I.
Lucy stood on a small platform in the back of one of her favorite dress shops, surrounded by a three-way mirror. A seamstress knelt at the base of the platform, pinning a hem into place as she held a tape measure in her teeth.
Lucy looked silently at the different angles of her reflection. The seamstress was fitting her for a formal gown, to be worn on New Year's Eve at the club, the first that Lucy would celebrate with her husband, although he was technically working. The gown was strapless and she was careful to hold her arms high enough that they weren't stuck by the pins that held the seams in place where it needed to be taken in. "If I had a little bigger bust, it would be perfect," she said quietly and absently, hardly realizing that she had said it out loud.
The seamstress looked up briefly, dropping the tape measure to the floor. "Everybody wants something they haven't got. I see it more than most, dear. You have a very beautiful figure. And the next girl who stands up here will have a bigger bust but wish she had yours!"
Lucy smirked. The seamstress was not a terribly old woman, but she was old enough to be wiser than the young, newly-married customer at whose feet she sat.
Lucy looked again at the gown, a stunning garment for a new year's celebration, constructed of golden chiffon with sparkling faux crystals at the waist. Although she had just a moment ago thought her bust to be too small, she did recognize that the gown displayed a quite a bit of pleasing cleavage. "Do you think it's too low cut," she asked as the seamstress began to stand slowly.
The seamstress chuckled. "For me, yes! But when I'm done with it, it'll fit you beautifully."
Lucy giggled. "Well, leave me with a little! When Ricky finds out how much it is, I'll NEED that."
The seamstress laughed as she held the bottom of the dress to allow Lucy to step down from the platform and into a nearby dressing room.
II.
Several days later, Lucy sat at her vanity, wearing only the delicate formal lingerie that would disappear beneath her gown. Ricky had left for the club hours before and hadn't yet seen the dress, hanging in back of the closet door in a garment bag that was branded with the name of the dress shop. Neither had he seen the price tag, which, after the cost of the tailoring, had soared above eighty dollars.
She tucked rhinestone barrettes into her red curls; they matched the bright stones which adorned the gown. She looked at herself in the mirror, her hair and makeup complete, and worried quietly about the cost of the dress. But she stood up and shook herself free of the anxiety; Ricky had, after all, told her to go buy something new for the occasion. He hadn't limited her to a price, so if she had spent too much, it was his own fault, she reasoned.
She smiled as she removed the gown from its garment bag and laid it grandly on the bed before unclipping it from the hanger. She carefully unzipped the back and stepped into it gingerly, being careful not to tug on the soft fabric.
"This would be easier if Ricky were here," Lucy said with a scowl as she contorted herself to zipper the dress over her figure. It took her a moment, but she did it, and she looked proudly in the full length mirror inside the closet.
She thought a moment, looking at her neck in the reflection. She needed something, but didn't want to conceal the subtle sensuality that the gown lent to the shape of her breasts, for which Lucy felt the seamstress deserved full credit.
Lucy smiled suddenly and reached into her nearby jewelry box, withdrawing a pair of long, shimmering gold earrings. They had been a gift from her mother on the night of her senior dance and Lucy kept them as a reminder of one of the few pleasant times they had shared together. They would be perfect, she thought.
Seeing that it was almost eight o'clock, she hurriedly stepped into her matching heals, grabbed her formal coat and headed for the street to hail a taxi.
III.
A record crowd had gathered at the club for New Year's Eve; in fact, the bouncers were forced to leave throngs of revelers lined up in the street so as not to violate the city's fire code.
Inside, the lucky ones who'd been permitted entrance danced and drank to the sounds of Ricky and his orchestra. As he sang, he knew that Lucy would be there somewhere, but at least for now, he couldn't recognize a single face in front of him. The crush of people seemed to move as though they were one large entity, a partying monster of excess, waiting to welcome the year 1941 as prey to quench its thirst.
The orchestra continued to play for the pleasure of the monster as Ricky made his way offstage for a break, hoping to find his wife among the madness.
The crowd digested him as he walked between the dancing couples and looked around for Lucy. He was stopped by a small clutch of girls who pawed him as though they were attempting to drag him to hell. He smiled politely as he tried to free himself, not wanting to put off his fans. One of the girls shrieked with excitement. "Oh, Mr. Ricardo, would you give me a kiss at midnight?"
Ricky smiled with a shake of his head, pulling his arm discreetly out of the girl's grip. "I'm sorry, miss, but I promised that to my wife."
"Wife," exclaimed the girl's friend, clearly emboldened by whatever was her drink of choice. "Ain't that a kick in the teeth!"
Ricky laughed and nodded as he continued moving through the crowd, trying to get to a small clearing near the entrance of the kitchen. Once within the few feet of personal space he could obtain, he breathed deeply and glanced at his watch. There were two and a half hours left in the year and he'd hardly had time to contemplate all the changes that it had brought to his life before it would officially be declared history.
As he stood, he looked around again and his eyes drifted to the other side of the dance floor. His attention was caught by a hand waving above the heads of the crowd. As he strained to see through the dimmed light, he saw that it was Lucy and he started moving as quickly as he could through the beast to reach where she stood.
It seemed as though it took forever to get to her side, but as he did, he smiled broadly. She was an angelic vision in gold and he sought the refuge of her arms as she embraced him and the salvation of her lips as she greeted him.
After a moment, she looked at him with wide eyes. "I've never SEEN so many people here! And you should see the people outside! They were so angry that Sonny let me right in, I thought they were going to claw me to death," she said incredulously, referring to one of the bouncers who was holding back the crowd still outside.
Ricky frowned with concern. "I knew we'd have a crowd, but I din't expect this." His smile returned warmly. "But dun't worry, you aren't leavin' by yourself."
Lucy grinned. "Are you going to walk me home?"
He laughed softly and left another kiss on her soft red lips before pulling away from her reluctantly. "I hafta get back on stage, Mr. Abbott wants me performing straight to midnight."
She tilted her head, disappointed. "Oh. Ok. I'll be here."
Ricky nodded before moving back through the crowd to the stage, stopping to talk to another bouncer, nicknamed Bull, who stood silently watching the action. "Bull, I want you to look out for Lucy every once in a while, ok? There's more people than normal an' I dun't want any drunk guys to get stupid with her, you understand?"
Bull looked over to where Lucy sat and then back at Ricky. "You got it, boss."
IV.
Lucy sat and listened to Ricky and the orchestra perform as she sipped on a flute of champagne that one of the waiters had brought her.
It was nearly midnight and after roughly the first hour that she'd been there, she realized that Ricky had probably told Bull to keep men away from her. She noticed that each time a man spotted her and moved in her direction, Bull would do the same; sometimes he would tell the would-be suitor to keep walking, much to her amusement and to the suitor's fright.
She had also noticed that Ricky looked in her direction frequently, which was why she didn't move far from where he'd left her. Although it had disappointed her that he wasn't able to be physically with her, she recognized that his attentions were upon her.
But amid those pleasantries, she felt that she couldn't wait for midnight to fall upon them and for the crowd to break apart. The sheer number of them was overwhelming to her and she felt that the unwanted eyes of men were upon her at the same time that the envious glances of women cut through her, and she didn't know whether they were envious because their men were staring at her or because they knew that she was Ricky's wife.
It wasn't much longer before her wish for midnight was granted. From his place on stage, Ricky led a boisterous countdown to the new year, at which time, a flurry of gold and white balloons fell from the ceiling, along with sparkling bits of confetti and streamers. The orchestra led the crowd in a chorus of Auld Lang Syne as Ricky jumped down from the stage and went to his wife.
She smiled as she stood up to receive him and his arms wrapped around her. He kissed her slowly as her arms reached around his neck, his tongue moving hungrily with hers. He hadn't yet had the chance to tell her how beautiful she was, how the sight of her had been driving him crazy since she'd arrived.
When their lips parted, he whispered to her before hurrying back to the stage. "Happy New Year."
Ricky left her arms more quickly than Lucy wanted him to, leaving her empty and waiting for him to return. She watched him talk to the crowd as he thanked them for coming and wished them a Happy New Year. She breathed a sigh of relief when they began to move out of the club, streaming out to the street in search of taxis or the next party. She watched him interact with the orchestra, wishing them a good night and telling them to rest on their day off.
The bouncers moved with the people as though they were herding the monster out of the building and setting it loose on the city, and from where she stood, she heard the loud sounds of car horns blaring, people shouting and singing and police whistles piercing the ruckus.
After a few moments, she felt a hand on her arm and turned around quickly.
"Are you alright?" Ricky raised his eyebrows.
Lucy smiled and nodded. "Yes, I just can't believe all of this! The celebrations in Jamestown weren't quite so excited!"
Ricky chuckled, putting an arm around her and leading her out of the club. "I know what you mean."
As the moved into the street, Ricky kept Lucy close to him as they made their way around crowds of people singing, some with near empty bottles in their hands. Couples who would normally be shrinking into the shadows to kiss and grab each other openly leaned against walls or steamed the rear windows of taxis that were motionless in the congested street traffic, the drivers keeping their eyes forward, just another night in New York City. It was a city that made its own rules, yet most of the time it stayed within the social restraints of the day; this night, however, the monster broke its chains and ran rampant through the streets, knowing that when dawn broke and the sun rose, it would be locked away and confined again to the shadows of good taste and social morality.
Knowing that finding an empty taxi and getting anywhere in one would be virtually impossible, Ricky looked at his wife with a smirk. "I dun't like takin' you on the subway, but I dun't think we have a choice tonight…"
Lucy shrugged. "I can take the subway just as easily as you can!"
Ricky laughed and held her hand as the trotted down the nearby stairs that led into the bowels of the city. There was no shortage of party goers, drunks and lovers in the pits of the subway, but at least it would be faster than a taxi.
Their timing was good as the moved to the platform and the train screeched to a halt, the doors whooshing open. Ricky held onto his wife tightly as they were caught up in the stream of people flooding into the cars and moved against the wave of others moving out at the same time.
The couple grabbed onto the same pole as the train jerked into motion and began to race through the underground tunnels. Ricky looked around for a seat to offer his wife, but none was to be found, so he put an arm around her to steady her. The people around them sang drunkenly and clawed each other lustfully, but his eyes were fixed on her. She was beautiful; her hair was swept up into glittering crystals, her eyes were as blue as the sky and her skin was the color of smooth ivory. His eyes fell to the fur-lined collar of her coat where it fell open to reveal her breasts beneath it, rising and falling gently with her soft breaths. Her lips were cherry red, calling him to indulge in them. She was at once his heaven and his sin.
When the train stopped at their street, Ricky lead Lucy onto the platform and up the stairs, where they were greeted by the cold night air of what was now January. There were still more people around than normal, but there was much more quiet than there'd been downtown.
With Ricky still keeping his wife close to him, they made their way a few blocks to their apartment house.
When finally they entered their apartment, Lucy sighed. "What a night," she breathed. She turned to look at her husband, suddenly remembering that as tired as she was, he must be exhausted. "You must want to take get right to sleep."
Ricky smiled. He slipped his hands gently under coat that she still wore and removed it from her slowly, watching it fall to the floor behind her. His fingers traced the chiffon fabric that cradled the underside of one of her breasts. "I want to go right to bed."
Lucy grinned as he pulled her into his embrace and his lips fell against her neck. He began to suckle the delicate skin hungrily, allowing his own lusty monster to surface.
She allowed his dark desire to sweep over her, whimpering as he unzipped the dress and she helped it to slip away from her body. He looked down over her, at the strapless bra that was so delicate and sheer that he could see the pink outline of her nipples beneath it, at the matching panties and the silk stockings that were clipped to her garter, and at her stomach quivering with her shallow breaths.
Lucy's breathing became more measured as she caught his gaze and looked into his eyes, the desire seeming to pass through their locked eyes and gripping her as it had gripped her husband. She turned her back to him and walked into the bedroom, knowing that he'd follow her as though he were under a spell which only she could cast upon him.
Ricky did follow her, stalking her, waiting for the right time to pounce.
She stopped in the middle of the bedroom and turned again to face him. He stood quietly, anticipating her next move.
Lucy smiled. "I told the seamstress that I thought my bust was a little small for that dress. What do you think?"
Ricky approached her, smirking, and reached a hand around to the hook of her bra. Over the last months of their marriage, he had made a game of trying to remove her lingerie with one hand and his usual failure sent his wife into fits of giggles before her sympathy for his frustration lead her to reach around and help him. But his practice had paid off, as he easily released the hook with his thumb and he watched it fall to the floor, leaving only the pair of breasts that he believed to be perfect in any way he could imagine. "I think that a dress should be so lucky to be next to your breasts or any other part of you…"
She sighed and closed her eyes, his words as erotic and enticing as his hands as he took her breasts into them and caressed her gently.
Ricky laid her onto the bed, shaking free of his tuxedo jacket as Lucy opened his shirt and her fingers swept across his chest and stomach. He settled between her thighs, his lips falling to her nipples, his tongue teasing them as they stiffened in his mouth.
She reached down and tugged his pants open. He shimmied between her knees, helping them fall from his body. Lucy's hands worked downward again, taking him into her fingers as he nibbled her neck and groaned at her touch.
His shaft grew rapidly in her grip, silky drops of fluid dampening her fingertips like dew.
Lucy again whimpered as the focus of her desire was moved out of her reach. Ricky moved downward to kiss the skin of her stomach. His hands caressed her thighs, unsnapping her stockings from the panties as he slipped them away from her, revealing her shaking mound, filled with anticipation of him. She gripped the raven waves of his head gently as his tongue plunged into her and her she raised her knees around his shoulders.
In Ricky's monstrous desire, he devoured her as though she were the only nourishment which could keep him alive. Her sweet nectar coated his tongue like satin and her rising cries drove him on with a hunger that could never be satiated.
When he felt that he'd brought her to the edge of climax, he stopped and looked up at her, the abrupt withdrawal nearly bringing her to tears of desperation. He smiled, the naked feast of her femininity before him, from the softness of her breasts to the curve of her hips to the smooth shapely legs that granted him entrance to sweet hot center of her womanhood. Only a pair of simple metal rings around their fingers saved him from the infernal sin of lust that would otherwise swallow him whole for enjoying her so vigorously.
As Ricky moved his body over hers again and Lucy's knees circled his hips invitingly, his desire and his hunger and his need flooded him with such strength that his manhood pained him in the most pleasurable way; he was as rigid as an iron pole as he positioned himself at her entrance.
"Please, Ricky, please," she begged, feeling him achingly close and yet so discouragingly far.
"Tu eres un angel y una tentadora. Solo tu puedes arrastrar por el fuego y al cielo, mi mujer bella." Ricky held the side of her face, drawing her eyes to look into his. "You want me, dun't you, mi querida," he teased.
"Yes," Lucy cried. "You know I do!"
Her words and her helpless desperation added the last ounce of thrill that his desires needed and he thrust into her depths.
She screamed with unrelenting, unrestrained passion and pleasure as the thick length of him penetrated her. The beast had come for her and he was merciless. His hands gripped her body, pawing her, owning her. His mouth suckled at her breasts, feeding on her greedily. He entered her, invading her body, determined to at once possess her and leave his seed with her. He growled and groaned, lost in his primal needs; reason, intelligence, morality, socialization, culture…all stripped away in this moment. He was simply man. And he fucked her. And she loved it, demanding more.
More is what he gave her, thrusting repeatedly, maniacally. All the training which had been so painstakingly instilled in her had flown out of the room like so many grains of sand that were sucked under the ocean. No longer preoccupied with perfect hair and the niceties of being a chaste yet alluring lady, woman had only one job. And she opened herself to him and arched her back. And he loved it.
They continued for some time, hium roaring as he moved within her and she clawing at his back as she accepted him. When finally he exploded into her, they gasped together and their pounding hearts slowed the pace of their racing blood. Their voices calmed to normal tones and he rested next to her.
Ricky touched Lucy's cheek, turning her face toward him. "I love you," he whispered as his thoughts cleared and he saw in her eyes that she was not only a woman, but the woman for whom his whole world turned.
She settled into his arms, kissing his neck as she reached up and delicately plucked the crystals from her red curls. "I love you, too."
They lay silently until Ricky realized that in his nudity, his tropical blood was cold in the frigid New York winter. The apartment was only minimally warm, as was the landlord's way. Lucy giggled as he got up from bed, knowing that he would be heading for the closet in search of pajamas.
Her eyes widened when the quiet was disrupted by his shocked voice from the closet. He'd seen the paid receipt that was attached to the garment bag. "Lucy! Eighty-three dollars and forty-nine cents?!"