Dirt

Chapter 16

Stone took the wheel and pulled away from Amanda’s apartment building. “Wonderful car,” he said, heading across Seventy-ninth Street toward the West Side Highway.

“Isn’t it?” Amanda agreed. “This is the first time I’ve sat in the front seat.”

As he accelerated onto the highway, Stone realized for the first time what twelve cylinders meant. “Unbelievable,” he said.

Amanda smiled. “Don’t get a ticket; I don’t want to waste a minute of today.”

After paying the toll as they left Manhattan, Stone set the cruise control at a reasonable number and relaxed, letting the amazing car do the work. The leaves along the Sawmill River Parkway were beginning to change color, but as they drove north, the colors intensified. By the time they were north of Danbury, the maples were so brilliant as to be distracting. Following Amanda’s instructions, Stone ran the car along the winding Connecticut roads through Brookfield and Bridgewater. South of Washington, they turned down a narrow road into the woods, and after two miles they came to a beautiful little colonial house set back from the road behind a screen of birches and flaming maples. A handful of geese sunned themselves beside a small pond.

“Spectacular,” Stone said, as they got out of the car.

“I bought it twelve years ago for peanuts, and I’ve been redecorating ever since,” Amanda said. “After Sister Parrish died, I did it mostly myself. Will you get the basket from the trunk, please?”

Stone followed her through the front door and to the kitchen, where he deposited the basket. Amanda got a bottle of Krug Brut from the fridge and poured them both a glass. “Ready for lunch?” she asked.

“I’m ready for anything,” Stone replied.

“I’m delighted to hear it. Why don’t you light the fire in the living room, and I’ll be in in a moment. Take the champagne with you.”

Stone followed instructions, kneeling on a deep sheepskin rug to fan the fire. He tossed his jacket onto the sofa and sat cross-legged on the sheepskin, staring into the crackling flames.

“I love a fire,” Amanda said, setting down a silver tray and joining him on the rug. Having shed her coat, she was wearing a red cashmere jumpsuit that zipped up the front. The tray contained a lobster salad and a loaf of French bread, and they dug into it. When they had finished, Amanda pushed the tray aside and stretched out on the rug, her head in Stone’s lap. Sunlight streamed into the room, bringing out the soft colors in the carefully chosen furnishings. “Mmmm, I feel almost perfect,” she said.

“What would make you feel completely perfect?” Stone asked.

She laughed a low laugh and turned on her side. Gently, she put her mouth on his crotch and softly bit at his penis through his trousers. “That would,” she said. “Why are we wearing all these clothes?”

“I can’t imagine,” Stone replied.

She sat up and began working on his buttons. When she had stripped him of all his clothing, she stood, tugged at the long zipper, and stepped out of her jumpsuit. He was already fully erect, and she knelt on the sheepskin and took him into her mouth.

“If you do that much longer there won’t be anything left,” Stone panted.

She stopped and climbed on top of him. “I’ll be the judge of when there’s nothing left,” she said, taking him inside her. For better than half an hour they lay on the sheepskin, changing positions occasionally, experimenting, until she let out a sharp cry and began her orgasm. Stone rose to meet her, and they came nearly together, noisily, groping and gasping. Finally she fell, panting, beside him on the rug. “What a wonderful first time,” she breathed, stroking his damp penis.

“Wonderful is the word,” Stone agreed.

“Let me tell you how it’s going to be with you and me,” Amanda said.

“All right, tell me.”

“We’re not going to become an item around the city,” she said. “We’re not going to fall in love. We’re going to be friendly, maybe even friends, and we’re going to meet when we feel like it, not out of any sense of mutual obligation, but when we both feel like fucking each other, and when we do, we’re going to do it well. Can you live with that?”

“Oh, it’ll be a struggle, I suppose, but I think I can manage.”

“Not too cold and hard a relationship for you?”

“A fellow needs all sorts of relationships. Why don’t we try it and see how it goes?”

“I’d love that, but you have to understand, I don’t get involved. My life is too complicated for anything beyond sex.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Keep this in mind, too: there isn’t anything you can do to me, excepting violence, that I won’t enjoy, and there’s nothing you could want that I wouldn’t love doing to you. All my life I’ve had a voracious sexual appetite, and I love doing to just as well as being done to. Am I beginning to sound like the perfect woman?”

“Just about.”

She laughed. “I’m not jealous, either; you can fuck whomever you like, and it won’t bother me. But please understand: discretion must be absolute. Nobody knows we’re together or where we are, and that’s the way I want to keep it.”

“Not even Martha?”

“Not even Martha. With this scandal sheet thing happening I must be very, very careful. We can fuck at my apartment or at your house or here, but only when we’re absolutely alone, agreed?”

“Agreed.”

She was kneading his penis, then she swallowed it for a moment and stopped. “Do you particularly like this?” she asked.

“Particularly,” he managed to reply.

She found an orifice with a finger. “And this?”

“Oh, yes.”

She returned to his penis, but did not remove her finger.

Stone found her buttocks with his hand and returned the favor. For the next several minutes they used only lips and fingers until both came again. When they had exhausted their orgasms, Amanda left for a couple of minutes and came back with a basket of hot towels. Slowly, they sponged the sweat and fluids from each other’s body; then they stretched out again onto the sheepskin and relaxed.

“I wish we could stay the night,” Amanda said, “but I have to be back in the city this evening for an important engagement.”

“It’s all right,” Stone replied. “If we stayed the night I might be dead by morning.”

She giggled. “But you’ll be ready again when we’ve dozed for a while, won’t you?” She took a light hold on his penis and squeezed.

“I am entirely in your hands,” Stone breathed.

She laughed. “Easy now; rest for a little while.”

“Amanda, I’ve never met anyone quite like you,” he said.

“My darling, you have no idea, as yet, just how true that is. But you will.”

Somehow, he knew she was right.