Read Online Blood and Stone by Chris Collett - Free Book Online

into his head the moment he was alone.
    â€˜It’s okay, Bob, I can lock up,’ Mariner heard the barmaid call out and suddenly he realized that the towels were on the taps and he was the only remaining customer. She came round to his table to collect the empty glasses.
    â€˜So what are you selling?’ she asked.
    â€˜Sorry?’
    â€˜The maps and the suit, I figure you must be in travelling sales. What is it, agricultural machinery or fertilizers?’
    Mariner smiled indulgently. It wasn’t the first time that the mistake had been made. ‘Neither,’ he said. ‘I’m on holiday.’
    â€˜Crikey, you dress a bit formal for your holidays, don’t you?’
    Mariner shook his head. ‘I was at a funeral this afternoon.’
    â€˜Oh God, sorry.’ She made an apologetic face. ‘Me and my big mouth.’
    Mariner eyed his scotch glass, still with an inch or so remaining. He was already feeling pretty light headed. If he drank that all at once he’d probably pass out. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m keeping you up.’
    â€˜You’re fine.’ Her smile seemed genuine. Her face was carefully made-up, her skin a smooth and creamy layer of foundation and lips flawlessly rendered in scarlet lipstick. Mariner was mesmerized by her voluminous breasts, and the faint definition of her nipples against the flimsy taut cotton. In contrast her nails were long and elaborately painted and Mariner was suddenly aroused by the thought of them digging into his flesh. A perfect hybrid of soft and hard, she wasn’t at all the kind of woman Mariner was ordinarily attracted to, but at this moment, mellowed by alcohol, he was so turned on he was sure she must be able to tell.
    â€˜Was it someone close?’ she asked.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜The funeral? Someone you knew well?’
    â€˜Girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend,’ he corrected himself as a pain needled him in the chest.
    She was studying him and the row of empty glasses on the table. ‘Not that ex, by the look of you,’ she said sitting down on the bench beside him. ‘I’m sorry. She must have been quite young. Was she ill?’
    â€˜She was killed in a road-rage incident.’
    â€˜My God, that’s awful.’
    Mariner’s hand was resting on his thigh, and tentatively she reached out and laid hers over it, curling her fingers around and under the palm. Mariner wanted to press it against his stiffening cock, but instead they sat there unmoving for several minutes, until at last she reached out and picked up his glass, swallowing the last mouthfuls for him. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s get you upstairs.’
    Unsteady on his feet, Mariner ascended the stairs feeling the gentle pressure of her hands on his back, and when they got to the landing she took the key from him and unlocked the door, stepping back to allow him inside. As he passed, Mariner couldn’t resist slipping an arm round her waist and leaning in for a kiss but, the smile unwavering, she carefully disentangled herself, placing a palm flat on his chest. ‘Oh, I don’t think so. You seem like a nice man, but I’m not that sort of girl.’
    â€˜I know,’ Mariner said, piling on the pathos. ‘But the sort of day I’ve had …’
    She appraised him for a couple of seconds, her eyes lingering on the place where by now his erection was making a tent of his trousers. Sensing his chance Mariner cautiously reached out and cupped a hand under her weighty breast, smoothing his thumb over the nipple and feeling it rise beneath his touch.
    She caught her breath. ‘Have you got condoms?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Mariner said quickly, idly wondering if condoms were governed by sell-by dates. He didn’t have long to think about it. One minute she was gazing at him, prevaricating, and the next Mariner knew they were tumbling backwards into the room, and as he pushed