“There’s no access from anywhere but my apartment—though I guess Spider-Man could reach it.”
She smiled and walked over to the outside wall, peering over.
“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” he asked. She smelled his musky cologne as he came up slowly behind her.
“No,” she said. “Not heights.”
“Ahh, but something?”
“A crazy little phobia. Not what you’d expect.” She couldn’t believe she was going to confess it. But she felt reckless with him.
“So you’re true to your name, then? Still waters run deep.”
“I don’t know how deep it is.” She took a sip of her cognac. “I have this weird fear of clowns.”
“Clowns?” he said, looking intrigued. “Does that mean you’ve never taken your kids to Ringling Brothers’ circus?”
“Correct…. But how do you know I have kids?”
“I overheard you say something about one of them to Maggie. I’m just guessing you have more than one.”
“I’ve got two, actually. They’re at sleepaway camp this month.”
“And a husband?”
Had he asked her up here not knowing the answer to that?
“We…ended things a few months ago.” She turned it over to him. “You don’t have kids, do you?”
“No kids. I was married briefly in my thirties, though, to another doctor. Commuter marriage. Probably doomed from the start.”
“And does it take as long as they say to recover? To feel like you haven’t been flattened by a car?”
She regretted her comment instantly. The last thing she wanted was for things to turn heavy.
“Is that how it’s made you feel?” Keaton asked.
“Well, in the very beginning, yes,” she said, trying to sound breezy now. “But it’s been about four months, and these days there are moments when I feel really good, happy.”
“Because of? Evenings spent chatting with eminent fertility experts like Dr. Levin?”
“Well…more because of being on my own again. Not having to answer to anyone. Getting all the crumbs I want in the bed.”
She couldn’t believe she’d said the word bed. How transparent, she thought. The blood went rushing to her cheeks again.
“Sounds good,” he said, holding her eyes in the dim light. “And you’ll see that things will only get better from here.”
“That’s nice to know,” she replied. Was he saying tonight things would only get better? She felt as if her whole body was on the verge of trembling uncontrollably.
And then he leaned down and kissed her, softly at first, and then stronger, his full mouth seeming to envelop her. A rush of desire went through her as fast as the snap of a whip. It almost hurt when he pulled away.
“If I promise to provide a bag of chips or something else nice and crumbly, can I take you to bed, then?” he asked.
It seemed like such a slick line, endless variations of it used before on other women, but she didn’t give a damn.
“Yes,” she said. “But the chips aren’t necessary.”
He kissed her again and this time he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He placed his hands at her waist and pulled her toward him. She relaxed into his body and wondered if he could feel how fast her heart was beating.
“Let’s go inside,” he whispered.
He guided her through the door, and took a minute to flip off the lights on the terrace and all but one light in the great room.
His bedroom was spare, Zenlike. He stopped in the middle of the room and untied the halter of her dress, then unzipped it and let it drop in a puddle on the floor. She stepped out of the dress and flicked off her sandals.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. That was something she hadn’t been sure she’d ever hear again.
He kissed her roughly, with her breasts in his hands, and then he took her left breast in his mouth, sucking on it, flicking her nipple with his tongue. She moaned in pleasure. She reached between his legs with her hand, stroking him.
After peeling away the comforter from the bed, he laid her down on the cool sheets and slowly tugged off her underwear. Then he unbuckled his pants and slipped them off.
He found her mouth again with his, kissing her intensely and fondling her breasts, pinching the nipples so that each time, blood went rushing between her legs. As she writhed, he began to descend down her body, trailing his tongue along her abdomen, and then lower. She let out a gasp as he parted her legs with his hands and slid his tongue into her. Slowly he began to circle her clitoris with his tongue, and