They hung on to each other in the single flashlight beam. Joe felt his skin fused to hers. He felt her breath against the side of his neck and her heart beating wildly beneath him.

Charlotte trembled, and he rolled until her small body stretched out on top of him. She burrowed her face in the crook of his neck and the tears trickled down his shoulder.

'Tell me what's going on in that brain of yours."

She sniffled. He stroked her hair.

"I was thinking that I'm glad. I'm just so damn glad I wasn't making it up all these years!"

Joe laughed, hugging her tight. "Neither of us made it up. It was all real." He pulled a strand of damp hair from the side of her face and kissed her hot cheek. 'It still is."

"I needed this, Joe."

"I did, too."

"You have no idea how much I needed it. How long I've needed it."

'Tell me."

Charlotte pushed herself up on her arms and looked down at him. Her face was relaxed, open, and a wistful smile played on her mouth. In the strange light inside the tent, she seemed to glow from the inside.

"I loved Kurt and he loved me. He was a wonderful man and a great father. But this wasn't important to him." She glanced down at their bodies still joined. "Sex wasn't important to my husband."

Joe wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "Want to repeat that?"

Charlotte pushed herself up until she straddled him. He was still inside her, growing soft and malleable, but enjoying the sensation of her heat. The peace.

She nonchalantly pulled her hair back off her face and tied it in a knot on top of her head, a move that put her breasts on display. He was in love with her breasts. He wanted to know what they felt like full of milk when she was pregnant with his child. He wanted to drink hot milk from her and then lie down next to her in the spoon position, holding those full breasts in his hands while he took her from behind.

"Kurt was not a very sexual man."

Joe blinked. He had heard right.

"I was frustrated through my whole marriage, Joe. I felt immoral because I wanted it so much more than he did. The only thing that kept me going all those years was fantasies about…" Charlotte dropped her gaze and shook her head gently. He reached up and lifted her chin.

"Tell me."

"You. I fantasized about you, Joe. All the damn time."

There was something seriously wrong with the concept that any married woman-especially a beautiful, sexual, loving woman like Charlotte-had to rely on fantasy for satisfaction.

"Was your husband gay?"

Charlotte scrunched up her pretty mouth and shook her head. "You know, I wondered that a couple times, but I really don't think so. It was more his personality. His upbringing. He never wanted to talk about sex. He never wanted to experiment-be, adventurous with me. He never saw sex as the gift it really is."

She shrugged, letting her fingers fiddle with Joe's chest hair. It was such a small thing-but so intimate- that his breath caught.

"I think he was ashamed when I asked him for things he couldn't or wouldn't do. He was ashamed of me. And over time, I became ashamed of myself."

Joe was getting hard again. "Details, please." He brought his hands around to cup her sweet behind.

With a tilt of her head and a wicked little grin, Charlotte said, "You aren't anything like Kurt when it comes to sex, are you, Joe?"

"Doesn't appear that way." He pinched her plump little ass. She yelped and squirmed on him. Joe was getting stiffer, quick.

Her voice became a soft whisper. "Once, I got the courage to ask him to spank me."

He was at full attention now. "And he didn't?"

"He said he felt foolish."

Joe smacked her butt-real hard. She squirmed again and let out a contented sigh. So he did it again. He frowned as if in deep thought, then smiled. "Nope-I just double-checked and I don't feel the least bit foolish."

Charlotte's laugh disappeared into a moan when he spanked her again, then again. She gazed down at him with a hot, half-lidded look of lust. Her hair had slipped down out of its knot and fell in straight shiny strands around her face.

This woman clearly needed to be fucked some more.

"And once, I asked him to tie me up," she whispered.

Joe licked his lips, wondering if the SpongeBob sleeping bag had string ties. 'Too foolish?"

"No. He said he respected me too much to despoil me or treat me in such a sadistic way."

The guy was definitely gay.

"Well, baby, I'll tell you what." Joe smoothed his palms over her bottom, the flesh hot from spanking. "I would consider it an honor to tie you spread-eagle to the bed and despoil you until you can't see straight-in a completely respectful way, of course."

As they moved in unison with laughter, Charlotte made a smooth segue into raising and lowering her body on his cock. Before Joe could anticipate it, she was riding him with purpose and he was back in serious fucking mode, as if he hadn't just come a few minutes ago.

This woman made him crazy. He had to slow down. He clamped his hands on her thighs to keep her still.

"You can always tell me what you need, Charlotte. If it works for you, it'll automatically work for me."

"Thank you, Joe."

"I love how passionate you are, how sexual you are. You don't have to hold back anymore. Ever."

She pushed his hands away without further comment and moved on him, varying her tempo and pressure and angle to coax the pleasure, drag it to its acute phase. She was a marvel, a redheaded vixen who seemed quite pleased with her official sex goddess status. It was obvious from the gleam in her eye and her self-satisfied smile. With a sigh, she lowered herself down on him, pressing her breasts against his chest

Joe stroked her hair, delighting in the cool, silky feel of it slipping between his fingers. "Did you ever ask for anything else?"

She let go with a small laugh. "Well, one night, I asked him for one of my favorite fantasies." Charlotte left little kisses along Joe's throat as her lower half undulated over him.

"I can't wait to hear this one." He nibbled at her neck.

Charlotte stopped moving and simply laid her head on his chest. "It wasn't wild, Joe. I just asked him to sleep with me under the stars. Naked. I wanted to make love under the stars. That's all."

Joe had to close his eyes against the sadness that swept through him. He almost didn't want to know the answer to the question he was about to ask-he wasn't sure he could bear to hear it.

"Please tell me your husband did that for you, sweetheart."

"He tried." Charlotte rubbed her cheek against Joe's shoulder. "We got out here in the backyard and he couldn't… he was just too worried and embarrassed-"

That was it. Joe saw it happen in his mind-he'd just handed his heart to Charlotte Tasker on a platter. He just silently uttered the words, Here it is. It's not much, but it's all yours. And right then, he knew that whatever she might ask of him, it would be his honor to do it. As her man, it would be his job.

A job he desperately wanted.

Joe sat up, tucked Charlotte's legs around his waist, and told her to hang on. He stood, grabbed the sleeping bag, and unzipped the tent door.

"You and me and SpongeBob got some love to make," he said.

Joe tossed the sleeping bag on the grass and stood with Charlotte still attached to his naked body. He could feel her giggling. "Now, tell me exactly what you want, sweetheart?"

She lightly touched his hair, then his cheek, then the smooth, clean lines of his goatee. It amazed her that he was so eager to please. She felt the tears build again but saw no reason to force them down-nothing she'd revealed so far had scared Joe away. Maybe nothing ever would. "What I want-what I really, really want-"

"Tell me." He pressed his soft lips to hers. "Tell me everything."