"Can I get out now?" she had asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "Get out, bitch! Get the fuck out!"

She hadn't told anyone about what had happened. She had gone home and taken a long shower and slipped into bed. It wasn't so terrible beating him off. She had heard about girls doing it for the boys at school, but what had been bad was the way her body had responded. All that night she had twisted and turned and her body had ached with a desire she had never known before. She had used her finger on herself three times, but nothing seemed to do any good. She had finally dropped off into a restless sleep.

That was the real reason that Tara had refused all babysitting jobs for so long.

Tara wanted to take no chances that she could ever get into a situation like that again. She wasn't sure she could control the new feelings of desire she had discovered in her body. But that evening Dave Adderly had called and he had been insistent that she come over. He was willing to pay double. Tara had noticed her mother staring at her strangely as she started to turn Dave down. Tara didn't want to go into any explanations of why she was acting funny. Then, against her better judgement and took the job.

She walked up the steps to the Adderlys' home and Dave Adderly and his wife appeared immediately at the door. Tara breathed a sigh of relief. She should have known that she had nothing to fear about Dave Adderly. He was such a nice man.

"I'm so glad you decided to help us out," Dave said. "Young Billy's, already in bed so he won't give you any trouble. There's plenty in the fridge."

"I'll be all right," she assured him.

Dave Adderly took his wife's hand and they started down the steps. But then he remembered something else. "Oh yes. My brother Jack's spending a few days with us. He should be in later. Don't worry about him. He usually goes up to his room and straight to bed."

"All right," she said, but Tara's heart had started pounding again. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with a man. Any man. She started to back out of the babysitting job, but the Adderlys were already walking to the car. She couldn't think of anything to say.