Page 24 of Second Round

“No! I mean the way I’m attracted to him. It’s almost overwhelming. I hardly know him, and I wanted to have sex with him, right there in thekitchen.”

“Mmmm, I am so happy to hear you say this. You’ve been strangely asexual formonths.”

I shook my head. “What’s it like? Having sex with someone new. The last time I took my clothes off with a new person, I had a fabulous twenty-something body. All firm parts andflawlessskin.”

“Yeah, but did you know that then? In our twenties we all agonized about tiny food babies or a single zit. Now if I get up and nothing new sags, I’m throwing a fuckingparty.”

“You’re right. I felt like I was getting more confidence as I got older, until....” Until Brent left. My life these days could be divided into two parts: Before Brent Left and After Brent Left. But when Leo had touched me, it wakened all my buried senses. If he could do that by touching my hands and hair, imagine what his hands on my body could do. But taking off my clothes in front of a stranger was still daunting. Things had changed while I was married. Even naked bodies were differentthesedays.

“Can we talk about shaving?” Iasked.

Sharon’s hand flew to her upper lip. “Fuck. Am I turning into myNonna? Why didn’t you tell mebefore?”

I giggled. “Not you. I mean me. Do guys expect women to have full Brazilians these days? I’ve never done that stuff.” I trimmed because otherwise Brent complained about going down on me. But that hadn’t been necessarylately.

“You’re in luck. I heard that the bush is back.” She had a big sip of her wine. “You know that guys shave now too,right?”

I winced. Hairless made me think of Greek statues, not real men. “I heard about that, but I thought it was onlyyoungguys.”

She nodded. “Yeah, most guys our age won’t go near their balls with a razor. However, if it makes their dicks look bigger, sometimes they’ll taketherisk.”

“In fairness, women go through a lot of pain to make themselves look good. Still, why bother? Once I’m naked with a man, it’s not like I’m going to change my mind because of some optical illusion that his penis islarger.”

Sharon giggled. “Have you not learned that when it comes to penises, guys don’t do a ton of logicalthinking?”

I tried to imagine Leo naked. It wasn’t hard since I had already seen him half-naked. Would he be shaved? His chest was smooth, firm, and muscular. What would it feel like to run my hand over those muscles? Lick off those tiny droplets of water and then suck on hislittle—

Sharon interrupted my fantasies. “Jackie, you’re mouth-breathing. This guy’s got you hornyasfuck.”

“Unnngh. Leo’s body is so incredible. Brent in his prime was not builtlikethat.”

“When are yougoingout?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Fuck, yeah. You two don’t wasteanytime.”

I laughed. “I don’t have time to waste. There are only a few days I don’thavekids.”

“It is possible to get babysittersyouknow.”

I sipped my wine. It had been a while since I’d needed a babysitter. I could ask my parents, but that was a two-hour drive. Post-divorce dating was going to take a lot ofplanning.

“So he’s hot? Did he used to play hockey?” Sharon picked up her phone. “Let’s find out. What’s hislastname?”

“Gauthier.” I spelled it out in case I wasn’t pronouncing it right. “He’s French-Canadian. He has this tiny accent when he saysTHwords.It’shot.”

“Oh my God. You’re worse than Kayla. She’s got a crush on a guy named Ivan, and that’s all I’ve been hearing about. Ivan does this and that, and it’ssohot.”

“At least she tells you. Hannah never tells me if she has a crush onanyone.”

“Leo Gauthier. He’s a cutie pie. You have good taste, Jackie.” She scrolled on. “Hmmm, he’s a big deal coaching prospect apparently. Smart too, for a hockey guy. He’s got a Masters degree in psychology. And... oh, no fucking way! He’s 35yearsold.”

My eyebrows shot up. No wonder his body looked so good—he was still young and full of testosterone and collagen. “Well, that’s it. I can’t go out with someone who’s seven years youngerthanme.”

“Whynot?”

“Because I’m not a cougar. Besides, it’s too weird, I could have been his—” I paused. Biologically, I couldn’t have been his mother. “—uh,babysitter.”

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