CASABLANCA, Australia

The second stipulation is that whatever arrangement we agree to ends once you connect up with Anna. That's Anna at the end of the bar, by the way. The one giving you the evil eye. Not the bloke in the pink shirt at the other end; although, I think he might also have his eye on you.

She leaned forward and lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "Who the hell wears a pink shirt to a pub, anyway?"

"Okay. It sounds like we might have a deal, Eve," I said as I finished off my first beer and placed the glass back onto the bar to be refilled.

"Speaking about our deal, however, how well do you really know the area?"

"I was born here. Well, not right here. Not behind the bar of this pub. But up the hill In Dusty's Crossing where I now live. I went away for a few years -- my sister and I worked our way around the country -- but about three years ago I came back. It's one of those places that you can never get out of your blood.

"It's also one of those places where everyone knows everyone else. If they don't know you, they think they should know you. You'll find that as you walk around town, everyone greets you. They're too polite to walk right up and introduce themselves to you but they'll say, 'g'day', as they would to someone they've known all their lives; or all yours, if you are younger then them.

"It's the place that time forgot. Of course, it's changing -- that can't be avoided -- but I really believe that it's changing at a slower rate than most other places. The people here still hold onto the old values. So, in answer to your question, I know the area pretty well. The important thing for you to know, though, is that I know where not to go.

"When I say that the area isn't changing, I have to qualify that by saying, 'in general'. Along with cattle and horses, this is also ideal dope-growing country, and that's the fly in the ointment. A number of the smaller grazing properties -- particularly those bordering on the state forests -- have been bought up by southern drug syndicates and have become no-go zones."

Eve broke off their conversation to see to her other patrons. In addition to a refill of his beer and rum chaser, the stock and station agent wanted to know about the Queensland bloke.

"Don't worry, Cedric," Eve told him. "When I've got him sussed out, I'll bring you up to date. I'm fairly sure he's not one of yours, though. A bit too macho, I think.

That seemed to satisfy Cedric.

After refilling Anna and her partner's orders, she gave them the same information about Matt; except for her assessment of his sexual proclivity.

"I don't know for sure," she said to them, "but I've got a sneaking suspicion that he bats for Cedric's team."

Both Anna's and her partner, Steve's, eyes widened in surprise.

"I don't believe it," Anna said. "It's not possible that such a perfect specimen of a man could be wasted in that way. I look forward to testing out your theory, Eve. I certainly didn't get that impression when he walked in. I got the feeling that he was very interested in what I had on offer. It was enough to get my juices flowing.

"I'm sorry Steven," she said to her partner, patting him on his arm. "Don't be offended but as I keep telling you, variety is the spice of life. And I've been missing out on my spices lately."

"Don't worry, my love," her partner said. "One man can only do so much to satisfy someone as needful as you. It would be really nice if we were to find that he swung both ways, though."

After looking over to check on the old couple sitting at the table, and confirming that they were still chatting and sipping on their Scotches, Eve wandered back to where I was sitting. She had a frown on her face.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing," she replied as she turned to fill another glass for me after seeing that the one in front of me was almost empty. "I think I've just been hoisted on my own petard. In trying to save someone from the clutches of the devil, I may have thrust them deeper into the mire. I don't suppose I could talk you into investing in a couple of pink shirts, could I?"

Taken by surprise while lifting my glass to my mouth, I sputtered beer down my shirt and all over Eve.

"Sorry," I said, extracting a clean handkerchief from my pocket and handing it to Eve who, instead of reacting with indignation as I expected, was laughing fit to burst. After wiping herself down, she handed the handkerchief back. I then used it to wipe my mouth and down the front of my shirt. I had tried not to look but noted that as Eve rubbed the handkerchief down her front, her blouse was stretched against her breasts. Although encased in the cups of her bra, they appeared to be firm and well-rounded. I thought they would make an ideal handful. 'Cut it out!' I chided myself. 'There's only one woman in this room you're interested in and it's not Eve. Pull yourself together, man.'

Obeying my own command, I returned to the subject at hand.

"But, in answer to your question, 'Not bloody likely!'

"What in heaven's name brought that on?" I asked in a hoarse whisper. "Why would I want to get about looking like a younger version of ol' mate down at the end of the bar?

"I'll tell you what brought it on one day when I know you better," she said, throwing my own words back at me, "at about the same time you tell me what grubby little thought made you smile earlier." She grabbed my glass and topped it up to replace the spillage she had caused.

"There was nothing grubby about my thought," I protested. "It was just that something struck me as coincidental."

"Okay," Eve said. "I look forward to hearing about it when you know me better. I wouldn't keep it a secret for too long, though. I've got a feeling that you need to know my secret before I need to know yours. In fact, if I don't tell you mine, there will probably no point in hanging on to yours."

There was something about both the faint twinkle of amusement that lit her eyes and the hint of a smile that hovered around the corners of her slightly wider than normal mouth that reminded me briefly of Suzie.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject and bringing me back to the present, "back to our earlier discussion. The paradox of having the dope growers in the area is that, like the older, more staid members of the community, they don't want an influx of tourists and outsiders to the region. While it stays off everyone's radar, there is less likelihood of someone stumbling across their plantations. And that even goes for other drug producers. There are no meth labs in the area that would attract the interest of either the state or federal police or anyone else. Whenever anyone tries to start producing meth-amphetamines, they are stopped; sometimes ruthlessly. A number of young wannabe drug lords have completely disappeared from the face of the earth over the past few years. The way the drug industry operates in this area is a classic example of organised crime being truly organised."

"Okay," I said. "You've convinced me that I could use a guide; if only to keep me out of trouble. I don't know how often I will need you to accompany me but I will work in around your schedule when I do. I will also accede to your wishes regarding Anna; as unlikely as that might be.

"If you're happy to invoice me for your time rather than go onto the payroll -- I'd be happy either way -- we've got a deal."

Once again, I reached my open hand across the bar. Eve put her much smaller hand into it and we shook. The deal was done. Strangely, I was reluctant to let go of her tiny hand. It felt like it was designed to fit right where it sat. With some reluctance and after the briefest of hesitations, I pulled my hand back and wrapped it around my glass to take the heat out of it.

"So, okay, boss," Eve said in a playfully official tone, "what's the plan?

"The plan," I said, "is that I spend tomorrow getting settled in and making contact with everyone I have to see. One of the things I have to do is to make sure the managers of the properties I've got to inspect have horses on hand for me to use if I need them; otherwise, I'm going to have to take a trip back up north to bring my own plant down here."

"Well, here's where I start earning my keep," Eve said. "I know where there a few horses that would suit you and I can get my hands on a float to transport them to where you need them."

"Excellent," I said. "That'll save me two or three days of travel. I didn't bring my animals down as I was told there would be stock available. The problem with carting my horses all over the place is trying to find somewhere to keep them and then, when it's time to head home, getting them sprayed and certified so I can take them back across the border. Problem solved. Thank you."

Hearing my stomach rumble, Eve asked whether I would like to order something to eat before the kitchen closed. I settled on a house steakburger with salad and a side serving of potato wedges with sour cream, accompanied -- naturally -- by another icy cold beer.

I finally said my goodbyes to Eve and headed upstairs to my room at about nine o'clock, nodding to the pink-shirted gentleman at the end of the bar to my right and, in true cowboy fashion, tipping the brim of my hat to Anna and her companion at the other end of the bar, on my way out. The old couple had left about an hour earlier, after enjoying a light dinner. Eve confirmed my earlier assumption that they were travellers who had decided to make a stop in this little town while on their way north.

Rather than giving me the, 'come here and fuck me', look that I was becoming accustomed to, Anna's look was more questioning. This time, it was more along the lines of, 'why are we not fucking?' It was as if there was some doubt about my desire or my intentions.

'That's good,' I thought as I climbed the stairs, 'a little doubt never hurt anyone.' I didn't know where the doubt had come from -- mind you, I wasn't aware of Eve's contribution to the situation at that time -- but there was no doubt in my mind that, after sharing my bed with her in my dreams for seven years, I was going to fuck her senseless when we did eventually arrive at our day of reckoning.

****

After making a few reminder notes in my work dairy, I hung my clothes in the wardrobe and dived into the shower. While drying myself down, I dug around in my duffle bag and came up with a pair of loose-fitting boxer shorts to wear to bed. I preferred to sleep naked while at home but one never knew when it might be necessary to display a bit of modesty when camping out on the track, There's nothing quite like the feel of freshly washed and ironed sheets after a shower and my body relaxed as soon as I climbed into bed. With a long day behind me, it must have taken me all of about thirty seconds to descend into the land of Nod.

I have no idea how long I'd been out but it had been long enough for me to have fallen into a really deep sleep. It seemed to take me ages to respond to the gentle tapping on my door. In fact, it took ages to even work out that someone was tapping on my door. As I clawed my way back to consciousness, I realised that I was going to have to get out of bed to answer the knocking before it woke everyone else in the building. Just as I started to swing out of bed, however, the door quietly opened and Anna poked her pretty head around it. Not waiting for an invitation, she walked into my room, closing the door behind her.

'That's funny,' I remember thinking, 'I'm sure I locked that door.'

"I'm sorry to intrude," she said, "but I didn't get the opportunity to introduce myself down in the bar so I thought I'd just pop up and remedy that error before I headed off home. I hope you don't mind.

"No, I didn't think you would," she said when I didn't reply, "particularly as I've got the strangest feeling that we've met before. Not here. And not recently. But I'm sure we know each other. Not on the Biblical sense, perhaps -- not yet, anyway -- but I'm sure our paths have crossed."

"You're right," I said, my power of speech having returned. "Our paths have crossed. It was seven years ago up in Kuranda and you asked me to fuck your brains out."

I was surprising myself with my candour. This was not my normal approach when attempting to seduce a young woman; although Anna was no longer the young woman I had encountered all that time ago. I wouldn't have put her any older than thirty back then, which would make her thirty-seven or thirty-eight now.

"Mind you," I continued, "it wasn't in so many words. But, then, neither was the message you sent to me this evening, down on the bar. The fact that you are here tells me that you mean to follow through with your invitation."

"You've got that right," Anna replied. "It's only very rarely that an unaccepted opportunity presents itself twice. I might have missed out the first time. But I'm damned sure I'm not going to walk away from it again." She started walking towards the bed, shucking clothing as if it was on fire.

By the time she was standing in the vee formed by my opened legs as I sat on the side of the bed, she was completely naked. She stood there allowing me to inspect her. As I had suspected when I'd seen her down in the bar, she hadn't changed a great deal. Her breasts were just as I imagined them to be, with her nipples as hard as bridge spikes and sitting proudly on top of her beautifully rounded orbs. Her waist might have thickened by an inch or so, but it was nothing that detracted from her attraction. Her stomach had a slight bump that I hadn't noticed seven years ago and her hips were slightly more rounded than they had been. All in all, though, she was a picture of desire.

I reached out and, placing my hands on her hips, turned her around so I could examine her derriere. It blew me away. If I am nothing else, I am an arse man, and this woman's arse was something to behold. It was beautifully-shaped, with both buttocks rounded to perfection. There was a little bit of sag but, like that affecting her tits, not enough to detract from their beauty. I could imagine her bent over to allow me access to her pussy and could visualise the inverted heart I would be looking upon. My cock had arisen from its night-time torpor and was standing proudly to attention, eagerly awaiting my order to advance.

I turned Anna back to face me and let my eyes drift down to her groin. She proved to be a genuine dirty blonde but, unlike many of today's women, she was trimmed but not shaved. She had a full triangle of pubic hair, the shape of which indicated -- to me, at least -- that she didn't go in for skimpy beachwear. I reached out to run my fingers through her blonde pubic patch and felt her shudder. She widened her stance to allow me to run my hand between her legs. She was soaking wet and first one finger and then another entered between her vagina lips. It took only two pumps of my fingers before she threw her head back and moaned. Two more pumps and she was shaking all over.

Using the fingers in her pussy, I pulled her closer so I could drive them deeper. In the same movement, I dropped my head and captured one of her rock-hard nipples in my mouth and sucked on it like a baby trying to get his mother to let her milk down. I didn't receive any milk but I did receive a long, drawn-out moan, which just as good. I used my free hand to tweak her other breast, pulling and twisting her nipple. It seemed to grow harder in my hand.

While suckling and playing with her tits, though, I didn't neglect the activity of the hand I had between her legs. I finally found her G-spot and used my fingers to give her my own version of a wordless 'come hither' signal by curling my fingertips and hooking them along the soft, roughened pad on the front wall of her love tunnel. I don't know about 'come hither' but she did come. Her orgasm hit her like a freight train. The howl she let out was ear-shattering and she spun and fell on the bed. I rolled on top of her and covered her mouth with my own. It didn't do anything for my own ear-drums but it probably saved those of others sleeping in the hotel that night.

Screaming or not, I wasn't about to let up on her. My fingers kept up their 'come home darling' strumming and Anna kept coming. Eventually, however, she started trying to push me away from her. She was shaking her head, which I took to mean no, no, no but no words left her mouth. She was mute. She then started trying to buck me off by lifting and dropping her hips but all she was achieving by that maneuver was more stimulation. That, in turn, resulted in more orgasms. Eventually, she passed out. All of this had been happening with only half her body on the bed. Her lower legs and feet were still dangling off the side. As soon as she went slack under me, I rolled off her and dragged her up so her whole body was with me.

I had broken enough horses in my life to know that when you know you've got one that's going to give you trouble, you take the trouble out of her before she gets the chance. Anna, I knew, was trouble. 'The old horse breaker's rule applies to this one,' I thought as I looked down on her beautiful body. 'Work 'em hard and put 'em away wet'. She had certainly been worked hard. And was certainly soaking wet. I put my hands between her legs and scooped up a couple of fingers full of her juice. The smell was strong as I brought the sample to my lips. The taste, however, was one of pure ambrosia; sweet, with just a hint of tangy bitterness.

I couldn't resist it. I dipped my head between her legs and inserted my tongue into her slit. I'd barely lapped my first sample when She screamed and started shaking all over. I had set her off, once again. 'She's very sensitive for a girl who's supposed to be a nymphomaniac,' I thought.

Eventually, I decided that the best thing to do would be to get us both settled into the bed. We could maybe finish this off when she regained consciousness. I climbed into my side of the bed and pulled her to me so we were spooning, At least, this way, I could cup her breasts in my hands. It wasn't my hands on her tits that worried me, though. It was where I was going to park my cock.

I was reasonably well endowed and it wasn't as if I could just tell it to settle down and go to sleep. These things tend to have minds of their own (why else do we attribute them with having a head?) and they tend to go where they please when they please. In my case, mine wanted to sit in Anna's arse crack, which was fine with me; just so long as it stayed there. But I knew that as soon as I went to sleep, it would try to find its own way to the well-head. It was naturally attracted to moisture and loved the taste of pussy juice. It was not to be trusted. I felt, though, that Anna was so sensitive that she would wake at the first sign of trouble.

With my conscience justified, I drifted back off to sleep.

I must have been asleep for only a few minutes when I felt myself being ridden like a bareback bronc at a rodeo. I was on my back and Anna was sitting astride me in the reverse cowgirl position and bouncing up and down on my rigid shaft. She had obviously found that it was long enough to give her cervix a little more than a tickle. I could hear her squeal each time she drove herself down and tried to bury my cock up into her womb. When she felt me adding my upward thrust to aid her in achieving her goal, she spun around so she was facing me. This change of position also changed the angle of my cock and added to her pleasure. Now, on both the outward and inward strokes the head of my prick rubbed on her G-spot.

She was receiving three levels of stimulation. The nerve endings around the entrance to her vagina -- which could, themselves, cause an enjoyable orgasm -- were being excited. Her G-spot was being stimulated on each stroke. And the nerve endings on the mouth of her cervix were adding to her overall enjoyment. Of course, with her facing me, I could also massage her breasts and pinch and twist her nipples which, in many women were connected to their vaginas and could, themselves, bring on an orgasm.