Page 18 (2/2)

"I’m just afraid that…"

"That what?" She sed hard and forced herself to speak normally

"I’m afraid you may not have time to be afraid," he said softly

"Grant, that’s it Good night Thank you for the concern, and good night"

He nodded

Tall, broad-shouldered, built like steel, he turned and left her; just as she had asked

And she wondered if she wasn’t the biggest fool in the entire world

"Yes, oh, God, yes!"

Lena was ever so slightly embarrassed, and yet in the flush of such physical exciteht So what if they’d been used in every schlocky porn fil!

"Lord, yes, please!"

Good heavens, the man was an animal!

She’d never been so titillated, and in her life, she’d never been teer And so boldly No real talk, no pretense of a sudden, dying devotion or affection, just sex

A look at one another, a knowing… clothing strewn in a -to-know-you-foreplay thing, and then sex-- raw, base, first on the table, then on the floor He was rough, but it didn’t matter, because the slide of his teeth and force of his s shed felt in all her life She’d knelt, she’d stood, she’d parted her legs in a way she’d never even ihs, between the every wet intimacy…

And then…

He was like a jackrabbit Like the wind

It ht she wanted, but…

"Yes, yes, do it, do it"

He did

She thought she was going to die She et as a leaky faucet Drenched inside and out, shaking, flying, clihed

"There’s more, baby, so much more!" he whispered

No There couldn’t be She couldn’t take it She felt drained and exhausted, sucked dry A weary s to stay with her, she thought If just for a while

Yet suddenly, abruptly, he ju, or so Well, they had done so before But that had just been when she’d been waiting, and, well, of course he’d known--and waited himself So clever

Everyone would know that she was fine For the life of her, she wouldn’t open the door now

"What’s the matter?" she whispered She couldn’t really speak

He didn’t reply She realized vaguely that he wasn’t even there anymore, but it didn’t ain She closed her eyes, feeling the overpowering desire to sleep, to rest…

No, no… she couldn’t move now

But all she wanted in the whole orld was for hiain

Her eyes…

She couldn’t keep the away

Night progressed

Grant despaired of sleeping Really sleeping He’d dozed off several times, only to awaken as if he’d heard a cannon fired, nearly ju No reason for him to have awakened at all

He walked out to the balcony area of his cottage, but the way it was positioned, he could see the ocean, the waves, the beach, the horizon, no more The vieas absurdly peaceful, the sound of the waves, lulling

Restlessly, he returned to his bedrooe via the front door All the little bungalows seemed still and quiet Naturally It was four a now

He started out along the beach, recalling the smell of death that had assailed him when he’d taken the same ith Clay Barton Arturo had seen to it that the carcass of the dead maht

He paused on the beach, feeling the breeze wrap around hiainst the sand How very, very normal Lovely From where he stood, he stared back at the scattered asselowed on the little paths surrounding them At most front doors, small lanterns burned as well