And, evidently, there was something left that Rosie Ryan hadn’t managed to drain out of me altogether. Because I wanted Cindy, wanted her desperately, wanted her inside and out with a want that was more than mere sex, although there was sure as hell a lot of pure sex mixed in with whatever else was there. I wanted her and it must have shown in my eyes because I could read an answer in her eyes, an answer that said she knew what I was thinking.
“So you got the money,” I said. I didn’t particularly feel like talking but I forced it. “So you got the money. Where does the problem come in?”
“They’re after me.”
“The law?”
She shook her head. “As far as the law is concerned, no crime was ever committed. Nobody complained. McGuire certainly won’t complain.”
“The con mob?”
“Of course. They went to a lot of trouble for this one, spent one hell of a lot of money getting things set up properly. And they’re not the type of people who let their dough slide down the drain. That’s not the way they play. They’ll hound me forever and kill me if they get a chance. And I don’t particularly feel like dying, Ted. I’m too young for that.”
“Do they know where you are?”
“I don’t know. Reed has contacts everywhere. He’s got more connections than a plumber, the dirty son of a bitch. I thought you were one of his contacts when you spotted me. That’s why I had to come up and hold a gun on you. I almost killed you, almost shot you in the back. But I had to find out first whether or not you’d gotten in touch with Reed yet. It’s good I asked.”
“No kidding.”
“I think he knows I’m in New York. He knows me under another name — that’s why I went back to my old name here, Cinderella Sims. That’s not the name I was working under in Tahoe.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“No ideas at all?”
She shrugged. “Ideas are cheap. I had a million ideas at first and none of them panned out. I was going to jump the border for Mexico and stay there. He’d never even bother looking down there. I’d be safe.”
“Why didn’t you go?”
“I don’t know. God, from the minute I grabbed that money everything started to go wrong. I got to the airport and took the first flight out. It happened to go to New York. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why don’t you fly down to Mexico?”
“I waited too long. Now I’m sure they know I’m in New York. I’m scared stiff. I’ve been living here for a month now and I’ve been at five different addresses in that time. At first I stayed in a hotel but then I figured it was too easy to be seen that way. Now I’m living across the street. I won’t even go downtown, just stay in the neighborhood and keep in my room as much as I can. I don’t dare stay here for more than a week.”
“Because you might be spotted?”
She nodded soberly.
“It’s rough.”
“I’m scared,” she said. “I’ve never been afraid like this and every day it gets worse. It’s silly — fifty thousand dollars and I don’t even dare enjoy it. I can’t go shopping, can’t do anything. I just sit around and go out of my mind.”
I put out my cigarette.
“Ted,” she said. “Ted, I told you all this for a reason. I need help.”
“What kind of help?”
“I don’t even know. I just know I need somebody who can figure out a way for us to get clear with the money so that I don’t have to keep on running like this for the rest of my life. I can’t take much more of this. It’s wearing me down. I have trouble sleeping, it’s getting so bad.”
“You think I can help?”
“We stand a better chance with two of us. I won’t have to go out anymore, for one thing. And they don’t know you. That gives me a cover right there.”
I thought about it.
“I’ll give you half,” she said. “Twenty-five thousand, if we get out of this. It’s worth it to me. I just can’t stand the running any more. You get me out of this and half the money’s yours.”
I got up from the chair. My head was starting to reel a little and my feet weren’t quite as steady as the Rock of Gibraltar. But I made it over to the bed and sat down next to her.
I could smell her. She smelled as though she’d just had a bath, fresh and clean and sweet.
“Is it a deal, Ted?”
I thought about it. Twenty-five thousand dollars was one hell of a lot of money. I was buying trouble but the price seemed to be right.
Almost right, anyway.
“I want more,” I heard my self saying.
“Isn’t half enough? My God, Ted — that’s a lot of money. I want some left for myself.”
“The money’s fine. That’s not what I meant. I want what Eddie Reed was getting. I want you in bed.”
She looked up at me and her eyes were shiny with laughter. “Ted,” she said. “Ted, Ted, Ted. That part of it goes without saying.”
“When do we start?”
She grinned.
“Here we are,” she said, “and here’s a bed. It’s been a long time, Ted. Let’s seal the bargain.”
I reached for her.
5
When I kissed her, her hands went around me at once, holding me close. Her arms weren’t tight around me but pressed me close with a gentleness matched only by the feeling of her mouth on mine. Her lips were softer than the rain in her hair and her mouth tasted of nectar and ambrosia.
The first kiss was like that all the way — firm but yielding, gentle and tender but still thoroughly satisfying, exciting and oddly chaste all at once. We kissed with our mouths closed which was something I had almost forgotten how to do, and it was nice.
I let go of her; looked at her. She smiled with her lips and eyes, the shy smile of a schoolgirl. There was something frighteningly virginal about her and I had to force myself to remember that this was the girl who had slept with Eddie Reed and had then made off with a boodle of fifty grand. It seemed impossible.
The second kiss was different. This time my tongue licked at her lips and they parted for me. Her arms were tight around me and genuine passion was pushing the virginal quality into the background. I forced my tongue deep into the hidden recesses of her mouth, tasting the overwhelming sweetness of her, holding her tight against me and feeling her soft warn breasts against my chest.
She went limp when the kiss ended. I took her lovely face in my hands and started kissing her all over it — her eyelids, her cheeks, her little ears, the tip of her little nose. She made purring noises like a fat cat on a thick rug in front of a warm fire.
I kissed her throat, her hair, the nape of her neck. I could feel the passion growing in her and could feel my own passion growing to meet it. Her skin was soft, very soft, and her hair smelled sweet as new-mown hay.
We didn’t talk. She stretched out on my bed and I lay down beside her, still kissing her. Our mouths met and I lay right on top of her, feeling her beneath me. This time her tongue darted into my mouth and her warm body started to move below me.
I ran my hands over her. I liked the feel of her under my hands. I wanted to keep touching her forever until we both went up in smoke.
“Ted—”
I looked into her eyes. “Take off my clothes, Ted.”
My fingers were trembling but I forced them to behave. I unbuttoned all the buttons on the man’s flannel shirt and slipped it back over her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the sudden sight of her perfect breasts was almost too much for me. I could only look at them. My fingers itched to touch them but all I could do was stare.
She propped herself up on her elbows and I got the shirt off and let it fall to the floor. With an effort I got out of my own shirt and tossed it away too. Then I lay down on top of her again and we were both naked from the waist up, our flesh touching, our bodies straining to get us as close together as possible.