My sister-in-law is here.

I can see her coming a mile off. Her Range Rover throws up a column of dust, reminding me of a tornado ripping through my idyllic little valley. She stops in front of the house and steps out.

Lilah looks up from her book to gaze through the window. She doesn't know, and I don't have the heart to tell her.

Setting eyes on Gloria is like seeing a ghost. She's not only my departed wife's sister—she's her identical twin sister. Ten years of aging has only made meeting her more unnerving. She is no longer a mirror image of the Grace in my mind; I remember her on summer days, an eternal thirty, a pleasant memory covering darker reminisces of a pale skeleton in a hospital bed, drawn and thin from months of weight loss as the disease ravaged her body.

Gloria is her sister as she would have been. Except for their totally opposite personalities.

The boys know she's here. I can hear them descending behind me as she opens the door.

"Why do you make me drive out to the ass end of nowhere?" she demands, her voice like a whip on my soul. So similar but so different. "I think I'm going to choke to death on this dust. Will you invite me in, or not?"

I stand to the side and let her enter. She takes three steps in and locks her eyes on Lilah, who sits curled on the couch in a loose T-shirt and leggings.

"Is this the nanny?"

Lilah bristles, her eyes fiery hot, but remains silent. For a moment she looks like the mousy girl she was when she walked in my office only a week ago. Then she turns away, more interested in her sketching than my in-law.

"Not exactly," I admit.

Gloria gives me a sharp, judging look, and for a brief instant I see Grace in her face. It makes it difficult for all of us, having my wife's doppelganger walking around while we try to move on. I can only imagine her pain every time she looks in the mirror. Half of her must be missing.

"Boys!" she bellows. "Let's get going."

Tim runs down first, wearing a backpack. Jason follows, looking sullen as usual. Gloria ushers the two outside. "You'll pick them up in a week?"

"Next Friday," I confirm. "Big day on Monday."

She nods. "Right then. I'll be in touch."

"Take good care of them."

"I will," she sighs.

Gloria disappears through the door. I watch, arms, folded, through the window as she loads them into her lumbering luxury SUV and climbs inside to kick up dust as she wheels it around.

A slow breath escapes, and a cold sense of dread washes in behind it. Relations between us are not exactly cordial. Grace would want her sister to have time with her children, and Gloria keeps the peace. That doesn't make me feel any better.

Lilah slips up behind me and teases her fingers up my sides before she slips her arms around me. That does make me feel better. She leans into my back and breathes deep. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. I've done this before."

"So we're together all week. Alone."

I turn, pulling her around to face me. She flops her head on my chest and squeezes her arms tight around my ribs. Listening to my heart, I realize. I feel ashamed that my cock is already swelling, going hard at holding her. I draw her hair away from her neck and caress the hollow of her shoulder with my thumb, pushing the wide neck of her shirt down to expose more skin. I like this look. It would be a shame to peel all this off her.

"I have some phone calls to make," I admit.

"I was hoping you'd tear my clothes off as soon as your sister-in-law got to the end of the driveway."

I finger the hem of her shirt and think about doing exactly that. Instead I kiss her and guide her aside with my hands on her waist, and head for my study. "I won't be long."

After Aiden disappears into his work, I head upstairs. I've spent a yawny morning reading on the couch in the sunlight, and now I feel an urge to stretch out a little so I don't fall asleep. I need some exercise.

While it's not as bad as the city would be, it's turned hot. It's already in the low eighties and will get warmer through the day. I don’t want to be sitting inside all day.

It would be nice to get outside. Get some sun, some air. The air here is so lovely, so fresh and clean, so I strip and pull on a bathing suit.

Outside, the hot concrete around the pool burns my feet.

Everything is hot. Even the deck chair is too hot when I lie back against it. I squirm in the heat, opening my eyes now and then to look at the pool. If I just go in the narrow end, it won’t really be swimming. I’ll just be getting wet. There’s a raft. I can just float around on that. It’s totally survivable, and I won’t drown or be eaten by a teleporting pool shark.

Before I know it I’m dipping my feet in.

The shock of the water is just on this side of too much before I get used to it. I pull myself up onto a raft and float across the pool, bending at the waist so cool water swirls over my lap as the hot sun tastes the moisture from my arms. It’s the right mix of hot and cool with water lapping over my waist and my arms and legs hanging over the sides.

I drift across the water until the sun's warmth is too much and start to drift off into a half-sleep, mumbling when my closed eyes face the sun and a white lance jerks me awake before I drift off again.

I don't wake next until movement in the water shakes me out of my dull half-sleep. Aiden has changed into swim trunks and stands on the edge of the pool, silhouetted against the sun like a statue of a god. I look over and savor the way his gaze skims over my skin. He’s imagining peeling my bathing suit off, and he’s so obvious about it I can feel ghostly fingers on my skin.

As if it wouldn’t make it any more obvious, he’s hard as a rock.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you in the pool.”

He walks around, closer to me. I kick my feet, drifting back towards the shallow end.

“Don’t you dare jump on me.”

“Why would I do that?” he says innocently.

“To knock me off the raft so you have an excuse to grope me.”

“Why are you even on a raft if not to bait me?”

“If you jump on me you’ll be baiting yourself, Aiden.”

I flick a handful of water at him and use my hands to push away, drifting toward the shallow end.

Aiden steps closer, humming the theme from Jaws. He’s still closer to the deep end.

“You never had a pool growing up?”

I shake my head. “Like my father would spend money on that.”

“All that money, and what does he do with it?”

“Buy his daughter implants.” I sigh. “Or try to, anyway.”

“I’m glad you refused. Tampering with your breasts would be a crime against humanity. Any surgeon that looked at you and said anything but ‘she’s perfect’ should have his license pulled.”

“You flatter me.”

“I lull you into a false sense of security. Then I do this.”

“Do what?”

“CANNONBALL!” he bellows, darting forward.

He leaps, tucking and rolling into the pool. A splash rockets into the air, and a wave of water surges towards me, rolling the raft. I hold on as I tilt back, but when the wave rolls under and I fall the other way, I splash into the water and slam beneath the surface.

Just put your feet down. Just put your feet down.

I throw my head above water as I stand, stumbling to keep my balance as the water flowers around me.

“You jerk!” I scream.

Aiden grabs me around the waist and kisses me, and the sun grows hotter on my skin as I start to bead with sweat. His lips are warm and soft, but he sucks so hard it pinches my skin, and I yelp as he leaves little marks on my shoulder.

He opens his mouth over my breast, sucking the water from the fabric of my swimsuit as he runs his fingers over my sex. Buoyant in the water, I let my feet leave the bottom to bring my lips to his. For a brief moment I feel as tall as he is.

His hands are everywhere. Aiden stretches the seat of my swimsuit to cup my ass, squeezing the muscle in his hand as he kisses me. His arm comes under my neck, and he pulls me off the raft. I twist in the water and stand in front of him.

"How about some skinny dipping?" I whisper, pulling on his shorts.

He nips my ear and rolls his hips, encouraging me. I tug his trunks down, and he steps out of them. They rise to the surface and float away, leaving him naked.

Aiden's ass is pure, hard muscle, but his skin is soft there. That's about the only thing about him that's soft. Somehow, only having a thin layer of lycra between us is more exciting than being naked.

He reaches behind my neck and undoes the tie. The fabric clings to my wet skin, and I feel every inch coming away as he peels it off. Aiden runs his fingers over the tan lines on my shoulders and back.

"You've been getting some sun."

"Mmm," I agree, pressing against him.

He peels the last of my bathing suit away and lets it float on the water. I press close to him, sheltering my head under his chin as he caresses my back. I feel very, very exposed. Even the water feels colder.

"There's no one but us for miles and miles," he reassures me. "Relax."

Bit by bit, I calm down enough to drift away from him in the water. Aiden dives in and pursues me, chasing and splashing. Every touch is a tease, his tickling fingers dancing over my wet skin. I dive under and come back up with wet hair, standing in the shallow end so the water comes up to just under my chest.

Aiden seizes me and takes my nipple in his mouth, then lifts me up out of the water in his arms, licking and tasting and sucking my chest, grazing the soft skin under my breasts with his teeth.

He carries me to the edge of the pool and sets me on the edge, lifting my legs onto his shoulders. I lean back, resting on my arms, and close my eyes. The swirl of sensation borders on too intense as the sun steams the water from my skin and Aiden kisses his way down my stomach, working toward my waiting sex. My legs quiver, sending ripples across the pool.

Aiden's tongue slips inside me, teasing my entrance. I pull my legs around his head and draw him in. I feel like some primordial fertility goddess absorbing his worship. It becomes so intense I can barely keep from falling back on the concrete behind me.

He twists loose of my legs and pulls me back into the water, then heaves me into his arms and carries me out, newlywed-style. I hold tight to his neck as his fingers dig into my skin. I'm slippery.

Gently, he lowers me to my feet and I stand there, naked in the sun, shivering at the chill from the evaporating water leaving my skin. Aiden takes a step back and stands like a god with a throbbing cock. I grab it and caress, remembering the feeling of his hardness inside me as I crave it again. He's been teasing me all week like this, making me come without fucking me. I nip and kiss at the skin of his chest, goading him to take me.

Pressed up close against him, I grind my body against his, his cock sliding against my wet stomach. He loops his arms around me and holds me there, caressing and gripping and squeezing my body.

I try to guide his cock between my legs, to take him standing up.

When his open hand cracks hard against my ass, my yelp of surprise is the only thing louder. The skin stings even as he kisses me.

"Not yet."

"Then when?"

Taking my hand, he guides me back into the house. Even walking around bare-assed inside feels transgressive, excites me. The air itself tickles my skin as I rush up the stairs. Aiden grabs a big towel and wraps me up in it, vigorously drying my skin in the bedroom.

Then he lifts me bodily from the floor and throws me on the bed. I bounce back and land splayed out, my legs spread wide, stomach pulled tight to thrust my hips forward and offer myself. He circles the bed, hard cock bobbing with every step, only to push me back when I reach for it.

Lightly, he takes me by the back of my neck and guides my head to his cock. I start to suck, but he doesn't let me do more than kiss before pulling me back by a fistful of hair, arching me on the bed.

Reaching under it, he pulls out a heavy wooden box. From inside he pulls out a long silken rope and loops it around his fist.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Tie you down," he says.

My heart flutters as my eyes widen. He stretches the rope between his hands, snapping it as my eyes flick from his hard cock to the rope to the lust in his eyes.

"Roll over. Face down."

I hesitate for just a moment.

"Now."

I roll to the middle of the bed, face down. The strange sense of vulnerability I feel now reminds me of the first time we made love in the art museum. My heart speeds up as he takes my wrist and buckles a leather cuff around it, just tight enough that I can't pull my hand loose. Then he does the other hand and runs the rope through metal rings on the cuffs and behind the headboard before tying it, spreading my arms.

Lying on the bed, shivering, I watch him draw out a long metal bar with cuffs on either end. Aiden straps my ankle into one side, then takes my other leg and spreads me open, strapping the bar between my ankles so I can't close my legs. Then he ties it down and…sits on the bed.

His hand is gentle on my back.

"I want you to choose a word. Something you wouldn't normally yell in the middle of getting your brains fucked out."

"A word?"

"A safeword. If you say the safeword I'll stop what I'm doing and release you. It's like a ripcord on a parachute."

"All right, um. Toboggan?"

"Perfect."

I giggle.

Then he puts the blindfold on me, wrapping a double layer of black silk around my head.

"I can't see."

"That's the idea. It enhances the sensations. Forces you to concentrate on your body."

He caresses my cheek and traces his finger along my mouth. Then he puts something in my hand, hard and rounded with a flared bit on it. It feels like the shape of an ace of spades, but not so sharp.

"I'm going to put this in you."

I shiver. "It's cold."

"It's stainless steel. Don't worry. This is just a small one. We'll work our way up to bigger ones."

I writhe against the restraints. "Uh, where in me are you putting that?"

"That's what the blindfold is for."

He traces the cold metal down the small of my back as he runs a slick finger along my ass. I tense and gasp for breath as he swirls something slick between my cheeks.

"What are you doing?"

I feel the cold metal pushing at me, the tip giving me a hint of a sting as the body spreads me open. I groan, half in discomfort and half in curious pleasure, as he slowly works it into my body. I never once consider saying the safeword. He pats me reassuringly with his other hand.

"That's a good girl. Perfect. It's going right in. There. Feel it?"

Something changes, and my body sucks in the plug with a sudden shock.. I feel its cold, hard weight in my ass. Every little movement sends shivers through me. I can even feel my ass cheeks pressing against the rim of the flared base.

"I'm going to buy you your own special plug," he says, lying on the bed next to me. "Gold plated with a stone in the base. You know, I've never asked you your birthday."

"July."

He caresses my ass. "A ruby, then."

I snort. The motion of my body squeezes and shifts on the cold metal inside, and sends weird sensations through me. I can feel it pressuring me from the inside, and it makes my pussy feel strange. Even more so when he slips a finger inside.

"Are you a good girl or a bad girl?"

"I want to be a good girl," I murmur.

"Then I have to do bad things to you."

"Like what?"

He rolls onto his side and drapes his arm across my back. "This is what I want. I want you to be my sexy little plaything. In public I want you to wear demure little skirts and professional little outfits the way you came to me the first day. But underneath I want you in black lace. I want to have every part of you."

"Every part?"

His lips ghost over my ear and I tense up. "I can think of all sorts of things to do with you."

"Are you sure?"

Aiden slips his arms around me. One hand moves under me, between my legs.

"I see you struggling to control yourself, but you can't hide it from me. You want me to release one of your hands so you can play with yourself."

I nod.

"You need to be touched. Like this, right?"

His finger circles lightly around my clit, teasing.

"Yes."

"You play with yourself."

"Yes."

"That's naughty. What do you think about?"

"You," I admit.

"What do I do in your little fantasies?"

"Fuck me."

He snorts. "I thought you had more imagination than that. Do you imagine us in missionary on black silk with rose petals tumbling from the sky?"

I nod. "Maybe."

He laughs. I turn to feel the heat of his breath on my cheek, but he pulls away, planting soft kisses on my back. God, I don't even need to see his cock. I can feel how hard he is. He rolls on top of me, holding himself up by his arms, and kisses my neck as his hands slip under me, squeezing my breasts.

"Your legs are nice and wide. And you're so wet. Taste."

His finger dips inside me, and I cry out in surprise and ecstasy, shuddering as he withdraws. He touches his wet finger to my lips and I suck it, savoring.

"Tell me all the things you'll do for me."

"I'll suck your cock," I blurt out. "I'll swallow."

"Oh, I know. We've done that."

"Come in me."

"I already have. I plan to do it again. You're mine now. That's not all I want."

His hand glides over my ass cheek, draws away, caresses again.

"Spank me."

He gives my butt a light slap, just enough to make me shudder.

"Harder."

I feel him tense. He sucks in a breath, his body shuddering against mine. Sweat beads on his body.

"I want more than that," he says, caressing the place where he smacked my ass with his thumb.

"What if you fuck me in the ass?"

"You bad girl," he says.

He strikes my ass with his open palm so hard someone outside could hear it. I cry out, the shock rippling through my body. I feel hollow, needy, and every time his palm lands on my flesh the gripping need inside me squeezes deeper, opens wider. A cascade of shivering sensation ripples through my body.

He kneels and straddles me, rubbing my ass for a moment before I feel a swirl of air as his hand snaps back, then whips down, sending me arching and squirming on the bed.

Straddling me, he settles his weight, and his cockhead teases my pussy. I gasp, arching and pushing down as much as the restraints let me, trying to grab his erection with my sex. He pulls back, stroking with the head. He's so hard, so hot.

"Fuck me. Please. I need it."

"I know. I like watching you squirm. You're so beautiful, Lilah."

He whispers my name with a possessive curl of his lips and takes hold of my hips. A roll of his body and an arch of my back, and he's inside me. God, this feels weird. When he thrusts his cock into my body I can feel the pressure of the cold steel plug against it, moving inside me in unison, and I make a raw, raspy noise of pleasure.

"Like that, don't you?"

"Ungh," is all I can manage.

"You're such a good girl, aren't you?"

I nod. "Yes, sir."

"Sir. You're a natural."

He leans forward. I feel his hands press into the bed next to my ribs, and he starts to thrust slowly, almost delicately, my walls gripping him as I moan each time he drives into the root. His entire body shakes.

"I'm going to keep you," he says. "You're never going to leave me. Ever."

I shudder. "Yes."

"I love you, Lilah. My Lilah."

My eyes flick open under the blindfold. His words strike me like his hand on my skin, enter me like his cock filling my flesh. I try to repeat them back but my mouth won't work, my throat is too tight.

"Shhh" he says, thrusting in deeper.

He mounts me now, and the teasing ends. We're fucking now, me thrashing against my bonds under him. I'm losing…no, surrendering control. Aiden's cock quivers inside me, so hard and thick as he rains kisses on my neck and shoulders.

"Tell me you want it."

"I want it."

"You know what I mean. I want you to say it."

"Fuck me in the ass."

His whole body tenses, and he releases a hot breath against my neck. I squirm as I feel him working the plug loose. My body grips, then releases it, leaving a hollow I've never felt before.

Aiden rises to his knees, and I hear him stroking himself.

"Lube," he tells me, running his fingers lightly over my ass. "Just relax. Trust me."

"I do."

"You're not relaxed. Deep breaths. In, out. In, out."

It's hard to relax when I'm more excited than I've ever been in my life. I had no idea sex could be like this. I feel like I've been asleep my whole life, and now I am awake.

Oh, God, I can feel him. He's much bigger than the plug, and his weight is behind it. Shivering with contained power, he strokes my back and kisses my cheek.

"Relax," he says. "Open yourself."

I groan and shudder as he spreads me open again, his cock filling me. He pushes all the air out of my lungs into a throaty groan, and once he's inside me, my entire body squeezes. It's like standing on the edge of a sharp drop. Every muscle in my body quivers.

Invaded. Conquered.

"You're a good girl," he whispers in my ear as he begins to thrust. "You're a good little slut for me, aren't you?"

"I'm your slut," I agree, shivering.

"There she is," he says, softly. "Beneath the silk stockings and the cute little glasses. There you are. There's Delilah."

I cry out from a ripple of pleasure exploding through my body. Aiden is all the way inside me. Every sensation is so intense. It's all ruled by the full feeling of his thick, throbbing cock in my ass, but every light touch, even the soft feeling of his belly against my butt, is a thousand times more intense.

He grabs something and slips it under my body, holding it between my legs. "Grind into it," he whispers.

It's a vibrator, shivering against my clit as he fucks my ass. Aiden groans, every thrust clenching his body. He could go faster, harder, punish me, destroy me, but he's gentle, loving, every movement a caress. The power scares me and it excites me and I start moving with him—grinding the vibe against my clit and pushing back to take him deeper as our bodies meet. Aiden groans, shuddering as he plunges into me to the root.

I cry out and shudder under him…and he slows, and yanks the vibrator away.

"Wait!" I cry out.

"You can have it back in a moment," he says, rolling his hips before he goes still.

"I need to come," I plead. "Please, I can't take being stuck like this, please…"

"Shhh," he whispers. "You'll come when I let you."

He slides it back into place and fucks me again. I'm used to it now, inviting it. I've never felt anything even remotely like this.

When I'm near my peak again he pulls back. This time it's even more intense. My entire body is a clenched fist. Just as it starts to fade, he brings the vibe back.

"I'm going to come in your ass," he whispers in my ear. "Right now. Come with me."

"Please."

I scream, not in pain but in beautiful agony. He's so big, it hits me that the blindfold is partly there so I wouldn't be terrified of his slab of a cock in my ass. He yanks it off as my peak hits me, and I arch back against the bonds.

As I climax I twist and look over my shoulder and watch his cock plunge into my ass. I can feel him shudder. I can feel him come. I've never felt so utterly consumed. I didn't know it was possible. Aiden cries out, his body shuddering on top of mine as we moan and writhe together.

Oh, God, I almost black out. When it ends, slowly, I melt into the bed and lie there.

Now that I can see, I have to watch. I turn so I can see him draw out of me. His cock is enormous, it goes on forever. I can't believe it was in me.

He rises up on his knees and crouches beside me, freeing my legs first. As he unties me I curl up, shivering not from cold but from the aftershocks of raw sensation. This is what it means to feel naked. Not just exposed—naked. I've never been so utterly bared to another person.

"You all right?"

I nod.

"That's a good girl. I'll take care of you. Roll on your back now."

I do as he says, flopping over onto my back, splaying open again.

Aiden attends to me first. He brings warm, damp clothes and wipes me down from head to toe, leaving me glowing in the cool air.

After he's wiped himself down, he rolls me onto my back. I moan softly, expecting him to just ravish me right there, but he starts at my shoulders and works all the kinks and knots out of my muscles, down my back, my legs. He rubs my feet, and I fight the urge to pull free when he tickles them.

Again he rolls me onto my back and then lies down next to me.

Aiden kisses my shoulder softly. "Imagine," he says. "We have a whole week."

I grin from ear to ear.