Chapter 37

I sat back on my haunches. "I can't do this," I said.

Sensing something was wrong, the women untangled themselves. I waited until Lisa met my eyes.

"As much as I want to," I said, "it wouldn't be right."

Her face fell, but only for a moment. "Yeah," she said, "I got carried away."

"That's okay," Sherri said, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on Lisa's shoulder. "Nothing bad happened." She looked at me. "And I don't think anything would have."

The corners of Lisa's mouth turned up. "Yeah. Joe's a gentleman."

"I don't know about that," I said, "but I am your friend, and this would have been wrong."

Sherri chuckled, surprising me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're pretty decisive about that."

"So?"

She just shook her head and then looked at Lisa. "Why don't you take pictures now?" she said.

Lisa tilted her head, but then nodded and went over to where I'd set the camera. Then Sherri turned back to me.

"Do you want to continue?" she asked quietly.

I glanced at my now soft penis.

"I'm not sure I can," I said. "As much as I want to."

She leered. "That's easy to fix." But then she paused, staring off to one side.

She looked back at me. "What about yab-yum?"

"That'd be great," Lisa said, sliding up next to us. She looked at me. "I think you should do it."

I paused for a moment, and then shrugged. Yab-yum, with Sherri sitting in my lap while my cock was inside her, was nice but definitely a different mood than where we'd been going. Less wild and more connecting.

I couldn't help letting the smile slip from my lips. "Sure," I said, shifting so I was sitting cross-legged.

"Let's get you hard," Sherri said. She moved close to me, sitting so our knees lightly touched, and then leaned forward to run her fingers up my thigh. When she reached my cock, she began caressing and stroking me.

I leaned back, watching as she slowly teased me back to hardness. I heard a click and turned to see that Lisa had just taken a picture. She grinned at me and then snapped another. Then she zoomed in on Sherri and my cock.

"I've got one for you," Sherri said with a devilish grin.

She shifted around so she could lower her head to my lap. I lay back and she swept her hair aside so Lisa could see. Then Sherri stuck out her tongue and touched the tip to the side of my now-hard shaft. As Lisa snapped away, she slowly, agonizingly slowly, licked my cock from my balls to the crown. I was gasping by the time she quit.

Sherri pulled back. "Get a condom," she said to Lisa, who promptly scrambled for Sherri's purse.

I sat back up and took the foil package when proffered. As the women watched and grinned, I extracted the condom and rolled it on. Then I wrapped my arms around Sherri as she slid into my lap. With a little bit of shifting around, we got everything aligned and she slowly sank down on to me, surrounding me with her heat.

"Meet my eyes," Sherri said.

I did so, remembering to look into her left eye, as Lisa faded out of my field of view.

"Remember how to breathe?" Sherri asked.

I nodded, and started to breathe in and out, just as she'd taught me. We slowly settled into sync, and then she began to squeeze my cock in the same rhythm. I bit my lip as the first bolts of pleasure started shooting up my spine, but I didn't break eye contact.

Which was harder than I expected. While Sherri and I gazed at each other and breathed together, Lisa circled us, taking pictures. When she was behind Sherri, I couldn't help seeing her in my field of vision, and it was a mighty struggle to keep my eyes on Sherri. But Sherri was the one with her pussy around my cock, and she had ways of shifting or tightening her muscles that guaranteed my attention. At least, until Lisa ran out of film and then sat beside us, waiting.

Sherri turned to her. "Get behind Joe and breathe with us," she said.

Lisa nodded and a moment later, I felt her scooching in next to me. She and Sherri shifted their legs so that Lisa could nestle against my back. I felt her breasts pressing into me while her hair tickled my shoulders. Sherri transferred her hands to Lisa's shoulders as Lisa wrapped her arms around my waist.

We slowly settled down and then back into our breathing rhythm. Lisa cuddled in, placing her cheek against my skin. I met Sherri's eyes and she grinned.

A Joe sandwich, I thought. Does it get any better?

"Let's bring you to climax," Sherri said, clamping down on my cock and sending shudders of pleasure through me.

I guess it does.

"Breathe," Sherri said.

I nodded and started breathing deeper and more fully. I also began gently rocking my pelvis, thrusting up into Sherri on my exhales. Thrust by thrust, the pressure and pleasure built.

As my breathing began to get ragged, Lisa started kissing my neck and shoulders. Sherri grinned and pulled my head forward, pushing her tongue into my mouth. I groaned and she pushed down to meet one of my thrusts.

I gasped. Waves of ecstasy coursed through me and I just let go, shuddering as my cock pumped shot after shot into Sherri. I grunted and collapsed forward. Sherrie chuckled and held me until I'd recovered. Then she took my face in her hands and kissed me deeply.

"Enjoy that?" she said, as she pulled back, her eyes sparkling.

I snorted. "Oh, yeah."

"It looked big," Lisa said from beside me.

"It was," I said, nodding.

Sherri met my eyes and once I'd nodded, pulled off my lap. I stood and stumbled toward the bathroom, where I disposed of the condom and cleaned up a bit. When I returned, Sherri was sitting on the couch while Lisa dressed.

"Have to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do," Lisa said with a frown. "I promised Robert I'd be by afterward." Her face lit up. "He'll want to hear all about it."

Sherri chuckled. "Are you going to tell him before or after you jump him?"

"During," Lisa said with a leer.

I laughed. I could already picture how worn out Robert was going to be when an already worked-up Lisa finished with him. Sherri's mirthful grin betrayed similar thoughts.

"I'll see you to the door," I said.

Lisa smiled and finished getting her things together. I quickly snagged a robe so as to not scandalize the neighbors if they happened to be out and walked Lisa to the door. She gave me a goodbye hug and then pulled back.

"I hope we get to see you again," she said, her eyes a little misty.

"I'm sure you will."

She gave me another quick hug and then let go. For once, she didn't say anything, but merely waved as she disappeared down the steps.

I returned to the living room to find that Sherri had unfolded the sleeper sofa and was putting the sheets on it. I pitched in and soon we were done, and then even sooner we were cuddled nude in the middle. Lightly stroking Sherri's shoulder, I relayed Lisa's parting words to her.

"Well," she said, "we'll both miss you, if you have to end the friendship to make things right with Tina."

"And I'll miss you. But I hope it doesn't come to that."

"Mmm. But it's more important that you be decisive."

I nodded, and the pulled her close. "That's not going to be easy."

"But you can do it."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I can."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"I haven't figured it all out," I said. "I think I have to tell her that we—that's you and I and Lisa—have a sexual history together. I think it would hurt for that to come out later, so I need to tell her up front."

"True."

"I've already told her about your center," I said. "I don't think I need to tell her about you being an escort. At least not up front."

"And if she asks?"

I let out a deep breath. "I make sure she really wants to know the answer to that question, and then I tell her."

I paused.

"But why should it matter?" I asked. "That's your past. It's not who you are today. You're a healer now. A true healer, and not just a woman trying to save the world one man at a time."

She laughed lightly, jostling against me. It was a contented laugh, and so I held her tighter.

"Still trying to save the world, mind you," I said. "Just in bigger chunks."

Sherri lightly punched me in the side, so I kissed her forehead.

"I love you, too," I said.

She laughed, harder this time. "I may someday regret teaching you to be more assertive."

"Maybe," I said, "but not tonight."

"True, not tonight. Not after everything that's happened in the past year."

She snuggled in closer and my mind started to wander back, reliving all the memories we'd had together in the past 12 months. Somewhere in that wandering, I drifted off to sleep, never quite knowing when the memories shifted into dreams.

We gently, slowly made love in the morning. No words, but just gentle kisses as I thrust into her and came to a quiet orgasm and it truly was time to begin the day. I cooked a quick breakfast while Sherri showered. Afterward, she offered to do the dishes while I cleaned myself up. When I returned to the kitchen, she was writing something on a piece of paper from the pad I kept by the phone.

"Do you have an envelope?" she asked.

"Sure." I ducked into my bedroom and retrieved one.

"What's it for?" I asked as I handed it to her.

"It's a letter to Tina," she said.

"Oh?"

"Mmm hmm." She finished whatever she was writing, made a flourish for a signature and began folding the paper to fit into the envelope.

"What's it say?" I asked.

She shook her head. "That's between Tina and me." She placed the letter in the envelope and sealed it, and then picked up her pen again.

My eyes widened as I realized what she was doing. She's signing across the seal.

"You don't trust me?" I asked.

"I do," she said. "But this way, Tina will trust you, too."

I snorted. I hadn't looked at it like that.

Sherri left the letter on the table when she was done. She looked at me, waiting.

"I suppose you have to go," I said.

She nodded.

She was largely packed, but we did one final check and then slowly walked to the door. I gave her a long hug, and then a short kiss.

"Thanks," I said.

"You, too," she said. Then she turned and walked to the stairs. At the top, she paused and looked back.

"Make sure she knows you love her, Joe."

And with that, she was gone.

The rest of the day was almost melancholy quiet, as I cleaned and shopped for Tina's visit. I missed Sherri and Lisa already, even though I knew they weren't really gone. Yet the silence of the apartment was a comforting quiet. Unlike the loneliness of the year before, this time I felt comforted and cocooned. I took my walk early, heading down to the 7-Eleven right after dinner, enjoying the quiet hum of the evening traffic.

When I returned, there was a message on my machine from Tina. I smiled at the sound of her voice and then picked up the phone to call her back.

"Hi, Beautiful," I said after she answered.

"Hi, Joe," she said, "I've got an interview!"

"Huh? You do?"

"With the admissions committee at Georgetown," she explained.

"Oh ... so it's part of deciding whether to accept you?"

"Right! It means they liked my application enough for me to get to the next step."

"That's great!"

"So ... I told them I'd be in town, and we scheduled the interview for Friday. Can you take the day off from work and drive me?"

"No problem," I said. "For you, anything."

She let out a deep breath, but it sounded happy. "Thanks. I wasn't sure I'd get this far. I mean a ton of students apply and I know a lot of them are smarter than me—"

"You're pretty smart," I said.

"Thanks!"

"Oh, Joe, I'm so close to getting in!"

I could hear the pleasure in her voice, which made me smile. "I'm really glad to hear that. We'll get you to your interview. Then maybe we can have lunch nearby."

"That'd be nice. What's the weather like? Do I need to pack my sweater?"

I smiled. As an Arizona native, she might, though the forecast for her visit wasn't too cold. Just overcast with some rain. But, for probably one of the few times in my life, I was delighted to talk about the weather. We slid into other mundane topics, which I found delightfully fascinating, simply because it was Tina. An hour later, we finally said goodnight, leaving me in a happy bliss after I hung up the phone.

The week, of course, both flew by and dragged. I know I got some programming at work done, with thankfully few bugs, but I barely remember it. Instead, I kept thinking about Tina stepping off the plane on Thursday night.

When she finally did, I was there, shifting my weight back and forth in nervous eagerness, holding a small bouquet of roses. She smiled and threw her arms around me in a deep hug. When she pulled back, we both had loopy smiles.

"Welcome to Maryland," I said. "It's great to see you."

"It's great to see you, too!"

We disentangled and went in search of her suitcase, while she told me all about the flight. During the car ride home we continued talking about minutiae, which was restful and just plain happy, up until we arrived at my apartment.

That's when my stomach started to churn. I knew we had some serious topics to discuss, and I knew it'd have to be soon.

Tina sensed it too. After she'd dropped her bag and quickly looked around the living room, seeing I wasn't sure what because it hadn't changed much in the past year, she settled into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She smiled, more hesitant and timid, when I sank into the one opposite her. Time prickled for a moment or two before I took a deep breath.

Now is no time to hesitate. You've thought about this enough.

"I'm glad you came," I said. "I'm already so much happier with you here."

Tina smiled, her eyes bright.

I took another deep breath. "I know I haven't always been a great boyfriend," I said. "But I do love you."