Fall arrived and with it the annual ritual of moving, people seeking new places for the winter. This year the usual influx of students was curtailed by the ongoing "emergency".
Of interest to me was a flurry of activity next door. A moving van, people bustling around, unloading, carrying boxes and furniture inside, could this be new neighbours?
The house had stood empty for four months. The backyard was a wasteland of discarded clothes, toys and broken furniture. Contractors had cleaned out the house after the previous tenants had moved out one night. More contractors came, repairing, painting but the debris remained. Picked over by scavengers it was s**ttered all over the yard. Finally the gate was locked and the house stood, silent and devoid of life.
For the next few days I didn't see or hear anyone and began to wonder if the house was just being used for storage. Until one day I noticed someone cleaning up the yard. They didn't look like a contractor as there was no truck or anything to cart away the debris. Being friendly, and yes a little nosey, I popped out to say hello. The usual pleasantries exchanged, Susan, my new neighbour accepted my offer to help clean the yard and haul everything to the dump. We filled both of our wheelie bins with the smaller stuff and then loaded the larger and heavier things into my truck. I made the run to the dump and returned home happy to have been able to help.
A few days later Susan knocked on my door with a thank you gift of baking. I invited her in for coffee. As we drank our coffee and sampled some of her delicious baking we found we were both separated, divorced with grown c***dren finding our way in our new realities. Susan was in her mid-fifties and me approaching retirement age. After a few laughs and a pleasant chat we each returned to our lives.
Over the next few weeks we exchanged pleasantries in passing, each getting on with our lives. Raking the ever growing carpet of leaves and generally preparing for winter.
One evening late in October everything would change...
Headed to the kitchen, the corner of my eye caught movement in Susan's window. Naturally I turned to look and discovered an entirely different Susan to the one I had come to know. The Susan of jeans and sweaters, pleasant conversation and easy on the eyes had been replaced. This was the Susan of lacy underwear, brunette hair let down and pleasing curves. I knew I shouldn't be staring, peeping through her window, but this Susan brought out the naughty side of me. However good sense prevailed and I continued to the kitchen for my tea and biscuits. When I returned she was gone, was it an over active imagination? Or did I really see a sexy vision of loveliness?
What if she had seen me? Remembering I was in my usual state of undress when alone in the house, would she be disgusted and never speak to me again, accusing me of being a peeping tom! There is a voyeuristic side of me that enjoys the glimpse of exposed female lingerie and flesh in private or in public. There is also a part of me that enjoys being nude in my own home.
I went to bed conflicted, the naughty side of me wanting to see more, the decent side of me arguing that it was wrong and an invasion of privacy. But not conflicted enough to prevent my subconscious from having pleasant dreams that night with Susan as the star attraction . As the next few days went by, my decent side prevailed, well, at least most of the time. I made an effort to not stare at the window, turning on the light so Susan would be aware I was home. However that in itself played to my exhibitionist side as I didn't always dress to pass from one room to the kitchen. I'm in the privacy of my own home right? But every so often my curious naughty side came out and leaving the light off I would chance a look. This way I caught the occasional glimpse of Susan in her underwear and on one memorable occasion her bare back and bottom as she exited her room. Now that made me wonder, did she enjoy the same tendencies as me?
The following evening I had my light on, nude as usual as I passed through to the kitchen; on my return I caught a movement as Susan turned away from her window, had she been watching? Was she really a voyeur too? Or was it just an innocent event? My curiosity aroused, even with the light on I took more peeks at her window. Susan appeared to be in her underwear more often, from plain, but pretty every day panties, to downright sexy lingerie. She always seemed to be passing or facing away, although a few times it did appear she had just turned around.
On one occasion she had a towel wrapped around her as if just out of the shower, as she exited the room it slipped off, showing her lovely bottom again. And that reminded me of something similar happening many years ago. Now I was sure there was a teasing game going on, should I leave it at that, or see if it goes further?
I decided to invite Susan over for coffee. My intention being to apologise for my behaviour and hope I wasn't causing her any discomfort. There was a knock at the door. When I answered it I was momentarily struck dumb, gone were the jeans and sweater and hair in a bun. Almost speechless I took her proffered coat and hung it on the adjacent hook. My first word was, "wow" followed by, "hi Susan, please come in". This was definitely the new Susan. She wore a cardigan and blouse over a skirt and stockings, with her dark hair down and flowing over her shoulders. Her blouse was open enough to show some rather pleasing cleavage. She smiled at my confusion, offering a casserole dish and bottle of wine.
"I hope you don't mind but I thought I'd bring something for later".
I led the way through to the living room and invited her to take a seat while I went for the promised coffee. After setting the cups down I apologised for staring when she arrived and complimented her on how wonderful she looked.
"Thank you, I was hoping you would like it", she replied with a smile in her eyes. We continued with the usual how have you been, anything new and interesting kind of conversation. We were feeling relaxed and comfortable with each other.
I turned more towards her and said "I believe I owe you an apology".
"Oh," she replied, "and why is that?"
Feeling a little awkward I responded "Well, I like to be nude around the house and fear you may have caught me a few times". She laughed and admitted that indeed she had.
"Well I hope I haven't offended you by doing so," I replied. "And as if that isn't bad enough, well, I may have looked in on you in your undies."
She laughed again and said "I wondered how long it would take you to notice!" Then she went on to say "I spent a lot of time in front of that window, waiting for you to catch me. When did you first notice?"
"It was the black lace bra and panties with matching stockings and suspenders." Now it was my turn to laugh and explain how I had berated myself the first time for being such a peeping tom.
Susan replied, "That was fairly early on, I didn't know for sure until you started leaving the light on and I got to see you; whilst trying to not let you see me looking, of course." She looked at me and then added, "I'm glad it was that lingerie set"
"I loved the bare back and bum"
She looked at me a little strangely and asked "with the towel?"
