As she lay by the pool soaking in the sun and working on her tan, Kate had been enjoying the peace and quiet of her backyard. Of course, it was always quiet around the house since she lived alone, but after a hectic week at work, she needed all the solitude she could get. Having a place and time to be alone had been good for her, most of the time, she thought to herself, but it was getting old quick. Being single at thirty-two—divorced at that—was not the life she thought it would be, but it was not her first choice. Sometimes a person has to work with what life gives them. She could doubtless find a man easily—whether she could find one who was sane and who would treat her right was the question. She had tried dating again, nevertheless, she was not into the bar scene.
Kate always enjoyed reading and napping in the sunshine and today had been a good day for that. Remembering her yard was enclosed by solid wooden privacy fence, the thought had hit her that she should sun bathe in the nude, and at one point, she almost gave in to the whim and removed her two-piece swimsuit. No one would have ever known, but she dismissed the idea as being ridiculous. Lying out there by the pool naked would only get her thinking more about sex and that would make her more horny, and she had no prospects for helping her alleviate her horniness as it was—she did not want to add to that frustration.
She had just resolved the question of whether or not to sun herself in the nude and mentally resigned herself to being home alone on another Friday night when a basketball bounced over the fence from the neighbor's driveway and landed in her yard near the pool. Rising up in her chase lounge chair, she saw a young guy slowly open the gate to her back yard.
"Sorry, Ms. Johnson," he called out. "Is it okay if I come get the ball."
It was the son of her next-door neighbors, whom she had evidently not seen in a few years, because he was all but grown.
"Sure, it's okay, come on in. It's over there," she said pointing to the ball.
As he walked in, she removed her sunglasses and cleared her eyes. "Andrew? Is that you?" she asked with a tone of amazement.
"Yeah, it's me," he called back.
Kate stared for a moment as she watched him walk over to retrieve his basketball. He was only wearing shorts and sneakers and his well-toned muscular body was glistening with sweat.
"I almost didn't recognize you," Kate said to him as he picked up the ball.
"Yeah, it's been a while," he responded as he walked over to where she was sitting. "I'm a junior in college now. I don't come home too often. Just thought I would shoot a few hoops like I used to—sorry to disturb you. The ball got away from me."
"No, no, that's okay," she assured him. "You're not disturbing me."
By now she was had put her sunglasses back on so that she could check him out without him seeing her eyes move over his body. She was caught off guard by how the sight of him stirred such shameless feelings in her. As they talked, mentally, she was debating whether or not she should have given in to the urge to sun in the nude and found herself going through erotic scenarios in her mind of what would have happened if he opened the gate and found her naked.
"Pull yourself together," she thought as she chastised herself for thinking such things.
Over the next several minutes they caught up on the events of the last few years since they had lived next door to one another for the last eight years. He had heard about Kate's divorce and told her he was sorry to hear about it, but noted that he never liked her husband anyway. Kate just laughed and agreed he had been a difficult man and was glad to have moved on from that relationship.
"I'm glad you didn't move away," Andrew added, suddenly aware that his only reason for being glad was he "had a thing for her" for as long as he could remember. All he could think to say by way of an explanation for his happiness to have her still there was the feeble sounding comment, "You've always been a good neighbor."
He cringed when he heard himself say that. "How lame," he thought to himself. Of course, he could not say, "I'm glad you didn't move away because I get an erection every time I see you." So, at that point, the conversation fell kind-of flat.
In an attempt to break to sudden awkward silence, Kate blurted out, "You look hot," she said before she thought. To her embarrassment, her lust-filled thoughts had just slipped out!
Before she could say anything else, apparently not noticing her tone, he simply responded, "Yeah, it's hot out here today."
"Whew, that was close," she thought, being relieved he didn't realize she was talking about him. Then further trying to cover her lustful feelings she was afraid were showing, she said, "Why don't you cool off in the pool. Go ahead jump in, it'll feel good."
"Really? Are you sure?" he responded with enthusiasm. "Are you sure you don't mind?"
"I don't mind at all," Kate assured him.