Sibling Rivalry

She counted it as a win when Dad announced he and Jan were retiring for the night, and suggested the kids either go out for a drink or watch a video in the front room. Before Cornelia could announce that she didn't want Penny joining her and her man anywhere, Penny said, "I've got a novel I've been trying to finish. I'll stay in."

Cornelia, who had indeed been about to say just what Penny had anticipated, smiled through her irritation at not being able to get her digs in at her sister. "Then I guess it's just us, Eric?"

"Yeah, there's a great margarita bar down the way I've been wanting to try," Eric said.

Cornelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, I hate that place."

"Well, if you'd rather play Monopoly or watch some old movie..."

"Margaritas it is," Cornelia conceded. While Penny was gathering up the last of the dinner dishes to wash, Cornelia hugged her father. "Thanks for the shrimp. We'll try to keep it down when we get back."

"So long," Eric said, making eye contact with Penny and Jan as he did. Neither of them betrayed any surprise or discomfort at the fact that Cornelia ignored them.

Penny could see what was up. "Dad, why don't you let me clean up?"

"Thank you, sweetheart." He kissed her cheek good-night.

"Night, Penny!" Jan said.

"Good night!" she said over her shoulder as she turned on the hot water. Her smile was genuine, as she thought her father couldn't have done any better. What a shame that Cornelia couldn't be happy for him - hadn't she won the war in every way already? But Penny refused to waste any more thoughts on her detested sister as she got down to business cleaning up the kitchen.

"Jan, I'm sorry the girls weren't more polite," Penny's father said as soon as they were at the top of the stairs. "It's just been so hard on them, losing their mother."

"Larry, that's twice now you've said that about both of them," Jan pointed out as gently as she could. "And Penny didn't say a single unpleasant word to me."

"I guess I'm just so used to those two fighting about everything, it's a kneejerk reaction," Larry said. "Sorry."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to," Jan said. "But enough about that. Listen, if it's too soon for you, or if it feels too strange with your daughters in the house..."

"It's not and it doesn't," Larry said. "Now, if you don't want to do it..."

"Perish that thought!" Jan tore off the never-buttoned shirt and gave him an eyeful of her in her swimsuit before wrapping him in a fond embrace. "I've been dying to for weeks, to tell you the truth! I just didn't want to push you after what you went through with Linda."

"I miss her, but I'm so glad she's out of her misery," Larry said. "And we always said, if one of us went first, the other ought to be happy as soon as they felt up to it."

"Do you feel up to it, Larry?" Jan unbuttoned his shorts and reached inside. "Oh, sure enough, you are up!"

"Yes, and feeling like I'm a blushing virgin again!" Larry said. "For twenty-nine years there was no one but Linda, you know. Sorry if I'm out of practice."

"I'll be happy to give you some practice, if you'd help me out of my suit!" Jan gave Larry a pert smile, and he obediently pulled the straps of her swimsuit down.

Jan's fiftysomething breasts were still beautiful, and his appreciative caresses on them felt beautiful to both of them. Though she was ready to be fully relieved of her swimsuit, Jan was too delighted with his touch to complain. She leaned in and their lips met, and she was glad not to have to tell him just how long it had been since they'd been played with. Right then she didn't care anyway. As she moaned lightly with his delicious touch, she finished pulling his shorts and boxers down, and gave his hardness an appreciative squeeze.

"Oof, feels great!" Larry said, and at last he pushed Jan's swimsuit all the way down over her hips. He couldn't resist a quick look up and down her body, which she more than welcomed with a girlish laugh. "Nothing like that first look, is there?" she asked in a knowing whisper.

"For women, too?"

"Of course!" She hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt, and he took both her hands in his as she stepped back for her own once-over. Once that was done with, she leapt at him and they tumbled onto the bed.

If Larry had any lingering concerns about his ability to please a woman anymore, Jan did away with them instantaneously as they kissed passionately and explored every inch of one another's body. He hung back for some time from reaching between her legs, but when he finally did so he found she was more than ready. "Here," she grunted, and she reached for her purse on the bedside table. She drew out a tube of lubricant and unscrewed it.

"You came prepared," he said, holding his open hand for her.

"I was a girl scout, a very long time ago!" She grinned at him and, after capping the tube, she sat back and opened her legs wide for him.

Jan's vagina was the first new-to-him one in nearly three decades, and the thrill of rubbing the lube into it and feeling his fingers so tenderly enveloped was just as electrifying as he recalled from his youth. The only thing more thrilling in that moment was Jan's own delighted response. "Oh, Larry, so nice! Put your cock in me! Now!"

Larry did not need to hear that order twice.

As soon as Jan had him locked tightly in her thighs, Larry was aware of nothing but her wonderfully guttural directives. The prim, poised professor was barely a memory as Jan scratched at his sides and hips and egged him on. "Do it! Gimme that cock! Ram it into me! Make me feel it!" Again and again he did just that, his mouth gaping with each thrust as he looked on in amazement at the middle-aged woman he knew and loved. She seemed half her age, and in that wonderfully filthy moment, he felt the same.

Having had only his right hand for company all through his wife's illness and since then, Larry wasn't at all sure he could bring Jan off - and in light of how much she was obviously enjoying the moment, he also wasn't sure he wanted to. So he was almost relieved when she grunted, "Come with me!"

"Now?"

"Faster, faster!" she slapped his hip, and he flailed at her as fast as he could go. With each short breath, Jan's grunting became more and more intense. When he was expecting her to hit her highest note, instead she went quiet and threw her arms tightly around him and pulled him down onto her. Imagining what she was feeling at that moment was all he needed to come as well. He kissed her triumphantly, and they were silent for a moment.

"Did I mention," Jan finally asked, "I have a pretty big mouth in bed?"

Larry laughed. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Jan. It was a nice surprise."

"I'm sure it was a surprise. I've heard that enough times before. But you're not running for the hills, so..."

"So I'm more glad than ever I invited you here to meet the girls. They'll warm up to you, you know."

"I think Penny already has."

"Well, I meant..."

Jan put a finger to his lips. "Larry, I know what you meant. But tell me, why do you keep referring to both of the girls with anything negative when it's really just Cornelia? I know it's none of my business, but it's getting pretty hard to ignore."

"Well, Penny was always so easy to wind up. We always told her, if only she'd ignore Cornelia it'd stop, but she never listened.

"Oh, Larry."

"What?"

Jan shook her head. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." She kissed him and rolled over. "Good night."

In the morning, Eric lingered behind the chimney for so long Penny turned off the water while he was still there. With a jolt Eric realized he might not have time to get back to Cornelia's room before Penny opened the bathroom door, and he concluded his best bet was to stay right where he was until Penny was back in her room. That, of course, did give him an excuse to watch as Penny patted herself dry, as well as to see her majestic bush dry for the first time. It was just as magnificent as he'd imagined and he knew he'd never lose his hard-on before he finally got back to Cornelia, but he didn't care. Hadn't she been the one to invite him to do this the first time? Watching Penny support each breast with one arm while drying under it with the other hand didn't do him any favors in that department either, but he enjoyed every last second of it.

As Penny turned out the bathroom light, a horrible thought occurred to Eric: what if she went to Cornelia's room and noticed he wasn't there? For three endless seconds he told himself she would never do that - didn't they both avoid talking to each other any more than they really had to?

On that at least, he was right. As he flattened himself against the chimney, he heard the wonderful sound of Penny's bare feet on the carpet as she returned straight to her own room. As soon as he heard the door shut, he crept out into the now-empty hallway and rushed back to Cornelia's room.

In the heat of the moment, Eric had forgotten he'd let his dick out of his shorts. He remembered when Cornelia looked up at him and burst out laughing. "Welcome back, both of you!" she squealed.

Eric looked down. "Oh my God..."

"You just remember which sister brought you here, right, Eric?"

"Yeah, of course, babe."

"Now put that away and let's go get some breakfast. We don't want to miss Joe getting here, do we?"

Lest she lose her nerve again, Penny put the blue bikini on and wore only a long t-shirt over it. As she headed up the stairs, she wondered if her father had found the cookie cutters he used to use for making pancakes on special occasions. The star was always her favorite, with the crispy points.

Arriving at the top of the stairs, she saw he had. "Two stars for you to start, Penny?" he asked.

"Oh, you remember!" Penny hugged him like the little girl she felt like for the moment, and took a seat at the table. "Yes, please."

"Your father didn't tell me he was so good at making breakfast!" Jan declared.

"We used to joke that he only knew how to make pancakes," Penny said, passing over in silence that he'd learned to cook just about everything else in the past couple of years, when her mother could no longer do it. "But yes, he was always great at those."

Larry turned around and set two more plates on the table - hearts for Cornelia and plain unshaped pancakes for Eric - and then sat down to sip his coffee. Only when he did that did Penny chance to notice how utterly happy he looked, for the first time since Mom had died. She was just about to comment on that when she realized what must have happened last night to make it that way, whereupon she contented herself with a conspiratorial woman-to-woman smile at Jan. Sure enough, she had the glow too.

For once, Cornelia and Eric's appearance was welcome. "Hi Dad...oh, geez, heart pancakes?!" She flopped down ungratefully before her plate.

"They're your favorite, honey!"

"When I was a child," Cornelia grumbled. But she did tuck into the pancakes.

"They look good to me," Eric said.

"That's 'cause yours are normal!" But Cornelia showed no willingness to exchange plates.

Penny wasn't sure when Cornelia caught on to what she had just noticed about Dad and Jan. But she definitely did, for as soon as Dad and Jan had excused themselves for a day of sightseeing in town, Cornelia let out a bloodcurdling "Ewwwwww!"

Eric did not catch on. "What, the pancakes weren't that bad just because they were heart-shaped."

Penny laughed. "No, Eric, she's upset because Dad and Jan made love last night."

"Aren't you, Penny? And how did you even notice? You're the most imperceptive person I know...wait, you spied on them?!"

Penny shook her head and turned to Eric, who she was sure had heard all about the crack in the bathroom wall - maybe he'd even peeked at her, but she chose not to care. "What do you think, Eric? Should people stop living in their fifties? I don't intend to."

"Me neither," Eric said. "But if you don't mind my asking, Penny, how did you notice?"

"The same way Cornelia did. Dad looked really happy this morning."

"You haven't answered me, Penny," Cornelia went on. "Did you spy on them or not?"

Penny laughed and once again refused to dignify the question with a response. Before Cornelia could take another verbal swing at her, the doorbell rang.

Eric jumped up. "That must be Joe," he said. Cornelia got up to follow him to the front door. It was indeed Joe, Penny heard, as Cornelia squealed his name and Eric threw in a "Hey, man".

Penny, knowing no one else would, began gathering up the dishes to wash. Though she planned to be polite with the unwelcome guest, she was just as happy to leave Cornelia and Eric's friend to them.

So she wasn't even looking up from the sink when the trio appeared in the kitchen doorway. But she did look up politely when Eric said, "Penny? This is our buddy, Joe."

Penny turned around, and all at once she forgot her plan to keep her distance. Joe was gorgeous. His angular face was attractive enough to begin with, but Penny's attention was drawn to his muscular arms and legs and his tight t-shirt, which looked like he could have poured himself into it. Hastily she dried her hands off on the dish towel to shake his hand, wishing she'd come to breakfast wearing only her bikini.

Joe was as polite as he was beautiful. "Pleased to meet you, Penny," he said. "Eric and Neeli have told me so much about you."

"And still you're glad to meet me," Penny quipped with a smile, enjoying a long look in his dark brown eyes.

Joe laughed. "They told me you were funny! So they got one right, anyway."

"It's a start," said Penny, who did not believe for a second that they had told him any such thing. "So are you going to join us going down to the beach today? I haven't been in the water yet and I'm dying to."

"Aw, don't push him, Penny, he just got off a plane," Eric said. "Dude, if you want to take a nap first..."

"Nah, the beach sounds great," Joe said, and Penny was delighted to see him flash a look at her as he said it.

"Well, if you want to, that's fine," Cornelia said, hooking her arm through Eric's. "Eric and I were just on our way to stake out some space for our blanket. Penny, can you wait behind for him?"

"Certainly," Penny said. "Just tell me, before you go, what did you reset the combination to?"

"What combination?"

"To the back door, silly." Years earlier their parents had installed a combination lock so they would never need to bring keys to the beach. The combination had always been Mom and Dad's anniversary date; Penny had no doubt Dad had insisted on changing it, and it would be just like Cornelia to take charge of doing so and lie to him that she had informed Penny of the change.

"I didn't change it!" Cornelia said, with the coy grin Penny knew so well.

"Oh, good," Penny said. "Before we go, let's just make sure Dad didn't change it."

"Of course he didn't! God, you're paranoid!"

But when Penny stepped outside, keeping one foot between the door and the jamb, and entered her parents' anniversary, sure enough, it didn't work. "I'm not paranoid if you really are out to get me, sis," Penny said. "Now what did you change it to?"

"You have no sense of humor, Penny. It's my birthday."

"Your birthday is in...oh, you mean the new combination is your birthday?" Penny entered that and it worked.

"Come on, Eric," Cornelia said, grabbing his hand. "Let's go get a spot on the sand. She probably doesn't trust us to do that either."

"Well, that was rude," Joe said as soon as they were gone. "She's always like that with her gal pals, too, but I figured with her own family..."

"Believe me, I'm used to it," Penny said. "Listen, if you want to shower before we join them?"

"That'd be great!" Joe said. "I'm feeling pretty grungy from the plane. I hate overnight flights."

"Me too." Penny led him downstairs. "I guess you'll be sleeping on the couch, but you can change in my room if you want. I'll be upstairs."

"Thanks." Joe dropped his overnight bag just inside Penny's bedroom door, and she handed him a towel from the linen closet.

As soon as Joe had shut himself in the bathroom, Penny returned to her room and collected her beach bag, which she had already packed before breakfast. She took her shirt off and tossed it in the bag, and didn't dare look at her reflection in the mirror in her bikini; she did not want to lose her nerve now.

She knew she shouldn't, but there was no point in even trying to resist. On her way back to the stairs, Penny took a detour behind the chimney. Years before she'd overheard Cornelia and her partner in crime Kasie snickering about the view. Cornelia most likely still didn't know Penny was aware of it. Though she'd been back there to see for herself that spying on people in the shower was possible, she'd never done so before.

But they'd never had a guest like Joe before.

Joe's chest was just as toned and shapely as she'd imagined. His penis, emerging from a thatch that rivalled her own, was soft for the moment, but thick and very inviting. Penny swished her legs and wasn't surprised to feel her bikini bottom was a little wet.

She could have gazed at him all day, but it wouldn't do to have him find her still downstairs when he finished his shower. So Penny went upstairs and settled herself on the couch, and did her best to focus on a magazine her father had left on the table. She was sorely tempted to pull aside her gusset and rub off a quick one before Joe came upstairs, but the prospect of trying to tuck all her pubic hair back into her suit with little time and no mirror kept her in line - barely.

Joe's bemused grin when he appeared in the kitchen doorway was a more than satisfactory consolation prize. Feeling no embarrassment at all, Penny stood up to give him a better look. "Ready for the beach?"

"Yes, and I see you are too," Joe said. "Sorry, I don't mean to stare or anything."

"It's fine!" Penny said. "If I didn't want you to see me like this, I'd have kept my t-shirt on." Already immensely enjoying the mild intimacy, she kept the conversation right where it was. "To tell you the truth, it's my first time ever in a two-piece. I figured I'd better get used to it in private before I go public."

"It does take some getting used to, going mostly bare in public, doesn't it? But you're gonna knock 'em dead," Joe said. "Let's go."

"You're sweet," Penny said, opening the door. "And you're right, it does take some getting used to."

"I ought to know," Joe said. "I don't know if Eric or Neeli told you, I was on the swim team all four years in college. I love swimming but I never did get used to everyone in the audience seeing me in a Speedo."

"Really?" Penny couldn't help herself - how could someone in such great shape feel shy about his body? "I mean, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Sorry. And no, I'm afraid Eric and Cornelia didn't tell me much of anything about you. I wish they had."

Joe laughed. "What do you mean, really? You think guys are never shy about their bodies?"

"My bad," Penny confessed. It was as good an excuse as any, and it wasn't far from the truth. "Makes perfect sense now that I think of it, though."

"Just remember, everyone else out here has their own insecurities," Joe said. "Or you could try my trick and imagine the audience are all naked."

Penny laughed so hard she finally began to feel guilty about having spied on Joe. Of course, she reasoned, he'd be welcome to see her naked too any time he liked. But there was no way to pursue that goal for the moment with Eric and Cornelia at hand.

The beach wasn't very crowded since summer was weeks away, and they'd had no trouble staking out a choice spot ten feet or so above the high-tide line. As they approached, Penny braced herself for another nasty comment from Cornelia; but to her surprise, there wasn't one. "Here's what you get for showing up early, huh?" was all she said.