Being Neighborly

Yes, again Todger65 has shown a total lack of self-respect and has edited my story. I can't thank him enough.

There is a fair amount of build-up in this story but there will be intimacy and lots of it.

Being Neighborly Part 1

My secret is revealed while helping the new neighbor.

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I looked out the kitchen window to check the morning weather like I do every day before I make my coffee. My house is on a corner with the front facing the avenue and the side with my kitchen and garage facing the side street. Directly across the street is a small older home that was built in the 1930s. The house is in fair shape, just old and it's been on the market for over a year. I saw the moving truck parked, blocking my own driveway, obviously waiting for the new owners to arrive.

Some folks would have marched right out of their house and demanded that they move their truck. I knew my wife Liz wasn't going anywhere this morning. The parked truck wasn't hurting us any and the last thing I wanted to do was send the message to my brand new neighbors that I'm the 'Get off my lawn' guy. I'm forty, not ninety.

While I did have some running to do, my truck was parked in my wood shop garage at the back of my lot. That garage emptied onto the paved alley behind my shop, and getting out wasn't an issue. I made my coffee and meandered over to the shop. I was delivering an entertainment center this morning and was anxious to see how my customer liked it. As much custom-designed stuff I've built, and as many times as I've heard the oohs and aahs, I still get nervous when I deliver the finished item.

I got the delivery completed and had a nice check that included an unexpected bonus in my pocket when I walked into the house for lunch. Liz was sitting at the kitchen island and looking out the kitchen window, "Hey babe. The delivery go all right?"

"Yep, they even gave me a bonus. Whatcha doin?"

I walked over and gave her a little kiss. She smiled, "Watching the new neighbors move in. I've seen a woman I think is the mom and a little girl."

I nodded, "So the older folks we saw are probably her parents and they likely helped them out with their home. We figured that place would make a nice starter home for a young couple. I wonder where the kid's dad is? Let's let them settle in and go over and introduce ourselves."

Liz nodded, "Maybe bring a bottle of wine and some homemade lasagna?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Liz watched and I glanced across the street occasionally as I ate my lunch. I moseyed back to the shop for the afternoon. That evening we ate at the island as usual and saw the house across the street lit up in every room for the first time in a long time. It was kind of nice having a young family live there. Liz and I had speculated freely about the quality of neighbor we might get when the house went on the market. The property was the lowest-valued place on the block by a substantial margin and we had been concerned that a landlord would buy it and rent it out to all kinds of riffraff. That's what the previous owner had done and frankly, I was damn tired of being on a first-name basis with our city police.

The young family was a positive sign, although there was nothing stopping them from being raging assholes if that was their inclination. We would find out one way or the other when we introduced ourselves.

The following morning I followed my routine and returned to the shop. Two hours of cleaning later the shop was ready for the next project and I sat down in front of my computer. I had some wonderfully decadent ideas running around my head and needed to get them written down.

I have two interests, actually, passions, that fill my days now. The first is designing and building fine furniture. The second is a closely held secret. I write erotic stories and post them on an adult literature website. I'm moderately successful at it and have a pretty good following under my username IJS0904. I had a couple of stories part way along that I should be working on, but a new idea had entered my head and it was time to start another story. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and completely forgot to go home for lunch.

I banged away at it for a while and when I looked at the clock I was again late for dinner. Liz knew how I got when the writing bug bit me and was very understanding about it. She no longer started dinner until I actually showed up at the house. When I finally did show up we would have the usual discussion. Is it my turn to cook, her turn to cook, or are we going out to eat?

The wonderful smell of homemade lasagna hit my nose and made my mouth water when I walked in the back door. The freshly baked lasagna was cooling on the top of the stove and I gave it the side eye as I walked up behind my wife. She was looking out the kitchen window when I pulled her ass against my erection and began kissing her neck.

She chuckled, "You've been writing again, haven't you? Well, you're going to have to keep it in your pants for a while. Come on. We're going across the street."

I grabbed the oven mitts, picked up the lasagna, and followed my wife out of the house and across the street. I nearly stumbled on the curb because I was distracted watching my wife's lovely ass.

She shot me a look, half serious and half intrigued, "Don't you dare drop that. Stop staring at my ass and watch where you're going."

She took a look at my crotch, smirked, and stopped walking, "You need to get rid of that before we meet them. Showing up with an erection is probably not the best way to introduce yourself."

I shrugged, "You never know. She might like it."

Liz chuckled, "Or he might!"

That pretty much cured my affliction and I was down to a bit of a chubby by the time she rang the doorbell. It's not that I have something against gay men. As far as I'm concerned I don't care whom you love, as long as you love. I don't find men sexually attractive, quite the opposite in fact, but I'll be the last one to chastise someone for a loving relationship. I don't care which X or Y chromosome determined the person's gender, or if the gender they were born with gets changed because it doesn't reflect the person inside. It's all good to me. I don't understand the homophobic mindset. Why hate someone that you would normally have no interest in? What did they ever do to you, besides frighten your ignorant ass because you're scared of catching gay?

The whole gay-bashing thing was another of those stupid things I have difficulty wrapping my head around. Why waste any life at all hating something that you can't change and that has zero effect on your day-to-day life? It's not like there are gay rapists running rampant. What makes Joe Redneck think a gay man has any interest in him in the first place? Who wants a close-minded, intolerant, mean person in their life anyway, regardless of sexual orientation?

My pondering, and the subsequent disgust with close-minded people, soon had my cock back to its normal soft state and I waited patiently as Liz rang the doorbell. The vision that answered the door instantly stole my heart. She had curly dark hair, huge green eyes, and a smile that lit up the world. She was also pretty short but that wasn't surprising considering she looked to be about six years old. Her skin was darkly tanned and she was a bundle of energy as she hopped from foot to foot.

Liz gave her a huge grin and I realized my jaw was practically aching from my own smile. Liz squatted down so she was on the little girl's level, "Hi there! I'm Liz and this is my husband Dan. What's your name?"

Her sweet little voice just made my grin bigger, "I'm Tess and I'm six going on seven!"

I could tell that Liz wanted to hug the shit out of her, but she settled on giving her a huge smile, "Is your mom and dad home? We would like to meet them too."

Tess turned and ran back into the house, leaving the two of us standing there chuckling. Our chuckles just got louder as we listened to Tess trying to drag her mother to the door to meet her new friends. The woman that arrived at the door was surprised, to say the least, and she gave her daughter a look of humorous frustration, "Tess, what have I told you about answering the door by yourself?"

Her cuteness gene was very dominant as she clenched her little hands and began to twist back and forth. She'd been caught doing something she shouldn't and she knew she'd been caught. A desperate plea with over-the-top cuteness should calm mom right down, "But MOM! They're my new friends and they live right there!" Her little hand pointed at our driveway as if to say, "I rest my case."

For some reason unknown to Liz and me at the time her mother's eyes started to swell with tears. I decided a distraction wouldn't hurt and squatted down so I could be at Tess's eye level, "Tess, your mommy wants you to be safe because she loves you. You need to let your mom know when someone comes to the door so she can answer it. No matter who it is. OK?"

She looked at me curiously for a moment, "OK." Then turned and trotted away. Liz saw that the woman was getting a grip but decided that maybe we were intruding, "I'm Liz and this is my husband Dan. We live right there so welcome to the neighborhood. If you need help with anything please let us know. Dan is really handy with repairs and stuff.

"We thought you might need a break from cooking so I made you some lasagna."

The woman looked at us for a moment and I could see that she was again fighting tears, "Oh, I'm so rude. I'm very sorry. This move has me shaken. I'm Tammy and it is very nice to meet you. Please come in."

She held the door open and I walked in. She led us to her kitchen and I set the hot lasagna on the stovetop while Liz handed her the wine. Tammy studied the bottle for a moment, then looked up, "This looks lovely but I have no idea where the corkscrew is."

I pulled the wonderfully made folding corkscrew I'd found online from my pocket and flashed her a grin as I held it up. I hadn't realized how tense her face had been until it lit up with her smile. Suddenly I started noticing a few things. One of those things was that my new neighbor had a very pretty face. Her eyes matched her daughter's, although her blonde hair didn't, nor her much paler skin. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail revealing her elfin ears and sleek neck. That's as far down as I would let my eyes go while Tammy was looking right at me. No sense in being a creep.

My lovely wife gave me my opportunity when she caught Tammy's attention. I saw Liz's sideways smirk at me when she did it.

Shit woman, I'm not that smitten. I'm going to get some non-stop teasing over this one.

Still, opportunity knocked and I answered. When Tammy's head turned toward my wife, my eyes turned downward and I took her in. She was wearing yoga pants, a sleeveless t-shirt, and a sports bra could be clearly seen showing through. Her body was lithe and firm, her legs were fucking awesome, her ass hard and round, and her tits were damn near perfect handfuls of pertness. Her nipples had won the battle with her bra and t-shirt and were exerting their authority admirably. She was stunning. Liz was fighting laughter at the expression on my face, and my dick was swelling again.

Bad dick! Bad! Go away!

My head was filled nearly to distraction with fantasy scenarios. I could see a lot of stories coming out of this introduction. Apparently, during my creative writing interlude, Liz had agreed that we would share the wine with Tammy. Tammy had zero difficulties finding the wine glasses. I saw that she had the kitchen cabinets full and organized. She'd been busy.

We sat at the kitchen table and talked. Tessy would occasionally run into the room, see a bunch of boring grown-ups talking, and race back out of the room. Tammy deflected talking about herself by asking us tons of questions about us. She was intrigued by my wood shop and I invited her to visit when she had a moment.

Liz chuckled, "Plan to spend a while. He's built some truly wonderful stuff and he loves to show the pictures off. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to make you a little bet that he'll talk you into letting him make you something."

The second glass of wine along with the friendly conversation opened Tammy up, "I suppose you're wondering where Tessy's dad is and I ought to get that out of the way. I recently divorced Jeff. He has an issue with fidelity in that he isn't capable of it. I thought after Tess was born he'd change, but that lasted a year. It took me this long to finally admit to myself that he and I had no future together. He will be coming here often though. He is a good father to Tess, the best actually, just not much of a husband."

I took that as my cue, "Don't spend your money on repairs to the house without letting me take a crack at it first. I won't tackle something I can't do correctly. I gutted and remodeled our house from the frame up, and I know a bit about how to fix them."

I saw her hesitate, "Please, I like to help. It makes me feel good and it's what a neighbor does."

I could see more of that invisible weight lift from her shoulders. I think that was the moment she accepted that we were sincere. The smile she gave me hit my brain and went straight to my crotch from there. At that moment I saw a joyful and amazing woman that was aching to live life to the fullest. Yet, here she was, a single mom with a young child, starting over. I couldn't imagine how depressing that must be.

Liz took one look at me and shook her head while hiding her grin with her hand. She knew me too well. Nothing brings out the alpha male in me like a damsel in distress. I immediately resolved to make Tammy's life as easy as possible so that she could focus on living again. I was already planning the playroom at our house for Tessy. We'd have great fun hanging out there while her mother got her dating life restarted. As far as I was concerned Tess could start calling me Uncle Dan from this moment forward. Well, maybe just Dan. No need to be formal about it.

Tessy came running back into the room, grabbed my hand, and began pulling me toward the living room, "Come on and watch Dora with me."

I watched Tess while she watched Dora and I loved every second of it. She is so full of life, curiosity, and sweet innocence that she is a joy to be around. I suspect her mother could give examples of less-than-stellar behavior by the six-year-old, but I never saw it. I might be a bit opinionated though. When the show was over I went to collect my wife.

I walked back into the kitchen and they were suddenly at a loss for words. I grinned, "Talking about me huh? It can't be bad yet, we've just met.

"Tammy, I'd like to inspect your house and see what needs fixing if you don't mind. This house has been in the hands of a few flaky landlords over the years and I don't trust any work they did on the place. I promise not to snoop."

Liz started laughing and soon had Tammy laughing right along with her. I crossed my arms and pretended to glare at them while waiting them out. Eventually, Tammy gave me that warm smile of hers, "Liz told me you were in pappa bear mode and would insist on inspecting the house. She's convinced me that you're harmless but useful."

I nodded all manly and shit, "Good. Tomorrow morning work for you?"

Liz grinned at Tammy, "I told you!"

What? Tomorrow was Sunday. Tammy would be home and it was as good a time as any. Plus, I didn't need to come up with some reason to inspect the place while she was at work. I really wanted to check out the electrical and plumbing, not to mention the structural stuff. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to them because I hadn't gotten around to fixing something.

I wanted to start at seven and begrudgingly accepted nine. It was her house after all. We said our goodbyes and got a wonderful hug from Tessy on the way out the door. Liz and I were both smiling. It was the happiest moment we had experienced in a long time. Not that life had been all that bad. Compared to the sunshine spread by that little girl even the best life can seem a little dull.

We walked into our kitchen and decided a second glass of wine was in order. We settled at the island and sipped thoughtfully for a while. Liz broke the silence in a surprising way, "So, are you thinking about pulling the trigger with Tammy?"

That came out of left field. The idea had not occurred to me simply because it wasn't something I thought about much. 'Pulling the trigger' was our little code for what I guess you could call a 'Hall Pass'. That's not really what it was though, but a hall pass is as good a way as any to describe it.

Liz and I have always been sexually adventurous. There's not much that a couple can do together sexually that we haven't tried. Let me qualify that by excluding gross and painful stuff. We were open to the idea of swinging, but the opportunity never came. There's a huge privacy barrier that has to be crossed and small towns don't lend themselves well to keeping secrets. We weren't about to let some fun damage our life together.

We had long ago agreed that if one of us wanted to have wild sex with someone, someone we found erotically irresistible, then we could pull the trigger. The deal was that it was for some amazing sex, would not harm our relationship, and had to be a closely held secret. No one but those involved would ever know what happened.

This wasn't about a love affair or a long-term relationship. We had each other for that. The whole deal was about getting to live a fantasy for a while. We'd put no limits on it either. Either of us could have chosen one partner, or a hundred. We didn't need the limitation spoken. We both knew that whatever happened would have to be very special, and by its very nature not common at all.

We would never pull the trigger in anger. We have always been open and honest with each other. When we've disagreed, and boy have we disagreed, we always worked our way through it together. Pulling the trigger isn't supposed to be a bad response to a troubled marriage. It is meant to be a joyful exploration of a sexual experience. I knew I wouldn't be jealous because her partner was taking nothing from us. The partner would hopefully give her a wonderful experience. In reality, the entire exercise was a demonstration of the trust we had in each other. I would never consider pulling the trigger with a woman that had any potential to put my marriage at risk and I knew that Liz wouldn't either.

We were both so picky about it that neither of us had ever pulled the trigger. Fifteen years of marriage and neither of us had ever said it out loud. We certainly hadn't forgotten it. I looked, as did she, but we didn't hunt. If the right person came along then triggers might be pulled. Just because it hadn't happened yet, didn't mean it couldn't happen at any time. Both of us were fine with that.

I gave her an honest answer, "I've just met her, and considering the circumstances, it never occurred to me. She is without a doubt very attractive but somehow I think now would not be a good time for her horny neighbor to try to seduce her. I do like her and I want to help her if I can. You should be worried about Tess. She's the one that stole my heart tonight."

Liz grinned at me, "So, which room?"

I played dumb, "What room?"

Her eyes sparkled, "The one you're going to make into a playroom."

She outright laughed when my face turned red. I shrugged, "I was thinking of the spare bedroom at the end of the hall. That way if she spends the night she won't hear anything."

She nodded, "Good point. Speaking of which, my vocal cords could use some exercise. Got any suggestions?"

I had several and judging by her response, orgasming while my cock was buried in her, beat out my fingers and my tongue by more than a few decibels. Dinner was late that evening.