Fantasy The People Makers

Taylor painted a smile on his face but he was fuming on the inside. He hated being made to perform in this way like a holoporn actor. He would never, ever have agreed to do this for anyone else. But in moments his rage gave way to arousal as he felt a familiar tingling at the tip of his penis. He had to admit that Maggie looked so very vulnerable and beautiful, so very fuckable as his penis plunged in and out of her mouth. She made a tight ring with her lip, sucking avidly, eagerly trying to cooperate to bring him off. Somehow during the process Taylor forgot about Tessa, forgot about her Pad, and lived in a world only with Maggie's tight, wet mouth and adoring eyes.

"Oooh... ohhhhhh...." He never noticed the Pad focused on his face, capturing the sexual agony he was going through. "Oh Maggie... Maggie...."

"Come inside her, Michael! Don't pull out until you're done!" Tessa warned him.

"Oh, oh Maggie!" Taylor cried. And then it happened. He felt his shaft tighten up and erupt inside her mouth. Maggie started swallowing heavily. He felt perverse satisfaction as his sperm bathed her tongue and throat.

And then Maggie started coughing.

"Swallow, Maggs! Keep swallowing!" Tessa cried, as she filmed avidly.

Maggie kept coughing as Taylor spermed down her throat. Slowly she regained control of herself with deep, heavy breaths.

Taylor slowly pulled out of her. Maggie looked up at him with watery eyes. She looked like she had just run a marathon. "Are you all right?" he asked, with real concern.

She nodded slowly, a bit uncertainly. She had stopped coughing and was swallowing vigorously.

He pulled her to her feet and hugged her. "Did you... did you like that?" he asked uncertainly.

She gave him a shy smile. "There were some bumps at the end... but I enjoyed it."

"You did?" He needed to be sure. Taylor looked at her with real concern.

Her eyes were wet but she was still smiling. "Uh huh. I... I really liked watching your face when you came."

You weren't the only one, Taylor thought, as he remembered Tessa holding up her Pad.

He kissed her gently. "Happy birthday, dear."

Maggie gave him a quizzical look. "What birthday?"

"She tricked me," Taylor gasped, as Sophie rubbed his penis through his trousers. He was returning the favor, squeezing her breasts through her dayshirt.

"You actually let her record you?" said Sophie incredulously.

"I couldn't help it," Taylor gasped again. "Sophie, it's like she controls me."

"She's not the only one," Sophie growled. She yanked him down from the bench, onto the ground in a patch of soft grass. What they needed to do this time couldn't be done on a bench. She opened the fastenings on his pants and pulled out his penis.

"Sophie! No!" Taylor cried. He tried to put his hands over hers but she simply wrenched them away. She started to stroke his shaft vigorously with her hand.

"Oh! Oh Sophie!" Taylor cried.

"You want me to stop?"

"We shouldn't be doing this here," said Taylor. "What if someone sees us?"

Sophie smiled. In the space of a few seconds Taylor had gone from "No, stop!" to "We shouldn't be doing this here". All men were weak, where it counted. "Next time we'll do it at my place," she offered.

"Sophie, no," he groaned. He felt the familiar tingling in his penis. Although Maggie had thoroughly drained him just the night before, Sophie had reignited his passion. He was every bit as attracted to her as he was to Tessa, albeit in a completely different way.

Sophie rubbed his shaft. "Do you like this, Michael?"

Taylor looked at the dark haired beauty fisting his erection in the moonlight. "Of course I do, Sophie, but we shouldn't be doing this!"

"And Survey Service Captains shouldn't be making holoporn and opening themselves up to blackmail. And yet, they sometimes do... for the right woman." Her hand worked vigorously stimulating him, working as rapidly as possible to put him under her control. "Rub my clit."

"Sophie!"

"If you don't want me to stop, rub my clit!" she demanded.

Taylor tentatively reacted out and started rubbing her between her legs.

"Through my pants?" Sophie looked disgusted. "Open my pants, Michael."

"Sophie-"

"Open my pants, or I'm leaving and never coming back."

It was the same ultimatum that Tessa had presented him the night before. Taylor couldn't have a sexual relationship with Sophie, he simply couldn't, it violated Survey Service regulations and might possibly jeopardize his relationship with Tessa. Tessa had encouraged him to have sex with Maggie because she knew that he wasn't in love with Maggie, but she might well react differently to Sophie.

And yet he couldn't simply walk away from Sophie. He had loved her for years, and was extremely attracted to her. He looked into her eyes and screaned not just her determination but her intense, intense frustration with him, sexually and otherwise, and knew he had no choice.

And so Taylor opened the fastenings of her pants and slipped his fingers inside. Sophie smiled as she felt him complying. Taylor tentatively moved his fingers downward, inside her panties. At first he felt wiry pubic hair, but as he went lower he found her slick, wet opening. This was it! He looked up at Sophie, who had a dreamy look in her eyes. She wanted this, she really did. And so Taylor entered a new and exciting stage of his relationship with his first officer as he inserted a finger inside of her and started rubbing.

"Ah, ah, ah, ahhhhhh," said Sophie, her mouth wide open in a very atypical way as Taylor masturbated her. "You're doing it. You're really doing it!" Her face looked so pained and pleased. They each stared into each others eyes as they pleasured each other. A new dynamic was being created between them, a new level of intimacy that Taylor couldn't deny. They weren't under the mental influence of the plant people, not now; they were both doing this because they wanted to.

"Ah, oh Michael, it feels so good," said Sophie, as she stroked his penis. "Make me come, Michael, please!"

"I'm trying, Sophie!"

"Stroke me up and down, yes, like that, a little to the left... yes, perfect!" said Sophie. She stared at him with an intense vulnerability and need he had never seen before.

The lovers gasped repeatedly as they stimulated each other.

"Oh, oh Michael! I'm going to come!"

"I am too Sophie!" Taylor's penis was rock hard, and he felt tension in his ballsack as his testicles seemed to tighten.

The lovers cried out and climaxed. Sophie's head jerked back as if she had been punched and she cried out barely audibly. At the same time a stream of liquid arced out of the tip of Taylor's penis and shot into the air, once, twice, and then thrice.

When it was done, Sophie stared at Taylor for a long moment as crickets creaked in the background loudly. And then she leaned over and kissed him.

"I love you, Michael," she said softly.

"I... I love you too, Sophie," said Taylor. "But we can't do this here."

"Next time... in my place. Or your place. We'll go all the way. I can't wait to feel you inside me!"

"No."

"No?" A small chorus of crickets chirped around them. She looked down at his semi-erect penis, at what she had just shared, what they had just shared together.

"I... I can't go all the way with you. Not intercourse. It wouldn't be fair to Tessa."

"Wouldn't be fair?" Sophie gave a cynical laugh. "You just fucked her best friend in front of her!"

"But that was her best friend and with her permission," said Taylor. "And she knew I don't love Maggie. She would probably feel differently about you." He paused. "I... I can't do more than we're doing now."

"That's how you rationalize it, then? That we can do everything short of actual intercourse, and that's acceptable, but nothing more?"

"I know it sounds arbitrary-"

"It's incredibly arbitrary Michael Tiberius Taylor! It's just the kind of illogic and self-satisfied fallacious thinking that I've come to know you for. I don't know why I ever fell in love with you!"

She growled got up, fumbling rapidly with her pants, and left.

Taylor adjusted his own clothes, but sat back down on the bench and listened to the crickets for a while longer.

And so Sophie Astor decided to let Dennis Jerlock fuck her.

She had felt close, so close to breaking down Taylor's resistance. Their sexual sessions had steadily progressed. But she realized that Taylor would never fuck her now, not while he was enamored with Tessa Hetford. Taylor had given her release, but there were releases and there were releases, and Sophie Astor hungered for the kind of release that happened when a man's firm penis was buried deep inside her body.

And so Sophie Astor decided to let Dennis Jerlock fuck her.

They had gone on three, totally boring dates. Boring for Sophie that is. Dennis seemed infatuated by her, especially her nuclear tipped implants. She could tell by the way he tried not to look at them. She had let him kiss her on the second date. She had let him kiss her and squeeze her breasts on the third date. Which meant, quite logically, that she would have to agree to sex if there was to be a fourth date. And because Sophie Astor was a very logical, very dispassionate woman, she agreed to let Dennis Jerlock fuck her precisely on date number four.

She counted the thrusts inside her vagina. 32... 33... 34.... Sophie had guestimated that he would climax somewhere between the 84th and 90th thrust and was somewhat curious to see how close her estimate would be. As she lay beneath him, her legs widely spread, she noticed how curious his facial expression was. His face was sweaty but his eyes were pointed upwards, as if looking to the ceiling. He was probably lost in the physical sensations accumulating on a very tiny piece of real estate at the tip of his penis. She felt his body rubbing against hers.

54... 55... 56....

She wondered if she would have trouble getting him to leave after he climaxed. Most men preferred to leave after their needs were satisfied, but perhaps Dennis Jerlock was not like most men. She wondered how she could manipulate him into leaving after he had been satisfied.

74... 75... 76....

Had she lost count? In all her ruminations she was not sure if Dennis was on his 75th stroke or his 76th. Such sloppiness would never be tolerated by Passive Observers International.

88.... 89... 90....

How long would this continue for?

And then on stroke 93 Dennis gasped, and on stroke 94 he gasped again, then he groaned and collapsed on top of her.

Sophie felt somewhat proud. 94 strokes. That wasn't very far off from her estimate of 84 to 90 strokes. She felt she knew Dennis well.

As she lay underneath him she looked at his face. He really did have a resemblance to Michael Taylor, a strong one. But he also clearly was not Michael Taylor. What could she do to remedy this key discrepancy?

She was lost in that thought even as Dennis's penis shrunk and slipped out of her.

They had sex.

Taylor hadn't been sure what kind of reception he would get the next time he saw Tessa. But this time there was no mention of Maggie or recordings or ultimatums or anything. It was as if the entire event had never happened. Tessa took him into her arms and smiled sweetly at him, flirted with him, kissed him, and made love to him.

As they made love, Taylor had the sense that something was bothering Tessa, but he wasn't sure what it was. One thing he did notice was that as he made love to her, Tessa's eyes turned and looked at a certain part of the ceiling from time to time. Taylor looked and saw a hook hanging from the ceiling. How had he never noticed that before? Perhaps he had just never looked there before. Or perhaps it hadn't been there before. Why did Tessa have a hook in the middle of her ceiling?

He looked down at her. She had a determined look on her face as he pounded into her. And, something else... but as Taylor reached his orgasm, all thoughts of Tessa's secret and the hook in her ceiling was driven from his mind as he filled her with his manly sperm.

Their second go around of the evening occurred in the shower, at Tessa's suggestion. She started the water running and soaped up his penis, stroking him slowly. The physical sensation was incredible.

"Oh, Tessa!" Taylor cried.

"You like?" The large breasted woman smiled at him. Her heavy breasts were glistening with water, her prominent nipples erect.

"Yessss," said Taylor, wrapping his arms around her. "Very much."

"Good," said Tessa.

"Ah, ah! Gentle on the tip, Tessa, be gentle!"

"Oh, is it sensitive there? I'll be gentle," she promised. "But first, tell me about Sophie Astor."

"Sophie?"

Oh no.

And then the torture began.

For some reason, Tessa was fixated on Sophie.

Had someone seen them at the pond? Did Tessa know what they were doing?

But Tessa didn't seem interested in the present. She was much more interested in the past. What Sophie was like at the Academy. When they first started working together, what missions they went on.

"Why all these questions about Sophie?" Taylor asked. He sensed this had something to do with what happened the last time they were together, the failure he had screaned in Tessa.

"She loves you," Tessa said, stroking his prominent erection, which was now mighty and stood out proudly at a sharp 45 degree angle.

"If you say so."

"She loves you, and you are well aware of it, my Gallant Space Captain. You may be gallant, but you're not a good liar," she said sweetly.

Taylor swallowed heavily. "Perhaps she feels something for me. But why are we talking about this?"

"Because, my dearest, dearest one, you love her too."

Taylor was edged, most painfully, for the next twenty minutes in the shower stall, his hard, painful erection still jutting between his legs. Tessa skillfully brought him to the edge but refused to allow him to climax. Whenever she felt his penis start to vibrate she backed off.

Taylor groaned in sexual agony. Finally, he was forced to admit it.

"Yes, yes!" he cried.

"Yes what?" said Tessa.

"Yes. I love Sophie Astor! Are you satisfied?" Suddenly it felt so good to say it, to admit the truth he had kept bottled up inside for so long.

Tessa put her hands on her hips as the shower sprayed besides her. Once again she looked so sexy, even with her heavy breasts pointed downwards. The dark brownish-orange triangle between her legs was the mounting object of Taylor's desire.

"Not nearly," she said. She put one hand back on his shaft, the other on his balls, and began to stroke him again. "How long have you been in love with her, Michael?"

"Years," said Taylor.

"Have you fucked her?" She stroked him again, lingering at the tip painfully.

"Tessa!"

"Have you fucked her?"

"Only once, and it wasn't my fault!" said Taylor.

Tessa gave a biting laugh. "How could fucking her not be your fault?"

"Our DNA had been changed. We had been turned into plant people."

"Plant people." Tessa gave a cynical smile. Taylor had told her an abridged version of what happened on New Eden, but was unsure how much she believed. "And since then?"

"No."

"Not even once?"

Taylor thought of the times they had touched each other on the bench by the pond. "We haven't had sex, not once." And he looked her in the eye when he said it.

Tessa stared at him and slowly nodded. "Because of regulations?"

"Yes. Because of regulations."

"My poor, poor Michael," she said. "You're like the boy in the candy store who has no money." Her hand stopped moving.

"Tessa!"

"Oh. Sorry." And then Tessa rapidly brought him to orgasm. Pleasurably. Efficiently. Working hard, but staying away from the tip. When he climaxed, he sprayed all over the opposite wall of the shower.

Taylor gasped as he recovered. "Why did you want to know about Sophie?"

"I always want to know about the competition."

"Sophie is no competition."

"Because you don't want her... or because you can't have her?" She pressed her body against his, and despite having climaxed twice in one evening, Taylor felt like he could almost do it again.

"I want you, Tessa," Taylor murmured, as their bodies rocked back and forth under the shower spray, each enjoying the feeling of the other, back and forth, back and forth.....

"May I come in?"

Taylor nodded.

Sophie Astor entered his temporary quarters at Port Auburn. Like him, she was wearing Survey Service Casuals. Her large nuclear tipped breasts stuck out prominently from her Survey Service Dayshirt.

Taylor led her to the couch. She sat down uncertainly.

"How are you doing, Sophie?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She gave a tight smile. "How are you, Michael?"

"I'm... I'm fine too."

This felt awkward, wrong. Somehow when they met at the pond it seemed more impulsive, instinctual. This felt planned. But they couldn't continue to do what they had been doing at the pond. They had gone too far for that.

"Sophie, maybe-"

She silenced him with her lips, kissing him strongly, aggressively, even violently.

"Easy, Sophie, easy," said Taylor.

And then she looked at him and said, "There is no easy when it comes to you, Michael!" and she seemed so intense that Taylor felt an erotic chill wash over his body.

They tore off each other's clothing without restraint. Taylor felt a delight when he ripped off her Survey Service breast control collar. Both cups had the Survey Service logo of the spaceship & sun as well as Sophie's rank pips, befitting a Survey Service officer of her rank and gender. The same logo was imprinted on their underwear. In seconds they were both naked.

Taylor breathed deeply. "I... I haven't seen you naked since we were on New Eden... and to be honest, I don't remember very much about it."

"We looked different then too," Sophie smiled, as she caressed his chest. He was so handsome! "Remember we had flowers growing out of our-"

"Who can forget," Taylor chuckled. He looked at Sophie's large, firm nuclear powered breasts. They had not a hint of sag. Unlike Tessa's which pointed straight downwards, Sophie's pointed straight at him. In general Sophie had a thinner, more sculpted body than Tessa. Her stomach was flat and her ass didn't have a hint of sag. Her face was thinner too. Perhaps, in just a purely physical sense, Sophie was more beautiful than Tessa. And yet he was in love with both of them.

"Seeing you naked... takes my breath away," Taylor breathed.

"Really?" She rewarded him with a brilliant smile.

"Sophie, you're gorgeous!"

"Oh Michael!" She kissed him again. Then she pulled back and rapidly looked him up and down. "You excite me too!"

"I do?"

"Yes!" Sophie cried. "Your gold hair, your broad shoulders, your hairy chest, and this...." she reached down and gently touched his penis. It jerked upwards at the slightest touch, making her gasp. She looked into her eyes. "I've wanted this for so long, Michael. I've burned for you!"

I've burned for you. Sophie said the exact same words that Maggie had.

She rubbed his arm adoringly. "Make love to me, Michael."

"Sophie... no, I can't!" said Taylor, feeling incredibly torn.

"Please," she said imploringly, staring at him with big, dark eyes.

Taylor looked very pained. "Sophie, I can't! This... This is as far as I can go." And then, to stifle further protests, he took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

They started fondling each other vigorously, sitting side by side on the edge of the bed. Taylor had his free arm wrapped around her shoulder, and she in turned snaked an arm around his waist. As Sophie fisted his shaft, he diddled her clitoris.

"Oh Michael! Oh Michael oh Michael oh Michael!" she groaned.

"I feel it too!" Taylor cried. They kissed passionately, even as Sophie jerked off his shaft and Taylor rubbed her clitoris. When he pulled back, still stimulating her, he said, "I never imagined...."

"Never imagined what?" she said quickly.

"That you would be so passionate! You're a Passive Observer, Sophie!"

"Michael, I could never be passive as far as you're concerned." And she looked at him with such intensity, such need, that he felt he had to kiss her again. He pressed his lips and body against her. The stimulation, the heat and softness of her body, rapidly drove him over a cliff.

"Sophie! Sophie!"

"I feel it too, Michael!"

"Oh Michael!" Her eyes widened

"Oh Sophie!" His breathing grew ragged as he felt himself about to explode.

"Oh.. oh... OOOOHHHH!"

"The same time." Sophie was lying against him, her head on his chest like a contented cat. "We both came at the same time."

"Yeah," said Taylor, patting her hair appreciatively. "What are the odds of that?"

She stared at him for a long moment. Taylor screaned there was some conflict within her. He felt it himself. He was being unfaithful to Tessa, there was no doubt about it. Just because he hadn't had intercourse with Sophie didn't make the act any more loyal to his girlfriend. And yet he couldn't resist her. She had such beautiful hazel eyes, such a thin, feminine face with high cheekbones. Her nuclear tipped breasts were perfect, simply perfect, as was her slender waist and dark pubic triangle.

"There's something I need to tell you," she said. She looked at him. "I'm seeing another man."

"Oh?"

"His name is Dennis Jerlock."

"Oh."

"He's a civilian administrator at the Port."

"Oh."

"We had sex."

"Oh."

"Is there anything else you can say?"

"Uhh.... I... I hope you're happy together?"

Sophie frowned and sat up abruptly. Obvious that wasn't the right thing to say. She rapidly started to get dressed. "I am not."

"Then why are you seeing him?"

"Because he'll have sex with me," said Sophie bluntly. "Does that make you jealous?" Taylor hated the question but loved seeing her wrestle with her panties, pulling them up her long, slender legs.

"Uh... yes," said Taylor, trying to concentrate.

"But not enough to have sex with me yourself."

"No," said Taylor, watching her struggle with her pants. "Sophie... this thing, between you and me... it's complicated."

"I know. Because of her," said Sophie. She strapped her bra in, and then rapidly wriggled into her day shirt. "But I expect it to be much more uncomplicated once the ship is repaired and we get under way again. Once that happens dear Tessa will be gone, and there will only be me."

"Sophie-"

She kissed him coldly. "Good night, Michael." And then she left.

Sophie often left angry. She would be back for more, Taylor knew. And maybe in a sense she was right. Once the Immortal was repaired he wouldn't be able to see Tessa anymore. That conflict, at least, would be resolved.

And yet, he knew he was also deeply in love with Tessa, and would be heartbroken when he left her.

"I was married."

Taylor dropped his spoon with a clatter. He was eating dinner in Tessa's apartment. She had made his favorite meal, synthesized filet mignon from Karibdis IV, and Saturn Space Potatoes. "What?"

"I was married," said Tessa.

"For how long?"

"Nearly four years," said Tessa.

"That's a... a period of time."

"Long? Short?"

"A period of time," said Taylor repeated carefully. "You want to tell me about him?"

"His name was Greg. He had blonde-brown hair, just like you." She smiled tightly. "He was a holographic systems programmer." She paused. "We had a great time, at first."

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"I don't know," said Tessa. "Greg was kind, Greg was loving but... we just grew apart. It happens."

Taylor screaned her. Tessa was covered in a sparkly orange blob. She knew more than she was telling. She was trying to tell him something, that was why she had raised the subject, and yet she also didn't want to tell him. There was a very odd duality about her. He sensed tension and even fear within her.

Fear?

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," said Taylor, as he bit some Space Potatoes.

"So am I," she said, staring at him intently.

As they lay together in the dark after they had sex, Tessa asked an unexpected question. "How is Sophie?"

"Sophie?"

"Commander Sophie Astor. The First Officer of the USS Immortal. Do you know her?"

"Sophie? She's... she's fine," said Taylor.

"Keeping busy?"

Tessa's face was hard to see in the dark.

"She's... working on a project with Passive Observers International."

"And what about her personal life?"

Taylor felt his hand being squeezed in the dark. "What about it?"

"Is she seeing anyone?"

As a matter of fact she is. Me. We have almost-sex several times a week.

"Actually, she is," said Taylor. "She's been dating a worker at Port Auburn for some weeks now."

"Really?" Surprise clearly registered in her voice.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"It's just... when I met her, she seemed like such a nice girl, but a bit lonely." Tessa sat up abruptly. "I just had a great idea."

"What?"

"A doubledate. Let's all have lunch together."

"Tessa, I don't know. Sophie is a very private person-"

"Arrange it, Space Captain." She kissed him to shut him up.

Taylor noticed immediately that Dennis Jerlock bore more than a passing resemblance to someone he knew.

Namely himself.

He recognized the gold-brown hair, the broad shoulders, the blue eyes. Even the shape of his face was similar. He glanced over at Tessa and wondered if she noticed it too. Tessa was very animated, giving Dennis sharp, pointed looks as she chatted with everyone. Taylor was pleased to see that Tessa and Sophie were getting along, sort of. Tessa was talking to Sophie who was very much in Passive Observer mode, giving monosyllabic responses where she could, but at least the two had not gone to war.

At one point, after Dennis left to use the bathroom, a black man with straight caucasian hair came over to their table. "Captain Taylor?"

"Yes?"

"Admiral Hebrewberger would like a word with you."

Admiral Chaim Hebrewberger was in charge of the Intelligence Branch. Not to be ignored. "Of course," said Taylor. "If you'll excuse me, ladies." He smiled at Tessa and then gave an imploring look at Sophie and tried to communicate telepathically with her. Please, don't make a scene while I'm gone.

Tessa smiled as he walked away. The Admiral was an old friend of her and owed her a favor. She turned her attention to Sophie. "I'm glad we had this time together. Dennis looks like a very handsome man."

"He is," said Sophie evenly.

"Of course, for women like you and me, we also care about what is under the skin. That's what attracts me so much to Michael."

"Oh?"

"Oh, of course, I can't resist that handsome face, those broad shoulders, and that big manly chest. What girl could? But while that got me started on him, what kept me interested was what was on the inside."

"What did you find?" Sophie asked.

"He's kind. A very kind man," said Tessa. "Eager to please, for the woman he loves." She gave Sophie a stare. "He's cautious, but not to an extreme. He's deliberate, thoughtful, methodical. He's solid. Grounded. He inspires people to want to follow him."

"Yes... that's true," said Sophie.

"And then there's you," said Tessa.

"Me?"

"In addition to being in love with Michael, you're loyal, fiercely loyal to him. You care deeply for him. You're not just his best friend, but probably the best friend anyone like him could ever have. You guard your commander's back like it was your own. You care for him so much that you would readily risk your own life to save him. You're an incredible friend."

Sophie's stoicism cracked. "Did... did he tell you that?"

Tessa shook her head.

"Then how-"

"From the way he looks at you," said Tessa. "The way he looks at you when he thinks I'm not looking at him." She spooned some yellow Space Jello and swirled it around in her mouth. "It must be difficult for you, seeing him with me. Another woman would be envious, jealous even. But in two months our roles will be reversed. You'll be the happy one, and I'll be the envious one."

For once in her life Sophie was speechless.

Tessa put her hand over Sophie's. "I'm glad."

"In what way?"

"That when my time with Michael is over, that he'll have a good friend to console him like you." And she stared Sophie straight in the eye in a way that made the Passive Observer shiver all over. "Like you, I want him to be happy."

Sophie tried to speak but words wouldn't come out. It was at that moment that Taylor and Dennis returned to the table.

"Ladies?" He glanced from one face to another. "Everything all right here?"

"Quite all right. Isn't it, Sophie?"

Sophie nodded, not trusting her voice.

"What were you talking about?" Taylor asked, as he sat down.

"Nothing much," said Tessa. "Just some things we have in common."​