John watched her face soften and blush with a warmth that brought tears to her eyes.
There was so much he wanted to tell her. But words were unnecessary. Even as he had the thoughts, his emotions flowed outward at a pace words could not maintain. His fingers loosened in hers but didn’t break the connection as they traveled up her arms. He swept her into his arms, and they held each other in a loving embrace.
Her breath was hot against his neck. It tickled tiny hairs and caused an erotic sensation to work its way across his skin. He turned his face toward hers and exhaled softly. A moment later, he felt her response to his breath send a similar sensation through his mind. His lips brushed the surface of her skin, and they marveled at the intimate touch. Her lips touched his earlobe, and they shivered.
Simultaneously, their faces turned, and their lips met, softly, gently, as if neither could withstand a sudden burst of new sensation.
They undressed each other, hurriedly, but careful to never break the intimate connection between them. Their love play was soft, gentle, but with an intensity neither had ever experienced before. As their skin-to-skin contact grew, the more intimate their link became, until when he entered her body their sensations merged and there were no longer separate feelings only mutually combined emotions.
Much later, they lay together on the sofa. Her body was stretched out atop his. Sweat dampened her hair and formed tiny rivulets that ran down her cheek and dripped onto his. She kissed him on each eye, her touch a gossamer mist.
She placed another kiss on his lips and stretched backward. The hard surface of her cyber phone pulled from between them and hung between the tight flesh of her breasts.
He didn’t have to open his eyes to see all this, but then he did open them. His locked on hers and for a moment he was looking at himself staring up at him. He blinked, and the double awareness slipped away.
“You needn’t speak.” Her lips didn’t move from their lazy smile.
“I know,” he replied. Then he finished his thoughts in wordless communications. “I could lie here forever.”
“As could I,” her touch said.
“You were so right. This is too precious a thing to destroy.”
“I didn’t know how precious.”
“We have to make sure it gets released properly. The government would fuck it up, and a company would try to monopolize it,” John said.
“What else is there?”
“We can transmit the information freely. Give it to everyone, every country, every person. Then there’ll be no point in their hunting you and no way for them to misuse its powers.”
“Yes, the Web. We can transmit the file over the Web to everyone. Once it becomes public knowledge, no one will be able to patent the technology or copyright the information.”
She moved against him, and he smiled as he felt her discomfort. “I know. I don’t want to break the connection either, but we’ll have to sooner or later.”
She laughed. “Yes, won’t we? I’ll be right back.”
Caitlin disengaged and rolled off him. As she stood, she trailed her fingers across his chest, twisting a clump of chest hair as she did. Her emotions fell away from his senses as she drew back until finally, she broke the contact.
She gasped and swayed on her feet with that sudden lightheadedness from standing too soon, and he felt an almost nauseous wave pass over him.
He reached toward her.
“Oh my God,” she said aloud.
Her fingers dropped back to brace herself against his chest. Instantly, their emotions melded again.
“This is going to be tougher than I thought,” she said.
“Yes, try again. We can’t go through life joined at the hip.”
They laughed simultaneously.
One finger at a time, Caitlin eased off his chest. The sensations thinned gradually, and when her index finger finally broke the connection, she wavered again, but this time she smiled down at him. “Goodness, this could become addictive.”
“But such a sweet addiction,” he answered, his voice low and filled with unaccustomed emotion.
“Yes. I’ll be right back.”
She padded naked out of the living room. He watched her until she disappeared down the hallway.
He stood and moved to the dying fire. An emptiness hit him as if he was no longer a complete person without Caitlin’s touch on his mind. He threw a couple logs on the fire, and then looked around for his clothes.
A minute later, he heard the sound of the toilet. He pulled his shirt on and was amazed at how limber his injured shoulder felt. The heat of their passion had melted away its stiffness.
Caitlin walked casually back into the room. Her smooth, easy walk expressed how comfortable she was being naked in front of him.
He held out both hands as she approached and they joined hands, linked emotions, and kissed tenderly.
“I love you,” he said.
“As if I didn’t know.”
“I just thought I’d put the emotion into words.”
“I love you,” she said.
They dropped their hands, separating in the smooth, fluid manner of couples who had been lovers for years. Their emotions separated again, but each time the pain of decoupling was less, as though their bodies had finally realized that the separation wouldn’t be permanent.
She picked up her garments that were strewn about. After stepping into her panties, she slipped on her bra and reached behind to fasten it.
“Let me,” John said and let his fingers brush her back.
She shuddered with the contact. “I never thought getting dressed could be so sexy.”
“Neither did I.”
They dressed slowly, each helping the other with various items until they stood facing each other fully dressed, but filled with a desire to start over.
“There’ll be time later,” she said without speaking.
“Plenty.”
“Are you hungry?”
“For you?
