Chapter 16

"Are you tired?" I asked her. We had been lying together in the bed. Earlier, Alice, still completely, regally nude, had retreated downstairs and had come back with glasses of red wine.

"Am I tired? You're the one who should be tired," she said.

"What? From a little oral sex?"

"From a cross-country flight, and nine days on the road. And oral sex!"

"I'm bone-tired," I admitted. "But not sleepy."

"Are we going to... do it?"

I brought her already-close body even tighter against my chest. "I won't be at my best," I said. "For your very first time, shouldn't I be at my best?"

"You already warned me, it might not be so... wonderful. Not right away. Not my first time."

"Well, yes. But I'd like to give it every chance... Wouldn't you?"

"No."

"No?... Why not?"

"If you're all tired out, and it's late, and everything, and then, it's not so wonderful. If, maybe, it's not so wonderful -- for you, even -- then we can say it was because you were tired. It wouldn't have to be because I was... you know... too afraid, or too inexperienced."

"Baby Girl, if it isn't sensational, it's not gonna be your fault! It'll be mine. And it won't be because I'm all tired out, because, really, I'm not that tired! I've been thinking about this for -- well, for a long time. I've been worrying about it, even."

"Are you afraid you'll... hurt me?"

I laughed. "No, Baby! You're the one who's afraid it's gonna hurt. That's not going to be the problem. Not unless you're still so afraid that you're -- y'know -- all tensed up."

"I really want to do it tonight," she said. "If you're tired, we could take a nap first, and then do it later. But I don't want to wait another day, or another night. I want to do it tonight!"

"All right, Baby. I'll tell you what. Since I'm so tired out, why don't you let me just lie here, on my back, like this? And then you do all the work? OK?"

"You mean, me on top?"

"That's right. You know about 'female superior, ' don't you?"

"Yes."

Just the 'yes, ' I got, this time. No little lectures from Alice about Hospital Life and What We Learned in Nursing School.

"OK, then," I told her. I shifted over to the center of her bed with my body, forcing her, up on her knees now, to one side. "Just pretend I'm a horsy."

"The horsy isn't hard now," Alice said, boldly taking my flaccid organ into her hand and squeezing it. "Should I... kiss it for you?"

"Hold that thought," I told her, "but, no. I think if you just throw your leg up over me, there, and come closer, and maybe lean over and give me a kiss?... I suspect that Adirondack, there, might come back to life in a minute."

"Adirondack?" she said. "Isn't that the name of a... a snake?"

I laughed at her. "I think maybe you're thinking of 'Anaconda, ' -- and that's a flattering image, thanks very much! But, no. 'Adirondack' is a bat -- a baseball bat. I know it's a somewhat grandiose nickname to give to my little friend, there, but... there it is."

"You gave it its own name?" She was bemused.

"It's not unusual," I said, defensively. "Lots of guys give their penises names."

"Adirondack," she repeated.

"Hey, it's not required that you call him that," I said. "You can just say 'it.' No problem."

All this discussion hadn't brought Adirondack back to life, but when, belatedly, Alice followed my instruction and raised one leg over me and brought her warm, hairy center to rest in his immediate proximity, a certain stirring could be felt by us both.

And when, still following my instructions, she leaned over, breasts dangling down almost to my chest, and kissed me on the mouth, full restoration was rapidly achieved.

Batter up!

"Baby Girl," I told her as I spanned her waist with both my hands, "don't be afraid." I lifted her -- or rather, I made a lifting motion under her ribs and received her cooperation in raising herself onto her knees to receive me.

I had almost -- but not quite -- forgotten the condom, but it was now adorning my fully erect penis and Alice, very wet and well-prepared for what was to come (which, I hoped, would include Alice), slowly lowered herself onto me.

I made eye contact with her and watched her expression of rapt attention as she felt me, ever so gradually, sliding home inside her hot, wet center. When, at last, I was fully seated inside the warm tightness, she relaxed her body, sighed deeply, and gave me a smile of triumph.