I was back again, staying at the Hyatt. It was the same place where I'd been a number of times before while on business. It was a beautiful place where the central part of the ground floor was an open atrium type of arrangement, complete with tall palm trees.
There was a restaurant and an intimate lounge area with a bar across the back wall and small tables with comfortable chairs. On one side, there was an enormous glass wall that extended upward for 10 or 12 floors, while the other side was covered with the windows of all the rooms, like my own, facing the atrium.
On more than one occasion, I'd sat there in the lounge sipping a drink, looking up at those windows hoping to catch a glimpse of some tawdry goings on. Maybe in a fit of passion, someone would forget to draw the drapes and treat me to a little show. As I scanned the windows, I was a little disappointed to see the rooms that had the drapes open were all dark, seemingly empty. Ah, well. Maybe one day.
I glanced down at one of the television monitors in the bar to see which teams were playing, and I noticed a woman enter the lounge area from the side and take a seat at the bar. She caught my attention because she was wearing an elegant, yet sexy black evening dress. It was a halter style, which dipped quite low in the back. From what I could see at my seat in the lounge area, she looked quite attractive. I also noticed that she seemed to be alone.
With growing interest, I watched the bartender bring her some orange concoction in an Old Fashioned glass. She turned in her seat, absent-mindedly surveying her surroundings while sipping her drink. The evening dress lady didn't seem to be waiting for anyone; at least that's what I surmised from her body language. Maybe she was someone alone in town looking to kill a little time. Maybe she was just like me.
Perhaps it was my drink, or perhaps I was just feeling a bit adventurous, but I had the sudden urge to get a better look at this woman. This wasn't something that I'd ever done before; it was definitely not in my character to approach strange women in a bar, no matter how nice of a place it was. This night, however, something felt different.
Taking the last gulp from my glass of liquid courage, I approached the bar from the opposite side of where she was seated. There was a couple sitting between us, but they were much too enamored with one another's company to notice anything else going on. As I took my seat, I casually glanced in her direction and saw that her drink was nearly empty.
Looking her over, I could see that she was indeed quite lovely. The evening dress lady looked to be around my own age, medium height, with blonde hair and a very pretty face. I also noticed that her dress accentuated some very nice cleavage and I watched her with increasing appreciation.
Suddenly, she looked up from her now empty glass and caught me looking right at her. At first I was a little embarrassed and considered looking away, pretending that I hadn't been checking her out, but it was too late for that. I just smiled at her and nodded. She shyly smiled back with a look of genuine congeniality. I guess my attention had really been focused on her, because the bartender appeared seemingly out of nowhere and asked what he could get for me.
"Vodka martini", I said. "Straight up... with two olives, please."
"Any preference on the vodka?"
I looked up at the bar, scanning the rows of neatly arranged bottles of various colors and sizes lit from behind.
"Grey Goose would be fine."
"Very good, sir", he answered. "Will that be all?"
My adventurous side suddenly kicked in again.
"Um... one more thing" I added. "I'd like to buy a lemon-drop martini for that lady at the end of the bar."
The bartender smiled wryly at me and said, "You got it!"
While he went about his work, I turned my attention back to the evening dress lady and began to feel like there was a butterfly convention in my stomach. I felt nervous, wondering how she would react to a getting drink from a complete stranger. My martini soon appeared and the bartender smiled at me and took the second one he'd made over to her.
I watched as he removed her empty glass and set the new on in front of her. The bartender leaned close to speak to her, and they both glanced in my direction. She smiled and raised her glass in a silent toast from across the bar. Well that seemed to go rather well. At least she didn't call the police.
My new favorite bartender poured some more white wine for the honeymoon couple and then came back over to where I sat.
He leaned close, grinning like the Cheshire cat and softly said, "The lady told me that the least you could do is come over and allow her to thank you properly".
I gathered my drink and moved over next to the lady. She was even more beautiful up close. Her silky hair framed a very pretty face and she smiled easily. She wore an elegant gold braided chain around her neck. I noticed she had a few freckles that started just below her necklace and continued on down into that lovely, deep cleavage. I took just a quick glance. Didn't want to scare her off, after all.
"Thank you for the martini", she said. "This is actually one of my favorite kinds, but for some reason I never like to drink them alone".
"Well now you don't have to", I replied.
"I came from one of those office things", she continued. "You know, the kind where all the managers congratulate themselves for being so wonderful and the rest of us are just there for the free dinner. I was supposed to meet my girlfriend for drinks afterward, but she bailed on me at the last minute".
