Sweet Dreams Are Made of This Ch. 09

"Doesn't seem to jibe with what you told me the first time we met. What was it you said? Something about her being a user?"

"You don't remember how you and I first met, do you?" She delivered the question matter-of-factly, as if it were of little consequence.

In an even voice he said, "You're changing the subject."

"No, this is relevant."

"Wellllll," Jahn hedged. "I'm sure we met before the first time you asked me out, at a party or something..." Fiona gave him a slight smile, squeezing his hand as she did so.

"Don't be embarrassed about it. You wouldn't remember, but I do. It was Christmas of 2008. That was one of V&P's parties, remember. Couples such as yourself and Andrea were present, of course, but plenty of singles looking to meet somebody." He did remember that part. He'd had more than a few half-drunk women hitting on him. Eyeing his fiancée, he asked, "You weren't one of those girls pawing at me, were you?"

Laughing, she shook her head. "No, but I distinctly remember what a gentleman you were about the whole affair; that made a huge impression on me. More relevant to what I'm getting at, though, I remember Andrea treating you like a well-trained puppy. Not the first time she's treated one of her boyfriends that way. There's a reason she does it, and I understand and sympathize with her feelings, but it's still a terrible way to treat someone you're supposed to care about. It's using."

"This doesn't make her any less capable as a professional, or a horrible person. Andrea's got a wickedly sharp intellect that she's put to great use for the company, and as a person, she's the friend others can look to for sound advice and a shoulder to lean on."

Jahn studied her for a moment, considering the insights she'd offered. "Okay, so the reason she acts the way she does is..?"

"That's her story to tell, not mine. We may not be best friends anymore, but I won't do that to her."

A slight smile tugged at his lips. "Seems to me that what you're really saying is: we need to have a talk with Andrea."

"People don't communicate with each other often enough," she confirmed.

"And she already knows about us? If I show up with you on my arm, it's not going to cause a problem?"

Fiona shrugged. "She doesn't know yet, but it won't be a problem. She's got herself a new man now, someone she actually cares about and treats as an equal."

Something his fiancée had said tugged at his brain. "You remembered me from a party nearly four years ago, asked me out right off the bat the second time we met. Coincidence?"

That alluring smile he loved so much made a return appearance, "You'd be silly to think that I spent four years pining about in expectation that the pair of you would split, but opportunity knocked very loudly. Why do you think I went ballistic when Jenny snatched you up?"

***

Seeing Andrea again could have gone more smoothly, but Jen got wind of the fact that Jahn was in the building and intercepted him at Fiona's office. Her ambush was effective, practically jumping onto him to drag him down for a kiss. Swapping tongues certainly did have its appeal, but the demonstration was uncomfortably public. His face flushed with heat as he realized other workers were staring. Pouting prettily up at him, his girlfriend drew back. "You could have stopped by my floor to say hi, you know."

Shifting nervously, he said, "I've got an appointment to keep."

An icy voice interjected, "Sucking face on the office floor, Jahn? Keeping it classy, I see." Andrea. His ex-girlfriend stood there, pulling on her overcoat in preparation for the lunch Fiona had arranged. As beautiful as ever, with those sculpted features, perfectly prepared shoulder-length locks a lovely shade of strawberry blonde, and green eyes that glittered like cut gemstones. Nearly Jahn's height, Andrea Dunlap seemed to tower over his diminutive fiancée.

Spinning about to face Andrea, Jenny scowled up at her. "That was uncalled for."

Andrea was a master of communicating condescension and quirked her lips in a smile that dripped contempt. "I suppose that's true. It's hardly fair to fault someone for an inability to control their baser impulses."

Jen's hand curled into a fist, and she half raised it, "Bitch, I'll show you an inab-"

"Jenny, chkt." The blonde's expression turned stony as Fiona headed off the confrontation, but she acceded and gave Jahn a possessive hug before stalking away. Strange, he was going to have to ask Fiona what _that_ was all about sometime. The brunette turned her attention back to Andrea. "I wish you wouldn't treat my sister like that."

Andrea gave a slightly dismissive gesture of her hand. "You know we've never gotten along."

"That's true, but this is a different situation. Jahn is our fiancée. We, all three of us, are getting married early next year."

"Our-" The incredulity on Andrea's face was palpable, almost priceless, though it was hard for Jahn to enjoy it under the circumstances. "-married." Still, however sharp surprise she'd just had, the taller woman composed herself quickly, her face becoming a mask of indifference, though it was clear to him that gears were turning and she was making a host of connections in her head. Click, click, click, he figured.

With a forced smile, his ex said, "I've got to hear this one."

*** Jahn had never had the opportunity to witness Fiona in her element, doing what she did best at her job. As she took control of the lunch date, it became clear to him that what she was doing must be very similar to how she handled clients. Displaying tact, diplomacy, and that all-important respect, she made a concerted effort to keep everyone at ease.

His fiancée immediately began a process of defusing any tensions, starting with a non-apology to both of them for pushing the confrontation, then following it up with a real apology to Andrea for the way she'd snatched up Jahn after the couple had broken up. Jahn didn't think that was something she needed to justify, but it was obvious Fiona felt as if making there had been a kind of betrayal in it.

"I've said to both of you that you weren't made for each other, and part of that is because you never really talked to each other, never connected on an emotional level. If you had, you might have understood why."

He'd never been to any kind of therapist, but this felt like going to a relationship or marriage counselor. Except in reverse. Fiona was pulling it off, though, and gave them a nudge in the direction of discussing their past. All nudges -- he noticed that she never seemed to push Andrea, letting the woman decide for herself when and what she'd share.

Andrea Dunlap had been an all-star student, outgoing and popular. Growing up, from a small town and conservative background, with the full support of a loving family she seemed destined for great things. Always sure what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, she rocketed through high school and into the state college with a full ride. Her star was rising, and she knew she was going places, until she met Brian Cadley. An entire world seemed to shift in place as she fell head over heels for him, but it wasn't a good shifting.

Cadley was a destructive influence, the life of parties, the kind of guy who had no commitment to anything but getting drunk and getting laid, and freeloading off anyone that would have him around. Compounding matters, he'd gotten her pregnant, and made it clear he didn't really care. Andrea closed up on that topic, and Jahn wasn't sure whether she'd had an abortion or gave the baby up for adoption. Either way, it was clear that she'd been emotionally devastated by the experience.

Andrea's life had gone into tailspin, grades slipping, alienating friends, scholarship under threat, ignored by a live-in boyfriend, unable to talk to her parents about what had happened. Fiona had helped her get her head on straight, and after that, Andrea had done what she did best, in clinical and single-minded fashion setting to rights her academic standing, tossing the frat boy to the curb, repairing her friendships, doing whatever she had to do to get her life back on track.

She'd sworn to herself that she'd never lose control of her life again, never let some heartless asshole use her like that.

Control. That's what it came down to. She'd closed herself off emotionally, and Jahn had never made the effort to dissolve that barrier, to find out what drove her.

The situation with Greg and Jahn had been strange synchronicity. Most guys she'd met after getting things together were either over awed, or intimidated by her new-found level of confidence and insistence on absolute control over her life. Those that did approach her were generally dismissed.

Greg and Jahn, however, had been sincere in their approach, with an eye to romance, and she'd been thrilled to have the attention. But neither had connected with her in their time together, and her _need_ to control the situation had caused it to evolve into that odd three-way relationship that none of them were comfortable with. He'd been surprised to find that Andrea wasn't simply dating someone else or ignoring one man in favor of the other, but avoiding them both.

Jahn had been stupid in some respects. It was never about the material things for her. Why should it? She'd always had money and success, things she'd _earned_ for herself.

As if the New Year had swept away the old debris, the relationship between Andrea, Greg and Jahn simply fell apart. It had been an abrupt wakeup call for Andrea, and the rage and helplessness that had inspired her screaming fit at V&P when they broke up had been a sort of catalyst.

Greg and Jahn weren't the only ones that had found someone new that day. A man named Christopher Ford had been at his cubicle across from her office when Andrea had her emotional tear-up. He'd had a bit of a crush on her for the longest time, admiring her from a distance, and when he heard the break down, he was there to help pick up the pieces.

The situation had given them the opportunity to connect from the start - here was someone she could finally open up to, someone who would understand that her reserve and aloofness were simply a defensive façade, and would never step across those boundaries without invitation.

Jahn listened to her story, and told her his own, letting her in on a lot of things about himself that his ex had never known, but that Fiona had coaxed out of him through long conversations. Andrea was walled off by her emotional cloister, Jahn by his self-involvement. Two castles -- so close and yet so far apart, doomed from very the start. Fiona had been right all along, the former couple hadn't been meant for each other.

A wave of peace enveloped his heart, as understanding unfolded in his mind, the bitterness washing away with a low tide. When Andrea reached across the table with that same revelation clear in her glittering green eyes, he took her hand in his own. A gentle touch, it was one of forgiveness, as was his own to her.

***

"I'll admit, it was harsh of me to force a confrontation like that, but I didn't want the ghost of an old relationship hanging over our heads. It worked out for the best, don't you think?" Wrapping the leftovers, she put them in the fridge and turned to him.

"For the best," he echoed agreeably.

"Perhaps you should punish me?" she asked with a teasing smile, turning slightly to show him the curve of her ass.

Startled out of his reverie, it took him a moment to register what his fiancée had said, and he laughed as he made the connection, a riding crop and an old-fashioned wooden paddle coming to mind. "You've been talking to Jen."

A hint of concern on her face, she asked, "That's okay with you, isn't it? We've been talking a lot more lately, and of course you're a big part of our conversations..."

Grinning, he said, "I might find it kind of awkward if _you_ were to ask to play out any of Jen's elaborate dress-up scenarios or some of the other wild stuff she gets up to. I've always gotten the feeling that you prefer to keep your kinks on the down-low."

Relaxing, she smiled flirtatiously. "I love the things we do together, but I do have some adventurous spirit and you don't always have to be gentle with me. You just have to ask first. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Leaning back, he stared pointedly at her backside. "So, you feel you should be punished, do you?'

Brown eyes widening, her cheeks darkened to a slightly deeper tan of something like embarrassment or perhaps arousal, but she responded with a touch of sass in her voice. "It _was_ dreadfully forward of me."

Standing, he grasped her wrist firmly and pulled her to the living room couch.

"Bend over and take off your panties." With a look of mock reproach broadcast over her shoulder, she complied, raising her skirt and dropping the flimsy undergarments to the floor.

"It's awfully forward of _you_ to take advantage of a helpless young woman in this fashion, isn't it sir?" she teased. He admonished her with slap on the ass, hand coming down in a heavy arc, not enough to hurt, just to sting. She inhaled sharply as her skin turned a mahogany shade from the contact.

The room was filled with her breathless squeals as he paddled her, the play incensing his cock, and she was convincing enough about it that he worried whether he was really hurting her. But she egged him on with those over-the-shoulder smiles, and it was clear from the wetness between her legs that she was as turned on as he. When Jahn finally entered her pussy from behind, the girth of his cock embraced by that delicious slick tightness between her legs, she came violently, her spasms incensing him further, taking control away. Lost in the moment, he released his load in her, a liquid reprieve.

***

Leaves begin to turn, a nip in the air as Autumn comes.

"Have you decided whether you want to go on the campout with us?" Jen's question was casually delivered, but she knew it carried baggage. The plan involved a weekend with a number of their friends early next month, and Greg and Amy both had accepted an invitation to come.

The baggage, though... it didn't have any weight to it anymore. The garbage had been buried, the rest was simply shared history.

"I'd love to."

... to be continued...