"I'm sorry, Mr. Devereaux, but Barry isn't like that."

His pale blue eyes held mine for a moment. "I know," he said, in his deep, scratchy voice, "we don't want to believe it of our kids. I didn't."

He was making me angry. I knew my son better than he believed. "Why do you think this, Mr. Devereaux?"

He sighed. "Neil, please, Mrs. Harmon."

I didn't reciprocate.

"My wife asked me why Dale had been spending so much time with me. She hadn't, but I couldn't tell Laura that. I figure she'd been spending time with her boyfriend."

"Barry."

"Yeah," he said, "I didn't even know, I had to ask Laura who she was dating."

"So, tell me why you think Barry seduced your Dale?"

His expression was bleak. "She'd hardly be likely to lie to her mom if they were collecting stamps."

I glared at him, and opened my mouth to speak, but he held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm going about this all wrong. Listen, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. Or Barry. I just need to know what happened before I talk to Dale. We don't communicate well at the best of times, and I can't tell her mother."

I sat back and exhaled. "What do you want from me, Mr. Devereaux?"

"I figure you're closer to your son than I am to Dale, maybe you could talk to him."

"Ask him if he's sleeping with your daughter?"

"Perhaps not so bluntly, but yes."

"What," I asked, "will you do if he says he is?"

Devereaux's face lost some of its color. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I have no idea."

 

I called him less than a week later.

"Mr. Devereaux, we need to talk."

He agreed to meet me at the coffee shop where we'd met previously.

"Mrs. Harmon, thanks for calling," he greeted me as I approached his table.

I sat across from him. "June," I said.

He smiled slightly. "Neil."

I nodded. "Neil, I'm afraid you were right."

His expression lost its cheer. "Tell me," he said.

I lowered my voice. "I found a half-empty box of condoms in his room. Of course, he was angry that I'd been snooping, but when I finally got him to talk to me, he admitted it. They've been sleeping together for the past couple of months."

"God," he said. "And Laura has no idea."

"There's more," I said. "I was criticizing him for getting Dale into this situation. He said, 'Jesus, Mom, it was her idea.'"

Neil shook his head as I continued. "He says she's been... sexually active... since before they started dating. He knows her ex-boyfriend."

He blinked. His face was as gray as the hair at his temples. "Shit. When she dumped the one before Barry, she was still sixteen."

"I've met Dale," I said, softly. He needed some reassurance. "She seems a very level-headed girl. I'm sure she's being careful."

"Yeah," he said, "I'd guess so. But still, it's a shock, and I know her mother will be go crazy when she finds out."

"Does she need to?" I asked.

"I guess," he said. "I can't talk to Dale."

"You should try," I said. "She might surprise you."

He looked uncertain.

"Hey," I said, "when you've done it, if you need talk, give me a call." Then I reached over and squeezed his hand. "I think I've given you enough to worry about. I'll see you."

He smiled weakly as I left.

 

A few days later, the phone rang.

"Hi, it's Neil Devereaux. I just had the most difficult conversation of my life."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Please."

"Come over, let me feed you," I said. "I feel like I've caused you enough trouble."

"No, not you," he said. "Nor Barry. But I'll take you up on the offer."

 

Neil arrived while the chicken was cooking, bringing wine. Barry was lounging about the kitchen.

"Neil, this is Barry. We'll talk after dinner."

"Hi, Mr. Devereaux," said Barry.

Neil looked uncomfortable in the presence of his daughter's lover. But he recovered gracefully. "Something smells good."

"Mom's a great cook, Mr. Devereaux."

"That's not what you usually say," I grinned, and the tension lowered some.

 

After dinner, I asked Barry if he'd make himself scarce. "Neil and I need to talk."

"I'm going out, anyway, Mom. I won't be back until late."

"Will you be seeing Dale?" asked Neil, in a tight voice.

"No, Mr. Devereaux, her mom has something planned for her tonight."

He took his car keys and left. I watched him go, thinking about how much he was now his own person. Not always making the right choices, but they were certainly his choices. And Neil's daughter, of the usually-exposed belly-button, narrow waist and tight tops. I've kept myself in shape over the years, but once I had a figure like hers...

And once I had needs like hers, truth be told. Neil may have been anxious about his precious daughter, but she wasn't unusual. We all have to learn of love and desire in our own way.

I felt a twinge of jealousy of her, and of Barry; of the passions and loves that lay ahead for them both. Not that I was too old to feel such emotions, but as a late-thirties single mom, where would I find someone to share them...?

"Penny for your thoughts." Neil's gravelly voice broke my reverie. Outside, Barry was revving the engine. The wheels squealed only slightly as he turned onto the street.

"Just remembering," I said. "I was his age, once."

"Yeah, I'm trying to keep that in mind. Everything looks different with twenty-odd years' perspective."

"You sympathize with Dale?"

"I do," he agreed. "It isn't easy, in fact it's damn hard to think of your daughter as being old enough to make the kinds of decisions she's making. Knowing that she isn't really old enough, but then realizing we never are..."

Collecting the wine and glasses, I led the way to the couch in the living room. I handed Neil his glass as he sat on my right.

I touched the back of his hand briefly. "So, how did it go?"

He paused for a moment, sipping his drink. "We had a good talk, in the end, Dale and I. Difficult, but good. I can't say I like what she's doing, but I trust her. I don't think Laura would."

"She told you?"

"She evaded the questions, at first," he said, "especially about when she first slept with her boyfriend. Who, it turns out, wasn't the kid Barry knows, but an even earlier one. She finally told me that she feels that she started too early, that there was too much risk being underage. That she really didn't know what she was getting into. Implying, of course, that now she does... But when she'd admitted that, she was more open about her current relationships."

Dale may have been more comfortable talking about them, but Neil wasn't. I laid my hand back over his and squeezed gently. His startled look became a slightly wan smile, then he turned his hand over, returning the pressure before I released him and rested my fingers on his sleeve.

"She seems to think Barry will be around for a while, and she promised me that they always take precautions," he said.

"I know he keeps condoms with him," I said, and felt Neil shiver slightly.

"If she were under my roof," Neil continued, "I don't know what I'd do, if I'd ground her or monitor her... but since she lives with Laura, and since I'm not planning to tell Laura, I guess she gets her freedom."

The wine was warming my belly, and it felt good to be open with Neil. I found myself leaning closer to him. "It's always hard to let them find their own way," I said.

"We never want them to grow up," he said. "I remember when Dale learned to walk. I was so proud... but I was disappointed, too, because she'd never need me quite the same way. She'd become just a little bit independent."

"The first day of school," I offered, "when you know that never again will he be exclusively yours. Someone else always has a demand on him. The school board, the college, his wife..."

I felt Neil nod his head in agreement. "This is really just another of those stages, I guess. It's just a big one."

Yeah, a big one. To lose my son to another woman - woman, however Neil saw her - another woman's charms... that was a major event in both Barry's life and mine. Even if it didn't last. He'd sampled something that would lure him further and further from home.

I hope she's good, I thought suddenly. I hope the pleasure she gives him is worth the inevitable heartache. I wondered where their clandestine meetings had been - the back of our car? Here, when I was working grocery shopping? Finding a quiet place in Dale's more crowded home? Surely it wouldn't be a motel room at their age and financial means.

"You're drifting again," he said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm imagining being a teenager again." Extending my fingertip, I ran my fingernail over the back of Neil's hand. "What would we be doing if we were, oh, seventeen? Eighteen?"

I felt a small flutter in my stomach as he met my eye. Catching my fingers in his, he said, "Seriously? Probably homework. Or daydreaming about what I could be doing with Carrie Taylor, if she'd ever let herself realize we were made for each other."

He drank a little more wine, then looked down at my fingers, as if only just noticing that he was holding them. "I haven't thought of Carrie in ten years. Twenty. Strange how different the world looked at seventeen."

Taking a sip from my own glass, I let the wine warm me. The sensation in my stomach wasn't just due to the alcohol. It was less familiar than it once had been, and I hadn't recognized it immediately... but I was becoming turned on. I smiled at the realization, and put my glass down.

"Ben, his name was," I said, remembering. "Ben... damn, what was his last name? I know exactly what we'd be doing. And I can promise you that neither of our parents would have approved."

"How romantic," chuckled Neil. "He gave you his soul, and you can't remember his name."

I laughed with him, and slid my hand all the way into his. "Not his soul," I said, "just his body."

He stroked my thumb for a moment with his own. Then, "Thank you," he said softly.

I looked into his eyes. "For?"

"Helping me through this. For being so understanding."

I leaned back again, but took his hand and draped it over my shoulders. His fingers stroked my arm.

"You must have had a similar shock with Barry," he added.

I nodded. "Yes, but it's different for girls. And their parents."

"I guess."

"It is. We - women - take more risk, of pregnancy, disease. Date rape. And parents want to give boys their freedom, but feel a need to protect girls."

"Misplaced, sometimes."

"Don't be so sure," I said. "Girls can be just as irrational in their immaturity as boys. They may not want it, but sometimes they need protecting from themselves." I thought about the risks I'd taken as a teen. Not only with Ben. "I did."

"You seem such a well-balanced woman."

"That's today," I said. Then, turning on the sofa, I stretched out my right arm behind him, and stroked his chest with my left hand. Pressing my lips to his ear, I whispered, "But back then, my hormones were always getting me in trouble."

He smiled a little nervously at my joke. "Do they still?" he asked.

"Not often enough," I said, and kissed his earlobe. "Not for many years now. I'm out of practice."

So saying, I ran my left hand up his chest to his chin, turned his face towards mine, and kissed him firmly on the lips. He didn't respond immediately, and I backed away, but he used his left hand to take the back of my head, and pull me back. This time he returned my kiss with his lips parted.

"So am I," he said when he released me.

"Well, that wasn't bad for two old-timers well past their sell-by date."

"You're not well past anything," he said, casting a quick, approving glance over me.

"You don't think?" I asked.

He shook his head, his face just inches from mine.

The gap between us seemed to close of its own accord this time. His lips brushed mine gently, only gradually settling into place.

Slowly we rocked against each other. I gripped the back of his neck, and felt his arms wrapping around me, holding me to him.

I sighed as our kiss grew in intensity, and touched my tongue to his lips. He met it with his own, and we held each other tightly as the once-familiar tingling grew in my belly and breasts.

I broke away, and repositioned myself as Neil turned more to face me. "Mmm," I murmured, "it seems to be coming back to me."

"Like riding a bike," said Neil, "but more fun."

Wrapping our arms around each other, we continued where we'd left off. He tasted so good... and my heart thumped against my chest.

Neil slipped his hands under my sweater, running his palms over the smooth skin of my waist, pressing against my back, holding me close. His tongue sought deeper access, and I bit it gently, pressing mine against it.

Pulling back slightly, I kissed his cheek and neck while I unfastened the top of his shirt. Then I could kiss the base of his neck and the top of his chest while I opened his shirt up more to run my hands over his chest. He kissed my mouth and earlobes, then pushed my head back with his mouth and fastened his lips back to mine. I groaned with my increasing arousal.

Neil ran his fingers over the cups of my bra, then traced the straps to my back. He slid his hands under the straps, squeezing my bare back.

"Do it," I whispered, pulling my lips from his momentarily. I touched my mouth to his chin for a second. "Pretend you're seventeen again," I said. "Pretend this is one of your daydreams. But this time you don't have to dream." Then I joined my open mouth to his.

His fingers twisted around the bra strap, and a few second later, with a satisfying snap, the pressure on my chest eased, and his hands stroked my unencumbered ribs. Then he was touching my breasts, pressing, stroking, squeezing, running the tips of his fingers over my nipples.

My body's response went up a notch as the delicious stimulation bit into me. I sucked his tongue between my lips, and pressed my chest closer to his, forcing his hands to tighten on my breasts. Then I let go our kiss, and held him tightly, pressing his hands against my chest as I lay my head on his shoulder.

I nibbled his earlobe, then whispered into his ear. "I'd forgotten just how good this could feel."

He nodded agreement as his trapped palms kneaded my breasts.

Then I relaxed, and leaned away from him. With Neil's fingers still tracing patterns on my breasts, I unhooked my bra, slipping it off through my sleeve as he watched in fascination.

"I hate to think what I'd do if Barry arrived home right now," I said.

"Do what I'm sure you did when your parents walked in on you," suggested Neil. "Sit up quickly, straighten your clothes and pretend nothing happened."

"And they'd see my hair all mussed and lipstick all over his face," I grinned.

"Do I have lipstick on my face?"

I examined him critically. "Just a little. I guess it wore off at dinner."

"And your hair isn't very mussed."

"It isn't? Mister, you're not doing your job." With that I launched myself at him, open mouthed, and we kissed fiercely, arms tightly around each other.

 

Separating at last, I brushed a strand of hair out of my eye. Standing, I held out my hand to him. "Come on," I said, as he took my hand, and I led him from the room.

"Make yourself comfortable," I whispered as I pushed him through the door of the master bedroom. "I'll be with you in a moment."

Then I made a quick visit to my son's room, and joined Neil in the bedroom, where he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Take off your shoes," I ordered, slipping out of my own. When he'd done so, I pushed him back onto the bed, and made him lift his legs so that he was lying full-length on his back. Then I straddled his thighs, and lowered myself onto him.

"Where were we?" I asked.

"I was mussing your hair."

"Oh, I think we can skip that part," I said, and kissed him. His hands stroked my back as I unfastened the rest of the buttons of his shirt, and opened it. I kissed his neck and his almost-hairless chest, then sucked at each of his nipples, feeling him jump as I did so.

As I lifted myself to my elbows, his hands found my breasts. My belly was glowing with arousal, and I kissed his nose as he tweaked my nipples.

Then he lifted my sweater, and I helped him pull it over my head, before propping myself over him again on my elbows, naked breasts suspended over his neck. Neil was transfixed by the sight, and watched my nipples grow as he pinched and pulled them.

Then he lifted his face to my right breast, taking it into his mouth as he kneaded the other with his hand. My body tensed as he sucked, tightening and thrilling my pussy, sending warm jolts into me. Switching breasts, he continued to push my arousal higher, until I pulled myself from his mouth, and fastened my lips to his.

My breasts flattened against his chest, we rolled around, tongues locked together, mouths wide. Running his hands over my bare back, he squeezed me to him, pressing his thigh into my groin, so that each movement pressed against my pussy.

When he slid his hands down inside my slacks, I responded by wriggling them down and kicking them off, and I lay along him clad only in underwear, though he was still almost fully dressed.

Neil squeezed my ass, peeling my panties down, lightly stroking my pussy from behind, as I squeezed myself more tightly against his thigh. I felt his fingers questing, then slipping inside, and I tightened myself around them, already wet with desire.

His fingers sparked so much excitement within me that I moaned into his mouth, trying to devour him. Before I even realized how turned on I was becoming, I felt my climax building within me, and I let myself slide into it, as need welled up within me.

Then, "Stop," I said, not having the power within me to pull away. "Please stop."

"But you seem to be enjoying this," said Neil, as I gasped.

"I am, but stop. Not like this." I finally made myself roll off him, and grabbed at his belt buckle. I opened his belt and pants, and yanked them down, taking his long, hard cock in my hand, and squeezing.

Neil slipped out of his shirt and pants as I released him, and I opened up a condom and unrolled it onto him.

"Courtesy of Barry," I said, "since I know where he keeps them."

I lay on my back, Neil's powerful body over mine. "Won't he notice?" he asked.

Taking his shaft in my hand, I stroked my pussy with it, lubricating it and pressing it to my clit. Soon the pending orgasm I'd abandoned began to consume me. "I'll replace them," I whispered. "I never thought I'd be stealing contraceptives from my kid."

Neil lowered himself into me gingerly, his length filling me deep inside. I pressed myself against him as he rocked his hips against me, small movements fueling landslides of passion inside me.

"I don't think I can hold back for long," said Neil. "since I haven't done this in a while. And you've gotten me much too excited."

I grinned, and pushed against him harder. "Don't worry, lover," I gasped, "I'll be just fine."

With that, I wrapped my legs around his, hooking them behind his ass and pulling them into me. Then I grabbed his neck in my hands, pulling his face to mine, kissing him desperately as the dam within me threatened to break.

Panting against his mouth, I rocked against him, and my heavy breaths turned to muffled cries as the stimulation became too powerful to bear. Seconds away from my own release, now, my excitement seemed to trigger Neil's, and he thrust harder into me, our bodies slapping together as he groaned and came.

His cock shuddering within me, I reached the edge of my own rise, and moaned as I joined him in ecstatic release. My world contracted for a time, becoming nothing more than Neil within me, extreme delight washing into me, with joy and affection.

When I released his lips and lay my head back, I was still twitching with the ebbing of my release, still rocking slowly against him in pleasure.

"Wow," I breathed.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Wow."

"I think I spoiled the illusion a little," I said, "pretending to be seventeen again. I never had it that good at seventeen."

Neil relaxed against me, and I stroked his hair. "No, there's something to be said for not being a kid," he said, and kissed my forehead.

 

We separated reluctantly. I eased myself under the covers, and when Neil returned from disposing of the condom, he slipped into bed beside me.

Under the covers, we held each other and talked. Making love had removed the barriers between us, and I discovered I truly liked the man, it wasn't simply sexual attraction between us.

But there was that, too, and eventually I found myself wanting more than talk. I kissed him, and stroked his cock with my fingernail, but it showed no signs of becoming ready for a rematch. I wrapped my legs around his thigh, and pressed myself to him.

He laughed gently. "I think you're expecting too much of me. I'm an old man."

"No you're not," I objected. "You're what, forty?"

"Forty-five," he said. "You?"

"Thirty-nine," I answered. "Just. Forty-five isn't old."

"Maybe not, but I still need time to recover."

"I'll wait," I said, and hugged him.

"Maybe you don't have to," he breathed. He kissed me on the lips, then turned his attention to my neck and breasts. It wasn't until he started kissing my belly button that I realized what he had in mind, and my excitement grew just with the thought.

Turning around, he stretched himself out under the covers, kissing my thighs and fingering my pussy. I felt him stroking me with his thumbs, then he parted my pussy lips, and I felt his tongue explore.

For a long time he was content to lick and kiss, and I relaxed into the growing warmth. Then, gradually, he turned his attentions to my clit, my body tensing with each movement.

He sensed my breathing growing heavy, and concentrated his effort on my clit, stroking, nibbling, and occasionally sucking. I felt it, now strongly stimulated, pushing outward, as if seeking his tongue.

"Ohhh," I breathed, as he pushed me from relaxed warmth into needy heat. "Ohh!"

Much slower than my earlier rise to joy, but equally relentlessly, he teased and drew me out, until I was crying out with each movement, "Oh! Yes! Yes, Neil, YES!"

But he held me a moment longer, and I moaned in frustration as he gently traced his tongue over my clit. Then, without warning, he took it, sucking hard, and my senses exploded, overwhelming me, and dragging out the moment of release still further... but then it was inevitable, my body overcame the sensory overload and I fell hard into pulsing, shuddering happiness.

As he kept me high, I saw that his own recovery was well underway, and I reached out and squeezed his cock. Curling up slightly, I got close enough to be able to kiss it, and I had the satisfaction of feeling him shiver as I closed my lips over it and sucked.

I played with his shaft with my lips and tongue until Neil released me and turned around. "I don't think we need to wait any longer," I said.

He smiled at me. "I hope you stole more than one of your kid's rubbers."

I nodded and took another. Neil lay on his back, and I crouched over him. He wasn't completely hard yet.

But I could fix that.

Bending down, I took him into my mouth, licking, sliding my lips up and down. Then I released him and slurped like a lollipop. Each action made him harden a little more.

Nuzzling and kissing his balls, I tongued the base of his shaft, then drew my lips all the way up, and took him back into my mouth. Now he was hard, but he was obviously enjoying this, so I kept up the effort, taking as much of him as I could into my throat.

I wanted him inside me. But he had given me such a wonderful experience... "Do you want me to stop now?" I asked. "I can keep doing this, if you like."

"God, no, I don't want you to stop," he said, hoarsely. "But I want... I want you close. I want to make love to you."

I moved up to kiss his neck. "Will you take a rain check?"

"You know it," he said, and kissed me.

Then I opened the condom, and kissing his cock one last, lingering time, I unrolled it onto him, then lowered myself onto him.

Squatting upright, his length deep within me, I moved slowly against him. He reached up and caressed my breasts as we moved, then lifted himself to kiss them. I held his face to me as he wrapped his arms around my back, and he massaged my nipple with his lips and tongue.

Still deeply aroused from my last orgasm, I was soon on the edge of a climax, and I drifted into the sweet sensation, Neil's lips on my breast.

Neil lay back, still rocking slowly into me, and I took pleasure in the feeling of him inside me, floating in the gentle thrill. He sensed when I began to drift towards release, and stroked my pussy with his thumb, pressing my clit as my orgasm flowered within me.

Then I lay down along him, and we kissed.

"Are you ready?" I whispered into his ear, when I felt ready to come again.

"Soon," he said. "Very soon."

But engine noise outside alerted us to Barry's return. It revved a couple of times, then stopped, and we heard the front door open.

"Oh, shit," said Neil. "My car's still parked outside."

"He may not notice," I said, and we lay together, quietly, as we heard his footsteps approaching.

"Night Mom," Barry called as he passed my room.

"Goodnight, Barry," I shouted back. "Sleep well."

"Night, Mr. Devereaux."

I tensed. Then, "Night, Barry," called Neil.

We heard his door close. Then we both burst out laughing. "No fooling that kid," said Neil.

We laughed some more as we started moving. I could tell from Neil's breathing that he was ready. I lifted myself to press him harder into me, and gasped with the added stimulation.

Neil fastened his mouth on my breast, and his hands on my ass, and we bucked powerfully against each other. The bed creaked and knocked, but there was nothing to be done about it at that point, and when Neil grunted as his release took him, my own climax took me strongly, and I failed to stay silent, crying out with the sudden emotional intensity.

Stretching and pushing against each other, we dragged out our shared joy as long as we could, then I collapsed onto Neil, spent.

 

He stayed the night; after Barry had discovered us, there didn't seem much point in hiding our liaison. And we had more to give one another, more like teens than two middle-aged lovers. Though, as I'd said, our experience led to greater mutual pleasure than the rough enthusiasm of youth.

Barry came into the kitchen while we were eating breakfast. "Morning, Mom, Mr. Devereaux."

"Maybe you'd better call me Neil, Barry."

My son smiled briefly. "Yeah, perhaps I should."

He poured a huge helping of cereal and added milk.

"Say, I have a question".

"Shoot," I said.

"If you guys get married, will I have to stop seeing Dale?"

"It's way too early to be thinking about that," said Neil. "It isn't even on our minds." Then he looked at me. "Is it?"

"Why do you say that?" I asked Barry.

"'Cause she'd be my sister, wouldn't she?"

"Jesus," I said. "I don't know."

"It's just that maybe we should make sure you can't screw up our lives."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I figure if Dale and I get married first, we wouldn't need to split up, whatever you do."

Neil looked at me. "Oh, God," we said in unison.