The Sun Gods Woman Part 16

Annie, entranced by the idea."Nerin of Kushuk is one of the biggest landholders around here," said Kyle, walking Annie up a quietlane. He held her close to his body even as they strolled. "He provides some of the finest crops, has alarge and mostly content workforce and is a major money man, as they say."

"So what is it about him that makes me s.h.i.+ver?""He made you s.h.i.+ver?" That look was back in Kyle's eyes."The 'someone's-walking-over-my-grave' type s.h.i.+ver, Kyle. Not a s.e.xy type s.h.i.+ver, a scary type s.h.i.+ver.

"Ah." Kyle was quiet for a moment. "He does have a reputation as an excellent lover, and he comes to all the temple rituals, but now that you mention it, he has no woman of his own, nor does he seem to want

one. I don't know-the dealings I've had with him have been very profitable. He's a shrewd and honestbusinessman, and a solid citizen. I have never asked for any more than that."Annie grinned. "Don't care about his reputation. It's yours that concerns me.""Mine? I don't have a reputation," sputtered Kyle."Oh? You mean you've been celibate since you got here?" Annie quirked a brow in disbelief.Incredibly, Kyle blushed. "Annie, I don't want to get into this, really I don't. Since you arrived I have touched no one but you. Does that satisfy you?""Really?""Yes, really. All it took was one look at you in that bathtub with Ens.h.i.+lla-""What?" Annie's screech startled several birds that noisily flew off the roof of a nearby house. "You were spying on me in the bath?""I was not spying.""Well, I don't know what you call peeping at someone when she's naked without her permission, but in my book that's spying. Or peeping, or voyeuristic-something or other...""Stop yelling at me.""I'm not yelling!"Kyle bit his lip. "Annie-love, calm down..." His hands pulled her tight against him, and he ignored the small group of children who were giggling and pointing at the two of them as they squabbled in the middle

of the street.

"I'm calm, already," she groaned, feeling his hands stroking her back and working their magic on her already overheated body.

"I'm sorry you didn't know I was watching you, Annie. But you were so beautiful...all pink and whiteand sparkly..."Kyle's lips ran lightly over her cheek and touched hers in a feather light kiss, in direct contrast to his c.o.c.k, which was slammed into her belly by his clasp."Kyle..." murmured Annie, as his tongue began working magic under her jaw."Mmm?""Kyle..." she hissed. "Not in front of the children."Kyle raised his head and looked at the snickering group that was now making kissy noises and generally enjoying a good laugh at the couple's expense.He grinned and tossed his head at them.Laughing and chattering, they scampered away."There's not much that these children don't know about human s.e.xuality, Annie." Kyle turned back to her. "Like it or not, a good portion of Sumerian society is based on fertility and the act that goes along with it."

Annie pulled herself clear of Kyle arms and moved on down the street, considering his words."I have noticed that, believe me. I suppose the fact that their existence depends on the fertile fields, andthe production of children to continue on the line makes it a natural choice." She was thinking out loudmore than conversing.

Kyle walked beside her as she spoke.

"And so much of their religion is based on the natural occurrences-like the sun and the moon, and waterand the earth...""To them, the rising of the sun must have seemed like a daily miracle," answered Kyle."Yes, but they are an intelligent people, Kyle, you said that yourself. They have a form of government, they have writing, such as it is, and science, and-and beer."

Kyle chuckled. "Oh yes, the ability to brew beer definitely places them right up there on the evolutionaryscale, doesn't it?"Annie gave him a mock punch in the arm. "You know what I mean," she giggled."Yes, I do. But all I can say is that fertility is essential to these people's existence. Can you blame them for wors.h.i.+pping it?""I suppose not." Annie thought for a moment. "But they're awfully blatant about it.""By our standards, perhaps they are. But are our standards right? We b.u.t.ton ourselves into layers of clothing that hide our bodies, then wonder why nudity should be so stimulating. We teach our children that nakedness is bad and that lovemaking should wait until marriage. Then we see millions of dollars spent in strip clubs and the divorce rate is going through the roof. Where are we, Annie, in relation to the open s.e.xual people of Sumer? Are we better or worse? You tell me..."

Annie gazed at him, wondering at the depth of this man's intellect. She'd come to appreciate his body a whole lot, but found herself in danger of forgetting sometimes that there was a mind inside as sharp as any she'd ever met.

"You're staring.""Can't help it. You're gorgeous."Kyle smirked. "You just want me for my body.""Well, sure. But you're one sharp cookie, too, aren't you Dr. Pendrake?"Kyle's mouth dropped at her words as if he didn't quite know how to respond.Annie slipped her arm through his and walked beside the rather stunned man along the narrow streets of Kushuk.

* * * * *"Where are we headed?" asked Annie as their steps turned into a quiet narrow alleyway.Kyle paused before answering, savoring the feel of her soft skin next to his chest."We are going to the Temple of Ishtartu.""Okay. That sounds nice. What goes on there?""We shall grant the supplications of the Boon Seekers."Kyle spoke quietly, not wanting to even begin discussion of this special ceremony until he had Annie someplace private. He had a feeling that she might react rather strongly when she discovered exactly what was involved.

"Ah. That sounds like fun."

Kyle smiled slightly, his loins tightening at the thought.

"Yes, I think you will enjoy it. Here we are..."

They had paused in front of a small, elegant building, far from the impressive height or dimensions of a ziggurat, this one was more like a rather fancy hotel or town house.

Square in front, several steps led onto a colonnaded portico where great urns of flowers tumbled in haphazardly fragrant disarray. The tiled floor was done in s.h.i.+ning marble of the darkest maroon, and stray sparkles flashed up as the sun glanced off the stone.

Two large nude statues graced the upper levels, inset into enormous niches. The male was at least three times life size, and held the ceremonial disk that represented the Sun G.o.d. In his other hand he held his very erect c.o.c.k.

The female statue was also proportionate, the crescent moon of her necklace resting between magnificent b.r.e.a.s.t.s, only one of which was fully visible because she was pulling at the nipple of the other one with one hand. Her other hand was buried deep between her legs.

Both statues were exchanging a look of pure sensuality. Annie stopped dead.

"What is this temple dedicated to, Kyle?" she asked, a note of suspicion creeping into her voice."I told you, it is the Temple of Ishtartu. Ishtartu is a word that can mean representing, standing in place of, offering the gifts of, that sort of thing." Kyle deliberately used his most scholarly tone of voice in aneffort to distract Annie at least until they got inside."Aha. And?""Let's go inside and I'll explain."Annie allowed Kyle to lead her up the steps and into the dim coolness of the Temple. Kyle offered a brief prayer of thanks to any of the a.s.sorted deities who might be listening. He sure wasn't looking

forward to this, but he knew Annie would probably be even less in favor of the whole idea.

"Greetings High Priest, High Priestess..." Bowing low, a woman approached them courteously. "We are honored that you have come to fulfill your duties at the Temple of Ishtartu."

She ushered them into a small antechamber.

"Food has been prepared according to custom. The ceremony will begin when you are ready." She

moved around the room lighting small braziers on each wall, and then gave one more small bow beforeleaving."Well, this is nice," said Annie, lowering herself onto a divan and stretching out in front of the table.Kyle tried to get his mind off how her skirt was draping over her mound."Eat, Kyle, why don't you? We've spent the morning walking around, so I think we've earned a bite, wouldn't you say?" She pulled some lamb dishes nearer and moved a plate of dates to her side of thetable.Kyle nervously pulled at a piece of bappir."Now," said Annie around a date. "Tell me more about these Boon Seekers."

Kyle drew a breath and put the bread down. The moment had come.

"Boon Seekers are couples who have not been able to conceive. They come to this Temple to beg a favor, a boon, from the Ishtartu."

"Okay. That makes sense. So why am I feeling that you're kind of nervous about this whole thing?"

"They feel," Kyle cleared his throat, "that to a.s.sure fertility they must receive 'divine energy' to open thewomb to seed.""Aha. Divine energy. Right."Annie's violet eyes were spearing Kyle, refusing to let him off the hook."Yes. Divine energy.""You said that.""I did? Yes, I did. Sorry.""So how do they get this divine energy and where do we come into it?"

"Funny you should say that...""Say what?""Come..."Annie blinked."You see, they believe that divine energy is released at the moment of climax."Annie blinked again."Our climax.""Our..."Annie's voice caught in her throat."Yes.""Oh." Her cheeks flushed and she looked away from Kyle. "You're not trying to tell me we have to have s.e.x in front of a Temple full of childless couples, are you?""Well, no. Not exactly.""Define 'not exactly'.""We don't exactly have s.e.x.""How not exactly don't we have s.e.x?"Kyle winced as Annie's tone started to get a little sharp."Well, we don't actually-um-do it together, so to speak.""We do it apart?" Annie's quick rejoinder sliced his composure to ribbons."Sort of.""Sheesh, Kyle, for G.o.d's sake spit it out, will you? You're driving me nuts!""All right. You and I will lie down on two special couches. The male Boon Seekers will bring you to climax, the female ones will do the same for me. They believe that our shared peak of pleasure will allow

them to get a share of our Divine Energy and will go away happy to spend the rest of the night f.u.c.king the

b.u.t.t off their partners. Now you know. Happy?"

Annie giggled. "Peak of pleasure?"

Kyle looked carefully at her. Instead of the irate woman protesting such lurid ceremonies, she was chuckling to herself.

"You sound worse than one of my heroines." She laughed, getting more and more amused by the idea.

Kyle glanced around the room and realized that the braziers were starting to smoke. His eyes were

stinging a little and he too was beginning to see the humorous side to this whole thing.

"Annie, do you understand?" Kyle tried his best to stop the large grin from spreading across his face as he watched her holding her sides and laughing.

"Sure, I got it. We're gonna get laid by other people in front of each other, right?""No, not exactly. It would be a sin for anyone to actually f.u.c.k either of us. They'll use their hands and mouths and...and..." Kyle felt his bones melt as he looked at Annie, sprawled across from him with ahuge smile on her lips."Great. A mutual happy hour.""Sort of, yeah. I take it you don't mind," he said."I should, but don't ask me why I don't." She stretched sensually, pus.h.i.+ng one leg out straight and flexing her ankle. "Actually..." the word was a drawn out invitation in itself, "it might be quite-interesting."

Kyle's c.o.c.k leaped as she drew her hand gently up her leg to her thigh and past her mound to herstomach.A servant chose that inopportune moment to enter the room."My Lord, Lady Annilin, the Boon Seekers have a.s.sembled. May I ask how much longer you will require to be ready?"

"Oh I'm ready, sweet cakes. This hot potato is ready to get baked and stuffed." Annie stumbled upright,leaning on the table for support.The servant smiled politely. "I take it that Lady Ens.h.i.+lla's suggestion to use a little Huk Gil in the braziers was a wise one?"Oh s.h.i.+t."What's huck gill, Kyle? The forerunner of Huck Finn?" Annie's giggle echoed round the room.Kyle tried to shake the dizziness away from his head. "No Annie. Huk Gil is the forerunner of opium."Chapter 13 Annie floated down and allowed her body to settle onto the stone couch that someone had thoughtfully covered with soft pillows.

She felt fabulous.Her skin smoothed the silks beneath her, and the fragrance of the Huk Gil filled her nostrils and hermind. She vaguely recalled Kyle murmuring something about drugs, but it hadn't registered, and she didn't care anyway. She was too happy.

A movement to her left distracted her and she watched as Kyle settled himself down.

The couches were very close, almost touching, and were arranged so that their shoulders practically met.

Kyle's feet were facing in the opposite direction to Annie's and their pillows allowed them to look at oneanother, face to face.Annie's peripheral vision blurred, and she could sense rather than see movement around her body.A wave of movement swept through her and for a moment she felt disoriented.

As if he sensed it, Kyle bent his elbow and raised his hand. Without a thought, Annie matched his move and their hands clasped tight, almost as if they were preparing to arm wrestle.

"I'm falling..." she whispered.

"I'll catch you," he answered.His eyes were darkening, his pupils dilating, and Annie's world became narrowed to a blaze of green andblack.

She was an octopus beneath a soft green ocean. No, she was a squid. No wait, maybe a centipede

nestled in the deep shadows of a rainforest.

Her tentacles spread out from her body in amazingly complex patterns and she stared as each one became a s.e.xual receptor.

Three hundred and twenty seven little erogenous zones flickered into life, teased and touched by as manytongues.She had no idea how she knew the exact number, but she did. No question about it."Annie, dear, what a fine experience this is."Annie turned her head. "h.e.l.lo Dr. Ludmilla. What are you doing here?"

The popular s.e.x therapist smiled graciously. "I don't know. You tell me..."Annie smiled back. She'd always loved "Doc Ludmilla's Swedish s.e.x Chat", and made a point oflistening in whenever she could.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Annie examined her responses. So far so good. Stimulation was taking place in all the right spots, herbody was humming along nicely, nope she couldn't think of a thing."I don't think so, Doc, but thanks for asking." Annie hoped she wouldn't be too cross at being summoned for nothing. "Although now that you're here, I would like to get something off my chest.""Of course, sweet pea. Anything. You know you can say whatever you want to me."Annie politely moved some of her tentacles out of the way so that the good doctor could sit on the edge of the couch.

"Well, don't be mad at me, but I'd really like to suggest that you get a new hairdo. This one is just so-so Mrs. Brady."Doc Ludmilla smiled patiently."And while we're talking about it, do you think Greg really boffed Mrs. Brady? I mean, I know Mr.

Brady had an alternate lifestyle, but could she have been that desperate?""Annie, you're not focusing on your inner s.e.xuality."Annie felt chastised."This is a time to let go of those inhibitions, Annie. Allow your deepest desires the freedom to see the light of day. You know our mantra..." Doc Ludmilla's huge blue eyes twinkled at Annie. "Good fantasies..."

"...Better s.e.x. Yeah, I've got it." Annie jumped as a clown fish nuzzled into a very sensitive spot.

"Good girl. You've been immersed in your work and your writing for so long, Annie, that you've lost touch with that wanton woman that is hiding within you."

"I have a wanton woman inside me?" This was news to Annie.

"Of course. We all do. It's just that we seldom have the opportunity to throw off all our civilized trappings and indulge her."

Annie felt her tentacles tighten as some kind of anteater drilled his tongue into the s.p.a.ce between two of them and did wonderful things to her tonsils.

"So I need to indulge this randy b.i.t.c.h, huh?" She pondered the notion. A vampire bat landed on her thorax and began energetically suckling on a very touchy antenna.

"Look here, Annie. Let Biff and m.u.f.fy show you the way..." Doc Ludmilla pointed at something and faded away.

Annie looked at the flat-headed flipper that she had wrapped around Kyle's hand. Sure enough, standing on top was Millennium m.u.f.fy and her Boyfriend Biff. Introduced by a popular toy company, they'd caused something of a minor furor when it had been announced that m.u.f.fy was only a 34B and had hips, and that Biff was anatomically correct.

Annie watched, fascinated, as Biff stripped. Boy was he anatomically correct. m.u.f.fy should be having a heart attack right about now. Then m.u.f.fy took her clothes off too. Oh good. She did have hips. Nice round plump ones.

Ones that Biff was appreciating. Energetically.

Annie's tentacles seemed to be growing as they were rhythmically stroked by long palm fronds. She could swear she felt Biff's hands as he kneaded m.u.f.fy's b.u.t.tocks.

She watched, fascinated, as Biff bent his head and noisily sucked on m.u.f.fy's 34B's. It was as if her flipper had become m.u.f.fy, and she could share in each sensation.

Her shoulders squirmed as the feel of Biff's mouth became almost too much. The tide must be coming in. It was definitely wet around her tentacles. Biff's c.o.c.k was getting bigger before her amazed eyes, and she gaped as m.u.f.fy reached down and began fondling it.

Biff obviously enjoyed the little toy hand doing nice things to his big toy c.o.c.k, because he moaned, making Annie jump. m.u.f.fy knelt down.