Fire in the Belly

The question Matthew had to ask himself, then, was not whether he loved them, but whether he could love them ...

***

Matthew made his decision. He drew in a deep breath, to try and calm himself.

"Lily," he said.

"Yes, love?" she murmured.

Matthew could feel her body trembling as she awaited his answer.

"I don't know the future," he began. "Whatever people plan, there is no guarantee it will work out. Whatever people promise may not stay true.

"And, you must understand: I am barely a man. I don't even know if I've finished growing yet. I have so much more to learn, so much more developing to do."

He tightened his arms around her, then spoke his promises, hoping fervently that he would be able to make them come true.

"Still, if I can," he continued, "I'll stay with you, if that's what you truly want. I'll eat with you. I'll sleep with you. I'll share everything I have with you. I'll help you cope with the world in any way I can. I'll do everything I can to make you feel loved and cared for.

"But, you know, I'm going to need a lot of help to make it work. I'm going to need every bit of help you can give me. I ..."

Overcome with emotion, Matthew suddenly ran out of words.

Lily had listened, hardly breathing, until he fell silent. Now she sighed, and curled herself up in his arms, and wept with joy, and kissed him over and over.

Afterward, she murmured, "I only want what you can give, love. I won't ever ask for more than that. All I want is to stay with you, and love you, and give you everything I have, yes, and help you in every way I can."

She fell silent a moment, then spoke again.

"I ... I want to give you a gift," she said. "To show how much I love you. Can I?"

A gift? he thought. What could she have in mind?

"Uh ... of course."

Lily lifted her body from his and rose to her feet, then took hold of his hands to urge him also to stand.

She looked up at him for a moment, smiling shyly, then unexpectedly sank to her knees on the bedding at his feet.

Kneeling naked, she parted her legs widely, fully exposing her vulva, then crossed her wrists behind her back, and bowed her head. Matthew realised that she had adopted a classic slave posture.

"I give myself to you, my Matthew," she said softly. "Do with me as you wish. I exist to please you. Give me any command, and I will gladly obey."

Any command, Matthew thought. My God!

He could not doubt her sincerity. She would wholeheartedly strive to fulfil any task he gave her, as well as - he gulped - any fantasy, any erotic scenario he could imagine.

A long moment she held her position, then lifted her head and turned her eyes toward his resting penis.

When he realised what she had in mind, Matthew blushed ... then blushed deeper when she softly pressed her lips against him.

Over and over, Lily kissed him, continuing her labour of love until he was once more fully erect. She paused then, and gazed enraptured at the result of her work.

"Oh, Matthew," she sighed. "It's so beautiful!"

Reverently, she wrapped both of her small hands around him, leaned forward, and began to lick him delicately.

Her technique was simple, but so tenderly done that he knew her whole heart was in the act, and this was exciting and arousing in itself.

Matthew couldn't take his eyes off her, so he saw the moment when her face changed, became exultantly predatory.

Gentle Lily was in abeyance. The surging vitality of Jill sparkled in her eyes once more.

"This is all proceeding a little too sedately, don't you think, Mister Quinn?" she said archly.

Bending forward, she resumed Lily's work, except that Lily's straightforward but effective technique turned into Jill's wild kingdom. Her hands, lips and tongue seemed to be dancing everywhere at once. Now his penis was being teased with lips and tongue at the front of her mouth, now lodged deep enough that he could actually feel the blood pulsing in her throat with the head of his cock.

In the midst of this astonishing experience, she halted and smiled at him - only with her eyes - her lips were stretched too widely to participate in the expression.

Her gaze turned purposeful.

She leaned forward and, bit by bit, walked her lips along his penis, taking him ever deeper, until at last there was nothing more to swallow. Incredibly, she had taken his entire shaft into her mouth and throat.

Having accustomed herself to him, she now began to rock her head back and forth, so that his full length pistoned in and out of her.

In a matter of moments, Matthew felt his orgasm building and wanted to warn her.

"Jill ... Jill ..."

Without removing her mouth from him, Jill nodded in acknowledgement, then pulled back until the head of his penis was once more at the mercy of her tongue.

Of mercy, though, she showed none, but drove him the rest of the way at a wild gallop, over cliff's edge and into freefall.

Groaning, Matthew fountained into her mouth, over and over, and she greedily gulped down everything he had to give.

Even as his climax slowly subsided, she stayed with him, sucking softly at his relaxing penis, letting not a drop of his ejaculate go to waste.

When she was done and Matthew was completely drained, Jill lifted her mouth from him with a playful smacking of the lips, knelt back on her haunches and smiled up at him.

"Happy, Mister Quinn?" she said.

Matthew, utterly unable to find words to match his feelings, had to content himself with bestowing a pleasure-drunk smile upon her.

Jill took this as a compliment and, from her kneeling position, made the semblance of a gratified curtsey.

"Thank you, sir," she said. We aim to please ... both of us."

Matthew focussed on the sobering words, 'both of us'.

It was going to take a lot of getting used to, he thought, this unpredictable duality.

"Ah ... does Lily know ... that you finished what she started?" he asked.

Jill considered this, then shook her head.

"She doesn't even know I exist."

Matthew took a moment to digest this, then realised he had many more questions waiting in the wings. He sat down facing her.

"Won't she be confused, then, that her memories aren't complete?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Jill said thoughtfully. "She seems to clone what she wants from my memories and adjust them to suit herself."

Matthew nodded pensively.

"Why does she have different memories to you?" he wondered.

Jill took a moment to consider this.

"The unconscious mind justifying her existence ... and her personality, I expect," she said, in a casual tone.

"I don't understand how you can take it so well ... all of this," he said.

"All of what, specifically?" Jill queried.

"The ... uh ... craving," Matthew said. "And ... uh ... Lily."

Jill shrugged, making her breasts jiggle delightfully.

"My life's been a wild business pretty much forever," she said. "So, even though this episode is a bit more extreme ... and certainly not something I could have foreseen ... it fits pretty well into the general craziness."

"That's a very ... tolerant point of view," Matthew said.

Jill smiled.

"It's one of the benefits of spontaneity, Mister Quinn," she said. "Most people get terribly upset when the world doesn't match their hopes and dreams. I'm a different kind: more willing to accept what comes, then work with it ... as I said."

"Just the same, I'm sorry that it had to happen to you," Matthew said.

"Don't be sorry when it's not your fault, Mister Quinn," Jill said. "That's not logical."

"I ... I guess you're right," Matthew agreed slowly, though his expression remained somewhat sombre: privately, he was not sure he could refrain from punishing himself for his effect on Jill and her sister.

"You seem preoccupied, Mister Quinn," Jill said. "Still got concerns? Line 'em up. I bet you a dollar apiece I can knock 'em flat."

"Okay," Matthew said.

He thought for a moment.

"So you don't mind having ... uh ... multiple personalities?" he asked.

"Now, there's a question," Jill said. "And my answer is, maybe I don't ... have multiple personalities, I mean."

Matthew looked at her quizzically.

"You ... you don't?" he said. "But ... I thought ..."

Jill interrupted him.

"Maybe," she said, "sweet little Lily and I are really just two aspects of the same person. Maybe she's always been there, hiding in a corner of my psyche. You never know."

She tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Maybe she's a mood."

"You don't think of her as a separate person?" Matthew asked.

"If a person exhibits two disparate moods," Jill countered, "do you think of them as two distinct people?"

"Ah ... no, I guess not."

"But, why not? After all, their behaviour is completely different."

"You make a good point."

"Well, then, there you have it," she said.

"Oh, and before you ask," she continued, "I'm not concerned that her memories are different from mine."

"Uh ... why not?" Matthew asked. "It seems to me ..."

"Memories are uncertain creatures, Mister Quinn," Jill interrupted. "People are always disagreeing about who did what, and how. She only does what we all do: adjust the past to suit ourselves."

"But, if she's not a different person," Matthew asked, "why did you suggest giving her a different name?"

"Just to keep you from getting confused," Jill answered, and smiled.

"That seems ... a bit illogical," Matthew said.

"Huh! Don't apply logic to me, Mister Quinn. You'll only come to grief. Whenever logic dares to cross my path, I run it down and slaughter it. Leaves a huge strawberry stain on the tarmac."

"But you were the one telling me to be logical a moment ago," he protested.

She smiled.

"See what I mean?"

He couldn't help smiling back. Her maverick approach to life was so refreshing.

After a moment's thought, another question occurred to him.

"So you don't mind not being in control?" he asked.

She gave him a hooded look.

"Oh, I'll be in control, Mister Quinn, when I really want to be. I know how to handle her now. That's why I don't mind letting her take the wheel now and then. Under close supervision, of course. Apart from anything else, it'll be good for a change of pace. Just me all the time might be a bit overwhelming for you."

Matthew looked at her thoughtfully. He tended to agree. She was a wonderful woman, but he strongly suspected that she could be a real handful as well.

He was glad to know, though, that she could take charge of Lily if needed. It scared him to know that Lily had absolutely no limits when it came to fulfilling his wishes. He didn't want to be tempted by that kind of power.

Another question occurred to him.

"So ... it doesn't bother you that you didn't choose this?" he asked.

Jill let her eyes run over Matthew's body, then grinned.

"From my point of view, Mister Quinn," she said, "it feels kinda like being forced to accept first prize in a lottery."

Matthew blushed, flustered. To distract himself, he tried to think of any other objections.

"Well then," he said, "what about ... uh ... free will?"

Jill tossed her head dismissively.

"If that idea ever starts to bother me, I'll think about it," she said. "Anyway, I'm fairly convinced that people in general are far less free to choose than they like to think."

Matthew shook his head admiringly. She seemed to have an answer for everything.

"Miss Jill," he said, "You are a very remarkable woman."

She smiled.

"I know," she said simply. "I'm a rare prize. And, it looks like you've won me, Mister Quinn. Congratulations."

She gave him a knowing look.

"But, you're quite a guy yourself," she said. "All those sweet promises."

"You heard?"

"Of course," she said. "I hear what she hears. I know what she feels, too. Oh, how your romantic words melted her heart!"

She clasped her hands over her left breast and sighed theatrically. Then, she laughed.

"She's such a fucking marshmallow," she said. "But, I like her. She brings a certain balance to our jolly little threesome."

"I'm sorry I told her those things without consulting you first," Matthew said. "I just felt I had to say something. I couldn't leave her hanging. She's too easily hurt."

"I get that, Mister Quinn," Jill answered. "What I want to know now is, were you only thinking of Marshmallow when you gave your vows, or were you including me as well?"

"Ma'am, I was talking to her," he said, "but I had you clearly in mind too. So, yes, everything I said goes just as much for you as it does for her ..."

"There's my good boy!" she interjected approvingly.

"... as long as we can do something about that astonishing mouth of yours," he finished, and gave her a gently teasing smile.

Jill didn't miss a beat.

"You don't like the way I use my mouth?" she fired back mischievously. "I can always stop, if that's what you really want."

Delighted by her quick wit, Matthew chuckled and put up his hands.

"Ma'am, I surrender. You've outmanoeuvred me. I have absolutely no complaints about your oral skill sets ... either of them."

His forehead wrinkled.

"You look like you've got another question, Mister Quinn," she said. "Out with it."

"Yes ... uh ... well, since we've touched on the subject of ... ah ..."

"Fellatio?" she finished, completely unembarrassed.

Her forthrightness brought yet another blush to Matthew's cheeks.

"Ah ... yes ..." he stammered."So ... when you ... ah ... when I ... ah ..."

"Came in my mouth?"

He nodded.

"Didn't it ... didn't it taste ... unpleasant?"

Jill licked her lips thoughtfully, as though the idea hadn't occurred to her.

"Well, I won't lie, Mister Quinn," she said, "it's not vanilla fucking cream."

Then she smiled.

"But, what the hey!" she said. "Wanna go again?"

Without waiting for an answer, she leaned over, lowered her mouth to his resting hero and with an enthusiastic 'Shlup!', sucked him back through the gates of paradise.

It took some time to revive him, but soon enough, she was once again gulping down burst after burst of his hot sperm.

***

Hour after hour, as the sun wheeled slowly across the sky, the lovers kept up their play. They were engaged in the most intimate, gratifying sport available to humanity, and with every passing moment, Matthew's heart felt more at ease, more close to his lovely partner.

If Jill intended to bind Matthew to her with love, she was certainly treading the right path. He had known almost nothing of what intimacy with a woman could be. Now, he was being drenched with it, flooded with it.

She regaled him with all the wit and heart at her command, charmed him in a hundred different ways, fanned his feelings and emotions to an intensity far beyond his experience, until he was blissfully adrift in the ocean of Jill, and felt no desire at all ever to come to shore.

The sun was well into its daily decline when, sated at last, the lovers rose from their bed, washed, dressed and cooked together. Tipsy on each other, they shared the evening meal, and talked, and laughed, and kissed, and caressed, until the hour was so late that yawning had largely supplanted conversation, particularly from Jill's side. Then, they added to the bedding in front of the fire, assembling a simple but more comfortable sleeping place for two. After a moment's thought, Matthew placed a lantern within arm's reach on the floor.

How it filled his heart to be lying on his side so close to her, face to smiling face in the golden light of fire and lamp.

"Want to play a lullaby game with me, Mister Quinn?" she asked, then stifled a yawn.

"Anything you want, Miss Jill," he replied softly, though he didn't fully grasp her meaning.

She thought for a moment, then looked at him dubiously.

"Know the names of any cocktails?" she asked.

"Uh ... I might have heard of a few."

"Okay," she said. "This is how it goes."

She leaned forward and planted a slow kiss on his mouth, then withdrew.

"Hmm," she mused, licking her lips. "Tastes like ... Virgin Daiquiri."

Matthew puzzled over this for a moment, then understood. He chuckled.

"Not any more, I guess," he ventured. "You made sure of that."

Jill smiled cryptically. Indicating her own lips, she beckoned.

"Your turn," she said.

Matthew smiled, then obeyed.

"Golden Dream," he said reverently, after pulling back.

Jill smiled.

"Such flattery," she said. "Not entirely realistic, though, perhaps."

She leaned forward and kissed him again.

"Shirley Temple," she said.

"You're making me nonalcoholic," he said, a little indignantly.

Jill chuckled.

"You noticed!"

"My turn," Matthew said, and touched his mouth to hers once more.

"Brandy Perfect," he said.

Jill pouted playfully.

"Always the gentleman," she said. "You're making me look bad."

"Cinderella," she said, after taking her next turn.

Matthew rolled his eyes.

"That's another mocktail," he said. "I think I'm beginning to understand what you really think of me: innocuous and boring."

"Just teasing, Mister Quinn," she said. "It's one of my favourite things, you know."

She glanced down at her loins.

"Besides, the pussy gets the final say, and I think you already know well enough what she thinks of you."

Matthew kissed her again, to conceal his embarrassment.

"Paradise," he said then.

"Stop it!" she said. "You're going to turn my head."

Matthew could scarcely believe it, but his barrage of compliments seemed to be having an effect on Jill. She was actually beginning to look a little bashful.

"You have to be honest next time, Mister Quinn," she demanded. "I know well enough that I'm not all sweetness and light. If I hear another compliment, I'm going to start thinking that you're teasing me."

"If that's what you want," Matthew said. "But, I don't take back any of my choices so far."

"Faux Fizz," was Jill's next contribution.

Still teasing, Matthew thought ruefully.

He kissed her again.

"Kamikaze," he said softly.

Jill spluttered with laughter.

"That's more like it," she said. "But, where did you learn that one from, Mister Quinn? You don't strike me as any kind of bar fly."

"I ... uh ... read a lot."

"Bees Knees," was Jill's next contribution.

"Four Horsemen," Matthew countered.

"Now you're talking," she said, and grimaced theatrically. "Beware, lest we fuck your world to the point of destruction."

"Your t..." Jill began, before an enormous yawn caught her off-guard mid-sentence.

"I'm ... sleepy," she said drowsily. "Have to get some shuteye, so I'm fit to fuck again in the morning."

She cuddled up against him and sighed.

"Sweet boy," she said softly.

Jill seemed to be teetering on the edge of either kissing him once more, or giving in to the urge to sleep. Her eyes decided the issue, finally drifting closed entirely.

"...ve you, Mister Quinn ..." she murmured, almost too quietly to hear.

Matthew wasn't sure he had understood her correctly.

"You ... love me?"

"In..." she began, then gave another huge yawn, "...sanely."

She sighed deeply, then spoke no more.

His heart overflowing, Matthew leaned over and whispered: "I love you too, Miss Jill ... insanely."

Jill lips parted, almost as if to answer. Instead, to Matthew's renewed delight, she began to snore again.

Despite his deep drowsiness, Matthew stayed awake a while, watching her sleep, enjoying the music of the dormouse, mentally replaying over and over her sleepy declaration of love, and marvelling at his good fortune.

Lying there in the intimate company of the most amazing woman he had ever encountered, the realisation came to Matthew that, despite everything that had happened, despite all the uncertainties of their future together, he had never before in his life felt so happy.

For the first time since he had begun to suspect its existence, he actually felt grateful for the strange phenomenon that had brought them together.