"No, I'm fine. How about you, Diane? How's that jaw?" He pulled down the blanket and turned her face gently with one hand. The swelling was gone, but she still had a faint bruise.

"Sore?"

"A little. Not bad. I thought it would..."

As she was talking he decided to find out for himself and kissed her. It didn't take long for her to forget the small discomfort of her jaw.

His touch was almost reverent-- carefully and slowly caressing her lips with his own. She responded to him reflexively, as if he'd awakened something long dormant inside of her. After dragging away the blanket between them, she ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders and dug in her fingers.

Harry leaned down, nearly over her and slid his arms under her back. He half lifted her off of the bed to bring her even closer to him, their bodies touching in an embrace that went all the way down to their ankles. As they held each other, and kissed more deeply, each one quickly began to enter a trance like state of heightened sensitivity.

The room disappeared along with every trace of tension between them. The only thing they heard was their own breathing and whispered answers to what the other was asking.

He drew a line down her shirt to the small of her back with his hands as he lightly bit her neck. It tickled, just the right way, and Diane grabbed a handful of his hair and brought his mouth back to hers. The intensity with which they had dealt with each other in all their previous encounters was reflected in the passion with which they moved together; each communicating an aching need that longed to be fulfilled.

Harry had just managed to pull up one half of Diane's shirt from the snug waistband of her jeans when they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Actually,the door of Diane's room.

Five, deliberate knocks.

"Whose timing could possibly be that bad?" Harry said in a low voice as he rolled back a few inches from her. "Baldwin?"

Diane replied rather breathlessly, "No, I think that would be Greg Medavoy."

"Should I kill him?"

She laughed and quickly put her hand to her mouth. "No, no. He probably got an earful from Baldwin when they changed shifts and wants to make sure I'm all right."

"If we're real quiet, maybe he'll go away." Harry wasn't about to give up easily.

Knock, knock...knock, knock knock.