I Got Home Early and My Daughter Wasn’t Expecting Me

This story begins a couple of years ago, when my wife packed her bags one March morning and left without much explanation. She left me the house, the bills and, above all, Marina, her daughter, who was twenty-one at the time and studied design at a downtown academy.

Marina was one of those girls who don’t need to try to get attention. She had a warm expression, soft features, and a way of moving that mixed the energy of her age with a calm that surprised me. She was pretty in a simple way, without makeup, without posing. I watched her grow up, and sometimes I had trouble recognizing in her the little girl I had taken to school.

To cover all the expenses back then, I worked myself to the bone at the garage. I’d go in at dawn and leave after dark. I’d get home wrecked, eat whatever I could, and collapse. Marina and I crossed paths in the hallway more than we actually lived together.

***

One Friday the boss sent us home in the middle of the afternoon because the power went out in the industrial area. I drove back with a strange feeling, like I had hours free and no idea how to spend them. I opened the door convinced nobody was home. Marina’s car wasn’t in its usual spot, so I assumed she was still in class.

I left the keys in the hall and then I heard it. A muffled sound was coming from the back of the hallway, from her room. I thought she had left the radio on. I walked closer without making a noise, more out of habit than suspicion, and pushed the half-open door.

Marina was in bed, completely naked, eyes closed, with a small vibrator sliding between her legs. She hadn’t heard me. Her chest was rising and falling, her lips were parted, and one hand was clutching the sheet.

I froze in the doorway, unable to move. I know I should have shut the door and left, but I didn’t. I stayed there staring at that body that was no longer a child’s, the smooth skin, everything shaved, the rounded hips.

She opened her eyes suddenly. For a second we both stood there paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Then she reacted and yanked the sheet up to her neck.

—Dad! What are you doing here? —she shouted, red to her ears.

—Sorry, sweetheart, I got off early, I didn’t know that... —I stammered, and closed the door.

I leaned against the hallway wall and took a deep breath. Only then did I realize I had an erection, harder than I had been in months. Since her mother left, I hadn’t touched a woman, hadn’t even seen a naked one again. And what I had just seen wouldn’t leave my head.

This is wrong. She’s your daughter. Go to the kitchen and forget it.

But I didn’t leave. I stayed there for a while listening to her breathing behind the door, wrestling with myself, until the need to make her feel less embarrassed won out over everything else. Or that’s what I told myself. I knocked again and went in.

***

Marina was still covered up to her neck, her face hidden between her knees.

—Sweetheart, what you were doing is the most normal thing in the world —I said, sitting down at the foot of the bed—. Relax. Look at me.

She slowly lifted her gaze. I’m forty-three, and I’ve always taken care of my body; the gym and discipline have been with me all my life, and I suppose that at that moment it gave me a confidence I didn’t feel inside.

—Dad, I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry —she murmured.

—No reason to be ashamed. You’re a woman and you’re getting to know your body, enjoying yourself. It’s healthy. I masturbate too, you know? There’s nothing wrong with it. And your boyfriend? Haven’t you seen him in a while?

—I don’t have a boyfriend —she replied, shrugging—. Between school and weekend work, I don’t have time or interest in boys.

—Things will get better, you’ll see —I said, and my eyes landed on the toy left on the sheet. It was tiny, cheap plastic—. And what’s this? A lipstick?

She let out a nervous laugh.

—It’s the only thing I could afford.

—That won’t do —I said, getting up—. Come with me to my room for a second.

***

Marina wrapped the sheet around her body and followed me down the hall. I opened the closet and searched in the back, behind the shoe boxes, for a bag that hadn’t been opened in years. I took out a couple of dildos and a suction toy, still in their boxes.

—Look at these. They’re brand new. Your mother and I bought them, but she never used them, and when she left she left them here. There’s no point in you messing around with a piece of plastic while these are collecting dust.

—And they still work? —she asked, examining the boxes curiously.

—No idea. Maybe they don’t have any charge left. We’d have to try them to know. Which one do you like more?

She ran a finger over the pictures, hesitating, and in the end pointed to the suction toy.

—This one. I’ve never tried one like it.

—Good choice, sweetheart.

We sat side by side on the edge of my bed, with the instructions spread out between us like we were assembling a piece of furniture. We read through the settings, the intensities. I pressed the button and the device vibrated in my hand with a dull hum.

—It works! —she said, and the laugh completely wiped away her embarrassment.

There was a silence. The sheet had slipped loose and left one shoulder bare. I swallowed.

—Want me to help you? —I asked, my voice rougher than I’d expected.

She looked at me for a long moment, as if weighing what that meant for both of us.

—Yes, Dad, help me —she said softly—. But take your clothes off first. You’ll be more comfortable.

***

I took my clothes off without thinking too much about it, because thinking was the only thing that could stop me. Marina let the sheet fall away completely and leaned back against me, her back against my chest, skin on skin. I felt her warmth all along my spine.

With one hand I stroked her breasts, her belly, the insides of her thighs, slowly tracing the path before going anywhere. With my lips I kissed her neck, her shoulder, bit her earlobe, and felt her shiver. With my other hand I brought the suction toy to her clit.

The device did its job. I moved it over her entire sex, which was already soaked, while she threw her head back against my shoulder and let the air out between her teeth. Her hips started moving, looking for more. And just then, when her breathing had become a steady gasp, the suction toy suddenly shut off. No battery.

—Don’t stop, Dad —she said, barely a whisper—. I was about to. Don’t stop now.

I tossed the useless toy onto the bed. There was no need to change position. I slid my left hand under the back of her neck to support her head and keep stroking her breasts, and lowered my right hand to her sex. It was burning hot. I traced it slowly, feeling my way, and slipped two fingers inside her while my thumb rubbed her clit in slow circles.

Her breathing quickened with every movement. I could feel her tensing against me, right on the edge, and then I slowed down. I turned her carefully so she was lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling, and gave her a long, tongue-deep kiss while my hand kept working.

Then I moved down. I kissed her neck, between her breasts, her navel, her belly, until I buried my face between her legs. I licked her hard, her clit and everything else, with a hunger I hadn’t felt in far too long. I slipped two fingers inside her again and picked up the pace, fingers inside and mouth outside, until I felt her hands close in my hair.

—Don’t stop, I’m gonna come. Keep doing that, keep going, don’t stop —she kept repeating, and she came with a shudder that rippled through her whole body, pressing my head against her.

I pulled my fingers out and licked her clean, slowly. I came back up and we shared a wet kiss. Without saying anything, she lowered her hand and grabbed my cock. She gave me a slow handjob, looking me in the eyes, and it was, no exaggeration, the best one I’d ever had. I came harder than I had in years.

We lay there still, catching our breath, and after a while we fell asleep naked, spooning, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

***

In the morning, a warm, wet sensation woke me. I opened my eyes and saw Marina between my legs, my penis in her mouth. I looked at her in surprise and she only stopped long enough to speak.

—I felt your erection when I woke up —she said, with a mischievous smile—. And I wanted to thank you for last night.

—Keep going, sweetheart, it’s all yours —I replied—. But wait a second, let me put a ring on.

She started slowly, licking my cock from top to bottom, playing with my balls, and little by little she sped up. She sucked, licked, set a rhythm that grew more intense, glancing sideways at me to see what it was doing to me.

—I’m going to come —I warned her.

She didn’t stop. On the contrary, she squeezed harder. I held out as long as I could, and in the end I came into her mouth, and she swallowed almost all of it and stuck out her tongue at me, teasing me. That made me even hotter.

She stretched out next to me and I, without a word, went back down between her legs. This time, before she could come on my face, I sat up and entered her in one stroke, with her sex so soaked I slid in without effort. I started thrusting hard, sinking all the way in with each stroke, while my thumb kept rubbing her clit.

I was fucking her and caressing her at the same time, and I felt her close around me. We both picked up the pace at once, she digging her nails into my back, until we came almost at the same moment.

We stayed lying there, face to face, looking at each other without saying a word. Then we kissed long and slow, like two lovers beginning something and still not knowing what to call it. We stayed like that for a good while, between kisses and silences.

In the end I got up, put on my trousers, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. While I was scrambling the eggs, I heard her humming in the bedroom. For the first time in a long while, the house didn’t feel so empty.