Chapter 1
Monday, August 18
As Tom opened the door to the chiropractic clinic and entered, he saw Sara Hensley standing at the receptionist's counter. She was wearing a well-tailored grey suit, jacket and skirt, and a white silk blouse. Her four-inch heels matched the color of her suit. The skirt was short, definitely above the knees, but not scandalously short She looked great. She was holding some file folders in her hand and was talking to the receptionist, an attractive brunette who, Tom estimated, was close to Sara's age. Sara looked as good formally dressed as she had in her cropped T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes.
Three days earlier, Tom had been riding on the paved, multi-use path beside the Little River, one of two rivers that flowed through River City. It had been an absolutely gorgeous morning. The air was still cool, although it would get to 100 degrees later, according to that day's weather forecast. It was mid-August and August was always hot in River City.
Tom was alive and well, twenty-one years old and about to start his fourth year at River City U., majoring in history, his first love academically. His father, Daniel Reynolds, was a professor of mathematics at River City U. That didn't bother Tom at all. His dad and he had a good relationship. He had been raised by his father after his mother had abandoned them and run off with another man when he was only two years old. He had no memories of her.
Tom, like his father, kept himself fit and trim. They both worked out with weights. They were workout partners and they both used the twenty-three mile long multi-use path along the Little River on a regular basis, as well as doing high intensity interval training.
Tom was giving it his all, pedaling like a bat out of hell, which was not a particularly good idea that morning, at least, not where he was on the path. The path passed through one of the city parks at that point and the day before one of the big sprinklers for the soccer field had broken and washed a good bit of sand and gravel down onto it. The city workmen assigned to the park had stopped the flood and repaired the sprinkler but no one had cleared off the path yet. Tom was tearing around a tight curve when he hit the spot of sand and gravel. He went down quickly. The bicycle shooting out from under him and he went bouncing and tumbling off into the weeds and brush beside the trail.
That was when he met Sara Hensley. She had been out for her morning run and was coming from the opposite direction when she saw Tom go down. He was just beginning to pick himself up out of the weeds when she reached him.
"Wait! Don't move," she cautioned.
Tom looked up and saw the face of an angel. A perspiring angel, but an angel, nevertheless. She had fine, light blonde hair, no dark roots in evidence... natural? Her hair was cut short and very stylish. The angel had incredibly blue eyes, which seemed to sparkle even with concern on her face, a face with balanced even features. And her mouth—generous without being too generous and well-shaped full lips without that pouty "bee-stung" look. This woman was beautiful or, as Tom like to say, a babe and a half, a phrase he'd picked up from his father. He felt a strange attraction to her. Something about her seemed familiar yet he knew he'd never set eyes on her before now.
Tom himself was blonde, but a couple of shades darker than this woman's hair. And his eyes were very blue like hers. She almost looked old enough to be his mother. Immediately, he rejected that idea. First of all, he didn't want her to be his mother because, even in his dazed state of mind, he felt himself sexually attracted to her and that couldn't happen with his mother. Second, his mother had left him and his father and run away with another man when Tom was just a toddler. His father had destroyed all the photos he'd had of his wife, Tom's mother.
"Are you my guardian angel?" Tom blurted out before he realized he had put into voice what he was thinking.
Sara grinned, then laughed. "No young man, I'm not an angel."
Dimples, Tom thought. And beautiful, even, white teeth. My God, I'm in love!
Having been raised without a mother, Tom had a thing for older women. He was no fool. This woman, his angel, was no eighteen to twenty year old babe. She was a mature woman, probably in her early, or at the most, mid-thirties, and she was an honest-to-God damned good-looking woman and Tom was in lust, true, natural, horny male lust.
"Are you sure I haven't died and gone to heaven? Tom asked.
Sara laughed more heartily this time. Tom loved hearing the sound of her laughter.
"I think you're just a little dazed." Sara said.
Tom was fascinated with her elegant throat and small, beautiful ears. He wondered what it would be like to nuzzle her neck and ears and... . His cock was waking up, starting to become erect, increasing the bulge in his lycra biking shorts.
"Seriously, young man, you took a nasty fall. Do you feel any broken bones?
With Sara's help, Tom stood up and carefully flexed and moved his torso, arms, and legs. "No. I think I'm okay, except for the 'road rash'." His left knee and elbow and part of his forearm, as well as some of his left side, were beginning to bleed around the embedded sand and grit. Tom had been riding without a shirt.
As Tom began picking and brushing out some of the bigger pieces of debris from his wounds, wincing slightly as he did, Sara took a gook look at him. She liked what she saw. He was tall, definitely over six feet. Blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, a great smile. He had broad, well-muscled chest, shoulders and arms. Not hypertrophied like a body builder, more like a serious athlete. His slim waist and six-pack abs looked very nice to her, not to mention his strong thighs.
Sara, she told herself, you ought to be ashamed. He's young enough to be your son. That thought gave an old mental scar a twinge. It had been twenty years ago when, after a major fight over her husband's infidelity and her declaration that she was going to divorce him, he had kidnapped their son Robert, and disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. Sara sighed and refocused on the present. The past was the past and there was nothing she could do about it.
Sara felt a warm feeling in her loins and realized that, while her mind had been analyzing this young man, her body was reacting to his very masculine physical presence. She blushed and turned away from Tom, as though looking down the bike path.
"Well, listen... uh—" she started to say as she turned back to face Tom.
"Tom. Tom Reynolds... Mrs...?
Tom thought he'd seen a bit of a flush on his angel's face and a perturbed look in her eyes when she turned away from him. He also noticed, openly, when her back was to him, her shapely, tanned legs, firm ass in her snug-fitting shorts, and a slim waist with a flat stomach under her crop-top T-shirt. And her skin, where he could see it, had a lovely golden tan. When she turned back around to face him, he had a quick flash profile look at her and realized that she was nicely filling out her sports bra under her T-shirt.
"Oh not Mrs., Tom," Sara said with a smile. She had her little flair of sexual emotion under control now and was actually amused with herself. She decided that it was okay to be physically attracted to this young man.
"I'm Sara Hensley," she introduced herself and held out her hand for Tom to shake.
He took it in his and gave it a pleasant squeeze and shake. "Very nice to meet you, Ms. Hensley." He had also noticed that her left hand didn't have a wedding ring on it.
Sara laughed again. "Oh, you can call me Sara. No reason to be formal." She looked directly into Tom's blue eyes and gave him a coy little smile.
