“I suppose you’re right,” he said, contemplating the discussion of the last few minutes. While her logic may have been flaky and meandering, they’d managed to cover most of the important bases that he could see. “I guess that proves a hot tub is good for something.” He got a sneaky expression on his face. “Have you ever done it in a hot tub?”

“No, I never have,” she replied with a grin. “I’ve never, uh, found a place that’s quite private enough at the same time I had a guy I want to do it with. And while I’d love to do it in a hot tub with you I don’t think this is the place for it. Have you?”

“No,” he admitted. “But I sure think it would be fun. We’ll have to find the right place sometime.”

“I think I’d like that,” she said. “Oh, I want you to do me so bad right now, but I’m afraid you would.”

“I thought about it,” he admitted. “But I decided not here, not now. You know, I’ve often thought I ought to get a hot tub at home, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s reasonable when I’m the only one using it. Now I’m thinking differently. I’ve got a good place in the back yard. I think it’s possible and even perfectly reasonable to have it screened off so we could use it nude. Can you imagine a cold winter’s day, going outside, sliding into the hot tub and getting it on?”

“Outside? In the cold?” she shuddered. “Well, I suppose, since you’d be down in the water it wouldn’t be that cold. Do you get a lot of snow in Fort Collins? I see these pictures of Colorado and there’s snow all over the place.”

“Up in the high country they get a pot load of snow in the winter,” he said. “At Fort Collins, we’re down in the edge of the flatland, a lot lower in elevation. We get snow at times but it never seems to last long.”

“Good,” she sighed. “You had me scared there for a minute. Bob, even if we decide that we’re not going to be together, I think I want to visit you there some time, just to see what the place is like.”

“I like it,” he said. “The university is a big deal in town. In a way it’s like a smaller version of Ann Arbor, but with a much prettier background since the mountains aren’t far away. The plains roll away to the east, the mountains are to the west and we’re in a small area in between that’s more hospitable than either one of those extremes. I think it’s a cool place, and I really don’t want to live anywhere else.”

“It’s nice when you find your place,” she said. “I never have. I think I told you that I’ve never been able to stay in a place very long. I guess I’m a rolling stone.” She let out another long sigh. “I keep thinking that we really ought to just bite the bullet and get married. That might just tie me down to one place and help make me into a normal person. I think that unless I’m tied down to something I might just roll away again after a while. I really wanted to make a go of it in this job in Buffalo. I thought it might be a place where I could stand to stay and I was willing to give it a try, but, well, the job left me, and here I am getting set to roll away again.”

“Did you ever have a guy tying you to one place?” he asked out of sheer curiosity.

“No, I never have,” she said. “Bob, that’s something that scares me. I’ve never been able to keep a guy for long. I usually turn people off sooner or later. Bob, I know my talking can be irritating because it’s probably the one thing that keeps running guys off. Laura, too. Bob, as much as I like you, I’m afraid that it’s going to happen to us. That’s why I keep thinking it’s foolish to even think about getting married, now or ever. Maybe it’s foolish to even think about living together. I wouldn’t want to try it and have it wind up that we’ve fucked up a good thing.”

“So you’re leaning toward the idea of coming out and finding an apartment?” he asked.

“Right at the moment,” she said, flashing him a big grin. “It’s probably the safest option. Really, it’s that or saying that we’d better not even give it a try. I don’t want to lose you completely, but I keep thinking about your idea of getting together now and then for a vacation that includes plenty of wild and crazy sex. I don’t know what I want, Bob. This is all very sudden. I mean, this time yesterday I was thinking that I’d better head back to Buffalo, get finished with packing my bags and storing my things, and just camp out until I found out whether I got the job in China, or whatever. Now this whole new wonderful range of options has opened up to me in the last few hours, and I don’t know what I think. The worst part about it is that I have to make up my mind very quickly.”

“Why don’t you just bite the bullet and come on out to Colorado?” he replied. “We don’t have to work out the details today. You can move in with me and stay for a week or two while we make up our minds. If you decide you want to find an apartment, then that’s fine. You can look for work, or whatever, and take the time you need for a decision.”

“Don’t think I’m not tempted,” she said. “I’m just about that close to saying, ‘OK, Buster, let’s get on with it.’ But like I said, Bob, I didn’t even have an inkling that this could take place even a day ago. It’s all very sudden. I can make up my mind in a hurry if I have to but I usually like to talk things out with myself before I do something. I feel like I’d be rushing it if I were to say yes right now, and I feel like you’re putting pressure on me to say yes.”

“I hope I don’t come across that way,” he said. “It’s just that I feel the clock ticking, and in about twelve hours I have to get dressed so I can get on a plane and head back to Colorado. I know you’re not going back with me, since your car is here and all, unless you want to just come for a visit. So I guess what I’m saying is that part of me would like to know what I’ll be doing.”

“Don’t think that there isn’t a part of me that’s considering the same question,” she sighed. “And I am as aware as you of the time. Do you know what I’d really like to do right now?”

“No, what?”

“I’d like to get out of this hot tub, go up to our room and shower off the chlorine, then crawl between the sheets, have a long, lazy quality bout of loving, and then take a nap,” she smiled. “Then we can come down and get some dinner, and maybe go through the whole cycle again, hot tub and all.”

“I have heard you come up with considerably worse ideas,” he said. “Heading off to China after this weekend probably heads that list.”

“Yes, I suppose,” she replied. “I don’t think we need to sit here and talk about it much, and I do feel considerably better than when I came down here. Being in the hot tub has helped with that, but so have our discussions. And the touch of your talented fingers is no small consideration, either.”

“Sweet talker,” he grinned. “Let’s head upstairs and we’ll see how talented they can be.”

“Sweet talker, right,” she snorted as she pulled away from him. She checked her bikini, to make sure that it still covered the essentials, and then stood up. Bob looked at her; the bikini had been a snug fit to begin with but now the wet fabric stuck to her like a second skin, leaving little to the imagination. He could see her hard nipples tenting the fabric of her top, and he briefly got a shot of a nice camel toe from the way her bikini bottom clung to the crack of her sex. It made him want to rip the bikini off of her right there and take her, right in the hot tub, but that wasn’t a possibility and he knew he’d have to wait, though the wait wouldn’t be very long.

He followed her out of the hot tub and went over to where they’d left the towels, his shirt, and her cover-up. Since they planned a quick shower there was no point in a serious drying but there was no point in dripping water all over the building, either. In only a couple minutes, they were as dressed as they were going to be for a while and on the way to their room.

Upstairs, they closed the door behind them. Bob headed over to close the drapes and said on the way, “Leave your bikini on for a moment, would you?”

“I can do that, but why?”

“When we were down there all I could think about was taking it off you,” he smiled. “I think the shower is the perfect place to do it.”

“You’re certainly being romantic,” she giggled as she took off the cover and stood there waiting for him in the wet bikini. What little of it there was still clung to her body like a paint job, and even in the low light in the room with the drapes closed it looked awfully sensual to him. He peeled off his shirt and headed for the shower, tossing it on the dresser on the way, and she followed along behind him.

It only took a moment to have the water up to temperature; the volume and force of it easily equaled the shower in Hawthorne a few hours before. He stepped aside, politely offering her the opportunity to precede him, and he followed her under the rushing water and into a very hot kiss, much more powerful than any they’d shared down at the hot tub. In an instant, his arms were around her and hers around him; he felt her reaching for his swimsuit as he reached up to untie the neck string of her bikini, to free those lovely breasts and the dark, beautiful nipples they were equipped with. One more good yank on a string and her top was off; he casually hung it over one of the shower knobs as he felt his swimsuit slide over his hips. It slid down his legs, landing on the wet floor of the shower, and he stepped out of it as he slipped the bikini bottom off her hips. He was sliding it down her thighs as he felt her hand on his hard-on.

The shower was amazingly intimate, and it went on for a long time, but the best part, as far as Bob was concerned, came after they shut the water off. “I know you want to get in bed,” she said. “In fact, I’d feel insulted if you didn’t. But I’d like to be able to sleep after you give me a good long screwing, and I won’t be able to do it with wet hair. Do you mind if I take the hair dryer to it?”

“Not in the slightest,” he replied. “I wouldn’t mind drying my hair, either. But can I do yours?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d love to dry your hair, to brush it out and comb it, to just feel it in my hands and play with it,” he said. “You have such a nice head of hair, I’ve just wanted to play with it since, oh hell, I don’t know, sixth or seventh grade, maybe.”

“Then let me fulfill your desires,” she laughed. “I have to go get my stuff.”

In a moment the hair dryer was roaring as he pointed it at her hair, using the comb to sort out the tangles, and just enjoying the luxuriant feeling of it as it slipped through his fingers. While she had long hair, it wasn’t terribly thick and didn’t take that long to dry, but as it dried her hair acquired a silky smoothness that just increased his desire for her. Still, he took the opportunity to quickly brush it with one hand as he pointed the hair dryer at his own head with the other. “Oh, God,” she moaned. “You have no idea just how sinfully decadent that makes me feel. I love feeling you do that, it almost seems like you’re worshiping my hair, but there’s something else I want more, and I hope you do, too.”

“No doubt about that,” he said, turning the hair dryer off and setting it on the counter. In a moment they were at the nearest bed, throwing back the covers; she half fell, half climbed into it with him right behind her, and in an instant they had their arms around each other under the thin sheet and blanket. It didn’t take them long to get to what they really wanted to do, and that was, among other things, to reverse the effects of the shower. Finally, both of them were just laying there exhausted, nuzzling each other a little, wishing it would never have to end. Finally, he smiled and managed to whisper, “You know, if we were to practice that a bit, we could get pretty good at it.”

“Yes. You’re right,” she puffed, still in a daze. “My God, Bob, that was wonderful. God, you almost killed me with pleasure as it was.” She pulled herself close to him and whispered, “But right now I want to just lay here and feel the glow while you’re up next to me.”

“Fine with me,” he whispered back. “After all, the idea was to get a nap, too, so we can rest up to do it again.”

“Great,” she giggled. “You fuck me unconscious and then suggest we take a nap. Well, it’s got to be better than any sleeping pill I ever heard of.” She squirmed a little, pressing her hot, sweaty body up against his. “Bob, you’re something else,” she yawned. “That was about the best I could imagine that it could ever be.”

He just smiled, and lay his head on the pillow, his eyes a couple inches from hers. He saw her close her eyes, and heard her whisper, “Oh, Bob, I loved that.” Then, he watched as she took some long, slow breaths, and realized that she must have fallen asleep. That was fine with him, for he was soon asleep, too.

Bob wasn’t real sure about how long they slept, but when he became aware of his surroundings again it was still light outside, although the quality of the light hinted to him that several hours must have passed and it must have been getting on toward evening. It had been just about this time the day before that he’d met Sharon for the first time in twenty years at the reunion, and it seemed like they’d covered an awful lot of ground in just twenty-four hours. It had been, by any measure, quite a day.

Sharon was still snuggled up next to him, her head still asleep on the pillow only a couple inches away from him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to wake her up just yet. He felt aches and pains from that last exuberant effort; he’d planned on keeping it slow and loving but that hadn’t been how it went – they’d both seemed to demand something a little more active, no, a lot more active. It had thoroughly satisfied the both of them, so he didn’t feel like he had any room to complain. He could feel her hot skin next to his, warm and damp with the sweat of long contact, and it seemed a little bit like heaven. He could stand to wake up plastered next to her for the rest of his life, he thought. As irritating as Sharon could be with her talking, at least when she got wound up, and as indecisive and changeable as she could be, she still had impressed him in the last day as no other woman ever had – not that he’d ever had the chance to have a day like that with a woman he wasn’t paying. There wasn’t anything to compare with that, either. To see her react with such pleasure to his touch gave him a sense of power that he’d never experienced or would have been able to describe. He had the power to set her off, to make her happy – and she obviously had the power to make him happy. That was rare enough in his experience that he wasn’t sure that it ever could have existed until he discovered it in her. Right about then, all it would have taken would have been one word – yes – to have been in the car and heading for Angola for a quickie visit with a judge. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a good idea in the long run but it seemed like a good idea just then.

Although they’d talked all around the subject earlier, there still hadn’t been any final decision about whether she would be coming out to Colorado to be with him, but at the moment it looked like it was what was going to happen. That would put a considerably different spin on his life, there was no doubt about it, and it was hard to say exactly what it would be. Yes, he had concerns, much the same as she had, and there was no certainty that they ever would be able to work them out, but at the moment he wanted to try.

He lay there mulling the options she had presented earlier, and tried to meld them with some of the things that would have to be done in his own life – many of them mundane things. For instance, his closet at home was fairly full, but much of the bulk there was things that he’d stored in boxes that he’d never use again, clothes that he would never wear again but had always seemed like too much trouble to throw out. If she were going to be moving in with him, he’d have to take the time to clear a spot for her. He had no idea what she would bring with her when moving out of her apartment in Buffalo. It might not be a lot, since she said she lived light because she moved so frequently, but it about had to include some furniture and larger things like that. He supposed it would be possible to rent a bay in a storage building somewhere around town to be able to move some of his stuff into it, and some of hers. There was no telling how that would come about and he really couldn’t know until he asked her about it, maybe even until they could tour his house together to see. Then again, she’d mentioned an option of renting an apartment, so it might not be an issue, so there was no point in putting the cart before the horse, either. There would be plenty of time to sort out questions like that.

The one major question he had on his mind, really, was whether he should plan on getting on that plane and flying back out to Colorado in the morning. There was no question that he didn’t have to and he was perfectly willing to cancel the flight or reschedule it if there was any need to do so. He could stay over a day or two if they decided they needed to talk some things out some more, or just spend some time enjoying each other before he headed back. On the other hand, if the decision had been made, perhaps it would be best to just head on back and save the extra cost involved with rescheduling a flight, which would be considerable. He could leave some of that unused vacation time to spend on getting things set up on the other end. Alternatively, he could decide to stay here, ride back to Buffalo with Sharon, and help her pack things and bring them out. Time was passing, and a decision had to be made fairly soon because it would affect what they’d do tonight and how much time they’d have to do it. Really, it wasn’t a decision he could make on his own; he’d have to ask Sharon what she thought.

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