Chapter 61

Karen and I were working on our lunch, and I guess that I was quiet. I was still thinking about Kristen and how much I was going to miss her, when Karen put her hand on my arm and asked, “Is something wrong, Pete?”

Momentarily flustered, I fibbed, “Uhh, no, I was just thinking about us making love this morning.”

She leaned close, “Oh, God, I was thinking about it too. You didn’t come when I did, and I feel bad. I, uhh, put some medicated cream on after we got out of the shower, and I think I’ll be able to, umm, play some more if you want to go back upstairs.”

I shook my head in wonder. I don’t think that Karen weighs much more than a hundred and ten pounds and we had made love this morning for almost two hours. It was less than an hour later, and she was ready for more. I made a mental note to never underestimate the lovemaking capabilities of a girl again. I hugged her to me and told her that we didn’t have time, but I have to admit that I was tempted.

We were just finishing our lunch when a guy I didn’t recognize, came to our table.

“Are you and Ms. Gilroy going to see Ms. Baker’s show today, Mr. Baker?”

“Yes, we are. Why?”

“Rocky sent me to get you, and he asked that you be sure and speak with him.”

He agreed to meet us after breakfast, and we went to our room to get our things. I used the bathroom and Karen was standing by the window when I came out. I put my arm around her and noticed that her eyes were moist. I hugged her to me and said, “You’re having a good time, eh?”

She gave me the most loving look I ever saw, and she was trembling when she said, “It’s so much more than that, Pete.”

The driver dropped us at the entrance to of the Desert Dunes and went to park the car. We went through the lobby and we passed the cutout of Kristen on the way. It was standing next to one of Tomaso this time, and the advertising sign read ‘The Desert Dunes presents Tomaso and ‘The raven-haired beauty with the golden voice, ‘KRISTEN’’.

Karen and I both grinned, and I said, “Well, I see that it’s already started. It’s no longer Kristen Baker. She’s down to one name now.” We went to Kristen’s dressing room and got there just as the driver did. Rocky was outside her room guarding the door. He nodded to the driver, who took over, when he saw us, then he opened the door to the dressing room for Karen. I started to follow her, but he crooked his finger at me and we went next door to an empty room. He closed the door and handed me an envelope. It had been opened. In it were two sheets of paper, and what looked like a memory card from a digital camera. I opened one of the papers. It was a grainy black and white print of Karen. She was naked, and appeared to be dancing. In an upper corner was a face, peering through a curtain. It took me a second to realize that it was Karen, dancing at the sex shop, and the person in the corner was me!

The other paper was a handwritten note with a lot of crossed out and miss-spelled words. It read, After you and your girlfriend left, I went to see why the guy didn’t come out of the booth. I found him lying on the floor, holding a camera. I called 911 and they took him away. He croaked last night, so I kept the camera. It’s like the one we have in the store, so I printed a couple of pictures. I don’t want nuthin from you, but just remember, you owe me a favor. Bobbie.

I asked Rocky, “Where did you get this?”

“It was left for you at the Miracle.”

“But how did you get it?”

“You’re a friend of Kristen’s. Anything connected with her goes through me, especially when it’s dropped off by someone like that girl.”

“You know who she is?”

“Yes, I’ve thrown her out of the club several times.”

“Has Kristen seen this?”

“Yes.”

“Kristen is with Karen now. Will she tell her about it?”

“I think that she’ll leave that to you.”

“You’re very protective of Kristen. It’s because of her dad, isn’t it?”

“That’s a ‘need-to-know’ thing, and you don’t need to know.”

“Will Bobbie be a problem?”

“Not while she’s in Vegas. I’ll make sure of that.”

“But she says that she made a couple of copies.”

“Yes, but she sent you the memory card. Computer pictures are so easy to manipulate that nobody takes them seriously. I wouldn’t worry about it, but you might want to let Karen know. It’s up to you.”

I stuck the pictures and the chip in my pocket, and we went to Kristen’s dressing room. Rocky relieved the driver and I went inside. Kristen, Amy, and Karen were talking when I opened the door, and the looks on their faces were serious.

Amy touched Karen on the arm, then she said to me, “I have some things to do, I’ll see you guys at home.”

I asked, “When are you leaving?”

“My plane gets in at ten tonight; Dad will pick me up.”

She left, and Karen reached over and squeezed Kristen’s hand, then she grabbed me and said, “Let’s go to our seats.”

Karen was quiet until the show started, but she soon got into it, and applauded loudly after every number. The show was different from when I last saw it. It was much smoother, and it was even more magical than I remembered when Kristen and Tomaso sang their duet. Kristen closed the show with a tune that I hadn’t heard before. There was wild applause, but I secretly missed the ‘My Guy’ number.

The driver was waiting for us as we left the show, and true to what Kristen had said, we were winging our way home by four o’clock. It was a beautiful, warm day, and we had a tailwind according to my E6b computer,. Karen was going on about what a great weekend we are having, and she kept leaning forward to look at something below us every few minutes. She had the top buttons of her blouse undone because of the heat, and I kept glancing at her boobs. She eventually caught me doing it, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all. She giggled once or twice, in fact, then she slipped out of her blouse without warning, and sat there grinning at me.

Karen really has gorgeous tits. They’re not as big as Amy’s or Kristen’s, but they are beautifully formed, and Lance was right. She has great nipples. I kept glancing at them until my cock was making a tent in my pants. Karen reached in her purse for some tissues as soon as she saw it, and she unzipped me. I was thinking that Karen had gotten very adept at pleasing me orally. She was doing things with her tongue that had me ready in almost no time.

I made sure the plane was still pointing in the right direction after I finished my orgasm, and I could tell that she was turned on when I looked over at her, especially when she said, “It’s a shame that you don’t have an autopilot. We could join the Mile-High club together.”

I responded, “Well, have you ever heard of the ‘Over-the-hill’ club?”

“No, what’s that?”

She hadn’t heard of it, so I decided to improvise a little, and I said, “First off, you have to be naked.”

She replied, “No problem!” with a wicked grin, then still grinning, she undid her seat belt and pulled her jeans and panties off. I had seen Karen naked lots of times, but seeing her like that in our plane, over a mile in the air, was particularly erotic. I could feel myself getting hard again even though I’d climaxed only a few minutes earlier.

I reached over and touched her between the legs. She was a little moist and rather slippery, so I asked, “Are you still sore from this morning?”

“No, I put some cream on and I’m okay now.”

“All right then. You have to get yourself ready in order to be a member of the club. Can you do that?”

“What do you mean, ‘I have to get myself ready’? You mean that I have to masturbate?”

“Uh huh.”

“I’ve never done that in front of anybody.”

It seemed to me that she needed a little encouragement, so I said, “You’re beautiful, I’m crazy about you, and I’d love to see you do it.”

She gave me a loving look, and started touching herself. I was hard as a rock again, but not much seemed to be happening with her until she reached over, grabbed my cock in one hand, and began rubbing herself with the other. I watched her body start to flush before long, and she began writhing around in the seat. I pushed her hand out of the way so that I could place my own hand on her pussy. It was very warm and very wet now. I quickly found her clit and started pinching and kneading it. It wasn’t long before I felt her starting to get ready, so I pulled the plane into a gentle climb.

I was rubbing her as fast as I could now, and she was moaning, “Oh Yes! Oh Yes!” when I felt the first wave of orgasm hit her. I pulled back hard on the wheel, jammed my fingers inside her, and pushed the wheel forward.

Suddenly weightless, she screamed and grabbed my arm, but she wasn’t trying to pull it away; she was trying to force my fingers even deeper inside her. She continued screaming until the plane was in a steep dive, then I began to pull up. Centrifugal force drove us both deeply into the seats, and Karen’s body went rigid. Her head was hanging, and she was breathing heavily By the time I leveled off.

That change to weightlessness at the moment of orgasm, followed by being pushed hard into the seat when recovering from the resulting dive, seems to be especially dramatic for a woman. I guess that it would be for a guy, too. I first saw it with Kate, and now with Karen, but it seemed much more intense with Karen. She looked like she was completely spent. Her hands were at her sides and her head was turned toward me, but her eyes were closed and she appeared to be dozing. I think the fact that the whole weekend had been unusual had a lot to do with it.

She looked beautiful sitting there. The setting sun streaming through the window accentuated her naked young body. The picture was sexy, but it was also beyond that. It was as though she was completely vulnerable. It reminded me that our whole relationship had been that way. She had completely given herself to me since we first got together. I had never had anyone trust me so thoroughly before. It made me proud, but it was a little scary. The more I thought about it, the better I liked it, however.

There is a mountain range north of our airport, and the updrafts sometimes make things bumpy, so I shook her awake in time to put her clothes on and attach the seatbelt.

I pulled back on the throttle and started to lose altitude as we topped the last peak. The sun was very low now and the lights of the valley below us began to sparkle. The sight was wonderful. Karen was constantly turning her head as though she was afraid that she would miss something. I switched the landing lights on and called the tower when we were about five miles out. They approved a straight-in landing.

Karen happily squealed “Oh!” as she spotted the runway lights, and she kept her eyes glued to them as I gently settled in. The landing was smooth and airport traffic was light, so Ground Control immediately vectored me to our tiedown area when I pulled off the active runway and called. I pulled into our parking spot, and we sat quietly for a moment, listening to the ticking noises from the engine as it cooled when I turned everything off.

We were flying a moment ago. The wind was rushing by, the plane was vibrating like a living thing, and the lights of the city were all around us. Now we were quietly sitting in the fading light. The lack of motion and silence was almost eerie. I love landing at night for just that reason. It seems as though time pauses when you shut things down, and I feel like it takes me a minute or two to synchronize myself with the world. Karen must have felt it too, because she was sitting quietly with her eyes closed.

I got out and I was attaching the tiedowns when Karen stepped out. She looked around for a minute, as though she couldn’t believe we were home, then she asked for the car keys and started putting our bags in the trunk. I was locking the door to the plane when she walked up, laid her cheek on the cowl, and said, “Thank you for taking such good care of us, Mister Plane.”

We were both still grinning when I drove out of the parking lot. She had been sort of quiet since we landed, so I asked, “Well, how do you feel now that you’re a member in good standing of the ‘Over-the-hill’ club?”

I meant it as a joke, but she was serious when she answered, “It was unbelievable, Pete. It was beyond anything that I imagined. I’m still tingling. Was it as good for the other girls?”

She caught me off guard. I started to mumble something, but she put her hand on my leg and said, “Don’t answer. It’s none of my business. So, what are we doing now?”

“Well, it’s almost six o’clock. The Four Seasons is supposed to be very posh. I’ll drop you at your place, and you can put something fancy on. I’ll do the same and meet you back there in an hour.”

“Okay, but make it in an hour and a half.”

Erin and Kelly were sitting on the front steps when I got home, and I waved at them as I ran into the house. Mom and Dad were in the living room. I kissed them both, and I was telling them what a great time I had when Erin joined us. We talked for a few more minutes, and I promised to tell them about everything tomorrow, then went to my room. The light on my answering machine was blinking, but time was short, so I figured that I’d get it tomorrow and jumped into the shower. I left the bathroom door open so that things wouldn’t steam up, and something caught my eye when I stepped out of the shower. Kelly was standing in the doorway, watching me.

I grabbed a towel and said, “What are you doing here, Kelly?”

“Did you have a good time in Las Vegas?”

“Yes. Why are you here?”

“Do you love Karen?”

“That’s none of your business. Now please leave!” She scowled at me, then she left slamming the door behind her.

Kelly has changed lately. She’s several months older than Erin, but Erin seemed to mature earlier. Kelly still carried a lot of baby fat until recently, but it seemed to be gone now and she’s turning into a very pretty girl. I thought about the two of them together, and either one of them could now pass for their mid-twenties under the right circumstances. I was thinking that it might be time to sit down with Erin and talk with her about growing up.

I put my good suit on, threw some jeans and a few things in an overnight bag, and drove to Karen’s house. Karen answered the door when I knocked on it wearing, what I heard other girls call a ‘little black dress’. I guess that I looked impressed, because she did a slow turn, and asked, “Not bad for an hour and a half, huh?”

Her hair was tightly pulled against her head, and she was wearing just the right makeup. She really looked terrific. I had seen other girls spend all day at the beauty parlor to look almost as good as she did, and she had done everything herself in an hour and a half. I reached for her, but she giggled and squirmed away. “Not now. The housekeeper is here. Besides, you’ll mess up my makeup.”

Downtown Los Angeles is only a few minutes from where we live, so the trip there was short, but I kept thinking about how well-suited Karen is for me all the way. The guys call girls like her, ‘wash and wear’ girls, because they don’t have to spend all day to look good. They’re not spectacular like Kristen or Bonnie, but they can be ready to go places at a moment’s notice.

Los Angeles has some beautiful hotels and the Four Seasons is one of the best. I had never been there, but you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading about some rich or famous person who is staying there. We pulled into valet parking, and I noticed that there was a twenty-dollar a day charge when the guy handed me a ticket for the car. I had put the airplane’s parking and fuel charges on a credit card when we were in Las Vegas, and everything else was comped, so I still had most of the change from the hundred-dollar chip that I had cashed, but I knew I had to be careful. We went through the glass doors into the giant lobby. It was at least three stories high, and ringed with little shops and boutiques. We walked to the check-in counter where there stood a stuffy-looking guy dressed like a butler. He didn’t quite sneer when he looked at our overnight bags, but his expression wasn’t exactly warm and friendly. He peered down his nose at us and said, “May I help you?”

I was a little intimidated, so I probably mumbled when I said, “Uhh, yes, my name is Peter Baker. I understand you have a room for us.”

He responded, “I beg your pardon?” I didn’t understand what he meant, and I guess I was flustered, so I stood there looking at him for what felt like hours.

Karen pushed in front of me, frowned at him and very emphatically said, “HIS NAME IS PETER BAKER!”

His whole attitude changed! He almost gushed when he said, “Oh, Mister Baker! I beg your pardon. Of course, we’ve been expecting you. I personally talked with Miss Mariani. Your suite is ready, and they’re holding a table for you in the dining room.”

He gave us our key cards and sent a guy with us to show us our room. It was on the top floor, and the suite looked like something out of a movie set when he opened the door. The living room was bigger than the one at Karen’s house. He opened the drapes, and he handed me a card on the way out showing where everything in the hotel was located. I offered him some money. He smiled, but shook his head and said, “Thank you, Sir, everything has been taken care of.”

Karen and I went to the window and looked out. The night was clear, there were lights everywhere, and you could see all the way to the ocean. Karen hugged me to her, then she looked up at me and said, “This has been wonderful. I wish that it could go on forever.”

I felt like I was really falling in love with her and I answered, “Can you think of any reason why it can’t?” She didn’t answer me with words. She just continued hugging me until my stomach suddenly growled.

We both laughed and made a beeline for the elevator. Karen studied the map the helpful guy gave me, and we navigated our way to the dining room. The hotel is pretty new, but the dining room looked like something out of the last century. It had tall ceilings and rich looking wood everywhere. The main part of the room is large and full of tables. There’s a small dance floor, under floor-to-ceiling windows on one end, and a trio of musicians were softly playing next to it. Except for the dance floor section, the room was ringed with a series of semi-private dining areas where groups of six or eight people sat enjoying their meals. The rooms were open to the main floor, but were protected from each other by ornately carved wooden panels that reached to the ceiling. Even though it was Monday, it was the last day of a three-day holiday weekend, and the room was full. I didn’t see any open tables, and I wondered if were going to get seated. We went to the guy at the lectern, and he led us to one of the private dining areas that had a velvet rope across it as soon as I gave him my name.

I saw that the table had a sign on it that said ‘Mariani’ while he unhooked the rope, and it had been set up for just two people. This hotel was full of very wealthy people, and I was suddenly reminded of just how rich and powerful the Marianis really are.

A busboy gave us water, as a young guy in a tux hovered in the background, then stepped forward, handed each of us a thin menu, and welcomed us to the table in broken English. Karen surprisingly said something to him, in what sounded like French, which started a five-minute conversation that included a lot of hand waving and laughter. I asked her what it was about after he left.

“His name is Jean. He’s from Paris, and his family owns a restaurant close to my uncle’s place. I’ve eaten there several times.”

“You go Paris a lot?”

“Every few years. That’s why Daddy insisted that I take French when I started high school.”

“So you guys are French?”

“No, Daddy’s brother owns a software company, and the French government is his biggest client. He married a French lady and he lives there now.”

I began to realize that I didn’t know very much about Karen, and I vowed to find out more. But I was hungry right now, so I opened the menu. My earlier hunch about the language turned out to be dead on. There were no prices anywhere and the whole menu was in French. Panicked, I looked at Karen. She grinned, “Shall I order for us?” I nodded. Another long conversation took place between the Frenchman and Karen a few minutes later. It ended with her looking at me with a smile and a raised eyebrow. I soon found out why.

Jean kept coming around with tiny platters of food. The first was a little dish of crackers and pate de foie gras. I love any pate, but this was the best that I’d ever tasted. Karen said that it was genuine goose liver that was prepared especially for this restaurant. Next was a serving of escargot, something that Mom tricked me into trying several years ago. She served them on mushroom caps so that I wouldn’t know what they were. I was turned off by their texture at the beginning. It’s a little like eating rubber-bands, but I found that almost anything is edible if you add enough butter and garlic, and I grew to like them. Then there was a delicious, small salad that featured some greens that I wasn’t familiar with. Karen had a long French name for it, but it turned out to be endive salad with beets.

We were waiting for the main course when Jean showed up, looked both ways, and quickly set a small plate down. He said something to Karen and left. On the plate was a slice of something covered with a brownish sauce with capers. Karen looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and took a small bite. She immediately leaned back, closed her eyes, and savored the bite, going “Mmmmm,” so I tried some. It had a buttery, nut-like flavor with a beefy aftertaste. It was wonderful. We made short work of it.