Miley rummaged through her purse as she moved up the line at the coffee shop. She didn't usually haunt this particular establishment, but her regular place had a line out the door and she was in a hurry this lovely June morning. As she retrieved her credit card from the depths of her purse, she turned her attention to the barista working the counter. She froze for just a second as a wave of recognition swept through her brain.
"Hi, uhmmm...a large half caffe latte to go, please."
Without looking up the tall broad-shouldered young man tapped the screen in front of him as Miley racked her brain. As he raised his eyes to hers, it hit her.
"That will be four fifty, ma'am," he said with a polite smile.
"Alex? Alex Brown?" she asked now with some certainty. It was him – it had to be him. A broad grin washed over her face, but there was uncertainty in his smile.
She had babysat Alex years ago. She'd have to do the math, but it had to be, what, six years? Maybe seven? Alex and his family had been neighbors when Miley's parents still lived in town. That summer between her sophomore and junior years in college had been filled with odd jobs of all sorts, including baby-sitting gigs when they meshed into her haphazard work schedule. Alex had probably been around 11 or 12 at the time and had two younger siblings a few years behind him.
In any case, she never forgot a face, and this was sure as shooting Alex Brown – and now a grown young man.
Alex looked at Miley with a quizzical face, trying to place her himself. Good Lord, he was a good looking young man now. His blond hair was disheveled in that perfect way – long wisps of hair hanging over his ears. His pale blue eyes sparkled and anchored the chiseled face of a boy entering adulthood. He stood several inches over six feet and his rumpled shirt had the top three buttons deliciously undone. He had a lanky frame and large smooth hands. Miley was smitten in a matter of seconds.
"Miley. Miley Corcoran," she stated with some authority. "I used to babysit you and your sisters back in the dark ages." His eyes crinkled with a huge grin of his own as her name jogged his memory.
"Miley? Yes! Wow! Of course. How are you?"
As they completed their transaction and Alex passed her order down the line they chatted briefly. Miley was able to garner that Alex had just graduated high school and was headed off to college in September. He was working the summer and saving money for the fall. A short line had formed behind Miley, so their conversation was truncated by the pressure to keep moving.
Quickly Miley grabbed a pen from her purse and wrote down her number on a small white napkin.
"Alex, this conversation was too short. I'd love to catch up. Give me a call." She couldn't believe she'd just done that, but she had. She waved good-bye to him as she moved down the counter to pick up her coffee and he nodded with a smile as he folded the napkin and put it in his shirt pocket.
"I will. Thanks," he replied, before turning his attention to the next customer.
Miley waited a few minutes and grabbed her coffee as it was finally slid across the counter to her. As she put a plastic lid on top she glanced back at Alex once more, but he was focused on the customers, as he should have been. From this angle she could see the way his jeans hung on his hips and the perfect proportion of his long lean profile. She smiled and left the coffee shop.
As the day progressed Alex slipped from her mind and she turned her focus to her work – her career. Miley had never expected to return to Burlington after leaving for college at 18. She'd always thought she'd end up in the big city. Her parents had moved to Florida while she was in graduate school and her older brother was firmly ensconced on the west coast.
So while there was no family connection to return to, a job offer at a very exciting high tech start-up in Burlington lured her back in a weird twist of fate. She'd taken the job with some trepidation, but the risk had been worth it. Her company was setting up to be acquired in the next year or so and she was sitting on stock options that stood to be worth quite a bit of money.
She'd always loved her home town and smiled at the irony of having returned to her roots with all the options available to her upon finishing graduate school. But she loved the vibe of Burlington and the proximity to so much natural beauty. It had turned out to be a good decision.
She was 27 now and living the single life. Her work schedule didn't leave as much time for her social life as she would have liked, but she'd been enjoying dating when time allowed and playing the field. She was close enough to the big city to keep life interesting, but far enough out to avoid the intense hubbub of urban living. She still had many friends around the northeast – including a few with benefits – and never wanted for male companionship. She'd even started dating a few older men in the past year or so and was enjoying exploring new horizons – sexually and otherwise.
Miley was particularly proud of the small condo she now owned out in the Orchards – a development perfect for millennials and up. It was south of town and overlooked Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks in the distance. Her parents had helped her with the down payment – perhaps a move borne of guilt as they moved out of town just as she moved home. But their generosity had been put to good use and she was paying her mortgage, working her way up the company ladder, and feeling quite pleased with herself.
Life was good.
*****
As Alex was undressing that night he checked his pockets and found the small folded napkin with Miley's number. He smiled to himself.
He vaguely remembered Miley from the past. As a strapping handsome young man he'd gotten more than his share of propositions working in the coffee shop – from women of all shapes, sizes and ages. He figured it was just part of the scene. He usually crumpled up the business card or hastily written phone number and threw them in the trash and never gave them another thought.
But it wasn't often someone as stunningly beautiful as Miley crossed his path. He looked at the number scrawled in blue felt pen as he pondered what to do. He'd recognized Miley's face once she'd said her name, but his specific memory of her was hazy at best. He and his sisters had had so many sitters over the years.
But that was then; this was now. And a very pretty older girl had given him her cell phone number; he hadn't had to ask. He pondered his next move – throw it in the trash or contact her? His girlfriend, Sarah, was gone for the summer. But the thought of her made him immediately feel guilty for even considering a next move other than discarding the napkin.
Still, he remembered Miley's pretty face and amazing eyes. Her white teeth shown perfectly as she smiled and he recalled the dangling earring as she pushed her long brown hair back over her ear. She'd been dressed very professionally, but that still didn't hide her lean slender body and a sensuous hint of curves. And that voice. That was what stuck with him. Something about the deep silky tone of her voice was like honey to his ears. He wanted to hear it again.
He decided to do nothing that night. The guilt of Sarah still hung heavy on him. But two days later the folded napkin was still on his night stand and his resolve had ebbed. On a whim as he sat in bed, he texted her.
*****
Miley arrived at the coffee shop she frequented on Church Street a few minutes early and snagged a booth against the back wall. She was just settling in when Alex sauntered in. She could see his baby blue eyes scanning the room until they settled on her smiling face. He waved and made his way toward her. They gave each other a polite hug and then wandered over to the counter together and each ordered a coffee.
Once ensconced back in their booth they launched into conversation. Alex may have only been 18, but he seemed somehow older to Miley – or at least as mature as many of the man-boys her age. She'd found herself dating older as she had eased into her mid-twenties. She loved older men and had grown to appreciate a man who wasn't in angst about...himself. She preferred the patience and calm experience that went with a man in his late thirties or forties. One recent lover – a father of one of her childhood friends – had even tipped the scale into the fifties.
But she also couldn't deny a fascination with certain younger men, and Alex fit that bill to a tee. His long lanky frame and blond good looks tapped into all sorts of deep-seated desires. She couldn't deny, despite her most recent dating record, an attraction to the stamina and sheer eagerness of a younger man.
As they each spent the next hour ogling one another, they also caught up on one another's lives. Miley learned that Alex had a girlfriend, Sarah, who had also recently graduated and was away for the summer working at a camp in Maine. She was headed off to Middlebury in September and Alex had a baseball scholarship to Syracuse. While they would be going to different schools in the fall, it was quite clear the relationship would continue. That took a little wind out of Miley's sails, but she also smiled at the fact that Sarah was out of town – for the rest of the summer.
Alex continued to pinch himself as Miley talked about herself and her job. He wasn't used to hanging out with a woman almost 10 years his senior, but he couldn't take his eyes off Miley as they talked. She was physically beautiful, of course. But she had a sense of self-confidence about her that Alex found alluring and arousing. He wasn't sure why she seemed to be exhibiting so much interest in a young fellow just out of high school, but he decided to just enjoy the moment and not question the why.
He garnered that she'd been dating quite a bit, but didn't have a steady boyfriend. She seemed quite settled in town, even though her parents had left shortly after she'd moved back. She had a pretty high-powered job and owned a condo in a very nice development. And they were an hour into a very interesting conversation when he realized he hadn't even thought about Sarah. This older woman was casting a spell over him, and, at least at this moment, he didn't mind.
She was wearing shorts and a relatively tight top that showed off her lovely bust. She had a very slender body, but there were definitely nice curves in the right places. Her skin looked so incredibly smooth and Alex found himself imagining what it would be like to touch Miley – anywhere.
And while Alex was finding his brain scrambled from a very pleasant conversation with an older woman, Miley was enjoying herself equally. He may be a rising freshman in college, but Alex had a good head on his shoulders and a very dry sense of humor that she loved. Alex, once again, had left a couple buttons undone on his shirt and Miley found herself casting glances at the smooth hairless skin of his upper chest. His hands looked smooth and young, but long and thick as well. She found herself having thoughts she knew she shouldn't. This young man was just off to college and had a girlfriend. But one can't deny attraction, regardless of age, and Miley let her emotions and natural feelings rule the day.
