Interlude (15 page)

“Baby, we have to meet my ex-husband.” She
said to him.

Chapter 5

Cal's smile fell. He at least knew why she
was acting weird now. He struggled with this new information. They
had never really mentioned former lovers. To wit, Cal hadn't
directly asked her if she had been married before. But, omission
doesn't make this alright! Does it? Cal fought with his own
internal dialogue. His life was so confusing that upheaval was the
norm for him. He had been broken down and rebuilt so many times
that he felt like some kind of clay. He was something that could be
shaped into whatever was needed to get the job done. Faced with
this new information about his girl, this person he had so many
confusing feelings for, he struggled for what to say, or what to
do. He was mad, but he wasn't sure why.

“You were married?” He asked quietly.

“Yes. I met a guy in college. He seemed to be
a good fit for me, and daddy even liked him. He attended some kind
of military prep school, but he got kicked out when he was caught
gambling. He had a certain business mindset that made it easy for
him to make money, and when we met in it seemed like we would be
perfect for one another. Right after I graduated, he learned our
little family secret. He immediately wanted in. We got married
right before daddy passed away. I think I may have even done it
just so daddy could marry me off before he died, I don't know. We
only lasted about a year. He became enthusiastic about the
business, and he started dealing with stuff that would have put us
out of favor with our CIA contacts. Like some kind of downward
spiral, he started drinking and gambling again, after having quit
for so long. The money he was earning only served to fuel his
habits. Next were the girls, club drugs, which he also became
hooked on. Even when he started hitting me...., I still thought we
could make it work,” she broke off, trying to gain her thoughts as
her voice quavered, “It was only when he started dealing in
biological weapons that I knew we were finished.”

She drew a deep breath, looking ahead so that
she didn't have to face Cal. She felt his eyes on her. She could
sense his tension, his struggle. To dump it on him like this was
unfair, but she was in a business that didn't deal in feelings. It
was hard and dangerous, and to find anybody willing to tolerate it
for the sake of a long term relationship was impossible.
Impossible, that is, unless they are totally insane. Cal's
continued silence was making her nervous.

“Please say something.” She said timidly.

“What am I supposed to say?” Cal offered in
an exasperated tone. His face contorted in some attempt to cover
his real emotions. “Am I supposed to be okay with this too? Of all
the things I've been through to be with you, the ass-kicking, the
interrogation by your psychotic employees, having myself challenged
in so many ways that I don't even know who I am anymore?” As Cal's
tirade wound down, the cab looped into the entry to the Edem Hotel.
Cal swung his door open. He turned to Karen, his look betraying
confusion and anger. “Of all the things, this hurts the most.” He
said finally as he shut the door. Karen sat in the cab, the meter
quietly whirring away. Her welling tears the harbinger of, what was
surely to be, a crappy trip.

Cal dragged their luggage to the front desk.
The hotel was beautiful. All of the trips he had ever made to
attend seminars had him staying in awful business hotels. This was
truly different. There was so much marble that it was hard to
determine where the floor stopped and the walls began. It's
opulence was downplayed by its exterior. The high peaks of the roof
line and the gabled windows made it look charming and inviting. Cal
waited for Karen to get the room key, fuming angrily as he tapped
his foot. In the elevator, Karen tried to make some attempt at
communication.

Tentatively, she spoke. “You could at least
say something.”

Cal looked at her, his anger and confusion
only mixing into a more volatile cocktail. “If I said something
right now, I would most likely regret it. I just want to unpack and
go for a run.” He finished.

“A run?” Karen's said, adding. “I don't think
that's a good idea babe. This is the Ukraine, not Central Park.”
She said with a consoling tone.

“Look, I need to clear my head. We have
plenty of time before your meet up. Just give me some space for a
bit.” Cal said, holding up his hand to somehow block her sensible
comment.

Karen pursed her lips into a look of
displeasure. She was upset, and she felt that their little spat was
her fault, but she didn't need him being irrational. Not now, and
not in this place. “Fine, don't get lost.” She said quickly.

Cal dumped his stuff on the bed and unpacked
his gym clothes. He was only planning on hitting the weight room at
the hotel when he packed them, but he needed to run. He needed to
feel like he was accomplishing a goal. He gave Karen a quick nod as
he left the room. The looks of the other hotel guests gave him the
impression that he was probably crazy. As he stretched outside of
the entryway, he thought through why he was so mad. They weren't
virgins or anything! He knew that she was so much more urbane and
experienced that he was. It made sense that she would have, at
least dated, other successful and confident guys. As his footsteps
turned to a jog, his mind started to focus on his run. The weather
was perfect for it. His breathing started to fall into rhythm as he
sped up his pace. His long strides carried him past other
chalet-style buildings. When he got back, he would have to talk
with Karen, but not now. The sun began to warm his skin, the
sensation making him smile in spite of himself.

Out on the busy sidewalk, he kept passing
beautiful people. Everyone had high cheekbones and flawless,
Alabaster skin. The women were all sporting shorts and revealing
tops. He moved over to pass a group of three girls in their late
teens. As he moved past, one of them whistled at him and yelled
something in Ukrainian. Cal shot the girls a grin. Their smiles
and, rather crude, gestures made him laugh out loud. He finally
glanced at his watch. Seeing that he had been running for almost an
hour, he made a turn and bounded back to the hotel in better
spirits.

As the last of his energy carried him along,
he marveled at the buildings, the advertising. It was all so
foreign to him! He was really happy to be here. This new life of
his was so confusing. He resolved to try and be more open minded.
He was new to this life with her. The last thing he needed to do
was act like a complete fool. As he stood outside cooling off, he
noticed Karen in the hotel's little hot tub. She was all alone,
even though the hotel was so busy. As she flipped through a Russian
fashion magazine, he watched her. He felt like a stalker. He hadn't
done this since their first meeting at the hotel in Avila. He
walked up to her from the entry, his boyish smile an attempt to
make amends with her. She looked up at him, steam rising around her
as she shifted her position in the hot water.

“Did you have a nice jog?” She said, her jaw
set as she spoke through pursed lips.

“I'm sorry I was such a bastard. I should
have talked things out with you. I know you got ambushed with this,
and you would have told me sooner or later.” Cal looked in her
eyes, trying to read her thoughts in some way.

She spoke finally, her shoulders falling from
the tension leaving her. “I'm sorry too! I should have told you
before you overturned your life for me. It wasn't fair to have you
find out this way.” She looked up at him with such love, such care
and compassion that he already felt better. Her big green eyes
holding him in a way that felt like actual, physical contact. It's
as if they wrapped around his very soul. To be without that,
without her, would be his end.

“Girl, that look of yours is something that
could wipe out entire countries.” Cal said, crouching down to kiss
her as the rising steam flowed around them. Her kiss was amazing,
her lip gloss tasting of apricots. He felt his heart rate ramp back
up as they touched tongues as some kind of peace treaty. Cal's hand
came up behind her head, holding her in place to languish in her
beauty and light. As their lips parted, she looked up at him with a
different type of gaze, this one more driven and primal.

“You should get in, it's really warm.” She
chimed in her siren song voice.

“I didn't pack trunks, only my gym stuff.” He
said in a mopey voice. He looked at her body. She was wearing a
tomato colored bikini, the top pulling her breasts into a valley of
luscious cleavage. She stirred, her long legs uncrossing and then
re-crossing in the inviting hot water. Cal sighed in
frustration.

“Oh, screw it.” He said, pulling off his
shirt and shorts. He struggled with his boxer briefs as they hung
up on his shoes, but they all came off and fell in a sweaty pile as
he slid into the water buck-naked. “Holy shit that's hot!” Cal
yelled involuntarily as he tried to come to grips with the tub's
volcanic temperature. As his lower body was singing in pain, he
slowly acclimated to the water. Karen beckoned him to sit by her, a
slight smile her only enticement needed. He slid over to her, the
tile surface dragging on his naked ass.

Karen looked to the entry way, saying, “It
looks like we may have company.” Cal whipped his head around,
approaching the tub were a trio of middle-aged tourists with gray
hair and portly, round physiques. One of them was wearing a yellow
speedo swimsuit.

“Kind of gives new meaning to the word banana
hammock doesn't it?” She said to Cal jokingly. “Maybe he'll let you
borrow it since you don't have one.” She said, grabbing at him
under the bubbly water.

“Oh my God, I'm naked in here!” He said with
a look of panic in his eyes.

Karen put him at ease. “They can't see you
through all the steam and bubbles.” She paused, adding with a
giggle, “Unless, we send the periscope up.” She gently caressed
him. In spite of Cal's panic at being nude in a public place,
Karen's had him falling under her spell again. He grew to enormous
throbbing proportions in the water as the group hopped in. As the
water in the tub swished back and forth, Karen made an effort to
keep Cal's state of arousal covered. Both of them regarded the
encroaching tourists with polite, if not, slightly guilty smiles as
they made small talk.

Karen took the opportunity to slowly stroke
Cal under the cover of the bubbles. Her nails playfully running
along his shaft as he tried to focus on Banana Hammock's
conversation. His eyes rolled uncontrollably as she began moving
faster. While keeping his focus on Banana Hammock, he reached over
to Karen's bikini bottom and slid his hand slowly into it. His
hands grazed her lovely pink flesh as she rubbed her foot on his
leg. Cal looked to Karen. She was gazing at him with a mix of
passion and fear. He had never seen this before. She was always so
calm and reserved in public. His evil side taking over, he eschewed
caution and began a slow, circular motion over her clit. His own
excitement mirrored hers as she pivoted her hips and made herself
available to his invading hand. She bit her lip as she grabbed
Cal's manhood harder. “Was that to make me stop, or go faster?” He
thought to himself. His light touch became her undoing in the hot
water. As she fought to contain her release to a muffled moan, she
pulled on Cal's throbbing member like it was an emergency release
lever. As she finally let go, Cal mercifully relented his touch to
prevent her from screaming her rapturous orgasm out in a public
place. As she covertly regained her composure she looked to him
with her normal, confident green eyes. She was in the driver's seat
now, and she was intent on making Cal pay for his little stunt.

“Please don't.” He pleaded in a whisper.

“Payback's a bitch pal.” She said through a
teasing smile. As she engaged the trio of tourists in mindless
conversation, she began moving faster and faster. Cal tried his
best to control himself. The water, and her unrelenting touch, was
all it took to drive him over the edge. The tourists stopped
talking as Cal finished in a noisy release that was impossible to
hide. His hand struggled for purchase on the edges of the tub as he
moaned and rolled his eyes. Karen smiled with a mischievous sense
of accomplishment as she watched him come loudly in front the group
of strangers. She felt so strong, so powerful. She leaned in to
whisper in his ear, as the tourists sat in an astonished silence.
“Run!”

Cal jumped out of the tub. His naked body,
and wagging manhood, shocked the tourists more as he gallantly held
his hand out to help Karen. She took his hand with all the grace of
the Queen of England as she slowly made her way out of the tub. Cal
laughed as she tortured him like this, simultaneously reaching for
one of the towels stacked on a nearby table. With his waist wrapped
in a towel he tossed one to Karen as they both sprinted away hand
in hand.

In the elevator, Karen took the opportunity
to tease Cal about his towel wrap. As they stood in the packed
little space, Karen giggled to herself about the weird looks Cal
was receiving. She leaned over to mess with him some more. “How
secure is your little towel?” She said. Her fingers trailed along
the top over his ab muscles. Her touch sent shivers up his
spine.

“You wouldn't!” He hissed at her.

“Wouldn't I?” She countered with the same
teasing look he encountered at the tub. At the last minute, she
released her finger from the towel. One pull and Cal would have
been standing at attention in a closed elevator! The thought drove
Karen wild as the doors slid open on their floor. Cal held the
towel securely to his waist to prevent her from carrying out any
other ideas.

As they entered the room, Cal pinned her up
against the dresser and kissed her like he had never kissed her
before. Karen scattered complementary toiletries all over the floor
as her hands sought out anything to hold on to. Her long fingers
finally resorting to pulling his hair forcefully as she moaned
quietly. Breaking for air, she stopped Cal's attack by placing a
hand on his naked chest. He stopped to straighten his towel,
pondering why he didn't just put on his clothes since he was back
in their room.