My Best Summer Mistake

The meal was incredible. Seeing Hanna savor every bite filled me with happiness.

The sun had set, turning the lawn into a dark expanse. Beyond, moonlight shimmered on the lake. We sat on the steps of the patio sipping one more glass of soju and watching fireflies winking here and there. There was no traffic noise, no sirens, and no other people.

"Incredible," I said. "Ridiculously romantic."

"Yeah," Hanna said, then paused.

She touched my hand and looked at me with smoldering eyes. "I want to do it with you," she said.

"Er, what? Hanna, that's really not a—"

"I want to make a video. I've thought about it and want us to do it."

"Oh. That's what you meant."

She grinned. "Oh, you thought I meant something else?"

"You sure you aren't drunk? Your naughty side is starting to show again."

She laughed and stood. "I'll get set up. Come grab me any time you're ready."

~~~~

Hanna set up her phone on a short tripod and I set up mine. With the two angles carefully aimed to omit our faces, we figured we could edit them into a suitable video to post online.

We dressed: Hanna came down from her room, utterly devastating in a plum-colored sleeveless dress that had a long row of round buttons down the front. I wore the dress shirt and khakis that I wore in all my videos. After two days of being naked, the clothes felt scratchy, humid, and confining.

We played old standards to avoid copyright strikes: folk and traditional tunes, a few Bach and Chopin études, even some ragtime. Hanna played more adeptly than the day before, adding her rich and expressive voice to each number—singing when there were lyrics, but mostly vocalizing freely in wordless flowing improvised tones. I accompanied on my banjo, inserting flourishes with hints of bluegrass, jazz and blues.

Soon we were embellishing each well-known tune, riffing and building off each other, going back and forth. Hanna would add some unexpected little variation then grin at me in challenge. I responded, building on the theme, extending it and taking it in a new direction. We conversed musically—a teasing, playful foreplay until we settled on a motif and joined in harmonious duet, a song of obligation and regret, uncertainty and turmoil, hope and desire.

Our playing dwindled until we stopped and stared at each other, filled with the music we had made. We barely knew each other, yet I felt we had just revealed everything that mattered. I felt intimately connected to her, and I had to have her. Judging by the lust in Hanna's eyes, she felt the same.

Hanna rose. As though in a trance, she helped lift the banjo from around my neck and we set it aside. I began releasing the buttons of her dress while she unbuttoned my shirt.

"You're amazing," I said.

"You're more amazing," she said, unbuttoning.

"We shouldn't do this," I said, working more of her buttons loose.

"Yeah. I'm known for making poor choices, though."

"So am I. Famous for it."

She helped remove my shirt. I flung it aside and together we eagerly worked to undo more of her buttons.

When her dress was loose enough, we slid it off her shoulders to puddle at her feet, leaving her bare. Moments later, my pants joined it, leaving us both naked.

"I can't wait to regret this," she breathed, looking at me with desire.

We embraced. Hanna was perfect in my arms: soft and huggable, her entrancing eyes dark and shining, the fragrance of her skin intoxicating. We kissed tentatively at first, our hands entwined, testing and teasing. Soon the kisses became needy, and our hands roamed everywhere. I caressed her breasts, her generous ass and stroked her face. She stroked my ass, smooth her palms over my chest, and grasped my already stiff cock.

When I touched between her legs, Hanna moaned and widened her stance. She was soaking. She ran the tip of my hardness through her slick pussy lips and I grabbed her ass, seeking to lift her and penetrate her right there.

"Not here," she said, panting. "Can we go outside? On the lawn?"

I lifted her into my arms. Hanna smiled, putting her arms around my neck as I carried her onto the patio and down the steps onto the grass.

"Look," I said, setting her on her feet.

While we had been playing, the few fireflies of the early evening had become a constellation. Flitting, flashing lights blinked everywhere in the grass, in the surrounding trees, and in the air.

Hanna gasped and squeezed my hand. "Incredible! I've never seen so many out here." She waved an arm gracefully through the air as fireflies weaved past. "Did you know it's a courtship ritual? They're all trying to get laid."

"Want to show them how it's done?" I asked.

She smiled and kissed me. "More than anything."

We laid on the grass, still warm from the day's sun. Neither of us wanted preliminaries: Hanna pulled me onto her, and we kissed and caressed each other everywhere, our hips surging and seeking, our breathing growing rapid.

When the head of my cock nuzzled Hanna's steamy entrance, her mouth fell open with a gasp. I pushed, feeling the head slip past the ring of her opening.

She jerked and pressed her palms against my chest. "Slow! Go slow. Please. It's been a long time."

I eased back, then pressed again, sinking in slightly more and repeated the motion until Hanna relaxed and urged me deeper. She looked between us at my cock working into her, then looked at me with a smoldering expression of need, lips parted, and eyebrows raised. Her eyes flared each time I retreated then pressed forward, a tiny gasp escaping her lips.

Hanna was snug and slick and warm. We worked back and forth, slowly opening her to accommodate my insistent cock. When finally we were fully joined with the heat of her walls grasping me completely, Hanna was staring up open mouthed.

"Is that okay?" I asked. "Am I hurting you?"

She wriggled under me then melted my heart with a radiant smile before reaching up to caress my face.

"It's wonderful. You feel so perfect."

Hanna hooked her legs behind mine and pushed back as I nudged deeper into her, feeling her tightness around me.

We kissed, Hanna playfully nipping my lips and nose, her eyes liquid and lovely. We stayed joined, just rutting back at each other, gazing at each other, until soon we needed more. I withdrew from her volcanic warmth, feeling her passage cling and grasp, until only the tip was in her. Hanna moaned in delight and wrapped her arms and legs tight when I pushed back in, sinking even deeper into her welcoming body.

"Yes! Fuck me. Oh, god please fuck me."

Little grunts and gasps escaped her with each penetration as Hanna pushed up to greet every thrust, then ground against me when she was fully impaled. She smoothed my back and raked my ass with her nails, nearly making me lose control.

Hanna urged me to speed up, but I needed to go slow to make it last. Eventually we found the perfect tempo—fast and hard enough to work Hanna towards her peak, but measured enough that I felt I could sustain it forever.

How could this beautiful rich heiress, granddaughter of the town's wealthiest man let me fuck her? I was nobody. Just a blue-collar failure. But I guess Hanna was a silver spoon failure, so maybe we were a good match.

A need to get deeper, to possess her and give her every pleasure suddenly possessed me. I hooked my arms under her knees and lifted, nearly folding Hanna in half. She groaned louder when my cock pressed into her g-spot before sliding past to touch new depths.

Hanna's mouth fell open, eyes losing focus, when I pulled almost completely out then impaled her once more with one slow, demanding stroke. Her head lolled to one side and she let out a long satisfied moan.

I rutted into her again, drawing a delightful little "uh!" from her.

Hanna's little grunts soon turned to throaty moans as we fucked. She clutched me tight, distractedly pawing my head, my ass, my back, rotating her hips, and grinding against me in desperation. Her mouth hung open but her eyes were scrunched tight as she let me take her, offering herself with complete abandon.

Minutes later, I felt the last of my control dissolve and rammed into her in short, staccato thrusts, the animal need to fill her with everything I had overpowering every other sense.

Hanna's moans suddenly ceased. She popped her eyes open, took one quick breath then her expression became distant. Within her, I felt rhythmic pulsing of her passage, grasping and releasing, milking my cock. Her face became an angelic expression of pure bliss.

I had never had a partner come just from penetration. Thrilled, I jammed into her with one savage thrust, then another and let it happen. Orgasm overtook me and I flooded poor Hanna with blast after blast, filling her spasming, needy body with everything I could offer.

My orgasm went on and on as I unloaded into her in powerful bursts, the world fading away in soaring mindless ecstasy.

When the world returned, Hanna was breathing deeply, her expression still blissful and distant, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Her eyes blinked open and met mine.

Releasing her legs, I lifted some of my weight off her.

She smiled weakly. "Whoa," she said. "I think... I think you're going to be my favorite mistake."

"There's a song with that name."

"There is? We'll have to learn it." She rolled us over until she was on top and kissed me. "Better yet, let's make our own version."

"Know where we are?" I said, lovingly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "We're laying exactly where I was when you caught me naked with the mower."

Hanna laughed. "I'm never going to look at this patch of lawn again without getting wet. Hell, now I'll probably have an orgasm every time I hear a banjo."

~~~~

We stayed wrapped in each other's arms until we shivered in the evening air. We went inside. Neither of us were tired, so Hanna fetched her laptop and edited the video captured by our phones. She cut them into separate videos for each tune we played, expertly fading between the two points of view, highlighting hands on keys and fingers on frets, careful to remove anything that could identify us or the location.

My phone had captured the moment we had stopped playing and stripped each other. Watching it on her laptop made us horny again, so hand in hand we ran up to the guest room. We made love twice more that night, more tenderly, before falling asleep in the giant bed just as the sky outside began to lighten.

~~~~

We slept late, then made breakfast together. I thought Hanna was joking when she wanted to make kimchi pancakes, only to learn it was a popular breakfast. We cooked some eggs and bacon, too.

Halfway through eating, I checked my phone.

"Hanna? Look!"

My obscure video channel had ballooned to over a hundred followers. The comments were universal in their acclaim:

"Who is that? She has the voice of an angel."

"Excellent takes on old standards. Inventive and rich."

"Babe, you have sexy sexy hands. Show us the rest of you!"

"Please contact William at Creative Fanatics Agency immediately to discuss representation."

Hanna scrolled through the comments in disbelief.

"See?" I said. "It's not just me who thinks you're wonderful."

~~~~

We had almost four weeks until her family returned. During the day, we completed tasks: weeding, fixing fences, mowing, and painting. Hanna patiently helped me overcome my fear of swimming in water I couldn't see the bottom of, and we pushed the swim platform out into the lake and anchored it. We celebrated by making love on the rocking raft.

Each evening we cooked, played music together and recorded more videos. The video channel's popularity grew each day, as did our closeness.

Hanna was a gentle and passionate lover, always eager to please. One night, she drank too much and became an insatiable wildcat. We got no sleep that night.

~~~~

When there was only one week left, Hanna learned she had nowhere else to go.

"The friend I shared an apartment with at college was supposed to return. Now she's going to another college."

"Is there anyone else there you know? Any other friends anywhere?"

"Everyone's graduated now. They're starting jobs or moving on to grad school in other places. My credit cards are cut off and my savings are gone. I can't even afford to rent a room in someone's house."

"How do your parents expect you to live?"

"They expect me to figure it out. Get a job, prove I can find my own way." She looked at me sheepishly. "I really should have been doing that instead of helping you and, uh, doing what we've been doing."

"Oh, Hanna."

"I know. Another bad choice."

I took her in my arms. "No problem, then," I said. "Come stay with me. I know people in town. We'll find you a job somewhere. You never graduated, but you must know a lot about business. And you used to teach piano, right?"

"That doesn't pay much."

"It's something. Anyway, we'll figure it out. Uh, I only have a bachelor apartment. Even the swim platform has more square footage. Also, there's no kimchi fridge."

She laughed. "Sounds cozy, but you'd get sick of me really fast. No, this is my problem. I can't ask you to take me in."

"Punishing yourself again, Hanna? You didn't ask. I'm volunteering."

~~~~

We were relaxing on the patio, still in work clothes, having just finished dinner after a long day of filling potholes that had formed in the gravel lane.

We looked at each other when we heard the front door open. Hanna gasped and leaped up when her grandfather appeared at the patio doors.

She stood before him. "Harabeoji," she said, bowing.

The senior Mr. Choi took both her hands and smiled. "Han-nai. Sonnyeo. How I missed you. We all miss you."

I went to him and shook hands. "We weren't expecting you for another week, sir."

"Hanna's grandmother wasn't feeling well in the heat. So, we've come back early." To Hanna he said, "She is fine now and resting at home. She missed swimming with you at Songjeong beach."

Hanna scrambled to offer him a seat at the head of the table and asked what he wanted to eat and drink. Mr. Choi spoke in Korean and Hanna immediately brought two shot glasses and a chilled bottle of plain soju. She then scurried off to the kitchen.

"Tanner," he said, "I wanted to see how you made out."

"Strange we didn't hear the driveway alarm."

"Oh, I know where the sensor is. I parked at the top of the lane and walked down."

He filled my glass and then his own. When we clinked, I carefully positioned my glass lower than his. Turning away from him, I drank it all.

Mr. Choi refilled my glass. I sipped but left it half full.

He looked pleased. "You've learned some Korean ways."

"Hanna has been helping me, sir."

"Has she? Well, I'm impressed by the work I've seen so far. The lane is immaculate. The front hall looks excellent. And I like how you've cared for our lawn. I appreciate that diamond pattern, but I must say I find it excessive. You must show me everything you've done. After we've talked."

When Hanna returned with various bowls of banchan, she stood with head bowed.

"Grandfather, I apologize for disobeying and coming here."

"Hanna," he said, "It's your parents you must apologize to. It was they who cut you off and banished you. Though I reluctantly support their decision."

Mr. Choi asked Hanna to fetch a glass and sit with us. He filled all our glasses and we drank, Hanna and I turning our heads to show respect.

Hanna said, "Grandfather? How did you—"

"I thought you might come here, " he said. "I know you well."

To me he said, "You are very much like your father when I first hired him. Intelligent, diligent, kind. "

"Thank you, sir. He always speaks highly of you."

"Your mother worked briefly for one of my companies."

"She did? Uh..."

"You might ask her about that. And meeting your father."

"Grandfather," Hanna said, "please, please speak with mother and father. My money's gone. I have no job."

He sighed. "No, Hanna. You've relied on family for too long. You must learn to rely on yourself. And the help of caring friends."

He looked at me and I blanched. He knew. Somehow, he knew everything.

~~~~

We toured the property with the list of tasks in hand. Mr. Choi left Hanna behind to clean up. I was about to help her but caught Hanna's warning shake of her head. Some traditions die hard.

Though it was obvious Hanna and I were sharing the guestroom when he peeked inside, Mr. Choi only remarked on how clean all the house's windows were and the fine job I had done repainting all the upstairs trim.

Tour completed, he seemed satisfied with the work and how few tasks remained, though I took notes on minor issues he wanted improved.

Hanna and I walked Mr. Choi to his car.

He shook my hand, saying he would be happy to give me a glowing reference and how pleased he was "with how everything has turned out."

Taking Hanna's hands, he kissed her cheek and said, "I won't say I found you here. Everyone returns Friday and we're all gathering here on Saturday. "

"I understand, harabeoji," Hanna said. "I'll be gone and leave no trace."

~~~~

Hanna and I sat on the patio steps, watching the sun set over the lake.

"I think we were set up," she said. "This was some kind of sogaeting—a blind date."

"Yeah. He seems to approve, though."

"I'm not sure. I think he's... hopeful. That we'll be good for each other."

I put my arm around her. "I think we are. I'm hopeful too."

Hanna rested her head against me. "So am I. I think being together might be the best bad decision we've ever made."