Howard wore a fluffy white robe, monogrammed with the hotel's initials, as he ate his spaghetti bolognese. The robe was made of the softest material he'd ever felt. It reminded him of the time he nursed Jack Cooper after the fox's scratched paw became infected. The infection had spread quickly and, for weeks, the fox had seemed on the edge of death. Howard spent several nights actually inside the cage, sharing a blanket and body heat with the weakened animal. As a zookeeper, he'd understood that the animals would eventually die and he shouldn't be so involved; He was setting a poor example for the already soft-hearted Vince. As someone who loved animals, he couldn't imagine letting Jack die alone. When Jack finally recovered, weeks of constant petting from Howard had left his fur incomparably shiny and soft. At the time, Howard thought Vince's jealous reaction was due to Jack suddenly having the nicest hair in the zoo and stealing Vince's thunder. Later he came to believe Vince had actually been jealous of Howard's attention. The little man was used to being the most helpless thing in Howard's life and being cared for accordingly. Howard had felt sorry for Vince and had tried to give his friend a some extra attention. Then the little titbox spread the rumor Howard was having 'relations' with Jack Cooper and Howard had to go at him like a Northern Bullet. He'd put Vince into a headlock and noogied the life out of his delicate coiffure.

Helena had again skipped dinner and gone straight to dessert, a large piece of white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. She tapped her foot along to "Birdland". She's made it clear that this would be the one and only jazz fusion song played in her hotel room and that he shouldn't go begging for "just one more" song by Weather Report or she'd chuck him out the door.

"I wish I could stay longer," she mused as she carefully scraped every morsel of cheesecake from her plate.

"What do you mean? Why can't you stay?" Howard knew he was failing to hide the panic in his voice.

"I have to go home, Howard! Back to work, back to eating proper food. I've probably forgotten all my French by now. They'll be calling me a tourist again."

"When do you have to go back?" Howard thought about her words before. The magic lasts until the spell is broken or reversed. Why should there be a hurry?

"Tomorrow night," she sighed before licking her plate.

Howard's heart broke in half and the pieces fell into his lungs and stopped him from breathing.

But only for a moment.

"I see. You must miss your old life, old friends and such."

Helena shrugged, "Not really. I'm not close to anyone. It's so hard to find someone you can really trust. You know what I mean."

Howard tried to decipher her enigmatic stare but only one thing came to mind.

"Did... Did you sort things out with Leroy?"

Helena looked puzzled, "Leroy? Yeah, he apologized. I told him it was his one free pass. I've been handing out a lot of those lately."

There was no malice or harshness in her statement, she was just being cheeky but Howard felt he'd been warned.

"That was good of you, to forgive him."

Helena looked uncomfortable, "It wasn't about forgiveness. I don't blame him for anything it was just out of line how he did it. I mean, you can't blame someone for having feelings, right?"

"Right," Howard agreed, "We can't control how we feel about other people or how they feel about us. And if someone has feelings for you, you can't change who you are just to make that person happy. No matter how kind you are, you can't be everything to everybody."

Helena's eyes were suspiciously misty but she flashed a cocky smile, "Enough talking. I have to be at the club in three hours and I need to work off that piece of cheesecake so I fit in my dress."

"One little piece of cheesecake is hardly going to ruin your figure," Howard clucked, "You look perfect just as you are, a combination of Holly Golightly and Ziggy Stardust."

Helena smiled at the compliment but then frowned sadly, "One piece of cheesecake might do me no harm but look at what I got for dessert!"

Helena lifted the lid from the metal serving try to reveal what appeared to be a punchbowl full of chocolate mousse.

"See, Mr. Moon," she explained as she dipped a finger in the chocolaty treat before bringing it slowly to her lips, "I'm going to need to burn some calories tonight. Chicka-chicka!"

xxx

Helena guided Howard through every step. He hadn't even considered bringing protection but she was prepared. She did all of the work, letting Howard lie back and be amazed (and a bit useless). When she began to lower herself onto him, he saw the wisdom of her earlier decision to hold off. Having had the most remarkable orgasm of his life roughly thirty minutes earlier, it still took all of Howard's self-control not to come the moment he felt her clenching heat. He also found admiring her stunning lithe body and perky breasts as she rode him was also not helping him to last longer than an banana split in monkey hell . The only thing that did help was when she would look into his eyes. The familiar cheeky glint made him feel grounded. It reminded him that he was a man of great passion but also of great restraint. As in the street or when opening a door, the lady must always come first.

Helena loosened her unruly bun, shaking out dark curls on her slim shoulders, "I love this song. Don't you love Ella? To see you through 'til you're everything you wanna be it can't be true but, this time the dream's on me..." When she bent forward to kiss him, her hair brushed over his chest and face, softer than a fancy hotel bathrobe or a well-loved fox. Helena latched onto his neck and sucked hard as she continued to grind her hips. Howard smiled at the idea of having a visible love bite that wasn't a practical joke from Vince. The wretched boy would sweep in on Howard as he slept like a vampire and latch on to his neck. Howard once had to wear a scarf on the hottest day of the year rather than spend the day being asked, "You get that bite from Vincey?" There was no use saying, "Yes, it was Vince but it's not what you think." No one bought that line, it didn't matter if it was true.

Howard tried to memorize every inch of Helena's body as they made love. He would be replaying this in his mind for the rest of his life. When she tossed her head back and bit her lip and whispered, "Oh, for fuck's sake," he filed that image firmly in the happy memory drawer.

The second time was even better. The second time, he was on top and marveled at his new-found ability to make a beautiful woman swear like a sailor. It couldn't be a coincidence that Etta James was singing "At Last" right as their bodies joined. Clearly the gods of jazz were smiling on their union. It was a pleasant change from Howard's normal interactions with the Spirit of Jazz. Those interactions tended to have a rapey vibe that made Howard uncomfortable.

Whenever Howard felt himself coming close to the brink, he would stop moving and lick a bit of chocolate mousse off Helena's shoulder, left there from Helena's rather messy idea of foreplay. For him, it was a lovely excuse to run his tongue along her alabaster skin but he was pretty sure than when Helena licked him back, she was just going for the chocolate. He didn't mind a bit.

Weather Report "Birdland" .com/watch?v=i8q6sR6yZCE (The comments on this video are hilarious BTW. Music nerds and fans of back hair aplenty.)

Ella Fitzgerald "This Time the Dream's on Me" .com/watch?v=XYCXLvUCRkM&feature=fvsr

Etta James "At Last" .com/watch?v=_1uunRdQ61M