Mark loosened his tie and exhaled as he slumped back into the bar chair. He grasped the cold pint of beer the bartender had just poured, enjoying his first calm moment of the day. He'd flown out to Las Vegas two nights ago for a conference two days ago, and between the constant networking jet lag, he was exhausted.
"If didn't know any better I'd assume were a soldier with that 1000 yard stare," the voice was woman's, faintly familiar. Curious, Mark turned around to see a woman standing behind him with a knowing smirk on her face. He stared for several seconds before it hit him.
"Camille? Holy shit, what's it been, 10 years?" he got up and hugged her, still stunned to see his old college fling in the bar.
"Of all the gin joints in the world," she said, smirking again. "How's it going Mark?"
"You look amazing," he said, taking her in and clearly missing her question. Camille had always been a knockout, but somehow she was even more stunning now. In some ways, she was still the same girl he knew in college - at 5 foot 2 inches she was that rare kind of petite with a phat ass and curves in the right places. But what stole his attention now was what had changed - the woman standing before him exuded professional confidence - she beamed in a suit that unabashedly hugged her curves, her wore her long, dark hair in a tight bun and carried herself with a confidence that came through years of experience dealing with ogling men.
Realizing he was still staring, Mark gestured for the chair next to his, "please, sit. And I'm as well as can be expected, in town for a conference. How about you?"
She sat down, gently hanging her purse on the hook in front of her. She looked up at him as he took his seat with her big eyes, smiling genuinely. "Same here. Given the way you were staring at that beer there I'm going to guess you're also here for Change Management?"
"Listen, I'll buy you a drink as long as we never mention Change Management again," said Mark, pressing the cold beer against his temple in mock exhaustion. "If I hear one more sentence I'm going to pass out."
"You look good, Mark," she replied.
Mark had filled out well since they dated in college. He was just shy of 6 feet, with blue eyes and a face full of scruff. He kept himself in good shape and took pride in the work he put in.
"Thanks, doll," he said with a wink.
Camille rolled her eyes, "don't let it go to your head or anything."
He motioned the bartender and then looked at Camille with a raised eyebrow "please tell me I'm not about to order you a...god, what were those shitty shots you used to love?"
"Kamikazes. No, I will have a red wine, though."
"Kamikazes!" Mark said with a snap of his fingers. He grinned, "well, seems like you've grown up. In more ways than one."
The bartender, who'd just walked up, made a face "you want kamikazies?"
"No thank you, sorry, sometimes this one gets carried away," Camille said with an exaggerated sidelong glance at Mark. "I'll have a red wine please...and," she glanced at his glass again, now half-empty, "he will have another beer."
"Well, you were always a woman who knew what she wanted," Mark said as the bartender walked away, "but I do hope you know you're not fooling anyone in those high heels."
She gasped in mock outrage "I do know what a want, and they certainly don't include frat boy observations about my height."
"Besides," she looked at him with a glint in her eye, "I don't recall you objecting to me wearing heels."
"You've got me there. Some things don't change, I guess, even over 10 years."
"So, are you still living in New York?" she asked.
"Yep, right downtown."
"That's great, we'll have to do lunch, I just transferred to our Manhattan office."
"Moving up in the world, I see," said Mark. "We should definitely do lunch. And maybe some kamikaze's for old time's sake."
"Old time's sake, huh," she looked at him innocently. "What else would you like to do for old time's sake?"
Mark cracked a smile and tried to think of something clever to say two men ten years his senior motioned at Camille from across the room.
"Camille, there you are!"
Camille's face fell when she saw her bosses moving through the now crowded bar.
"Well, I guess fun is over. We're on a plane back to New York tonight," Camille said matter of factly. She took out a notepad, conveniently picked up from one of the event booths, wrote something in it, and handed it to him. "I ran out of business cards, unfortunately," she said with a shrug.
"And things were just getting interesting," Mark's voice trailed off.
She smiled at him again, turned around, and walked towards her bosses. He watched her hips swaying, and noted the ample curve of her ass in her tight fitting skirt.
One thing was for sure, he found himself thinking as he looked down at the scribbled number in his hand: he'd never tire of seeing her walk away.
* * *
1 Week Later
Mark had had stayed a couple extra days for some meetings., but he was now back in New York, back to the daily grind. He sat in his office reading through some briefings, but couldn't stay focused.
He found his mind wandering to Camille. He'd texted her the night she gave him her number, but she never did respond. Of course, the fact that he replayed the sight of her walking away from him over and over again in his mind didn't help with his focus.
"Texted too soon," he grumbled to himself. But he knew better. The truth was she was almost certainly seeing someone, and he had no place attaching any importance to the fact that she gave him her number. Hell, he had no place to think of her the way he was. He had a girlfriend himself. He shook his head.
His thoughts drifted back to college, the steamy, drunk nights they'd stumble into one of their littered college apartments and fuck like unrestrained convicts on a conjugal visit. They treated every night like it was the last before their execution.
But it hadn't been just because they were young college kids. They'd fucked because they fit one another like gloves. He used to palm her bubbly ass in his hands just to admire the jiggle, and often wondered aloud at her enamorous hip to waist ratio. She reveled in every moment of that attention. At times, he thought that she had just as much a love of her ass as he did, and that turned him on as much as anything.
He felt a bulge pressing up against the confines of his suit pants, and reached down to stroke it gently.
He sat up again and shook his head. He knew he was building a fantasy in his head. Time to focus.
His phone buzzed. He reached over and dragged it closer, unlocking the message. "Well, I'll be," he whispered
-So. How about that lunch?-
It was Camille.
* * *
"So, your old fling asks you out to lunch, and you take her to a...food truck," Camille didn't seem amused.