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trembling, but she was the one who eased him down onto the sofa. They lay on their sides, their bodies together. She still trembled, but she untucked his shirt and unbuttoned it and spread it open and caressed his chest. Bodie followed her lead. Soon, they were both bare to the waist. Bodie kissed her mouth, her eyes, her long neck with its black velvet choker. He stroked and held and squeezed her breasts while her hands roamed his back.
        Her hands didn't venture below Bodie's belt. He abided by the unspoken rule, and kept his own hands from straying lower on Melanie.
        He realized, soon, that this was as far as Melanie was willing to take it. The lower half was out of bounds. Squirm and rub, but hands off and clothes on.
        He realized something else.
        Melanie was a virgin.
        She had to be.
        The lower half wasn't just out of bounds, it was not even on the map.
        Bodie would be her first.
         If he could just get her pants off… That might not be easy, though.
         Better not try it.
         Maybe tomorrow night, or…
        Melanie's hand pushed under his belt. Her cool fingers curled around his penis.
         My God, he thought.
        As her fingers slid, he opened the waist of her corduroys.
        The corduroys ended up beneath her. Bodie didn't know it. He didn't know much of anything. He was dazed above her, inside her at last but only partway, holding back, aching with the feel of her slick tightness hugging him, needing in all the way but holding back, not wanting to hurt her though her fingers dug into his buttocks, urging him deeper and she panted, 'Harder… In… Push!' And, at last, he pushed. Flinching rigid, Melanie gasped, 'Oh!' in a high hurt voice and thrust up against him. He went deep. All the way. All of him inside and it was past bearing and he erupted, throbbing and pumping.
        She held him. She stroked his hair. She wouldn't let him up. He mumbled lazily about not wanting to crush her, but she told him not to worry about it.
        
***
        
        Bodie fell asleep. When he woke up, he was still on top of Melanie. He was still inside her. He felt glued to her. 'I think we're stuck,' he said.
        'Good.' She smiled and kissed the tip of his nose.
        'I think we really are stuck.'
        'Something must've dried.'
        He pulled free as gently as he could, but it hurt her. Her lips peeled back with pain.
        Bodie looked down. 'Not a pretty sight.'
        Melanie sat up. She looked. 'Yuck.'
        'I guess we'd better take a shower.'
        They took a shower. Bodie, Melanie, and Melanie's corduroy pants. When they were finished, only the cords were still bloodstained. 'They'll never be the same,' Bodie said.
        Melanie smiled. 'Neither will I.'
        
***
        
         She's part of me, like it or not. Her problems are my problems. It got that way very fast and maybe not on purpose, but that's how it is and that's why I'm driving through the desert night with a psychic or a nut case in the back of the van.
        'I'm sorry,' she said near his ear.
        He felt a rush of affection.
        'Forgive me?' she asked.
        'You had every right to be upset.'
        She eased forward between the seats and rested a hand on Bodie's thigh. He looked at her. The bare arm led to a bare shoulder. Below the shoulder was the mound of a breast. A small breast, its nipple large and dark. 'Why don't you find a place to pull off the freeway?' she suggested.
        'Are you sure?'
        The answer was Melanie's hand sliding to his groin. Bodie started looking for an off-ramp.
        

CHAPTER FIVE
        
        After a quick shower to get rid of the wine smell, Pen dried herself with a fresh towel. She put a bandage on her scraped thigh, slipped into her moccasins, and put her robe on. Then she picked up the empty glass and the wine bottle.
         Polish it off,