Stone heard the sound of a zipper and looked up. She was stepping out of her slacks, and she had already shucked off the sweater, leaving only her panties.
She looked around, hands on her hips. "Now where are those pesky handcuffs? You must have some around here somewhere, being an ex-cop, and all."
Stone put his face back in his hands, and a moment later he felt her slip into the bed. Her fingernails moved down his back, and he started to get up, but she grabbed the belt of his robe and pulled him back onto the bed.
"I know Marc Blumberg said we couldn't be alone together in my house, but now we're alone together in your house, aren't we? So we're playing by the rules." She reached around him and tugged the belt loose, then pulled the robe off his shoulders. She dug her fingers into his hair, pulled him back onto the bed, and tan a fingernail along his penis, which responded with a jerk. "I knew you'd be glad to see me!" she said, then she pulled his face to hers and kissed him softly.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Stone said, when he could free his lips for a moment.
She pulled his body toward hers. "Well, if I'm going to be arrested and carted off to jail, it seems only fair that I should have a last meal." She bent over him and kissed the tip of his penis. "I believe I'm entitled to have anything I want to eat, isn't that the tradition?" Then she began to concentrate on her repast.
Stone stood it for as long as he could, which was a little while, then he pulled her up beside him. She curled a leg over his body, opening herself to him. He slid inside her and, lying face to face, they began to make love, slowly.
"It's been way, way too long," Arrington said, moving with him and kissing his face.
"You're right," Stone breathed, admitting it as much to himself as to her.
"Tell me you've missed me."
"I've missed you."
"Tell me you've missed this."
"I can't tell you how much I've missed this," he moaned. "There are no words."
"Then show me," she said.
And he did.
Chapter 33
Stone lay, naked, on his back, drained and weirdly happy, for a lawyer whose client seemed to be trying to go to jail. It was a little after ten A.M., and they had made love twice since sunup. He heard the shower go on in his bathroom and the sound of the glass door closing. He wanted to enjoy the moment, but he couldn't; he was faced with the problem of how to get Arrington back into the Los Angeles jurisdiction without getting her arrested and himself into very deep trouble.
A moment later, she came back, wearing his robe and rubbing her wet hair with a towel. "Good morning!" she said, as happy as if she were a free woman.
"Good morning." He managed a smile.
She sat down on the bed, took his wilted penis in her hand, and kissed it. "Aw," she said. "Did it die?"
"For the moment," he admitted. "Tell me, how did you get here? Exactly, I mean; I want a blow-by-blow account."
"Well, let's see: First I called the airline and made a reservation, then I put a few things into that litde bag over there," she said, pointing to the top of the stairs, where she had left it, "then I left a note for Manolo, got into my car, left the house by the utility gate, which you have come to know and love, and I drove to the airport. I parked the car, walked into the terminal, gave the young lady at the ticket counter my credit card-the one that's still in my maiden name-and she gave me a ticket. Then I got on the plane, and when I arrived in New York I took a cab here. Did I leave out anything?"
"Yes; your picture has been all over the L.A. and New York papers and People magazine, for Christ's sake; why didn't anyone recognize you?"
"I wore a disguise," she said. She went to her bag, unzipped it, and took out a silk Hermes scarf and a pair of dark glasses; she wrapped the scarf tightly around her head and put on the shades. "With this and no makeup, my own mother wouldn't recognize me."
"Why so few clothes?" he asked.
"I have a wardrobe in our apartment at the Carlyle," she said. "I was going to send you up there to get me a few things. I thought it would be foolish to dally in baggage claim, so I traveled light."
Stone sat up and put his feet on the floor. "Well, you were certainly right not to do anything foolish."
"Was that sarcasm I heard?"
"Irony.
"Oh. Shall I fix you some breakfast?"