Chapter 1

"How's it going, Harp?" It was my boss asking.

"The same as last week," I said with an overexagerrated sigh.

"And how are you, Yuki?" He turned to my intelligent coworker.

"OKay, Mr. Atwell," she replied.

"Joel. Call me Joel," he said for the 100th time since Yuki began working at the lab.

Yuki was a pretty Japanese firecracker and probably not a day over 25. I noticed Joel visited the lab a lot more often since Yuki worked here. I certainly didn't mind having such a beautiful coworker.

I was Harper Hunter. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they gave me that name. I went by Harp except of course when I was around my parents.

"Yuki and I are going to try a new synthesis."

We were zoologists and our current project was to create an attraction pheromone for the droopy-eyed belching badger. It was one of those animals that needed a little extra help attracting the chick badgers. I told Yuki our job was to give the badger a strong dose of Barry White and Yuki being young replied "Huh?".

I was only in my early 40s but Yuki, often unaware to her, gave me a strong sense that I was getting old. What most told me I was getting old was as of only a month ago my 15-year old daughter Zoe became a high school freshman. A high school freshman! How the hell did that happen? Where did the years go by?

Zoe looked so much like her mother. I lost Sandra to pneumonia when Zoe was only two. It's been hard at times but we've made it.

Joel said, "Keep going at it. You know that badger's not getting any sexier."

Yuki politely tittered at the worn out joke Joel said often. I didn't react. Joel needed more comic material.

"I'll check in on you later," Joel said.

I knew that was his way of saying, "I'll be around to check out Yuki again." I didn't fault him. If the roles were reversed, I'd be in the lab checking out Yuki as often as I could too.

Through the glass window I saw Joel greet Olivia who was Yuki's and my admin assistant. Joel used to check her out too. All the guys did until last month when she became Mrs. Olivia McIntyre. There was a lot of deflated testerone in the various labs of this building after that. That included me too. I was a man. I couldn't help fantasizing about being with a sexy brunette like Olivia but she was now taken. There was still Yuki but honestly I thought professionally of her despite her beauty. Mostly.

Yuki and I slipped into our work talking about hormomes and chemicals and everything we could think of to help turn our little endangered badger into Don Juan. Yuki didn't know who he was either. How can anyone graduate from college and not know who Barry White and Don Juan were? Education had really gone down the toilet since I was in school. Yuki really knew the stuff she was hired for so that was what was most important. Learning to laugh at my humor attempts was extra and not mandatory.

Around noon I suggested we break for lunch but Yuki was mentally engaged and didn't want to stop at the moment. She could get that way sometimes. She had a lot of passion in her work. She was a little too passionate and often worked late to the detriment of any possible social life. She'd meet the right guy and change eventually. I was a lot like that when I was young like Yuki.

I went out of the lab and greeted Olivia.

"How's married life treating you? What is it? A month now? You're practically an old married woman now?"

"It's wonderful," she sighed dreamily. "Jayden is the most incredible man in the world."

I wasnt sure what was more sickening: How sappy she got talking about Jayden or that there was actually a man with the name Jayden who snagged such a hot woman.

"How is the report coming along?"

"Which one?"

I suppressed a snide comment. Olivia was competent but at times I wondered if she was actually a dumb blonde beneath her brown tresses.

"The list of combinations Yuki and I have already tried. I need to justify a new purchase order."

"Half way done."

"Okay."

If Olivia had been the receptionist in the front office before she married, no work would have ever gotten done because all the men would have hung around her desk. I noticed traffic from the other labs dropped way down since she became Mrs. McIntyre.

I glanced at her tits. At least a size D. There was no chance of knowing exactly how big they were now not that I ever thought I had a chance of getting her into bed.

"So any thoughts of children?" I asked.

"Why does everyone ask that? We just got married."

"It sounds too blunt to ask someone how they love the sex," I joked.

She smiled broadly. "It's awesome!"

"For him or you?" I dared to probe.

"Yes."

"Good for you," I said, " ... and him."

I opened my desk and checked my cellphone. There was a message from Zoe. She shouldn't be texting while at school.

Zoe message said, "Can I have a slumber party?"

Tonight? It was a school night. No way.

I sent back, "When?"

In seconds I received. "Fri nxt mth"

Next month? Why was she asking now?

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to school? This question could have waited."

"History. Boring. So?"

"Ok."

"Thx, ILY, Daddy!"

I finally could remember "ILY" meant "I love you" without having to think about it.

I came home from work and Zoe's best friend was here.

"Can Lyla stay for dinner?" Zoe asked before I even had a chance to put my work stuff on the kitchen counter. "I made enough."

"Sure."

Zoe squealed happily. Why did she still do that? Not only was she 15 but I almost never said "no".

My motivation to say "yes" just about every time was not just because Lyla was Zoe's best friend. That was reason enough but I had another reason. Lyla was 15, the same age as Zoe, but Lyla had developed. Damn, she had developed! She had the shape and figure of a young adult woman but packaged in the thinner body and younger face of her age. I hate to admit it but I often had very naughty thoughts about that blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl. She and Zoe didn't seem to notice how often I looked at Lyla. I no doubt would have to jack off this evening. I hated that I felt like a dirty old man but I was a man. What could I do? I couldn't just turn my sexual interests off even if the female was the same age as my daughter. Sexy was sexy no matter the age.

Zoe made meatloaf which gave me trepidation. The last time she made meatloaf which was the first time she ever made meatloaf, it was awful. I was not the type of person not to eat what was on my plate but I hadn't hidden food in a napkin since I was a child.

I fiddled with my salad eating it slowly and watched Zoe and Lyla's expressions when they took a bite. They did all the talking, mostly about school, while I asked an occasional question to show I was listening and interested which I was. It also gave me an excuse to look directly at Lyla.

I finally got up the nerve to taste the meatloaf. The immediate flavor said "not bad". It wasn't bad at all.

"Much better, Zoe," I said, holding a forkful up.

"Thanks, Daddy." She let out that brilliant smile.

It was the same smile that drew me to Sandra. Zoe hadn't grown up around Sandra since she was so young when her mom died but there were little things Zoe did that so reminded me of Sandra like the way she stood while waiting. It was just a little jutting of the hip that Sandra did that always looked so sexy to me for no rational reason. I didn't like thinking my daughter was sexy but reason allowed me to accept she liked boys and boys liked her. It was the standard lament for any father who had a daughter. I knew how boys thought and they didn't think about keeping Zoe's purity intact. The thing was boys never grow out of it. I had no regard for Lyla's purity or Mrs. Olivia McIntyre's marital purity or for any other female I found sexually attractive. I was this way since puberty and it was 30 years later. I was just as horny now and I was sure I would be this way until the day they buried me in the ground.

I took a second serving of meatloaf.

I excused Zoe from helping with the dishes so she could spend time with Lyla before her friend needed to leave.