Chapter 17

Roger entered the control room. Jason signed off on the station log and Roger signed on. He went to the control panel and switched the monitor to FM. “You’re going to be sorry some day,” he said.

“I watch the telemetry,” Jason replied.

“Telemetry won’t tell you about an uplink failure.”

“Sure it will -- we have the waveform monitor on AM and the deviation monitor on FM. You go to your church, Roger and I’ll go to mine.”

He headed out the back entrance and sat in his car. Taking his phone from his pocket he initiated a call to Aja’s cell. It rang several times.

Hello? she answered, groggily

“Hi, it’s me. I’ll be there shortly.”

Mmmpf ... You know, Jason -- you don’t have to call every time you head home. You have your own key, so you can let yourself in. From now on, why don’t you call me only if you’ll need to stay late?

“If that’s the way you want it.”

Yeah, that’s the way I want it.

“Okay. I’ll be there in ten or less. Sorry if I woke you. Love you.”

I love you, too Jason. The call disconnected.

Jason drove to the condo residents’ lot and parked in the designated stall. He approached the condo’s front door. The windows were dark. With his key he unlocked the door and then relocked it behind him. The only light on in the lower level was a ceiling fixture in the foyer, where he slipped out of his loafers.

He noticed a small envelope with a red heart drawn on the front and taped to some red contractor’s string. He picked it up, opened it and read the note:

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Follow this string
for an extra-special
Birthday Screw!

The string appeared to go upstairs. He followed it and it made a U-turn back down and into the kitchen. He saw that it led into the refrigerator. Jason opened the door and it was tied to a half-bottle of Champagne, along with a note that read, Take Me! Take Me!.

Smiling, he removed the bottle and followed the string into the condo’s formal dining room, a room he had never seen Aja use. On the table were two wine flutes with another note. Take us too!

Jason picked up the glasses and followed the string into the unit’s first floor bathroom. A note on a laundry hamper read, A tisket, a tasket. Leave your shirt in the basket.

He stripped out of his logo polo and resumed following the string. It led up the stairs and to a chair sitting on the landing. Another note read, You’re almost there! Leave your pants and socks on the chair.

Jason stripped to his briefs. The string led to the master bedroom doorknob. Carrying the bottle and glasses he opened the door and stepped inside.

Aja reclined atop her bed, her back supported by pillows propped against the headboard. The lights were out but scented candles were burning on her nightstands. A portable radio softly played WNLX-FM. She was wearing a diaphanous white peignoir set -- a bra and G-string made of the sheerest white fabric and a mid-thigh-length robe with three-quarter sleeves made of the same material. Her hair was down instead of tied in her pony tail, and held with a white headband festooned with red stick-on bows. For a belt to her robe she wore a length of red satin ribbon tied in a bow.

“Hello, birthday boy,” she said seductively. “Ready for a birthday treat?”

“What are you? The birthday fairy?”

“Think what you like.”

“And when I called, you let me believe you were asleep in bed and I woke you up. I’m flabbergasted ... and I’m touched. This is a really elaborate surprise, Aja.”

“As you get to know me better, you’ll find I’m full of surprises,” she replied.

“If they’re like this -- I can’t wait. God, you look sexy. I do like your hair down. You should wear it like that more often.”

“Long hair can be a problem,” she said.

“Oh, I know -- especially in bed.”

“What?” she asked. “Did a former love of yours have long hair?”

“No -- I did, in college. It was almost as long as yours. I had a girlfriend who always wore hers in a bob. She was always lying on mine, or leaning on it, or, getting it tangled in jewelry. I know what it’s like so if you want to tie it up at any point, please do.”

“Since you understand, I’ll risk it like this. I know you’ll be careful.”

Jason popped the Champagne cork, filled the glasses and handed one to her. They clinked rims. He sat on the bed and Aja sat on his lap. She sipped from her glass. “Ooh,” she exclaimed, “the bubbles went up my nose.”

He smoothed his palm along her thigh and explored the shape of her knee. “I realized I don’t pay enough attention to your legs,” he remarked. “They are beautiful ... smooth and sleek.” He drained his glass, refilled it from the bottle and topped up hers.

Jason leaned toward her and kissed her lips. “Mmm ... You’re a good kisser, Aja. They kissed again and he caressed her coarse, black hair. “You are such a pretty woman,” he said as he caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “This outfit looks so sexy on you. Did you get it especially for tonight?”

“No, I’ve had this. I have quite a lot of lingerie stashed away. It’s from another era of my life.”

“It looks sensational. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination ... not much but just enough. The red ribbons and all are a cute touch.”

“Champagne goes straight to my knees,” she said. He smoothed his hand along her thigh. “Jason -- tonight, you call the shots. Whatever you want -- I’m yours.”

“Except for anal.”

“Except for anal. What is it with guys and assholes, anyway?”

“Maybe like attracts like,” he replied, slipping from his glass.

Aja giggled and then began laughing. “I think you hit the nail on the head.”

“You are so pretty,” he said, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I love your dark eyes.” He ran his finger along her eyebrow. “I wish I could crawl into that head of yours and see the world through those beautiful eyes.”

“I think you’d want to crawl right back out,” she replied. “Although, the world has been looking a lot brighter the past few weeks.”

Jason traced her lips. She parted them, opened her mouth and stroked his finger with the tip of her tongue.

“There’s a little left in the bottle.” Jason divided the remaining wine between their glasses. He drained his in a gulp and set it on the nightstand. “I think white sets off the dark tones of your skin.”

She finished her glass and set it down. Jason sat with his legs straight and his back against the headboard. He spread his thighs and patted the mattress. Aja sat and leaned against him, her back against his chest. He slipped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck.

Jason pressed his lips against her head and inhaled. “I love the scent of your hair,” he said.

“Oh, God, by now it must be so gross. I’ll shampoo it in a day and a half.”

“It’s your natural fragrance,” he replied. “I love it, like I love the scent of your pussy.”

“At least I wash that daily,” she replied.

“I read once that Napoleon dispatched a message to Josephine that he would be visiting in two weeks and requested she not bathe.”

“Eww...”

“Do you thinke we’ve become too ... sanitary? Have we lost appreciation for how humans, in the natural state, smell?”

“If so, that’s okay,” she replied. “I don’t think humans in their natural state smell all that good.”

“Is it okay if I start unwrapping this special birthday present?”

“It’s your birthday.”

Jason untied the red ribbon around her waist. He parted the sheer robe and looked down on her 32-B breasts filling the sheer white cups of her bra. He ran his finger across her nipple, stroking it through the fabric.

Aja drew in a deep breath. “Oh, Jason ... I don’t know how much of it is psychological and how much is physical. You touch my breast and I can feel the hormone rush.”

“I can see it in your face,” he remarked, “It’s as if your whole face relaxes. Where do you feel it?” He cupped his hands under her breasts and ran his thumb down them and across her nipples.

“My heart ... in my loins and in my womb.” She ran her hands along his thighs.

“I love seeing your brown hands on my pasty legs,” Jason remarked and began nuzzling and nibbling her shoulder and her neck. “My beautiful brown girl...” He could feel her heart beating harder and faster.

“Let me take off this robe,” she said. Aja lifted up and slid it from under her, then slipped it from her shoulders. She leaned back against him and he resumed stroking her breasts through the thin fabric of her bra.

“This bra unties in the center, yes?”

“Yup.”

He tugged on a tie and the cups split apart. She leaned forward and he eased the garment from her and set it on the bedspread. She again leaned back against him, now wearing only her sheer G-string and he resumed stroking her breasts, skin on skin.

“Mmm...” she purred. “I love this part of foreplay ... the buildup. You understand a woman needs it slow and soft.”

“I told you about Ellie. She had the patience to teach me patience, so you can thank her.”

Jason reached for the bottle of hand lotion on her nightstand. He pumped a large glob into is palm and curled his fingers over it to take off the chill. Dipping two fingers into his palm he smeared some onto her nipples. Thoroughly creamed he resumed his stroking.

Aja drew in a sharp breath and dug her nails into his thighs. “Oh, God, Jason -- that’s so intense ... feels so good ... Before I felt your touch on the surface. Now the sensations go deeper -- you’re stimulating a different set of nerves.” He now could feel her heart starting to throb and her thighs twitching and jerking as he fondled her nipples.

He continued fondling her left breast. With his right hand he began caressing the inside of her right thigh. He slid his hand up until he reached her labia and began stroking them through the G-string fabric. Aja’s breathing was growing heavy; she parted her lips and breathed through her mouth.

Jason ran his finger up and down her slit, locating the bump of her engorged clit now barely peeping between her lips. He began languidly stroking it up and down while fondling her left breast. He could feel her heart accelerating. Aja flexed her hands, grasping and releasing his thighs.

Her heart began to race and her breathing became the loud panting he recognized as a tell that she was in the plateau phase of her arousal. He lifted his right hand from her mons, cupped it under her right breast and pinched and rolled both nipples. “Harder!” she gasped. “Coming ... OH!”

Aja brought up her thighs and her belly shook. She reached up and lifted his hands from her breasts. Jason rested them on her lower abdomen and gently massaged her mons. “That was amazing,” she panted as she regained her breath. “I like it when you let me down slowly. How did you know to do that?”

“Actually I was trying to do something else. I wanted to take you on a roller-coaster ride -- take you close to orgasm, let you down, bring you back up again. I thought when you finally came, it would be more intense.”

“I think what you were striving for would’ve frustrated me.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I reach a point at which the only resolutions are orgasm or frustration,” she replied.

“I should’ve backed off sooner,” he replied.

“No, Jason. Trying to delay it would make me lose momentum. What I experienced was much better. I think it was my purest orgasm ever.”

“Purest?”

“Your stroking me brought me to the edge. When you squeezed my nipples -- that’s what pushed me over. It happened without any stimulation down below -- it was like it came out of nowhere.” Aja rolled from between his thighs and then knelt over them, facing him. “It was different ... and it felt really good.” She leaned in toward his face and kissed his lips.