Sam's Gift

Sasha felt herself jarred from sleep as the car hit a large pothole in the road.

"Oh, sorry, baby. I didn't see that one in time to miss it."

She rubbed the grit from her eyes before looking over at her mother, then stretching as much as she was able in the passenger seat.

"Are we there yet?" Apparently, it didn't matter that she was just a day away from her 25th birthday; the question was absolutely required to be asked by whoever wasn't driving on a long trip.

Her mother smiled at her without turning her head. "Almost. Just turned off the main road. About half a mile to go."

Stifling a yawn, Sasha finished stretching. "I don't see why you had to move out so far away from civilization."

Jane shrugged. "I kind of like being away from it all. Honestly, I never would have moved to the city if not for your father. And with him gone, I don't really have any reason to stay in the city anymore." She somehow made it sound matter of fact, but Sasha could hear the little catch in her voice when she said it. A year after he'd passed away, none of them had really recovered.

Sasha couldn't think of what to say to that, so she just fell silent for a few minutes.

"Did you get a chance to look at the photos of the place?" Jane asked, finally breaking the awkward silence.

Sasha nodded. "Yeah, it looked nice. Kind of small, though."

"Well, I don't need much space. I just need a nice quiet place where I can finally get back to my writing. If it wasn't for the fact you kids might visit, I'd be fine with one bedroom. This way, I have a spare, just in case."

"You mean like for the next couple of days?"

Her mother laughed a little. "Yeah, something like that. But you didn't have to come out to help me on your birthday. It could have waited."

"Don't be silly, Mom. Besides, my birthday isn't until tomorrow, and there's no better way to spend my birthday than helping out my mother. I just wish Sam could have made it."

"Oh! Didn't I tell you?" Jane said, remembering something. "I talked to your brother on the phone just this morning. He's going to get to the house tomorrow. He'll help us out for a couple of days, then head back home. So it'll be all three of us together for your birthday."

"Really?" Sasha couldn't help but smile. Even though she hadn't seen him for nearly a year now, she still tried to stay in touch with her twin brother. "That's great news! It'll be so good to see him!" Growing up, they'd been the very best of friends, unlike most siblings. Maybe it had something to do with the whole twin bond thing, who knew?

"Yes, he should arrive about 10 o'clock or so, so we'll get a couple of hours unpacking ahead of him. Plus, he's actually driving the U-Haul truck with the furniture. I was going to hire some professional movers, but he wouldn't have any of it."

Sasha's smile grew wider. "Yeah, that's Sam. Always ready to give you the shirt off his back." She shook her head, amused at the thought. "Oh, did he tell what his job is?"

"Hm? No, I never thought to ask him," Jane answered.

"Okay, well, promise not to laugh and I'll tell you." Her mother took one hand from the wheel and made a "cross my heart" gesture. "He's been working as a fitness instructor at a gym for the past six months. After he lost the extra weight, he decided that he liked the idea of helping others get into shape."

Jane glanced over at her with a hint of shock, then quickly looked back to her driving. "Sam? A fitness instructor? That's . . . Why, that's wonderful news! I'm so glad for him! Is he happy with it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. Half the time when we Skype, it's all he can talk about."

Suddenly, the trees on either side of the road gave way to a big clearing with a beautiful log cabin nestled right at it's center. A few large oaks gave the house a bit of shade, or rather, they would have if the sun wasn't so low in the sky. The house itself was a masterfully crafted and maintained. If ever there was a place for an author to get away from it all, this was it.

"Wow!" was all that Sasha could think to say.

Jane laughed. "I know. It's perfect, isn't it?" She pulled the car up close to the front porch and stopped, putting it in park before killing the engine. "Let's not bother to unpack anything tonight. It's already getting late and we'll have all of the next two days." Sasha slowly climbed out of the car, ogling the quaint little cabin and nodding to her mother. "I already have the fridge and cabinets stocked, so there's plenty of options for dinner if you're hungry." She motioned for Sasha to follow her as he headed up the porch steps. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."

Only taking the time to grab her purse, Sasha took up her mother's offer. Once inside, Jane showed her the deceptively spacious living room, the master bedroom, then the guest room. The guest room, while nice, only featured a twin-size bed and an antique dresser. The master bedroom, while also having only a twin-size, was mostly furnished, with a dresser, full-length mirror, curtains, and a comfortable chair off in the corner next to a small bookshelf.

After being shown around the place, Sasha felt her stomach growling, and apparently her mother heard it.

"I'd say it's high-time to get something to eat," she laughed.

With a simple meal of ham and cheese sandwiches on paper plates (her dishes were in the truck that Sam would bring), the two of them sat in the living room and chatted for a long while. When Sasha yawned wide enough to make her jaw pop, her mother decided that it was time for them to get some sleep, especially since they would be unpacking and moving stuff for the next two days. Sasha didn't argue at all and was snuggled into the guest room bed in a matter of minutes, wiped out from the long drive.

******

Jane woke her daughter for an early breakfast (sandwiches again) before the two of them got started. It took them nearly an hour to get everything out of the car, then another hour to get it sorted by which room it all went in. They actually only got half of it all put away before they heard the sound of a vehicle pulling in the drive.

"That's got to be Sam!" Sasha said excitedly, nearly tripping in her hurry to greet her twin. By the time she made it outside, her brother was already out of the truck, grinning widely at her.

"Hey, Shorty!" he said, using his nickname for her. "How've you been?" He barely had the chance to throw his arms open before she collided into him with a rib-crushing hug, which he returned with a good deal less force than his sister.

When she finally released him and stepped back, she gawked at him. "Oh my God, Sam! You look so good! You're like a whole new Sam!"

"Why, thank you," he said, turning about to show off. The blue jeans and white t-shirt fit closely to his trim, muscled form, showing almost no sign of the man who'd been battling a weight problem a few years before. "Honestly, I think I've done as much or more trimming and toning since I became an instructor than what I did before."

As he spun around, Sasha took in the sight of him. At 6'1", he was a good seven inches taller than her, and she could just make out the shape of his six-pack abs beneath his shirt. He'd also cut his hair shorter, very business-like, but he still had that perpetual five o'clock shadow. It matched his hair, so dark that it was almost jet black, same as her own hair. It seemed to really bring out his sparkling blue eyes, another feature that he shared with his sister. He took one more turn and Sasha nearly blushed when she noticed his firm buttocks and how well he filled out the front of his jeans.

"You look great, too," he complimented her. She'd been a long-time member of a gym for years and it showed.

She slugged his arm, brushing a wisp of her black hair from her eyes. "No, I don't. I'm sweaty from unpacking stuff. Don't make fun of me."

He chuckled as he put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. "Now, you know I'd never do that," he said with a mischievous grin. "But seriously, Sis, you do look great, sweat and all."

Was it just her imagination, or had that forehead kiss lasted a bit long? Sasha shook the thought from her mind.

"Hey, where's -" Sam cut off his question as he spotted their mother coming out onto the porch. "Mom! Hey!"

"Samuel!" She never shortened his name. She seemed to like the sound of it longer. "You're early! We weren't expecting you for at least another hour."

He started walking forward, pulling Sasha along with him, since his arm was still around her. "Yeah, I got off work early yesterday and decided, what the hell, why wait? I just drove straight on through the night, didn't even stop to eat."

"Oh, you must be starving!" his mother worried. "We can all take a break and let you get something to eat. Do you need to get in a few hours of sleep before we start unloading the truck? I'm sure we can wait."

Sam was shaking his head as he came up the steps, his sister still in tow. "No, no, I'm fine. A bite to eat sounds good, but if I try to take a nap, I'll sleep right on through the rest of the day. You know how hard of a sleeper I am. Besides, that just means I'll sleep well tonight."

"If you're sure . .?" she persisted.

He just laughed and followed her inside, letting Sasha go in ahead of him. In a matter of minutes, Jane had made him a couple of sandwiches and they were all sitting around the living room, catching up.

"You look wonderful, Samuel!" his mother assured him. "I'm glad to see you taking good care of yourself. And what about that nice girl you were with a couple of months back? What was her name? Cassie?"

"Jessie," he answered around a mouthful of ham and cheese. When he'd swallowed, he continued. "Well, Jessica, actually. But she doesn't like to be called that. Not that it matters. We kind of broke up a few days ago."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry to hear that!" Jane consoled. "From the way you talked about her, I was sure she would be the one for you."

Sam shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We're still friends, good friends. We just decided that we didn't have the same goals, and that it would be better for both of us if we simply went back to being friends. She wants to concentrate on her career, so that means no time for raising a family. I'm looking for someone that wants a family as much as I do."

"You'll find the right woman," Jane said, patting his arm sympathetically. And of course, that led to the inevitable, "And what about you, Sasha? Have you found yourself a significant other yet?"

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Mom, I'm not really looking for anyone."

"Yes, you are," Jane argued. "You just have that 'knight-in-shining-armor' idea stuck in your head."

"Mom, don't harass her," Sam came to her defense.

"Yeah, Mom," Sasha spoke. "There are still men out there that are responsible, caring, sweet, all that good stuff."

"Oh, Sasha," her mother put in, "I married the very last of those men."

"Hey!" Sam pointed at himself, giving her an expression of mock offense. "What about me?"

Jane laughed while adding, "With the exception of your brother, of course. But I'm not getting any younger, you know. And neither are you. I'd like to see my first grandchild before senility kicks in."

"Too late!" Sam teased her. Which earned him a semi-playful slap on the arm.

As the laughter slowly died down, Sasha cleared her throat ominously. "Actually . . ."

Her mother and twin brother looked at her, not sure what to make of her tone.

"Actually," she started again, "I have a doctor's appointment in a few weeks. And if everything checks out fine, then I'm going to see about . . . undergoing artificial insemination."

Sam and Jane's jaws fell open in unison.

"Don't freak out!" Sasha tried to forestall them. "It's just that, even if I'm right and there are still good men out there, the odds of my meeting one are . . . astronomical, at best. And you both know that I've always wanted to have children. It just seems like this is my best chance at having that."

"But-" Sam started, only to get cut off by their mother.

"Honey, what about providing for yourself and a baby?"

"I've already thought of that," Sasha assured them both. "My business is doing incredibly well right now, and I'm putting back a substantial portion of my earnings. In fact, we're doing so well right now that I've had to hire six more employees in the last month. And Anthony knows the company well enough to handle anything that comes up when I get to the point where I can't work. I've made contingency plans for the contingency plans of my contingency plans."

But, honey-," Jane tried to reason with her.

"Mom, I'm not asking for your permission. I love you, I respect you, and I hope that you can respect my decisions in return. Unless, by some miracle, I meet my perfect man before my appointment three weeks from now, provided that I'm healthy enough for it, I'm going to set up a date for the procedure."

And that was the end of the discussion. Sasha refused to talk to either of them anymore about it, instead deflecting the conversation to other matters. When Sam finished eating and Jane had gone out to the truck, Sasha started to pick up his plate and napkin.

He caught her arm and stood up, towering over her. "Sis, I want you to know that, if this is really what you want, then you have my support." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "If you need anything, you just give me a call, alright?"

She smiled at him, relieved by his attitude. "I will," she promised.

With that, he trailed after their mother and set to unlocking the truck.

******

It was a long day's work to get most of the truck unloaded and the furniture arranged in the house. Of course, as expected, there just wasn't enough time in the day for them to get all of it, which was just as well, since Sam was starting to feel the lack of sleep from his trip. When they finally stopped for the day, he insisted that they get their showers before him, being ever the gentleman. Their mother went first as Sasha tidied up from their short supper and Sam made sure that the truck was properly locked down. He doubted that there was anyone close enough to try stealing anything, but he tended to be careful about that sort of thing.

Once, she'd had her shower, Jane told them both good night and thanked them again for coming out to help on their birthday. She'd intended to give them a birthday cake, but they insisted that they were simply too beat to enjoy it. Instead, they persuaded her to wait until the next night, when they would already be mostly finished.

Next into the shower was Sasha. She did her best to cut her time short, not wanting to use up all the hot water before Sam got his turn. After drying herself off, she pulled on her nightshirt and went to the guest room. Taking her phone from her purse, she opened an e-book file that she'd been reading and climbed into the bed. Since the bed was positioned in the corner, with one side against the wall, she scooted all the way to the far side and pulled the sheet up over herself.

It was nearly twenty minutes when Sam came into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist. "Sis, you sure you're alright sharing a bed with me?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said distractedly, not even looking away from her phone. "No problem. Just like when we were kids." Her book was right in the middle of a really good part.

"What are you reading?"

"Interview With The Vampire."

"Haven't you read that like a million times?" he asked, walking over next to the bed.

"Uh huh," she mumbled. "Good book. Now shush!" She was almost finished with the chapter.

"Sasha Emmerson," he muttered to no one as he pulled his towel loose dropped it to the floor, "the never-ceasing bookworm." He laughed a little, using the mirror they'd installed a few hours earlier to check on a small scratch on his chin.

"Yep," she affirmed as she read the last line of the chapter, bookmarked her place and closed the e-book. She reached over to set the phone on the night stand just as he turned around. "Oh my God, Sam!" she yelped.

"What?" he said innocently. "What's wrong?"

"You're . . . naked!" she held one hand up in front of her face.

"Yeah, so? I always sleep naked. I can't stand to wear pajamas."

She'd caught a very clear view of him, from his muscular arms, to his tight pecks and incredible abs, to his manhood. His very BIG manhood, at least seven inches even in its flaccid state. She wondered for an instant just how enormous he must be when he was . . . She shoved the thought away.

"It's not a problem, is it?"

"Can you just . . . cover yourself? I saw your . . ."

Sam, never the shy one, asked her, "My dick? Don't worry," he said, wagging it at her, "he won't bite."

"Sam, you're terrible!" she scolded, though there was a part of her that wanted to laugh at his joke.

"Do you want me to go sleep in the living room?"

She paused for a moment, then sighed. "No. No, it's fine. Just make sure you keep the sheet between us." The image of him standing there was still burned into her thoughts. So . . . BIG!

Sam slipped underneath the sheet, making sure to keep plenty of it between them as requested. "Is that good?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she said, venturing a peek to make sure he was covered. "You gonna read a book or something?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I think I'm just gonna crash, see if I can recoup some of that sleep I skipped on last night. But you can keep the light on if you want to read for a while." He picked her phone up from the night stand and offered it to her, but she shook her head.

"No, sleep actually sounds wonderful right now. It's been a long day."

Sam set the phone back down. "Alright. In that case, sweet dreams, Sis." He leaned over and kissed her forehead, then scooted back to his side of the bed and clicked off the light.

In what seemed like an instant, they were both asleep.

******

Sasha awoke sometime before midnight to a warm body pressed up against her back. She opened her eyes and turned her head, then realized that her brother was spooning against her in his sleep. His strong arm was around her waist and, to her surprise, the sheet wasn't between them. To make matters worse, her night shirt had shifted while she slept, riding up and bunching at her waist. It was then that she became VERY aware that she wasn't wearing any panties under she night shirt.

"Sam?" she whispered, shifting slightly. She stopped moving almost instantly when she felt his flaccid cock against the back of her thigh. "Sam?" she repeated softly. "You have to move."

"Mmmm," he moaned in his sleep. "Jessie . . ." He nuzzled his lips against the back of her neck.

Sasha stiffened, shivering slightly at his touch. "Sam, you need to wake up," she whispered. She shifted again. Then she felt his lower body move against her. And was it her imagination or . . . Oh, no! The touch of her thigh brushing him began to arouse him. She could feel his cock starting to stiffen, to grow.

"Jessie . . ." he moaned again.

She had no idea what she should do. She had to get up, but she was almost against the wall, with no room to maneuver. And with each second the passed, she could feel him growing bigger, harder. She started to turn her body slightly, to lift her leg free . . .

With her leg out of the way, his cock slipped between her thighs, the massive head only inches away from her pussy. She reached between her thighs, fully intending to push his cock away and out from between her legs. But when her fingers touched the smooth, hot head, she imagined what it would be like to have it touching her pussy. She'd never been with a man before.

Oh, she had masturbated many times. She'd lost her virginity to her own fingers. But she'd never taken a man inside her. She couldn't help but wonder how it would feel . . .