Steps Together

Steps together

To Josh, running was life. He loved to wake up at 4am, when it was cool outside and the sun was just a glow on the horizon of the Arizona town where he lived. He loved to strap on his weathered shoes, turn on his music and hit the pavement. He had started in high school and never lost the knack for it. Mile after mile, it never failed to make him feel amazing. Few things were better, it had so consumed him, that and his work, had seen him reach the ripe age of 23 with only a single serious girlfriend. Whom had just a few short days ago sent him a text, a text, after 4 years together that she was moving on. Moving on, like he was some kind of bad smell in the area. She didn't seem to care that he had lost his father suddenly only five short months ago. Didn't seem to care about the plan they had made when they started dating in college. He had been mad at first, sad more than mad really, but that had passed or at least fallen to the wayside. Work had picked up and he was getting ready to train for a local half marathon and a few months after that, travel to LA and run there to hope to qualify for Boston.

Then, right before his Monday run, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Josh asked, still bleary eyed as he plugged in his headphones, not recognizing the number.

"Hey Josh, its me Cara." Said the pleasant voice on the other end. Josh tried not to let the annoyance seep into his voice as he stood silent for a moment.

"Hey...Cara...what can I do for you?" Josh had had more of a business relationship with his dad than that of a normal relationship. His father was old school. Josh could count the number of times he had gotten a kind word on both hands and the number of hugs on one hand. His father had only ever said he loved him once and that was the week he had died. Things had been hard between them when his mom had passed away from cancer, they had gotten even more strained when he had started dating and eventually married the spin class instructor that was only 5 years older than Josh.

He didn't hate Cara for being with his dad, or replacing his mother or some Freudian BS like that. He was glad to see his dad smile, she had helped keep him healthy all the way till he had passed away, filled his bed and kept a smile on his face. She had been a good wife. She took care of everything when he died and their love had seemed genuine. She was well taken care of since his dad left her 2/3rds of his amassed wealth. It wasn't a ton but she was set and could live in the large home they had lived in just outside of Prescott and still teach her spin classes and live well.

If his relationship with his dad had been slight, to call the one with his step mother anything more than in passing would have been a lie. He was cordial and they did the whole holidays and Christmas card thing until his dad had died, but after that and the reading of the will, they had not spoken in the five months since pancreatic cancer had seen his father to a rather early grave.

Now here she was, calling him early in the morning, interrupting his run and the peace it brought him.

"Hey Josh, sorry to bug you so early. I was wondering if you would do me a favor?"

"Is everything ok?" Josh asked, as much as he had not been best friends with her, she was still part of his family as it was, and he did care about her.

She answered with her melodic laugh at first and Josh couldn't help but smile.

"You're sweet. No, no emergency. I was wondering if I could start running with you. I decided I was going to run the half marathon here in a few months just for something new but I started doing it on my own and I don't like it. I get lonely and was hoping I could tag along with you and you could keep me company."

Josh let the phone down to his side and sighed. The last thing he wanted was company. He loved the solitude of his runs. He loved the miles and miles passing under his feet, the music in his ears as he watched the sun come up.

He raised the phone up to his ear to make an excuse and tell her no when he heard her lovely voice.

"Please. I know it's asking a lot, but I was just hoping you might want to spend some time together. At least be friend's maybe." Cara said. She sounded so sincere. Josh sighed quietly and capitulated.

"Yeah we could probably do that. The running partner thing at least." Josh said. Partner was fine for now, friends would have to wait and see. He wasn't gonna lie, it would be nice to be around a pretty female too. His work was mostly solitary work and an office full of guys. Since, Hanna, his eyes had left, he really hadn't had much time with the fairer sex and it sounded appealing to him, even if it was with the woman that was still technically his stepmom.

"I run every morning except Saturday so when did you want to start?" Josh asked.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"This morning huh?" Josh asked as he hung up the phone and opened his front door. Standing there on his doorstep, the red on her cheeks of apparent embarrassment.

"Yeah sorry, I took a chance that you would say yes." Cara said with a laugh.

Josh took stock of his stepmom and remembered that it had never been a question at least one reason his father had been attracted to her: she was truly beautiful. She was tall, 5'9 or so. She had a bit of an hourglass to her figure. Her arms were tight but not ripped, her thighs were thick and strong, the hours of spin she taught showed for sure. Her hips had the combination of flare of a woman in her late twenties who took care of herself with only the barest hint of a little extra around her middle that showed she liked a good meal and didn't mind a glass or five of wine after work. This was just to say that in the Instagram model world people would call her thick. Her blond hair was streaked with light brown or even a little red, it lay just on her shoulder from the photos he had seen on her Facebook and Instagram but it was up in a playful ponytail today. Two of her best features though were her gravity defying tits and her amazing smile. Her smile could look both playful and a tiny bit naughty at times. She was easy to smile and didn't ever seem to keep that to herself. Her tits were truly something to behold. They were big, huge considering how athletic she was, most of the time when girls worked out hard and ate well, nature played the evil trick of shrinking their boobs first.

That was not the case with Cara. It was so hard to gauge size but Josh would guess she was about an E. or whatever the size was past DD. It was so hard to tell. No converting metric to standard. Any smart man measured boobs with their hands. She had them strapped down tight today, the purple supported sports bra and she was contain her hips and generously plump ass in a pair of wine colored leggings.

After a short conversation they decided to keep it short, far shorter than Josh was used to but he told her he would swing back by his house and go out again if he needed to or felt like he could go further. 5 miles. That was a good first day. Long story short, she made it, it wasn't pretty but she did make it all the way and with pretty good clip. He did have to run a bit slower. But she did really well. She was no stranger to work, teaching as many spin classes as she did she was not truly dead tired but it was rough. Josh couldn't lie, he had enjoyed her company. For the first two miles or so they hadn't said much, then she had started asking questions and the conversation had started.

They had talked about a lot; the usual of his work, her work, the weather, property value, taxes. Then after a while it had gone to her friends and social stuff. Then she asked about his girl, how things were going and the conversation had kinda died. As they slowed to a brisk walk about a half mile from his house she had broken the silence.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know that had ended." Cara said as they slowed to a walk and Josh gave his camelback hose a pull and drank some still cold water.

"Yeah, she texted me, told me the company had an opening in Cheyanne for about twice the money." Josh said, pausing as he again felt the keen pain of missing her and about a hundred other emotions.

"You guys were together like what, 5 years?" Cara said, shaking her head as they stopped in beside her car and she retrieved her water bottle. Josh noted the swell of her hips and the round curve of her ass before he caught himself, reminded of her title by the little voice in his head and he turned away and looked at the brightening sky and tried to deny that he had been admiring her feminine physical qualities with more than just an appreciation.

"a little more than 4 actually. Lived together for most of it." Josh shook his head. Hanna had been fun. Aside from being his only serious girlfriend, she had been more than that, she had been the girl he had lost his virginity to. Six months after they got together they had started having what he like to think was vigorous, youthful sex, probably about 2 maybe three times a week and that had been the norm. It had been that way for about two or three years. The last year the frequency had fallen off , little by little until near the end they were only romantic once or twice in the last 4 months and even then it had been hurried but not in the fun needful way, more dutiful than romantic

Hanna was beautiful and fit, a runner also, but she had been adamant about protection. She had some hormonal issue that had not allowed her to get on birth control as she explained it so the burden had fallen to him. Condoms. So many condoms at the onset had been filled and thrown out. She had said they would talk about kids after they got married, but would never really talk seriously about that.

"Damn. That really sucks. I'm sorry." Cara said, her sky blue eyes on him and he could feel she really did feel bad about it. It was nice.

"Well, thank you so much for letting me tag along and mess with your Zen." Car said as she took a small towel off her bag and patted the sheen of sweat on her neck and the tops of her covered and squished breasts. "I'm going to go shower at the gym and catch some kip before brunch. Thank you so much. This was way better than running alone." And then she moved in and hugged him, it was a bit awkward. Josh was not used to hugs, Hanna was not one for PDI even if no one was really around. She like to keep their affection behind closed doors.

Her skin was damp and her sports bra was soaked with sweat and her hair at was matted with sweat. But she smelled so good and his body, as tired and sore as he was from his run responded. He had been in charge of his own release for some months now and to be this close to the hard bodied yet soft skinned woman that smelled like some kind of flower as she embraced him made his cock feel heavy in his compression shorts. She let go and climbed into her car and waved as she drove off.

Josh quickly suppressed the feeling and, feeling that he had some mileage left in his legs left, turned and headed back out and did another three miles just to get rid of the heavy feeling in his cock and the tingling want in his balls. He was not supposed to feel what he felt for her. She was not related to him by blood but it was still not ok. She had been his father's love, not some slam piece he had picked up but his wife, it wasn't ok.

Beaten and exhausted he plodded into his house and started to shed his running clothes as he made his way into the bathroom and started the shower, letting it heat up so it would ease the burn of his muscles. He stood and looked in the mirror at himself. He was right about 6'2. He had a lean runners build from mile and miles on the pavement and low hills. His muscles were corded under his skin which was red and slick from exertion. He could almost see Hanna walking through the door and the almost shy smile on her face as she would ditch her terrycloth robe on the hook that was now empty beside the glass doors of his shower, her small breasts high on her chest, tiny areolas and small nipples showing her excitement. Societal norms had not gotten hold of Hanna, she like to sit by their pool out back, and she kept her bikini like and legs shaved with the consistency that would make the military proud, she did not shave her pussy, she kept it trimmed down but liked mostly natural. And that was fine with Josh. He honestly didn't care either way. She was vigorous in bed ad that was all he had ever known.

But she wasn't there, and his brain played a trick on him and instead he saw Cara walk through the door, her smile wide and bright, untying the robe as she closed the distance. Her large breasts jiggling under the silk of her robe in his imagination. His cock, once hanging limp and heavy was now quickly hardening as he imagined her starting to doff the garment, so near to him he could smell her scent and that of the residual shampoo and body spray.

Quickly he stepped under the spray and sighed, ashamed at his fantasy of her as he took his burgeoning cock in his hand and stroked it thick length, trying to imagine the soft shy cries Hanna would give as his slick encased organ would slid in and out of her pussy. How she would tense and bite him as to not make too much noise as she came around his length, her pussy pulsing and griping him like a soft wet vise. Then she would suck on his neck and earlobe and gently claw his back, whispering encouragement to him until his balls drew up tight, pumping and pulsing inside her as he finally found his release. His cock flexed in his hand as he came hard, spraying 3 or four thick ropes of cum onto the glass door of his shower before they washed away under the spray as he stood under the water, trying not to miss Hanna too much and wishing he didn't know he whispered Cara's name.

The next morning it was the same thing. A little farther of a run, the same banal conversation, only this time when they finished he hurried away to the house like he had somewhere to be. Cara didn't seem too put off but he could tell her smile was not as wide as she drove away and he went off to go shower and to his shame, jerk off in the shower again. It was more the same the next day and the next, and the week after, and so one. Every day they would run a bit further and talk a it more. He was telling her about himself and she was sharing with him as well. He knew her favorite movie and shows and what she liked for breakfast, where she liked to shop and some of her hopes for the future. He had shared the same with her. They were laughing about things, little idiosyncrasies they were developing as they spent more and more time with one another as they ran together.

After the sixth week, with only a couple weeks left before the half marathon the subject of sex finally came up. Looking back Josh couldn't remember who brought it up.

"God I miss it so much, just the feel of a man. You gotta let me hug you more just so I can at least take the edge off." Cara said with a laugh when they took water at the turn around in the one minute break before they made the run back toward his house.

"Nope, no talk about your sex life with my dad. I'm begging you." Josh said with a look that showed how gross the subject was and Cara laughed but didn't head that way but neither one of them steered away from sex in general.

"You seeing anyone yet?" Cara asked as they started off again, getting back to their familiar pace.

'Naw. I don't have time. My life is pretty simple. I work, I run, I sleep, I watch sports and podcasts, I ride my street bike and repeat. I'm not even sure what it would look like." Josh said

"What's that?"

"Being in a relationship." Josh said as they crossed into a good downhill stretch.

"Well that might come but what about just getting some ass?" Cara said with a little laugh. Josh smiled and shook his head.

"Not really my speed."

"How do you mean?" Cara asked.

"I've never done the whole Tinder, fish whatever insta hook up." Josh said, he felt a bit provincial. He really liked women, he like sex, it was just something he had never been top of his priority list. His grades, then his work, then once Hanna was in his life it was a combo of all that. It had never been an issue.

"Not a lot of success you mean? I don't believe that, you are in great shape and look amazing and are sweet and have a lot to offer. I'm surprised there wasn't a line waiting for you when Hanna left." Cara said.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Josh said it and wasn't sure why. He turned to where she had been running and she was gone. She had slowed to a walk.

"I didn't mean to cross the line, I am just surprised is all." Cara said as she caught back up.

'You didn't. It's just that." God this was embarrassing, Josh thought.

"Just what?"

"Hanna was my first girlfriend." They ran on for some time in silence.

'Like first and only?" Cara asked as they hit another mile, nearing the end of their journey.

"Yeah. She took my V card as they say, she was really all I knew on that end of things."

"Wow. Josh I have so many questions." Cara said with a laugh and Josh was smart enough to know she was not laughing at him but just genuinely surprised.

"Ask away I guess." Josh said. They ran on in silence for the most part of the last mile and they started their cooldown jog.

"So Hanna must have really pulled out all the stops for you then." Cara said as much as she asked. Josh didn't answer right away, partially out of embarrassment, partially out of the fact that when he thought about it she really didn't.

"Not really. I just got used to it and it was about more than just sex I guess." Josh said. As they started to walk nearing his house as they had many many times before.

"So I'm going to be super direct here." Cara began as they stopped beside her car and then at his behest they headed into the house where he got her a drink and she just asked. "What all did you guys do? Was it just sex or was there at least some fun in there like all the other stuff other than just dick in pussy."

Josh took a minute, sighed, and then laid it out as they stood in his kitchen. Sex with Hanna had been fun. She was present and encouraging. But it was pretty basic. Missionary about 90% of the time. She rode him once in a while and had only let him do doggy style once on his birthday when they had both been drunk and she was so worried the condom would break that they had just gone back to missionary. Same thing with head. She had kept it to mostly sex. She was fine with manual stimulation and would give him a handjob only so long as it was quickly followed by sex. She had never liked to suck his cock and the one time the subject had come up, she had shot it down simply saying 'I don't do that' and that had been the end of it. Anal was not even a conversation, it was always condoms and though she had liked it fine when he fingered her, it was only so long as it was immediately followed with penetration.

Cara stood there for a bit after he finished talking and just kind of stood there. She looked stunned and just shook her head.

"That is a damn shame." Cara said as she put her glass in the sink and stated toward the half bath. "Be right back"

Josh stood and finished his drink. All the talk of sex had brought up a lot of memories. Some good some tense but overall it was a true realization that he was not experienced at all and that was fine but he should try to do something about it.

He heard the toilet flush and turned and caught his breath a bit. Cara as of late had taken to wearing smaller and smaller shirts over her confining sports bra, and her leggings had gone to shorter and shorter as time had worn on. She was in shorts today and she apparently had taken off her sports bra in the bathroom and just put her shirt back on over it. The thin wicking material was soaked with sweat and now was barely holding back her unrestrained breasts. The nipples pressing hard against the teal material, clearly hard, the bumps around the turgid nubs also visible through the fabric.