Pater Familias

Another big thank you to my readers! Nothing motivates me to write more than getting your ideas and comments. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate the holiday!

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She took a position on my couch, sulking. Taking up my newspaper, she picked a pen to do the crossword puzzle and refused to look at me. Her small buzz must have worn off quickly, for I no longer heard her thoughts.

I did paperwork, my eye on the clock for Valentine. For the sake of convenience in the morning, he intended to be my guest tonight. I would give him the couch and Sakura the bed. Hopefully she’d allow me to join her.

“So, when are you going to…resurrect…her?” Sakura asked.

“Early in the morning.” I finished up my work and filed it. “I’d ask you to go with me, but I doubt Valentine wants any more witnesses than needed.”

She pressed her lips together briefly. “Why is he going?”

“She’s his lover, not mine.”

Sakura turned her head so fast I thought she’d have whiplash. “Oh,” she said softly.

“Don’t give me that,” I said irritably. “You have to know I’m not interested in anyone but you, Sakura.”

She flinched. “Hojo, you have quite a reputation for having more than one woman at a time,” she said, looking guilty even while she said it.

“Do I?” I asked mildly.

Huffing, Sakura got up and opened her suitcase, rifling through it for a second. Moments later a tattered memo book landed in my lap. I opened it.

A scrapbook of me.

I turned the pages. Some of the articles and photos were old enough to be brittle and yellow. The pictures and print dated back seventy years. I looked at snapshots of myself with women hanging off me, startled to realize I couldn’t remember even a quarter of them. Of course, I hadn’t been interested in knowing them.

“None of these photos were taken while I was in an exclusive relationship,” I told her, still paging through the book. “All of these women were paid whores, Sakura. I couldn’t even tell you names. I didn’t care what their names were, only that their legs opened.”

I glanced up in time to see Sakura develop a beautiful blush. She looked away. “So, you wouldn’t take up with prostitutes?”

“I don’t have a reason to take up with paid tail when I have a lovely, intelligent woman I promised to keep exclusive.” I tossed the scrapbook back to her. “That book is older than you. Where did you get it?”

“I stole it from Havars when he was treating me for my hand,” she confessed. “But, I continued to add to it.” She put it away carefully. “You don’t look any different now than you did at thirty, Hojo.”

“Yes, it’s a relief.” I eased back, staring up at the ceiling. “I’ll probably keep my appearance indefinitely.”

She came to stand over me, a small and bashful smile gracing her beautiful lips. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I have a suspicious mind and you are very sought after.”

“Not for the right reasons,” I felt obligated to point out. I threw my arm to her, grasped her by the wrist and pulled her down on top of me. The pleasant shock of her body covering mine crumbled the last bit of my angry wall. Still, she struggled a little. I enclosed her in my arms and held her down. “Easy,” I murmured. “No thrashing about unless you want something hard poking you in the belly.”

She froze. Her eyes darted to mine nervously as her tongue came out to wet her lips. I watched that pink muscle swipe across darker lips, thinking she might get poked anyway.

“Hojo,” she said softly. “You smell like…blood.”

“It must be because it’s high-moving while I have you lying across me,” I countered. “I thought I smelled like musk.”

“You still do, but the blood is obvious.” Sakura released a shuddering breath. “Are you going to let me up?”

“Not until I get a promise from you.” I let my hands drift downward, grazing her sides. Behind the fabric of her shirt, her nipples hardened. She had beautiful aureoles, I remembered, and those large, jutting peaks made my mouth water.

“What promise?” she asked breathily.

“That you’ll allow me to explain myself, in the future. I don’t appreciate talking to doors.” I kept my hands moving up and down, watching her nipples harden further. Holy Ifrit, I loved her breasts. I wanted to feel them, judge their weight and swing.

Firm, I reminded myself. Be stern even though it’s very difficult. “I can take any amount of abuse, but I expect to have my say, Sakura.”

“A-alright, Hojo,” she promised.

“Do you mean it?” She looked distracted. Perhaps I shouldn’t trust her vow. Perhaps I shouldn’t trust myself. If she moved just a little I’d have her moist little pussy directly over my rigid, obvious attention. Even clothed I found her dangerous.

“I mean it,” she stressed, meeting my gaze. “Hojo, your eyes are so dark.”

“The better to see you, my dear.” I grinned.

She favored me with a shaky smile. Slowly, her leg caressed the length of mine. “You have a very firm body,” she said lowly. The muscles in her arms trembled, and she began to lower her torso to mine instead of hovering over me. Still, no direct intimate contact, which I rued.

“The better to shelter you, my dear.” Still smiling, I dragged my fingers down her back. Carefully, I inched under her shirt to stroke the skin atop her tailbone. She shivered and gasped as I drew circles on that smooth skin. I doubted she’d known of this erogenous zone.

Well, I had many zones to show her, eventually.

“Kiss me and I’ll let you up,” I offered.

She swallowed hard. “You promised to let me up when you got your vow.”

“I’m a villain and you’re a lovely damsel. I can’t find a good set of train tracks at the moment, forgive me.” I dipped my fingers a little lower, riding the edge of propriety. The deep, smooth curve of her buttocks should be wider, I thought, preferably because my fingers pried them apart.

Shiva, she was lovely. She panted, fought the urge to squirm. Her skin glowed. I felt her tenseness increase to wire-coil. Sakura had passion, even if she feared it. I would teach her not to fear it, as soon as I solved my basic dilemma. Did she want me to respect her shyness, or did she hope I would take what I wanted?

“I- I hope you’re not going where I think you’re going,” she whispered. “I don’t-.”

“It thrills you to wonder,” I whispered back, “admit it.” She flirted with real danger, letting me know this. I couldn’t resist such temptation. Once I knew what make her juices flow, I would never let them turn off.

“It’s not-.” She shook her head. “It’s dirty.” Averting her eyes, she blushed harder. I saw the color spreading down her throat and I wondered if it reached her breasts.

“Hardly dirty.” I cupped her chin gently. “Distract me, then, sweet Cherry Blossom. Subvert me.” I wouldn’t enter her little hole. I needed lubrication to do that or I’d hurt her. Eventually, I’d show her the joys of using this portal, though.

She dropped her lips to mine, mouth open and willing. I tasted her, a heady mix of determination, fear and exploratory desire. She thrust inside, wrapping her cautious little tongue around mine, tentative in being the aggressor. It gentled my hands, feeling her apprehension like that.

Sakura needed a careful, slow lover. I could certainly be that man for her, though she made my cock throb and my hands itch. My balls felt heavy, and every scent of her went straight to my groin. The slow and gentle approach I hadn’t needed for many, many years.

I nipped her as she pulled away, delighting in her ragged gasp of surprise. Ah, a tiny aggression pleased her, did it?

“Hojo,” she said softly, eyes dark with arousal and lips plumped.

My cock jerked so violently, so strongly, I felt it hit her. “Yes, Blossom?” I asked, voice oddly calm in light of the turmoil in my body. I wanted to roll her over so badly I could already taste it. She’d feel like heaven underneath me, sound like an angelic choir when singing my name.

“It does thrill me to wonder,” she confessed. “You know a lot more than I do. I didn’t know I was a novice until you started touching me.”

That would explain her change from coy hip-swisher to shy violet. No matter. I would take her however I could get her. Often. Hard or soft.

“Teaching you is my greatest pleasure.” I met her confession with honesty. “I want a lover, not an expert.”

We looked at each other. She opened her mouth, and I believed I would hear something very good, but a knock came at the door and broke her mood. She climbed off me and attempted straightening her clothes and hair. I got to my feet and answered the door.

Valentine stood there, his eyes leery and his stance uncomfortable. Seeing no reason to draw out the awkwardness, I simply stepped aside and let him in. He paused upon seeing Sakura, and I saw him sniffing the air. No doubt he could smell the pheromones in the place.

“Good evening,” he greeted us softly.

“Hello, Mr. Valentine,” Sakura answered, returning his courtesy.

I closed the door. “I’ve finished the ray. It’s in the helicopter, which you no doubt noticed is parked on the roof.”

“I noticed.” Valentine hovered near the door, as if dearly wishing to go back out. “Will Miss Leijanna accompany us?”

“If you are amiable.”

Valentine nodded. “You did want two people to activate and guide the ray.”

“So I did, but I can do it myself.”

“I’m sure.” Valentine lowered himself to a chair. “Regardless, Lucretia might find our company more tolerable with another woman present.”

“Perhaps so,” I said. “Sakura, the invitation is now extended.”

“I’ll go.”

“Good.” I called Ink, who came bouncing in from my bedroom, tail held aloft. Fearless, she approached the newest occupant of my apartment, whiskers twitching. She sniffed the hem of his tattered cloak, batted it, then promptly pounced. I picked her up, unsnarled her already fearsome claws from the ragged velvet, and held her aloft before Valentine. “He’s a friend, Ink,” I told her. “Valentine, let her sniff your hand.”

He extended his natural hand after removing his glove. Ink smelled his bare flesh. She peered up at him with her luminous, golden eyes. Decision made, she butted his hand. Looking bemused, Valentine cautiously rubbed her right between her ears. Her purr filled the room.

I pulled her away and held her to my face. “If you’re this loud now, perhaps I’ll need ear plugs in a few months?”

Ink chirruped.

I attempted to put her down, but she wrapped her tail around my wrist and hung like a monkey. Sakura stifled a giggle.

“Shameless,” I said, cradling the cat closer. She burrowed down, content to let me hold her against my chest and under my neck.