Chapter 3

The next morning at work, I was a nervous wreck. Every time the phone rang, I wondered... would it be her?

"Jim Robinson?" I answered hopefully each time I raised the phone to my ear. But, it was always a work-related call on the other end of the phone. It was always someone who wanted plans, drafts, schedules, or a budget estimate. It was never my gorgeous pixie calling.

As lunchtime neared, she still hadn't called. At ten minutes 'til noon, my phone rang, the short double chime indicating an internal call. "001" showed up on the display, telling me it was Della, the less-than-friendly receptionist at the front desk.

I stabbed at the speakerphone button. "This is Jim."

Della's voice came over the tinny speaker. "Jim, you have a visitor at the front lobby. Your niece is here to take you to lunch."

I stared at the phone in shocked silence. My "niece" was here? I was an only child, and Beth's sole sibling was her unmarried brother. I had no nieces.

There was only one person it could be.

"Jim - you there?" came Della's annoyed voice over the speaker.

"Yeah, yeah sorry Della," I stammered. "Just distracted by some paperwork. Send her back here - no, never mind, I'll meet her up there," I said, changing my mind. It could look weird if my "niece" came back to my office behind a closed door, I realized!!

I grabbed my jacket and headed out of my office, passing several rows of cubicles on the way to the front. Aimee was at the reception desk, chatting with Della - who was actually smiling, possibly for the first time ever. Apparently, Aimee's charms were universal.

As I approached, I admired some of those charms. She was leaning forward on the granite surface of the front desk. The upper swells of her breasts were just visible inside the low-neck sweater she was wearing, and I couldn't help but look. I tore my eyes away, looking instead into Aimee's own, just as Della started to speak.

"Jim, your niece is delightful," she said, her thick Boston accent muddling the words. "But I thought Beth's brother was single - I didn't know he had a daughter?"

Uh oh, I thought - now what?? Luckily Aimee was as bright as she was beautiful, and she smoothly answered Della's question.

"Oh, I'm not really Jim's niece," she said, making my heart skip a beat. "I'm actually his second cousin, once removed, on his mom's side. It's just that I've always called him 'Uncle Jim' since I was a toddler," she finished, winking at me.

"Ah well, now that makes sense," Della said, as her phone rang. "Run along you two, enjoy your lunch," she said, making a sweeping motion with her hands.

I pushed open the glass front door and followed Aimee out into the bright New England sunshine. Considering it was a little more than a week from Thanksgiving, the temperature was pretty warm, 50 degrees or so.

We turned left, towards the parking lot. Glancing around to make sure no one could overhear us, I stopped, and turned to Aimee. "Okay, 'niece, ' what the heck is going on? Why are you here, at my office?"

She frowned, glancing down at her pointed boots. "I thought it would be a nice surprise. Guess not."

"Aimee," I said. "It is a nice surprise. But these people - these people that I work with, I've known them for years. They know Beth, they know the kids. Just like Della, a lot of people here would know that I couldn't have a niece. Although," I said, softening my tone, "the 'second cousin' thing was brilliant."

Aimee looked up at me, the smile returning to her face. "I won't make it a habit, Jim. It's just that - well, after getting your text message yesterday, I wanted to see you, alone, wanted to talk to you. This was the best way I could think of to do that."

She made sense, a lot of sense, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I thought of the implications for the rest of my life. Was I really ready to go down this road? Even with the problems Beth and I had, was I ready to stoop to that level - was I ready to be an adulterer??"

"We need to talk this through, and I can't do it on an empty stomach. Let's go to lunch," I said, leading her to my car.

I took her to a Mexican place down the street from my office. It had big high-backed booths in the back, and I was pleased to see the hostess lead us to one of those. We'd have a decent amount of privacy here.

The waiter brought us a couple of Cokes, and a bowl of chips and salsa. After we placed our orders, an uneasy silence settled over the table, both of us playing with the salty tortilla chips, not really eating them.

Aimee started the conversation. "Jim - did you - when - when you sent me that message yesterday about your business trip, what did you mean?" she asked, uncertainly. "Were you asking me to join you?"

Yes, my mind screamed.

No, my conscience answered.

I sighed, and rubbed my temple with my left hand. I reached out and placed my other hand on Aimee's, on top of the table.

"Yes," I said softly. "No. Oh, geez - this is so complicated. Aimee, I'm drawn to you in a way that I've never felt before. I feel this, this... pull towards you that I never felt for Kira, never felt for Beth, or for anyone. In some ways, I feel powerless to stop it - like it's out of my control."

"I know," she said, her voice soft, her thumb rubbing across the side of my own. "I feel it too, Jim. And it scares the hell out of me, because I never understood how someone could get involved with a married man. Until now."

The waiter arrived with our tray of food, and I hurriedly removed my hand from Aimee's. He set down the steaming plates, quesadillas for me, a chimichanga for Aimee. After he had withdrawn, we both looked at each other through the steam.

Our food ignored, we stared at each other across the table for minutes. I gazed deep into her ridiculously blue eyes, and I felt the pull again.

I broke the silence with a simple statement.

"Yes, Aimee. I want you to come with me."

One week later, I was sitting on the bed inside Room 308 of a Marriott hotel in Portsmouth. It was nearly 6:00 on a Tuesday evening, two days before Thanksgiving, and I was as nervous as (or maybe more nervous than) I'd been before my first date.

Why? Because Aimee was due to arrive any second.

I'd been in Portsmouth since the previous morning, overseeing the progress of the Interstate-95 bridge rehabilitation progress. The Maine/New Hampshire border bisected this bridge, and as a result, the rehab was a joint project between NHDOT and our colleagues from Maine.

Aimee and I had tried to determine the best way for us to meet. She still had classes the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, and Beth was expecting her to babysit those two days. Her Thanksgiving vacation started on Wednesday, and Beth's office was closed that day, so Beth could be home with the kids.

The "official" story was that Aimee would be driving home to Maine on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with her folks. And she would be... it's just that she'd be leaving from a Marriott hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, instead of from her dorm room in New London. It was sort of on the way, though there would have been quicker ways for her to get home.

My meetings and project surveys had finished up in the afternoon, like I knew they would. This was the final project review before construction ceased for the winter; the bridge reconstruction being a "two-season" project. We'd had the option to meet again on Wednesday, and I had told Beth we would, but I knew there was very little chance we'd need to. Everyone would be trying to get done on Tuesday, anxious to get home for the long holiday weekend and be with their families.

Everyone except for me, anyway.

And so Aimee and I had planned that she would drive to the hotel, straight from my house. She'd go from saying goodbye to Beth and my children to an illicit, adulterous rendezvous with me. Beth wasn't expecting me back until sometime the next day.

At 6:08, there was a knock on the hotel room door. I raced to the entry and swung the door open, my heart trying to leap from my ribcage.

Aimee stood on the other side of the threshold, biting her bottom lip. She had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, and was wearing a tight pair of jeans, and a long-sleeve shirt with a leather jacket over it. Her cheeks were rosy and flushed from the cool weather.

"Come - come in," I stammered, reaching to take her bag off her shoulder. "How was the drive?" I asked, closing the door behind her.

"Fine," she said. "Your directions were right on - I guess that's good, considering you're a transportation engineer," she said, laughing nervously.

My own anxious chuckle echoed her own. "Yeah, what kind of engineer would I be if I couldn't read a map?"

We both sat there in silence for a minute or two, facing each other, her on the edge of the room's single king-size bed, me in the room's only chair.

"So," I said, "Do you want to get some dinner?"

She looked at me without saying anything for a few seconds. Then, she nodded imperceptibly, almost to herself, as if some internal decision had been reached.

"Sure," she said. "But do you mind if I take a quick shower first? I feel kind of grubby."

"No, not at all," I said, my cock throbbing as I imagined her naked, just on the other side of the wall from me. "Do you want me to wait for you in the lobby?" I asked in an attempt at chivalry.

She smiled patiently at me, the way I'd seen her do at Eth or Jake. "I hardly think that's necessary, considering..." she said. "But maybe you'll just close your eyes while I get dressed, you know, for modesty's sake?"

"Sure, of course," I said.

Aimee gathered some things from her bag and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. A minute or so later, I heard the shower start, and my mind raced with visions of Aimee, naked and wet and soapy, her nipples pink and erect. "Does she shave her pubic hair?" I wondered.

I propped a couple of pillows against the headboard and reclined on the bed, reaching for the remote. I absently flipped channels while thinking of Aimee in the shower, and I had to adjust my trapped cock into a more comfortable position as my erection swelled.

In the shower, I could hear Aimee singing a tune, which sounded very familiar. Over the sound of the water, though, I couldn't make out the words and so I couldn't quite identify it.

The water turned off, and a few minutes later, the bathroom door opened a crack. "Jim?" Aimee called out. "Be a good engineer now and close your eyes, 'kay?"

I laughed. "Okay," I said, and did as she asked. "They're closed," I called out, and I heard the bathroom door creak as it opened all the way.

I wanted to peek. Oh, how I wanted to peek, to see that luscious body that I'd fantasized about, masturbated while thinking of. I wanted to see her smooth and soft skin, glistening with beaded water. But I didn't. I was afraid to ruin whatever else might happen that night, and so I kept my eyes tightly shut.

With my eyes shut, my other senses seemed hyper-sensitive. I heard Aimee's gentle footsteps on the carpet, could smell the shampoo or soap she used.

I heard the quiet thump of her towel on the floor.

I heard the gentle scrape of the remote as she picked it up, and the click of the TV turning off.

I felt the bed shift, to my left and then to my right, and then I felt a very warm, slightly wet, and very naked body clamber on top of my own. My cock leapt to full erection in milliseconds, and I snapped my eyes open.

I found myself staring directly into Aimee's face, scant inches from my own. Her deep blue eyes sparkled with laughter, and her mouth was quirked up at the corners into a wry smile.

"Surprise," she said, lowering her mouth to my own for our first kiss.

Her lips were soft and hot, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her back. I could feel her torso press against mine, and my hands roamed over her back, feeling the drops of water there.

Her tongue snaked out and pressed against my lips, and she moaned when one of my hands dipped slower, passing over the curve of her delicious ass. She moaned and pressed her naked pelvis harder against my fully-clothed crotch.

I was in sensory overload as we kissed, so many unexpected sensations at once. Aimee's nipples were like two marbles pressing into my chest, easily felt through the two layers of clothing I was wearing. I had an ass cheek firmly grasped in each hand, kneading and caressing that warm flesh. Her hips were gyrating, rubbing that hot patch between her legs all over my hard shaft.

And her lips, my God, she was an amazing kisser, just like I knew she would be, her lips dancing all over mine, constantly varying the pressure and angle, literally taking my breath away. Her tongue was dancing out, sliding over my lips and teeth, and wrestling with my own tongue in quick encounters, then slipping back out of reach.

Finally, she broke for air, gasping as she raised her face from mine, her breasts dangling invitingly over my chest. I released my grip on her ass and slid my fingers between our chests, tweaking and rolling her hard nipples between my fingers.

"Ohhhhhh," she said, pressing her pussy harder on my cock, rolling it from side to side. "Oh oh oh oh," she said, making me think she was rubbing her clit directly on my still-clothed cock.

I flexed my cock and thrust it up at her, rubbing it along her warm and (I assumed) damp mound. I pinched her nipples harder, thrusting my cock along her slit.

"Yessss, Jim, oh God yes, just like that," she said, her hips thrusting to meet my own.

"What about like this?" I asked, lifting my head to capture one of her nipples between my lips. I suckled and nibbled at her nipple, my hand still massaging the other.

"Ohhhh yesssss," she said, her thrusts coming harder and faster now. "I'm going to..."

"What," I said, surprised at her pressing need, but urging her on. "You're going to come for me? My hot little sexy babysitter, are you going to come all over my pants? Go ahead baby, my sexy little Aimee, come all over big Jim's cock. Come for me," I said, moving one hand back to her ass, urging her to dry hump me faster and faster and faster.

"Ahhhhh ahhh ahhh," she shrieked, reaching the peak. Her thrusts got erratic, her pussy spasming on top of my cock, the heat of her cunt noticeable even through my clothes. Her ass clenched as she continued rubbing along my shaft, saying "Jim Jim oh God Jim..."

Her orgasm finally dissipated with a few weaker spasms, and her hips slowed. I released her nipple from my mouth, and she allowed her head to collapse on my shoulder, her pelvis still making occasional lazy circles on top of my own, Aimee still moaning softly.

I rubbed her back while she recovered her senses, my cock an iron bar resting beneath the furnace of her pussy. My hand drifted gently across her lower back, down her buttocks, and over as much of her delicious legs as I could reach from this position.