Paige and Me

I smiled inwardly at her 'young person's speech' mode. It was delightful to hear it.

On my PC I sent a few emails, but after some prevarication I logged onto a yacht sales website and tried to get some idea of what my boat might be worth on the open market. I hadn't yet fully formed the idea but there was a germ of it in my head. What if I sold my boat?

I went to sleep that night with Paige's smiling face large in my mind, and the prospect of giving up sailing just a small dot on the horizon. At sea small dots can become large ships in about eight minutes.

Chapter Three

The next morning I asked Paige if she'd like to see a bit of the island. She jumped at it so I drove us, carefully down to the south coast where we stopped and walked along the top of the Downs. She hadn't seemed to be affected by the motion in the car, but it had been a short drive. When I asked her she explained that if she could sit in the front she was usually ok, but even then, sometimes she got ill, especially if it was raining. She didn't drive explaining that she'd lived in London all her life so there was really no need for a car.

I found her company exhilarating. She was interested in everything around her, pointing out birds, plants, clouds, flowers. She even did cartwheels at one point. I envied her her youth and energy. We stopped at a cafe for tea and scones and argued gently over whether the jam or cream should go on first. Obviously, it's the jam. I told her she'd have to move out after all, because "I couldn't harbour a cream-firster under my roof!"

The look on her face made me say, "Just joking, Paige!"

She looked relieved.

"You are so, like, deadpan, I thought you were serious for a second!"

There was a short awkward silence, then she rested her hand on my arm and said,

"After all, I'm having to put up with a jam-firster, aren't I?"

We drove home happily chatting about inconsequential things. Paige offered to cook that evening, but when I asked her what she was going to make, she couldn't really say and looked abashed. So I cooked again, It's no problem to me. I like cooking and I've cooked for myself for many years. When my wife was alive she sometimes used to cook, or I used to cook, or we used to cook together. Paige was great to cook for. She had a healthy appetite and made all the right noises about the food.

We watched a film together that evening, a romantic comedy, which I'm happy to say was more comedy than sloppy romance. I sat on the sofa to tee it up and waited for Paige. I'd opened a bottle of wine. I assumed she'd sit in the armchair as she'd done before but to my surprise and joy she sat close beside me on the sofa. I could feel her warmth and smell her scent. We drank the wine slowly and laughed at the funny bits. Paige cried at the sloppy bits which gave me an excuse to put an arm round her again. She didn't pull away. I told myself I was just being fatherly. Or Uncley. When it was finished, Paige said she was going to have an early night, gave me a quick hug and went upstairs.

"Idiot!"I said to myself, "You can't fall for her! Just remember, she's not interested in you, she sees you as an older man and therefore not of romantic interest. Pull yourself together!"

The next day was another day of sightseeing, which was an unalloyed pleasure. There were no opportunities for hugging and I didn't try to make any. When we got home and I checked my emails I found that my sailing club was putting on a 'do' on Saturday night. I had no idea what it was in aid of, but they're usually good 'dos'.

I asked Paige if she was interested in going.

"Is it formal? I mean I don't have a, like, posh frock or anything."

"No not really. It won't be black tie or anything, I'll wear a shirt and jacket and no doubt the ladies will dress up a little, but not too much."

"Ok, then, I'd love to come. Thank you."

"There will be people your age there. Lots of lusty young men."

"Oh! Perhaps I'll get lucky then!"

I felt a stab of jealousy. Idiot! Of course she wanted to meet young men! Of course she'd score with one of them! She was gorgeous after all.

I didn't see Paige next morning. I was eating a sandwich when she appeared in the early afternoon with her face in full smile mode.

"I found this fantastic frock in a charity shop! Eight pounds! It's perfect for tomorrow night!"

"Try it on then, let me see!"

"No! I don't want to spoil the surprise."

The day was dull and wet so we didn't do much sightseeing, but I took her for a walk along a local beach to my favourite cafe between showers that afternoon. I just enjoyed her company and she seemed happy with me. I also enjoyed watching her face and the movements of her body under her loose clothes when she walked or skipped or cartwheeled as the mood took her.

We watched another movie that evening, a horror film. She threw herself into my arms when the scary bits came on. I couldn't wait for each frightening moment, knowing that I'd feel her lovely young body against mine and knowing that I was giving her comfort. I had to face it: I was head-over-heels in love.

I struggled to sleep that night. There was the thought of my hopeless affection for this beautiful young girl, who couldn't possibly want to return it. There was also a growing feeling of guilt that I was somehow betraying my wife's memory, even though it had been ten years since she'd gone. I knew it was irrational, that she would want me to be happy, but I couldn't help it. So there I was in a hopeless state of pointless unrequited love and feeling bad about it!

I didn't see Paige until around midday the next day. I immediately noticed she'd had her lovely brown hair done. Nothing too elaborate, but it was tidier and shone gloriously with the sun on it. I told her how good it looked. She beamed her most powerful smile at me.

"It's nice to dress up occasionally."

I took a lot of care with my own appearance for that evening, knowing that Paige had gone to a lot of effort. I didn't expect her to spend the whole evening with me, but at least I wouldn't show her up when we entered the club. She went upstairs to get ready at about five o'clock and didn't come down until six-fifteen. I was waiting in the kitchen. She walked in quietly. I turned around and was dumbstruck.

She was wearing a sheer midnight blue dress coming to just above the knee with thin shoulder straps. It was moderately low cut showing a little cleavage and there was some jiggle there. It wasn't exactly tight, but it showed off her figure to perfection. She turned round to show me. The back was very low cut with just two straps crossing. It swooped down in a curve to just where the swell of her buttocks started. She had a beautiful back. Her shoes matched her dress. Her face was made up very subtly and was enhanced by her beautiful hair,

"Well?," she asked as I hadn't said anything.

I managed to force out, "Paige, you look fantastic! I...I could eat you!" Stupid thing to say!

But she seemed pleased. As she was wearing high heels I drove us down the short distance to the club. "But you won't be able to have a drink."

"It's ok Paige, I don't drink much anyway."

I had mixed feelings as we entered the club. I was partly bursting with pride as I walked in with a beautiful girl on my arm, and she was on my arm, she put hers through mine. But I was also dreading the inevitable questions that would surely come. "Who's that? Are you and her, you know?" But it wasn't so bad. Those who knew me well just said "Is that a friend of Katy's? And where is Katy?"

Paige seemed to enjoy the inevitable attention especially, as I'd predicted, the young men in the room gathered around her.

I was surprised to find that we had a sit-down meal. These affairs usually come with a buffet. I was also surprised that I was seated next to the Commodore of the club and the other officers. This was far more formality than we usually had. The food was good, though, and it's a very friendly club so I felt quite happy. Paige was seated next to me, her face running through its many expressions of happiness. She smiled at me frequently, though being monopolised by the men around her.

The final surprise came when we'd finished eating. The Commodore stood up. I wondered what was going on as there aren't usually speeches. This is roughly what he said:

"Friends. Sailors. As you all know this little assembly was unscheduled. I called for it when I heard that Jack had returned home. Some of you will know that he completed the AZAB recently. You may know that he actually won the AZAB overall on handicap. Now, Jack's always pretended, as you know, that he wasn't a racer. Well, that's gone out the window, hasn't it? Jack, you bring great honour on this club and yourself and I think we should give you a round of applause."

I was dumbstruck once again. I didn't just get a round of applause I had a standing ovation and three cheers, plus an awful lot of ribald comments.

I was forced to say a few words, of course, so I mumbled out a few platitudes about what a wonderful club it was and that the club burgee had flown for every second of the race and that I was astonished at the response and that I didn't really deserve it etc. etc.

Thankfully, that was the end of the embarrassment. The music started up and people began to dance. Paige was whisked away by one of the young bloods. I was surrounded by well-wishers. I'd never experienced anything like it before. I began to relax and enjoy it whilst insisting I'd just been lucky. I kept having drinks pressed into my hand. After a while it became too much, so I went outside and stood overlooking the club's small marina to clear my head a little.

I hadn't been there very long when suddenly slender arms grabbed me from behind. I turned to see Paige smiling up at me.

"Are you ok? You looked a little overwhelmed," she said putting her arms around my neck. I put my arms around her, very gently. She didn't pull away.

"Er, yes. I was taken completely by surprise. If I'd known this was happening I might have made a better speech instead of mumbling platitudes."

"It was fine. It came from the heart. Everyone could see that. By the way, you've been holding out on me haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been talking to some of the sailors in there. They showed me a report of the race. 'Jack Willis's extraordinary feat, setting a record time for his class in an old cruising boat', blah blah blah, 'which doesn't even have racing sails', blah blah blah, 'the key to his success was his weather routing, unaided by software.' There was a lot more. So it was in no way a fluke or lucky. And they all know it in there."

I couldn't say anything.

"Come on, I want to dance with the man of the moment," Paige said as she took my hand and dragged me back inside.

I danced a couple of times with her, though I'm not much of a dancer, but she didn't seem to mind. Then a slow smoochy tune came on. She slipped her arms around my neck again and moved in very close. I gave her a squeeze to show I appreciated her closeness, but almost instantly began to get an erection, so I spent the entire dance trying to squash it. Fortunately as the tune ended someone else came over and took her off.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough once I was no longer the centre of attention and before too long people started leaving, just the barflies remaining. Paige came over, looking radiant. I thought she would be off with one of the young men and that I wouldn't see her again until tomorrow, but instead she said,

"Our taxi is here. You've had too much to drink to drive."

"You ordered a taxi? You're wonderful!"

"I know," she said with a cheeky little grin.

She sat really close to me in the back of the taxi and gave me her gorgeous smile more than once, though we didn't speak.

"Are you ok?", she asked when we got home, "not too drunk?"

"Oh, no, not at all, really. I stopped drinking long ago."

"Ok. I'm off up then." She reached up, kissed me on the cheek and ran up the stairs.

I drank some water, locked up and went up myself. As I got to the top of the stairs I was surprised to see a light on in my bedroom. 'must have left the bedside light on,' I thought.

But when I walked in, there in my bed was Paige. Once again I was dumbstruck.

"Paige!..." I said, my voice coming out an octave higher than normal.

"That's me," she answered, "I'm twenty two, I'm on the pill, and I want you."

She pulled back the duvet to reveal her naked body. There was a pause while she looked at me and I looked at her. I believe any man would have done what I did next - I tore off my clothes and leapt into bed gathering her in my arms and smothering her with kisses.

"Hey! Steady! There's plenty of time!" she said giggling. I kissed her more slowly and ran my hands down her back and thighs. When we'd kissed for a little longer I put my hand on a breast. She sighed and pressed against me. I felt her nipple harden. My cock felt like it was going to explode.

"Paige, it's been a long time..." I began, but she stopped me with a hand to my mouth.

"It's ok, darling, you're not on trial. Come here."

She rolled onto her back and gently taking my cock in her hand pulled me on top of her and guided my cock into her nicely moist vagina. She made one of her 'Oooohs' as I slipped easily inside. I began moving as slowly as I could, but I felt I wasn't going to last very long. It had been years since I'd had sex. I did my best but I came after just a few minutes.

"I'm sorry... " I began, but she shushed me again.

"I said, you're not on trial. It's fine. I love having you inside me. Don't move."

I concentrated on kissing her neck and ears, which were beautiful. Not too long after I felt a tingling in my cock as it began to rise again. Paige giggled and moved her hips underneath me. I put up a much better performance this time and she came with a long rising 'OhhhhhNnnnhhhOhhhh!

"So that's the 'Oh' she uses when she comes," I thought, irreverently.

She whispered,

"I told you I hoped I'd get lucky tonight. Well, I just did!"

I rolled off her feeling smug and happy, happier than I could ever remember. She snuggled into me with her head on my chest under my chin and just about every inch of her touching me. I kissed the top of her head, but didn't say anything. I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to say. I felt her fall asleep. I lay awake for a while enjoying the sensations I was feeling. Just before I fell asleep I realised I hadn't once thought of my wife.

I woke alone. The clock said eight-thirty. I lay for a while listening for sounds of activity, but there was nothing until I was just about to get out of bed when Paige appeared, fully dressed with her full rucksack already on her back. She came over to the bed.

"Hi!" she said as she leaned over and kissed me, "er... the thing is, I, like, got an email yesterday, saying that the college was repaired and the course restarts tomorrow. So I have to go."

I opened my mouth to say something but she stopped me again.

"No, don't say anything. Just let me go. It's been wonderful but I have to leave." She turned to leave. I could see tears in her eyes. Just as she reached the door I called her name. She turned.

"You're wonderful, Paige." She gave me one of her best smiles, blew me a kiss and left.

Chapter Four

I moped for the whole weekend. I received a text from her on Monday: thnx for evrthing xxx.

I felt desperate for a few days. I told myself that I'd always known I had no chance with her, that I was fortunate to have had a few days with her and more than fortunate to have made love with her. But it didn't work. I pined for her; to feel that delicate smooth skin against mine again, to see that lop-sided smile. I told myself that she was young and it was just an adventure for her. I pictured her telling her slightly drunk girl friends: "Oh, yeah. I slept with an older guy once. He actually managed to get it up twice.." and them all giggling.

The whole experience made me take stock of my life. I decided I would cherish the time with Paige, but not dwell on it. It had been a fantastic experience with her and being seduced by her had been delicious. But I had to move on. The dot on my horizon suddenly loomed large. It was time to sell my boat. I didn't intend to give up sailing altogether; I could always sail with friends. The AZAB seemingly had satisfied all my sailing needs in one go. It had also been exhausting and I had no appetite for more single-handing, neither did I fancy racing again. So the boat went on the market and being an AZAB winner sold quickly and for more than I'd expected. To fill the huge hole that giving up sailing would leave in my life, I planned to do some serious writing.

Several weeks went by. Paige's memory didn't fade, but I managed to live with the loss. It was in bed where I missed her the most. I could still feel her skin against mine and her vaginal muscles squeezing my penis.

I was just beginning to think that life wasn't so bad after all when at ten o'clock on a Friday night my phone rang.

"Hi! It's Paige! Remember me?"

"Paige! Of course I remember you. How are you?"

"I'm good. Look, I know it's a bit of a cheek at such short notice, but do you think I could visit you and like, stay for a while?"

"Paige, of course you can. I'd love to see you again. When are you coming?"

There was a giggle on the line, then the front doorbell rang. There she was on the doorstep.

She laughed as she put her arms round my neck.

"Surprise!"

I hugged her. "What would you have done if I hadn't been here?"

"I guess I'd have found an AirBnB or something. But you are here. You're sure it's ok?"

"It's more than ok." I felt euphoric. Here she was in my arms again. But I didn't want to presume anything. Just because we slept together before didn't mean she wanted me now.

"I'll just take my stuff upstairs, Ok? Then you can make me some tea,"

She ran upstairs and was back down again just as the kettle boiled.

"Oh! Never mind the tea, let's just go to bed. I've missed you."

This time I undressed her slowly, removing her top and bra first and kissing her neck and ears before moving down and licking and sucking her nipples She made little whimpering noises the whole time. Then I unzipped her jeans and pushed them down. She stepped out of them leaving her in just her tiny panties. I pushed those down to her ankle , too and she stepped out of them and stood before me, unembarrassed. I noticed that her pubic area was shaved apart from a small triangle above her vulva. I undressed too. We climbed into bed, embraced, kissed, fondled and stroked each other for a while until suddenly we were desperate for each other. She pushed me onto my back, straddled me, guided my cock into her and began fucking me urgently. I fucked her back as hard as I could. She dangled her tits on my face; I sucked and squeezed them. She rocked her hips backwards and forwards rapidly, then gyrated them slowly. My cock got bigger and bigger. Her 'Ohs' became longer and louder until we came simultaneously. I thought my ejaculation would go on for ever it was so intense. Paige collapsed onto me gasping for breath.

I'd never had such intense sex.

We lay silent for a long time. Paige sat up whispered "Wow!" and unplugging me curled herself around me as much as she possibly could. I gathered as much of her as I could into my arms and kissed every bit of her I could get my mouth to.

"You're incredible, Paige," I whispered. She murmured something I couldn't catch. Soon I realised that she was asleep. It's a characteristic of hers; she often falls asleep after an orgasm. Usually, just for a few minutes.

In the morning, we woke almost simultaneously and instantly began making love again. This time very slowly and gently. The result was just as satisfying. Once she'd recovered Paige went off for a shower. She returned smelling fresh, clean and gorgeous. She lay in my arms again just quietly enjoying the moment. Eventually she said;