on with an effort.  Nedra didn’t bother putting on her boots, but she looked down at him and said, “I don’t ever want to see you again,” before walking out of the room as fast as her sore legs and hips could take her.  He heard his door unlock and her footfalls descend the stairs but he didn’t have the strength to get up and follow her out.

He could hear every word of her phone call.  When he laid eyes on her, she was wearing a form-fitting black pinstripe dress that gathered around her neck and left her shoulders and arms bare.  She carried the matching jacket and sported a pair of sexy, sexy black stilettos with shiny red soles.  For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.  In regular clothes, Nedra was a knockout, but when she was suited up…she was nuclear.  And he was already hard, but he was going to keep it to himself.  There was a goal here, an objective.

She hadn’t been happy to see him.

Victor had enjoyed their exchange; it frazzled her and amused him.  She wasn’t able to own up to her truth.  But when she left, he was irritated and frustrated. Nedra told him that he could not compete with her boyfriend; that he didn’t even know how to, and that how her boyfriend was able to express his love for her required methods that were foreign to him.  That insult cut him to the bone and he was superstar pissed about it, too. 

Later, as he drove away in his Range Rover, he had all the information he wanted and now it was time to do some recon. 

Victor stared up at his swirling fan.  ‘We’ll see about that.’

All I wanna know baby/if what we had was good/how come u don’t call me anymore

He had connections.  His three years in solitude bore extensive fruit via Internet associates and deep-web contacts.  There were plans to be made, data to be collected, and an objective to be achieved.  There were boundaries that would have to be crossed and people that would need to be paid.  He needed time away from the world and he needed plenty of resources at the ready.  He could do most of what needed to be done with a few emails from a dummy account and the rest by hand.  Some of what he needed to do required a personal touch, and others he didn’t trust anyone to do correctly but himself.

Sometimes it feels like I’m gonna die/if you don’t call me mama/girl you got to try

Nedra didn’t know how tenacious Victor could be when he wanted something.  And she had basically confirmed that she still wanted him, but in a way that was beneficial to her.  He interpreted that to mean a way that didn’t interfere with her relationship with her boyfriend…who was a non-factor as far as Victor was concerned.

Victor felt feverish but knew he didn’t have a physical fever.  The cool air from the fan felt good on his hot skin.  He was naked, as it was simply too hot to wear anything, and besides he liked being au naturale.  Victor gripped the broken stem in one hand, closing his eyes.  Calla lilies didn’t have thorns, but he would have welcomed the discomfort of a dozen pinpricks in his hand.  Even a little blood…something to take the edge off.

Down on my knees beggin you please, please…

She still wanted him.  That was all he needed to know.  She could play games with her memories and her emotions, but he wasn’t about to do the same.  He knew what he was going to do.  If she wouldn’t act, he would.

Why on earth can’t you just pick up the phone/You know I don’t like to be alone

Victor still had her plum-colored lace panties.  He washed them in his bathroom sink, regretting that he had to wash away the scent of her, but he wanted to keep them.  The memory of how they looked on her may as well have been a hot pink Post-It note stapled to his forehead, it was so vivid. 

She’d undressed to everything but the lingerie and stood in the mirror playing with her hair and he ogled the shit out of her while she primped…even though they were about to get in the shower.  Nedra had an ass that rivaled Serena Williams’ and it was all he could do not to fall to his knees.  It was around that time when Victor discovered he was an ass man.  Nedra had magnificent tits, but her ass was an attribute men would go to war over.

He began to rub his chest and abs with her panties, eyes closed, head lost in memory and Prince’s on-point lyrics.

Why, why must you torture me/why must you torment me so

At some point, she’d have them back, but for now it was necessary to make use of them because he couldn’t stop thinking about how good she looked and soon the lace moved downward and offered a fast assist in a withdrawal from the spank bank.  He couldn’t help it; it didn’t take long…the way that dress hugged her ass and her legs were fire branded into his mind, and no…it didn’t take long at all before his little piece of Nedra was covered with pieces of him.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next week was a much calmer week for Nedra and her staff.  She was waiting to hear from the philanthropists, but she had plenty to keep her busy.  Jon was coming home in a few days and she wanted to wrap up some tasks so that she could have time off with him.  Nedra put in her request to be off as soon as Jon suggested they go somewhere.  She was sitting at her desk, listening to music, lighthearted and happy, and Keria Dawson, her second-in-command, teased her about it.

“You’ve got that look.  Jon’s coming home soon, isn’t he?”

“Damn, is it that obvious?”  Nedra had a Blow-Pop in her mouth as she scanned her monitor and bobbed her head to 2Pac’s “Toss it Up.”

“Girl, you hardly ever grin like that.  He must have called or something.”  Nedra was normally practical and matter-of-fact; she rarely laughed on the job, so seeing her happy made Keria happy.  “Good.”

“I’m smiling because number one, we got those damn presentations out of the way.  That was stressful as fuck.  And two, I feel really good about our chances.  I can give you guys a raise.”

Keria leaned against the doorframe of Nedra’s office.  “Shit, if we can get an electron microscope we don’t have to share with those dweebs in Genetics, I’d be fine with that.”

“Bullshit you would.  I’ve got the best staff in this place and I want to keep them happy.  Don’t nothin’ satisfy us like a check.”  Nedra was particular about who worked for her; she had an all-female research team…women who would get overlooked or slighted elsewhere.  It was one of many reasons she asked Franklin to get her a workspace separate from the rest of Baxter.  The shade was real.

“You right,” Keria said.  Then she looked out of the window.  “We’ve got a visitor—or rather, you do.”

Nedra was sitting at her desk, bobbing her head back and forth.  “What?  Who?”

“Him,” Keria said.  “He comes by from time to time looking for you.  Shocked the hell out of me when he flat out asked for you by name.  I knew shit was real when that happened.”

Nedra looked up and saw Victor standing at the doors of her lab.

“That’s Victor von Doom, isn’t it?  I was wondering.  Isn’t he that nutjob who set fire to Franklin’s data servers about four years ago?”

She nodded.  “The one and only.”

Keria twisted her lips.  “Why Franklin wanted him back is beyond me.  Fucking asshole should be in jail for that shit.  If he’d done that to our data servers—”

“I would have shot him in the head and left you to carry on, Key.  But lucky for him, he burned down Franklin’s shit instead.  You’d be surprised at how forgiving Franklin is, especially considering what Victor can do.  I must admit, the man is a computer virtuoso, a mathematical prodigy, an engineering wunderkind…a man who can make enormous inductive leaps on evidence that is, at best, twerky.  The things he can do…he’s a fucking phenom.  I understand why Franklin needs him and wasn’t willing to throw him to the wolves.  He’s not so bad once you get to know him,” Nedra heard herself saying.

Keria eyed her friend.  “So you do know him?”

“Yeah, a little bit.  Franklin introduced us.  Has anyone else seen him here?”

Keria tapped her pen against her lip and stared at Victor.  “I think Natalie saw him one afternoon, but that’s all I can remember.”  She gave him a little half-smile and waved.  “He’s cute though.”

“You should hit him up,” Nedra said, thinking, ‘He’s way more than that.’ “I bet he’s on the market.”

Keria flat-out stared.  “He’s really cute.  Cuter than I expected him to be.  With a name like Victor von Doom, I was expecting his ass to look like the Count on Sesame Street, or a comic book villain.”

Nedra pulled her lollipop out of her mouth before she choked on it with laughter.  Keria was a nut.  “Fool, did you just say the Count on Sesame Street?”

Keria shrugged.  “He’s from Latveria.  May as well be Count Victor von Doom.  I don’t know, I’ve been watching too many Dracula movies lately.  There’s a Hammer marathon on.  He’s wearing black…he could be a vamp…and a fine one at that.”

Nedra couldn’t stop giggling.  Keria had a thing for vampires.  “Even more reason for you to slide him your number.  I’m sure he likes black girls and I am 78.3% positive he’s single.”

Keria looked at Nedra, a teasing smile on her lips.  “Of course he likes black girls, but it’s your ass he’s looking for, not mine.”

“Girl, please.  Victor’s too young for me.”

“What is he, maybe a minute over 34?  And you’re 40.  Fuck outta here with your bullshit.  He ain’t that damn young.”  Then she giggled and looked at Victor again.  “Let me see you toss that up!”

“You forget that I have a tall, dark, and handsome soldier at my beck and call.  There’s no comparison.”

“True.  Jon’s fine as fucking hell and were we not friends...but the more I look at him, Victor’s no slouch either.  He’s pretty hot, but a man crazy enough to do the shit he did to Franklin isn’t a man I can roll with.  What is it you Marines say?  Semper Fi?  Well, Victor didn’t Semper nor Fi to Franklin.”  Keria put down her clipboard and pen.  “I’m done for the night, Nedra.  You want me to let him in?  It’s you he wants to see.”

Nedra looked around.  “Anyone else here?”

“Girl, you know the only person who’s here after I’m gone is you.  And I’m getting ready to go.  I’ll let Count Cutie in on my way out.”

Nedra had to giggle.  Count Cutie indeed. “Bye!  Drive safely!”

Keria threw up a wave as she carefully went down the stairs that led to the lab floor.  She walked with a limp.  Nedra remained in her office, getting herself together.  Dealing with Victor required armor and hers was already cracked.  She put on her Beats and immersed herself in her computer monitors, but she was already giving her Blow-Pop a workout at the mere thought of Victor being in the same room with her.  Last week wasn’t that long ago.

Then he was standing in her doorway.  Nedra glanced up and he cocked his head to one side.  She closed her eyes and pretended to sigh in frustration as she slipped off her earphones and removed the Blow-Pop.  “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” he said.  “Wanted to check out your Bat cave.”

“That’s it?  You wanted to see my lab?  Well, do a 360 and take a look.  You know where the door is.”

“It’s enormous,” he said.

“It is,” she replied, with a sense of pride.  “And you now know that it isn’t physically attached to the Baxter building in any way…which is why I’m annoyed Franklin told you how to find me.”

“I understand your need to be out of the way,” he said.  “I wish I could have my own space.  I hate working with those sanctimonious little shits.”

“I don’t take it for granted,” she replied, getting up.  “Victor, it’s after midnight and I’m going to leave in a little while, but I have a few things to do before I leave…so state your business and be along your way.”

“I told you.  I wanted to see you.”

Nedra put the lollipop back in her mouth and closed her eyes, thinking of parallel tracks this interaction could take.  She had a split second to figure out which track would give her what she wanted with the least resistance and the fastest results.

“You’re here for more than a look-see,” she said, talking around the lollipop.

“I am, at that,” he said.

She removed the Blow-Pop.  “Should I guess?”

“Not sex.”

Nedra was truly surprised at that statement.  “Really?”

“You seem surprised.”

“Well, considering our most recent encounter…”

Victor walked towards her and Nedra caught a whiff of his scent.  What was that?  Fuck, he smelled good!  Within seconds, he was standing in front of her and then just as suddenly, he was holding her hands.  “Don’t get me wrong…that hasn’t changed for me, but it is not why I’m here.”

“I’m so confused right now,” she said, pulling her hands away and inserting the Blow-Pop.  She turned away from him and stared at one of her screensavers.  It was a selfie of her and Jon at a cantina in Phuket, and she couldn’t help but smile.

Victor was right behind her, staring at the back of her neck.  “No, you’re not.”  He turned her around and with a boldness she found both stimulating and annoying, removed the Blow-Pop from her mouth.  He grabbed a clean piece of paper from her desk and wrapped the lollipop in it.

“Excuse you,” Nedra said, rolling her eyes.  She was enjoying that.

“You’re not confused,” he said.  “You know why I’m here and you know it’s not just for sex…though if you wanted me to bend you over your desk, I’d do it in a heartbeat.  You know what I want, what I need from you.  It’s because of you that I need it.  Your lips.  I want to kiss you.”

Nedra sighed.  She wished she’d never instigated that first kiss, but the man had a mighty fine mouth and she couldn’t help herself.  She understood.  Boy, did she ever.  But if she let Victor kiss her, she would never be rid of him.  He would never go away.

“It’s what I came here for,” he said.  “To see you and to have one more kiss from those lips.”

“That’s it?  That’s all you want?  A kiss?  One kiss and you’re done?”

Victor stared at her.  She was a brilliant woman, but right now she was either pretending to act stupid, or was actually having a stupid moment.  They would never be done.

“Kiss me, Nedra,” he said, smiling.  “Don’t make me beg.”

Nedra looked around and of course, saw no one in the lab.  She wondered if it was guilt that made her look around, because God help her, she wanted to kiss Victor.  He looked great and smelled even better, and lord…it had been a month since she’d last had sex, which was the morning Jon left for Bosnia.  Since running upon Victor last week, she’d been masturbating like a fiend.  That fucking speeding ticket was going to be over a thousand dollars and she thought she ought to make him pay for it, since it was his fault she’d gotten it.

“No one’s here but you and me and you don’t have any security cameras in your office.  If that eases your conscience.”

“How do you know that—” she started to say, but he didn’t let her finish.  He put a finger against her lips.  “You can find something far more useful for those lovelies to do than talk.”

Nedra put her hands on his cheeks, closed her eyes and let go.  Victor put his arms around her and his hands on her ass and let her take control.  Moments later, she had him up against the wall by her file cabinet, her arms around his neck, kissing him as if her life depended on it.  His mouth was as sweet as she remembered, sweeter even.  It had been so long since they kissed and she hated admitting to herself that she missed it.  His lips were warm, soft; his mouth inviting, like he’d been feasting on candy before coming to see her, and she was a greedy, horny thing.  His hands were on her ass, gripping, pushing her closer.

Victor broke the kiss and stared at her, a sexy, devious smile on his face.  Nedra stared at him, her breathing hard and looking a little bit confused.  “Why’d you stop?” she asked.

Victor ran his thumb over her lips and without thinking; she took it into her mouth, closing her eyes.  He watched her suck his thumb for about three seconds when she realized what she was doing.  Embarrassment lit up her face like fire as she mumbled an apology and stepped back, releasing him.

“Why are you apologizing?” he asked.

“I went a little too far,” she said, looking away.

“I don’t mind,” he said, sucking his thumb.  “How long has it been?”

“A month.”

“Says the woman who has to have it regularly.”

“Shut up,” she said.  “I can keep it together and go full nympho when Jonathan comes home.”

“You shouldn’t have to wait,” he said, looking at her screen saver, “but I bet he doesn’t complain.”

Nedra smiled at him.  “You of all people oughta know that he doesn’t.”

Victor shrugged.  “You have other options.  Kiss me again,” he said.  “You clearly enjoy it.  I know I do.”

Nedra looked at her screen saver.  “I got a little carried away.”

“Get carried away again,” he said.  “It’s just us; me and you.  Come on now, Marine.  I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Victor, why are you making this so hard?”

“I’m not making anything hard.  That’s you.”  He captured her hand and brought her back to him.  “Kiss me again, Nedra.  Like you mean it this time.”

She stood, eyes demurely lowered so that she wouldn’t have to look at him.  “Victor…”

He liked her demure act and leaned in to whisper in her ear.  “You don’t want me out of your life.”  It was as clear as the glass walls in her lab.

“We can’t…we can’t do this…” Nedra whispered as he kissed her neck and the side of her face.

“Why not?”  Victor kissed the pulse at her throat, which was beating rapidly.  Without warning, he gripped her ass.  “Why can’t we?  Why are you being so obstinate?”

She didn’t want to argue.  She didn’t want to debate.  She didn’t even want to talk, because talking to him did nothing but frustrate her.  So Nedra kissed him again and like before, allowed herself to let go.  No one would ever know.  No one even knew.  This time, however, Victor controlled the outcome.  He turned so that she was up against the wall this time and lifted one of her legs so that he could press into her.  Nedra moaned against his lips as he lifted her leg.  He was so hard and she was going to cream her jeans if she didn’t get some sort of relief.  But she had to keep it together.  This was a kiss; a much-needed bon mot for both of them.  They deserved that much.

She ran her fingers through his hair and broke the kiss.  “You let your hair grow out.”

“You like it?”

“I do.  I like the way it feels between my fingers.”

“Then grab it,” he said, claiming her mouth once more.  "Grab it."  He remembered thinking that kissing her was akin to being forgiven for all his sins and that had not changed.

Another minute passed and Nedra pulled away reluctantly.  “Oh shit,” she groaned, feeling herself get slick.  “I have to stop—we have to stop.”

“Why?  Are you getting wet?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, as he still held her leg in the crook of one arm.

“Oh it does,” he said.  “Tell me what you want, Nedra.  I’ll do anything you say, you know that.”

“Victor, I can’t…”

“Why can’t you?  It’s just one more kiss, isn’t it?  That’s why I came to see you.  For your kisses.  All your kisses.”

“You know good and damn well that isn’t why you’re here!”

“But it is.  I told you so.  All we’ve done is kiss.  I haven’t instigated anything else.”

He also hadn’t put her leg down, but Nedra couldn’t think beyond the throbbing in her jeans.  “You don’t know how to leave well enough alone.”

“Is that right?” he said, still holding her leg.  “Is that what you think?”

“I can’t let you anywhere near my pussy,” she said.  “I can’t.  You know I can’t.”  He would own every bit of it and she just...couldn't...let...that...happen...

Victor pushed up against her and then took a moment to slowly wiggle his hips.  “Too late for that, don’t you think?”

“You’re such a dick,” she said, closing her eyes, enjoying the moment.  “You’re an asshole.  You came here to torture me.”

“You’ll feel better if you simply tell me what you want,” he said, almost whispering it into her ear.  “I won’t request anything, but I will take requests.”

Nedra thought her vagina was going to implode.  She’d already slicked her panties; if he kept this up, her jeans would soon follow.  She wanted to tell him to go away, to get on a plane to Paris, to die a horrible death in a fire, to do anything not near her…but her secret heart wouldn’t let her.  Not this close.

“I want you to eat me out,” she said, in a voice so low she hoped a mouse would fart and drown it out.  She hoped he hadn’t heard her because she couldn’t bear repeating it.

But of course he did, and without missing a beat, released her leg and looked into her eyes as he unfastened her USMC belt buckle and unzipped her jeans.  He hooked his fingers around her jeans and panties and pushed them down over her hips.  Then he dropped to his knees and looked up at her, his expression serious.  “Are you sure you want me to do this, Nedra?” As if he were agreeing to a contract.

“Yes,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut as her hand drifted between her legs.  It was already starting to pool.  “Oh God, yes!”

Victor yanked her jeans to her ankles and annoyingly swatted her hand out of the away before he stuck his face between her thighs and took a deep breath.  Then he did as she asked, and soon she had double handfuls of his hair and couldn’t stop the surging of her hips against his face as he took his pleasure.  Her thighs muffled his enjoyment, but she could hear him clearly.

His hands had a tight grip on her ass, as usual.  “Mmn.  Mmmmn…mmmmmn…” and then there was the sucking and his dirty words...and all that did was make her wetter.

Nedra’s eyes rolled back into her head as her climax tore through her.  What did it take…two minutes?  She felt cheap, easy.  She started trembling and all he did in response was shove his face further in because he didn’t want to miss not one bit of cherry extract.  She could hear him slurping and the world fell away as her knees weakened and she could no longer stand.

Fuck, he knew how to eat pussy!

At some point, sanity and her vision returned.  Nedra blinked rapidly, realizing she was staring up at her ceiling.  There was a note Jon put up there years ago to keep her attentive whenever she found herself daydreaming.

ROXY, YOU SHOULD BE WORKING!

The words focused and she gasped, realizing that she was on the floor.  Victor lay beside her, smiling and licking his fingers.  Nedra shrieked and sat up, grabbed her pants and yanked them up.  She zipped her jeans and fumbled with the belt buckle and uttered a frustrated “Damn!” when she couldn’t get it to latch.

“I would have done that for you,” he said, licking his glossy lips.

“You’ve done enough,” she said, lying back down.  She was too wiped to get to her feet.

“I only did what you asked,” he said.  “That made you happy, didn’t it?”

She couldn’t lie.  “Yes.”

“It pleased me too.  Sweet, sweet Nedra,” he said, putting his hand between her thighs.  “I’d forgotten just how ridiculously hot you are.  Stupid me.  I won’t forget again.”  Her sex appeal was off the charts and he craved her like an addict.  Like she predicted.

“Victor, don’t do this,” she said.

“Don’t do what?  Lick your pussy?  You told me to do it.”

“Don’t come visit me at work.  My office smells like sex now and I have to Febreeze the shit out of it…”

“Ah,” he said.  “Would you rather I come to your house?  If I do that, I'm going to do more than eat you.”

“No,” she said.  “This isn’t happening again.”

He kept going.  “I can meet you at your car.  I’d love to eat you out in your new car.  I’d put one of your feet on the steering wheel and the other over the passenger side headrest and enjoy every bit…you liked it when I used my nose and goatee that time...”

Nedra sat up too fast and her head swam.  She took a moment to calm herself down.  Victor sat up and smiled at her before whispering in her ear: “I’ll do it if you want me to.  I’ll love it even more if you wear that dress and those shoes and you let me finger-fuck that fat pussy until you come all over the seat.  I’ll get on my knees and lick it up.  I’ll do whatever you say, Nedra.  I’m at your command, so command me, Master Sergeant.”

She stared at the wall.  Her throat was a place where words went to die.

“You know what I really want to do?  Investigate your preference for a strong hand on your throat.  How strong is strong...does it have to be a hand?  I need to know.  I’d love to examine your need of liking things hard and your desire to be…what did you say?  Manhandled?  I want to quantify that.  But we’d have to do that at my house.  Or yours.  Do you have a four-poster bed?  If not, I can buy you one.  We’d need leverage and support, you know.  That whole dirty bad girl thing...”

Nedra continued to stare at the wall.  Her mouth was so dry she was having trouble forming words.  He was still talking.

“…fetish.  Call it whatever you want, but I've had to have it ever since you left me.”

“You’re…impossible,” she choked out.  She was still trying to find her vocabulary.

“The things I suggest are not impossible,” he said.  “Or implausible.”  Victor stood up, dusted off his slacks and looked down at her.  “I am a man who will do anything.  It’s best you understand this now, Nedra.”  

She stared up at him, feeling small under his dark, seriously sexy gaze.  Then he went over to her desk where her iPhone was and asked for her passcode.  Nedra was so beside herself considering what he’d said and still searching for her voice that her finger shot out and drew the pattern in the air without even thinking about it.

It was a moment or two later when she heard her ringtone.  Startled, she looked up and saw Victor at her desk.  Nedra got to her feet and grabbed her phone only to see Victor smiling at her in that same devious way he had earlier.

“That’s my number,” he said.  “Use it.  And now I have yours.”  He waved his phone at her.

She had a small fridge in the corner.  Nedra stumbled to it and took out a water bottle.  She chugged the entire thing without stopping and wiped her mouth with her sleeve when she finished.

“I don’t know what just happened,” she said, staring at him.

“Surely your memory isn’t that bad.  If you want me to eat you again, just ask.  You know I love your cherry-flavored pussy.”

“No,” she said.  “I mean afterwards…I actually lost my voice.  Did you put a spell on me or something?”

“What do you think I am, a wizard?  I know my head game--as you call it--is sublime, but I have never rendered anyone silent before.”

Nedra started packing up her backpack.  “You may be the biggest douchenozzle I’ve ever met.  Do you even hear yourself?”  She no longer had the ability to do any coherent work.  What she really wanted—needed—was a good fucking.  She would have been fine had Victor not come calling.  Now she had to make sure she didn’t get another speeding ticket on the way home.

He was perched on the edge of her desk, smiling at her, his lips pink like candy, licking them slowly.  Nedra didn’t look at him long.  She didn’t trust herself.

“Good night, Victor.  I have to walk you out, of course, because there’s no way you’re staying in my lab alone.”

“I have no need to be here if you’re not.”

She grabbed her purse, turned off her monitors, and snatched her key fob from her backpack side pocket.  “Let’s go.”

“Are you following me home or am I following you?”

“No.  I’m walking you out of my lab.  I don’t give a shit where you go once you’re outside of that door…but your ass better not follow me home.  Are you guys done with the matter transporter?  Why are you here and not there? Like for real…you seriously need to get a girlfriend or something.  You got way too much time on your hands if you’re all the way over here in Physical Chemistry.  ”

“Fine,” he said.  “I mean, I could do that, but it’d be a lie…unfair to her.”

Nedra was done talking.  She walked out of her office, closed and locked it, reminding herself to Febreeze it the next day, then walked down the stairs and across her enormous laboratory to the giant glass doors.  Victor followed her in silence.  She opened one and Victor walked out.  Nedra closed the door and set the lock code.  Then she looked at her visitor and gave him a very weak smile.

“Good night, Victor.  Thanks for visiting.  Please don’t do it anymore.”

He put his hands in his pockets.  “You’re right.  We need more space.  By the way, who’s Roxy?”

“What?”

“The sign on your ceiling.  It said, ‘Roxy, you should be working.’  Are you Roxy?”

Nedra shouldered her backpack and fixed her belt buckle.  “Yes.  My middle name’s Roxanne.  I'm named after my mother and  Jon calls me Roxy.” 

“Cute,” he said in a tone that wasn’t.

Nedra turned away from him.  “Good night, Victor.  Drive safely, rest well…but go home!”  She walked as fast as she could down the hall.  Once she got to the elevator, she looked back to see him still there, watching her.

He waved.  “Good night, Nedra.”

The elevator doors closed.  Nedra sank to her knees and closed her eyes.

A/N:  Lyrics to “Drunk in Love” belong to Beyonce Knowles-Carter, and no infringement is intended.  Lyrics to “How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore” belong to Prince, and no infringement is intended.

“Drunk in Love” -Beyonce

“How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” -Prince

“Make Believe” –Kenny Lattimore
"Toxic" -Britney Spears

"Give Me What I'm Missing" -Jade

"Closer" -Nine Inch Nails

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