Palau Palsu: Love For Sale

It still took a while before the crowd thinned enough that Lena could escape. I'd gotten another drink and passed the time chatting quietly with Adam, but I was more than ready when Lena took my arm possessively and led me away.

She kept her poise all the way to our room but slumped slightly as soon as the door closed behind us. "Thanks for being patient. That was so what I didn't want to do tonight!"

I felt the tension leaving as I kneaded her shoulders. "But it's a big part of your job. That's why I stayed out of the way. Like your mother did."

"Played hooky, you mean! Dad likes to have her on his arm when he can." Her laugh and her mothers were definitely the same.

"I don't blame him. She's a special lady -- not just attractive, but wonderful company. And very sharp. Like her daughter."

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like she's got another admirer. Have I lost my man to my mother's charms?" She sounded amused.

I grinned at her. "Not quite. Though she is very charming. No, we just had a good talk. She sort-of apologized for the expectations they've laid on you. And promised to support us staying together. I think she's on our side, now. She even mentioned grandchildren!"

Lena returned my grin. "That is good news. I was afraid I'd be introduced to another 'good match' or 'nice young man' when we got home. Or a platoon of them. But if mom's on our side, dad will go along with it." Her smile turned wry "Things would have been so much easier if they'd had more kids. All that attention focused on me ... She shuddered dramatically."

I was curious. "Why didn't they?"

"Mumps."

"Mumps? What ... oh!"

"They'd planned on at least three children. But daddy caught mumps while she was pregnant with me. So I'm it."

Lena's face turned serious. "Rick, I hope we can make things work. I don't want us to drift apart, and I don't want to wait too long to have kids once we're together again, either. I want at least two, maybe more. Is that OK with you?" She sounded nervous.

I pulled her close. "I'm glad you feel that way. I want kids, too. I promise: no more than two years apart. Then, if I have to, I'll quit my job to join you. We'll start our family as soon as you're ready."

She raised her face to mine for an unhurried kiss. "I'd like that. Rick, once we're back together I'm ready whenever you are. As many as you'd like." She gave a sudden grin. "Want to keep me barefoot and pregnant?"

"You can count on it!"

Our lovemaking that night was very different -- slow, reflective, and gentle. Not tentative -- by now, we'd both learned what pleased our partner -- but careful, storing memories with each touch and sensation against future need. I tried to memorize each expression that crossed her face as she rode me to her leisurely finish, only a quiet whimper and a shudder showing that she'd reached her peak. My own release was equally languid, a prolonged draining into her snug depths. I stroked her hair afterward as we shared more kisses. She fell asleep still cradled on my chest.

Far too early the next morning, we were up for a quick breakfast so they could catch their flight. Adam and I rode the limo with them to the airport and watched as they moved through the first-class security line. On the other side, Lena turned to wave and blow me a kiss before following her parents away. And just like that, she was gone.

I was very quiet on the ride back to the consulate. Adam let me brood in peace, contenting himself with a silent shoulder clasp when the driver let us out. I appreciated that -- it was starting to sink in that I wouldn't see Lena again for a long, long, time.

But no matter how down you feel, brooding doesn't help. With a sigh, I pushed back my self-pity and went to get my bag. I'd thank Adam for his hospitality then return to our -- my -- apartment. I needed to be ready for work in the morning.

Adam surprised me. He'd waved away my thanks, then handed over his business card, with his private contact information added on the back. I must have looked puzzled -- a faint smile crossed his face. "Madam Wang explained your situation and said that you may be looking for a resident visa in a year or two. Feel free to call me when you do. Miss Tan's a lovely young lady, and I know how hard it can be to maintain a relationship when far apart. I'd be pleased to help."

I could tell he meant it. I didn't let him wave away my thanks a second time.

Chapter 3

I'd been living in my apartment for over a year when I first met Lena. Even before she'd moved in with me it had felt small, almost cramped after she'd added her things. Now that she was gone it didn't feel roomier -- it felt empty. I didn't sleep much that first night.

Starting work the next morning was a relief. At least I was enthusiastic about my job -- startups are a Silicon Valley tradition, and I expected to learn a lot working there. True, most of them go nowhere, but at the very least I'd make a decent salary and gain experience. And if we successfully went public -- well, my stock options really were ridiculously generous; I might earn anywhere from months to a few years worth of my salary.

With that sort of nest egg and experience for my resume, I could afford to move to Palau Palsu for a few years. But at the moment, what I really valued was something to keep me busy.

Work did help -- getting my area set up and starting to learn my responsibilities kept my attention focused enough I didn't have time to brood much. And when I got home and checked my messages, one from Lena was waiting. It wasn't much -- just a quick "we're here" with a couple of attached pictures -- but it did wonders for my mood.

Over the next few months, I established a regular routine -- get up early, exercise, then head to work. We were all putting in long hours -- 60 hours a week was coasting - but I welcomed the challenge. Besides, it wasn't as if I had a home life.

Or maybe I did; regular contact with Lena was the bright spot that kept me balanced. The time difference was enough that we could seldom actually talk; our early mornings were late nights in Palau Palsu, while mid-afternoon was the start of their day. But even when we were both working we both managed to send several messages every day.

I didn't really have a lot new to tell Lena -- I loved my job, but when you're spending most of your waking time at work and are limited by a Non-Disclosure agreement, there's not a lot you can report beyond variations of "went to work again, had problems with widget X, code Y helped resolve them." The NDA limits what you can say, but even if it didn't most people's eyes glaze within the first few minutes. Seconds, sometimes.

So most of our discussions covered what Lena was doing.

Unlike mine, Lena's job wasn't all-encompassing. Though there were occasional evening social gatherings -- "parties" like the one for her graduation for the most part -- her evenings and weekends were usually free. And though she seemed to miss me as intensely as I missed her, she was very happy to be back home.

Her messages and social media posts were full of it: outings with her mother, seeing friends and former classmates, visiting favorite spots, scenes from the past, trying favorite foods. And pictures. Lots of pictures. Pictures of her friends, of sunlit beaches, crowded markets, vendors bargaining to sell more sorts of tropical fruits than I could readily identify, plates of food, workers in the fields (and yes, some of the tiny topless figures appeared to be female), a new highway bridge going up ...

Pictures and stories about anything that caught her attention, or she thought would interest me. Some pictures had long descriptions attached, others just cryptic names. It wasn't a curated travelogue -- it was a stream-of-consciousness record of everything about her home she wanted to share.

I'd thought her relatively simple tastes during our time together were at least party the effects of an austere student budget. She certainly had a catlike ability to enjoy luxury when it dropped into her lap! But although her parents' home in Bandar Palsu was as luxurious as I'd expected, her love seemed to be for their country villa -- still nice, but much simpler than their city home. And most of her favorite dishes were local specialties from cheap market stalls, not expensive gourmet treats. For a girl from her society's elites, her tastes were remarkably plebeian.

Despite her privileged upbringing, I already knew that Lena wasn't a snob. But if I'd ever wondered, her circle of friends confirmed that -- she was as apt to spend time with the village girls near her parents' villa she'd known since childhood as their "social superiors" she'd first met in High School.

And she had story after story about the difference her father's projects made for the whole country.

The stream of posts, messages, and discussions did wonders keeping us in touch and sharing thoughts -- it would have been far harder for both of us without them. But they couldn't replace the emotional interplay of face-to-face conversation or the feeling of replete closeness that comes with falling asleep next to a smiling lover.

At least technology had an answer for one of them. Even a few years earlier we could have gone broke paying international phone rates. These days? It's easy to lose track of the number of competing voice-over-IP and video conferencing services.

Palau Palsu's 15 hours ahead of the US West Coast -- 8 AM in California's 11 PM the same day there. We soon had a routine established -- short calls every Tuesday and Thursday morning before I went to work, longer calls on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) mornings when we could talk as long as we wished. Despite the occasional video glitch or audio dropout, being able to see each other's faces as we talked made a huge difference. She'd share stories about her day at work, or a new restaurant she'd tried with her friends, or her plans to spend a weekend at their country retreat. She was still living at home; though she'd usually take the call in her 'bedroom' (it was a suite bigger than my little apartment), sometimes she'd answer from their sitting room so Ceci (even, occasionally, her father) could join in.

It even helped with the need for physical closeness, a little. In retrospect, I'm not sure why we hadn't planned for regular phone sex from the very beginning. It's not that either of us had any problems with the idea, but at first, scheduling it seemed too ... calculated, perhaps? But a little back-and-forth sexual teasing had always been a regular part of our relationship, and it had continued online. The first time it went a little further was accidental -- it was her Saturday night, and she and her mother had gone to visit their country villa.

"It was a great day. We walked down to the village farmer's market for lunch, and I got to talk to some of my old friends. It was a little hot, but the weather was perfect. You'd have loved it!"

"I'd have loved being with you, but why would I love hot weather?"

Her tone turned mischievous. "Because it was hot enough a lot of women were wearing just sarongs." She waited for a beat before adding. "Me and mom, too."

I blinked. "Now that's something I'd love to see."

Her eyes were dancing. "You want to see mom's tits? Shall I call her in?"

I forced the sudden image that formed away and growled: "No. Just ... no. Though I'm sure hers are lovely. You know I meant 'I'd like to see you dressed in a sarong.' Minx!"

"Oh? This one?" The image jostled for a moment as she put her laptop on the table and stepped back. Now that I could see more than just her face I realized that she hadn't been teasing -- although the top of the garment was wrapped above her navel, it was well below her breasts.

I could feel myself stiffening in response -- it had been several weeks, now, and even when we'd been living together I'd never been able to resist her. Now? I wanted to climb through the screen to take her.

There's a stereotype that Asian women are short, slender, and small-breasted. I suppose that's not entirely incorrect; on average, Asian women are a bit smaller than many other groups. But that's "on average". Lena was definitely slender. But she's not short, even by US standards. I suppose her breasts aren't more than medium-sized, but they're beautifully formed, firm but with the slight sway as she moves that shows they're natural rather than a surgeon's fantasy.

I knew all that, in the abstract. But I'd forgotten how the impact of the total package. I was momentarily dry-mouthed.

It must have shown on my face. Lena gave a satisfied smile and squared her shoulders, lifting her breasts so her stiff dark nipples were pointed directly at the camera.

"Like what you see?" Her voice had dropped to a sultry purr.

"Love what I see. Wish I was there to do more than look!" My growl this time had nothing to do with irritation.

"Oh, like this?" Her index finger idly circled a nipple before flicking it lightly; even with the app's questionable video quality, I could see the stiff little nub quiver. "What would you do if you were here?" She was breathing faster.

"I'd have both those beautiful breasts in my hands, tugging on this lovely nipples and rolling them between my fingers until they're hard and swollen." I was breathing a little faster, too. On-screen, I could see her eyes were half-closed but her hands had echoed my words.

"Then I'd tug that sarong loose so I could see the rest of your lovely body." Again, her hands echoed my described actions, and the sarong slid to the floor. She positioned herself on the couch and spread her legs wide to give me a better view. Her golden skin almost glowed on my screen, and I saw it had been long enough that her tightly trimmed little landing strip was starting to grow out into a full bush.

"Show me your pink!" She moaned as her hands obeyed, spreading her labia wide to show the glistening pink inside. Held submissively open like that, I could easily make out the little nub of her clit standing clear of its hood. After giving me a good view, her right hand moved to hook two, then three fingers inside

Her voice was low enough I could barely hear her. "Rick? I want to see you, too."

Fair enough -- she'd gone far beyond the teasing I'd expected for me. I still hadn't fully dressed after my workout; I pulled my T-shirt over my head, then slid my shorts and jockstrap off together.

"Nice! Is all that for me?" Her eyes widened appreciatively. After the show she'd given me, my cock was hard and throbbing. I nodded.

"God, I wish you were here! I need you so bad!" Her fingers had begun to slide in and out of her twat, and her free hand had moved up again to cup and kneed her left breast.

There was raw need in my voice as I told her: "I wish I was there too, Lena. Can you pretend I am? Come for me and I'll come for you!"

Her eyes were locked on my swollen cock as I stroked it, but both her hands were busy. I could hear a rapid sloshing sound as her fingers pumped in and out of her cunt. Her assault on her breast looked painful -- her nipple was stretched out to obscene lengths as she tugged it.

"It looks so big. So hard." Lena seemed to almost be in her own world.

"Imagine it's inside you, pounding you, stretching out your tight cunt. Imagine how full you'd feel as I took you. Imagine how helpless." She moaned. By now, the hand pumping her cunt was almost a blur.

"Imagine I was pumping my load inside you now. Knocking you up. Imagine how it would look when the rest dripped out of you afterward, and how it would feel as it trickled down your inner thighs." Her moans were getting louder and louder.

"Cum for me!" With a shriek, she obeyed, writhing and convulsing madly; if she hadn't been sprawled on the couch she would have collapsed to the floor.

Though I tried to hold back, the sight was too much for me -- with a deep-throated bellow I came as well, shooting several large pulses of cum nearly to my chin. Lena watched avidly as it began to drip down my chest.

After nearly a minute she spoke. "Wow!"

"Yeah. Wow! This helped quite a bit, but I still wish we were together."

Her voice was so low I could barely hear it. "Me, too. I get so horny!" Louder: "Can we do this again sometime?"

I smiled and nodded.

Just like that, "phone sex" -- "video sex?" - became part of our regular weekend routine.

Lena was in her room -- suite, really -- in her parents' home the next time we played. This time, the sex didn't come as a surprise; when we started the call she was wearing a set of wispy black lingerie that somehow made her seem more exposed than bare skin alone. But even if less spontaneous, it was still intense.

She'd even added a little kink -- she'd found a ball gag somewhere, and strapped it on when we started. If anything, she was even more vocal than before -- it was really hot, and I think her muffled screams excited her just as much as they did me. As we recovered afterward, I asked about it. Surprisingly, she blushed.

"Um ... mom heard us last time, at the villa. At least none of the servants there are live-in. There are a lot more people here in the main house. I don't want them all to be able to hear us."

"Oh. I was pretty noisy that time, too. Did it upset her?"

"Worse! She congratulated me and told me she hoped it was as good for both of us as it sounded." Despite her embarrassment, the corner of her mouth was twitching as she fought a smile.

That set the pattern. However intense or kinky it might get, whenever she was in town our play was constrained by the need for relative quiet -- I kept my voice down, and she'd either bury her face in a pillow or stuff something in her mouth as she neared her peak. Fortunately, it didn't seem to inhibit her interest -- if anything, it seemed to make her more inventive in finding ways to get herself -- and me -- off.

But she reserved our wildest sessions for her country getaways. She'd acquired an interesting collection of toys -- vibrators, dildos, nipple clamps, blindfolds -- and delighted in demonstrating them for me, with no need to for quiet except on the rare occasions both her parents were also visiting. If anything, I thought she was louder when her mother accompanied her than when she came alone. Bragging? Evidence we were still committed? Asserting her claim? I wasn't certain, but the times that Ceci joined the early part of those calls it felt decidedly awkward to be told "Have fun, you two!" before she retreated to her own room. Or to have my fiance' and her mother both topless onscreen; even if Ceci did drape a towel to cover herself, it was distracting.

At least I didn't need to worry whether my mother-in-law to be approved of our relationship -- by now, it was clear she was solidly on our side. Even if she enjoyed teasing both of us -- Ceci was the mistress of innuendo and double entendre and loved seeing us blush -- she went out of her way to make sure we had as much private time as we needed. I was grateful.

It could still be frustrating -- words and videos can't entirely substitute for actually being together, not just for sex, but the simple joy of being able to hold one another. But it still helped enormously -- despite the distance, we not only managed to maintain our relationship but strengthen it. And, somehow, keep the rest of our lives in balance.

It even helped my work life -- given our regular schedule of calls, I could put in six long days a week in the office or lab without taking away from my time with Lena. And people noticed -- within the first few months I'd been singled out for more responsibility, and had my stock options increased to reflect that. It was looking increasingly likely that when -- no longer 'if' - we went public I'd have enough of a nest egg to join Lena. It might still be a year or more away, but if we could hold on until then we'd never need to be apart again.