Chapter 21: New York IV

"YES! YES! UGH! UGH! UGH!"

<BAM-BAM-BAM>

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

<BAM-BAM-BAM>

Moon's super-long, super-slender legs were hooked over my shoulders as I bent the beanpole model in half beneath my heaving body. The back of her head was mashed into the pillow, and her shoulders were pinned to the mattress while her body curled up beneath me so that her hips and ass were several inches off the bed as I gripped her waist and continued to pound her pussy. She definitely seemed to like this position.

"Gonna cum! Gonna cum!" she wailed with her eyes clamped shut, her head thrashing left and right.

<BAM-BAM-BAM>

"Unnnnnnngggggghhhhhh! Unnnnnnngggggghhhhhh! FUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!"

<BAM-BAM... BAM>

"AAUUUGGGH!" I yelled with her, holding myself at maximum depth as my cock opened up a direct conduit between my testicles and the back of her womb to let my stored-up spunk simply flow. I shivered and twitched a couple of times, grunting and inching my pelvis up against her skinny frame to pump out a few extra jets of sperm into her receptive body. And then I collapsed, mashing the skinny Korean babe beneath my weight.

"Fuck yeah," Moon gasped triumphantly, patting my shoulder with her right hand for a job well done.

I chuckled, caught my breath, and rolled off her.

Beside us on the bed, Rania pulled her face out from June's crotch and looked up at the panting, sweaty, post-orgasmic Chinese girl. "Have you ever eaten a creampie?" she asked with that sparkle in her eyes.

Breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling, June looked over at us with a gleam of her own in her eyes. "Actually, yes I have," she replied, and without any hesitation, she dove between Moon's spread thighs and started slurping.

Rania laughed, patted the top of June's head, and leaned over me. She first came up to kiss my lips, and I wrapped an arm around her neck to drop the beautiful brunette's body on top of mine while I savored the illicit thrill of tasting June's pussy juice on Rania's lips.

We made out for a couple of minutes, since I'd just cum and was in no hurry to move on. But Rania pulled away when she noticed Moon move in to join us, and I smiled as the Korean babe grabbed my head to kiss me instead. Moon and Rania took turns back and forth for a minute, and even took a turn making out with each other right in front of my face, which was rather pleasant to watch. But at one point while Rania was playing tonsil hockey with me, I heard Moon asking, "Have you ever kissed him?"

I broke away from Rania and looked up in surprise. June had a deer-in-the-headlights expression and one hand up, palm out, stammering, "K-kissed him? Um, no ... No ... We haven't."

"Want to? He's really good." Moon's eyebrows popped and her whole face brightened as she said that.

"Eee-uh ... I don't..."

"C'mon. Have you ever kissed ANY guy?"

June's blush made it obvious she hadn't.

"Well come on then!" Moon grabbed June's open hand and tugged her toward us.

"Wait, no," June protested. "We're co-workers. Friends. It'd be ... weird..."

"Pfft. No weirder than sucking his jizz out of my cunt."

"Moon..."

"Come on. If you want I'll pour you another drink to calm your nerves first."

"Hey, don't push her. She said 'no'," Rania rebuked. "I get where she's weirded out. Licking you after he's spermed you is one thing, and it's still mostly about licking you. Kissing is ... intimate. He's her 'big brother', remember?"

"Alright, alright. Everyone has their boundaries." Moon raised her hands in surrender. Turning to Rania, she offered, "Want me to help get him back up so you can go for a ride?"

Rania smiled and gestured down with one hand to my crotch. "Sure, be my guest."

With zero hesitation, Moon promptly bent over to surround my prick with her mouth. I'd gone half-hard after that first ejaculation, but I quickly felt blood flow reversing back into my shaft as the Korean girl's supple lips and tongue went to work at reviving me.

Rania watched her, and she moved in to take over, but I grabbed her hand and tugged her toward me instead. "Actually, let Moon do that. Come up here so I can taste you."

The Arab beauty smiled down at me, her doe eyes large, luminous, and sparkling with lustful energy at the idea of me eating her out. She was probably thinking about that first time I'd done so a long time ago, devouring her for what felt like hours. I knew -I- was thinking about that time right now.

Rania set up on her knees while looking down at me, a mysterious smile on her face. I walked my fingertips up her thighs, creating a slightly ticklish sensation that made her body quiver and her eyebrows flutter for a moment. Her smile grew as I slid my hands a little higher up to take hold of her perky buttcheeks, and then I really mashed her honeypot against my face.

Her flavor never disappointed, a sweet spiciness so different than anything I'd tasted before or since. It was so easy to lose myself in that flavor, to lose track of time and let myself be carried away by the sight of her face contorting in rapturous ecstasy, by the sound of her whimpers, squeaks, and moans, and by the taste of her orgasmic honey that repeatedly flooded my mouth.

I wished I could take her home with me so I could taste her like this every day. But alas, it could never be.

You sure about that?

Yes, I'm sure.

In the meantime, Moon had successfully revived Big Ben. Though I was focused on my cunnilingus, I could still feel Moon's hands pumping up and down the full length of my shaft while she bathed my mushroom head with her mouth and tongue. I groaned into Rania's pussy when Moon deep-throated my dick, sealing her lips around the very base of my shaft and massaging me with her throat muscles. And I luxuriated in the waves of pleasure shooting throughout my body as she continued to fellate me.

I also noticed when she popped off my prick to gulp for air. I felt the way she corkscrewed both hands around my rod, twisting in opposite directions while continuing to pump them up and down. And for a moment, it felt like there were more than two hands on my cock.

Something warm and wet surrounded my mushroom head, a dainty tongue darting out to lick the underside of my crown. Little lightning bolts of pleasure were the first things to enter my mind, stimulating my senses and causing me to groan again. But right after the pleasure bolts, other sensory feedback trickled into my brain, the sex computer in my skull automatically analyzing the data and spitting out results that took me an extra few seconds to comprehend:

This was a new mouth sucking my dick.

The process of elimination was simple: Rania was on my face, and Moon had been sucking me earlier. For this to be a new mouth on my dick, there was only one possible explanation:

June.

My entire body tensed up in surprise, and I rather unceremoniously dumped Rania off my face. I stared down the length of my body in shock, my eyes wide and my jaw on my own chest. And sure enough, there was my pretty, innocent young co-worker looking up at me with her lips stretched around the girth of my cock.

"June?" I gasped in astonishment.

She didn't pull off. She didn't really react. She simply kept her eyes focused on me, watching MY reaction while she continued to slowly bob her head up and down an inch or two at a time, keeping her lips sealed around my shaft while her right hand maintained a loose grip and pumped along my remaining length.

"Whoa," Rania muttered in surprise as she turned around. "She wouldn't kiss you, but she's willing to suck your dick ... Well ... I suppose that makes sense..."

Moon was bent over right beside June, evidently muttering in the Chinese girl's ear, and she smiled up at us. "Her first cock. First time touching. First time sucking. I'm so proud of her!" Moon gleefully clapped her hands three times and abruptly hugged June from behind.

That got June to pause and smile around a mouthful of meat. She briefly popped her head off, taking deep breaths of air while continuing to pump my shaft with her right hand. She flashed me an excited, impish grin – which made ME give her an excited grin in response – before bending over and sucking my cockhead into her mouth again, this time with a little more gusto.

"Ohhh ... shitttt..." I groaned, propping myself up on my elbows but letting my head loll backward as I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sensations June was giving me. My chest heaved, and my pelvis twitched trying to push a little more dick into my co-worker's mouth, but I forced myself to not thrust at her and instead let her take this at her own pace.

Thankfully for me, June's own pace sped up. Perhaps buoyed by my reaction, namely my lack of negative reaction and acquiescence to let her continue doing what she was doing, June tightened the grip of her right hand and started bobbing her head up and down a little faster. She didn't have amazingly instinctive technique or anything – she wasn't some wünderkind cocksucker from the get go – but she sucked a little harder, she licked a little more, and she even started to moan her own arousal while she continued sucking me.

The sound of June moaning with my dick in her mouth was the ultimate aphrodisiac. I moaned in response, and she seemed to be energized by MY moan. And the two of us started a cyclical pattern where each of us moaning only made the other one even more turned on.

"Ungh, ungh, ungh," I groaned, both pleasure and surprise overloading my brain to the point that my elbows buckled and I fell flat across the bed. I covered my face with my forearms, losing myself to the feelings of June's lips, tongue, and hands. And after a while, I couldn't help but use the springy mattress beneath my butt to thrust up into June's virginal mouth over and over again.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm," June hummed around my column of cockflesh. She had both hands working me now, practically skull-fucking herself on my shaft, although she never really tried to get my dick past her gag reflex or anything like that.

When I opened my eyes to look down again, I found that Moon was still right beside her, muttering in June's ear. I watched the way June's eyes clenched and her face contorted, and I realized that Moon was probably fingerbanging her from behind as well. And all of a sudden, June popped her head off my prick, gasping, "Yes! Yes! I want it!"

A second later, my naked Chinese co-worker was scrambling up my body and straddling my hips. My eyes flew open WIDE in shock, and I absolutely froze in place. The spinning hard drive in my brain skipped out of sync and abruptly lurched to a stop. And I was helpless to resist as Moon raised my dick into a fully upright and locked position, holding it steady as June notched herself, took a deep breath, and dropped her body down.

Unsurprisingly, June was tight. I knew for a fact that Kim and June had played around with the Ben Junior dildoes, so there was no hymen to tear. June had also most likely pushed a few of Moon's wide variety of sex toys up her pussy in the last few days, so it wasn't like she was completely unprepared to have her vaginal canal stretched. But still, June's pussy was fucking tight, and she only managed to take the first three inches on that first plunge.

"Ohmigawd..." I grunted, my hands gripping her waist as my body un-froze and my brain's hard drive started spinning again. "OhmiGAWD."

Eyes clenched and mouth curled into a grimace, June took a deep breath, raised herself up until just the tip was still inside her, and then she dropped again, this time managing to impale herself with my entire shaft and letting out a high-pitched squeal as I hit full depth.

"OhmiGAWD," I repeated once more, only now starting to recover from my shock.

"How's it feel?" Moon asked serenely as she knelt alongside the ex-virgin, holding June's shoulders and kissing the other girl's neck while stroking her arms.

"Big. Full. Weird. But good," June muttered, panting shallowly as she kept her eyes closed and focused inward.

"How do YOU feel?" Rania asked me, rubbing MY shoulder.

"I ... Are we really... ? Wow..." was all I could stammer. "So fucking tight."

June's eyes fluttered open. She remained where she was, her body pressed flush against mine as she sat on my cock. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she took deep, calming breaths to gather herself, a movement that did wonderful things to her perky, shapely B-cup breasts. I couldn't help myself – I love boobs – and I reached up to fondle them for the first time, my thumbs tweaking the nipples while I caressed both globes with my palms and fingers.

The touch of my hands on her breasts seemed to wake up something inside her, and June stared down at me with an incredibly intense look in her eyes. Her mouth hardened, her nostrils flared, and her irises sharpened as she stared down at me. And then she abruptly bent forward, grabbing my head in her hands as she battered my lips open with hers and speared her tongue into my mouth, moaning in rapturous ecstasy.

And I kissed her right back.

Afterwards, I would ask June what prompted her to actually do it. She told me that Moon had first invited her to try sucking on my cock while I'd been busy eating Rania's pussy. She kept glancing over at me, worried that I might see her staring at my cock or something, and initially she'd refused. But Moon kept popping off my prick to offer every now and then, even playfully waving it in the air at her. And finally, Moon even suggested that she pretend it was Jonathan Kwong's cock, which made June laugh, insist that she didn't need to fantasize about any other man but me, and impulsively bend over to suck my dick into her mouth as proof.

She'd frozen in panic when I'd tossed Rania off and stared down at her. She'd watched me, watched for my reaction, to see if I protested or otherwise indicated that I didn't want this to happen. But I'd reacted favorably, and moaned in obvious pleasure, pleasure that SHE had given me. And armed with the knowledge that I was moaning erotically because of HER, she'd kept right on going.

As for losing her virginity? That had been Moon's idea of course, the devious Korean nympho planting suggestions into June's ear while the virginal young woman was going down on me. June's decision to do it had been impulsive, but it was a decision she didn't regret.

I wondered why she did it tonight, didn't wait for me to take her out on a date or otherwise do something special. I wondered why she didn't wait to do it with Kim around. And I wondered why she did it with me instead of saving it for some other guy she might have feelings for.

June's response? She'd always known I'd be the one to get her virginity, and had known since last July when the idea of having sex first popped into her mind. As for the timing, she wasn't the kind of girl to attach some overly sentimental value to her first time having sex. She wasn't the kind of person to attach much sentiment to ANYTHING, not even her own birthday. There was no logic in procrastinating something just for the sake of a "special moment" or a "particular date". The time was right, the mood was right, and she felt supported by Moon's presence. Even the location, in our New York hotel on this one-week vacation away from home and the rest of the real world, just felt right. To delay any further would have been ... inefficient.

But learning all that came way later, after our night was done. In the moment, with June impaled on my shaft and bent over to kiss me, I didn't stop to ask any questions. I didn't pause to ponder the meaning of it all. I didn't hesitate to do what needed to be done.

I had to make it good for her.

Moon and Rania helped too. After kissing me for a long time while I used the springy mattress to make short thrusts in and out of her soaking wet pussy, June sat up to gasp for air while Moon stroked her spine, kissed her neck and shoulders, and even reached down to diddle June's clit. Rania spent some time kissing me, but she also spent some time holding June and kissing her. And as for me, my own hands reached up to play with and fondle June's tits, but I also rubbed her ribcage, stroked her sides, and grabbed hold of her perky butt to really grind her crotch against my pelvis. I had a new user manual to develop, after all.

Together, the three of us went out of our way to shower attention on the ex-virgin, making this moment special even if she wasn't the kind of girl to give it much sentimental value.

June got her first orgasm with Moon kissing her while Rania diddled her clit and I fondled her tits. June got her second orgasm a little more on her own as she experimented with humping up and down my erect shaft at varying speeds and lengths. And she got her third orgasm almost by accident, when she lay on my chest so we could passionately kiss again. I was holding her perky butt cheeks again, squeezing her naked flesh in my hands and grinding her clit against my pelvic bone. The fingers of my right hand slipped into her crack, and I automatically pressed my middle fingertip into her anus, just out of habit. June abruptly jerked her face away from mine and screamed as her entire body tensed up and exploded with pleasure.

She likes the butt play! We're gonna have FUN with this one!

She very nearly didn't get her fourth orgasm. After the first three, June was pretty wiped out, and I was inclined to let her rest. But when I rolled her off me, Moon got indignant and complained, "You didn't cum! It's not a proper first time if you don't even cum!"

I'd already reached for Rania, intending to mount her and finish since I actually hadn't yet fucked her tonight. But Rania shrugged and gestured me back to June, so with an understanding nod I rolled on top of my ex-virgin co-worker, slotted my shaft into her snatch, and shoved myself back inside.

June groaned wearily at my entry, her head lolling to the side while her eyes fluttered. She was obviously exhausted, and maybe even a little sore after her first time ever, but this night being the night she'd lost her virginity made me want to make it really special for her. So I concentrated on her pleasure and fucked her both strongly and steadily. I made sure to trigger her erogenous zones and really grind my pelvic bone down on her clit. As her fourth climax approached, she reached up to wrap her arms and legs around me, holding my body close while she whimpered and moaned beneath me. And I sped up down the final stretch, preparing myself for a simultaneous orgasm to really make her deflowering a special one.

But Moon recognized the strain in my body and blurted, "Don't cum IN her! She's not on anything!"

My eyes flew open wide and I abruptly stopped in shock.

You fucking DUMBASS. Of COURSE she's not on birth control!

I yanked my dick out, gasping in relief that I hadn't accidentally blown my wad of wriggling live sperm straight into the back of June's fertile womb. But just as suddenly, Moon spanked my ass, howling in exasperation, "Get back in there and finish her off! Just don't shoot, got it?"

Wild-eyed and somewhat panicked, I didn't think too hard and instead just did what Moon had ordered, which was to shove myself back into June's sweet, tight, heavenly pussy and start fucking again. I wasn't entirely sure I could keep from busting my nut, but this close to climax, my supposedly rational brain wasn't working very well and I kept right on fucking, whatever the risk. Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to bring June right up to the precipice of orgasm. And after she wheezed and whimpered and clutched my body against her chest, she stiffened up, bit my shoulder, and screamed through clenched teeth as she came.

At the same time, June's inner muscles spasmed around my shaft, and my testicles uncoiled in response. I hurriedly jerked myself out, just barely in time as the first jet of sperm fired out and splattered right across her red-swollen clit. I grabbed my dick in hand, pumping furiously as I planted my left fist on the mattress and fired another stream of sperm onto June's bare-shaven mound. And the rest of my load I blasted all over her pelvic region, a bit of it even getting into the depression of her belly button.

"Holy SHIT," I grunted, my mind racing and my vision swimming out of focus. Black spots appeared in front of my eyes, and I flopped over onto my back to gasp for air.

Moon went after the cumload all over June's tummy. Rania smiled down at me, stroking my hair. We watched as Moon licked up every drop and snowballed it back to June, the two beautiful Asian girls happily lapping at each other with jizz-covered tongues until every last bit was gone. And after that, Moon nuzzled June's nose while murmuring sweetly how proud she was of her.

That's when June rolled over to me, holding my head in her hands as she leaned forward and gave me a sweet kiss while I wrapped my arms around her naked body. This morning, physical contact of any kind with June would have been awkward because of our mix of unique, strange intimacy and my big brother instincts. But there was no going back now; those feelings had melted into a gentle protective embrace. Holding June in my arms felt completely natural. She seemed to feel the same as she snuggled up into my grasp, her transformation from standoffish, asexual virgin co-worker to intimate lover now complete. And after she kissed me one more time, she had a gleam in her eyes as she deadpanned, "Thank you for that introduction to coital intercourse. The two of us will have to conduct further research into this field again."

I blinked twice and gave her a weird look at the terminology.

Breaking into a grin, she translated, "We are SO doing that again!"

And I used to think she had no sense of humor.

-- FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2008 --

Rania got off work at 5pm and took the subway into Manhattan. June and I actually beat her to the hotel, since we'd finished up our training and left work early. Rania actually walked in on me pounding June into the mattress, since ... well ... what ELSE did you think June would want to do in my hotel room while we waited for Rania and Moon to arrive?

Her timing was perfect, since I obviously couldn't blow into June's unprotected womb. So less than two minutes after she'd walked through the door, I got June off to a screaming orgasm, pulled out, and let Rania suck away at my schlong until I gave the doe-eyed brunette a protein snack to tide her over until dinner.

Speaking of dinner, after Moon arrived we went to a nice but cramped Mediterranean restaurant. I'd actually been in the mood for Italian, but Moon vetoed that idea since the Italian menu was basically full of pastas and red meat.

"Do I look like I eat that stuff for dinner?" the skinny waif snarked.

After dinner, we all went to Moon's apartment to get dressed for a night on the town. Fresh showers were taken. The day's makeup was stripped off and replaced by fresh makeup. Hair was styled, and dresses were donned. Not that I paid much attention to that stuff; I was parked on the couch watching basketball. I didn't particularly care for the Raptors OR Knicks, but it was better than watching the girls fixing their makeup and stuff for more than an hour. The Knicks really sucked and spent most of the game down by 20. Chris Bosh was on his way to a 40-point game for the Raptors. And at least Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford were fun to watch.

A little after 10pm, the elevator dinged and the LCD display informed us that we'd reached the top floor nightclub. Four nights ago, the illumination had been set for subdued "mood lighting"; but tonight, bright neons that flashed fast enough to cause an epileptic fit filled the hallway, bar, and dance floor. Four nights ago, the place had been pretty quiet; but tonight, the raucous sounds of a Friday night party assaulted our ears from the moment the elevator doors opened.

Moon led the way as usual, sashaying down the hallway on skyscraper five-inch stiletto heels even skinnier than her toothpick legs. Her balance was just as good as mine in my mostly flat dress shoes, perhaps even better due to her perfect posture. And she also managed to support June, holding the younger girl's hand while June did her best to look comfortable in her comparatively shorter 3-inch heels

Meanwhile, Rania had donned very sexy four-inch stilettos with only two shiny black straps on them, one over her toes and one around her ankle, tall enough to nearly match my height. She clung to my arm like an adoring girlfriend, tighter than ever, regardless of whatever statements we'd made to each other about not letting our emotions get out of control. We were both only too aware that my flight would take me back to California in the morning, both feeling the inexorable countdown of the ticking clock that would soon force us to part. I already knew she would never leave my sight until then.

A dozen PYTs wearing LBDs bounced around to electronica music with about half their number of guys. Thirty minutes later, the music switched to grooving R&B, the kind that invited hip rolls and made girls mime sex with their partners, and the dance floor filled up even more. Moon was the first to drag me with her, and I soon found myself wearing a skinny Korean babe like a second layer of skin as we bumped and grinded to the beat. Rania followed us, but she let Moon have her moment, watching the Korean girl straddle my left thigh and practically dry-hump herself on it before wrapping her arms around my neck, nuzzling her nose along my jaw line, and tilting her lip to sear her lips across mine.

Moments later, Rania took hold of my head and turned it to hers for an intensely passionate kiss. The Arab beauty molded herself against my back, hugging me from behind while massaging my lower lip between both of hers. But suddenly a new pair of hands grabbed my head, and my eyes flew open in surprise as June leaned in for her own hungry kiss.

Ten seconds later, June grabbed Moon's head instead and planted a fierce smack on the Korean girl. Moon dismounted my thigh and turned to embrace her weeklong "girlfriend". And that left Rania to push into my arms, cradle my head to hers and kiss me like she never wanted to let go.

"Mind if I cut in?" a husky voice asked with a distinctly sexual tone.

Rania blinked and turned in surprise. A familiar-looking brunette with big tits spilling over the top of her dress smiled at us, her eyes sizzling as she stared hungrily at me. I was about to politely decline, but before I could, Rania muttered, "Yeah, sure, of course." And she quickly took a step back.

"Hiii. Remember me?" the brunette purred as she molded herself against me much as Moon had done just prior.

"My apologies," I replied a little warily, trying to think of a polite response. "I know we've met before but sometimes I'm not very good with names. Remind me?"

"Alessandra," she intoned with a distinctly Italian accent, eyes flashing just before she leaned in close and began to nibble her way up my neck.

The name did ring a bell, but before I could remember exactly why, a new voice snapped beside us, "'Scuse me, cutting in." A hand interposed itself between me and Alessandra, getting a firm grip on my shoulder and practically spinning me out of the brunette's arms. I looked up in surprise to see Moon, an angry expression on her face as she held my shoulder and practically marched me off the dance floor.

"Didn't I warn you to watch out for Alessandra last time?" Moon seethed. "She's an aggressive nympho slut who'll try to mount any guy who catches her interest right in front of his girlfriend."

"Ohhh ... THAT Alessandra," I remarked, only now remembering. "To be fair, you pretty much told me to 'watch out' for everyone."

Moon thought about that as she turned around at the edge of the dance floor, waiting as Rania and June both joined us. Rania sighed as she walked up, giving Moon a look and saying, "You didn't have to do that."

"She was trying to steal your man!" Moon protested.

"He's not MY man," Rania insisted. "We've talked about this. What does it matter if he dances with Alessandra for a bit? He flies home tomorrow."

"Well he's YOUR man until tomorrow, alright?" Moon walked over, grabbed both of Rania's shoulders, and leaned down to stare her friend right in the eyes. "We DID talk about this. Enjoy these moments while you can."

My eyes clicked back and forth between the two girls, recognizing that there was a subtext to their conversation I wasn't privy to, not that I'd interrupt to ask.

Moon continued to stare at Rania, waggling her eyebrows and giving her silent looks with just her eyes. But eventually, she let go of the other girl's shoulders and turned about. "C'mon, let's get another round of drinks."

June followed immediately while Rania stood there for a moment and sighed. I sidled up alongside her, crooked my elbow, and head-nodded toward the others. "Shall we?"

Rania blinked and looked up at me, a sad expression on her face. "You sure you don't want to go back to Alessandra? She's fun, and actually really nice despite the man-stealing reputation. I'm totally alright with it."

I frowned and arched an eyebrow. "Haven't you figured out by now I'm not the predatory Casanova out to add extra notches to my bedpost? I'm here with you tonight, alright? I'm not going anywhere."

Rania couldn't help smiling just then, although she actually seemed to be fighting it. She looked up at me, then blushed and glanced down at the floor, and finally launched herself at my face, wrapping her arms around my neck and sealing her lips across mine with another intensely passionate kiss that warmed my heart.

Your heart? Really? You still have one?

Shut up, you.

When we broke for air, I led Rania by the arm over to the bar where Moon was already ordering our drinks. After collecting them, Moon managed to find us space on a couple of couches surrounding a low glass coffee table. There was actually only room for three between other groups of people, but I scooped Rania into my lap, wrapped my arm around her waist and happily stroked her thigh while she bent over to kiss me again.

Only one more night left before flying back home to the real world. I intended to make the most of it.

The girls' friends cycled in and out of our presence for the next several hours. Some of them I recognized, like Katerina, Danita, Jovon ... and even Alessandra returned. Most others I didn't, but I got a lot of names and faces thrown at me that I couldn't necessarily match. No matter. There were only three girls in the room who really mattered to me, and despite the suggestive innuendoes many others dropped about getting their own Big Ben Experiences after Adrienne's boasts (and Moon's), I was never particularly tempted.

Some of the girls talked about an after-party at some rich producer's Chelsea loft. I got the distinct impression that a drug-fueled orgy would be going on there sometime after midnight. But Moon deflected each of their invitations and assured them that the four of us would do just fine on our own tonight.

We did some more dancing. We did a lot of drinking. We mimed a lot of fucking, dry-humping both on the dance floor and seated on the couches. I spent a lot of time with my tongue in Rania's mouth or hers in mine. I also spent a lot of time swapping spit with both Moon and June as well. I heard so much music that my heart seemed to have synchronized with the DJ, beating in rhythm to the beat. And by 2am, I was drunk, horny, and ready to FUCK.

A taxi brought us back to our hotel, and I led three very giggly, mostly drunk girls into the elevator and up to our floor. Our entry turned out to be quite similar to previous entries into my room this week, with me pinning Rania against the wall with her legs wrapped around my waist while I pistoned in and out of her pink pussy without even bothering to get our clothes off. I'd pulled a quick U-turn, slammed her against the wall while unzipping myself, and hoisted her into my arms while she pulled aside the strap of her panties so I could shove my throbbing erection into her soaking wet snatch less in less than ten seconds.

Moon laughed and tapped Rania on the shoulder. "Déjà vu." Then she led June by the hand further into the room.

"Fucking FUCK me," Rania growled while humping herself at me just as hard as I was humping her. Releasing her legs from around my waist, she instead hooked her feet around the inside of my thighs, using the leverage to fuck me even harder. Still, I knew that there was only so long I could keep this up, so after a couple minutes' worth of vertical fucking, I carried her into the room and over to the bed.

Moon and June were already there, Moon still completely clothed although the tiny rectangle of fabric she called a skirt had been bunched up around her waist. The impish Korean babe had gone panty-less all night, not even a thong, and June presently licked away at her bald slit while pumping two fingers in and out between Moon's puffy pink labia.

I parked Rania on her back right beside Moon and stood at the foot of the bed to push myself back inside her. My Palestinia& paramour cooed happily as I re-filled her up, clutching my upper arms and moaning up a storm while I pumped away at her pussy. Then, I started varying my technique, pulling out until I had just the first four inches of Big Ben still inside her, and rotating my hips in a counter-clockwise circle to scrape my cockhead against her G-spot while she shivered and moaned, "Do that again..."

It didn't take long to get Rania off, and I brought her to a screaming climax with her legs thrust up in a wide V while I stood at the foot of the bed and thumbed her clit. She was still coming down from her high when Moon leaned over to kiss her, asking afterwards, "Share?"

Rania quickly nodded her agreement, pulling her own legs back toward her face until she popped off me and then rolled onto her side to recover.

June had been right beside me, tonguing Moon to orgasm after orgasm, so she was right next to my hip when my pussy juice-soaked erection appeared in the open air. My young co-worker was quick to cram Big Ben into her mouth, moaning and grabbing my butt cheeks while trying to devour every inch of sausage she could, but there was still too much for her to fit without taking me into her throat, so she gave up after a little while and looked up sheepishly to find Moon looming over us with an expectant look on her face.

"I'd called next!" Moon complained.

Arching an eyebrow at June, I assured her, "Lemme just knock Moon unconscious real fast and then you can have a turn."

June grinned up at me.

Five minutes later, Moon was out cold on her side, slow-buildup orgasms be damned, and June was shivering on all fours while I slowly eased my dick into her from behind. She'd fucked me cowgirl and I'd fucked her missionary, but this was her first time doing it doggy-style, and as an added bonus, Rania was underneath her in a sixty-nine licking her clit at the same time.

For the second time in two nights, I managed to get June to have four orgasms before I finally busted my nut. A little scarily, for the second time in two nights, the feeling of June's inner muscles spasming around my shaft caused my testicles to uncoil, and I once again barely managed to yank myself out of her just in time.

If you had told me a year and a half ago that I'd be back in New York spurting my cum all over June's bare naked butt, I never would have believed you. But here we were, and spurt I did.

Rania licked June's buttcheeks clean and shared some of her found gold with the Chinese girl before returning to me. She invited June to help suck me hard for round 2, but June said she actually felt rather sore, her vagina not used to this kind of repeated stretching. And with Moon unconscious, June suggested that Rania and I go through the adjoining doors that we'd never locked and into her hotel room to continue. Rania was more than happy to have me all to herself, and we quickly found ourselves cuddling between the sheets of June's king-size bed, tongues in each other's mouth and hands fondling each other's private parts.

Round 2 turned out to be much like our first night together. Left alone with this sweet, beautiful young woman that I'd come to care very much about, I stopped worrying about user manuals, trigger spots, or grand finales. My lover pulled me on top of her in a missionary position, caressing my cheeks with her hands as I slowly pumped myself in and out of her body while we enjoyed the simple intimacy of making love.

I didn't worry about my performance. I didn't worry about her pleasure. I simply enjoyed the moment, enjoyed being "with" her. And from the sparkle in her eyes, I knew Rania felt exactly the same way.

I found that I didn't want to leave her, even though I knew I had to. I thought of doing the same thing we were doing right now again tomorrow morning, the morning after that, and the morning after that. The idea filled my heart with joy, filled the empty hole in the middle of my heart that I didn't realize I had, even if just for a little while. We were compatible, Rania and I. She wasn't just another pretty girl with a hot body I'd love to fuck. There was a difference, a difference I'd recognized the LAST time I'd come to New York. With the right opportunity, and the right geography, we could have become something really special.

But it was not meant to be. The real world awaited. Kim and my son BJ awaited back in San Francisco. My life and my family were back there. And Rania's entire life and family were here.

It was not meant to be.

Still, I wanted to remember her. I wanted this moment etched into my permanent memory, hard-coded into my brain. I studied her face: the shape of her beautiful big eyes, her delicate nose, her pouty cute lips, and her elegant cheeks. I studied her irises, their particular shade of warm brown, and the sparkle I never, ever wanted to forget. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling of her hands on me, the touch of her arms around me, and the snug warmth of her pussy around me. Tomorrow, I would fly away. But her, I would never forget.

She wanted me close, so I held her close. Instead of long, full-length plunges I made short strokes and did a lot of grinding to keep us fully-joined as much as possible. I pumped steadily, neither too fast nor too slow. And her eyes shined as she looked up into mine.

She whimpered softly, and she squeaked cutely, and she closed her eyes to cry tenderly when I brought her to yet another orgasm. She sighed contentedly, and she moaned erotically when I kept going. And she shivered beneath my grasp as her climax seemed to go on forever and ever.

Finally, she looked up at me with a blissful smile and that sparkle I loved so much in her eyes. My lover was satisfied, completely satisfied. And only then did I speed up to get my own.

It didn't take long. I bent over and braced my forehead against the pillow beside her as I ramped up down the final stretch. Rania cradled my head in her hands, cooing into my ear over and over again, "Cum in me ... Cum deep, deep inside me ... Cum, my lover, cum inside me..."

Finally, I did just that, slamming forward one final time and cumming deep, deep inside her.

"Cum in me..." Rania moaned happily, biting on my ear a bit as I tensed and strained and heaved atop her body. And then she added, "Fill me up completely..."

Grunting, I twitched back and forth, firing wad after wad of sperm into her welcoming body until there was nothing left to give. I collapsed on top of her, exhausted and satisfied. And as she wrapped all four limbs around me, holding me close as if she'd never want to let go, she murmured right into my ear, "I love you, Ben. I promised myself I wouldn't, but it's too late. I fell in love with you. I wish we had more time. I wish we lived in different places. I wish a lot of things. But for right now, all I wish is that you please ... please don't ever forget me."

My body heaved with my face mashed into the pillow beside Rania's head as I tried to breathe, and tried to figure out how to respond to her. As it turned out, I wouldn't have to.

June poked her head into our room (er, her room), a big grin on her face. "Hey guys! Guess who woke up?"

-- SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2008 --

The sky outside was dark and gray, but it had nothing to do with the weather. Sure, clouds were fairly common in mid-January, but at this hour the sun had not yet cleared the horizon, its rays not yet angled properly in accordance with simple geometry to shed any light on my hotel window. It was early, way too early for any reasonable 23-year-old to be awake on a Saturday morning. It was especially early considering that we'd only left the nightclub around 2am. And when you stopped to consider that I was a West Coast guy used to Pacific Time, it was even earlier for me.

I lay in bed with Rania's head pillowed on my chest, her arm wrapped around my midsection and her leg thrown over the top of mine. Trapped as I was by her slumbering body, I could only turn my head and stare at the window, waiting for the sun to rise. Moon and June were in the adjoining hotel room after spending their final night together as well, but even though the connecting doors between our rooms were still open, there were no sounds from the other side. It was fairly evident that I was the only one awake.

Why? Why the FUCK are you awake? You got like three hours of shut-eye. Go the fuck back to sleep!

Well I would if you'd shut the hell up instead of asking me stupid questions.

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

That doesn't even make sense.

Sure it does, if you really stop to think about it.

I don't WANT to think about it. I want to go the fuck back to sleep!

Fine. Sleep. Don't mind me...

You'll really shut the hell up and leave me alone?

Pssht. Yeah, right. You really think it'll be that easy?

I sighed and closed my eyes. Staring at the darkened window waiting for the sun to rise wasn't helping. Rania stirred a little in her sleep, adjusting her head so that her ear was pressed against my chest instead of her cheek and nose. She seemed to breathe a little easier that way.

I stroked her spine rather absentmindedly. She was still naked after everything we'd done, my fourth ejaculation of last night (this morning?) still soaking into her womb. My first had been all over June's ass. The second had been into Rania's pussy just before she murmured about falling in love with me. The third had been into Moon's bowels after she'd lubed up and demanded I sodomize her. And the fourth had been back in this bed, MY bed, after Rania and I had taken a shower to clean up, and we'd crawled beneath the sheets to tenderly make love once more.

Rania was easy to make love to, and easy to love. She was so achingly beautiful, so sweet, so kind, and so generous. She was easy to talk to, so warm and intelligent. And if our circumstances had been different, I might have seriously considered dating her.

Even WITH our impossible circumstances, I was thinking about dating her.

Only a few weeks ago I'd similarly entertained thoughts of dating someone new while on a kind of vacation away from the real world. But while Kenzie had pushed all my buttons sexually, I'd never felt the kind of intimate connection with her that I now felt was at least possible with Rania. Maybe that had more to do with the Tahoe trip's close proximity to the big breakup. Maybe it was only now, weeks later, that my heart could even think about being in love.

Or maybe it was just her.

Rania.

Sweet Rania.

I'd told her from the beginning that this would not turn into a serious, romantic relationship. We'd both resolved to keep our emotions in check, to not let any rebound behavior get the best of us after our recently failed romances. I'd been the more insistent one about that, being careful to not lead her on into any false hopes for the future. And yet here I was, lying in bed unable to sleep, thinking about our potential for the future.

I was being ridiculous, of course. Logic dictated that we didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making a relationship work right now. I'd just gotten done telling DJ how she'd never measure up to my relationships with Dawn or Adrienne. And if someone as close and as special to me as DJ couldn't even make the grade, what chance did someone I barely knew like Rania have?

But there was... something about her, something I couldn't quite define. In a way, her physical appearance was emblematic of her underdog status. She wasn't particularly tall. She didn't have a huge, glorious rack. She didn't have super-slender, super-long legs. And she wasn't the out and out sexiest girl on the planet.

But there was... something about her, something that made her absolutely beautiful to me.

Maybe she's one of your 'compatible souls'.

Maybe she is.

Maybe it's that beautifully gorgeous perfect face.

A perfect face worth waking up to every morning.

Maybe it's the way she tastes.

The taste of her kiss. The taste of her skin. And the taste of her pussy, of course. I felt like I could eat her out for hours again, could savor that sweet spiciness so different from anything else I'd ever experienced. I wished I could take her home with me so I could taste her every day.

So why don't you take her home with you?

No way. She'd never leave New York.

You sure about that?

Yes, I'm sure.

Why not? She quit modeling. She's got a 9-to-5 job that she doesn't seem particularly attached to. She just got out of a long-term relationship. She's attracted to you, and she's obviously got strong feelings for you. She's just trying to bury them so that her heart doesn't get broken when you leave, but if you ask her to go to San Francisco with you, who knows? She just might say 'yes'.

Are you crazy?

Are you crazy? These are YOUR thoughts. I'm you, remember?

She's a native New Yorker. This is home. Her family is here.

You're trying to be rational again. When are you gonna stop thinking with your head and go back to feeling with your heart?

Why would I do that? Isn't being rational and thinking with my head far better than letting myself get carried away by my emotions and thinking with my heart?

I'm sure it sounds better, but have things really worked out so well for you ever since you let your brain do all the thinking?

That's what brains are for, aren't they?

You used to be in love. You used to have passion. You used to get all torn up inside and feel like your entire world was ending whenever something went wrong with one of your relationships. But not anymore. Adrienne leaves you? No worries, she was never gonna have kids with you anyway. Sasha went with her? She only ever felt obligated to stay with you, and didn't really love you in that "forever" way. Brandi? Your sister. Dayna? Just fuck-buddies. Kim? She doesn't want to marry you. DJ? She deserved to be free. Now Rania? Fucking geography. Time after time, the special women in your life have walked away from you, and are you all torn up about it? Are you sobbing, drooling, wrecked and depressed? NO. You're FINE.

I haven't always been fine. I've been sad.

Sad, but not depressed. You whined, and you whimpered, but you didn't wander out in the snow for three hours getting frostbite. You complained like a whiny bitch for ten seconds and then moved on to the next girl in line.

So I'm supposed to wallow in misery? Moving on is healthy. I accept that which I cannot change.

Acceptance is stage five. Where's the Denial? Where's the Anger? Where's the Bargaining? And where's the fucking Depression? Look at what happened to Adrienne when you broke her heart! SHE had to grieve. SHE had to go through denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. But you? You're RATIONAL. Your heart is dead, so how can it be broken? You're numb. You don't FEEL anything anymore, not even the pain of losing the supposed love of your life.

Adrienne was never really the love of my life.

You sure about that?

We love each other, but we were always meant to be adoptive siblings: always there for each other, always each other's rock.

Kinda like best friends?

I guess you could say that.

Speaking of best friends, you DID notice the one name I haven't mentioned yet, right?

Of course I noticed.

She's still in love with you. You know that, right?

We've agreed to be best friends. We're BETTER as best friends.

That's your brain talking again. That's rational. That's logical.

We ARE better as best friends. Ever since we repaired that aspect of our relationship, things have been awesome. Never been better.

But things could be better, if you got back together.

You don't know that.

How can you know unless you try?

Get together, break up, get together, break up. Haven't we done that enough times already? Haven't we been the broken record DJ complains about? I can't do it. I can't get back together with her only to break up again.

Maybe you won't break up. Maybe THIS time you'll be eternal, happily ever after.

But maybe we WILL break up. And I'm afraid it could be the final breakup, the unrecoverable one from which there's no return. This last breakup was hard enough. It's a fucking miracle we ever made it back. I'm afraid I might lose her. I'm TERRIFIED I might lose her.

And that's just it. You're AFRAID. You're SCARED to fully open your heart again only to have it broken, permanently.

Of COURSE I'm scared. I can't lose her. Not again. NEVER again. We're great the way we are. So why risk another relationship? Why fuck up a perfectly good best friendship?

You're talking logical again.

Why NOT be logical?

Because a logical life can never measure up to a fully emotional life. A logical, safe best friendship with Dawn would be settling for a life less special than the one you could share together. Don't you deserve better? Don't you deserve the best life you can have? Doesn't SHE deserve the best life she can have?

We can't risk it, and we've both agreed. We're better as best friends.

Her words say that. Her actions say otherwise.

What are you talking about?

Please. Beautiful, vibrant, sexy young woman like Dawn staying home every night? Available at your beck and call at the drop of a hat? Never going out to meet other guys. Never putting herself in a position to meet other guys. You two had this big discussion about you having no right to deny her, about her having the freedom to date whomever she chooses. Within the safe, protected, isolated environment of that Lake Tahoe rental house you saw the REAL Dawn come out: the passionate, sensual being that reveled in getting made airtight by you, Nick, and Andrew. But once you all got home did she ever make an effort to re-start her social life? No. She went right back to Ben-monogamy. Andrew still visits Brooke, and DJ still joins them from time to time, but not Dawn. It's like Lake Tahoe never happened for her and Andrew. Vacation over, and Pandora volunteered to go back into the box.

That's not how the Pandora's Box mythology works.

Whatever. She's yours. She's only yours. She's your loyal girlfriend even if you won't give her the title. Doesn't she deserve better from you? Doesn't she deserve MORE?

As best friends, we are eternal. As romantic partners, we could potentially fail.

Or, you could potentially FLY.

But we might fail.

But you might not.

But we might.

But you might not.

I can't take that chance. Not now.

If not now, then when?

I don't know.

Rania and I made love one more time in the morning, and lest I start to think her admissions of falling in love last night were just her orgasms talking, she repeated them again. I told her that I appreciated her honesty. I told her I felt honored by the depths of her feelings for me after such a short amount of time. And I assured her that I'd never forget her.

But I told her, honestly, that I didn't love her back. I told her that she was special, and that I was so happy we'd shared this wonderful week together. But I reminded her that we were both coming off sad breakups, and that I wasn't emotionally ready for anything new just yet. I didn't know what the future held, and I sincerely hoped our paths crossed again, but for right now, I hoped we could part as friends.

She heard the words, and her brain understood them, but her heart still felt the rejection. She cried in my arms, cried while my cock slowly softened inside her cum-soaked pussy. And when I pulled out and spooned myself behind her, she covered her face with a pillow and cried some more.

But she didn't hate me; for that I was grateful. After she was all cried out, we got dressed, packed up our bags, and met Moon and June for breakfast. An hour later, we exchanged kisses all around and then June and I were in a cab on the way to the airport.

"Are you going to miss her?" I asked quietly after June spent several minutes staring silently out the window.

"Hmm?" she asked, coming out of her reverie after obviously not hearing my question.

So I repeated, "Moon: Are you going to miss her?"

June pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "I suppose I will. It's a strange feeling for me. I'm not used to missing ... anybody."

"Nobody? Never?"

Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about it. "We've talked about this: I didn't have any real friends growing up. I didn't get along with anyone in High School. There was nobody I missed after graduating from Stanford. And now ... there's just work. So no, I've never ... missed ... anybody before. I have to admit, it's a strange sensation: the thought of waking up tomorrow and Moon not being there. Who will I talk to? Who's going to tease me? Tickle me?... Fondle me?"

She'd leaned into me and whispered that last bit, low enough that the cab driver would not have heard it over the road noise, and I gave her an amused smile. "You're welcome to come over to the apartment. I'm sure Kim would be happy to do ALL of those things with you."

June blinked twice and raised her eyebrows. "Will you do all those things with me?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Would you want me to?"

She glanced hesitantly toward the cab driver and leaned in to whisper again. "Do you not want to fondle me?"

I grinned. "Of course I do. But you've already been doing that stuff with Kim for a while. I honestly wasn't sure how you'd want to act around me once we got back home. We're returning to the real world now, to Rakesh and Kamar and Hye-Kyoung and all the other people in our lives. It's not Vegas, and I know you said the two of us would have to do further research into this field, but I'd sorta figured your attitude would be: 'What happens in New York, stays in New York'."

June leaned in close again, her eyelashes fluttering as she murmured, "Kim doesn't have a cock, not a real one at least. And now that I know how wonderful sex can be, I am NOT going back to a life without it."

I smirked. "Ah, the enthusiasm of a girl who has just discovered the carnal pleasures."

"You'd better believe it. And you'd also better believe that I wouldn't be comfortable with any other guy." June patted my knee. "Looks like you got a new addition to your harem."

I thought about that and sighed, sitting upright in my seat. "Yeah, well, plenty of open vacancies to fill." My shoulders sank, and a frown etched its way across my face.

June looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of those things."

I shook my head. "Not your fault. Nothing to do with you, and it's been in the back of my head all morning anyway. There's nobody to blame for any of my relationship failures but me."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I may not know everything about your relationships, but Kim's talked about them a lot to me. You tried your best. You worked really hard to keep everybody happy, and it was a very difficult balancing act to manage as many relationships as you did. To get stretched thin and burnt out was rather inevitable. I was actually surprised you lasted as long as you did."

"That's just it. I worked so hard to keep everybody happy that I wound up making nobody happy, not even myself. And here I am, all alone again."

"You're not alone. You've got Kim. You've got Dawn. You've got ... you've got me."

"Thank you for that." I smiled and gently trailed the back of my fingers down the side of her cheek. It STILL felt a little weird to do that, but she only smiled back at me.

Then she nonchalantly looked out the window, adding calmly, "And I know your thing with Brandi has come to an end, but I understand that Brooke is never gonna leave you and that the twins have only gotten started."

It was a good thing I wasn't drinking anything, otherwise there'd be cola all over the back of the seat in front of me. I sputtered for a second, enough to draw the attention of the taxi driver, who glanced over his shoulder back at me. But I turned it into a coughing fit, pounded my chest a couple of times, and finally caught my breath.

Shooting a wide-eyed glance at June, I whispered a little too harshly, "Excuse me?"

June glanced at me with a bit of a teasing grin but went right back to staring out her window with an inscrutable June poker face. With a shrug, she explained, "Like I said: Kim talks about your relationships."

"How long have you known?"

She shrugged again. "A few weeks. Since right after we had that night with Dawn and DJ."

"A few weeks? How come you never said anything?"

She shrugged one more time and glanced back at me. Lowering her voice, she explained, "It never mattered. The ... non-traditional ... aspect didn't bother me – you're all consenting adults who can make their own decisions. And I've long known you have multiple sex partners at all times, but it was obviously something you preferred to keep unspoken, so there was never a reason for me to bring it up before. The point is: you're not alone. You have friends. You have family. And to be honest, in my opinion, it's not too late for you to have Rania too, if you really want."

I arched an eyebrow. "What?"

June shrugged. "Moon isn't going anywhere. She's happy, she's healthy, her career is going well ... and she's got that sweet one-bedroom apartment all to herself because she's banging this corporate CEO on the side. She's in a great situation and surrounded by friends. And besides that, we're not romantic so there's no reason for her to want to come to California just for me. But Rania is different. She already moved away from her friends and lives with her parents. She hates her job, she's depressed after her last breakup, and this really great guy she just spent the last week falling in love with is flying away. Moon told me that Rania told her that if you asked her to move to San Francisco with you, she'd be tempted to say 'yes'."

I blinked in surprise. "Rania SAID that?"

June shrugged again. "Isn't it obvious?"

I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows. "Since when did YOU get so perceptive about other people's feelings?"

June shrugged once more. "Kim's been teaching me to pay attention and read the signs. It's really not that complicated once you start practicing it. That doesn't mean I'm going to start prioritizing THEIR wants over my own the way she does, and there's a lot about human behavior and motivations I still don't understand, but at least I think I'm doing better at recognizing why people do some of the things they do."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Just what I need in my life: Kim training herself a protégé to watch over me. Like a Kim 2.0."

"If you ask me, your life would be much better if Kim had more influence over it."

I shook my head. "Kim has enough influence as it is."

"If you say so."

"We're getting off-topic."

"Agreed."

"What IS the topic, exactly?" I asked, thoroughly confused by now.

"Rania."

I sighed, thought about her, and decided, "No. Just ... She's sweet, and she's special, but there's no logic in trying to develop that relationship. Maybe if I were in a better place emotionally, if my life back home wasn't so unsettled, then maybe. But it's not, and I'm not. It wouldn't be fair of me to ask her to move to San Francisco for me, even IF she really wanted to."

"That IS logical," June agreed. "So that settles your situation with Rania. But what about the others?"

"What others?"

June raised her eyebrows, leaning forward again. "Adrienne and Sasha, for starters. And then of course there's Dawn."

"Adrienne and Sasha I know I'll have to deal with once I get back. But what about Dawn? We're good. We're settled. We're friends."

"But is that all?"

"Of course. We're good the way we are, and she doesn't WANT to be anything more than friends."

"Are you really SURE about that?"

I blinked. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Haven't you been paying attention to the way she acts around you?"

My shoulders slumped. "What are you TALKING about? Is this something you noticed while practicing your study of human behavior? Something Kim told you? Something you two aren't telling me?"

June opened her mouth, looking ready to start rattling off everything she knew or even suspected, much in the same way she'd give me a report on some target company we were researching for work. But a second later, she closed her mouth, sat up straight, and looked very proud of herself. "Actually, I think these are things you need to figure out for yourself."

I frowned. "Wait, what? Seriously, this isn't funny. What do you know and aren't telling me?"

June grinned, a smart-alecky grin I wanted to wipe off her face. Actually, there was a hint of Kim's Mona Lisa smile in there too. "One of Kim's mantras: Some things are better learned than told."

"Oh fer cryin' out--"

"You'll figure it out. You're smart. I believe in you."

Shaking my head, I turned to stare out my window and put my hand palm out to June. "Just shut up. I'm not talking to you anymore."

"I mean it. You'll figure it out."

"Seriously ... Kim fucking 2.0."

I couldn't WAIT to get home.