Except for some animal feelings... I think my hormones are disturbed..."Jake had to laugh at her discomfort. She shook herself back and glared at him,...but he ignored the reproach. "You're gorgeous!" he told her between laughs."Typical male!" she scoffed, "I should have known better than to..." Listen," he interrupted, "you see it as a problem, I don't." With that, he stood. Walking confidently around the table he bent and kissed her on the lips. Sharmila was caught unprepared and he had to suck. Lucky they’s got a one-host lifecycle. I don’ like arachnids. Not spiders, not scorpions, not ticks, not roly-polies.”“I get it.”“I eat lots o’ decapods, an’ don’ mind insects.”“I find all the arthros interesting.”“Yeh.”I finished off the draft. Then I read a chapter of Wilson and another half-dozen pages of Orlando, only to be interrupted by the phone.“Entomology, Hollister.”“This is Laura Betti. How are you?”“I’m fine. I’ve a copy of Orlando Furioso on my desk and have read most of the first. Kiss.She stood up and rocked to the music in her head. Lance opened her pants and started sliding them down.It’s happening! “Fuck, yeah,” Ray muttered.Thighs exposed. Knees. Pants were around her ankles now. Lance lifted her sweater. Pink panties exposed. Like a gentleman, Lance held her hand while she pulled her sandaled feet out of her pants.She straddled him on the sofa.“Take your shirt off,” she commanded him.He complied quickly.“Touch me,” she ordered him.He went right for the boobs he had. “Always” meant “always” for a Santa. She smiled, thinking of Old Nick and Geogianna, still absorbed in loving each other after two hundred years together. Magical, it was, like a fairy tale, and she had been a part of it for just a while. How wonderful it was how Junior cared for his animals, those soft, gentle and affectionate reindeer, the loving relationship he had with his grandparents, the deep affection his friends the elves had for him, which had, at least in part, been transferred.