John Koenig was a man on a mission. Having been away from home for three months he was anxious to get home to his family. He was particularly anxious to see his wife. However, he found himself stuck in traffic. Finding it odd to encounter this amount of traffic in the afternoon, John opened his window and leaned his head out. He saw the problem- road work. Impatient to see his wife, he banged the steering wheel with his hands. As his car inched forward, he glanced to the radio and flipped it on. He flipped through the channels trying to find something to pass the time as his car seemed to crawl toward home. Frustrated and unable to find anything of interest on the radio, he angrily flipped it off. Cursing silently he slowly maneuvered his sleek red corvette toward the construction. Another ten minutes went by before John cleared the road work and resumed his journey home.
John flung gravel as he turned into the long driveway leading to his waterfront home. He carefully avoid hitting his wife’s car as he slid the corvette into the garage. As he walked around to the back entrance of his home, John noticed the family’s ski boat was missing from the dock. John smiled. No boat meant no kids. A smile crossed his face as he slipped inside.
Helena Koenig was sitting on her bed slipping off her black pumps as she spoke to her office. It has been a long day for her. Phone still pressed to her ear, she rose from the bed reaching for the zipper on her black skirt. She stopped in mid sentence when she saw him. Standing in the doorway of her bedroom, stood her beaming husband. She returned his smile. The voice on the other end of the phone called her name. She shook her head ruefully. Her husband gave her his look. The look that said get off the phone now as I plan to devour you immediately. Helena ended her phone call quickly.
The lovers moved toward each other meeting in the middle of the room. No words were needed as their lips came together in a fevered kiss. The kiss deepened and Helena felt her body being moved toward their bed. John lay Helena down on the bed covering her body with his. Between kisses the lovers spoke.
“Where are the kids?” John asks as he grabbed the bottom of his wife’s skirt.
“Out on the river.” Helena replied pulling the bottom of John’s polo shirt from his pants.
“How long?” He asks sliding his lips down from her lips to her neck.
“They been gone awhile”. Helena moaned.
“Helena, I need you.” John said desperately as he once again captured her lips. His hands pushing her skirt ever higher.
Ring Ring
Helena pushed John up slightly as she tried to reach for the phone.
“Don’t answer it.” He said as he lowered his lips to her neck.
“Might be the kids.” She groaned.
“They’ll wait.” He brought his lips back to hers kissing her passionately.
Ring RingHelena again pushed on his shoulders. “It won’t take a minute,” she promised as she reached for the phone.
John groaned his frustration evident.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” The voice on the other end spoke
John growled when he heard the voice. “Always! Always! The worst timing ever!”
Helena smiled and stroked his face her finger lingering on his lips as she spoke into the phone. “Mel, I’m in the middle of something can I call you back?”
“Did you run to get the phone? You sound out of breath.”
“Yes, I was outside.” Helena lied. John lifted his head and chuckled.
“Okay, I need the time we are flying to Mother’s for Thanksgiving.”
Helena looked at her husband. He thought for a moment then whispered the words “Nine AM”.
“We are planning to leave at 9 tomorrow morning.” John smiled and lowered his lips back to her neck. He’d planned to have her at least three times before they had to leave for Texas If he could get her off the phone, perhaps there would be a fourth time.
Helena shifted beneath him her breath coming in short gasps. .
“Okay. I’ll let Alan know. Have you spoken with Mom?”
Helena had to concentrate to respond as John’s hands began to push he pantyhose down her legs.
“Yes, I spoke to her this morning.” Helena managed.
“You know how she is about her menu. She’ll worry for weeks about it.” Melissa sighed.
“For weeks.” Helena repeated absently as her pantyhose were flung to the floor. Her husband had managed to push up her skirt and was in the process of opening his khakis when her sister spoke again.
“Alright. I wanted to check with you before John gets home. I would imagine he’ll want you all to himself when he gets home. I mean he’s been gone for three months and I know that’s a really long time for him to be gone. What time is he suppose to get home?”
Patience had never been a virtue of John Koenig so neither woman was surprised when John took the phone from Helena “He’s home now.” John said right before slamming down the receiver.
Helena looked at him curiously. “I can’t wait any longer. I need you now.” he said as he once again covered her lips with his.
BAM!
“I did not!” A deep male voice bellowed from den.
“Yes you did you little nerd” A distinct shrill voice responded. “DADDY!” She called. “Do you know what Sam did with the boat?” The voice was closer and getting louder.
John lifted his head to look at his wife.
She chuckled, “The kids are back.”
John rolled off his wife with a groan. Helena smiled and returned her skirt to it’s proper position. John carefully closed his khakis.
“Daddy?” The voice called again. It was getting closer.
“Why don’t you step into the bathroom for a moment?” ‘His wife slipped off the bed and retrieved her discarded panty hose.
John reluctantly rolled out of bed and slipped in the bathroom door just as the voice from the kitchen reached their bedroom.
“Daddy?” Victoria Koenig looked around the room.
“He’s in the bathroom.” Helena said. “What’s all the yelling about?”
“Sam’s gonna be in trouble when Dad finds out about the boat!”
The second voice from the den arrived in the bedroom.
”Victoria is lying!”. Sam protested.
“I am not- you little maniac!” Victoria snipped back.
Before Helena could respond, John stepped out of the bathroom. Both kids stopped arguing and smiled.
“Hey Daddy.” Victoria smiled sweetly and stepped up to hug her father. “Welcome Home”. She release him and moved aside allowing her brother to greet him.
“Hey Dad.” Sam said as he hugged him.
“Daddy-you won’t believe what Sam did to the boat@” Victoria started.
“Dad-she’s lying. I didn’t do anything!” Sam sneered at his sister.
John looked over to his wife. He raised his hands silently asking his children to stop their argument. “Can I have a minute with Mom before we get into what may or may not have occurred with the boat? I promise I’ll referee this situation later but right now I’d like a minute with your mother.
Both kids eyed each other. “Okay Dad.” They quietly replied before walking out of the room arguing under their breath.
Once the kids were gone, John again took his wife in his arms. He hugged her tightly and exhaled slowly. “You know between your sister and our daughter, I don’t know who has the worse sense of timing.” He chuckled as did his wife.
“I say they both suck.” Helena replied.
“You can say that again.” John sighed. He brought his hands up lovingly cupping her face. He looked deep into her eyes. “I missed you terribly” He said as he kissed her softly.
“I missed you too.” she replied. She leaned her head against his chest inhaling his cologne.
“I guess we’ll have to continue our reunion later.”
“I guess so.”
“I’d better go see what the latest fight is about.” Regretfully he pulled away.
“I’d better start packing for tomorrow.”
John left the room to attend to his children. It would be hours before the lovers would once again be alone..
The boat could have been worse, but it was bad enough. With Tori-- no make that Victoria, as she preferred to be called now-- trailing behind with a running narrative, John went down to inspect the boat. With no school the day before Thanksgiving, the kids had made plans to meet at a friend’s house on Merritt Island. It was a twenty minute trip by boat and more than an hour on crowded roads and bridges. So they took the boat. Victoria drove over, and Sam was to drive back. But they started back late and Sam tried to take a shortcut – across an oyster bar.
“Mom would have killed us if we didn’t get back before sunset,” Sam defended himself with a teen’s hyperbole.
John knew quite well that under the circumstances, if they had taken an extra fifteen minutes and followed the channel he would have been successfully nailing Helena and neither parent would have ever noticed. But he couldn’t say that to the kids. They winched up the boat and stood knee deep in water underneath checking the bottom of the boat. The worst scrapes were on the starboard side. Fortunately it looked like the propeller had not been involved.
“Just look at my shoes,” Victoria protested. “I had to get out and push us off that bed.” She sat on the dock just above them, dangling her feet over the edge. The soles of her water shoes were shredded.
“Better your shoes than your feet,” John said, absently patting her ankle as he examined the rip in the fiberglass. “You are to buy your sister new water shoes out of your allowance,” he said with a glance at his son. “And, no use of the boat until you help me fix this. We’ll have to sand it down and put new fiberglass all along here. We won’t be back until Sunday so it’ll have to be the next weekend.”
“Yes sir,” Sam’s new deep voice said. He had grown like a weed over the summer, now topping six feet with a deep baritone to match his size. He was rail skinny, but would fill out with time and exercise. John still hadn’t gotten used to that voice coming from his ‘little’ boy, or standing and looking his son straight in the eye.
“And, you stay in the channel from now on. You could have called and explained to your mother that you were running late. If you were in a car would you have decided to cut across people’s back yards because it was quicker?”
“No sir,” Sam said with a frown.
“This is no different. You have to drive a boat responsibly just as you would a car.”
Sam nodded and John clapped him on the shoulder. “Now, let’s go see what’s for supper.
Sam brightened at this and Victoria seemed pleased with the idea of new shoes. John put his arms around both children as they walked up the dock. “Tor – I mean Victoria – you did the right thing. If you hadn’t gotten out and pushed off, the tide could have left you stranded on that bar.”
Victoria beamed. “That’s what I told him, Daddy. We missed you.”
“I missed you guys too.”
Supper was a shepard’s pie that Helena was just pulling out of the oven. The housekeeper had put it together and put the timer on the oven before she left for the weekend. It was full of juicy beef that John knew had been sent by his mother-in-law from Texas. She sent each daughter a quarter of beef whenever needed, freshly butchered and packed in dry ice. After three months on another planet eating the exotic goo they called food, and the travel time back and forth eating reconstituted mush, John savored the fresh meat and vegetables. He also savored Helena’s leg brushing against in the small breakfast nook where they had decided to eat instead of the formal dining room. While they put dinner on the table he had taken every opportunity to brush against her, taking in her scent, and just enjoying being near to her.
He began to think they might be able to leave the kids to clean up the kitchen while they retreated to the bedroom when the doorbell rang. It was Victoria’s latest conquest and two other kids from school. They brought an interactive movie with them, a blended movie and video game where you could put on VR gloves and affect the outcome of the story by controlling the characters’ actions. The kids headed toward the playroom and he turned to give Helena a look that she recognized well. The kids should have supervision. He knew that. It was certainly not what he wanted to be doing this evening. Helena took clean-up duty while he challenged Sam to an online baseball game.
The movie took nearly three hours, with the kids delighting in running and re-running one particular chase scene where the cars crashed into each other. Helena curled up next to John on the sofa near the computer console and she glanced up at the flat screen hanging on the wall above the desk where the baseball game was being played while flipping through a magazine. Her scent and her proximity cost him more than one run. He was relieved when the kids finally called it a night, and Helena immediately said goodnight and headed upstairs. However, since Tori stepped outside to say her goodbyes, John lingered in the kitchen, putting away soda glasses and popcorn bowls and just being a ‘presence’ near the window. It seemed to take forever before Tori reappeared, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and headed upstairs.
Helena was waiting for him in the darkened bedroom. Candles flickered on the dresser and the table near the window. The bedspread was pulled back to reveal satin sheets, glowing a rich golden in the candlelight. Helena’s black satin nightgown featured spaghetti straps and a slit up the leg allowing him easy access to all that he had been missing the last three months. Why had he taken that commission?
He locked the door and unbuttoned his shirt, his eyes locked on her with a look that said she wasn’t going to get any sleep for quite some time. She fingered the strap on the nightgown, pulling it slowly over her shoulder. John was ready to pounce when there was a shriek from the hallway.
“Daddy!” Victoria called in full distress mode. “Daddy, it’s the toilet. It just kind of exploded!
John’s look was brief, but spoke volumes. He wanted Helena in the worst way. He was doubting their decision to have children. And he had to get out there before the carpet in the hallway, not to mention the ceiling below, was flooded. Message was received and Helena was suddenly off the bed, extinguishing candles and pulling on a robe.
Cleanup and plumbing repair continued until nearly midnight. John returned to his bedroom, pulled off the now damp and stained clothes and stepped into the shower. He leaned into the warm spray and pressed his hands against the wall, totally spent yet still with that yearning…
He didn’t hear her open the door to the shower, but felt her hands on him and her body pressed against his back. He moved slightly to press against her.
“Remember that time on the plane? Coming back home from England?”
John smiled. “I was trying to relax you.”
Helena gave that low sexy laugh he loved. “But the bathroom was too small. Still, as I remember, I managed to relax you.”
Her hands had purpose now. She reached over to the liquid soap dispenser and then began moving her hands over his body, concentrating on his lower regions. “It’s late and you need sleep if you’re going to fly in the morning. Let me relax you again.”
“Mmmm…” Her ministrations were keeping him from concentrating. “Helena, I want…”
“I know exactly what you want,” she said, voice husky. “I want it too. But we’ll have to wait until we have a bit more time.”
His breathing came faster, conforming to the rhythm of her hands on him. “Come for me, lover,” she spoke from behind him, and he smiled as she echoed the words she had spoken to him so long ago in that airplane. He reached his release with a gasp and a long moan. He stood breathing hard as Helena took a washcloth and rinsed them both off, then stepped from the shower. They each took one of the large bath sheets from the towel rack next to the shower and dried off, then she led him to bed and lay next to him. As she reached for the light her eyes met his and his look said it all.
The next morning they arrived at the plane barely on time. Alan and his boys were a fire brigade tossing suitcases out of their SUV and stowing them in the plane. John pulled up next to them so they could just continue pulling luggage out of Helena’s Lexus. Sam jumped out to take Alan’s place in the line.
“Welcome home,” Alan said, shaking his hand.
“Glad to be back. You wouldn’t believe what they thought was good food on that planet.”
“Does look like you lost some weight.”
Helena stepped out of the car looking stylish and sexy in black sandals and black capri’s with a gold silk blouse belted at the waist. The look John gave her wasn’t lost on any of the adults.
“Enjoy your homecoming last night, John?” Mel asked, seeing the look in his eye even through the aviator sunglasses he was wearing.
“Broken boat, chaperoning Victoria and her boyfriend, plumbing emergency,” John growled succinctly, watching Helena’s behind as she climbed the stairs into the plane.
Melissa made sympathetic noises. “Maybe we can get there early enough for you to take a couple of horses out. You know the house will be a zoo.”
“Don’t I know it. Flight plan filed?” He asked Alan.
“All ready to go, just give the word,” Alan replied.
John clicked the lock for the Lexus and stuffed the keys in his pocket. “The word is given.”
“All right, you lot. Get aboard and let’s get going,” Alan rounded up the luggage crew and everyone climbed aboard. John’s hotshot takeoff reflected his frustration, climbing nearly vertically into the sky to get to cruising altitude.
They were met at the small private airstrip by Robert and Susan with both the Lincoln and the battered old pickup truck. There was a minor scuffle as Victoria and Geoff vied for the rights to drive. Geoff ended up with the keys to the pickup while Susan handed Tori the keys to the Lincoln. Mel and Alan and the rest of the kids ended up in the back of the pickup with the luggage. Robert rode up front with Geoff. Susan rode in the front seat of the Lincoln with Victoria. John and Helena took the back seat.
Helena slid across the seat to nestle in John’s arm. John kissed the side of her head and placed his lips against her ear. “This is a dangerous position, my dear. I’m a desperate man and you’re tempting me.”
Helena smiled and murmured, “Later,” as her mother turned to discuss the finer points of the evening’s menu with her daughter.
Chaos descended upon the old house. After so many years, John was almost used to it. Everyone dashed off to their usual bedrooms to change. Dinner guests outside the family would be arriving within the hour. The children were already clamoring for food and their grandmother was promising them all a substantial snack as soon as they were properly dressed. John was just glad the kids were all old enough to dress themselves now. He pulled his suit out of his bag and tried not to think about Helena standing so close in only her underwear as she shook the wrinkles out of the dress she would be wearing this evening.
Helena was the more conservative of the sisters, but that didn’t mean she didn’t dress attractively. This evening’s dress had a full skirt and wrapped around her, tying at the waist with a large belt. It was a deep orange, but the material had some kind of sparkling prism effect, so from some angles the cloth seemed almost purple while at others it was a dark orange. It was hard to describe and harder for him to keep his eyes off of her. Her neck was bare and the neckline plunged, accentuating her gorgeous figure.
As she stood at the mirror brushing out her shining blonde hair he stepped up behind her and put his arms around her slim waist. “Mmm, you look gorgeous.” He kissed her neck and she slapped at him before he could leave any kind of mark on her.
“Put your pants on,” she suggested. “You just have to wait a while longer.”
“I suppose slipping off to the barn is out of the question.”
“It is in this dress.” She stood the stiff collar up in the back. She looked absolutely regal.
“I want you,” he whispered.
“I want you too. And soon.” She turned in his arms and surrendered into a deep and lingering kiss. “Soon,” she promised again and twisted away to the bathroom. She knocked twice and her sister unlocked the door and let her in. He could see both of them putting on makeup at the counter as they had since they had learned to put on makeup as teens. Then the door closed.
With a sigh he continued to get dressed, then headed across the hall to make sure the boys had their ties tied correctly.
Thanksgiving dinner at Miller’s Bluff was a tradition, not only among the family, but among the movers and shakers of Central Texas. There were two state senators, a state supreme court judge, a former governor and the local congressman in attendance. There was also an assortment of doctors, lawyers, ranchers and scientists from near and far, as well as their families. There were well over a hundred people scattered over the first floor and the lanai. The formal dining room only seated twenty, so dinner was served buffet style. John sat at a table near the pool with a professor from the University of Texas, a retired provost of a medical school who had been a fraternity brother of Robert’s, and the county sheriff, Peter Duncan, an old friend of Helena and Melissa’s.
“Your lady is as lovely as ever,” Peter said to him as they both watched Helena walk out of the house, a champagne flute in her hand.
“That she is,” John agreed. Her eyes met John’s almost immediately and they exchanged a smile.
All four men at the table stood as she approached. “Good evening, gentlemen.” She reached for John’s hand. “I know you won’t mind if I steal my husband from you for a while.” The other’s greeted her and agreed. John excused himself and followed her willingly in the house.
“Where are you taking me?”
Helena didn’t answer, but they headed for the front hall and John felt more than his hopes rising. But as they stepped toward the stairwell they heard Robert’s voice in the dining room, deep in conversation with someone and approaching the doorway. Helena squeezed his hand and reached for the door next to them. They slipped quickly into her father’s study and closed the door behind them. His arms went around her and his lips sought hers. They heard Robert and his companion talking as they walked through the foyer, and Helena reached behind John and turned the lock with a quiet snick.
“I’m not waiting any longer,” Helena said firmly. She led him to the leather couch in front of the fireplace. There was no fire this evening, the weather was too warm. But John would have been glowing bright hot in a blizzard.
He pulled her to him for another hungry kiss. “I want you too. But are you sure … in here?” He asked, not quite coherent as Helena began tugging at his fly.
“This used to be my grandfather’s office. He told me once that the key for that lock was lost years ago. We should have complete privacy here. I want you here and now, and then later tonight again – several times. Three months away is too long.”
“Oh, God yes!” John was in complete agreement there.
He pulled up her skirt and found that Helena had changed from panty hose to thigh highs with no underpants. Fortunately he was standing in front of the sofa at that point and he sat down hard. Helena was straddling him. With a tug she undid the belt on her dress. John grinned when he realized that other than the belt there was nothing but a couple of little hooks fastening the dress. Once they were undone, he could peel it away from her to reveal his love in only a small lacy bra that didn’t get in the way at all.
Helena moaned with pleasure as John found first one nipple, then the other. He caressed her and suckled her, and moved one hand down to find her wet with anticipation. “I want you inside me,” she whispered.
“Oh, honey!” John could barely catch his breath. He put his hands on her hips and impaled her on his hard member. Their eyes met as they became one. At this moment everyone else in the house could have disappeared as far as they were concerned. They began to move slowly against each other, eyes still locked, his hands moving over her breasts in rhythm to their movement together. Their breathing became faster and Helena gasped as her orgasm began. John covered her lips with his to keep her from screaming out her pleasure. He pressed harder into her and thrust out his own release, knowing she welcomed him.
She clung tightly to him as they caught their breath. “I don’t want you so far away again.”
“Next time come with me.”
“The children…”
“Can stay with Mel. Or we’ll ask Susan and Robert to come stay with them. They’ll both be in college in a few years and we won’t have to worry about it.”
“I think I’m ready for that.”
“I think I am too. I hated being away from you.”
There was laughter in the hallway as some of the guests walked back toward the dining room. Helena looked over John’s shoulder at the door. “I wish we could just stay here all night.”
“I do too, but someone will most likely miss us soon.”
She leaned down and kissed him again, still hungry. He twisted and Helena was lying on the sofa on her back with John on top of her. “I’ll finish this later tonight.” He stood and helped her up. They straightened each others clothes and John brushed her lips against his. They went to the door and Helena unlocked it. They cracked the door and John stepped out first. The foyer was empty and John nodded. Helena swept out as well.
“Something to eat?” John asked her.
“I think I need to slip upstairs for a moment first. Give me a couple of minutes?” Helena’s eyes twinkled.
“I’ll wait right here.”
John watched Helena as she climbed the stairs. She was so beautiful and sexy and desirable. It took all his will power not to follow her.
Alan and Melissa walked out of the dining room each bearing a full plate. They noted the look on John’s face and Melissa raised her eyebrow. She nudged her husband.
“Looks like my sister has been busy.”
“From the look on his face,” Alan said. “They’ve only begun.” Alan gave him a wink and steered his wife past.
John watched them walk through the living room, then headed for the stairs. Yes, he’d just begun.
November, 2006
Maureen J. Long