Balance & Equilibrium

Jake removed his right arm from around her waist, brought his hand up to the side of her neck and proceeded to caress her slick skin with unparallel affection. Although that alone made her shiver with delight, he also brushed his thumb over her lips and along her cheek in time with the motion of his palm, which was really turning her to slush.

"So tell me how you feel," he said.

She felt her cheeks flush crimson. "I think it's obvious, don't you?"

Jake gave her a quick kiss on the lips and managed a small smile. "I'd like to hear it, that's all. Please?"

"You're not making this easy on me, are you?"

"Nope. C'mon, if you tell me how you feel, I'll return the favour."

Could she tell Jake that she loved him with all her heart? Was it possible to inform him that there were some nights where she lay in bed gazing at the glow-in-the-dark universe stuck to her ceiling, meticulously constructing conversations in her head not unlike this one, where she would tell him all, omit nothing?

Far too embarrassed to confess her heart to him under his intense scrutiny, Penny lowered her chin into the crook of his shoulder and brushed her lips against his ear. His hand scaled the side of her neck and ended its journey underneath her sopping ponytail, where it gently kneaded her flesh in a successful attempt to relax her jittery nerves.

It felt so nice being held in his arms, to be touching him like this. Although she had been in bodily contact with Jake all day long, this was the first time it had been sexual in nature.

"You really want to know how I feel?" Penny asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yes," he replied, the tone of his voice similar to Penny's.

"I…" She swallowed back a huge lump in her throat and forced herself to continue. "I…love you. I love you more than anything in the world."

Jake didn't say anything for what felt like a very long time, yet probably only amounted to a minute or two. Steeling herself for the worst, Penny gathered the courage to face him but was taken aback by what she was confronted with. Tears were streaming out of Jake's eyes, having travelled so far down his face that they threatened to drip off the edge of his jaw.

There's something to be said about seeing a grown man cry. Males the world over have this absurd notion that women want their men to be made of stone, both in their hearts and in their minds, when nothing could be further from the truth. Penny, as with practically every single one of her girlfriends, didn't want to be intimately involved with someone who was the emotional equivalent of a rusty blender.

Penny often believed that the strongest connections made between two people are when they are at their most vulnerable. Although she wasn't quite certain why Jake had opened up the floodgates, something tightened in her chest and her own eyes discharged a salty liquid of their own.

"You really love me?" Jake said, his voice resembling that of a child's.

Her arms tightened around his neck, making their bodies grind together with a host of pleasurable results. "More than anything in the whole wide world."

A brief silence floated over them and the only sound resonating through the room was the incessant 'ping' as each droplet of rain fell from the sky and collided with the aluminium roof. It was relaxing, especially when heard while embracing the man she was madly in love with.

"I have something I have to tell you," Jake said. He looked uncomfortable, as if what he had to say was bad news.

Another lump – or perhaps the very same one – slid up from her stomach and lodged itself in the back of her throat. "Okay?" she croaked.

"I think you better sit down."

They disentangled themselves from one another and Jake took her hand. He guided her over to her queen-sized bed and they sat down on the edge, both of them lacing their fingers together. Generally considered to be something of a neat freak, for once it didn't faze Penny that their clothes would dampen the linen that their butts were parked on.

"Well?" she enquired nervously.

Jake wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his suit jacket, took a deep breath and said, "Brian was in love with you."

Penny blinked and her skin broke out into millions of tiny goosebumps. "What?"

"We both fell in love with you the very day we met you. It was the first day of ninth grade and you'd moved to our town over the summer. Your dad transferred here for work, didn't he?"

"Yes," she said, giving a small nod.

Wanting to escape the 'big smoke,' her father, the store manager of a prospering menswear chain, had decided to pull up the stakes and move from the city of Melbourne to a medium-sized rural township in the countryside. Being something of a tomboy, it was no surprise that, upon her first week at Green Hills High, she'd struck gold in becoming instant pals with two of the town's most mischievous boys.

"I remember it like yesterday," he continued, "walking into the homeroom, that bloody air conditioner making that obnoxious rattle. Brian and I were chatting about something inane, probably how much we wished the summer holidays could go on for the rest of our lives, and then….we both saw you. I can't vouch for Brian, but the instant I laid eyes on you I knew that my heart belonged to you."

It was without a doubt the most romantic thing anybody had ever said to her. Despite the fact that she had unearthed a secret that her best friend had taken with him to the grave, all she could focus on were Jake's admissions of a love she reciprocated in kind. For now she wished to attend to the more positive aspects of what Jake had to tell her; there would be plenty of time later on to reflect on the morbid.

"Why didn't either of you ever tell me?"

"Fear," he replied simply. "Plain old fear. Both of us were terrified that we would ruin everything – our friendships with you and each other. We may not have had the same parents, but we were brothers. And I guess you could say that we made a silent promise to one another that we would never jeopardise what we had."

Penny tore her eyes away from Jake's and lowered her gaze to her lap. "I loved Brian so much, but I didn't love him the same way I love you."

It saddened her that she was already utilising the past tense whenever she referred to Brian. It was a healthy sign, but that didn't ease the pain that would be forever etched into her soul.

Operating again under that bizarre auto-pilot, Penny ascended from the mattress and unzipped her leather jacket. It slid away from her shoulders and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, but Jake grabbed her by the wrists before she could raise her t-shirt above her head. His hands were soft and warm, touching her with the tenderness of a cardiovascular surgeon operating on a patient's heart.

"Pen, we can't do this," he said.

"Why can't we?"

"Because…because it would be like I'm capitalising on Brian's death."

"Is that what you're doing?"

"Of course not," he said, letting go of her wrists.

Penny reached out with a tentative hand and cupped the side of his face, which was still slick with moisture. "Like you, I can't feel a thing." She wrapped the fingers of her other hand around his right wrist and guided his palm to the slope of her left breast. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"It's your boob," Jake said, his face turning as crimson as an overripe tomato.

She shook her head and laid her own hand flat against his, forcing it to press even firmer against her body. Having him touch her in this way made her heart gallop faster than Phar Lap, the famous racehorse that won the 1930 Melbourne Cup.

"Do you know what this is?" she repeated.

"It's your heart," he blurted, finally catching her meaning.

"And it feels so cold at the moment. For two days straight all I've felt is the sorrow of Brian's death. It's not that I want to forget about him, what I want is to feel something else other than this aching loneliness. I want to feel you, Jake. I need to touch you and kiss you and feel you deep inside me, because I'm so damn lonely at the moment. Not only that, I want to make you feel something, too. I want to make us feel alive."

"Oh, Pen," Jake whispered. His hand dropped away from her breast and she immediately felt her ass being groped through her denim jeans. Moments later she was pulled towards him and her legs banged against his. Not quite knowing what he wanted her to do, she climbed onto the bed and straddled his thighs, waiting until he'd retracted his hands before letting her rump use his knees as a seat.

Being the full-blooded male that he was, Jake's eyes became distracted by the fact that her breasts were barely inches away from his face. Rain had dribbled down her neck and had partially soaked her cotton t-shirt, which now clung alluringly to her unsupported breasts. Disappointment would've reigned supreme had he not taken this opportunity to have a nice long look at them.

Penny wrapped her arms around his neck and, taking this as his cue, Jake placed his hands on her hips. Eventually, after perving on her chest for what seemed like an acceptable period of time, his lovely eyes met hers, and they were tinged with just the right amount of playfulness and embarrassment.

Naturally his face was still streaked with melancholy – as was hers – but it was also apparent that, like Penny, he yearned to feel something else.

"I don't think he would see this as insulting his memory," she said. "If anything, I think he would be glad that we were making it through the day together."

Unlike a lot of men, Jake was constantly surrounded by an intoxicating aroma. Even when he was sweaty his odour was rather pleasant, but right now his natural scent, overlayed with the refreshing smell of Lynx Java deodorant, made her weak at the knees.

Everything about Jake made her moist: his intelligence, sharp wit, his compassion for others and the fact that he was one of the sexiest guys she'd ever encountered. His prowess in terms of bedroom antics had been a constant curiosity for her, especially late at night when, at the height of her sexual frustration, she would play with herself to the many vivid fantasies that starred her dear friend Jacob McCloud.

His hands drifted underneath her t-shirt and caressed the small of her back in lazy circles, sending a low voltage tingle coursing through her body.

"Do you still want me to take off my clothes?" Jake asked.

Penny's mouth curled into a smile. "Mhmm, I want you as naked as the day you were born."

"Care to give a guy a hand?"

"Of course."

Despite being a cheap, nameless electric heater, it had managed to raise the room's temperature to a level that would accommodate nudity without discomfort. Her slender fingers shook as she undid the buttons on his jacket, but she wasn't cold. A fuzzy warmth spread from her crotch like wildfire, heating various parts of her body that remained chilled from her saturated garments.

Jake seemed rather content to remain a bystander, leaving her to spread his jacket open and slide it down his arms. The next item to make an exit was his silk tie, its perfectly cinched knot falling apart with a gentle tug.

All of her movements were languid, more comparable to the animal with the shell than that of the fur in the classic race between turtle and hare. There was no rush. Everything would be experienced in its own due course; hurrying would only spoil the consummation of their love.

"You are so beautiful," he said, his eyes shimmering as they roamed hers. "I've wanted to tell you how beautiful you are for so long."

"Thank you," Penny whispered, and then kissed him. His lips kissed back with an uncharacteristic gentleness, surprising Penny because most of the men she'd kissed had generally been just a little too rough. But not Jake. His kisses were soft and deeply sensual, adding more fuel to the raging furnace between her thighs.

Getting hotter by the second, Penny used her arms as a fulcrum and pulled her torso against his, which was now covered only by his long-sleeve shirt. Her tongue eased from her mouth with the caution of a frightened turtle poking its head out from its shell, and then, when his mouth opened upon contact, she pushed her tongue inside and searched for his.

"Mmm," she sighed. Their hands rubbed at each other's bodies as their tongues toyed. His palms coasted higher up her back, caressing every contour of bare skin that was at his disposal.

It had been a full year since a man had kissed Penny, her last relationship having fallen apart yet again because she had still been in love with another man. This man. The man in her arms who was kissing her in a way that she'd never been kissed. Jacob McCloud, friend, companion…now also lover. That last part made her smile like a lovesick puppy, which halted their first make out session.

They moved their faces back and Jake offered her a warm smile. "What're you smiling about?" he asked.

"This," she stated. "Kissing you, touching you, loving you; it all feels better than I could ever possibly imagine."

"I don't think I've ever been this happyand sad at the same time."

Penny's smile faltered. "Do you still want to make love?"

"Yes, I most certainly do," he replied, his voice thick with emotion. "Sex is the last thing I expected today, but making love to you feels strangely right. I need you…I need you more than I've needed anyone in my life, and I'm not referring primarily to sex."

"I know that, silly," she said. And then a playful smile spread across her lips. "But you do need me for sex, right?"

One of Jake's hands slid out from underneath her t-shirt and cupped the back of her head. He leaned in and showered her face in light kisses, and then moved down to her neck where he nuzzled the tender most part of her throat. The fire between her thighs was burning so intensely that her hot juices started to leak from her entrance.

"Oh, God," she cried. "Y-you didn't answer my question."

Jake flicked his tongue against her earlobe and then sucked on the fleshy part, which was a major turn-on for Penny. His hands were constantly on the move, always rubbing and caressing her, stimulating her in some way, never once staying stationary for more than a second at a time.

"What question?" he breathed.

The question now seemed quite redundant, for it was self-explanatory that Jake definitely wanted to get inside her panties – not that she was wearing any.

"Sex," she whimpered. "Do you need me for sex?"

"Yes."

"Say the words. If I'm going to believe you, I need to hear you say them."

He gave her ear a goodbye lick, pulled away and took her face in his hands. A few beads of moisture had accumulated on his brow, while his face, which had been slick not two minutes ago, was now drier than the Sahara desert. There was a particular look in his eyes that made her want to close her legs and squirm about, because it was without a doubt the very look a man gives a woman when he wants to spend hours playing with what he sees.

"Penelope Louise Baker, I need to make love to you. I've never needed to make love to someone as much as I need to right now."

"Good," she purred. "Because if you had've told me that you loved me only for my mind, I would've been a very angry young woman."

They shared another heart-melting kiss, one consisting of passionate murmurs, sliding tongues and quivering lips. Keeping their hands off one another was nigh on impossible. Not only was Jake a fantastic kisser, he also knew how to handle a girl – never once did he touch her in a way that wasn't sexy.

Why oh why didn't she save herself the heartache and confess her love for him sooner?!

She started undoing the buttons on his shirt with a blind clumsiness, not wanting to relinquish the sensation of his massaging tongue just yet. The last button escaped its home and Penny spread his shirt open. Without having to be told, he dropped his hands away from her body so that she could slide his shirt down his arms.

A carpenter's apprentice by trade, Jacob McCloud's body was in tip-top condition due to the physical nature of his job. Hefting heavy bags of cement, constructing framework, fixing heavy sheets of plaster to the walls and ceilings of houses; all this kept his physique lean and very easy on the eye. Not only that, he also maintained a strict dietary routine that made Penny blush with shame.

Penny removed her tongue from his mouth and gulped in some much-needed oxygen. "Oh wow," she huffed, "you really know how to kiss."

His hands, now mobile after the removal of his shirt, zeroed in on the hem of her t-shirt and tugged the fabric up her body. The material flew up her torso with the velocity of a sail being raised on a yacht, and with reaction time born from playing tennis since she was five, she raised her arms before her t-shirt's journey was impeded by her armpits.

The t-shirt flailed away and Penny was left nude from the waist up. "You're so gorgeous," Jake sighed, letting his gaze wander back and forth between her face and her breasts.

Smudges of pink materialised on her cheeks and she felt her skin burn as if branded by a big 'E' for embarrassment. Already stiff from being chilled by the icy rain, her nipples ached under his admirable gaze. They desperately wanted stimulation – to be played with, licked and sucked.

"Steady on, cowboy. I wouldn't gothat far." She cupped her breasts and gave them a generous squeeze. "I wish that these were a little bigger."

"They're beautiful, just like every other part of you."

Jake brushed her hands aside and filled his palms with her soft, pale flesh. The reason why the male species were fascinated with breasts would be forever lost on Penny (something to do with being breast fed, wasn't it?), but right now she was indebted to whatever drove men crazy for them. It didn't just feel good – it felt spectacular! And when Jake caressed her nipples with his thumbs, she arched her back and expelled a gasp of pleasure.

"Does this feel good, Pen?" Jake asked.

"Uh huh," she groaned.

"How about this?" He trapped her pebbly nipples between both thumbs and forefingers and squeezed, first gently and then, when they were harder than two small uncut diamonds, his pinches became a little firmer.

She screwed her eyes shut and her mouth fell open in a silent moan. The growing itch between her legs was rapidly causing her discomfort, and if left unscratched it may leave irreparable psychological damage. But for now Jake seemed content with getting her worked up by teasing her nipples instead of attending to the major artery of her sex drive.

"Suck them," she gasped, still staring at the backs of her eyelids.

Seconds later his hands disappeared and she tensed at the absence of his loving touch, but relaxed once again when she felt his tongue lick the areola of her left breast. He tormented her nipple, never allowing his tongue to pass over the stiff nub as it explored the entire landscape of her juicy melon. Unable to withstand the torture of being teased any longer, she forced her breast against his mouth and then drove the nipple between his lips, not before grabbing the back of his head and lacing her hands through his hair – a precautionary measure in case he dared to have the gall to escape.

"Oh, God," she cried softly. "Mmm, that's it, suck it."

His mouth created a tight vacuum and his lips milked her nipple, leaving his hands free to wander the silky smooth contours of her back. It was at this point that her free hand navigated its way between their bodies and touched down on the crotch of her jeans, proceeding to undo the cool metallic button and manipulate the zipper until all the spiky teeth had parted company.

Cool air rushed in and assaulted the slick outer lips of her pussy, but this was merely an illusion. The temperature of the room was more than adequate – that little electric heater had been a real find! – it was the molten heat emanating from the epicentre of her arousal which was the real culprit.