A/N - I had some amazing help on this story... startwriting made the most awesome suggestions and edits and DNPLC is also an amazing encourager! Thanks to you both.

It gets a little spicy here. Fair warning... if you don't like that please don't read...

Chapter 2

Sometime in 1949 – maybe winter since Della is in fur…

(Brackets denote Erle Stanley Gardner's words from The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935) – Novel # 6 end of Chapter 6… Incidentally the only pre 1950 novel not made into an episode by name – although TCOT Treacherous Toupee is obviously based on it… Pity this scene was missing in that broadcast… although if you have seen Raymond Burr and William Hopper's auditions on the 50th anniversary set it is based on this scene. 'Perry' actually takes the top of Della's coat and pulls the top open a bit… MUCH too racy for the time!

A little background on the story… Perry has been at the murder scene and sent a witness back to his office in his car before the police arrive. He calls Della at home and tells her to throw on something and get to the office to meet the witness. She does as he asks but the witness never shows up. Mason returns to the office and finds this out. They have a discussion about the case and then this…)

[Mason grinned at Della Street cheerfully.

"How about looking in on one of the late night clubs before you go home?"

She glanced down at herself and said, "If I took this fur coat off I would be arrested. Remember, you told me to dress in a hurry. This coat covers a multitude of sins."

"Then you are going home," Mason said firmly. "At least one of us should keep out of jail."

Her eyes were worried.

"Chief, you don't mean he's going to get you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, bowed, and held the door open for her.

"One never knows," he said, "just what Sergeant Holcomb will do. He's so blunderingly ubiquitous."]

Mason slipped his arm around Della's waist as he flipped the light switch to off and locked and closed the office door behind them. "Don't worry, Della. I'll be fine."

The couple made their way to the elevator in relative silence, Perry's arm staying firmly attached to Della's waist. There they waited for the arrival of the lift, knowing that with the lateness of the hour the young lady who usually operated it would be off duty and the automatic switch turned on.

Once it arrived Perry expertly set the cage in motion then turned back to his secretary and pulled her close again. "I promise." He told her, understanding that she was still worried. "Trust me?" He gave her his little boy cow eyes look which made her laugh.

"Always." She agreed and with a quick glance around the empty elevator she lifted her chin to meet his eyes. He leaned forward, lips pursed, but to his surprise she turned her head away.

Della?" Perry questioned with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

Della laughed nervously and glanced at the doors. "This is usually where Paul knocks on the door or the phone rings or a client bursts in or..."

Perry couldn't help but laugh as well. "Too true, my girl, but don't worry. I can take care of that." He reached to the elevator control panel and flipped the stop switch. The cage immediately slowed to a halt as they melted back together.

As always, Perry was endlessly amazed by the trust the woman he held loosely in his arms exhibited in him, even though he knew the worry was still there. Hoping to distract her from that worry, as well as taking advantage of the quiet and the privacy afforded, he deepened their kiss, his lips and tongue coaxing hers open.

Della's eyes popped open in surprise when she felt Perry's tongue brush hers, tempting her to echo the movement, but quickly closed again as she gave herself over to the moment and fell under the spell of their passion.

Minutes… hours… days… Neither of them could have sworn later to the amount of time they stayed locked together, lips caressing, tongues embracing, while hands wandered freely. Neither of them cared.

Perry had kissed Della many times in the two years they had worked together, both in the office and after numerous evenings spent out on the town but never had he kissed her this intimately for this long. Although he had dreamed many times of what being this close to Della would be like, nothing had prepared him for the sheer intensity of the feelings evoked. Her uninhibited response added fuel to the fire blazing within him. Della soon felt her back pressed solidly against the wall of the elevator and her employer molded to her front.

Without really knowing how they got there, Della realized that her hands were stroking over the bare skin of Perry's back for somehow she had managed to pull his shirt and undershirt from his trouser waist and slip beneath them.

'Stop this now!' her brain screamed at her, but her body refused to cooperate. She'd often wondered how his skin would feel beneath her fingers, how he would smell, taste… How he would look, this man she loved with her entire being… How strong the muscle and sinew was… how his lips would feel exploring her.

"Per…" His name fell from her uncompleted, as she felt him nuzzle the side of her neck, his nose sliding down her jaw as his lips tasted and teased. Cool air caressed the skin being exposed as he slowly slid the top button of her coat out of its hole. Her fingers gripped him tighter.

And still his mouth moved lower, leisurely following the bare skin being revealed as a second button slipped free… and then a third. A fourth…

Perry was moving blindly, instinct driving him as one side of the coat slipped down her arm. His eyes opened at her gasp and to his instant delight he was confronted with the milky white swell of her bare breast.

"Oh god, baby!" He groaned, exhaling as he lifted her up, her feet leaving the floor. One knee slid between her legs to keep her in place, pushing the coat up her thighs. Her knee bent and locked around his hip as his lips latched onto the soft flesh now at mouth level while one hand slid up her leg.

She whimpered as she caught sight of them in the mirror on the back wall of the elevator, locked together in such a sensuous position. The tiny room seemed to take on a surreal quality… the air thick around them, heavy with the scent of desire… Perry's eyes heavy lidded as his pursed lips and hot tongue continued to lave and pull at her oh so sensitive flesh…His quickly growing need more than evident against her leg. Her fingers fisted in his ebony hair, knocking his precariously perched hat loose. Della couldn't tear her eyes away from the fedora as it drifted toward the elevator floor, seemingly in slow motion.

But more and more she could only focus on the waves of pleasure washing over her… the hunger building… lifting her higher and higher toward…

"DAMN!" Perry cursed and pulled back as a loud buzzing noise filled the small confines of the cage. Reluctantly he lowered Della back to the floor, one large hand moving to cup and cover her still heaving chest while the other stroked her cheek. "Della? Baby? Charlie is calling for the elevator… We have to stop…"