Shakespeare's Valentine Pt. 05 by Quince,Quince

96.

The following morning, I placed a call to a woman I hadn’t seen or spoken to in more than twenty years.

“Hello, Mrs. Etcitty? My name is Dai Brenner. I wonder if you remember…”

97.

Soon we were in tech. Technical rehearsals: a week before you open-sometimes more, if you’re lucky-you’re out of the rehearsal room and into the theater, incorporating the set, the lights, the costumes, the sound, working transitions, firming up business. As a rule, not much acting goes on. Designers help actors find light, make quick-changes; actors position props for easy access, request glo-tape on stair units and door frames. And on this particular Friday, the fight director reminds Macduff not to overextend on his initial cut five, because we really can’t afford to lose the entire first electrical to a single swipe of a blunted aluminum broadsword.

“So hang it higher!” snarled Kal.

Magnus (Lighting Designer), with the kind of polite contempt seasoned tech people reserve for your more demanding breed of actor: “We will, Sweetie, but for today, I’m just trying to see how to light your final entrance, so if you could be a little patient…”

Mac (Fight Director), muttered under her breath: “God, could that poor man’s dick be any smaller…?”

98.

Cherri and I did our courteous professionalism routine into the wee hours. The contract allowed Oak Ridge Shakespeare two ten-out-of-twelves, and three eight-out-of-tens, so two days on which rehearsal began at noon and lasted until midnight, and three more on which the festivities began at 1:00 pm, and lasted until 11:00. But after rehearsals, back at her apartment, we were suddenly a little shy of each other. We still spent nearly every night in bed together, and Cherri never failed to claim her goodnight kiss. We still had sex pretty regularly, although given how long some of the days were, there were some nights when we were asleep before our heads hit those rose red bamboo pillowcases.

But I had told Cherri that I loved her. And she had said the same thing to me. And that changed things a little.

99.

So we were more than halfway through tech: 12:45 am on a cold February morning, and Cherri and I stood in the hallway outside her door. Before we went in, I put a hand on her shoulder.

“Do you maybe want to sleep alone tonight?”

“Do you?” My Lady was beat. She hadn’t been saying much for the last few nights. Now her voice was brittle, and there was an edge to it.

I was wary, but I wasn’t exactly surprised. Actors are amateur psychologists, or at least the good ones are. Getting inside of peoples’ heads is part of the job description. I didn’t think I’d exactly meant to start the inevitable discussion after midnight towards the end of a punishing week, but I was whacked too, so really, who knows what I meant? What I said was:

“No, Cher. I really don’t. I love sleeping next to you, and waking up to the sight of your hair on the pillow, and the sound of your breathing, and the smell of your…”

“Of my what?”

She was glaring at me now, but I thought I caught her trying to bury a smile.

“You want the diplomatic answer, or the honest one?”

She huffed. “How do you even have the energy to play these games at one-o-clock in the fucking morning after two straight ten-out-of-twelves?”

“A healthy diet, plenty of exercise, and church every Sunday.”

“Okay, first of all, fuck you just in general, and second of all, you’re Jewish.”

“Half.”

“Whatever.”

She had the door open. “Get inside. I’m seriously considering murdering you, and I don’t want witnesses.”

100.

Inside the apartment, she dropped her bag on the kitchen table and collapsed on the sofa. I sprawled next to her, not quite touching. Eventually, she curled into me, resting her head on my chest, and letting me wrap an arm around her shoulder. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

“Now, you pervert,” she still sounded exhausted, but the smile was back in her voice, “the smell of my what, exactly?”

“Well, out in the hallway, with half the company wandering around, I’d have said the smell of your perfume. But now that we’re behind clothes doors…I just love waking up to the smell of your body: a little sweat,” I leaned close and murmured into her hair, “a little whiff of your pussy, if we happen to have had sex the previous evening…”

“Which we haven’t for the past couple of days. I’m sorry…”

“Wait a minute, why are you sorry? There’s no rule say that we have to have sex if we don’t feel like it. And this has been a pretty intense couple of weeks.”

“I know, but…” She paused, and then in a different tone of voice. “Dai, can I ask you something?”

Uh oh. “Sure, Cher.”

“It’s just that everything’s so…between us. It’s wonderful, but…okay, I’m obsessed with you. I love being around you, talking to you, teasing you, sitting quietly with you. When I’m not with you, part of me feels kind of giddy, because I know you’re out in the world somewhere, maybe thinking of me, or…and then part of me feels a little needy, like I’m an addict with a supply at home, but I have to get back for my fix…which sounds dark and horrible, but I kind of mean it in a good way…is this making any sense to you at all?”

I wasn’t sure where she was going, but so far it all sounded positive, and it wasn’t like she was speaking a foreign language…

Cherri didn’t wait for me to answer her question. “And the sex is…God, I shouldn’t even tell you. You’ll smirk at me, and…I don’t know, do what guys do: tell their friends, post on…whatever we’re posting on these days. But that’s bullshit, because I know you won’t-well, you might smirk-but you won’t do any of the other…because you’re different. That’s what it comes down to. You’re different than every other guy I’ve ever been with…and I mean, radically different, so…if I’m in love with you, and I think I am…maybe I’ve never really been in love before, and that’s…a little scary, since I’m turning 42 in a little more than a month, and if you tell that fact to a single soul, I will personally light you on fire. Please stay here tonight?”

“Cher, Honey, there’s no place…” I sighed. “Of course I’ll stay here tonight. Here’s where I want to be, more than anything.”

“Even though I’m crazy?”

“No crazier than me.”

She lifted her head off my chest, and looked into my face. “Really?”

I smiled. “My Lady, I am seriously afraid to tell you how nuts I am for you. It’s…Cher, knowing that I get to spend time with you, talk to you, that I get to fall asleep next to you, kiss you and touch you and…I mean colors are brighter. I’m not kidding. Tastes, smells: they’re more intense. I’m…I don’t know, I’m just a little more alive in the world, because I’m with you. I mean it’s a little terrifying. And…you’re right. It’s terrifying because it’s different. You’re different. I thought I’d been in love before. A couple of times. I was wrong.

101.

Cherri’s head was back on my chest. Her arms were wrapped around me, and she was crying quietly. I figured that was okay, so I didn’t say anything. Eventually, she let go of me, rolled away, and sat next to me on the couch, wiping her eyes.

“You really have to stop making me so happy,” she sniffed. “I’m getting dehydrated.”

“Note to self: disappoint the woman I love. Hey, do you mind if I start tomorrow? Tonight I’m kind of beat.” Then I remembered. “Cher, were you going to ask me something?”

“Oh…um, yeah.” She seemed to be gathering her thoughts. “Dai, this is maybe a silly question, but…since this is kind of uncharted territory, for both of us…”

“My Lady, spit it out.”

She giggled. “Alright, then. My Thane, can we still fuck?”

102.

What the… “Um…I mean I can’t absolutely guarantee tonight, but otherwise I certainly hope so! Why do you…?”

“I don’t just mean sex, I mean…like then other night, when I tied you up and told you to call me names, and you said…oh fuck, I’m getting wet just thinking about it…you said…you called me a fuckslut, and you said you wanted to…to fuck my tits and cum on my face. Do you…still want to do that?”

I swallowed. “Uh, yeah, I do. If you’re okay with it. Do you not want…?”

“No, I do! I really, really do! I…really get off on the idea of you, kind of…taking me, or taking what you want from me, or…I don’t know. I love it when we’re gentle and passionate with each other too, but, I don’t want to…but I don’t want you to love me less, because of…Oh, shit, Dai!” All of a sudden, she was sobbing, forcing her words out as she tried to catch her breath. “This’s the best…thing that’s ever…happened to me, and I…I don’t want to fuck it up, because…I…but I don’t…I mean…oh fuck, I’m so tired, and…”

I pulled her into me and held her hard. Then I kissed the top of her head, and started stroking her back through the flannel overshirt she was still wearing. I cooed to her, meaningless little syllables: comfort, reassurance, affection. Didn’t matter. I’d have been happy to go on all night, until we fell asleep like that, wrapped in each other’s arms on that saggy old couch. But it was only a few minutes before Cherri’s sobs subsided, and a little voice from somewhere near my sternum breathed: “Oh Dai, Sweetie, I am so sorry.”

I kissed her head once more, inhaled an admixture of sweat, shampoo, and whatever else people who have hair use to control it. “Honey, don’t worry about it. It’s my fault anyway for starting this conversation tonight, when we’re both exhausted, so I’m the one who should be sorry. Look, we can leave it alone and just go to bed, but…can I just say one thing, while I can still remember it?”

She snuggled closer. “Honey. I like that. I like all your little names for me,” she murmured, “Cher, Minx, Honey, Fuckslut…”

I chuckled. “So you’re good with any of them?”

“Uh huh. But, say your piece. I need some sleep.”

103.

I was head over heels in love with Cherri, but I didn’t know her all that well yet. Part of the fun was getting to know her, and part of the thrill of getting to know her was discovering how much more I liked her as I got to know her better.

But. I had a theory, based on what she’d said about some of her former lovers, and on how she presented herself to the world, and partly on the kind of casting she’d had in the past. Here was this intelligent, creative, beautiful woman who played eloquent, confident, sexual characters. I suspected that a lot of the guys she’d been with had fallen for the characters and had been either impatient with, or frightened of, Cheri the person, who could be mercurial, passionate, insecure-find me an actor who isn’t, at least occasionally-needy, brilliant, theatrical, melancholy, and all the rest of it. In bed, maybe these guys expected Maggie the Cat, or May, or Olivia. Maybe they treated her like a whore, or a princess, rather than a woman. Maybe that was why she asked permission to touch herself during sex, and why she thought that somebody who loved her wouldn’t want to…what?

I’d thought about bringing some of this up, but she was tired. Hell, I was tired. I said: “Here’s the thing, Cher: you’re the most generous, sensuous, passionate woman I’ve ever been with. Nothing we do in bed is ever going to change how I feel about you. I love you gentle, playful, romantic, slutty, rough, sweet, whatever. Just so long as it’s you. Does that maybe answer your question?”

She nodded. I could feel the movement of her head against my chest. Then in a small, tired voice she said: “Take me to bed.”

I put a hand under her knees, and another on her back. She tightened her grip on me, and I stood up, cradling her in my arms. Cherri Morganthal was tall and trim. There wasn’t much excess weight on her, but that didn’t make her easy to lift from a sitting position. I’d taken a little preliminary bounce off the old couch’s cushions getting to my feet.

My Lady giggled. “I didn’t mean you had to carry me, you goof.”

“You want me to drop you?”

“No!”

“Then hold on tight, because I think the bedroom door is closed.”

“Well, hell!”

104.

The bedroom door was closed, but fortunately not latched. I managed to nudge it open with my foot, without dropping my co-star. Then I laid her gently on the bed, with her head on one of her rose red pillow cases. I tried to stand up, but she kept her arms around my neck.

“Since you’re being such a gentleman, would you mind undressing me?”

I thought about where undressing her might lead. “Cher, are you sure you want…?”

“Please?” Her eyes were half closed, but now she looked a little less tired, and a little more sultry. Her lips were slightly parted, and now I thought I could smell something besides sweat, shampoo, and what was left of her perfume. I thought…but I couldn’t be sure. One step at a time. I reached for the buttons on her overshirt.

Cherri let her arms fall to her sides. I watched her breasts under the shirt rise and fall as I undid button after button. Okay. She shifted when I’d finished, so that I could pull the shirt off, leaving her in a t-shirt, bra, skirt, leggings, panties (I assumed,) and socks. Socks next. Easy enough. Then I reached for the waistband of her skirt. She lifted her backside off the bed so that I could get it off. The clothes she had left clung to her body like a second skin. My pulse quickened, I became aware of my breathing, and I could feel my cock stirring in my jeans. I stared at her tight black t-shirt and saw her round, ripe tits with their proud pink nipples. Without laying a finger on her, I could feel the softness of her breasts in my hands, and the roughness of her puckering areolas on my tongue. I looked down to see black yoga pants stretched over flared hips, long, smooth thighs, and gently curved calves. Shit. I was exhausted. I wasn’t going to be able to…oh.

Well, apparently I was. If Cherri wanted to…either way, this wasn’t going to get any easier.

I caught the waist of her yoga pants. Again she pushed up, and I peeled the pants down, and now…oh, fuck, I could smell her. And I could see a wet strip at the front of her lavender cotton panties.

Cherri smiled, sat up, and put her hands over her head. Off came the black t-shirt to reveal a matching lavender bra with smooth panels, which did nothing to conceal how hard her nipples were. She watched me staring for a few seconds, then in the same half tired-half amused voice she said:

“Take off my bra, please.”

I reached behind her, and undid the clasp. She pulled the straps off her shoulders, and tossed it onto her nightstand.

“Now my panties.”

She lay back with her head on the pillow, while I pulled her panties down. For a few moments she lay naked on the bedspread. I stared down at her, letting my eyes drift slowly up her body to her face. By the time our eyes met, we were both smiling. She got up slowly, and walked over to me.

“My turn.” she whispered, and began to unbutton my shirt.

105.

When I was naked, Cherri turned to the bed, pulled back the duvet, and lay back down.

“Make love to me?”

“Cher, are you sure? I know it’s late…”

“Uh huh. I don’t care. I need you.”

“Well…if you insist. Kiss first?”

She smiled up at me, and parted her thighs. “Yes, please.”

I knelt on the bed between her legs, and positioned my cock along the slit of her pussy. Then I lay across her body, keeping some of my weight off her with my arms, and lowered my face to hers. I heard her sigh as her lips parted and our mouths met. I might have made a similar sound; wouldn’t have surprised me. We’d never had to rehearse kissing each other. Hell, a couple of times, to the obvious embarrassment of Gil and Victor, we’d had to rehearse stopping. Now, my lips slid across hers, and for a while we just nibbled on each other. No rush. We didn’t have to be at the theater until 1:00 tomorrow. That was a little more than ten hours away, and we’d get some sleep. Her mouth opened, and her tongue brushed mine. The noises she was making became more urgent, and my dick stiffened until I cocked my hips back, felt for her opening with the tip, and slid inside her slowly, the way I knew she liked it; the way that sometimes made her cum gently by the time I was all the way inside.

Cherri’s mouth opened under mine, and I heard her breath catch, and felt her pussy spasm around my cock. “Uh…huh, huh…ahh.” Nice to know a few of your lover’s secrets.

As I began to thrust, slowly and evenly, Cherri’s voice floated up to me on a whisper.

“I love you, Dai Brenner! I don’t know why it’s…so much easier to say…when you’re…filling me up so-oh God-so good! But I do. I love you…with all my heart. And I’ll…uh…uh huh, I’ll…practice saying it when we’re not…oooh, yes! Just be patient with me…”

I was rocking back and forth inside her slowly, so as not to finish too soon. But Cherri wasn’t feeling gentle. Her hips rose to meet my thrusts, and the muscles in her vagina contracted over and over again, gripping my shaft, maximizing the delicious feeling of warm, wet flesh surrounding my dick. But in spite of everything, I was tired. Putting words together turned out to be kind of tricky.

“Cher…you’ve got to stop trying to…oh, damn, Sweetheart, you feel so…but you’ve got to stop trying to…I don’t know…stick to some notion of how…shit, if you keep doing that…gonna lose my train of thought…of how things are supposed to be. You…oh yeah, yeah, just like that…you don’t have to practice anything. As long as I…get to be with you…and, huh, uh huh, and…talk to you, and kiss you, and…everything else, I’m happy. You’re…everything I ever wanted, without knowing that I wanted it…fuck, I’m not making any sense.”

She stopped moving for a second and giggled. I felt the ripples of her laughter along my cock, and I grinned down at her. Must’ve been kind of a dopey grin, because she said: “Good, I like fucking you stupid.”

I muttered: “Minx!” and then pulled my cock slowly back until it was almost out of her, and slid it back in, just as slowly. She moaned.

“Just…oh, just like that, don’t speed up…tell me you love me too.”

“I love you, Cherri Morganthal.”

“I know you do. I know it! I think…actually I think I’m going to cum again if you keep doing that, but…what I meant to say was that…I think maybe it’s easier for me…when…when…oh, God, when…uh! Huh, huh! Huh! Oh…yes, Dai, hold still for just a second, please, Lover! Huh! Yesss! Give me…” Then, when we’d both stopped moving: “Easier when you’re inside me, because…our bodies…speak to each other. You know what I mean? Like our bodies knew before our minds, or maybe our hearts did. Ooh, starting again, you naughty…? Oh yeah…oh yeah! Harder! Do me harder, Baby! Your turn now. But do you know what I mean?”

“Maybe. I think at least part of me knew last summer.”

“Oh, yeah? Which part?” The smile was back in her voice, and her inner muscles gripped me tight. “Maybe the part I feel kind of…swelling up in my hot, wet, tight little pussy?”

“Fuck, Cher, you’re gonna push me right over the edge….”

“Do it, Sweetheart! Let it go for me! I want to feel you cum inside me! Come on, Baby…uh huh, uh huh, that’s it…”

A final thrust, deep inside her, and my body froze as the cum poured from my cock in what felt like a continuous stream of pleasure. Somewhere beneath me, or around me, or…who knows where, I felt Cherri twitch, heard a series of small quick moans, then I was empty, and happy, and sleepy; fuck, was I sleepy. With what felt like the last strength in my arms, I let myself down to plant a quick, gentle kiss on my Lady’s lips, and then I rolled off of her, and lay beside her, my eyes already closing.

Cherri said: “Spoons?”

I laughed-at least I thought I laughed; might have just been a couple of exhausted pants-and rolled over to snuggle against her back. She pushed back against me, and sighed. Then her breathing became even. That’s the last thing I remember.

106.

Sunday tech began with a few hours spent on the top of 4.1, coordinating lights, sound and effects for the witches nightmare take on “MasterChef.” Since I entered into the second half of that scene, I’d been hanging out just offstage, when Colleen, Victor’s assistant stage manager, came over to tell me that they wouldn’t be getting to me for a bit, and that I could go relax in the dressing rooms; they’d call me when they were ready for me. I shared a dressing room with Jem, who’d probably be there either on his phone, or fiddling with his Duncan crown, or mainlining Reese’s Pieces. Okay, so apparently I wasn’t feeling dressing room-y. As I passed, I looked into the green room. Sam Cabrerra sat in an easy chair, reading something on an iPad. Banquo’s ghost would be another late addition to 4.1, and Sam had decided not to gore up until we were closer. Now he looked up and saw me.

“Ese, you got a minute?”

I really liked Sam. He was one of those big, quiet guys whose good opinion of a person counts for a lot. He was a solid actor, appealing and intelligent, and his size, and his face-heavy brows, a broad nose, large eyes, wide mouth-lent him some danger. He hadn’t done much Shakespeare, and he’d been a little nervous of the language, but after a few false starts, he managed to get his mouth around it. He was going to be a terrific Banquo.

I liked Sam, and I was pretty sure Sam liked me, but I also hadn’t forgotten his promise to Cherri to kick my ass if I got out of line. I was pretty sure he was kidding, but…Sam was a big dude.

I came into the room, and headed over to the electric kettle. “Hey, Big Guy”–most of the company was anywhere from a few inches to half-a-head taller than I was, but for some reason, Sam was the only one the nickname stuck to-“what’s on your mind? And I’m gonna make some tea, want a cup?”

“If it’s got caffeine.”

“PG Tips? These things’ll take the paint off a Chevy.”

“Fine.”

I filled the kettle, flipped the switch, and turned to face Sam. He seemed to be having some trouble figuring out where to start. Ah shit. I had no apologies to make to anybody for spending time with Cherri, but I remembered that Sam had been interested in her back in the day. Maybe he still was. Beautiful women: not a subject on which all men are rational.

“So…um, did Cherri tell you what I said?”

“About kicking my ass? Yeah, she mentioned it.”

He must have picked up something in my tone. “Hey, I was mostly kidding, Ese.”

I smiled. “I figured. And…well for a bunch of reasons we don’t have to get into, it was actually a pretty nice thing for you to say.”

That startled him a little. “Yeah? Well…did she mention that I’d asked her out, back during this Shepard we did together?”

I was still smiling, barely: “She did.”

“Shit, Dai, would you sit down? I’m not…I mean it’s none of my business. I just…”

The kettle pinged. I said: “Let me get the tea. Anything in yours?”

“Nah, just the little bag.”

I handed him his tea, and we sat, Sam back in his easy chair facing the short end of a stained coffee table, and me on an old suede sofa facing the door.

Sam took a deep breath. “So here’s the thing. You guys are together? Fine. Not my concern, but I just wanted to say…I’ve known Cherri for a while, and, yeah, I had a thing for her-maybe still do a little-but I also really like her, and…man, it has not been easy for that lady.”

“No shit.”

“She told you? Good. I figured she would, but…anyhow, this is maybe the fourth show we’ve done together, uh, Tooth of Crime, that piece of shit new thing at the Archway, what was that called? Walls of…something, Orpheus Descending, and…no, that other thing was just a reading. Still, I’ve done a bunch of stuff with Cherri, and…she can be a lot.”

He looked at me. Nothing for me there. I let him look.

“I mean she can be intense, super focused, super frustrated-I’ve seen her lose her shit more than once. But she’s super tough, too, you know? I mean she just keeps picking herself up, and getting on with getting on, you know? And the work is always…I mean she is so good!”

“Carol Cutrere in Orpheus?” Where was this going?

“Yeah, and Dai, I’m am not kidding, she was on fucking fire! She was so much better than anything else in that show: the kind of fuck-you sexy, the despair! She blew the roof of that little shithole, but they’re never gonna have her back. Not that she needs those people.”

“Trouble in the room?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what it was for sure. I mean I can guess, but…”

“Sam, I don’t mean to be…look, why are you telling me all this?”

This little smile crept onto his face. I didn’t know quite what to make of it, but it stayed in his voice as he answered. “Dude, what we got here? This is a whole new Cherri. I mean, she’s…relaxed…look, don’t get me wrong; the work is still amazing…”

“Yes it fucking is!”

“But she’s smiling! She’s bullshitting with people-with other women in the company, which she never used to do-she’s like a different lady!” He leaned forward in his chair, and now his smile was gone. “I guess…ah, shit, it’s none of my business, but I’ve just got to say, be careful, man. I don’t know what this is for you, and like I say…”

“It’s none of your…”

“None of my business. But I think…I think you’re really good for her. And I really don’t want to see her hurt again, so…”

107.

Silence. He’d said his piece, and on the one hand, he was right. It was none of his business. On the other hand…

I said: “Sam, listen. I’m going to say this because you’re her friend. I…don’t know where we go from here, she and I. I can’t promise she’ll never get hurt. I’m sure as hell never going to hurt her, not if I can help it. Look, here’s the thing. I love her. That’s just between us, okay? I’ve told her, and now I’m telling you. I love her. I don’t even know her that well, and we live in different places, and…and I don’t know what all else. But if she’ll…work with me on this, we’ll figure something out. But that’s all I got. No guarantees. No-I don’t know-big romantic gestures, okay? I love her. And it sounds like maybe you do too. I respect that, and I’m sorry if that’s got to be a problem between us, because I really do like you, but…”

“No, Brother. No problem.” He sighed. “I think I’m mostly over her, but…well, you know Cherri. And for the record, I like you too. And I think you’re terrific in the role.”

“Thanks, my friend, and right back at you. You’re a great Banquo. Sorry about sending three guys to stab you.”

“It’s okay, Ese. Just next time, don’t click on ‘send’ until you’ve read through the email.”

I chuckled, and Sam continued: “And thanks for…clearing things up for me. I shouldn’t have asked, but…and I really do hope you guys work out. I think maybe…”

He trailed off. We sat there, sipping tea, one guy in a kilt, and the other in long underwear and a sleeveless t-shirt. Just another day at work. Finally he said: “So a couple actors are talking. First guy says: ‘Hey, did you hear about Bob? He was on this movie, and a helicopter crash-landed right on top of him, broke both his legs, and then the whole thing tipped over, and cut him in half with the rotor blades. He’s dead.’ Second guy says: ‘Fucking Bob got a movie?”

I’d heard it before, but I laughed anyway. I liked Sam.

108.

Over the course of the day, we finished teching the show, broke for dinner, ran the show once, and got a few quick notes from Gil. Then we were all dismissed 45 minute early, except for Cherri. Costumes apparently had a couple of last minute tweaks, and they needed her around to make them. We were all sitting in the house, so I leaned over, kissed my Lady on the cheek, and said: “See you back. Unless you want to grab drinks with Jem, and Kal, and maybe Sam, and a few of the others.”

She sighed. “Not me tonight. I’m beat. You go ahead if you want to.”

“Nah, I think I’ll head back to my place. Come find me there?”

“Uh huh.” She reached over and squeezed my forearm. “See you soon.”

109.

I put on my coat, and was just about to step out into the evening, when I heard a voice call: “Dai, hold up!”

I turned to see Regina hurrying toward me. Regina Tyler: African American, maybe 40, plus or minus, tall, slim, and beautiful with a long, graceful oval face, large eyes, and a wide, expressive mouth. She was wearing a trenchcoat, which she was just belting over black slacks and a burgundy sweater. I’d worked with Regina once before, on a solid but uninspired production of Desire Under the Elms in Newport News. She’d been maybe a little too sophisticated for Abbie, but she hadn’t had much of an Eben, which made it tough. The Cabot had been this marvelous actor from New Hampshire, Bill Hanrahan, and we’d had some meals together, just the three of us. Before arriving for the season at Oak Ridge, the last time I had seen Regina was at Bill’s funeral. We were lucky to have her as First Witch. She was really there to play Beatrice in Much Ado.

“Hey, Regina! Heading back?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to get some sleep before tomorrow; gotta run home”–Chicago-“for a thing.”

A “thing” probably meant an audition, but if you knew Regina at all, you knew not to ask for specifics. Like most actors I knew, myself included, she was deeply superstitious, and she’d never talk about a job until she’d signed a contract.

“Okay, I won’t ask.”

She looked puzzled. “Huh?” Then her face cleared. “Oh. No, not job-related. A friend’s having surgery, and I promised her a little TLC.”

“Nothing serious, I hope.”

She sighed. “It’s a little serious. Lumpectomy. But they think they caught it early.”

“Ah, shit. Well, I wish her all the best. Is it getting in the way of Much Ado at all?”

She stopped walking and shot me a look. “Why, what have you heard?”

What? “Regina, I haven’t heard anything at all. I’ve been…pretty focused on Macbeth.”

“Yeah, I know what you’ve been focused on,” and her voice was full of meaning. “I’ve been hearing all about it through the wall.”

Hoo boy. “Yeah, sorry ’bout that.” I muttered.

“Yeah, well. Much Ado will be fine. Probably nothing special. Have you worked with Sarah before?”

“Your director? No. She’s out of…is it Arizona?”

“Yeah, TTC, some little black box down in Tucson. She’s got some ideas, and some people are doing good work: Jem’s a great Dogberry, and Sam is hilarious as Antonio…”

“And I bet you’re a spectacular Beatrice.”

She smiled a little ruefully. “Doing my best without a Benedick?”

Wow. Not Kal’s season, apparently. “Is he…is there a problem?”

Regina started walking again. “A couple of them. First of all, maybe a week ago…you remember that night we went out for Karaoke, and Colin just got wasted?”

“I remember the Karaoke, but I think we…I ducked out early.”

“Yeah, you guys missed some shit! Anyway, after we convinced the owner of the place not to call in the National Guard to pry Colin off the ceiling, Kal got me outside and tried to put his tongue down my throat.”

Okay, that was just bizarre. Kal could be a bit of a diva, but I never thought of him as stupid. I asked: “Did you tell your wife on him?”

“Yes I did. Bandhavi wanted to fly out and shoot him, but I reminded her that she’d have a hard time getting the Benelli past security. Besides, he was drunk. And he apologized for maybe half-an-hour the next morning. I don’t think either of us realized just how drunk he was.”

“Still. But I’m glad he apologized. What the hell is up with him? Screaming at Mac, making poor Andi cry, putting the moves on you: he wasn’t like this on Caesar…”

110.

We’d reached the apartments. I said: “You know, we haven’t talked much lately. You want to come in for a minute? I’ll make a cup of tea. Hell for you, I’ll even add whiskey.”

“Yeah, like that makes me special. You do know what they’re going to carve on your tombstone? ‘Here lies the inventor of Bourbon and tea. Did something for him; not a damn thing for me.'”

“Did you just come up with that?”

“Yes I did! And I’ll come in for a minute. Tea with sugar if you have it. No whiskey.”

“Suit yourself.”

When I’d brewed the tea-and added a little Makers to mine, (the really good stuff was up in Cherri’s room)–we sat on the sofa. After a few sips Regina came back to the subject of Kal. “So you know Kal really wanted to play Macbeth, right?”

Huh. That explained some things. “I mean, who wouldn’t? But I didn’t know specifically. Was he sort of counting on it because he’s a regular?”

“Yeah, but…well, I think part of him knew Gil wouldn’t give it to him. They kind of crossed swords on that Midsummer a few years back.”

“Were you in that?”

“Yeah, I was Helena.”

“Ooh, now I wish I’d seen it! I’ll bet you were amazing!”

She grinned. “Actually, I think I was. But Kal wasn’t. He’s not really a comic actor, not that Oberon or Theseus has to be all that funny, but…I don’t know. He’s got a pretty good opinion of himself-you know: the gorgeous face, the super-jacked bod-but he’s not really comfortable being anything but this idea he has of himself as a cool, macho, bad boy. I think Antony in Caesar may be the best thing I ever saw him do. And it didn’t hurt that Marge cast Octavius as a woman, and the actor…what was her name?”

“Oh, that was Kim something…Kim Singleton, nice woman.”

“But not a very good Octavius.”

“No,” I agreed. “Much better as Phoebe in the As You.”

“Yeah, she was kinda great in that. But in the Caesar, she really didn’t push back much, so Kal was pretty much the biggest, baddest thing in the room whenever he was on stage.”

I flashed back to Desire Under the Elms rehearsals. Regina and I and Bill-rest in peace-had been a little unit for a few weeks, closing the local bars with long discussions, part serious theater and part serious tea. I’d enjoyed those sessions, and between rehearsing Macbeth and getting together with Cherri, I hadn’t actually heard all that much about Much Ado. What I had heard, mostly from Jem, amounted to him keeping his head down and doing his job. If Regina wanted to dish a little bit…

Just then there was a knock at the door, which I’d left unlocked, and in walked Cherri.

111.

It’s atavistic. It lives down there in the reptilian cortex. It’s fucking stupid, and deeply annoying. Regina was an old friend. Regina was fully clothed, and sitting three feet away from me-okay, maybe more like a foot-and-a-half-it wasn’t that big a sofa. For chrissake, Regina was a lesbian, and married. And Regina was a beautiful woman, and when a guy’s lady friend walks in on him talking to a beautiful woman, even a beautiful, married, gay woman…there’s this really unpleasant couple of seconds when you revert to your six-year-old self caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Apparently I needn’t have worried. Sounding like somebody greeting an old friend at her 25th High School Reunion, Cherri called: “Witch!”

In exactly the same voice, Regina cried: “Bitch!”

Then Cherri walked over, bent down to kiss me lightly on the lips, and said: “I want to sit where you’re sitting. Move.”

“Hey!”

Regina was grinning. Cherri hauled me to my feet, sat down, lifted her leg and kicked me gently in the ass. “Oh be quiet, and go make me some tea. Ooh, do you have any of that Makers left?”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you drink that shit too? No wonder he’s nuts for you.”

I was heading back towards the kitchen, trying not to grin. “Yeah, there’s some left. Not that you’re getting any.”

“Whiskey in the tea, Lover, or you’ll be the one who’s not getting any.”

Regina: “Damn!”

Me (making the tea): “Don’t worry, that’s an empty threat. She can’t resist my manly charms. Nobody can.”

Cherri: “That’s actually true. If you want to borrow him for the evening, his cock isn’t all that long, but it is kind of thick…”

I yelled: “Jesus, Woman!” and dropped the kettle. Regina cracked up, and just avoided blowing lukewarm tea out of her nose.

112.

Once the hilarity had died down, I filled Cherri in: “Regina was telling me a little about Much Ado.”

“Yeah, we’ve talked some about it.” That surprised me, but Cherri continued. “You know, dressing room chat.”

“Sure, but…I guess I didn’t realize you guys were, um, old friends? I mean, I know you’ve worked together, on the Midsummer here at least…” I trailed off, because the two women seemed to be appraising each other. Finally Regina said:

“Actually, we’re kind of new friends.”

Uh oh. Now, what was I walking into?

Cherri: “Something else we haven’t talked about, I guess.” She gave me a wan little smile. “I’ve never really had that many women friends before…”

Regina: “Got a couple now.”

That little smile widened into a grin. “Yeah, I guess I do. It’s a really nice feeling, actually. Anyhow,” turning back to Regina, “this one actually has a chance of glimpsing the hidden depths of the female psyche, so maybe I’ll explain things to him; I mean eventually, when he grows up. Meanwhile, you have my permission to tell the little fella all about Much Ado.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. Sounded to me like somebody was pleased with her costume adjustments, which was a good thing. Still, I found myself revisiting the idea of giving the love of my life a good, hard spanking. And then I found my cock stiffening. Hmm…

Regina’s eyes considered Cherri for another few seconds, then, turning to me, she said: “It’s late, so I’ll keep it short. I mean, you can probably guess most of it.”

“Kal?” I asked.

“Yup.” Regina sighed. “It’s frustrating because, In a lot of ways, he’s pretty decent casting for Benedick, right?”

“Well,” put in Cherri, “he is decorative.”

“Be fair. He’s good with the language. He can be charming. His soliloquy just before the gulling: probably his best work in the show. But finally he’s not very funny. And he’s just not giving me much to work with, and Lord knows I’m trying! I think he’s scared of women. Hell, he had the same problem on Midsummer.”

Cherri: “No vulnerability.”

Regina: “Right? Love, sex, acting: hell, it’s all about listening. It’s about responding to the cues your partner gives you and vice versa. In bed, in life, on stage: doesn’t matter. You. Have. To. Be. Willing. To. LISTEN!!! If you think you know what it’s all about going in…”

Cherri: “You’re fucked.”

Regina: “Not by me you’re not. Not more than once, anyhow. And the poor man is jealous.”

Me: “Which confuses the hell out of me, because when you come right down to it, what the hell does he have to be jealous of? He works constantly. I think he’s across the board with Talent Mart. But whoever’s repping him, he’s auditioning for stuff way above his pay grade, because he’s so damn good looking…”

Regina cut me off. “Dai, he’s jealous of Macbeth. Not just the role, although he wanted that pretty badly. Look, we’ve got something special going here. I’m not just talking-you know-good, clear, straightforward Shakespeare festival stuff here. No, we’re onto something really exciting. I mean even the crew is into us. Did you notice? They had to go over a bunch of stuff three and four times, because they were watching the damn show! This one’s going to be…different. Everybody’s at the top of their game. Nothing I’ve ever seen Gil do has this kind of energy. The company is loving it. Hell, I’ve wanted to play Beatrice for years, and all I can think of is how much fun I’m having on Macbeth. And Macbeth isn’t about Kal. He knows it, and because under all the prima donna bullshit, he’s actually a pretty decent guy, he feels guilty, because he’s mostly jealous of a guy he likes, you.”

113.

I sighed, and then I looked over at Cherri; beautiful, vivacious, passionate, whimsical Cherri. “Maybe he’s not just jealous of the role…”

Cherri sighed: “Yes and no. I think I told you he tried to get with me at the party last summer?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Look,” and all of a sudden she sounded tired, “he wanted to sleep with me, because I’m…”

“Beautiful.”

She smiled at me. “Okay, or hot, or whatever. I’m vain enough, or experienced enough, to know how guys respond to my…face, or my body, or…but Kal never wanted to…to be with me. Not like you…want to be with me. So I don’t think he’s really jealous of the fact that we’re together…”

Regina said: “No, he’s jealous of the Macbeths.” I must’ve looked puzzled, because she continued. “Look, the reason this show is so damn good is because you two guys have figured out…something, a way into this couple. Maybe it’s because you got together yourselves. I don’t know. I mean usually that’s a recipe for disaster. Like every third production of Romeo and Juliet. No chemistry because they’re already fucking. Who needs the first three acts of the damn play? But you guys…look, I’m sorry to get personal, but you two are so fucking into each other that you’ve made what the Macbeths do seem…believeable, and human.”

I said: “Regina, that’s really…”

But she cut me off. “Be quiet, Dai Brenner, I am not done talking.”

Me: “Sorry.”

Regina: “You should be. Seriously though, Dai, you are…I don’t even know how to say how amazing you are in this part. I mean I knew Cherri had the skills. We may not have been best buds on Dream, but her Titania was exquisite, and then that same summer she was Elizabeth in Richard III: totally different; every bit as good.

Cherri: “Rey, that’s…”

Regina wasn’t listening. “You I’d seen in Desire-small role-and then in that crap production of Laughter at IRT. I thought you were solid, but I had no idea that you could…just fucking lift a role like this onto your shoulders, and the two of you together…”

She sighed. “Bottom line: Much Ado is going to be fine, but everybody, including Kal, knows what the problem is, and everybody, especially Kal, knows that Macbeth is going to be special. And everybody knows why.”

114.

When Regina rose to go, Cherri got up, gave her a hug, and walked her out into the corridor, saying something that I couldn’t catch from the kitchen. When she came back in, she was giggling.

I looked up from rinsing out the teacups: “What’s funny?”

“Girl stuff.”

Hmmm, turfed out of my seat on the sofa, offered on loan like a library book, gossipped about-I hoped they were talking about me-behind my back; I decided then and there to take the little minx in hand.

Actually, I was delighted to hear that the two women were becoming friends; two of my favorite people, and they had a lot in common. But I’d also been thinking about our talk the previous night.

I walked over to the minx in question and stood behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, and nuzzling her neck. Cherri purred, and turned in my arms so that she was facing me.

“Mmm, my Thane, shall we retire to our chamber?”

“Of course, my Lady, but…” Cherri had let her hair down, and now I reached up and used the back of two fingers to tuck the thick, smooth tresses behind an ear. I let that hand-the right one, as it happened-drift around to the back of her head, just above her neck. Then I grabbed a handful of hair, gently-I didn’t want to hurt her…much-and pulled her head back. I admired the pale skin of her long graceful neck. Her breathing deepened.

“Bastard!” she hissed-I’d pulled her hair a couple of times during sex; it really got her going, and we both knew it. “Dai, come on…I, oh God, I just don’t think I’m up for…tonight. I’m really tired, and…”

I held her still. “Not tonight, Minx. Tonight we go upstairs and kiss and cuddle. But tomorrow…well, you’d better come up with a safe word. I may have to teach you a little lesson.”

Cherri was panting now; she was seriously turned on. “Oh yeah? Whuh…why? What did I do?”

“Kicking me off the couch, offering me to your new bestie, and then giggling about me behind my back, and in front of it, for that matter…” I tightened my grip on her hair just a little.

“Ow! Ooh, you are so mean! So wh…what are you going to do to me?”

I released her hair, and took her chin between my fingers. Then I leaned into her, until my lips found the lobe of that lovely ear I’d just exposed. I bit it gently, and heard her moan. Then I whispered: “Wait and see.”

115.

I was grinning when I stepped away from Cherri, but I wasn’t a moment later, when she punched me hard in the shoulder.

“God damn you, Dai Brenner!” she practically snarled at me, and she raised the same fist to hit me again, but this time I caught her by the wrist, and twisted her arm around behind her. She swung at me with the other arm, but I managed to get hold of that one too, and soon I had my arms around her, pinioning hers to her sides while my hands gripped her wrists behind her back. I pulled her into me, to minimize the possibility of a knee to the groin, although I suspected my Lady wasn’t quite as angry as she’d initially seemed. Still, that shoulder? Fuckin’ ouch!

Cherri thrashed for a minute, and then sagged against me. I let go of her wrists, and tensed for just a second, but she wound her arms around my waist, and pushed herself against me.

Her voice was tired, and a little petulant. “It’s not fair! Even when you piss me off you turn me on. You know how hot I get when you pull my hair, and when I…I just fucking love how strong you are! So now I’m turned on AND tired, and I’m all fuckin’ wound up, and how am I ever going to get to sleep, you absolute fucking bast-mmph!”

I kissed her; not hard, but passionately. I claimed her mouth which opened under mine. My tongue reached for hers. My hands dropped to cup the cheeks of her ass, and I pulled her against my now erect cock. Soon her arms were around my neck, and she was humming and cooing, and grinding against me. When I finally broke the kiss, there was passion and exhaustion in her voice. “I give up. I’m yours. Whatever you want. You know…when you kiss me like that…”

“Shhh, Honey, let’s go to bed. I promise to resist ravishing you if you can fall asleep, If not, maybe I can help you unwind.”

“Yeah? How?”

“Let’s get you to bed, my Lady, and then we’ll see.”

116.

Between the bamboo sheets, naked with teeth brushed, I put an arm around Cherri’s shoulders, pulled her close and kissed her hair.

“I’m sorry, Love. I didn’t mean to mess with your head before bed.”

She giggled. “I might even have fled.”

I thought for a minute. “Nah, you’re so tired, you’re dead.”

“That’s not very well bred.”

“Now my face is all red.”

“Actually, it’s your whole head.”

“Hey, no fair,” I protested, “I already used ‘head’.”

She yawned. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve got big boobs and a cute ass, so I win.”

She had me there. “Right. I almost forgot.”

“No, you didn’t.” Her sexy voice; got me every time.

“No,” I agreed, “I didn’t.”

Another giggle. Then: “Dai, we seem to be apologizing to each other a lot lately. Should we be worried?”

I considered. “No, I don’t think so. Couple of things: first of all, we’re still getting to know each other. I mean there’s this unusually strong connection between us, never mind the chemistry…”

“Oh, don’t say that. I really like the chemistry!” The sexy voice again.

“Now who’s not gonna be able to sleep? I’m just saying, we know each other pretty well as lovers and as actors, but we’re still learning about each other’s…”

“Learning about each other as people?”

I nodded. “Yeah. And by the way, the more I learn about you, the more amazing I think you are.”

She snuggled close. “Good. Me too. But you said a couple of things?”

“Well, we’ve just finished teching Macbeth, which made this a 52 hour work week, so, yeah, tempers might be a little short.”

“That’s true.” She reached a hand up to my cheek, and turned me to face her. “Do you still love me?”

I smiled into her eyes. “More every day.”

“And are you still planning to…do whatever you’re planning to do to me tomorrow?”

I could feel a little heat creeping into my smile. “Oh yes, you saucy little Minx. You’re definitely gonna get what’s coming to you. So do you still love me?”

“Uh huh.”

Two little syllables, and it was like every vein in my body was filled with Willett Pot Still Reserve: I felt warm and tingly, and maybe a little disoriented. ‘Or leave a kiss within the cup / And I’ll not ask for wine.’ Ben Johnson caught the metaphor. I was drunk on my love for Cherri, and just for a second, I thought I couldn’t get any happier. Then she leaned in, and just before she kissed me, she whispered: “More every day.”

117.

A little while later, we lay side by side, looking up at the ceiling. By rights we should both have been sound asleep, not to say comatose. It was late, and we were both wrecked. But…

“You said you would help me unwind?” They were the first words either of us had said for some time.

I turned my head to admire her profile in the moonlight from the bedroom window: “You don’t think you can fall asleep?”

She turned her face to mine. “Maybe I could, but I haven’t yet. I’m still wondering what you…have planned for me tomorrow. And…I know we’ve fallen asleep without doing anything before, and I don’t know how much I could manage tonight, but I just like…being intimate, I guess, and I thought, maybe if you had an idea…?”

“Well,” I smiled at her, “one or two things occur to me. Why don’t you close your eyes?”

Her answering smile was sleepy. “Well…I think you should give me my goodnight kiss first.”

“Of course.” I leaned over and kissed her gently. Her lips parted, and her tongue played with mine. After a while she broke off the kiss with a satisfied little smile.

“Okay,” she said, “closing my eyes.”

“Now,” I whispered, putting my mouth close to her ear, and inhaling the scent of her hair, “why don’t you open your legs?”

“Hey,” she giggled, eyes still closed, “are you trying to take advantage of me?”

“I’d love to,” still whispering, “but not tonight. Go on, part those lovely thighs of yours, please?”

“Yes, sir.” There was movement under the covers, and when I reached a hand down to check, her legs were spread in a narrow v.

I caressed the inside of her thigh, and listened to her moan softly. Then I cupped her hairless vulva, and very gently insinuated the tip of my middle finger between the warm, moist lips of her pussy.

Cherri’s breath caught. “What are you doing?”

“Just checking to see how wet you are, Sexy.”

She gasped. I removed my hand, and continued.

“Touch yourself for me.”

I felt a rustling under the covers, and heard a sigh as her fingers began to caress her slit.

She cooed, eyes still closed. “Mmm…now what?”

“Shh. I’m just going to do some things I think will make you feel good. If you want me to stop doing something, say so. If not, just concentrate on pleasing yourself.”

Her eyes opened slowly and she smiled at me. “Okay.” she said, and closed her eyes again.

118.

Regina had said something like it earlier in the evening: love, sex, acting; it’s all about listening, about paying attention. Cherri and I had been together for a little less than a month, and I had been paying attention. Wasn’t like it was a hardship, discovering that the beautiful, amorous woman lying naked in your arms loved to be kissed gently just under her ear. And, come to think of it, that seemed like as good a place to start as any. I brought a hand to her cheek, and eased her head to one side, exposing the soft curve of her throat. I leaned in, pausing for just a second to breathe in the scent of her; perfume, soap, skin, a little sweat. Then I let my lips nibble at her special spot, and smiled to hear my Lady moan.

I kissed down the side of her neck, then traced the curve of her ear with the tip of my tongue. She shuddered. I sucked gently at the base of her throat, and heard an indistinct little murmur of alarm. I wasn’t going to give her anything as obvious-or as inconvenient, given some of the dresses Simone had her in-as a hickey, but I teased her for a few seconds, before I let my kisses descend towards the tops of her breasts.

Cherri’s body stilled for a moment. She loved how crazy her body made me, and she knew that I was particularly enamored of her tits. She also knew that I knew-after a few weeks of in-depth study-exactly how she liked her tits to be treated. My hand, warm from the covers, reached across her body to cup first one breast and then the other, squeezing gently at first. I could feel Cherri’s body shudder slightly. She’d begun to touch herself again.

I leaned into her, and brought my mouth close to a hardening nipple, my cock hardening in sympathy. I loved kissing Cherri’s breasts, and she loved to have them kissed. I cast my thoughts back to one of the first times I’d really paid attention to her tits. I’d been licking, kissing softly, exploring the soft flesh around her areolas, when I’d heard her voice; a little petulant, a little needy: “Uh uh! Suck them. Suck them hard! Make me feel it!”

Lesson learned. I drew her nipple in between my lips and gave it a quick, hard suck. Cherri began panting, and her body shook harder.

“Hunnh!” Her voice was quiet; sleepy, even as her pleasure intensified. “Oh yeah, just like that! Huh…oh Dai, oh Sweetheart, mmm, don’t stop…I’m close!”

I sucked and nipped; kissed and nuzzled, and listened to the muted music of my lover’s approaching orgasm. No voice anymore. Not even any real vocalizations. Her breaths grew sharper, faster, until finally, with a series of quick pants, her body convulsed once, twice, three…four, and…five times, and then relaxed. She murmured something which might have been “Love you,” or maybe “Thank you.” Didn’t matter. Then she turned on her side, and her breaths became long and even.

I smiled, even laughed a little, and then, for just a second-I really must’ve been whacked-found myself fighting back tears. I was tickled and moved to discover that, had the woman of my dreams said one more word before falling asleep, I knew exactly what that word would have been.

I pulled my pillow next to the back of her head, pressed myself against her back, and draped an arm around her waist.

“Spoons, Cher?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. Not a problem. She didn’t have to.

119.

When my eyes opened the next morning, it took me a couple of seconds to orient myself. I was lying mostly on my front, which meant that Cherri had either gotten up in the middle of the night for some reason, or that she’d awakened before me, which was unusual. Then I remembered that it was a Monday, and we didn’t have to be anywhere in particular, but that I had laundry to do, and that I’d been planning…oh, right.

I looked around for Cherri, and found her sitting up next to me, noodling on her phone, with her back propped against a pillow. She’d put on her nightshirt, but hadn’t bothered with the buttons. The previous night, I’d fallen asleep with a hard cock nestled between the cheeks of my sleeping Lady’s perfect ass. I’d been kissing her breasts and watching her cum, so my hardon hadn’t surprised me, but it had made it a little tricky to drift off. Now, looking up at her makeup-less face, her bed tousled hair, her breasts half-exposed under the blue striped fabric, I could feel the blood rushing to my dick yet again. Most of me was regularly fantasizing about spending the rest of my life with this beautiful, fascinating woman. A small part of me wondered how long I could survive the nearly constant sexual tension. Fuck it, you gotta die of something, right? But all of a sudden I was really looking forward to that evening; to putting the little minx over my knee.

“Good morning, Gorgeous.” I rasped. Tech throat. I’d have to monitor that. Wouldn’t do to blow out my voice before there were butts in the seats.

Cherri smiled down at me. “Good morning, yourself, Handsome. How’d you sleep?”

“Well, took a little effort not to flip you on your back and have my wicked way with you, but I managed eventually.”

She giggled. “I might not even have woken up. I was out!” She put her phone down, and leaned forward, flattening her hands on the bed less than a foot from my face. Her upper body filled my vision, and I watched her breasts bounce gently as she shifted her weight onto her arms.

“Mmmm, there’s that look again! Like I’m sweet Little Red Riding Hood, and you’re the Big Bad Wolf getting ready to eat me all up!” Her voice became husky. “That was quite an orgasm you helped me with last night. But…I’m guessing all that kissing and sucking got you a little hot and bothered, didn’t it? And then I just fell asleep and left you all hard and frustrated…Ooh, I’m an evil little bitch, aren’t I?”

“Jesus, Woman, could you give me a minute to…”

“Want me to…help relieve the pressure?”

That stopped me. “Um…you want to let me brush my teeth first?”

“Uh uh.” She pulled the sheet down, exposing most of my naked body, including my rapidly hardening cock. Slipping the nightshirt off her shoulders, she crawled down towards the foot of the bed. “I love your face, but,” she wrapped a hand around my shaft and squeezed gently, “that’s not the part of you, um…on which I am planning to put my mouth.” She giggled. “You can tell I’m a real lady, because I never end a sentence with a preposition.” She slowly ran her tongue up my dick, then took the tip between her lips, and began to suck gently.

“Mmph,” she released me long enough to add: “Although I do sometimes try to talk with my mouth full.” Then she wrapped her lips around the head of my cock, and slid me all the way into her mouth.

120.

I thought about stopping her. I had plans for my Lady that evening which involved…and that was about as far as I got with that thought. Maybe there are men out there who can refuse oral sex from beautiful, erotically imaginative, naked women with captivating green eyes and curvaceous bodies. I don’t happen to be one of them.

My head fell back onto the pillow, and I moaned as I felt the warm wet pressure of her lips as she bobbed up and down on me. I grinned through my shortening breath listening to a counterpoint of moist, sloppy sucking, and quiet, satisfied hums and sighs. Cherri seemed to be enjoying herself.

I felt a hand return to the base of my cock, and looked up to see her stroking me. She let the crown fall out of her mouth long enough to explain.

“Thirsty!”

Then she popped me back into her mouth and continued sucking.

121.

I let my eyes drift shut, and gave myself over to pleasure. Cherri seemed to be in no hurry. She stroked me gently, caressing the tip of my cock with her tongue. Occasionally she would take me deep, and I would feel the soft flesh at the top of her throat, as her lips stretched around my shaft. My breathing became shallower, and I felt muscles in my arms and legs tighten as I fought to prolong the pleasure. I could feel my shaft begin to swell, and that insistent tickling just under the head. The pace of her strokes never varied, although her grip on me tightened. Her soft lips surrounded me just below the head; it almost seemed as if they weren’t moving…but they were, just a bit. Her tongue would make an occasional lazy circle over the very top of my dick. Not a muscle in my body moved. I held my breath for as long as I could…

“Haahhhh!” The air rushed out of my lungs, and my lower body spasmed. Not just a twitch; something like a convulsion, once, twice, three times…holy shit, four! Five! It felt like I would never stop, and the feeling was exquisite. Cherri’s grip loosened slightly, but she kept her lips wrapped around the head of my cock, as I filled her mouth. After an initial squeak of surprise at the violence of my movement, she answered each thrust with a soft, satisfied hum, the sound almost as erotic as the sensations of her hands and mouth on me. For a few seconds afterwards, I felt intense pleasure-pain at the tip of my dick, as she squeezed and sucked out the last few drops of stuff from me. I heard a little “mmff” sound, followed by a swallow, and then I lay back on that peculiarly comfortable bamboo pillow, and felt my whole body relax.

122.

Cherri kissed her way up my body, stopping for a few tantalizing seconds to tease my nipples. I kept my eyes shut, and tried not to moan as her lips and tongue danced over my sensitive skin. Couldn’t let the little minx have it all her way…

Right.

Soon her lips were beside my ear, and I could feel her breath on the side of my face as she purred: “Mmmm, you came a lot!”

I smiled. Couldn’t help it. The sound of her voice turned me on. I could feel some blood flowing back into my cock. For fuck’s sake I was 45! Maybe she really was a succubus.

With my eyes still closed, I murmured: “What did you expect, Sexy? You’re really good at that!”

She giggled: “Easy to be good at something you like.”

“Well you must really like sucking cock.”

She didn’t say anything for a second, and when she did speak, I couldn’t feel her breath on my face anymore. I opened my eyes, and turned my head to find her lying next to me with her hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling. She was frowning slightly.

“It’s funny. I always told myself I did, because I was good at it. I am good at it. But thinking about it…I got good at it, because usually I preferred doing it to regular sex, so…no, I don’t particularly like sucking cock. I like sucking your cock.”

She turned and looked across at me. We’d neither of us brushed our teeth yet, but that didn’t seem to trouble her, which made me happy. Again, I wasn’t sure why.

“In fact, I love sucking your cock, Dai Brenner. I love everything about it: the way you taste, the way you grow in my mouth. I love the way your whole body fights to keep from cumming,” she leaned back in towards me, and her voice dropped to a mischievous whisper, “even though we both know how badly you want to. And I really love that moment-just before you surrender to me-your cock swells between my lips, and for less than a second it’s like I’ve cast a spell; you can’t move a muscle. And then, hmmm!”

Her right hand was between her legs now, playing idly between the lips of her pussy. “Then, your whole body spasms, and you fill my naughty little mouth with a big load of your hot, thick, salty cum, and I try not to swallow too fast, because it tastes soooo good! Fuck!” She grabbed my hand and brought it between her thighs. “God, feel how wet I am! Feel what sucking your cock does to me.”

I ran a finger up her slit, pushing the tip inside of her for a few seconds. She moaned. I pulled my finger from her pussy, stared into her eyes, and sucked her juices off the tip. She smiled, and her breathing deepened. I took her chin between my fingers, and turned her face towards the ceiling, so that I could whisper into her ear.

“My Lady, you are a delicious little cumslut.”

She giggled. “Ooh, cumslut! I like that! I guess I am, aren’t I? But I’m not just a delicious little cumslut; I’m your delicious little cumslut. There’s a difference, you know.”

“I do know.” I was grinning like an idiot. How did I get this lucky? My freshman roommate from college, a taciturn Norwegian physics prodigy, would have told me not to get too happy. He’d have warned me that I’d pay for it later. Well, fuck him. “So does my delicious little cumslut want to cum again herself?”

123.

I’d planned on denying her; making her wait for the little session I’d been contemplating for later in the day. But Cherri surprised me.

“Hmmm, maybe. Ooh, you know what I really want?”

“What?”

“A waffle!”

What the…? “Cher, I don’t think we have…”

“I know.” She sighed. “I wish these places came with waffle irons, or even that I’d thought to buy some of those frozen toaster things.”

“Honey, even if we did have a waffle iron,”–I’d been cooking most of the breakfasts-“I’m not sure I know how to make waffles…”

She stared at me, and sighed again. “My Thane, it is not rocket science. You buy a box of Bisquick, and read the recipe on the…and yes, I know we don’t have Bisquick!” I hadn’t actually been about to interrupt. “Wow, I’m really jonesing for a waffle.”

“You know, that little diner out towards the four lane probably has waffles.”

She stared at me. “That’s like a three mile walk, and it’s probably 20 degrees out there.”

“How badly do you want that waffle?”

“Pretty badly…”

“So get that gorgeous ass of yours out of bed, put on some clothes, and let’s go. I’m buying.”

“Aw, you’d trudge through the cold to buy me a waffle?”

“Well, you did just give me a world class blowjob.”

“I did, didn’t I?” She giggled. “So can I have a cappuccino too?”

“At that place? You sure you want to risk it?”

“Yeah, good point…”

124.

“So we check Ebay for waffle irons?” We were walking back from the diner towards the apartments.

Cherri chuckled. “Yeah, that was…an experience. I’m actually a little confused. I mean, how do you fuck up a waffle?”

I shrugged. “Under cook it, I guess. It might have paired nicely with my crunchy scrambled eggs.”

“Ew, seriously? Okay, this is starting to feel personal. Maybe the owner’s mother was molested by an actor.”

“She sure as hell wasn’t molested by a chef.”

Cherri giggled, then put a puffer-coated arm around my parka and walked along hugging me for a few steps. “Oh, well. Thanks for indulging me.”

I kissed her head through her wool beanie. “Anytime, my Lady.”

She squeezed me hard for a second, and then let go, and we walked on together for a few minutes without speaking. Finally Cherri asked what sounded like a deliberately casual question. “So…what do you need to do for the rest of the day?”

“Oh, the usual Monday stuff: I’ll throw in a load of laundry, write some emails, and…you know, have a ‘chat’ with my girlfriend about what a naughty minx she is…”

“Oh. Um…does the naughty minx have anything to say about that?”

“Depends. Has she chosen a safeword?”

“Yes, she has. It’s ‘Subpoena.'”

Oh shit. “Cher, I didn’t mean to…I mean if you’re not in the mood, or…”

She stepped in front of me, put her arms around my neck, and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Shh, Honey.” Her voice dropped to a soft, sexy purr. “Has this naughty minx ever not been in the mood? For you? Besides…” she kissed me again, “I chose that safeword…” another kiss, a little longer this time, “for a very specific reason.” Another kiss: longer still, and the tip of her tongue slipped between my lips. “I was really scared…about my testimony. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was even having trouble hanging onto my lines, but then…” another kiss, even more insistent, “you came into my life,” another, “and into my bed,” and another, “and now I’m in love with you,” and another, “and I am…happier than I’ve ever been…ever,” a long, passionate, open-mouthed kiss which seemed to go on forever, and which still ended too soon for me.

When she finally broke off, Cherri stared up into my face. Her cheeks were pink, her lips red and moist, and her eyes were the impossible green of starlight submerged in sea water. “I’m not afraid of testifying anymore. I’m not sure if I’m afraid of anything, except maybe losing you…”

I started to interrupt, but she put two fingers to my lips.

“Shh, I know. We’ve still got a lot to talk about, but as far as today goes,” her voice became confidential, and full of sensual promise, “you can do anything you want with your naughty little minx. She…I won’t use my safeword, because I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you, and at the same time, I’ve never felt safer.”

125.

I once worked with a woman: Second AD on a little horror film we shot somewhere upstate. She’d been a model, and she’d looked like one: the lean, lithe body with small breasts and long legs; the oval face framed by a honey blonde pixie cut, and the huge blue eyes. She’d also been-at various times in her modeling career-hooked on both cocaine and heroin. She kicked the coke all by herself. She’d needed help with the other stuff. By the time I worked with her, she was married to a guy in the National Park Service, and newly pregnant with their second daughter. When she told me the story of her recovery, she said something…yeah, terrifying; no other word for it.

She said she never thought about coke. It’d been fun for a while, and then less so, and then just expensive. She’d had some tough days and weeks when she first went cold turkey, but now, no problem, and no temptation to start using again. But the smack? She had actually said: “If I thought there was a way to be-like be a good wife and mother, and do my job, and everything-and still use that stuff,” she’d never referred to it as heroin, “I’d go back to it tomorrow. That shit is good, and that shit will mess with you!”

I hadn’t seen Val for something like ten years, but I thought about her that day, as I was waiting to flip my laundry. I thought about her words in a more benign, but-strangely-no less terrifying context.

Last night, I’d been tired but wired, after a solid run through at the end of tech. I’d been happy and horny, and a little grumpy too. When Cherri had come back to the room, and kicked me off the couch, and bossed me around, I’d been mostly amused, but also…well, let’s just say I’d really been looking forward to teaching the wench a mostly erotic, but nevertheless forceful, lesson in manners.

Then she’d kissed me, by the side of the road. She’d said that she was in love with me, and that I made her feel safe. And it took every last ounce of self control I had not to fall to one knee like some humorless goop in a bad Victorian novel and beg her to make me that happiest of men, while assuring her that I desired nothing more than the chance to stand between her and the world.

Fucking hell! Where do I even come up with this crap?

Love. My friends, that shit is good, and that shit will MESS with you!

126.

As it happened I didn’t fall to my knees, or propose. No. We walked back to the apartments with our arms around each other. Did my feet touch the pavement? Not that I noticed, but hey, why get bogged down in the details? I made it to the laundry room, didn’t I? I put the warms in on warm, and the colds in on cold, didn’t I?

Wait. Did I?

So. To go through with the nefarious plot or not to go through with the nefarious plot. Yeah, who was I kidding? Of course I was going to go through with it. Cherri’d told me that she got off on the idea of me taking her. She’d said I could do anything I wanted to her. But…she’d also said she felt safe with me, so maybe…

And. She’d also been worried that love would somehow disallow, or do away with, lust. “Can we still fuck?” I remembered the question, and I remembered how hard she’d cried because she hadn’t wanted to lose all the chemistry we’d had before the L-word made everything more complicated.

Okay, so. I had an answer for her.

127.

At noon, I texted Cherri: “4:30 my place”

Cherri: “dress code?”

Me: “uncomplicated, bra and panties ok but no lingerie, emphasis on access”

Cherri: “sexting needs work”

Me: “lol, date?”

Cherri: “yes plz”

128.

At 3:30, I shaved, showered, and got dressed in a pair of gray sweats and a black sleeveless t-shirt. Nothing else. At 4:30 there was a knock. I stood maybe 8 feet away, facing the door, and called: “Come in.”

The door opened, and Cherri walked into the apartment. When she saw me standing, staring at her, she stopped, locked eyes with me, then deliberately turned, closed the door, and turned back.

I knew my Lady liked to be looked at. Or at least she liked the way I looked at her. The other night, she’d called it my Big, Bad Wolf look. I was glad she enjoyed it, since I could almost never take my eyes off her, but I’d never considered what it might be like to be looked at that way myself.

Cherri’s eyes caressed every inch of my body, and her voice was a little shaky when she asked: “You’re not wearing anything under those sweats, are you?”

I smiled. This was going to be fun. “No, I’m not.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay, tell me what you want me to do, because if you don’t, I swear to God, I am going to rip all of my clothes off, get on my knees and beg you to fuck me.”

Okay then. I could feel my cock stirring at the front of my sweats. Cherri seemed to notice it too, and her tongue passed across her lower lip as she stared between my legs.

I said: “Not yet you aren’t, Minx. Stand still.”

Her eyes snapped back up to meet mine, and for a few seconds we just stood there, like Romeo and Juliet, or Anna and Vronsky, or Harry and Sally. This afternoon wasn’t going to be about romance, but I allowed myself a few seconds to lose myself in my Lady’s eyes. I’d had the big box of crayons when I was a kid: 64, with the sharpener. As an adult I’d wandered through art museums and National Parks. I’d seen crown jewels from a few different countries, one way and another. I’d never seen anything like that particular shade of green.

Or maybe…I’d just have to wait and see.

I took a deep breath, and allowed my eyes to wander. Thick, lustrous brown hair, loose down to her shoulders, wisps of it turning chestnut in the light from the ceiling fixture; the soft, pale skin of her cheeks, a little flushed either from the heat of the room, or from the heat of our mutual lust. She wore a little makeup, liner, some shadow, lipstick; her lips were a deep, glossy red. I thought about what those lips had done to me just that morning, and I could feel myself stiffening. Not a surprise, but still, I was gonna be in charge tonight. Wouldn’t do to let the wench know how easily she got to me.

Yeah. That ship had sailed a long time ago.

Lower. As she came in I’d noted the outfit in passing: gray-green sweater and jeans. Now, as she stood facing me, I noticed. The sweater looked like cashmere, and the neckline was what I think is called a mock-turtleneck. None of which registered for more than a second. The salient fact about that sweater was that it was tight. But very tight! As my eyes lighted on her breasts, I saw them bounce gently. I looked up just in time to see Cherri’s arms disappear behind her back, and a mischievous smile creep onto her face.

“Like my sweater?”

“Yes, and I like your tits. Are you wearing a bra under that thing?”

“Mmm. I know you do! Just a demi cup. Doesn’t cover much, but it does have a clasp in the front. I believe you emphasized access?”

“I did.”

“Well, maybe I should warn you, this one is fire engine red. It’s kind of slutty, actually.” She grasped the bottom of the sweater, as if to pull it over her head. “Want to see?”

“Not yet.” She pouted at me, and put her arms back behind her, making her boobs bounce again. “I’m enjoying the view through the sweater. Looks like your nipples are pretty hard. Pinch them for me.”

The pout got a little more pronounced, and she swayed her torso from side to side. “Don’t you want to pinch them yourself?”

“Later.” I started walking towards her, slowly, deliberately, speaking as I came closer. “Right now, I want you to cup those big, soft, juicy titties for me, and squeeze your nipples until they’re as hard as my cock.”

“Ooh, somebody’s feeling a little aggressive today!” The saucy smile was back. “Very well, my Lord, how’s this?” She traced her areolas beneath the weather, pausing every few seconds to pinch and squeeze the hard little bumps I could see through the soft fabric. With each pinch, she made a soft little cooing sound. Her eyes never left mine.

“You look so hot right now,” my voice was a growl, soft and intense, “so beautiful, and so fucking slutty. I bet your pussy’s soaked!”

“Oh God, yes it is! Mmm, that lovely thick cock of yours could just…slide inside. If you want…”

“Turn around.”

“Ooh, you gonna do me doggy?”

“Wait and see. First I want to stare at your ass.”

“Aren’t you going to…?”

“Turn around, Minx.” I snarled, “You’ll find out what I’m going to do when I do it. Right now I want to see what that sweet little ass of yours looks like in those jeans.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, but she turned around.

129.

Cherri’s backside was perfect, just like the rest of her.

Her jeans were as tight as her sweater, and the denim looked painted on. And Cherri was in good shape. She’d told me she swam for exercise when she could, but she also enjoyed running, and riding horses, so the curves of her ass were sensuous, a natural extension of her long, lithe, muscular legs. But there were definitely curves, perfect, almost symmetrical curves. They seemed to flow, like a river, out of the center of her lower back to form a graceful arc, like half of a peach, before continuing into the soft smooth flesh of her upper thighs. As I stood there admiring, I resolved to spend more time exploring that ass with my fingers and maybe my mouth. Tomorrow, maybe.

Tonight I planned to spank hell out of it.

130.

“Ahem.”

Apparently my little Minx was getting impatient.

“Can I turn around? Please?”

I didn’t say anything. I just enjoyed the view.

“C’mon, Dai!” Cherri whined, “you get to stare at my ass, while I have to look at the damn door.”

I reached out and cupped that ass with my hands. I have big hands. Cherri jumped as I palmed her cheeks, and then made a little whimpering sound as I squeezed.

In my best Big Bad Wolf voice I growled: “You do have a beautiful ass, Babe.”

“No, wait a minute…” she started to turn around. With my left hand I grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her head back until she was staring at the ceiling, while my right arm circled her waist, and pulled her into my body.

“Minx, who told you you could turn around?”

“Wait, Dai, please!”

131.

It wasn’t the safe word, but her tone stopped me. I dropped the menace from my voice, and loosened my grip on her hair.

“Cher, you alright? You remember your safeword, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I…” She took a deep breath, almost a sob. “Dai, Baby, I’m sorry, but I’ve only ever done that once, and…I really didn’t like it, so…”

Wait a minute. “Done what, Babe?”

“Anal. I know I said I’d do anything, but you’re…you know, pretty thick, and…”

Oh hell. How had that never occurred to me? Well, to be fair, it had occurred to me. But not as part of this evening’s festivities. I’d never had anal sex, and I’d certainly never spring something like that on…hoo boy!

“Cher, Honey, that’s not on the agenda. Never was. I promise.”

I felt her whole body relax against me. “Really?”

“Really. I’ve actually never tried that before, and…I don’t know how interested I am…”

I’d begun to take my hand from her hair, but she clapped a hand over mine. “Uh uh. Leave it. I like it. You know I like it. I was just scared for a minute that maybe…and thank you. For stopping. I didn’t want to use the safeword, because it wasn’t…I don’t know. I’m sorry. Can we…um…get back into…?”

I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to apologize for making sure she felt safe during sex, but then I figured-I hoped-we would have plenty of time for those discussions. Instead, before she could finish her question, I yanked her head back again with my left hand, reached up with my right to squeeze a breast, and snarled: “Lose the pants, Minx.” Then I began to kiss and nip at that exposed sweet spot just under her ear.

132.

Cherri’s breath hissed as I pulled her hair, and then she began to pant and moan as she felt my hand on her tit, and my lips on her neck.

“Ow! Fuck, you absolute…bastard! Oh fuck yes, don’t stop! Harder. Squeeze it harder! Ooh fuck, feels so good…” Her body was writhing against mine, her ass pushing into my groin. I couldn’t tell if it was deliberate, or just a byproduct of her arousal, and I didn’t spend much time worrying about it. My cock felt like somebody was pouring molten lead into it. There was something brutish and feral about groping her through the cashmere; like I was a bank robber getting it on with a debutante. Fuck! If I wasn’t careful, I was going to cum in my sweats. I wrapped my arm around her, held her hard against me, bit the lobe of her ear, and hissed: “Pants! Off! Now!”

“Yuh-yes, sir…” Cherri reached down to undo the buttons at the fly of her jeans, but because I was holding her so rigidly, she couldn’t bend down to peel them off her body. She struggled against me-we both enjoyed that for a bit-and finally she whimpered: “Can’t! I’m…please let me…”

Improv training: it’s a beautiful thing. I hadn’t planned this, but… I reached down, grabbed my thrashing Lady behind the knees, and lifted her into my arms. A groom carrying his bride over the threshold. Or a Viking carrying some village maiden off to his longboat. Cherri threw her arms around my neck, which was good, because it raised her torso and centered her weight between my arms, and I looked around for a suitable place to dump her. Couch. Coffee table was in the way. Fuck the coffee table. I kicked it to one side, sending my script and a jigsaw puzzle we’d started but weren’t much interested in flying towards a wall. The violence of the act seemed to light a fire in Cherri. I dropped her on her ass on the couch, grabbed her ankles, and tore a pair of slippers off her feet, while she bucked and writhed, in a frenzy to get her jeans over her hips and down her legs.

When she’d finally got them off, she threw them towards the door and stood up. I stared. It occurred to me that I’d never seen her covered on top and naked on the bottom, and the sight was breathtaking. The elegant, obviously expensive sweater ending abruptly just above the curve of her hips made a stunning contrast to the red satin thong which barely covered her pussy. She looked like an heiress slumming at a strip club. Before she had time to get her bearings, I grabbed her, one hand at her chin, the other on her ass, and claimed her mouth with mine.

Cherri squealed, surprised by the force of the kiss. I pried her lips apart with mine, and plundered her mouth, fucking it with my tongue. At the same time I shoved her ass forward until we were groin to groin, with nothing but my sweats and her thong between my hard dick, and her moist slit. Her arms wrapped around my back, and one of her legs wrapped around mine, as she tried to increase and direct the pressure of my cock on her pussy. I smiled through the kiss. Three, two, one…

133.

I dropped my hand from her face, brought it under her other ass cheek, and lifted her off the ground. Our mouths fell apart, and she shrieked as I turned us both around until I could sit down on the couch. She landed on my lap, sort of. One leg was still extended, but before she could tuck it under her body to straddle me, I grabbed her by the back of her hair again-another shriek-and forced her head towards the arm of the couch. With the one hand in her hair, and the other helping to untangle her legs, I twisted her body around until she lay face down across my lap. Then I spanked one cheek of that perfect ass, hard. Cherri yelped, and then lay very still.

134.

We sat, both of us panting a bit from our little wrestling match. I stroked her bottom gently. “Gotcha now, Minx. Uh, uh, uh…” She’d tried to look up, but I tightened my grip on her hair, and pushed the side of her head down against the couch cushion. “You’re not going anywhere until I teach you some manners.

I’d deliberately positioned her head on the cushion, and her face to the room. She needed to be able to breathe, and I needed to hear if she wanted to use her safeword. Apparently she didn’t. But she did want to snarl at me a little.

“You’re an absolute fucking bastard, Dai Brenner!” Had she not heard me, about the manners? I smacked her ass again.

“Ow! Ooh, you are so mean!”

“Hey, I must be cruel only to be kind.”

“Fuck Hamlet and fuck you! Ow!” Another smack. “God, I can feel it! Fuck, I can feel how hard your cock is!” Suddenly she giggled. “It’s kind of poking me in the belly.”

“Well,” I mused, stroking her backside again, “I am stroking a beautiful woman’s exquisite ass. That does tend to put me in an…amorous state.”

She was still panting, or maybe she’d started again. “Huh, you have…no idea how, huh, fucking turned on…Jesus, Dai, you pull my hair, you…oh, you pick me up like I’m…you throw me around, you…fucking kiss me like…all I want in the world right now is your big cock buried in my hot slutty cunt, just fucking me like an animal…huh, ah, and I can fucking feel it! It’s right fucking there! And I can’t have it…” Her voice rose almost to a wail. “And now you’re gonna spank me, which is just gonna make me want it more…fuck, Dai, please!”

“Please what, Minx?”

“Please tell me you’re going to fuck me?” She sounded desperate. Maybe she was acting. I didn’t care. Of course I was going to fuck her. I dreamed of spending the rest of my life giving Cherri Morgenthal exactly what she wanted, particularly when it was something I wanted just as much. Still…it was kind of fun to hear her beg.

“Please, Dai? Please, Lover, please? Just say it. You can do anything you want to me! You can spank me! I want to be spanked! I deserve to be spanked, just please, please, please tell your poor cock hungry slut that you’ll…Ow! Ow, oh fuck, OUCH!”

Three hard smacks: left cheek, right cheek, left cheek. Then I was stroking her ass again, watching it turn a very alluring pink, and cooing reassurances to my Lady, who’d begun to cry, from frustration or pain, or maybe she was just acting. Didn’t matter.

“Of course I’m going to fuck you, you Loon! Can’t you feel how hard I am for you, how badly I need to be inside you?”

“Uh huh…” through tears.

I had to check. “Cher, no safe word?”

“Uh uh.” She sniffled, and gave a little giggle. “I was serious…about wanting you to spank me. You’ve threatened to a couple of times, and the thought of it…just turns my pussy into a wet, sloppy mess. It’s just that I…Ow! Stop it for just a..OW! You are such a complete…OW! OW! OWWW!”

The pink had deepened. Maybe I wasn’t such a bad painter after all. “Are you sorry for kicking me off the couch?”

“No!” Well, that was obviously the wrong answer. “OW! Okay, fine! I’m sorry!”

“Are you sorry for offering my services to Regina?”

I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear the sly smile in her voice: “Would you have been sorry if she’d taken me up on it?”

We both knew she never would, but…the thought made my cock twitch. “Fair point.”

Cherri obviously felt my response. “Mmm, somebody likes that idea. So maybe…OW! FUCK! What was that for?”

“I just like the color your ass is turning.”

“Ooh, really? Can you take a picture?”

“Seriously?”

“Uh huh. Don’t you think your Lady should have something to remind her of the consequences of displeasing her Thane?”

Now I was chuckling. “Cher, I have no idea where my phone is…”

“I think mine is still in my pants…”

I thought about it, and I continued to caress Cherri’s ass, which was now an angry hot pink. No surprise to discover that my Lady was a bit of an exhibitionist. Most actors are, on some level. I certainly was. And then…a picture. As casual as that. Just her ass, and on her phone. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but I smiled. Love and trust: not a bad beginning.

135.

“Five more, Minx. Then I’ll take a picture.”

“Five, huh?” Her voice became a seductive purr. “You’re going to smack my pretty little ass five more times?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Then you’ll take a picture for me?

“Uh huh.”

“And then, will you fuck me?”

“Yeah.” I growled, and there was as much lust in the sound as there was in the words. “Then, I’m going to fuck you. Hard.”

“Oh yeah?” Cherri’s breath was coming short again. “You’re finally gonna give this little slut what she’s been begging for? You gonna stick that big fat dick in me, and make me your little fucktoy?”

“Keep talking like that, Minx, and you might not get your picture.”

“Fuck the picture, and fuck the spanking! And fuck me! Right now!”

136.

I snarled something incoherent; no idea what I was trying to say. I pushed Cherri’s head down onto the cushion, and gave her ass those last five smacks; quick and hard, one after another: bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! This time, my Lady didn’t yelp or scream. With each blow she gave a harsh panting breath, and I found a spare second to wonder if she’d snuck a hand under her body to touch herself during her ordeal. Had she just cum? I couldn’t think about that now. I couldn’t think, period. I shoved her off my lap and onto the floor. She landed on her ass, and flinched at the pain.

“Shirt and bra! Off! Now!” I snapped, and her eyes burned up at me as she whipped the sweater over her head. I had seconds to register a lacy fire engine red bra before the clasp was open and her tits bounced free. Then I was up and tearing at my clothes. I ripped off t-shirt and sweats, grabbed Cherri by an arm, hauled her to her feet, swung her around to the side of the couch, and shoved her torso down over the armrest.

“Yes, ooh yes, yes, yes, YES! Put it in me now!” She gripped the padding, and spread her legs. And there was that lovely round ass, now mottled a deep, angry red. I gave her one last swat, heard her hiss, then I grabbed her waist and pushed her down, forcing her legs a little further apart, until her pussy was level with my cock. I pulled aside the scrap of red satin covering her slit, lined the head of my dick up against her opening, and slammed into her, burying my shaft balls deep in her dripping pussy with one powerful thrust.

137.

Cherri screamed: release, relief, ecstasy, pain, need, who knows what all was in that sound, but I reveled in the knowledge that I’d torn it out of her. Inside her was all heat and slickness and pressure. There was something…I had no good word for it: magic, chemistry, physiology, psychology, imagination, who knew? But every time I entered Cherri her body felt blissfully familiar, but at the same time, new, as if I’d never been with her before. No explanation; just need. I drove into her; hard, fast and savage thrusts, feeling her heat, hearing her pants and cries in counterpoint to the sound of my abs and thighs smacking hard against her ass, and the sound of my own rasping breath.

Oh fuck, she felt good! It felt like I could go on forever!

Cherri braced herself against the arm of the couch, and let me have my way with her, alternately growling and cooing as I hammered in and out. And then…well, one of many, many things that I absolutely adored about my lusty Lady was that when she was really turned on, she couldn’t shut up. And as she pushed back against my thrusts, she began a litany of dirty talk: demands and pleas, interspersed with moans, yips, sighs, and pants.

“Ooh, yes! YesyesyesyesYES, Fuck me! Ahh! FUUUCK, feels so fucking good! Yah…yuh huh, oh fuck, harder! HARDER!! Take me, oh, just fucking take me! Yuh! Oh just like that! Right there! So fucking good…so fucking DEEP! Oh, fuck, Babe, I don’t think you’ve ever been so deep! Yeh, yehyehyeh! Keep going, oh please, don’t stop! Don’t stop don’t stop don’t stop!” For a while she chanted it, the ‘stop’ paradoxically coming each time I buried my cock deep inside her. She didn’t sound like she wanted to stop; I sure as hell didn’t.

Yeah, neither did she. After a while, I slowed down to give myself time to catch my breath. Now I was sawing in and out of her, and I could feel the muscles of her pussy gripping me each time I pulled back. I was still breathing pretty heavily, when she craned her neck to look back towards me.

“God, Babe, you feel so fucking big, when you fuck me like this. Mmmm, you like that? You do, don’t you? You like fucking your horny little slut? You like hearing me moan for your cock as you fuck it in and out of my tight little cunt, don’t you? I do. I love it! I love it when you fuck me hard and fast and rough!” I thrust hard into her, and felt her pussy tighten around my cock. “Mmm, you really like that, don’t you?”

I moaned as I drew myself slowly back against her grip. “Feels so fucking good!”

“Uh huh, uh huh, I know it does. And did it feel good to spank my cute little ass and make it all hot and pink?”

For answer, I smacked her right cheek. Lightly. Her breath hissed in, and then she giggled. “Slow down for just a second. Don’t you dare stop.”

“As you wish, Minx. How’s this?”

She faced front again, and arched her back, as I continued to move inside her. “Uh huh, huhhh, yes! Just like that!”

After a few minutes slow fucking, she turned her head again. “Can you sit on the couch and let me ride you for a little?”

I considered. “I don’t know, I’m kind of enjoying things the way they are.”

“You mean you like bending me over the couch, and holding me down while you fuck me like an animal?”

“Yeah, basically.”

“You’re a beast! Ahhh!” She screamed as I grabbed a handful of her hair, and slammed into her for three or four hard, deep thrusts. “Okay, okay, we can finish up like this, but please, can I ride you…ooh, God! Just for a little? Huh, ahuh…pretty please?”

“Alright, you can ride for a bit, and then I’ll bend you over again, and maybe even spank that gorgeous ass of yours a few more times, but this isn’t how we’re finishing.”

“Ahh, hahh…oh, fuck! No? Then huh…how are we finishing?”

I gave her one more quick smack. “You’ll see.” Another couple quick thrusts, and then I let go of her hair, pulled out, and sat on the couch, as requested.

138.

As always, when Cherri and I…uncoupled?…I felt a little forlorn. I could feel my cock, bathed in the warm moisture of Cherri’s pussy just moments before, begin to cool in the dry air of the apartment, and I was surprised at how desperate I felt to reconnect.

Cherri seemed to feel much the same way, although her designs on my cock were a little more involved. She levered herself up, and hurried over to kneel between my legs, where she grabbed the base of my shaft in her fist.

“Mmmm, just a quick taste. I love sucking myself off your cock…”

She gave me no chance to object, which was fine, because by the time she’d wrapped her lips around the crown, and began licking her juices off my shaft, I couldn’t have defined the verb ‘to object’ for the chance to play Cyrano on Broadway.

After a few minutes, she took me from her mouth, climbed up onto the couch, straddled me, reached between her legs to position the tip of my cock at her entrance, and sat down slowly. We moaned “Oh, fuck yes!” in unison as she slid down my length, and laughed after we both cried-once more in unison-“Jinx! You owe me a Coke!”

139.

For a few minutes we just moved with each other, getting used to the new position. To be honest, Cherri did most of the moving, rocking her hips and sliding back and forth around my shaft. Sometimes I would cant my hips forward, pushing into her as her hips slid forward, but mostly we settled into a gentle, gliding rhythm, content to catch our breath after the intensity of our earlier fucking.

Cherri closed her eyes and stretched her arms over her head. Maybe she was a little stiff from being bent over the arm of the couch. Maybe she was just…displaying herself. The Minx did like to be looked at. Fine with me. Looking at her was like…

The metaphor broke down as I stared, taking in her deep brown hair as the light in the room teased it with flashes of red and dark gold, and the smooth flushed skin of her cheeks; her full lips, slightly parted as she breathed, down through the graceful curves of neck and shoulders to the hypnotizing sway of her breasts, riding high on her chest because of her outstretched arms.

My eyes lingered on her breasts, because of course they did, and I remembered how round and full they had looked beneath that tight green sweater. They looked even better now; the pale pink of her skin contrasting with the perfect pink-brown circles of her areolas and the hot pink of her nipples. My gaze continued to descend, tracing her body’s contours as they converged toward her waist, and spread out again to rounded hips resting atop long shapely thighs which straddled my body as she…

“Enjoying the view?”

I grinned, then groaned as she took me deep. “Umm hmm, almost as much as you like showing it to me.”

“Bastard.” She leaned in and wrapped her arms around my neck. “You better do more than look!” And she leaned in for a long, wet, sexy kiss, which deepened as she continued to ride my cock.

Well, that sounded like a challenge to me. After a delicious couple of minutes, I broke away from my lover’s lips, and started kissing my way across her face towards the top of her neck. Cherri struggled a little-she wanted to keep kissing-but I decided there would be plenty of time for that later. I brought a hand up to her face, and pushed it gently to one side, exposing that sensitive, secret spot just below her ear. My Lady mewed with anticipation, and I hung back for a few seconds, letting her wait. Then I attacked her with my lips and my tongue, and rejoiced to hear her breath come short, and to feel her body shudder.

I cocked my hips and thrust up into her, just as she began to rock forward on my cock, and she squealed with the sensation. An idea struck me, and with the hand that wasn’t holding her face to one side, I reached down toward the center of our bodies. Cherri’s clit was easy enough to find, since it was just above the shaft of my cock, and I brushed it gently with my finger tips.

“Oh fuck! What’re you…? Hahhh!” Her hips jerked forward again, knocking my fingers off target.

“Hold still, Minx!” I panted into her ear, “You want to cum or not?”

“Oh, I want to cum again,”–again?–“I want to cum so hard while you fuck me! But…uhh!” she got both hands on my chest, and shoved me back against the couch, then she spent a couple of seconds riding me, all the while gripping me with her pussy. The pleasure was so sudden and intense that my head fell back, my eyes closed, and I had to focus on my labored breathing to make sure I didn’t cum myself. Above me, I heard a wicked little giggle.

“Yeah, feels nice, doesn’t it? Sit back and let your slutty little Minx fuck you for a change, huh? Yeah? You like that idea? Want to feel me Fuck…You…Nice, uh huh, And…Hard!”

She punctuated her dirty talk by raising herself halfway off me, and slamming down hard on every other word. It did feel nice. It felt amazing. But if she kept it up, she was going to make me cum inside her, and I had…another idea. Still, I wasn’t sure how to stop her, short of bucking her off me, and onto the floor. Fuck! It would be so easy to just let her finish me off, but…okay, I had to do something…

I lunged forward with my upper body and wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her down with my cock buried balls deep inside of her. The lunge also slammed my nose into her sternum, and all at once I could smell that bewitching perfume she liked to dab between her breasts, and feel those soft tits smacking either side of my face. Cherri tried rising off me, and when she found she couldn’t, she snarled something I didn’t catch, and began thrashing, so that for a few weird and wonderful moments, it felt like she was trying to beat me up with her boobs.

140.

Eventually she stopped struggling, and sat still. I let go of her waist and leaned back to find her glaring down at me.

“No fair!” she huffed, “just because you’re stronger than me!”

“Hey, suck it up!” I snarled back, “Today I’m disciplining you, remember?” And I reached around to give her rump a quick, hard smack.

“Ow!” Then she gave me a naughty smile. “But…if you want me to suck it up…” She traced her lips with her tongue, “Well…your wish is my command, my Lord!” She started to push herself off my cock.

Tempting as that offer was, I had other plans. I grabbed her by the waist and pushed her back down.

“Be patient, you hot little cumslut. Good things come to those who wait…um, pun intended.”

“Meanie!” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Even though I fucking love it when you call me that. Anyway,” she whined, “you said I could cum on your cock!”

“And I was just about to arrange that very thing when you decided to try and break my couch.”

“Yeah, like that would have been a loss to civilization, but, um, Dai?”

Something in the way she said my name. “Yeah, Cher?”

“Can I, that’s to say, do you mind if I…touch myself while I ride you. It’ll just be easier…”

We’d talked about this, but apparently old mindsets died hard. “Of course, Babe. You know you don’t have to ask…”

“I know, but…we were sort of in the middle of…this…whatever this is, and…” She’d started moving on me again, slowly but steadily, and I groaned at the renewed sensation of her pussy squeezing my cock.

She smiled down at me; no games now. Just Cherri. “And I’m loving it, I really am, and I didn’t want to use my stupid safeword, because…” her breathing began to deepen, “because I’m really worked up, and I really want to cum again…”

“Whu…when did you cum the first time?”

“When you…ohh, when you first…pushed into me. So hard…not like you usually do, and

I thought maybe I wouldn’t, but…oh, oooh, fuck! I did…a little…”

“So do it, Minx!” Back into the game? She seemed okay with it. “Rub that…oh, fuck! Rub that slutty little pussy while you ride my cock!”

“Yeah, oh, yeah!” Her hand flew down between her legs, and she began jilling herself as she moved on me. “Oh fuck! Yessss, FUCK! Play with my tits! Oooh, suck on my big titties, you Bastard! FUCK yes! Just like that! You know what I like! Oh God, Yes!”

Both my hands were at her breasts now, squeezing and stroking, as my mouth shuttled between her nipples, sucking, nipping, kissing. My own orgasm had receded as we paused, but now, I could feel it building in me, and I did my best to hold it back. Even if I couldn’t…hold out long enough to do what I’d planned, I was determined to see Cherri through her orgasm before cumming myself.

God, I loved everything about Cherri’s breasts: sight, smell, taste, feel. But now, as I listened to her moans and cries getting louder, as I tried to respond, to do whatever it was that she needed in the moment, I began to think that…maybe I could hold out. At least long enough for Cherri, who seemed to be pretty close. Her body was shaking now, as her fingertips battered her clit, and her movement on me was erratic, less focused, less intense. I bit her left nipple lightly, and she screamed-fuck, I hoped my neighbors were all out doing stuff, since…no, fuck it! Let ’em listen!–I drew her right breast to my mouth and lashed at her areola with my tongue, letting her anticipate…I heard her moan: “Do it! Do it! FUCKING DO IT!” And I sucked, hard, over and over again. She screamed again, and then her body went rigid for a split second and then…

FUCK! Her body jerked forward, smashing her breast against my face, and I felt her pussy grip my cock hard…and then release me…and then HARD, and then release, and then HARD, and then…five, six, seven times! Just as she began to come down, I shoved her off me.

“On your knees, Bitch!” I rasped, “I’m gonna cum on your face!”

141.

The shove took Cherri by surprise. She tumbled backwards and almost fell, but caught herself with the hand that wasn’t between her legs.

“Whu…what? You want to…?”

Again that second of desolation as I fell out of her pussy, and then I was stroking myself, and trying to stand up at the same time, which is harder than it sounds.

“I want to cum on your face!” I panted. “If you don’t want me to, fucking say so now, otherwise…”

Cherri scrambled to her knees in the middle of the floor. “I want you to! Fuck, I want it so bad. Fucking do it! Cum all over me! Cum on my slutty, pretty face! Oh Fuck, give your hot little cumslut what she wants! Fucking paint me!” And then, remembering my safeword, she started to giggle. And I started laughing and cumming at the same time…which is also harder than it sounds.

142.

My first shot was a streak of milky white across her forehead. She squealed, and because we were both still laughing, and that was affecting my aim, the second shot caught her just under her nose, and some of it wound up in her mouth. I guess she inhaled a little of it, because she began coughing, and my next two shots landed one in her hair, and one on her chin. She managed to stay still then, and took my final offering on her chin as well, where some of my jizz began dripping down onto the tops of her tits.

I hadn’t even begun to catch my breath before Cherri grabbed my cock, squeezed the last few drops out of me, and began rubbing the tip all over her cheeks. When she’d smeared what was left over her face, she dropped my cock, and breathed: “Phone! In my pants. NOW!”

It took me a second to process…well, pretty much everything, and then, I shuffled towards where I thought her pants were.

“Hurry!”

I hurried.

I found her jeans, and sure enough: Android something in the front pocket. Well, sure. I’d have noticed it in the back. Honestly, the shit you think of when you’re fuckdrunk…

I pulled it out, tapped the home button. Numbers.

“Code?”

“011222”

“Really? That seems kind of…”

“Dai, c’mon! I want pictures!”

Alrighty then.

143.

I hurried over, punching the camera icon as I arrived in front of her. I hadn’t even had a chance to look at her, but now…

Context is everything, I suppose. This one time I was painting sets in college with a woman I was sort of seeing. It was late at night, and we were a little drunk, and we’d both managed to cover ourselves with this off-white paint. She had a smear on her forehead, and another on her cheek. I thought she looked cute, with a kind of retro Rosie the Riveter vibe. She took a look at herself in a mirror somewhere and shrieked with laughter: “Oh, my God, people are gonna think you jizzed all over my face!”

It was kind of sexy: a shocking idea, the fact that she’d brought it up, that she found it funny. We probably had a pretty good time that night, when we finally got back to the dorms. I don’t remember.

But I knew I would never forget the sight of Cherri, naked, except for the remains of her red thong which was wrapped like a garter around the top of her left thigh, kneeling, covered in my cum. It dripped from her forehead down the bridge of her nose. There were smears on her cheeks, next to her mouth, and more on her chin, and a thin, milky line of the stuff trailing into her cleavage. I’d told her what I wanted, and she’d agreed. Agreed? She’d begged me to do it. She’d grabbed my cock, and painted her face with the very last drops. Now she was smiling, a sultry, inward-looking smile, with her eyes half closed. She might have been a little fuckdrunk herself.

I stood in front of her, holding her cell phone, and her eyes flashed green under her long lashes.

She was panting: “Ready?”

I tapped the phone for focus. “And…action!”

144.

I started snapping away, but Cherri looked confused. “Wait, you’re not taking video, are you?”

“Huh? No, no, I just meant…you know, pose, or do whatever you want…”

“Oh, okay.” She giggled. “Have you already started…”

“I’m just pressing the button; there’s probably maybe half a dozen…”

Now she was laughing. “Shit! Okay, okay, let me get it together…”

As far as I was concerned, Cherri couldn’t take a bad picture; particularly not shirtless with my cum all over her face. In the first couple she looked concerned, then as she started laughing she looked adorable: giddy and a little silly. Then she settled down, and posed. Sexy smile, licking her lips, wide eyes with three fingers in front of her mouth like ‘Oops, you caught me!’, naughty pout. She cupped her breasts and grinned as if to say: ‘Got some here too!’ Then she reached between her legs-which had the added advantage of pushing her boobs together between her arms-and began touching herself.

Wait, was I still supposed to be taking pictures of this?

Cherri breathed: “Can you switch over to video?”

145.

Umm…I took a quick look down at the camera commands, and…video was right there.

I said “Okay,” pressed the red circle to begin the recording, and pointed silently at her.

Cherri stared at the camera, her hands moving between her legs. I thought, for a split second, about refocusing so that I could get more of her body in the picture, but then my Lady was talking, so I left things as they were.

“I’m gonna make myself cum…again, for-I don’t know-maybe the third or fourth time in the last…whatever. Oh fuck! I am still so fucking turned on!” She paused for a few seconds, upping the intensity, until she was gasping for breath. “I’ve been spanked…hard, and fucked…huh-harder, and I’ve got cum all over my face, like…fuck, I’m close, oh…yeah, like a total fucking slut, and…oh, God, ohGodohGodohGodoh…fuck, I fucking love…OH! Huh! Huh! Huh! Hannnnhh!”

She shuddered through her orgasm. I was becoming a kind of student of Cherri’s orgasms-and, by the way, I was jealous as hell; there were so many variations!-anyhow, this one seemed…deep, rather than violent, like the one she’d had while she was riding me. The camera kept recording, and after a few seconds to catch her breath, she stared directly into the lens, used two fingers to gather a little pool of cum from off the top of her breast, and popped it into her mouth. She licked her lips and grinned, and I stopped recording.

“Got it in one!” said Cherri. Ever the pro, my Lady.

146.

For a few seconds I just stood staring at her.

Cherri giggled: “You can close your mouth now, my Thane.”

I did that. Took a little effort, but I managed it.

“And you can hand me my phone.”

Managed that too. Yay me.

Cherri was scrolling through the photos, deleting a few of the early ones. She turned the phone to show me one of her licking her lips. The light in the room reflected in the trails and pools of milky stuff smearing her face, and dripping from her chin, and it made her look messier than she did in person.

“Jesus, I look like something off a porn site: ‘Brandy Gets a Facial.'” She took back the phone, gave me a sultry smile. “Hey Stud,” she cooed in a high-pitched, breathy voice, “wanna subscribe to me on Onlyfans?”

I was sitting on my discarded sweatpants between my ass and the floor. My back was up against the front of the couch. I shook my head, laughing. “Depends, what do I get?”

“Well,” still in the porn star voice, “the Base Subscription gets you access to photo sets and videos, but with the Premium Subscription, you get to see me do contrasting monologues.”

“Naked?” I was laughing harder.

“Of course.” She put the phone down, stood up, took a few steps back, and-naked as promised, with her hair tousled, and what makeup she had left smeared with semen, she began reciting:

“I dreamt there was an emperor, Antony!

O, such another sleep that I might see

But such another man!”

She brought her right hand in front of her face with the fingers spread, then pulled it down, bringing the fingers together, as she murmured: “Scene.”

Now I was cracking up. “That’s all I get?”

She was laughing too. “Until your credit card clears. Or…” she collapsed next to me, nuzzled my neck, and whispered in my ear, “maybe you could be my stunt cock.” She reached down to caress my dick, which began to stiffen under her hand. “You don’t seem to have any trouble…performing.”

I was getting hard again, but it was also a little painful. “Cher…mmm, fuck! Seriously, you gotta give me a little recovery time…”

She skooched around until she was sitting in my lap. “Fine!” she purred, and leaned in to kiss me, “You can have until bedtime.”

I could smell myself on her face, and see the pale flaky trails where my cum had dried on her forehead. I’d wondered, in passing, if I would find that off putting, or maybe even a turn on. Turns out it was neither. Our mouths met, our eyes closed, and I lost myself in the delights of her lips and tongue. She broke off and kissed my cheek softly, before continuing her thought in a whisper.

“Hmmm, so nice. Only till bedtime. After what you did to me…after you just fucking took me, and used me, and ravaged me, and…fucking claimed me! How do you do it?” Her voice was tiny now. My arms were around her, and for a second I wondered what would happen if I never let go. Fuck the play. Fuck the rest of the world. I wasn’t moving. I was never going to be any happier than I was at that moment, so what was the point? Unaware of my moment of existential weirdness, Cherri continued: “How do you make me feel so helpless, and so cherished at the exact same time? I love it! And I love you, so much…”

“I love you too, Cher.”

“Hmmm.” I could feel her lips curling into a smile against my cheek. “Well, you better have a little something left for me tonight,” she growled, “because sex with you is all I’m gonna be able to think about for the rest of the day, if not the rest of the fucking month.”

I said: “Dinner might help.”

She drew back, and looked at me. She was grinning. “Dinner might help, my Thane. But I don’t feel like cooking. Want to hit the brewpub? My treat.”

I said: “Cher, you don’t have to…”

She kissed me again, sweet but quick: “Shut up. You got breakfast.”

“Yeah,” I said, “which was terrible.”

“True. But…” She leaned her forehead against mine, and said, through a chuckle, “you also spanked me, fucked me, and came all over my face…” and her voice became a purr, “which was weirdly wonderful.”

I laughed. “Fine.” I said. “You can get dinner.”

To be continued…