Work in Progress

Hip, hip, hooray!  Fio's on her way! She's carved out big blocks of time the last three days to go through her book as it is and see if it sticks together, and IT DOES! The story MOVES! What a relief! What an IMPETUS to move forward!

AND HERE'S A TASTE TO WHET YOUR APPETITE----

The aisles clogged with people returning to their seats as the lights signaled that the second act of the play was about to begin.

Determined to concentrate on the show rather than her escort this time around, Sabrina sat up straight and focused on the stage as the curtain opened on a desolate scene. The Major-General was weeping with remorse because he had lied to the pirates when he’d claimed to be an orphan, and his daughters were doing their best to console him by singing a lugubrious song about “drying the glis’ning tear.”

 Bram took her hand in a loose grip and began slowly, ever so slowly, moving his finger down the sensitive inside of her thumb, then up her first finger and journeying back down her thumb again.

Over and over.

Her lips went dry and her heart beat faster.

Frederic had entered the scene and everyone was singing their hearts out, but she couldn’t care less because her entire world was centered on Bram’s touch. The stage blurred into unreality. Her eyelids drooped as Bram’s finger moved up the side of her middle finger, traveled down the other side, then climbed up and down her ring finger and little finger slowly, slowly.

She shifted her legs against each other to relieve the gathering warmth and gave a furtive glance to either side. Could anyone see what was going on?

Did she care?

Turning her hand over, he began drawing a lazy figure-eight on her sensitized palm. Colors exploded beneath her eyelids. 

Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.

He didn’t.

Instead, he began exploring the back of her hand, then underside of her wrist and forearm, again moving back and forth slowly and gently, barely touching the skin. Sabrina closed her eyes to intensify the waves of heat flooding through her.

Oh Lord, the piano was far-away, an echo in the distance, and she was breathing in and out deep and slow, her eyes glazed, her body dissolving into a puddle of bliss.

Suddenly everyone around her was standing up and clapping.

She opened her eyes. The cast had assembled for its final curtain call.

Stumbling to her feet, she joined in the applause.