It was now almost noon and Ashley was alone in her room. The way she had started the morning, wearing nothing more than a shirt and panties while having breakfast with Brad, was not really all that unusual. She was eighteen and had pretty much gotten over the modesty issues she had had in earlier years. With her preference for lounging around the house in her sleep wear, as well as the bikinis she wore at the backyard pool, it had become almost normal for Ashley not to be wearing a great deal when it was just the two of them at home.
But then Jarrad and his cousin had shown up, and instead of putting on something more suited to hanging out with three eighteen year old guys, Ashley had allowed herself to be talked into remaining as she was. Sure, it was a bit on the naughty side, especially so since she had never before even met Jarrad's friend from Cleveland, but after all, as she told herself, she was still wearing more than she would be on a public beach.
If it had stopped there she might have been able to chalk it up to expanding her horizons, but then they had gone into the den and once again, she had allowed herself to be talked into something she knew she shouldn't be doing. She danced for and with the guys, wearing only the panties and the worn dress shirt.
She loved the attention and encouragement she got, even from her stepbrother, and it wasn't long before the panties were gone and the shirt was unbuttoned. In hindsight, she realized how fortunate it had been, that Jarrad and his cousin got a phone call from home and had to leave before things went even further.
However, she had gone well beyond anything she had ever done before, and well beyond anything she thought she should be doing. She really did need to slow things down.
It was nearly noon and Brad would be expecting her in the kitchen to help with lunch. She couldn't pretend that the morning hadn't happened. “My god,” she thought as she recalled dancing with him while wearing only an unbuttoned shirt. There was no way she could allow him to think that would be the new 'normal'.
Brad, guessing that Ashley was probably embarrassed over what had transpired earlier in the day, expected there to be a noticeable change in how she dressed and otherwise behaved. At lunchtime he expected to find her dressed as modestly as she had been when he thought her to be so innocent.
When he got to the kitchen however, the sight that greeted him was a shocker. Ashley was already there fixing soup to go with sandwiches, but... she was not dressed as he had expected.
Instead, Ashley was dressed in only her underwear – a bra and panties. Granted, it was probably the most conservative underwear she owned, but it was still her underwear.
Yes, Ashley had been embarrassed by the morning's happenings, so much so that she had even considered not showing up for lunch. She had instead chosen to pretend that what had happened that morning was okay, of her own choosing, and not something Brad and his friends had talked her into. Besides, she wasn't so sure that wasn't the truth anyway.
Ashley turned to greet her stepbrother and saw that he had stopped in the doorway, staring in her direction. She felt it necessary to say something about how she was dressed. “You got to see plenty of me earlier in the day, without underwear, or much else either.” Ashley smiled, painting a cheery mood over her embarrassment. “I hope you don't mind if I dressed up a little for lunch.”
“Uh no... Of course not... it's very nice. I was afraid you might be planning to join a nunnery.”
“Probably not a bad idea,” thought Ashley. She was determined, however, to hide her discomfort. “No way,” she responded cheerily, “I'm having too much fun to even think about that. Now get the sandwich stuff out of the fridge.” Ashley turned back to the stove where the soup was about to boil over.
“Oh yeah, right.” Brad turned and opened the refrigerator. He got out the tuna salad, cold cuts, mustard, mayo and cheese. From the pantry, he retrieved a fresh loaf of bread and put all of it on the table, while Ashley busied herself ladling the soup into bowls, attempting to hide the self-consciousness she was feeling.
Seated at the table, she buried her concerns in the business of eating lunch, nervously noting however that her stepbrother's gaze was fixed on her near naked body. Her embarrassment was waning however. She was just beginning to enjoy his attention when he said, “The uh... bra and panties... I like it. Am I going to be seeing more of them?”
Ashley stopped abruptly with a spoonful of soup in mid-air. She turned bright red as she stammered to find the words she hoped would be the right ones. “Uh... uh... since you like it...” She strained to show a confidence she did not feel, pausing long enough to shovel the soup into her mouth and get it swallowed.
She doubted quite seriously if she'd ever have the nerve to dress this way again but she didn't want Brad to know that. “Well,” she continued, “uh, not every day, but yes, maybe, once in a while.”
“And uh... this morning then... you sort of enjoyed yourself. It wasn't just something we talked you into.” Brad put the glass of milk to his lips.
Ashley choked on her sandwich. How was she going to respond to that? What she had done that morning - well it certainly wasn't the way a “good” girl was supposed to behave. On the other hand, they hadn't exactly forced her into it either. “Uh, yeah...” she allowed sheepishly, “I guess that's right...” Ashley had a strained look about her. “But I was also scared,” she added quickly. “It was all like way too much, and I don't think I want to talk about it anymore.”
“Sorry,” Brad said, returning his glass to the table, “but let me at least say, that whatever, I am still your stepbrother and I uh... well, I do love you.”
Ashley had finished her lunch and was looking at Brad as he spoke. She was genuinely relieved by his apparent acceptance of the morning's events. But she was also quite taken back by his profession of love, even if it was, as she was quite sure, of the familial type. “I am so glad that I have a stepbrother like you,” she said, then added hurriedly, “and I love you too.”
“So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?” Brad asked, perusing Ashley's delectable form as they began clearing the table.
Ashley admitted to herself that she liked the way Brad was looking her over, but after this morning she needed to put a little distance between them, at least for a while. “Your mother brought me a new Cosmo from the city. I thought I might spend the afternoon in my room, reading that.”
With Ashley's body covered by only a bra and panties, Brad was disappointed that she was going to hide in her room. Still, he had promised Morgan, Ashley's father, that he’d help clean up the garage this week. Maybe he could get started on that.
As Ashley headed for her room, Brad quipped, “You might want to change before our parents get home. I doubt they would like seeing you in your underwear as much as I do.”
Ashley flashed bright red at the remark but wanted her response to sound confident. “I'll keep that in mind,” she said cheerily. Then grinning she added, “Especially the part about you liking it.”
*****
Although Brad and Ashley each had a TV in their room, it had become the custom after dinner each night, unless they were going out, that they joined their parents in the den. There the family watched television together or otherwise engaged in some common activity. It was also customary that the family's together time ended between ten and eleven when they drifted off to their own rooms.
This evening, Ashley was wearing a tight pair of jeans and a button-up blouse over the underwear she had worn at lunch. Over dinner, and later while watching television, she noticed Brad sneaking peeks in her direction. She took it as a compliment that even when dressed for a family gathering, she still looked good enough to get his attention.
Tonight, the folks were the first to leave. After the news, they said their good-nights and departed, leaving Brad and Ashley alone to watch the late night talk show. “You wanna go for a swim?” she asked after their parents were out of the room.
Brad was surprised by Ashley's suggestion but hastily replied, “Well yeah, sure, of course.”
Ashley sensed that Brad had probably been miffed at her spending the afternoon in her room. She had offered an olive branch but was afraid he might be reading too much into it. “With suits,” she clarified.
She was right, Brad had assumed she meant skinny-dipping, but he knew he couldn't let her know that he had been thinking that. He pretended that that was understood. “Oh sure,” he responded, “With the grownups home, that's a must.”
“See you in ten,” Ashley said cheerily, as she got up from her seat.
“Right,” said Brad as he picked up the remote and turned off the television.
In his room, Brad shucked his clothes in favor of a pair of jams. “I don't know what she is afraid of,” he mumbled to himself, “As long as we don't turn on the pool lights or make too much noise, there is no way our parents are ever going to go to the window and look out at the pool.” He continued talking to himself as he opened the sliding glass door and headed for the pool. “And even if they did, there wouldn't be enough light for them to see anything.”
Brad was first to arrive. He lowered himself slowly down the pool ladder, careful not to make unnecessary noise. In her room, Ashley picked out a bikini she was sure her dad would approve of, if he happened to discover her taking a late night swim with her stepbrother.
Ashley arrived at the pool with a towel wrapped around the bikini, or at least Brad assumed she was wearing one. Although Ashley had been skinny-dipping with Brad before and had even found it fun, she was glad that tonight she wouldn't have to deal with the temptations that a sans-suit situation produced.
She loosened the towel, letting it drop, forcing both of them to accept reality. Brad noted that the bikini Ashley wore was not as revealing as some she owned, but neither was it terribly conservative. The bottom was more on the full side than she had been wearing since graduation. The top however was a bit more daring, a string type, but she had it tied in such a way as to provide maximum coverage.
Ashley climbed cautiously down the ladder to the pool. At the bottom she paused, her feet on the bottom of the pool but her hands still gripping the ladder. She looked over her shoulder at Brad. “I need you to help me,” she said.
“Sure, what is it?” Brad responded as he waded toward her.
“I need you to retie my top,” she explained, “I couldn't get it tied right by myself.”
Brad took the last couple of steps necessary to reach Ashley's backside. He grasped hold of the string holding her top in place and undid the knot. Holding the ends of the strings in his hands he suggested, “You know, you don't really need this.”
“Yeah right,” Ashley said, as if he had been joking, “Now quit fooling around and retie it.”
“No I'm serious. You don't need it.”
“Uh huh, sure, and how do I explain being topless if Daddy decides to come out here?”
“There is no way he's ever going to come out,” Brad rebutted, “He and Mom are sound asleep and don't even know we're out here.”
Ashley really did want to be talked out of her top. She had even deliberately mis-tied it to give Brad the opportunity to suggest it. Nevertheless, she wanted it to sound like his idea, not hers. “You're pretty sure they won't come out here?”
“No way. Like I said they're most likely already asleep.”
“Promise me you won't tell Jarrad.”
“I promise.”
“Oh... and of course we'll abide by the rule.”
“The rule? What rule? Oh... You mean the one that says I can't do this?” He dropped the ends of the string and reached his hands around to cup Ashley's breasts.
She gasped, taking in a lungful of air, and exhaling it noisily. “Uh, yeah... That's the uh...,” Ashley sucked in another deep breath, tilted her head back and gripped the ladder tightly. Continuing to hold her breath she pleaded, “Please, Brad, please...” He toyed with her nipples. “Oh jesus...” Her voice went up an octave, “Please Brad, we shouldn't be doing this.”
Brad abruptly turned loose of Ashley's breasts and swam away.
“Oh my god,” Ashley exclaimed as she exhaled the air from her lungs, “Promise me please, we can't be doing that.”
From the other side of the pool Brad declared, “I promise.”
Still breathing heavily, Ashley turned loose of the ladder, lifted the loose top over her head and tied it to the ladder, just below the water line. “I'm leaving it tied here in case some one shows up.”
She turned to face Brad, her bare breasts jutting out proudly, but almost immediately, let herself sink into the water until they were hidden from view. With her arms over her head, she once again clung to the ladder.
“You alright,” Brad asked from the other side of the pool.
“Uh yeah... However, for a few seconds there, when you had hold of me, I wasn't so sure. You just have no idea what having your hands on my breasts was doing to me.”
“I've got a little idea. I'm sure you know it was having some effect on me too.”
“That's why we need the rule. I mean like, this is nice. I could do this every night, but we've got to be careful. After-all, we do still have to live together.”
“So you don't have a problem with us being naked then, just so long as we're not touching.”
“Yeah, well, something like that.”
“So it won't bother you if I take my suit off... I mean as long as I stay on my side of the pool.”
“No... I guess not... But I'm keeping my bottoms on...”
Brad dropped his jams and deposited them on the pool deck. “And tomorrow night?”
“You mean about the bottoms?”
“Uh huh.”
“Well... Daddy and your mother will be gone, so maybe... we'll have to see... no promises.”
“They'll be gone? But it's the middle of the week.”
“Right, but they've got some fund-raiser or something they've got to go to. They're leaving first thing in the morning and won't be back until after dinner the next night.”
“Holy shit. That sure creates some possibilities. Hey, how about if I ask Jarrad to spend the night? How would you like that?”
“Uh, yeah... I was kinda hoping you might come up with that one.”
“So, then... Does he sleep in my room? … Or with you?”
“In your room of course, doofus. I've only been on one date with him and I'm certainly not ready to sleep with him. In fact I might never be ready.”
“Well after this morning, I wasn't so sure. But I guess we're not supposed to talk about that.”
Ashley stood briefly, exposing her bare breasts, but immediately crouched down, enough to cover them again, and duck-walked her way toward Brad as she talked, “Yeah, well I guess I did kinda lose it this morning... no thanks to you... but if Jarrad stays over, you've got to make sure nothing happens. Nothing like this morning for sure.”
“Right,” Brad replied, “I think I can be protective if I need to be.” Ashley was half way across the pool. He spoke again, his eyes glued to the waterline in front of her, hoping she would straighten up a bit and bare her tits, “I guess that means we won't be doing any late night swimming.”
Ashley came close enough to put her hands on either side of Brad's face, but not close enough to feel the erection she was sure he had. “That probably wouldn’t be a good idea.” Ashley responded. Then, after a short pause, as if she had been in deep thought, “On the other hand... if I thought you guys would behave yourselves... well... I might be persuaded. We'll just have to see.” She pressed her lips to his, and forced her tongue into his mouth.
Brad reached to encircle Ashley's waist but she broke the kiss and slipped away. From the other side of the pool she said, “Thanks for understanding me.” Brad looked on in stunned silence as Ashley reacquired the top to her bikini, climbed out of the pool, picked up her towel and headed for the house.
*****
The next morning Brad was awakened by the garage door opening and closing. He brushed his teeth, pulled on a t-shirt and shorts and headed for the kitchen. He saw from the kitchen clock that it was only seven-thirty, not the usual time of eight, when he and Ashley normally met. He had arrived a half hour early, probably because his parents had also left a half hour earlier than usual. Alone, he fixed himself a cup a coffee and sat down to wait for his stepsister.
The freshest thing in his mind was the events of the previous night with Ashley at the pool. She had suggested that he invite Jarrad to stay with them, and then tongue-kissed him while the only thing being worn by either of them was her bikini bottom.