Chapter 1: Love Discovered

Sparks were flying from the ends of her brick-red French-braid, as well as her sea-green eyes.

Damn, she was magnificent!

I was sure glad her rage was not aimed at me!

Hanna and I go back a long way. Her parents built a home on the vacant lot next to our house when I was five. My brothers and I were quite interested, when they moved in, to learn that there were two girls about our age next door.

Although we were very conscious of boy things and played the normal rough and tumble games, we never had the aversion to girls most of our friends seemed to share. Maybe it was because we had no sisters... and thought girls were just boys who dressed funny.

Hanna is the same age as my next brother, Derrick; her sister, Anne, is a year younger. Somehow, Hanna and I became close-soon, inseparable. She played the rough and tumble games with us... With the size advantage girls often enjoy over their male counterparts, she could, and did, thump the snot out of any of us whenever she wanted to. She could run faster, too.

Hanna got me interested in more 'feminine' things-like books and music-without making me feel any less masculine. Her technique was to make them fascinating... And with her, they were.

Of course, she confirmed the stereotype of redheads and their tempers. Boy! When she blows up? Nuke time!

Although I'm the oldest son, I've always been pretty laid back, in a 'busy' way. A curious and aggressive boy, I was still content to take things as they come and satisfy my curiosity by watching and asking questions. My folks always said I was a 'good boy'.

When I was eleven, I went through a couple of those amazing growth spurts adolescents sometimes experience. By the time I became a teenager, I was six feet tall and still growing. My mom said she spent all her time buying me new jeans to replace the new ones I'd outgrown.

Hanna was changing, too.

She grew tall. Then her shape changed from 'up and down' to 'in and out'. Boy, did it! She rapidly turned into a walking wet dream-which confused me a lot. My best friend had become the subject of my erotic fantasies...

A boy that age has lots of erotic fantasies.

Of course, Hanna mirrored my confusion. She couldn't figure out why her best friend suddenly acted strange around her. And hurt when I wouldn't talk to her about it. It never occurred to me that she was thinking the same thoughts about me that I was about her.

I can't believe the time and opportunities we wasted!

Our friendship limped along for a couple of years. We were still best friends, but with an uncomfortable space between us.

Somehow, neither of us knew how to bridge that space.

Entering high school, I was astonished at the number of kids in the school-and how many of them were really good-looking girls! By that time, I was three inches over six feet and still growing. I hadn't filled out yet and was more lanky than 'big'.

Still, I noticed that the girls looked me over with approval and, as is expected, I soon started dating.

Hanna was a great help, telling me all about the girls she knew-which ones 'put out', and which ones were 'teasers'. More important; which ones were bitches and which ones were nice.

It wasn't a big deal, really. All I wanted from a date was a good time and maybe a little kissing and petting. I dreamed of getting laid, but wasn't obsessed with it.

Of course, I gladly helped Hanna the same way, with all the information I had about any guy she asked about-including my impression of his reputation.

Why we never dated each other, I'll never know. (Derrick and Anne got together briefly in high school, but mostly were just good friends.)

By the time I was a junior, I was carrying a pretty heavy scholastic load, with calculus, chemistry, German, and the fuzzy studies stuff we were required to take. I was also a starter on the football team as a tight end-and defensive end when I had to play both ways. I'd grown into my height, now six feet four, and weighed about two hundred pounds. I was still lean, but not the beanpole I'd been a couple of years before.

I played football from love of the game. I enjoyed hitting people. And I found that I was very good at catching footballs. Since I was big enough to take the punishment of catching passes over the middle and then running over most high school defensive backs, I made 'all-conference' that year, with college scouts looking me over.

I also found myself being 'stalked' by a number of the girls in the school.

My reputation was straight arrow. I was still a virgin, though by then I'd had plenty of opportunities to take care of that. And I wanted to. But I was such an idealist, I didn't want it to be a 'cheap' thing... Naïve?... Yeah. I was.

So I was dating, but not enjoying it very much. Between sports and studies, there just wasn't much time.

Hanna, meanwhile, was always there; always ready with a good word, or advice about a girl who got me to ask her out.

Then Hanna dated Dick.

Dick Pritchard was a basketball player, who felt that football was 'too brutal'.

In reality, he didn't care at all about brutality. He just didn't want to take any chance that he might get hurt.

Beyond question, he was the most egotistical, self-centered bastard in the school.

I tried to tell Hanna that she was just 'arm candy' to Dick Pritchard. But Hanna, for the first time, turned the full blast of her temper on me-to my complete surprise: I was only doing what we'd always done for each other by telling her about him...

She told me it was none of my damn business who she dated!

Then she proceeded to vent generally, picking apart everything about me: what I did and who I dated-even the clothes I wore. When she finished, I felt pretty much like I'd been run over by a truck. A large part of my distress was that my best friend thought so much was wrong with me.

Preparing for her third date with Dick, Hanna was a little apprehensive. She really enjoyed the attention she was getting as the girl who was 'going with' Dick Pritchard. What concerned her was that he'd been pretty aggressive with his hands on their last date, and hadn't been pleased at all when she insisted that he leave her clothing alone. He'd driven her home in a snit and stormed back to his car without a kiss at the door.

Still, she thought with a smile, he'd asked her out again. She had him under control.

Arriving to pick her up, Dick looked her over in wonder. 'Does she know how hot she looks?' he asked himself. 'Damn! If I don't get some of that tonight, I'll... well... I WILL get some of that tonight!'

"Hi, baby. You look fantastic."

"Thanks, Dick... Where are we going?"

"I thought we'd grab a pizza downtown, then see what we could find."

Hanna smiled and nodded as he helped her into the car. 'Nice manners, ' she thought.

The pizza parlor was noisy with friends and acquaintances. Once they'd finished and were back in the car, Dick started to drive.

"Where are we going?" Hanna asked.

"I thought maybe you'd enjoy the view at the lake."

A notorious 'make out' spot, Hanna had no desire to go there. "How about a movie? Or maybe the arcade?" she offered.

By that time, they had left town and were in the country. Dick suddenly turned into a graveled, one-lane road and pulled to a stop under a huge oak.

Pulling Hanna to him, he kissed her deeply.

But when his hand found her breast, she pushed him away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Just giving you what you've been asking for," he replied, pulling her back.

She braced her arms against him. "Hold everything, buster! I haven't been asking for anything. You'll get what I want to give you-and no more. Are we clear on that?"

His reply was a hard slap, hand open but a solid blow, to the side of her face. "Bitch! You been teasing me for weeks. Teasing is over now! It's time to put out what you've been promising."

Dick's problem was that he hadn't appreciated either her strength or her temper. He was not dealing with some five-foot-two, petite girl. Hanna was an even six feet and, though slender, was solid and strong.

Hanna went ballistic. She started by slapping him back, then straightened up and reached for the door handle of the car.

Dick grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him. With his other hand, he grabbed the neck of her sweater and pulled down, popping off two of the buttons and tearing the others out of the buttonholes. As Hanna pulled the door handle, opening the passenger door, Dick grasped her bra between her breasts, holding her in the car. When he hit her again, Hanna went into a berserk rage.

No longer trying to get away, she attacked in blind fury-with fists, elbows, knees, and all the strength she could muster. A fist caught an ear, tearing it, while an elbow took Dick in the side of the face, breaking several teeth and cracking his jaw. One of Hanna's knees just missed his balls, giving him a painful bruise on the inner thigh.

In a matter of seconds, Hanna's attacker became a passive defender.

Seeing that she had stunned him, Hanna opened the driver's door and shoved Dick out of the car. Slamming and locking the doors, she backed from the lane at high speed-narrowly missing a car on the highway, when she backed into it. She drove into town, where she parked on the lawn in front of the high school... and let the air out of the tires.

Her adrenaline high vanished, leaving her weak and exhausted. So she called me to come collect her.

"Gary?" her voice came over the phone.

"Yeah."

"Can you come get me?"

"I suppose. Where are you?" I was ready for bed and not in the best of moods because I hadn't arranged a date for the weekend.

"At the McDonald's across from school."

"OK. Fifteen minutes?"

"Thanks, Gary."

Driving up, I saw Dick's car with flat tires, hood up and doors open, on the school lawn. With a sly, private smile, I knew there would be trouble over that-and that the car would be trashed in a couple of hours, if the cops didn't get there first.

Hanna was waiting for me. She looked like she'd lost a ten-round fight.

"What happened to you?"

"Dick."

"Dick?"

"Yeah. He thought he could take more than I wanted to give him. He made a mistake."

"Dick did that to you?" I growled, getting mad. Nobody would get away with pounding on a pal of mine.

Hanna grinned. It was lopsided. The side of her face was starting to show the painful bruise it carried. "He probably looks a lot worse."

"Good for you!... Where is he, now that I think of it?"

"I left him on that gravel trail leading back to Hampton's pasture."

"Well, you can tell me about it on the way home. That face needs attention."

As we started to leave the restaurant, I saw Dick get out of a car across the street. He'd thumbed a ride into town.

Some of our friends from school were enjoying an after-movie hamburger and had seen Hanna's face... Sensing entertainment, they followed us out of the place.

Dick howled in rage when he saw his car. He howled again when he spotted Hanna, and started for her. When I would have intercepted him, Hanna held me back. "No Gary. He's mine. All I want from you tonight is a ride home. OK?"

"OK," I agreed, reluctantly.

Dick screamed obscenities at her as he crossed the street, saying she was a lousy teaser, a worse lay, and a complete scumbag for what she'd done to his car.

Hanna replied so everyone could hear that he couldn't even get it up and had tried to beat her so she wouldn't tell everyone. Enraged, she dared him to try to hit her with everyone watching, to see just how macho he was. "Big shot, my ass!" she spat in his face.

When he tried to slap her again, she blocked his swing with an arm, kneed his balls, and slapped her cupped hands over his ears as hard as she could, rupturing one eardrum and damaging the other. Dick went down like he'd been shot and Hanna turned away.

"Take me home?" she asked me.

"With pleasure!" I grinned at her.

Two extreme adrenaline highs in a short time were too much for her. Hanna fell asleep in my car.

In minutes, we were home. Her house was dark. I shook her awake.

"Hanna! Wake up! Where are your folks?"

"Huh? Wuzzat? Gary? Wha... ?"

"Where are your parents? Hanna? Wake up, dammit!"

"Oh. 'S OK, Gary. Ev'body... visit Aunt Alice... Back tomor..." She faded out again.

I pulled her out of the car and walked her semi-conscious form into my house. My family was gone too. It was deer season and my parents were both really into archery-they didn't care if they got a deer; they enjoyed the autumn woods and a chance to shoot their bows. My brothers were staying with friends.

Leading Hanna to the guestroom, I got her to sit on the bed, while I went to the bath and got a wet rag to wash her face. The bruise was already turning purple. She managed to kick off her shoes and lie on the bed. I gently washed her face and hands with the cloth. She muttered that she was OK, when I asked if she had any place else that hurt. I went for an ice pack for her face, and somehow got her to hold it in place.

"Hanna?"

"..."

"Hanna? Dammit, Hanna, wake up!"

"Wassamatta, Gary?"

"Hanna, we got to talk a minute. You can stay here tonight, but you got to get your clothes off, so you can sleep."

"'S OK, Gary... You help..."

It went like that. She was too out of it to undress herself. And her torn sweater and twisted bra were turning me on. In the end, I pulled her sweater off and, with trembling fingers, undid the bra. Her breasts were more gorgeous than my imagination-buttressed with Playboy centerfolds-had pictured them. With great willpower, I pulled one of my t-shirts over her, and attacked the lower part.

The skirt was easy-one button and a zipper and pull it off.

The pantyhose were a mess when I got them off.

I left her panties on and covered her.

I gave her a 'brotherly' kiss on the forehead, turned out the lights and went to my own bed-where images of her breasts made certain that I tossed and turned a long time before getting to sleep myself.

Before I was really awake, I felt another body slide into my bed. And into my arms. It had to be Hanna, since I had vivid dreams about her when I finally got to sleep. My hands and arms closed around her-and discovered she'd shed the t-shirt. Her skin felt like satin-smoother than I could have imagined. And so hot I thought she must be glowing.

Since I sleep only in shorts, those magnificent breasts were mashed against my bare chest. When my sleepy brain registered that, the signals it sent were:

INSTANT ERECTION!

INSTANT ERECTION!

INSTANT ERECTION!

I tried to back away and found that strong arms were holding me tight, as a pair of hot lips attacked mine. While I kissed her back, my hands holding her close, she let her hands drift to my shorts-which were jerked out of the way.

Next thing I knew, the equipment was being handled and checked out. And none too gently, either. (Hanna had never done that before and didn't know how to touch a guy to give him pleasure.)

Thinking, 'If she's gonna check me out, I'm damn sure going to get a look myself!' I ran a hand between her legs, which opened right up for me. I confess, I was no more gentle with her than she was with me... We were truly 'The Original Amateur Hour.'

In seconds-I had just located the source of all the moisture-she was rolling onto her back and pulling me by the dong into position above, then in her. I tried to take it slowly and gently, but her strong hands on my butt literally jerked me in. As I entered, she gasped and bit her lip. Hard. Then she seemed to open around me like a flower, only to enclose me again, sweetly, with arms and legs encircling me.

A horny teenaged virgin, I'd have expected to come on first contact. But it was all so new, and the way it went down so different from what I expected, I was able to set myself outside what my body was experiencing and just enjoy it.

Soon, Hanna's lower torso started undulating and she began to clasp me rhythmically. As I slid in and out of her close, hot wetness, her excitement built until she was gyrating so frantically under me it was all I could do to stay between her legs and plugged in. When she screamed in fulfillment, it seemed a trance was broken and my own release responded to hers.

I was glad she wears her nails short. She scraped hell out of my back as it was.

When I rolled off her, I held her close and kissed her tenderly.

"Gary, do you have any idea how long I've wanted you to do that?" she asked, with a contented sigh.

"Which, kiss you, or fuck you?"

What a dipshit!

She slugged me in the arm-gently. "Both, asshole!"

(We were truly best friends and could talk that way with each other, though we normally use better language.)

I kissed her again. "How come you never told me?"

Hanna just slugged me again. Then, relenting, she said, "When you started noticing there was a difference between girls and boys, you put a big wall between us. I did everything I could to get it out of the way, but couldn't get through to you. I talked about sexy things and what the girls said in the locker room... You just listened and thanked me for the information...

"I figured Dick would make you jealous. You warned me-but didn't do anything about it."

"Well, I guess I didn't want to lose my best pal. Sure you turn me on. But I love you too much to risk losing what I had with you by asking for more..."

"You LOVE me, Gary?"

Oops!

Surprised by my own choice of words, I admitted, "Yeah. I did, Hanna. I DO." Shocked, I thought about what I'd just said. "I love you, Hanna," I whispered.

She kissed me again.

"That was my first time. I'm so glad that conceited dickhead, Dick, didn't manage to rape me. I always wanted you to be my first..." She smiled. "And you didn't disappoint me." Another kiss. "You made it as wonderful and loving as I imagined it would be."

Her sensuous smile changed to a hungry grin. "Do you suppose we could do it again?"

Old Oscar sat up and took notice.

Before it was completely submerged by my newly stirred-up hormones, my brain made me ask, "But Hanna, I came in you. Won't you get pregnant?"

She'd found Oscar and was in the process of sitting on him.

"Maybe. It's really the wrong time of the month, but I suppose I could. So what?" I felt her wet velvet tunnel engulf me. "I always wanted to have your babies, ever since I learned where babies came from. Would you like to give me a baby, Gary? Would you please knock me up?"

What American boy could resist that? My answer was to hump back at her as hard as I could and, all too soon, pump her welcoming womb full of my seed.

Hanna was right there with me, her lewd suggestions turning her on as much as they had me. With a scream, she convulsed and then collapsed on my chest, those marvelous breasts cushioning her. Her mouth found mine in a long, searching kiss that turned tender and very loving.

"Hanna," I said, when she turned loose of me. "Before this goes any farther, and just to set the record straight-this is my first, too. I've loved you for years. Although I was tempted pretty strongly a few times, I've been saving it for you. So you've made a big dream of mine come true, too."

As she rolled to the side, I kissed her again. Then we grinned at each other like the pair of idiots we were.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" we asked simultaneously, bursting into laughter.

After a little more kissing and petting, I backed off, to look at her closely. When I started, Hanna clung to me, and said, "Oh, don't look at me now. I'm a mess. Let me get my face on."

I pushed her firmly to arm's length. "You have a pretty nasty bruise, which I think I'll have to talk to Dick about. Other than that, you're purely lovely." My fingertips lightly learned the contours of her familiar and loved face. Then traced her ears and neck. Following my gaze, they followed the hollows of her collarbone and down to the extraordinary firm breasts that rose from her ribcage. I wasn't tickling, just stroking lightly. Even so, her breath caught a couple of times, when I explored the texture of her nipples and areolas.

Her tummy was a slightly rounded, firm structure that led to the flare of her hips and the trimmed, red-covered patch between her shapely but solid thighs... I'd always admired her legs. When we went swimming or for a run, even as kids, she always had well-proportioned, superbly tapered legs.

Meanwhile she'd been doing the same; passing her hands over my chest, playing with the few hairs by my nipples, sliding across the rippled hardness of my stomach, coming to rest with a finger gently twirling the pubic hair.

We'd given each other our bodies. I guess we were each taking inventory of our new possessions.

After a bit, with a deep sigh of content, Hanna said, "Yum. I like this... Uh, Gary... ?"

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't presuming too much, was I? When I asked if you want me to have your babies?"

"You mean, you mean it? That wasn't just passion?"

"Oh yes. I meant it. I mean... It WAS passion! But I mean it. I meant it. Am I rushing you too much?"

"Well..." I considered, causing her to draw back a little in alarm. "I think we'd better at least finish high school first, don't you?"

"You bastard!" she giggled, socking me lightly in the arm. "I'm on the pill. My mom put me on it two years ago. And she and daddy made me promise I'd finish college... I wouldn't mind having a couple of kids in the house by the time I do, though."

I hugged her back against me, her ample body fitting perfectly. "I wouldn't mind, either, except I don't think we'll be able to afford it... You know," the thought hit me, "we just agreed that we're going to get married."

"No such thing!" she responded, trying but failing to keep an impish grin off her face. "We've only agreed to have children together."