"Now," I said. "Our booking is in two hours' time. Let me show you to your room and let you unpack and freshen up."I took her upstairs and showed her ...o her room. It was en suite, and was, if I say so myself, nicely decorated in a feminine style. Not my work, in fact it was designed by Beth, one of my two friends-with-benefits. Nicola enthused about the view from the window, the décor, the bathroom, and the bed. I felt unaccountably very gratified."Dress casual," I said. "It's an ordinary. I nibbledon her earlobe and asked her to touch herself. The verynext moment her hand was down between her legs. Thewords in her ear had just tripped off my tongue. Now itwas my tongue itself that was in her ear.She turned her head to kiss me, a long, lingering andloving kiss. Her tongue was dancing with mine. Again Iexperienced this extraordinary feeling of closeness toher. And then she pulled her lips away from mine inorder to speak to Carl. In that soft tone of hers, thetone that she puts on. "So, as it stands," Darla concluded, "I'll be staying at my house and sleeping in my bed while Mother's out of town. I dread the long list of do's and don'ts she'll have written up for me when I get home from school." With a chuckled, she added, "She'll probably pin the list on the refrigerator door with a magnet." Will you be able to sleep over at my house on Saturday?"Darla shook her head and smiled inwardly. Uh-uh, Barbara, I'll be sleeping over with my brother.Ellen joined them, and Darla. Then she grabbed my hand and led me around the corner into an alleyway.Like a dumbstruck idiot, I followed her. The first thing I thought was how lovely and soft her hand felt against mine. I haven’t held a girl’s hand before and now this beauty was holding mine like it was the most normal thing in the world.She took me around the back of the building, behind some dumpsters and out of view of anyone. I could still hear the general hustle bustle around the front, people talking, music playing.