Her message camewith a slew of emojis, the last one being a smiley face surrounded with hearts. My chest tightened, and so did my stomach as I set the phone back down and dropped the laundry in the hamper. So shehadgotten the message.

Just seeing her name on my phone was enough to make me stand at attention again. I felt my dick swelling and gritted my teeth. I had to deal with this or I’d end up messing the sheets while I slept. So I adjusted the water to a nice, steamy temperature and stepped into the water, letting it drench my hair as I slid my hand across my cock.

I pictured Maggie’s smile as I leaned down to kiss her, her eyes fluttering shut. She tasted like wine, her kiss forceful and passionate. I stroked myself as I imagined her kissing down my neck and across my chest, her hands trailing down my sides as she lowered to her knees.

Her ruby lipstick left streaks across my skin down to my dick, where she took me into her mouth, her tongue like velvet. I stroked faster as her sucking became more fervent and her breasts brushed against my knees. As fast as the images appeared in my mind, they vanished, new ones replacing them, even hotter than the previous.

Maggie’s round ass bent over in front of me, and with one hand spreading herself tauntingly, she whispered filthy things to me. If only I could hear her voice as she begged me to fuck her. “Derek, I need you. Come fill my pussy.”

On the edge already, I slowed myself, wanting to enjoy it. The hot water lubed my hand, but nothing like the silky moisture of her pussy, and fuck, did I want that. I fantasized about sliding into her, how good it would feel when her strong muscles clenched around me as I made her come. What her voice would sound like when she called my name in the middle of an orgasm. Even what her face would look like if she could look me in the eye or if she’d have her eyes closed. And in that moment, I realized I wasn’t just fantasizing about her. I was craving her.

My orgasm hit me hard, almost doubling me over. I shot my load onto the glass shower door with a picture of her mouth agape, me inside her, pleasuring her. It nearly drained me, and I leaned against the shower wall for a moment as the twitches lingered and then faded. I rinsed the cum off the glass before washing up.

My cock stayed hard for at least five more minutes. The thought of having Maggie had worked me up so much, I could have gone again if I had less self-control. It wasn’t the first time I had done that—masturbated to thoughts of her. But it was the first time since she had returned to Yellow Springs that I’d done that. And now that it was done, all I could think was how fucking badly I wanted the real thing with her.

Dangerous.

I finished in the shower and dried off, wrapping the towel around my waist and grabbing my phone before venturing out for another beer and retiring to bed. I flicked the TV in the bedroom on and tuned in to the baseball game, Yankees at Yankee stadium in the top of the eighth. I wasn’t especially fond of baseball, but it wasn’t quite football season yet.

I felt better, more relaxed. The tension in my chest was gone, but my thoughts still clung to vivid images of Maggie bent over in front of me. I opened her message and read it over and over again, trying to discern whether there was some meaning behind the emojis she’d chosen—heart, smiley face, flower, smiley with hearts around it. I didn’t use emojis, and I didn’t text many people who did, so for all I knew, she was sending me a code.

The longer I lay there drinking my beer and watching baseball, the more I worked myself up to text her back. I typed up a huge message with the essential information. I wanted her really badly. I had played while thinking of her, and we should really connect. Then I deleted the entire thing because I thought better of it. I typed another message, a bit shorter this time but more tasteful.

I wrote how it had been so long and it would be nice to catch up with her alone sometime. How I loved recalling the memories we’d talked about. I thought it would communicate that I was definitely interested in those memories, but as my thumb hovered over theSendbutton, I opted forDeleteagain.

When I finally settled on a message to send her and followed through, it was much simpler. If I was going to do this thing, it had to be because I cared about her. I wasn’t—not even for a second—going to make her feel like an object or some sort of toy. Maggie had such a precious heart, and she deserved to be cherished.

Derek 9:56 PM:Glad you liked it. It was great catching up with you tonight, just like old times. See you at work Monday.

I followedthat with a winking emoji, and that was the amount of flirting I felt comfortable with. I felt the message communicated my thoughts well, even if I did have to fight back my more animalistic side to remain a gentleman.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Maggie

It was late.I knew Derek was waiting on me to finish so he could lock up and go home. Tammy had booked me this 6 p.m. appointment because the poor younger mother had work all day and had college classes right after that, but she was struggling with gestational diabetes and needed my coaching on how to structure her diet in order to balance her blood sugars. I had prepared well in advance, but she had so many questions, I couldn’t leave her hanging.

“And so you say I should get thirty to fifty carbs per meal. Does that include the fiber? I’m so confused.” She rubbed at the deep furrows in her forehead. I felt sorry for her. I had been diagnosed a type-two diabetic as a teenager, and I struggled with it until I got my diet right. I knew she’d be okay if we got her eating healthfully.

“Yes, that’s the norm, but you can have fewer as long as you are fueling your body with healthy things like cruciferous vegetables and legumes. Don’t eat refined sugars. Avoid breads and potatoes. You’ll get the hang of it. I have actually put together a meal plan for you here.” As I slid the laminated printout across my desk to her, I saw Derek peek into my office for the third time. He didn’t look upset, but I understood his subtle hint. He wanted to go soon.

“Hanah, I need to get you on your way now, but if you need more advice, you can feel free to call the office and ask any questions you have. If the ladies can’t help you, they’ll patch you through to me.” I stood, and she followed my lead, grabbing her jacket and purse and the printouts I’d given her.

“But I heard from a friend that moving to a warmer climate is good for your health." Hanah slid her arms into her jacket and draped the purse over her shoulder.

“That may be true, but it’s not going to do anything for your nutrition. I think that’s more to do with bad joints, arthritis, you know." She kept talking, and I walked around the end of my desk, hoping to encourage her toward the door.

“Oh, yeah. I understand that, but I mean Florida is so much better for growing your own food. I would love to have a huge garden all year round down there.”

“Did you see the damage from the recent storms?" Why did I say that? I wanted her to leave, and there I was continuing the conversation. I nudged her toward the door, but she only took one tentative backward step before responding.

“Oh, yeah, it’s probably one of the only reasons I haven’t made the move just yet." She laughed.

“It’s hard to think, whole neighborhoods completely wiped out, though. And there have probably been so many deaths because this is America and not even the weatherman can tell Americans what to do.”

“Why do you think that? The deaths, I mean.” Hanah tucked her purse beneath her armpit, gripping the strap that draped across her shoulder tightly.

“Well, because there are a lot of folks who move over from the central plains. They probably thought a hurricane was just like a big tornado. And you know what happens every time there’s a storm. Everyone just goes out to look at it. They probably don’t understand what the difference is. Makes me wonder, though, if now would be a good time to visit Disney World.”