Chapter 7

Bob was doing okay. It was actually entertaining, letting Lacey explore a bit. He could always jerk off later. He’d never been with a woman as innocent as Lacey, and he was finding it great fun to teach her about kissing. The average man who is with the average virgin doesn’t usually have much fun, because she is usually scared, and scared isn’t very sexy. Not to a normal man. But Lacey wasn’t scared. She was tense, and wary, but not frightened that anyone was going to hurt her. That let her explore in ways that the average virgin doesn’t feel comfortable with.

Within two good kisses she’d grasped the technique perfectly. Now she turned her head of her own accord, moving her lips on his. She also used her hands to move her whole body around on top of him, very much like he’d been doing with his grip on her buns. In the process, he felt her “bumping” the head of his cock ... harder and harder. At one point, he felt his foreskin being pushed back a little, and something very hot kiss the tip of his cock. She lifted her lips from his right after that.

“I see what you mean, about those nerves down there,” she said, panting hard, now.

“You just don’t listen to me,” he sighed.

He rolled, dumping her off of him, before she could have an ‘accident’. She complained, but then his hand came up to mold around a breast and he squeezed that. Her breathing stopped, momentarily, as she contemplated what this new thing felt like. His fingers found a stiff nipple and pinched it gently.

“Ohhhh,” she groaned.

“That’s nothing,” he said, and he leaned down to suck that nipple between his lips.

She bucked against him, gasping, her breath rushing in and out with force, now. He nursed gently, sucking over and over as she writhed. Her free hand flopped all over the place and, eventually, it hit his cock. She gripped it, probably by instinct, and then squeezed hard before jerking her hand away as if it had been burned.

He relented, then, and let the nipple loose, leaning back to look at her.

“I didn’t know,” she moaned. “I’ve missed so much. I want you to do that again!”

“I’m corrupting you,” he said, sadly.

“My mother would agree with you,” she said.

“I’ll apologize to your mother the next time I see her.”

“She died. She’s up in Heaven.” She giggled. “I bet if angels can have heart attacks, she’s having one right now.”

“Am I going to get struck by lightning?” he joked.

“No,” she said, quite seriously. “If that was going to happen, this house would be a smoking pit of rubble already. That’s why I’m not afraid of doing this. I have no doubt that my mother is an Angel right now, but when she was here on Earth she lied to me. I’m sure of that, now.”

“Don’t be too sure. I’d love nothing more than to roll on top of you right now and make sweet love to you.”

Her hand came to his chest.

“That’s a perfect example of what I was talking about. A month ago I’d have been horrified if a man said that to me, incensed, even apoplectic. But now, I don’t feel any of those emotions. I don’t think I’m ready for that, but I’m not scandalized that you said it.”

“I agree with you,” he said. “About you not being ready for it.”

“But I like what we’ve done so far.”

“Do you masturbate?” he asked.

She looked appalled.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he said.

“But you do,” she said.

“Most people do.”

“Really?”

“So I’m told,” he said.

“Who told you?”

“Every guy I’ve ever talked to about it.”

“How about the women?”

“They have consistently given me grades, based on whether I did it as well to them, as they did it to themselves,” he said.

“A man can masturbate a woman?” She sounded skeptical.

“Masturbation is simply rubbing,” he said. “Anybody can rub. The trick is knowing how to rub correctly.”

“Hmmm,” she responded.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked.

“No,” she said immediately. “Of course not. You can’t leave yet.”

“Are you being devious with me, counselor?”

“I am not. I am telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

“Want me to suck your nipples some more?” he asked, teasing.

“Yes, but I shouldn’t let you. When you do that it makes me want to wash too long.”

“I thought you said you don’t masturbate.”

“I don’t.”

“Trust me, Honey. Washing too long is masturbating.”

“Well, I’ve never done that. My mother would have whipped me bloody if I had.”

“That’s fine. But promise me this. If you decide to try, let me teach you how.”

“Why?”

“Because if you do it wrong, it can be very frustrating.”

“We’ll see. I want to kiss you some more.”

Basically, they made out like teenagers, kissing each other and stroking each other. At one point he pushed her hand to his penis. She was clearly hesitant, but eventually, after touching it several times, and brushing her hand against it once, she took it in a gentle, grip, like it was something fragile. Then, while she kissed him and he mauled her breast and nipple with his fingers, she simply held his cock, as if it were a handle of sorts.

He stayed two more hours and, because of his own frustration, he left her frustrated too. He did that by stopping as he got out of bed. He “kissed her nipples good night” by moving from one nipple to the other, sucking each one until they were as hard as cherry pits.

Then, kissing her lips one last time, he got dressed and left the room. It was midnight. Lionel Young was sitting by the front door and looked up when Bob came out of her room.

Bob lifted the pill bottle and shook it gently. Lionel raised his chin in silent acknowledgement and then looked back at the crossword puzzle he was working on. Bob was pretty sure he didn’t suspect anything.

Then Bob went to bed himself, pausing only to jerk a load out of his balls before going to sleep.

The next morning marked nine days since she’d been released from the hospital. Her recovery had been going very well until the bathtub incident, which weakened her again. She still wanted to get out again. She was used to walking a lot, so while one marshal stayed in the brownstone, the other went with Bob and they let her walk down to the local bodega, where she bought a bottle of wine, a wedge of cheese, and a loaf of seven grain bread. The clerk called her by name and asked her how she felt.

“I’m fine,” said Lacey.

“I heard on the news that somebody tried to off you.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well you go get them. You put them in jail for a long time.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Lacey.

“These guys your muscle?”

“They are. Can you believe it?”

“They both married?”

“Now Raul, why would you ask me that?”

“You pretty with your hair down. I never seen you in a T shirt either. Maybe you catch yourself a man, huh?”

He laughed and she laughed with him.

On the way back, she put her left hand through Deputy Jenkins’s arm and her right through Bob’s arm.

“Are you married, Deputy Jenkins?” she asked.

“Yes, Ma’am. Happily so.”

“How about you, Bob?”

“Never have been. I was always too busy.”

“You don’t have to play act for me, Miss Cragg,” said Jenkins.

“Why, whatever do you mean?”

“We all know Bob spends a lot of time in your room.”

“And what do you think about that, Tom?”

“It’s really none of my business, Ma’am.”

“It’s not what it looks like, Tom,” said Bob.

“Whatever it is, as I already said, it’s none of my business.”

Neither man told her that they had discussed this eventuality, before it had become an ... eventuality.

Lacey went into her bedroom when they got back, and changed into one of her new blouses. It was a simple button up rayon blouse, apricot colored, but the V at her neck went a lot deeper than anything she’d worn before. Tucked into her jeans, as it was, it made her womanly shape impossible to miss, as it emphasized her breasts and minimized her waist. Whether she knew that or not was unclear. What was clear was that she had decided leaving her breasts naked under her tops while she was at home was acceptable. Bob decided he was going to have to take her bra shopping.

She was on the phone a lot that afternoon. She called her office and gave them an update on her condition and plans. Her boss told her about the progress, or rather lack of progress, in identifying and apprehending the woman who had poisoned her. There had been prints on the glassware, but they hadn’t gotten a hit on them. Then she called Judge Gardner and checked in with him. He was solicitous, but also interested in when he could schedule another day in court for the Boruskiev trial. There was a Monday ten days away, and she told him she felt like she’d be ready then. They couldn’t discuss the case itself without the defense being present, so Lacey thanked him for his patience and said goodbye.

“Be careful,” he said.

“I will. I have pretty good security.”

“I’m really sorry I barked at your bodyguard when he tried to warn us about that water.”

“I’ll tell him.”

“You do that. And tell him that any time he thinks there’s danger, I’ll stop the trial and entertain his thoughts.”

“That’s very kind of you, Your Honor,” she said.

“Those mother ... er, people ... came into my courtroom and tried to commit a murder. If I had them in my courtroom right now I’d sentence them to summary execution.”

“Are you going to have to recuse yourself from the trial?”

“Only if they catch that woman and she is proven to be a confederate of the defendant. Until then, nobody can say there’s a conflict of interest.”

“I thought you were the one who was responsible for identifying a conflict of interest,” she said. She didn’t want to win the trial and then have the conviction be overturned on appeal.

“You let me worry about that, counselor,” he said, gruffly. “I am only interested in justice.”

“Okay. See you in ten days.”

“Bye.”

After that, she was bored. She’d been reading pretty much constantly for a month, unable to do much else. She wasn’t interested in doing a puzzle. Finally, Bob had an idea.

“Remember how I told you I needed to teach you to handle a gun?”

She made a face.

“It’s important, Lacey. You know that.”

“I suppose so,” she said, begrudgingly.

Dick Hooker was the inside man at the moment, so Bob asked him where the Marshal Service did their pistol qualifications. When he told Hooker what he had in mind, Dick got on the phone with his superiors. Two hours later Bob and Lacey had been cleared to use an indoor range operated by the NYPD.

It was too late to go that day, and in any case Bob wasn’t sure that the Sig would be the right gun for her to learn on. By this time Lionel was on the inside, so Bob talked to him.

“I’ve got just the thing for her,” he said. “I bought it for my wife, but she won’t touch the thing. It’s a Taurus revolver, a .327 Federal Magnum. Shoots a .32 caliber bullet but the muzzle velocity is the same as a .357 magnum. Holds six rounds and I have two speedloaders for it. It’s a pocket gun, and it would fit in even a small purse.”

“Can she try it at the range tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got a box of ammo for it.”

“Deal,” said Bob.

“I’ll bring it to work tomorrow.”

“Do either of you guys carry a revolver?”

“Dick’s got a .38 special in an ankle holster.”

Bob went out into the hallway and asked Dick if he could borrow the revolver. He left his Sig with the deputy so Dick would still have two guns. Then he went back inside and told Lacey he wanted to talk to her.

“In the bedroom?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I was thinking kitchen.”

“Oh,” she said, overacting to suggest despair.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Am I your boyfriend?”

She blinked.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“Well, when you start suggesting that things go on in the bedroom, that’s the kind of thing a girl says to her boyfriend.”

“Are you angry with me?” she asked.

“No,” he said.

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“Come sit down with me,” he said. “I need to show you something and then we can talk about this.”

She went with him to the little kitchen table and they sat opposite each other. He opened the cylinder of Dick’s revolver and dumped the loads out.

“That’s a gun,” she said.

“You are very observant,” he said.

“You haven’t answered my question,” she reminded him.

“If I’m going to be your boyfriend, that’s going to change our relationship.”

“Why? I already kiss you. We’ve been in bed naked.”

“Being your boyfriend means I’m going to make a commitment to you. And I will expect you to commit to the same things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Well, one thing is that I won’t go out with any other women, and I’ll expect you not to go on dates with other men.”

“I don’t go on dates with anybody, Bob. I haven’t even been on a date with you.”

“You will if you’re my girlfriend. After this trial is over. I don’t want to have to worry about who’s trying to kill you while we’re at the bowling alley or something.”

“Okay,” she said. “What else?”

“Generally, these days, people in that kind of relationship sleep together.”

“Okay,” she said, a little too eagerly.

“I mean they have sex, Lacey.”

“That’s for married people, not boyfriends and girlfriends,” she said, automatically.

“Yeah, well, I know that’s how you were raised, but reality is a little different. In fact, it’s a lot different.”

“So you won’t be my boyfriend unless I have sex with you,” she said. There was no eagerness in her voice, now.

“I didn’t say that. All I said is that’s the kind of relationship most people have. Why do you suddenly want a boyfriend so much?”

“I don’t know. I never had one. I’ve missed so much. I don’t want to die a virgin, who never had a boyfriend.”

“You’re not going to die anytime soon. Not if I have anything to say about it. And I do. So do the Marshals.”

“I want to sleep with you,” she said. “Not to have sex ... just to be together. I like kissing you. I like all the things we’ve done. And I might even want to have sex some day. I just want to experience new things, Bob. And I want to experience them with you.”