untethered breasts slip just beyond his reach. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though.”
It's for the best, he thought. She's just a distraction.
2.
“After you fill out the paperwork, I'll have Alexis put you straight to work,” Lola said.
Jack hated paperwork and now that he knew the lingerie store wasn't a criminal front, he was a little worried about keeping the job. But he was also pretty sure that Lola was too stupid to realize that she was hiring a felon.
Jack looked back at Alexis as she pulled skimpy, lacy bras out of the boxes. He briefly imagined her perfectly shaped, orange sized breasts filling a particular white lace bra she was carrying. The way her black-as-a-starless-void skin stood out against the white almost stopped his heart from beating. Alexis was simply the most beautiful woman Jack had ever seen and he was going to have a really hard time pretending to be gay around her.
Jack successfully pulled the wool over Lola's eyes with the paperwork. Jack had always been a smooth talker and Lola was no exception. She hardly even noticed that Jack was a felon. Almost a week had gone by at work with no mishaps and he and Alexis seemed to be getting along rather well. Jack had learned, much to his delight, that once he learned the ropes, he could go on outings with Alexis to wealthy women's houses for specialty fittings and deliveries. These trips would provide the perfect cover for casing these wealthy homes.
“Morning, Jack!”
Alexis greeted Jack and pinched him on his thigh, just below his butt. She had taken to doing this since the second day. Jack was sure that if she knew what it did to him, she would no longer do it. For her it was just an affectionate pinch of a gay friend. For Jack, it was torture as her beautiful, long ebony fingers would grab a part of his sensitive flesh.
“Good morning, Alexis,” Jack said, putting his arm around her waist and giving her a long hug.
In some ways, pretending to be gay had its benefits. He could touch Alexis often, but every time he did, he had an urge to do something that he could not.
“Today's your lucky day,” she said.
“Lucky cause I get to work with you?” Jack said and winked.
“Sure thing. But really, I'm taking you to the Van Dedema estate today,” she said.
It was Jack's lucky day. Jack had been drooling over the Van Dedema estate for years, but they had a massive, state of the art security system that Jack was not stupid enough to try and beat. And old Mrs. Van Dedema was a notorious prude. Jack would have no chance of charming his way in unless he was a homosexual lingerie salesman, although he couldn't imagine her ever needing lingerie.
“I thought that she was the worst prude on the planet,” Jack said to Alexis just as Lola walked into the store.
“Ugh, she is,” Lola said, swinging her purse behind the counter. “She's the worst. But she pays so well. I feel like it is my American duty to take her money from her.”
“We special-make all of her lingerie,” Alexis said, explaining about the quirks of one of their wealthiest clients. “She has specific modesty requirements.”
Jack laughed and picked up a nearby bra that had no fabric over the breast area. He had often envisioned Alexis wearing one.
“Do you think that this will cut it?” Jack asked, smiling, holding the bra up.
Alexis rolled her eyes and snatched the bra away from him. “You can be so childish sometimes,” she said.
Jack liked how she would pretend to be annoyed with him. She would huff and puff and act exasperated when he would do something silly. But she also always had a tiny smile in the corner of her mouth that let Jack know she found his joke funny, too.
“Alright you two, better not keep the old prude waiting too long,” she said. “And Alexis, for God's sake, put on a bra and something to cover yourself up. And try to keep your mouth shut.”
“Yeah, I'll try, but if she calls me ‘that pretty little Negress’
Joakim Zander
John Lutz
Jean Webster
R.J. Wolf
Richard Carpenter
Jacqueline Davies
Kim Lawrence
Cheryl T. Cohen-Greene
Laurel McKee
Viola Rivard