Dreams

[Joe Schmoe]

by Arioso and myself
prologue done in collaboration with Arioso



Dreams.

Why do we dream? Is there meaning in dreams?

In dreams anything can happen.

You think in your dreams.
You feel in your dreams.
You live in your dreams.

Dreams bring more than the imagined.

...but how much more?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you ready? Just hold the handlebars and keep pedaling. I'll hold you."

Neal held the bike seat in both hands as Jenn put a foot on the pedal and glanced apprehensively over her shoulder at him.

He gave her a big bright encouraging grin.

"I gotcha. Just step on the pedal. Sit on the seat. Then put your other foot on the other pedal. Then keep pushing the pedals around. You'll see."

Again she gave Neal a quick peek but with a smile of fearful excitement, then she hopped up on the pedal and plopped on the seat.

The bike jittered causing her to squeal.

"It's ok. See I gotcha. Yeah. Step on the other pedal and push."

The bike slowly took off in a wobble.

"That's it! Pedal a little faster!"

The she and the bike began to pick up speed as a big smile came to her wide eyed face.

She found her balance, breaking into a giggle. The faster she went the louder and more gleeful it became. She began laughing. And it grew, till she was almost laughing hysterically.

Neal ran behind her holding the seat. Encouraging her. Cheering her on.

"Yeah! You got it, Jenny! You're riding a bike! Soon you'll be all over the place!"

Neal was running, laughing behind her.

Then he let go.

Jenn was riding smoothly down the wide street, laughing, then she looked back to Neal.

He was not holding her! She panicked.

The bike turned sharply then crashed into the curb.

Jenn catapulted over the bike, landing on the sidewalk in rolling heap. She ended up in a fresh cut lawn.

Neal broke into a run seeing the bike break but he was too far and too late. When he reached her she was lying in the yard, twisted and crying hard.

She had broken her arm.

Neal felt sick to his stomach. He squatted by her, not sure how to touch her. His hand hovered for a second then came to her shoulder as he stared as the misshapen arm.

He touched her.

The look her got from her cut him to the marrow.

She was blaming him. He wasn't behind her as he promised. He tricked her. He lied to her. She wanted him to look at what he did...to not touch her. To leave her alone...

...to go away.

Neal sat up. He felt like he was going to get sick. His heart was broken. He felt horrible she was hurt. He felt so guilty.

His heart was racing, he was sweating.

After a few seconds passed Neal realized he was in his room. It was still dark and there was King sitting by the side of the bed, thumping his tail on the floor as he looked up at Neal.

He smiled to his dog, laid down on his side and pulled the covers up over him.

Reaching out from under the covers Neal patted the dog's heads, "It's ok King. It was just a dream. I dreamed of Jenny again."

King cocked his head while Neal talked to him then watched the boy fall asleep.

 

[Arioso]

The euphoria was unreal. She was really doing it!

"Yeah! You got it, Jenny! You're riding a bike!"

Her gangly, slender legs pumped faster as she soared with the thrill of it, laughing, so giddy to be flying like this -- with him. With her best friend.

He was with her and it felt like flying!

Then...

...she turned...

...and he wasn't with her.

But he'd PROMISED!

Her heart beat faster, a caged beast frantically hurling itself against the bars. She didn't know how to STOP yet; he hadn't taught her that! She was going to fall! He...he was abandoning her, and he didn't even ask her if she felt ready!

And then it all happened so fast. Her arms shook with fright and the bicycle began to veer wildly with a mind of its own. Jenny was scared of the thing she rode now, its speed, its gears. She barely had time to scream before it crashed into the curb...sent her sailing in a graceful arc over the handlebars...and then

Pain that cut through her like a knife, and a numbing weakness in her arm.

Even worse was the hollow, sick feeling of betrayal in her chest. It turned her eyes to ice when he finally decided that maybe she needed him and came over...gaping like a helpless dummy when she was hurt worse than she'd ever been, all because she'd trusted him.

Everything blurred...darkened...then...

"Go away Neal! I don't need you, Billy will help me. He's nice."

Her arm was in a cast. Beside her, a chubby little boy carried her books.

Behind her, a tall, amber-haired man followed, his face pained.

"Jenny, I'm so sorry--" the man insisted.

"Sorry isn't the same as caring enough to make sure someone doesn't get hurt!" she sneered bitterly, a cruel smile tugging at her lips at the stricken look in the man's eyes.

And it felt like poison in her heart, wounding her more deeply than than the break in her bone.

She blinked at the stinging tears that pooled in her eyes, feeling small and alone as she lay in her bed. The dream had faded and all that surrounded her now was the dark stillness of her room. Jenny wiped her eyes and curled around the stuffed bear that had kept her company for as long as she remembered.

Why did she keep having these strange dreams?...her parents hadn't even bought her a bike yet...

 

[Joe Schmoe]

"What about you Neal?"

The teen glared at his friend as the heat and pressure of an embarrassed and angered flush swarmed over his face.

"It's none of your damn business!"

This brought a chorus of laughter among his friends. Some rolled onto their backs as others nudged another from the hilarity of the question and answer.

"That means you have!" said Brian as he and his companions riotously laughed at Neal's expense.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You're an ass, you know. Ya'all are!"

The boy rose from where he sat on the floor and stormed towards the door.

"Hey, don't go, we're just messin' with ya, Neal."

He answered them with the slamming of the door behind him as he headed out of his friend's house.

Brian's mother poked her head around the corner from the kitchen.

"Is anything wrong Neal?"

"No Mrs. Walker. I need to be gettin' home, that's all"

Her face was gone just as quickly as it had appeared as she went back to preparing dinner leaving Neal holding the front door half open.

"Ok, tell Marge to call whenever she has a minute."

"Yes Ma'am. Goodbye Mrs. Walker."

"Bye bye Neal."

There were times Neal really hated his best friend. This was one of those times. He had confided in Brian about the dream he had last night while on their way to school this morning but when the two had joined their other friends in Brian's bedroom that afternoon, Brian brought it up among them.

Being teens, it quickly grew into bawdy and crude jokes, making Neal angrier with each one. Then the topic sidestepped into wet dreams and Neal blew his stack.

He had never told Brian that lately a few had brought on nocturnal emissions, he just never went into detail with his dreams of the girl. It had become too personal, the connection between him and her and he was going to protect that. He wasn't sure if it was for his sake or what though. He just felt it would be best.

Neal marched into his house and the slam of the door brought his mom out from her bedroom. Looking over the banister of the stairs as Neal climbed them she asked, "what's the matter hon?

"Nothing mom. Mrs. Walker wants you to call her."

"Don't nothing me Neal Lambert. I am your mother and I can tell when my son is upset."

"I don't want to talk about it", he answered as he entered his room only to close her off with the shutting of his door.

His mother only shook her head with a sigh then went back to putting the laundered clothes away.

Neal threw himself on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind kept shifting from his anger at Brian to the girl he saw only in his dreams.

When younger he dreamt of her occasionally but it was becoming more frequent now that he was growing older. They were becoming more older in the dreams too, also in the way they interacted together. It used to be just friends, pals, before he had become a young teenager. She was like a best friend back then. Doing things that best friends do. The ones he had of her always remained clear and vivid long after he had woke up. Not like all the other dreams that faded quickly once his eyes opened to the real world.

"Your dad will be home soon. Supper will be ready in about half an hour."

"All right mom", he shouted as his thoughts went back the dream he had last night of Jenn . Even after this long it was still as clear as if it actually had happened.

The creek was full of them, fat little greenish black bodies with their fish-like tails struggling to propel them through the water. The two kids in their early teens never thought twice what they were going to do with them afterwards, it was just fun to catch them on this warm sunny spring day.

Neal waited till a small school had come close to the bank, unware of the hands of a boy that was about to scoop them from their watery home. His hands dove in with a splash, quickly closing in on the suddenly squiggling mass in retreat. With one smooth motion his hands cupped together and swept up out of the water. A couple small wriggling tadpoles, fortunate enough to escape, slipped from his hold to plop back into the sanctuary of their stream.

"Did you get any!"

"I think so. Yeah I did! I can feel them! Hurry, bring the jar!"

Jenn dashed over to him with the jar that held stream water and captured baby frogs. Neal held his hands over the opening of the jar and let them spill from his hands into the glassy prison. One popped up and out of his grasp to bounce off Jenn and back into the stream. She squealed with tomboyish delight as it happened then broke into a laugh with Neal.

"Let's see! How many do we have now", asked Neal as he wiped his wet hands on his jeans.

Jenn held the jar up to look and began to count them, "one, two, three, four. Oh I can't count them, they keep moving around."

"I bet we have at least twenty of them."

"Aren't they cute? Much cuter than when they become big fat ugly croaking frogs."

"Yeah I guess. Frogs are cooler though. They hop funny and their chin blows up like a balloon...barumm barumm barumm. They swim fast too."

"They are still ugly...and slimy too."

"That's why they are cool. Girls hate them. They run every time I hold one out close to them. They scream and run and it's fun to scare them. Well almost all of the girls but you Jenny. You aren't scared of frogs. That's why you are cool."

This brought a laugh of camaraderie between the two close friends.

"That and I can hit and throw a ball just as good as you can Neal Lambert."

"ALMOST as good," he joked as he grabbed her arm and threatened to push her into the cool water of the stream.

"Don't you dare or I'll kick your butt."

"You and what army". he asked mirthfully, releasing her.

"What do we do with them now?"

Neal shrugged, "I dunno. Eat'em? Put em down your shirt?"

"You're disgusting". she said looking over her shoulder as she knelt to pour the contents of the jar back into the stream.

That was when she slipped on the mud slick bank and toppled in.

Neal never thought or hesitated as he hopped feet first into the shallow water. Jenn was soaked from head to toe as Neal helped the coughing sputtering girl to her feet. The water was cold and Neal saw evidence of it through the now wet semi-transparent skin clinging t-shirt Jenn was wearing.

Her youthful budding breasts showed clearly through the material. Chill hardened nipples pushed boldly against the thin white cotton and Neal saw it all. Time seemed to freeze for him as he gawked at the body of his best friend. He never though about her being a girl, at least not in this way, and it took him totally by surprise. He couldn't take his eyes from her breasts. Smooth firm pinkish swells capped by the darker pink disks centered by the protruding pencil eraser-like nubs. It brought an instant and obvious erection to Neal's young cock to bulge against the wet denim..

That was when he felt the warm wetness on his stomach. It woke him up and he saw that he had climaxed in his sleep. The image was still rich in his mind, bringing him to grab his still erect cock and start masturbating to the scene that made him cum just moments before.

He came a second time then wiped himself clean with his t-shirt. After tossing it into the corner, where his other clothes that needed laundered were piled, he settled back into bed and drifted off to sleep with Jenn in his thoughts.

"Neal! It's time for supper!"

Neal was startled from his thoughts by the call to dinner. He blushed deeply when he realized his hand was in his jeans fondling himself. He was grateful his mother had hollered for him instead of coming to his door.

 

[Arioso]

It didn't get any better than this.

Jenn knelt on the damp, grassy bank with a large mason jar in her hands, not caring that the knees of her bluejeans were getting soaked or that she had grass stains all over. It was one of the first truly warm days they'd had since the winter thaw, and of course that meant she and Neal would be out scaring up some fun. The creek in the woods behind his house had been one of their favorite places to explore ever since....ever...since...

The thought trailed away as Neal's triumphant yell sent her scrambling over to him with the jar.

"Did you get any?" she asked eagerly, grinning and bright-eyed as she saw him with dripping hands cupped together.

"I think so. Yeah I did! I can feel them! Hurry, bring the jar!" he urged, just as giddy as she was.

Beaming, Jenn held the jar out for Neal to empty his treasure into. Already, a small colony of baby frogs was wriggling into the half-filled jar. The new arrivals plopped in with a rush of water -- all but one, that struggled from Neal's hands to hop right onto Jenn's chest. She yelped in surprise and then laughed as it pushed off from the gentle swell of her breast to dive back into the creek.

She and Neal laughed and joked together as they admired their collection. Jenn couldn't even count how many they had, and simply gave up, whereupon Neal began teasing her in his usual fashion. It was strange...he was so nice to her, and didn't treat her like she was different, yet he always had to remind her that he was bigger and stronger.

Jenn didn't understand why, but it made her feel warm when he did...warm, and a little tingly. And when he grabbed her arm and threatened to push her in the water, her pulse raced in a way that felt really good. His firm grip on her bare arm made her tender nipples begin to rise and swell into hard nubs.

To keep him from seeing, she turned her back on him and began to pour the baby frogs back into the creek. But the bank was a slick mudslide just waiting to happen, and before she knew it, she was toppling right into that frigid water, arms flailing.

The shock of the cold water hit her and stole her breath from her lungs for a moment. DAMN! That's cold! Jenn was a little disoriented for just a moment, and when she regained her bearings, Neal was helping her up out of the chilly current. Or, he'd started to help her up...and then...then he was just standing there.

Staring.

Jenn shivered and glanced down, following the path of Neal's eyes. She saw her tee shirt, soaked and clinging to her chest as transparent as a light sugar glaze on a cake. Her nipples had drawn up tight and rigid from the cold water, a deep, rich pink at the center of puffy, wrinkled areolas. Even the flesh of her breasts seemed to be fuller.

She looked up again to see Neal still staring at her, and his face was like nothing she'd ever seen. His eyes seemed darker, more intense -- almost hungry. It was the kind of look that made her feel shy, like she should cover herself up -- yet, she didn't want to. She wanted him to look.

And the sight of the bulge pressing against his jeans made her nipples ache.

Jenn's breathing was ragged as she lay in bed, with her hand between her legs, as she slowly grew aware of her surroundings. Her nightgown was worked up past her waist and two fingers had slid beneath the elastic of her panties to nestle between warm, slickened folds.

Quickly, she pulled her hand away.

She knew it was wrong. Her parents had already taken her to see a psychiatrist about this "imaginary friend" that she kept dreaming about. She'd eventually wised up and stopped telling them about Neal, and the psychiatrist had decided that she'd "grown out of it". But now, Neal was more real to her than anything...and she needed to feel that warm surge that was begging to come out of her.

At least he looked at her.

None of the other boys did. And none of the girls really like her. At school, she was painfully shy, largely because of the teasing she had gotten earlier when she had been seeing a psychiatrist. She also didn't enjoy shopping, makeup, or fashion like all the other girls, and so they labeled her a geek. All she really had were her classes and one or two "geek friends". Maybe that was why she liked her dreams so much better.

In science lab later that day, Jenn sat next to her lab partner as the teacher walked through the room and passed out trays of frogs.

"All right, everyone, one lab partner is responsible for the dissection and the other lab partner is responsible for sketching the organs inside. Let's get started -- don't be squeamish now."

Jenn's partner was one of the popular girls -- always in a mini-skirt and tight top, with perfect hair and flawlessly polished nails. She turned to Jenn with an apologetic smile and pleaded, "Can I do the drawing? I don't want to get that gunk on my hands."

Jenn shrugged and smiled back. "Sure, I don't mind."

She picked up a scalpel and began her incision into the frog's slimy, greenish-black body...

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Neal was walking down the hallway with his friend Brian as they were getting ready to begin another school day. The excited buzz among the students stemmed from the up coming Prom. Banners hung over the halls and posters decorated the walls of the school everywhere.

"So who are you asking", Brian asked Neal. "There is less than two weeks and if you wait too long there won't be any girl left, well any girl you would want to take."

"I don't know. I just can't think of anyone I want to ask."

"Dude, you gotta get over what ever makes you do this fucked up shit you do. I have never seen a guy go through girls the way you do. I wear the same pair of socks longer than you stay with a girl."

"I don't know, they just weren't right for me. That's all"

"That's lame and you know it. You had Rebecca and there isn't a guy in school that wouldn't give their right nut to be with that hottie. There was Vicky, there was Susan, Joanne, Lauren..."

"I know who they were. You do not have to remind me by going down the list."

"Well for fucksake, you're running out of girls and options. You cannot tell me that out of all of them not one was good enough."

"I didn't say good enough I said they weren't right for me, that's all."

"Well if none of them are right for you then there isn't a girl alive that can be. Hey wait, I bet you are comparing them to that stupid dream girl of your's aren't you. Shit it just dawned on me. You are so hung up on that bitch you cannot even get your head out of your dreams or your ass."

"Fuck off and quit being such a jerk. She is not a bitch and I do not compare them to her."

"Listen to yourself, man. You are defending a girl that is a product of your sex starved imagination. That's just too friggin' weird. Damn, there's the bell. I gotta get before I am late. I'll catch ya later."

The two sprinted through the hall to their respective classes as another school day began.

............

"Neal! Hey! Wait up!" Brian dashed through the flow of students as they exited the school through the double doors to end another day.

He caught up with his best friend just before Neal got to his car.

"Whatcha got going tonight?"

"Not much, Just gonna do my homework and work on my term paper some. Other than that I don't know. Why?"

"You aren't gonna believe what I found out today."

Neal asked but wasn't that interested, ready to head home and get to his assignments. "What?"

"Guess."

"I don't want to play these stupid games. I want to get out of here, I have a lot of work to get done."

Brian skirted around the front of the car and hopped in beside his friend.

"Guess. "I'll give you a hint, it might be your answer to the Prom."

"Yeah right, ok I'll play. You found a girl for me to take."

Neal pulled the car into the stop and go funneling of cars that waited their turn to get on the road while Brian kept pestering him about the mystery.

"You got it Sherlock. But not just any girl, there is a new girl that started today."

"Yeah, so."

"So...you could ask her to go with you. I'm tellin' ya man, you have got to ask her and quickly. She is one bitchin' babe, I saw her myself. Her name is...uh...Linn, no...Jenn..yeah Jennifer, that's it."

That got Neal's immediate and complete attention. "Did you say Jennifer? What does she look like?"

"She's hot bro and I mean smokin'. She's a senior too. Brownish hair and built like a fuckin' porn queen."

"What color eyes? Freckles?"

"What? Man, you're losing it. She could have blue eyes or brown eyes or be cross eyed, who cares? She has two of them, that's about all I know. I couldn't get past those tits of her. Her ass, oh fuck, she has an ass to die for. You gotta ask her before someone tags that chick."

"Did you get her last name?"

Brian gave his best friend a peculiar look.

"What the hell do I look like, the FBI or something? Wait! There she is!"

Neal's head shot around to look where Brian was pointing.

A girl was standing beside a car placing books on the hood, her back was turned to them.

"That's her I tell ya!"

Neal threw the car into park, jumped out and trotted over to the girl that was digging her keys out of her purse. As he got closer he saw the same dusty brown hair, same height and the same slim athletic but feminine physique of the girl he dreamt of countless times. His heart ballooned in his chest as it franticly pounded like a hammer. He suddenly grew nervous, scared and excited. Was this her? It looked like her. Was he finally going to meet the girl he had known all of his life? It has to be her.

He got with in a few feet then slowed to a walk as his hand reached out and came to rest on her shoulder.

"Jennifer? Is that yo...."

The pretty girl spun around to see who had grabbed her. She turned to see a face that was full of hope then suddenly morph into one of total disappointment.

"Uh hi, uh yeah I am Jenny. Who are you?"

Neal could not say anything at first then his words came sputtering out.

"I uh I am Neal. Uh, uh I thought you were uh someone else. I'm sorry."

"It's ok I am new he...."

Neal turned and left her where she stood, her words hanging, unfinished. Neal walked back to his car in a defeated daze.

The rest of the day was shot for Neal. He could not focus or remove from his mind the girl that haunted his dreams. By the time he called it quits and crawled into bed she was still running through his thoughts. Those thoughts smoothly made the transition into dreams when he finally succumbed to sleep.

~to be continued~

 

[Arioso]

"Jennifer---Price."

At the measured, booming pronouncement of her voice, Jenn rose from her seat and followed the same path that all the other seniors before her had taken. She mounted the steps to the outdoor stage and crossed to where the principal was waiting with a smile to hand over her high school diploma. This was finally it! She was on her way to a good university in the fall, and it had been a great last year. Shoot, she'd even been to the prom and had an okay time.

Jenn shook the principal's hand and moved on. She glanced out into the audience and when she found her parents, she waggled the diploma in her hand and grinned at them.

The prom...it had been fun, actually. High school had been her time to blossom, and by senior year she'd found a small but close group of friends. Her date had been a buddy -- a little geeky, like her -- but really, it had been the whole group of them that had just hung out together and goofed off, not taking any of the prom rituals very seriously. Indeed, they'd all agreed to wear purple converse high-tops, even the girls in their fancy dresses.

As Jenn sat listening to the principal read off the list of remaining names, her thoughts drifted toward the other prom. The one that still left her pulse racing, just thinking about it.

The prom she'd attended in her dreams.



Neal swung her around as they danced frenetically to the music blaring from the speakers, laughing together as only life-long friends could, and enjoying the craziness of everyone around them. Jenn's strapless, light-blue satin dress clung to her body all the way down to her thighs, where it flared out and swirled with each move. The pale luster of it glowed against her skin and highlighted her twinkling eyes.

"Hoo boy, I need to sit down! We've been dancing for an hour, straight!" Jenn laughed breathlessly, just as the song ended.

The music started up again, slower this time, more sensual: a love ballad that typically sent all but a handful of couples scattering from the dance floor.

"Just one more? Come on, this one's nice and slow," Neal urged, with an arched eyebrow and the same, inviting smile that she had never been able to resist.

"Oooooookay, but you're going to have to hold me up. My feet are tired," Jenn sighed, unable to suppress her own warm smile.

"Oh, the sacrifices I make!" Neal chuckled, rolling his eyes as he drew her toward him.

"You know, you look pretty good in a tux," Jenn murmured as she tilted her head to rest it lightly against his shoulder.

"Well, ya know, I wasn't going to say anything, but you look terrible in that dress -- just revolting!" Neal teased.

Jenn laughed and gave him a playful punch in the arm.

They swayed in place, slowly turning in their own little orbit, and Jenn let herself savor the feel of her best friend's firm chest pressed against hers...and the light caress of his hand as it slid up and down her back, lingering over the bare skin between her shoulder blades and at the nape of her neck.

"Mmmmmm," she moaned blissfully. Neal responded by enfolding her even more tightly in his embrace.

His breath washed warm and gentle along her neck, just below her ear.

That was when she felt the heat growing between her thighs and her nipples stirring into tight buds beneath her dress.

The mood had changed...

Jenn slowly raised her head and rubbed her cheek against Neal's. Without a word, they nuzzled each other...quietly, innocently, yet nonetheless exploring...

Their heads turned ever so slightly, bringing them nose-to-nose as they rested their foreheads together and drowned in each other's eyes. Jenn could feel each ragged breath pressing her breasts against Neal as their mouths inched closer. The first brush of their lips left her head spinning -- it was so light, so soft, yet such a heady rush.

And before she knew it, they were kissing deeply and hungrily. Neal's hands slid down to cup her ass and hold her tightly to him, the rigid bulge between them leaving no doubt as to how much he was enjoying this. Jenn moaned around their tangled tongues and slanted her mouth across his to lock him more deeply to her.

She heaved in a breathy gasp when Neal finally broke the kiss, only to begin sucking and nibbling his way down her jaw to the smooth column of her neck....



Jenn jerked with a start as the assembled students around her leaped to their feet with an enthusiastic whoop and tossed their mortarboards in the air. She shook herself from her dazed recollection and belatedly rose up with her classmates, dearly hoping that there wasn't a wet stain on the back of her black, graduation robe.

And she hadn't even made it all the way through the dream!


It had been the most erotic experience of her life, and she hadn't truly lived it.

Had she?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

~continued~

The music thumped through the hall as teens dressed in tuxedos and gowns moved to the rhythms. Twirling pinpoints of lights bespeckled with them, cast by the large mirror ball that hung over everyone. Wrists with corsages were draped on shoulders as masculine hands around feminine hips spun the young in dizzying circles. Others gyrated in the latest dance steps but one couple left them all in their wake.

They stood out in the sea of youth as the eyes of their peers kept returning to them. Looks of jealousy from guys at the casual comfort Neal had with the eye catching Jenn. Looks of admiration from girls to the lovely Jenn in the arms of the athletically handsome young man. The tandem moved in perfect harmony with each other, smooth and effortlessly, complimenting the other.

The song ended bringing the two to stand in the swell of kids panting and smiling to each other.

Neal took Jenn's hand and led her to the refreshment table where he grabbed a paper cup of sickly sweet punch and drained it in one gulp.

"Hoo boy, I need to sit down! We've been dancing for an hour, straight!"

"You're telling me. You're working me harder than Coach Gibson. It's a toss up which one of you is the slave driver."

The music kicked in again. A slow song to give the kinetic mass a break so they could catch their breath for the next cluster of pulse pounding music.

Neal swiped the half empty cup from her, set it on the table and pulled her back onto the floor.

"Pay backs a bitch. Come on, we aren't done yet", he said smiling like a clever jester.

He took her out onto the near empty dance floor, ignoring her playful protests. Taking claim to an open spot he reeled her in to him as he looked into those eyes. Her eyes always tugged at him no matter the distance and tonight they seemed to hold him spellbound. If there was anyone to own his heart it was this girl on this night at this very spot and the feeling he got as he looked into those celestial blues intensified what he felt.

"You know, you look pretty good in a tux," Jenn murmured as she tilted her head to rest it lightly against his shoulder.

"Well, ya know, I wasn't going to say anything, but you look terrible in that dress -- just revolting!" Neal teased.

Jenn laughed and gave him a playful punch in the arm.

"Ouch, that's my throwing arm. What would Coach Gibson say if I was injured on Prom night? I know what he would say." He altered his voice and mimicked the man, " Neal, my boy, you got to keep your distance with those femme fatales if you want to get that baseball scholarship. They are nothing but trouble for any man."

He laughed as he swept Jenn back into his arms.

They moved in floating circles to their own rhythm. The song now a distant backdrop as their body melded together. His hands found the delicious touch between her shoulders and refused to leave the soft warm feel of it. He was suddenly aware of how vivid everything about her was. The fragrance and luxurious feel of her hair. The sensual form of her body on his. The strong but gentle way she held him. The melody of her voice. She was extremely feminine to him at this moment, making him hold her tighter. To savor her, to protect her, to bind her to him. The moment made him intensely aware of her as a woman, making him extremely proud to be a man, making the world around him vanish, leaving only the two of them to exist.

Together they moved over the floor in a slow subtle undulating spin as if their feet never touched ground. Neal closed his eyes and he felt as if he was adrift in the very cosmos itself. It was at that moment he became overwhelmed by her. Jenn birthed the explosion of his heart that sent the feeling of cascading showers made of twinkling stardust through his whole being. He became acutely aware he was deeply in love with her. He knew too that this was a feeble way to describe it. She became the very essence of him.

Her moan caressed his very soul and as if one mind, they turned to gaze upon the other. They sought contact by stepping stones of touch. They leaned on the other by brow so their eyes could find the other. They met through the tip of their nose that whispered the promise of what would be while their eyes held on to the other's. From there an irresistible pull gradually, hesitantly, cautiously brought their lips together. That small simple kiss ignited the two as the heat melted their lips together.

From there no thought existed as their bodies took over. His hands fell along her back till they landed and held on dearly to the arc of her ass. Now captured, Neal crushed her to him as their mouths fed off each other. He so desperately wanted to burrow into her as his solid length impressed itself keenly against her. Their tongues caressed then groped then coiled like serpents together. Their mouths threatened to devour the other as their lips ground together. Their bodies struggled to merge.

Neal found that he could not get enough of her. His lips broke free of her's to follow the taunt flesh that formed over her jaw, guiding him to her neck. A barely audible growl rolled from the depths of his throat when she leaned her head aside, giving him the full length. He lips felt the throb of her strong racing pulse and it sent a shockwave straight to his loins. His finger bit deeper into the meat of her ass as his hips rolled, drawing his bulge like a bow over the subtle feminine curve above her sex. Just as he bit on the muscle that ran down her neck, she gasped and a hand caught his shoulder.

"Break it up you two", said the barking voice of Coach Gibson.

Neal's arm shot out in anger to remove the hand on his shoulder...

...but only caught air.

There was no one there.

No one.

His heart suddenly felt like it was in the brutal grip of someone squeezing it. No one was there...

...not even the one he loved.

 

[Arioso]

At the front of the lecture hall, a grey-haired professor expounded on the concept of justice in Plato's Republic before a vast wall of students in creaky auditorium seats.

Jenn kept her pen poised over her notebook, listening and jotting down the occasional remark that sounded like a key point. She was in mid-scribble when a hand dropped to her crossed legs and gave a sly, gentle stroke.

She smirked and glanced sidewise at Neal.

"Quit it," she whispered, struggling to contain her grin.

"Hmm...no. I don't think I will," he answered.

Neal smiled back at her, but in his eyes there was a sinister, crafty gleam that made the playful grin slowly fade from her lips. What was he up to?

Jenn's heart nearly leaped into her throat when Neal slowly dragged his hand up her chest and undid a button on her blouse.

Then another.

"Neal, what are you doing?!" Jenn demanded in whispered alarm.

"Shhh!" a nearby student scolded.

Neal's fingers steadily worked their way down her blouse...pop....pop....until all her buttons and her composure were completely undone.

Her hands gripped the armrests until her knuckles turned white when he began to spread her blouse open. Why wasn't she stopping him? Then he deftly unhooked the front clasp of her bra, drawing a sharp gasp from her soft, parted lips.

Jenn could tell from the deep, tight ache in her nipples that they were already hard and swollen into stiff peaks.

Neal caressed them each lightly between his thumb and forefinger, as casually as he might scratch his own arm.

"Stop it, Neal -- people can see!" Jenn pleaded, her whisper urgent and louder now.

"Shhhh!" another nearby student chided....yet without remarking about Jenn's bare breasts, so prominently on display.

"Then let them see," Neal chuckled softly, obviously enjoying her discomfort as she squirmed yet made no move to push him away. "Let them all see my hands on you, and how hot your body is."

There was no denying that he had gotten her hot, incredibly hot and aroused. Jenn moaned when he pinched a nipple more firmly in his grip and began tugging it. She felt a rush of heat flood her pussy as her nipples strained even more brazenly in the open air.

"Miss Phillips, if you cannot control your nipples, you will be asked to leave this class!" the grey-haired professor boomed from his podium, glaring sternly right at Jenn over the rim of his glasses.

Jenn's body flamed with embarassment -- and with an odd, jittery excitement -- as all eyes in the lecture hall now turned and stared at her ripe, obscenely aroused breasts.

She turned to implore Neal to stop....but he was gone.

She was alone in the midst of her entire philosophy class, half-naked, an utter spectacle.

But Neal's fingerprints...bright and red...lingered on the pale, smooth curves of her breasts...and near her engorged nipples.

"Hey, are THOSE gonna be on the test?" a nearby jock guffawed.



Jenn awoke with a gasp to find her roommate looking at her sleepily from across their dorm room, her bed lamp already turned on.

"Another Neal dream?" Dora asked, yawning.

Shakily, Jenn breathed for a moment or two, regaining her bearings. Then she nodded. "Yeah, another Neal dream. It's okay, go back to sleep."

Dora reached to turn out her light. "You really oughta see someone about this thing you have."

"I did once...it's okay," Jenn muttered as she curled up on her side and clutched the same, ratty teddy bear she'd had since she was a girl.

Explanations from the Psych 101 course she'd taken flooded her mind.

It was an anxiety dream. Her subconscious obsession with this man had disrupted her real life enough that she was afraid it left her "exposed" to everyone as a weirdo or a crackpot. That's what it had to be.

Jenn had hoped it would remain her own, little secret, but she'd only been at college for two weeks when Dora shook her awake in the middle of the night, looking grievously concerned, and asking who Neal was. The dreams had been getting more intense.

Then, even worse, the first time Jenn was ready to spend the night with a guy, she'd awakened to find him pulling on his jeans as if he couldn't get out of her room fast enough. He, too, wanted to know who this Neal guy was, and if he was so great that she couldn't stop moaning his name in her sleep, why wasn't she with Neal?

That pretty much stifled her love life other than very tame movie dates or parties with large crowds of friends.

So...this just had to be an anxiety dream about her deep, dark secret world being "exposed" for all to see.

And yet, doubt nagged in Jenn's heart. She'd accepted Neal all her life. But now....now she was starting to want to know why all of this was happening.

What did it mean?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The air was filled with a cacophony of murmured conversations as the students milled in and took their seats. Neal and Jenn sat together in their usual place to wait the arrival of their professor. The sound of footsteps on the hardwood flooring of the stage brought an instant quiet throughout the auditorium.

The professor set his satchel on a table, rummaged through his paperwork then withdrew what he wanted for the day and stepped up to the podium. He glanced over the top of his glasses looking around the assembled students then cleared his throat.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Let us waste no time and get to the business at hand. I presume everyone is finished and is now prepared for their demonstration on thermodynamics. As I call each study team, come up on stage and give your presentation. So let us begin."

Removing his glasses he scanned the young faces then pointed with them to the first couple.

"Miss Whelby and Mr. Ogden, you two will be our first."

Neal glanced over to Jenn and smiled to the his study partner who smiled back before returning her attention to her notepad. He was eager for their turn. They had studied for over a month on this and went over their presentation time and time again till it was smoothed out to near perfection. He knew they would do well and maybe impress their stoic professor who was as animated as a doorstop.

Jenn kept her pen poised over her notebook, listening and jotting down the occasional remark that sounded like a key point. She was in mid-scribble when a hand dropped to her crossed legs and gave a gentle stroke.

He leaned and whispered to her, "are you nervous?"

"A little. Are you?"

"Nah, not really. I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait. Relax, it will go fine. We have gone over this a million times and we work well together. We have it down pat, so don't worry."

He gave her a reassuring smile as the first demonstration drew to an end.

"Ok, not bad. Let's see who shall be next." The professor turned his sight to Jenn and Neal. "Miss Price and Mr. Lambert. If you would please."

The two rose and Neal's hand came to the small of her back to allow her to take the aisle first. He followed on her heels down the declining aisle then took the short flight of steps up onto the stage.

The professor looked over his glasses to them. "You do know this is a presentation and not a lecture."

"Yes sir, we do know and we are ready."

"You do not have charts or slides so I trust you will share what you have brought for this?"

"We only need one chair. That one will do", as a chair suddenly appeared in the middle of the stage.

"Alright. Please precede."

Neal led Jenn to take a seat in the lone chair before the watchful eyes of the students that filled the auditorium. He stood behind her and began to address the crowd.

"We will demonstrate the thermodynamics that occur with each and every one of us every day and even every night."

His hands slid down her blouse as he spoke. They slid over her round shoulders then slowly descended over the rise of her breasts.

"As we know energy can create heat and heat can create energy. If you notice, even the simplest forms of energy can be effective. My hands are light on Miss Price's body and the fabric of her blouse is smooth but already there is enough happening that results appear. Her nipples are now starting to rise higher on her breasts by one of the most basic results of physics...friction, a force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact, resulting in a generation of heat which in turn transforms into energy. The friction of my hands on her body is heating her up creating enough energy to cause the swelling of her nipples."

His hands came back to rest on her shoulders.

"Now let me demonstrate when this is taken a step further."

His right hand followed the collar of her blouse down the open vee below the base of her neck. A button was taken by his thumb and finger and turned to slip easily out of the buttonhole, letting her blouse part just the slightest bit more. His hand worked down between her breasts as he freed one button after another, each bringing her blouse to teasingly open before every eye upon her. His fingers raked lightly over her skin as he pulled the blouse wide open, leaving only her bra left to conceal her luscious breasts.

"As you can see the energy of my hand unbuttoning her blouse allows more of her body to come into view which is creating more heat in Miss Price. It is clearly evident by the changing of her flesh tone to a deepening rosy hue", as his fingertip outlined the spread of her blush. "Further more, not only is her skin becoming flushed, the heat by this is generating energy inside of her. Her heart is now beating faster, her breathing is more rapid which again continues the cycle of heat to energy and energy to heat transformation because her skin is now much warmer than before though it is now uncovered."

His hand slithered up the center of her till his fingers toyed with the clasp between the cups of her bra.

"Now for the final stage of our presentation."

He rolled the clasp between his fingers and it snapped out of his grasp as her bra fell loosely to the side with her blouse. Her breasts were now in plain view as an appreciative murmur rolled through the students.

"You can now clearly see, as I first mentioned, how friction had made heat that turned into energy to bring her nipples erect. See how hard and proud and mouth watering they are? This was one of the discoveries we came across during our many hours of studying and preparing this demonstration together."

He swept his fingers over the bared torso of Jenn in front of everyone. His touch could feel every tiny goosebump that rose up on her smooth flesh. Her belly quivered as he skated slowly over it. He could feel every fine hair that seductively tickled his fingertips. Her breasts soon became the focus of his caresses as he floated around the perimeter of the swells. Languidly his circling climbed the rise of them, giving his touch a hint of their plump firmness. All eyes followed as his fingers lazily swirled over her till he came to the darker pools that crowned each one. He could feel the tiny nubs that rose up from excitement dotting them then he caught the very tips that pointed to the crowd ahead. He rolled and twisted them between his fingers, thoroughly enjoying their pliable hardness as he continued.

"As the cycling continues, the amount of heat increases leading to an increase of energy that only fuels more heat and so forth. Her skin is hot to the touch now. That heat has brought enough energy to cause her head to lull, to make her heart pound, to bring an animalistic pant to her breathing. Her whole body is now caught up and charged by this heat to energy, energy to heat transference. It has even made her moan by it. The piece de resistance in all of this...is the amount of heat that resides between her legs. It is like an furnace now in her cunt and that heat has not only transformed into energy in her but in me as well", as he stepped aside to display the covered erection in his pants.

He took hold of Jenn's nearest breast and massaged it in his palm, "if you would please Jenn". She turned slightly and reached around the hand on her breast to place her's directly on his turgid cock and began to rub it through the material of his khakis. While she continued her arousing rub on his needy member his massaging of her breast roughened, his fingers now diggin into her flesh. As Neal wrapped up the presentation his voice grew deeper and guttural by her heavy handed strokes, which he met with the flexing of his hips.

"The final culmination of this heat to energy and energy to heat now leads to further friction ala heat and energy by the thermo..." his hand left her momentarily so he could use his fingers to parentheses his next word then returned to fondle the abandoned breast of Jenn, "...coupling...of the two heated energy filled masses. Let me repeat that, thermocoupling. In other words, I am burning up with the desire to fuck her right now. Thank you, that concludes our demonstration."

"Well done Miss Price and Mr. Lambert. Bravo. Well done and most informative."

One of the students accidently dropped their books and they hit the floor with a loud BANG.

Neal woke up with a start at the bang when his roommate came in their room slamming the door behind him.

"Hey Neal. Ah fell asleep studying huh? Holy shit bro, that is some serious wood you've got there. What the hell were you dreaming of. You got to share and with details too."

Blushing like mad Neal quickly got up and ducked into the bathroom, leaving his roommate to himself. Turning on the shower, he quickly stepped in, partially to drown out the questions that came through the locked door as well as to relieve himself of the built up lust he had from his dream of Jenn.

Neal fell back against the shower stall as the water hit him with it's stringing spray. Unaware his hand was latched onto his meat his thoughts shifted from the dreams of Jenn to the way his life was turning out because of it.

He had stopped dating since highschool, with the exception of the occasional one night fuck out of necessity. He was fine with girls and they liked him but each time any got close to him he felt odd and somewhat panicky that someone was taking what was reserved soley for Jenn. He had grown to love the girl that existed only in his dreams and no woman in the real world could remove the lock on that emotion.

He had to do something. He was becoming obsessed with her. The dreams were becoming mingled with the intense, the dark and the deviant. They were doing things that he had only read about. Kinky nasty taboo pleasures. Pure unabated primal animalistic sex. If it was conceived they delved in to indulge with zest and zeal, vim and vigor.

His hand furiously worked on his cock as he thought about her. He loved her, he lusted for her, he hungered for her, he needed all of the emotional and carnal connections that they have together.

Have together. He laughed sarcastically to himself on that thought.

He had to do something. The memories of countless dreams were as vivid as life itself, maybe more so. All of his senses knew her intimately and he relived the memories over and over, like now. He groaned as she brought a powerful orgasm to him.

He had to do something. She was driving him crazy.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Rooms With a View - 1

Neal paid the fare then climbed out of the back of the cab to face a high-rise building of brushed chromed steel and dark tinted windows. It was set at the back of a wide and deep barren walkway made of large square alabaster stone pavers. A broad white sign adorned with bold gold lettering was centered along the near edge of the walkway. It told him he was at the right place.

L.I.I.
Lamar International Inc.
7843 Genesee Ave.

A glance at his watch, fifteen after two, showed he was right on time as he crossed the open space that led to two revolving doors set between three glass double doors. Neal entered the building carrying tubes under his arm and a briefcase in hand.

The expanse of the lobby dwarfed the centered information island. Behind the circular counter housed a multi-line phone dotted with blinking lights that the busy hands and warm welcoming voice of a young pretty receptionist attended to. Included in the island was a bank of close circuit television screens where a bored security officer sat next to, paying no attention to them.

Neal stepped up to the counter. "Good afternoon, I am to meet with Mr. Burton at two thirty. I am with Carson and Redwood. Could you tell me what floor I may find his office?"

A young woman looked up to Neal with one of the prettiest smiles he had ever seen. "Hello. Yes His office is on the seventeenth floor. Two thirty did you say?."

"Yes, that's right."

"You are late."

"That can't be, it is just two fif...". He stopped his debate when he glanced again at his watch. It read ten to three. But I just arrived and it was..."

She gave Neal a blank look when he stopped in mid sentence then pointed behind her. "You can take any one of those elevators Sir."

"Thanks", he said glumly.

Neal crossed the lobby to a series of elevators that lined the back wall. He was upset and puzzled how he could be so late. The doors of the elevator instantly opened when he pushed the button and he stepped in still chastising himself under his breath as the doors silently slid close.

Carson and Redwood has been trying to land this account for almost a year. It would have been one of the firm's largest accounts, designing a multi million dollar sports complex. To be late could cause all of their efforts at winning the job to mean nothing. He could even lose his position if not his job entirely because of him not being punctual. He was never late for anything and he was in shock at how, of all times, he could be now.

The heavy feeling of being lifted was instantaneous when his finger pressed the button 17 for the elevator to take him up. A moment later that split second of queasiness in one's stomach came to him when the elevator settled to a stop. His angst didn't help either, knowing his work to secure the account was now a steep uphill battle, if not in jeopardy altogether.

The doors parted and Neal stepped into the front office where a secretary was typing at a side station behind her desk. The room gave anyone that entered the knowledge of a very successful business. Large pictures of various buildings were tastefully matted and framed, hanging on cream walls accented with tope trim. The few pieces of furniture the front office held complimented the color scheme.

The secretary stopped her task when she saw Neal enter the office. She spun in her chair and slid behind the main desk and greeted Neal with a friendly smile.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"

"Hello. I am Neal Lambert, with Carson and Redwood. I am sorry I am late. I hope I can still see Mr. Burton with our proposals."

The lovely middle aged woman cast Neal an odd look after she had checked her appointment book. "I have your appointment noted here to be at two thirty Mr Lambert."

"Yes. That's right."

You're not late. You are early."

"But I..." His words were cut off when he noticed the small clock that sat on her desk. It clearly showed the time to be five after two.

"If you would please take a seat I will inform Mr. Burton that you are here. I am sure he will not keep you waiting very long."

Neal sat down, disoriented, which brought on the beginnings of a headache that threatened to gnaw at him.

He was brought back to the job of winning over Mr Burton when the secretary spoke. "Mr. Burton will see you now Mr. Lambert. His office is just at the end of the hall."

"Thank you."

Neal took the short hall down to the only door there. Stopping just long enough to straighten his tie and take a deep breath. Neal knocked, opened the door then entered.

He was instantly struck by a blinding white light, causing him to shield his eyes. Soon his sight began to adjust to the brilliant glare and that was when he saw her materialize into view.

"Jenn? What are you doing here?"

"I've been waiting for you. You're late. Don't you remember? We made plans to meet here."

"But I am to see..." That was when became aware that he was no longer carrying the tubes that held blueprints nor his briefcase. He saw he wasn't dressed in his suit either, just a pair of faded jeans and a gray Henley.

Her hand, slipping into his, brought a wide smile to spread across his face as the memory of the meeting faded away and the reason they were here took over.

He pulled her to him with a Cheshire grin on his face and looked at her as his lips drifted to her's. When they met it was soft and tender but his passion for her quickly turned it into a hard, deep and hunger filled kiss. She became ensnared by his arms when they coiled around her waist, his hands pressing on her back to hold her close and tight to him. But before his desire for her boiled over Neal reluctantly relinquished his hold on her.

"Of course I remember. Would I have forgotten something as special as this? Are you ready?"

She answered him with that smile that always made his heart soar and with those brisk blue eyes of her's that he could so easily drown in.

The blinding glare had evaporated and they looked around. It was as if they floated in pure white. There weren't any walls, floor, ceiling or corners. The white was endless in all directions and the only depth they saw were the circle of doors around them.

Hand in hand they turned in unison, chose a door and stepped up to it. Neal turned the ornate knob and together they entered.

It was a madhouse. The cheerful chatter of children in party hats sitting around the table filled the room. Happy Birthday was sung then Neal blew out the candles on the cake to the giddy applause of all who attended the party. As kids ate cake, Neal ripped open one present after another till only one was left. Jenn waited to give her's to Neal last. She stood by him with a hopeful smile as Neal tore into the wrapping paper.

He held up a multi-color tie dyed t-shirt that had a rudimentary drawing of two stick figures holding hands circled by hearts. It was captioned with childish writing and Neal read it out loud, "bestest friends 4 ever". Neal laughed, "this is cool! Thank you Jenny." He quickly rid himself of the shirt he wore and pulled her gift on then turned to a blushing Jenn who had ducked her face to hide the thrilled blush that painted her cheeks. He leaned to kiss her cheek at the very moment she turned back to smile up at him. By accident their lips met, but it was momentarily held between them as they were taken off guard, then they quickly broke free from the intimate contact. They couldn't look at the other as the ecstatic joy of their first kiss embarrassed the two.

The uneasiness was removed when Jenn told him Happy Birthday.

The little girl took the birthday boy's hand and the two turned together and looked at Neal and Jenn with happy smiling faces as the birthday party played out around them.

Neal smiled back at the two proud kids who had just ventured into new and glorious territory together. That first kiss would fuel the both of them into more explorations, discoveries and pleasures. Then it was all gone. When Neal blinked he found Jenn and himself were back in the white space with the doors surrounding them again.

When Neal looked to Jenn he was wearing the same big silly grin he had when he had kissed her the first time. His eyes floated down from her's to look at those lush moist pink lips as he unconsciously licked his.

"I never forgot that. What was sweet about it was that it brought more kisses between us and it only got better."

The lips that held his gaze curled into a wide smile and together they turned and took a step to the next door.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Rooms With a View - 2

Together they took a step to the next door and as soon as it was opened they eagerly went in.

Neal was lying on his back in the tall foxtail grass with the pretty Jenn lying beside him. Together they watched the shape shifting clouds drift by. They were taking turns pointing to certain ones and calling out what they saw in the fluffy shapes.

"A bird in a nest."

"A set of tits."

"Oh hush. Be serious, Ok? Oh, that one looks like a dragon", she said pointing up to the cloud.

"Looks like big boobs to me."

"You can be a real pain, you know. That's all you seem to talk about anymore."

Neal rolled onto his side, propping his head up with his hand as he faced Jenn. Plucking a single foxtail he chewed on the end of the stalk as his eyes roamed from her tanned face to the soft round swells that pushed up her t-shirt. He recalled the view he had back when she had slipped into the stream. It had given him his first and, so far, his only view of her breasts. But he had thought about them countless times by now.

"I can't help it Jenny. I've never seen a girl's tits before and your's...your's were the first. They're the most beautiful things I've ever seen in the world. I never noticed them before and now I can't stop thinking about them. I know you probably will hate me for saying this but I think about them a lot now, all the time and they make me feel...different...funny...but in a very nice way. Criminy, even now I feel different just talking to you about them. I get hot and...and...just different. I can't describe it."

He stroked the tip of her nose with the foxtail and when he trailed it over her covered breast she swatted at it as if it bothered by a fly. A smile formed his lips at the thought of what existed so enticingly close, just under that thin but concealing shirt she wore. A mischievous glint was in his eyes when he swept the foxtail over her lips. The hairs on it tickled causing her to swat it away again and then he rolled and fell onto those lips.

His kiss was soft, as if not to alarm her, dropping the grass to free his hand so it could be unburdened to touch her, to explore her. It came to rest and her belly flinched to shy away, but it couldn't get away and his hand wouldn't leave. It slid heavy up over her till it found what it sought. The rise of her breast. Her tender breast found itself covered by that hand and then squeezed. Neal marvelled at it's shape and the plump firm feel of it. Her nipple was a prominent point that pressed pleasantly into his palm. He became immersed in the euphoria her body gave him.

His view of Jenn, since that day he saw her body through the wet t-shirt, had become altered forever. He was very aware of her femininity and how it made him feel. That peculiar sensation in him intensified as he kissed her, as he fondled her and he grew acutely aware of the increasing discomfort by the confinement of his jeans.

Ending the kiss he suspended his face over her's and stared into her eyes, at her face, watching her expression as his hand snuck under her top. The moment he came in contact with her skin the ache in his uncontrollable swelling became even more uncomfortable but he could not stop...not of his own accord. The warm smoothness of her flesh was extremely addictive, irresistible. His touch was light and slow, fearful of repulse but compelled to continue.

His fingertips reached where her breasts rose from the flat plain above her belly. He lingered there, feeling the wide circling base along her chest. His look was now serious as he grew bolder, his touch coming to the valley between them and he could feel the power of her heart beat as his fingers paused, suddenly aware of how strong his beating heart was as well. His breathing slowed and deepened as he took the slow ascent to the top of her domed flesh, his eyes locked on her's..

He was astounded by the different feel when he reached the small pad of her areolas, taunt nubbed disks that were exhilarating to touch. This brought an increase to the distress of his imprisoned erection so he shifted, trying to bring even the slightest bit of relief to himself. It only caused his awkward positioned cock to come into contact her leg when he did. Neal was far too lost in the intoxicating sensations Jenn's body was giving him to notice his hips inconspicuously ground the bulging length that ran down his pant leg into her.

He touched her nipple.

It towered over the rise of her breast, the very peak of the mound he had climbed by fingertip. Tall and strong but supple, even to the brush of his lightest touch. To succumb to pressure, however minute, only to rise again and again, bolder and prouder than before. To stand, as if in challenge to anything, refusing to admit it will yield...

...but yield it did.

It went with him where he took it, when he rolled it, only to return and stand again, defiant when he let it slip from between his thumb and finger. Only to succumb when recaptured and yield when pinched. It buckled under the pressure, crushed, like squeezing juice from a berry. He held it tight, flattened in his clamped grasp then slowly released, feeling it swell and rise between his fingertips. He was fascinated by it's resiliency and studious in her expressions as he played a game of cat and mouse with the taunt tender nipple.

Neal was in awe that the bosom of Jenn gave him a wealth of different textures, sensations and pleasures. All stirring an intense unknown feeling in him. The more he found, the more he wanted...and he found...

...he wanted more.

He stared at her and gradually he began to see.

He saw she had also changed.

He saw in her a reflection of himself, cast by the look in her eyes, by her expression. He saw his explorations, his contact was stirring her as well. She wanted as he wanted. She enjoyed as he enjoyed. The bond they had together brought them to want to explore, to discover together. To indulge in the discovery together. A discovery of give and take. A discovery of a deeper more intimate sharing with each other, of each other. The same force that propelled him began to reveal itself in her. They unknowingly discovered lust and it was lust for each other.

But something else was there, deeper in her, lurking just under the surface, though seen it still remained vague. It called to something in him, beckoned what he never knew existed. It wasn't the same thing in them though. Between the two it was very different. They were in contrast, polar opposites, but like the opposite ends of a magnet the draw to connect was powerful. One existed for the other, in need of the other, only complete with the other. What was in them had been created before their birth. Without the other it had no purpose. Deep down in the dark depths of them it lay dormant, in wait, until it found the other, until it was found by the other, until it was wakened by the other. It now rose from it's slumber within them.

Neal removed his hand from under her top and before she knew what happened he was suddenly on top of her, straddling her. His eyes had never left her's when did. He sat over her hips. The look of what was deep in him, now awake, showed clearly on his face and it guided his next actions.

He locked on her eyes as his thumbs slipped under her top. His hands pushed it up and over her. Her shirt was gathered till her arms would not allow it to go up any further and only then did he stop staring into her eyes. His sight drifted down to the bared body of Jenn. She was absolutely beautiful to him. She entranced him. Her body weaving it's web of magic through him, to seduce him with it's sticky strands of sorcery, binding him to her with it's clinging tendrils of charm. He was overwhelmed at the graceful form of her contours, the smooth fluid flow from every rise and dip till his eyes were stopped at the waist of her cut-off jeans.

The sunlight and the intensity of his exploring, discovering eyes brought vivid clarity to see every detail of her shapely body. The deep rich healthy tone of her skin, the paler flesh along the undersides of her breasts, the contrast of her skin against the ruddy disks where her nipples sat. The tracks of the subtle crinkles in the expanded skin that made her nipples. The faintest of downy hairs that caught the sun to shine. The sultry rhythmic rise and fall of her breasts and undulation of her as she breathed. He was fully spellbound by the exquisite draw of her. It was as if all of his sense were not enough to fully enjoy her flesh...her body...or even just her.

He followed the thin shallow depression that ran down the center of her belly till it fell into the tiny cup of her navel. He found he was in love with the sweep of her sides from where her breasts sat to the narrowing at her waist to the graceful flaring of her hips.

He suddenly realized just how female she was and it brought a surge through him. A surge of power, not of raw physical strength but a surge of power because she made him feel deep down in the very core of him that he was male and she made him feel very masculine and very proud of it.

His hands took her breasts, not cautiously and slowly as before but as if he now owned them. What she woke in him was growing in him and it needed what beckoned it and what beckoned it was Jenn, what was in Jenn. It influenced and empowered Neal and he held her breasts for leverage as he leaned over her. There was a wickedness to his faint smile and his eyes before he lowered himself to her. Her lips were crushed by him as his tongue pierced her. It found her's and the tip of their tongues flicked at each other, almost timidly till the deeper intimacy brought an impassioned frenzy upon them. As their tongues danced with savage lewd gyrations his fingers dug into her supple flesh like the claws of an animal by the bubbling up of primal urges and base acts.

He had to break free or the kiss would have smothered them. He pushed himself up, stilling clinging to her breasts, as he panted to catch his breath. His face now a mask of carnal hunger and his eyes were lit by the fire of lust behind them. No smile threatened to break the thin line of his tight sealed lips as he just stared down at Jenn. A sheen of perspiration glazed her body, gleaming under the high hot sun. Slowly he freed her tortured breasts only to rake his nails with deliberate leisure over them and down her quivering belly. He had marked her when he did and found himself admiring the red trails that showed his path.. They stood out garishly on her flesh, pleasing something deep in the dark depths of him that understood the act of marking his territory. His scratching fingers were only stopped when they reached the top of her denim shorts but it was not a barrier that could stand up to what coursed through his blood.

His eyes returned to Jenn's as she felt the sudden tug as the button popped free when his fingers slid under the waist of her cut-offs. That broke the razor thin tightness of his lips, slowly arcing up the corners when the metallic rip of the parting zipper was heard. Neal looked down and caught the erotic triangular patch of her panties in the opening. The sight caused a sudden split second clinching tension in his loins.

His breathing was now very slow and deep as he took to his knees and perched himself over her on his hands. Neal shifted till he was poised over her breasts as they rose and fell with her breath. He found himself wanting to feel them, but this time with his lips, with his tongue, not his fingers. He had a dull throbbing ache deep in him to feast on her...as if she was his forbidden fruit. He did not fight the temptation. He couldn't have if he wanted to.

As his elbows bent his lips inched closer to the nipples, appeared to him as if they were reaching to him. Just before his lips touched one he looked under his brow to watch Jenn and then he kissed her. The tip of her felt so solid, so strong again the weaker flesh of his lips. As strong as it was it found itself surrounded when Neal pursed his lips and closed them around that nipple.

He sucked gently on the erect morsel of flesh but grew hungrier for it. He began to suckled it and it bobbed by the repeated tug of his lips and the drawing on it by his mouth. He watched her as his tongue allied with his lips. Just touching the very crown. The texture not smooth like her skin but still so soft, belying the swollen hardness of it. Her reactions spurred him further. His mouth ganged up on the defenseless nub. His lips held her prisoner as his tongue lashed out at it. Attacked it. Slapped it. Stabbed it. The softs warm sounds that spilled from her lips seeped into his ears thick as honey to race straight down to his painfully imprisoned cock and she brought pangs to it, counterattacking and in defense he unconsciously bit her nipple. Her reaction stunned him and he retreated from her as her whole body rallied behind her nipple and she charged, her taunt peak leading the rush. His mouth met the rush and they clashed. Her body undulated in rolling waves as he feasted on her. His lips hung on tight as the draw on her increased, intensified and he wanting only one thing. To suck her into him. Completely. Totally. His tongue ground into her. His tongue filed across the tip with heavy rasps of his pebbly tongue, His teeth gnawed on it like candy.

Then it was gone. Taken from him.

He looked to the gasping girl as she held his head away with both hands.

Jenn gave him a look that simply melted him. The look on her face was angelic and he watched those luscious lips of her's as they spoke to him in whispered pants.

"Please, no more. It is just too tender."

What lurked in him moved back, satisfied and Neal laid in the tall foxtail grass with the pretty Jenn lying beside him as they kissed. Shape shifting clouds drifting by overhead...now forgotten.

Neal was squeezing Jenn's hand while they watched and together they turned to look at each other. He could not help himself as his eyes darted to her breasts. He still loved those feminine swells of enticing flesh and they still held a fascination to him. When they looked back at the two lying together in the grass they were not found. The circle of doors had taken their place.

 

[Arioso]

A woman lay sleeping in her bed -- if it could be called sleeping at all.

Her breathing was as rapid and ragged as a marathon runner's. Soft lips parted and twitched in response to a phantom lover. Toes curled and dug into the firm mattress. The cotton sheets tangled around her legs and hips, while a warm dampness slowly spread out from her restless loins.

It was a new bed. A new, high-rise apartment. Jenn had moved to the city just a few months ago to start work as a negotiator for one of the five top architectural firms in town, McCormick and Schmidt. But her dreams had moved with her.

And they'd grown even more vivid, more intense.

Images from an upcoming sales pitch she would have to make in two weeks to Lamar International had melded with her familiar, lifelong encounters with Neal.

But such encounters!

Jenn moaned and twitched again. Her nipples thickened and hardened into twin rubies, quivering for unseen lips. With a gasp, her head whipped to the side and she arched her back, shuddering as her dream lover burned his claim all through her with his teeth, his tongue, his hands, and his nails.

A deep, sensual whine blurted from her soft lips and she grimaced, her face a mask of pleasure tinged lightly with pain. Even as she yelped in distress, however, her feminine depths clenched tightly and a warm stream of honey trickled out.

"Please.....no more....too tender...." she mumbled breathily in her sleep.

Her breasts rose and fell in the still silence of her bedroom as her heart gradually eased its pounding and her breathing slowed to normal.

It was like this every night, since she'd moved to the city.

Night after night, dreams that left her shuddering and gasping with desire.

And every morning...she changed her sheets....

It was getting stronger.

More powerful.

All-consuming.

Jenn whimpered softly and her pulse quickened as the dream shifted again...


||| T o B e C o n t i n u e d |||

 

[Arioso]

"You seem anxious. It will be okay," Neal assured her as they stood hand-in-hand before another doorway.

"It's just...I can't shake the feeling that something bad will happen here," Jenn admitted, lifting her eyes to his and offering a weak smile.

"I'll keep you safe," he insisted, his voice deepening as his hand squeezed hers more firmly.

Jenn's eyes narrowed, as if she were trying to recollect a memory or experience that flitted just beyond her reach. "But, it has to do with when you're not with me..."

She shook her head, trying to shake the feeling, and reached for the doorknob in front of her. Together, she and Neal stepped through yet another door.

Instantly, a smile stretched her freckled cheeks at the sight before them.

Scarlet, gold, and brilliant orange painted themselves across the sky above the lake as the day's light began to wane. Further down along a series of paths, families were receeding into their cabins for dinner, the scent of it rising into the dusk-chilled air with the smoke from stone chimneys.

Young, eager voices nearby caught Jenn and Neal's attention. With fingers still entwined, they strolled off in that direction, along a trail that led into the dimly lit woods.

"And look...see, that's poison ivy. You don't want to touch it, or your hand will itch and burn really bad," a much younger Neal was explaining to a tomboyish little Jenny.

"It looks like all the other bushes. How can you tell what's good and what's bad?" Jenny asked, peering alongside Neal, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, for starters, see how the leaves are kind of grouped in threes?"

Jenny followed where Neal's finger pointed. "Uh huh, yeah."

"And then look at the notches on the sides...and here, the really pointy tip."

"It looks sharp, like a knife."

"It's probably not as sharp as a knife, but this stuff could make you feel just as bad," Neal warned, but gave her a reassuring grin.

Jenny beamed back at him...her two front teeth missing and leaving a very gawky gap in her smile.

"Come on, we should probably get back for dinner. My mom's making macaroni and cheese," Neal said at last.

"I -- like -- mac--a--ro--ni -- and -- cheese," Jenny answered in short, staccato blurts as she hopped from root to root among the massive, ancient trees, trying not to land on any dirt.

She followed Neal back along the trail to the cabin where his family came every summer, still gleeful that her parents had let her go with them this time. Jenny was humming happily to herself when Neal stopped dead in his tracks. She nearly stumbled over him.

"Neal? What is -- eee!!" Jenny squealed in fright when she saw the shadowy outline of a cougar and the menacing gleam of its eyes.

"Stay close to me, Jenny. Don't move," Neal urged. Instinctively, the small girl pressed herself against her friend's side, while his arm wrapped around her shoulders and gave a little squeeze.

Not taking his eyes off the cougar, Neal slowly crouched down and reached around his feet for a stick or a rock. He found a large, weighty rock and hefted it in his young palm.

"HEY! GO ON!! GIT! GO AWAY YOU, GET!! HEY!" he began hollering at it at the top of his lungs.

The cougar tensed, its body poised for action as a low growl rumbled in its throat. The beast seemed unsure of its next move, still sizing up the strange creatures that had crossed its path.

Neal wound his young arm up and hurled the rock at the cougar with all his strength. The rock struck the large cat on its flank, and whether it was truly because the cougar was frightened, or perhaps not hungry enough to trouble with such ornery prey, the beast darted off into the woods.

"Come on, Jenny, run!" Neal yelled, never letting go of her small hand as they ran together all the way back to the cabin, their young feet pounding frantically at the ground as if the Devil himself was right at their heels.

At last, they were stomping up the steps of his family's cabin, each of them panting and gasping for breath, their cheeks flushed and red.

Jenny threw her arms around Neal's waist and hugged him tight. "Neal! You scared him off, you scared him off! Oh, I was so scared!"

"It's okay, Jenny, it's okay. You don't have to be scared when you're with me," Neal promised as he hugged her back.

"Come on, let's go eat some dinner."

"You're going to be a baseball star, someday, Neal. Did you see how far you threw that rock?!"

Neal and Jenny laughed, exuberant in their daring escape as they looked back over their shoulders at their older counterparts.

As the children opened the door to the cabin, the scene faded and Neal and Jenn once again found themselves in the circle of doors....


||| T o B e C o n t i n u e d |||

 

[Arioso]

Warmth caressed Jenn through and through as she stood in the circle of doors with Neal. The last memory lingered with her, a reminder of how deep her connection with him ran.

"That was a great summer -- and you did kind of become a baseball star," she mused.

"Just through high school," he chuckled back at her. His eyes softened and he added, "That was a great summer."

"It was." Jenn smiled, then reached for another door.

The room they entered was dark at first.

Jenn could see only the silhouette of furniture...a table and chairs...against floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto a cityscape at night. Only the tiny lights from auto traffic below, and from nearby buildings, illuminated the room. The space seemed strange, yet oddly familiar.

It took a while for her to recognize it as her own dining room, in the apartment she'd just settled into a few months earlier.

Silently, she and Neal walked through the shadowy room toward soft light that beckoned through the doorway from her living room. Her skin prickled with an eerie sense of forboding...Jenn didn't yet have many memories in this apartment...

A single candle in a wall sconce bathed its golden light on the large, white canvas sofa she'd ordered from a pricey Scandinavian furniture store. Jenn gasped at the lurid scene that played out against that pristine, almost prim, backdrop.

She saw herself, dressed in a suit she'd worn to work just last week. Or, rather, half-dressed. Her blouse and bra had been removed, leaving her full, womanly breasts to swing free. The navy blue gabardine skirt was hiked up around her hips, revealing the pale, smooth flesh of her thighs just above the tops of her lustrous silk stockings.

Her body was bent at the waist over the arm of the sofa, leaving her curvy ass tilted high in the air.

Jenn's heart pounded as she gazed at herself from behind, watching an as yet unidentified man, fully clothed, pounding his cock into her. He gripped her wrists and held them behind her back as his ass flexed and his hips bucked forcefully against her upturned ass. His powerful body seemed driven by a wild, animal force. He grunted obscenely as his thick, swollen cock plowed in and out of her defenseless pussy. The sound of his groin slapping against her ass hung in the air, making Jenn's pulse race faster and faster as she began to panic at the ominous scene before her.

Why the hell wasn't she fighting!?!! God, she was going to be raped in her own apartment! Why wasn't she fighting him?!

And then she froze.

"Ohhh....ohhh yess!"

Jenn heard her own voice -- her own voice -- laced with a dark, passionate lust she'd never heard before. There was something primal in her groan, something feminine yet feral that resonated through Jenn's flesh and made her clit harden into an aching knot as she listened to herself grunt and pant and moan with such ... ecstasy.

Her hand slipped from Neal's as she paced slowly alongside the couch, entranced by the vision of her own ravishment....confused....aroused...and then shaken to her core when she saw

her own face covered by a blindfold

and the face of the man taking her so forcefully

was Neal's

"Oh my god!" "Oh my god!"

Both women gasped out the same words in the same instant.

Jenn could feel her nether folds swelling with desire and slickening with her juices as her eyes slowly traveled up from her own body, bent over the couch and jerking with each thrust, to Neal's face.

A wild, frenzied fire smoldered in his eyes, transforming him into the very image of a satyr, a horned, hairy-chested debaucher of women. Jenn's heart thudded heavily at the pure, animalistic heat that flushed his face, and the determination that clenched his jaw, making him a force that would not be denied.

"Unnnhh....UNNHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jenn cried out from the couch.

"That's it -- CUM for ME, Jenn! Cum for me, my slut!" Neal growled behind her, jerking his hips even faster.

With a wail, Jenn thrashed in her bed and woke up.

Her hair clung to her cheeks, which were flushed and damp with sweat, and her pulse beat frenetically at a mile a minute. Jenn wiped her hand across her face and felt it trembling. She sat in her bed for a few moments, breathing heavily, and tense as she listened to every sound in the apartment.

She switched on the light.

What the hell had that dream been about?

Rising from the bed, Jenn went to her closet and slipped her blue silk robe on over her nude body. She tied the sash loosely around herself and padded out into the hallway to get herself a drink of water.

On her way to the kitchen, she paused and looked at the elegant, modern Scandinavian sofa in her living room. It was spotless....it radiated calm...

...and yet all Jenn could see was herself, half-naked, and bent over the arm as Neal fucked her from behind.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

"Good afternoon Mr. Carson. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes I did, have a seat Neal."

Neal closed the office door behind him and sat in the offered seat across the desk from the co-owner of the firm.

"I am telling you this personally because that is how important it is. I am trimming you of most of your current projects." he raised his handle to stifle any protests from Neal then continued. "As you know we have been courting Lamar International for far to many months and it is time we get more assertive to land that account. It would be our biggest account for Carson and Redwood and I am tired of the two step shuffle we have been dancing with it. It is time we got more aggressive in our approach to secure that deal and that is where you come in my boy. But I need you at full strength and alert and quite frankly...you look like shit Neal. I am not the only one that has noticed. John mentioned it to me just yesterday and we have decided to do something about it. We are going to lighten your load and put you behind the wheel with Lamar."

"Paul, I am fine, honest. Maybe a little tired but nothing a good night sleep couldn't cure. I'll help where needed with Lamar but there is no need to give my projects to anyone else."

"They are C&R's projects Neal, besides they are walks in the park now because of you. I'll divide them among Lewis and Bill, they can handle it from there. I want you on L.I.I. and that is final. I want that account and I am tired of waiting for it so I am sending the only guy I have faith in."

Mr. Carson leaned back in his leather chair, lacing his fingers behind his gray haired head.

"Neal, we have worked together far too long for you to try to bullshit me. Something has come to make you pretty ragged and John and I believe it's work. We want you to take some time off. Recharge your batteries. I bet you have vacation time still owed to you, if not, fuck it, we will give you another week and it will start when you leave this office. Take it and that's an order. Hell, go get laid. I just might have the perfect solution for that as well. As you know there is a convention at the Jacobs Center all next week. I want you to go and enjoy yourself. Go represent us. Eat, have a few drinks, mingle, flirt and spend a night or two with some of the pussy that attends these things. There is enough hot women in business suits to fill any man's plate. So go and take advantage of it...then come back full of piss and vinegar like the Neal that I know."

When his boss scooted back under his desk Neal knew the meeting and topic had come to a close and all he could do was just accept it, get up and leave.

"If that is what you want Paul, then you leave me no choice do you? I guess that's what I'll have to do."

"Good, because I do not want you back until you do. Now go and enjoy some of the perks Neal."

"You wouldn't know how to take no for an answer any way, you old stuck in your ways bastard."

The two friends chuckled as Neal left. Once outside the office the smile quickly vanished from his face. He knew this wouldn't solve the problem. His dreams were the problem. His dreams were more and more sexual, more intense and more deviant. He was waking up drained from them as if he had actually taken part in them. As if he never slept.

At first he had tried professional help through psychologists and psychiatrists but none helped. Each one had some cockamamie theory but none could give him a plausible explanation behind them. So he just gave up on that course altogether.

He now looked at them as a peek into his shadowy world of sex that he had come to be drawn to and the dream girl, Jenn, was his partner in crime. His dreams had brought him to seek out ways to appease the darker desires he had. To find the steamy underbelly where sex through dominating women and through the use of pleasure and pain were accepted and welcomed. He found it and he found he fit in perfectly. But it did not cease nor abate the dreams of her one bit. None of the submissive women replaced her nor could they, she was always there waiting for him behind his closed eyes.

Truth be told, he hoped she would always be waiting for him. She was very much a part of his life, even if just in a world of dreams. There, she was his Freya and he was her DeSade and intense sex was their Bacchanal wine. Together, they gorged on the sweet salacious elixir.

~tbc~

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The Catacomb.

Other than the small inconspicuous sign above the door, nothing told that the place existed. Only those accepted were given the whereabouts of the exclusive club. The only way in was through a side door that was guarded by a no nonsense and discriminating doorman that checked, from behind a sliding panel in the door, everyone before he allowed anyone admittance. There was only one way anyone could get to the entrance and that was by taking the dark alley, which most people that frequented the area at night avoided. From the street no one could tell of it's existence as the passing throngs migrated to the upscale bars and posh clubs that took up this section of city. Most of the mainstream patrons would have looked upon the establishment as a stain, not accepted to be among the trendy blueblood hotspots. But it was Neal's stomping ground, his home away from home, his sanctuary and Jenn accompanied him into the seamier world

Neal led Jenn in by the hand down the narrow flight of stairs into a place that was dimly lit with a thin haze hanging in the air. They were immediately seduced by the provocative smell of sex. Small clusters of people fitted in among the made to restrain furniture chatting, flirting and watching. The carnal creatures came donning the attire of their kind, leather, lace, latex and bare flesh, all to be revealed once behind the closely guarded door. The suggestive atmosphere thumped with the staccato rhythms of an immoral gothic beat as Neal and Jenn entered a world that caters to the unabashed enjoyment of the flesh and the decadent mind. An underworld of Dominance and submission, pain and pleasure. The couple looked around seeing that some were already involved in their kink as entertained eyes of the voyeur soaked it all in.

Neal took Jenn and wove through the groupings, stopping here and there to watch some of the deviant activities. A nude woman was bound spread eagle, whimpering and writhing under the drippings of red wax that dotted and blotched her body. Another was tied over a spanking bench as a hand caressed, groped and spanked her red hot ass, drawing moans and yelps of lascivious enjoyment. Another, strapped on a cross squirmed and danced as a man played a relentless vibrator between her legs, hands of others tormented her breasts. Another was strung up like a marionette, bent over at the waist. Ropes wound around her wrists, arms, shoulders and an ankle, holding it hip high and stretched out from her as she was precariously balanced on the toes of her one foot, saved from falling only by the ropes secured to the beam overhead. Her Dominant steadied her head as he fucked her mouth while from behind, a female counterpart feasted on the bound girl's kept open sex. Neal led Jenn through the debauchery.

This was their world...when they could escape their other.

Neal staked out his spot where a tall square wooden post stood slightly canted on a platform. Steel rings hung near the top, bright, shiny and bold on the wet look of black lacquer. He dropped his bag on a nearby table with chairs then leaned and lifted Jenn's feet one at a time, removing the heels she wore, preferring her feet only to be in her stockings. After neatly placing them on the table near his bag Neal caught a passing waitress dressed in an extremely short glossy latex maid's uniform that brazenly displayed her ample jostling breasts and pierced nipples. Once she got his order for water and cranberry juice she left the two to themselves and Neal's attention became solely fixed on Jenn.

She was turned her to face the center of the room as he stepped up behind and wrapped himself around her. Leaning in to nuzzle her neck, his favorite perfume wafted up from her to tease his nose before his lips affectionately plucking at the lobe of her ear.

"Since the last time we were here, I have been looking forward to bringing you back. You found your wings that night my little dove. You soared and swooped so beautifully, so gracefully, so erotically. You sang like a nightingale for me. I want to send you climbing to newer heights tonight. Fly for me Jenn, take me with you."

He took hold of the belt, that wrapped her coat closed, and pulled the knot undone. The garment relaxed as a sliver of a view formed down the front. A thin long line of temptatious flesh was revealed, instantly noticed and drawing a circle of spectators. All she could see were the shadowy silhouettes as the soft amber that meagerly lit the whipping post stole detail from her, but she could feel the intense stares as if their eyes groped her like hands.

Neal nibbled on the fleshy lobe as his fingers slipped between the part in her coat and followed it up, his touch skimmed her body till he reached her shoulders. He slowly pulled her coat over her shoulders and let it fall down her arms. She caught it from falling off of her, caught by the crook of her arms, Jenn was giving Neal her body the way he liked it. slowly, a portion at a time, witnessed by the wraith-like images around her..

He massaged and caressed her soft round shoulders as his lips paid homage to her bared flesh. His hands glided over the soft supple surface to come to her breasts and he covered them from view. He let his hands just float over them, light and airy, his fingers and palms feeling the arousing shape and stimulating sensation of her body, of her skin on his.

His voice grew darker, heavier and raw as he spoke only for her to hear as his fingers sneaked up and ambushed her nipples. He pinched and rolled them, a sudden turn about from his tender touch. This brought a ripple effect as her body and voice reacted, in turn bringing a murmured approving reaction from the watching crowd.

"You know what I want", he softly told her as his fingers trickled down her body, giving her nipples a reprieve.

When her coat was lightly tugged by Neal she freely let it slip from her arms to pool around her feet. Jenn leaned back into him, her body naked but for what he wanted her to wear, delicate lace topped black thigh high stockings and a black lace underbust corset cinched around her waist, crowned by a matching short neck corset. She did not resist when Neal proudly displayed her to the admiring onlookers.

"You know what I need."

He roamed over her as his fingertips meandered down to the slight hollow where her thighs met her hips. His touch grazed the intimate triangle of her lower belly, Sweeping over her, coming tantalizingly close to the moist heat radiating from between her legs.

"Open."

She shifted her feet ever so slightly, parting them just enough for him, open herself to him, unconcerned of the others around her. A groan rolled like thunder in her ear when she gave admission to the man that Dominated her.

His fingers was drawn into the open area of her sex. He studied the feel of her dewy lips, the fleshy gate into the pink heat. His fingers sank in between them and spread her open. Fingers moved into her slick crevasse, undulating strokes of his fingertips rubbing and obscenely groping her to the appreciative comments of the observers.

"That's it sweetheart. Let them see how much of a slut you are. Mmm yes, my slut."

His touch divided as one went to her clit and the other sank deeper, down to the entry of her. Fingers, one constantly after another bumped the swollen nub as her body was invaded by the other group of fingers. He pulled her by her sex back tight to him and he slowly humped her ass with the rampant hard-on just under the soft cotton of his black khakis.

"Mmm look at them. Everyone that watches you is wanting you so fucking bad, but they cannot have you. Oh no, because you are mine, and only mine."

His fingers left from below to come up before them. The raw aroma of her excitement drenched them. One set of fingers came to her lips, the other came to his and he painted them both with her clear honey. He took them away before she could lick at them. He did not want them clean but for them to dry. He wanted her scent to stay on the tips of his fingers through the night.

Neal shed himself from her, took her hand and led her upon the platform. As she faced and held the post in her hands, Neal took from his bag what he wanted. Each of her slender wrists were soon encased by leather cuffs followed by the clipping of them to the rings set high on the whipping post. Her body ran down the length of the post and she could hear the politely whispered salacious comments float around her. Fingers wormed into her hair and then a sudden tug and turn brought her to face the man she submitted to. She could feel the humid heat of his breath as it swept over her lips. His voice cut through those that surrounded her and she clung to it, focused on it.

"Now I am going to take what I need. Give me what you said was mine girl." He kissed her furiously, his clinched fingers tight in her hair holding her to his lips.

Then she was left to only the sound of his retreating footsteps falling on the platform as he walked behind her. She responded the only way she knew how. She knew how to tempt him, to please him. She hung from her wrists as her back swayed in a graceful arc when she stepped back towards him. Jenn pushed her delicious round ass to him, giving him what he wanted, giving herself to him so he could do what he wanted to her...because she was his.

~tbc~

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Neal let the tips of the flogger shimmy over Jenn's ass. The leather straps floated over her, caressing her with it's tickling touch. He took his time to tantalize her skin, to seduce her body, to stimulate the nerves in her.

His wrist, limp and limber, rolled loose and easy in the joint as the throws of his flogger spun in the air. The tips lightly licked her as it shifted from cheek to cheek in a figure eight path. They struck with gentle flicks, giving her skin a pinkish glow that gradually warmed her, relaxing her by the slow pace and hypnotic rhythm. Each time he lulled her he snapped his wrist and the tips struck with a crack that brought Jenn mentally back to him. Each snap caused her to pull away by trying to climb the post, only to return once the heat dissipated, pushing back to him, taking to her toes to lift up to him, pleading with her ass for more...and he obliged her. He kept her in this ebb and flow as he slowly stepped up the intensity.

Neal added more of her body to the flogger, hopping from her ass to the back of her shoulders. The tips no longer kissed her, now she was struck by most of the length and the heavy weight as the thumps rocked through her in warm powerful waves. Neal gradually put more of his body behind it as the throws whirled through the air in rapid fire succession. Each time the leather landed on her flesh the loud sound split the air. He had her squirming and moaning from it, her shoulders matching the solid red glow of her hot ass. The flogger used her body as a cock would her cunt, beginning gentle and steady to build up to a body jarring pounding. It had a pace of a fuck, slow and easy till passion and lust fueled it into a urgent frenzy. Like a good fuck her body responded.

It took a moment before Jenn realized the flogging had stopped. Neal had tossed it over his shoulder and was standing there admiring his handy work, her body glowing with the deep red coloring of her skin by the flogging. She flinched when his hand settled on the curve of her cheek. As hot as he was from the workout his touch was cooler than the heat that radiated from her skin. His open hand caressed her, soothed the beaten flesh as she pushed back to meet his contact. Her flesh was on fire and softer, as if tenderized for him. It was also more alive, acutely sensitive to his touch. As he gently rubbed her Neal leaned over to coo into her ear, telling her how proud he was of her, how she pleased him immensely. He let her know how beautiful she looked, bound and rosy. How delicious she was to everyone watching. How she had made every man watching sprout a hard-on.

Neal took his place back behind her and squatted as he held her. Again she flinched by his touch when she felt his lips on her raw backside. She was peppered with light tender kisses. His tongue came out to bathe her in long looping wet licks as his breath swarmed over the streaks left behind, cooling her even more. Moans seeped from her as he tended to her, bringing relief to the fires that raged through her flesh. His hands took each cheek in them and she felt the humbling spread of her ass, greeted by the tip of his tongue as it darted into the cleft, creeping teasingly slow towards the pucker that hid in the depths. He lavished it with circling licks, running just a breath away from it's center then his tongue settled in to flick, tap and prod her, enticing her to let him in. Hard and taunt was the tip of his tongue as he tried to burrow in, to pierce her ass as she squirmed by such an intimate act on her forbidden spot. He gave her a kiss directly on the puckered star before leaving it.

"Damn girl, you are so fucking wet. I can smell you, so pungent, so alluring. You are making my cock so damn hard. There is only one thing left for me to do. It is time I gave that nectar dripping cunt some attention."

Neal rose, leaned over her and as one hand came to take a breast the other cupped her meaty mound. His middle finger snuggled into her gash as he began to give her long slow strokes, kneading her breast as he did. His thick long finger plowed through her, running the length of her slick hollow, rubbing her engorged clit constantly. His hand on her breast took to milking her as she shamelessly rode his hand. Neal flooded her with the pleasure emanating from her pussy and the pain he brought to her tit. The fingers flanking the one wedged between her folds stroked her plump mons as her hips ground shamelessly. Into her slipped his thumb and he came upon the spongy spot. As his finger rode over her clit his thumb pressed and stroked her g-spot as she rocked greedily on his hand. The ceaseless pressure and piston of his hand on her cunt had her clit now fully engorged and the sensitive spot in her bloated, driving her delirious with need. He knew she was close. He smiled cruelly as he removed himself from her, leaving her snaking her body humping only air as a feral growl rolled from her lips.

He took up the flogger again then barked at her, "spread your legs. More. Wider. Wider slut! Yes, that's it."

She could feel it before it struck her. The flogger pinwheeled, fanning air on her. The rush of the breeze felt cool on the furnace between her legs. Then she grunted as the flogger thumped into her wanton sex. It made her quake to feel it so intimately. It rocked her when the weight crashed into her and she wanted more. But Neal was patient, allowing each strike to spread through her and fade before sending another to follow. The leather grew darker, heavier and carried more bite as it began to absorb the slickness that seeped from her. Each shot send a lewd report of how wet she was. He rolled his hand and the weight of the throws carried the momentum to her. The straps slapped her, swept over her, tugged at her lips, her clit as it did. Steady and solid the now wet throws rained it's heavy blows on her. She inched closer, ever so slowly to the climax she wanted so badly. Her body began to feed off the flogger. As each stroke struck, her hips rolled to grind into the sweep trying to extract as much contact from it as possible. She was trying desperately to fuck it with her indecent gyrations. She was so close that frustration made her part her legs wider, giving him an unobstructed path to her cunt so he could beat an orgasm into her craving body. She was sore and raw but it had come to be pure pleasure because her need was so great.

He stopped and dropped the flogger, causing her to plead to him to make her, to let her cum until she heard the opening of his zipper. Her ass eagerly came to him as she whimpered in need of what waited for her under his pants.

A voice from nowhere encouraged them, "fuck her. Fuck the slut good and hard."

Jenn growled in agreement, "yessss....fuck me. Oh god fuck me please. I beg you Sir. Fuck me. Fuck me for the whole world to see!"

His cock reached her the same time his hands grabbed her hips and he drove in with one hard thrust, her cunt swallowing him whole. Her flesh was marked by his dug in fingers, holding he,r as he slid back and forth in her slick depths, feeling the stretching of her around him. Her pussy, a tight clinging sheath that molded itself to his rock hard shape, stroked his lust to dizzying heights. He began to fuck her in earnest. The force behind it made him have to step up after her each time till she was pinned against the post, her breasts sandwiching the wooden column as she pulled hard against the restrains. Both of them were consumed by primitive passion, speaking to each other in guttural grunts, covetous groans and provocative moans. She shoved her ass back to him to meet him, to give herself to him, to let him fuck her and fuck her he did. His angled cock rammed up into her body as the head and the ridged underside of his shaft ground over her g-spot. Neal was as franticly driven as she was, furiously pumping her with long full strokes as one hand seized a breast and mauled it as the other clawed at her clit. They were two animals in the middle of a frenzied rut to the lecherous enjoyment of everyone watching and they literally rocked the foundation they stood on.

Jenn cried out as the denied orgasm now stormed her, her body falling under the orgasmic revolt as it raged violently in her, bucking and shuddering from the repercussions of the power. Her cunt went into spasms on Neal's hammering cock and the strength of her orgasm took him with her. He buried himself as his long throaty groan joined her cries. He was racked hard by the convulsing jerks of the sexual seizures in his muscles as his cum pulsed from his bloated balls. Thick milky ropes of his seed surged up to jet into her as she bathed his painfully swollen cock with her clear gush that soon cascaded over his balls.

Suddenly an obnoxious buzz shattered everything and Neal found himself reaching over to hit the alarm clock on the nightstand, He collapsed back on his bed gasping for air as sweat trickled over his body. He was exhausted. He also had a massive hard-on under his covers. Wasted but unfulfilled he tossed off the covers and he fastened onto his cock and rapidly pumped it.

 

[Arioso]

No wine was ever as sweet as this euphoria.

The dream had begun with a mood of forboding for Jenn. The setting was familiar...she had dreamed this same club once before, although she'd never visited such a place. What she couldn't understand was why she dreamed of Neal beating her.

At least...she felt wariness at the start of her dream. But the seductive dance through which Neal guided her melted every one of her anxieties and shifted her views until she felt that the world itself had tilted. The crop he wielded was sleek and black and triggered an initial tremor of fear with its menace. When he used it, though.....when he used it.....

Jenn had never known. She'd never known she could feel such sensations.

Neal began so gently, almost worshipping her bared flesh with a light, teasing kiss of the leather tips. It awakened her skin like the fabled kiss of a prince, and left her swooning in stunned realization that her body had been sleeping all her life -- never as vibrant and awake as it was now.

It wasn't a beating...it was an awakening...

Harder....harder the leather fell across her skin, striking it like a match and igniting her soul. A primal force stirred inside and she flexed her muscles, twitchy and restless as a jaguar that had too long been caged. Jenn craved the roughness now, the lewdness, the raw, animal passion. She groaned for Neal -- she wanted nothing more than for her mate to mount her and rut with her like a wild beast.

And when he did....she was finally whole. Their combined passion seared through her, and transformed her into Fire itself. Hot. Crackling. Alluringly bright. Powerful. Dangerous.

Jenn wasn't quite sure what it meant when she awoke peacefully, a full thirty minutes before her alarm clock was set to go off, with a deep sense of inner calm. The dream had been so grueling, so vivid, and in the past, similar dreams had left her exhausted.

Yet something about it had touched her deep inside....steadied her instead of leaving her shaky...strengthened her instead of weakened her.

She had flown. She had an inner power that allowed her to soar...whenever she was joined with Neal...

Folding back her airy comforter, Jenn slid out from the warm sheets and rose to begin her day.

She was silently grateful that her dream had left her so refreshed. Today was not just any day.

Today, she had to make her first really major sales bid. She was still a junior contracts negotiator, and the management had only assigned her to smaller deals up until this point, to give her a chance to season her skills and learn more about the practical aspects of the game than were ever taught at university.

But last week, the CEO at McCormick and Schmidt had called her into his office and told her he was assigning her to make their bid for a multi-million dollar sports complex that Lamar International wanted to develop. Jenn's heart had nearly leaped into her throat at being trusted with something so high stakes, but she'd forced her anxieties down and accepted the confidence that Mr. McCormick was placing in her. She'd even managed to keep her voice steady as she'd asked him if he recommended any particular strategies, despite the voice in her head that was shouting, "you're not ready for something this big!"

Stuff it! her nurturing, protective side snapped, Everyone gets their chance to play with the big boys, and this is mine. I've got to do the best I can.

And now, the big day had arrived.

Jenn showered for a little longer than usual, taking advantage of her early awakening to pamper herself beneath the steamy spray. Afterward, she massaged her favorite, jasmine-scented body oil into her damp skin and then toweled off, loving the subtle, clean yet musky fragrance that saturated her through and through.

Wrapped in a towel, she padded barefoot to her kitchen and started the kettle boiling for some tea. Her gaze lingered on the gorgeous view from her windows -- just a hint of rose and peach creeping across the sky with the dawn's approach. It was beautiful -- and, Jenn hoped, an auspice of a bright day ahead.

To the playful, lilting strains of Edith Piaf on her stereo, Jenn dressed for confidence. She slipped on her favorite, blue satin panties and bra, then slid luxurious silk stockings over her legs. Normally she wore basic nylon, but today of all days, she wanted to feel luxurious and at ease. She donned a deep, ocean blue silk blouse with an elegantly draped vee neck. Then she slid on a black knee-length skirt, the material so soft and flowing it was almost liquid. Quickly, she brushed her hair and pulled it back into a sleek pony tail that didn't quite reach the nape of her neck.

The kettle's whistle pierced the air by the time she was finished, and Jenn enjoyed a relaxed breakfast with green tea before, at last, stepping out for her pivotal day.

The morning passed quickly at her office as she went over every detail of McCormick & Schmidt's bid -- pricing, materials, subcontracting agreements, code requirements, where she had room for give and take...trying to make absolutely certain that she had covered everything and anticipated every contingency.

At 2:45, her elegant heels were clicking on the immaculate, marble floor of the grand lobby of Lamar International, Inc. corporate headquarters, one of the most distinctive buildings in the city's skyline. Jenn tried to shake the odd feeling of deja vu that came from having seen this place in her dreams....in her very erotic dreams...

And then...the world tilted again.

Tilt? Heaved and shuddered was more like it.

Jenn nearly dropped her briefcase when she saw him.

A man who looked just like Neal, standing across the lobby and talking on his cell phone.

Oh....oh my god....

She froze and simply stared at him. Her feet couldn't move. Her heart did somersaults in her chest. Everything around her blurred, and all she could see was...him.

His eyes flitted back and forth as he spoke on his phone, until by chance they fell upon her -- and Jenn felt a sudden jolt, as if something powerful had just locked into place. A tremendous pull summoned her, drawing her toward him as surely as the earth captivated the moon....yet she was riveted in place....this was impossible!

Trembling, Jenn managed to take a step....toward the elevators.

She had a sales pitch to make in ten minutes. The biggest deal of her career so far.

And this couldn't be what she thought it was.

It just couldn't.

Her mind was playing tricks on her, now of all times! She couldn't let her mind sabotage her.

Flushed and trembling, Jenn snapped her gaze away from Neal...or the man who looked so much like her dream lover....and strode resolutely toward the bank of elevators, her will driving her mercilessly, sternly commanding her to stay on task.

But it was no use -- her earlier calm was destroyed. Twitchy and distracted thereafter, Jenn did her best to deliver a winning sales bid to Lamar International, yet she knew she wasn't in top form. As much as she tried to concentrate on the business at hand, her mind raced obsessively with thoughts about Neal....what had happened downstairs? what did this mean?

If the representatives of Lamar International had noticed anything, they gave no sign of it, shook her hand vigorously at the end of her presentation, and assured her that their company was very interested in what McCormick & Schmidt had to offer.

Jenn managed to make it to the elevator before she slumped against the wall, nearly a nervous wreck.

As she rode down to the lobby, only one thought dwelled in her mind and infused her entire being:

Would he still be there?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

"Yeah. I just got through talking to them Paul...It went well...They wish to see our designs...If that is what you want...If you are serious about landing the account I would have Martin do the technical illustrations...I think he is underrated Paul...yes that is a hint..So when do you intend to get..."

Neal lost his thought and his words when he scanned the lobby. He could not believe his eyes. He could have sworn he saw Jenn, of all people.

His first thought went back years ago to the parking lot of his high school when he mistook someone else for her. He was just about to dismiss the idea of it being her when their eyes met.

He suddenly could not breathe. His chest grew tight as well as his groin. She had looked at him with recognition on her face. His head struggled with the impossible concept.

That brought on the feeling that this too must be a dream. Now he was not at all certain of reality.

Then she was gone. The elevator doors closed off the vision of the woman he had know for years. The woman that joined him when he slept.

The repeated calling of his name grabbed him and pulled him up out of the murky waters of confusion and disbelief. His name, someone calling his name. The phone. It began to dawn on him it was coming from his phone as he slowly brought it back up to his ear.

"uh...what?...yeah, yes Paul I am here...huh?...Oh, it uh...it must have been a bad connection there for a moment...All right...What about Martin?...oh yeah, right..Yes I...I will talk to you then."

He pocketed the phone, still dazed. Then his mind began to click and he quickly walked to the information center.

A young pretty smile greeted him.

"Good afternoon, how can I help you Sir?

"Yes. I am to meet someone here and I was wonder if they had arrived yet. Her name is Jenn or Jenny Price."

"I don't have a Jenny Price on the list Sir. Do you know what company she is with?"

"No, I'm not sure. Do you have a Jenn or Jenny anything on your list?"

"No Sir, I do have a Jerry but no Jenny."

"Alright. Thanks."

Neal glanced at his watch, back to where the elevators were then back to the front doors then back to the elevators. He wanted to stay and wait for the woman to come back down but he couldn't. He was expected to meet with Paul Carson for lunch across town to discuss their next move and he did not have the spare time to wait.

He told himself there was no way in hell it could have been her as he left the Lamar building and hailed a cab. Nope, no way it could be. She only existed in his dreams.

So why wasn't he convinced?

 

[Arioso]

For a split-second as the elevator doors opened, Jenn felt a surge of hope in her heart. She stepped out into the lobby, heart skipping eagerly as she intently scanned every inch of the lofty space.

Disappointment soaked through her like rain on a gloomy day.

She felt empty.

Her eyes swept the lobby once again, refusing to accept the truth.

She had just been seeing things.

She'd had a waking dream. But why? Was she sabotaging herself, or had she somehow, unconsciously, summoned her own, personal guardian angel for comfort and reassurance right before a crucial meeting?

Numbly, she walked out to the street, where she quickly caught a cab back to her office. Any other negotiator would be feeling the buzz that came from a good meeting right now...but all Jenn could think of was how gray everything around her looked. A far cry from the sunrise that had greeted her this morning.

Her follow-up briefing with Mr. McCormick went smoothly enough, although his brow remained furrowed as he listened to her recount the details.

"Lamar International is interested in seeing a set of drawings from us, and they really sat up and took notice when I told them about our innovative approach to space utilization. They seemed sold on our proposal to get 10,000 more seats into the same space. But they also asked some tough questions about cost -- we're facing the usual competition here, from the firms that have an edge on low-cost materials and subcontractors," Jenny explained evenly, with a hint of detachment.

Mr. McCormick nodded, still frowning slightly. "It sounds like what we expected; what's important is that we're in the running. I'll have Art and Roger get to work on our bid for building costs, see what we can do to beat the competition."

Jenn rose to leave, but Mr. McCormick stopped her. "I'm still concerned about the negotiations, Ms. Price. The news you've brought is good, but your delivery is lacking in the kind of enthusiasm I would have expected from a person who is committed to landing us this account."

"I'm sorry sir," Jenn smiled, doing her best to project her usual bright, confident manner. "I think it's just a case of nerves, and maybe trying too hard to be cool and collected about it."

At this, Mr. McCormick grinned and seemed to relax. "I suspected as much. Ms. Price, I have faith in you -- you've done good things for us in a very short time. So take this piece of advice: don't worry about trying to be what you think everyone else expects. Be yourself. Be the person we hired, the one who has already demonstrated a particular flair for this job."

Grinning broadly, and feeling the weight lift from her shoulders a little with his praise, Jenn's answer rang with her more usual, lively, warm tone: "Thank you, Mr. McCormick. I will take your advice -- and you can trust me to put everything I've got into this one."

She finished up some paperwork on her desk and in no time, the day was ended. As she rode across town on the bus, Jenn had the surreal, lightheaded feeling that it had been ages since she'd been home. What a day!

Dinner was quick and light -- a little beef, broccoli, and onions stir-fried with some savory ginger-garlic sauce. Jenn enjoyed the chance to unwind at home after such a high-energy day. Tomorrow night, she'd agreed to go out for drinks with her friends from the gym, Nora and Barb. And the following night, there was a business dinner with executives from one of McCormick & Schmidt's branch offices in the next state.

But tonight was just for her. She'd earned it, damn it!

After doing the dishes, she settled in for an hour or so with The Time Traveler's Wife, a favorite novel that she'd already read at least four times. Then, a soothing, hot bath with rosemary oil....and finally to bed.

To sleep...perchance to dream...

If she had hoped to put the day's odd events behind her, Jenn was disappointed in her attempt to escape. For her haunting, chance encounter with that man -- a man who could be Neal's doppelganger -- followed her into the intimate reaches of her dreaming mind.

She was back in the polished, executive conference room at Lamar International. Their representatives were all arrayed just as they had been during her presentation: three gray-haired men and one younger junior partner in expensive suits and ties, all in muted hues of navy or gray. Lined pads of paper rested on the smooth mahogany table before them, gold pens neatly laid alongside. A few tiny pearl buttons dotted the dark mahogany table, as if scattered carelessly across the table's surface. Her powerpoint slide show was projected on a screen on the opposite wall.

Yet Jenn was not standing before them, speaking persuasively about McCormick & Schmidt's bid.

She was lying on her back on the conference table, with her thighs spread wide enough to bunch her skirt up around her hips. Neal was between her legs, mounting her then and there on the table and driving his cock in and out of her naked, dripping cunt. He had ripped her blouse open -- the pearl buttons raining down on the wood conference table with delicate, skittering pit-pats -- and was feasting on her bare breasts. Neal suckled greedily on her dark, swollen nipples, as if he could gorge himself on her delicate buds. His hands gripped her ass, fingers digging firmly into her fleshy cheeks as he pulled her against him with each lunge of his hips, thrusting deeper and deeper, his aching shaft sluicing through her steamy cavern with lewd, wet, slurping sounds that hung in the air.

A clock on the wall read 3:10.

But her presentation! This was her appointment...the sales pitch....

"What sales pitch, babycakes?" the cruel voice of one of her older, sour-faced male co-workers echoed in her ears. "This is all you've got to sell, Missy. All women are whores."

Jenn woke up with a gasp, feeling sick.

Then she got angry. Damn it! She was NOT going to let this get her down.

Bleary-eyed, she glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. Four-thirty.

She reached over and re-set it for 5:30, an hour earlier than she usually got up. If Jenn was starting to let Alek Foster's embittered, petty contempt for all the women he was forced to treat as equals in the office creep into her dreams, then drastic measures were called for. Although she normally worked out at her gym four times a week after work, she'd go in early this morning and start her day off with the burst of adrenaline that always put her in top form.

No more self-sabotage. She was going to win this one.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Neal spent one of his longest, most grueling days he could remember.

He had no recollection of what transpired at lunch with Mr. Carson. His boss' lips moved but Neal heard not one sound. He could not get the image of a familiar stranger out of his mind. It played itself over and over and over like a looping film and he watched it raptly trying to find any clue that would tell him one way or another if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. If she was the woman he thought...hoped she was or only a perfect replica.

The day crawled by with him lost in thought. He drove home, not sure how he got there. He watched TV as if it was never on. A thought weaseled in, an idea, a way to maybe know for sure!

Neal quickly grabbed the phone book and thumbed through the pages till he found what he was looking for, actually more than what he was hoping for. There had to be hundreds of listings for Price. He ripped the page from the book and began the uphill climb.

He fixed himself a rum and coke, drained it in one gulp them fixed another then settled in a chair. Drink on the end table, page in one hand and the phone in the other he began to go down the list. He started with the first Jenn Price he came to and dialed the number.

It rang and rang, forever it seemed to Neal.

"Hello?"

"Hello! I am not sure how to ask this but, are you Jenn Price?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Does a Neal Lambert ring a bell?"

"No."

"Not at all?"

"Who is this?!"

"I am sorry, my name is Neal Lambert and I am trying to find a certain Jenn Price."

"Well, I am sorry but I do not know a Neal Lambert or any one by the name of Neal or Lambert."

"I am sorry I took up your time and interrupted your evening. Thank you"

This brought the realization that she may not even be named Jenn or Price...if she existed at all. If she did it would not guarantee she would even have a public listing, but doing something was better than rehashing that one moment over and over. The event today made in him the need to find out though. Never for one moment did he even consider that she was real but that concept had shattered by that one brief moment of eye contact with a woman that was the very image of his friend, his lover, his submissive...his love. So he began to dial every Jenn Price listed, if necessary.

He came up dry, so he moved to Jennifer but nothing there either. Next was Jenny but still ended up empty handed. All that was left was J. Price and the list was long.

Five down and no luck. Ten down and nothing. He was growing more and more frustrated, with his results as well as with himself. Twenty down and zilch.

After doing the dishes, she settled in for an hour or so with The Time Traveler's Wife, a favorite novel that she'd already read at least four times. Then, a soothing, hot bath with rosemary oil....

Her phone rang.

Neal counted them....seven...eight...nine...

Jenn heard the phone but ignored it at first but it refused to stop.

...ten...eleven...

She was about to rise, irritated her bath was interrupted but then it stopped after the twelfth ring and she settled back into the soothing comfort of her bath, unaware that the man in her dreams was on the line trying desperately to contact her.

She would never know.

~tbc~

 

[Arioso]

Jenn normally preferred to go to the Equinox gym near her apartment building, but for a morning workout, her best option was Equinox's flagship facility in the heart of downtown, only about six blocks from her office. Her tote bag carried all the basic necessities and a professional suit for her day at work.

She strode into the light, airy atrium of the building with a spring in her step, flashed her membership card at the reception desk, and then headed to the fitness room with its state-of-the-art treadmills and ellipticals.

As she entered the vast sea of equipment, Jenn's heart skipped a beat and she blinked. A tall, lean man with sandy blond hair was just disappearing into the men's locker room. She was seeing things again. Even with just a glimpse from behind, he looked like Neal.

She shook herself and took a few deep breaths. It was easier to dismiss this time. With a good night's sleep and a fresh mind, she could analyze herself more rationally. Obviously, she was still obsessing on what had happened yesterday, so now her eyes were going to settle on any and every man who fit Neal's physical profile. Come on, girl, get a grip! she chided herself.

Stepping onto the black pedals of a Precor elliptical machine, Jenn slipped her earphones on, entered the routine and settings she wanted, and then lost herself in the relentless, driven rhythm and the heat and sweat of pure, basic exertion. It helped purge her of all the mental clutter and distractions...there was nothing but her heart rate...her legs and hips...her spine....her arms....her hands clenched around the pulse pads...

Neal took an extra-long shower this morning, letting his muscles relax under the warm, pounding spray after a vigorous workout. A warm, easy sense of well-being radiated through his body, for the moment giving him the peace that eluded him when he slept....by the time he was dressed and leaving the locker room, the fitness center was empty....he left for a quick breakfast before work, wholly unaware that the woman who shared his dreams had just finished her routine and headed into the women's showers.

At work, Jenn called a meeting with the team of architects who were working on the Lamar International sports complex designs. She debriefed them about her exchange with the Lamar executives, and as a group they spent much of the morning brainstorming. As Jenn was heading out to lunch, Mr. McCormick called her on the phone.

"Yes, sir....another meeting? That's great news! Yes....yes....by Friday? At 2:00 pm? Yes, I can definitely have a strong, revised bid ready by then, I just had a really dynamic meeting with the architects this morning....mm hmm, yes, we're also getting a line on a new steel supplier -- we might be able to lock them into a price-per-ton that's about five percent less than our current supplier...exactly, sir, it would significantly lower the project costs....all right, thank you, we'll be ready on Friday."

Jenn could hardly wipe the grin off her face. Lamar International wanted to hear more; they'd requested another presentation. In other words, they were willing to let her sell them on a deal, if she could make it good.

The afternoon swept by like a breeze. In no time, Jenn was catching the cross-town bus, then dropping her gym bag off at her apartment and changing into something much more relaxed for her night out at the bar with Nora and Barb. Black jeans...a simple, white tee shirt, and her blue denim jacket.

As usual, Nora and Barb were dressed a little more provocatively. They were still in the "must-find-a-man" phase, and couldn't understand why Jenn showed so little interest. She'd never told them about Neal and how he'd been complicating any efforts at a love life since her college days.

The three of them staked out a corner near the pool tables and ordered some appetizers and drinks -- a pitcher of beer for Nora and Barb, and seltzer water with a wedge of lime for Jenn. When a table opened up, they racked up a game. They were in the middle of their second game -- Barb was winning as usual -- when two guys joined them.

It all made for an enjoyable evening, and yet Jenn still felt detached...removed...as she so often did. The only time, the only place, she ever felt as though she belonged with someone was in her dreams...with Neal.

Later that evening, after she'd left Nora flirting heavily with one of the guys from the pool table, and made sure that Barb got into a taxi, Jenn enjoyed the walk home from the bar. The night air was cool and still....and her thoughts drifted to Neal. Are you really out there?

She sighed.

There was only one place she could be certain to find him.

...awaiting her, as he always did, as soon as her head hit the pillow...

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Neal gave up on hunting by the phone. He had gone through more than expected and not a one was her. He wadded up the page and threw it in disgust because he felt he had just gone off chasing rainbows and felt so ridiculous about it. The woman had to be just a case of a close resemblance, nothing more.

To help ease the frustration Neal went back to his usual evening routine. Feeling somewhat let down he retired to bed earlier than normal and after about an hour of thinking about the woman he saw in the lobby at Lamar International he finally fell to sleep.

Neal woke up to the smell of coffee.

Jenn had gotten up before him and readied the fire, putting on the coffee for him. He poked his head out of the tent to see the country style blue and white splatter coffee pot on the fire percolating. They loved it out here. Both needed the solitude and refreshing vitality the country gave them. After many taxing weeks of being in a sterile world of concrete and steel, governed by deadlines and demands this was their way to replenish what was sucked from them day by day. This was their escape just like the Catacombs, but for a different reason. The other was to delve into their decadent pleasures, this was a way for them to keep in touch with their simpler ones. They felt more human out here but at the same time, like when they were at the Catacombs, they felt more in tune with the animal in them. They always returned back home awe inspired by the rugged beauty that you can only get by turning your back to the harsh realities of metropolitan surroundings. It was as if they stepped back in time where they did not have to be prim and proper and so civilized.

He had a good idea where to find her so he pulled on his cargo shorts, socks and boots and walked, as he pulled on his shirt, down the foot path that lead to the pool that was fed by a small cascading waterfall. He knew she liked to skinny dip when they were out here and he wanted to enjoy the erotic morning view of his water nymph. But when he reached the water she was not in it, to his disappointment. He looked around to see where she could have gone off to when he spied her lying on top of a stone rise, soaking up the sun, still unclothed. His cock twitched just from the sight of her, She was raw and as beautiful as the surrounding wilderness to Neal.

Hands and feet helped him ascend the massive dome of stone and she smiled when she saw him coming to join her.

"I had hoped to catch you during your swim, hon, but this is just as nice."

He leaned over her as they shared smiles before he gave her his first affectionate kiss of the day.

"Good morning sweetheart. It looks like it is going to be a stunning day but it will be tough to beat the view I have from up here." His eyes had never left her.

Jenn rolled over and rose up on her hands and knees and came between his legs.

"Yes it is going to be a wonderful day and there is not a better view than what I have right now", she said with an impish grin.

Her hands came to his crotch and she unzipped his shorts without taking her eyes off his. Her soft warm hands pulled him free and she lowered herself down to his semi-erect cock, all the while still looking at him.

Neal loved it when she did that, he loved to watch her as she looked back. Her eyes on his, her lips parting, her lips pursing as she slid his cock into the hot wet cavern of her mouth, her tongue coming to welcome his head when it slipped in.

Neal leaned back on his hands as Jenn's held his thighs. Only her mouth was touching Neal's cock as she sucked him. She took her time and let her tongue help tease the build up. Her lips were at the tightness he loved, her tongue flickering the split under the head and the tight drawing pressure she put on his swelling member brought groans of pleasure from him. She did not bob, or fuck him with her mouth, no, she glided on his cock. Taking her time as if she was enjoying it more than he was. Jenn made sure the climb for Neal to his orgasm was agonizingly slow and he allowed her to go at her pace, savoring it to it's fullest.

She felt the swell and the change in his body just before he climaxed. Her lips slid to the tip of his cock as her tongue coaxed him the rest of the way. He erupted into her eagerly waiting mouth while she sucked the tip as if it was a straw, pulling ever available drop of his seed from his balls.

After she had swallowed everything he had for her and she licked him clean she crawled cat-like over him and they rested intertwined as the sun slowly rose in the sky, bathing them in it's luxurious warmth.

Neal woke up to the smell of coffee.

He heard the gurgle of the coffee maker in the kitchen as it dripped. This morning he beat the alarm and for the first time in many mornings he was actually well rested and energetic. He hadn't been subjected to a body draining, soul sapping dream last night. It was very nice and peaceful, as if his dream partner knew they needed to step away from the intensity.

It couldn't have been scripted better. Neal loved to get away and go hiking and camping when he could, but, since he had been on the ladder climb with his career, those times were a rarity anymore. He realized he missed it.

Neal's mood was good and he knew he would be on top of his game today. After zipping up his suit in the travel kit he grabbed his briefcase, gym bag, thermos and settled in his car for the morning commute downtown to the Equinox Gym, ahead of schedule.

"Good morning Neal, you're early this morning."

"How are you doing Len? Yeah I got off to an early start this morning so I thought I'd take advantage of it."

"You beat the other rats in the race, enjoy yourself. Have a good workout."

"Thanks."

Once he put away his suit and briefcase in his locker Neal took his place at one of the Nautilus machines and began today's workout on his upper body. He was indeed charged by the restful sleep and blasted through his routines and reps. He pushed himself good this morning and by the time he had wrapped up his exercise he was surging with adrenaline and endorphins coursing through him. He felt invincible as he grabbed his bag and headed to the showers.

Unbeknownst to him Jenn had just walked through the door as Neal was about to step into the corridor that lead into the shower.

He leaned against the wall on both hands as the steaming shower stung his taunt muscles, bringing a soothing relax to them. Normally he did not have as much time as he did this morning so he took advantage of it and just soaked in the spray as the wound spring tightness of his muscles were massaged by the heat and force of the shower.

After he dressed he saw he still had time to grab breakfast so he gathered his belongings and headed out to stop in at Ronnie's Cafe for a hearty morning meal. He caught sight of an attractive woman out of the corner of his eye and when he saw her just before she ducked into the shower, he stopped in his tracks. His first thought was it was her but after what he went through last night he willed the foolish idea out his head.

Pushing open the door and stepping out into the bright sunny day Neal left the woman he belonged with behind.

 

[Arioso]

How do you do? Jennifer Price, project negotiations...

...expanding our operations out west...

...try the London broil, it's supposed to be fabulous...

...a meeting Friday, could be our biggest account this year...


It was a familiar ritual, the business dinner. Yet Jenn always felt a little out of place at these things, like she was expected to be more feminine, more flirty, around a dinner table. It wasn't something she did well among business colleagues or people she didn't know.

With any luck, the banquet staff would be young and attractive; the executives could flirt with them, then, instead of her.

McCormick & Schmidt had reserved a banquet room at a classy, downtown hotel, and all briefings and reports had been made. Jenn had mingled with the navy suit crowd, exchanged news on suppliers, accepted compliments on her work on the Lamar International account, and done her best to make small-talk. But her mind was distracted.

The flow of her thoughts drifted, again and again, back to the refuge of her dreams.

So simple...such a pure, uncomplicated existence. To be able to wake at dawn, breathing in the fragrant, clean air....slip out of the tent for an early morning dip in the water...bathe in the sun as it slowly heated the rocks...and have no expectations to fulfill, other than pleasuring Neal's body with her touch and her tongue.

It was so natural with him....she knew who she was, it all came so effortlessly.

Among the suit-and-tie crowd, the navigation was much more difficult. Oh, Jenn knew her job well enough, and had enough confidence to speak her mind on any subject. But always, always lurking beneath the surface, there was the realization that she was a woman among a largely male crowd...a subtle tension shaded their responses to her...

Toward the end of dinner, when she'd cleaned her plate of the salmon filet and arugula salad, Jenn set down her fork, politely excused herself, and discreetly withdrew to the women's restroom for a moment of relief from the whole "power dinner" atmosphere.

She laughed when she caught herself pacing. Pacing like a cat. She was restless. However, dessert and coffee shouldn't take too long, and her counterpart from their branch office had gotten tipsy enough on wine with dinner that he was actually starting to be a little funny.

Craning her neck, and aching for a good, deep massage, she stepped back out into the grand lobby and was on her way to the banquet room when a voice caught her attention and froze her in place.

"Why didn't you let me know you were going to be in town?!!"

"Neal, buddy, I would have, but I didn't even know they were going to send me on this assignment until last night."

"Man, it's good to see you! What has it been, five years?"

Instantly, Jenn's heart was racing and her head snapped around in the direction of a voice that was more familiar than her own. It was his voice...and the other man had called him Neal...this couldn't just be a coincidence!

Her eyes scoured the posh lounge area intently, searching for him everywhere -- and then she saw him! Or, at least, it looked like Neal, but he was stepping into the revolving door to exit the hotel with his friend, and all Jenn could see was his familiar build and the back of his sandy-blond head.

"Neal?" she whispered, shaken enough that she didn't spring into action immediately.

It was a moment or two before Jenn kicked herself and practically sprinted across the lobby to follow them.

A thunderstorm raged outside. Through the pounding torrent of rain, Jenn could dimly see the man she would swear was Neal ducking into a taxi cab on his friend's heels.

"Neal!" she shouted, right as a loud thunderclap rumbled in the air.

Fat, wet droplets battered her face, drenching her skin and making her blink as she stood and watched the taxi pull away from the curb. Her blouse was growing soaked. Had he turned around and looked at her just then?

The taxi turned right at the first corner and sped away into the storm.

Jenn just stood there, forlorn, oblivious to the rain that was slowly matting her hair and saturating her clothes. It felt like a part of her heart had just slipped away.

Slowly, she turned back to the hotel's shiny, brass revolving door, where the end of a business dinner awaited her.

Why did this keep happening to her?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

"Why didn't you let me know you were going to be in town?!!"

"Neal, buddy, I would have, but I didn't even know they were going to send me on this assignment until last night."

"Man, it's good to see you! What has it been, five years?"

Neal's hand settled on his partner in position, Ryan. "How ever long you you've been running the Pacific rim."

He never knew. As he walked along heading out the door he never knew.

She was right beside him across the corridor, about to head to the banquet hall, when Neal and his friend turned out of the lounge.

When they broke through the revolving doors the sky was ugly in it's shades of ominous gray. Low clouds, heavy with rain were rolling in. Thunder could be heard in the near distance as the wind began to gust, cleaning the loose debris in the streets..

Neal waved a cab as Ryan shouted through the growing gale.. "That would be five years then! What do they have you one?!"

"Lamar International!"

"Fuck Neal! I wondered who it would be. I heard that it could possibly lead to four more projects if they like what they get!"

They slid into the cab just as the thunderclap broke open a deluge.

Neal slammed the door shut to the pelting rain that sheeted the window. He was caught by the sight. Shimmering and blurred a woman raced out of the building they just did.

She held his attention without him thinking why. The abstract image revealed nothing yet he was completely focused on her. His head pivoted, watching the mirage as the cab pulled out. The cab turned the corner and she was taken from his sight. He did not see nor hear anything until he realized he was holding his breath.

Casually he turned his head back to Ryan and joined in the chatter.

"Well they are serious then, they are sending the shark."

"Nah, I am just flounder."He laughed.

"Yeah right, as if they will put chum running the East Coast/Europe side."

The two men were going to have a boys night out tonight, courtesy of C&R and they were going to take advantage of it. Ryan and him use to peruse the backstreets together and enjoyed the night and themselves. Though kinky, Ryan wasn't in it like Neal, for the dominance and rough sex, he wanted just the sex. Something Neal could certainly lead him to.

They cleaned up at Neal's.

Neal's attire matched the weather. A black crewneck sweater with gray slacks and jacket. Neal's mood matched the storm, dark and unstoppable. The sly was under a barrage of coursing lightning, pent up energy. He was coursing with pent up energy. Since he thought he saw Jenn the needs of his body became unbearable.

He needed to feel...flesh. He needed to feel...a woman. One woman to be in his hands of flesh, blood and bone. One woman that lived with him for years. One woman, always there. One woman that evolved with him. The two melding, intertwining to fit and fulfill every interlinking parts.

The rest...were just a substitute...for the woman in his dreams, the woman of his dreams.