forward trapped his cries with her mouth. Hypnotized, they made love, stopped, held back, trembling, until they could not resist the demand any longer, until the tension was no longer bearable. He felt her wet muscles close around him. He slid his hand down between their stomachs, felt her grow even harder as he stroked her. She stiffened, stopped breathing for several seconds, then she thrust herself down on him and cried out and began to shudder, and her response was so overwhelming that all his senses spun crazily out of control. He felt a spasm, then another, and another, and still another, before he exploded.
She felt electrified, lost in time and space, and the waves began to build again.
'Oh God,' she cried, falling down across him and stretching out her long legs, tightening them and keeping them trapped while they kissed until, finally, she came again.
'Ooooh,' she slowly mumbled several times.
He lay under her, arms enfolding her, lightly scratching her back as they regained their breath, and then in a frenzied reprise, she felt him slide deeper inside her and then out, slipping against her, and she began to tighten again. Her hair fell across his face as she twisted her head from side to side, both moaning in unison as their dance built and built, until she cried out, sitting up on him, moving up and down, then she fell back against his chest. They lay quietly for a moment while her muscles tightened and loosened with her own contractions. Her mouth was against his ear and he listened as she slowly regained her breath and finally she slid first one leg, then the other, down until she was stretched out full above him.
She lifted her head until they were almost nose to nose and she swept the tip of her tongue across his upper lip.
'God,' he whispered, still breathless, 'why did we wait so long?'
She slid off him, lying beside him with one leg over his. He put his arm around her and they lay there for several minutes watching the fire.
'Whatever happened to that gorgeous woman who worked for you,' she said, breaking the silence.
'Naomi Chance?'
'Was that her name? That's a lovely name.'
'She still works for me. You've got out of touch.'
'People used to talk about you two.'
She rolled over on her back, raised one leg up, and moved slightly so that he had a taunting view of her naked body.
'Did you two ever have a thing?' she asked.
He held up a single finger.
'Once. You did it once?'
He nodded. 'One night a very long time ago. She said she didn't want to keep it up, that it would ruin our professional relationship.'
Jane leaned over and bit his big toe, very lightly. 'She was nuts,' she said.
'Are you getting hungry?' he asked.
She stroked her saliva off his toe with her palm and fingers. 'I could eat a little something.'
'Will champagne and cheese do?'
'For starters. Any candles?'
'If they haven't turned to dust by now.'
'Candles, wine, and cheese. How elegant.'
'Got your appetite back, huh?'
'Oh yes,' she said softly.
She watched him as he walked to the kitchen. He had a tight, hard, rather lean body. She liked that. Not an ounce of fat, but no steroid muscles either, and a very attentive lover who knew all the buttons to push and all the doors to open. But she had suspected as much. Vail did everything with passion.
He came back in a minute or two with fresh wineglasses dangling between his fingers, a box of stone-wheat thins, and a wedge of Brie cheese in one hand and two candles in the other. He dumped the burned-out cigarette butts out of a large ashtray, lit a candle, and dripped wax into a hot pool in the ashtray's centre. She watched intently as he twisted the candle into the pool, holding it while the wax hardened around its smooth base. He opened the package of Brie and, with his little finger, scooped out a mound from under the hard crust and held it out to her. She put his whole finger in her mouth and sucked off the cheese.
