Merrill and Jacob Ch. 01

After showering, Merrill strolled around the bedroom in his bathrobe, sipping iced tea. She had earlier noted that Jake's bookshelves were occupied by many things, few of which were books. Looking his meager collection over, she saw various military books. Her eye stopped on one very different volume. She pulled it out as Jake emerged from the bathroom, nude. She looked at him. He smiled when he saw what she was holding, until he saw the evil expression on her face. His smile grew sheepish, and his cock wilted slightly.

She calmly set down her glass, and thumbed through the book.

"The Kama Sutra, itself! I never took you for an avid reader, Sergeant, but I seem to have underestimated you." She had never before called him "Sergeant," and he was certain that she was not using it now as a term of endearment. "I see...I see...hmm...a well-used volume...binding cracked...detailed illustrations...pages dog-eared and creased...peculiar markings on every page...asterisks...exclamation points...checkmarks...a kaleidoscope of different colors of ink... and a pithy notation on number 39, 'Wow!'...wow, indeed...and on number 78, an odd stain." She took one corner of the book between two fingertips and set it down on the dresser as if it were toxic waste. She gave him a look that said, "We'll be talking about this, Sergeant."

He adopted his best "contrite little boy" look, which had saved him on so many previous occasions. He walked up to her, solemnly. She broke into a grin. He glanced down at the book, yawning open to number 34. She bent over to study the illustration. She slipped the bathrobe off, and climbed onto the bed. She got down on her elbows, her back concave, presenting her derriere high and proud. He crawled up behind her, and number 34 was realized.

They had time to go to lunch before Merrill picked up Ashley at school. Neither had mentioned the book since number 34. He slid his hand across table, palm down, toward her. He said, "I'm sorry you saw that."

"Oh, it's all right, Jacob." She chortled, "Those notations! Was each color of ink for a different girl? Uh...." A look of horror broke over her face. She took her knife and quickly put it to his hand, tip down, forming a dimple in the back of his hand. It was his turn to be horrified. She said, slowly, "Jacob,...what...color...am...I?"

Jacob quickly stammered, "Oh, no, no, no, Merrill! It's not like that! You aren't in that book. Not at all. I swear it." She removed the knife. He immediately withdrew his hand, and placed it on his lap, under the table, and out of her reach.

"Jacob, I am not angry. I am curious about this morning, however. Were you running through positions with me in order to log them in your, uh, journal?"

He sat up tall, and said, "Yes. That is true. Merrill, I have a fondness for variety. Not for a variety of women! No, I am a one-woman man. I like to go through different variations, just for fun. That's okay, isn't it?"

"Yes. See that I never appear in that book!"

The following morning, after Ashley was off to school, Merrill walked to Jake's house. She was showing cleavage. She walked in, and found Jake in the kitchen. His eyes goggled when he saw her. "I have until thirteen hundred hours, Jacob. Jacob?" He stared at her tits, ignoring what she was saying to him. "My God, Jake, you are incorrigible. If you like them so much, let's go upstairs and you can play with them." He took her hand and fairly ran up the stairs.

Once in his bedroom, he frantically removed his clothes, tossing them to the floor. She stood before him, waiting patiently. She knew he would want to expose her breasts himself. Nude, he ran up to her and planted his mouth on the exposed part of one breast. He pulled her top down off her shoulders, and moved to the other breast. He slurped over the exposed part. Merrill pulled the top off, over her head. Jake went to work on the bra. It clasped in the front. She thought to herself, "Careful, Jacob, this bra was expensive!"

Jake opened up the bra like a clamshell. He kissed a nipple deeply, with tongue. She moaned, "That feels soooooo gooooood, Jacob!" She wiggled out of her jeans and panties while he played up higher. "Do you want it standing up, or on the bed?"

His mouth full, he managed a muffled, "Bed."

She pulled away from him, and picked up the sex oil from the nightstand on her way. She got onto the middle of the bed. She piled up pillows against the headboard, and sat back against it. He clambered up, and straddled her chest, on his knees. His cock throbbed impatiently. Jake shifted his weight from knee to knee, as she oiled the crease between her breasts. While she set the oil aside, he slapped his cock against her chest and started rubbing it between her boobs. She pushed them together from either side, and the game was afoot.

Jake made long strokes through the tunnel she created for him. She bounced her tits in time with his strokes. She watched the head of his cock disappear and reappear, thinking it looked like a game of Whack-a-Mole. He said, "Oh, that's great! Great!" He commanded, "Look up." She met his eyes, and smiled sweetly. This triggered an acceleration in his strokes.

She asked, "Where do you want to come, my chest or my mouth?"

"Mouth, please." He breathed rapidly, now. Soon, he began to grunt. She knew he was nearing completion. She looked at his face, relishing the pleasure she saw in it. He returned his gaze to her eyes. She looked like an angel, while he fucked her tits. A few more strokes, and he said, "Now!"

Instantly, she released her boobs from around his cock, put her head down, and opened her mouth. He stuffed his dick into it. She sucked fast and hard. He shouted, "Look up at me!" She did, and he exploded in her mouth. He groaned luxuriously. His semen pulsed into the back of her mouth. She sucked hard, keeping it deep inside. Gulping and guzzling, she swallowed it all. When he relaxed, she made sure to suck all the cum off of him, and swallow it.

He fell down beside her. "That was fun! That was fun! Oh, my God, but you have nice tits, Merrill!"

*************************

Jake was watching TV. Merrill was at the table, doing financial paperwork. Her phone rang, "Oh, it's Marta." He went on alert. "Hi, Marta.... I'm fine, how are you?...Oh, oh, yes I did. Seven inches, even.... From the top, you know.... If you do it from the bottom, there's no way to know where to start. It could be eight inches or ten.... Yes, it seems a lot longer from the underside.... No.... No.... The circumference? Oh, come on, Marta, I'm not going to take protractor to it!... Uh, huh.... Um, well, I guess it's straight as an arrow from the top. I mean it's straight, side-to-side.... Yeah, it curves upward just a little bit, which is nice looking.... I don't know, maybe they're like that so they can reach into secret places.... A few times. I have been busy with Ashley, and he has been busy at the base.... Oh, he titfucked me.... It was nice. I sucked the come out.... It seems like leaving it on my boobs would be a waste, except that it's all going to waste, anyway.... His balls are nice.... I don't know, Marta, maybe a peach, if you take both of them together.... A medium one.... They work well enough to produce plenty of cum, anyway.... Uh, huh.... Okay, Marta, talk again, soon. Love you."

A few days later, Merrill invited Jake to dinner at her home, with a few friends. After a pleasant evening, Ashley had been sent to bed, and the other friends had left. Merrill and Jake were sitting on the couch, apart. She produced a gift for him, "A small token of my esteem, Jacob." He unwrapped it.

It was a Kama Sutra. He laughed, "Merrill, this is great. I can't imagine you going into a bookstore and buying this!"

"I nearly failed to do so! I went to the far side of town, wearing dark sunglasses. I couldn't see a thing inside, so I had to take off the sunglasses. There I stood, under a sign that said 'Sex and Sexuality,' looking through a surprising variety of Kama Sutras, seeking the one that most perfectly suited your peculiar...needs. I waited a long time for the guy at the checkout counter to be relieved by a woman. She was twice my age, and I am quite sure she pictured me as the Whore of Babylon, destined to burn in hell."

Merrill produced a pen, from out of nowhere, and said, "Purple for me." They had great fun going through the book. "I chose this book because it has check boxes, with room for notes, for each position." They checked off an impressive number of boxes. "Jacob, I'm sure we did that one, because I remember you standing me on my head."

"No, my dear, what you remember is a slight variation on one we have already checked off. This particular one is very strenuous. It requires that I lift you into the air and impale you on my cock, like a kebab. I would have remembered that!"

Merrill heard Ashley's door open. They separated, and Jake slid the book under a sofa cushion. Ashley only needed to go to the bathroom. When she returned to her room, Merrill said, "You'd better go, now, and take that book with you. It must never see this house again. Here, take the pen, too." She led him to the door, and they shared a passionate kiss on the doorstep.

Merrill shifted her legs to rub against his erection. She broke their kiss, and said, "Jacob, I need to talk about the elephant in the room." He tilted his head. She answered his unspoken question by stroking him with her leg. "I'm just curious. Are you going to make love to me, every time, like you haven't seen a woman in a year?"

"I thought you would be flattered."

"Oh, I am flattered. I am also flattened. You've been very generous, letting me do my own thing, but, my God, Jacob!" She wiggled in his arms mischievously. "I'm not complaining, I'm just curious if you will maintain this pace."

He pushed his erection against her a little harder, and said, "With you, definitely."

She giggled, and said, "That's fine with me. I'll brace myself for your next performance."

Jake wanted to buy Merrill a gift of some kind. A small token, or keepsake, or anything. He could not come up with something that would express his growing affection for Merrill, yet not appear so to an outsider, especially Ashley. He naively settled on a simple gold heart locket, on a chain. No photo inside. No engraving. When he presented it to Merrill, with high hopes, she drowned his enthusiasm.

"Jacob, this is lovely. So sweet...."

His shoulders drooped, "But...."

"But, Ashley is eight, going on thirty. To any woman, even a little girl, this is a romantic notion. I cannot explain this away as anything else." Jake looked wounded. Merrill kissed him. "I'll tell you what. I will accept this, and keep it at your house. I will wear it while I am there, and when we are able to go out as a couple. Someday, maybe, I can show it to Ashley, and her heart will soar."

"Oh, that would be nice, Merrill. May I put it on you, please?" She turned and held her long hair aside while he clasped it around her neck. She wore it while they were together that day. She took care to lay it on her throat when they made love. He stared at it while he porked her. She got halfway home before she realized she was still wearing it. She rushed back to his house to drop it off, and they shared a good laugh.

Merrill's need to protect Ashley from potential heartbreak grated on Jake. He despised the part of himself that resented an innocent child for standing between him and his girlfriend. He adored Ashley. How long would it take before he and Merrill could come out as a couple? Thinking it through, he saw a grim reality.

He broached the subject directly with Merrill, "Merrill, dear, I have been thinking...."

"Words I dread to hear!"

"Hah. I'm serious, though. Am I right in thinking that we cannot reveal our relationship publicly until you are certain that it will be permanent? Anything less would expose Ashley to adult realities that she cannot, and should not, understand."

"Yes. Yes, Jacob. If Ashley saw us as a couple, and we subsequently broke up, it would be the next thing to a divorce. Even worse, we would be broken up, and still living a few doors apart. She would see you often, and that would be like salt in the wound."

He slumped down, "This is the most difficult thing I have ever faced, Merrill, at least in the realm of relationships. I cannot give you up. I want to share the greater part of your life, which is Ashley. She's a great kid, and I can't even get close to her. It is heartbreaking to see you interact with her, and not be a part of it."

Merrill had tears in her eyes, "Oh, Jacob, that is beautiful. We must hang on, carry on, day by day, and discover our future."

Later, Merrill said, "Jacob, I have had a brainstorm! You cannot, at present, share in my relationship with Ashley. However, I can share in your relationship with your family. Let's take a few days, go to Seattle, and you can show them how lucky you are!"

"Can you get someone to watch Ashley?"

"Easily."

The four-night trip to Seattle quickly overwhelmed Jake. Always a lone wolf, he was now being pulled in so many directions that his head spun. His lieutenant, Ramon, had warned him, "Traveling with a woman is unlike anything you have ever experienced, Taggert. Mark my words, this trip will either cement your relationship, or quickly end it."

Merrill's cover story to Ashley was that she was traveling to Seattle to re-unite with high school friends. Ashley kept asking who the friends were, what were their names, did she have any photos of them, and would she promise to take photos of them while in Seattle.

Meredith obsessed over her Seattle wardrobe. She couldn't be sure what the vibe would be. Would they want to go someplace nice? How formally did they dress? What about the legendary Seattle rain? How could she know what she would want to wear on any given day in the future? She ended up taking everything. Each clothing permutation demanded specific shoes.

Accustomed to traveling light, Jake felt that he was compromising by allowing Meredith to check a bag. Merrill leveraged that concession. They would each check a bag. He decreed that they should each check only one bag, to avoid baggage charges. Meredith's bag proved to be the size of a steamer trunk. On top of that, she demanded that Jake bring an equally large bag, which somehow ended up being filled mostly with Meredith's clothes.

Meredith, universally loved, was worried about whether Jakes's family would "approve" of her. He clumsily reassured her, "I am thirty, never married, and I have not taken a girl home to meet my family since I was a teenager. They'd be thrilled, even if I brought home a cyclops!" Meredith recited that comment to all her friends, who unanimously condemned it.

Yet another touchy subject was the sleeping arrangements. Jake looked forward to four nights of unrestricted sex. Out of modesty, Merrill was unwilling to share a room with Jake in his parents' home. Jake offered many arguments against this stance, each of which drew ire from Merrill. With great difficulty, Jake convinced his parents that Merrill would be more comfortable staying at his sister's home in nearby Tacoma. Cheryl was divorced, with a very modern sensibility regarding sex. To his parents, he pleaded that Cheryl was lonely, and that staying with her was an act of kindness.

The fact that Jake was going on a trip simultaneous with Merrill's was a carefully-guarded secret. Merrill dropped Ashley off at a friend's house. The flight to Seattle was unremarkable. The first thing she noticed upon getting off the plane was a vending machine that sold umbrellas. Merrill tensed as she marched through the terminal with Jake. She feared the first impression she would make. She looked gorgeous, in her carefully-chosen traveling clothes. Jake's parents joyously hugged him. He turned to introduce Merrill, and Jane and Tom Taggert fell in love. This girl with the brilliant smile would make a perfect daughter-in-law.

Arriving at Jake's parents' home, Cheryl reacted to Merrill with immediate favor. Jake convinced his mother to serve dinner very early, "We've been traveling all day, mom. We need to get some rest." In other words, "I haven't had sex in two days, and I've got her all night. I want to get started. Now!" Once Jake and Merrill were alone with Cheryl in her car, the serious talk started.

"Sooo, you two, huh? My guest bed is queen size. I hope that will be adequate. How long have you two been a couple?"

Jake said, "Oh, we've known each other almost three months, now."

"That's not what I asked."

Merrill understood, "I made him wait about a month, Cheryl."

"Ooh, a month? Well done, girl! Very prim and proper. I know you have a little girl. How often are you two able to get together?"

Jake said, "Ahem. That's a little personal, Cher."

"Cheryl, we were able to see each other five days a week, until a couple of weeks ago, when Jacob had to go back to work. It's harder now, because Ashley is only gone at school for six hours, all during the day."

"How do you guys manage it?"

"Jacob's schedule is pretty flexible...."

"Like Merrill!" Jake quipped.

"Ahem. Anyway, we can work his schedule around. If he works weekends, he has two weekdays free. They have the option of a four-day work week, most of the time. And, if he gets really desperate, he can take a two-hour lunch, which gives him one full hour with me."

"Merrill, it sounds like Jake is doing pretty well for himself, all things considered. How much does Ashley know about you two?"

"We're just neighbors and acquaintances, as far as she knows. She's eight, so we've been very careful. It's hard, especially for Jacob. We have only had a few full nights together. That number will double, just on this trip."

Jake urged, "Yes, and I would appreciate it if you would step on it, Cher. I'm ready."

They arrived at Cheryl's, and Jake and Merrill got their gear settled into the guest room. Jake and Merrill sat in the living room, with Cheryl. They got Cheryl talking about her status. She had been divorced two years, yet dated only occasionally. Cheryl and Merrill—they were delighted to discover that they rhymed—were soon buddies. While the two women chatted, Jake mauled Merrill with increasing vigor. Merrill said, "I'm sorry, Cheryl, I should probably take care of this." He picked her up and carried her to their room. "Thank you so much for your hospitality...."

Cheryl stayed up a while, listening to Merrill moan, Jake groan, and the bedsprings squeak. She smiled, thinking that she had never heard him sound so happy.

In the morning, sitting at the kitchen table, Merrill broke out the Kama Sutra. Number 16 was in the bag. As Jake happily checked it off, Merrill had a brainstorm, "Jacob! Shouldn't there be a special note for positions in which you have come inside me?"

"Good idea. As I recall, I scored on Number 16. How about an asterisk? But, what about positions in which you have come? An exclamation point?"

Merrill purred, "Ooooh, sexy!" They giggled, thumbing through the book, adding punctuation marks. Cheryl arrived. The couple looked about nervously. There was no place to hide the book. Cheryl immediately noticed their discomfort. Merrill shrugged helplessly as Cheryl got behind them, and looked over their shoulders.

Cheryl asked, "Jake, dear, is this the same...?"

"No, Cher, it's a brand-new book, just for Merrill and me. I was a gift from her."

"Ah, I see. So, Number 16, last night, with an asterisk! Well done, you two!"

For three days, the four Taggerts showed Merrill around the Seattle area. As Jake had expected, they loved Merrill, and she them. She relished seeing his traits and quirks in them. His parents had been married thirty-five years. You could not know them and imagine them apart. She sensed that their marriage had inspired his values when it came to relationships in general, and, Merrill dared hope, marriage in particular.