Favours

Favours
an4@anon.lelnet.com

   "It's simple," Teri said, looking at Martin with those lulled baby blues that
he'd gotten so used to. "Graduation is in five days. Between now and then, I
want- I need- I demand- that as my best friend in the world, you sleep with
me."
   "Why ?"
   "Because I will not graduate college a virgin !" Teri practically cried.
   "That's silly, Teri," Martin said, but inside he knew that it wasn't. She had
a good point. But he wasn't going let her extract any of this without a price,
and it wasn't going to be what she expected, either. No, he was going to get
something from her that he wanted, and he wasn't at all sure that she would be
willing to pay the price.
   "Fine, but I'll only sleep with you if you start smoking again."
   "What ?" Teri asked. What sort of plan was he hatching in that nefarious
little brain of his that he would ask that of all things of her.
   "I sleep with you. You start smoking again. Is it a deal ?"
   She looked at him, pain in her eyes. Was it really worth it ? Just to say
that she hadn't graduated college a virgin ?
   "Give me a couple of hours to think about it."
   Martin just nodded and walked out of her room. He wondered if she was really
that desperate.
   God, he hoped so.

   Teri stood at the cigarette machine and thought hard about what she was about
to do. It had been almost eighteen months since she'd smoked a cigarette-
eighteen long, hard months. While Martin had never been supportive of her
quitting, and had in fact teased her for some time about having done it, she'd
certainly never expected him to show an interest in her starting again. Then
again, she'd never expected him to say that he'd sleep with her. She'd been
expecting a simple, straight ahead no.
   Instead of this.
   Was there a part of her that wanted to start smoking again ?
   The better way to ask the question was to wonder if there was a part of her
which didn't want to start smoking again and she knew very well that the
answer was-
   It was yes.
   A small part to be sure. But that was the part which had ruled her since
she'd quit, the part which had exercised a delicate hold on her since Kerri
Ann had first convinced her to try to quit almost twenty one months. For three
months that small part had held a losing hand, and then one day.
   It wasn't like those television commercials. She hadn't really wanted to
quit, hadn't seen some, to pardon the pun, burning need to give it up. No,
Kerri Ann simply would never have been able to quit on her own, and she pushed
the one button that was able to get Teri to join her. She challenged her and
told her she'd never be able to quit herself.
   Of course, she had. Together, they'd scaled this mountain of self-discipline,
which wasn't really so much about the self as about one another. That was what
had always nagged Teri about her own decision to quit- it was never something
she'd been one hundred percent comfortable with because it had come from
outside rather than inside. Now here she was, ready to throw it all out the
window because she'd rather give up having quit smoking than give up her last
best chance at sex before graduation.
   Was it the right choice ?
   She hoped so.
   "Are you going to buy anything or just stand there meditating ?" a voice
behind her queried.
   She turned around, angry that some rude young coed had interrupted her
philosophical musings. But she saw it was Regina Kelling, a pretty young
junior who was carrying six classes and playing women's lacrosse. If there was
anyone who didn't have time for other people to be standing around with their
thumbs up their asses, it was Regina.
   "Sorry, Regina."
   "Well, just don't buy that last pack of Virginia Slims and we'll call it
even. I thought you quit, Teri."
   "I did. But I've decided that I'd rather not be a quitter anymore."
   "Good for you," Regina said, clapping her on the back as though they were
ancient friends.
   "I can't believe that as athletic as you are you smoke, Regina."
   The other woman laughed, a quiet, heartfelt sort of mirth.
   "I started playing lacrosse when I was twelve- about a month after I started
smoking. My coach told me that I'd never reach my potential if I didn't quit,
and I've made it my life's work to prove her wrong. Besides, with all this
schoolwork, I'd go nuts if I didn't have something enjoyable to mix in with
it. Playing lax is hard work, but it's fun. Studying is not fun. Studying and
smoking is. Besides, it gets the guys, and there's nothing more fun than
teasing them, knowing they're bound to get nowhere. You'd be amased how many
guys take that second- and third- look at you when they see a lit cigarette in
your hands. I can't explain it- I just enjoy it, you know ?"
   Teri thought about Martin, how insistent he obviously was about it. Regina
had a point.
   Teri fed twelve quarters through the slot and pulled the lever under Marlboro
Lights 100. A pack slid down the inner works and glided to a stop on the shiny
aluminum tray at the bottom. She took it from the tray with a sense of
excitement- and a tinge of morose finality. Kerri Ann was going to be so
pissed at her- more so when she told her about seeing Regina. And how Regina
loved to tease the guys.
   	Kerri Ann's secret crush on Regina had been the topic of many a late night
conversation. Even though they traveled in the same circle- Kerri Ann a bit
more openly than Regina- the athlete had never shown any interest in her. Teri
considered asking her as she bent over the machine to take her Virginia Slims
if she only dated women who smoked, but she stopped herself. Kerri Ann was
bound to be mad enough at her as it was. Telling her that Regina only dated
smokers would be pouring salt into an open wound.
   "Thanks for the encouragement, Regina," Teri said as their eyes met.
   "Oh no," Regina said with a smile, "you don't get off that easy. Open that
pack and I'll light you one."
   "Why ?"
   "Because quitting quitting is hard work and I'd like to help. Besides-"
   Teri's brow furrowed. "Besides what ?"
   "Open the pack, let me light you a cigarette, and I'll tell you."
   "Okay." Teri did as she was asked. The two women dropped their wrappers in
the garbage can next to the machine, and as soon as Regina had lit her own
cigarette and taken a deep drag, she held the lighter out towards Teri, who
placed her first cigarette in eighteen months between her waiting lips. The
feather weight felt wonderfully natural. She held it between two fingers as
Regina applied the flame.
   It caught easily. Soon she was drawing sweet smoke deep into her waiting
lungs. Unlike the first time she started, there was no coughing, no
discomfort, no question as to whether or not this was the right thing to do.
   "Now tell me what the besides is," Teri said, speaking through her exhale.
   "The besides is that you're the only person I know with the influence to get
Kerri Ann to start smoking again, and that's something I'd be very interested
in."
   Teri's jaw avoided dropping by only the slimmest of margins. 
   "You are serious, aren't you ?"
   "Of course I'm serious," Regina said, taking a long and patient draw on her
cigarette. When it comes to smoking, I never joke around."
   "Can I ask why ?"
   Teri drew deeply on her own cigarette, savouring the taste of the smoke.
Sweet was the only word nor it, the only word she ever would use for it again.
A part of her was very angry at Kerri Ann, and that was the part which would
force her into action. Yes, Kerri Ann was about to get as good as she had
given- except that when Teri was through, her friend would be undeniably
happier.
   "There's just too much baggage dating a non-smoker. I've tried it. My first
girlfriend in high school was a non-smoker. She made me promise not to smoke
at the prom my sophomore year. I never forgave her for that. Stupid bitch. I
tried it again here and the results are always disastrous. Trust me."
   "I may never know," Teri said wryly.
   "What made you decide to start again, if you don't mind me asking ?"
   "You especially will think this is nuts-"
   "Try me," Regina said, pulling hard on the slim cigarette, which hissed
appreciatively as she drew smoke deep inside her.
   "Well, I've- I made a deal with my friend Martin. I don't want to graduate a
virgin, and- god this is embarrassing- I, that is he, wouldn't agree to sleep
with me unless I started smoking again."
   "That is so freaking cool. And you rushed right out and bought a pack of
cigarettes and started smoking. I am very impressed."
   "It wasn't that easy a decision. I had to think long and hard about whether
or not I really wanted to start again, and I almost didn't."
   "That would have been foolish, don't you think ?"
   "Maybe."
   "Well, I think you and Kerri Ann should be talking about this, don't you ?"
   On that, Teri knew, there could be no argument.
   
   Kerri Ann had sounded more than a little harried on the phone. Finals were
winding down- Teri was already done, but some terrible weather over the winter
had pushed some finals well into senior week. Normally, all anyone would have
been doing this close to the big day was drinking, but El Nino had made things
more than a little hairy for everyone.
   She knocked on the door and Teri wondered if her always sensitive nose had
already picked up the smell of smoke coming from her room. It was certainly
possible.
   That would make things easier, perhaps, but then again, she didn't really
want this to be easy. Kerri Ann would never co-operate if it was easy, after
all. And Kerri Ann had to cooperate if this was going to work out the way that
would make everyone happiest.
   "Come in," Teri said, drawing on her cigarette as the door swung open.
   "What's so important that-" Kerri Ann started to demand, and then she saw the
cigarette in Teri's hand and the ashtray. Three spent butts were in the glass
already, and  plans for more.
   "What the hell are you doing, Teri  ?"
   "Smoking, silly," she said in her most playful voice.
   "After all that we went through," Kerri Ann said disgustedly.
   "Sit down, or better yet, go grab us some beers out of the fridge. I have
something to  tell you which might change your mind about our little decision
to quit."
   "I should just leave," Kerri Ann said, but there was just enough uncertainty
in her voice to encourage Teri a little bit.
   "I did help you quit, Kerri Ann. Indulge me a little and I'll tell you a true
story."
   There was more hesitation, but eventually, she did as she was asked, rescuing
two Molson XXX's from an icy solitude. She came back into the room and passed
one of the uncapped beers to Teri, holding it at long arm's length as though
she could keep herself out of  the range of smoking by sheer force of will.
Teri spread smoke deep into the room with her exhale.
   "Why did you start again- I mean, a few days before the end of school. Don't
tell me it was the pressure of exams. Your last exam was three days ago."
   "I'll tell you, but first I want to tell you why you should start smoking
again- and the sooner the better, young lady."
   "I'm not going to start smoking again," Kerri Ann said with some indignity.
"There's absolutely nothing that you can say which will make me even consider
picking up the habit again. I mean nothing."
   "Regina told me the only reason that she's not interested in you is because
you don't smoke."
   "Regina said that ?" Kerri Ann asked, almost choking on her beer.
   "I was buying these cigarettes and she was down at the machine. When I told
her that I was starting again, she asked me to try and get you to start, too."
   Kerri Ann drained her beer with a titanic gulp.
   "You're lying-"
   Teri drew on the cigarette, exhaled, and then chuckled. "I couldn't make
something this delicious up if I tried."
   "Regina said that the only thing keeping her from being interested in me was
that I don't smoke ?"
   "Yes."
   Kerri Ann looked as though she simply lacked the will to argue.
   "Well, why did you start ?"
   "I don't want to graduate a virgin. Martin said he would sleep with me if I
started smoking again."
   "Now that's the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard. What the fuck is
wrong with him ?"
   Teri drew on the cigarette again, still smiling.
   "Apparently the same thing that's wrong with Regina. They like to watch us
smoke. I think you should at least consider what you might have to gain. And
don't look at me like I've done something horrible. When was the last time you
snuck a cigarette ? Ten days ago ?"
   "How would you know ?" Kerri Ann said defensively.
   "Joella  told me."
   "I can't believe that she'd do that," Kerri Ann said angrily.
   "Well, she did. Then again, as Joella is the one who supplies you on those
occasions when you fall off the wagon, you should have expected it, you know
?"
   Teri drew on her cigarette, then picked up the pack and lighter and walked
behind her friend.
   "Come on, Kerri Ann. Admit it. You still want to smoke. We all do."
   She let her hand drift down to Kerri Ann's midsection. As often was the case
when she was busy studying, she was not wearing a bra. Her fingers didn't stay
at the waistline, but rather drifted slightly north. Although she felt the
slightest bit evil doing it, she wasn't above using her hand to her advantage
here. She found the nipple and stroked it gently as she brought the cigarette
around to Kerri Ann's mouth.
   "Don't do this, Teri. I don't deserve this, do I ?"
   Teri smiled, continued bring the cigarette closer to Kerri Ann's mouth as her
nipple hardened.
   "Of course you do. This is your punishment for what you did to me. Eighteen
months- you know how much I already regret that ?"
   Teri tried not to make it sound so harsh, but it was. The truth was harsh.
But she still wasn't doing this for revenge. No, quite the opposite, although
that seemed strange, even to her. This was anything but revenge on her- of
late- equally undersexed friend.
   "You don't have to do that, Teri," Kerri Ann said, her hand reaching up to
halt Teri. But her friend leaned in close and whispered sultry in her ear.
   "I want to. I want to make you feel good."
   Kerri Ann smiled.
   "Trust me, you are."
   She leaned her head forward and took the half-finished cigarette between her
eager lips, drawing deeply. By the casual way she did it, Teri got the
impression she'd snuck quite a few cigarettes recently. That was good. She
wanted her to enjoy it.
   Instead of pushing Teri's hand away she began stroking it, exhaling a bulbous
cloud of smoke which encircled them as she pulled on the cigarette again.

   Kerri Ann slipped the pile of quarters Teri had given her into her pocket,
picked up the pack, and lit another cigarette, her third. She pushed her long
red hair back off her neck, noticing the faint sheen of sweat on the hairless
skin. Teri had made her feel very good indeed. It had been a long time since
she'd had an orgasm from simple nipple stroking and the pleasant after-effect
was still with her.
   "You really think that Regina will be at the party tonight ? I think she has
a final tomorrow."
   Laughing, Teri lit another cigarette of her own, enjoying the first deep pull
and the way the cigarette was still fresh. There was nothing like smoking
cigarettes from a recently opened pack. She looked at the rectangular box
sitting on the table and felt a sense of pride of accomplishment. She'd broken
down the artificial barrier inside and now she could admit that she'd always
liked the look of a pack of cigarettes. Her old habit of taking the pack out
anytime she settled down in public, just to let people know that she was a
smoker, was bound to come back to her.
   "I think she'll be looking for you."
   "She has a lot of faith in you, then," Kerri Ann said , giggling slightly
before drawing deep.
   "Just admit that you're looking forward to it."
   "I'm looking forward to being a smoker again. The rest, well, I'm nervous
about that."
   There was another knock on the door and Kerri Ann looked at the cigarette in
her hand, the expression on her face like a high school girl about to be
caught smoking by her parents.
   "Relax, Kerri Ann. I'm sure it's Martin. Come on in, it's open."
   It was indeed Martin, who saw the two women smoking together as he opened the
door. He smiled knowingly and as Kerri Ann made a hasty exit, pausing only
long enough to say  "See you tonight," he actually winked at her. Kerri Ann
scurried away wordlessly.
   "You work fast, Teri. I'm impressed."
   "It wasn't exactly hard. I think when you have two smokers, getting one to
smoke again once the other has started is easy. Besides, we both had the same
motivation."
   Martin's eyes lit up so ridiculously that she couldn't help but think him
cute.
   "Not for the same person, Martin. Her tastes don't run that way and I think
you know that."
   "Well, you can't blame a guy for trying, can you ? So tell me, how do want to
do this. Wine, song, romance, or is this this just a technical exercise ?"
   "Martin," Teri said, drawing deeply on her cigarette. "That's terrible."
   He savoured her exhale almost more than she did.
   "I'm serious, Teri. This is your gig, your call."
   Teri looked a little hurt by his cavalier attitude, but she supposed that on
some level, she deserved it. What she had asked for did fall pretty far short
of romance, after all. Of course, it was easy enough to convince yourself that
you weren't risking a friendship when you really were, and that was
unquestionably the case.
   "How about we pretend that we're interested in each other as something more
than friends without getting all silly about it ?"
   Martin walked over to her chair and sat down on the arm as she drew again on
her cigarette. He allowed himself to be a part of the exhale, drinking in the
smoke which poured from her sensuously full lips. He thought about all the
possibilities here, about paths snaking forward from lies as well as ones
founded on the truth.
   Either way, he imagined they would both regret this at some distant point-
like tomorrow, so he decided to tell the truth and get it over with.
   Romance-
   He ran his hand into her shoulder length dirty blonde hair, enjoying the
clean straight feel of it. That hair was always falling in her face, and he'd
pushed it away a thousand times, but he'd never touched it this way, not with
any sort of sensuality, yet here he was, vaguely excited before he had touched
her and more so now.
   It made him wonder  what the feel of her skin would do to him.
   They had never  been more than friends. Almost four years now and not one
truly awkward moment, not one drunken night when a little closeness had lead
to something purposely forgotten the next morning. Not one overly sexually
charged conversation, not  a single moment of pretense.	
   Not when they were together, anyway.
   Teri could see him wrestling with something hard and let him. She didn't want
this to be complicated, but she knew how selfish that was. She was willing to
tank a four year friendship to say that she'd lost her virginity in college-
and she knew as the years went by she'd be able to conveniently forget that it
had come in the last week.
   She satisfied herself with a long passionate inhale on the cigarette. As she
drew the smoke deeply into her lungs, he told her the one thing which changed
it all.
   "I asked you to start smoking again because it brings me back to how I used
to feel about you. I'm not going to be delicate. I always hid it- pretty well,
I think- but when you smoked, I was very attracted to you. Since we're about
to sleep together, I'll tell you that more than once I went back to my room
after a study session and masturbated because watching you smoke drove me
nuts. When you quit-"
   Starting, Teri found herself at a loss for this. She really had never
noticed. Anything except that he obviously hadn't been happy with the fact
that she quit. Which could easy have been chalked up to the fact that she'd
been rough on him the first few months after quitting, when her nerves had
been razor-sharp and nearly everything he did seemed to softly annoy her.
   Still, he'd stood by her then and he was sitting next to- practically on her-
now.
   But could she deal with the fact that he'd-
   It was hard even thinking it. He'd masturbated to thoughts about her ? Was
she comfortable with that ?
   As answer, she drew deeply on her cigarette, meeting his strong brown eyes
with her devious blues. She smiled faintly and then exhaled, crashing smoke
across his face which he eagerly drank in. 
   "I'm actually flattered, Martin. I would have never guessed, but I think
that's sweet in a very weird sort of way."
   "Well," he said, enjoying her hair as she inhaled yet again, "I'm flattered
you asked me to be the one. You know, I spent the time since you asked
worrying that I was going to regret our friendship being destroyed by all
this-"
   "I was thinking the same thing," Teri spoke through her exhale.
   "But the truth is, I think our friendship would have been in more trouble if
you'd asked somebody else. You could have gone to the party and found someone
else- like Al McGinnis, who would have jumped at the chance- and I couldn't
have taken that."
   "Al is kind of a dork, Martin." Teri reached up and stroked his face gently
with her free hand. "And you're the least dorky guy I know."
   "You once said that I reminded you of Zander, Teri."
   They both laughed.
   "Well, you're a little dorky, but not much. Look, let's not rush this. What
do you say we hit the party, get a little mild, and then take care of things."
   He nodded his head.

   The party was in full swing by the time the pair made their way to the
basement. They'd spent time talking and making out while they waited for the
opportunity to let the festivities get rolling. Martin had tried his best to
explain why he found smoking attractive. That had proven to be an interesting
conversation.
   He was clearly embarrassed by the fixation. But that was fine with Teri. It
gave a certain sense of balance to what she'd been afraid would be more of a
transaction than an encounter. No longer did she merely need or want something
from Martin. They each had something the other wanted and they were now
prepared to give it freely.
   Teri saw Kerri Ann.
   Saw her smoking.
   She'd definitely stopped by the vending machine on the way out because she
was holding a just lit Marlboro Lights 100 in her left hand. She was waving it
around in animated fashion while talking to a woman whose back was turned. But
Teri knew that hair, that svelte but athletic build. Kerri drew sharply on the
cigarette and pursed her lips sensuously for the exhale.
   Teri thought she almost understood the attraction.
   Turning her head to the side, Regina pulled on her Virginia Slims and the two
women seemed joined in the wonderful act of smoking.
   Teri couldn't help but feel warm watching the whole spectacle. She did,
however, promise herself that she was not going to interfere, that her friend
had a right to hoe this road on her own. While she wanted to to intrude
herself and extract her  just credit from both women, she would not do that.
   Martin saw her decision play across her face and silently applauded it. They
had enough to do on their own without involving themselves in this
distraction- pleasant though it was to watch. Regina bent down and kissed
Kerri Ann on the cheek and the other woman blushed, but more from joy than
embarrassment.
   
   Drawing on her cigarette again, Kerri Ann let the smoke slide deep into her
lungs. The thousand rainy days (well, five hundred fifty was more accurate)
since she'd quit smoking- and Teri had been right that she'd snuck more
cigarettes in those eighteen months than she would ever admit to- were gone
now. There was nothing but the gentle high of the smoke and surety that in a
few moments she'd be taking Regina back to her room for some good old
fashioned sex.
   Reading her thoughts was not hard for Regina. "We should really stop over and
say thank you to Teri before we leave-"
   As she inhaled, Kerri Ann exhaled. A smile crept across her face, a face that
felt suddenly loose and fluid, capable again of a smile when the moment
demanded it. All because of a little nicotine ?
   No. It wasn't the drug or the chemicals in the smoke. It was the simple
freedom of once again being one's self, of feeling at ease in the world.
Smoking had never been about the high- although the high was damn nice- but
rather about the act. About looking down at her own hand and seeing a burning
cigarette resting there where it belonged. About not looking at other smokers
and feeling a combination of distaste and envy.
   "I can't believe you actually told her that you wanted me to start smoking
again."
   "I can't believe," Regina said, pausing to inhale so sharply that Kerri Ann
wondered why she didn't switch to a stronger cigarette, "that you never got
it. I mean, talk about missing the simple things-"
   "I thought you were- I don't know-"
   Regina laughed. "I know exactly what you thought. You were thinking about
that old stereotype of butch women athletes."
   Kerri took the last drag from her cigarette, reached over to a table with an
ashtray on it, stubbed it out, and lit another.
   "You're not butch."
   "You know what I mean."
   Waiting until she'd drawn that first wonderful pull from her cigarette, Kerri
Ann answered, trying not to get herself into trouble. She wanted this to be
perfect, and so far-
   "I was thinking about more in the sense of what I'm not. I'm no athlete after
all, and athletics are pretty important to you."
   Regina had finished her own cigarette, and she crafted her answer in the
space of time it took to light another.
   "Personality is important, too. And I felt like you'd been subsuming your
personality for some reason. I try not to get involved with people who aren't
being honest with themselves."
   "There's a lot more to me than whether or not I smoke, Regina," Kerri Ann
said with an hint of defensiveness.
   "I know that. But when you're dishonest with yourself about something so
basic, when you condition yourself to be less than truthful about your own
desires, it's not a good sign."
   "Well, I wasn't trying to send a sign, you know. I was just trying to be
healthy."
   "What's healthy about not allowing yourself to live ?"
   "Nothing. It took eighteen months, but I realise that now. Thanks to you and
Teri and-"
   "Yourself. Don't forget that you're the one who made the right decision. I
bet it must have been hard, deciding that instead of sneaking cigarettes with
Joella you were going to really be a smoker again. I'm proud of you."
   "Well, thanks. Let's say our piece to Teri and bail."

   Martin pinched himself, so sure that he'd died and gone to heaven. Here he
was, standing with three beautiful female smokers falling all over themselves
with apologies and words of thanks.
   Regina drew on a fresh Virginia Slims. As she did, Kerri Ann slipped one arm
around her waist and then pulled on her Marlboro Lights 100. Not to be left
out, Teri inhaled and all three exhaled as one, creating a thick cloud of
wonderful smoke. Martin saw other guys looking at him with pure appreciation
in their eyes. He let loose a small smile.
   "I think we're going to be going," Regina finally said, her eyes electric.
Martin knew that look. It was in all of their eyes right now, the look of
people about to have sex. Kerri Ann accentuated the point by pinching Regina's
tight behind amorously.
   They walked out, Teri watching them gladly.
   "You did that," Martin said, giving her a heartfelt half-hug.
   Teri returned it, drew on her cigarette, turning her face so that he could
watch the act and enjoy. He leaned into the exhale.
   "You did it, Martin, not me. You set all three of us free. And don't think
we're going to forget that, either."
   "I think only one of you is going to be repaying the favour."
   "There are methods of repayment besides sex, you know-"

   An hour later, Martin was thinking that one method would be more than
sufficient.
   Teri was lying naked underneath him. He was inside her, taking his time,
thrusting with a serious genteelness, because he didn't want to come. Not yet.
She was about to light a cigarette after all. She had been smoking while they
making out, both of them pleasantly drunk. He'd relished the smoky taste of
her mouth the entire time, the way the smoke had changed the scent of her hair
and her clothes.
   She'd asked him to go slowly, and at first he'd thought it would be beyond
him. All of that masturbation, all those thoughts about her, had come back to
him with one undeniable rush as soon as she'd taken her shirt off and revealed
her perfect pert breasts. But she hadn't been smoking. He hadn't expected her
to anymore than he'd thought this was why she wanted him to go slowly.
   She was as close as he was, and he wondered how she could possibly be holding
back. He remembered his first time, how he'd gone off like a champagne cork at
the practically the first stroke. Then again, he'd been fourteen, she'd been
nineteen, and-
   He forced himself not to think about that for obvious reasons.
   Teri brought the lighter to the cigarette and lit it easily, as though she'd
smoked while having sex dozens of times before.
   She tossed the lighter aside and pulled on the cigarette hard while reaching
up to him, urging him to start again in earnest as she treated him to a nose
exhale.
   He came on the third thrust, and although he usually had to stop as soon as
he came, he found himself able to keep it up until she too had her first
orgasm.
   It was an electric moment. The look in her eyes as she withdrew the cigarette
from her hungry lips was worth all of this alone. Smoke poured from her mouth
and Martin opened his and captured some of it before bending down to kiss her.
They closed into a tight embrace full of fierce kisses broken only by an
occasional turn of Teri's head to inhale.
   They stayed like this until the cigarette was finished, and then, with a
twinkle in her eyes, Teri asked Martin if he knew that she didn't want to have
to say that she'd only had sex once in college.
   His honest smile told her that wasn't going to a problem.