"Work stuff, that's all."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Little frustrated. The market is rough. Typical for the business I'm in."

"Cyclic."

"Yeah. I'm living on the rough side of the cycle."

"That's life. Things are good, then the rough times follow."

We passed the hotel, kept moving, wiping sweat from our faces.

I swallowed, Kiki Sunshine's scent perfuming my skin, giving me flashbacks and tingles. I was glad Mark was here, glad he had run to meet me. If he hadn't been here, I might have found myself back at Kiki Sunshine's door. I might have gone back to check on her. Might have become bolder.

We slowed our stroll.

He asked, "How was the drive up with Karl?"

"We talked a lot."

"About?"

"Different things."

"Like?"

"He told me about Frankie."

"Frankie?"

"Cancn. The girl you guys met in Cancn. She was from L.A."

"Oh. Frankie."

Again I imagined the three of them, but my mind focused on Frankie, imagined her sensations overwhelming her to the point of sensual madness, a madness that we all longed to feel.

I said, "He told me everything."

"What else did he tell you?"

"What else was he supposed to tell me?"

He paused, now serious. "We were in the islands more than once."

"So there was more than one Frankie?"

He took a deep breath, my married lover now irritated by my curiosity. "Ask Karl."

"You angry about something?"

He shook his head. "Not angry."

"What's on your mind?"

He frowned.

I sensed I was asking too much, that now I was treading where I should not tread.

I understood. There were things about me I didn't want to be pressured into answering.

Karl and I could talk about most things, personal things, laugh about being with others.

Mark and I were different, I felt that.

There was a connection between us that didn't exist between me and Karl. Something logical, something emotional. Something that I didn't want. A connection I didn't need. But it existed. Made me want him to be more open with me, wanted him to do more than give physical plea sure. Then part of me shifted. Part of me wanted to pull away. Red lights were flashing. I didn't need to get caught up. Needed to make sure it stayed at the physical level. Needed to be with Mark the same way I was with Karl. They could compete with each other, but I didn't need to compete with Mark's wife. Once again I had to remind myself that Mark was the safe one, because being married, he could only invest so much. He could only ask for so much.

He said, "That call...hearing you sound like that...it messed me up."

"He made me do that."

"Did you enjoy torturing me?"

"Not at all."

"Did you enjoy letting him be with you? Did you enjoy making me listen?"

"He made me. He pulled over and dragged me into that place and made me."

"But did you enjoy it?"

"No."

"Sounded like you did."

"I sounded like that because I imagined he was you."

Mark was sensitive, an endearing and appreciated quality that had eluded Karl's DNA.

We paused at the entrance to Hunter's Chase. It all seemed like a dream. My yoni twitched, the memory of Kiki Sunshine, my unfaithfulness keeping my sex awake. Still felt her hands and mouth on my skin, felt her softness, that sensual warmth covering my body, for a moment it was taking over like kudzu.

Having cooled down enough, we turned around, headed back toward the hotel.

Mark asked, "Did Karl make you come?"

"Ask Karl."

"Did he?"

They were of the same egg, of the same father, so I knew they were not like Edmund and Edgar. I wondered if their rivalry was like that of Venus and Serena Williams, or closer to being Cain and Abel.

I said, "Don't make it more than it is."

"What does that mean?"

"We're having fun. It's just fun. I'm another girl for Karl and I'm a distraction for you.

"I want you to be more than a distraction."

"I can't be any more than that."

"Why not?"

"Saw Jewell Stewark today."

My words stopped him from talking. He understood what I was saying. He nodded.

I asked, "I know you said things were tense at home. Are you still sleeping with her?"

"I got your point."

"Answer the question."

"Yeah. Not often. But yeah."

"She's your wife. Having sex with her is part of your husbandly duties."

I said all of that with a smile, but it was still hard to say. Reality was never easy.

When a man went deep inside a woman, it was inevitable, someone would become emotionally trussed, feelings would ascend and someone was destined to want it all.

He said, "It's like I have this unmanageable, overpowering urge to be with you."

"Because you can't have me."

I wondered why it was so easy for a married man to experience somebody else and not worry about the consequences. Wondered why we became so sensitive, why we were affected differently by the same act rooted in nature. They had been inside my body, but now they were inside my head as well.

I was inside Mark's head, deep enough to cause him to travel across three states.

Mark asked, "What do you want?"

That was a simple question that was too hard to answer. I wanted the attention they gave me, I wanted the plea sure they gave me, I wanted the infatuation I saw in Mark's eyes, and the lust I felt when I was with Karl. I wanted them to ravage me. I wanted intellectual stimulation. And I wanted the challenge of pleasing two men at once.

I wanted this to go on forever.

And I wanted honesty. That was hypocritical, but I wanted them to be honest with me. Even if I'd never reveal all to them. We all held secrets. No one was totally honest.

"Mark, I want you and Karl. In different ways. I can't be with just one of you. Not in my head. Not with my body. I know there are two of you, but to me there is only one of you. That's my position."

"But which one of us, if you had to chose, would you chose?"

"It's all or none. That's the only way this can work for any of us. All or none."

Jealousy was flattering. For now. But I knew perpetual jealousy would become irritating. It was a long way from being irritating today. Today it was a long way from being confining, a long way from threatening my autonomy.

He had abandoned his wife, had left The Jewell of the South and come to find me. The king had left his castle with a swiftness, had traveled to rescue me from the evil dragon. It was wrong. That wrongness made me feel special. It was a Pyrrhic victory, but I was happy.

Mark said, "So that ugly motherfucker told you about Cancn."

"Your brother told me about Frankie. Three days with her. Double penetration."

Mark kissed me. The scent of his sweat was so arousing.

When the kiss was done, my smile was as gigantic as my imagination.

He whispered, "Double penetration."

A chill went down my spine.

He said, "Let's go find Karl."

We headed for the elevator, hand in hand. I was not the same woman he had met a few days ago. I was not the same woman I was a few hours ago.

Two hours had passed since I left building K in Hunter's Chase. Two hours since I had been enlightened by the fingers and tongue owned by Kiki Sunshine.

Two hours since I had alleviated her toothache and given her bliss.

He asked, "Why are you smiling?"

"Am I?"

"Smiling hard."

"Happy, I guess."

"Good. I want you happy."

I had grown. And yet I was still famished.

Today I craved things new.

Today I desired abnormal pleasures.

TWENTY-THREE.