An Excerpt From: Late Night Commute

© Copyright Lois Bonde, 2003.

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave, Inc.

Maybe it was his confident air made Karli less wary than she probably should have been.  He was a businessman, the type she called a "suit".  No doubt very respectable, probably married, he was definitely dressed for success.  The presence of "suits" always made her feel safe on the subway at night.

She had just concluded no one would be sitting by her when she looked up to see the tall handsome "suit" she'd spotted on the platform.  He was here.  On her train!

Karli smiled and he returned it in spades.  He tossed his briefcase on the seat opposite her and sat in the aisle seat beside it.  With deafening clangs that echoed inside the car, the doors closed and the train lurched into motion.

"At least we get our choice of seats at this hour," he said easily with a grin.  He sat back and allowed his legs to stretch out under her bench seat.  One leg leaned against hers and he made no effort to avoid that touch.

She glanced down to see the soft wool of his trousers stretched tightly over his muscular thighs.  His overcoat had separated when he sat down.  His legs were relaxed and spread apart.  Before she started imagining what else the wool was stretched over, she shifted in her seat to put several inches between their legs.  She looked up to see him smiling.  He had seen her check him out.  A new rush of warmth rose across her neck to her temples.

"Getting a good seat is the only advantage."  God, she liked his smile.  His lips were full and his teeth clean and straight.  She wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips right now.

"Do you work near here?"  He shifted in his seat.  His leg fell against hers again.

Karli straightened and slid her hips all the way back in her seat, again leaning her legs away from him.  But to do so meant her knee rested against the side of the car.  He had her boxed in.  If he moved toward her again, she would have to think of alternatives.  Or was she just being silly?  She finally nodded.  "Yes."  She tried to smile a neutral little smile.

The lights on the train suddenly flashed off for several seconds that felt like minutes.  Though the train did that every night, it never failed to worry her.  Especially tonight with the man sitting so close.

Karli felt a sudden pressure on the inside of her knees.  She gasped.  The lights switched on again.  She looked down to discover that, in the darkness, the man had moved so that he was sitting directly opposite her.  He had slid one of his legs in between hers.  He leaned forward a bit and pressed his knees together, trapping one of hers between them.

Her hips were and already pressed against the back of the seat, and she knew she couldn't avoid the contact—not unless she changed seats.  She'd do it.  But before she could rise to move away, the man leaned forward in his seat slightly and pushed up her short skirt with his knee.  He increased the pressure and gripped her thigh between his knees.

"You don't want to move away," he said confidently.  "We're just getting to know each other."  His smile remained, but she thought it was not as friendly as before.

Karli looked up and down the train car and saw that no one was paying any attention to her and the man.  She thought she could scream bloody murder, and they probably wouldn't pay any attention to her.  But she didn't want to cause a scene.  No telling what the guy would do then.

She only had twenty more minutes on this train and then she could escape from his attentions by getting off.  She took a deep breath and tried to lift her knee from between his.  But lifting her leg had been the wrong thing to do.  His knees clamped on her calf, keeping her knee high, and he blatantly stared up under her raised skirt.  She pressed down on her skirt between her thighs but it was too short and too tight.  She reached to push his knee away.  His hand captured hers and pulled it up toward his groin, forcing her to lean forward.  He spread her fingers and pressed her palm high on his thigh.  She felt the power in his muscular legs and knew that if it came to a race, she could not outrun him—even if she'd remembered to put on her jogging shoes before leaving the office.  She'd bet he jogged as often as he could.

"You have lovely legs.  You shouldn't mind showing them off a little."  He slid his free hand along the inside of her raised knee and dipped his middle finger into the fold behind her knee where her skin was so sensitive.  He slid it out and then plunged it back in the fold repeatedly in a rhythm that could not be misunderstood.  The sensation raised goose flesh over her legs.

The train screeched to a stop at the next station, surprising them both.  She yanked her hand free from his.  She tightened her grip on her shoulder straps and rose to flee when he stood suddenly and pushed her off balance.  She fell back down into the same seat where she'd been sitting.  He swung around and sat down beside her as the doors slammed open.  It probably looked like she had moved over to give him more room beside her.

Tugging her briefcase and purse from between them, he swung them onto the opposite seat.  From there he slid his hand under skirt and along her inner thigh.

She stared into his steel gray eyes that were so close to hers.  "Get you hand off me right now or I'll scream," she warned in a hushed but stern voice.

"Not if you don't want to get embarrassed.  Or hurt," he countered with a shrug.  He relaxed and leaned his shoulder on the seatback so that he faced her and pointedly tapped his coat over his breast pocket.  "Just relax and enjoy a little fun."

She imagined a knife or a weapon of some sort hidden there.  Her eyes widened as she looked at him.  She tried to swallow the lump in her throat.  Her mouth was so dry her tongue felt like it was sticking to the roof.  Taking a deep breath, she willed her heart to slow its erratic beat.  Frantically, she tried to imagine how she would exit the train and escape from him.  She slowly became aware that all of his fingers on her thigh were sliding back and forth a couple of inches in a soothing manner.  His hand felt warm even through her suit skirt.  But it didn't stay there long.

"My hand wasn't really on you there, like it is now."  He had slid his hand to the hem of her skirt and slipped it underneath the fabric.  He moved his shoulder over against hers so they were sitting as near as possible.

"Now we're close enough to hear each other over this noisy subway car," he said as if in explanation.  He was so close to her that she felt his hot breath when he spoke.  It smelled minty.  He must have been sucking on little breath mints.  She wished it was boozy or unpleasant so she could hate him for it.  "Where did you say you work?" he asked, his hand not moving except for the little circles his fingers were drawing on the inside of her thigh.

"Um.  In the Fielding building," she lied.  She couldn't just sit here and take this, but what could she do?

"That's funny.  I don't remember seeing you around there."

Was that where he worked?  She wasn't going to ask, but she stored the information in her memory in case it would be helpful later in identifying him.

The train started with shuddering jerks and they both lurched forward.  His hand shot out as if to protect her but instead, it had slipped between the deep lapels on her coat and suit jacket. The small buttons on her blouse quickly gave way as he reached in and unhooked the front clasp on her bra.  Shocked, she gasped as pushed the bra aside and lifted her breast on his palm and began gently kneading it. Smiling, he removed his hand long enough to wet the tip of his index finger. Then he rubbed the tightening nipple with the dampened digit.

"Nice," he whispered.  "Very nice."

When he pinched the hardening tip, she uttered a little cry.  She tried to will her body not to respond to his touch, but the combination of fear and desire was doing strange things to her.  "Please stop," she pleaded without looking at him.  She clutched his wrist and tried to push it away.  It didn't budge except to slide over to the other breast and raise that one to attention, too.  She dropped her hand to her lap.  He was definitely a lot stronger than she was.

Now that she wasn't pushing on his arm anymore, he calmly unbuttoned both her topcoat and her suit jacket.  She closed her eyes and couldn't bear to look down as he slid his hand inside her blouse.

His fingers drew a line along the curved outline of her breasts from one bra strap to the other, and then came back to the center to dip down into her cleavage.  With a twist of his wrist, his hand was kneading her breasts one at a time.  Her nipples felt tight and eager for his touch.

"I hope my hands aren't too cold," he said softly.

She opened her eyes and looked over his shoulder.  No one could see what he was doing.  No one was going to stop him.  She had to think of something to do.  She had to stop him.

The lights from another station came into view and finally he slowly retracted his hand from inside her coat without bothering to redo the buttons.  Karli buttoned her coat again and glanced over her shoulder.  The train was nearly empty now after several more passengers exited.  Even the man who'd been sleeping across the aisle had pulled himself up and walked out the open door.  She had to get off before she was all alone with the man beside her.

"This is my stop," she lied.  "I have to get off here."

"No, it's not."  He chuckled and then clucked his tongue.  "How can a nice girl like you tell a lie like that?  I've been watching you, sweet thing.  I know where your stop is."  He laughed at the fear that must have been reflected in her face.

The doors slammed shut with a finality that made her shudder.  The remaining passengers were all far behind them.  They couldn't see what the man was doing to her and they couldn't hear them unless she shouted.  Or screamed.

And he knew it.

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