Friends and Benefits
Chapter Ten
by be287m

“Wait a minute,” Sherri interrupted.  “Is this a story about Sharon or Tina?”

“Both.”

“Both?”

“Both.  When I said I’d lost both my best friend and the only woman who could ever love me, I was referring to Sharon and Tina respectively.”

“Oh . . .”  I could see Sherri replaying our first conversation in her mind.  “The way you said it implied they were the same person.”

“I was drunk,” I reminded her.

“So Tina . . .” Sherri began.

“Dumped me,” I finished for her.  “And Sharon won’t speak to me.”

“And those two things are related.”

I couldn’t help my low chuckle.  “Oh, yes.  Though a lot happened before we got to that point . . .”

*  *  *

I drove Tina back to her dorm that night since it had gotten so late.  Our kiss in the lobby was short, as Tina was clearly tired and only minutes away from dreamland.  We agreed to talk on the phone the next afternoon and then I headed home to find my own pillow.

My dreams were rather convoluted that night.  I awoke with memories of Sharon in my arms topless and it took a few minutes to realize I was mixing New Year’s Day and the previous night.  I took a bleary-eyed look at the clock and realized that I’d only gotten a few hours of sleep.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get much more before the phone rang.

It was Sharon, of course.  She wanted to know how the date with Tina went.

“Very well,” I told her.  “She wasn’t repulsed by my food, but she says she’s going to have to teach me how to cook.”

Sharon laughed.  “You should have mentioned something earlier.  I love cooking!”

“Well, I’ve always just done enough to survive.”

“If you’re going to impress the women, you’ve got to be able to do more than that.”

“Oh really?” I shot back.  “So, if a guy cooks a meal for you, you’re more amenable to whatever comes after?”

“Hell, yes.  A great seduction always starts with a great meal!”

I chuckled.  “I’ll remember that the next time I’m in Colorado and you want to go out fancy.”  Sharon snorted and I just moved on before she could interject.  “In any case, it appears that my cooking was good enough last night.”

“Oh?  What did you do?”

“Not much,” I admitted.  “Tina doesn’t have a lot of experience and she doesn’t want to rush things, so . . .  mostly we just made out.  I did end up playing with her breasts and sucking her nipples.”

“Mmmm.  I love it when a guy does that.  Particularly when he sucks hard.”

“Hard?  It doesn’t hurt?”

“Not if he keeps his teeth out of the way.  But yeah, sucking hard feels really good.”

“Huh.”

“Give it a try with Tina,” Sharon said.  “Allen said that not all women are the same, but I wasn’t the only one he’d encountered who loved it.”

“You and Allen talked about his experiences with other women?” I asked, somewhat surprised.

“What’s wrong with that?” Sharon asked.  “It’s not like he was seeing other women at the same time we were dating.  I told him my past and he told me his.”

“But in that explicit detail?”

“Well . . . those kinds of details slipped out over time.  Allen and I talked a lot about what we liked and what we wanted to do.  In this particular case, I mentioned that I thought it was weird that I liked him to suck so hard and he reassured me that I wasn’t abnormal.”

“Huh.”  No wonder Sharon had no trouble talking about sex with me.  It was apparently common for her.  It hadn’t been for Alicia, when we were dating.  It had been damn hard to get her to admit to anything she actually wanted to do, beyond the basics.  Maybe Tina would be different.

“You can always just try different amounts and ask Tina what she likes,” Sharon continued.

“I’ll do that,” I said.

“Great,” she said.  “Then at least one of us will have a good sex life.”

“I’ve offered to help . . .”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’ll get a new story package out this week,” I said, before she could get too annoyed.

“That would be good,” Sharon replied.  “Speaking of which, what did you think of the one I sent you?”

“I liked it,” I said.  “Where’d you come up with the idea?”

“Oh, I was listening to the music in the bath and it came to me.”

“So did you ever give Allen the equivalent of a Geisha bath?”

Sharon chuckled.  “Unfortunately, no.  No bathtub while we were in the dorms and we didn’t get around to it when I had the apartment before we broke up.”

“Just blowjobs in the shower.”

“Oh, and intercourse in the shower.”

“Of course,” I said, smiling at the image.

“Well, I’m going to go,” Sharon said.  “Glad you had a good date.”

“Me too.”

“Can’t wait to hear about the next one.”

I laughed and agreed.  We said our goodbyes and hung up.

I immediately felt guilty.  I was with Tina now and I’d just made two semi-joking passes at Sharon.  What the hell was wrong with me?

I mulled it over in the shower and during breakfast.  My comments had been impulsive but also automatic.  I didn’t really think them through before I said them—they just popped out.  What the hell was I doing?

It was habit because I’d been wanting to sleep with Sharon for months.  Me making a semi-serious pass was almost an expected part of our banter.  After all, despite the fact that the stuff we’d done together was fairly mild, it was the only sexual outlet I’d had with another person since, what, Spring Break?  Yeah, Spring Break had been the last time Alicia and I had been together.

It had been even longer for Sharon, I mused.

Fine.  It was a habit I needed to break.  I was with Tina now and while we hadn’t discussed monogamy, I didn’t really expect her to want anything else.

But did I want it?

Even though Tina was comfortable waiting until I left to decide where our relationship was going, I was still leaving.  It wouldn’t be fair to tie her down in case she met someone she could have a longer-term relationship with.

“In case.”  That was a heckuva phrase to hang a relationship on.  Did I really want to tell Tina that we’d be monogamous until she found someone better than me?  Even I had to snort at that one.  If she found someone better than me and she wanted to move on, she would.  It would be stupid to bring up other possible “cases” now.

Saying what was fair for Tina was a cop-out.  The real question was, did I want to be monogamous with Tina?

I enjoyed being with Tina a lot.  I also liked where we were headed, as memories of her breasts in my hands flitted through my mind.  I could handle being monogamous with Tina.

Except I still wanted to have sex with Sharon.

I had to put that thought out of my mind.  It hadn’t happened before I’d met Tina and there was no reason to believe it was going to happen in the foreseeable future.  Sharon kept insisting we were only friends.  Fine, we could be just friends.

Sharon was my friend.  Tina was likely to be my girlfriend soon enough.  That’s the way it was.

Tina was likely to be my girlfriend.

That idea just stuck with me and rattled around my brain for much of the rest of the day.  At times it made me giddy and uncontrollably happy.  At times it terrified me.  Mostly I just played with the idea that I could once again have a girlfriend after Alicia.  She had been the love of my life until then, but it was clear that life went on.  And that life could be good when it went on.

I was back to a giddy place when I called Tina in mid-afternoon.  She seemed excited too when she answered the phone.

“I had a really great time last night,” I said after the hellos had been exchanged.  “I wish it hadn’t had to end.”

“Me too,” Tina replied with a sigh.  “But that just gives us something to look forward to for next Friday.”

“So a standing movie night sounds good?” I asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Too bad Friday’s so far away,” I said.

“No kidding.  But I really do have to spend a lot of time studying when I’m not at work.”

“No need to explain,” I replied.  “I really should study more too.  What about studying together?”

“That would be great!”

“Well . . . what about coming over on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening?” I suggested.  “We could cook dinner, and then afterwards break out the books.”

“That would be wonderful,” Tina gushed, “since the semester’s just started, I should be able to make it.  I’ll still have some homework, though.”

“That’s okay.  Work comes before ‘play,’ after all.”  Tina caught my intonation and laughed good-naturedly.  I smiled silently.

“Well, Tuesdays are good for me,” Tina said.  “Can you cover dinner this time?  I’ll bring over some cookbooks and we can pick recipes to try on Friday.”

“Sounds great,” I answered.

After hanging up, I realized that I had just put myself on the hook to cook again.  Actually, I could probably order pizza, but what would Tina think?  I supposed I should have asked her, but I didn’t want to call her back.  Instead, I pored through my two cookbooks again.

In the end, I gave up.  I decided that getting a new cookbook was a worthwhile investment.  Since it wasn’t too late, I headed down to the biggest used bookstore in town, Bookman’s.  I found a decent cookbook fairly quickly.  At least decent by what I could tell.  It had pretty pictures and the handful of recipes I read were fairly easy to follow.  It was also cheap enough to leave some money in my pocket, so I decided to browse.

The best thing about Bookman’s really was the size.  There were plenty of shelves to check out.  I found a novel that looked interesting for three bucks, a useful movie guide that Tina might enjoy--or at least might be useful to us in picking out movies--and a book of erotica.

As the clerk was checking me out, I stared at the last one.  Why, exactly, was I buying it?

For Sharon, of course.  Another damn habit in looking for things that would turn her on.  Mildly disgusted with myself, I threw the erotica book under my bed when I got home.

The next few days passed slowly.  I constantly found myself day dreaming about Tina.  Sometimes the daydreams were chaste and romantic, but more often they were flights of fantasy.  I kept coming back to Tina’s comment that she wanted to explore.  I could definitely be with a woman who liked exploring.

When Tuesday evening finally arrived, I have a small feast prepared.  A pasta dish with homemade pesto, fresh bread from the supermarket bakery, homemade garlic potatoes, and some chicken breasts. Even better, it was all done at the same time.  About ten minutes before Tina was due to arrive.

I did my best to keep it warm and she was amused that it was ready.  After putting her books down, she looked at what I’d prepared.

“Pretty heavy on the starch, tonight,” she commented.  My face fell and she noticed.

“That’s okay, Joe,” she reassured me.  “We’ll work on menus as part of learning to cook.  I brought a couple of cookbooks we’ll leave here as well as my file of family recipes.”

“You’ll let me keep your family recipes?”

“Why not?  It’s not like I can do any cooking while living in the dorm.”  I nodded in response to that and finished getting the meal ready.

Tina looked enthusiastic until she cut into the chicken.

“Uh, Joe, this is cold,” she said, poking at the chicken.  I grimaced.

“So much for the seduction,” I muttered as I retrieved her plate to put the chicken back on the stove.

“What?” Tina asked.  I sighed.

“My friend Sharon says that a great seduction begins with a great meal,” I said with a wry grin.  “I don’t feel like I’m off to a good start.”  Tina chuckled.  

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said.  “We are going to work on teaching you to cook, after all.”  Tina got up and watched over my shoulder as I quickly reheated the pan and returned the meat to it.  I supposed I could use the microwave, I mused, but somehow this seemed more appropriate.

“So who’s Sharon?” Tina asked.  My back immediately stiffened.  Then I realized I had nothing to hide.

“She’s my best friend,” I said.  “We used to live in the same dorm and she dated my roommate.  When they broke up, I was there for her.  When my last girlfriend dumped me, she returned the favor.  Even though she’s still in Boulder, we talk about once a week and we talk about everything.”

“Oh,” Tina said, biting her lip.  “Did you ever date?”

“Uh . . . we never dated,” I said.  “Sharon made it clear that she didn’t want to risk losing the friendship by becoming romantically involved.”  I took a quick breath.  “It looked like we might be ‘friends with benefits’ for a while, but that didn’t go too far either.”

I glanced over at Tina.  Her head was tilted and her eyes questioning.  She looked like she was about to say something, but then she didn’t.

“Sharon actually encouraged me to ask you out,” I continued, putting a wry grin on my face.  “I told her about meeting you and she pushed me to go back and talk to you some more.”  Tina starting grinning.

“I’ll have to thank her then.”

“Oh, I’ve already thanked her a lot.  Meeting you has to be one of the best things that’s happened since I got to Tucson.”

Tina just grinned in response.  The chicken was warm again, so I returned it to our plates and place hers on the table with a flourish.  I bowed deeply before returning to my seat.

“I may not get points for cooking,” I joked, “but I can always make it up with style.”

“And other ways,” Tina said, her eyes flashing with mischief.

We chatted about cooking over the meal and afterwards, Tina did her homework while I did the dishes.  Then we skimmed her recipes and made a shopping list for Friday and then studied together.  When we finally closed the last book, I turned and smiled at her.

“I believe it’s time for dessert?” I suggested, raising my eyebrows.

“Oh?  And what did you have it mind?” Tina replied, grinning.

“I want to taste this,” I said, putting one finger against her lips, “and this.”  My finger trailed down her neck and across one breast.

“And this.”  I slid my hand down past her waist until I was touching her mound through her shorts.  Tina let out a small gasp.  She met my eyes and as I smiled, she relaxed.  I leaned in and kissed her on the mouth.

We kissed for several minutes before easing to the floor.  Lying side by side, we began running our hands over each other as we continued making out.  Tina let out several low pleasurable moans as I caressed her breasts through her shirt.  She ran her own fingers across my shoulders and upper arms in return.

As we continued to kiss, I dropped my hand to Tina’s waist and began to slowly slide it up under her shirt.  I edged higher and higher until the angle caused the fabric to get twisted.  Tina pulled back from our kisses and sat back.  She quickly pulled her shirt off and threw it aside.  I took my own off while she unhooked her bra.

I couldn’t resist her breasts, of course.  I took them both in my hands, squeezing gently as I lowered my head.  I licked each nipple in turn and left a wet trail between them.  Tina began making small mews as I licked and kissed and suckled.

I looked up, grinning, and saw Tina grinning down at me.  Then I turned back and tightened my lips around her left nipple.

Tina gasped as I sucked hard.  I tried different amounts of suction, and when she moaned, I decided I’d found the right pressure.  I ran my tongue over the tip of her nipple as I sucked.

Tina was breathing a lot harder.  Knowing I needed to breathe more too, I reluctantly released her breast.  I paused for a moment before repeating the treatment on her right one.

Tina was gasping by the time I backed off, several minutes later.  I grinned at her and started kissing my way down her belly.  I stopped just above her shorts.

“May I?” I asked, placing my hand on the top button.  Tina was wide-eyed and still breathing hard.  She looked at me and didn’t react immediately.  She was trembling, and it was hard to tell if it was from arousal or nervousness.

“I really want to do this for you,” I said.  Tina met my eyes and then gave a small nod.  I undid the button and began tugging her shorts and panties down.  Tina raised her hips to accommodate me.

I couldn’t help sighing in delight as Tina’s mound came into view.  I was mildly surprised that her pubic hair was straight, instead of the mass of curls I was used to.  But it pointed, almost arrow-like, down at her lower lips.  Since that was where I was headed anyway, I slid down between Tina’s legs and lifted them up over my shoulder.  I looked up and smiled at her before lightly kissing the inside of her thighs.

Tina started breathing hard once again as I slowly kissed and licked my way in and around her pussy.  I avoided direct contact at first, instead getting close but not quite there.  I could already smell her arousal and thought a little more tease might be good.  After she whimpered when I lightly brushed my lips just above her clit, I decided to get serious.

I started by kissing Tina’s clit, now fully extended.  She gasped, so I continued, first with kisses, then licks and gentle sucks.  Then I dropped a little further down, running my tongue between her labia.  Tina let out another small whimper but didn’t moan until I returned to her clit.  I began to lick with more pressure and speed, repeating the strokes that brought the most vocal responses.

Tina didn’t take long to climax.  Her gasps built until, with a shriek, she arched her back and pushed my head away.  I watched her post-orgasmic twitches damp out before I slide up, cuddling against her side.  I just smiled and held Tina until she regained her breath.

“That was a nice dessert,” I teased.  “All three parts.”

“No kidding,” Tina replied, still panting a little.

“Anything in particular you liked?” I asked. 

“The way you were . . . with my breasts.  That was incredible.”

I chuckled.  “I’m glad Sharon suggested it then.”

“What?”  Tina was smiling as she asked, still floating in the afterglow.

“Well, I did say we talked about everything.  That includes sex.  She said some women enjoy it hard.”

“Mmmm.  I think I do.”

“I think you do too,” I said.  Tina just smiled at me, so I kissed her.

“I also really liked . . .” her eyes flicked down her body.

“My tongue?”  

“Yeah.  That was incredible too.”

“Would you like some more?”

“More?”  Tina’s chin dropped in surprise.

“Sure,” I said, lightly caressing her breast.  “I’m not tired.”

I leaned over and kissed her breast.  Tina let out an ‘mmmm.’  I grinned and began slowly kissing my way south.

This time I didn’t start by nuzzling Tina’s thighs but began with a long lick that finished on her clit.  Tina let out a loud gasp, so I started to suckle and lick with gusto.  I decided to increase her pleasure even more and brought my hand up so I could slide a finger into her.

Too late I remembered her lack of sexual experience.  But after a moment of panic, I realized that I hadn’t hit any resistance.  Her pussy was tight around my finger, but she was soaking wet and it was easy to slide it in and out while I licked.

Once again, it didn’t take long to bring Tina to orgasm.  She let out another shriek, clawing the carpet by her sides as she came.  I couldn’t help letting out a low chuckle of satisfaction.  Once again I moved up so I could lie by Tina’s side while she recovered her breath.

“That . . . that was incredible!” Tina gushed.

“It was my pleasure,” I replied, before gently kissing her forehead.

“I think it was my pleasure,” she replied.

“Your pleasure is my pleasure,” I said.  Tina just gave a thankful nod, grinning.  Then her eyes wandered down my body.

“You’re still wearing your shorts!”

“Well, that’s easy to fix,” I replied.  I reached down and with a couple of quick moves, was equally nude.

Tina’s hand started sliding down my torso.  She stopped just shy of my erection.

“May I?” Tina asked.

“Of course!”

Tina’s first touch was light, almost tentative.  She just ran her fingertips over my cock, lightly caressing the shaft.  Then she slid her fingers around it, lifting it up from my torso.  She peered at the underside and then let go.  My cock thwacked back against my abdomen.

“Oops.  Sorry,” she said, a little abashed.

“That’s okay.  Maybe you should scoot down for a closer look.”

Tina immediately did so, getting her face only a few inches from my cock.  She continued to study it, looking intently at it from various angles and gently caressing it with her hands.  She traced the underside of the head and followed the large vein down the side.  She gently cupped my balls in her hands and then held my entire shaft in her fist.  She started sliding her hand up and down, as if starting to jerk me off.  At first it was nice, but she tightened a little too much and started catching my skin.

“Careful,” I said, reaching down.  “If the skin’s really dry, you can rub too hard.”

“Oh,” she replied.  “I’m sorry.”

“Try gentler,” I said.  Tina loosened her grip and began moving her hand up and down again.

“That feels great,” I told her.  Tina continued to stroke a little more, getting a little more regular in her pace.

After a few minutes, she stopped and let go of my cock.  Tina shifted so she was kneeling between my legs and then looked up at me.  She shot me a nervous smile and swallowed.  Then she stuck out her tongue and lowered her head.

Tina’s first lick up the side of my shaft was light and tentative.  I let out a small “mmmm” and her next one was firmer and faster.  I mmmm’ed again and she lost her tentativeness began licking and kissing my shaft with more enthusiasm.

“Use your hands,” I suggested.  Tina immediately grabbed my cock and pulled it away from my body.  She kissed the tip and then looked up at me, smiling.  I smiled back as she opened her lips and lowered her mouth around my cock.

Tina bobbed her head on my cock a few times before I gasped with an unpleasant sensation.

“Teeth!” I hissed.

“What?” Tina asked, pulling free for a moment.

“You need to keep your teeth out of the way.” I said.

“Oh, okay.”  With that, Tina again lowered her mouth around my cock.  It felt a lot nicer, warm and wet.  She bobbed and sucked, then pulled off to lick and kiss my shaft, and then returned to having as much of my cock in her mouth as she could manage.

I lay back and enjoyed the sensations as best I could.  Tina’s ministrations did feel good, but I knew fairly quickly I wasn’t going to come.  Eventually I propped myself up so I could watch her.  She was trying hard, going faster and trying to take me deeper.  I watched her nostrils flare and then she looked up at me.

“Thank you,” I said when our eyes met.

She reluctantly released my penis and looked up at me.

“Was that okay?” Tina asked.  Her lip was quivering, her eyes wide and nervous.

“It was fine,” I reassured her.  “It felt really good, in fact.”

“Did it?” she asked.  “I mean, I tried to do what I’d heard I was supposed to do—”

“It was fine,” I repeated.  “It’s just hard for me to come that way.”

“And I really wanted you to.”

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to not sound disappointed or down, since I knew that wouldn’t be good for Tina.  “Even if I didn’t come, I got to watch you have two tremendous orgasms.”  That brought Tina’s first smile since she’d stopped sucking me.

“They were that,” she agreed.

“C’mere,” I said, gesturing.  Tina slid up until she was cuddled in my arms.

“I had a really great dessert,” I said, while holding her and lightly stroking her back.

“I still wish I could have made you come,” Tina replied.  I could feel her tenseness with those words.

I continued to hold her, lightly stroking her skin, while I thought.  Could I do something that would satisfy us both?

Of course I could.

“Hey,” I said, “there is something we could do, if you want.”  Tina turned her head and looked at me.

“I could come between your breasts,” I said.

“You could?”

“Sure.  That’s worked in the past.  We get some oil or lubricant and I straddle your chest.  You push your breasts together around my cock and we go from there?”

“You think that’ll work?” she asked, looking down at her breasts.

“You don’t have to be a D-cup for me to enjoy it,” I reassured her.  Tina’s face brightened.

“Let’s try it then,” she said.

“I’ll get something we can use as a lubricant then,” I said.  Tina rolled onto her back, allowing me to bound up.

I headed for the bedroom, wracking my brain for what I could use to provide some slipperiness.  When Alicia and I had tit-fucked, I’d used her own juices smeared around.  While Tina might be wet enough, she wasn’t ready for me to use the traditional way of applying her juices to my cock.

I realized there wasn’t going to be anything in the bedroom almost as soon as I entered it.  I had condoms and I knew I should stock some lube, but I didn’t.  I turned and headed back into the bathroom.

There I was rewarded.  Suntan lotion!  I grabbed the bottle and headed back to the living room.

Tina was lying flat, caressing her own breasts.  I smiled and held up the bottle so she could read the label.  She laughed.

“Best I can do tonight.  I’ll have something better next time.”  Tina just continued chuckling.

I straddled Tina’s chest and then squirted some of the lotion on my hands.  I rubbed it into her cleavage, making sure not to rub it too deeply into her skin.  While I repeated that treatment on my cock, Tina spread the lotion around a little further.

“Ready?” I asked.  Tina nodded.

I placed my erection in her cleavage.  Tina pressed her breasts together around my shaft and I began to move my cock forward and back.  I had to lean forward so I could maintain my balance with my arms.  That made it hard for me to see, as my own body was now blocking my view.

It still felt great though.  Tina’s flesh enveloped me, though not in the way I had fantasized about.  I closed my eyes and fantasized about having my cock in her pussy.  Then I brought up the memories of watching her own orgasms, moments before.  Imagining Tina shrieking that way while I was inside her was enough to push me over the edge.  With a shudder and a gasp, I released my load over Tina’s chest and neck.  When I rolled off of her, Tina was looking down at the splotches of white across her skin.

“It is a bit messy,” I said.

“I’ll say,” she said, lightly touching a pool near one collarbone.

“I’ll get a towel.”

I bounded up and grabbed one from the bathroom.  Walking back into the living room, I spotted the clock.  It had gotten really late.  Tina followed my gaze and grimaced.

“I have to go,” she said, as I wiped her chest clean, enjoying a few caresses that were more friendly than functional.

“Yeah.  It sucks that it’s a school night.  But better than waiting until Friday.”

“True.”

I’d finished cleaning Tina up, so I helped her to her feet and we found our clothes.  We dressed slowly.  Tina’s mind seemed far away.  Her tone was mechanical as we discussed Friday and agreed that she’d cook on Friday and I’d pick out the movies.  She’d pick something that would be easy for me to learn and I’d choose a comedy or romance.  As we headed to the car so I could drive her back to the dorm, I wondered about her mood.

When we got to her dorm lobby, I turned to her.

“Thank you,” I said.  “Tonight was really incredible.”

Tina smiled, no longer distant.

“Thank you,” she said.  “It was . . . amazing.”

“Good.”  I leaned in and kissed her.  Tina returned the kiss, looping her arm around me.  When we pulled back, she was smiling.  We said goodbye, but it felt more like a promise of things to come than a farewell.  I headed home, tired but happy.

*  *  *

While I had been telling my tale, Sherri had finished eating and gotten dressed.  She reached out and touched my arm.

“I have to go,” she said, grabbing her bag.

“So, uh, what’s next?  With us?”

“What do you want to happen next?” Sherri asked.

“I . . . uh . . .” I wasn’t sure what to say and I was looking for the words.  Sherri didn’t wait for me to finish.

“There’s a lot to be said for actively going after what you want,” Sherri began.  “Like Allen does and you did with Tina after dinner.  With me, that means you have to ask.”

“Okay . . . I want to see you again.”

“Better,” Sherri said with a smile.  “Would you like to be more specific?”

“You said you were likely to have to work tonight,” I said.

“It is Friday night.”

“How about a late brunch tomorrow?”  I suggested.  “I could cook something for you here.  Fix you something better than cereal, though probably not as good as a B & B.”

Sherri laughed at my last line.

“That, that sounds good, Joe,” she said, smiling warmly.  “How about eleven?”

“Eleven would be fine.”

“Great.”  Sherri stepped in close and I put my arms around her.  She tilted her head up and I kissed her, short but passionately.  She pulled back and I walked her to the door.  As she walked away on the landing, she paused and turned.

“Joe,” she called out, “one question for you, perhaps for when you get done telling me the full story.  Do you want either Sharon or Tina back?”

“That’s a silly question,” I answered.

“No, it’s not.  Think about it.”

With that, Sherri gave a final wave and turned and headed down the stairs.  I closed the door, wondering about her final words.

--fin--
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