Safe and sound.

"I'd like that Jennifer. I'd like that a lot."

Hearing Aiden’s quiet but sure words of acceptance had Jennifer theatrically wipe her brow while exclaiming “Whew!” and he giggled at her grinning wink.

“Thank you, Aiden! I am extremely pleased, of course, but I will make sure to take you on a date you never, ever forget.” Her smile was triumphant and more than a little smugly self-satisfied, Aiden felt, but a wealthy, handsome woman like her presumably was not at all used to boys telling her no.

'Does she do this a lot?’ a voice in his head said, ‘Maybe she has a dozen boys she buys expensive gifts, and every day of the week she goes and has her way with a different one, just like in that trashy online show!’

Aiden paused, for a split second, wondering why the thought even popped into his head. Jennifer simply did not seem like a woman who would do that, lie to a bunch of young men until they gave up their chastity to her, then laugh and ghost them when they expected a real relationship.

Of course, how would he know if she was that kind of woman? No one knew less about the courtship rituals of the modern city than Aiden - he knew that at least - but he also knew from his boy magazines that popular media was not the best guide to what women did and did not want.

With a final, perhaps overly dramatic sigh of relief Jennifer looked around at the rest of the small temporary patio in the alleyway market. “Not that I do much dating, I’m afraid. My father tells me I work way too much and that at my age it’s time I start thinking of - well never mind haha! Let’s just say my last proper date was many months ago, but I hope I can show a sweet boy like you a good time. No, a great time.”

Her words reassured him tremendously, and he let go of a piece of the anxiety and self-doubt he wore like a second skin.

“Here are your drinks,” a boy’s voice broke in, and a very handsome young South Asian man in a tight white shirt and flattering black slacks moved smoothly in to place their drinks down on the small round table. “Your food will be out shortly,” he told Jennifer, and then he was off to take care of a larger group of tipsy and loud women who had finished their meal.

Taking a sip of the beer, Aiden found it quite tasty and not too bitter. For her part, Jennifer took a few swallows of her own and gestured to the crowd that was filtering past along the alleyway. “We’ve seen most of the market already, but there are a couple of used bookstores and such further down, I’d like to take a look at that for sure, if you’re up to it of course.”

“Yes, of course!” Aiden said quickly. He wasn’t tired or overwhelmed at all!

“Wonderful,” the dark-haired woman smiled, then she tugged at her silk top. “It is a warm afternoon, let me know if you find it too much and we can leave any time.”

Aiden shook his head. It was rather warm, and he was dressed in long sleeves and a thick pair of cheap pants, appropriately modest but not well suited for the bright sunshine, but he didn’t find it onerous. Back home in Estelle, he would have been wearing a full undershirt as well even on the hottest day of summer.

Jennifer undid the top button of her upscale jacket, “Well, I am starting to sweat like a farmer, I’ll never know how you boys are always so cool no matter the heat.”

As Aiden started to form the thought he would never say out loud - that boys often have **** at all about the amount of clothing they feel compelled to wear regardless of the temperature - his eyes betrayed him and he glanced down. Jennifer was partially leaning over to her side, looking up at the sky as if to ask the sun to move, and her stylish cream-coloured blazer was now open enough to show him a lot of light brown skin as her breasts shifted.

Oh. Aiden was quite sure she had been wearing a grey silk camisole when he met her at the office, but she had taken it off at some point. Now, he was only a couple of feet away from her naked chest, even as she shrugged her shoulders and exposed her well-formed breasts almost to a nipple.

A woman being topless in public was nothing new, of course. Aiden could walk by the park and see a dozen women wearing athletic panties and nothing else running after a football and covered in grass and dirt on their sweaty bodies. Being so exposed in a restaurant setting was, naturally, less common, but Aiden knew that a woman as overtly wealthy and successful as Jennifer Cardinal could probably strip down to nothing and shake her bum at him and everyone would just assume she was being eccentric.

But this, this was new for the lad. Sitting next to a woman, one who had asked him out, was just different. She was very attractive, confident and affluent, and seeing her cleavage in this half-hidden, half-public space was suddenly a very different thing indeed!

Shocked, Aiden realized that his boyhood was stirring. His penis, tucked away in the extra pouch that his cheap pants still possessed, stretched. A good Christian boy should NEVER feel carnal desire in public, let alone for a woman he barely knew!

“Uhm I should go to-” Aiden mumbled as he awkwardly started to stand. Oh good heavens, he was going to ruin everything, wasn’t he? What was he going to do now, rush off to the bathroom and wait out a shameful erection? Dumb, dumb, Aiden, he could have just stayed seated and no one would have known!

The woman was looking at him with a hint of concern, and she began to shift her chair backwards too. The pair was tucked away with their chairs almost touching the temporary tarp wall separating the pop-up restaurant from the vendor next to it, so there was barely enough space to carefully walk around the table at the best of times.

Aiden felt his face start to burn as he instinctively kept a half-crouch just in case someone could see the crotch of his pants. He was about to say he had to go to the washroom when he was lightly bumped from behind - the tarp had shifted as someone on the other side moved a box, but it had been unexpected enough that Aiden was startled.

“Ah!” He flinched back toward the table, more from the scary suddenness of being touched from behind unaware than anything else, but he almost stumbled as his deep-seated need to hide even the hint of a stupid slutty boy boner kept him from simply straightening up.

He likely would not have fallen, but he was probably going to stumble onto the table and, at worst, make a huge mess.

“Aiden!” Jennifer said, her voice raised but still calm. Even as the young man couldn’t decide whether to sit back down or try to take a step around the table he felt a strong arm reach around his shoulder, and then he was sitting down again.

On Jennifer’s lap.

“Oh.” Both of them said it in perfect unison. Jennifer had her left arm protectively around his shoulder, and in shock he realized he was perfectly aligned on her lap as she cradled him. The tall businesswoman’s face, her dark brown eyes perfectly highlighted with some trendy makeup to flatter her brown complexion and black hair, was mere inches away. Her right arm was half lifted as if to ward off an attacker of any kind, and Aiden felt himself swell with a sense of security and gratitude he could never remember feeling before in his life.

Whoever had bumped into the tarp did it again, a square shape pressed up as someone shifted a box again. “Excuse me, please take more care over there,” Jennifer said, her voice full of command and polite but firm disapproval. A woman gruffly apologized and the box shape shifted again, and the tarpaulin wall stopped leaning dangerously.

“Is there an issue?” The hostess marched up, having noticed the alarming sway of the wall between her seating area and the incense seller next to it.

“We are fine, but the commotion almost knocked poor Aiden here flying,” Jennifer said, her arm tightening around him.

With a scowl at the partition, the hostess said, “I could probably find you another table now if you find this too distracting. Some of the other guests are finishing up shortly.”

“Do you want to move, Aiden?” Her lips were so close to his ear that Aiden shivered as she spoke.

He could barely form a coherent thought, so he just shrugged, shook his head, and then said, “Uhm no I’m ok.”

The hostess looked at the boy sitting on the woman’s lap, blushing, his eyes heavy, and she felt a surge of desire of her own. Lucky damn rich woman, with a cute piece of barely legal ass like that basically rubbing on her in public like a whore in heat. With a certain level of honest respect, she met Jennifer’s eyes and nodded as the other indicated she should leave her with her date, now that the fish had jumped up onto the boat and onto her lap. Literally.

“Do you want to sit here, with me, or do you want to sit in your chair again? We can swap seats so it doesn’t happen again…”

Aiden shook his head quickly. He felt so snug, so protected. So safe. His wicked erection forgotten, Aiden stared into Jennifer’s eyes and wondered if this was what love felt like.

“I’d like to just sit here with you if I can.”

“I’ll never let you go until you ask,” she promised.