Chapter Three



The parking lot was almost full, including her aunt's car.  We walked right in and sat down at the table with them.

"Appetizers are on the way," Jenny said.  "Hi!"

Laci added her chirpy "Hi!"  I noted that she didn't look "butch" this evening.  Neither of them were particularly feminine-looking, but then again, my jeans-clad Kim fit right in.

Laci noted, "You two look like a couple of bookends."

"Yeah.  Isn't it NEAT?  And I didn't tell ‘im what to wear, either.  It just happened!"

And so we had a good meal, conversing about Kim's day, my new car, Kim driving my new car, the music thing, the computer.

"Yeah," Jenny pointed out…  "That was the "We're in the bedroom hookin' up" comment."

Kim giggled.  "He's making his second bedroom into an office.  He's got a really BIG…" and she pulled the same evil grin on her aunt, this time in person. "printer."

Laci laughed.  "That's disgusting…"

"It's FUNNY!" chirped Kim.

Laci didn't let up.  "So Tim, you're walking into this place with a teenaged girl wrapped around your arm and somebody you know from work happens to see you…"

"Then," I said, "they think either of two things.  The ones with the clean minds will think "There's Tim with his niece."  The ones with the dirty minds will say "Way to go, Tim!"  And me?  I don't care."  And I recalled that yes, when we walked in; Kim was indeed wrapped around my arm.  Since she'd spent the majority of the time we were walking together in the exact same configuration, I hadn't given it a lot of thought.

Kim just smiled.  "I'm just being friendly, that's all."

Jenny dropped the bomb, though.  "I thought ya'll made a nice couple."

I chose to push that statement to the back of my mind.

Jenny kept on.  "Tim, what do you have planned for the rest of the evening?"

"Plans?  I don't have plans.  I was going to go to my new home and go to sleep in front of the TV.  Why?"

"Well," Jenny said, "If you want to join us, we can go to our house and play Trivial Pursuit.  We can always stand some fresh meat."

I was thinking, "Ah, Trivial Pursuit.  The game my sister refuses to play with me anymore."  But I said, "I haven't played that in YEARS."

The check came and I tossed a gold card at it over protests from Jenny and Laci.  "No, I was going to pay for Kim anyway.  It's no big deal."

"You're setting women's lib back a decade…" Laci said.

"'Women' has nothing to do with it.  You ever see a bunch of guys eat together?  Fistfights erupt over who GETS to pay.  But if I've offended, you can slip me a twenty…"

"I'm not THAT offended," Laci laughed.

"Let's go," Jenny said.  We got up to leave and I paid attention this time as Kim wrapped her arm around mine.  We had to unhitch to get past the crowd at the exit, and when we got outside, I decided to just experiment.  I put my arm around her waist.  She COULD have pulled away.  Really.  She could have.  But that's not what she did.  What she did was step closer to me and swing her hips to bump mine, and the smile at me.

We got in the car.  Kim spoke first.  "Why'd you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"  I played dumb.

"Put your arm around me…  walking out."

"Because YOU'VE been putting your arm in mine.  And I thought it just might be pleasant to have my arm around a pretty girl."

"Oh."  

I looked sideways at her as we navigated out to the street.  There was a smug expression on her face.  So I assumed that I had not offended.

"Just so you know, this pretty girl' is used to winning at Trivial Pursuit.  Aunt Jenny has 'Kimberly Rules', you know…"

"I don't know.  What's 'Kimberly Rules'?"

"Don't act like I told you, but the only way I can get them to let me play is spot ‘em each a couple of pieces for a head start."  She was grinning.

"That's nice to know.  My sister didn't think of 'Timothy Rules'.  They just stopped playing with me."

Giggle.  "Then THIS is gonna be fun.   Just play along like you don't know anything.  I don't know if they'll try Kimberly Rules with you being new and all."

It was a good thing that all the hot chocolate mugs were empty by the time it was readily apparent that Kim wasn't pulling punches, and neither was I.  Each of us had completed all the categories while Jenny still needed two and Laci three.  And I won the game ONLY because I answered the end of game question before Kim got maneuvered to the final spot.

Jenny and Laci expressed friendly outrage.  Kim was giggling.  "You beat me.  I haven't been beat in a fair game since Aunt Jenny bought the stupid thing."

Laci said, "Hmmpphh!  Engineer.  I should've known better."

"I'm sorry, guys," I said.  "Next time I'll spot you some pieces."  I smirked.

"Like we do to Kim?  Kimberly Rules?"

Kim giggled.  "I told ‘im already.  But I thought I'd beat HIM, too!"

Jenny tittered, "Little Miss Kimberly has met her match."

"Nuh-uh," I said.  "I'm forty.  She's sixteen.  Imagine how she'll be with twenty more years…"

Laci said, "She won't live that long.  Somebody'll kill ‘er in the first Trivial Pursuit slaying on record."

I sat on the sofa, falling back into the cushions.  "Mmmmm.  This feels good.  The floor was killing me."  And Kim slid in beside me.  And surprising me, Jenny slid in on the other side.  Now this was a normal sized sofa, made for three.  Laci taking her place between Jenny and the other end of the sofa had us all cozy. My arms were trapped between me and the two women, so I did the natural thing and pulled them free and put them on the back of the sofa.  Kim took this as her cue to snuggle in against me.  That was less of a surprise than her next move, which was to take the hand of that arm and pull it down over her shoulder, wrapping it around her.  And the surprise ratcheted up a notch when Jenny's hand went inside my leg, ostensibly to pull herself closer to me to better fit Laci into the group.

I glanced at Jenny.  Jenny's eyes met mine.  "Oops," she said.  "I didn't mean to grope Kim's guy."

"You groped MY guy?" Kim squealed.  "Aunt Jenny!"

Jenny was reaching for the TV remote.  "It was an accident." She snickered.  "That's an outtie.  I prefer innies.  But I fear that we are overloading Tim's senses."

"Yeah, something like that." I said.  "I haven't sat with this many pretty ladies in a long time.  Like never."

"Silver words'll get you nowhere, buddy boy," Laci laughed.

And Kim put the cap on it.  "Besides, Aunt Jenny, he's mine.  I've got dibs."  And when I turned to look at her, she smiled sweetly.  She patted my hand, whispering theatrically.  "I'm just saving you from ravenous females."

I looked at my watch.  After eleven.  "Well, ladies, I think it's time I go save myself.  It has been a delightful evening with you all." I turned to sweet, pretty Kim.  "And especially you, Miss Kim."

I got up, expecting to let myself out.  Kim bounced up immediately, taking my hand, and then Jenny and Laci got up too.  I led the gang to the door.  "I can find the door, ladies," I said.

Laci laughed, "Yah hear that, Jen?  He still calls us ladies."

Jenny smiled.  "You can call us ladies, Tim.  We're glad you joined us.  But next time you get to play by Kimberly Rules.  Just so you know."

And I was surprised to have Kim throw arms around my neck and kiss me lightly on the lips.  "Thank you for sharing your day with me, Tim."  And another kiss.  "Tomorrow?"

"Sure, sweetie," I caught myself saying.  "But after nine, okay?"

"Okay.  G'nite, babe!"

I don't remember walking home.

I lay in bed after the shower and the shave and while I was drifting asleep, it was appearing that I'd acquired a teenaged girlfriend.  An unusual teenaged girlfriend.

Sleep came.  Good sleep.  Really good sleep, because I awoke to a ringing, buzzing commotion as my cellphone tried jitterbugging at the end of its charger cable.  I blinked my eyes, trying to clear then as I reached around to grab the phone.  The clock said 09:00.  The phone brought me a smile, because it had a number I didn't recognize and when I answered, the voice coming out was sweet and teenaged and sounded very much like Kim.

"Hi, babe," she said.  "Did I wake you up?"

"Uh-huh," I said.  "But I usually don't sleep this late anyway."

"I set my alarm for nine," she said.  "And when it went off, I called you.  If you come over, we're doin' breakfast here.  Bacon and eggs and hash browns."

"Who's cooking that?" I asked.

"We all are," Kim answered.  "Aunt Jenny's a pretty good cook.  Me and Laci, we're helpin'."

"They said that I was invited?"

"Yeah.  I won't tell you what else they said."  Giggle.

"What else did they say?"

"Ummm, oh well, they said that I shouldn't HAVE to call.  I should just roll over and slap you on the butt."

"Uh…"

"Yeah, that's kinda what I said.  Are you comin' over?"

"Yeah.  I'll be there.  In a few minutes.  I need to get dressed."

Brightly, she answered.  "'Kay, babe.  See ya in a minute."

I hoped that weekend morning informal dress would work.  I pulled on a pair of khaki shorts (belted, of course.  Engineer, you know.) a colored, pocketed (that makes it formal) t-shirt, and shoes with athletic socks.  Five minutes later I was let in the door by Kim in a nightshirt and ushered into the dining room.  "Sit!" she said.

Jenny's head and shoulder appeared in the kitchen door.  "How do you like your eggs?"  She was wearing a football jersey.  I couldn't see what was on the bottom half.

"Over easy works fine."

"Coffee?" came Laci's voice.

"God, yes," I said.  "Two sugars.  One cream."

Laci came in with a tray.  "Do I look like a waitress?"  The tray held mugs of steaming coffee and a sugar bowl and little pitcher of cream.

I looked.  She was wearing a nightshirt, long t-shirt looking thing that ended at the thigh.  It did little to hide some rounded curves and a nice pair of titties that despite the absence of a bra, were NOT sagging.  In the back of my mind I was entertaining the thought that she was actually attractive.  I took the offered tray and doctored my coffee to my taste.  I was savoring caffeinated vapor and sipping when Kim sat a plate of food in front of me and sat down beside me with her own plate.

Jenny appeared with plates for herself and Laci.  Jenny's football jersey was all she had on too, and hers ended slightly below the cheeks of her ass.  I breathed deeply.  At least she had panties on.

Kim looked at me.  Yes, there were two other women in the room, women who, had it not been for them being lesbian, I would have, well, they WERE still attractive.  But I had eyes for Kim.  Only.

Kim smiled.  "I forgot your orange juice."

"I'm okay, Kim," I said.

"Nope.  I'll be right back."  She came back with four glasses and a carton of juice.  She sat back down, poured her and me each a cup and scooted her chair closer as we ate breakfast together.  We finished together and as I sat back, I felt her hand pat my bare knee under the table.  I couldn't let this go unacknowledged.  I reached under the table and squeezed her fingers.  She smiled at me.

We found out that four was entirely too many for the small kitchen of these apartments.  Jenny and Kim shooed me out.  I thanked them for breakfast and went back to my own apartment.  Twenty minutes later there was the doorbell.   I opened it, expecting Kim.  It wasn't Kim.  It was Jenny.

"Oh, hi," I said.  "Come in."

"Tim, I don't have long, Laci's waiting on me, and Kim's taking her shower.  We need to talk."

"We?  About what?"

"Not what," she said, "who.  Kim."

"Okay.  You've got my attention."  I was all ears.

She drew a breath.  "Things are strange in my life right now.  Laci an' me, well, we'd be living together, but she's worried about what it shows Kim.  But that's not the half of it."

"No?"

"No.  Kim's never been one to go on about guys.  She's been on two, maybe three dates since she moved in with me.  And then YOU come along.  It's like somebody hit her in the head with a hammer.  Tim, don't take this wrong, but she's thunderstruck.  I've heard of it.  I might even believe it, you know, 'love at first sight' but maybe it's fairy tale stuff, too, but you need to know…"

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"Every time she's been with me the last two days it's been "Tim this" and "Tim that" and "He's so nice.  Don't you think he's nice?"

"Look, Jenny.  I just met her and you two days ago.  I didn't do anything to encourage her.  She's the neatest girl her age I've ever met.  Make that ANY age.  She's a dream for a geek like me.  But I'm over twenty years older than her.  I just thought I was somebody interesting to her, somebody to break the routine."

"So you're saying 'no way'?  I mean, if she…"

"Oh, I'd love to think it was possible.  She's smarter than smart, and funny and mature and…  Do you see how **I** sound?"  I don't know what I was trying to say.

"SO you would…?"

"Hurt her?  Never!"

"But what if she looks at you and says, 'Tim, I love you…'  Then what, Tim?"

"Then I have a very delicate balance to walk, because I've already had my heart ripped out by one woman."

"Don't you hurt my Kim, boy.  She needs love.  Not to be used.  To be LOVED.  I sound like I'm trying to convince you…" Jenny's face told me volumes.

"No, Jen," I said.  "I was teetering on the edge.  I fear I may have just been pushed over."

"Good.  Be good to her.  I know where you live."

"Yeah, okay.  Can Laci be the best man at our wedding?"

"Oh, shit, Tim!  Wait'll I tell her you said that."  Jenny left.  I walked back to my recliner.  Sat.  I hadn't felt anything like that since I walked off the plane after Iraq.

The doorbell rang again.  I opened it, knowing that this one was Kim.  It was.  "Okay, babe, what do YOU have in mind today?"

"D'ya have a problem with a ride around the countryside.  A park maybe.  Pretty day.  Nature and all that?"  She looked at me, those blue eyes expectant above the freckles punctuating her cheeks.

I couldn't help but smile. "A brilliant idea.  Let me grab some stuff."

"Uh, what kind of stuff?"  She eyed me.

"Babe!" I said.  "New car.  Nothing in it.  We need to have a FEW things.  Tools and such. AND, with the prospect of sitting in a park somewhere, perhaps a blanket to protect tender heinies from the immediate contact with nature…"

Giggle.  "You ARE an engineer."

"Yeah.  Let's see…  I walked up the hall and retrieved an old blanket.  "Here's a blanket that'll work.  We can get the trouble bag out of the truck.  I'll but the stuff to equip another one this week.  Let's go, punkin…"

"Punkin?"  she squealed.  "is that a good thing?"

"Everybody loves punkins, babe.  Even forty year old engineers."

Hands wrapped around my biceps as we walked out.  When I got back from the truck with the trouble bag, Kim was sitting in the driver seat, smiling.  "You don't mind if I drive, do you?"

"To the gas station," I said.  "I have a voucher from the dealer for a tank of gas.  And then I drive."

"Oooo-kay…" she feigned a pout.  "I never have any fun…"

"Little girl, your life is ALL fun right now.  Wait'll you get into college…"

And off we went.  At the gas station, I filled us up, then we drove off with me in the driver seat.  She reached over the console and took my hand.  At the stoplight I looked at her face.  That perfect, loving face.  "Loving?" 

"Uh, Tim…" Little voice.  "you don't mind talking to me, do you?"

"Nope, Kim, you're the easiest person in the world to talk to.  These last two days have been an absolute blast."

"With me?"

"With you.  I wish I was eighteen again.  You'd be on my list for sure."

Her expression got a bit grim.  "But since I'm sixteen, and you're forty, I'm a non-person…" her eyes lost the gleam.

I sucked in a sharp breath as the light changed.  "Not exactly, Kim.  Twenty-four years is a lot of age difference.  But there are things that I found out about you in the last two days that make you so much…  but twenty-four years…"

Kim took control.  "Tim Duncan.  I am an honors student in high school.  I have a 4.0 average in math, and that includes trig and calculus.  I think I can tell you the difference between sixteen and forty-one.  It's twenty-five.   And I could've been a NUN for all I cared about boys in high school.  The smart ones.  The cool ones.   The nerds.  The geeks. The jocks.  I didn't care.  I even dated.  A few times.  D'you know what it's like being a female and going out with a guy and you want to talk about things like the space station or current events and you find out that what your chosen partner for the evening has in mind is a little exploration of your body?  Or "babe, I know where there's a party, and they got beer an' weed…"?  And that's what passes for MY social life?  I even went on a weekend with a church group.  Separate buses for the boys and the girls.  And you should've heard the stories the girls were tellin' each other.  A church group!  And **I** was the ONLY virgin in the bunch."

I listened, driving.

"And so here I am, living with my lesbian aunt, the one person in my life who treats me like family, and I've got most of the teachers in school looking upon me favorably, and life is just a little bit better, and the YOU walk into my life.  It's like somebody whanged me in the head with a cast iron skillet."

She crossed her arms.  Her bottom lip was stuck out.  Not pouting.  Determined.  She continued.  "It's like "Blam!" and a little voice said, "Kimberly, now that we have your undivided attention, that guy over there, HE'S the ONE.", and I am wondering what exactly that takes…"

"What what takes?" I asked.

"Getting it through your terribly intelligent but apparently clueless skull."

"I think you're doing a pretty good job of it right now."

The smile came back.  A little, anyway.

"Okay," I said.  "My turn."

The smile waned.  "I'm listening."

And a voice in my head, Jenny's saying "Don't you hurt my Kim."  With that in mind, I asked, "You're in advanced placement classes, right?"

"Yes," she said, cautiously.

"Then you know about terms like forever and infinity and stuff like that."

A cautious nod.

"Well, let me tell you, Miss Kimberly Elkins, I once loved a woman and stood in front of friends and family and declared that love, forever, just like she did.  'Forever' didn't mean the same to her that it did to me.   That liked to have killed me.  For real.  Had it not been for some of the friends and family, I would not have made it.  As it was, I did.  And when I tried to replace what was missing, I was treated very shabbily, used, by women who wanted something when they offered little in return." I heaved in a breath.  "So, Miss Kimberly, what does LOVE mean to you?  And I KNOW you know what forever is."

Serious-faced Kim looked at me.  "Don't you think that didn't cross my mind?  When I graduate from college, I will be twenty and you will be forty-five.  Under present day actuarial figures (WHAT???  I was playing with a sixteen year old girl who knew "actuarial"?), you're pretty much assured, being in good health, of living until you're eighty, and a bit more.  Using that math that you accuse me of knowing, I think we will have forty good years together.  Now, Mister Engineer, wouldn't you rather have forty good years with the person you love than forty years without them?  I thought real love wasn't about physical things like looks… and age."

I couldn't help the smile.  "Is this the way that it's always going to be?"

"Is WHAT the way?"

"You being right all the time."

"Always?" she beamed.

"You're not the only one who can get struck by lightning.  Or a cast iron skillet."

Her eyes brightened.  "So do you…"

"Love you?  Yes, Kimberly Elkins.  I love you."

"I love you too, Tim," the words rushed out.  She pulled my hand to her lips and kissed it.

"Now what, little love?" I asked.

"We had a day planned, didn't we?'  She smiled.  "Let's do it."

"So it shall be," I said.  Oh, there was still turmoil in my head. But there was a big spot of thought that was settled.  And very happy.  Looking at a smile I would come to know and savor, apparently so was Kim.  My Kim.

We did drive through the countryside, autumn in the Deep South being different than up north, and a riverside park provided us a place to spread that blanket out.

I did the spreading.  Kim knelt in the middle of it, and for the first time, I could really LOOK at her without feelings of guilt or worry that she'd see me looking longer than was acceptable.  Her face turned toward me.  A zephyr blew a wisp of hair across her face and she shook it back in place with a toss of her head, leaving her bangs in delicious disarray.  Her blue eyes.  The slight smile on her lips.  Trusting.  She extended her hand.  

"Here.  Beside me."  She said it with serious tone.  I complied.

She got close to me, wrapping her arms around my neck.  The little kiss last night?  Today's was better. Softer, tentative, yet.  She sighed.  And kissed, we kissed again.  I barely parted my lips and brushed my tongue across her lips.  Her lips parted and the tip of her tongue met mine.  For the first time.  Her lips pressed harder and her tongue explored.  Finally we broke, with us sighing in duet.

"Tim," she said, "I hope I don't disappoint you, but that was my first real kiss.  With a grown-up guy.  For real.   Not little kids."

"It was the absolute most wonderful kiss I have ever had, Kim."

"No, you don't have to say that, Tim.  I know you've been with other women.  More experienced and all that."

"No, baby, YOU need to understand.  You kissed because YOU wanted to kiss ME, not because you were just with somebody and you were expected to kiss.  And I didn't think that there was a snowball's chance in hell that I'd ever get a kiss like that again in my life.  No, Kimberly, your kiss is my rebirth."

She pushed me gently back onto the blanket and smothered me with little kisses.  And I smothered back.  She had her hand on my chest, my neck, her leg insinuated between mine, and I felt stirrings…  Stirrings, hell, I was as hard as a rock.

Our blanket, though… beautiful fall afternoon in a public park… we were already on the edge as far as public display of affection.  I caressed her face, feeling the velvet skin.  She pressed her cheek against my hand, her smile alluring yet demure.

"Tim," she said, "it's not just kissing.  I've never…  nothing.  Never touched a guy…  never been touched.  I've read.  And TV and movies and stuff.  And listened to other people talkin'."

"Don't worry, baby," I said.  "You're in control.  We do what you want, when you want.  If something makes you nervous, or whatever, you say stop and we'll stop.  I'm not in heat.  I am just loving my amazing partner."

Another kiss.  A hot kiss.  "Okay.  Let's pick up our blanket and go back.  We can eat an early dinner."

"Okay, love," I said.  We stood and I folded the blanket and with it under one arm, and with her on the other, we returned to the SUV.

The drive back to town was enriched as we talked about things like her plans for further education, ("I'm sixteen.  I'm not SURE what I want to do.  Major?  I am just not sure.") classes, (I help the teachers in calculus class and I help out in algebra instead of doing study hall) and reading (speculative science fiction.)  and I got the feeling with each mile behind us that this was not just an unusual young girl, but a UNIQUE young girl.

"So you were in the army?" she asked.

"Yeah.  ROTC paid for some of my college.  I had to serve four years when I finished."

"What'd you do in the army?" she asked.

"I was a lieutenant in the combat engineers.  Helped people cross ditches and blew up things."

"Uh… Ohhhhh!"

"Thousands of people in the army, Kim.  I was just one of ‘em."

"And you used to run around the country building things?"

"Yes, baby.  It's one way an engineer can earn a living.  If you're good at it, people will come looking for you with good money in their hands.  But living on the road gets old after a while.  So I got a job at the plant across the river.  And then I rented an apartment…"

Giggle.  "That's almost as good as 'Once upon a time', Tim" she said.  Apparently I wasn't going to be given use of my right hand, because she was holding it for all she was worth.

Easing back into town, she said, "Uh. Tim, can we just do a hamburger for supper?"

"Sure," I said.  "Whatever you want."

"A burger.  And then home."  And that sounded pretty definitive.

Home.  A two bedroom apartment.  The abode of a single guy, forty, well, forty-one, actually, who when he signed the lease had a pretty solid plan for a life a semi-solitude.  And that guy, me, was walking in the front door with a sixteen-year old girl holding his hand.

If I was your typical lecher, I guess I'd have been thinking I'd hit the jackpot, but that wasn't me.  I was really more scared and nervous than I'd ever been in my life.  My long-departed wife and I, neither one of us had been virgins, innocent, when we met and merged and eventually married.  My own virginity had disappeared at seventeen in one of those blurs of a little purloined alcohol and a few friends including the proverbial "experienced" girl to whom I was just another interesting face and different dick for the evening.

And here I was with this complex set of characteristics that was Kim.   And she'd told me she was a virgin, and her aunt had told me that she was inexperienced with dating, much less being in love, and I had no idea as to how this was all supposed to work.  

I'm an engineer.  Materials and forces all follow established laws.  I can take a piece of copper and from a few measurements I can determine how much electricity will pass through it before it gets too hot, and how much more before it will fail.  But this wasn't a material, this was Kim, and on the third day since we'd met, the last thing I wanted was to hurt her in any way.  

She'd said "love" and I wanted to be her source of love and happiness and good feelings and laughter.  That quirky smile of hers?  I wanted that to be MY smile.  Her laughter?  I wanted it to be MINE.  Those clear blue eyes?  I wanted to wake and see them as the first image in my day.  When she grinned and the corners of her eyes crinkled, I wanted that to be mine. So I was scared as I pushed the key into the lock.  I let her into the door ahead of me and shut it behind me.  

She reached around and turned the deadbolt.  Then she pushed ME back against the door and I was glad for her height because I just tilted my face down for my lips to meet hers and her arms wrapped me and all I could do was reciprocate, my right hand on her shoulder and my left on her waist, and she insinuated her body against me.

"Tim," she sighed, her lips inches from mine, "I don't know if this is gonna work."

Horror coursed through my veins.

And she grinned, "I mean, we're "Tim ‘n' Kim."  That's just too contrived for me to imagine.  I don't know if I can stand it…"  It was an evil grin.

"I'm going to the courthouse tomorrow and change my name to Beauregard, you little beast.  Or we change yours to Heloise."

Smirk.  Giggle.  "Nah.  Tim ‘n' Kim sounds okay."  Another kiss.  Twinkly eyes.  And a grin.  "Babe, your face gives you away.  Remind me never to let you play poker with me an' Aunt Jenny and Laci.  They'll clean you out."

"You took advantage, babe!  Here I was, all caught up in the moment, tenderly kissing the love of my live and she pulls horrid tricks on me."

Another kiss.  "Does that make it better, babe?" she asked.

"It may take several."  I said, over-acting, to her delight.

"Let's see if I know how to fix it, then."  She smiled.  "There's something you do that I want to see you do today."

"What?"  My mind was running fast through a stack of possibilities and none of them were coming up as likely.

"Yesterday you sat in your recliner while we were talking.  Go sit!"

That one hadn't even been on the list.  I sat and tilted back.

"I hope that thing can hold both of us," she giggled, sitting on the arm and then sliding back into my lap.

What do you think I'd do?  I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her.

She cooed in my ear, "I wanted to just jump in your lap yesterday."

"You'd've  given me a heart attack, princess."

Giggle.  "I know.  But I thought about it.  Wanted to."

I said, "But, babe, you'd just met me the day before."

"Yeah," she said.  "I know.  My head was still ringing from that skillet.  And helping you Saturday, putting your stuff tougher, straightening up stuff, every time I…  It was like turning over a rock, and there's a gold coin.  And another rock, and another coin.  And another rock…"

Conversation was punctuated with kisses. My hands caressed her back and shoulders and I ran my fingers through that sassy brown hair and let my fingertips tickle the back of her neck.  She purred.  "Mmmmm, gosh, Tim, I feel like I'm SUPPOSED to be here."

"You are, sweetness."  Her shirt had ridden up a little, exposing her waist above her shorts.  And my hand touched velvet, warm skin.  "You feel good to me, too."  And she was caressing my face with one hand as we kissed, the other cradling my head.

Another purr.  "mmmmm…  I knew when you touched me it would feel like this…" Our lips met and she purred as we kissed, her tongue touching, exploring my own.

And I had a problem.  Not a particularly BIG problem, just a "middle of the Gaussian distribution" six inches, but those six inches wanted to be straight, and they weren't.  I kept trying to push the discomfort out of my mind, but five feet eight inches and a hundred and forty pounds of sixteen-year old curled in my lap kissing me was making sure that the problem wouldn't go away.  I couldn't stand it any longer.  Finally, I said, "Babe, I hate to ask, but could you get up for a second…"

She started to maneuver off my lap.  "I knew it.  I'm too big…"

"Oh, god, no, sweetie…  I need to move."

Her eyes saw the part that needed moving and they widened perceptibly.  "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, baby," she said.  "I told you, I don't know ANYTHING.  I wasn't thinking…"

"Neither was it," I said.  "It just reacts."

"That's not an 'it', that's a 'he'," she said.  "And I…  Tim, I've never kissed a guy, much less sat on his lap like we're doing…  I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," I said, standing.  I turned away and adjusted it so it was pointed in a direction that made it happier, and the activity and the change in conversation and the absence of the soft roundness of Kim's bottom in my lap, well, it lost a lot of urgency.  Still, I left it pointed up, semi-hard, and I sat back down.

Kim's eyes.  A little smile.  "I did that…"

"Yes, undeniably, you did that.  'That' doesn't do that by itself." I said.

"Is it okay?  Can I?"

I held my arms out for her to resume her place on my lap.  

"I'll be careful," she said, returning to my arms.

"That has nothing to do with you being careful, cutie.  It is almost a reflex, a reaction to a beautiful, happy female in my arms, and you are the most beautiful, and I hope, very happy."

Kiss.  Long kiss.  And a sigh. "Very happy."

"Good," I said.  "I am too."

She looked into my eyes.  "I think you're blind, though."

"Blind?  Not me… why?"

"You keep saying I'm beautiful."

"Little one," I said, leaning forward to kiss her on the end of her slightly upturned nose, "you are beautiful.  You're tall, well-proportioned, you have beautiful eyes, a smile that would melt stones, that beautiful head of hair, a constellation of freckles that demand to be respected, lips to die for…  beauty that requires no artificial enhancement.  Yes, I think you're beautiful.  And I love you.  But I thought you were beautiful when I saw you standing on the sidewalk Friday with your arms crossed."

"Arms crossed…  I don't…  I'm not… my titties aren't big.  Guys like big ones."

"Some guys do.  I… wait, remember who said that real love wasn't about physical things like looks?"

"Yeah, but…" she stuttered.

"No buts.  But since you brought the subject up, I think you're absolutely perfect.  In every way.  Nothing I'd change, even if I could."

"Are you sure?"

I kissed her as an answer.  I felt her hand on my chest, touching, exploring, then moving up to caress my neck.  

"Babe, your shirt…"  her forehead was touching mine, our eyes locked.

"My shirt?" I whispered.

"Take it off.  It's not such a big deal for guys…"

How innocent my Kim was.  Yes, it was no big deal, if we were talking about swimming or lounging around the pool.  We'd done that.  She knew what my chest looked like, and she knew that I wasn't smooth-chested.  But she asked.  And sat back to clear me to pull my shirt up over my head.  The hand that was simply soothing and arousing in a dreamy way a minute before was like lightning when she touched my bare chest.  It was my turn to purr.  "mmmmm," I moaned softly.

"You like this, baby?" she asked.

"Your touch…  it's like cool fire…  it's been so long since I was touched…  and you touch me, and it's like I was NEVER touched before…"

She leaned forward to put her lips against mine, her hand exploring my chest.  She covered my breast with her hand and gripped, squeezed, then released, her fingers dragging to land her fingertips on my nipple.  I shuddered.  

"You like that, hmmmm?"

‘Yesssss," I hissed.

"If I keep doing stuff like this…  I'm not being fair, am I?"

"Fair has nothing to do with anything.  Your touch is electric, Kim."

"Babe, I love you.  You have to KNOW I do…."

"And?" I asked.

"And, well, I'm…  Tim, you're going to be my first, my only.  But it's not going to be tonight."

"Babe, I don't care.  I'm not trying to get in your pants.  I want in your heart."

"You're in there, babe.  Timothy Duncan, you ARE there."  Kiss.

I said, "I want to be in YOUR head."

"There,too." Another kiss.  And a sigh, a little exasperated.  "But you've fallen in love with a girl who's having a stupid period."

"All things in due time, dearest," I said, kissing her with little kisses across her cheeks and nose.  "You are my precious angel, and you get to say if, or when…"

"You haven't tried…" she said.

"I want you, baby.  What red-blooded man wouldn't.  But I want you because you want me, not because I sweet-talked you or put a guilt trip on you or got you drunk or high or whatever.  And kissing you, caressing you, having you in my arms, you've brought things back to life that have been dead for years."

She took my hand and pressed its palm against her breast.  I felt firm sweet flesh. 

"These are yours, too, babe.  I…  touch me." She pulled her shirt off, then started to unfasten her bra.

"No, let me," I said.  She eased forward into my arms and I unhooked two hooks.  She shrugged it off and dropped it beside the chair, sitting back.

I saw perfect "B" cups. Pink areoles, less than an inch in diameter.  Nipples were perked up like pink pencil erasers.  I touched, letting my fingers savor the feeling of this young girl's beauty.  My fingers touched her nipples and she shuddered.  Then smiled.  "I did that to you?  No wonder you jumped."

"You're beautiful.  These are perfection."  I bent forward as she looked, almost in disbelief.  My lips closed over her left nipple.  Her hands went to my head.  The thought crossed my mind that perhaps this was further than she was willing to go, but that thought went away as her hands pulled me into her chest.  And when I used my tongue…

"Mmmmnnnnnnnhhhhhhh, oh, Tim!  Ohhhhhh…  I… Ohhhhhhh"  and she did pull my head back, replacing her nipple with her mouth.

"Babe…" she said, breaking the kiss.  "I want you.  But not tonight…"

"I want you too.  And we better slow down…"

"Oh, god, I don't want to…"  she sighed heavily.  "Damn period.  Baby, I… I didn't mean, to, you know… tease you…"

I sighed.  I was more erect than I can ever remember.  And she kissed me and it was okay.

"Can we just go this far?" she asked.  Her eyes were honest.

"As far as you want to go," I said. As I said it, I ran my hands across her bare back, my fingers savoring the feel of her smooth skin, healthy, soft, and her reactions were purrs as she lay her head on my shoulder, melting into me.

Her hand curved up to let her run her fingers through my short hair, toying with it as we breathed in unison.  Then her fingers stiffened and she turned my head and her face rose to kiss me.

"You touch me and make me feel loved," she said.

"That's because I love you," I said, pushing my lips through the soft sleekness of her hair.

"You know, even though I'm having a stupid period, we could, uh, take our pants off, she said.  "Get us a little closer together."

I mulled this thought over for about a second and a half.  "I could feel those pretty legs against mine," I said.

She reacted by standing up and unfastening her jeans, all the while staring at me.  The zipper came down and she spread them and eased them down past her hips, revealing pink hip-hugger panties.  God, I wanted her…

A sexy wiggle and those jeans collected at her ankles and she stepped out.  "Your turn," she smiled.

I stood and she took my place sitting in my recliner, watching.  I unbuckled my belt and popped the button on my own jeans, then unzipped.  I hooked my thumbs in the waistband.  "Last chance before they go down, babe," I said.

"Oh, Tim, I'm sitting here in my panties in your living room."  She stuck her tongue out at me.

I slid my jeans down and stepped out of them, my own briefs tented out from a tremendous erection.  Yes, they were briefs, but at least they weren't white.  Royal blue.

"Come closer," she said.

My mind ran through several possible results of obeying, and all of them were good.  I stepped up to stand in front of her.  She looked up at me. Her hands reached out and touched my chest, her fingers curling in the hair there.  Her fingers straightened and she drew in a breath.  I did, too…  Oxygenation.  I might just need it.  Her hands slid down my chest onto my stomach.

"You're my guy now, aren't you, Tim?" she asked, her cool blue eyes connecting with mine. "Mine.  Like in happily ever after?"

"Like in forever.  And you and I will work out the "happy" together."

Her hands slid down until the heels of her palms were resting on the elastic band of my briefs.  

Oxygen!  My brain needed it!  I breathed again.  Her hands traveled away from my belly around my waist and gently pulled me closer.  I eased forward.  The tent in my briefs was mere inches from her mouth and I could feel her breath, even through the cloth.  Her hands slid further back and she slid them down, cupping my ass.  My knees were quivering as her fingers touched me through the fabric.  She let them explore my butt.  I've never had a woman actually explore my ass, but it was being done now as our eyes stayed connected.

Her tongue licked her slightly open lips as her thumbs hooked into the elastic waistband on either side of my spine and pulled down.  I felt the air hit bare skin on my butt.  This was the last chance I'd have.  I put my hands on the sides of that pretty face and I squatted in front of her and kissed her.

"Baby, are you sure?  I don't do this for fun."

"I love you, Tim," she said.  "Let me…  Stand up."

I resumed standing.  She dragged my briefs down under the cheeks of my ass, then her fingers followed the elastic around to the front.  My hard prod was preventing the briefs from sliding down easily.  Her fingers tugged the waistband away from my belly and then down, freeing my dick, its circumcised head purplish and exuding a tiny wetness of lubricant.

Her eyes left mine.  They were fixed on my throbbing hardness.  She paused for a second and then finished pulling my briefs down past my thighs.  They feel around my ankles.  I didn't dare move for fear of breaking a fragile moment.  Her eyes turned back up to my face.  "I…  Tim, I've never…  never seen a guy's…  when I wanted to LOOK.  And touch… "

"Oh, my baby, Kim…" I got ready for my knees to give up completely because I saw her fingers start towards my erection. The first touch has less physical impact than a butterfly landing on a rose, but lightning coursed through me.

She curled her fingers around it, being drawn by her natural curiosity.  A tentative squeeze gave me yet another chance to overcome collapse.  Her hand loosened and she moved it and discovered the outer skin sliding over the hard shaft beneath it. And then her other hand joined the first, the fingertips of that hand tracing, testing the purple helmet throbbing before her.  She noticed my shudder this time.

"Are you okay, babe?" she asked, her eyes reading my face.

"Uh-huh," I managed to utter.

"Would it be easier if you… we got in bed?"  Her eyes twinkled.  "Then I won't worry about you shaking every time I touch you."

I nodded and she popped up out of the chair, herself nude except for those pink panties, her proud young breasts defying gravity in their sassy swell.  She took me by the hand and led me towards the bed.  She turned down the covers and knelt in the middle, patting the clean sheets in front of her.  "Lay down," she commanded.

I complied.  She crawled over me, her breasts pressing into my chest, her pink hard nipples punctuating the feelings surrounding  a passionate kiss. Those long legs spread to the outside of my own and I felt her panty-clad mons rub a path over my dick.  I moaned.  She moaned, too, grinding that soft mound into me.

"It's gonna be good for us, babe," she said.  "It is."

I couldn't do much more than groan.  She rolled sideways off me.

"I can't believe it's so hard, babe.  When I do this…" her hand stroked gently over the head and down the length of the shaft, "Does it feel good?  I'm…  I don't KNOW.  I've heard, but I never…"

"It feels wonderful, baby," I said.  "You've got me so excited…"

"Like in orgasm, like they told us about in sex ed?"

"Like that, babe.  If you do that much longer, it's gonna squirt all over…"

The curiosity on her face mixed with mischief.  Kim was making me VERY happy and this was exciting to her.  "This?" she asked, her hand playing over my dick.

She was obviously not experienced, but my joy of sharing in her discovery had me aroused far past anything I'd ever experienced before.  "Oh, yeah.  Just a light grip and slide the skin up and down."

And her fingers of her other hand found my balls, and tickled and I lost it.  "Unnghhh!" I grunted as the first spurt leapt from my dick, launched to parts unknown.

"Eek!  Now what?" she squealed.  

I took her hand with mine and pressed her fingers around me and milked in time to augment the second surge which landed over my shoulder on the sheets.  The third and fourth ended up on my chest and belly and then subsequent, at least seven, surged out and over our hands together.  I collapsed back onto the pillow.

"Wow!  Is it always like that?" she giggled.

"No, little one, it's NEVER been like that.  You move me to new heights."