“I never wanted it like this. This wasn’t the way I wanted it to be.” I felt ashamed of myself.
I wanted to turn away, but Marilyn put an arm on my chest, and asked, “What did I do wrong?”
I turned on my side to face her. “It’s not you, it’s me. I wanted this to be special, not this, me drunk and taking advantage of you.”
Marilyn was silent for a moment. “Carl, I think I’ve known since we came here that we were going to end up like this. If I wasn’t thinking about this, I would have never stayed in a suite with you, two bedrooms or not. How did you think this was going to happen?”
I had to smile at that. “I was planning on wining and dining you and seducing you to the point you would be begging me to, well… this.”
“So instead of that, tonight you wined and dined me and seduced me. I guess that was a seduction.” I thought she was starting to laugh at me.
I looked at her and saw a smile starting to form. “Crying is a seduction technique?”
She grinned at me. “A lame one, anyway.” She twisted around a bit more and winced as she moved.
“Are you all right? I mean, does it hurt?”
Marilyn sat upright and moved a bit slowly. “I’m fine. I’m just a bit sore.” She wrapped the silk robe around herself again, but noticed the stickiness on her belly. “Why did you stop?”
“I realized we weren’t using any protection. I didn’t want to take the chance.” I glanced at her and said, “I’ll be back in a moment.” I climbed to my feet and went into the bathroom, grabbing my pants as I went, and ran a washcloth under the hot water. I looked down at myself and saw some blood, and washed that off before pulling my pants back on. Then I rinsed out the washcloth, and brought it and a towel out to the bedroom. Marilyn watched as I sat down next to her and washed off her stomach and the bloody seepage between her legs.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” I told her.
“I’m fine, Carl. I love you. I think I’ve loved you since that first night I met you. I think I’ve known all summer long we would make love when we saw each other again.”
“Well, I don’t think anything else is going to happen again tonight.”
Marilyn moved around gingerly on the bed. There was some blood on the bed cover, so I stood up and pulled that away and tossed it on the floor. I sat back down, with my back against a pile of pillows at the headboard and Marilyn snuggled up against me. “I want you to sleep tonight, and then tomorrow morning you should take a nice long hot bath. You’ll feel better. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I’ll kiss it and make it better.” I was watching her as I said this and Marilyn turned about three shades of red! “I think you like that idea!”
She glanced up at me, saw me grinning, and quickly looked away. Then she looked up at me shyly and said, “I’ve never even heard of that before!”
“Marilyn, there are all sorts of things I can teach you.” I gave her an evil laugh as I said that.
“I think I like that idea,” she shyly said.
“I love you.”
“I know. You’re safe with me Carling. I won’t hurt you.”
I looked out the window into the darkness, and then turned back to her. “You’re my home now. When I came here today, I no longer had a home. Now I have a home again. It’s wherever you are. If you’re here, my home is here. If you’re in Utica, my home is in Utica. You’re my home now.”
Marilyn moved up and kissed me. “I love you Carl.” She snuggled back into my chest and a few minutes later fell asleep in my arms.
Chapter 34: Ocean City
I woke the next morning when the sun came in and hit me in the face, an early hour since the window was facing the beach to the east. I was in the same position as last night, leaning back against some pillows, with Marilyn curled up at my side. Surprisingly, despite a slight crick in my neck, I was feeling pretty good. By that I mean I wasn’t hungover, although I did have to piss something wicked. I managed to extricate myself and went into the bathroom. After using the facilities, I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked a little worse for the wear, and my eyes were bloodshot, but I actually felt better than I looked.
I went back to bed and found Marilyn stirring awake. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“What time is it?” she asked blearily.
“Sunrise! Can’t you hear the birds chirping cheerfully?”
“That’s too early. What are you doing up?” she asked.
“Nature called, and somebody had to answer. Ready to get up and face the world?”
She looked at me with sleepy eyes. “You are way too cheerful in the morning. If I had known you were this cheerful in the morning, I would have never have slept with you last night!”
I sat down next to her and leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Speaking of which, how are you feeling?”
“I’m good.” Then she gave me a funny look and pointed at my chest. “Hey, what’s with the necklace? It felt kind of scratchy!”
“Necklace?” It took me a second to realize what she was referring to. “Oh! Those are my dog tags! They’re my military ID. I got them when I started ROTC. Sorry about that. I’m so used to wearing them I forget they’re there.”
“Oh.”
“Is that a problem?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, just curious.”
I nodded. “Then I’m going out for a bit.” I stood up and went back into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth and washed my face. After that I slipped back into the bedroom as quietly as I could and changed into some gym shorts and a t-shirt, along with socks and sneakers. I grabbed my keys and clipped them to my dog tags.
“Where are you going?” asked Marilyn, finally sitting up and paying some attention to what was happening.
“I need to run.”
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t burn some calories, last night’s dinner will stay with me for years to come!” I patted my midsection. Last night Marilyn had the surf and turf, while I had some seafood in white sauce on linguine. Maryland has the best seafood on the planet, and I was going to thoroughly enjoy my vacation in more ways than one!
“Ugghhh!”
I bent down and kissed her quickly. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. You sleep some more, and then take that nice hot bath we talked about. Afterwards we’ll get some breakfast, okay?”
“Mmmm…” Marilyn closed her eyes and sank back down into the covers. I grabbed my sunglasses and headed for the door to the suite.
I rode the elevator down to the lobby and headed out onto North Baltimore Street. According to the map, we were a few blocks north of the Boardwalk, which sounded like a good place to run. I stretched briefly, and then headed south, moving at an easy lope. I kept the pace down until I hit the Boardwalk, at which point I picked it up. I had read somewhere that it was about two and a half miles long, so a round trip would be five miles. I should be able to do that in an hour.
It was a nice run. The sky was grayer than I liked, and I could smell a storm brewing, but I had missed the forecast. At this hour it was empty except for a bunch of joggers and bicyclers like me out getting a quiet workout. I nodded to a few of them and simply enjoyed the run. The stores and tourist traps were still shuttered closed, although you could hear people working inside some of them. When I got to the end of the Boardwalk I reversed course and powered it up another notch. By the time I got back I was sweating and breathing hard. I walked from there back to the Hilton. I desperately needed to shower.
It was a good thing nobody was in the elevator as I rode back upstairs, because I think my smell would have had them getting off long before their floor had arrived. I let myself into the room and tossed the room key onto a buffet and walked into the bedroom we had used. The bed was rumpled but empty. A light was on in the bathroom, and I found Marilyn happily immersed in bath bubbles. I guess bubble bath must have been in the courtesy kit in the room, or Marilyn packed her own, which I wouldn’t rule out; she liked bubble baths.