Good Karma (38 page)

“Put your fingers inside yourself, Karma.
Find your G-spot. Stroke it.”

“Mark…” Her voice was filled with
urgency.

“You like my tongue, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to suck you.”

“Yes.”

Stroke-stroke.

“Has a man ever gone down on you?”

“No.”

“What a shame.” He licked his lips. “Because
I want to taste you.”

She moaned quietly. “I want to know what that
feels like.”

“And I want to watch you squirm. I want to
hear you sigh and feel your fingers in my hair as I flick the tip
of my tongue against you.”

Her breath trembled.

“You’re going to come, aren’t you? You’re
going to come against my mouth.” And he was going to come, too. Any
second, he was going to go.

“Yes.”

She grew quiet…almost deathly so. But he
could hear her tiny gasping breaths.

“Come for me, Karma. Come on my tongue.”

“Oh God, oh God!” A heartbeat of silence
followed, and then. “YES!”

He heard the way her body jerked. Muffled,
shaky noises broke through the phone. It was enough to toss him
over.

“I’m coming.” His eyes slammed shut and his
abdomen convulsed, and jets of semen spurted across his shirt as he
groaned long, low, and deep.

After several seconds of ecstasy, he drew in
a heavy breath and blew it out. “Fuck.” That had been fast…and
intense.

For several long, euphoric moments, nothing
was said. Just hard breathing and tiny moans.

Finally, she uttered a breathless laugh.
“That was sexy as hell, Phone Mark.”

“Thank you, Phone Karma. You sounded pretty
hot yourself.” He could almost see her blush through the phone.

“I’ve had a very good tutor.”

“I don’t think he can take all the credit.”
He still fought to catch his breath and glanced down at the mess on
his shirt. A mess well worth the effort to clean up.

“Maybe not, but he can take most of it.”

“You’re sweet.” He pulled his sweats back
up.

“And you’re…”

“I’m what, Karma?”

“You’re…very sexy.”

“Right back atcha.” He lingered, not wanting
the call to end, but he had to finish going through Solar’s project
manuals, and he needed to take a shower and grab a change of
clothes. “I should probably get going. I need to clean up.”

“Me, too.” She giggled. “I have to leave for
my parents’ house soon. And I need to get back to my reading.”

“Aaahh, that’s right. The mysterious reading
about how to please a man.”

“Something like that.”

“Well, I won’t keep you from
that
then. Especially if I get to be the benefactor of whatever it is
you might be learning.”

More laughter. “I certainly hope so. But
don’t get your hopes up too high. I’m still a novice.”

He shook his head. “Don’t underestimate
yourself, Karma. Just the sound of your voice is enough to get me
hard.”

She gasped.

He laughed. “And with that, I think it’s time
I let you go.”

“You stinker.”

“I am that. Enjoy the rest of your Memorial
Day.”

“You, too. Bye, Mark.”

He set his phone down and smiled as another
bolt of lightning lit the sky.

He had always liked storms, but now he was
beginning to like them even more.

Chapter 32

I will not
let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Karma sighed and looked up at the white ceiling of
her bedroom. What a nice phone call that had been. Surprising.
She’d heard Mark come twice, but had never seen him. Did he look as
sexy as he sounded? Did he close his eyes? Leave them open. Clench
his jaw? How did he feel? Would the muscles of his back bunch under
her hands? Would his body stiffen and shudder?

She tried to imagine him on top of her, under
her, behind her. These books she had been reading—and especially
the pictures in the Kama Sutra book—had given her a lot of ideas to
play with, each of them more exciting than the last.

Doggy style, for instance. She had never done
that. But something about the pictures of couples where the man was
behind the woman excited her more than all the others. Would Mark
do that?

A check of the time showed Karma was running
late, so she removed the glass egg, hopped up, changed, pulled her
hair into a ponytail, and hustled out the door. She could fantasize
about Mark doing her doggy style tonight after she got home.

Less than fifteen minutes later, she pulled
onto her parents’ street and nearly stopped the car. Johnny’s big
fat Audi was in the driveway. Shit. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
That’s what Dad had told her…that Johnny was having a small
Memorial Day get-together at his house. So, what the hell was he
doing here?

A dark cloud formed over Karma’s head, and it
had nothing to do with the storms they were supposed to get later
tonight. The same ones hitting Mark right now, as a matter of fact.
But if Johnny and Estelle had decided to crash Dad’s cookout,
tonight was going to suck balls.

She opened the door and was greeted by her
cat, Spookie, who lived with her parents because her apartment
complex didn’t allow pets. She really needed to look for a new
place so she could have her cat with her twenty-four-seven. Spookie
wasn’t Mark, but she did give good snuggle.

Spookie purred and crisscrossed between and
around her ankles.

“Hey, pumpkin,” Karma said, lifting the
all-black bundle of fur-and-purr into her arms. Spookie settled
against her chest, her paws making biscuits on her shoulder, and
nuzzled her cheek. “I’ve missed you, too, love bug.” She carried
Spookie to the kitchen, where her mom was already in conversation
with Estelle…and Jolene. Great. The day just got better and
better.

“I wish he would learn not to antagonize
him,” Mom said, glancing out the window.

Estelle stood at the sliding glass door
beside Jolene, both of them gazing out into the backyard.

“Hi, Mom,” Karma said, entering the
kitchen.

Jolene flashed her an evil glare then glanced
out the door again. If only she knew that Karma was aware of her
fling with Jake, she might have been less cocksure.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Mom said. She kissed
Karma’s cheek and appeared relieved she didn’t have to deal with
the terrible twosome by herself anymore. Mom was just as
uncomfortable around Estelle as she and Dad were. It seemed the
only one who got along with the pointy-nosed woman was Johnny.
Well, and Jolene. “I see you found Spookie.” Mom rubbed the cat’s
ear.

“More like she found me as soon as I walked
in the door.”

Mom smiled. “She misses you.”

“Well, I miss her.” Karma stroked the cat’s
silky fur and nodded toward the backyard, where Dad and Johnny
appeared to be in a heated discussion in the back corner. “What’s
going on out there?”

Normally, Karma tried to avoid Johnny and Dad
together whenever possible, because when those two got around each
other, they were like roosters in a cockfight, and she was usually
the one who ended up losing feathers and bleeding. Not to mention,
Johnny still felt the need to constantly torture her, just like
when they were kids.

Mom waved her hand dismissively and returned
to the stove. “Oh, Johnny’s just being Johnny. You know how he
is.”

Yes, Karma knew all-too-well how Johnny
was.

Estelle shook her head. The gesture almost
looked like pride. Estelle and Johnny were like vinegar and oil,
separate, but in a good-for-each-other kind of way that usually
left everyone else with a sour face. To make matters worse, her
raging pregnant-woman hormones made her even less tolerable, if
that was even possible.

“Well, that’s my Johnny,” Estelle said. “He
never backs down from anyone. You know that.”

Karma struggled to bite her tongue.
Yeah,
Mom knows that. She raised him. He was hers before he was yours,
dummy.

“What are they talking about?” Karma strolled
to the door, avoiding eye contact with el prego Estelle-o and her
sidekick Not-so-Jolly Jo.

“Mm-hi, Karma,” Estelle said, her greeting
coming out like a snobbish, nasally slur.

“Hi,” Karma said blandly. “What are they
talking about?” It would be nice if someone could answer that
question.

Mom huffed and threw the kitchen towel she
was holding over her shoulder as she checked on the guava glaze for
the chicken. “They’re arguing over the best method to seed the bare
patch in the backyard.”

Estelle rested her arms over her swollen
belly. “We had the same problem when we bought our house last
year.” She waved her long fingers and kept her gaze out the back
door. “Hopefully your dad will take his advice. Our yard looks
fabulous now.”

Karma exchanged glances with her mom and
forced herself not to say something snarky. “Well, I’m sure Dad has
it under control.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a beer with
the hand not cradling Spookie’s rump. She rarely drank, but the
niggling on her nerves told her this was a good day to partake.

“Oh, I’m sure he does.” Estelle offered a
dramatic conciliatory glance toward her and Mom, as if they were
toddlers in need of a grown-up. “I’m just saying Johnny knows what
he’s talking about.”

“Johnny
always
knows what he’s talking
about. That’s the problem.” Karma managed to twist off the bottle
cap and took a healthy swig.

Estelle huffed, opened the door, and stepped
out onto the patio. Jo followed, flashing Karma an eat-shit glance,
and slid the door closed again.

Karma shot her mom a hard look. “Dad told me
they weren’t going to be here today?”

Chagrined, her mother stopped stirring the
glaze. “They had a change of plans. Something about running out of
propane for the grill.”

“And he couldn’t go get more?”

Mom gave her a look that confirmed what she
was already thinking. Johnny had come over to stir up trouble. Most
likely with her. Well, to hell with that. If he tried, he would get
a dose of the new and improved Karma. Either she had finally grown
a spine, or all those affirmations she was telling herself were now
paying off, but one thing was certain, she was done taking
Johnny’s—and everyone else’s—shit.

“And then he had to go and bring Jolene,” Mom
said. “When he knows you two don’t get along.”

“I’m sure that’s
why
he brought her.”
Karma took another drink and looked outside at her jealous coworker
with permanent PMS and a case of verbal diarrhea. And the horns and
forked tail she had started growing didn’t help.

“Your dad doesn’t like her, either. To be
honest, I think your dad appreciates you being here. The day will
be more tolerable with you here.”

“He could have at least warned me.”

“I know, honey. But they just showed up. He
probably didn’t even think about calling.” She smiled in that way
that all mothers must have to master before becoming parents. It
was a mix of compassion, humor, and apology. “Why don’t you go out
there and give your dad some moral support.” She patted Karma on
the back of the shoulder.

“Why can’t Johnny just cool it and stop being
a jerk?”

Mom shrugged. “Think of it this way. Your
brother teaches us patience.”

She lowered Spookie to the floor. “No. He
teaches us that he’s a Grade A asshole.” With Bud in hand, she
reluctantly went outside and joined Estelle and Jo on the patio.
Dad and Johnny’s bickering seemed out of control.

“Hi, Dad!” She waved to get her dad’s
attention.

While Johnny was in midsentence, her dad
waved back and began to walk away. “Hi, honey. You made it.”

Johnny scowled after him and threw his hands
in the air. “I wasn’t finished.”

“I was,” Dad said over his shoulder.

Good for Dad.

Estelle sucked her teeth. When Karma looked
at her, she was pursing her lips and scowling, which made Karma
want to slug her. But she was sure there was some law against
hitting a pregnant woman.

Dad hugged her. “Hi, sweetie.”

She squeezed him back.

“Hi,
Carmine
.” Johnny brushed past
her, making no secret that he loathed her intrusion on whatever
lesson he’d been trying to teach Dad.

Jolene snickered at the masculine nickname
Johnny had teased her with when they were kids.

“I see you still haven’t outgrown your junior
high insults,” Karma said as her dad turned his attention to the
grill. Mom brought out the glaze and handed him the pan.

The nickname had been a dig to imply Karma
was a boy instead of a girl. Well, now she was a woman…with
claws…and big woman balls. Thanks to Mark. So Johnny needed to
watch out.

Johnny was holding a bottle of beer and laced
the fingers of his free hand between Estelle’s. “Only because they
still piss you off, sis.”

What a little shit. This was why she avoided
Johnny like he was a Norovirus. A few hours with him left her in
need of intense therapy, partly because his insults cut with the
precision of a neurosurgeon. Johnny magnified her faults, dissected
them, and splayed and gutted her in public like she was no more
than shark bait.

But Johnny’s lapses of judgment didn’t just
begin and end with Karma. He was naturally a cocky little cuss with
the ego of Zeus and the god-like attitude to go with it. The fact
that Karma worked as a “lowly” executive assistant when he was the
owner of a successful business at such a young age only added fuel
to his irritating spew of insults.

As if reading her mind, Johnny said, “How’s
work
?”

He emphasized the word like it was profane,
but Karma knew he simply wanted to point out that he considered her
job
work
, while his was a
career
. In his opinion,
there was a big difference.