I arrived at Jessica’s place to find her waiting for me outside. I smiled when I saw her, until I noticed her sour look. I wondered if it was something I did, but when I got out of my car, she walked towards me immediately and reached on her tiptoes to peck my cheek.

I wanted to do so much more, to reach for her and drag her body against me, then kiss her senseless. But I wasn’t planning on giving her neighbors a show.

“Hey there, Jessica. I was surprised when your mom called me.”

She frowned up at me; I hated it when she acted like that. It pissed me off, because she was dismissing what had happened as if it was nothing, but it was fucking something to me.

“I would have expected the call to come from you instead of your mother, you know.”

She just sighed. “I don’t know what she’s thinking, inviting you to the barbecue. Hell, I’m not sure why we’re having one at all. She didn’t even tell me beforehand.” Her frown grew more pronounced. “Hell, she only told me about it after I got back from work, and she didn’t tell me you were coming until you were practically here. I was out here for barely a minute before you drove up.”

My eyebrows raised. “And then you came out to wait for me?”

She blushed as she scowled up at me, smacking me on the arm. I chuckled as I rubbed the spot, though I’d barely felt the hit.

“I don’t know why my mother would invite you over,” she hiss-whispered. “Especially so last-minute. Doesn’t something seem a little odd to you?”

I had to be honest, I’d noticed something strange when my mom told me not to pick Sophia up from school, because she would be doing it, instead. Not that she never offered, but my mom knew it was an important part of my day for me. She only ever helped out when I was having trouble, or I didn’t have enough time, which was rarely the case.

My suspicions only solidified when she invited me to a picnic, only to turn up with Jessica in tow. And now, Jessica’s mom was doing almost the same thing just two days later.

“Whatever’s going on, there’s no need to question it.” I certainly wasn’t going to complain if it meant I got to spend more time with Jessica. “Why don’t we go in so I can say hi to your mother?”

“And my aunt,” she added with another sigh. “She’ll finally be going back home, and she won’t be able to come visit for another month or so. Supposedly, it’s why she's doing it.”

“But you don’t believe that,” I guessed.

She just nodded. I waited for a reaction, but there was none.

Jessica led me inside the house and through it to the backyard, where a grill was already set up. Rita, Jessica’s mom, and her Aunt Hayley were already out there with three other guests, people I recognized from the neighborhood. Rita looked up, and when she saw us enter the yard, she beamed.

“Ross, Jessica! Why don’t the two of you come over here and join us?”

Jessica and I shared a glance as we moved forward.

“It’s good to see you, Rita,” I said with a polite nod. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“Oh, that’s no problem at all. It’s sad your mother couldn’t make it. I asked, but she said she was busy.”

Well, yes, she was busy looking after her granddaughter so I could come to this barbecue, but it’s not like she couldn’t have come with. Still, I didn’t question it.

“Is there anything I can help with?” I offered, glancing around.

She waved me over to the grill, taking me by the arm to drag me there when I was close enough to her.

“John, over here, already finished setting up, but you could help with the cooking, if you don’t mind. And, oh! Let me introduce you to my neighbors.”

The introductions went around as we spent the time chatting as the meat cooked. Jessica kept her distance, trying not to get too close. That didn’t stop my eyes from darting her way. Every time, I found her eyes on me. My body reacted predictably to that, and every time our eyes met, I’d have to look away before I embarrassed myself.

Once the food was ready, I served a couple of plates and moved back towards Jessica. She stared at me the whole time, and I could have groaned when her eyes traveled down my body before she met my eyes again.

“You’re a little quiet over here,” I said, trying to act casually.

“Really? Well, you're too busy trying to keep your eyes on me!”

She sat on the edge of the porch, and I sat down next to her and handed her the second plate. She eyed me out the corner of her eye, smiling a little.

“Do you mind me staring?”

“No,” I said slowly. Then I turned to her and asked seriously, “Do you mind me being here?”

She met my eyes, and the look in hers made my breathing hitch. I had the urge to take her in my arms and kiss her again, but I held myself back.

“I don’t mind,” she said, but then she looked away.

We left it at that and we ate in silence, watching the others continue their chatting as they ate. Neither of us moved, even as we finished and the neighbors were leaving about as soon as they were done. Jessica’s mom and aunt stayed out in the yard, though, sitting in lawn chairs as they continued talking. They sounded like mosquitoes as their mouths kept moving on and on.

After a while, with us still sitting there, Jessica got up and picked up both our plates, then went around picking up the others. John and the others had, thankfully, cleaned up before they left, leaving only the dishes.

“Mom, we’re heading inside,” she called out.

We got a wave, but no words. Jessica must have thought it was good enough, because she grabbed my arm and dragged me inside with her. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t for Jessica to dump everything in the sink and drag me through the house, up the stairs, and into a room. I knew, with a single glance, that it was her bedroom.

My body heated up, I couldn’t help it. Besides it being the first time we’d truly had any real privacy, the view of the bed didn’t help.

“I always thought about doing this,” Jessica said, and my eyes dropped to hers. She shrugged. “At least, I used to, back in high school.”

Before I could ask what she meant, she was pushing me. I was taken by surprise and didn’t fight against her. She turned my body around, and, with a final push, the back of my knees hit the bed, and I fell back. I stared up at her, surprised, and she smiled at me.

“Uh, Jessica. What are you doing?”

She arched an eyebrow, smiling coyly as she crawled forward and straddled my hips. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared up at her. After a moment of hesitation, I carefully placed my hands on her thighs. She was in a dress that only went to mid-thigh, so, as she straddled me, the dress pulled up and I was touching skin. My hands flexed unconsciously, and Jessica moved her hips slightly, making me gasp.

She grinned down at me. “Are you still a teenager, Ross?” she teased, moving her hips a little more. I moaned quietly, my hands tightening on her thighs. “You’re more sensitive than I thought.”

I chuckled, though it came out a little strained. “I’m devoted to my daughter, Jessica. It’s been a while since I’ve been intimate with a woman.”

Even longer since I’d found any one woman truly desirable. After the shit that went down with my ex, I pretty much gave up on relationships. I had a couple of one-night stands with women I met at bars around town and in the next, but it didn’t take long to realize I couldn’t keep up that lifestyle with a baby to look after. And now, here Jessica was, bringing me to her room, throwing me down on her bed and sitting on me. If it wasn’t for the fact that her mom was in the backyard—with the view on the other side of the house, but still—I would have reversed our positions already and ravaged her.

Jessica just hummed. She placed her hands on my chest, and I could feel her warmth through the thin T-shirt, making me shiver. She shifted her hips again, and I gave a full shudder as my head tilted back a little.

“And aren’t you being a little too bold?” I asked, breathless. “What happened?”

“Nothing big,” she shrugged. “I was just watching you in my yard when I remembered the last time you were here.”

Another slight shift of her hips and my fingers dug into the flesh of her thighs. She gasped, though, and I would have smirked because it was nice to see I wasn’t the only one affected. But I was barely holding myself back as it was.

“I brought you to my house once, before the time you came to pick me up for the dance. Do you remember?”

How could I not? I’d thought it was the perfect chance to tell her about the whole prank. Of course, I’d gotten distracted. Because back then, she always dressed in jeans and slightly oversized shirts for school. But the day I showed up at her house, she was dressed…. Not so different from how she was dressed now.

Her smile grew. “So, you finally noticed?”

I arched an eyebrow and looked down at her dress. It wasn’t the same one, of course. She was grown up now, more filled out. There was more curve to her breasts, waist, and hips. The changes turned me on, sure, but it was just because it was her. I’d wanted her even back then, but I’d been too nervous because of the lie I was hiding from her.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” I demanded, my voice hoarse. “You look…”

But she shook her head. I was distracted for a moment when her nails dug into my chest, wincing a little at the sting even as it only seemed to heighten my arousal.

“Back in high school,” she went on, “you were the most popular guy around, every guy wanted to be you and every girl wanted to be with you.”

I smiled wryly. “No, that was usually saved for the jocks, only I was never jock material.”

She hummed, making me shiver as her hands continued to roam over my chest. “But, see, I had my eyes on you long before you asked me to the prom. You were one of the few people that were nice to me for no reason back then. So, when you asked me to the dance, you don't know how I felt. Damn! I was so excited, it was the best thing that ever happened to me and nothing good ever did back then.”

* * *

I felt like cold water had just been thrown in my face. She saw the stricken look on my face, but, instead of looking angry, she smiled at me. Then she leaned down and pressed her lips against mine in a slow, soft kiss. I hesitated, wondering if she was trying to get revenge this way. Not that I could hold back for long.

She pulled away as soon as I started to kiss her back, and raised up on her knees. I watched, gaping, as she gripped the hem of her dress and pulled it clear off her body. My eyes traveled down, and I moaned when I realized she didn’t have a bra on under her dress, so she was left with only her panties.

“Holy shit,” I hissed, fingers digging into her thighs again. “Jessica…”

“I thought of this, too,” she murmured. She took my hands from her thighs and used them to pull me up. I did so without prompting, lifting my arms up when she went to pull off my shirt. “When I brought you home, I imagined things. I’d heard stories of what people did on prom night, but I was impatient. I wanted to get rid of my virginity, and I wanted you to be the one to do it.”

She pressed her body against mine, and I moaned at the feel of her soft breasts pressed against my hard chest. I was growing hard again just from her words, and she shifted her hips, a light flush on her face as she gasped again, riding my erection through our clothes and teasing the both of us.

“I wasn’t bold enough to do this when you came to my house, but I thought on prom night, we would have sex. I had a condom with me the whole night. If you hadn't betrayed me that night…”

I felt a pang of guilt and remorse, and I hated myself a little. To think of what I’d missed out on…

“If I could go back in time and shake that idiot, I would,” I muttered.

Jessica chuckled. “Just as well. If that never happened, you probably wouldn’t have had Sophia, and she’s just darling, Ross.”

That was true. I wondered how I’d even forgotten, but then, my daughter wasn’t what I wanted to think about when I was in this position with Jessica. So I finally did what I’d wanted to since the moment she pulled me into the room; I rolled her over, so she was under me, pressed against the bed as I braced above her with my arms on either side of her. Jessica gasped again, eyes going wide, but she didn’t resist when I leaned down to kiss her as hard as I’d thought about since she met me in front of her house. She wrapped her arms and legs around me, responding to my kiss with a moan.

“We have to hurry,” she gasped when I pulled away. “Take off your jeans.”

It sounded more a command than a request, and I was more than happy to do it. I moved away, reluctantly, to tug off my belt, then the jeans and briefs I had on underneath. By the time I was back to the bed, she’d removed her panties, and she was ripping open a condom packet. She kneeled on the edge of the bed as I stood beside it. She looked down at my erection and licked her lips, and I had to hold back from throwing her to the bed and taking her right then.

“We don’t want to make a mess,” she said as she smoothed the condom down my cock.

I chuckled, having forgotten where we were for a moment. But I couldn’t care less as I gasped at the feel of her hand stroking me.

“Enough,” I growled after letting her have her way for a little bit. I pulled her hand away from my cock and gently pushed her back to the bed. She went willingly, smiling up at me. I hesitated before getting back onto the bed. “You have to tell me right now if this is what you want, Jessica. I don’t want you regretting it afterward.”

But she just smiled at me and held her arms open for me. “You’re not the only one who’s been single too long, Ross. I promise. And this probably would have happened a lot sooner if I’d allowed us to talk things through earlier.”

It wasn’t as much reassurance as I wanted, but she was starting to look a little impatient. Tired of waiting, I joined her, kneeling in the space between her thighs. I wanted to take my time, at least to have a moment to look at her. But she was clearly at her limit, her hand reaching between us to grab my cock, her legs going around my hips and tugging me closer. I stayed still, braced above her, as she positioned the head of my cock at her entrance, and with a flex of her hips, I slid carefully, slowly, inside.

I groaned as I let myself stop fighting it. If she was sure, then I would meet her half way. I moved my hips in slow thrusts until I was seated inside her. Then her arms were around my neck, and she pressed our mouths together in a kiss as she moved her body underneath mine.

Our bodies rocked together, carefully, slowly. I wanted to move faster, to go harder, but I had to be conscious of where we were. Still, I reveled in it, in being so close to a warm body, and this was Jessica. I wrapped my arms around her waist, angling her hips so I could thrust deeper. Her moans and gasps were muffled in the kiss, her limbs tightening around me to the point of pain.

Then I felt her insides convulse around my cock as she came, and I climaxed right behind her, our bodies rocking slower and slower as we shuddered through an orgasm. Then we stalled, bodies spent. I knew I was heavy, that I should move off her so I wouldn’t crush her. But her limbs still held onto me, though weakly, and we stayed that way as we tried to catch our breaths. I was pretty sure we didn’t have time to relax, but neither of us tried to move.

“We’ll have to do this again sometime,” she whispered.

I chuckled, breathless. “Yeah,” I whispered back.

Hopefully, next time we did this, there would be no holding back, for either of us. I fucking hoped so; I’d been waiting for this moment from the instant I heard that she was back in town. I could wait longer, I knew that it would happen, and it was just a matter of time.