Power Dating 4

Sitting at the bar enjoying the company of his third scotch in as many minutes, Ted was shocked to hear Karen’s voice once more. For a second he thought he might’ve managed to wallow in loneliness so thoroughly that now he was hearing things, but as pathetic as it was, he had to turn around to be sure.

It was her!

Karen stood in the doorway, her eyes so bright that Ted didn’t think he’d ever be able to live up to how she saw him. But he had to try. He jumped off his stool and ran to her.

“Oh, Ted!” she cried, throwing her arms around him as soon as he was close enough.

She felt full and knew that this emotion was the reward for coming so quickly back to his presence. It was so good to feel his care for her, his desire for her, and not just for her body, but for all of her.

Wanting him as she hadn’t wanted anyone in a long time, Karen pulled him closer, as close as she could get him without hurting the man, and pushed her lips up against his. Tasting the pleasing sting of scotch in his mouth and on his tongue and on the damp insides of his lips as she kissed as much of him as she could, trying to say that she was his. That she would give as much of herself to him as he could take.

Karen and Ted, she thought. Or Ted and Karen. It made no difference when they both wanted the same thing and so much of it.

After their lips had finally come free of each other, Ted pulled back and cupped her face gently in his hands. “I can’t believe it. It’s like it was meant to be.”

“If it isn’t, let’s act like it is,” Karen said. “Take me home. If you don’t know how badly I need you after that last kiss…”

Their arms around each other now, they left slowly, knowing there was no rush, even wanting to slow down and further enjoy the moment that had brought them together.

***

The metal lock clicked around the key and the door notched open. Ted swung it to let Karen enter. He followed her in, noticing the apartment was decorated in Early American, well-cleaned and well-heeled.

“Give me a minute,” Karen said without turning around. “I want to slip into something more comfortable. Pour me a drink and then give yourself one too.”

He did as she wanted and then looked around the apartment, giving everything a curious once-over. Karen wasn’t closed off, exactly, but she was opaque. It made him wonder what things she chose to keep around her and why.

Like this nutcracker. Why would a woman who could juggle cement trucks want a nutcracker in her place?

Hell, she was keeping him around—maybe there was just no accounting for taste.

“Like it?” Karen asked, returning from the bedroom in a red satin robe. “It’s not much, but it’s mine.”

“It’s something,” Ted said, figuring that was about the least he could get away with.

Karen’s face fell a little. “I don’t have a Fortress of Solitude. If I go out, it’s as Power Girl or Karen Starr—never Kara Zor-L. So when I’m here, I want it to be all me.”

Ted held up the nutcracker. “You like cracking nuts?”

Karen smiled at the doll. “I like humans. This thing is very human. You need nuts cracked—a Kryptonian would just make a little gadget. You make a doll. You tell stories about it, put your hearts into it. It doesn’t crack nuts any better, but it’s better.”

Ted blushed. He couldn’t help thinking that Karen would say much the same if someone asked why she was with mortal, powerless him instead of some superpowered alien.

His burst of affection calling to her, Karen went to Ted. She put both arms around him and drew their bodies together, her thigh emerging from her slitted robe to press between his legs. She felt the muscles of his own thighs and the bulge of his manhood, still soft, but slowly growing, responding to her nearness and the burgeoning possibility that she would make use of it.

Ted thought to himself that Karen’s hair smelled softly of rain. It hadn’t stormed that night, but she’d been up there in the clouds and brought some of it down. He crushed his lips to hers and found a startling cold dampness in her lips that could’ve been rainwater too. It soon gave way to heat.

It’d been a long time since he’d had a woman and if he’d wanted a girl as much as he wanted Karen now, that wait would’ve been unbearable. He inhaled deeply, then let go of his hold on her. Ted couldn’t help thinking that if he spoiled this, it wouldn’t be another wacky story to repeat over and over with Booster and the guys. He’d be dirt.

There were too many thoughts running through his mind, all claiming to be the best course of action. He wanted to climb into bed with Karen and make love to her the way she deserved, yet at the same time Ted knew it was so important to him that he might ruin it by psyching himself out.

“Let’s have some coffee,” he said suddenly.

Surprised, Karen let go of him. “I thought that’s what we were here for.” Then she giggled a little to herself.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, sounding worried.

“Nothing. I was just thinking how nice it would be to have a guy who’s a little intimidated by me instead of trying to be a big he-man.”

“Are you alright with a moderately sized he-man?” Ted asked her.

“After tonight, we’ll know.”

Ted went with her into the kitchen, watching the graceful movements of her luscious body as she glided with each step. She’s really something, he thought, musing that it was rare to see a woman as beautiful and voluptuous as Karen—a miracle to even consider having sex with her.

After a few minutes of preparation, she poured hot coffee into his cup. “Take it black?” she asked.

“As long as it’s caffeinated, I’d take it with a hose,” Ted answered absently, thinking more of what he could really say to her, what would take away the tension he felt in both his mind and his body.

“You’ll have to bring your own hose next time,” she said. “And I need to wash all this make-up off. Give me a minute. Enjoy your coffee.”

Ted did, though he followed her to the bathroom while he sipped his coffee. She left the door open, but he didn’t look inside, just listened as the water ran and stood quietly. Looking at the prints of movie stars decorating the opposite wall.

“If you need to use the toilet, it’s in here,” Karen said.

“I gave at the office,” Ted grinned, feeling awkward at this… sham intimacy when the two of them had only just started kissing. “These pictures; you a big fangirl?”

“No, I picked them up on sale and couldn’t think of anywhere else to hang them. I was spending time with Kara and she wouldn’t let me go without them.”

Ted looked through the door and saw Karen in the mirror, bending over the sink and splashing her face in the basin. He carefully registered her natural features emerging from her rouge and blush.

She wasn’t one of those women who slathered on make-up to hide a deficiency in her face. Her cosmetics put a fine point on her looks, that was all. She hardly looked different without it, just a little less poised, a little more real.

It was only something she’d done as a courtesy for him, to look good for him—to show Ted that she wanted to make an effort for him, even when all she needed to do was show up for Ted to consider himself the luckiest man alive.

As Karen bent over, the front of her robe opened up and her breasts swam into view. They hung gently without support and held their perfect shape, beckoning Ted with the fullness of their lazy pink weight.

Karen looked at him from between her wet fingers and saw his stare. She knew that he was trying to keep himself from desiring her too greatly, but there was only so much he could hold back when he wanted her so.

Karen actually felt a little embarrassed to provoke such a reaction from him. It was what she set out to do, with her costume that accentuated her large breasts so perfectly, and now that she had a guy stumbling over himself and treating her bust like the treasure it was, she felt bad for him.

But she knew Ted wasn’t like the guys who would stare at her whether or not she was putting herself on display. He was responding to her provocations. And his responses were provoking her in turn. She knew that when they made love, it wouldn’t be because either of them had seduced the other, but because they both were feeling the same sensual chemistry.

Walking out of the bathroom, drying her hands on her robe, Karen pushed Ted back until she’d landed him in a stuffed chair. She dropped into his lap. “As gratifying as it is to have you lust after me, I don’t think you’re going to stop doing that after you give me an orgasm. So—give.”