Chapter 15: Lake Tahoe ll

Even reduced to down to 7, the rest of us were too large and unwieldy a group to really stick together. There was always someone lagging behind, forcing the leaders to wait at the bottom a long while for the others to catch up. Miguel's girlfriend Paloma was the most common culprit, so he told us not to wait up for them and that we'd all meet up at our scheduled time for lunch.

That left me, Dawn, Kenzie, Nick, and Deedee to take the next two runs as a group of five, culminating in Dawn and me agreeing to split up. And with only an hour left until lunch, Dawn headed off with Nick and Deedee while Kenzie beamed with excitement that she'd finally get to be alone with me.

As I mentioned, Kenzie wasn't the most technically proficient snowboarder, but she was good enough to carefully handle a black diamond trail, if not necessarily point her board straight down and slalom her way to the bottom all in one go. She was trying to make a good impression, putting on a brave face and carving her way across the trail a little harder and perhaps a little faster than she might've done with her friends instead of with a guy she wanted to hook up with, so every now and again she got a little out of control and would fall down in a heap.

I started off by taking the lead, going ahead of her before stopping on the side to look uphill, check her progress, and wait for her to reach me. It seemed like the manly thing to do. But halfway down, I figured it would be better to go after her, watching her form from behind, slowing down my own progress so that I never got ahead of her, and coming to her aid whenever she fell down. Sure, I couldn't point myself downhill and blast my way down the mountain the way I might've liked to, but I rather enjoyed being the strong knight in shining armor coming down to save the day.

For her part, Kenzie started getting embarrassed after the fourth time she fell on that first run. When we got to the bottom and queued up in line to take the chairlift back up, she began sputtering something about not usually being this bad at snowboarding, but I held a finger to her lips and told her it was alright.

"Relax, take your time," I told her as I dropped my finger. "We're not in any rush, and if this trail is a little too difficult for you, we can always find one a little less challenging."

"No, I can do it," she insisted. "I've been down this trail a hundred times already over the last few years."

"So when we get to the top, do you want to try this same trail again?"

"Absolutely," she stated with conviction, fresh fire in her pretty blue eyes.

The two of us rode the chairlift up together, and on impulse I stretched my right arm across the back of the chair along the top rail. I wasn't exactly draping my arm across her shoulders, but the fabric of my thick jacket's sleeve was touching the back of her jacket. She glanced up at me with a coy smile on her face, then reached up and pulled my hand down so that my arm was indeed wrapped around her. Nothing had happened yet between us, but it was nice to get confirmation that we were on the same page for where this was going.

A few minutes later, Kenzie fell again only fifty feet down the mountain. I'd been following her again, watching her form, and as I slid to a stop beside her and offered my hand down to help her up, I commented, "You're dragging your right foot every time you make that left turn. When you make a right turn, you're doing a good job of kicking your right foot out to help carve the board around. But whenever you make a left, you're digging in with your front foot but not getting the back of your board swung around fast enough to get onto the other edge. That leaves your board flat and pointed downhill, with neither edge carving, and you end up going faster than you really want to handle."

"Really? I don't usually have that problem with my turns."

"Maybe it's just a hitch in your form today. The point is: you haven't fallen once when turning right. The next time you go left, try focusing on kicking your right foot out and really swinging the board around. You can do it."

With a shrug and a smile, Kenzie nodded and started off again. She traversed the trail over to the left, continuing her diagonal progress all the way to the edge of the trail before executing a perfect right turn. I followed after her, monitoring her progress as she traversed over to the right now. And as she approached the right side of the trail, she banked left, kicked out her right foot perfectly, and dug in hard, shooting off to the left across the trail under perfect control.

"WOOOOOO!!!" Kenzie crowed, thrusting both fists into the air.

"Woo-hoo!" I cheered after her. "That was great!"

Another right turn, and Kenzie was gliding back in front of me. I snapped through my own right turn and stayed above her, and sure enough, she executed another perfect left turn to continue on.

"WOOOOOO!!!" Kenzie crowed again, again thrusting both fists into the air.

"You got this!" I called out encouragingly.

Back and forth, back and forth, Kenzie cruised through the middle section of the run without incident. I lost count of how many perfect left turns she made to the point where I didn't care anymore. She had it down and was making this black diamond run look easy, and on sudden impulse, I re-aimed my board into a much steeper angle and shot down the hill, picking up speed and ultimately blasting past Kenzie to once again take the lead.

"Hey!" she yelled from behind me.

Twenty feet below her, I leveled out and traversed across the trail with my toes and face pointing uphill. I grinned up at her and waved cheerily before executing a left turn and continuing on.

The next time I made a right turn, I found myself facing uphill again and found that she was much closer to me, having apparently steepened her own angle to pick up speed and cover more distance as well. I didn't want to race her, figuring that if I pushed her too hard too fast she might end up crashing again. So I kept my course and didn't match her angle, maintaining my current pace to let her catch me.

Thing is, I think Kenzie was expecting me to go faster, perhaps figuring I'd competitively increase my speed in order to stay ahead of her. The next time I came around facing uphill, she was even closer to me, carving hard and doing her best to catch me. But since she was traversing to the right just like me, she was also facing uphill and therefore couldn't see that she was practically on top of me. Realizing I needed to put more distance between us for safety, I quickly banked left and shot away like a bat out of hell. But she banked left at the same time, turning even more sharply than I had since she was still in race mode and I was still trying to come out of a rather leisurely pace, and before either one of us could react, her snowboard's leading edge cut straight across the front of mine, snapping mine down and taking me off my edge while her right arm slapped across my torso and spun me around.

In a nutshell, we crashed. I felt my bindings give way and detach from my board for safety. Her body tilted into mine and swung horizontally, far enough for me to know that she had no chance of recovering and staying on her feet. And as I realized we were both falling, I wrapped both arms around her and clutched her against my chest, instinctively shielding her body with my own as I took the impact against the snow directly on my right shoulder and felt our momentum roll us down the steep hill.

The pair of us rolled over at least three times, but we eventually came to a stop with our heads pointed downhill and our feet elevated up the slope. My heart was pounding and blood was rushing into my head at this angle, but my first thought was to check for Kenzie's safety as I looked down my chest at her coppery red head. And without letting go of my bear-hug grip around her body, I asked out of breath, "Are you okay?"

Breathing rapidly herself, Kenzie picked her head up and looked at me with wild, frightened eyes. But she quickly realized that we were both in one piece, and from the way she immediately started checking our surroundings right and left instead of moaning or concentrating on some particular limb, I figured that she wasn't seriously injured.

"You okay?" I repeated.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she answered, still out of breath. A moment later, she realized she was lying flat on top of me, and she blinked in surprise before giving me a sheepish grin.

"If I didn't know any better," I began warmly, "I'd think you did that on purpose."

"No I didn't!" she protested immediately, and looked to keep on protesting, but I quickly raised a finger to her lips. She shut up, and a moment later she moaned as I removed the finger and replaced it with my own lips.

For a long while, there were no sounds but those of wet smacking mouths and darting tongues. I realized four years ago that Kenzie was an amazing kisser, someone who could even give Adrienne a run for her money in the nuclear department, and our kiss was just as amazing today.

But we couldn't stay alone forever, and soon the sounds of skis or a snowboard screeching to a halt not far away from us drew our attention. "You guys alright? Anybody hurt?"

Kenzie and I broke apart to look up at our Good Samaritan. He was a middle-aged man on skis wearing a chunky pair of those old school Bollé ski goggles. Putting his goggles on top of his beanie, the guy looked down at us, blushing as he realized he was interrupting our kiss.

"Um, sorry. I saw the two snowboards had gotten away from you and didn't realize I was inter ... well..."

"It's okay, it's okay," I offered while Kenzie slid herself off my chest. "We did have a little accident, but we're both fine."

Avoiding eye contact, our Good Samaritan shuffled forward on his skis to recover Kenzie's snowboard not far away from him. In the meantime, two and then three other people came screaming down the mountain. Fortunately, we were all off to the far right side and out of harm's way.

I got up and crawled over to retrieve my own snowboard. Kenzie approached our Good Samaritan to take hers, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek in thanks. The guy's face turned almost purple, but then that may have partially been due to cold frost.

"Well, uh, be safe out there," he offered.

"Thank you, sir," Kenzie chirped cutely.

His face fell a bit at the 'sir', but shaking his head, he fixed his goggles and started back down the hill.

Snapping myself back into my snowboard, I sideslipped my way down to Kenzie. "Well, apart from that last crash, you were doing really well!"

"Thanks to your advice about me dragging my right foot instead of whipping it around."

"Nah, it was just a simple fix. I'm sure you woulda-MMPH!"

Not yet in her bindings, Kenzie flung her arms around my neck and pulled me to her for a fierce kiss. I barely kept my balance atop my board.

Standing upright and off to the side, we stood there kissing for a good long while. My ears picked up the sounds of skier after skier zipping down the mountain past us, but nobody stopped to interrupt us. At least, nobody interrupted us at first.

Then came the sound of a snowboarder sliding to a stop less than ten feet away from us. I paid them no mind, lost in the delirium of our kiss. But the snowboarder began in a sing-song voice, "Ben and Kenzie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G..."

Breaking the liplock, I turned to face the singer and groaned when I saw my little sister Brooke standing on her board just in front of us, arms folded across her chest and an evil grin on her face.

"Seriously, you are NOT twelve anymore!" I groaned.

"But I'll always be your 'little one'," Brooke teased, giving me a little wave as she took off down the mountain, following after Andrew and DJ.

I turned back to face Kenzie, a sheepish smile on my face. "Kids..."

Things progressed even faster than I could have imagined. Our two groups had only come together a few hours earlier, but by lunchtime it was already clear that budding romance was in the air.

Brandi and Jared were practically inseparable. Neither one had forgotten their one-night fling New Year's Eve four years ago, and both had looked back on that encounter with quite a bit of nostalgic fondness, wondering what could have been had their circumstances been different. Brandi would later confess to me that she'd often thought about that night over the last few years, wondering if she should ever try to get in contact with him again. After all, she'd never deleted Jared's phone number. But she'd always been too chicken to try, convinced that he thought of her as nothing more than a New Year's Eve conquest, never to be given a second thought.

Jared, on the other hand, eventually told Brandi that he'd thought of her quite a bit himself, and had similarly gone back and forth over whether or not to ever try calling her. But he knew she'd been coming off a bad breakup, and she'd been filled with such melancholy that night that he convinced himself she'd just used him for one-time therapeutic relief. After all, she'd flat out told him they could only have the one night and to not expect things to go anywhere after that. He'd taken her at her word and decided the proper course of action would be to leave her alone and let her get over her ex. So he'd never called, and she'd never called, and they'd faded into each other's memory as a cherished opportunity that got away.

Not anymore. Today was a second chance, and to find that they both lived in the same city only minutes away from each other on top of the happenstance of Kenzie's familial relationship to Dawn's Nick, and Jared wound up telling her, "There is a very fine line between coincidence ... and fate."

Miguel immediately guffawed, clapped Jared on the back, and said, "Dude, that's a line from The Mummy Returns."

Jared grinned. "Doesn't make it any less true."

Of all of us, Brandi was perhaps the most cynical when it came to things like Destiny and Fate. But for today at least, she wanted to believe.

Meanwhile, Kenzie and I were flirting up a storm. Neither of us could confess to losing any sleep over that fateful New Year's Eve night. As fun as she'd been during the party, I'd been far more concerned with Brandi. And though Kenzie had never forgotten the guy who got her off in twenty seconds flat without even removing her clothes while remaining a dedicated younger brother waiting at the bottom of the stairs, she hadn't looked back with any heartfelt longing over me, either.

At least she'd remembered the guy who got her off in twenty seconds flat without even removing her clothes, and apparently that was what she'd thought of immediately upon recognizing me this morning. My presence was her opportunity to finally find out what she'd missed out on, and after four years of delayed gratification, she seemed quite excited about the possibilities.

Kenzie was quite shameless with the PDA, kissing me once quite affectionately at the lunch table, and when I didn't recoil or get embarrassed in front of my friends and family, she took that as a green light to continue kissing me whenever she got the urge, which was pretty often. I wouldn't go so far as to claim we were a confirmed couple the way Brandi and Jared already seemed to be, even though they had not yet gotten back to the kissing stage. Kenzie and I were falling in lust, not falling in love. I was in no emotional state to handle anything remotely serious after what had just happened with Adrienne and Sasha. Still, it seemed readily apparent that Kenzie was only too willing to fuck my brains out the very first chance she got, and it was just as readily apparent that I was quite willing to let her.

Much more subtle, and perhaps a little less expected, was the chemistry developing between Dawn, Nick, and Deedee. The comfortability with them she'd shown me last night at their condo was back on display, in fits and starts. Sometimes she'd seem to lose herself in the moment and find herself back in the old three-way relationship they'd shared at Morris Camp. Her face would brighten and she'd laugh without restraint, obviously happy to be in their company. But then a minute later she'd glance around and remember she was with everyone else as well: Dayna, DJ, Brooke, and especially me. She'd look over at me, catch my eye, and then all of sudden get nervously awkward. She'd inch herself a little further away from Nick as if worried her proximity to him might upset me.

I tried to give her significant looks, to communicate with my eyes that I was just fine with her being with them. She seemed to get the message, reintegrating herself with them and eventually losing herself in the moment once again. But those periods of contentment would only last for so long before she got weirded out again and backed away.

Meanwhile, DJ seemed to have accepted that I'd be quite distracted during this little vacation, and rather than try to compete with Kenzie for my attention, she stuck to Brooke and Andrew like glue. You could almost say she was ignoring me. She flirted with Andrew nearly as much as Brooke did, appeared to be content with the situation, and although I'd felt a little guilty for not paying her much attention on this trip so far, that guilt started to melt away.

Unfortunately, that left Dayna as the odd girl out: unlucky number 13. Paloma and Miguel were coupled up, as were Brandi and Jared, and Kenzie and I. Dawn-Nick-Deedee and Brooke-Andrew-DJ were in their trios. And poor Dayna was on the outside looking in. For the most part, she hung around Jared and her best friend Brandi, but they were so into making goo-goo eyes at each other that she was virtually ignored. She tried to make small talk with Miguel and Paloma, but Paloma either had a jealous streak or perhaps felt insecure around the gorgeous, busty blonde bombshell (maybe both), so Dayna wasn't making much headway there. And she didn't seem inclined to bother the rest of us.

So when we all finished lunch and prepared to head out for our afternoon runs, I called over to Dayna and invited, "Hey, want to come riding with us?"

Eyes wide in surprise, Dayna glanced past my shoulder at Kenzie and immediately shook her head. "Oh, I couldn't possibly intrude."

DJ quickly whistled, grabbing Dayna's attention. "Hey Sis. Why don't you come ride with me?"

Dayna instantly brightened, nodding and calling across to her baby sister, "Sounds great! Thanks!"

I frowned and offered, "Really, I wouldn't mind. Whatever else happened between us, we both still promised we'd always be there for each other."

"And I appreciate you trying to be there for me," she said warmly, stepping in to give me a hug. Then, whispering into my ear, she added, "But you're obviously having a good time, and the last thing I'd ever do is cockblock you."

I chuckled and backed off. "You wouldn't be--"

"Later," she cut me off. "There will be a time for us later. In the meantime, enjoy today."

With that, Dayna walked over to DJ, Brooke, and Andrew. Three seconds later, Kenzie looped her arm through mine, pecked my cheek, and chirped excitedly, "Ready to go?"

I grinned and patted her arm. "Absolutely."

"Wowww..." Kenzie breathed as she walked into our rented "cabin". Her pretty blue eyes were open wide, and so was her mouth for that matter. I watched her head turn left and right as she scanned the open floorplan and through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side to the picturesque view of the lake beyond. "This place is beautiful. How much did it cost to rent?"

"I don't know, actually," I replied with a sigh. "Adrienne set it all up."

Kenzie's beatific expression immediately vanished, and she gave me a pensive look as she turned back to face me. "Adrienne ... riiight ... Is that ... Is she ... uh ... your girlfriend?"

"It's not like that," I said quickly, stepping up to Kenzie and sliding my hands around her waist. She let me wrap my arms around her to tug her body against my chest, but she didn't hug me back and continued to give me that pensive look.

"Then what's it like?"

"It's complicated."

"I'll say it must be complicated," Deedee put in. She, Nick, Dawn, Brooke, Andrew, and DJ had followed us into the house. Jared and the others had gone to the store to buy steaks and other supplies for dinner. "Last I checked, you and Adrienne weren't just boyfriend/girlfriend. She IS running around wearing an engagement ring, isn't she?"

"Waitaminute," Kenzie muttered in surprise. "You KNOW his girlfriend?"

Deedee shrugged. "Everyone knows his girlfriend. She's like one of the most famous supermodels in the world."

"What?"

Deedee chuckled. "You didn't know?"

I watched the lights zipping by behind Kenzie's eyes, as if her computer brain was calculating this new information. But then all of a sudden the lights stopped zipping and her jaw dropped as she looked at me. "Wait ... this 'Adrienne' ... your girlfriend ... your fiancée ... is Adrienne Dennis?"

I shrugged. "The one and only."

"You're THAT Ben?!? The one from the sex tape?"

I shrugged again, this time with a blush. "Uh, yeah ... That's me."

Kenzie withdrew a little, and I had to tighten my grip to keep her with me. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea," she muttered and tried to back away again. "I couldn't possibly compete with--"

"Hey, hey ... This isn't a competition," I urged. "Please understand."

"Understand what?"

I took a deep breath, raised both eyebrows, and looked Kenzie right in the eyes. "Adrienne and I broke up."

Kenzie blinked twice, furrowed her eyebrows, and gave me a confused look. "What? When?"

I sighed. "Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" Kenzie frowned. "As in... Tuesday?"

"As in four days ago, yes. Quite frankly, she's in Hawaii with her best friend this very minute. That's why she didn't come along on this trip."

"Ohmigosh. I'm so sorry."

I waved her off dismissively. "It's fine, actually. It was a mutual decision, and very amicable. Our relationship has been off and on quite a few times already. We're still great friends, and she'll still be a very big part of my life going forward. But for now we're not, quote, 'together' anymore."

Deedee frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, with Nick right behind her. She shot a look at Dawn and complained, "You didn't tell us that. You let us think Ben and Adrienne were still a couple."

Dawn shrugged. "We want the whole world to think Ben and Adrienne are still a couple. That's kind of the point."

"Why?"

"She's a famous supermodel. The tabloids LIVE on this kind of breakup scandal stuff," Dawn explained. "Better to keep the breakup on the down low, let her keep wearing her engagement ring, and people will more or less leave her alone. At least, they won't hound her any more than they already do."

"But for how long?" Deedee shook her head. "The breakup will have to come out eventually. What happens when they don't get married? Or are they gonna have a fake marriage, too?"

"We don't know yet. Eventually, sure, it'll have to come out – especially if I ultimately start a new relationship," I added while squeezing Kenzie a little tighter. "Maintaining the public engagement was something -I- offered for Adrienne's sake. But bottom line: I don't actually have a girlfriend. And I'm assuming that you don't have a boyfriend either, right?"

Kenzie smiled. "Free and clear." And she leaned in to wrap her arms around my neck and kiss me.

"I've got a question, Kenzie," Deedee put in, stepping toward us. "I realize that you and I don't talk all that much with each other, but I thought Nick told you the whole story about Dawn and her Ben."

Kenzie shrugged, but kept her arms around my neck. "Yeah, he did."

"But he never mentioned Adrienne?"

Kenzie shook her head in the negative. "The story pretty much ended with Dawn breaking Nick's heart to go back to 'Ben', but I didn't know Dawn's Ben was the same as Big Bear Ben, or the same as Adrienne Dennis' Ben. As far as I knew, they were three different people."

"But you HAVE seen the sex tape."

"Sure. Everybody has."

Deedee frowned. "Then how come you didn't at least know sex-tape 'Ben' was the same guy from Big Bear? You didn't recognize him?"

Kenzie gave me an apologetic look. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't really remember your face from four years ago, so I never made that connection. It's kind of a common name, you know. It was only when Jared recognized Brandi and started gushing about how it had been four years since he'd seen her that I even took a hard look at you."

I mock pouted. "Was I really so forgettable?"

She grinned salaciously. "Oh, I totally remembered you. It's just that I remembered the orgasm more than the face."

I arched an eyebrow and teased, "Well then perhaps giving you another one might jog your memory."

Kenzie's eyes popped open wide. "What, now?"

I'd meant to make a joke, and she looked surprised enough that I immediately worried I'd pushed the situation too fast. After all, we were near strangers and despite her obvious interest in me, she'd never come out and actually said she'd sleep with me or anything. "Sorry, sorry," I apologized, releasing my grip around her waist. "I didn't mean to presume anything."

But Kenzie flowed back into my arms and tightened her grip around my neck. "Presume all you want," she murmured in a husky voice from only an inch away, her pretty blue eyes shining. "I've been waiting four years to find out what I missed out on that New Year's Eve night, and I don't intend to miss out again."

Despite Kenzie's invitation to presume all I wanted, I didn't drag her off to my bedroom right away or anything. I preferred to let the night build, to continue getting to know her better, and to let our passion for each other grow. Besides, I didn't want the others to arrive with dinner supplies only to find me and Kenzie already holed up in a bedroom making a racket. In the meantime, the flirtatious anticipation was a helluva lot of fun.

Apart from the stop to get steaks and dinner supplies, we'd all come from the ski resort straight to the rental house, so none of our guests had swimsuits or a change of clothes. It wasn't going to be a hot tub night, but we were plenty comfortable staying inside to socialize.

The kitchen conveniently had a grill built into the range, so I didn't have to go out into the cold to grill the steaks. And I didn't have to spend the entire time there, since Jared and Miguel also took turns taking care of the meat. The three of us spent ten minutes or so chatting about grill techniques and the ideal steak. Dawn, Brandi, and Brooke also spent time in and out of the kitchen prepping side dishes as well.

Rather than make everyone wait until all the food was done, we ended up calling out when certain steaks had finished and let folks come fill their plates one-by-one before returning to their conversations. Miguel, Paloma, Jared, Brandi, Brooke, and Andrew were the only ones to actually end up at the dining table. The rest of us assembled around the coffee table and couches in front of the big fireplace, and since I waited to make sure everyone was fed first, I was the very last one to join them.

Kenzie had saved me a spot on the loveseat, while Nick, Deedee, and Dawn were seated in that order on the long couch to my immediate left. Dayna and DJ were in the two armchairs, and multiple conversations were already underway.

Interestingly enough, I found myself chatting mostly with Nick. Perhaps it was mere proximity, but after spending the whole day around each other we'd both loosened up considerably. We talked about his job, my job, about how much things had changed in SoCal since I'd left, and about how much was still the same. Deedee joined in on the SoCal discussion, and also apologized for asking so many questions about Adrienne last night when I must have still been getting over the breakup. But I assured her it was fine, that Adrienne and I were still fine, and that it was no big deal.

Meanwhile, Dayna had pulled her chair around and was chatting with Kenzie. They seemed to have a little more in common, both of them older than me, which led to Dayna riffing the redhead a bit about robbing the cradle. I knew that Jared, Miguel, and Kenzie had all graduated together from USC and were three years ahead of me academically, which meant that Kenzie was probably 26, although I wouldn't be so crude as to ask for her actual age.

After dinner, we started to spread out a little more. Brandi and Jared wound up outside on the padded porch swing. The sun had set long ago, so there wasn't much of a view of the lake to speak of, but they only had eyes for each other anyway as they cuddled together beneath a thick blanket and chatted the night away. One time, when I glanced outside on my way back from the kitchen with fresh drinks in hand, I saw them kissing sweetly. I smiled, truly happy for my big sister, and quickly continued on my way, leaving them undisturbed.

Paloma and Miguel remained at the dining table, although it seemed more that Paloma was hesitant to socialize with anyone else, rather than the couple seeking any solitude together. When I asked Kenzie about them, she said that the pair had only recently started dating, and Miguel's new girlfriend was still a little shy even around Miguel's friends, let alone around an entirely new group of people in an unfamiliar rental house.

Brooke and Andrew cuddled together to one side of the bench seat built into the base of the bay window. Andrew sat up with his back to the wall, his legs parted so that Brooke could sit between them and lean back against his chest. When I looked over, she had the fingers of both hands intertwined with his, almost absentmindedly kissing his palms and knuckles while they murmured softly to each other. He lay his cheek against the back of her head, closed his eyes, and his face took on an expression of such incredible bliss that for the first time in my life, I could actually imagine Brooke getting married before me.

Sure, Brooke had long predicted that she'd get married before me, but was I really supposed to believe my teenaged sister could actually see the future?

Sure, I'd never forgotten that she'd first met and had an innocent summer fling at Morris Camp with young Andrew Hemingway back when she was only fifteen and he was sixteen. They'd briefly carried out a long-distance relationship for a few months her freshman year of college, and there was a cosmic destiny kind of specialness to their relationship having found each other again after all this time. But still, they'd only gotten together this academic year when Andrew came down to Berkeley to look for a job and take a chance on being with her a little more than three months ago. It was way too soon for them to be thinking about marriage, let alone ME be thinking about their marriage, and yet the expressions of absolute contentment on both their faces were strong enough to make me believe such an outcome was not only possible, but perhaps even probable.

For some reason, I found myself getting a little misty-eyed without fully understanding why. I was back to sitting with everyone else around the coffee table in front of the fireplace. Not wanting to have a breakdown in front of company, I got up, grabbed my mostly-empty glass, and announced that I was going to mix up a refill. I asked if anyone else wanted something, and Kenzie gave me her glass to have whatever I was having. I smiled, nodded, and made my escape, confident I'd gotten away without anyone noticing the little hiccup in my mood. I went to the kitchen, mixed up two fresh cocktails for me and Kenzie, and took the time to gather my emotions.

But the window by the kitchen sink looked out onto the back deck, and I once again had a view of Brandi and Jared canoodling outside. The blanket hid most everything from view, but the porch lights and house illumination pouring through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows made it easy enough to see that they were making out quite passionately, enough to make the porch swing sway back and forth.

I thought about Jared's corny line about coincidence and fate, which reminded me of Brooke and Andrew's little reunion with destiny. I thought about how quickly Brandi and Jared had clicked, how even if perhaps it had not been love at first sight four years ago, it definitely looked very much like love at second sight today. I thought about my belief in the possibility – in the probability – that Brooke and Andrew might soon find themselves on their way to the altar. And as I looked out the window again at Brandi and Jared, I wondered if they too might wind up beating me down the aisle.

For the longest time, it seemed like everyone around me assumed I'd be the first one in our family to get married. I'd assumed it too. Everyone had also assumed my wife would be Dawn, but even when that relationship fell apart, I still seemed to be the most likely candidate to get married before anyone else.

I looked back into the living room, to where DJ was chatting animatedly with the others. She looked both beautiful and happy, content with where she was in life despite everything that had happened to us in the past. I wondered how much she thought about our abortion, about our aborted engagement. And thinking about that made me start thinking about my most recent failed engagement.

I wondered what Adrienne was doing right now. She was on two-hour time delay from us, so perhaps she and Sasha were just now sitting down to dinner. I wondered what she'd make of me telling outsiders the truth about our breakup. I wondered if she was happy, if she felt free to no longer be shackled to me, or if she felt guilty for breaking off our engagement. I wondered if she still felt some bit of obligation to be with me as repayment for my family taking her in, or for the promise she'd made to Mom to never leave me again. And I wondered what might possibly happen if her romance with Sasha ultimately didn't work out, and if she'd then see ME as her fallback option or perhaps even decide once more that she wanted to become my partner in life.

"Hey, you okay?"

I blinked and came back from my thousand-yard stare out the kitchen window. Glancing to my right, I found Dawn using the various bottles of alcohol, juice, and soda in front of her to mix up a trio of fresh drinks on the counter beside me. Although she'd asked me a question, her tone had been even and her attention was on the cocktails in front of her.

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine."

She chuckled, replying, "I've never liked this word 'fine'. It always seems like a word to cover up all manner of resentments." Only then did she glance up at me with a mirthful grin.

I sighed, deciding to not try and maintain any sort of façade with my best friend, and instead explained, "I was thinking."

"That much was obvious. What about?" She glanced out the window, adding, "Brandi and Jared?"

"Brandi and Jared, Brooke and Andrew..." I exhaled slowly. "Adrienne and Sasha ... DJ ... You."

"Me?"

I shrugged. "You AND me, actually. About the relationship we used to have."

Dawn frowned. "We've talked about you and me being better as best friends now."

"I know, I know."

"There's that phrase again."

"Relax." I shook my head. "I'm not thinking of getting back together with you."

"But you ARE thinking about relationships."

"I was thinking about how happy Brandi looks, happier than I've seen her in a long, long time. I was thinking about how happy Brooke looks, how I never really expected Andrew Hemingway to come back into her life like this."

"I don't think any of us expected Andrew Hemingway to come back into her life like this, least of all Brooke."

"Blasts from the past, for both of them."

"Kinda like you and Kenzie," Dawn pointed out. "She's as much a blast from your past as Jared is to Brandi."

I shook my head. "Brandi and Jared are different. They met each other at the resort, and she made enough of an impression on him from across the room that he spent more than an hour the next day hanging out in the cafeteria hoping she might show up. Then when he saw her again the day after that, he immediately came over, introduced himself, got her number, and invited her to the party. They obviously clicked at the party, and became this special memory they both regretted not following up on. And now, four years later, they get a second chance. C'mon, this is the stuff movies are made of. But Kenzie and me? We were a random hookup that never happened. We spent a couple of hours together and never even got each other's clothes off. We're a footnote to Brandi and Jared's story, not some quirk of destiny of our own."

Dawn furrowed her eyebrows. "That your long-winded way of saying you're not really into her like that?"

I nodded my head out the window to Brandi and Jarod, muttering, "Not like that." I sighed and glanced out from the kitchen. Fortunately, the place was big enough and had an open enough floorplan that we were relatively isolated out of earshot from any of the others, and would be able to see if anybody else approached us.

"Look, she's attractive, I'm attracted, and yeah, we're probably gonna hook up tonight," I began. "She lives locally to us, and one of her roommates is about to become my sister's boyfriend, so maybe if things go well we might even continue to see each other after the end of this trip. But let's be real: as nice and as pretty and as willing Kenzie is, she's not Adrienne, she's not DJ, she's not ... she's not you. I've loved too strongly, I've poured every ounce of my heart into these relationships that I pinned all my hopes and dreams on ... relationships that ultimately didn't work out the way I'd hoped. I've come to the point where I can't settle for just anyone. I've come to the point where ... honestly ... I can't imagine marrying anyone other than the three of you. And yet all three of you have already told me 'no'. So I'm completely screwed."

Dawn frowned. "Seriously? Just the three of us?"

Dawn, DJ, Adrienne ... Maybe Amber if she wasn't already married, but ... Yup, sounds about right.

"I got engaged to both Adrienne and DJ, and I got as far as asking your parents' permission to propose to you." I sighed. "The three of you have been the most important relationships of my life. How could I possibly settle down with anyone less? How could settling for anyone else possibly be anything other than... settling? I like Kenzie, I think she's a nice person and she's sexy as hell. And it's totally not her fault, but how could a relationship with her possibly measure up to the relationships I've already been through?"

"It's totally not her fault, and it's totally not fair for you to compare her like that."

"I know it's not fair, but that doesn't make it any less true."

"What's true is that it's impossible for ANY new girl you meet to immediately measure up to a relationship from the past. You don't know for certain what the future holds. You can't possibly know right now what you and Kenzie could become with enough time and effort. You're still young, you've got plenty of time, and you could at least give her a chance. And even if not her, perhaps somebody else."

"I'm not sure if I can. I've been to the brink of marriage. I've come SO close to that Happily Ever After that I can't even imagine starting all over again from scratch. I'm not in high school anymore, or even in college. I realize I'm only twenty-three but sometimes I feel like I'm already middle-aged when it comes to romances and failed relationships. I'm sitting here, staring out the window, wondering if both Brooke and Brandi are going to get married before I do. I wonder if I'm even cut out for casual dating anymore, or if I'm incapable of NOT evaluating a new girl for her future 'wife' potential starting on Day One."

"First of all, marriage itself is no guarantee of Happily Ever After. You may be a hopeless romantic, but you're not that stupid. As for being gun shy about starting over again from scratch, that's to be expected. You ended your engagement to Adrienne four days ago. You're hurt, and you're in no emotional shape to start something serious with anyone. So let's not worry right now about your next 'relationship'. Kenzie's not looking for a serious relationship – she's here for casual sex, and you can handle 'casual sex', right? Enjoy it for what it is. Nobody is asking you to marry the girl tomorrow. Nobody is comparing your relationship status to Brooke's or Brandi's except for YOU. This isn't a race to get married and settle down. True Happiness doesn't automatically go to whoever gets hitched first."

"I know, I know."

"You're using that phrase again."

"Look, I get it. I know I'm overthinking this and getting myself all stressed out over something that can't be helped. Up until ten minutes ago I was doing just fine, not thinking too hard about the future, not thinking too hard about Adrienne or our broken engagement. I just saw Brooke and Andrew cuddling by the window, and then I saw Brandi and Jared necking outside on the deck, and everything just kinda snowballed from there."

Dawn slipped alongside me and wrapped her left arm around my lower back while wrapping her right arm up across my chest. She nuzzled my shoulder with her nose a bit, then kissed it and looked up at me with her big blue eyes. "I know things have been rough for you lately, but you WILL get through it. You're not gonna get over Adrienne overnight, but you will get through it. Tonight is just the start. Why don't you let tonight be about tonight, and not worry about what tomorrow will bring? There's a beautiful young woman out there who'd very much like to find out what the Big Ben Experience is all about, and I know for a fact that you'd considerably enjoy that sort of thing yourself."

I sighed and glanced out toward the living room. "I feel bad, though, like I'm just using her for sex."

Dawn snorted. "You kidding me? SHE'S using YOU for sex. And here's what you need to get through that thick skull of yours: There's nothing wrong with that."

"I know, I know."

Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I DO know," I repeated a little more firmly. "What's past is past, and nothing I do is going to change that. All I have left is enjoying the moment, and having hope for the future. Even if things don't work out for me to come full circle and build a new romantic relationship with Adrienne ... or DJ ... or you ... I have to believe that there's someone else out there for me with whom I can eventually find True Happiness."

Dawn frowned and gave me a disappointed look, as if I hadn't been listening to her at all.

I chuckled and added, "But in the meantime, I have to accept that it's okay to just date someone, to have something casual, and not place the burden of any greater expectations on her to become something permanent."

"Better." She patted my chest, took a deep breath, and gave me a wistful sigh. "You're only twenty-three. I'm only twenty-three. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of 23-year-olds haven't found their life partners yet, and there's no pressure on us to be any different. We've got time. We'll have opportunities to find True Love. And even though Brooke and Brandi happened to reunite with people from their pasts, that doesn't mean that WE have to. I know we've both liked to fantasize about soulmates and Destiny, but more likely than not, we haven't even MET our future spouses yet. That's just the way the world works."

I sighed. "I know, I know."

Dawn smirked and shook her head, a funny expression crossing her face. "I know that after everything I've said, I probably shouldn't be suggesting this, but I'll tell you what: If it'll make you feel any better, I'll make a pact with you so we can both feel more security about the future. It'll be a safety net of sorts."

I turned away from the sink so that Dawn and I were now hugging each other chest to chest, instead of having her on my right side. "A safety net?" I queried, not understanding.

She smiled up at me and hugged me a little tighter. "If you and I both haven't found our future spouses by the time we're 30, I'll marry you."

I blinked twice and looked down at her in shock. "Wait, what?"

Dawn grinned. "C'mon, opposite sex best friends make these pacts all the time, if the movies are to be believed. I still hope it doesn't come down to this, because I still think you and I will be far better as best friends than as a married couple, but ... well ... security and a safety net for the future. Isn't that what you were worried about with that whole bit about me, DJ, and Adrienne all turning you down? That you'd never find anyone else to measure up to us? Well now you have the chance to find out, to spend the next seven years looking for your Mrs. Right. And if you don't, if we both don't, then at least you and I will be together for the rest of our lives."

"You really mean that?"

"Of course I do."

"I mean, you're serious about this pact? It's not just some impulsive idea that randomly popped into your head, something you'll forget about by tomorrow?"

"Of course it's an impulsive idea that just popped into my head, but I'm not going to forget about it by tomorrow. I'm serious: if we're both still single on my thirtieth birthday, I'll marry you."

"How can you say that? After everything we've been through and your constant insistence that you and I are better off as best friends?"

She shrugged. "Because we ARE best friends, and because I already know I'll love you forever. We're young and we've got time to find other people, but if things don't work out that way, I know I could be happy with you as my husband, too."

I gave her a hopeful look. "Well if that's the way you really feel, why can't we skip the whole 'waiting until we're thirty' thing and just get married now?"

Dawn rolled her eyes and glared at me, shaking her head ruefully. "Because I'm not as jaded as you about failed relationships. Because I don't yet feel middle-aged when it comes to romances. I'm sorry, but marrying you when we turn thirty would be accepting defeat about finding someone else. It would be 'settling' for each other, for the sure thing, the safe bet, instead of holding out hope for something better."

I frowned. "So you believe there's someone better out there for you than me?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. I've got seven years to find out, and so do you."

I sighed. "You know, I got all excited when you said you'd marry me when we turned thirty, but now you've got me thinking the whole idea is kind of depressing."

"Then don't settle for just waiting around for me. Don't assume I'll just twiddle my thumbs and wait around for you. Things haven't worked out so far in your relationships, but that doesn't mean your life is over. Pick up those drinks you mixed ten minutes ago. Take them out to that smokin' hot redhead who really wants to crawl inside your pants. Enjoy yourself tonight, and let tomorrow happen... tomorrow."

"Everything alright?" Kenzie asked curiously as I took my spot on the loveseat beside her and handed over her drink. Meanwhile, Dawn settled down at the far side of the long couch and likewise handed over Deedee's and Nick's drinks.

"Yeah, we just had some things to talk about," I explained, glancing at Dawn before returning my attention to Kenzie. Smiling, I held up my glass toward hers to clink in cheers. "It's all good."

Looking somewhat relieved, Kenzie smiled and clinked her glass against mine. We each took a sip, and she looked so unbearably cute that I couldn't help but lean over and peck her cheek. She giggled, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and we snuggled up against each other while I asked what Dawn and I had missed.

Dayna explained that she'd been telling them a story about my freshman year at Cal when Dawn, Adrienne, Brandi, Dayna, and I were all roommates and about this innocent-looking Catholic schoolgirl who'd gotten mixed up with the wrong guys on the street when I'd come running to the rescue. She started to pick up where she'd left off, but that was as far as she got in the narrative before Brandi and Jared came back inside, along with Paloma and Miguel.

"Hey guys," Jared began with almost a nervous smile as he glanced at Brandi, who was still wrapped around his left arm. "We wanted to thank you for having us over, but it's starting to get late and we were thinking we should head back to our place."

I sat up straight, furrowed my eyebrows, and gave Brandi a look. She seemed to be expecting it, because she gave me a sort of sheepish smile and clutched Jared's arm even tighter. It was obvious that she intended to go with him.

"Yeah, okay, thanks for coming over," I replied to Jared before glancing over at my sister. "Uh, Brandi ... maybe you'd like to pack a bag?"

"Oh, right. That's a good idea," my older sister said before letting go of Jared's arm and heading for the hallway to the bedrooms.

Meanwhile, I glanced back at Kenzie, an unspoken question on my lips, but she answered it anyway by wrapping herself around my arm in a manner not unlike the way Brandi had been doing with Jared a moment ago. I smiled and leaned over to peck her on the lips.

Miguel stepped forward. "So looks like that's settled. Nick, Deedee?"

"Oh, right," Deedee chirped, as if it hadn't occurred to her before that Jared's SUV was their ride. But then she glanced over at Dawn beside her, patting my best friend's leg while asking Jared, "Do you think we can fit seven in your car?"

I immediately looked over at Dawn, who blushed and glanced down at her lap. But after taking a deep breath and pursing her lips, she looked up and stared at me questioningly, still not entirely sure if I'd be okay with this. It was pretty obvious that sex was on everyone's mind.

But I chuckled and immediately waved my best friend on, absolutely no hesitation. "You should probably go pack a bag, too," I added.

"Uh, yeah, there are seven seatbelts," Jared explained. "But whoever's in the third row will have a very tight squeeze."

Miguel popped his eyebrows at Jared. "We might all fit in your car, but it's going to be a tight squeeze in the condo, period. You remember that there're only two bedrooms, right? And you were sleeping on a sofabed in the living room last night."

"Oh, uhhh..." Jared looked at his best friend nervously, hoping one of them could figure out something fast before Brandi came back out.

Dayna volunteered, "You know, we've got a lot of extra space here. As long as the rest of you don't mind some of our guests crashing here for the night." She looked at me and then DJ. Brooke and Andrew had just gotten up from the bench seat and started coming over as well.

I nodded and shrugged. "It's fine with me as long as it's fine with you." I turned my attention to Nick and Deedee.

Deedee stared at Dawn and rubbed her leg while answering, "We'd love to stay here."

Nick cleared his throat. "Um, I'm the designated driver. I can't stay here."

I thought about that and suggested, "Well, the two of you and Kenzie will probably want to pack your bags as well. Nick can drive Jared's SUV, and I can drive the minivan to bring the three of you back here."

"Not you," Dayna interjected. "You've been drinking."

I held up my hands. "Everybody's been drinking. Well, except Nick."

"I only had a couple of drinks with dinner, but that was hours ago." Brooke volunteered, "I can drive the minivan there and back."

I made a face. "I don't think I like the idea of you driving my van this late at night on potentially icy roads. Have you ever driven something that big before, even on normal, big suburban streets?"

"ReLAX," my little sister drawled. "I can handle it. And if it'll make you feel better, Andrew can ride shotgun to make sure we all stay safe."

"Actually, I haven't had anything to drink since dinner either, and I've driven my family's minivan lots of times," Andrew volunteered. "I'm also used to driving through the snow up in Oregon. I realize it's not my car, and that you'd probably feel more comfortable giving your keys to a family member, but--"

"Sold!" I got up, went over to the foyer table where I'd left my car keys, and tossed them to him. "Andrew does the driving."

Brooke folded her arms across her chest and glared at me.

"What? He's got better credentials than you. You can still go with him if you want. But..." I raised my index finger and waggled it at my little sister, "No conning him into letting you drive instead. I mean it. There will be three other witnesses in the car who can tell me if you do. Nick, Deedee, Kenzie: I'm holding you three accountable."

Brooke rolled her eyes and glared at the far wall.

"Looks like everything's settled then," Deedee said cheerily. Without a second thought, she leaned over and pecked Dawn on the lips. "See you later, sweetie."

Dawn smiled and blushed. That seemed to have been the first time she and Deedee kissed in quite a while. Meanwhile, Nick and Deedee stood up from the couch.

Kenzie wrapped her arms around my neck and also gave me a kiss, but this one was way more than a mere peck. When she finally broke for air, she kept her eyes closed and sighed while pressing her forehead against mine. "I'm quite tempted to not bother going back to the condo to pack an overnight bag, and instead drag you into a bedroom straight away. But as much as I'd enjoy that now, I'd probably regret it in the morning."

"You've already waited four years for this. Another twenty, thirty minutes isn't such a big deal."

"It'll make the anticipation even better," she giggled.

"That's the right attitude."

She kissed me again, just as firmly but not nearly as long. "I'll see you soon," she promised, and then got up to join the others.

Brandi came out just then with her roller suitcase. She looked a little out of breath after hurriedly packing her things as if her whole magical day would somehow turn into a pumpkin if she delayed. I went straight to her and opened my arms for a hug. She gave it to me, holding me close, and murmured in my ear, "You can't wait for me at the bottom of the stairs this time."

I smiled and rubbed her back. "No need. I know you're in good hands."

"I love you, little brother."

"I love you, too. Have fun tonight."

Brandi quivered excitedly as she released the hug. "You too." She glanced over at Kenzie for a moment before smiling back at me.

Two minutes later, Dawn and I stood in the open garage waving goodbye to everyone, since both my van and Jared's SUV had been parked inside. Andrew was the last to back out, and Brooke reached over to hit the remote to close the roll-up garage door. We stayed there and watched it come all the way down, landing on the concrete floor with finality and leaving Dawn and me all alone.

Dawn suddenly snaked her arms around my back, yanking me to her body. Her mouth mashed up against mine, and she moaned in ecstatic heat while searing my lips with a kiss every bit as volcanic as she'd ever given me. She literally took my breath away, and when she finally let go of me and settled back down on her heels, I was panting so hard I couldn't say a thing.

She was panting pretty hard too, but she at least managed to mutter, "I love you so much, Ben."

I grinned and nodded. "I love you, too."

As it turned out, the three Evans sisters and I were the only ones left in the house. Brandi, Jared, Paloma, and Miguel would stay the night at their condo, and Brooke, Andrew, Kenzie, Nick, and Deedee were making the run to pick up bags. Dawn and I re-entered the house, with Dawn wrapped around my arm much in the same way Kenzie had previously been, and we found Dayna and DJ emerging from their bedrooms with packed suitcases in hand, apparently going in opposite directions.

At my questioning look, DJ stopped and explained, "We did the math and figured some musical bedrooms was in order. Dayna vacated the master so that Dawn, Nick, and Deedee will have a little more space; she's going to the room next to you. I told her I'd stay and keep her company, but she insisted that I go ahead and join Brooke and Andrew again."

I frowned at Dayna. "But that'll leave you alone."

"That's what -I- said," DJ remarked.

"It's fine," Dayna insisted. "It's just one night."

Dawn and I shared a look. I thought about the situation and said, "It'll probably take them at least half an hour to drive over, pack up, and drive back. Maybe even longer if Andrew drives slowly and carefully in an unfamiliar van."

"I know -I- wouldn't want to wreck my girlfriend's older brother's car," Dawn commented.

I smiled and returned my attention to Dayna. "We've got time for a quickie before they get back."

Dayna snorted. "What, you think Kenzie wants to taste my pussy on your dick the first time she goes down on you?"

I chuckled. "Well actually, it's been a long, sweaty day of snowboarding and all that. I was thinking to take a shower before she gets back, so we could bang out a nice orgasm for you in the shower and I'll still be fresh and odorless afterward."

"Ooh, I'll do it if you don't want to," DJ chimed in.

Dayna gave me a strange look and shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but it's not necessary."

"I'm just trying to make sure you're taken care of. DJ's got Brooke and Andrew, but ... I just don't want you feeling left out."

"I appreciate that, but you really don't have to feel responsible for me. We're not ... I'm not your ... anymore ... You don't owe me anything. Really, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, if you know what I mean. It's just one night, and I think it's only fair to Kenzie that you be ... unspoiled ... when she gets back. She's a nice girl, and she deserves to get all the bullets you've got in your gun." And with a final shrug, Dayna turned and headed across the house with her suitcase.

DJ gave me an almost hopeful look, but I shook my head and headed for my own room. The main entrance and expansive living room were set in the center of the long, rectangular house. The kitchen, dining room, master bedroom, and bedroom #2 were in the north wing to the left. The garage, storage, and Bedrooms #3 and #4 were in the south wing to the right. Dayna headed to the south wing to unpack in bedroom #3, Dawn also went into bedroom #3 to pack up her stuff and move it to the Master, and I went into bedroom #4 to change out of my clothes and shower.

I had just gotten the shower water hot and stepped into the tub when the bathroom door opened behind me. I turned around in surprise to find a naked Dawn enter and hang her towel up on the rack. "Um, hi..." I drawled, letting my eyes drop down to her bare breasts and didn't bother to yo-yo my gaze back up. I went ahead and stared at those magnificent puppies to my heart's content.

I could see Dawn's smirk in my peripheral vision as she stepped into the tub with me. A moment later, she slid her arms around my neck and drew me in for a passionate kiss every bit as volcanic as the one she'd given me in the garage.

When she pulled back, I arched an eyebrow and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I need to clean up too before Nick and Deedee get back," she explained matter-of-factly. Turning her back to me, she gave me a coy smile and asked, "Wash my hair for me?"

"I'll wash your whole body for you," I readily replied.

Dawn giggled and handed me the shampoo.

What followed was a playful, fairly routine shower for the two of us. I'd lost track of how many times Dawn and I had cleaned up together in this manner: kissing softly with plenty of tongue while lathering shampoo in her hair, using her breasts as loofahs to rub bodywash into my skin, and of course the fun of having a girl scrub my penis for me. As expected, I developed an erection. But while Dawn's next action was also both familiar and routine, I wasn't expecting it tonight.

She got down and sucked my dick into her mouth.

I groaned at the welcome but surprising sensation, my hands immediately going to her wet scalp. But after letting her suck and bob her head back and forth for a second or two, I looked down at my best friend and muttered, "Um, weren't we NOT supposed to do this?"

Popping off my prick, Dawn looked up at me while continuing to stroke my shaft with her hands. "I want to feel you in me. You can save your bullets for Kenzie. You don't even have to get me off. But I want to feel you in me, and we'll still get you cleaned up fresh and odorless before we get out."

I blinked twice in surprise, but Dawn stood up, leaned back against the wall, and raised her foot onto the level edge of the tub where it met the wall. After only a moment's hesitation, I stepped forward, squatted a bit to get myself lined up, and let her guide my cock with her hands up and into her body.

Dawn moaned as Big Ben filled her completely. Closing her eyes and biting her lower lip, she concentrated on her inner feelings while wrapping her left arm around my neck and palming my butt with her right hand to tug me into her. And once I reached full depth, I stopped there and let her soak in the sensations.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes and stared at me with blue irises large and luminous in their intensity. Panting softly in arousal, her expression declared that she'd like nothing better than to fuck my brains out, but instead she held herself still and milked me in place with her pussy muscles.

Panting shallowly myself, I tilted my head to the side and kissed her, feeling a surge of adrenaline shoot through me at the keening moan that filled her throat. But I resisted the urge to fuck her, remembering that she'd only asked to feel me inside her, and also remembering that we had a limited amount of time before the others returned.

When we broke apart to breathe, Dawn moaned, "I know you already know it, but I want to remind you how much I love you."

"I love you, too," I replied as I withdrew three or four inches and then slowly pushed my way back in.

"Mmm..." she sighed, feeling every millimeter of my stroke. "Are you REALLY sure you're okay with this?"

I chuckled and leaned in to nuzzle her nose with mine. "For the hundredth time, YES. I'm okay with it." I retracted again, and then pushed my way back inside.

"Ben ... My Ben ... Forever My Ben..." she moaned, letting her head fall back against the shower wall and closing her eyes to concentrate.

I pushed and pulled and pushed and pulled, in and out, not very fast but no longer pausing between strokes. "My Dawn ... Forever My Dawn ... I'll always love you, My Dawn..."

"My Ben ... My One and Only Ben..." she whimpered, clenching her jaw as the feeling built inside.

I knew we didn't have much time, so I didn't hold back as I raised my hands to manipulate her body: tracing her underboob, tickling her ribs, tweaking her nipples, and finally sliding my thumb down over her clit. "My Dawn, My Dawn, My Dawn..." I repeated in harmony with my strokes. "My Dawn, My Dawn, My Dawn..."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Dawn inhaled and held her breath, her lower jaw quivering and the muscles in her neck shivering. Suddenly she exhaled with a shout, her pussy spasming around my imbedded shaft as she shuddered and came, her whole body vibrating against the shower wall behind her as her legs gave out and the full burden of her weight dropped down onto my dick, practically the only thing keeping her upright.

"My Ben..." she breathed, a gasp without energy, her voice fleeting and fading away. And then she went limp in my arms.

I wasn't sure how much longer we had left, but I took my time holding her, kissing her, and nibbling on her neck in the aftermath of her orgasm. I cradled my Dawn's body and poured out my love with all my heart into my embrace. And she crooned her joy into my ear while the universe of awareness slowly came back to her.

One moment, I was holding the woman I loved in my arms. The next moment she was a flurry of activity as she dismounted my still-erect dick, grabbed the bodywash in her hands, and hurriedly scrubbed away all evidence of our activities. Less than sixty seconds later, she pecked my lips, rotated my body into the shower's spray, and hopped out onto the bathmat while ripping her towel from the rack hard enough to make the metal sing. "I love you!" she called over her shoulder to me while rapidly rubbing herself down with the towel.

"I love you, too," I replied with a chuckle, rinsing myself before shutting off the spray.

A minute later, she was gone.

After toweling off, I exited the bathroom and walked the short distance down the hallway to my bedroom. I got dressed, fixed my hair, and was the first one to emerge back into the living room. I went around tidying up used glasses and empty beer bottles, and a few minutes later I looked up in surprise to see Dayna enter the living room from the north wing: hair wet, wearing nothing but a towel, and holding her dirty clothes against her chest.

"Uhhh..." I muttered in confused surprise.

Dayna blushed and glanced behind her. "Ah, after Dawn told me she was joining you for a shower, I headed over to the other wing to take a shower myself. I figured DJ would be using the bathroom across from her room, so I went into the master bedroom instead. But she was in there already, invited me to join her, and ... well..."

I grinned. "Took the edge off?"

Dayna laughed. "My baby sister's got a wicked tongue."

"I'm glad for you."

Smiling, Dayna continued across the living room and headed for her new bedroom. A minute later, Dawn emerged and joined me in tidying the place up.

But then we heard the rumble of the roll-up garage door activating, and shortly after that, Brooke and Andrew entered the house hand-in-hand. I stood alongside Dawn and greeted them, and Brooke looked us up and down.

"You guys took showers? Good idea. C'mon, loverboy." Brooke practically dragged Andrew down the hall.

Nick and Deedee walked in soon after, both of them with suitcases. We greeted them as well and told them Dayna had surrendered the master bedroom, but then Dawn looked over at me, a question in her eyes. She didn't say a word, and didn't have to. I recognized that she was asking me one last time if I was really okay with this.

By way of an answer, I slid behind her, held her shoulders, and gently kissed the back of her neck. And ever so softly, I whispered one more time, "My Dawn..."

She glanced over her shoulder back at me again, this time with a sincere, thankful expression on her face that warmed my heart to see it.

Then Deedee flashed a smile at me, took Dawn by the hand, and led her away.