I hadn't expected to find myself back in the town that I had so recently called "home" while I was pursuing a master's degree, but after only two months of pounding the pavement, my job search landed me right back in the university town just a few blocks from campus. 'Great place to go to school and raise a family,' people said. Absent was any characterization of it being a great place for young professionals. But that's where my job search had taken me, so I was going to make the most of it. I was in my late 20's, single, athletic, and gainfully employed. The only thing missing was female companionship, so my antennae were up.
It wasn't too long after I moved into my new apartment that I first saw Karen. I was sitting at the table eating breakfast and watching the news when she passed by the corner window of my apartment carrying her bicycle. Being an avid cyclist myself, her bike caught my eye. Being a red-blooded American male, her athletic figure also caught my eye. Tall (about 5' 10"), Karen was clothed in black spandex shorts highlighting her slender waist, muscular legs and firm butt. She had long, curly, black hair that cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, and wore a colorful spandex top that drew taut across her strong upper body. I leaned back in order to get a second glance at her, this time through the front window. All my initial observations were confirmed; I had found my "girl-next-door." I watched her ride down the hill, and when she disappeared from sight, I returned to the news and my breakfast, looking forward to the next morning. I readied for work and left a short while later.
As I turned left into the office park after a 15-minute drive to work, I couldn't believe my luck when I saw, riding her bike 50 yards ahead of me, my beautiful breakfast distraction. Convinced this was more fate than coincidence, I decided that now was as good a time as any to introduce myself. I caught up to her about the time she was dismounting her bike near one of the buildings at the rear of the office park.
"Excuse me...good morning," I said.
"Hi," she responded rather tersely and without a hint of a smile on her face.
Holding out my hand I said, "My name is Alex. I noticed you leaving your apartment this morning and see that you work in the same office park as I do, so I thought I would introduce myself."
She just looked at me without saying a word. 'Good, now she thinks you're a stalker,' I thought to myself. "You see, I moved into an apartment in the building next door to yours last week...that's how I happened to see you as you were leaving this morning...and I just noticed you again as I was pulling in."
"Oh," she responded without emotion, "uh, my name's Karen."
"Well Karen, I just thought I'd say hello. I'll let you get going so you can get to work. I should do the same. Have a good day. I'll see you around the apartment complex."
"Okay," she said and waved as she walked away.
I climbed back in my car, shut the door and drove back down the driveway to my office building. Chalk that one up to experience, I thought to myself. Either I really needed to work on my interpersonal skills or she was one cold fish. Just to be a friendly neighbor, I taped a note to the door of her apartment building saying how nice it was to meet her and that I was sorry if I startled her.
I saw her sitting on the front stoop of her apartment a few days later and decided to try one more time to engage her in some idle conversation on my way out to meet some friends.
"Hi Karen. Nice night isn't it?"
"Hey Alex. Beautiful. Thanks for your note. You didn't have to do that. You didn't startle me, I was just a little winded from riding to work that day."
"Good to hear. I didn't want you thinking that your new neighbor was a stalker."
We talked for a while about anything and everything. Our work, educational backgrounds, hobbies. As we talked, I drank in everything I could about Karen. She was as beautiful as I thought she was the first time that I saw her.
It was late summer now and her steel blue eyes shone brightly against her lightly tanned skin. Her tank top revealed lean, strong arms. Her legs were long and slender and I followed them all the way up until they disappeared in the darkness of her denim skirt. If I didn't get out of there soon, I was going to have to either hide or explain the growing bulge in my khaki shorts.
Realizing that I was already at least a half hour late meeting my friends, I asked Karen if she wanted to come along and join us for a drink. She thanked me, but said that she had plans for the night. Caught up in our conversation and her beauty, I asked her if she might like to go out sometime. She smiled and declined ever so nicely saying that she didn't think that her boyfriend would approve. My heart sank, but at least I had spoken my mind. I didn't push the situation, but instead walked toward town to meet my friends, wishing her a good evening.
* * * * *
I had started seeing someone in the weeks after Karen and I first met and talked, so I wasn't around my apartment as much as I had been, and my mind was elsewhere as well. I would see Karen in the parking lot from time to time and we always would wave or say hello to one another.
It wasn't until the winter passed and the weather started to warm up that Karen and I had the occasion to talk again, usually when one or the other of us was either working on our bicycles or leaving for or returning from a ride. We would chat briefly about the weather, cycling, work, or whatever came to mind. I suggested one day that we go for a ride together, and that was our topic of conversation from that day forward. There wasn't one time that I saw her that I didn't marvel at her long, lithe body and her beautiful flowing hair. My feelings for this woman would not go away.
In August, my relationship came to an end. As a result I ended up spending a lot more time on my bike and a lot more time in my apartment than I had earlier in the summer. After having dinner with some friends one Friday evening, I arrived back at my apartment to find Karen sitting on her front porch playing her guitar.
"Hey there neighbor," I said.
"Hi Alex. Hot date with your girlfriend?"
"No, that ended a few weeks ago. Besides, it wouldn't be that hot a date if I were arriving home alone at 9:00, now would it?"
"I guess you're right. Sorry to hear about your girlfriend."
"Thanks, but I'm not. Why aren't you out with Keith tonight?"
"Same story. That ended a few weeks ago. Hey, I wonder if they got together!"
We both laughed and I quickly changed the subject. "Karen, what do you say that we finally go on that bike ride we've been talking about forever?"
"Are you kidding? I never took you seriously before. There's no way I'll be able to keep up."
"Of course I'm serious and always have been. You're in great shape, and besides, we're not racing. My parents are coming to town for brunch tomorrow, so why don't we plan on tomorrow afternoon around 4:00 if that's works for your schedule."
"Sure, that's fine with me. I'll meet you out front at 4:00, but we can't go too far. I'm having dinner with my brothers tomorrow night."
"So it's family day for both of us. Good enough. I'll see you tomorrow at 4:00."
Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I headed inside for the night. I was way too excited to sit in one place, so I ended up cleaning my apartment until midnight. I lay on my bed thinking finally, I was going to get the chance to spend some quality time with my gorgeous next-door neighbor, and better yet, neither of us was dating anyone anymore!
My visit with my parents came and went that Saturday, and soon Karen and I were standing in front of our apartments ready to ride. Coincidentally, she was wearing the same cycling outfit that she had worn the first morning I saw her on her way to work. She looked fantastic.
We headed out of town to the southwest. I let her take the lead to set a pace that was comfortable for her. My mind was so much on the ride and I was so used to riding with the guys in my cycling club, that I had forgotten the benefits of riding behind a beautiful and shapely woman. The spandex shorts that Karen was wearing left little to the imagination. The top of her shorts drew tightly around her narrow waist and stretched out to hug her relatively wide, but very sexy hips. Every hill would bring her out of her saddle, hips swinging back and forth, hamstrings tightening with every stroke, and her beautiful ass pointed directly at my face. That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to pass her or I wasn't going to be able to concentrate to stay on the road. I passed her, settled into her pace, and let her draft off me for the remainder of the ride.
We arrived back at the apartment complex after only about an hour and a half. We stood there talking for a few minutes, drinking the rest of our water and cooling down. As we chatted, I glanced down at the tool bag under my seat and noticed that half of my wrenches were poking out of a hole in the bag.
"Well, that's a problem," I said. "Looks Like I'm going to have to spring for a new pouch."
"Nonsense," Karen said, "I have a sewing machine in my apartment and can patch that up in no time. I really have to run now though to meet my brothers for dinner, so call me when you get up tomorrow morning and I'll fix it for you."
"It's a deal," I said. "Thanks again for the ride. I had a great time."
Karen looked at me like I was full of crap. "Yeah, right. I was dying just trying to stay on your wheel."
"You know Karen, it's not just about the ride...," I said smiling at her.
"Call me in the morning," she said as she shyly smiled and wheeled her bike away.
I eyed her walking away, watching her Lycra-covered ass sway from side to side as she tip-toed back to her apartment on her bike shoes. She turned around just before entering her building to catch me staring, but just gave me that same shy, but alluring smile. I stood there staring at the door even after she was inside, and then shook myself back to reality and clamored up the stairs to my own apartment, bike in tow.
I whipped up some pasta for dinner; replenishing my carb stores and carbo-loading for what I was hoping might be an eventful morning the next day. It was a beautiful evening, so I walked around downtown for a while, hoping that I might catch a glance of Karen out with her brothers. Finally, I headed home realizing that the only way morning was going to arrive any sooner was if I went to sleep.
I woke the next morning with a huge erection, but figured that a full bladder wasn't the only reason. I couldn't remember any dreams, but I must have been dreaming about Karen. After relieving myself, I hopped in the shower to clean up, thinking about anything and everything I could other than Karen to get my still hard cock to mellow out...penguins, nuns, snow...but still found myself semi-erect as I toweled off.
It was going to be a hot one, so I just threw on a t-shirt and a pair of medium-length hiking shorts. It was still early and I was planning on enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning, so I didn't bother with boxers. I ate some breakfast and caught up on the news, trying to give Karen until at least 9:00 before I called her.
I failed. It was 8:35 when I picked up the phone and dialed her number.
"Hello?" she said in quiet, but oh-so sexy voice.
"I'm sorry Karen. It sounds like I woke you up."
