All I Need Pt. 05 p2

Anomic©

The elevator doors opened a moment later and we walked down the hall to my room. I fought with the lock a moment, listening to her snicker softly as I did so. Mercifully, the damned lock finally disengaged and I let her in the room.

"Wow, that gallery must love you." She exclaimed as she looked around the room. While not lavish, it was a rather nice hotel room with a large living area in addition to the tiny kitchen and bathroom.

"This was Theron's doing. I never spoke to them." I replied.

She looked down at herself as if something had suddenly occurred to her.

"Do you have a shirt I can borrow? I can't sleep in this dress." She asked. I briefly considered suggesting she sleep nude, but found myself too shy to suggest it.

I walked to my luggage and pulled one of my shirts out for her. She took it from me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Thanks, baby." She smiled as she entered the bathroom and closed the door.

Feeling only the tiniest bit of disappointment at her lack of exhibitionism, I flopped on the sofa in the living area of the hotel suite. So she didn't want to get naked in front of me. Big deal, I told myself. She's back in my life, that's what matters. I didn't get much further in my thoughts than that before I was fast asleep.

I woke on the sofa, still in my dress shirt and slacks from the night before, with a hell of a sore neck from the angle I'd fallen asleep in. The sun, coming in through the windows was bright and I checked my phone to see what time it was. Holy crap, I thought to myself, when I realized it was already past noon. Suddenly, I remembered the night before and scanned the room. I spotted the lump bundled up on the bed and walked over to it.

Amy lay fast asleep, curled up in a fetal position under the blanket. Only her face, a bit of shoulder, and one hand could be seen under the wad of blankets she'd piled on herself. I guess it had been chilly when we came in the room, I couldn't remember. I noticed her dress carefully draped over a chair at the desk in the corner. Oh yeah, she'd borrowed a shirt. I leaned against the wall and folded my arms, just watching her sleep for a few minutes. Just being in the same room with her made me feel better than I had felt about the world in a long time. I marveled, not for the first time, at her angelic beauty and how peaceful she always looked when she slept. I thought about going to take a shower, but that might wake her up and I didn't want to do that. She looked too beautiful and peaceful to disturb.

"What?" she asked, snapping me back into focus. She stretched a long, full body stretch with both arms far above her head. The blankets shifted down her body a bit, revealing the way my old Cure shirt hugged to her body. I could make out the swell of her breasts beneath the shirt.

"Just watching you sleep." I replied.

"Mm... I did a bit of that last night myself." She yawned and scratched at her rib cage. "When I got out of the shower, you were dead to the world."

"Never even heard the shower turn on. Damn." I had been exhausted from nerves before the show, combined with the adrenaline of our reunion and the long night, I hadn't stood a chance of staying awake. "Speaking of showers... Back in a bit."

After I showered and changed clothes, she got up and took her dress into the bathroom with her to change. I couldn't help but be appreciative of her long, sexy legs sticking out from under my shirt as she vanished into the bathroom.

While she was changing, her phone began chiming from the nightstand. I glanced at it, reflexively and saw it was Courtney. For a moment, I considered answering it, just to mess with Courtney's head, unsure if she would recognize my voice, but thought better of it. It went to voicemail.

"Can you zip this for me?" Amy asked as she emerged from the bathroom holding her dress up. "Was that my phone?"

I couldn't help and admiring the curve of Amy's spine as I zipped it up in the dress, taking the liberty to wrap my arms around her from behind and plant a kiss on the side of her neck when I was done. She purred softly, and melted back into me, framing my arms around her with her own. She rocked back and forth for a few moments with her eyes closed, until she started trembling slightly. I moved to release her and ask what was wrong, but she snatched me back to her fiercely as soon as I shifted away.

"Don't." She said, softly.

"Okay," I replied, a little uncertain.

"I've missed you holding me so much. Just.. hold me, okay?"

"As long as you like." I replied, more than content to oblige. "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfect. I missed you is all. This feel so right." Her eyes were still closed as she leaned back against me, still rocking lightly. "Don't let me go."

"I won't. I promise. Never again." I tightened my grip around her a little, and meant every word.

A short while later, apparently satisfied for the moment, she collected her phone from the night stand. As she was putting on her heels, she asked "So what's the plan today?"

"Lunch, for certain. I don't need to be back at the gallery until this evening. Probably should check in with Theron at some point. What do you have in mind?"

"I'd like to go to my hotel and change before lunch, if that's okay. After we eat, maybe go see some of London? We may never be here again." She gave me a hopeful smile, one she knew was hard to resist from a lifetime of practice. I flashed on a memory of using that smile on our father when we were kids in order to score a dollhouse she'd had her eyes on for months. It had worked then, just like it working now. Hopelessly wrapped around her finger as always. Damn it.

We caught a cab to her hotel, where Amy changed into a simple black dress that extended almost to her ankles but had a fascinating habit of clinging to the curves of her body when she walked. For something that left so little flesh exposed, it was looked very sexy on her. After lunch, we went to see the royal palace and took a walk through St. James's Park along the lake. As we walked, she told me about her job and the friends she had made since living in Portland. I told her more about Milos and the nearby islands. Over the last couple of years, I had become acquainted with a few locals on Milos, mostly shopkeepers that I frequented and neighbors. Ever the introvert, my only true friends on the island were limited to the Cains.

Amy insisted we pester a female passerby to take a photo of us on the blue bridge that crossed the lake in the park, and I obliged her in the name of not spoiling the mood. She was well aware of my disdain for having my photograph taken and took advantage of my generous mood by asking the kind woman to take a few more pictures than seemed necessary. When we resumed our walk, she took my arm in hers and planted a kiss on my cheek. We had just enough time to check out the Churchill museum before going back to collect her things from her hotel and transporting them to mine.

I had to meet Theron at the gallery shortly after to take care of a couple of minor press interview type things that Theron's agent had set up. They went pretty much as I expected, only asking me a couple of minor questions and then focusing on Theron. I was basically a tag along for this show and I was perfectly comfortable with that. Honestly, even if they didn't ask me a single question, I was still pleased. Never, in my wildest dreams, would I have expected to have my paintings hanging in an art gallery in London. Throughout the interviews, Amy continually smiled at me from the bench that she shared with Margaret. They seemed to chat quite a bit among themselves and have a decent time of it.

Over dinner at a nearby restaurant, Theron informed me that the show had been very successful the night before. But both he and Margaret were much more interested in hearing about how Amy had come to be in London at the same time as us. He seemed pleased with himself when he learned that Amy had found out about the show from an announcement that she had found online.

"I guess I have more than one reason to be grateful to him for letting me piggyback onto his show, now." I commented to Amy, knowing that it would annoy Theron who found my self deprecation to be an irritant.

"He didn't piggyback onto my show. I invited him to share the gallery with me. The humble prick won't give himself any credit." Theron smirked to Amy, barely taking my bait.

"Adam never really has when it comes to his art." Amy replied, causing me to roll my eyes. I caught an elbow to my ribs in retaliation. That hadn't happened in a long time and my reflexes weren't up to par.

"You should hear how he used to go on about his skateboarding prowess when he was in high school, though. You'd think he was trying out for the Olympics." She added, causing Theron and Margaret to chuckle.

"Really, Amy? How many dinners did I have to sit through hearing about human pyramid this and team cheer number 437 that when you were cheer leading?" I looked at Theron, "You want to know what's truly tedious? Listening to someone spend hours practicing a cheer loudly across the hall from your bedroom."

We all had a great time at dinner carrying on, us telling stories of growing up back in Texas, the Cains telling us about growing up around Manchester. I quizzed him thoroughly about several of the bands that I loved from that area and was disappointed that he knew little to nothing in the way of interesting tidbits about them. I had hoped that he had seen them at early club shows or something before they made it big. Turns out Theron was too much of a bookworm for his own good and missed out on a lot of great concerts, for which I thoroughly berated him, much to his sister's amusement. Amy rolled her eyes at me, not for the first time, for going off into one of my long winded music nerd rants.

Throughout the meal, Amy kept her hand on my thigh, occasionally giving it a slight squeeze. She leaned on my shoulder a lot, seeming to want to keep herself in contact with me as much as possible. I wasn't complaining in the least, as I wanted the same thing.

The night air was crisp on the walk back to the hotel, and I found myself wishing I'd thought to bring a jacket. Amy must have felt the same way because she stayed cuddled up against me for the entire walk. We parted ways with Theron and Margaret at the hotel and retired to my room.

I sat on the couch in the hotel room, flipping through channels without interest while Amy showered. I thought over the logistics of getting her to Greece. We'd probably have to ship her stuff separately, I thought. I didn't know how much stuff she had, but it wasn't going to be cheap, I suspected. Maybe I'd finally go back to Austin and get the last of my stuff out of storage while I was at it. It'd be good to sever that last tie with the place. And I'm sure Dr. Miller was sick of me sending him money every six months to renew my lease on the storage space. I was trying to remember how much stuff I had left in that storage building when I heard the water shut off in the bathroom.

Amy walked out of the bathroom wearing the shirt she had borrowed from me the night before. Her long, slender legs were bare under the shirt once again, which extended almost halfway to her knees. Effortlessly sexy, I thought, as my eyes worshiped her lovely form.

"You probably shouldn't be looking at your sister like that." She said shyly, biting her lower lip.

"I shouldn't?" I replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Not if you want her to keep her clothes on." She grinned as she sashayed toward me. I found myself temporarily without a response as she neared. Her skin was flushed a slight pink from the hot water of the shower, and I could feel the heat radiating from her body although she hadn't yet touched me.

She stood next to me, looking down at where I was sitting on the couch with a tentative expression. I reached out and placed a hand on one of her warm, soft thighs just above her knee. Her eyes closed a moment and she let out a small sigh. Hooking my hand behind her knee, I drew her closer to me.

"Come here," I breathed. She sat happily across my lap, hooking an arm around my neck. Her skin was so warm and soft against me. She gave me a delighted smile, her lower lip caught between her teeth. My little sister could be so goddamned adorable.

Without thinking, acting on a reawakened instinct that had been dormant for years, my hand slid under her shirt over her ribs and cupped her breast. My cock, already erect, strained against my the fabric of my boxers like a wild beast shoving angrily against the bars of its cage. She whimpered, closing her eyes and clutching herself against me tightly.

"Oh god, Amy." I breathed as her nipple hardened against my palm. "I've missed you so fucking much."

Her lips found mine and our tongues met in a sensuous battle. She gripped my head in both of her hands, arching herself toward me. The fresh, mint smell of her toothpaste filled my lungs. My hand massaged her breast, as the other moved beneath her shirt, resting on the bare skin at the small of her back. Amy groaned her pleasure into my mouth, pausing to let out a ragged breath.

I rolled her nipple gently between my thumb and forefinger before giving it a light tug, causing her to gasp sharply. I could feel her entire body tremble in response. She rubbed her thighs together in my lap and looked up at me through half closed eyelids.

"Do that again." She sighed. A small smile crept across my lips as I complied. Again, I was rewarded with a sharp gasp, and I became aware that I could smell her arousal. Her thighs were locked together tightly in my lap, her eyes squeezed shut tight. The sound that escaped her lips made both my heart and my cock lurch like a bad driver downshifting on the highway.

I pulled her close to me, nuzzling my face against the side of her neck before planting my lips on it. She purred against me, petting the back of my head with one hand as I held her. My lips moved up the curve of her throat, pausing to feel her pulse racing through the vein in her neck. Impulsively, I licked it, using my tongue to feel the throb of her heartbeat. I kept going to her jawline, then nibbled her earlobe gently, causing her to shiver.

"I love you so much, beautiful." I whispered directly into her ear canal. I punctuated the statement with a kiss right where her ear and her jaw met, a spot I remembered she loved to be kissed. "I still can't believe I'm holding you again."

She pulled away from me slightly, looking directly in my eyes. Her eyes shimmered before me, filled with a deep and consuming love that was plainly visible within them. Her mouth opened the tiniest bit, and I thought I heard an intake of breath before she dove on me. Her mouth and tongue working their way the length of my neck as I had done to hers. She bathed the area between my clavicle and neck with her tongue before fastening her mouth to the tendon just above it and sucking as hard as she could. I couldn't resist a tiny chuckle, despite the erotic moment, as I knew exactly what she was up to. She liked to leave her mark on me, but was often unable to do so as much as she wished due to the secrecy of our relationship. But that need for secrecy was no longer present, and she claimed her territory with abandon.

I continued to massage her breast with my hand, while she kissed all around my neck, unwilling to release my hold on her wonderfully soft flesh. It had been so long since I'd held her in my arms and felt her body against mine. I had long wondered what it would be like to be with my little sister again like this, imagining in my head that the hunger for her would overtake me and I'd all but tackle her to the ground and take her right wherever I happened to find her.

Instead, I found myself worshiping every moment I spent with her, taking my time to enjoy every sensation that was revisited on my body and making sure that I gave her more than she gave me. I knew that part of that was a bid to prolong the moment I actually entered her, which I still felt anxious about. It had been more than three years, after all. I knew my chances of lasting long once she invited me to enter her were all but non-existent. So I felt like it was my mission to be sure that everything else was totally memorable for her. She was the most precious thing in the world to me, and I wanted her to know it.

Amy, apparently satisfied with her efforts on my neck, let go of me to put a hand on either side of the sofa behind me and lifted herself up from me. She swung a leg around, pivoting so that she was straddling me and settled back down against me. I felt my erection pressing against her crotch, and even through the clothes we had on, I could feel the heat emitting from her.

"There," she sighed contentedly as she ground her panties-clad mound against my crotch, "that's more like it."

Suddenly finding myself with better access to her body without risk of letting her fall to the floor, I moved my other hand under her shirt to take her second breast in my hand as well. She moaned her approval, followed by her breathing becoming more rapid. My thumbs grazed her nipples, toying with them while I palmed her breasts, pushing them together and kneading them like a kitten with a rag.

She mumbled something I couldn't make out between her raspy breaths.

"What was that?" I asked softly, nuzzling her throat gently before I placed a kiss on her esophagus.

"I said I've missed you touching me. Your hands on me." She repeated. "Fuck, I feel like I'm about to come already."

"I wouldn't mind," I grinned into her throat, as I found and gently tugged both of her hardened nipples at once. A loud groan shuddered from her body, her thighs quivering so much that I could see them vibrating from the corner of my eye. She ground her crotch against mine.

"That was playing dirty." She groaned in my ear, tilting her head the other way causing her long black hair to fan out and away from the side of her neck I had not yet kissed. I didn't feel the least bit guilty.

Instead, I dropped my hands from her breasts and hooked my fingers around the hem of her shirt, lifting it up. She raised her arms as I pulled it off of her, exposing her beautiful, round, creamy breasts to me. I took a moment, with my hands resting on her hips, to appreciate the vision before me.

"You're staring at me." She blushed.

"I can't help it. You're so beautiful." I replied, cupping a breast lovingly in my hand as I gazed at her.

"I'm glad you think so. You're not bad either, you know." She smiled as she tugged on my shirt as well.

I leaned forward from the back of the couch so she could pull my shirt off and drop it beside us on top of her own. She moved back against me and I felt her nipples graze against my chest, the contact sending delicious chills through me. I hugged her bare torso against mine, feeling the warmth from her body. My hands glided down her back to cup the globes of her ass, pulling her against me as she planted kisses across my shoulder.

"Take me to bed, baby. I need you." She breathed. I was in no position to deny my beautiful sister anything, and tightened my grip on her ass to ensure I was supporting her. I stood as she wrapped her legs around my waist and carried her to the bed, gently setting her down on the edge of it.

She rolled away from me and I was left staring at the graceful curve of her bare back and her gorgeous ass, now only partially hidden from my view by a very small pair of black panties. She climbed up on to the bed and laid down across it. She looked over her bare shoulder at me with a glance that made me swallow hard. I pulled off my shorts and boxers, then crawled into the bed, planting a kiss on her spine as I lay down.

Amy rolled to face me, smiling wickedly, and slid down the bed. I felt her hot breath on my penis and held my breath in anticipation. Her tongue bathed the head of my cock for a moment, then her mouth closed over it and began moving me in and out of her mouth. I gathered her hair in my hands, keeping it out of her face as she alternated between licking and sucking my shaft. Her delicate fingers raked their nails lightly over my balls, making me suck in a sharp breath.

"Oh god, baby. You're amazing." I sighed, as she purred happily in response. Her eyes were watching mine as I gazed down at her. I brought a hand down to graze her cheek, affectionately, and her eyes close softly. She let out a contented hum that vibrated down my cock and made it lurch against her. I felt my balls tightening up and ran my fingers through her hair, trying not to buck my hips into her face.

"Jesus, Amy. I'm gonna come." I groaned. She just purred around my cock and began bobbing her head faster. Within moments I began erupting in my sweet baby sister's mouth. She moaned excitedly, swallowing my load as fast as she could. For a brief moment, I felt like I would never stop ejaculating. But, it finally subsided, and I rolled onto my back, out of breath. Amy crawled up to join me, laying her head on my shoulder. I put an arm around her as she cuddled up to me.

"Did your baby sister do good?" She softly asked, with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

"So good," I replied, before my hand crept over to play with her exposed breast. She smiled against me as I kneaded her soft flesh, feeling her nipple against my palm. She was clearly enjoying the attention and playfully gave my neck a series of small kisses, licks, and nips as I felt her up. Eventually, I let my hand slide down her side, tracing the outline of her wonderful flesh. It glided down over her ribs, along the side of her stomach which now fluttered under my gentle touch, up along the swell of her hip and finally settled to clutch her ass. She moaned deliciously under my touch and seemed to hold her breath the lower my hand moved.

"I'll never get tired of your touch, baby." She breathed.

I smiled and gave her ass a good squeeze as a reply, then rolled her onto her back and began kissing her breasts. One of her hands was on my head, holding me to her breast as my tongue worshiped her nipple with great reverence. Her other hand was clutching the pillow above her in a fist, as she arched her back, trying to force more of her breast in my mouth. Amy let out a loud moan that filled the room. I continued to suckle on her nipple for a few more moments before moving to give her other nipple a similar treatment.

Amy's stomach fluttered every time my lips touched her skin as I moved progressively lower on her body. Her gasps became more and more audible as she was lost to the sensation of my touch. My fingers hooked into the material of her panties at her hips and she raised her ass to allow me to remove them from her. The smell of her arousal made my erection ache with need. I'd had my eyes closed, taking in her scent, and I suddenly realized that she was no longer shaved. Instead, she had a neatly trimmed patch of black fur above her lips. I didn't comment on it, instead choosing to nuzzle it lightly with my cheek in a fluid motion as I moved the last half inch to slide my tongue over her slit.

Her body trembled in response and I heard a sharp gasp above me. I parted her welcoming folds with my tongue and began lapping at the glistening secretions that her body released. She writhed above me, both of her hands clutching at her breasts as she released a series of ragged moans. Sliding a finger into her, I brought my tongue up to gently make a pass over her clit. No sooner did my tongue make contact than she bucked her hips, letting out a cry of release loud enough that there was no way the people in neighboring hotel rooms did not hear. She doubled over away from me, thighs clamped tightly together, eyes clinched. Her entire body was shaking from the force of her orgasm.

I moved up next to her, feeling a little pleased with myself, and gently stroked her hair. She rolled over to smile at me, and wrapped her arms around me. Her lips moved up to meet mine in a long, passionate kiss. She pulled me against her and rolled onto her back, I rolled with her until I was positioned above her. Her legs parted and she snaked a hand down to grab my shaft.

"I'm dying to feel you inside me." She sighed, giving me one of her most seductive smiles.

She positioned me over her entrance and I gently slid forward, easily gliding into her wet folds. We both moaned as her pussy swallowed my entire length, her body welcoming me into her like the long, lost love that I was. I began to move in and out of her, thrusting gently as her body began thrusting back at me. Her feet came up to hook behind my thighs, pulling me against her harder with each downward stroke. Her body felt like it was on fire beneath me. She whimpered and moaned with every stroke, jagged breaths escaping her as she shoved herself against me for all she was worth.

"Oh, Adam," she moaned my name, "Oh fuck."

I increased my thrusts, knowing that there was no greater feeling in the world than being inside her. My need for her seemed to transcend the physical. I didn't believe in souls, but if I did, I might have argued that my soul yearned for her as I continued my thrusts. She began holding her breaths, then releasing them in small whimpers as her orgasm drew closer. I rolled my hips a little as I thrust, trying to increase the sensation for her of my dick sliding into her tight canal. One of my hands moved up to massage her breast, and she let out a loud moan.

"So close, baby. I'm so close." She whispered, as both of her hands clutched the bed sheets above her head.

I could feel my own orgasm beginning to build as I took in the erotic vision below me. She was the loveliest and most exquisite creature I'd ever seen, and seeing her losing herself in ecstasy was something that had always rattled me to my core. It felt magnified ten fold by this moment, our bodies joined after so long.

"Come for me, princess." I whispered against her ear. "I want to hear you come."

Her hands wrapped around the back of my head, holding me against her face as she placed her mouth against my ear.

"Soon, my love," she managed to gasp into my ear between moans. "Oh god... All for you... uhhhn... baby."

Her hands kept my head gripped tight, as her groans raised in pitch and intensity. She seemed incapable of speaking as our bodies rocked together.

"That's it, beautiful. Come for me." I repeated, feeling the walls of her pussy clenching hard against me. She let out a loud cry, her quivering thighs gripping my hips as tightly as she could. Amy's small frame bucked hard against me, her chest heaving and forcing out a series of loud cries as wave after wave of her orgasm slammed through her body. My own body propelled toward orgasm in response to her cries and I groaned out her name as my cock released a jet of semen into her body, triggering a second orgasm from deep within her. She shook violently beneath me, vibrating like a tuning fork as my dick continued to erupt, bathing her walls with my come.

When I became aware of my surroundings again, erection fading rapidly inside her, I realized that she was crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned, brushing her hair from her lovely face.

"Nothing at all." She sniffled, smiling as she rolled over to cuddle tightly against me.

She opened her eyes, another tear sliding down her face toward the pillow, to lock them on my own. "I was starting to think I may never see you again. But here you are. And it's everything I want it to be. I love you, Adam. I love you so fucking much."

"I love you, too. I'll love you til I'm dead and gone." I replied, pulling her more tightly against me.

* * *

By morning, we'd had sex four times, I'd lost count of her orgasms, and we were both feeling rather raw and sore. When we finally fell asleep, wrapped in each others arms, the sun was beginning to come up. I know I would have happily slept until afternoon if the hotel room hadn't rung at ten in the morning and woke me up. I strained to reach it from my current position half under Amy's sleeping form.

"Yeah?" I answered groggily.

"Long night?" I could hear the humor in Theron's voice.

"What's going on?" I asked, not being awake enough yet for verbal warfare.

"Well, we were going to see if you two wanted to meet for breakfast in an hour, but why don't we try to meet up for lunch instead? Say around one? Clearly you need more sleep."

"Sounds good. Lobby at one?" I asked.

"Perfect. See you then."

I think I was asleep again before the phone finished settling on the cradle.

A couple of hours later, freshly showered, I sat in the lobby with Amy. Theron and Margaret walked up to us, smiling. They both looked tired.

"Didn't sleep much either, I guess?" I asked.

"Well, we would have, but the couple in the room next to us kept us up half the night." He smirked. I'd forgotten their room was next door to mine.

"Oh god!" Amy blushed deeper than I had ever seen her, and buried her face in her hands. I started cracking up, finding her embarrassment far too amusing to be very bothered by my own role in the matter. Theron and Margaret were both laughing as well.

Finally, Margaret put a hand on Amy's shoulder.

"Relax, dear. A little lost sleep is a tiny price to pay for seeing your brother so happy this morning. I've never seen him this way."

Amy looked up at her and went from blushing to pale.

"Oh, I guess he was too busy to catch you up on things." Margaret smiled, reassuringly. Then she sat up in a formal pose and motioned to Theron. "Amy, I'd like you to meet my brother, Theron."

Theron nodded his head, smiling, and said. "Nice to meet you, Amy."

"Wow." Amy looked at me wide eyed and back at them.

"That's how I wound up in Greece." I explained. "I told Dr. Miller the truth about what happened when he wanted to know why I couldn't go home when I left the hospital that day. He was friends with Theron and thought that it may help for me to be around people who understood what we'd been dealing with."

Amy nodded and began to relax. She took my hand in hers.

"Now then, have you bothered to check reviews of the show yet? I imagine not." Theron asked me.

"No, I haven't."

"I thought not." He replied with a smirk, passing his tablet computer to me. "You sounded a bit preoccupied last night."

Amy blushed again, but not as red as she had been. I looked down at the tablet. The screen was on a website of a world famous art critic. The article talked about how successful Theron Cain's new exhibit was and talked, at length, glowingly, about the work of a new artist named Adam Matheson. My jaw fell open and I looked up at Theron who was now grinning ear to ear.

"What?" Asked Amy. I passed her the tablet.

"That's not the only one, either." Theron said. "I've read nothing but positive reviews all morning."

"Holy shit." I replied.

"...Matheson's work exposes the unspoken visceral truths of the human condition." Amy read aloud from the article, grinning at me like a madwoman.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What the hell paintings was he looking at?" I asked as Theron burst out laughing.

"Let's get some food, we can look over reviews later." Margaret spoke up, amused, but clearly hungry.

"Definitely," I agreed, having not eaten since before the show last night.

"What time is your flight?" I asked Amy, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to return to the States today.

"In about... six hours," She said, looking down at her phone to check the time.

"Are you trying to get rid of me already?" She teased.

"Hell, no. I'm just thinking about how long we have to decide how we're handle everything, logistically speaking.." I replied.

Over lunch, we worked out that Amy would go back to Portland that night after all, in order to get things ready to be able to join me in Greece. When I got back to the island, I'd work on getting things ready for a second person to share the apartment for a while, until we could find something a little bit larger. Then I'd likely fly to Portland to help her get things sorted out and packed.

At one point during the meal, Amy got a phone call. I watched in mild amusement as she excitedly told Courtney that she had, indeed, found me in London. There were a lot of half finished sentences machine gunning back and forth across the phone line, and Theron began snickering. I wasn't far behind him, earning both of us stern looks from Margaret. Amy was nearly bouncing in the booth when she told Courtney that she was moving to Europe to live with me.

After lunch, I made arrangements to meet back up with the Cains after seeing Amy off at the airport and we parted company so that Amy I spend time together before she had to leave.

"When did you get to London?" I asked, taking in the amount of clothes she had spread across the bed in the hotel room. Most of them had been packed already, and for reasons unfathomable to me, she had unpacked just to return them to her bags a few minutes later. If Theron was right and there were a lot more shows on the horizon, I suspected I'd see a scene like this play out many times in the future.

"Friday afternoon. Why?" She asked as she started stacking the clothes in her suitcase.

"Just noticing that you still pack three times as many clothes as you need."

"Oh shut up."

I picked up a heavily creased piece of paper, that had fallen from her luggage. It had been folded and refolded so many times that it practically fell open in my hand. It was a printed page from the gallery's website promoting our exhibit. It mentioned Theron most prominently, but stated that the exhibit would also feature "new works by American abstract artist Adam Matheson." My name had been circled on the page with a pen multiple times and had several question marks drawn next to it. Little feminine looking hearts were doodled along the edge of the page as well as what I thought looked like a couple of flight numbers.

"Snoop." Amy said, looking up from her packing.

"Stalker."

"Gonna get a restraining order?" She asked playfully. Her hair sliding forward across her face as she packed.

"I don't think I have to worry too much. You're not very good at it." I smirked.

"Well, I didn't have much to work with, jackass."

"I haven't been called that in a long time." I chuckled. She laughed too, and we fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes while she finished packing up the last of her stuff. It was so great hearing her laugh. Being called a jackass gave me a warm familiar feeling in my heart. Most of my life, that had been a term meant to annoy me. In some ways, it still was. But it's funny the meaning had changed over the years. And how badly I now realized I had missed the moniker.

"Do you still talk to our parents?" I asked.

"I keep in touch with mom. It's tense sometimes. She knows I was still looking for you. She keeps holding out hope that I'll drop it. Dad, not so much. It's never been the same. I tried to not be angry with him. I mean, I know we shocked the hell out of them both, but he reacted so badly. What he did to you." She shuddered at the memory. I was never that horrified by his actions against me. I had worried more about her than myself throughout that whole event. I realized now just how hard it had to have been for her to witness. And it seemed to have burned in her memory. "We just don't have much to say to each other, anymore. At least not much that won't lead to a screaming match. He knows I resent him. And I don't think he's in too big of a hurry to try to change my mind about it."

"I'm sorry. I don't know that it would ever have gone any differently. I always knew that our relationship would cost us. No matter how many ways I thought of to try to tell them about us, I always felt like the end result was the same. They just couldn't accept it. And I can't even really fault them for that. It's got to be a hard thing to come to terms with. And it's not like we exactly eased them into it, either."

Amy came over and sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around me in a big hug. She smelled wonderful.

"It was worth it though, right?" She asked.

"Absolutely worth it." I replied, returning her hug.

"Are you going to tell them you found me?" I asked. My fingers ran through her hair affectionately. Her eyes closed and she tilted her head into my hand.

"I'll need to tell mom sooner or later." She said with a sigh.

"I can't just leave the country without a word. Unlike some people." Amy emphasized the word 'some' while giving me a look of fake irritation.

"That should be an interesting conversation. I don't envy you." I tactfully elected to ignore the second part of her comment.

"You're not going to disappear again while I'm in Portland, right?" She smiled while she asked, but I could see the glint of worry in her eyes. "I know it's a silly thing to worry about. I just.. want to hear you say it, I guess."

"I'll never disappear on you again, sweetheart. I promise."

"You'd better not. I'll stalk you again just to kick your ass." She reached for her phone and checked the time.

"How much longer before we need to get you to the airport?"

"I really need to head over there in about two hours."

My heart sank a bit at the thought of her going away again, even if it was only for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I'd be able to visit her in Portland sooner than that.

"That sucks."

"I was just thinking the same thing. You think two hours is long enough for sex, a shower, and a cab ride to Heathrow?" She grinned at me and ground herself in my lap suggestively.

"We can certainly give it a good try."

* * *

It was hard to let her get on the plane. I got the feeling that it was just as hard for her to leave me behind. We exchanged our phone numbers and she made sure that she got Theron and Margaret's as well. I held her in my arms at the boarding gate until the flight attendant finally told her to get on the plane or miss the flight.

I stayed at the airport until I saw the plane take off, pondering the turn of events that had occurred in the last 48 hours. We had been reunited for less than two days. And then she was gone again, even if it wasn't for very long. I resisted an urge to walk to the ticket counter right that moment and book the next flight back to the States. I felt a familiar tightness in my chest that I hadn't experienced in a couple of years. I sat on a bench with my hands on my knees, staring resolutely at the ground. Taking a few deep breaths, I managed to calm myself down. Finally, I caught a cab back to my hotel and took a long nap.

That night, I met up with Theron and Margaret for dinner. They could barely stop smiling at me the entire time and made me self conscious. Margaret, in particular, was beside herself with excitement.

"It's going to be a long couple of weeks." I mused.

"I have a feeling it's going to go by faster than you think." Theron replied between bites of steak.

"I hope so. I just need to get a new bed and clean up the apartment a bit. There isn't a lot of prep work to be done, really." I thought out loud as I stabbed a piece of potato with my fork and stared at it absently.

"Thanks for being okay with her moving into the apartment with me. It really means a lot." I added, looking up at Theron.

"Absolutely. We wouldn't have it any other way." Margaret spoke up as Theron nodded.

"Did you get a chance to look over any other reviews yet?" Theron asked, knowing full well that I hadn't.

When I shook my head, he wiped his hands off on his napkin and pulled his tablet computer out again. He opened a website and passed it over to me.

"Matheson is an essential and uniquely American voice responding to the current postmodern condition." I read aloud, making a sour face at the screen.

"Seriously, where do they get this stuff? What the hell does that even mean? Do these guys just keep a thesaurus on the back of their toilet and make up statements about the stuff they look at? Look at this bullshit." I motioned to one of the paintings photographed in the article and read from the caption beneath it. "...a raw, visceral look into a fractured mind.' Seriously? It's an aborted attempt to paint a goddamned nautilus shell that I added a bunch of godforsaken sponge textures over!"

Theron was laughing so hard that his face was nearly purple. Margaret was cackling as well, trying to keep her tears of laughter from streaking her makeup.

"You are hilarious when you start ranting, you know that?" Theron gasped.

"So I've been told." I replied, still looking at the article and wondering what the hell these critics saw that I didn't when I painted. I suspected that they were making things up in order to justify their jobs.

"The point is, things are gonna start happening. You don't see this many positive reviews without calls starting to come in from other galleries. You'll see." He gave me a knowing grin.

"Yeah, right." I replied, sarcastically. There was less conviction in my voice, and they both picked up on it. The reviews were very positive, and I was beginning to seriously wonder if I was might have a real shot at making a living at an artist. I was still far from convinced, of course.

That night I tossed and turned in the hotel bed, unable to get comfortable. I stared at the ceiling waiting impatiently to hear that she had landed safely in the US. Frustrated, I raided the room's minibar and was pouring myself a rum and coke when my cellphone chirped at me with a text from Amy.

"Just landed. Missing the hell out of you already. Love you."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I sent back my reply. "We'll be together again soon. Just not soon enough. Love you, too. This is going to take forever."

"Did you find my present?" Present? I glanced around the room. Was I missing something?

"Present?" I sent back.

"I left a memento in your suitcase. ;)"

I walked over to my suitcase and dug around in it for a moment. I didn't see anything that shouldn't have been there. After a little reflection, I did notice something missing though.

"Did you steal my dress shirt?" I sent.

"...maybe." I started chuckling when I saw her reply.

"Brat."

"I left something in return. You didn't see it?"

I went back to the suitcase and dug some more. I found the black pair of panties she'd worn the night before shoved in the pocket of my dress slacks.

"Found 'em."

"Just something to remind you of me until we can be together again. ;)"

"Tease."

"Yep. Guilty. Not sorry, either. I'm going to sleep in this shirt every night. I won't ask you to do the same with my underwear. Unless you want to, that is."

"Not happening." I smirked as I sent my reply.

"Damn. A girl can dream."

"New fetish?"

"Nope. I've got plenty of those already. Funny thing is, they all involve my big brother."

"You're going to make this last bit of time apart as hard as you can, aren't you?"

"I like making it hard."

"Still a damned tease." I smirked as I sent the reply.

A few moments later, an image arrived. Chuckling to myself, as I remembered her photos that she had sent me from Rome, years before, I clicked the image file to open it. It was a photo taken in what appeared to be a bathroom. Her torso was in the photo, covered only by my dress shirt which was left unbuttoned. The curve of her breasts and the space between them was clearly visible in the photo, but her nipples remained covered by the shirt. It was sexy as hell.

The phone vibrated again with another text.

"Feeling teased yet?"

"Definitely."

"Good. I'm at my car now, gotta drive home. Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, beautiful."

I plugged my phone into the charger on the nightstand and double checked the alarm. Swallowing the last of my rum and coke, I kicked back on the bed to try to sleep. It took a while, but I eventually drifted off.

* * *

By the time we got back home in Milos, the London gallery had sold several of my pieces, even at the insanely inflated prices. Theron gave me a smug grin at the news and I had to admit defeat on the pricing argument. The gallery also had multiple requests from other galleries trying to reach out to me for possible shows, just as Theron had predicted.

Theron pointed out that I was now in the kind of position as an artist that I needed to get representation. He offered to set me up for a meeting with his agent, and I gratefully accepted the help. I had no idea how to even begin to navigate the intricacies of arranging showings and contracts with galleries, much less when dealing with them in multiple countries. Offers were coming in from Germany, Italy, and France already. It had not even been a full week yet. How the hell was this happening? My mind boggled.

Theron and Margaret just beamed at me like proud parents while I stared at them incredulously.

"I told you that it was only a matter of time, Adam." Theron grinned over dinner that evening.

"You did. But it's just crazy. I mean, damn. Surely, they'll figure out it's a fluke and pull the offers, right? I mean, there's no way my stuff's going to be hanging all over Europe like that." I was still mystified by the whole thing.

"It doesn't really work like that. The real trick is, you can't let it go to your head when things get rolling. Don't go spending all kinds of money on stupid shit. Save it. Invest it. Don't be that guy that starts making money and spending it just as fast, you know?" He advised.

"If it came to that, Amy could probably help. She's got a degree in finance. I'm sure she would have some investment ideas. I don't know anything about that kind of stuff. If, by some chance, I wind up making decent money at this, I don't see myself blowing it all anyway. But I do hear what you're saying. I appreciate the advice."

"You've already made more from the London show than the last three years combined and it's only the first week. Things are going to start happening faster now. You need to be ready for it."

"Jesus." I needed a beer.

Theron and I met with his agent, Damian, in Athens a few days later. After going over the details of what help he could offer me, we argued a bit over his percentage. I signed some paperwork and we shook hands. I walked out of the meeting with an agent. I was now an artist with representation. Damn.

I messaged Amy that the meeting had been successful, hoping that I didn't wake her up. The ten hour time difference meant it was still in the middle of the night in Portland.

I spent the next couple of days cleaning up the apartment and repainting over a failed mural attempt that I had been tinkering with on one wall of the living area. Margaret was a little upset with me for painting over it, knowing how many hours I had sunk into the project. She was amused at how much work I put into trying to make the small apartment look less like a bachelor pad.

"You think Amy is going to care one bit about what the place looks like after so long apart?" She asked me.

"Probably not, but I'd like her to at least be comfortable here. I checked out the rent house at the end of the block again yesterday. I think it may be a real possibility if all goes well."

"Talking about moving out again? We've told you that you are more than welcome here as long as you like." She sounded exasperated.

"My stuff fits here just fine right now, but once I get the rest of my stuff shipped from Texas as well as Amy's stuff, it's going to be more than cramped. Trust me. You've never seen her closets. We'll need the space." I was being serious, but couldn't help grinning at Margaret's smirk.

"You may have a point there." She conceded as she glanced at the lone closet in the apartment. "It really isn't a very big space."

* * *

I finally returned to my home town a few days later. It was a short, overnight trip to pack and ship my remaining possessions from the storage building that I had been sending Dr. Miller money to maintain for me while I was away. I did not expect to see Austin again after this, having no further reason to be there in my estimation. It felt really strange to be back, but it didn't feel like the horror show of an existence that it had been when I left. Unlike before, I didn't feel a cloud of doom over me with every step. Amy and I discussed going to Austin together to talk to our mother about her leaving the country to be with me, but had decided against it.

I originally planned to rent a car, but realized that my driver's license had expired while I was abroad. Resigned to my fate, I took a cab to a favorite diner to grab some lunch before I got busy with the things I needed to take care of. I was midway through what I thought might be the best cheeseburger I'd ever had in my life, while answering an email from my new agent about a possible show in Berlin when I saw my mother walk into the diner with two of her friends. I had been in the country for all of three hours and I had already managed to step in shit. God damn it. I stared down at my phone, hoping she wouldn't see me.

"Adam!" My mother exhaled, excusing herself from her friends to walk over to my table. Screw every possible moment of my life, I thought to myself. I had no idea what I was going to say to her.

I looked up at her, genuinely unsure of what to say.

"Hi." I said, with a little apprehension. To be fair, she looked as apprehensive as I felt.

"How have you been?" I asked, feeling about as awkward as one could.

"Um.. Okay, I suppose. And you?" She asked.

"I am... Probably the best I've been in a long time," I paused. "This is really weird, mom. Do you want to sit?"

I pointed at the red chair across from me.

She sat in the chair and looked me over. She looked like a sea of emotions were boiling behind her eyes. I was suddenly glad that we were in a public place.

"You have gotten really tan. Are you working construction or something? What do you do?"

"I mostly paint." I looked at my arms. Had I really gotten that tan? Amy had told me the same thing. Weird.

"Houses?"

"I'm am an art assistant. I paint canvases in my free time. Same thing I did here." I fought back an urge to sneer.

"Do you live here in Austin?" She asked.

"No, I'm just in town for the day."

"Oh." She blinked. "We haven't heard from you at all."

"Dad told me not to. He was pretty damned clear about his feelings on the matter, if you recall." I had a little gravel in my voice when I said it and hadn't exactly planned to.

"Yes, but I thought once things calmed down..."

"Oh? Does he ask about me? Does he say he wishes I'd come for Christmas dinner? I imagine he doesn't." I snapped.

"Well, no." She was taken aback.

"Mom, look. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be snippy with you." I sighed, dialing in my irritation. I hadn't meant to snap at her. "And I'm really sorry about the way things went that day. It wasn't the way we wanted you guys to find out about us. I'm sure Amy told you we were planning to sit you guy down and talk about it eventually. I honestly don't think that it would have changed anything. It's not like I ever expected him to take it calmly. I'm not even sure I blame him for reacting the way he did. But we never meant to throw it in your face or hurt anyone."

"Probably not. You couldn't have been foolish enough to think we would be okay with... that." She made a face.

"No, I didn't. I don't expect you to accept it, and I don't think that she does either. But I love her, mom. I love her like I've never loved anything in this world." I paused and stared intently at her for a moment as my brain clicked some thoughts into place.

"Have you talked to her?" She asked.

"About a week and a half ago. She found me in Europe. First time I've seen her since that morning at your house." I didn't even think of it as "home" anymore.

"Europe?" Now she really looked surprised. I ignored the question. It didn't matter.

"I did what you asked in your letter. I stayed away from her for years. I loved her so much that I tried to let her move on with her life like you asked. Three years of no contact, and she never stopped looking for me. Hell, she flew all the way to London to find me. What does that tell you? And we have found that we love each other as much as we ever did. Probably even more. We didn't ask for this to happen. We never meant to fall in love. But it did happen. And it's real. And it's clearly not going away."

She started to cry softly. I passed her a napkin before continuing.

"Look, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I'm sure I'm going to make a lot more of them. But loving Amy isn't one of them. I ran like a coward for a long time, trying to honor your wishes to let her move on with her life. I'm done with that. All it did was hurt. Do you understand? You don't have to accept it. But do you at least understand that it is real?"

She slowly nodded her head at me.

"She's coming to live with me."

"I can't say I'm surprised." She said, sadly. "What do I tell your father?"

"I don't care. Tell him whatever you want." I shrugged. "He disowned me. No reason for his opinion to matter to me at all."

"Where are you going to be?"

"I don't really factor into your lives anymore, so I'll leave it to Amy to decide if she wants to tell you or not. I don't feel like it's my place to say." I replied. "But I'm sorry we hurt you, mom. I really am."

I took a bite of my burger and watched her as she looked at me for a long time not saying anything. Part of me wondered what had gotten in to me. I was surprised by how much I found that I really did not care what they thought anymore. I finished chewing the bite, suddenly realizing that I was no longer hungry, and swallowed. The loss of appetite was disappointing, considering how awesome it was to have a legitimate cheeseburger again. I tossed the rest of the burger on the plate.

Dropping my napkin in the middle of the plate, I grabbed my bag and stood up to leave.

"Take care of yourself," I told her, not really knowing what else to say.

"You too, Adam." she said. As I turned to walk away, she added. "You take care of her, too."

"I'll do my best, mom. I promise." I looked back at her with a small smile.

"I believe you." She smiled sadly. "I'm not okay with this. Don't misunderstand."

"I understand. I wasn't okay with it for a long time, either. We don't choose who we love. But she is the greatest thing in the world. I wouldn't trade her for anything." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Bye, mom."

I walked out the restaurant feeling like there might be some small hope for reconciliation with our mother. I knew better than to even think that about dad, but I was prepared to live with that. I called Amy and told her about the encounter. She was more than relieved that she would not have to be the one to tell mother about the upcoming move.

I met up with Jeff Miller later that afternoon and used his truck to bring the stuff from the storage unit to his art studio. We packed my paintings from the unit into padded shipping crates, along with the rest of my stuff. A shipping company would be picking them up to deliver to Greece in the coming days. Although he tried not to let me, I made sure to give him at least some compensation for his trouble.

Over dinner that night, I caught him up on some of the successes I had experienced with my art in Europe. I showed him pictures of some of my recent work and he approved of my progress. He was very pleased to hear about my success at the London show and was impressed that things were moving along for me at the pace that they were. Jeff and his wife, Becky, both expressed how glad they were to see that I was doing so much better than when they had last seen me. I thanked him again for his help during the hardest time of my life. When he dropped me off in front of my hotel for the evening, he passed me a couple of books that he asked me to bring to Theron for him. I promised that I would and headed inside.

Once I got checked in, I took a quick shower, then slouched on the bed and sent Amy a text.

"Can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"Me either, baby! I'm so excited!"

"Did mom call you?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure she will."

I flipped channels on the TV disinterestedly. I'd overestimated the time that I would need to pack the storage room. The pile of stuff had grown in my memory over the years, forgetting that I had once kept everything I owned in a single room. Now I was left with nothing but time to kill until I would join Amy in Portland tomorrow. A few snags in shipping arrangements and her wrapping up some accounts in a responsible manner at the job that she was leaving had delayed things a bit. It had been just over two weeks since we had seen each other.

"Wish you were here." I texted, as I debated going down to the hotel bar. I elected not to, as I didn't want to risk bumping into someone I knew and getting trapped in a long conversation.

"Oh yeah? It wasn't that many years ago that you wouldn't have been caught dead typing those words."

"You were an obnoxious little brat then."

"I was your little brat, though."

"Not at the time."

"You know what I mean."

An image file arrived a moment later. I opened the file and a photo of her back, wearing my dress shirt, taken in a mirror. About two thirds of her majestic ass was visible below the shirt with only the line of a thong obscuring the view. I stared at it for a good ten seconds or so before responding.

"You're trying to make me go sit at the airport all night trying to switch to an earlier flight, aren't you?"

"Is it working? Do you like seeing your little brat's ass?"

"You've got me thinking pretty hard about it."

"The flight or my ass?"

"Fuck it. I'm going." I got up and started tossing the very few items I had unpacked back in my bag.

"What? Seriously?" Came the reply.

"Seriously. I'm sitting on my ass doing nothing. If I'm doing the same thing at the airport, then I can maybe get there that much sooner."

"I'll be waiting!"

I grinned when I saw her text and dropped the phone on the bed, while I packed my laptop away. Once everything was packed, I went back down to the front desk and turned my key in to a very perplexed looking hotel employee.

"Was there a problem with the room, Mr. Matheson?" They asked nervously.

"Not at all. I just realized I have somewhere else I need to be." I smiled, as I dialed the number for the cab company.

As I climbed into the cab a few minutes later, my phone vibrated with another message from Amy.

"Hell, if I had known that I only needed to sent a picture of my ass to get you out here, I would have sent it a week ago."

* * *

There wasn't an earlier flight. I sat in the damned airport like an asshole all night, doodling in a sketchbook while stuck in an uncomfortable chair. Patience is a virtue. Or something like that. My impatience to be with my sister caused me a very long night of no sleep. But that wasn't the first time that had happened, by any means. The positive side of being up all night in a airport cursing my impulsiveness was that it was daytime in Athens and I was able to answer Damian's emails pretty rapidly.

The four hour flight to Portland was uneventful and felt abnormally short when compared to the fifteen hours I had spent flying in from Athens. Admittedly, I had slept most of it. We had flights booked for Athens from Portland that left in three days, meaning I'd be spending somewhere in the neighborhood of nearly forty hours on planes in less than a week's time. I was not overly enthused about this, and had already depleted the stack of books I had brought with me to read in flight. A trip to a bookstore would be in order sometime in the next few days. When I walked out of the loading ramp into the terminal, I scanned the room for Amy. She was nowhere in sight.

I made it about ten yards into the terminal when I was suddenly attacked in the hundred and ten pound equivalent of a football tackle. Well, I imagine a football game featuring such a tackle would raise more than a few eyebrows, as my attacker wrapped her arms and legs around me and began kissing me with great ferocity. I did my best to return the kisses in kind, while fighting off my laughter. The laughter and smiles of a couple of onlookers seemed to have a slight calming effect on us and I was finally able to get some oxygen back in my lungs.