“Bottom line, Charlene, Stephanie comes and lives with me, NOW, and the next time he hits you, I break his arm. And, I swear, cuz, the next time he hits that precious child, I’ll either break both of his arms or kill him, I’m not sure which yet. I don’t care if he’s her step-father or your husband or the Prince of Arabia. He has no right to hit either one of you. Stephanie isn’t his daughter anyway. Why would he care? She’ll be safe here at home with me, so you should care. You’re welcome here any time, you know that. Should I come get her now, or are you bringing her over?”

“If you could, please come get her. He took my keys, so I couldn’t leave. He’s down at Willie’s.”

“What an ass. OK, no problem. I’ll be there in 20 minutes or so. I’m leaving with her, no question. If you have a bag ready, or not, I’ll take you, too. Totally up to you, as an adult, but she’s not staying. Let me talk to her.”

“Hi, Uncle Chuck.”

“Hey, baby. Throw everything you need in a couple big trash bags. I’m kidnapping you.”

“If I say ‘OK’ it’s not kidnapping, but OK. I’ll see you in a bit. Thank you. You won’t be sorry. I have something to show you. Bye.” I heard her run off.

“She went to get her things.”

“I know. I could hear her smile all the way through the phone. No kid should smile when an uncle figure that really isn’t one has to take her from her mother’s home, just to protect her. Charlene, you have to admit, this ain’t right. When you adopted Bobby’s daughter, you signed up for all that.”

“OK, I admit it. She’ll be happier with you anyway.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I’ve never hit her!”

“Don’t be all holier than thou. You’re not perfect, either.”

(“Yes, he is!”) I heard the munchkin in the background.

“Hush, Steph. Adult conversation.”

“Another point. She’s sixteen. She should be treated a little more like a person and a little less like a bratty little child. We both know she isn’t one.”

“Whatever. Just do what you think you have to do to save the world. My life will be easier without her here pissing him off.”

“Charlene, think about what you just said. Please? Think about it. You just explained why your family is so fucked up. If you think me taking Stephie is going to make your life better, you’re insane. I’m just taking one of the targets off the range. Whatever. I’m already on the way, so I’ll be there in a bit. Can I talk to Steph again?”

“Yeah. Stephanie? Chuck wants to talk to you.”

“I have you on speaker, throwing stuff in bags. Mom went back to the kitchen.”

“Are you OK? Did he hit you again?”

“No, worse, but I’ll tell you about it in the truck. Just get here before he gets back.”

“I just passed by Willie’s. He’s still inside, I think. His truck’s out front. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“OK. Love you. See you in a bit.”

“Love you, too, punkin.”

I thought about what could possibly be worse, and the only think I could think of was ... No, she would have said something if he’d touched her, or God forbid, raped her. Charlene wouldn’t stand for that. Can’t be that. Better not be that. I WOULD kill him.

I pulled up to the house. They lived a couple miles out in the country on the other side of town from where I lived a little farther out in the country. Charlene and I were raised on a little ranch, and neither of us would ever be able to live in town. We were step-cousins but have always been very close, growing up together in the same house. My mother and father adopted her when her parents were killed by a drunk driver, then lo and behold, I lost mine in an aircraft accident in Alaska.

I sometimes wish we were closer so I could keep her out of trouble. We damn sure wouldn’t be going through this right now. I would have done something to keep her away from that asshole husband of hers if I’d known about it. Both of them, come to think of it. Anyway, her current husband, Gary, is a jackass of major proportions. It gets worse when he drinks too much, and that just happens to be his every day after-work pastime.

Stephanie was on the porch with three big black contractor trash bags. She handed two to me, picked up the other, kissed her mother and walked to the passenger’s side. When the bag went in, I heard a sharp thunk on the door frame of the truck. Shoes? Ut Oh. Steel toes if they were. Maybe a book. Jewelry box? Whatever.

“Charlene, be careful.” I hugged her. “Please be careful. Call me, if ... Call me if you need anything. Anything at all.” She nodded. I kissed her cheek and off we went, Stephanie next to me in the front seat. “OK, what’s this you’re going to tell me about in the truck?”

“Wait ‘til we get past the bar. Way past. Thank you, again, Uncle Chuck. Gary is starting to scare me more and more. The last time, the slap was ... He was holding back. Like if he let go, he would have beaten the crap out of me. The bruise is all up my arm.” She got a really fearful look on her face.

“Stop, doll. You’re with me now. No problems. OK? You’re fine. How are school and softball going?”

“Great, but I’ve had to go home afterwards. That’s the part that sucks. Anyway, the bruise on my leg is getting lighter and should be gone in a couple weeks. Coach, for some reason or another, thinks it happened when I fell at home. I’ll bet Mom or Gary called and told her that so she wouldn’t ask about it. Then, when she didn’t say anything, I called you, Gary found out, and you know the rest.” She looked out the window. “There goes the bar. Yippee, his truck is still there.”

She climbed over the seat back and rummaged in the bag. I hate to say it, but the butt that was sticking up at me in those little shorts was pretty cute. I reached up and patted it, getting a giggle from Stephanie. “He’s touching me, he’s touching me!!” she said, then laughed. “Here. Last night, he slapped me, like I told you when I called. Then this morning, he pointed this at me and told me if I made any more trouble, he was going to have his way with me and there wouldn’t be anything I, or you, or my mother, could do about it.” She was holding a revolver by trigger guard, hanging off her finger. This is what I heard hit the frame of the truck when she got in. It wasn’t a snub nose. It was an old Smith and Wesson Model 10, a .38 Special with a four inch barrel. HE POINTED IT AT HIS STEP DAUGHTER! This was just too much.

I opened it and pushed the cartridges out. I didn’t need it loaded in the frame of mind I was in. “He pointed this at you? Really?” I put it up on the dash and asked for something to wrap it in. I got a sexy little pink t-shirt.

“Yeah. This morning at breakfast. Mom was in the bathroom getting ready for work. He told me he was tired of taking care of a stupid little slutty whiny brat and if I made any more trouble, he was going to have his way with me. Scary, huh?”

“More than scary. A little insane. This morning? Sober?”

“Yes, this morning, and, no, I don’t think so. Not completely anyway. More like his Saturday morning sober. Not really, if you know what I mean.”

“I do. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It’s over, though. Stephanie, I’m going to ask your mother for custody, if you want, and keep you away from them. If she can’t protect you from him, you shouldn’t be there, of course. I’m tired of thinking about him. Let’s go home. Home. I need to call your mom, though. Think she’ll believe you if I tell her about this?”

“Honestly, Chuck, I think it will do more harm than good. I have the gun. Well, you have the gun. She’ll confront him if you tell her. He’s gotta be drunk by now. Maybe he won’t even look for the gun if no one brings it up. If he knows it’s missing ... I dunno. Let’s just let it go for now. We can talk about it tomorrow or better yet Sunday, if she comes to town. Maybe we can meet her for breakfast.”

“You’re pretty smart, for a girl.” She slapped my leg and laughed. “Owieee. She’s beating me! She’s beating me! Let’s go home. You need anything?”

“A snuggle. Other than that, I’m good. I have enough junk and clothes to last a while if you have some lunchmeat, a loaf of bread, and a washer and dryer. I brought my bathroom stuff and clothes. I have everything of mine he won’t go ballistic over finding gone. And one thing of his he will. I hope he doesn’t look in that drawer tonight. I’m fine, Chuck. Anything I need we can get tomorrow after school or this weekend. I’d love to switch schools. That would solve a couple problems. I need to know what to do if he comes looking for me, too. This is getting scary.”

“I guess I’m a typical man. I just thought I could grab you and save you. Here you are with all these logistical problems. OK, we need a plan. I’ll take you and pick you up at school. Tomorrow is Friday. What about your mother?”

“Chuck, I don’t know. Without me being a problem pissing him off, maybe he’ll calm down and she’ll be OK. I wonder, though, what it would take at this point for her to leave him. I don’t want to exaggerate, but he’s hit her daughter and pointed a gun at said daughter, although in fairness she doesn’t know about that yet, he’s hit her, he’s yelled and screamed and pushed, and even tonight he yelled at her about me crying to you and took her keys. I’m like, WHAT?? She’s the mother of a sixteen-year-old girl in the country and he takes her car keys to keep her from what, going to see you? Her own cousin? Uncle Chuck, this is not the nineteen thirties. You don’t do that. Well, I don’t think so. I’m sorry. I need to chill. Oh good. We’re home. I hope I can keep saying that. We are home. Here. At your house.” She smiled.

“Our house, doll. Our house. Is a very, very, very fine house.” My singing did not go over well. The garage door opened for us.

“Don’t give up your day job. I don’t play piano well enough to cover for that thing you call a voice.” She started laughing, jumped out and ran to the door, then remembered, she didn’t have the key. I was right behind her. “Sorry? Don’t spank me for my rude, insensitive insolence? What’s the winning line here?”

“‘I love you’ will work. You’ve been beaten enough. If I want to punish you, I’ll just sing to you again.” She laughed, so...

“The world is alive, with the sound of music.” I did it in a baritone voice. The garage door coming down covered some of the noise.

“No, no, anything but that.” Laughter ensued, and we wound up in a hug, both of us crying a little. We were home, the craziness was over, for now, and we could relax. The stress draining off made us both a bit emotional. “Chuck. Uncle Chuck. I love you. Please let me just throw this stuff in my room and then hold me for a while. I’ve missed you and I’ve been so afraid.” I kissed the top of her head, carried the two big bags, her following with the smaller one. In the guest room, on the bed, all three bags, then holding her hand, I pulled her back to the family room and just pulled her into my lap on the couch. “Uncle...” I interrupted her.

“Could you do me a favor, honey, and just call me Charlie. Just call me Charlie, for now. All my good friends do. Your mother had a boyfriend named Charlie, a long time ago so called me Chuck ever since.” She giggled. “Everybody I like calls me Charlie. I like you.”

“That will make my life easier, since I love you, Charlie.”

“You little butt nugget. You know I love you, too. I was just...” She looked at me with that goofy smile. I just pulled her to me and hugged her. We rocked for a while. She calmed and as she relaxed, she rubbed my arm with her hands.

“I know you do. Charlie, thank you. We’ll ... You’ll figure it out. Just keep me ... Away from him. Just keep me.”

“OK, doll. OK. We’ll figure it out. You were right the first time.” She fell asleep in my arms. I waited for about a half hour then took her to her room, the guest room. She’s stayed there a lot when she came out to visit. She was no stranger to my place and spent a lot of time there before her mother wound up with the hate freak.

As I laid her down and pulled the covers up, I heard, “I love you, Charlie. Thank you.” I kissed her puckered lips. Wasn’t the first time. Wouldn’t be the last. Not by a long shot.

About two in the morning, I heard noise in the kitchen. I got up and found my niece in the kitchen carrying out her threat of violence, unspoken, of course, on a loaf of bread and a little deli bag of sliced ham. “Hungry, love?” she asked. I raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, still half asleep. You hungry, Charlie?”

“Yeah, make two. You know, doll, alcohol, lack of sleep, sodium pentothal ... They are truth serums. They lower inhibitions until a person actually says what they mean down deep inside. I’m not going to question your intentions, but I am going to listen closer. Can I ask you a dangerous question that is probably going to get both of us in a lot of trouble?”

“Yes, as long as I’m telling the truth, go ahead and ask, but before you do, will any answer I give cause you to throw me out and send me home?”

“Absolutely not. Regardless of any answer, or anything happening, I will not, repeat WILL NOT, ask you to leave.”

“Ask then. Anything.”

“Do you love me, Stephanie, honey, or are you IN love with me?” She looked directly at me, and tears started to fall from her eyes. I got up and approached her; she held her arms out to me and I met her in a hug. She was in love with her mother’s cousin. Not a more dangerous relationship could happen. “Babydoll. Please be careful. I’m not worth it to begin with, and you can certainly can do so much better.”

“Yes, you are, and no, I can’t.”

“Let’s not fight.” I picked her up, putting my arm under her ass, so she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek as I grabbed the chips off the pantry shelf. I took her back to the bar where she had the sandwiches ready and kept her in my lap while we ate. “Thank you for the sandwich. I think I’ll keep you.”

“Please do. I’m serious. I really am in love with you. I have been for years. You really are ... Everything to me. No matter what I’ve seen, you’ve shown me better. No matter what I’ve been told, from you it always turns out to be the truth. No matter what I’ve needed to feel safe, you’ve been the one to bring it to me. It’s always been you, for me. I could go on, yes, love, but it gets repetitive. I’ll show you if you’ll let me. Just don’t let them take me back.” She bit her sandwich, laid it down and hugged me tight. “I told Mom. She told me to be careful, that I was treading on thin ice. She let me come with you, though, so maybe, just maybe, she agrees you’re better for me than anything she can do for me. Charlie, I love my mother, but she’s an idiot. She’s going to get hurt. Emotionally or physically, she’s going to get hurt. Please help her if you can. Please. And please, please don’t send me away.”

I couldn’t. I had to keep her. Away from Gary. Away from her mother. I hated that part, but her mother had basically told me tonight that her failing and abusive relationship with her husband was more important than her adopted daughter. My second cousin ... My niece, her own eyes. An emotionally fragile yet beautiful, athletic, and physically fit specimen of female flesh who needed moral as well as physical support was left for her ‘uncle’ to save, by her own mother. Sad, sad, shit. OK. On we go, off into the future. I needed to help her find a new way to school. She’s already in a new home. She had two years left, and we probably don’t want her to switch schools, come to think of it. Two public and two private high schools. Hmmmm. We’ll see. Biggest problem? The sports thing. She was really into sports in the school she was at, plus, she had a few close friends. Not many since she was so shy and withdrawn most of the time, but they were there.

We slowly finished our snack, had a couple chips, a couple sips of water, then I leaned down and kissed her goodnight. Very little was said, just an “I love you” and a “goodnight” each. She padded off to the guest room, and I went off to mine.

At six o’clock, she came in my room, climbing on top of me and asked if we could play hookey. “Just one day?”

“No, baby. Sorry. The last thing we want to do is show weakness. When we ask for me to get custody, if we need to, the fact that you didn’t miss school while you were with me will be important. Trust me on this?” She nodded, kissed me, and padded off again. This time she made coffee then went to her room.

I showered, dressed and went to the kitchen. I took her a cup of coffee. I doubt she expected that. Knocking and being called in, I showed her the mug, set it on the desk, and kissed her. “Sorry, doll, but we gotta be the adults. I’m gonna make something to eat.” She puckered again, getting another kiss, and nodding.

When she came out, she was in school clothes, cute little shorts over tights, a blouse and boat shoes. Cute, but pretty conservative. Good. I fed her and dropped her off at school. I spent a few hours at work, not getting much done, more worrying about her than anything. I called Charlene, no answer. I left a message to have her call me.

On the way home, I stopped at the store then school to pick Stephanie up. As she was climbing into the truck, the phone rang. Charlene. “Hey, cuz. Breakfast Sunday?”

“Sure. You guys getting on OK?”

“HI MOM!”

“Hi, hon.” She sounded despondent.

“Yeah, Charlene, we’re fine. Just picked her up. Dinner in bags in the back. On the way home to get shown how to fix it. Hopefully she remembers.”

“Good. See you Sunday morning. IHOP?”

“Yeah. Eight-ish. You OK, Charlene?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. See you guys then.” Click. I didn’t think she sounded good at all.

“She’s not OK, Charlie. She’s not. Not hard to tell. Maybe Sunday.”

“Maybe what, doll?”

“Maybe she’ll come to her senses and ask you for help. Real help. Not just taking me off her hands but taking her out of that mess. A girl can hope.”

“Yeah, she can. Well, come on. Let’s take care of Steph and Charlie.” I drove us home and put her to work slaving in a hot kitchen. That’s almost funny. She loved my kitchen and had me helping her cut, shred, prepare, and any other menial task she could dream up. It was really something we did together and we both enjoyed it. We enjoyed it almost as much as partaking of the results.

After dinner we decided on a movie, but she asked if she could make us a drink first. She often shared a bit with me, so I agreed and told her to surprise me. Boy did she, with a few fingers of Wild Turkey American Honey on ice. We sipped and watched a romantic comedy ending with, go figure, the girl winning the guy over. I joked about it being a surprise ending, NOT!

“Hush. It was a good movie. And romantic. Almost reminded me of...” I interrupted her by pulling her in to me and kissing her.

“Don’t say it. You’ll get me to start getting mushy. Can’t have that.”

“You’re already a softie, Charlie. That’s one of the reasons I love you so much. One of the reasons I want you to keep me. Forever.” This time, she held the back of my head and pulled me to her for another kiss, this one deep, long, and wet. A very romantic, loving, truly sexy kiss.

“Good, God, girl. Where did you learn to kiss like that?”

“Must be natural instinct. I’ve never kissed a boy like that before. Charlie, you’re the only boy I’ve ever kissed. I kissed my friend Sally once, but we were just pretending, you know, to see what it would be like to kiss a boy. It was nothing like this. Nothing at all. I melted just now. I love you. Please believe that.”

“Not hard to believe with electricity and all running through us. Stephanie, make sure you know what you’re doing, OK? I’m falling. I think I can be what you want me to be. I love you that much. Just be sure. You said your mother knows?”

“Yes. She told me to be careful. I don’t think she wants either one of us hurt. She loves you, too, Charlie, but she has some resentment that you’re Midas and she’s the opposite. She won’t admit it to her younger cousin, but she’s told me and her friends that everything she touches turns to shit. Sorry, but quotes are quotes.” I had to laugh. “What are you laughing at?”

“My dear, you are drinking whiskey and proclaiming your adult views on your love for me. Quoting your mother saying ‘shit’ is not going to cause an issue, at least not with me.”

“Oh, OK. I guess I can see that. Shit, shit, shit. OK, done. Now I can say poop again. Hahaha. Poop!”

“You’re a nut. It’s bedtime.” She kissed me then sashayed back to her room. I watched, thinking to myself that I could do worse, and had. Not recently, since I was mostly turned off women because of my last two relationships, and thoughts, fears, of meeting someone like them again.

Stephanie was nothing like them. She was a sixteen, almost seventeen-year-old sweetheart, with not a mean bone in her body. She had never shown me any greed or jealousy, or a desire to get to me for her own betterment financially. She’d never asked for anything of monetary value. She was more woman, more girl, more feminine, than any of the women I had dated, and I’d have to say, more of a girly girl than even her mother, who was a prissy little thing, herself.

I had seen her out back by the pool for the last several years. Seen her in a little one piece at the age of 8, 10, and 12, then her bikinis when she became a teenager. She had a body starting even back then, as the girl grew, and it come out as it matured. At fourteen she was about the same as her girlfriends at school, but then didn’t stop. At present, the last time I took her shopping anyway, she purchased two bras that were 32C plus, I think they said on the label. In any case, as petite as she was, she was a beautiful young woman with nice, relatively long, legs, a cute little bottom, and a remarkably narrow waist rising to an ample chest. Just magnificent in any measure.

In addition to her figure, she had a smile that lit up any room she was in, and a cute little blonde shag hairdo which along with her facial features would make her a contender for any young wild miss beauty pageant. I say wild, because her hair was just that. It gave her a look of wild, crazy, and out there. It was pretty. It was her.

The one thing I could give her, I thought, was the ability to come out as a beautiful woman without her stepfather harassing her. He was an ass, always making fun of her clothes and such. The slut comment was probably more normal than not. Of course, the way Steph talked, he may have been a big enough jerk to sneak peeks or something and was perving on her beauty that way. Probably could have been worse, come to think of it and what Steph said on the way over after I picked her up.

As all these thoughts were going through my head, and the news was droning on with me not paying attention to a word of it, I felt my bed move and a little body move toward mine.

“Hold me for a bit, Charlie? Please?”

I held my arms out for her, pulling her in to my chest for a hug, then letting her settle on my side with my arm holding her and patting her hip. “Are you going to be OK, Steph, baby?” I felt a little shiver.

“Yeah. If you’ll let me love you, I’ll be fine. If I can be yours, I’ll be perfect and have everything I want, need, and desire.”

“Everything?”

“If you’ll give me rides to school, or show me where the bus stops, I’ll be fine. What else could I want, or need, that you haven’t been providing for the last sixteen years? You feed me, you buy me clothes, you even took me on vacation with you a few times. Yes. Everything. You are all I need.”

“So, you don’t want the car I was thinking about getting you?”

“Seriously, love, you can do whatever you want, but I will never allow you to believe I want you for anything but your love. I mean that. I truly love you for you, Charlie. Not because you bought me school clothes last August. Not because of my leather letter jacket. The diamonds for my sweet sixteen? None of it. I love the gifts and will cherish them because they came from you, but I also cherish the times you let me stay in your lap, and that isn’t very expensive at all, is it?”

“That’s true. Baby doll, by the same token, please understand I’m not trying to buy your love, either.” She looked up at me and smiled. Her smile eclipsed the light from the television. “I just want you to have nice things. You deserve them. You’ve been through a lot, and you don’t complain, whine, gripe, or anything. You just do your best and press on. That’s why I love you. You are a beautiful, smart, very wonderful person. Inside and out. I think I want you, Steph. Possibly as much as you want me, but let’s give it time and see, OK?” She nodded and rubbed my belly with her fingers. I set the timer on the TV and let it drone us both to sleep.

She must’ve been in stealth mode, because when I woke up, she was sitting on the side of the bed with a cup of coffee and a little plate of breakfast for me. After a good morning greeting with a kiss, she went to the kitchen to get hers and returned to eat with me.

“What’s the occasion, sweetheart?”

“If I understood our conversation last night, we’re celebrating our first weekend together as a couple. A girl can hope.”

“Is that what you want, Steph? You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m really hoping that’s what I heard, Charlie. I love you.”

“Then, my dear, we are celebrating the first weekend of the rest of our lives ... Together. Wait ‘til your mother hears about this. She’s going to have kittens.”

“Oh, God, I hope not. Not after she acknowledged my mooning over you all the time. Maybe she’ll be OK with it. We’ll see. In any case, am I your girlfriend now, Charlie?”

“Yes. You are, my dear. Yes. You are. Guess what that means? This is going to be sooo good! You’re all mine to use however I wish. MWAHhahaha.”

“Oh, no, what have I gotten into?”

“You want to mow or whack?”

“Heck, Charlie, you scared me. I was thinking...” I interrupted her.

“Later dear. That’s the least important part of our relationship. Chores first, then we kiss ... And stuff!”

“Mow. That way I can wear shorts and a swim top and get some sun. I love you, crazy man.”

“Thank you for this wonderful breakfast, Steph. I love you, too. I hope this is good for you. I want to be good for you. The best. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, baby doll.”

“Come on. It’s getting mushy in here. Not that I mind but crying right before I mow is not my idea of a fun Saturday morning. Let me get my phone and my ear buds. Call me if you need me. I’ll be jammin’.” She grinned, gave me a quick peck on the lips, and went off with the dishes. Next I heard of her was out on the mower zipping around the trees like a stunt pilot in a Rud Aero. She had fun with the zero-turn mower and had been using it when she came out to goof off for the last few years. She was actually quite good with it.

I called her when she was about half done. “Hello, this is Stephanie.”

“Hey, doll. Dinner out tonight. Where is up to you.”

“Oh, Lord, Charlie, you’re the guy. Aren’t you supposed to choose?”

“Oh, I forgot. You’re new at this. Humor me. If you had to pick a place, where would it be?”

“Anywhere but Smitty’s? Oh, I know. The Palace. We haven’t been there in a few months. That was a nice place.”

“Got it. You have any dress clothes here?”

“Yes. I snuck a couple of nice outfits out in the bags. Several, actually. Shoes, too. Stuff you bought me last summer. I have some of Mom’s, too. Stuff she told me I could wear. I never gave it back. Yes, my dear, I can look appropriate on your arm at The Palace tonight.”

“Good. I can’t wait. Pick you up at six?” She laughed.

“You’re silly. Love you. Byeeee.” Click.

We were done before lunch, so she made a couple of sandwiches, split one of them with me, and ran off to her room. She came back in a small bikini I bought her last year. It seemed bigger then. I’m not complaining, just saying, it used to cover more.

“I’m going to get some more sun, Charlie. Join me if you want, please. I might need some lotion. Or oil. Yeah, oil, I think.” She grinned at me and walked out. Hook, line, and sinker. She knew the oil thing would get me. I’ve done it for her before, but it didn’t have the connotation it does now. At least not for me. She was teasing me. Yes, she was all woman.

I put on a little suit that I wear to get sun myself, similar to a speedo, not a whole lot to it, and went out with a couple insulated acrylic glasses of ice water. She was laying back on an almost reclined lounger.

“Thanks for coming out. You want the honors? All over? Please?” When I nodded, she took a little rubber band off her wrist and took her fairly short hair, tying it up on top of her head in a short, high ponytail. She was quite simply darling. She handed me the oil bottle and relaxed. I slowly and carefully covered her entire front side, save the parts covered by her little suit, with the oil, then laid back next to her. She returned the favor. “Sorry about that, babe, I didn’t mean to cause that.” She nodded toward my obvious spandex encased erection. “You going to be OK?”

“Yes, doll. It happens sometimes just from the hot sun. No worries. It might go away in a bit. If I forget you’re out here, it might, anyway.” I chuckled. She laughed and laid back down.