[Author's note: I expect most readers will not reach the end of this novella in one viewing. With that in mind, each chapter is written as a self-contained story.]
*
CHAPTER 1 -- A TOURIST'S ARRIVAL
Home in Boston
At age 39 I enthusiastically embraced the maxim that life began at forty. Except I didn't notice any difference when the birthday came and passed. I just went on making money for myself, my partners, and the shareholders of the small company I headed. Even the death of my wife from cancer was just a blip along the way to turning fifty.
Everything came to a head at my 50th birthday party. A glass in one hand, I was with a group of my contemporaries, but only half-heartedly listening while they chatted, and my eyes wandered to the group of youngsters my daughter had invited. All aged about twenty, they'd dressed casually for a warm evening, which meant mainly in hipster mini-skirts, and tops that left their midriffs bare, as was the fashion for people their age.
The fecund hips of one particularly curvaceous girl seemed to be trying to burst out of their girding waistband. Pinched at the hips by the skirt, the skin over her padded pelvis was stretched tight, and glowing with vitality.
She caught me looking at her and sent a fulsome smile across the room. Mainly it said, 'Hello, you're Cheryl's father aren't you?' There was just a hint of, 'Why are you looking at me like that?' The smile shared her pretty face with a mild disquiet and an awareness of her own femininity. Reminded of the disparity in our ages, I gave her a dismissive, 'hope you're having fun', kind of smile and looked away.
My gaze came round to the bare neck and shoulders of the woman next to me -- an old friend of my late wife's. Her skin was tired, without the youthful glow on the curves of the girl across the room, and I felt a horrible awareness of only kidding myself I was still young.
My eyes crept back to my daughter's friend. She was gaily talking in her group and isolated from me by a gulf of years I was only just beginning to accept. Most of my life was over, and beyond being recaptured. I'd squandered the zest and liberty of my youth, tying myself down to a job and promotions then, at thirty, for business reasons, marrying a successful woman five years my senior. I'd loved her in a proper kind of way, without spontaneity. Commercial success had seemed the only reward in life I needed.
Now I ached for what I'd missed -- the intimate touch of a young woman's body -- like the girl's across the room.
I told my daughter after the party that I needed a vacation, and she understood. It would be my first break in five years. She would not, however, have understood the companion I arranged through a reputable escort agency in Auckland, New Zealand -- far enough way for only a remote risk of meeting anyone I knew.
Overcoming my qualms, I specified being provided with a girl between nineteen and twenty, despite it being my daughter's age group. She had to have worked with the agency for no longer than a month, and be prepared to tour with me through the dramatic scenic spots of that beautiful country.
Auckland Airport
Using the simple expedient of holding up an oblong of cardboard with my name hand-written on it, the girl met me at the airport as I came out of Customs with the other passengers from the Qantas flight.
She was cute-looking, with a white cloth-cap planted jauntily on her curly brown hair. Her blue eyes were intelligent and certainly didn't say 'tart'. They lit up when she saw I'd recognised my name, her face expressive, her look not jaded or hardened. I'd insisted on that too.
Her mini-skirt was shorter than anyone else's in the airport concourse and, along with the shapely perfection of her legs, made her stand out in the crowd. Above the waist, a little cotton jacket was zipped up at the front. It lifted at the bottom with her arms holding the sign up, revealing a narrow glimpse of bare midriff and hips.
Nicely tanned, she certainly didn't need to have stockings or pantyhose, and the almost brazen display of bare thigh, coupled with the sign, left people wondering, who was the lucky guy she was waiting for.
"I'm Jason Tomber," I said, nodding at the sign. "Do you have ID?" I appreciated the care she was taking to be sure I was genuinely her client. To the benefit of her agency, and in advance, a lot of money had changed hands.
I showed her my passport then passed it in front of the eyes of the criminal-looking type who came up beside her. He glanced at her, she had another look at me, and then nodded to him and he melted into the crowd. I assumed she'd had the option of calling the deal off and of being replaced with another girl. After all, she knew I was going to be old enough to be her father so ugliness, had it been added to that, would have been just too much.
Anyhow, even though I would be paying for her services, I felt flattered by the choice she'd made. I even felt more at ease in her company.
Foreplay in the Limo
In the hire limousine, we sat in seats facing each other. She kept her knees together because her tight skirt had ridden up.
I asked, "You've had your baggage delivered to the hotel?" "I dropped it off there myself." "Do you have other skirts in it that short?" "Some -- for day-wear." "Ever wear them without panties?" My American voice was a contrast to her local accent, and my question a prod at her reticence.
"I may when I'm indoors, if that's what the client wants ... My name is Odette, by the way." "I know. That's pretty ... French ... So you're wearing panties now then ... Odette." My mind remained fixated on her underwear. She was young, lovely, and available for sex in a way only a prostitute can -- and I'd waited a long time -- all my life.
A nod confirmed my supposition. I asked, "Would you like to take them off for me?" "Do you want to have sex right here in the limo?" "No. I'd just like you to go without panties under your skirt all the time we're together -- indoors and out."
My request didn't faze her. She'd performed briefly as a lap dancer, according to the agency's bio. Show without touch would have been the cheapest option for the customers of the nightclub where she'd worked.
Slipping her panties off her legs, as if it was routine, she asked, "Do you want to see my pussy in any particular pose?" Her eyes probed mine for any indication of where my whim was leading.
No nineteen-year-old -- nor any other woman for that matter -- had ever made such an explicit offer to me before. I liked the open honesty she showed about sex, and her willingness to display her body for my pleasure.