Journeys
Lynn
Chapter Four
"I’m in an airplane, flying across the Atlantic Ocean. I never expected in my life to be in an airplane." The moon was coming up to the full, and the Atlantic reflected a ribbon of molten silver below. Vincent turned away from the window where he had spent the last hour looking out, avidly drinking in the sight of the world from the air. First Manhattan Island had spread itself below, a jeweled crown even more magnificent from the air than from Catherine’s balcony; then the span of the Atlantic Ocean in the lambent light of the moon drew his enthralled attention.
"The world is so big; the space, the size of it, amaze me. I thank you, Catherine. If we turned and went back right now it would be enough, I would be satisfied."
Catherine laughed delightedly. "I should be thanking you, Vincent, for letting me be a witness to your first sight of the world. Do you know how much fun this is for me? I’m loving it so much I almost feel guilty about it. I’m having as much fun as you are!"
"Not possible." He smiled at her. "This experience is…unbelievable. The whole thing is illusory, akin to hallucination." He looked around him, appraising the interior of the jet for the first time. "But this plane is no dream, no hallucination, Catherine. This is a very luxurious, and I would imagine very expensive airplane. Have you rented it? I hope you didn’t buy it!"
"No, I’m afraid my fabled wealth doesn’t run to jet airplanes, Vincent. I borrowed it. Actually, I borrowed it from Eliot Burch. I hope that doesn’t matter to you?"
Vincent said nothing for a moment, not looking at her. Then: "No, it doesn’t matter."
She reached for his hands. "Don’t…oh, don’t be hurt. Let me tell you how it happened. He came to see me one night not long ago. I guess I felt sorry for him; anyway, we talked for a little while, and I told him about…you. Not about who you are, nothing like that. I told him that there always had been someone else, someone that I love with all my heart. And he said that if he could ever do anything for the two of us…well, it seemed like such a wonderful opportunity, I just…"
When Vincent looked up at her he was smiling. "I’m not hurt. You have many friends, and it seems inevitable to me that at least some of the men would fall in love with you. But Catherine, I’m amused at your…shall we call it initiative? Did you ask him to put it in writing? Best to get these things nailed down while the party of the first part is agreeable, isn’t it, counselor?"
"Well, I have to admit he seemed a bit stunned." She giggled a little, remembering Eliot’s astonishment at the request.
"I’m not surprised, and I’m certainly not upset. Eliot Burch has been a good friend to us before, and I hope you will convey to him when you are able how grateful I am for the loan of his airplane."
"Vincent, do you know that you’re perfect?"
He looked at her quizzically. "A rather abrupt change of subject, Catherine."
"Not a change of subject at all. Most men would have sulked for days when I told them what I just told you. I didn’t have faith in you, Vincent. I waited until it was too late for you to back out before I told you it was Eliot’s plane, because I was afraid you’d be angry. It wasn’t honest of me, but I wanted so much for us to go on this trip. Am I forgiven?"
"There’s nothing to forgive. And if there were I couldn’t be angry with you for very long. I…love you too much, Catherine. You can do no wrong." He looked at her for a moment, and she thought he was going to take her in his arms. But he took a deep breath and looked around the plane once more. "Is there a place to sleep?"
"The two chairs on your side and my sofa here convert into a bed. It’s really very ingenious. I’ll show you." She got up, but Vincent put his hand on her arm.
"No, no, I just wondered, don’t do anything now."
"We should go to sleep sometime tonight, Vincent. Tomorrow is a big day."
He smiled a little. "They’ll all be big days, for quite a few days to come. But I guess you’re right, we will need to get some rest. But what about Devin? Even he is human, and needs to sleep sometime."
"He says he gets quite a bit of sleep when he flies all night."
"What!" Vincent stared at her. When he realized that she wasn’t making a joke, he put his head down into his hands for a moment and then looked up with laughter in his eyes. "Oh great heavens, that’s just wonderful. It makes me feel so comfortable to know he’s getting his rest! And who drives this vehicle while he does that?"
Catherine laughed. "He puts the plane on autopilot, and dozes in his seat. The plane will let him know if anything is wrong."
"I see. The plane flies itself while he sleeps." He shook his head, chuckling, and stood up. "Well, we have to presume that Devin knows what he’s doing. All right, let’s get these beds made. We should sleep."
"Ah…I’m afraid there’s only one bed, Vincent. But it’s a double bed."
Disconcerted, Vincent hesitated, then sat down again. "Oh. I see." He paused, thinking. "Maybe this is a good time to bring something up that I’ve meant to talk about, Catherine. During this time that we’re together every minute of every day, I hope you will understand if I keep more distance between us than has been our practice in the recent past. I feel…less confidence in my ability to keep things within bounds under these circumstances. Will this be all right with you?"
Catherine’s heart sank at this request, and Vincent was immediately aware of it. "You are disappointed. I’m sorry, Catherine. I never want to do anything to make you unhappy; you must know that. But please understand; I can’t…I’m afraid, afraid that I won’t be able to…"
"I do understand. It’s all right, Vincent. I am disappointed; I thought…well, it doesn’t matter. This trip is for you…no, for both of us to look out at the world, not to worry about our petty disappointments. I’m sure that this is not something that you’re happy about either. We will do what we have to do, and not let it cloud our happiness in each other and this trip. OK?"
Vincent took her hands in his, and looking into her eyes, he spoke in his lowest register. "I love you more with each passing day, and I thank you with all that’s in me for your loving heart, and for your tolerance of my…weakness."
"Oh, Vincent, oh my love…" Their eyes locked and held for a long moment, all of the ardor pent inside of each of them in that silent look. Then they got up and began to work at getting the bed ready for the night. There was nothing else to say.
They made up two separate beds on the one mattress, folding two sheets, each one from the center out to opposite edges, so that each of them had their own envelope of covers. Vincent was not really happy even with this arrangement, but there was no other place to sleep; even the floor wasn’t wide enough in any one place for him to lie down comfortably.
He stretched out on his side of the bed, and Catherine lay down on hers. Both were careful to keep distance between them, and each thought I’ll never go to sleep, but they were so exhausted by the excitement of the day’s events that in ten minutes they were both sound asleep.
In sleep inhibitions are lost, and before half an hour had passed, Catherine was spooned tightly into Vincent’s body. His arms folded around her, holding her against him. Both were still asleep; in the comfort of their closeness each sighed deeply, and sank into a more restful repose.
**********
"Vincent, wake up. We’re making landfall in Spain."
"Spain? Gods! Let me see!" He was up in an instant with his face pressed against the window. In the early morning sun the land was golden, but it seemed empty until he realized that they were too high to see any sign of human habitation. The sea was burnished bronze by the morning sun where the land curved away to the southeast; bright, but no brighter than Vincent’s mane, also gilded with the golden light.
Catherine looked not at Spain, but at Vincent seeing Spain, and she was as enthralled as he. She thought that he was more beautiful than a god in that light, and with the joy of discovery on his face.
*************
"Will you two settle down, and let me land this airplane, for Pete’s sake? I told you, this is taken care of!" Devin shook his head disgustedly as he turned back to the controls. "Now sit down, and fasten your damn safety belts."
Vincetn and Catherine looked at each other, stunned, as Devin began to talk to the Cairo airport in what they could only suppose was Arabic. "Is there anything he can’t do?" Catherine whispered, laughing.
"If so, we haven’t discovered it on this trip." Vincent smiled back. "And if our luck holds, we won’t."
They watched in bemused silence as Devin expertly landed the plane, touching down imperceptibly and rolling to a smooth stop.
Vincent moved quickly away from the window, always conscious of showing himself to strangers, as Catherine moved between him and any possible view from the other side. They had perfected their moves in two previous stops, one in Toledo, Spain, and one at the Athens airport, where Devin had some mysterious business which took only a few minutes. Then he was back on the plane, and their journey continued to their present destination, Cairo.
"Now, I’m going to ask you to stay aboard for a couple of hours, Vincent, while I take care of the last minute arrangements here. I absolutely guarantee that you will not be bothered while I am gone. I’ve already been in contact with Ahsidi by radio, and he has taken care of the airport people, and the government people. Just sit tight for a couple of hours, and I’ll bring back dinner from the best restaurant in Cairo. OK?"
"Bring lots, I’m hungry already." Catherine laughed up at him. She had been smiling almost constantly the last few hours. Her dream was coming true. Vincent was seeing the world, if only from an airplane window, so far.
"You’re coming with me." Devin grinned at her. "Gotta let these people know that I have a passenger."
Catherine was astonished by how smoothly things went. The airport people were downright obsequious, not only willing but anxious that their every requirement be met, almost before it was expressed.
She spoke to Devin as they moved through the airport with VIP treatment all the way. "Your friend must be a powerful man! I’m astonished at what he has accomplished here. Bureaucrats are not usually this anxious to please."
"This country is not exactly a democracy, Catherine. Bureaucrats here are not protected from losing their jobs. In fact, they’re not protected at all. They could lose more than their jobs, believe me. My friend Ahsidi could tell you a lot about that. How do you think he got into a position where he needed someone to save his life? A change of government, or even the displeasure of someone above you can make a life or death difference in a country like this one. Which means that we must be very careful not to criticize any arrangements that are made for us. Lives could change because of a word from us."
"That scares me to death, Devin. I won’t say a word. I think I’ll pretend I don’t understand any language they try on me. That way I can’t say anything I shouldn’t. My God, you’d think having so much power would be fun, but this is not fun!" Catherine shuddered, horrified by what a word could do here.
"Unfortunately, it can get to be fun. It has for many people. That’s how this kind of system flourishes in many countries." Devin shrugged. "I try not to get involved with it as a rule, but in this case I think it’s worth any amount of effort." He smiled at Catherine, not mentioning anything specific about Vincent in a public place.
Arrangements had already been made for a limo with one-way windows to pick them up at the plane, and for Devin to drive it from there. "Ahsidi thought a police escort would be prudent, to keep us from having to explain anything to various bureaucrats, so we’ve got that, but it will be a plain car, with plain-clothes police. They’ll handle all arrangements, and get us to the Pyramids with a minimum of interference. Once we get there, we have the whole night. They’ll come back for us at dawn."
"I still can’t believe it’s really going to happen. But Devin, let’s get back to the plane as quickly as possible, I’m sure V…I want to rest for awhile."
"I’m going to send you back with someone to see that you get there. I want to go into Cairo to see Ahsidi, but I don’t think we should leave…the plane alone any longer. I’ll see to it that dinner is sent to you. I’ll be back shortly after dark, with the limo and our escort. See you then." Devin spoke in what she supposed was Arabic to the man waiting patiently to help them in any way he could, and the man beamed at Catherine, and then bowed and waved her in the direction of the airfield.
She was back at the plane in a few minutes, and climbed the steps quickly, anxious to reassure Vincent that all was well. She turned her key in the door and entered. As she closed the door behind her, she found herself swept into Vincent’s arms, and before she could react to that, his mouth came down on hers. They were lost in the kiss in an instant, both of them moaning a little, arms tight around each other, bodies melded into one aching entity.
Vincent raised his head at last, but didn’t loosen his embrace. "You will not go away from me again on this trip! I was in agony lest you be in danger; how could I get to you? I won’t let you go again. Ever." His mouth dropped to hers again.
The kiss escalated beyond any they had shared before. Without breaking it he lifted her off the floor, and they half-fell onto the sofa. His hands moved over her body, curving around her buttocks, reaching down to the inside of her thighs. They seemed to be everywhere; they came up under her shirt, moving over the skin of her back, sliding under the waistband of her trousers to touch her skin everywhere he could reach. His mouth moved from hers down the side of her neck to the V opening of her shirt. His breathing was fast and ragged, and Catherine could feel the pounding of his heart.
As his hand moved to cup her breast she gasped and arched her body into it. But as the heat of passion continued to grow, in a moment of clarity she remembered her promise. Oh God, I don’t want to stop! In the past Vincent had been able to keep control without her help; but this time she realized that if they were to stop, she would have to intervene. She had promised, and she believed that he wasn’t going to stop on his own.
"Vincent? My love…we must stop." She put her hand under his chin to lift his face away from her breast. "Vincent?" He was resisting, his mouth was at her nipple now, he took it into his mouth through her shirt, making erotic sensation arrow through her body. She shivered and caught her breath, but she spoke once more. "Vincent! Please…if you don’t stop now, I won’t be able to either..."
She knew he had heard her when he stopped moving. Slowly his head lifted, and he looked at her. "I…I want this so much, oh, Catherine…my dearest love…"
He loosened his embrace, pulling himself back from her, beginning to regain control. He sat for several minutes staring at nothing, while his breathing slowed. Then he turned to her. "Thank you, Catherine. I don’t think I could have done it…I wouldn’t have stopped. Thank you."
He leaned forward, his hair hiding his face. "I was so frightened for you. I just needed to feel you here, in my arms again, and it got beyond my control."
"I believe that it was beyond your control, Vincent, but you were still so gentle, still the same loving man you’ve always been." She reached to stroke his hair lightly. "There is nothing in you that is a danger to me. You have only love and tenderness in your heart."
He looked up at her then; when he spoke his voice was rough. "Catherine, you have no idea what’s in my heart. I am not always the gentleman in my daydreams, believe me. There is violence in my feelings for you. I know it. I’ve dreamed, I’ve imagined…things I can’t tell you."
"You can tell me. I want to know, Vincent. I long to know all of your feelings for me. Tell me."
"No! I can’t do that."
"Maybe I should tell you what I’ve dreamed. Shall I? I promised not to do anything to make it harder for you. I won’t tell you unless you want me to."
He looked up at her. "Your dreams cannot be anything like the things that I dream. It’s not…no. They cannot."
"You have no idea what’s in my heart either, Vincent. I’m going to tell you one of my fantasies. I think you need to hear this.
"I’ve dreamed that you tie me to the bed. That you tease me and torment me with your hands and your mouth until I’m crazy, crying and moaning, and then you torment me more, and make me say and do things that I can’t believe I’d do. And then, when I can’t stand any more, you take me, take me hard and fast, and I love it. I love it, Vincent."
Vincent’s head came up slowly, and he stared at her as if unbelieving of what he had heard. Suddenly he stood up and jerked her to her feet, his hands tight enough on her arms to leave marks. He pulled her to him roughly. "Gods! You make me want you beyond bearing! If you say one more word I’ll…" His head came down and he kissed her hard, then let go of her quickly and walked to the other end of the cabin, where he stood looking at the ceiling, letting his blood cool and his breathing slow.
She waited a few minutes, until she saw the tension start to leave his shoulders. Then she said, "Was my fantasy anything like what you’ve dreamed?"
He wheeled to look at her, running his hands through his mane, pushing it back from his heated face. "Anything like it? Closer than I would have believed was possible! Catherine, how can it be that you want…that?"
"We all have fantasies, Vincent, you know that. I don’t know, maybe I wouldn’t want it in reality; maybe it wouldn’t be as much fun as the daydream, but we all dream of violent sexual behavior. At least all my friends do. When we were in college this was a very popular subject of conversation. I think we tried to outdo each other." She smiled as she thought back on those days. "I wasn’t in the running with some of them. In fact they all thought I was a bit of a wimp, because the one I’ve told you went much farther than my fantasies went then."
His smile was a little bit shaky. "I’m not sure I’d survive anything you told me that went any farther!"
He turned away from her again, and stood in a characteristic pose, staring at the ceiling. Catherine waited for what he would have to say, not sure if she was scared or elated by what had passed between them in the last few minutes.
"Catherine…what shall we do? How can we go on like this? I am at a loss, I’m unable to think rationally about it at all."
Her answer was impatient. "Vincent, don’t ask me that! You know what I think we should do about it, but I’m sure that’s not what you want to hear." Then, as he turned to her, looking stricken, she relented. "Oh my dear, I don’t know how this is going to end. Whatever you decide to do about it I will go along with, but let’s not try to decide anything now, both of us are too…too close to it at the moment."
There was a knock on the plane door. "There’s Devin with our dinner. Let’s eat, and we’ll think about this when things have cooled off a little. OK?"
"Yes, you’re right." He opened the door of the lavatory, and stepped inside. "Let me know when it’s safe to come out."
Catherine opened the door and the dinner was brought in by three men burdened with napery and food, although Devin was not with them. He sent a note:
Tied up. Enjoy.
D
The men set up the table with practiced speed, and laid out a dinner that seemed to Catherine to be enough for four or more people. "Is this all for me?" She smiled at the nearest man. He answered in his own language, shrugging. "OK," she answered, sure that that would be understood. And it was; he smiled broadly and the three men bowed themselves out.
Vincent emerged from his seclusion, and Catherine showed him Devin’s note. He read it, shook his head and smiled, and they sat down to eat.
Vincent was nonplused by the food. "There isn’t one item of food on this table with which I’m familiar. Catherine, you’ll have to guide me through it." But he found that he liked it all. "This is another unanticipated new experience. Egyptian food is very, very good. There are tastes, spices here that I’m totally unfamiliar with. I wish William were here; I’d like to see some of this food on the tunnel menu."
Catherine smiled. "I’ll buy William a Middle East cookbook. That’ll shake up the tunnel folk! Can you see Mary eating hummus?"
Vincent laughed out loud at that. Actually laughed.
My, my! This trip is causing new behaviors all over the place! thought Catherine.
************
The short walk from the plane to the car was the only time that Vincent had been in the open at all since he left the tunnels. Devin had parked the airplane purposely to shelter the door from observation, and he thought they had about a ninety-five percent chance that Vincent would be completely unobserved. The sun was very low in the sky, and the steps down from the plane were in shadow; nevertheless Vincent stood for a long moment looking out of the door before he stepped out into the open. He was down the steps and into the car in under five seconds, but they all breathed easier once he was again under cover.
The car moved away from the airport, picking up its police escort at the gate, and entered the highway that would take it to Giza. As the car gathered speed on the highway, both Vincent and Catherine were slightly giddy with excitement. "Is this happening? Am I on the way to see Khufu’s tomb? I don’t believe it!" Vincent pulled Catherine against him, nuzzling her ear, and nibbling at her chin.
"What the hell is going on back there? I’ve got a rear view mirror, you know!" Devin was grinning like a jack o’lantern.
Vincent didn’t appear to be embarrassed at all; he didn’t stop making love to Catherine for a moment. "Keep your eyes on the road. Cars do not have autopilots, and I want to live to see Giza!"
Catherine chortled, and began to kiss him back, but both of them were too excited for any serious lovemaking. Devin could hear them laughing and whispering to each other like teenagers. He smiled and sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever gods had sent Catherine into Vincent’s life, to give him a piece of the joy of youth that he had missed so completely in his teenage years. As he looked in the mirror and saw them clinging so close to each other he thought also that it wouldn’t be long now before Vincent would know another kind of joy, one that was long overdue.
"Go for it, Vincent!" He said softly to himself. "You deserve it, God knows."
**********
Devin had been to Giza before, and when he had pulled the car to a stop he turned to lean over the back of the seat. "I’ll play tour guide if you want. I know a little bit about Giza, I had a good guide when I was here. Beautiful, too; and with other skills that…but that’s another story." He grinned at Vincent, hoping to embarrass him.
But Vincent had other things to think about at the moment. "I don’t think we’ll need that, I’ve researched the subject pretty thoroughly, I think I can find my way around on my own."
"Good! Because what I want right now is a nap. I haven’t slept to speak of since night before last, and if I’m going to land the Lear on that little bitty strip at Akami, I’ll need to be awake when I do it. So if you two will just vacate the back seat, I’ll take possession."
"We’ll see you later." Vincent opened the door and swung his feet out of the car, then he stopped and sat looking at the sand under his feet for a moment. Catherine came around the car and watched him as he raised his head, the there it was in front of him, the Sphinx; behind it and to the right reared the enormous bulk of the Great Pyramid. He got out of the car, his eyes still on the sight before him, and stood for a long time just looking, his arm holding Catherine against his side, while tears ran down his face. At last he began to move forward, bringing her along with him. "I want to get closer…I want to touch it…I want to touch it all!" His voice was hoarse with his tears.
They walked for two hours around Giza. The moon had just risen, full in a cloudless desert sky, and it threw the details on the shadowed side of every object into Stygian blackness as Catherine moved with him through the deep sand.
Vincent was silent for long stretches of time, drinking in the sense of antiquity that pervaded the night. When he spoke it was about Egypt, about its history and about the building of the pyramids. Catherine was astonished at the depth of his knowledge. He walked around Giza as if he had been there before, coming up to corners and telling her what they would see when they rounded them.
When Catherine expressed astonishment at his knowledge he told her, "I went through a long period when I was about twenty, when Egypt was the most interesting study I could imagine. I can’t tell you how many times I have walked this ground in my imagination. To be here is…unbelievable. If you had asked me where I’d most like to go, this would be the place. I never thought I would stand here in Giza, and see Egypt’s past in person, my feet in African sands, breathing the air that the pharaohs breathed." His eyes filled with tears again. "Catherine, you have given me a gift beyond price."
Catherine reached up to touch his face, tears in her eyes also. "I didn’t know! I didn’t know that this was a special place for you, but perhaps Devin did. He’s the one you should thank for this. I couldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t even have considered it, but it was the first thing he mentioned after he heard that I had a jet. And his contacts here made this whole thing possible. Did he know that Egypt was a special place for you?"
"Probably. I’ve spent many hours talking with Devin since he’s more often at home. We’ve covered just about everything, I guess."
"Our relationship?" Catherine said, inquiry in her voice.
"We’ve talked about it, but not in any depth. I’ve been…reluctant to think about it, much less discuss it with anyone. But Catherine, it’s changed so much I don’t know what to think any more. Things that I have always held to be true about our relationship seem much…shakier. Things that I thought could never happen…well, look at where we are. I thought this could never happen, that it was beyond anything I could wish for, and…here we are. And here you are with me, in a relationship that I never believed could happen to me." His arm came around her, and he pulled her against him as they walked.
"Vincent, could we sit awhile?"
"Yes, of course. You’re tired. I’m sorry, I have been so caught up…well, let’s sit."
They sat down on the ground in the soft sand with their backs against a stone wall, in a place where the whole panorama was spread before them. Catherine sighed and stretched her legs out. "I don’t have your superhuman stamina; sometimes you’re pretty hard to keep up with."
He chuckled. "And I think that you’re the one who’s hard to keep up with. Not physically maybe, but any other way you can think of, I’m always trying to catch up."
Catherine said softly, looking up at him, "…I think you are catching up, Vincent. I think you’re nearly to the end of the journey."
"Yes, I have come far in the last few weeks toward a…different view of our love affair."
"’Love affair’! That sounds wonderful, Vincent. I’ll treasure it."
Vincent gazed thoughtfully at the view ahead of them without seeing it. "Catherine, I believe that one reason that I have been so apprehensive about any further closeness between us was something that I wasn’t really aware of. I believe that I thought you couldn’t want me as a man. I thought you must feel sorry for me, and offered yourself out of pity. I came some time ago to believe that you love me, but…to have desire for me? I think I believed that was impossible, even with all the evidence of your feelings there for me to see. But…it isn’t impossible, is it?"
Catherine shook her head with a wry grin. "Oh, Vincent, what does it take to convince you? I’ve wanted you almost from the day we met, although it wasn’t on a conscious level until…I think until you were trapped in the cave-in. I knew after that; I knew how much I wanted you to make love to me when I thought I might have lost you."
Vincent caught his breath. "How much you wanted me to make love to you…I never thought to hear that from a woman at all, and to hear it from you…" It was too much; he pulled her to him, and his mouth came down on hers.
This time his hands moved over her body with no hesitation; she felt the warmth of his palm against her breast almost immediately. But something else was different this time; he spoke to her of his desire. With his mouth against her skin, between kisses, he began to tell her of his longing, making her thrill to the words he spoke.
"I want you…I want to see your body, to see it before me bare, to touch you everywhere, to kiss you everywhere, to feel you…enclosing me. I want that so much; I have for so long. My dreams have been of you for as long as I’ve loved you. Even at the very beginning…after you left the tunnels, my dreams were full of you, of your body, of my hands moving to that sweet place between your legs. I’ve wanted it, wanted to feel my body sliding into yours, to feel that you are mine…that I have you under me, captive to my lovemaking…oh, Catherine…" His hands moved to the front of her shirt, and he began to unbutton it. "I want to see you…let me…let me have this much…only this…"
His hands came up and pushed the opened shirt off her shoulders, leaving her bare to the waist except for a wisp of bra. As his hands fumbled with it, hers came up to the front closure, and it fell away. In the moonlight her skin was opalescent, and he looked and looked at her breasts, doing nothing else until she took his hand and carried it up to touch a nipple, which hardened and lifted to meet it. "Oh please…Vincent, please…"
Both hands came up to cup her breasts then, moving slowly to feel the softness of the flesh under them. In a moment his thumbs rose to touch her nipples, moving around them, feeling the hardness of their erection, then pinching them softly between thumb and forefinger, making her moan with pleasure. His breath was coming very fast now, and Catherine could see his hardened penis where it pressed tightly against his jeans. Without thinking about it at all, the impulse seemed so natural to her, she moved her hand down to stroke that erection. His head jerked up and he stared at her for a moment, then his eyes closed and he moaned deep in his throat as her hand moved over his penis. "My god, what you do to me…don’t stop. Oh please don’t stop…"
She continued to stroke him while her other hand deftly unbuttoned his jeans. He cried out when he felt her hands on the hot skin of his surging erection. "Ahh, Catherine, I want it, don’t stop…let me have it…"
She smiled shakily. "Yes, I’m going to do that, my love, my love…I’m going to make it happen for you…" She continued to murmur encouragement as she stroked up and down his hardened shaft with one hand, and rubbed around the rim and the tip of its head with the other, making him writhe with pleasure. "That’s right, my love, let it come, I want it to come, I want to see it happen to you…" Her words enflamed his senses as much as her hands, and in a few moments his body arched up as his orgasm took him; he began to pump out his seed and gave a long growling cry.
He collapsed back against the wall, breathing hard, and nearly helpless in the aftermath of a soul-shaking orgasmic experience. Catherine snuggled against him and his arm came around her. In a few minutes, when his breathing had slowed somewhat, he looked down at her. "Oh, Catherine, I’m sorry! I didn’t expect…it took me by surprise, I just couldn’t…"
She put her hand up to his mouth. "Hush, don’t apologize, Vincent. You couldn’t stop it, I know, and I didn’t want to stop it. It was wonderful."
"It was wonderful. Wonderful for me, but…"
"Wonderful for me too! How many nights do you suppose I’ve spent thinking about your body, wanting you, wanting to touch you in just this way, wanting to make your body explode with pleasure? And it was better even than I dreamed. Your body is so marvelous, Vincent, so overwhelmingly masculine that I long to touch it whenever I see you. This was wonderful for me also, believe me."
"But…you…?"
"Shall we not worry about keeping score? My turn is coming, I know it. I always have known it, but I feel it very close now, very close."
He was beginning to come back to himself now. "Catherine… my reservations are not gone; my concerns for your safety and your future remain. I haven’t changed my mind. I am only…weak. I should not have done this; my senses begged me to let it happen, but I knew it was wrong, and my conscience pricks me now. I’m astonished by the power of this thing; I seem unable after a certain point to say no. I have never encountered anything in my life that so…disables my will."
"Well, of course! Sex is right up there with self-preservation, a basic human drive." She smiled at him, a little bemused at his innocence. "And even in the throes of that basic compulsion, there wasn’t a sign of violence in you. You begged," she grinned more widely, "but you didn’t try any kind of force. I knew you wouldn’t."
"Catherine, you make it such a light thing, but I feel very much more apprehensive about the future than you appear to. What will we do now? Will this become a common occurrence between us? Isn’t this a…subversion of the natural drive into something…less?"
"If it is, it’s a pretty common subversion. People have been doing this sort of thing as a substitute for sex for about ten thousand years, I bet. And yes, it is…less, but it’s pretty satisfactory as a substitute when the real thing is…withheld, for whatever reason."
There was a long silence while Vincent thought that over. Then: "Catherine, could I…do that for you?"
"Yes, of course you could."
"Now?"
"Do you want to?"
"Oh, yes!" He paused for a moment. "But Catherine, can I…" He stopped.
"Tell me."
He looked down until his hair shadowed his face. "Is it…permissible…I would want to…could I do it with…my mouth?"
"Oh, Vincent, I would love that! But I think we’d better not…" she paused, looking for the right words.
"Have I said something…unacceptable?" He wasn’t looking at her; she could feel his apprehension.
"No! Not at all, not at all! But I’m afraid that what you suggest could make us both go totally out of control. It’s the most…exciting…"
Vincent got up abruptly, and reached his hand down to help her up. "Let’s walk. I don’t think I can talk about this any more, I can’t…well, let’s walk."
They walked until the sky began to lighten in the east. By unspoken agreement they stayed on the topic of Egypt, not hazarding another excursion into the sexual realm. They talked about Egypt but both of them thought about that which was unspoken. Catherine felt more hopeful of a satisfactory conclusion than ever before, but Vincent’s thoughts were more basic in nature. What repeated over and over in his head was the feel of her hands on him, and the words she had said at the last, It’s the most…exciting… How was he going to forget what had happened between them this night? How go back to kisses, when he could feel her hands on him yet?
