The Lovers Part I 'Dating for over a month and a half and still taking it slowly,' Rick thought to himself as they pulled up at her apartment building. He'd met Lisa at the video store and had, in the time they'd been together, really grown to like her; so much, in fact that he was ready to move up to the next level. Lisa, however, seemed to have different ideas. "Thanks for the great night, Rick," Lisa said, smiling at him from the passenger seat. "No, thank *you*," he said with a genuine smile to match. There was silence for a moment and then she quickly said, "Do you want to come up for some coffee or something?" before she could change her mind. Rick grinned and thanked her for the offer, putting the car into park and getting out to walk up with her. Lisa's apartment was on the third story and was small, as Rick found when they were in. There were but two rooms, a bathroom and a main room that was divided into a living room and a kitchen; she slept on the large fold-out couch. He followed her into the kitchen and helped her make coffee, then they sat on the edge of the bed, drinking. A minute or two after Rick and Lisa sat down, Rick began to regret coming up at all. There was a tickle buried deep in his nose, trying to get him to sneeze. It was strong and persistent and he tried to sniff it away without drawing too much attention to himself. He knew the feeling all too well, though it was usually the fault of the spring pollen and this was late June: it was his allergies. He tried to ignore it so he started breathing slowly through his mouth in small, shallow breaths, not allowing himself the air he needed. It wouldn't let him alone, though, and actually did just the opposite. The longer he sat there, gritting his teeth and pretending to listen to her as he used all his strength to hold it off, the greater the sneeze built up. His nose was scrunching up, nostrils flaring largely, the sneeze coming inevitably. Suddenly he realized that he couldn't hold it back any longer. He set his cup down and took the handkerchief from out his back pocket. "Ahh... Ahchooo!" he sneezed very loudly right into the handkerchief. That seemed to do it, so he folded up the cloth and started to put it away when he realized he was wrong again. The tickle in his nose came back, even stronger this time, urging him to sneeze, and he had no choice but to follow, burying his face in his handkerchief as he couldn't stop. "Ahchoo! Ahchoo! Ah... ahchoo!" He was embarrassed and wanted no more than to crawl out from the room, forgetting about her all together. What a wonderful start at a romantic night; sneezing uncontrollably. Lisa watched him, concerned. He looked so helpless with his eyes squeezed shut, his body convulsing and leaning forward at each sneeze. Tears filled his eyes and his mouth stayed slightly open, letting out the sneeze as much as his nose did, if not more. "Are you alright, Rick?" she asked meekly, putting her own cup down. "AhCHOO!" he shook his head no, unable to stop sneezing long enough to answer. "Ah... Ahh...Ahchoo! Ahchoo! AHchoo!" After a good fifteen minutes without stopping, Rick's nose was still at it, though not quite as bad as before. "Do you ahchoo! haaahh... aaahhh... Ahchoo! have a caahh... aaahhh... Ahchoo! a cat?" Lisa nodded vigorously. "Yes, I do! It's name is Fluffy... are you allergic?" His eyes were like daggers. "Ahhhchoo! Ahchhoo!" "I'll take that as a yes," she said, pulling on his arm to get him to stand and then leading him outside into the cat-free hallway. Once out of the apartment, his sneezes quickly subsided and then left altogether. He blew his nose and turned to her with watery eyes. "So," he said, choking back his bodily fluids. "That was your apartment, huh?" She giggled. "Yes it was. Look, I'm really sorry, I should have mentioned I have a cat." "It's okay," he replied. "You didn't know. I was the one who should have asked. I must have been so taken by your beauty that I entirely forgot." Lisa looked at Rick carefully, finding herself very attracted to him. He was a handsome man, though plain in the face, but it was not his looks alone she felt attracted to. As she looked at him, he looked right back at her, seeing beauty there as inviting to him as no other. Their eyes met and, for a moment, neither spoke; their eyes did all the talking. After the moment, Lisa whispered softly, "I want you, Rick. Tonight." Turned on to hear those words coming out of her mouth, he nodded. Then, without even a word, both went back into the apartment, Lisa taking care to lock the door behind. With an unspoken understanding, they stripped each other down to underwear. Rick was left in his boxers, Lisa in a lace bra and silk panties. Rick sat on the edge of the bed, legs spread in the usual male sitting position, hanky ready in hand as his nose began to tickle again and he held back the sneezes for as long as he could. Lisa went to him, sitting on his lap, facing him, straddling him. One of his hands was on the small of her back, and she laid her hands upon his sides. They were nearly the same height so as she sat on his lap, she was looking right into his face. And what a view she had from there, indeed. As their bodies grew accustomed to each other's, Rick felt the need to sneeze but held it at bay. Lisa noticed his struggle, his eyes blinking and his nose flaring and twitching. She felt an exciting sensation race through her body as she thought of the urges he was resisting, the controlling force upon him. It excited her to watch him struggle, to try to hold back sneezes. He made a small series of gasps as he tried not to give himself air enough to sneeze. "Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah!" he sounded, wrinkling up his nose but still managing to hold them in. He felt the sneezes coming at him, stronger and stronger, until he could stand it no longer and had to- Suddenly she could resist her own urges no longer and leaned forward, kissing him richly, right on the lips. It was unexpected and Rick's lips had been pursed in trying to hold back the tickles, his teeth clenched behind, but both opened against her wet lips. She leaned back out of it, his nose took advantage of his lack of control and at that moment decided to let out the sneezes. "AhCHOOO!" he sneezed, right into Lisa's face. Through tear-filled eyes Rick strained to see Lisa's face. It had a smile across it, as she was pleased, not repulsed, as Rick had thought she would be. "Oh, Rick," she muttered, going back to his lips, locking hers around. He sneezed out his nose, right onto her face as they kissed, and she loved it. So powerful, touching her in ways she had never before imagined. He seemed to be resisting a little, perhaps not being able to breathe as he sneezed and kissed her, so she moved on to other parts of him, kissing his cheek, neck, ear as he sneezed, sometimes on her, sometimes not. He was sneezing heavily in a great allergic fit, so the sneezes were deep and full and ever persistent. Lisa pulled him against her. She could feel each sneeze in his chest as it heaved with congestion at the sneezes. Rick began to be exited as well, as it turned Lisa on and she touched him. He'd never felt a woman do the things she was doing to him, the passion she was showing him, and along with the sneezes that seemed like tiny orgasms themselves, he felt himself stand to in a way he had never dreamed of. He shoved his tickling nose between her breasts, sneezing directly, powerfully, exciting them both even more. They fell back onto the bed, intertwined, naked. Rick couldn't stop sneezing, the cat hair on the bed they were active on was making it even worse, or better, depending on how they looked at it. They joined and Rick entered with an especially large sneeze, "AHH-AAHHCHOOO!" a combination of his excitement and his allergy. He pushed in harder as he sneezed, and she embraced him, moaning and shrieking in extacy to hear him sniffle and sneeze, and to feel it against her. And for the next few minutes there was pure, unanticipated, unadulterated pleasure and fulfillment between them. * * * Lisa rolled over and stroked his cheek lightly with two fingers. Rick, emptying his nose on the twentieth tissue of that morning, smiled at his newly awakened lover. "Glad you enjoyed it it." She smiled back. "Didn't you?" "I never said that I didn't. Only meant it's going to be Hell trying to explain to my allergist." He rubbed his nose with the palm of his hand and sniffed loudly. "Well, I'll come and help you explain it if you want." "I'm sure he'd love that." They both heard a small meow and Rick looked at Lisa with a hint of concern in his eyes, possibly even a look of fright. Lisa swallowed hard, knowing her cat was used to jumping up on the bed to get attention when it wanted some. "I'm late in feeding Fluffy," she said, looking around to see where her cat was at present. But before either could do a thing, Fluffy jumped up onto the bed, right in front of Rick. The cat stretched and shook it's head to clear its ears after the jump, and then walked to Lisa, who quickly placed him on the floor again. The damage had been done. Rick tried not to breathe in, but he couldn't help it as the cat hair and dander in the air triggered his allergies again. The small tickle in his nose worked its way up to full attack form. "ahhh... aahhhh... AAHH-" it was stifled by a finger. Not Rick's own, much to his surprise, but Lisa's. She giggled as she held it there, below the warm and runny nose, pressing up hard to keep the sneeze in. Rick opened his eyes when he felt her helpful touch, and grinned at Lisa. When he was sure the sneeze wouldn't come out, he nodded his head and she took her finger away, though they both suspected it would be back. "Thanks Li-ahh... AAHHH-" This time he didn't even bother to close his eyes, for Lisa was there again to hold it back, as Rick knew she would be. Rick was having as much fun as she was with this, attracted to her in a new sense. As he continued to hold back the sneeze without her finger there, he wondered what it would be like to see and hear Lisa sneeze, to feel her sneezes against him, to help her hold back a strong sneeze. He wondered if she sneezed large ones like he did or tiny, nasal, feminine ones. He began to be turned on by the thoughts and he forgot what he was trying to do. "AHH-CHOOO!" he sneezed, managing to get his hand up in time but still spraying her a little by the unexpected blast. He reached for a tissue but Lisa pounced over and snatched the box away. "Ahchoo!" he continued, narrowing his eyes at Lisa. "Liiaahh.. Lisaahhh... Laahhh... ahchoo! Lisa, I need thooah... ahh... ahchoo! Ahchoo!" He made a dive for the box but she jumped just out of reach, giggling mischievously, getting very turned on as she watched him sneeze freely, without restraint, without anything in front of him. One after another after another, loud, full, wet sneezes that took him over completely. He sat on the bed naked, still, from the night before, sneezing violently without the ability to stop at all. "AH-choo! Ahchoo! AhCHOO! Ahchoo! Ahchoo! AHH-CHoo!" She watched and listened for a few minutes, noticing the way his chest heaved as he breathed in quickly and out just as fast. The way his red eyes squeezed shut under the pressure. The way his head titled back then forward when releasing the powerful sneezes. "AH-Choo! Ahchoo! achoo-achoo-achoo! AhhchOO!" Lisa couldn't stand not touching him, so she went to her lover, just as naked, wanting to make love to him again, to unite them again. But Rick was unsure about it this time, and held a hand up to signal her to stop. "AhCHOO! Not now," he said as the tickles took permanent hold of his nose. Fluffy gave up hope and left by this time, mainly scared off by the loud noises of Rick's protesting sinuses. With only herself and Rick on the bed, now, she refused to let anything stand between her and his sneezes. He protested, himself, with, "There's too achoo-achoo! much now. And I'm Ahchoo! too tired from AhchOO! last night." She went closer, until she could feel his sneezes lightly tickling the hairs on her body, and until her crotch began to tickle, as well, fiercely. "Why let it go to waste, Rick?" she whispered in a sexy voice, her crotch begging for companionship as each different and perfect sneeze came out of him. Lisa leaned forward and touched his nose, then kissed it, rolling her tongue over the bridge, down to his nostrils, and then underneath. Rick understood. "AlriiiaahhhCHOO!" Carefully they went to each other again, though not in regular position, and not in 69, but with Lisa submissively begging on her back and Rick complying with every sneeze as his head went between her legs. He put his nose and mouth close to her crotch at the same time her head hit the pillow, waves of brown hair flowing to all sides. She was on her back, legs bent at hip and knees in birthing position, with her legs spread just enough from Rick to get inbetween. Her hands were on his shoulders as she sneezed on her, his body convulsing on the bed as his lungs were restrained from his lying on his stomach. As a result, the sneezes were more from the nose, less wet but just as erotic. The sneezes still felt wet against the dry insides of her thighs, and then against her crotch, though the pubic hair obstructed part of the fun. "See... if you can... hold... them back," she gasped, too horny to bother catching her breath at a time like that. "Then... let them out with force, right inside of me." As she said it, she felt the need to have it happen, the firm desire to be invaded by a sneeze down there as much as a nose was, if not more. Rick followed advice and, pinching his nose closed, fought back each time the tickle tried to get him to sneeze. All of a sudden, he felt the biggest urge to sneeze ever. He quickly pushed his face forward just in time to let out the most monstrous sneeze he'd ever heard come from himself, "AAHHHCCHHOOOO!" it exploded right into her. She jumped, startled and pleased at it's feel, having a fabulous orgasm. She cried out at its power and dug her fingers into his shoulders. Her back arched and she whimpered as a happy child when the great sneezes came at him even more than the night before. "AHchooo! AHCHOO! AHCHOO! AhhCHOO! AhhhChhhoo! ahh.. AHHH... AHHHCHOO!" * * * * * I just can't do it!" Lisa whined, pouting at Rick. "Why should I even bother to try? My own sneezing doesn't turn me on, Rick... yours does. Why can't you just sneeze?" Rick sighed and coaxed, "Come on Lisa, you can do it-" She sat up and stopped rubbing at the spot on her nose Rick had shown her. "This is stupid. I just can't. Why don't we just to my place? And then we can make love like we always do." "No chance. You owe me." Rick sighed again. "Count with me, here. One, the first night at your apartment. Two, that morning when I pleased you-" "The best oral sex I've ever had," Lisa added, remembering the feel of the large sneezes as they blasted into her. "Three, the stall in the bathroom of that restaurant that had the centerpieces with those horrible little yellow flowers." "We were so caught up that we almost forgot to lock the bathroom door behind us," she giggled, thinking of those little flowers that she'd held in teeth as he sniffed them, causing so much sneezing she thought he'd explode as he couldn't let them out fast enough. "Four, in the back seat of my car when we parked in the fields of freshly-cut grass by the rec center." "You were amazing that time. Lots of sniffling and false starts." She ran a finger down his thigh. "That really turns me on, when you are about to sneeze but they stick in your nose. You look so damn sexy." "Five, when you brought those flowers to your apartment and that combined with the cat hair..." "Your longest attack yet," she noted fondly. "We made love longer than ever!" she exclaimed, trying to get a rise out him. "And a dozen times making out in a dozen places. In the garden section of the fix-it-up store. On the park bench in Central Park next to the flower garden. In the perfume section of the department store-" "I get it! I get it!" "I just want you to sneeze, too, Lisa. I want to hear your sneezes, to feel them, to watch them. Please, just try. I'll sneeze, too, but I want it to be with you. I want us to do it together. Just think of how incredible it will be for us both to be sneezing as we make love. Your sneezes and mine... it'll make for the greatest orgasm ever!" "Alright, I'll try again but I don't even feel a slight tickle. Are you sure the book you read was right?" Rick suddenly had an idea. He quickly jumped up and returned a few seconds later. In his hand was a feather and a bottle of finely ground pepper. Lisa's eyes lit up as she saw the items, and she coaxed him into helping her. He dipped the feather in the pepper to get it covered and then ran it gently under her nose, brushing and tickling her nostrils. "Nope, nothing," she said moments later, disappointed. "This isn't going to work, Rick." He kept trying and, as he held the feather under her nose. Parts were up her nose, trying to get her to sneeze. "Breathe in deeply through your nose a few times, Lisa," he instructed. She did. "Nope. Sorry. I still don't feel anaahh... aahhh.. AhhCHOO!" she sneezed femininely, surprised it had worked. It had been a strong, nose-clearing sneeze, one quite beautiful to Rick's empty ears. "Ahh... Ahhh.. AHchoo!" she sneezed again, her nose filling with a strong tickle, and she didn't resist the need to sneeze it out. Rick sprinkled her with more pepper, and she sneezed even more; he was struck with pleasure to hear them. He loved listening to sneezes, a little more than seeing them, in fact, and felt himself stand to at her luscious "Ahchoo!"s. When he had listened for a few minutes, he wanted to sneeze with her, to please her as much as she him. So he took out the pillow he'd bought that day, a pillow filled with goose feathers, which had always made him sneeze quite a lot. He cut the pillow open at the seam and stuck his whole face inside. Cautiously, he took in two deep breaths through his nose. He felt the sneeze building and with the third breath he knew his allergies had been successfully triggered. His eyes grew teary and nose very tickley. He began to give some sneezes of his own, complementing Lisa's perfectly as they took turns and then sneezed in unison. "Ahchoo!" he sneezed, just as she felt her next one come. "Ahh... Ahhh... Ahhhh," she went but it stuck in her nose, sending a thrill through her as she imagined it coming out on Rick the way he had sneezed on her before. She grabbed at her crotch, and sniffed up some more pepper, going forth with even more sneezes, just as he was giving his own. They both felt it was time, and the went to each other, sneezing hard. Lisa doused herself in pepper and sneezed right on him, just as he leaned forward to kiss her. As their noses both tickled and they constantly "achoo"ed their bodies pressed together, shaking and convulsing with each sneeze of their own and with each of their partner's. Rick entered her with an especially large sneeze "AHHCHOOO!" right against her breasts. Her back arched and she tingled more than ever, all over her body. She gave an equally large "AHHCHHHOO!" as he gave a thrust into her. Each sneeze of hers made her go forward, encasing him further as each huge sneeze of his she him into her with more force but with natural, gentle ease like a sneeze itself. They reached the climax as they both gave enormous sneezes, "AAAHHHCCCHHHOOOO!" Rick and Lisa fell upon the bed, entirely exhausted and tingling still, as their sneezing fits let them drift apart but still kept them together. They could no longer feel each other but they could certainly hear, and so they listened as they sneezed. "Ahchoo!" "Ahhh.. Ah-CHooo!" "AhCHoo!" "Ahchoo! Ahchoo! Ahchoooo!" "AhhChhoo!" "That... ahchoo! was amaahhchOO! amazing," Lisa managed a good ten minutes later, when she had her most of her breath back. "AHCHOO! I know," Rick said, sitting up with his last ounce of strength to look at her. "Just think of how great it'll be if we both catch colds... ahh... aahhhh... AHchoo! at the same time. We won't have to aahhchOO! worry about making ourselves sneeze; it'll be all natural." Lisa sniffed and sneezed her last sneeze of the night before falling asleep; she was very tired out. "AHHCHOO! I can't wait, Rick." Rick's eyes closed from fatigue, though he was still sneezing. He lay down beside his lover, draping an arm over her. Without warning, he felt it come and he sneezed onto her soft, smooth back. He didn't want to get up to get the kleenexes so he looked around for something to use, and found just her panties. Thankful to have found something, he snatched them as a series of sneezes came over him, mostly due to the feathers that had been spread around the bed sheets during their romp. Sniffling and sneezing without stop, he used her panties as a hanky. He didn't want to hold the sneezes back, as he was getting turned on by his own sneezing after having done it so much to please Lisa all week. So he quieted them against the silk that had been at Lisa's crotch, finishing up by blowing his nose in them. Then, nose running, he too fell asleep. His body was pressed up against Lisa, spooning her. And he was sniffing at her ears, sending her into wonderful dreams as he dreamt them, himself. Part II Lisa sat sniffling and sneezing on the couch, a pile of used tissues on the carpet beside her, the television turned to some show she wasn't even watching. She shivered and blew her nose again, wondering when Rick was getting home. That morning, she had every intention of going to work that day, just as Rick had, but she overslept her alarm and, as Rick went to wake her up, realized her warm forehead and flushed cheeks were good indications that she should stay home. He wrote her a short note, saying that he'd be home from work early and to stay sick, and signed it with a big-nosed smiley face. Lisa had been asleep a lot of the day, though, with the way she felt, there was little danger of feeling better. She remembered the night before fondly... * * * "What's yours say?" Lisa snuffled, staring cross-eyed at the red line in her thermometer. "Ahh... Ah-CHOO!" Rick sneezed into his hanky, blowing his nose after. "It's a little over a huaahhhchoo! ahhchoo! a hundred. Yours?" "Almost a hundred and two." "You gonnahh... ahhh... AHH-" Lisa put her finger up to his nose and the sneeze backed away. "Thanks," he said, smiling dreamily at his wife. He finished, "Are you going to go to work tomorrow?" "I don't know," she said, taking her finger away and wrapping the blanket more tightly around her. She was shivering, and found it hard to believe the thermometer which was telling her that she was supposed to be so hot; she was far from hot. Her nose was runny, her throat scratchy, and now she was shivering uncontrollably. "Maybe. Y-you?" He shrugged and rubbed his nose. "I don't know, either. Most likely I will. We need the money." He stood and looked at her a moment. "You cold?" She nodded, unable to keep from shivering. "Y-y-e-e-e-s-s," she stuttered through chattering teeth. "That's ahhchoo! funny. I'm burning uuuuaaahhhhhCHOO! up," Rick said. Lisa shivered and nodded, her teeth chattering too much to reply. She felt her nose running but couldn't reach out of the blanket to get a tissue and wipe it, so she just sniffed let it be. Rick didn't, however, as he wiped her nose for her and held a kleenex there for her to blow into. Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her to bed, pulling the covers over her and crawling under beside her. "Let me warm you, Lis. Leaahhh... ahchOO! Ahchoo! AHchoo!" "B-bles-s-s y-you," she whispered, reaching out and bringing the kleenex box to them. She wiped his nose for him this time, and then kissed it. Rick sniffed and wrapped his arms around his wife, with a sigh that caught him and caused him to cough. " Thanks. How do you feel?" She turned her head to him, smiling. "I c-could use something to w-warm me up-p a l-little." Rick's nose, bombarding him with strong sneezes, complied to her wishes. "AhCHOO! Ahchoo-Ahchoo! AHCHOO!" He sniffed the rest of his sneezes away as he struggled to get his jeans off. "Mmmm..." Lisa muttered as she felt Rick sneeze, his body pressed against hers, his head next to hers. She felt her own nose ache for release, and willingly she let it go, sneezing back, pleasing Rick as much as Rick was pleasing her. The couple laid together with their colds, warming each other with each tickle and great sneeze. Rick's sneezes were deeper, more powerful, causing his thrusts to be stronger than ever, even compared to his hayfever sneezes. Lisa's sneezes were smaller, more wet, spraying Rick as he went into her, arousing him as he constantly pushed himself in hard. They were cute sneezes, unlike any he'd ever heard her sneeze before, stimulating him all the more. "ahchoo!" "AHCHOO!" "ahh... ahchOOO!" "AHHHCHOO!" Rick barely slept that night. Lisa tossed and turned in bed, snoring loudly and whimpering with fevered delusions. What Rick lacked in fever he made up for in sneezing. He had horrible attacks of sneezing that would last him twenty to thirty minutes or so, and whenever he felt one coming on he'd rush to the bathroom and close the door behind so as not to wake his wife up from the noise. "Ahh-CHHHOOO!" he sneezed into the very soiled hanky, the third one of the night. The experience was different than his allergy. The tickles were softer, and came more often to actually tickle, not to just start a sneeze. The sneezes were thick and much more nasal. They pulled and urged hard and he found that once they started, it was almost impossible for him to make them stop. No matter how hard he tried to hold them in, he couldn't even hold half a sneeze off. "Ahh... AH-CHOO! Ahchoo! AHChoo! AHH-AHHH- AHHHHH-" that one stuck in his nose a moment. He sighed and reached for a tissue to blow his stuffy nose when it hit, filling his nose entirely and whipping his head back and forward with a thrust, "AHHCHOO!" The ones that followed made him hot and tingly, and he wished his wife was there to share them. He remembered their time together that night, when each sneeze had been so natural and had come so unpredicted. They were messy and he loved stifling a sneeze by pressing his runny nose against her dry skin. Sometimes the sneezes would actually go away and at that same time Lisa would sneeze. Other times, they'd come out and she'd get excited at them, grabbing him, kissing him, touching him. Rick was sitting on the toilet, the seat cover down, his legs spread. He could feel another huge fit coming on. As they came, echoing in the large bathroom in the dead of night, he masturbated, pleasing himself, giving out heavy orgasm-inspiring sneezes. "Ahh-AhHH-AHCHHOO!" he sneezed, gasping for air as he moaned happily. "Ohhhh... " he groaned from the back of his throat in pleasure. "Ahh... Ahchoo!" He could see himself in the full- length mirror and admired himself as he had his stand, not surprised at how much Lisa was attracted to him as he noticed how big he was. And Rick saw how sexy he looked when he sneezed. He held his hand up in front of his mouth and nose as he sneezed, so as not to spray the germs everywhere, lest he have to clean them off. When his lungs filled with air and his head tilted back, he could see how his nose turned up a little. His nostrils seemed huge when they flared, and his mouth opened, too, as they let out "Ahchoo! AHHchoo! ahh.. ahhhCCHHOOO!" His eyes closed instinctively for the release of the sneeze but he opened them immediately upon deliverance to see the finish. He ended with his nose looking normal, save for a little running, his mouth still open. He watched his chest heave as he inhaled, sometimes not resulting in a sneeze immediately, and sometimes inhaling so much that it built itself up into a huge sneeze that took hold of his whole head to push it through. "Ahh.. AAHHHH-AAHHH-CCHHOOO!" over and over again until it passed almost a full hour, and a wonderful orgasm later. Exhausted and very weak, Rick flicked off the bathroom light and stumbled back to bed, sniffing with runs in his nose, and sneezing into his pillow so as not to wake his wife. * * * Lisa head the keys rattle in the locks and the door opened. In came Rick with a cold burst of air and bags in his arms. He kicked the door closed behind him and dropped the bags on the kitchen counter before collapsing beside Lisa on the couch. "How are you feeling?" Lisa asked, noticing that her husband looked even more pale and sickly than she had last seen him look. "Horrible," he answered, rubbing his forehead. "And you?" "Horrible," she echoed with a smile. "That cold medicine did nothing to help me." Rick nodded. "Same here. I haven't been able to breathe the whole day. And I was sneezing so much half the people in the office avoided me like I was going to kill them or something. I had to excuse myself in the middle of a board meeting because I'd run out of clean handkerchiefs and tissues, and every person in there gave me a horrible look." "Some people... ahh... ahchoo! just can't appreciate a cold. I'm glaahh... aahhhh... ahCHOO! glad you're home now. I missed you all day." "I missed you, too." They sat together a while, coughing, sniffing and blowing their noses. Both were tired from their colds, but both curious about being together again. Lisa's sneezes came out first, disrupting the almost-silence, a very wet sneeze into a tissue she had at the ready. "That sounded sexy," Rick commented as he passed her another tissue from the box. She giggled as she accepted it, ending up in coughs. "Thanks. But I know you, Rick. You only liked it 'cause it was natural and wet-sounding, right?" He nodded. "Yeah, you do know me well." "Ahchoo! Well, now- ahchoo! it's your turn." Rick coughed hard into his fist, shaking his head. "I don't feel like it, Lis." Lisa cleared a spot on the couch and instructed him, "Then you must really be sick. Come, Rick, lie down here." She patted her lap and with a bit of readjusting, Rick was finally lying on his back with his head in his wife's lap. Lisa stroked his forehead, pealing strands of hair from the sweaty skin. "I'll call you in sick tomorrow, Rick. Then we can spend the whole day together. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm here now." "I love you, Lisa," he said, closing his eyes and coughing. "I love you, too, Rick," she said as the tickle built up and she sneezed a few times. "Ahchoo! AH-choo! AhhchOO!" "Lisa?" "Ahchoo! What Rick?" "This isn't as much fun as I thought it would be." Lisa covered her mouth and nose with her hand as she sneezed a powerful "AhCHOO! AHCHOO! AhCHOO! AhCHOO! Ahchoo-Ahchoo-Ahchoooo!" When she was done she blew her nose a half dozen times. "Lisa?" " Yes, Rick?" "Will we make love tonight?" She smiled as she covered her nose with a tissue, feeling the need to sneeze again. It was slow in coming, taking it's time. She waited patiently, letting it build up and then letting it come out before answering. "Ahhh... ACHooooOOO! I'll make love to you aahchoo! any tiiiaaahchooo! time you want me to, Rick. Any time at all." "Lisa?" "What, Rick? ahh... AHHH... achOOOO!" "I'd do the same for you." "I know, Rick." Married life held more excitement than dating, and both Rick and Lisa loved being with each other. Their marriage thrived for many, many years, based upon attraction, love and their shared sneezing fetish.