Slow Fires with bonus story Alligators & Orgasms

by Sarah Black

  He grinned and ducked his head.

  “It’s not going to be easy, Kevin. You’ll sell one of these for every ten one-night-stand, blue-glazed mugs that other potters sell.”

  “I know,” he admitted. “Me and Russ, we’ll keep building kilns as much as we can so we can pay the bills. We set up a pottery studio, and then we’ll do a business plan ‑‑ market studies, all that stuff. I think it will take a while for us to develop a reputation for high-quality, wood-fired pottery. We just have to keep on keeping on, you know? Keep our vision clear. There’s room for you, you know. Everybody loves tiles, and your carvings are awesome. You carve a few curvy girls with big butts, and your tiles will keep us in burgers and chips.”

  Mia laughed. “Two things worry me,” she said. “First, I feel like you two are so happy and relieved I didn’t run screaming out of the house when you both got into bed with me that you’re just ... I don’t know. Like some blanket acceptance of me as ‘the woman.’ Like any woman who was okay with who you are, your relationship, would do. I’m afraid you don’t know me very well yet. I’m acting just as infatuated and delusional as you are, Kevin ‑‑ I know that, but we’re in the honeymoon phase, you know? You guys haven’t seen me with PMS. Or when I’m freaking out, stressed over bills and health insurance.”

  He leaned back in the chair and propped his feet up on the bed.

  “Understood,” he said, sipping at his coffee. “But what I know in my head may not be as important as what I feel in my heart. And I’ve told you what I feel in my heart. What’s the second thing?”

  “I’m thirty. How old are you two?”

  “We’re twenty-six. That’s not much difference, Mia.”

  “No, it’s not. That’s not my point. I want to have children, but I’m already thirty.”

  “Whoa.” He sat back, then he reached over and tugged on Russ’s foot. “We better wake him up for this discussion.”

  “I’m awake.” Russ’s voice was muffled in the pillow. “Where’s my coffee?”

  Mia and Kevin looked at each other. “I’m still in bed,” Mia said.

  Kevin grinned and walked back to the kitchen for another cup.

  Russ rolled over, groaning and stretching. He clutched the pillow to his chest as if it were a life-jacket. He dragged himself up until he was propped against the headboard and blinked bleary eyes at them. Kevin handed him the cup.

  “Did you hear what she said, Russ? Babies. Just think about it. Mia ‑‑ you do mean babies with us? Or do you mean you want to go find some guy? Do the straight-America thing?”

  “Don’t say it like that, Kevin,” Russ said. “There’s nothing wrong with straight America. We’re going to have a hard enough life as it is if we choose this way. We three, we’re gonna have to get used to gossip and hate and prejudice. That will be a lot harder to take with kids involved.”

  Kevin shook his head. “I don’t see how we’re going to have a hard life, Russ. We just keep to ourselves, take care of our family. Our lives are going to be beautiful and filled with love. I mean, I’m not gonna suggest that what you’re saying doesn’t matter, because it does, but we can do anything if we work at it, work together.”

  “And what happens when Mia goes to take the kid to kindergarten? Which one of us gets to be named as Dad? Which one of us is her husband? Polygamy is actually illegal now.”

  Kevin was silent, staring into his cup. “We home-school,” he said finally.

  Russ snorted. Mia looked at him.

  “My point,” said Kevin, “is that there are alternatives. We have options. This is America. We are all three smart and tough and professional artists. We own our land. We built this house, and don’t have a mortgage. And we love each other.”

  “Yeah, we do,” Russ agreed. He studied Mia’s face. “Mommy has pretty brown eyes. I can see a baby with your eyes. I know we’re moving fast, Mia. But I think you’re wrong. We wouldn’t have just latched on to anyone who agreed to take a tumble with the pair of us. It’s you, baby.”

  “I vote ‘Yes’ to the babies,” Kevin said. “After we graduate and set up our studio and lure Mia down here to live with us.”

  Russ looked at the two of them. “I vote ‘Yes’ to the babies, with the proviso that Mia agrees, and we get settled into our business and have a little financial security.”

  They both stopped and looked at her. She stared down into her cup, turned it around and around.

  “Let’s wait,” she said, finally. “Give it a year. I don’t want to wait so long that my chance to be a mother slips away. But, if we’re still together in a year, we’ll discuss it again.”

  “This is great,” Kevin said. “Our first family meeting.”

  Mia and Russ were cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast. Kevin had already gone to the studio to start work.

  “What are you going to work on today?” Mia asked.

  “I need to chop a cord of wood to get ready for our next firing. Maybe experiment with some glaze. You like to make glaze?”

  Mia nodded. “It’s still as much fun as when I was a kid and got my first chemistry set. I loved that Bunsen burner.”

  “We can collect some ash to make an ash glaze. I think ash glaze and wood fire go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

  “I brought my glaze notebook. I think I’ve got a few different ash-glaze recipes.”

  “I want to show you the kiln, too, Mia. It’s a good kiln.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “An anagama ‑‑ beautiful, rich and fertile. I think it’s the best one I’ve ever built, Mia.” He moved his hands in the air, sketching the kiln’s elegant curves. “It’s the shape of a womb.” She looked at him and smiled, surprised. He leaned forward and kissed her, pulled her close against his hard body. “I can play that kiln like a guitar, baby. She breathes for me. Breathes like a yogi, and she sings.”

  Mia wrapped her arms around his waist. The unmistakable evidence of his feelings was pressed into her waist.

  “You get hard talking about your kiln? You’re such a potter.”

  “The kiln, and you pressed up against me. She fires good, Mia, and she’s beautiful. You should see her at night, the second night of a three-day fire. She’s deep red, moving like a beating heart. The kiln seems like the heart of the land, you know?”

  He reached for her and kissed her. His mouth moved slowly against hers. She felt herself softening, melting against him like a piece of taffy left out in the sun. He was so strong ‑‑ as strong and solid as the mountain.

  He kissed her face, stroked the hair back from her forehead. “I feel happy with you here. Kevin’s happy, too. I can’t imagine what’s gonna come off his wheel. His stuff is already unbelievable, but with you bubbling through his bloodstream ...” He smiled down at her. “I’ve got a fire pit out by the kiln if you want to make a fire, collect some ashes.”

  She nodded and pushed him away. “Go to work. Just make sure I get to watch if you take your shirt off to chop that wood.”

  He grinned at her and walked out the door. Mia went to the box of her clothes and books that she had shoved under the bed, found her glaze book, and walked over to the studio.

  The studio was larger than the cabin, with big windows along the south side. Two wheels were set up under the windows. Kevin was at work on one of them with a huge lump of golden-orange clay. He smiled at her when she came in, but kept working to center the clay.

  There was a wood stove in the corner, keeping the space warm. Metal shelves were set up along one wall, filled with pots wrapped in plastic, and a long table with glaze ingredients in jars.

  Mia moved over to the table and opened her glaze notebook. If they went with a pale clay body, with only a little iron, they could use a Warren MacKenzie ash glaze and end up with a lovely pale gold. She had a couple of recipes, but the simplest was made of just feldspar, ash, and quartz. She checked the balance scales and the jars. They had everything they needed.

  She went outside and s
tarted walking. The land was covered in black volcanic rocks, and the junipers had twisted themselves into fantastic shapes. There was plenty of downed wood. They wouldn’t have to cut any trees for firing the kiln. She collected a couple of armfuls of juniper branches and needles and took them to the fire pit. She piled them up and set them on fire.

  Russ walked over and joined her in watching the fire. He had a splitting maul in one hand, and he raised it to show it to her.

  “What, you don’t have an axe?” He laughed and shook his head. “We’ve got everything we need for a first ash glaze, Russ. I’ll make some test tiles. We can glaze the carved tiles, too ‑‑ just put them on the shelf until it’s time to do a firing.”

  “Let me show you the kiln, Mia. You’ll love it.”

  The anagama was a long flame shape. Mia didn’t think it looked like a womb, but she didn’t say anything. She could tell that she was dealing with a couple of romantics.

  Russ showed her the firebox, and they ducked into the door and crawled inside.

  The ceiling was warm and rounded, with a soft sand floor over the firebrick. It wasn’t tall enough to stand up inside, but they could sit comfortably. The space was muffled and quiet, and the light golden. The curved ceiling reminded her of a cathedral. Russ sat down against the wall of the kiln and opened his arms. She sat back against him, and he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

  Mia was drowsing in his strong arms, lulled by the quiet and warmth, and by the gentle kisses he was pressing to her hair. Kevin stuck his head into the door of the kiln.

  “Brother.”

  “Shhhh,” Russ whispered. “I think she’s asleep.”

  “It’s okay,” Mia said, her voice drowsy. “I’m sort of awake.” She snuggled back into his arms.

  “You want some private time, Russ? You two look so beautiful like that.”

  “No, Kevin. Stay in here with us and watch her pretty face while she sleeps. She likes the kiln.”

  “She does? Good. I guess she can stay, then.”

  Mia chuckled into Russ’s shoulder. Kevin pulled off her boots and socks and started rubbing some lotion into her feet ‑‑ lemon and rosemary.

  “You’ve got me hooked on these little lotions, Mia. I went over to the mall and smelled lotion for an hour. This is my favorite. This one and the lavender.”

  “Let me have some of that.” Russ put his hand out and Kevin poured a dollop into his palm. Russ took his hands and started rubbing the lotion into her palm. She closed her eyes, wondering. She’d had an idea, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. She was so inexperienced with sex, she really wasn’t sure exactly how ...

  Kevin’s hands stilled on her feet.

  “What?”

  She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I was wondering if maybe you two would like to make love to me together. I mean at the same time.”

  Russ looked at her, a question on his face.

  Kevin leaned forward. His eyes were huge and black in the dim light of the kiln. He studied her face, and she knew she was blushing.

  “That’s hot,” he said. “And yeah, baby. We’re up for it.”

  “What?” Russ was still smiling down at her.

  “You better let Russ in front, Mia. He’s a lot bigger than me.”

  Russ’s arms tightened around her. “You mean together, like at the same time, Mia? Both of us, inside you, together?” His hands moved over her, his breath warm against her neck. “That is hot, Mia.”

  “I’ve never ... So, really, I’m not sure exactly how ...”

  “Shhhh,” Kevin said, reaching for the hem of her sweater and pulling it over her head. He folded it carefully and laid it down near the door. Then he and Russ slid her bra off, and filled their hands with her breasts.

  “Listen, Mia. You don’t have to, but it would be utterly fucking awesome. We never have. You’ll be the first. But if you get scared or if it starts to hurt, then you just tell us, and we’ll stop.”

  She nodded. The thought of the two of them, both inside her, both fucking her together, filled her with heat and need until her head spun and she could smell her own desire, and knew they could smell it, too.

  Russ stood up, pulled his sweatshirt and jeans off, skinned his boxers down over his hips. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a couple of condoms.

  Kevin was unsnapping her jeans. He pulled them down, slid his fingers into her underwear. She was already slick with desire, and he moved his fingers over her and straight up inside.

  “Oh, yeah ‑‑ you’re good with this.” He moved closer until he was speaking into her ear. “Get ready, baby.”

  Russ put the condoms down and finished pulling her jeans off. Then he moved one hand through the soaking curls between her thighs, slid his fingers up next to Kevin’s, plunged them inside. They were very close to her, watching her face, and she was pushing them in, harder and deeper, one hand on each of theirs. Their movements were in rhythm with her body, her heartbeat.

  Russ pulled out first, licked her juices from the side of his palm. He lay down in the soft sand and slid a condom over his cock. He was long and hard, with a little curve at the tip. With that curve, he and Kevin would be able to rub against each other through the tissues and membranes of her body.

  Then Kevin pulled his hand away, and she was suddenly empty ‑‑ an aching, yearning empty. The heat was pounding through her. She knelt over Russ and slid him inside. She was so wet and open that she took him inside in one thrust, even as big as he was. He slid a thumb down between her legs, touched her clitoris, and rubbed his thumb back and forth.

  That was enough ‑‑ she climaxed, rode him while he bucked underneath her, her vagina contracting like a hungry mouth. Kevin reached between them and transferred some of her come up her bottom to her anus.

  “Get ready, baby.”

  “Hurry, Kevin,” Russ said. “I can’t wait for you ‑‑ she’s eating me alive, and I can’t wait ... Just let me fuck her ...”

  She could feel Kevin at her anus, and she pushed back against him. He slipped in an inch, then another. Mia was surprised that it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. It might have hurt, but she was so turned on her whole body felt like a gigantic vagina, aching and needy.

  He pushed in, more and a little more, until she could feel his groin nestled against her bottom. Russ moved, just a little thrust upward.

  “I can feel you,” he told Kevin. “I can feel you right there next to me.”

  Russ grabbed her around her hips and started thrusting up into her, long, deep groans torn out of his throat. Kevin was moving now, matching his rhythm. Their cocks must be sliding back and forth against each other. Mia could picture it in her mind, and the feeling moved up her spine, up the inside of her thighs, and ran down from her breasts, deep into her belly.

  She could feel the orgasm start like an avalanche and steal the breath from her throat. She didn’t recognize the sounds she was making. She beat Russ by seconds. The orgasm sent spasms through her vagina, into him, into Kevin behind her. Kevin held still and let her move against him.

  Kevin and Russ were holding her around the hips, holding their hands on each other.

  Russ’s cock jerked up against her womb, and she looked down into his face. His head was thrown back. His chest ‑‑ massive and strong ‑‑ was heaving with the feelings pouring through him.

  “I can feel you, brother.” Kevin said, his hands tightening around her. She bent her head, took Russ’s nipple into her mouth, and sucked it gently between her lips. He was groaning and laughing and saying her name.

  Now Kevin started moving, sliding slow and easy. He moved his hands up to her waist, across her chest until he held her breasts in his hands, thumbs sliding across her nipples, rough callous against her delicate skin.

  “Mia.” He sighed her name in time with his thrusts into her body. “Mia. Mia.” Then he was jerking and bucking inside of her, holding her w
aist tightly again to keep them joined together.

  When he was still he lay his head down on her damp back, and kissed the sweat from her spine. His long hair flowed across her shoulders and mixed with hers.

  They pulled out, one after the other. Russ dug a little hole in the sand and buried the condoms. Then they pulled her close between them. “It’s going to be really, really hard not to get spoiled, Kevin,” Russ said. “We have to make it so good for her she’ll never want to leave.” Two strong chests on either side of her like sentinels, two sets of hands touching her with love, two mouths, murmuring to her until she fell asleep between them. Their strong arms crossed above her, as if they were trying to protect her from the world.

  Sweet onions, red bell peppers, cucumbers, and fat cherry tomatoes. Mia had chopped up a head of Romaine lettuce, and was thinking some Mandarin oranges would be pretty in the salad. Maybe some sunflower seeds. Crumbles of blue cheese. She mixed everything together in a big stoneware bowl. Kevin reached over her shoulder and snagged a tomato.

  “Looks good.”

  “How’s the charcoal coming?”

  Kevin went to the kitchen window and looked out. “Russ is staring down at the barbeque pit with his hands on his hips. He looks just like his old man, except his dad always had a bottle of beer in his hand. Shiner Bock, from Texas. I’ve seen that old man a million times, staring into a barbeque pit just like that.”

  “My mom never had beer in the house when I was growing up,” Mia said. “My dad left when I was a baby, and I guess I haven’t been around men very much. You two are something of a revelation to me, as far as how men behave.”

  Kevin reached into the bowl again and took a cucumber, took the opportunity to pat her butt. “Really?” He nuzzled her hair back from her neck. “And to think we’re on our very best behavior.”

  “You are? That’s very interesting,” she said. “But don’t worry. I’m making a list. Technology is a woman’s friend.”