Paid to Seduce His Mother V. 02 Ch. 06

"Uh, yeah. We're not total jerks, in spite of how I portray us sometimes. But probably better you hear it now than walk into it unprepared."

"I guess that's true." She slid out of the booth and reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll see you around seven or a little later." She walked to the restroom, wondering about the family she might be joining.

Part LXXVI

As soon as she left the restaurant, Mike called Maggie. She was delighted that Sara would be spending some time with them, but couldn't meet them for dinner that evening.

"I am so sorry, Michael, but your father is taking me to Someplace Else this evening. We're going to finalize the settlement and decide how to divide the proceeds from the sale."

"I don't get a say?" he asked, a trifle petulantly, and immediately felt sorry for his tone. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it to sound like that."

"That's okay, dear, but no. You've done your job, the one your father and I asked you to do. Now it's up to us. You and Ellie may need to get a little less cash, but I'm going to make sure you get the cabin and land. Other than that, I don't foresee any strong disagreements."

"Okay; we'll see you at home tonight. I think I'll knock off as soon as the rush is over since Anna will be here. Good luck with Dad."

When she got to work, Anna found him in the store room. "I hear we're going to be having some company. That's good. Did she take the news about your moving well?"

"Well enough, I guess. She didn't have hysterics, if that's what you're asking. She did ask what it meant for us, and when I said I didn't know yet, she accepted that as an answer. She wasn't even too upset when I told her we went nude around the house."

Anna laughed. "In that case, I'd say she sounds like a keeper, Mike, and I mean that. Take some time if you need it to mourn Evie, but keep this one close, even if it means waiting to join us at the dinner theatre, if we get it."

"I understand, Anna. Thank you. If it weren't for my commitment and relationship with you and Mom, I'd probably be going after Sara with a full press..."

Mike was stopped by the expression on Anna's face. It had gone from amused concern to fury. "In the office, now!" she hissed.

She all but slammed the door behind him and pushed him into the chair in front of the desk. Towering over him, she began, "If I thought...for even an instant..." Her obvious anger forced her to take large gulps of air between the short phrases she was able to get out. "that our physical...our sexual...was in any way...even just an inkling...your ass would be out of here so fucking fast...and I'm sure I speak for Maggie as well." Her voice had lost much of its harshness, and her face was showing real concern instead of the fury which had inflamed it so.

"Mike, I love you like my own son, and not the son-in-law you were headed for; I need you to know that. When it comes to the relationships you have with Maggie and me, all you owe us is to become the best Michael possible, and that means going out and starting your own family. We both hope you will include us in that family, and I'm not talking sexually, but emotionally, by letting us be a part of you and your wife's life.

"What the three of us have is rare, if not unique, and your mother and I both know it won't last forever. It's tremendous what you have done for Maggie, and without you, this past month would have been unbearable. For that we will both treasure you and our memories of this summer.

"But," and her voice grew hard again, "if you are going to use us as an excuse to withdraw from the world, or to fail to accept what this young woman is obviously offering you on silver platter, then get the fucking hell out of my restaurant, and out of my bed!" Her voice was low, but hard, as was her expression. "Do you have any questions?"

Michael sat stunned, as much by her vehemence as by her words, for several seconds. Was that what he was doing? Was that what he had been doing with his mother–barricading himself from the world, playing it safe? As a teen he hadn't been socially inactive, but had been a virgin right up to his graduation week when he and one of his classmates, also a virgin, had skipped school and gone back to his house to go skinny dipping.

And then there was Evie. She was a couple of years older than he. They had hooked up at a party to which neither had been invited, but had gone along at the urging of friends. There had been a few girls in-between, but neither serious nor long lasting.

"Do you have any questions, Mike?" Anna broke into his musings. He looked at her, seeing the almost motherly concern on her face.

"Yeah," he said with a grin, standing up. "Can I have a hug, and will you join Sara and me for dinner, tonight?"

"Of course, to both," she said, wrapping her arms around him. "What's the grin for?" she asked, hoping she hadn't just cut herself off from the best sex she'd had in years.

"I've decided I'm going to marry Sara, and she's already told me she'll wait until I'm ready. Somehow, I have to get her to accept that I'm going to maintain my relationships with you, Mom and Ellie."

"And if she won't?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I have to," he said.

Part LXXVII

Sara came into the restaurant about quarter past seven. Although the main dining room was full, things were beginning to slow down. Liza, the waitress who had seated her at lunch time, greeted her and suggested she wait in the bar area until she could find her a table. Just before seven thirty, Mike joined her, dressed in his street clothes.

"You're not in uniform," she said, laughing.

"Yeah; after dinner, I just have to give the cooks some instructions for tomorrow, and I can leave. RHIP, sometimes, I guess. Have you been here for dinner, before?" She shook her head, no. "Do you want a menu, or will you trust me?"

"Can I," she asked, looking at him with a sultry expression, "trust you? For all I know, you already have a plate prepared for me in the kitchen which will make me let you have your way with me, let you do awful sexy things to me..."

"Now there," interjected Anna, coming up behind Sara, "is a real oxymoron–awful sexy things. Good evening Sara. It's good to see ... MiGod! What happened to you?" she exclaimed, seeing Sara's face for the first time. As she sat down at the bar next to Sara, she signaled the waitress and arranged for them to get the next vacant booth.

Sara quickly told her the story of her eye. "Serves the bastard right," said Anna. "Is everything okay? What did the doctor say?"

"Everything's fine. A quarter of inch in either direction and all there'd be is a bruise like the other cheek. In good light, you can see it's already healing, turning yellow around the edges. But they still say I'm off at least a week."

She turned to look at Mike. "Bad news in the mail. The forensics positions list was updated last week. I dropped from number four, where they could reach me for a local position to number seven. If I want to stay on the list, I have to reapply, and maybe retake the written exam."

"What would you do if you don't reapply?" he asked.

"I don't know. I could continue with the police force, but I have an idea that's going to get a lot worse now before it gets better. I suppose I could go back to what I did to get through school." She turned to Anna. "Will your inn be offering concierge services?"

"I don't know. Maggie and I haven't really sat down and discussed the services we'd offer beyond the basics–room, board and entertainment. Is that what you did?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "My first two years of college were at a community college in New London. I worked at a hotel near the naval base. We got a lot of visiting wives and officers.

"There were two of us in the concierge office. We took reservations over the phone, asked about special needs or wants, arranged for transportation if they needed it, made dinner reservations, got them theater tickets...I even arranged for a wife, whose husband drove a sub, and her family to tour the base and meet his boat when it returned from a shakedown cruise.

"Got into a little trouble for that one. Civilians aren't supposed to be on the dock when those boats come in. I guess the jg who helped me got a pretty severe dressing down over it, too. What else? Museum tickets, did some personal shopping for some officers' wives, stuff like that." At that point, Liza came and told them the Mayor's booth was open.

Sara asked Mike to order for her. He got her the cacciatore game hen, and ordered the schnitzel for himself. Anna also had the cacciatore. While they waited, Anna told her the story of the restaurant's ceiling, and told them Evie's accident had caused enough damage that it had either eliminated or altered the sonic foci, since the known ones no longer worked.

With a wink to Anna, Mike said that was a good thing. After all, that's how Evie had got him to marry her. She had eavesdropped on conversations with his mother and sister and threatened to tell the world his darkest secrets. Sara looked at him with her mouth open, not sure to believe him or not, until she saw Anna laughing. "You shit!" she said, slapping his shoulder.

"What?" he demanded. "It's true, more or less. Granted, she didn't have to threaten very much, and she did wait until she was able to confirm what she heard."

"Wha..." said Anna. "How'd she confirm your darkest secret?" she asked.

The waitress appeared with their food. Mike waited until she was gone. "She asked me. But I was almost totally defenseless at the time. We were naked in bed."

"Sooo,," said Sara, "if there's something about you I need to know, that's how I get the answer?"

"Crap! Open mouth, insert foot, spill beans," he moaned, as the women laughed.

Sara took a bite of her entree. "Ohmigod!" she enthused. Looking at Anna, she asked, "Is this going to be on the menu at your inn?" Anna nodded, chewing on the drumstick. "I'll wash floors and third story windows, clean bathrooms, whatever." She turned to Mike. "Don't expect me to cook. I know we haven't discussed the various roles in our relationship, but you're the cook."

Part LXXVIII

Sara followed Mike to Belle Vista Drive. When Harry left, Maggie took over his space in the garage, and Mike had moved into the second bay. Evie's sports roadster was in the fourth bay. Mike directed Sara to the second one so he could park behind her, leaving his old third bay spot for Anna. He led his young guest into the house, through the garage.

When they drove up to the house, he had wondered. Even though it was just past twilight, there weren't any lights on. A note on the kitchen counter explained. "Mike, dear–It's been a long day, and am feeling too tired to be good company. Apologize to Sara for me. See you in the morning. M."

He briefly explained to Sara and excused himself to run upstairs and check on Maggie. She was in bed, reading. "Hey, Mom. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sweetie. It was a long day, and dealing with your father, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. On top of it all, Mother nature decided it was time to remind me I'm female, and this time the cramps are icky. It's all getting so irregular, I think it's time to go see Dr. V. Is Sara with you? Good. I made up the guest room across from you for her. I thought that would be more convenient for you."

"Thank you, but it's still a little early in our relationship for that."

"Mmhmm. Still, better than across from me, isn't it?" she asked with a smirk.

"Mmhmm. I'll see you in the morning. Hope you feel better," he said, with an ironic tone and smile, and after giving her a filial kiss, went back to Sara.

"She's okay. Just a long day, capped by having to deal with my father, deciding on splitting the common property and selling the company. Would you like something to drink?"

"Hmm," she said, with a sly smile. "Do you have some sloe gin?" she asked.

When he wrinkled his forehead and shook his head no, she said, "That's too bad. I was thinking of a long sloe screw, but I'll settle for a brandy sour."

The look of chagrin mixed with disbelief on Mike's face made her laugh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't tease you like that," she said. She walked up to him, nearly tall enough to look him in the eye. In many ways, Sara was a more graceful and streamlined version of Ellie, with the same dark hair and blue eyes. Her breasts were on the small side of a B-cup, and against his chest, felt firm.

Her arms snaked up around his neck. "You know," she said, "it's highly improper for you to invite me to spend an unspecified number of overnights with you when you haven't even properly kissed me." She reached up and met his lips with her open ones. When she felt Mike's tongue brushing them, she moved hers out to play.

Mike's hands rested at her waist as their kiss began. When she felt them move around to her back and down, she moved closer to him, with a quiet moan. The kiss went on for several more seconds before Sara pulled away.

"Whew." She buried her face in Mike's shoulder. "Mike, I don't usually make out on a first date, and I'm already thinking about going the next step. I'm really not trying to tease you, but can we slow down?

"You were right when you said it was a case of not if but when, and I need to maintain my own rule of not putting out on the first date. Let's sit down and have our drink and talk. Can we do that?"

"Of course, love. What ever you want." Sara jerked her head up and looked at Mike, to see a small, gentle smile on his face. "How do you want your sour. Up or rocks."

They sat at opposite ends of the couch and talked until nearly midnight. With similar tastes in books and movies, they shared favorites and discussed them. From favorite movies to favorite movie music and theme songs, and from there on to genres and artists. Surprisingly, both raised in East coast suburbia, they found they were both country fans, and enjoyed Norah Jones' country influenced jazz recordings.

As the clock neared twelve, Mike stood up and stretched. "I hate to break this up, but Saturday is one of my long days at work. I have to be in by nine, and it's my turn to close. I'll be home for lunch around two, if you can wait for me."

"Well, since I'll be here anyway, I guess I can wait," she said with a smile. "Where do I sleep?"

"Mom got the room across from me set up for you. Bathroom is first door on the right when you come out."

He grabbed her overnight bag and led her upstairs and saw her into the guestroom. Maggie had made up the bed. On the dresser, she had lit a four inch diameter pillar candle, with a faint vanilla scent. "This is lovely," Sara said, looking around. "And you're..."

"Right there," he answered pointing out the door, to an open door right across the hallway.

She nodded, and looked at him with a smile. "In case the bogey man comes calling," she said.

"If such a thing should happen, you are more than welcome to take refuge in my room. Every night I conduct a secret rite to keep all the bogeys out of my room."

She moved into his arms and kissed him lightly. "You're silly. Sleep well, Mike."

"You won't think so if they come into your room," he answered. "You sleep well, too, Sara. Thank you for visiting. I'll see you tomorrow."

Mike had just turned off his light and rolled into his sleeping position when he heard his door open. "Sara?"

He felt the covers lift and the mattress sink with the added weight. "I don't suppose you'd teach me how to keep the bogeys away, would you?" she asked, the sound of a nervous smile evident in her voice.

"If I did that, you wouldn't need me to protect you," he said drawing her close. Both were slightly shocked to discover the other was nude. When Mike tried to draw her closer, Sara put her hand on his chest. "Just hold me, Mike. That's what I need most right now."

He groaned. "Okay, Sara; just roll over so I can spoon you. I have to sleep on my side, or my snoring will drive you back across the hall." She did, and backed up to him, allowing his semi erection to slide between her legs. When his arm came over and around her, she guided it to her lower breast. Mike pulled her closer, so they were in contact from shoulder to knee.

Sara felt Mike's member stirring between her thighs and realized it was stiffening. She felt herself getting wet, partially due to Mike alternately grasping and releasing her breast. She tried to remember the last time she and her ex had made love. St Paddy's Day. She didn't care anymore that it was still technically their first date. She rolled over in Mike's arms. "Make love to me, Mike. Take me, now," she whispered, kissing him fiercely.

Down the hall, Maggie was making her way from the en suite to her bed. She heard the tell tale sound of bouncing bed springs and chuckled. "Too early, my ass."

Part LXXIX

Sara woke to the aroma of something baking and bacon frying. Stretching, she discovered she was alone in the bed. Vaguely she remembered Mike crawling over her, kissing her breasts as he made his way across her body. Smiling at the memory, she got out of bed and looked around for her robe. When it wasn't immediately apparent, she remembered she had come into Mike's room nude.

With a small giggle at the memory of last night, she stepped into the hall to cross to her room. A noise from the front of the house caught her attention and she looked, to see a nude Anna coming out of a door at the other end of the hall. "Morning, Sara, did you sleep well?"

"Uhh, yes, thank you. I was just going to grab a robe before going downstairs."

"Okay, if you'll feel more comfortable. Usually we don't bother with clothes unless we're going out. Take your time. Breakfast is pretty much buffet style."

Sara stepped into her room and got her robe, which on her, with her long torso, proved to be little more than a long bed jacket, barely covering her privates. When she got to the kitchen, Maggie and Anna, also in revealing robes, were at the table, enjoying a breakfast of muffins, bacon and scrambled eggs.

Maggie got up and greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning, Sara. I am so sorry I couldn't greet you last night, but I was in no condition fit for company. Forgive me, please. I trust you slept well." Sara nodded and started to reply, but Maggie went on.

"Mike told me about your eye. Do you need anything for it? An ice pack? It seems to be healing well; your upper lid is turning yellow," she said, peering at Sara's eye.

"Mike was kind enough to make us some honey oat muffins before he left this morning. Would you care for some? Bacon, eggs, coffee, tea, juice?" While she spoke, Maggie bustled around the kitchen, getting dishes and silverware for Sara.

"Uh, just juice, coffee and a muffin, thank you. May I call you Maggie?"

"Of course, Sara. Under these circumstances," she replied, indicating their lack of clothing, "any kind of formality would seem silly." Her warm smile immediately put the younger woman at ease.

"I doubt if you remember it at all, but we met about eight years ago, at a tea honoring local first responders who had died in service. That was the year my father was the victim of a hit and run driver.

"I remember you gave a short speech to the women there, acknowledging not only their grief and suffering, but also recognizing the sacrifices they had made for the community thru the years. That speech helped me decide to try for a career in law enforcement. Probably not the best decision I ever made, as it turns out, but I've had some good moments as a police officer."

"I can vaguely recall the occasion; I was filling in for someone. It was at the Garden Society, about this time of year. I seem to remember a tall young girl; she seemed very angry..."