Love, Sex, & Wanderlust

We snagged a bite to eat at a diner, found a hotel with two twin beds, and both collapsed groaning from the aches earned from the first leg of the journey. I didn't even make it under the covers as I passed out on the bed, shirtless and still in my jeans, exhausted and grateful to be finally off the road.

I woke to the sound of a computer keyboard clicking, rousing me from a deep slumber. My back hurt, legs and neck cramped, and my cheek was surprisingly moist. Cautiously, I opened an eye to be blinded by the morning sun shining directly through the horizontal blinds in an otherwise dim room, highlighting dust motes that floated through beams of light.

I pushed myself up, smacking my lips and finding a small wet spot of drool beneath my face on very rough bed sheets. I blinked, groaned as I stretched my neck and looked around the room.

The bed beside me was empty, covers drawn back with an open backpack and duffle bag sitting on top. Dani's clothes were strewn across the sheets in a haphazard manner.

The clicking continued, causing me to squint my eyes to focus.

There, seated at a small desk by the window was Dani, typing away.

I stretched and let out an involuntary groan as my body continued to wake. Dani noticed and looked in my direction.

"Mornin'," she said mumbled as she brushed. "Sorry. I hope I didn't wake you."

I ran my hand over my face, trying to shake the sleep from my eyes.

"It's all good," I said. "Bit early to start on your work?"

She smiled that smile again and stood in front of the window casting me in her shadow as she too stretched her lithely body. A thin line seemed to highlight her frame, showcasing her soft skin in her morning yoga attire.

"Not really," she said with a groan, then shuddered. "It's almost nine."

"Nine? Dang, thanks for letting me sleep in," I said, then nodded to the computer. "What is this one you are working on?"

She turned back to the computer.

"A new series I started last week. I had an idea to write about this trip. Make it a mini-series, so to speak. Just the story of a young girl, on a road trip across the U.S. with a boy." She arched an eyebrow.

"That sounds awfully suggestive."

"I know, but thanks for being a good sport about it."

"Should I be concerned about the implications?"

"Which are what?"

"Like the fact that the boy is your brother."

"No one needs to know about that," Dani said as she waved her hand dismissively. "Besides, you are already starting to develop a little interest with my readers."

"What?"

Dani grinned and picked up the laptop. I rolled over as she sat beside me and pulled up her blog. A webpage appeared titled "Love, Sex, & Wanderlust". The page loaded to a large scrolling page separated by key images.

The sun striking the fields of grass during sunset at the farm.

Daisy, mid repair with a single ghost light bathing her in an orange glow.

A photo of Dani, facing away from the camera in a yoga pose, topless.

I recognized a photo of myself laying beneath Daisy in a freshly stained tank top and torn jeans, a sheen of sweat, oil, and grim across my skin. My head was hidden, but there was no doubt in my mind it was me.

"... Sex & Wanderlust?" I asked, turning slightly to my sister.

She nodded her head to the last photo.

"I know, it's a little cringy. This is the one that struck a chord," she said as she expanded the article and scrolled to the comments.

"Who's the mystery hunk?"

"Mmmmmm more of him please."

"Love to have him under me XDXD!!!"

I looked up at Dani from the computer.

"You've been documenting all this so far?" I asked.

She nodded.

"More or less. I felt it would be a fun little series to get a modern American tale of fixing up Daisy and driving her back home. So far, it's been a minor hit. Well, more so since you arrived on the scene."

"Since me?"

She nodded again, smile growing.

"Seems you have quite the following. They're calling you Joe, as in 'Regular Joe' or 'Morning Joe'."

"So I take it they have no idea who I am..."

"Not a clue," she said, then scrunched her face. "I may, have implied that there is something else going on though."

There it is.

"Which is?"

She took a breath and closed the laptop.

"Well, you know our readers. Just a bunch of women looking to release some steam or live out a fantasy. I may have... indulged them a little..."

"Dani..."

"Nothing bad! But also, maybe, I might have implied there was some... tension... at first. And maybe a little peeping, and maybe a few other... things. Just something to keep the interest moving along with this Mystery Man."

"So what exactly have they done?"

"You want to know which bases they've hit?"

"I don't know. Do I?"

Dani shrugged.

"I've never really spelled it out, but more so alluded to some of what could have happened with them already, or what may happen in their future. For my readers, it allows them to draw their own conclusions which can indulge their fantasies better than mine."

So my sister was using my likeness to help promote a relationship for her online community.

I narrowed my eyes.

"And no one knows this Joe is really your brother?"

She shook her head.

"To my readers, you're just a regular Joe. You could be anyone they wish you to be."

So many emotions hit me at once and all I could do to sort them out it close my eyes, and sigh. I opened them to see Dani, watching me with those blue eyes. I shook my head, defeated.

"Well, if it is helping you out..."

Her smile lit the room.

"Thank you, Richie!" she said as she leaned forward, hugging me tightly. I felt the stickiness of her skin on my chest and noticed the light shimmer of sweat on her body, or at least all those many areas not covered by her lycra workout clothes.

"Jeez, Kiddo," I said. "You already work out? You are all sweaty."

Dani pulled back, smiley smugly.

"Shut up. You like a sweaty girl. And yes, I did it while you were sleeping..." she said, then stopped as her eyes narrowed.

She bit her lip as she looked down at me, eyes darting this way and that across my body and the bed.

"Huh..." she said, "Now that the cat is out of the bag, can I have you stay there for just a moment?"

"Um, sure?"

She darted back to her twin bed, picked up the camera, and quickly adjusted the settings.

"Hold that pose," she said as she reached into her open bag and pulled out a light blue bra and panties, both far skimpier than I was expecting her to have. Dani adjusted the covers and tossed the bag to the floor, out of sight and mind for the time being. Then she strategically set the underwear down on the bed and squared down, leveling herself with the unmentionables and me in the background, leading to some suggestive interpretations.

"Thank you for being a good sport," she said as she adjusted the aperture in her viewfinder. "The lighting right now is just perfect. I'll make sure you are just slightly out of focus... and...."

She clicked the shutter.

"Perfect," she said as she pulled back the picture to look at the small LCD screen. "Wanna see?" she asked as she held out the camera for me.

I nodded and reached out, only to be instantly reminded of a knot in my lower back.

"Jesus!" I groaned, pulling back my hand as the pain took hold. "I think I fucked up my back somehow. I'll tell you one thing, that car was not made for ergonomics."

I tried to sit up but groaned as the knot seemed to find a friend and reminded me it wasn't done with its torture.

Dani chuckled and set down the camera.

"I got you. Roll over, Dickhead."

Without thinking, I rolled onto my stomach. Not a moment later, I felt the mattress sink under my sister's added weight, then her soft thighs spread as she straddled my waist and sat on my rear.

"Am I going to regret this-Holy Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit..." I groaned as she placed her thumbs on the tendons of my lower back and instantly zeroed in on the culprit.

"Hush," she said. I wasn't about to stop her as her wonderful, magical fingers turned my back to putty.

"So, there's this one writer of ours, Chelsea, who is really cute by the way, you'd like her. You might have met her actually. Is that ringing a bell? Cute girl, nose ring, dark hair, couple of tattoos of hummingbirds on her chest?"

I groaned in affirmation. No idea who she was but Dani could say anything right now.

"Well, she wanted to do this piece on different kinds of couples massages, right? And found this really popular place that kinda did instructional classes too. So Chelsea wanted to check it out, but wanted to have it be kinda undercover first so they wouldn't be, like, saying and teaching things they wouldn't normally because we were there."

She pushed the heel of her palms into my back, sliding them in parallel up my spine as she leaned in with her weight and pulverized my aches like they insulted her.

"So, Chelsea came to me and asked if we could go as a couple to check out this thing, right? I didn't think it was a big deal, so I was all for it. But, when we got there, we had to sign these forms and show ID and all this stuff because as it turns out that Chelsea signed us up for the couple's erotic massage. And with us coming in together, well they just naturally assumed that we were, in fact, together, you know what I mean?"

I did. I didn't want to but my god I did. And I don't know if it was the way her hands would glide against my skin, or the insane mix of agony and pleasure she coaxed from me with her fingertips, or the weight of her thighs pressing into my buttocks where I could feel the heat, or even more so, the salty scent of her femininity as she leaned in close to push the knots from my back. All of this soaked into me at once, awakening that churning desire once more. I could feel myself growing hard.

An involuntary groan escapes my lips again, but this wasn't from a knot.

"It was kinda weird at first. There were a couple of other couples there. We were the only lady-only couple but no one batted an eye. They ended up having us all strip down to our underwear, like, panties only which was pretty damn hot on its own. Even the instructor dressed down. She was this French woman, probably in her late 40's. She had a deceptively tight little bod at her age. Man, I hope I age well like that."

Dani leaned in further, using her forearms to apply equal pressure. I could feel her squeeze her thighs against me as I lay pinned to the mattress with strength that could choke a bull. For a moment I was reminded that I was that beast she was riding, though thankfully in a manner that hid my aroused state. Yet, at the same time, a thrill ran through me at the thought of how compromising our positions would be if I just happened to roll over, if she was mounted above me in the same fashion, groin rubbing against groin as she kneaded my muscles while we looked directly into each other's eyes. I wouldn't be able to hide my current condition, but would it have the same effect on her? Would she reciprocate? Would she squeeze me as hard knowing what she was thrust against?

"They had us sit facing each other at first," she continued. "We had to first stare at each other, like right in the eye, and just take our partners in. 'Look into their eyes,'" she said with a surprisingly accurate French accent. "Breathe as lovers breathe. You can feel your souls connected, no?"

"Jesus..." I moaned. Fuck. Don't know where this came from but somehow this accent was doing it for me when I definitely did not need it to.

"Oh? What is this, mon chér?" She continued with her dialect. "Does my brother have a thing for the French women?" Whether deliberate or involuntary, she wiggled her body against me. Her hands then slid higher along my back, fingers pushing into the muscles of my neck. I could feel her presence leaning over me, the strands of her hair tickling the back of my neck.

"The things we then learned. Quel plaisir, mon amour." She breathed against my neck.

This was getting too much.

"Okay, that's good!" I said as I pushed up from the bed.

Dani yelped in surprise as she was suddenly thrust up, her legs tightening around me as she desperately attempted to maintain balance, but ultimately fell onto the bed. But, not before her foot, for the briefest of moments, slid against my throbbing, hard erection. I hoped against hope that she didn't notice as she rubbed against my crotch, but that fleeting look in her eye as she glanced for confirmation removed any doubt. She knew what she felt.

* * *

TENNESSEE TO TEXAS

In an hour, we were ready to get back on the road; showered, fed, and refreshed. It became apparent from the start of our second day that some luxuries from staying in one place required improvisation on the road. Case and point, while at the farm, Dani's daily yoga was no issue at all as she was able to wash and dry her clothes after each routine. However, this proved to be a dilemma in our current situation. Yet, leave it to my sister to be resourceful.

Pulling upon her experience backpacking through Europe, she hand scrubbed the workout gear in while showering, which just meant we had to figure out how to dry.

"Maybe I'll just hang them out the window," Dani joked as we loaded the truck.

"Just a moment," I said as I opened the toolbox bolted to Daisy's bed.

Using the spool of rope, in no time flat we had a make-shift clothesline tied to the welded hooks in the pickup's bed.

Dani was skeptical as she tugged on the knots.

"These gonna' hold?"

"Of course. If there's anything I took away from Boy Scouts, it was how to tie a knot," I said while feeding the rope through the soggy garments.

With another problem solved, we jumped into the truck and hit the road once more. The comfort of the constant rumbling and pleasant company quickly returned as we drove down the freeway, westward toward Nashville.

"Question for you, Joe," Dani said as we continued down I-40. Her laptop sitting in her lap as she wore a loose-fitting blue blouse and cut-off jeans. Her bare feet rested on the dashboard as she wiggled her toes.

"Joe?" I asked, taking a quick look at her. She winked. "Right, Joe." I rolled my eyes and turned them back to the road. "Ask away."

"What's your favorite sex position?"

I nearly swerved off the road.

"What?!" I asked turning to Dani. She held one hand on the dashboard in front of her, eyes wide in shock yet mouth wide with an open-mouth smile.

"Jesus, Richie!" she laughed. "I thought you said you knew how to drive this thing!"

"I do! Fuck! I just wasn't ready for... That's not a thing... Argh! Sorry, it's normally not this hard."

Dani raised an eyebrow.

"That's what every girl likes to hear."

She caught my side-eye as she grinned and raised her eyebrows. I couldn't help but laugh.

"God damn it," I said shaking my head. "So you really want to know the personal 'deets for your site?"

"Yes please," she said. "It's not common for me to have a man's perspective and I think this could really help."

A heavy sigh filled my lungs.

"Alright... my favorite position..." I didn't really know the name of it. "I don't really know the name of it."

"Oh," Dani said with a playful tone. "Must be an advanced move. Can you describe it?"

"Nothing advanced. Trust me." I cleared my throat and focused on the road, hard. Casting a glance toward my sister while describing sexual acts was a lot to take in. Already a knot was growing in my core. A very subtle, low-burning heat.

"So," I continued. "It's where the guy is seated on a chair, or even sitting up in bed and the girl is facing him and her legs are wrapped around his torso."

"Oh, kinda' like a seated cowgirl?" Dani asked. "I guess that would have her legs tucked under her so she could bounce, though," she said while either consciously or not, but literally bounced in the seat as if to imitate the sexual act.

"Um..." I said. "Yeah, I guess that's fine too."

"Okay, got it." She typed away at the keyboard, fingers flying away at little letters as she transcribed the words. "So why that position?"

"What?"

Dani looked up from the laptop and turned her body, sitting on one leg as she faced me in the bench seat.

"What is it about that position that you like?"

"I don't know... It just feels good, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah, I just... I don't know."

"You don't know what? You like how what feels? Her body against you? Do you feel deeper? Closer? Is it the eye contact?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's that, and, well, the other options.."

I didn't have to look at Dani to know she bore an incredulous expression.

"You're gonna have to be a little more clear, brother dear."

My mouth opened to respond, but I found myself hitting that wall again. That feeling of uncertainty playing moral defense. But, at the same time, my own mind's eye was playing out the sweet and seditious moments of intimacy that led me to enjoy that position. Past girlfriends, lovers, and fantasies, swapping into the same space like a moving slideshow. Some ground their pelvis against me with intense purpose as they raked their fingers on my back. Others wrapped their arms around my neck and pressed their own forehead against mine as we stared deep into each other's eyes. My own hands explored their bodies, kneading their skin, grabbing their ass, breasts, and hair.

I shifted in the seat now fully aware of my hard erection straining against my underwear and jeans.

Just as I was about to respond, a sudden sound interrupted our chat.

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK

Slowly (and carefully) Dani and I turned our heads to look through the rear window. There we saw our clothesline waving through the air with only one side attached, slapping against the side of the truck over and over as it was caught in the turbulent draughts in the back of the pickup. Her workout clothes gone, now to take up residence somewhere along the side of I-40.

Perhaps I should have paid more attention in Boy Scouts.

For a good period of time, we rode in silence after we lost... after I lost Dani's workout clothes. The daggers she stared into me felt like they slowed time itself.

But thankfully, after my apologies and promises of picking up tonight's bar tab, I was forgiven. And so we continued ever westward chatting about anything and everything, except picking up where we left off before the knot incident. But that didn't mean that other subjects were off-limits.

"Do you like it when a girl talks dirty during sex?" Dani asked out of nowhere.

"Dani, fuck! You got to give me a warning, or something."

"Sorry," she said while scrolling through her site. "But do you?"

"I don't know... never really thought about it" I lied. I fucking loved it.

"Oh, okay." She retreated into silence. The only sound was the hum of the tires against the asphalt as we continued down the highway.

I couldn't tell you what it was, but suddenly I felt like an asshole. She asked me to be honest with her, and I said I would. I nearly shut her out with the position talk, and this too just made me feel shitty.

"... Fuck it," I said with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, it does it for me."

"Really?" she said. No hesitation, just jumped right back into it. "What is it about it; What she says? The vulgarity? The vulnerability?"

"That... I'm not actually sure of." That much was honest. Never really thought about it until then. "Maybe it's those things. But also, I think it's there's like a thing about being in the moment, or something. Like I don't talk like that outside of that time. Does that make sense?"

I turned my head, expecting to see her typing away and was slightly surprised to note that her laptop sat closed beside her while she listened.