The Beach House (18 page)

“What the fuck was that!” Joe moaned.

“What I’ve always wanted, my love.” His cock
slipping from her now, even that withdrawal burning and Kim pushed
him free and slumped back holding her stomach.

“I didn’t think we could do that,” Joe said,
breathing hard.

“Nothing’s impossible if you want it
enough.”

“I hurt you, babe.”

She nodded. “I wanted you more than the
hurt, Joe. Much, much more.”

“Oh my God.”

Kim nodded. “I don’t think we’ll be able to
try again for a while.” She giggled.

“Emergency room?” Joe asked, concerned
now.

“Not quite. Close, but not quite.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, rolling over as he
cradled her in his arms.

Kim shook her head. “I wanted that, Joe, you
know I did. It wasn’t about you. I’ve always wanted that and I
needed it now, more than the pain.” She kissed him on his eyelids,
his forehead, the tip of his nose, his lips. “I love you, Joe.”

“I love you too, Kim.”

“You better had after what we just did,” she
said, and slapped him on the chest.

Jenni didn’t come around the following day
either, and
Kim began to worry she had scared her off, the
passion too strong from her, or maybe too strong in Jenni. Tuesday
morning they went to the small super-mart in town, and when Kim and
Joe turned into the middle aisle they almost ran straight into
Jenni. Ami, happily sitting in the baby seat of their trolley
recognized Jenni and gave a little squeal, her pudgy arms waving to
be picked up.

“Jenni,” Kim said, reaching for the taller
woman’s hand, stopping as Jenni gave a tiny shake of her head and
her eyes flashed an unmistakable warning.

Joe nodded at her and went to push the
trolley past.

“Who’s this?” A man’s voice, gruff but not
deep enough to carry much menace, the voice of someone who smokes
and drinks too much.

“This is Joe and Kim Fransiscus,” Jenni
said, turning to the man, her shoulders stiff. “I told you about
them, Mark. They’re staying in the Bradley place on the beach.”

“The writer,” Mark said. His eyes were
unwelcoming and even at eleven in the morning Joe smelled whiskey
on his breath.

Jenni flinched as her husband turned to her
and Joe’s muscles tensed, ready to defend her.

“We need to get on,” Mark said, not looking
at Joe.

Jenni glanced at them and offered a lift of
her shoulders. “I’ll see you around. Come on Mark, we need
steak.”

“Too right.” He glared at Joe but it was a
fake look and carried no menace. Joe was surprised at the man,
having built him into some giant hate figure in his mind. Mark was
whip thin with dark, lank hair already starting to recede. He wore
stained overalls and had not shaved for a couple of days. He was
not tall or strong or mean only sad and weedy. How in hell, Joe
wondered, had someone as wonderful as Jenni ended up with this
man?

They moved on and, after checking over her
shoulder to make sure they had gone, Kim whispered, “So that’s the
dreadful Mark?”

“Looks like,” Joe said.

“What the hell?” Kim said.

Joe looked at her. “I was thinking exactly
the same thing myself.”

Ami gave a grunt and tried to climb out of
the baby seat toward a display of bright cereal. Joe looked down at
her and plopped her back into the seat. “You think she’s ready for
solids yet?”

“She better not be,” Kim said. Feeding Ami
was one of her secret pleasures, Joe knew.

“You can still feed her, babe, but I think
she might be ready for something more substantial.”

Kim gave him a stern look. “You think these
aren’t substantial enough, Joe?” She crossed her arms under her
breasts and lifted them. As usual, she was leaking through her
t-shirt but didn’t seem to care if anyone saw.

Joe laughed, turned serious as they walked
on. “I didn’t like him.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Kim said, her voice
low so as not to carry beyond the aisle. “You’ve only been aching
to fuck his wife all week. Did you expect to like him?”

“Yeah, well.” Joe flushed. “Even so, I still
don’t like him. He doesn’t appreciate what he’s got.”

“I know she’s beautiful, inside and out, and
I love her as much as you, Joe, but we’ll be going home in a few
weeks. What did you think was going to happen, did you really think
we were going to ask her to come home with us?” Even though Kim had
expressed exactly that same thought, now it seemed as though she
was backing away from the idea.

Joe studied the cartons of milk, making a
show of deciding which one they should buy.

Kim stopped and put her hands on her narrow
hips. “You did, didn’t you.”

He glanced at her. “Did what, babe?”

Kim stared at him. “You want to ask her to
come back with us, don’t you?”

“Of course not. Besides, it was you put the
idea in my head.”

Kim continued to stare at him, her head to
one side. Ami leaned forward and tugged at a bag of nappies, trying
to lift them into her lap, totally absorbed in the task.

“You really do want to,” Kim said.

Joe turned away, went in search of coffee.
Kim left Ami in the trolley and followed.

“For fuck’s sake, Joe, I appreciate her as
much as you do, but what the hell are you thinking?”

He sighed and stopped pretending he was
trying to decide between Columbian or Java ground. “It was only an
idea, Kim.
Your
idea,” he stressed.

She stared at him, said, “I wasn’t serious,
Joe. You do realize that, don’t you? I wanted your cock in my ass
and I was out of control. Wow. She’s bowled you over, hasn’t
she?”

Joe shook his head.

“Should I be worried?” Kim asked, her voice
taking on a steely edge.

“Of course not,” Joe said. “You’re the only
one I love, babe.”

Kim stared hard at him. “Jesus. I need to
think about this. It was a joke, Joe. Something to turn you on.
Turn us both on.”

She turned away and went to the trolley,
took the pack of razor blades from Ami who had pulled them from the
Aladdin’s cave of goodies in the trolley. She pushed the trolley
past Joe, staring hard at him as she went and after she passed Joe
turned and followed, his head down. He tried hard to think what to
say, because Kim was right. When she had raised the idea, joke or
not, though he hadn’t thought she was joking when she said it, the
idea had burned into his brain. He had been thinking ever since
about what life could be like, what it would mean if Jenni came
back with them to New York. He might pretend to himself they were
helping her find work, helping her find an apartment, but in his
heart Joe knew he wanted her with
them
. He wanted the three
of them to live together, a unit, a triad of love and lust. He
didn’t want to lose Kim, but he didn’t want to give up Jenni
either. He knew the decision was not his to make, not Kim’s,
although he was convinced she wanted Jenni as much as he did. Kim
would accept Jenni because he had seen the way she acted with her,
as enamored by her as he was himself. It would be up to Jenni. Was
she able to push past the sense of guilt and worthlessness her
husband had instilled in her and make the break? He wanted to think
she was capable of making the decision, but he didn’t know, not for
sure.

He followed behind Kim, watching her
shoulders tense and a thought crystallized in his mind. Kim was
pissed because he had caught her out. She wanted Jenni with them as
well. Her apparent touchiness was a front to mask her true
feelings. Joe knew Kim too well for her to hide something this huge
from him, and as he pushed the trolley and Ami smiled up at him he
grinned back and gave her a big wink.

***

Friday night Joe lay naked in bed watching Kim
undress and said, “I don’t know if I should ask this or not, but
why are we not having sex anymore?”

Kim stopped with her panties off one leg but
still on the other. She looked at Joe. “I want to wait.”

“What if I don’t?”

“It’ll be worth it.” Kim dropped her panties
and crossed to the bed in all her glorious nakedness. Joe got hard
just looking, harder because he had not come since Sunday. Kim had
to be feeling the same because if anything she wanted sex even more
often than he did.

Automatically Joe lifted his arm and Kim
snuggled underneath, her hot body pressing against him causing his
cock to fill even more. His erection was obvious, tenting the thin
sheet.

“I’m not being cruel, babe. You know what
we’re waiting for, don’t you?”

“Jenni,” Joe said. They had talked about her
all week, Kim’s reluctance in the super-mart completely gone.

Kim nodded against Joe and laid her hand on
his chest, her fingertips idly playing with the sparse hairs
growing along the center.

“Do you think she’s going to come back?”

“I don’t know,” Kim said. “I really don’t
know.”

“How long are we going to wait before you
let me fuck you?”

Kim laughed against him. “Sunday, Joe. If
Jenni doesn’t come round tomorrow you can fuck me Sunday. You can
even try my ass again if you want, it’s stopped hurting now.”

Joe kissed her brow. “I’m not gonna hurt you
that way again.”

She kissed him back and wriggled, her body
softening as it relaxed. “I wish I wasn’t so tight. I really want
you to fuck my ass, Joe. Maybe now we know we
can
do it we
can try again, keep trying till we get it right.”

“I’m not sure, babe. I don’t mind if we
don’t.”

“I know you don’t mind, but I do. The idea
of you fucking my ass turns me on so much. Turned me on, when we
did, even if it did hurt like hell. I’ll never forget that, Joe,
even if it’s our only time ever.”

“There’s plenty else we can do.” Joe had
loved the act as well, the thing they had both wanted for so long
and had begun to believe was not possible. When Kim had opened to
him, even if for a moment, he had been unbelievably turned on. No
wonder he’d come so fast.

“We won’t wait till Sunday,” Kim said. “If
she doesn’t come round tomorrow you can come all over me.” Kim
grinned, thinking about how much she would enjoy that as well. She
pulled loose from his arm and rolled away. Joe followed, hugging
her close, his body sensitive to every minute touch of her
skin.

“We’re kind of assuming Jenni’s going to
want this too, aren’t we?”

“She wants it,” Kim said. “She wants it as
much as we do.”

“So we’re okay on this now? No
jealousy?”

“Not from me,” Kim said. “How about
you?”

“Me? Why would I be jealous? I’d be getting
every man’s fantasy.”

“Suppose I discovered I liked women more
than men? How would you feel?”

Joe was silent for a while. Finally he said,
“Is that likely?”

“I don’t suppose,” Kim said. “But you do
have to admit she is one hot package.”

“Mm.”

“It’s your turn tonight, isn’t it?” Kim
asked.

Joe nodded against her shoulder. “Afraid
so.”

“Good. The bottle’s in the fridge. Ten
seconds in the microwave and test it first.”

“I know.”

“Just in case.”

“I know.” Joe kissed her shoulder, hoping
his boner would go down before Ami woke him at three for a feed.
She always slept well, but three was her regular ungodly hour to
drag her parents from sleep; that deep, dark sleep of the small
hours.

Jenni drove down to the back of the Harper
place
, pulling in at her usual spot. Her breath came too fast,
her entire body vibrating. When she lifted her hands from the wheel
they shook. Not only nerves, though that was a large part; it was
more than nerves, more than a single emotion running through her
veins. In fact, nerves were at the bottom of the pile. At the top,
sitting raw, red and rampant sat her lust.

Jenni closed her eyes, listening to the
inner voice for a moment. Yes, it spoke loudly. She arched her back
and pushed against the vinyl seat. She had gone deliberately
through her wardrobe that morning, and although a casual glance
would not reveal it she had chosen both items she wore as carefully
as if going to a prom. One ragged tank top and one pair of even
older cut-off denims. The denims she hadn’t taken out in almost ten
years. They were faded almost white, a tear in the back showing a
crescent of bare ass. She wore nothing beneath, nor beneath the top
which was also faded pale. She was surprised they fitted; barely
fitted. Both bordered on too small, exactly the effect she wanted.
As she pressed down against the seat the thick seam on the denims
pushed against her pussy and she almost purred with the wave of
pleasure it sent coursing out from her loins. Thank God the
material was heavy enough to mask her arousal; anything finer would
already be giving away her secret with a large damp stain. Her
nipples stiffened against the thin cotton and Jenni knew they were
obvious to anyone who looked. She was hoping someone was going to
look.

After Mark left for work and she had cleared
the breakfast plates she showered in their tiny bathroom.
Afterward, taking one of Mark’s disposable razors and sitting on
the edge of the bath, she had carefully trimmed the hair from
around her labia. She had drawn the blade higher, shaving away the
edges of her pubic hair, each stroke edging closer to removing
everything until she had to stop herself, not yet ready for the
complete package like Kim, but even the little she removed had
almost caused her to come. It was not merely the sensation of the
sharp blade running over her pussy lips or the touch of her fingers
as she massaged the shaving foam in, but the idea, the taboo
nature, to her, of what she was doing. The shakes had started
before she finished, almost preventing her completing the task her
hand was trembling so much. She had rinsed herself with the shower
head, biting down on her lip as water pulsed against her pussy and
she forced herself to turn the spray off. She had wanted to come so
much she had almost given in. She had to wait. Kim and Joe would
make her come. She wanted that completely, wanted that more than
anything.