It was therefore easy enough even in a small town like Newbampton for Jessica and Tom to conduct their sexual liaisons in secret. Their friendship and work together was open and above board, considered by the gossips to be nothing more than platonic. For the first few months Jessica was amused to have a sex life that was that and nothing else. She had laid down rules to ensure that nothing other than sexual pleasure entered their lives. They agreed never to dine together as a couple, never to partner each other socially, in fact never to see each other except at work or for sex. Tom was never to give her a gift or bring a bottle of wine, they would never inquire into each other’s day-to-day existence. It was to be sex pure and never simple, lust gone out of control. That suited Tom; it was, after all, what he believed sex and orgasm was all about. To treat each other as sexual objects and nothing more was for Jessica the final step in sexual depravity. She found it incredibly sexy, the one-night stand that went on for ever.
