Lasco woke as the sun streamed through the window. Woke to the sound of the birds chirping. Woke entangled in the sheets. Woke alone.

He lay there for a moment, trying to work out how surprised he was. Before he was able to figure out an acceptable answer, his thoughts were interrupted by her entrance.

"Oh good, you're awake." She grinned her nicest smile as she strolled over to the bed, carrying a breakfast tray, stark naked. Her dark body looked gorgeous in the daylight, and he struggled for a moment to maintain any interest in the food. Eventually though, he caught the smell of the coffee and the bacon. Less innocent thoughts were sidelined, just for the moment. "I wasn't sure, Zane, but I thought you might..."

"Kiss me quickly, woman. The food is getting cold."

"...Like something. Say please."

"Please. Thank you. This looks wonderful." He hoisted a knife and fork from the tray, and started on the plateful.

"Don't get used to it."

"No? Lucilla, could I convince you to stay?"

"Uh uh. And I don't usually cook, either, so it wouldn't do you any good."

"Hell, I'd be willing to keep you as an ornament."

"I don't do that." Lucilla sat elegantly, perched on the corner of the bed, facing Lasco. "Either."

"What do you do?"

"Not sure I can tell you, actually."

"Not now, you mean?"

"Maybe, Zane. Maybe not ever." She turned directly toward him, folding her legs under herself.

Lasco stopped, a forkful of food in his hand. He looked at her. "Never? I'm not sure I could handle that."

"Well, I'm not sure you could handle the requirements, if you want to know."

"Requirements, Lucilla? So long as I get to finish this breakfast, anything is possible."

"I promise you can do that. But what if I told you that giving you any more information would require that you never perform in public again?"

"Never?" He kept eating, glancing at her gorgeous dark body in between trips to the plate for more food. "You mean never?"

"Yeah. Never. Sorry."

"Hand me that phone. Great breakfast. Better tits."

"Don't be grubby. This is a business discussion. Thanks."

"It is? Hold on." Lasco put the fork down, lifted the cordless phone, and punched in a number he knew by heart. "Bernie? Zane. Yeah, I know it's early. You had breakfast yet? No? You should be here. Magnificent. Yeah. Listen, Bernie, hold on a second, would you?"

Lasco took the phone from his ear, and covered the mouthpiece with his hand. He looked over at Lucilla, who was staring back.

"Lucilla, you mean it, right? No more performances?"

"I mean it, Zane, but what are you doing?"

"One moment." He took his hand from the receiver. "Bernie? Sorry about that." A pause. "That's not true. Sometimes I am this polite." He grinned, despite the fact that Bernie couldn't see him. "Bern, listen up would you? I have a gorgeous naked woman and a wonderful breakfast here. I'm having trouble deciding which is the nicest, and even though I like you, they both easily have you beat. Listening? Yes? Good. I resign." He moved the phone a little away from his ear. Lucilla could hear Bernie yelling from where she sat. "Bernie! Bernie, stop it. Listen, I'm throwing in the towel. Now. Get used to the idea. Work it out. Later, Bernie. Girl and breakfast, remember?" He hung up.

Lucilla spoke then, a more serious look on her face. "Mr lasco, that was very rash."

He tossed the phone on the bed. "I know! It felt great!"

"You didn't even let me explain."

"You weren't going to tell me anything important."

"No, I guess not."

"So now you can."

"Maybe."

"What?" He grinned again. "I gave it all up. What more do you want? My body? God, I hope so!"

Lucilla smiled despite herself. "We need to talk about that. You can't have me, you know. We might be able to manage some moments, but that's all."

"Moments?"

"Yeah, brief interludes."

"Without briefs?"

"Pretty much."

"Look, you know I'm not entirely successful as a one-woman-man, in any case. I'm not after any commitment. It's not, and I'm shocked that I'm saying this, about the sex."

"Oh?"

"At least not entirely."

"What..."

"It's the magic. You know it is."

"And if we couldn't get together any more, Zane?"

"That would be a great pity."

"I agree. Okay, so long as you understand. It's if-and-when. Okay?"

"Done. I hope when includes after this talk, though."

"Hmmm... could be. It's... complicated."

"Keep talking."

"Put that tray out of the way first, and I can climb back in bed."

"An offer not to be refused."

"I'm pleased to hear it. Shove over." Lucilla turned Lasco away from her, and spooned her body behind his, her dark breasts pressed against his pale back, her groin against the cheeks of his ass. Their legs were entwined as though they were both scared of escape. "No interrupting now. I want to check something."

"Such as?"

"I need to see if you have what I need."

"Oh, I do, but not facing this way."

"Not that. Not this time."

"Oh, well."

"Hush. Tell me about your parents."

"What's to tell? They were killed when I was little. My aunt brought me up, and I don't remember much about them."

"You father was a magician though?"

"He was, yeah. Lucilla, why do you want to know?"

"I'm trying not to be obvious. Maybe I should just ask?"

"Seems easier to me."

"Okay. It seems you have some... abilities."

"Oh. You mean... more than slight of hand?"

"Yeah."

He turned to face her. "Lucilla, what are you getting at?"

"Well, what can you do?"

"Do?"

"Yeah, Zane. Do. What can you do that you can't explain?"

"Oh. Well, sometimes... I just know things."

"Cards? You know if you keep moving like that, I'll be distracted, right?"

"Not just cards. How distracted? Sometimes I know where people have lost things, or stuff that people want kept secret."

"You remember the last time you distracted me? I disappeared after."

"Is that a threat, Lucilla?"

"No. Just... take it easy, huh? We need to have this discussion."

"Okay, okay. That better?"

"Don't stop. Just slow down a little. So anything else?"

"Well, sometimes, and I can never seem to work out when, I can... influence things. Dice, coins, that sort of thing."

"Have you ever studied any magic?"

"Oh, screeds of it. Stage magic."

"No, Zane. Real magic."

"Never."

"Why not?"

"I've never convinced myself it was anything more than a lucky streak. Coincidence. Chance. Until you came to visit."

"Yeah, that was what I heard."

"Huh?"

"You started asking around."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, not magic, Zane. We have some people who keep their ears to the ground for us."

"I just..."

"Wanted to know?"

"Yeah." He pulled her closer. "Needed to know."

"I understand. I need to check something. Kiss me?"

"You need to ask?"

"Shhh..."

Their mouths were already close together, and Lasco's hand was behind Lucilla's neck. He gently pulled her closer, and their lips touched. What little hesitation existed was gone, and their mouths locked together. Lasco was thoroughly involved in the kiss, and was very startled when he heard, for the second time in his life, a voice in his head.

Zane, can you hear me?

I certainly can. How do you do that?

I'm not doing it, Zane.

Huh?

You are. I just... fixed something. You weren't... thinking right.

How can it be me?

This is something you can do, Zane. You have the ability. You just didn't know.

No, that can't be...

Yes, it can. Try something for me. See if you can spread your mental ears a little. Listen for something else.

I don't know how to...

Yes, you do.

I would... Oh! Lucilla, that's...

Yes, it's them again. Don't they ever stop?

How is it that... I can... is hear the right word? ...hear her clearly, but not him?

He is more guarded. She is more open. Everyone is different.

It is... very intimate.

The thoughts, Zane, or the sex?

Oh, both, actually. Oh, that's so... Lucilla?

Yes, Zane?

Could we?...

Now?

YES!

Can I be on top?

Like her?

Yes, like her. Hurry Zane. We have some catching up to do.

Stop talking then, and start moving.

Man-whore.

Tramp! Quickly.

Lucilla pushed back the covers, and crouched over Lasco. Her hands held tight to the top of the bedhead as she lowered herself over his hardness. She loved the way his cock stretched her, and the feeling of fullness. Once he was a little inside her, she dropped quickly the rest of the way.

Lasco's eyes popped open with the impact, and he stared up at her breasts. He found he could look around him and still keep the mental contact going. His hands found their way to her breasts and he kneaded them roughly between his hands.

He realised that they were copying the couple across the hallway without trying. Lasco could feel the woman as she lowered herself again and again on the man, feel how much she liked the friction, and the control.

The rhythm started to build, and Lucilla was pounding herself over Lasco, her body slippery with sweat, and desperate with need.

The other couple were swiftly reaching the point of no return, and Lasco was fast catching up. Somehow, as he got a little closer, the mental messages became more confused.

The man loosened his instinctive control over his mind, and Lasco could feel him clearly now, as though he were under the woman himself. He could feel her too, her frantic movements, her dirty thoughts, her imminent orgasm. Most of all, though, he could feel Lucilla, both mentally and physically. He could see her as well, and her arousal was palpable.

As the other couple reached the point of no return, Lasco looked in Lucilla's eyes to confirm her readiness. He need not have worried. The four of them were locked together in such a way that it had to work.

Lasco felt his seed beginning to rise inside him

The tension of Lucilla around him

The skin of the man, as his woman dug her nails into him

Her tension, as she sank over him one more time

His own muscles bunching in readiness

Lucilla's hard clit sliding down him

The woman's need to see her partner's eyes when he comes

The man's arch of his hips

Lucilla's grunt

The woman's clench

His own pulse

Lucilla's gasp

The woman's teeth, squeezing on her lover's lip

Lucilla's rock-hard nipples in his fingers

The man's view of the woman's small pale breasts

The woman's throb of guilt that she should be elsewhere

Lucilla's pulsing centre

The man's release

The woman's gladness that she let him come inside her

Lucilla's feeling of his own release

The man's last thrust

Lucilla's slow movement

The woman's fingers on her own clit as she slows

The man's feeling of her sliding gently over him

His own feeling of release, relief, and one-ness

The slow, subtle, inevitable separation from the other couple

The collapse of Lucilla on his body, and the single mentally muttered demand

Stay!