As they stood at the threshold of her front door, Emily lovingly adjusted Sam’s scarf. It was late in the morning, but they had made no hurry to start the day, so she was still bed-headed. Even dressed in an oversized shirt and with her hair loose and dishevelled, she was still a beautiful sight. “I’ll see you again soon, right?”

“Of course. At the very least, we’ll watch the new episode next Friday. But I’ll call you much earlier. Or text you, or whatever.” He placed his hands on her hips and gently pulled her closer.

“You better,” she purred before embracing him for a final lengthy kiss. While their lips were moulded together, he took his chance to give her butt a playful squeeze. She chuckled as she broke away from the kiss and gave him a gentle shove out of the doorway. “See you later.” She blew him a final kiss from her hand before closing the door, leaving him alone in the hallway of the apartment complex.

He took a deep breath to centre himself. Under any other circumstances, he would be feeling ecstatic right now. After all, he had hit the bullseye with Emily. Even though it had only been one date, he already felt in love with the sweet and beautiful girl, and she seemed to feel the same way. Given that, the bizarre thing was that he had a date with a different woman lined up that very evening. He had known this in advance, of course, but he hadn’t expected his date with Emily to go that well. Should he cancel the other date? No, that wasn’t fair. No matter how strongly he felt about Emily, he had agreed to give Tanya a chance, so he would see that through.

The afternoon of that day was nothing noteworthy. He went home to take a shower and did some chores around the house just to take his mind off things. He always got anxious in the hours leading up to a date, but doubly so today. He hadn’t told Tanya about his date with Emily, but he wondered if she would notice somehow that he was distracted, thinking about another woman. Would she feel insulted that he had put her in this situation? Maybe she had a right to. Wallowing in self-doubt wouldn’t improve that situation though. The best thing to do, for her sake and for his own sanity, was to put his concerns aside and take the date seriously.

As the time of the date approached, he put on a fresh outfit. This time he opted for something more formal, a grey blazer over a black button-up shirt and grey dress pants. Even though it was an in-home date, he had a feeling that this would suit Tanya’s sensibilities. He was actually a bit surprised that Tanya had sprung for an in-home date as well, since she seemed more like the fine-dining type. Of course, the obvious benefit was that they could freely talk about matters of magic when in private. With his outfit figured out, he put on his coat and scarf and walked out the door. Tanya lived not in the city centre but in the suburb, so he got in his car and drove the route he had planned out on his phone.

When he reached the address she had given him, he found an ordinary row house, flanked by many others like it. It was on the small side for a house proper, but bigger than his or Emily’s apartments, and the old-timey brickwork felt a lot more appropriate for the home of a sorceress. All the curtains were closed, probably to hide any potential magic usage inside. He parked his car at the closest available spot, approached the door, and rung the bell. There was a moment of silence a bit longer than the night before. Then he heard the click-clack of heeled shoes in the hallway and the door opened to reveal his date.

Tanya Bystruza was a beautiful woman, a few years older than Sam, with long wavy auburn hair, big brown eyes, and full, pouty lips. She was of middling height and wonderfully curvy, with large breasts, a slender waist, and wide womanly hips. Today she wore a black dress that wrapped snugly around her hourglass figure, with long sleeves, a knee-length skirt, and a generous neckline, giving a view at the deep valley between her breasts. With it she wore black pantyhose and high-heeled pumps. Sam was glad that he had chosen a more formal outfit, because she was certainly dressed to impress.

“Ah, Sam, I’m glad you’re here.” She showed an effortless smile while she gestured him to step inside. “Did you have any trouble finding it?”

He stepped into the entryway and took off his coat. “Not much. Finding the right house number is easier when it’s one per building. You have a nice place.”

She closed the door behind him. “It’s nice, indeed. Comfortable but discreet.”

He took off his coat and scarf and tucked them away in the coat closet. She then guided him into the living room, which had a classy décor with a subtle gothic twist. The dining table was set with plates and cutlery for the two of them and a pleasant aroma emanated from the kitchen, which was hidden from sight in an alcove. Tanya sat down at the far end of the table. “Our dinner should be done in ten minutes or so. Please, take a seat.”

He sat down across from her. “You’re very well prepared.”

She idly wound a lock of auburn hair around her finger. “Did you expect otherwise?”

“No, not at all. I’m just thinking, it’s hard for me to compete with such a charming display.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t invite you here to make you play rooster and try to impress me. You do look nice, I’ll say that. Very stylish.”

He impulsively adjusted the lapel of his blazer. “Thanks. You look beautiful as well.” He did his best not to look down at her enticing cleavage as he said that.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet.” She managed to sound genuinely flattered, even though he was obviously not the first to tell her that. “Would you like a drink? I have a nice red wine we can share.”

“Yes, that sounds great.” He could really use some alcohol to ease his nerves. Her regal charm and beauty put him on edge even more than his date with Emily had done.

She didn’t rise from her seat, but simply continued looking at him with dusky eyes. “I’ve never shown you my magic before, have I? My gift is not very covert, so I can’t use it in public. At least not in broad daylight. Let me show you.”

Right before his eyes, her shadow on the ground shuddered and changed shape, from the silhouette of a curvy woman to a cluster of four arms. Flexible and with no regard for anatomy, they stretched out across the floor and turned the corner into the kitchen. As they moved, they separated from the ground but remained two-dimensional, as if the shadows were cast on an invisible object. It was a bizarre and somewhat unsettling thing to witness. He couldn’t see inside the kitchen, but he heard the clinking of glass and the opening and closing of a fridge. The hands then crept back into the living room, carrying a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew. After setting the items down on the table, the hands collapsed back into Tanya’s normal shadow, leaving no trace of anything strange.

Sam blinked silently for a moment, still processing what he had witnessed. “That’s remarkable. Can you really command them blindly? You don’t need to see your destination?”

“I can feel anything the shadows touch as if they were part of my body. They don’t exert any force unless I want them to, so they can feel around without the risk of knocking anything over.” One of the arm-shaped shadows crawled up over Sam’s leg onto his chest, halted there for a moment, then slunk back down to the floor. He saw it but didn’t feel it at all. “Of course, it helps that I already know the contents of my kitchen.” She picked up the bottle of wine and the corkscrew, and held them out to him. “Do you mind? I may be remarkable but I’m not very strong.”

Sam drilled the screw into the cork and pulled it free with a satisfying pop. He then poured them both a glass. They gently clinked their glasses together as a toast and both took a sip. It was rich and aromatic, probably high in alcohol, just what he needed to ease his nerves. “Hm, that’s good. Kind of a cherry flavour.”

She swirled the wine around inside the glass. “I was thinking lavender, but yes, cherry too.”

There was a moment of silence as they both took another sip. As the sharp aroma of the alcohol permeated his senses, he figured that he should ask the awkward question now that he was still sober. “I have to ask you something. How much of your interest in me has to do with my family?”

She set down her glass and pursed her lips in thought for a moment. “It’s a factor. It would be a nice benefit to change my family name to one with a much more favourable standing. But I know what you’re really asking. Am I just feigning interest to secure a politically beneficial marriage? My answer to that is, if I wanted to charm my way into a marriage with some rich big shot, wouldn’t I have done it already? My family’s reputation gives people halt, but it doesn’t stop them from viewing me as an object of desire. And I am well-aware how desirable I am, for the record. So no, I want a man I actually like. And you, Sam, have only ever been kind and respectful to me, something only few people can claim.”

Sam was impressed by her comprehensive answer. He had imagined that the question might put her on the defensive, but clearly she was more than prepared to answer it. He himself, on the other hand, had trouble thinking of a good response. “You… make a compelling point.”

She smiled and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Since we’re digging up the uncomfortable topics. How do you feel about my family?”

That was a topic he had hoped to avoid, but that he had figured to be inevitable. Tanya was a descendant, a grand-niece specifically, of Natalia Bystruza, a notorious sorceress known for a long history of crime back in the forties and fifties. Not only did she carry the name, but there was a strong familial resemblance as well. It all happened before Sam’s time, but he had seen the old photos and the buxom beauty they depicted was the spitting image of Tanya. Although it was well in the past, the traditionalist wizard community had far from forgotten and seeing a reminder of their darker past in the form of Tanya made many people uncomfortable.

Sam didn’t feel like he had ever treated her differently because of it and he was glad to hear her confirm that. Unfortunately, that wasn’t true for everyone. Some people simply avoided her. Some men courted her insincerely, wanting to get a piece of the forbidden fruit while having no intention of a serious relationship. Some women scorned her, afraid that she might seduce their husbands, as Natalia was known to do. Some people showed her performative pity for her circumstances while still avoiding any lasting association with her. In his limited past interactions with Tanya, he had seen the signs of all these things. And if he had noticed them as an outsider, then they must have been disturbingly common in her everyday life.

Sam took a deep breath as he considered how to respond. “Let’s just say, I’ve always assumed you to be your own woman, not just a product of your family. And so far, you haven’t proven otherwise. All I see when I look at you is a kind and beautiful woman. And that’s all that matters to me.”

She smiled widely as her cheeks flushed red. It was quite a departure from her confident and collected demeanour so far. “Thank you, Sam. That means a lot to me.” She silently looked at him for a long moment. Then she averted her gaze and rose to her feet. “I think our dinner is ready.”

She disappeared into the kitchen, then returned a few moments later, carrying a pot containing a red stew. As she served it onto their plates, she explained that it was beef bourguignon, a personal favourite of hers. When Sam tasted it, the rich flavour made him feel a little less chilly inside.

He was quick to compliment her on her cooking, which she graciously brushed off as no big deal. While they took their time eating the delicious meal, he told her about his job and she told him about hers. She worked as an alchemist for the wizards’ authorities, most commonly brewing potions of forgetfulness for mundanes who had seen the supernatural.

Many employers were hesitant to hire her, given her family reputation, but her expertise was in demand and as long as she worked in an internal position she didn’t pose much of a public relations problem. From that topic they meandered through various others. When they finished their meal, Tanya used her shadowy hands to take the dishes and cutlery away to the kitchen, but they remained seated, still enjoying the wine and each other’s company. Only when they had finished the wine as well was there finally a lull in the conversation.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Tanya leaned forward with her elbows on the table and showed a sultry smile. “So, now that we’ve had our fill of food and talk, would you like to join me in the bedroom?”

In his buzzed state, Sam needed a moment to process that invitation. Was she really saying what he thought she was saying? Of course, he would accept on the implication alone. “Yes, absolutely.”

“Great.” She rose to her feet and walked to the exit of the living room. “It’s right upstairs.”

Sam was about to get up when a problem popped into his head. Was he cheating on Emily by doing this? Being unfaithful was the last thing he wanted, but they hadn’t declared themselves a couple and it didn’t seem like some kissing and cuddling would automatically put them in a relationship. If they had sex, that might be a different story, but they hadn’t. It seemed okay for him to enjoy this.

“Is something wrong?” Tanya asked.

“No, it’s nothing.” He rose to his feet and followed after her.

She led him up the stairs and into her bedroom, giving him a lovely view of her plump ass encased in the snug fabric of her dress as he walked behind her. She turned on the light but turned it down low with the dimmer switch. The curtains were already closed, and the big comfortable bed was neatly made.

After closing the bedroom door behind him, she lovingly wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself close against him, pressing the soft swell of her breasts against his chest. “Here we are, just the two of us,” she purred as she looked up at him with a naughty smile.

“Indeed, we are.” Emboldened by the wine, he placed his hands right on her lovely ass, giving the soft flesh a gentle squeeze.

“Oh, you’re so naughty,” she chuckled. “Come here.”

She leaned in for a kiss and Sam eagerly met her halfway. She hummed contently as her soft, pouty lips were moulded against his own. They both parted their lips and brought forth their tongues, engaging them in a mutual embrace, rubbing and swirling together in a slow, sensual rhythm. While they made out, Tanya’s hands idly caressed his back and sides. Sam kept his hands planted on her ass, gently fondling and squeezing her plump cheeks. Her slick tongue and her soft body were rapidly rousing his cock into a fully erect state.

After a few long minutes of kissing and fondling, she gently pulled away to look up at him with a wide smile and red cheeks. “Enjoying yourself back there?” She swayed her butt left to right, taking his hands with it.

He continued fondling it, too clouded by arousal and intoxication to feel called out. “Yeah. You have a beautiful body, Tanya.”

“I know,” she said with a cocky little smile. “You want to see it all? You’ll have to let me go for a bit.”

“Ooh, a high price to pay. But I’ll concede.” He gave her ass one last loving squeeze before letting go.

She took two steps away from him. It was hard to see in the dim light, but her faint shadow once again transformed into a cluster of hands. She raised up one foot and a shadowy hand pulled off her shoe and set it aside. She raised the other foot, with the same result. Then she lifted both of her arms into the air and a multitude of hands pulled her dress up over her head, then off completely. She was left with a heavy-duty black bra and snug black panties. What he had assumed to be pantyhose were actually thigh-high stockings held in place by a garter belt around her slender waist. One of the shadowy hands unclipped her bra behind her back, while two others slipped the bands off her shoulders, revealing her large breasts, topped with thick pink nipples. Her heavy mounds sagged a little when they were freed from their confines, but only enough to show that they were real. Lastly, the hands pulled down her panties, revealing her cute little slit, decorated by a neat patch of silky auburn pubes.

As her shadowy hands folded up her clothes and tucked them away on a chair, Tanya ran her own hand across the silky material of her stocking. “Should I keep these on? They’re pretty hot, don’t you think?”

Sam was stunned silent by the amount of lovely flesh so suddenly on display. Her heavy breasts, her plump thighs, the inviting little slit between her legs – he wanted to touch it all. “Yes, please do,” he managed to stammer out. “You look… incredible.”

She did a little mock pirouette, showing off her naked body from every angle. “Shall I do the same to you or do you prefer to undress yourself?”

He looked down at his clothes for a moment. As strange of a prospect as it seemed, he couldn’t pass up the experience. “Sure, go ahead.”

The hands snaked towards him across the ground. He couldn’t help but flinch a little, but they turned out to be very gentle as they pulled off his blazer, unbuttoned his shirt, then pulled that off too. He raised up his feet one at a time, prompting the hands to take off his shoes and socks. They unclasped his belt and pulled off his pants, leaving only his boxers, pitching a serious tent. Tanya paused a second there, with a naughty grin on her face. Then the hands pulled down his boxers, causing his erect cock to jump free.

The hands folded up and tucked away his clothing before disappearing back into Tanya’s normal shadow. She took a step closer to him. “You have a nice body too.”

His face turned warm as it flushed with blood. He didn’t feel like much of a match for the beautiful woman standing before him. He felt the urge to cover himself, but he made an effort to act confident. “Thanks. Uhm, may I?” He raised both hands, pointing the palms at her inviting breasts.

“Of course.” She gently shook her breasts left and right. “You can touch me wherever you like.”

He reached out, carefully cupping one large breast in each hand.

She flinched away from his touch. “Ooh! Your hands are cold,” she chuckled.

He quickly withdrew. “Sorry. Recurring problem.”

She took his hands into hers, lacing their fingers together, warming up his palms with her own. “Such is the fate of a frost mage, right?”

He smiled bashfully, feeling embarrassed that his affliction diminished the moment. “Yeah. It’s just the extremities though. I won’t be cold everywhere.”

“I hope so.” She unlaced their fingers and pressed his hands gently against her breasts. The soft flesh bulged out slightly between his fingers as her stiff nipples prodded against his palms. “Because I intend to touch a lot more of you.”

Sam hadn’t thought that he would ever touch such a magnificent pair of breasts. They were too large to neatly cup with one hand, but he palmed as much of the soft flesh as he could, squeezing and kneading her lovely mounds in a circular pattern. While he was fixated on her breasts, Tanya wrapped one hand around his hard cock and started caressing it in a slow, gentle stroking motion. He throbbed and bucked his hips into her grasp, all too eager for her touch. She chuckled softly while reaching down with her other hand to cup his balls, gently fondling them in her palm.

As lovely as her breasts were, he wanted to return the favour. So, he let go of her heavy mounds and trailed his hands down to land on her hips. Clearly aware of his plan, she shifted her stance to part her thighs a little. He reached between them, cautiously running two fingers across her slit. It was warm and slick to the touch. He stroked a little more firmly, gently parting her outer lips to caress the even warmer and wetter folds hidden between them. She hummed softly in approval. He caressed her slick folds a few more times, then gently pushed his two fingers into the snug tunnel beyond, until they were knuckle-deep inside of her.

“Shall I teach you a little trick?” she purred. “Try hooking your fingers, so they point back to you.”

She was clearly more experienced than him, so he quite appreciated the guidance. He did as she instructed, pressing his fingertips against the slick flesh of her tunnel. “Like this?”

She steadily continued her gentle stroking of his cock and balls. “That’s right. Now go down a little. That’s where the G-spot is.”

He pulled his fingers out just a little, tracing the tips along the wall of her pussy. It didn’t feel much different, but her thighs faintly jerked in response. “There?”

She hummed contently as she swayed her hips. “That’s it. Massage that and you’ll drive a girl crazy.”

He did just that, stroking his fingertips against the wall of her pussy in a slow circle. The effect was immediately noticeable, in the form of Tanya releasing a soft, strained moan while her thighs gently squeezed down on his hand. He had broadly known about the G-spot before, but in his limited sexual experience he never had the peace of mind to figure out exactly how to stimulate it. Now that he knew, he was getting quite a kick out of witnessing her pleasure.

“Are you enjoying making me squirm?” she purred playfully.

He realised that he must have had quite a goofy smile on his face. “Yes, I am.”

“You’re such a pervert,” she cooed lovingly before leaning in to kiss him.

They exchanged another lengthy kiss, rubbing their eager tongues together. All the while, she fondled his throbbing cock and aching balls, while he caressed her snug pussy, causing increasing amounts of her warm fluids to drip out across his hand and down her thighs, creating damp spots on her stockings.

Eventually, Tanya pulled away from the kiss and released her grasp on his valuables. “Okay, enough warm-up. I want to taste your cock. Can you sit on the bed for me?”

She didn’t have to tell him that twice. He pulled his fingers from her pussy and took a second to admire how shiny and sticky they had become. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and spread his legs, his cock standing firmly at attention.

Tanya grabbed a pillow off the bed, put it on the floor between his legs, and got down on her knees on top of it. Then she looked down eagerly at his hard cock while idly caressing his thighs with both hands. “Warn me if you’re going to cum, okay?”

He shuffled his butt to get comfortable. “I’ll do my best.”

She leaned in to place a gentle kiss on the sensitive head of his cock, then another on the shaft, then further down the shaft, then a final kiss on his heavy sack. She giggled softly as she looked up at him with a naughty grin. Then she trailed back to the tip and wrapped her lips around the bulbous head. Inside her mouth, she worked her slick tongue all around the head in slow circles, making the sensitive skin slick with her saliva. Sam found himself clawing at the bedsheets as his cock throbbed forcefully from the intense sensation.

After a few circles, she moved down, sliding his cock deeper into the warm, wet confines of her mouth. From there, she started slowly bobbing her head up and down, stroking her soft lips and slick tongue across the shaft and head. She only took it in about halfway at first, but she went a little deeper with every bob. Soon she was taking it all the way inside her mouth when she went down, pushing her nose into his pubes and the tip of his cock into the back of her throat. All the while, she kept eye contact with him, looking up at him with those dark, sultry eyes.

Sam felt stunned by the skilled assault of her mouth on his cock. He kept one hand planted on the mattress, for a sense of stability, while placing the other on the back of her head, running his fingers through her lush auburn hair. From there, all he could do was sit back and enjoy the sensation, although he tried not to surrender to it too much, else he would come in no time. He held on for maybe a few minutes, longer than he had expected but shorter than he had hoped, before he felt the pressure in his loins rising sharply. “Tanya, I’m- Ooh… Almost there.”

As soon as he spoke up, she withdrew his cock from her mouth with one fluid motion. Her lips disengaged from the tip with a soft pop, leaving his cock throbbing forcefully on its own, slick and shiny with her saliva. For a moment he feared that he was going to shoot his seed into the air after all, but then the throbbing gently ebbed away.

He took a deep breath. “That was a close one.”

“Your cock tastes so good.” She placed another kiss on the tip. “I could suck on it for hours and never get bored.”

Her praise made him throb almost as much as her mouth did. “I would gladly let you. But I’m afraid I would blow my load in a matter of minutes.”

“That’s the cruel irony of men, right?” She playfully trailed her tongue along the underside of his shaft. “Blessed with such a beautiful asset but cursed to be unable to use it for long. That’s alright, though. I can suck it again another time. For now, I really want to feel it inside me.”

She rose to her feet and climbed onto the edge of the bed to straddle him. Without hesitation, she took hold of his cock, lined up the tip against the entrance of her pussy, and slowly lowered herself onto it. It was a snug fit, but she was so supple and slick that it slid inside of her easily. Soon her butt touched down on his lap and not even an inch of his cock was left exposed. She hummed contently as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled up close against him, pressing her soft breasts and stiff nipples against his chest. “That feels nice.”

Sam let out a sigh of pure bliss as his cock throbbed against the tight confines of her pussy. He idly ran his hands across her full thighs, enjoying the silky touch of her stockings. “Feels amazing.”

“It’s about to feel even better,” she purred while slowly raising up her body, pulling out a few inches of his cock. Then she slowly moved down again, pushing his shaft all the way back inside.

He grunted softly in pleasure as the sensitive head of his cock stroked against the fleshy tunnel of her pussy. Despite his clouded mind, a question that he should have asked earlier occurred to him. “Tanya, uhm, are you on the pill?”

“No,” she said with a hint of cocky disregard. “We’ll just have to practice our good judgement.” She rode up and down on his cock once again, a little faster this time.

That seemed like a bad idea, but he didn’t have the will to resist her, not now that they had come so far. He said nothing, but his hands trailed up from her thighs to her plump ass, where he grabbed two big handfuls of the soft flesh.

“That’s the spirit,” she purred while pulling closer against him, nestling her head next to his. Wavy strands of her long hair tickled against his neck and shoulder. “Just relax, okay?” she whispered in his ear.

She continued her riding motion, slow and steady at first but gradually speeding up. Without really thinking about it, Sam used his grip on her butt to help her along, lifting her up and plunging her down. Soon, the soft, rhythmic slapping sound of her ass coming down on his lap filled the otherwise quiet bedroom. As she rode him, her breathing gradually became heavier, then became laced with a series of soft moans and gasps that escaped her lips every time she thrust herself down on his cock. His own breathing became heavy as well, his heart beating loudly in his chest from the excitement.

Despite how good it felt, the sheer amount of lubrication allowed him to withstand her luxurious treatment for a few blissful minutes. But soon, sooner than he wished, he felt the pressure in his loins rising. His primal mind told him to say nothing and to blast his seed into her womb, but his rational mind knew better. “Tanya…” he whispered against her ear. “I… I should pull out.”

She continued riding him at the same pace. “No, it’s okay. You can cum inside.”

He let out a soft moan as the pressure in his cock rose further. “But… it’s too risky.”

She sped up the riding motion even more, slapping her ass against his lap more forcefully. He could feel her soft breasts bouncing against his chest with her motions. “I want it. Fill my fertile womb with your seed. Please.”

His cock throbbed forcefully while his heart skipped a beat. Was she really asking him to impregnate her? Here and now, on their first date? That was madness. “We shouldn’t,” he struggled to say, but he made no attempt to stop her. His hands continued gripping her ass, frozen in ecstasy.

“Please,” she moaned in a desperate, breathless voice. “Put a baby in my belly. Please.”

Her pleading voice pushed him over the edge. His entire body tensed up as his ball sack pulled tight. A moment later, his cock throbbed wildly as it released the first blast of sperm deep inside of her. Tanya came down on his lap with a wet slap one last time, then stayed there, holding his cock all the way inside of her as he came. Blast after blast of hot cum spewed from his cock into the depths of her womb, filling her up with his potent seed. It was the longest and hardest orgasm he had experienced in a long time, or maybe ever, but eventually the forceful spurts ebbed down into an oozing trickle. All at once, the tension in his body released and a wave of lethargy washed over him instead.

“Thank you,” Tanya lovingly whispered in his ear. She kissed his neck a few times, then raised herself up off his lap, pulling his tender, half-erect cock free from her pussy. She then crawled onto the middle of the bed and lay down.

Sam took a moment to catch his breath and to clear his jumbled thoughts. When he looked over his shoulder at Tanya, he saw her lying on her back with a content expression on her face and her hair splayed out around her head like a halo. A thick bead of white cum oozed from her pussy and dripped down onto the sheet. He felt a deep, primal satisfaction as he looked at it. As if he had conquered her, made her his. He couldn’t believe that she let him do that. Or rather, made him do that.

He sluggishly crawled onto the bed and lay down next to her. “That wasn’t right, Tanya. We shouldn’t have done that.”

She turned onto her side to face him and looked at him with big, pleading eyes. “What, don’t you want to have a child with me? Don’t you think I would be a good wife to you?”

He took a deep breath, trying to formulate a good answer, but his mind was still scrambled and conflicted. “I do, but… It’s so sudden.”

There was a long silence as the two of them looked at each other. Her pleading expression turned into a bashful one as she averted her eyes. “Hey, uhm,” she said in a voice more sombre than ever before. “I’m sorry for springing this on you. I just… I’m sick of being alone and I really wanted to make sure that you would be mine. But… I can take a morning after pill if you really don’t want this.”

As he looked at her lying there, nude, dishevelled, and with that shameful look on her face, he saw her in a way he never had before. Suddenly, the public persona of the confident temptress was gone and lying next to him was a young woman who just wanted to be loved. A woman who had been spurned her entire life and whose only way to cope was to make herself desirable. It made his heart pound faster, not with lust this time, but with a warm desire to protect and cherish.

“Come here,” he found himself saying while reaching out his arm to wrap around her shoulders. She shuffled in close, pressing her soft, warm body against his side. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and gave her a firm, loving hug. “It’s okay, Tanya. You don’t have to be alone anymore. I’ll be your husband.”

Her lips curled into a timid smile while tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. She frantically wiped them away with the back of her hand. “Thank you, Sam. I swear I’ll be a good wife to you. Together we’ll raise a perfect son or daughter.”

(To be continued...)