Page 17 of In Love With a Master (Interview With a Master 2)

My protective feelings for Leticia, that had bubbled to the surface in the bedroom as she lay sleeping, troubled me. The tenderness I had felt had taken me by surprise – seemed to have crossed the border of caring and travelled into unfamiliar territory.

A hard heart, and a sense of distance, had been like a shield and sword for me through so many physical relationships throughout my life, and I wondered whether my feelings for Leticia were a result of me lowering my guard or somehow being disarmed.

Was this what love felt like?

If this was love, then the emotion was highly overrated. I had expected some profound, deep moment of realization – some instant where my chest became tight and I realized that to live without this woman would be no life at all.

I didn’t feel like that… but maybe this was the onset. Maybe love didn’t strike a single heavy blow – maybe it was a slow, gradual descent… like drowning.

I grinned wryly to myself. The romantics around the world would hate me for comparing falling into love with death by drowning, but maybe those romantics knew what love really was. For me it remained some dark mystery, tantalizingly out of reach, and I wondered if I would ever recognize and understand the emotion even if it overwhelmed me…

I heard a sound from the bedroom and a few moments later, Leticia appeared sleepily in the hallway. She had the blanket drawn around her shoulders, but she was still naked. She turned the kitchen light off and the apartment was plunged into darkness, then she found her way to the sofa and curled her body close beside me. She propped her head on my shoulder, and I could sense there was a question hovering on her lips. I waited in the silence.

“Jonah, who was the best lover you have ever had?” Leticia asked softly.

I stared into the darkness, seeing nothing. “Caroline,” I said without hesitation.

For a long moment, Leticia said nothing more. She moved on the sofa and I felt one of her hands wrap around me. “No, not just of the women you told me about during the interviews,” Leticia explained. “I mean who was the best lover you have ever had from all the women you have known?”

“Caroline,” I said again.

“Why?”

“In just about every way Caroline was the perfect woman for me. She was beautiful, she was sensual, and her sexuality knew no limits. She had an open mind and she was willing to experiment. She had a veracious appetite for sex and an enthusiasm and passion for lovemaking that has never been matched by another woman. Her open mindedness meant that she saw every new challenge I set her as an adventure – whether it be in the form of BDSM, or even bringing other women into our bed.”

For a long time Leticia said nothing and we sat in the darkness and the silence, listening to the faint hum of city noise drifting up from the busy streets below. Finally, Leticia asked tentatively, “Do you miss her?”

I hesitated. “Yes… Sometimes,” I confessed. “More than anything else, I feel the burden of guilt, because I sent her away when she did all she could to please me. I know I did the right thing for her, but that’s no real consolation to my conscience.”

Leticia’s instincts must have warned her, for she lapsed into thoughtful silence again. This was a conversation I did not want to continue. I sat forward and glanced at my watch. “It’s getting late,” I said and scraped my hand down my face. I could feel the crackle of unshaven stubble on my chin and jaws. “It’s time I left.”

Leticia moved against me and I felt her arm around me stiffen. “You can stay here for the night… if you want to.”

I shook my head. “No, not tonight,” I said. “But one night soon.”

I stood up and Leticia uncurled herself and got to her feet. She found her way to the living room light switch, and we blinked owlishly at each other. The blanket around her had slipped off one shoulder. Her hair was a golden tumble and she looked very waif-like and somehow vulnerable. I crossed to the doorway and cupped her face in my hands. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and as she did so the blanket fell away from her so that she was smooth and naked against me, more confident now with her nudity.

“You will come back soon?”

I smiled. “Of course. We still have an interview to finish,” I reminded her. “And I have to give you a very personal lesson on the pleasure of receiving oral sex,” I warmed my smile up. “Will you come to the house tomorrow?”

Leticia nodded happily, and then her expression changed and became suddenly practical. “The editor will want everything you gave me tonight as soon as possible,” she said. “I’ll start work first thing in the morning, and try to get a couple of hours on my laptop before lunch. I can be at your place tomorrow afternoon if that suits.”

I nodded. “Come prepared,” I said. “When you arrive tomorrow afternoon, I want you to be wearing a short skirt and a loose fitting top.”

Leticia gave me an impertinent glare. “Oh, really? So you don’t care what type of bra and panties I choose?”

My warm smile turned hot. “I didn’t mention bra and panties. You won’t need them. Just a short skirt and a loose fitting top.”

Chapter 12.

It was mid afternoon when I met Leticia at the door. She came walking up the driveway, tugging at the hem of her short skirt self-consciously, with a look of complete distraction on her face.

“Is everything alright?”

Leticia looked up into my face and smiled suddenly, and then giggled. “I feel like some kind of a hussy,” she confided. “This skirt is very, very short. I’ve been afraid to bend over all morning.”

I took a step back and admired Leticia’s long, brown legs. “You look fine to me.”

Leticia smiled again. “T

hank god I can park close to the house,” she said. “I pulled over by the side of the road five minutes ago and took my panties and bra off.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And how did that make you feel?”

Leticia shrugged, not like the answer didn’t matter, but like she couldn’t quite find the right words to describe how she felt. “Kind of reckless,” she said after a moment and then lowered her voice to a whisper. “Very, very naughty, actually.”

I held the door open and followed Leticia into the foyer, her high heels echoing on the tiled floor. She glanced around the big house, and then at me. “Are we alone?”

I nodded. “Mrs. Hortez has gone into the city to buy groceries, and I haven’t seen Dr. De Niro since this morning. I think he is playing golf again.”

Leticia relaxed visibly. We were standing close to each other – close enough that I could smell her perfume – close enough that I could reach out and cup her breasts through the sheer fabric of her blouse or slide my hand up beneath the hem of her skirt.

She brushed her hand along my forearm in some feminine gesture, maybe just to connect and make contact, or maybe some female response that I could never understand.

“Jonah, I went through everything that you gave me in yesterday’s interview and got most of it typed up. The editor absolutely loves it. He’s very excited, and cannot wait for the final columns.”

“Have you been into the office today?”

Leticia nodded. “Yes. I went in to work this morning for a couple of hours.”

I frowned. “Did anyone notice anything different about you?”

Leticia glanced at me quizzically. “No…” she replied slowly. “Nobody said anything – I didn’t realize there was anything different about me.”

“Leticia, an experienced man can tell when an inexperienced woman has just woken from a night of sex and passion. Considering what pleasures you have experienced on the phone, and then again in your bedroom last night, I would have thought it would be obvious to anyone who cared to look.”

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