James had met Julia 3 months ago at his MBA graduation dinner. Julia was there partnering her father, Mark, the Dean of the School of Business Administration. The fact that she and not her mother, Lauren, had accompanied her father gave a clue as to the state of their marriage. Within a week, he had met Lauren and had been immediately besotted by her.

It was not that Julia was unattractive or unintelligent; rather, at 5 feet 8 inches, blonde, and curvy, and having recently finished her Master’s in Psychology, Julia was a catch, and James was the envy of his male friends. However, there was something missing in her for James, as he found her slightly superficial and materialistic. The body was great, but she was lacking in sexual passion and proved rather boring company.

Lauren, her mother, was something else altogether. She was warm and intelligent, well-read, had an interest in the arts and politics, had a good sense of irony, and knew when and when not to be serious. She had a touch of mischief in her and a wicked, but subtle, sense of humor. Within a fortnight of meeting Julia, James found himself over at her house every second day, but it was more to chat with Lauren than to see her daughter, Julia.

Lauren was similarly charmed by this 25-year-old young man that her daughter had miraculously stumbled upon. Lauren had no illusions about her daughter. Julia was gifted with brains, of a sort, and a body that attracted bees like honey, but she was conservative and boring like her father, Mark, with little sense of humor and a fondness for style and fashion over substance. All her previous boyfriends had been similar, dry, shallow young men, so Lauren was remarkably impressed to find Julia had somehow attracted a mature and interesting, not to mention amazingly handsome, young man in James.

Lauren’s marriage to Mark had resulted from a major mistake on her part. She had been lonely at the time and saw Mark as stable and financially secure. She fell pregnant after the first sexual encounter, and being the good Catholic girl that she then was, she opted for marriage as the only thing to do.

It had proved to be a disastrous marriage, even though Mark was polite, non-violent, and a good earner (he had been a senior corporate executive before taking up the university position). But his interest in sex was almost non-existent, and his boring conservatism drew Lauren to the point of screaming boredom, yet she stayed with him for the sake of Julia. Julia was now 23 and no longer a child, but inertia and habit kept the marriage together.

It was a Friday morning on a lovely, warm spring day. James had called into Julia’s house about 9.30am expecting her to be home as it was her day off. Instead, he found that Julia had been picked up half an hour ago by one of her new co-workers, a fellow called Philippe whose name had come up frequently in Julia’s conversation over the past 3 weeks. James suspected Julia was flirting with Philippe, but strangely enough, it was of little consequence to James.

Lauren invited James into the large eat-in country-style kitchen that smelt of fruit and toast and was bathed in the morning sun. Lauren made them a fresh pot of coffee, and she and young James settled into one of their warm and comfortable conversations, sitting on the large, cushioned seat in the bay window. Outside the window, the Jacaranda tree was in full lilac bloom, and their private, verdant garden was full of birdsong. It may have seemed an odd relationship to others, but both Lauren and James were unconscious of their age difference, Lauren being just a month short of 43.

Lauren was now comfortable in James’ company and so had not given any thought to the fact that she was still in her rather revealing satin nightie with just a flimsy, transparent, fine cotton over-garment affording her an insignificant degree of modesty.

Lauren had been slightly embarrassed by Julia’s behavior in going off with Philippe, and it was as obvious to her as it was to James that Julia had intentions of having a dalliance of some sort with Philippe. It was equally insightful for Lauren when she realized that this behavior of her daughter’s was of no concern to James, confirming for her that James appeared to have a crush on her and was in fact flirting with her, albeit in a very proper and circumspect way, but his romantic interest in her was clearly evident!

As they sat and talked on the window seat, their knees touched every now and then. James was wearing casual short trousers and a loose short-sleeved shirt. He had kicked off his slip-ons, and they were both barefoot. The spasmodic contact between their bare skin had the effect of sending little bolts of pleasure up Lauren’s spine every time.

Lauren was surprised by the self-revelation and had to admit to herself that she had subconsciously been enjoying a flirtation of sorts for the past few months with this handsome young man, 18 years her junior! Lauren also became aware of something else. James was unsuccessfully trying to conceal a very healthy erection, and he was also unsuccessfully stealing glances at her cleavage and her thighs. Her nightie had crept up to past mid-thigh level, and Lauren had pulled it down several times, but the hem kept creeping up to within inches of her groin. Her nightie was low-cut and fastened with thin satin ribbon at the bust, but the ribbon was broken, revealing a generous amount of her equally generous décolletage.

James finally realized this morning the true extent of his feelings for Lauren. Despite her age of 43, he thought of her as a romantic friend. That he loved her company was in no doubt, but this morning he recognized his romantic feelings, or perhaps lust was an equally apt term. Lauren was a beautiful woman. At 5 feet 9 inches, she was almost as tall as him.