Past Caring

Carmen understood her husband, Manuel Cabrera, only too well.

Fifteen years of marriage had been time enough to know that her husband was an unfailing optimist, a believer in things working out as if by some divine miracle or providence and not as a result of your own efforts and making things happen. She, on the other hand, was a proactive sort, a realist and not an idealist. It was she who managed the business and ‘kept the books. He organised the day-to-day operations of the paint business that had been in this part of the city since the 1930’s, and in the family, such as it now was, since that time.

The tumult in the Venezuelan economy had seen their very livelihoods come under threat, but that possibility had failed to galvanize her man into acting, into accepting an offer for the business, and the lease on their premises, from the building’s owner, Pablo Mendoza.

The man was a scavenger; his reputation for picking off ailing businesses, and profiting from them in the aftermath, widely known. And yet, people still dealt with him. Pablo thrived on another’s misfortune, but she was not one to see the business sold unless the price was what she reckoned the goodwill and its dwindling number of loyal customers was worth.

It really did not help that the man, for all his grasping ways that bordered on extortion, was also a good-looking fifty-year-old with his greying hair swept away from a lined forehead. Dark brooding eyes could hold you in thrall and his lightly bearded face did not age him, but it leant Pablo distinction. She saw this of the man, along with smart suits and glaringly white shirts. Stark against his olive skin. His clothes and manner set him apart from others that she thought of as still being in her circle of friends and business acquaintances.

‘It could be worse,’ was said as Carmen sought to reassure herself as she studied her reflection in the mirror. ‘I could be negotiating with an ugly devil…but Pablo’s not that, even to my married woman’s eyes.’ The man had seen everyone else off in the block, bought out or evicted, but not her and Manuel. ‘My ways are going to be a little different…they have to be if we are to survive.’

She would get through to him in ways that others had informed him of. The man, Pablo, often took payment in kind and she was ready for that, she had to be.

♠

The man’s look upon her suggested that she had gotten it right.

Her sky-blue polka-dot blouse hung loose, and open, over a spaghetti strapped blue cami stop that flattered her figure and looked so becoming against her dark skin; her jeans a carefully chosen complement. Beaded necklaces and jangly bracelets, revealed by the cut of her blouse’s sleeves and suggesting a rebellious mood had taken a hold and had now brought her to his office.

He had asked for a meeting to try and settle on a severance deal, but she realised instantly, and having heard of the man’s reputation and now his look upon her, that what he truly wanted was her.

Like a supplicant she knocked on his office door and heard him call out to her. She found Pablo Mendoza standing by his desk and now looking her way, his bearded, chiselled face creased in a soft approving smile.

Carmen felt a shiver course through her body. He looked the lothario many suspected him to be, his unashamed ways of talking and behaving when a woman attracted him. He’s wearing a casual dress shirt and baggy cotton trousers, the fit loose but hinting at what the man would bring and that only drew her attention to him. The man exuded confidence, intimidatingly so.

‘I’m so glad you agreed to meet up with me. So, come on in, Carmen…come in.’ His smile is even, his look upon her unmistakably appraising. ‘You had to deal with me and what is on offer eventually…isn’t that so?’ he says.

‘Yes, that’s so Señor Mendoza…’

‘It’s about time you called me Pablo,’ he answers easily. ‘I’ve tried to have you use that name for some time…’

She chooses to step further into his sunny office, the skylight casting a sharp light over its centre and where his desk has been placed. A mahogany table gleams from its frequent, and studious, polishing by a maid that Carmen heard had been seduced into working for him, her services not restricted to Pablo Mendoza alone in these troubled times.

She sits down, but only does so after leaning forward, just enough, for her blouse to open and to reveal her tangle of necklaces that settle back in her cleavage and that her camisole top draws his eyes to.

‘Thank you, Pablo…’I’ll remember that in future.’

‘Good, Carmen…a ‘future’ you say?’ he says easily. ‘So what do you have for me…on the matter we talked about, you…Manuel and I?’ He met her look. ‘Where is Manuel, by the way?’

‘He has left me to deal with you in this…’

Pablo startled her by suddenly standing up. ‘I’m sorry…I’m forgetting my manners. Can I get you an iced drink of some kind?’

‘No, no thanks…’ Carmen drew the two files, that she had brought with her, across the table. She lifted her face for an instant and brushed away at her silken black hair. She sought to draw his attention back upon her. ‘Manuel and I have been working for one client that we found has a network that is too big for us to deal with properly…’

Carmen was disconcerted to see him pull out the chair next to her and to sump down on it, a brilliant smile creasing his face once more as he met her startled look his way.

‘Are you wanting to trade in that lead for something…a better offer than the one I have already made to you?’ He lounged back in the chair and looked at her. ‘It’s a start, Carmen…go on.’

She turned her gaze away from him. The man did have his ways of drawing you in, the piercing look of his eyes, almost imperceptible pout of his lips, even in the way that he sat so casually as Pablo took in everything about her.

‘I’ve done my homework, Pablo…your laundry services could do with a boost and the people I’m talking of will bring you that…perhaps more with some added investment.’

‘Even at the discount on the take-over price I’d be looking for, from you and Manuel. You know that I never pay full price…don’t you?’

‘There will be no discount, Pablo,’ she sighed for effect and gazing at him provocatively, on a flick of one hand to her hair. ‘Manuel and I won’t trade the lead at anything less than it’s fully worth. I certainly won’t. I’m practical, not an idealist in these matters…and that’s how Manuel and I have kept things afloat.’

Pablo nodded, engaged by her certain ways of speaking; beguiled by what she had to offer him. ‘All of that in the woman I’m now looking at…’

She looked back at him evenly.

‘Yes, but the price would be one thing. The deal I’m after would come with an added bonus and is so in tune with the times we’re all living through…some more than others.’

‘It’s one favour in exchange for another?’ he observes, his voice deepening and his look upon her disbelieving. ‘What are you selling?’

Before he can slow Carmen in her actions she stands up and tugs away her blouse, fully reveals the tight fit of her camisole top that seems like a second skin. Her breasts are perfectly outlined, her nipples she has felt brushed hard by the fabric. The soft voluptuous swell of her waist is exposed above the rim of her slacks.

‘Work and pleasure?’ he grins up at her.

‘You could say that…’ she retorts on a shrug of her slender shoulders. She has seen his eyes drift over her, the suggestive slide of his tongue over his lips.

Carmen moves quickly to shut the door. She knows that he has followed her step for step. She locks it, now feels him stand close and sees him step from side to side as if inspecting her.

‘Your Manuel’s a lucky guy, but…but he can’t afford to have you play around…with just anyone.’

‘That’s so and I’m not playing, this is business…’ she snaps even as he stands behind her and she entwines her fingers with his as he claims her. The bulge she has seen in his trousers can now be felt pressed against her bum, what he will bring to her and that others have been heard to speak of…the man’s hung like a horse…el caballo.

She can not restrain him. Pablo tugs Free her top and draws it up over her head. His hands claim her breasts, his lips kiss her neck and throat; her bared shoulders.

Carmen gasps in response to the ferocity of his claims upon her, the snatch of kisses to her mouth, the press of his lips to her breastbone and the push of his hands to her breasts until their swell and cleavage are exposed to his gaze.

‘Take me to you,’ he commands as his hand caresses the swell of her belly and unfastens her jeans; slides down beneath the waist band then hem of her panties; before his fingers tug on her hair as they slowly, searchingly, enter her, part her slicked lips and he fingers her in long strokes, makes circles inside her, his Hot breaths of pleasure on her skin. Carmen’s hands clamp fiercely on his trousers, and he stifles his cries against one shoulder, then another, even as his touches bring her on. ‘Anda…anda, belleza! No detengas!’

She continues in her claims, as he has demanded of her, Carmen’s shivers and gasps are in time with his calls to her. She is lost in the wildness of what he does, the sudden rise of his passion to take her after fleeting moments of foreplay. She doesn’t need that; she is wet and she’s ready for him.

‘More…I want more!’ she cries; twisting in his embrace and feels his mouth crash against her lips, his tongue like a snake and pushing deep into her throat in flickering probes and swirls.

‘You are an expert negotiator, Carmen…beautiful enough to fuck for a deal…and I want that.’

She laughs. ‘Don’t you think I know that?’

She presses his hands to her breasts; guides his head to them and leans back in his embrace as he squeezes them, pinches her hard nipples and tugs on them…all the while she clamps on his straining prick.

‘I want you…’

‘I’m sure you do. I just want you to know how much it will cost you to get there…Pablo!’

His fingers find and caress once more and he rubs gently. She breathes little gasps of delight and finds that she is enjoying selling herself to the man, his stubble beard gently grazing her skin. The man knows more than a few tricks just to have her lose it while they stand in his office, she naked and there for him to claim.

‘What else are you good at?’ she gasps.

‘In a moment. Right now you’re loving this, aren’t you?’ he asks, sinking two fingers inside of her once more, the fierce grip of her hand unable to restrain Pablo in his claims upon her.

Carmen’s unaware that he has guided her to the edge of the table. She feels its edge dig into the back of her thighs.

‘Oh…here?’

‘Si…here…. you’re so wet I think you’re ready for me now.’

‘I… I am.’

‘Say it! ‘I’m ready for you now’.’

‘I’m ready for you Pablo…’ she answers in a small voice. The man’s good but he wants to control her; even to demean her.

‘I’m ready for you Señor Mendoza….’

To hear herself speak the words make her feel sick for the depravity of the situation, one that she had sought to control but no longer. She shouldn’t be so honest with the man, but she does want it now. The man’s strong and she knows what he will bring to her. Whatever he does, now, she is complicit in the act…she will…she will seduce a better deal from him for allowing Pablo to really know of her.

‘I hope so, because this is all your fault…your new reality.’ His embrace upon her lessens and he steps away. ‘Sit on the edge of the table…lean back and let me look at you, woman…’

Carmen does as he asks; feels his fingertips caress her parted legs, caress her thighs and then smooth over her belly and slit before he steps away, kicking off his shoes as he does so. He strips before her and flaunts a muscled, hairy torso. Her eyes follow Pablo’s every move as he unashamedly tugs at his belt, fiercely tugs down his fly before he steps up to her.

‘Finish it…pull me out!’

‘Pablo…I…I…’ she hears her voice quiver in wild animalistic fear as she pulls his trembling prick Free. ‘Ai…ai…hombre!’

He’s huge, his penis thick and veined, the tip a dark glistening pink and she feels him take her wrists and has her claim him, to stroke over his hard, arcing length and squeeze on his sac. The gossips have it all wrong; the man’s like a beast and hungers for her to know of him and what he brings.

‘I wasn’t expecting you to learn of it and so soon, Carmen…you wonder!

‘Put on a rubber!’ she cries out even as he tugs open the drawer that she is unaware is beneath the table top that she sits on. He leans forward to taste her as he pulls one with practised ease out of the drawer.

‘Help me with it!’ he growls, feeling her hair brush his chest as she looks down and completes the task with trembling hands, smooths the roll of rubber over him. She sees it stretch until it is a thin veil on his prick and bulbous tip.

‘Now…now we negotiate for real, Carmensita…you wonder…you lustful wonder…go on…do it!’

Pablo pounces on her like a demented beast. He pulls her over the shiny table top and gripping her legs fiercely as he is taken to her, that swollen prick thrusting into her body without reprieve or any cares for her.

She yelps as he moves deep inside her, as he; thrusts and sways his hips, all the while fiercely clamping her breasts and bending down to suck upon them. He tugs on her erect nipples until she screams out in pain and abject pleasure. He slides and thrusts into her with frenetic ease her cries of dismay spurring him on.

‘Woman…woman! You feel so fucking good!’

‘And you! And you Pablo…!’

This well-dressed, silk skinned, brute of a man uses his hands to push her legs back further. He artfully draws her fully onto him as he begins to swell inside her, slams against her spot with perfection and in an unrelenting rhythm.

‘Finish it! I can’t stop them!’ she yells on wrapping her arms about him. The man’s a predator and a gifted lover, every part of his body is overpowering her. She is filled perfectly, deeply, energetically and lustfully.

‘Come woman…come on!’

‘Oh…oh, you animal!’ she screams in response to the searing pleasure the man brings to her, the vigor of his thrusts wrecking any remaining control she had over him. His hard prick, its length, offers her no reprieve. Neither do his hands as he keeps her to him, as they squeeze her breasts as if to tear them from her body, his mouth feasting upon them.

She hears a deep guttural groan then feels the tingling rushes of his release as if the condom is not on that straining, plunging prick of his that would break her.

‘Yes…me too!’ she yells, feeling amazed that she has borne the torment of their coupling for what seems so long. He’s claimed her like no man has ever made her feel before, and certainly not her darling husband, Manuel.

‘How would it go…if…if we went to bed?’

‘You may find out,’ she smiles, shivering as the man withdraws from her and she takes in just what he has brought to her, his flesh still firm, the condom glistening from her juices. ‘You may find out, Pablo…if I have a deal…what we began by talking about?’

He smiles, his bearded face ceased with lines and his wondering eyes taking in the beauty of her. ‘I’ve forgotten where we began…’

‘No you haven’t! You won’t fool me…mot in that…or what we’ve just done.’

She watched him leave her, saw the flexing of his buttock muscles as he walked to a room that she soon saw was a tiled Shower room. Carmen followed him. The sagging condom was soon tugged off and flushed away.

‘Come her!’ Pablo embraced her, crushed her body to him and kissed her deeply in open-mouthed kisses that took her breath away. She broke Free of these wild claims upon her. ‘I’ll make the deal as long as you run the business and work for me. I’ll find Manuel a place…’

‘Go and get another condom…we need to settle the deal properly,’ she smiled, standing naked before him. ‘I’m a realist, as I told you, Pablo.’

‘And you can’t get enough of me?’

‘Time will tell…now go! Do as I say. I’ve got a business to run…just as you have, Pablo, so time is precious.’

She was past caring how to keep her business going in impossibly difficult and uncertain times. Pablo had it all…all that she no longer got, in quite these ways as with a lover, when she sought it from Manuel, and she cared about that a great deal.

With Pablo it was all about business. With Manuel it was about loving and getting through to better times, somehow.

She would be patient and do what she had to in making her deeply held hopes fly Free once more.

♥