License to Thrill

jewelry, intricate china, and art spilled upward to a second story.
    A tall glass cabinet filled with figurines caught his eye and he made his way toward it. Most of the statues were various forms of Oriental erotica: nude figures, both sexes, separate but entwineable in various positions to form an add-on orgy of massive proportions if the collector desired. Like the diversity of the human body, some of the primitive figurines boasted flamboyant breasts and genitals, some were nearly androgynous. Jade pervaded, but wood, black soapstone, and even ivory were shown, with staggering price tags.
    "I see you found the good stuff," Kat said near his shoulder. She held a small paper bag under her arm as she returned her wallet to her purse.
    "Most intriguing," he admitted, a bit flustered from her sudden appearance. "Are these common?"
    "Not this quality."
    "Quite dear," he noted, indicating the price tags.
    "And these are fairly new pieces," she added. "Antique erotica figurines bring astronomical prices. Jellico's buys every one we can get our hands on, but the old ones rarely come on the market."
    "I rather like these," James said. "Would you help me choose a couple of pieces?"
    Her head swung around, her eyes slightly questioning. Looking into those blue depths, James saw something that struck terror in his heart: a nucleus around which to build a future. For the first time in his life, he felt...did he dare even think it? Defenseless.
    "I'm asking for your professional advice on an investment," he assured her, detaching himself from the implied intimacy surrounding the figurines.
    She pressed her lips together, nodding. "Of course. What is your price range?"
    "My price range is the cost of whichever two you choose."
    "I didn't realize you were a collector."
    "I'm not," he confessed. "Simply because I've never before found anything I deemed worth collecting."
    Giving him a small smile, she turned and waved for a sales clerk. Once the cabinet was open, she accepted a pair of cotton gloves from the woman and walked around the cabinet, scrutinizing every piece on the four shelves.
    He watched her move—her brow furrowed in concentration, her eyes alight with excitement—and again he was struck by the sensuality she exuded. She picked up a few of the figures one by one, weighed them in her gloved hand, then examined them closely. A couple she even went so far as to caress, paying special attention to a standing jade male about ten inches tall, thick through the shoulders and thighs and heavily sexed. His arms, crudely fashioned but effectively rendered, were slightly lifted, as if he were reaching out to someone.
    She replaced the figure, and looked up. "Do you have a preference?"
    He smiled and crossed his arms, enjoying himself immensely. "Actually, I was thinking one male and one female."
    Kat gave him a wry smile, then nudged aside a kneeling ivory male to select a wooden female, lying on her side, knees bent. "I had assumed that much, but as far as the materials are concerned, or the...um...the positions?"
    She blushed adorably, he decided. "All of the materials are superb. And as far as the positions go"—he grinned and splayed his hands—"I don't discriminate."
    "D-Do you have a special place in mind to display them?" she asked, turning her attention back to the cabinet.
    "My library, or perhaps my bedroom," he said, but instead of picturing the statues on display, all he could conjure up were images of Kat moving through his big, drafty home, adding warmth in her wake. He forced his attention back to the present, and noticed she had once again returned to the big jade male.
    "I like him too," he announced, causing her to glance up.
    She frowned. "He doesn't seem to have a partner, though. As magnificent as they are, all the females seem so... so insignificant next to him."
    The Chinese saleswoman, who had faded into the background, made a clucking noise. "Very observant—the owner has the female in his office upstairs."
    James pursed his lips. "May we see her?"
    The woman hesitated, then nodded curtly. "I will bring her."
    The instant he saw her, James wanted her. Buxom and lush-hipped, her hair pooled behind her on the ground to counterbalance her arched body, thrust forward to meet her missing partner. When the clerk set her in front of the male, her energy flowed into his. They might have been carved from the same stone, a perfect complement...yin and yang.
    "How much?" James asked, striving to keep the