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Show 56 If he concentrated very hard, he could shut out the events in Steve's car for a few seconds at a time, replacing them with snow, and watch the message indicator with the two sets of fingertips on it slide across the board-it stopped at "K"-under a haze of sacrament cups, and let the scene back in again, slightly advanced. "The kitchen," Dick said. "Shh," Karen said. Steve's hand, which had been halted in its creep across the grey sweater toward Melanie's left breast, was now gently cupping it while Melanie, her head thrown back, scarcely daring to breathe, hesitated, her own hand raised to stop him. Finally she let her hand drop back into her lap and let her breath out. Steve leaned toward her, pressing his mouth against the side of her throat just above the collarbone, and Lorin shut it off. The indicator, moving with occasional halts and jerks, had slid with a furry whisper to "0," and Linda had slipped between Nadine and Barry to see better, leaving a gap next to Lorin. He considered stepping behind her and casually resting a hand on her shoulder, as though he were merely interested in seeing what was going on, but not too interested, and were just using her as he would the back of a chair. She wouldn't take it wrong, he was pretty sure. Steve had his right elbow resting on the back of the front seat and was running his fingers through Melanie's long hair, making intimate rasping sounds against her scalp. She had turned her face away but did not move when he kissed her behind the ear, which she had exposed by turning her head while his fingers were in her hair. Lorin stopped it as Steve pulled the sweater loose from her belt and slipped his left hand underneath it, up the length of her stomach. Lorin stepped close behind Linda, who was leaning on her hands against the edge of the desk and thus was bent over |
