The Sins of the Fathers

***** Writer's Note: Enjoy!

HE WAS THE BEST OF DADS, HE WAS THE WORST OF DADS

Jack Grant, father and famous fighter pilot, tossed all night, restless, not sleeping deeply, dreaming constantly.

He dreamed he was looking out of the back of an aerial tanker, as an F16 took the boom. Or, looking directly into the cockpit, only to see his daughter naked at the controls, her hands between her legs, as she worked the rudder pedals.

Nothing Freudian about that.

Then, there was the dream of a small teenage girl sitting on her dad's lap. Her hair bouncing almost imperceptibly. She but her lower lip and tried to hang on as her dad lifted her up with his hips. All the while a klaxon was sounding a warning "Pull out! Pull out!"

Nothing Freudian about that one either

He startled as he woke, fully hard. He thought about what he remembered of his dreams before the quickly faded from his recall.

Shit!

I need a change of environment. I need a change of routine. I've absolutely got to stop going to Nikki's room at night. I've got to quit thinking about going to Nikki's room at night. I gotta get us out of this house.

Jack broached the subject with her during breakfast. As they explored it, she smiled, then she suggested spending the weekend on the family boat.

"You can invite MacKenzie,"Jack offered.

With MacKenzie there, nothing can possibly happen.

Nikki looked at her dad, thinking,

Yeah, I could; but, I don't wanna share.

Instead, she demurred politely, "Not this time, Daddy, okay? Let's just have a Daddy-Daughter weekend."

That made Jack smile.

She loves me! A daddy-daughter weekend sailing! Nice!

Nikki hit the speed dial on her phone. "Hey, Mac, just so you'll know; Daddy and I are going to the boat for the weekend." Pausing, she listened for awhile then chuckled, "Because he says he's tired of playing flight sims in his underwear." There was another interruption, while Mac chattered away.

An experienced Oregon coastal sailor, Jack was ultimately aware of scheduling when it came to time, tides, wind, and weather. Start too early, ya got no wind; start too late, the wind will nail ya to the dock. It was definitely time that he and Nikki started hauling ass, because the drive down to the marina took almost an hour. Catching Nikki's eye, he high-signed her to cut the conversation short.

Frantically nodding back to him, she spoke into the phone excitedly, "Look, Mac, I really gotta run. We're gonna miss the tide. Yeah, yeah...I know. I love you, too, and I'll miss you. Yeah, I promise; I'll tell you everything when we get back, okay?"

Out of curiosity, Jack asked, "What did MacKenzie say?"

"She said to tell her absolutely everything." Nikki's smile was enigmatic.

As they walked out and Jack locked the house, Nikki snatched the keys from his hand. "I'm driving!"

Jack tried to catch her; it was hopeless. Youth always wins. Still, it was a good game. She stopped at the Jeep, waiting patiently for him to catch up.

"Topless?" she asked, a wicked little grin playing on her lips.

Pay attention, Daddy! I'm flirting. This is an important step in my ability to relate to men.

He looked at her, over his aviator-style sunglasses. With a shit eating smile, he called her bluff. "I would love to see you drive topless!"

"Dad!" She squinted in the early morning sun. "Are you flirting with me?"

You are, aren't you?

"Maybe a little, just to stay in practice. Remember, I don't get out much."

But maybe I should.

"You gonna help me with my top, or just watch?" she challenged.

"That's just wrong, asking your Dad to help you take your top off!"

He had to laugh as they started folding back canvas and taking off the doors. When they were done, it was no longer an Eddie Bauer Edition Jeep Wrangler, it was a 'jeep'. And, a jeep is fun incarnate.

In the backseat was the bear; that giant furry beast of a stuffed bear. Nearly four feet tall -- or long-- depending on how it was setting.

Jack looked at it, askance. "Aw come on, Nikki. I thought we were going to spend a daddy-daughter night."

"The bear goes!" she balked, digging in her heels.

"Nikki, don't you think you are a little old for the teddy bear thing? I mean you keep telling me that now you're a 'young woman'."

"My bear goes!" Reaching out, she patted its belly for good luck. "Barrister is the closest thing I have to a boyfriend. So, he goes!"

Jack pulled off his sunglasses, putting them on the bear; then he took his ball cap and covered the bear's head and ears. Totally pleased with his creation, he grinned. Sporting the cap and sunglasses, the bear sorta resembled some kind of huge dog or fierce beast riding in the back of the jeep.

Delighted, Nikki giggled, slipping into the driver's seat. "Okay, everybody, let's get going. Buckle your seat belts!"

For the first few miles, she fought to keep her sundress modest as the wind kept trying to lift it. Finally, she glanced over at her dad and shrugged. The miles, thereafter, passed with a variety of panty shots, interspersed with tan coltish thighs and white sandaled feet on the foot pedals. There was even an occasional belly button on a particularly strong gust.

On a slow section of road, where the wind wasn't so loud, she yelled, "Daddy, you're my total hero. You know that, right?"

Jack swallowed, his throat hurt. He didn't know what to say.

Not sure I have ever been someone's 'total hero'.

She looked at him again. "Thanks for taking me to the boat."

"You're welcome. I thought maybe some family time away from the house was in order. Just you and me and the deep-blue sea! You had a great idea, the Boat!"

"Daddy, put some music on."

Jack switched on the stereo system, fumbling with the dial. He found a local coastal station with Britney Spears belting out "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman."

Now that is an appropriate tune for this weekend.

"Oh no, Daddy, we're not listening to that shit."

"But, it's Britney," he protested, "I thought you liked her. And these lyrics .... You know, sorta like you and MacKenzie this summer. Learning about boys?"

"Oh my God, Daddy, you are so retarded!" She whipped out her phone. "Siri."

"How may I help?" asked the soothing, well-modulated voice of the world's best-known Personal Assistant.

"Radio remote."

"Activated."

"Select play list."

"Selected."

"Britney Spears"

"Selected."

"Do It Again!"

"Hip Hop. Randomize."

The jeep's radio suddenly stopped playing "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" and switched to some heavy base shake-your-young-ass hip hop. Nikki's smile was smugly content.

"Is this song about sex?"

I think this song is about sex. Do it again? This can't be Britney.

"Duh, Daddy." At times, Nikki was positively shocked by her father's naivete.

"But, Britney was a Mouseketeer. And, then she was an innocent schoolgirl in, 'Oops! I Did It Again."

She reached over and took her dad's hand in hers. "And, now Britney is all grown-up with big girl needs, Daddy! Cope!"

That's right Daddy, Britney has sex!

He pointed to the radio in the console. "How'd you do that? You now talking to the radio?"

"Dad, you are totally my hero but you are such a tech-tard."

"No, really, how did you do that?"

She held up the iPhone. "It's playing songs from my phone by Bluetooth to the jeep's sound system."

"It can do that?"

He pulled his flip-phone out and opened it. "How?"

Nikki just shook her head.

Yep, an undeniably sweet but Hopeless Tech-tard!

For the rest of the drive the jeep swayed gently as she bounced to the hip-hop sounds of her generation. Jack thought she was the most beautiful and alive thing he'd ever seen.

A few miles outside Lincoln City, Nikki spoke again to Siri.

"Siri"

"How may I help you?"

"What's the best pizza in Lincoln City?

"Gallucci's"

"Call them, please."

The restaurant answered on the second ring. "This is Gallucci's. What would you like today?"

Nikki ordered, "One large 'Kitchen Sink'. One two-liter Pepsi."

"Nicole Grant, twenty minutes, thank you."

Jack sulked, "I was gonna cook."

"I know Daddy, that is precisely why we're having pizza." Her smile was disarming.

A few minutes later, she pulled into the Safeway parking lot at the north end of Lincoln City.

"We need beer, Daddy. Cold beer."

"Are you going to go get it, young lady?"

Jack Grant smiled cause he already knew the answer.

"Siri, what is the legal drinking age in Oregon?" Nikki looked back at him over the rims of her Joe Cool sunglasses.

"The legal drinking age in Oregon is twenty-one years."

"Siri, are there any exceptions listed?"

"A minor may drink alcohol in the presence of their parents."

Jack was a little irked at his daughter's ... what was the word? Insouciance?

Little smart ass! Tech-tard, huh?

"Siri," Jack snapped.

"How may I help you, sir?"

"Siri, are you licensed to practice law in Oregon?"

"No, sir. I am an IPA (Intelligent Personal Assistant) and Knowledge Navigator."

"Then, shut the fuck up!"

Unfazed, Nikki merely laughed out loud. "Daddy, do you know what a Luddite is?"

Jack's sense of humor got the best of him. "I most certainly do, Miss Smart Ass; and, unlike Siri, I also passed the Bar Exam and am well-versed in Oregon law regarding the drinking age and parental consent. As your counsel, I strongly suggest that you give your personal assistant the rest of the day off, so your tech-tard father can buy some cold beer."

The rest of their trip was relatively uneventful and Siri-free. After Safeway, Nikki stopped to pick up her pizza and they arrived at the marina on-schedule. Luck was with them, blessed by perfect weather with a light breeze just coming up.

Nikki's family owned an old well-restored sailboat. It wasn't a yacht, just a beloved old boat. Thirty-seven and a half feet long it had two masts, a cranky old diesel, and a pirate flag.

Nikki ran her hands reverantly over the teak of the entry way then reached out and rang the ships bell twice. Her smile said it all.

We're here!

In some ways, she'd grown up on the boat, spending many weekends on the boat with her mom and dad. It was a part of her life, too. She loved it and loved spending time with her dad on the boat.

She'd been very young when Jack began teaching her to sail. Now, he trusted her to do almost anything with the boat. Nikki could take it out of a slip and bring it back in again without his help. She knew how to prep and start the engine, knew how to drop an anchor and set it.

On the boat, her dad never treated her like a little girl. Whenever they were sailing, he always respected her skills and acted like she was a young woman.

Their boat was called "Daddy's Girl."

Her grandpa had owned it originally, and he'd given it the name. At least, that's what her mom had told her; but, Nikki secretly believed that it'd really been named for her. Jack knew she thought that because she asked him once if he had named the boat for her. But he'd only smiled and said, "It is a good name for our boat, huh?"

By five in the afternoon, the sun hovered low on the horizon and it was nearly sunset. Jack stood forward on the deck watching Nikki at the tiller, as she moved it around by pushing with her hips against it. She held the tiller loosely in her small hands. Looking past her dad up on the bow, she was selecting a place to anchor. She knew exactly here her dad wanted to go, and they were just about there. She slowed the boat to a crawl.

Jack looked back and she signaled him to let go the anchor. It splashed loudly as it hit the still water. Smoothly Nikki shifted the engine's gears to reverse its thrust, and it started moving backwards. The anchor grabbed the sandy bottom and plowed in, the nose of the boat dipping perceptibly. Slowly, it came to a halt. Jack signaled her to cut the motor. Silence.

He smiled, relishing the absence of sound. He loved sailing because of that. They were alone. Already dusk, night was approaching.

Less than five minutes later they both sat in the cockpit, sharing a single glass of cold beer and watching the sun set. Jack watched the mysterious young woman, whom his daughter had become, sip beer. She came away with a beer mustache.

Cute, definitely cute.

He reached out absentmindedly and wiped her foamy white mustache off with his thumb. Nikki closed her eyes as her dad touched her lips, tenderly wiping away the beer. In her mind. he was touching her mouth almost like a kiss. His hand held her cheek and his thumb ran across her lips.

If this was anyone but my dad, a kiss would follow. I'm so ready to be kissed; I need to be kissed.

Jack looked at her. Her eyes were closed. He was holding her face in his palm. His thumb was still wet with the beer.

My daughter is definitely kissable.

Nikki sensed her dad's indecision. "You know I want you want to kiss me, don't you, Daddy?"

There followed a really long pause. Nikki had learned over the years with her dad that a pause meant he was trying to find a way to wiggle out of something. The longer the pause, the more trouble he was having finding a good reason to bolt.

She didn't open her eyes. She didn't move away from his hand. She waited.

Come on, Daddy! Work it out. Look at all the possibilities then make the right call. What's the right thing to do, attorney? What's the right thing to do, Daddy?

In the fading light of the day, Jack Grant moved closer. He watched his daughter waiting, watched her breathing. Saw she was starting to blush.

God, you don't even know how inviting you are. You have no idea, yet, of what you can do with a look, a word, a touch. And, you definitely have no idea what a simple kiss can lead to.

It was an intoxicating moment and Jack smiled.

She does deserve a kiss. She's cute and sexy. And she sailed really well today. A kiss is definitely warranted.

He brought his lips to hers. She never opened her eyes. He kissed her, slowly bringing his lips across hers. He tasted her lips.

Beer foam.

Jack Grant felt his daughter's lips open ever so slightly. Nikki slid the tip her tongue out, pushing it gently against her dad's lips. He halted. She kissed him harder, pushing against his closed lips again.

Come on, Daddy! Let me in! Kiss me!

His momentary elation vanished as Jack Grant's mind spit out the thought,

Holy shit! What the hell are we doing?!

To his credit, he did try to protest and almost got out the words "Nikki don't." But somewhere around the letter "N," her tongue found his.

Jesus, you're sweet. Innocent and hot at the same time. How in God's name does a girl in a Catholic Girls Academy learn to kiss like this?

With all this racing through his mind, Jack failed to notice that his hand had moved from her cheek to the back of her neck, never realized he was holding her into the kiss. As for Nikki, she didn't miss a thing.

My dad's kissing me. And, this isn't a kiss like usual; he's really kissing me. God, I hope this goes on forever.

Bringing her hand up to her dad's chest, she curled her fingers and gently pulled at his chest hairs. She was like a kitten testing its new claws in a rug. She spread her fingers across his chest.

Sexy. Hot. Hairy. Manly. My dad!

Her hand crept downward, across his chest to the top of his abdomen and steadily inching lower.

Jack Grant's eyes snapped open. He stood up so fast his head hit the bottom of the mizzen boom. "Owwww, fuck!"

Backing up he found the edge of the cockpit, and stepped up out of it, scrambling towards the open hatch and companionway.

"I'll just...." he stammered. "I mean, we should.... You must be hungry... starving. Right?!"

Nikki came up off the cockpit bench after him in quick pursuit, following his every move. She had him in retreat and didn't even know what to do with that information. All she knew was that he'd kissed her. And, that was enough for her.

Our kiss was definitely not just a daddy kiss.

"I am hungry, Daddy," she purred.

Jack began getting panicky. By chance, one of his heels touched the companionway behind him, and he stepped down onto the stairway.

She followed. As he backed clumsily downward, she was at the hatch above him. "Wait, Daddy."

Jack halted his descent. Nikki went to her knees in the hatchway. Jack and she were now at the same height again.

She took his face in her hands. "I'm so hungry." Kissed him quickly. "I feel all hollow like I haven't eaten in days," she murmured, kissing him again hotly.

Jesus, I can feel her 'hunger'. And, I know just what kind of hunger it is,'cause now I'm hungry too,

Jack agonized,

Not good, this is so not good!

"My stomach is growling." Reaching over, she took his hand and placed it on her tummy. He couldn't feel it growl; but, he did feel his hand spread across her tummy.

God damn, you're a little hard body!

Escalating, she pressed his hand against her tummy. "It feels empty, huh? Maybe you're right, I need to get something inside my tummy, so it won't feel so empty."

Jack felt her push his hand lower. "It's empty all way to the bottom."

The very bottom, Daddy.

He jumped, his heart skipping a beat. "Yeah, well, we can't have you go to bed with an empty tummy. We'll have to fill that for you. I mean...before bed. I mean ...shouldn't I start warming the pizza?"

"But, is that what you want? What you really feel like eating?" Seductively she licked her lips, adding naughtily, "I mean, right now?"

Is pizza what you really want to eat, Daddy?

It was Jack's turn to go red-faced with embarrassment. If she'd been someone he was dating. If she'd been her mom. If Olivia Nicole Grant had been anyone else but his daughter, he would have definitely had a sexy comeback to that question. He had to admit to himself she was right.

What I wanted to eat is not pizza. What I want to feed you is definitely not pepperoni. And what I wanted to fill your tummy with, sure-as-hell isn't dinner. Sweet Jesus, I gotta do something or I am well and truly fucked.

"So...how about I fix us some Pepsi?" he blurted out and disappeared down the stairs.

Tantalized by the thought she was backing him into the cabin of the boat, Nikki merely took her time and lingered a moment in the hatchway reveling in the knowledge that she'd somehow unhinged his lawyer-like reason.

Oh, this is amazing... and it's fun.

Several seconds passed before she languidly slipped one foot then the other over the companionway entry to pursue him downward.

In the salon of the cabin, Jack stood riveted to the spot and staring, fascinated by how much she looked like some kind of exotic feline coming down the companionway ladder. Spellbound, he watched the muscles of her legs flex as she descended and her shorts move with each step. He caught his breath, seeing her crotch define itself into a very prominent camel-toe as she moved.

He was beginning to feel a little like a cornered mouse.

Prey, the word is 'prey'!

And Nikki was feeling a lot like a cat on the prowl. Something had changed here. She'd managed to take control of her dad if only for a few minutes; she just wasn't sure what to do with that control. Then it slipped away from her, her fantasy shattered by Jack's announcement, "Pizza's in the oven. What'd ya want? Pepsi or beer?"

Nikki shook her head, exasperated.

Shit! Daddy's back.

"Beer," she answered, stepping off the ladder.

"Perfect! We aim to please, and two beers coming right up."

To get to the boat's ice box, he had to squeeze past Nikki, and she looked up into his eyes as he passed.