Chapter 26: Natalya

November 21, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"Where are we going for lunch?" Tasha asked.

"Ed Debevic's on North Wells. It's a fun place."

My goal was to get her to relax. When I'd arrived at the office to pick her up after karate class, she'd been, as Stephie might have said, 'as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs'. I smiled at the thought. I missed Stephie, but every memory of her was good. She'd known exactly what to do, so that I didn't spend weeks or months or years mourning, as I had with Birgit.

"Why the smile?" she asked.

"I was just thinking about my friend Stephie."

"The one who died?"

"Yes. But don't worry about that. It was just something silly that she said."

"And I made you think about it?"

The only way out of the situation without making things worse, was to tell her.

"It's just you being so nervous. She had these really folksy sayings like 'as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs'."

Tasha laughed, which was a good thing. On the other hand, Penny coming out of our office was not. It dawned on me that I should have had Tasha meet me somewhere else, but even that would have caused Penny to question her. Even telling her not to come into the office wouldn't help, because Penny would ask why she wasn't there.

"Steve?" Penny said, smirking. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking Tasha to lunch," I said.

"Uh-huh. Have a good 'lunch'," she said, winking at me.

Tasha shut down her computer, and we walked out of the office.

"You talked to Penny again?" I asked.

"Yes. Are you angry?"

"No, of course not! If you're OK with her knowing about this, then it's fine. I will have to tell her to keep her mouth shut."

"She will," Tasha said, slipping her hand into mine. "I needed to talk to someone."

"I'm not sure Penny was the best choice."

"Why? Because the two of you slept together when she was fifteen? And because she told me the things you and I could do together? And what it's like? She was really nice about the whole thing and gave me good advice."

Penny giving good advice to Tasha about sex with me was an interesting development. I had watched Penny mature from a silly little girl into a thoughtful, intelligent young woman. It hit me that her teasing me was like Melanie's used to be. It was, like Melanie's, born of a mutual desire, but with the understanding that nothing could come of it. Suddenly, my relationship with Penny was clearer, and I knew that I had to start treating her like an adult, not like a little kid.

"And I thought you were super nervous!" I chuckled.

"I am! I'm scared to death! But I want this!"

"Scared? Not nervous?" I asked as we came to my car.

I helped her into the car, walked around and got in. I started the car and pulled away from the curb.

"Maybe nervous is a better word," she said a few minutes later. "Excited, but nervous."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What?"

"Do you go to confession?" I asked.

I saw her smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you worried that I'm going to tell Father Basil?"

"The thought did cross my mind," I chuckled.

"I don't go to church very often these days, and I don't plan to tell him. And even if I did, I wouldn't say who I was with."

"Do you think it's a sin?" I asked.

"I don't know what I believe."

"Welcome to the club!" I chuckled.

"Were you nervous your first time?" Tasha asked.

"A bit, but it kind of happened in such a short time, so I didn't really have time to think too much about it."

"It's all I could think about for the last couple of weeks," she sighed. "What it would be like; how I would feel."

She sounded a lot like Penny had before our first time. It seemed her nervousness was fading, but I strongly suspected that it would come back when we got to the hotel. I thought I had a way to help her get over her nervousness, but there was no way to be sure. I also hadn't addressed the issue of staying overnight, but that I could play by ear.

Lunch was fun, with the usual silliness from the waiter at Ed Debevic's. He sat in the booth with us while he took our order and was completely irreverent. I was happy that it wasn't like Dick's Dock, where the waitstaff had their schtick of being purposefully rude. When we finished lunch, we headed to the InterContinental Hotel on North Michigan, and after leaving my car with the valet, walked inside. I handed my American Express Card to the desk clerk, and five minutes later, we were on our way up to our room.

"Did you see the look the clerk gave you when you said that we didn't have any bags?" Tasha asked with a nervous laugh.

The only thing I'd brought with me, besides my wallet and keys, were four condoms and a tube of lube, which I thought I might need if she was extremely nervous. Both of those were in the inner pocket of the light Winter jacket that I was wearing.

I chuckled, "I'm sure we're not the first couple to check into the hotel without luggage, and the gold Amex card seemed to change his attitude pretty quickly."

We exited the elevator on the 7th floor and found our room. I slipped the plastic keycard into the slot to unlock the door, and we went into the room. I hung the 'Do Not Disturb' placard on the outside of the door, then closed it and moved the locking mechanism into place. I turned to see Tasha standing in the middle of the room, staring at the bed. She was shaking slightly, almost like she was shivering from being cold, but the room was plenty warm.

I took off my jacket and hung it in the closet, then took off my shoes. After setting them on the floor of the closet, I walked over to stand close to Tasha.

"I'll hang your jacket in the closet, if that's OK," I said. "And take your shoes."

She slipped off her jacket and shoes and handed them to me without looking. I took them, picked up the shoes, walked back to the closet and hung up the jacket, placing the shoes on the floor. I then went to sit on the couch.

"Do you want to come sit with me?" I asked.

She nodded, then turned slowly towards me and sat, leaving a fair bit of space between us. I decided on a bit of levity.

"I won't bite. Well, unless you want me to!" I said lightly.

She laughed softly, which, again, I took as a good sign. She scooted closer and leaned against me. I put my arm around her and let her snuggle.

"How long can we stay?" she asked.

"All night, if you want," I said.

"Really? We can sleep in the same bed? I've never done that before!"

"Spending the night will probably never happen again, though. Jess is pretty particular about that."

"Again? You mean like if I like it we can do it again?" she asked, shifting so she could look into my eyes.

"If?" I said with a smile and lowered my head to press my lips gently against hers.

Tasha's tongue quickly found mine, and the soft kiss turned to a deep, passionate one. As she had before, she began moaning softly into my mouth. I slowly slid my hand up to gently cup her small breast outside her light sweater. When she didn't protest, I ran my thumb back and forth across her nipple, which quickly hardened. We kissed for a couple of minutes until she broke away, panting hard.

"Wow!" she gasped. "I feel like I'm going to explode!"

I smiled and kissed her again. I hadn't moved my hand from her breast when we'd stopped kissing, but now I slid it down to her stomach. Tasha whimpered, but as my fingers crossed the waist of her jeans, she reacted with a sharp intake of breath, sucking air from my lungs. I skirted around the juncture of her jeans and trailed my fingers down the inside of her right thigh, then back up the inside of the left.

I paused for a few seconds before gently sliding my fingers along the seam of her jeans. She squealed and nearly jumped out of my arms.

"Sorry," I said.

"Sorry? Why? It just felt like an electric shock!"

"Tasha, have you never touched yourself there?" I asked.

"No," she whispered. "They said it was wrong."

"Well, it's not," I said, keeping my voice soft, despite being cross with whatever moron had told her that. "I suspect those were the same people who told you not to do what we're about to do."

She nodded, and whispered, "I liked it."

"I think you'll like what happens next a whole lot more," I said with a smile.

Our lips met again, and I lightly ran my index finger along the seam of Tasha's jeans. With each stroke, I applied slightly more pressure, and she moaned louder and began gently thrusting her hips to press herself against my finger. After a few minutes, she groaned and her body shuddered. I broke the kiss, and she gasped for breath.

"Was that an orgasm?" she breathed.

"A small one, I think," I said.

"Small?"

"I think I can do better with my lips and tongue!"

"Penny said that was heavenly!" Tasha giggled.

"Just how much did Penny tell you?"

"Everything! Did you really do all that stuff she said?"

"Probably," I said. "But Penny shouldn't talk so much! And neither should we!"

Tasha put her hand on the back of my head and pulled my face to hers so that we could kiss. Tasha's sweater wasn't tucked in, so I slid my hand under the hem, and felt warm, soft skin. Tasha twitched a bit, but didn't stop kissing me. As our tongues danced, my fingers found a thin satin bra covering her small, firm breast. I tweaked her nipple between my thumb and forefinger, then slowly slid my hand down until my fingers touched satin panties.

I debated for a split second, then pushed my fingertips under the material. Tasha broke the kiss, looking directly into my eyes, but didn't protest. I slowly slid my fingers further until they encountered soft pubic hair. I held eye contact with her and slid my middle finger along her labia until I reached the patch of soft skin, then pulled back, stopping when my fingertip was on her button.

I continued staring into Tasha's eyes as I gently massaged her clit. Her breathing hitched, then grew ragged. A minute later, her eyes went wide, and she shuddered. She squeezed her legs tightly around my finger and groaned loudly.

"Ungh!" she gasped. "Oh my!"

When her orgasm passed, I ran my finger along her labia, coating it liberally with her juices. I slipped my hand from her panties and brought my finger to my lips. Tasha looked on with her eyes wide as I sampled her musky flavors. That first taste created a desire to drink deeply from the source.

Tasha no longer seemed nervous, so I helped her up from the couch and pulled her to me for a kiss. My hands sought the hem of her sweater. I grasped it and gently tugged upwards. We broke the kiss and she let me pull the sweater over her head. I dropped it onto the couch and looked down.

"Purple?" I chuckled.

"Penny said it was your favorite color!"

I wasn't sure if I should throttle Penny or kiss her. I was grateful that she'd talked to Tasha about this, but I felt that she'd revealed too much about me, and about what we'd done together. But there was nothing I could do about it at this point.

"Penny talks too much!" I chuckled. "Do the panties match?"

"Yes!"

"I think I need to check!"

Tasha bit her lower lip and nodded. I undid the button on her jeans, then slowly drew down the zipper. I knelt before her and tugged the jeans over her hips, revealing purple panties with a small, dark spot between her legs. Tasha put her hand on my shoulder and stepped out of her jeans, and I put them with her sweater. I slipped off her socks as well, and added them to the pile of clothes on the couch.

I stood up and kissed Tasha softly, and her finger went to the buttons of my polo. She fumbled a bit, but managed to unbutton them, and then pulled the shirt over my head. She dropped the shirt on top of the pile of clothes on the couch, and her fingers found my belt. Tasha's hands were shaking as she unbuckled it, and pulled it from the loops of my slacks. After dropping it on the couch, the same trembling fingers unbuttoned and unzipped my pants, which slipped from my hips to bunch just below my knees.

Tasha knelt down, but stopped, staring at the obvious bulge in my underwear. She took a deep breath, let it out, then helped me step out of my pants. I lifted each foot in turn so that she could slip off my socks, then held my hand down to her to let her know that she should stand up. She grasped my hand, and I pulled her up to me, savoring the skin-to-skin contact that our underwear allowed. Tasha lifted her face, and we kissed deeply.

I slid my hand along the ridges of Tasha's spine until it came to the clasp of her purple satin bra. With practiced deftness, I undid the clasp and let the ends of the bra fall free. Tasha broke the kiss and stepped back, moving her hands to her shoulders. She slowly pushed the straps down to the side, then, blushing, let the bra fall free to the floor. I was surprised when she didn't move her hands to cover her exposed breasts, allowing me to savor the vision of firm, round globes topped with small, pink, erect nipples.

"They're too small," she whispered.

"They're perfect," I said. "Exactly the size I prefer."

She smiled and when I held out my arms, she quickly stepped close and I pulled her tight, crushing those perfect breasts against my chest. After another wonderful French kiss, I ran my hands down her back and inside the purple satin panties so that I could cup her firm butt and pull her mons hard against my erection. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be inside her, enjoying what I was sure would be one of the most pleasurable experiences I'd ever had. But patience was called for; this was about Tasha, not me.

I pulled my lips from hers and gently pushed her panties down a bit. When she didn't object, I knelt in front of her and slowly drew them down to her knees, getting my first good look at neatly trimmed pubic hair, above plump labia, glistening with Tasha's juices. I leaned forward until my nose touched soft, blonde hair and my lips grazed the swollen labia. Tasha shuddered and moaned softly. She quickly stepped out of her panties and I stood up. With surprising swiftness, Tasha yanked down my briefs and knelt down in front of me, her face inches from my erection, now standing free of its enclosure.

Tasha giggled, then surprised me again by leaning forward and planting a quick, soft kiss on my glans, which twitched at the contact, causing her to giggle again. I stepped out of my briefs and helped Tasha stand again, pulling her tightly to me, and grasping the firm globes of her butt in my hands. Tasha's hands roamed my back and butt, and our kisses intensified. I slowly maneuvered Tasha backwards until her legs came up against the bed. I released her and allowed her to sit on the edge of the bed.

I got down on my knees and quickly locked my lips to her left breast, lashing her hard nipple with my tongue. Tasha moaned and her hands flew to the back of my head, pulling me hard against her chest.

"That feels so good," she whispered, her words dripping with desire.

I released her breast, and she whimpered, but it was short-lived as I latched on to the other one. I savored the feel of her nipple in my mouth, and the slightly salty, slightly floral taste, the product of her soap and the light sheen of perspiration that covered her body. When I released her right breast, I gently pushed her backwards, so that she was lying on the bed, and gently moved her legs apart, revealing her glistening pussy. With a sigh of satisfaction, I lowered my face between Tasha's legs and pressed my tongue against her labia. She squeaked and jumped, but her hands quickly found the back of my head, gently urging me to do what I desperately wanted to do.

I ran the tip of my tongue along the outside of her labia, completing a circuit around them. I ever so slowly pressed my tongue between her swollen nether lips, now positively dripping with her juices. I closed my lips around her and began sucking gently while I probed with my tongue. Tasha moaned, softly at first, but then louder when I swirled my tongue and made contact with her clit. I wrapped my arms around her legs and pushed them up onto my shoulders, giving me better access to her pussy, and cupped one breast in each hand.

Tasha's breathing quickened as I strummed her nipples with my thumbs, lashed her clit with my tongue, and sucked her juices from her dripping pussy. A couple of minutes later, she squeezed her thighs tightly against my cheeks, pulled my head hard against her, and bucked her hips. A deep groan escaped her lips.