بخش 03 - فصل 10

10 He kisses her again in the elevator. This time her hands link behind his neck, and his travel down past the small of

her back to the white pants, snug across her bottom. He is aware of his too-big stomach pressing against her trim one and thinks she must be revolted by it, but when the elevator opens, her cheeks are flushed, her eyes are bright, and she’s showing small white teeth in a smile. She takes his hand and pulls him down the

short hall between the elevator and the apartment door. “Come on,” she says. “Come on, we’re going to do this, so come on, before one of us gets cold feet.” It won’t be me, Hodges thinks. Every part of him is warm. At first she can’t open the door because the hand holding the key is shaking too badly. It

makes her laugh. He closes his fingers over hers, and together they push the Schlage into the slot. The apartment where he first met this woman’s sister and mother is shadowy, because the sun has traveled around to the other side of the building. The lake has darkened to a cobalt so deep it’s almost purple. There are no

sailboats, but he can see a freighter– “Come on,” she says again. “Come on, Bill, don’t quit on me now.” Then they’re in one of the bedrooms. He doesn’t know if it’s Janey’s or the one Olivia used on her Thursday-night stays, and he doesn’t care. The life of the last few months– the afternoon TV, the

microwave dinners, his father’s Smith & Wesson revolver– seems so distant that it might have belonged to a fictional character in a boring foreign movie. She tries to pull the striped sailor shirt over her head and it gets caught on the clip in her hair. She gives a frustrated, muffled laugh. “Help me with

this damn thing, would you please–” He runs his hands up her smooth sides–she gives a tiny jump at his initial touch–and beneath the inside-out shirt. He stretches the fabric and lifts. Her head pops free. She’s laughing in little out-of-breath gasps. Her bra is plain white cotton. He holds her by the waist and kisses between her

breasts as she unbuckles his belt and pops the button on his slacks. He thinks, If I’d known this could happen at this stage of my life, I would have gotten back to the gym. “Why–” he begins. “Oh, shut up.” She slides a hand down the front of him, pushing the zipper with her palm. His pants fall around his shoes in a jingle of change.

“Save the talk for later.” She grabs the hardness of him through his underpants and wiggles it like a gearshift, making him gasp. “That’s a good start. Don’t go limp on me, Bill, don’t you dare.” They fall onto the bed, Hodges still in his boxer shorts, Janey in cotton panties as plain as her bra. He tries to

roll her onto her back, but she resists. “You’re not getting on top of me,” she says. “If you have a heart attack while we’re screwing, you’ll crush me.” “If I have a heart attack while we’re screwing, I’ll be the most disappointed man to ever leave this world.” “Stay still. Just stay still.”

She hooks her thumbs into the sides of his boxers. He cups her hanging breasts as she does it. “Now lift your legs. And keep busy. Use your thumbs a little, I like that.” He’s able to obey both of these commands with no trouble; he’s always been a multitasker.

A moment later she’s looking down at him, a lock of her hair tumbled over one of her eyes. She sticks out her lower lip and blows it back. “Keep still. Let me do the work. And stay with me. I don’t mean to be bossy, but I haven’t had sex in two years, and the last I did have sucked. I want to enjoy this. I deserve it.”

The clinging, slippery warmth of her encloses him in a warm hug, and he can’t help raising his hips. “Stay still, I said. Next time you can move all you want, but this is mine.” It’s difficult, but he does as she says. Her hair tumbles into her eyes again, and this time she can’t use her lower lip to blow

it back because she’s gnawing at it in little bites he thinks she’ll feel later. She spreads both hands and rubs them roughly through the graying hair on his chest, then down to the embarrassing swell of his gut. “I need . . . to lose some weight,” he gasps. “You need to shut up,” she says, then moves–just a little

–and closes her eyes. “Oh God, that’s deep. And nice. You can worry about your diet program later, okay?” She begins to move again, pauses once to readjust the angle, then settles into a rhythm. “I don’t know how long I can . . .” “You better.” Her eyes are still closed. “You just better hold out, Detective Hodges.

Count prime numbers. Think of the books you liked when you were a kid. Spell xylophone backwards. Just stay with me. I won’t need long.” He stays with her just long enough.