Four Summers

"Adam, can't you figure it out?" she answered testily.

"Figure what out? You seem upset about something. Did I do anything wrong?"

"No. Not really. Well, maybe."

"What? Look, Chris, you're making no sense at all. Are you headed home? 'Cause if you are, I'd like to drop by to talk about it."

"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea."

"Good idea or not, I'm coming over anyway," I insisted. She nodded slowly 'yes' and got in her car. I followed her home.

Once at her house I helped her carry her food to her kitchen while leaving mine in the car. Once her refrigerated items were safely put up, she turned to me and said, "I usually don't drink in the afternoon, but I'd like a glass of wine. You?"

"Uh, sure, OK, I'll have whatever you're having.

"So, Chris, be honest," I said as she gave me my wine, "Please tell me what's going on."

"Dammit, Adam, I'll tell you what's wrong. I saw you with that hot, little Asian gal, that's what's wrong. It tore me up. I felt like a jealous teenager," she gulped as tears puddled in her eyes.

"But, Chris, you always said..."

"I know what I said. But maybe I want something else."

"What's that?"

"Here I am, a PhD psychologist, and I should be able to communicate better. You know, sometimes I think we psychologists are the craziest people on the planet. But here it is: You, you silly man, I want you!"

"But I'm confused. You've told me if things didn't work out between us that Zoey..."

"Adam," she interrupted, "Maybe I don't want to put my life and happiness on hold any more. The more I get to know you and Zoey and Luke, the more I realize things will work out. They will. And Zoey and Luke will be fine. I know it."

"Wow..."

"You know, the nicest times I've had this past year or so were when I brought Zoey back to your place and we'd just hang around, talking."

"Well, I've enjoyed them too. And I loved the inner-tubing on the river."

"I bet you did. I saw you staring at me in my bathing suit," she laughed through her tears.

"I don't think I've seen anything quite so sexy in ages. So, uh, are you telling me you want to get together?" I asked. "You know, openly and in front of the kids?"

"Yes, yes," she said as she sniffled and launched herself at me, "I want you, Adam, I honestly do. It's been so hard for me to keep a barrier up between us, especially here lately."

I wrapped her up in my arms and hugged her to me. Eventually her soft crying slacked off to a few hiccoughs when she went to pull back from me. She looked up at me with swollen eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. "It just killed me to see you with another woman," she whispered. "And I know that you've needed to move on..."

"It was merely a casual 'get-to-know-you' kind of thing. And she told me we won't be seeing each other again, anyway," I replied.

"But she was so sexy looking. How can I compete with her?"

"It's not been a competition, Chris. You told me we couldn't do the dating thing."

"Oh, Adam, that was then and this is now. I want to be with you," she sniffed. She looked up at me with tears sliding down her face and said, "I must look awful."

"You look wonderful," I murmured back.

"No, please let me go freshen up," she smiled back to me. She popped up and went down the little hall off her living room. After she was gone a little while, I heard her call from in back, "Adam, please go get your groceries. You don't want the frozen things to melt."

"Well, I thought I'd run them home and..."

"No! You are not leaving until I say so, and that's final," she laughed. After running to the car and bringing in the perishables, I sat back down on the couch. Then she came back to the living room.

She looked beautiful. The puffiness of her eyes was fading, the tears were gone. She had on a slinky robe and it was obvious there was no bra on under it. I couldn't tell about any panties. Her hair had been brushed and was loose around her shoulders. "I still haven't finished my wine. You?"

"No. I propose a toast. To us, together!" I said.

"To us, together!" We each took a few sips before sliding together on the couch. She reached around me and I took her in my arms and lowered my head to her. Her eyes were pleading and begging, so I answered with my lips slowly caressing hers. Gentle little strokes of my lips on hers seemed to cause her to tremble and sigh. Slowly her lips parted as she invited my tongue to hers. We sat there, arms around each other, slowly building up passion. Finally, she broke the kiss and buried her mouth along my neck. I heard mumbling.

"What'd you say?"

More mumbling and then I heard her clearly. "It's been so long since I've been with someone, Adam, but right now I know I want you. I need you."

"Uh, isn't that a bit...uh...fast?"

"Three years, Adam! I've known since early on I wanted you. There at the beginning I was still married and anyway it would have been totally and professionally inappropriate of me. And you weren't ready yourself. Later, when I was available and knew you were ready to move on, well, I was involved in raising Zoey, so I put up barriers. But I've wanted you for a long, long time."

"I see. I have to admit I've always enjoyed being with you."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet, as the old saying goes," she said as she moved towards me, "You're going to enjoy a lot more, if I have my way." I felt her moving her hand between us, it moved to the side and I was suddenly aware she had pulled her robe open.

I leaned back as she straightened up and stared me in the eyes. I held her gaze for a few seconds before letting my eyes drift down. She was gorgeous. Her breasts were generous, full, proud. Below them was a lovely belly with a tiny hint of the fullness of a mature woman. I could barely see the top of her panties. My mouth went dry.

"See anything you might be interested in?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"What?"

I reached out and gently stroked a nipple which beaded up as she sighed, "That's a good start." I stroked that breast and then the opposite one as she closed her eyes. I could see her breath become irregular and the pulse in her neck picked up speed. I again leaned towards her to kiss her again and she put her hand flat up against my chest. "Not so fast, Cowboy. You have a serious excess of clothes on you."

She reached over to me and started to unbutton my shirt and stroke my chest before she pulled the shirt off and my shoes. Then she stood up and let her robe fall to the floor. I could easily see her now and I was stunned with her beauty. She had full, womanly hips and two of the best-looking legs I had ever seen on a woman. Once she slid her panties down, I could see her trimmed bush teasingly hiding her lips from my immediate view. With her hand reaching out to me, she pulled me up while I kicked off my shoes, unbuckled my belt and slid the zipper down. My pants fell to my feet followed by her pulling my boxers down.

"You are one handsome man and your little friend here, well, he's not so little now, is he? He's attractive too. Would you care to escort me to my bedroom?"

"Gladly."

She turned away from me and while holding my hand in hers, she pulled me gently down the hall. Once in her room she sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at me. "A bit of housekeeping: I'm clean and I assume you are." I nodded 'yes.' "Ah, also, I can't get pregnant, an old medical issue. That was the main reason for my divorce. Anyway, I guess we won't be needing any protection, will we?"

I shook my head 'no' and told her I'd had a vasectomy anyway after Luke was born. She smiled and pulled me down to sit next to her. We kissed again and my hands began to wander over her as I pulled her down. Side by side we lay there gently kissing, stroking and probing. There was a sense of hunger, but no sense of severe urgency. We had all the time in the world to explore each other and I, for one, did not want to rush things.

Eventually, my hand slid lower and she let her legs slip apart. My fingers gently stroked and teased her hair before I reached the soft petals of her pussy. Between them was the sweet moisture of one excited woman. I pulled some of it forward to massage her clit and once I did, she moaned softly into my mouth. I kept up for a minute or so when she rapidly rose up and clutched me in the throes of an apparent orgasm. Once she was finished, she relaxed back down and sighed, "Nice."

"I'm glad you liked it. Wanna go again?"

"Oh, Adam, you know I do. Wait, what are you doing?" she asked as I started to slide down her belly. "Honey, you don't need to do that," she said as I reached her pussy with my mouth.

"But I want to, please."

"Oh, if you insist," she snickered as she spread her thighs apart to allow me better access. Moisture trickled from her lips telling me she was still one eager lady. Her womanly scent was enticing, so I lowered my lips to hers and slid my tongue out to tease her. The taste was divine; sweet with a tinge of womanly tartness. I repeatedly dipped my tongue into her and drifted it up to her clit. Once I paid serious attention to licking and sucking her clit, she began to breathe deeply and moan softly. Her pelvis was rocking up and down slightly when she placed one hand on my head, holding me firmly to her. I took that as encouragement to be more aggressive with my oral activities and so I doubled my efforts and slipped two fingers into her to rub her G-spot. Her moans had gradually increased but I was having a bit of trouble hearing them once her thighs were clamped firmly around my head. She rose up almost to a sitting position and cried out, "Oh, Adam, oh God, it feels so, so good," as she spasmed and writhed under me.

Eventually she slumped back down on the bed, her thighs relaxed and I slid up to be next to her. She kissed me softly and whispered in my ear, "That was the best 'O' I have ever had, bar none, and that includes some nice ones from my little vibrating friend."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," I answered. We lay there for a few minutes before she turned to me.

"What about you?"

"Chris, no one is keeping score. That was for you. I'm honored you allowed me to your bed..."

"Oh, cut the heroic shit," she giggled. "You have a huge hard on and I know you want some fun, too. Here, lie back down. Let me get on top." She straddled and lowered herself onto me. Oh, sweet Jesus, she was tight. And wet. The combination of those sensations and watching her leaning over me, breasts swaying with each thrust started to send me rapidly from a stimulated to an exceptionally aroused state. She seemed to understand I was getting very close, so she slowed down, eased off on the depth and frequency of her thrusts until I relaxed a bit. Then she would start up all over again. She took me through several cycles of stimulation and relaxation until I could take it no more. I reached up, grabbed her around the waist and rolled us over until I was on top.

"Enough teasing, you," I growled as I thrust deeply and rapidly until pubic bone was on pubic bone followed by shallow thrusts with my knob barely inside of her. Up and down, in and out I went until I felt the inevitable. I ended up plunging deeply into her and just as I was coming, she shrieked and clawed at my back. Drained, I slowed down and stopped. I collapsed on her, breathing heavily.

"Too heavy?" I asked.

"No, not at all." A few minutes later she went on, "I have dreamed about this for months and months, and my dreams were nowhere as nice as the real thing."

"Yeah, was nice, really nice." I paused a few seconds and asked, "Does this mean we're dating?"

"Well, we certainly are screwing, so I would guess so," she laughed. "You OK with that?"

"Absolutely. You think Zoey and Luke will be OK with the idea of us together?"

"Yeah, I'm sure they will. You know Zoey has tried to nudge me towards you in the past."

"Yeah, I know. She even mentioned it to me the day of her ceremony. Let's see how things go. Once they're back, I'll invite you over for dinner and we can let them know then. OK?"

"Yeah, good idea. Uh, Adam, do I feel something coming back to life?" she giggled.

We spent the next two hours in bed, touching, exploring, caressing, kissing and loving. Hunger eventually drove us to the kitchen where we stood nude and wolfed down hastily-nuked nacho chips followed by a bowl of ice cream. "If I keep eating like this, I'll weigh a ton."

"It'll be my job to keep you exercising in bed to keep the weight off," I laughed with her. We went back to bed where we talked, laughed and played before we eventually fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, we got up and showered quickly. I took off to go home and get some clean clothes before I went to work. By mid-morning I received a text with the simple two letters "TY" followed by a winking emoji. I had to chuckle and my coworker looked up and asked me, "What's so funny?"

''Well, my girlfriend just now sent me a text..."

"Girlfriend? Why Adam, you little..." she chuckled as her voice trailed off. "I thought you looked well taken-care of this morning."

"Estelle, don't make me blush," I laughed. "But I do think I've met the one."

"Adam, I'm so happy for you after all you've been through. I'll be praying for you."

"Thanks. Do me a favor, please. Don't tell anyone until I've had a chance to tell the kids. They're still out of town."

"Sure, secret's safe with me, Romeo. Congrats."

Chris and I spent the next three nights together. We quickly became way more comfortable with each other both in bed and out. When I told her I loved her, she wept big tears of happiness. She confessed she had loved me for well over two years but kept it quiet due to her relationship with Zoey. And she admitted it was the real reason she got upset about my singles cruise and seeing me with Joyce.

As I had to get up early to go get the kids, I slept alone at my place the night before. Chris and I had made plans to have dinner at my house the following day because I figured the kids needed some time with me to decompress and tell me all about their camp. When I told them Chris was expected for dinner, Zoey was visibly excited and even Luke seemed pleased.

I was fairly tense that afternoon as we prepared dinner. I wanted to keep it simple so I arranged for grilled steaks outside, baked potatoes, asparagus spears broiled in the oven and a salad. I also threw together an angel food cake which was ridiculously easy to make. Crushed strawberries and ice cream would be the topping.

The kids were out back when Chris arrived and I greeted her at the door with a tiny hug and a kiss. "Hi, Sweetheart," I whispered as I kissed her. She smiled back at me and gave me a pat on the butt as I turned to go into the kitchen.

"Hey, kids, Chris is here!" I called out the kitchen window. Both came flying in and Zoey ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

"Hey, Dr. Chris! I had a blast at camp!"

"Really?"

"The biology part was awesome. You know, I even got to dissect a dead frog. That was so cool. We even put electricity on the leg and it jerked, even though Kermit, that's what we called him, was dead. The muscles were still working!"

"That must have been fun. Luke, what about you?" she asked.

"I learned a lot about psychology at science camp, it's kinda neat," he answered with surprising enthusiasm. "They also told us about Pavlov's dogs and instinct and other cool things like that."

"Well, good, I'm glad you learned a lot. You know, it took me four years of college and three years of graduate school after that to get where I am now. That's a lotta work. If either of you want to consider one of the medical fields, I'll be glad to sit down with you sometime."

"Thanks. That'd be great."

"I'm thinking the medical world will end up benefitting from their science camp, don't you Adam?"

"Yeah, probably. Who's hungry?"

We had a nice meal, the kids talked our ears off and all four of us dealt with the dirty dishes. As we were all working together in the kitchen, I thought about how nice it would be to have such family togetherness all the time. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, we moved to the living room. The kids plopped into their favorite chairs while Chris and I, without thinking, sat right next to each other with Chris holding my hand. I saw Zoey's eyes bulge with surprise. She shot me a questioning look and even Luke looked a little confused.

I took the bull by the horns and spoke up, "Zoey, Luke. Chris and I have something to say. Uh, she and I are, what shall I say? Well, we've started to date each other."

"Well, Dad, it's about time," screamed Zoey as she ran to us and gave us both a big hug. "Doctor Chris, I'm so happy..."

"Yeah, Dad, she's right, it is about time," Luke interrupted.

"OK, you two," laughed Chris. "If I'm gonna be here more, there's a new rule. I've got a new name. It's Chris, plain ol' Chris, no Doctor Chris, please."

"Chris, huh?" said Luke. "Cool. So, hey Dad, how long has this been going on?"

Chris answered, "Your father and I have been friends for years now. While you were gone, we ran into each other at the grocery store and, well, one thing led to another and we decided we'd like to spend more time together."

"Does this mean our girls' trips will stop?" asked Zoey fearfully.

"No, of course not. If anything, we'll have more chances to do things together. And Luke, you might even want to do something with me. Maybe you can teach me a little about Otter baseball."

The talking and laughing went on for nearly two hours until the kids were dropping with fatigue. I shooed them up to bed and once things quieted down, I pulled Chris into my arms.

"That went well," I said. "You know, they sleep like the dead," I added with a sly grin.

"Yeah, well, you'll need to put a ring on my finger before I sleep with you while the kids are upstairs."

"Are you proposing?" I joked.

"No, that's your job. But Adam, let's give this some time, see how we do together, see how the kids deal with it."

"Sure, I know. I was teasing about sleeping with you tonight. But you do know that you're a fabulous partner in bed. I see some long lunch hours in our future," I chuckled.

"I do too," she said. "But I will say a little necking is perfectly OK for tonight."

The next weeks went remarkably smoothly. The kids were quickly comfortable with Chris and me together. Zoey was even so bold as to ask me privately when, not if, but when we were going to get married. By August Chris and I were inseparable. We spent lots of time together but we still would not sleep together unless we were alone at Chris' place or the kids were away. Fortunately, after meeting Chris, my mother stepped up and invited the kids to stay with her and Dad a few times. She, too, asked me when we were going to get married.

It was in mid-August when I took Chris out for a quick meal one Saturday evening and while on the way to her place, I took a detour down to the river walk. We strolled along in the darkening evening until we came to the park bench where we had sat at months before. We sat there for a few seconds when I turned to her and said, "I've got a little present for you somewhere." After pretending to fumble around in several pockets I handed her a ring box and said, "Oh, here it is." I paused a few seconds before I went on. "I love you Chris. And I want to know if you would make me the happiest man on the planet and agree to marry me, please?"

She launched herself at me, smothered me with kisses and started crying big tears of joy. "Yes, oh yes, I will. I've been dreaming of this for years and hoping for months. I'm glad you didn't wait much longer or I would've tied you up and forced you to ask me," she laughed.

"This has gotta be the best summer ever," she went on. "We finally get together and now we're engaged, all since June."