1. Racing From Love Ch. 01-03

The lookout branch was also used to trace the whereabouts of the other neighborhood kids, to locate the fruit trees that were ripe to loot, and to gauge the distance and severity of the fog bank that washed over the hills almost daily during the summer.

'All clear,' she called out.

'Hey maybe we should give your friend Kirra a call, see what she's doing?'

Emma swung down from the tree, 'Um, okay, if you want to, here,' she dug her phone out of her pocket and threw it to him.

Sam flipped it open and scrolled down the names until he found Kirra and pressed send.

It rang twice and Kirra picked up, 'Hey girl, what's up?'

'Uh, actually this is Emma's brother, Sam, we met at the nationals?'

'Oh, hi Sam,' Kirra was practically purring.

'Hey Kirra, Em and I were just hanging out and wondering what you're up to this afternoon, we were thinking of maybe going down to the beach or something.'

Of course Kirra was all over it and she agreed to meet them at the bay-side beach in Alameda in an hour. Sam decided to call a couple of his old friends too and before long they had a party going down on the beach.

Sam lay out in the sun soaking up the warmth. He could feel Kirra's eyes scanning over his bear chest and down to his board shorts but he couldn't be bothered talking to her yet, right now he was concentrating on how good it was going to feel to dive into the water. His coach had told him to lay off swimming for a few months after nationals and pick up his cross training, and it was just about killing him. His shoulders and back were anticipating the feeling of pulling and the amazing feeling of gliding through the water. He sat up.

'Who's up for a swim?'

'I'll go in,' Kirra shrieked.

Sam took off for the water, running full pelt through the shallows. Kirra, off course, could keep up, being that she was a hurdler she was actually pretty well suited for running through shallow water, where keeping your legs up high was an advantage. Sam saw her running out of the corner of his eye, her ample boobs bouncing around in the very skimpy string bikini she was wearing. They were in danger of flying loose any second. The water was getting deep enough and he dove in.

God it felt good to have the cold water flowing around him. He relaxed all of his muscles and let himself just glide. His board shorts felt weird, like a big sail dragging him down, he would have preferred to wear his speedo but that really wasn't socially acceptable at the beach past the age of about 7. When he felt himself slowing he started a lazy dolphin kick and surfaced turning over on to his back. He looked back to see Kirra still standing back where the water got deep. 'What's up? I though you wanted to come for a swim?'

'It's kind of cold.'

'Oh nonsense, just dive in,' he chided.

'I don't know,' she looked uncertain, maybe she was afraid of the water.

Sam swam breaststroke back to where she was standing. He was still down in the water, which meant he was looking up at her. From this angle he could really take in her curvy thighs, flat stomach and huge boobs.

'What're you afraid of?'

'I'm not afraid of anything, it is just kind of cold.'

Sam considered whether or not he should knock her off her feet. The water was definitely deep enough to pull a move like that but he couldn't judge how she would take it. If it were Emma he definitely would have done it. He scanned the beach and found her talking to his friend Colin.

'Hey Em!' he yelled.

She looked up and waved at him. Sam watched as she said something to Colin and then walked over to where their stuff was. She pulled her dress over her head to reveal a red bikini with white polka dots. The material was wide over her narrow hips and covered her small breasts fully.

Sam watched her from the water. It looked like she was going to come in, and Colin too. Well good, Kirra turned out to be a bit of a cold fish, so to speak. Sam had always loved playing in the water, he just couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't. Once everyone was in Kirra would probably lighten up.

Emma was jogging towards them, she looked cute in that swimsuit, he didn't think he'd seen it before. She had her long hair put in tiny braids for her race at nationals and now they swung freely around her slim shoulders. Her legs were long and taunt and her torso was toned, she had just the slightest curve at her waist and her smooth brown skin disappeared into her bikini top with the small swell of her breasts. They'd grown. Sam wasn't in the habit of checking out his sister's tits but he knew they'd grown, she looked way more mature than the last time he'd seen her in a swimsuit.

'Is that a new suit?' He asked.

'Yeah, I just got it,' she smiled shyly.

'Looks good,' all of a sudden he felt weird complementing her and that seed of doubt returned to his gut.

'Thanks,' she didn't seem bothered by it and she dove straight into the water. Colin was right behind her. She surfaced momentarily before Colin pulled her back under, shrieking as she went. Sam laughed. This was more like it, now he took his chances and knocked Kirra into the water. She was a little upset but he could see that she was trying to be a good sport about it.

Sam laughed, 'Shall we wrestle them?'

Before long the girls were wrestling on the guys shoulders, Kirra on Sam and Emma on Colin. It was a fairly even match. Emma was sprightly, but Kirra was a fighter. They splashed to the water again and again, everyone in laughing fits.

'Okay, one last time, winner takes all,' declared Emma. They lined up. Sam's big hands were grasping into the flesh of Kirra's thighs just above her knees to keep her steady. He could feel her pussy pressing into the back of his neck and it was ever so slightly erotic.

He looked up at Emma balanced the same way on Colin's shoulders with her wet braids cascading down and clinging to her chest, she was smiling widely, focused on Kirra. For the first time it occurred to him that Emma had a pussy, and that it was pushed into the back of Collin's neck. Collin would be feeling the soft flesh of her labia through that little bikini and the warmth of her thighs against his shoulders. He looked at Colin's hands and saw them pawing hungrily at the soft brown flesh of her thighs and felt the anger rising in his chest.

He stumbled for a split second and it was enough for Emma to get an advantage on Kirra and shove her backwards. Sam knew they were going to fall, but Kirra grabbed hold of Emma and pulled her down with them.

He fell into the water backwards and Emma fell on top of him. He didn't remember thinking to do it but his arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight into him. It was just for a moment, but the feeling of her pressed up against him was amazing, her skin was like velvet against him and he could feel the swell of her breasts against his collar bone, he had one hand on her butt cheek, squeezing the firm flesh and pressing her hips into his belly. He flipped over so that he was on top of her, his hand slip up her back under the strap of her bikini. They surfaced together, her face was just inches from his, a look of confusion in her eyes. He let go as soon as he realized what he had done.

Sam stood up in the water, shocked at himself. Had he really just groped his sister?

'I'm going for a swim,' he announced before anyone could figure out what had happened, and he was off. Screw his coach's advice on not swimming he thought, he needed to get away from that situation. His mind was racing. He swam for over an hour, up and down the beach again and again. His eyes started to sting so he turned over and swam backstroke.

What the fuck did he do that for? He couldn't believe he had lost control of his body like that, he'd never done anything like that before and it scared him. What was Emma going to think? 'God, she probably thinks I'm a pervert,' he groaned to himself. The worst thing was that she felt so good, why would it feel good to cop a feel of your sister's ass? 'Because she's not your sister', a voice in his head told him. He wasn't sure if that made him feel relieved or ashamed.

His mom and dad had always treated Emma like their own daughter, they encouraged her, took pride in her achievements, consoled her in her failures, just the same as they did for him. He and Emma had heard countless times over the years the story of how Emma's biological mom had died in the hospital bed beside his mom just a day after Emma was born, and how his mom and dad had fallen in love with the little girl who had no other family to call her own.

Emma was younger than Sam by one day, and they had been brought up as twins, well as twin-like as you can get between a white boy and a black girl. They had certainly had their share of encounters with disbelieving onlookers over the years, but through it all their parents were totally unwavering in their commitment to making Emma a real member of the family.

Sam was completely accepting of Emma because he had never known any different. He never wanted to know any different either. She was his best friend, his partner in mischief, his trusted confidant. He couldn't imagine a childhood, a life, without Emma. He just couldn't figure out why his brain had suddenly gone haywire whenever she was around. Should he try and talk to her about it, or should he act like nothing had happened? He didn't know, but he did know that he was getting bloody cold. If he didn't get out soon his core temperature might drop to hypothermic. He started to make his way back to the beach, dreading seeing her.

Emma had been sitting on the beach for ages, everyone else had left and the sun was starting to sink low on the horizon. If he didn't get out soon she was going to have to go in to get him. He must be freezing by now, she knew he liked swimming in the bay, but this was getting to be absurd.

What was up with him lately anyway? He had been so distant all year, and not just in miles, whenever she called him she felt like he was holding back, pacing his words. And what was up with him grabbing her ass in the water before? That was weird. Maybe he thought she was Kirra? That thought sent a shot of anger through her brain. She didn't want Sam grabbing Kirra's ass, or any other part of Kirra, but what other explanation was there? There was a little nagging thought at the back of her head that she tried to repress; what if Sam wanted her? It was a frightening thought.

She had always had a crush on Sam, she put it down to the big brother effect and kept it under wraps by telling herself that there was never any way that it could possibly happen so she might as well get on with her life. She also knew with absolute certainty that Sam only ever thought of her as a sister, which had made repressing her feelings easier. But now she couldn't figure out what was going on.

Finally he was swimming towards the shore. Emma saw him stand up in the shallows and walk towards her. He had an amazing body, a swimmers body. His big square shoulders gave way to a sleek torso and his arms and legs were long, muscular and toned. She couldn't see his face because she was looking into the sun, which was killing her because she wanted to know what he was thinking.

'You must be freezing, you were in there for over an hour.'

'Yeah, I was just going to go for a few minutes but it felt so good I just couldn't stop.'

She couldn't judge anything from his tone, he just sounded kind of tired. 'You want to get going?' she asked.

'Yeah, I guess so.'

They were silent in the car on the way home. She didn't know if they were silent because they were ignoring the ass grab, or because they weren't ignoring it. She'd never had an uncomfortable silence with Sam and she didn't like it. She tried to make conversation but he wouldn't keep it up on his end.

Finally they were home, she couldn't wait to get out of the car. Just as she was turning to get the door handle he grabbed her arm. 'Emma?'

She turned to him, 'Yeah?'

'I'm sorry I grabbed you in the water,' he was looking straight into her eyes. He looked so worried, so scared. 'I don't know why I did it, it... it was an accident.'

'It's okay Sam, it's no big deal.' She wanted to say something reassuring but she was at a loss for words. She flashed back to the moment, his strong arms around her, his hand squeezing her butt cheek, pressing her into him, his face so close to hers.

She had a funny churning feeling in her stomach, she needed to get out of there. She flung open the car door and tried to walk calmly up to the house, opened the door and went straight to the bathroom. Once she was locked inside she could breathe again. She sat on the toilet. Her pussy was throbbing and she felt inside her swimsuit to find herself wet. What was going on here? Was she wet for Sam?

CHAPTER THREE

The next couple of weeks had flown by. Emma had a job working at the children's psychology center on campus and Sam was interning at Bayer Pharmaceuticals so they really didn't see that much of each other, except when their parents were around, which eliminated any possible sexual tension.

One Saturday Emma had decided to go for a long training run and Sam had asked to go with her. He was supposed to be doing long runs as part of his cross training. She didn't mind running with Sam, he was a little slow, but he was good conversation and on the long runs that can really be a blessing.

It was a gorgeous day and they were running up in the hills, the bay spread out below them glittered in the sun, dotted with sailing boats. Emma was having a great time, she hadn't talked like this to anyone in ages. Sam was asking all sorts of questions, he wanted to know all about school, the professors and the kids she was working with at the psychology center.

'It's cool and I'm learning so much, but I think next year I'll try and get an internship at one of the non-profits in Oakland.'

'Why's that?'

'Well, the kids at the center are screwed up for sure, I mean they need help, but if they don't get it they're not going to go join a gang and get shot, or get knocked up at the age of fourteen. I feel like I could make so much more of a difference to the really poor kids in Oakland.'

After a pause he said, 'Is it a race thing?'

'Probably it is at some level, I mean it is stupid to try and tell yourself that your race isn't part of your identity and the way you relate to people.' She loved how she could talk to him so openly about such sensitive topics.

'I think more than anything it's a class thing. I think some part of me knows that if mom and dad hadn't taken me in then I would have been just like those kids, living in foster homes and skipping school to get high. I'm no better than them, I just got dealt a lucky hand.'

He was staring at her.

'What?' she asked.

He looked away, 'Nothing, it's just that I can't imagine you as a kid who'd skip school to get high. You're so... conscientious.'

Emma laughed, 'It's called self preservation Sam, do you think mom would have stood it for one second if I had have skipped even one day of school? Remember that time she made you go to school when you felt sick and it turned out you had pneumonia?'

'Yeah, but it's not like she would have chucked you out.'

'No, that's not what I mean. The point is that she and dad had high expectations of us, it was just considered normal to go to school every day and do your homework. Some poor kids are lucky if they have a parent home at night, let alone someone to tell them they need to stay in school.'

'So you want to be a social worker then?'

Emma shrugged, 'Yeah maybe. That's why I want to do an internship, to see what it's like.'

She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she did want to help kids who weren't as lucky as her. It scared her to think of what might have happened to her if her adoptive parents hadn't decided to take her in.

'What about you? How's the pharmaceutical company?'

'I don't know, I guess it's kind of cool. I get to use some pretty cool instrumentation and the research they're doing is interesting.'

'You don't sound that enthusiastic,' she noted.

'I don't know Em, I'm not convinced that it is for me.'

'Hmmm...' she tried to encourage him.

'It's just that they are so specialized, they figure out how to mass produce drugs that other people have figured out treat medical conditions. It's not that it isn't challenging or interesting, I just feel like there are so many more stimulating fields that have a bigger picture view. Like if I was the one doing the medical research, that would be cool.'

'Yeah, but you'd need to go to med school for that right?'

'Yeah I think so. I don't know.' He seemed frustrated, 'I don't know if med. school is something that I'm interested in. There are just so many different things that interest me, it's really difficult to figure out what I should focus on.'

'But you know you want to do a science degree, right? That's a start.'

Sam started laughing, 'Can you imagine me as anything else? You won't always be around to edit my grammar and punctuation you know.'

That comment brought a smile to her face, English was the one thing that Emma was better than Sam at. At the same time it made her feel sad, she knew he was right, Sam was on the fast track to his future without her.

The run was over too soon. They had done fifteen miles, which wasn't that much for Emma, but she knew Sam was going to be sore tomorrow. When they got home there was a note from their parents that they had gone to Sonoma and not to expect them back until some time tomorrow. Damn, they'd have to cook dinner and Emma hated cooking.

'Don't worry, I'll cook,' said Sam reading her thoughts.

First things first, they needed to shower and stretch. When Emma came back downstairs from her shower Sam was already on the floor stretching his hammies.

'Okay, lay back and give me that leg. If you don't stretch properly you may never walk again,' Emma joked.

Sam complied, only too happy to let Emma do the work. She stretched his hamstrings out one at a time, she knelt with his stretching leg resting on her shoulder and her opposite hand pressing down on his other leg. Then she did his glutes, bending his leg at the knee and pushing his enormous feet sideways up towards his chest. Sam seemed completely relaxed.

'Jesus Sammy, these things weigh a tonne,' she said as she lowered his leg back down to the floor so that she was now kneeling in between his outstretched legs. 'How the hell did you cover fifteen miles lugging these things around?'

Sam grinned at her, 'You don't know the half of it, these bloody shoulders are going to be the death of me.'

'How much do you weigh these days anyway?' she asked.

'Two-twenty last time I checked, but I might have gotten fatter since then.'

Emma snorted, Sam didn't have an ounce of fat on his entire body, he was so lean and strong, he may have been two hundred and twenty pounds but he was also six foot five inches tall and built like a gladiator.

She played along anyway, 'Yeah what did you eat, a whale? Did you raid a Twinkie factory or something?' She was pinching him in the stomach trying to grab a fat roll, but of course there were none.

Sam was laughing and trying to swat her hands away, 'Stop it, you know you're on dangerous territory girl.'

But she couldn't stop, she was touching him and she loved it, even if it was just playing games.

Whoomp! Before she knew what had happened she was on her back and Sam was on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground. God he was so big, it might have frightened her if she didn't trust him with her life. She prepared herself to be tickled, but he appeared to have lost his train of thought. They had wrestled and tickled plenty when they were younger but now the mood was suddenly different.