‘I feel kind of superfluous at the moment,’ Kyle said.
‘Of course you’re not,’ Courtney countered. ‘You’re providing excellent eye candy in those tiny little trunks.’
‘Your eyes are closed.’
‘Mine aren’t,’ Mitsuko said.
‘Nor are mine,’ Nava added.
‘And I can see you, even with my eyes closed,’ Courtney said, grinning.
‘I don’t know, I’m just a piece of meat to you all.’
‘Yes.’
Kyle considered for a moment and then he shrugged. ‘I guess I can live with that.’
~~~
As Nava had predicted, it had taken Melissa a good twenty-five minutes to finally decide on her course of action. She had then stood outside the door to Rochester’s room for a couple of minutes before screwing up the courage to knock. She did it a little tentatively, just in case he really was napping and not just avoiding all the naked flesh out on the patio.
The door opened and Rochester was standing there, looking a little surprised to find Melissa there. She went ahead with her plan – if ‘plan’ was the correct word – before she could change her mind. ‘Hi, Chess. Could I come in. There’s something I need to discuss with you.’ She was wearing a yukata-like robe which had been provided for her, primarily for walking to the mansion’s bathhouse. There was very little skin on display, so Rochester would have no reason to balk on those grounds.
‘Of course,’ he said after a second.
Melissa walked in, crossing the floor to stand in front of one of the windows. Rochester had closed the shades, either because the light was bright or he was trying to make it look like he was sleeping. His ketcom was lying on the stand beside the bed, its screen open to show what looked like a metaphysics text. That was just like him.
The room itself was more or less identical to Melissa’s, aside from the colour scheme. Her room was predominantly yellow with some gold and red mixed in, while his was predominantly red, with some gold and yellow. Aside from that, there was a large bed, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a desk/dresser, and a door which no doubt led to a bathroom. The carpet was just as plush under her bare feet as the one in her own room.
‘What did you want to discuss?’ he asked, walking around the bed to close his ketcom.
Now or never. ‘I wanted your opinion on something.’ Keeping her voice steady was getting harder. She was determined not to stammer.
‘Oh?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what–’ Rochester turned around to discover that Melissa had dropped the robe. Beneath it was a red teddy. A red, lacy teddy. The fabric over her large breasts was actually more opaque than the main body of the garment which was fairly conservative for lingerie. The hips were not especially high and there were frills around the leg holes. Melissa had wondered whether the frills were a bit much, but Mitsuko and Courtney had persuaded her that it worked for her. Right now, Melissa was not entirely sure because Rochester was just standing there, his mouth open and his eyes sort of bulging. She moved, putting her arms behind her back. This had the effect of pushing her chest out, but that was a side effect; the real reason she had done it was so that she could clasp her hands together and stop herself hiding.
‘What do you think?’ she asked, trying for a suggestive tone she was sure she had messed up.
‘I-I-I… It’s… You look…’
Melissa started a slow walk toward Rochester. She was going for ‘prowling,’ though she suspected she looked indecisive. She came to a stop with her lace-covered breasts almost touching his shirt. She looked up into his eyes. She was almost fifteen centimetres shorter than he was, and her heels usually made up most of the difference, but it seemed right now that looking up into his eyes was appropriate.
‘Chess, I like you,’ she said.
‘W-well, I l-like you,’ he replied.
‘Good. That’s what I hoped you’d say. Now, I’d like you to demonstrate how much you l-like me. Physically.’ She kicked herself for breaking on the third from last word, but she just kept her eyes fixed on his.
‘Physically?’ It was almost a squeak.
‘Physically,’ Melissa confirmed. ‘Intimately.’
‘I… I’ve never…’
‘Well, that makes two of us. We can work it out together.’
~~~
‘Mission report?’ Nava asked. It was after dinner and she had managed to get Melissa off to one side where she could talk, even if it meant keeping her voice low.
‘Huh,’ was the response.
‘How was he?’
Melissa’s cheeks turned scarlet as though a switch had been flipped. ‘Who says–’
‘Your cheeks say, for one thing. There was also the air of smugness you were wearing when you came to dinner. And the slightly bemused look on Chess’s face. Kind of like he’d spent a week under artillery barrage.’
‘Oh. Well, I suppose if we were that obvious… It was a bit of a disaster at first. He was over-excited and neither of us really knew what we were doing. He was embarrassed and I said it was fine and we’d just try again and he said he knew how to make it up to me and–’
‘Breathe.’
‘And he did know how to make it up to me. You know how he is, he may have little practical knowledge, but he’s read all the manuals.’
Despite her normally ironclad lack of expression, Nava had to force herself not to burst out laughing. ‘I see.’
‘Then we tried again and it wasn’t so much of a disaster, but it wasn’t exactly perfect either. But the third time was the charm and then we took a shower and, um, well, you know. And then I went back to my room for another shower because if we’d done that again, I wouldn’t have been able to walk.’
‘He’s got stamina.’
‘I think it’s more enthusiasm. He’s coming to my room tonight.’
‘Just remember to get some sleep.’
235/5/11.
‘So, that’s three couples banging away under the old home’s roof,’ Mitsuko said. They were actually on
