Chapter4
The banquet was being held in two separate ballrooms that had been opened up to create one large space, specifically to accommodate the massive number of guests attending. When Connor and Catalina arrived at the door, they found that their names had been added to the list by the friend of Connor’s who had gotten them invited to the event, and they were given their table and seat numbers.
As they walked through the gracious room, through the rich and luxurious décor, she looked around and felt slightly out of place, and it made her lean a little closer to Connor, who loved that she sought comfort from him, but was intent on keeping their bond platonic.
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Are you nervous?”
She nodded subtly and looked at him, biting her lower lip slightly which made him desperately want to do the same to her. “I’m a little nervous, aren’t you?” she asked honestly.
He shook his head. “No, I’ve been to several of these kinds of things before, and this one is no different. It’s just a bunch of wealthy people trying to push their own agendas and add names and faces and money to their own political stances. I’m just here for the food and the event. Just like you.” He nodded down at the camera on her shoulder.
She smiled and laughed then and nodded. “So look at it like a job?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. He nodded and gave her a wink and she felt the butterflies stirring inside of her, though she tried to keep them down.
They took their seats at the table they had been assigned to, and they were both glad to see that it was in a perfect location for her to photograph the speakers that would be addressing the crowd throughout the night.
Dinner was served, and it was undeniably the most exquisite meal she had ever seen or eaten. She felt like she was in some kind of living dream, sitting at such a fine table, beside such a gorgeous man who was completely enraptured by her, in a room where a live orchestra was playing off to one side, and where she was working at her dream job. None of it actually seemed that real to her, but she enjoyed every single moment of it all the same.
When they had eaten their fill and indulged in a few glasses of champagne each, he looked at her, as he had been doing all night, trying to make himself remember all of the reasons he had given her why they should remain platonic, and he threw just a little caution to the wind and asked her to dance. She grinned at him and nodded, and he took her by the hand and walked her toward the dance floor where the live orchestra was performing excellent renditions of American Songbook classics.
As they stepped onto the dance floor, he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him just a little, taking her hand into his and turning her slowly around the dance floor as the orchestra played, ‘The Way You Look Tonight’.
Connor smiled down at her and shook his head a little. She gave him a grin back and tipped her chin up toward him.
“What?” she asked curiously, wondering what he was thinking.
“This song… it couldn’t be more perfect. No matter what happens with us, I’m never going to forget the way that you look tonight,” he told her softly, his eyes captured by her gaze. She smiled back at him and shook her head.
“I’m never going to forget the way that you look tonight either. Very James Bond. Very handsome, bordering on strikingly beautiful.” She gazed up at him through her thick eyelashes.
He lowered his brow and gave her a funny look. “Men aren’t beautiful, are they?”
She raised one of her brows to counter him, smiled and leaned close to him, sliding her hand along the top of his shoulder toward his neck. “You are,” she told him quietly, and he caught his breath and turned his head away from her slightly.
They had been able to keep up most of the pretenses of a platonic relationship all throughout the day until that point, and it was then that all of the champagne they had indulged in during their dinner feast began to make them light headed and warm.
The music continued and they swayed together, closer and closer as the songs wrapped them in romantic strings of light and hints of romantic love. Catalina had finally gotten so close to him during their dancing that his mouth was almost against her cheek, and in his champagne-induced bliss, he told himself that one kiss on her cheek was not going to do any damage, or cause any problems, and that if she didn’t mind it, it was simply a show of light affection toward her.
He turned his head slightly, his warm breath on her skin, and he pressed his lips softly against her cheek. She closed her eyes and let the feel of his gentle kiss sweep through her, carrying her on romantic wings as she swayed in his arms, and it was the most natural thing in the world when she turned her face slightly toward his and kissed his cheek in return, making him hold his breath as the feel of her lips on his skin sent a wave of warmth through him.
A moment later, they had each hesitated as long as they could before giving in to one another and turning their faces toward each other just enough that their lips brushed lightly, touching only part-way before they turned fully to one another and he covered her mouth with his, kissing her tenderly and sweetly as he stopped his dance with her and held her there on the floor. Everything in her still felt as if it was dancing and twirling all through her, making her rise up off the ground, and she held herself to him a little more tightly.
He held her closer, and parted her lips with his, tasting her tongue before teasing her a little with the tip of his and then deepening their kiss. It was a long, slow, sensual kiss and they savored each other before they parted from one another, their eyes locking on each other as they tried to catch their breath.
He blinked a few times as if he was trying to remember something, something very important, and then as her eyes grew sad, he let his arms go loose around her and he stepped back a little, shaking his head.
“I… I did it again. I’m so sorry. I just… you’re so breathtaking tonight… I couldn’t help it. I’m sorry.” He looked at her with pangs of regret and downcast eyes. She reached for his hand and held it tightly in hers, looking directly at him.
“There is nothing at all to be sorry for. You should not be apologizing to me. We are having a wonderful fun time and we kissed. That’s all. I kissed you just as much as you kissed me. There is no fault. There is no wrong…. It was just a kiss, Connor.”
He sighed and looked away from her.
Catalina smiled at him and tugged at his hand. “Come on, let’s get some more champagne.” He readily agreed, thinking that it would ease the need that was rapidly growing in him for her.
More than a bottle of champagne was shared between them before they decided to call it a night and head out of the banquet hall after spending at least an hour talking to several of the politicians in the room. They were ready to leave and get some fresh air.
When they got to their room, he let go of her hand and walked to the desk that faced the window. It was snowing so heavily outside that he couldn’t see further than two feet.
“It’s looking like it will be more than six inches of snow.”
She did not respond to him and he turned around to look at her. She was walking toward him with a look in her eyes that made him weak in the knees. His whole body tensed, his blood began to pump swiftly through him as his heart raced and he turned fully to face her.
“What are you doing, young lady?” he asked in a whisper as she reached him.
She smiled seductively and shook her head as she reached for his bow tie. “I’m just helping you a little, she said as she tugged at it and it came open in her hand. She gazed up at him and he tried to remember to breathe as her fingers moved over the buttons on his shirt and she opened each one carefully, pulling his shirt wide open as each button gave way.
Connor watched her as she leaned close to him and when her lips touched the skin on his chest, he wanted to protest, but not as much as he wanted to feel her kissing him, and he closed his eyes and reached his hands toward her waist.
He pulled her closer to him as he ran his fingers over the satin that covered her body. Her mouth moved slowly over his chest as she reached the end of the buttons and slid his black jacket off of his shoulders and down his arms. He sighed quietly as she reached her hands beneath his shirt and carefully slid it over his shoulders, following the path his jacket had taken.
“Does this feel good?” she whispered as her lips and tongue tasted the flesh on his chest.
He moaned softly and let his hands slide down the satin on her hips until they were filled with her ass and he pulled her against him tightly. She felt his erection hard against her and she smiled.
“Ohhhh… that does feel good,” she said as she looked up at him and lifted her mouth to meet his. This time there was no hesitation, this time there was no way he could fight it; he wanted her too much, and she was beginning to taste like the best night of his life. He moved himself against her a few times, rubbing firmly on her and making her moan softly before he dropped one of his hands to the front of her dress where the slit in the material ran up her leg.
“I looked at this part of your dress so many times tonight, wishing I could touch you here….” he told her in a heated whisper against her lips as he kissed her and let his fingers slide up beneath the material. She moaned again in response and pressed herself closer against him.
“Touch me…” she pleaded with him as she opened her eyes and gazed up at him. He felt like everything in him had fallen right through the floor at his feet. He could barely breathe as he pushed his hand between her thighs and his fingertips found the satin panties she was wearing.
He gasped and she let her head fall back as she smiled and pulled his head to the upper swells of her breasts. His mouth took them over as he ran his tongue slowly along the curves of each breast while his determined fingertips slipped beneath her panties and he began to rub her skin, slipping the ends of his fingers inside of her and feeling the hot moisture there. It made him want her even more.
Connor walked with her to the bed and unzipped her out of her dress, sliding it off her and then standing back to gaze at her body and take her in. He shook his head as his eyes caressed her the way his hands were touching her, and he smiled. “You are exquisite.” He leaned close to her. “Better than my dreams,” he told her honestly as he stepped out of his pants.
She looked at him in surprise as he lowered her to the bed. “You dreamed about me?”
He smiled at her and kissed her mouth. “So many times.”
She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck as she parted her thighs and curled her legs around him, feeling his erection hard against her body. She began to move her hips, rubbing herself against him, covering his shaft with her wetness, making him groan with need for her.
“Catalina…” he whispered her name in such need as his hands cupped her breasts, bringing them to his mouth as he sucked and bit gently at her nipples. “You make me want you too much and I would love to enjoy you slowly; I want to savor every single thing about you…” he said as he kissed her breasts slowly and completely, running the width of his tongue from one full breast to the other, teasing and taunting her nipples until she was gasping in happiness.
Connor’s mouth moved further down her body, softly kissing her belly as he moved over it slowly, taking his time until he finally reached the place he wanted most to be, and he covered her with his mouth, driving his tongue deep into her and making her cry out in pleasure as she curled her fingers in his hair and moved her hips against his hard and hungry kisses. His tongue was fast and strong in her, stealing her breath away as he tasted her deeply, making her writhe until the bliss culminated so much in her that she gasped and came hard, trembling in his hands.
He looked up from her then with ravenous eyes, and a hard stare that she knew meant he could wait for her no longer. He raised himself back up to cover her body with his and she reached her hand down between their legs, wrapping her fingers snugly around his stiffness, massaging it firmly, stroking it from tip to core until he groaned and kissed her hard, demanding her surrender.
Then she lifted her hips and he thrust himself into the dark wet depths of her, filling all of her and driving himself so deep into her that she could not breathe or even move at first, she could only gasp for breath, holding her hands tightly on his shoulders as they began to rock together, their fantasies and dreams coming true in each other’s arms.
They wrestled in their love making, tossing and turning over in the queen-sized bed, him above her, pushing himself all the way into her, her riding him, her body fully against his while he sucked hard at her breasts and held her ass tight in his hands, rocking it hard against him. They loved long into the night until neither of them could hold back their passion any longer, and they came together, their releases long and breathtaking as they clung to one another, losing themselves in the ecstasy of their passion. When their breath returned to them, they held each other close and laid back together in the bed, smiling and kissing softly, gazing at each other and holding each other until they fell asleep in one another’s arms.
Both of them slept deeply, having exhausted themselves with each other and having satisfied the desire that had haunted them since their trip had begun, they were peaceful until the morning light touched them and woke them from their sweet dreams.
She opened her eyes first and found herself naked in his arms, and she smiled bigger than she ever had. It was everything she had wanted with him and it was real. Bliss rushed through her, and it was followed by morning’s desire. She gave him a naughty smile as he slept, and slowly and carefully moved down to the space between his legs, taking him into her mouth, kissing him softly and making him grow hard as he moaned in his sleep.
He woke to her tongue caressing his growing erection in long strokes, until he was fully aroused, and then she took all of him in her mouth and gave him such intense pleasure that he nearly came in her mouth before he pulled her up to him and parted her legs over his groin, pushing himself up into her and making her sigh happily as he filled all of her again, and they began to move once more, no longer brand new lovers, the two of them moving with confidence and hunger, passion and insatiable drive until sweat covered them both, their breath was long gone, and their bodies were hot with fire and love. Then he came in her, deep in her, and she felt the hot fluid spilling all over inside of her, and the feel of it made her come again, squeezing his erection with her body until they were both sated and relaxed into pure happiness.
He looked at her and gave her a puzzled look as they rested in each other’s arms. “Why did we wait so long to do this? I told you we should have started doing this your first day of college, but you never listen to me,” he said semi-seriously.
She gasped in mock offense and gently bashed him with a soft pillow. He laughed at her and pulled her close to him, kissing her tenderly for a long while. “I don’t ever want to leave,” he told her quietly as he ran his finger over her cheek. “I just want to stay here with you and make love forever. Let’s never go back to the real world.”
Catalina laughed at him and kissed his nose. “If we could do that, I would be glad to,” she answered him, smiling and kissing his mouth again, sucking slowly on his tongue.
She finally let him go and he gave her a serious look. “You’re going to make me hard again doing that,” he warned her with a half-smile.
She raised one eyebrow and leaned over to kiss him again as she reached her hand down between his legs and closed her fingers around him, rubbing him gently. “No…” she whispered softly against his lips, “I’m going to make you hard doing this, and then I’m going to make love with you again.”
He sighed wearily and glanced up at the ceiling, feigning exhaustion. “Again?”
She laughed and kissed him sensually as he grew hard in her hand. “All day long,” she answered him, moving herself on top of him and spreading her legs as she straddled him and slid him slowly into her. He gasped and his hands clung tightly to her hips as she began to move them slowly over him, and they made love again for a long while, slow and sweet, drawing it out as long as they could before they surrendered to their orgasms and fell asleep again in each other’s arms.
They awoke again late in the morning and Connor reached for the phone and called the front desk. “I just wanted to check to see what the weather is doing and if the roads are open now.” There was a long pause while the desk clerk answered him and Catalina looked at him in silent hope. She wanted nothing more than closed roads. She wanted their living dream to last longer. He finished the phone call, thanking the desk clerk, and then he hung up the phone.
“All….day….long….” he answered her questioning eyes as he kissed her slowly and tenderly. “You are mine.” He grinned and rolled over on top of her as she giggled at him.
They were snowed in at the hotel in Springfield for two days, and aside from taking small breaks for showers and room service, Connor and Catalina found nothing but happiness, bliss and unequaled passion in each other’s arms as they loved one another again and again until the roads were finally opened and the dream came to an end.
They packed their bags quietly and neither one of them wanted to speak as they checked out of the hotel and loaded the car, preparing to drive back home. They held on to each other and stretched out every moment of happiness together that they could before they climbed into the car and headed down the snowy highway away from Springfield.
Catalina looked miserably out of the window. “This has been the best time of my life,” she said softly. “I don’t want it to end.” She turned to look at him.
He shook his head seriously. “Neither do I, but you know when we get back to campus that we can’t continue to do this. No one can find out about us, for so many reasons. This incredible love that we have shared has to stay back in Springfield and in our dreams and thoughts. When we get back to campus, you have to be my student and I have to be your teacher, and the two of us can never meet in the middle.”
She wiped a few tears that had escaped her eyes and looked out of her window again. “I’d give anything to make that different.”
He sighed deeply and nodded. “Me too, but we are driving back to the real world, and there is no way around that.”
Catalina sighed. “I knew that it would be just a one-time affair; it was the way the circumstances played out, and all along I knew that we could only have each other while we were there, but still,” she said, looking over at him and taking his hand in hers, “I would rather have that time with you than nothing at all.” She gave him a weak smile and he shared his with her as well.
They were quiet most of the way home, holding hands and kissing each other’s fingers, sharing secret kisses along the road and even stopping once beneath a bridge to make love once more in the car before they got back to the campus. It was decadent and dangerous, and it turned them both on enormously, as did the knowledge that it would be the last time they were together.
Their orgasms shook them to their cores and they held tightly to each other as their love season ended, and then they redressed and drove back out onto the road; her with tears at the edge of her eyelashes, and him with a miserable and dejected frown.
Later that afternoon, they pulled into the campus parking lot and hugged each other goodbye, but nothing more than that, as they didn’t want to be seen sharing any kind of overt affection. She held his eyes with hers for a long sad moment before she climbed into her car and he waved as she drove off.
Connor walked to his office to drop off some of the files he had taken and created while he was in Springfield. Just as he unlocked his office door and walked in, a woman came striding down the hallway toward him, smiling and waving, and he groaned inwardly, wishing desperately that she hadn’t seen him and more than that, that he hadn’t seen her so he could have locked himself in his office.
He watched her for an instant as she approached him. She was a few inches taller than him and about a decade older. She had long silvery white hair that had been blonde in high school but had given way to age before she was out of college. She wore it pulled up in a French twist at the back of her head.
In her ears there were diamond earrings, on her wrist was a gold and diamond watch, and around her neck was a golden necklace with a diamond pendant attached to it. Her designer shoes made a staccato sound as she sauntered down the hallway toward him, her pale skin looking almost sallow, and her bright red lips standing out so much that she could have been identified at a distance just from the color on them.
She was dressed in a tight black suit skirt and jacket with a crisp white blouse underneath, which was unbuttoned to the center of where her cleavage should have been, if she’d had any at all. She was tough as nails and strong as steel, and she was Dean Hargrove’s niece.
“Connor! I’m so glad that you’re back. I’ve missed you, darling. How are you doing?” she cooed to him as she approached him and gave him her most seductive smile. He sighed heavily and nodded at her, waiting to enter his office until she reached him.
She walked right up to him and leaned over, kissing him full on the mouth and running her perfectly manicured nail over his beard teasingly. “You look good like this. Very rugged and sexy; I like it.” She took his face in her hands and kissed him hard on the mouth before turning and going into his office.
Connor had made the fatal mistake of dating her a few times, though they had never slept together. She had it in her head that he was hers and she was going to have all of him and then some, someday, and someday could not come soon enough for her.
“Please, come in.” he said in a droll tone, hoping she would catch his sarcasm, and knowing that she wouldn’t.
He walked over to the front of his desk with his back to her, putting his files down on the desktop. She walked up behind him and leaned her head over his shoulder, speaking into his ear as her hands slid around his hips and she reached for his groin over the top of his jeans, rubbing at it firmly.
Connor jumped as she began to suck on his earlobe and he turned around to face her, looking stern as he met her cold dark-eyed gaze. Her eyes might have been dark brown if a very bright light was shined into them, but for all he had ever seen, they were pure black, and he could never see into them, never see any depth, all he ever saw was his own reflection and it unnerved him terribly.
“Listen, Deborah,” he started with an uneasy voice, “I know we’ve talked about this before, and I don’t want to sound like I’m harping or anything, but we agreed that we aren’t seeing each other, that we are not a couple, and that it’s not a good idea if we have any kind of romantic interaction with each other. Remember that?” he prompted her, his jade green eyes steady on her.
She laughed a little and leaned against his frame as she nuzzled her lips against his cheek. “Oh now, Connor, I think it would be a very good idea if we had several romantic interactions with each other, don’t you?” she asked in a teasing voice as she slid her hand over his crotch again.
He grabbed at her hand and pushed it away from himself gently. “No, Deborah. We said we were done seeing each other. That was it. No more romance after that. I remember that quite clearly.”
She leaned back and cocked a penciled eyebrow at him. “You do? Well, perhaps you remember making out with me on that sofa there behind me after we agreed no more romance?”
He sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. “We made out there for a few minutes because you came in here all hot and bothered just like you are right now, and you tried to seduce me, and I said no thank you, just like I’m doing now, and we agreed that there would be no more romance between us. It was very cut and dried, if you recall.”
She laughed low and leaned back up against him, her face near his as she whispered, “Well, it’s pretty wet right now, and it’s all yours, baby. Let’s have a good time.”
Connor placed his hands firmly on her shoulders and gave her a light push, just far enough that he could leave his position between her and the desk, and he walked away from her, going to sit behind his desk.
She pouted and sat down on his desktop, leaning over toward him again in a seductive way. “Oh, come on now, don’t you want some more of this? You’ve never had all of it before…” she teased. “You don’t know yet what you’re missing. I’m the best you’re ever going to get, baby.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Deborah, please, we’re done. We really are. I’m not interested in trying things with you again.”
She gave him a dark look then and sat up straight on his desk. “Why not? Is there another woman?” she demanded of him.
He tried to keep his thoughts from her, but Catalina’s sweet dimpled smile, warm soft kisses, and hot delicious body came rushing into his thoughts and he had to look down at the top of his desk so that he didn’t give himself away.
“No, there’s no one, Deborah,” he said quietly, wishing that there was some way he could get Catalina out of his mind so that thoughts of her wouldn’t drive him crazy with desire when he couldn’t have her.
Deborah sauntered slowly around his desk, reached for his chair and turned it toward her, and then lowered herself to a kneeling position in front of him. She placed her hands on his thighs with her fingers spread far open as if she was clutching him.
“Do you have any idea how much I want you, Connor James? I would do anything you asked; I’d do anything that you wanted me to, any way you wanted it. I would change your whole world, baby. No one wants you like I do, and no one will please you in every possible way like I can,” she promised him with a confident smile as she gave him a sultry look.
He gazed down at her there, her face nearer to his crotch than it ever had been. He thought of Catalina and how much he wanted her, and he wondered again how he was going to keep her from his thoughts; how he could possibly find enough things to distract him so much that he had no time to long for her and pine for her. As Deborah smiled at him and ran her wide open fingers further and further up his thighs, closing in on his groin, he considered what Deborah had said.
He wasn’t in the market for a lover, but if he was going to have any chance at all of keeping Catalina off his mind and keeping himself out of trouble, he was going to have to keep up appearances with some woman or other, so it would appear that he was in a relationship, and he was going to have be distracted enough that Catalina couldn’t get into his mind.
Connor sighed. Deborah Hargrove’s pushy offer was sounding a bit better to him. She smiled up at him and raised herself up slightly, running her hands over his belly and chest until she slid them behind his neck.
“Come on, baby. Give us another chance. We were good once. We could be good again, and you still don’t know the epic pleasures you’ll find in my bed, so come on. Give me a chance to show you again. Let’s give it another try, please baby?” she batted her dark eyes at him and he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. It needed paint. He made a mental note of it.
“Alright, we’ll give it another shot, but I’m not interested in getting into bed with you right away. Let’s keep things simple to begin with, please?” he asked seriously.
She nodded and rose up, trailing her manicured nails along his jaw line. “Whatever you say, honey. Just as long as you are mine.” His stomach turned at the thought and before he had a chance to change his mind, she walked to the door and looked back over her shoulder at him.
“Come over to my place for dinner tomorrow night. Seven o’clock. I’ll have something really… hot… cooking for you when you get there.” She winked at him and walked out of the door, closing it behind her.
He lowered his head down into his hands and rested himself on his desk. He didn’t know how in the world he had let her talk him into dating her again. She was the last woman in the world that he wanted, and he had a suspicion that she would be no substitute at all for the woman he wanted most in the world.
***
The next night, when he went to dinner at Deborah’s, she answered the door in a dress that might have been a sheer nightgown, or might have been a sheer dress, but it left very little to his imagination and he knew before he stepped into the house that it was entirely possible that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
He followed her to the dining room and they sat together at the table. He gave her a bottle of wine to thank her for dinner and she smiled and went to the kitchen to open it. Connor looked around her home and easily saw her family’s wealth in every corner of it. There was no question that they all had money, but he knew for certain that Deborah Hargrove had gotten her job at the college simply because her uncle was the dean there, and Dean Hargrove was not a man to cross.
Deborah returned with the opened bottle of wine and poured it for them both. “Here we go.” She picked up her glass to toast him. “To all the sweet days and hot nights to come,” she said pointedly, and he touched his glass to hers and willed himself not be sick on her dining room table.
They ate a three course meal and she offered him dessert, but he turned it down. Connor talked with her briefly about some staffing changes that the college had recently seen, and then he stood up to bid her a good night.
She frowned at him and her worn face grew stoic as her eyes narrowed at him. She stood up to face him and lifted her chin slightly, reached her hand toward the front of his jeans, pulling him by the waist toward her.
“Darling, you just got here. How can you even think of leaving so soon?” she tilted her head and asked him as if it was a rhetorical question. He knew as he looked at her that he had made a monumental mistake. He knew he should never have agreed to date her, because he realized that he was using her to displace his need for Catalina, and there was no way that she was ever going to be able to do that successfully; he had less than no attraction toward her, and there was nothing that was going to change that.
If anything, she made him want Catalina more, not less. He reached his hand to hers at his waist and pulled her hand from the grasp she had on the front of his jeans.
“Deborah, I’m sorry but I think I made a mistake. I don’t really think that we should get back together. We’re not a good couple. We’re far too different, and we want different things…” he began, knowing that what he really wanted deep down, more than anything, was a dark woman with blue gray eyes and a dimple that appeared when she smiled.
The woman standing before him looking at him in frustration was never going to come close to Catalina. He had been kidding himself when he let himself believe that there could ever be a chance that Deborah could distract him from what he really wanted. What he needed with Catalina.
She narrowed her eyes at him and her voice grew deep. “You are not breaking up with me, do you understand? You are not going to play games with me, young man. I want you, and I always get what I want.” She started toward him, but he backed away and turned toward the hallway where the front door was.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like you will this time, Deborah, because it takes two to tango, and I’m leaving the dance.” He turned and walked away from her and he heard her grow angry behind him, but he wasn’t about to stop and give her a chance to catch up with him and try to change his mind.
He walked right out of her door and heard her shriek as he closed it behind him. He sighed and felt a little guilty for a minute, but then he got into his car and drove home, thinking all the way of the perfect few days that he had shared himself and his love with a woman he would only be dreaming of for the rest of his life.