More from EL

A post doc research fellowship with HIM! What could be more exciting? Cutting edge research on sexual predators, two books, a big research grant and he still had all of his hair and a body she had to pretend not to notice. He was driving her to the "lab" for the semester. The lab, as he called it, was an antebellum estate, a former plantation, in the deep south. Some of the out buildings had been renovated into laboratories, but much of the it had been preserved in its historical splendor and dark past.

The doc had been involved in the now infamous obedience studies which resulted in the ethical standards for treatment of human subjects. She admired his courage in that particular experiment. Nobody actually received a lethal shock, and those who thought that they were administering it deserved all the guilt that they felt. She wondered what was his role in that experiment.

She was surprised that he drove a little beemer convertible. She hadn't packed much. They rode with the top down and loud rock music playing leaving her little opportunity to inquire about the semester's project. She resigned herself to to be cool and not to fawn over him as the the other post docs did. Sure, she worshiped him, but he was never going to know it. She sat back and felt the wind in her hair and on her face, the steamy musky smell of the southern air and enjoyed the ride....

They arrived at dusk up a long horseshoe gravel drive. A stately mansion with tree trunk pillars governed the scene. The lawn was pristine with formal plantings of native perennials in the center. To one side a swimming pool had been added. Had she packed her suit? She thought so. It would be good to find some respite from the thick Louisiana air.

She declined help with her bags and was shown by a manservant to her room, a modest anteroom off the library on the main level with French doors opening toward the pool. There wold be a communal dinner in an hour. She had time for a dip and a quick shower before then.

As she gazed though the French doors it became apparent that her frantic search for a swimsuit was unnecessary. There were several swimmers of both genders enjoying the pool au natural. Shyly, with a towel she ventured out and plunged into the icy water.