[Mercy Merchant]

Al's lips touch hers and the world stops turning for Alyce.  At that moment, any lingering doubt she may have had vanishes in a haze.  This is where she wants to be, where she needs to be.  His arms are wrapped about her and even though the kiss is light, there is a definite reaction from another part of his body that leaves no doubt that he wants her.  All that remains now is to wait for that to happen.  The world resumes turning as Al breaks the soft kiss and places an arm about her waist.  Some part of her might feel a bit disappointed that the kiss is over, but it would be hard to tell that by the smile on her face.

Her heart is beating rapidly and hammers at her in an attempt to catch Al's attention as he walks her out of the clinic and into the dark street.  The stars above and some lights from various buildings are the only illumination.  Alyce gives a pretty laugh, "The bar it is.  I am hungry, too, although I do not think I am ready for two of everything."

Alyce does not want the walk to end, but of course it does.  They settle into the bar and find that the drinks are free for the night.  Several people come up to them while they are there to thank them for bringing Sangha home alive.  There is a lot of talk about the boatman who did not return and dinner turns into a sort of combination celebration and wake.  Food and drink freely flow and both Al and Alyce have a good time.  Alyce has perhaps too good a time.  On the way home, she stumbles a couple of times against the bulwark that is Al.  Her clothes start coming off as soon as they get to the room and she stands a bit unsteadily near the bed for a moment.  Turning to face Al, she gives him a smile that could light the room and says, "Alouicious Harlan Guthrie.  You are one hell of a good man.  I could make you happy if you let me.  And now to bed."  Alyce crawls on top of the bed and lays down on her back, falling asleep almost instantly.

[adamu]

That was all she wrote for Al. The sight of her standing there shamelessly naked combined with that radiant, open smile was too much for him - that was it. He was shrugging his jacket off and deciding whether to take her hard or soft when she promptly passed out.

"Son of a thrice damned bitch," he sighed collapsing into the nearest chair. Good. This wasn't the time anyway. He'd have regretted it.

So he sat and gazed at her for a long time - couldn't get tired of the sight of her there on the other side of the mosquito net, lights still on. It was easier than last night, though. Last night she'd made it constantly clear that he'd had the choice, and it had been a hell of a choice to make, one he'd had to re-make almost with every passing second. Now, with her passed out, there was no choice at all.

But it was a warm enough night he felt no obligation to cover her up.

Six cigarettes later he caught himself nodding off and knew that wouldn't do. Whatever that magic word poor Trader Jim had sold them was, someone thought it was worth killing folks for, and that meant they had both this Senor fellow plus all the evil minions of super-shaman after them. No way she was monitoring her drone feeds right now, if she'd even put them on post. So it was just him, and he'd be damned if he was leaving her side.

So he got up, went out on the lanai, stripped naked, and bathed. The cold water felt good, and distracted him from the pain in his nose. Put on the clean underwear she'd bought him, and the second new Tshirt, shoved the dirty ones in his pack. Then repacked what little was in it, raided her pack for half their cigarettes and distributed them about his pockets. They weren't shoving off until day after tomorrow, but he figured he should stay ready to move.

Then he took out the shotgun and rifle he'd bought in Phnom Penh, laid them out on the table and stripped both. He didn't have a proper cleaning kit, but he'd checked they were clean before letting her pay for them, and now he was just double- and triple-checking. Reassembled them, checked the length on both shoulder straps, wrapped the rifle back up in the oilcloth it had come in, and left the shotgun on the table, loaded. It'd now be with him for the duration. He got into her pack again for the ammo, put all of it in his own pack after distributing several reloads in his customary cargo pockets, wrapping them in rubber bands so they wouldn't make a racket when he walked. The whole process took twice as long as it should have, since he spent half the time pausing to gaze at her.

Dammit, she was hardly the first naked woman he'd seen, and he had never been fixated this way.

Must be love, he joked to himself sardonically.

Then he put his boots back on, jacket in easy reach, and settled back into his chair to watch her. He spent the time trying to decide if she was leading him down that well-known path of ensorcelment that trapped good men in needy relationships with stone-cold bitches, or if she really could simply be that perfect.

And he was still sitting there when she woke up.

[adamu]

Alyce's drink-fogged sleep was anything but prosaic.  Al was all over her and she was loving every second of it.  His kisses and the touch of his body were fire on her skin and his ability to be on her, around her, and inside her brought out both the tiger within her and the lamb, depending on how he was playing her.  At one time rough and the next gentle, he worked her like he wanted and she could not get enough of him.  She climaxed way too many times for it to be real, but, hey, it was a dream.  It was over way too bloody soon and she was awake and realizing that it had been a dream.  She smiles; it had been a fragging great dream and her internal clock tells her that she has slept later than she had wanted to.  A small noise from the room causes her to flip her ultrasound sensor on and she sees Al in a chair, looking at her.  Alyce actually blushes at what she has been dreaming; after all it had seemed so very fragging real.  Even now, she knows that her body has been reacting to the dream by the tautness of her nipples and the dampness between her thighs.
 
Alyce passes a hand across her brow.  "Wow.  I must have had more than three drinks last night.  I feel like drek and probably look it, too.  I am sorry that you had to see me in this condition.  I usually know when to put the brakes on my drinking."  She slides out of the bed and past the netting to go stand in front of Al.  She holds out a hand and says, "You got another one of those?  I could really use a smoke right about now."  She takes the cigarette from him and bends over to accept a light, her breasts just in front of his eyes.  Standing, she takes a couple of large drags and says, "Thanks ever so much.  I don't really know how I went so long without one."  She pulls the second chair from the table and sits down facing him as she tips some ash into the small box.  Her sensors have already picked out the smell of the guns and ammo and she reaches a hand out to touch the shotgun on the table.  "I do not smell new oil.  Did you not find the gun cleaning kit I bought and packed away for you when you got the guns?  It is in the pack; near the bottom, I think.  I am pretty good at cleaning them if you want to work together on it."
 
"Let me toss a shirt on and go use the facilities and call for some food if they still have any.  We can sit and clean your guns, or you can do that if you want to do it yourself and I can just sit and watch and talk."
 
Alyce goes to put her shirt on and goes to the door, flipping the long tail up to expose her ass as she passes Al.  Opening the door, she gives a small cry of surprise and bends over.  "Look here.  She left us food.  How sweet."  She stands and brings a tray of food to the table then leaves the room for a few minutes.  She is smiling when she returns.  "I think your stock just went up around here.  The old lady stopped me as I left the bathroom and smiled at my mode of dress.  She said something about my man finally treating me right, or something like that."  She walks to her pack and rummages around in it for the cleaning kit she had bought and stands back up with it in her hand.  She takes her shirt off and moves the chair so it is next to Al's before sitting in it.  Grabbing a bit of food, she murmurs, "Al, this is very good.  You should try it.  So, what did you decide?  Do I sit and watch or do I help clean these things?"

[adamu]

She'd brought a cleaning kit. There was a whole lot heating Al's blood up right now, but that was the cherry on top.

Because he'd decided, sitting there watching her all night. He'd come to his decision just a few minutes before her dream had awakened her, and he was damned glad he'd been able to reach his conclusion with a cool head, before witnessing that heart-stopping display.

He'd decided she really was just simply that great.

Now it was just about the timing. Because he'd never felt this way, and whatever happened, it had to be right. Because whatever first times happened, he was having crazy thoughts about them being the first times out of a forever of times. And that wasn't something you took lightly.

Until that right time came, he'd be happy to relish their growing friendship, get to know her even better. Just the way she'd talked about two nights earlier. He congratulated himself on getting through the last two nights - the way he felt now - the way he'd always been feeling but was now letting himself feel - it had been worth it.

Not that she wasn't still making him crazy. She'd also changed, somehow, from last night. She now not only knew but seemed to be acknowledging that he liked looking at her, like it was this unspoken but otherwise open pact between them, and she was no longer just 'being comfortable.' She was showing herself off for him, flirtatiously. Maybe not quite brazenly, but with a bit of a wink and a nod. He loved it. He made sure his movements let her know he was paying attention.

But no one touched his weapons.

"Reckon, I can clean 'em," he said, placing one scarred hand high on her thigh and grabbing some food with the other, "Right after we eat. But they's a lot ta do today. Probably have ta renegotiate tomorrow's boats. Check out the quarters fer tonight. An' before any o' that I wanna talk some biz with ya. So how long we got? What time they supposed ta git here today?"

[Mercy Merchant]

The touch of his hand on her thigh has her catching her breath and it almost has her missing the nuance of his words.  Almost.  "I can understand how you might feel about others helping you with your guns; I would feel the same way about people helping me clean my surgical instruments.  No problem; I can maybe take a bath while you work on them after we eat.  Speaking of eating, have you tried this bread she made?"  As she reaches for the leaf-wrapped bread, her leg scoots and twists a bit and Al finds his hand quite a bit higher on her thigh and more to the inside.  Alyce is blushing a bit from the reaction this triggers in her, but makes no attempt to move away.

She opens her mouth to say something but the position of his hand at her center causes her to immediately forget what it was.  God, she wishes that he would just move a finger right there and...............  Stopping that line of thought, she forces her brain to rewind and says, "We do have some things to do today, and I rather imagine that we may not see them until the day after tomorrow.  I took a message from Yao while in the bathroom.  It seems that Ling Tse Tau has found himself a cutie and is busy shagging her for the time being.  Apparently she is the daughter of one of the cabinet ministers and he does not want to leave Phnom Penh for a week, but compromised with Yao for the morning after tomorrow.  He did not say as much, but my read is that Yao is furious, but there is little that can be done.  So we have today and tomorrow and part of the next day to get ready."

"Still lots to do, but we have a bit of breathing space.  I know that you want to go talk to the boatmen and I would like to go up to the clinic.  I need to check on Sangha and Gem and see if I can get some supplies for the kit.  I have a lot coming in with the team, but I seem to be going through the refills quite fast.  We can split up for that and then meet after, maybe for lunch?  Then go look at the quarters you have arranged.  Hmmm.  Rather think there will be an additional charge for that as well, with the delay.  I hope Ling does not take too long to get tired of his new toy as we are already in danger of butting up against the start of the rainy season here and that would make things harder, I imagine.  Anyway, I responded that we would be waiting.  I also told him that I had some information that I did not want to chatter about over the matrix.  I did not want to say too much about the book and will leave that for when he arrives."

Al's hand is burning.  He knows that with a simple movement, a finger could be probing her inner self and she does not seem to mind; in fact her not moving away would seem to be an invitation to go further.  He manages to ask a question about the gun he had seen yesterday.  Alyce makes a slight turn toward the pack, and his hand moves right up against where her thighs meet, and she says, "Tha.......that........that is a rapid infuser.  Some of the medicines I use take time to interact with the body.  The infuser gets them right into the blood or muscles, making them that much more effective faster.  I have two of them.  One has cartridges of toxins, not medicines, and while it is not truly effective enough to be a weapon, it can be if someone discounts it as either a toy or something equally innocuous.  In the past, I have managed to stop a very large man or two with the things in that little gun.  Just because I appear to be easy pickings does not mean I cannot be dangerous."

At this point she can feel two of his fingers at the verge of entering her and knows that he is able to feel her wetness on his fingers.  His breathing indicates that he is excited even if he is not saying anything.  He is not withdrawing his hand, which tells her a lot, but also means the next move is up to her.  Another slight move forward and she will impale herself on his fingers and that would..............would.................would lead to so much more that she desperately wants, but would violate the spirit of what they had agreed to in Chi Pat.  With a sigh and a small cry of frustration, she pushes the chair back and stands.  Her breathing is labored, almost panting, as she says she is going to take a bath.  Her movements are not quite even as she walks to the pack and bends over it to get her soap, shampoo, and cloth before walking somewhat unsteadily out to the lanai and the barrel of cold water.

Still not completely sure that she did the right thing by not giving in to her basic desires, Alyce stands facing Al and washes her body and hair.  Her mind is kicking herself for not following through and letting him take her.  She would gladly shag the man at the drop of any hint from him, but.........but frag it all, anyway.  The cold water helps cool her libido, but only a bit as her mind wanders to what might have happened.  The feel of his fingers at the very edge of being inside her had thrilled her unbelievably and she can still feel the slight pressure of his fingers there.  One push would have been enough................  **Frag it!  Stop!**  She finishes the bath and walks back into the bedroom still wet in search of a towel to dry herself off with.

[adamu]

As usual whenever this damned woman was within a hundred yards of him, Al's mind was aswirl. From what she'd said in Chi Pat, she felt the same way he did about taking things slowly, but he reckoned they were making it pretty hard on each other.

That he could live with. He was very much in the go big or go home school, and if things were going to be deliciously frustrating for a bit, he wanted it to be as excruciating as possible, just for the sake of living hard and saying fuck you to the universe.

So he kept his eyes on her throughout her bathing - he could have cleaned his weapons with them closed anyway.

But the pulse she had pounding in his temples was not helping him think straight about their employers. He'd been about to urge them to accelerate their timetable, and now this? Seemed this Ling was even more of a spoiled dandy-boy than he'd thought.

This did not help his new primary concern: as his feelings for Alyce pioneered new frontiers in his emotional experience, he was increasingly determined to keep her safe. Now these yahoos were going to make everything more dangerous for all of them. More than ever he now needed to establish some rules with her.

As she stood there dripping, casting about for a towel using whatever sensors did that for her, he said, "Stop."

She turned her eerily adorable white eyes toward him, off-focus and puzzled.

"Now turn around."

"Why?"

"Just cuz I asked ya to."

So she did, and he looked at her.

"All right, turn back around. Now reach up fer the ceiling. That's it, right up on yer tiptoes."

She did it, fingers stretched skyward, and it was a good half minute before he told her she could stop. Then he reached behind him and grabbed a towel out of a drawer and handed it to her.

"Reckon sometimes I'm the boss. So here's some things you gotta remember, an' I ain't gon' be trifled with. We got yer Senor lurkin' about, an' we got El Shamano Dude gittin' ballsier every day, an' he don't like us havin' Jim's magic word, no not one damned bit. So until we git with the rest o' the group, we ain't leavin' each other's sight. Not fer no reason whatever. Ya keep yer drones on alert, an' no more drinkin' fer you neither. An' when they all gits here, ta all o' them you an' me's jist coworkers. I ain't ashamed nor embarrassed 'bout whatever the hell's goin' on betwixt us, but you been on enough o' these shindigs to know how it'd change things. Truth be told, I don't give a rat's ass 'bout that neither. But anyone suspectin' they's anything between us is gon' use that against us, an' I can't have that. So if ya got that all down, you can set about giitin' me onna horn with Yao."

He lit a fresh cigarette. "An' ya put a stitch o' clothin' on afore we's set to leave this room, I'll have ya over my knee."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce obeys Al's commands to the letter as she turns around and stretches up.  She knows that he is looking at her and she loves it.  The changes in his breathing indicate that he is enjoying the site of her nakedness, thrilling her far more than she had thought it would.  She tells herself that the has been naked before many men, and even some women, but that this man is different.  She also finds the demanding tone of his voice to be a massive turn-on, something that actually surprises her a great deal.  She has been an independent woman for going on thirty-five years and has resisted men that use the very same tone of voice, but this man's voice has a much different effect on her.  It is not so much that he is demanding things, because she senses that he is not a domineering sort, but more that he is really demonstrating some sort of inner need of his own.

She catches the towel he tosses her way and walks forward to within a couple feet of him.  Two can play at this.  If he wants to look at her, she will give him something to look at and remember during the nights that he will not be able to see her like this.  Alyce runs the thin towel across her body in a way that draws Al's eyes to where she wants him to look.  He does not get up or turn his head away as she dries, so she knows he is interested in what he sees.  At one point, she bends over towards him, putting her breasts close enough to him that he can clearly tell just how taut her nipples are and all he would have to do is move an inch forward to be tasting them.  Then she turns about and bends over to dry her feet, giving him an extremely close view of her shapely backside.  Standing and turning back to face him, she finishes and tosses the towel back towards the bed.  Still only a foot or so away from him, she says, "Do you have ANY idea how much it turns me on that you like to look at me?  You must have seen scores of naked women in your life and adventures, yet somehow I get the impression that you like this body a lot.  And I find that I really enjoy being naked in front of you.  Is there some part of me you want to see more of?  Is there some part of me that you want to touch?  All you have to do is reach out, Al.  I am not sure that touching violates our agreement, does it?"

"But on a more serious note, I agree to your concerns about the shaman.  I have two of my drones doing search patters around the village and the third one here around the house.  I will stay with you like glue if you like, but would request that we stop by the clinic at some point.  And I will put you in touch with Yao right now.  Just remember that he has probably already done all he can to get Ling Tse Tau moving faster."  Standing where she is, she makes the connection with Yao Lung and ensures that it is secure and encrypted before linking Al in.

[adamu]

There, she'd said it out loud. The Agreement. Al figured it was good they were on the same page. Hopefully they could stay that way. Especially since her interpretation of it was rather more flexible than his.

He was opening his mouth to respond to that when she launched straight back into business. Before he knew it he was thanking her and talking to Yao, cigarette dangling from a tight corner of his mouth. "Heard yer in a bit of a pickle with our esteemed boss...yeah, I appreciate that, an' it's not nothin', but even the one extra day gon' cost us..." Al cursed under his breath and repeated himself more slowly. "No, it ain't them I'm so worried about. Reckon this ain't jist a race fer some dingus gatherin' dust inna tomb somewhere no more. Some medicine man up there done got the thing in play..." and then he had to repeat himself again. "Yeah, playin' god with the locals, an' gittin' a bit big fer his britches, raidin' down outta the mountains. Not only gittin' more powerful, but pretty much hangin' out a shingle sayin' attention all treasure hunters." Al spent the next five minutes explaining what he'd said in slower, plainer English, only to hear that Yao was out of options. He felt for the guy, just a working stiff with an asshole for a boss. "Yeah, Alyce said that'd be yer position, but reckoned it was my job ta fill ya in. Git yer mind set fer it, so ta speak. Yeah...thanks fer hearin' me out."

He cut the connection. "Well, looks like we got some extra time ta kill. Poor us, huh?" They shared a mischievous smile - the deepening of their mutual understanding was like a drug - the excitement of complicity in something off limits. She'd been lolling about on the bed, and he'd never taken his eyes off her during his conversation with Yao. He wanted to go over and join her, just to be closer, but didn't dare.

"Listen, let's rewind a sec. Yeah, I like lookin' at ya. Take yer brains an' yer personality outta the equation, ya still look sexier'n anyone I ever seen. But like ya said, I done been there an' done that. What's got me so fixated is that it's you in there, you, Alyce, wrapped up in that luscious package. Don't reckon I can git me enough of it."

He tamped out his spent cigarette and put his game face back on. "But hey, there's one more thing I wanna lay on ya, one hired hand to another."

[Mercy Merchant]

Al has not indicated that she was to listen in, so Alyce cuts herself out of the direct link as soon as she has Yao on the line and has gone to lay down on the bed so as not to be a major distraction during Al's conversation with Yao.  She files what she is hearing in a folder that she has labeled "Al's personal information - DO NOT READ".  She is pretty sure that Al would not mind her overhearing, as he has not chased her from the room, but she does not want to assume.  If he is OK with her knowing, she will move the items back to her open folder about Al and the job. She is on the bed with her feet to him and slightly apart.  His opinions of what he is looking at are his own, if he is looking at her at all.  Al's breathing is a bit on the ragged side, but that could be easily explained by the frustrated tone of the conversation he is having with Yao as by a reaction to her.

Alyce had lit a cigarette from Al's Zippo before going to the bed and is lazily trying to blow smoke rings; a talent she had perfected years ago but has grown away from in the several years without a cigarette in her mouth.  To say she is out of practice would be an understatement and her attempts are laughable.  Her chest jiggles at the soft chuckles she makes at her mistakes.  By the end of the conversation, she can do a barely passable sort of ring, but still far from what she used to do.

When Al is finished with the conversation, Alyce cuts the connection and sits up, smoke rings left for another time.  She scoots forward so that her legs dangle of the end of the bed and listens to Al talk.  Her body tingles at every word and the reaction to what he says is immediate and strong.  He cannot miss the hardening of her nipples if he is looking and she is thinking how useless it is to take a bath with him in the area as parts of her react so readily to him.  She wants him to just toss the fag away, come to the bed, and ravish her for hours on end.  Certainly that would be counterproductive to the mission, but there is an extra day now so what the drek.  She bites her lip a bit to keep from telling him to just say the right words and he would have the rest of his life to see if he could get enough of her.  For herself, she is willing to risk problems down the road for the chance of a lifetime of happiness with him, but she recognizes that he does not feel the same way.....yet.  She needs to give him the time to get to know her before she tells him over and over how much she has fallen for him.

She tries to keep her joy and excitement off of her face and out of her voice, but realizes that she does not trust herself and just nods at his final statement.

[adamu]

"Okay, fergit about," and he waved his fingers about the room and in the space between then vaguely, "all this. I wanna talk to ya seriously, one pro to another." And then he shook his head and broke into a grin, realizing how ridiculous that sounded as she sat there naked in front of him. "Alrighty then, start again..." But the sight of her there, also trying to keep a straight face, made it impossible to continue.

"Well, hell, we'll try this another time. Talk biz when we's doin' biz. So we got boats ta see to, quarters ta see to, an' the clinic ta visit. Don't see no real hurry. Ya wanna kill some time here, tell me the stories behind that cross round yer neck or that diamond on her tummy? Or git out inna heat, git stuff done?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce has a hard time keeping a straight face after the "one pro to another" comment.  At Al's question, she puts a hand to her cross.  "This belonged to my mother.  She gave me one when I was six, but I.......lost that one.  This was among her effects after she died and I took it.  I am not an exceptionally religious person, Al, but I do believe.  I have probably broken just about every commandment, but I have faith that God will receive me if I stay true, confess my sins, and do my assigned penance.  I usually have a lot of sins to confess."

"The diamond is from my first ever expedition.  I was working with a Renraku team in Borneo.  Heavy jungle, pretty much like here.  Shouldn't go into details, but they gave me this as part of my payment.  I was not sure what to do with only one and someone recommended that I do this and I thought it was a good idea."

Alyce stretches and says.  "I am happy here right now and we can do the work bit after lunch."

[adamu]

Al settled back in his chair and flexed his jaw from side to side. "Well, I sure am glad fer a chance at a breather this mornin' since they ain't nothin' ta be done about it. Damned corp brat Ling. But I ain't quite sure yer suggestion's entirely inna spirit o' yer agreement thing. Ya know, about gittin' ta know each other better first. Now I agreed ta yer idea, an' intend to stick to it until I am good an' satisfied it's met." He licked his lips. "But fond of ya as I am, you are hard ta say no to."

He unlaced his boots, taking his good sweet time about it, letting her sweat.

"Alrighty, lie back. Now press yer hands to the wall there behind yer head. Ya move 'em, play time's over. Hell, ya move anything, or say a word, no more appetizers."

He stayed in his chair for a bit, then said "Turn all them sensors an' enhancers an' shit off too." Then he stayed in the chair a while longer. Smoked a whole cigarette, looking at her, watching her beautiful milky white eyes stare at the ceiling, watching her straining her hearing for his movement.

Then he got up and walked to the side of the bed. He did want to touch her. Desperately. He put a knee beside her on the sleeping pad. Aside from her hands reaching to the wall, her body lay relaxed.

One finger. Started at the tip of the smallest toe on her left foot and found its way across to the inside of her ankle. Slowly. Very slowly, almost like the hand of a clock. The pad of his forefinger tracing the inside of her calf, a journey of some minutes. Her knee, and then her thigh. More slowly now, contact never breaking, he explored her skin in a straight, sure, timeless line. Closer. Closer. Shifting course at the last possible moment, never touching her womanhood, but drifting down over the inner curve of her haunches to find another entrance, which he tested lightly, watching her reaction carefully and filing it away for later.

Then up, along the line where leg meets torso, across her taut stomach, one slow circle around the diamond that dangled from her navel and onward, a center course. He traveled her sternum, a lazy, dangerous zig-zag that never took him off the safe middle path onto silky swells that were for now forbidden. Then her neck, lingering there, feeling her lifeblood throbbing under that one finger. Up, up, to the tip of her chin, her bottom lip...

"Alrighty then, reckon I got work ta do afore lunch."  She heard him sit back down in his chair, pull out the huge knife he kept at the small of his back, and start cutting at something.

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce dutifully places her hands on the wall behind her and shuts off all of her sensory enhancements.  She hears him light a cigarette and smoke it, letting the anticipation grow.  Finally, he stands and comes over and she feels the pressure on the bed beside her.  His first touch is unexpected and sends an electric current from her toe to the rest of her body.  She almost cries out but remembers that he has said no talking and manages to keep the cry inside.  The slow movement of his finger on her leg does nothing to ease the fire his touch ignites in her, rather it feeds the flame of desire she feels for him.  When his finger approaches the point where her thighs meet, she cannot hold in the soft moan that escapes her or the one after as he changes direction.  She reacts with another moan of pleasure as she tries to keep her body from moving in reaction to the light touch and then he continues his exploration upward onto her stomach and chest.  Alyce mentally wills him to stray to touch her breasts, but his mental defense is enough to resist the suggestion.  When he reaches her bottom lip, she cannot control herself any longer and opens her mouth in an invitation to explore there.  He does not succumb to this temptation, either, nor the feather-light touch of her tongue on his finger.

And he stops.  And moves away.  It is several minutes before she can recover enough to sit up, still panting a bit.  She snaps her senses back on and watches him for a minute before getting off the bed and going to her pack.  Drawing her book and a pack of cigarettes from where they are stashed, she goes to sit at the table, where she uses the zippo on the table to get a light and sits down next to him to read, all without saying a word.  At this point, she is convinced that anything she says will be the wrong thing.  Her body hums at the closeness of him, but she forces herself to open the book and read from where she had last stopped.  Somehow, the reading and the sound of him whittling is reassuring and serves to calm her.

[Mercy Merchant]

They sat in silence for over an hour, just the sounds of the knife on the wood, and the noises of the jungle filtering in over the lanai.

Just being together with her, each lost in their own pursuit, was more exciting to Al than the encounter on the bed, which was saying something.

His feelings were becoming an irrepressible wave inside himself, and he was increasingly confident in his decision that she was something very special and to be pursued. He was impatient for the right time to arrive - maybe tonight? Chi Pat? It had to be right.

His work was starting to take shape, a pile of wood shavings in front of him on the table. He needed it done before they hit the river, and was glad for the extra time.

He considered the time - still an hour before noon. He was glad.

He looked at her, just sitting there reading near him.

He said, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

Then he said, “Read some to me."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce is content to sit near Al.  She reading and he whittling just seems so right for some reason.  She has to admit to herself that she has never felt quite this comfortable with anyone else, ever, even including the man she had been set to marry.  Al is just so.......so right.  His words out of the blue surprise her and she blushes.  Without really thinking, she looks up and says, "Thank you, Al.  I hope in my heart that you would always think of me like that."  Realizing that she may have said the wrong thing again, she blushes again before flipping back to the front of the book.  She has no problem starting from the beginning.  Putting her fingers on the raised characters, she begins reading the book.  She does not read in a monotone, but tries to convey the meaning of the words and the importance of what is being said in this timeless love story.  For a while, she transports Al to a world far different from anything he has ever experienced, giving life to the words and the people in the book.