It's March already, and for eighteen-year old Craig Zanetti, the finish line is coming more into focus with every passing day. No, he's not running some super marathon; rather, he's looking forward to high school graduation in mid-June, looming ahead like a huge golden gate, sweet and lovely. There's only one problem: he's flunking algebra and unless he brings up his grades, he won't be able to graduate with his class. A flunking grade means summer school and the humiliating prospect of receiving his diploma in the mail as opposed to being part of all the pomp and circumstance of receiving it on stage with his friends in Belmont High's auditorium.
"You need Mrs. Cassidy," his mom suggests. "She's reputed to be a math whiz, tutors on the side."
His mom refers to Alexandra Cassidy, their forty-something, divorced neighbor, she with the hot little bod who tends to her rose garden wearing skimpy attire when weather permits. She's doing quite well for herself, running a home web business and tutoring numbers-challenged kids like Craig. Alex, as close friends call her, lives a block away in classy Wiltondale, a pre-World War Two neighborhood of mostly three-story, three-bedroom homes that's seen generations of families come and go. Divorced for over a year, she shares joint custody with her two teen children, Sadie and Ronnie. She doesn't date, despite interest from divorced or never married men, "vultures" she calls them in her more cynical moments. "The ink wasn't dry on the paper before they began to swoop," she tells girlfriends who can relate. She isn't sour on men; she's just not ready to plunge back into the dating scene. "Emotionally drained, sexually starved," she jokes. Only it's no joke; she's one horny lady. "But to go through all the dating rigmarole," she complains. "It exhausts me just thinking about it." She rolls her eyes. "Maybe I need a gigolo."
Enter Craig Zanetti, no gigolo by any means, though good looking enough to attract the opposite sex of any age without much effort. Young guys close to six feet with blond, all American good looks normally can't complain when it comes to women who go for that surfer boy image, and Craig is no exception. His current amour de jour is the comely Heather Chaillet, a prep school cutie who's thus far resisted Craig's entreaties to consummate. 'Saving it for marriage,' she tells him, a position he respects but one that's left him looking elsewhere for carnal pleasure.
Sex isn't on Craig's mind when his mom suggests that he enlist Alexandra for tutoring. Not right away, at least. Oh, he finds her desirable all right, cranes his neck to watch her tend those roses of hers attired in her short-shorts and in a bikini when the mercury shoots past ninety. "I wouldn't mind fucking that little firecracker," a friend from the neighborhood told him one day. She IS little, at least in height, standing a mere five-foot two but well proportioned with a mane of auburn hair that she sometimes wears up, other times wears in a thick ponytail that drops a couple inches below her shoulders. Then there's that bounce in her step, a vibrancy that he finds exciting, her thick, shapely calves flexing, her bubble butt swishing. Energy personified. A firecracker indeed.
Sex isn't on Alexandra's mind either when Craig calls to ask for help. She's got aspirations, but seducing young men like the proverbial cougar isn't one of them. She does find it "cute" when she catches him ogling her, can't deny the ego boast it gives her, can't deny either that he's one handsome young man. Young women are turned off by the stares of much older men, whereas older women covet the attention of men young enough to be their sons. Alexandra is one of those women and, come Saturday morning, her focus takes a sharp detour when she opens her door and he says, "I'm here for my private lessons."
The term private lessons rings bells, as well it should, because it's the title of a film she saw years ago about the older woman seduction of a teen boy. Craig looks so cute standing on her white front wood porch clad in jeans and a v-neck pullover sweater, algebra textbook tucked under his arm, his retro blond shag of hair hugging his head like a shiny helmet. Oh my, what is she thinking? Is she that horny?
She leads him into her cozy study, furnished with a desk piled high with papers and a Dell Optiplex desktop. A wood armless chair sits wedged between the wall and the desk. He takes a seat there while she eases down in her black leather desk chair and then begins thumbing through his textbook. "Pretty basic stuff," she says. "It shouldn't be much trouble bringing your grade up to passing. But you need to stay focused, pay attention."
He nods while his eyes drift, first to the area just above her cleavage, the skin still smooth and translucent; and then her legs, exposed to mid-thigh when she crosses them and the slit in her yellow dress parts. "Focused on THIS stuff, Craig," she says, holding up the fully open book, flashing him a look of amused admonishment.
He grins, then quickly shifts his eyes to the text. "You're my best hope for me to graduate on time," he says. His big midterm exam is coming up, he tells her, and a passing grade would almost insure him a passing grade in the course. "So I'm hoping you can prepare me for that midterm."
"I'll do my best," she says, her mind still reeling with thoughts that have little to do with algebra. "First, you need to show me what's giving you the most trouble." He flips the page to the simultaneous equations. She nods, then pulls a pencil and a yellow pad of lined paper from her desk drawer. They get started with stuff like this:
2y+x=8(1)
1+y=2x(2)
She takes him through numerous problems like that one. But, as usual, it still leaves him scratching his head. "Algebra might be too abstract for me," he says. "Unknown quantities, the x, y and z stuff throw me off."
"That's why you need to stay focused and practice working these problems. You also need to be relaxed. I bet you're nervous before taking a test." He nods. "I thought so. Are you nervous now, just sitting here with me?" She rubs her hand down her calve while she holds the pad on her lap.
He shifts in his seat, glances at her deep cleavage, then looks her in the eye. "Maybe a little."
She brushes a reassuring hand over his knee, then pulls away. "How come? Do I make you nervous?"
He giggles nervously glancing at her legs. "Um, no, not really. It's just that it's hard to concentrate with us sitting this close and you wearing something so...revealing. It's distracting."
She laughs, slides her chair back and flips the hem of her dress over her thigh. "Better?" She holds her amused expression in an open-mouth grin.
More giggles. "Yeah, I guess."
"You guess? Craig, I'm here to help you, not seduce you. That said, you should knowβor maybe you shouldn't but what the heckβthat this isn't real easy for me either." She reaches out and takes his hand. "You're a very good looking young man and I'm a divorced woman who hasn't been intimate with a man in a long time." She shakes her head. "I can't believe I'm telling you all this."
He shrugs. "Sex is more fun than algebra."