Chapter 2

  Amber was in awe of Howie's house.  It was HUGE,
almost a mansion.  Howie noticed her surprise when he
pulled up in front of his house.  She got out and
said, "Damn, D, not bad for a guy from Denver, CO".
He smiled and said, "do you like it?"  "Hell yeah!
Now show me around your mansion here."  She grabbed
his hand and ran towards the house.  He said, "what
about your bags?"  She replied, "leave'em, we can
always get them later."  He opened the door and she,
immediately, ran from room to room taking in all of
the sights on the first floor.    She came to a door
in the hallway that was locked.  She yelled, "Hey D,
what's in here?"  "It's just the basement.  I keep it
locked because my little nephews and nieces come over
and I don't want them to get hurt."  "Oh, OK," she
said as she headed up the stairs to the second floor.
Howie tried to conceal the grin that was starting to
spread across his face.  He couldn't believe that she
fell for that.  He was thankful that she didn't press
on the subject, though.

    After she had seen all 7 of the bedrooms, all 5 of
the bathrooms, and the view of the garden in the
backyard on the second and third floors, she went back
downstairs to where D was sitting in the living room.
She plopped down on the couch and said, "Damn, D, this
is paradise".  He laughed a little and said, "Oh
really?"  "Yeah.  You've got everything.  What about
the basement?"  "What about it?"  "Can I see it?"  He
thought, 'Damn, I hope I closed and locked the "other"
door'.  He, finally, said, "alright, just give me a
minute, OK".  "OK!"

     He got up from the couch and headed down the hall to
the basement.  He unlocked the door, walked in, closed
the door back and headed down the stairs and straight
for the wall on the far right of the room.  He moved
the hanging blanket aside and pushed on the wall and
made sure that the hidden door was locked.  When he
was convinced that it was secured, he moved the
blanket back over the door and walked back upstairs to
his friend.

     Amber heard him close the basement door and walk back
into the living room.  She said, "so what's the big
secret?"  "What?"  "About the basement."  He replied,
nonchalantly, "I don't know what you're talking
about."  She smiled and said, "right.  Do you have
some kinda torture chamber down there that you don't
want me to see, hmmm?  I guess you're not as sweet as
you used to be, huh, D?"  He just laughed and dropped
his head.  She continued, "you'd better say something
or else I'll take that silence as a yes".  He smiled
and said, "I'm not even gonna dignify that with an
answer".  "Wrong answer, D.  So, tell me about this
torture chamber."  "I don't have a torture chamber."
She slid over next to him on the opposite end of the
couch, put two fingers under his chin and turned his
face to hers.  She, once again, put her lips to within
inches from his ear and breathed, "that's too bad_oh,
the things we could do in there".  He felt the
tightening in his pants, once again, and his pulse
quicken as she spoke.  He felt her soft, warm lips
brush up against his ear and almost lost it
completely.  He thought, 'Howie, just calm down.
You'll get what you want soon enough'.  He took a deep
breath and exhaled slowly.  He grabbed her hand and
said, "let's go".  As they were walking to the
basement, the doorbell rang.  Howie said, "I've gotta
get that."  She jokingly said, "where are the maid and
butler?"  He replied, "they're on vacation this week.
They should be back on Monday."  She thought, 'Damn, I
should've known'.  He noticed the surprised look on
her face and then walked to get the door with a big
grin on his face.  He opened the door and said, "Hey,
bro, it's about time you got here".  "Sorry, D, I had
to pick up a few things."

   Amber noticed the visitor's voice and walked towards
the door.  When she saw the man, her eyes widened, her
throat went dry and she stopped dead in her tracks.
He was beautiful, to say the least.  She thought, 'oh
I AM gonna love this visit'.