"You're right. Anyway, with him out of the picture, and your mom basically having disowned her family, as her time started to run out, she asked me if I would be your guardian. I was really happy to, but it was just under such awful circumstances. I really cared about your mom."
"I know you did. I think you were almost more upset than I was when she died."
"I don't know about that. It was a bad time, though.
"Yeah. I don't want to hear any more about that right now."
"Okay. Then what do you want to hear about?"
"Tell me about the first time we fooled around."
"From grief to joy, huh?"
"You're always telling me that it's only the joy that makes the grief worth it."
"I do say that," I sighed.
"So pony up," she said, wiggling again in my lap.
"If I pony up are you going to–" I slid my hands up her thighs under her skirt and cupped her bare bottom "–pony up yourself?"
She sucked in her lower lip and let her eyes do the talking.
"I can't resist, you insatiable little minx."
"Insatiable little minx?! I'm satiable!"
I laughed at her wit. "Yes, and I'll sate you after you let me talk. You were almost eight, and we'd been living together a little over a year. You had always masturbated pretty damn much anywhere, even after your mom and, later, I, talked to you about 'touching your private places in private spaces'."
"Oh, c'mon, I didn't masturbate *anywhere*."
"No, that's true. You kept a lid on it at school and in public, but you'd often go at it in the car, or while we were watching a movie."
"Now you see why I always wanted a blanket, even when it wasn't cold."
"I saw that for a long time, sweetie. You weren't fooling me."
She blushed.
"Well, I was taking a nap one afternoon, and I woke up when I felt the bed rocking. You had come to lie down next to me, and you were touching yourself. Pretty vigorously." She buried her face in my chest. "Reaching down into your panties. I don't think you'd realized that I was awake yet, and I didn't want to embarrass you. And…fuck, but it was erotic. I think I had always had a thing for you. A love that went beyond what a guardian would feel, you know? But I never wanted to admit it to myself. Until then. You were so beautiful. And I rolled over."
"And my heart nearly stopped."
"You remember now!"
"I've always remembered. I like to hear it every once in a while."
"I put my hand on top of yours and said something like 'Do you want me to help?' You looked right at me and nodded. You took your hand out of your panties, and we both slipped them down, and I started touching you. You were so soft, and smooth. You closed your eyes, and I remember the way your lips parted as I started rubbing you. After a few seconds, I asked if you wanted to keep going, and you said 'Yes'. Moaned it, more like. Then I asked if you wanted me to kiss you down there. I remember your eyes came open and you said, 'That's silly!'"