Her big company party was being held downtown at one of the fanciest hotels in the city, and even as I was getting out of my cab. I had told her that I never drove after drinking and that we would meet there. Nearly at once I recognized several prominent members of the cream of Houston 'money' society.
Madelyne didn't seem to be there yet, naturally she was going to be 'fashionably late', and I had nearly two hours all by myself to slowly nurse drinks that I very badly wanted to gulp down instead.
Since I was on-time and in fact nearly the first one there right at the dot of 7 p.m., I somehow managed to find myself constantly in the middle of conversation as new arrivals trickled in to join us. I met a lot of interesting industry contacts and even passed out a few of my cards. Who knows, maybe they'd have some piddly little project that wasn't worth their time and effort that they could now instead pass to my small company.
After I'd been there for about an hour, I somehow found myself deeply engaged in a fascinating conversation with a delightful old coot who seemed to be a bit underdressed for the party, but he also seemed to know everyone present by their first name. One of the senior partners, I guessed, and he seemed to be showing an unusual interest in me.
His name was Nathan, and he was 'old school' rural Texas himself, and soon we were happily discussing a vast smorgasbord of topics from ranching in Central Texas, to local sports, and even the proper design of bridges, when at last Madelyne deemed herself ready to make her overdue appearance at long last.
I was about to introduce her to Nathan, when she instead introduced me to her Dad, the one and the same Nathan Edwards.
Now I had indeed quite stepped deeply into it. But 'Dad' just gave me a wink, and went off to greet his other guests.
Madelyne was dressed to kill, wearing a very flirty 'dancers gown' that showed a lot of very interesting cleavage, with a deep slit up one side that revealed one of her pale hipbones and exposed the maximum amount of bare back allowable by law. Clearly there wasn't much place under her luscious outfit to hide any undergarments, no matter how tiny. I approved. During the last few minutes of cocktail hour and during the dinner she wore a wrap that kept her charms mostly concealed, but the thought of her in that dress made my heart race.
Right at the dot of 10 o'clock, after everyone had eaten well, the dance contest began. Five judges were selected and everyone was invited onto the dance floor as a series of big band era Foxtrots were played. One by one over the next half-hour most of the couples were eliminated, until just nine other couples and Madelyne and myself were left. Now the judging began in earnest.
Next it was time for a waltz, and again we survived elimination to reach the Finals with two other couples, but just barely I think. For the last dance, it was a long medley composite song starting with a Rumba, then turning to a Samba and finally ending as a long Tango. We started fairly poorly as she hadn't quite had quite enough experience for those first two complicated dances, and as she made small mistakes her confidence started to fail and all of the fun seemed to evaporate from her face and attitude.
When the Tango started I whispered to her, "Forget all about the contest and pretend no one else is here and it's just the two of us. Dance this one just for me!"
Did she ever! Our Tango became torrid and she soon indeed forgot all about the judges and the audience of nearly a thousand watcher. We looked only into each other's eyes and for a few wonderful moments we were just 'Harry and Maddie', instead of the ever battling Harold and Madelyne.
When the dance ended, and without knowing why I did it, I bent over and kissed Maddie's mouth, and to my surprise she returned it.
It was unanimous that we had done the best Tango, but our poor performance in the earlier two dances had doomed us to Third Place, but this still pleased Maddie immensely. Our prize was an all-expenses paid trip to San Antonio, and we joked that before we could use that we would need to have had at least one 'proper date' first. Privately she had figured she wouldn't even make it past the first round of elimination, and had just wanted to be out there dancing to prove to everyone, especially her father, that she could occasionally let down her hair and have some fun.
**********
The party ended quite late and relieved that the stress was finally all over with, we both had a good deal to drink. I had expected her to soon wander off and socialize with some of her work friends, but instead she spent much of the rest of the night pretty well glued to my elbow with her arm mostly wrapped around mine.
Around 1 a.m. my internal 'enough drinking' switch got flicked, and I decided it was time to call it a night and go home. I asked Maddie if she'd like me to get her a cab, and she accepted. When asked for the address I was about to give the cabbie hers, but she instead told the cabbie mine.
"It's your home I want to see this morning, not mine!" She whispered into my ear with a bit of a slur and then gave it a little kiss that turned into a little nibble that hinted at even further delights soon to follow.
The ten minute cab trip seemed to take hours and I swear we caught every single red light on the entire trip. I had a small but comfy patio home with a small fenced yard in both front and in back. Not a mansion showplace, but it beat living in most bachelor apartments considerably.
Maddie hadn't made it three feet inside my front door before her gown was now suddenly now around her ankles and our mouths were locked tightly together.
My earlier appraisal had been quite correct; she had not been wearing any undergarments that evening and the fully naked presentation was more than deliciously desirable. Any lingering remaining thoughts I might have had against accepting Maddie as my lover were now quite forgotten. In moments, most of my tuxedo was scattered in a trail that lead to the bedroom and soon she was kissing me passionately on my bed and starting to explore what secrets my boxer shorts might be hiding. If she had just kept kissing me, or directed her mouth elsewhere, the rest of the evening would have been glorious. However, as usual at the worst possible time, 'old' Madelyne had to put in an appearance.
