At first glance, the show room looked like it just needed a good sweep and a few cups and crumpled napkins picked up. But closer inspection revealed t...hat a good time had been had by all who had come to, and at, the exhibit.Almost every square foot of the floor had some kind of stain on it. Some of the stains were the usual spilled drinks, but some of them were obviously semen, and quite a few semen stains, too. I started to count them, but it proved impossible with so many overlapping, and just. I swallowed as the Erinyes snapped her whip at me.Now I was really in trouble.She drove me back, away from my sword. Every time I tried to dart around her, the whip lashed, driving me back. It cracked and hissed as it narrowly missed my flesh. The force of its passage stirred up the wind, sending breezes crashing around my naked body.How could I win? This was hopeless. I couldn't close the distance. I couldn't block her attack. I had no way to defeat her. And she was driving me away from my. "I had reconciled myself to a platonic relationship."She smiled. "It's deeper for me, too. I've always been more comfortable around older men, Ethan. I'm very comfortable with you -- especially after this evening. The gentle and patient way you took care of me ... your respect for my feelings ... that's irresistible to me. I feel I can trust you -- implicitly. I need that trust."I embraced her and we kissed again. I gently nibbled her lower lip. Slipping my hand between the ties of the hospital. "Just leave me alone, Kurtzberg thought. He put on a forced smile as his co-workers crowded the cubicle wall."Now that's someone who knows what a proper Valentine's gift should be," Bettie Lee said, her pasty round face leaning over the cubicle wall. "I'll take yummy chocolates over flowers anytime." C'mon, don't keep us in suspense," Greg said.Reluctantly, Kurtzberg tore away the red paper to reveal a plain black box."Not chocolates," Bettie said wistfully.Kurtzberg took the lid off the box..