Adulterous Love, Francesca

Before social media, people actually looked into each other's eyes. Was romance different? I like to think so.

Attraction and chemistry are intriguing and sometimes fleeting but when we decide to take a risk and act on those feelings captivating emotional precarious love awaits. Francesca was one of those wonderful people who for a period of time, we shared something rare and special. Could it have been more? Perhaps. If I had been more aware of just how fucked-up my marriage was at the time, probably I would have pushed the envelope right through to its conclusion although I think subliminally, I sensed that this would not have happened at all if things were right at home in the first place.

-=-

Roughly following the school schedule, September through May, our master's swim team practised three nights a week at nine o'clock in the evening. Usually, public swimming preceded us. Regulations meant the pool was required to supply a lifeguard, even though we were all good swimmers. Sometimes it was the head lifeguard, but often it was someone who was new or didn't have much seniority. Far from being the ideal shift, they'd have to clean the pool decks and put things away by themselves. Rarely would they have anything to do with our master's group.

Yeah, I have a thing for blondes, and I spotted Francesca towards the end of September. She was drawing the short straw and working by herself almost every late shift that we were there. A fairly tall, young blue-eyed cutie, she caught my attention. Besides her Reese Witherspoon-like looks, she also had a mouth on her. The attitude and banter that went back and forth between us was pretty humorous. For a nineteen-year-old, she had a fast tongue and a smart wit.

Annoyingly, straggling public swimmers would often still be in our swim training lanes. Standoffish lifeguards took their time booting them out.

I approached Francesca. "Can you get these slow-pokes out of our lane?"

Even upon the first chat, she was cute and coy. Retaining that post-teen awkward look, she still hadn't filled out like a twenty-something woman. "Why don't you just swim over them, they'll get out of there then."

"You might have to render first aid or rescue them then," I remarked somewhat smart-alecky. I found her in-between teen to womanhood lankiness attractive.

Still, she did nothing, so our group got in starting our training. Eventually chasing the leisure swimmers out of the water.

This went on night after night. Similar situations and similar inaction from her. She was being a real little brat.

Despite her brattiness, there was something fun about our interactions.

"Should I drown a few of them tonight, or are you going to grow a pair?" I meant a pair of balls, and Francesca got the insinuation.

"Drown them." She responded dryly.

"Okay, but then if you actually have to rescue one of them, you might be exposed for all the little girl lifeguard tests you cheated your way through." I hopped into the water without waiting for an answer.

Each practice and each week we talked and horsed around more. I'd catch her looking at me when I arrived at the pool. We'd usually come with our swimsuits on already and disrobe on the deck. Many nights, I found Francesca checking me out.

Most training sessions finished with the coach giving us 25-meter sprints. We'd stop at each end of the pool and await further instructions, or technique correction. Francesca hung around our outside two lanes as if she was part of the group, and I'd tease her.

"Are you capable of rescuing me if I drown?" She'd smirk and generate a sassy comeback every time.

"No, but I might watch."

It got to the point where she'd be ready and waiting at the end of practise for us to start our sprints.

She'd stand right above us on the swim lane bulkhead. I'd look up at her from the water below, and whether she knew it or not, be able to see the narrow white edges of her panties through the loose leg openings of her black shorts.

Perversely, I was trying to discern if her pussy was shaved, or if I could see any strands of pubic hair.

Almost every practise, I'd pester her, and she seemed to love the attention of a fit older guy.

Very soon she was drawn to the group post-workout hot-tub unwind and social. Francesca would make sure the deck-washing in the vicinity needed to be redone. Always she'd spray me with cold water.

"You just love my body!"

"You just needed a shower!" Francesca was always fast with a comeback.

"If you want to see me have a shower, you just have to ask!" I jumped at the chance to amp things up and make it more suggestive.

"Hmmph, in your camo-print bathing suit?" Her eyes smiled. This was a definite tease, by Francesca.

"Just come and watch, you'll see!" I challenged then negged her, "Maybe it'd be educational."

Jutting one hip out in a mock how-dare-you pose, her face flushed. I found her body language alluring. This was the first time Francesca did not have an immediate comeback line.

After that conversation, there were more than just a couple nightly dreams of Francesca and me in the swimming pool shower.

-=-

The weeks went by and to say I looked forward to the swim practises would be an understatement. I made myself available, just as often as Francesca made herself present. I began to miss her if she had a day off, but I especially liked Friday nights. I rarely had to get up early for work the next day, so we could sword fight with our words well past the end of the swim sessions.

"Is he your brother?" Francesca pointed to a rail-thin skinny guy who was on our swim team at the time.

I was annoyed. I was much more muscular and toned. I couldn't tell if she was serious, or dissing me. I chose the latter. "No!" I pointed to a younger girl with long blonde hair, playing by the pool slides, "is that your twin sister?"

Poker-faced, I made my expression stay flat until Francesca belted me with a heavy sister-brother-like punch to the shoulder.

"Hey," I gathered my comeback line, "see... you're not near strong enough to really rescue someone!"

Walking over to the next set of folding bleachers Francesca shot me an evil look, then pushed them in with a helluva racket.

'Guess she is pissed that I got her.' I didn't really want her to be mad but was pleased with my self-perceived fast wit.

Typically, I dragged my ass getting into the water. Partly because I didn't like the initial feeling of the cool water against my skin, but it was an old bad habit from my younger days. Being later in the water, meant less meterage and a shorter practise if I could get away with it.

That night I was up to my usual pre-swim butt-dragging, doing prolonged extended stretches with exaggerated arm swings, delaying the water entry when all of a sudden someone nailed me from behind with the most perfectly timed shove.

When I surfaced, I was already shaking the water out of my eyes looking for a bratty girl.

"Hah!" Francesca laughed proudly then walked away down the side of the pool deck wiggling her ass, "It's a good thing you can swim."

She was walking away from my retort, but I remember that ass wiggle to this day. It was a 'fuck-me" tease if there ever was one. I really wanted that ass.

-=-

Before the end of January, the New-Years-resolutioners were already dropping like flies, and the swim team shrunk to nine or ten participants. It looked like Wednesday nights were assigned to other lifeguards, so I only saw Francesca Monday or Friday nights. It got so quiet that oftentimes even up to five minutes before practise, there were only one or two of us on the deck.

A late winter Friday before a long weekend had the pool sparsely populated. I tentatively pulled off my track pants and shirt, thinking possibly the swim workout had been canceled and no one would show up at all. Maybe, I would be the overenthusiastic dummy who didn't check the calendar.

A soft hand touched the right side of my mid-back. "Excuse me!"

Francesca was towing a big empty garbage can. The ones they used to store the pool lane ropes in. With just the two of us on that side of the pool deck, there was plenty of room to get past, but she stopped dead.

I liked her small hand touching my back. "If you keep your hand there, I might just have to teach you some things."

Francesca's hand didn't budge. "What things?"

"Oh all about things, little lifeguard girls shouldn't know." In my mind, I imagined fucking that cute little ass I saw wiggling not so many weeks ago, "maybe even the birds and bees!"

Francesca was silent for a moment then leaned in beside me. "Buzz buzz."

Her hand let go in time for me to see our coach entering the far-end swimming pool area from the lobby glass doors.

'Damn! What a tease and what a close call!'

When end-of-workout sprints arrived, I very much had Francesca to myself to flirt with watching from the pool deck and spending way too much time attending to that corner of the swimming pool.

"You're not very fast tonight!" Francesca was poised for some fun barbs.

"You're wrong, but you're cute when you're wrong." I pushed off the wall for my next two 25-meter sprints.

When I stopped back at the bulkhead, her smile told me that she was ready to play. "If you swim without the camo-suit, you'd be faster."

Francesca got me with that line. I didn't come up with a response until after the next two laps. "If you climb in the water, I might let you undo the draw-string." My eyes found the loose gap of her black shorts and were trying to look up them.

A cross-pool glare from the window of the pool manager's office preceded her answer and Francesca got back to her cleaning tasks.

Hot tub time arrived with no pool manager and very few swimmers. Five minutes after practise other than reception staff in the lobby, it was just me and Francesca. I hopped out of the hot tub dripping like a wet towel and walked up behind her, putting my hand on the hose she was holding. "Want me to teach you what to do with a hose!"

"No!" her response was unexpectedly cross and abrupt.

Okay, I had pushed things too far. All of this was in my head and I completely crossed the line.

I sulked back in the hot tub to rethink the weeks of interaction. 'How could I have been so completely wrong? It was all just bullshit. I ought to just hit the showers and figure this all out.' I was contemplating either waving the white flag or daring to try a different approach when out of the blue a full-on high-pressure cold blast from Francesca's deck hose hit me mid-back.

"Shit!" I dove under the hot water bobbing and weaving while Francesca targeted my emerging head each time it broke the surface.

"I don't need any hose lessons!" She was proud that she'd caught me off guard again by weaponizing the spray nozzle.

Cautiously I rose from under the water little by little until I was certain that Francesca was not going to tag me again with the deck hose. "I can see that."

We stared at each other silently for a moment. I don't know what she was thinking, but I was assessing Francesca's playfulness. "You are cute!"

"You're handsome."

Game or not, I liked the compliment, noticing it was getting a rise down below at the same time the water jetted in the vicinity of my crotch. "You're finished, why don't you put the hose away, and let's talk for a bit."

I took a step forward until I was leg-deep in the bubbly water. By this time in the season, the chlorine had taken its toll on the swimsuit fabric stretching and bleaching it. As I stepped up, the loose speedo suctioned and clung to my swollen member. Francesca's eyes were locked on my midsection.

"I'm sure that you thought I was talking about garden hoses," I smirked inside but smiled gently, unoffended by her objectifying stare.

"Okay."

Francesca was on a mission this time, coiling up the hoses in short order.

Since she was staring anyway, I untied the drawstring on my training suit, so it would sag down provocatively. 'Let's see what she really wants.'

Francesca closed the storage room door then punched the button that switches off the hot tub water jets before walking back

"Sit down." I was on guard for more tricks, but in my eyes, her body language looked more sensual than usual.

Eyeing the freshly washed deck tiles, she stood in front of me. "I'll get my shorts wet."

"Does it matter? They'll dry fast." I opened my hand at the pool edge just ahead. "Sit."

Francesca sat down at the hot tub edge dangling her legs towards me.

I moved a little closer, her eyes obviously on my bathing suit, which was now crowned by a tuft of darker pubic hair fluffing over the untied drooping waist. Bubble-free, the clear warm water gently swirled around my legs.

"I think you are very pretty, Francesca."

Her long eyelashes flickered down to one side. Cheeks flushed and dimpled by her smile, Francesca's gaze daydreamed into the reflection of the gently circling water. The demure innocence turned me on.

"Thank you." Francesca fluttered her uncrossed legs towards me. "Do you think...?"

Placing one hand on each of her thighs, I moved dangerously close to her swishing feet. "Do I think what?"

"I dunno."

"It's okay, I promise. Ask me."

"I dunno, I have exams pretty soon."

My arms wanted to pull her closer. The dad in me empathized, "Yeah exams are important. Important that you do well." I meant it.

Francesca's eyes warmed. "You're really nice."

I placed my hand on her face with a nearly irresistible urge to cradle it then kiss her. "Thank you. I, I like you."

Francesca turned her face in my hand and answered me with a kiss-me-please pout. I hesitated. All she could say was no, again. As I leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, her fluttering feet brushed up inside of my thighs and higher. It felt planned, but I liked it.

Sexually graphic daydreams pushed their way into my mind at that moment. Maybe we both had similar thoughts. Sensuality communicated through our touch. I had no idea how much time had passed, but we were in a public place. "We should go."

Francesca was disappointed, but I knew I was right. "We could hang out next week?"

"Yeah, It's a date."

I thought about offering her a ride home or waiting for her outside. 'It's too soon.' I regretted chickening out during the drive home but it was probably the right decision at the time.

-=-

With the holiday Monday, it would be a drawn-out week of anticipation until I saw Francesca again. Instead of wearing my track clothes, I dressed up as if I was going out on a date. Those gorgeous eyes followed my entrance from the other side of the pool.

My plans, our plans were messed up completely. There were more general patrons, the swim club had more swimmers, and the pool manager ruined the usual late-night banter with an ill-timed staff meeting of some sort.

I formulated a reason to putter around the hot tub long after the swim. The echoey pool quieted and emptied with no sign of my teen accomplice. I was tasked with picking up a couple late-night household grocery items, so I resigned, picking up my swim bag on the way to the showers.

Just before I was leaving the deck, Francesca walked out of the ladies' change room at the next door.

Mirroring similar smiles, I stepped into the female locker alcove, out of sight of the pool manager's office and other prying eyes.

"I missed you." Looking into her bright blue eyes, I kept my body a respectable arm's length from hers.

"You missed me bugging you about your camouflage speedo?" Her playful unpredictability had me regretting coming across emotionally.

"Yeah, well, I made such a nice bow-tie in the string, just so you could undo it, but you took too long." Two can play this game. I pulled my swim bag up on my shoulder and turned, "Gotta grocery run. Hope to catch you next week?"

"Wait." Francesca wanted something.

'You're going to have to do better, young lady' I ignored her and started walking.

"Wait! Please." She grasped my arm to stop me putting her body only a few inches in front of me. Francesca's expression changed from sassy to submissive.

Our bodies felt close like lovers. "I really do have to go." I softened my tone and drew her eyes into mine sensually.

"I won't be here Monday." Francesca's voice reminded me of a lonely puppy dog.

"You're going to miss me." I smiled. That playful sassiness might just be a front for deeper feelings, after all.

"Yeah," There it was that demure head tilt and smile again. "I will."

'God she's so cute.' With one hand around her shoulder, I gave her a one-second good-friend kiss on the lips. In that split second, I absorbed all the contours of her body and the texture of her fabric where it met my bare skin. "I'll see you next Friday then."

All kinds of scenarios whirled around in my head like; throwing her down on the locker benches and fucking the daylights out of her, while I walked across the pool deck to the men's locker room. I wanted to do more, to say more, but something still didn't feel right. Maybe I didn't trust her. 'She could be just playing me. Just playing the old guy for entertainment.'

I thought it would be best to make her come to me.

-=-

That next early spring Friday, our time together morphed into her hanging with me as the half dozen swim team group relaxed in the hot tub after practise. Francesca came armed with some of our most suggestive cross-talk of the night taking place.

We didn't have the privacy afforded in the previous Fridays, so the teasing became full-on taunting. Francesca was a lot of fun and I wanted to put the attraction to the test.

I really laid into her heavily questioning her abilities as a lifeguard. "You're only here to try and pick-up men. You can't actually swim. I mean, I've never seen you."

"Are you trying to neg me?" Clearly, she liked the attention in front of others. "You think you are so hot in your camouflage speedos."

The regular camouflage mesh speedo drag suit was a focal point of the conversation. I guess that meant she was always looking at my equipment. "It's a good thing I do, otherwise you'd be looking at my bulge all the time and not getting the pool clean!"

The smile and challenge when Francesca opened up her eyes at that time were telling. "You wish!"

"It's a good thing I don't drown, I'm not sure you'd be able to give me mouth to mouth, being all excited and everything." I was going to be more suggestive and say 'where to give me mouth to mouth,' but dialed it back.

"I wouldn't rescue you at all."

"I promise, I can teach you how to rescue someone. Don't be afraid." I pushed things. Francesca's smile said keep going.

While Francesca and I chatted on the pool deck, Denny, one of my teammates noticed. He was seriously jealous and made a loud snide remark saying "She's as young as your daughter!" He strutted by arrogantly looking back at us, while the rest of the team cleared the hot tub.

Among many things, that confirmed the chemistry between us was both tangible and apparent to others but there was a much more troublesome danger. Denny was not really a competitive swimmer rather a triathlete who belonged to my wife's running club. He was also a gossiping sonofabitch. That guy lived on drama and talking too much. I didn't need him blabbering to any of the running group or especially my wife about my flirtatious affair with Francesca.

It highlighted a line in the sand, as well. If she did not already assume so, now my cute lifeguard girl knew that I had a daughter and wife. Would Francesca continue and cross that line after Denny's comment? Would I? Would things be the same after that spoken revelation at the next practise?