Chapter 5

It was a real pleasure herding a new American car down the highway, especially with a lush young blonde sitting beside me in the seat. Now and then I cast a quick glance at her, and each time she looked better.

"What are you doing all alone down here?" I asked her.

"Vacation."

"You're taking a vacation by yourself?"

"I had a friend, but he took sick in Tuxtla. He got down so bad that he had to fly back to the states for treatment."

"Too bad," I said, though it wasn't too bad at all. "He must have drunk some of the water."

"How did you guess?"

"Happens all the time."

We'd been driving less than an hour when we came to Oaxaca, which is an old city with a lot of Spanish architecture. We were going through the center of town when the blonde turned to me.

"What is your name, anyhow?"

"Henry Sanborn," I told her. "I don't like the Henry so much but I'll settle for Hank."

"How do you do, Hank. I'm Monica Jeffries. Find a place to park. We're going to buy you some clothes."

"Can't," I said. "I'm busted."

"I'll take care of the bill."

"A man's got his pride "

"Pay me back when you can." She gave my leg a squeeze and smiled wickedly. "I intend to get my money's worth."

"I've never played gigolo before."

"There's a first time for everything." Her hand moved higher. "It's been three days now since I've had a man, and that's a long time for me."

I saw a space at the curb and wheeled into it. This was the kind of setup a man didn't came across every day. I'd be riding to Acapulco in style. And Duke Bevins was there waiting for me.

He didn't know he was waiting, but he was.

I just had to keep my wits about me and never forget my main purpose. That could be pretty hard to do, keeping company with a sexy blonde like Monica Jeffries.

We went into a men's clothing store together, and Monica supervised the fitting. She spent nearly two hundred bucks on me, and I didn't object at all. I would be needing good clothes when I reached Acapulco. Duke would be living in the best hotel, and I couldn't go there looking for him dressed in rags.

I ended up with two suits, a tropical worsted and a seersucker. I had matching ties, a half dozen shirts, and plenty of underwear. Monica even bought a leather traveling bag for me to carry it all in.

I didn't really think of it as a gift. I was going to get my money back from Duke, with interest. And as soon as I did, I'd be able to repay Monica.

Before we left the shop, she looked me up and down, giving me a thorough inspection. I could tell by her smile that she was pleased with what she saw.

"You're going to do nicely," she said in a husky voice that was filled with suggestion. "Now, come on. We're going to have some lunch."

"I'm for that," I said quickly.

I got to thinking back, and I realized that I hadn't eaten a thing since the beans and tortillas in Machaquilla. I was ready to put away the biggest steak in Aaxaca.

I led her by the arm going out the door, careful not to walk too close to her. I was needing a bath pretty bad. I hated to wear the new clothes, as grimy as I was, but at least I was coming up in the world.

From a distance I didn't look too bad, if it weren't for the two day growth of beard. Monica didn't seem to mind the beard. Her fingers kept squeezing my arm as we went down the sidewalk looking for a restaurant.

We found a place that was dark in the corners. I steered her to one of the corners where a candle was flickering on the table. She had the waiter bring us double martinis while we looked over the menu.

I ordered the biggest steak in the house. It turned out to be delicious. I ate everything in sight, including all the rolls and Monica's dessert. She was on a diet.

After that we returned to the car. She drove until we came to a high class motel where a lot of tourists were splashing in the big tiled pool. I waited in the oar while Monica signed for a room.

When we got inside, she dug a safety razor from her suitcase and handed it to me without a word.

I went to the bathroom and stripped down, for nearly ten minutes I stood under the shower, then I lathered my face with hotel soap and shaved off the beard. I combed my hair, arid I looked human again.

I put on clean underwear and went into the bedroom. Monica had ordered setups, and she had mixed us a pair of drinks. I took a sip of the good bourbon and soda. It was a hell of an improvement over the mescal.

They don't put worms in straight Kentucky bourbon. I was mighty glad of that.

Now that I'd had a shower and shaved and taken a gulp of the drink, I gave Monica the once-over. She was a beautiful sight to behold. She was enough to turn a man's guts inside out. I began to tingle with desire.

She stood there smiling at me, her blonde hair floating around her lovely face, piled on her head like a golden crown. She licked her mouth with the point of her tongue, then pushed out her lips, inviting me to kiss them.

The look in her bright blue eyes turned my in-sides to jelly. She was a real, honest-to-goodness blonde. She looked like a goddess, after all the dark-skinned little gals I'd been sleeping with for the past year or more.

Not that there was anything wrong with them.

In their own way they were just as sweet and fiery as a man could want a woman to be.

But there was something about variety that appealed to me. Monica was a real change of pace. She had that kind of pale milky skin that a man gets a craving to touch now and then. I really had the craving.

Her eyes glowed as she walked up to me. "I like your looks, Hank," she whispered. "You're something yourself "I replied huskily. "I go for beautiful blondes."

"Do you, Hank?" She smiled. "Help yourself."

As I drew her to me, she slid her arms around my neck. The heat of her body and the softness of her breasts pressing against me and started me trembling.

She clung to me hungrily, and her figure fit as though she had been made for just that. She slid closer, and there was a delicious contact in a thousand different places.

I covered her mouth with mine, and she returned the kiss with a fierce passion. She thrust her tongue deep and fluttered it, leaving me gasping for breath.

She increased the pressure of her lips as I caught hold of her buttocks and squeezed.

Then she began to grind her hips, rubbing her belly and thighs against me. Even though the toreadors and blouse she wore, I could feel the warmth of her body and the throbbing pulse of her desire.

Her hand slid down between us and shoved inside my shorts. She started a delicate, teasing stroke with her fingers that set me on fire.

Clutching me wantonly, she kissed with wild excitement, darting her tongue between my lips. We were both trembling now, breathing hoarsely. I returned the kiss, hard and bruising, while my hand tore at the buttons of her blouse.

I got it open.

Using both hands, I peeled it back on her shoulders. She twisted out of it, and then I began working at the snaps of her bra. It fell away from her breasts, and they thrust up quivering and soft and lovely.

I shivered at the sight of them suddenly revealed. It was like someone had shoved a fist into my stomach. They were so big and round and white. Two perfect pink circles topped the twin cones of shimmering flesh.

It was enough to take a man's breath away.

That's just what it did to me.

I caught them in my hands and held them captive, denting the softness with my fingers, massaging the satiny smooth skin. Monica gasped. She let her head fall back and began to weave in a hypnotic trance while I toyed with the nipples. In a moment they were pounding with hardness.

I felt the throb of her pulse against my palms.

As I continued to hold her breasts, caressing them tenderly, she fell back upon the bed. The pale snowy whiteness of her upper body made a startling contrast to the black toreadors which she still wore.

But not for long.

I wanted to see her stripped naked. And she was just as eager to have me undress her. She gave herself up, lying limply on the mattress with her arm above her head. I found the zipper and split it down the side, opening the toreadors. They peeled off like an outer skin.

I had a little trouble getting them over her ankles, but I kept tugging. And then nothing remained to cover her but the thin black veil of her panties. The cloth was so sheer that it hid nothing from view. I saw the dark area of her thighs even before I pulled the panties down her legs.

Monica raised her hips to help me.

I clasped the elastic top of the panties and pulled them down, bringing her loveliness into view, catching my breath at the sight.

I slid the panties over her twisting thighs and worked them down her legs. My fingers trembled as they touched the satiny smoothness of her skin. I got the panties free at last and tossed them away.

She lay there, naked as Eve, biting her lip and staring at me with wide-eyed excitement.

Then she held her arms up to me, wriggling her fingers, her whole body twisting with urgency. For a moment I had been standing there in a hypnotic trance, staring in wonder at the pale beauty of her arms and legs and thighs, at the trembling flesh of her thrusting breasts.

I had forgotten how bewitching a beautiful blonde female could be especially when she was stripped for action and writhing with sensual hunger.

I was drawn by the charm of her shimmying breasts.

I sat down on the bed and leaned above her. She caught my head in her hands and pulled, directing me. I shivered from the first contact of my face against those swelling breasts with rosebud tips.

When I opened my mouth and engulfed one of the lovely white mounds, I felt a shudder go through her.

I attacked the breast like a ravenous animal, yet holding myself back so I wouldn't hurt her. I sensed that she wanted to be hurt a little. Just e-nough pain to whet her desire and build her up to the final embrace.

I bit gently with the edge of my teeth, then kissed the soft core of her breast, feeling the nipple rise up hard and throbbing.

I toyed with the nipple, driving sharp gasps from her throat. I rolled it with the flat of my tongue, felt it stiffen and swell. Her flesh began to glow with warmth. She squirmed beneath me on the bed and clutched at my hair.

Her fingers began to claw. When I moved to the other breast, she groaned.

"Oh, darling darling," she sobbed. "You must think I'm a trashy bitch, but I can't help myself. I adore this kind of thing. When a man takes me in his arms, I tremble like jelly, I just go ape "

I didn't reply. I was too busy with what I was doing. It was the most exciting contact with pale woman-flesh I'd had in a long time.

I really worked that pair of blushing beauties over. I held the high-tipped peak of one of them in my mouth for a while, then kissed the soft underside. As I kissed the surging flesh, she began to tremble all over.

I moved back and forth, from breast to breast, clinging with my lips, teasing with my tongue.

I was getting my kicks too.

I was shaking inside, burning with desire. It was a wild sensation, feeling the soft flesh and the rock-hard nipple in my mouth. And all the time she kept tossing and whimpering and stroking my face.

Her hands clung to me possessively. Her arms tightened around my neck as she tried to draw me down upon her seething body. By that time I was ready.

I leaned above her and slid my hand down, a-cross her smooth belly, feeling the quaking softness. Her flesh was warm and slightly glazed with sweat.

She gave a harsh little cry and clamped her arms tighter around me, raising up to smear my face with hot kisses. Her bright blue eyes were wide and staring.

I moved my body lower until I was touching hers. There was a kind of electric shock that went through both of us at the first intimate contact. She shoved at me with her yearning thighs, and suddenly we were tossing together in a frenzied rhythm, making the bedsprings groan.

I crushed my mouth hard against the softness of her lips. She really went ape then, clawing at my back, shooting her tongue deep into my mouth.

I felt the pressure of her muscle-tight legs as she fastened to me in a kind of animal desperation. Se began to surge with volcanic fury, a compact mass of warm, writhing flesh straining beneath me.

I felt the supple movement of her haunches, the worming of her thighs. She had me snared in a voluptuous human trap.

I lunged at her, driving pained cries of delight from her gaping mouth. She gasped, pouring her warm breath on my face.

Suddenly she gave a shrill, demented cry. I knew she had reached the summit, and I was right there with her. We flew together, sailing over the top while her arms and legs held me imprisoned. For a moment we went insane together, locked in each others arms. Then as the shudders diminished, I released her and rolled away.

For a long time afterward I lay on my back, empty and filled with contentment, staring at the ceiling. I felt her presence beside me, and just knowing that she was there warmed my blood, made me tingle all over.

Now and then Monica gave a quivering little sigh and reached over to stroke my chest with her delicate fingers. She rolled over and lay with her belly pushing against my leg. We remained like that, waiting for desire to return.

"Hank," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"How do you like me now."

"Better than ever," I said.

I turned my head and grinned at her, and she smiled back. She pursed her lips and blew me a kiss, then she clawed her fingers and dug them into my chest.

"Am I just about the best you've ever had."

"The very best," I said.

It wasn't strictly a lie, because of all the women I'd slept with, she was right up there among the few who were real quality both in looks and performance.

I laughed, thinking how the memory of women in the past had a way of fading. Some of them had been pretty damned terrific, yet the most recent bed partner seemed to take on an extra special quality.

For that very reason I would have to watch myself, or I might start losing my head over Monica. And that was something I couldn't permit.

I had much more important business to settle with one rotten bastard named Duke Bevins.

"Hank " she murmured, her lips close to my ear. "I don't want this to end, darling. You're so good for me. I've had my share of men, but none of them ever thrilled me as much as you. Honestly."

I laughed.

"You've got quite a line, Monica."

She clawed her nails and slashed at me with sudden anger, putting a couple of scratches on my arm.

"It's true," she said fiercely. "Don't make fun of me. Listen, darling " Her voice softened. She wormed closer and slid her arms around my neck. "Maybe in a month or two I'll get tired of you. It's happened before. But right now you're just what I need."

"Sure," I said. "We'll have our kicks, baby. But when it's over it's over."

"Not when it's just beginning, Hank. When the fire dies out okay. But let it run its course."

"You're a beautiful dish," I told her, smiling.

"But you're kind of kooky."

"Okay. I'm kooky. But if I keep you happy, does it matter? I've got money enough for both of us, darling. There's plenty of alimony from my ex-husband. And I'll be coming into an inheritance soon. A small fortune. Just stay with me, and I'll foot the bills."

I chewed my lip and turned away from the enchanting blue loveliness of her eyes.

Here was temptation to end all temptation. A great setup for a red-blooded man who didn't like to work. But I couldn't let Monica or any other dame turn me away from my purpose. It would be so easy to go along with her. But I could never rest knowing that Duke Bevins had gotten away with all the chips.

Still, I wasn't in Acapulco yet, so it wouldn't pay to make Monica too angry. So long as she was my meal ticket, I had to play it cool.

"We'll talk about it some more," I said, pulling her close to me. "Sounds like an interesting proposition at that."

"You won't be sorry, darling," she whispered breathlessly.

She shoved her warm thighs against me and began to rotate her hips, rubbing me with her plump little belly. It sent an electric wave up and down my spine.

I wrapped my arms around her, turning over on the bed. She sighed and began nibbling my lips. I caught hold of the soft globes of her buttocks and eased her over. There was a touch of flame as our bodies joined.

"Oh, darling " she sobbed.

She braced herself, arching up from the bed. I buried my face in the golden softness of her hair, drawing her tight against me. The rhythm commenced, and we were off again....