Candy Kisses: Valentine’s Ghost Read online

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  “So you said when you came in.” He flicked a switch, turning on recessed lighting near the ceiling and then turned off the harsher lights. A warm glow settled over the room, making the setting look like something out of a fantasy.

  The fantasy took sexuality as its theme. A massage table filled one corner of the room with jars of lotions on a tray nearby. In another corner, some kind of harness hung down from the ceiling. With loops for arms and legs, it could hold someone suspended at about cock’s height from the floor. In the center of the room, a pile of cushions covered the floor. Everything in the room screamed of sensuality and sin.

  He crept up behind her and cupped her breasts. A zing of pleasure shot through her. If the boobs were store-bought, they still worked just fine, stimulation-wise. The nipples were even getting stiff. His breath was hot on her neck, and it smelled sweet, like toothpaste or mint. With all the wall-banging and shouting, she’d imagined him coarse or crude. The flowers and the breath said otherwise.

  “You went to a lot of trouble,” she said.

  “Anything for my babes.” He pulled her against him. While his cock pressed into her butt, his hands went exploring between her thighs. When his fingers found her pussy and parted the lips, she let out a squeak of surprise.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  Something was right, and that was all wrong. She shouldn’t allow this, and she sure as hell shouldn’t enjoy it. She only needed to convince her body of that.

  “Let me give you your Valentine’s present,” he said.

  His fingers left her pussy, and she almost stumbled when he moved away. What in hell was going on here? She’d pictured this guy as an oaf, but it looked as if he treated his women with consideration and even romance. Maybe with a little kink thrown in, but that never hurt anyone. He walked back to her, a box wrapped with crimson paper in his hand. He held it out to her.

  “Gee, Howie,” she said. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “Don’t give me that. I know how you like presents. Open it up.”

  She took the package and looked at it. He didn’t mean it for her but for the other woman -- the one he called babes. She couldn’t open another woman’s gift.

  He smiled at her. “Come on, come on. Open it already.”

  “I, uh…”

  His smile fell. “I think you’ll like it.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  “So, open it, already.” He stood there, looking excited and disappointed all at once. Maybe with a little worry thrown in. She couldn’t let him down.

  She took a breath, tore the paper from the box, and let it fall to the floor. That revealed a cardboard box with some Asian writing on it.

  “All the way from Japan,” he said. “That’s where they make the good ones.”

  She opened the box and almost dropped it. Inside lay a phallic-shaped thing made of plastic with a gizmo shaped like rabbit ears at the base. Some kind of dildo.

  He took it from her and threw the box aside. “Lemme show you how it works.”

  She watched as he turned a knob at the base of the shaft. The whole thing came alive -- the shaft undulating while the rabbit ears vibrated.

  “You see, this part goes in your twat,” he said pointing at the shaft. “And the doo-hickeys here rub against your clit. Orgasmatron!”

  She couldn’t take her eyes off the Orgasmatron. As great as the human cock might be, this electronic version had a few extra twists. And, oh, those rabbit ears.

  “Say, Howie.” Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, and she had to clear her throat before she could talk. “If we… that is, if I, uh used that, would you…”

  “Anything, babes. Name it.”

  “Would you talk dirty to me?”

  He gave her a wicked chuckle and spread his arms wide. “You know me, doll. The king of sleaze.”

  “Okay.” She looked into the corners of the room, searching for a gray-haired voyeur. “Don’t you watch.”

  “You don’t want me to watch?” Howie asked.

  “Not you. Agnes.”

  He looked around. “Huh?”

  “Sorry. Silly me.”

  Oh, very well. Something left the room. Something Phyllis hadn’t even known was there until it was gone. Agnes, the pervert.

  She smiled at Howie. “Now then, where were we?”

  He switched off the dildo. “Let me go get the Orgasmatron ready. Back in a flash.”

  He disappeared into the bedroom, and she looked around the living room for the best place to enjoy her present. The harness drew her to that corner, and she ran her fingers over the supple leather. She’d guessed right about the loops for arms and legs, but it had another set of loops at the right height and size to circle her breasts. Once in the thing, a woman would be trussed up like a holiday turkey. She couldn’t move much without help but would hang with her feet barely touching the floor. Would that kind of helplessness scare her or increase her arousal?

  Howie reappeared, now with a condom on his erection. He’d put another rubber onto the dildo. She arched an eyebrow.

  “Keeps it clean for my lady,” he said.

  “Thoughtful.”

  “Wanna get in the swing?”

  Well, hell, why not? She’d wanted adventure. “Sure.”

  He set the dildo on a table and helped her guide first her arms and then her legs into the right straps. As she’d suspected, she hung nearly suspended. What she hadn’t noticed was a wand of stiff leather across the front of her that kept her legs spread. That opened her pussy to anything Howie meant to use on her, and he meant to use the electronic cock with the clit-flicker on her. If the harness hadn’t held her up, her knees would have buckled.

  Howie lifted one boob and slipped it through its leather loop then did the same with the other breast. “Damn, you look fuckable.”

  “Fuck me with my present. Put it deep inside my pussy and turn it to high.”

  “In a minute. First, I want to suck your tits.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  He bent and took a nipple into her mouth. It tightened into a hard bundle of nerve endings immediately, and she couldn’t hold back a moan of pleasure. He moved to the other breast and gave it the same treatment, sucking on the nipple and then stroking it with his tongue. Arousal clouded her brain, and her pussy started to throb.

  “Talk dirty to me,” she said. “Tell me what you’re going to do.”

  He straightened, picked up the dildo, and turned it on. As it whirred and hummed, he held it under her nose. “I’m going to fuck you with this until you come.”

  “Yes, do it.”

  “Then, I’m going to stick my cock inside you so you’ll cream again.”

  Oh, God, what an image. She watched the dildo vibrate and imagined it inside her pussy. “Please.”

  “Then, I’m going to fuck you with this again while I take off my rubber. I’m gonna jerk off while you come for the third time.”

  “Do it now. Please.”

  “I’m going to shoot my load all over your beautiful ass,” he said.

  “Do it, damn it. Do it.” Hell, she probably sounded like the real blonde now, but how could she help it? She needed to come, and she needed that toy inside her.

  He lowered the toy to her pussy and slid the tip inside her. It moved around, the ribs stretching her. Slick and wet, her cunt accepted it easily. Howie pushed it in deeper. The rabbit ears fluttered over her clit while the shaft filled her and moved.

  “Are you going to come?” Howie asked.

  “Damn, yes.” And she was. Oh, man, was she ever going to come.

  “Do you want my cock inside you?”

  “Yes.”

  “More of this first.” He turned the knob, and the machine picked up speed. Harder and faster. The rabbit ears buzzed against her clit, pushing her past the breaking point. She hung there, on the brink of a powerful orgasm. Holding her breath, clenching her pussy muscles around the dildo, waiting, waiting. br />
  Then, it took her. Everything inside her twisted and then broke free. She shouted as the explosions started and built, each bigger than the last. It seemed to last forever, but finally, she hung, limp and satisfied.

  * * *

  Back in her own bedroom in her sleep shirt in her own body, Phyllis checked the wall separating her apartment from Howie’s. It looked normal enough.

  Agnes stood next to her by the bed. “Did you enjoy yourself, young lady?”

  “What about Howie?”

  Agnes cocked an eyebrow. “What about him?”

  “We kind of left him in the lurch.”

  “You care about that bozo?”

  “He’s not a bozo.” Of course, Phyllis had called him exactly that more than once. How could she have known that under his bozoness lay a considerate lover? “All right. I misjudged him. But, he has kept me up at night.”

  “Buy earplugs. Move your bed. I’ll bet if you asked him nicely, he’d move his.”

  Yeah, he probably would. King of sleaze, indeed. “None of that changes the fact that we left him high and dry.”

  Just then, a noise came from Howie’s apartment. It sounded like the way Howie shouted when he came. He was probably still in the living room.

  “I returned his original date to him,” Agnes said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Now, then, let’s talk about your problem.”

  Phyllis looked at the alarm clock. “My only problem is it’s three o’clock in the morning and I haven’t had any sleep.”

  “You judge people by appearances,” Agnes said. “You fell for James because he looked good, and you scorned Howie because he looked silly.”

  Oh, brother. Just what she needed at three o’clock in the morning, a scolding from an old lady who watched other people fuck. “What can I say? Deep down in my heart-of-hearts I’m a very shallow person.”

  “Not funny, young lady.” Agnes waggled a finger at her. “There’s a wonderful man you’ve been ignoring, and your visit to Valentine’s future will be with him.”

  Agnes gestured with her arms, and the bedroom disappeared again. Phyllis found herself in the studio she shared with Earl. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the loft looked out over the city. Although still dark, the sky had started to lighten with dawn. The clock on her desk said seven, and the calendar next to it said Valentine’s Day this year. If Agnes had sent her to the future, it had only been a few hours forward.

  The freight elevator whirred to life. Holy shit, someone was coming up here. She looked around for something to throw over her sleep shirt. Nothing.

  The elevator stopped, and the huge metal doors opened to reveal someone waiting to enter the studio. Earl.

  His blue eyes went wide when he saw her. “Phyll, what are you doing here?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to leave this on your desk.” He held out a crystal vase with a perfect red rosebud in it.

  “For me?”

  “Yeah.” He walked to her and handed her the vase. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

  How like him to think of her. He always did something for her to celebrate the holiday. Usually, a cartoon or drawing. He was an artist, after all. One of the best in the business. He’d never given her a rose before.

  “Thanks.” She set the vase on her desk. “You could have waited until work.”

  He ran his hand through his blond hair, making the shaggy mop even more of a mess. “I wasn’t coming to work today. I… uh… wrote you an e-mail.”

  “Something wrong?”

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. High-top sneakers, his usual. He dressed like a dork in faded and ripped jeans and T-shirts from rock band tours. All that dorkiness hid a nice physique, though. Broad shoulders, narrow hips, tight buns. Why hadn’t she ever noticed before?

  “I’m such a chicken,” he said. “I couldn’t face you when I told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  He took a breath. “I want to work from home.”

  Work from home? They were a team. How could he work from home? “Why?”

  He wouldn’t look her in the eye. “It’s in my e-mail.”

  This didn’t sound good. She sat on the edge of her desk. “Why don’t you tell me? Now.”

  “I’m not comfortable around you.”

  Huh? Ouch. “I make you uncomfortable?”

  “This isn’t coming out right.” He took a deep breath. “You remember the night James left you?”

  “It’s not a night I’m likely to forget.”

  “You showed up on my doorstep drunk and sobbing.”

  That had been a really low point in her life, and Earl had taken care of her. Why did he want to leave her now?

  “I gave you a back rub,” he went on. “I let you cry yourself to sleep, and I held you all night.”

  “You’re the best, Earl. I need you.”

  “Well, the truth is…” He cleared his throat. “I was already in love with you. After that night… Oh, hell, we write a sex comic, Phyll. I spend most of my time with a hard-on. Like now.”

  She looked down at the front of his pants. His baggy T-shirt hid his pelvis, but there might have been the outline of an erection underneath. “Oh.”

  “Why are you dressed like that?” He pointed to her sleep shirt. “It’s cold.”

  She shrugged. “I’m having another James night?”

  “That doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not helping my woody any.”

  “You think avoiding me will?”

  “Maybe I’ll get sane again.”

  Earl didn’t want to be around her. She ought to feel grateful he cared about her, but she couldn’t lose her best friend. “We bounce off each other. You give me ideas, and I do the same for you. Wonderslut needs us both. Together.”

  “If it doesn’t work, you can get someone else to draw the strip.”

  No. He’d leave her. He’d honest-to-God leave her. Holy shit, that would hurt more than losing James. Until this very moment, she’d never realized how much Earl meant to her. She needed his pep talks, his jokes, his goofy smile. Agnes had it right. She judged people on superficial things. If Agnes hadn’t sent her here tonight, she’d never have had this conversation with Earl. She would have lost him and not known why.

  Agnes had given her another chance, and she’d take it. She rose from the desk and looked up into his face. “You don’t have to go anywhere.”

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t?”

  “I have everything you need right here.”

  “Don’t goof with me, Phyll.”

  “No goof. I want you.” She did, too. The minute the words came out of her mouth, they felt right. Her heart started thumping, and she had to work for breath. “I want you to make love with me.”

  His eyes got wide again, and his Adam’s apple moved while he swallowed. He had a big one. Come to think of it, he had big hands and feet, too. If common wisdom about those body parts held true… oh, boy.

  She walked to him and ran her arms around his ribs. “I think you’d better kiss me now.”

  “Wow.” He bent and touched his lips to hers. So gently, as if he was afraid she’d break. Her innards got all warm and runny at his tenderness. He’d given her so much over the years. The time had come for her to give something back.

  She pressed her body against his and opened her mouth, inviting him to kiss her deeply. Groaning, he took her lips with more force. She closed her eyes and melted against him. Sweet and incendiary, his caress sent hunger spiraling through her. For a shy man, he sure as hell knew how to kiss.

  After a moment, he moved from her mouth to her earlobe. As he nibbled that, his breath tickled her ear, sending shock waves down her spine to her crotch. Unsteady on her feet, she swayed into him. From there, his mouth traveled the length of her neck, nipping and kissing.

  “God, I don’t believe it,” he muttered. “I’ve want
ed you so damned long.”

  “I’m an ass, Earl. Forgive me.”

  “Just don’t change your mind.” He nipped at her shoulder through the cotton of her sleep shirt.

  “No way.” He’d already made her so hot she could bust out of her skin. Her boobs ached, the nipples stiff. Her pussy had grown wet in anticipation of taking him inside her, and hell, she still didn’t know how big he was.

  She shifted so that she could press a palm against his pelvis. Long and thick -- oh, so thick -- his cock felt rock hard against her hand. She squeezed him, imagining all of him inside her.

  He started trembling, his whole body shaking. “Sheeze, show some mercy.”

  “I want you.”

  “Keep doing that and I won’t be able to go slow for you.”

  “Who needs slow?” She didn’t. She needed a good, fast fuck. She needed every inch of him pounding her, pushing her over the edge. So, she rubbed his cock through the denim of his pants.

  He grasped her shoulders and pushed her away, his chest heaving. “You’re going to make me come right now if you don’t stop.”

  That she didn’t need. She lowered her hand to her side and stood there. “So, hurry up and fuck me.”

  He smiled. “You like it dirty?”

  “Shit, yeah. What about you?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t think women did.”

  “There’s women, and then there’s women.”

  “Hot fuckin’ damn.” He let out a whoop. “I’m going to put my cock so far inside you, you’ll be singing soprano.”

  “Do it, big guy.”

  His grin got so wide it almost split his face. “First, I want to kiss your tits, and then, I want to eat your pussy.”

  “Hot, fuckin’ damn.” In one move, she pulled the sleep shirt up and over her head then dropped it to the floor.

  Earl got out of his sneakers and socks so fast he almost fell over. The T-shirt and jeans flew, leaving only his briefs. Briefs with a bulge so big the head poked out above the waistband. Finally, with those gone, she could see him completely nude, and what a sight he made. Strong shoulders and a broad chest with a sprinkling of hairs. Finely muscled arms and legs. And an enormous erection standing proudly over his sac.