Drive

"Do you think she was hot?"

"Huh?" Gil responded, hearing the question clearly but wanting to do anything other than answer honestly.

"That woman in the yoga pants was really attractive, don't you think?" Heather pressed.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said sheepishly. They had made a quick trip to Trader Joe's for road trip provisions and had crossed paths with a woman in a sports bra and leggings several times while they were shopping. Now they sat in his Escalade waiting for the gordian knot of traffic that was every Trader Joe's cursed parking lot to clear before officially beginning their trip north.

"Come on, Gil," Heather grinned. "She was tall, thin, nice butt, thigh gap, kinda flat but fit, cute face, messy hair like she's fresh from the gym but probably not. I caught you looking. She was hot."

"What do you want me to say?" Gil felt a curious urge to explain but worried that Heather might change her mind about him. It was a familiar feeling, that he would say or do something that would end their short, life-changing affair. When they were together self-doubt gnawed at him, but none of the things he feared had yet come to pass. Even now, Heather's face was cheery, her eyes bright. "Yeah, she was hot."

"Do you ever compliment a girl you find attractive? Besides me, I mean."

"In public? God no."

"Why not?"

Gil blew an exasperated raspberry. Where to even begin. His own personal philosophy was the Golden Rule: he didn't want to be bothered in public while going about his day, so he went out of his way to be invisible to others unless absolutely necessary. If he was honest with himself, though, he dreaded the idea of a compliment being met with hostility. It didn't stop him from looking, but he would limit it to a glance or two to avoid being caught gawking. "I think it would be rude."

Heather guffawed. "You're cute, and also very, very silly." She smiled and laughed more freely around him when they were alone then she ever did around others, and her joy made his heart ache and his cock stir every time.

"I mean, if you didn't know me, how would you like it if I told you in the middle of TJ's frozen food isle that I found you attractive?"

Heather fell silent for a moment before admitting defeat. "I don't know. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time strange man said anything other than 'excuse me' to me in public."

Gil peered into the backup camera screen before craning his head around. Traffic had cleared for a solid ten seconds, so he dropped into reverse and started to edge backwards. A couple of nearby pedestrians even stopped to let him out. Glorious freedom!

They had left too late to avoid traffic, so it was a slog to get to the freeway, but once they were on it, Gil relaxed at the same time Heather sighed.

"We're on our way, kiddo. How does it feel?"

"Feels great Mr. G!" Heather chirped before leaning across the center console to plant a kiss on his cheek.

-

The GPS had shown some slow spots on the 101 going north before they headed out, but nothing like what they had been stuck in for the last fifteen minutes. After some idle chatter, Heather brought up the attractive shopper again.

"I see you looking sometimes, you know."

"Am I that obvious?"

"No, not really. You're pretty good at making it seem casual. Don't worry, I'm not jealous or hurt."

Traffic moved about a foot, giving Gil a chance to think about his response. When it stopped again, he looked over at Heather, helpless to stop the twinge of doubt from returning.

He also couldn't help feeling like a hypocrite. The weekend before, while they were shacked up at the Hilton near his home and busy alternating between having sex and making their trip plans, they had also spent a lot of time fantasizing about all the sexy stuff they could do during their trip up to Santa Barbara. She'd even bounced out of her front door that morning wearing the same lovely sundress that she wore when she first propositioned him and said, "I'm wearing this for easy access," to dispel any doubt as to why she'd chosen it.

"I love you," was all he could come up with.

Heather laughed again. "I love you too, Gil. Seriously, though, I kinda want to know."

"What's that?"

"What's it like to be a guy?"

"Oh," Gil answered sarcastically. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, for real, though. I mean, you know I consider you my first serious relationship. The boys I dated before were just that."

"I'm still a boy, in a lot of ways."

"You don't fuck like one," Heather said devilishly.

"I know," Gil answered, with a smile. Traffic seemed like it was starting to free up, only to stop again a mile later. "You really want to know."

"Yes. What is it like to be a guy?"

"I assume you want to know about the sexy parts, right?" Heather nodded and licked her lips. "So, I don't care much for summer except for one thing."

"I think I know why."

"You probably know I have a thing for naked ladies," Gil began. It was an oft-told joke he stole from an Onion article with the headline 'Area Man Has Naked-Lady Fetish' that lived rent free in his head for the last couple of decades.

"I've been meaning have a talk with you about that," Heather teased.

"Yeah, well, summer is when boobies and tummies and legs come out to play. I know it's just women wearing what's comfortable, not intending to be sexy, but it really is the best part about living in LA."

"So, when you're walking around you are just checking out everyone's goods?"

"Don't you?"

"Yeah, I suppose so, but I'm not, like, thinking I'll have sex with them."

"Me neither."

"Now that kinda surprises me."

"How so?

"Don't men, like, think about sex like every seven seconds or something?"

"God no! How on earth would anything ever get done, ever?"

"So, you don't? Not even around me?"

"Heather, it's all I'm thinking about when we're together," Gil said, trying to sound alluring. Heather laughed again. "Actually, when I first heard that urban legend, I wondered what the hell was wrong with me."

"Are you thinking about sex now?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, well, sort of, only because you brought it up."

"How about now?" Something about her question prompted Gil to look over at Heather. She had lifted her dress up to show off her cute pink cotton panties.

Gil looked back at traffic just in time to slam on the breaks, barely avoiding a costly fender bender with the semi ahead of them.

"Shit, sorry Gil. I'll be more careful."

"It's alright," Gil said, loathe to rebuke her in any way. "Anything other embarrassing thing you want to talk about?"

"I'll leave you alone for now. How about we listen to a podcast?"

"Podcast?" Gil asked. He preferred driving to music but since they would be stuck in stop and go for a while, he thought it might be a good way to pass the time, he just didn't know any Heather might find interesting.

"Yeah, there's this girl from UCSB I've been listening too for a while, Taboo Talk with Robyn Talbot. It's really good, like informational and stuff. Wanna try it?"

"Sure kiddo, go for it."

-

Gil chuckled to himself while he pissed in the gas station urinal. The episode of Taboo Talk they listened to turned out to be a hilariously profane discussion of ass play between two very young sounding women that Gil struggled to tell apart.

Every time he stole a look at Heather while they were listening Gil grew more and more convinced that butt sex was in his very near future. He hoped it would be with him pitching and her catching, but his lover was so adventurous that he couldn't be sure.

Gil tried to get a look at himself while he washed his hands in the sink, but the stainless-steel panel that served as an unbreakable mirror was so covered in graffiti that all he could make out was a vaguely concerned middle-aged blob.

While he was using his foot to push open the door, he got a text. 'Hey Gil, there's something bad happening in the back seat.'

'OK, omw,' he texted back, long since over the absurdity of sending texts across a parking lot.

The Escalade was parked by itself in the shadow of a large solar panel, the engine idling ahead of their departure. Gil had worried for years that he would get pulled over for the excessively tinted windows, but when he swung the driver's side passenger door open, he was glad that he had chosen the darkest package.

Heather knelt on all fours on the middle bench, her sundress hiked up, her snug panties pulled down just enough to show some crack, wiggling her curvy ass at him without a care in the world.

"Oh, my goodness," Gil said, his head snapping around for onlookers.

Heather looked over her shoulder and bit her lower lip, causing Gil's cock to instantly stand at attention. "You gonna get in or just stand there like a perv?"

Gil climbed inside and shut the door. While he was making his pitstop, Heather had put the windshield sunscreen up and pulled both the passenger and driver's side shades down for extra privacy.

"Um, Heather?"

"Um, Gil?" Heather scooted around and crouched on all fours dangerously close to his lap.

"Um, what?" he asked, but he knew exactly what.

"That podcast was so naughty that I think I deserve a spanking for listening to it." Gil's mind recoiled from the cringe, but his heart pounded and his cock throbbed.

"Heather," Gil said as his sense of adult responsibility started to take over. "Sweetie, kiddo..." It was no use though.

Heather looked up at him with her big brown doe eyes and pleaded, "Spank me, please?"

"Do you even like being spanked?" Gil asked as they awkwardly got into position. He had playfully swatted her ass her a few times during their affair and thoughtfully asked her if she minded afterwards. She was fine with it, but laying across his lap for a proper spanking was something else.

"Don't you like giving spankings?" Heather fired back as she hiked her dress back up. Gil was speechless. Heather gave his cock a squeeze through his cargo shorts. "Pretty sure this says you do."

"What if someone sees?"

Heather ignored his question. "Spank me and I'll suck it."

Gil let his hand fly without another thought. Heather yelped and giggled. He had barely begun, and he already felt like creaming his shorts like an overstimulated teenager.

Heather rested her chin on her hands and sighed.

Come on, Gil, it's now or never, said an unfamiliar voice from the depths of his soul. He heeded the call with a few more swats, experimenting with speed and power.

"Mmmm, give me more Mr. G," Heather moaned. Gil answered with a hard one on each cheek and a glancing blow across both. "Panties down, please."

Gil yanked them down and went back to work. It was easier to be a mindless instrument of her pleasure listen to the doubts shouting at him over the gap between there and his comfort zone. His mind was blank but his body moved with purpose. Every moan, squeak, yelp, and demand for more brought him closer and closer to the edge.

"I'm going to suck you now," Heather said, rocking back onto her knees during a break in the action. "You keep going."

Gil watched, detached but impressed with how skillfully she freed his cock. A clear pearl of precum glistened on the end of his cock in the dim light of the Escalade. Heather flashed him another of her sweetly innocent smiles before taking him in her mouth. He managed to spank her while she blew him only a couple more times before exploding down her throat.

-

"Sorry," Gil said once the convulsions had passed.

"Why?"

"I know you don't like to swallow; I just couldn't help myself."

"It's okay. I'll allow it this time. Most of it ended up in your lap anyway."

"Oh, my God, Heather."

"I know, right?"

Gil took a moment to look around outside. The entire Rose Parade could have gone by without notice while they were fooling around, but they seemed to still be alone on the side parking lot of the gas station.

"We should get back on the road," Gil said, relieved in more ways than one.

"Let me get you cleaned up first, okay?" Heather pulled up her panties and reached down into the foot space behind the driver's seat to get baby wipes and tissue.

-

Traffic never got much better. What should have taken around two and a half hours, from Heather's front door to the hotel Gil would be staying at while Heather got settled in her dorm, took nearly four.

At least the view was magnificent, the company exquisite.

They listened to another episode of Taboo Talk before switching to a playlist that Gil had made special for the trip.

"I just noticed, you're playing all the bands we've seen together," Heather said. They had an unusual relationship in the two years before becoming romantic. She was his twins' babysitter, and for two years Gil would drive her to and from her gig at his house a few of times a month. Early on, she talked him into driving her and her best friend to a show at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go. A week later, Heather convinced him to take them to the Forum for a concert. He went from being their chauffeur to their chaperone out of sheer boredom and ended up becoming a fan for life of most of the bands and artists they had seen together. "Is that when you fell in love with me, at one of those shows?"

"No," Gil said quietly. "No, if you, or someone, anyone really, had asked me what you were to me, I would have said honestly that you are my kids' babysitter."

"That's it?"

"Yeah," Gil answered. There was so much to say about the subject that he fell silent. Heather kicked her sandals off and curled up onto her seat, seemingly content to let her other questions go unasked.

The sun started dipping into the Pacific Ocean while they crawled ever closer to their destination.

"I'm going to miss you," Gil said, his voice barely above a whisper. Heather had been quiet for a while. Her sunglasses were still on, and her head was resting against the passenger side window, so he thought for sure that she had fallen asleep.

"I am too, Gil. It hurts when I think about how far away you are going to be."

Gil thought that the depth and breadth of feeling for Heather was outsized, unreasonable for the amount of time that they had been seeing each other. In the months since she had first sat in the passenger seat, full of hope and lust, and put her heart in the hands of a married man, they had only spent the night together six times. Aside from a few lunches and a single midweek, daytime visit to her bedroom, their affair was small compared to what he had gone through with his wife before he'd truly fallen in love with her.

His wife! He still felt as strongly as ever towards Alice. Gil had often wondered how people could carry on affairs without guilt, but never thought much at all about polyamorous relationships, open marriages. That there was room in his heart for both women was a miracle that rivaled the love that he felt for his twins.

"Goddamn, this is complicated."

"It's going to be okay, Gil."

Despite not even remotely wanting to, Gil thought that he would have to be the mature one and end things sooner rather than later. After this weekend was over and she was settled and occupied with classes for sure.

"I don't want to break up," Heather said, her voice hitching.

"You gotta live your life, kiddo."

Gil stared ahead at the thinning traffic. The road was finally clear for the last leg to Santa Barbara, but his eyes were filling with tears.

"Don't leave me, okay?" Heather asked. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Heather might be crying too.

Gil couldn't look at her, so he looked at the sunset again. It was unreal, the gift that the world was giving him in this moment, a view to rival the beautiful madness that roiled in his soul.

"Look, Heather," Gil motioned west.

"It's amazing."

In the growing darkness, Gil felt Heather touch his arm, seek out his hand. They sat in silence the rest of the way, tears forgotten, content to simply hold each other's hand while the miles rolled by.

-

"I'm hungry," Heather said to Gil as she emerged from his hotel room's bathroom.

"Not tired?"

"No, I napped in the car. I saw the restaurant was still open, looked pretty nice."

"Dinner would be good," Gil agreed.

The hotel was a lot nicer than anything they had stayed in before. He had been frugal about his lodging choices before and had only recently realized that it was out of a sense of propriety towards his marriage. It hadn't felt right to spend a lot of his household's money to have sex with his young mistress. This time, though, he felt fully justified in splurging on luxury for their special, and possibly final, weekend together.

The one thing that bothered him the most about their affair was the lack of PDA. They had an unspoken agreement that they would keep their distance in public near their homes because they didn't know who might be watching and that had suited Gil just fine. Now that they were far from home and momentarily carefree, he took her hand.

At first, Heather didn't seem to notice, but when she did, she smiled a Disneyland's worth of fireworks that stopped Gil in his tracks. A second later, he had pushed her against a wall and was kissing her like there was no tomorrow. When he broke to take a breath, Heather pulled him back down to kiss him even more passionately back. Her tongue was so silky and agile in his mouth that it took his breath away.

"Still hungry?" he asked during a break in the action. "Or do you wanna go back to the room and..."

Heather cut him off, "Yeah, still hungry." She took his hand again and marched them through the lobby and up to the greeter's lectern of what looked like an extremely expensive restaurant.

Seated next to each other in a secluded booth, Heather and Gil pretended to appreciate the restaurant's muted lighting and tasteful décor while their hands explored each other's laps under the table.

"Can I get you two something to start with? Any questions about the menu?" the waiter asked. Gil knew that man had probably introduced himself and gone through a whole spiel about the specials, but he had missed it because he had discovered that Heather had removed her panties before leaving for dinner. He resisted the urge to taste the warm, wet smear of Heather's arousal that discovery had left on his fingertips but wiped them casually on his napkin instead.

"Can we have a few minutes?" Heather answered, peering at the single piece of printed card stock that was the menu as innocently as she could.

"Of course, please," the waiter said with a smirk, "take your time."

"That is very dangerous, you know," Gil said after he was confident that the waiter was out of earshot.

"What's that?" Heather said, holding the menu closer to her face to make out the tiny print in the dim lighting.

"The whole 'no panties' situation going on under your dress."

"Is it now?"

"It is."

"You're right. I might accidentally get some fingers shoved up in there or something. Next time, I'll be more careful."

"See that you do," Gil teased.

"Can you see what the third entrée item is?" Heather asked, leaning closer to show Gil her menu. Her free hand found his cock and helpfully adjusted into a more comfortable position for him.

"That's, um," Gil struggled to answer. "Palella. It's a fancy Spanish rice dish."

"What's this, 'andouille'?"

"It's sausage, dear."

"Yeah, it is. God, I love your cock." Pleased with her joke, she scooted over to give themselves a little elbow room. "Ugh, I can't wait an hour for sausage rice. I don't recognize half the stuff on here."

"We should just get some tapas. I can order for us if you want."

"Want."

Gil caught their waiter's eye, and they exchanged a nod. He calculated the risk of embarrassment vs. the reward of touching Heather's wet pussy again in the time that it took for the waiter to return to them and decided that patience would reward him tenfold if he just waited until they got back to their room.