Shelter in Place: Quarantine Romance Collection Includes New Novella

by Jamie Knight

  Duncan dashed off to look for a new room, mercifully not asking which room was mine. He could have already guessed what was going on. He certainly wasn’t naive. He knew, in a general sense, what people who lived together who weren’t family did. Or he was just so excited at the idea of living in a near mansion with a massive yard and a hedgerow that it never occurred to him to ask.

  “There’s a library!” I heard Duncan call from somewhere on the second floor.

  “A library?”

  “Just a small one,” Tobias said.

  “A small room with some shelves?”

  “Two-thousand-foot square with a mezzanine.”

  “Wow!”

  “I like books,” Tobias shrugged.

  “So does he!”

  “We should get along fine,” he said.

  “That would be great.”

  “You should tell him,” Tobias said, knowingly.

  He was right of course. It was awkward, but I was just putting off the inevitable and the longer I waited the more justifiably angry Duncan would be that I hadn’t told him before. Tobias briefly and gently touched my focal points, focusing on the positive. It helped.

  He was still in the library when I found him. On his hands and knees in front of one of the lower shelves. A low stack of books already compiled against him. Duncan didn’t have much in common with his father but a near obsession with books was one of them.

  “Honey?” I said.

  “Yeah, Mom?” He asked, not breaking his concentration.

  “I think we need to talk about something.”

  “Okay,” he said, turning around and sitting on the floor.

  “It’s about Tobias.”

  “Okay.”

  “We don’t just live together because of the lockdown. We are together,” I said, looking for the best way to put it.

  “Like you and Dad?” Tobias asked.

  How to answer that one. Duncan didn’t know anything about what happened with me and Dave. He didn’t know the bad stuff, anyway. I never said anything and didn’t think he suspected.

  “Kind of. I am a lot happier with Tobias, though.”

  “Oh, good,” Duncan said with genuine enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, I’ve honestly never been happier. But I want you to be happy too and make sure you are okay with everything.”

  “Yeah, I think so. He seems really cool. I mean look at this house, and he has a driver and a castle! I’ve always wanted a castle. And a dragon. And lightsaber. One out of three isn’t bad.”

  “No, it’s not, Baby,” I said, on the verge of tears.

  “Are you okay, mom?”

  “Yes, Baby, I’m great. Do you really think you’ll be happy living here?”

  “I think so. Especially if Mercy comes here to live.”

  I hadn’t really thought that Tobias was serious about that. It seemed like a joke, because it would be so lovely and perfect. But I hadn’t noticed that Tobias really joked much. He would probably actually be looking for a castle in England to buy for Duncan, as well. He could certainly afford it.

  “It could happen,” I said.

  I didn’t want to make any promises I couldn’t keep. I had a feeling he had gotten enough of that from Dave already. My baby daddy could certainly be charming, but you could really only trust him as far as you spit him, even in the beginning when things were all sweetness and light.

  “Does Clementine really live here?” Duncan asked.

  Wow, a question I couldn’t really answer. I had never really seen her there, but the house is so big that it was certainly possible. Tobias was confident that she did, and I had never known him to lie.

  “Seems so,” I said.

  “Cool!”

  Chapter Seventeen - Tobias

  It had gone about as well as could be expected. Better, in fact. Expectations generally were hampered by the natural limits of the human imagination.

  It was interesting to ponder. I had gone from a contented bachelor to what could be called a boyfriend. What was more, I suddenly had kid living with me.

  Neither of them was terribly surprising nor upsetting developments. I tended to try and take life as it came. It was easier than the alternative and often that was how the good stuff happened. Plans were fine, but they could only go so far and could do more harm than good.

  I wasn’t sure how Duncan would take to me. Apparently, he hadn’t really had his dad around until recently. Having met his dad, I could only think of that as a mercy. There was a lot of bullshit about how kids needed both parents.

  Of course, two parents were ideal for the division of labor if nothing else. It was not as if it were a sign of the decline of society were some kids to be raised by single parents.

  It was something that tended to happen a lot after both world wars. The meat grinder of war left a lot of single mothers and widows. The distinction being widow and divorcee became completely arbitrary, pushed by self-appointed Social Arbiters who think they know what is best for everyone. The same pack of judgemental assholes who would consider Addie “damaged goods,” as if she were some sort of commodity as opposed to a human being. Fuck that shit.

  “Clem!” Duncan squealed with delight.

  “Howdy there, Dunc.”

  “Dunc?” Addie asked.

  “Just go with it, it’s easier that way,” I advised.

  I wasn’t sure what Duncan liked, remembering enough about being a kid to remember they could be most discerning when it came to the culinary arts, giving most food bloggers a run for their money. I got around the dilemma by opting for a buffet.

  “I don’t think we’ve been here before,” Addie said as a scent unique to that particular chain hit us full on. It smelled somewhere between cooking meat and dill pickle.

  “They have their regulars. It’s how they survive, really. Most people in the trendy metropolis seemed to have agreed that buffets are a bit hokey. I like it, though.”

  “Smells weird,” Duncan said.

  “The smell of choice,” I said.

  “Oh,” Duncan said, seeming to take it as gospel.

  Getting our trays, the loading commenced. Duncan got way more than he could even eat in one sitting, most of it from the dessert section. He was likely just overwhelmed by choice. I could relate.

  “It’s basically free you know,” I said, seeing Addie’s tray.

  “I know, I’m just, you know, pacing myself. My tummy has been going a bit weird recently.”

  “Oh, I see. Might what to get some ginger ale.”

  “Great idea, Honey,” she said, testing out a pet name.

  “You’re welcome, Pumpkin.”

  I had underestimated Duncan’s dedication. He did indeed get through all of his first choices. More than covering his part of the admission charge. I figured buffets are basically free if you eat more than you paid to get in.

  The rigour of success had taken its toll, however, and by the time Addie and I were finishing our dessert, Duncan was yawning. He didn’t make much of a secret of it either. Addie and I glanced at each other in silent agreement. It was time to go home.

  Clem pulled right up to the front steps, making the trip from the car to Duncan’s bed as short as possible.

  “Night, Clem,” Duncan said.

  “Night, Dunc, sleep tight.”

  “You can leave the car here,” I said, before getting out.

  “Thanks, Tobi.”

  “Don’t push it, Clem.”

  “Worth a try,” Clementine said with a shrug.

  “That’s my motto.”

  “Would you like me to take you up?” Addie asked.

  “Can Tobias do it?” Duncan asked.

  “Um, sure.”

  It was an odd thing to be volunteered for. Not that I minded at all. If anything, it was a good sign. If I was going to be with his mom, Duncan and I might as well try to get along. Neither of us were going anywhere anytime soon.

  It was something of a negotiation to get back out of the r
oom. Duncan continuing to come up with new and interesting ways to stall.

  “Why are you afraid to go to sleep?” I asked, addressing the issue point blank.

  “How did you know?” Duncan asked, in wonder.

  “Lucky guess.”

  “I have bad dreams.”

  Not quite what I expected, but still well within my wheelhouse. In fact, I knew exactly what to do. It was really quite lucky that he had chosen the room he had. Otherwise, I might have had to walk out for a few minutes which would not have been a good look.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “It’s called dream catcher.”

  “Looks like a spider web,” he said.

  “That’s just because it is.”

  “You’re silly,” Duncan giggled.

  “Only when it’s really serious,” I said, hanging the dream catcher in the bedroom window.

  “What does it do?” Duncan asked, not unreasonably.

  “It catches and holds bad dreams so they can’t get you.”

  “Does it actually work?”

  “Usually,” I said, not quite going into the reasons why I knew.

  “Okay,” he said just rolling with it. I knew we weren’t related in, any way but I could already see a lot of me in Duncan.

  Despite his admirable resistance, it didn’t take Duncan very long to surrender to the void of sleep. Checking to make sure that he wasn’t just faking to throw me off the scent, a decoy I knew well, I slipped from the room closing the door gently behind me.

  Addie was already in bed when I got to our room. It gave me pause to see her naked and lovely sitting up in bed reading. Like a muse in a classic painting. Shedding my suit, I joined her under the duvet, already feeling her warmth.

  “Is he okay?”

  “Sleeping like a baby.”

  “Waking up screaming ever four hours? I’m familiar.”

  “Like the dead?” I tried again.

  “Better and somehow also worse.”

  “Yeah, I have a history of that,” I said.

  “I’m really glad things went well. I really didn’t know what he would make of the whole thing.”

  “I wasn’t so sure myself,” I admitted, “but I did know one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I love you and am willing to do anything I have to in order to make you and Duncan happy. I love you, and I love him because he is part of you.”

  She thought I didn’t see it. She tried to hide it, and did it pretty well, but nothing really got past me. I knew she was touched.

  “Would you like some dessert?” She asked.

  “Had some, thanks.”

  She took my hand and lay it on her pussy to make herself clear. She was already getting wet.

  “Have a bit more room?”

  “Absolutely.”

  We kissed a lot since we first got together. None was quite the same as the other. But that time, there seemed to be even more meaning behind it. More gravitas.

  It was a slow, leisurely trip down a well-known path from her sweet lips, down her tender neck, between her full breasts. Every inch of her form experienced the same excitement as the first time. It was a whole new type of existence, and we were going to make the very most of it.

  Addie parted her thighs as I kissed my way down to her knees, preparing for my arrival. She didn’t have to wait long. The trip from her other knee back up to her pussy was a little more rushed than the one on the way down. My desire to partake of her sweet pussy was as urgent as her need to feel my warm, soft tongue against her, the epitome of a win-win situation.

  The first caress was long and hard. The flat of my tongue traversing the entire surface of her delicious cunt, savouring every sound she made. Expressing her approval with the situation. I maintained speed, resisting the powerful urge to go deep. I wanted her to enjoy the appetizer, something too few people really did in my humble, galaxy-brained opinion.

  Letting Addie to do the honors, wetting my fingers with her sweet tongue, I slipped two inside her, just far enough for her to feel it, and started working the inside of her pussy with my fingers as I ran figure eights on and near her clit. It brought the sweetest hums of pleasure and approval.

  With some encouragement, Addie placed a hand gently on the back of my head. I started licking harder, going deep as I had wanted to do before. Addie responding with a hearty moan of approval.

  She trembled softly in my arms, my fingers still softly massaging the outside of her pussy as she came. Rallying with impressive speed, Addie shifted so she as on top, pulling down my silk boxers while she was down there.

  Enveloping my raging cock in both of her warm, gentle hands, Addie began to sooth the savage beast, stroking on a smooth silken rhythm that made my eyes roll back in my head. Just when I thought there were no new experiences to be had.

  I hadn’t planned on coming. It took me by surprise. My mind was still rushing, trying to figure out what to do, still caught in the post orgasmic haze when Addie took the initiative. Licking the cum from my belly, she ran her tongue along my still very hard cock until it was squeaky clean and then dropped her mouth onto it. All the way onto it in the most majestic instance of deep throating I had ever seen, let alone experienced.

  She stayed perfectly still, eyes closed, focusing. Focused on what, I could only try to imagine. I wanted to touch her but was afraid to try, lest I break her concentration. Finally, she eased back, nearly all the way to the head and started sucking, light and shallow. Focusing all of

  her affections on the head.

  Things generally seeming to be more relaxed. I stroked her hair as she sucked, lovingly nursing a second load from deep in my balls. Relief and pleasure washing over me in an awesome wave.

  Her hand still snugly around my cock, she continued stroking as she lay her head on my stomach, planting gentle kisses like I had done so many times with her. I had never felt closer to another person. If I believed in spirits, in a physical sense, I would have thought of ours as being entwined.

  Before I could make a move in that direction, Addie again took the lead. Angling my cock just right she got her leg over to straddle me, she continued to stroke my cock, getting me very close to coming again with each gentle touch. Addie lowered herself onto me, my cock disappearing inch by inch into her pussy.

  Getting all the way own, her labia pressed warmly against my pelvis, Addie leaned forward, allowing me the opportunity to feast upon her delicious tits. She laid her hands on my shoulders for leverage, letting me know what kind of intensity she was about to attempt. I put my hands on her hips just in case.

  It went fairly well, all things considered. Addie slowly pumped herself on my cock, sliding her luscious pussy the length of my cock and then back down again, building in both speed and intensity until she was bouncing on me like a pogo-stick. She didn’t even give me the option of pulling out, not that I was about to complain. I loved the feeling of her mouth and the sensation of filling it with cum, but there was nothing like the pure bliss of unleashing my mighty load deep into her perfect pussy.

  Chapter Eighteen - Addie

  He was so gentle. I had never actually been fucked awake before. Dave had tried to fuck me in my sleep before, but it was hardly the same thing. Tobias was behind me, gently holding me as he rocked in and out of my pussy, building up ever closer to the peak of a massive orgasm, transcending the physical plane to an unexplored helicon realm.

  I made sure he knew how much I appreciated it, moaning and yelping with each perfect thrust. I gave a moment’s thought of trying to follow him and match his thrusts, but I didn’t want to risk breaking his rhythm.

  Just when I thought it couldn’t get it any better, representing the paragon of sexual experience, at least in terms of my memory, Tobias upped the ante.

  Brushing my hair out of the way, he spiralled his tongue against the back of my neck, sending tingles of pleasure all over my body. I had never really thought of the neck as a particularly erotic a
rea, something Tobias set me straight on right quick.

  “Breakfast?” he asked, his cock still deep inside me.

  “Yes, please,” I murmured.

  It came on suddenly, like an 18-wheeler in an unmarked construction zone. I could only be glad that the master bedroom came with its own fully tiled bathroom. The room itself was the approximate size of my first apartment.

  After worshiping at the porcelain alter, I managed to make my way down to the kitchen where Tobias, Mercy and Duncan were already well into a full English.

  “Urrrrg?”

  “Wait, I think I speak zombie,” Mercy said, making Duncan laugh, “why yes, it is a nice day to go to the beach.”

  “I said why bacon. Why did it have to be bacon?”

  “We re-watched Babe last night,” Duncan explained.

  “That’ll do it,” Tobias said.

  I wanted to tell him, to come right out and say, “I’m pregnant.” I just couldn’t. It was a really big thing, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it yet, let alone guess how Tobias or Duncan might react.

  I had always planned on having more kids and giving Duncan a sibling, but things hadn’t worked out with Dave and I had pretty much given up on the ice by the time I met Tobias. That only made things harder, because he made me want to have babies again. His babies, to be specific. It might have been part of my desire for him to cum in me. It felt great, too, but I think on some level I was actually trying to get pregnant.

  Duncan was a bit older than I thought he would be but that might not be a bad thing. It might actually be better. I had always heard the bigger the age gap, the less of the chance for sibling rivalry. With a 12-year gap it was almost guaranteed to be non-existent. Duncan would be well out of college by the time the baby started high school.

  “I’m pregnant,” I blurted.

  The silence had actual weight. Both of them looking at me with a mix of surprise and wonder, much like how I had been feeling that morning when I realized that I probably didn’t just have a stomach flu.

  “Cool,” Mercy said.

  “How long?” Tobias asked.

  “Have I been pregnant? I would guess about three months. How long have I known? Basically, this morning?”