Unbridaled

Literotic asexstories – Unbridaled by Fatdog25,Fatdog25 This is my Literotica Nude Day Story Contest 2024 entry. I hope you have the opportunity to read the other excellent stories presented this year. Comments, favorites, and most certainly ratings would be greatly appreciated by all. Thanks in advance!

This is a work of erotic fiction. Therefore, all persons engaging in sexual activity are over the age of 18. Any resemblance between the characters and events in this story and any persons, living or dead, or actual events is coincidental and unintentional.

Last but not least, the views expressed by the characters are not necessarily those of the author.

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Her lips were moving, she was making sounds, but they made absolutely no sense to me. “Ernie fucking did what?!”

Note to self: Never swear at a church altar during a wedding. Especially when the mic was still hot. The audience had been growing restless, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Now I had their undivided attention.

Gina Halstead was Ernie’s mother. At the moment, she was deeply embarrassed and teary-eyed. “Ernie left. He said he couldn’t marry Sherry.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nobody needed the PA to hear that. I tend to get loud when I’m pissed off. I was all of that.

“We’re so sorry, Ronnie. We didn’t know he was going to do that.” From the look on his parents’ faces, they were telling the truth. The fucker actually cut and ran.

“I can’t believe Ernie would do this. I don’t understand it.” Bob Halstead was only slightly less angry than I was.

Five minutes earlier, I had been standing at the back of the church, waiting to walk my sister Sherry down the aisle. Ernie’s parents walked up and whispered something to the minister, who motioned me up to the altar.

My first thought was that they had eloped. That would be so like Sherry. The fancy church wedding had been both mother’s doing. My sister was a big believer in doing things with the least amount of effort, the whole working smarter and not harder school of thought.

Nope. The groom decided to take the chickenshit way out, leaving his parents to clean up his mess once again. I couldn’t be mad at them, they had been our co-parents growing up.

“I’m sorry, Gina. I know it’s not your fault.” I felt bad for her, actually. Ernie was forever putting them in the position of bailing him out of something.

“Go find Sherry, son. I’ll handle breaking the news.” Bob offered his hand and I shook it firmly.

As I walked back down the aisle toward the sanctuary area, I could hear the crowd murmuring as Bob took the mic from the stand.

“Can I have your attention, please? I regret –” The rest was lost as the heavy wood door closed behind me. I found the room marked “Halstead-Wilmott” and knocked.

“Ronnie? Come in,” my mother called out.

I opened the door part way and slid past it. Sherry was sitting in front of the makeup mirror, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She had been crying hard, the mascara streaks gave her a more than passing resemblance to Alice Cooper, except she was still much prettier.

“I’m sorry, Sher. I didn’t think he’d ever do that.” Ernie Halstead was a lot of things, and until now, I didn’t think coward had been one of them. If I ever got my hands on him, dead man would be at the top of the list.

Sherry stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her head into my shoulder. Hard sobs shook her body as she let go. Mom rubbed her back reassuringly, murmuring something into her ear I couldn’t quite hear.

There was a light knock on the door. Mom cracked it open and let the Halsteads in quietly. Sherry looked like hell now, hair mussed and her face swollen from crying.

Gina spoke, her voice uncertain. “Honey, we’re really sorry –”

“No. He did this, not you. Don’t you dare apologize for him.” Sherry held her arms out and hugged her tightly. “He’s supposed to be an adult. He knows better.”

After our father knocked up his executive assistant and took off to Belize, the Halsteads watched over us while Mom rebuilt her real estate career and her life. Ernie had been raised the same way we were. There was no excuse for this. Bob and Mom were now business partners and Mom had been friends with Gina forever. They were family, too.

Sherry hugged Bob and he gently kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know what to say, Sherry. I’m sorry.”

“Ronnie, would you get your sister some water, please?” Mom motioned the Halsteads to the other side of the room for a whispered conversation. Sherry took the offered glass and set it on the table in front of her.

“Why, Ronnie? Why would he do this?”

“I don’t know. Wish I did.”

“Everybody spent so much money for this. People went out of their way to be here for us. What do I tell them, Ronnie?” Sherry was starting to get worked up again.

I reached out to take her hand and she threw herself at me again, burying her face into my neck and shoulder while she cried.

Gina was also in tears, Bob and Mom doing their best to console her. Ernie had always been the impulsive type, always getting hyped about something until one day he wasn’t.

I was too young to remember anything about my father. Sherry had vague memories of him. Mom didn’t say much about him or their marriage. Gina refused to talk about him at all, citing him as an example of what not to be as a human being.

Bob was honest about his feelings about our father. They had been friends before getting married. He didn’t see it coming, either. He had tried to use what happened as a teaching moment, in terms of the value of keeping your word.

The Halsteads had unofficially adopted us, getting Mom’s license transferred to his office, making sure we had adult supervision after school and when Mom had showings.

Ernie had been my best friend growing up. I was convinced he loved Sherry so when he had asked if I had a problem with his asking for her hand in marriage, I said I didn’t. She loved him as much as he loved her. Sherry was the yin to Ernie’s yang. They were the perfect couple. I never had a reason to doubt how he felt about Sherry. At least until today. The two of them getting married seemed to be a no-brainer. High school sweethearts, they stayed together throughout college, they worked in our parents’ real estate business together, it was as if it had been ordained from above.

I had no idea why he would back out now. It made no sense at all. His betrayal, which is how I thought of it, hurt deeply. Not just for Sherry but our parents.

Eventually, both women stopped crying. Mom ran us out so Sherry could change. When they were ready, I brought the car around to the side entrance, loaded everybody up, and we headed to Mom’s house.

Sherry hid in her old bedroom once we got to Mom’s house. I hung around for a while, we tried to eat dinner, but eventually I had to go home. I had to go back to work tomorrow and I couldn’t show up in a tuxedo.

Sherry refused to answer the door when I knocked to let her know I was leaving. She sounded like she had been crying. I couldn’t blame her, I kind of felt that way for her, too.

My phone was silent the remainder of the evening. Just before going to bed, I texted Ernie one question. “WTF?”

There was no answer the next day. Sherry let my call go to voicemail and later texted she was doing okay, which meant she wasn’t. Mom said she ate but not much, but at least she ate something.

It was a long day at work. Nothing out of the ordinary but it felt long. I stopped by the house, Sherry was still hiding in her room, and nobody had heard from Ernie. Figures.

The Halsteads stopped by to check on Sherry. She refused to come out although she again told them it wasn’t their fault.

The rest of the week was more of the same. No word from Ernie at all, he hadn’t even contacted his parents. Sherry refused to answer her phone, insisting on communicating by text. She barely ate.

By the Saturday following the aborted wedding, I had had enough. This wasn’t my sister.

I showed up at Mom’s after work that Saturday intent on getting her out of the house for an hour or two. Sherry was in her room, Mom said she hadn’t seen her since morning.

I knocked on the door and turned the knob, but it was locked. But I knew a trick. When the door had been framed, somebody did a poor job of measuring. If you pulled the knob hard toward the hinge, you could pop it open.

Sherry was lying face down on the bed as the door swung open.

“Ronnie! What the fuck?” She had a photo album open on her tablet and a box of tissues next to her. She quickly flipped the tablet over.

“Get up. You’ve been in here long enough.”

“Fuck you, get out.” She threw the box of tissues at me.

“Seriously, Sher. Let’s go. You can walk or I can carry you. Either way, you’re coming with me.”

“No, Ronnie, I don’t want to.” For a second, I thought she was going to fake cry. She had swung herself into a sitting position on the side of the bed and was playing with her hands.

“Look, I skipped lunch and I’m hungry. All we’re going to do is get a burger and some fresh air. An hour and a half, max. We’re not even getting out of the truck if you don’t want to. Promise.” I extended my hand with my little finger extended for a “pinkie promise” shake.

She eyed my hand suspiciously. “You’d better not be lying.”

I stuck my hand out a little further. “That’s not how this works and you fucking know that.”

As if it had a mind of its own, her hand came up, our fingers locked, and we shook three times. I would die before breaking that promise. “Ninety minutes.”

“Not a second longer. Let’s go, I’m dying of starvation here.”

“Then eat lunch next time, dummy.” She still wasn’t happy I barged in on her but at least she was doing something else besides sulking.

“Yes, dear.”

She slid her feet into some sandals and stood up. “I can’t believe I’m rewarding bad behavior.”

“I’m buying, so I’m the one rewarding bad behavior.”

Sherry tried not to smile and dropped her head so I couldn’t see her face. Using her sarcastic damsel-in-distress tone, she walked past me, “Mr. Moneybags, my hero.”

“Shut up and get your ass in the truck.” I was simply trying to give her a swat on the ass to move her along but she stopped suddenly and my hand made full contact with her right cheek. And stuck there for a second.

I dropped my hand as her face turned as red as mine felt. “Let’s move, girl.” I’m pretty sure I failed to play it off but I tried.

We stopped in the living room to let Mom know where we were off to. She seemed relieved to see Sherry out and dressed. She asked that we stop at Dairy Queen and get her an Oreo Blizzard on our way back.

We headed over to the little mom-and-pop place not far from where I worked. They had this monstrosity they called The Valley Burger, I had introduced Sherry to it soon after I had discovered the place, and it became a guilty pleasure for us.

I found a spot in the shade, powered the windows down, and went to the walk-up window and ordered. She always just ordered the burger and a small shake while I got the meal package. I ordered her a large chocolate shake instead.

Sherry tore into the burger like it was the first thing she had had in a month. For the first time in living memory, she was finished eating before I was, and I hadn’t been lying when I told her I had skipped lunch. Including the shake.

“That was good.” She bundled up the wrapper and tucked it into the bag as I finished the last of mine.

“It was.” Maybe not the way she meant it, but she ate more than a couple of bites and that was the goal.

“So, how’s work going?” She flipped the passenger visor down to check her face. The barbecue sauce had a tendency to go everywhere. She cleaned up a spot on her cheek and her nose.

We talked about my job for a while. I worked as a line supervisor at a maquila or twin plant operation. It’s not that interesting but she wanted to talk.

Sherry specialized in commercial real estate. She partnered with Ernie, working for Mom and Bob, and they were very successful as a team. Ernie was the people person, Sherry the details person, and together they got things done.

Eventually, that subject came up. She stared out the open window, watching some kids playing in a park behind the restaurant.

“Nobody’s heard from Ernie. At least we don’t have any deals pending right now. There’s people coming in next week, though. I’m not sure I can handle that part, he always did that.”

“Sure you can. You know how it all works.”

“Ernie was the closer. I made sure everything was ready to go. That’s what made it work. We each did what we do best. He was good at it. I’m not.” She seemed sad.

“Well, I think you’re better at it than you think you are. It’s just more work now. At least you won’t have to split the commission.”

She wasn’t impressed with my attempted motivational speech. “What if he wants to continue to be partners?”

“Do you?” Out of everything, it felt like this was her main concern. He was no longer reliable in her eyes. She had to decide if that was what she wanted.

“I don’t know.” Her sigh spoke volumes.

“He was my friend. We grew up together. This isn’t easy to say because I know you cared about him too. He didn’t keep his word. Maybe I would feel differently if he had manned up and admitted he didn’t want to marry you. He didn’t.

“I think the split needs to be total. But it’s your decision to make, not mine. I can’t and won’t tell you what to do. Your license is still with Mom, right?” Ernie had already taken his broker’s license exam and passed. He could theoretically open his own office. Sherry was still an agent, which required being supervised by a licensed broker in Texas.

“Yeah.” She had been studying for the broker exam but wasn’t quite ready to take it.

“Talk it over with Mom and Bob. See what they think.”

“Yeah, I should do that. I don’t want to go back to doing residential if I can help it.” She gave me a genuine smile this time. “Thanks for listening, Ronnie.”

“Thanks for not putting up a fight. I hate seeing you sad and I thought this might make you feel a little better.”

“What would make me feel better is a Blizzard and for you to stop breaking into my room.” She laughed. “How did you do that, anyway?”

I explained the process. “How the hell did you figure it out?” She was still laughing.

“The day you locked yourself out. I got frustrated, jiggled the knob while I was leaning on it, and it popped open.”

“You let me wander around in a cold, wet bathing suit all afternoon?” She had done something to piss me off so I made her suffer.

“Well –” I let my voice trail off with a hint of fake guilt.

“Wow, you bastard. What did I do to you?” She acted suitably outraged.

“I don’t actually remember. It seemed justified at the time.” I shrugged my shoulders at her.

“I should beat your ass for that.” She punched my arm. “I thought I was going to die.”

“Neither one of us knew you could unlock it with a small screwdriver. I just got lucky.”

“Okay, Mr. Lucky. I want a Blizzard. Onward to yon Dairy Queen.” Sherry pointed in the general direction of DQ and the house.

“Of course, milady.” I collected the garbage and walked it over to the can while she checked her face again in the mirror and did a little makeup thing. I waited until she was finished to start the truck.

I’ve never had much luck with the drive-thru at DQ so I preferred to go inside. Surprisingly, Sherry informed me she was going in with me because I “couldn’t be trusted to get hers right.” If anyone recognized her, they didn’t show it. She was quiet standing next to me in line while I ordered.

We soon had all three cups in a carrier and were on our way back to the house.

Mom was more than happy to have company while she enjoyed hers. Sherry kept her entertained with the door story as well as other childhood transgressions I had committed in the name of sibling rivalry. I pointed out a few things she had done to provoke me, which led to me being kicked a couple of times under the table. It had been a while since we had all laughed like that.

I left a little after eleven. Mom had a showing the next day and she needed to get some sleep. Sherry followed me to the door after I said goodnight and kissed Mom on the cheek.

“Thank you again, Ronnie. I hate to admit you were right, so I won’t.” I loved seeing that impish grin back, even though she still had a ways to go before she was completely over being dumped.

“Yeah, but I know anyway and I won’t forget to remind you.” I teased right back.

Sherry stepped forward and gave me a long hug. As we started to pull apart, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

“Sure, see you later.” I pulled the door closed and heard the deadbolt lock into place. I could still feel her lips on my cheek getting into the truck to drive home.

It wasn’t until I was home, in bed, and trying to fall asleep that I recalled grabbing her ass accidentally. Objectively, Sherry had a great body. She was well proportioned, there wasn’t one part that looked out of place. Her butt cheek had felt nice and firm, my hand seemed to fit it perfectly.

Between her kissing my cheek and me feeling her ass up a little, it kept me awake for a while. I hadn’t had a girlfriend for a while and eventually the intrusive thoughts won. I was glad I got up to get off or I would have needed to change the sheets, too.

I slept like a rock after that, thank you.

Sunday morning was quiet. I did my usual cleaning and laundry. I was surprised to learn that Sherry went with Mom to help with her showing Sunday afternoon. It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

Ernie didn’t show up Monday morning, either. He did call Bob to inform him that he was now going to be associated with a competing firm that was interested in opening a commercial real estate operation. He had taken the liberty of picking up his files late last night.

Sherry took the news about like I expected. She did stay in the office all day, working with those clients who elected to remain. Bob wasn’t nearly as calm. Mom wasn’t happy about it either, but she was more concerned about Sherry.

It didn’t get any better as the week went on. They didn’t lose many of the established clients, they were used to dealing with Sherry, but it was the new business that took the hit after the first week.

Sherry definitely struggled trying to step into Ernie’s role. She was the nuts and bolts person and he had always been the face of the company to the clients. To her credit, she tried to push through.

Word started getting around that Ernie had picked up another partner for the administrative side. She was young, pretty, and by all accounts nowhere nearly as competent as Sherry.

On good days, Sherry was mostly back to her usual self. On the bad days, and there were an awful lot of them, she went through hell.

I had some books I had bought when I made supervisor because I was a lot like Sherry personality-wise. I wasn’t a true people person and until I found those books, I struggled too. I hoped that even though they were management-oriented and not sales, she may find some useful tips.

I also started combing through the sales books, looking for stuff aimed at introverts and passing along what I thought were the best candidates.

It took some time and some one-on-one sessions with a performance enhancement coach online, but Sherry started making progress. There were times when she would still get down on herself but they weren’t as severe and the episodes weren’t as long.

It wasn’t something that I paid much attention to at the time, at least until she mentioned it. Once she brought it up, it was kind of obvious.

It was a Friday night. She showed up a little after six, like most nights. I’d given her a key, just in case. She let herself in, popped the bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and collapsed on the couch next to me.

“Hey.” She seemed to be in an extra-special good mood tonight.

“Hey yourself. Sounds like you had a good day.”

“We did. Ernie lost another client. We’re going to be handling all their retail and office properties starting in June.”

“That’s good. See, we knew you’d get it down.”

“I had a lot of help. I brought the wine to celebrate.”

“Thanks. You’re the one who did the work though so you should get most of the credit.”

She gave me a hard one-armed hug. “Thank you, Ronnie. You always know what to say to make me feel good.”

“Yeah, it’s what I do.”

Sherry grew quiet. She stayed quiet even through making dinner, when she usually took advantage of every opportunity to give me hell over my lack of cooking skills.

She didn’t initiate a conversation until after we had eaten and cleaned up. We were in what passed for the living area of my little apartment, she was trying to find something to watch on TV. Her question caught me off guard.

“How long has it been since you were on a date?” Sherry’s side glance was quick but not quick enough to avoid me seeing it.

“A while.” I didn’t want to talk about it, honestly. Sherry stopped by often enough that I didn’t feel lonely, I didn’t have to perform because she was bored, and she was happy just relaxing with a beer or glass of wine after dinner. I just simply preferred her company.

“I’m not holding you back from seeing anybody, am I?” She still wouldn’t look at me directly.

“No. Why would you think that?”

“Because I’m here more nights than I’m not. I can’t remember the last time you went out. Mom keeps bugging me about getting out and socializing instead of hanging out here. She thinks you need to be doing that, too.”

“If you’re not ready to go peopling, don’t. I deal with people all day. I like the quiet. I like hanging out with you because you’re not demanding. It’s hard for people who like being around other people to understand that sometimes people like us don’t.”

“If I’m over here too much, you’d tell me?”

“Yeah.” I considered myself lucky. I don’t think a day didn’t go by where somebody mentioned trouble they were having with their family, whether it was siblings, parents, or even extended family. I simply didn’t have that problem. As far as I was concerned, she could move in and it still wouldn’t be too much. I kind of missed having her around when she wasn’t here.

I got the impression she was relieved to hear my answer. Mom could be a little overbearing sometimes when she went on one of her kicks. She was a very social person, a natural seller as it were, and I think the fact that her children weren’t very social bothered her. Sherry loved working in real estate, she liked the long-term business relationships she was developing. She just didn’t care for the superficial shit that was required to get there.

As was our custom, I let her take my bed since she had had a little too much wine to be driving. I didn’t mind the floor for one night. I threw some clean sheets on the bed for her, stole my favorite pillow to sleep on, and we went to bed around midnight.

Around two-thirty, a phone chirped, waking me up. At first, I didn’t recognize the tone and I thought it might have been Sherry’s. Then it chirped again, next to my head, and I remembered whose tone that was. Ernie’s.

I checked the texts. “Hey,” and “Hey, you up?”

I answered back. “Am now.”

“Can we talk? Arroyo Park, noon. Alone.”

“K.”

I wouldn’t have taken Sherry under threat of death anyway. I knew the park pretty well, it was a popular place so I shouldn’t be tempted to beat his ass to death there. Too many witnesses, especially on a beautiful Saturday.

I set an alarm for eleven, using my regular work text tone as the alarm sound. If Sherry was still here, I could use the excuse that I had to go in to handle some unspecified emergency. Even though this was my weekend off, it wasn’t unheard of that I had to go in to take care of something.

I didn’t go back to sleep. I was still more than a little pissed off at Ernie to begin with. My mind started going over what he could possibly use as an excuse, which just made me even more pissed off because either he was cheating on her or he never loved her and had just been leading her on. If it was both, not even the lobby of the police station would be safe for him.

Sherry was up around nine and left about ten-thirty to go home. I didn’t say anything about meeting Ernie, I was afraid she would want to go. I wasn’t sure she was ready to meet him face to face yet. I tried to be as normal as possible but I think she sensed I wasn’t in a good mood, even though I went out of my way to be nice to her. Maybe that’s what gave it away, I don’t know.

I hopped in the shower right after Sherry left. By the time the alarm went off, I was already on my way there. His truck was already in the parking lot when I pulled in at ten minutes to twelve. I found a spot not far from his truck and parked.

Ernie was sitting on a bench facing the exercise area. Personally, I wouldn’t have picked a seat with my back to the parking lot when I knew somebody wanted a piece of me. He apparently heard me coming, as he stood up and turned to face me.

“Hey, Ronnie.” He had his hands to his sides, his palms facing out and slightly away from his body. He wasn’t here to fight.

“Why?” My hands were next to my sides and balled into fists. He may not have wanted to fight but I was damn sure ready to throw some hands.

“I wanted to, man. I love Sherry. The problem? She might have loved me but there’s somebody else she loves more. I thought I could live in that shadow but that morning, I knew I couldn’t.”

“That’s bullshit, dude. She’s never loved anybody but you. Where the fuck do you get off, saying she loves somebody else? There isn’t anybody else, never has been. Now, you — you took almost no time at all finding another ‘business’ partner. Took what, two weeks? Three?”

“That’s not what you think –” His voice was pleading.

“It’s not what I think? Are you fucking serious?” There was something about having my intelligence insulted that caused me to snap. As I stepped in to swing, a huge guy grabbed me from behind in a half-Nelson and somebody else stepped in between us.

“Easy, bro. Cálmate. There’s kids, man. Be smart.” I stopped struggling because the guy could easily separate both my shoulders and not even strain. “Why you fighting?”

Ernie spoke up, “I was going to marry his sister but called it off. I thought he should know why.”

“¡No mames! You got a death wish, bro?” The other guy between us just shook his head in disbelief.

“He’s my best friend –”

“Was, motherfucker!” I tried to kick Ernie in the balls but he was too far away.

The big guy shook me like a ragdoll. “Quitaté, dumbass.” Speaking to Ernie, he lowered his voice, “If I were you, I’d haul ass out of here, bro. Now. I gotta let this guy go before somebody calls the cops and you don’t want to be here when I do that. If you did that shit to my sister, I’d smoke your ass, no question. Shit, I’m tempted to hold you myself until he’s done but I got my family here and I’m not about to go back to jail. Get the fuck out of here, pinche mamón.”

The big guy held onto me until Ernie pulled out into traffic. The second man stood between us until he let me go. “You Anglos are fucking crazy, bro. You take care of that shit in private, not out here.”

“He tried to blame her for it, saying she was in love with somebody else. He’s a fucking coward, I think he was fucking with somebody else instead.” I was still pissed.

“I don’t know. He had to know you’d come at him and he still showed up. Not saying he’s right, just saying he must think it’s true.” The guy was even bigger than I imagined. Between the size of his muscles and his tattoos, I had no problem believing he had been in jail. Over his shoulder, I recognized the woman with two small children standing there watching us as one of my team members. She gave an embarrassed little wave and I waved back. That wasn’t good.

“I wouldn’t have gotten involved but Alicia says you’re an all right supervisor. I don’t need my kids seeing shit like that, either.”

“I appreciate it. Blaming my sister just set me off, she’s not like that. Thank you both.”

The smaller guy that stood between us spoke up. “Next time you see him, bro? Walk the other way. You don’t want to go to jail, not for him. Wait ’til you get him in private and then beat his ass.”

The big guy spoke again, just barely loud enough for me to hear, “It’s good to take care of family, bro, but you gotta be smart about it. This wasn’t smart. You do this shit in front of my family again, I’m going to be the one who fucks you up.” I nodded.

I apologized and thanked them again, and shook hands before they walked off. I felt self-conscious as I walked back to my truck. There were a lot of onlookers, standing in small groups, watching the show we just put on. The only person I recognized was Alicia, though. My shoulders were a little sore where he had restrained my arms but it wasn’t too bad. Fortunately, nobody had called the police. As it was, Monday was probably going to be a bad day at work if the story got around. It would be really bad if management found out about it.

I went back to my apartment. After cleaning up and doing laundry, I decided to take a nap. I hadn’t slept since receiving Ernie’s text, the adrenaline from the confrontation had worn off, and my anger at Ernie’s claim that Sherry had feelings for someone else had also lessened. I was dog tired by the time I had finished folding and hanging things up.

It felt like my head had no sooner hit the pillow when the apartment door slammed. “Where are you?” Sherry’s voice and she was pissed.

“In here.” It was a small one-bedroom place. If she couldn’t see me from the door, I had to be in the bedroom or the bathroom.

Sherry stopped in the doorway as I swung into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Yeah, she was beyond pissed, actually.

“Tell you what?” I was trying to buy time to wake up. She wasn’t having it.

“Ernie. What did he say?”

“He tried to blame you. It was bullshit.”

“He said you went after him.”

“Did you talk to him?” That was what I didn’t want, Ernie trying to gaslight Sherry into believing it was her fault he was a piece of shit.

“He called Bob and Gina. They said he wouldn’t tell them why, just that he couldn’t. He told them the guy that stopped you looked pretty pissed off and he wanted to make sure you were all right. What fucking happened, Ronnie?”

“I lost my temper and tried to swing on him. One of my team was at the park with her family and the guy kept me from doing something dumb.”

“What did he say?”

“Who?” I still wasn’t awake enough to think straight.

I was looking down at the floor when her foot came into my field of vision. As I looked up, her open palm caught my cheek, spinning me sideways onto the bed. I could taste blood and the entire side of my face felt numb.

“What. Did. He. Say.” She said it slowly and menacingly. There were tears running down her cheeks and she was visibly trembling.

I quickly assessed my options. “He said that he wanted to get married but you loved someone else more than him. I pretty much called him a liar. I asked him about his new partner and he said it wasn’t like that and I lost it.”

I could still taste blood but now my face was starting to sting. “You’ve never loved anybody more than him. Never. I thought I knew him. Guess not.”

A strange look crossed Sherry’s face as she stood there in front of me. She looked down at her hand, then at me, and whispered “I’m sorry.” She slowly turned and walked out. I heard the apartment door open and close quietly.

I just sat there, trying to process everything that just happened. Now that I was awake, I wished I wasn’t.

I warmed something up for dinner and ate it without actually tasting it. I was torn between hunting Ernie down and going over to make sure Sherry was okay. Neither one was really a great idea, I knew that, but it seemed like I should be doing something to fix this instead of nothing.

Mom called at nine. Bob and Gina had told her as well when she arrived home from a seminar. Of course, she demanded to know what I was thinking, trying to go after Ernie like that. Then she had to ask why.

For the first time today, I did the smart thing. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” I understood why she wasn’t happy with that answer but Sherry didn’t need her getting involved in her business right now. She could tell Mom when she felt up to it.

“That’s something the two of them need to work out. It’s not my place to say.”

“Yes –”

“No. It is not. The only people you or anybody should hear it from is Ernie or Sherry.” There was something about Sherry’s reaction that I didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t anger at being accused of infidelity. It wasn’t guilt at being caught. “I’m not sure I understand now what happened to change his mind. They need to figure it out between them.”

“I want to know what’s going on, Ronnie. Your sister won’t tell me, Bob and Gina don’t know because Ernie won’t tell them, and you’re the only one the two of them are talking to.”

“I don’t fucking know, okay? I thought I did but I really don’t. They are the only ones that do and until they start talking, I know about as much as you do.” I hated swearing at Mom, I tried to monitor my language around her, but I was beginning to get the feeling that I really didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t like it.

“There’s no need for that, Ronnie.” Mom never approved of swearing at all and especially that word.

“Sorry, Mom. I’m just as frustrated as everyone else. It’s something they need to work out.” I did feel bad for losing my temper again, especially with her because I knew she cared about Sherry and she wanted to help.

“It’s not a good look, Ronnie.” If this got her off Ernie and Sherry, I would take that ass chewing gladly. I didn’t bother to point out that my bosses engaged in profanity even more than I did.

“No, ma’am. It isn’t. Like I said, I’m just as upset as everybody else at not knowing what’s going on.”

“Try to be a little more mindful of where you are and who you’re talking to. It’s okay with your friends but not me and certainly not the people you answer to at work. Do you want people thinking your mother never taught you any manners?” That’s it, Mom, guilt me.

“No, I don’t. I’ll try to be more careful.”

“Please. Make sure to check in on your sister every so often. She’s been really quiet tonight.”

“Okay, Mom. Will do. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Goodnight, Ronnie.” We disconnected and I was relieved that she hadn’t tried to put me on the spot with a request to tell her whatever Sherry or Ernie told me. Not that I was in any hurry to talk to Ernie right now. If Sherry didn’t want to tell her anything, I didn’t think it was my place to do it. That would be the quickest way to get her to stop talking to me at all.

Before going to bed, I texted Sherry, asking how she was doing. I didn’t expect an answer and I wasn’t disappointed in that respect. I was still puzzled about her reaction, though. It had always taken her a while to get over being that mad.

I managed to get some sleep, I was still mulling Sherry’s behavior as I fell asleep. She hadn’t answered my text, either. I left her alone all day Sunday. I found myself hoping several times during the day she would text or stop by, but that didn’t happen.

The only people I spoke to at all were Bob and Gina. Ernie had only called them to talk and since I had seen him, they wanted to know how he looked. I apologized for losing my temper after telling them a condensed version of our conversation.

According to his parents, he had been sorry for what happened but he felt that it was for the best. He hadn’t mentioned anything about Sherry being in love with someone else. I didn’t say anything, either. I told both Bob and Gina that he had said pretty much the same thing to me, too.

After I got off the phone with the Halsteads, I found myself wondering about Ernie’s behavior, too. He hadn’t been angry or accusatory, he acted like he was simply stating facts. He wasn’t the jealous type or insecure, if he had suspected actual infidelity, I thought he would have walked away long before the wedding. He didn’t act like a jilted lover.

He didn’t even complain about it to his parents or attempt to defend himself. That was the part that confused me the most.

Monday felt like a long day. More often than not, Sherry would stop by. Not tonight. She didn’t swing by on Tuesday or any other night during the week. Texts asking if she was okay were answered using the fewest words possible.

I stopped by Mom’s, only to find that Sherry had gone out for the evening and she had just signed a lease on an apartment. Mom was disappointed to learn I knew nothing about any of it.

When she pressed me for details about our last full conversation, I left out the part about Ernie’s accusation and her reaction to it. I just explained that she had been upset that I had gone to see him, that we had almost come to blows, and that I hadn’t said anything to her about it.

The more I thought about it, I realized how much I didn’t understand. One of them would have to explain it to her because I didn’t have a clue.

I didn’t hear from her over the weekend, either. I offered to help her move and she politely declined, her friend had a truck and he would help her move. It took three tries before it finally sank in. She was seeing somebody. I was equal parts happy for her and sad.

Of course, Mom wanted chapter and verse on the guy. I didn’t have it. Sherry called him Dale, he was polite and so not her type, according to Mom.

Two weeks later, she was seeing some guy named Armando. The week after that, Luis. She wouldn’t discuss it with Mom at all, complaining that Mom couldn’t urge her to go out more and then question who she went out with.

When asked why she wasn’t talking to me, she told Mom she was still upset with what I did and she wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. That was more than I got out of her, even after apologizing for fifteen minutes to her voicemail.

Work continued to go on, Alicia kept her silence about the incident in the park, and nobody else seemed to have a clue anything had happened.

As spring flowed into summer, the revolving door continued for both Ernie and Sherry. He went through assistants at almost the same rate as Sherry went through dates.

Ernie had managed to somewhat mend his relationship with Mom and his parents. He deferred any questions about the whats and whys, saying he and Sherry hadn’t had the chance to talk about it first. He accepted the blame and responsibility for the canceled wedding, and he paid back most of the costs out of his own pocket.

The three of us avoided each other like they had the plague. My texts to Sherry dropped from daily to weekly. Sometimes she answered, sometimes she didn’t.

The company had given us a three day weekend for Memorial Day, which was customary for them. Our production had been above estimates so they had sprung for a company event the Saturday before. Attendance for the line employees was voluntary but for supervisors, it was mandatory.

You might think that being surrounded by a bunch of people you know and generally get along with was a good thing. It really wasn’t. Ever since my last actual conversation with Sherry, I hadn’t seen her more than twice in passing or talked to her on the phone more than a dozen times. I missed having her around at night. All the company cookout managed to do was make me feel even lonelier.

Mom kept pushing me to go out more. I wasn’t much of a party person and loud bars and clubs gave me a headache. The company had a strict policy against supervisors dating line employees. They didn’t like coworkers dating at all. I wasn’t about to date someone who worked for Mom or any of her friends’ daughters. That didn’t leave many options.

I spent most of my time hanging out with the other supervisors and their families. Alicia was also there and I sat with her and Eloy, the huge guy who had stopped me from doing something dumb, for a while. He pretended not to know me as we were introduced, which was nice. His cousin Martin couldn’t make it due to work. He asked how things were going now and I admitted that it hadn’t gone over well but we would eventually work it out. He was encouraging, leading me to believe this wasn’t his first time hearing this.

I left about three, things were winding down, the food was gone, and it was really starting to get hot in the sun. I drove back to the apartment, lost in thought as to what I could do the rest of the afternoon.

I managed to unlock the door, walk in, and lock it behind me before I realized I wasn’t alone. Sherry was sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

“Hi, Ronnie.” She looked and sounded nervous, fiddling with a glass of water.

“Hi. Wasn’t expecting anybody.” The place was kind of a mess, I hadn’t made the bed or cleaned up the kitchen.

“Mom said you had that thing today, I thought you’d be along. I haven’t been waiting long.”

“What do you need?” I hadn’t heard from her in two weeks at this point. I had no idea what she could possibly want.

“I came to say I’m sorry I slapped you. I shouldn’t have done that. I was mad and lost control of my temper. He told me what really happened.”

“I’m sure he did. I’m sorry I stuck my nose where it didn’t belong.” I was, actually. Not only did it pretty much end my friendship with Ernie, it did serious damage to my relationship with Sherry.

Sherry stared at her hands wrapped around her glass. “It’s okay. I would have done the same thing, I think.” She paused and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry about shutting you out. I had a lot of things I needed to think over. I’d like to try to make it up to you.”

“I thought you were just pissed I had gotten in your business. Your apology is good enough.”

“I could have handled it better. I still want to make it up to you. We were supposed to take a cruise for our honeymoon. It’s nonrefundable so either I use the tickets or I’m out the money. I was able to get the cabin changed from the newlywed package to a standard two person cabin and the cruise line will comp some stuff to make up the price difference.

“I was hoping you would go with me. It’s not until July so you have plenty of time to get ready. I know you have enough PTO. Please?”

“Mom didn’t want to go?” I had a hard time believing my mother would turn down a free cruise.

“I didn’t ask her, I’m asking you first. I hate what happened, Ronnie, and I want to make it up to you.”

I really wanted to say yes but we needed to really clear the air first. “I’m going to need a couple of days to see if I can get the time off.”

“You never take time off. If you explain that it’s nonrefundable, I’m sure they’ll let you take it. Please, Ronnie. I really want you to go with me.” It was rare that Sherry would plead for anything but she was pleading now.

“Okay, I said I would. What are the dates?”

“July tenth through the nineteenth. We fly out the tenth to Miami and fly back on the nineteenth. You may want to ask for two weeks. That will give you some time to recover.”

“That sounds like a long ass cruise. Where is it to?” Having never been on a boat before, that sounded like a long time.

“It’s a Caribbean cruise. Supposed to stop in a couple of places.” She shrugged. “We thought it might be fun.”

“I guess I’m going to need sunscreen, then.”

Her deep laugh startled me. “Oh, yeah. A lot of it.” Sherry stood up and headed toward the door. “I left my address there on the counter. You’re welcome to come by later and I’ll make spaghetti.”

“I won’t be interrupting anything? Nothing you don’t want repeated to Mom?” Somehow, she would find out I went and there would be questions.

Sherry laughed again. “No, just us. Promise. Before I forget, your passport is still good, right?”

“Yeah, renewed it last year.” Occasionally, we traveled to our sister plant across the border. Crossing back into the US required the passport. I could have gotten the card but the book is good everywhere while the card isn’t.

“That’s good.” She set her glass in the sink. “You don’t need to bring anything for dinner so I hope you’re going to come.”

“Yeah, free food sounds good. What time works for you?”

“Six is good. I’m going to take off, I need to get stuff for the garlic bread. I’ll see you later.” We hugged at the door before I let her out. It felt different somehow, I wasn’t quite sure how to describe it.

Once I had agreed to go on the cruise with her, she was more like the Sherry I remembered. Confident, happy Sherry. Even her laugh was different, it didn’t sound forced.

I hopped in the shower to freshen up, I had gotten more than a little sweaty during the cookout. Her new apartment wasn’t that far from mine. Whoever designed the complex needed to be beaten, because it took longer for me to find her apartment than it did to drive there. The layout made absolutely no sense.

I showed up about five forty-five. She answered the door immediately when I knocked.

It was a very nice apartment. Mom had obviously helped with the decor but it reflected Sherry’s taste perfectly. Surprisingly, it was a two bedroom but the second bedroom was unoccupied. It was furnished with the usual things but it was clearly unused.

“This is really nice, Sher. I’m surprised you didn’t get a house, though.”

“A house is nice but I would have to spend either a lot of time or a lot of money keeping it up. For what I wanted, the rent here made it an acceptable trade-off.”

There was something about how she said the last sentence that got my attention. “What were you looking for?”

“I’m still not really sure. I didn’t want to get tied into a mortgage until I knew what I really wanted.”

Sherry went back to stirring the sauce, stopping to add the pasta when the water started to boil. I took a seat at the table, savoring the smell of the sauce and the garlic bread.

“So I guess you and Ernie finally talked?” Sherry hadn’t gone into detail earlier. I wanted to hear his lame-ass excuse.

I expected Sherry to be a little defensive but she stayed calm, even relaxed. “We did. He apologized and explained why.”

“I can’t imagine an explanation that makes what he did okay.”

“He knew it wasn’t okay, he never said he expected me to be okay with it. He’s very unhappy about losing the relationship you two had and he knows that was his fault, too.”

“I don’t get how you aren’t pissed at what he did.”

“There were things about my relationship with Ernie that I didn’t really think about until we sat down and talked about it. It was like I did things because everyone expected us to do that.

“When he called it off, I was upset. Now that we talked and I’ve had a chance to think, he was right.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Sherry. Don’t let that bastard gaslight you into believing it was.” That’s what I had been afraid of. He wanted to talk his way out of it. Just like always, except now it wasn’t funny anymore.

“He’s not gaslighting me. He pointed out a truth. Whoever I married, him or somebody else, would always come second after family. Bob and Gina have the kind of marriage he wants and I wouldn’t give that to him.”

“That just sounds like a fancy way of blaming you.”

“Ask yourself this: You’re married and you planned to spend a quiet night in. I call and invite you over because I had a bad day and need cheering up. What are you going to do?”

“You wouldn’t be doing that all the time –”

“No, but every time I did, you’d come over. Just like I would. Because we’ve always done that. He realized he wouldn’t be happy that way. He needs someone who will be devoted to him, like Bob and Gina are with each other. You and Mom are always going to come first for me.”

“He could have figured that out sooner.”

“He did. He didn’t know how to say it and he thought he would be okay with it. You know how he is.”

“I guess.” I was slowly coming to the realization that she was right. If she had called any time during the last few weeks, I would have dropped whatever I was doing to be there for her. It probably contributed to the last breakup I had, she wasn’t as close to her family as we were and it sometimes frustrated her.

The timer pinged and she pulled the bread from the oven. I dumped the pasta in the colander for her, she drained it and poured it into a bowl to mix with the sauce.

“At first, I thought that maybe he was trying to bullshit me because he was having a problem trying to find someone who could do what I did when we were working together. He admitted he was having problems with that, too, but that wasn’t the reason he wanted to apologize.”

“When did he develop a guilty conscience?”

“Ronnie, Ernie loved me. He knew I loved him. It just wasn’t enough. You and Mom would always be a priority and he wouldn’t be happy like that. He wasn’t trying to bullshit me, you, or anybody. In the end, he did the right thing. Let it go. Please.”

“I’ll try. Not going to make any promises.” The right thing would have been to say something when it first occurred to him. But Sherry was right about him waiting until things reached the point where feelings were going to get badly hurt to say anything.

“Okay, no more Ernie talk. It’s time to eat.” And that’s what we did, to the point of food coma status.

After eating and the clean up afterward, we sat and talked while a series of movies played in the background. It was after midnight when we finally noticed what time it was. In a way, it felt like the last few months hadn’t happened.

I helped Sherry straighten up before I left. She walked me to the door and wrapped me in a lingering hug before giving me a kiss on the cheek. Like the hug and kiss earlier, this felt different, more personal without being uncomfortably so.

Between Memorial Day and the beginning of July, my routine returned to almost normal. Instead of Sherry coming by all the time, we sort of alternated visiting, to include both of us swinging by Mom’s house together at least once a week.

Mom, for her part, didn’t seem to mind. I talked to Bob and Gina a little more regularly, although I managed to avoid Ernie. It wasn’t a conscious decision, I was still torn about how I felt about what happened and how I felt about him.

Sherry changed the subject every time his name came up, at least in front of me. After the day we reconciled, we never talked about what happened. She had made it plain that she considered it in the past and that was where it needed to stay.

Departure Day finally arrived. We both stayed the night at Mom’s, where we would leave my truck and her car. Mom drove us to the airport very early that morning. Of course, no visit with Mom went without a critique of some sort.

Today’s gripe was our choice in travel wear. We had dressed down for vacation, shorts and tennis shoes, a T-shirt for me, and a thin button front shirt for her. Instead of a bra, she had a bikini top for support.

She gave us good natured hell all the way, we should always be dressed nicely because you never knew who you were going to run into. We promised to do better next time, knowing damn well we would not.

The flight from Harlingen to Dallas was uneventfully quick. We had an hour to kill before our flight to Miami so we had a quick snack. Sherry disappeared into the ladies’ room before we headed to the gate.

She was gone for about five minutes and when she came out, I was speechless.

The Sherry that walked out of the restroom was definitely not the one who walked in. The shirt had been untucked, unbuttoned, rolled up to just underneath her breasts, and knotted, exposing her stomach. She had removed the pads from the bikini top, highlighting the fact it was definitely cool inside the airport. The shirt had been loose enough to disguise how small the underlying top had been but not now. There was a considerable amount of cleavage on display, but it was done tastefully.

She literally sashayed over to me and gave me an arms around my neck, full frontal contact hug. “Close your mouth, you look silly like that.”

My arms had instinctively gone around her waist. My brain was telling me to let go but the rest of my body wasn’t about to let that happen any time soon. She looked incredibly hot. She never dressed like that at home.

“I, uh –” Words failed me. She laughed.

Sherry deliberately squeezed her breasts into me again before releasing me. Grabbing my hand, we made our way to the gate while I tried to make sense of what just happened.

She made it a point, pun intended, to press her breast into my arm as we lined up to board the plane, making sure to not let go of my hand. She also made sure to raise the armrest between us when we took our seats so she could lean against me.

My body responded appropriately to the attention, making it difficult to sit still when her free hand landed on my thigh. I had to cover it with mine when she slowly started to stroke back and forth.

I was just about to call her on it when an older lady sat in the aisle seat next to me. I tried to glare at Sherry but it only made her laugh some more. Once we taxied to the runway, she leaned against me and napped until we landed in Miami.

After deplaning, we stopped at the first set of restrooms we came across. It took me a little longer than usual because it was difficult peeing with an erection. At least I had sense enough to wear loose shorts.

She was waiting for me, her hair now pulled back and somehow managing to look even hotter. She was definitely drawing appreciative looks from people, mostly guys, passing by.

She gave me another full contact embrace when I stopped in front of her. “Um…what gives?”

“I’m on vacation with my favorite person. I’m having fun.” I wasn’t sure what to make of her answer. It sounded innocent enough but the way she was acting left me confused.

“Yeah, but –”

“Relax. Nobody here knows who we are so loosen up, have some fun. We’re not doing anything wrong.” I was pretty sure Mom would take issue with that.

In all honesty, I was beginning to like the attention. There was no denying she was an attractive woman and having one hanging on me was not an everyday occurrence. I slipped my arm around her waist as we walked toward the baggage claim and she immediately reciprocated. I tried to keep my hand at her belt line but it ended up on bare skin. She didn’t object.

Since we were on a vacation cruise, neither of us brought a large bag. I had packed according to the recommendations, meaning shorts, T-shirts, and one business casual shirt and pair of slacks.

Sherry took care of summoning the Uber and we were checked in by mid-afternoon. When the elevator reached our floor, she became uncharacteristically nervous.

Five minutes later, I learned why.

We were in one of the “honeymoon” suites. I opened the door and brought the bags inside, Sherry following behind me. When I turned around to say something, my heart nearly broke.

Sherry closed the door behind us, locked it, and then leaned her back against it. Tears formed and one ran down her cheek. She looked beautiful and vulnerable at the same time.

“I can explain, Ronnie.”

I sat down in the nearest chair. “That might be good, Sher.”

“When we made these reservations, we didn’t know we weren’t getting married. We got a good deal because they weren’t going to be refundable.

“There’s more. The cruise we booked isn’t a normal cruise. Before I explain why, I need to tell you some things. Please hear me out, okay?”

“Sure. It’s not like I can go anywhere.” I had been under the impression she had changed the accommodations for everything.

“Ernie and I had a very long talk right after you almost got into it at the park. He made me realize some things that I knew deep down were true but I didn’t want to admit.”

She moved from the door to sit in the chair across from me. “When he said there was someone I loved more than him, he was right. It’s you.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You. He knows, Ronnie. He knows how we feel about each other, even though we refuse to admit it. When you went at him in the park, it was about me, nothing about you. Your last girlfriend, he told me what she said. That she thought you were more in love with me than her.”

“I never told him that.”

“She did. She liked you a lot but she couldn’t compete with me. That’s when it started to click with him. He thought it was just one-sided and it would go away once we were married but the closer it got to our wedding day, the more he noticed how much attention I was paying to you.

“He said when I asked how you were before I asked about him that morning, he knew it would be a mistake for us to get married. He didn’t doubt I loved him. I simply loved you more.”

“Of course I love you. We’re related, we grew up together.”

“Ernie isn’t wrong, Ronnie. I see it now. Maybe your brain is telling you we’re not but the way you’re acting says you are.”

“This is crazy. We can’t be in love, Sherry. It’s wrong. How does that even work?” I went to stand by the window, looking down at the street below. I really wanted to cry because I knew she was right.

I felt Sherry come up behind me and wrap her arms around my waist. “Just like for everybody else.” She came around to stand in front of me, my arms going around her waist while we looked into each other’s eyes. “The first step is admitting it to yourself. Can you guess what the second step is?”

“I’m guessing this.” Our lips met softly as she pulled herself into me. It wasn’t very long, as kisses go. We separated, looked at each other for a second or two, and kissed again, except a lot longer. Her tongue made the first foray, met with mine, and we let them dance until we needed to breathe.

“Whoever it was that made kissing your sister sound like a bad thing apparently didn’t have a sister that knew how to kiss.” I let my hands drift from the skin of her lower back down over her ass cheeks and back up.

“Wait until you see what else this mouth can do.” Sherry rubbed up against me as we went back to kissing.

“I’ve got something for you, too.” She began to unfasten my shorts as I untied her shirt, followed by the knots on her bikini top. She managed to get my shirt off before my thumbs found her hard nipples, followed shortly by my lips and tongue. Her hand snaked inside her shorts and she began to moan.

I guided her to the bed, finished removing her shorts and panties, and had her lay down. Arranging myself between her legs, I kissed my way up her inner thighs. She grabbed a couple of pillows to put behind her as my tongue found her warm folds.

Her hands alternated between my hair and her nipples as I slowly and thoroughly explored every square millimeter of her pussy. She was amazing, I couldn’t get enough of her on my tongue. I guessed from the noises she was making, I was doing something right.

As I slowly turned my attention to her clit, she let me know I had found her key. “Like that, just like that. I’m gonna cum, Ronnie. Keep going, just like that –” ended in a long moan as her back arched and her thighs clamped together.

As her body relaxed post-orgasm, I crawled up to lie beside her and she curled into me. I gently kissed her forehead. “So, yeah, I guess I do love you after all.”

Sherry mumbled, “I never would have guessed.” Not long after that, she was asleep. I wasn’t tired but I lay there and held her, soaking in the feel of her skin against mine and the warmth of her body. I didn’t have a clue as to how we were going to make this work but I would sure as hell give it my best shot.

Sherry slept for a couple of hours, only shifting so that we ended up spooning. I realized she was awake when she started rubbing her foot on my lower leg. I hugged her tight with the arm I had draped over her stomach and she wiggled her ass against my stiffening cock.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights,” she apologized. “I was afraid this might go really wrong.”

“The idea takes a little getting used to. It’s not every day the most amazing person you know tells you they’re in love with you. I never thought about what to call how I feel about you. It makes sense, though.”

My hand had been rubbing gently over her stomach and Sherry placed her hand over it. She guided it down through her neatly trimmed pubic hair until my fingers encountered her wetness. After that, my fingers developed a mind of their own, gently exploring as she rolled onto her back and we began kissing in earnest.

Her hand snaked inside my boxers to gently stroke me in time with my gentle strokes around her pussy. She helped me remove my shorts and boxers, eventually straddling me as I ran my hands up and down her sides, occasionally toying with her nipples.

We managed to line up my cock with her entrance and she slowly lowered herself as we continued to kiss. It felt incredible. When she had taken in my entire length, we lay there, staring into each other’s eyes.

Sherry then started moving slowly back and forth while I fondled her breasts and we kissed some more. Her pussy was a velvet lined sheath, sliding on my shaft in ways I never experienced before.

My voice croaked when I warned her I was about to cum. She slowed her pace even more, dragging it out for as long as she could. When it arrived, all I could do was arch my back, trying to get as deep as I could as the streams of cum surged inside her. She looked happy and at peace as she did her best to milk me dry.

She gently lowered herself on top of me as I lay there gasping for air. I had never experienced an orgasm that intense before. We gently kissed for quite a while afterward while we cuddled.

“I think we’re going to need to eat, Sher. We haven’t had anything since we left Dallas.”

On cue, her stomach rumbled, causing us both to laugh. “True, it’s been hard for me to eat lately, too.”

“Let’s grab a shower and see if we can get some good seafood somewhere close.”

“I’d settle for any food.” She didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get up, though. Her weight felt good against me. Eventually, she did move so we could answer the call of nature and we showered together.

Ninety minutes later, we were down in the lobby asking the desk clerk about restaurants within walking distance. He gave us a list they had prepared but his personal recommendation was a little hole-in-the-wall place a couple of blocks away. It wasn’t as expensive and the food was every bit as good as the more famous places.

He did not lie. Dinner was beyond incredible. Most of the customers looked to be locals, the Spanish was faster than I was used to and there were some phrases I couldn’t catch.

After we finished, we walked back to the hotel slowly, enjoying the sights and sounds of our little section of Miami. Throughout our little trip, we were pretty much attached at the hip. There were a few times where I felt a little self-conscious because I was out in public, my hand in places most people probably wouldn’t touch their sister.

These people didn’t know who we were and the thought that it was our little secret turned me on. I had never thought of myself as a rebel or nonconformist, I didn’t go out of my way to fit in, either. I just followed the rules.

With Sherry, it was different. From the second she walked out of the ladies’ room in DFW, something changed. Our little talk when we got to the room this afternoon only clarified things for me.

Back inside the room, we had started to change out of the dressier clothes we wore for dinner. Sherry stopped thoughtfully and looked at the T-shirt in her hands.

“Fuck this, we aren’t going anywhere or seeing anybody.” She tossed the shirt on top of the suitcase and shimmied out of her panties. “I’m not wearing clothes until tomorrow.”

Hell, yeah. I stripped down right along with her. I was already a little hard from thinking about how illicit our relationship felt and seeing Sherry nude wasn’t helping. Watching her massage her breasts finished it off, though. I had seen a couple of my previous girlfriends do it but it didn’t have the same effect on me that watching Sherry do it was creating.

Sherry walked suggestively toward me and pushed me back into the chair next to the bed. She placed my hands on the arms of the chair. “No touching.”

She then started teasing her nipples and letting her hands roam over her body. She had been aroused when she started but her little show was obviously turning her on just as much as it was me.

My cock lurched as she slid her fingers between her legs, and I went to stroke it. She stopped me, placing the pad of her foot against my hard-on, blocking access.

“No touching, baby. Not me and not yourself. Be a good boy, now.”

I’ve seen my fair share of female masturbation videos in my life, they were my preferred medium for jerking off, but watching Sherry drove me crazy. Maybe because she was really getting off on getting herself off in front of me. Between the sounds her fingers made playing with her pussy and the scent of her arousal, it took every bit of my self-control to not jerk off myself.

Her first orgasm left her shaking in front of me. Using the arm of the chair and one of my knees for support, she knelt in front of me and gently inserted the fingers she had used in her pussy into my mouth. I was so hard at this point, it was doing a little dance in time with my heart rate.

Sherry switched hands, sliding her left hand between her legs while using her right palm to spread my precum over the head and shaft of my cock. She ran her tongue around the crown while keeping eye contact and then slowly slid her lips down over it.

Her hand started working its way up and down the shaft as she bobbed up and down on the head. I could hear her left hand working her pussy, keeping perfect rhythm with her right hand and mouth. The sensation was indescribable.

Again, I fought to keep my hands on the arms of the chair. I was so turned on, I wanted to grab the sides of her head and violently fuck her mouth until I emptied my balls. What I did do was moan her name. A lot.

To this day, I’ve never figured out if she was timing my orgasm or hers, but she seemed to sense when I couldn’t hold back any longer and her pace picked up. Less than a minute later, my hands were painfully gripping the chair arms, my head was back, and I was shooting what felt like rockets of cum into her mouth as she bounced up and down, moaning and squeaking as she orgasmed right after me.

We were both unsteady as I helped her to her feet and guided her toward the bed. After pulling the covers down, we climbed in and snuggled, I lay on my back with her draped over me.

“I love you.” Her whisper was followed by a heartfelt kiss. I didn’t care that I had just busted the nut of a lifetime in her mouth, I kissed her back.

“Not as much as I love you. I can’t believe how you make me feel.” I wasn’t overstating it. I felt invincible in that moment.

“I feel –” Sherry paused and then continued. “I feel things I don’t know how to explain. I feel in love and I feel, I don’t know, dirty. Bad girl dirty. Like I’m doing something bad but I’m not going to stop because it feels so good. I feel alive, like I just became aware of things I didn’t know existed until now.”

“I think I get it. I feel, for lack of a better word, naughty. Like I’m getting away with something. I’m not supposed to have these kind of feelings for you, never mind what we’re doing with each other. All during dinner, I kept looking at people and thinking ‘I have a secret’ and it made me horny.”

We laid there for a while before I asked her, “Does it scare you, too?”

Sherry sighed and nodded. “A lot. I don’t think there’s any going back. It’s all or nothing and it’s the nothing that scares me the most.”

“We have a week to figure it out before we have to deal with people who know us.”

“I know. Just so you know, I lied about changing the cruise reservations. If I couldn’t seal the deal tonight, I was going to do whatever it took to make it happen on the cruise.”

I started laughing. “I completely forgot about that.”

“I hope you brought a lot of sunscreen.” Sherry gave me a tight squeeze and we both drifted off right after that.

Her alarm went off just before sunrise and we watched the sun come up over the high rises between our window and the beach. We made slow, sensual love before hopping in the shower and ordering breakfast from room service.

We hadn’t opened the complimentary bottle of champagne so we packed it with my stuff. After one last look around, we settled the bill downstairs and took an Uber to the cruise ship.

I had the feeling something was up because Sherry was a little more playful and handsy than yesterday.

For starters, the ship wasn’t nearly as large as I anticipated. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, it was just small compared to the giants berthed around it. Once we provided the necessary documents and receipts, I found out why.

It was branded as an adults-only cruise. In every sense of the term. A crew member explained the rules as she guided us to our cabin.

The ship was divided into zones. If the conduct permitted in a particular zone was offensive, we were expected to stay the hell out of it. No shenanigans zones were clearly marked.

There were status boards mounted conspicuously throughout the outside areas of the decks. Green lights were for anything goes, yellow was for clothing required below the waist, and red meant street clothing required, usually only lit when getting ready to dock and while in port.

The highlight event for this cruise was Nude Day and all guests were encouraged to attend the party that evening with the captain as master of ceremonies. There would be food, drink, and “games”.

Sherry brought me on a sex cruise. It was a good thing I actually brought a lot of sunscreen, raising the question of was it going to be enough?

She could barely contain her laughter when we reached our cabin. “You should see your expression right now. If Bob were here, he would tell you that you look like you can’t decide whether to shit or go blind.”

“I can’t. Where did this come from?” I really didn’t get it. Sherry had never been an exhibitionist in any sense. Yesterday in DFW and today had really been the first time I had seen her display that much skin in public. She wasn’t a prude, her jokes could be just as off-color as anyone’s, but she always dressed conservatively. I wasn’t complaining, not at all.

Today’s outfit was a postage stamp-sized bikini top and tiny shorts that left no doubt she was a natural born brick shithouse. I’m pretty sure our Uber driver was stroking himself on the trip over. If he wasn’t, he should have been.

Sherry sat on the side of the bed, bouncing up and down to test it. “It’s a little funny, actually.” I sat down in one of the chairs.

She looked up at the ceiling. “Remember the trip we took to Vegas a couple of years ago?” She meant with Ernie, since the two of us had never visited Las Vegas together.

“Yeah. You wouldn’t shut up about how much fun you guys had.”

“Well, we went with these people he knew from one of our business deals. The first night, they invited us to this club. I didn’t want to go at first, I thought the guy was creepy, but Ernie insisted. It was a sex club.”

“You can say his name, Sher. It’s not going to bother me.” She had hesitated saying Ernie’s name, as if she thought it would upset me. It wasn’t, he was history.

“I was kind of freaked out, the weirdest stuff I had seen before that was your porn collection.” She paused her story, “How did you think I knew playing with myself would get you off?” All I could do was turn red while she laughed.

“I didn’t know he was into any of that stuff. We wandered around while the other guy and his wife tried to talk us into doing stuff together. He would have but I wasn’t comfortable with that couple. Actually, any couple. I really liked watching the women tease the guys, like what we did. We found a room that wasn’t being used and tried it. He didn’t like it as much as I did.”

She was getting turned on as she recalled those events, her nipples were denting the fabric of her top and she rubbed her thighs together occasionally. “One thing we both liked was fucking each other in front of other people. They had a room with windows, like you were on display in a zoo. They had one with one-way mirrors, too. I didn’t have to worry about people trying to touch me, that was a turn-off for me. By the time we left, we were members and I had a little bracelet that meant no touching.”

“I’m guessing they have something like that here?”

“Yes. Did you want one?”

“Absolutely. The only person I want touching me is you.”

Sherry pulled out two elastic type bracelets from the packet we had been given when we boarded. “I figured you might. There are a bunch of different colors and they mean different things. The rule is if you don’t know for certain what a particular color means, ask the person first. These mean no inappropriate touching unless specifically okayed by the wearer.” I extended my arm and she fastened the bright red and yellow striped bracelet around my wrist. I returned the favor.

“If anyone does anything inappropriate, they’ll be confined to their cabin for the rest of the cruise, banned from returning, and reported to law enforcement if required. These people do not play around.”

“I’m only planning on being inappropriate with you.”

“You better be.”

“Yes, dear.”

Sherry laughed. “You’d better get used to saying that. I like how it sounds.”

Departure was scheduled for three this afternoon so we went in search of something to eat and explore the ship a little. The main restaurant wasn’t open yet but they had a little sandwich place on one of the lower decks that made them to order. I wished they had a place in Harlingen, it was that good.

As it was, we didn’t untie until closer to three forty-five, a connecting flight was late getting into Miami so they held the departure until those guests could be checked in. Once they had all that settled, the harbor pilot took the ship out. The cruise line had thoughtfully provided an explainer in their packet, outlining the process.

Once the pilot was back on his ride to return to port, the status lights went from red to yellow. A crew member explained that we were still close enough to other passing ships that it was a courtesy to families on personal watercraft. Topless individuals were encouraged to stay away from the railings, though, just as a precautionary measure.

Sherry was out of her top the second the light changed from red to yellow. I willingly covered her in sunscreen, making sure to really get the places where she didn’t have a tan yet. She covered my exposed skin in sunscreen as well, occasionally running her hand inside the leg of my shorts to keep me erect.

“Um, this might be a stupid question, but what happens if I can’t get rid of this?” I slid my hand over my bulging shorts, sort of pointing to my hard-on.

“Nobody really pays any attention to it. A lot of guys will be doing that for the entire cruise, probably. Once the novelty wears off, you’ll probably be okay. I kind of hope it doesn’t, but I can fix it if it does anyway.”

We sat on deck chairs in one of the common areas, catching some sun. As people walked by, I noticed that she was right. There were quite a few men who were obviously aroused. I actually expected more gawking at Sherry but pretty much all of the looks she drew were done respectfully, nobody stared and nobody said anything out of line. I spent most of my time watching Sherry’s tits sway back and forth as she moved.

I finally softened by the time the green light came on. Slowly but surely, there were more and more passengers wandering the passageways and deck nude except for some sort of footwear. I would still start to get hard, almost at random, but if I concentrated on my conversation with Sherry, it wasn’t that much of a problem.

Sherry helped me remove my shorts when the light changed, promptly grabbed the sunscreen, and proceeded to jerk me off in the name of sunblock application. There were small towels available to catch the resultant cum. “See? It’s not that big a deal.”

It wasn’t, we weren’t the only ones enjoying ourselves. I made sure I did my due diligence in reciprocating. Sherry reminded me that this was okay in the section we were in but there were other sections where it was not welcome. We checked out the included map to familiarize ourselves where the “no-play” zones were.

By nightfall, we were starving. We returned to our cabin to shower and then made our way to the main dining room. We were standing and talking about things we could do tomorrow when we were interrupted by an older couple.

“Sherry? How are you?” The lady looked to be in her late forties or early fifties. She had wisps of gray lightly streaking her otherwise jet black hair. The man with her appeared roughly the same age, except he was completely gray. They looked genuinely happy to see Sherry.

“Alton? Priscilla? Oh my God, it’s so good to see you!” Sherry was actually happy to see them, too. “This is Ronnie.” I shook hands with both of them. She had done an amazing job of keeping her figure and he had remained in relatively good shape as well. I made a mental note about working out a little more regularly if we were going to be doing this very often. I was just a little pudgy around the middle.

Priscilla had eyes nearly as dark as her hair as she looked me in the eyes before turning to Sherry. “This one is better suited for you, honey.”

Sherry blushed a little, “I know.”

Alton just laughed as Priscilla lightly touched my upper arm. “You two make a cute couple.”

“I’d like to think so,” my response made her laugh with Alton and Sherry.

The hostess came over to ask if the four of us would like to be seated together and the women answered “yes” simultaneously. I sat across from Alton and the women sat across from each other. Alton was one hell of a storyteller and he kept us entertained throughout dinner, mixing stories of their youthful indiscretions with a few stories about the night they met Sherry at the Las Vegas sex club. They made no mention of Ernie by name, they just referred to him as “the gentleman she was with”.

After the entree plates were removed, the ladies excused themselves. “Priscilla knew from the moment she met Ernie that he was not the right one for her. She thinks, and I agree, that you are infinitely better for Sherry than he was. I can see it in her face and the way she acts.” He leaned forward and motioned for me to come closer. I had to strain to hear what he said, “Take good care of your sister, Ronnie, and she will take good care of you. The two of you are perfect for each other.”

I stammered out, “How did you know?” We didn’t look alike and we never mentioned our relationship during our conversation. Unless Sherry said something about having a brother and they just happened to remember. I was still caught off-guard by the remark.

“I don’t know how Priscilla knows these things, she just does. She noticed it the minute we saw you in the waiting area. You can relax, we’re not going to say anything to anybody. Love is hard enough to find as it is, it’s not our place to steal yours.” He straightened up as the women returned. “Things are what they are. Fighting it is futile, you may as well accept it.”

Alton and Priscilla told a few more stories during dessert and coffee. To my complete surprise, dinner had lasted almost three hours. I found myself liking both Alton and Priscilla. They excused themselves after finishing their coffee, explaining that they had a playroom reserved for eleven and they needed to pick up some things from their cabin before then.

Sherry wanted to walk to watch the ocean from the stern observation deck so we headed that way. It wasn’t crowded yet and we were fortunate to find a double-wide chaise lounge by the railing.

I waited until we were comfortable, Sherry snuggled into me in the warm breeze. “I don’t know if you know this, but they know we’re related.”

“Alton said something, too? Priscilla told me in the ladies’ room that she knew. She didn’t actually hate Ernie, she just thought he wasn’t the right guy for me. She didn’t say anything then because it was something I needed to learn for myself.”

“I asked how they knew, but he said he doesn’t know how she does it. He said she likes me and thinks I’m much better for you than Ernie was. I don’t think they’re wrong but it’s nice to hear.”

“They’re really nice. They taught me a lot about how to be safe in the club and in places like this. I was hoping you liked them, too. We’re going to be dinner companions for the cruise, Priscilla insisted.”

“I don’t mind at all. Alton’s funnier than hell and he tells good stories. Not sure I believe them all but they’re still funny.”

We fell silent, looking at the night sky. The only lights on the observation deck were dim safety lights around the base of the solid railing surrounding the aft part of the ship so there was very little light pollution. My mind started drifting toward what happens at the end of the cruise. We weren’t going to be able to continue to be publicly affectionate back in Harlingen. It wasn’t that small but it wasn’t Houston or San Antonio, either.

There was also the matter of living arrangements. Falling asleep with Sherry in my arms and waking up with her pressed into me in the morning wasn’t something I was willing to give up now. Every now and then, one of us would shift, rubbing or kissing whatever body part was available.

A little before midnight, Sherry sat up and stretched. “I think I’m ready for bed. You getting tired?”

“Yeah, it’s been kind of a busy day for me. A lot to process.” I stood up and then helped her to her feet.

We made our way back to our cabin, arms around each other’s waist. There weren’t many people in the passageways. We showered quickly, dried each other off, and climbed into bed. She went back to the same position she had assumed on the observation deck, our legs tangled together and her head on my chest.

“What are you thinking about, Ronnie?” Her voice was low but it still startled me out of my thoughts.

“What we’re going to do when the cruise is over. I know we’ll figure something out but I still can’t help thinking about it now. A lot of things have changed.”

“Yeah, I know, me too. I know you’re right, we’ll think of a way to make it work. Just don’t think about it too much, I want to have fun while we’re here.”

“I want you to have fun while we’re here. I’m with you and that works for me.”

Sherry snuggled in closer and yawned. “Love you, Ronnie. Good night.”

“I love you, too. Good night, baby.” A light kiss on my skin, a tight hug, and she was out like a light. I fell asleep a little after that.

I woke up to a close up view of Sherry’s fingers sliding around her pussy and clit as her mouth slowly swallowed the head of my erect cock. I tickled her fingers with the tip of my tongue so she could get them out of the way and I could do my duty. I gave it my best effort but still ended up cumming before she did. She came hard as my tongue slowly circled her clit and I pinched her nipples. We cuddled for a little while afterward.

We hopped in the shower and went in search of food. An omelet bar caught her fancy so we gorged ourselves on a giant offering and huge bowls of fruit. Sherry watched with something approaching awe as I inhaled mine and then begged the chef to let her watch how she made them. I stood behind her and took notes, just in case. I also got to play with her ass, which meant my notes may or may not have been complete. It didn’t matter, I knew we’d be back here again for breakfast.

I discovered how flexible I’m not during beginner couples yoga. It was still fun, even if I was a little sore afterward. Sherry was remarkably flexible, easily placing her ankles behind her head. That made one part of me very inflexible but she took care of that after class as I fucked her slowly in the aft observation room, Sherry straddling me on the chaise lounge while I thumbed her clit and teased her nipples.

We had the place to ourselves until just after I had orgasmed. Another couple entered, the man sitting in a deck chair and the woman sitting in his lap, facing us. Sherry’s trembling orgasm as she watched them fuck left her weak for a while. I started to get hard again, which kind of surprised me. I think the woman came when Sherry did, the pitch of her squeaks went up slightly, as did the frequency. The man sort of nodded at me and I nodded back, no words needed to be exchanged. I grabbed a towel to help Sherry clean up and we lay together and watched the ship’s wake until she felt strong enough to walk again.

We were headed back to our cabin when Sherry starting talking. “They were in the yoga class with us. I hoped they’d follow us because they didn’t get turned on until you did.”

“I didn’t notice, I was too busy looking at you.”

“Really? They were right next to us!” She burst out in laughter. “I can’t believe you didn’t recognize them.”

“Well, excuse me. I was too busy staring at your crotch to notice much of anything. It was the best looking thing in that room.”

“I guess I should have told you but after we played around in public earlier, I didn’t think you’d mind. I like watching people have sex, real people having real sex. Porn doesn’t do it for me. I know I told you that I liked being watched, too.”

“I’d never tried it but I liked watching them, I could feel how turned on you were, and that made me horny, too.” Just watching her nipples start to harden turned me on and that was happening real time. “I never would have guessed you were the ‘dirty girl’ type. Don’t get me wrong, I like it. I like it a lot.”

Sherry reached down with her free hand and tugged gently on my semi-hard cock. “Yeah, I can see that.”

After a quick shower, we explored a little bit more of the ship. She wasn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination but I was still surprised at how much they had crammed into her.

We ran into Priscilla and Alton just before lunch, although I’ll never be entirely convinced that anything those two did was coincidence. It was also a lot of fun. Ninety minutes later, they were offering recommendations on seminars for us to attend, covering the basics of “naturism,” as Alton preferred to call it. There were several sex-positive seminars covering things like the various parts of BDSM, polyamory, you know, pretty much everything one person could do to another for fun and pleasure.

They didn’t pressure us into anything. Judging by the bracelet collection they wore, they were into a lot of things. They only seemed to be interested in encouraging us to educate ourselves.

We signed up for a couple of seminars scheduled for the return leg of the trip. We spent the afternoon wandering around the casino and sunning ourselves while cuddling and napping.

I knew that at some point, I would make an ass out of myself. We had been playing a good-natured game of blackjack with another couple. They were extremely friendly and we immediately hit it off. Both of them were very attractive and most definitely in love with each other.

After about two hours of playing, the man apologized, saying they had a couples massage scheduled and they needed to head out. When his partner stood up, I choked on my drink. She had a cock.

In my defense, I’m from a not very big town in South Texas. As far as I know, I had never met a transgendered person before in my life. I apologized, probably too much, but I was embarrassed beyond belief. Chris and Mark were very understanding, more than I deserved probably. Sherry, not so much. The four of us laughed about it later but I wasn’t amused at the time.

Sherry had cooled down enough to be able to laugh at me while relaying the story to Alton and Priscilla during dinner. They laughed at me, too. It wasn’t the last time, either. It’s never easy being the newbie.

After another incredible time at dinner, Alton and Priscilla excused themselves to go play, as she put it. Sherry grabbed my hand and whispered, “Follow me.”

She stopped to check a bulletin board outside the main restaurant and navigated us through some passageways we hadn’t explored yet. When we reached the compartment she was looking for, we entered quietly and found an empty chaise lounge. There were two other couples already there, including the one from the yoga class and the observation deck. The only light in the room came from the window into the neighboring compartment.

When that light dimmed, it was so dark we couldn’t see the other couples but we could hear them. A man and woman entered the lit room. The man climbed onto the bed and lay on his back. She secured his hands over his head, placed a blindfold on him, and made sure he was comfortable.

She poured a little oil into her hand and began to slowly jack him off while whispering something in his ear. His responses were barely audible, consisting of “yes,” “no,” and mostly noises that sounded like he was feeling pretty good at the moment. Sherry lightly grasped my hand and placed it on her stomach while hers covered it. She was surprisingly warm to my touch.

I could hear our neighbors whispering and the yoga class woman starting to breathe heavier. There was a faint moist smacking sound, I thought it was coming from her direction. The exhibitionist’s hips started move ever so slightly as his partner continued to gently stroke, occasionally playing with the head of his cock before returning to stroking him. She continued to whisper in his ear but most of his responses now were moans and groans.

When he started to tremble, she stopped. The disappointment in his groan was unmistakable. His cock was twitching almost imperceptibly as she began teasing his nipples while fingering herself and running that finger along his lips. Sherry began sliding my hand up and down her stomach, sometimes running it up over one of her breasts or down into her pubic hair, sometimes into her developing wetness. It took me a few minutes to understand my mission: I was supposed to do to her what the woman in the other room was doing to her partner.

When the man had settled back down, she began edging him again. Sherry never took her eyes off the window but she did let go of my hand, placing hers at her side. I was left to do the job on my own. I finally figured out her cues, a sharp breath in meant I did something right, a hard breath out meant too much or not what she wanted, a hum meant continue whatever it was I was doing, and when she started trembling, I needed to stop and let her regroup.

The only time she said anything was when the woman began sucking her partner off, I started to move to copy her and Sherry whispered, “No. Stay.” I heard the yoga woman cum, her partner’s hand apparently covering her mouth as he whispered into her ear. I heard the other man’s muffled grunts as it sounded like he came.

By the time the couple in the other compartment got around to fucking, Sherry was a writhing mess of arousal, right there on the edge of orgasm. The only real change was that she was beginning to sound like she wanted me to let her cum but I wanted to see how long I could hold off her orgasm. Yoga woman had cum at least four times and the other woman in the room at least twice. My eyes had completely adjusted to the dark by now and Yoga man was obviously doing what I was doing, toying with his partner. The other couple were taking turns toying with each other, she was riding him reverse cowgirl slowly and purposefully while rubbing herself with a free hand.

The performing couple were slowly fucking, she was definitely torturing him with the pace she was sliding up and down, occasionally switching to back and forth when he started approaching orgasm. That poor guy was practically foaming at the mouth now, doing everything he could to obtain enough friction to get off.

I had no idea how long this went on. I was okay as long as I concentrated on Sherry, I was hard but not near orgasm. When the woman released her partner’s hands, I started to finger Sherry and she stopped me. “Not yet.”

I went back to playing with her nipples and occasionally lightly brushing her clit with my finger. The man came hard, his back arching as she slowly rode him through it. You could hear the wet noises they were making just fine through the speakers.

The woman slowly lowered herself on top of the man, who was obviously spent at that point. The other two couples in the room with us were in the midst of fucking themselves silly, both women on top and bucking violently to bring the partner to orgasm.

Sherry started to tremble and grabbed my hand to remove it from her pussy. “Let’s go back to the cabin, baby.”

“Are you –” I never got to finish that sentence as she kissed me hard.

“Cabin, Ronnie.”

“Yes, ma’am.” There was no way I was going to argue with that tone of voice. Outside the compartment, the bright lights took some getting used to. Sherry was incredibly turned on, her nipples as hard as I had ever seen them. The insides of her thighs were shiny as we walked quickly back the way we came, I had to be careful not to jam my dick into anything as she had a hold of it like a leash, almost dragging me down the passageways.

As soon as we were inside the cabin, I was pushed onto my back on the bed. Sherry clambered over me, shoving her pussy in my face as she inhaled my cock. She started trembling almost immediately and I stopped. I let her bring me almost to the edge and then I grabbed a handful of hair and pulled it back gently. I returned to eating her pussy, slowly exploring with my tongue and sucking gently on her clit while she begged me to stop.

When she started trembling and mumbling “No, no, no,” over and over, I let her go. She swung around, lifted my cock, and slowly slid it into her insanely wet pussy, slowly rocking as she lowered herself onto it. We stared into each other’s eyes as she grabbed the headboard with both hands and I found her hips with mine.

What happened next was absolutely the most animalistic fucking I had ever given somebody. We went hard, we went fast, and we went loud. It probably sounded like we were beating the hell out of each other, the way we were grunting, swearing, and the way our flesh slapped together. Neither one of us made any attempt at self-control, it was everybody for themselves.

I came first, snapping my hips up into Sherry as my hands drove her hips down into me. Lights flashed and blood roared in my ears as each spasm jolted through me. Sherry began grinding hard into me as I pinched her nipples and pulled on them. I don’t know what she was trying to say, every noise she made was incoherent as she came, shaking and mumbling as her pussy squeezed the last of my cum out of me.

Sherry lowered herself down on top of me, keeping my somehow still stiff cock inside her. I briefly thought about getting up to take a shower but fell asleep before I probably even finished the thought.

It was about mid-morning when I woke up. Sherry was already in the shower and threw me out when I tried to join her. “Yeah, no. I’m too sore to do anything.” I did get a nice kiss so I knew I wasn’t in trouble for anything.

“That’s disappointing.” I was a little tender but not that tender.

She dried off quickly and only ran a brush through her hair before heading out the door. “Got a spa day with Priscilla, you and Alton are on your own. I’ll see you at dinner. Six o’clock for the Nude Day Dinner. No extracurricular activities, either.” With that, she was gone. Her hand gestures with the instructions made it clear I was to refrain from cumming for the next eight to ten hours. I was pretty sure I could do that.

I had an omelet at the breakfast bar again, which is where Alton found me. We spent the rest of the morning farting around the casino, where he taught me some of the finer points of playing Texas Hold’em. After a light lunch, we spent a couple of hours hitting golf balls at the driving range on the aft deck and then working on our tans and just bullshitting about anything and everything.

It wasn’t until I returned to the cabin to shower before dinner that I realized that I hadn’t spent time like that with anyone in a very long time. For the first time since he walked out on Sherry at the church, I missed Ernie. We had a lot of fun together over the years, we were the closest thing to a brother each other had.

Sherry looked amazing when I arrived at the main dining room. The girls had gone for the works, hair, manicure, pedicure, ladyscaping, pretty much everything. They gave us the third-degree, making sure we had behaved ourselves while they were occupied. We assured them we had done manly things like gamble and play golf.

The captain’s dinner was a fairly formal affair, at least for a nude cruise. The food was excellent and there were activities that other guests participated in. Sherry leaned over shortly after the show began and whispered, “I have plans for later so just sit quietly and behave yourself.”

As she had done the night before, Sherry led me down a few passageways I hadn’t seen during our travels. My internal compass was telling me that she had gone aft before making a convoluted U-turn back toward the bow. I was still lost.

We came to a cabin in a compartment that felt generally in the same area we were last night. There was a round bed in the center and a rectangular mirror set into one wall. On one side of the bed, attached to the frame, was a metal bar with several loops welded along its length. On the bed next to it were several coils of light rope and a blindfold.

Leading me over to the bed, she whispered in my ear, “I lied a little about what we were doing today. I spent part of the afternoon having Prisicilla teach me how to blow your fucking mind.”

I could go for that. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

Sherry stroked my slowly hardening cock. “Lie down with your hands over your head.”

I did as she asked and she quickly secured my hands with some of the softest rope I had ever felt. She took her time examining her handiwork and then climbed on the bed next to me. Using one hand to stroke me and one hand to stroke herself, it wasn’t long before I had quite a collection of precum beaded on the head of my dick. As she lowered her head to take me into her mouth, she swung her leg over my chest and lowered herself onto my face.

I didn’t need instructions on what to do next. I teased, tickled, poked, licked and sucked on her pussy as she sucked me off. I lost count of how many times she brought me to the edge before stopping. I also lost count of how many times I did that to her out of revenge.

The worst part for me was when she moved so that she was just out of range of my tongue and she started playing with her pussy while continuing to torture me. At that point, I was ready to explode but she wouldn’t let me.

I was so aroused that I couldn’t stand it. I reflexively twisted my upper body while trying to thrust with my lower body as she released my cock from her mouth and discovered that my hand had worked itself loose. I went limp and caught my breath while waiting for her to begin teasing me again. She was aroused completely, little beads of her nectar on her labia and dotting her pubic hair as she slowly teased herself. I finally teased my hand free as she slowly swallowed my cock down to the base. Once I managed to get my other hand free, I moved quickly.

She audibly gasped as I carefully grabbed a handful of hair at the back of her head and pulled her head back. I maneuvered out from under her and kneeled behind her, pushing her chest toward the mattress. She was continuing to play with herself with her right hand, using her left for support. Using my free hand, I guided the head of my aching cock right to her hot, wet opening. It felt like she was actively trying to draw my cock inside her. I leaned forward, supporting my weight on one arm while continuing to hold her head back with the other hand.

The bed was the perfect height to see our reflection centered in the mirror. Sherry was completely aroused. Her panting and straining to pull me inside her confirmed the facial expression she wore.

“They’re watching us, aren’t they?” I couldn’t see who, if anyone, was on the other side of the mirror but I was willing to bet my life Alton and Priscilla were. I kept my voice low.

“Yes.” Sherry managed to get the head inside her opening briefly before I pulled it back. She whimpered as it slid out.

“How many?” Not that I cared.

“Don’t know. Two for sure.” Alton and Priscilla as well as the yoga couple. Good enough.

Again keeping my voice low, “So you wanted to put on a show?” I felt the head start to split her labia and I wiggled a little for effect. It worked.

“Yes.” It was more of a hiss than a word.

“They’re gonna get a show. They’re gonna watch you get fucked by your brother. Think Priscilla would like that?”

She trembled and whimpered again. “Yes.”

“Every guy in that room wants to do to you what I’m gonna do. Except I’m the one who’s gonna fuck my sister. In public. Like a dog. While they watch and pretend they’re me.”

“Please, Ronnie. Please.” Her panting increased and she continued to try to pull my cock inside her.

“They want you. They’re probably fucking their girl right now wishing she was you. They can’t have you.” I slid my cock fully inside her and she moaned loudly. I pulled back about two-thirds and paused. As I whispered each word into her ear, I stroked as hard as I could, “You. Belong. To. Me.”

As I continued to fuck her slowly and forcefully, we locked eyes in the mirror. She was as beautiful as I had ever seen her, hot, sweaty, and completely immersed in fucking me as thoroughly as I was fucking her. I could feel her fingers teasing herself as she moaned my name over and over.

As I sensed my orgasm starting to build, I couldn’t resist the urge to indulge my own kink. “You’re going to make me cum, baby. You’re going to make your brother cum inside your pussy in front of all those people. They’re gonna see what kind of dirty girl you really are. You’re gonna make me cum –”

Her eyes closed and she stiffened. As she started shaking, I felt the walls of her pussy grip my cock and milk me. I had to let go of her hair and grab her hips as I began fucking her like a madman while sending strong pulses of cum inside her while she moaned “Ronnie” as one long breath as she began to orgasm. I kept going until she collapsed under me, the wet sounds of our coupling the loudest sounds in the room.

We stayed that way for a few minutes. I tried to rouse her but Sherry remained unresponsive. Her eyes were open, she was breathing, but she wouldn’t answer me.

There was a light knock at the door and I got up to answer it. Priscilla and Alton slid inside and she went over to Sherry.

“Sherry’s okay, Ronnie. Her orgasm was so intense that it overloaded her senses. I’ve heard of it happening before but I’ve never actually seen it.” She brushed the hair from Sherry’s face. “Grab some water for her, please.”

Alton whispered, “I don’t know what you said to her but you’re going to want to remember it for make up sex.” Literally the best advice he ever gave me.

I handed Priscilla a bottle of water, and she persuaded Sherry to drink some. She was completely out of it. Priscilla continued to talk to Sherry but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Sherry would nod or shake her head occasionally.

Alton sat next to me on the bed. “She’ll be fine as soon as all the hormones wear off. Are you doing okay?”

“My balls ache a little but I’m fine.”

“Yours aren’t the only ones. You made everyone’s night. That was some escape attempt. The fucking afterward was absolutely intense.”

“Thanks. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it. She teased me until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“I know you have the bracelets but don’t be surprised if you start getting invitations. You’re a perfect couple and a lot of people are going to want to play.”

“We’re not required to, are we?” I was under the impression we didn’t but I thought it might be a good idea to check with someone who knew for sure.

“You don’t ever have to do anything you don’t want to. The choice to participate is always yours.”

“That’s kind of what I thought but I just wanted to make sure. I don’t want to try it and I don’t think she does, either. I guess that’s something we need to talk about.”

“Yeah, you do. A good rule to follow is not to agree to anything with anyone until you’ve talked about it and both of you want to do it. That’s a perfectly acceptable answer until you have a definitive one.”

Priscilla managed to get Sherry sitting upright but it was pretty obvious her mind was somewhere else. Alton found a beach wrap that we could drape over Sherry’s shoulders and they helped me walk her back to our cabin. Priscilla helped me get her settled on the bed before giving me their cabin number and making me promise to call if I had any problems.

After they left, I took a quick shower and climbed into bed next to Sherry. She draped herself over me and promptly went back to sleep. I wasn’t that far behind her.

When I woke up the next morning, we had docked in St. Thomas. Sherry had shifted during the night and was now spooned into me, still sound asleep. I got up to pee, feeling like I had run a marathon. Even my brain felt tired.

I finally woke her up around ten, she relieved herself and immediately crawled back into bed next to me. I went to pick up omelets and brought them back. It felt weird to wear shorts and a T-shirt, even for a half an hour.

She didn’t say much all day, preferring to either cuddle or nap on me.

When it started getting close to dinner, I finally asked her if there was something wrong.

“I don’t know.” She had mostly avoided eye contact all day and she was avoiding it now.

“Is it about what we did last night?”

Sherry simply nodded while looking out the porthole at the ocean.

“I could guess but it would be better if you told me, babe. The sooner we figure it out, the better.”

“That’s just it, I’m not sure. When we — I did it before in Vegas, I didn’t feel like this after it. This time, it felt like I lost control and I couldn’t stop. It’s kind of scary.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t –” The thought I was going too far never crossed my mind.

“It wasn’t you. I wanted you to do what you did. Mom taught me to be a ‘good girl.’ Dress like a lady, act like a lady, be a lady. All the time. The way I felt after the first time I did it in Vegas, it was fun, it was being bad. Last night was like that but different. More intense.”

“I’m sorry, I should have been asking if you were okay.” Like Sherry, once I started fucking her, I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to.

“I was okay. Watching you in the mirror, knowing people were watching us, I was okay until you started talking about how the guys were wishing they were you. It made me want to prove to you I didn’t want anybody but you doing that to me. I didn’t want you doing that to anyone else.”

“Alton told me last night that other couples might be interested in us. I’m going to tell you what I told him. I don’t want to be with anyone else. The way I feel every time I’m with you, nobody else is going to come close.” I hugged her tightly. “And no, I don’t expect us to be that way every time, either.”

Sherry turned to face me. “I don’t want to be with other people. Just you. I love you so much. I think that’s what scares me more than anything.”

I kissed her slowly and gently. “I love you, too. This is fun but I’ll be okay if we don’t ever do this again. I’m good as long as we’re together.”

“I like doing this, the watching and being watched, but I can’t do it all the time. Right now I’m a little sore and tired. I just get the urge every once in a while.” Sherry kissed me back. “If we don’t get up, we’re going to miss dinner and I’m starving.”

We took a long mutual shower, spending more time kissing than showering. Alton and Priscilla met us at the main dining room as usual, and we enjoyed another long dinner. They were, to put it nicely, colorfully dressed.

The four of us spent the remainder of the evening in one of the quiet lounges, talking and laughing. Just as Alton had predicted, a few couples stopped by to introduce themselves politely. The yoga couple were Deacon and Shelley, she was definitely walking a little gingerly. We also saw Chris and Mark, who Alton said later had also really enjoyed the show we put on.

Early in the evening, Sherry seemed hesitant and withdrawn but as it got later, she seemed to relax. Priscilla didn’t have to do much arm twisting to get Sherry to agree to visit the island tomorrow, since we had spent the day recovering onboard the ship. We weren’t leaving until six in the evening tomorrow so we would have plenty of time to do a little sightseeing.

We called it a night around ten. Sherry was obviously tired and we were planning on getting started early. After undressing, we snuggled until she fell asleep.

I stayed awake for a while, though. It felt like every minute that went by, I was more convinced than ever that we needed to find a way to stay together. I just didn’t see how we could make that happen in Harlingen. I wasn’t sure she would be willing to leave, she had worked hard to build her business, and leaving meant starting all over again. That was a lot to ask.

Sherry woke me up with a kiss, several in fact, since I managed to sleep through the alarm. “You didn’t sleep well?”

“I did, just thinking about what we’re going to do when we get home. After the last few days, I don’t want to go back to the way things were.”

“I know. I think about it too sometimes.” She sat up and pulled me up beside her.

“We’ve still got a few days. We’ll figure something out.” Sherry led me into the shower, where we once again spent more time making out than getting clean.

Throughout the cruise, we had kept our phones turned off. The only time Sherry turned hers on was to check her email before dinner and she would turn it off again. Since she hadn’t checked it last night, she checked it before we left.

She began typing furiously, her face scrunched up as she concentrated on what she was typing. When she was satisfied with it, she tapped the screen with a flourish and put her phone away. Whatever it was, her mood seemed lighter. She didn’t share and I didn’t ask, assuming it was business.

St. Thomas was a really nice place. We walked, we ate, and we took a shitload of pictures. Alton and Priscilla had invited Chris and Mark along and the six of us had one hell of a lot of fun.

We made it back with plenty of time to spare. Since we were still in port, dinner was clothing required. As they would for the remainder of the cruise, Chris and Mark joined us. Sherry was in a bubbly mood throughout.

We had excused ourselves after dinner, as the other four were going to one of the smaller bars below deck to play trivia games. We found ourselves sitting in the aft observation deck, watching the island slowly recede as we headed back to Miami.

The yellow status light was lit by nightfall. There weren’t many out and about after dinner, either they were exhausted from the island excursions or they were off playing. We had the place to ourselves as we lay curled up together.

“Have you thought about moving, leaving Harlingen?” The sound of her voice startled me, it had been quiet for a few minutes as we watched the view.

“It was an option but I hadn’t considered it much. I wasn’t sure you would be willing to.” I gently kissed the top of her head.

“Would you?”

“Yeah, if that’s the only way we could be together and we could afford to live there. It would have to be the right situation, really. Would you?” The all-important question.

“Yes, I would.” She was quiet for a few seconds. “I got an offer yesterday. One of our clients is looking for a leasing specialist for their business outsourcing division. I’ve worked with them a couple of times before.”

“That sounds cool. Where is it?” I was hoping for Hawaii, even if it was prohibitively expensive.

“I would be based in Kansas City. I wouldn’t make quite as much money but it comes with benefits I’m paying out of pocket for now, so I think it’s about the same.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I’m interested. One of the team has a husband who works for another company. They’re looking for someone who’s familiar with twin plant operations. It’s a management position, you’ll be an assistant to a VP. I need a copy of your resume and a link to your LinkedIn profile if you’re interested. They’re going to send me a job description for you to look at.”

“I appreciate it but I could have found something on my own.”

“I know but this is a start. It’s a better job than the one you have now. It pays more with better benefits.” She was doing her best to convince me.

“Say we both get hired. What are we telling everybody?” I had no idea myself.

“That these people had been after me for a while, I’ve wanted to spread my wings, but I didn’t want to go alone. This other position was open, it’s perfect for you on paper, and it’s the only way you can move up the ladder. We’re still young and we should try something different.”

“Mom’s not going to be happy.” One of us was going to have to address that elephant in the room. I guess it was going to be me.

“She knows I’m struggling now. I can’t go back to working with Ernie, there will be too many expectations. He won’t ever leave Harlingen, he likes being the big fish in a small pond. Leaving will help me get over what happened.”

“What about the commercial business?” There really wasn’t anyone capable of stepping in and handling it on their own yet.

“Ernie wants to go back. Yoli and Imelda can cover what I did. Bob and Mom are starting to plan for retirement and they wanted us to take over. Ernie will do just fine as long as he has good help.”

“So all I need to do is learn how to tie a tie and ace an interview? Piece of cake.”

“You know how already. You in?” Sherry rolled over to look at me as she asked the question.

“It’s a good thing I don’t change jobs a lot. I have a copy of my resume in the cloud already. I’ll forward you the link to my LinkedIn.”

I melted at her smile and got hard with her kiss. It wasn’t long after that that we were on our way back to our cabin.

As opposed to the last two times we had sex, tonight we made love. I took my time undressing her, making sure to kiss her neck, her stomach, and her thighs before even approaching her pussy. I went slow, teasing her with the tip of my tongue over her distended lips, gently circling her clit, and slowly tongue fucking her before repeating the cycle.

When she finally came, she rolled me onto my back to ride me slowly while she teased herself. As soon as I started to breathe harder, trying to fight the oncoming orgasm, we rolled over so she could wrap her body around me and hold me as I orgasmed. If there was a recording, I’m sure every other sentence we said to each other was “I love you.” I don’t think we could say it enough.

The remaining days of the cruise, we spent a lot of time hanging out with our newfound friends. We went to a few seminars, did lots of tanning, and ate more than we should. Much to the disappointment of everyone, we didn’t play again below deck. Sherry had temporarily gotten it out of her system so we just made love at night before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

My video interview was scheduled for the Saturday morning after we returned. Sherry worked on her pre-employment package off and on, finishing up shortly before we docked in Miami.

The trip home was uneventful. Sherry was back to prim and proper in Dallas. Landing in Harlingen brought home a harsh truth.

We weren’t the same people who left the week before. My first clue?

After getting off the plane, I had to carry something in my hand on whatever side Sherry was walking on. Even then, I caught myself wanting to grab her hand or put my arm around her. She did the same thing.

The second sign was more ominous. In a way, it was probably for the best.

We had been expecting Mom to pick us up, but instead it was Ernie. He took one look at us and I knew from the look on his face that he knew. Sherry stiffened next to me, she knew him as well as I did.

“Hey,” He just stood there with that fucking smirk on his face.

“What’s up?” I spoke before Sherry could.

“I talked Evelyn into letting me pick you up.” If anything, he was smirking even more.

“Do I want to know why?” Sherry stepped up and gave him a hug, which surprised me.

“There might be hell to pay.” The eyebrow lift said what he didn’t. Sherry started to blush.

“Fuck.” All I could do was stand there.

“Obviously.” Ernie stuck out his hand and I shook it. “Let’s get your bags and get out of here.”

We collected the bags quickly and walked out to his truck. I climbed in the back seat out of habit.

“I’m sorry, Ronnie. There were better ways of doing what I did.” Ernie was apologetic.

“Yeah, I know. There were a lot of things none of us handled well.” Sherry laughed.

“I guess if I had to lose, at least it was to you.” Ernie grinned at me in the rearview mirror.

“I don’t think you lost, I think you dodged a bullet –” I made sure I was sitting where she couldn’t reach me.

“Hey!” Sherry tried to swing at me anyway.

“She’s really high maintenance.” Ernie laughed along with me while Sherry pretended to be offended.

“I should have seen it a long time ago. If I had, most of this wouldn’t have happened. Would’ve saved a lot of trouble.”

“It eventually worked itself out.” Sherry tried to cheer him up.

“Not quite. What are the two of you going to do now? People who know you aren’t stupid. I can tell and so will they, especially if they see you together.” Ernie addressed that to me.

“I don’t follow, man.”

“You’re different now, you walk different, you look different, less tense, you just feel different. You can blame the vacation for a while but sooner or later, your mom is going to figure it out. My folks will eventually figure it out. I don’t think they’re going to be happy for you.”

“We’re going to leave Harlingen. We have to.” I hadn’t considered the effect on us personally. It would be hard for us to be together staying here.

Sherry explained the offer she received and the possibility of a new job for me. Ernie thought it over for a bit.

“That could buy you a little time. You’ll need to avoid each other around the folks until you go. I’m not going to lie, it benefits me, too. But I’ll still hate to see you both leave.”

Ernie pulled up in front of Mom’s house. Fortunately for us, her car was nowhere to be seen so we weren’t obligated to go in to see her.

We moved our bags to our respective car and exchanged a chaste hug before going our separate ways. Ernie followed me home.

“I wanted to talk, just us.” Ernie was still Ernie, he wasn’t acting any different.

“Sure, come on up.” We went up to my apartment and I unlocked the door. He went in first and I gave him some room, just in case.

“Look, I know, okay? The only thing that surprises me is that I’m not weirded out by it. I’m not telling a soul anything. We’re practically brothers. I understood why you were pissed and I had it coming. I really want you both to be happy.”