Carla by Lawrence Block Read Free Book Online

and slipped the panties over her thighs. His hands brushed her body so gently in the act that she barely felt them. Finally, she stood before him naked.
    â€œYou’re incredibly beautiful,” he said in a whisper. “I didn’t realize you were this beautiful.”
    He kissed her then, running his tongue tenderly over her lower lip. She responded eagerly to his kiss and pressed her body against his. Then he stepped back once again, taking her arm and leading her to the bed.
    â€œLie down,” he said. “Lie down and don’t move.”
    She obeyed his command.
    â€œNow close your eyes.”
    The next thing she knew, his lips were travelling all over her, planting little kisses of fire wherever they stopped.
    She moaned his name. His mouth found hers and her arms tightened around him, pressing him to her.
    Then there was nothing but her body and his and the clean fresh beauty of the world.

Chapter Five
    CARLA’S HANDS WERE SHAKING slightly as she alighted from the MG and walked to her door. The whole world seemed imperceptibly different. Charles was so skillful, so perfect and sure of every gesture. She felt whole and complete, and at the same time she couldn’t shake of an irrational feeling of guilt over the whole affair. She had made a cuckold of Ronald with a friend of his, and this fact disturbed her so deeply that the fulfillment of the afternoon could not totally counteract the sense of guilt and betrayal.
    She opened the door and entered her house, hoping desperately that Lizzie wouldn’t see the satisfaction in her eyes or hear it in her speech. She had heard or read somewhere that it showed in a woman’s eyes, that a person who knew what to look for could see that a woman was or was not sexually satisfied. Lizzie was sharp. Would she be sharp enough to notice?
    If Lizzie did notice anything, she was clever enough to keep herself inscrutable. She only smiled a hello and told Carla that there had been a call for her.
    â€œWho was it?”
    â€œA man, Mrs. Macon,” Lizzie replied. “He wouldn’t tell me his name, but he said he’d call later.”
    Carla walked into the living-room and sat down in a soft armchair, wondering who in the world the caller could be. It certainly wasn’t Charles; they had already decided that he would never call her again, but that she would be the one to phone him. But who could have called this afternoon?
    She pushed the incident out of her mind, and in a few moments it was forgotten. Ronald was home for dinner and took her out for the evening to a Broadway show on tour. All through dinner and at the show afterwards she was especially careful to act the same as ever toward her husband.
    At first she tended to be more affectionate than usual, to let her lips linger on his when he kissed her hello at the door. But she quickly realized that this would serve to arouse suspicion if anything. The best course of action was perfectly natural behavior, so that Ronald would have no cause to suspect she was deviating in any form from her normal activity.
    That night she slept more perfectly than she had since she was married.
    Ronald had told her about his latest case, one which promised to lead to a genuine courtroom battle. His client was involved in some charge of fraud in government contracts and the case looked like it would turn out to be one of Ronald’s biggest and most crucial. He emphasized that any one of a group of minor factors could be enough to sway the jury either way. A scandal involving any party would turn the trick.
    Carla had listened eagerly as usual. Ronald’s cases always fascinated her, since his keen mind and quick wit was well shown off in his business activities, and because she knew how much he appreciated her interest in his work. But it was not until the following morning that she realized the full implications of what he had told her.
    She realized later what this signified. If a scandal