Spring had sprung, bringing with it the kind of weather that just demanded that a person get out and enjoy.
Yes, it was time for a good old fashioned Wallace family cook out - the first of the season! These had been a staple of our lives when my brother Roger and I were growing up and we had always loved them so much that we’d insisted on carrying on the tradition even after we’d grown up and started families of our own. Thankfully, our wives had loved the idea too and come to enjoy these special little get-togethers just as much as we did.
So, as I sat there at the picnic table in my brother’s back yard that afternoon, I took a moment to consider the happy family that surrounded me.
My wife Helen was sitting across from me, looking more beautiful than ever as she cradled our newborn baby boy. I mean, even though she was right in the middle of an animated conversation about diaper changes with the woman beside her, my brother’s wife Louise, Helen was positively glowing. Roger himself meanwhile was cooking up the hamburgers and hot dogs, thoroughly enjoying the big and elaborate gas powered grill he had blown so much cash on last Christmas. Finally, my eldest child, Marcie, and my brother’s youngest, Emily, were occupied with playing some kind of silly game that apparently required them to run all over the yard while squealing and giggling.
That only left one more person in that yard, of course - Roger and Louise’s eldest child.
Carly.
My eyes shifted to the girl who was sitting beside me, so close that I could feel her body heat, my nose twitching as it filled with her scent.
At first glance, my niece seemed to be fascinated by the new baby, paying rapt attention to my gushing wife’s story about how many diapers the baby was going through each week, but I knew better. I think I’ve come to know this nineteen year old girl better than her own parents and it seemed so obvious to me that she was more interested in the man sitting beside her than in cooing over the baby. When I saw her steal a sideways look at me - flashing me that secret smile that I had come to love when our eyes met - there was no doubt at all in my mind about what this young lady was plotting.
It would be not merely dangerous, but downright foolhardy to try to turn those schemes into reality right now, but Carly had all the impetuousness of youth and wasn’t going to let a little thing like good, common sense keep her from what she wanted.
Shooting me a significant look, Carly suddenly announced that she was going back inside for a moment. Her mother only gave her a distracted nod, right in the middle as she now was of a discussion on how best to get out spit up stains. The girl slid off the bench then, making sure to brush against me, and strolled off towards the house. The little minx even made sure to put a little extra wiggle in her backside as she knew that I would be watching.
I lingered there at the picnic table for a moment, uncertain, trying hard to convince myself not to do what every fiber in my body absolutely ached to do.
It would be the height of stupidity for me to take Carly up on the offer she had just silently made, but when you came right down to it, there was just no resisting her. I stayed put as long as I could, not wanting it to look like I was only going inside because my young niece had, but finally I excused myself by claiming to need to use the bathroom and made a beeline for the house.
It was comforting to see that my departure wasn’t drawing any more attention than Carly’s had, let me tell you.
I found her in the kitchen.
Carly was just standing there, oh, so casually, leaning back against the counter next to the sink and sipping from a juice box. Her eyes rose to meet mine as I came into the room, feigning great surprise that I was there.
“Oh, hi, uncle Paul,” she teased in that throaty purr that never failed to set my blood to racing. “What are you doing in here?”
I could not help myself and immediately shot a guilty look towards the window. I could see the backyard from here and needed to reassure myself that nobody looked like they were even considering coming back into the house. When I turned back, it was to find a soft, knowing smile on my niece’s lips.
I knew full well that the smartest thing in the world that I could do right now was to turn around and rejoin the rest of the family outside, but of course I didn’t do it.
Make no mistake, there were plenty of times when I felt just horrible about what was happening between me and this girl. How could I not? But I have to sat that when we were actually together, when Carly was in my arms, when her lips were on mine, when our bodies were united in the most intimate way imaginable, any feelings of guilt or remorse I might be suffering from faded away to nothingness. No, at times like this, there was only ecstacy.
I mean, how could I refuse to accept so precious and amazing a gift from my niece?
We’d come here for a reason and we needed to do this quickly before anyone started wondering where we’d disappeared to, but I just could not resist pausing to enjoy the sight of her.
When it came to Carly, it wasn’t just a cheesy line to say that heaven must be missing an angel.
Who ever would have thought that such a young girl could be so naturally beautiful, so well versed in the art of driving a man out of his mind with lust for her? It was fortunate that she was such a practiced master of disguise or her parents would never get another good night of sleep and her friends would certainly never let her get anywhere near their boyfriends.
The truth, though, was that she had not been the sweet and innocent young thing she appeared to be since at least her eighteenth birthday, almost one year ago.
Naturally, I had always been well aware of what a beautiful girl Carly was, but obviously I would never have actually been brave enough - or is that stupid enough? - to try anything with my own niece. She had no such inhibitions however and, though I’ll never be able to understand what a young hottie like her saw in a middle-aged man like me, she decided to put the moves on me right there at her party!