02

This is a much more romantic story than my previous ones. I call it an erotic romance, because it's mainly a romance novel with some sex scenes. I've been working on it for a while and it is almost done. I'll be submitting it as I finish my editing.

It's also a departure because I am trying something new with the two points of view.

Life's Strange Turns.

Prologue

***** Dennis *****

I smiled into the mirror as I hurriedly got dressed. I had to hurry, it was going to be a good day for me, not so good for Jennifer.

Chapter 1.

11 years ago, Dec 22nd, 1999

***** Dennis *****

I was home for Christmas. I had just finished my first year of grad school at the University of Illinois. I was majoring in Computer Science and started last January after trying to work for a year and a half with just my B.S. It wasn't working out and I wanted the advanced degree.

A not-so-close friend had invited me to this party not far from my home in southern Illinois. I agreed mainly because I was bored. I had had a few dates at school, but was working so hard the first year to get all my required classes out of the way that I had left little time for a social life. I felt bored and lonely now that I was home and was, to put it bluntly, looking for some action; guy translation is "get laid".

I wandered around the party, talking to most of the other guests. There were some cute women there, but nobody really caught my fancy. Then she came around the corner, holding a beer. My breath caught. She was about 5'8", auburn hair, green eyes, pale skin with freckles, decent figure, and carried herself well. She was wearing a bright red blouse for the Christmas season and a black skirt that went to her knees. Of course I noticed that she was well built. I think any man would. She had a little bit of a pear shape, with small, but firm breasts, a narrow waist, and nice wide hips. They were wide, but not overly so, just enough to make for a good hold when you are... you know. My buddies and I liked to refer to nice wide hips as an "all night saddle". When she turned to look at me I felt like a deer caught in a car's headlights. I couldn't take my eyes away from hers. There was something mesmerizing about looking into her eyes. I don't know how long we looked at each other, but she finally looked down and away sheepishly and then back up at me and giggled. She walked toward me. I tried to compose myself quickly.

"You know it's not polite to stare."

I ravaged my brain for a good comeback. "A great work of art sometimes requires a detailed study." I smiled as she looked at me and I could feel something about the pull of this beauty. In only a second I sensed that she was much more mature than the other female airheads I had been meeting.

She looked at me and grinned. "Is that the best you could come up with on short notice?"

I tried to think of something to say, but there was nothing else I could do. "Yeah. Pretty lame?"

"Yes, it is. Why don't you tell me the real reason you were staring."

She was pushing and I knew it. "Because you are the most beautiful woman at this party and I couldn't take my eyes off you."

She smiled at that. "Much better. If I had asked for your assessment of the 'art', what would have been your response?"

"Stunning."

She blushed a little. "Hmmm. I won't say that flattery will get you everywhere, but maybe I won't be angry at you for staring... just this once." She grinned a little at me, giving me that coy look.

God, I loved the way she smiled and how her straight white teeth showed against her bright red lipstick. She was gorgeous when that smile lit up her face.

I decided to flatter some more. I couldn't help it. "Thank you. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop staring at you when you walk into a room." She laughed at that and it was a wonderful throaty laugh with no hint of that fake tittering that too many young women put on when they think it's necessary.

"If you keep that up, I'll have to create a fan club and name you president."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't already have a fan club."

She laughed again. "Okay, stop with all the flattery. You're going to make me either get a big head or be self-conscious about being around you."

"Sorry. I just call them the way I see them, but if you'd prefer that I stop flattering you then maybe you'd better go somewhere else... like China!"

She smiled and then held her drink in her left hand and held out her right. "Jennifer Hausman. I think I'm pleased to meet you." She gave me a sly look.

I shook her hand. "Dennis Johnson. I know I'm pleased to meet you."

She looked at me slyly. "Yeah, that's why I may not be pleased to meet you. You might be some snake charmer of a man, who knows how to charm women out of their clothes."

Wow! That was direct... and absolutely what I was thinking about until I stared into her eyes. "I'm not a snake charmer and I doubt that any man has gotten you out of your clothes without you wanting it." Let's see how she played that line. She looked up at me quizzically. Or maybe I was drunk and it wasn't a very good line after all.

"Is that a back-handed complement?"

I looked down at the floor for a moment. "Well, that's how I meant it. I meant that you appeared to be a woman who was strong enough to make up her own mind about people and not be taken in by any snake charmer." I held my breath, hoping she wasn't going to walk away.

"That's what I was hoping you meant." She paused. "I'd hate to throw you back when you appear to be the only keeper here."

Whew! That was close. "Thank you. I know that was a complement."

"Yes, it was. It was also the truth. I've been hit on by so many guys since I got here I feel like a punching bag."

I laughed at that. "Well, look at you. Young, beautiful, dressed sharply, highly intelligent, it's what every man wants. And I have to admit that I was going to hit on you, too. But since you put it that way, why don't I just ask you to sit down and talk." She looked at me closely. I couldn't lie to her. I felt like she could see right thru me and knew exactly what I was thinking and really meant.

"Still with the flattery, huh. Well, I know for sure that that is not what most men want. Only part of that is what they want; the part below the neck. The rest just gets in their way."

"We are rather transparent at times."

She looked up at me like she was making a decision. "Okay. Let's go into the den. I think we can sit down there."

She took my hand and led me thru a large section of the party, which inhabited the living room, dining room, and kitchen toward the den. Her hand was cool and slightly moist from handling the beer bottle, but it electrified me.

When we reached the den, we sat on a small loveseat. There were probably eight other people in the room, but I couldn't tell you what any of them looked like. I couldn't take my eyes off her. The loveseat was small enough that we were almost touching. She leaned back and looked at me closely. She asked how I knew the folks here and where I lived. Then we found out we had something in common.

"So, snake charmer, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm going to graduate school up at U of I." She stared at me. "What?" I finally asked.

"I'm going to U of I, too. I'm a senior."

"What's your major?"

"English Literature."

I smiled. "Uh-oh. Better not get into a war of words with you, huh?"

She laughed. "Somehow I don't think you have a problem finding the right words with girls."

"Who me?" I put on a little of a drawl, even though that was not common in this section of southern Illinois. "I'm just a local yokel from these parts, who is trying not to lose a battle of wits with a smart woman."

She slapped me on the arm. "Snake charmer!"

I laughed. "Okay. You caught me. My only intention was to part you from your panties."

She smiled and looked at me intensely again. My smile wavered. Did I push too far? I'd better say something before she nailed me for that one. "But if you agree to let me take you to dinner after Christmas, I'll get up and leave right now."

She kept staring at me. Finally, she got up and put out her hand. "Come with me, snake charmer."

I took her hand and stood up. What the hell was this? Where were we going? She led me back thru the house toward the back door. Just when we got there she looked around and saw nobody paying too much attention and opened the door just to the left of the back door. She led me thru it and down some stairs into the basement. It was finished and the stairs led to a pretty good sized playroom. It was filled with toys for smaller children. She led me back thru this room, past a bathroom and toward another door. She opened it and led me in. It was a spare bedroom. There was a large bed, probably queen size, a chest of drawers, a couple of floor lamps and a closet. She flipped the switch and one of the floor lamps came on. She turned behind me to close the door and then locked it. She turned back to me and before I could say anything she grabbed me and kissed me. I could immediately feel her tongue pushing against my teeth, asking for my tongue to spar with hers. I opened wide and the fencing began. Her body felt firm and athletic. I had my arms around her, but I let one hand slip down onto her ass and it was very firm and a little bit of a bubble butt. Yum! She was plastered to me now, her breasts poking me. She was a great kisser and felt fantastic so in no time I was sporting an erection that felt like it was going to split my pants. She knew it, too, and was rubbing her hip on it. She broke the kiss and smiled.

"What do you think?"

I smiled. "Stunning!"

She laughed and looked up at me, although at 5'8" and in low heels she almost reached my 5'11". "There's something about you that I can't put my finger on, but maybe just this once I'll let you charm me out of my panties."

Damn! Smart, beautiful, direct, and wants to fuck me! Wow! "What? You think you can bed me on our first... meeting?"

She laughed again as she snuggled up to me. "Absolutely!"

I held her in my arms and smiled. "Okay, you're right. I'm a guy. I'm easy. I'll take my pants off at the drop of a hat."

We were now swaying to the music filtering down from upstairs and she looked up at me. "Shame I don't have a hat."

Damn! This woman was funny and smart and I wanted to rip her clothes off before she changed her mind. Instead I leaned over and kissed her again. Hard! She tasted like a mix of beer and some breath freshener. Her hair had the faint smell of strawberries. She was delicious and I wanted to devour her. As I kissed her I slipped my hands over her ass. It was firm and only made my erection throb more. She ground herself against it. Finally she pulled away and looked at me with concern. "Shit! My purse is upstairs!"

I looked at her questioningly. "Your purse?"

She looked stricken. "Do you have a condom on you right now?"

"No."

"Well, then I need to get to my purse. You didn't look like the type to carry it in your back pocket. If you did, I might be out of here."

What was I supposed to say to that? No, I keep them in my car? I said the only thing I could think of. "Okay."

"I'll run upstairs and get it. Why don't you get in that bed. I'll be right back."

She left and I looked around the room. Was this really going to be this easy? We meet, she likes me, we have a little lively banter, and she takes me to the basement to fuck me? Was this heaven... no it's Iowa (or in this case Illinois). I thought that maybe I had better wait until she came back to get undressed. Who knew what was going to happen once she went back upstairs. She might change her mind and leave me hanging.

I also thought about what she said in reference to the condom. She wouldn't have liked the idea that I was carrying a condom in case I got lucky, but she was carrying one. Hmmm. Have to remember that for later.

I suddenly heard laughter and two people coming down the basement stairs. Uh-oh! What the hell was this? I stepped out of the bedroom and went into the bathroom. I closed the door enough so that I couldn't be seen. Was it another couple? Was she waylaid by someone and couldn't get out of explaining why she was in the basement? My erection was history.

Peeking around the door, I saw a couple go past that I didn't know. They headed into the bedroom and closed the door. Just as the door closed, I heard more steps on the stairs. I quickly opened the bathroom door and stepped out. Jennifer came around the corner and I held my index finger up to my lips to shush her. She looked at me quizzically. I pointed to the bedroom door and the fact that it was closed. Recognition passed over her face. She giggled lightly and signaled me to head back upstairs with her. I followed her.

When we got back upstairs we both broke out laughing at what had just occurred.

"It's a good thing I wasn't in that bed waiting for you!" I exclaimed thru my laughter.

That caused a new set of giggles. She finally was able to talk again. "That would have been priceless; you, already naked in bed, when they walked in."

I calmed down and looked at her more seriously. "Do you want to go somewhere else?" I still wanted to have sex with this woman.

She studied me for a second. "No, I think not. I think I have had a little too much to drink and was making decisions with the wrong part of my body. You're a guy, you know all about that. It's best if I just go home."

I smiled, but was cursing under my breath. "Yeah, I do know all about that. Can I take you out to dinner after Christmas?"

She looked at me and reached into her purse. She took out a business card and a pen and wrote a phone number on the back. "If, when you wake up tomorrow, you still want to call me, here's my home phone number."

I took it and looked at it. "Okay. I'm definitely going to call."

She looked at me. "I bet you will, lucky man. You don't even know me and almost got lucky."

I took her into my arms and hugged her. "I already got lucky."

She pulled back and hit me on the arm. "Snake charmer!"

I laughed and feigned being hurt by her punch.

She smiled and leaned into me. "I need to go now before I do something stupid... like I was going to do in the basement."

Damn! She was having second thoughts and wasn't even sober yet. "I'll walk you out."

We both retrieved our coats and I walked her out to her car. She was humming something, but I couldn't make it out. When we reached her car, an older Honda Civic, she turned and I heard it enough to catch the tune.

"Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger." I sang the first line.

She looked up at me. "What did you say?"

"That tune you are humming, it's Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific."

She stared at me. "I was humming that?"

"Uh... yeah. Just now." She appeared to not even know she was doing it. "Interesting choice considering the way we met." So maybe she was a hopeless romantic, too.

If I could see her in the dark, I could have sworn from her reaction that she was blushing. She looked at me, but not directly. "I didn't even know I was doing it. I saw it last week with my mother on TV. It's one of her favorites."

I tried to move us away from the immediate romantic connotations. "Mine, too. It addresses some societal issues in a very interesting way. It has some great songs. My mother had season tickets to the Muni (Municipal Opera in Forest Park in St. Louis that has outdoor plays and musicals all summer) in St. Louis and when I was young she would take us with her. They have free seats in the very back and I got to see it and a bunch of plays and other musicals live."

She opened her car and started to get in. She turned just before she started to sit down. "Thank you for making this an interesting evening." She leaned toward me for a kiss and I kissed her lightly. She was not in a position for more than that. She was halfway in the car.

"I'll call you." I said to her as the door closed. She started the car, then turned and looked at me. She waved and drove off.

I stood there for a minute thinking. What just happened? There was an immediate attraction, she led me to the basement, we were going to have sex, then we are interrupted and she suddenly gets coy again. I definitely needed to call her. There was something about her that was more than intriguing. She was different than anyone I had ever met.

***** Jennifer *****

As I drove home, I tried to reconstruct what just happened. I know I was a little drunk and, fortunately, it was less than a mile on a deserted road to my house. Did I really just almost have sex with a man I just met? That wasn't completely new, but mostly unlike me. I had only done it a couple of times and regretted both instances. In this case, however, I was thinking I regretted it not happening. Hmmm.

I had never had sex that quickly with anyone. My two previous one night stands were at least with someone I had spent the evening with getting to know something about them. Unfortunately, even that was not enough. What was it about this guy that set him apart? He was not some Greek god with huge shoulders and a physically imposing demeanor. He seemed to be in good shape, but was not the god type. But boy, could he kiss! He definitely deserved an A for that effort. I giggled as I remembered it. It was impossible not to feel his hard on pressing up against me. I even rubbed myself against it. Damn! I could feel the heat in my panties and the fact that my nether regions were swollen with more blood than normal. I'm horny! Maybe that explained it all. But there was something else. And then he knew that song I was humming. How many guys would have caught that? Did that mean he was different? Probably not. He was still just a guy... and then again... when he was staring at me I could feel his piercing gaze all the way to my toes. It didn't make me feel like he was leering at me. He seemed to be able to determine who and what I was just by looking into my eyes. He knew all the right things to say. A few frilly words and I was ready to count ceiling tiles? Wait! Where was that phrase from? Oh, yeah... the movie "Roxanne". Shit! He was probably a snake charmer after all. And I almost fell for the oldest trick in the book. Get a girl drunk who is a little horny, then ply her with flattery, and then convince her that you are sincere; all just to get her naked. I was almost that unfortunate cliché. I was just going to have to nip this in the bud as soon as we went to dinner. Wait! Was I even going to go to dinner with him? Well, maybe just once.

Chapter 2.

Dec 28th, 1999

***** Dennis *****

I had called her the day after Christmas and asked her to dinner at one of the less expensive, but still decent sit down restaurants. Now I was waiting at the table. I made the reservation for 7pm and it was now 7:20, so I was a little concerned that she had stood me up. At the same time, I felt that she would never do that. It wasn't her style. She was too honest and if she didn't want to come to dinner, she just would have said so.

***** Jennifer *****

When Dennis had called me, I had wanted to say no to a dinner date. But the more we talked, the more I wanted to know about him. I found out a lot about him from one of my sister's friends. I discovered that he went to the high school a few towns away and was a baseball player. He had really good grades and went to the University of Illinois for his undergraduate degree in Computer Science. He tried to work for a little over a year and decided that he would return to school last January for his graduate degree in Computer Science. I talked to him for a while and decided to meet him for dinner.

Now I was late. I had had to wait for my mother to finish with the last customer at work because I was working in her travel agency over the holidays. That had taken too long, and then I had fussed over what to wear to set the right mood, including panties and bra. After all, I might attack him! I liked the sound of that! Finally, when driving to the next town, I got stuck behind a tractor for 10 minutes. Damn it! Everything was set against me tonight. I just hoped that the rest of the evening went better.