All Chapters of Taboo Pleasures: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I didn't blame her for being scared. Boston was her first service animal, but he just turned eleven and a retriever's expected life span was only twelve years. His age showed, not just in his appearance, but there were times he struggled a little getting around."They have a home for him...""Danny, just shut up!"Raven stood up and dropped her book in the chair. Boston groaned, but stood up beside her and looked up at her face.No one would notice if they didn't already know it was happening, but Boston guided her with his side against her leg toward the stairway. He never stopped working, even after Raven had taken his harness and vest off."Raven, please, can we talk about it?""Not tonight, Danny," she told me softly without stopping.She did stop though, on the second step."Boston?"I was glad that Raven couldn't see her dog, stopped before he took the first step up, looking back at me with sad eyes. He was asking me to come and carry him up. He didn't ask every night, or even m

They suggested I give Raven some choices, and let the decision be hers. She could stay in Columbus and live in the house they were keeping for when they had to get out of the Arizona summer heat, she could move to Phoenix with them, or she could live with me in Cincinnati.Apparently the choice that she could live anywhere she pleased, with or without anyone else, didn't occur to them. I had no doubt that she could take care of herself, and I hoped she only pretended to be needy so that everyone would think that's why she still needed me.Maybe she wasn't pretending to be needy at all, and we all just assumed she was.I would give her the choices, but I couldn't think of anything on the pro side for the options that didn't include her moving to Cincinnati with me.I fell asleep trying to decide if I would even take the job in Cincinnati if Raven wouldn't come with me.####I was used to the way my sister came down a flight of stairs. She was very methodical about it; each foot careful

"I know I told you not to call me names like pretty or cute, but that was when I was a little girl. I still don't like fake compliments from people who just feel guilty that they're not handicapped."I'm not a girl anymore, Dan. I'm a woman and I think I can tell a sincere compliment, and I think I want somebody to notice when I'm trying to be nice to look at, even if I don't understand what that means.""Rae, you're..." I started, then we sat in silence for a few heart beats."Am I nice to look at, Dan?""Rae, you're the prettiest girl I know.""Humph.""You are," I stated like I could prove it."I'm not deaf, Dan. I hear things. I heard things: people talking on campus and at your games. I'm pretty sure all the cheerleaders were gorgeous. Ours and from the other teams. That's what they're known for, isn't it? From what I heard, you knew almost all of them. Some you knew better than others."She was grinning like the Cheshire Cat."What I heard is you knew some of them quite well."H

"I know, Dan. It's okay, we were probably eight or nine the last time I could see well enough to know what we looked like, and I wanted to let you in a little bit more on what it's like to be me. I mean, if we're going to be living together you're going to need to do things and know things you didn't before.""Even in college we lived together, Rae. We still live together.""No, we've always lived with our parents. Now we're going to be living together. Totally different things.""Are we going to be living together, Rae?""Aren't you even curious about what might change for you if that happens?""Doesn't matter. Don't you already know what I'd do for you?""The list of what you won't do for me is way easier to recite," she giggled."What do you think I won't do for you?" I joked.Raven looked at me with a blank expression on her face for a few seconds."That's everything I can think of that you might refuse to do for me."She smiled sweetly, and I laughed."So what's it going to be?"

I had to grin a little because my brother seemed to take his time and actually picked out panties and bras he liked. It seemed like that, but he might have just been taking his time groping all my underwear.That's what that little, pervy part of my brain hoped anyway."In my closet there are some sweaters. There's a dark blue one, and a tan one. Find those and bring them here."I heard the click of metal hangers as they bumped each other, and wondered how my brother felt rummaging in my closet, and wondered if a little part of him felt like he was violating me.I held my hand's out, palms up, when he returned, and he put a pile of sweaters in them.The ones I wanted had almost the same texture, ribbed and not very thick, but the blue one the ribbing came in pairs with slightly more distance between the sets of ribs. He got this right, so I put them on the pile with my jeans and underwear."Rae, you only have one pair of jeans.""I know, but Thursday we're going straight to the airpor