This is the final chapter, and then Luke and Uli are going to be laid aside: I've gone as far as I can with them. There's too much of it, but I couldn't risk splitting it or there'd be another long wait. This way I've been forced to stay engaged. My apologies to all of you who wrote, (some angrily, some pleadingly), wanting to know when the story would be finished. It's way, way too late, but real life intervened, (earning a living, fending off nymphomaniacs, stuff like that), and then I was busy with "Roomers", and the selfish anti-hero of that short series, Doug, refused to let me go till I'd finished his confessions. Better not to offend someone with his unpredictable talent.
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SPAIN, MUNICH, VIENNA, BRUSSELS, EARLY/MID JULY
LUKE, ULI
I settled into the drivers' seat feeling childishly pleased. Cash had worked its magic and I'd paid considerably less than I'd expected for the motor-home. Big enough for a shower and toilet, small enough to handle like a car. I couldn't wait to try it out.
I'd stocked the freezer, prepared the house for summer, arranged for SeΓ±ora Montero to open it and air the rooms when I called her, paid outstanding bills, promised everyone's kids that the blonde seΓ±orita would be here very soon and of course we'd go to the beach: the only chore left was to go and collect the seΓ±orita herself. Alicante to Munich isn't really that far.
Traveling as a self-sufficient party of one is a liberating experience. If you want to stop, detour, play music far too loud, whatever, then that's what you do. No-one asks questions or complains or makes sour comments. I didn't hurry, but kept going steadily and was a hundred kilometers past the French border when tiredness caught up with me. I pulled into the next rest area, clambered between the front seats, and was home.
Supper, a little reading, testing the surprisingly spacious bed: all of it was like a birthday treat. I woke at about four and made coffee before setting off again, and at ten the following morning I stopped twenty kilometers outside Munich. I shaved and experimented with the shower: when I checked myself it seemed to have worked just fine, so I put on clean clothes and headed for town. I refilled the water tank first though: thinking ahead.
She answered the phone so quickly that she must have been sitting next to it.
'Luke?' Caller ID spoils all the fun.
'Hello, sweetheart. Are you packed and ready?' Once again I realized how much I'd missed her. Whatever happened to the old Luke?
'Of course I am. Where are you? How long till you arrive? What's the van like? What...' I cut her off ruthlessly.
'Look out of your front window and tell me what you see.' There was a pause, and then the window flew up and a blonde head with a phone clamped to its ear popped out. I craned my neck out of the van and waved: I heard her shriek through the phone and through my other ear as well. Surprise in stereo.
'Already! Hang on.' The window slammed shut, and two minutes later she burst out of the door with a pack over one arm and a bag in the other. I opened the side door and slung the luggage in, then scooped her into my arms.
'Hello properly, FrΓ€ulein Fischer. Are you ready for a summer of adventure and fun?' She squeezed me so tight that I nearly choked.
'Only if there's plenty of love and sex too. I've been bursting to see you, and Lottie sends her love, and says "see you soon", and when we get to a quiet place I want to drive and...' Over her shoulder I saw a policeman approaching, fumbling for his notebook, and I hustled her into the van, hopped in and pulled into the traffic as quickly as possible. It never pays to argue with German cops. I was concentrating on getting out of town in one piece and couldn't pay attention to her gasps and coos as she explored. After ten minutes she squeezed between the front seats and settled herself, fastening her seatbelt.
'Luke, it's lovely, like a dolls' house for grown-ups, and curtains and everything. I thought the beds in these things folded up and down, does the toilet really work?' She was bubbling with excitement, eyes sparkling, slim tanned body alive with energy.
'You can fold it up if you want to, but there's plenty of room for just two people so there's no point, and yes, everything works and I'll show you properly later. Now tell me where we're going. I haven't thought further than picking you up and being back in Brussels by the twelfth. So that's nine days just for us. No-one knows where I am, and now no-one knows where you are either.'
'I'll unpack my stuff and think. Which way are we going at the moment?'
'South-east, more or less.' She unlatched her seatbelt and climbed into the back again. I heard her moving about as she put things away, then the noise of the curtains being drawn, and suddenly a pair of panties floated over the back of the seat and landed in my lap.
'You'd better find somewhere to park,' she said. 'I feel faint so I've had to loosen my clothing and lie down.' I smiled and looked at the clock.
'I had a bet with myself that you'd be naked in less than half an hour, and it's twenty-seven minutes. Try to stay calm for a moment.' I felt my cock stirring as I parked, then squeezed between the front seats and pulled the privacy screen down
She'd turned the quilt back and was sprawled across the bed, a picture of innocent sensuality, her slender body glowing in the light filtering through the curtains, one hand stroking her mound delicately and a finger dipping occasionally and caressing her swollen lips. My cock jerked uncontrollably and I hurried to get rid of my clothes. I was still unbuttoning my shirt when I felt her other hand unzipping me and worming into my crotch.
'I've missed you so much, and I'm never going to miss you this much again, ever. It's been nearly two months, and... ' She was talking a little too fast.
'You've been a good girl for two months? Cross your heart and tell me that again.' She blushed.