“You bought my painting,” I said spinning around and smiling with delight.

“Yeah, bold color is good.” He smiled.

“Bright color is good too,” I said smiling back and feeling my cheeks heat up. I saw him breathe in deeply, and he walked over to me and gently ran his knuckles along my jaw.

“You know, hardly anybody blushes anymore. You’re so beautiful.” He leaned down to kiss me, and my lips parted in anticipation, and then my phone rang.

“I had better see who it is,” I said puzzled at who would be calling me. I grabbed my purse and took my phone out. I didn’t recognize the number and there was no name.

“I’ll go change. I’ll be down in a minute.” He headed for the staircase.

“Hello?”

“Beth, somebody is following me!”

“Caitlin? Is that you? How did you get my number?”

“Beth! I’m serious! There’s somebody following me.”

“Go to the police.”

“I can’t. Look, I want to tell you the whole story.”

“Okay, fine. Come into the office on Monday. In the meanwhile, if you won’t go to the police, go stay with a friend.”

“I don’t have a friend,” she answered.

“What? You… really? Well, go to your place and lock the doors and don’t let anyone in. You’re probably just imagining things, but you should be safe that way. You live in a secure building don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Caitlin… if you need to…” Oh God, don’t do it Beth!

“Oh shit! Are you with Mike? I’m sorry Beth.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey, it will be okay. I’m almost at my place now. I’ll ask the doorman to tell me if anyone weird is hanging around.”

“Okay, come in Monday, but you had better tell me everything.” I paused. “And be careful.”

“Thanks Beth. You’re nice.” With that she hung up. Was she serious, or was she trying to play on my sympathy? Okay, Beth, Mark is upstairs getting ready to get sexy with you. Don’t stand here worrying about whether Caitlin has friends.

As if on cue, Mark came back down the stairs wearing a pair of loose fitting black lounge pants and nothing else. His muscles were hard and defined, but not bulky. He had a sprinkling of hair on his chest, a six-pack and sweet baby Jesus he had that V.

“Did I hear you say that was Caitlin calling you? What did she want?” he asked, walking over to his sound system. He bent down to look for something. My God his ass was magnificent.

“Huh? Oh, uh, she thinks someone’s following her.”

“You’re kidding. Did you tell her to go the cops?” He found his iPod and placed it on the speakers. I recognized Jace Everett’s Bad Things and I smiled. He turned and faced me.

“Yeah, I did. Uh, she said she couldn’t. Then I told her to go to a friend’s place, and she said she didn’t have any. Mark, do you think…”

“I don’t know, and I have to confess, I have other things on my mind at the moment. I’m going to be initiating foreplay now, Beth. So I’m going to need you to turn your cell phone off. You’ll be busy for quite a while.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. I reached into my bag and shut off my phone. He came over and put his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. The moment our bodies made contact, I felt his arousal grow. And grow. And grow. Oh my. He wanted me, and he was going to have me. And I was going to have that in me. Oh my. We started to move to the music and then he leaned down and kissed my neck sending a thrill down my spine. I ran my hands over the hard muscles of his back and his hands slid lower to cup my bottom.

“Are you wearing anything under here?” he mumbled against my neck. The vibration tickled.

“No,” I answered, whispering in his ear and pausing to gently bite his lobe. His breathing got heavier and he reached lower and slid his palms up the backs of my thighs, pushing my dress higher and higher. When he got to my bare bottom he groaned, squeezed and pulled my hips against him even tighter. Our mouths found each others and our tongues twisted, rubbing together deliciously. His hands were roaming over my bare body under my dress and mine were tucked down into the back of his pants, kneading that magnificent ass. I wasn’t the only one who had gone commando incidentally.

There we were, making out, exploring each other’s bodies and still swaying to the music. It felt powerfully erotic. We made it through the rest of that song, and also I’m on Fire by Bruce Springsteen. I definitely saw a theme here. Near the end of the song he broke our kiss and sang in my ear and it did me in. I was too feverish, lightheaded and turned on to keep dancing.

“Mark,” was all I could manage.

“Beth,” he said in strained voice and pulled back to look at me. His eyes were hazy and he was breathing hard and fast. “I would love to carry you off to my bed but…” He glanced at the narrow circular stairway. “Considering our history.”

“It’s okay,” I said kicking off my heels. My voice was so heavy with desire that I barely recognized it. My skin was tingling from head to toe, and in some places, throbbing and aching. I couldn’t remember ever having been this turned on before.

“You go first in case you fall. And so I can look up your dress,” he teased. I smiled and headed for the stairs, climbing as carefully as I could. By the grace of God we both made it safely to the top. I’ll note that he quickly stepped away from the top of staircase.