No Reservations

by Natalia Banks

  Ashe couldn’t shake that bad feeling, but he did push through it. “Anyway, Dad, you were kind of the same way. Not like me, I mean, but … you were kinda just sad all the time, y’know?”

  Griffin smiled softly. “Yeah, I know.”

  “And I was really sad, really really sad … ” The bygone misery seemed to return to Ashe’s face, brows arching, mouth twisting in a tearful frown. Lorraine leaned into Griffin’s loving embrace, a single tear rolling down her own cheek. “But, even though it’s kinda different,” Ashe went on, “it’s also kinda the same, y’know what I mean?”

  Griffin wiped away his own tear. “Yes, son, yes I do.”

  The Pictou Lodge Beachfront Resort was rustic and windswept, the early summer already ripening over the Atlantic Ocean. The crisp Canadian air was bracing in Lorraine’s lungs, so different than the air in New York, which she quickly realized was terribly polluted by comparison. That star-starved sky above the Big Apple was bursting with stars over the Canadian wilderness, Halifax’s city lights no match for that celestial masterpiece.

  Sally poured herself another martini and glanced around Lorraine and Griffin’s suite, next door to their own. “It’s quite charming, dear, really. I never would have thought of Nova Scotia as a tourist destination — ”

  Larry looked up from his chess game with Ashe. “Quick and instantly, the boys shoot nearby,”

  Griffin and Lorraine shared a knowing glance before Griffin said, “Coincidentally, Sally, we’ve got a day planned for you at the best spa in town.”

  Genuine disappointment registered in Sally’s expression, eyebrows rising, mouth sinking. “I thought I was going to be spending time with the kids?”

  “They’ve got five-star childcare for Kayla, and for you; hot stone therapy, mud baths, deep tissue massage, saunas, hot tubs … ”

  “Well, that’s very sweet, but — ”

  Lorraine added, “Open bar.”

  “ — Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be rude.” Lorraine and Griffin chuckled, turning to Larry. “You and Ashe have something else goin’, we’ll let that be a surprise.”

  Larry repeated, “A surprise? Sounds interesting,”

  “Tomorrow we’re spending the day together, as a family.”

  Sally and Larry both smiled, Ashe nodding with anticipation. He knew what the plan was, and like his parents, he couldn’t wait.

  Griffin hired a fifty-foot yacht for the day, with a full crew to pilot, cook, and serve. They were quiet and polite and stayed out of sight when they weren't serving the delicious seafood banquet, foods prepared specially for the baby, cocktails for the adults.

  The Best of Times headed east toward Sable Island, the Atlantic Ocean choppy and energetic around them. Lorraine had to concentrate to keep from becoming aroused, knowing this would be just the time and place Griffin would lure her down to a private room and break yet another taboo. The many times they’d rutted on his own yacht brought back sweet and spicy memories.

  Phantom pain returned to Lorraine’s belly, her body lurching forward just a bit. Griffin looked at her with silent concern, but she offered him a reassuring smile and looked out over the amazing view.

  There were other things on Lorraine’s mind, nothing lethal, if perhaps still vital. She said, “Grif, back in the jet, on the flight from New York, you said to Ashe, about Jeremy — ”

  “No, Lorraine.”

  After a tense moment, she said, “I think I have a right to — ”

  “I mean, no, Lorraine, I’m not a homophobe.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t have thought so, but, the way you talked about it — ”

  “It’s not appropriate for Jeremy to share the details of his personal life with Ashe, regardless of the … nature of that personal life. He’s an impressionable kid, Lorraine, and these are important years for him.”

  “You’re afraid Jeremy’s going to indoctrinate him in his gay agenda?”

  “No, Lorraine, no. I’m the one who hired Jeremy. I knew what his whole scene was, I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. But, I don’t want anybody unloading their personal baggage on my son. He’s got enough of that on his own, and you know that.”

  “No, you’re … you’re right about that, Griffin.”

  Griffin twitched, turning his head with some quick revelation. “No, actually, I’m not.”

  “Griffin?”

  “He’s our son, not my son. I misspoke, I apologize.” They shared a tender and nurturing smile. Lorraine couldn’t help notice Ashe looking at them from nearby, head downcast before he looked out over the ocean.

  Sally and Larry shared a worried glance, Sally shaking her head, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her martini.

  Something caught Ashe’s eye, and he pointed to the waters just off the starboard side of the yacht. “Look, look at that!”

  Chapter 15

  A big dark fin cut the water along the side of the idling yacht. A shiver ran up Lorraine’s spine, she knew at once what it was. Ashe called out, “That’s a shark!” Ashe ran across the deck to the ladder leading to the lower deck, at surface level.

  Lorraine shouted, “Ashe, hold on!” Griffin was already following him down the ladder. Lorraine handed Kayla to one of the attentive staff, who faded back into the safety of the cabin so she and her parents could take their own trips down that ladder, to whatever awaited them.

  Ashe stood back as Griffin leaned down over the stern, tapping the surface of the water.

  “Griffin,” Lorraine shouted, “what are you doing, are you insane?”

  “It’s okay,” Griffin said, tapping the water and watching the shark as it doubled around and approached him. He even whistled, like he was calling a dog. Sally and Larry looked on in amazement, Lorraine in stark horror. Ashe was smiling, sharing his father’s confidence and sense of mischief.

  Griffin said, “Ashe, keep an eye out behind me.”

  Lorraine could only look on in horror, her parents in amazement, as the shark swam up to the bow of the yacht, Griffin still tapping the water, whistling. A lump rose in Lorraine’s throat, hand shivering. She reached out for Ashe, standing nearby, and clung to him for support. He seemed just as strong as his father, and somehow Lorraine derived calm and confidence from that mere twelve-year-old.

  The shark swam to the yacht, but didn’t charge. It seemed to float toward Griffin, its huge mouth gaping. Lorraine could only imagine that famous music from the movie, cellos pumping faster and faster as the shark reached out to within striking distance of her beloved, the man of her dreams, the love of her life, the father of her children.

  She wanted to cry out his name, urge him away from that terrible beast. Lorraine sensed that Griffin knew what he was doing, as he always seemed to do; and that she would only do more harm than good by disturbing him with a shout or even a peep. So, Lorraine held her stepson and held her breath.

  Griffin reached out, the shark met it with extended jawbones, teeth reaching out for him. Griffin grabbed the beast’s conical snout, holding it and the shark in the palm of his hand. The shark kept biting, black eyes rolling over white, but its jaws couldn’t reach Griffin’s arm as long as his hand was on the big fish’s snout.

  Lorraine gasped, Ashe chuckled a bit to himself, Sally and Larry shocked, stood stock still in amazement. The shark kept biting, ineffectual, Griffin giving him a little shove just to prove who was really boss.

  Then with another twist of the big shark’s snout, Griffin managed to turn the whole shark slowly over onto its side, fifteen feet or more in length, its gleaming white belly rolling over. The sun bounced off that shiny white surface, rising up to break the surface as the shark became motionless.

  Griffin waved them all over. “C’mon, hurry!”

  Ashe bolted out of Lorraine’s grasp, despite her instinct to cling to him and hold him close, out of harm’s way. But it was too late. The boy rocketed to his father’s side and knelt down, without having to be told what to do. He reached out and rubbed the m
assive great white’s underbelly while the colossal beast lolled in the water, tail offering up just the slightest splash, then nothing at all.

  Sally asked, “What’s happening, are they killing it?”

  Lorraine said, “It’s called tonic immobility, happens when you turn a shark upside-down, it goes into a trance. That’s how orca kill them.” At her parents’ open-mouthed expressions, Lorraine explained, “I was a librarian, you guys.”

  Ashe said, “C’mon, Lorraine, you gotta try it!”

  Lorraine was terrified, but she knew she had to prove to herself, and to the Phoenix men, that she was no longer the timid librarian of previous years, that she could keep pace with them or with anyone, that she was truly and indisputably worthy of the Phoenix name. So, Lorraine crossed the little deck and knelt down next to Ashe.

  Sally said, “Oh, please be careful, dear.”

  Lorraine reached out, her hand timid, but a reassuring smile from Ashe was enough to make her reach out and touch the shark’s belly. It was hard, pulsing with life, its power unmistakable even at the merest touch.

  “Rub down, away from the head,” Ashe said.

  “Yeah, I’m not gonna go toward the head, Ashe.”

  Ashe and Griffin chuckled, Griffin still holding the tip of the shark’s snout in his hand. Lorraine petted the huge shark’s belly, smooth as glass, wet and shimmering, its life-force seemed to race up her arm, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

  Ashe smiled at her. “How do you like it?”

  Lorraine could hardly find the words, much less the breath to speak them. “It’s … it’s amazing.”

  Standing nearby, Sally said, “It certainly is.”

  Griffin gazed out over the water. “Uh-oh, looks like we got company.”

  Lorraine and Ashe looked up, a cluster of black fins cutting the water in even, rolling motions.

  “Killer whales,” Ashe said. “They’re gonna attack the shark.”

  “Maybe the boat, too,” Griffin said. “Help me roll him over.” Griffin grabbed one of the shark’s pectoral fins and pulled it up, slowly trying to heave the beast over. Ashe and Lorraine joined the effort, the killer creature’s weight surprising in Lorraine’s hands.

  “Hurry,” Ashe said, “They’re gonna charge!”

  Lorraine, Griffin, and Ashe finally managed to turn the shark over. Griffin gave it a good, hard slap on the top of the head and the shark flinched, its huge, long body flinching and bucking, mouth biting again. “All right,” Griffin said, “you better git’ while the gittin’s good.”

  The shark did swim away, and in a hurry, but Lorraine knew it only seemed like Griffin had commanded the beast to flea and that it obediently followed his orders. But, there could be no doubt about his command of the creature before then, and once again he left Lorraine utterly floored by his personal power, his calm, his place at the top of the food chain, human or otherwise.

  Lorraine was on her back again. More and more, she felt the compunction to straddle Griffin, to take control and ravage him. But, he’d been her sexual mentor, her guide into corners for the world of sensual pleasure, and she sensed he had more to teach her, more to bring out in her. When they met, she’d been a virginal librarian, hiding from the world behind a veil of fear and timidity. But, those things were unknown to Griffin. He knew sorrow, he knew loss, but fear ran from him. And, to look up at that beautiful face, the body of a living God to deliver pleasures unknown to most people, Lorraine was happy enough to revel, to indulge, to bathe in his attention to her.

  And this time, it came straight from his cock. He dragged that huge, hard hammer over her body, again starting at her feet. He pushed her feet together on either side of it and started stroking his dick between the arches. Griffin pressed her feet against it and pumped, low and long, Lorraine’s toes curling. She could feel that massive meat between her soles just as if they were the palms of some distended hands, as if she were a primate, more animal than human.

  And Griffin was just getting warmed up.

  He dragged his hard erection up her legs, slapping it against her muscles as they tensed beneath it, reaching her knees and tapping it against her. Nothing else of his body glanced her skin at all, and Lorraine closed her eyes to focus just on that point of contact, his sweet sword touring her body, inspecting it, preparing it, digesting her exterior before plumbing her insides.

  Tap tap tap, then a smooth caress over her thigh, the head big and hard, the iron shaft coated with the smoothest skin.

  Tap tap tap.

  Lorraine’s hips lurched up to meet it, her pussy hot and hungry and ready to devour that long, sweaty snake. Griffin teased her as usual, rubbing his head over her flanks, her smooth abdomen, the upper thighs and even her labia, swollen and hot.

  Tap tap tap.

  Griffin rubbed his head over her meaty little mound and then down, her clit reaching out to greet its old friend. But Griffin only taunted her, pulling his cock back and savoring her undulating loins, clenching, biting.

  Tap tap tap.

  Griffin continued upward, dragging his cock over her belly, slick with perspiration, rising and lowering with her spasming, hungry loins. Griffin pressed it down a bit, Lorraine’s flawless physique giving to its pressure, a rolling landscape beneath an advancing conqueror. The head dragged across her ribs, slowly rising and falling with every curved bone, Griffin dipping himself down to race the curves of Lorraine’s sides.

  Then that cock came back up to the side of Lorraine’s breasts, her nipples eager for contact.

  Tap tap tap.

  Lorraine’s breasts were already slick with her sweat, and her back rolled, chest heaving to meet his cock. Griffin slid his tremendous erection into the space between her breasts from the bottom, an easy glide up against her sternum just beneath the skin. The tingle shot right through Lorraine’s chest, filling her heart and throwing it two beats ahead, and then again.

  Griffin’s strong hands embraced her tits on both sides and pressed them in against his cock. Sitting on his knees above her, Griffin had perfect control as he slid his perfect prick up and down, an easy and even rhythm as he squeezed her tits a bit harder. His thumbs found her nipples and gave them each a sharp flick and then a circular rub until they were almost burning.

  Lorraine’s hands landed on Griffin’s wrists, but not to pull them away or to urge them on. She simply felt the need to cling to him, to hold him somehow, squeeze him with more than just her tits. Lorraine’s shoulders arched up, head tilting hard to the side just to savor the pressure.

  Up and down, back and forth against her sweat-slicked tits, Lorraine’s skin was nearly vibrating with the dance of her nerve endings beneath. There could never be enough. Both of them needed more.

  Griffin edged his way forward, falling a bit, leaning against one hand while he guided that huge cock with the other, slapping it against her chest, her shoulders, slipping it into her right armpit and giving it a few quick shots before thudding it against her neck, her ears, her cheek.

  Tap tap tap.

  Griffin pressed his dick against Lorraine’s cheek, her chin, her eyes. Lorraine leaned up and into it, nuzzling that meaty treasure, greeting it like an old and dear friend, sniffing it out like prey to be devoured.

  Griffin slipped it into her mouth and Lorraine eagerly accepted it. She curled her lips over her teeth to protect him while her jaw stretched further. He was salty and tasted of her own sweat, a flavor that only the two of them could create. He filled her mouth, pushing it in further, his head settling on the back of her tongue. His balls rested on her chin as he dipped it in further. His musk filled her nostrils, eyes blocked from the light by his perfect trunk, flexing as he breathed. Her hands reached around and gripped his powerful ass, cheeks hard and round, sculpted to perfection. She squeezed hard and they hardly gave at all, pushing back against her.

  Griffin shifted forward a bit, pulling his cock out of Lorraine’s mouth and letting his balls sink in. Lorraine delighted in h
osting those succulent orbs, wrapped in that soft, contracted pouch. She let one fall in, lolling on her tongue as it rose it up and lowered it down, cradling it like the perfect treasure that it was. Then its partner took a turn, riding her soft, warm tongue like a carnival ride.

  Lorraine spread her lips as wide as she could, jaw opening to take the entire sack into her mouth, tongue dipping to make more room. Salvia filled her mouth, a natural hot springs to bathe those tantalizing twins, breath wheezing out of her nostrils and bouncing back against the bottom of his cock.

  Lorraine reached up and grabbed Griffin’s dick, squeezing and pumping the shaft as she sucked and licked his delicious balls. Pump and squeeze and suck and lick, Lorraine was happy to offer as much attention to that luscious prick as she could.

  It was only just the beginning of a lifetime of dedication to his satisfaction.

  Lorraine could sense his orgasm stirring, but she knew that he was suppressing it, fighting it for his stamina and their mutual joy. But, Lorraine wanted to make him cum, more than she wanted him to make her cum.

  And she would have what she wanted.

  Lorraine pumped Griffin extra hard, squeezing with all her might. “C’mon, baby,” she rasped, “you know you wanna do it, you know you wanna cum! And I want you to cum, you fucking stud, I want you to cum for me! Don’t wait, baby, don’t make me wait! You know you wanna cum, you wanna cum now … so hard, cum so fucking hard … ”

  “Yes,” Griffin rasped, “yes … ”

  “Because you love it when I make you cum, you love it more than anything in the fucking world!”

  “Yes … ”

  “Don’t you?”

  “I do,” Griffin said, “I love it so fucking much!”

  “Then do it for me, Grif, fucking cum for me now, right now!” Griffin’s hips jutted a bit, nerves jangling, muscles flexing from instinct, beyond even his own control.

  He was cumming … hard.

  “That’s it,” Lorraine said, pumping and squeezing, her hand a blur in front of her. She felt the charge, that hot package racing down his cock, muscles twitching. “Yes, baby, oh yes, oh yes!”