Paulette Du Bois of Ranchland Oil may have been in that foggy bottom age between forty and forty-five, but she was dressed for game that night when Nathan Warner met her. Nathan didn't know then that it took her two hours to app1y her makeup so that it would take a microscope to find those spider-web wrinkles of the night before on
her face. Her features reminded him of a beautiful Japanese wax doll, especially when he saw she had her hair done up in the curious Oriental manner she used.
Paulette was wearing the most gorgeous-colored Japanese kimono he'd ever seen. Sexy as all hell! And those kimonos cost like hell, too.
She looked silly. She bowed low to him when she opened the door. Then raised up quickly. Her movements were jerky. and awkward. Bitch! Nathan thought. Why the hell. don't American women realize they can't wear kimonos?
"Do you like my kimono?" she asked, trying to delicately spin around for him.
"And how! Do I!" he said. "You were my lucky night."
"I hope so," she said.
"But why the special rig?"
"For our Japanese dinner," she said. "We'll have Japanese sukiyaki tonight, and I just knew you'd love me to wear a kimono. I'm small, like Japanese women.
"Paulette, you're great. Sukiyaki sounds terrific." He didn't really like it. Chinese food was his fare, not Japanese. But he could take it.
"You have a valid driver's license, don't you?" she asked.
"Sure, why?"
"I've arranged for a rental car."
"I'll be damned!" he said, then remembered Buck Pappas. He asked to use the phone. Hell, since he was going out with her, Paulette could just
as well hear. Might make a point.
"Paulette, I've got to call the club. I di4w't geta chance yet."
"Sure," she said, unconcerned.
He dialed the club number. Buck Pappas came on like a demon. Nathan had to shake his ear and hod the receiver out six inches. Pappas was talking Greek, English, and a little Egyptian as well. It culminated with: "Where in the hail are you?"
"Buck, I'm sorry, but I can't make it. Something important."
The receiver smoked. Buck started calling Nathan an assortment of names.
"Look, big boss man. You. can't squawk. I got last week's money coming."
Buck called him some more dirty names.
"Screw you," Nathan said. "I can't make it." He saw Paulette had paused and was listening. Buck hung up on him. Nathan covered real quick by talking. "Okay, Buck I know how much it means to you. I value your friendship. I won't let you down, if that's the only way you'll pay me for last week. I'll be there. I'll just have to explain to someone."
He was talking into a dead phone but Paulette was listening now with both ears. When Nathan turned to her, he screwed up his face. "Empress, he called, to her. "This is terrible. I can't let the club down. You heard. He owes me for last week, and if I don't play tonight, he won't pay me a cent. Gee, honey, I'm sorry.." he said. She was watching him.
"It's the only way, honey. I got to show up," he added.
"Is it the responsibility or the money that worries you?"
"Honey, it's both. But the pinch is worse on me because Buck can get by without me for one night, but I can't get by without the money."
She walked to the couch and picked up her purse. "How much does this club owner owe you, my dear?" she asked.
It was working. He thought quick. "Twenty bucks a night… five nights a week and twenty for last night."
She opened her purse and took out a roll of bills and handed them to him. "Please count out $120 for your services and consider that you are paid," she paid.
It was his turn to be petrified. He knew he looked stupid with the roll in his hand, but he did as he was told. The roll must have come to at least $800. He handed her the balance of it.
"Paulette, I don't know what to say." He didn't really. This was far better than the eighty he was hoping for and the dinner was yet to come.
"Please don't talk about it any more then," she said. "It's just as well. Perhaps I have something that may interest you. I need a driver while I'm here in L.A."
So this was the angle. Nathan Warner didn't hesitate. He took hold of her hands. "I'm the man, sweetheart," he said. "I'll be your slave, Empress."
"But first, I must see if you're a good driver or
not."
She looked at him curiously. He knew what she was getting at. He felt suddenly like a lamb going to slaughter. He'd have to figure her out later.
"Didn't I pass last night?" he asked.
"One cannot judge with only one test," she replied.
"Well then, when do we start?" he asked.'
She got on the phone again and asked for her car to be brought around front. She didn't wear a coat over her Japanese kimono but she did pull a velvet black shawl around her shoulders. They went down the elevator and out through the lobby. Jackie Kennedy couldn't have gotten. more attention. It embarrassed Nathan, but the widow was oblivious to the stares she received.
Out front, Nathan figured she had something rented like a Rambler or Ford. Not so. A big black Caddy was sitting there as big and formidable as a Roman chariot and looked as much to Nathan.
They got in, with proper doorman assistance. The desk clerk came running out with the papers for the car…all smiles for her, and looking down his nose at Nathan. The kimono, the Cadillac, the clerk, the stares; all irritated the hell out of Nathan. He cursed under his breath. "Fuckin' nut!"
Paulette reached over and turned the key for him. It was one of the little hidden things in the maze of dashboard decor. They got out into the street in one piece. He could feel Paulette laughing at him under her silence.
"You've used a Cadillac before, I see," he said sourly.
"Of course. My husband and I used a new one each year."
"Empress, I don't mean to be personal, but when did your husband die?"
"Of course not," she said, serious enough. "Two months ago."
"I'll be damned!"
"What you mean, Nathan dear, is that you're surprised that I went with you so quickly."
"If truth you want, truth you'll get. Yes."
"Do you want to know my story now or later?" "Split it, sweetheart."
"I don't understand."
"Tell me half now and half later."
She laughed and inched closer. "My husband died of a heart attack. Quite suddenly. He was in London. I went there for his body. I sent his body home to Houston, and traveled to the Orient. I'd just flown in when we met. I didn't go to his funeral. He would have wanted it like that."
"Sweetheart, since we're truthful, I'll ask something else. Did you love your husband?"
"Love? I respected him deeply, and isn't respect as valuable as love?"
"Relative, little girl, relative, in my opinion."
"He loved me deeply and that was more important."
"Do you have anything to do with. Ranchland Oil now?"
"I own Ranchland Oil. My husband left the
company to me. He was very independent and very successful. We owned all the stock." She laughed. She knew from his expression that it puzzled him.
She went on: "My husband was a very good businessman. He surrounded himself with good men. It, would not be good for me to actively participate in the owning of the business, so I take long vacations and live any place I choose.'?
Nathan found himself wondering suddenly what kind of man her husband had been.. He wanted to ask more, but he didn't.
"Do you have any children?" he asked.
He saw a cloud pass over her face, an tried a guessing game. She had children! She did not reply right away.
"Perhaps that's the half that I'll tell you about some other time." "Good girl." he said. "Well, boss lady, you re the financier, so where do you want this driver to drive?" He tried to brighten things.
"Little Tokyo," she said. "I have a reservation at the New Ginza!"
'They had a terrific time, bantering and joking through dinner, then wandering down Hollywood Boulevard before heading back to the hotel.
He was still happy though, and once inside the hotel room he asked Paulette for another drink. She ordered a bottle of Scotch and had it sent up while. he was in the bathroom before he had a chance to tell her that Scotch left him hung over like Herod the day after. He really drank only bourbon.
She mixed him a Scotch and soda, and fixed one for herself; then she disappeared into the bedroom half of the suite and started changing her kimono. He could hear her humming little snatches of tunes to herself. He reined on the sofa, kicked off his shoes, then remembered to stand up and get his coat and tie off.
Finally she came out in a little blue and white cotton thing shaped like a wrap-around beach towel. It had the same effect on Nathan because she didn't have anything else on. He knew because he reached around and found out. She pulled his hand back out from underneath the fold-over.
"Nathan is a naughty boy!"
"Then mix me another one, boss lady, please, ma'am!"
She leaned over and kissed him instead. It was then he noticed the little wrinkles again.
"Phew, Empress!" he said. "You're really something. Go on, mix that drink. Otherwise I'll lose steam at the top of the hill!"
She laughed. She was right, this old girl. She fixed his drink and nibbled at his ear while he sipped it.
"I like you, Nathan," she said.
He pulled her to him and felt her tits beneath the cotton smock. She kicked off her slippers and curled up in his arms and let him play with her. As different as she was from Nancy, there was something about her that excited him. She undid his belt and his hard prick sprang out. By now, he
wasn't thinking about much else.
And that that's where things started fading for Nathan. The saki, dinner, and now the Scotch all added up. Re remembered reaching for her and pulling tier down onto the deep pile carpet. He pulled the belt off her dressing towel and opened it. That small, creamy body, even if it was rough-hauled, turned him on in a big way. He kissed her tits and bit hard on one.
"Ouch! Nathan, please!"
He pressed his body against her and felt himself falling. Over. and over, spinning, going, gone! Although things were foggy, maybe he noticed then he didn't really know that all this while she just lay there with her legs straight out and face turned to one side. That was strange.. She stirred and kissed him. She reached over and tickled his stomach.. Then she eased him back onto his back.
"You're drunk," she said, touching the tip of his nose with her finger.,
"Gloriously so darling!"
She got up and started pulling his clothes off. He tried to help, but couldn't. Vaguely, he remembered that she went to the bathroom and came out with a wet wash towel.
Paulette got him to his feet and he staggered around to the bed. She began kissing him again. No man could drop off to sleep with that He started to pull her down beside him but she said no, she would make love to him.
Nathan was really vague by then, but it was glorious. There he was naked, and she ran her
hands over his body, over his arms… down his 1egs… across his chest. She felt and massaged every nook and muscle she could find. The massage was soothing and all he had to do was enjoy it. He half dozed and got ready to make love to her again.
"No, don't exert yourself. I love to look at your body. You're so handsome. Let me massage you," she said. She did! Dainty little twinkle-fingers walking up and down his spine and he loved it.
That was the night she did something strange for the first time. He didn't think anything about it then, because he had been drinking.
"Nathan, darling," she said. "I want to do something different. Do you mind?"
He understood her. For some reason, he didn't care. He imagined Paulette might want to do something odd. What she did was odd enough, all right, but he wasn't sober enough to realize it then.
"Sweetheart, you just go right ahead."
"Then close your eyes!"
He did, but nothing happened right away. She just kept tickling and kissing him. He drifted off to. sleep. He felt his hands and legs being moved about.., but this was part of the sensuous pleasure he was enjoying. He was vaguely conscious that she was giving him some ever-so-light flat hand slaps around his legs and hips. It stung but he didn't really mind. Not then, anyway.
Nathan wanted to turn over. He pulled, but his arms wouldn't move. Little Paulette giggled. He opened his eyes, and pulled again. He woke up, groggy
"Don't be silly, darling," she said. "Just sleep."
He tried shaking his head to clear it. He wanted to know what it was she liked to do. It seemed to Nathan his legs were stuck to something.
"Nathan, guess what! I've put tape on your arms and legs and tied you to the bed,"
"Damn my soul. You have?" he said groggily. He looked and there were two-inch wide bands of tape around his wrists and ankles and running off the edge of the bed. The joke was on him. He laughed. "Empress, you got yourself a slave now."
"I like to watch your body this way," she said. Oh, well. Everybody's got a different tuning fork.. Some vibrate on various levels. He tried to turn his wrist so he could check his watch, but Paulette had already taken it off his arm. It couldn't last long. he, figured. He'd go soon. "Honey, enjoy what you like," he said.
"Can I, Nathan, darling?"
"Sure" And there's more for sale, he wanted to
say.
She kissed him, all soft and tender, and started massaging again. He wasn't uncomfortable so he drifted off. Then he became conscious of her patting him again just enough to cause a stinging sensation. She was busy at it. It hurt a little.
"Whoa there girl," be said. "A beat mule can't work, you know."
She just laughed – little tickling sounds, he was later to recall She popped him a few good flat-handed licks and let it go at that. She started twinkle-fingering him again. Ah, this was pleasure,
he thought.
But then, to Nathan's horror, he saw Paulette held a leather whip in her hand! She began to lash the bare flesh of his legs, and the whole scene took on a wild, weird frenzy that, even in his grogginess, Nathan found both repellent and overwhelming in excitement. Feverishly, Paulette brought the whip down twice three times, the urgency of her strong tensions most apparent as the whip again thrust up and down like a flickering light.
He could see in her eyes that she wanted to become more frantic in her attack on his bristling fresh. It was evident, too, that she wanted to have his pain mount in intensity as her own urgency increased and yearned to be released. Her fiery eyes said she wanted to come this way; some of that explosion found its way to Nathan's bare legs, and his wandering brain had to come to grips with the fact that this was real.
Paulette's face left no doubt of what had. happened. It was real, all right. She was in ecstasy! Then she put down the whip and kissed each little bruise on his legs, licked them warmly. All pain disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. And Paulette was smiling! A sort of victory smile…
His head was bursting for sleep. Shortly afterward, he felt her on his stomach. Vaguely, he knew he had to get with it. He wished he hadn't played so long because when a man doesn't feel like marching up the walls of Jericho and blowing the bugles, it's hell. He tried remembering the money. Nathan was working at it when it
happened for her all little moans, quivers, tremors, animal cries, squeaks. and hisses. The works. Paulette was something to behold when she went into orbit, he realized. He was glad that she'd been satisfied at last for of course it was with his diligent assistance. He opened his eyes and it was dark. Damn. She'd turned the lights off and he didn't know it.
She turned around, found his ear and whispered. "Thank you, Nathan darling."
"Anytime, Empress," he said. 'I'm your driver, remember."
"You will be more to me. Much, much more," she said. "I like you very much. I need you."
For some reason, Nathan felt an ice-cold prick of intuition twist in his stomach. The tone of her voice, perhaps. A last thought of Nancy came to his wind. He'd cross that bridge tomorrow. He was beat. He dozed off to a long and deep sleep. The last thing he remembered was Paulette being very easy and gentle as she undid the heavy tape from his wrists and ankles.