And that was where we were going. To bed. Her bed. So what if she was less than perfect? Whatever a lover might lack in pulchritude, she could make up for in passion. And anyway, what right had I to complain? Alt I wanted was a woman – and she was certainly that, all woman, very much so. I could smell her body fragrance, feminine and faintly musky. No complaints, then. After all, beggars can't be choosers, can they?

In her room, Inez produced a bottle and a couple of clean glasses. "Honey, how much time do you have? I mean, uh, are we in a hurry?"

"No. No hurry. I've got the afternoon free."

"Fine. Me, too. Lucky I bumped into you. I don't usually get much action till after dark. Yeah, I'm sure glad we got together, you know? You're a pretty cute kid. I'm going to enjoy you. That pretty mouth of yours…"

"My-my mouth? Aw, you're putting me on. Everybody says it's too big. How can you call it pretty?"

"Silly girl. Don't listen to them. I like your big mouth and your thick lips. Mmm, all moist and shiny, so pretty. Fascinating, absolutely fascinating."

The compliment helped, even though I had rather expected it. People often reacted to my overly prominent lips that way, responding to an almost blatant natural erotic appeal. But aside from that, well, she hadn't done much to reduce the tension. I puzzled over her manner of speaking, it sounded downright crude now. Even some of the meaning escaped me. Action after dark, for instance; was she trying to drop a hint about the hotel in general? Night-blooming orgies maybe? I knew only that the place had a slightly gay reputation, gay for girls, active but quite discreet. And I wasn't in the mood to ask a lot of questions and advertise my ignorance.

After a stiff drink, I relaxed somewhat. I still couldn't figure my new friend out, but that seemed less important now. We were here, and the door was locked. We had picked each other up for one purpose. It was the only ostensible reason for our even being together. We both knew the score…