vanishes instantly. I return to my massage. "Ray?" I say.
He moans with pleasure. "Yes."
"You can make love to me if you want."
He moans some more. "You are an amazing girl, Sita."
I turn him around, slowly, easily, pleasurably. He tries not to look at my body and fails. I lean over and kiss him hard on the lips. I feel what he feels. His initial surprise—kissing a vampire is not like kissing a mortal. Many men and women have swooned just from the
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) brush of my lips. Such is the pleasure I can give. Yet there is the painful side—my kiss often sucks the breath from a person, even when I don't intend it to. Inside, I feel Ray's heart begin to pound. I release him before there is any danger. The later it gets, the more I vow not to harm him, and the more inevitable it seems. He hugs me, all slippery and wet, and tries to catch his breath while resting his chin on my shoulder.
"Are you choking on something?" I ask.
"Yes." He coughs. "I think it's you."
I chuckle as I continue to stroke his back. "You could do worse."
"You are not like any girl I've ever met."
"You don't want just any girl, Ray."
He sits back, my naked legs still around him. He is not afraid to look me in the eyes. "I don't want to cheat on Pat."
"Tell me what you do want."
"I want to spend the night with you."
"A paradox. Which one of us is going to win?" I pause, add, "I am a master at keeping secrets. We can both win."
"What do you want from me?"
His question startles me, it is so perceptive. "Nothing," I lie.
"I think you want something."
I smile. "There is your body."
He has to smile, I sound so cute, I know. But he is not dissuaded. "What else do you want?"
"I'm lonely."
"You don't look lonely."
"I'm not when I'm looking at you."
"You hardly know me."
"You hardly know me. Why do you want to spend the night with me?"
"There is your body." But he loses his smile and lowers his head. "There is something else, too. When you look at me I feel—I feel you are seeing something nobody else sees. You have such amazing eyes."
I pull him back toward me. I kiss him. "That's true." I kiss him again. "I see right through you." Again, another kiss. "I see what makes you tick." A fourth time, a hard kiss. He gasps as I release him.
"What is that?" he asks, sucking in a breath.
"You love Pat, but you crave mystery. Mystery can be as strong as love, don't you think?
You find me mysterious and you're afraid if you let me slip away you'll regret it later."
He is impressed. "That is how I feel. How did you know?”
I laugh. "That is part of the mystery."
He laughs with me. "I like you, Sita," he says.
I stop laughing. His remark—so simple, so innocent—pierces me like a dagger. No one in many years has said something as charming as "I like you" to me. The sentiment is childish, I know, but it is there nevertheless. I reach to kiss him again, knowing this time I am going to squeeze him so tight he will not be able to resist making love to me. But something makes me stop.
"Look beyond the face and you will see me."
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Krishna's words to Radha that she has given to me. There is something in Ray's eyes, a light behind them, that makes me reluctant to soil them with my touch. I feel it then, that I am a creature of evil. Inside I swear at Krishna. Only the memory of him can make me feel this way. Otherwise, if we had never met, I would not care.
"I care about you, Ray." I turn away. "Come on, let's get out and get dressed. I want to talk to you about some things."
Ray is shocked at my sudden withdrawal, disappointed.
But I sense his relief as well.
Later we sit on the floor in the living room by the fire and finish the bottle of wine.
Alcohol has little effect on me; I can drink a dozen truck drivers under the table. We talk of many things and I learn more
Lesley Pearse
Taiyo Fujii
John D. MacDonald
Nick Quantrill
Elizabeth Finn
Steven Brust
Edward Carey
Morgan Llywelyn
Ingrid Reinke
Shelly Crane