"Oops! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to back into you."
"That's okay. I hope you didn't miss the shot," I said. She was setting up still shots of Roman artifacts at an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum.
Over coffee I discovered that Katha was spending a post-graduate year in Naples at an archaeological dig. As I was about to sail with 600 college students on a round-the-world voyage that would stop in Naples, we agreed to meet when my ship landed there.
I wrote from Amsterdam to tell her exactly when I would arrive and that I had responsibilities the first day we were in port. Could we have breakfast the next morning?
I had no photo of her, so I let my memory tease me about what she looked like. I remembered brown hair, intensely focused brown eyes, and soft arms and hands. I allowed myself to create a soft mouth and a wanton tongue.
There was a letter from Katha waiting for me in the purser's office when we docked. She would be at dockside at 8 a.m. tomorrow and we could have breakfast in a café she knew.
"Katha! It's terrific that you even remembered me!"
"Well, a gentleman who doesn't knock over a girl's tripod has some standing where I come from."
October in Italy is lovely and she was too. Her floppy hat couldn't conceal her tanned oval face. I had been right about her eyes. Her sandals showed her feet off well while her jeans and blouse displayed her good posture and smallish breasts.
"Can I take you to the dig? It's nothing much, but it has some really good examples of first century household pottery and mosaics."
We rode the rickety local bus drove down the coastline for about an hour to the site. At the time of Christ a landslide destroyed a large house on the hillside. Forgotten even when a local road was built very close to it, the house had been rediscovered about ten years ago and was now being excavated.
"We're very Spartan here," she said. "Just two tents and a lockable shed. Anything bigger than a pea gets looked at. If it seems interesting, I give it over to Dr. Simeon for him and the staff to review and photograph. They sort and classify things that look interesting. The shed holds the tools and a place for the night watchman to stay, since even now there are thieves who will steal anything."
Katha introduced me to Dr. Simeon, a Belgian whose fascination with Italian archaeology was unfortunately lost to me due to his heavily-accented English. Katha's enthusiasm for the work, on the other hand, came through as she showed me pieces of pottery that, in her hands, told a story of a household and its time.
We went back to Naples and she leisurely showed me several of the classic city sites. As it got toward sunset and we were eating dinner, she asked me how much longer the ship was going to be in port.
"We sail tomorrow night at 2200. I have to be back on board by 2030."
"If you'd like to see some of the countryside, I can take tomorrow off."
"It's not going to interfere with your job?"
"No, I'm cheap labor here. I'm already accepted at Brown next year in archaeology, so this job is for experience. It's slow going and I may have a day's work even if I'm not there for four. So I can certainly afford two days off."
"Then I'd love nothing more than having you teach me about Naples."
"Come on, then, I want you to see the Bay."
Byron and many others have praised the Bay of Naples. And I'm sure there are better views than the one Katha showed me. But where we stood had the virtue of being in twilight, visible from a small tavern, and exposed to me first by this woman. It was also only a three-block walk to her small room, where she took me next.
"I don't get to speak English too much any more, Peter. In fact, it's really nice to speak American again."
Located in an old neighborhood, the room was nothing special except for the fact that the morning sunlight would be dazzling. The furnishings were a double bed, an armoire, a chair and desk, and a threadbare rug. The bathroom was in the hall.
"How did you find this room?"
"Romeo, the head excavator, owns the house and rents the room to the dig, so I don't have to pay anything. I can cook on the sterno stove, but it's just nicer to eat like Italians: bread, cheese, fish, olive oil, and wine. Romeo and his family have had me to dinner a couple of times."
And we kissed. Katha was warm, needy, and so willing. She nuzzled my thick beard and ran her fingers through my unruly black hair. She grabbed my ass and pulled it to her, slowly gyrating against me, pressing my cock hard against her.
I moved to undress her slowly. With her blouse gone, she shrugged off her bra, revealing breasts larger than I had expected. I appreciated her well-developed upper arms and shoulders that showed the effects of lifting boxes of screened dirt away from the sifters.
Her hips were slim and her legs were firm; her thighs and pubic triangle were very inviting. As I finished taking her second leg out of her jeans, I put it over my shoulder and gently lapped at her pussy. She grabbed my shoulder to steady herself, pressing her hips into my face. Her shiver and slight moan was all the encouragement I needed.
