Curved Page 6

  “It’s nice,” I said. “Really nice.”

  “Joseph Videl has been preparing for you,” the bellhop said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s been expecting your visit,” he said. “Normally there would be more people here. But he’s bought out the entire building recently. All the condos, all the rents. They’re his now.”

  My instinct was to talk about how badly those tenants and owners must’ve been treated. But then the bellhop said, “I like Joseph the most out of everyone I’ve worked for. He’s a really, really unique man. Gets angry sometimes, but he only gets angry when he cares.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Here we are,” the bellhop said, our elevator rising to a halt. “Just walk down the hall this way.” The bellhop pointed straight down to a golden door opposite us.

  I walked out from the elevator, the doors closing behind me. My footsteps sunk into what had to be the most comfortable carpet I ever stepped on. Even through my heels, I could feel how soft the fur was, how little traction there was whenever I pivoted.

  “Okay,” I said, pep-talking myself. “He clearly has arranged everything for me. This must be a good thing. I can’t be scared. I have to do what Angela said.”

  Raising my hand to knock, I remembered my phone. In the rush of getting to the elevator, I had placed it down in my purse without shutting it off.

  Taking it out, I went to click the off button when the door opened.

  “Hello,” Joseph said. He held his phone in his hand, pocketing it. “You’re a little late.”

  “Sorry,” I said, stumbling forward. My hands were a flood and so were my feet. Sweat saturated my skin, that I immediately excused myself to the bathroom. “I just need a moment,” I said.

  “Take your time,” Joseph said. “Let me walk you there.”

  We went down a hallway framed by seemingly an infinite array of mirrors. Then inside the bathroom itself, I stepped before a glittering vanity, tall and immaculate. The center had to be so clear, I could see straight through to the other side: me.

  For the first time in a long time, I had an actual body length mirror, my curvy self making me panic.

  Could I really muster the confidence to be with Joseph?

  Oh, who was I kidding. I had totally lost sight of why I even needed to be here: for business. Because of my programming errors. If I hadn’t made any, I wouldn’t be standing looking like a fool.

  Not finding any use for touching up my makeup, I turned around, my hands trembling.

  Joseph waited for me in the foyer, and it was then that I noticed his suit and tie, well-dressed as usual. His shoulders pressing the seams but not popping them, his arms slim but not skinny thin. Just right. His thighs pushed the enclosure of his trousers out with a flare, and his ass, well, let’s just say I wanted to rub up against it. I tried getting a view of his cock, but then I stopped myself, feeling ashamed.

  Why should I go? I was here, wasn’t I?

  When we got to his living room, I snuck a glance right at his crotch. Bulging outward, just slightly enough, was his dick. I could see the outline stretching away from his front panel, down the side of his leg. You had to look closely—after masturbating to online pictures of guys like him, I had become a pro.

  “Sit down, sit down,” Joseph said. I squatted over a duvet, my heels catching on a carpet. I crept lower, awkwardly, until my ass planted firmly on the center of a leather wrap. Joseph sat next to me, facing me.

  I turned myself to him. I smelled his cologne, the sting of his minty breath.

  My cunt lips wetted themselves so much, I couldn’t stand.

  My dress would be drenched.

  “So,” he said, “you’re probably stressed out after what I told you.”

  “Maybe,” I said. Putting my hands over my mouth, I changed my drift. “I mean, not maybe, but, you know, not exactly. Just sort of. I wasn’t scared. Or stressed, rather, that’s the word you used.”

  Joseph placed his hand over my lips. “Shush,” he said. “You talk so much.”

  He wasn’t smiling. But there came a slight smirk at the corners of his mouth, starting from the back of his chiseled jaw.

  “I don’t mean to,” I said. “Not too much. I’m not trying to annoy you.”

  “You’re not annoying,” Joseph said. “You’re interesting. I flew in from outside of Manhattan—had some business over in Brooklyn, wheeled around and came up to Queens. You should ride in my helicopter. It’s very nice.”

  The social justice girl in me raged. “But, wait a moment,” I said, pushing his hand aside, “you—you aren’t going to, I don’t know, charm me like this.”

  Joseph laughed, his legs nudging me slightly as he crossed them at the ankle. I shirked away. “What makes you think I’m trying to charm you?” he said. “This is business, isn’t it?” He draped his hand over his armrest, leaning forward. The shine of his hair glinted in the soft light. “Although I did invite you to my place. So what do you think? Is this business? Or is this pleasure?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, finally ridding myself of my feelings. Now I would have my answers. “You have to tell me. Angela thinks there’s something going on between us.”

  “At the office, that’s business,” Joseph said. His tone dropped to a dark wine, and I fell for it, my clit unintentionally squeezing up. “The home’s business for me too. But I can make it pleasure.”

  “Yeah?” I couldn’t believe what I was saying. To make up for my obvious thirst, I angled my head away, pretending to feign disinterest. Even though I only wanted to jump his bones.

  Remember, I thought, this is one of those bankers. On Wall Street, at that. He might be hot and sexy, but he’s a player, I know it.

  “Maybe,” Joseph said, winking. “Tell you what, since I invited you, I’ve called up room service. Here, take the menu. Order whatever you want.” He walked over to a table with two menus. He handed me one, and my eyes scrolled across the front.

  Oh my God, I thought. Angela would have died.

  There were no prices—which is exactly how I could tell this was exorbitantly expensive. All the items were handmade and came with a fancy cursive font to describe them.

  Moreover, the names were all in French. I couldn’t pronounce them. So I pointed to pictures feebly, as Joseph got on the phone to order us dinner. Being a curvy woman, I disliked pigging out.

  But then Joseph told me, “Order whatever you want. Eat whatever you want. It’s on me.”

  The day’s event with Zena and Ricarda simmered in my mind. I would eat to spite them. And I would eat for my best friend who stuck with me even when she could’ve gone to pick up guys.

  I had forgotten that she abandoned the meet-and-greet. We were so rushed leaving campus.

  “About my work,” I said, “you know, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have to leech off of you.”

  “You’re not,” Joseph said. “I have some things I want to talk to you about.”

  “All right,” I said, listening to him finish up our order. But if this was going to turn out to be an elaborate pickup line, I wasn’t going to have him.

  What waste. The helicopter ride. My time… I couldn’t fall for a man like him.

  Could I?

  I followed him to the roof, where we would get some “fresh air.” The stars stood out that night, burning over me brightly. The moon sliced open the sky, clouds collecting underneath it. Joseph opened every door, stepped in front of me whenever there was even a crack. He was the perfect gentleman every woman wanted. Rich, powerful, attentive—attentive to me at least.

  But his lifestyle wouldn’t be conducive to mine. Not to my mental framework and worldview.

  Why don’t I just give up pretending, I thought. I don’t really care about benefiting others. Maybe Lindsay is right. I’m only at the Manhattan’s Concern to feel good.

  “Can I ask you why you entered investment banking?” I said. The rooftop was wide, and my voice echoed against the wind.
A railing stretched and wrapped around the side of the building, protecting us from what had to be a 500 m drop. Colder up here than inside, Joseph stood close to me, his body warm and emanating heat.

  “Can I hold you? You’re shivering.”

  “If you didn’t mandate this dress code,” I mumbled.

  His hands were like coals on my skin. As I settled into his jacket, I felt his fingertips snake around my bare shoulders.

  “I do what I do because I’m good at it,” Joseph said. “I’ve always had a passion for business. Investment banking is kind of the pinnacle of East Coast business. Hollywood exists in California, but what does New York do?”

  “Right,” I said.

  “You have complaints?”

  “Sometimes,” I said. “Hey, aren’t we supposed to be doing my programming stuff?”

  “By now you must’ve realized there was nothing wrong with your programs,” Joseph said. His hands slid further across my skin, down until he cupped my hands just as he had in his office. “You must’ve realized by now how perfect your program actually was. Is. There were no problems. This was just a test.”

  “A test?” I said. “A test for what?”

  My knees knocked together. I covered my skirt up, clinching the bottom shut. Joseph’s warm hand crawled towards my belly, rubbing the topside of my pelvis.

  I let him do this. Why stop him? With my clit throbbing, he could probably tell just by looking at me on the surface that I wanted him.

  “You like me,” I said. “You’re attracted to me.”

  “I am,” Joseph whispered in my ears. He bit the edges of my lobe, his hands searching underneath my skirt. “I know you’re attracted to me too.”

  “Is it that obvious?” I said, arching my spine against him.

  “You women talk and I listen very well,” he said. We lay against the railing, he behind me, his arm wrapped around my waist, his hand underneath and at my clit. “Your body language though says something completely different from what your resume and words imply.

  “You’re always looking at me. Batting your eyelashes, probably when you don’t even know. You’re nervous around me. And it doesn’t help that Angela has a big mouth.”

  My breath swirled in my lungs, coughing out in small snatches. My heart sped up too and my shoulders weakened in his ever-tightening embrace.

  “The first interview we had together,” Joseph said, “was pure sex.”

  In his office, he and I talked, but we did keep staring at one another, my cunt even then being a little deviant. It spewed out so much juice I had to change out my panties.

  Normally, as virgin, I never got aroused. Men didn’t do anything for me because I focused on my career exclusively.

  But Joseph was different. Just going to the interview that first time had changed my view about men.

  “It had to be months ago though,” I said. “And you and I have kept our relationship strictly business. Why now?” I turned against him, clutching at his tie, ravenous.

  He leaned forward, hands surrounding one of my thighs, then slowly navigating the canal of my cunt. He found my clit twisting his fingers about the edges. My legs split apart, banging together, my head diving straight into his button-down shirt and jacket. He clamped his hands around my shoulders, kissing my forehead, rubbing my clit with one of his hands at the same time.

  “Because I felt like it,” he whispered. I groaned as his fingers twitched against my clit harder and harder, exerting more force in the center of my cunt, a pulsing sensation travelling across my back.

  “Oh,” I gasped, “but the two of us are incompatible. This is only because… You’re really fucking hot and… Dammit.”

  He twirled me around, groping my breasts, finally kissing my lips. I couldn’t stop myself from opening up my legs, riding his thigh with my cunt. I groped with my clit, squirting juice out between my panties. It splashed onto his leg, and I moaned uncontrollably now.

  “Shit,” I said, “not another suit.”

  “I thought you’d forgotten,” Joseph said, biting my neck. He maneuvered his lips to the center of my cheek, alternating from one to the other. Then he knelt down, lifting up my skirt. Plucking my panties open, he slipped his tongue along my cunt lips, biting my clit gently, sending an electric shock through my spine. I jolted upright, holding onto the railing, my face flustered and hot—red.

  “Damn,” I said, falling backwards onto the railing. My hands were up above me, my legs spread out, my ass sitting on the roof’s corner. “I know the two of us can’t really be together though…”

  “And why’s that?” Joseph said. His tongue drove around in a wet semicircle, cutting up to my clit and down for my cunt again.

  “I’m poor,” I screamed. “I’m poor and from the working class. I don’t have as much as you. You couldn’t take me anywhere!”

  My lungs burned, and my thighs ached with a dull pleasure. My back straightened out, and my hands popped with veins.

  The blood in my body pulsated.

  “I don’t care about that,” Joseph said, “I only care about having you around.”

  “You give me the most work,” I said, my legs squeezing shut again. The pleasure became too much, delirious. He paused, his hands groping my waist, my ample thighs.

  I split my legs slightly, Joseph’s mouth enjoying the edges of my hood once more.

  “It’s only because I want you to have the skills necessary for business,” he said, “because… You won’t be working for me forever. You have dreams…”

  “Right,” I moaned. “Which is why this can’t be anything else besides an office… Oh, God!”

  His fingertips flicked my clit while his tongue traveled inside my cunt. I instinctively closed up my legs, but that only increased the pressure in my crotch—the entire region throbbed and shook.

  Being fresh and new to sex, I didn’t know what else to expect. But then the backside of my cunt exploded in a heat wave of passion. Running from the canal G spot to the front, the ecstasy burned within me.

  “Oh my God,” I said, “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph…”

  “You want me,” Joseph panted, “need me.”

  “To teach me things? I feel like… I feel like…”

  “I can show you all the ropes with time,” he said, “if you trust in me…”

  His teeth sunk into my clit deeper than before, a euphoric daze veiling my sight in pleasure. Stars whirled in my eyes, and not those in the sky, but manufactured illusions, pretty lights made because Joseph knew what the fuck to do with a woman.

  “I… I do trust you…” I mumbled, my legs slicked with saliva and juices, “it’s just… You… You’re a banker and…”

  “It hurts your image?”

  I gasped, the climax rising from underneath my skin, bolting from every pore and uniting me with Joseph.

  He slid his fingers up to my breasts, unraveling my blouse. He bent me slightly over, rubbing my nipples, rubbing my clit, prodding my cunt with his tongue.

  “God, I’m going to come!” I screamed.

  Shrieking and twisting in his grasp, I exploded once with an orgasmic shrill, writhing in place, my heels clattering below me, as if my feet were detached from my body. A volcanic blast shot from my clit, squeezing out all over Joseph’s face. I blushed, so embarrassed with my body. Weren’t only men supposed to squirt?

  My head sunk against the railing, my arms acting as pillows for my face.

  “Oh my… Oh my…” I glanced backwards, to where Joseph was, his lips still sliding over my clit, his hands diving back for my cunt.

  “You want me… You need me…” he said.

  “Ugnh, yeah, yeah I guess…”

  “I can pleasure you like this every day,” he said, biting my clit again. “Every single day.”

  “I don’t believe it,” I said. “You… Can you really? You’re so busy.”

  “I always make time for you,” he said. “Don’t I?”

  “I… Damn…”

 
“Stay with me tonight,” Joseph said.

  “I want to,” I said. “I can’t see this being more than a fling though… You’ll have to convince me…”

  “Let me,” he said, giving me his hand. He stood me up against him, running his fingers through my hair. Kissing my cheek, he placed his fingers around my cunt, jerking them inside my canal one last time before I exploded again.

  “God,” I said, a subtle orgasmic flush washing over my skin. “God…”