If it happens once, you can always say that you were carried away. But when it happens again and again, it's called -

The Habit

Alan sat at the lunch counter watching the street. He looked down at his watch for the third time in as many minutes. He told himself it was getting ridiculous. Hell, ridiculous had been passed weeks before. But there was something about this woman that just wouldn't let him go.

It was the rush, he told himself. They had been tearing at each other from day one. It was the risk pushing them both. He thought about the night that they had met, and wondered. Would any of this have been any different if that night had been different?

They were four, out to celebrate the successful completion of a deal. It was only Wednesday but nothing short of a stampede would stop them this night. Each had been driven to the breaking point twice over. Tonight they were going to eat and drink, a lot of drinking, and not even know how to spell Thursday, in the morning. First the drinking.

Everyone went to Harry's; it was as good as anyplace else to start. They'd call someplace for a reservation, have a couple at Harry's and go to dinner. But by the time they finally looked up at Harry's, that familiar comfort had lulled them past nine and they had missed their reservation. Food had to be gotten fast. So from Harry's they went to Tony's; four blocks down the street. The restaurant was surprisingly full for a weeknight. But the atmosphere was convivial and there seemed to be a rather large party going on in one of the semi-private alcoves.

That was when he first saw her. She was seated directly across from him, some twelve feet away. Alan was trying to get the eye of a waiter to see if they could just get a pot of coffee for the table, when he noticed her. She was sitting in an isle chair with a party that encompassed four or five tables. It looked like family and friends had gathered for a celebration of some kind. He couldn't take his eyes off her, even on that first night. It wasn't that she was bored with the party of friends but rather that she was curious about the room. Her eyes fell on his in minutes of his noticing her.

" What's the matter honey, do you want some more antipasto?"

She was being fussed over and didn't want to be. A family resemblance could be seen in her when compared to several of the other guests at the tables. But the way she dressed spoke volumes to the difference in other ways. She wore a deep green velvet dress, so dark it could almost be mistaken as black. Chopsticks not quite carelessly held up her thick long hair. And her earrings dangled down the length of her neck to graze her partially bare shoulders. It wasn't a tight dress but just close enough to draw your eye to the round body beneath it. Her lips were full and there was a soft grin that almost beckoned to him.

Alan thought that he heard someone say something about ordering extra something or other. But he just nodded and went on watching her, in his rapidly sobering stupor.

" Honey you don't have to leave the table. You can have your cigarette, nobody will mind."

"Aunt Gloria, you know the smoke will bother Aunt Gloria. I don't mind going outside."

" But it's late, and it's cold out there."

" I'm just going to the front. I'll stand under the awning, mama. Look I'll take Uncle Tony's coat. Ok?"

Alan watched as she slipped into the too large coat and crossed over the dozen feet that went to the front door. Even under the baggy trench coat one could see the slow deliberate way she moved. Alan took a deep breath as she stepped out on to the sidewalk and leaned against the window.

" Hey, where you going, the food will be here soon."

" I know."

" You've got to eat man."

" Ya I know, I just need a little air, I'll be right out side there, just out side."

He told himself he was being crazy. A woman like that would think him just another drunk too plowed to stand. But he needed to be near her, talk to her maybe. He only hoped he didn't sound like a complete fool.

He stepped out into the cool are and took a deep breath. He was still for a moment, unable to look in her direction and wondering how crazy it would be to just turn and walk back in. The smoke of her cigarette drifted by him and still he couldn't look in her direction until she spoke first.

" You with family?"

"What, are you talking to me?"

" Is there someone else out here, are you with friends or family?"

" A, a neither."

" What?"

At this point he lifted his eyes in her direction and was riveted by her gaze.

" You drunk?"

" Not as drunk as I'd like to be."

" Then you've got to be with family."

" No. I'm celebrating with some guys I work with."

" Well I'm with family and that's why I'm out here. So tell me ~ what do you do when the tension gets so you can't breath?"

There was something about the cockiness in her delivery that eased him. She was direct and he felt clear with that.

" I guess I find something to change up the energy."

" Change the energy…"

" You know, go for a brisk walk, take some laps around something. Anything to get the blood moving and help me fluff it off."

" Fluff it off, sounds like just the right thing to do."

Almost before he realized what was going on, she was beside him, taking his arm and leading him away.

" I'm just waiting for our dinner to arrive so I…"

" Don't worry, we aren't going very far."

" My name is…"

" Don't need your name."

" What?"

She was taking him into the little alley next to the front of the restaurant, just back far enough to be away from the streetlights.

" I don't need your name and you don't need mine."

The front of his clothing was opened and the skill of her hand took care of the rest. Alan was caught up in a flurry of feelings and desires each one contradictory to the one that came before. Something was taken from somewhere inside her dress and then he felt the slippery sheath pulled down over his cock. She bent over in front of him and took hold of a drainpipe to steady herself, as she reached back to pull him close.

" Come on, do it, do it."

That was how it had begun with them. She wanted his phone number, did he have a cell phone? Yes. There'd be no names. If he liked it, they'd do it, but no names. She never gave him a way to reach her, she only wanted times when he wouldn't be available. And that was how it had been.

He looked up from his cup of coffee and there she was, standing on the corner across the street. He left a tip on the marble counter and moved quickly out of the lunch bar and to her.

" I thought you weren't here."

" I was waiting across the way."

" Waiting - That's nice. Do you like stories?"

" Stories?"

" Come on and I'll tell you one."

She took his arm as she had done many times before, and they walked hurriedly down the street. He was never quite sure where they were going, they had never been to the same place twice. Sometimes she was silent as they walked and sometimes she chatted on and on, saying nothing. He was always watching the streets and wondering where they would end.

" I've got to be back at the office by two-thirty."

" What time is it now?"

He glanced at his watch.

" One-forty."

" We'll do it then, don't you worry about a thing."

They were crossing the front of St. Joe's cathedral when she suddenly gave his arm a quick tug and he realized he was being lead back down a private walk way that lead to the rectory. Between the church and the priests' residence there was a slight alcove. It was just large enough for two or three people to stand but the angle of it placed it in clear sight of the rectory's front windows. All at once he was being pushed into the slight alcove as she stretched up on her toes to kiss him.

" You must be crazy."

" Why, there's no one to see."

" Look again!"

Her hands were traveling under his over coat and under his jacket now, as she felt for his nipples through his silk shirt.

" Someone could see from those windows."

" Don't worry about those windows. Don't you want to hear my story?"

" God you are nuts!"

Her hands stroked his chest and nipples, enjoying the way they began to stand under the rich silk of his shirt.

"Picture a man and a woman in a small restaurant with tightly packed tables on a rainy afternoon.

He's so close, a hand under the tablecloth would hardly be noticed."

She was opening the front of her blouse as she rubbed her thigh against his.

" Under her skirts, no more than a garter belt and hose. He takes his napkin from the table to his lap, as they wait for dinner. But his hand doesn't return to the top of the table."

She pushed her breasts up out of her bra and took his hands.

" Play with them, pinch the nipples the way I like."

She leaned into him as his fingers made her nipples stiff.

"All at once her heart flutters frantically against her ribs as she tries hopelessly, to not be aware of where his hand is or what it's doing. She wants to close her eyes and not see his face. She tells herself that there's a sliver of a chance that if his face goes away, his touch might vanish as well."

She reached down, found the hem of her skirt and slowly inched it up. Then taking one of his hands, she pushed it down into her panties and went on with the story as he stroked her.

"Her cheeks grow warm and her eyelids flutter as she takes her napkin to her mouth. His eyes take pleasure in searching her face, and are filled with such mischievous calm."

Her hands were busy again, undoing the front of his trousers and reaching in. Alan frantically glanced at the dark windows then back at her as she went on.

"The voices of the crowd seem to rise around them and she is grateful. Her breath rushes suddenly back into her lungs as the damp warmth he has created between her thighs, climbs up into her throat."

" Oh God, someone's gonna see."

He was growing stiff in her hand as she skillfully pumped at his flesh, loving the way he gave in. Reluctantly she eased away from him and went down on her knees. Her tongue now helped her hand. And she looked up, watching him as it went on.

For a few moments, just a few moments, she looses all sight of him, as the lights dim."

She watched as his eyes closed and he finally gave in.

"Then all at once she felt it growing and growing inside her. There were seconds of frantic uncertainty, followed by deep, rich joy."

Her mouth was all of it, as it sucked him deep and her hand milked the base of his cock. She could feel his thighs tighten as he fought to hold back a whimper. This was too close to loosing it all, he told himself. She was too wild to be trusted. But she had him and he felt her moving through him now as his cock became the momentary center of their universe.

" Damn, damn girl, damn."

She eased her mouth off of his cock and licked her fingers as he reached in his pocket for his handkerchief. And breathing deeply to steady himself, Alan reached down as he had done before and was taken by her smile.

" Done with her, he gently takes his napkin and wipes away the wetness at the corner of her mouth. And she smells her scent on his fingers as they softly laugh."

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Written by P.E.M.Davis Copyright © December 1999 P.E.M.Davis. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed reproduced, transmitted or posted in any manner or portion without the express written permission, from the author.