Blessing of the Saint
By Mythical Traveller



Associate professor Cassandra Marsh stomped into her office, tossed a plastic folder 
of notes on to her desk and groaned in annoyance. She had just (finally) gotten rid of 
an insufferably persistent gentleman by acquiescing to his request for a date. 
Cassandra, or Cassie, as those she was closest to called her, sat down in the comfy 
leather chair that had been an office-warming gift from her grandfather and turned her 
eyes to the ceiling as she mulled over the prospective night ahead.

Cassie had never been good at dating, nor had she ever particularly enjoyed it. She 
was not averse to love or sex, in fact, she often dreamed of one day finding a 
Mr.Right and occasionally caught herself eyeing off a handsome stranger. But she 
disliked the sense of obligation to be good company that came with dating. Not to 
mention the thousands of unwritten dating `rules' that she could make neither hide nor 
hair of. Cassie knew that she was not good company for would-be suitors. The few 
that did come back for a second date were quick to bail out when they realised that 
she was not easily claimed as a sexual conquest.

Only a couple of people knew that twenty-five year old Cassandra Marsh was still a 
virgin. She had come close to losing it once - four years ago she had been out on a 
series of dates with a man she'd met at college. On the sixth date, after driving her 
home to her apartment, he began kissing her with unsolicited passion while he slipped 
his hand up her skirt. She found the sensations of him stroking and gently probing her 
womanhood, through her panties, to be awkward and uncomfortable, but she let it 
continue until the situation became too unpleasant to bear. The man's response to her 
sudden display of reluctance was profane. "You must be fucking kidding me!" were 
the words that kept echoing through Cassie's memory. But ultimately, he was decent 
enough to cease his advances immediately, for which, Cassie later realized, she was 
extremely fortunate. The incident had prompted Cassie to wonder if perhaps she was a 
lesbian. The fact that she had never felt attracted to a woman, even though she had 
several beautiful friends, seemed to dissuade this theory, but nevertheless, it was a 
question that still played on her mind, from time to time.

As she forced herself to stop fretting about her upcoming date, Cassie turned her head 
and inadvertently caught sight of the ancient iron statuette sitting upon a modern 
pedestal, along the southern wall of her office. It was a sculpture of two people; a man 
and a woman, kneeling, looking into each other's eyes and holding each other's 
forearms. The figures were about eight inches in height, crudely moulded and almost 
featureless. They knelt upon a rough, but level iron base that was about an inch in 
depth. Though simple, the artefact had a genuine quality to it that made it a nice little 
piece.

Cassie sighed softly as she looked at the artefact, not in frustration, but in sorrow. The 
friend who had handed the sculpture over to Cassie, a wild-hearted archaeologist 
named Clara Roft, had been missing for several weeks. She had been working with a 
group of archaeologists who had stumbled upon the tomb of a medieval Persian 
noble; a man who just happened to bear the name Hal'hadin (English translation: 
Alladin). Then one morning the rest of her colleagues awoke to discover that Clara 
was gone. Since then, no one, not even her parents had heard from her. Tomorrow 
marked the four-month anniversary of Clara's last confirmed sighting. This was not 
the best time for Cassie to have to put up with a randy American trying to woo her.

"Bloody fool, girl," Cassie said softly, shaking her head as she cursed the cavalier 
lifestyle that, in all likelihood, had ended her best friend's life. Had circumstances 
been different, Cassie probably would have donated the artefact to a museum by now, 
or put it into the storage vault in the university's archaeology department. But silly as 
it seemed, Cassie's sentimentality would not allow her to part with the last thing her 
lost friend had ever given her. In a way, she hated the sculpture being in her office, as 
every time she looked at it, she felt a pang of despair hit her right in the stomach. Yet 
she could not get rid of the ancient piece.

Again, she shook her head, more vigorously this time, as she forced herself to focus 
on her work. She had to review her notes, and there were several points to research 
before she sat down again with the delegations from the foreign universities 
tomorrow. Now that her night was blown, she didn't have the luxury of time on her 
hands, either.


--------------------------------------------


Nick O'Reilly sat quietly in an English restaurant that was far classier than he was 
and, with a smirk on his face, wondered what the hell he was doing here. He had 
come over to England with two Yale professors and four other grad students as part of 
a conference of archaeological and religious scholars, being hosted at Cambridge. The 
subject of the conference was two sets of temple ruins recently uncovered in south-
eastern China. The discovery radically challenged preconceived notions about how 
Confucianism expanded during the Han dynasty. Nick's role in the delegation had 
been changed at the last minute. He was supposed to have been an assistant to his 
mentor, Professor Hudson. But after Professor Hudson came down with a case of 
chicken pox that he had caught from his granddaughter, Nick was charged with 
delivering the professor's theories to the conference, himself. 

It mightn't have been so bad except for that stubborn Professor Marsh, who 
aggressively argued with nearly every point that Nick posed. Nick fought for 
Professor Hudson's ideas as best he could, but the associate professor from 
Cambridge had come to the table well armed with intelligent arguments. She had a 
completely different school of thought to him and Hudson, she was unconceding and 
she was an infuriating intellectual opponent. And for some bizarre reason that rang all 
of Nick's bells. The fact that she was very good looking certainly did her no harm, 
either.

As soon as the conference adjourned for lunch, Nick sought the young professor out 
and expressed his desire to take her out to dinner. Her polite, but cynical rebuffs, 
seasoned with a dash of classic British wit, made him want her all the more. He asked 
her out again during an `afternoon tea' break, and when the conference had adjourned 
for the day he followed her around incessantly. He teased her with a guilt-inducing 
description of the lonely night she was sentencing him to, until finally, on the 
threshold of her office, she indignantly agreed to a single date. Afterwards, Nick 
began to wonder if she would really show, considering how much he had agitated her.

But, true to her word, Professor Cassandra Marsh appeared in the restaurant entrance 
only ten minutes after Nick had been seated by the matre'd. Her expression was far 
from one of excitement, but at least it was a good deal friendlier than when they had 
last parted ways.

Her outfit seemed more appropriate for a woman heading to a business meeting than 
one going out on a hot date. In fact, Nick realized after a couple of seconds that her 
attire had scarcely changed since the conference. Her jacket and skirt were black 
instead of grey, but they were exactly the same style as the ones she'd worn earlier. 
Her white blouse looked identical to the one she'd been wearing earlier, too, although 
it did appear to be fresh. Her lipstick was a more noticeable shade of red, but apart 
from that, the professor didn't appear to be wearing any makeup. Nick didn't mind - 
this woman didn't need cosmetics to look good.

Behind her, a shiny mane of ebony hair extended all the way to the small of her back.  
It was not bound or styled in any way, merely well brushed, just as it had been when 
Nick had last seen her. 

Knowing the Englishes' expectation of good manners, Nick had prepared himself to 
get up and help Cassandra into her seat, but as it turned out, he didn't need to - the 
matre'd escorted Professor Marsh to Nick's table and seated her himself. As she sat 
down, Cassie noticed that her date had shaved most of the stubble from his face, 
leaving only his thin van-dyke beard and was also wearing cologne. Cassie hated it 
when they made an effort - it made her feel more self-conscious, more obligated to be 
appealing.

After exchanging pleasantries, Nick and Cassie were each handed a menu. The wine 
list was also placed on the table for Nick's perusal. Nick successfully concealed his 
surprise at the prices before him and silently lamented the huge dent the night was 
going to make in his travelling budget. Although he was attending Yale, Nick was not 
a rich man. His attendance at the prestigious college was only due to an impressive 
scholarship and parents that had been saving for his education since his birth. 

Several minutes later, Nick was somewhat relieved to hear his date order only a 
moderately-priced meal.

The dinner conversation was ramshackle, to say the least. Nick's contribution was 
what one would expect on a first date: a brief description of his family, his general 
interests, his minors in college, and what it was like growing up in a mid-sized Ohio 
town. Cassie, on the other hand, only talked about two things: archaeology and 
mythology. She discussed some of the digs she'd been a part of during her student 
years, but apart from that, the only personal detail Nick had learned about her by the 
end of the meal was that she was born in Bristol.

It was funny, really. Cassie wasn't a social misfit. She had many friends, both at work 
and across the globe, of both genders. She could discuss everyday topics quite easily, 
and had a great sense of humor. Nor was she an unusually private woman. But there 
was just something about the dating game that compelled her to revert back to 
`mythology professor' mode at every opportunity.

In a way, it was her friend Clara's fault. When they had first met, Cassie was a smart, 
sweet, but shy teenager. Several years of exposure to Clara's wild, rebellious nature 
had left a lasting impression on Cassie. Whereas once she would have kept any 
controversial viewpoints to herself, Cassie had come to realize that she was damned 
good at her chosen field, and her opinions deserved to be heard, if nothing else. And if 
someone challenged one of her ideas and she knew it was evidentially supported, 
Cassie would not go down without a fight.

Towards the end of the meal, Cassie and Nick stumbled into a heated argument about 
the subject matter of the conference. The last few bites of their meals grew cold as the 
local girl duelled fiercely with the young American over what people halfway across 
the world may or may not have believed two millennia ago. The tension in the air 
prompted some awkward silences at neighboring tables. Twenty minutes later, Cassie 
disarmed her opponent with an unshakeable argument, resulting in him 
magnanimously admitting that she had been right all along. Cassie was a humble 
victor. With only a polite smile, she picked up her fork and resumed her meal, 
scowling in distaste as she took the first bite as if to say, "Why is this suddenly so 
cold?"

Nick had been enlightened to some interesting truths about ancient China by the 
Cambridge professor, but his mood was sombre. The English rose didn't seem so 
attractive now that Nick had seen the apparent absence of romance in her heart. They 
each ordered a small desert to follow the main meal. Cassie initiated several short 
conversations about other mythological matters, apparently not noticing that Nick's 
effervescence had faded since the argument.

When the waiter delivered the check, Cassie took out her purse. Nick insisted that he 
would pay, to which Cassie responded that she would be happy to settle the bill. 
When Nick insisted a second time, Cassie didn't argue. Instead she flashed him a 
polite smile.

Once the meal had been paid for, Nick and Cassie headed for the door. They stood out 
on the street for a few seconds in awkward silence, making fleeting eye contact only a 
couple of times. Nick was about to offer his date a ride home, and if she refused, say 
his goodbyes. But before he got the chance, Cassie awkwardly blurted out an 
invitation back to the university, to show him the archaeology department's private 
collection of antiquities. Several months ago, Cassie's friends had explained to her 
that calling it a night as soon as you leave the restaurant was a major dating gaffe. She 
didn't feel comfortable taking this virtual stranger back to her home for a nightcap, 
but she was determined to improve her dismal dating skills. The university seemed a 
comfortable enough venue for the date's second act.

Nick chuckled softly at how this woman's entire life seemed to revolve around either 
archaeology or mythology, but he was pleasantly surprised by her attempt to prolong 
their evening together and gladly accepted the invitation.

Cassie had come by cab, but Nick had left his own rental vehicle in a car park not far 
from the restaurant. After making the short walk to the car park, the couple climbed 
into the three-year-old Mitsubishi sedan and headed for the university. Cassie drove, 
even though Nick was the only driver listed on the rental agreement. She knew the 
way to the university better than Nick, was more accustomed to driving on the left and 
had had less wine with her dinner.

Cassie's university key card gave her access to all the areas of the campus that might 
pertain to her field - even the radiology labs, in case she ever wanted to carbon date 
something. Within five minutes of parking, the pair had set foot into the 70-foot-long 
private gallery, containing ancient artefacts from around the globe. As they 
progressed from item to item, Cassie gave Nick a detailed description of the item's 
history and cultural significance. Now that she was sharing her wealth of knowledge 
with him in such a peaceful manner, Nick began to appreciate how brilliant this 
woman was. It was easy to understand now, how she had become a professor at such a 
young age. Despite the fact that she was still exposing nothing of herself, save for her 
academic prowess, Nick felt his attraction to her returning. He even managed to make 
her laugh when he playfully called a pre-columbian irrigation device an `Inca 
Sprinkler'.

After they had done the rounds of the gallery, Cassie was still unclear as to whether 
she had satisfied her post-dinner requirements, so she invited Nick down to her office 
to show him the few pieces she had there. The fact that there was a coffee pot just 
down the hall meant that she could also satisfy her obligation to provide her date with 
a cup of coffee. She was reasonably sure that good dating manners required her to 
give him a cup of coffee after dinner (in lieu of any sexual favors).

After switching on the hallway lights, Cassie strolled over to the small kitchenette, 
filled the coffee pot with water and turned it on. There were only a handful of 
antiquities in Cassie's office, and the pot would take a while to boil, so the couple 
moved off to begin, and finish the short tour before they had their coffee.

Cassandra began her tour with the first object to the right of her office door, a shabti 
(small wooden statue) found in the tomb of an Egyptian priest. Then she continued 
around the office, counter clockwise. Once again, Cassie gave Nick an intensive run-
down on the objects' origins and cultural significance. During a lull in the 
conversation, Nick's wandering eye caught sight of an object resting upon a pedestal 
against the southern wall of the office. It was a pair of simple, but charming iron 
statues kneeling upon a rough iron base.

"That's a nice piece," he commented, gesturing towards the well-cleaned iron artefact. 
Cassie looked over at him, and when she noticed what he was referring to, she let out 
a solemn sigh.

"Yes... yes, I suppose it is," she responded in an insincere tone. 

"What, you don't like it?" Nick replied with a slight chuckle, having paid more 
attention to Cassie's tone than her actual words. He was puzzled as to why Cassie 
would keep an object so prominently in her office if she didn't like it, but was 
moreover amused by this newly discovered symptom of her eccentricity.

"No, no... It's very nice," Cassie assured him, unconvincingly once again. When she 
saw the teasing scepticism in his eyes, she conceded and revealed the item's personal 
history. "It was a gift... well, rather, it was kindly given to me for study by an old and 
very dear friend. She's... she's been missing for some time now," Cassie explained, a 
hint of sorrow creeping into her voice. Nick's smirk quickly faded and was replaced 
by a look of pity.

"It's supposedly a relic of Saint Valentine," Cassie briskly changed the course of the 
conversation. "Though I've carbon dated it to well before the eleventh century BC. 
Do you know the story of Saint Valentine?" she asked. Nick simply shook his head 
softly. He did know a little about the Saint, but he also knew that Cassie desperately 
wanted to keep talking about inconsequential history. Somehow, he just knew. 

"Well, actually, there were numerous saints named Valentine, but we generally agree 
that the most famous was an early Christian bishop operating out of Terni. Now, 
according to disputed legends, Valentine was originally an acolyte for the high-
priestesses of Juno, in the pagan Roman religion. Supposedly, one of his duties was to 
care for this, Cassie said, gesturing towards the artefact. "It's a symbol of the forging 
of a bond between a man and a woman, and it played some unknown role in the 
temple's marriage ceremonies. Juno, as I'm sure you're aware, was the goddess of 
marriage; the divine wife." Nick nodded as he slowly stepped closer to the talkative 
professor.

"After he converted to Christianity, Valentine left the temple of Juno to go and live 
amongst the Christian underground," Cassie continued. "But before he left, he 
supposedly stole this artefact from the temple, so that he could use it to perform secret 
marriages for the other Christians. Jesus never gave any specific instructions on how 
to perform a wedding, so I suppose Valentine just stuck to what he knew. Except that 
he performed the ceremonies in the name of God, not the name of Juno.

"According to legend, the artefact had ceased to exude any power in the pagan 
temple, and had become largely ceremonial. But when Valentine started using it, the 
couples claimed that they could actually feel their `two individual worlds becoming 
one.' The legend even says that during most of the ceremonies, the object briefly 
turned to solid gold, as God united the two souls with a bond of true love. Valentine 
supposedly proclaimed that this was evidence that Christian teachings were real; God 
could unlock the power of true love whereas Juno could not. 

"Regardless of how much truth there is to the legend, one thing we are sure of is that 
the Roman government eventually tracked Valentine down and executed him for 
practicing Christianity. A few centuries later, after the entire empire had been 
converted, the church renamed February 14th St.Valentine's Day. In pagan tradition, it 
had been called Juno Februa, a holy day for the worship of Juno. They renamed it in 
recognition of the fact that Valentine had taken the holy union of marriage from Juno 
and claimed it in the name of God. By this time, the relic had disappeared and had all 
but been forgotten.

"Clara..." Cassie continued, the smile rapidly fading from her face as memories of her 
missing friend returned to her, "Clara found it in a secret vault within the basilica at 
Terni. Valentine himself may have been the one who sealed it in there."

"She sounds like a very resourceful woman," Nick finally spoke, trying to reinforce a 
positive image of Cassie's friend, at a time when she was beset with dark imaginings.

"The design is unlike anything we've ever seen associated with Juno," Cassie 
continued, without responding to Nick's comment. "Quite likely, it was an object of 
significance that Juno worshippers inherited from a religion that predated their own, 
probably the Etruscans."

"Gee," Nick said, "she must have really thought a lot of you to pass such an important 
find on to you." He knew that Cassie still didn't want to talk about her friend. But he 
also knew that she needed to talk about her. She had been bravely bearing her grief in 
silence for too long. Talking about this artefact, this ancient iron reminder of her 
missing friend had opened the issue up a little, and though she was reluctant, she was 
also ready.

"I had this theory that Valentine's success with the artefact didn't have anything to do 
with the religious connotations of the ceremony," Cassie remarked, still nonchalantly 
dodging Nick's comments. "But rather, with the couples themselves. You see, in 
Valentine's time, only the richest and most powerful people in Rome would have 
been married in the high temple of Juno. Almost all of them would have been 
arranged marriages; orchestrated to cement political ties, or raise a family's standing. 
Few, if any, of the couples would have actually been in love. But in the underground 
Christian community... A group of people who have all found inspiration in the same 
radical, new philosophies, who are devoted enough to follow their beliefs in a lethally 
intolerant society, and who trust each other with their deadly secret... It certainly 
sounds like an environment where soul mates are more likely to meet, doesn't it?" she 
concluded with a nervous chuckle. Nick had slowly approached her during her speech 
and by now he was standing right beside her.

"Cassie..." he began. Some distant part of her consciousness was aware that she had 
only known this man for less than a day, and only her closest friends and family 
called her `Cassie'. Yet for some reason, she didn't flinch at his presumptuous 
familiarity. "...It's time to talk about Clara," Nick said.

Cassie turned and looked at him, flooded with emotion. Any other person who looked 
at Cassie's face in that moment wouldn't have been able to read her, apart from 
realizing that something was wrong. Yet somehow, Nick knew exactly what she was 
feeling. One hundred and twenty-two days of waiting for Clara's father to call and 
say, "She's been found - alive and well," had just come crashing down upon her. To 
Nick's eyes, Cassie's face was so articulate, he could almost feel her pain himself.

"What do you want to know?" Cassie responded, shakily, "She was working on a dig 
in Turkmenistan and then one day she... she... she..." Before long, her efforts to 
remain composed had faltered and failed. She threw herself upon her date and held 
him tightly. Her embrace was instantly reciprocated. "God, I miss her so much, 
Nick..." she exclaimed in despair.

Nick simply cradled Cassie's head as she let it all out. There were no tears - Cassie 
had been restraining herself for so long that even now, her body didn't quite know 
how to behave. Regardless, her anguish was real, and deep. "You bloody fool, girl... 
You bloody, bloody fool..." she chanted over and over and over again. She had 
uttered those words so many times since her best friend disappeared, but never before 
in someone else's presence. Nick held her close with patient sympathy, as she aired 
her private mantra, along with the grief that inspired it, over several minutes.

Despite the heart-wrenching impact of this confrontation with her own emotions, 
Cassie found that the pain was quickly being driven away by an odd sense of comfort. 
Nick was there for her. She didn't have to face this alone any longer. Even though 
they had only met twelve hours ago, she felt like she'd known him her whole life. She 
knew that he would always be there for her from now on. Always be willing to talk to 
her, or just simply hold her. Somehow, she just knew. The entire office seemed to 
become lighter as Cassie felt the gnawing pain subside.

Nick waited a few moments after Cassie had trailed off into silence and her lips had 
stopped mouthing the words `bloody fool girl' before he attempted to give some 
comforting words, "Cassie, I can't tell you that everything will be alright, although I 
really hope it will be. But whatever happens, all those great memories you have of 
Clara, all the great things you did together, all the lessons you learned from her... 
those things are yours to keep, forever. Nothing can ever take them away. I know it 
hurts now and that it's been hurting for a long time. But Cassie, I want you to 
realize... you don't have to deal with this on your own any longer. I'm here for you, 
Cassie."

She lifted her head from his shoulder, and looked deep into his sincere blue eyes. He 
was so wonderful. She loved him so much and she knew that she was very lucky to 
have a man like him. "Thank you," she said, softly. Then she expressed her gratitude 
again, this time with a tender kiss to his lips. She kissed him long and slow as Nick 
returned the gesture with matching enthusiasm. The brilliant, beautiful Englishwoman 
pressed her slender body against him with increasing firmness as the kiss continued. 
Paradoxically, despite the growing sense of joy she was feeling, Cassandra felt like 
the room was becoming dimmer.

Nick was between her and Saint Valentine's artefact. She never actually saw it 
develop a brilliant golden sheen during their embrace earlier. Neither did she see it 
transform back to it's regular lacklustre tone now that it's work had been done. As 
had happened so many times during the relic's rich history, two soul mates had come 
together in it's presence. As a result, a potent bond had been not created, but merely 
awoken between the young couple, thanks to an enchantment so old that even the 
ancient Romans had forgotten it's origin. 

As their lips and bodies remained pressed against one another, each with no apparent 
desire to break away, Cassie felt tingles of anticipation welling within her body. The 
primal impulses that had been in hibernation since her puberty were at last being 
roused by the romance between them. Cassie soon realized that their love remaining 
unconsummated was becoming an intolerable situation. After their lips had parted, 
she gazed at him doe-eyed for a few seconds. In some ways, it was hard to believe 
that this key moment of her life had finally come. She took Nick gently by the hands 
and led him over to one of the two stylish wooden chairs that sat in front of her desk. 
Once he was standing in front of the chair she had picked out, she silently placed her 
hands upon his shoulders and pushed him down on to the chair. As soon as he was 
seated, Cassie stepped over to him and nimbly straddled him, then sat down upon his 
lap.

Nick exhaled a deep breath of excitement. There was no doubt now - this woman that 
he had come to love, in such a short space of time, was prepared to take him all the 
way. He supported her attractive body with one hand between her shoulderblades and 
the other upon the small of her back. Then, for several seconds, they simply gazed at 
each other. Cassie's inexperienced hips were rocking softly back and forth, eagerly 
rehearsing the carnal grind. Nick could feel her warm breath blowing on his cheek.

Though they were nigh motionless, the unseen passion within their bodies was 
building close to bursting point. Then Cassie lunged upon her beloved American with 
a kiss a million times more wanton than their first, and the hungry indulgence of the 
flesh had begun.

Triggered by Cassie's kiss (which he passionately returned), Nick's tender embrace 
tightened fiercely around his sexy British professor, vanquishing the few offensive 
inches of space that had divided their lusting bodies. As one kiss became another and 
another and another, Nick's lower hand sank down her jacket and on to her matching 
skirt, stopping as soon as it found itself upon her shapely ass. His fingers clenched 
repeatedly upon her lissome posterior, squeezing it as firmly as the curve-hugging 
fabric of her skirt would allow. 

Cassie's hips were gyrating with only slightly more energy than before. Though her 
pure womanhood was excited about what it was about to experience, it moved with 
almost facetious restraint, pressing upon Nick's crotch calmly and slowly as if to say, 
"Would you like to come out and play?" rather than, "I will have you."

After a while, Nick's hand moved away from Cassie's butt, leaving it tingling with 
delight. He ran his hand across her veiled thigh, then manoeuvred it between her legs 
and into her skirt. His exploratory fingers soon reached their destination; that warm 
strip of cloth between the leg-holes of her panties. When he first touched them, her 
panties were dry, but when he put a little pressure upon her snatch, they quickly 
became moist. He began to gently rub his fingers up and down the length of her 
covered labia, inspiring her body to produce a lot more of it's natural lubricant.

Cassie cooed happily into the ravenous kiss she was sharing with the man she loved. 
Unlike the similar advances of the other man, which had seemed so perverse, Nick's 
attentions to her nether regions felt so good... so right... so arousing. It was a very 
pleasant surprise. As his skilful hand became more familiar with the treasure beneath 
her panties, Cassie felt the side of one finger pressing her panties between her outer 
lips. After a few moments, he had pushed a fold of the fabric in as deep as it would 
go, and was sliding the length of his finger back and forth between the tender gates of 
paradise. Perhaps accidentally, his amorous finger brushed against her pearl, rocking 
her entire body. Her toes clenched within her shoes and her abdomen became giddy 
for that all-to-brief moment of clitoral stimulation. But once it was over, Cassie's 
sexual imperative had become more desperate than ever.

First thing was first: her panties simply had to go, and unfortunately, Cassie couldn't 
see how she could be rid of them while her legs were spread over Nick's lap. After 
leaving their foreplay on a cliffhanger with an extra-assertive kiss, she began to climb 
off of her date. She nearly tripped over when she caught one of her feet against a front 
leg of the chair, losing her shoe in the process. She leaned over, so that her lips could 
lightly skim against his, even while their bodies remained apart. Meanwhile, her 
speedy hands hiked up her skirt and pulled down her panties. Once both legs had 
stepped out of the constraining piece of underwear, Cassie blindly tossed it towards 
some random corner of the office.

With Cassie no longer on his lap, Nick took the opportunity to release his implement 
of love. However, Cassie's interlude was so brief that Nick only had time to unbuckle 
his belt, before he felt the weight of a wanton woman descending upon his lap once 
more. One of his hands stuck around to unzip his fly, while the other was quick to 
resume wooing the round ass of her skirt.

As if to make up for the disruption, Cassie drew her date into their most passionate 
kiss yet, the instant she was off her feet. A moment later, she groped around tenderly, 
in the vicinity of his open fly and soon found the enormous tent in his underwear. She 
stroked his rigid organ once or twice through his underpants, partially to heighten his 
arousal, partially to assess what he had to offer. She was not disappointed. If anything, 
the sexually inexperienced professor felt a little overwhelmed.

Though the English beauty was lavishing countless kisses upon him, Nick's attention 
was more focused on what he considered to be a very mild hand job. His idle left hand 
decided it was only fair that Cassie's snatch received similar treatment, and so it 
snaked back into the depths of her skirt to tease her naked sex. He extended a single 
finger and stroked it down the length of her opening, marvelling at how perfectly soft 
and smooth her genital flesh was.

Nick's style of foreplay left Cassie little chance of exhibiting some self-control. Her 
womanhood was already saturated with desire, and now he was slowly caressing 
naught but the most external part of her sex, leaving the length of her canal with a 
maddening craving for masculine fulfilment. She carefully inserted her gentle hand 
into Nick's underwear and when it re-emerged, Nick's maleness was within it's grasp. 
Nick, realising that sex was immanent, moved both his hands on to the outsides of 
Cassie's thighs and hiked her skirt all the way back up to her waist. Then, Cassandra 
Marsh began to advance her naked womanhood upon the tempting column of 
maleness before her. This was the right time. This was the right man.

She positioned her snatch above Nick's erection, then guided his cock with her hand 
as she lowered herself upon it, very slowly. She immediately ceased her kissing, 
although Nick's resolve to adore her lips seemed to double. Her brow furrowed in 
agony as her most sensitive flesh was stretched to a degree that nothing could have 
prepared her for. Her lover's rod, so welcome, but so brutal, ruptured her delicate 
hymen and drew her blood as he loved her with pain and pained her with love.

A look of shock washed over Nick's face as he realized what he had just done to the 
alluring brunette. She stared deep into his eyes, with signs of oncoming tears in hers, 
and nodded softly.

"Be gentle," she pleaded quietly. Nick nodded silently in response, resolving to spare 
his lover as much pain as he possibly could. His hands, which were already on 
Cassie's hips, instantly began to support the bulk of her weight.

After many tentative exertions on to his maleness, Cassie's body had been penetrated 
as much as their position would allow. Guided by Nick's hands, she began to softly 
gyrate her hips. With no little willpower, Nick fought off the dogging urge to 
forcefully thrust his manhood deep into the professor's enticing female form. Within 
the coital hold of her tight snatch, even the shortest strokes were driving him wild. In 
an attempt to let off some of his pent-up desire, Nick began to kiss Cassie's cheek 
with steadily increasing abandon.

Though in the end, it was not Nick who succumbed to the urge for more industrious 
intercourse, but Cassie. Gradually, the ache of initiation began to subside and Cassie 
was seduced by the sensation of her lover's cock thrusting within her womanhood. 
Her hips began to writhe in wider and wider cycles, causing the stimulation she felt 
from the motions within to rapidly increase. Her breath grew heavier as the muscles 
working her body against his demanded more oxygen. After a while, she began to 
quietly moan.

Though their fornication had already begun, Nick was gripped by a powerful desire to 
undress his lover further. Once her hips were confidently humping his manhood 
without any assistance, he moved his hands upward to begin removing Cassie's 
jacket. However, the intoxicating ecstasy of what was going on below muddled his 
priorities and Nick became torn between removing Cassie's clothes and holding her 
torso to his as firmly as possible. He had pulled the top of her jacket down over her 
shoulders before he realized it would go no further. At that point, he gave up on the 
jacket and began to unbutton her white blouse.

Their activity was rocking the chair to the point where the rear legs were rising a 
couple inches of the ground. They were about five seconds from tipping themselves 
right over. Cassie grasped the bulbous headpieces on the top corners of the chair back 
and forced her weight upon them, to steady the chair.

As the intensity of her gyrations seemed to plateau, Cassie sought out Nick's lips and 
attended to them with fleeting, yet amorous kisses at random intervals. She could 
already feel it building in her loins - a tantilizing buzz that carried a promise of joy 
unlike any she had ever known. Every advance she made on to Nick's maleness made 
the sensation more profound. She could feel her control over that region of her body 
slipping as the carnal flame of ecstasy consumed her. "Yes...Oh yes... Yes... Yes... 
Mmm... Oh Yes... Yes..." Cassie moaned, quietly. 

Nick had only undone the top three buttons of his lover's blouse before his fingers 
were lured away by the call of feminine flesh. He shifted his hands around behind her 
and embraced her tightly, so that the last moments of their coitus would be spent with 
their bodies pressed together. Once in place, his lusty paws began to knead and rub 
the beautiful professor - one upon her right shoulderblade, the other upon her bare, 
pliant ass. He could feel their first act of love coming to a head. Cassie's hips were 
pounding against him incessantly, like a battering ram determined to destroy the 
mental dam that held back his reservoir of semen. Nick could already feel the tremors 
of impending collapse radiating through his body.

Cassie, who was unaccustomed to the experience of penetration, was quickly 
overwhelmed by the maelstrom of pleasure and suspense brewing within her sex. Her 
vaginal muscles suddenly spasmed, and Cassie's mind was lost to a paralyzing burst 
of rapture. "Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh!" she bayed through her quivering jaw. 
The muscles of her hips had turned to jelly, but her lover's arms acted quickly to 
maintain the tempo of their sexual writhing. As incredible as it had seemed at the 
onset, every thrust of Nick's maleness seemed to make her orgasm even more 
ferocious. Cassie could hardly stand it.

"Yeah... Oh baby, yeah... You're so hot... Oh god, yeah..." Nick snarled in 
appreciation. He worked the attractive professor's hips against his own, 
unsympathetic to the fact that her climax was nearly driving her mad. He knew he 
could not resist the orgasmic clench of her snatch for very long, but he was 
determined to enjoy every last second of it.  He forced his rod through her resistant 
canal over and over, until he was overpowered by the instinct to fill her with his seed.

"Oh, Fuck!" he grunted, as he pulled Cassie's hips firmly against his own and thrust 
his organ deep into her heavenly opening. The release of orgasm washed through his 
body while his cock fired generous doses of sperm into the woman he loved. 
"Unnnghh! You're fuckin' amazing! Amazing! So amazing..." he growled as he ran 
his fingers firmly through the flesh of her ass. By now, Cassie was gone. All that 
remained was a panting shadow of a woman, who had been shaken to the core by raw 
physical indulgence.

A few wonderful moments later, their orgasms began to fade. Cassie's incensed 
womanhood began to quiet enough for some semblance of awareness to return to her. 
Nick's maleness softly trembled as it deposited the last ounces of semen into his 
lover's snatch. Cassie's head fell to rest on Nick's shoulder and her hands slipped 
from the back of the chair to the back of her beloved. As Nick repositioned his hands 
to better support her exhausted body, Cassie's hips drifted away from him and his 
manhood slipped from her delectable fissure.

The two lovers remained in that calm embrace for several minutes, moving only 
occasionally for comfort or support. Nick would also periodically lay a soft kiss upon 
the side of Cassie's neck. Once their breathing had shallowed and their bodies had 
recuperated somewhat, the couple began to stir. Cassie lifted her head and began to 
stare blankly into space, her eyes darting in many directions, but focusing on nothing 
in particular. Shortly thereafter, Nick lifted his head and their eyes met. Their 
expressions were near-identical portrayals of utter confusion.

Cassie's mouth began to move, as if to speak, but no words came out. What could she 
say to a man that she'd fornicated with only twelve hours after first meeting him? She 
knew many women would take such a situation in their stride, but this simply wasn't 
who Cassie was. Nick was equally stumped. All he could remember was that one 
minute he was consoling her about her missing friend, and the next they were going at 
it as if it were their wedding night. He began to worry that he had unintentionally 
become one of those jerks who took advantage of upset women by giving them a 
friendly shoulder to cry on.

Cassie hesitantly stepped back and began to stand up. Nick held her steady until she 
had completely left the range of his embrace. He silently lamented that a single 
moment of weakness had probably cost him the trust of this beautiful woman, and 
therefore, any hope for a long-term future with her. It was an unbearable thought. 
Nick knew it was silly to feel this way, but he loved Cassie with all his heart and he 
was absolutely certain that she was the only woman for him.

First order of business for Cassie, once she was upright, was pulling her skirt back 
down so that it covered her thighs and naked womanhood. Then she hiked her half-
removed jacket back up over her shoulders and tended to the loosened buttons at the 
top of her blouse. As she redressed, she nervously tried to toss a thick, bothersome 
lock of hair out of her face, eventually having to do it by hand. Once her outward 
appearance was more or less respectable, Cassie began briskly running her eye around 
the room, in search of her renegade panties, while mentally asking herself, "What the 
hell just happened?" over and over.

Oddly enough, despite the bizarre twist in their date, Cassie made no attempt to 
distance herself from Nick. In fact, she did just the opposite, making a point of 
remaining within one or two feet of him. It felt as if her entire world had gone crazy 
and Nick was the only reliable presence for her to anchor herself to in this time of 
confusion. She loved him and she knew that was ridiculous - far too ridiculous for a 
woman as intelligent and stable as she. But nonetheless, she loved him and trusted 
him, and that gave her a great deal of comfort in this uncomfortably mysterious 
situation.

Had she really been looking for them, Cassie would have noticed that her panties had 
landed on the floor, just behind a Polynesian totem near the corner of her office. But 
there was too much going on in her mind for her to see what was not in plain sight. As 
she gave up her search, Nick crammed his flaccid member back into his underwear 
and stood up, zipping his fly as he did so. He rebuckled his belt, but did not seem 
concerned about his untucked shirt. The trousers had been stained, right down the 
right side of the fly, by a trail of his lover's blood. There was also a small red stain 
upon the upholstery of the chair, which would cause Cassie some embarrassment in 
the days to come.

While Nick finished dressing, Cassie bent down and slipped her foot back into the 
shoe she had dropped earlier. Then she stood up and simply stared at the man who 
had taken her virginity, mirroring his look of bewilderment. Both seemed unsure of 
whether to step closer to their date, step away, or stay still. Eventually, Cassie broke 
the eerie silence. "We should go," she simply said. Nick nodded silently, with a look 
of unease. Nick left the office first. After collecting her handbag from the top of her 
desk, Cassie followed, turning off the light and closing the door as she left. She also 
turned off the hallway lights as they passed the switch, but neglected to turn off the 
coffee pot she had put to boil earlier. It was okay, though, because the machine had a 
cut-out switch that would spare the element if all the water boiled off.

The pair made their way back to Nick's rental car with no detours. Nick had 
chivalrously opened Cassie's car door for her after they'd left the restaurant, but 
forgot to do so this time. Cassie was too preoccupied to care. This time, he 
instinctively climbed into the driver's side, and Cassie, the passenger's. Nick had 
already started the engine and put the car into gear before he realized he had no idea 
where he was going. 

"Do you want to go home?" he asked, being the first destination-oriented question 
that came to mind.

"Yes, please," Cassie replied, in an absent tone. The air circulation from the car's 
heater made her very aware that her privates were still naked beneath her skirt.

The journey back to the professor's two-story house was mostly silent. No 
conversation, no radio. Cassie spoke only to inform her suitor of an approaching turn, 
but apart from that, the only sound was the hum of the engine and the occasional 
swoosh of a passing car. After a short trip, Nick pulled over to the curb in front of a 
small, but pleasant-looking two-story home. With no further directions to give, Cassie 
sighed softly before saying her goodbyes.

"Well... I'm home now," she began, as she turned to look at him, "Thank you for 
everything..."

"Yeah," Nick replied in a distant tone, facing dead ahead.

"I mean... I mean... Dinner! Dinner!" Cassie promptly corrected herself.

"Yeah. Yeah," Nick continued to drone, repetitively.

 "Thank you for dinner! And... the ride," Cassie remarked. "I MEAN... I MEAN... I 
mean... Uh... I don't mean... Not, you know... Not what we..." she stammered, 
becoming extremely flustered by her series of gaffes. "You brought me home! Thank 
you for bringing me home... in your car... was very nice of you, thank you."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah... Yeah," her date responded, seemingly lost for any other 
word. A few seconds after the clumsy pleasantries had been exchanged, Nick's 
wandering gaze locked on to his date. Her wide hazel eyes were so amazingly clear in 
the streetlight, so captivating. As he stared at her admiringly, he realized that he could 
not withhold his true feelings any longer.

"I don't want to go," he declared in a heartfelt voice.

"I don't want you to go," Cassie responded without missing a beat, shaking her head 
softly, her eyes almost tearing with emotion.

They each rapidly opened their doors and stepped outside, almost as if they had just 
noticed a time bomb in the back seat. After slamming his door, Nick excitedly leapt 
over the hood of the car and rushed over to the woman he loved. They pressed their 
lips together passionately as Cassie threw her arms around Nick and he grabbed her 
tightly by the waist.

Their lips rolled wildly against each other for at least a minute, while their tongues 
celebrated their newfound love with a spirited dance together. After that first long 
kiss, several others followed, much shorter in duration, but equally amorous. Then 
suddenly, Cassie pulled away, prompting a quizzical look from her gasping 
companion.

"I need my handbag," she explained, quickly ducking back into the car to collect the 
bag from the passenger's leg area. After swiftly closing the car door, she gave Nick a 
short kiss, before taking him by the hand and expeditiously leading him through her 
front gate and up the path to her house. The couple paused for a second while Cassie 
retrieved her keys from her handbag and unlocked the front door. She had left her 
porch light on, making the task quite simple. Once the door was open, Cassie grabbed 
Nick's hand once again and pulled him into her home with a mischievous smile. The 
instant she had closed the door behind him and set the lock, Nick whirled her around 
and pinned her against the door, kissing her with flagrant ardor while pressing his 
crotch firmly against her skirt. Cassie purred loudly as she eagerly drank every morsel 
of affection that her lover's lips offered.

Though she was tempted to stay put and bask in his enticing kisses, Cassie nimbly 
slipped out of the confining embrace the first chance she got. Still holding Nick's 
hand, she led him up the nearby staircase and down the hallway a short distance, to 
the master bedroom. Once inside, the couple resumed their kissing, as they began to 
rapidly undress each other. Two jackets, a shirt, a blouse, four shoes, two socks, a pair 
of pants, a skirt and a white cotton bra all went flying in random directions across the 
room within mere seconds of each other. Cassie's nether regions were roasting with 
renewed desire and the sensation of her hot skin pressing against his manhood sent the 
blood rushing to Nick's groin. The two lovers continued to kiss and explore each 
other's naked bodies for a while, before Cassie pulled away from the lively embrace. 
She stepped back a couple paces, to give her American stallion a complete (though 
poorly lit) view of her naked form, before climbing on to her bed and slipping under 
the covers, shooting him a come-hither look. Nick needed no further invitation.

He stepped briskly over to the bed and climbed under the covers with his English 
venus. He scootched over to her side and they both leaned forward to share a series of 
slow, tender kisses. Nick began to caress the curve of Cassie's waist, up and down, 
with the palm of his hand. Several enchanting kisses later, Nick strayed from Cassie's 
mouth and began to move his affectionate lips down over her body. He began by 
padding a soft, patient kiss upon her exposed shoulder, then upon the very top of her 
chest. As his head began to disappear beneath the covers, Nick turned his attention to 
Cassie's right breast.

Cassie's breasts were modest A-cups. Though they certainly weren't sizeable, they 
nonetheless covered her ribcage with yielding flesh and gave her chest a distinctly 
feminine curvature. Nick laid two kisses upon the top of the supple mound, before 
moving down to her nipple. As her lover adored and teased one of her erogenous hot 
spots, Cassie rolled on to her back and rested her head comfortably on her pillow, 
voicing her growing arousal with a soft sigh. Nick gently kissed, suckled and teased 
the nipple with his tongue until it was hard enough to juice an orange. Then his lips 
continued south, kissing his beloved on the base of her breast, and then down the left 
side of her belly. Meanwhile, Nick's hands were also busy; one was lightly stroking 
the inside of Cassie's upper thigh, while the other was randomly trailing across her 
body. Cassie began to writhe absently as Nick's erotic tour made her restless with 
anticipation.

When he reached the bottom of her belly, Nick made a ninety-degree turn and laid 
three soft kisses along the northern limits of her mons, brushing the hairs of his beard 
through her field of dark pubic hair as he moved. Having now crossed over to the left 
side of her body, he made his way down the outside of her womanly vee and padded 
his affection down the front of her left thigh, calf and foot. By now, his hands were 
meandering all over her legs, mons and belly. Once he had come to the end of her left 
foot, he gently grabbed her right ankle and pulled it over to his face. Then he began 
the return trip, tenderly kissing the top of her foot and then repeating the gesture many 
times as he moved up her leg. Cassie was moaning happily with nearly every breath. 
Her right breast was still buzzing with the excitement that Nick had stirred up within 
and her juices were flowing freely from her womanhood.  

Once he had made his way to her right hip, Nick once again crossed the top of 
Cassie's mons with three prolonged kisses. But this time he sweetened the tease by 
slipping two fingers into her nether opening. Cassie shivered in delighted surprise. 
The fingers continued; deeper... and deeper... and deeper, until they would go no 
further. Then, without pause, Nick removed his digits at the same relaxed pace with 
which he'd inserted them. His fingertips left his lover's sex at the exact moment he 
finished the third kiss to her mons. During an apparent lapse of self-control, Nick 
firmly nuzzled Cassie's navel with his whole face, before continuing his trail of kisses 
along the left side of her belly.

When he reached her left breast he gave it the same treatment that it's partner had 
received; adoring her nipple exhaustively until it was rock hard. As an afterthought, 
Nick's lips briefly revisited her right nipple, to ensure it was still erect. Once all of 
Cassie's exciting bits had been explored, Nick kissed his way up his lover's chest and 
then gave her a passionate, open-mouthed kiss as he positioned his hips over hers and 
guided his rigid maleness into her waiting snatch.

"Oooo, yeah!" Nick whispered to himself, finally appeasing the carnal urge he had 
been suppressing throughout his entire exploration of Cassie's lovely body. Cassie 
moaned loudly as Nick's maleness filled her lusty fissure, inch by wonderful inch. He 
touched his forehead to Cassie's, his mouth hovering less than an inch from hers, as 
he began thrusting his hips. The two lovers were already breathing quite heavily.

As Nick's gyrations began to build momentum, the couple began to kiss once more, 
leisurely at first, then sincerely, and then passionately. Cassie began to run her 
finger's through Nick's hair with one hand, while the other held his body close to 
hers. She moaned appreciatively as her lover's manhood probed her deeply, raising 
her arousal with every sweet stroke and lifting her closer to the summit of physical 
delights.

Nick indulged in the taste of Cassie's soft lips, and the caress of her playful tongue, 
until the motions of his hips became quite vigorous. His cock had developed a strong 
appetite for her sexual flesh, and Nick was compelled to break loose from the 
professor's embrace, to allow his hips more freedom of movement. As he lifted his 
body off of hers, he also ceased their kisses. Cassie whimpered briefly in 
disappointment. However, her sound of protest was quickly eclipsed by a loud purr of 
satisfaction as the coital dance continued anon. She pressed her head back into her 
pillow as a blissful smile washed over her face.

With his body now lifted over the vocal brunette, Nick began humping her with 
greater force, but at the same moderate pace. His hips moved in broader strokes, 
withdrawing his member until only the head was inside of her, before pushing his 
entire length into her sensitive valley. "Ooooh... Ugghh... Nnnn... Aaahh..." he began 
to murmur, as the perfect caress of Cassie's womanhood goaded him towards climax. 
With nothing better to do, Cassie's arms began to squirm mindlessly over the 
mattress. A smooth flow of pleasure was radiating throughout her body, whilst a sense 
of unruly excitement grew within her loins. She was more than ready for orgasm - she 
was in need of it.

When Cassie hooked one of her legs around his, Nick took it as an encouraging sign. 
His hardened maleness had been seduced by the pleasures of her sex and yearned 
fiercely to fill it with his semen. But it would be a shame to leave the woman he 
adored unsatisfied on their first night together.

"Mmmm... Oh, Nick... I think I'm gonna come," Cassie moaned. Just the words he 
wanted to hear! "I'm gonna come! Oh, yes! Ooooh... Oh god, I love it!" She 
continued. By now her hands had stopped wandering and were clasping and pulling 
on the fitted sheet beneath her. The extreme arousal between her legs was nigh 
excruciating. How much more could she take?

Apparently, only a few more seconds worth. Every muscle in her attractive young 
body tensed as she cried out, almost at the top of her lungs. The noise was 
unmistakable; it was the sound of a woman in her sexual prime coming, hard. As soon 
as Nick heard it, he pressed his groin firmly against Cassie's labia and loosed his 
eager sperm upon her most inviting flesh.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! OH MY GOD, NICK!!!!" Cassie shouted, as her 
womanhood clenched tightly upon the long shaft of masculinity that had whipped it 
into an elating frenzy.

"UNGH!! UNGH!! Oh, Fuck!" Nick grunted, as he surrendered his seed with mighty 
ejaculations that rattled his bones and blew his mind. The young couple held their 
missionary pose as they shared in the spectacular culmination of their lovemaking. A 
flood of sheer ecstasy rushed through their bodies, and did not abate for several 
seconds. Then it faded, faded, faded, leaving them both thoroughly exhausted, but 
profoundly satisfied. Nick slowly lowered himself on to Cassie's body as his spent 
cock throbbed inside her luscious snatch with waning vigor. Cassie wrapped her arms 
around her gasping companion as squeezed gently, as she reflected on the sublime 
experience they had just shared.

Once Nick had caught his own breath a couple minutes later, he began to stir. He 
lifted his head to seek out the other pillow, then pulled it over so that it partially 
overlapped Cassie's. Then he shifted over so that he was still very close to the lovely 
brunette, but was no longer resting his weight upon her. As he moved over, his 
maleness retreated from her womanhood, coated in a thick layer of her juices.

Cassie rolled on to her side, to face her beloved. One of her arms had broken off it's 
embrace when Nick moved, but the other was still upon his upper back. It slowly 
coursed it's way on to his shoulder, then down his arm. He was gently caressing her 
thigh when their hands finally met. Resting upon Cassie's leg, the two hands 
intertwined their fingers and squeezed each other affectionately with what little 
strength they had left. 

As she basked in a mix of post-coital bliss and personal contentment, the young 
Cambridge professor gazed into her Nick's eyes and smiled. Her bed was filled with 
love and so was her womb, and it felt so wonderful.

"I love you, Professor Marsh," Nick whispered.

"I love you, too, Nick," Cassie replied. She still had no idea why their date had taken 
such a sudden, erotic turn, but it didn't really matter. She knew that they were in love 
and that it was right for them to be together. For Cassie, that was enough.

She watched over her lover until her eyelids became to heavy to keep open. Then she 
drifted off to sleep by his side.



The End
