Insatiable (Part 3)
Kathryn M. Burke
When Laurie awoke groggily the next morning, the bed was empty.
Alarmed, almost terrified, that he had simply gotten dressed and left the premises without even letting her know, she staggered painfully out of bed, every muscle in her body seemingly used in a way it had never been used before, threw on a robe, and stumbled out into the living room.
She was both relieved and confused by sounds coming from the kitchen.
There was Patrick, dressed only in his boxer briefs, whipping up a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, roasted potatoes, and toast. It smelled heavenly, and she salivated as she watched him.
"What are you doing?" she croaked, barely able to speak.
He gave her a bemused glance. "What does it look like, darling? I for one am pretty hungry, and I hope you are too."
She turned around without a word, trudged to the bathroom, and tried to wake herself up by spattering her face with cold water. Her hair was a total mess, but she had no energy even to run a comb through it. The best she could manage was to use her electric toothbrush for a minute or twoâwhich had the added effect of getting rid of the come on her breath.
The breakfast was impeccably prepared: Patrick clearly had a lot of practice at it. He served her a heaping plate with a grace and courtesy that had just a bit of genial sarcasm about it, and then he sat down and began shoving the food into his mouth with voracious relish. Laurie first ate a tentative bite, then pounced on the food herself as if she hadn't eaten in days.
They said almost nothing during the meal. But afterwards, feeling a bit more human, she said brightly, "Soâwhat are we doing today?"
The soft smile he'd had on his face turned into a grimace of regret.
"My dear," he said, placing a hand gently on her arm, "I have to go home and do some work."
"Work!" she cried incredulously.
"Laurie, I'm a freelancer. I set my own hours. I have to get a piece done by Monday, and this is really the best time to do it."
"Aren't you . . . a little tired?"
He smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "Sure I am. But a shower at home will revive me. I don't have a change of clothing here anyway. It would have been pretty presumptuous of me to have brought one, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, it would. Butâ"
"Listen, dearest. I want you to come by my house later in the afternoonâmaybe around four or five. I'll cook you a nice meal."
"
You'll
cook?"
"Well, yes. I live alone, as you know. If I didn't know how to cook, I wouldn't be eating very much, would I?"
"I'm not exactly a whiz of a chef myself. I usually just throw something together." What she didn't sayâbut what he may already have understoodâwas that she had deliberately not learned the art of cooking from her mother in a conscious act of defiance over lapsing into traditional gender roles.
"I'll be happy to cook for you. It will give me great pleasure."
Laurie peered at him. Was he for real? An intellectual who was an imposing physical specimenâa stud in bed who prided himself on his culinary skillsâa proud and self-confident man, just on this side of arrogance, who could also be tender and loving?
She wasn't certain she'd really heard those three magic words at the end of their crazy lovemaking session last night, but she was becoming more and more convinced that she had.
But leaving her in the lurch like thisâit was almost as bad as if he'd left in the middle of the night! Didn't he know that women hate that, especially after he'd entered her so many times? On the other hand, she did have a strong urge to get a look at his houseâa real house! In her economic position she could only dream of affording a house, and his ownership of one was in itself a powerful aphrodisiac.
"All right," she saidâand she was beginning to realize that that simple expression was likely to be spoken a lot during her involvement with this man.
Patrick got up from the dining table, put on his clothes, and gave her an absurdly chaste little kiss on the cheek while she remained sitting dazedly in her chair. He'd scribbled his address on the message pad near her landline phone. Then he left.
Laurie looked around the empty apartment.
Is this really happeing? Did he really just leave so he could
work?
Laurie snatched up her cellphone and called Tammy.
Her friend seemed to pick up instantly, as if she was just waiting for a call. Tammy of course knew that Laurie was scheduled to have a "heavy" date (as she called it) with Patrick on Friday night, and she also had a strong suspicion that Laurie would end up on her back for most of the night. But when Laurie actually told her, in painstaking detail, exactly what had happened when the two of them had returned to her apartment, Tammy once more indulged in an ecstasy of sympathetic outrage.
"He went into your buttâtwice?" she cried in disbelief.
"Yup," Laurie said shortly.
"That must have hurt like hell! You said the first time was awful."
"It wasn't
awful.
But it did hurt a lot. And the first time last night wasn't all that comfortable. The second time wasn't bad at all."
"Butâbut you were sleeping!"
"Not quite. It's pretty hard to keep on sleeping when you have a cock stuffed up your ass. But I'll give him credit: he was actually pretty gentle. I can't say that I didn't like it."
"Oh, Laurie, you can't possibly be
enjoying
such a horrible thing!"
"Patrick said a girl can get used to it."
"A girl can get used to
anything!
But why would she want to get used to something like that?"
"Oh, Tammy, it really wasn't so bad. What's bad is how he's left me in the lurch like this, even though he's been charitable enough to let me come to his house later today."
"How maganimous of him!"
"He says he's going to cook dinner for me."