A very hot, brightly moonlit night, filled with the music of cicadas. A holiday villa on a hillside, somewhere in the south of France. A pool behind the house. In the pool, Edward, nineteen years old, leaning against the side, naked. He looked up at the stars and thought about his girlfriend, Becky. Mum and Dad had let him invite Becky to join him for the first half of their French summer holiday at the villa. She had flown back to England that morning, after a heady week of sunshine, mutual infatuation and sex. They had let him and Becky share a bed, no question. You're both over eighteen, Mum had said, what's the problem? Your Dad and I were married when we were your age. Becky, did you know I had Edward when I was only nineteen? Stop embarrassing me, Mum, he had said. And Becky had smiled prettily and squeezed his hand. Even that had got him hard. Becky and he needed a long walk in the old orchard after that, culminating in one of her exquisite blowjobs in the shelter of large, gnarled tree. Mum had grinned knowingly when they returned to the house for supper.
Edward felt the beginnings of an erection again. Images of Becky filled his thoughts. Her English-rose prettiness. Her clear, delicate skin. Her wide, generous smile. The subtle mischief in her eyes. The gentle kindness that endeared her to everyone she met. The sumptuous curves of her classic hourglass figure. And her gloriously boundless appetite for joyful, uncomplicated, energetic sex. No hang-ups, nothing especially kinky or adventurous either; sex just seemed to come naturally to Becky, and Edward seriously considered himself to be the luckiest guy in the world, as Becky had chosen him to keep that appetite fulfilled. Every night, without fail, she would be pulling at his clothes as soon as the bedroom door was closed. Every morning, again without fail, she would start touching his cock as soon as they were both awake. If Mum and Dad went out for the afternoon, he and Becky would be upstairs in their bedroom before the car was off the driveway. The blowjobs in the orchard. The mutual masturbation under the water at the crowded beach. Yes, yes, yes ... He was getting very hard indeed now. The water in the pool retained the heat of the day, seemed to be almost at body temperature. As Edward's cock pulsed and grew, it pushed into that warm wetness. He felt as if he could fuck the whole world.
He heard light footsteps on the paving behind him. Bare feet. Female. For a second the thought flickered through his mind that Becky, miraculously, might have come back. No, impossible; she had called him from the airport in England when she landed. Then he heard his mother's voice, softly, close behind him.
"Too hot to sleep, isn't it, Eddie?"
A moment of panic, then he realised that even in the moonlight there was no way she could see through the water to his nakedness and arousal.
"Er ... yeah Mum, I just thought I'd come out here to cool down a bit, you know?"
"What's the water like?"
"It's really nice. Still quite warm actually, but cool enough to cool down." Ah, he thought, was that the right thing to say? That's not going to get rid of her.
She sat down on the edge of the pool. Her petite form was engulfed in an outsize white t shirt. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked.
"Er ... Mum ... I'm ... er ... I'm not wearing anything ..."
"That's OK, neither am I under this - and anyway it's dark!" With a swift movement she pulled the t shirt off over her heard and slipped into the water. Edward glimpsed her small, pale body for a split second, then the water closed over it. She glided under water to the other side of the pool, where her head popped up. She pushed dark strands of wet hair out of her face. "Mmm, you're right, Eddie, it's lovely in here. And look at the moon! Amazing!" Edward smiled to himself at his mother's unquenchable - sometimes slightly wearing - enthusiasm for life and the world.
They stood at opposite sides of the pool for a while, not saying anything. To Edward's surprise, his erection had not subsided in the slightest since his mother had joined him. If anything, it was straining even more. He just needed it to go down before he got out of the pool. Easier to cover up, then. Maybe a bit of mundane conversation would help.
"Er ... Mum ... thanks again for letting me bring Becky here this past week. She really enjoyed herself. It was really kind of you and Dad. Thanks."
"Oh, my dear, you and she are more than welcome. It was an absolute pleasure having her here. She is such a lovely, lovely girl. So sweet, so kind and clever and funny. We loved having her around."
"Thanks Mum, it was great, really." He should have realised that talk of Becky was not going to get rid of the erection, quite the opposite.
"You miss her, don't you Eddie? I can tell."
"Mum?" How could she tell? Could she really see through the water to his hard-on?
"Oh come on, Eddie, ever since we took her to the airport you've been lost in a world of your own. I can see you're really pining for her. It's only natural, darling. I think it's lovely. She's so nice, and the two of you are obviously crazy about each other. It was good to have some young love around the house." A strange turn of phrase, Edward thought. And to his surprise, there was a tiny tinge of sadness in her voice. He knew that her relentless upbeat cheerfulness must sometimes conceal darker and more difficult things. If they were starting to show through, they must be serious.
"Mum ... are you OK?"
