A note to readers: This is a true story which I felt compelled to write to understand and reflect on the circumstances where a lovely lady came into my life. The occasions where this can happen are rare (this was a first for me). There is obviously a sexual element (and I wouldn't be submitting it here if there wasn't) but please do not expect a roller coaster ride of sexual exploits. This was more a story I wrote for myself. However being a previous contributor of stories to this site, I naturally thought I would share it here. Please enjoy it for what it is.
I work in the city, in Sydney. Part of my weekday routine is to sit in a coffee shop and have a nice cappuccino while I do a bit of work on my laptop or scroll the news on my phone. I'm usually a creature of habit in this regard and will usually go to the same place at around the same time.
I had noticed a lady who attended the same coffee shop at much the same time I did. She was there most days. She was middle aged, very slim and quite attractive.
I also noticed that she had a very nice smile. I would often pause what I was doing to watch her order her coffee and greet the staff as that was usually the only time I would hear her talk and see her smile.
Like myself, she also sat by herself.
I had seen her for several months without saying anything but then I started noticing that she was noticing me. A few months ago I had started working out again. Previously I had worked on fitness but this time (for the first time) I went for muscle tone. I had recently started seeing results. Because we were moving into Summer, I had started wearing tee-shirts and that had accentuated my arms and chest. I travelled to work like that and got changed in the office.
The company I worked for owned the building I worked in. Because of that, I had started to occupy a spare, dusty room on the roof of my building. I had to clean it up a bit first but it then had adequate space where I could work out at lunchtime with a few dumbbells and related equipment.
I usually don't like to engage a lot with people in the coffee shop because before you know it you get roped into having to make small talk each time and it's very hard to wind back the position.
However I really liked this lady and I thought to myself, it would be nice to get to know her. What if she changed jobs or routine suddenly, then I'd lose my chance altogether. I didn't want this to be a missed opportunity. Besides, if it didn't work out or things got awkward, I could always go to another of the hundreds of coffee shops in the city.
One day she sat down opposite me and reasonably close. I looked at her, made eye contact and said hello. She responded with a hello of her own and gave me one of her smiles I had only see her give to the staff. Her name was Nina and she worked in an office nearby.
Beyond our initial hello's there were a number of weeks where we made small talk, commented on current events and generally just interacted. We were able to dip in and out of what we were doing personally like we had known each other for a long time. I liked that we could do that.
At one point she made some comments on my physique, which was nice. Not even my wife of 20 years had commented in this regard. I thanked her and admitted I had been working out quite regularly. If I was completely honest with her, I would have said that since our initial hellos, I had actually upped my workout routines. I told her about the room I had on the roof of my building that allowed me to work out during weekdays.
She asked about how she should go about getting in shape. I thought to myself that she already looked pretty good. I wasn't sure whether she was being a bit flirty in this regard or she genuinely wanted to know. I took her question at face value and told her all you needed was a workout mat and maybe some light dumbbells to start -- no need for an expensive gym membership. I threw it out there that I was happy to show her the set up in the room on the roof of my building, if she wanted. I was pleased that she indicated that was a good idea.
I thought afterwards, it was unlikely she would visit my room. It would be great if she did but in this day and age of creeps and so on, I was essentially a stranger to her so I couldn't imagine that she would risk it.