Man of the House

by Abigail Graham

  Aiden doesn't make a show, but he doesn't embarrass me, either. I sit beside him. We move closely together. It feels natural, easy. I was always afraid that when I finally landed my first boyfriend I wouldn't know what to do, but Aiden knows all that I need and guides me through the motions of this little domestic scene. I am the Live-In Girlfriend.

  My lifelong dream is coming true around me. Jason isn't a chatterbox, but he's not trying to kill me with a stare anymore. Things feel good, normal.

  "I need to work a bit today," Aiden announces. "Lilah, will you come with me?"

  I repress the urge to giggle.

  Aiden leads me off from the kitchen to another room on the first floor—a private study. Mahogany doors close behind me, sealing us in a quiet room full of books, everything centered on a huge desk. Aiden reaches under the desktop and presses a switch.

  There's a soft click, and part of the bookcase on the rear wall rumbles forward, then splits, sliding apart to reveal a multi-monitor computer setup. He drags a heavy guest chair around behind the desk and beckons me to sit while he leans back against the desk and slips on a pair of gloves.

  "See these?" he says, showing me little glowing pads on his fingertips. "In five years, no one will be using mice or touchpads anymore."

  "What's all this about?"

  "The demonstration is in two weeks. We have to get ready."

  "Demonstration?"

  Aiden flicks through a series of images of some kind of vehicle, a bubble-shaped car with oversized wheels and big, round headlights that give it a cute, staring appearance, like a cute kitten.

  "We're going to beat everyone else to the market," he says, gesturing at the cutemobile on the screen. "This is a critical development for the city project. It's a self-driving car. Residents choose to pay a small monthly fee or a per-mile charge to use one of these. It rolls up, takes them where they want to go and drops them off, then runs off to grab someone else. Perfect for the city."

  I nod. "They're electric."

  "That's right. I've made a secret deal with the mayor’s office. No one knows about it. Other cities have agreed to limited tests. When the redevelopment is complete, the neighborhoods we're rebuilding will be off limits to manually operated vehicles. If they work without any problems, we can look forward to expanding the system to the entire city. They'll integrate perfectly with the existing mass transit system. I have some ideas there too, of course."

  "Impressive," I say. "So what happens now?"

  "I've invited a number of VIPs to a track demonstration of the vehicle's capabilities. We've made a real breakthrough here. This car's sensor array and onboard computers are years ahead of everyone else's designs. I know the competition is ready to pounce on this, so we have to get in early with these exclusive contracts."

  He flicks his fingers, and a map shows up on screen.

  "We're in talks with New York, Houston, San Francisco, and Seattle. This is going to be huge. Byrne Industries will be to the twenty-first century what Ford was to the twentieth. We will fundamentally change society and undo years of damage to the environment."

  "Then what?"

  "Then I quit," he says, resting his hands on his thighs. "This is it. When this is done I'm passing the reins to someone else. I'm going to throw my oar over my shoulder and walk out to my homestead and live."

  "I understood that reference."

  He smiles at me and leans down to kiss my cheek. "So we have two weeks. Gloria is going to come for the kids on Friday. That'll give us a week alone out here before the main event."

  A week. Alone.

  Aiden has plans. I can feel it in the way he touches my shoulder.

  I shiver.

  Chapter Ten

  Aiden

  My sister-in-law is here.

  I can see her coming a mile off. Her Range Rover throws up a column of dust, reminding me of a tornado ripping through my idyllic little valley. She stops in front of the house and steps out.

  Lilah looks up from her book to gaze through the window. She doesn't know, and I don't have the heart to tell her.

  Setting eyes on Gloria is like seeing a ghost. She's not only my departed wife's sister—she's her identical twin sister. Ten years of aging has only made meeting her more unnerving. She is no longer a mirror image of the Grace in my mind; I remember her on summer days, an eternal thirty, a pleasant memory covering darker reminisces of a pale skeleton in a hospital bed, drawn and thin from months of weight loss as the disease ravaged her body.

  Gloria is her sister as she would have been. Except for their totally opposite personalities.

  The boys know she's here. I can hear them descending behind me as she opens the door.

  "Why do you make me drive out to the ass end of nowhere?" she demands, her voice like a whip on my soul. So similar but so different. "I think I'm going to choke to death on this dust. Will you invite me in, or not?"

  I stand to the side and let her enter. She takes three steps in and locks her eyes on Lilah, who sits curled on the couch in a loose T-shirt and leggings.

  "Is this the nanny?"

  Lilah bristles, her eyes fiery hot, but remains silent. For a moment she looks like the mousy girl she was when she walked in my office only a week ago. Then she turns away, more interested in her sketching than my in-law.

  "Not exactly," I admit.

  Gloria gives me a sharp, judging look, and for a brief instant I see Grace in her face. It makes it difficult for all of us, having my wife's doppelganger walking around while we try to move on. I can only imagine her pain every time she looks in the mirror. Half of her must be missing.

  "Boys!" she bellows. "Let's get going."

  Tim runs down first, wearing a backpack. Jason follows, looking sullen as usual. Gloria ushers the two outside. "You'll pick them up in a week?"

  "Next Friday," I confirm. "Big day on Monday."

  She nods. "Right then. I'll be in touch."

  "Take good care of them."

  "I will," she sighs.

  Gloria disappears through the door. I watch, arms, folded, through the window as she loads them into her lumbering luxury SUV and climbs inside to kick up dust as she wheels it around.

  A slow breath escapes, and a cold sense of dread washes in behind it. Relations between us are not exactly cordial. Grace would want her sister to have time with her children, and Gloria keeps the peace. That doesn't make me feel any better.

  Lilah slips up behind me and teases her fingers up my sides before she slips her arms around me. That does make me feel better. She leans into my back and breathes deep. "Are you all right?"

  "Yes. I've done this before."

  "So we're together all week. Alone."

  I turn, pulling her around to face me. She flops her head on my chest and squeezes her arms tight around my ribs. Listening to my heart, I realize. I feel ashamed that my cock is already swelling, going hard at holding her. I draw her hair away from her neck and caress the hollow of her shoulder with my thumb, pushing the wide neck of her shirt down to expose more skin. I like this look. It would be a shame to peel all this off her.

  "I have some phone calls to make," I admit.

  "I was hoping you'd tear my clothes off as soon as your sister-in-law got to the end of the driveway."

  I finger the hem of her shirt and think about doing exactly that. Instead I kiss her and guide her aside with my hands on her waist, and head for my study. "I won't be long."

  Lilah

  After Aiden disappears into his work, I head upstairs. I've spent a yawny morning reading on the couch in the sunlight, and now I feel an urge to stretch out a little so I don't fall asleep. I need some exercise.

  While it's not as bad as the city would be, it's turned hot. It's already in the low eighties and will get warmer through the day. I don’t want to be sitting inside all day.

  It would be nice to get outside. Get some sun, some air. The air here is so lovely, so fresh and clean, so I strip and pull on a bathing suit.
r />   Outside, the hot concrete around the pool burns my feet.

  Everything is hot. Even the deck chair is too hot when I lie back against it. I squirm in the heat, opening my eyes now and then to look at the pool. If I just go in the narrow end, it won’t really be swimming. I’ll just be getting wet. There’s a raft. I can just float around on that. It’s totally survivable, and I won’t drown or be eaten by a teleporting pool shark.

  Before I know it I’m dipping my feet in.

  The shock of the water is just on this side of too much before I get used to it. I pull myself up onto a raft and float across the pool, bending at the waist so cool water swirls over my lap as the hot sun tastes the moisture from my arms. It’s the right mix of hot and cool with water lapping over my waist and my arms and legs hanging over the sides.

  I drift across the water until the sun's warmth is too much and start to drift off into a half-sleep, mumbling when my closed eyes face the sun and a white lance jerks me awake before I drift off again.

  I don't wake next until movement in the water shakes me out of my dull half-sleep. Aiden has changed into swim trunks and stands on the edge of the pool, silhouetted against the sun like a statue of a god. I look over and savor the way his gaze skims over my skin. He’s imagining peeling my bathing suit off, and he’s so obvious about it I can feel ghostly fingers on my skin.

  As if it wouldn’t make it any more obvious, he’s hard as a rock.

  “I wasn’t expecting to find you in the pool.”

  He walks around, closer to me. I kick my feet, drifting back towards the shallow end.

  “Don’t you dare jump on me.”

  “Why would I do that?” he says innocently.

  “To knock me off the raft so you have an excuse to grope me.”

  “Why are you even on a raft if not to bait me?”

  “If you jump on me you’ll be baiting yourself, Aiden.”

  I flick a handful of water at him and use my hands to push away, drifting toward the shallow end.

  Aiden steps closer, humming the theme from Jaws. He’s still closer to the deep end.

  “You never had a pool growing up?”

  I shake my head. “Like my father would spend money on that.”

  “All that money, and what does he do with it?”

  “Buy his daughter implants.” I sigh. “Or try to, anyway.”

  “I’m glad you refused. Tampering with your breasts would be a crime against humanity. Any surgeon that looked at you and said anything but ‘she’s perfect’ should have his license pulled.”

  “You flatter me.”

  “I lull you into a false sense of security. Then I do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “CANNONBALL!” he bellows, darting forward.

  He leaps, tucking and rolling into the pool. A splash rockets into the air, and a wave of water surges towards me, rolling the raft. I hold on as I tilt back, but when the wave rolls under and I fall the other way, I splash into the water and slam beneath the surface.

  Just put your feet down. Just put your feet down.

  I throw my head above water as I stand, stumbling to keep my balance as the water flowers around me.

  “You jerk!” I scream.

  Aiden grabs me around the waist and kisses me, and the sun grows hotter on my skin as I start to bead with sweat. His lips are warm and soft, but he sucks so hard it pinches my skin, and I yelp as he leaves little marks on my shoulder.

  He opens his mouth over my breast, sucking the water from the fabric of my swimsuit as he runs his fingers over my sex. Buoyant in the water, I let my feet leave the bottom to bring my lips to his. For a brief moment I feel as tall as he is.

  His hands are everywhere. Aiden stretches the seat of my swimsuit to cup my ass, squeezing the muscle in his hand as he kisses me. His arm comes under my neck, and he pulls me off the raft. I twist in the water and stand in front of him.

  "How about some skinny dipping?" I whisper, pulling on his shorts.

  He nips my ear and rolls his hips, encouraging me. I tug his trunks down, and he steps out of them. They rise to the surface and float away, leaving him naked.

  Aiden's ass is pure, hard muscle, but his skin is soft there. That's about the only thing about him that's soft. Somehow, only having a thin layer of lycra between us is more exciting than being naked.

  He reaches behind my neck and undoes the tie. The fabric clings to my wet skin, and I feel every inch coming away as he peels it off. Aiden runs his fingers over the tan lines on my shoulders and back.

  "You've been getting some sun."

  "Mmm," I agree, pressing against him.

  He peels the last of my bathing suit away and lets it float on the water. I press close to him, sheltering my head under his chin as he caresses my back. I feel very, very exposed. Even the water feels colder.

  "There's no one but us for miles and miles," he reassures me. "Relax."

  Bit by bit, I calm down enough to drift away from him in the water. Aiden dives in and pursues me, chasing and splashing. Every touch is a tease, his tickling fingers dancing over my wet skin. I dive under and come back up with wet hair, standing in the shallow end so the water comes up to just under my chest.

  Aiden seizes me and takes my nipple in his mouth, then lifts me up out of the water in his arms, licking and tasting and sucking my chest, grazing the soft skin under my breasts with his teeth.

  He carries me to the edge of the pool and sets me on the edge, lifting my legs onto his shoulders. I lean back, resting on my arms, and close my eyes. The swirl of sensation borders on too intense as the sun steams the water from my skin and Aiden kisses his way down my stomach, working toward my waiting sex. My legs quiver, sending ripples across the pool.

  Aiden's tongue slips inside me, teasing my entrance. I pull my legs around his head and draw him in. I feel like some primordial fertility goddess absorbing his worship. It becomes so intense I can barely keep from falling back on the concrete behind me.

  He twists loose of my legs and pulls me back into the water, then heaves me into his arms and carries me out, newlywed-style. I hold tight to his neck as his fingers dig into my skin. I'm slippery.

  Gently, he lowers me to my feet and I stand there, naked in the sun, shivering at the chill from the evaporating water leaving my skin. Aiden takes a step back and stands like a god with a throbbing cock. I grab it and caress, remembering the feeling of his hardness inside me as I crave it again. He's been teasing me all week like this, making me come without fucking me. I nip and kiss at the skin of his chest, goading him to take me.

  Pressed up close against him, I grind my body against his, his cock sliding against my wet stomach. He loops his arms around me and holds me there, caressing and gripping and squeezing my body.

  I try to guide his cock between my legs, to take him standing up.

  When his open hand cracks hard against my ass, my yelp of surprise is the only thing louder. The skin stings even as he kisses me.

  "Not yet."

  "Then when?"

  Taking my hand, he guides me back into the house. Even walking around bare-assed inside feels transgressive, excites me. The air itself tickles my skin as I rush up the stairs. Aiden grabs a big towel and wraps me up in it, vigorously drying my skin in the bedroom.

  Then he lifts me bodily from the floor and throws me on the bed. I bounce back and land splayed out, my legs spread wide, stomach pulled tight to thrust my hips forward and offer myself. He circles the bed, hard cock bobbing with every step, only to push me back when I reach for it.

  Lightly, he takes me by the back of my neck and guides my head to his cock. I start to suck, but he doesn't let me do more than kiss before pulling me back by a fistful of hair, arching me on the bed.

  Reaching under it, he pulls out a heavy wooden box. From inside he pulls out a long silken rope and loops it around his fist.

  "What are you going to do with that?"

  "Tie you down," he says.

  My hear
t flutters as my eyes widen. He stretches the rope between his hands, snapping it as my eyes flick from his hard cock to the rope to the lust in his eyes.

  "Roll over. Face down."

  I hesitate for just a moment.

  "Now."

  I roll to the middle of the bed, face down. The strange sense of vulnerability I feel now reminds me of the first time we made love in the art museum. My heart speeds up as he takes my wrist and buckles a leather cuff around it, just tight enough that I can't pull my hand loose. Then he does the other hand and runs the rope through metal rings on the cuffs and behind the headboard before tying it, spreading my arms.

  Lying on the bed, shivering, I watch him draw out a long metal bar with cuffs on either end. Aiden straps my ankle into one side, then takes my other leg and spreads me open, strapping the bar between my ankles so I can't close my legs. Then he ties it down and…sits on the bed.

  His hand is gentle on my back.

  "I want you to choose a word. Something you wouldn't normally yell in the middle of getting your brains fucked out."

  "A word?"

  "A safeword. If you say the safeword I'll stop what I'm doing and release you. It's like a ripcord on a parachute."

  "All right, um. Toboggan?"

  "Perfect."

  I giggle.

  Then he puts the blindfold on me, wrapping a double layer of black silk around my head.

  "I can't see."

  "That's the idea. It enhances the sensations. Forces you to concentrate on your body."

  He caresses my cheek and traces his finger along my mouth. Then he puts something in my hand, hard and rounded with a flared bit on it. It feels like the shape of an ace of spades, but not so sharp.

  "I'm going to put this in you."

  I shiver. "It's cold."

  "It's stainless steel. Don't worry. This is just a small one. We'll work our way up to bigger ones."

  I writhe against the restraints. "Uh, where in me are you putting that?"

  "That's what the blindfold is for."