I woke up in Doc and Carrie’s bed on the morning we were supposed to fly home from Key West, not quite sure where I was. I vaguely remembered drinking margaritas the night before-Chuck mixed them a lot stronger than Doc did-and dancing out on the patio with Carrie. Doc’s parents went to bed at midnight and left us out on the beach alone. Carrie had passed on the margaritas, saying her stomach was a little upset, but it didn’t stop her from grinding with me until two in the morning, with Doc occasionally joining us so we could sandwich him between our writhing bodies.
I was half out of the bed, my arm dangling to the floor, one leg off the edge, and when I turned my head, I saw Carrie sleeping soundly, a little drool leaking out onto her pillow, her hair mussed around her face. On the other side of her, Doc had his cock in his fist, hand moving up and down the shaft, his breath a light pant. His motion shook the bed a little and I realized that’s what had woken me. I wasn’t in my bed, I was in theirs, and as I listened to Doc stroking his cock, I remembered just exactly what we’d been doing the night before.
He shifted his hips and murmured something, clearly lost in a fantasy. Who was he picturing, I wondered, me or his wife? Or both of us? And what deliciously deviant thing was he doing to us in his imagination? I didn’t want to wake up Carrie, she was sleeping so sweetly, but my pussy starting asking for attention as I listened to Doc. I tried to do it as quietly as I could, sneaking my hand slowly down under my panties. I was amazed I was actually still wearing a pair, after the night before.
“Oh yeah, Dani, give me that sweet little ass,” Doc murmured, giving a low groan.
“Fuck that’s so tight.”
I saw him lick the circle of his thumb and forefinger and slide it slowly over the head of his dick and knew now just what he was imagining. My ass clenched in response, but my fingers moved in faster circles against my swollen clit.
He was really shaking the bed now and when I glanced at Carrie I saw her eyes were open and she had a sleepy smile on her face. She was listening too. I met her eyes as he imagined fucking my ass, thrusting up into his own fist, and she winked at me.
“Are you sure you don’t want the real thing?” Carrie purred, turning over and surprising the hell out him. He gave a little yelp but there was nowhere to go-he was decidedly caught. But aside from his initial surprise, he didn’t mind at all when she reached for his cock and took up where he had left off. “You want to fuck Dani’s tight little asshole?”
I squeaked in protest at her offering me up as a sacrificial lamb, but my body responded in spite of my mental denial. My ass clenched again in fear though as I imagined it, god, he was so big, how was it possible? Although I’d seen it happen, I’d watched Carrie take him that way, and she didn’t cry or scream or tell him to stop-in fact, quite the opposite.
“What do you say, Dani?” Carrie’s hand moved over the slope of my shoulder into the small of my back. “You ready for that?”
I bit my lip, my tummy tight, nipples hard with excitement. Was anyone ever really ready for anything? “No,” I whispered, swallowing hard. “But I want to anyway.”
“That’s a good girl.” Carrie smiled as she petted my behind, making me arch into her hand like a cat. “But you have to be quiet as a mouse. Can you do that?”
She glanced toward the door and I looked at it too in the early morning light seeping through the blinds. We had locked it last night for a little extra privacy, but Doc’s parents were on the other side and had no idea all three of us were in here doing very naughty things-and contemplating even more twisted ones.
“I’ll try,” I whispered back. Doc groaned at my assent, the look of hunger in his eyes so powerful it made me tremble.
“Let me get her ready for you, baby.” Carrie turned me and I followed her non-verbal instruction, rolling to my back and spreading my thighs. I was surprised by the position, sure that I would have to be on my hands and knees, my face buried into a pillow, red with shame.
And I was also sure she was going to reach over into the drawer where she’d put the KY and just lube me up for him. I tensed, waiting, but she settled herself between my thighs, kissing my swollen labia, her tongue parting my cleft from top to bottom, once, twice, again. It was a tease, a slow burn, making me close my eyes so I could fully experience and relish the feeling.
When her tongue started inching lower with every pass I noticed but didn’t mind, feeling her probe into my slick hole before starting at the top of my cleft again and sliding her way down, going a little further every time. First it was my hole, then it was her tongue lashing over my perineum, down and down until she reached the first wrinkle of my asshole. I tightened briefly, but her tongue reset at the top again and the next time she traced the same distance, plus just a little bit more. And then a little bit more. I would tense at first and then relax, contract and release, growing more and more used to the feel of her tongue probing the furrow of my ass.
Beside me, Doc had his cock ready in hand, but he wasn’t stroking it. Instead he just watched his wife’s ministrations with a ravenous gaze, the swell of his dick showing all of us just how hungry he was. But Carrie wasn’t done. She made one more pass down my crevice, stopping and probing at her final destination, her fingers collecting my juices and then making lazy circles around my clit.
Her tongue stayed pressed against my asshole though, licking, sucking, making me flush with embarrassment, but pleasure too. I had experimented a little, let them finger my ass and play with it while we were having sex, but this was different, much more intimate-and shameful. I squirmed, fighting with the pleasure, but too consumed by it to deny it.
“That’s my girl,” Doc whispered, getting closer, his lips pressed against my cheek. “Let her make you come like that.”
I didn’t want to. Oh, but I wanted to. Her fingers were expert, rolling my clit along in just the right direction, her tongue relentless in its exploration of my crease, and I couldn’t stop it if I tried. She patiently teased my orgasm out bit by glorious bit, giving me nowhere to go but up.
“Oh yes!” I arched, my moan growing with the sensation, and Doc covered my mouth with his, muffling the sound of my climax. I smothered my frenzied orgasm against his lips, frantic with ecstasy.
“She’s ready for you, Doc,” Carrie murmured, kneeling up between my thighs, finally reaching into the drawer for the KY.
I panted, eyes half-closed, still floating on the cloud of my climax when Doc and Carrie traded places. I looked up at him, no longer terrified but still hesitant as he let Carrie squeeze KY onto his cock and rub it in with her hand.
“I’ll go easy,” Doc assured me as Carrie brought my legs back, curling my bottom around. “I promise. If it hurts too much, tell me to stop and I will.”
“Too much?” I gulped.
Carrie stretched out beside me, already using her tongue around my nipple to soften me up as Doc situated himself. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been in this position before with him-he’d fucked me this way lots of times. But now he bypassed the soft, supple stretch of my pussy to prod the snug, humid hole of my ass.
“Just relax,” Carrie urged, gently rolling one nipple between her thumb and forefinger, still focusing her tongue on the other. “Let him do it.”
I bit my lip as he shifted his weight forward, the slippery head of his cock meeting initial resistance, making me whimper at the sudden feeling of pressure. He hesitated, watching my face as he moved his hips a little at a time, concern mixed with lust in his eyes.
“Okay?” He pushed in a little deeper.
“Okay.” I nodded, realizing I’d been holding my breath. The pressure was incredible, but there wasn’t any real pain. I felt as if I was being stretched wide in ways I hadn’t experienced since childbirth, although that had involved a lot more pain and unfortunately a much less happy ending.
“Easy, girl,” Carrie urged as I began to struggle. He was pushing in deeper, god, he was so huge! I couldn’t take anymore, I couldn’t possibly… “Almost there.”
What did that mean? I moaned and clenched and bit my lip but I didn’t tell him to stop and he didn’t, finally pressing past a tight band of muscle in my ass that made us both sigh in relief.
“Oh Dani.” Doc swallowed, closing his eyes tight, his breathing hard as if he’d already made a great effort. “Oh my god.”
“Is it in?” I tried to see but Carrie’s blond head was in my way, her mouth and tongue and fingers far too busy with my breasts and nipples to stop.
“The head is,” she informed me as Doc slid forward, his face showing every inch of pleasure before his pelvis met mine. And then he was all the way in. I could feel it, stretching, opening, but not hurting. The initial sensation of pain was gone. “Now he can fuck you…”
“Not for long,” Doc groaned, watching his wife kneading my breasts and looking down to see his cock buried in my ass.
“That’s okay,” I assured him.
He chuckled. “Now that’s a challenge.”
“No, it isn’t!” I protested as he began to thrust. Oh god, if I’d thought I could feel the size of him before, now it was tenfold, his entire length moving in and out of the tight halo of my ass. “Oh my god!”
“Now for the fun part.” Carrie kissed her way down my belly and fixed her mouth over my mound. I moaned with surprise and impossible distraction, her tongue focusing its attention right at my core. Doc was taking it slow, his hands on my hips, eyes closed, lost in his own pleasure.
Then Carrie slipped two fingers into my pussy, fucking me in the same rhythm as Doc, speeding up when he did. I moaned and began to thrust back against her fingers and his cock as she slipped another finger in, three of them now pumping in and out of my cunt, both of my holes filled completely.
And her mouth was taking me places I was aching to go. I was going to come, and hard, with a cock stuffing my ass and her fingers buried in my pussy.
“Please,” I whispered, frantic with need and desperate to climax. Doc fucked me hard now, slamming into my ass, and the sensation was incredible. I could barely keep my moans to whimpers, my screams to squeaks.
“Oh god, I’m gonna come, I’m gonna-” I whispered, my head thrashing from side to side as my pussy and ass clamped down tight in the first wave of my orgasm.
Doc gave a low cry and arched as he thrust deep and I felt his cock pulsing with his climax. My ass began milking him involuntarily, spasming again and again, drawing every bit of his cum into my hot recesses.
“Oh Dani.” His voice was shaking as he slowly pulled out of me, making me squeal and bite my lip. I went from utterly full to completely empty as Carrie withdrew her fingers. “Oh sweetheart.”
Carrie came up to kiss me and I lazily tasted myself in her mouth as Doc leaned forward and collapsed against me, his cheek against my breasts.
“What a gift,” he breathed, eyes still closed, breath just returning to normal.
“Merry Christmas,” I announced and laughed, although Christmas Day was a week away. The Baumgartners had done presents together this week. Nan and Chuck had even been kind enough to give me something, a very nice black cardigan-“For those cold winters,” Nan informed me-but Carrie and Doc and I were waiting to exchange gifts.
“Indeed.” Carrie kissed my cheek and rolled out of bed, reaching for her robe.
“I’m going to take one last long bath before we go. My Christmas present to me.”
Our eyes met and I knew just exactly what she was going to be doing in the bathtub. She winked at me before heading to the bathroom. I heard her lock the door before she closed it. Doc rolled to his back with a shuddering breath, but he welcomed me when I snuggled against his side.
“Speaking of Christmas gifts…” I ran my fingernail over the dark line of hair that trailed from his navel downward. “I’ve decided.”
“Hm?” He didn’t open his eyes. He was still far away.
“I’m going to have your baby.”
His eyes flew open. “Dani…”
“It will be the best Christmas present we can give her.” I knew it was true and so did he. I saw it in his eyes, his longing and his fear. “Please. Let’s tell her when we get home.”
He was quiet, his hand moving through my hair in the silence and I just waited.
Finally, he sighed. “Okay.” He kissed the top of my head and hugged my hip with one hand. “I can’t say no to you.”
“Ditto.” My tracing fingernail scratched lightly over his balls, making him groan.
“I noticed.” His finger slipped between the still slick crack of my ass. “Let’s do that again while my wife’s in the shower.”
“Doc…” I protested but his finger slipped in easily.
“I thought you couldn’t say no…” he teased, starting to move it in and out of me.
I groaned. “Okay, yes. Yes.”
“Was that a yes?” He rolled me onto my belly, slipping another finger in.
“Oh god yes.”
Thank goodness Carrie took long baths.
* * * *
I felt like a different person sitting across from Mason at Sweetwater. So much had changed. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the last time we would be together or see each other. It seemed impossible, but with him moving home and me-
hopefully-going to Italy, it was actually quite likely.
“I got my stuff out while you were…gone.” Mason stared moodily at his Coke. He didn’t like talking about me living with the Baumgartners and had been really pissed off when I told him I was going with them on vacation in Key West. He hadn’t even asked me if I’d had a good time, not that I’d really expected him to.
My heart thudded in my chest. “You didn’t touch Isabella’s room, did you?”
“No, Dani.” He shook his head and sighed. “But you’re going to have to move the rest of the stuff out this week. Her room too.”
“I know.” I blinked fast and sipped my coffee. It was too hot and I burned my tongue. “I told you I would. I will.”
“So, I have this.” He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a folded pack of papers. “Did you get your copy in the mail?”
“Yeah.” Our mailbox had been stuffed full after Key West, mostly advertisements and gamer magazines. I’d been hoping for a letter from the study abroad program, but instead I’d found a letter from a lawyer containing divorce papers. “I thought you didn’t want to get a divorce.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think there’s really anything else to do now.” He unfolded the papers, flipping to the last page. I saw his signature on one side, and a blank line with my name typed underneath on the other.
“Is this really it?” I asked as he handed me a pen. The top was all chewed and I had a twinge of regret. Mason always chewed his pen tops to shreds. “We can sign this thing and it’s over?”
“The lawyer said it was easy when you didn’t have kids.”
That made me wince. I signed my name on the bottom, dated it, and handed the papers back to him. “Well. There you have it.”
“There’s also this.” He reached back into his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “Your settlement.”
I looked at the paper as he put it on the table, frowning. “My what?”
“It’s so there won’t be any alimony or claim to anything in the future.” He cleared his throat and pushed it towards me. I stared at him, understanding immediately that this had been his parents’ idea. Clearly they were afraid I would come after him at some point, somehow, for money.
“I don’t want it.” I’d read the divorce agreement-well most of it anyway. I didn’t really care, as long as legally we weren’t married anymore once it was filed. But I didn’t remember reading anything about some sort of “settlement.”
“Take it.” Mason sighed. “Take it and go to Italy and…be happy.”
The sadness and hope mixed in his voice made me pick it up and unfold it. I stared at the number in the little box in disbelief. “This isn’t right.”
“Yeah it is.” Mason folded the divorce papers and tucked them back into his jacket. “My parents started a retirement account for us and a…a college fund for Isabella. That’s what was in it.”
“Twenty thousand dollars?” I choked, my hand trembling as I held it in my hand.
“It should pay for your trip and living expenses in Italy.” He looked at me over the table. “Right?”
I sat back in my seat, my breathing shallow. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“I do.” Mason stood, holding his hand out to me. “Goodbye.”
I took his hand, but I didn’t shake it. Instead, I stood, putting my arms around his waist and hugging him. He hesitated but then put his arms around me too, his grip tightening briefly before letting me go.
“Goodbye, Mason.” I felt tears stinging my eyes and blinked them back. “I love you.”
“I know.” He kissed my cheek, picking up the check and putting it in my hand.
“Better put this in a safe place.”
He grinned when I tucked it under my t-shirt, into my bra. Then he turned and left without another word.
* * * *
The mail I’d been hoping to find when I came home from Key West was waiting for me when I got back from signing divorce papers with Mason. I opened the envelope, standing at the mailbox, shivering with both cold and fear. I remembered opening my acceptance letter to U of M, Mason asking me over the phone, “Is it a thick envelope or a thin one?” He’d already received his acceptance. “A thick one,” I’d replied and he had hooted and whooped. “That means you’re in! The rejections are thin!”
This was a thin envelope. My heart dropped as I took out the letter with shaking hands, gripping the paper tightly against the wind.
“Dear Ms. Danielle Stuart, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted…”
I closed my eyes and felt the tears that had been threatening the whole walk home from Sweetwater spilling down my cheeks. Italy. I’m going to Italy.
I hadn’t know how I was going to pay for everything but now I had twenty thousand dollars tucked away in my bra and plenty of means to do it. I looked back at the letter in my hands, my tears dropping onto the paper, blurring some of the words, and saw the dates at the bottom: Starting September 10…
Math had never been my best subject-that was how I’d gotten pregnant with Isabella in the first place. I’d known, of course I had, when the program started. And how long a pregnancy lasts. Even if I got pregnant next month, I realized, I wouldn’t be due until October. I’d been so excited to give them a baby, I hadn’t even considered the timing. How could I possibly give the Baumgartners their dream while still living my own?
I walked slowly back to the apartment, seeing Doc’s Cadillac parked in front-an unusual afternoon off. I shoved the letter into my pocket and wiped my wet face with my mittens before opening the front door. Jezebel mewed at my entrance and batted at my scarf as I unwound it and threw it over the couch, along with my coat. It was too quiet.
Had they gone out?
I pulled off my boots and walked in stocking feet toward the bedroom, calling out,
“Carrie?” I had the door open before I heard them, Carrie giggling and Doc laughing as they rolled around naked on the bed.
“Sorry.” I took a step back, going to close the door, but Carrie held her hand out to me.
“Come join us,” Doc called, pulling the edge of the sheet up and exposing Carrie’s nude bottom and Doc’s raging hard-on. I hesitated, feeling the weight of my divorce, my future, as I looked at them together. They had taken me in, made me their friend, their lover, had practically adopted me when it came down to it. But what was I doing here? What was I doing with my life?
“Come on, sweetness.” Carrie crooked her finger at me, smiling mischievously, and I remembered just what I was doing with the Baumgartners. I didn’t care of it was crazy or mixed-up or weird. I wanted it, and I wasn’t going to deny myself anymore. I took off my jeans and panties and hopped into bed in my t-shirt. They moved around and made room for me in the middle.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Doc said as I snuggled down between them. “Carrie, Dani and I have something to tell you.” He leaned over and kissed his wife’s cheek. The look on his face was so loving and sweet I thought I might melt into a puddle on the bed.
“Sort of a Christmas present. Right, Dani?”
I thought of the letter in the pocket of my jacket and realized-it didn’t matter. It was true that Mason and I hadn’t managed to fix our broken marriage after Isabella. The pieces just wouldn’t go back together, no matter how hard we tried. And I regretted it.
But this thing I had with the Baumgartners wasn’t broken, and I wasn’t about to jeopardize it. I wanted this-I wanted Doc and Carrie, this love, this life together. And I wanted to give them this gift. If I didn’t, I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life.
Italy could wait, but this wouldn’t.
“Well, that’s funny.” Carrie grinned. “I have something to tell you too. The best Christmas present ever.”
Doc met my gaze over his wife’s glowing face and my eyes widened. Somehow I knew. I already knew.
“I’m pregnant.” She could barely contain her excitement.
Doc made a sound like he’d been punched in the gut. “Are you sure?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been.” She had tears in her eyes as she looked between us. “I’ve kept it to myself for so long. I’m almost four months. Sixteen weeks.”
She took each of our hands and pressed it against her lower belly. It was slightly rounded and even a little hard. How had I not noticed? Had I been that self-involved?
And then it all fell into place-she’d been so tired, avoiding alcohol, and her weight gain didn’t have anything to do with the holidays.
“How far along?” Doc sat straight up in bed, gaping down at her. “Jesus, I thought you were just putting on a little winter weight!”
“I used your cream, Dani,” she explained. “I went back to that chiropractor and he gave me more. He said after the first trimester, I probably wouldn’t need it anymore, that I would carry to term once the placenta took over production of progesterone.”
“You what?” Doc blinked at her. “You went to some kind of quack?”
Carrie sighed. “I knew you’d say that. Doc, listen to me. Sixteen weeks! She’s sixteen weeks!”
“She?” Doc was utterly flabbergasted. “You know it’s a girl?”
“I had to.” She pleaded with him for understanding, pressing her hand against her belly again. “I had to see her moving, know she was alive in there before I told you. But now I know for sure. I felt her.”
“You did?” Doc ran his hands over her still rather flat belly-she had phenomenal stomach muscles, it was no wonder she was hardly showing. “You can feel her?”
“Uh huh.” Carrie smiled as Doc leaned over and feathered kissed on her tummy below her navel.
“I can’t believe it.” Doc settled there, his cheek against her thigh, his hand petting her belly. “Baby,” he whispered, his eyes bright. “Baby…”
“Are you mad?” Carrie asked, her hand in his hair.
“Are you kidding me?” He laughed.
She looked over at me for a reaction, but I was still too stunned to speak at the perfection of the moment. “So what was your present?”
I opened my mouth to speak, wondering how to phrase it now, and then just blurted it out. “I was going to offer to carry a baby for you guys.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh Dani.”
“But now I guess I’m going to Italy.”
Doc’s head snapped up, his eyes wide. “You got in?”
I nodded, blinking back my own tears, too overwhelmed with it all to speak.
“Damn, we’re going to have to do some big-time celebrating.” Doc smiled at me and I smiled back.
“I bought something for the baby,” Carrie whispered in my ear. “Just a little pink bunny. But it seemed right…like it’s all going to be okay.”
“It is.” I kissed her cheek, feeling tears sting my eyes as I thought of my own little girl. “When are you due?”
“May twenty-eighth.”
“A little spring bunny.” I smiled, remembering the weight of Isabella in my arms, how perfect, how still. “You can have everything, Carrie. Everything.”
She looked at me, puzzled.
“Dani, no…” Doc looked at me, understanding before she did and then her eyes widened.
“I want you to have it.” I insisted, thinking of Isabella’s crib, all her pink bedding and clothing and stuffed animals. “We’ll paint your little girl’s room pink and move all Isabella’s things in here.”
“Where will you stay?” Carrie asked.
“Until I leave for Italy…” I reached into my bra and pulled out my twenty-thousand dollar check. “I’ll stay here in bed with you. Where else?”
Doc grinned. “I can live with that.”
“What is this?” Carrie snatched the check and gaped at the amount.
“My divorce settlement.” I tucked it back into my bra. “Mason was very generous.”
“You’re more generous.” She tilted her face up and I kissed her softly. “Thank you.”
“No.” I nuzzled her throat and cuddled up with them both, my hand resting on her belly against Doc’s. “Thank you. Both of you.”
I had intended to give them a gift, the greatest gift I could imagine, but somehow, the Baumgartners had given me my life back, had actually brought me back to life. I closed my eyes and breathed in her scent, not quite recognizing the feeling that had overcome me. It seeped in slowly like honey around the edges of my consciousness, sticky and thick and sweet. It wasn’t until I felt the tiniest little bump against my fingers, my eyes widening and my gaze meeting Doc’s and then Carrie’s in wonder, that I got it.
The baby had kicked, letting us know she was alive and well, and that’s when I understood what I was feeling.
I was happy.