Arriving at the museum, Adelyn was ever so happy to get out of the Philadelphia traffic and over to the Academy of Natural Sciences, a part of Drexel University. Dan parked the motorcycle deftly behind a huge complex of stately buildings and locked their helmets to the handlebars of the bike.

"Come on," he said a bit nervously. "I think the reception's already started."

He reached into his pocket as they made their way back around to the front of the building, taking out his now wrinkled blue tie.

"Here," he said, pausing to button-up his dress shirt. Help me put on this damn thing. I never really learned how."

Adelyn smiled at his boyishness and his too-serious sense of concern for looks. She tied his tie as best she could, then quietly stepped back and marveled at how the simple little accessory made him appear so distinguished. The sign above the massive entryway hanging above them was a huge banner. It read: Dinosaurs Unearthed, and featured a life-like image of a fearsome prehistoric beast showing its teeth in a menacing manner which the museum visitors had to pass beneath.

"It's a little party for the staff and volunteers," he said. "Those of us  who worked on the exhibition this summer. It's opening to the public tomorrow."

"I see."

"It was a real blast for me, you know. Helping out with the engineering. But I absolutely hate these social things."

"Well you were  invited, right?" Adelyn asked, feeling a little nervous herself as she peered in at the guests and donors who were standing around in the foyer. They all were holding wine glasses and small plates of finger-food.

"Yeah. And I'm actually here only to ensure a letter of recommendation. From the director of the exhibit. The guy I worked for. It's for my engineering department and grad school back in British Columbia."

"Well, then let's go in. We'll make a good showing."

"Right," he said, smiling and taking a deep breath. He stepped through the doorway with his arm around her.

As soon as they entered, a pair of elderly women, one wearing an expensive evening gown and the other dressed in what appeared to be expedition clothes, moved across the crowd toward Dan.

"Well there is the man of the hour," stated the woman loudly who looked more like Indiana Jones than she probably wanted to. She seemed genuinely glad to see Dan as was the other woman who now Adelyn could see sported some rather large and glittering diamonds.

Dan rose to the occasion nobly.

"Adelyn, I want you to meet Professor Davies. Department Head of Paleontology and Geoscience here at Drexel . . . and Mrs. Furstenheim. One of the main donors for the interactive dinosaur exhibition here."

Adelyn nodded daintily at the two women and smiled a smile she had learned to put on at such formal occasions.

"Very glad to meet both of you," she said.

"Well I can see Dan's taste in young ladies is as fine as his talents in robotics," the expedition-clad professor said, briefly taking Adelyn's hand and smiling at her wistfully.

"Well, we welcome you both to the celebration, dears," the diamond-clad woman added, sipping her glass of wine. "The collection and special effects are just so marvelous, Dan! They're going to make so many people happy and amazed."

"Now please," Professor Davies added. "You two go get some refreshments and mingle with some of the other special guests that made this instillation just so terrific. Oh, it's just going to be so successful for our city."

"And Drexel," the well-dressed woman added.

"Yes. Well thanks," Dan said, leading Adelyn towards the refreshment table.

As they were getting their wine glasses filled, he looked out across the room at the many guests walking about enjoying the realistic movements of the animatronic and anatomically accurate dinosaurs. The beasts were spread about, gracing the huge interior space of the exhibition hall like they truly lived there.

Adelyn was astounded by the size of the dinosaurs and how the previewers that afternoon could by using hand-held controls, make them gnash their teeth, blink their eyes, roar, and swing their armored tails. They could even reach their forearms out towards the crowds of viewers menacingly while growling like super-giant attack dogs.

"Pretty frightful, Dan," Adelyn said mesmerized by the activity around her. "And you took part in all this?"

"Yeah," he said modestly. The robotics end of it."

"Wow. I'm truly impressed. Seems you do a number of things very well, Mr. Canada," she said quietly and flirtatiously.

The compliment and its double-entendre went unnoticed by him as he spoke up suddenly.

"That's him. . . That's the director of the exhibit," he whispered excitedly. "He's the guy that's supposed to write my . . ."

Suddenly the very gentleman, fortyish, with a mustache and round spectacles noticed Dan, pointed at him and crossing the floor to greet him.

"Well . . . here's your chance to really synch that letter," Adelyn whispered.

"Or not," Dan said insecurely.

"Hey, come on. You're 'the man of the hour,' remember?"

"Yes, but . . ."

"Daniel!  I'm so very glad you made it." The energetic director barked out his greeting. He shook Dan's hand firmly. "You're such a great part of all this, young man."

"Well, I don't think . . ."

"And who is your lovely guest here, Daniel?"

"This is Adelyn. From San Diego. Well . . . that is . . . she'll be attending there soon. At UCSD."

"Delightful, Adelyn." the director said, smiling broadly at her. "Your Dan here is a damn genius in assisting with the robotics we've employed. He's got a huge future ahead of him in that."

Adelyn turned to Dan and smiled proudly.

"Oh!  And i almost forgot. Make sure you email me the name and title of that department chair at UBC's grad school, Dan. You've got a stellar letter coming from me. Anytime."

Dan smiled back at him, truly happy.

"Thank you, Sir."

As quickly as he bounded over, the bespectacled man was off again, congratulating others who had been a part of the enormous work which had obviously gone into the impending museum show.

"Come on," Dan said softly. "I want to show you something."

He led her inconspicuously around a hallway past the last guests visible and then up a flight of darkened stairs. On the next level he proceeded to lead her down a hallway and into a room which seemed to be a workroom with plastic pieces of dinosaurs on tables amid a myriad of wires and circuit boards. He then led her over to a window of the lab which looked out at the Philadelphia skyline—now a series of monolithic boxes with the sunlight reflecting off their prismatic glass and steel walls.

"It's so beautiful up here," she told him. Looking wistfully now back into Dan's eyes.

"Never as beautiful as now," he said, practically in a whisper.

She embraced him heartily and he put his strong arms around her. Their lips met in a soft and anticipated kiss. And soon that kiss grew into a passionate pairing of their lips and tongues amid intense breathing which neither of them were spontaneously afraid to express. Dan gently moved her over against one of the work tables and began to kiss her neck and bare shoulders which she exposed for him. Soon her blouse was off and as easily her bra. Dan kissed her breasts while she ran her fingers through his hair.

Neither of them now feared that they might be interrupted, and certainly they did not even care if they were. Adelyn allowed Dan to lay her back onto the worktable and skillfully pull her summer dress up above her waist. She held her breath momentarily as she felt his hands in the semi-darkness delicately pull her panties down her thighs and then off completely. The cool air contrasted to what she felt next, which was Dan's warm mouth kissing the inside of her legs and moving his mouth up to where she pulsed, uncontrollably anticipating more stimulation. Suddenly, she felt something she had not been introduced to yet by him—the warm wet feeling of his tongue gently exploring that most intimate and sensitive part of her. He had reached up and was holding both her hands with his as he continued his slow tortuous licking and kissing, causing her to spread her thighs further and push up and down to meet the brushings of is incredibly expressive tongue.

Quickly and powerfully that familiar tsunami of pleasure was cresting once more as she cried out into the stillness of the room. This time it was  from a pleasure  many times what she had felt before, merely from his fingers. She began to shudder and squeeze her thighs together against the sides of his face all the while his rhythmic licks did not abate. Then, like a huge current of energy which surged from the center of her to all her extremities in waves and pulses of greater intensity, she rode out the incredible orgasm until it slowly and haltingly dissipated. The feeling as Dan's mouth finally left her, was that she was floating off the table and somehow hovering in mid-air, just allowing her body to recover with mild aftershocks which still sparked and tingled around the place he had so masterfully satiated.

Slowly, as if recovering from a powerful drug, Adelyn was able to reach for her panties and slip them back on. She pulled her dress back down over her thighs and just waited for Dan to pull her up and off the table and into a warm embrace.

"You truly are a technical talent, Mr. Daniel," she said breathlessly. Feeling her heart still beating wildly from the peak experience.

"And you are a true inspiration," he told her, bringing her hand down gently to the front of his pants which was now soaked with what he had obviously spent involuntarily during his own pulsing with waves of pleasure.

Quietly, and almost trance-like, the two ended their heartfelt embrace and left the lab to inconspicuously return to the reception. Adelyn helped him un-tuck the tail of his dress shirt to cover the devilish wet spot on the front of his pants and she walked close to him to further hide the evidence of their erotic industry in the lab.

Passing quickly out the front door of the exhibit hall, amid other guests who were already leaving in the late afternoon, the two made it back behind the building to don their helmets and get Dan back to his evening canoeing stint at the camp.

"I won't see you tonight after my activity," he said somewhat sadly. I really need to think about all this, Adelyn. It's all just too powerful I guess."

"But tomorrow will be my last night here, Dan," she said with equal sobriety.

"Yes I know. And that's exactly why I need to think. To cool down. And consider things."

"Like . . .?"

"Like we will both be going in very different directions soon. It's pretty painful if you think about it."

"Yes. I know. I've already thought of it. . . A lot, Dan."

"Come to my place tomorrow night," he said brightly. "I'll have a special gift for you."

Adelyn was surprised at his comment. Was it the obvious? That which she had expressed earlier to him, after they had first met? Or would it be something else?  

She would unfortunately have to wait for one more night to truly know. 

*     *     *