Shelter in Place: Quarantine Romance Collection Includes New Novella

by Jamie Knight

  “Hey, I'm really sorry about the sandwich thing and the way I left the ice cream party. It really wasn't Jess, or you.”

  “You're forgiven. This time. Just don't let it happen again,” Becky said, more kindly than I would have expected.

  “I won't,” I said, meaning it.

  “Okay, good, because I don't deserve it, and neither does Jess. She's just a kid and she really needs her uncle right now. Not some surly guy who spends all day in his office.”

  “I know. I just…I'm a bit mixed up right now. Not just with work but — other things. I really don't mean to be…well, to be the way I am. I know that's not an excuse. Do you think we could try lunch again tomorrow?”

  “Only if we eat in that fancy-ass dining room,” she said with a smile.

  “Deal.”

  I had never had a lunch date that I looked forward to more.

  Chapter Six - Becky

  I didn't have much time. I had just gotten Jessica down for her nap, having already fed her lunch. I wanted to dress up for lunch with Dean but didn't have much that seemed really fancy.

  I didn't know where the urge came from. Probably the fanciness of the dining room we were going to be eating in. It really was like something from a movie. A stupidly long table going almost from one end of the room to the other. A big fancy chandelier, the whole nine yards. If they took the table out, the place would have been big enough for a decently sized ball—people in fancy clothes spinning like nobody’s business, pulling off moves in evening wear that would make most people fall over.

  Finally settling on the little black dressed I had brought on the dubious advice of a friend but had yet to wear, I put on my best, black silk bra and panties, before attempting to wiggle into the dress. I had put on a bit of weight since my senior year, but I had to admit, I still looked pretty good. I turned to the side so I could see my tits and my ass in the full-length mirror in the room that Dean had given me. I couldn't explain quite why I had done this, but I quite liked what I saw.

  It suddenly occurred to me that Dean might have noticed too. I shook a little, struck by a combination of embarrassment and exhilaration to think that my boss might have been looking at me. I wasn't really subtle, to be fair. I felt that he hated me, but maybe little Jessica was right. Maybe he was being so terse as cover because he liked me.

  I got to the kitchen with about twenty minutes to spare. I wasn't about to risk my cheesesteak again, so I had to find something else to make. Searching the kitchen for something that could be made in twenty minutes or less, I came across a pack of steaks and some really nice looking veggies that seemed like they would fry up well.

  “Becky? Are you hear?”

  The massive dining hall gave Dean’s voice a weird echoing quality. I had planned to be out there before he came.

  “Coming!” I called, so he wouldn’t think that I had stood him up.

  “Wow!” Dean said as soon as he saw me carrying in the steaks.

  “Yes, it is an immersive serving tray, isn't it? I would have thought you would be used to it by now, though.”

  A slight grin pulled at his lips. “I was talking about—”

  “I know, I was just teasing,” I said before Dean could embarrass himself.

  “You look really nice,” he said, sitting at the end of the table nearest the kitchen.

  “Thanks,” I said, putting down the lidded serving tray. Having his deep-brown eyes on me made me want to blush, but I couldn’t.

  “What's for lunch?”

  “Steak,” I said, taking off the lid.

  He didn't say anything, though it was probably because he was stunned. Though I could tell by the way his eyes bulged that he approved of my cooking skills. Still taking the role of the cook and server, I placed the plate down in front of him before putting my own down at the spot next to him.

  Dean looked over as I sat down. I thought maybe he was wondering why I was sitting so close. Though when I looked at him, I could tell that he wasn't objecting at all.

  “Eat your steak,” I said gently.

  He looked back at his plate as though he had just remembered it was there, suddenly returning to normal and eating in the primmest way imaginable. It seemed impossible, especially with the tension between us up to that point, but there seemed to be a mutual attraction. I knew I had a certain feeling in my tummy and Dean was looking like he would eat my pussy as soon as the stead and mushrooms.

  “I know I've been a real asshole,” Dean said out of the blue when we were finished with our steaks.

  “You said that already,” I said, taking the tray and the dishes back into the kitchen.

  He followed. “Not in so many words.”

  “No, but it was implied, and I forgive you, mostly,” I said, crossing back into the dining room and sitting back down where I was before.

  “You really were right. You really don't deserve it, and neither does Jessica. I – I just really miss Simone, and Jessica just looks so much like her. I mean obviously, she is her daughter after all, but every time I look at her, I see Simone, and I remember again that she is gone. I'll never see her again. The last time I saw her… the last time I saw my sister alive, she was driving me to the airport so I wouldn't go to prison.”

  I sat up straight. “Prison?”

  “Yeah, I was stupid and trying to make the world a better place like young people do.”

  “What did you do? Some kind of protest?”

  “You could say that. Remember the 2008 crash?”

  “Vaguely. I was only eleven at the time.”

  “Right, of course. Anyway, I really wanted to get the bankers and credit companies, all those assholes who fucked everything up. I made a computer virus and set it to randomly attack financial institutions. Some of them still haven't fully recovered.”

  “Wait? Were you Obsucrus Lupine?”

  “That's what I called myself, yes. Shadow Wolf, in Latin, of course. It was that or Rex Inferos.”

  “King Hell?”

  He shrugged. “Sounded cool at the time.”

  I stared at Dean, shocked that he was a famous hacker that I had heard about. Hacking seemed so…revolutionary, so daring. It was hard to picture the well-dressed businessman in front of me, doing such a thing.

  “I-I thought you went to prison.”

  “I was supposed to. The prosecution was asking for thirty years. My parents used their influence and money. They got me exiled to England instead.”

  “I head Australia is more usual,” I blurted before I could stop myself.

  “Funny,” Dean said, actually seeming to take it with good humor.

  “So, you were still…in exile when Simone died?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Because you tried to strike a blow… to the ego of those in control.”

  “That's about the size of it,” Dean said with an embarrassed shrug.

  We looked at each other. His eyes were so deep at that moment. I could see a few tiny flecks of amber in them, like pieces of glitter that caught the light.

  Dean’s lips were thin, but they looked soft, pink, warm. He was holding his breath, I could tell.

  Somehow, despite the space between us, I could feel the warmth of the big man’s body. Something about it screamed his pain. It was in the posture of his tall frame, the way he glanced back and forth to my eyes, and the subtle quiver of his lips.

  It wasn’t a choice. My body pulled to his. My lips pressed hard to his mouth, my head back as I reached up to wrap my arms around Dean’s big, broad shoulders.

  I was trying to kiss his sadness away. The first time, at least.

  Then I went in for another, Dean replying in kind. We opened our mouths at the same time. Before I knew it, I was on my back on the table, pulling down my satin panties as we kissed passionately.

  It was Dean who finally got my panties off, but me who pulled up my dress, unveiling my smooth, pink pussy. My boss sat back into his chair, pulling me to him gently by my hips. I thought he
might dive right in, mistaking eating pussy for a pie-eating contest. He surprised me, in the best possible way, by running his tongue softly along my tender pussy lips.

  I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from moaning out loud, not wanting Jessica to hear us. I used my other hand to gently stroke his hair as he pleasured me in a way I had never experienced before.

  Dean kept going, licking me lightly from bottom to top, working me up into a frenzy. Gently slipping a finger inside me, he worked my pussy. First soft and then harder, spiraling his tongue in a hard circular motion on the upper half, including my clit.

  I came really hard, vibrating against his mouth. Dean switched from hard licks to soft kisses as I started to climax. I slid down off the end of the table, landing on Dean's lap in such a way that I was straddling him. He put his arms around me and started kissing my neck.

  Suddenly I could feel his rapidly hardening cock pressing against my bare pussy through his slacks. Seized by uncertainly, I climbed down off of him, smoothing down my dress.

  “I'm sorry, I-I have to go,” I stammered.

  Picking up my panties off the floor, not bothering to put them back on, I did my best not to break into a run as I left the dining room to go and take a shower before rousing Jessica for her afternoon playtime.

  I didn’t want Dean to know I was a virgin.

  Chapter Seven - Dean

  It seemed like a dream. I might have even thought it was had it happened before I went to sleep. Becky laying on the table, panties off, legs wide, stroking my hair as I licked her to orgasm. And what an orgasm! It could have partly been down to the acoustics in the gigantic dining hall, but I had never heard a woman cum like that before.

  I was still trying to figure it out that evening. Becky and I had been at absolute loggerheads ever since she first came into my life. I'd always thought the nanny was hot but couldn't stand the way she treated me like I knew nothing. To be fair, I actually didn't know anything, but Becky could have been nicer about it.

  It was more than possible that her primary concern was Jessica. She had been hired as a nanny after all, and Jess was just a kid and an orphan at that.

  I was fucking it up.

  Suddenly, I understood that what had seemed like her lousy attitude and total lack of respect for me. It wasn't really about me. Or Becky really. The only one who really mattered in the situation was Jessica. Not that Becky and I were worthless. Just that our issues, both personal and with each other, came a distant third to the confused little girl who had just lost her mother.

  I felt myself warning considerably to Becky, seeing her actions in a far more positive light. I knew I had been an asshole and had a lot of making up to do but felt a lot more optimistic, at least for the immediate future, while we were all stuck together on indefinite quarantine.

  That still didn't explain what had happened at lunch. The steak I understood. Becky and I were trying to start again and put the mistakes of the past, mostly mine, behind us. Even the kiss made sense. Becky was actually really sensitive and empathized with my sadness. That much I could tell. She was trying to kiss the pain away. Which sometimes worked, particularly with emotional pain. It was what had come next that was so perplexing. Not only eating her pussy at the table but her quick exit after.

  Maybe she was confused as I was. Though it wasn't like I was complaining. The whole thing had been consensual, if rather spontaneous, so there was no guilt there. And her pussy really was beautiful and had tasted really good, with a gentle note of genuine sweetness I had never tasted before. Almost like a delicious, natural ice cream.

  Unbidden, I started imagining that sweet, delicious flavor blended with others. Whipped cream to start. Then strawberry. Then apple. My cock was getting hard, and my mouth started to water just considering the possibility. I may not fully understand how it had happened, but one thing was for sure. Should the opportunity arise again, I was definitely interested — hell, I was eager for a second helping.

  Becky passed by the office then, because of course, she did. She was back in her usual tight clothes, her dark hair back up in her signature ponytail, bringing a glass of juice for Jessica in her playroom. Apparently, the invisible tea wasn't quite enough.

  We caught each other's eye as she passed. I was a bit worried about how she might react. That she might be sad or evasive. Becky was a bit embarrassed, that much was evident by the way she blushed, but she also didn't look away, giving me a gentle smile. I returned the sentiment feeling much the same way, and then we both went about our business as though nothing had happened.

  Though something had happened, I was starting to feel a real connection with the nanny I had once unfairly written off as little more than a controlling bitch. What was more, because of her, I had discovered why I was avoiding my poor little niece. Jessica reminded me too much of Simone. The pain of my sister's sudden, violent death being something I had yet to really deal with. I was unintentionally punishing her basically for being born, which was deeply fucked up on all kinds of levels. I had to make it right and connect with my niece if that was still possible.

  Struck by a kind of inspiration that came up every so often, I started planning a sort of family game night for the following weekend. True, only Jess and I were actually related, but it was more about the spirit of the thing, and the game nights we would have as a kid were some of the few happy childhood memories I had.

  Getting out a draft pad and a ten-thousand-dollar vintage fountain pen, a graduation present from Simone—I suspect she was trying to be ironic. I started making out a list of all the games that I knew I had in the house. Many of them close to family heirlooms.

  Battle Ship, Clue, Trivial Pursuit, Twister.

  I stopped at the last one, considering what it might be like to be all tangled up and intimate with Becky, her firm, warm body pressed up against me.

  Yum.

  Coming back to reality, I decided to leave the game on the list before going back through my mental archive jotting out every game I could recall, ending with the first edition Spirit Board from 1891. It was bought by my paternal grandmother, who was a bit of a Spiritualist back when it went through a minor boom in the Victorian era. Another black sheep of the Devon family. I think I would have liked her.

  The list made, I picked the ones I thought would be the most fun for all of us and set about searching the massive house, which had been in my family since 1720, based on an Abbey-style estate back in Devon England, to find them. I was making my way back through the living room with the pile of boxes when Jess came running through giggling, Becky in hot pursuit.

  Unable to avoid or change course, Jess ran right into me, bouncing off my leg and onto her bottom, looking more surprised than anything.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?” I asked, putting the pile of games down on a nearby table and scooping up my little niece.

  “Owie,” she said more as a matter of fact than an expression of pain.

  I kissed her on the cheek, and she giggled, sounding so much like her mother, my heart broke a little. But it also warmed. Rather than seeing Jess as a reminder of what I had lost, I recognized her for what she was. A little bit of Simone that I still had with me.

  “Are you crying, Uncle Dean?” Jessica asked as I held her close.

  “No, sweetheart,” I said.

  I wasn't, I wanted to. Everything in me screamed to just let it out and open the flood gates, but I persevered, showing a near Vulcan level of emotional control. I realized then that repressing wasn't always healthy.

  “What are the games about, Dean?” Becky asked, going through the boxes.

  “I thought I would take Saturday off and we could have a game day.”

  “Yay!” Jessica enthused.

  “Really?” Becky asked, more surprised than sarcastic.

  I smiled at her, delighted when her cheeks turned pink in a slight blush. Things were changing, in a good way.

  Chapter Eight - Becky

  I could hardly believe
the change. I had heard of on-a-dime conversions but had never seen such a thing playing out in front of me. Seemingly overnight, Dean went from cold and disinterested, distracting himself with work while still thinking he had a right to be an authority figure to really involved with his little niece.

  He still worked but much more regular hours, limiting himself to six or seven hours a day at most, coming out and eating meals with us like clockwork. He also seemed to show genuine interest in everything Jessica had to say.

  My boss was also really different with me. No longer standoffish and rude, Dean had become sweet, attentive and, honestly, really gentle. Often asking if there was anything he could do to help. I started to think that the attention he showed that day at lunch was not a spur of the moment thing. If I was honest, I was beginning to feel the same. And not just because he ate my pussy so damn good!

  Since Dean’s apparently epiphany after his confession, he showed a completely different side of himself. One I quickly realized that I could come to deeply love, given time. There was a bit of an age difference, Dean being a full decade older than me. Not to mention the slight cultural differences, Dean spending most of his twenties in England and his entire life in a social strata I couldn't really even imagine. I had an idea, based mostly on rumor and second-hand accounts but realized that I really had no idea what it was like or what he might have been through. Especially after he got in trouble. I had never really felt bad for the rich. Assuming that they had everything they wanted and could do whatever they felt like. I was quickly beginning to reassess this notion. Realizing that while it might be true for some, Dean was, at the very least, an exception to the rule.

  We went into the parlor, Dean carrying Jessica, her cheek pressed against his muscular chest. I hadn't really noticed before, but my boss really was in great shape. I followed close behind, carrying the pile of games he had selected. I didn't really feel much of a sense of modesty anymore, Jessica being a little girl and Dean having seen most of what I had anyway. As such, I opted for comfort, wearing just a pair of yoga shorts with a tank top. Truth be told, had it seemed appropriate, I likely would have just gone naked.