Third Time Lucky

He stared out of the window and shook his head. "I seem to have an innate capacity for doing the wrong things."

Caithleen considered all the information she'd just heard. She didn't look at him but stared into her cup while she tried to formulate her thoughts. Then she shook her head and said, "My parents never spoke with me about relationships. But I remember that they would sometimes embrace and kiss, and they never stopped when I came in. It showed me that there was nothing wrong with kissing, even though Joey had to show me how to do it. Are you afraid of women still?"

Leonard passed a hand over his forehead. "I suppose I am in a way," he said. "I never looked at it like that. But it is rather a fear of treating them discourteously..."

He thought about it for a minute.

"I don't know," he said. "It may have been be a kind of self-protection as well. Not getting involved, or trying to, meant no one could reject me either. I'm trying to overcome that fear. I'm not exactly looking after number one, but I don't want to find myself in a situation in which I've got no influence on what happens to me either again.

"Maybe I should have told you this on that last evening; but I really enjoyed your company so much that I wanted to keep things unsullied, at least for the duration of our trip, and not show myself as wholly inadequate. Oh well."

He rested his head on his hand and stared out of the window, without seeing anything out there.

"So what's next? Shall we take a walk around and find somewhere to have lunch, or do you want me to go?"

"So that's what you meant by you barren heart," Caithleen said. "I'm famished. Do you know a good place for lunch here, too?"

They got up and put on their coats; then Caithleen held out her hand. Leonard took it and looked into her eyes for a moment.

Caithleen shook her head. "Don't you think you're putting too much blame on yourself? Life is a hard taskmaster and teaches its lessons through trial and error. I've found that out too late myself. I've had my fair share of self-reproach, too. But I'm happy you've got no guilty secrets I couldn't live with, and I hope you're not too shocked about mine. Let's go and explore the town after lunch, and talk of cabbages and kings. Oh, and there is a music shop that sells a lot of sheet music. So if you still want to play..."

Leonard grinned at her. "Super," he said.

After a very nice ploughman's lunch with a pint of bitter in a local pub they found out about the town. They visited the church, which was nice but unexceptional, and they went to the local museum, which was a complete waste of time. Then they went to a couple of shops and bought a collection of renaissance compositions for lute and recorder, and after having decided which pieces to practise they decided to get together at Caithleen's place the following Saturday and play.

Caithleen drove back home thinking of Leonard's story, and of the fun they had had afterwards. It was totally unnecessary for him to worry - but then she realised that one could say that about her problems, too. She had enjoyed her day with him very much; he was really nice, and she felt moved by him. She was looking forward to their music session. Then she thought about her first time with Joey, and she slowly broke into a mischievous grin. If she could repeat the spirit of that day...

The intervening week lasted far too long. Caithleen didn't have her mind on her work, and she kept changing her plan of attack and doing away with it altogether and making new ones instead...

On Wednesday evening Roseanne came by.

"How did your date work out?" she asked. "He's not like Fred?"

"On the contrary. He may prove somewhat too considerate, and I think he's quite inexperienced. I'll love to teach him."

"What did you wear?"

"My old t-shirt. It was a real hit - with both of them," she said. "Len and Joey."

Roseanne raised her eyebrows.

"I'll show you," Caithleen said, and she produced the album and showed her the inside of the gatefold sleeve.

"Oh, wow," Roseanne said. "Is the music nice, too?"

Caithleen played a couple of tracks for her, and Roseanne decided she liked a few of them. "But most of them are too loud," she said.

On Saturday morning Caithleen felt a little agitated again. Would it really be alright for her to make him sleep with her? But when the doorbell rang and she saw Leonard standing there with the lute case strapped to his back her qualms disappeared completely. He looked even more at ease than he had in Russia, she thought.

They had some G&T together, and then they took their instruments. Leonard tuned his lute, and then they started to play. It took a moment to adjust their tempi, and to get the balance right - Leonard was inclined to play too much piano - but then they got going. They really loved playing together; and the sounds they produced usually really amounted to music. After each piece they grinned at each other and discussed what had gone wrong.

At one o'clock they had played all the pieces they had practised.

"Time for lunch," Caithleen said.

"Can I take you out for some food?"

"Tonight, yes please. But I have a nice lunch in the microwave, so let's have that first."

They went into the kitchen together. Cathleen adjusted the microwave and turned it on, and then she looked at Leonard. "I really enjoyed that," she said. "And now, if you still mean your poem, I could do with a kiss."

Leonard blushed. "No kidding?" he said.

"Come," Caithleen said. "Don't waste any time!"

Leonard looked at her as if he expected her to come to him, but she just stood and smiled, and then he remembered their previous conversation and took a grip on himself. He stepped over to Caithleen and took her into his arms.

"Ahh, finally!" she said - and then they said nothing any more until the microwave started beeping. They broke their kiss and Caithleen smiled at him.

"Not too bad, boy," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Let's have lunch."

Blushing but happy Leonard sat down at the kitchen table. Caithleen took the dish to the table and they tucked into their food hungrily. I hope he'll hurry up a bit, she thought. I can't wait.

After lunch they put everything on the sink. Then Caithleen put her hands on Leonard's shoulders. "You know," she said, "when I first made love to Joey, he had to teach me how to do it; but I had to get him to comply, first. I want to repeat that with you."

She slipped her hands under his shirt and kissed him for a moment. "I like sex," she said, looking into his eyes. "But not just with anyone; only with someone really special. But then there must be no bars and then I don't want to be put on a pedestal or treated like a late medieval idol."

She took his nipples between her fingers. "I want to be treated like a woman; like a grown-up woman who knows what she likes, and who expects her partner to like it, too. Are you willing to try?"

Leonard nodded. "I am," he said. "But please don't be angry if I do it wrong..."

"Oh, Leonard," she said. "Come on; you couldn't do things wrong. Just try and follow your instinct - please?"

He nodded again. The palms of his hands were clammy with perspiration.

"Let me be your seductress now, and I'll be your saint later. Come, we'll go upstairs."

She took him to her bedroom. He went in and stood in the middle of the carpet, looking at her with a mixture of desire, love and anxiety.

"I'd like you to undress me first," she said.

He came up to her and began to take off her clothes - shirt, t-shirt, socks and shoes, trousers... then he stopped.

"Please," she said. "I'm not naked yet. You can unhook my bra at the back."

Leonard put his arms around her and undid her bra. She felt how moist his hands had become and realised it must be quite an effort for him. She appreciated his making it.

"And my panties," she ordered.

He looked at the piece of clothing for a moment; then he pulled it down her legs.

He didn't dare look at her; instead he looked at the floor.

"Oh Leonard," she said again. "I wish you would look at me! I'm not that horrible, aren't I?"

He looked at her face. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Please," she said. "Please."

She pushed out her chest and took his hands, and when she'd felt his eyes on her for a little time she put his hands on her breasts.

"Feel me, please," she said. "Stroke me, pinch me if you like, but do something!"

Leonard finally understood. He stroked her body with trembling hands, and touched her breasts almost reverently.

Caithleen swallowed the question she had on the tip of her tongue. Instead she put her lips on his and when he hesitantly ventured to touch her mouth with his lips she sucked him into her mouth. Then she unbuttoned his shirt and released the catch of his trousers. She felt for his cock and found him half erect.

"When was the last time you masturbated?" she asked while she removed his clothes.

"Er... I don't know really. A fortnight ago?"

She nodded. She didn't want him to feel inadequate with her, and so she decided to take him in her mouth first.

"Would you lie down on the bed?" she asked.

Leonard lay down and Caithleen looked at him. He had a nice body. He didn't look like Fred but rather like an older version of Joey, and he looked at her a little anxiously. She gave him a wide smile and lay down beside him with her head on his groin and her legs at his head.

"I'd like to take you in my mouth," she said, looking steadily into his eyes. "Is that ok with you?"

He bit his lower lip and nodded.

"Good," she said with a smile. She sat up for a moment and bent over to kiss him. "You look nice," she said, "and you feel nice, too. I'm glad you're here with me, and you don't have to worry. Making love can be really great."

She lay back again and touched his cock. She wrapped her fingers around him and moved them down towards his crotch, and laid bare the tip. She looked at his face for a moment, and he smiled at her. Good, she thought, hopefully he'll forget his nerves. Then she bent down over his crotch, took the head of his penis into her mouth and began playing with it with her tongue.

Leonard finally allowed himself to relax. He had never thought the feeling could be so fantastic, and he heaved a deep sigh of happiness. "My sweet seductress," he said, "This is lovely." He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate better on the feeling of her tongue and mouth, and the sensations of her hands doing things to his balls and shaft. When he opened them again and looked down he saw Caithleen smile at him.

She stopped for a moment. "Making love is nice, isn't it?" she said. "Why don't you try and touch me?"

She resumed her activities without waiting for an answer. She liked his taste, and doing it this way certainly drove her bad experience from her mind. Then she felt Leonard's hand stroke her pubic hair. She grinned round his cock and opened her legs. She looked at his face for a moment and found he was looking at her crotch with a deep blush. But he didn't look tense, and he put his hand over her pussy and moved it back and forth a little.

"You can use your fingers if you like, or your tongue..." she said.

Leonard took the hint. He used both hands to part her inner labia and then touched the soft skin within with a fingertip. He loved the feeling, and explored the texture of the various parts, while he took in their shapes and colours, and he felt rather overwhelmed by her smell.

"Can I touch all of it?" he said.

"Oh please, yes!"

He rubbed her clitoris, slightly hesitantly, with an index finger. Caithleen's body reacted violently, and when he put his face between her legs and kissed her there she came hard.

She moaned for joy around his cock, and Leonard, who had been hovering on the brink, shot all the come he'd built up straight into her mouth. He tasted quite different than Joey - but she liked the taste alright.

When Leonard had stopped coming she turned around and lay down next to him, and she swung one leg over his thighs. She took his head in her hands and looked at him. He smiled happily at her.

"You're really lovely," he said, "and you've just lain my ghosts -- practically all of them. You're wonderful."

"You've lain a couple of mine, too," she said. "Let's talk for a moment, and then I'll try and get you hard again."

She put his hand on her breast, and cupped his balls in her hand.

"Roseanne has a friend whom she sees every other weekend or so," she said. "She's happy with that; they love each other and their jobs are not helpful to arrange things differently. But I think I wouldn't want that."

She rolled his balls softly, then she let go of them and put her hand between his ass cheeks.

"If you are serious with me I want us to be together. I've been alone too long; I don't want to wait for you for twelve days only to see you for a day and a half. What do you think?"

"My job isn't bound to Loughborough - that is, I would have to go there now and then, but only occasionally, really. So I could move here. Are you sure you don't want to think about it a little longer?" He twinkled at her. "You might get to know me for the brute I am."

"Oh, but in that case I'll fight you - and I'll certainly win!"

She quickly sat up astride of him and took his arms and pinned them down next to his shoulders.

"You see? There is nothing you can do about it, and I'm going to fuck you, whether you want me to or not."

She leant over him and bit his nose. Then she blew him a kiss, and raised her bum. She looked down between her legs at his cock, that had grown very hard again, and she tried to position herself over it. She wiggled her hips until she felt him touch her slit.

"So there!" she said, and slowly impaled herself on his cock. She looked at him with a pout and slowly shook her head. "Shall I kiss you or had I better be strict?"

"You're a monster," Leonard said with a big grin. "But I think I'd like you to kiss me, if you don't mind."

He tried to move his pelvis upwards and flexed and unflexed the muscles at the base of his cock, and then Caithleen sank down over him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed every part of his face she could reach.

"I don't mind," she said in between kisses. "I have wanted to do this with you for a long time -" She lifted her hips and lowered them again - "and it's high time you had a real lover, too."

She fell into a slow, loving rhythm and clamped her mouth on Leonard's. She stroked his hair and he found her nipples with his hands. Their tongues intertwined and they looked into each other's eyes, to find a look of happiness and their own reflection, and a promise that would be entirely fulfilled in the years to come.

Leonard pushed his hips up to meet her at every stroke. He felt completely at ease with her now, and as he'd already come a short time before he wasn't afraid he wouldn't last.

"Making love is nice indeed," he said with some difficulty. "But that's absolutely because of you."

"Hush now," Caithleen said. She resumed their kiss, and Leonard put his arms round her back. He fondled her bottom with one hand, and played with her hair with the other, while Caithleen rode him faster until her hips almost bounced up and down. She kept it up for quite some time, and then she raised herself. Sitting up straight she steadied herself with one hand and felt for his hand with the other, and she slammed down on him so hard the bed shook.

"Leonard," she said - and then she closed her eyes as her orgasm hit her, and she slumped down on top of him; she had to move her hips just a few more times to make her lover come as well.

They lay silent for a considerable time, looking at and fondling each other. Eventually Caithleen sat up.

"Well," she said. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"I've never felt so happy in my life before," Leonard said. "You are fantastic. Thank you so much for having me."

He sat up, too, and held out his hands, and she took them and held them tight.

"Let's get dressed and play our pieces again, and you may take me out for dinner after that," she said. "And then we can lay some more ghosts tonight!"