II

Preparing breakfast was a well-rehearsed routine for the three members of the household: Theo cooked eggs and bacon, Laurel set the table and poured juice, and Jennifer made coffee and toast. They called the breakfast table the “war room”, where they prepared each day’s plan.

“Theo will hide the Matchbox car again?” Jennifer asked, referring to the inch-long steel toy car they used for some of their tests.

“Make it a tough one this time!” Laurel requested confidently.

Jennifer nodded as if ticking off a box on a mental checklist. “What about the flashcards? Are they still valuable to practice with?”

Laurel shook her head. “I don’t really feel like I’m learning much from those anymore.”

“Very well. We’ll put those on the shelf for now, and come back to them later when we have more perspective. I’ll start preparing some of our other ideas. For now, your second challenge is to predict tomorrow’s soup of the day at the Shea Hotel.”

Theo laughed. “Soup?”

Jennifer gave him a slight smile. “We’ll do nuclear launch codes later in the week.” To Laurel she asked, “Is two enough for today, or do you need more?”

“I don’t think I’ll meet up with more than two guys today. If I do, there’s always the dice under the cup on the mantel. I still haven’t peeked.”

“Good,” Jennifer said. “Laurel, if you’ve got time after breakfast, I’d like your help clarifying some emails with the Vancouver trio. Theo, you’re planning on working on that cloud storage project? Good.”

As usual, Laurel met Steve at the coffee shop, and they picked up sandwiches on the walk back to his home. His landlady, Mrs. Mercer, looked up from her gardening to smile at the young man and woman as they crossed her yard to the guest house that he rented.

They sat on the couch and ate, watching an episode of the retro cartoon that they both enjoyed. The rule was that they both had to watch all the way through the end of the closing theme, but that didn’t prohibit Laurel’s hand on Steve’s crotch squeezing him hard in anticipation. She very much enjoyed it when she squeezed his cock and it pulsed back. She wondered how much of that was a reflex versus a conscious answer.

The song ended, Steve clicked off the TV, and Laurel began to rise from the couch, but Steve stopped her. “I am really enjoying the routine we’ve got here, but I wonder if we could try something different.”

“Like what?” She asked innocently.

Sitting side by side, Steve slowly tugged at the bottom of her shirt, untucking it until there was enough space to reach inside. She shuddered when his hand touched her belly and glided across her skin. The fingers of his other hand slipped inside her short sleeve and moved in circles over her shoulder. She gave him a coy smile that she meant to be mysterious, but there was no mystery: the answer was yes.

He pulled her shirt up over her head, tossed it aside, and then leaned in to kiss the gentle slopes above her bra. His right hand kept stroking circles on her shoulder, but his left roamed up and down her side. She smiled and made a sound that was something like a satisfied chuckle.

Her bra came loose - her breasts were exposed. He laid her down on the couch and hovered on top of her, preparing to take a bite. Her little stiff nipple exploded with sensation as his mouth descended on it. He was gentle, but the feeling was powerful. Her other breast was surrounded by his hand, treated to a squeezing rolling motion that she found quite comfortable and arousing.

He fingered the button of her jeans. “Is kissing allowed?”

She laughed. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

He kissed down to her belly button and then back up to her breasts. He shrugged. “I had a friend who had a rule: she would fool around with a handful of guys, but she insisted that kissing was reserved for serious romantic relationships. Just checking. I didn’t think that’s what we have.”

She pulled him to her face and kissed him. Her legs opened as his body slid across hers, and his hips ground into her thrillingly. “Nope!” She said playfully, ending the kiss. “We’re fuck buddies! Er, well..., I mean I think we’re about to be?”

“In a bit,” he agreed.

He dropped off the couch to his knees and his fingers worked her zipper. He shimmied her pants off her hips, taking her floral-print panties halfway with them. She stretched and closed her legs to allow him to take them all the way off, after first dealing with her boots.

She was sure she had an embarrassingly large wet spot on her panties. When she was aroused she secreted a freakish amount. Normally she hated that about herself, but this time it didn’t bother her. Somehow she knew that Steve wouldn’t care. Anyway, it didn’t take long before her panties were gone, and his face touched her pussy.

It was nice! It was so nice! For all the blowjobs she’d given lately, she’d forgotten what it was like to have someone pamper her with their mouth. Her face went flush and she smiled from ear to ear. She wriggled as the pleasure flowed through her. And then Steve’s brown eyes were looking into hers.

“Hey - indulge me,” he said. She raised an eyebrow. “Play with your tits while I make you come.”

She chuckled but played along. And somehow, because he had asked, it was way more exciting than she expected. She squeezed her breasts with both hands and sometimes tugged her nipples. Meanwhile, his tongue darted at her clit from every possible angle. She moaned, rising in pitch.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he told her.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Tell me what’s going to happen,” he insisted. His tongue increased the ferocity of its onslaught.

“I’m gonna come,” she said, embarrassed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” She giggled breathlessly. “I’m gonna ... I’m. Ahh. Ahhh. Mmm! Coming! I’m coming!”

When she came down from her high, his eyes were watching hers for a sign. His tongue had slowed to a gentle simmer.

“Inside, please?” She asked playfully.

“Fingers or dick?”

“Dick!”

“My pleasure,” he said. He stood and worked on taking off his pants. “Should I get a condom?” He asked. She shook her head, grinning like a madwoman. “But you want me to come on your stomach, right?”

“Yes!” She answered eagerly.

Naked from the waist down, he climbed on top of her and filled pussy up with his cock. He rolled his hips creating the wonderful moving fullness that she craved. One of her legs was draped across the back of the sofa while the other foot was flat on the floor. One arm was over her head on the armrest while the other stroked the shirt of the man whose weight bore down on her. It didn’t take her long to come again. This time she didn’t use words to announce it: her mouth released unmistakable noises of sexual pleasure.