"A forty amp fuse?"
"Right." I told her, nodding enthusiastically. "With that baby in your household fuse box, you'll damn near have to burn down the house before it blows. You can hook up Christmas lights, a toaster, and a dryer all to the same circuit if you want."
She looked at me for a moment and then back at the fuse. "A forty amp fuse." She said slowly. "Well it's… uh…"
I was going to keep up the charade a little bit longer but I couldn't contain myself. I burst out laughing. Nina looked at me and finally realized I was putting one over on her.
"You asshole." She giggled, throwing the fuse at me. It bounced off my shoulder and clattered to the coffee table.
"I'm sorry." I said, still chuckling. "But you should have seen your face."
"How would you like it if I gave you a box of tampons?" She asked. "I could tell you that 'these babies will keep your flow contained for damn near six hours in an emergency'."
I looked up at her in stunned disbelief for a moment. That was, without a doubt, the raunchiest joke I'd ever heard her crack. My laughter bubbled up again, spewing from my mouth. She joined me, slapping playfully at my arm once. Finally I took her in my arms and gave her another kiss. The seriousness of the kiss cut our laughter off like a valve.
When we broke apart once again, both of us tingling, I reached into the pocket of my sweater and pulled out another clumsily wrapped package, this one only three inches square. This one was the REAL gift. As I'd predicted, my stocks had risen considerably after the news article about the glove shortage. They'd inflated enough for me to cash out a few and do some reckless spending.
"Here." I said, handing it to her. "This one might be a little more pleasing."
She took it, continuing to eye me for a moment. Finally she began to pull the wrapping paper off. The package beneath was a velvet covered, hinged box from a jewelry store. She lifted the lid and stared at what was inside.
"Oh Bill." She said softly. "It's beautiful."
Inside the box was a gold pendant in the shape of a heart. Its surface was studded with small diamonds. A gold chain was attached to it and stowed under the display partition in the box.
"I'm glad you like it." I told her seriously.
"Bill, this looks very expensive." She said, fingering it lightly.
"It wasn't too bad." I said dismissively. "I was glad to get it for you. Do you know why?"
"Why?" She asked.
"Because I love you Nina." I said.
She looked at me, her face melting, a tear forming in her eye. "I love you too Bill." She said softly. "More than anything."
We continued to stare at each other for a moment, neither of us sure what to do, both of us feeling the tingling of electricity that was building between us. I finally broke the spell by asking, "Why don't you put it on? See how it looks."
"Sure." She said, taking her eyes from me and concentrating on the gift in the box.
She extricated the necklace and pendant, gave them a quick look, and then handed them to me. "Can you put it on me?" She asked.
I took it from her and undid the clasp. She leaned forward towards me, grabbing her hair and holding it away from her neck. Our faces were less than six inches apart. Taking the ends of the chain in each of my hands I put my arms around her neck, resting my forearms on her shoulders. She gazed up at me lovingly as my trembling hands attempted to put the little clasp into the little loop. It was not as easy as it looked.
"Take your time." Nina said breathlessly, pushing herself closer to me.
I nodded, finally getting the two ends to fit together.
"There." I said, trying to pull away. But she dropped her hands from her hair and put them around my back, holding me firmly to her, refusing to let go.
"I'll look later." She said, pulling me against her.
Our lips met in a soft kiss and her arms squeezed me tight, allowing me to feel her chest pushing against mine. Instead of touching her lips to mine and then withdrawing as she usually did, she kept them there, pressing them, letting them taste me. For the first time since our first embrace by the river I felt the tip of her tongue reach out hesitantly, touching the underside of my upper lip. Her tongue was warm and soft, wet with her saliva as it touched briefly and pulled back into her mouth.
Emboldened by her first tentative move, she did it again, letting her tongue slide completely between my lips. I touched the tip of it with my own and our taste buds connected. At the touch she trembled in my arms, compelling me to pull her tighter. She pulled her tongue back again and then slid it in a little deeper, seeking and meeting mine, allowing them to swirl together for an instant. I gave her tongue a little suck with my mouth and she hummed against me, driving it further into my mouth.
We broke apart for a second and looked into each other's eyes. I saw wanting in hers, excitement, the excitement of new discovery.
"I always thought it would be gross." She said softly, her breath tickling the wetness of my lips.
"Gross?" I asked, leaning in and kissing her lightly, dabbing at her lip with my tongue, before withdrawing.
"Yes." She nodded. "French kissing. I always thought it would be gross. Touching someone else's tongue with yours. But it's not."
"I guess it depends on who the someone is." I said.
She leaned forward again. "Maybe that's it."
We resumed our kiss, letting our tongues glide together, holding each other tightly. Her hands came up to the back of my neck and began caressing me there, lightly rubbing with the fingertips, lightly scratching with the fingernails. The sensation sent chills down my spine and I felt myself becoming erect with frightening speed. I let my own hands drop down to her lower back, my fingers feeling the muscle and skin, the softness that existed beneath the material of her sweater.
We continued to do this for more than ten minutes, our tongues probing each other's mouths, our hands caressing. Nina seemed to relish it, to draw strength from it. She quickly learned what I liked and what I did not like and adapted her technique. She learned not to cram her tongue down my throat but to teasingly swirl the tip, gradually increasing the depth. I sucked gently on her lips for a moment, making them swell and then she did the same to mine.
My dick, which had been releived by nothing but my own hand since my afternoon with Cindy and Maggie, was straining in my jeans, begging to be released. It was accustomed to playing a more active role in the festivities once things reached this point. It ached to be ground into her body, to have her hand upon it. But this was not Cindy or Maggie, this was not Debbie or Steph or Anita or any of the other girls I'd bedded. This was Nina, who I loved and who I was not going to push anything upon. My pants would be kept firmly buttoned, at least until after she'd left.
When we finally broke apart a few minutes later I could feel the dull ache of blue balls in my groin. Nina looked up at me, her face still flushed, her eyes shining.
"Wow." She commented, straightening herself on the couch.
I nodded, trying to adjust myself in my pants by shifting my body back and forth. It was a poor job at best.
"So that was 'making out', right?" She asked me.
I chuckled. "Yes." I told her. "That was making out."
"Mmmm." She said clinically. "I can see why people like to do it."
"Yes." I nodded. "It is rather enjoyable, isn't it?"
"And now that we're, uh, together, we can do that whenever we want to?"
"We should probably wait until we're alone," I said. "But yes. Anytime."
She smiled. "Having a boyfriend is pretty cool." She said.
Nina left early the next morning to visit some relatives in Idaho with her parents. I would not see her for the next three days. When she returned we were only able to get together for a few hours on two different days. On one of those days we found the time and the privacy to 'make out' for a while but it did not match the passion of that first time. Not that it was disappointing you understand.