Chapter 1

Elaine Simon sat on her porch on a warm Sunday afternoon, watching her two children play in a large, homemade sandbox. Little Jimmy, with the red hair like his father, was four and his brother, Todd, who looked more like her, was almost two. Both boys were rambunctious, with Jimmy being the type "A" personality of the two and always wanting to get his own way. It seemed that she was constantly scolding him for taking things from his younger brother. It was a chore keeping up with the two them, especially working ten-hour days at the law firm where she was a paralegal. It would have helped if the children's father were around some of the time. As it was, it seemed like she was a single parent.

John, Elaine's husband, traveled across the country for his engineering company, testing structural integrity and building bridges. He was away for weeks at a time; much of it spent in California where the company was re-building a bridge that was destroyed in a flood. On his current trip, he had been away for several weeks, but was supposed to come home next week.

While he always complained about the travel and long hours, lately Elaine was beginning to think that he preferred to be away from home. His reluctance to be home seemed to have started after Todd was born. Nowadays, even when he was home, John often acted preoccupied and didn't seem to have time for her or the children anymore. And, while his job had always been important to him, it literally took all of his time now. Unfortunately, their personal relationship and sex life had suffered greatly.

It hadn't always been like that though. The two of them had met in high school and fell in love. They had continued to date through college. It took John five years to finish but Elaine had stayed with him and, much to her parent's disapproval, they married the following year.

Elaine's Mom thought that she could do better than John. It seemed that John and her had gotten off on the wrong foot from the very beginning and it had only gone down hill in the years since.

However, Elaine was happy to say that financially, John had proved her mother wrong. They had a nice house in an upper middle class neighborhood and belonged to a country club. They had delayed having children until they were more financially stable. However, now at 35 with two young children, Elaine wondered if waiting had been a good idea. They would be in their fifties when the children finally went off to college. Some of her friends were still in their forties and their children were already in college, leaving them young enough to enjoy being "empty-nesters".

Elaine sighed as she watched Jimmy steal a sand shovel from his brother. "Jimmy, give it back," she said, giving her son a perturbed look. When he didn't respond she got up and scolded him, giving the shovel back to his brother. She was still bending over the sandbox when she heard a whistle from behind. She stood up quickly and spun around. Her face turned bright red when she saw the attractive black man standing with his hands on his hips and a big smile on his face.

Derrick James had worked with Elaine for the past two years. He was a young, black and upcoming attorney for the law firm, Billings, Bradley and Murphy where they both worked. Elaine's job was to support him and two other attorneys by preparing legal briefs and keeping track of their court dates... which was no easy task. All of the attorney's she worked for could be very demanding. However, of the three, Derrick was by far the nicest. He was handsome, with bright white teeth that almost sparkled when he smiled. He was tall, at six foot three, and had the build of a football player at two hundred and twenty pounds. In fact, he had played football for his college before going on to law school. He graduated at the top of his class. He turned thirty several months ago.

"Wow, I've never seen you wear those shorts to work," Derrick said teasingly.

Elaine was still blushing when she said, "You're early." She had planned to change into something a little more appropriate before he got there. He had caught her wearing a tee shirt and pair of old and very tight white shorts. "I'll go change."

"You don't need to do that for me," Derrick smiled as he appraised the pretty woman.

Elaine self-consciously brushed her short hair back and tried to control the little tremor of excitement that was suddenly coursing through her. At work, there had always been an underlying sexual tension that neither of them had acknowledged. This was the first time they had met outside of the office and it felt strange.

Derrick stood with his hands on his hips and stared at Elaine.

Elaine was shocked when she felt her nipples harden. She saw Derrick's eyes drop to her chest. Suddenly she felt the urge to cross her arms over her chest. However, that would have made her discomfort obvious. She wished that she had changed earlier.

Normally Elaine was immaculately dressed. She took great pride in her appearance. She was five foot two and trim, and had a good shape, even after having two children. Sometimes she found it difficult to find clothes that fit her and in fact, often shopped in the junior's section of clothing stores. If a dress fit her around the hips, it was too tight at the top. Her breasts were already large but after two children they had grown by several cup sizes. Still, they sagged very little and she could go without a bra when she wanted to. Her legs and rear were her best assets and she worked hard in her basement gym to keep them that way. That took quite an effort after gaining thirty-five pounds during both pregnancies. Beyond that, Elaine knew she had a pretty smile and that her large blue eyes contrasted well with her short black hair and almost milky white skin.

Derrick saw that Elaine was embarrassed and said, "I'm sorry I embarrassed you. But you look great. I didn't exactly get dressed up myself," he said, pointing to the fact that he had on a sleeveless shirt and a pair of jogging shorts with running shoes. "I lost track of time on my afternoon jog and didn't have time to change."

Elaine found her eyes scanning down Derrick's body. His dark skin still glistened from his jog and his white shirt was wet with sweat. He had on a pair of jogging shorts that were very short on his thighs. The muscles in his strong legs were well-defined... attesting to his regular ten-mile jogs. In spite of her embarrassment, Elaine's eyes lingered on the crotch of Derrick's shorts. A tremor went through her when she saw a very noticeable bulge there. When she glanced up, she saw him staring at her. "Uh... I'll get the briefs," she stammered. "Can you watch the boys for a minute?"

"Love too."

Elaine turned and hurried into the house. She paused once inside to catch her breath. She couldn't believe the affect Derrick was having on her. Sure they often bantered with sexual overtones at work but the feelings that went through her today were different. She willed her beating heart to slow down as she hurried to her office to find the legal brief she had finished typing for Derrick.

When Elaine returned to the porch, she paused at the screen door. She saw Derrick sitting on the side of the sandbox playing with the two boys. They seemed to be having fun. She watched as the handsome man helped the two boys build a sandcastle. A smile came to her face. She knew that he loved kids and wanted lots of them. Then she remembered his situation and the smile changed to a frown. Derrick had lost his girlfriend three years ago in a car accident. She had been pregnant at the time. He still carried a picture of the pretty blond woman in his wallet. While Elaine hadn't known him when the accident occurred, she could see the pain in his eyes, even after three years, when he spoke of her.

The boys finished the castle and Derrick said, "Alright, who wants to smash it."

Both boys giggled with Jimmy jumping up and preparing to stomp the pile of sand.

"Whoa, let's let the little guy have a shot too," Derrick said, holding Jimmy back with one hand and leaning over to help Todd to his feet. The action forced Derrick's legs apart and his shorts pulled up.

Elaine's eyes opened wide. Suddenly she could see up the leg of Derrick's jogging shorts. Her hand flew to her mouth to suppress a gasp of surprise. She could see his penis and balls. It was dark but she could plainly see his long shaft and the two large and round spheres below. Her legs grew weak and she could feel her sex lips swelling as juice leaked into her shorts. It had been a long, long time since she had felt this kind of excitement. She stared until Derrick shifted his legs and she couldn't see anything anymore. Her face flushed with embarrassment at her voyeuristic indiscretion. Steadying herself she opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

Derrick looked back and smiled, then turned back to the boys. "Alright, Todd, gets to go first."

The younger boy squealed and stomped his foot down on the castle. A second later Jimmy was jumping in, both boys now screaming in glee as they destroyed their creation.

Elaine sat down on the porch swing and waited for Derrick, watching him smile with childish joy as the boys ran in circles in the sandbox.

Finally Derrick stood up and brushed the sand off his hands and then his shorts. "Alright, you guys can start again. I want to see how well you can do by yourselves." With that he turned and walked up the wooden steps to Elaine.

She handed him the stack of papers and he sat on the swing beside her.

He was silent for a few minutes as he flipped through pages. "Looks good," he finally said.

Elaine almost jumped when she felt Derrick's warm thigh touch hers. She looked down and was startled by the contrast of colors. His skin was dark, almost black, and hers was the exact opposite, creamy white. Another tremor of excitement went through her and goose bumps appeared on her legs.