She kissed him sweetly at first, then deeper, longer, as he pulled her into his arms and ran his hands over and across all that soft, bare skin.

"Help me get out of my clothes," he said.

In truth, she was more of a hindrance than a helpa"she couldn't quite get his belt to unbuckle. But it was fun to let her try.

And finally he was naked, too.

She was sitting on the floor, having just pulled off his sneakers and socks, and she smiled up at him, waiting for his next command.

Yeah, she was definitely getting into this.

"I think we better have a condom on hand," he told her. "Can you get one?"

"Just one?" she asked, on her way into the bathroom.

He laughed. "We've got only an hour."

"Forty-eight minutes now," she called back to him.

Yikes. He had to speed this up.

"Hurry," he said.

She did, which was incredible to watch.

"On the bed," he said.

She climbed onto the bed, and knelt there, looking at him questioningly. G.o.d, she was s.e.xy.

"Time for you to say one of your lines," he said. "Okay?"

"Yes," she said. She held out her arms to him. "Yes."

"Okay," Muldoon admitted. "I lied a little bit about the lines. There's more to them than just yes. I want you to ask me, well..." He laughed. "To go down on you. You can say it however you want."

"But aren't I supposed to..."

"My script doesn't say, 'And then she argued,' " he countered.

She laughed as she shrugged. "Okay. I mean, if that's really what you want. I think I'm getting the better end of the deal, but it's your fantasy."

"Yes," he said. "It is."

She lay back on the bed, blushing slightly. "I don't know exactly what you want me to say... How about... Kiss me, baby, where the sun don't shine. I need you to kiss me. I'm dying for you to kiss me." She extended one foot toward him, let her other leg fall open. Oh, yeah. "Starting with my instep and then my ankle and so on and so on and just keep heading north until I tell you to stop."

"Perfect," he said, doing just that.

"Stop," she said. "I mean, don't stop..."

Oh, yeah.

She was soft, she was sweet, and he was setting her on fire.

"Please," she moaned. "Oh, please!"

It was close enough to what he'd wanted her to say next, without any prompting at all. He covered himself with the condom, and buried himself deeply inside of her.

Joan made a sound that was identical to the way he was feeling. Somehow she opened her eyes and looked up at him, obviously struggling to keep this about him and what he wanted. "Do you want me to get on top?"

"No." He wanted to be in control. He wanted to be face-to-face with her, to look into her eyes. He moved slowly, setting a rhythm that made her eyelids close halfway.

"Mmmm," she said.

"You have another line," he said.

Her eyes opened a little wider. "Now?"

"Yeah. You say, 'Let's do it. Let's make this long-distance thing work.' "

She closed her eyes. "Oh, G.o.d, Mike..."

"Come on. It's my fantasy. My script. You promised you'd make it good for me."

"Okay," she said. "All right. I'll try. I'm willing to try to make this work."

"That's not the line. It's 'Let's do it,' " he repeated." 'Let's make this long-distance thing work.' If you want something done, you do it," he reminded her. "You don't try."

"Let's do it," she gasped. "This is not fair. This is coercion ... Let's make this long-distance thing work!"

He kissed her. "Thank you."

"That's it," she said. "There're no more lines except for the part where I scream yes, right?"

"Actually, there are a few more, but we can do it pretty quickly. You say, 'I understand that our age difference is inconsequential, that it doesn't matter to you, and it doesn't matter to me, either. Seven years is nothing in the grand scheme of things.'"

"Mike..."

"You promised."

Joan groaned and closed her eyes. "Seven years is nothing in the grand scheme of things and if you don't f.u.c.k me harder, I'm going to die."

"Close enough." He did as she asked. "Better?"

"Uhhhh," she said. "Oh, G.o.d!"

"My turn for a line." It was getting harder for him to think, let alone talk. "I say,. 'If you're worried about what people will think when they see us together, don't be. You say, 'Why not?' "

"Why...not...?"

"Because people will think, 'Wow, he really loves her. And they'll be right."

She opened her eyes and looked right up at him, shock on her face. "Did you just say... ?"

"I love you," he said. "Yeah, that's what I said."

He reached between them, knowing exactly where to touch her to push her over the edge.

"Oh, Michael," Joan gasped as she exploded.

He had to grit his teeth and think about differential equations to keep from joining her.

And when she finally lay beneath him, limp and exhausted, he was still hard inside of her.

Her eyelids fluttered open in surprise as he began moving again. "You didn't...?"

He shook his head. "No. We have a little time left, and, well, I still have this one thing that I really want you to do. Something that'll completely get me off. Something that'll rock my world for a long, long time."

"Ask me," she said. "I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."

Muldoon nodded. "Promise?"

"Yes."

He took a deep breath and said it. "Marry me."

Chapter 26.

As Mary Lou drove to work, she saw Ihbraham walking along the road that led to the base.

What was he doing, walking?

She pa.s.sed him, but then pulled over, out of the heavy stream of traffic, reaching to roll down the pa.s.senger's-side window as she waited for him to catch up.

"Where are you going?" she called.

He came and leaned in the window. "To see the President speak at the Navy base," he told her. "I knew there would be much traffic and trouble with parking, and it's a nice enough day to walk, so..."

"Hop in. I'll give you a lift."

"That's not necessary." He started backing away.

"But I wanted to talk to you. It's important. I had dinner with Bob Schwegel last night."

Ihbraham stopped moving, but he didn't lean back down so she could see his face. "And you are telling me this because... ?"

"You were right about him," she said to his blue T-shirt. "He's a creep. I think he's a con artist. He asked me to run away with him to New Yorka"can you believe that? I was supposed to pack a bag and bring it to work today. He said he'd meet me here and then we'd go pick up Haley and leave town. Of course, we'd make a quick stop and clear out all of Sam and my bank accounts before we hit the road. I called Medway Insurancea"that's where he said he workeda"and they never even heard of a Bob Schwegel. He was scamming me right from the start."

Ihbraham sighed, and then crouched down next to the car. "I'm sorry."

"Will you please get in?" she said.

"No," he said. "I don't think that's wise."

"Don't be a dope. I'm not going to jump you in the short amount of time it takes to drive to the base. I mean, while I'm driving? In busy traffic? I'm good, but I'm not that good."

He sighed again, then opened the door and climbed in.

Mary Lou put the car into gear and signaled her intent to move back into the line of cars. It was moving even more slowly now, looking to be stop-and-go all the way to the base. But that was okay. She was very early, and the more time she could spend with Ihbraham, the better.

"Did you call the police about this Bob?" he asked.

"No."

"You must."

"How'm I supposed to do that without everyone in the world finding out I had dinner with a sc.u.m ball?" She sighed. "I don't know... maybe it doesn't matter who finds out. Sam asked me last night if I was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with my next-door neighbor. You know, Crazy Donny? Can you believe that? He actually thought ... But he wasn't even angry or even the slightest bit jealous. Just kind of curious about ita" which is pretty depressing, don't you think?" She glanced at Ihbraham. "So I went to see a lawyer this morning, about a divorce."

Well, now she had his attention.

"She said I'd get child support from Sam, and alimony, too. I had no idea it would be as much as this lawyer saida"at least until I get married again. If I get married again." She sneaked another look at him.

He was silent as they rolled up another few car lengths. "Sam may not agree to give you this divorce."

"Yeah, he will," Mary Lou said. "I'm, like, 99.999 percent certain this is what he wants."

"You seem quite certain it's what you want, as well."

"I am," she told him. "I'm scared, sure, but, see, well... I'm not in love with Sam anymore. And I wasn't even remotely interested in Boba"I was just real mad. At you." She glanced at him again.

He was just silently watching her, a slight furrow in his brow as if he were struggling to understand what she was saying. She didn't really blame him for not getting it. She hadn't been particularly clear.

"I was mad because, well, you've been hiding from me, and... I've gotten kind of used to you being around." Come on, girl, just say it. "I'm kind of in love with you," she told him.

But he still didn't utter a sound, didn't move, didn't jump up and down or cheer.

So Mary Lou forced a laugh. "How'd that happen, huh? I mean, we're so different from each other, and, well, different. In every way. But... if you maybe still have feelings for me, I thought... After Sam and I separate, which will probably be tonight or tomorrow ... maybe you could come over sometime and I could cook you dinner. If you want."

She was actually blushing. She could feel her cheeks heat, remembering that conversation they'd had when she'd invited him in for iced tea. She wondered if he thought she was inviting him over for more than dinnera"and if he would mind very much if she was.

But when she glanced at him again, he was shaking his head. "I was sure you would never leave him," he admitted. "I promised my brothers..."

"What?" she asked, but he just shook his head.