A sudden shock of alarm surged through Sylvia’s body. She scolded herself silently, “Silly, what else did you expect?” Then she recognized, with more surprise than ever, that she was actually looking forward to it. She wanted to be in bed with him; she wanted to spend an entire night with him. She wanted him to… to… and she framed the words in her mind, “Fuck me half to death!”

“All right,” she said, hoping that none of the throbbing excitement was showing on her face.

Shelton paused, staring at her thoughtfully. “You know, of course, what’s involved? The Hunts will probably want to swap that first evening; you’ll have to… to… cooperate.”

“You mean I will have to let him make love to me.”

“Yes.”

“And presumably you and Mrs. Hunt will be alongside us in the bed or on the floor… doing the same thing?”

“Yes.”

The thought of the lewd spectacle they would present sent a shiver of forbidden excitement up her spine. To actually watch Shelton’s monstrous penis pile-driving into another woman’s naked vagina! “My God,” she said to herself in sudden dismay, “what’s happening to me that I would want to witness a perverted thing like that.” Part of her dismay came with the knowledge that she was not only eager to watch it, but eager to participate in it.

Her hands were trembling noticeably when she finally nodded again. “This weekend. I’ll meet you in Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon’. Will you take care of the accommodations?”

Shelton relaxed then and grinned. “It’s already taken care of We’re staying at the Ambassador. A king-sized bed… just in case the Hunt’s try to check on us or want to come up for a drink.”

“Of course,” Sylvia said, refusing to look at him. And suddenly very suddenly she knew that even though it was only three days away, it was going to take forever for Friday to arrive. She wanted Shelton to come back to the house with her now; she wanted him to undress her… to peel her panties slowly and tantalizingly down over her buttocks, around her knees to unfasten her bra… to kneel… She swallowed. Realizing the wickedness of her thoughts, she told herself that she was glad the detective had to get back to court that afternoon.