Chapter 1

The story really starts with me getting dumped by my girlfriend, by text message! It’s a bit of a shitty thing to do, but to be honest the relationship was on the way out and had been for weeks. The only reason I hadn’t dumped her first was because the sex was so great. Shallow of me, I admit, but there it is.

I’m Jack, by the way. I’m a self-employed electrician and I’ll be twenty-eight next month. Physically I’m five-ten and a hundred and fifty pounds with black, curly hair and blue eyes. My mum says I look Irish and I guess she’s right; three out of four of my grandparents were from the Emerald Isle. She also says I’m drop-dead handsome, which isn’t quite so true. I’m pretty average really, in all departments. And yes, there too. I’m not hung like a donkey or anything, more’s the pity.

Not that Liz ever complained. She’s my girlfriend, or rather was. We met when the main fuse box in her house blew up and I put a new one in. I ended up inviting her to stay at my flat while she had no electricity and she said ok and that was how it started. I should add that I don’t make a habit of seducing my customers. It’s not great for business.

That was eighteen months ago and here I was, just after midday, in the local Multiplex Cinema sipping a Costa coffee and playing with my mobile phone while I waited for Liz. She works on Saturday mornings so I’d come independently. I was also checking out the lady at the table in front of me. Well, you do, don’t you? Especially if your permanent relationship is headed for the rocks. Also, we were the only two people in the cafeteria area. In fact apart from a few staff, we were practically the only people in the whole cinema and I wondered, not for the first time, how these places ever returned a profit. Anyway, I digress. The lady at the table in front of me was facing the other way and all I could see was a big mass of blonde hair above a narrow back in a floral-patterned blouse. I think she was playing with her mobile phone too because her elbows were twitching.

That was when I got the text from Liz saying that she was very sorry but she wasn’t coming to the cinema and would not, in fact, be seeing me anymore. She said that she’d had a wonderful time and had many happy memories but now was the time to move on. Well, fair do’s I thought. That’s that, then. Except that the film we’d come to watch was distinctly on the girlie spectrum and I’d got two tickets. I was debating whether or not to just go home when there was a choking noise from the table in front. I looked over, briefly wondering whether the mystery lady had choked on her coffee. But her shoulders were shaking and I realised she was crying and trying to stifle it. It was none of my business, but I hate to see people upset and anyway I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress so I got up and went over to her table.

‘Are you ok?’ I asked, which was a pretty stupid opener because she was sobbing into her hands, which were clasped over her face and I noticed, incidentally, that she wore no rings and her fingers were very long and tapered.

She looked around at me and I almost started with surprise because I’d got her pegged as someone in their thirties and this lady was much older. Late fifties. Maybe more. And she was wearing black-framed glasses and her makeup had run and she looked a bit of a mess. She gulped and took a deep breath. ‘That’s very kind of you but I’m fine, really.’

I hesitated, about to go back to my seat. ‘Look, let me get you a fresh coffee. I’m having one myself anyway so it’s no trouble.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, weakly and gulped again. I went over to the counter and ordered two medium lattes and tried to look anywhere but over at her table. The drinks came and I took them over and put one down in front of her and stood hesitating again. She looked up at me and tried to smile. ‘That’s very kind of you.’

‘I didn’t get any sugar,’ I said, lamely.

‘That’s fine,’ she replied.

‘Is there anything else I can do?’ I asked, feeling rather inadequate. Then a thought struck me and I delved into my pocket and brought out a clean and pressed white cotton handkerchief. And in case you thinks that’s odd, I always use cotton handkerchiefs instead of tissues and I have a clean one every day and I always iron them after they’ve been washed. I’m not OCD or anything. It’s just something I do. And now I offered it to the lady sitting at the table and it was her turn to hesitate but then she took it and said, ‘Thank you,’ and took off her glasses and mopped her eyes and looked at the handkerchief.

‘I’m sorry, I’ve got eye makeup all over it.’

I sat down by her. ‘Don’t worry. Keep it. I’ve got loads. My relations always buy me handkerchiefs for Christmas.’ She looked at me and we both laughed and then she sobbed again and I sat quietly while she got herself back under control. Eventually she took a deep breath.

‘I’m sorry to make all this fuss. I hope you’re not missing your film.’

‘To be honest,’ I told her, ‘I’m in two minds as to whether I want to see it.’ She looked faintly puzzled. ‘I was going to see it with my girlfriend but she’s dumped me.’

‘Well if you’ve come to the cinema you must have wanted to see it.’

‘Not really,’ I said. ‘I came to the cinema to meet her. She only dumped me fifteen minutes ago.’

The lady stared at me. ‘Really?’ She glanced at her phone. ‘About the same time as me.’ It was my turn for the puzzled stare. ‘The man I was supposed to be meeting texted me and said he wasn’t coming and wouldn’t be seeing me again.’ She dabbed at her eyes with my now bedraggled-looking handkerchief.

‘Oh, I see,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry. What film were you going to see?’

‘The romantic comedy, of all things.’

‘Me too,’ I said, dismally. ‘I brought the tickets in advance.’

‘Well at least I didn’t do that.’ She gave me a weak smile and I smiled back and we looked at each other. ‘Look,’ I said, eventually, I’ve got a spare ticket now, so if you fancy seeing the film ... It might cheer you up. Might cheer both of us up.’

She paused, just for a second or two, looking at the table, then at me. ‘Thank you. I accept your kind offer.’ She held out her hand. ‘I’m Linda.’

‘Jack,’ I said, taking it and feeling her soft fingers and noticing the faint brown marks on the back of her hand.

She stood up suddenly, taking a short, chocolate brown raincoat off the back of her chair. ‘I must look terrible. Would you mind if I popped to the ladies and did something about my appearance?’ I didn’t protest; her hair was in disarray and her eye makeup was all over her face and her tears had made tracks in her face powder.

I waited fifteen minutes and was just beginning to wonder if she’d changed her mind and left when she appeared behind me and I stood up and turned to her and got my second surprise of the day. She looked good. Her hair was brushed and shining, her makeup had been repaired and she’d put some lipstick on and I saw what I had failed to notice before, that she was an attractive woman with aquiline features and serious grey eyes. She had a rather long face and a straight, narrow nose, with flaring nostrils. Her mouth was generous with full lips, but the marks of age were there: crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes and faint lines down her cheeks and on her upper lip. She was tall and slender with narrow hips and a shallow bust. Elegant is how I would have described her. Elegant and mature. And that is a combination that has always had the power to turn my stomach to jelly and make the blood race to my penis. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So that’s how Linda Parker and I first met and how we ended up sitting together in those ultra-comfortable reclining seats and watching a more than ordinarily silly rom com and laughing a bit too loudly and a bit too much. I sneaked a few looks at her during the film, although it was dark and I couldn’t see much. Once she caught me scrutinising her and I flushed with embarrassment in the gloom.

After the credits had scrolled down the screen we stood up and made our way out of the Multiplex and stood at the edge of the carpark. The wind was tossing Linda’s hair about and she kept brushing it out of her face. She was wearing tailored jeans and high-heels and her legs were good and I felt a surge of desire, which was crazy because we’d only just met. But I do have this thing about older ladies, particularly ones like Linda. So the last thing I wanted was to say goodbye and never see her again.

‘I’m going to get some lunch while I’m here,’ I told her. There are about a half-dozen food outlets scattered around the cinema complex. ‘I’d be delighted if you’d join me.’

‘Well that’s very kind of you, Jack, but I’m not sure I’d be very good company. And anyway, you don’t want an old stick like me with you, do you?’

‘You’re not an old stick,’ I protested, ‘and actually, I think we could both cheer each other up. So yes, I would like to have lunch with you.’ I chose the Mexican, which was as empty as the cinema had been. We sat at a window table with a romantic view of the carpark and ordered drinks. I had a beer and Linda had a soft drink.

We sat at that table for the best part of two hours, ordering coffee after we’d finished the food and then more coffee. And I discovered that my elegant, mature lady was also a gentle and kind and interesting personality. She told me that she’d looked after her mother for many years, although she didn’t say what was wrong with her. She said that this had pretty much prevented her from having a normal relationship with anyone. But her mother had passed away six months ago and Linda told me that she was actively trying to meet new people, by which I assumed she meant boyfriends.

‘I’d have thought they’d be beating a path to your door. You’re a very attractive lady,’ I added, a bit shyly.

She smiled, showing strong, white teeth. ‘Well they’re not, whoever “they” are. The thing is, Jack, I’m not very worldly. I’ve been in this cocoon for the past thirty years and, well ... men seem to want someone more sophisticated. I get one date and then nothing. Anyway, tell me about you.’

So I told her about Liz and my job as an electrician and what I did in my spare time, which was mainly walking and reading, and the next thing we knew it was five o’clock and the place was starting to fill up with early evening diners. I signalled for the bill but when the waiter arrived Linda insisted on paying. A few minutes later we were back in the carpark, that pre-parting awkwardness between us.

‘Thank you for lunch,’ I said. ‘It’s been really nice meeting you.’ It sounded a bit mechanical to me.

‘And you,’ she smiled, and there was an awkward silence.

‘I’d like to see you again,’ I said, suddenly, to fill the silence. Linda looked uncertain. ‘Look,’ I continued, ‘would you like to go for a walk one day, in the Peaks? Maybe take some lunch or something.’ The town we lived in was on the eastern edge of the Peak District National Park.

‘Thank you,’ she said after a short pause. ‘It’s kind of you to ask me and yes, I would like to.’ We arranged to meet at the bus station the following Saturday. Linda suggested this and I didn’t demur; she was probably right not to give me her address. Then, slightly incongruously, we shook hands and went our separate ways.

I thought a lot about Linda over the next week. I wondered whether she’d turn up on Saturday. We hadn’t exchanged mobile numbers so if she didn’t, that was that. But I had the feeling that Linda wouldn’t want to let someone down; she was too kind for that. And she knew what rejection was like. And that puzzled me because I found her very attractive, she was just my sort of mature fantasy: tall, slim, elegant, well dressed.

I will confess to a few butterflies as I drove to the bus station early the following Saturday morning, and when I saw her standing there my stomach did a little flip and my mouth went dry. I stopped and got out and we said hello. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she was wearing walking trousers and she had a small knapsack with her and I thought she looked ravishing. I put her knapsack in the boot with mine and we were on our way.

We chatted easily as I drove. I asked her about her week and she asked me about mine and we talked about our favourite walks in the Peaks and in what seemed no time at all we were at Edale, and the start of the Pennine Way. It was late April and the trees and hedges were just coming into leaf and there was a smell of May blossom in the air, though it was cool and we both wore walking jackets, hers a deep red. It got cooler as we climbed to the Kinder Plateau and the wind picked up. Above us buzzards wheeled and cried to each other and the wind soughed through the heather. There were few people about and the track was wide, allowing us to walk side by side. I can’t remember all the things we talked about that day. I told her about my family and my friends and my hopes and aspirations; she told me about her childhood in the south and that she had played the violin in an orchestra when she was younger. There was an air of sadness about her. Maybe she was contemplating the lost opportunities, the years spent caring for her mother when she might have been raising a family.

We stopped at the Kinder Downfall for our lunch, finding a sheltered spot behind a boulder, off the main track of the Pennine Way. The sun had come out by this time and we sat with our backs to the rock and felt the warmth on our faces as we ate our sandwiches and drank coffee from a thermos flask that I’d brought. Afterwards we both felt a bit drowsy and Linda leaned against me. I was starting to think this was a come-on when I realised she’d fallen asleep, so I sat there, feeling her next to me, for five or ten minutes until she opened her eyes and looked round at me.

‘Oh gosh, I’m sorry, Jack. I fell asleep. It’s all this fresh air and exercise.’ She seemed then to realise she was leaning against me and she straightened up with another apology.

‘Don’t apologise,’ I said and, leaning over, kissed her gently on the lips, keeping the contact for a couple of seconds. Her lips felt soft and dry. She didn’t really return the kiss but she made no move to pull away. I broke the kiss and looked at her.

‘Sorry, couldn’t resist it,’ I explained. ‘I do find you very attractive, Linda.’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I thought you did.’ She paused. ‘And I think you’re attractive too, and good company. But ... I’m so much older than you, Jack.’

We got up and stretched and continued our walk, side by side, as before. Except that there was now a little touch of awkwardness after my attempt to kiss her. We avoided eye contact as we walked and the conversation seemed stilted compared to previously and I wished I hadn’t been so stupid. Eventually we came to the narrow gorge that leads down into the Vale of Edale and we stopped and looked down at the toy houses below us and a miniature train running along the valley floor.

‘It’s so beautiful up here,’ said Linda. ‘Thank you for bringing me.’ She turned to face me, her arms by her side and I held out my arms and she came to me and we kissed, tilting our heads to engage our lips fully. And this time Linda responded, working her mouth against mine, and I felt her warmth and wetness and the taste of her and my heart raced and my penis stirred in my trousers and I felt the sun come out from behind a cloud and bathe us in a warm glow, although it might just have been my imagination. I made no attempt to French kiss her; I wanted things to progress slowly and surely, if they were to progress at all.

I think that first, proper kiss lasted about five minutes and after our mouths broke apart I hugged her to me and she hugged me back and I felt the press of her small breasts through our clothes. Then, without saying anything, we descended into the valley and came back to my car in the station carpark.

I didn’t drop Linda off at the bus station; that would have been silly. She directed me to her house, a surprisingly big detached Victorian villa on the outskirts of the town, and I pulled into her forecourt and switched off the engine. We kissed again before she got out but kissing in a car is awkward and it was not much more than a brief meeting of lips.

‘Thank you for a simply wonderful day,’ she said. ‘I won’t ask you in, the place is a mess and I’ve got things to do.’ My spirits, which had begun to soar as we drove to her house now plunged. It must have shown in my face because she smiled her kind smile. ‘But I wondered if you’d like to come for dinner one night this week.’ We settled on Wednesday and I drove back to my flat on cloud nine.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time getting ready on Wednesday evening. Way more than I’d ever spent getting ready for Liz, or any of the others. I went out and bought some flowers and a half-decent bottle of red wine and I had a long bath and a wet shave and even dabbed a bit of cologne on my face. At seven o’clock I presented myself at her door in pressed chinos and a short-sleeved shirt.

Linda opened the door and I gave her the flowers and she gave me a huge smile and led me into her big kitchen at the back of the house. She was wearing a sleeveless, floral summer dress and her legs were bare and very slim and shapely. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been given such lovely flowers!’ She invited me to sit at the kitchen table while she fussed around with vases and scissors. Then she picked up the bottle of wine. ‘Pinot Noir! You clever thing! It’s my favourite. Would you like a glass?’ I said I’d just have a glass with dinner as I was driving so she got me a soft drink and we chatted while she finished cooking dinner. ‘Do you mind if we eat in here?’ she asked. ‘The dining room’s still full of mum’s stuff that I haven’t got round to chucking out.’ There was a note of sadness in her voice.

The meal was a slow-roasted joint of beef and it was delicious. Afterwards she produced a homemade cheesecake and by the time we’d done justice to that I was feeling full and mellow. We loaded the dishwasher and she picked up the half bottle of wine that was left. ‘Shall we go into the lounge? It’s more comfortable than in here.’

The lounge was tastefully decorated with oil paintings on the wall and a thick, pearl-grey carpet and a matching leather suite. I looked round admiringly. ‘Nice.’

‘Do you like it? I’ve been doing the rooms one by one since mum died and I’ve just finished this one.’ We sat down on a three-seater settee in front of a big flat-screen TV, about a foot and a half between us. ‘You seem very far away,’ she said. I slid over and put my arm around her and she melted into my embrace and our lips met and I kissed her and she kissed me back and after a couple of minutes I slid my tongue tentatively between her lips and she opened her mouth to accept it and I felt her tongue and her teeth and tasted her saliva and felt her lips mash against mine, sweet and warm and wet and I thought I had never had such an exciting kiss before and I wanted it to go on forever.

As we kissed I put my other arm around her and I felt her arms go around me, her hands on the back of my neck and I stroked her hair, which was soft and silky, and ran my hand down the ridges of her spine and she shivered a bit and kissed me harder and I felt her small breasts press against me again through the thin fabric of her dress and my cock began to harden.

Linda was breathing heavily when our mouths parted. I think I was too. Certainly my heart was racing with desire. God, I wanted this woman so much! She looked at me, her pupils dilated with emotion and I looked at her and we went into another passionate embrace, this one even more frenzied than the last.

Suddenly she broke our embrace and sat back suddenly against the back of the settee. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked, with some alarm.

‘Yes. No. Look Jack, can we talk, before we go too far?’

‘Of course,’ I said, wondering where this was leading and fearing the worst.

‘I want to be very straight with you,’ she began. ‘I like you very much and I think you like me but... ‘ She paused, marshalling her thoughts. ‘I probably seem like a mature and sophisticated and experienced woman to you, but I’m not really. Well, I suppose I’m mature ... But I’m really very inexperienced for somebody of my age. I mean I’m not a virgin but ... Well, it’s been years since something like this happened. I was in my early thirties, and he wasn’t very experienced either and it was all a bit of a disaster and I didn’t want you to be disappointed... ‘ She tailed off and tears welled in her eyes and my heart went out to her and I reached for her hand and stroked it and smiled at her. Linda’s mouth suddenly dropped open as a thought occurred to her. ‘Oh God! I just assumed you wanted to, you know... ‘ Her cheeks flushed pink and made her look ridiculously pretty.

‘Yes,’ I said, meeting her eyes. ‘I do want to go to bed with you. More than anything else.’ Now the tears rolled down her cheeks and I produced another pristine handkerchief and solemnly handed it over and she dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. ‘The age thing doesn’t worry you?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said, slowly, ‘it doesn’t. Not if you’re ok with it. But it might matter in the future,’ she said, enigmatically. ‘I’m sixty-two, in case you were wondering.’

I didn’t offer my age. Instead I kissed her again and this time it was less frenetic, slower, more sensual, as I explored her and tasted her and stroked her neck and back and arms. She tentatively slipped her tongue into my mouth and I gently sucked on it and felt her shiver in my arms again. ‘Do you want to go upstairs?’ I whispered softly into her ear.

‘Yes,’ she said, very quietly, and we stood up and she went out into the hallway and I followed her up the stairs, noting the sway of her hips in her dress and the elegance of her bare legs with their slim ankles. Upstairs she went into the front bedroom. It was the beginning of May and nearly ten o’clock in the evening and the only light in the room came from the sodium street lights in the road outside. She stood by the bed and we kissed again and I felt for the zipper of her dress and drew it slowly down to the small of her back. Breaking our kiss I pulled the dress gently off her narrow shoulders. Linda steadied herself with a hand on my arm as she stepped out of the dress and stood before me in just a plain white bra and matching panties. I kissed her again and again she shivered, although it was warm in the room after the day’s sun through the big bay window. I stroked her bare skin, feeling her heat, and smelled the faint aroma of her scent. She stood passively as I reached behind her and unclasped her bra and drew it down over her arms.

It was nearly dark in the room but there was enough light to see that she had small, pert breasts with dark areolae and nipples. I cupped one of her breasts, running my fingertip over the nipple, which was stiff and excited. ‘I’m sorry they’re small,’ she said.

‘They’re perfect.’ I leaned my head down and took a nipple in my mouth and she clutched my head to her chest, twining her fingers in my hair. I could feel her heart racing and hear her breathing, short and shallow and I was worried that she was anxious. ‘Are you ok?’ I asked, straightening up.

‘A bit nervous,’ she admitted, softly, ‘but very ok.’

‘If you want to stop, just tell me.’ In reply she put her arms around me and gave me a big hug. Then she crawled onto the bed and lay waiting for me. I undressed quickly, resisting the urge to tear my clothes off but not wishing it to look like a striptease. I hesitated before taking my Y-fronts off but my erection was uncomfortable in them so they joined the rest of our clothes on the floor and I crawled onto the bed and lay next to Linda.

I wanted more than anything for this to be a great experience for her. A sensational experience. So I went as slowly as I could, stroking her silky hair, her smooth, soft skin, kissing her gently on her lips and cheeks and neck, gently taking her breasts in my hand, squeezing gently, feeling their softness and stroking my fingers over her nipples. Linda’s breathing was audible in the stillness of the darkened room and occasionally she would give a little gasp as I took a nipple between finger and thumb and massaged the little buds. After a long time I moved my head down and sucked a nipple into my mouth, licking and suckling the little nub, gently taking it between my teeth and feeling her muscles tauten as she arched her back and pressed her fingers into my neck and shoulders until I could feel her nails pressing into my flesh.

There was no doubt that she was extremely excited. So was I. My penis was a rigid pole, leaking sticky seminal fluid onto her abdomen and thighs; she must have been able to feel my cock pressed up against her. I sucked and stroked her breasts for long minutes and she became very aroused and made little mewing noises of pleasure, her fingers stroking my hair. Eventually my hand strayed south, stroking her flat belly and running down over her nylon panties. She gasped as my hand cupped her vulva through the silky material and I massaged her, feeling her pubic bush and the outline of her labia.

Again I went slowly, stroking her softly, making no attempt to slip my hand into her knickers. I wanted to build up the tension until she wanted my hand on her pussy as much as I did, More. Eventually my strokes began to press harder into her panty-clad vulva and I felt her flex her thigh muscles and push herself up against the palm of my hand. That was when I slid my hand under the waistband of her panties and felt the silkiness of her abundant bush for the first time. She moaned as I stroked her labia, parting them with my long middle finger, feeling a silky wetness inside. Now Linda was moaning almost constantly as I slid my finger inside her for the first time, feeling the liquid heat of her. I kissed her as I slid my forefinger in to join my middle finger and she opened her legs to give me better access.

She was soaking wet. Her juices were spread all over her bush and were leaking down to her perineum. I fucked her gently with my two fingers, curling them slightly to stimulate her G spot, trailing them gently across her clitoris as I withdrew them before sliding back in to the knuckle.

My plan, so far as I had got one, was to give her an orgasm as I penetrated her with my cock for the first time. A long, deep thrust that would tip her over the edge and send the waves of pleasure crashing through her slender frame. It was a bit ambitious and anyway I got my timings all wrong. With a great groan Linda threw her head back, her mouth half-open, her eyes shut. She arched her back, grasping the duvet cover, and thrust her pelvis at my hand as my fingers slid over her clit. I used my fingers on her until her climax had subsided and she relaxed back onto the bed. Then I kissed her gently on the lips.

‘Was that good?’ I whispered.

‘I’ve never felt anything like it,’ she said, quietly.

‘Do you want me now?’ I asked.

‘Oh God, yes.’ To underline this she lifted her hips and pulled her knickers off, throwing them onto the floor and revealing a thick, light-brown bush. And now my moment had come. I was going to penetrate an elegant, attractive sixty-two-year-old woman. My fantasy was about to come true and I was thrilled and aroused beyond measure. Kneeling between her legs I guided the big, purple head of my erection to her slit, sliding it up and down to open her labia, finding the entrance to her vagina. Then the head was in and I was pushing slowly, slowly and Linda was taking all seven inches of my glass-hard meat. She groaned and writhed beneath me as I pushed the whole lot in, then I stopped, supported on my elbows, looking down at her face in the gloom.

‘I want you so much,’ I said.

‘Have me!’ she whispered.

I started fucking her then. Fucking her properly, with my cock. Long, slow, glorious strokes that came almost all the way out then sank back inside her with a squishing noise and a slap of flesh against flesh. I went slowly, as I had done since we came upstairs. She felt terrific: hot and wet and unexpectedly tight, her muscles gripping me like an oiled-velvet glove and I wanted it to last a long time, wanted my orgasm, when it arrived, to be cataclysmic. But for the second time that evening my plans were thwarted, this time by me. I was so aroused, so thrilled by what was happening, so mesmerised by the beauty of the lady on the bed beneath me, that however slowly I went, I couldn’t stop the implacable approach of my orgasm. It was unstoppable; inevitable. It started in my balls, with the familiar tingling, then spread through my cock and up through my belly and my spine and reached my brain in a crashing firework display of intense pleasure. I gasped, ‘I’m coming,’ and my cock pulsed inside Linda, squirting jets of scalding spunk into her and she wrapped her legs around me and pulled me further into her and I felt as though I was being sucked into a tunnel of endless joy.

As my orgasm faded, the room came back into focus. I withdrew gently from my lover, feeling my spunk trickle out of her. I lay back on the bad and she came into my arms and whispered in my ear, ‘Was that good?’ as I had done with her.

‘It was way beyond good,’ I gasped, my heartbeat still returning to normal. ‘I’m not sure I’ve ever had such an intense orgasm.’