Matt pulled into the driveway and then into the garage. As he unbuckled and rocked toward the centerline prior to kicking himself out, Star caught his head and kissed him again. A bit amused by the position, he returned the kiss as best he could before she let him exit the car. He even walked around and opened her door for her, before retrieving their bags.
He unlocked the door and waved her in. "You really do like following me, don't you?"
"With as beautiful as that ass is, I'd pretty much follow it anywhere!"
"Yeah, like it isn't obvious that you are an ass man! I've seen you checking out my butt, as well as a lot of other women's butts as well."
"Now why would I look at anyone else's ass when I can look at yours, and not get into trouble?"
"Okay, I'll admit that you don't do it as much as you used to, at least in the last week. So, are you sure you wouldn't prefer Madison's ass to mine?"
"I will gladly admit she has a pretty good looking ass, but it is a bit skinnier than I like. I think yours is pretty perfect."
"Good answer! Now, give me the tour!"
He showed her around the small ranch home. It wasn't ideal, his art studio was buried in the basement, so didn't have as much natural light as he would like, but it had been working. He had been considering moving to a condo, someplace with better views and good sunlight during the day. The house just hadn't been that big a priority and he was just starting to feel normal again.
Returning to the kitchen, he pulled out a dozen or so containers from the fridge.
"You're going to feed me leftovers?"
"No way! Mise en plas! I've done most of the prep work ahead of time, so I can spend as much time with you as possible!" He poured her a glass of wine, with one for himself. He was typically a beer guy, but wine fit the menu better tonight. In a matter of minutes, aromas wafted through the house as he sautéed vegetables and heated oil. In less than 20 minutes Matt placed a plate in front of her, with his own beside it. "Chicken Kiev with sautéed vegetables and wild rice. Bon Appetit!"
They finished up dinner and he pulled out some other things from the fridge. After a couple of minutes he fired up a blow torch and caramelized some sugar, presenting a lovely crème brule with some fresh raspberries on top. The vanilla was strong and the texture smooth, a nice finish to the dinner.
Star helped cleanup. They moved to the living room and he flipped the switch to activate the fireplace. It wasn't really cool enough for the fireplace, but it added to the ambience and maybe she'd get hot and shed some clothes. Star took a look through his bookshelves and made comments about some of the books, ones she had read and ones she wanted to read. The conversation was a good way of increasing their knowledge of each other's tastes and likes, which were amazingly similar, certainly more than he figured. And he really enjoyed watching her as she stood on tiptoe to reach some of the higher shelves.
He did a bit of calculation and realized that she would have been only 8 years old when he graduated college. That was a bit unnerving, but not as much as realizing Madison wouldn't have been born for another 5 years after that. There were a couple of pictures of his late wife on the shelves. He had sent any of the heirloom type stuff to his wife's brother and sister after the funeral for them to pass down to their kids. He had pretty much redecorated the house, getting rid of most of the furniture in the living room and bedroom, so it was all new stuff. She eventually had seen enough and joined him on the couch.
"Okay, mister! Your house, you take charge for a change!"
Matt laughed, "Okay, you got it!"