Pulling her car up to the traffic light, she picked up the large plaque on the seat beside her and read it once again. “Presented to Dr. Amanda G. Cartwright for Outstand Service to the English Department, City College.”

She read the inscription once more and smiled. After all these years and all this work, she finally received some recognition. She thought of her husband, Gary, and wished he could have been there for the ceremony.

Her mind wandered as she waited for the light to change, remembering meeting Gary in college. She had just begun working on her Master’s degree while he finished his undergraduate work. They met at a party that she had not wanted to attend and before the night ended, they were locked together for life. Unfortunately, his life was much too short.

Amanda had completed her Master’s work while Gary joined the Navy to become a fighter pilot. They married and traveled around the country as he was transferred from station to station. To say that they were happy would be like saying the ocean is deep. They were madly in love and deeply in lust. They delighted in each other’s company and, after eight years of marriage, were eager to get naked and bang their headboard against the wall.

The subject of having children had come up on several occasions, but they had decided against it each time. While neither of them would say the words aloud, both were jealous of their time together and did not want to share that with anyone. At age 32, Amanda had just decided that it was too late for a child and they would never have any.

She was considering having her tubes tied when two things happened. The first was a trip to the doctor to discover why she was having nausea on a regular basis. The doctor ran some tests and announced that the reason was pretty simple. Amanda was pregnant.

Before she could give the news to Gary, he announced that he was being deployed to the Med with his flight group. That piece of information trumped hers and she decided to save it until his group was ready to leave.

The next few weeks were a blur as time sped by. Amanda kept her secret because she did not want to spoil their playtime together. She was teaching in a local school. Each day before he shipped out, he would be waiting for her to get home. As soon as she walked in the door, he would scoop her up and take her to the bedroom, where they would have glorious sex until they could no longer move.

Once again, she decided to wait to give him the news about her condition. “It will be best if I let him know after he is underway,” she thought. “I’ll let him know when they reach the Med and his days are down to a regular schedule. Then he’ll have time to think about it and hopefully be excited.”

The problem was that before she could deliver the news, Gary’s plane went down in the ocean and his body was never found. Amanda was totally heartbroken but suddenly uplifted by the fact that she was carrying Gary’s child and knowing that he died doing the thing he loved most, flying jets. She applied for a teaching position at City College and, after being accepted, moved back home to start all over again and raise her child.

With Gary’s military insurance money, Amanda made a down payment on a lovely house in her hometown and readied it for her baby. She had hoped for a son that she could name Gary after his father but decided on Mary after being told she would have a daughter. Again, not exactly what she had wanted, but it would still be Gary’s child.

The years passed and Amanda was happy with their home. She was also delighted with her job at City College. Her child was beautiful and bright. By the time Mary began school, Amanda enjoyed great success at the college and had made a name for herself. Those were happy days for both of them. They spent time with Amanda’s family and visited a weekend with Gary’s parents several times a year. Amanda wanted to make sure they could see their growing grandchild.

Amanda was 38 before she even considered dating again. After watching a romantic movie on television one night, she began to think about the hot nights she and Gary had spent together. She remembered how their hot bodies would stick together from their bodily fluids and how they would laugh as they washed off before starting over again.

Thinking of those times made her body ache for their shared passion. She didn’t really want to start dating. Her daily routine began to include masturbating at least once and usually twice. She found that she could order all kinds of sex toys by mail order and filled the drawer by her bed with them. She could work herself into a frenzy, remembering how good it felt having Gary’s hardness fill her and bring her to climax time after time. But with all of the need, she could not bring herself to find a man to share her bed.

Now, driving home, she was 52 years old. She was an honored member of the English Department at the college and the mother of a 20-year-old daughter that still lived at home. In so many ways, her life had been successful and empowering, but the thoughts of her sexual encounters were never far from her consciousness.

Arriving home that evening, Amanda went directly into her kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. It was an excellent merlot/malbec combination that she had discovered recently. As she sipped from the glass, she walked past a large mirror hung in her entranceway. Turning from side to side, she began to take stock of what she saw. “Not bad for 52,” she said softly. She turned to take in the view of her chest and decided that Gary would undoubtedly have enjoyed how she had filled out and stayed pretty firm.

Next, she turned so that she could see her ass. Gary had always been wild about her butt and as she looked at it, in the tight black skirt she was wearing, she decided that it looked pretty good. Over the years, she had caught a few of her fellow professors snatching a look at her ass and had enjoyed knowing that they were looking. But they were all such nerds that Amanda could never get overly excited about it. In all her years of teaching, she had never found a professor that interested her.

She took a long sip of wine and again looked in the mirror, saying, “Not bad.”

Before she could move from the spot, Amanda heard Mary call out from upstairs, “Mom. Jonathan is coming to pick me up and will be here if five minutes. Would you please let him in? I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes.”

“Sure, sweetie,” Amanda called up the stairs. “I’ll take care of him.” She turned her mind to Mary’s boyfriend, Jonathan. He was an exceptionally friendly young man and quite handsome. At first, she hadn’t approved of him because he was much older than her daughter. When they first started dating, Mary was nineteen and just starting her second year of college. Now she was twenty and he was 26. The age difference didn’t seem bad now and she certainly liked the young man.

He had attended City College for two years before transferring to the University of Colorado to finish his degree work. Once graduated, he returned home and landed a very excellent job. Unlike many men his age, Jonathan had decided to invest in a townhome rather than living in an apartment complex filled with single people. Amanda was pleased with his mature decision-making and thought he would make a fine husband for Mary, assuming that was in the cards.

As she began to turn away, the doorbell rang and she turned back to open the door for Jonathan. He immediately flashed Amanda a big smile, saying, “Good evening, Dr. Cartwright. How are you?”

“Now, Jonathan,” she began. “I think that we’ve discussed this before. In my home, I’m Amanda. You can drop the titles at the front door.”

As he stepped inside, he replied, “I know that you say that, but it’s difficult to lose old habits.”

She smiled at him, thinking he looked particularly handsome tonight, and said, “Come in. Mary will be down in five minutes.” She stopped and looked at him a second before saying, “Maybe you should come into the kitchen with me. The likelihood of her being ready in five minutes isn’t likely to happen.”

Once in the kitchen, Amanda was going to freshen her wine and asked if he would like something to drink while he was waiting.

“No, thank you, Dr. Cartwright,” he replied.

As she was pouring herself another half glass of wine, she looked into the glass pane in her cabinet and saw that, without any question, Jonathan was studying her ass. Seeing this, she took a few more seconds to complete her task. Turning slowly to give him the chance to move his eyes, she asked, “And where did you get into the habit of calling me, Dr. Cartwright?”

“I didn’t think you would remember me,” he said, offering her a soft smile. “You were my professor for the first half of Freshman English at City College. While there, I also took your American Literature class and one you taught on World Lit.”

“Really?” she said with genuine surprise. “How could I possibly have forgotten a student as handsome as you?”

“That’s very kind of you, Dr., I mean Amanda,” he said with a slight blush. “But I wasn’t a very good student and your Freshman English class was quite large. Besides, that was seven years ago.”

Amanda had a few more questions for him, but just then, Mary bounced into the room wearing a bright smile and a top that was a little too revealing for her mother’s taste. Mary quickly gave Jonathan a kiss and turned to her mother. “We’re going to see a movie and won’t be out late. I have to be at work tomorrow morning before 8:00, so I’ll want to get to bed earlier than usual.” She took Jonathan’s hand and pulled him toward the front door.

“You kids have fun,” Amanda called after them just as she heard the door close. Looking at the kitchen table, she saw her award. “Darn,” she said out loud. “I wanted to show that to Mary.” She picked up the plaque and read it once again, thinking that the good news was, in addition to the hardware, she would also be receiving a cash award. She would have to consider how and where to spend it.

The house seemed suddenly still and quiet. Maybe after Mary left home, she would get a cat, Amanda thought as her eyes roamed her comfortable home.

When the glass was empty again, she decided to go upstairs and change clothes. Looking into her dresser mirror as she dropped her skirt. Amanda remembered seeing the reflection of Jonathan’s face as he was checking out her backside. The thought warmed her and she smiled. Two minutes later, she looked at herself in the same mirror, but now completely naked.

Turning from side to side, studying her body carefully, Amanda was still reasonably pleased. She knew that if Gary was still around, he would already have a mouth full of nipple and his hands filled with ass cheeks. That thought made her flush and her eyes cut to the drawer where she kept her toys. She opened the drawer and pulled out her favorite vibrator. She held it up, saying, “I think one award should require another reward.”

Quietly lying on her bed, Amanda opened her legs and pressed the vibrating toy between her legs, happy to feel that she was already wet and ready for the pleasure she knew was coming.

Forty-five minutes later, Amanda was dressed in her white silk pajamas and headed back downstairs. The orgasm had made her cry out loud and calmed her down. Still, Amanda decided she also deserved to have another drink. This time, however, she needed something a little stronger than wine. Looking through the bottles in her liquor cabinet, she spied a bottle of Jack Daniels. Amanda suddenly smiled, thinking of the nights that she and Gary would sip on ‘Jack and water’ before diving into bed for a long session of sexual excess.

She fixed her drink and sat in her oversized chair in the family room. Amanda turned on the TV but was paying no attention to it. Instead, her mind was running through the memories of the uncontrolled sexual experiences she had shared with Gary. “The man was never satisfied,” she thought with a smile on her face. Sitting there quietly sipping and thinking, she came to another conclusion, “Maybe it was me that was never satisfied.”

She became aware that her nipples were quite hard but felt very sexy as they rubbed against the silk of her pj’s top. The wetness between her legs was also noticeable and she gave a quick thought to trying out one of the large dildos she had purchased a while back. But finally, she decided that she should have one more drink before walking upstairs.

Two hours later, Amanda was still sitting in her chair with what was left of her fourth drink in her hand. She was not drunk, but she certainly had a little buzz working. The front door opening drew her attention and Amanda heard Mary and Jonathan talking in the hallway. For a second, Amanda thought that she should get up and put on a robe, but just as quickly said, “Fuck it. I’m fully covered.”

“How was the movie?” she asked when the kids came into the family room.

Mary looked a little surprised to see her mother sitting in the family room wearing pajamas but said, “Oh, it was pretty good. It’s one we’ve wanted to see.” Mary turned to Jonathan, saying, “He liked it a lot because several naked women were in it.”

“That’s true,” Jonathan responded. “I looked straight at them without covering my eyes.”

Amanda laughed at his quick wit and self-assurance. “Good for you, Jonathan,” she offered.

Mary acted like she was insulted but quickly smiled. “I look better naked than those women do,” she stated flatly.

Jonathan started to comment, but Amanda saw that he caught himself before responding.

Mary walked over to her mother, leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’m going to bed, mom. If you want to entertain this man, he’s all yours.” Mary walked to Jonathan, gave him a kiss on the mouth and said, “Don’t stay up too late. You promised to take me to work in the morning, so you’ll have to pick me up not one second later than 7:30.”

“Not to worry,” he told her. “I’ll be here before you are ready to go.”

As Mary went up the stairs, Jonathan turned to Amanda and asked, “Is that offer for something to drink still available?”

“Of course,” she replied. “There’s beer in the fridge and anything else you want in the liquor cabinet.”

He stepped up beside her chair and asked, “Would you like for me to refill your drink?”

Holding the glass up, she answered, “Jack Daniels and water. I think the bottle is still on the cabinet.”

A few minutes later, he was back, handed her the drink and sat down across from her with a beer in hand. “Thanks, Amanda,” he said with a smile. “It’s been a long day and I need this.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their drinks. Finally, Amanda broke the silence with a question. “Why did you take three of my classes at City College? Weren’t you a business major?”

“I was a business major,” he responded, “And I certainly didn’t need the credits for the second two courses I took from you. Not to mention that I made a ‘C’ in both of them. But then I didn’t take them because I needed them. I took them because I had a terrible crush on you.”

Amanda was truly surprised by his comment. She had thought through the years that she might have had a few male students that sweet on her, but certainly, none of them ever admitted it. “A crush on me?” she asked, showing her surprise.

“Absolutely,” he said with a smile. “My GPA was good enough to absorb the bad grades I got from you, but I spent most of my time in your classes watching your butt and not a lot listening to your lectures.”

“Looking at my ass?” she came back almost too loudly.

“I’m just being honest, Amanda,” he said. “You had an amazing ass then,” he paused, then added with a look of absolute certainty, “and you still do.”

Amanda was unable to speak, so he continued. “I would attend your classes and fantasize about having sex with you. I learned enough about your subject to barely get by.”

Maybe it was the whisky that she had consumed working on her, but this conversation aroused her. This handsome young man suggested that he had fantasized about her and thought that she had a great ass. She looked at him for a second before saying something that even surprised her, “Have you ever masturbated while thinking about me?” As soon as she had spoken, she wanted to take the words back, but it was too late.

Jonathan moved from his seat on the couch to the ottoman two feet from her knees. He leaned toward her and said, “Have I ever masturbated thinking of you? Not more than a thousand times.” He didn’t flinch or smile. He was obviously quite serious.

Amanda was a little stunned by his confession. “You actually jerked off thinking about me?” she asked.

“Hundreds of times,” he admitted. “The last time I did it thinking of you was last night.”

She was floored by his statement. “Jonathan,” she said softly, “I know that you are having sex with my daughter. She has always been candid with me and has told me that you are a fantastic lover. If that’s the case, why would you be thinking of me?”

Without attempting to make up a story, he told her, “I’m with her because of you. She is you. She is you at twenty years old. Have you ever looked at her? She is your size. Mary has your breasts and your hair. You are about the same size. And Mary has your sense of humor and intelligence.”

He continued, “I met her at a party and found myself oddly attracted to her. When I discovered she was your daughter, I quickly understood my attraction.”

“That’s just too crazy,” Amanda announced.