They'd long passed the stage

They'd long passed the stage of luxuriously undressing each other. Clodagh was already naked under the duvet when Dylan came to bed and a swift, thirty-second swish of lycra and cotton had him stepping out of his clothes.Clodagh lay back, closed her eyes and submitted to being kissed for a few minutes; then, as always, Dylan moved to her nipples. When he finished at that, there was a silent,unacknowledged struggle- Because this was the point at which Dylan usually liked to shimmy down her body to administer cunnilingus, but Clodagh couldn't bear it. It was so boring and simply wasted minutes to the whole procedure. Tonight she won, managing to head him off at the pass. She proceeded directly to fellatio, treating him to between four and five minutes of it, and its cessation was his cue to climb aboard. For a special treat - birthdays and anniversaries Clodagh would go on top. But tonight wasn't the deluxe version, just the standard missionary one. She clasped Dylan to her in a smooth ballet of comfortable familiarity. Once she was into it, it wasn't so bad, she decided. It was the anticipation that distressed her so. As always, Dylan waited for her to pretend to come before gathering space, pumping away as though a stopwatch was being held over him. It's about time we did this room up again,Clodagh thought, as he machined back and forth in a panting, whimpering blur. The carpet could probably stay, but I'd really like to paint the walls 'Ph God,'Dylan begged, shoving his hands under her buttocks and banging himself into her at ever-faster speed. Automatically, Clodagh obliged with an absent moan. That should hurry things along. Purple and cream walls, perhaps.Then Dylan was spasming in ecstasy and collapsing with a groan. The only break from the norm was that they weren't interrupted by either of their children, clamouring to join in. Fifteen minutes from start to finish, and all over for another month. Clodagh sighed with contentment. Thanks God he wasn't one of those men who insisted on pleasuring you all night long.She'd have to kill herself long ago if it had been the case From the book "Sushi for beginners" by Marian Keyes

'You've been at Femme for

'You've been at Femme for -' Calvin looked at the stapled pages in front of him. 'Four years?' 'Four years next month,' Lisa murmured, with an expertly judged mix of deference and confidence. 'And you've been editor for nearly two years?' 'Two wonderful years,' Lisa confirmed, fighting back the urge to stick her fingers down her throat and gag. 'And you're only twenty-nine,'Calvin marvelled.'Well, as you know here at Randolph Media we reward hard work.' Lisa twinkled prettily at this patent lie. Like many companies in the Western world, Randolph Media rewarded hard work with poor pay, increasing workloads, demotions and on-a-second's-notice redundancies But Lisa was different. She'd paid her dues at Femme, and made sacrifices that even she'd never intended to make: starting at seven-thirty most mornings, doing twelve, thirteen, fourteen-hour days, then going to evening press dos when she finally switched off her computer. Often she came to work on Saturdays, Sundays, even bank-holiday Mondays. The porters loathed her because it meant whenever she wanted to come to the office one of them had to come in and open up and thereby forgo their Saturday football or their bank-holiday family outing to Brent Cross. 'We have a vacancy at Randolph Media,'Calvin said importantly.'It would be a wonderful challenge, Lisa.' I know, she thought irritably.Just cut the chase. 'It will involve moving overseas, which can sometimes be a problem for one's partner.' 'I'm single.'Lisa was brusque. Barry wrinkled his forehead in surprise and thought of the tenner he'd had to hand over for someone's wedding present, a few years before. He could have sworn it was for Lisa here, but maybe not,perhaps, he wasn't as on-the-ball as he once used to be... 'We've looking for an editor for a new magazine,'Calvin went on. From the book "Sushi for beginners" by Marian Keyes