(1990) The Innocent

In my experience, men and women don’t ever really get to understand each other.

Then slowly you see that this kindness is possession.

It was impossible not to sense the presence, to feel on his fingers and his scalp the force field of a human presence.

She was a secret he carried around with him.

If she wasn’t with him, how would he bear all this knowledge of her alone?

He had been handed a gift he could easily destroy in the unwrapping.

He was angry with her. And he was desperate for her forgiveness.

How wonderful it was, not to be frightened of a man. It gave her a chance to like him, to have desires that were not simply reactions to his

Their hands fitted well, the grip was intricate, unbreakable, there were so many points of contact.

There were scenes he wanted to play out, approaches that had to be tested, and all his memory would permit was a certain presence, sweet and alluring, but invisible.