The Morning After

"You learn all this from you doctor friend?"

"Some. But most of it I learned while waiting to check out at Walgreens."

"Let me have it. I'll take it with the last of my coffee."

"There is some bottled water in the mini-bar, if you would prefer that."

"Okay." Mary said sadly, her voice not fully recovered from all the crying. She could not understand what she was going through. It's not like you're having an abortion. You are choosing not to get pregnant. There is a world of difference. She had run through this argument with herself numerous times while she waited for Sam to return. Logically, it was the only thing to do. Why couldn't she convince her heart that there was nothing else she could do?

I never should have come. There you go lying to yourself again. However this trip ends up, It will rank forever as a highlight in your life. For the first time in your life you have known what it is to be truly and thoroughly fucked. Parts of you are awake that had lain dormant for 24 years. You have met someone who knows how to push your buttons. If nothing else, you now know what a real orgasm feels like. Now go get your big girl panties and put them on - or better yet, take them off.

Sam handed Mary a bottle of water and noticed how sad she looked. The sparkle was missing from her vibrant green eyes. He knew she was hurting, in large part through his fault. He reached for her, but she turned away.

Too early for anything else, he took a bottle of water out to the veranda and sat down to think. He was a ship without a flag, at sea with no destination and no port to return to. All of his executives had transitioned to Motorola as had been agreed long before the acquisition. Almost all of his engineers and technicians had similarly transitioned to a number Motorola profit centers and divisions. One of his options, if he wanted to consider it, was an executive VP position at Motorola's headquarters in Champaign, Illinois. He had initially scoffed at the offer. He already had more money than he could spend in his lifetime. Why would he consider joinjng the rat race for a few million more? And the Great Lakes region is no picnic in the winter time. Of all the things the world needed about now, another high salaried business executive was surely very low on the list.

Maybe it was time for him to take his personal strategic plan out of his back pocket. He had a billion dollars of net worth. He was 35 years old and had no known living relatives. His last personal relationship. ended in divorce and his ex-wife was so eager to move on with her life, she left a fortune on the table. A number of analogies and metaphors came to mind as Sam considered his situation: Poor little rich man, death by riches, Howard Hughes, even Beauty and the beast.

His strategic plan, put together while he was still at MIT, had been to build a small engineering company look for ways to grow it into a nest egg and then sell it. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and now at age 35, he had nothing more to work toward. Obviously what he needed was a new plan. That, he finally admitted was what this trip was all about.

Was this some sort of free association? Was it like the story board techniques he used in putting together competitive proposals? So far he sampled a "good" restaurant, a five star inn and a developing vineyard. And where did that leave Mary Joiner? Was she a treat or an asset, or even part of the goal? If she had not acceded to taking the pill, she would have become an integral part of Sam's future.

In that moment Sam had an epiphany such as he had not experienced since the earliest days of Foster Concepts. He thought of Mary and as if by thinking about her he had somehow beckoned her, she came and stood by the table.

"What do you feel like doing today, Princess?"

"Somebody owes me an ice cream cone, I seem to recall. So unless he wants to welch, we can start with that."

"I never welch. Large or small, I pay my debts," Sam said, and the little bell rang in the back of his mind again.

"Are we dressed okay?"

"I'd say so." Sam took her hand and they walked a few blocks toward Walgreens where Sam remembered seeing a Baskin Robbins. Sam got his pistachio- almond and Mary got a double scoop of rocky road. They sat at a table by a large window looking out onto Gay Street. The kid behind the counter told them it was named after one of George Washington's early girlfriends. Mary, how much do you think it would take to start a vineyard in this region?

"I have no idea but I know the first people I would ask."

"Yeah, I was thinking of that myself."

"Do you want to drive out there and ask if they want to join us for dinner?"

"That would be nice," Sam said.

They walked to the inn, retrieved the Silverado, which had obviously just been washed. Took off toward Tomaso's vineyard. Fifteen minutes later they found the dusty road leading to the property. "There goes the great detailing job," Mary said.

"We'll get her another," Sam replied

"Her?" Mary said, raising her eyebrows.

"Ships, trucks, carts are girls," sam explained, "cars, trains, airplanes are boys."

"That's cute, how so?"

"French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, even German, nouns have gender, English is an exception."

"In German they even distinguish between married woman and single maiden. Die frau, der mann but das madchen.

"and who determines what gender a noun gets"Mary asked.

"The males, of course," Sam chuckled."

"You're terrible," Mary said and punched him in the arm.

"Hey,"Sam said, "what was that?"

"Love tap," Mary said.

"Is that the same as sex abuse?"

"Oh, quit. Hey is the gate locked?" Mary said and sat upright in her seat.

"Well, shit - pardon my French - I should have called. It looks like they finished tidying up the vines and went home to DC. Iknow what we were doing let me go see how far they got. Not that it matters but it tell us if they are just taking a break and will be back."

"Ther's a 'no trespassing' sign," Mary said.

"I doubt Tomaso would prosecute us for trespassing. Don't you?"

Sam climbed over the heavy wooden gate and held his hand to help Mary when a shot from a high powered rifle rang out and a bullet slapped into the gatepost Sam was holding. "What the fuck?"

"The next one won't miss. I've the cross hairs on the red T of missy's shirt. This here's private property and you are trespassing. Now both of you get your asses back in your vehicle and be gone. I won't give you a warning next time."

"Wow, I didn't know we were going back to the wild west," Mary said.

"Neither did I. Believe me."

"What do we do now?"

"What I should have done from the start, I call Tomaso and find out what is going on, ask him if we can get together again. But first, let's head back to the inn and grab some lunch."

Mary's heart was still pounding and she must have looked scared because Sam rubbed his hand gently up and down her knee. "You okay, Mary?"

"Still scared, I guess. But, yes, I'm fine."

The restaurant was not open for lunch so Sam called room service and he and Mary and ate some very nice sandwiches in their suite.

He felt close to her again. The magnetism he thought they had lost through the pill discussions returned and his skin tingled any time they touched.

"So," Mary said as they were finishing the last of their sandwiches, "do we invite Tomaso and Carina to join us here for dinner?"

"I wouldn't do that without clearing it with the maître d first."

"I'm sure they'd make room for a man of your position."

"That might get ugly. I never throw my financial weight around. I think it's counterproductive."

"Oh," said Mary and made another mental note in favor of this charming man. She, too, had felt the return of the magnetism. To her it felt like they had gone through a low-level lovers' quarrel and come through stronger for it. She wished he would kiss her. Making love was going to be a new adventure. No one had ever used protection, a condom with her. She tried to imagine the details. Her pussy tingled and she felt herself becoming wet.

No one answered when Sam called Sam called Tomaso and Carina at their house in Vienna so Sam called Tomaso at work and was told Mr. Fero was on vacation.

"They're probably on the road somewhere between here and DC," Sam said. "We'll try again later."

"In the mean time we could take a nap," Mary said.

"Are you tired?"

"You could get me tired."

"I don't want you to get tired of me," Sam said.

"Wrong word. My bad. I'll never get tired of you. But you do have a way of draining all the energy from my body."

"You can start by taking your bra off. You feel so much better when I hold you."

"No panties, no bra. What do you want, Sam Foster?"

"You're making me hard. Come here."

"Why don' we both come in the bedroom instead?"

"Now you're being bad. I like that."

Mary stood and Sam took her into his arms and planted a hot passionate kiss on her. She responded in kind and soon they were squirming on the bed. They stood to undress and Mary pulled the duvet off before they climbed back on top of the satin sheets. Sam fondled Mary's tits and sucked her nipples bringing Mary to a frenzy. She lay on her back and Sam got between her legs. He licked the inside of her thighs, working his way higher until his mouth came to her sopping pussy. He could smell her love fragrance. He licked the juncture of her leg and her outer lips, making Mary arch her hips to increase the contact. With the thumb and forefinger of one hand he opened her slit to reveal her crimson inner lips bathed in their natural viscous fluids. He flattened his tongue and lapped up her girl juice, pushing hard against her lips all the way to her love bud, which was standing erect at the top of her slit. Sam took the clit in his lips and sucked on it, gently at first, and then harder and harder until Mary shuddered and he felt her legs tighten stiffly against his head. When Mary's orgasm had subsided, Sam stood and walked to the chest of drawers.

"Come back. I want more and you still aren't through."

"I know sweetheart, I'll be right back."

Sam returned to his position between Mary's wide open thighs. He spread the precum seeping from his glans over the head and shaft of his cock and slid it, inch by delicious inch into the hot wet tunnel of Mary's cunt. They found a comfortable rhythm that allowed the phallus to come nearly all the way out before it returned to plunge fully into its velvet sheath. Thenat the top of a stroke, Sam stopped and got to his knees.

"What? Why are stopping? I was about to come."

"I know. I was, too. We need protection."

"Let me see."

Sam felt a twinge, but the time for modesty was far gone. He showed her how to hold the curled ring at the top and roll it slowly and evenly down the shaft. "you need to take care not to snag it on your fingernails. One small puncture and a swimmer will find a way to escape."

Mary sat up and held the latex-covered cock loosely in her hand. "It feels god but different somehow." She brought her mouth to iy and engulfed the head. SOon she had it slick and started taking more and more of it deeper in her mouth, all the way to the back of her throat.

Sam eased her mouth off his, kissed her deeply and resumed his kneeling position between her thighs. He was pleasantly surprised how intently he could feel her warmth and wetness. They found the satisfying love rhythm and soon Sam was thrusting as deeply as before they paused to apply the condom. The walls of Mary's cunt contracted in synch with his own urgent piston. She was approaching a major orgasm and he didn.t want reach his ahead of her. He held her tightly and shoved himself harder but more slowly in and out.

"Oh, yes, like that. Give it to me hard. Harder, Sam. I'm coming. Oh God, yes." The writhing beneath him and the contractions of Mary's climax pushed Sam over top. "Aah, I'm coming."

Sam rolled to his side, bringing Mary with him so they wrapped in a warm embrace, free to kiss and caress and make small talk.

"Wow. That was the best ever. You're ruining me, you know."

"How so?"

"I love everything about you: The way you hold me, the way you feel and smell. I've never felt so complete and at peace in my whole life. I wish I could stay with you forever."

Sam felt the same about Mary but he was not as brave as she. Mary was different from anyone Sam had ever known, let alone made love to. He had to find a way to let her know.

"That was my first time with a condom and I must say it was terrific. But that could be a reflection of the wonderful woman I was making love to.

What did you think?"

"It was the best ever as I said, but, if you ask my opinion, I prefer it natural."

"Mary..."

"I know Sam, shut up and kiss me." The moment was so nearly perfect, there was nothing they could do to improve it. Mary felt giddy with happiness. She looked back at her life and tried to remember her last few years: landing a job, finding her apartment, nights out with friends, special events at the Kennedy Center, holidays at home, graduating from Temple, the first exciting days on the cruise ship, delivering the valedictorian speech at high school graduation, senior prom. All those were nothing compared to having Sam's cock deep in her pussy as she lived through a toe curling orgasm. Even the words she used to formulate her thoughts were different. Last year, if she had thought about it at all she would have said "vagina."

She felt Sam stir in his sleep and kissed him on the chest.

"You awake?" he said.

"Just taking a moment to smell the roses."

"May I ask you a question?"

"If you'll show me your tits."

"Take a look."

"They're gorgeous," Sam said, "what do you want to know?"

"What would you say is the happiest you have ever been in your entire life?"

"I'd say it was about two milliseconds ago."

"I came to the same conclusion," Mary said. She had trouble forming the words because her heart was racing even faster than her imagination. Could Sam be feeling the same sense of fulfillment that she felt when they made love? Did he feel, as she did, that he had found the one? She was walking on a ledge. One misstep could bring disaster.

Sam wondered what had made Mary ask the question and why he had been so quick to answer. It could be such a philosophical quagmire to ask yourself if you are happier now than at some previous time of your life. A psychology professor he had as an undergraduate had once said "if you ask yourself, 'am I happy?' you will take the first step toward unhappiness" Yet he had skipped all of that to blurt out essentially that he has never been happier in his life. And if that is true, what should he do now? Was he ready to fall head-over-heels in love? True, Mary was an exceptional, lover. Was she the best for him? He had nothing to compare her to. Unless one counted Angela, Mary was the first woman he had let himself go with. These past few days with her made it clear in his mind that he was extremely attracted to her. He felt young and sexually alive again. But he knew it was more than sex appeal. She made his heart sing just thinking about her. Without being overly egoistic, Mary felt she was equal to him. She didn't take him, or herself, too seriously. Sam knew he was going to need that going forward. Was this the time to tell her? What good could it do to wait?

"Mary?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you would like to work for me?"

"What kind of work?"

"I don't know specifically. This and that. Odds and ends. Girl Friday, utility infielder, mentor, advisor, guardian angel."

"Wow, that's quite a job description, what's the pay?"

"Whatever you want."

"What about benefits?"

"Whatever you need, guaranteed."

"When would I start?"

"Two days ago."

"I accept. What's my next task?"

"It's a big one."

"Then, I'd better get started. What do you want me to do?" Mary prayed Sam was not kidding.

"We need a place around here we can use to work from. It should be comfortable for the two of us without being overly ostentatious."

Mary could barely breathe. Sam was asking her to stay with him permanently. Her fondest dreams were coming true.

"You want to buy or rent?"

"It will probably need to serve us for a year or so. If you can find a lease, fine but if we need to buy that's okay, too. We can worry about unloading it if and when the time comes."

"I wish I had access to my computer at work. I could survey everything on the market in a couple of hours."

"I saw a little strip mall as we were driving in. I think one of the stores ws a Best Buy. They probably have something you can use."

Mary got up and started putting on her jeans.

"Whoa. What are you doing?"

"Getting dressed. Can't go shopping nekkid."

"Let's leave that for later. Right now come give me a kiss and a hug."

"Are sexual favors included in my duties?"

"Top of the list," Sam said and pulled her into a hot passionate kiss. Having made up his mind, Sam felt totally in control again.

"Oh Sam, I love you so much."

"I love you Mary." There. He said it. There was no holding back now.

"You are what I came looking for. It was not a place, at least, not a physical place that I was trying to find. I found it before I ever left Great Falls." Sam slipped a finger into her pussy and wiggled it slowly.

"And is that where you think you found what you were looking for, in my hot little cunny?" Mary pushed her hips back and forth on his finger.

"Yep. That's where you were hiding." Sam said and picked Mary up and carried her to bed. They made love with an urgency that surprised both of them. Sam drove into her as if trying to flatten her against the bed. Mary held on to Sam, refusing to let go, even when he tried to go get a condom. Whatever happens happens. Now that they had declared their love for each other, nothing mattered beyond this moment and moments like this for the rest of her life.