25 is such a good age. Old enough to have voted a couple of times; old enough to rent a car. Old enough to know something about yourself, but not so old that you’ve given up on yourself.
Young enough to have a great body without working at it, and young enough to have some arrogance about that.
At 25, Kelly was in a good place. Living where she wanted to--in San Francisco, home of liberal-thinking righteous people and great food. Doing what she wanted to do for a living; working at a way cool computer company where she never had to dress up in anything nicer than clean jeans and a sweater, and where she could design truly slick-looking laptops that she got to see people using in the airports she flew into and out of on a regular basis. Making pretty good money; living in a nice apartment with Fred, a street-thug alley cat that put up with her unpredictable comings and goings and her constantly changing boyfriends.
But Fred didn’t much like the latest one. For once, Kelly ignored his opinions (Fred was generally a pretty good judge of character, but she decided this time he was wrong). Edward was a Hollywood producer, worked with some of the biggest names in the business, and spent money on her and took her places. He was 42, a good age for a man, successful, smooth, well-dressed and articulate.
He’d fly up to San Francisco for the weekend, and they’d go to the best restaurants, spend hours in his hotel room having sex. Shop during the day.
And he had taught her things.
After a randomly promiscuous early youth, Kelly knew she had a sex drive that could get out of control and had told herself she was on top of it now. Sure, she still sometimes found herself in bed with men whose names she couldn’t remember, under the influence of far too much alcohol and sometimes pot or drugs, but that didn’t happen as often as it used to. And she was having fun. Right?
Then Ed came along, shooting a movie in
the city. They met when her company sent her to the set to provide rental computers for the crew and Kelly sat down with Ed to talk over details. He looked her straight in the eyes; something men don’t always do with women. He listened when she talked business and took her seriously. He asked her out to dinner and didn’t expect her to do all the work; picked the restaurant, made the reservations, picked her up AND paid for it. Nice.
She held out until the second date; maybe not as long as some women would, especially nowadays, but long enough to at least not look like a total slut. Of course, she’d had a few glasses of that exquisite expensive wine he’d ordered over dinner, and then some very nice cognac afterward, so maybe her inhibitions were a little unleashed.
When they got back to the hotel that night, she was a little wobbly stepping out of the cab. Stumbled, once, on her spike-heeled shoes walking into the lobby of the St. Francis. He caught her expertly; how often, she wondered, did he rescue slightly drunk women? Though he’d had even more to drink than she had, he looked and acted entirely sober. Still in control; smiling evenly, even fondly, at her slight wooziness.
He took her by the elbow and steered her into the elevator.
“Are you alright, honey? Shall we get room service to bring up some coffee?”
“No, no, I’m fine. Just not used to these shoes--they’re new.”
He smiled. “Of course. The shoes.”
The doors opened and they stepped out onto the floor; elegant, as the St. Francis had always been. Patterned carpet; molding on the walls framing large ornate mirrors over the side tables holding house phones. He reached to take her arm again, though she was walking fine now. Reached for the doorknob at his room, slid the key in and out and opened the door for her. Such a gentleman, always.
Inside the room, she could see that he was also a neat gentleman; she’d expected that. Everything perfectly in order. Bed made--by the maid, of course--and his laptop closed on the desk, neat stack of papers and scripts next to it. Palm cradle plugged in and waiting patiently.
No clothes visible; not even a suitcase. She could see the closet door open a little, and there were suits and shirts hanging in neat rows, shoes lined up on the floor.
He closed the door carefully behind her, putting the Privacy hanger on the knob. Shot the bolt.
“Some music, perhaps?” he said, moving to the Bang & Olufsen CD player set up by the window. He didn’t wait for her answer, pulled something out of a jewel case and popped it in. Classic jazz oozed out of the speakers; not her taste, really, she’d go more for some Nirvana, maybe Elvis Costello or some older rock, but this was OK.
There was an unopened bottle of cognac on his end table, VSOP. He unwrapped the foil from its stem and uncorked the bottle, pouring a little into two snifters. Handed one to her.
“To our friendship,” he said, tilting the glass.
“To our friendship,” she echoed, and swallowed the entire contents--only to see he’d just sipped his. Ah well.
There were a couple of chairs in the corner of the large room, and he sat in one. She walked--a little more steadily--to the other, turned and settled her nice firm 25-year-old ass in it, feeling the soft cushion underneath her, aware that her pussy was twitching. Jesus, the damn thing is uncontrollable, she thought.