Afternoons of a Woman of Leisure (9781101623565) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wrists from the wall.
    Without hesitation Joanna moves to hug him, clasping his shoulders and crying against his neck. His arms slide around her back and he holds her, his hands warm on her skin and comforting. “It’s okay,” he tells her, leaning against her. “It’s okay to cry.
    â€œYes,” Joanna says thickly, her hands in Robert’s white hair. A minute later, she looks him in the eye and says, “That never happened to me before.”
    â€œI should hope not!” He laughs, kissing her.
    â€œNo,” Joanna says. “I mean, I never came before.”
    He draws back slightly and studies her, his mouth serious. “Well, well, well,” says Robert thoughtfully.
    He takes her hand and leads her from the small, dark room and out into the hall to his bedroom. “Let’s lie down for a bit,” he says, settling her on the mattress then untwisting a blanket and folding it over them. Joanna settles her head on his white chest. Robert’s cock rests wetly against her knee. She feels peaceful and sated, glad that she has finally begun to understand her own desires, and she wonders how he knew.
    â€œAre you married?” he asks her suddenly, fingering the wedding and engagement rings on her finger.
    â€œYes,” Joanna says. “Are you?”
    â€œNo,” says Robert. “Are you happily married?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Joanna says truthfully. “I’ve never really thought much about it. I guess I must be, or else I’d leave him.”
    â€œNot necessarily.” He laughs. “My parents were unhappily married for years, and they stayed married for far too long.”
    â€œCan I ask you something?” Joanna says, shifting onto her elbow and looking at him. “Why is your hair white? You look so young. How old are you, anyway?”
    â€œThirty,” he says. “Actually, it’s sort of private.” But then, seeing her disappointment, he shrugs. “I saw something, when I was fifteen. It scared the shit out of me. I turned white overnight, and I’ve been that way since. Do you mind it?”
    She shakes her head. “It’s beautiful. I think it’s beautiful.”
    Robert smiles, his hands behind his head. “You’re beautiful,” he says. “And Christ, are you sexy.” Then he grows serious again. “Unfortunately, I have to leave tomorrow.”
    Joanna does not try to hide her disappointment. “Where are you going?”
    â€œUp north,” he says simply. “There’s an artist’s colony where I spend my summers. I always do interesting work there, though sometimes”—he smiles—“not quite what I plan to do before I go.”
    â€œOh,” Joanna says.
    Later, he makes love to her again. Tenderly, like the day before, but this time with passion, and Joanna responds. She slides down the mattress to lick his open thighs, gently rubbing his scrotum then filling her mouth with his cock, feeling its beautiful curve. He moans and pulls at her legs, parting them over his head and plunging his tongue inside her until she comes in a wave, sucking him in rhythm to her own contractions. When she has finished, she turns and lowers herself on his cock, one hand massaging his scrotum, the other reaching up to brush and pull the white hairs around his nipples. Robert bucks under her, the muscles of his stomach tight, his head whipping from side to side on the pillow. His climax is a thick eruption inside her and she groans at its heat, its power, his face contorted and flushed.
    â€œI want to give you something,” he tells her afterwards, when she has dressed to go. He walks, naked, into another room and brings back a small white paperback which he puts directly into her bag. “Something to read,” Robert says. “I think you will enjoy it.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Joanna asks, but he only smiles, silent. “Does this