Katori

It had been a lifetime since I was awakened by the sensation of a man pressed into my ass and big hands pawing at my nipples. But not so long that I didn't immediately recognize what I was feeling. And not so long that the flame, which hadn't had the chance to die down, didn't reignite, bringing a heat and a flush to my skin.

"Think we have time?" JC whispered into my hair, spooning my body and wrapping himself around me.

I lifted my head to check the clock on the nightstand. 6:23 AM.  I'd told him that he needed to be out of my bed by 6:30, so he was pushing it. I answered by scooting back against him, rubbing my bare skin against his.

"If you can make me come in seven minutes."

"You don't know me very well, do you?" The faint crinkle of a condom wrapper accompanied precise movement under the thick comforter we'd been buried under since we collapsed after our last go-round.

I chuckled. "Well, not a lot of men go around bragging about how quickly they can get a woman off. It's not something to be well known for."

JC pulled my body back up against him and slipped a hand between my thighs. With a tilt of his hips, he was inside me, warm and pulsing.

"Welp, when you do it like I do, it's an art form, not a guy that can't hold out for-"  He tipped his head up to eye the clock. " - five minutes." 

"And we've made it full circle to talking about your art again."

"You said you wanted to know my art, right?" I giggled, then reached behind us and grabbed a handful of Grade A, LA Pretty Boy ass. "I'm just saying," he panted in my ear while grinding against me and kneading a breast. "You're lookin' at it. Or feelin' it, rather."

"Could you stop trying to be sexy and fuck me? You have three minutes."

"Yes ma'am, I can."

He moved a hand from my breast to my clit and matched the rhythm of his hips to the strokes of his fingers. And then sped up both until I was writhing, working my body against his and trying to control the growing volume of my groans.

"How we doin'? Am I gonna make it in time?"

"Unffff....shit!"

"Sounds like things are good. Mind if I come with you?"

"Yes..." I yelped, sucking in a deep breath.  "Yes!"

I grabbed his wrist, making sure he couldn't pull his hand from my clit. I felt tiny pinprick bites on my neck, up to my ear and back around. The sensation was driving me up a wall.  The muscles in his arm contracted, holding me and my hips still, where he wanted me.

Firm, forceful, deep, he pushed into me. His thumb was making revolutions around my clit and... oh my God. I came. So hard I couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

Behind me, JC stiffened, then tilted his hips once more. A rough, gravelly, "...yeah..." rolled from his lips, followed by rapid puffs of his breath on my shoulder. I felt him release, and then, finally, he relaxed.

"Shit..." I hissed, my entire body heaving with the effort to take in a full breath.

"You said it, mama." He dropped a series of kisses across my shoulder and splayed his hand over my belly.  "That was the best seven minutes of my life."

"It wasn't too bad on this end either." I glanced at the clock and smiled, turning my head so my lips met his. "But you went a minute over."

"Damn. I was really going for seven minutes exactly."

"Sorry." I gave his arm a tap and wiggled my hips. "You gotta get going. Kaya always leaves on time and she'll be home-"

"Before seven. Yeah, I know. I'm gettin'."

He leaned over me to drop a wet kiss on my lips and scooted out of the bed. "Ooh! Shit! Coldcoldcoldcold."

I sat up, leaning back on one hand, and pulled the blankets up to cover my nude body. The fire had long since died out and I never opened the heat vents in my room. "Use the rugs, JC!" I told him, laughing.

He pulled on his jeans and balled his shirt and hoodie in a hand, then  stuffed what was left of the strip of condoms in his pocket. He bent to pick up the wrappers that had fluttered to the floor.

"No no," I said, holding out my hand. "Give me the wrappers; I'll throw them out in the garbage behind the house. I don't want anyone to see them."

He sauntered across the room, the crumpled wrappers in his palm. I reached for them, but his hand closed around mine. He grinned at me, all smarmy-like. "I'm kind of enjoying being your dirty little secret, Tori."

"Good." I snatched the wrappers from his hand.  "Because no one can know that this happened."

"My lips are sealed, honey."

JC left my bedroom, closing the door softly behind him. I considered trying to go back to sleep, since we didn't really sleep much, but my well-worn habit of having breakfast ready for my sister created a guilt monster that nagged and nagged until I sat up, flipped the covers back and rolled out of bed.

I put my pajamas back on, the ones JC lovingly called ugly, and this time put the bottoms on, too. Since I was up, and the sheets needed to be washed anyway, I pulled the comforter back and stripped the bed. Then ducked into Nasaan's room and grabbed his sheets and his laundry basket.

It would be another long day of pretending I wasn't having sex with my house guest. Then inventing reasons for everyone to leave, so we could do it again.

...

"Hey, Mom?"

I sorted through the piles of laundry stacked up in front of the washer, dumping clothing into soapy water and flicking my hair out of my eyes as I did so. I turned to find Nasaan in jeans and a forest green hoodie, leaning against the wall next to the alcove that held the washer and dryer. 

I had to tilt my head up extra high to see his face. I wondered if he'd grown a little in the last week. He seemed... so much taller than I was. And he had a hint of peach fuzz on his upper lip. I. was not. ready.

"Hey, what?"

"Is it okay if I show JC around downtown for a little bit? He wants to pick up a couple of things and he hasn't been out of the house since he got here, except to go to the shop."

"Uh, that shouldn't be a problem. You need me to drop you off?"

"Well, I was thinking JC could borrow your truck. Or Aunt Kaya's pickup."

"You thought that, did you?" JC turned the corner, wearing a sheepish grin, hands balled into fists and shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He seemed sufficiently embarrassed at having to ask to borrow a vehicle but I couldn't pass up the chance to pick on him. "So you sent the kid to do your bidding?"

"Whatever. That kid is taller than both of us. Anyway, he said something about how his mom never says no to him and...you know..." JC shrugged, beaming a smile at me.

 I laughed, unable to resist. "Remember, he's a teenager. And a skilled liar. I say no to him at least five times a day." I threw more laundry into the washer and lowered the lid on the machine. "You don't drive cars like you ride motorcycles, do you?"

It was JC's turn to laugh. "I'm an excellent driver. I'll go nice and slow, I promise."

I nodded toward the key hooks on the wall next to the kitchen door. "Key's over there. Nasaan knows where all the potholes and ruts in the road are, so listen to him. My struts will thank you. And be back before dark, okay? It's warm outside, but what melts today will freeze after sunset and we'll have black ice tonight. I don't want either of you out in that."

"K, mom," said Nasaan, leaning over to drop a dry kiss on my cheek.

"K, mom," JC mimicked, leaning over to do the same. I panicked,  ducking away from him, flicking my eyes toward Nasaan, who wasn't paying us a bit of attention. "Relax," JC muttered. "I'm just playing with you."

I freed my lungs of a heavy, hard breath. "I knew that. Just go. Call me if... you need to."

"Sure will. Should we bring anything back for you?"

I was frazzled. And afraid that it showed. I didn't want Nasaan or Kaya to detect it and demand to know what had me glistening with sweat and my hair standing on end.

"Uh... no," I finally pushed out. "I'll call Nasaan if I think of something."

When I'd heard the truck start up and slowly back out of the driveway, I headed to the refrigerator, plucking a beer from the stash that JC had depleted, then replenished. I used a bottle opener to pop the top and I sucked down a few ice cold swallows.  Hand on one hip, and with a long, loud sigh, I let a belch roll from my belly.

"Aren't you such a fuckin' lady?" Kaya smirked as she rounded the corner from the stairs, her arms full of laundry. "I've got dibs on the machine next."

"Fine," I said, swigging another mouthful. "That's my last load anyway, just sheets and towels."

Kaya was haphazardly sorting clothes into three piles. Whites, not whites and hospital scrubs. "So what did you and Pretty Boy end up doing last night?"

We fucked all night long, in my bed. He gave me several orgasms, during which he made me come so hard I screamed his name.  

"Not much. Watched some TV, had some drinks." I shrugged a shoulder and drank more beer. Nonchalant. Breezy.

"Must have been an early night. He was already up and making coffee when I got home."

"Maybe he doesn't sleep much," I mused, pretending to ponder and consider the possibility. "You know how rock stars keep funny hours. And he's not at home. Maybe he just doesn't sleep well away from home."

Or maybe he's been awake doing things no one else knows about.

"Well, I'm sure he's in a hurry to get out of here. Can you even imagine having to spend your vacation in Shitcroft, New Mexico instead of Taos?"

"He doesn't seem to be suffering too much. I offered to ship his bike anywhere he wanted me to and he said no. And he's way more laid back than I expected. You wouldn't think he was a... you know... celebrity."

I hated to even say the word. He didn't act entitled or spoiled at all. A little clueless about the use of elite credit cards in a small town, but definitely not a primadonna.

 "Yeah," said Kaya, flinging clothes around.  "I guess I'm over it. He's so normal and boring. Yesterday he tried to lecture me about coins and I was like... oh my God. Please close your mouth and just look pretty. K? Thanks."

"Mmmm... last night he mentioned that he's an artist. Like...an art artist.  He paints or... something."

"Oh, Jesus. No thanks."

I barked a laugh, remembering shrugging off his mentioning his art. I had no intention of waxing about him following in the footsteps of Van Gogh or whatever while I had an erect penis in my sights.

Kaya had finished sorting and joined me in the kitchen, where she was picking at lunch leftovers. I'd made sloppy joes and Nasaan's favorite: seasoned, homemade potato chips. I'd done my best not to burst into embarrassed flames while he raved about them to JC. They were just fried potatoes.

"Where is he?" She asked, crunching on chips, then grabbing my beer for a swallow to wash them down.

I wrinkled my nose. "Keep that. I don't want your cooties. He and Nasaan went to town. I think he has a little cabin fever."

Just then the washer chimed, indicating that the load was finished. "I'll throw them into the dryer for you," said Kaya, "So I can get started."

"Okay, thanks. You want to watch a movie? Oooh, they're streaming ER on Hulu now."

"Exactly what I want to watch when I come home from my shift in the ER is a show called ER."

"Noah Wylie though. And George Clooney. And- "

"Fine, fine," she said, her voice sounding hollow as it echoed from inside the washer. "Twist my arm why don't you? I'll just be a second. Queue it up."

I bounced to the living room and grabbed the remote from its spot on the coffee table. Kaya and I had long standing traditions going all the way back to childhood. One of them was laundry and movies on Sundays. From time to time, we could get Nasaan to join us. 

She'd been picking up extra shifts lately though, since the shop wasn't doing so well and our Sunday tradition had been interrupted. The bills have to get paid, Tori, she'd said.  

I flipped through screens and found ER in my saved shows. My thumb was poised over the play button when Kaya screeched from the laundry room. "Toriiiiii!"

I dropped the remote on the couch and ran toward the sound of my sister freaking out.

"What? Is the mouse back? Is it a bug? What?"

"No. It's... this!" She thrust a gold foil wrapper at me. It had obviously been through the wash and must have stuck to the bottom of the machine during the spin cycle.

"Oh...." Was all that would come from my mouth. I didn't know what to say. I'd been so careful.... Where the fuck did that come from?

"Oh? Oh, is all you have to say?"

"Well, I...I mean-"

"I guess we should have been prepared for this, but... well, shit. One day he's riding his first tricycle and the next day he's obviously had girls here when we're not home. There's only one way a condom wrapper gets mixed up in sheets. Tori, you need to nip this in the bud-"

"Whoa, whoa Kaya. You think that wrapper is Nasaan's?"

"Well it's not mine," she snapped, her face flushing red. "Even when I do...which I haven't in a while, but when I do, I don't use this brand. And they're not yours, for heaven's sake."

I snatched the wrapper from her fingers and shoved it into my pocket. "Look, Kaya. I have to tell you something, and I'm only telling you this because I don't want you making snide comments to Nasaan about this-"

"Telling me what?" Her dark brown eyes narrowed, lines of concern forming across her forehead. "Snide comments about what?"

"That condom wrapper isn't Nasaan's."

"It's not? How do you know? And how did it just magically get in the house, and get tangled up in his sheets?"

I heaved a long, loud breath, rolling my eyes up to the ceiling. "Kaya... dammit, why can't you pick up this hint? It's not Nasaan's.  It wasn't tangled up in his sheets. It was tangled up in mine. He didn't use the condom, I did."

"You did." She propped a fist on a generous hip and tilted her head in genuine confusion. "You used a condom?  That's what you're telling me?"

"Yes. That is what I am telling you."

"You used a condom. As what, a balloon?"

My shoulders sagged and I huffed a breath in mild irritation. "For sex, you dense bitch!"

"Sex with who?"

"Who do you think?" I wanted to scream, and then scratch her face off. We couldn't even have a giggly sister "Oh my gosh tell me everything" moment about this. She had to act so incredulous that I'd managed to have sex with someone.

"Who-" Her eyes popped open then. Wide open. Then her mouth opened and her gasp sucked all of the air out of the room. "You! Slut!"

"Thank you," I replied, panting a sigh of relief that she'd finally come around. "Took you forever to pick that up."

"You are.... you really are, aren't you? You're fucking him!"

I lifted and lowered a shoulder in the most nonchalant shrug I could muster. "I'm... yeah. I'm fucking him. But no one can know, Kaya. Not Eloise, not your nurse friends, certainly not Nasaan."

"Clearly, the first place I'm gonna run is your fifteen year old son to tell him about how you're schtupping our house guest. Give me a little credit, Tori."

She slammed the lid down on the washer and pushed buttons to start it up, then turned back around to face me. I couldn't tell if she was surprised, or... angry.

Or just angry that I hadn't told her.

"So... obviously at some point you two were alone and this happened. When?"

"Uhm...." I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly a little bit sheepish about what I'd done with JC. I was a grown woman, sure. But... this was so unlike me. "Friday night. When you were at karaoke and Nasaan was bowling."

"I told you not to have any fun without me." 

"Sorry. We didn't really plan on breaking that rule. We got to talking and Sean came up and you know how I am about Sean. And we'd been drinking and-"

"Nope," Kaya interrupted, shaking her head so vigorously that her long ponytail swishing to and fro. "I've seen how you warmed up to him, all of a sudden. You don't get to blame this on bourbon, Tori. You like him."

"Well, it wasn't the bourbon that made me do it. It just... loosened me up a little."

"A lot," she corrected. Then snickered. "So then you mean to tell me y'all were completely alone last night and he watched boring shit on TV and you did what, needlepoint?"

I made a face. "As if. We totally fucked last night, too." I waved at her to follow me to the living room. She grabbed her beer- what was left of my beer, and joined me on the couch, twisting her legs underneath her body so she was facing me.

"Uhm... so. You know what I want to know. Was he..." Her sentence trailed off, but I'd be an idiot to not know what she was asking. I hadn't planned to kiss and tell, especially since I'd been so sensitive about him telling people about the chick he'd fucked in New Mexico. Hell, though. After he left Cloudcroft, chances were nearly 100% that I'd never see him again. So technically he was like a really long one night stand.

A couple of nights stand.

And I was only telling my sister.

"He... was fine. Better than fine. Really, really fine, actually. Big..." I sighed.  "And fine."

"And he was... good?"

I didn't answer, but my face told her everything she needed to know.  

"I mean, I don't doubt it, him being who he is. I'm sure he's had a ton of practice. Still gets tons of practice."

"Thanks for making me feel better about this, Kaya. I don't feel like a groupie at all, now."

"Whatever. You used condoms, though?"

"The second time," I admitted. "And every time after that. He had some in his bag. Otherwise I would have had to go get some and-"

Her face blanched. "That wouldn't have been good. I could have got some for you from the clinic."

"Then I would have had to tell you what I needed condoms for. It took you forever to pick up what I was telling you."

"If you would have just come right out and said the condom was yours and you used it to fuck the pop star living on our couch, I would have gotten the picture a whole lot quicker."  She turned the bottle up, emptying the amber liquid in just a few swallows, then set it down on the coffee table with a thunk.

"Back up though," she said through a belch. "Every time after that. He's only been here three days, tramp. How many times have you climbed up on that poor man?"

"A few. And like I said, he doesn't seem to be suffering."

"So, he's getting his rocks off and everything?"

"Why are you talking about it like you're in a 80's porno with a guy named Dirk Diggler?"

"Because in my mind, my big sister hasn't had sex since the night she conceived my handsome, impressionable nephew. Like, do you even know what good feels like these days?"

"First of all, hag, I've had sex since Sean. I hate you." I huffed, grabbing the remote and pressing play while aiming at the television. "Second of all, yes I know what good feels like, and it was so fucking good that I may never be the same. And I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go on with my life when he leaves town. His bike will be fixed tomorrow or Tuesday and..."

I lost all strength in my neck, letting my head flop so my chin rested on my chest. I felt myself giving in to that ribbon of feeling that was beginning to wrap itself around my heart.

"Aw, you're going to miss him. You can always call. Or visit. LA isn't that far; it's not even across the country."

"I... no." I shook my head. "That won't work. That can't work. When he's gone, he has to be gone for good. I can't have any part of him lingering here. I can't have hope, Kaya. I just..."

"Tori..."  She grabbed my hand and squeezed, then held it in hers. I felt the callouses from so many years in the ER, manhandling gurneys and wheelchairs and giant, heavy, steel beds. Her hands reminded me so much of our mother's hands. "You think he's going to leave you here, all feeling things for him, and meanwhile be screwing some chicks in LA. But honey, he's not Sean. He's not."

"He's also not someone I can have a relationship with. Like, really. He's world renowned. You know that? People all over the world know him. This? It's fun, to him. It's fun to me too. But we've already discussed that it ends when he leaves."

I sniffled, then touched my face. When I pulled my hand away, my fingertips were wet. Was I crying? Ugh.  "Listen, Kaya... don't make it obvious that you know. I'll tell him. But don't embarrass him, okay?"

"Okay." She shrugged, her expression blank. "But you're sitting on our couch pretending you're not crying and that you don't feel things and you're worried about his feelings?"

"I'll deal with all that. But what I don't want is for him to leave Cloudcroft regretting any of this."