"I know about you," she said. "I've heard all the stories about you seducing all the maids and nannies."

"Really?" The insolent woman was Kate, a thirty-something single woman whom my parents had hired to watch me and the house while they were away to Europe for the summer. For the past two months we had grown close, sharing secret dreams and fears through the late hours of that lazy summer. I found myself truly depending on her for advice, support, and companionship. We had each other.

Our master-maid relationship went beyond that, more to a comfortable friendship of trust and yes, love. I knew I loved her. She seemed to be the mother I never had; the perfect friend; the soul confessor for all my sins; my confidante. I had grown to love and respect her. And I knew she felt the same.

But it was near the end of summer when I realized that my thoughts and feelings had transcended mere friendship. I grew to love her, romantically. I desired her. My attentions were not long lost on her. She was wary of my affection. On the night before my parents' return, we sat close on the couch of my basement apartment. I had dimmed the light to a romantic glow, both of us having shared dinner--now a commonplace occurrence.

"Why are you upset?"

"Because..."

"Because why?" I stroked her face gently, moving closer to her.

"Because I love you," she said in a whisper.

I looked seriously into her tear-filled eyes. "I know. I love you too."

She shook her head. "No, not--I think we're confusing what we really mean."

"Yes, you love me in a motherly sort of way. Okay. So I can accept that with our age difference. But don't you have any other feelings for me too, like I have for you? I mean, I love you, not as a master to a maid, not as a student to his teacher, or a patient for his nurse. I love you as a man to a woman. A beautiful and desirable woman."

She was crying now. I held her in my arms and she seemed to melt, cowering on the crook of my shoulder. After a long time, I lifted her face to mine. "Please. Let me just kiss you. Just once."

She closed her eyes in acceptance and I bent down and pressed my lips to hers, tenderly. I wiped her tears from her face as our kiss continued. Soon, she was kissing back with some insistence as I moved over her on the couch. Her hands went tentatively round my neck as our passion increased, our tongues playing devilish duels within our heated mouths.

My hand went to her breast, cupping and kneading with an intensity greater than I had ever felt with any woman. I continued my assault on her face and neck as she moaned softly into the darkness. Quickly unbuttoning her blouse, I freed a succulent breast and fed it to my ravenous mouth.

"Oh God," we both gasped. She was shaking her head defiantly once more. I had freed my throbbing hard-on and had worked her skirt up to her waist when she pushed me gently back.

"No, Brian. We can't."

I was panting heavily now, lost in lust and desire. I blinked at her. "Kate," I said, "why not? I love you and you love me."

"But--" She was still in the throes of confusion when I had already made up my mind to have her. I reached down and yanked her panties off, tearing the thin material from her body. "No, Brian. We have to stop!"

"But I want you, Kate. Oh God, I want you." I moved over her, forcing her legs apart and bringing my engorged cock so close to her womanly center, her mound of Venus. She squirmed beneath me but her struggles were not those of a desperate victim. No, she seemed only momentarily confused by her indecision.