eat
."
She flashed a radiant smile, and then, "Later, big boy... and I do mean big. You can eat me as much, and for as long, as you want. I'm all yours."
Typical Friday. A lot of the sales guys left early and were on their third round of drinks. Our department, where it was standard practice, to stay until 5:00, the engineers were on their first round.
As usual, they had pulled three table together. It seemed that everybody sat with their own groups: sales, Purchasing, and engineering.
The guys had saved two chairs for us. The other groups were into their own conversations, and didn't really pay attention to us, except for Becky and Jeannie, who sat at the other end of the table on the opposite side. I went around the 'engineering' table, and made the introductions.
When Bev removed her winter coat, I saw, that all of a sudden, the sales guys had stopped talking. Bev had their attention, along with the attention of the engineers. As she turned to hang her coat on the back of her chair, with her butt now facing the engineers, I saw the 'butt' guys checking her out. I just grinned. I would tell her about it later.
With drinks in front of us, and my arm draped around her shoulder, the guys wanted to hear, from Bev, about the 'storm night'.
It was fun to hear it from her perspective. The highway accident, forcing her to find another route. Getting lost. Getting stuck. The snow blowing. Darkness. And then the momentary let-up in the wind and seeing the yard light that was probably forty yards away. Slipping, falling down, and skinning her knees. Banging on my back door, shivering so hard that her teeth were chattering. Hoping and praying that someone was home. Huddling next to the fireplace. All the time in the house, not looking up, just trying to get warm. And then the hot chocolate and our simultaneous recognition of each other.
One of the guys asked, with a grin, "Well, what if a seral rapist or axe murder lived there."
She grinned, as that was what I had asked her that night.
"I figured that it was better than freezing. And I was right. I couldn't have asked for a better rescuer."
We looked at each other, smiled, and hugged her as she buried her face into my shirt. It was a nice display of our affection for each other. We didn't care.
The whole time, Bev had a permanent smile, which only signaled how happy she was with the events of that night, with us, and sitting right there next to each other.
Later, the guys would comment to me on how clear it was that we were so into each other. And how it happened so quickly. I mean it had only been two weeks ago, and we had only been with each two weekends. But, it wasn't like we were 'complete' strangers before that night. Yet, our closeness was evident to everybody around us, and for us, it was growing.
There was enough background noise in the bar, that only those at our end of the tables were able to hear her. At times I would say something that caught her attention, and she would turn and look at me, with a beaming smile. After a bit, I did notice that a few times, her gaze went 'past' me toward the end of the table. I had my suspicions at what was catching her gaze.
Bev excused herself to go to the ladies room. A few moments later; out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeannie get up and follow her in. Inner 'alarms' went off. They shouldn't have, but, they did.
A few minutes later, I saw that Jeannie had just returned. We caught each other's eye and she gave me a knowing smile. I relaxed a bit. Bev returned with a gentle smile and gave my cheek a quick peck. Not caring who was watching.
From that point on, until we left, around 7:00, Bev snuggled up to me the entire time. It wasn't like she was 'claiming' me... it was more like she wanted to feel our closeness.
Once in the car, she leaned over, cupped my face, and gave me a soft and loving kiss.
"mmmm, Bev, that was nice. I want to take you some place and ravage you."
"That sounds like fun. I just wanted to kiss the man that I love, and who I know, loves me."
Another kiss.
As I headed out of the parking lot, and on the road, to my awaiting bed, Bev snuggled in. She felt comfortable, as she relaxed against me.
"Bill, can I ask you something?"
"You know you can ask me anything," as I kissed the top of her head.
"Why was that girl, the one with the brown hair, and was sitting at the other end of the table, looking at us all night? It seemed like every time I turned to look at you, I noticed that she was looking at us. And she had a smile. And then she followed me into the ladies room. Did her thing. I was standing at the mirror, doing what us women do. And just as she left, she looked at me and said that I was a lucky girl. Why did she say that? Do you know her?"
I felt comfortable with how she asked me.
"To answer your last question first... yes, I know her. Her name is Jeannie, and she's a junior buyer in purchasing. I work with her, as she buys the simple things that some of my 'modified standard projects' require. I've worked with her for about four months, it was occasional get-togethers in her cubical, about exactly what is was that I was trying to have her buy. Always about the projects, nothing beyond that.
"The company had a Christmas party the second week in December. My, then roommate, asked if I was going. I said that I hadn't planned on it, as I didn't have anyone in mind to ask. So, that was that. I didn't think any more about it. At that time, he had a casual interest in the sales secretary, the girl that was sitting next to Jeannie. The next week, when he and I were out for some pizza and beer, he suggested that I ask Jeannie. Said that way, the four of us could sit together at the Christmas party, as he knew that the two of them were friends. I never thought of it, and just said that I didn't know why, or if, she would consider that. He said to give it a shot. Thinking back, he obviously had 'insider information'.
"So, I did, and she accepted. It was a fun evening. Danced, both fast and slow. It had been the first time I had been out with a girl in a long long time. Dropping her off at her house, she invited me in. I had no expectations of any 'further activities', and I told her so. She was kind of relieved, as she just didn't know if I had any idea of anything beyond taking her to the Christmas party. She thanked me for asking to go to the party, and that she had fun. After that, the four of us casually hung out after work a few times at that bar. Nothing progressed beyond that.
"One of the engineers was having a New Year's Eve party. It was a 'B-O-B'. At the stroke of midnight, everybody started kissing, welcoming in the New Year. We just looked at each other. At that point, we had never shared a kiss. We had enough drinks in us, that we shrugged our shoulders and said, 'Why not?'
"That led us to her apartment, where I spent the night. And, yes, we had sex. Not soft and tender sex. It was just casual needy sex. Later, she said she was sorry. That she didn't want to start any kind of a relationship, as she was just coming off a divorce a few months ago. At that time, I wasn't looking for anything either. I guess my 'hurt' was still with me.
"Instead, we settled in for just that... sex. No commitments. No strings. Just casual sex, enough to satisfy each other's need, and to have fun. It was new for me, as she was only my second. She later said, that it was something she needed at that time in her life. Just to be with someone that she knew that liked her. I guess that I needed it too. To be with someone that I liked, and who liked me.
"That went on through January, to the weekend before the storm. The afternoon of the storm, she stopped by my cubicle and asked if I wanted to get together, either her place, or mine to 'ride out the storm', so to speak. We both knew what that would entail.
"Bev, something deep inside of me 'spoke' to me. I can't describe it. I told her, that I just wanted to be alone for the weekend. She understood. I think she was thinking my 'demon past' from school was getting to me, and that I just needed some time, alone. That wasn't it... it was something else... something just out of my reach.
