Chapter 3

Caught up in the fantasy Gloria had created for them, Neil pounded Barry unmercifully for close to ten minutes. Neil hadn’t had anal sex with anyone before, so he revelled in the new sensation of his cock sliding into a grippingly tight, warm anus.

Eager to impress Gloria, Neil counted backwards from 100 in threes, then sevens, then thirteens, trying to stave off his orgasm for as long as possible. But when he turned his head to discover the source of the squishing/slapping sounds he heard, and saw Gloria thrusting an at least 7-inch dildo into her gaping snatch, he lost it and exploded inside Barry’s rectum.

“Arrrggghhh. Arrrggghhh!” Neil groaned as his orgasm crashed over him.

Unfortunately, as soon as Neil came, he remembered he was fucking a man, his best friend, in fact. Freaked out, Neil pulled out and, embarrassedly, not looking at either Gloria or Barry, put his clothes on and ran out of the unit. Barry tried to grab Neil’s arm, but Neil ripped it out of his grasp and bolted from the room.

“Let him go, Baz,” Gloria said. “Text me his address, and I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“You mean you’ll go fuck him tomorrow and convince him he’s not gay,” Barry spat, terrified and angry that he may have lost one of his few true friends.

Arching an eyebrow, Gloria said, “And what if I do? Five minutes suckling on these fine puppies,” she cupped her luscious breasts and shook them at Barry, “and even gay Nigel isn’t so gay anymore. Now, Baz, are we going to argue, or are we going to fuck?”

Still angry and feeling quite bullish, Barry said, “We’re going to fuck, of course. Now bend over the kitchen table and prepare to receive.”

Chuckling to herself, Gloria did as Barry demanded. The phone books were soon back in place, and Barry’s meagre todger was sliding into her wet pussy at an upwards angle once more. Again, this angle worked. Gloria knew that, even when she was still a virgin, she didn’t have the tightest of cunts, but with this upwards thrust, Barry’s dick touched her Gspot and the top and bottom of her pussy at the same time.

“Gawd, that’s good, Baz,” Gloria moaned. “Slap my ass, and I’ll cum for you.”

Grunting urgently as his orgasm neared, Barry slapped Gloria’s big, round ass hard as he thrust as deeply into her as he could.

“Tweak my tits,” Gloria gasped.

Barry could just reach at this angle, so he grabbed them between thumb and forefinger and pulled and twisted mercilessly. However, Barry found the harder he pulled and twisted, the louder Gloria’s moans became.

“Fuck, yes, Barry,” Gloria screamed as she squirted over Barry’s shaft.

Feeling Gloria’s pussy gushing over him allowed Barry to relax his grip on his orgasm and cum deliciously into Gloria. Gloria was so pleased with how things were progressing she snuggled up with Barry and slept peacefully.

Barry needed to be at work by 6.00 am the next morning, so when the alarm went off, he extricated himself from under Gloria’s arm, kissed her lightly on the cheek, quietly got dressed and left the unit. On his way to work, he changed his mind and rang his supervisor to say he had some personal business to take care of, and wouldn’t be in until Wednesday.

Because Barry is a good and reliable worker, the supervisor reluctantly allowed an additional day off. Happy, Barry drove to his local McDonalds to wait for the shops to open. When Westfields Toombul opened at 9.00 am, Barry entered Michael Hill jewellers and bought the biggest diamond engagement ring he could afford. Using ‘Afterpay’ meant the ring was a quite impressive three carats in size.

Knowing Gloria would probably have left for work, Barry phoned and asked Gloria to meet him at a café near her work. Wondering what he could possibly want and a little exasperated, Gloria agreed but stated she had no more personal time and needed to get to work on time.

Gloria was waiting with two coffees when Barry entered the café. Luckily, the café was empty when Barry arrived. Shaking like a leaf, Barry went to one knee in front of Gloria, opened the small ring box, and asked, “Gloria Swanson, will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

Stunned, Gloria stared vacantly at Barry for a while. Then, it suddenly dawned on her that Barry was making every effort to change to become someone she could marry. Someone she could have, hold and have children with, yet still enjoy a wide variety of lovers and sexual experimentation. Not only enjoy, but she could actively explore her sexuality with this man.

‘I wonder if he’ll recruit lovers for me as daddy does for mum?’ Gloria mused. But she squealed joyously and said, “Yes! Yes, Barry, I’d love to be your wife!”

The café had suddenly filled with customers as Barry knelt in front of Gloria. A chorus of congratulations blew through the room.

Gloria held her hand out to admire the ring. She quickly realised it was huge. She knew her mother’s ring was at least two carats, but she thought hers was bigger still, “Barry, my ring is beautiful. Pure white diamond and more than two carats! I, I don’t know what to say, but, wow, thank you, baby!”

Gloria decided to blow off work today. She needed to take Barry on an immediate trip to Toowoomba to tell her mum and dad and watch her mum eat her heart out at her bigger, more expensive ring. Pulling her phone out, she called her boss, Stan. Stan had been trying to get into her pants for the last two years. Gloria was tempted, but Stan had halitosis, and Gloria loved being passionately kissed as her lover fucked her, so she refused his advances. But, if he gave her today off, she’d blow him after work tomorrow as a thank you.

When Gloria said she needed the day off, Stan sighed but said it was okay, “You owe me though, Miss Swanson. I expect to collect when you return.”

A thought from the previous night flitted through Gloria’s mind, “Your friend Neil. Is he working today?”

“He’s on afternoon shift. So he’ll be home at the moment,” Barry replied.

“Good,” Gloria answered. “I’ll go sort him out, and then we need to go and see my mum and dad. When we get back, we’ll tell your dad.”

“You’re going to fuck Neil, aren’t you?” Barry stated.

Deciding to test the commitment of the ‘new’ Barry, Gloria replied, “Yes. Do you know a better way to convince Neil he’s not gay just because he fucked your ass?”

“No heterosexual man can refuse you, my love,” Barry said softly.

“Nice to know, but it doesn’t answer my question.”

“I’m not sure I can be like your dad, Gloria. But I’m willing to be your husband whilst allowing you your dalliances, as long as you never give your heart to anyone other than me.”

Gloria kissed Barry as devoutly as she knew how, “You will always have my heart, baby. Now hug me, pat my ass, and send me off to fuck your friend and save your friendship.”

Smiling resignedly, Barry did exactly that.

As she drove to the address her newly betrothed had texted her, a refrain kept playing through Gloria’s mind. ‘I’m engaged. I’m engaged. A man loves me enough to let me be me. I’m engaged.’

Gloria felt excited and exhilarated. She was off to fuck a man, and her soon-to-be husband had given his permission.

‘Shame Neil isn’t hung like Ben,’ Gloria thought. ‘Still, almost six inches is enough, as long as he knows how to use it.’ Then, a sudden wicked thought flew through her, ‘And even if he doesn’t, I can teach him. Fuck!’ She further thought, ‘I wish Barry could watch me seduce him.’

Thirty minutes later, Gloria knocked on Neil’s front door. Neil opened, and before he could speak, Gloria was on him. Locking her lips onto Neil’s and with her hand around his head, Gloria backed Neil up until the back of his knees hit his couch. When Neil fell onto the couch, Gloria hiked up her short skirt and straddled him. Then, peeling her top off and dropping her bra, Gloria guided Neil’s mouth onto her full breasts.

“Do you like my titties?” Gloria asked. “Do you like these luscious melons in your face and mouth? If you do, then nurse on my nipples, baby. Make me hot for you.”

Although Neil was shocked at Gloria’s blatant sexuality, he wasn’t giving up a chance like this. Neil had slept fitfully, worried fucking his best friend made him gay. He’d considered heading to a nearby brothel to fuck a woman to convince himself he wasn’t gay, but he didn’t think it would help. However, fucking an earthy slut like Gloria until his balls spat out his urethra would do it.

Neil nursed Gloria’s nipples as she ground herself on his flagrantly erect todger. Before Neil could even think, Gloria raised herself up, unzipped him, fished his cock out, and sat firmly down on it. Neil’s penis slid deeply inside Gloria.

“Now fuck me,” Gloria demanded. “Cum inside me as quickly as you can. Then we’ll talk, okay?”

Holding Gloria’s shoulders, Neil thrust up into her as hard as he possibly could. No more than ten strokes later, he groaned and burst his seed inside her.

Gloria had almost made it with him. Another four or five strokes and Gloria would probably have orgasmed when she felt Neil cum. Unfortunately, Neil didn’t last that long.

Letting Neil’s deflating dick fall out of her, Gloria snuggled Neil’s head to her lush bosom and said, “You’re worried that fucking a man, your best friend, makes you gay, aren’t you?”

With a soft sob, Neil nodded.

“Do you like the feel of my tits on your face, baby?”

Neil nodded.

“How many gay guys like boobies, do you reckon?”

As Neil thought about that, Gloria leant back and took his slimy with cum cock in her hand. To her delight, Neil grew in her hand.

“What about pussies, Neil? How many gay guys cum as quickly into a woman’s pussy as you just did?”

Misunderstanding Gloria, Neil blushed and said, “Sorry about that.”

“Neil, you Muppet, cumming inside me that quickly is a compliment on how sexy I am, you know that, right?”

“I thought it only showed how useless a fuck I was.”

“To some women, yes, it would, honey,” Gloria explained. “But, tell me, am I responsible for your orgasm? Or are you responsible for mine?”

“I’m responsible for yours and mine.”

“Fucking feminist, lesbian bitches,” Gloria muttered. “So, because of the feminist bullshit our media and education system has instilled in you, you, as a man, are responsible for ensuring sex is good for you and the woman?”

“Yes.”

“And the woman should just lie there and enjoy what her partner does? With no responsibility for showing and/or telling her sexual partner what she needs to get off? Without any clues whatsoever, the man needs to work out what the woman needs to get off and then do that?”

“Yes. But now you say it out loud, it seems a little ridiculous.”

“According to our socialist media and education system, a woman’s arousal and orgasm have nothing to do with her? Therefore, it’s up to the man to work out what to do to turn her on? If he doesn’t do that, then it’s sexual assault, right?”

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been taught.”

“What about ongoing mutual consent?”

“I need it at every step to make love with a woman.”

“When you opened the door, and I grabbed you, did you ask me for permission? Did I ask for yours?”

“No.”

“When I kissed you and made you back up, did I ask permission? Did you?”

“No.”

“When I took you in my hand and guided you into me, did I ask permission? Did you?

“No.”

“When I demanded you fuck me, did you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You gave me permission.”

“And even if I hadn’t?”

“I’d’ve fucked you, anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because you obviously wanted me to.”

“Did I verbally give you consent?”

“No.”

“So you raped me?”

Neil thought about this for a time, then said, “Technically, yes. I didn’t ask for, or receive, consent. So, yes, according to what I’ve been taught, I raped you.”

“Jaysus, this world is fucked up, Neil. Even for one nanosecond, did you think I was objecting?”

“No.”

Gloria considered things, and then inspiration hit her, “So, to be clear, according to what our feminist, socialist education and media systems has taught you, you raped me, yes?”

Almost crying, Neil answered, “Yes.”

“How many gay guys rape women, Neil?”

Realising he’d been gazumped, Neil grinned and said, “None, I’d assume.”

“Good,” Gloria iterated, “Now, Mr Neil Robinson. Do you want to rape my ass or mouth next?”

Feeling better, Neil answered, “Is only one other hole available?”

“No. Assuming you can go at least two more times?”

A thought entered Neil’s mind, “Aren’t you and Barry, like, a thing?”

“Yes,” Gloria replied. “Barry asked me to marry him before I came to see you.”

“You obviously refused him.”

“No, I said yes,” Gloria said calmly.

Shocked, Neil responded. “But you’re here, now, fucking me!”

“With Barry’s permission.”

“What?”

“Baz and I will have an open relationship. As long as our hearts remain pure to each other, we will give our bodies to many others, including you.”

“Wait, you mean I can fuck you with Barry again?”

“Yes, if you want.”

“Baz and I can double-team you?”

“Yes, and you can fuck Baz again as I watch and masturbate.”

“Shit! Doesn’t that make me gay?”

“You silly man,” Gloria said. “No, at worst, it makes you bisexual. But, in reality, you’d just be sexually free. Free to enjoy any activity or activities with anyone who makes you feel horny.” Gloria thought as she slowly masturbated Neil back to total hardness. “I fuck girls, Neil. Does that make me a lesbian?”

“Fuck, no,” Neil moaned as Gloria wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and slowly lowered her mouth down his shaft. “Girls getting it on with girls is so fucking hot!”

Gloria cupped Neil’s balls and lightly stroked her fingers underneath them and along his perineum. Then, letting his shaft out of her mouth, Gloria asked, “So girls fucking girls is hot, but guys getting it on is ick?”

Disappointed that Gloria was now only playing with his balls, Neil tried to push her head back down. When Gloria resisted, Neil groaned and said, “Well, yes. Poofters having sex is gross.”

“Did you hear me complaining last night?”

“No. You seemed to like it.”

Gloria’s spare hand wrapped around Neil’s shaft as she began stoking his arousal, “So, if I wanted you to do it again, would you?”

Gloria’s mouth surrounded the entirety of Neil’s cock as soon as her sentence finished.

“Yes!” Neil moaned. “I’d do anything if you’ll keep doing that!

Gloria’s head bobbed faster on Neil’s cock. Now her fingers played along Neil’s perineum closer and closer to his pucker hole. Briefly taking her hand away from Neil’s ass, Gloria allowed some saliva to drip from where her mouth connected to Neil’s cock onto her fingers. Using this lubrication, Gloria gently worked her finger into Neil’s ass.

“Oh, Gawd,” Neil groaned as Gloria expertly found his prostate with her index finger.

With only a few quick strokes across Neil’s P-spot, Gloria quickly brought him to orgasm. Hissing, “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS,” like steam escaping a pressure boiler, Neil filled Gloria’s warm, wet mouth.

Holding Neil’s ejaculation in her mouth, Gloria raised herself and leaned in to kiss him. When Neil opened his mouth to receive Gloria’s tongue, she pushed his semen in. Neil tried to pull away, but Gloria held his head firmly and forced Neil to accept what she had. Unwillingly, Neil allowed his semen to slide onto his tongue, fully expecting to spit it out as soon as Gloria released him.

But when Gloria leaned back, she wouldn’t allow Neil up, “Swallow,” Neil,” she demanded. “Swallow, and I’ll let you butt fuck me as soon as I make you hard again.”

Unwilling but not prepared to give up a chance of cumming in Gloria’s tight ass again, Neil grimaced and swallowed.

‘Fuck!’ He thought. ‘What if she wants me to suck off Barry?’

Neil already knew he’d do it if it meant he got to double-penetrate Gloria.

‘What is it that being inside a woman with another man that makes it so hot?’ Neil wondered. ‘It couldn’t be that he liked the feel of his friend’s mouth on his balls and shaft as he thrust into Gloria, could it? Nah. It’s the forbidden fruit of two-on-one sex. Having my balls hit Barry’s lips and tongue as I fucked her doesn’t mean a thing.’

Even so, he couldn’t help the twitch his slowly inflating cock gave as he thought about his balls banging against Barry’s as they both ploughed Gloria’s lower fuck holes. Plus, he conveniently forgot how he couldn’t help but tickle Barry’s cock and balls with his toes when he felt his friend’s tackle on his feet.

Noticing Neil’s inflating todger, Gloria smiled and took it in her hand, “Started without me, didja?”

“Thinking about fucking your sexy ass has me as hot as a recently fired pistol, Gloria,” Neil lied.

“Stand up,” Gloria commanded.

Once Neil stood, Gloria sat on the couch and took Neil into her talented mouth. Using her finely honed oral skills, Gloria had Neil’s cock rock-hard and aching to cum in no time. Now her lover was hard, Gloria let her saliva build up in her mouth and swirled as much of it around Neil’s cock as possible. Then pushing Neil away, Gloria got on her hands and knees on the couch. Next, she spread her knees so that her ass was low enough for Neil to penetrate her. Then she spat on her fingers and wet her starfish.

“Shove your cock in my cunt first, Neil. Once it’s covered with your and my juices, don’t hold back, lover, jam it my ass, and fuck me as hard as you know how.”

‘Fuck, what a precocious slut,’ Neil thought. ‘How lucky is Barry that he found her? How lucky am I that he lets me share her?’ Then Neil laughed to himself, ‘Maybe I should blow him to show my appreciation,’ he thought, only half jokingly.

Even as he thought the above, Neil slid his throbbingly erect dick into Gloria’s well-stretched and lubricated ass. Feeling Gloria clenching her knot around the head of his cock almost precipitated Neil’s orgasm. To gain some control, he pulled his right hand back and slapped Gloria’s wobbly right ass cheek.

Instead of crying out and jumping forwards as Neil thought she would, giving him time to get his dick under control, Gloria moaned, tilted her head back, and growled, “Yes, Neil! Slap me harder, baby. Make me your slut.”

Internally shrugging, Neil thought, ‘Why not?’ Neither Gloria nor Barry had given him any ground rules, so he’d go along with everything Gloria wanted until someone explained the rules. So, lifting both hands from where they grasped Gloria’s big hips, Neil brought them resoundingly down onto Gloria’s chubby ass.

When Neil’s hands crashed onto Gloria’s ass, her ass’ sphincter clenched deliciously on his tool, so Neil walloped her again.

“Ugh,” Gloria grunted as Neil smacked her. “Ugh,” She repeated and pushed her ass back at the cock driving into her. “Harder, hit harder. Fuck me faster,” Gloria demanded.

Shaking his head at the wonderment of being allowed to fuck such an open, earthy woman, Neil began alternating his slaps. Slap her right ass cheek, thrust hard and fast into her ass. Slap the left ass cheek, repeat. The glorious sounds of an ass being joyfully slapped echoed through Neil’s lounge.

The staccato rhythm of left-hand smack, pelvis smack, right-hand smack, pelvis smack drove Gloria swiftly to her orgasm’s peak. “I’m about to cum, Neil,” Gloria moaned. “Slap both cheeks together as hard as you can as you jam into me, and I’ll explode.”

‘At last,’ Neil thought. ‘It feels like I’ve been gritting my teeth and trying to hold on by subtracting by seventeens forever.’

Doing what he’d been told, Neil stretched his arms above his head before swinging downwards as hard as he could, bringing both palms smashing down onto Gloria’s ass.

‘That’s going to leave a mark,’ Neil thought smugly. ‘See that and know I fucked your fiancé hard, Baz. I hope it makes you green with envy.’

Feeling Neil’s final, forceful wallop, Gloria jerked, her ass’ sphincter spasmed, and her juices gushed from her pussy over Neil’s balls as she moaned her way through a tremendous orgasm. Gloria’s milking ass finally overcame Neil’s determination, and he growled as he spat cum viciously into Gloria’s colon.

Collapsing onto the sofa, Neil moaned, “You are some great fuck, Gloria. Shame we won’t be able to do this again.”

“Why won’t we be able to do this again, Neil?”

“Because you’re marrying my best friend.”

“Will that stop you? It won’t stop me. Oh, I’ll check that Barry’s okay with me fucking you by myself again, but I don’t see a problem.”

“You think Barry will let us continue to fuck?” Neil asked disbelievingly.

“Especially after I bring him the delectable little treat I have in mind for him because he let me do this, Neil, then, yes. In fact, I think he’ll almost send me over regularly as long as I keep letting him have his treat.”

“What treat?” Neil asked.

“That’s between Baz and me for now, baby. But if you’re a good boy and use your tongue to give me another orgasm, I promise I’ll bring Baz and his treat over with me sometime.”

“But your ass and pussy are full of my cum,” Neil pointed out.

“And?” Gloria queried. “Look, Neil, if you want this to be a one-time thing, show me where the shower is, and I’ll clean up and go home. I promise you that Barry won’t mind tonguing me with the remains of you still inside me.”

Seeing the sweetest piece of ass he’d ever tasted about to storm out had Neil on his knees between Gloria’s plump thighs in a flash. So, closing his eyes and pretending that it was only Gloria’s arousal he was tasting, Neil brought Gloria to a final orgasm before she kissed him and left.

Suddenly jealous of his best friend, Neil thought, ’Fuck, what an awesome slut. I wonder if she’s got a sister I can date.’

Gloria was so full of cum that she almost squelched as she walked to her car. Smiling, she thought, ‘Wonder if my husband-to-be is masturbating thinking about me getting fucked by his best friend? Wonder if he’ll eat Neil’s cum out of my pussy and ass when I get home.’

The answer to both questions was, ‘Yes’. Afterwards, Gloria was so happy that she proudly showed Barry the welts on her ass and let Barry cum in her ass before she showered and got ready for their imminent trip to Gloria’s parents.

Meanwhile, back at Ben’s residence...

Sarah lay on her bed feeling a little sad and left out. She felt worse when she heard Ben and Emily laughing and chatting, then the sound of Ben’s bedroom door opening and closing as they entered his room.

‘How did that lusciously assed trollop snag Ben before me?’ Sarah mused. ‘Obviously, I played it too coy. But, on the other hand, I didn’t want to be just another notch on Ben’s belt, so I thought I’d play it cool and pretend I didn’t fancy him at all, hoping that having a hot chick like me refusing to come on to him would make him come on to me. Well, that backfired.

Sarah got up to look in her dresser’s mirror. Her image confirmed that she was one ‘hot chick’. If Sarah’s overbite was a little more pronounced, she could make money as Buffy’s lookalike. Sarah has a 34-24-34 body with a 34C bust. So her tits are a little bigger than Buffy’s, too.

Sarah toyed with the idea of going to Ben’s bedroom and joining him and Emily on the bed. ‘I’ll even eat her pussy for Ben if they let me play,’ she thought.

Pride wouldn’t let her make that step, though. Sarah took the room in Ben’s house because, from the first moment of the interview for the room, she saw Ben’s bulge lengthen as he asked her a few inane questions. Sarah loved sex, but being as beautiful as she was, she didn’t think she needed to put much effort into pleasing her lovers. ‘I’m gorgeous,’ she thought. ‘They should be glad I deign to notice them, let alone let them fuck me.’ But now her attitude had allowed Emily to snare Ben ahead of her.

‘If I’d been a little more forward, I’d be living here rent-free for the tiny price of letting Ben fuck me once a week or so,’ she thought.

‘I’m horny,’ Sarah admitted to herself. ‘That boy yesterday showed promise, but, unfortunately, he was a bit of a ‘two pump chump’. He did last long enough for me to get off the second and third time, though,’ she giggled.

‘And the fourth and fifth time,’ her subconscious filled in.

‘So?’ Sarah asked it. ‘It’s not like I’m going to see him again.’

‘If you’d let him make love to you this morning, as he wanted, you wouldn’t be so needy, now,’ that little voice pointed out.

‘That two pump chump wouldn’t have got me off again this morning! Not until the third or fourth time again!’ Sarah whispered fiercely. ‘Besides, when we woke, the others were already up. I couldn’t let them know by my loud orgasms that I’m really nothing but a slut!’

‘How loud were you when Gloria pounded your ass?’ Her conscience snickered.

‘Shut up!’ Sarah hissed at her subconscious. ‘It’s not like Gloria is easy to refuse!’

‘You didn’t even try,’ Sarah’s inner voice chortled.

‘Well,’ Sarah answered herself. ‘I was horny and needy then, too.’

‘Did you keep ‘chump’s’ phone number? You could get him over.’

‘I don’t call men to fuck me,’ Sarah reminded her subconscious, ‘Men call and beg me to let them fuck me.’

Tiring of this internal conversation, Sarah, dressed in a pair of tiny denim shorts and a top that left her gorgeous back and sexily toned stomach bare, put on a pair of strappy wedge sandals and headed out to get coffee. Heading to her current favourite coffee shop, Sarah ordered a vegan cheese, one egg white omelette on gluten-free toast and a medium black coffee. Then, asking for some low-fat milk, she added just a dash before settling into a two-person booth and bringing her Instagram page up.

‘Ugh!’ She thought. ‘75,000 followers. Still well short of the 100,000 I need to become a ‘social media influencer’.’

Sighing, she briefly thought of making a sex tape, Kim Kardashian style, and ‘accidentally’ letting it leak to the media.

‘Knowing my luck, the only person that would see it would be mum,’ she thought. ‘Then, as she’s threatened to do in the past, she’ll disown me. Not that it would make much difference to my current financial situation.’

Sarah’s dad had left a sizeable inheritance, but it had all gone to his wife, Sarah’s mother. Sarah’s mother was busily drinking her way through it. She steadfastly refused to help her daughter out.

“You had a good, high-paying job and threw it away on a whim. As ye reap, so shall ye sow, Sarah.”

“May I take this seat?” A deep, dark, cultured voice asked.

Looking up, Sarah saw a tall, lithe, very black man smiling at her. Sarah quickly looked around the café. There were at least four other vacant seats with no other patrons the man could have sat at.

Cast out of her reveries, Sarah huffily asked, “Why? Why not sit at one of the vacant tables?”

“Because then I’d have to sneak glances at you when you didn’t notice, instead of sitting opposite you and ogling openly,” the man replied.

Sarah found herself laughing, despite herself, “Well, we couldn’t have that, now could we?” She laughingly said. “Ogle away, Mister...?” Indicating he should take a seat.

“You’re going to laugh when I tell you my name,” the man said.

“Why would I do that?” Sarah asked.

“Because it’s Leroy Brown,” Leroy answered.

Trying her best not to snigger, Sarah said, “Really? Surely you jest?”

Leroy threw his head back and laughed, “Why would I joke about something so serious, Miss...?”

“Tatiana Gorbachev,” Sarah replied. If the man was going to give her a ridiculous made-up name, she would return the favour.

‘Leroy’ laughed uproariously again, “Tatiana?” Leroy chortled. “Tatiana Gorbachev? Oh, my Lawd, I’ve stumbled across Russian royalty! Seriously, ‘Tatiana’, my name is Leroy Loggins. I’m a basketball player signed with The Brisbane Bullets. But I love the reactions when I tell people my last name is Brown.”

Sarah was peripherally aware that her favourite social media apps had mentioned The Bullets had signed an aging NBA basketball star named Leroy Loggins. He was thirty-five, single, and around seven years older than her. His reputation suggested he was a clean-living professional sportsman. Sarah thought the article she had read hadn’t mentioned any scandal associated with his name.

Looking Leroy over, Sarah thought, ‘Hmmm, nice. Taller than me, so I can wear my highest heels without fear of dwarfing him. Leanly muscled but obviously fit and strong. Well known, but basketball isn’t big in Australia, so not too many teenaged sports sluts throwing themselves at him. Famous enough that my being with him will add to my following, this might be fun.’

With a smile, Leroy stated, “I thought it was me that was supposed to be doing the ogling, Miss Gorbachev.”

Giving Leroy her best smile, Sarah said, “It’s Sarah Geller, Leroy.”

“Buffy?” Leroy laughed.