Author: The Naughty Gaffer brndtag at mcn.net.
Please use “Story Comments” in subject line if you send e-mail.
Title: The Bather  
Keywords: M/F, rom
Summary: A woman finds that a run and a bath can lead to great pleasure.
	Cold desert air tingled in Serena’s lungs as she dug into the hill.  Stars on the horizon faded as the sun rose over the mountains in the east.  Thane’s breathing puffed in the winter-hard air, matching her effort stride for stride.  They were working their way up the last hill on the Monument Trail, nine long miles of roller-coaster.  Her heart was thudding and her legs were beginning to ache.
	“Whose idea was this?” Thane asked as they crested the hill and dropped into a fast walk for the last half-mile back to Serena’s Jeep.  
	“It was yours, remember?  Right after that 10K race the company organized.  This wellness kick is liable to kill me.”
	“Oh, come on,” Thane replied.  “You’re breathing okay.  You’re in perfectly good shape.”
	“You’re not doing bad yourself, for an old fogey.”
	“Fogey? Thank you very much.  I saw you sign up for the race; you’re twenty-three.  A child.”
	“I saw you sign up, too.  You’re in good shape for a guy over thirty.”
	“Distance runners peak around thirty-five, Serena.  But I felt a little silly when you paced me through the whole 10K run.  Here’s the car.”
	Serena pulled off her head band and took the key out of its folds.  She opened up the Cherokee and they hopped in.  “Boy, stop running and you can tell it’s winter,” Thane said.
	“That’s for sure,” Serena answered as she pulled her sweatshirt over her head.  The long-sleeved T-shirt had been enough while they were moving, but she could feel the winter’s bite on her legs as she pulled her sweat pants on.  Thane had wiggled into his suit, which had slowed Serena down a little.  “I hope he didn’t see me watching,” she thought as she started the Cherokee and headed back to town.
	Thane’s apartment was only a few miles from the trail and the road was empty so early on a Saturday.  The heater had just started to work when they pulled into the parking lot.  “I think I turned into an ice cube,” Serena said.
	“Then let’s make some breakfast and warm up,” Thane said.  “I’ve learned about cooking since I tried the whipped chocolate moose.”
	“You tried to make chocolate mousse?” Serena asked as they went inside.  “I didn’t take you for the gourmet type.”
	“I’m not.  As soon as I started to whip that moose, I had a problem on my hands.”
	“You whipped....you did what?” Serena laughed and punched Thane’s shoulder.  “I walked right into that one!”
	 “You ought to know better by now.  I’ve been doing that for years.”
	“Yeah, I should.”  Serena followed Thane into the kitchen and started coffee while Thane sizzled sausage and mixed pancake batter.  “May I read the funnies while you cook?” she asked.
	“Sure,” Thane said.  “We’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.  You use cream and sugar, don’t you?”
	“Please,” Serena said.  “You’ll like this one -- it’s just like the branch manager.”
	Thane looked over her shoulder as he set a plate in front of her.  “Yeah, that does look like Taylor,” he said.  “Sounds like him, too.”
	A little while later Serena leaned back.  “I don’t know.  Getting up early, running nine miles and then eating a big breakfast doesn’t seem to give me any ambition.”
	“I’m pretty full too.”
	“I ought to get going.  Oh, gross,” she said.
	“What’s the matter?”
	“Oh, my shirt’s all sticky.  I hate driving when I’m all sticky.”
	“You don’t really have to.  I’ve got a laundry closet.”
	“Oh, that’s too much trouble.  Besides, I don’t have any other clothes with me.”
	“I’m not that much taller.  You can use something to get home, if you want.”
	“You wouldn’t mind?  It’d be a lot more comfortable.”
	“Sure.  Let me find you something and you can change.”  Thane came back in a minute with a T-shirt and a pair of fleece pants.  “These are a little short on me anyway.  They ought to work.”
	Serena stood up and hung the pants from her waist.  They were going to be baggy, she thought, but they’d be better than the sweaty clothes she had on.  The shirt was going to be big, too, but it would do.
	“You’re sure it’s okay?” she asked again.
	“I’ll just get ‘em back on Monday.  Please, feel free.”
	Serena went into Thane’s bedroom and closed the door.  The bathroom door was open; she took a quick look.  A Jacuzzi tub!  Could she ask?  What would he think?  Then her left calf cramped up and she decided it was worth a chance.
	“Thane?  Would it be okay if I tried your tub?”
	His voice was muffled by the door.  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that question before.  Yeah, sure.  But just wait a second.  I’m coming in if you’re dressed.”
	“Yeah, I’m still dressed.”  Serena sat on the bed -- an ordinary double bed with a slightly odd blanket on it.  Thane came in and went into the bathroom.  
	“I found something,” he said.  “My mom left this the last time she visited.”
	Serena watched as he started the water, tested it with his hand and added a scented foam.  “That’s nice,” she said.  
	“Let’s get your shoes and socks off,” Thane said.  He tugged off her shoes as she untied them and then pulled off her socks.  He took a bottle of hand lotion and warmed a little of it between his palms.  “The tub needs a couple of minutes yet,” he said.  “Let me work your feet over.”
	Serena stretched out her legs and Thane’s warm hands began kneading her toes and feet.  “That feels so good,” she said, a little reluctantly, “but isn’t this a little, well, ...”
	“A little funny?” Thane asked.  He paused.
	“I’ll give you an hour to stop that,” she said.  “But it does feel a little funny.  We’ve never even dated, and here I am.  You’re rubbing my feet while you run a bath for me and you made breakfast too.”
	“So I’m domestic.  If I were a woman and you were a man, people would think it was okay.”  He had resumed rubbing her feet.  Serena sighed as the warmth of his hands and the slick lotion thawed her toes out.  The muscle cramp was long gone.  She leaned back against the bed and felt the blanket. 
	“What kind of blanket is that?” she asked.
	“That’s a mink blanket.  I got it when I was in the Air Force in Korea,” Thane said.
	“I saw the plaque,” Serena said.
	“I call it my Tigger blanket.”
	“It’s so soft and thick,” Serena said.  “It almost feels like a real tiger skin.”
	“I know.  I’ve had it for a long time.  I’d better turn off the tub and switch on the jets.”  He set up the tub and stepped out discreetly.
	Serena peeled off the sweaty running clothes gratefully.  She glanced in the mirror at her bare body as she dipped one foot in the soft, warm bubbles.  She was still surprised a little by her own body, by the change from gangling boyishness to the slender, firm breasts and the gently curved hips.  “I thought you’d never get here,” she murmured to her breasts as she looked at herself and then at the mirror again.  It had taken a long time and a lot of running before she’d really felt good about her body shape.
	Serena sighed as she slipped into the Jacuzzi.  The foam looked like a volcano crater with the jets pumping under it.  Serena had just brushed some of the bubbles across her breasts when she heard a tap and Thane’s voice.
	“Are you all the way in the tub?” he asked.
	“Yes, you snoop.  Why?”
	“Stay there a second,” he answered.  She did, glancing toward the bathroom door.  A long, hairy arm reached down and snagged her running clothes.  “This won’t take long,” he promised as the arm retreated. 
	“I hope not,” she said.  Secretly, she wasn’t sure she was in such a hurry.  Her hands across her thighs brought to mind other hands that had been there and a pair of hands that never had been there.  When had she ever had a man pamper her like this?  Probably not since her dad.
	She was half asleep sometime later when she heard Thane tapping on the door.  “I’ll stay out if you want.  Just say so.  But I really would like to come in and scrub your back for you.  We didn’t talk about this, I know.  But I hope you’d like it.”
	“I think I would.  Is that a good idea?”
	“I don’t really know.  We both know what happens if I come in, though, don’t we?”
	Serena was sure she did.  She was also sure she wanted it to happen.  This was the most seductive approach she’d ever known.  Breakfast, a bath, laundry in the machine and she hadn’t lifted a finger!  Her body was crying out to have this man’s children now!  Or at least go through the motions, since she had made arrangements not to have anyone’s children just now, thank you!
	“I know,” she said after a long pause that pretended to be thoughtful.  “Come on in.”  She slid as low as she could in the bubbles.  Her skin pulled a little tighter and her belly tingled as Thane came in with just a towel around his waist.  She felt very naked even with the bubbles around her.  And he looked very naked even though he wasn’t, quite.  “This feels a lot funnier than the foot rub,” she whispered.
	“It feels funny, but it feels good,” Thane said as he knelt by the tub.  Serena pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, then leaned forward and put her cheek on her knees.  She looked at Thane with half-drooped eyes.  His were wide and smoldering, his breath catching just a little.  He took the washcloth from the rack and soaked it in the water.  Serena closed her eyes and thought about how to get rid of his towel as she felt the powerful hand through the warm cloth.  The hand squeezed her muscles softly and firmly through the damp cloth and the suds.  The heady scent of flowers flooded the room.  
	Thane seemed awfully shy still, Serena thought.  He had scrubbed her upper back for two or three minutes, but his hand hadn’t dipped below the water yet.  “Hey,” she said.  “There’s more of me than that.”
	“I know,” Thane said.  The catch in his voice was sharp now and Serena felt it run from her ear straight between her thighs.  It rolled down her spine and made her bottom tingle like a small battery.  Her back arched almost without her will.  
	“Well, get busy,” she said.  Her own voice was catching now.  She closed her eyes again and was rewarded as the washcloth caressed her lower back and then just at the top of the tender flesh of her bottom.  The cloth paused briefly between the soft-firm mounds, touching and lingering on the secret place there.  Serena gloried in the shudder than raced up to her shoulders.
	“Did I hurt you?” Thane asked.
	“Oh, no.  God, no,” she croaked back.  “That was a good shake.”  Her shoulders trembled again as the cloth returned.  Thane’s breath was ragged in the back of Serena’s mind.  Tingles and racing streaks of flame were in the front of her mind.  Sparks flashed behind her eyelids as Thane’s hand grew bolder through the disguise of the washcloth.  He was softly washing the sides of her breasts now and under her arms.  “You’re tickling,” she giggled.  “On purpose.”
	“Yes,” came the half-strangled answer.  
	“I think my back’s done,” Serena said.  “Let me lie back.”  Thane’s arm moved and she draped herself against the tub.  She raised her left leg lazily to put her foot on the end of the tub.  Thane needed no words; she heard a soft splash as he swished the cloth and then the wet caress was streaking up and down her calf.  A few moments later she felt him move more boldly along her thigh and under the water again.  This time his exploration brought him between her legs touch her vagina.  Hesitant fingers brushed through soft, wet curls and up to her navel.  Sparks flew under the water, radiating to breasts and belly and down again to her vagina.  A soft moan squeezed itself out before Serena knew it was coming.  A deeper moan answered it.  Her right leg got the same treatment before she felt a bare hand behind her neck and another that was exploring the throbbing nipples of her high breasts.  She reached a wet arm out and pulled his head down to her, his lips to hers.  Their breath seemed one as she drank his mouth and his tongue into her own.  Her own hand had begun to explore his chest and arms, an awkward task in the tub.  She pulled him closer, but a moment later he pulled back.
	“I’m not quite ready for you,” Thane said.  “I feel kind of sticky too.”
	Serena slid forward as far as she could.  “I think you’ll fit, at least for a couple of minutes,” she said.  Thane looked deep in her eyes, finding eager acceptance, demanding acceptance in the deep black rimmed with sky blue.  Serena watched as he rose from his knees and dropped the towel to the floor.  She had only a glimpse of flat stomach, strong hips, erect penis before he had slipped into the tub behind her.  His arms reached forward and pulled her slick body against him.  She found herself looking up at him from his shoulder.  Coarse hair tickled her back as strong arms encircled her waist.  Thane’s erection was pressed between them and it pulsed with his demand for her.
	But he restrained himself admirably after pulling her tight for a minute.  “I’ve got to get on with this,” he said.  “I’ve got to have you, if you’ll have me.”
	“I think I already have you,” Serena giggled.  She twisted around and soaped his chest with the washcloth herself.  Her breasts were peeking out, still flecked with suds.  She felt cool air on the wet skin and her nipples rose even higher.  She felt hot eyes on her, too, and that pulled her breasts to a tight, sharp sensation that was going to be painful soon.  She pressed her breasts to his chest -- a little pressure that eased her breasts and sent the tightness to her thighs instead!  “You’ll do,” she said after sloshing some more water over her lover-to-be.  “And you’d better do, too.”
	“I’ll do, I’ll do,” Thane rasped out.  He had managed to stand and stepped out of the tub, rubbing himself quickly with one towel and producing another from under the sink.  Serena watched intently as he bent to get the towel.  His bottom was sharply defined, a little round but mostly rippled muscle.  The slabs of his thighs were an invitation she had to accept.  She stood up a moment later and stepped into the waiting towel.
	The towel was warm, fluffy, soft, fragrant.  There was just a hint of man in the towel; there was a stronger scent on the man himself as he wrapped her in the soft folds and gently patted her body.  Her flesh tingled and sang through the towel at the softly firm touch of the large hands, the brush of his arms.  Serena looked down at herself as the towel soaked the water from her hot flesh.  Thane was kneeling behind her, being teasingly careful with his hands as he dried her thighs and legs, her bottom that pressed against his hands almost without her will.  She leaned her head back against his chest as he stood behind her and patted the towel across her breasts and her shoulders.  “My God,” she thought as her hands acted out her hopes without bothering to see what her intentions were.  They had taken it on themselves to reach up behind her, to take Thane’s neck and pull his face to hers.  They nearly fell over while Thane was trying to get his arms around her waist and brace himself.  Her body was pressing against his, back to chest, bottom to manhood, with a force that nearly sent them into the tub.  Murmurings that tried to be words were flowing in the air.  Thane had balanced enough to reach below her waist and stroke her lower belly, then the now-dry curls between her legs.  Serena was awkwardly grasping Thane’s bottom with her hands behind her.  The swell of his eagerness was cupped wonderfully in her bottom, but her vagina was announcing its jealousy with searing flashes.
	Serena turned and pulled Thane against her breasts now.  She explored his back with her hands, shoulders to knees.  Her hands insisted on coming back to his bottom again and again; she sent them back willingly and Thane was obviously welcoming them.  His hands had roamed her bottom and found the last of the secret places as she opened her legs a little.  Suddenly she felt herself rising, cradled in his slender arms.  She hooked her arms around his neck and stared into the need in his eyes as he stumbled to the bed.
	The blanket pressed against her back as Thane pressed against her belly.  The soft nap warmed her bottom as his kisses warmed her belly and her thighs.  Serena wasn’t sure where the condom came from as she paused a moment to prepare him.  Then he was devouring her lips and she was pulling him into the screaming pussy lips.  Her nipples rasped against the spray of hair on his chest as he rocked her with the eagerness of his love.  Waves rolled through her belly and her back, rolled back again, rolled forward.  She couldn’t count them and didn’t want to.  “I love you,” she was pretty sure she said.  “I love you,” she was nearly sure she heard.  “Aaahh,” she knew she said.  “Aahh,” she knew she heard.
	It was only ten in the morning, but it felt like midnight after a long day when she came back to herself.  She nestled her head on Thane’s shoulder and snuggled into his warm arms.  She last knew the warmth of his thigh as she threw her leg across his, last heard his murmur of joy as she fell into sleep.