Free Silversword by Charles Knief Page A

you going to do anything?” she whispered in my ear.
    â€œI don’t think anything is going to happen.”
    She reached down and touched me, her fingertips lightly brushing me. It was a pleasant feeling, very erotic, but my body responded to no stimuli.
    â€œI think I can make you interested.”
    â€œI don’t know …”
    â€œYou don’t have to try now. Maybe it’s too soon.”
    â€œIt was a good try, Angel. Damned pleasant, in fact.”
    â€œI will stay the night. Maybe I can make you happy.”
    â€œYou have already made me happy, Angel. Not just in the way Chawlie means.”

    She hugged me.
    â€œYou are very gentle for a big man.”
    â€œI’ve learned to be gentle with angels.”
    She made a small sound in her throat that I thought sounded like contentment. I stroked her back, her velvety smooth skin wonderful to the touch.
    â€œWhat are you going to tell Chawlie?”
    â€œI will tell him you were a tiger, that you satisfied me ten times.”
    â€œTen?”
    â€œOkay. Seven. It’s a lucky number. Eight is not a lucky number. It is two times four. I wouldn’t want to give him the wrong impression.”
    â€œThen seven it is.”
    â€œAre you sure you can do nothing?” She raised up and moved against me, making both of very much aware of our nakedness.
    â€œYou would be able to tell.”
    â€œWould you like me to do something with my mouth?”
    â€œNo. Don’t do anything. Just stay the night. If that’s what you want to do.”
    â€œI think I’d better stay. The others will be watching.”
    â€œYou take your job seriously.” I mumbled my last reply, the fuzz from the champagne and the exhaustion of the walk on the beach catching up with me at last. Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt a stirring of something for the girl, a warm feeling, nothing more, and with that warm feeling a stirring in my loins. But it wasn’t much, and it wasn’t profound, and I was certain that she hadn’t noticed.
    She said something I didn’t catch, and I fled this world for the one which we all share when we close our eyes and reach for those places in the corners of our minds that we keep hidden during our wakefulness.
    And later I must have dreamed, but I remembered nothing of the dreams, and nothing of the rest of the night.

9
    Y ou are really improving, Grasshopper!” Felix grinned at me as I stood panting, leaning against the sea wall in front of the Halekalani, one of the opulent, giant hotels along the sugar sand of Waikiki Beach. The concrete structure towered over our heads, providing shade in the middle of an early summer day. Its surface was cold and wet, and it felt good to lean against the smooth concrete after our long hike.
    Felix stood immovable as a wave washed in around us, his feet planted in the sand like a statue rooted on steel rods. I braced myself as the little swell struck, allowing for the backwash. Despite my exhaustion it felt good to be in the sea again, even if was only my toes. The taste of salt in the air was pleasant, too. The sun and the sounds and the taste of the ocean combined to make me feel alive again.
    â€œI walked. You ran,” I grumbled. “And don’t call me Grasshopper.”
    Felix had, indeed, run the whole way, from Diamond Head all the way to the Ala Wai boat harbor and back, sprinting ahead until nearly out of sight, then doubling back, ranging far afield and returning like a faithful dog.
    We had covered a lot of ground, and Felix had covered it twice. It hurt me a little to see how effortlessly he stood there, letting the ocean burst against him.

    â€œI’m pooped,” I said.
    â€œYou’re doing fine.”
    I nodded, hands on my hips, bracing for another wave.
    Then I looked out to sea.
    â€œA week ago you couldn’t do this much.”
    â€œYeah, right.” I started moving toward the end of the sea