“God, no!” Val shrieked. She was secretly glad there was no pressure to have sex. It would be a whole other area to worry about. She was sure she must be terrible in bed. Cosmopolitan and other women’s magazines gave tips on how to be a hot lover and she didn’t understand half of them, while the rest terrified her. It seemed there was a lot of pressure around sex these days. Bill would probably expect her to be knowledgeable since she’d been married such a long time, and she hated to think she might let him down.

They had been dating for over five months when one night they lost track of the time and Bill realized he had missed the last ferry.

“Stay over,” Val insisted. “I can make up a bed on the sofa.”

She fetched sheets, a blanket, and two pillows and had begun to arrange them when Bill came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair.

“You are lovely.” He whispered because Nicole was asleep upstairs.

Val turned in his arms and kissed him. “So are you,” she said shyly.

Still she didn’t intend to make love with him, but the kiss continued, and she loved the sensation of his hand stroking her back, cupping her head, and then his lips on her neck. They sank onto the sofa together and everything happened naturally, slowly, easily, until he was inside her, moving gently, still kissing her. She raised her hips to meet his and sighed with bliss. Sex had always been painful with Tony, but this sex made her skin tingle all over, and the sensation deep inside was exquisite. His fingers were touching her down there and she wondered what he was doing but it felt so good she couldn’t bear him to stop. Suddenly there was a rush of blood and an intense sensation that made her cry out.

Bill kissed her and she could feel he was grinning.

“Was that an orgasm?” she gasped.

“You’ve never had one before?” He broke away, astounded, to look her in the eye.

She shook her head. “I love it, though.”

“Good.” He kissed her forehead, her eyelids. “I’ll have to give you lots more to make up for lost time.”

Later, as they lay in each other’s arms, drifting off to sleep, Val asked, “Why did you never try to seduce me before?”

He gave her a tight hug. “I could feel how scared you were and I didn’t want to push it before you were ready. I couldn’t risk you running away.”

Val’s eyes filled with tears. It seemed incredible, but perhaps her luck when it came to men had finally changed.

* * *