Cupid looked at his cards again and grimaced. His tell said he might be bluffing, but he could not meet the last raise. It looked like I would win the hand unopposed.
Cupid pulled a golden arrow out of his quiver. In the dim light of the poker table, it glowed with intense warmth. Every eye around the table fixed on it.
"How much is this worth?" asked Cupid.
"Not enough, Cupie doll."
His cheeks turned red, and his golden hair looked like it was on fire.
"Do you know the power of one of these arrows? You shoot a someone with it, and your target will not rest until she has given herself to you."
" 'Given herself to you?'"
"If you hit her with one of these, she'll fuck your brains out."
The table erupted in laughter, and everyone checked their cards again. I could see in my buddies' eyes they were considering their potential targets.
"I'd aim for Katie Perry," said one.
"Taylor Swift! Absolutely!"
"Too skinny. Emily Ratajkowski, mmmmm."
"What about Rachel Burch?"
"Oh, yes! Rachel Burch!"
The consensus winner among my buddies was the girl Maxim called "The Most Desirable Woman in America". For a moment their thoughts drifted to a night of pleasure with Rachel Burch.
"Anybody but Rachel Burch," I said. "She's a spoiled rich kid."
"You know her, don't you Ross? Your mom and her father work together, and you take vacations with them. How can you not notice her?"
"Yeah, I know her." Because my mother worked with her father Robin Burch, we spent way too many working vacations together. I'd seen her grow from a skinny kid with scraped knees, to a snotty teenager who teased boys, to a curvy coed with more jewelry than books. Now, she was out of school, and exploring her rich girl's world. Her latest bit of annoyance was to hire my girlfriend Marian as her companion. I hadn't seen Marian in three months. So I needed those arrows.
I turned to Cupid. "Let's play."
Cupid said, "This arrow is a one-time shot. She won't rest until she's gone to bed with you... But she will only feel compelled once. Whether she feels true love after that depends on you."
We paused while we considered the responsibility. Then my friend said, "So, I can fuck her, and not have her calling me in the morning? Where's the down-side?"
"I'm in!" "Me, too." "Go for it, Love-God."
He met my raise. We settled on 3 golden arrows and a slightly used bow. Just making the bid was an orgiastic experience for Cupid. His shoulders relaxed, and he stopped sweating. He had the biggest grin on his face I've ever seen.
"Okay," I said, "time to see 'em."
Cupid turned red again, his lower lip quivered, and his eyes swelled with tears. He sobbed, "I was just bluffing!" He buried his head in his arms, and made us all uncomfortable around the table with his blubbering. Still, it was memorable, and one of the reasons we like to play cards with him.
He gave me a bow and one arrow for each month Marian had been gone. My buddies still couldn't get Rachel out of their minds. "Marian is beautiful," they said, "but she's no Rachel Burch."
"I wouldn't wish her on my worst enemy," I said. They groaned.
"You're going to play with us again next week, right, Cupie-Doll?"
With a devilish smile, he said, "Of course!"
And that's how I became the owner of three magical arrows.
I called Marian at the Robin Burch Compound. She said, "Rachel is planning a little trip to a secluded island she knows. I don't think I can keep up with her."
"I don't want you to keep up with her. I want you to come home to me."
"Oh, Ross, I'd love to, but I can't pass up this money. I can't thank your mom enough for getting me this job. She told me I'd love it."
Yeah, thanks, Mom. My mother was the executive personal assistant for Rachel's father, the great lobbyist. They argued fiercely and constantly, but their business worked spectacularly. She had known Robin Burch since he was just starting as a young lawyer, and had stayed with him through his rise to the Mount Olympus of powerbrokers. My mother dressed the part of the personal assistant to the most powerful man in DC, and kept herself ready to be photographed at any time at Robin Burch's side. That didn't leave much time for me, so she made up for that by giving me everything that Robin Burch's lobbyist money could buy. Despite their fights, she had that kind of sway over him. I never knew my own father; it was a subject she would not discuss. Robin Burch became my surrogate father in a lot of ways.
When I started dating Marian, Mother had her investigated. After investigating Marian, my mother approved. But less than a year later, that the wonderful position of companion for Rachel Burch opened up. Marian was hired at an extraordinary salary. Now, Marian travels the world with Rachel for a living.
I knew exactly what to do with those three terrible arrows. If I struck Marian just once, she would come running to me, and nothing could stop her. Just think what hitting her with three arrows would do! I wanted to get to her before she and Rachel left for their next yacht voyage, so I needed to get to Robin Burch's compound immediately.
Robin Burch's isolated, gated compound sprawled on beach three hours away from the office by express train. Robin Burch kept the gawkers and paparazzi away using long, secluded stretches of beach together with towering fences. Still I learned of a weakness in his defenses, a place that I could sneak in to catch a glimpse of my Marian. There was a grove of rare palm trees on a ridge overlooking the spot Marian and Rachel sunbathed. Yeah, I admit it; I spied on them. Rachel's bodyguard, Tony, caught me a few times, but he's not a bad dude. He understands that Marian and I are totally committed to each other, but he warned me about Mr. Burch.
"Don't let Mr. Burch find you spying on his daughter," Tony said.
"I just want to see Marian." I looked at the beach. Marian stood up, arranging her towel and taking special care with her camera. An ocean breeze whipped her dark mahogany hair across her face, and she shook it free. She was tall, slender, with a flat stomach and long, lithe legs. She hunched her shoulders to slip off her bikini top, then stretched backwards. I remembered what her breasts felt like — soft, responsive, and perfectly shaped if a little on the small size.
Rachel ripped off her own bikini. Her gestures and body language told me she expected Marian to lose her bikini bottoms. When Marian was with me, she was too embarrassed to visit a nude beach. She shook her head. Rachel laughed, and snatched the ties to Marian's bottoms. In an instant, Marian was bare-assed.
Her tan lines were nowhere near as pronounced as when she had been with me. When Marian turned around, I saw that her bush had been narrowed to a tiny strip. Tony, the bodyguard, gave Marian and Rachel lessons in self-defense, and it showed in her improved muscle tone. She stretched again, enjoying the warm sun, and it was clear she had overcome her shyness. She crouched down to shoot a few tasteful nudes of Rachel. She was so limber her thighs rested easily on her calves. She stretched out on her tummy next to Rachel, who turned tummy-side up.
Rachel Burch was tiny, but she had perfect proportions. Her shoulder-length hair was sandy brown and caught golden highlights in the sun. Her waist was impossibly narrow, especially when I considered the inviting width of her hips and the luxurious weight of her breasts. Her well-rounded ass was taut and brown. If Marian was just a bit too small up top, Rachel's tits were just a bit too large. Her areolae were a milk chocolate brown, with pencil top nipples that never seemed to relax. Her eyes sparkled with an unimaginable mystery. Her nose was slender, her lips were naturally red and turned up into an inviting smile. Her teeth dazzled with their pure whiteness. For as long as I'd been spying on her, I'd never seen any hint of pubic hair on her. Her thighs bulged slightly to cover her modesty when she walked, so I had to look closely. Which I had, and I'm telling you, she was slick and hairless as a bicycle inner tube.
Next to me, Tony gave a long, anguished sigh. "Tony, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing, man. Sorry." Tony seemed flustered and looked around quickly to assure that his boss Robin Burch was nowhere to be found. When I looked down at the beach again, Marian was stretched out full-length on her back next to Rachel.
I asked him, "Why does Rachel act like such a tease?"
"To get her daddy's undivided attention? To make up for not having a mother? Maybe she likes to torture men." Tony gave a head nod to emphasize what he had said, and to confirm that I took it seriously.
No problem. Marian held my heart, and she was the object of my desire. Now she would be the target of Cupid's incentive plan.
Tony tore his eyes away from the two women. I couldn't complain, because it was his job to keep an eye on them. As he left he warned me again, "Don't hang around here much longer." I retrieved the bow and three arrows from under a palm tree. I tested the strength of the pull, and liked it. Each arrow seemed to vibrate in my hand, and I wondered if one was any more likely to incite Marian's desire than another. Eventually I just pulled the longest, straightest one, with dark feathers and golden highlights. The other two, I stuck in the ground again near the palm tree.
I waited. The shot while she was lying on the ground was too difficult. I enjoyed watching her. Each shift of her long legs, each time she raised her arm to put it behind her head creating lift on her pointed breasts, caused a thrill from my chest right though to my knees.
Eventually she stood up to stretch, one arm reaching for the brilliant sun, the other counterbalanced toward the ocean. She arched her back, and thrust her hips slightly forward. Rachel rose to her knees, too, stretching on all fours, her ass raised high. They were getting ready to leave the beach.
The moment was now.
I notched the arrow, and pulled. I drew a bead on her. The bow trembled under the intense pressure to release its load. My left arm was straight and trembled holding the pressure. Allowing for the slight wind, the height of the ridge, and finally the fist-sized target of her heart, I let fly the arrow.
It whistled through the air. It took forever to strike. Then it landed with a satisfying, resounding thunk, quivering in its final resting place. Marian made no movement that would let anyone know she had been struck by love's insistent shaft.
Why should she? The arrow had flown toward Marian's sweet heart, but dropped and drifted to the right. It protruded from the ass of The Most Desirable Woman in the World. She straightened up, and squeezed her round buttocks together. She had a quizzical look, but a sly smile on her perfect lips. Rachel stood, her nipples tense, her tongue licked her lips, and her hands rubbed up and down her thighs. She rolled her hips, enjoying the feeling of the quivering shaft, which began to fade away like smoke in a gentle mist. Marian was oblivious to the attack on Rachel's nether region.
I was so shocked, I couldn't move. Rachel scanned the horizon for her new love. She spotted me.
"Uh oh."
I dropped the bow near the two remaining arrows, and ran from the beach area. I hadn't covered fifty feet before my phone rang. The ID said, "Rachel."
Uh oh.
I refused to answer. I needed time to think. I took the express to Robin's and my mother's offices. Rachel called me hourly for the next four hours. She texted me every few minutes. She sent me photos, too, but I was not even tempted to open them. I could image what they might show. It was nothing I really wanted to see. I hoped the arrow's magic would eventually wear off.
Marian didn't know it, but I was dying to talk to her. When I called her from the privacy of my mother's office at the end of the day, Marian picked up immediately. "Where are you? What's going on with you and Rachel? She's driving me crazy asking about you!"
"I'll tell you when I see you."
"I love you, but I don't understand what is going on."
"It's hard to explain."
