The knock on the door startled him. Robin was teaching the kids, so they were in class for at least the next hour or two, and his other podmates never bothered him when he was in his room. Maybe it was Jake, looking for someone whose ass he could kick at some video game?

"Just a sec!" he said.

One of the finer pleasures in life, in Michael Dubane's opinion, was a truly good erotic story. Back home, he'd had a sizable collection of stories that he'd downloaded from his favorite online writers (and even a few that weren't so favorite), and he'd brought a good chunk of them along on the voyage. This afternoon, in the quiet of the kids off at school with Robin, and in need of a little release due to the unfortunate fact that Robin and he had been so exhausted after last night's Captain's Ball that they'd just kissed each other goodnight, without their usual hour-long sex romp, he decide to take a little "me time" and open up a story.

He could have swore he'd locked the door. I mean, it's hard to imagine that he didn't. That'd just be plain stupid.

But nonetheless, he barely had time to pull on his sweat pants before he saw Maggie's smiling face poking through the open crack in the door.

"HI Michael! Whacha doin'?"

He practically threw the tablet onto the bed, the best he could do since the story he'd been reading was still open, and tried to act casual, even though he could feel that his face was beet red.

"Maggie! I thought you were in class!"

"I was, but Mom and Charlie are doing some spelling drills, 'cause he sucks on the tests. She told me I could leave early, so long as I didn't bug you."

"And, of course, you're always so attentive to your mother's orders..." He tried to casually straighten things out in his pants, so that the quite obvious tentpole standing up between his legs would be a bit less obscene.

She giggled as she let herself into his room and closed the door behind her. "What're you reading?" she asked, spying the tablet on the bed. "More whatever-economics?"

"No! It's nothing!" he answered, in the most guilty manner possible.

She plopped down on his bed and picked up the tablet, scrunching her nose as she looked at the open document. "What is this?"

"Nothing!" he answered, doubling down on the guilty by quickly snatching the tablet away from her.

"Com'on!" She tried to grab the tablet back. "Let me read. it! What is it?"

"It's nothing! It's private."

"Private?" Suddenly Maggie's voice was lower, in both pitch and volume, and the smile on her face was gone. She sounded confused, even hurt, like the idea that they'd have private things that they didn't share with each other was something she'd never considered.

Now that really made Michael feel guilty. "Well, it's just... It's an 'adult' story."

"An adult story?" More of the sound of confusion in her voice, but no more hurt at least.

"Yeah, you know, adult stuff."

Her eyes were squinting, her nose scrunched up some more. "You mean it's like, a dirty story? Like porno?"

"Well, yes, I mean, we call it 'erotica.'"

Now the girl grinned. "You should read it to me! I've never read a dirty story before. I guess I didn't really even know that they existed."

"It really wouldn't be appropriate for me to read it to you."

"Come on! Here, I'll read it!" She reached out to grab the tablet, and he only made a half-hearted effort to keep it away from her. Once she had it in her hands, she rolled away on the bed, out of his reach.

"'Amber's long auburn hair hung around her face...'" she read.

"Maggie, seriously, it's not appropriate!" he said, trying to sound like a scolding adult. He climbed onto the bed and reached for the tablet.

She swung it away from his reach. "'...and she looked up at Sean with her dark green eyes...' Oooh she sounds sexy!"

Michael gave up on trying to get the tablet away from her and just let out a long sigh and lay down on the bed next to her. She turned and leaned the tablet against his chest.

"'The little cheerleader...' Oh, she's a cheerleader! Guys like that, right? '...reached out an inquisitive hand and wrapped her cool fingers around his engorged cock.' Oh wow!"

"Maggie," he said, shaking his head. "This is so inappropriate! If your mom found out we were reading this..."

"I won't tell her, I promise!"

"That's not the point. I don't like keeping secrets form her."

"I know," she said. But she kept reading anyway. "'She leaned in and gave the tip of his thick cockhead a kiss.'" Maggie paused, looking at the tablet for a second, like she was silently reading the passage again. "Wait," she said, "she kissed it?!?"

Michael just sighed and shook his head.

"'Then she dropped her jaw as far as she could, and her neighbor pushed his cock info her mouth.' He pushed it in? Into her mouth?!?"

"Yeah." Michael said, "seems like it."

"Do guys really do that? Do girls let them do that?"

"Yes, they do," Michael answered with an air of resignation.

"Does Mom do that to yours?"

"Maggie!"

"Does she?"

"I think we should read some more of The Two Towers now."

The girl smiled broadly. "That means she does! 'Cause you didn't say no!"

He just shook his head again.

"Oh my god," she said. "I can't believe Mom does that to yours!"

"Maggie, can we please go get The Two Towers now?"

"Okay. But promise me we'll read more of this sometime? I like it! I want to find out what happens!"

"Maybe."

"Promise!"

"Okay..."

"Yay!"

They read The Two Towers to each other pretty much the entire rest of the day, pausing only for dinner. At bedtime, Michael agreed to read to Maggie and Charlie for a few more minutes, once they were in bed, while Robin did the laundry.

"It's too bad you don't have that other story, you could read that to me now," she said.

"We can't do that, Charlie's right in the next bed."

"We could wait until he's asleep. Or we could read in your room."

"I think it would be best if we stick with The Two Towers for now."

Maggie sighed. "Okay." She snuggled up tight against him in her little bed as he began to read again, laying her head against his chest, then reaching her little hand over and setting it on his belly.

Michael knew by now that Maggie liked to touch him like this, when he was reading to her. And, were he to confess the truth (which he didn't do, not even to himself), he'd come to really enjoy these intimate moments with her. Not because they were sexually arousing--although her curious exploration of his chest and belly always aroused him physically in ways that he'd rather wouldn't happen--but because there was such an intimacy to it. A closeness that he'd never had with a kid before, that's for sure. Despite the fact that her touches were arousing, he remained convinced that her intent was entirely innocent. Just a girl who missed her real father and longed for closeness with a man who she hoped or believed was his replacement. And he was very happy indeed to be that man for her.

But this time, this evening, as they lay together in her bed reading The Two Towers with Robin away and Charlie turned to his opposite side, breathing calmly like he was close to sleep, her touch seemed a little less innocent. While he read, she gently and absentmindedly moved her fingers in her usual tactile exploration, feeling his belly button through his shirt, then her index finger finding a little gap between the bottom hem of his shirt and the top of his pants, there to make little circles through his belly hair. She explored the line of hair, up under his shirt to his belly button, then back down again to the waistband of his pants. When she reached the waistband, she spread her fingers out, her thumb and forefinger still under his shirt on his belly hair, the remaining fingers on top of his pants.

He tried his hardest to concentrate on the story, rather than her touch. But this proved almost impossible. Especially when those little fingers of hers on top of his pants began an exploration of their own, moving, lightly sliding, until inevitably the tip of her pinkie finger found what perhaps she had been hoping to find for all along. When this dainty little finger made contact with his cockhead, he stuttered in his reading. He reached his hand down and set it on top of hers, not wanting to admonish the girl but wanting to halt any further movement. She left her pinkie there, just in the barest contact with his cock; after a moment, he took his hand away and went back to reading the book.

The door to the family room opened quietly and Robin stepped in, a basket of folded laundry in her hands. With the appearance of her mother, Maggie immediately moved her hand away, leaving it higher on Michael's belly. When her mother left the room again a minute later with another basket of clothes, the girl slid her hand right back down, lower, even, than it had been before, all three fingers resting on top of his now-swollen head.

He reached his hand down again.

"It's probably time for you to go to sleep now, sweetie," he said.

She looked up at him, her beautiful bright brown eyes flecked with shining flakes of green and clouded in a glassy sheen. Her mouth was open slightly, searching, even begging, for her goodnight kiss. Almost without even thinking about it, he leaned down, and his mouth made contact with her open lips. Instinctively, he slipped his tongue out of his mouth and into hers. She kept her hand on his now-aching cock, and he kept his hand on top of hers, and their tongues flirted while they kissed until he finally pulled away.

Later, after helping Robin with the rest of the laundry, he made rather enthusiastic love to her while the children slept nearby, insisting that she call him "Daddy" throughout, which she did quite willingly, and in a voice clearly intended to mimic Maggie's.

"'The sweet auburn-haired teenager sat on her knees before her neighbor, the red and white pleats of her cheerleader's skirt splayed about around her, looking up at him with smoldering green eyes...' What's 'smoldering' mean?"

"It means, hot. Like, on fire, burning with passion." Michael couldn't help remembering the look in the young girl's eyes the night before, as she'd looked up at him with her lips slightly open in an expectant pose. That, he thought to himself. That's what "smoldering" means.

Maggie smiled. "She's burning with passion! I like that!"

"Yeah, so do I," he said, still lost in the memory of the little girl's look.

"'His cockhead filled her mouth entirely; she could hardly open her jaw wide enough for it to fit.'" She looked over the tablet at Michael. "Is it really that big?"

"Well, erotic writers tend to 'embellish' things a bit, I suppose."

She looked at him for a moment, like she was thinking of something to say in response--and perhaps remembering that she had some personal experience with how large his cock is--but then just nodded her head and looked back down at the tablet. "'But Sean didn't seem to care if he was gagging her; he had his fingers wrapped tightly in her silky hair and was moving his hips back and forth with powerful authority, sliding his cock in and out of her mouth.' Jeez, this is so dirty!"

"Yeah, maybe you should stop."

"No way! I want to find out what happens! Does he have sex with her?"

Michael shook his head in disbelief. "Trust me," he said, "they wind up fucking like rabbits."

A big grin filled Maggie's little face, cheeks pinkening and indented with two big dimples. "Rabbits?"

"Yeah, it means they fuck... I mean, they have sex... a lot."

"Because rabbits have sex a lot?"

"I guess."

"Do you and Mom fuck like rabbits?"

"Maggie! That's such an inappropriate question!"

She was grinning big. "That means you do, doesn't it?"

"Maggie..."

"I think you do fuck like rabbits. Actually, I know you do!"

"Maggie!" he exclaimed, suddenly red-face with the thought of how often he and Robin made love while Maggie slept, or pretended to sleep, nearby.

She set down the tablet and stood up from his bed, then stepped in front of him and sat down on one of his knees. She looked at him with her smoldering eyes.

"When are you going to ask her to marry you?" she asked.

"Well... we really only just met..."

"Aren't you supposed to be married before you have sex? That's what they said at church."

"Well, that doesn't really work in the real world."

She smiled. "Because you and Mom are so horny? Just like Sean and the cheerleader?"

He gave a little laugh. "I prefer to think it's because we like each other so much."

"So if you like somebody a lot, it's okay to have sex with them?"

Michael had to chuckle. He felt for the moment like he was under cross-examination at the hands of a skilled lawyer. Maggie Carlyle, esq. "Well, it has to be a special kind of 'like,'" was the best answer he could muster.

"A special kind of like? What does that mean?"

"I guess I mean 'love.' And trust, and respect."

"So you're in love with Mom?"

"I suppose I am!"

"Then you should marry her!"

"You know, Maggie, I think you're right. I think I should marry her!"

Maggie smiled broadly and gave him a great big bear hug, pressing her little body against him and kissing him on the cheek. "I love you, Daddy," she said.

"I love you too, Maggie."

She sat back, smiling, her face blushing. "And do you 'trust' and 'respect' me, too?" she asked, with that same lawyerly skill.

He smiled back. "I do."

"I trust and respect you, too," she said.

He reached out and put his hands on her cheeks, and moved his face towards hers. Their lips met, and she parted her lips just slightly as they kissed. He slipped his tongue into her mouth again.

When he pulled away, she whispered, "I think I have a special kind of like for you."

"I think I have a special kind of like for you, too, sweetheart."

"Is that okay?" she asked. "Can you have a special kind of like for both Mama and me?"

"I think so. I think a father ought to love his daughter."

"Yeah, but, like, 'special?' Like you and Mama? Like Sean and the cheerleader?"

He hugged her tight. "We don't have to think about all that. We can just be close."

She hugged him tightly back. "I like being close to you, Daddy."

"I like being close to you, too, babygirl."

She looked at him with her smoldering brown eyes, and opened her mouth just slightly, and he leaned in and they kissed again.

"So," Maggie asked him as they lay together in her bed that night for story time, "when are you going to ask Mom to marry you?"

"I don't know. I think I should make sure Charlie's okay with it, first." The boy was already asleep, softly snoring in the next bed over.

"I suppose."

"And we should make it special, don't you think? I want you kids to be there."

"Okay!"

"What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe a picnic in the observation deck?"

She smiled. "That sounds nice."

"I think it does, too. We'll plan it, once I've talked to Charlie, okay? But keep it secret until then."

She grinned at him. "I can keep a secret."

He grinned back, shaking his head in response. "Okay, back to the book. now?"

"Okay... Or... Charlie's asleep now. You could keep reading me that dirty story."

"I don't have my tablet, though."

"Oh, yeah. Maybe you could just tell me one?"

"Maybe. What about?"

She snuggled against him. "About a girl and her new daddy."

"Okay. Once upon a time, there was a girl, and she had a new daddy, and they were very close."

"Yes," she whispered dreamily.

"And her new daddy really liked being close with her."

"And she really likes being close with him." She reached her hand out and put it on his belly.

"And her daddy really liked it when she touched him, when he read her stories at bedtime." He put his hand on top of hers.

"She really likes touching him, when he reads her stories or tells her stories." She started moving her hand down, and he helped her, until her fingers were resting on his cock.

"He liked how his babygirl learned about his body when she touched him."

"She likes learning about his body."

"She made her new daddy feel very special, when she did that."

"'Special,'" Maggie echoed in a little whisper. Her fingers gently traced the shape of his erection through his pants, and then Michael saw her slip her other hand down her own belly, until it was between her legs, and she began to rub herself through her nightgown.

"He thought his babygirl was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen."

"Even sexier than her mom?"

"Well, her mom was awfully sexy. But she was awfully sexy, too."

"Did they do anything more?" she whispered, her breath cracking. "Did she kiss his cock?"

"He really wanted her to kiss his cock, but he just liked being close to her so much, that he didn't want her to stop doing what she was doing now."

"Is she playing with her pussy?"

"Yes, she was rubbing herself between her legs."

"She really likes playing with her pussy."

"Yeah, she really liked playing with her pussy," Michael said, "especially when she was with her new daddy."

"She's never played with her pussy when she's with her new daddy before, but she really likes it."

"He really liked it, too."

"Maybe someday, she could kiss her daddy's cock."

"He would really like it, someday, if his babygirl would kiss his cock. And he would kiss her pussy, too."

"Kiss..." Her breath was shallow now, and quick. "...her pussy?" She quickly bunched her nightgown in her hand and pulled it up above her panties, then slipped her hand down, inside them.

"Yes, he would kiss it, and lick it, and play with her clitty with his tongue."

"Oh, oh, oh," she began making a little quiet rhythmic noise, her fingers twirling inside her panties. The fingers of her other hand gripped tightly to his cock, and her little sounds increased, "Oooooh, ooooh, ooooooh!" and her body was quaking against him. Eventually, she let out a long, low breath and pulled her hand out of her panties. She lifted her fingers to her mouth and sucked on them.

"That was so sexy, little one," he said.

She looked up at him, still sucking on her fingers, then pulled them from her mouth and smiled and gave a heavy sigh. She still had her other hand on his cock, tracing its shape with her fingers. "That was a really nice story, Daddy."

"It was."

"Does her new daddy ever have sex with her?"

He smiled down at his babygirl. "I don't know."

"I think he does."

"Well, we'll have to tell that story another time. I think you're sleepy now, little one."

She nodded, her head against his chest, her hand still on his cock. "That happens to me sometimes," she said, "when I play with my pussy."

He kissed the top of her head again. "Thank you for doing that, baby. It was so sweet and sexy." She smiled, her eyes closed now. "Goodnight, Maggie."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

When Robin came into the room a few minutes later, Maggie was sound asleep, her hand still lying on his cock. Michael gently slid out from beside the girl.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly to Robin in a quiet whisper. "She just put her hand there when she fell asleep, and I didn't want to disturb her."

"I bet she's having sweet dreams," the woman said with a knowing smile. "And you don't need to apologize. I understand." She took his hand, and led him to her bed. "Just don't take advantage of her, okay? She's just a young girl. She's my baby."

"I won't, I promise." Michael felt a little pang of guilt, about the erotic story he'd just told Maggie, and the one they'd been reading earlier.

"I know you won't. You're a good man, Michael Dubane. It's just, she's curious, right? I mean, she obviously has a big crush on you, and she wants to find out what that means."

"Yeah..."

"And that's okay. I think it's perfectly natural. But it means she's vulnerable, too, you know?"

He nodded, not sure what to say, as they lay down together in her bed.

"I was just like her when I was her age. Totally curious, totally crushing. And... and totally vulnerable, too."

"Did he take advantage of you?"

"It's not like I minded, but, yeah, you could say that. He moved quick. Way too quick, I couldn't really even get my head around what was happening."

"I can't even really imagine what that was like."

She propped herself up on an elbow to look at him. "Don't feel sorry for me, it's just a part of me, you know? Part of what happened to me, what makes me who I am. But I guess all I'm saying is, just take it slow. Let things happen at her pace."

Michael nodded again. "I will."

"And that means, well, it means that probably, nothing will happen at all, you know? Because she's just a young girl and she doesn't know what's going on. It's just, like, play with her, right? Curious play, not something serious."

"Right, I understand."

"That's what it was like for me. Just play, just flirting. I didn't have any idea that he was going to expect anything more than that."

"Yeah."

"I think that's what young girls are like. They're just practicing, flirting, you know? They don't know what it does to a grown man."

"I think you're right."

"So if you just let her do her thing, just let her play and practice, then I'm fine with it."

"You got it," he said. "I'm totally on board with that, just let her play and practice."

"Exactly! Whatever happens, happens. And you just need to be ready to accept that nothing's going to happen."

"Exactly."

"And just so you know, Mister Dubane, I wouldn't trust anyone else I know with her, but I think she's okay with you. I trust you."

He gave a knowing smile. "Trust and respect."

"Huh?" she said.

"It's just a little inside joke Maggie and I have."

"Oh? You guys already have inside jokes? Maybe this is more serious than I thought!"

"Maybe."

"Well, I think that's sweet. Now, enough of this 'talking' shit. I bet Daddy's cock is aching, isn't he?"

"Maybe a little."

"Let's see if we can't do something about that."

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For the next chapter in this story, see The Voyage of a Lifetime, Chapter Five.

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