Precisely on seven, she walked into their shared bedroom, with a very large smile on her face.

'I gather from your expression, that everything went as well or better than you expected.' He had been sitting on the bed drinking a beer, watching an inane game-show on the television. But now, he had turned his attention to someone, who was definitely much more interesting.

'Yes! Marvellously well! Get me a Coke and I'll tell you about it!'

He fetched and opened the bottle, before handing it to her, as she sat beside him. 'So it was worth coming all the way from San Francisco.'

'Oh! Yes!' She smiled and cocked her head, preening herself like the proverbial cat. 'A nice couple of weeks work. Should make up to about twenty-grand. Trouble is it's in Little Rock!' She took a long drink. 'Still, everything has to have a downside!'

'What's wrong with Little Rock?'

'Their two hours on the clock ahead of California. And fifty years behind!'

***

'I suppose, if we're going to have dinner, we had better get ready.' She stood up, undoing the jacket as she rose and quite unselfconsciously put it away on its hanger, which she took from the wardrobe. She started on the skirt. 'Sorry! You don't mind do you! But our relationship seems rather unusual even for a working girl like me. I'm still not sure how to behave!'

'No! Don't worry.' He waved his hand dismissively and smiled broadly. 'Just think of this as your room. Behave how you would if I weren't here!'

'I take it you really mean that!' And with a flourish she quickly unhitched the bra and stepped out of the thong. 'I do hate underwear. It's such a waste of time and money, when you don't need it!'

'But what about the stockings, suspenders and the shoes?'

'I look better with them on! And I feel sexier too!' She stroked her legs and body seductively. 'And you never know, when I might need to go to work!'

Quickly before he could reply, she had ended the show, by cheekily waving good-bye and almost running into the bathroom.

***

It was perhaps twenty minutes before she emerged, with one of the Marriott's best white towels, wrapped tightly around her body just below her breasts and her hair piled and clipped to the top of her head.

'Judging by the way you're wearing the towel and your comments yesterday, I gather you're rather proud of what you were born with.'

'Why not?' The thrust them forward. 'I won a wet tee-shirt contest at sixteen and I've been showing them off ever since.' She beckoned him towards her. 'By the way, I've run a bath for you and I'll give you a surprise, when you get out.'

'I thought we had an agreement.'

'Ah!' She was grinning impishly. 'I've done this many times for my father. So it must be OK.'

***

The bath was deep, almost a little too hot for him, covered in luxurious foam and perfumed with very aromatic and what he thought were very expensive oils. It was not his usual sort of bath, but he would try most pleasures at least once! He pondered if this was the precursor to another chapter in his education, or just an unorthodox hors d'oeuvre to a very pleasant evening.

He was lost in thoughts about Catherine, his lover, Lucinda, his software, Zyzzx and Pat and his problems, almost floating with just his face and the top of his head, above the water, when Suzanne called from outside the bathroom. 'I'm ready for you now! Close your eyes and sit up please? If you look at me, you'll spoil it all. And I won't continue!' Slowly, he did as he was told.

He sat with his eyes tightly screwed shut for about thirty seconds, before he heard her enter. He then felt her hands, gently placing a soft leather blindfold over his eyes and fastening a series of buckles and straps behind his head. 'Open your eyes if you need to now, as you won't see anything.' He found she was right. 'Keep sitting still while I dry your head and face.'

He obeyed and he felt an expertly-wielded towel and the odd kiss, softly dry his thinning hair, his beard and his face. He was about to speak, but Suzanne put her hand tightly over his mouth. 'It is important, that to fully appreciate, what I am going to do, that your senses of smell, sight, hearing and taste are blocked as much as possible. For that reason, I would like you to consent to wearing an all-enveloping hood, that will block your senses, but not your breathing, firmly, but with total comfort. Just nod to affirm!'

Without hesitation, he nodded his head.

'I would also like you to wear a gag, that might be a little uncomfortable at first. It's only a simple device, that will mean you have to keep quiet and must wait to ask any questions.'

nodded again and felt her fingers gently prise open his mouth and place what he took to be a rubber ball behind his teeth. The attached straps were fixed around his head and his voice was immediately reduced to a grunt and effectively silenced.

'The next thing might hurt for a little while. I'm going to put a couple of little plugs in your ears, so that you won't be able to hear anything at all.' She didn't wait for the nod, just popping the foam plastic into first his right and then his left ears.

She was very careful with the leather hood, easing it over his forehead, face, chin and the straps of the blindfold and the gag. As she fastened it firmly around his neck, what little hearing that had still remained, virtually disappeared and he started to breath freely in air, that was obviously being filtered and purged of any smell or taste of his surroundings. He did not find it that unpleasant or too uncomfortable, but it was the most abstract and distant of feelings to be lost, with only the touch of your hands, feet and body to communicate with and ascertain your surroundings in the world outside of the hood.

He felt Suzanne's hands under his shoulders motioning him to his feet and he stepped unsteadily from the bath and into her arms and the folds of a large towel, which she proceeded to use to rub him dry. She was being pedantic in the extreme, making sure that every part of his body was completely clean and totally dry. As she finished, she led him out of the bathroom and laid him face down on the bed.

He lay there for perhaps two or maybe three minutes, before he felt first a drip of oil on his back. Then a hand was massaging his left shoulder. Then more oil and the process was repeating itself on the right. Next he felt oil on his lower back and all of the muscles there, were being skilfully eased, by certainly more than two hands. Then his legs felt a fifth or was it a sixth or even a seventh hand. Others grabbed at his hands and rubbed cream all over his bitten and knarled, nails and fingers, while more hands stretched and caressed his feet, ankles and toes.

He lost all track of time as the massage progressed and it was only after what must have been well over ten minutes, that he became aware, that the number of hands were decreasing. Finally, they were reduced to one pair skilfully kneading his shoulders. He was only guessing, but were they Suzanne's?

They probably were, as gently they indicated for him to turn over.

He complied and did not have to wait long for the pleasuring to restart. Oil and hands alternated and his chest and arms, received the same treatment, as his back and legs. As he was having great difficulty avoiding an erection, he was pleased in a perverse way, that Suzanne and her helpers kept away.

It was all so relaxing, that as one-by-one and pair-by-pair the hands retreated, he drifted into a daze and was almost asleep for a few minutes. He only awoke fully, as Suzanne unbuckled the hood, removed the gag, ear-plugs and blindfold, before she massaged his face back into life, whilst cradling his head in her naked lap.

'Was that good?' Her face did not expect any other answer.

'Amazing! Sensational!' He could see her clearly now. 'How many others were helping you?'

'None!' She giggled. 'That's my secret. It's all due to the marvellous hood. It heightens all of your senses. You can keep all of this virtual reality. And all of your drugs for that matter! That hood makes you imagine lots of pleasant feelings and glorious sensations that aren't there!'

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins