How did this happen? More than twenty-five years have, seemingly, flown.  The two children of that marriage are adults themselves, both older than when I married.

After I'd been single for some months - actually, nearly a year - the novelty was beginning to pall.  I had never lived completely alone before as I'd been at home with my parents, away at school amongst other children, back home and then married. So, it took some time to organise a new home and, for the first time, having to exercise my mind in an alien world - interior design!

OK, I admit the result was not exactly 'designer', more a mélange of items but, hey, it was cosy, mine and had the big advantage of being mortgage-free.  Yes, but there was only one person in it - me.  By that time, I'd explored all the porn and masturbated to it with lessening enthusiasm, even though there was the liberty of making as much noise as I wanted to on ejaculation.  Yes, that had a newness as secrecy and quietness was the order of the 'moment' when in my years at school.  Puberty can be sooo demanding - daily!

Thus, the next obstacle reared. Whilst having the ability to be sociable, I'm essentially an introvert with more than enough self-doubt for, probably, at least three people. Bear in mind, this was at the time when internet sites were not numerous and 'dating' sites were poorly organised. Then the eureka occurrence as I spotted a small advertisement in a local newspaper for an introduction agency. The wording was quite sparse but one was invited to write for more information. This I did and impatiently awaited a reply.

A few days later, a quite thick envelope arrived and therein were the details (including, of course, subscription fees!) of how the service worked and examples of the type of replies possible. Before my imagination could distract me, I signed up in a similar fashion to how one would on a site, nowadays. Then, I gave my imagination free rein.

My enthusiasm had recovered with remarkable rapidity since, in my mind, I now replaced my lightly calloused hand with the soft skin of a female partner - I could almost feel her lips tracking across my stomach as the speed of my wanking accelerated. Groans, moans and, all too soon, a noisy grunt accompanied what seemed to be a volcanic and voluminous eruption of hot semen splattered from shoulder to groin. Ooof, that almost hurt!

How the system worked was that one would select people of interest from an initial list and write down the names (so twentieth century) sealing that in an envelope marked with both one's own box number and that of the intended recipient. Strangely, the anticipation was part of the pleasure and it certainly kept my testosterone levels 'topped up'!

I was fortunate that quite a few responses proved positive and over the next few months, I enjoyed a number of meetings. Although none of those went beyond spending some pleasant time with a woman and exchanging good banter with her, on occasion, a slightly ribald comment thrown in. It got me through something at which I was a complete novice - dating!

I hadn't done much as a teenager, then I was introduced to my future wife by someone else. Now, I was on a steep learning curve. However, the next reply promptly grabbed my attention by the way it was written and, unusually, she lived not very far away.

In brief, I replied and included my telephone number. She called, we chatted and chatted, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. By the time the call was over, we'd arranged to meet. My nerves kicked into gear with myriad questions looming. My brain rushed to the scene in which I wanted to undress her. I was that besotted with her voice and a small, passport-style photo.

However, in addition to my patent gaucheness in such matters, I have a spinal impairment. As I've outlined it doesn't weaken certain 'parts' but whilst I can disguise things to an extent, my gait and attendant mobility can exhibit, one might say, oddities. Thus, I had to work out a strategy to tell her about this without, hopefully, scuppering the possibility of a relationship.

As with the others, our first meeting was late morning at a tavern that served tea and coffee prior to opening for alcoholic drinks. The place also served light meals and we got on so well that our time together extended into the afternoon. It was after we had eaten and were both relaxed in each other's company that I explained about my medical problem.

She took it in her stride and then owned up to the fact that she'd been hoping I'd tell her, as in her early life, she'd had medical training and already guessed something wasn't quite right. Cue smiles and, on my part, some reddening of the face!

It did give me the opportunity, quite without any forethought, to hold her hand and thank her for her understanding. Well, the time had arrived for us to leave as we both had matters needing attention. As she didn't drive, I offered to take her home. This was gladly accepted and when we reached there, I didn't have the nerve to invite myself in but we did arrange to meet in a couple of days which took us into the weekend.

I almost let fly with, 'Yesss!'

My return journey occupied all my concentration and, of course, unbidden, I'd phoned to tell her I'd arrived which then led us into a two-hour conversation that was filled with innuendo. I'll simply say that a change from very soggy and sticky underwear was necessitated afterwards.

All my worries slid into the background until I set off for our next tryst. This time, I was collecting from her home and I have to own up that I was early and parked on a nearby road so that I arrived at precisely the correct time. Trepidation had started again as I knocked on the door.  All this vanished when she opened the door, dressed only in a negligee and grasped my hand to take me indoors. We kissed as I fumbled to close the door on the world.

I don't know if this happens with other males but I seem to have a direct line twixt lips and genitals. I could feel instant arousal and I tried to turn slightly so as not to make it too obvious. She must have already felt it and not only stopped me but placed her hand on the already clear outline. This caused me to emit a stifled groan which was met with the sounds of a similarly muted chuckle.

We broke apart, both of us seemingly a little startled at the intensity and breathing heavily. I put my hands on her shoulders, drew her to me and kissed her much more gently, not even trying to explore her mouth with my tongue. I couldn't stop my hand running down her back to the start of the curve of her buttocks to which she responded by pushing her stomach against my straining erection.

I did, though, take one step back and simply asked, 'Shall we?'

Her response was to turn a little and looking over her shoulder, grin and crook her finger signalling me to follow. I almost hesitated as all the doubts I'd had re-surfaced but, of course, follow I did. 

We were now in her bedroom and immediately she started to unbutton my shirt, quite expertly, I thought! Mutely, I stood still a little shellshocked, I think. However, that quickly changed as my belt and trousers fell to the floor and one of her hands gripped my erection whilst the other cupped my balls. My brain was flooded with the sensations and I almost forgot to reciprocate. It has been so long since such a thing had happened.  Already I was leaking drops of 'pre-cum'.

I think I shook my head slowly to clear the fog of arousal and, looking down, I saw she was looking at me almost questioningly. Without any further hesitation, my hands went to the hem of her attire and it was soon discarded.  My mouth went directly to one of her distended nipples, sucking gently. The other was not neglected as I rolled it between my fingers. This was all happening so fast.

I paused and whispered - no idea why as we were alone - and asked if we could get more comfortable. Despite the adrenaline coursing through me, my legs were starting to ache and my back was protesting. Speedily, we were supine on her bed, not even bothering to draw back the cover and hungrily exploring each other. The kissing became more feverish as our hands delved between each other's legs. I found the moist crevice and slid a finger slowly up the puffy lips, parting them as I reached the juncture and finding the hard nub of her clit. 

Her hips jerked upwards in response and her mouth slackly fell open as the sensation from below took over. I didn't try to kiss her again and simply concentrated on the motion of my fingers as they circled that area and then worked their way back down to slide inside and curve upwards in the hope of finding her g-spot.   

Her mews of pleasure changed to yelps as she clawed at the sheets, her hips bucked, her abdomen rippled, completely unintelligible words were shouted and then she went rigid. Somewhat concerned, I stopped only to hear a strangled - 'Don't you dare stop.' Obedient as ever, I continued, steadily.

Over the course of what must have been perhaps ten minutes, she climaxed another three times and was gasping for breath. As the last one subsided, her hand covered mine and she pulled it away, taking it up to her mouth to suck on the slick fingers, murmuring a guttural 'Hmmm.'  All the time she looked up at me with very wide eyes. 

Once finished and her breathing steadied, her hand reached up behind my head and drew me closer, saying, 'That has never happened to me before.' I must have looked questioning and she went on, 'I've only ever been with my husband before and he never touched me there with his hands.' I didn't know quite how to respond so I simply slid my hands down and round her waist and cuddled her.

Of course, this meant that my erection was now squashed between us, twitching and demanding attention! A moment later, she moved slightly allowing me to position myself between her legs but common sense ruled, for once, and I looked around for my trousers intending to extract a condom. Somehow, she guessed, pressed a finger to my lips and reached into the nearby table drawer, pulling out a foil wrapper.

I rolled over onto my back, worries surfacing as I've never been very expert at donning them.  Again, she took me by surprise as she liberated it and slid it over my very swollen, stiff cock. She took quite some time ensuring it was in position, teasing me by circling her fingers, working from tip to base almost agonisingly slowly, relishing, I think, my urgent upward thrusts.

Soon, she was satisfied and rolled onto her back, legs parted. Giving her one more deep kiss, I arranged myself between her legs, looked into her eyes, looked down at the glistening area and without a pause slid inside, right up to my balls. This motion was accompanied by mutual moans, becoming louder as I pistoned in and out. We knew precisely where we were heading. We both were desperate.

Our hands clawed - mine at her shoulders, hers across my chest. Our breathing deepened, shortened. Our hips banged into each other. The speed increased, sweat erupted, moans became grunts. We tried to look at each other but our bodies demanded that we only acknowledged our own sensations. We fucked, we grunted, we pushed our hips together, we parted only to slam together again.

Then, she yelled, I shouted. I could only think of the pressure between my legs and pumped hard and fast. The eruption I desperately sought happened - intense heat flowed up and out of my cock. I slowed and it was only then that I realised she'd matched me as I felt her inner muscles rapidly clench and relax along the length of my shaft.

We both quietened, trembled slightly at the intensity, our breathing eased, we unstuck our bodies and stroked each other's face. I started talking first, putting into words, as best I could, my delight and pleasure. That broke the ice, I think, and once we could, we got up, cleaned each other off, a little shyly, at first. Then we dressed, walked hand in hand into the kitchen and got a much-needed drink. Then we talked - how we talked!

But that is for another time.