It was the heat that surprised Alex most, how her body generated so much of it even in the cool water of her pool. He could feel it before his hands touched her skin, radiating from her almost like the shimmering waves that ripple in the distance off a July afternoon's steamy road.
The sense was heightened by a chill that nearly chattered his teeth. He was an 18-year-old whose entire knowledge of a woman's nude body had been gleaned from two by-chance glimpses of his sister, one year his senior, and from the half-dozen Playboys he buried among the car magazines in his messy closet.
Alex had always enjoyed the company of the woman he'd long known as Mrs. Tanner, one of his mother's best friends. She lived two streets over in their quiet suburban neighborhood, on her own since her divorce of two years ago. He was delighted that she hadn't moved, having kept the bungalow as part of the settlement, as he was clearly happy to often see her in his home, sharing coffee and laughing easily with his mother.
Mrs. Tanner – Jane, as she'd recently encouraged him to call her – had always made time for Alex. She'd watched over him when he was a young boy, though never once did he hear her say "babysit." She later put him to work cutting the lawn, raking the leaves, shovelling the walk and doing odd jobs inside, always paying him a few dollars more than the chores were worth.
Now, as he was about to start college, every one of these dollars was golden. It was easy money, casual fresh-air labor he enjoyed. But more precious to him was the woman who pressed the cash into his palm. He'd grown to see her in a different light, and now he appreciated her in an entirely new way.
She remained a mother figure in a fashion, and that was a curiously arousing thing. He knew only that Jane was a couple years younger than his mother, putting her in her mid-40s. She wore her age with ease and elegance, with a confidence that showed she liked both where she was and where she was going. He guessed her at about 5-foot-4, given that she came up to just below his chin.
He saw a lot of Jane, a nurse who worked nights. She took scrupulous care of herself, from her black hair that tumbled to her shoulders, tossed lightly in a shaggy mane, to the polished toenails in her sandals. On a hot day, like today, she wore a ponytail that swung rhythmically when she walked, each step baring her neck. Her blue-green eyes sparkled when she smiled, which seemed to be always, a smile that appeared to lift her high cheekbones and reveal two wonderful dimples, the left more pronounced than the right.
But there was more to her, too. Alex's adolescence was yielding to manhood, and with it came a sexual awakening, his hormones rushing off like a lead-footed teenage driver who thus far had found a red light awaiting him at every intersection.
He now took thorough note of her body and, when she was near enough, her scent. He felt an almost violent rush deep within himself when he did. Jane dressed for comfort in form-hugging jeans and T-shirts in summer, thick wool sweaters in the fall and winter. Both looks suited her equally.
But now it was the dead of July and she was keeping her house cool. Alex hadn't failed to notice that the central air had the most dramatic effect on them both – the coolness took his breath away, especially on those days when she wore a thin white cotton shirt that clung snugly to breasts that didn't need a bra, stretching tightly enough that in chilled air she made a pointed, obvious impression.
These thoughts, and more, were swirling in Alex's head as he mowed Jane's sprawling front yard. He was pushing the machine back into her garage when she came into view wearing sandals, a billowing patterned wrap around her waist and a modest aquamarine bikini top. Her stylish sunglasses did little to hide the smile in her eyes.
"I had no idea it was this hot, honey, or I'd not have asked you to work today," she said lightly, stepping into the garage behind him.
Jane had used casual terms of endearment in addressing Alex since he'd been a boy. It was an affection that sounded wholly natural, and now, more than ever, he enjoyed their sound.
"Better today than tomorrow," he replied. "They're calling for three days of rain."
"You look very hot. Come in for an iced tea, at least?"
"I'm pretty grungy," Alex said. He could feel the wetness down the back of his gray singlet, the product of his labor in the midday sun. He was fit, lean, nicely muscled, and he was growing, by the day, into a man's body and mind.
"No matter," Jane said, shaking her head. "I insist. Please, come inside."
Alex followed her into the foyer, kicking off his grassy sneakers in the garage. Her home was spotless, as usual, and the sunroom off the kitchen was opened onto the pool deck. She cherished the back yard, a supremely private little oasis that was guarded on all sides by 12-foot cedars. When she sunbathed topless, only the very fortunate birds were treated to the view.
"Here you've been working, and I've been lazing about, sitting in the sun," Jane said, scolding herself as she pushed her sunglasses to rest on the top of her head. She cracked a few cubes of ice into a chilled tumbler and filled it with iced tea from a pitcher in the fridge.
"Now... drink up."
She handed Alex the glass, and her fingers sent a current of electricity through his when they touched and lingered for just a moment.
"Thank you, Jane. You're very kind."
"And you are very welcome," she said, pouring herself a glass. "If you're not in a hurry, let's sit out in the shade and talk."
He was two steps behind her out onto the deck, watching her ponytail swing, and she beckoned him into a lounge chaise, sitting across from him. The sun was at Jane's back, as she settled and took a long sip of her iced tea.
"So you start school in a few weeks?" she asked him, and Alex outlined in great detail his plans to become an engineer. All the while he struggled to maintain eye contact. There was so much of Jane he wanted to study, and she knew it.
She knew she was at least partly responsible for his shortness of breath, and she also knew this: Alex wasn't the only one now with a need to explore.
Before her sat a young man with his entire life in front of him; a young man whose body had a mind of its own. She relished the idea that he was turning uncomfortably in his chair, crossing his legs in a vain attempt to disguise his interest, even as she felt a growing ache inside herself.
