Sarah

How much fun can you have with a single dollar?

Sarah set out from the common room, full of hope and in high spirits, to find the answer to that question. Even Gropy and Pervy seemed interested to see where she was taking this as she strode from the elevators. She didn’t care that she was buck naked, suddenly in last place in the game due to a random ass Super Bowl bet she didn’t even place and Vivian getting over herself long enough to fuck Michael, horny as hell because of that cursed dildo, and with her privates marked as a man’s property because of the same, god dammit she was finally out of debt and that was worth celebrating with whatever fun she could scratch up.

With a dollar.

The answer, of course, lay somewhere between fuck and all. Sarah browsed the marketplace, finally feeling confident enough to go back there - though cautious enough to give Esmeralda’s a very wide berth - and even with her eminent powers of persuasion she couldn’t get them to knock down the price of anything to a buck. Nothing worth having, anyway. Nothing worth having that Gropy and Pervy would let me have, honestly.

So Sarah stomped her way across the gaming floor, back in the direction of the pool, feeling slightly defeated but willing to down that feeling in the free booze for contestants and the free eye candy that the hotel always made sure to staff there. Sarah could see Ronnie’s disapproving face in her mind’s eye, should she catch Sarah out there ogling the staff. But considering the staff swiped all her money and left her forced to take on these goddamned ropes to survive in the game, Sarah figured it was a debt owed. Those two little ropey shits were happy to let her play with the dildo all she’d like, but that was not an option. Sarah briefly considered using it to climb out of last place - at least back to even with Vivian. She’d even considered trying it on with one of the other women in the competition - but if she couldn’t make herself cum, she worried they couldn’t either, and building up more pressure in that balloon risked making her head pop. Just looking can’t be too bad. Sarah hoped.

Sarah was so deep in thought about the bikinis in her future that she failed to notice the man step from the crowd into her path until she crashed right into him.

“Watch where you’re going.” She grunted at him.

“My dear, you walked into me.” He said, his smile never wavering. Sarah finally bothered to look over the guy: Clearly a manager by his suit, lacking the tiny shorts of the usual staff uniform. Tall and lean smarmy looking fucker, seemingly early 30s, or at least he looked it. Who can really tell when the magic can re-make you on a whim? In any event, he lacked breasts and was therefore of no interest to Sarah in her current mood. She didn’t even bother to read his name tag.

“Then I’ll walk around you.” She said, but as she stepped sideways, so did he.

“Ms. Henderson, have you had a chance to play any of our fine games on offer?”

“I haven’t and you know I haven’t, because I’ve been dead-ass broke up until literally last night, so why are you bugging me?”

“But of course you aren’t ‘dead-ass broke’ now, so perhaps you’d like to try your luck?” Same smile. Still irritating.

“My luck’s been shit, buddy.”

“Perhaps it’s about to change?” He said, raising his eyebrow suggestively.

“Wrong team, first off. Second, and much more importantly, there’s a pool chair with my name on it as soon as you stop fucking playing defense here.” Sarah kept sidestepping, and the manager whose name she didn’t know or care to learn did the same.

“Is it a drink you’re after? I assure you, our bartenders inside are just as good as the pool area. I’m told that some contestants on our shows go to rather… extravagant lengths to try our mimosas.”

“I have one dollar. One freaking dollar chip. What is your obsession with getting me to gamble this chip away?” Sarah looked to the side and saw a row of slot machines, with all but one of the seats filled. “Fine, once I’ve played it then you’ll stop bugging me.” She made for the vacant slot machine, but as soon as she approached it, another guest darted out of nowhere and filled the seat.

“Ms. Henderson, might I suggest-”

“No.” She said, pushing her way to the next aisle of machines. There were three vacant seats there. For a moment, anyway. But then three more guests sprinted over and filled those seats. Sarah whirled on the manager. “Ok what the hell? Do you want me to gamble or not?”

The manager approached, and looked like he was going to touch Sarah’s shoulder. However, Sarah gave him a look that suggested laser beams would shoot from her eyes if he tried. Given the nature of the hotel, laser beam eyes were a realistic possibility. He pulled his hand back and gestured to something over her shoulder, she kept staring straight at him..

“Ms. Henderson, the staff have a job to do in this hotel and sometimes that job can have… unpleasant consequences.”

“You mean the part where you swiped all my chips?”

“The guests saw chips unattended on the ground, and did what came naturally. What. Came. Naturally.” He emphasized, and Sarah finally softened her annoyance enough to see that his smile was sad. Almost apologetic. I guess this is as close to an apology as I can get out of the automatons. “Ms. Henderson… Sarah… Might I suggest you play… that machine.”

Sarah’s eyes finally followed his pointing finger.

Now that will do nicely for an apology.

---

“What in the fuck is that?” Michael ran his hands through his hair, finally gaining control of his bulging eyes enough to look at her incredulously. Half the fun is showing it off.

“This is Black Sunshine.” Sarah said, walking a slow lap around her new baby girl, never taking her fingers off the body or her eyes off of Michael. The sun was still up, the better to show off the contours of Sarah’s new muscle car, a majestic piece of engineering in this world or any other.

“You bought a car?!? Here!?” He paused for a second. “Wait, did you steal it? Is it Al’s?”

Sarah finally broke physical contact with the beautiful machine, only temporarily so that she could wag her finger at him. “I didn’t buy it, I won it off a slot machine. And never speak of that man in connection with anything precious, ever again.”

“Why did you play slots at all, let alone that one? Those ‘Win a Car’ slot machines are a tourist trap, Sarah.”

“Someone’s gotta win, why not me?”

“And what do you plan to do with it? Drive out of here?”

“Why not? The limos can.”

“They’re magic, Sarah. This is just-”

Sarah flopped forward onto the hood, cradling the intake as tenderly as a newborn. “Don’t use such limiting language. This is a ‘65 Mustang fastback with a blown V8. It is magic, Michael.” It really is, Sarah thought. Ordinarily, a black car like this would be scorchingly hot to the touch outside in the heat of the casino parking lot, but everything was smooth and comfortable. She didn’t even want to get up from the hood. “So I’ll let you start over, but do not use the phrase ‘Just a car.’”

“Ok, ok, I spoke ill of this majestic beauty. But this is still bizarre. What are you gonna do with it? There’s nowhere to go.”

“It’s not about the destination, Michael, it's about the journey. Specifically about making the journey as fast as goddamned possible.” Sarah slid back to her feet and pulled open the driver’s door, gesturing for Michael to climb in.

“Really? You’re gonna let me drive it first?”

“First? Hell no, Michael, I’ve been out here for hours. You see a gas station around here? The damn thing doesn’t need gas. It’ll go forever.”

“What’s it run on then, electricity?”

“Runs on sexual frustration for all I know.” Sarah said, but that admission made her blush so she quickly continued. “Whatever it uses, it fucking purrs.” Fortunately, Michael was too focused on the car to notice.

Michael looked around the parking lot, only then noticing the black scorch marks in the lot where she had been doing donuts. On the road itself, she’d spray painted off a quarter mile distance ending at the Harem Hotel sign, and left long black treadmarks as she’d clearly been drag-racing.

“You’re insane, Sarah, you know that?”

“Always was, always have.” She slapped the back of the driver’s seat. “No more stalling. Climb in and give it a spin, hotshot.”

Michael looked as excited as a little kid at the chance. Sarah swatted his butt as he passed. I’ve always wanted to try this, Sarah thought as she tried to slide across the hood like in a cop show. Unfortunately, the skin of her bare butt didn’t work as well as pants for sliding, and she stopped dead in the middle of the hood. She shot Michael the finger in response to his muffled sniggering from the driver’s seat and sheepishly climbed down into the passenger seat.

“That looked like it hurt.” He added unhelpfully.

“Not as bad as you’ll feel once you see my current lap time around the hotel.” Sarah collected a stopwatch that was hanging from the gearshift. “I’ll let you do a practice lap first, get a feel for this girl before you take her for a ride.” Michael’s eyebrow shot up. “The car, Michael.”

“You can’t blame me for the confusion,” Michael laughed as he climbed in. He turned the key and the engine roared to life. The muscular roar had Sarah biting her lip in anticipation. “Do you mind?” Michael asked, pushing the clutch and gas simultaneously to nearly redline the engine.

Sarah shook her head. “Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiit” She yelled. They were both thrown backwards into the leather of the seats as he released the clutch, the tires smoking as they spun freely, until they caught and sprung the car forward like a horse from the starting gate. “I love that feeling every! fucking! time!” The Mustang launched out of the parking lot and fishtailed slightly as Michael got it under control and flying down the road, past the sign and out into the open.

Michael was smiling ear to ear as the car hurtled down the road, but confusion spread across his face when he saw that it started to bank. “When did the road start to look like this?” Michael asked as he navigated the car through a short S-curve around large boulders. “When I arrived it was flat to the horizon.”

“I don’t know,” Sarah admitted. “It was still flat when we all went to the theater, this must be new - since that mountain appeared?”

“The mountain I created?”

Sarah snorted with laughter, but stopped when Michael didn’t join her. “Is this all getting to your head? You didn’t create that, the Hotel did.” Sarah noticed that Michael shrugged off her retort, but didn’t challenge it. “Michael?”

“...What?” He said without looking, focusing on his driving.

“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me over this engine, and don’t tell me you think you created a mountain. I know you’re the boss, but I can’t deal with that kind of ego.”

“Of course I didn’t.” Michael said, in a wholly unconvincing fashion. “What?” He added defensively, “it was just a figure of speech, I know I didn’t actually create it. I know!”

“You’re overcorrecting, Michael.” Sarah said. Michael looked at the wheel and over at Sarah with a confused look. “You’re overcorrecting metaphorically, Michael. You can’t be indecisive but you also can’t be a crazy tyrant.”

“What are you talking about? How am I being either of those things?” He demanded.

“What happened up there with Vivian?” Sarah demanded,. “She came down after your date with no points on the board. Then they suddenly popped up today. Did you withhold them or something? Can you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything like that! We had a good date, but she chose to put the points up for a fan vote.” He avoids the details, what a gentleman.

“A vote?” Sarah’s head spun. “Why!?”

“She wanted to prove something to me. To… them.” Michael waved out the window to the open road. “That she didn’t have an agenda. I guess the audience agreed, if they voted for her to keep the points.”

“So what did you do?” Sarah leaned in closer, apparently giving away the game, because recognition spread across his face.

“Ahhhh, I see.”

“See what?”

“You’re jealous.” Michael said, regaining his footing in this conversation enough to begin needling her. “A lesser man, and there are many as none but I can create mountains, I’d assume you were jealous of her for getting to be with me.” Michael’s smirk drew a quick jab to the shoulder, delivered with surprising power from such a tight space. “Ow! Ok, so I’ll walk that one back. But you’re definitely jealous. Apparently jealous of me… because I was with her.” He trailed off, apparently realizing he’d gone too far. The pair stopped talking for a minute, just letting the scenery pass and the engine fill their own silence. Sarah bit her lip as she weighed her options.

“You’re… not wrong.” Sarah almost admitted he was right, but safely swerved off that topic at the last second. Whew, that was close.

“Was this going on when you both worked for me?” Michael asked.

“No. I mean… a lot’s changed since we got here.” Sarah paused.

“Have you told Vivian about this?”

“She knows.” Sarah said, recalling Vivian grinding on her the day before. That’s an unhelpful image. Sarah’s fires burned a little brighter.

“But have you told her?” Michael glanced over, and Sarah shook her head. “You can’t demand decisiveness and honesty from me and not practice it yourself. How is that fair?”

“I’m sorry, Michael, are you complaining about the unfairness of this situation?”

“Deflect all you want, but you know I’m … not wrong.” He said, teasing her slightly with the repetition of her own words.

I’d rather grab the wheel and steer into a pole than tell him this, but what other choice do I have? Sarah took a deep breath, and thought for a mile or so.

“Ok fine, but there’s a problem.”

“It must be serious if you’re bringing it to me. I usually bring my problems to you. You’re my problem solver, Sarah.”

“Well, pull your own weight for once.” Sarah said, only half-jokingly. Sarah wasn’t one for long explanations when a demonstration could be provided, so she popped open the glove box to reveal The Master’s Favor, her accursed dildo. Michael’s eyes went wide.

“What is that?”

“Back at the restaurant, on our date before everything went haywire,” Sarah smacked at Gropy and it swatted her back, “You asked me how I got enough points to avoid elimination? This little bastard.” Sarah pulled it free and held it for him to see. “Look familiar?”

“Should it?”

“It’s a replica of you, Michael. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t recognize it.” Sarah said.

“Despite what you may have heard, most guys don’t study their own dicks enough to recognize it in a lineup. Besides, how do you know that?”

“Because obviously it is, Michael, this came from the Hotel!” Sarah had blushed furiously when he asked the first time, but being naked for days on end had beaten a lot of the shame out of her. “I didn’t buy it that way, before you make a snide comment. The fucking thing changed when I used it.”

“You just jill off for points? That seems almost unfair.”

“There’s that word again.” Sarah chided. “But that’s not the problem.” Sarah gestured to the tattoo across her midsection. “The damned thing gave me this, but it won’t give me an orgasm.”

“Are you saying that only I-”

“Watch the road.” Sarah ordered. Just in time too, as a sharp turn was approaching. She slid the backrest back and placed her bare foot up on the dash, spreading her legs wide open. It was an outrageously lewd pose, but it made for good television. Sarah flipped the switch to turn on the vibrator. It was still not her favorite sensation, but she was already turned on from the excitement of her reckless driving, and it slid right inside. Sarah didn’t want to do this but, as Ronnie had said, it was “prison rules” on Harem Hotel. ‘You’ve gotta make do with what you’ve got,’ she said.

“Sarah…” Michael asked with concern, but he kept driving.

“Don’t slow down.” She ordered, and began pistoning the dildo into her. If I’m gonna do this with Michael, I’m damn sure gonna make it memorable. Through her haze of excitement, she spoke in a halting voice. “What do you want from me, Michael?”

“I don’t-”

“Decisive!”

Michael snuck a peek over at her. Too long of one, he quickly had to slam the brakes and swerve to navigate across a narrow bridge spanning an arroyo. “Fuck!”

“That’s what you want? To fuck?!”

“No!”

“Honest!”

“Ok, fucking yes! I want to fuck you, Sarah!”

“And what are you gonna do about it?” Sarah said, biting her lip even harder now with the pleasure from the horsepower under the hood and between her legs.

“Fuck if I know?! Sarah, let’s pull over and talk about this, you’re freaking me out.”

“Don’t you dare, keep fucking driving.” Sarah took one hand off her dildo and checked the stopwatch as they passed under a rock arch. “You’re six seconds off my pace.”

“Are you still thinking about that? Now?!” Michael said.

“Aren’t you?! That’s what this whole Master shit is about, Michael! You gotta balance all these things at once!” Sarah was panting heavily now, the dildo was an expert at pleasuring her, but she knew from horrible experience that it wouldn’t carry her over the finish line. “You want what you want, so own it.”

The road turned into the final straightaway towards the distant hotel, giving Michael a chance to exhale and respond.

“You really want me to be your first?” Michael asked.

“You aren’t my first, asshole.” Sarah snapped, and Michael cringed out an apology. “But you can be my next.” Sarah said. Michael looked over and locked eyes with her, and that was enough. Sarah slipped the dildo from herself and climbed up from her seat. With one aggressive move, she slid herself across into Michael’s lap and straddled him. Given enough adrenaline and pure uncut lust, Sarah thought she could make this work.

“Sarah…! Sarah!” Michael said as he tried to drive while looking over her shoulder. Sarah slapped his elbows, knocking his hands from the wheel and pulled them to fondle her breasts.

“You’ve been wanting to fuck me for years, so do it, hotshot.” She said, fumbling with Michael’s fly. It took a few moments as Sarah fumbled with it, her lack of experience with the male anatomy and clothing rearing its head, but soon enough she was able to spring his cock free. Sarah pounced on it, and the sensation was all too familiar now, thanks to her magical friend.

As Sarah buried Michael in between her breasts, the car began to swerves, filling the cabin with the harsh sounds of the rumble strips along the shoulder. Gropy and Pervy lunged for the wheel and did their best to keep the car in a straight line as it careened back and forth across the lanes. Of course, they were still only pieces of semi-sentient rope, so their best was somewhat inadequate.

Michael lost himself in the chaos and, abandoning any pretense of holding the wheel, he grabbed Sarah’s backside to guide her down onto his cock. Sarah closed her eyes. Focus on the sensations, the speed, the physical pleasure. Divorce yourself from the emotions, they are only gonna make this difficult.

Neither saw a frantic Ruby sprint out of the front of the hotel, with Al casually waddling out afterwards to watch the show. In response to Ruby’s manic gesturing, Jersey barriers sprung from the sand on the side of the road as the car swerved down the road. The car glanced off on the passenger side, knocking the side view mirror free and leaving deep scratches along the glossy black paint job. Smash! The car deflected off the opposite side of the road, matching the damage up the driver’s side. Sarah smacked against the side window mid-bounce, but it didn’t slow her relentless drive to finish. Ruby screamed something at them as the car screamed past the parking lot, but the roar of the engine drowned her out. Not that they listened to her anyway.

“Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!” Sarah screamed into Michael’s ear as she finally closed on the orgasm that had been held just out of reach for days. Michael started to say something, but she had no interest in hearing him right now either. Sarah pushed herself forward onto him, burying his face into her breasts as she tried to claim her own climax. The one denied for sooooo long!

“Woah, woah!” Sarah felt his cock twitch as he approached his own climax, and her inner conflict stormed back with a vengeance. With a man? With him!? She panicked, and tried to quickly hop off his lap before he could finish inside her, in the process thwarting her own chance to climax. Her abrupt move, and in trying to flee she caught the wheel with her heel, jerking the car wildly to the right. The speeding machine’s lurch was too unexpected for Ruby to counter, and the battered car shot through a gap in the barriers that she had been throwing up. The screaming streak struck a small berm at high speed, catching air as Ruby gawped and Al cackled. Sarah’s ropes wrapped around her and the seat, pinning her and Michael tightly together and harnessing them against impact. The car’s flight path carried it directly through the motorized leg of the sixty foot neon stripper that had just lit up at sunset, knocking her leg off at the knee.

Fortunately, on the far side of the sign was soft loose sand which brought the car to a sliding stop, gentle stop. Unfortunately, said car was still completely totaled. So too was the mood.

Sarah was the first of the two to come to her senses after the ropes loosened, and in the aftermath of… that, she felt an overpowering urge to get away. The door wouldn’t budge, being half buried in a sand dune, so she quickly rolled down the window and pulled herself free of the cabin. She landed face down in the sand and came up sputtering, looking right into Ruby’s pumps and Al’s oxfords.

“You… absolute… psychopath!!!” Ruby screamed. “What were you thinking?! You could have injured the Master! Gotten yourself eliminated!”

“That was fucking great, baby!” Al kicked aside a sparking piece of the shattered leg and slapped the roof for emphasis. “I ain’t seen a stunt like that in all the years I’ve done this show! I don’t even care that you’re on this idiot’s team, I’m proud of ya!”

Left the Master unsatisfied, and also kinda made him fear for his life -4

[Al Override] That shit was funny, baby! +4

It was Al, surprisingly, who helped Sarah to her feet. Ruby was still so mad that her face was her namesake color and she could barely bring herself to look at Sarah.

“And you just got out of debt, you fool!” Ruby said, gesturing to the destroyed sign. “This is gonna knock you so far into the red that it’ll take you years to climb out!”

“It’s my fault.” Came Michael’s voice, slightly weak as he hauled himself free from the wreckage. He tried to stand up to them, but he cast a rather haggard image, caked as he was in sweat, dirt, and the aftermath of one insane adrenaline rush. Al gave an exaggerated cough, and Michael suddenly remembered to tuck his cock away.

“How is this fiasco your fault?” Ruby whirled on him.

“I was driving.” Michael said.

“If we’re being pedantic, the ropes were driving.” Sarah said. Ruby’s eyes gave their alarming glow to shut up, and for once Sarah heeded it.

“The psycho naked lesbian has a point, Rubes.” Al said. “The ropes were driving. Hotel property wrecked hotel property, no harm no foul.”

“Since when did you become the voice of reason and mercy?!” With a single statement, Al had changed Ruby’s fury into total bewilderment.

“When we get some good TV out of it! That’s gonna be in the promos for years!” Al said, “I’ll leave you clowns to clean it up, though.” He walked off, laughing to himself as he went.

Ruby waved her hand, and the dust swirled up from the ground, forming into letters that arranged themselves into Sarah’s name, and the 24 points of her score.

“Sarah, you’re still in last place, you’re broke again, and your car lasted less than 8 hours before you turned it to scrap.” Ruby said. “Still, both of you have your limbs even if she doesn’t” Ruby pointed to the wounded neon stripper, “so we’ll call it a draw. I think that’s enough for date night, don’t you think?”

“I was so close…” Sarah said softly, but Ruby picked it up anyway.

“Close to cumming?” Ruby crossed her arms, “Is that why you went to all this trouble?”

“Yeah! That goddamned dildo has me on the edge of insanity and only he can finish it off!” Sarah pointed an accusing finger at Michael.

“Me? The hell did I do?”

“Tantum Dominus” Sarah drew her hand across her midriff tattoo, “Only the Master can make me cum.”

Now it was Ruby’s turn to throw back her head and laugh.

“I’m happy that you’re happy.” Sarah complained.

“It means you need the Master’s permission to cum, you moron!” Ruby said through gasping breaths. “Not his actual dick!” Ruby was wiping tears from her eyes now. “The Master’s Favor is its name, Sarah - all he needs is to do you a favor… All this time… You could have just asked me… or Esmeralda… And instead you wrecked a muscle car trying…” Ruby waved off the smoldering wreckage as her laughter faded to a chuckle. “I’ll deal with this in the morning. You two lovebirds have a lot to talk about.” And Ruby too left them standing in the sand, the only sound the crackling from the exposed wire of the sign’s severed leg.

“Sarah.” Michael said.

“Don’t even start in on a lecture, I can feel one coming.”

“Do you want my permission or not?” Sarah had started to turn towards the hotel and flee the embarrassment, but that was enough to make her stay. “Then you need to hear me out, Sarah. You’ve been telling me how scared the girls are, but - since you’ve asked for it twice now - I’ll be honest. Between you and Mallory, I’ve had two of the women closest to me damn near attack me and it’s starting to scare me too.” Sarah still had her back to Michael, but the slump in her shoulders made it obvious his words were landing. He stepped around in front of her, but she dropped her eyes from him. Michael assertively pulled up her chin so she’d have to look at him, and despite the fact they’d been having sex only a few minutes earlier, it was the most intimate touch they’d ever shared. His face was lit by the small fire and the overpowering neon.

“Sarah, I love you. Not in the same way I love Danica or Ronnie as a husband, or Mallory as a father, not even the same way I’m starting to feel for Luciana or Janet or Vivian as…” Michael paused, steeling himself to say something meaningful “as a Master.” It hung there in the air. Decisive. “But you’re extremely important to me, and I’m scared of what's happening to us. And to you.”

“I’m fine, Michael.” Sarah said defensively, pushing his hand away.

“Fine? I direct your attention to the wrecked car on my left. If you’re going to demand honesty from me, I’m going to demand honesty from you in return. And before you say anything, I don’t think that’s tyrannical in the least.”

Sarah rubbed her fists in her eyes, pushing through her soup of anger and sexual frustration.

“Alright, I’m not fucking fine. I’ve been putting on a face for you and the others.”

“Not a convincing one.”

“Shut up, Master.” She sneered as she delivered his ‘title.’

“Make me.” He said, with a disarming smile. Sarah couldn’t love him back, at least not yet. Not that she could admit. But I could follow him. “You know what you need, Sarah?”

“If you say a good fuck, I’m gonna pop you.”

“You need that too, but what you need more is a job. A problem to solve. Like I said, you’re my problem solver.” Michael looked pleased with himself, like he’d found some deep truth. “You’ve been twisted into knots because this whole show is something you can’t wrap your head around, and its killing you that you can’t. You couldn’t even bring yourself to ask about the damn dildo, even as you fucked yourself with it.” Michael sensed a Sarah comeback coming, so he put his finger over her lips. “Shush. The magic is beyond you, it’s beyond all of us. But this game? It’s just a math problem. You’re great at those, it’s why I fucking hired you.”

“You want me to solve the game?”

“To certain parameters, yes.” Michael said. “You were on the edge of elimination and you dug yourself out. Now Vivian is. Next week it could be someone else. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want anyone to end up like Danica, frantic and desperate, or worse. Put your mind to it, and we’ll figure out a way to get everyone across the finish line.”

“Did you just ask me to draw up a sex plan?”

“You can skip the PowerPoint if that helps.” He smiled again, and a small shaft of sunlight broke through the gloom in Sarah’s mental storm clouds. “Think on it. Now I’m gonna go find the someone in this hotel who gives massages and then get some sleep. Good night, Sarah.”

“Michael… I was telling the truth in the car.” Sarah said, grasping his arm. “Some of it anyway. I still don’t think I want to… with a man. But if I had to… I’m glad it’s you.”

Michael wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just hugged Sarah. It took a few extra moments to disentangle himself from her ropes, as they apparently wanted in on this hug, but it was worth it.

“Now, about my other problem.” Sarah said.

“Ah, right. I’m not sure how this works exactly. Sarah, I grant you permission to have an orgasm.”

A small heat buzzed through Sarah’s tattoo, but otherwise she felt the same.

“Nothing happened.”

“I still think you have to find someone to make you climax,” Michael said. “That one’s on you though.”

“Also, wait a second, you only gave me permission for one?”

“Don’t get greedy.” Michael said, stepping back with an impish grin

“I still might pop you one, Master.”

“That title is starting to grate a bit,” Michael said. “You know what, call me Boss.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I hereby revoke my permission-”

“Boss! Boss!” Sarah said, waving her arms as they both doubled over laughing.

When the flames petered out and Michael was gone, Sarah sat down in the sand with her back against her lost treasure and began to think. The Boss was on to something, she thought, managing to be sarcastic in her own head. Maybe there is a way to solve this.

But first, the more pressing question:

How much fun can you have with a single orgasm?