Another Favor

A very heartfelt Thank You to Erik Thread for his fabulous editing. His skills make your reading pleasure better.

*

Leaving town for a while was the smartest thing to do. He needed to get away after a startling end to a relationship he once felt was going to be permanent. At least leaving town sounded like a good idea, but he wasn't sure where to go. He didn't care to stay around and risk running into her or her lover and he didn't want to go on a vacation. He wasn't in a vacation mood.

When his brother called asking for a favor, he groaned. He'd done favors for his younger brother before and almost always regretted it. Little favors usually turned into huge projects.

"Come on, Jake. Samantha can do without you in her bed for a few days."

"It's not that, Billy."

"Look, just come for a few days so I know I have someone here at the house. Maybe I can find somebody to help with the dogs. All you need to do is be here."

"If, and that's a big if, but if I decide to do it when do you need me to be there?"

"Oh, well, I really need you from Friday to the next Monday, but I'll take what I can get. Cathy has to go to some license retention things all week. I thought we could spend the two weekends together, and if you can do this favor for me, we can have nights, too."

"Billy! That's ten days!"

"Come on, Jake, you never take any time off. Cathy and I need this time together. The kids, the dogs, her shift work, and my hours, we're not having any time to ourselves."

"No, no, no, I'm not going to house sit, babysit, and take care of all the dogs."

"Wait, wait, the kids are going to Cathy's mother. I can arrange for someone to feed and exercise the dogs. I just need someone in the house. You know, answer phone calls, take messages, and explain the upcoming class schedules. I have a major dog food delivery coming Tuesday and some leash and harness deliveries due sometime during the week. I just need a warm body. Bring Samantha with you, if she doesn't mind missing a day or two of shopping. Hey, man, you can finally tan that white ass of yours."

Jake laughed, even if it was half-hearted. He didn't have many reasons to laugh. The two brothers had teased each other since high school about having a white ass, although Jake's legs were just as white as his ass. Billy claimed that if his wife could wear a thong bikini, he could too.

"Okay, okay," Jake answered, but he didn't feel like letting his brother find out about the break-up with Samantha. Instead, he said, "I have some time coming. I'll call you in an hour or so to let you know if I can take the whole week."

"Hey man, I appreciate it, but get the Friday and Monday, too. It takes a whole day for the airport hassle, flights, and hotel stuff."

Fortunately, when he approached his boss, the man suggested Jake take a month off, and offered to pay him while he was gone. Charles Benys wasn't happy his own daughter suddenly jilted one of his most valued employees and a man he had suspected might soon become his son-in-law. He crossed his fingers that Jake would return to work at the end of the month. Charles couldn't understand what had gotten into Samantha.

- - -

Even when he arrived at his brother's house after a three hour drive, Jake still couldn't bring himself to talk about why Samantha didn't come with him. He must have given enough of an excuse to keep Billy and Cathy from asking any more questions. Besides, they were busy packing. There were also instructions Billy needed to give Jake about how to handle calls to the office telephone, and Cathy's parents arrived to take the three pre-teen children.

They went to bed so late and got up so early that Jake barely had time to tell Billy and Cathy "Good morning," and then say, "Have a nice trip."

Minutes later, he found himself alone in a large, rambling, country-style house, with nothing to look forward to but silence, a telephone that rang occasionally, and time to think. Bless Cathy's heart, he didn't even need to spend much time in the kitchen. She must have cooked for days before Jake arrived, although she said she just cooked a little extra each meal and put it in the freezer for Jake.

It was still early, but as he had promised himself, he was working on his tan. After swimming a few laps, he stretched out on one of the long wood-framed rope beds he'd helped Billy make, another one of those brotherly favors. Jack had the woodworking skills, Billy had the tools, and together they stretched and wove the ropes. Then Cathy made the cushions.

SMACK!

"Hey, Billy! You better put some sunscreen on that white ass." The slap on his ass, plus the laughter brought Jake to his feet faster than he had moved in a long time.

"Oh damn." Expressing her surprise, a tall slender woman was backing away ... at least she got as far as the edge of the pool before she fell in.

Jake found himself standing stark naked. Unconsciously, he rubbed what was probably a red handprint on his ass. However, his attention was on a fully-dressed woman splashing in the pool, laughing and slinging long wet hair over her head to get it out of her eyes.

The woman pointed at Jake, "You're not Billy." Sinking down, she came back up, finally getting her hair out of her eyes, but she laughed again.

"Right!" Jake responded, looking around for something to wear or wrap around him.

"But your ass is just a cute as Billy's." The woman was still laughing as she swam to the shallow end of the pool.

Abandoning his search, Jake sat down on the edge of the rope bed. "How the hell do you know Billy has a cute ass?"

"Oh, I've seen it a time or two. A man's thong bikini doesn't hide much." The young woman answered as she climbed up the interior steps of the pool, while she unbuttoned her shirt.

"Who are you?" Jake asked. This conversation was becoming curious.

"Janet Beyer. I'm dog sitting while Billy has some quality time with Cathy. Who are you?"

"I'm Jake Tranton, Billy's brother."

"Ah ha, big brother Jake. I've heard of you." Janet pulled her shirt off, squeezed the excess water out, and draped it over a chair. "How did he convince you to house sit? I turned him down." While pulling down her jeans, she stepped on the heels of her low boots and stripped down to her underwear.

Jake hesitated a moment and finally said, "I just needed to get away."

"Female problems, huh?" Janet said as she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra then dropped it haphazardly on the table.

Jack nodded but didn't respond as he watched Janet hook her thumbs in the waist of her panties and bend over to pull them down her legs as her full breasts jiggled gently from her movements. Her hard nipples pointed straight down to her feet.

"What did she do, kick you out?" Janet looked up from pulling her underwear down. Jack was almost on his feet by the time she straightened up and lifted each individual leg to step out of her panties. Then she bent over again while she pulled her socks off and picked them and her panties up.

"No, I..." Jack stopped to clear his throat as he suddenly remembered he was naked and settled back to his seat. "No, I asked her to leave."

"Isn't that sort of unusual?" Janet asked as she squeezed the excess water out of her panties, spread them on the table beside her bra, and then did the same with her socks. "Don't guys usually move in with the woman?"

He was on his feet again when she pulled her hair over her shoulder and squeezed it allowing the water to run down the center of her chest and disappear in the closely trimmed hair covering her mound.

"Maybe some men do, but I don't. Samantha didn't actually live with me. She just had her things all over my house. I told her to take her stuff when she left."

"Don't give her an excuse to come back, huh?" Janet looked around for a moment then walked to the building that housed the swimming pool equipment. Jake watched the cheeks of her ass wiggle with each step, and sway when she opened the double doors to pull a towel from one of the holders inside the door.

"Something like that, I guess," Jack replied as Janet leaned over, slinging her hair around her head, and wrapped the towel around it before straightening up. Her full breasts moved as her arms tucked in the towel.

Janet cocked her head to one side and asked, "So, do you have some dry clothes I can wear? Or do you have other plans for that," she nodded at the growing erection Jake was no longer making an effort to hide.

Jake raised one eyebrow and asked, "What did you have in mind?"

Janet nodded her head a couple of times, put one hand on her hip and replied, "I haven't had a good fuck in a couple of months and that one looks like it could really do a good job."

"Sorry," Jake replied as he walked past her, heading toward the back door of the house. "I don't 'fuck.' Rarely, I 'have sex' with a willing partner, but most of the time I prefer to 'make love' to a woman. Come on, I'll find something dry for you to wear."

Janet moved quickly, catching his arm as he reached for the back door, "Wait a minute. Explain that."

Jake turned and placed one hand on her breast and heard the sharp intake of her breath. "You have beautiful breasts, Janet." He put his other hand against her mound and curled his fingers between her legs. "I imagine I would find you very wet and welcoming. Your body arouses me," He took a step away from Janet and carefully enunciated each word, "but, I - don't - fuck. Got it?"

Janet released her hold on him and dropped her arm, "Well, hell. Jake, it's just a word." She sounded exasperated. "What's the difference?"

Jake opened the door into the house and stood back a moment to allow Janet to walk ahead of him. "There is a great deal of difference, at least to me." He stepped into the house behind her, closed the door, and put his hand on her shoulder to turn her around.

"Fucking is insensitive, unemotional, and there's no pleasure in it. It's a body function like breathing or pissing."

Janet's eyes searched his face, waiting for some sign that he was joking or not really being serious. When she saw the sincerity of his belief, she asked, "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Do you think we could find something of Cathy's to fit you?"

"Yeah," Janet replied turning to the hallway leading to the bedrooms, talking as she walked toward the master bedroom. "I just need something dry and maybe her boots will fit me if I wear two pair of socks. I still need to wash down the kennels."

Taking his eyes off Janet's naked body going down the hall, Jake opened the door of the guest room and went inside to dress. He was back down the hall a few minutes later, finding Janet wearing a pullover top Jake remembered seeing Cathy wearing. She was wearing a pair of jeans that looked a little loose, but she'd found a belt to hold them up. Janet was sitting in one of the chairs beside a small table pulling a second sock on each foot, with Cathy's waterproof boots beside the chair.

"Did you find what you needed?" Jake inquired.

"Yes, thank you. Almost everything that fits Cathy is a little large for me. My legs are longer, but these should work."

"Great, I'm having a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Would you like to join me?"

Janet looked up, surprised at the offer. "Yeah, sure, what can I do to help?"

"I think I can handle it. If you like, I'll wait for you to finish your work," Jake offered and watched Janet's breasts moving beneath the loose pullover top as she tugged on Cathy's boots.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate getting the kennels clean before it gets too hot."

His erection had not fully subsided, and probably wouldn't while this young woman was anywhere near him. However, now that she was wearing clothes, he could at least breathe without gasping at each step she took. He could also walk without banging into walls or knocking his head against door facings. He wasn't usually so strongly attracted to a woman, particularly when he first met one, but this young woman was something different from those he was accustomed to being around.

What possessed him to make such a ridiculous statement as they entered the house he did not know. Perhaps it was her statement that she hadn't had a good fuck in a couple of months that triggered his objection. It may have been caused by her assumption that because he had an erection, he could give her a really good fuck.

He was not prepared to admit to her that the first thing he did after closing his bedroom door was to lift the hand he had placed between her legs and smell his fingers. He particularly did not like acknowledging to himself that he put his fingers into his mouth to see if he could taste her. He knew she had been wet when he touched her, he thought from the swimming pool. Yet, when he tasted his fingers, he knew it was a different kind of wetness.

If Jake had learned one thing from his recent experience with Samantha Benys, it was that a woman could fake her enjoyment of sex so well that her partner would never discover her duplicity. He was not so naïve that he wasn't aware some women were quite masterful at faking their orgasm. However, there was something wrong, when a woman professed to love a man and left his bed to go to another man, where she said, "I need you to pound my pussy, big boy. Jake Tranton is a lousy fuck and I need a hard cock in my cunt."

That he had heard the words coming from a speaker telephone in the office down the hall from his own merely added insult to injury. Knowing he worked with the man who was having a conversation with the woman he was considering asking to be his wife made Jake even more sensitive to a much younger woman speaking about her lack of having a good fuck in several months. Even if his body did not display indifference, Jake was not prepared to prove his prowess, or demonstrate anything to this young woman.

*** While Jake prepared lunch, he learned Janet occasionally worked part-time for Billy and also volunteered at a local animal shelter. She was in her third year of college, intending to stay in school until she was a licensed veterinarian, small animals her specialty. She still lived at home with her parents but had quite a bit of freedom because her parents had refinished a storage room above their garage and turned it into a small apartment for her.

"What's your secret?"

"Secret?"

"Yeah, what's your secret?" Janet repeated. "You know, I've probably eaten several hundred grilled cheese sandwiches, but I never had one as crispy."

"Sourdough bread," Jake answered and watched the surprised look on Janet's face.

"I'm surprised," Janet responded and then took a deep breath. "May I ask another question?"

"I'm not real sure," Jake responded and saw the confusion on her face. Before she could say anything, he told her, "I was sort of anticipating your question. I assumed you were going to ask about our earlier discussion."

When Janet nodded, he explained, "I've done both, or rather, participated in both. I no longer care for just a good fuck. I'll be blunt, if you don't mind. I can masturbate and get about as much satisfaction. If I'm with a woman I care about, I'd much rather make love to her so I can expect the same from her."

"Is that what went wrong? You know, with the one you're avoiding, asked to leave, or whatever?"

"Sort of, yes. It's a little more complicated than that, but for our conversation you can assume that's the main reason."

"She didn't love you?"

"Janet, how old are you?"

"Not that it makes any difference, but I'm almost twenty-two."

"Why do you think it makes no difference?"

"I don't know. People always think someone my age is immature and doesn't understand things like that. See, I think that's not fair. I suppose I know what love is, or maybe I know what love isn't and I know what a good fuck is." Janet laughed lightly and grinned, "Yeah, I see you sort of wince every time I use that word, but I don't have another one."

"You're probably right. It's about as good a word as any other. I just don't care to see it spoken by such a pretty mouth." At hearing the compliment, Janet's head jerked up from refolding her paper napkin. She blushed and leaned back in her chair when Jake said, "It's a mouth I think I'd enjoy kissing. Hearing a vulgar word coming from your lips startles me."

"Would you? I mean, would you kiss me?"

"No."

"No?" Janet sounded surprised, "Why not?"

"Because you will fantasize that it's someone else. Does he know?"

Janet shook her head, "I don't think so." She did not bother to lie, "How did you know?"

"Oh, I saw you looking at their bed. You ran your hand across the back cushion of his recliner and you're sitting in his chair. That tells me you know quiet a lot about Billy and Cathy. Only because I know about them too, do I know that you have no hope of attracting him away from her."

"I wouldn't try."

"I believe you, and I also understand what infatuation is."

Janet laughed a little, but it wasn't really a happy laugh. "He's a special man, it's hard not to like him, I mean like that. I know how important he and Cathy are to each other, I guess something like that is what every woman wants from a man."

"She is right to expect it, but she must also give him that kind of a commitment. Can you do that?" Jake paused for a moment, "I think the appropriate phrase is 'forsaking all others'. Can you do that?"

"Forsake all others for one man? Yeah, I understand. Okay, for the sake of argument, what man? Give me the name of a man, tell me about him, and assure me he will do the same for me. Yeah, I can do that."

"Okay, here's your chance. I'm the man. What do you want to know? Remember when you want to know something about a man to whom you will give your full attention and affection, you must expect that he has those same rights to know about you and he can expect your full attention and affection."

"It's a challenge, like a game, right? How long do I have until I win and what's the reward?"

"It's not a game, Janet. It's real life. I'll be here for another ten days. That means today, the weekend, all week, another weekend, and then all day the next Monday. As to reward, what do you want?" He paused for a moment but when she didn't answer he added, "If you can't decide what you want, I'll give you until Thursday night to name your reward. Fair?"

Janet offered her hand, "You got a deal."

Jake stood, offered his hand for the traditional handshake, and as Janet grasped his hand, he pulled her to her feet, put his arms around her, and kissed her. Janet was so surprised she did not resist, nor did she instantly respond. It took her a moment to realize what he had done, and then she joined in the kiss. It was a long, slow kiss, gentle and soft, with his arms around her, holding her close and comfortably against himself, and her arms found their way around him.

Jake broke the kiss, but he did not release her from his embrace. He smiled, "I think you just learned something, didn't you? You kissed me without thinking about anyone else and you enjoyed our kiss."

Instead of a comment on the kiss, Janet surprised Jake, "How old are you?"

Jake took a step back and started clearing the dishes off the small table in the kitchen where they had eaten lunch. He shook his head in amusement, but he answered her question. "I'm thirty-four Janet. Does that bother you?"

"Where did you go to school?"

"You're not going to waste any time, are you?" Jake grinned, "Okay, I have an MBA from Wharton and a JD from Harvard."

"A lawyer, you're a lawyer?" She didn't bother to hide her surprise.

"Yep, but it's not what you think. My profession is business. The law degree is about knowledge."

"Why did you tell the woman to leave?"

Jake paused before he answered. That pause, in itself, had to let Janet know he was considering what he would tell her. Instead of glossing over his answer, he used the fewest words necessary, allowing them to fall into the empty hole left by his silence, letting Janet come to her own decisions about what he said.