One Unforgettable Evening Read online

  She tried to look pleased, and modest, and, oh, so elegant, as if she were enjoying herself and that they did this all the time.

  She really ought to watch that hand. It seemed to have a mind of its own. She met Leon’s eyes and flushed scarlet.

  Thomas smiled inscrutably and nodded knowingly.

  Leon reached over with his right hand and took her right leg just behind the knee. He gave it a little squeeze, and then rubbed, hand going around in small circles.

  “She’s a good person though, and I love her so very much. So, I just sort of put up with it.” Leon belched slightly. “That’s the key to a good marriage. But seriously, folks. I really need to go.”

  Adelia heaved a deep sigh, relinquishing his stare.

  Rolling her eyes, she twisted in her seat to regard Thomas a little more directly.

  “And now you see what I have to put up with.”

  He nodded in all solemnity.

  And then she turned her head around to re-engage Leon, still holding her leg and kneading it a little just to remind her that he was there. Her skirt was creeping up under the assault, she realized, and that’s when Thomas reached over and patted her on the knee again. She gave him a distant look out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing.

  Her lips parted and she felt very warm all of a sudden, a little confused maybe, and her eyes slid away to be caught by the eyes of the man in the mirror, who licked his lips and looked away…oh, wow.

  Georges reached up and adjusted the mirror. Downwards, just ever so slightly…

  As for Thomas, he wasn’t looking at her eyes, he was looking at her cleavage, which was the one thing this stupid dress had going for it. The fingertips of Leon’s left hand were stroking her ear.

  Oh, my word.

  After the pat on the knee, Darban sat back, but Leon was still nuzzling at her right ear. He was just showing off, she decided.

  “Stop it.”She giggled, watching Thomas. “You brat.”

  Thomas chuckled.

  “Ah, yes, yes, let’s see here.” Darban exposed a console hidden inside a burled walnut panel, lacquered to high perfection.

  Lights and switches and dials glowed in the dim interior as he found some jazz music, which had always been Adelia’s favourite. She especially loved the slow and sultry sax, with maybe a tinkling piano and someone who knew how to play, with the drums soft and sensual in the background.

  Darban cleared his throat and addressed Mr. Hashimodo or whatever his name was.

  “Georges.”

  Adelia stifled a grin at the thought. Hashimodo. All the champagne was getting to her. Leon wasn’t the only one feeling it.

  “Yes, Mister Darban?”

  “Pull into the park here. Our guest needs to relieve himself.”

  “Yes, sir. I know just the thing.” He rotated his head and gave Leon an understanding look. “I’ve done it myself—you know, as a professional driver. Ahem. All that sort of thing.”

  Craning his neck, he took a quick peek at Adelia’s exposed legs and then winked at Leon.

  Grinning, Leon gave him a nod. Anywhere along here would do…holy, hell, what was the man holding out for?

  “Just give me a good-sized tree, my good man. Almost any tree will do.”

  Thomas chuckled, and as she looked over, held her eye strangely, with his chin rising in query.

  Georges nudged the wheel and drew her to a smooth halt.

  “All out who is getting out.”

  The remark was pretty much lost on Leon, who was halfway out the door.

  ***

  “Your husband’s taking a long time, Adelia.”

  “Yes, well, we’ll have to leave it up to him—”

  Leon climbed in, not too soaking wet but damp enough. You’d think all that rain would have helped him to relieve himself, but for some reason he was maybe a bit tense. Probably from thinking about the car, he decided. He was also aroused by the little game.

  That Thomas was really something.

  “We’ll have to call the auto club tomorrow.” He looked over at Thomas and then at his wife. “Ask me about what?”

  “I have a proposition to make, Leon.” Darban looked at Leon, and then back at Adelia.

  She pursed her lips and looked off into nowhere.

  Leon perched on the edge of the seat, waiting.

  Yes, the fellow was quite enamored of Adelia. She seemed very subdued.

  Leon looked at his wife.

  “What?”

  She looked primly down at her hands, folded in a calm and neutral fashion in her lap. Adelia was sitting up very straight, as if to narrow the space that she was taking up.

  “What?” Leon looked over at Darban.

  “Go ahead, Thomas. Ask him.”

  Adelia’s voice was flat and uninflected.

  “Ask me what, Thomas?”

  Thomas nodded. There was nothing else for it, and he’d gotten himself into the situation. But they were both men of the world.

  “Leon. I would very much like to make love to your wife.”

  “What! I mean, what?” Leon was flabbergasted, this much was true.

  But the man had been paying them, or her, rather, all kinds of gallant attention, all evening.

  What he wanted wasn’t exactly a shock.

  Fantasy was one thing. The fact that he could so boldly put it into words was another thing.

  Leon snorted.

  “There’s more. Tell him, Thomas.”

  “What? There’s more?” Leon’s chin dropped and his face clouded.

  “Please don’t be offended, my good friend. Leon. I doubt if I am the first man who has ever contemplated Adelia…and…” There was more, a lot more, but he left it unsaid. “…in such a way…”

  “No! I suppose not.” Leon bit back further remarks.

  One guy, he suddenly recalled, got a black eye from this sort of impertinence. Leon had been young then, perhaps a little too impetuous, looking way back when. His wife was squeezing his hand, the message fairly clear. She remembered it too…

  Be polite, dear.

  Don’t hit him, dear.

  Please don’t embarrass me, dear.

  “Just for the record. Leon. Your wife made no reply. She said that I should take it up with you, sir.” Which was just what he was doing, the calm and urbane look implied.

  Adelia sat in the middle, face flaming red, listening to the unspoken nuances of this conversation.

  Leon eyed Adelia.

  He kept his eyes on his wife.

  “You said there was more.”

  “Well, yes. Absolutely…” Thomas clammed up.

  He waited, and she waited.

  Leon waited, and then Adelia’s warm blue eyes slid around and Leon stared at the expressionless look on her face. She seemed very intent on something.

  “I’m prepared to offer twenty thousand dollars in exchange, Mister de Marco.”

  Leon’s expression never changed, his eyes flicking to the impassive face of Mister Thomas Darban, who spoke again.

  “Twenty thousand dollars.”

  His wife’s eyes never left his face.

  She squeezed his hand, but this time it was completely ambiguous.

  “Where are you from, Mister Darban? Thomas.”

  “Pardon? Where am I from?”

  “Yeah—”

  “I am from Lichtenstein, Mister de Marco. Leon.” He smiled in genuine humour, at the absurdity of such a question coming at such a time.

  “I see.”

  Adelia kept her face on Leon and waited.

  “So; what do you think, Honey?”

  She just stared, deep into Leon’s eyes.

  His mouth opened but no sound came out…

  Leon bit his lip, never taking his eyes off of her for a second now.

  “Perhaps you would like some time to think it over. Georges. Take us downtown, please.”

  “I bet you got a fridge or a mini-bar somewhere in this thing.” Leon looked away for a moment.<
br />
  His hand came up and he rubbed his chin.

  He was a little surprised that Adelia hadn’t just slapped the guy, and frankly, bolted on hearing his little proposition.

  You learned something new every day.

  Leon’s observations turned out to be correct, particularly the first one.

  There was indeed a bar in the back.

  The long black car rolled through the night while they all thought it over for a bit.

  Scene Three

  Neither one wanted to be the one making the decision on behalf of the other person and neither one wanted to be the first one to come out and say it. Somehow, it wasn’t a clear no, either. Somehow they both knew it, in a kind of marital intuition.

  It wasn’t so much whether he wanted it. It was a question of whether she wanted to do it, and how to acknowledge that safely, and possibly, somehow overcome the dangers, and somehow miraculously reconcile it with their feelings.

  At least that was one interpretation.

  Adelia was huddled over in Leon’s corner. They were face-to-face, inches away, as they conversed in shrugs, whispers and a lot of eye-brow waggling. They took quick little looks at Thomas as they struggled with it.

  She was so beautiful when she looked over there. In a way, it was what she was meant for. It was what she was built to do, in some unexplainable fashion. Leon’s heart pounded just thinking about it. Darban had turned up the volume and appeared to be firmly engaged in studying the scenery and the brightly lit skyline of the city, which had grown much over the last twenty years.

  No doubt his ears were wagging, and Georges’ too.

  “Well, I don’t know, Honey.” Adelia’s eyes were downcast, demure.

  They whispered back and forth.

  “This is just nuts. He seems like a gentleman and everything, but I don’t know. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Honey.” Leon sort of waited, and wondered.

  He had an inspired thought.

  “This is not about the money, Adelia…it’s about you.” He cuddled with her, and gave her a series of kisses on the neck, the face, the bridge of her nose.

  He held her downcast face in his hands and looked earnestly into her eyes.

  “If you think you might enjoy it, then I want you to have it. Nothing’s too good for my little Adelia. Okay, baby?”

  It might not be so bad, right? Twenty grand was a lot of money—but there were details. How would they go about it? What was the man really proposing? He couldn’t really take the responsibility, and yet someone would have to make a decision.

  If only she would tell him what she wanted. He could shut this down in a heartbeat if it came to that. She was obviously turned on.

  It was a question of communication.

  She was being very shy, very coy now, another thing he had always liked about her. She was such an innocent in so many ways.

  His wife had always been kind of vulnerable.

  Leon was a bit of a risk-taker. It’s how he made his living, that and a few other skills.

  Maybe that’s what it was about. She wanted something, needed something.

  Something risky.

  “It’s not like we don’t love each other, and it’s not like we don’t trust one another…”

  She huddled in his arms, not looking up, but plucking at his coat buttons while she listened.

  He lifted his head up over his wife’s form. Her face was now on his shoulder. She was warm and heavy against him. She clung to him fiercely, and yet there was so much more there too—he could only marvel.

  How little he really knew of what went on inside her head.

  “Mister Darban?”

  “Yes, Leon?”

  “This isn’t some gag TV show, is it?” A loaded question. “The kind with a hidden camera?”

  The kind where they practically torture people, you know, and pit them against each other, run ‘em through hell and back, all just to trick them into revealing their own true natures…?

  And then you get a prize.

  “Ah, no, Mister de Marco. No, this is me. Really, it’s just me. I am, a fortunate man. I am fairly well off and I can afford to indulge such whims. The real question is not for me—it’s for you and Adelia.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. We know that now, don’t we Honey?”

  And how.

  It was all so clear now.

  She quivered in Leon’s arms, not looking up.

  He settled back. Taking his wife’s face in both hands, he lifted her up. He searched her eyes and saw the total vulnerability. She nodded, chewing on her lip, with moisture welling up in the corners of her eyes, a pleading look on her face, and her mouth quivering in some emotional torment.

  Please forgive me, Leon…

  It was written all over her.

  His heart thudded, for he had no idea of what it all meant. Not really. And yet the answer was obvious.

  He took a quick breath to steady his voice.

  “All right.” She sagged in his arms. “My wife will do it, Thomas. We, will do it.”

  A great sob escaped her, and she flung her face down into his neck and bawled her eyes out. She was squeezing the breath out of him. He found he liked that a lot. His own penis was rock hard for some reason.

  Thomas stared at Leon, looking from her paroxysms up to his face and back again.

  “Are you…completely certain…Leon? And you, Adelia?”

  “Yes. Absolutely. We are. Right, honey?”

  And to her own surprise, but oddly enough not to Leon’s, her head came up, all shiny and wet with the tears, and she turned and then squirmed out of Leon’s grasp. She sat in the middle again. It’s not like they really needed the money…but.

  She nodded.

  “Yes—yes.”

  She pulled out tissues and dried her eyes, and then blew her nose. Husband and wife exchanged a long look. She tore herself away. She looked at Thomas, fearful now.

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s quite all right, Adelia.”

  A gallant Thomas Darban reached for the crumpled, sodden tissue. He reverently placed it in his left jacket pocket, drawing a grin from Leon and a small but humorous gasp from Adelia herself.

  “There’s only one proviso, Mister Darban.”

  Thomas’ eyes lit up.

  “But of course—anything you want, Leon.”

  Adelia sat with demure posture and downcast eyes, breast heaving with emotions, as they haggled over her fate—and her price.

  “It doesn’t affect the money, of course.”

  She wrung her hands. Her purse was going to be ruined. She jammed it between her and Leon, unable to look at either one of them. She was unconscious of Leon picking it up and rummaging around inside.

  He pulled out a long, single-row stainless steel comb with a long, pointy handle, her only real weapon. He held it in his left hand, out of the way.

  “I’m listening, Mister de Marco.”

  Adelia reached and took up Thomas’ hand, and he shifted on the seat to take them in a little more comfortably. She took up Leon’s right one and they held hands.

  “I want to watch. I want to be there.” Her hand compulsively clasped, and Leon had a sneaking suspicion she was doing the same thing to Thomas as well.

  Leon spooned up close against his wife’s back as they were both sort of on their left hip now.

  “Yeah, of course she’ll do it.”

  Holding her close, he could feel her heart beating like mad inside of her ribcage.

  His mouth was right up beside her ear when he spoke.

  “But I want to be there, in fact I insist. Otherwise the deal is off, see? I want to make a porn video. You know. While you fuck her, Thomas Darban. All night long. I want you to make her do things. Everything. And I want you to make sure that Adelia here has a really good time, you know?”

  She was panting already, licking her lips and clutching Thomas’ hand convulsively, and Leon winked. He shook loose her strong clutchin
g grip. Leon took up her hair from underneath, and she looked around to see the comb, eyes wide with anticipation.

  “I want you to fuck the ass off my wife, Thomas.” He began combing. “She has my blessing.”

  Leon began teasing it out, lifting it up, and bringing it to perfection.

  “Everything’s going to be all right, Honey. Don’t you worry about a thing, and most especially not me. This is all about you. This is your night, Baby.”

  She was radiant. The sniffles only made it better.

  He was done with the comb.

  Thomas made some small pretense of considering it, but the deal was already done.

  Pulling his hand away for a second, he reached inside of the left breast of his elegant jacket and drew out a long white legal envelope. Adelia gasped and sobbed when she saw it, licking her lips and watching his face.

  Leon’s hand stole down to Adelia’s crotch and she gasped again, but he had a firm grip on her right breast with his left hand now, arm wrapped around her, and Adelia wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Oh! Ah.”

  Leon kissed her ear, squeezed her nipple, and fondled her as best he could through what were no doubt the usual sensible white cotton panties. He shoved them forcibly aside and entered her.

  “Oh, my.”

  “What?” Thomas looked on inquiringly.

  “Sexy girl.” He nibbled some more and her eyes closed and she just breathed.

  “Sweet Adelia. She’s wearing her garter-belt, Thomas. And the black stockings. I wonder what she’s been thinking about all night long?”

  Thomas bit his lip and regarded her as Leon lifted her skirt.

  “A garter belt and stockings. Very nice. A wonderful anniversary gift for the loving husband.”

  “Um, yeah…oh, yeah.”

  Leon spoke slowly and distinctly, kissing her ear while he did so.

  “We should take her somewhere nice. Then you can fuck her at your leisure…” He nibbled at her ear lobe as she shuddered. “That way you can take your time with her. She loves to fuck, Thomas, trust me on that one. Thomas. Oh, she’s worth it. Lovely Adelia…Adelia’s my very best girl.”

  Leon eyed the envelope but shook his head. Thomas set it aside on the jump seat ahead of him.

  “…oh, and if she misbehaves, what you do, see, is you put her across your knee and give her a little spanking, Thomas…”