Exploring ideas and directions for the novel project… “Even though I have a boyfriend,” he said, “you can kiss me now.” The invitation, as strange, dangerous, and illicit as it sounded, could only be accepted.  I acknowledged it first by a discreet kiss on the cheek, on his left side, my right side.  Our arms soon followed, and like an airplane on its approach to landing, my nose guided my lips to that mysteriously sensitive area under the ear, where they dwelled for a while, tickling the thin layer of skin, muscle, and nerve.  With an unconscious decision to move on, again led by a nose excited by the softness of a fair skin on which only the suggestion of a beard manifested a pleasant resistance, the lips found each other and locked in.  It felt as if they had been measured for each other. “Oh, if only…” my head started to reason, raising the alarm that the moment was about to end.  I tried to ignore it, tried to think of a mantra as …