He felt his balls beginning to tighten and knew he was close. ‘M’sorry, Sophie, love, wait, have to…’ ‘No,’ she whimpered, ‘Please Cole,...no more waiting, not now, please, I’ve waited long enough!’ He knew that she was nearly irrational with need and hadn’t meant to wound him with that dying echo of their shared sorrow but nevertheless, Cole’s heart lurched and he couldn’t scramble between her thighs fast enough. Whipping out his fingers, Cole gripped himself with one hand and, trying to steady. When she mentioned writing, he asked her what kind of writing she’d done and was impressed that she’d experimented with it all. Short stories, poems, song lyrics, and even a play that she’d also directed, for which she’d received a high grade and high praise when fellow students in her drama class performed it. She’d called the play Price of Past Miracles… it had been all about the night her and Brad’s relationship was revealed. But she never mentioned to anyone that it was autobiographical…. It didn't seem to matter to either of us. She said she loved the feel of my soft mouth between her legs far better than anything I had ever done with "thing between your legs." So it came as quite a shock when one evening as we lay in bed fondling each other Laura said she wanted to start dating a man from her office. She said it so casually I thought I must have heard wrong. But as I lay there listening to her go on as if I were a girlfriend and not her husband I realized that I had. He let her take his hand and lead him to the chair. The still warmleather sighed as he sat down. He felt the silk of the robe caress histhighs as it fell open. Hurriedly he gripped it to close it again.Mamselle stood real close. She smelled sweet."Right now, Lucien," she said, "you cling to being nobody." Her voicewas soft and neutral. "Do you know why?"It was one of those teacher questions he hated. She set up the premiseso only her 'why' would count. The whole question was bullshit: firstshe.