Page:Jay Little - Maybe—Tomorrow.pdf/159

 loved her, but he only bent down and kissed what seemed to him like gold dust from her pink nippled breasts.

Her round, faithful, adoring eyes were upturned, and every movement quivered with love and readiness to obey his smallest command.

He pulled at the flowered skirt, the lace pink panties. He saw the wide smooth belly, and tufts of hair. Sweat stood in translucent beads between her small pointed breasts. She lay there naked in his arms, trembling, her eyes closed. He was shaking with both passion and fear. What should he do? What step should he take? Then, as if obeying a command, with shaking hands, she unbuttoned his shirt, felt of his warm body.

Gaylord had time for breathing space, and to consider whether the course he was pursuing was wisdom or not. That it was madly exciting, he knew … but where was it leading to? What did she mean? Did she feel at all? Or was she one of the clever coquettes of her sex, a more refined Thelma White … just going to lead him on into showing his emotion for her, and then going to punish and humiliate him? He must put a firmer guard over himself, but the cruel fact remained that it was too late now.

He caught her again, brought her against him. Visions flooded his brain; he saw Blake naked and strong pressing her back before his desire, burying her under the living weight of his passion.

With a sudden impulse he unfastened his trousers and kicked them off. He caught her again and held her close. Bob, he thought … this is part of Bob. And the hand now moving over his abdomen, over the wiry hair, touching between his legs, felt rough and brownish. It grabbed at his body as it had done once before. He closed his eyes and the golden legs beneath clamped him.

The country road and the divan became one. Here, where only a faint moonbeam shone while all around them were trees and skys, they had become naked, and their desire of pooled up anguish, clothed in eager flesh, would melt into each other.

He was like a gambler who has lost his last stake, and who still means to take what joy of life he can before the black tomorrow dawns. He felt dizzy and shook his head, trying to shake it clear of the whirling sensation and the images.

He grabbed her then, hard and ferociously. Opened his eyes and 149