Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Part 9

   Luckily the mall was less then five minutes away, so it almost took me
longer to get my car out of the garage than to get there.  My first stop
was the tobacconist.  Though I would have loved to linger in that perfume
for hours dreaming of women smoking al sorts of tobacco, from Capri to
elegant pipes made of polished wood, I hadn't found an excuse to enter one
of them before, having had no use for any kind of tobacco myself and no
girlfriend or wife to buy cigarettes for.  To just lurk around in a tobacco
shop wasn't my thing.  But now what a lucky guy I was!

   Cheerfully I entered the shop and looked around.  I was quite familiar
with most of the major brands, but I still saw some packs in designs that
hadn't caught my eye before.  I might have studied the topic on the web,
but I hadn't felt the need since I was with Moira.  Those days of the past,
when I lurked around on the web, searching and searching, finding one
smoking fetish site after the other, getting infatuated with some of the
more classy smoking models, were over now.  I had had a relapse in China,
but in the end I had felt so bad about it, that I restrained myself as best
as I could.  Most days I had been so tired anyway, I wouldn't have been
able to make a fist, much less stroke my cock.  I even worked Saturdays and
Sundays, hoping to shorten my stay there.

   "What can I do for You, Sir?" The shop attendant asked.

   "Oh, um, my wife asked me to get her some menthol cigarettes.  I don't
smoke myself, so I don't know much about that.  She said she wanted to try
some menthols for a change."

   The guy murmured something like "lucky son of a bitch", but I wasn't
quite sure about that, so I chose to ignore it.

   Out loud he asked: "Some Salem Lights perhaps, or Virginia Slim Ultra
Light Menthol?"

   "Oh, you got me in a fix here.  I wouldn't know that much about Lights
or Ultra Lights.  Do they taste good or smoke good, or whatever a smoker
gets out of it?" I replied, playing dumb, though I knew I wanted her to
smoke something strong, the stronger the better.

   "Well, I don't know your wife so I couldn't tell.  But I do smoke myself
and I can tell you those Lights suck.  The Ultra Lights are even worse. 
More chemicals and perfume than tobacco.  But what brand does she smoke
right now?"

   "Err, those red Marlboros, like the ones over there, the longer ones." I
lied.

   "Well then, we have here Marlboro Methols, but I'm out of the 100s, then
Salem, but again only King Size, and over there Newport 100, but I warn
you, those babies are strong, highest nicotine in a filter cigarette on the
market."

   "And is that bad?" I played innocent once more.

   "Um, I don't know, if she smokes Marlboros Full Flavor anyway, it won't
hit her too hard and they are very minty, so you might buy her a pack and
see how she likes them.

   "Ok so, I'll take a carton or better two of them."

   "You sure?" the guy asked.

   "Sure I'm sure, makes no sense to buy just a pack, I'd be back by noon.
She just loves to smoke, so even with two cartons I'll be back soon
enough." I said, this time meaning it.

   Without making it too obvious about it, I had found out and bought the
strongest brand I could get.  While waiting for the guy to charge the money
to my card, I glanced around and admired the cigar section.  We weren't
anywhere near that yet, but given time, who knows?  Besides, I already had
an idea how to find an easy introduction to cigars.  I left the store one
happy bugger, humming a cheerful tune under my breath.

   When I came home I got waylaid by an impatient Moira, who had been
waiting for me in the hallway, right behind the door.

   "Thank God!" she exclaimed impatiently."Got my ciggies?"

   I dropped the bags and gave her the cartons.

   "Umm, Newport?  I hope these are good, or I'll send you back.  Didn't
they have any Salems?" she asked skeptically.

   "Sorry Sweety, they only had the short ones.  I didn't know how you'd
think about those, so I asked for some other brand and I got these, the
only long menthols they had in stock.  Next time we'll go together up town.
Do you know some better store there?"

   She hadn't been very attentive, busy as she was to rip open the carton
and get the goodies.  I could see how desperate she was by the difficulties
she had flicking the Bick lighter.  I made a mental note to get her
something better than that.  Finally she had it going and immediately she
pulled hard on the cigarette.

   "Woah," she exclaimed puffing smoke.  "These are strong.  I mean, they
sure have loads of mint in them.  I don't know whether I'll stick to them,
but for now they're doing nicely."

   Of course I was rewarded by a minty kiss, and I almost choked on the
amount of smoke she blew into my face before kissing me.  Of course it was
too much for me and I immediately started to lift her shirt.

   "Hey, hey, hey, not so fast.  I wanna get my levels up first.  Let me
finish this one and after another two or three, I might be in the mood..."
she said with a wink.

   "But couldn't we, I mean, you can go ahead and smoke while we..." I
tried to persuade her.

   Though of course I was keen on smoky kisses and smoky sex, above all I
had already grown so hard I thought my balls would explode, lest I wouldn't
relief myself and I wasn't keen on just a hand job.

   "Mmmh, well, I guess we might try that just this once.  But don't expect
too much.  I'm not very good at doing two things at once." She answered.

   And so I dragged her to the couch, which as of lately seemed to turn
into our favorite place for sex.  The brief smoky foreplay was good, but
the finale was even better.  Seeing how she still tried to pull on her
cigarette though she was climbing higher and higher was quite a sight. 
Although, there was the hiatus when she lit yet another cigarette, but with
my help she managed that too.  She almost choked on a direct inhale, but
then the sight of the smoke cascading out of her wide-open mouth when she
came for the first time was worth almost anything.

   Still, as she obviously wasn't in the best of shapes, suffering from a
hangover, it wasn't really that much to it.  We had done better, especially
last night.  But then I knew that we couldn't just have mindboggling sex
for the rest of our lives.  Somehow I began to feel the need for something
else than just sex.  Before, we had been the best of friends and we could
spend an evening together talking and not even touching each other.  I
wanted that back and I told her so.  It earned we a deep smoky wet kiss,
but she agreed that it was good idea.

   However, as it was already lunchtime, we decided to go to the mall and
have something, as neither of us was keen on cooking.  So, fifteen minutes
later we were back at the mall.  By a lucky coincidence I found a free slot
right in front of the tobacco-shop.  It had a big window display and we
stopped right in front of it.

   "Well, now that I'm smoking, I might try some other stuff than just
cigarettes some time.  Not right now, but later maybe, just for the fun of
it.  I hope it won't turn you down.  I mean, I'd hate to loose such an
ardent lover.  "

   That was music in my ears.  It would make it so much easier to get her
where my fetish wanted her!  But, I had to be careful nevertheless.

   "Mmmh, I have to think about that, I'm not really sure.  But there's
only one way to find out."

   She jabbed my rips playfully.

   "Naughty boy!" she exclaimed playfully and gave me a peck.  "Look what
you've do to me.  Instead of trying to stop me, you support my crazy lust
for smoking."

   Knowing she was actually happy with my attitude and just teasing, which
was a bit of the "old" Moira peeping out from behind, I answered by
dragging her near by the waist and kissing her lips.  In the old days she
wouldn't have played along.  "Not in public" had always been her reaction
to any attempt of mine to get even remotely intimate in daylight, even if
there was nobody in sight.  Not so now.  What started as a rather chaste
kiss, turned into a heavy mutual tonsil checking.  Reluctantly I had to let
her go.  I wanted to probe a little further into what she was thinking.

   "Mind if I ask what's on your mind?  What kind of other stuff would
tempt you?" "Oh, nothing really, it's just that my granddad smoked a pipe.
I saw those beautifully crafted wooden ones over there and I wondered if
you'd find them too masculine, should I want to smoke a pipe one day."

   "OK, anything the lady wants."

   "But let's go to the food court, I'm famished." She said and dragged me
away.

   We settled for Chinese food.  True, I had been in China for half a year,
but to my utter disappointment I never ate something there which even
remotely resembling the stuff sold as Chinese food back home in the States.
So after a while I had been on hamburger and coke most of the time with the
occasional pizza in between.  As Chinese food American style had always
been one of my favorites, I was glad to be able to eat it after such a long
abstinence.  Moira shared my taste.  There were few dishes we couldn't
agree on, another reason why I had decided to share the rest of my life
with her.

   "You mind if I ask you something?" I started, almost choked by curiosity
over an idea I had in front of the tobacco shop.  "You don't have to answer
if you don't want, it's not that important, I'm just curious."

   "Sure" she said and shrugged.

   I could see a trace of discomfort on her face.  Maybe she feared I would
go into her adventures with other men or, worse, with Karl.  Well, the Karl
affair would have to wait.  I had a plan but it was way too early to go
into that.  It had to wait till we had hopefully found a way to settle back
into a sort of routine, with maybe less sex, but more affection between us.

   "Well, I was kinda wondering.  You were such an ardent anti-smoker when
I met you and now you've gone nuts over smoking." I raised my hand to stop
for from interrupting.  "You know I don't complain.  But I just can't get
it.  I always thought it takes years till one gets used good enough to
smoking to smoke the way you do.  I half expected you to get sick over so
much cigarettes, but you keep on lighting up and enjoying it.  How come? 
Are you immune to nicotine?  I mean, I don't want you to overdo it.  I
already feel guilty for making you smoke while we kiss and this morning,
well it wasn't all that bad, but I wouldn't miss it, if you wouldn't do it
again."

   I could see how relieved she was I hadn't poked into the still fresh
wound.  Obviously she didn't mind talking about smoking.

   "Err," she started by clearing her throat, which she did quite often
now, one of the few noticeable consequences of her chain-smoking of the
past days.  She had smoked a whole carton in five days, meaning at least
two packs a day.  And, I was quite sure she had bought a pack or two at the
bar she had been, though she hadn't mentioned it.

   After a break to light up, what else, she finally spoke up.

   "OK, I guess I have to spill it out.  You're too sharp for me.  Yes I
had been a fervent anti-smoker since I've turned sixteen, but not before
that.  In fact I have been smoking since I was, I dunno, like eight or so.
I' mean, it wasn't like I smoked a pack a day right away, but by the time I
was ten, I hardly could last through school without a smoke.  In fact, I
soon found my way into the hideaway where the older kids hung round to
smoke between classes, so I soon smoked regularly during school too.  I
wasn't the only one though.  Did I ever tell you I grew up in Harlem till I
was almost twelve?"

   "Guess you mentioned it some time, but you weren't keen on talking about
it.  I begin to understand now why.  Please, go on" I said, inviting her
with a gesture to go on.

   Needless to say, I got one hell of a boner underneath the wooden table
we shared outside the mall.