The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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dollars. Still later they drove up to Boulder Dam in the moonlight and he tried to make 
love to her but when she resisted after a few kisses he knew that she really meant no 
and stopped. Again he took his defeat with great good humor. “I told you I wouldn’t.” 
Lucy said with half-guilty reproach. 
“You would have been awfully insulted if I didn’t even try,” Jules said. And she had to 
laugh because it was true. 
The next few months they became best friends. It wasn’t love because they didn’t make 
love, Lucy wouldn’t let him. She could see he was puzzled by her refusal but not hurt the 
way most men would be and that made her trust him even more. She found out that 
beneath his professional doctor’s exterior he was wildly fun-loving and reckless. On 
weekends he drove a souped-up MG in the California races. When he took a vacation 
he went down into the interior of Mexico, the real wild country, he told her, where 
strangers were murdered for their shoes and life was as primitive as a thousand years 
ago. Quite accidentally she learned that he was a surgeon and had been connected with 
a famous hospital in New York. 
All this made her more pooled than ever at his having taken the job at the hotel. When 
she asked him about it, Jules said, “You tell me your dark secret and I’ll tell you mine. 
She blushed and let the matter drop. Jules didn’t pursue it either and their relationship 
continued, a warm friendship that she counted on more than she realized. 
* * *
Now, sitting at the side of the pool with Jules’ blond head in her lap, she felt an 
overwhelming tenderness for him. Her loins ached and without realizing it her fingers 
sensuously stroked the skin of his neck. He seemed to be sleeping, not noticing, and 
she became excited just by the feel of him against her. Suddenly he raised his head 
from her lap and stood up. He took her by the hand and led her over the grass on to the 
cement walk. She followed him dutifully even when he led her into one of the cottages 
that held his private apartment. When they were inside he fixed them both big drinks. 
After the blazing sun and her own sensuous thoughts the drink went to her head and 
made her dizzy. Then Jules had his arms around her and their bodies, naked except for 
scanty bathing suits, were pressed against each other. Lucy was murmuring. “Don’t,” 
but there was no conviction in her voice and Jules paid no attention to her. He quickly 
stripped her bathing bra off so that he could fondle her heavy breasts, kissed them and 
then stripped off her bathing trunks and as he did so kept kissing her body, her rounded 

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