Arousal

Luella & Earl

I frown at the fast-gathering clouds in the graying sky at dusk. In a matter of seconds, rain comes pouring down and the wind is starting to blow hard. I quickly gather my painting kit and canvas and bring them inside the lake house.

My parents’ lake house sits by near the edge of Lake Green in Scotland. Glass walls surround the lower part of the lake house, whereas woods cover the second story walls. Above is where most of the family rooms are, for privacy purposes, as well as a bathroom. The ground floor consists of the living room or entertainment area, which faces the grand lake water, the kitchen, the dining room and a bathroom.

Trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers surround the lake house in a perfect harmony. The branches are now swaying furiously against the wind. The flowers and grasses start to bend as well, as rain pellets hit them in a punishing fashion.

I sigh as I securely close the door on the right side of the living room that faces the lake. The lights automatically come into life as darkness falls outside, with the raging storm. In my nineteen years of existence, I don’t even have any idea if this storm passes overnight. It gives me a hint that it seems to go on forever.

I hear the phone at the kitchen ring and I run to answer it. I remember that my cell phone is left upstairs, in my room.

“Mom! Yes, I’m okay. What? You and Dad can’t make it here?”

Great! I’m stranded here all alone on a supposedly family vacation, I muse unhappily. She says that they can’t get away from their business conference sooner than expected. Perhaps they will stay in L.A. for a couple more days. They send me first, assuring me they will follow the next day. We’re supposed to have a two-week vacation here as family, which is a once-a-year quality family time since I started college.

Well, I have painting as a hobby to pass the time. Just that the storm also ruins the setting and my mood!

I go upstairs to retrieve my phone. A couple of missed calls from my Mom, it turns out. No wonder she’s worried.

I decide to cook something for myself, after turning the CD player on at the living room. I choose a disco music before I turn the volume higher. I don’t want to hear the howling wind and rain outside. I dance as I prepare my dinner.

Yes, party by myself, I mock myself. Why not? Even though it’s just me, myself and I, I have music that I can play as loud as I want to. No neighbors to be disturbed and no parents to say “Hey, will you turn it down?”

I contemplate that I can after all enjoy a couple more days alone in the lake house! As the music changes my mood, I think it’s not so bad to be alone after all.

I stand frozen as a war-painted face suddenly appears against the glass wall. It’s like I’m in a statue dance game. Just that, the music is still on and I start to scream at the top of my lungs. I am about to run away when he opens his mouth to speak.

“Hey, hey, hey!” I hear the man’s muffled voice outside as he pounds the glass wall.

I stop screaming. I look at him again. A couple of shadows appear behind him.

“Can you let us in?” he shouts louder so I can hear him clearly.

I blink and try to focus. I think they are wearing some kind of uniform. Then, I slowly recognize that they wear black T-shirts and paired with four-color camouflage pants. They are all soaked in the rain.

Oh my! They must be cold, I sympathize, chewing the inside of my cheek. The storm is so bad out there.

I signal them to go around, toward the kitchen door on my right. I open it for them and let them in.

I hear the first guy heave a sigh. “Thanks!”

He is a tall lean guy. Perhaps he is in his mid or late twenties. The other two seem to be around the same age as he is. All three of them have clean crew cut hair, like some military men they are. Each of the guys brings with him a duffle bag that looks full and about to burst. I can only have an educated guess what’s inside.

“I’m Sergeant Earl Jones. These are my crewmates, Officers Jack Dudley and Cain Reed.”

“Oh! Well, I’m Luella Peterson.”

He reaches for my hand to shake it. I transfer the ladle to my left hand. He smiles, which is very arresting, I realize. Despite the war-painted face he has, he doesn’t really look so scary to me. But I don’t think I can say the same to the other two officers. They’re almost of the same height but they seem to fade away from my view. Earl seems to have the air of command, befitting to a Sergeant that he is, obviously.

“H-how can I help you?” I slowly ask them. Well, Earl in particular.

The third man just closes the door behind him, after checking outside. What he’s checking, I can just make a wild guess.

“We’re stranded.”

Welcome to the club, my mind mocks.

“Well, that’s too bad,” I say instead. “If you need a ride, you can just use my phone to call someone. It’s working.”

The second man reaches for it automatically. But he shakes his head while looking at Earl.

I am confused. I take the phone and the dial tone is just dead! I can’t believe it. My Mom has managed to call me some minutes earlier. Or is it already an hour ago? I put it back in its cradle.

Fucking storm! I curse.

I also check my cell phone that I got earlier from my room. No signal.

Great! I’m cut from the outside world. Or rather, we are cut from the outside world!

“Sorry, I can’t seem to help,” I say after a little while later.

“What’s that burning smell?” the third man asks.

“Oh, crap!” I exclaim. I dash to the stove and turn it off.

My steak is burnt!

“We should say sorry. It’s because of us that your food is burnt.” He then turns to the second man. “Dudley, make us some dinner.”

Well, what can I do? My parents’ lake house is invaded by these three military strangers! Dudley does his thing but after he changes into dry clothes that he fished out from his duffle bag. It goes the same to Earl and Reed. And me… well, I’m now at the living room, relaxing. My music is turned down for the sake of my unexpected visitors.

“You paint?” Earl asks as he approaches me. He sits next to me in the long cream-colored leather couch. He notices my painting kit and canvass that I haven’t managed to bring upstairs to my room. He can clearly see my unfinished painting of Lake Green.

“Yeah,” I shyly admit.

I can smell the clean scent of him and his cologne. For the first time, I can clearly see his face. He has a scar on his left temple; he has thick dark brown eyebrows like the color of his hair, cool green eyes, thick lashes, long and straight nose, sensual mouth and slightly squared jaw. He’s all male. He’s not my standard good-looking guy but he’s oozing with s*x appeal, which draws me to him. Unexpectedly.

“Something wrong?” he asks gently.

I realize I have been staring at him for a minute or two. I blush and look away to hide it.

“No. No! I-I just can’t believe that I let some strangers into my parents’ lake house. I shouldn’t have-”

He chuckles. “Either way, we would still come in... by force or not.”

“Really?”

His smile is pasted on his face. It’s his turn to stare at me. What can he possibly see in me?

I stand five feet and two inches; I have this bob cut straight, black hair, little Asian eyes that I got from my Filipina mother, my nose is pert, thanks to my white American father, and thin cherry lips. By standards, I may not be even beautiful to Earl. But I may be wrong. He can’t seem to take his eyes off of me, which makes me conscious. My thoughts are whirring. My heart is jumping.

“With the ‘or not’ I mean we can charm our way into the lake house,” he murmurs.

I laugh shakily. “You’re funny!” I say.

He grins.

Dudley calls out to us to join him and Reed at the dining table. The four of us eat together like we’re some old friends. Somehow, I don’t feel like my life is threatened by their presence. In fact, I feel safe because of Earl. I don’t really know why. And I don’t even stop to explore the reasons.

Reed says he’s going to have the first watch. Dudley has already fallen asleep in the couch at the living room, a couple of hours or so later.

“Um… there’s a guest room upstairs that you can use comfortably,” I tell Earl.

“I’ll not refuse your generous offer,” he says smilingly.

I show him the way upstairs. In the western part of the lake house is my room, whereas the guest room is in the eastern part. I open the guest room door. I take out some pillows and sheets from the overhead cabinet when I lose my footing on the edge of the bed where I am standing. I gasp, startled.

Earl quickly and easily catches me before I fall down the wooden floor. Sheets and pillows fall down the floor in a bundle instead of me. My hands are on his muscled wide shoulders. He lifts me to let me slide down his hard, muscled body until my feet touch the cold floor. However, our eyes never break away from looking at each other.

I feel every hard contour of his body. Damn it! The man seems to awaken the sleeping hormones that I possess in my body. Yes, no one has done it before but him.

Luella, you’re still a f*****g virgin and you can’t just let yourself feel this way! I try to kick myself mentally.

I slowly wiggle out from his embrace and he helps me with preparing the bed. Afterward, I bid him goodnight.

I toss and turn in my bed an hour or so later. I can still hear the angry storm beating the roof of the lake house. I wonder when it’s going to abate. But I wonder more about Earl. Perhaps they will be gone tomorrow.

I get up from my bed to go downstairs. I see Reed working on something at the kitchen. His hands are busy on some kind of gadget that I haven’t seen before. He looks up and simply puts it away.

“Can’t sleep?” he asks conversationally.

I take out a bottle of water from the fridge. “Got thirsty,” I say. I just can’t admit that he’s right.

He nods, looking at me carefully.

I walk away to leave him work with his gadget. But I change my mind. I spin slowly around to look at him.

“What are you people?” I ask in a whisper tone-like manner.

He sighs. “Sergeant didn’t tell you?”

I shake my head. “I’m afraid to ask him.”

He sniggers at that. “He just looks scary most of the time but he’s a good man. I trust the man with my life.”

My lips form into an “O.” I slowly walk toward the kitchen island where he’s seated.

“So, you’re working for the government, right?”

He nods again. “Yes. We’re coast guards, in fact.”

I raise an eyebrow. “At Green Lake?”

My family has owned this lake house for more than five years now but I’ve never seen a coast guard office or headquarters nearby.

Reed just smiles, with a mysterious hint.

I then hear some kind of a faint buzz and he looks down at his gadget.

“Alright, I’ll leave you now to work.”

“Thanks” is all he says.

I silently go back upstairs and I almost have a heart attack when I see Earl standing on the stairs with his arms crossed. I continue to go up until my feet touch the last step.

“You can’t sleep?” I ask softly, drinking the water after I speak.

I suddenly feel him right behind me. His hands are on my hips. I shudder but not in fear but in excitement. I slowly put back the cap on the bottle.

“I can’t sleep… thinking of you,” he whispers.

I turn my face to look up at him in the dim-lit hallway. His face descends to capture my lips. We both sigh as our forehead touches each other. We kiss again as he slowly turns my body to face his. He scoops me up and carries me toward my room. He lightly kicks the door shut and carefully lays me down into bed.

“I’m not sure if I can really do this, Luella. But I really, really want you!” he whispers as he licks and kisses my earlobe and the side of my neck.

I smile at his being torn apart from wanting me and his staying a gentleman like he should be.

I cup his face with my hands. By the small lamp shade that’s on in my room, I look into his eyes.

“I’m still a virgin, Earl but I am sure that I want you to be my first.”

His eyes waver for a moment. He pushes himself away from me. But I hold onto him. I initiate the kiss and he is lost! I smile triumphantly as I kiss him passionately this time.

I let him undress my T-shirt and pajamas. He gasps as he looks at my bare small breasts.

“You look so beautiful, Luella,” he whispers. His eyes admire my breasts.

I softly moan when his lips capture the left n****e, and then the right. My hands are buried in his very, very short hair. His hands carefully travel down my flat stomach and one hand slides into my small panties. I gulp some air when his fingers slowly part my labia and trace up toward my clit.

“Oooh, God!” I softly moan.

He slips my underwear off to my thighs and legs. When I am completely naked, he looks at me with great admiration in his smoky green eyes. Then he sheds his own clothes until I see him so naked like the statue of the Greek god Apollo. The only difference is that his c**k is way bigger and longer than Apollo’s.

He smiles at me confidently. He seems to read my mind. I clamp my lips together, suddenly feeling shy and a bit anxious. Can my virgin p***y ever accommodate such a big c**k?

But he holds my chin and gives me a coaxing kiss. Of course, I don’t really need to be coaxed. I so badly want this, too! And that anxious thought just fades away, especially that his magical fingers do their magic once again.

I writhe beneath him as his fingers rub my clit passionately. I can feel the wetness all over my p***y, spreading. His lips once again seal my own. His tongue darts forward to tease mine. He sucks it when he catches it. It is truly mind-blowing.

He shifts to kneel between my legs, spreading my thighs apart. My hands hold onto the bed sheet. The tip of his c**k rubs against my clit. I push my hips up, as the delicious feeling comes over me. It’s instinctive. Primitive. I want his c**k inside my p***y. So badly.

He holds my hips up and he plunges in one stroke. Deep and hard. I feel like the air is knocked out of my lungs. Then I pant heavily. He looks into my eyes, not moving. He breathes heavily as well.

“Luella, it’s going to be fine, okay?” his voice cajoling me.

I nod at him, trusting him.

He slowly moves and my mouth gapes open. A moan escapes from my throat.

“Oh, God!” I say, like a prayer.

He moves inside once again, and out. In and out. Slowly. In and out again. Again and again.

This is driving me into madness!

Oh, f**k!

His eyes close for some moments, feeling what I feel. He looks so gorgeous right this moment. I reach out to touch his hands that are holding my hips. He slowly opens his hazy eyes that are filled with desire. He licks his lips as he drives in and out of my body.

He increases the rhythm of his plunges. I can’t help but moan with pleasure. I cover my mouth with the pillow to not scream. His thumb finds my clit and rubs it hard.

Fuck. f**k. f**k!

I can’t stop writhing or moaning.

He suddenly stops but it’s because he turns me around. Kneeling as we both are, he enters from behind me. His hands hold my breasts, caressing them at the same time. I bite my lower lip as I cry with pleasure.

One of his hands creeps down to my clit again, while the other finds my mouth. I lick his fingers as I moan like crazy.

He then gently pushes my back down. My hands on the bed to support my body. He keeps getting faster and faster in driving in and out of my p***y.

Fuck! I feel like I’m going to be torn in half. He’s just so big and f***s me hard now. I think I can’t hold on anymore. I am going to burst.

I believe he feels it as his pace changes again. I muffle my scream with my fist as I come, and I feel him spill his come on my butt cheeks as he grunts.

Both of us are panting heavily in the aftermath. Our sweaty bodies close to each other as he embraces me from behind.

He carries me to the bathroom ten minutes later to have a shower together. He helps me wash my sore body and we share a kiss afterward.

I love you, my brain whispers to him as I look into his eyes.

I freeze. No, no, no, no! This can’t be. I look away so he can’t read my mind. Thankfully, he reaches for a clean towel to wrap my body with it.

He carries me again back to my room. We lay down side by side and he cuddles me for a few moments.

My eyelids become too heavy that I close my eyes.

“Who are you really, Earl?” I whisper.

He sighs. “A coast guard.”

“I know, but there’s nothing around here,” I insist.

“If I tell you, do you promise not to repeat it to anyone?” he whispers back.

I simply nod weakly.

“My crewmates and I are sent on a training mission, which I can’t elaborate to you. We are supposed to go to this top secret aquatic military operations training facility nearby when we are caught and got stranded here by the storm. Reed must have communicated with our liaison officer there regarding our situation.”

I remember the gadget that Reed is working on. Perhaps it’s that one that Earl is talking about. I am curious where this top secret training facility is located.

“Do you like your job?” I gently ask him. I get closer to him, seeking his warmth.

His arms embrace me more tightly. “Yes. I have served, since I was fresh out of college and so, that’s about seven years now.”

“Where’s your family? Are you from around here?” Well, his British accent can’t really let me know where he originally came, thus the question.

“Sheffield.”

“Whoa! Like Def Leppard?” I get excited.

“Uhuh,” he confirms. I feel his smile so I open my eyes and I am not mistaken. His green eyes look at me fondly, with admiration. “You love Def Leppard?”

I nod smiling up at him.

“I love Def Leppard, too!” he says.

I softly laugh.

We talk more about ourselves, and my sleep just seems to go away. When words seem to run out, our mouths merge into a hot kiss once again. Then our bodies follow suit.

***

The next morning, I wake up all alone in my bed. Naked. There is no one else in the room.

It seems that last night was all a dream. But how I feel with my body tells me that it is not. It’s too real. It’s the only thing that seems to assure me that Earl was real and not just a fantasy.

I dress up. I look out of the window, across the lake. There is a mountain there. Could it be where the top secret training facility is located?

I look up at the now blue sky. I’m sure that a few hours before, the storm has already abated while I was asleep.

I get downstairs and I find my breakfast ready. A post-it note is also left stuck on the table. I read it:

I got your number. I’ll call you sometime.

Earl

I smile at this promise. I check the food and the sunny side-up egg is made into a smiley. I stab it with a fork and begin to eat.

I look around and I feel like there’s a change in the lake house. I slowly walk toward the living room when I notice that my canvas is standing there. Done. Yes, finished.

Earl’s name is written on the bottom corner of it.

“I can’t believe I f****d a fellow painter last night!” I murmur to myself with a wide smile.

I can see the details and colors in the painting while the lake is filled with sun. It seems that he really sees the lake while not being ravaged by the storm. I can tell that he seems to have memorized every detail of the picturesque. It is just amazing!

A couple of days later, my parents arrived. I think that this is the best summer I have since they bought this place. We explored the lake together, fishing using our small boat.

“Dad, what is in that mountain across the lake?” I ask him, curious.

“I don’t really know.” He shrugs.

“Let me tell you, Luella. I know. It’s trees and some animals!” my mother says laughingly.

I stick out my tongue as my father laughs heartily.

“But why do you ask?” Dad inquires after our fishing excursion and Mom cleans the fish we caught in the kitchen.

“Just wondering.” I smile up at my Dad.

He looks at me weirdly. But he does not say anything after that.

The next summer, I visit my parents’ lake house again. This time, I don’t meet my parents here for a family vacation. They are busy expanding our real estate business in the states.

Meanwhile, Earl and I have agreed to meet here. We text and call each other while I’m away to the states. He says that he’s on vacation, which is really great.

When I enter the lake house, rose petals in bullet shapes line up like an arrow, directing me to go upstairs. I smilingly follow the bullet-shaped petals and they stop at the hallway. I look left and right. I can’t find him anywhere.

With my instinct, I step toward my room. As I open the door, it’s like I enter into a playhouse filled with balloons in heart shapes but different colors. And there he is, standing in the middle, next to my bed. A huge heart-shaped balloon covers his face before he shows it to me, with a wide smile.

I run up to him and cling onto his neck. He gives me a hot and wet kiss before we break away to look at each other’s eyes.

“This is so… corny… but sweet!” I tell him.

“I just want to see you smile.”

“I love it!”

“I love you!” he says.

And I laugh like I’d never laughed before. His arms tighten in their embrace as he stops my laughing with another mind-blowing kiss.

The end