Jolene's Difficult Decision

"What about that guy, Andre?"

"Honestly, he was nice, Mark. He was kind and treated me like a queen. He let me drive his Porsche."

"Porsche?" She'd touched on something Mark was familiar with.

"Yeah. A Porsche Box-something."

"Boxster?"

"I think so. But before we go any further, he spent tons of money on me, but we did things where I felt out-of-place and a little uncomfortable. With you, I felt relaxed and where I belong."

"So, you're choosing me over a Porsche Boxster?"

"Mark, be serious."

He lifted her head, lowered his own, and their lips met. This time they lingered a little longer, and when they parted, Jo smiled.

"This place and this day are nearly perfect," Mark said, "and you being here makes them absolutely perfect."

"Mark, you're silly, but I love hearing it."

He opened another beer.

"Careful," she giggled as she turned the wine bottle up one more time. "You have to drive home."

"What if I'm too buzzed to drive home?"

"Mark?"

"Maybe we'll find out how much you trust me."

"Are you sure you can trust me?"

Jo decided that was his aim as he cracked open another beer and downed it quickly.

"What are you doing, trying to test me?"

"Naw, I don't want to do that. I've just never been this happy in my life, and I'm celebrating."

The last word sounded more like shel-a-bra-tun as he finished the sentence. He looked at her and laughed several times.

"You're absolutely gorgeous, and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have found you."

The slurring was becoming more pronounced, and Jo decided she'd better not drink any more wine as she might need to provide a little support as they stumbled down the hill.

They talked more and enjoyed a last look at the view. As they began gathering up the things they had brought with them, Jo noticed a sheepish look cross Mark's face.

"Jo, I'm sorry," he said softly.

"For?" she asked, giving him a chance to redeem himself."

"For getting to a place where I was slurring my words. It was, well, disrespectful."

She stepped forward and hugged him, not able to see the relieved look on his face.

"We came up here to have fun, and we did."

"Still, I promise it won't happen again."

"I won't accept that promise, Mark, because we might want to do this very thing again. But I will accept the spirit in which it was given." She received a smile and a quick kiss.

Soon, dusk began to creep through the woods, and Jo realized they'd better get started if they didn't want to be lost in the woods. Mark crushed the empty cans, and everything was packed up--the journey down the hill beginning. The first few minutes were not too difficult, involving just a couple of stumbles, Mark and Jolene clinging to each other for stability. But they were heading downhill and deeper into the woods with the sun long gone behind the hill above them.

"I can't see a thing," Mark said, holding tightly to Jo's arm.

"Just shuffle your feet and hang on to me. Eventually, we'll come to the road. If I recognize where we are, we'll turn right and go to the cabin. If I don't recognize it, we'll turn left and go to the cabin. In the meantime, don't fall down."

Mark laughed. "If one of us goes down, so will the other."

"I'm counting on you not to let that happen," Jo said as her foot caught on a tree root, and she stumbled, Mark able to keep her from falling.

"I don't remember it being this far," he suggested a few minutes later. "The sun may be up before we get back to your cabin."

A few more minutes and Jo stopped. "I see a light through the trees. We must be getting close to the road.

Sure enough, they were quickly out of the woods and standing on the road, Jo looking around to get her bearings.

"Okay, I recognize that cabin, so we need to go to the right to get to mine."

They did just that and were soon retrieving the hidden key and going inside, Mark helping throw away the trash from the picnic and helping Jo stash the leftovers.

"Two beers and a half-bottle of wine still available. But I should be heading home." There was a certain reluctance in his voice as he gazed at Jo.

"You don't want to spend more time with me?" she teased.

"Jo, what do you think?"

"I think we have two beers and some wine...and a good bit of the night still left."

"Um, Jo?"

"What?"

"If I drink two more beers...and then drive home."

"The former sounds doable, and the latter maybe not so much. But first, answer a question for me."

"Okay, If I can."

"Why do you leave a silver dollar with your tip?"

"Have you looked at the date on those? They're old, Jo, very old. You're always teasing me about being old-fashioned, so I'm teasing back that, yes, I am."

Jo couldn't keep from giggling at that.

"So, let's drink...and then..."

Mark gazed at Jolene, hearing her words and trying to process them based on what he knew of her. Perhaps this was a part of her he didn't know yet, he decided as he watched a coy smile form. Was she suggesting he spend the night?

Jo narrowed her eyes as she smiled. Part of her brain was struggling with another part. This was the Jo she'd always been; impulsive, passionate, and, well, reckless. Despite her recent hesitancy and reluctance when it came to men, the old Jolene seemed to be in control. She knew she was placing a lot of trust in Mark.

"Will you be drinking with me?"

"I shall."

Gathering his courage, Mark asked, "What will your neighbors think when they see my truck parked outside overnight?"

Jo snorted. "As if they'd notice, and as if I care."

Mark decided that was a very definitive answer, and he had no further doubts about the question of spending the night. He opened a beer to celebrate.

Deciding to be a little more sophisticated, Jo found a glass for her wine. Not a wine glass, but still a step up from drinking directly from the bottle. As she sipped, she glanced at Mark, wondering what he was thinking. As she considered that, she wondered how she'd react to what he was most likely thinking. Maybe being more relaxed would help, she thought as she drained her glass and poured another.

Seeing that, Mark opened the last beer.

They drank and talked and giggled until Jo said, "Don't you have to work tomorrow?"

"Yeah, so do you, right?"

"Yup, so we better get some sleep."

"Yeah, sleep."

Jo chuckled, fairly sure she knew what Mark was thinking.

"Lots of nights, I sleep in my...underwear."

"That sounds good." And Jo had something she knew Mark might like if she could make herself wear it. After what had happened and been said already today, she was sure she could do it. Mark insisted she use the bathroom first, so she brushed her teeth, washed her face, undid her ponytail, and brushed her hair. She stripped, hung her clothes on the back of the door, and put on her sleepwear. A last check in the mirror, and she was ready.

Mark sat on the end of the bed staring at the door and waiting. When Jo came through the door, he was sure both his heart and breathing stopped.

She stopped three feet from him. Her shorty pajamas were a pale pink as well as a bit transparent. Her breasts filled the billowy top, the nipples dark shadows beneath the thin material. Her light-colored muff was left to the imagination beneath tiny bottoms. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the subdued light of the bedroom.

"Jolene Baughman, you are the most beautiful woman that's ever been created. Like the old country song, 'Who Left the Door to Heaven Open?' to let an angel appear in my life. I believe I'm the luckiest man on this earth."

"I love hearing that, Mark, even if I think you're exaggerating just a little."

"I'll be right back," he said, jumping up and rushing past her.

"I stole a little of your toothpaste," he said when he returned and answered Jo's questioning look with, "I used my finger as a toothbrush." But he was still fully dressed.

Jo grinned. "Um, I hope you're not going to sleep in your clothes."

Mark's cheeks reddened. He began to undress, and when he was down to his boxers, he turned toward her, unable to hide the large bulge apparent there.

"Let's get in bed," she said as she turned down the covers and crawled under the sheet and blanket.

Mark just stood there, a forlorn expression on his face.

Jo raised herself on one elbow. "May I paraphrase?" she asked with a smile.

"Huh?"

"You came unprepared because you didn't expect to be spending the night."

Nodding and with a red face, he said, "Right."

"Well, we're at about the same place along those lines, and it's possible to sleep together without...you know." She lifted the edge of the covers and watched as a smiling Mark crawled in beside her. As his arm went around her, she said. "Tomorrow, you can drop me off at the diner, then pick me up in the evening." She giggled. "Of course, you'll have to come back here then and..."

Mark gave her a squeeze and kissed the back of her neck. "So that's the backup plan?"

"I think it's a good one," she said, feeling his hand sliding across her stomach.

"That top is a little transparent, Jo, and I couldn't keep from looking."

"If you hadn't looked...well, you did." His hand bumped her breast, and she couldn't keep from inhaling sharply.

"You bet I looked," he said, "and there's no way I can keep from doing more." He cupped her breast and squeezed gently. "Oh, shit, Jo." He pulled her against him, sliding his arm under her so he could squeeze both breasts at once.

"Let me help," she said, struggling to pull the top off.

"Are you real, or am I dreaming?"

"Do they feel real?"

His fingers were circling her areola and bumping her hardening nipples, and she could certainly feel his erection pressed against her butt. She was ready for more.

Jo twisted around, so she was facing Mark, pulling his face to hers. She moaned as their lips met, and their tongues began probing and dancing. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to kiss like this, to have a man she really cared about squeezing her breasts, and to have a hard cock pressing against her belly.

The next kiss was more involved, if that was possible.

When their lips parted again, Jo said breathily, "Mark stop a second. The thing I told you about tomorrow was my last try at slowing things down. I don't want to slow anything down now. I...I still have my IUD from...you know."

"You do? I mean, Jo, I don't want to—"

Her lips on his quieted his stammering, and the groan she heard from him only turned her heat up one more notch.

But she had said the magic words that Mark hadn't imagined hearing, and he quickly disappeared under the covers. Almost instantly, her legs were being spread, and she felt a finger probing. As much as she was coveting his hard cock, what he had begun doing had her nearly floating. His tongue was sliding up and down her slit, pressing harder with each pass until he had her labia spread. When it flicked her clit the first time, she felt her body jerk in response.

"If you start, don't you dare stop," she moaned as both his lips and tongue were working on that now swollen and very sensitive nub. Her body was twisting and turning, and she couldn't keep her fingers from twining his hair and holding him where he was, almost afraid of his escaping before she... She needn't have worried as it was already happening, her body lifting off the bed, the long moan filling the small room with the sound of her orgasm, the spasms telling Mark what was happening.

"Stop, stop," she finally gasped. "I could do another, but I think I'd die of ecstasy. Jo had thrown back the covers and watched Mark lift his face from between her legs.

"Another?" he asked with a smile.

Jo shook her head. "We still have tomorrow."

"And a lot more days after that, I hope."

"I'm sure, but were you thinking of doing something?"

"I was. Were you thinking of something too?"

"Yes. I want you inside of me, filling me up just like you've been thinking about."

That was all Mark needed, and his erection was pushing and probing and, within seconds, was filling a warm and slippery tube where only his finger had been before. He pressed on until he bumped against her legs and ass.

When Jo opened her eyes and looked at him, he knew he had never been happier in his life. As he began the rhythmic movements, the sounds she was making had his blood boiling and feeling racing through his body like he had never experienced before. When he felt her legs circling his waist and her movements matching his own, his face went to her neck, the simple aroma of just Jolene overwhelming him as his body began to spasm, accompanied by loud groans.

They lay together quietly for long minutes, bodies entwined, breathing hard and hugging each other. Jo reached around Mark and pulled the covers over them.

"This was better than waiting until tomorrow," Mark whispered.

"I apologize," Jo responded. "There was just a tiny flicker of, I don't know, doubt, reluctance, fear, something that shouldn't have been there."

"You're silly. If it was there, it was there for a reason, and, despite what I wanted, I didn't want it if that flicker was there. But, when that flicker disappeared, it was heaven."

"I was there. I know."

"Is that tomorrow thing still on?"

"Unless you're disappointed with tonight."

Mark growled and squeezed Jolene until she squealed.

They mutually agreed that they needed to sleep and, cuddled together, did just that.

Before falling asleep, Jo remembered to set her alarm. They had a quick breakfast with lots of laughing and banter. Mark was so much different than Zach had been. He was kind, and considerate, and she had learned always put her first. She had found Zach to be arrogant, and self-centered and rarely considered her needs, desires, or emotions. She still wondered how she had been so blind--thus her concerns about her relationship with Mark. But, thankfully, Mark was quickly erasing those concerns.

At work, Jo found it extremely difficult to concentrate on her customers, with thoughts of the evening and night that lay ahead of her rattling around in her head. And when Phil and Nina appeared for lunch, she wondered what she should tell them.

"Jolene, it's so good to see you again," Nina said as she hugged her friend.

"You, too, and why aren't you in school?"

"Two of my professors are sick, so I'm taking a three-day holiday," she said with a giggle.

"She could get zeros for those days and still have an A+ for her grade."

"Phil, they don't give pluses in college."

"I picked a smart one."

"So, Jo, what's going on with you?" Nina asked innocently.

Despite willing it not to happen, Jo could feel the heat rising in her face.

"Jo?" Nina giggled. "Who is it?"

Now Jolene could smile broadly. "It's Mark, the guy who owns the garage and who repaired my car."

"I met him...seemed like a nice guy."

"He's more than nice, Phil. He's...he's..."

"Perfect, Jo?"

"I hope so."

"Listen, can Phil and I get some take-out and bring it to your place, and we can talk, and you can tell us more about Mark."

Jo's eyes went from Nina to Phil and back to Nina, a hesitant look on her face.

Phil laughed aloud. "I think she may have other plans for the evening, babe."

Jo's cheeks were glowing crimson red again.

"Bring us the usual, and that will give you time to recover," Nina suggested.

"I'm sorry, guys. It's just that..."

"Been there, done that," Nina said, a knowing smile on her face as she glanced at Phil. "Maybe another day?"

When Jolene returned with their food, she'd decided to just tell the truth.

"You guys are good friends, plus I think I'm where you were not too long ago. Mark brought me to work this morning, and he's going to take me home after work."

"Does he live close to you, out there in the cabins?"

"Um, no," Jo said softly, cheeks pinking once more.

Nina smiled. "We'll get hold of you later and figure something out." She leaned forward and whispered in Jo's ear.

"Thanks, Nina. That would be, well, perfect." She went off to take care of her other customers.

"What did you whisper to her?"

"Just that I hoped she and Mark fall in love as we have."

Phil left his usual tip, and, with a wave and a smile, they left.

Mark was fifteen minutes late picking up Jo.

"Sorry, I was finishing up a car and hated to stop with just a few minutes of work left." He gave her a kiss when she was finally in the car.

"I'll think about your punishment on the way to the cabin." Jo closed one eye and smiled.

"Oh lord, I'm going to suffer, aren't I?"

Once at the cabin, Jolene experienced the most ecstatic and euphoric four hours of her life. For his punishment, Jo paraded naked in front of Mark, forbidding him to touch her, striking every sensual pose that came to her mind. When the fifteen minutes expired, Mark smiled, and Jo knew she'd never forget what happened after that. She'd never imagined that her body could do what it did nor experience the feelings that left her weak and spent, if only briefly.

At last, tucked against a deep-breathing Mark, Jolene was not quite ready for sleep. The time with Mark this evening had been priceless. She had done the same things with Zach, but it hadn't been the same. There was a warmth that enveloped her, a feeling of satisfaction that seemed to fill her completely, but there was more. There was that intangible something that had taken hold of her.

Jo was aware that she'd only known Mark for a few weeks, not counting when she'd dropped off her car. She wasn't sure that time was the important factor here. Lying there, she realized she was in love, and she kissed the muscular arm that held her. Based on her time with Zach, she had a low opinion of men in general. But Phil, Andre, and now Mark had changed her completely.

Jolene could hardly wait for the rest of her life to unfold.

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My usual thanks to the Augmented Amphibians for their continued support.