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She let that be as it would, not replying, turning back to the bedroom Yet, at the foot of the bed she stopped, dead still for a lory, flesh flawed here and there with scars obtained from various exploits He had stood in a purely carnal state…

Like an ani where she was, back to hiown and pulled it over her head, tossing it aside She would have caught at the elastic of her panties to discard them in the sa, the speed hich he had ed to disrobe

But she felt his naked flesh Felt his chest, flush against her back, felt the hot, ainst her shoulders and neck and he lifted her hair, and placed his lips there, the texture of his lips running slowly froers feathered down her spine He was on his knees then His fingers found the elastic hers had not, and the last flis She stepped free of theainst the base of her spine, the small of her back He turned her to face hi the inside of the length of her thighs, kisses delving deeply between theht her breath, immobilized in a sea of sensation She felt as if her blood had been instantly set afire, that her lireat waves froent, desperate, dying need She gripped his shoulders, her fingers tore into his hair…

Then he was standing, pushing her back She fell against the bed, and saw him

And he was there, as he had been in her dreaht that seeped into thes like sculpted columns, shoulders like metallic beams, his stance and added breath of exciteripped her in an all-enco hold He crawled down atop her, and she reached for him His scent was familiar, his arher senses, she are as well that there was so far, far more…

He came to her… into her She felt the force of his body like a shock, and yet she couldn’t get enough

He ainst hiripped her shoulders, fell lower, caught her buttocks, pressed them ever closer His rhyth… the rise, almost unbelievable… and yet so real The feel of his flesh, the , the steady, then rising, pounding of his heart, soft, louder, engulfing She cried out, body constricting into a taut knot, as the climax she had so desperately writhed and arched to achieve ca moments that seemed like an eternity, she couldn’t have moved if she tried… she just allowed it to bathe her, the sweet aftermath…

jolt after jolt… pulse and pulse… slower… slower… until her muscles eased She felt the daht And all that occurred to her at first was the sweetest gratitude It hadn’t been a dream It had been real, all real And he was here with her, and outside, she could hear the ocean breeze as it rustled by…

He didn’t try to speak Neither did she She felt his arht, she felt his touch again And she was eager to turn to hiainst the vibrance of his flesh… to seduce in turn And again, to feel that wonder of sensation, like the wind, like thunder, sweeping through her…

Real Every anguished or ecstatic ain, neither tried for words

When she awoke, he had showered A bath torapped around his waist, coffee cup in his hand, he was staring out the back glass doors

It wasany illusions or fears of the night gone by, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say to hined sleep

She heard him dress

She heard him leave

And she heard hione

She lay still for a while, reflecting on the night Then she rose and showered It pro day

So far, she realized, every day here had been long Very long

At ten o’clock, the body of Maria Britto arrived at the funeral hoirl, just as the police and doctors had known her He intended to do his very best with her, despite the fact that he was deeply worried about the work

He had heard how she had been chewed up And then… after an autopsy Well, she would have her wake in the following two days

On Monday, she would be interred in the graveyard It was very, very said Merc and Franco, ho, said that Maria’s irl had disappeared She had known, sohter was dead

Intuition

But for Maria, and for her mother, Danielo would see to it that she looked as if she was sleeping, and completely at peace

He told his receptionist to hold all calls; he would be busy for hours

He closed hiirl out for hi to the body, he frowned There was no autopsy scar on her chest In fact… had they been wrong? She didn’t look as if she had been chewed by aniht have been just sleeping as she lay there, before he even touched her, began the e process, much less her hair and , this child, dead Laid out on her back, she showed none of the signs of the ravaging that she had endured In fact… she was gorgeous, as only such a young wo and shapely Her breasts were high and proud, full, despite the way she lay upon her back Peering ht he could see the faint lines of scars

Scars Not fresh wounds Not gaping holes created by the teeth of beasts

Troubled, he leaned closer, and ran his finger along one of the pale lines that stretched from her breast to her abdo!"

He ju in his throat

Maria’s eyes were open, and on hih sleep, or if all the overwhel sadness hadn’t caused a malfunction in his brain