Chapter 2: June ll

"Yes or no?" she cut me off.

"It's not that simple."

"Sure it is." She stood up, pointed to herself with both hands, and swept them downward and to the sides before raising them up and gesturing at me.

I frowned, still trying to work out how to respond for a few seconds, but then motion from the hallway caught June's attention and after glancing out the window in a panic, she abruptly sat back down.

She looked flustered for just a moment, but quickly regained her composure and fixed me with that serious, intent look again. "Well?" she asked expectantly.

I sighed. "This is about Adrienne's 'makeover' offer, isn't it?"

"Yes or no?"

"If you're looking for reassurance that you don't fall into the 'so utterly repulsive' category, the answer is 'yes'. Personal history between us aside, and assuming the right social circumstances, on a purely physical male-female level, sure ... I'd have sex with you."

June blinking twice, her eyes started drifting to the side, and she nodded slowly as she thought about that. Taking a deep breath, she pondered my answer, collected herself, and gave me a bit of a smile. "Thank you," she replied. And then she stood up, clearly intent on leaving the room.

"Whoa, whoa," I said, holding a hand up to stop her movement. She looked down at me in surprise as I added, "No, no. Sit down. Don't think you're getting off that easy."

Eyebrows furrowed, June remained standing. "Excuse me?"

"Sit. Down." I glared at her, emphasizing with my eyes, and to both my surprise and hers, June sat down.

While June bossing me around had been quite typical of the past year's relationship, that quite possibly had been the first time I'd ever taken such a tone with her. She looked quite perplexed, but also curious as to this new wrinkle in my behavior. It was an unexpected data point in her knowledge bank of "Co-worker Ben".

"What's this about? And be honest with me. You can't just ask me out of the blue if I want to have sex with you and expect to walk out the door like nothing happened."

"But nothing happened."

I rolled my eyes and glared at her again.

"I'd prefer to not talk about it," she began.

"I'm sure. But you're still going to."

June frowned. "I thought you wouldn't pressure me."

I blinked and thought about that. "I never said I wouldn't pressure you. I said you could talk to me, and you haven't done that yet."

"But I'm not comfortable discussing this."

"Fine. Tell me someone else you will discuss this with, and I'll let you go."

She frowned. "I don't feel comfortable discussing this with anyone."

I nodded. "Lack of friends: we talked about that a few minutes ago, remember? In fact, you said you only had one: me. I'm here. You're here. We're in a private, soundproofed conference room. We may not get another opportunity, seeing as how I'm leaving tomorrow, so this is it. Talk."

She didn't talk, not right away at least. Eyebrows furrowed, she just sort of stared at me for a long while, trying to reconcile the Ben she'd come to bully with the guy not taking 'no' for an answer in front of her. It wasn't that she'd never seen me show some backbone. I stonewalled plenty of people on the subject of my personal life, and I could be downright vicious in a business setting when numbers and money were at stake. But I'd never done something like this to her.

Well, actually, I had. Not often, but sometimes, when June and I would work together on a project and I knew with absolute certainty that I was right. I wasn't mean about it, and I certainly wasn't vicious, but I stood my ground and used the same cold logic that had gotten me through school to argue with June's android brain until she accepted that she had received new data and a revised conclusion was indeed warranted. This was one of those situations to me. Something had been bothering her, enough that she'd daydreamed away references to Hello Kitty and Big Macs, and she didn't have anyone else she could talk to.

Thankfully, she eventually concluded the same, and after staring at me in confusion for what felt like ten minutes, the robot finally stirred back to life as she sighed and let her shoulders slump. "Okay ... it's about Adrienne's 'makeover' offer," she admitted.

"Reconsidering your decision to say 'no'?"

She shook her head. "Quite the opposite. Your ultimate conclusion that you would indeed have sex with me given the right social and physical parameters, however unlikely, reinforced my understanding that my physical appearance does not preclude me from eventually forming a companion relationship with a male."

I frowned, processing that whole sentence for a moment before arching an eyebrow and replying, "That's it? Adrienne made you worry that you'd never be able to have a physical relationship with a guy?"

"IF I should ever desire one," she clarified.

"Which you don't."

"No."

"Not even with me."

June smirked. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Dating-four-women-at-once."

"Not what I meant." I shook my head to clear it. Frowning, I gave her another look before asking, "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Bullshit."

June looked at me in surprise.

"If that were it, you wouldn't have been so reluctant to discuss this with me."

She sighed. "I just admitted that I've considered someday having sex with someone. That's plenty enough for me to feel uncomfortable about."

"Perhaps, but I don't think that's it. There's more to it. There's..." The lightbulb went on. "It's not about the sex; it's about the 'forming a companion relationship' bit."

"Excuse me?" Her body language was all the confirmation I needed.

Grinning, I pounced. "You don't want to talk to me about your interest in finding a boyfriend!"

"A boyfriend? Don't be ridiculous." She averted her eyes, stared at the table, and blushed super-pink right up to her ears.

"You want to get a boyfriend!" I exclaimed even louder.

Even though the room was soundproofed, June shot a panicked look out the hallway window just in case. Leaning forward, she glared at me with wide-eyes and an expression that clearly said, 'Keep it down!' Still, she took a deep breath and stated as calmly as she could, "I do NOT want to get a boyfriend."

"But the thought has crossed your mind. The subject has taken up valuable real estate in your brain and refuses to go away." I popped my eyebrows and dared her to refute me.

She didn't. Instead, June rolled her eyes and sighed wearily. Staring away from me, she pondered her options for a moment, took a deep breath or two, and abruptly glared at me while raising a threatening finger. "Don't you dare gloat about this."

Despite her warning, my eyes gloated anyway. But I mimed zipping my lip and sat up straight. Calming myself down, I took a deep breath, put on my best 'good friend' expression, and opened my palms to her. "I'm not here to make you feel bad."

"Thank you."

"But that doesn't mean I'm just going to leave this alone. I still have questions."

"Of course. And the most obvious question here is: 'Why?'"

I nodded and asked in full, "Why now? What's changed? Obviously you didn't care about boys or having a boyfriend before. Or have you cared, but could never work out how to actually get one?"

"The former, thank you very much," she replied rather coldly. "I was way too busy with my studies to ever think about boys, and way too young to ever consider the ones around me. There was always the next goal: Graduate high school, get my Bachelor's degree, get my MBA, get a job like this."

I arched an eyebrow. "And what? You've run out of goals?"

Sighing, she waggled her head for a moment before muttering almost to herself, "Something like that."

"Got your degrees. Got the nice job. So finding a boyfriend is the next step in your evolutionary development along the way to husband and kids and the perfect life?"

June leveled her eyes at me. "Let's not get crazy here."

"Am I so wrong?"

"I don't want to ever get married or have kids. We already talked about that."

"Fine, fine. Back to the boyfriend."

"It's not that I want a boyfriend. I don't. It's just that when Adrienne suggested that ... well ... I sort of felt the implication that ... because of my appearance..."

"That you wouldn't be able to get one even IF you wanted one," I finished for her. "It was the idea that the option might be closed off to you that actually bothered you."

She mused on that and nodded. "Yeah. But again, I don't want a boyfriend – not now, at least. I've got other, more important things to accomplish first."

"Really? Like what?"

"Like ... like..." She sighed.

"Like what? For a young, ambitious woman apparently with more important things to accomplish first, you don't seem to know what you want to do next."

June sighed again. "In a way ... I guess I don't."

"Back to the idea that you've run out of goals."

She nodded slowly, staring away. But a moment later, she fixed me with a look and asked, "What do you want to do? What are your goals?"

"Me? I'm going on vacation tomorrow. To be honest, it's hard for me to focus on anything beyond the next two weeks."

"Try."

"You put me on the spot when you can't answer the same question?" I scoffed.

For a second, June looked hurt ... and a little vulnerable. The White Knight in me reacted, and without a second's further thought I sat up straight and really focused on the question. Goals? I didn't really have any. Like June, I'd spent my formative years with only two goals in mind: graduate to the next level of school, and get laid. Well, I'd done both, so now what?

BJ. Kim. At present, they were my primary "goals", although obviously they weren't "goals" in the traditional sense. Rather, I was only too aware that I was now a father, a parent responsible for his child as well as the mother of his child. While walking away from my life should things go south had never been a viable option before, it had still technically been "an" option. No longer. There was no way in hell I'd abandon either of them, which put the onus on me to get and keep a job not just to make a living for myself, but also to provide for my family.

Adrienne, Sasha, and Dayna were also "goals". They were my girlfriends, although to different degrees. Maintaining those relationships was important to me, for companionship, for love, and yes, for continued sex. Sex was nice. I liked sex and wanted to keep doing it. And long term? Who knew ... maybe I'd eventually marry one of them.

"Well, these aren't 'goals' per se," I began, considering my words. "But it sort of comes down to the two issues we've already been talking about: career, and companionship. I have a job, and my goal is to keep my job, so that I can provide for my family and live the lifestyle I want to live. And the second goal is to eventually get married and have more kids."

June thought about that. "Well, I already said that I don't want marriage and kids, so I guess for me it comes back down to the career."

"You like this job? You want to keep this job?"

Blinking, June didn't answer right away.

"Is that it? You're not sure you want to stay with JKE and it's giving you these doubts about where your life is going?"

"No, no, it's not that," she replied with certainty, but the look on her face was far less certain.

"Do you not LIKE what we do? Is it not stimulating? Not challenging? Not interesting?"

"No, no, it's not that. This job is plenty engaging, and I look forward to it every day."

I rolled my eyes. I did well enough at this job to enjoy my time here, but I could never really say I looked forward to it. Of course, I wasn't June. This job was all she had. No friends. Apparently not that close to her family. No boyfriend. Just ... work.

And what kind of work did we do? Business. Finance. Make money out of thin air. That's it. Nothing really that would change the world. Nothing that would benefit anyone but ourselves. For me, that was perfectly fine. I needed a job, and a high-paying job that provided for my family was a good job to have. But for June? She lived at home. She didn't care for luxuries. She didn't need a high-paying job, but she found our work intellectually stimulating. And yet, there were a LOT of other intellectually-stimulating jobs she could have done.

"Why THIS job?"

"Excuse me?"

It took me a second to realize I'd asked that last question aloud. But now that it was out there, I brought my attention back to June and repeated, "Why did you take THIS job after you got your MBA?"

She shrugged. "Because it was the best job in the country."

"By what measure?"

She frowned at me. "Everyone knew. Everyone in my class at Stanford wanted this job. But I'm the one that got it."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean, 'that's it'?"

"Well if everyone at Stanford had wanted a job scrubbing toilets, would you have taken it?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Well then why did you want THIS job? What attracted you to THIS field? The inherent gambling risk? The crazy financial calculations? The multi-field research?"

"Well why did you take this job?"

I shrugged. "Because my girlfriend is buddy-buddy with the owner's wife and it pays me a crapload of money. But then again, all I care about is providing for my family. You don't have any such excuse."

"What are you getting at?"

I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts. But then fixing her with a serious look, I said, "You seem to have spent your whole life trying to achieve the next great goal. You sacrificed everything, badminton, maybe your relationship with your sister, all to achieve the 'best'. Graduate high school at 15. Get your Bachelor's at 18. Get your MBA at 20."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well ... what now? You're out of academic achievements, unless you go back and get your Ph.D. Speaking of doctorates, most child prodigies I've heard of went into research fields: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, whatever. Discover the next great theorem. Develop the next great wonder drug. People who don't want to marry or have kids still want to have some lasting legacy, right? So why didn't you become a doctor and find a cure for cancer?"

She shook her head. "Wasn't interested in a medical field."

"Fine. You're awesome at math. Why didn't you try and solve the Unified Field Theory?"

"Because I like having tangible results in front of me. I was drawn to business."

"Okay, we're getting somewhere. But what do you want to do NEXT? Do you want Hye-Kyoung's job? Get the next promotion?"

"Of course."

"And the next promotion, and the next? Until you're one of John Kwong's VPs?"

June gave me a cold look. "You say that as if you don't approve."

"I'm just wondering what ELSE you want to live for, what else you want people to remember you by. If you don't want to have kids, or solve some worldwide problem that will leave you a lasting legacy, then what ARE you going to do with the rest of your life? Work harder, work smarter, get promoted, and make more money? That's it? To what end?"

"Well what are YOU going to do with the rest of your life, huh?"

I shrugged. "We've been over that. I'm gonna have a family and kids. I already HAVE a kid. My family is my life, and this job is a means to that end. Why do YOU work? To make money for what? Congratulations, June, you're only 21 and already a year into a successful career ... Now what?"

She bent her head, rubbed her temple, and sighed. "I don't know. And THAT'S the problem."

I leaned forward, elbows on both knees as I clasped my hands together and gave her a smirking grin. "Go find yourself a boyfriend?" I suggested.

Snorting, June rolled her eyes, looked away from me, and sighed.

6:42 PM

"Look, Daddy's home!" Kneeling by the front door, Kim held BJ by the waist so that my little boy could stand up.

Of course, BJ kept kicking his legs as if trying to walk, which made him collapse an inch before Kim's strong hands held him upright again. The boy was making a game of it, rather deliberately making himself fall until she finally pulled him into her lap and took hold of his wrist to have him wave. Looking up, my little man gave me a drooling grin with twinkling eyes as he muttered, "Muh..."

Smiling, I quickly entered the apartment and sank to my knees in front of him, pointing to myself and stating, "Daddy. Da-da."

BJ looked at me blankly for a moment. His eyes went past my shoulder, and pointing straight out, he said happily, "Joo!"

Kim enthused. "That's right! You remember Auntie June!"

"Joo!" BJ repeated.

I turned to find June blushing a little pink again. She gave the boy a nervous wave but didn't move any closer.

"Da-da!" BJ finally stated, patting my knee.

I rubbed the top of his head. "That's my boy." Scooping him up in my arms, I stood back up and turned to face my co-worker while she closed the door behind us. Extending my elbow, I offered, "Wanna hold him?"

Even more nervously, June held her hands up, "Uh, no thank you."

"C'mon, you've only done it once and he really liked it."

"Twice," June corrected. "And that's because he thinks I kinda look like his mom."

We all chuckled at that, and I brought BJ against my hip once again. "Oof, you're getting heavy. Or maybe I'm just a little more tired than usual."

"You're a little more late than usual," Kim commented. "Especially for a Friday."

"Blame her." I gestured with my free thumb at June. "She wanted to finish work before leaving the office."

"Finish? So you guys are actually done?" Kim arched an eyebrow, a habit she'd been picking up more and more from me.

Taking a deep breath, June thought about saying that she'd actually like to get a little more work done tonight after dinner, but I shot her a look that reminded her of my ultimatum that once we left the office, I would be on vacation and that was that. So with a sigh, she admitted, "Yes, we're done."

"Well good. You two are late for dinner." With that, Kim turned and headed into the Great Room. With BJ in my arms, June and I followed, and we found Adrienne, Dayna, and Brandi seated at the dining table already starting their meal.

I quickly circled around, giving Adrienne a firm kiss and also one for my sweetheart Dayna. June politely said 'Hello', although I noticed her eyes lingering a bit on Adrienne even after the blonde returned her attention to her plate. We sat down and joined the others in scooping food out of the serving bowls in the center of the table. I asked about the missing roommate and Adrienne explained that Sasha was working late tonight herself. Kim and BJ joined us as well, BJ snacking on a pile of cheerios spread across the tray of his high chair along with a sippy cup of water.

But within five minutes of being put into his high chair, BJ started squirming and trying to push himself out of his seat, nevermind that he was buckled into a three-point harness. Seated to either side of him, Kim and I both tried to calm our infant down, but the point was made when he began to throw cheerios onto the floor.

At first, Kim sighed in resignation and began to remove him from the seat, but once she got the tray off, I told her, "I got him" and unbuckled his seat belt myself. Picking up my son, I hoisted him over my shoulder and added, "You go ahead and eat."

Kim insisted, "I can take care of--"

"Eat", I commanded, my tone making my point clear. "You've already spent all day with him. Let me have some 'Daddy time' too."

Kim nodded and sank back down into her chair, although she watched me take BJ over to the play area only ten feet away and settle onto the floor before returning her attention to her plate.

Unfortunately, "Daddy time" only lasted for another five minutes before BJ started getting really squirmy. I checked his diaper and found him dry. He didn't want any of his favorite toys, and even doing baby bench presses (which he usually loved) didn't seem to hold his attention.

Staring at his mom, BJ started clenching his hand for the ASL "milk" sign while complaining, "Muh..." With a sigh, I glanced over to find that Kim had a few more bites of her dinner left. She kept turning around, ready at a moment's notice to drop everything and feed her baby. But I kept giving her 'back off' looks and gesturing with my eyes to make sure she finished her meal while I did my best to keep him occupied until then.

Finally, Kim set down her spoon and turned to come to us. Usually whenever June was around, Kim would take BJ into her bedroom to nurse just for modesty's sake. It wasn't a big deal for her to breastfeed in front of our family, but June was still an outsider and it was simply a matter of good form. But Kim had been carrying on a conversation with the others, and the second she stood up from her chair, I called, "Stay right there. I'll bring him to you."

Perplexed, Kim shot a glance at June for a moment before arching an eyebrow.

Knowing Kim would obey, I didn't bother to explain. After this afternoon's conversation about June's sheltered existence, I was simply in the mood for expanding her horizons a little bit. Hoisting BJ into my arms as I stood, I shrugged and said, "Don't worry about June. Not like she's never seen a pair of boobs before."

Blinking a bit in surprise, the Chinese girl replied nervously, "Actually, other than my own..."

Adrienne sat up straight. "Not even your sister's?"

"We're a modest family."

"Clearly." Rolling her eyes, Adrienne promptly lifted both her V-neck shirt and her bra up to her neck, flashing her massive mammaries for everyone in the room to see. I immediately felt a rush of blood race throughout my body and I sighed in rapt appreciation for my girlfriend's awesome rack that barely even sagged despite its impressive size.

"Put those away," Brandi admonished. "You're embarrassing her."

"Girl needs to loosen up a bit," Adrienne muttered, apparently still a little peeved at the way lunch had gone. But she put her shirt down and adjusted her bra back into place.

Wide-eyed, June sort of gawked at Adrienne's chest for a few extra seconds, even though the naked boobs were gone. In my arms, BJ reached an arm toward Adrienne, muttering, "Muh" as if he now wanted milk from her.

I chuckled, saying, "You've got good taste, my boy. But these are the ones filled with milk." Finally, I handed my son off to his mother. And after a quick appraising glance at me, Kim unbuttoned her shirt, unsnapped her nursing bra, and began to feed him.

Wide-eyed, June sort of gawked at Kim now.

"Pick your jaw up off the table," I chided her, "and finish your food."

June snapped her mouth shut and tried to focus on her plate. But after the first bite, her gaze drifted over to Kim again, her expression more ... curious ... than anything else.

Meanwhile, everyone else returned to their conversation. Kim and Brandi resumed talking about Brandi's work at PwC. Dayna chatted with Adrienne about some insider celebrity gossip. And I played catch-up eating my dinner.

"Oops. We're gonna be late," Dayna suddenly announced, patting her mouth with a napkin and pushing her plate aside.

"Late for what?" I asked.

"We're going to see Ratatouille," Brandi explained as she too pushed aside her empty plate. "No movie theaters where we're going tomorrow."

"Ah," I replied. "You coming back here after?"

Dayna shook her head. "Nah. Have to go back to our place and pack. But we'll see you guys in the morning."

I nodded and leaned back to get a goodbye kiss from my sweetheart. Brandi merely waved to everyone, and the two of them left the apartment. Meanwhile, the rest of us finished our meals and carried on our conversation. Or at least, I tried to carry on my end of it while Adrienne snuck her foot into my crotch underneath the table and started using her toes to try and give me a hard-on.

At first, I simply shot her 'quit it' looks and used my hand to subtly move her foot aside. But she kept doing it, her long legs easily reaching my package even when I tried to slide my butt all the way back in my chair. So far, Kim and June were oblivious as June had started asking my baby mama questions about breastfeeding, like "Does it hurt?" and "How often do you need to do that?"

But subtle non-verbal cues weren't cutting it, and no command tone of mine would work on Adrienne, so eventually I gave up and asked aloud, "You're not gonna stop, are you?"

My perpetually-horny girlfriend grinned and replied, "Not until I get what I want. I needed you at lunch and you left me hanging, remember?"

I sighed and head-nodded toward June. "Can't you keep it in your panties until tonight?"

"Why? You two are done with work, right? And you DID say you'd make it up to me when you got home. C'mon ... you saying Big Ben hasn't missed me?" Her voice dropped into a sultry purr.

Big Ben was ALWAYS ready for sex with Adrienne. I mean seriously, she was Adrienne. But that didn't mean this wasn't bad timing. "We're about to have two weeks together for me to make it up to you. Let's not make this evening awkward."

"I can leave, if I'm in the way," June offered, her eyes downcast and that pink climbing up her cheeks again.

"Sure, go on. Run away," Adrienne cracked before smirking at me. "Little girl gets freaked out watching a beautiful mother breastfeed her son. Might just have a heart attack if I actually mounted you right in that chair, Tiger. She wouldn't want to be around here for something like that."

"Adrienne!" I barked reproachfully.

With a peeved sigh, Adrienne huffed and said, "She's gotta grow up someday."

Though I agreed with her on some level, I still shot her another 'quit it' look. Of course, she paid about as much attention to this one as the one I'd given her when her foot was in my crotch.

Turning to our guest, Adrienne continued, "June, I get that you're comfortable with who you are and with the way you look, and you don't need to be pressured into changing anything about yourself. But at the same time, there's so much you haven't experienced yet. You're the most career-oriented 21-year-old I know, and yet also the least socially-developed 21-year-old I know. How in the world can you know what you do or don't want if you've never even TRIED? You just saw your first pair of boobs ten minutes ago, for chrissake!"

"Adrienne, that's enough," I growled, hands on the table and jaw set.

"She's right," June said quietly.

"Excuse me?" I turned to her in surprise.

"She's right. There's a lot I haven't experienced yet. It's true that I don't have much interest in appearing beautiful ... or sexy ... but I've also never experienced what it's like to feel beautiful ... or sexy ... Obviously, most of you have had that experience, and it's something you apparently enjoy."

"Damn straight," Adrienne agreed.

June shrugged. "Maybe I'm better off never knowing what I'm missing. But then again..." her voice trailed off as she looked at me. "Maybe when I've run out of other goals, trying out something new might be worth my while."

I blinked in surprise. So did Adrienne. "You mean," the blonde supermodel began, "you might actually let me give you a makeover?"

"Well..." June began nervously, squirming in her seat before raising her eyes to meet Adrienne's. "Not tonight, of course. You all are leaving tomorrow and there's no time, really. But when you get back from vacation ... I'm ... I'm thinking about it."

Adrienne whistled in amazement and fixed me with a 'can-you-believe-this?' look.

"And..." June added a little more quietly. "I do apologize for ... for cock-blocking you at lunch, Adrienne. I didn't realize, and that wasn't my intent."

Did the word 'cock-blocking' just come outta her mouth?!?

Adrienne and I gawked at each other, jaws gaping open. "Um ... that's okay..." Adrienne muttered.

"Well if you two need to ... take care of things ... Please don't mind me. Again, I can leave if I'm in the way."

"No, you don't have to go," I announced. "We--"

"It's okay," June interrupted again. "I realized a long time ago that you two have a very healthy, very active sex life. It obviously makes you both very happy, and I'm just getting in the way. I can leave, really. But on the other hand ... If you wanted to ... ah ... well... mount him ... in the chair ... I ... I..." By now, June's entire face was bright pink. "Well ... I ... I wouldn't run away."

I blinked in shock. Nothing in my previous year's experience with June would have ever led me to believe she'd say something like that, and when I glanced across the table at Adrienne, she looked to be in a similar state of astonishment. For a moment, the room fell into an awkward silence.

Then, Kim's voice suddenly broke the tension. "Perhaps the bedroom would be more ideal than a dining room chair. You should go with them, June. You don't have to participate, of course, but watching two people who are as madly in love as Ben and Adrienne being intimate with each other in a proper bed might help you understand why these close, interpersonal relationships are so important to other people."

"What, WHAT?" I whirled around to Kim.

Kim shrugged back at me. "What?"

"You agree with this?"

The coy Japanese girl was giving me her little Mona Lisa smile. "It's not like you've never performed for an audience before."

"But ... but..." I sputtered.

"Sure. Yeah," Adrienne chimed in, smirking as she rapidly warmed to the idea. "Might blow the doors off this little girl's sheltered existence."

"But ... but..." I sputtered again.

"Okay," June said quietly. "I'll do it."

"What, WHAT?" I whirled back to June.

"Well not to participate. Just to ... to watch." She looked back at me, that pink blush in her ears again. "If ... if that's okay with you."

"Perfectly okay," Adrienne answered for the both of us as she got out of her seat and circled the table. Sliding her fingers across my shoulders and down my arm, she grabbed my hand and jerked me out of my seat. "Just come with us."

7:21 PM

I wouldn't call it the least arousing experience of my life, but it was certainly the least aroused I'd ever been while in a bedroom with a ready-to-fuck Adrienne. Seriously, even the sight of her big melons busting out the top of her V-neck couldn't give me a woody. Not that my flaccid state was going to stop her. If anything, Adrienne seemed to be energized by the notion of taking a shy, nervous virgin under her wing and introducing the yet unbloomed little flower to the wide, wonderful world of sex.

Still, this night wouldn't become the stuff of Adrienne's fantasies, nor mine. June wouldn't fall in love with my dick at first sight, pounce on my meat stick with ravenous hunger, and devour me while showing off a hidden natural talent for cocksucking none of us had ever realized she possessed. She wouldn't be overcome with lustful desire, strip herself bare, and fling her limbs aside in invitation for me to tear her precious maidenhead asunder. Nor would she cave in to Adrienne's heated suggestions and abruptly mount herself on my cock before I even realized what was happening.

No, for the next X number of minutes, June would remain seated in the armchair in Adrienne's bedroom, watching in rapt attention but making no moves to turn our romantic coupling into a threesome. And at first, it didn't seem like even the romantic coupling would ever get started.

I was nervous. Actually, I was nervous, stage-frightened, and camera-shy. Kim was right: it wasn't like I'd never performed for an audience before; but this just felt soooo different.

Let's start with the fact that my "audience" was no horny coed, fingers on her clit, just waiting for her chance to join in. This wasn't a sexually-charged atmosphere of lust just waiting to boil over into full-fledge orgy. Normally, I might show off a bit, flex my muscles (yes, including that one), and make eye-contact with my willing voyeur(s) as if to suggest they would be next.

But I couldn't make eye-contact with June. I couldn't even look in her general direction. I couldn't believe we were DOING this, and more than once I protested that the whole situation was ridiculous and that we should stop before this got any more awkward than it already had. How would I ever go to work again and sit in the cubicle next to June's knowing that I'd shown her my penis? We had a great working relationship, and something like this could very well ruin it forever. It was an out-of-control freight train with the potential to derail everything we'd built together in the past year.

But Adrienne was the one driving the train, and I had a snowball's chance in hell of stopping her. Earlier in the day, she'd been excited about the prospect of giving June a makeover, as in clothing, hair, and makeup. Put into Adrienne's head the idea of teaching June about sex? Jeezus. She ordered me to shut up and just go with it. And of course, she used her infamous phrase guaranteed to make me intrigued, resigned, and terrified all at the same time: "Trust me."

Alone, not even Adrienne's "trust me" would have gotten me to go along with this. There were too many alarm bells going off in the back of my head. I felt too awkward, too uncomfortable, too jittery to "get in the mood". 99% of my entire being wanted to call this whole stupid thing off, to walk out the door and insist there would be a more another time, another place, or another male better suited to let June take her first baby steps into the world of sex.

But the 1% left of me listened not to Adrienne's "trust me", but rather to June's quiet voice, stating, "Please ... there's no one else in the world I'd feel comfortable with besides you."

She had no other friends, really, male OR female. She certainly couldn't ask her parents about stuff like this. And while I got the sense that under the right circumstances she might be able to share what she was going through with her little sister, June still wouldn't know of any other guys she could learn this kind of stuff with.

I felt like I was 16 again, with 14-year-old Brooke asking Brandi for instruction on how to give a blowjob. Now June and I weren't going to do anything like THAT. No amount of pleading would make me comfortable with the idea of hard-working, naïve, asexual co-worker June putting her mouth on my penis. But she insisted, "All I want to do is watch. The only things I know about sex came from Biology books. My parents didn't even sign the waiver to let me attend health class in high school; I was too young."

"Porn?" Adrienne had asked.

June merely gave her a withering 'yeah, right' expression.

So to recap: Never took health class, never seen a live pair of boobs besides her own until this evening, and never seen a sex act of any kind, not even on the internet. And now June was going direct to watching Adrienne fuck me in her bedroom. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

You get why I was nervous?

"First of all, this is a male penis," Adrienne instructed as if she were standing at the front of a lecture hall, except that she was kneeling on the floor beside me while I stood in front of June's armchair with my pants around my ankles blushing pink from head to toe. With a bit of a smirk, she added, "Obviously, this is the flaccid state, and to be honest, I don't see it like this very often."

It took every ounce of willpower I had to not cover myself with my hands. Walk naked through the hallways of the Tri-Delt Chapter House? No problem. I'd strut proudly and let it all hang out. Stand there, butt-naked, in the privacy of Adrienne's master bedroom? Pray Zeus slay me with a lightning bolt.

"When the male becomes aroused," Adrienne continued, "the brain diverts blood flow--"

"Into the penis," June interrupted, "causing it to stiffen and swell up into an erection that would maintain sufficient rigidity to push through a woman's labia and into her vagina. The purpose of this is to deliver male sperm into a woman's uterus for egg fertilization."

"And because it fucking feels good," Adrienne breathed with a toothy grin.

June blinked, gave Adrienne a nervous smile, and went back to scrutinizing my penis.

Yeah ... uh ... NOT becoming aroused.

Adrienne frowned at my lifeless penis, muttering, "Well this is unusual, although I suppose I should chalk that up to the situation. Here, this should help." Swiftly, she grabbed the hem of her V-neck shirt and her bra up to her neck, once again displaying her massive mammaries for me and June to see. But there was no rush of blood racing through my body, despite my girlfriend's awesome rack. And even the complete baring of her upper torso, once she'd tossed the shirt and bra off to the side, did not have its desired effect.

Big Ben remained Li'l Ben.

With a sigh, Adrienne frowned at my penis again. No doubt she had very little experience in getting a sleeping soldier to awaken in her naked presence. Get me hard again AFTER I'd popped four or five rounds? Sure. But trying to get to Erection #1? Really?

"Well, using my mouth on him is always the fastest, most expedient method for ensuring maximum rigidity," Adrienne explained, glancing back at June. "But maybe you're not ready for that just yet."

June simply gulped as the concept percolated through her brain.

"We can start with manual stimulation," Adrienne continued, extending a finger beneath my scrotum and using her nails to lightly scratch the bottom of my balls.

I squirmed at the ticklish sensation, but her actions did start the flow of blood toward my crotch and despite the uncomfortable situation, I felt the tension build in my loins.

"It's pretty much an involuntary reaction," Adrienne explained clinically. "The epidermis reflexively tightens in response to the sharpness of my nails. Sensitive nerves very close to the surface of the skin send signals to the brain asking for increased blood flow." And she went on and on and on while cupping my balls, rolling them, and eventually scratching the underside of my beginning-to-engorge penis.

Adrienne's actions began to have their desired effect, and I felt my shaft thickening under June's wide-eyed gaze, but I still couldn't get my head into the game. Were we here to give June an anatomy lesson or what? I couldn't imagine standing here for the next ten minutes while Adrienne showed off my equipment to the blushing virgin sitting in the armchair. If that was our purpose, then the two of them could fire up a laptop and Google everything instead of using me as a live demonstration. My relationship with June had already been fucked up enough as it was.

"I can't do this anymore," I complained, suddenly yanking my pants up to my waist, stepping away from Adrienne, and pacing around to the other side of her bed. Hands on my forehead, I tried to manually massage my brain into understanding just what the hell we were doing here, and I couldn't come up with any rational explanation.

The girls left me alone for a few seconds. At first, the silence was a relief, and I felt the tension in the room slipping away. But then the silence continued, and relief turned to awkwardness.

"Tiger..." Adrienne began soothingly.

I kept my back to the girls, protectively blocking my penis from view while looking back at them over my shoulder. "What are we doing? Kim suggested that being intimate with each other might help June understand close, interpersonal relationships or something. Exactly how does a clinical examination on how to give a guy an erection accomplish that?"

Adrienne blushed. "Sorry. She just seemed so fascinated by her very first penis."

Wide-eyed, June nodded before coughing, covering her mouth, and turning her gaze downcast. "Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"This whole thing has me uncomfortable." I shook my head and faced away from them again.

Getting up, Adrienne walked straight to me and slid her arms around my waist. Hugging me tenderly from behind, she mashed those naked melons against my back and lay her cheek down on my shoulder. "I love you, Tiger. I'm sorry if I got a little carried away."

I sighed and used my arms to hold hers tighter around my midsection. "I just don't think I can do this."

"Stage fright all of a sudden? You've performed in front of an audience before."

"This is different and you know it."

"I know, I know," she conceded. "But it doesn't have to be. Focus on me for a bit. Focus on just you and me, huh? You're right: the point was to show June what intimacy between two people who love each other can be like."

While she kept her arms around my waist, I spun around so that we were face-to-face and hugged her tight at shoulder-level. Tilting my face, I kissed her cheek and murmured, "THIS is intimacy between two people who love each other. The sex part is nice, and obviously a lot of fun. But sometimes, what we're doing right now ... sometimes this is all I need."

Adrienne smiled back at me and cinched her arms a little tighter around my waist. "You sure you don't want to show off your crazy Big Ben moves for her, blow her freakin' mind with the power of amazing orgasms she didn't even realize were possible for a human being to achieve?"

Rolling my eyes, I reached up with one hand and pinched her lips closed with my thumb and two fingers. Releasing her lips, I leaned forward and gave her a tender peck on the forehead. Then, I kissed my way down her nose and gave her another kiss, this one on her lips.

It was a kiss of passion, but a mild passion. Our lips stayed closed and our tongues remained in our own mouths. Still, I felt the energy of Adrienne's love through her touch, and finally, I pulled back and gazed straight into my girlfriend's hazel eyes. "I love you, Adrienne," I stated firmly and sincerely. "Even when we get to the point that we're old and decrepit and physically incapable of having amazing orgasms lest they give us heart attacks and we die, I'm still going to love you. And when that time comes – when all we can do is hold each other just like this, feel each other's body close like this – I will be plenty happy enough."

Adrienne giggled. "Me, too."

I arched a skeptical eyebrow. "You so sure about that? Nymphomaniac All-Day Adrienne gonna be satisfied with just a hug?"

"Well..." she thought about it. "Perhaps when we're old and decrepit. But maybe not while I'm still in my prime."

"Like tonight?"

She smirked. "For now, at least, I'm happy for you to hold me. And I understand that you don't feel comfortable doing this in front of June. But I'm me, and you damn well know it, so I'm gonna want those amazing orgasms eventually."

I chuckled and nodded. "Of course, of course. But not right now."

She shook her head. "Fair enough."

"Disappointed?"

She shrugged. "No ... I guess not. But June might..." Her voice trailed off as she turned and we both found that June had vacated her armchair. Further glancing around confirmed that she had left the room. "Huh..." Adrienne finished.

"Well that settles that."

"Indeed." Adrienne spun back into me, her eyes afire. "Does this mean you'll fuck me now?"

My eyebrows popped. "Right now?!?"

"Well no more stage fright..."

I rolled my eyes. "Later, later. We should go after her and make sure everything's okay."

"Cock-blocked again..." Adrienne groaned. "I'm horny."

"And you won't go to sleep tonight without getting eight inches of Big Ben stuffed up your twat, alright?"

"That a promise?"

"Yes, yes. Now c'mon." I turned and pushed her toward her discarded shirt and bra while I fiddled with my pants.

But instead of going for her shirt, Adrienne turned back and flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and thrusting her tongue into my mouth while she ground her bare nipples into my chest. Letting go of my zipper, I held her tightly in my arms and kissed back with every ounce of passion she gave me. And when we finally pulled away from each other, Adrienne smiled again and murmured, "Always and Forever, Tiger. Always and Forever."