Chapter 8...breakfast...
The moment Grace opened her eyes the next morning, the images poured in. She wasn't prepared for that torrent of memories, and they seemed to bypass her conscious mind and flow through body. They seemed to have their own life, their own energy, their own will, and as they coursed through her body, they whispered softly to each one of her nerves, singing them the sweetest song, luring them from their slumber. With a certain detachment, she observed her body's response, as though her consciousness was perched on a tree branch, watching a surging river engulfing its banks.
As had happened the night before, the reaction was the most intense in her breasts and between her legs. A tingling sensation emanated forth from each of her nipples, but with an intensity that actually caused her to instinctively look down at them to see if, as had happened the night before, Karen's expertly placed fingers were applying pressure to them. The space between her thighs-studiously ignored for so many years-bloomed with the most delicate warmth.
Though her mind was still not grasping the depth of what was transpiring within her, the feeling was one of awakening, as though a connection had been ignited between a portion of her being and a dimension of reality that had been previously hidden from her, or that she'd previously shunned. The pearl that had remained tucked within her pink folds felt like it was awakening, casting off the two warm blankets and bathing in the sweet wetness that now surrounded it.
As her mind struggled to process what she was feeling, she heard Karen call out to her: "Sweetie, breakfast is ready. We'd love for you to join us."
"Umm, sure, okay, I'll be right down," she responded, as a panic quickly set in.
Seeing Karen after what had happened last night was bound to be an anxiety producing experience, but seeing her in this condition, and with Marcus present as well? The thought of it caused a feeling of vague nausea to permeate her being. But she also worried that hiding out in her room all day would only arouse even greater suspicion. So with a deep breath, she pulled on a shirt and some shorts and headed for the kitchen.
"Oh my darling." Karen's face lit up when Grace entered the room. "You've been asleep for hours. We were starting to get worried about you."
Grace tried to suppress the blushing that she knew was coming, but perhaps predictably, she could not.
"I, ummm, I think I was just really tired," she stammered.
She quickly plopped down into a love seat located between the kitchen and the living room, trying to locate herself as far as possible from Karen and Marcus without seeming evasive, and tried to direct the conversation away from herself.
"So, last night was fun. It's a really nice group of friends you guys have." Grace offered.
"Thank you, sweetheart," Marcus said, "They absolutely adore you. And they thought it was so sweet that you fell asleep on the couch with Karen holding you last night."
"I did? Really?"
"Oh angel, I loved it. The feeling of your breath rising and falling, of your body twitching as you dreamed."
"What? I was actually doing that?" Grace exclaimed, "Oh my god. I am so mortified."
"Oh Grace," Marcus chimed in, "Please don't feel that way. Karen was so flattered that you were comfortable enough to let yourself go and fall asleep against her like that."
Grace could not think of anything to say, and she felt besieged by her own awkwardness. She couldn't tell if Karen and Marcus were oblivious to it, or if they just enjoyed it, but either way, they did nothing to intercede. At long last, Karen looked up from the eggs she was scrambling.
"Sweetie, how are you feeling after last night?"
"Ummm, what do you mean?"
"Dear, there are no secrets between Marcus and me. I loved sharing with him how beautiful it was to bring you to your first orgasm."
Her words hung in the air, and Grace felt frozen, unable to move or speak.
Sensing the young girl's inner turmoil, Marcus interceded: "Grace, I understand why you'd feel uncomfortable hearing Karen talk about such a sensitive topic. But it's very important for you to be able to discuss everything you're thinking and feeling with us. We both appreciate how hard it was for you growing up, how you felt like there was no one in your family who could talk to about what was going on inside of you. Keeping these sorts of feelings buried inside of you, and worse, allowing a sense of shame to build up around them, well, it's unhealthy for so many reasons. But even more than that, achieving deep sexual release, as Karen helped you experience last night, is one of the great joys of being human, of being alive."
"Ummm, thank you, Marcus. I appreciate that."
"Marcus is right, sweetie. What you felt last night, when your pussy exploded for me, when the waves of your orgasm reached from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, it's a miracle, and it's important to both me and Marcus that you do your best to start seeing it in that way."
Grace heard the words Karen was speaking, and once again, the dichotomy between what was happening in her mind and in her body felt like a chasm, and as usual, her awareness of that dichotomy, and her effort to narrow it, only caused it to widen. She could feel her mind rebelling; her thoughts felt like the flakes in a snowglobe that had just fallen down the stairs.
And yet, her body. She had the unsettling feeling that Karen, and now Marcus, could speak directly to it, while her waking mind, as though lovingly restrained by the softest of ropes, struggled ineffectually.
Karen's beneficent smile-an enigmatic, protean blend of friendly concern, and maternal love, but occasionally, just occasionally, an evanescent sparkle of leonine ravenousness-bathed her young guest like the morning sunshine, and Karen's ever-sparkling eyes, though they always searched out and seemed to hold Grace's, also explored all of Grace's being.
How could it be, Grace wondered, that Karen's eyes seemed to perceive not only this physical world, but literally, they seemed to perceive Grace's very awareness, to see where her mind's eye was focused and to focus there as well? At this moment, as this series of unsettling thoughts hung in the air, Grace's awareness, and therefore, Karen's awareness, turned to the blossoming warmth between Grace's legs, not, Grace thought to herself, as a result of any choice she'd made, but more because the intensity of the sensations had reached a level where it was impossible not to devote to them at least some level of attention. To put it more simply, Grace felt a sweltering, almost oppressive heat blasting forth from between her legs.
"Sweetie, what is it? What are you feeling now?" Karen asked her.
"Nothing, Karen. It's nothing."
"No, dear, it's obviously not nothing. Marcus and I can clearly see you squirming your little hips back and forth."