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Scott appraised the speedometer with a cool eye, checking it against the clock. A smirk played at the corner of his lips, a twinkle in his slate blue eyes. He was going to be ten minutes late, just the way he wanted it!

His strong hands gripped the steering wheel, his sensuous fingers guiding the wheel in skillful, minute adjustments, guiding the car to its south Seattle destination where food, friends and belly dancing awaited. Scott knew where he was going, but could he control where he would end up?

Pulling up to the curb in front of the restaurant, Scott swept out of the car with a majesty and ownership born of extreme confidence. Katherine, whom he won't sleep with till chapter six, caught a glimpse of him for the first time as she drove the opposite direction and almost drove off the road, she was so distraught! She placed a hand on her heaving bosom to calm herself as she watched Scott enter the restaurant in the rear view mirror.

Entering Kolbeh, a posh Mediterranean restaurant and club, Scott's steel blue eyes panned the room, taking everything in a single measured glance. Suddenly his eyes were arrested by two beautiful women sitting across the room!

He strode towards their table, weaving between tables with an air of assurance, passing expensive exotica without a second glance. C~, on the right, small, blond, beautiful and vivacious was engaged in conversation, commanding the table with an easy familiarity. To the left sat the tall, shapely, alluring brunette, V~, listening and appraising with a cool intelligence belied by her alluring face and smile. Scott wondered what was going through her head right now as C~ chatted up the table?

Gathering up every detail of her gorgeously formed body in a single passing glance, Scott sat down next to V~, greeting the table warmly. Introductions were made and the table resumed its conversation as Scott ordered wine from the passionate and slim but empty-headed waitress. Who knew if she would ever come back? Scott greeted S~ across the table.

S~, with his easy charm and rugged outdoor ways, welcomed Scott to the table before turning his attention back to the trim beauty of C~ with a possessive manner that infuriated Scott . Unclenching his fists with an effort, Scott focused on the menu. How could he eat at a time like this when so much depended on this evening!

A plan sprung unbid to his mind! Smoothly, he invited V~ to share his dinner with him, begging a lack of appetite, with visions of a shared plate floating in his mind. He chose to deal with her objections by waving them off. Why then, did S~ and J~ insist on thwarting his plan with their calculated vegetarianism?

Until now, Scott had considered J~, if not an ally, at least a neutral party in the unspoken conflict that raging across the table tonight. Perhaps I have misjudged you, Scott thought, looking at J~ with new eyes.

Dinner arrived in good time, brought by the pretty but hapless waitress, who only got lost three times on the way to Scott's table. However, along with the dinner plates, trouble arrived!

Trouble sat down at the table in the form of A~, a Mediterranean beauty who fit in the exotic décor of the restaurant like a hand in a glove and whose curvaceous body uncontrollably called out sex to every male at the table! What could she be doing here at this hour, with dinner already on the table? If C~ and V~ were threatened by this new arrival, they did not show it as they greeting her warmly. But who knew what thoughts raged for dominance inside their lovely heads?

Scott found himself sitting between the cosmopolitan splendor of V~ and the primal allure of A~. How could he give each her due when either alone would demand unabridged adoration from any red-blooded male?

The dinner dishes were cleared, and the music began, strumming the tension radiating over the table. J~, clearly not equal to the challenge presented by the fearful triumvirate of beauty represented by C~, V~, and A~, excused himself, saying that he was needed at work!

With only Scott and S~ left at the table, the women stood to dance. S~ leapt to his feet to escort them to the dance floor. Curse you, Scott thought, knowing that he was no match for S~ on the dance floor, this round is yours, S~, but I will win the battle! Watching V~ walk away from him, Scott felt a pang of foreshadowed heartbreak in chapter eight. Who knew how soon the day would come when she would walk away from him forever, never to return?

Seeing the objects of his desire dance with the detested but charming S~, Scott was filled with an irrational rage, and contemplated storming out onto the dance floor and vanquishing his rival once and for all in a blaze of fists and wrath. Who would dare stand against the fire of his all-consuming crush?

Choosing instead to pursue the more subtle approach of doing nothing at all, he leaned back into his chair and settled into an appreciate contemplation of the sensuous movements of the dancers. Oh, when would his dulcet beauties return to him from their dance of passion? To say that the next fifty minutes felt like an hour would be an understatement.

The music finally stopped and the beautiful dancers returned to his table. No sooner had Scott greeted V~ and A~ than the music started up again, and a performance was announced! Will these interruptions never cease, Scott wondered!

With altogether too great a deal of fanfare, a belly dancer took the floor. As she began her dance, Scott was transfixed. Not by her scanty clothing, though it was exceedingly scanty, nor by her seductive feet and hip movements, though they did evoke uncalled lusts, nor by her wide smile, though actually, yes, it was by her wide smile that he was arrested!

What could she be doing here? Over the shoulders of the patrons, he strained to see her better. It couldn't possibly be her! Not here! She was supposed to be in LA! As the dancer weaved her intense dance, Scott was carried back to the days of his romance with T~. Days that he thought he had left forever behind!

This woman doing the belly dance, blond and Caucasian and pale, not at all your image of a belly dancer in a middle eastern restaurant, was nonetheless hauntingly evocative of T~. Same smile, same generous hips, same radiantly apparent pleasure in the movements of her body.

Scott remembered C~ and A~ in a discussion of the meanings of various dances and movements. He supposed that this dancer was speaking in some more complex language that a native or bellydanceophile could decode! While her pretty, pale body didn't speak to Scott in decipherable words, it did seem to speak of Beauty and Love. But then, what in this life doesn't speak to Scott of Beauty and Love?

After her second dance, a tall, impossibly slim, busty woman from the audience danced out and hung a necklace of dollar bills around the dancer. Several others from the audience also approached her and tucked bills into her costume. This was news to Scott! Didn't this make it a little too much like a strip act?

Until now, it had been evocative, yes; sexy, sure; but never pornographic. It just carried the watchers away in dreams of possession or participation. There was just dance and movement. No clothes were removed, and there were no teases, unless you counted the alluring dance as one giant promise of bliss to come!

But Scott was counting on bliss coming from different sources! He passed a couple of dollars to the nefarious S~ to tuck into the belly dancer as she weaved through the crowd, collecting their adoration and dollar bills. Turning his attention back to the irresistible beauty of V~ and A~, Scott fell back into the conversational flow of the table till the next dance started.

With the resumption of music, the three beauties again returned to the dance floor, again joined by the athletic S~. Scott opted out of this dance with apologies for his complete lack of rhythm or balance! Watching the nearly perfect picture of heaven painted by the moving bodies of C~, V~, and A~ (marred only by the implicit threat of the ever-present S~!), Scott was amazed at their endurance. They would dance through an entire set, never stopping during the full three quarters of an hour, each minute of which felt to Scott like at least sixty-five agonizing seconds!

When the music stopped and they returned, Scott wondered if there would be a second belly dance? Would it be the same girl so evocative of T~, or would it be someone else?

Sure enough, a second dancer came out, a dark-haired beauty wearing a costume that hinted and suggested the shapes underneath as she wove her dance before the audience's rapt gaze!

Not wanting to be the sexist pig that he is, Scott nonetheless had to admit that the belly and back covered with cloth, no matter how transparent, was nowhere near as sexy as watching the undulations of bare skin. This concession to his own bastardism depressed him.

When after her dance the dancer weaved her way through the crowd, Scott's mood was further soured. Why must all things beautiful in this life be tied to money? He didn't want something so lovely and earnest diminished by grimy hands tucking bills into the dancer's clothing! The beautiful V~, on the other hand, found the process amusing, saying she liked the way all the boys in the room look like they were getting candy as they drew her attention with their waving dollars. Scott looked at a watch, could it be 1:30am already?

As the final set of dance music began, the table once again emptied towards the dance floor. Scott once again begged out of dancing, claiming that there was an unexploded shell from WWII lodged inside him, and he didn't want to risk it going off by bouncing it around while dancing! In fact, he said, he thought he'd better get home, and took his leave of all present, sharing a warm embrace with C~, and a grudging handshake from the omnipresent S~!

Pulling on his coat and hat, Scott strode for the door as the music enveloped him once again. Slipping out into the quiet night, his exit unnoticed save for the wait staff, Scott's ears rang with tinnitus, and could it be, love?

He strode slowly across first avenue to his car, pausing to lean against the door for a last look back to the pulsing club. Taking the key in his powerful hands, he slid it home into the door lock, foreshadowing events of Chapter two, which is full to overflowing of heaving breasts and supple thighs, opened the car door, and began his journey home.