Sunday morning. I woke up to a motion in the bed, it slowly dawning on me where I was. And the wet tugging at my groin reminded me who I was with. I extended a hand and stroked the tousled, sassy red hair.

"Mmmmm" and then a pop as her lips came off my dick. "Good mornin' baby..."

"Oh, gosh, Cindy," I said. "any morning that starts off with YOU is a great morning."

Suck. "Do I make a good alarm clock?"

"You are so BAD!"

"An' this thing is MADE for me to suck..." She breathed. "among other things." Giggle. "It's hard." She moved up and straddled me, sliding over me with familiarity. "Sit up," she ordered.

I sat up, taking care to keep her impaled on my hard member. We were now sitting in the middle of a mess of covers, twined together, mated. She reached her hands down and tugged the hem of her nightshirt, stripping it over her head and tossing it aside.

"You do it too," she commanded. "I need to feel your skin."

I complied. She re-established herself pressed against my chest. I could feel her nipples like pencil erasers pressing into my own breasts. Her hips were moving, circles, little bounces.

"It's, like, right there."

What's right where?" I asked.

"My clitty. It's right where your dick sticks out of you." She wiggled, biting her bottom lip. "Yeah. Right there." More wiggles. "I like this. A lot." Her eyes were happy and bright. We were coupled, mated, and she was unashamed, uninhibited with our sharing. More wiggles. "I'm gonna come like this."

"Me too." We wrapped together, rocking, me thrusting in a limited motion, her hips screwing downward, driving me into her. Minutes passed. Her eyes closed tightly and her breathing changed to sharp snorts. I slid my hands down the curve of her back, resting just above her mobile ass.

"I'm coming, baby. I can't hold it any longer." I thrust up hard, trying to get my dick as deep into her as I could before releasing. My first spurt triggered her. We melded, simultaneously consumed in orgasms. And stayed that way, snug together, almost a single unit. I could feel the combined wetness of our orgasms slowly flow from her down over my pubic mound and balls. And we sat there.

She finally sighed. "Dan, don't ya know? This is, like, perfect. I mean, US. We're perfect together."

"I believe so, Cindy. I know it."

"Yeah," she said dreamily. "Perfect. And hungry."

"So ... breakfast, then come back and load up, or load up now and go to breakfast?"

She pulled back a few inches. I gazed, enraptured by those eyes. "Let's load up! Then Denny's!"

"My sweetie is HUNGRY!"

She hugged into me again and her teeth fastened on my ear, sending chills over my entire body, and the little minx KNEW it. Giggled at my shudder. "Yeah," she giggled. "For pancakes THIS time!" I popped her on her ass with my palm, eliciting a squeal. We broke apart. Her nostrils flared. "Oh, babe, I think we need one of those post-sex showers before we go downstairs..."

"Yeah. A good one. 'Cuz tonight we're back to those one at a time showers in the trailer."

"You're right," she said.

"But we can do this hotel thing again. Heaven knows I'm makin' enough money to afford it."

Fifteen minutes later the two of us possessed the cleanest genitalia in the state. I took advantage of her drying her hair to do an uncharacteristic morning shave. Then we started dressing, she choosing loose-fitting cotton shorts and a simple light blue cotton blouse, I in khaki cargo shorts and a short-sleeved rugby shirt. I was pulling my trousers up when she said, "Nuh-uh. Come here."

I stepped over towards her and she grabbed the loose waistband of my shorts and pulled me towards her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. She released her grip on my shorts and looked up at me grinning lasciviously as she fished my dick free of my underwear. "One more for the road," she giggled. And lavished a wet, lingering suck on me. Then giggled. "I need more practice puttin' this thing away when it's hard..."

"Thank you," I grinned as I jiggled to pull up my cargo shorts and snapped them and fastened my belt.

We packed up our overnight bags, checked the room carefully for anything missed earlier, then each with an overnight bag slung over a shoulder and two hands full of shopping bags, we exited. Walking out of the room, down the elevator, and past the cheery clerk at the front desk, I wondered, hoped, that nobody would tie this forty-year old guy and young teen girl with the sticky spots left in the middle of that bed.

Twenty minutes later we were seated in a booth at Denny's, I on one side, she, chastely and smiling sweetly, on the other, waiting on pancakes. And a glass of milk. And coffee, as in, "Dan, I've drank it before. You drink it. Why can't I?" Post-breakfast, that put us back into the park at ten. Of course, we stopped at the front office to show Helen the Saturday acquisitions.

"You DO look good in good clothes, honey," Helen told her.

"Thank you, Mizz Helen," replied Cindy.

I looked at Helen. "And did you and the judge have another date last night? Hmmm?"

"Yes, we did," Helen smiled. "And Friday night, too."

"Hey, if this is getting serious, I might need to meet him. You know, make sure he's suitable..."

"Oh, get away..." she laughed.

Then a thought crossed my mind. A dark thought. "Uh, Helen..." I said, "This is the judge that signed the court order makin' you Cindy's guardian, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Has he, like, asked about her? Like why she's not around?"

"You know, Dan, if I thought that was a problem, I'd've not gone out with him. Judge's one a'us. I tol' him what was goin' on. An' he's the one who said I should be the guardian so when little darlin' there (and Cindy smiled sweetly) turns sixteen, I can get him to sign off on you marryin' her."

"So the judge knows..."

"Yeah. But you don't know the judge. Like you don't know that him an' my Herb were classmates in school?"

"How could I know that?"

"You couldn't, just like you couldn't know that me an' the judge's wife were the same age, either."

"Whaaat?" I was mildly stunned.

"Yep. Judge knows about older guys and younger girls. An' he grilled me pretty hard about you. And cutie there. " Another one of those smiles from the cutie in question. "An' the judge, he's eighty-something, but he's hardy stuff, an' ain't goin' nowhere, and you know, just maybe he an' I..."

I smiled. "Good for you, Helen."

"Yeah, it's good for me," she said. "I like the old goat. But YOU don't worry. Okay?"

"Okay." I turned to Cindy. "Come on, babe," I said. "Let's go put your stuff up."

"Oh, by the way," said Helen. "You might want to go through her old trailer, make sure you don't want nothing out of it. I got a buyer, as is, where is, an' it's gone by Friday."

"We can go look," Cindy said. "But there's nothing in there that I need. Dan gives me everything." She smiled.

"Yeah," laughed Helen, "I guess he does." And there were TWO wicked smiles.

Back at the trailer, I rearranged stuff in the storage closets so that Cindy had more room. Girls take up room. Lots of room. But you know what? They're worth it.

As I was shuffling the closets and she was hauling in the loot, she said, "Wanna microwave somethin' for lunch?"

"Either that or we run up to the catfish joint."

"You know," I said, "fried catfish sounds good right now. Microwave something for dinner?"

"I can do that."

Hour and half, we're back. "Pool?" she said, looking at me.

"Yeah, but wear your old suit."

"Why?"

"Because if you wear that bikini, every male in the place is gonna follow you with his eyes everywhere you go, including back in this trailer with me. Save the bikini for tomorrow when we don't have weekenders."

"Okay," she said, a little dejectedly.

We walked from the trailer to the pool, her with a beach bag with our towels, joining several of the weekenders. There were two couples, a pre-teen girl and slightly younger boy, and a couple of teens, a boy and a girl. Cindy sat the bag down on one of the lounges and slid into the deep end of the pool. The teen boy was already headed her way, all but leaving a trail of drool behind him.

I nodded greetings to the adults and slid into the deep end myself. I didn't mix with the kids. I did a lazy crawl back and forth for a few laps, then climbed out of the pool, passed a towel over my head to get the water out of my eyes, then lay back on a lounge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw our young teen stud chatting up my future bride. He was trying, anyway. Cindy was talking to the girl, apparently his sister, more and laughing and calling to the two younger children in the pool.

I chatted with the parents of both sets of kids, how they liked coming down here for a weekend while it was still warm enough, how it was a two hour drive, how one of them had a car dealership in a small town and the other was a manager at a paper mill. When that one found out I was an engineer, conversation wandered around to jobs and where I'd worked and we found we had some commonality of acquaintances.

Cindy finally climbed out of the pool. She was absently toweling off her hair when car dealer guy said, "Man, I think my boy is interested in HER."

"Yeah," I said. "Unfortunately any straight male with a pulse is interested in her. I have to chaperone."

"Doesn't she live in that trailer 'way over there in the corner?" he asked.

"Used to. She's the manager's foster daughter now."

"Oh," he said.

"MISTER Dan," Cindy piped in, "Stop talking' about me like I'm not here!"

"Oh, sorry, Cindy..."

She smiled sweetly. "Thank you, Mr. Dan," she cooed. Then to car dealer guy she said, "Mr. Dan thinks I have to be watched all the time. He's so protective. But he does serve a function. Engineers make good math tutors."

Car dealer guy said "Yeah, me, I just have to plug numbers into a form these days. Ain't like it used to be."

Cindy's tinkling laughter. "Oh, here we go. "I walked to school in the snow. Up hill both ways."

Car dealer guy's wife weighed in, "Don't let 'em get to you, hon. Back when they took math there weren't as many numbers." That got general laughter. And drooling teen boy was now standing, dripping, trying to get any sort of notice from Cindy.

Cindy noticed, alright. "Steve, you're dripping on me..." she said icily.

"Uh ... sorry."

She turned to me. "Dan, I need you to go over those problems I have to turn in tomorrow. My books are in the office, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." I stood, picking up my towel. "Go change. I don't want buttprints all over my furniture." I nodded to the group. "Duty calls."

We walked out of earshot together. "Well, what's the deal with young Studly there?"

Giggle. "If he was an adult he'd have his shirt unbuttoned and be wearin' a rolex an' a big gold chain around his neck. And a bad comb-over."

"That bad?"

"Yeah. At least he didn't offer me weed."

Arriving at the trailer, we had the office between us and the pool, so they couldn't see that Cindy waltzed right in with me. She clicked the lock behind us. And slapped me on the ass. "Buttprints all over?!?? I'll put a buttprint on your FACE!"

"Oh, please, lady ... what do I have to do to get that?"

"Cindy's Dan is an ass," she laughed.

We did actually open the books, just to review, but it was like Einstein doing his multiplication tables. A trip to the pool meant the showers were short. All I had to do was rinse and shave, and Cindy washed her hair and dried it as I brushed it out for her. As promised, we did TV dinners. And TV and two computers.

I pointed her to a couple of sites that talked about advanced placement courses. She looked. "Dan, this stuff's interesting."

"Baby, it's like you've been walking on the lawn and you decide to take off through the woods. It's gonna be more work. But if you're into engineering or any of the other science fields, you're going to get to this stuff eventually."

"You'll be around to push an' pull, though."

I leaned over and kissed her. "Yes I will. But don't worry about this stuff tonight. We'll find all that stuff out Tuesday."

I listened to the sounds of two RV's leaving the park. Two of them. We were alone again. "Babe, do you need to see if there's anything you want out of your old trailer? Books? Pictures? Keepsakes?"

"No, babe," she said. "When I left, there wasn't anything there. Didn't have much room. You seem to think that Mom was one a'them moms' that kept baby books an' stuff. Never happened. Old toys? No room in the trailer. Pictures? Not of me."

Note to self. Pictures of Cindy. Just Cindy. And Cindy and me. The two of us. I told her so. That got a squeal and a hug. And kisses. "I'll see about an appointment," I said.

We watched the news. She wanted to discuss a couple of stories. We did. I encouraged her to look on the internet for other slants on the same story. "Remember, baby," I said, "they present a lot of stories like they're all just black and white, but that's not usually the case. Often there's gray areas."

"You mean, like laws that are supposed to protect young girls from old men?"

"Exactly. Both sides of the argument trot out the most extreme case to show their point."

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "We're, like, the BEST case."

"Pretty much. But the law is built around the very worst case. And here we are."

"Yeah. Sucks."

"Uh, yeah."

"Dan," she said, serious face on, "What you an' me are doin'? Do you think it's wrong?"

"Not in my heart. I fully intend to be your husband for the rest of my life. And your partner. And whatever it takes for you to reach whatever goals you set."

"But laws..."

"I know, sweetie, but here's the deal. The law is about sex. And sex with you is the most wonderful I've ever experienced. Until you, I couldn't even imagine it that good, but even without the sex, I still love you and care for you and want you to have the best chance to see your potential." I looked at her. "Seriously, though, you're in total control here. You could make one phone call and they'd haul me off in handcuffs and I wouldn't see the light of day for twenty years. So if you're having second thoughts..."

"Are you kiddin' me, Dan? If I stayed with Mom, who knows? I could be in Vegas, bein' some guy's pet there, an' I bet he wouldn't be carin' about me an' him takin' pictures that I want to hang on MY wall. Or what? Little Studly at the pool? Or one a'those guys to go with those bimbos at the mall? Hah! You treat me like I'm more than a body. You make me WANT to be smart. Smarter. Like smart is important, not what color my hair is or how big my tits are. You know, you put all that bein' smart stuff ahead of everything. You act like you don't care if we ever have sex, or make love, or whatever..." she sighed. "An' THAT makes me want to be with you all the more."

I let her slide into my lap.

"You know, in the last few weeks, I went to the library for the first time. I flew in an airplane. Heck, I FLEW the airplane. And a real live concert that didn't have beer on tap. Yeah, I am sooooo molested. Nope, Dan, I'll never leave you."

"Okay, Cindy princess. Just tell me every now and then."

"When you see me smile, babe, I'm tellin' you. When I slide into bed beside you, I'm tellin' you. An; when I come home every day, I'm tellin' you. And I'll say it. You know, I'd ... wait! You got me this chain..." She fingered the delicate gold chain around her neck. She looked at me. "Dan," she said, "I've never asked you for anything, have I?"

I thought back. You know, she hadn't. The closest thing to asking for something is to pick what's for supper. "No, baby, you never have."

"Then Dan, this is the first time I ever asked you for something."

"What'd'ya want, baby?"

"I want a ring. An engagement ring. I can tell people it's a friendship ring. It shouldn't have a diamond, though. Maybe engraved. But gold. And you'll know and I'll know what it is." She showed me a picture she'd printed off the internet. "Like this!"

"You got it, cutie," I said. "Saturday we're going shopping for a ring." I kissed her. "And please," I said, "stop scaring me like this."

"I'm sorry, baby," she said, "Mom left. Period. All that. And topped it all off by getting hit on by Studly."

"Yeah, Studly's dad thought you were hot, too. I thought I was gonna have to get my gun."

"You have a real gun? In this trailer?"

"Four of 'em actually."

"Uh, you didn't tell me that."

"You didn't ask. You also didn't ask if I had a pair of pliers, a kitchen knife, a hacksaw or a screwdriver. Guns are tools."

"But a GUN? Why?"

"I have things to protect. Me. My property. And now, my Cindy."

"Where?"

"Where what?"

"Where are they at?"

I reached into the space beside the sofa and pulled out a pistol. "One," I said. Rear of top shelf of Cindy's closet. Shotgun. "Two." Inside my closet. AR-15 rifle. "Three". Nightstand by our bed. Another pistol. "Four".

"Wow. Are they loaded?"

"Of course they're loaded. An unloaded gun is an expensive, oddly-shaped stick."

"You know how to shoot?"

"I guess. I was an engineer lieutenant in the army for five years."

"Oh, yeah, I remember you tellin' me that."

"Do guns scare you?"

"I guess not. But I don't know anything about them."

"I will be glad to teach you. If you want."

"Don't you think I better learn? I mean, if they're like, HERE?"

"No, I think you better learn if you think you might use one to protect yourself or others. Those guns have never jumped out of the drawer and gone out looking for trouble. They haven't attacked you as many times as you've been here."

"I think you should teach me," she smirked. "Guns too."

"Then I need to find out about a range around here. I'll ask around tomorrow. Mizz Helen might even know."

"You'd protect me. You WANT to protect me."

"Of course. That's being civilized."

"But what about that whole violence thing? Guns an' violence?"

"My guns aren't violent. I'm civilized. I am responsible for my safety and the safety of my family. That'd be you. And vice versa."

"Wow. Guns. Uh, Dan, any other surprises?"

"Waaaaiiiiitttt! This is freakin' ALABAMA! Guns shouldn't be a surprise."

"Not at Mom's. Not that I knew of. Maybe we better go look tomorrow, though."

"Okay. Enough of that. Next subject? Are you nervous about Tuesday?"

"Nah ... I think that even if I don't get that good of scores, I am still makin' straight A's anyway."

"Good point! But if I had to bet..."

"Bet what?"

"Bet that you didn't do that well ... I think that if you did your best and paid attention, you're on your way..."

She smiled. "You know, there's been a lot of adventure in my life since we met."

"Just remember that when the adventure wears off, the hard work is still there, babe. At least in school. And work. But me an' you? Every day I live with you is a happy adventure."

"You're sweet, Dan. You didn't have to say that. But you did."

"Just because it's true, is all..."

It's just now good 'n' dark. Are you up for another little adventure?"

"Dark? Adventure? You got me now."

She smiled. "Remember that place we went to by that lake? We drove right up to the edge?"

"Yeah," I said. I remembered the place. Took a country road and a short logging trail, but it was pretty.

"You wanna drive over there an' look at the stars?"

"Sure!" Twenty minutes up the road. "Get some clothes on. Birthday suits don't count."

I pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt and slipped on some comfy loafers in the time it took her to do shorts and a blouse. We were out the door in the dark. Twenty minutes later I turned off the engine. We got out of the truck, I with a blanket under my arm.

"Just look at the sky, Dan..." She turned her face heavenward, its features illuminated by moonlight, and becoming more visible to me as my own eyes adjusted to the darkness. She turned to me. "Spread that blanket in the bed of the truck so we can lay down an' look up."

I dropped the tailgate of the truck and spread the blanket as directed and we crawled into the bed of the truck. The blanket did little to soften the steel underneath us, but it was comfortable enough to lay on. Any more strenuous activity, though, was out of the question. The autumn air was comfortably cool, moist, like velvet. Cindy was lying beside me, and her hand found mine and she intertwined our fingers.

"It's magnificent," she said. "We can't see this many stars at the park. Too much light. But here..."

"It is majestic, yes, baby..."

"D'ya think Beethoven was thinkin' stars when he wrote some of that music?"

"I dunno. I see a sky like this and I wish I could put the emotions to music, don't you?"

"Yeah, that's what I mean." She sighed. "See, Dan, you've given me the stars."

"I know, sweetness. I've seen them in your eyes..."

That statement of fact got Cindy up on one elbow to kiss me. "Ouch!" she muttered. "Truck bed's too hard!"

I dragged her on top of me. Kissed her. "Roll over on your back," I said. "and scoot down a little." She complied. I held her in my arms, my chin on the top of her star-lit head.

"I feel you breathe," she said.

"And every breath brings me your sweetness, baby. Mmmmm..."

She wiggled a bit and settled in my arms. Sometimes communication is communion and words are wasted. Like now. The spell finally broke. It took a meteor streaking across the night sky.

"I made a wish," she said.

"Me too." I gave her a squeeze. "Hah! Looks like I got mine..."

"If you're still holdin' me like this in twenty years, I'll have twenty years of mine..." She rolled over and kissed me. "Let's go home."

"Okay, baby."

We got up, I folded the blanket, put it back in the back section of the crew cab, and twenty minutes later we were walking in our door. The clothes came off and Cindy was kneeling in the middle of our bed. Naked. Smiling. And how could I refuse that?