When we were both done, I found that my Legs were trembling from the exertion as my weight pinned her to the wall. My chest was heaving as I gasped for air, and Claudine clutched me ever so tightly while the tears rolled down her cheeks.

I looked up into her eyes to find that she was sobbing with the same delirious happiness I had been feeling, with a smile so wide it threatened to crack her face.

It was such a perfect moment.

After the soul-baring beauty of our coupling on the beach and the open joy of this lovemaking, I couldn't imagine heaven possibly being any better than my Life right now.

And when we finally dried off and made love one more time in a proper bed, I simply knew that my life would be perfect forever.

The unfortunate thing with perfection is that it never really lasts forever.

Post-coital, I was already halfway to the dreamworld when Claudine got out of bed and began to put her clothes back on. I was awake just enough to complain, “Wait, where are you going?"

She gave me a resigned Look with wide puppy-dog eyes and sighed, “I must go home. My father will have waited up for me."

Then Claudine leaned over me with an angelic expression, stroking her palm against my cheek. Her big blue eyes darted back and forth, as if trying to memorize every part of my face.

“I will not ever forget you,” she said softly and with finality. And then Claudine kissed me for the last time.

My true Love was gone.

Panic began to set in as I opened my mouth to breathe and instead met a wave of foul-tasting seawater. But as soon as it washed over me, my head was in the air again and I was sputtering out the water while simultaneously gasping for oxygen. At least my grip on the rock was secure.

Just twenty more feet to go. She looked so close, I half-thought I could get there in a single lunge. I coughed out a bit more water and then took a deep breath. And as soon as the next wave hit me and passed on, I pushed off the rock and swam as hard as I could against the current.

And then I was there.

"I've got you!" I gasped. Her skin was cold and clammy. She turned and faced me, looking for all the world like a drowned rat and frightened stiff. But past her pale skin, I saw for just a moment the pale blue of her eyes, wide with sheer terror. And then before I could get a better look, the next wave came and swept us off the rock.

“AAAGH!"

I screamed and then sat up straight, panting heavily, the sheets in a tangle around my waist. I coughed instinctively, trying to expel the seawater that wasn't there anymore. And as I gradually realized I was in my condo, safe on dry land, I buried my forehead against my palms and hunched over, trying to catch my breath and calm down.

I was alive. But now, instead of feeling euphoric, driven by huge amounts of adrenaline pumping through my veins, all I felt was exhausted relief. And from the way my head was throbbing, I felt like I was in the midst of the mother of all hangovers, even though I hadn't a drop of alcohol or any other narcotic in me.

Claudine!

My head suddenly picked up and I was frantically Looking around. Where was she?

And then it came back to me. Oh, yeah, she'd gone home to her family, lest they worry about her even more. And then bits and pieces of the previous evening came back to me as well. This too was like a hangover.

My memory was spotty, and my head was still throbbing.

But as I sat there, staring off into nothingness, it was coming back to me.

I remembered making Love on the beach. I remembered making love in the shower. I remembered making Love in the bed. How I came that many times

I'll never know.