The Birds and The Bees: Part One

Being a stepmom to a teenager ain’t always smooth, especially when you’re angling for that trust. Cherie DeVille can’t drop the ball on Alli Rae. The girl’s dad never covered sex, and now it’s on Cherie to step up. She spots Alli sunbathing by the pool, strips down, straps on her bikini and wades in, all determination to launch the big talk. From the far end she clocks her daughter stretched out in sunlight and cracks a grin, proud of the beauty she’s raised and how close they’ve gotten. Alli waves her over and they trade easy chatter until Alli lays it bare—she’s crushing on another girl and dreading how her dad might take it. Cherie keeps her tone steady, calls it normal, calls it okay. Trust locked. Then she peels Alli’s top, firm but gentle, unhurried hands coaxing fabric away. Nothing to hide, she says, eyes roaming the bare curves she just exposed. She circles back to the girl Alli likes and discovers Alli’s still raw when it comes to what happens next. Perfect opening. Cherie answers the gap without words, palms gliding, mouth leading, teaching more than the birds-and-bees half of things. Every kiss, every finger tracing skin shouts the lesson plan. Alli tenses at the thought of neighborhood eyes over the fence. Cherie brushes it off with a low laugh, voice so sure that any worry melts, leaving her stepdaughter—legs open, breath short—ready to learn it all from someone with a track record like Cherie DeVille.