A Simple Act of Charity

He came in a crashing wave of thunder as he thrust all the way inside her and exploded like he'd never done before. Jenna gripped him tightly with her arms and legs, keeping him locked inside her as the first spurt of cum entered her body. It was like a tidal wave, all that locked up anticipation that had begun with their very first sexual encounter ended in a roar of satisfaction as he couldn't stop cumming. Each successive thrust shot another heavy spurt of cum inside her slick, wet walls, only tempering after a solid, pleasure-filled minute.

Austin panted heavily as the last drop slipped inside her, and Jenna leaned up to kiss against the sweat-soaked skin of his upper chest. They collapsed together against the couch, a sweaty, stick mess of fluids a moment later.

Jenna sighed with content before kissing him. "That was incredible, Austin."

He kissed her back. "Yes, it was."

"I swear I didn't plan this by coming over here," she said with her adorable giggle.

Austin gave her a playful look. "I don't know if I believe you. You probably came over in your cutest pair of pajamas all intent on seducing me, didn't you?"

Jenna went red in the face as she pulled her flannel top back down, hiding her breasts from view. "No, I swear!"

"Busted," he said while he laughed and tickled her side at the same time.

Her body responded at once, both laughing and squirming as she sought to end the finger-induced torture. In doing so, his softening cock slipped out of her body, quickly followed by a rush of cum.

Jenna reached between them and caught a majority of it before it went on the couch. "Hold on, I have to clean this up!" She quickly rushed up from the couch and thanked Austin when he handed her a tissue. After a moment of cleaning herself up, she laid back down on the couch with him. With the need for sexual intimacy largely diminishing with their release, she settled back into a spooning position and pulled his hand back against her belly.

After a few moments of quiet, she turned to look back at him. "Thank you."

He gave her a confused look. "For what?"

"It's been too long since I had sex that good," she said quietly. "I just felt like I had to thank you."

Austin chuckled. "Same for me. Not since—" He cut himself off, knowing full well he was about to say his marriage. Thankfully, before he could insert his foot into his mouth, Jenna brought her hand to his lips.

"It's okay," she said. "This is how we move on from bad things in our past. Right?" It was a lifeline even though he didn't know he needed it.

"Right," he said, taking the offering and saying a silent thank-you of gratitude for agreeing to the once ludicrous proposal of moving in with his wacky cousin. Austin leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder and she snuggled up closer to him. They stayed just like that for another thirty minutes until Jenna fell asleep. Even though they were completely comfortable on the couch, the last thing he wanted was for Jenna to be potentially discovered by his cousin on his walk of shame back home, so a little past ten o'clock, he carefully maneuvered himself out from the couch and picked up Jenna, cradling her body against his chest.

She gave the softest of whimpers at the disturbance, although if she truly awakened at the disruption, she didn't make it known. Instead, he carefully carried her up the stairs to his room and laid her gently into his bed. Closing the door firmly, he snuck between the covers and rolled into her warm body. Jenna reacted immediately and curled against him, throwing her leg around his and resting her head against his shoulder. Just like that, they were out for the night.

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Jenna didn't have the chance to spend the entire night. She awoke shortly before dawn and made a silent exit, having to work in a few hours. Even though he didn't get the chance to enjoy a quiet morning with her in bed, the preceding night was still enough of a reward as could be.

Their relationship entered a new phase after that night. It was the first time they had sex but it wouldn't be the last. Frequently, Austin would find himself letting her in only to end up in bed a few minutes later. What had started as a reward system for helping out her family quickly dropped in favor of something more real. Jenna would come over for the flimsiest excuse, and although she almost never spent the entire night due to work, it was still a moment that he treasured more than anything. It wasn't hard to tell that she was really enjoying the time together even if the initial pretense of thanking him for his help never really went away.

It was the strangest of feelings because in a way, Austin felt it hindered the natural progression of a relationship between them. Although she would still "thank him" in just about any manner of his own sexual choosing, he started to feel bad about it. Thoughts of using her would drift into his mind and in rare moments, he'd find them hard to entirely squelch.

It's not that he felt that way about what he was doing with Jenna. He was surely enjoying his time, with or without clothes, but now that they'd crossed that final line and they were having regular sex, part of him was feeling guilty about it. The last thing he wanted to do was reduce the natural chemistry between them into something that was transactional and devoid of passion. Yet part of him wondered if he'd never raked their leaves the first time if Jenna would even know who he was. Would any of this have taken place?

It was a sobering thought and one that he couldn't quite put away, no matter his best effort. It also didn't help that she'd remind him about it too—that is tell him why she was blowing him or what effort she was rewarding in that moment. While she always said it with a grin, implying a joke, he had to wonder if there was a singular grain of truth behind it. Was Jenna sleeping with him because she wanted to or because she felt like she had to?

The scariest part about all of it was just how easily ingrained she was becoming to his life. He had started to open up to her, sharing with her many of the details about his life, including his family, friends, and job. What's more, he'd begun to talk about his marriage with her and talk about the moments that hurt him the most during the divorce. It was through that way that Jenna found out about his infertility problems.

"So, nothing at all?" she asked on that particular afternoon after they were lying in bed from sex. They hadn't been using any protection, and it sparked the question not long after his orgasm. She had joked about them using condoms at some point when he felt the need to tell her about his problem and how it had destroyed his marriage. Thankfully, she hadn't known about that problem, only the small details of his marriage that either he or her father had shared with her already.

"Nothing at all," he confirmed quietly. "My swimmers don't swim very well. I've had consultations with a doctor and samples have been taken. I guess it's just not in the cards for me."

Jenna leaned up on her elbow and looked at him. "That doesn't mean there's not a chance."

"It's a microscopic chance," he said. "About as tiny as you can get."

"But there still is one," she said. "You'd be amazed at what can happen when you think there's nothing left that can be done."

"It destroyed my marriage," said Austin honestly, feeling a lump begin to develop in his throat.

"But it can't destroy you," she said firmly while her hand reached up to caress his face. She leaned in to kiss him before whispering, "don't give up hope."

Austin took a deep breath and surrendered to her kiss. As much as he wanted to argue that medical results don't lie, he chose to remain silent instead. How desperately he wanted to believe her, that he wasn't really infertile and could perhaps father a child of his own one day. He'd give anything to believe in that lie for as long as time allowed.

Despite being honest with her about that, he found that for the most part, spending time with Jenna was mending his soul. He didn't realize how shattered he'd become in the aftermath of the divorce, and how withdrawn he'd been from his friends and family. But with her help, he was starting to find his voice once again. His mother noticed for one, on one afternoon when he'd stopped by to take her to lunch. His boss was another who had commented on his good spirits and mentioned how long it had been since he'd seen the "old" Austin.

In a way, it felt great to feel like himself once more. The truth behind all of it was that time spent with Jenna was making him happy once again. He had a reason to smile and a reason to be like his old self before he was dragged through the mud in his humiliating divorce. It finally felt like a chapter had been turned and he was ready to move on.

What was most noticeable was the way he'd begun to feel about Jenna. From the start, he'd always felt nervous around her, though more due to her beauty than anything else. The sexual tension had started shortly after that, the wondering of how far they would go or how long before they finally had sex. Once that line was crossed, Austin began to feel something new. Something deep inside of him. A feeling that turned on every time she looked at him or smiled in his direction. A satisfaction that took hold after they came down from the high of having sex. If he didn't know any better, he was starting to fall for Jenna. And that both excited and frightened him at the same time.

Especially if he wasn't sure where Jenna's own feelings stood. She had never expressed anything deeper than sex so it was possible that was all that it was. If she just thought of this as a way of repaying a debt, he would be crushed. And if it wasn't, he'd feel guilty about using her when he was just trying to be a helpful neighbor. Ever since he started to confront the fact that he might have feelings for her, his guilt started to compound. And the hole that it ripped inside became harder to ignore.

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It was perhaps the warmest Christmas that Austin could ever remember. Temperatures were near sixty degrees on the magic day, a far cry from most years when there would usually be snow on the ground. It was an odd feeling to be wearing shorts and short sleeves while icicle lights hung off the front patio, yet it didn't bother him too much. With the way their winters usually went, he'd enjoy the warmer weather for now.

It was late in the evening and he had just arrived back home after a Christmas dinner with his parents. He stepped out of his car and on the way to the front door, he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Hey Austin! Merry Christmas!"

Robert was sitting on his front porch. The crutches had finally gone away but had been replaced by a cane to help him get around. He still wasn't in the best of shape, and usually Jenna kept him informed of his progress. Still, he looked much better than the first time he had met him.

"Merry Christmas to you too," said Austin as he slipped over to his neighbor's porch.

"Where are you coming from?"

Oh, just my parents," said Austin. "They usually have dinner every year."

"How'd it go? Bring back any leftovers?" asked Robert.

Austin held up a small storage container of ham and mashed potatoes.

"Not bad," said Robert with a grin.

"It wasn't that bad at all. First big holiday as a single man in a long time," said Austin. "I was almost afraid to go over there."

Robert scoffed. "No reason to be afraid. You're better off without her, let me tell you!"

Austin smiled. If anyone knew the full story of McKenzie, Robert sure did. He heard every little detail of the hell their marriage had become and had been totally supportive as Austin tried to put it firmly behind him. "I was afraid of how it would feel to show up alone. My family really liked her, including my mom. I was nervous it would feel awkward."

"And? Did it?"

Austin shook his head. "Not one bit. It was the most enjoyable holiday I've had in some time. Not a word was said about it. You have no idea how relieved that makes me."

Robert waved his hand. "That's because you've got a good family! That's the thing about being a parent. You only want the best for your children. It gets the hardest during heartbreak but that's when you have the chance to really be there for them. Reinforce the love that you have, you know?"

"That's how it felt," said Austin. "I think they were trying extra hard so that I wouldn't be nervous about it."

"See what I mean? That's good parents for you," said Robert with a grin. "Good parenting makes all the difference."

"You haven't done a bad job at that yourself," said Austin. If Jenna was the standard on which to go by, then Robert was untouchable.

Robert beamed with a smile. "She'll always be my baby girl. I still remember the day she came home from the hospital. I would just sit with her and rock her for hours and she'd just stare and look up at me. That kind of thing never leaves you, Austin."

Austin nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat.Something I'll never get to experience.

"Anyway, she makes me really proud. I just wish she would find a good man and settle down," said Robert.

Austin nodded and remained silent. Robert knew next to nothing about the secret affair they'd been carrying on for the past two months. Not that it was hard to hide it with how much Jenna worked and how she rarely slept over, but they both decided not to be forthcoming about it to the elder man. For one, it would be hard to explain a modern friends-with-benefits type of relationship and for two, it just wasn't something they wanted to publicize, especially when neither of them had discussed what their relationship really was just yet.

Robert was in the dark, and it put Austin in an awkward position to talk about Jenna's dating life even when as far as he knew, he was the only one in it.

"She just works too much," continued Robert. "I know she wants to and she feels obligated to, but I've asked her to stop working so much. She needs a life too. Jenna deserves to find the right guy."

"Yes, she does," said Austin with a smile. "She deserves the very best."

Robert shook his finger in agreement. "You understand. She has so much to offer a man. She's a hard worker, she cooks like an angel, she cleans and takes care of the house. She's so damn intelligent that she makes me feel like a fool sometimes. Not to mention, she's just become such a beautiful woman. I should be knee deep in grandchildren by now!"

Austin started to chuckle at the joke, earning a hearty laugh from Robert. "It's true! But she says she doesn't have time for dating. Even just yesterday, she said that. It kills me, Austin, it really does."

Austin grimaced internally. Doesn't have time for dating? That was certainly true, as she spent a good portion of her downtime with him either hanging out or in his bed. Yet, that's all they ever did. They had never gone on an actual date or anywhere beyond his house. Sure, they texted all day, but rarely was it anything more than a friendship between two people who just so happened to have sex. There was no romance, no love-dovey, no heart-eyes emojis in their texts. If there was any romantic feeling, it didn't show.

"I just want her to find a good man that will treat her the way she deserves to be treated. That will give her lots of children and raise a good family," said Robert finally.

And not one that will use her sex. Or never be able to give her a family, thought Austin to himself. His stomach began to turn. Jenna would never be able to find what her father wished for her as long as she kept fooling around with Austin. As long as he tied her up, she'd never be able to date, marry, and give her father all the grandchildren he could ever want. The worst part was that he could offer nothing. He was still the same broken, infertile divorcé. Why would Jenna want a future with him?

"Austin, you still there? You got quiet on me," said Robert while playfully elbowing him in the side.

"Just thinking is all," said Austin quietly.

"I should stop babbling. You didn't come over here to hear an old man rant and rave like this," said Robert with a chuckle. "It's getting late, I should let you get inside!"

Austin swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's no problem. I just—"

"No, it's okay. Why don't you go back inside and make sure your cousin is still breathing in there," joked Robert. He knew far too many stories about JD already, one of their favorite topics of discussion.

"Okay, well, I'll talk to you soon," said Austin as he waved to the older man and went inside his house. As soon as he shut the door, he fell back against it. What had started as a friendly conversation had quickly turned on its head. What if he really was holding Jenna back? Would she be better off if their fling ended? Was he just a distraction?

The negative thoughts lingered on his mind for far longer than he wished. Just two days after Christmas, Austin found himself watching television in the main room of the apartment. It was midafternoon on a Saturday, and although the temperature was much closer to a typical December, there was no snow in the forecast whatsoever.

JD was home at the time and emerged from his room after a short while inside. By the look in his eyes and the easy way he glided across the living room, it was Austin's guess that he had recently partaken his secret stash of mushrooms.

"Yo, Austin, do you mind if I play a little Xbox?" asked JD as he came to the couch. He briefly petted a soft pillow on the side of the couch more times than he should, before sitting down gracefully and grabbing a controller.

"Go ahead," said Austin. "I was getting tired of watching that rerun anyway."

"Killer." JD fired up the game and started playing. It was a football game that Austin recognized from his youth but it was just the latest version of it. JD seemed almost as entranced with the game as he did with the graphics on the television set.

"Is it just me or is, like, the picture so much more vibrant?" asked JD with a clueless stare.

"It's just you," said Austin with a chuckle. "I thought you were going to lay off the 'shrooms for a while?"

"Maybe next semester," said JD with a shrug. He played a few downs on the game before turning to look at his cousin. "By the way, why aren't you at work?"

Austin laughed. "It's Saturday."

"Oh, right, right."

"You worry me sometimes, JD," said Austin.

"Yeah, I get that a lot really," said his younger cousin. "I think it wouldn't be so bad if I could just get laid a little more. I'm too damn horny all the time."

"I didn't need to know that," said Austin with a laugh.

JD grinned. "It's true man! I can only whack it to internet porn so often before I just get numb to it. I need a real, live girl in front of me. It's making me crazy!"

"Any girls you like in your classes?" asked Austin. "Or anyone you've seen around campus?"

"Meh," scoffed JD. "I don't really want to put in that much work in, like, actually asking a girl out."

Austin laughed. "You're hopeless. What are you going to do when you actually get out of college?"

"Just take it one day at a time," said JD with his carefully rehearsed answer. It was one Austin had heard before. With how much ribbing JD took about actually graduating and finding a job after school, it was only natural that he started to develop his own canned responses to the same questions.

As predictable as his cousin was, Austin was not prepared for his next response.

"Man, I need a situation like you got worked out with the girl next door."

The smile on Austin's face dropped. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you got it made in the shade, brother! She just comes on over here, you two go up to your room, bang it out for a while, and then she leaves. She never spends the night, doesn't nag, and she's cool as fuck. That's the ultimate situation, man! Your own personal hooker!"