Rivendell Bookstore

[Maid of Marvels]

Natural habitat. That made Sage smile. "I'd like that very much," she answered in as soft a tone as he had used. Truth, she couldn't bear the thought of going home alone, not to mention the curiously tantalizing aura of anticipation that seemed to surround them.

As they closed up shop Sage busied herself with other things, making notes and offering suggestions for stocking a couple of the latest best sellers that had caught her eye. For all intents and purposes it was typical end-of-the-day routine, but her mind was swirling with thoughts.

What are you doing, Sage Kovacs, she asked herself. Pizza and good company is all, she rationalized. There was nothing wrong with that, was there? Besides, Stan was off schmoozing himself into a name on a sign, Vanessa and Stanley, Jr. were with Ernestine... Of course she was happy for her husband's opportunity for promotion, but his superior attitude on the phone had rankled. Basically he'd dismissed her job at Rivendell as no more than a whimsy and if he'd called her "hon" one more time... No, she thought, shuddering, make that "HUN". That was the one endearment she truly despised. It always sounded so... condescending.

"Ready?"

"Hmm?" She looked up from the notepad she had been ostensibly scribbling in. "Sorry. I didn't hear what you said."

"I asked if you were ready."

"As I'll ever be." As vague as that sounded, no truer words were ever spoken. Sage was going to go with the flow -- whatever that meant and where ever that took her.

Less than a half hour later they were at Arthur's. He'd called ahead and she'd run into the liquor store next door for a bottle of wine while he went into the pizzeria. "This gives new meaning to movable feast," she grinned as he unlocked the door and held it for her.

Arthur's house had a sort of retro feel to it -- furniture that looked relatively new but made her think of the fifties and early sixties. It was definitely built for comfort.

"I... like it," she said as Arthur walked her from room to room after he'd taken the pizza box from her and set it down. "Was this your parent's house?"

 

[OnHarry]

Sage was out of the car and on her way to the liquor store before Arthur could tell her he had a small cellar at home. When they arrived he opened the door, and waited till Sage walked in. It was a hallway that had a closet on the left side and a door to a bedroom. On the right was a wide archway to a living room, and straight ahead was a third door to what appeared to be a second living room.

There was a wood cornice moulding around the ceilings, that matched the woodwork on the doors and their casings. The house was clean but very cluttered. There were books on the seat of the hall tree, there were magazines and manila envelopesd with who knew what in them on the coffee table in the second living room, though the front room to her lright Sage noted was fairly uncluttered, and that was where the televison was along with a VCR and DVD player.

Arthur ushered Sage through the second living room and she noted there was a door to the left off this room as well, which she assumed was also a bedroom. Beyond the second living room was a dining room that had a 1920's style diningroom suite. One end of which had three stacks of books on it, but three quarters of the tabletop was clear. Arthur put the pizza down and said "I eat here every night, even though I have a kitchen table as well."

Then he went to the kitchen which was behind the dining room and was the full width of the house, there was also a room off the dining room as well.

Arthur returned with a corkscrew and two plates and glasses, he set them down and offered to show the house to Sage. Taking her in the front room first he turned on a lamp and waved his arm around saying, "this is where I read for pleasure, and watch nmovies and such. You might be interested in this also," he said as he waved towards the fireplace and there was a framed watercolour over the mantle.

Sage looked at the print which showed a large woman standing on a porch surveying what she assumed was a prairie farm of some sort, "she looks familiar," was all Sage said.

Arthur nodded, yes she does this is an original watercolour for the Prairie Wives Companion, the fourth of July number from 1898, it was done by our friend Rowena for that magazine's cover, I got it in an antique store in Corning New York. However the woman in the painting is Mrs. D from the illustrations we looked at.

Sage gasped and covered her mouth laughing saying, "I wonder if the model knew what other uses she was being put to?"

"I am not sure, but it would be interesting to find out. It seems that Rowena always drew people she actually knew so who knows who that is."

They returned to the dinig room and started in on the pizza, Arthur pouring the wine, a red blend from California, and as they ate slowly deliberatly Arthur told Sage of growing up with two bookish parents, and they talked of the store and business while the two cats both grey tabbies Oberon and Titania, hung about awaiting attention, or better yet food.

The bottle was finished before the pizza, and Sage looked at it, saying, "I should have bought two."

Arthur smiled and said, "I have a small cellar and can furnish a second one, that is if you are sure you can drive after."

"I will wait till I am sober enough, so bring it on," her voice tinged by the exuberance the wine had leant her.

Arthur went into the kitchen and Sage heard a door open and Arthur going down some stairs, he returned a few minutes later with a bottle of Valpollicella, "A nice fruity red with lots of body," he said.

The bottle was opened and the pizza finished, the box and plates removed, and Arthur pouring the last of the second bottle. Arthur looked at Sage perhaps emboldened by the wine, or perhaps because he was, as he said, in his natural habitat, "do we dare look at a sketch book?"

"Of course," replied Sage smiling, "we are both adults here you know."

Arthur smiled at that and got up going to where he had put the two sketch books he had brought with him, returning to the dining room table now cleaned off, he set the first one down in front of them. Sage slowly and quietly opened the book, the first page dated Summer 1905.

Looking at Arthur she hesitated a bit and now perhaps a bit nervous or excited or both, she turned the page to the first illustration. It showed Rowena, and Mrs. D, obviously the woman in the watercolour over the mantle, and Mr W, of the large member, as well as a third female, they had not as yet seen before. Rowena was fully dressed as was Mrs. D, but the new female was half undressed Rowena managing to convey her shyness and excitement very well by her facial expression. Mr W, was dressed but his coat was laying on a chair and he looked excited.

Arthur almost whispered, "I know this, it's one of the later chapters, the initiation I think Van Hudel called it."

Sage licked her lips nervously and nodded as if she also recognized this bit. She turned the page and the two women were holding the new one by her arms as she was now naked, and MR. W was applying his fingers to her breasts. Arthur glanced at Sage, he was at the end of the table she was sitting at the side. He was making no effort at all to hide his arousal now and quietly, deliberatly slowly Sage turned the page again. This one showed Mr. W, almost undressed his trophy size evident and of some concern to the third woman.

Arthur and Sage both knew what followed this, and turning the page revealed Mr W in his naked erect glory while Rowena and Mrs D. had their hands on the young girls breasts and vagina. Arthur swallowed hard he recallled how this scene always made him so stimulated, but seeing it illustrated made it that much more so.

Sages eyes were rooted to the page, and after a moment she turned it again , neither had said anything for at least five minutes, and now the next page revealed the third woman reclined on the lounge, her legs spread obviously aroused as Mr. W approached her. Rowena and Mrs D. were locked in a lovers embrace of what seemed like much passion, and they were half undressed.

Sage swallowed herself this time and turned the page rather quicker than Arthur wanted her to, revealing Mr W fully penetrating the woman while now Rowena and Mrs D were both nude and Rowena was in a chair, her own legs spread while Mrs. D ministered to her ably if the expression on her face and the tight grip on Mrs. D's head was any indication.

Sage moved to turn the page again faster than Arthur would have preferred and he restrained her by placing his hand over hers, Sage stopped looking up as if she was just waking up, and Arthur for some reason lifted his hand and then taking his right index finger, moved it almost along the top of Sage's right little finger, his touch so light it was almost as if he was not touching her but just moving above her finger. he moved from the knuckle on the back of her finger to the nail, than back down the other side, then he moved up to the nail on the next finger, and back down again.

He continued this till he had come to the base of her thumb and suddenly recoiled, stuttering, "Sage I am so sorry I am so sorry, I did not mean to do that please I did not mean that,.... " Arthur looked horrified, somewhat silly considering his obvious erection.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

If the sketch book was fuel for Sage's libido, then Arthur's touch was incendiary. That slow glissade, up and down the length of her slender fingers... she let her mind and her imagination wander. It's what she wanted to be doing. Touching. Only not his fingers...

Jolted from her reverie by Arthur's shocked exclamation and abrupt apology, she blinked and turned slowly, looking into his eyes before lowering them for an instant and raising them again. That her body was still reacting to the images in the book as well as to his touch had left her mind is a foggy red, and exceedingly prurient haze.

"Arthur... " Sage's voice was so low it seemed almost disembodied. Reaching for his hand, she guided it. Slowly, ever so slowly, to her breast.

He looked at her, scrutinizing her face, her eyes, her mouth. Wondering if she could possibly mean what her action inferred, his hesitation was fleeting as she whispered once again. "Yes, please."

 

[OnHarry]

For what must have seemed like an eternity to Sage Arthur did not move, the palm of his hand resting on the fabric that covered her left breast. Then slowly with an almost impercetible, revolving motion of his palm he started to circle her breast as he licked his lips in anticipation and nervousnous.

As he slowly massaged her orb in a circular fashion, Sage leaned against the back of the dining room chair, a tacit understanding having arisen between them that whatever would happen would not happen quickly. Arthur looked at Sage's face as she closed her eyes, and he noted a slight eruption on her breast as her nipple responded to his ministrations.

Arthur directed the centre of his palm to that small eruption which responded in kind, and became, even though cloaked by the knit top, and bra, fully up and prominent. Arthur then lifted most of his palm off her breast and allowed only what was needed to make contact with the jutting nipple through the cloth, massaging the tip and watching for a response.

That he was himself excited went without saying, he was not inexperienced in the ways of physical love, but it was a fair long time since his last experience, and this one was special in a way he would not be able to describe, but he wanted it to last, and he had all night.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Without opening her eyes, Sage used Arthur's hand on her breast as a guiding point for her own. Her breathing had become slow and shallow, though her heart was pounding hard enough to burst through her chest. And the rest of her... Gods!

Placing her hand over the back of his, she let it wander to his wrist, catching for a moment against the cuff of his shirt before wandering past. She could feel his muscles tensing beneath the cool cotton as her hand and fingers continued their exploration of his arm, moving toward his elbow and reaching further still.

Their return journey was just as languorous, though Sage began to sense the perils that were inherent. Dissatisfied with the feel of cool cotton, she hungered for the warm, smooth touch of skin against skin and found her fingers faltering when they once again reached the cuff. Then and only then, did she open her eyes... as if to ask permission.

 

[OnHarry]

Arthur moved his head back in surprise as Sage's eyes openend so suddenly, he had the impression of a question asked but no idea what it might be. By this time however lust was forcing reason out of the way.

He nodded ascent, but at the same time lifted his rump off the chair slightly and moved it with his free hand to a postion where he was directly facing Sage. Then he insinuated his right leg between her knees, gathering her dress as he pressed himself to the chair front putting his other leg to her right side. He then clamped his index and forefinger, at the middle knuckle over her protruding left nipple, while his thumb activly engaged the tip., massaging it slowly, as his two fingers tugged firmly but gently on the nub.

With his free hand Arthur moved his finger tips along the seam in her top, on her right side, moving slowly down the material, to the waistband of her skirt, then back up to the pit of her arm all the while engaging the erect left nipple.

After a few minutes of this Arthur moved his hand beyond the waist of her skirt, and down past her knee, until he felt the hem, and then, her leg uncovered by any kind of hose. Stoping his efforts on the nipple for a brief time as his hand moved just under the hem of her skirt, and halted, looking at her face, he in turn sought permission to move his hand further up this time on the bare flesh of her leg.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Sage drew in her breath when Arthur's fingers captured her nipple. Allowing a soft moan to escape as she exhaled, she deftly unfastened the button of first one cuff and then the other, her fingers slipping beneath as he began to caress her body.

Reaching the short distance between them, Sage's hand trembled as she touched a button on his shirt front. Surely he must know how she craved his touch, how she yearned to reciprocate. To feign reluctance was never something she was successful at.

Arthur's hand had found its way to her leg now, the warm touch of his fingers on her thigh electric. Sage shivered, every nerve ending poised in anticipation. Touch me, she willed him silently, her mouth as dry as other parts of her were sodden with her prurient desire. She stopped at one button, letting her hand slip lower, her fingertips slowly trailing down his chest.

 

[OnHarry]

Arthur lifted his free hand form her leg, as Sage looked almost pouty, but then reaching down between her legs he gathered the material from the front of her skirt and slowly raised it up, pushing it back toward her waist, gently, slowly. Now both of her legs were exposed, against the backdrop of the back of her skirt all the way to her silky looking undergarment.

Arthur's gaze never left her face nor did his right hand leave the left breast either.
Now the fingertips of his left hand came to rest on the outside of her knee, and slowly deliberatly he traced a path on the outside of her thigh, until his fingers touched pale blue satiny material. Then he retraced his finger's path back to her knee on her right leg.

He applied a bit more pressure on the erect nub between his right fingers, and she closed her eyes either wincing or in pleasure, it was hard to tell. She had undone his cuff and the top two buttons on his shirt, her touch cool, and delicate yet so welcome, finding the rather tangled chesthair.

He moved his left hand once more up her thigh only this time on top of her leg, again returning when he touched the blue barrier of material. Then a third foray this time on the inner thigh, going agonizingly slow as he made his way up the soft skin, of her parted thighs, until he came once again to the material.

This time he stopped there and gently slowy but deliberatly moved his fingers along the elastic towards her hip, then back to the middle, and noting the slight cleft in the centre of her blue boundry, moved his fingers up and down that silky wall, feeling her innermost sanctum, and a slight dampness if he was not mistaken. When he reached the top of the cleft he applied a bit of pressure from his fingers to a surprisingly prominent nub as Sage did a sharp intake of breath.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

The backs of her fingers continued their downward journey, pausing only when Arthur touched her. In the slow and torturously erotic dance they were sharing, Sage slid closer, pressing her aching clitoris against his hand. When her hand reached his erection, it was Arthur's turn to draw in his breath as she smoothed her fingers over it through the restrictive material of his trousers.

Pressing more firmly as she Brailled the length and girth of him, Sage's eyelids fluttered and her entire body quivered with anticipation. "Arthur... " she whispered his name softly, needily, her hand wandering back up to his belt.

The stretch was awkward as she rocked against his hand, but she was determined and he shifted to help her, moving closer to the edge of his chair to enable her. Sage's hand trembled as she finally loosened the buckle, their eyes never straying one from the other, though his fingers replaced hers to unfastened the button and helped to lower his zipper.

She was so close. So very close. Sage mewled her frustration as she slipped her fingers through the opening in his boxers. She could feel the base of his sex straining to be unfettered, much as she was herself. "Please?"

 

[OnHarry]

Arthur moaned very lowly almost a growl, those exquisite fingers the ones he had watched for the last month, holding those pastries to her mouth, those fingers were attempting to encirlce his erection, her finger pads touching his bare skin, encumbered as they were by the confines of his boxer briefs.

His hand returned to her own under garment, and again he moved his finger along the cleft top to bottom, bottom to top. Then he started to gently knead her sex pressing the two halves into one and moving about sometimes massaging the lips, or else the hood at the top.

He could tell even through her panties, that she was well prepared to receive his offering. He attempted to slip a finger beneath the elastic between her thighs but it withstood his assault on her fortress. He moved his hand to the top of her thigh where the gaurdian elastic was less able to repulse his fingers. Slipping two fingers beneath the perimeter of her silk wall he slid his finger now inside her castle keep, down to her inner thighs, and to her mound.

His own bare fingers now poised at her innermost gate, he rubbed the mound with his eager digits, feeling the slick viscous coating that betrayed her arousal. It might have been a bit uncomfortable for her the elastic so tight and his hand beneath it, but Sage only moaned softly in her turn, as his fingers found easy access aided by cupids oil, his finger slipped inside the gate.

His upper finger massaged her moistend clitoris, as his lower one thrust as well as it might given the constraints of her satin wall. she had his erection fully out of it's own prison, and suddenly Arthur removed his free hand from her breast, and grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand back from his manhood.

Sage looked pleading, questioning as Arthur took some deep breaths, then said, "I was on the verge of climax, if I had not done that, I would have been finished for now."

Sage nodded and sat back for a moment, and as his breath came back in more regular intakes, he pulled her to the very edge of her chair, then he knelt in front of her and placed her arms around his shoulders, and pulling the fabric which in this position was less constraining, he knelt in front of her between her thighs, and holding the satin barrier to one side as much as possible he moved his erection towards her moist gateway.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Sage held her breath in expectation, Arthur's fingers parting her as her hand joined his. She needed to be a part of his entrance into her body.

A deep, low groan of satisfaction escaped her lips as he pushed forward. She could feel herself spreading slowly to accommodate his girth, and at the same time molding to fit him perfectly as her arms snaked around his neck and she enveloped his waist with her legs.

She ached for him, wanting him harder, deeper... her patience dissolving with each slow stroke. Biting at his neck, she moaned again as Arthur pulled her closer, sensing her need and acting on his. There would not be much tenderness, she well knew. Not this first time. Their mutual need for release need was far too great.

"I... can't... stop... " she whimpered, unable to stanch the waves of pleasure that were about to crash over and through her entire body. "Please... " Her eyelids fluttered as she exploded around him, urging him to join her. Insisting that he did.

 

[OnHarry]

Sex aside, Arthur had never, up until now that is, been this close to Sage, he could smell her cologne, the healthy fresh odur of her hair, and doubtless her arousal, she was that moist. He moved slowly deliberatly inside her pulling out as far as her interlocked limbs would permit and then slowly re-enter her sliding langerously into her welcoming sex.

He wanted this to last as long as possible, the intimacy seemed almost painful, and yet so wickedly pleasant, he wanted to stay in this moment forever, or as long as possible.

"I... can't... stop... " she whimpered, "Please... " Her eyelids fluttered as she exploded around him, urging him to join her. Insisting that he did.

He could not see her face, nor she his as they looked over each others shoulders, but when she said this she truly gasped and whimpered, and despite the extreme mositness of her sex, he could discern a sudden increase in either the level of or viscosity of her fluids, and at the same time her moist tunnel seemed to close around his hardness.

That was all he could stand, as he pulled back suddenly quickly in syncopation with her climax and thrust forward harder and quick stroking inside her as hard as he could, his initial burst coming as he was thrusting in and then a frenzied bit more as he released the pent up month of arousal into her.

It was over more quickly than he would have liked, but the actual climax seemed to last longer than normal. and with his face shiny he embraced Sage, holding her to himself, his erection staying firm for a while as he held her to himself.

Sage finally after sometime pulled back and looked him in the eyes, and Arthur suddenly realized he had just made love, very passionatly, to a married woman. He felt a pang of guilt, but then as she stared at him trying perhaps to understand what thoughts went through his head he was overwhelmed by a feeling of tenderness, he couldn't explain. He moved his face to hers, kissing her lips lightly, her cheeks, her nose, her chin and then back to her lips with a softness that contradicted his passion of the moments before.

He parted her lips gently with his tongue and closing his eyes delved into her warm mouth realizing two things, first they were both still mostly dressed, and two this was actually the first time they had kissed.

A third thing also came to mind his softening member, had stopped and seeemed to be gaining once more it's former rigidity.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

The pounding of her heart, the ragged gasps of breath, the intensity of the paroxysms that were still rippling through her body made Sage want Arthur even more. Again and again. All those weeks spent fantasizing over the sketch book, hovering on the edge of perpetual arousal without surfeit. She met his eyes and leaned forward, her hands hooked over Arthur's shoulders while he remained kneeling between her legs.

They hadn't spoken all this time (aside from Sage's solitary utterances) and only kissed the once (and far too briefly), but somehow they had managed to convey each others needs and wants almost to perfection. How did she tell him she wanted... more? That she wanted to be skin-to-skin; to feel him, smell him, taste him?

Sage twined her arms around Arthur's neck and kissed him; open-mouthed, tongues swirling, invading and retreating. She could feel him hardening against her, but, as much as Sage needed him inside of her again, she gently pushed Arthur back. "Not here," she whispered. "Not like... " She gestured at their clothing. Arthur nodded and rocked back on his heels before standing and pushing his chair away with the back of his legs before offering his hand to help her up.

Her skirt fell back into place as she rose, lending an illusion of propriety to Sage's appearance while Arthur's trousers flopped open loosely, beginning an indecorous descent down his thighs. She couldn't help grinning. There was no mistaking what he -- they -- had just done, and by all appearances intended to do again.

Placing her fingers under his shirt, she eased it off his shoulders and down his arms before crossing her own in front of herself and pulling her sweater up and over her head, shaking her hair loose as she did. A few seconds later, her skirt landed in a gauzy pool around her feet leaving her in only her bra and sodden panties. Sage pointed at his trousers and he sat to remove them. It was Arthur's turn to grin.

 

[OnHarry]

Sage's touch on his chest and arms as she removed his shirt was for Arthur so pleasurable. He removed his pants and his socks and stood up and then did something that may have surprised Sage if the look on her face was any indication, he took his semi erection and replaced it inside his briefs. Then he said queitly with a strange intensity in his eyes, "trust me" and she nodded her ascent.

He took her hand in his and led her to the centre hallwayand opening a door to a bathroom, where he turned on the light. He gently pulled Sage in behind him, the room decorated with pink tiles accented with black edging, obviously done sometime in the fifties and never updated. Arthur let go of her hand leaving her standing there looking around.

He turned on the water in the tub and when he had the temperature where he wanted it he shoved the sliding shower door which looked much newer and somewhat out of place here. Then with the water running and the back of the shower enclosure open he walked behind Sage who looked over her shoulder at him.

Arthur unfastened the clasp on her bra as she raised her arms and allowed the now detached garment to slide off her arms to the floor. then for a brief time Arthur seemed to be moving behind her, but not touching her, until she felt his hands on the upper elastic of her panties one hand on each hip,his hands pulled the band first outward then pushing downward, as they left the supporting structure of her hips they slid to the floor and Sage stood nude in front of Arthur.

He moved forward and embraced her from behind and then she realized that when he had been quiet for a moment behind her he had removed his own underwear. She felt his unmistakable arousal, he was nude as well. Again taking her hand he helped her into the shower stepping in behind her and then reaching around Sage he redirected the water flow to the shower head, after closing the sliding door.

Sage raised her head and allowed the water to course over her breasts and down to her feet. Arthur took the bar of lemon scented soap he had and lathered it up and reaching around Sage started to soap her breasts delighting in the erect nipples and soft mounds of sensuous flesh, massaging so much more than cleanliness required.

He soaped his hands again and then soaped her back as well moving his hands downward till he held the smooth roundness of her buttocks in his hands, soaping her, massaging, exploring, the cleft, then reaching around her hips once again he ministered to her mound in front, deftly massaging and again exploring her. He assumed she was happy with this arrangement as she leaned back against him, pinn0ing his now fully erect and aching penis between her back and his stomach.

If Arthur had ever had greater pleasure he could not recall when. Taking the soap and offering it to Sage he said, "your turn."

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Sage mewled pitifully when Arthur ceased his ablutions, but she was grinning when she turned to face him, soap in hand. "Back to front," she commanded, twirling her finger in a gesture that meant she wanted him to turn around.

Tease for tease, she thought, generously soaping up a washcloth before applying it to his back. Almost roughly at first, Sage could feel the muscles in Arthur's back relaxing as she scrubbed though she giggled when he flinched as she moved lower. She was much more gentle there as the cloth glided down to the backs of his legs and up again.

"Turn." They looked down at the same time, smiling as the tip of Arthur's erection brushed against Sage's body when he did.

It was difficult for her not to touch him immediately, but Sage managed to retain a modicum of composure as she rinsed and resoaped the cloth and used it on Arthur's arms. And stomach. And legs. And feet.

Kneeling in front of him, Sage looked up at Arthur and smiled, the washcloth discarded on the floor of the shower as she stood, this time soaping her hands. They were trembling as her fingers encircled him, spreading the thick, creamy lather up and down his length as her other hand moved slightly lower, to cup him gently.

"Rinse," her voice hoarse with desire as she turned with him.

"Sage," he whispered as she lowered herself for the second time, her intent more than obvious as she took him in her hand and looked up into his eyes, her response physical rather than verbal.

Her tongue flickered over the tip of his sex before she lapped its underside; a slow, sensual glissade that eventually brought her back to where she had begun. Sage continued to tease him, circling, swirling around his swollen shaft, both of her hands as busy as her mouth.

Now, she thought. Now... Sage looked up at him once again, her mouth parting as he watched her slide her lips around his girth. Slowly. Deeply. She engulfed him. Pulling back and taking him deeper still, she made no sound until Arthur began to rock his body, setting their rhythm.

"Mmm... " she murmured, feeling him swellling, throbbing in the hot wet sheath that her mouth had become. Her cheeks concave, she was sucking harder, her tongue caressing as her lips held him gently, but firmly in place.

 

[OnHarry]

The absolute intimacy of having Sage soaping his body under the shower was so intense Arthur's erection ached as she ministered to him. So when she applied her mouth to the same erection, he leaned his head back against the shower wall and for a moment closed his eyes. Her tongue sliding under the head and around it was deeply and intensely pleasurable, when she enclosed the head in her moist wet space he made a low noise of pleasure deep in his throat that migh have been mistaken for a growl, he doubted he had ever enjoyed this act as much as right now.

After a few intense moments he reopend his eyes looking down at Sage as she dined on his sex, and she smiled as best she could with her mouth so occupied, his erection throbbing with intensity. He loved this but wanted to do more and the hot water produced by his ancient water heater was cooling he noted, so he stood upright and leaning forward all the time leaving himself insinuated into Sage's mouth he shut off the water. Arthur looked down and smiling happily put his hands on her shoulders guiding her upright till they were face to face wet and naked, and very aroused.

He passionatly put his toungue where seconds ago his penis had been kissing her as he embraced her to himself her nipples against his own his erection held upright betwen their stomachs. Sage shivered a bit and immediatly Arthur slid the shower door back and reached for a large fluffy bath sheet and wrapped it around her back. Then without a word he began to massage her back with the towels knap, drying her back first then her buttocks paying close attention to the cleft and then kneeling with her supporting her weight on his shoulders he did her legs front and back and of course the outside of the internally moist area between her legs, paying particular attention to this as she moaned a bit .

He brought himself upright once more as he applyed himself to her torso and of course the delightful mounds that were her breasts, perhaps applying more effort to her upright nubs than was strictly required. He then indicated she should step out putting one foot on the tub side, and he dried that as well before asking her to step out and place the other foot where the first had been, so when her feet hit the mat she was dry, aside from her hair, which after Arthur finished with Sage's second foot she started to dry herself, while he dryed his own body.

When Arthur was dry his erection appeared to be ever so slightly diminished, though still firmly upright, Sage her hair now damp not dripping smiled, inquiring, as if to say where now.

Arthur again took her hand and now they were dry and not shivering he led her out into the hall and down one door and pushing the door open showed her into his bedroom. The bed was an old Victorian thing, with a high headboard that had burled walnut veneer in side an oval panel. Fortunatly the matress was relativly new, and comfortable with crisp cotton sheets and a deep soft duvet.

Sage sat on the edge of the bed and Arthur went to push her gently down to the soft enclosure of the duvet, but Sage resisted, shaking her head but saying nothing, he looked at her puzzled and perhaps a bit apprehensive at first.

Sage smiled up at him and did say, "I wasn't done yet," and with an almost wicked grin she leaned forward all the time looking up at Arthur's face and gently kissed the tip of his erection, and cupped the soft warmth of his dangling spheres beneath in her hand. Then she slowly almost lazily opened her mouth engulfing the head in her welcoming lips and once encased again in that warmth she flicked her tongue on the underside, which caused Arthur to swallow hard and gasp.

As Arthur supported himself with his hands on her shoulders Sage went at him with a will, doing everything she knew to stimulate him back to full stiffnes once more. A state he attained almost instantly, groaning deeply again.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Arthur's eyes widened as Sage suddenly released him. She wanted to luxuriate in giving him pleasure. "I want to enjoy you," she said simply, pulling him toward herself and rolling to the side.

With a catlike grin, Sage perched on his belly, bending forward, her breasts grazing his chest, her hair caressing his skin while taking her time to languorously explore his body with her mouth, her lips, her teeth. She loved the way his muscles rippled and tensed beneath her voraceous lips as she came closer and closer to the object of her desire -- his erection, hard and throbbing beneath the soft curves of her flesh, she continued her glissade downward.

When he moaned plaintively, she exhaled, her warm breath riffling through the curly nest of hair at the base of his throbbing erection; loose strands of her hair brushing lightly over it, sent shivers up his spine. Moaning, Arthur arched upward, straining toward her mouth, only to collapse again ungratified. She smiled to herself, knowing what Arthur wanted, but continued the tease, gently rolling his sac across her fingers while she continued to lick and nibble everywhere except where he needed her mouth to be. Her only answer a smile and a quiet, "Shhh... "

Arthur groaned again as she let her tongue flicker lightly across the head of his cock. It made her feel good to know that she had this kind of power over him -- over both of them. Sage knew that when he finally climaxed, she would join him even without touching.

Dipping into the tiny orifice at its tip, she lapped at the oozing drops of his salty sweetness. She savored him and and it was her turn to moan loudly as her tongue began tracing lazy circles around the smooth skin of his tumescent glans.

Shifting her body so that she was now straddling Arthur's thigh, Sage nibbled her way down the underside of his sex, along the bulging vein that told her it would not be long before he came. She could feel him bobbing against her lips while her mouth and tongue traced a path up the other side and she began to writhe sinuously against him.

Arthur watched through heavy-lidded eyes as his lover's tongue flicked against him before circling the glans. He gasped when Sage finally began to lick. Slowly, so torturously slow... as though she was lapping at a melting ice cream cone. Tracing languorous patterns along his tumid erection as she massaged his perineum, he whimpered, in much the same way as he had caused her to, not knowing how much longer he could hold back.

She couldn't help peeking at him through the hair that had fallen down over her face. He was watching her every move and that excited her. She wanted to please him. Needed to. A thank you for earlier and a promise of more to come.

It turned her on to hear Arthur's shudder of pleasure when her lips parted at long last and she slid her mouth downward, a sharp gasp escaping his lips as he nudged upward and she engulfed him; her tongue caressing his shaft while her lips held it tightly in her hot, moist mouth.

Slowly. Slowly... until Arthur began to thrust more insistently in and out of her mouth. Sage suckled and licked at him, taking him fully, ravenously. It was too good. He needed to come. Hard. And so did she.

His fingers wove love knots in her hair as their tempo increased. His hips bucking wildly, she felt Arthur hesitate for just a moment before he exploded, pumping his thick, hot semen in pulsing spurts against the back of her throat as she ground her soaking pussy against his thigh.

Replete, Arthur lay back on the bed, arms splayed, chest heaving. Sage chuckled as she slithered up his body and lowered her mouth to his, sharing the taste of their deepest intimacies.

 

[OnHarry]

In his entire life Arthur had never had anyone comsume him this way, not only bringing him to a second eruption in record time but accepting his intense if somewaht lessened discharge, within the intimate confines of her throat. Then when she moved up to his lips and kissed him so deeply and intensely he was lost in a sort of nether world outside his own reality.

He felt, after the climax, and the initial kiss a wave of emotion he would have been hard pressed to explain. This lovely, intelligent, lady had just sucked him off, and swallowed the result, and now they lay together, in a lovers embrace her head against his her breast draped onto his own, his arm around her clutching Sage to himself. He could not fathom the welling up inside he felt now, and as he slowly stroked her buttocks with one hand while his other idly twirled her nearest nipple, his eyes filled with a moisture. A few drops of which ran down his face.

Sage noticed but she did not say anything, merely kissing away the stray droplets, with a smile that he wished he could draw or photograph and keep forever, that precise way her mouth was held, the ever so slight wrinkles around the corner of her eyes, he couldn't believe he had just experienced this whole evening.

Then something occurred to him, "we haven't finished looking at the sketch books yet," he said softly.

"What," she replied.

"The sketch books, we haven't finished them yet, hang on," and saying this he got up his erection now dangling. Arthur also took this opportunity away from the bedroom to wipe his eyes dry again. He returned with the book they had been surveying earlier, and Sage noted his cock was not quite dangling. He quickly found where they had left off it seemd like days ago, the picture of Mr. W penetrating the young initiate, while the Rowena character was ministered to by Mrs. D.

Reclining on the bed, beside Sage, who sat with her legs crossed, her breasts drooping slightly as she leaned forward to see the next page, which showed a now spent Mr. W sprawled on a chair his erection now like Arthur's that is dangling though still impressive. The Rowena character was now ministering to the young ladies sex, the overflow of Mr. W's ejaculation being lapped up like cream in a saucer.

The young lady herself was engaged in suckling the ample breasts of Mrs D, whle her fingers were greedily exploring the older ladies nether regions. Looking at Mr W, Arthur said with a soft laugh, "I don't think I measure up to that, I wonder if he was actually a person they knew?"

Sage smiled in her turn saying, "your adequate to my needs," as she noted that while not at attention Arthur was slowly returning to arousal yet again.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

"Have you noticed," Sage began thoughtfully as she turned to the next page in the sketchbook, "that Van Hudel is remarkably absent from the sketchbooks aside from his all-too-brief cameo in the earlier one?"

Arthur leaned forward, his shoulder touching hers. "Hmm... " It was very similar to "The Initiate", although this new inductee was blindfolded and laying prostrate on a divan. Mr. W was already unclothed and his gigantic member fully erect while Rowena and Mrs. D stood to the side, watching. No Van Hudel.

In the next, Mr. W was servicing the young girl as the other two women disrobed, their clothing laying in puddles at their feet.

"And Rowena is always either pleasuring or being pleasured by Mrs. D. See?" Sage said, pointing without touching.

Despite her heightening curiosity as to the why of things Rowena had depicted here, Sage found herself moving closer to Arthur. Needing to touch him as she felt her own arousal growing. She had never been with a woman but the sight of them and their oral lovemaking was making her blood boil.

When Arthur moved to turn the page this time, she stopped him. "Make you a bet."

"Sure. What is it?"

The women will be onto each other in this one and Dr. W will have finished," she nodded as she spoke. "And no Van Hudel."

"The first is a given, Sage. Don't know about... "

Sage looked at Arthur, placing her hand on his thigh. "Something tells me that it wasn't him that introduced her to the others. It was the opposite way around. I don't know the why of it, Arthur," she said. "They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Look at them. It's always Rowena and another woman. Mr. W is almost always present. Could it have been..." she paused for a moment. "Blackmail of some sort? Or maybe she was doing this to help Van Hudel somehow?"

 

[OnHarry]

Arthur had a sense of the absurd just then, looking at century old pornography, or at least erotica, while sitting nude with his shop assistant in his bedroom. The continued pleasuring of the ladies by each other in these sketches were always stimulating to Arthur but under the current circumstances even more so, particularly now, since Sage seemed to have placed her hand on his thigh.

What Sage had said was fascinating, but what she did was stimulating as she, perhaps without thinking, perhaps not, had moved her hand to his growing erection. He said to her, “I think that is enough of the sketches for now, I seem to have a growing interest in other matters.”

Sage smiled but said, “one more!”

Arthur smiled in turn and turned the page slowly, wondering himself what was next. The next page revealed that the young lady was eagerly, it seemed, dining on Mrs. W’s sex, and Rowena was ministering to Mr W. and it suddenly occurred to Arthur that while she was using her hands to good advantage to reinstate Mr. Ws erection he had never seen anyone other than a woman have intimate relationships with the Rowena character. Sure enough when the page was turned again it was Mrs. D. who was having intercourse with Mr. W. not Rowena who had turned her attentions once more to the initiate.

In the book this character was never described as having sex with a male except for such things as this where she may have prepped the male, but they always ended up making love to some other person, not this one. These thoughts were running around in Arthur’s head as he considered what Sage had said. However he must have appreciated them on some other level as his own erection was quickly coming back to the fore.

Placing the book down carefully on the bed table, Arthur looked directly into Sage’s face, and placing both his hands on either side drew her to his own, kissing her, exploring her mouth her face and neck, and she seemed to respond favourably. He pushed her gently backwards and as she laid out on the bed stretching to her full length, he moved his hands over her thighs and towards her sex. Then reclining on one arm while his free hand massaged her labia, kneading pushing together pulling apart fingering her, in out around her clit, he leaned forward and started to suckle at her nearest nipple.

Sage her head back her eyes mostly closed moaned softly at first and then as his hand seemed to find purchase in her moistened sex, more loudly and more feral. Arthur clamped his lips on her erect nipple sucking as hard as he could. His fingers were now slipping around with little effort as he sought her inner depths.

When he had done this for a few minutes Sage opened her eyes fully glanced at his cock, and indicated with her eyes that perhaps he might want to enter her. Arthur shook his head and |Sage looked pouty, as he smiled deviously at her. Then leaning his head back to her breast he licked around the nipple and started to kiss down her stomach, caressing her torso with his tongue, until after readjusting his position for more comfort, his face was poised over her glistening sex and looking back for a brief moment to her inquiring face he slowly lowered his own face to her sex.

Slowly torturously he moved his tongue along her inner thigh and then to her opening and again moving very slowly licked along the slit which was blooming outwards with her arousal. He penetrated her inner sanctum with his tongue, in out up down, taking in her scent, her musk his own sex now fully hard and ready for whatever might come next.

Sage was moaning much more vigorously now and Arthur sensing she was approaching yet another climax, sat up and getting between her legs moved himself down till his legs hung rather awkwardly over the foot board of the bed, but his face was in her sex, and he began once more to minister to her licking sucking tasting her, and as her grinding became even more vigorous, first shoving her bottom onto the bed or thrusting her welcoming sex upwards into his face.

Arthur had avoided up until now making much contact with her clitoris, but sensing she was on the brink, he moved a little further up and spreading her hood with his lips he cupped his tongue around her protruding nub, sucking in and licking it with vigour, after a less than a minute of this Sage started to breath very shallow, moaning rhythmically and then with a noise that Arthur would have been hard pressed to describe she went over the edge, moaning thrashing and in her passion saying for the first time FUCK ME, danmit.

However Arthur ignored her entreaties, and continued a vigorous effort on her lapping all her juices and continuing to minister to her clitoris and when she was reaching yet another peak of passion, he quickly and suddenly moved up and inserted his erection in her pumping her vigorously as she climaxed to his strokes inside her.

Arthur did this for as long as he could but the energy required was considerable and soon he slowed to a measured movement as Sage came down from the enormous high she had just had. Finally Arthur stopped for a respite, and lay in her arms his erection still inside her occasionally moving in her, rubbing her interior kissing her face with his own stained with her nectar.

They lay like this for some time and eventually both fell asleep, the lights on, on top of the covers. Arthur awoke an hour or so later and with little help from Sage got her covered up and getting in beside her he fell once more asleep.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Sage woke early as was her habit, padding quietly to the bathroom for a quick shower and then to the kitchen to start coffee. That done, she finished drying herself and replaced the now damp towel on the rack she had taken it from before.

Returning to the bedroom, she crossed her arms over her bare breasts and leaned against the door jamb watching Arthur sleep. Now was the time for her to have second and third and even fourth qualms over what she'd done. In fact, a "normal" person would have thrown on their clothes and snuck out the door without stopping to do any of the things she had done.

Her eyes fell on the sketch book. Would she be here if it hadn't been for them and her fixation on Rowena and Van Hudel and the drawings the books held? Perhaps, she considered solemnly, though she preferred to think that somehow this whole thing was something... other.

Arthur appealed to her on an intellectual level, and, if last night was any indication, they were in synch when it came to their baser, sexual desires as well. She wouldn't leave Stan and the children, but she didn't want to stop seeing Arthur either.

He had turned over onto his back now, though he seemed to remain in the arms of Morpheus. Sage smiled. Straightening up and walking toward the bed, she eased the covers down his body before straddling him.

He woke slowly, not opening his eyes at first. His hands smoothed their way up and down Sage's sides as she brought him to full erection by sliding him back and forth within the folds of her sex. "Mmmmmornin'... " she purred, when, at last, she eased herself down his length and he smiled.

 

[OnHarry]

As Sage slid her moist sex up and down his now full erection, Arthur smiled at her, noting the way her breasts sat just so, above him, her hair damp from the shower she had just had, he felt the same emotional waves that had beset him last night at some point.

Then with him fully erect and she very moist indeed she moved up his abdomen and reaching behind her self positioned his cock just so, and sliding backwards encased him with her wet sex. The pressure on the head from her own nether lips was almost unbearably pleasant, as she took his whole length inside herself.

Sage positioned her hands on either side of Arthur's torso for support, and started a slow rythmic dance with his sex and her own, first raising her bottom up and down and then faster slower and suddenly, long before either of them had planned it no doubt, he suddenly arched his pelvis upwards as he erupted inside her, with unusual force.

Sage looked somewhat pouty, perhaps put on, and Arthur smiled a bit saying, "I woke up and I smelled the coffee, what can I say."

Then as Sage started to dismount he shook his head and said, "wait a bit till it subsides and maybe I can do something for you as well." When she came down once again on his still firm though not so stiff erection, he reached forward and took a finger and started to massage her clitoris as best he could, then moving his finger towards his own shaft, he pulled some viscous fluid, no doubt composed of both their essences, forward rubbing her clit with that.

The extra mositness seemed to work a treat as Sage closed her eyes and leaned further forward while he worked his finger on her pink nub. She started to swallow and then opened her mouth as if to gasp and then the waves hit her moving over her like water breaking fiercly on shore bound rocks, until finally she could stand no more and she pulled his hand away.

He grinned at her and said, "Now I will shower and meet you in the kitchen."

Fifteen minutes later he did just that walking in nude as Sage had taken his only robe, and sat down at the table as she poured him his first coffee of the day. "Is the coffee good?"

"All the better for the person serving it," he answered quietly, then Arthur said to Sage, "I suppose you will have to leave soon and deal with your domestic matters."

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked.

"If it were up to me you would stay forever, but I know that is impossible, but maybe you could work tomorrow, on Monday, we have to pack up the sketch books for the Art School."

"That won't take all day," she answered.

Arthur grinned as he looked down at his nakedness, and then looking up at Sage he said, "it might take all day it just might."

 

[Maid of Marvels]

They made love again, this time in the kitchen with Sage straddling Arthur in his chair. It was almost as desperate as their first, she considered as she drove home an hour and a half later.

Stan and the children hadn't come home yet and weren't due for another few hours. Gods how she hated an empty house! On the other hand, Sage needed the time to get her head around what she had done - and quite possibly, would continue to do.

Though she didn't want to lose the scent of Arthur on her body, Sage showered again, slipping into sweats and a pair of tennis shoes before running to the store for lunch meats, salads and an assortment of rolls. She was certain that Stan and Ernestine would have fed Vanessa and Stanley, Jr. before coming home, but kids being kids - and as such, having bottomless pits for stomachs - she knew they'd need something to take the edge off before bed.

While Sage reminisced over the previous night and morning several times, and, although the memories rekindled her prurient desires, she didn't act on them -- nor did she find herself able to feel "guilty". By the time they walked in full of vim and vigor (and famished) around six that evening, she had set those thoughts aside and was able to thoroughly enjoy the childrens' enthusiastic recounting of their weekend away from home.

Once they had been settled for the night, Stan approached her, leading her by the hand to their bedroom where they made love. Not as strenuously as she and Arthur had, but satisfyingly so. No matter what became of her and Arthur, Stan Kovacs was a good man and a good husband, father... and lover... and she had no plans to run off any time soon -- or at this juncture in her life -- ever.

 

[OnHarry]

Arthur could not believe it, they had made love four times in less than twenty four hours five times if you counted the felatio, Bill Clinton not withstanding, and he had climaxed four times. Admittedly it had taken him quite a while the last time, in the kitchen, that would teach him to come to breakfast nude.

After their final session, Sage gave Arthur his robe back and got dressed without showering again, and after a wonderfully long and perhaps tender goodbye at the front door, which had started Arthur's poor penis onto yet another erection, they parted.

After Sage left Arthur thought he should shower and dress, but instead he elected to remain in the robe, and found himself walking about the house looking at the assorted crime scenes, which now that Sage was no longer present seemed like a dream or erotic fantasy, not actual events.

He thoughtfully opened a bottle of wine from the cellar the same Valpolicella, he had gotten for Sage last night, his remark to her about it being fullbodied and fruity, bringing a smile to his face. Arthur sat down at the table and seeing there two pieces of pizza left, decided to dine on them for lunch. When they were done he poured some more wine, and opened the other sketch book the one they had not gotten to yet.

The date was summer 1907, and it suddenly occurred to Arthur that these all seemed to be done in the first decade of the last century, and always in the summer. Perhaps she went away for the summer, and it also came to Arthur that despite his considerable knowledge of Rowena's earlier scholastic, and bohemian life and her later professional life, he knew next to nothing of her domestic arrangements, particularily around this time and later.

Doing some math he figured that at this time her children were both grown and away from home, so perhaps that was why she had waited till then to do these illustrations. Then he recalled a passing statement he had read somewhere perhaps in the dessertation at Cornell that Rowena had spent her summers not working but at a so called cottage by the sea near Portsmouth New Hampshire.

"Hmmm" he wondered, "did she go there alone," he was fairly sure that her kids did visit her there for a week or so during the summers she spent there, but was she alone the rest of the time or was she accompanied by someone?

Without opening the sketch book any further Arthur went to the desk in his study library, and pulled out some files on Rowena and Van Hudel, and as he casually picked through the material he came to the file on Katharine Waldheim. Opening it he reread what he had written and copied about her, and turning to the back of the file it opened onto a picture of her and her parents. Arthur was stunned, he could not have paid much attention to this poor quality picture before, made off the copier in the archives where this had come from, but then he had never seen the sketch books before either.

The father of poor Katherine was instantly recognizable, even with his clothes on, Mr W, of the impressive member.

He sat back in his chair and stared at trhe picture for a moment and was about to look for more pictures as he had copied others as well, when the phone rang. Looking up he saw it was three thirty, and when he answered the phone it was Jillian, asking him to come over to the Nordic Bacchus for supper she said it wasn't busy and she and Carlo could use the company.

If Arthur had not been so distracted by his discovery he might have been wary but he was not and said, "sure, what would be a good time?"

When he hung up the phone Arthur stared at the photo for a few more minutes almost as if he expected it to talk. Finally he got up srtipped off his robe showered shaved and by four was walking out the door and by four ten was entering the tavern.

When he arrived Jillian was dealing with a customer who it seemed was unhappy about something, and Carlo urgently waved him over to the side of the bar. "Look this is nothng to do with me, you have to understand that."

"What are you talking about?" asked Arthur.

"We drove by your place after we closed last night, well we do every night," Arthur nodded as he knew this since they lived two blocks down the same street as Arthur. "Anyway Jillian saw that woman's car in your driveway."

Arthur looked momentarily taken aback until he comprehended what Carlo was saying, "oh shit, does that mean a search and rescue mission is imminent."

"If you want my opinion, it would be search and destroy. I told her to mind her own business, and you know she means well, but........ she is bent on saving you from yourself."

"You mean she does not blame me?"

"Oh yes she blames you totally, she thinks the woman what was her name, anyway it sdoesn't matter, she thinks the woman is a victim of your charm."

"Ha and she thinks she knows me, first it is none of her business and second it takes two to tango you understand."

Carlo raised his hands in defence saying "hey I have no intention of butting in but ........ well you know Jillian, more like a big sister than a friend you know.'

Arthur knew and for the briefest of moments he considered cutting and running, but Jillian finished with the customer and turned her attention to Arthur and for the next four hours he underwent the inquisition of his life. He came extremely close several times to saying something very abrupt and rude and no doubt friendship ending. However his manners and good sense prevailed and as soon as he could extricate himself from her clutches Arthur left.

He went home and after feeding the cats settled in to watch some television forgetting all about the file and mulling over what Jillian had told him. He was doomed to be hurt, he was doomed to hurt her, he was doomed period, well perhaps he was but everytime he thought of Sage he was taken once again.

The next morning he gathered up the two sketch books and called a cab, rather than carry them to the store. He arrived around nine, made coffee, and put the artistry back in his office, wondering to himself and almost having a panic attack, "will Sage come today, will she ever come back?"

 

[Maid of Marvels]

"So?" Sage asked Stan finally as they stood side by side in the kitchen on Monday morning. He'd just finished describing his golf game (hole by hole) and drinks at the Club afterwards -- not to mention the new "connections" he had made and the animated dinners he'd been company to. Not once had he asked what she had done.

He slurped his coffee and looked up at her. "So... what?"

She eased herself into a chair and crossed her legs. "The promotion, Stan."

"Oh, that. Nothing official, but I'm a shoo-in." Setting his cup in the sink, he walked over to his wife and kissed her. "I've gotta go. You won't forget my suits, will you?"

Sage shook her head. "Yup. And nope. Have a great day. I love you."

"Mmhmm. Love you, too."

He really did - love her, that is. She would even venture to say that he liked her as well, though somewhere along the way he'd lost her in his climb up the proverbial ladder to success and forgotten that Sage had feelings and that she was more than a mother, cook, housekeeper, chauffeur and pillar of society when the occasion required. He provided her with plastic to cover anything she "needed", but plastic didn't cover companionship or a moment of time to consider that she had feelings and thoughts and emotions. Or even that these things mattered.

Adding her empty cup to his, Sage washed both and left them in the drain to dry before going upstairs to dress. She had considered bowing out to Arthur's suggestion, but somehow she couldn't resist the need to say "goodbye" to the sketchbooks that had so greatly influenced the last few weeks of her life.

******​

Smiling as the bell over the door of the bookstore tinkled, announcing her arrival, she locked it behind herself; the "Closed on Monday" sign already well displayed in the window. "I'm here!"

Placing her purse in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet behind the desk, Sage smiled again as the coffeemaker whooshed the last drops of water through the filtered grounds; the unopened box from Freedman's tantalizing her with its presence alone.

"Good morning!"

Sage turned around when she heard Arthur's voice, blushing at the way his eyes ran smoothly over her as he approached. "I hope you don't mind," she finally managed, gesturing to her crewneck tee, short denim skirt and sneakered feet. "It's not even casual chic... but it's comfortable."