All for one. One for all.

Rescuing a queen.

Even as David was thinking about what to do in those first few seconds, he’d got a start on it.

He threw the end of his rope around the smoke stack for the heating system, tied it securely to itself, pulled at it to be sure that it was secure, and then carried the rope out, letting it out slowly as he moved to the edge of the roof and then sat down, to slide down the wet roof, running with water.

He placed the coil of rope over his foot so that it did not fall over the edge of the roof and made sure that the rope did not interfere with anything else as he let it out. When he got down to where Sarah was, he lay flat on the roof beside her after taking a turn into the rope with his other foot, reaching to make a half-hitch around his foot, and then he moved across the roof to lie immediately beside Sarah, reaching out to grab at her in the only place he could be sure of holding her if she were suddenly to let go, or everything above them failed.

He could not warn her what he would do. There might not be time.

He swept his hand up between her bare legs (feeling her flinch at his familiar, hard, and unexpected touch on her there), and then he pushed farther under her, lifting her, pushing her legs apart as he did that, and moving his hand farther under her body, feeling hair, and then stopped when he felt her weight being taken fully by his arm.

She could blast him for his familiarity with her later. He had no choice where to hold her.

She was shivering with cold, though some of that may also be exhaustion as well as fear.

How the hell had she got down here like this, and completely naked? What the hell had they been doing up here?

He would find out, later.

She flinched at his forcefully intimate touch on her where he guessed no man had ever touched before, and naturally she was surprised and even shocked by it but would be unable to complain or even fight him away. Any man who did that without asking her permission deserved only a slow and painful death; as he deserved for what he had done to Le-an.

His hand now rested flat on that small patch of hair beneath her body, supporting her. Another one he’d touched familiarly and was touching where no man should touch so soon, and before he even knew anything about them, other than their first names and that they were in the school.

He was even then, bending her right leg up with his forearm under her body as he moved closer to her again, so that he took all of her weight on that arm, and with his body, now pushed into her side as he pulled her to him, turning her slowly to have her closer to him, and to get the weight of her body off her breasts.

“Oh, god. She was another one with breasts and a body to die for. His hormones were in overdrive now after climbing those ladders, constantly aroused as he’d helped Le-an, and setting other changes occurring to his body despite the urgency of it all.

He was holding her securely now. He’d never seen so many wonderful breasts on display, all in the same brief interval of time, and yet so far out of reach, except for this one, but she’d no choice about what he touched of her.

He spoke to her.

“Sarah? Sarah?”

That got her attention. Her eyelids flickered.

“My name is David.” He used her name, and told her his own as a way of getting through to her, and helping her believe that what he was doing was in her best interest, even though…. No woman would ever be able to trust a man doing this to her, but she had no choice. She should at least know the name of the man who was violating her, touching her so familiarly even as he had of her sister, though much more of a violation such a short time before.

“I’ve got you now. You won’t fall.”

She was not about to protest or complain. What he’d just done, and was doing, may have saved her life. He hoped she could see that before she took offense.

He heard her sob and felt her begin to relax on his hand and arm, despite what he was doing and touching of her, but how in hell anyone could relax, especially not him with what he could feel and see, and was touching of her, he did not know, but her feelings were of panic, while his were of something else at the other end of the spectrum of experiences.

He spoke loudly to those above.

“I have her. She’s safe.” Safe, but not comfortable the way he was touching her.

He knew how that news would be received. He was relieved too. All safe and accounted for. For a while.

Disaster averted. One of them. Other potential disasters still awaited. He knew about those but they may not have thought about it.

He focused only on Sarah as she rested there, able to take the tension off her arms at last, no longer needing to hold on to anything. He heard the emotional relief in the way she was breathing with an occasional catch in her breathing as she turned her head to look up at him and to thank him, but she was beyond speaking, and closed her eyes, wondering if she really was as safe as she was being told.

She would feel his wrist, tight up between her legs, snug against both hair and her vulva, with the flat of his hand resting on her soft abdomen and more hair, taking all of her weight.

Girls, young women—and this was a woman, as they all were—were sensitive about such personal things and did not need to be reminded of this kind of embarrassment.

He had to remain disengaged, neutral, and focus just upon helping them in whichever way he could as he kept his thoughts and feelings under control.

Once they were all back to safety he would have to consider what they would be feeling, and how to help them recover both from this, and from the embarrassment of what he was doing for them, and what he was seeing and touching.

They would not want to speak about any of this once they were off this roof, and might even try to deny it, scrub it from their minds. Denial! If that was what they wanted, that was the way it would be.

Now, he had to get her off this roof and back up there with her sister and her companion

He spoke to her again. “Neither of us is going anywhere now, except to go up there. I am going to change my hold upon you, and I am going to turn you onto your back before I can do that, and then everything will be much easier.” He laid close into her and focused on using his lower foot to take a further turn into the rope, to anchor himself as he held her from slipping.

He wasted no time considering how to avoid touching her in any more of an intimate way, but just lifted her bodily up the roof a few inches and began to turn her onto her back as he raised her right leg, pulling it toward him, moving his forearm along and up it with his hand still flat on her abdomen. The next step would require a change of hold again.

He was right about them being beauties. He could see her in the light shining down on them both, as Le-an and Olivia, both looked down, using his flashlight now, effectively cheering them on in silence, while holding their breaths.

Sarah was looking up at him, wondering about him, feeling where he was holding her, not yet able to believe that she was safe.

He was anchored with his rope, so he brought his free leg up and under her leg, into her again, but not as hard or as decisively as his hand had been earlier, to change his hold on her.

“I’m going to turn you, and then you can free your arms to hold me tightly around my neck. It will be easier that way.”

“Thank you.” She understood?

The way she was looking at him, glimpsed in the weak light from above, made everything he was doing seem appreciated, and she’d thanked him too, making it all even more worthwhile.

“You are welcome.” The response was instinctive and strangely necessary.

He didn’t ever want this night to end, but that was just fanciful and foolish thinking. It had to end, at least this first phase of it, to bring this near nightmare to a close for them. The hard part for them, would be recovering from this.

He reached over to pull her right leg further over to him to roll her onto her back.

She said something he did not hear. Giving him permission? Or agreeing with him? She couldn’t be objecting. She also looked very like Le-an, with the same facial features, the same hair, the same breasts. It could even be Le-an! They were twins?

He pushed with his knee and raised her up the roof a few inches, before he took another turn around the rope with his hand.

He could see all of her now; pale skin, breasts, scrapes and possibly bruises, in the light still shining down on them. And what breasts; standing out in stark relief, emphasized by the shadow cast by that light. He wanted to kiss them. Another fleeting thought that would get him into trouble, like his telling Le-an that he found her beautiful. Maybe he hadn’t said it out loud at that moment, but he had thought it, and she may have seen it in his eyes, along with his other less creditable feelings.

The rain was really coming down now. He’d just got to her in time.

They would not be able to return into the school without their nightdresses, wringing wet, scraped and needing medical attention, and with it being long after their bedtime.

Sarah might be crying, feeling the relief of being rescued, flooding over her. Better that, than feeling ravaged by what he was daring to do with her, but doing only what was necessary to help her.

His heart went out to her just as it had to her sister as he had slowly woken up to her beneath him as he had devastated her. She had her eyes closed, striving to recover her sanity after the panic-filled horror she’d experienced, but with it likely to be replaced by shame and crippling embarrassment. At least she’d recover from that.

He leaned close over her and did the unthinkable and unforgiveable, gently brushing her tears away with his lips (he could not do it any other way), then spoke to her as he looked into her suddenly wide-open eyes staring up at him.

“You are safe now, my little one. I have you.”

My little one? What made him say that in just that way he did not know, but he was feeling protective of her just as he had been with her sister after he’d accidentally f****d her! That, still burned at his conscience. “You need fear nothing now.”

“I’m no longer afraid.”

He was alarmed by that look in her eyes and the way he felt. He had never felt like this before, never so alive, except he had, just a few minutes earlier, when he’d been helping Le-an, and he suspected he may not have been able to tell the two of them apart.

What was wrong with him? What the hell was his mind doing to him? How had they been able to switch places? But of course, they hadn’t switched places.

He couldn’t possibly be in love with two women, and all in the space of minutes!

Impossible! It was lust, infatuation, intense attraction to them because of their naked helplessness and need, physical attraction—damned hormones acting up—emotionally besotted in some way because of their nakedness, but not, love. Surely it could not be love?

But it was not impossible, not the way he was feeling. Why not love?

No. It would clear itself up when he got them in a better light, a calmer circumstance, and would see some obvious, rational difference. That thought and others like it would fill his mind from this moment forward, tormenting him, distracting him if he were not careful.

He put that thought aside, and spoke to her again as he lay above her, sheltering her, feeling the rain hitting his back through his thin shirt, and trying to give her some of his warmth as he lay upon her, but not with his full weight, taking most of his weight on his arms, but still able to feel her breasts pushing into him, conscious of her looking intensely at him, just as Le-an had, just after she came around, just after he had… done that other to her. He was violating this one also, but only in his mind this time.

He told himself that she needed his warmth even more than he needed to feel her body against him.

She was as intoxicating to him as her sister.

“Before I move you any farther, tell me where you hurt. You can let go of those items you are still holding, and hold on to me now, around my neck if you can, and talk to me.”

She felt confident that he had her, so let go of the clothing, and tried to do as he said, but her arms would not respond, having been held in one rigid position for too long.

He freed his hand from her and moved it to her shoulders as he rose from her, massaging under them, and on them, one after the other to loosen them, and bring some life back into them as he watched her breasts moving under his efforts. He had to close his eyes for a few moments, seeing them doing that. Then he slowly brought her arms down to hold him.

He felt Sarah’s arms go tightly around his neck, pulling him down closer to her, feeling her breasts pushing into him more, getting some benefit from his warmth. Her abdomen was cold, but so also were her breasts, with hard n*****s, just like those of her sister.

She snuggled into his neck and kissed him on the cheek! She must have read his mind. That woke him up to how they were affecting each other. She shouldn’t have done that!

“Thank you.” It was a hoarse whisper from her, but it meant the world to him… that, and the kiss.

His heart was singing. It had been a gratitude-kiss, but he’d take it. It was a start, and it was better than a black eye, which he more than deserved the way he was feeling and thinking.

It was a beginning, and what a beginning! But a beginning to what? He shouldn’t let his mind run away with him. Not here.

He looked into Sarah’s eyes, could feel her breath, as she could feel his. His hair was dripping water on to her. He wanted to kiss her in return, to tell her again that she was safe with him now, and that he would look after her from this moment forward for the rest of their lives together, but she would laugh at him. And so she should. He’d made that same promise to her sister, though not in so many words.

She wasn’t safe with him. Not the way he felt. None of them were, or ever would be. He understood the feeling, but it was a strange feeling for him, and not one he’d ever experienced before, if he could believe it.

He responded to her thanks, instinctively again. “You are welcome.”

He had to find out more about them, who they were, and forge some permanent linkages between them before they went back to school. But what could he do? These were not immature schoolgirls so it wasn’t as though he would be breaking any laws, but they were vulnerable just as he was.

He would be breaking rules perhaps, school rules, but not his rules. These were mature women, all three of them. He ached for them as an excited man would ache for any woman who attracted him so intensely. An ache in his loins, bringing him to life when it shouldn’t.

Smitten with another one? And so soon? Could he be that fickle? He’d had that same feeling for Le-an, and his allegiances were bouncing around already. There was something different about these three that set them apart from all other women he’d ever met, but he could say nothing to let them know that. He’d already said too much to both this one and her sister. You are safe now my little one?

They could hear Olivia and Le-an talking now above them, both able to relax much more than they had been able to relax for the last twenty or thirty minutes, or longer. It must have been at least that long. Too long to be out in this weather without any covering. Olivia must be suffering too, though Le-an would be helping her about now. Le-an was probably warning Olivia about him.

He and Le-an had been much more than twenty minutes from their first meeting to getting up those ladders, climbing, dropping, climbing, and nothing in a straight line, but at least he knew where the ladders all were, where Le-an had been confused until he took her hand and led her. She’d not pulled away from him.

No one would be out in this downpour to see that light still shining on them, so he said nothing.

Sarah looked up into his face as the others looked on from above. Her look made him weak. It was a look of admiration, of worshipping, leaving his mouth dry at the invitation of what she was openly offering him: complete surrender. Damn! Wrong time, wrong place.

“You asked where I hurt. My left knee hurts the most, and my front. And… and… my breasts too.” Similar injuries to those her sister had described.

She blushed to say anything about them. He looked at them, to remind himself of them, but could see no serious injury on them. She was watching his face the entire time, seeing where he was looking, and the interest that any man would have, to see her breasts.

She continued. “My legs, my arms, and hands.” He could see some of it for himself, but he didn’t want to raise himself from her unless he was hurting her there. His body was holding her, pinning her to the roof, and was giving her some protection and warmth, as well as security, but the rain was running under her, damming up on her shoulders; it was raining so hard. It would be hell getting them down those ladders, but they would not dare go back into the school, and face an inquisition from the other girls and Miss Dixon. All hell would break loose if they did.

He wasn’t hurting her, and he could not see any truly serious injury to her, though she must be able to feel his excitement.

He began to breathe normally again, so he could think about this next step now. He’d almost carried Le-an up that last climb. Almost forty feet straight up, powered by adrenaline and testosterone. How she’d got down that without falling the first time, he would never know.

Sarah spoke again. “I hurt my leg when I fell, and then slid down the roof, getting scraped before I stopped where I did. My toes might be cut too, from that gutter. It feels as though they are.”

From what he could see, and the way she described her hurts, she wouldn’t be walking anywhere. He would have to carry her somehow and get her down.

“Don’t worry. I’ll see to that. We’ll have you back to normal in no time.” He was speaking now as a doctor, but he’d never felt less like being a doctor. He hoped that he was not misleading her, but she needed something positive to hang on to.

Time to move up to the flat roof above them.

He changed his hold to under her, to just below her waist and lifted her lower body as he brought his leg tighter between hers. It was all so intimate but was practically unavoidable.

She held him around the neck as though she never wanted to let him go as he climbed slowly up the roof with her.

He changed his grip on the rope as they rose, and they moved inch by inch up the roof, anchoring, lifting, changing his grip on the rope and then returned to her. She held herself close to him, hanging under him like a baby monkey, hung under its mother’s belly as she foraged. He repeated it a dozen and more times, repeating it as they progressed, moving a few inches at a time, to where the others could reach her without danger to themselves, and they could lift, and pull her fully onto the roof in an undignified way for all of them as he changed his hold, and then pushed her with his hand between her legs, sending them sprawling on the roof, arms and legs flying in a revealing way, except he didn’t control the flashlight, or he would have seen everything he might ever have wanted to see about the three of them again.