The Freshman
Copyright 2005 by EC

Chapter 16 - A change of plans

Following the Halloween party Burnside treated Cecilia in a 
completely normal manner, as though the entire test incident had 
never happened. It was as though she had purged the entire affair 
from her mind, as though she had forgotten it entirely. Cecilia 
knew that Burnside never forgot anything, but she realized that 
the professor was capable of disconnecting an offense such as the 
test incident from a relationship once the offender had submitted 
to punishment.

Burnside's thoughts were not on the recent past, but on the near 
future. The Danubian Prime Minister's impending visit occupied 
her mind, given that it was to take place shortly after 
Thanksgiving break. Just two days after Halloween, the professor 
went over Cecilia's research and took notes. There was a general 
discussion between the two women about current conditions in 
Upper Danubia and Vladim Dukov's plans for re-developing the 
eastern part of the country. Burnside then moved on to the visit 
itself.

"The Prime Minister's visit is a private trip. It's not a state 
visit at all, he's just here to set up an exchange program with 
the National University in Danube City and pick up some advice 
about economic development. That's why he's specifically coming 
here and not doing anything official in DC. And there's something 
about him that I find very interesting. From what I gather, he's 
not big on making a spectacle of himself. He's just coming here 
on a commercial flight with his daughter, a couple of 
secretaries, two bodyguards, and a couple of his ministers."

"That's it?"

"That's it. It'll be real simple. He'll meet up with the 
Governor, the president of the university, and the Danubian 
ambassador at the airport, then they'll head over to the 
University Memorial Center and we'll be there to receive them."

Burnside then made a confession that surprised her student.

"Cecilia, I've got a bit of a problem. There's some stuff going 
on that's going to pull me away from having any time for getting 
ready, including some fires that need to be put out with the 
university administration and the State Legislature. I have to go 
to Springfield two weeks from now to make sure we don't lose 
funding next year and I have to get ready to give testimony. I'm 
going to rely on you to inform me about what's happening in Upper 
Danubia. Your research will be crucial to me, because, quite 
frankly, I'm too busy with my responsibilities to the department 
to properly prepare for Prime Minister Dukov's visit. I need you 
to give me summaries about what's going on in Danube City, and I 
mean not just with the EU road dispute. I need a complete picture 
of Dukov's government; who the players are and their backgrounds, 
what they're doing in Parliament, how Washington and Brussels are 
dealing with them, and any other issues you think they might be 
worried about right now."

"Uh...OK, but why do you need all that information, Dr. 
Burnside?"

"So I don't look like an idiot...so I don't look like I've been 
spending all my time at the State Legislature begging a bunch of 
ignorant hicks and corporate cronies for more university 
money...and so I can be properly prepared with minimal effort..."

"But...when am I gonna have time to do my paper for your other 
class?"

"As of today you don't have any papers. Your primary 
responsibility is getting me information for Prime Minister 
Dukov's visit. Your papers are canceled, because I need you for 
something way more important. If you've already checked out 
library books, take them back. You won't be doing the class 
projects."

"But..."

"No 'buts'. You've got your Danubian contacts...your singer 
friend and whatnot?"

"Yeah, I 'spose..."

"Well, there you go. Put your contacts to use." Burnside paused 
to hand Cecilia several sheets of paper with a long list of 
questions. "This is the stuff I need to know. Research topics, so 
to speak. I need you to tell me as much as you can about what's 
in these questions. It was stuff I was going to research myself, 
but now I can't because of the State Legislature crap."

Burnside paused, and then continued with a comment that shocked 
Cecilia with its raw honesty.

"Now, do you think I'm using you? You bet I am. I need you to 
surrender your time and your resources to help me, and I'm not 
shy about admitting it. Right now I could care less about your 
other assignments. You can spend some other semester digging 
quotes out of library books. This'll be more important."

Cecilia was dumbfounded. She still could feel the welts from the 
punishment only two days before. As though none of that had 
happened, here was Burnside, entrusting her with a very important 
responsibility of international significance. Just like that, and 
with no thought that Cecilia possibly would not or could not take 
on the assignment, with no thought about the fact that officially 
she still was on academic probation.

Cecilia rushed back to her dorm room and wrote a frantic e-mail 
to Kimberly Lee, explaining about Dukov's visit and her own role 
in helping Burnside prepare to receive him. Under ordinary 
circumstances she never could have expected a celebrity to help 
her. However, the issue for Kimberly Lee was a personal one, 
because Dukov had been Kim's defense attorney, or Spokesman, as 
they said in Upper Danubia. There was hope she would be willing 
to help out.

Sure enough, several hours later Kim responded, asking Cecilia 
for the list of questions.

"Send me what you need, and I'll get my friends working on it. My 
husband knows a lot about our political situation, and he can 
help you out quite a bit."

Kim then went on to suggest that Cecilia get together with her 
sister Cynthia to discuss her Master's thesis and the recent 
Danubian election. The tone of the e-mail was very clear. 
Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna saw Cecilia not as a music fan, but as a 
fellow university student and a person assigned to help her 
mentor during his visit to the US. It became apparent to Cecilia 
that Kim was somewhat relieved to have someone she knew in the 
U.S. available to facilitate Vladim Dukov's visit, someone she 
could trust.

Over the next several evenings, life moved very quickly for 
Cecilia. In rapid succession e-mails from Kim and Cynthia with 
answers to her questions filled her in-box. She began organizing 
the responses into summaries and supplementing it with her own 
research from websites and her own suspended term-paper project. 
There were e-mails to Jim Halsey routed through Cecilia asking 
about the university's plans and what assistance Halsey's fellow 
economists could offer the Danubian Prime Minister. Cecilia even 
found herself helping arrange the actual details of the trip. As 
for a photographer, well, Cecilia knew a very good one who would 
work for a minimal fee. She called her friend Suzanne Foster, who 
was flattered at the thought of being the lead photographer of an 
official foreign delegation.

When she was not writing, receiving, or organizing e-mails, 
Cecilia worked on preparing a presentation for Ruth Burnside and 
her co-workers about Vladim Dukov's government. With that she had 
help from Cynthia Lee, first by e-mail, and later in person. The 
two women finally got together the second weekend after 
Halloween, along with Jason's friend Mike. Cecilia, realizing he 
was the most level-headed person in Jason's group of friends, 
decided to ask him to help her. As soon as Mike began looking 
over Cecilia's research, she became impressed with his ability to 
organize information into talking points and provide real 
assistance with preparing a PowerPoint presentation. 

There were a few other details to be worked out. The Danubian 
embassy in Washington sent two Danubian flags to Dr. Halsey along 
with a music score for the Danubian national anthem. The 
university band had to learn and practice the music, but 
unfortunately there was no one available to sing it. Finding 
someone who could sing the anthem took up far more time than 
anyone had anticipated, but finally a student from the music 
department located a woman living in California who could travel 
to Chicago and perform for the delegation's visit.

----------

Cecilia and Mike became impressed with Cynthia Lee as they got to 
know her better. She was very informed about events throughout 
the world, especially about what was going on in Upper Danubia 
and other Central European countries. Cecilia realized another 
very important detail, that her new friend's visit to Upper 
Danubia the previous year was an example of how a single person 
can change history. Cynthia Lee never would have admitted it, but 
she was the person who set in motion a chain of events that 
handed Vladim Dukov's party the Danubian election. 

Cynthia originally had traveled to Danube City to conduct 
research about the political campaign consultants hired by the 
opposition GDPP (the Greater Danubian Progressive Party) and 
their use of modern U.S. election strategies. The topic 
interested her because she had wanted to do her Master's Thesis 
on the operations of U.S. political consulting companies in 
developing countries. Once in Danube City, Cynthia took a 
personal interest in the campaign and began advising Dukov and 
his assistants about the role and importance of political 
consulting in the U.S. and what foreign consulting could mean for 
the Danubian election. She provided Dukov's advisors with the 
knowledge they needed to counter much of the negative campaign 
advertising being aired on television by the GDPP. She then 
teamed up with a group of young Danubian nationalists supporting 
Dukov and trained them how to monitor and respond to negative 
campaign ads. 

Cynthia Lee's efforts turned out to be successful beyond her 
wildest dreams. Starting with a very wide lead in opinion polls, 
the GDPP watched their public support slowly erode as Danubian 
voters began to form a favorable opinion of the former defense 
attorney. As the campaign continued, it appeared likely that 
Dukov still would lose the election, but not by a very wide 
margin. That wasn't good enough for the GDPP, whose advisors 
wanted a clear victory. To avert the risk of having to form a 
coalition government, the "Progressives" launched a final 
personal attack. The attack was not directed against Vladim 
Dukov, but against his son Vladik, who had just resigned from the 
Danubian National Police over a sex scandal. It turned out the 
personal attack against Dukov's son was a huge mistake that 
miscalculated Danubian cultural values. The GDPP's campaign 
completely fell apart when the Danubian Church got involved and 
condemned the consultants' campaign tactics. Dukov's party won 58 
percent of the popular vote as a result.

Dukov's victory was a huge shock to the U.S. Administration, 
other European governments, and some major corporations that had 
bankrolled his opponents. It also was a huge humiliation to the 
political consultants who had traveled to the country with the 
blessing of the foreign interests. They had charged their clients 
millions of dollars, but were countered by a single political 
science graduate student who essentially was advising Dukov's 
supporters for free. What was worse for Dukov's opposition was 
the fact they had counted on paying for the consulting upon being 
able to access the Danubian National Treasury. With Dukov's party 
controlling 60 percent of the seats in Parliament, it was obvious 
the GDPP would have no access to the National Treasury and no way 
to pay off their debts. 

When finally Cynthia left Upper Danubia to return to her studies, 
Vladim Dukov was solidly in power, with an opposition that was 
discredited, ruined financially, and viciously divided. The story 
itself was becoming a case study in failed political consulting 
that would be analyzed for years by political scientists. And to 
think, the only direct benefits Cynthia Lee ever got out of the 
entire affair were some connections and a research topic for her 
dissertation, a lifetime Danubian visa stamp in her passport, and 
the heartfelt gratitude of her sister's friends.

----------

Vladim Dukov entered power with a very clear agenda. He needed to 
prepare his country to modernize, but at the same time preserve 
its cultural identity. He also wanted to ensure a fair and 
equitable society for the Duchy's citizens, one that was safe 
from crime, drug abuse, and AIDS. The people needed to be 
educated and drawn out of their traditional isolation, but in a 
way that did not threaten Danubian cultural values. In an era of 
globalization and aggressive corporate interests Dukov's goals 
seemed unrealistic, but he was determined to at least make the 
effort to modernize the Duchy on Danubian terms.

Dukov was an ardent nationalist. Free trade, free markets, and 
globalization were not priorities for his government. If Upper 
Danubia could benefit from a trade deal, great. If the Duchy had 
to withdraw from trade agreements or international organizations 
to preserve some aspect of its society, identity, or 
independence, so be it. Dukov made it very clear from the first 
day of his government that he had no commitments to foreign 
interests or to the global economy. When he stated: "My 
commitment is to Danubia", he actually meant it.

The new government started out by canceling any economic 
agreement that Dukov and his advisors felt was not in their 
country's interests. The Prime Minister gave a series of angry 
speeches in Parliament over the winter and worked to mobilize 
nationalistic pride among the public. However, Dukov's sense of 
nationalism was not blind. He knew that ultimately Upper Danubia 
would have to accommodate itself with the rest of the world, but 
he was determined to use his followers' nationalism to drive as 
hard a bargain as possible. The rest of the world would learn 
that Vladim Dukov's years as a defense attorney had made him a 
very stubborn and determined negotiator, but ultimately one who 
was willing to pursue and respect an honest agreement.

There was one major crisis hanging over Vladim Dukov as he began 
his time in power, and that was repairing the damage from a huge 
fire that had swept across the eastern provinces of his country 
nearly two years before. The area was only partially rebuilt and 
thousands of Danubians continued to live in refugee camps. Until 
the situation of the refugees was resolved, there was no way 
Dukov could move forward with any other priorities. The eastern 
region of his country needed a coherent development plan, which 
was why he was traveling to Chicago to seek advice from leading 
economists such as Ruth Burnside and Jim Halsey. 

Cecilia learned a detail about the Prime Minister's trip that 
offered a window into his personality and values. He and his 
entourage were arriving to Chicago in first class seats, but on a 
regular flight. The Danubian Parliament had provided the money 
for the trip, with the exception of the tickets for the Prime 
Minister and his daughter. Those two tickets he was paying out of 
his own pocket. 

----------

Vladim Dukov was not the only person Cecilia had to prepare to 
meet in November. Another looming concern was meeting Jason's 
parents. Upon realizing that she had nowhere to go for 
Thanksgiving, Jason did something that was quite logical under 
the circumstances, he invited his girlfriend to spend 
Thanksgiving with his family. Cecilia really had no choice other 
than to accept. She had to meet his parents at some point and it 
seemed that she might as well get that taken care of as soon as 
possible. 

Cecilia knew that receiving the approval of the elder Schmidts 
was both the most important and possibly the most difficult 
obstacle she had to overcome to achieve her ultimate plans with 
Jason. As had been the case with his friends, Cecilia's goal was 
not to do anything that would separate Jason from his parents, 
but instead obtain their support for continuing the relationship. 
If Cecilia could get Jason's parents to like and approve of her, 
then it was likely there would be no further obstacles to impede 
her ultimate goal of taking complete control over his life.

Cecilia carefully assessed the personal details that favored her 
and the ones that went against her. Her wardrobe no longer was an 
issue, given that she recently had spent nearly $ 1,000 on new 
clothing. She also realized that if she paid attention to how she 
spoke, she could keep her grammar under control. There wasn't 
much she could do about her accent, unfortunately. As for her 
personal life, well, as far as she was concerned she had two 
lives, the one before Chicago and the one she had lived over the 
past year. What was relevant was who she was now, not who she had 
been in New Jersey. There were plenty of details about her 
current life working in her favor, including her assignment as an 
RA and her role in helping to arrange Vladim Dukov's visit.

Another factor Cecilia thought she had working in her favor was 
her talent getting people to talk about themselves instead of 
allowing them to find out anything about her. She would discover 
that her ability to turn a conversation's topic away from herself 
might work just fine with people her own age, but was not so 
effective with an older person experienced in matching wits 
against clients and business partners.

----------

Jason was very content by the middle of November, well aware of 
the benefits Cecilia had brought into his life. He had done 
extremely well on all of his midterms, getting an "A" in 
everything other than his exam with Ruth Burnside. He got an 89 
percent on the Burnside mid-term, not bad considering it was the 
third highest grade in the class. He turned in his term papers 
with confidence, knowing that they were properly done and well 
researched. The term paper projects also had passed the 
inspection of Cecilia, whose judgment was every bit as harsh as 
any professor's could have been. Jason's papers were delivered 
ahead of time, giving him the opportunity to help Lisa and Ken 
with their papers. A couple of other classmates on the dorm floor 
asked him for assistance, which he provided. He became popular as 
he cheerfully provided help, and in doing so managed to get his 
fellow residents to think of him as something more than "the 
naked runner". 

As she watched him, Cecilia was very pleased with Jason's 
progress. He had come to the university expecting to relax and 
party, but instead he was pushing himself academically and 
already very close to passing one of the most difficult freshman-
level classes on campus. Perhaps Jason's intelligence was only 
average, but she had forced her boyfriend to develop that part of 
himself more than anyone could have expected. That was one thing 
definitely operating in her favor as far as his parents were 
concerned; they never could argue that she was a bad influence on 
his studies. 

Cecilia continued to tighten her grip on her boyfriend's 
sexuality during the weeks following Halloween. She became more 
demanding of his performance and more insistent he learn how to 
better please her physical needs. As soon as her welts healed the 
couple went back to a full massage schedule, with him constantly 
experimenting with new techniques to relax her body. The nightly 
sessions of oral sex resumed, as did the somewhat less frequent 
sessions during which she allowed him to put on a condom and 
enter her. 

Following the midterms Cecilia rewarded Jason for his academic 
performance by allowing him to make love to her the way he 
wanted. On three separate occasions she fell into his arms and 
signaled with her expression that she was surrendering her body 
to his wishes. Jason's first reward was granted when he received 
the 89 percent on the Burnside midterm. When he got "A's" on two 
other midterms, she rewarded him yet again. Rewarding him when he 
performed to her expectations was every bit as important as 
punishing him when he failed to meet them. She had no desire to 
control her boyfriend only through fear and punishment. She loved 
him, and wanted to make sure he clearly understood that by 
pleasing her there was a real reward waiting for him, the 
pleasure of taking control of her body for a short time. The 
truth was that Cecilia enjoyed pleasing Jason and, as long as he 
behaved properly, was eager to show that she cared for him. The 
relationship was about much more than just discipline. 

Cecilia enjoyed the times she surrendered herself to Jason, much 
more than she cared to admit. Sometimes...to just enjoy the feel 
of her lover's hands on her body, to relax and not have to be 
telling him what to do, to just feel the sensations of the 
moment...sometimes that was what she truly needed. There were 
times she was frightened by how much she enjoyed letting him take 
charge of a love-making session, not a good thing for a woman who 
wanted to be the dominant partner in a relationship.

----------

The second Saturday afternoon following the Halloween party, 
Cecilia took a good look at herself in her bedroom mirror. She 
was naked, a habit that was becoming more normal for her. She was 
following the mental journey her boyfriend had followed years 
before when he was just starting high school. Several weeks 
earlier she had begun sleeping without any clothing. By the 
beginning of November she had learned what a pleasure it could be 
to simply hang out naked in her room with the warm air caressing 
her bare skin. She began studying in the nude and only got 
dressed if she had to leave the room. Starting during the days 
after Halloween Cecilia also began experimenting with not wearing 
underwear when she went out. At first she felt incredibly daring 
as she walked across campus in a long skirt with nothing 
underneath, feeling the cold autumn air blowing freely against 
her naked crotch. However, over time being without underwear 
simply began to feel more comfortable. During the final part of 
the semester the young woman's thongs and bras normally sat 
unused in her drawer as she savored a new freedom in life.

The young Dominican reflected that both her African and her 
Caribbean ancestors understood the comfort of wearing as little 
as possible in their tropical environments. It was her Spanish 
ancestors, with their religious ideas and their Inquisition, who 
felt obligated to indoctrinate everyone else with the idea that 
the human body was evil. That original Spanish belief still held 
throughout all of Latin America, so deeply embedded in the 
culture that even non-religious people felt very uncomfortable 
with their bodies. As she stood looking at herself, stretching 
her arms and enjoying the sight of her attractive figure, Cecilia 
Sanchez realized that she had managed to shed yet another part of 
the emotional baggage she had carried with her since her 
childhood. She also realized that it was her boyfriend's comfort 
with being naked that had made her appreciate the beauty of her 
own body. In that aspect of her life, it was Jason's values that 
had changed her own.

The RA reluctantly put on a dress and walked down the hall to 
patrol her floor. She sat with a resident who was suicidal over 
having failed several midterms and comforted her until the 
immediate crisis passed. Finally she prepared to put the girl in 
contact with the university mental health clinic and worked to 
convince her to seek counseling. The crisis took up an unexpected 
amount of time and forced her to call Jason and cancel the plans 
they had for going out that night.

When she finally was free, she called her disappointed boyfriend 
and escorted him back to her room. She actually was quite happy 
the plans for going out had to be canceled, given that it was a 
very cold, wet, dreary night outside. It was so much better to 
enjoy the warm, dry indoors than to brave the Chicago elements.

Once they were safely in her room, Jason quietly looked at 
Cecilia to see what she wanted him to do. She nodded towards the 
closet, indicating she wanted him to undress and hang up his 
clothes. He kicked off his shoes and stripped off the only two 
items he was wearing, a pair of loose-fitting shorts and a casual 
shirt. He obediently hung the items on hangers and neatly set his 
shoes in the closet. He would retrieve the items when she gave 
him permission, until then he was to remain naked.

She hugged him and gave him a passionate kiss. She then ran her 
fingers over his chest and gently brushed his penis with her 
fingertips. He reacted immediately, but knew that it would be a 
long time before he could expect any relief from his burning 
desires. She had taught him to wait. She gave him a seductive 
look with her dark eyes, and then pressed down on his shoulders. 
He understood what she wanted; pressing on his shoulders was her 
signal to him that she wanted him to kneel. Once properly on his 
knees, Jason put his arms around her while she gently stroked his 
cheek and ran her fingers through his hair.

Jason felt immensely happy at that moment. He was where he wanted 
to be, under the protection of the one woman on campus who seemed 
to understand him and his needs. She was guiding him, 
disciplining him, giving him immense pleasure, and teaching him. 
Most importantly she loved him. In her own way she loved him much 
more than he had ever been loved by anyone else.

"Take off my clothes and hang them up please."

He got up and gently undressed her, enormously pleased to see she 
was not wearing any underwear. He put her dress on a hanger and 
placed her shoes next to his in the closet. He then approached 
her, partly expecting to be instructed to get back on his knees. 
Instead she passionately kissed him as the warmth from her 
attractive dark figure pressed up against Jason's body. The 
separated and she sat down on her bed. She reached out her hand, 
smiling mischievously. Jason realized what she had in mind; he 
needed to go over her lap.

With no hesitation he settled over her thighs, trying to position 
himself so that his bottom was relaxed and slightly bent. He had 
surrendered himself to her, but was unsure what she planned to 
do. There were nights she was content to simply caress his 
buttocks with her fingertips and the palms of her hands. There 
were other nights when she lovingly spanked him, although she 
rarely spanked him more than once every 10 days or so. Jason 
figured that tonight he was due for an erotic spanking, since he 
had not had one for several weeks.

Cecilia took her time. She sensuously caressed Jason's pale skin, 
and even bent down to gently kiss both bottom-cheeks. She ran her 
fingers up the middle and gently touched the backs of his 
testicles, but then returned to caressing the tempting mounds of 
his lovely backside. She gently spoke to her lover, emphasizing 
that he belonged to her and that his bottom was hers to do with 
as she pleased. She reminded him that he needed both her love and 
her discipline, which he realized was very true.

Slowly the anticipation began to build, those exciting minutes 
before the first slap landed. The waiting was a part of the 
discipline that both Cecilia and Jason treasured, a part of the 
spanking ceremony both sought to drag out as long as possible. 
Finally Jason sighed and tilted his bottom up, silently begging 
her to start spanking. That detail was not lost on the young 
woman.

"You naughty boy. If I wasn't mistaken' I'd say you was askin' me 
to spank you." She stopped and left her hand resting on his 
bottom. "So, is that it? You think you're naughty enough to have 
a good spanking from me?"

"Yes...Cecilia. I'm naughty and I need you to spank me."

"Now, don't be so rude to me, amorcito. You need to ask me 
right."

"Cecilia...please...spank me on the bare bottom."

"A good, hard, bare bottom spanking? That's what you're askin' 
from me?"

"Yes, Cecilia...please give me a good bare bottom spanking."

With that she leaned down and gently kissed his bottom yet again, 
and then stopped, leaving her hand in place to let him know where 
the first slap was going to land.

"You're such a naughty boy, and I'm gonna fix that naughty bottom 
of yours."

Jason's desire to be spanked was overwhelming long before he felt 
the first sharp smack from his girlfriend's hand. When the first 
SLAP finally did mark his unprotected bottom, it was more of a 
relief, the final breaking of the tension that had been building 
up as he lay over her lap. The pain was just right, sharp enough 
to break the tension and arouse his senses. It hurt, but at the 
same time felt really, really good. He gasped: "Spank me...spank 
me."

Cecilia was a bit surprised, but very pleased. She had trained 
him well, trained him to the point that he wanted her to 
discipline him. To submit, to expose his soul and his body to 
her, and to feel just the right amount of pain in his tender 
backside, was what he needed to experience real pleasure. She had 
known that about Jason from the very beginning, but now he knew 
it as well.

She spanked him very slowly, with sharp slaps spaced well apart. 
She struck hard, studied the handprint from the swat, gently laid 
her palm on the other side of his bottom to let him know where 
the next slap would land, and laid on another crisp SMACK! The 
minutes went by and sweat trickled down Jason's body as both the 
pain in his bottom and the arousal in his soul mounted. All of 
his senses were at their peak. Never had he felt as alive as he 
felt at that moment, torn between wanting to experience ever-more 
severe pain and wanting relieve the intense sexual desire burning 
in his crotch. His penis was very, very hard, with a throbbing 
erection that pressed into his lover's thigh. He was so turned-on 
that he almost had trouble breathing, as he lay gasping over her 
lap.

It was Cecilia who finally made the decision what to do about 
Jason's state of arousal. That erection was for her, for her to 
enjoy, for her to feel inside her body. She suddenly stopped 
spanking and pushed him up. A condom was sitting handy on her 
nightstand and within a couple of seconds it was out of its 
package and safely covering his penis.

Cecilia then did something that surprised not only Jason, but 
also surprised herself. The young woman's own lust pushed her to 
get on her elbows and knees on the bed instead of making him lie 
on his back so she could straddle him. She submissively spread 
her backside and presented herself to her lover, in what she knew 
was his favorite position. He entered her, grabbed her thighs, 
pressed into her desperate vagina, and thrust very hard. 
Yes...that was what she wanted...very hard thrusts. Sweat 
trickled down her body as she gritted her teeth and pushed back 
into him, wanting him to get as deeply inside her as possible. 
They climaxed right at the same moment, two lovers whose needs 
matched each other and whose bodies clearly understood the 
balance between pain and pleasure.

A short time later they were lying quietly in her bed, Jason 
asleep in her arms as she gently ran her fingers through his 
hair. Cecilia reflected that even when he was awake Jason looked 
very young, but asleep he seemed even younger and almost child-
like. She was only a year older than he was, but in many ways, on 
the inside, she felt much older than that. Certainly she was much 
older than he was when it came to having endured negative 
experiences in life. 

As she lay quietly stroking Jason's hair and feeling the pleasant 
ache between her legs from her recent sexual exertions, Cecilia's 
thoughts drifted from her boyfriend to herself. Yes, it was 
obvious that she had him completely under her control, but she 
now was beginning to wonder whether she really had herself under 
control. There were times she seemed not to be able to withstand 
her own instincts, when her body demanded she set aside her plans 
and surrender to her sexual cravings. That worried the Dominican, 
because whenever she lost control over her body and her physical 
actions she felt very disconcerted, the same way an overly 
confident teenager might feel when he has his first close 
encounter with mortality.

Cecilia Sanchez thought she had everything figured out. It had 
seemed that she knew exactly what she needed. It had seemed that 
she understood everyone around her. Hah! What a bunch of 
nonsense! She now realized she didn't even understand herself, 
let alone understand anyone else.