Free The Bannerman Solution (The Bannerman Series) by John R. Maxim Page A

the dining car we'd make another stop in the bar car. Couldn't very well walk right through. One after-dinner drink, champagne seems right, as we listen to a few Cole Porter tunes played on the black baby grand piano of the bar car. Then we take the rest of the bottle with us, we lurch as elegantly as possible back to our compartment. . . . Pay attention, now.” He waved his hand over her eyes. “We're almost at our big moment.”
     
Susan only blinked.
     
“I'm asking you to go with me.” He put his glass down and took her hands. “Perhaps a couple of days in London, then we board the Orient Express and take it almost all the way to Klosters in Switzerland where I have access to a small chalet. Then for the next three weeks we ski our butts off.”
     
“Oh, wow.”
     
“Do you need time to think about it?”
     
“Oh, wow.”
     
“Not Oh, wow. Tickets to a Grateful Dead concert is Oh, wow. Making it to the ladies' room on time is Oh, wow. Going to Switzerland by way of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express from London is ‘Oh, Paul, I'd love to and I'm really sorry for giving you so much grief.’ ”
     
“Oh, wow.”
     
Paul let out a sigh and glanced at his watch.
     
“Paul?”
     
    “Good girl. But you're still stuck on one-syllable words.”
     
“Paul, old buddy?”
     
“Yes, pal?”
     
    “If you look at that watch one more time and tell me I'd better get some sleep I'm going to sock you right in the mouth.”
     
    He was almost everything she'd hoped he'd be. He undressed her slowly. So slowly. For a full hour he ex plored her body, probing for the nerves that made her shudder and the nerves that made her gasp. And when at last he entered her body, he had absolute control of it and she felt as though she had none at all. She heaved and lashed wildly as he thrust ever more deeply, his lips and tongue finding still more nerve endings on her neck and shoulders. She heard growling sounds coming from deep within her and she heard shouts as her taut body went into mounting spasms and at last exploded into flashes of colored light.
     
Afterward, after holding her a very long while, talk ing to her, stroking her back and her hair, he offered her a sip from the glass of wine she'd carried into his bed room.
     
“You were yelling before,” he said to her. “Want to know what you yelled?”
     
”Hmm. I'm not sure I do.”
     
“It wasn't anything terrible, exactly.”
     
“Oh, God. What?”
     
“You're getting warm.”
     
“Oh, wow? I gave you another Oh, wow?”
     
“More like ten of them.”
     
“Oh wow . . . shit!”
     
“It's okay. You were wonderful all the same.”
     
“Me? You did all the good stuff. I just enjoyed the ride.”
     
“If you think that was good, wait until you try it on the Orient Express.”
     
“Really romantic, huh?”
     
“It is, but that's not it. All those cars were built in the twenties. They still have their original springs.”
     
    A grin spread across her face. “Up-and-down bouncy, you mean?”
     
“You're beginning to get the picture.*’
     
“Oh, rats.” The grin turned to a frown.
     
“What's the matter?”
     
“We just blew your perfect moment.”
     
    “Nope. Rehearsals don't count. Does that mean you'll go with me?”
     
    “The paper owes me two weeks' vacation. I'd have to see about a third week.”
     
    “Except for football games and white sales, nothing much ever happens in January, anyway.”
     
“I'll tell my boss you said so.”
     
    They made love again. Just as slowly as before, but not as wildly. This time they talked and joked all the while. And afterward, Susan bathed him with warm, moistened washcloths, intending to make love to him in another way. She decided against it. Better to leave something special for the train.
     
    The second time, and then the third, hours later when they woke in each other's arms, were once again all she could have hoped for. Almost all. There was a thing she’d noticed about him in