"Certainly!"
He filled her glass. She drank quickly. She began to feel giddy.
Without his telling her, she started to remove her clothing. When
she was nude, he came toward her. She realized she was very close to
being drunk. He took her in his arms, and she leaned against him as he
carried her to the couch. She sprawled out limply, her arms around his
neck, and he kissed her breasts, her eyes....
He sighed sharply as her cool hands touched his body, and then he
was on fire, crushing her in his arms, thrusting his tongue between
her teeth, and he brushed his fingers along her body and cupped her
breasts, and she clenched herself to him and their bodies joined and
this time he stayed with her all the way, until they went sweeping away
together on a riptide of delight.
_CHAPTER TWELVE_
They made love twice that night before McDermott, utterly sated,
dropped off into sleep. The hotel desk woke them again at seven-thirty.
When they parted, after breakfast, McDermott did not give her anything.
Laura understood. It had nothing to do with the three hundred dollars
he had given her the night before. It was simply that McDermott was a
man of fastidious tastes, and he felt it was improper to offer crude
cash to a woman you had asked to become your mistress and someday
perhaps your wife. To slip her some cash that morning would be to
destroy all he had asked for the night before. It would reduce her to
the status of a whore again, albeit an elegant one, rather than a lover.
Laura returned to her apartment by ten. She took a nap, and was well
rested by the time Spinelli phoned in the afternoon for a report on her
activities of the night before.
She told him, in detail--including the proposition that she move to
Boston.
"I know," Spinelli said. "McDermott brought it up yesterday. He wanted
to know if I had any objections, and also how I thought you'd react to
the idea. I told him to go ahead and ask you."
"_Do_ you have any objections?"
Spinelli chuckled. "McDermott would recompense me amply if he took you
out of my string. And it would be very useful to have you settled in
Boston under his protection. No, no objections here. Did he give you
anything for last night?"
"No," Laura said, and explained why. Spinelli seemed to accept the
theory without any particular hesitation or suspicion.
"Okay," he told her. "You'll be with him again tonight. He wants
you for dinner at his suite around seven o'clock. He's also made
arrangements to stay over in New York for at least another day. You'll
be assigned to him for as long as he stays."
At seven, Laura reported to the Whittier for the third night in a row.
McDermott received her in a costly-looking oriental dressing-gown. He
had cocktails ready, and while she sipped hers he telephoned downstairs
to have dinner brought in.
He had arranged for dinner to be prepared at a fine restaurant around
the corner, and brought over specially. It was wheeled in, now, on
a sumptuously laden tray--meats, vegetables, salads, all manner of
delicacies, accompanied by the best wine. Laura was glad she had not
bothered with lunch.
They were not finished eating until after nine. McDermott had the
remnants of the meal removed, and as soon as they were alone he put his
arms around her, drew her tight against him, clasped her tightly and
kissed her.
"Have you been thinking about--what I asked you last night?"
She nodded. "Yes, I've been thinking about it, Bob. But I still can't
give you any definite answer. Not for another few days."
"I'll be going back to Boston Saturday morning."
"I couldn't let you know before Tuesday," she said. So much depended
on the meeting with Dan Monday night. "Could you phone me at home on
Tuesday? We'll be able to decide everything then."
"If I have to wait that long, I guess I have to wait," he said quietly.
Gripping her hands, he whispered, "Don't fail me, Laura! I need you so
very much, you know. More than I could ever tell you."
He began to undress her. When she was completely nude he knelt before
her, gently kissing her soft flesh until he had reached her lips. They
kissed deeply. Breaking away, he kissed her left breast in a way that
sent tremors of excitement through Laura's middle. He toyed with the
little nipple, while his hands roved the rest of her body. She began to
pant as excitement rose in her.
He took his mouth from her bosom and cupped the heavy breasts in his
hands while she undressed him. The tips of his fingers curved under the
full globes, squeezing them tenderly. She throbbed in anticipation of
delight. He was naked now, his bare body flattened against hers, his
teeth nibbling at the lobe of her left ear while his hands caressed her
bosom and back, and their harsh breaths mingled in one stream, and she
began to draw him across the room toward the divan, a kiss at each step.
Then they were curled there in each other's arms, ready for love, hers
long since on fire, and they kissed again, both of them coyly delaying
the moment when their bodies would become one. He was talking, now,
whispering passion-inspired words of love into her ear. He had learned
quickly which places set her on fire, and he was making use of his
knowledge.
"Take me," she murmured, "Don't wait any longer, Bob. Now. Bob. _Now!_"
She thrust toward him.
A key turned in the door.
They had only half a second to react, and in that time they were both
so enflamed with desire and numbed with surprise that they did nothing.
Then the door was flung wide open.
What seemed like an army poured in. Men in police uniforms, men in
business suits, men with cameras, men with guns. Flashbulbs exploded.
Laura heard her own voice screaming hysterically, wordlessly; she heard
McDermott shouting angry curses, gutter abuse, violently vivid language.
A raid!
Stunned, the naked pair on the couch sprang up. Laura saw McDermott
scowlingly pulling a robe around his nakedness. She herself had nothing
to put on; she looked wildly around for a robe, a towel, anything, but
there was nothing, and perhaps a dozen men were staring greedily at her
bare breasts and thighs, their eyes alight with keen appreciation.
Finally someone gave her an overcoat. Dazed, she murmured,
"What--what's going on?"
A towering man in business clothes glowered down at her. "What's your
name?"
"Don't answer him!" McDermott shouted.
"Shut up, you," the big man snapped. Again to Laura he said, "I want to
know your name."
"Lois Harper," she said quickly, using the name that had been her
pseudonym in her streetwalking days. "But what is this, anyway?"
"This is a vice raid, lady. I'm Lieutenant Harkness of the vice squad,
and you're being booked on a morals charge. _You_," he said roughly to
McDermott. "Your name is Robert McDermott of Boston, now?"
McDermott looked shell-shocked and crushed. He did not even seem to
have the strength to bluster. "Yes," he said weakly. "That's my name."
"And who's this woman in your room?"
McDermott shrugged. "You ought to be able to figure that out for
yourself."
"Answer my questions! Did you hire this woman for immoral purposes this
evening?"
McDermott shook his head. "I don't have to say a word to you, friend.
I intend to speak to my lawyer before I give any statements to the
police. And let me tell you this, while I'm at it--before I'm through
with you I'll bust you down to a beat cop."
"Listen to the wise guy! He's in so much hot water he's boiling all
over, and he can still threaten!" the vice detective guffawed. "Listen,
McDermott, you know who tipped us off? It was your _wife_. She wrote
a letter asking us to check up on you because she suspected you were
entertaining call-girls when you took business trips. She wants divorce
evidence, I guess. And so when the Chief ordered a city-wide crackdown
for tonight, you were a natural. Especially when the bellboy told us
you had young female company. And there the two of you are bare-ass,
you and Miss Bigtits here. Don't threaten _me_, McDermott. You're in
big trouble."
McDermott turned away, his face ashen, and sank down on the couch.
Laura began to whimper hysterically. The suddenness of the raid, the
flash-bulbs, the huge army of men--there were more than a dozen of
them--she was dazed and rocked by it. And her body, brought just to the
pitch of desire before the spectacular interruption, was aching now.
The policeman who seemed to be in charge said, "Ryan, keep an eye on
the _lady_ while she gets dressed."
"Gladly," a thin, beak-nosed man in uniform grinned.
He scooped up Laura's clothes, underwear and all, and handed them to
her. She took them, still in a fog.
"Come on," he said. "Into the bedroom here and get into your things.
We're in a hurry."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"Book you, of course."