Long after the air had dried them, Bob and Mahui got off the bed to get dressed.

"I'll help you look for your shoes," he said, taking back his t-shirt from her.

"No thanks. I don't need them that bad."

She turned away to keep him from seeing her naked breasts while slipping her dress over her head. He looked with disdain at the complicated shoes that he'd been forced to wear.

"Yeah. I don't want to wear my shoes either." He looked with equal disdain at the bombasted men's hose and beaded stomacher. "I don't want to wear any of these things."

Mahui giggled cute, racing around to his side of the bed. She stood before him while adjusting her dress.

"Then don't!" she said. "You don't need them."

"All I have on now is underwear."

She rapped him on the arm for encouragement. "Ah, you look fine."

She took the poet sleeved shirt from his hands and laid it out neat on the bed, alongside the other clothes he'd been wearing.

"Just leave all of it here. You're not allowed to take stuff home with you anyway."

Bob knew enough about fashion models to know that wasn't always the case. Still, he had no desire to add any of the items he'd been wearing to his wardrobe.

Especially the shoes. Now clad only in a tight white t-shirt and form-fitting grey briefs, he slapped his outer thighs to relieve the tension.

Still standing close, Mahui grinned ear to ear. "You ready?" she said with cheer, forcing herself to not let her gaze go lower than his chest.

Bob scowled. "You really want to be seen with me like this?"

"Yes! Yes!"

She tugged on his hand to get him to trail after her down the stairs. Despite being strong for a woman of her size, he easily stood his ground.

She tried cajoling next. "Look. People are going to say all sorts of stupid stuff about those stupid prints I left down there. And I want them to say stupid stuff about what we were doing up here."

"We didn't do anything. I washed your feet."

"Yeah. That's right. But most people don't come up here to get their feet washed."

"It's a guest room. So what?"

She began tugging on his hand again, playfully hopping on her toes. "During a party, some guests come up here just long enough to get it on."

Bob laughed. "We've been up here for hours!"

She stopped tugging and got back in his face. Her tongue poked out through her perfect white teeth as she allowed her gaze to rake his body.

"Exactly," she said, now bouncing instead of hopping. "It's the story I want them to tell."

"That we were having sex?"

She focused again on his chest. "Naked," she said to it, still bouncing. "In bed. Soaking wet. For hours."

He put a hand under her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his. "You want people to think we were screwing each other for hours," he said to confirm her crazy wish.

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"Yes. So I can bitch slap them up when I tell them it's a lie."

"What if I tell them it's true?" Bob asked, playing along, as Mahui was acting silly.

She traced patterns on his chest like tattoos. "Then I will bitch slap you," she said sweetly to her wayward finger.

Bob grabbed her finger in his fist and brought it to his lips for a kiss. "I want to tell them something that's true."

Mahui kept getting sillier. "You mean like you really did screw me?" she asked.

She let him possess her finger. He kept kissing it while she yammered.

"I mean, you can't. Right? Screw me? Screw Ché, yeah, and her shoes. But not me. Definitely don't screw me. It's not right! Right?"

He released her finger and made her shut up by grabbing her ass with both hands. She yelped with surprise as he thrust her pelvis into his. Her nipples swelled as the hardness of his penis enticed her basal instincts.

"You're as cute as a button," he said to her wide open eyes.

She freed an arm from their embrace and beeped him on the nose. "Boop!" she said while doing so, before becoming demure. "Maybe we'll come up here again someday, Bob the Button Man."

He released his grip on her ass and took gentle hold of her hand, placing it back at her side. "I don't think so," he said. "But the thought is nice."

"Well, what will we say then that's true?" she asked, rising to her tiptoes to get her face near his.

"I don't know," he replied, breathing hot. He lowered his head nearer to hers. "Maybe the lies will be better."

Her eyes closed as her lips parted. "Oh. I doubt it."

Time stood still while they kissed.

Mahui acted like a schoolgirl trying to sneak her beau out of the house while her parents were still awake. She held Bob by the hand while scampering down the stairs, making him stop just before he could be seen by anyone who might be in the room below. After pressing him to a wall, she peered around the corner to see if the coast was clear.

Finding the room empty, she scampered with him again down the next flight of stairs, repeating the same girlish act. Although the room attached to this landing was also devoid of people, a small group stood between Mahui and the room where Bob's street clothes were.

Mahui slammed Bob against a wall upon catching sight of the group. She pressed her body tight to his, keeping both of them from being seen.

He kindly pushed her away. "This is ridiculous," he said. "I'm going to go and get dressed."

Mahui bared her teeth and hissed, poking him in the sides to get him to stop pushing her. "No no no," she whispered cute. She peered around the corner again to eye up the group. "They're leaving, It'll just be a minute."

"I'm leaving too," Bob said. "It's fine. I am not embarrassed."

Mahui tried to make him shush every time he opened his mouth, but he would have nothing of it. Finally, and in desperation, she heaved down on his neck so hard that she almost lifted herself off the floor.

When his lips were close enough, she plastered them with a wet kiss. "Shut up," she whispered into his mouth. "Shut up shut up shut up!"

He grabbed her ass as a sign of compliance, making her shut up as well.

By the time they were done kissing, the group in the other room was long gone. Mahui scampered to the door of the dressing room with Bob still in tow. She again made him stand with his back to the wall, while she opened the door and peered in.

He again kindly pushed her aside, entering the room and finding his clothes. She sat on a settee with her hands between her knees, leaning forward while swinging her feet.

"What are you going to tell Scylla?" she asked, watching his every move.

Bob stopped dressing and stared. "You have to quit calling her that. Her name is Cecilia."

Mahui stuck out her tongue through a toothy smile. "You can call my mate Mak. It's okay. The guys on the team call him Tuggy because no one can pronounce Tuigamala."

"What do you call him?" Bob asked while pulling up his pants.

"I call him my man."

Bob spoke with his head in his shirt, putting it on while it was still buttoned. "And I call my wife Seas."

Mahui swung her legs wildly. "So what are you going to tell her?"

"We brainboard," he said as a matter of fact. "I have to tell her the truth."

Mahui shook her head enthusiastically, causing her body to swing side to side. "It's not that you have to be honest. I brainboard too, you know. It's how you feel when you tell them." She pressed her fists to her chest. "It's what's in here that counts."

Bob sat beside her to lace up his boots. "Well, what are you going to feel when you tell Mak?"

Mahui hissed to the ceiling, sounding wistful. "I going to tell him I've never had so much fun while being left alone at one of Benjamin's parties. Like, ever."

"That sounds like a good idea. I've never had so much fun either."

"What are you going to say about the paint?" Mahui asked, concerned.

He gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'm going to say that of all the oddball people I've ever met at these fancy pants, artsy fart parties, fiery Mahui was the only one I've ever cared enough about to want to get to know better."

If not for her jasper brown skin, Mahui would have blushed beet red. "You're a swell guy, Bob," she said after she composed herself. "I can't wait to introduce you to my man."

"Thanks. And I hope you get to know Seas."

"Oh. I'm sure I will."

With Bob now fully dressed, Mahui opened the door and peered out, to see if the coast was clear.

Apparently it was. "See you later, Mister Button Man!" she announced before bolting for the driveway outside.

Bob arrived in time to see Mahui's car kick up gravel as she sped away.