Though we had worked together for years, and had flirted for a long time, the fact I was meeting Karen for drinks off-hours still made me nervous. I had tried for a long time to convince her to take some time and just unwind. We both needed it after all of the stress and distasteful stuff going on at work. Finally after an unusually bad week, Karen agreed to meet me. We selected the Adams Mark hotel bar to meet to allow Karen to be close to home.
I arrived about fifteen minutes early giving me a chance to have a drink and try to relax a bit. My nervousness over how I had hoped this encounter might go only made me more anxious. As I started my second drink, Karen walked in. I cannot begin to describe how good she looked. Evidently she had come straight from an appointment as she was still wearing dress clothes. The off-white dress went almost down to her ankles but had a slit that ran up to just above her knees. The upper part of her dress buttoned down the front, but the buttons were hidden as the material crossed over itself into a loose looking fit. There was nothing about this outfit that didn't look professional. Her hair, though not extremely long, was pulled back and rode in a small modest clip.
"How's it going?" Karen asked as she sat in the chair beside me. "Sorry I'm late."
I turned my chair slightly in her direction. "No problem. I thought I would be late. Had a hard time finding this place. It has been one of those days. How about you?"
"My day has been OK. Not exciting. Just pounding the pavement as usual."
The waitress arrived just as Karen grabbed a menu. "Can I get you anything?"
Karen put the menu back. "Yeah, can I get an iced tea?"
"Sure," she said as she checked my glass. "Another for you?"
I looked down at my half-full glass. "Not yet. Check back in about ten minutes." She smiled as she closed her order book. "Just let me know when you are ready."
I nodded and turned back to Karen. "So, are you hungry?" I asked.
Karen looked back at the menu but put it down. "No, I guess I am still full from lunch." She turned her attention back to me. "What's been going on with you? Going out of town again soon?" Karen and I spent the next twenty minutes talking shop. Though I tried to keep my eyes and mind focused, my concentration was not into the conversation. The slit in Karen's dress opened up just enough that I was able to see one of her shapely legs almost all of the way up her thigh. Her toned calf muscle flexed when she would occasionally adjust her foot in her high-heel. I adjusted my chair into a position to be able to look at this sight more easily. Karen would have had to have been asleep not to notice what I was looking at, though she didn't make any attempts to adjust her dress.
After a while Karen excused herself to go to the restroom. I was actually glad. As she made her way across the bar to the restroom, I took a napkin off of the table and used it to cover my obvious erection. The Dockers I was wearing didn't do much to help hide what was becoming a growing problem.
"I'm back. Miss me?" Karen said as she sat back down.
I looked up and smiled. "You sure didn't take too long. By the way: what are your plans this evening? Are you wanting to hang around here for a while and chat? This is kinda nice."
"Nothing is happening with me. You and I haven't had much of a chance to talk for a while, so let's take advantage of it."
I checked my watch and saw it was almost 8:00. A piano in the corner of the club started playing some old song I barely recognized. I turned to see there was a small band of three guys getting set up to play. "I hope this music doesn't get too loud. I am enjoying the peace and quiet here." Just then the lighting dimmed a bit.
Karen turned in the direction of the band. "It looks like it should be OK." She was right. The music was mellow. It actually improved the whole ambiance of the place. The lighting got even lower and Karen and I turned our chairs toward the band. "We should be able to talk with this."
As we chatted more about work the waitress stopped by. Karen surprised me and ordered some wine. I stayed with my bourbon and Coke and after being off of work for over three hours finally started to relax.
After pretending like we were going to fix all of the company's problems for an hour, my mind drifted back to Karen's legs. The dress was opened up again and in the low light I didn't feel quite as uncomfortable with the bulge in my pants. That is until Karen asked me if I ever danced.
"Well, I have, but I don't dance too well. Especially the type of dancing that this music usually calls for. Why do you ask?"
Karen surprised me and took my hand. "Come on. Let's see what we can do." We got up and headed over to the dance floor in the corner by the band. There were three other couples there, but fortunately none of them were what I would call professional dancers. Karen put one arm around my waist and I held her other hand up like I knew what I was doing. My free hand went around her body, lightly touching her back just above her waist. Karen pulled me slightly closer and leaned her head against my chest. Almost automatically I began to caress her back. The softness of her top excited me as I lightly ran my hand up and down her back. Our clenched hands pressed between us as we slowly moved around the dance floor.