The city skyline rose into view as Ron crested the hill, and he felt his pulse quicken and was suddenly aware that his palms were wet on the steering wheel of his brother's Toyota. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and he was finally on his way to his long-awaited encounter -- could he call it a *date*? -- with the older woman who had become his obsession since that party seven weeks ago. Seven weeks, during which he had kept the impetuous, incomprehensible commitment to deny himself any orgasms until their next meeting.
Ron was a sophomore in college, and Morrigan was his roommate's older sister. He had met her in October on a visit to his roommate's home, and was immediately enchanted with her charisma, her sophistication, and her aura of bemused unattainability. That evening, at a party in her apartment, she had invited him into her office, but instead of offering him a furtive kiss or grope, had had him strip naked for her and kneel at her feet while kissing her boots. And he had done so, discovering that "eager" and "powerless to resist" were indistinguishable.
They had kept in contact by frequent text messages in the meantime, and Ron had been thrilled to receive each message and bereft when a day went by without one. Almost every message reminded him of his promise to refrain from having orgasms until he saw her again, challenging him to maintain his fidelity, rewarding his affirmations with "good boy."
He had no idea exactly what she had in store for him this weekend; and he felt like asking or probing would break the spell. Of course, he had read everything he could find on the surprising and troubling subjects of tease and denial, dominance and submission ... new and foreign concepts for him. Some of the scenarios he had read or watched online shocked and frightened him. But he couldn't imagine *not* finding out what would happen when he showed up at Morrigan's apartment and yielded to her.
Their first encounter had been at a Saturday evening party, and Ron had come to associate sex in general, and kinky sex in particular, with the secretive cover of darkness. So he was a bit surprised when she had asked him to appear at her door at 2 PM on a Friday afternoon. He pictured returning to her office, kneeling before her again, this time in filtered sunlight, this time actually removing her shoes. He pictured going into her bedroom and undressing her and exploring her body for leisurely hours on the smooth sheets of her bed. He didn't picture spending the afternoon at an art museum.
***
Morrigan truly enjoyed her afternoon with her young friend at the art museum. She was amused at his initial nervousness, his obvious sense of being out of place; and she was pleased to watch him gradually relax and simply enjoy her company and the art and the conversation.
She was sure that it had not occurred to Ron that she had attended the same university a decade earlier; taken some of the same classes, and known some of the same professors. (In fact, she was certain he would be stunned and titillated to know just how well she had known a couple of them!) But the shared knowledge from their classes allowed her to reinforce and reward his sophomore-level grasp of culture, and she beamed as he began to increasingly offer his own perspectives. Plus, she smiled to herself, he did have an innate sense of good taste!
For much of the afternoon, she put her hand into the crook of his elbow. She could tell he loved it; that it made him feel like he was on a date; although the gesture was much more formal and demure than "holding hands." It was much more like walking down the aisle as a bridesmaid with a groomsman in a friend's wedding, or, perhaps, like being an heiress to the throne, escorted by a dashing but nervous young military officer, like Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
She could tell, from watching him watch the people around them, that he was self-conscious about their age difference. It was as if he expected every other person in the gallery to be either looking askance at her, or envying him. Every time she noticed this, she wrapped her arm tighter around his bicep and leaned into him more aggressively. Morrigan knew, of course, that for most people a ten-year age gap between a man and woman was unremarkable. If anyone noticed at all, she imagined, it was probably women older than herself, admiring the attractive young man and quietly thinking, "You go, girl."
Later they stopped at an upscale bar for a drink and a snack. Morrigan had a martini; Ron simply ordered a club soda. She allowed their knees to touch under the tiny table, and at one point playfully fed him a peanut from the bowl of trail mix. She noted his delight as he accepted the gesture, and also his impeccable restraint in not trying to reciprocate. She loved this young man's instincts.