...

"The first in best is the complete surround. He wraps you in those arms, whispers how beautiful you are... Second best is the arm around. He's next to you but with one arm around you. Third is he's just next to you on his elbow. But he rests his hand on your stomach and looks at you. Fourth is you snuggling up to him with your head on his chest. Well, he looks away into space. But when the first best happens you feel completely wonderfully...like a woman."
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"Some nights alone he thinks of her. And some nights alone…she thinks of him. Some nights these thoughts occur at the same moment… and they are connected without ever knowing it. But Mirabelle, now feeling the warmth of her first reciprocal love has broken away from him. And as Jeremy offers her more of his heart, Mirabelle offers equal parts of herself in return. One night, sooner than she would have liked, which made it irresistible, they make love for the second time in 14 months. At this point Jeremy surpasses Ray Porter as a lover of Mirabelle, because what he offers her is tender and true."

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"As Ray Porter watched his Mirabelle walk away....he feels a loss.
How is it possible.. - he thinks - to miss a woman whom he kept at a distance so that when she was gone he would not miss her. Only then did he realise how wanting part of her and not all of her had hurt them both and how he cannot justify his actions except that…well… it was life."