Author's note:
See Pt. 1 for blurb. Also, if you haven't already read Part 1, I strongly recommend doing so before proceeding.
All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.
Fourteen
"What are you doing?" John questioned reflexively upon reaching the top of the stairs.
Hazel, who had been softly padding down the hallway while wrapped in a towel, yelped in surprise and whirled to face him. This action proved too great a burden to bear for her decorative, but not very large, improvised coverup. They both watched the article in question slide unceremoniously to the floor dumbly, neither reacting immediately.
At length, Hazel said, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here."
"I meant...why aren't you at work?"
"Because it's Saturday?" he replied slowly, suddenly wondering if it was he who was confused about the calendar.
"Oh shit," she whispered as she glanced in the direction of Lena's room before adding, "Are you sure?"
"Um...I think so..." John stammered, as he found it increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that she was both completely nude and less than a meter from him.
He somehow managed to keep his eyes on hers and she nonchalantly asked, "So...what are you up to today?"
"Our plans are still a little fluid, but I was going to start with not having Lena wonder why her neighbor is standing naked in her hallway."
"Oh, shit," Hazel muttered, as she bent to retrieve her towel and wrap it around herself. "Sorry. I forgot to take something to change into when I showered. I guess I'd gotten out of the habit of wearing clothes around the house, especially when Thomas is out of town. And I tried to cover up with a towel, but I'm too fat..."
"You're not fat," John corrected gently. "How could you ever think such a thing?"
"I'm not stupid, John. Nor am I blind and deaf." He opened his mouth to object further, but she added, "I'll go get dressed before Lena gets up. Sorry about this."
"It's no big deal," he replied after she closed the door, his powers of speech up until that point having been robbed by the sight of the bottom of her ass peeking out beneath her towel.
He stood dumbly in the hall for several moments trying to make sense of Hazel's baffling comments. The more he had spoken to her since what he now thought of as 'The Incident' (when she had propositioned him), the more he became convinced that things had been very broken with her marriage long before Katherine had decided to grace Thomas with her body. It went easily along with the self-reflection he had been engaged in ever since Katherine admitted the affair, wondering what he had done to drive her into the arms of another man.
John finally remembered his reason for coming upstairs in the first place and went to Lena's room to wake her up. His daughter had reacted to Hazel's presence with a decided lack of interest, which had taken him quite by surprise. Their neighbors were certainly not strangers, but it was not as if they had been overly friendly either. John suspected the total word count Lena had spoken to Hazel in her life prior to the latter's reintroduction at breakfast earlier that week could be counted on a single person's fingers without the need to call the thumbs into service.
Lena rose as reluctantly as always, but he managed to perk her up with a promise of made-to-order smoothies. Hazel descended the stairs as Lena was putting the finishing touches on a concoction made from coconut, blueberries, and pomegranate which looked not unlike the results one would expect when trying to use a blender to conceal an unfortunate incident with a pet hamster.
"Morning Ms. Hazel," Lena said brightly after taking her first sip of the murder smoothie. "What do you like in your smoothie?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I shouldn't eat breakfast."
"That's what Daddy always says, but he's just grumpy. But you're really pretty, so you should always have breakfast. My teacher said it's the most important meal of the day. Besides...I really want to make another one and Daddy won't let it go to waste."
Hazel looked at John helplessly, but he just said, "Go ahead. It'll make her morning."
She sighed and said, "Ok. But a small one. Preferably with lots of healthy stuff in it."
"I know just what to do," Lena declared confidently.
She spent the next ten minutes rummaging around in every conceivable orifice which could store food in a modern house. When she was finished, the mound of materials was more than sufficient to make a few dozen smoothies. Hazel's eyes had widened significantly throughout the process, but she was driven to speak as Lena triumphantly held up the final item.
"I don't think chocolate syrup is very healthy."
Lena fixed Hazel with a judgmental glare and huffed, "It's there to balance out the astringency of the lemon zest."
Hazel looked to John in wide-eyed wonder, to which he responded, "She loves watching cooking videos. One day she'll no doubt be a head chef at a five-star restaurant. Or run a food truck."
"Both have their benefits," Hazel replied lightly.
By the time they returned their attention to Lena, the blender was most of the way full and she showed no signs of slowing.
"She said small, sweetheart," John chided gently.
"Then you can have some, Daddy."
John swooped in when it came time to lid up the blender and turn it on and soon the motley assortment of ingredients was homogenized. Lena proudly filled two pint-glasses to the brim and sat back expectantly. John and Hazel shared a glance as they lifted the concoction to their lips, both silently daring the other to go first. Hazel finally smiled and took a sip. Her eyes widened significantly, but she had no other outward reaction. John steeled his resolve and took his own sip. He managed to keep from reacting in any way despite the taste which could best be described as what one would expect were Buddy the Elf to be consulted when making a Waldorf salad.
"Do I taste apples?"
"I told you it was healthy," Lena crowed proudly.
"Indeed. It's very...unique."
Lena preened at the perceived compliment and carried her own beverage into the breakfast room.
John whispered, "You obviously don't have to drink that."
"It's not that bad. Besides, what kind of guest would I be if I attempted to mislead her about her cooking?"
"A wise one," John replied sagely, but he continued to sip at his own smoothie.
"Are there any plans I should be aware of?"
"Just working around here. Maybe going out to dinner later. You're welcome to do whatever, obviously."
"Would it be ok if I did yoga outside before it gets too hot?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" he asked in genuine bafflement.
"I just didn't want you to think I was taking advantage of your hospitality."
"Why would I think that?"
"Never mind," she sighed.
"No, really," he pressed.
"I didn't want you to think I was trying to," she dropped her voice to a whisper, "seduce you again." She shook her head and said, "I'm extremely grateful for your hospitality. I just don't want to be a bad guest."
"Don't worry about it, Hazel. I really am sorry I got so mad at you over the whole...I guess affair isn't the right word. In any case, I was upset with myself and I took it out on you. Then Katherine and Lord Fuckhead said, 'hold my beer' and escalated things dramatically. I know it sounds trite, and disingenuous, to say things should go back to the way they were considering how much was going on of which I was unaware. But I really want us to be friends again. And that means you not having to tiptoe around on eggshells."
She nodded solemnly and said, "I'd like that too." She took a final sip of her drink and said, "I'll go get changed then."
"Sounds good." He raised his voice and said, "I'm heading outside, sweetheart. I'll be in the backyard if you need me."
"Ok, Daddy," came her unnecessarily loud reply.
He smiled and shook his head before heading for the back door.
***
"Is this right?" Lena yelped frantically.
John glanced over to see his daughter striking a pose which looked like an Olympic diver had been hit with a super villain's freeze ray just as they had entered the water. He had always felt whatever benefits yoga might unlock for adults was completely lost on children. Their combination of natural flexibility and a high musculature to weigh ratio meant they could do effortlessly what would take someone his age years to achieve.
His idle musings vanished however when Hazel said, "Close, but you're not arching your back enough."
The pose which had been whimsical, bordering on absurd, when attempted by Lena became something altogether when Hazel demonstrated the proper form. She had taken his 'mi casa, su casa' insistence to heart and was wearing a typical yoga outfit of leggings and a sports bra, but there was nothing typical about the way she filled out the skin-tight material. Just a glimpse at her would have led Helen of Troy to have a reality television star level meltdown over being upstaged.
She was standing with her feet about a meter apart and was bent at the waist to the point where the tip of her ponytail grazed her mat beneath her. The fact that her breasts had not yet escaped the bonding of her top stood in contravention to all known laws of science as they had swelled to the point where they both touched her chin. The clear outline of her vulva was outlined by her leggings, as was the curve of her spectacular ass. John had sudden visions of sinking into her in this pose, taking her eagerly until he filled her with his essence. At the thought of their coupling in this fashion, and of the lascivious fantasy of his essence dripping from her creamy pussy and onto her waiting tongue below, he lost focus on his activities outside the fantasy realm. The wheelbarrow he was pushing clipped on a low stone wall around a flower bed and came to a sudden stop. His hands slipped from the handles and his engorged cock connected with the back of the bucket. He doubled over in pain, tumbling into the labor-saving device awkwardly.
Hazel's shouted, "Are you ok?" echoed across the yard.
He looked up to see her racing in his direction, his daughter only steps behind. She reached his side and knelt to examine him. He stayed doubled over, both due to the pain and out of embarrassment for his sub-equatorial distention.
"John?" Hazel asked worriedly. "What happened?"
He groaned loudly and whispered, "I just...slipped..."
"You what? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
"Then why are you still laying there like that. Here, let me help you up."
He turned toward her in hopes of pleading for reprieve. Unfortunately, this coincided with her bending down to help him up. The combination of the two unrelated, and unplanned, actions resulted in him burying his face in her glistening cleavage. A renewed surge of blood poured into his abused groin, eliciting another groan of pain.
