Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 03

He took his Chinese herbs every evening just before bedtime and was feeling much better about himself, even with the dreams.

Although he knew he physically was miles ahead of where he was earlier in the summer, he still was self-conscious about his condition. He was afraid that he would somehow lapse back into what he was before and wanted to wait.

There had been several times when she refused to have him orally pleasure her if it meant that he wouldn't be able to have intercourse with her and it led to a chilling evening. He tried to explain that he was willing, well, that was the wrong word... that he was happy to please her and worship her body for the gift that it was.

In the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, Bethany Rose moved her leg against her husband's thigh and quietly placed her hand on him. He almost dropped the bowl he was holding as her hand massaged him through his pants.

Jim hurriedly passed the mashed potatoes down the table to John, Jr. who had finally returned just in time for dinner. Sitting next to Junior was Albert Burguns, the coral reef biologist who had been his mentor the last five months.

Burguns' plate was heavily piled high with food and he ate like a man approaching his last meal. "Thank you so much for the invitation to stay... I really lost track of time... I mean, while I was out there. I haven't had anything to eat but fish and rice for months."

He seemed reluctant to say anything other than they collected a tremendous amount of information that now needed to be gone over. He estimated it might take a year or so to write and publish a report.

He looked at Jim, strangely enough, John noticed, for some support. There was something going on between the two men, Jim and Albert, which he didn't understand.

Jim was looking at his wife who smiled back innocently. She continued to move her hand back and forth, occasionally stopping to feel and squeeze.

He cleared his throat as he felt the heat building. "Excuse me... I'll, uh, be back in a moment." He held his napkin loosely in front and then turned and went, almost ran to their bedroom.

Right behind him was Bethany who practically rushed him into the room and locked the door. Pushing him down onto the bed, she swiftly unzipped his pant and freed his almost burning erection and hiking up her skirt, she moved above him and then forcefully came down, burying him deeply inside her, her moist heat driving him insane, her moist heat that was holding him, squeezing him, her moist heat that he had missed for months, now.

"Oh, thank you, Jesus, Jimmy... how much I've missed this... damn, this is good." She began to rock back and forth, holding her breasts tightly through her blouse, forcing him against her and she could feel the warmth spreading through her as it began to build. "mmmmffffff," was all that she could say and she so quickly shuddered three, four, incredibly five times before she slowed enough to catch her breath.

"And... now, to finish..." She began to move her body up and down, finding a rhythm... an ancient rhythm and she could feel him swell even larger and then he grabbed her by her waist and she could feel him drench her over and over until they both were done as she trembled again, twice, more, more, and more. It seemed to continue forever.

"My God, Jimmy, where have you been?" She collapsed onto his chest, not caring about her still healing wrist. With her head next to his, she whispered the things she knew he liked to hear and what she wanted later that evening.

Thanksgiving, indeed...

Eventually, their breathing slowed enough they were able to get up from the bed, wash and redress themselves. Bethany touched his cheek. "Thank you, Jimmy... I had been so worried about you... about us... damn, that was quick."

"I love you, Bethany." That afternoon with the Chinese girl surfaced from his subconscious. As embarrassed, as shamed as he was with what she had done, she HAD saved his ability to make to love his wife and for that, he would always smile when he thought of her. She and her grandfather's herbal remedies put a new context to the idea of 'Chinese take-out.'

The time they had been gone left the rest of the diners self-conscious, all except Eliza, laughing quietly, knowing full well what her sister had done and why.

Their guest, however, continued to fill his plate several times, remarking occasionally on the juiciness of the turkey or the tangy sweetness of the cranberry sauce or the nutty taste of the stuffing. Throughout the meal, the four daughters watched as he ate as if he were a condemned man with his last meal.

While the two lovers were working out their frustrations in bed, at the dinner table, John was working out his own frustrations with their dinner guest.

"So, exactly what did you learn, Mr. Burguns?" John, at first interested in finding out what his adopted son, Junior, had been doing, and was now suspicious he continued to press the issue. Studying coral... seemed like a waste of time... the reefs were just there, that's all. There had to be more to it than that. That's just stupid.

"Please, just call me Al... that's fine. Well, you see, there's been a little worry... well, that's not right... there's been a lot of worry in some of the research facilities about the reefs. We've been trying to determine the effects of oil on the little creatures and the other animals that live on the reef."

"I thought it was just rock, under there, I mean," said John. "I mean, after all, it IS just rock, isn't it?"

"Well... yes and no... you see, the reefs are made up of the... well, lets just say that they are alive and when they die, what's left forms a heavy rock that mostly likely will become limestone... maybe... probably..."

Burguns put another spoonful of cranberry sauce into his mouth, signaling he was through giving his short, dull and somewhat inadequate science lesson. It almost was as if he wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

John wasn't interested in the actual biology; he wanted to know what his son had been doing all this time. He decided there was something going on that Burguns was either hesitant or refusing to explain.

"What exactly WAS Junior doing?" His voice started to show his frustration. The children around the table knew that John was about to lose his temper. They had only see him get that mad twice and not for at least three years. Whatever was bothering him was important, that they knew, and wondered why their visitor wasn't telling him what his Junior had been doing.

Burguns looked for support from Jim but neither he nor Bethany had returned to the table.

"John, he is our guest and it's Thanksgiving," Eliza said, sharply. "Let's not worry about a bunch of stupid rocks. Rocks is rocks, who cares?"

John looked at all five children looking at him and felt ashamed. He had gotten angry during dinner... Thanksgiving dinner. "I... I apologize... I... look, I should have spoken to you later... will that be all right?" Damn it, he thought, it's my house and I have the right to know what's going on, especially with my own son.

"I would like that, yes. I'm not trying to hide anything... well, not really, but there are... I'll just wait. Thank you.

"Could I have some more white meat, please?"

The dinner conversation shifted to other things, mostly of no consequence... typical dinner conversation with guests.

John didn't like Burguns, that he was sure of... and, he didn't like being made to look foolish in front of his family. Burguns... he was going to be given a lesson in manners.

The last piece of piece of whipped cream strawberry pie went to Jim who shared it with Bethany Rose, a bite at a time. They had missed a lot of dinner and were now picking through whatever leftovers there were still on the kitchen countertop.

Bethany looked up at the rest of the family. "What?"

She was met with a gale of laughter from her sister.

Later that evening, the three men met on the veranda, looking out into the darkness. Jim had walked around, making sure there were no listening children anywhere near...

"They all should be in bed, by now, don't you think?

"Bethany," he almost shouted, "all the children are in their rooms, right?"

"Yes, dear, you know that. Can I get you anything?"

He looked at his two companions. Heads nodded 'no' and she left, closing the French doors behind her.

"All right, let's talk," he said. "I asked Al, here, to spend Thanksgiving with us... well, with you and me, really, so that I could get his report and he could tell you what Jr. had experienced.

"Yes, I know Jr. could have told us but it probably would have been colored by his own teenage naiveté and you needed to hear it from the horse's mouth, as it were."

As the night progressed, John moved across a range of emotions, anger, interest, dispassionate listening, frustration and finally confusion.

"The whole trip was a ruse?" he asked.

"Oh, no, the information collected will be quite valuable and has already been turned over to several universities, including UCLA, Berkeley and USC. They're the ones that are actually going to write it up..."

"So... you're not a scientist?" asked John. His grip on the Adirondack chair was starting to hurt his fingers.

"Yes, I am... but, I'm also working with the Office of Naval Intelligence.

"Before you get upset, Mr. Franklin, at no time was your boy ever in any danger. As a matter of fact, he never left the islands here. I had him in the lab typing up reports or with me just offshore at Kauai for some practical experience. I even gave him a personal aquarium to keep specimens in and learn color photography. He had a great time... I'm happy to say that he's learned a lot of skills that should do him well when he's older."

John looked pleased and still had an underlying current of anger. If that was all there was too it, why didn't he just say so at the dinner table instead of acting like it was some great state secret?

"Why didn't you just come out and say so? What's so damn hard about that?"

"I'm afraid some of that's my fault, John," said Jim. "I should have told you ahead of time but I got so caught up in... well, you know, with the Chinese herbalist..." He gave his friend a look, one of seeking understanding and one of seeking forgiveness.

"Yeah, I can understand that, I guess, and tonight, I noticed you and Bethany were taking care of business, there..." John started laughing, a deep from the heart laughing. "I guess no harm, no foul. All right, so what were YOU doing there while Jr. was watching the fish and rocks?"

Burguns looked at Jim, seeking permission to talk and was met with a silent assent.

"I was spying on the Japs... over towards China and trying to keep Chiang and Mao from killing each other and direct them toward fighting the Japanese. Those two are going to go at each other as soon as they can when the dust settles.

"Last year, the Japanese signed a military alliance pact with the Germans and the Italians. When we get involved, it's going to be an incredibly deadly conflict, a truly worldwide war. I don't know what it would take to stop them... with their God damn so-called 'samurai code of ethics.' What crap... I've already seen the atrocities they've committed on the Chinese and God help us when we have to go up against them."

John sat there; trying to digest it all... the implications were mind-numbing. He knew his brother-in-law and best friend, Jim, was neck-deep in political intrigue but to hear it from someone else was just unsettling.

"How much do the girls know? How much does Jr. know?"

"Not a damn thing," both Jim and Al responded. They looked at each other and began laughing.

"Well, I'm glad that someone can laugh at all this.

"Jim, you got anything worth drinking in the house?"

Before Jim could answer, Al pulled out a silver flask and passed it over to John. "Here," was all he needed to say and John took a long pull on the flask.

"Damn, I haven't had a drink in years but no time like the present."

The next morning, Bethany tried to disentangle her leg from her husband's without waking him. The holiday had given her a rare chance to spend a wild night with him beneath the sheets. Even though he had come to bed late, she had waited up for him and met him just inside the bedroom door as her sarong slipped to the floor and he came to attention in more ways than one.

She thought back to the night before... He had sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her on the bedspread as she smiled at him.

She felt his finger moving on her breast, then her nipple... "Chocolate," he murmured and put his tongue down on her... licking and bringing it tight and hard.

His tongue moved down to her belly, swirled around for a few moments and then headed deep into her being, slitting her open and then, first one side and then the other, finally surrounded her clit and began to lightly suck.

She went crazy at his touch, there. Jesus, she thought, wanting to shout as loudly as she could, children and guest be damned for all she cared. It was as exciting, as wild as that first night, that first Christmas night when she came to his room and offered her heart and body to him.

His hands cupped her cheeks and pulled up; then pushing his face into her crotch, the pressure set off the first orgasm of the evening as she gripped his head and pulled on his hair.

Even through the hair-pulling pain, he refused to stop and brought her off again, twice more. The shimmy of her hips told him that he had accomplished his goal for the evening and was happily surprised since only a short while had passed since their 'thanksgiving dinner' sex.

He stood up next to the bed and gently raised her legs up against his chest before sliding into her. She was so aroused and still excited from dinner he was able to push on in completely. This time, she was silent. With closed eyes, she turned her head right and left in rhythm with his strokes and he kept moving.

Following their earlier bout only hours ago, he was able to hold back his orgasm for a long time until she said, "God damn it, do it! I want it!" She interrupted herself with another orgasm and she shook hard against him.

He wanted to ask her if she was sure but she began to squeeze her legs together. He couldn't hold back after that and exploded again.

Jim was amazed. He would have thought after dinner... but forgot to think about it again when he came once more. He tried to stop pushing, hearing the sloppy noise as he entered but she had locked her ankles behind him and wouldn't let him escape her grip.

Finally, he had to stop... he wasn't able to continue no matter what she did. Breathing hard, he pulled her feet apart and kissed them, one and then the other, sucking on her little toes.

Her hands slapped the bed as he moved his head down and licked his way to her pussy once again.

This time, she did make a loud moan as he plunged his tongue inside once again.

She wasn't quite sure what was in the Chinese herbals he had been taking religiously each evening before bedtime but true to his promise, he had returned, as he so laughingly put it, to 'the land of the living.'

"Mmmmmm," he moaned as he felt her leave and the bed rise up on her side. "Way... wait, baby, don't go yet..."

"You silly boy, it's after ten o'clock, already. Are you planning on spending all day in bed?"

"Would it be with you?" He reached out, just missing her leg. "C'mon, how often do I get to stay home like this?"

"If last night was any indication of what to expect, I'll sign up for it in a heartbeat. Problem is, we've got a houseguest here and after yesterday's little disappearance during dinner... well, a girl is getting embarrassed around here when she's near you... I'm so sore, Jimmy, you're going to have to help me get around." She laughed.

"I'll help you into the shower and scrub your back, how's that?" He sat up in bed, too quickly and as the blood worked hard to keep up, his head went dizzy. "OH, my head!" he said, holding his head between his hands, trying to push back the hurt. "God, I hate when that happens."

"I thought you weren't having that anymore." She sat down on the bed and touched his face. "You want some aspirin?"

"No, I'll be OK, there... I'm fine now, I'll just be a little more careful. Must be the aftereffects."

"From what?"

"From you, of course. Baby, you are something else..." He grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto him. "Aha, just what the doctor ordered, here." His lips quickly found her breasts and soon had brought her nipples to a morning hardness.

Without too much effort, she swung her leg over and settled down over his face as he eagerly sent his tongue sliding between and then inside, finally settling on circling, circling, circling...

She accidently hit the wall behind the headboard as her head swept forward and then...

"Ouch! Damn it! Jesus, that hurt." She rolled off and lay on the bed facing the other way.

He started laughing. "Love hurts..."

"Lunch?" Lunch came and went, little sister. What have you and lover boy been doing, anyway?

"Oh, wait a minute, I'll make some sandwiches... turkey is about it, right now?"

By the time lunch was ready, Jim had sat down and was drinking his second glass of orange juice. Bethany carried over the two plates... turkey sandwiches, cranberry sauce, warmed-up potatoes and some candied carrots.

"There'd have been more but your guest ate his way through most of it last night. I swear, he acted like he hadn't anything worth eating in months. Maybe, he was telling the truth last night about nothing but fish and rice.

"Want some more juice, Jim?"

"Yes, please." He looked at his wife with an almost unbelievable lust. He knew what he really wanted and was determined to get it before dinner, even if it meant taking her somewhere away from the house.

Two hours later, the two lovers had arrived at a secluded section of the beach, far away from anyone else. She quickly spread out the blanket while he opened the picnic basket and took out ice-cold bottles of Coke and homemade brownies. Sugar and sugar and chocolate... just what the doctor ordered, he thought. Now, for a little lovin'.

"We seem to be making up for lost time, don't you think?" She dropped her blouse onto the sand and reached for the buttons on the skirt.

"You have no idea..."

"Yes, I do... Jimmy, I was feeling so bad, so worthless when you..."

"I'm so sorry, baby... I didn't think what I was doing to you... all I could see was what I was doing... what I was feeling for myself. I promise it's never going to happen again."