The Conference 55

Atlanta in September.

In a conference hall an international biochemistry conference was taking place. Johnny was on his way up to the podium to present the paper on his research at Harvard entitled "Molecular mechanisms underlying viral genomic RNA - host interactions".

In the audience was Nora. She was a researcher at Stanford, and the contribution she was going to present was entitled "High resolution dynamic and spatial studies of prokaryotic cellular organization".

When Johnny took the podium, Nora jumped, and a warm wave swept through her. "But why am I reacting like this?" she wondered. Although she had read some of Johnny's papers in the Journal of Biomedical Science, she had never met him.

When Johnny finished his presentation, there was polite applause in the room, and then a brief discussion of the talk with short questions to Johnny. Then he went down and took his seat. And Nora suddenly realized that she had not heard a word of either the presentation or the discussion. She had just sat there, mesmerized, looking at Johnny.

Eventually it was Nora's turn. She gave her presentation with her PowerPoint slides, answered the discussion questions expertly, and then stepped down from the podium.

Johnny followed her with his eyes. He felt her touch him in a way he had never experienced before. Then suddenly he saw her stop, and look back at him. He thought it seemed like ages while they looked at each other. But in reality it only lasted a few seconds. And then Nora went to her chair.

In the evening, the obligatory conference dinner took place. There was a buzz of chatter as the conference participants searched for their seats. And eventually he found his seat. While he was reading the menu, a lady sat down to his right. He looked up. It was Nora.

Johnny's heart rate increased. Nora's pulse increased too. At first they looked at each other, as if spellbound. But after a few seconds they gathered themselves together and introduced themselves to each other.

During dinner, they first talked about their respective fields of research, about the working conditions at Stanford and Harvard, and about some other impersonal things. Eventually, they also started talking about their personal lives. Both had been married for a few years. Nora had a young daughter, and Johnny had a slightly older son.

By the time they got to dessert, they had talked a lot about how they were doing at home. Johnny didn't say it right away, but when Nora put two and two together, she realized that Johnny's marriage wasn't very successful. And hers was not successful either. And the more she talked to Johnny, the more she felt attracted to him.

Then there was dancing. Nora and Johnny went onto the dance floor. They took each other's hands. Johnny looked at Nora and smiled. Then Nora wrapped her arms around Johnny and pressed herself tightly against him.

Then they started dancing. Nora glided around the dance floor with Johnny like in a dream. They danced with their bodies close together, and Nora thought that now she wanted to be as intimate with Johnny as she could be for the sake of convention. And Johnny's heart pounded as he felt Nora's body against his.

They danced dance after dance. But then Johnny said that maybe they should go back to their seats so that others could have a chance. Otherwise it might look a bit weird. Nora really wanted to keep holding Johnny, but she realized he was right. And she had colleagues from her institution in the room. And she was terrified that her husband would find out that she was seeing someone else.

It wasn't long before another man asked her out. When he eventually dropped her off at the table, she and Johnny went back onto the dance floor. And so they danced, completely absorbed in each other.

The next day was the last day of the session. Now Nora and Johnny sat next to each other. At a break, they sneaked away from the others and found an empty group room. They went in, closed the door, and then they fell into each other's arms. And Nora held Johnny's head and looked at him with tearful eyes.

"But Nora, are you sad?" Johnny asked.

"No, I'm so happy," Nora replied. Then she kissed him.

It was a long tender kiss. Johnny was so taken by Nora that he almost got dizzy. And Nora's heart was beating wildly.

"Nora dear," said Johnny. Would you like to come to my hotel room tonight?"

Nora stroked his cheek. "I'd love to, Johnny. But I don't dare. My colleagues from my institution are going out to party tonight, and I have to be there. Otherwise it'll look weird."

"What a pity," said Johnny. "You know, I like you so much. I think about you all the time. I can't help it."

"Dear Johnny, it's the same for me," said Nora.

Then the break was over, and after a last hug they went back to the session room.

After the session, they managed to have a little time with each other. They exchanged email addresses, but not phone numbers. Nora was afraid her husband would check her phone and find Johnny's number. And then she said,

"Johnny, dear, we must try to meet again somehow. So that we can be together. For real. Can't you think of some way to visit Stanford?"

_ _ _ _ _

Johnny was sitting in his study at Harvard, thinking about what contacts he could make with the scientists at Stanford. There was actually Mike who was working on similar things to himself. They had had some e-mail correspondence before, but now they had not contacted each other for a long time.

Johnny sent Mike a quick email asking how his project was going. Almost immediately, he received an enthusiastic email back, in which Mike described the situation. Several emails were exchanged, and eventually Johnny and Mike were well informed about each other's projects. And there were some very interesting points of contact that neither of them had noticed before. So Johnny cautiously raised the issue of collaboration between the projects. And Mike jumped at the chance. Now all that remained was to get their research managers on board with the idea. Because they were the ones handling the money.

John presented the idea of collaboration to his research leader, and after some persuasion, he got him on board. And so Johnny arranged a meeting with Mike, in Stanford.

In the meantime, Nora and Johnny had been emailing each other frequently. It was red-hot love letters, and they were both sick with longing to see each other again.

Then the day came when Johnny could email Nora that he was going to visit Stanford.

Johnny's plane landed early in the afternoon in San Jose. Nora had taken the afternoon off from work, and now she met him in the arrival hall.

It was a long, tight hug. Then Nora drove Johnny to his hotel.

They opened the door to the hotel room. They went inside. They closed the door. Now they were all alone with each other.

They hugged hard and long. Then they let go of each other. Nora put her hands on Johnny's shoulders and smiled at him, while tears ran down her cheeks. And Johnny smiled back silently.

Then, slowly and gently, they undressed each other. And when they were completely naked, they hugged again. And Nora felt Johnny's penis stiffen against her belly.

Then they lay down on the bed and started caressing each other. Johnny caressed Nora's breasts and played with her nipples, while she stroked Johnny's neck and back. Then Nora turned over on her back, and while Johnny gently massaged her vagina, she closed her hand around his penis.

Then Nora spread her thighs, and Johnny lay on top of her. And then they French kissed while Nora moved Johnny's penis back and forth between her labia. And then finally he pushed his penis into her, slowly and gently.

It was a long and loving intercourse, accompanied by tender caresses and kisses. And then finally Johnny had a powerful orgasm and ejaculated violently into Nora. And when she felt it, she also came in an intense orgasm.

Then they lay close to each other, Johnny with one thigh pressed comfortably against Nora's warm vagina, and with their arms around each other.

After a while Nora took a gentle hold of Johnny's penis and began to jerk it. And she felt it stiffen again in her hand. Then she lay down on her back again and took Johnny in. He leaned on his hands so he could see her face. And after a while he saw her squeeze her eyes shut and moan.

"But does it hurt, Nora?" he asked.

"No, no," she replied, "it's just that it feels so good."

Then they had new orgasms, long and pleasurable.

And then they lay next to each other again. And now they talked about how they were at home. First they talked about their children. Then they got into some serious stuff. Nora told Johnny that her sex life with her husband was a disaster. He simply didn't work when they were having sex. And the big problem was that he blamed Nora for it not working out for him. So when they tried to have sex, he became aggressive afterwards.

Lately he had become aggressive in other ways too. Once he had swept her potted plants off the windowsill so that they were lying in a mess on the floor among potsherds and soil. So now she had become afraid of him.

"I feel so safe with you, Johnny," she said, hugging him tightly. "It feels like a huge support to me that you just exist. Dear dear, how I love you!"

Johnny stroked her hair. "I love you too, Nora. Terribly much. And I feel so safe with you too. I feel like we've been together for a long time."

They continued talking. Johnny told Nora a little about how he was with his wife. They didn't get on at all. When they tried to talk to each other about practical things, there were always misunderstandings, and Johnny's wife scolded him. And as soon as their son went to bed they argued. And they hadn't had a sex life since their son was born. And worst of all, his wife had periods of deep depression.

It was time for Nora to go home. It was important for her to get home at a normal time so that her husband would not suspect anything. They showered and dressed, and then hugged each other one last time before Nora left. And then Johnny was left alone in the hotel room.

_ _ _ _ _

It was a month before Johnny could go to Stanford again. Like last time, Nora met him in the arrivals hall, and they went to the hotel.

They hugged and kissed, and talked about how they had been. Johnny said it had been hard to focus on work. Because he had always had Nora on his mind. And for Nora it had been the same.

Then they undressed each other. And then they lay next to each other on the bed and caressed each other. And then they made love.

When Nora got her orgasm, she hugged Johnny so hard it almost hurt. And afterwards they lay next to each other again and caressed and kissed. And as before, Johnny had one of his thighs pressed up against Nora's vagina.

After a while, Nora took hold of Johnny's penis, and jerked it slowly and gently until it stiffened again.

"Do you want to sit on me?" Johnny asked. And Nora did. Johnny turned over on his back, and Nora slowly lowered herself with her vagina over his penis. And then she rode him. She moved slowly, letting her vagina both push Johnny's penis in and pull it out so that the glans was surrounded only by the labia. Johnny held her ass, enjoying every movement she made. And Nora smiled at him and moaned.

Then Johnny tightened up his hips with Nora on top of him. And then he rotated the hips so that she was cantering around on his penis. He could tell she was enjoying it. And when he had a powerful orgasm, she came too.

_ _ _ _ _

One evening, Nora emailed that she had finally found a research partner at Harvard. Now she was going there for a work meeting. So this time it was Johnny who met her in the arrivals hall at Boston Logan airport. Johnny had his overnight bag with him, because he had told his wife he was going to a work meeting in San Jose. So now Nora and Johnny would have their first night together.

They hurried up to Nora's room. And there they made love. Afterwards they went to the bathroom, sat in the tub and showered each other. Then Nora suddenly grabbed Johnny's penis and started jerking it. And Johnny stuck two fingers into Nora's vagina and finger-fucked her, all while the shower head was in the bathtub and flushing.

After a while, Johnny pulled his fingers out of Nora and said that now he had to fuck her before he came. Nora immediately let go of Johnny's penis, and they quickly got out of the tub and dried each other off.

Then Johnny sat down on the toilet seat. "Come on Nora!" he said. And Nora straddled the toilet chair with Mike on it and let her vagina slowly slide down over his penis. And then she rode him. Johnny wrapped his arms around her back and held her close while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Nora came quickly. Somehow, the intercourse on the toilet seat made her extra excited. And when Nora came, Johnny ejaculated heavily into her.

Then they sat there, Nora on Johnny. But he still had a bit of a hard-on left, and continued to thrust slowly into her. Then he squeezed so that his penis twitched in her vagina. And when he did, Nora blinked and said "Oh, that's nice! Do it again, Johnny."

"If we squeeze at the same time, Nora, it feels extra good. Now I'll count to three."

And on three they both squeezed. And it tingled really nicely. They laughed, and then they did it again a few times.

When they lay in each other's arms in bed afterwards, Nora said that she thought it was so nice with their sex. It was so easy, undemanding and pleasurable, and fun. She had never imagined that it could be so nice.

Johnny hugged her and said that he enjoyed having sex with her so much. And that it was extra pleasurable because he was so helplessly in love with her. And Nora hugged him back, hard and long.

It was evening, and they went down to the hotel restaurant for a late dinner. When they got back up to the room, it was time for bed. They stripped naked, and before they fell asleep they had a quiet bedtime intercourse. Then they crawled under the covers together and spooned, with Johnny's hand around one of Nora's breasts, and his nose against her neck.

In the morning they has sex again. And after breakfast they rode in Johnny's car to Harvard.

In the late afternoon it was time for Nora to go home again. They hugged in the departure hall, and Nora said that she didn't want to go home at all but stay with Johnny. But then she said that she longed for her daughter.

_ _ _ _ _

The next time they met was in the arrivals hall in San Jose. Nora sat quietly in the car while they drove to Johnny's hotel. When they had entered the hotel room and closed the door behind them, Nora leaned her head on Johnny's shoulder and cried.

Johnny held her, wondering what was wrong.

Between sobs, Nora said that her husband had scolded her like he used to the day before. And then he had pushed her so hard that she fell to the floor. And now she was terrified of him.

"What am I going to do, Johnny, what am I going to do?" she sobbed.

A thousand thoughts flew through Johnny's head. One thing was clear; Nora had to get away from her aggressive husband. But how to do it?

"Nora," he said suddenly. "Let's get married!"

Nora continued to sob, but then suddenly she stopped.

"What did you say, Johnny?" she asked.

"Nora, will you marry me?"

Nora looked at Johnny with tear-filled eyes. "Oh Johnny, do you really want that?

Johnny put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her seriously.

"Yes, Nora, I want so much for us to live together. For the rest of our lives. Do you want that too?"

Nora was so taken that her voice betrayed her. So she just nodded. Then they stood there in the middle of the room, holding each other tightly.

Seconds before Johnny said the redemptive words to Nora, he had fully realized the difficulties they were facing. There were the problems of divorce, custody of their children, where they would work and live, and more. He had no idea how they would solve it. But he thought that it would simply have to work itself out one way or another.

That afternoon they did not have time for sex. Instead, they sat in the hotel room and planned for the future.

_ _ _ _ _

It had been just over a year. The divorces were finalized, and Nora and Johnny had married. They had both succeeded in getting custody of their respective children after grueling negotiations in court. And after intense lobbying and utilizing all of Nora's and Johnny's contacts, Nora had managed to get her project transferred to Harvard.

Now, on that first evening, they sat close together on the terrace staircase of their newly acquired little house. On the lawn, their two children played with each other. A third was on the way; Nora was three months pregnant.

Johnny looked at the children. A few tears ran down his cheeks. Nora leaned her head on his shoulder and put an ebony brown hand on his arm.

"It's been a long and hard journey," sighed Johnny.

"Yes," Nora replied. "But now we're finally here.

Johnny wiped the tears from his cheek. "Yes, we are. My darling, darling wife! I love you so much!"

Nora hugged Johnny and whispered "My dear man!"

It was getting late, and they eventually managed to get the two excited children into bed. Then they went into their bedroom, stripped naked, and lay down in their newly acquired double bed. They lay facing each other, kissing, hugging and caressing, and after a while Nora put one leg over Johnny's. And Johnny gently pressed himself into her. And so they made love for the first time in their shared home.