Even when the baseball game was over Galen showed no inclination to rush out the door. "Do you play cards?" he asked.Lydia shrugged. "I can but I don't think I have any in the apartment. Except for my Tarot deck.""Tarot cards?" He raised one eyebrow in that skeptical expression she loved. "You're kidding. When have you had time to get into the New-Age stuff?" "When I was about three." Lydia stuck her tongue out. "The cards belonged to my grandmother. She used to do readings for the neighbor ladies over cookies and tea." She scrambled off the couch. "Don't move!"Galen was still watching with indulgent amusement when she returned from the bedroom carrying her silk-wrapped deck. Let him laugh. She knew that the cards could work, if the reader's mind and spirit were open to them. He might have forgotten more about history than she would ever know but when it came to this, she could probably teach him a thing or two.She sat cross-legged on the couch and cleared a space on the coff

Lydia locked up her office and stopped in the lab to return the scroll to its case. She couldn't resist taking the ring out of its secret compartment and looking at it again. It was such a beautiful work of art it was a shame that it had been hidden away all these years. She turned it over and over in her gloved fingers. Who had worn it? Had it been a gift of love? A wedding ring? The symbol of some office or title? It was definitely feminine, though the serpent was usually a masculine symbol.If anyone had seen what she did next, Lydia's career would have been over as soon as it had begun. But she just couldn't resist. She slipped the gloves off her hands and touched the ancient gold carvings on the ring with her bare fingertips. She knew better, knew she could be damaging a valuable historical artifact but it was as if she were compelled, unable to resist. It was almost as if there was a voice in her head urging her to try it on.She studied the inside looking for an inscription. Not

He groaned, using one hand to fondle her clit while the other positioned his cock at the entrance to her channel. She could hear the wet squelch as he rubbed the head against her mons. "It will but not without some work. We'll save that for another day. Right now I just want to get inside that snug little pussy I've been missing all week." He shoved deep, holding himself still inside her as if savoring the moment."Works for me." She ground her pelvis against him taking him as deep as she could. It was starting to be an effort to murmur to keep her voice down but that only added to the excitement. "Fuck me hard and fast, Galen.""That's not going to be a problem, sweetheart." He pulled back then thrust in so hard her elbows were forced a couple inches up the desk. His finger strummed on her clit, driving her higher and higher while his hips pistoned against her ass. His other hand slid up inside her sweater and clamped onto a breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefin

"You're sure you're into this?" Galen wound the silk scarves she'd handed him through his fingers. The thought of tying Lydia to her wrought iron headboard had been running through his mind since the first night. Having her hand him the scarves while she stood by the bed in the tiniest nightgown he'd ever seen made him hard enough to pound nails with his cock. "You're not doing it just for me?"Her laugh was deep, throaty and entirely feminine. "That's what I bought those scarves for. I bought them a long time ago but they've never been used. The person I'd thought might be interested turned out not to be. And to my own surprise, it turned out I didn't care. I'd just met you, you see and from then on it's only been me and my trusty vibrator. And though the battery-operated boyfriend does have its advantages, it's absolutely no good at all at tying a girl up."Galen licked lips that had gone suddenly dry. "When you used your vibrator, were you picturing me?"She reached down and cupp

So here they were on their first official date. Hopefully by leaving town Galen had removed the problem of running into people who knew them, but he knew she still saw the evening as a declaration of intent. He did too, he guessed, though he was nowhere near ready to put it into words yet. He was still frantically trying to convince himself that he wasn't falling in love with Lydia Curry."This place is great," she enthused, settling into her chair and beaming at Galen as he seated himself across the snowy linen tablecloth. "The décor is gorgeous and the smell is heavenly." Rather than open her menu she tilted her head. "What do you recommend?""Haven't you been here before?"She rolled her eyes. "Only once, a couple of years ago. It's a bit out of the average grad student's budget. The tika masala was wonderful but I'd like to try something different this time. I know very little about Indian cuisine and I'm always in favor of new experiences.""Miss Curry isn't an expert on cu