littered around it. Incense filled the room and two hand servants quietly and quickly moved in towards me and bowed. A gentle wind blew in through billowing silk curtains, revealing the jumbled and exotic skyline of Mumbai framed in the distance.
Cindy swept in through one of the doorways to the side.
“Isn’t it just dreamy?” she exclaimed, running to jump at me. She was wearing a tight wrap around skirt with an almost transparent sheer red kurta on top. Draping her arms around me she kissed me wetly. “Thanks for those flowers yesterday—that was really sweet of you.”
“Looks fantastic,” I said encouragingly from beneath her kiss, bemused at the scene and her enthusiasm.
She took my hand and squealed, “Come on, let’s eat!” as she pulled me around the side of the room and down to the stairs to the table.
It was a very low table, the kind you had to sit at on the floor and squeeze your legs underneath, and she pulled me down onto the pillows and blankets at its side, kissing me again. Reaching over she pulled a bunch of grapes off the table and began feeding them to me one at a time.
“So how was work today?” she asked, popping a grape into my mouth.
I laughed and ate the offering.
“Long,” I replied, “but we’ve decided to nominate Jimmy to the Security Council as a specialist in conscious boundary systems. He’ll be a big help.”
“Jimmy—Bob’s brother Jimmy?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s right, well sort-of brother anyway.”
I frowned. For brothers, adopted or not, Jimmy and Bob sure didn’t seem to talk much. Of course, I hardly spoke to my own brothers much either.
We pulled some pillows up around us, and the sun began to set as we chatted. This was the first time I could remember feeling totally at ease with Cindy in a long time. It was nice. Finally, perhaps things were turning around.
When I was about stuffed, she surprised me again.
“So Mr. Rick Strong, who would you like me to be tonight?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” she said, casting her eyes down, and then looking back up at me as she bit her tongue between her teeth and smiled.
Yes, I knew what she meant.
“Would you like me to skin up too?”
I smiled playfully at her.
“Sure...” she giggled like a schoolgirl, “you go first.”
She had unbuttoned my shirt and was rubbing my chest, playing with one of my nipples. We hadn’t made love in months. She nudged me with a phantom for a stimshare and I quickly accepted, watching her shiver as my sensory input filled her. I hadn’t expected this when I walked in the door.
“No, you first, who would you like me to be?” I asked.
This wasn’t the kind of stuff I really went for, but I was happy to experiment a little. She looked at me shyly, and then looked away, embarrassed.
“Well, that Spanish guy in the crime dramas, you know, Julio...”
“Sure, sure...I know him,” I said, laughing. “Are you sure?”
She nodded.
Echo had already sent me the copyright release in an overlay the moment she uttered the words. Looking at the rates, I could see that skin time in this Julio guy was expensive. He must be popular with the ladies.
What the heck. I punched the ‘buy’ and ‘skin’ buttons simultaneously with a phantom and detached out of myself to look down at some Spanish guy sitting on the pillows, cuddling with my wife. It was hard to get used to this stuff, I thought, shaking my head, and then snapped back into my body.
“So what do you think?” I asked.
I sat up a little and put myself on display, raising my eyebrows and winking at her.
“Very sexy, Mr. Commander,” she laughed, “now it’s your turn.”
“Ahh...how about that Phuture News Network celebrity girl?”
“What?” she exclaimed, laughing and punching me gently in the shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, that girl...you know the one.”
I laughed awkwardly. The Phuture News girl’s large breasts were about all that came to mind on such
Sasha Parker
Elizabeth Cole
Maureen Child
Dakota Trace
Viola Rivard
George Stephanopoulos
Betty G. Birney
John Barnes
Joseph Lallo
Jackie French