Chapter 7

Friday morning I drove Kevin over to his friend's house. A bunch of his school buddies were heading to the slopes for a day of sweating off yesterday's gluttony. I was happy he had something to keep his mind off his girl for the day. Having Gail in the house while Beth and I celebrated our reunion was going to be awkward enough without having my brother there. Selfish of me, I know, but that's the way it was.

Beth was sitting on the front steps when I pulled up. As I got out of the car she unwound from her perch and oozed toward me. The look on her face was pure feral lust.

"It's about time you got here," she growled.

"Hey! I said nine and it's only eight-thirty! What's the rush?" Like I wasn't ready to tear her clothes off right on the front yard! Clothes? That's when I realized she was wearing the same jeans and T shirt she'd swiped from my closet the night Gail reappeared. There's something about seeing a beautiful girl in men's clothes that's sexy as hell.

Somehow we made it into the house before the neighbors had a reason to call the cops. The only thing that kept me from ripping her clothes off as soon as the front door was closed was the thought Gail might catch us humping like bunnies on the stairs.

Once in her room, Beth turned to face me and reached for the bottom of her—my!—shirt. I reached up and took her hands in mine. "No." I whispered. "Let me."

I stepped behind her, reached around, and slowly pulled the shirt over her head ... slowly ... inching the hem up, sliding my hands over her soft, smooth skin, all the time whispering suggestive nothings in her ear. By the time I had the shirt up to her shoulders my princess was vibrating with excitement.

"Tommyyyy! Hurry up!"

As I slipped my shirt over her head I noticed she was wearing the bra she bought that first Saturday—a real traditionalist, my lady. I unhooked it and slipped it down her arms then slid my hands up her flanks to cup her breasts. Her whine told me I was succeeding in my aim to drive her slowly over the edge. And to pay her back for giving me a sleepless night after our phone call.

After toying with her nipples until they stood out like two hard points, I slid my hands down and unbuckled her belt. My jeans were large enough I didn't even have to unsnap the button to slide them slowly over her hips and down to the floor where she stepped out of them, turned around, and almost ripped the buttons off my shirt. Her face was flushed as she unbuckled my jeans and pulled them off.

We fell back on her bed, hands roaming over each other as if we were exploring each other for the first time. I finally rolled Beth onto her back and, starting at her ear, nibbled my way down her body, with my hand leading the way. Just as my lips and tongue reached her navel, my hand slid over her lacy panties and down to that magical spot where her perfect legs joined.

Suddenly she levitated off the bed, propelled by an ear-splitting scream. I moved my hand up and started to rub her stomach, trying to get her settled down. I expected the scream to bring Gail running into the room and was puzzled when she didn't appear.

After my lady got her breath back I looked at her. "How much did it cost?"

"Cost? What cost?" She panted.

"How much did it cost to buy off Gail? I mean what kept her from charging in here after that scream?"

"Scream? What scream?"

I looked at her, thinking she was just kidding around, then I saw a look of true confusion on her face. "Beth, you don't remember screaming?

"I did?" She said, a cute little blush chasing across her cheeks. "If I did it must have been your fault!"

Now just how was I supposed to take that?

"Beth, you really don't remember screaming like you'd just seen a dinner-plate-sized spider hanging over your head, or levitating off the bed like a magician's assistant?"

"Really? I did that?"

"You sure did."

"I really levitated? I guess you ARE a magician." She grinned as she hugged me. "Oh, God it feels good to do this. Remember that first Friday night? The night you came in here holding your clothes in front of you?"

"Oh, yeah." I blushed. "Or Saturday morning when you asked if I was gay?"

"I guess I was wrong, huh? Although I should have guessed when you kept poking me in the back all night!" And here I thought I'd been careful to keep my distance. Oh, well.

"So how did you convince Gail to leave us alone? Or is she sitting outside with her ear to the door?"

"Nope. Mom took her along to work today. They're going out for lunch and then shopping this afternoon." Beth looked at me with a leer. "So I've got you all to myself. All alone and no one to hear YOU scream."

Suddenly living long enough to graduate didn't seem all that important.

Beth pushed me over on my back and started nibbling her way down my chest. As she got to my boxers she slid a hand under the waistband and grabbed me. "Look at what I found! Is it ready for a workout?" She whispered as she started stroking me.

Oh, well. Clean underwear is overrated anyway.

"Oops! Looks like I've got a mess on my hands!" Beth giggled as she pulled her hand out of my shorts. If I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to keep up with her, the sight of my lady licking her fingers as if each one was a favorite ice cream cone took care of that!

I slipped off my sticky shorts and then slid her lacy panties slowly down her legs. After I slid them off, I climbed up between those beautiful appendages and slid into heaven.

I remembered wondering if our reunion coupling would be a frantic race, but it wasn't. If anything it was more like we wanted it to last the whole day. As we slowly moved against each other I again wondered what I had done to deserve such a treasure as the beautiful creature beneath me.

Unfortunately, all good things must end, and mine came when Beth twitched her internal muscles and pushed her hips up to meet mine. From then on it was a frantic race to see who got to the finish line first. I won, or lost, depending on how you look at it.

We were curled together, waiting for our heart rates to drop down into three digits, when Beth looked at me. "Tommy, why do you put up with me? I mean besides this."

"You mean the fantastic sex isn't enough?" I said, trying to keep a straight face. "Beth, haven't you figured out yet that I love you, tantrums and all?"

"I know, but why?"

I thought back to my conversations with my brother about love. "I don't think I can answer that except to say you're the one person in this world I HAVE to make happy."

"Is that how you define love?"

"Can you come up with a better one?" Now I was curious.

Beth was quiet for a long time. "Um, I'm going to have to think about that. But until I come up with an answer I guess the sex will have to do."

"Do what?" I asked with a grin. "Something like this?" I licked one of her nipples. "Or this?" I slid my hand down until my finger separated her lips, searching for that special spot.

"Oh, yeah!" My lady panted as I varied my actions—sometimes my licking was synchronized with my rubbing, sometimes one was in counterpoint to the other.

It didn't seem to matter to Beth as her hips started bouncing off the bed until finally she grabbed my head and held it on her breast while her legs snapped together, trapping my hand, her speech incoherent as she tossed her head from side to side.

Finally she released my head and pulled my hand away as she tried to catch her breath.

"Tommy, you're going to kill me!" She didn't seem particularly upset by the idea.

"Tommy, I've got to talk to you. About the way I treated you."

We were drifting in and out after we'd spent time in the shower scrubbing each others' backs, and fronts, and all the parts in between.

"Beth, you don't have to explain anything."

"But I want to. I want to explain what it was like that first day Gail went back to school.

"I'd gone with my folks to the middle school to get Gail registered, then drove home. I was planning on coming back to school at noon after we got Gail settled and was almost ready to leave the house when the school nurse called and said Gail was in hysterics and someone should pick her up. It was easier for me to do it than call my folks and have them drive all the way over. I got to school and Gail was huddled in one corner of the nurse's office shaking like a leaf. Kevin was sitting out in the main office looking almost as bad. Apparently she'd lost it in the hallway between classes and Kevin ran to get the nurse, then followed them back to the office to see how she was doing.

"After I talked to her for a while and told her repeatedly that we were going home and she wouldn't have to go back to school there, she finally quieted down enough so I could get her out to the car. Luckily, Kevin realized what had happened and didn't try to talk to Gail as we left. That had to be tough for him.

"I had called my folks from school, and when I got home they were already there and had Gail's mom on the phone. They decided to transfer her to one of the girls-only schools and I asked if it would help if I went with her.

"Tommy, you remember what she was like at your house. Well for the next two days I was the only one she'd even talk to. She stayed in my room and wouldn't even come downstairs for meals. I was afraid we'd have to take her to a psychiatrist, but then she quieted down when she realized she'd be in a girls-only school and I'd be there with her.

"I'm really sorry I didn't talk to you more, but with everything going on..."

"Beth, don't beat yourself up over what happened. It took a few days, but eventually I figured out more-or-less what was happening and knew you'd want to look after your "little sister."

"Besides, I was busy putting out the fires at school. I never realized how nasty some kids can be.

"Do you know how long are you going to stay at the other school?"

"You saw how much better Gail's doing so I'll be able to transfer back after the holidays. I've been talking with my teachers and keeping up with my work and they don't see any problems with me coming back, but I'm pretty sure Gail will stay at the other school for the rest of the school year."

I pulled my lady back against me. "I'm glad to hear that. Your mice have been missing you."

"Only my mice?"

"Oh, no. Cindy and Greg, too."

Damn elbow!

After tickling her into submission, I started giving her a backrub. I began by running my fingers through her hair and down her neck, onto her shoulders and down her arms—it's interesting how goose bumps feel when they're someone else's—then up to her shoulder blades and down her back, ending at the base of her spine. I ran slow circles around the twin dimples just above her perfect derrière and felt her shiver from the attention. I leaned over and ran a line of feather-light kisses down her spine and heard the purr I loved so much.

As I moved down to place a kiss on each perfect cheek, I ran the back of my hand down the back of her leg, my nails barely touching her skin. When I reached her knee I reversed course, sliding my hand up between her legs until I felt the slipperiness at her center, and was rewarded as her purr turned into a pant. I continued nibbling on her butt as I worked my fingers toward my ultimate target, then concentrated on taking my lady on a journey that would leave her quivering, almost unconscious...

"Oh, Tommy, I-I can't believe how you make me feel! I could die now and be happy."

I moved up until I could nuzzle her ear. "You better not. I want to be able to do this for a long time."

"Mmmm..."

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remembered was a hand slowly moving up the inside of my thigh—nails lightly raking my skin, just barely touching me, until they reached the top. Then those same nails dragged slowly over my most prized possessions and up until thumb and forefinger encircled me, moving slowly up ... and ... down. Then I felt a warm breeze, as a tongue circled my crown, and I felt every fiber of my being drawn toward it. Eventually—ever so slowly—I felt the pressure build, and I remembered that while turnabout was fair play ... it was also a bitch.

Eventually, I couldn't take it any more and I felt my entire being exit my body—drawn by magical lips up, up, and out.

As I lay there, half asleep, I remembered the myth about man's origin as one being—two halves of a complete person—until the gods, in their arrogance and fear over the power of this being, tore humanity apart—each ever to wander in search of its perfect other half. Oh, any two halves could join together, but only as an incomplete shadow of their former glory—unless, in defiance of all the deities from Olympus to Hades—they found their exact other half—the half they'd been searching for, the half that makes us truly whole. As I lay there, I realized I was one of those few who had defied the odds and the gods and had succeeded. With that thought, I drifted off—spooned with my perfect other half...

A knock on the door woke us up. "Tommy, are you going to stay for dinner?"

"Sure, Mrs.—er—Bev."

Beth rolled over and looked at me. "I suppose that means we're going to have to move," she said as she yawned and stretched. An interesting process. I'd never noticed before just how many different—and erotic—movements are involved.

As my mind wandered down that path, remembering all the things we'd done that day—and those we hadn't had time to get to—my lady jumped out of bed and headed for her bathroom and a shower. With a moan, I followed.

During dinner, Gail kept up a constant chatter about everything she and Beth's mom had done that day. I was happy to see a lot of the vivacious girl that had enraptured my brother reappearing. Of all the foul and nasty things her father had done, stealing her personality had to be one of the worst and I was glad to see the old Gail coming back.

Unfortunately, every good thing must come to an end, and I had to get home. With a promise to call first thing tomorrow morning, Beth let me go. But only after a kiss that ensured I wouldn't forget.

I got home and noticed a message waiting for me. Jim Moore, my favorite pilot, wanted me to call him on Monday. I wonder what he wanted?

Monday after school, I called Jim.

Apparently his boss wanted to discuss some additional pictures for their website and I arranged to drive out, grabbing my camera gear, just in case.

I'd barely gotten a foot into the door when Jim came up.

"Tommy, have you had a chance to look at our web site? I can't believe the difference since your friends redid it. Those guys are wizards! We've even had clients notice the change!"

I wished Jim Wilson and Dan Dierdorf could have been there to hear this.

"Anyway, Tommy, my boss wants to talk to you. He's got some ideas for more pictures."

We walked back to his boss's office. "Tommy, this is Matt Phillips. Matt owns the company."

I shook hands with Jim's boss, an older man with a ring of white hair circling his head, then glanced around his office, only to see a couple of pictures on the wall. Pictures of a catamaran.

Catamaran? Matt?

"Is that Matt's Helm?" I blurted out, only to be met with a laugh.

"So you like the Caribbean, eh, Tommy?"

"I didn't have any idea, I mean when Mr. Jones offered us the trip, he said it was from one of his suppliers, but I didn't know..." I finally ran down.

"Tommy, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I talked to Bob and Sue Webber and they mentioned meeting the two of you and how you seemed to be enjoying yourselves.

"I have to tell you, when Chuck asked if it would be a problem for his daughter and her boyfriend to take their place I almost said no. I was close to the point of not offering the house to anyone any more. It's amazing what thoughtless pigs some people can be.

"Bob and Sue are sort of my caretakers down there. They watch over the place and do minor maintenance for me. I've heard from them that some of my guests have left the house a mess, the food all gone, garbage all over, and the fuel tanks empty on the boat. So imagine how happy I was when I talked to them after you'd been there—the house immaculate, cash to cover the groceries. Hell, you even filled the tanks on the boat and Bob said they were only half empty to start with!