Anna's Taboo Christmas Gift

After a minute of so, she relaxed and smiled, pulling her hand out of her pants. "Did you just..." Jimmy's voice was hesitant.

"Yup," she replied smugly. "Damn, I needed that. I've been on edge all day."

"That was...quick."

She turned her head to look up into his worried eyes. "Was it? Maybe. It's never been hard for me to cum. One of boyfriends in high school said I was like a guy that way."

"Oh." Jimmy subsided into a puzzled silence. Anna smiled and relaxed against him. Slowly, her brother's erection softened. Anna stifled a sad sigh. It was probably for the best, though. Even if she had dared to try to consummate her incestuous desire for her brother, Jimmy was obviously still trying to wrap his head around her being so sexually open. Anything more, and she would probably frighten him right out of the house.

Eventually, the movie ended, with the two lovers getting their happy ever after, and she got up with a stretch and a yawn. "Thanks, Jimmy." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'm heading off to bed. How about you?"

"Don't have a bed," he said, recovering the fleece and draping it over his body. "Guess I'll crash here."

Anna's mouth dropped open. How had she not noticed? Of course Jimmy's bed wasn't in his bedroom. She had helped him move into his apartment herself. And his old bed had been one of the things she and her parents had lugged up three flights of stairs. "You can't sleep on the couch for the next week!" she protested. "That's insane!"

"Well, I'm not driving back and forth every day to my apartment, either."

It was on her lips to offer Jimmy a spot in bed next to her. But she knew without asking that her brother would reject that notion out of hand. "Don't be silly. There's a perfectly good bed in Mom and Dad's room."

He stared at her. "Sleep? In their bed?"

"Well, why not?" Really. Men were impossible. They couldn't see the obvious unless you shoved it right in their face. "Come on."

She snapped off the TV and led him upstairs. "There's clean sheets in the linen closet," she said, stripping the bed. "And pillowcases. Clean blankets, too. Go get some. We can wash these tomorrow."

"It just feels...weird," Jimmy said, when he came back. He helped her as she tucked the fitted sheet under the corners of the mattress. "Sleeping in their bed."

"I don't think their ghosts are going to haunt you," Anna said gently. She snapped a blanket out and let it fall to the bed, then topped it with a heavy comforter. It was getting a little worn, she noted with a frown. "There's no way Mom would let you sleep on that couch and wreck your back instead of sleeping in a nice warm bed, with good blankets and fluffy pillows." She fluffed up the set of pillows for emphasis, and plopped them down at the head of the bed.

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll grab my suitcases and haul them up here." Jimmy shuffled his feet. "See you in the morning?"

Anna smiled. "I'm not going anywhere." She debated giving him a really good good-night kiss, but settled for a warm hug. "Sleep tight."

"You, too."

Chapter 5

Cleaning out the basement took two full days.

Jimmy had no idea his parents had squirreled away so much stuff down there, and he said so to his sister, as he hauled up an armload of board games he hadn't seen since he was thirteen or fourteen. The corners were absolutely stuffed with things that he hadn't set eyes on in years and years, but which his mother had apparently not had the heart to give away or throw out - games, toys, books, old electronics that didn't work, mismatched bits of furniture that had somehow found their way downstairs, and more. And that was without taking into account the boxes and boxes of clothes. Everything from his father's suits to old outfits from his and Anna's childhoods to his mother's maternity clothes.

"Good God," he groaned, opening up another box to find it packed full of child-size jeans, some of them so worn he could literally see the grass-stains that no amount of washing could entirely remove. "Did you know all this was down here?"

"Well, sort of," Anna smiled. "Me and my friends would sometime come down and play dress-up. Some of us would put on Mom's old dresses and the rest would put on some of Dad's old clothes, and we would pretend we were married. We thought it was hilarious. Mom would always make us put the clothes away when we were done, though."

"But why did she save all this?" he demanded. "She didn't think we were ever going to use it again, did she?"

"She probably saved some of the stuff because she thought we might be able to use it later," Anna said, resealing and labeling a box of baby clothes. "And as for the rest," she paused, lips pursed. "She didn't grow up rich, Jimmy. You know that. Grandpa worked at the John Deere plant for how long? Nearly forty years on the line? I mean, Grandma used to reuse tinfoil, for crying out loud. When you grow up around those sorts of habits, they kind of rub off. I bet Mom never threw this crap away because deep down she thought it was wasteful."

"Huh." He blew the dust off a box and sneezed. "Well, I don't see any reason to keep this stuff. It's all going to charity, unless you don't think it should."

By Monday afternoon, their third of cleaning out the house, Jimmy had broken down and rented a van. There simply wasn't room enough in his car for the boxes of old belongings, and he would be damned if he was going to drive back and forth to the donation center six or eight times a day to drop stuff off. And, despite Anna's suggestion, there was no way he was going to rent a dumpster and simply throw it all away. When his sister pointed out that he was following their mother's example, only in a slightly different direction, he merely snorted and shook his head.

Still, the house was slowly being cleaned out, despite the squinty looks he was beginning to get from the patient ladies at Goodwill when he rolled up with yet another load. Jimmy began to make tentative plans to finish the basement, if they decided not to sell. The weather set fair, clear and cold with a biting wind from the northwest that encouraged people to stay indoors. The only thing troubling his mind was Anna.

Jimmy had never thought his sister to be the silly, emotional type. She had never called him up at two in the morning, crying hysterically because some chump had decided to dump her. And she had certainly never displayed any sort of behavior that would embarrass him or his parents. There had no shotgun marriage, no rumors around town about how anyone who wanted to could get into her pants, or her bed. And although he hadn't been terribly impressed with any of the guys she dated, they had been her problem, not his.

But now, if he didn't know his sister, he would guess she was doing her level best to drive him absolutely insane with lust. But since he did know his sister, there wasn't any guessing about it. The question was, why?

Oh, Jimmy wasn't under any illusions where his own attractiveness was concerned. He was decent-looking and knew it. But he couldn't take much credit for it. His parents had passed good genes down to him, and he had found it didn't take a whole lot of preventive maintenance to keep him in shape. All he had to do was not clog his body up with a lot of junk food, the same way a guy who bought a really expensive car wouldn't fill the tank with shitty gasoline

But Anna...He had left for college before she hit her teens, and when he was in high school and dating, she hadn't been in the least bit interested in what he was doing, choosing instead to pester his girlfriends. So the uncomfortable years, when other siblings were sniping at each other out of pure sexual frustration, had never been an issue for them. He had been mostly out of the house before she got old enough to be interested in boys, and when she had started to get interested in them, he had mostly not been around.

Which made the encounter on the couch that first night all the more bizarre. It hadn't been the fact that they had both been turned on by a sexy movie. Hell, the flick had been rated R for a reason, so that was no big surprise. It had been Anna's wholehearted embrace of it, to the point where she had been rubbing her tight, sexy ass against his hard-on and casually masturbating, that had shocked him right down to his core.

Of course, his parents had been pretty open about sex as well. There had been a few nights when he was a teenager, when he had come home late from his after-school job at the electronics store to find his parents casually making out on the couch, as if they were kids instead of in their forties. But if they had taught Jimmy and Anna that sex wasn't something to be ashamed of, they hadn't walked around the house naked, either, or started playing with themselves out in the open.

And that first night had only been the start of it. The next morning Jimmy had stumbled downstairs, yawning and looking for breakfast, only to be confronted by the sight of Anna wearing a t-shirt that barely reached her waist, and not much else. Her long, slender legs had seemed to go on forever, and when she bent over to grab something from under the sink, the hem of the shirt had ridden up to give him a heart-stopping glimpse of a peach thong that didn't so much preserve decency as accentuate how indecent it actually was.

And things had only snowballed from there. For the past two days, Jimmy had been the recipient of more hugs, kisses and touches from his sister than he had received in two weeks from his most recent girlfriend. None of them had been overtly sexual, but all of them had served to remind him of just how damned sexy and attractive Anna was. When she hugged him, he couldn't think about anything other than how good her body felt against his. When she kissed his cheek, he replayed the kiss under the mistletoe. And when she gave him a passing caress on his arm or waist, all he wanted was for that touch to go on, become softer, more intimate. Tension had been building in him for days, until he was walking around with a semi-hard most of the time and swearing at himself for being some sort of deranged sicko. He hadn't even been able to engage in the most basic of relief efforts. Somehow, the thought of masturbating in his parents' bed seemed...weird, and slightly creepy, as if he might open his eyes to find their ghosts looking down at him, scandalized disapproval in their eyes.

He pulled the van up the house, parking it at the curb. It was Monday night, and Christmas Eve was four nights away.

And, he realized with sudden panic as he climbed out of the van, he was almost entirely unprepared for the holiday. Oh, he had bought a few things for Anna. But not anything close to what was needed. Although they hadn't talked about it, there had been an unspoken agreement between Jimmy and his sister that this would be a big Christmas. If he didn't get his act together, it would be a small, pathetic pile of presents under the tree.

At supper, he made a suggestion. "What do you say to going to the mall up at Oak Brook tonight? We can walk around, look at the Christmas lights, maybe get a little shopping done."

Anna smiled at him. "Do you need to get some shopping done, Jimmy?"

"Yeah. Kind of. I've been slacking a bit this year."

Anna took a bite of her meal. Steak fajitas, and pretty good, too, even though it had been a while since he had cooked for anyone but himself. "That sounds good to me. I've got some things I need to pick up, too." She made a face. "Wrapping paper, for one thing. I don't know if Mom ran out and just didn't buy any more last year, but I haven't been able to find any around here."

"Good." And thankfully, it would get them both out of the house. The place was seething with the kind of sexual frustration he remembered from his first real girlfriend in high school, where they had been so hot for each other it seemed like they never had enough time for themselves, and any opportunity to be alone led to clothes flying off like leaves in a windstorm. He pushed his chair back. "Let me know when you're ready to go."

Oak Brook Mall was different than most of the malls in the area. Instead of a cavernous indoor space, the shops all had outside entrances, and to get from one store to another, a person had to walk through stone-paved courtyards, laid out in twisting, mazelike patterns. Jimmy had never gone there without getting lost at least twice.

But during the holidays, it was a true wonderland. Carols were piped in over the sound system, and Christmas lights were strung overhead, bathing the entire area in a soft white glow. Some of the shops had set up outside, giving away food for free. Jimmy scored a big cup of hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream, while Anna opted for hot apple cider, garnished with cinnamon. As they walked, snowflakes spun down from overhead, just enough to dust the walkways with a sprinkle of winter white.

Jimmy took a deep breath, relaxing for the first time in days. He had made one stop already, buying Anna a set of wireless speakers. But he wanted to get her something else, too. He looked from side to side, trying to spot something good in the strorefronts.

"This is gorgeous," Anna said, tucking her hand into the crook of Jimmy's arm as they strolled through the narrow alleyways. "So much better than Yorktown or Woodfield Mall. Too cold, though."

"You could zip up your coat," Jimmy observed with a smile.

Anna leaned closer, her voice pitched low. "And then no one would be able to see my tits. And how much fun would that be?"

Jimmy nearly choked on a sip of hot chocolate. He turned away, coughing, trying not to splatter his sister. "Christ, Anna!"

"Oh, don't be such a party-pooper." She arched her back subtly. The cream cashmere sweater she was wearing did absolutely nothing to hide her incredible curves, and the light from overhead dappled her body with radiance, while sending other places into shadow. The effect was enough to make a red-blooded male howl. "You're only twenty-four, Jimmy. That's a long way from being dead." Her eyes narrowed. "Why don't you have a girlfriend, anyway? You're good-looking enough. Hell, when you were in college you were bringing a different girl home every couple of months."

He shrugged, looking down at his shoes. "College was easier. You'd see girls in classes every day. Or around campus, or when you went out on the weekend. Here," he shrugged again. "You have to put yourself out there. And since Mom and Dad...you know. I just haven't really felt like it."

Anna's voice was gentle. "Just because they're gone doesn't mean your life is over, Jimmy. They wouldn't want you to turn into a monk. Mom loved it when she thought you were getting serious with Kaylee a couple of years ago." She smiled. "I could see her making wedding plans every time you came over."

"Yeah. Kaylee." Jimmy's thoughts went dark. "I fucked it up with her good and proper, didn't I?"

"How?"

He grimaced in self-disgust. "I started to push. You know. Getting engaged. I didn't buy a ring, but I hinted at it, you know? Kaylee said she didn't think she was ready. We were only a couple of months out of college. She wanted time. Time to be sure we were right for each other.

"I was an idiot. In my mind, 'not now' became 'not ever.' I started to find things to be suspicious about, though I'm sure she never cheated on me. And I think she could sense I didn't trust her anymore. It all came to a head one night. How could she respect a man who didn't trust her?" He shrugged. "She ended it. And I deserved it."

"What a pisser." Anna crumpled up her empty cup and pitched it into a nearby trash bin. "Put your arm around me, will you?" she asked. "I'm freezing."

Jimmy obliged, and Anna snuggled close. Her arm closed around his waist, pulling him tight. "I love you, you know that, you big dumb jerk?"

He dropped a kiss on her blond head. "I know."

And then he nearly leaped out of his shoes as her hand snuck into the back pocket of his jeans and gave his left cheek a firm squeeze. "Urk!"

A nearby couple gave them a squinty look. Jimmy grinned, but the expression felt sickly on his face, and the narrow-eyed suspicion from the older pair only increased. But when Anna smiled cheerfully at them, they smiled back, as anyone with any sense did. "Relax, Jimmy," she hissed up at him as they passed by. "Don't act all weird."

"With your hand there?" he sputtered. "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with you?" she countered. "Can't you just relax and enjoy it?"

Thank God, a rescue loomed nearby. "I need to go in there," he said, nodding at a boutique clothing store. "And you're not invited."

"Oh." Instantly, Anna's irritation was washed away in a flood of holiday avarice. "Are you getting something for me?"

"Of course not," he tossed over his shoulder as he walked away. "I don't even like you."

"You big liar!"

Inside the clothing store, the air was blessedly warm and smelled of potpourri. "Can I help you?" a middle-aged woman asked as Jimmy wiped his shoes on the mat.

"I'm looking for sweaters," he said. "Woman's sweaters."

"Well, you've come to the right place. What size is she?"

"She's...ummmm." Jimmy gnawed his lower lip, his brow furrowed. "She's. Ummm." He scowled and gave up. "You see the girl in the blue coat outside?" he said, not turning around to look. "Blond hair, white sweater? The one who is pretending she isn't watching me?"

The older woman's eyes twinkled. "Yes. She's lovely. Girlfriend?"

"Sister."

"Oh. Pity. You'd make a cute couple."

He ignored that. "Can you take a guess at her size?"

"Oh, certainly." She led him over to a wooden table. "We have some lovely Aran Island sweaters here. Soft on the skin, but still warm. And they breathe wonderfully well, so even if the day gets a little bit warmer she won't get hot and sweaty."

Jimmy fingered one, then held it up. It had a scoop neck that made him imagine Anna wearing it. "Isn't it a bit...long?"

"Latest style," the woman said serenely. "All the way down to the hip. I bought some for my girls for their birthdays on store discount. They love them. Sometimes they'll even wear them with shorts."

A vision struck Jimmy, of Anna wearing one of these sweaters and absolutely nothing else. What would her glorious, sun-kissed body look like as he peeled it away from her? Would she try to hide behind her hands? Or would she embrace his forbidden desire?

Almost blindly, he reached out, choosing one in burgundy and a second in eggshell blue. "I'll take these."

"What did you get me?" Anna was almost bouncing as he walked out of the store.

"Socks. Thick, itchy socks that are too small for you and are exactly the wrong color."

"Did not! Let me see!" She reached for the bag.

Jimmy held it over his head, grinning as she jumped futilely. "Jimmy! You big jerk!"

"You'll see it on Christmas morning," he said. "Promise you won't try to peek?"

His sister scowled at him. "I promise."

He lowered the bag slowly, ready to raise it again if she tried to snatch a glimpse. But Anna merely lifted her chin and looked away. "Do you need to get anything?" he asked. The sweaters had put a big dent in his wallet. WrightFax paid him pretty well, but he really hoped Anna liked them. Because he wasn't going to be getting her anything else that was too extravagant.

"I...maybe." Her eyes focused on a familiar pink logo. "But not for you. For me."

Jimmy followed her, his smile turning wry. "I'll let you go in by yourself," he said as they reached the lingerie store. "Besides, I think I can get some wrapping paper at that place across the way. Meet you back here in twenty?"

"Sounds good," she said, with an absent wave.