Silver Linings

pried apart her tightly closed thighs. She was so soft, he thought. Her skin was like velvet. He smiled to himself when he felt the first small, delicious shiver go through her. He loved it when she trembled like that.
    “Stop it,” Mattie hissed. “You're doing this to get even with me, aren't you?”
    “No way, babe. I'm doing this on account of I'm such a sweet, sensitive guy who happens to be hornier than hell.” He tugged the nightgown off impatiently and tossed it over the loft railing.
    Mattie gasped in horror as the gown fluttered downward. “For heaven's sake, Hugh. What will Flynn think when he sees that nightgown down there in the morning?”
    “He'll think what he's supposed to think. That I'm staking out my territory.”
    “Well, I suppose I should be grateful you don't do it in the usual manner of wolves and other wild animals,” she retorted tartly. “Really, Hugh, there's no need to be quite so primitive about all this. Oh .” She clapped a hand over her own mouth as she realized she had moaned aloud.
    “Hush, babe, or he'll hear you. Think of the embarrassment.” Hugh slid down between her legs, moving lower and lower along the delightfully curving length of her until he could taste her essence.
    “Ummph, no. I said no, oh .” Mattie held the pillow over her face. She used one hand to hold it in place and clenched her other first quite painfully in Hugh's hair.
    He used his thumbs to part her carefully, and then he used his tongue.
    “ Mmmmph .” Mattie yanked the pillow away from her face. “Oh, my God, Hugh.” She slapped the pillow back in place. “ Mmmmph . No. Oh, Hugh.”
    Hugh waited until she was arching frantically, her muffled moans threatening to turn into the now-familiar cries of delight that he had gotten addicted to hearing during the past several days.
    When he decided Mattie was too far gone to remember to use the pillow to muffle her breathless little moans, he moved heavily back up along her soft body, spread her thighs more widely apart, and thrust himself slowly, deeply, into her wet heat.
    When he yanked the pillow away from her face, she looked up at him with huge, luminous eyes. He saw her teeth were clamped on her lower lip in an effort to keep from crying out.
    “Slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am?” Hugh murmured on a soft, husky laugh.
    “Like I said, it's not so bad.”
    He grinned and covered her mouth with his own. A moment later he swallowed her soft shriek of ecstasy as she contracted tightly beneath him.
    Then he quickly released her lips and buried his own face in the pillow to stifle his groan as he poured himself into her.
    His own muffled shout of triumphant release made the bed vibrate.

    The angry shrill of the telephone brought Mattie out of a sound sleep with a start. She flailed around in the rumpled bed until she managed to silence the offending instrument by the simple expedient of lifting the receiver in the general direction of her ear.
    She regretted the action immediately. A tearful Ariel was screaming more loudly than the phone had been ringing.
    “He's there with you, Mattie, isn't he? I know he is. He went to you just like all the others did. Put him on the line right now. I want to tell Flynn Grafton to his face that he will never be able to crawl back into my bed. I don't care how hard he begs.”
    “Good morning to you, too, Ariel. Nice of you to call.” Mattie opened her eyes and gazed at the ceiling. She was alone in the bed. Down below she heard the low rumble of men's voices and the clink of a pot. The aroma of strongly brewed coffee wafted upward.
    “I hope you're satisfied, Mattie,” Ariel sniffed. “After all these years I hope you're finally satisfied. You've done it, haven't you? You've gotten your sneaky little claws into the only man I ever really wanted.”
    “Ariel, contrary to popular opinion around here, Flynn and I are not having an affair.”
    There was a click followed by the hollow sound on the telephone line that indicated someone had picked up the downstairs receiver.
    “Oh, God, an affair,” Ariel whispered, apparently unaware of the other presence on the line. “An affair . I knew it. I was praying that it was just a one-night stand. Something done in the heat of the moment like that stupid fling you had with Hugh last year. Something you might have at least had the decency to regret the way you regretted that. But, no. No, you're bragging about it, aren't you?”
    “Ariel, you're not listening. I