Flirting with Fire, Chapter 6b-7a

Note from Nick: This week is the payoff for last week's cliffhanger. You learn lots of details about Paul's recent past, but most are just teases and tidbits. You'll see. 😈

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Chapter 6 (cont’d)

The bathroom door opened, and I realized that my feet were vulnerable. I was lying on my back with my head on the pillow and my fingers laced behind my head. I resisted the urge to squirm, but Allie wasn’t in the mood for mischief.

“Oh, my,” she drawled, “aren’t you a sight.”

I chuckled at her delivery but then smiled, almost a leer. “You aren’t so bad yourself.”

“I’m not usually the jealous type, but… mmm-mmm!”

“I know what you mean.”

“You’re jealous of Christy too?” she teased.

“Ha! No, I was always jealous of Ken.”

Allie snorted in derision. Then she moved out of the shadow of the doorway and into the light from the window. She paused to look through the blinds, but it was really an excuse to let me admire her.

She must have done some modeling in the past, because she knew to keep her chin up and shoulders back, which made her chest stand out. She even managed to look seductive when she crawled onto the bed, although her expression dissolved into a grimace.

“How am I supposed to sit? Never mind. You’ve seen everything anyway, and you’re still here, so…” She sat cross-legged but frowned again.

“What? I can’t really see anything. Not unless…”

I raised my head to see over her crossed legs. Her outer labia parted enough to show her thin inner lips, but nothing more. They were still slightly pink, although it looked like her natural color instead of arousal. The rest of her bikini area was so pale that the difference was more obvious.

“No, not that,” she said. “I don’t care about being modest. I meant they never show this part in books. After the afterglow, sitting awkwardly, wondering what to talk about.” She paused. “Wondering if we made a mistake.”

I rolled to face her and propped my head on my fist. “I don’t think we did. Do you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “But… I thought you might’ve. Especially now that…” She sighed. “Okay, maybe I am worried about the way I look.”

“I think you look great.”

“Even if my ass is too wide and tits aren’t where they’re supposed to be?”

I knew what she meant, but I played dumb anyway.

“You mean… in bed with me?” I reached out and caressed her nipple. She didn’t bat me away, so I pinched gently. She replied with a low sigh of pleasure. “See?” I said. “Everything’s right where it’s s’posed to be.”

“Thank you.”

Time to change the subject, the little head said. He was fairly perceptive when he wasn’t horny.

Allie read my distraction but not its source. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that you have bigger things to worry about.”

“Bigger? Like what?”

“You made some pretty outrageous claims before you ran away—”

“I didn’t ‘run away’! I had to pee!”

“Whatever,” I said in a bored teenager voice.

“I did,” Allie insisted. “But you want me to prove it? How much I know? Okay, how’s this…? You like getting your dick sucked.”

“That’s easy!” I laughed.

“You like women who swallow.”

Duh. Who doesn’t?

“You like things smooth, down below, no matter how much it hurts.”

“At least I’m not a chauvinist about it. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

I’d switched from shaving to waxing several years earlier. Christy liked the results better, and Leah agreed, so my wishes didn’t really matter. Happy wife, happy life, right? (I don’t have a snappy saying for “Happy lover who’s practically a second wife.” I’ll work on that. But later, hmm?)

“Besides,” I added to Allie, “it gets easier the more you do it. Well, less painful.”

“I hope so. At least I can do something about the situation down there. I can’t do anything about these… poor things. Unless I get surgery.”

I shivered theatrically and shook my head. “They’re perfect. I mean, I can touch ’em.” I suited action to words, and Allie suffered my groping with a half-tolerant, half-amused smile.

“Well, you’re a breast man,” she said. “Obviously.”

“I like women. The whole package.”

“Maybe, but only a certain type.”

“Oh?”

“Bisexual.”

I raised my eyebrow, but she ignored the question.

“You like them submissive, too. Maybe not damsels in distress, but not bossy types.”

“I don’t mind bossy women, but—”

“Not in bed.”

“Guilty as charged, I suppose.”

“You like piercings, obviously, but not tattoos.”

“I like yours,” I said quickly. She had a heart-shaped ink bottle and a fountain pen on her left ankle.

“Thank you.” She paused and thought back with a frown.

“What’s the matter?”

“I learned most of that from you. Christy added details, but most are things you told me. Well, ‘told’ is the wrong word, but I learned them from flirting with you.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m sure you—”

“You like bondage.”

My eyebrows shot up. I normally didn’t flirt about that.

“But only because Christy does,” she confirmed. “She likes discipline, and she likes being choked.”

My stunned silence was a confirmation of sorts, and Allie warmed to her revelations.

“She doesn’t like anal, which is a little surprising when you think about it.” Her lips compressed in a wry smile. She had me hooked, and she knew it. “Because she likes pain, even though you don’t. Well, not really, but you do it because she does. It’s okay, you can admit it. I told you, we talk about everything.”

“Evidently.”

“She doesn’t sleep with other people, but that’s her code word for ‘having sex.’”

“Penis in vagina,” I confirmed, and Allie nodded.

“You do, though.” She glanced around at the room, down at the bed, and then at me. “Obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Let’s see,” Allie mused in a singsong, “what else do I know? You don’t mind a friendly blowjob, but you don’t sleep around, and you won’t sleep with anyone you work with.”

“No.”

“You sound so firm when you say it, so… determined.” Her eyes crinkled with amusement. “But you’re willing to bend the rules. Oh, I know all about it. Or should I say her.”

I cocked my head with feigned curiosity. “Her?”

“The intern?”

“Which one? We have—”

“Tiffanie.”

I sighed. I didn’t see any reason to keep up the evasions, especially when she knew her name, but I wanted to set the record straight.

“Former intern.”

“But current girlfriend.”

“Friend-friend,” I countered.

“You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you? Still?”

We’d hired Tiffanie the year before as one of the company’s first summer interns. She’d been a fourth-year at Tech, cute and kind of geeky, with a cheerleader’s personality more than an artist’s.

At first I thought she was style over substance, but the rest of the interview changed my mind. She had the spark, all right, and she was our top choice, along with a third-year from UGA. They worked for us for ten weeks, and Tiffanie impressed everyone, from CAD operators to department heads.

I enjoyed working with her, but our relationship had been strictly professional, even when she started flirting when we were alone. Her outfits changed too, tighter tops and shorter skirts. She didn’t do anything so obvious that Shari or the other women would notice, but she always found a way to remind me that she had a nice body. She even started dropping hints about “personal mentoring,” after hours, of course.

I’d been tempted, but I’d used my judgment instead. Tiffanie’s internship had ended without drama, and she’d gone back to school in the fall. We’d kept in touch afterward in emails and the occasional phone call. Then she’d stopped by the office, late on a Friday afternoon in early December.

She chatted with Shari and Trip and several others as she made her way back to my office. I was happy to see her, of course, and didn’t think twice about the reason for her visit, much less the timing.

We talked for more than an hour, about school, projects, and life as an architect in the real world. Then Trip stuck his head into my office.

“I’m headed out. I think y’all’re the last ones here. ’Tis the season.”

“We should probably head out too,” I said.

“Sure thing. Anyway, it was great to see you again, Tiffanie.”

“Thanks. You too.”

“You graduate in May, right? Send us your résumé. Paul isn’t the only one who’d love to have you back.” It was genuine praise instead of a come-on. “I don’t know if we’ll have a position available, but we’ll do our best.”

“Thanks! I really appreciate it.”

“All right. Well, I’d better go. Wren’s out Christmas shopping. She found a new restaurant she wants to try. It’s a tough life,” he laughed. “Anyway, y’all have a good night.”

“You too,” I said.

“I’ll lock up behind me, just in case.” He waved and disappeared from the doorway. He began whistling a Christmas tune that faded as he jogged down the main staircase.

Tiffanie asked to use my bathroom to freshen up and change clothes. I didn’t even think twice about it, or that we were alone in the building. She reappeared a few minutes later wearing only a smile and a pair of panties with mistletoe on the front. Then she dropped her real bombshell.

“I know you’re a swinger. So… do you need to check with your wife first? Or can we get down to business?”

I returned to the present, and Allie gave me an expectant smirk.

“We’re friends with benefits,” I said.

“I know. She sounds nice. In fact, she reminds me of me. What I’ve heard about her, that is. My parents weren’t swingers, but I had a fling with my boss when I was her age.”

“The doctor you worked for?”

Allie flinched in surprise, although she recovered quickly and then laughed. “Yeah, I guess Christy tells you things too.”

“Mmm. You were younger, though, still in high school.”

“I was old enough,” she countered, “eighteen.”

“But you never—?”

“Oh, no,” she laughed, “we’re talking about you. And speaking of… I know about the others, too.”

“What others?”

“The other women. Before Tiffanie.”

“None that I worked with. Besides,” I demurred, “there really aren’t that many.”

She decided to call my bluff. “The heiress? What was her name?”

Alexa. My smile tightened. And she hates being called an heiress.

“Fred’s assistant, at the gallery?”

Margie.

“Oh, and the teacher at the girls’ school—”

Genevieve.

“—Miss Li. Too bad she moved. I liked her.”

“Mmm.”

Allie cocked her head and pantomimed thought.

“Okay, I get it,” I said abruptly. “You know all about me.”

She sobered just as quickly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t tease you.”

“No. Besides, you’re talking about people, not characters in one of your books.” I still cared about the women, even though they were in my past.

“You’re right,” Allie said with genuine contrition. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’ve been so flippant about it— about them.”

“Mmm. Especially when you might be one of them.”

“I— I… hadn’t thought about it like that. And you’re right, I did think of them as characters. Still, that’s no excuse. It’s just— I mean… I guess I was sort of living vicariously. I liked hearing about your girlfriends. Still do, I guess.”

“That’s fine. As long as you understand they’re real people, with real emotions.”

Her expression softened, and she snorted a laugh. She’d heard my speech before. We fell silent as the friction between us gradually faded.

“I guess I should be grateful,” she said at last. “I mean, I’m not as young as your usual… um… friend with benefits. And I’m definitely not in the same league, looks-wise—”

“I don’t care about looks. Well, I do,” I admitted, “but not as much as you think. And I definitely don’t care about age—sagging or stretch marks or anything else. You should know that by now. Besides, I’ve met twenty-year-olds who weren’t half as exciting as you.” I paused to let that sink in. “I care about people, not bodies.”

“Yeah, I know. But… I guess…” She sighed.

“Listen,” I said softly, “quit obsessing about your looks. None of us are perfect. The only thing that matters is, ‘Are we perfect for each other?’ Right now, the answer is yes. At least, I hope it is.”

She nodded and sighed again, admission instead of defeat.

All of a sudden the door chime sounded from the direction of the security panel in the master bedroom. Allie’s head came up, and I checked my watch.

“Too early,” I said. “It’s probably Emily.”

“Time for a snack?”

“I think so.”

Seconds stretched into hours, until the chime sounded again.

“Oh, thank God,” Allie breathed.

“Nah, we weren’t in any danger.” I shot her a grin that was more relief than anything. “Although… we should probably get cleaned up.” I checked my watch again. “We still have time to shower together, if you’re interested.” She was. “And then we need to talk to the girls.”

“About spending the night? I’m sure they’ll be okay with it.”

“Probably. Then I can call Christy, while you run home and grab what you need.”

“Wait, I have a better idea. Why don’t we all go out to dinner?”

“Sure, family night.”

“Or family date night.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you can buy us dinner, and I’ll pay you back.” She made a sweeping gesture at her nude body. “All night… with this.”

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Chapter 7

My girls were fine with another sleepover, and Allie’s were more than fine with it. They hadn’t enjoyed the night without A/C any more than she had. They were also excited when they realized she wasn’t wearing her swimsuit under her towel wrap.

“You’re gonna do it?” Madison said.

“I’m gonna try.”

“You’ll like it,” Carly added. “And you won’t get weird tan lines.”

“Especially when you switch suits.” Madison shuddered with tween revulsion.

“They aren’t that bad,” Allie laughed.

“They’re pretty bad. I mean, I look so dumb when I wear a tracksuit, all white in the middle.”

Emily scrunched her nose, her version of Madison’s shudder.

Allie scoffed. “When’s the last time you saw me in a Juicy tracksuit? Uh-uh, no.”

“Why not?” Susie said. “Our mom wears ’em all the time.”

And spends a fortune on them, I added. It was her money, but a $400 tracksuit? Then again, my business suits cost $1,000 or more, and I had a closet full of them.

“Because she’s built for them,” Allie was saying. “I’m not.”

“Why not? ’Cause your tummy isn’t flat?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I cut in. “Clothes don’t make the person.” I suppressed a wince and waited for lightning to strike, but the sartorial gods didn’t bother with the likes of me. (They had bigger things to worry about, like whatever Elton John was thinking up.)

“Right,” Allie said. “I’m the same person on the inside, no matter what I wear.”

“You still look weird,” Carly muttered.

“I think she looks fantastic,” I said.

“Yeah, but you’re a grown-up. You don’t know what it’s like.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “Things were different when I was an eight-year-old girl.”

Carly started to congratulate herself before she realized what I’d said.

“That’s okay,” Susie said to her. “He does the same to me. Ugh! So annoying.”

“Well then,” I said to them, “I’d better make it up to you.”

Carly narrowed her eyes, but Emily perked up.

“Launch Dad?”

“You got it.”

The dogs sensed the girls’ excitement and leapt to their feet, tails a-wagging and tags a-jangling.

“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Emily cried.

Four towels flew in a spray of colors as the girls streaked toward the pool. Three sets of claws scraped the flagstones when the dogs bolted after them. Seven bodies splashed into the water before I even started to move. Sometimes I hated getting older.

Still, I tossed my own towel, trotted after them, and launched myself into an arc that even Christy would’ve admired. It carried me over girls and dogs and into the churning water beyond. I broke the surface near the diving board and endured their teasing with good humor. Only Molly felt sorry for me. She paddled over and let me scratch her head.

“Come join us,” I called to Allie.

“Yeah, Mom, please!”

“Please, please!”

“Oh, all right.” She tossed her towel on the foot of a lounge chair and waded down the steps.

The girls weren’t the least bit interested in her body. It was natural to my daughters, and hers had seen her before. Besides, they didn’t know what a body like Allie’s could do, especially with the right kind of encouragement, which I was more than happy to give her.

Still, they were right about one thing—her tan lines were weird. The pale triangles on her breasts were sexy, but the overlapping lines from the one-piece made me think of a Cubist painting. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon wasn’t exactly jerk-off material.

The little head spoke up, Who cares? It’s just the packaging. You care about the person inside, remember?

Hold on… Who’re you and what’ve you done with my penis?

Dumbass, he muttered, and I managed to hide my inward disappointment before Allie glanced my way. She swirled the water around her and offered a tentative smile.

“This is nice.”

I returned it, without the doubt I’d felt a moment ago.

“We told you,” Madison said.

“Yeah,” Carly piped up, “we told you.”

“You did,” Allie agreed.

I kicked toward the shallow end to give her a break.

“All right, who’s first?” I said. “Carly?”

Almond eyes flashed, and she swam toward me. I locked my hands into a stirrup. Carly slid her foot into it and braced herself on my shoulders.

“Ready? Three… two… one… launch!”

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We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, and I did my best to wear out the girls without doing the same to myself. Allie watched and shouted encouragement from the side, completely comfortable with her body and nudity. She even joined us for a game of Marco Polo. Neither of us were very serious about it, and I took advantage of the girls’ distraction for a little surreptitious groping. Allie dodged or fended me off every time, but she never moved very far away.

“You’re so bad,” she said at last. “We’re going to get caught.”

“That’s half the fun.”

“Not if they start asking questions.” She added in a little girl voice, “Mommy, why is he touching you there? And why is his thing hard?”

“I’ll show you hard,” I muttered playfully.

“Oh, no you don’t.” She laughed and backed away, hands at the ready.

Unfortunately, Marco and the Polos moved toward us from the deep end. Madison ran into Spike, and Carly tagged her.

“No fair! The dog got in my way!”

“So?”

“You were cheating, too! You opened your eyes! I saw!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Nuh-huh!”

I waded forward to break up the squabble. “All right, one more round and then it’s time for dinner.”

I started playing for real and managed to stay just out of Madison’s reach for several minutes before I deliberately lingered on the surface a moment too long. She tagged me and whooped.

“Congratulations,” I told her. “Good game, girls. Now, let’s get ready for dinner. Rinse off, get dressed, you know the drill.”

Emily simply vaulted to the side of the pool and climbed out. It was an unladylike maneuver that her mother didn’t approve of, especially without a swimsuit. I personally thought it was fine, but Christy and I were a team. Emily’s defiance wavered when she saw my disapproval.

Madison hopped up beside her. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Molly had taken the stairs, and she trotted up to them, loyal and obedient as ever. Poor Emily. Her shoulders sagged as she made the connection. She could be pigheaded and stubborn, but she was also honest with herself.

“Sorry,” she muttered in my direction.

“For what?” Madison said.

“Nothing. Let’s just rinse off.”

Susie and Carly provided a welcome bit of comic relief to lighten the mood. They were chasing Spike and Buck in the deep end, and the dogs thought it was a game.

“I mean it! Come on!” Susie pleaded.

“Yeah, c’mon,” Carly said.

They climbed from the pool using the mother-approved method, the swim-out. The dogs circled a couple of times before they lost interest.

“Time to get out.” Susie stomped her foot. “Bucket Rothchild Hughes… now means now!”

Allie and I traded grins.

The dogs went to investigate a pool noodle caught under the waterfall.

“Ugh. Suit yourself. Goofy dogs.” She turned her urgency on us. “C’mon, Dad, you too.”

“Yeah, Mom, let’s go.”

I did my best Susie impression. “What? We’re coming! Ugh.”

She was not amused.

“Go ahead,” I laughed, “we’re right behind you.”

I followed Allie up the stairs and resisted the urge to pat her bare bottom. Then again, Susie and Carly had turned their backs and were waiting in line for the shower.

I moved so my body shielded us. Allie realized what I’d done and raised an eyebrow. I cupped her smooth pussy. After a moment she caught my dick and began stroking gently. Her breathing quickened as I teased her hidden clit. She was wet already, and not from the pool.

The sound of the girls in the background eventually brought us back to reality. Allie released my semi-hard cock, and I withdrew my finger from her pussy.

“To be continued,” I said in a low voice.

“Not soon enough.”

I silently agreed, and Allie inhaled a couple of slow breaths. Her arousal cooled, and my dick softened to normal. I glanced over my shoulder, but the girls weren’t paying attention to us.

I grinned roguishly. “See? I told you.”

“Yeah, I guess. We got away with it… this time.” Allie’s expression softened into a smile. “Today’s been really nice. Thanks again for inviting us.”

“It’s what I do.”

“Mmm. And later, I’ll do what I do.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Looking forward to what?” Carly asked. “Dinner?”

My mother’s laughter echoed in my mind, Little girls have big ears.

Allie covered her mouth to hide her own laugh at my utter disbelief. Carly had heard us over the sound of the shower hitting flagstones, the older girls talking, the dogs’ tags jangling, and everything else.

Un-fucking-believable.

Allie’s eyes crinkled agreement, and I smoothed my expression before I turned to face the girls.

“What about dinner?”

“You sai…” Carly’s frown deepened. She knew we’d been talking about something else, but her suspicions bounced off my dad armor.

Emily and Madison moved from under the shower and left it running.

“Come on,” Susie said to her friend. “He’ll never tell you what they were talking about. He does it to us all the time.”

I rewarded them with a bland smile.

“See?” Susie said. “Ugh!”

“Speaking of dinner…,” I said, “where do we want to go?”

We eventually decided on the Cheesecake Factory. It wasn’t my favorite, but I’d learned to pick my battles. Besides, the portions were so large that Emily might actually get enough to eat.

Twenty minutes later we were all dressed and shod, brushed and combed, lotioned, potioned, and assembled in the kitchen. Susie had even brought the new Beyoncé CD for our listening pleasure. The dogs circled in excitement, their tails thwacking indiscriminately.

“Sorry, guys,” I told them. “Humans only.”

Molly took it in stride, while Spike and Buck sat obediently, licked their chops, and double-teamed me with puppy-dog eyes. I had a heart of stone, but that didn’t stop them from trying.

“It’s okay,” Susie told them. “We’ll bring you a snack.”

“We’ll see,” I said. “Now c’mon, I’m getting hungry.”

We trooped out to the garage, climbed into the Denali, and drove to town. Dinner was about what I’d expected, but the girls enjoyed it. Sometimes that was enough.

We stopped by Allie’s house on the way home. She and the girls packed bags for the night, along with things they’d need for dance camp in the morning. The place was hotter than ever, especially after being closed up all day. The family cat didn’t seem to mind, but the humans did.

“Oh my gosh,” Susie complained, “that was disgusting.”

“Try sleeping there,” Carly said.

“Ugh. No, thank you. Hurry up, Dad, start the car.”

I did, and the air conditioning blasted with hurricane force. We let it wash over us for a moment before I backed out of the driveway.

“Hey, Dad,” Emily ventured, “since it’s so hot—?”

I knew exactly where she was going, but I still couldn’t believe it. She’d eaten bread, a salad, and an entire plate of pasta. Then she’d polished off a piece of cheesecake that rivaled Stone Mountain for size. Yet she was still hungry? After all that? She must have been going through a growth spurt.

“—can we stop for ice cream?”

The rear of the car erupted with a chorus of pleas, even though the other girls had eaten cheesecake too. Granted, they’d shared a single piece among them, but it clearly hadn’t hit bottom yet.

“What do you think?” I asked Allie.

“I’m full,” she said.

“So?” Madison complained. “We aren’t.”

“Yeah, we’re starving!” Carly said from the back.

“Starving!” Susie agreed.

Allie couldn’t help but laugh, although she glanced my way and sketched a nod.

Four sets of eyes bored into the back of my head.

“He’s gonna say yes,” Susie stage-whispered to Carly.

“How d’you know?”

“I just do. Trust me.”

She sounded so much like me that I couldn’t help a smile.

“See?” she said triumphantly.

“All right, we’ll stop for ice cream,” I said. “But cups instead of cones. And we’ll eat at home.” I had to maintain at least a pretense of being in charge.

The back of the Denali erupted with talk about flavors, and Allie shot me a speculative look.

“On second thought…,” she grinned.

“Oh? You want some after all?”

“Mmm, but I want the special cream.”

✧ ✧ ✧

To be continued…