11 comments/ 63339 views/ 94 favorites 1. Racing From Love Ch. 01-03 By: inspirixis1 CHAPTER ONE SPRING, FRESHMAN YEAR Emma ran through her pre-race routine. She shook her hands, shrugged her shoulders and jumped quickly on her toes to calm her nerves. This was the part of racing that she both loved and hated the most, those awful moments before you stepped up to the start line. She puffed her cheeks to let out a deep breath and went over her race plan in her head. She was nervous. The 800 m was her best event, and she didn't want to stuff it up, not in her first NCAA national championship final. The role call started, she heard her name and stepped forward and waved to the crowd. She knew her family was up there somewhere. Her mom had called after the semi-final to tell her how proud they all were, she kept on blabbering uncontrollably until her brother Sam had taken the phone off her and finally ended the call so Emma could go socialize with her friends on the team. Thank god for Sam. Oh god, her nerves were so bad she felt like she was going to shit her pants. It was time. She stepped up to the line and a wave of calm washed over her. It was just her and the track. Nobody else. Nothing else. Just her and the track. The starting gun went off and she launched herself forward. She was hyperaware of her body, she could feel her legs pumping, the air rushing in and out of her lungs, the braids in her pony tail brushing against the back of her neck. She'd gotten a good start. She rounded the last turn of the first lap in fourth or fifth place, she couldn't tell and she wasn't about to start looking around to try and figure it out. She was in a good position. You might not have known it from the number of girls in front of her but she felt good about it. She was in her rhythm. She crossed the line, just one more lap to go. She was in the zone now, the only things that existed were her body and the track. She could feel the lactic acid building in her legs and the heat in her chest growing but she focused on her rhythm. On the backstretch she picked up the pace, making her big move. The U-Penn girl was surprised by her early move and tried to go with her but Emma didn't even notice. Nothing could get in her way now, she was gearing up for a big finish. She came around the last turn and knew that the line was close. Her whole body was screaming at her in the most intense pain, her chest was about to explode. She picked it up for the final sprint. God she felt awesome, she'd never been in so much pain and held her technique together like this before. She pushed it out as hard as she could to cross the line. Her eyes went immediately to the scoreboard. A personal best time, she had known it before she saw it, but there was something else, her name was on the second line with a 2 beside it. That couldn't be right, she was just a freshman, she wasn't supposed to place at the Nationals. But there it was, second place. She couldn't believe it. She put her hand over her mouth in shock. She thanked and congratulated the other runners, walking on air, not believing what an amazing race she had just had. Someone was calling her name. She scanned the crowd and saw her family leaning over the railing of the stands to wave to her. She laughed at them, they were even more excited than she was. She walked over to them and clasped their hands and took a rub on the head from her dad. Now she was glad they were here to celebrate with her. Her mom started blabbering again, the tears were flowing in full force and she couldn't stop saying "Em I'm so proud, I'm just so proud." She caught Sam's bright blue eyes and rolled hers. He laughed, showing the entire set of pearly whites set in his strong square jaw. God it had been ages since she'd seen him, she'd missed that laugh. She had to go warm down so she left them with the promise of dinner that night. Kirra joined her for her warm down jog. They had hit it off as friends because there was no problem with competition between them, Kirra was a hurdler and Emma couldn't jump for shit. "Who were those people in the crowd?" Kirra asked. "That's my mom and dad and brother," she replied. She was a little annoyed that Kirra wouldn't have put two and two together by now. They had been friends for almost a year, Kirra wasn't known for her brains though. She turned around. Kirra had stopped dead in her tracks. "But they're white!" "No shit Sherlock," was Emma's response. Kirra started jogging again. "Do I need to point out the obvious?" she questioned. "Girl, you're black and your family are white?" "I was adopted," Emma shrugged. She hated this conversation. She couldn't count the number of times she'd had it throughout her life. She loved her family, really she did, it just would have been so much easier if they were black, then she wouldn't have to explain anything. Kirra surprised Emma by being totally accepting of this new revelation, "Your brother is hot! Can you introduce me?" Emma snorted, as if Kirra needed introducing to anyone. She was gorgeous and she knew it, and she had the confidence to put it on display. She was lean but still managed to have huge boobs and a cute bubble butt, and she had the most fabulous dark chocolate skin. Her cheek bones were high and sharp, pointing to a perfect round mouth. The girl looked like some sort of African goddess. Emma always felt like a wallflower beside Kirra, like a lanky little kid that had not fully matured. The problem wasn't just that Emma had the body of a skinny adolescent boy, it was also that she just couldn't get comfortable with the whole dress up and wear make up thing. She just felt so ridiculous and fake on the occasions that she did make the effort to dress up and go out to parties. Kirra certainly didn't have that problem, she wore makeup every time she left her room and her hair was always immaculate. Kirra was a nice girl though, she wasn't the sharpest stick in the forest but she didn't have a mean bone in her body, there was no reason she shouldn't introduce her to Sam. She decided to invite her to dinner with them that night. Her dad pulled into the hotel lot where Emma and Kirra were waiting, and the greetings and introductions were made. She hugged her mom and dad and turned to Sam. 'Hey Em' Sam pulled her into a bear hug, his huge upper body almost totally surrounding her. He had been a swimmer since she didn't know when. One of her first memories was of Sam refusing to get out of the pool when it was time to leave their tiny tots swimming class, their mom had to get the lifeguard to get in to chase him out. He was a natural, and had the shoulders, and a full ride scholarship at USC to prove it. 'Hey Sammy,' she managed to get out, her face smooshed up against his pectoral. When he released her she introduced them all to Kirra and they piled into the car headed for the restaurant. It was crowded in the back seat. She had decided to take the middle and was squeezed in beside Sam's bulk on one side and Kirra's bustiness on the other. She let her legs rest sideways on Sam's and leaned into him. It felt nice to sit beside him again, she hadn't realized how much she had missed him. In the past nine months, since school began, she had only seen him on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then when she and her parents had made the trip to the NCAA swimming nationals to watch him compete. Now that she was done with her racing season she wanted to go home. She wanted to have another summer like last year when they trained together and hung out, went camping, went riding, just bummed around. She missed him. Why did he have to go to school all the way down at USC? Dinner was pleasant enough. The predictable conversation of how the Watsons came to adopt Emma was out of the way fairly early on due to Kirra's outgoing curiosity, then she turned her attention to Sam. Her flirtations were fairly obvious, but mild enough to be inoffensive. She asked him about his swimming, what his favorite stroke was, why he decided to move to USC instead of staying in Berkeley with the rest of the family, what his plans were for the summer. Kirra was making her move. Emma didn't know why listening to the exchange was bothering her so much. She had watched countless girls try to chat Sam up before and it had never bothered her, he was a good looking guy and it came with the territory. Emma couldn't blame them, Sam was tall and tanned with dirty blonde hair, an easy smile and the deepest blue eyes, a really California surfer type, but not only that, he was actually a nice guy. It was no wonder, I mean they had grown up with the greatest dad of all time, he was bound to pick up some of his good traits. 'So Em, how does it feel to be done with your first college season?' Emma looked up from where she had just about picked a hole in the sleeve of her shirt. Ah, good old dad to the rescue. He was smiling at her, his kind eyes with the little crinkles around them reassuring her that she was home. Emma smiled, 'I am so relieved! I just want to relax and lay about for days. I am going to sit down and watch every single day of the Giro and then the Tour while eating an obscene amount of popcorn and chocolate ice cream.' Their dad had gotten Emma and Sam addicted to cycling races when they were little kids and every year since then they'd make a marathon of watching the Giro de Italia and Le Tour de France together. Their dad couldn't help but cheer when his man made a great maneuver, or cry out in distress when he was overtaken. It used to make Emma giggle to see her dad, who was usually so calm and controlled, get all excited over a bicycle race. 'Are you in Sam?' She asked. He hesitated for a second, 'Sure Em, you know I wouldn't miss seeing Contador thrash Evans some more'. 'Oh, them be fighting words mister,' she laughed. By the time they paid the bill and piled back in the car Emma was so tired she fell asleep on the way back to the hotel. She woke up because some ass, Sam as it turned out, was jabbing her in the ribs, telling her to get her butt out of the car and up to the hotel room. Sam stood under the shower in the hotel room he was sharing with his parents. The water felt good on his body, flowing over his broad shoulders and down his muscular back. He wasn't so sure this whole going home for the summer thing was a good idea, but he couldn't see how he could get out of it without being excommunicated from the whole family. Things had started to feel weird with Emma near the end of last summer. At first he couldn't quite put his finger on it, for some reason she was really annoying him. He had started snapping at her for no reason, and it made him feel bad, it wasn't her fault he was feeling so tense. He started training longer and tiring himself out so thoroughly that all he wanted to do when he was home was eat or sleep. He used the excuse of preparing for his first season at USC, and nobody really seemed to notice that there was anything wrong. Then one day it dawned on him. Emma was going to run stadium stairs and he had taken her up on the offer to join her. He liked running stadiums with her because she was fucking fast! He could usually keep up for the first 10 no problem, but there were 23 sections in the stadium and by the end of it he was always totally licked. This time though all of the extra training he had been putting in was helping, they were past half way and he was still right behind her. He was used to looking at the back of her legs when they ran stadiums, but for some reason this day his eyes kept on straying up to where her little running shorts where hugging her ass. Holy crap, it felt like he'd stuck his finger into an electrical outlet! He realized that Emma had a nice ass. No, not a nice ass, a really nice ass. It was so firm and perfectly rounded, and it bounced just the tiniest bit with each step, he wanted to reach out and grab it. He felt a twitch in his cock. The realization made him stumble on the stairs. Sensing that Sam was slowing behind her, Emma picked up the pace, 'Ha, I knew you couldn't keep up with me pretty boy!' she teased, and turned to taunt him but the look of shock on his face threw her off. She stopped. 'Sam?' She tested, 'What's wrong?' It took a second for him to make his brain catch up to the present, 'Um, I just realized something.' 'What?' Her golden brown skin was flushed from exertion, she was puffing lightly. Shit, what was he supposed to say now? 'Um, well, I think I forgot to sign up for a class that my advisor told me to take.' He hoped that would do it. 'Really? Are you shitting me? You look like you just saw a ghost.' 'Well, I've just been so preoccupied with all of this extra training that I kind of let setting up classes fall away, mom is going to be so pissed if she finds out that I screwed up the first semester, you know what a nut she is about academics.' Thank god she bought it. He had to get out of there and quick, 'I'm going to run home and sort it out right away.' God, what the hell was wrong with him? Emma was his sister, well not genetically, but in every other sense she was his sister. Okay, he had to calm down. There was a logical explanation. He had just been so stressed out about training and starting up college this fall that he hadn't been out with his friends in ages. Yeah, that was it, his friends were always crapping on about girls and what they wanted to do with them, and seeing that he hadn't had that outlet lately he was projecting that onto Emma. He resolved to hang out with his friends more and Emma less. There were only two weeks left before he'd be leaving for USC anyway. Then he would be free and he could find a nice girlfriend to have a normal relationship with. Yes, that sounded good. He did manage to avoid Emma for almost the entire school year and he had pretty much convinced himself that the stadium incident was just his imagination playing tricks on him, but there was still that seed of doubt. Honestly, he didn't know what was wrong with him, everything had gone fine today. He'd seen her race, he'd been happy for her with her second place, he was okay with it when she leaned against him in the car and even when she'd fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder on the way home all he'd felt was the usual brotherly protectiveness. Still, he thought, it would be easier if I found a girlfriend to hang out with. It had never been difficult for Sam to find interested girls, it was always that Sam found it difficult to stay interested in them. Maybe he should take Kirra out, she seemed like a nice girl. Still, he had an uneasy feeling about this summer. CHAPTER TWO 'Contador is so going to win the Tour this year,' Sam boasted. It was his first day home for the summer and he had given in to Emma's insistence on a Giro de Italia marathon. He had wanted to give some of his old Berkeley friends a call but she had given him the puppy dog eyes and so he'd given in and settled on the couch for the day. It actually felt nice to just hang out with her again, it was giving him confidence that the stadium incident had really just been a one off and it wasn't anything to worry about. She rolled her eyes, 'No way, he is totally doping, it's just a matter of time before he's caught.' 'He's just a really good climber, not everyone who's good at something is on drugs you know. You just want sexy-eyes Evans to win because you think he's good looking.' 'What ever!' She threw a cushion at him, 'You're the one with a hard on for Contador.' She put on her most girlish voice, held her hand limply to the side and fluttered her eye lashes, 'Oh Alberto, look at your strong legs, you're such a big real man. Come here and I'll be your little Samantha.' He lurched for her, but she was too quick. She leapt over the back of the couch and crouched, watching him to see which way to move. They had played this game a million times before and Sam knew that if he could catch her he could over power her. Catching her was the tough part, she had reflexes like a jungle cat. A sly grin settled on her face, her almond-shaped eyes lit up with mischief, 'What's the matter Samantha, too shy to come out of the closet?' Sam considered his options for a moment. Trying to catch her by surprise, he vaulted over the couch to tackle her, but she was too quick. She sprinted out of the living room and down the hall towards the back door with Sam hot on her tail. She would have easily out run him if it were not for the fact that she had to open the door, but that little break gave Sam the time he needed to catch up. She was just a step ahead of him, he jumped the three stairs that led to the back yard and tackled her onto the grass. 'Ow!' she complained, but he could tell she wasn't serious. He had her pinned laying face down in the grass. He laughed as he twisted her arm behind her back while he straddled her hips. He held her there, knowing that he wasn't hurting her, but that he could cause momentary pain if he just put a little more pressure on her arm. 'Saaamm,' she whined, 'get off me.' He could hear the air catch in her throat as she laughed and feel the vibrations through her back. 'Not until you admit that I'm right,' he insisted in a superior tone. 'Never!' she replied defiantly. He twisted her arm further, past it's natural extent. 'Ow, ow, ow!' she gasped, still shaking with laughter. 'Go on, admit it!' he demanded. 'Okay, okay...' He eased the pressure off her arm, waiting for her submission. '... you're right, Contador will probably win the Tour this year...' Sam let go of her arm and rolled off her so that he was sitting in the grass. Emma rolled over onto her back. 'Only because he's good at cheating, though.' She always had to have the last word, didn't she? Sam shook his head as he looked at her profile, her familiar features eliciting a feeling of security in him. Emma had always been his best friend, sure they had fought like siblings do, but their fights were always quickly forgotten. He had missed her over the past year, they'd never spent so much time apart, and he'd been guarded with her because of the stadium incident. Now that he was hanging out with her and she was just the same old Emma he felt stupid for worrying so much about that little twitch of desire he'd had last summer. Emma was gorgeous, that's all he had noticed. He looked at her now without feeling anything sexual. She was so exotic looking. Her birth mother had been African American, they knew that much from their parents, but her father was a mystery. He'd always wondered what combination of genes could produce Emma's looks, her skin was a deep honey brown, and while her hair was thick and curly it wasn't the characteristic 'afro' curls that most black women have, but more relaxed spirals that were nevertheless untamable. She had dark brown eyes that were cloaked by long thick lashes and big soft lips that always seemed to be spread wide smiling around her naturally straight teeth. 'It's a nice day,' she was gazing up at the sky, 'want to go down to the beach?' 'Okay, check for fog first though,' he replied. He watched as Emma got up and jogged to the big redwood at the back of the yard and expertly climbed it, her bare feet curling around and gripping the bark as she pulled and swung herself up the trunk with her arms. She quickly scaled up to the lookout branch, where she would have a view of the entire neighborhood and beyond. When they were kids they'd wait up there to catch the first glimpses of their grandparents' car on the main road when they came to visit. They'd swing down to the ground and tear through the house to the front lawn where they would jump up and down and wave to Nanna and Poppa as they'd pull up to the house for a visit. 1. Racing From Love Ch. 01-03 The lookout branch was also used to trace the whereabouts of the other neighborhood kids, to locate the fruit trees that were ripe to loot, and to gauge the distance and severity of the fog bank that washed over the hills almost daily during the summer. 'All clear,' she called out. 'Hey maybe we should give your friend Kirra a call, see what she's doing?' Emma swung down from the tree, 'Um, okay, if you want to, here,' she dug her phone out of her pocket and threw it to him. Sam flipped it open and scrolled down the names until he found Kirra and pressed send. It rang twice and Kirra picked up, 'Hey girl, what's up?' 'Uh, actually this is Emma's brother, Sam, we met at the nationals?' 'Oh, hi Sam,' Kirra was practically purring. 'Hey Kirra, Em and I were just hanging out and wondering what you're up to this afternoon, we were thinking of maybe going down to the beach or something.' Of course Kirra was all over it and she agreed to meet them at the bay-side beach in Alameda in an hour. Sam decided to call a couple of his old friends too and before long they had a party going down on the beach. Sam lay out in the sun soaking up the warmth. He could feel Kirra's eyes scanning over his bear chest and down to his board shorts but he couldn't be bothered talking to her yet, right now he was concentrating on how good it was going to feel to dive into the water. His coach had told him to lay off swimming for a few months after nationals and pick up his cross training, and it was just about killing him. His shoulders and back were anticipating the feeling of pulling and the amazing feeling of gliding through the water. He sat up. 'Who's up for a swim?' 'I'll go in,' Kirra shrieked. Sam took off for the water, running full pelt through the shallows. Kirra, off course, could keep up, being that she was a hurdler she was actually pretty well suited for running through shallow water, where keeping your legs up high was an advantage. Sam saw her running out of the corner of his eye, her ample boobs bouncing around in the very skimpy string bikini she was wearing. They were in danger of flying loose any second. The water was getting deep enough and he dove in. God it felt good to have the cold water flowing around him. He relaxed all of his muscles and let himself just glide. His board shorts felt weird, like a big sail dragging him down, he would have preferred to wear his speedo but that really wasn't socially acceptable at the beach past the age of about 7. When he felt himself slowing he started a lazy dolphin kick and surfaced turning over on to his back. He looked back to see Kirra still standing back where the water got deep. 'What's up? I though you wanted to come for a swim?' 'It's kind of cold.' 'Oh nonsense, just dive in,' he chided. 'I don't know,' she looked uncertain, maybe she was afraid of the water. Sam swam breaststroke back to where she was standing. He was still down in the water, which meant he was looking up at her. From this angle he could really take in her curvy thighs, flat stomach and huge boobs. 'What're you afraid of?' 'I'm not afraid of anything, it is just kind of cold.' Sam considered whether or not he should knock her off her feet. The water was definitely deep enough to pull a move like that but he couldn't judge how she would take it. If it were Emma he definitely would have done it. He scanned the beach and found her talking to his friend Colin. 'Hey Em!' he yelled. She looked up and waved at him. Sam watched as she said something to Colin and then walked over to where their stuff was. She pulled her dress over her head to reveal a red bikini with white polka dots. The material was wide over her narrow hips and covered her small breasts fully. Sam watched her from the water. It looked like she was going to come in, and Colin too. Well good, Kirra turned out to be a bit of a cold fish, so to speak. Sam had always loved playing in the water, he just couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't. Once everyone was in Kirra would probably lighten up. Emma was jogging towards them, she looked cute in that swimsuit, he didn't think he'd seen it before. She had her long hair put in tiny braids for her race at nationals and now they swung freely around her slim shoulders. Her legs were long and taunt and her torso was toned, she had just the slightest curve at her waist and her smooth brown skin disappeared into her bikini top with the small swell of her breasts. They'd grown. Sam wasn't in the habit of checking out his sister's tits but he knew they'd grown, she looked way more mature than the last time he'd seen her in a swimsuit. 'Is that a new suit?' He asked. 'Yeah, I just got it,' she smiled shyly. 'Looks good,' all of a sudden he felt weird complementing her and that seed of doubt returned to his gut. 'Thanks,' she didn't seem bothered by it and she dove straight into the water. Colin was right behind her. She surfaced momentarily before Colin pulled her back under, shrieking as she went. Sam laughed. This was more like it, now he took his chances and knocked Kirra into the water. She was a little upset but he could see that she was trying to be a good sport about it. Sam laughed, 'Shall we wrestle them?' Before long the girls were wrestling on the guys shoulders, Kirra on Sam and Emma on Colin. It was a fairly even match. Emma was sprightly, but Kirra was a fighter. They splashed to the water again and again, everyone in laughing fits. 'Okay, one last time, winner takes all,' declared Emma. They lined up. Sam's big hands were grasping into the flesh of Kirra's thighs just above her knees to keep her steady. He could feel her pussy pressing into the back of his neck and it was ever so slightly erotic. He looked up at Emma balanced the same way on Colin's shoulders with her wet braids cascading down and clinging to her chest, she was smiling widely, focused on Kirra. For the first time it occurred to him that Emma had a pussy, and that it was pushed into the back of Collin's neck. Collin would be feeling the soft flesh of her labia through that little bikini and the warmth of her thighs against his shoulders. He looked at Colin's hands and saw them pawing hungrily at the soft brown flesh of her thighs and felt the anger rising in his chest. He stumbled for a split second and it was enough for Emma to get an advantage on Kirra and shove her backwards. Sam knew they were going to fall, but Kirra grabbed hold of Emma and pulled her down with them. He fell into the water backwards and Emma fell on top of him. He didn't remember thinking to do it but his arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight into him. It was just for a moment, but the feeling of her pressed up against him was amazing, her skin was like velvet against him and he could feel the swell of her breasts against his collar bone, he had one hand on her butt cheek, squeezing the firm flesh and pressing her hips into his belly. He flipped over so that he was on top of her, his hand slip up her back under the strap of her bikini. They surfaced together, her face was just inches from his, a look of confusion in her eyes. He let go as soon as he realized what he had done. Sam stood up in the water, shocked at himself. Had he really just groped his sister? 'I'm going for a swim,' he announced before anyone could figure out what had happened, and he was off. Screw his coach's advice on not swimming he thought, he needed to get away from that situation. His mind was racing. He swam for over an hour, up and down the beach again and again. His eyes started to sting so he turned over and swam backstroke. What the fuck did he do that for? He couldn't believe he had lost control of his body like that, he'd never done anything like that before and it scared him. What was Emma going to think? 'God, she probably thinks I'm a pervert,' he groaned to himself. The worst thing was that she felt so good, why would it feel good to cop a feel of your sister's ass? 'Because she's not your sister', a voice in his head told him. He wasn't sure if that made him feel relieved or ashamed. His mom and dad had always treated Emma like their own daughter, they encouraged her, took pride in her achievements, consoled her in her failures, just the same as they did for him. He and Emma had heard countless times over the years the story of how Emma's biological mom had died in the hospital bed beside his mom just a day after Emma was born, and how his mom and dad had fallen in love with the little girl who had no other family to call her own. Emma was younger than Sam by one day, and they had been brought up as twins, well as twin-like as you can get between a white boy and a black girl. They had certainly had their share of encounters with disbelieving onlookers over the years, but through it all their parents were totally unwavering in their commitment to making Emma a real member of the family. Sam was completely accepting of Emma because he had never known any different. He never wanted to know any different either. She was his best friend, his partner in mischief, his trusted confidant. He couldn't imagine a childhood, a life, without Emma. He just couldn't figure out why his brain had suddenly gone haywire whenever she was around. Should he try and talk to her about it, or should he act like nothing had happened? He didn't know, but he did know that he was getting bloody cold. If he didn't get out soon his core temperature might drop to hypothermic. He started to make his way back to the beach, dreading seeing her. Emma had been sitting on the beach for ages, everyone else had left and the sun was starting to sink low on the horizon. If he didn't get out soon she was going to have to go in to get him. He must be freezing by now, she knew he liked swimming in the bay, but this was getting to be absurd. What was up with him lately anyway? He had been so distant all year, and not just in miles, whenever she called him she felt like he was holding back, pacing his words. And what was up with him grabbing her ass in the water before? That was weird. Maybe he thought she was Kirra? That thought sent a shot of anger through her brain. She didn't want Sam grabbing Kirra's ass, or any other part of Kirra, but what other explanation was there? There was a little nagging thought at the back of her head that she tried to repress; what if Sam wanted her? It was a frightening thought. She had always had a crush on Sam, she put it down to the big brother effect and kept it under wraps by telling herself that there was never any way that it could possibly happen so she might as well get on with her life. She also knew with absolute certainty that Sam only ever thought of her as a sister, which had made repressing her feelings easier. But now she couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally he was swimming towards the shore. Emma saw him stand up in the shallows and walk towards her. He had an amazing body, a swimmers body. His big square shoulders gave way to a sleek torso and his arms and legs were long, muscular and toned. She couldn't see his face because she was looking into the sun, which was killing her because she wanted to know what he was thinking. 'You must be freezing, you were in there for over an hour.' 'Yeah, I was just going to go for a few minutes but it felt so good I just couldn't stop.' She couldn't judge anything from his tone, he just sounded kind of tired. 'You want to get going?' she asked. 'Yeah, I guess so.' They were silent in the car on the way home. She didn't know if they were silent because they were ignoring the ass grab, or because they weren't ignoring it. She'd never had an uncomfortable silence with Sam and she didn't like it. She tried to make conversation but he wouldn't keep it up on his end. Finally they were home, she couldn't wait to get out of the car. Just as she was turning to get the door handle he grabbed her arm. 'Emma?' She turned to him, 'Yeah?' 'I'm sorry I grabbed you in the water,' he was looking straight into her eyes. He looked so worried, so scared. 'I don't know why I did it, it... it was an accident.' 'It's okay Sam, it's no big deal.' She wanted to say something reassuring but she was at a loss for words. She flashed back to the moment, his strong arms around her, his hand squeezing her butt cheek, pressing her into him, his face so close to hers. She had a funny churning feeling in her stomach, she needed to get out of there. She flung open the car door and tried to walk calmly up to the house, opened the door and went straight to the bathroom. Once she was locked inside she could breathe again. She sat on the toilet. Her pussy was throbbing and she felt inside her swimsuit to find herself wet. What was going on here? Was she wet for Sam? CHAPTER THREE The next couple of weeks had flown by. Emma had a job working at the children's psychology center on campus and Sam was interning at Bayer Pharmaceuticals so they really didn't see that much of each other, except when their parents were around, which eliminated any possible sexual tension. One Saturday Emma had decided to go for a long training run and Sam had asked to go with her. He was supposed to be doing long runs as part of his cross training. She didn't mind running with Sam, he was a little slow, but he was good conversation and on the long runs that can really be a blessing. It was a gorgeous day and they were running up in the hills, the bay spread out below them glittered in the sun, dotted with sailing boats. Emma was having a great time, she hadn't talked like this to anyone in ages. Sam was asking all sorts of questions, he wanted to know all about school, the professors and the kids she was working with at the psychology center. 'It's cool and I'm learning so much, but I think next year I'll try and get an internship at one of the non-profits in Oakland.' 'Why's that?' 'Well, the kids at the center are screwed up for sure, I mean they need help, but if they don't get it they're not going to go join a gang and get shot, or get knocked up at the age of fourteen. I feel like I could make so much more of a difference to the really poor kids in Oakland.' After a pause he said, 'Is it a race thing?' 'Probably it is at some level, I mean it is stupid to try and tell yourself that your race isn't part of your identity and the way you relate to people.' She loved how she could talk to him so openly about such sensitive topics. 'I think more than anything it's a class thing. I think some part of me knows that if mom and dad hadn't taken me in then I would have been just like those kids, living in foster homes and skipping school to get high. I'm no better than them, I just got dealt a lucky hand.' He was staring at her. 'What?' she asked. He looked away, 'Nothing, it's just that I can't imagine you as a kid who'd skip school to get high. You're so... conscientious.' Emma laughed, 'It's called self preservation Sam, do you think mom would have stood it for one second if I had have skipped even one day of school? Remember that time she made you go to school when you felt sick and it turned out you had pneumonia?' 'Yeah, but it's not like she would have chucked you out.' 'No, that's not what I mean. The point is that she and dad had high expectations of us, it was just considered normal to go to school every day and do your homework. Some poor kids are lucky if they have a parent home at night, let alone someone to tell them they need to stay in school.' 'So you want to be a social worker then?' Emma shrugged, 'Yeah maybe. That's why I want to do an internship, to see what it's like.' She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she did want to help kids who weren't as lucky as her. It scared her to think of what might have happened to her if her adoptive parents hadn't decided to take her in. 'What about you? How's the pharmaceutical company?' 'I don't know, I guess it's kind of cool. I get to use some pretty cool instrumentation and the research they're doing is interesting.' 'You don't sound that enthusiastic,' she noted. 'I don't know Em, I'm not convinced that it is for me.' 'Hmmm...' she tried to encourage him. 'It's just that they are so specialized, they figure out how to mass produce drugs that other people have figured out treat medical conditions. It's not that it isn't challenging or interesting, I just feel like there are so many more stimulating fields that have a bigger picture view. Like if I was the one doing the medical research, that would be cool.' 'Yeah, but you'd need to go to med school for that right?' 'Yeah I think so. I don't know.' He seemed frustrated, 'I don't know if med. school is something that I'm interested in. There are just so many different things that interest me, it's really difficult to figure out what I should focus on.' 'But you know you want to do a science degree, right? That's a start.' Sam started laughing, 'Can you imagine me as anything else? You won't always be around to edit my grammar and punctuation you know.' That comment brought a smile to her face, English was the one thing that Emma was better than Sam at. At the same time it made her feel sad, she knew he was right, Sam was on the fast track to his future without her. The run was over too soon. They had done fifteen miles, which wasn't that much for Emma, but she knew Sam was going to be sore tomorrow. When they got home there was a note from their parents that they had gone to Sonoma and not to expect them back until some time tomorrow. Damn, they'd have to cook dinner and Emma hated cooking. 'Don't worry, I'll cook,' said Sam reading her thoughts. First things first, they needed to shower and stretch. When Emma came back downstairs from her shower Sam was already on the floor stretching his hammies. 'Okay, lay back and give me that leg. If you don't stretch properly you may never walk again,' Emma joked. Sam complied, only too happy to let Emma do the work. She stretched his hamstrings out one at a time, she knelt with his stretching leg resting on her shoulder and her opposite hand pressing down on his other leg. Then she did his glutes, bending his leg at the knee and pushing his enormous feet sideways up towards his chest. Sam seemed completely relaxed. 'Jesus Sammy, these things weigh a tonne,' she said as she lowered his leg back down to the floor so that she was now kneeling in between his outstretched legs. 'How the hell did you cover fifteen miles lugging these things around?' Sam grinned at her, 'You don't know the half of it, these bloody shoulders are going to be the death of me.' 'How much do you weigh these days anyway?' she asked. 'Two-twenty last time I checked, but I might have gotten fatter since then.' Emma snorted, Sam didn't have an ounce of fat on his entire body, he was so lean and strong, he may have been two hundred and twenty pounds but he was also six foot five inches tall and built like a gladiator. She played along anyway, 'Yeah what did you eat, a whale? Did you raid a Twinkie factory or something?' She was pinching him in the stomach trying to grab a fat roll, but of course there were none. Sam was laughing and trying to swat her hands away, 'Stop it, you know you're on dangerous territory girl.' But she couldn't stop, she was touching him and she loved it, even if it was just playing games. Whoomp! Before she knew what had happened she was on her back and Sam was on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground. God he was so big, it might have frightened her if she didn't trust him with her life. She prepared herself to be tickled, but he appeared to have lost his train of thought. They had wrestled and tickled plenty when they were younger but now the mood was suddenly different. 1. Racing From Love Ch. 01-03 The room was silent. He was staring down at her with an intensity she hadn't seen before. Emma had that funny feeling in her stomach again and she felt a warmth spreading out over her nether regions. Her pussy started with a little twinge of aching, and she could feel her nipples hard against the fabric of her bra. It felt weird to have Sam turning her on, but at the same time it also felt so right. None of the guys she'd had dates with had ever turned her on, despite their best efforts. God she wanted him to touch her, to kiss her, to stretch her. She could see that he was struggling, they'd had such a nice companionable day, and now this. In fact Sam was on the very edge of control, he wanted to take her so badly, to claim her as his own. She was looking up at him so innocently with those big brown eyes and her pouty lips parted ever so slightly. He could see her chest rise and fall through her t-shirt and feel her pulse racing through her wrists. Her shirt had ridden up just over her navel to reveal the deliciously smooth brown skin there, and the promise of the prize that lay beneath her jeans. He wanted to rip that flimsy t-shirt off her and knead and suck on her tits. All of his instincts were telling him to pull her pants down and plunge his cock into her pussy until he found release inside her. But this was Emma. This was his best friend, his sister. He'd never had this feeling before with anyone and frankly it scared the shit out of him. He let go of her arms and leant back on his heels to put some space between them. Jesus, what was he thinking? 'Sam?' Emma sat up and reached out for him. Sam quickly got up and walked to the other side of the room, suddenly aware that his cock was straining against his shorts. Shit, shit, shit. What the fuck was wrong with him? He was pacing. 'Sam, are you alright?' she asked tentatively. 'No' 'What's the matter?' What was the matter? What was he supposed to say? He stopped pacing and looked at her. She was sitting on the floor with her knees tucked up to her chest, her braids falling down over her arms. God she was gorgeous. Should he tell her the truth and risk losing her? He had to say something. He tried an indirect approach, 'It's just that we're older now, we shouldn't be playing like that, it's not... natural.' Emma dropped her eyes to the floor, 'I'm sorry, you're right. I shouldn't have tickled you like that, I wont do it again.' Sam felt like shit. The thought of Emma never tickling him again made his heart feel like lead. He ran his fingers through his hair. Well at least that depressing thought was taking care of his erection. 'I'm starving, I've got to eat something,' he walked into the kitchen. 'What do you want for dinner?' he asked, opening the fridge to see what was available. Food was a good distraction, after he ate he could go to bed and sleep way this awful afternoon. She had followed him in and sat at the kitchen island, 'I don't care, whatever you feel like.' Okay, this was going to be all right, things seemed like they were a bit more normal. Somehow Sam got through making dinner and eating with her and then went straight to bed. It was only 7 O'clock but he had the excuse of being tired from their run. He could escape her, but he couldn't escape the memory of being on top of her, it bored into his brain and resurfaced in dreams for weeks after that incident. He knew he had to stay away from her and took to his training with a new fervor. Between swimming, cross training and his internship he was pretty busy, and he made sure to make plans with his friends every weekend so he wouldn't be stuck hanging around the house with her. Still, every time he saw her he got an uncomfortable feeling, like he was a pervert or something. He couldn't help but look at her differently, when he saw her walking down the hallway wrapped in a towel after a shower, he didn't see Emma, he saw the way the water beaded on her skin around her hair line, how the towel tucked down in between the top of her breasts, he saw her unbelievably long legs disappear up into the towel and was acutely aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing any underwear. When he saw her stretching on the front porch after a run he didn't see Emma, he saw just the tiniest glimpse of her firm round butt cheek under her shorts, how her sweat made her skin glisten and accentuated the curve of her neck in the sun. It was just a physical attraction. It was to be expected, he told himself, he was 19 years old and living with a gorgeous woman who he wasn't actually related to. Of course he would feel attracted to her. It just strengthened his resolve to get himself a girlfriend, clearly he needed to channel some of this sexual energy into a more appropriate person. He saw Kirra a few more times that summer, she was a nice girl and she was pretty in a made-up kind of way but she didn't seem to be able to hold a conversation about anything of any importance. They had done some pretty heavy kissing and he had gotten to play with her boobs, which weren't so fabulous up close, he actually didn't know what most guys found so attractive about big boobs. Although Kirra had been more than willing to try and get into his pants, he decided it wasn't a good idea. His dad had given him 'the talk' a long time ago, but it still rang true in his head, you shouldn't sleep with a girl unless you love her, and he didn't love Kirra.