Avon wanted to touch him, but the rope still held him in place and he let himself go limp, trembling with aftershocks that seemed to go on for eternity. There were not tears in his eyes, he told himself firmly; it was the chafing of the ropes making them water, that was all.

He had never been so shattered by sex, emotionally or physically. It was as much as he could do remember how to breathe.