At Home In Corbin's Bend

by Maggie Ryan

  “Melissa, where did you go?” Jason’s voice snapped her out of her daydream.

  Her face got hot as she realized what he had caught her thinking about. “Oh, it was nothing,” she said, changing the subject abruptly. “Let’s keep going.” She hopped up grabbing his hand and pulling on it.

  “Okay, okay,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I’m getting up.”

  They hiked like that for another hour or so before she started feeling the first grumbles of her stomach. As it started growling louder, Jason laughed. “I think we’d better get you fed. The bears are getting angry,” he teased. Shuffling in the bag he carried, he handed her a granola bar. “Nibble on this. It will hold you over until we find a better place to stop for lunch.”

  She took the bar gratefully, unwrapping it eagerly. They kept walking as she munched. When she was done, she tucked the wrapper into a pocket in her backpack. She was just taking a swig of water from her Camelback water bottle when a rolling meadow came into view. Walking toward the beautiful expanse of grasses and wild flowers, a blue feathered bird chasing insects caught her eye. It was darting amid the wild flowers, hot after a little flying insect. As her heart bloomed, Melissa had a feeling she would prove to be just as much of a bird person as Jason.

  Friskiness took flight inside of Melissa and the urge to run overtook her. She took off through the meadow with wild abandon extending her arms out on either side of her as she went. She dropped her backpack so that she could run faster. Glancing back, she saw Jason do the same, as he took off chasing her, she squealed with delight, giggling profusely when Jason scooped her up and they tumbled to the ground. At that point, they were both laughing hard and fighting to catch their breath. He gathered her to him laying her head on his chest. As their breathing slowed down to normal levels, Melissa could hear Jason’s heart beating hard from the exertion.

  Heat gathered between them as she propped herself up to look him in the eyes. His blue eyes were clear as the morning sky. Melissa could see the building feelings she had for Jason reflected back to her in his own eyes. He had the fullest most kissable lips she had ever seen and she found herself leaning down to kiss and nip at them lightly. She felt his arms tighten on her back and then, in the space of a breath, she was on her back underneath him. Tongues met as their kiss deepened. God, he tasted good.

  Eventually they eased back from each other, and they just lay there in the middle of the meadow watching the sky. Puff ball clouds moved and shifted above them as a symphony of mountain cicadas chirped and buzzed in a special performance for them. Noticing that one of the clouds looked like a teddy bear, Melissa pointed it out. After that, each and every cloud resembled something familiar to them. Melissa was just pointing out a cloud that was ironically shaped as a paddle when they noticed some darker clouds moving in.

  “Hmm,” Jason said, “that’s strange. The forecast said nothing about rain today.”

  “Maybe it will blow over,” she suggested just before lightning cracked through the air. They grabbed their packs and took off, just as the skies opened up on them.

  “Follow me,” Jason called out to her. “I know where we can go.” As they ran, he pulled two ponchos out of his bag, handing one to her, and putting the other one on himself. Grateful, she took it, putting it on over her backpack. She liked it that he had thought of everything. It was nice for someone else to take care of the little details for a change.

  A cabin appeared in front of them and they took off for the front porch. It was a good sized porch with plenty of shelters and even a few chairs. She made to take a seat in one of the chairs, but Jason stopped her.

  “Why don’t we go inside and dry off instead?” he asked, stepping toward the door.

  Her eyes flew wide. “What about the owners? Won’t we get in trouble?”

  He chuckled, reaching up and pulling out a key from the top of the door ledge. “I wouldn’t worry about the owners,” he chuckled, showing her the key. Now she was just confused. He unlocked the door, opening it wide for her.

  She went in, only as far as just inside the doorway, still feeling conflicted whether she should go any further. “Don’t worry about it,” he smiled, “the cabin belongs to my family. How do you think I knew where the key was?”

  He had a point. Feeling better, Melissa took off the poncho, careful not to get water on the carpet. It was a nice place, rustic yet comfortable. Jason took off his boots then padded in his socks over to the fireplace. He worked to get a fire lit. They laid out a picnic lunch on a blanket once the fire blazed nicely. As they ate, Jason shared stories of his childhood, along with his adventures of spending weeks in the summer at this cabin exploring these lands. It was fascinating to her. Although she had had a great early childhood, they had never really taken many vacations or done anything like what he described. She loved that his family still gathered here even though Jason was an adult and had moved across state from them. The idea of having a family like that filled her with longing. She hoped that she would meet them someday soon.

  The mood shifted as they pulled out the strawberries Melissa had prepared. Pulling a blanket around the both of them, they took turns feeding the juicy chocolate covered berries to each other while the fire cast flickering shadows and light over them. Jason reveled in the taste of fruit on her tongue as he pulled her into a long kiss. Tenderly brushing the hair from her face, he emanated a look of pure wonder toward her. “I wish I could stay like this with you for the rest of our lives,” he whispered, pressing his mouth to hers.

  Climbing into his lap without ever breaking their kiss, she entwined herself with him exploring every nuance of his lips, tongue and mouth as he explored hers. She groaned breathless as he kissed down her neck. Little goosebumps broke out on her flesh as he licked and then blew cool air over her moistened flesh. Running her hands over the soft skin formed over ripples of hard muscle. She gasped as he slipped his hand under her clothes unclasping her bra and began rolling her nipple between his finger and thumb. As little shock sensations shot from her nipple straight to her clit, she raked her fingernails against his back as she wrapped her legs around him tightly. Gasping as he found her mound with his free hand, the other continued to work each of her nipples in turn. Pinching her clit between his fingers caused the small jolts of pleasure she had been experiencing to soar towards new heights.

  She tugged his shirt up desperate to feel all of him against her. Lifting his arms, he helped her break him free of the material before pulling hers off as well then moving to shuck the rest of their clothes in a heap on the floor. Back in his arms, she luxuriated in the feeling of his skin gliding over hers. A tangle of arms and legs they explored each other’s bodies until they had worked themselves into a fevered pitch.

  Jason moved her so that she was laying beneath him on the blanket. Pulling a condom from his wallet, he had it secured in a matter of moments. His mouth found hers as he pushed into her in one long thrust. Gasping against his mouth, the pleasure of his cock inside her rocked through her. She met each thrust in equal measures as her pleasure built and mounted. She gazed at him through a haze of wonder as she tried to memorize every nuance of his face as he skyrocketed them over the edge into the fragmented and shattered abyss of the height of their pleasure. Wave after wave crashed upon them until they lay boneless in each other’s arms.

  Melissa opened her eyes to find Jason gazing down at her from his position propped on his elbow. Her lazy smile turned into a grin as he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose.

  “I’ve been thinking about something that I wanted to talk to you about,” Jason said, his voice tender. She waited, curious, for him to go on. “I know I said I would wait for you to bring it up, but you got me thinking. You know those sites you were on last night?” A light blush heated her cheeks as she remembered exactly which sites he was referring to. She knew it wouldn’t take long for him to bring it up. “Is that something you’re interested in exploring?”

  Her first ins
tinct was to deny it, but then she remembered the “discussion” they had also had yesterday, and decided it was better to tell him what she had been thinking, instead of hiding it. “Maybe, a little,” she said, forcing herself not to hide her face.

  “Well you know that we already explore ageplay a little, even though we haven’t been calling it that?”

  Frowning, she thought about it for a minute. “Do you mean our bedtime routine?”

  Jason gave a slow nod. “If you’d like, we could start exploring a few other elements to possibly add. I would really love to discuss which parts you are interested in.”

  “You mean, you’d really want to?” she asked, feeling incredulous. “You wouldn’t get tired of taking care of me? I don’t want to be a burden,” she said in a rush. “I want to meet your needs, too.”

  “Melissa, don’t you know you could never be a burden to me?” The look he gave her was so tender it took her breath away. “If there’s ever anything that you want to explore, all you have to do is ask.” He smiled wide. “Plus, if you will recall, I’m the one who suggested the bedtime ritual which should show you, more than anything else, that I just might have an interest in ageplay as well.”

  With that, any leftover feelings of self-consciousness evaporated. Grinning up at him, Melissa gave Jason a devious look. “You’d better be careful,” she said. “This little girl might have a propensity for trouble, with a capital T.”

  “Oh really,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “What if I told you that I’m made for dealing with little troublemakers?” She shrieked as he tickled her mercilessly, breaking into peals of laughter, pretending to try to escape.

  Chapter 16

  The holidays were almost upon them. Looking back, Melissa couldn’t believe how fast the months flew by. She was feeling stronger than she had since making the move out here. That didn’t mean that she didn’t have her bad days. She did. But, between her appointments with her therapist and the adjustments they had made, for her personally and as a couple, Melissa felt strong.

  Melissa wiped her sweat slick palms on her jeans for the millionth time in the last half an hour. Today was the big day. Any minute Jason would walk in the door for their first weekend long age play session. Months of exploration had led to this night. She was a ball of nerves. This time, they planned to stay in the whole time. If things went well, and she expected that they would, they planned to branch out to explore the lifestyle more publicly, in the safety of their community.

  Pacing through the house, Melissa straightened every little paper or knick knack that was askew. Everything had to be perfect. She didn’t know why she was so anxious about this one weekend, except that it kind of symbolized, to her, the solidifying of this part of their relationship. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was one minute past five o’clock. Literally, any second, Jason would walk in the door. Peering through the window to see if there was any trace of him coming up the street, her eyes fell when there was none to be found. Letting the curtain fall back into place, she took up her pacing again, then decided to pick up a magazine so it wouldn’t look like she was too eager when he walked in.

  Another ten minutes of sitting on pins and needles went by before she picked up the phone. When Jason’s voice greeted her on the line, she relaxed incrementally. Hearing his voice always had that effect on her. “Hi, honey. Just checking in to see when you think you’ll be home.”

  “I was just about to call you, so I’m glad you called.” She noticed he sounded distracted. “I’m going to be a little late, but I promise, I’ll be home soon.”

  Disappointment deflated her mood, but she tried to sound fine when she said, “It’s okay, I was just checking.”

  “I got caught up at work, but will leave soon,” he said through the phone.

  That stopped her in her tracks. He hadn’t even left yet? Tears welled in her eyes. Didn’t he know how much this meant to her? She had been sure that he wanted to do this as much as she had. Wiping her tears with an angry fist she was determined he wouldn’t hear how much it was affecting her. “Don’t worry about it. Take your time, I was busy writing my paper anyway.” She lied not even caring. He would never find out anyway. She had started vet tech school at the beginning of Fall. Lucky to receive the late acceptance, she appreciated every class and assignment she received. In the end, she had been grateful he had made her apply. It was that extra little thing she needed.

  There really was a paper, just not one she was working on right now. She had been too excited to get any real work done. She hung up, letting the real tears flow. Feeling stupid for letting something like him being late affect her so much, she pulled out the aforementioned paper to distract herself. However, after re-writing the same line five times, she realized it was no use. She just couldn’t get her mind off the fact that, if he was willing to be late, this must not mean the same thing to him that it did to her.

  Maybe she really was a burden to him after all. What if he was just going along with this to make her happy, but didn’t really want to. Oh, God, how he must resent her. If he didn’t yet, she knew he would. The worst part was that she was just beginning to thrive and she knew that it was in large part due to embracing the little side to her personality. If he didn’t want that too, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

  Her thoughts kept going, working her up until she was beside herself. That was it. If he didn’t want this, she wasn’t going to make him do it. Mind made up she resolved to tell him as soon as he walked in the door that she had changed her mind. She didn’t want to do this anymore. She imagined the relief he would feel at her declaration.

  The moment he finally did walk in the door, her plan fell apart. It felt like a knife in the heart to look at him, so she turned around pretending to be busy with something. “Sorry again that I’m late,” he called out as she heard him click the door shut behind him. Pretending she didn’t hear him, she kept messing with the papers on her desk trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.

  A beat up box appeared in front of her, on the desk. When he placed his hands on her shoulders, it was all she could do not to burst into tears. As it was, a couple tears silently escaped down her cheeks. Kissing her from behind, he paused to rest his chin on the top of her head. “I missed you at work today. I couldn’t wait to get home,” he murmured.

  She snorted. Just when a sharp retort was on the tip of her tongue, she noticed the box was moving. Listening, soft mewling and scratching sounds seemed to be coming from the box. Tossing Jason a confused look over her shoulder, she opened the box to find out what was causing the commotion. Peeking up at her from inside was the single most adorable solid gray kitten she had ever set eyes on. Gasping, she picked the cute little fluff ball up to cuddle in her arms. “Jason, where did you find her?”

  Launching into the story, he explained that just as he was about to leave work for the day, he noticed the tiny kitten emerge from under the house. “I couldn’t just leave her there to starve,” he said, reaching around her to pet the sweet kitten. “I didn’t want to leave with her before looking to see if she had a mama hanging around that would miss her. So, I looked around for any sign of her for awhile, before a neighbor approached filling me in that they had watched someone dump a box of kittens the night before at the then empty construction site. He and his wife had been able to rescue the rest, but this little girl escaped.” He came around to sit on the edge of the desk stopping short when he saw her face.

  “Baby, what’s the matter?” he asked, concern wrinkling his forehead. “Have you been crying?”

  Stark vulnerability laid her open the second he noticed. “I thought you had changed your mind about our weekend.”

  “Oh, honey, I would never do that,” he said, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week. The only reason I wasn’t here right at the stroke of five was because the moment I saw this sweet little one, I knew I had to bring her home to you. You know a sweet kitten for my sweet lit
tle girl.”

  Tears welled again in Melissa’s eyes. He still wanted her as his little girl. The kitten let out a loud, high-pitched mewl to let them know she wasn’t happy about being squeezed between them. Both laughing hard they broke apart to give her a little space.

  “Melissa, I hope you never doubt that this is what I want. When I saw her, all I was thinking was what a perfect gift to give to my girl as we start this part of our life together.”

  “Oh, Jason, she’s perfect,” she said, burrowing into his chest on one side while holding the kitten with the other. “Thank you, for my gift.”

  That’s when she noticed the most beautifully wrapped white box sitting on the coffee table. Giving Jason a strange look, she walked over to it. “What’s this?”

  His eyes twinkled. “You didn’t think the kitten was your only gift did you?”

  Melissa was speechless. Just a couple minutes ago she thought she was being rejected and now, instead, she was being showered with gifts. “Jason, you shouldn’t have.”

  “You’re my little girl,” he said as if that said everything that needed to be said, “so you better get used to being spoiled. Well, at least my brand of spoiling.”

  “I like your brand the best,” she exclaimed exuberantly, causing them both to break out into giggles.

  “Open it,” he said after steering them over to sit on the couch.

  She held her breath as she grasped onto the one end of the white ribbon, pulling it loose. Setting the ribbon aside, she lifted the lid to the box. Her mouth dropped open in breathless delight as she took in everything in the box. The first thing that caught her eye was a beautiful blue dress, just like the ones she saw on the website. It was trimmed with white eyelet lace. Holding it up to her she twirled around, imagining herself wearing it. She set it delicately on the table as she explored what else was in the box. Her eyes lit on a colorful pinwheel. Picking it up, she blew through pursed lips, watching the pinwheel go round and round with glee.