It was with increasing apprehension that Jennifer awaited her after-closing engagement with Skip Palmer the next day. She still wasn't sure what it was that had prompted her to make her offer to go through The Joy of Sex with him. She hadn't even thought about the lack of wisdom in her proposal until the words were out of her mouth, and by then it was too late for her to back out.
Nor had she been encouraged by her hasty reading, last night, of the book itself. Though it was not really dirty, at least not in the sense of a dirty joke, it was explicit. It left very little to the imagination, and in spite of her own high moral standards even Jennifer had found some of the passages hard to resist. She could not help remembering the happier times in her own married life, when she and Stephan had made each other happy, when they'd done little things almost exactly as they were described in the book. And the recollection tapped an unfulfilled source of longing deep within her body. The Joy of Sex, she had to admit, was a compelling piece of literature. But she still didn't have the slightest idea how she was going to bring herself to go through it with Skip Palmer.
As six o'clock neared, the blonde divorcee found herself hoping that the young boy would not make his appearance, hoping he would be just as nervous as she and would finally not have the nerve to come back. But as the hour came and passed, she felt a twinge of inexplicable disappointment. Instead of seizing the opportunity to close the shop and leave, she sat mutely, still waiting. Perhaps fifteen minutes passed, then she started as the door opened and the handsome youngster came rushing in.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he blurted. "My grandmother had some errands for me to do."
"That's… all right, Skip," Jennifer said slowly. She was sitting on the stool behind the counter, her legs crossed and her modest length skirt smoothed gently down over her sensuous thighs. Skip was standing across the counter, waiting in silence. She thought a long time must have passed before she realized she was staring at him. "Oh!" the older woman said suddenly, shifting on the stool. "Let me close up and then we'll get to… to the book."
Conscious of the boy's eyes on the curves of her shapely body, Jennifer moved from behind the counter, went and locked the front door and drew the shades over the windows. Then she hesitantly led Skip back through the curtain and into the little room at the back of the shop, where the book The Joy of Sex, lay already open on the coffee table before the couch, turned to a chapter entitled Caresses for Building Excitement.
"All right, Skip," the nervous blonde said. "I suppose we should both sit on the couch so we can… so we can look at the book together."
"Yes, ma'am!" Skip replied with almost too much enthusiasm.
Jennifer looked at the teenager apprehensively for an instant before moving to take a seat. He came quickly around to join her, his eyes eagerly taking in the color photo of a man kissing a woman on the neck on the page to which the book was opened.
Crossing her legs and smoothing her skirt down to her knees, the uneasy blonde cleared her throat. "All right, Skip. I must admit I hardly know where to begin but…"
"You can begin wherever you want to. It's all interesting to me."
"Yes, I'm… sure it is." Jennifer glanced down at the photograph, then started to skim over the introduction to the chapter she'd selected. "As I told you yesterday," she began, "I'm afraid most of the material in this book will be irrelevant to your situation."
"My situation?"
"I mean, most of this is for married people. As a junior high school student, you're just not going to be going that far. But this chapter does describe what I think you call petting, and I suppose it would be futile to attempt to discourage even a boy as young as you from wanting to try that."
"Petting?" Skip asked, momentarily puzzled, then quickly added: "Oh, like making out, you meant."
"Yes," Jennifer replied. "I guess that's what you call it now." She coughed self-consciously. "All right… uh… tell me, Skip. Have you ever done that? Have you made out with a girl?"
Skip's mouth opened. It appeared he was about to speak, that the words faded on his very lips the moment they would have been voiced. His face reddened slightly and as she glanced down Jennifer saw that his hand was trembling. "Almost," he said at last in a croak.
"Almost? I don't know if I understand."
"That's the real reason I came to buy the book."
"What do you mean?"
"There's a girl I know… she's fifteen because she failed a year. Her name's Ramona Sawyer, and I don't think she's too good looking, not in the face anyway. But she's got… she's got, you know, titties and everything."
"Skip!"
"And she… she goes out with Tony Jackson and Fred McGuiness and some of those guys. Sometimes she even goes with a couple of them at once."
Jennifer blinked, shocked at the implications in that remark. She could remember hearing one of the more aggressive and flirtatious of the boys who'd come into the store being called Tony, and she was pretty sure that that was the boy Skip was referring to.
"Anyway," Skip continued, "she invited me to go down into the basement of the gym with her one day during lunch. I knew Tony and those fellows took her down there sometimes to make out with her and everything so I figured it was my big chance. But when we got there, I didn't know what to do."
Skip shook his head, then angrily slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. And the look in his eyes as he lifted them to Jennifer's face filled her with such emotion and compassion it was all she could do to keep herself from taking him immediately in her arms. "She just stood there with her arms open, grinning at me, and said, 'Let's do it!' And I couldn't figure out what to do. I sort of tried to kiss her. I could remember the way I used to kiss my mother when I was little, so I did it that way. But I know that's not the right way, and when I was through she just laughed at me and asked if that was all I was going to do. And I asked her what she wanted to do. And then… and then they all started laughing. All the guys. They were hiding down there watching me."
"Oh Skip, they're so cruel!" Jennifer gasped. "But don't you let that upset you. That was really nothing and…"
"And I'm a nothing. I'm a big fat zero and all the guys know it. Everybody in the whole darned school!"
"That's not true."
"That's what all the girls think too."
Jennifer couldn't resist reaching over to touch Skip on the wrist as she spoke. "I'm a girl, Skip. And I don't think that."
"You don't?" Skip gasped, staring up at her in disbelief. His heart was suddenly beating wildly in his chest, but he shook his head miserably, certain the attractive older woman was just saying what she'd said because she felt sorry for him.
"And I bet there are a lot of girls at that school who really like you. They just don't know how to let you know. You've got to learn to spot them, and then when you find one of them that you like, you encourage her to make her feelings known." Jennifer paused, her hand now dropping to Skip's knee, her blue eyes luminous under her thick lashes as she stared into his surprised face. "And when you find a girl you like, really like, you won't have the problem you had with that Ramona what's-her-name. You'll know instinctively what to do."
Skip's eyes again revealed a ray of hope. And again he shook his head. "You're talking to me like I'm a kid, because that's what I am to you. Just a stupid little kid."
"No, Skip. And I'm not that old. I'm only twenty-four." Jennifer fell suddenly silent. How old would twenty-four seem to a boy Skip's age? "Or maybe you do think I'm old."
"Heck no!" Skip exclaimed. The surprised teenager gaped in confusion at the ravishingly beautiful blonde who sat beside him on the couch. Almost against his will, his eyes began to search over the inviting curves of her sensuous body, lingering on the full firm mounds of her breasts before descending to her smoothly tapering waist and flaring hips, her long beautiful legs outlined under the gently clinging material of her skirt. His breath seemed to have caught in his throat, and it was a moment before he could find the means to go on: "I didn't mean that you were old, only that you were a woman, and you must think of me as just a silly kid. That's all I meant."
Jennifer nodded and smiled. She was aware of the boy's eyes curiously exploring her figure, and also very uncomfortably aware of a little excited tremoring deep in her own belly. Skip was so innocent, so sweet, and she knew he had suffered so unjustly for that innocence. But at the same time he was eager. And for reasons even she couldn't understand, she felt now that it would be a thrill to touch him, to hold him, to show him how to kiss and caress a woman, to teach him what he wanted to know in a way it could never be learned in a book. But she knew it was wrong to even be thinking like that, and she sat up suddenly stiffly on the couch, vowing to keep a close grip on herself and to rid her mind immediately of such insane fantasies.
"Now I've made you mad," Skip groaned, misunderstanding Jennifer's sudden movement. He twisted toward her on the couch, his eyes blazing with sincerity. "I think you're fantastic. I do. And… and I know you wouldn't let me do it, but I wish I could kiss you and find out what Ramona Sawyer meant for me to do."
"Oh Skip, you little sweetheart," Jennifer cried. Then, almost before she knew what she was doing, the voluptuous blonde woman had turned sideways to face him on the couch, her arms wrapping eagerly around his slim frame, her fingers combing softly through his dark brown hair. He was so cute and so sweet, and she knew he needed her so badly. He needed her the way she longed to be needed by a male. He had as much as admitted that he'd never kissed a girl, and she could feel him quivering in her arms, his teenage body rigid with excitement.
Jennifer took a deep breath and leaned forward, placing her cheek against his, listening to the youngster's boyish breath whistling raggedly past her ear. For a moment she recalled another young boy, a boy she'd known so long ago, with whom she'd first discovered the happiness of sex and love. And then she thought of something else, a dimly lit room in a Los Angeles hotel, where she'd come upon three nakedly writhing bodies, where she'd found her husband performing cunnilingus on one young starlet while another one licked and sucked at his rigidly pulsing cock. Then suddenly her whole mood was shattered and she abruptly released Skip from her embrace and rose hurriedly from the couch. She was aware of the boy staring at her in confusion, and she fidgeted nervously before him. Then she sighed and sat down again, though now leaving a considerable space between them.
"I'm sorry, Skip," she said with a hyper little laugh. "I don't know what came over me. But I know that wasn't what you came here for today. Nor was it why I invited you."
She hesitated for a moment then suddenly reached for the book and began to read aloud the introduction to the chapter she'd chosen to explore, a rather technical piece of material describing the relation between stroking, as a baby or small child being stroked and caressed by its parents, and the first sexual stroking experiments conducted by adolescent and pre-adolescent aged children, which subsequently went on to relate these two phenomena to adult sexual foreplay.
The perplexed youngster listened to her read, but though the subject matter seemed to be at least partly connected to what he had on his mind, he couldn't concentrate. His thoughts were jumbled by what had just taken place. He was vaguely aware that something strange was happening between him and the beautiful woman who but moments ago had held him in her arms. It was something he'd never experienced before, completely different from being held by his mother or by his grandmother, and he could hardly fathom the feelings it inspired in him. His whole body was still tingling from the warm softness of having had her arms around him, from feeling her big warm breasts pressing firmly against his chest as she'd pulled him to her. It seemed like something he'd only dreamed, but he knew he was wide awake. The nearness of her softly curved female body, and the scent of her sweet musky perfume was like a drug playing tricks with his mind and body. He knew he'd been on the verge of having his question about how to kiss a girl answered in a way he'd never dreamed.
Jennifer read a few more lines, then her voice faded. Beside her on the couch Skip was staring intently down at her thighs, teasingly outlined in the loose clinging material of her skirt, and suddenly she realized what was happening. He was excited. She was exciting him, and the realization of that sent a galvanic surge of tingling little shocks prickling in her belly and a trembling chill running up her spine. Hardly able to control herself, she reached over and touched his arm to attract him to look her in the eye.
"Do you… do you understand what I'm reading about?" she gasped, desperately hoping that her own urgently rising excitement had now shown in her voice. She had not been alone with any male like this since she'd left Stephan, and young as he was, Skip was still a male. She was acutely aware of that fact. She could feel the nearness of his supple young body, and it was having a very strong effect on her. All the months of loneliness she'd endured had taken their toll on her, and she realized she was in a very vulnerable condition.
"Do you understand?" she repeated, her voice quivering.
"I… I guess so," Skip stammered.
Jennifer's mind was racing wildly, and she desperately tore her eyes away from the enchanting sight of the boy's excited face. She tried to seize control of her thoughts, to think about anything other than the forbidden images flitting through her mind. But the unexplainable nervousness and excitement now mounting inside her was more than she could control. She felt almost like a teenage girl out with a boy for the first time, and she didn't think she'd been this shaky since the night she'd lost her virginity.
God, what was she thinking of?
Horrified at her wanton thoughts, Jennifer rose from the couch and moved around to the other side of the coffee table. She still held the book tightly in her hands, but unconsciously, she'd closed it. Now, becoming aware of this, she began to search hurriedly through for the passage from which she'd been reading. Then she stopped, letting the covers fall together, and bent and replaced it on the low table. Why was she getting so nervous about nothing? she asked herself. After all, Skip was only a boy, somewhat frightened of girls and over-excitable as any young boy who'd never even been kissed would be. She was an adult woman, almost twenty-five. Maybe she should simply kiss him and let him get past that barrier. It was really an inconsequential thing, and certainly a little practical experience would make it easier for him to understand the technical passages in the book they were supposed to be studying together.
"Come here, Skip," she said suddenly, the strain in her voice even more pronounced, though she refused to let herself think consciously about the possible results of what she was about to do. "There… there's something I want to show you."
Jennifer watched through narrowed eyes as the young boy hesitantly rose and walked around the coffee table to stand before her. It was crazy, she knew. It was insane and irresponsible on her part, a tempting of the devil. But she felt a compulsion now to give this innocent teenager at least this much, a kiss, a single simple little kiss, and as he stood nervously before her, she lifted her hand to touch his boyish cheek with her fingertips. She watched his eyes open wide as she leaned closer to him and touched his lips with her own, pressing her mouth lightly and softly over his, lingering for a brief but exquisite moment.
"There," she murmured with an uncertain smile as she lifted her lips from his. "Now you've kissed a girl, Skip."
Jennifer was able to meet the boy's delighted smile for but an instant longer; then she felt compelled to avert her eyes. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't face him now, and she couldn't bear the thought that he might be feeling the same thing she was now feeling. For even that brief and innocent little kiss had done something to her, to her body, that she would never have expected. It was horrible and unforgivable, nothing higher than crazy animal lust, and yet in spite of her revulsion and moral indignation at what was happening to her, Jennifer was becoming more excited with every passing instant.
"Th-thanks," Skip mumbled belatedly, his quavering voice confirming Jennifer's worst suspicions. He was still staring at her in astonishment, and he could feel a strange and pleasant kind of heat beginning to surge through his body. Even now, when she was refusing to look at him, he could sense the same wild excitement that moments before had been mirrored in her eyes. And he knew this was the time to say something cool, to say just the right thing that would attract her to continue with the crazy physical thing she'd started. But he didn't have the courage or the knowledge, and he could only gulp nervously at the sight of her full rounded breasts rising and falling heavily beneath the clinging material of the blouse she wore. He felt at this moment that she was the most gorgeous female he'd ever seen, and he still could hardly believe she had really kissed him.
"M-maybe we could do it again?" the thrilled young boy suggested falteringly, his face eagerly hopeful, flushed with excitement.
Before him the aroused twenty-four year old blonde hesitated, torn between her body's unnatural hunger to feel the sweet softness of the teenager's eager lips once again and the awful knowledge that she was now really flirting with danger. But just when it seemed she was going to win the battle with herself, the decision was taken out of her hands as Skip moaned lowly and lunged toward her, gathering her voluptuous body into his arms, standing on his tiptoes to again lock his mouth ardently over her parted lips.
The startled divorcee trembled, trying weakly to struggle free as the delicious erotic sensations rippled through every nerve in her body. She felt half-drunk with the sensual delight of the youngster's frantic boyish embrace, and his sinewy young arms held her tight until her breasts were crushed against his chest. Tingling sparks of rising lust seemed to be shooting crazily between their two intertwined bodies, and Jennifer's mind was suddenly filled with visions that bordered on shameless dreams of seduction. For a moment, she was completely lost in the mounting desires rushing through her body, and she allowed her lips to part yieldingly before the violent hunger of the teenager's inexperienced kiss.
Then, as she continued to squirm her body against Skip's as her hungry lips sucked ravenously at his eagerly exploring tongue, Jennifer realized what was happening to her. She knew now she was allowing herself to feel the same kind of wanton and unrestricted desire that had always engulfed her before she made love to her husband Stephan during the happier days of their marriage. But she knew at the same time it was absolute madness for her to let herself experience these feelings where this untouchable young boy was concerned. She couldn't have him, couldn't let herself have him, and she knew that by going on like this she was only increasing the frustration she was going to experience later. But she couldn't stop herself. Her body was aching with a need she'd almost thought she'd forgotten forever.
Now Jennifer felt absolutely shameless and she pressed her sensuously curved body even tighter against the trembling adolescent, delighting fin the sensations of his muscles rippling against her as he clenched her tightly to his heaving chest. Her leg pressed urgently against his thigh as she moved even closer, desperately trying to feel and touch more of his vibrant young body. Then suddenly she gasped as a surge of passion tore through her like a sheet of flame, and with a desperate groan she drew back and pushed the disappointed youngster away from her.
"That's enough, Skip," she gasped. "I want you to go now."
"But…?"
"I said that's enough! We have to stop! Get out of here. Get out of here this minute!"
Skip backed away from her, a thoughtful look appearing on his disturbed face. "But," he began finally. "If I go now, can I comeback tomorrow to continue with… with the book?"
"Oh Skip!"
"Please!"
"All right, all right! But now just go. Go before we both do something we'll regret."