-- This is not a new story; I had it up here previously and removed it to clean up and revise a little; then life interfered and it took longer than I had anticipated. --
Gabriella snaps to attention in her seat and pokes my side. "There she is!"
I lift my eyes from the glass of Merlot I've been contemplating -- I don't want to say anxiously but, yeah, I admit it, anxiously - for the last few seconds to see the door close behind her. The bright afternoon light that briefly filled the rather somber-looking Italian restaurant disappears. The flood of street sounds fades and the music returns, Dean Martin crooning about how love came just in time, she found him just in time.
"She" is a deeply tanned Asian woman in her twenties, black hair parted in the middle and falling just below her shoulders, wearing a yellow sundress that ends just far enough above the knees to hint at what is covered. She is holding her sandals in her left hand, apparently unconcerned about any "no shoes" policy Madre's Finer Italian might have.
Gabrielle waves a little shyly. It takes the woman's eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the somewhat dimmed lighting before she spots her, waves back, and heads for the table.
Before she gets there, Gabi says, in a low voice, with just a trace of her Colombian accent, "I really want to thank you for this."
I glance over at her; her hair is about the same length as the newcomer's, but decidedly auburn. "You're thanking me?"
She kicks me under the table. "Shut up!"
She gets up, straightens her black skirt, brushes off her blue print blouse, and approaches her. They both pause, not quite sure how to greet each other, considering what the plan for the evening is, and settle on a quick embrace. The only indication that this not just a simple, innocent meeting is the Asian woman's hand slipping down Gabriella's back and resting and extra moment on her butt.
Gabi blushes and resumes her seat while I rise and pull a chair for our guest. Well, actually I'm the guest, I think.
Before she sits, she turns and gives me a quick hug, but without the ass-grabbing.
"You must be Leo. I'm Asami."
I take my seat. "Morning Beauty, right?"
She pulls her chair forward. "That's right. You know Japanese?"
"Most people just call me Lee. But, no, I'm just fluent in Google Translate."
To her credit, she doesn't give a fake little laugh. She drops her sandals onto the floor, slides her chair over to the still-blushing Gabi, takes her hand, and kisses her fingers. "Well..." she says, and all Gabriella can do at the moment is giggle.
# # # # #
A week ago, on the first really hot night of the summer, Gabriella and I were lying naked on lounge chairs on my deck. In the semi-darkness a few feet away, just out of the halo of the soft yellow porchlight, hummed the filter of the above-ground swimming pool.
I was thankful I had resisted the urge to take it down after the divorce. Troublesome as it was -- and anybody with a large aboveground pool knows these things can be troublesome -- I had figured it would make the kids less resistant to the bimonthly weekend visitations. I was correct, mostly. Having the girl next door come over to skinny dip was a plus.
The high wooden fence around us, originally put in to protect my stepdaughters, provided enough cover to protect the two of us from the prying eyes of anyone else in the neighborhood, although I suppose someone with a drone could have gotten an eyeful. I can't say I would have minded, though. At forty four, I had no problem being seen cavorting with a 26 year old woman, even if we had never actually had sex. But let them believe what they want.
She set her Corona on the table between us. Her hair was still wet from the swim. "I have to tell you something." She turned and propped herself on one arm. "I think I need your help."
I sipped my beer, turned, and allowed myself a long look at her. She was leaning on her left arm facing me, her breasts still winning the battle against gravity, her pink nipples hard, undoubtedly from the cold water, her belly showing just the slightest sin of an endearing paunch, her right thigh crossed downward over her left, not quite covering her hairless vulva, one bare foot resting in front of the other. It was a perfect recreation of some of the famous "reclining nude" paintings of the past.
"It's about time," I said, pretending to reach for the towel that covered my waist, trying to use humor to camouflage my real desires. Not like Gabi hadn't figured it out.
Her momentary pause was full of import. "You might be closer than you think." Just the statement, just the thought, was enough to stir me to attention. The head of my cock pushed hard against the towel.
"Really?" I tried to sound as casual as I could, but I'm pretty sure my voice cracked a little.
Her face flushed a little, and she hesitated a little before she went on. "I met a girl online a couple of weeks ago. Asami. She's an Asian girl." She sat up, picked up her beer, and swallowed hard. She continued after she set the bottle back down. "I never thought I'd be attracted to a girl before, but there we were, talking, and I was really getting turned on by her."
As her voice picked up speed, her accent became a little thicker. "We talked again two nights later and she asked to see my tits. We both ended up getting naked for each other on cam."
Her right hand dropped between her thighs and she began to absent-mindedly stroke herself. My own loins began to respond to her movements. "And then last week we just masturbated for each other." Unable to find words for a moment, she took a breath and broke into her familiar giggle.
"Calm down, sweety." I tried to maintain my cool, older-guy-who's-seen-it-all demeanor, but couldn't help the fact that my hand was under my towel trying to discreetly stroke my dick. The image of little Gabriella naked in front of a computer playing with herself in front of another naked young woman was just impossible to ignore, not to mention her casual touches as she remembered it.
Until my wife and I broke up, Gabriella was just the girl -- actually, woman -- next door. We were in the house four years until the divorce last year (amicably, more or less; at least I was happy to still be a part of her daughter's lives) and Gabriella had lived there with her parents. Then, last year, her parents had moved down to Florida and left the house behind for Gabi to rent, so we found ourselves single neighbors at about the same time.
One night Gabriella had come pounding on my door terrified that half of her lights had gone out. My trusty flashlight and I made our way to her basement to find that a circuit had simply been blown. It hadn't been half of her lights, either -- her hairdryer and a space heater had overloaded the circuit.
That was the beginning of a beautiful and casual friendship. She made a mean omelet and fed me breakfast from time to time. She was straightforward about everything -- losing her virginity at 19 ("It was so laaaate," she complained. "And fast."), her experiences, her fantasies -- no subject was taboo for her. And when I set up the pool last month and invited her over for a swim, it was her idea to make my yard clothing-optional.
Needless to say, I definitely wanted to get things to the next level, but she didn't seem particularly interested. I was happy enough to have a woman eighteen years younger hang out with me naked.
"Have you ever had a threesome?" Gabriella was staring off into the darkness, a bit more aware of the fact that she was touching herself in front of me but seemingly unconcerned.
"Yes. At the end of our marriage, Janice brought her friend Yolanda home with her. Trying to spice up our marriage. It was a complete surprise. The girls were at her ex's and she had gone out for the night, like she was prone to do at the time"
Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "Really? Wow!"
"In the middle of the night the two of them came home. I was asleep on the couch. Yandi just kind of jumped on my and started kissing and stroking me. One thing kind of led to another."
Gabi closed her eyes for a moment and I heard a soft wet sound as her right hand dipped between her legs. She paused, took a breath, put her hand back on her waist, and reached for the Corona with her free left hand. "So, me and Asami -- that's her name -- want to meet sometime next week. We'll have dinner at Madre's and stay at the hotel."
My brain was so preoccupied with the image of her and another woman, naked in bed, touching each other, pleasing each other, that I almost didn't hear what she said next. "I want you to be there to help me."
That I heard. Suddenly I was the one flushed and speechless. "You mean, you can't figure out on your own?"
She took a long sip from her beer. Her right hand slid between her thighs again. I couldn't quite tell if she was still teasing herself. I was.
"I know you," she went on. "I like her and want her, but I don't really know her. I know you. If anything horrible happens, I want you there. And you have experience."
"So you need the old, grizzled, seasoned guy to help you."