The air conditioning didn’t penetrate into Henry’s bedroom very well, but that was hardly the reason the two of them were hot and sweaty an hour later. Tricia’s heart was still pounding hard; for all her past history she’d never had an experience anywhere near as intense as this one had been. She now understood the reality that it was better with the one you loved – and that was something she’d never experienced before.

They’d already been pretty well ready to rumble as they reached Henry’s bed after having left their few clothes strewn behind them on the way. Now the passion just became more intense as they explored each other’s nude bodies with all pretense of restraint cast out of their mutual comprehension. As experienced as she was, all of that experience had always seemed a bit artificial to her, a bit forced – not an act, exactly, but not quite real, either. This time it could not have been any more real. It was what it was supposed to be about, and though she’d known it in her head, she now felt it in her belly as the touch of his fingers, his body, his tongue sent her to heights of desire she’d hardly dreamed possible.

There was a sense of surrealism hanging over her as the intense emotions flooded over her. All her experience at the Redlite hadn’t prepared her for this – it almost seemed as if it couldn’t be happening, that it was a dream. As she slid down Henry’s naked body to confront his hard maleness in her face, in the back of her head something was trying to remind her that she shouldn’t be doing this; it was a solid rule at the Redlite that condoms were always used, even orally – especially orally. As a result she’d never, ever done this bareback, there was always that thin latex that provided the ultimate barrier between her and whoever she was doing it with. That little voice was telling her Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! while the rest of her mind was telling her that this wasn’t the Redlite, that this was Henry, and it was Right! Right! Right!

Even as she fought back the memory of those other days, the thoughts that George or Shirley would just about kill her if they found out she was doing it bareback, she was busy defying them. Without even thinking about it she applied some of the tricks she’d learned so well, kissing and teasing and licking as well as engulfing him, leaving him moaning in pleasure until his body bucked under her as his pleasure went over the top.

But that wasn’t the end of it, only the beginning. Hardly knowing how it happened, she found herself on her back, her legs spread wide, as Henry began to return the favor with his tongue. In some abstract part of her mind she thought he might be lacking a little in technique, but the intense feelings he brought to her easily shoved those observations to the side. Somehow through the haze of the eruption of her own pleasure, she realized that things had changed, that Henry had somehow shifted around to riding her. While there might have been times she’d been filled as full, she’d never been filled as completely, never could have dreamed it was even a possibility. That she was doing this bareback for the first time ever scarcely crossed her mind, except for the fact that it was so much better this way!

They writhed together on the bed, their bodies fully entangled and engaged with each other for . . . who knew? A long time, and not long enough at that, whatever it was, until some sixth sense told her Henry was building to a peak, and she was too. It was close, closer . . . and then it was there, a passion she’d never dreamed of before, a height of pleasure she’d never experienced, never dreamed possible. She was only dimly aware that Henry was going through a similar flush of rapture at the same time . . .

Who had ever dreamed it could be this good?

Then they had collapsed into each other’s arms, hot, sweaty, exhausted, and sated – at least for the moment. In the back of her mind she realized the evening was yet young, that there was still daylight behind the curtains, that it was Saturday and thus there was no need to get up in the morning, that there were further heights of rapture to be explored this evening.

Some unknowable time later, they began to get enough of their breaths back to be able to talk. “Jesus, Tricia,” she heard him say softly, “I never dreamed it could be that good.”

“I never did either,” she admitted, trying to snuggle up closer to his sweaty body, if such a thing could be possible.

“You were . . . you were awesome,” he said, searching for just the right words. “How did you learn some of that stuff?”

Though she understood the feeling behind his words, the paranoia that helped her keep her secrets was still working. She fought for words for an instant, then said slowly, “Henry, earlier today I told you I’m not quite the angel you seem to think I am. There was a period I did a lot of sleeping around, and I, well, I learned a few things in the process.” The truth, she thought, the absolute truth, but only part of it, enough to make it believable, but no more.

“You learned them very well,” he purred. “You did stuff without asking that I never dreamed I would have done to me. My god, it’s like I just found a new world!”

“Come on,” she teased a little. “It can’t have been that good.”

“Compared to what I’ve been used to for years, it can too be that good,” he sighed. “Jeri tried going down on me a couple times, but she didn’t like it and I could tell, so I never asked her again. I didn’t even have to ask you, and you surprised the hell out of me in the process. That was wonderful, Tricia. I never dreamed it could be so good. And well, I really enjoyed watching the effect it had on you when we went the other way.”

“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” she grinned. “Giving pleasure means getting pleasure in return. My god, Henry, you were sending me out of my mind and I loved it. You can do that again anytime you want to.”

“God, I can’t believe it,” he sighed. “After all that time with Cindy . . . ”

“She wouldn’t do it to you?”

“Oh, hell no,” he snorted. “I tried it on her just exactly once. She didn’t like it, I think mostly because she might have to do it in return. I suggested it once and she literally threw a shit fit. I didn’t bother asking her after that. And then, once we got down to business, well hell, that was a different world, too. I don’t know how to say this, Tricia, and I’m not sure I should even say this, especially right now, but Cindy would occasionally let me fuck her. She never, and I mean not even once, fucked me, if you know what I mean. She never at her best put one percent of the interest and enthusiasm into it that you seemed to do automatically. Like I said, Tricia, it was a different world, and even though I knew you were a very different person than Cindy, it was still a surprise to have you be that good at it.”

“God, what a shame,” she shook her head. “But those days are behind you now, and it’s a good place for them. I don’t want to sound critical, but there were some places where there might be room for improvement, but at least this way I get to train you up to my taste. I don’t think you’ll mind the results.”

“I don’t think so, either,” he grinned. “I especially think I’m going to enjoy the training.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will,” she laughed. “Just one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“The next time we do it, let me be on top. I don’t want you to ever think that you just fucked me and that I never fucked you.”

It took them a while to work up to it – they were still recovering from their last bout, after all – but before long she made good on her word and they continued at intervals lasting far into the night.

Tricia woke up Sunday morning in Henry’s arms in Henry’s bed. It was a very secure and warm feeling, one she had never quite experienced in that way before. There had been times she’d done all-nighters at the Redlite, and she had always looked forward to them since they were very lucrative. Though she might have had as much sex in one of those as she’d shared with Henry in the previous few hours, the feeling of waking up in the arms of her lover was totally different. She looked at his sleeping face, only inches away, and despite stiffness from having been in the same position for so long she was not about to move a muscle lest she wake him. What a miracle she should find him here, what a miracle it was that he could love her, that she could love him!

Presently she could detect him stirring, and watched him open his eyes to catch sight of her. “I’ll be damned,” he whispered.

“What?”

“It was real. That wasn’t a dream.”

“No, it wasn’t a dream. It was as real as it could be. Henry, I’m a little stiff and aching, but I’ve never had a night as wonderful as that one. It almost seems like a dream to me, but I know it wasn’t.”

“Thank God for that,” he replied, twisting a little in her arms to be able to kiss her again.

Not unpredictably, it was a long time before they managed to get up, to take a shower together, and sadly, to get dressed. Tricia had to pull on her shorts and T-shirt from the day before to sneak across the shared porch to get to her own side of the wall, so she could put on clean clothes for the day while he had breakfast under way.

She got back just as he was getting it on the table. “So,” she asked as she sat down, “what do you want to do today, besides more of the same?”

“I could spend it like we did last night and be perfectly happy,” he told her. “But I have to admit, while the spirit is willing the flesh is a little weak. Maybe we ought to consider, uh, a little more relaxed pace. I mean something a little less than once an hour on the hour.”

“Fine with me,” she grinned. “I mean, as opposed to not doing it.”

“Do you ever quit?”

“Henry,” she grinned, “you know I tend to get a little obsessive about things. I mean, look at all the attention and focus I put into my medical studies and training.”

“Point taken,” he smiled. “But in case you’re wondering, you’ve managed to do a bit of waking up a sleeping dragon yourself.”

“Oh, goody!” she teased. “Just what I was hoping for!”

After some discussion and much teasing, Henry made the suggestion that he knew a little pond out in the woods where they could spend the day. “It’s nothing much,” he said. “It’s only small, shallow, and has a sandy bottom so it warms up quickly. It ought to be pretty nice for actually swimming rather than freezing our butts off in the lake here. It probably wouldn’t be as much fun as going out in Randy and Nicole’s boat again, but we wouldn’t want to have it out if they are able to use it today.”

It did not take long to agree to pack another picnic lunch and go prepared to spend some time in the sun, just being together. It also didn’t take much time to get ready to go, although Tricia went back to her side of the wall to put on the scanty black bikini she’d bought for such an occasion as this, and put shorts and a T-shirt back on over it.

The pond took a little finding; it had been high school days since Henry had been there, and he missed a turn and had to hunt around a while for it. In the end it was reached down a narrow two-rut trail largely overgrown with ferns; it came out at a small sandy spot on the shore of the picturesque pond.

Of course, Henry’s jaw dropped when she took off her outer clothes to reveal the bikini. “Holy crap, you make that look good,” he said. “It looks so perfect that I’m a little reluctant to take it off you.”

“Oh, you can take it off me whenever you want to, as isolated as it appears to be here,” she smiled. “I can always put it back on so you can take it off me again.”

“That sounds like the best of both worlds to me.”

In actual fact the bikini was off more than it was on, although a couple times she put it on just so she could tease him into taking it off her, and enjoy what followed. For the most part it was a lazy day; they really didn’t do much except spend time together, sometimes making love, other times just talking more intimately than they had ever managed to before.

Somewhere in the teasing around, the subject came up of the McMahon family’s limited body modesty; somehow it hadn’t come up before, even though Tricia remembered Danny tipping her off about it back in the winter. Henry told her he hadn’t been out to the nudist resort since he’d been a little kid, and that the family’s priorities had changed a bit about the time his parents bought their house and got involved in dogsled racing. “Dad and Mom still go out there now and then,” he reported. “But it’s mostly so they can kick someone’s ass at sand court volleyball. If you’d like to check it out, I’m sure it could be arranged.”

“There’s a part of me that would really like to do it,” she said. “But there’s a part of me that says I’m supposed to look like a respectable family physician, which means that I wouldn’t even wear a bikini like the one I’m not wearing right now down on the beach in town. I don’t think I’d be too embarrassed to do it, but I think I ought to take a pass.”

“To be honest, that’s what I’d advise you to do if the question were to come up,” he said, “and for the same reason. I’ve always been impressed by the way you’ve taken hold in the community, and by the respect people have for your not pushing personal limits and the solid moral character you present. I know that even held me back for a little while, but I’m just glad it didn’t take too long.”

“I’m glad it didn’t,” she smiled. “I told you I’m not quite the angel you seemed to think I was, and I hope I’ve proved it by now.”

“Oh, hell yes. I could never have dreamed the last day could have happened at all. I’ve liked you for a long time, Tricia, ever since we first met, but I figured that if anything even close to the last day would ever happen, it would be a long time coming. There’s a lot to you that didn’t meet the eye, and I’m so glad I found it that you just can’t believe it.”

Henry’s words stuck with her as they talked and teased each other. There was still a lot to her that he didn’t know about, mostly in her past, now, but still a fact of her life. Things had changed about that in the last day, too. While their ultimately getting married was still only a possibility – nothing had been said and neither of them appeared to want to say anything – in the last twenty-four hours it had become a considerably less distant possibility. It was still a long way away, and there were plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong, but it was clear things were leading that way. Who knew what would happen in six months, in a year?

Bright though the prospects seemed at the moment, the fact of Peppermint Patty lurking in her background still was a fact of her life, and it still seemed like it was one that could reach out and ruin her life and her hopes with no warning at all. Perhaps the specter of that hanging over her would dim a bit in time, but she knew in her gut it would never go away. So that brought up the question once again, but this time it was more imperative than before: should she tell him? Should she keep it a secret, and hope he’d never put a few loose facts together and work out the truth?

Face it, she thought. Henry is no dummy. He’s a sharp reporter and editor who knows how to investigate things, and he probably has access to resources you can’t even dream of. If he suspected something, would he look into it? How would he react if he found out, especially if she had kept it a secret from him? He now knew that she had “slept around a lot” at some time in the past but with no details, and he hadn’t seemed to mind it. In fact, he seemed a little impressed by what she’d been able to show him and teach him, and if the truth were told, she still had things she could add to it. There were plenty of things she’d heard about at the Redlite but had never done with customers, for any number of good reasons, but that sounded like they might be intriguing and fun. She could try them out with Henry, and most likely like them. In spite of her vast experience, she still had things to try out and learn, and she knew it.

Some of those things involved having a lot of trust in her partner – it was why she hadn’t been willing to do them at the Redlite after all – but she already had good reasons to trust Henry, and those reasons were growing all the time. If she could trust him with some things, then why not others? If she were to keep Peppermint Patty a secret from him and he found out, would it shatter the trust he had in her? It seemed likely. If she told him, would it cause him to lose trust in her? Possibly, but probably not as much as if she hadn’t been up front with him. It was, after all, a part of her life she wanted to keep a deep secret. Hell, she needed to be able to do it if she were to continue to prosper and grow in her profession in Spearfish Lake.

On the other hand, one of the things that had impressed her about Henry almost from the beginning was his deep sense of loyalty, his willingness to keep a commitment even if it was no longer necessary, even a commitment that caused him a lot of trouble and pain. She knew he’d kept his commitment to help Cindy through high school and it had gone long beyond that, even though it had caused him no small amount of difficulty. He had no particular reason to be loyal to her after that, to put up with her after that, and he’d done so out of friendship, though he had received little but trouble and pain from his effort. That, after all, was a point of character that had impressed her about Danny, back in the old Redlite days, and still today.

So: could he be trusted with the secret? Possibly, even probably, at least if it were presented to him correctly. But telling him was going to be a hell of a risk – but if she took the risk and it worked out, the rewards might be worth it – or might not be. No matter how she looked at it, there were an awful lot of unknowns, complications he could not even begin to understand.

One thing was pretty clear: she was going to have to make a decision about it before things to too serious, to the point where it would be difficult and dangerous to back out. That time might not come soon, in spite of their lusts and passions of the weekend, and the fact that they’d gotten a hell of a lot closer in very short order, there were still unknowns out there. In her mind, at least, and most likely in his, Cindy still was out there as an issue to some degree. As far as she knew, he’d been pretty straight with her about his feelings about her. He’d said she was in his past now, and Tricia would have been surprised as hell if this weekend hadn’t put Cindy further into his past. But, under the circumstances, she didn’t feel like it was something she ought to come right out and ask.

Over the course of the afternoon, and the evening, and then the night, her mind kept going over the same questions, and still coming up with the same answers. There were no great revelations, no huge epiphanies that gave her an idea of what course she needed to take. Mostly they just had a quiet, enjoyable time together – sometimes swimming, sometimes lying in the sun, sometimes touching and cuddling each other, and sometimes making love on the quiet of the little sandy beach by the pond. At some point they had their picnic lunch, and as the sun grew low in the sky they wished they’d brought something so they could have a cookout for dinner.

Finally they had to load back up in Henry’s car, struggle to turn it around in the narrow spot, then head back out to the main road and to town. They had dinner together, then went upstairs to make love one more time. Henry invited her to stay the night, and it was very tempting, but they still each had to face the fact that they had to go to work in the morning. Without much discussion they came to the mutual conclusion that it might not be a good idea because they might wind up showing up for work hours late.

But it was with real regret that Tricia pulled on her outer clothes one last time for the short trek across the shared porch; while the chance was relatively small, she didn’t want to take the risk that the neighbors might see her doing it in the nude. Once inside, she took them off again, and went upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. Her bed had seemed lonely and empty for a long time; the loneliness was now diminished more than a little, but it somehow seemed emptier than it ever had before.

After the weekend Tricia had experienced, it was a little hard to go to work Monday, although she knew she had to do it. In spite of the doubts and second-guessing that had plagued her in dark moments, she was in a very good mood when she walked into the office.

“So,” Molly said as Tricia walked in the door, “did you have a good weekend?”

“Not bad,” she replied with a smile.

Molly looked at her and shook her head. “It looks like you had a hell of a pretty good weekend,” she grinned.

My god, Tricia thought. Is it that obvious? Maybe it is. “Yeah,” she replied, “you might call it that.”

“Details, Dr. York, details!”

“Nothing big,” Tricia lied, hoping she wasn’t too transparent about it. “Henry and I went swimming and sailing, and just hung out together.”

Molly shook her head again knowingly as she smirked, “Yeah, right.”

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