Puppet Read online

  Throughout her time in school and even during her marriage, the thought of sex made Carin uncomfortable. She didn’t even like saying the word. But now, because of her love for Justin—a kind of love she’d never before experienced—she loved the word, and thought of the word and wanted the word, as long as it was with him.

  Carin listened to water hiss through the multiple showerheads as Justin’s warmth oozed from her like slow lava. She had never used any form of birth control before meeting him. She had little reason to before marriage, as she and Kyle had made love only two other times after her first awkward experience, and after they were married she had left it to God’s will. But Justin had convinced her a month into their relationship that she needed to go on the pill. He didn’t want to wear condoms or feel compelled to pull out, though he did so many times anyway. He was fond of marking her and soon realized she was fond of being marked by him. She frequently left his deposit on her body to dry, telling Justin it made her feel attached to him, being all crusty. Still, she knew he wanted the freedom of choice.

  With Justin soaping his body in the shower, Carin anticipated his reawakening desire. By the time he stepped out of the shower, she was there waiting, on her knees, in her love slave uniform of pink corset and tiny thong. She was several feet away across the tile floor, staring up at him.

  “Is it okay if I do this for you now?”

  She flashed a smile and began crawling toward him. She liked the role she was playing. It suited her and she knew it suited Justin. As she moved closer, she continued looking up to him.

  “I want to feel you in my mouth,” she said boldly, continuing to look up, batting her lashes as she approached.

  “Please do that…”

  “I want to bob up and down on it and make the watery suction noises you like.”

  “Oh please do that for me, Puppet…”

  She was in front of him, looking up with dutiful eyes. She lowered her gaze and reached for his magnificent cock. It was at least seven inches long, smooth as silk and always so hard for her. She traced a finger gently up and down the shaft, watching it rise farther, timing her touch to its movements. She looked at it calmly, without a hint of alarm as the spongy pink head struck twelve.

  “You like me talking this way?” she asked.

  “Yes, babylove. And I love you looking at my hard-on like that. I love the singular focus you give it.”

  She held Justin in her hand and stroked him, enraptured by what she saw and spurred on by what he’d said.

  “It’s because I love you, baby. I love you, so I love it too.”

  “Maybe you love it so you love me too?” Justin joked. “Like a chicken, egg thing. Which came first?”

  Carin laughed. “You came first, baby. And now you’ll come again.”

  She rolled her thumb over the head, spreading pre-cum across the crown and making it glisten. His penis wasn’t menacing like the one she’d seen at thirteen. She loved knowing Justin liked her staring at it.

  “I couldn’t do anything with you unless I loved you, Justin, you know that?”

  “You’ve told me that.”

  “But because I love you, I want to do everything with you. Do you know what I mean?”

  “I think I do.”

  “I hope so. Do you need me now?”

  “Again and again. Like always. Like for…always.”

  “I’ve come to realize that I love you in my mouth. As much as you love me doing it.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “It’s true, baby. I never really liked it before. But you taught me that I love it.”

  She worked slowly at first, licking the soft head clean before sliding her lips down along the side of the steely shaft to his dangling balls. She sucked each individually into her mouth then licked behind his sack, his clean, soapy scent intoxicating her. It was a full minute before she put the head into her mouth.

  “Oh baby, I like the way you suck,” Justin said.

  She moaned a little.

  “And I love the way you moan.”

  She moaned louder.

  “Spread your legs a little, sugar.”

  She did as she was asked, her hips rocking in time with her bobbing head.

  “Now put your hand inside your thong, honey.”

  She pulled off momentarily. “You like seeing me do that for you, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  His telling her what to do excited her. She slipped her hand into her thong as he guided her head back onto him. She moved her fingers under the material, snaking them toward her pussy while her head moved faster on him. He was hot and hard in her watery mouth, his fingers entwined in her hair. She was getting good at recognizing when he was really excited. She moved her hand so her fingers could penetrate herself as she sucked.

  “Oh honey,” Justin moaned. “You’ve gotten so good. You’re going to make me come!”

  “Mmmm!”

  Up until now, Justin had always pulled out of her mouth, saying it was the respectful thing to do. But this time, he apparently had decided he was ready for more.

  “I want you to swallow, Puppet!”

  She pulled off. “You really wa—?”

  “Yes! Now!”

  He yanked her head back onto him before she had time to think.

  * * * * *

  Back in bed, Justin spooned Carin under the comforter and gazed out the windows to the deck. The storm had eased, the falling snow now displaying a big-flaked laziness. A stillness had settled over the scene outside but Carin was giddy.

  “I swallowed a lot, baby!” she said, wiggling back against her lover. “Not all of it. But a lot! Not bad for a first-timer, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, Puppet.” Justin chuckled. “Perfect for a first-timer.”

  “I’ll get better. It just took me by surprise. It’s probably good you were holding my head so tight!”

  “I wanted you to get the full effect.”

  “I got the full effect all right. I had no choice!”

  “Next time, I’ll give you more warning.”

  “That would be good. I like when you talk to me during. Saying I’m good and stuff.”

  Justin turned Carin onto her back and rolled on top of her. He kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes. He kissed her lids and nibbled her nose and sucked her earlobe.

  Carin kept her eyes closed as the scents of Justin’s soap and shampoo engulfed her. She lost herself in his fragrances while sliding her hands blindly up his warm body. She felt the muscles in his abdomen rippling as he kept his weight off her. In her mind’s eye, she pictured his muscular body hovering inches above hers.

  His soft kisses dribbled down her neck, past her shoulders and settled on her chest. She was aware of his body moving down hers and felt the top of her corset being peeled down. Justin’s warm tongue slithered to one peak and circled the nipple while pinching the other between a thumb and forefinger. Carin lay passively, feeling both nipples livening to bullet points as Justin sucked and plucked.

  Justin furthered his exploration down her body, licking slowly past her tummy while his hands stayed on her breasts. Carin opened her eyes to monitor his progress. He looked up with arched brows.

  “I think it’s time for a slice of birthday cake,” he said with a crooked smile.

  “Mmmm, really? You don’t have to do that. This is your day.”

  “I don’t do it as an obligation, silly.”

  “I know. I love that about you. But today is all for you.”

  “I’m a guy who likes his cake and eats it too.”

  Carin’s belly rose and fell as his tongue lined a cool trail on her skin between corset and panties. The sensation made her giggle. He took the opportunity to whisper his intentions.

  “I’m going to write my name on you with my tongue, babylove.”

  “Oh?”

  “So if you ever get lost, the boys will know where to send you. Does that sound like a good plan?”

  “I
won’t ever get lost. Will you dot the i?”

  Justin looked up with his little smile. “I’ll dot the i, Puppet. I’ll dot the i very well for you.”

  He didn’t seem in any hurry, no doubt understanding that half the fun was getting there. He lingered at her hipbones and dawdled at her inner thighs. He pulled her thong to the side and breathed deeply, as if to draw in her scent. His tongue landed on her petals and he licked at her nectar. He brought a hand down from her breast and slipped a finger inside her as his mouth buzzed at her hive.

  Carin was woozy and warm and wet and open. As always, she had surrendered to Justin’s touch, forfeiting control. As he wiggled a second finger palm-up inside her, she wrapped her legs around his back and pushed herself against him. It was as if his curling fingers were beckoning her closer and she did her best to accommodate his request.

  She cradled him to her, her eyes closed in utter bliss as he massaged her G-spot. As if he sensed her complete submission, he slithered up and kissed her briny clit. It was as hard as a pearl as he suctioned it between his lips. He groaned, and warm currents ran up her spine.

  “Here we go now,” he said. “Are you ready to be my paper?”

  “Write on me, baby.”

  “I will. In script…”

  “J…”

  As Justin’s tongue zigzagged on her clit, she weaved her fingers into his damp locks. She lifted her head from the mattress and opened her eyes wide.

  “That feels like a very fancy J!” she exclaimed. “Like a John Hancock J! Are you putting a little extra on it?”

  “I’m putting a little extra on it, sweetie. But it’s all about U now.”

  She giggled and let her head fall back.

  “Mmmmm …that’s nice,” she said, closing her eyes. “I’m in love with U.”

  “That’s good to hear but now it’s time for S…”

  “Ohhhhh Justin! I love ussss!”

  Her every pore began to tingle as Justin’s tongue scribbled on her. Even more incredible than how she felt physically was how he made her feel emotionally…safe and secure within her little world with him. He wrote the S many times before moving on.

  “T…” he eventually announced.

  “My gosh. The T suits me to a T! Please cross it, baby! Cross it over and over and over.”

  She was panting now. He had transplanted her to a playful fantasyland, a place where everything was right and perfect. For Carin, it was Heaven on Earth.

  “I…and…N…” he said, a little too quickly.

  “Oh my gosh… So good, baby… But…did you forget to dot the i?”

  He peeled her lips back and directed his gaze toward her pulsing clit.

  “Everything in good time…” he said.

  He rubbed his thumb over her wet pebble and laid his tongue directly on it. He lapped slowly, making her clit ever more pronounced. Carin writhed beneath him, her hands clutching his soft tresses. She felt him peeling her lips back again and flicking his pointy tongue on her nub, gradually building speed.

  “I’n dodding da aye now,” he mumbled onto her.

  As the undeniable rumblings of her orgasm began to build, she relaxed to let it take her over. In the past, with her husband, she’d had to work hard to come, almost willing it to happen. With Justin, he held the key to her. He turned her lock and he set her orgasms free. His tongue moved with such speed it seemed almost battery operated, and she arrived quickly at the destination he had planned for her.

  “Oh Justin! Jussin! Jussssssin!”

  As her orgasm flooded to the fore, her back arched and her fingers twisted in Justin’s hair. From muscle to muscle to bone to bone, excitement bounced within her like a pinball inside an arcade machine. Bolts of electricity ricocheted through her body as she flopped on the bed. Her climax rolled on in waves until finally she tilted up onto her side. She wondered if even Heaven could match the rapture she felt.

  After coming down from such dizzying heights, she lay exhausted and amazed on the mattress. Opening her eyes, she saw Justin peering up from between her legs. His crooked little smirk made him look like the cat that’d eaten the canary.

  “You’re a good speller,” she said breathlessly.

  “H-A-P-P-Y-B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-T-O-M-E,” he recited.

  Chapter Seven

  The couple saw each other every minute Justin wasn’t out of town. When he was away, phone sex kept them connected. But while they were entirely focused on each other, Carin also had occasional bouts of panic. One time when she was particularly anxious, he asked what was up. They hadn’t been talking about her absentee husband but she couldn’t help blurting, “You should know, if he comes back—if he’s drunk and in a mood—he can be nasty. And he’s always drunk and in a mood.”

  Earlier that day, Carin had called Kyle’s mother in Hartford. It had been several months since they’d last spoken but Carin was at a point with Justin where finding Kyle was of pressing concern. She received a warm response when she called but her mother-in-law had no new news. She promised Carin she’d tell Kyle to do the right thing by her if he called, and Carin had good reason to trust her. Kyle’s mom was disgusted by what had become of her son, now so much like her own ex-husband, a man who had deserted her and Kyle over two decades earlier, trading his wife and only child for a life of gin mills and bar sluts.

  Hearing of Kyle’s drinking and cheating and little else, Justin had asked why Carin had married the man in the first place. Carin often wondered the same thing. She had never loved Kyle as much as he loved her, and beyond wanting to fulfill her marital duties, she’d never had an overwhelming physical desire for him either.

  While Carin had comparatively few sexual experiences growing up, she did date many boys, mainly because her mom had told her it was rude to continually turn them down. Carin’s best school friend, Allie Cousins, had been the opposite of Carin when it came to boys. Much to Carin’s amazement, Allie wasn’t picky or ashamed at all. She’d brag about giving blowjobs in backseats of cars and spreading her legs on her parents’ ratty basement couch. Many weekend nights, as the two girls whispered from bed to bed during sleepovers, Carin had no idea what was making her friend talk so excitedly but she did enjoy listening to her.

  Upon meeting her future husband, Carin didn’t see him as Mr. Right but he wasn’t as wrong as the others either. At least Kyle realized that Carin didn’t appreciate being pawed when simply getting a ride home from a movie. There was a part of Carin that was grateful to Kyle, if only because he took her away from the excited swarm that always surrounded her.

  She’d met Kyle during her last semester of high school, when he was a sophomore at a university in a neighboring city. She’d been coaxed to a frat party by Allie, a party that would become increasingly unruly until Carin, who didn’t like big crowds to begin with, became anxious and wanted to leave. She had been separated from Allie for about an hour when she found her snuggled up on a couch with someone named Crazy Clark, an obnoxious guy the girls had met earlier in the evening. Carin interrupted them long enough to tell Allie she’d wait for her out by the car.

  Carin was sipping foamy keg beer from a Solo cup by Allie’s Prelude when Kyle ambled by. She had met him briefly earlier in the evening when the girls were introduced to Crazy Clark. Two beers were pinched between the thumb and forefinger of one of Kyle’s hands and a third cup was in the other. He leaned against the car and talked to Carin, draining all three while she nursed her one.

  Kyle was reasonably well mannered and attractive. He wasn’t loud and aggressive like his frat mate Clark, or immature like the boys from high school, but beyond that, Carin wasn’t overwhelmingly excited by him. He was just another boy paying her lots of attention. For Kyle, it was a very different feeling, one Carin would later describe to Justin as not necessarily a good thing. For Kyle, it was love at first sight.

  On Carin and Kyle’s wedding day a few years later, Allie Cousins took her best friend aside for a heart-to-heart before the wedding. The girls w
ere at Carin’s parents’ house, the same house on Drury Road that Carin would inherit upon their death. They climbed the stairs to Carin’s girlhood bedroom and Allie sat on one of the twin beds—the same bed from which in high school she’d whispered so many of her sexual confessions—while Carin sat across from her on the other.

  “Care, maybe it’s my maid-of-honor duties coming out, but sometimes I wonder if you’re really happy doing what you’re doing.”

  “Of course I am.”

  “I’m only bringing this up because I can’t believe you’re getting married. I’d never be able to make a decision like this now. We’re so young, you know?”

  “Not really.”

  “I’m just wondering if you’re ready for this…with Kyle?”

  The implication took Carin by surprise. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t wondered about Kyle herself but she’d always thought she’d done a good job keeping her concerns private. Being in her wedding gown, it was no time to discuss her readiness for marriage anyway. She zoned out of the conversation, her eyes zeroing in on a spot on her bed’s mahogany headboard where the varnish had worn off. As a little girl, she’d stuck chewing gum there, and she now remembered the difficulty she’d had getting it off. Carin shuddered when recalling how loudly her mother had screamed at her as Carin used a butter knife to chisel off the gum.

  Allie stood up from the bed, crossed the divide between them and sat next to Carin. Allie put her hand on Carin’s knee.

  “Care, talk to me. God knows you know my secrets.”

  Carin came back to present day to hear a buzz of activity in the kitchen below her bedroom. Dinner plates clattered like an ovation as they were being stacked. Over the din, the caterer discussed with her crew the proper time to put salads on the tables. Carin was aware that in a few short hours she’d say her vows in front of every close friend and relative she had.

  Focusing on Allie’s face, Carin saw the worry in her friend’s eyes and understood a reply was necessary. But as far as Carin was concerned, her readiness for marriage was a moot point, or at least too late for discussion.