Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{“Oh,” Longarm said lamely. Unless Agnes Able had all of a sudden had a revelation on the subject of how to please a man, Longarm suspected he was in for a long and none-too-pleasant evening.}

_{The things a man had to do in the line of duty sometimes...}

_{Custis Long wasn’t a man to complain. But... damn.}

_{He lay beside a sweaty and contented woman whose passions had all been sated. He only wished he could say as much about his own.}

_{Aggie was still lush. Still beautiful. Still a truly lousy fuck.}

_{On the other hand, the rent there was cheap. And there weren’t any other rooms available in town.}

_{Quid pro quo, as the lawyers said. Which, he supposed, was just another way of saying Life. Oh, well.}

_{He smiled, and tapped the ash of his cheroot into the dish they were using for an ashtray. As before, the dish was resting on the damp flat between Aggie’s tits. Tonight, though, he was smoking alone. She was so limp and wiped out after coming eight, nine times in a row that she wasn’t even interested in showing off her toughness by smoking.}

_{Not that Longarm had had to go completely unsatisfied. Toward the end there he’d finally figured out that he could tighten things up some by having Aggie bring her legs together while he lay on top of her with his thighs positioned outside of hers. It had seemed awkward only to begin with. Best of all, it had turned a loose and sloppy experience into something considerably more enjoyable. And she’d liked it too. If there were going to be any more belly-to-belly encounters with the lady lawyer, Longarm figured to handle them just that way again.}

_{Beside him, Aggie yawned and snuggled deeper into her pillow, even though it was much too early for going to sleep, at least in Longarm’s opinion. Far as he could see, the night had plenty of time to run yet. And he was getting hungry again. Supper was hours past.}

_{What the hell. He swiveled around on his side of the bed and swung his feet to the floor.}

_{“Are you leaving?”}

_{“Hey, I thought you were sleeping.”}

_{“Sleepy,” she admitted with a smile. “But not sleeping.” “Thought I’d go out. Get a drink. Play some cards. I dunno.”}

_{“You’ll come back here tonight?”}

_“Sure.”

_{“Good. Wake me when you do. We can do it some more.”}

_{“Sure.” It was a small lie and a polite one. He stepped into his balbriggans, pulled on his socks, reached for his shirt. “Say, Aggie, since you happen t’ be awake, there was something I forgot t’ ask you earlier. Then when I thought of it again you were snoring.”}