He knew that she loved to be caressed lightly all over with just his fingertips, loved to have him nibble on her earlobes while whispering sexy intentions, loved his lips and tongue playing first with one nipple, then the other, and particularly loved his tongue swirling on her clitoris, around her vulva and inside her.

She knew that he loved the noises she made when aroused, loved it when she ran her fingernails from the top of his head down his neck and back and over his butt, loved the way she climbed on him when he lay on his back and sat on his penis, and particularly loved the way she sucked its head while stroking the shaft with one hand and cupping his balls in the other.

He always waited until she was good and wet to enter her and, during intercourse, they both enjoyed a slow, sensual rhythm, alternating fucking with tongue play until they alternated orgasms.

But sometimes, especially when their sex lasted longer than one CD, she felt sore the next morning. As much as he loved feeling engulfed inside her, he offered to go with more tongue play and less fucking. But she enjoyed the special closeness of holding him inside her and didn't want any less intercourse, even if it meant occasional soreness.

This went on for some months. Then, at a party, he happened to be introduced to a sex therapist. He took her aside and mentioned his wife's soreness.

"Do you use a lubricant?" the therapist asked.

"No," he replied. "She has no problem getting wet, and I give her lots of head."

"That's a good start," the therapist replied, "but I bet a lubricant would help."

The man called his wife over and related the therapist's recommendation.

"No thanks," she said. "My gynecologist uses it for pelvics, and I can't stand the stuff."

"Your gynecologist probably uses K-Y jelly," the therapist replied. "It smells medicinal and tastes terrible. Try Astroglide, or Probe. I bet you'll like them."

"But I thought lubricants were only for women who don't get wet," she said.

"Not at all," the therapist replied. "I never have sex without lube. Try it on your vulva and inside your vagina and on his penis. I bet it relieves your soreness."

It did. Not only that, the commercial sexual lubricant enhanced their lovemaking in general. A few months later, as they enjoyed a languid afterglow in each other's arms, she said, "I can't believe we did it all those years without lube."

"Me, too," he replied, drawing her close. "Who knew?"

Private Life Romance, relationships, and the personal side of Table Talk