Gargantuan_ A Ruby Murphy Mystery - Maggie Estep [5]
I studied her face, the small, well-made nose, and the lovely mouth that liked to laugh. She stared right back at me, her eyes mapping me, committing me to memory. After a few moments, I got down on all fours and unzipped her little black boots, making her lift one foot at a time as I removed the boots and the socks underneath. She didn’t question this. I grinned when I saw her violent red toenails. She grinned right back, as if this were all perfectly understandable behavior. I stood up and leaned my whole body into hers, mouth against mouth, hip bones jutting into hip bones. She draped her arms at the small of my back, right above my ass. I shoved her toward the kitchen counter, startling the little cat who stopped eating and skittered out of the kitchen—though the pony-sized cat didn’t move a whisker. I picked Ruby up and carried her out of the kitchen. She squirmed in my arms, adjusting her weight, like she didn’t think I’d be strong enough to carry her.
“Don’t squirm, girl, I gotcha,” I told her.
I deposited her on the couch and she reached for me, roughly pulling me to her. Then her mouth was on mine again, her small hands searching my surfaces. And so on and so forth.
It was one of those things. Our bodies fit together perfectly.
Everything about her made sense to me, from the top of her ruffled black head to the tips of her luscious red toenails.
Two weeks into all this, I was over at her place one night when a blizzard came clamoring out of the sky, snow sliding down in sheets. We sat on Ruby’s lumpy green couch. She had a CD playing, classical music by some Polish guy. The music was beautiful and sad. It made me think of all the things that had gone wrong in my life but it also brought the good to mind.
Ruby had the lights out and we were staring out at the night that was bright with snow.
“What’ll happen to the track tomorrow?” she asked in a soft voice.
“Closed probably,” I told her.
“So we can stay up all night?” she said, slipping her hand down my pants in that unceremonious way she had.
“Apparently,” I said, putting my hands inside her fuzzy white bathrobe.
We spent the next day in bed. And the day after that. Five days went by and the snow was still coming down and we were both wrecked from sexual excess.
I FINISHED STRETCHING and sat down at the edge of the bed. Ruby’s red nightgown was still hitched up, exposing her rear end. I ran my hand very lightly over her right hip and along her ass. She rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“It’s six. And it’s still snowing. Sleep,” I said.
“Are you okay?” she asked, sitting up and pulling the sheet all the way to her chin.
I wasn’t entirely okay. I had a lot on my mind and most of it was unpleasant. I wanted to tell her, to come clean, but I couldn’t. Not just yet.
“I’m fine,” I lied, reaching over and pushing a strand of hair off her forehead, “everything is fine.”
She frowned slightly and studied my face. I worked at keeping it relaxed, empty. I think she knew something was bothering me but she was tired and soon sleepiness won out. She lay back down. I pulled the blanket over her and watched as she slipped back into a sound sleep.
I went into the kitchen to get an apple from the fridge. I stared out at the snow while I munched the apple. The fire in my body was getting worse. I didn’t know if I should go outside and run a couple miles or do three hundred sit-ups or what. I needed to get on a horse. I needed to feel an animal’s spirit beating inside my own. But the weather wasn’t cooperating. So I just stood there, on fire.
RUBY MURPHY
3.
Sherpa Guide
I’m starving but I’m terrified