Chapter 2

In the morning Rachel was in the kitchen wearing a bathrobe with her hair messed up. She seemed a little surprised to see Julie.

"I thought young ladies would..."

"Spend the night with their boyfriends?" She shook her head. "For some, but not for me. We are spending the day together, though."

"I don't want you to think that I'm ... that I'm..."

Julie smiled. "You're an adult, Dad's an adult. He's been alone for nearly 21 years. I want him to be happy, and if you're the person that makes him that way, then good."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then what are you doing here? He's not rich, last year he transferred the ranch to my brothers and me."

"Could it be I love him?"

"If you're wondering if you are, then this isn't the right match."

"You seem awfully sure for one so young."

"I've had to be the woman of the family since I was a little girl. Being the only girl can be heady, you're treated as something special, but you either get stuck up, accepting it as your due, or you grow up, and learn to simply take care of things for the men in the family. Guess which one I chose?"

Rachel smiled. "so you're telling me you're awfully protective of your father."

"In a way. He's an adult, though, and he can make his own decisions. But I live here, too, and if you're moving in, I get some say in it. For better or worse, I am the woman of this house."

Rachel looked a little surprised. "That's an awfully mature attitude, and more than a little hostile."

Julie shrugged. "It is what it is." She settled against the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee cradled in her hands. "Here's the way I see it. Dad likes you. He may even be in love with you. Good. But you're a woman, and you've come into my home. I'll withhold judgment for a while. I want to see if he's happy, if you're happy." Or if you're a gold digger, she said to herself. "There's also my brothers to keep in mind. They're going to have opinions, too. Not like mine, I'm a girl after all, but they're going to be cautious."

"Can we get them here for a visit?"

"That'll be hard. Rob is running around in the mountains of Afghanistan, SpecOps. Jim is on the West Coast, and probably can't get away for a while."

"Doing what?"

"He has an air charter service. Alan is at sea, and not due back for three more months. And Bill is in college. He can probably get away for a weekend, but don't count on it. The only date I know they'll all be home is when I'm getting married in a couple of weeks."

"I didn't realize..."

"Most people don't. I'm the central contact, the one they all write to and call. I think it's been that way since I was 9 or 10."

"Is it true you practically grew up as a wild girl?"

Julie laughed. "Who told you that story? No, discipline at home was very firm. I might have been the only girl, but there were standards I had to meet, and behavior I had to learn." She made a face. "Besides, you haven't met my Aunt Peggy, Dad's sister. I had to live with her from time to time, and she made sure I learned all of the rules and proper etiquette." Which didn't mean she had to follow those rules, Julie added to herself, just appear to follow them.

Rachel rubbed her forehead. "I can see this is gong to get interesting. I'd like to spend some time together, you know, just the two of us."

"You mean 'girl time'? I'd better warn you, I might be a girl, but my only exposure to that sort of thing was one year at school here in town, and a couple of years in college. I haven't taken to it very well. My friends will tell you that."

"Then we'll both learn something," Rachel said. "We can learn about each other, and we can—"

"Learn how girls should behave in public?" Julie shook her head. "Let's just concentrate on learning about each other."

Rachel smiled slightly, and nodded. "So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well, David is picking me up about 12:30. We're just going to go out, do some window-shopping, maybe spend some time in the park, and so on. Some friends are having a party, and we may drop in on that, or maybe not. Basically today is just the two of us having fun together."

"I think it's important that couples do that," Rachel said. "All right, your father and I are going to go horseback riding. I've done a lot of that, and own a horse."

Julie's impression of Rachel went up a small amount. "Where do you board it?"

"At a stable on the west side of town."

"There's some good trail-riding on the west side," Julie said. "Of course housing developments have really encroached on the places you can ride, but still, for all of that, there's some good riding."

"Your father said something about you having done a bit yourself."

"I had a horse for several years, and learned to ride when I was six. When she finally got too old to ride I really regretted it. We used to do a lot of riding around the ranch. I really enjoyed just getting out and away from things."

Rachel nodded. "Well, maybe you can come riding with us some time."

"Perhaps." Julie checked the time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few chores to do around here before David shows up."

She did a load of wash, mostly white things for her, and was going to do the vacuuming, but Rachel beat her to it. Instead Julie ran the dishwasher and spent some time putting dishes away. Finally she went back to her room and did a little cleaning up. She was more than ready when David knocked on the door at 12:35.

""Where do you want to go first?" he asked.

"Lunch. I had a snack for breakfast, but didn't get a chance to eat properly." She poked him in the ribs. "Are you eating enough? You're skin and bones."

He laughed. "It's all of this exercise I'm getting. It helps melt away the pounds."

"Speaking of which, do you want to go to the party?"

"I thought about it. It's at the North Satellite Office. We could always drop in on them for a bit."

"Do you want to?" Saturdays were supposed to be just for them.

"I'm tempted, but I'd rather spend the time with you. How do you feel?"

"We'll see if we have the energy," she laughed, relieved.

They did a little window shopping, had a late lunch, and fed the pigeons in one of the parks. After a bit they went downtown. Work was only partially staffed on weekends. One of the break rooms was hardly ever used, and they went there. Julie melted into David's arms as they kissed and undressed. They made love, slowly. In between times they talked, partly about their plans, but partly just because they liked the communicating. If Julie had had her way, assuming David had the endurance to keep up, she would have spent all day there, making love and talking. Finally, in the early evening, they got dressed and went to dinner.

"You need to restore your energy," she said over a pasta course at their favorite Italian restaurant.

David smiled weakly. "I can't help it if I fall asleep afterwards," he said. "I'm sorry, but I can't keep my eyes open."

Julie had heard and seen that enough since she'd started at Hubbard. Mrs. Riordan had even explained it.

"A guy falls asleep because it's his body's defense. If he had his choice he'd do it again, but his body protects him. He falls asleep in order to recover."

"He's that tired?" Julie had asked.

"Not really. Some doctors think the body is doing that so he can replenish his semen. Others because of the cardiovascular load when a man climaxes. They've seen that a man gets higher up than a woman, but stays there for just a few seconds. A woman doesn't get so high, but she stays there longer, and can come many times."

"Why is that?"

"When you climax, you're using the same muscles that control contractions during childbirth. That's the squeezing guys report when you come. You don't feel the need to rest because a woman can't quit halfway through labor. The difference is that a climax doesn't last that long, but labor goes on for hours. That's why a woman looks so wrung out after having a baby."

"But if you use the same muscles," another girl asked, "why does it hurt so much?"

"Because your birth canal, your vagina, is about as big around as your little finger when it's relaxed. It has to stretch to take a guy. How much more does it have to go to accommodate a baby? That's what hurts. So have pity on the guys. They can't help what they do. And face it, girls, there's something special about falling asleep in a guy's arms afterwards."

Now Julie pushed a glass of Gatorade across the table. "You need this more than I."

He grudgingly took it. "I think this is a mean trick biology played on men."

"You won't get an argument from me," she replied. "So, you still feel up to a visit to the party?"

"Maybe only to look. You sound ready."

"Not really, just sounding you out."

In the end they did go to the party. As was typical of parties at Hubbard, there was sex, but it wasn't a non-stop orgy like the off-site meetings. There were even a few people dressed, but usually they were leaving. Julie and David undressed, got some fruit punch, and mingled.

The sun was still lighting the horizon, giving everything a brassy patina. The bodies looked warm and inviting, but Julie didn't feel the overwhelming need she had at work. Instead they could hang out, talk, nibble, sip, and just be cool.

The sun had set and the evening had turned cool when she finally had to get involved. By then David had rested enough he could join her. Anna had a boyfriend at work, and the four of them went inside for a little privacy. It was awkward at first, but she and David held hands for a bit while doing it with the others.

That could only last so long. Pretty soon it was only fair to concentrate on your own partner. Anna's boyfriend was named Walt, and she had a fine time with him. When he finally came, well after her climax, it was obvious he was spent. Anna, Julie concluded, must have worn him out beforehand.

They were positioned so they could see between Anna and David's legs. The latter was lasting and lasting, and Julie felt herself getting turned on all over again watching his cock plunging into her, and his balls mashing up against her bottom. Eventually he speeded up, and she saw a thin trickle of white appear around her stretched entrance.

David practically fell asleep at once. Julie didn't want to waste what she was feeling. She settled over Anna, her pussy directly above the brunette's mouth. Then she went down, trying to lick all of David's cream out of her friend while Anna returned the favor. Anna's knowing tongue quickly drove her to a climax. She cried out her pleasure, muffling it against Anna's pussy. Anna matched her, and the two writhed against each other, their bodies shuddering from the waves of pleasure they'd induced in each other.