When he had enough, he placed them on the counter.“Thanks! Be right back,” Ta’z said before turning around and heading into the other of the two...doors behind her. When she came out a minute or so later, she had the items Mason requested. “Here you are!”Mason handed one of each of the bottles to me, along with one of the splints, while he moved around Ben who was wearing the other backpack. Opening up one of the side pockets, he stored the other half.We thanked Ta’z and left her store before. "Sex always changes people." We've had sex before," she hedged.I took a deep breath, and then looked at the hand Lynne was still holding. Staring deeply at me with soft brown eyes, she willed me to understand."I care about you. I care about you a lot," she said sincerely. "And yes, I even fell in love with you, once upon a time. But we're friends, and I'd like to continue being your friend. If we both get a little pleasure out of the deal, so much the better, right? If you're not comfortable. ." I quickly interrupted him and said, "Look, guys, I grew up on a farm. I know and use that word myself along with several other equally choice ones. What's more, I've shoveled the real thing! Don't mince words on my account."Paul went on, "Well, OK - as I was saying, most of these these guys are like you - smart engineers and programmers, and we need to be straight with them. I want all of you to be present for as many of the sessions as possible, particularly those that involve our VFL unit,. Due to my focus on Claire during the dancing, there was applause from the masses again.We took a break and as usual, my mother, along with Sarah brought us some lemonade. She sat with us and radiated with pride, telling us how good we were as dancers and how nice we looked together as a couple, although I felt a little hesitation, just before she said the word, couple.Claire broke the moment by asking, “Charles, can I talk to you about what you said earlier, when your mom and I were working on.