I was pleasantly surprised that early Thursday afternoon, just prior to Labor Day, when I'm in Safeway looking at meat - seriously, the kind you grill - and I'm grabbed from behind at the waist by my neighbor Leslie. We engaged in a little conversation, how've you been, etc., and she asks me about my plans for the weekend.
Said I had a four-day weekend, with Friday off, and planned to burn some ribs and/or steak, depending on what I found, and then spend the rest of the time cleaning both my DVR and wine chiller, simultaneously. I have all of last season's Sons of Anarchy, Justified, and The Americans - and down to two percent space left on the DVR.
I asked her what her plans were and she said nothing all that interesting, maybe a bit of shopping with "the girls," see if there was anything good on holiday sale.
Then she said her husband had left for Ocean City or St Mary's, somewhere on the Eastern Shore, for a fishing trip he and the guys do annually.
She asked if I'd found anyone the last couple of months, and I said, with a grin, not anyone on the east coast.
She looked at me and said she didn't understand, what did I mean?
I said I'm not seeing anyone but have talked to someone special.
She asked what we spoke about, and I'm sure I blushed a little, and said, well her name came up, but the store probably wasn't the best place to talk about it. I think that heightened her interest.
I quickly changed the subject and asked her if she'd like to share a meal or two with me if she had nothing better planned.
Leslie said she thought that was "a fine idea", that she'd like to run home and then meet at my place.
Think I shocked her a little when I started taking things out of her cart and putting them in mine, there wasn't anything of a personal nature, other than her small purse. Before I had it emptied I asked if she needed to take home any of the items.
She said no, so I said I've got all this, did she have any dinner preference?
She asked if fish was okay, and said I had a decent marinated salmon and shrimp recipe from a couple of years ago, it was quick, easy and quite good, at least I thought so.
We picked out a couple of fillets, and I told her to go ahead and take care of what she needed to and come over when she was ready.
She left as I paid, then I headed home. Putting the groceries away quickly, I then prepared the marinade and put the seafood in and covered it. I have three full baths, so I went upstairs and took a quick, but thorough shower.
Soon, I was back in the kitchen chopping up greens when I saw her car pull in the driveway. I opened the garage door and was going to ask if she wanted to pull in, but soon had my answer. I closed the door and began to escort her inside. She'd obviously changed outfits, as had I, and she was now in a light summer dress with soft pleats to about two to three inches above the knee, and handed me a gym-type bag. I think I noticed a little bit of a jiggle in the more-than-ample breast area as she moved.
Since she'd been here before and was familiar with the layout, I told her to make herself at home while I'll put the bag in the bedroom, she said that was fine and went to the left towards the kitchen while I went to the right and down the hall.
Soon, we were together in the kitchen where she'd picked up where I left off with the salad. I kissed her on the top of the head as I walked by and showed her where the fish was marinating, saying I was going to start the grill. After getting things warmed up, I came in and got the salmon/shrimp, smiled and told her to come out whenever she was ready.
I'd just put the lid down when Leslie came out on the deck with two glasses of wine, Chardonnay it turns out. Guess she was more familiar with the place than I thought; she knew where the wine and openers were. That was cool. I have several crepe myrtles surrounding the deck, so while there's some privacy, its not entirely secluded.
I didn't want to make her uncomfortable by pawing her out in the open, but did want her to know I wanted to be close. Didn't have to worry, it turns out, as she took the lead and would stand beside me as I tended to the food with her hand on my shoulder, or on the small of my back.
Once back inside, I turned the stereo on to the smooth jazz station just so there'd be some atmosphere in the background. Dinner was uneventful, she complimented me on and thanked me for the meal, and I said it was the company that made it special.
It wasn't until we started to straighten up the kitchen that we each got a little friskier with each other. We'd pretend to be seriously cleaning, and then one or the other would throw a hip at the other, or walk up behind and press their body against the other person. It was during one of these playful moments when I came up behind her and lightly pinned her against the counter, and reached down to rub her ass. That's when I discovered there was nothing between my hand and her skin except her dress - no underwear.
No doubt she noticed my hand linger there, and she turned her head and smiled. I then moved my hand up her back, and then around to the front and cupped a nearly-naked breast. I said, "That confirms what I thought I saw earlier," and as I went back down over her ass said, "But this is a pleasant surprise."
She said underwear can be too confining sometimes, and "a girl has to be ready for whatever comes up." I laughed at that one, knowing she could feel me rising to the occasion so to speak.
I said if that was the case, we should finish up here so we could get to more important things.
I was putting away the last couple of items and looked over to see if she needed any help. Apparently not, everything was straight around her as far as I could tell, and she was standing in the corner where the lazy susan cabinet is, watching me with a light smile, and her elbows on the countertop, her nipples pointing at me as if to say "come over here and taste".
Standing four or five feet away I said looks like everything's done here, what do you think we should do next?
She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Anything you want. What did you have in mind?"