Sheila Lane - The Tutor_s Suitors

Paula stared dreamily at him through the shower of golden hair. "Must they, my darling lover… my husband?"

"Ahem! Yes, well, I do have a sermon to preach tonight, my dear. Dr. Johnson is handling the morning services this week, so I must do the evening. And in order to be at my best, I must go home and meditate, consult my muse, as they say, before preaching."

"Oh, I understand, Ephraim darling," Paula said, but she didn't understand at all. She didn't want to be separated from her beloved for even a moment, and she couldn't see why he did but she knew she'd have to abide by his wishes.

She climbed off him, somewhat unsteadily, and was surprised to find how weak and shaky she still felt as she picked her panties up off the floor and struggled into them. The cold wetness of the nylon against the hot wetness of her pubes was -uncomfortable and the sticky mess on her inner thighs made her long for a warm shower.

Dr. Muster cleaned himself up with a fresh white handkerchief and smiled at Paula as he zipped himself up. "We're going to have a marvelous two weeks together, my dear. I guarantee it."

Paula nodded, but doubt was beginning to nag at her. Had he really said anything about marriage, or had she just imagined it? She wished she could remember every word that had been said on this memorable morning so that she could put it all down in her diary, but the emotional impact had been so great that the actual words escaped her. Had she just assumed the marriage part? Assumed, it because she knew a man of Ephraim's high standards and essential decency wouldn't take advantage of a young woman he didn't intend to marry? But he had taken advantage of her or simply done her a favor? Paula was ashamed of such thoughts. Of course he intended to marry her! He just needed time to break the news to, Susie who, he had assured her, would understand perfectly.

While she as straightening her clothes and brushing back her hair, Paula suddenly remembered her promise to counsel with Barb Randall. She glanced at her watch and saw that she'd have to hurry to get home, shower and have lunch before the girl showed up.

Ephraim Muster was not one to delay a parting guest. In fact, it seemed to Paula that he couldn't wait to get rid of her, hurrying her to the door with a hand on her elbow and sending her on her way with the briefest of kisses and a vague promise of seeing her soon.

His behavior bothered Paula, but she didn't have time to dwell on it for long because as she left the building and headed across the parking lot, she saw Jay Divan, Mike Randall and another boy loitering nearby. She thought she heard snickering as she walked stiffly past them, but when she turned and glanced back, they seemed to be deep in conversation and totally unaware of her. The thought that they might be discussing her, speculating on what she'd been doing in Dr. Muster's office, made her cheeks flame and sent her scurrying faster toward the protection of her car. She felt safe only after she had gunned the engine into life and pulled out into the homeward-bound traffic.

Once at home and in the shower, Paula began to have misgivings and an attack of guilt. Consciously, she could rationalize her actions on the grounds that times had changed, but the inner woman-the part of her that had been raised on a diet of strict, unyielding virtue and rigid self-control-had problems facing up to what she had done that morning.

"And right in the Sunday school too! Wallowing in lust with a man right in the house of God!" her mother would have said, and her father would have been equally shocked and enraged.

But none of this would have happened if they had been alive, if they hadn't died so suddenly in that boating accident four years ago.

How could I have let him do that? She raged at herself while fixing a sandwich she knew she wouldn't be able to eat. I'm soiled… dirty… filthy! Jim at least never did that to me! Poor, sweet Jim, he certainly wasn't any match for Ephraim in any department, especially not in the size of his cock. My God, I'm still thinking about it with pleasure! How can I be so vile? I've been despoiled, and all I can think about is how good it felt to have him in me!

But then she turned defiant as she went back to the bedroom and slipped into fresh undies and a clean dress. What's the difference between doing it and thinking about it day arid night? Is it any more of a sin to do.something than to dream about it all the time? Doesn't the Bible say that looking on a neighbor with lust is the same as sinning with him? And I've been looking on every male neighbor with lust for months! All I've done now is channel all my lust at one man. Being monogamous in reality is better than being promiscuous in your thoughts, isn't it? She didn't get any answer, but she had a feeling that neither her mother nor her father was satisfied with that kind of reasoning in, whatever sterile heaven they inhabited.

She started back to the kitchen just as the doorbell rang. Gratefully she went to answer it, shoving her problems to the back of her mind so she could concentrate on what was troubling Barb. She opened the door, prepared to greet the girl with a warm, big-sisterly smile, and found herself staring into the insolent, leering face of Jay Divan.

"Hi Teach. Guess who?" the boy said.

"What are you doing here?" Paula demanded coldly.

"Barb couldn't make it, so I came in her place," he said. "You said in class that you'd keep the whole afternoon free for counseling, and since she couldn't come, I'm taking her time."

"No. I told you if you needed help to go to Dr. Muster," Paula said uneasily.

"Is that what you were getting in Muster's office this morning?" he asked with a lewd grin.

"That's none of your business," she said, willing her voice to come out firm and dignified but knowing it sounded shaky and unsure. "I invited Barb here for counseling, not you, do run along and quit bothering me."

"No, Teach, that won't do," he said, crowding against the arm she had barring the door. "I need counseling, too – the same kind you got from Muster-boy – and I intend to get it."

His hand went to his crotch and fondled a growing erection. At her gasp of horror, he thrust forward in a gesture so obscene that Paula backed away, letting go of the door without thinking.

That was all Jay needed. He forced his way in and kicked the door shut behind him, then turned and slipped on the latch. "Mere, now it'll be nice and private, Teach."

"You get out of here this minute!" Paula hissed, backing away from him in fear. "You have no right to come barging in here!"

"Sure I have," he said, advancing on her slowly. "You invited me. Everybody in class will swear to that, and after they hear what I saw in Muster's office, they'll know why."

"You're lying!" I didn't invite you and you didn't see anything!" Paula had backed up until she was trapped into a corner of the room and couldn't get to the phone without darting past him. "If you don't leave right now, I'll scream and the neighbors will call the police."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said harshly. "Because if you do, everybody in town is gonna hear about you and old Muster, and I won't leave out one spicy detail."

Paula sucked in her breath and let it out slowly, telling herself to be calm. "Nobody would believe you."

"No? Don't bet on it! Enough people will believe to get you kicked out of teaching Sunday school and for old Muster to lose his job as assistant minister. And Muster's in a bad spot and can't afford that. He's been kicked out of two or three other churches already."

"I don't believe it!"

"You'd better believe it, because I got it straight from the horse's mouth," Jay said. "He's been mixed up in hanky-pantry in every church he's served in. He was almost excommunicated a couple of times for horsing around with young;girls. Why do you think a big-city minister like him would come to a piss-poor little church like this in such an out-of-the-way town if there was any place else for him to go?"