She closed her eyes as he gently pushed her back onto the bed, her dark hair pooling onto the sheets around her head. Goosebumps rose on her skin as his hands slid up her thighs, his movements slow, almost hesitant. As his eyes found hers, she blinked slowly, turned her face away. Was she embarrassed? Or scared of what was about to happen, knowing it would change things forever? Maybe both.

Jack's hands came to rest on her lower stomach, his fingertips shyly tickling the soft skin there as he gingerly hooked his thumbs under the elastic of her thong. Her eyes searched the room as she bit her lip, a warm flush rising in her cheeks. There was her dress, strewn across the back of a chair not four feet from where they lay. There were his pants, crumpled in the corner of the room, abandoned and forgotten.

"Are you embarrassed?" he asked her, halting his actions.

"Why would you think that?"

"You're blushing."

She didn't answer, just concentrated on the point on his forehead right between the eyes. She couldn't look him in the eye, not now.

"You know I've seen you naked before, Karen."

"Never this way, honey."

He leaned in, nuzzled his cheek against hers, whispered into her ear.

"Just trust me." He put a palm over her heart, pressed himself against her. "Trust this."

The next thing she knew, her lips were pressed against his, his hands gently coaxing her legs apart. She could've cried from the sincerity of his words, the way he was making love to her; so tender, so sweet. She didn't open her eyes or break their kiss as he entered her.

To start, his movements were slow as he pumped in and out of her. Little moans and gasps filled the room, Jack breaking their kiss to concentrate fully on the rhythm of their hips. Karen felt the sweat forming on her forehead.

"Honey," she panted, "why are you doing this for me?"

Jack's speed increased, and before she could help it, Karen's arms were thrown above her head, tightly grasping the pillars of the headboard as Jack ravaged her pelvis.

"Because," he grunted through clenched teeth, as Karen felt herself nearing climax, "I - love - you."

She didn't have time to think about his words as her orgasm overtook her. Her knuckles, clenched around the wood above her head, turned white as she gripped tightly, riding the wave of pleasure. He kissed her neck as she tensed around him, her mouth open in obvious pleasure, and he came inside of her.

They didn't speak for several minutes, just exchanged several heavy sighs and pants as they regained their breath. Jack rested his head on Karen's sweaty chest, her left hand toying with his hair. She didn't ask for an explanation of what he had just said to her; she knew he didn't mean it as she would mean it, if she were to ever speak the words to him, but she let herself pretend that he did.

"I won't ever let anything happen to you, Karen," he told her softly.

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When she awoke alone in her bed that morning, it didn't take Karen long to realize that she had dreamt all of it. She had these sex dreams about Jack every once in awhile, and never paid much attention to them. He meant a lot to her, and she hadn't had much of a sex life over the last 20 years, since she and Stan had finally gotten a divorce and ended their relationship once and for all.

Her lips curled in a smile as she replayed the events of her dream, her hips ground the sheets she lay in in frustration. Of course she was happy in her platonic and nurturing relationship with Jack, but even at her age she craved sexual satisfaction. Ah well, perhaps in another dream.

"Are you ready?" Jack's excited voice broke her thoughts as he burst through her door, fully dressed and teeming with energy. As the image of her -still in her bed with sleep in her eyes- hit him, he frowned. "Karen…" he whined.

"What? Ready to do what?" she asked him, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"We're spending the day out, remember?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. He reminded her of a little boy who was eagerly waiting to open Christmas presents under the tree.

"Oh right, right," she yawned. "What do you want to do?"

"Let's go shopping and do lunch!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "I'm in the mood for a cob salad with a side of thousand dollar shopping."

Karen laughed with him, reaching her arms above her head to stretch. It was only then, when the sheet draped around her fell to her waist, did she remember that she had been sleeping in the nude. Jack's eyes opened wide in surprise as her breasts were exposed to him, and she blushed and nervously laughed as she hurriedly pulled the sheet back around her chest.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Are you embarrassed?" Jack asked, grinning.

"No, honey, why would you think that?" she lied.

"Because you're blushing."

Karen frowned for a second before finally rolling her eyes and smiling. She shouldn't be self-conscious around Jack, she knew, but for some reason she couldn't help it. Maybe it was because that dream she had just had was still on her mind.

"Meet you downstairs in half an hour," Jack told her, leaning in and quickly pecking her cheek.

"K," she told him, a little girl grin lighting up her features as she watched him leave her bedroom. This was going to be a fun day, she could already tell.