One of the best things about my job is the travel! I get to travel all over the world, staying in exotic places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, and all over Europe. I was recently on a trip to Wales, where I was fortunate to stay for a month while getting a business started.
After a grueling 4 day stretch of 18 hour work days, I finally managed a few hours to go out on my own. I ended up at a coffee shop at the beginning of the evening. I figured if I got some caffeine in my system, maybe I could actually stay up after 10pm. Anyhow, I was sipping my coffee and people watching when I spotted a gorgeous man.
He was sitting at a table across the cafe and he was reading a newspaper while nursing his own coffee. I was immediately attracted to him. He's appeared to be in his 40s and average height and weight. He had short, dark hair, closely trimmed beard and wonderful eyes.
As I was stealing glances at him over my coffee, he caught me! I'm not what people call an outgoing kind of guy, so being caught staring at an attractive man was somewhat uncomfortable for me. I smiled and quickly looked away. I didn't even see if he had smiled back.
I went back to looking at other people in the cafe, being careful not to make eye contact with this very cute guy. But, after a few minutes I couldn't help myself, and glanced in his direction and when I did, I saw he was looking right at me! I felt a quiver in my stomach, I didn't know if he was offended, interested . . . what do I do now? Then I noticed he was smiling at me! Whew.
I held his gaze for what seemed like a long time. I know I was grinning from ear to ear and I knew he'd figure I was an idiot and walk away. I was wondering what I should do. Should I motion to him to join me? Should I walk over and join him? What if people were watching me? So, I did what every man would do, I looked down at my coffee.
As I was considering how to rectify the situation, I saw from my peripheral vision that he was getting up from his chair and getting ready to leave. I blew it! I hesitated and made sure he would leave.
However, he actually came to my table and sat down across from me. He offered his hand and said (in the sexiest voice) "Hi I'm . . . " I won't tell you his name, that's my secret.
I shook his hand, and replied "Nice to meet you, I'm Stephen." Our eyes lingered upon one another for a few seconds, smiles on both our faces and then settled into a comfortable conversation almost at once. How's that?
After talking for 20 or 30 minutes, my new friend asked me if I had plans for the evening. He said he was enjoying a night off and didn't have to work the next day. He said he'd love to show me around and help me learn my way around the town. What could I say? So, we paid our tabs and walked out of the cafe.
We walked around town for an hour or so, he was explaining the finer points of the town and where to go for good food, good beer and the places to stay away from. There were several times while we walked that our shoulders or hand brushed up against one another. There were even more times when our gazes lingered, and there was even some blatant flirting. I was loving every second of my time with him!
At about 6pm I asked my friend if he was hungry? He looked at me, and made the first overt pass at me. Reaching up he ran his fingers down the outside of my arm and asked "for food?" I was new at the actual flirting thing, I didn't quite know what to say, so I took advantage of the moment and replied "yeah, any good restaurants near here?" Geez!
We actually went to a restaurant and ordered a light dinner, with a couple of pints. We were sitting at a corner booth, away from most other customers. We drank our beer and ate our food while enjoying wonderful conversation.