Li sat down in the chair across from Steve, and Ko knelt at her feet, her hands crossed in her lap and her head bowed. Steve managed to avoid obvious ...eaction, but Li smiled anyway. "I see you understand why we did not object to Nytoya's request to serve you. I can hardly object if you have the same rights I have assumed, and Ko here is no longer in a position to object about anything. I must admit that until Nytoya provided the context, I had not recognized Ko's behavior as anything other than. "I asked you to go along with this and you agreed. I was happy with howthis is shaping up but the heels are part of this and I want to remindyou of that with the ribbons and to get used to the heels. We can stopall of this if you want to go back, but neither of us do. I don't wantto be cruel but we agreed that I should push you. That's what I'mdoing." Okay I'm sorry." I bought you a present but maybe you won't want it." What is it?" I asked excited."Well maybe you won't like it anyway. . No-one is riding on the moving staircase. A sign above the doorway – guarded by two bewigged flunkies - simply states: HALL OF THE SCREEN GODDESSES.Mary Lynne gets up and saunters across to the fountain, holding her crystal goblet under its stream to be re-filled with champagne. She gives an irritable glance towards the empty escalator. “You’d think at her age – ninety-nine and she’s had nine Goddam husbands – she’d know when it was time to bring down the curtain.”“Don’t you believe it,. Earlier in the summer, I had stuck glow-in-the-dark stars on each blade so I would have something to look at before falling asleep each night. It was hypnotic and kept me calm.My mouth suddenly felt dry as I tried to reply. I managed to say hoarsely, "Go on." "First I'd start by sliding under the covers with you." I felt my breathing intensify as she spoke."Then I'd slowly run my fingernails against your soft flesh, lightly stroking and caressing your skin."I felt myself shiver imagining.