It was only a short walk across the plaza to the hot tub, where the two women sat still soaking in the water. Sharon had a big grin on her face, and Dawn, at least, had a smile if it was a rather nervous one. “You guys get everything worked out?” Sharon asked.

“Bob put a few things into perspective for me,” Dale said. “How about you?”

“I think so,” Dawn said. “Dale, I want to go up to our room, I’ve got something I want to give you.”

“I don’t see any reason why not,” he said. “Bob, Sharon, I want to thank you guys again. Are you going to be around later?”

“No idea, we haven’t made any plans,” Sharon said. “We might be. If we don’t see you again, have a good life.”

“Thanks,” Dawn said as she got to her feet. “I know you guys aren’t as religious as we are, but to us I think you have to be angels sent from Heaven. The Lord will provide, I guess.”

“No, we’re just old sinners who run off at the mouth a lot,” Sharon said. “But if we’ve helped you, the way you thank us is pay it forward and help someone else sometime in the future.”

“Thanks,” Dawn said, taking her husband by the hand and leading him toward the door to the lobby. “I hope we’ll see you again.” And then they were gone.

The air had cooled some, and standing around wet had cooled Bob off more than a little, so he slid right back in the hot tub and nestled up against Sharon. “Jesus,” he said. “That pisses me off so much I’d be half tempted to go kick some ass myself just on general principles. I think I have Dale planning, rather than reacting. Maybe that’ll be enough to get him over the hump. What did you tell her?”

“I don’t know that I should tell you,” Sharon grinned.

“Come on, you’ve never shut up about anything else, why start now?”

“Oh, hell, Bob, you know I will. Did you know that they’ve never fucked? Not once? Either of them. There ought to be a law against virgins fucking virgins. Who started you out? Debbie Leffler?”

“Of course, I’m from Bradford, Class of ’88,” he snorted. “How about you? John Engler, her male counterpart?”

“No, a guy I met in college. John hit on me once, but I was still trying to be little miss virginal, and he doesn’t waste time with lost causes,” she smiled. “Though Sally seemed happy to be with John at the reunion yesterday, Dayna Berkshire told me she gave him a try once in school and it wasn’t worth the effort, he was a real Quickdraw McGraw. But then, she’s a lesbian now, so I don’t know if her advice was worth anything.”

“Well, you were a lesbian even without the experience of his shortcomings.”

“Only temporarily,” she grinned. “I’m afraid I’ve found that men are really my groove.”

“That’s good,” he said. “So what did you tell Dawn?”

“Oh, this is going to sound cynical, telling it to a man. I told her that being raped didn’t really count, that what she did with her husband counted. She wasn’t buying that, of course, so I told her that if she felt she absolutely had to offer her husband a virginity, she still had one in reserve.”

“You told that girl to have her husband take her in the ass?”

“Not quite like that,” she snickered. “I told her to offer it to him as a symbolic replacement for what she really wanted to give him. In any case, it’s a virginity that this Burke creature can’t steal now.”

“God,” he shook his head. “I would never have had the guts to tell her anything like that.”

“Of course not, you’re not a woman. Things have a different meaning to a woman than they do to a man, you know that. She said that it scared her too much, and I had to use that line about taking it in the ass was a lot less painful than squeezing a baby out of your crotch nine months later. That kind of dragged things home for her, she isn’t protected, either.”

“Fucking Disciples of the Savior.”

“My thought exactly,” she said. “That really, really sucks, you know. Well, anyway, she doesn’t want to risk getting pregnant right now since they know they’re going to be facing a rough time, so I gave her a quick lesson in how to do it. Fortunately, she at least has some lube, apparently this Burke character really hurt her when he took it. That’s a way to make a woman love you, all right. They’re going to get some rubbers and do it conventionally later. At least that’s Dawn’s plan. I think Dale will do what she wants him to.”

“I think so too,” he sighed. “I told Dale about Jennlynn, what she did when she got caught in the same spot.”

“I told Dawn about her, too,” Sharon laughed. “I think she and Dale will figure out a somewhat less extreme solution. That was nice of you to offer to befriend them in Colorado.”

“Yeah, good old Bob, stray cats a specialty. I really feel for those kids, but then, I’ve been there. Nothing like as bad, thank God.” He laid back in the hot tub, letting the hot water soothe his aching shoulders. He was getting a first class headache from this whole thing, although he really felt like he’d done his good deed for the day. He glanced over at the pool; sometime in the course of the evening, the family they’d seen earlier had come down to the pool. Well, at least the kids had; the parents were sitting on the lounge, arms crossed, with expressions on their faces like someone had shoved corn cobs up their butts as they watched their kids play around in the pool in the presence of all that blatant near-nudity and immorality of the other innocent swimmers. The kids didn’t look all that happy. The boy had on a swimsuit that hung down to his knees and a colored T-shirt; the three girls all had on very conservative one-pieces with long skirts. “Good God,” he said, waving his head in their direction. “There’s the same Goddamn trouble on the march in a few years. Fuck the Disciples of the Savior.”

“Thanks, I’d rather fuck you instead,” Sharon grinned, and glanced over at the sight he was studying. “Poor kids,” she sighed. “How hard is it going to be for them to declare their independence? They’ll have to do it just like Dale and Dawn, or they’re going to wind up as bad as their parents. The odds are that’s what’s going to happen anyway.”

“Yeah, it takes guts to do it, and most people like them depend on the Lord to supply themselves with courage. He doesn’t seem to supply it very often. I hope Dale and Dawn can make it.”

“They may,” she nodded. “I expect you’ll see them knocking on your office door in a week or two. If they do, then maybe they’ll have a chance. It’s going to take some courage, but maybe Dawn can get over the first step and it’ll give them strength to take the next one.”

“What, to get cornholed?”

“Don’t be crude, at least not in this case. You can cornhole me if you want to and I’ll enjoy it, but she’s doing something different. She’s going to give up her anal virginity because it’s the only option she has left to satisfy her mind. It’s not going to be easy for her, and it’s going to take some courage, but if she can do it successfully, she’d have conquered one thing that’s scaring her. That’ll make it easier for the next one.”

“I suppose,” Bob shook his head. “You’re telling me you’re offering me your ass on a silver platter?”

“Well, no, but I’m willing to consider offering it to you on a cotton bed sheet. In fact, I’m starting to get a little overheated from sitting in this hot tub. Let’s go up and do it while I’m all loosened up from it.”

“Sharon,” he grinned as he stood up and offered his hand to help her to his feet. “Your ass is about to be mine.”

“Good,” she grinned as she stepped out of the hot tub. “That’s just what I was looking for.”

They quickly threw on their outer clothes without even bothering to dry off very much and headed on up to their room. As they were in the elevator, she snickered and he snickered, thinking of the scene from earlier. “Bob,” she said. “Let’s not bother messing around with a shower or anything, but just do it while I’m softened up. Then we can go back down to the hot tub later, and that’ll help me to recover.”

“You know, Sharon,” he said. “I don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“But I do want to,” she smiled, “if for no more than a touch of sisterhood with Dawn, who’s going through the same thing or will be in a few minutes.”

“All right, your call, like always,” he shrugged.

Half an hour later it was over with. It had gone better than either of them expected, and now they lay collapsed together in a sweaty heap on the bed.

“I wonder how it’s going for Dawn, or went for Dawn, or whatever,” Bob said.

“Christ, I hope it’s half as good as what you just did to me,” she said, then let out a sigh. “I really sort of wondered whether that was the right thing to do, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. In any case, she can feel like she’s sacrificing herself to wash away the stain in her lover’s eyes.”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he shrugged. “In fact, I’d have to say that under the circumstances, your guess is probably better than mine. Would you like to go back down to the hot tub again like you talked about?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “Maybe this time we can just lay there and cuddle a bit. I wanted to last time, but we got to talking with Dale and Dawn, and there went that. Let’s try it again, after we rest up here for a few minutes.”

“Fine with me,” he yawned. “I could stand a little rest.”

“So could I,” she replied, snuggling up next to him. “Cuddle, we shall.”

“Works for me,” he said, planting a small kiss on her lips. “I don’t know how well I’ll be able to go back to no sex after the way you’ve kept diddling me.”

“You’re turning me into an addict, Bob, a for real, one-hundred-percent sex addict. I think I’ve told you that while I’ve had lovers before, it’s never been quite like the last day or so has. My God, I’ve come more in the last twenty-four hours than I have in the previous year.”

“Kind of a dry spell, huh?” he said as he rolled onto his back, and somehow managed to reach the cigarettes and lighter on the bedside stand.

“Oh, yeah,” she shook her head as he lit the cigarette and took a drag on it. “Don’t get me wrong, there have been times that I’ve wanted it, sometimes even wanted it bad, but a vibrator will only take you so far. It’s so much better when there’s a warm body involved. Especially a warm body that’s as nice as you are.”

He held the cigarette to her lips, and said as she pulled on it, “Me thinks my lady doth laud me too much. I’m still just plain old Bob.”

“You’re not plain and you’re not old,” she said. “You’re pretty damn neat, Bob. I’m glad we managed to get together again. We should have stayed together somehow back then.”

He took a drag on the cigarette and said. “Wasn’t going to happen back then, we were heading to two different places and we both knew it. Besides, I wanted to head up the on-ramp so damn bad it wasn’t funny, and the army made for a clean break, a lot better than if I’d gone to college. I suppose I could have gotten student loans or grants or something, but it would have left me still attached to my parents while they tried to shove Gloria or someone even worse down my throat.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” she said, as he held the cigarette out to her. She took a drag, let out the smoke and continued. “Yeah, I had different places I wanted to go, that’s for sure, but somehow I never quite got there. I’ve just kicked around from place to place for twenty years, going to school, working junk jobs or half-assed jobs that didn’t lead anywhere. Now a door to a different place seems to be opening, but I don’t know if I’ve got the guts to step through it or not.”

“You mean coming out to Colorado and us getting together?” he asked. “I thought we’d settled that.”

“Well, yeah,” she replied softly as he took the cigarette back and took one last drag off it, before stubbing it out in the ash tray. “It seems like the logical thing to do, really, and it makes a lot of sense. I like you, Bob, and you fit me sexually better than anyone has ever done before. But, well, it’s a step in a different direction than I’d expected. I’d pretty well given up on the idea of ever getting married or having a permanent relationship, and the thought of it happening now is a little scary. It’s just, well, it’s going to take some time to get used to the idea, that’s all. That’s why I think it’ll be good for us to be apart for a few days. I need the time to think about it, to talk it over with Ralph.”

“Well, your call, I guess,” he shrugged. “I can’t force you, and I’ll admit to my own reservations, and for exactly the same reasons.”

“God damn it, Bob, why do you have to be so infuriating?” she replied with a touch of anger in her voice. “It’s my call, it’s my decision, it’s up to me. There’s no ‘Come live with me and be my love’ or anything romantic like that to sweep me off my feet. Am I missing something here, or what?’

“I’m not that kind of guy and you know it,” he said defensively. “I’m no big romantic, and I don’t even think I’m that great a lover. Sharon, while I think we could learn how to make it work out OK, I’m not positive I will, and I’m not going to promise you the moon. I may not be able to deliver!”

“Well, yeah,” she sighed. “I guess I knew that. It would be so much easier if you swept me off my feet, though.”

“How about if I sweep you off the bed so you can get the black bikini on and we can go down to the hot tub again?” he suggested as a way to change the subject.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” she replied as she sat up on the bed. “Bob, if it works out that I come out to Colorado and we can’t make living together work out, can we continue to be friends with benefits? I really like what you do to me.”

“I like watching you react to it,” he grinned as he pulled on his still-wet swimsuit. “It may be the best part of the whole thing.”

“Good,” she grinned as she started tying on the top of the black bikini. It wasn’t large by any means, and a lot of her breasts were showing on either side of the small patches of black material. “It’ll just make you want to do it to me more often. So what do you think of this bikini?” she asked as she turned around to model it for him.

“Holy shit, that’s hot,” he smiled. The bikini really was a thong; the bottom of it only had a narrow strip of fabric up the crack of her ass, held up by a thin string across her hips. “That really makes me want to grab that sweet ass of yours.”

“Well, maybe my wearing it means that I want you to grab my sweet ass,” she laughed back at him. “Let’s go down to the hot tub before we do it, though. If you do it now the next thing you know we’ll be back in bed and we’ll never make it down there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled, as he pulled on his polo shirt again, while she pulled on the cover-up.

In a minute they were again in the elevator, heading downstairs. Bob put his arm around her hip, then slid his hand down enough to be able to raise the hem of the cover-up and put it right on her bare butt. “God, I like that,” she giggled. “I like it when you feel me up in public.”

“An elevator isn’t public,” he told her flatly. “It’s private enough that I could get you up against the wall and do you right here.”

“You’d do it, too, wouldn’t you?” she grinned. “It’d be just our luck for those sour pusses to catch us, too.”

“They look like they could stand it,” he said. “I mean, with four kids, it’s not like they’re totally clueless about it.”

“Pretty close, I’d bet,” she giggled. “How much do you want to bet, only once a month when they think she’s in season, missionary position, in the dark?”

“Shit, no bet,” Bob shook his head. “They look like classic Disciples of the Savior, That’s part of the doctrine. Sex is for procreation, not recreation, and all that. The kind of people who think having any kind of fun at all is ungodly.”

“How do people live like that?” she sighed as the elevator door opened.

“I don’t know how they do it, but they do,” he replied as they stepped out into the lobby. “Maybe they don’t know any better. Or maybe they think that we don’t know any better.”

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