Ready for Danger (3 page)

The next day, Palmer was tense. He found
that having seen Kathleen naked was not unlike catching your parents having
sex. You weren’t supposed to see them in this position and it changed your
entire perspective. It was exactly the same with his principal. To him, she was
a job, a paycheck. He thought about her in terms of mission parameters.

Now things were different.

“Come here, guys!” she shouted in Burmese
to the children kicking a soccer ball around in the middle of the street.

He watched her herding them, it was so
natural to her. More impressive, the kids were listening to her, even the older
ones approaching adolescence. She wasn’t trying to be bossy but she radiated
authority with a smile. From his time in the military – ten years in the Army, most
of them in special ops – he knew that was a rare gift.

His eyes scanned the rice paddies in the
distance and the tall grass nearby. His hand was loose, ready to draw his
firearm, but there was no unexpected movement, no face that didn’t belong. He
stood in the shade while Kathleen ushered the children into the makeshift
school.

She had them laughing in no time though
he had no idea what she was saying. He was picking up the local language rather
quickly but he was still months away from being fluent. Suddenly, Kathleen
pointed at him and all the students turned to look. She said something and they
burst into laughter.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head. “This joke is only
for members of this school. You want to learn the punchline, you’re gonna have
to join us.”

“Thanks, I’ll pass.”

Her eyes were locked onto his and he had
a feeling this was a covert maneuver to get rid of him. And it worked. He
crossed the street and found shade under a banana tree where he crouched. He
gave another scan to the town and horizon but soon focused on her again.

How did she do that? How could she be so
easy-going with the kids, with the people of the village, and yet be so feisty with
him? And then there was the fact that she was something to look at.

Today her hair was braided for
convenience and she was wearing a pink tank over jeans cutoffs. She either
looked like a tomboy going for a more glamorous, girly look or a sophisticated
model letting her hair down, he couldn’t decide. What he knew was that she was
stunning, though not usually his type.

He forced himself to look away. There was
no use entertaining any foolish ideas about her. He was here for her
protection, nothing else. Besides, they were from different backgrounds. She
was the daughter of a New York billionaire and he was just a dumb hick from
Tennessee.

As his daddy used to the say, there’s no
use looking at the lobster menu when you can only afford the meatloaf.

*   *   *

Kathleen smiled to herself when she
noticed her bodyguard moving away and purposely avoiding looking at her.

She felt victorious, like she was finally
getting the upper hand. She was a little flattered when she saw him checking
her out, being very careful not to be obvious, but she was glad that’s all it
was. Maybe now he would know his place.

Booya, sucker
!

She wanted to gloat but she was pretty
sure this buoyant feeling was the sexual frustration leaving her body after
last night’s tryst. She hadn’t known she’d needed it this much until it was
done.

Taking a deep breath, she turned back to
her class. Today they were going to learn about the Egyptian pyramids. She was
about to launch into her introduction when she spotted a conspicuous hole in
the middle of the group. Usually Suu sat right there in that empty spot; she
was hard to miss considering she was as tall as a 12 year old even though she
was only eight.

“Everybody, where’s Suu?”

The kids looked at one another and
shrugged. This made Kathleen extremely nervous because she had an inkling of
what was going on, it wasn’t the first time. It had happened in her first week
in Myanmar but back then she’d been too green to know what to do.

Not anymore.

“Htain,” she said, pointing to an older
boy in the first row. “Come to the front of the class and read the chapter on
ancient Egypt. I’ll be back soon.”

Her heart racing, she walked out of the
school just as a light rain started to fall. Palmer stood up, his hand almost
drawing his weapon.

“What’s going on?”

She didn’t reply, too focused on what she
was going to do next. She walked extremely fast, almost jogging, and her
bodyguard was still several steps behind.

“Ma’am, mind telling me where we’re
going?”

She hated when he called her
ma’am
but again she didn’t reply. She left the village proper and headed toward a hut
near the tree line leading into the jungle. The closer she got, the clearer she
could hear the horrified screams of domestic violence.

She hoped she wasn’t too late.

She reached the little house and burst
inside. Suu’s father was a lanky man in his 40s with a rat-like face and he was
holding down his wife while he was punching and berating her. Cowering nearby,
young Suu was wailing. Every few punches, her father turned to her and slapped
her over the head.

“
Ma ho bu
!
Ho
!”

Her words had no effect, it was as if she
wasn’t even there. Running on instincts, she rushed forward and tried pulling
the man away from his wife.

“No, stop!” she said again, this time in
English.

But the man, his face soaked with sweat
and his overbite giving him a horrific appearance, only became angrier. He
turned to Kathleen and hit her in the face with all his strength.

“Ugh!”

She lost her balance and fell down, tripping
on an empty clay jar of
thi
rice wine. She was astounded not only by the
sharp pain but also by the cacophony of shrieks and yells. But everything was
about to change.

Just as the husband returned to the task
of beating up his wife and daughter, Palmer charged into the house.

He punched the man in the kidneys before
grabbing him in a choke hold. A split-second later, he dragged him outside.

Suu crawled forward and took her bleeding
mother into her arms and they cried together, hugging each other tightly. For
her part, Kathleen was torn between going to them and finding out what Palmer
was doing. In the end, she opted to do both, going to the women first.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is anything
broken?”

They replied through tears that they were
fine though Kathleen doubted it was true. In any case, she then turned sideways
to look outside.

In the rain, Palmer was still holding the
man and punching him in the stomach. It was as if he wanted to hurt him without
causing permanent damage and it struck Kathleen as oddly considerate.

“You like hurting women and little girls,
don’t you, you son of a bitch?”

He continued uttering variations of the
same phrase between blows and after what seemed like an eternity, he pinned the
man against a tree, pointing a menacing finger into his face. Next, the
mercenary turned toward Kathleen.

“How are they?”

“Fine. I think they’ll be fine,” she said
in response.

“Think you can manage without me for a
few hours?”

She thought it was a strange question but
she nodded anyway. “Yes.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

And with that, he put plastic cuffs on
Suu’s dad and led him away.

*   *   *

When Palmer appeared again, Kathleen was
having dinner with the San family. They were having
nga thalaut paung
, a
dish of fish stewed in vinegar, soy sauce, tomatoes and lemongrass. This
technique made the fish bones completely dissolve and it was rather delicious,
she found.

But when she saw him standing on the
street corner, she immediately excused herself, thanked her hosts, and went
down to meet him.

“Where were you?”

“Are you all right, ma’am? There weren’t
any threats while I was away?”

“No, of course not.”

“And the little girl is okay? Her mother?”

“Yes, yes. They’re both fine, just some
cuts and bruises.”

“Good.”

He genuinely looked happy to hear that
and his concern touched her.

“Where did you go? Where’s Suu’s father?”

“We had a little chat.”

Kathleen snorted. “Yeah, I saw that.”

“But I don’t think he got the message.
People like that, they never do. I took him to the city and bribed the cops,
told him he was a political dissident. He won’t be back for a spell.”

She put a hand on his forearm. “Thanks, Palmer.
It’s really barbaric but strangely I think you did the right thing.”

He glanced down at her hand and then met
her eyes again. Neither spoke for long seconds.

“I’m gonna do a security sweep and if it’s
okay with you I’m gonna turn in after.”

“Sure. You want me to get you something
to eat?”

“I had something before getting here. But
thanks.”

She realized her hand was still on his
scorching skin and she yanked it back. They stared at each other for another
few seconds and then he left.

How could somebody be so fierce one
minute and so caring the next? And why couldn’t she hate him unconditionally
like she wanted to?

Palmer was exhausted and the shower was a
godsend. There was no hot water, it was a communal shower smack dab in the
middle of the village, and the experience was very much like going camping,
what with the partition that didn’t go all the way up or all the way down.
Nevertheless, it was one of the most satisfying showers he’d had in years.

It was late at night and he had made sure
that Kathleen had turned in. It was one of those rare moments where he had no
immediate worries. He could simply enjoy himself and that’s exactly what he
did. He let the water cascade down his face, over his broad chest, and off his
nude body.

He soaped up his washboard abs and
scrubbed the sweat away. His job wasn’t especially dirty but it felt as if he
was washing off multiple layers of grime. Mostly it was stress, he knew it from
experience. He filled his hand with soap and basked in the smooth, gliding
feeling on his skin.

The beauty of small mercies, he thought.

He stroked the interior of his thighs and
then moved to his penis. The gesture was innocent, he was here to get cleaned
up, but out of nowhere his member twitched. It awakened something within him
and he started getting an erection.

Unable to stop himself, he started
rubbing his length in long, continuous motions. He tightened his grip around
the base and had the other hand join in. It felt good, really good!

He closed his eyes to enjoy the
sensation, getting lost in the beautiful act of self-pleasure. It had been such
a long time since he’d been with a woman. Due to his career, he didn’t date and
the only relationships he had were short-term and often anonymous, waitresses
and flight attendants met in dark bars.

The point was to never get attached.

Not having someone in his life had served
him well for the most part but it was in moments like these that he regretted
his lifestyle choice. When he got horny and was left with his hand for sole
companion, he thought he needed a change.

His cock was fully hard now and it
brought him back to reality. It occurred to him that he was for all intents and
purposes exposed to the entire town. He turned off the water and quickly
toweled off. If he was going to get off, he was going to do it in private.

He walked quickly through the darkness
back to his house. It was one of the smallest in the village but it suited him
fine. There was even a nice fragrance of fresh cut flowers lingering from the
previous tenants. He turned off the lantern and settled in on the thin mattress
laid out in the corner.

He didn’t bother getting under the covers
because the temperature was still in the 80s this late at night. He got
completely nude and reclined against the wall, his shoulders on the pillow. He
didn’t have any lube but it didn’t matter, he was too excited to care.

He closed his eyes and curled his fingers
around his girth. The great sensation from before was back. Within seconds he
was at full mast again. He was proud of his dick, it was long and thick, quite
larger than average from what he knew. He slowly rubbed himself up and down
while wishing a woman was doing this to him.

Palmer had a thing for tall redheads,
ideally a ballerina or gymnast so she would be flexible. Ever since he had gone
out with such a girl right after high school, he’d had this vision of her
folding her legs behind her head. He fantasized about her being able to lick
her own pussy. He fantasized about a lithe girl doing the split while he fucked
her.

He stroked himself faster at the thought
and then something odd popped into his head. He imagined
Kathleen
doing
that. At first it made him smile because she certainly wasn’t a tall, svelte
flexible redhead. But out of nowhere, his cock became even stiffer.

This kind of troubled him, he wasn’t
supposed to feel this way about his principal. However, there was no denying
that Kathleen was a beautiful woman. She was sexy because she didn’t try to be,
and he also conceded that maybe he was thinking about her because there was a
serious drought of available women in these parts.

Pumping his shaft faster, he went back to
thinking about gymnasts and ballerinas, fucking them from behind while they
leaned on the handrail in front of the mirror. Still, Kathleen’s face kept
appearing instead of the double-jointed stranger.

To hell with it
, he thought.
Just go with it
.

This was decidedly unprofessional but it
was working. He pictured himself on top of Kathleen, his fat rod delving into
her wet cunt. Then he remembered he didn’t have to use his imagination. All he had
to do was use his memories. It was only last night that he had stumbled upon
her getting rather ravaged by Bryce.

He recalled the curve of her breasts, so
full and inviting. She had pulled on her hard nipples while he was eating her
pussy. Palmer unpredictably wished he had been in the kid’s place. She had to
taste wonderful as her pleasure mounted, so sweet and musky.

“Oh shit,” he whispered as he felt his
balls tighten in response.

Why was this happening to him? Why did
she have this effect on him?

He cupped his balls with his free hand
and continued jerking off, picking up speed while his desire grew. He became
jealous of her for a moment because at least she had a friend who could take
care of her needs. Meanwhile, he was stuck with himself and his pent-up
frustrations.

Closing his eyes, he saw himself taking
big mouthfuls of Kathleen’s tits, sucking on her nipples until she cried in
pleasure. She would then suck his cock before begging him to pound her hard.
Would she ask him to cum deep in her pussy or would she prefer his load all
over her face?

The fantasy was almost real. He saw her
so clearly in his head. He could smell her shampoo and it drove him wild. His
hand was a blur on his cock and he jacked off in earnest now. He wanted to
explode as if it would cure him from this newfound lust.

“Oh yeah…”

He saw her kneeling in front of him, her
two little fists pumping his shaft to make him climax. Slowly but surely, the
tip of his manhood started to tingle and it wouldn’t be long now. He braced
himself and moved his balls around while he squeezed his length.

“Ah aaahh…”

His mind suddenly went blank and for half
a second he stopped pumping his cock. It was the moment of truth!

His cum surged up and erupted powerfully.
He opened his eyes and through the darkness watched the white cream arch
through the air. Before it landed over his stomach, he resumed stroking
himself. More jizz was coaxed out and his head was hazy from ecstasy.

Without knowing he was doing it, he was
thrashing against the wall and pumping more of his precious nectar, which in
turn fueled his orgasm. He was cumming harder than he had in a long time.

His cock was slick with semen and it made
the feeling even better. Had Kathleen been here to do this to him, he would
have been in paradise.

When it was over, he opened his eyes once
more and felt weird. He had never felt guilty about masturbating before but
thinking about his principal while doing it? It felt wrong and unethical, but
beyond that he wondered what that said about him. Was he simply desperate?

Or did that mean he had feelings for her?