WHAT CUPID SAW
A collection of Valentine’s Day stories
by Neneh Gordon
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 Neneh Gordon
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Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Adult Reading Material – not intended for those under the age of 18.
Contents
Valentine? I’d Saint Him Myself
What Cupid Saw
I like to watch. Which is fortunate, because my calling prevents me from doing anything else. I’m a facilitator. An auxiliary. I make things happen and then I watch the dominos topple in the wake of the one I pushed over.
Call me sentimental, but my favourite day to work is Valentine’s Day. I run myself ragged one day a year, trying to improve on my previous tally. And I nearly always manage it.
That couple over there in the booth, holding hands and kissing every few minutes when the pain of keeping their lips apart grows too intense? That was me. I stalled his car long enough for him to be there when she stuck out her thumb for a lift.
A few hours ago, they didn’t know each other. Now, his fingers trace the line of her jaw and he imagines what it will be like to slip her bra straps down and put his mouth against the sweet flesh of her neck.
They don’t stay to eat. They can’t finish their coffees fast enough. After throwing a few coins on the table, they leave for his apartment – or hers. It doesn’t matter as long as they can be alone together.
I’ve filled my quota for the day, so I follow them. No-one ever notices me. The young couple walk through the streets with his arm around her waist. Her hand in his jeans pocket. He guides her up some stairs to the front door of an old house that’s been converted into apartments.
After a while, I slip in after them. They leave a trail of heat behind that’s easy to pick up. The second door on the left still bears the marks of their passage. When I get inside, they’re wrapped around each other, standing in the middle of the room. With eyes closed, they kiss and peel off items of clothing like they’d choreographed it all earlier. They walk the line between haste and savouring each glimpse of the other’s body. Here’s an unexpected mole. There’s a line left by the waist of her tights.
Every stage of discovery is marked by a pause to make eye-contact. To remind themselves that they are with another person and not just a pliant body. Now her flesh is bare, he steps back to admire her and she dips her gaze, suddenly coy. He kisses her hand and she pretends not to notice his erection pointing at her.
How does it feel, to be naked with this man for the first time? How does he feel, showing himself to her? I’ll never know. I can only imagine and try to read the expressions on their faces. The raised eyebrow. The reddened cheek. The tremor in his hand as he reaches for her breast. Her eyes widen as he touches her and she smiles. They share a nervous laugh and he pushes her down onto the sofa, climbing on top of her as she runs a hand along the outside of his thigh.
I move closer as he ducks down to leave a kiss on her lips. She pulls him down onto her waiting flesh. He moves carefully, spreading his legs so he doesn’t dig his bony knees into her softness. The smell of their sex reaches me. I untangle their different scents in my head. The metallic vanilla comes from the wetness that gathers between her legs. He smells like freshly cut stems – green and full of life.
I crouch down for a better view, watching the head of his penis come to rest on her belly. They kiss and sweep their hands over each other’s bodies, pausing only to cup a breast or pinch at a nipple. When she’s had enough of this teasing, she reaches between them and wraps her fingers around the shaft of his cock. He tenses and holds his breath. She opens her legs and the smell of her grows stronger. As she pushes him inside her, he looks into her eyes and his mouth falls open. His lips move, but I can’t hear what he says.
With nothing more than a look, she pulls him further in and he starts to make friction between them. As things move faster, they retreat from each other. Anchored together at the crotch, they close their eyes and disappear inside themselves. I’ve seen it happen before. They haven’t known each other long enough to surrender to the kind of intimacy on offer here, so they weaken the link and concentrate on the physical act.
I move in closer still, to see him sheathe himself in her cunt. When he pulls out, her moisture glistens on his cock. He strains harder, forcing himself deeper until she groans in time with his movements. He opens his eyes to watch her making these noises. Soon, she is looking at him again. She smiles up at him and he smiles back, never breaking his stride. Then the moment passes. Their eyes fall closed again and he makes his final plunge into the depths of her. He falters as he reaches his climax, but recovers and goes on to wring a cry from her. Now he can stop. He collapses on her chest and she brushes the hair back from his forehead.
I sit on the floor, level with their faces. This is the part that fascinates me most. When the dopamine drugs them and they cement their new love with caresses. She strokes the side of his face and he pouts to kiss her nipple. It tickles and she laughs, bouncing his head up and down between her breasts. The tiny gestures of affection slow down and trail away as they doze together. When I’m sure they’re asleep, I back out of the room.
Sleep isn’t something I need, so I walk the streets turning over memories inside my head. They were a good couple. They had a chance at something that would last.