"I'll call Diana on the intercom," she said, petting Paps' noble head beside her while she watched Milt walk toward their corner bar. Then in an aside, "You know, I really hate to sell Paps. What do you say we keep Paps and sell Samson instead. One more lesson and he'll be ready for any woman."

"Anything you want, lover. Buzz that idiot Jeff and have him bring in Samson and put Paps in your bedroom for later tonight," he winked.

Toni Baline lay quietly in her young boy friend's arms as he slept away his self-disgust. The immediacy of her desire had gradually dwindled, but the basic sensations still quavered in her belly and loins. God, there had to be something wrong with her! She had been almost on the brink of ultimate ecstasy… whatever that was… and suddenly it had been as if she were forsaken! Yet, she knew that Jeff would never knowingly forsake her… he loved her as she loved him.

For a guilty moment she thought of her parents, their closely knitted family, the security of Mobile, the swing on the back porch overlooking the garden, but prudently, she put it from her. She'd made her choice to defy them and stay with Jeff and she wasn't sorry. The almost-man who slept with her. God, how she loved him… And he wasn't to blame; it was her fault; she was too young, didn't know enough about sex yet, except that she loved it! Another time… perhaps, the very next time he could make her come, too. She could only hope, she reasoned… just as the intercom buzzed.

Tutting annoyingly, Toni reached over her sleeping boy friend and pressed the button. "Yes, can I help you?"

A sugar-sweet voice answered. "Yes, this is Aunt Claudia, Darling. Could you have Jeff go out to the kennels and bring in Samson." She demanded rather than asked. And then, "I know you two are sleeping, but I just have to pet that darling dog," she purred wickedly.