The Erection Set

Her mouth came closer and closer until it was a soft, warmly moist thing tasting mine with the strangest kind of touch I had ever known. My own hands ran down her naked back over the rise of her buttocks, pushed her away so I could cradle the firm thrust of her breasts, then began to explore all those lovely parts of her.

Sharon’s breath caught in her throat sharply. She smiled, kissed me again, then let her smile widen when she felt the pressure of my palms holding her away from me. “I told you I really was a virgin.”

“Damn, kid,” was all I could say.

“Does it make a difference, Dog?”

I turned on my side and let the heat ease out of me slowly. It was easier now and I felt like an even bigger idiot. “Look you,” I said, “you’re an engaged girl.”

“Woman,” she corrected.

“Okay, a woman. You got yourself a guy and you think enough of that thing to save it for him, so don’t go tossing it away.”

“Isn’t the choice mine?”

“Not with me, kid. This time it’s my choice. Just keep it safe between your legs until he gets it, hear?”

“You’re mean.”

“Just sometimes. Right now I feel damn moral. Old Hunter should be here to see this performance. He’d never believe it.”

“I’ll tease you.”

“Try it, Sharon, and you’ll be an unsatisfied, neurotic wreck in one hour. I’m too damn old not to know every gimmick there is to turn you women-children inside out.”

Her laugh tinkled in my ears and she tossed her hair again. “All right. I’ve managed this long, so I guess I can hang on a little while longer.”

“Who is he, Sharon?”

“A very nice guy. We grew up together.”

“Would he appreciate this little picture?”

“I don’t think he’d mind at all. Not really.”

“You don’t know men very well.”

“But I do. I truly do.”

She touched the side of my face, leaned down again and kissed me lightly, the tip of her tongue barely brushing my lips. My arms went around her and I laid her down beside me. Around our heads the grass rustled in the wind. I reached over her and pulled the blanket , over us both. Beside me her body was snuggled into the curve of mine, warm and naked. The moon watched us and another wisp of cloud passing its face made it seem like it winked at me.

Then the early sun woke us both and we looked at each other and kissed. Her hair was tousled and full of sand, but she didn’t care at all. We brushed each other off, got dressed, folded up the blanket and walked back to where we had left the car.

And this time we had company.

The black sedan and the patrol car flanked the limousine and the uniformed cop was peering through the window at the interior. The big beefy guy in the sports shirt and slacks was inspecting the wreckage of the padlock on the gate and neither of them heard us coming.

I said, “You fellows want something?”

The heavy-set guy turned and looked at me, his face set in a nasty scowl. “You do this?”

“That’s right.”

He dropped the lock and started toward me, but I was coming to meet him too and he didn’t like what he saw. The cop edged between us watching me, another hard-looking character with a broken nose and cold, flat eyes that come with too many years on the force. He didn’t like what he saw either.

The cop said, “Who are you, mister?”

“I asked the first question.”

“Don’t get smart, buster. I can handle you real easy.”

I looked at him with that old smile starting to come out. I couldn’t stop it because it always happened that way. “Don’t you wish you could,” I told him.

The two looked at each other, but by the time they looked back to me again I had taken two easy steps in the right direction and I wasn’t bracketed any more. The civilian wiped his hand across his partially bald head and curled his lips again. “You know this is private property?”

“Sure. It always has been. That’s why I want to know what you’re doing prowling around.”

The question came at him too fast and the sneer went back into a puzzled frown. I flipped a cigarette in my mouth and lit it. The cop was changing his original attitude now. Maybe it was because the limousine was bigger than the black sedan and I wasn’t the type he could shake up with a badge and a gun.

“I asked you your name, feller,” he said again.

“Kelly,” I told him. “Dogeron Kelly. My grandfather was Cameron Barrin and this area is still part of his estate.” I blew out a cloud of smoke and flipped the butt at the feet of the beefy guy. I said, “What difference does it make to you what I do here?”

His face was tight with anger, but the limousine was backing me up and he couldn’t quite figure the play. Finally he said, “This place won’t belong to the Barrins much longer, that’s for sure.” He looked at the cop, the cop shrugged, then they both turned and went back to their cars. Both of them kicked up sand getting out of there and the radio antenna on the black sedan snapped off when it cut too far under an underslung limb of an oak tree on the bend.

When they were out of sight Sharon came up and slipped her hand into mine. “You know who that was, Dog?”