Some time ago, my wife, Joan had a business meeting at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont. She worked for a trade association of nonprofit organizations and her counterparts from some 20-25 states were holding their semi-annual meeting there. She'd been a member for several years and had gotten to be very close friends with a number of her colleagues. They got together twice a year, once for serious work, and once to do some business, but also have some fun and include spouses if they wished to come along.
This was the first time I'd been able to attend. Joan had told me there were 4 or 5 wives who came along regularly to the "fun" meetings and had formed a close friendship. While their husbands had unofficially dubbed the group the "auxiliary," Joan said it seemed more like a sorority to her, since the group was as close as many sisters. She hadn't thought I'd necessarily want to join them, assuming men might not even be welcomed into the intimate group of all women. Given the history and reputation of the resort, we decided I should still come along to make a small vacation out of her business meeting. There would be plenty of enjoyable things for me to do on my own.
The Club is a classic old New England resort dating from the early 1900s, I'd suspect, with most rooms being in the larger lodges, but there also were a fair number of free-standing cottages. Since I was planning to come along, we'd chosen one of the cottages, and planned to stay several days after to enjoy the area, along with the end of summer, early fall weather and hopefully the trees starting to turn lovely reds and golds. We'd requested a unit with a spacious deck facing west looking out on Lake Champlain.
We flew into Burlington late on Sunday since Joan's meetings began on Monday at noon. Sunday night we had dinner on the way to Vergennes. After having traveled most of the day we called it a night once we checked in.
In the morning we explored the resort and grounds, getting familiar with the facilities and the amenities. By 11:00 we went back to our cottage so Joan could get ready for her meeting, starting with lunch. I walked over to the main building with her and got a sandwich to go and went back to eat on our deck. It was an unseasonably warm and absolutely beautiful day, so after I ate, I decided to lay in the sun and read the book I was enjoying.
After a half hour or so I was feeling comfortable with my surroundings and a little daring, so I took off my shorts to work on my all-over tan. I'd seen no one on the decks of our two neighboring cottages to offend and felt pretty safe stripping down. The warm sun and gentle, autumn-scented breeze were intoxicating, and my nudity had me feeling very "one-with-nature."
After reading a while, I noticed a woman coming out on the deck next door to the south. She looked to be probably in her early to mid-50s or so and wore a fairly conservative pink and white gingham-checked two-piece swimsuit. With her back to me she spread her towel on her lounge chair, put on some lotion and then laid face-up to read a book also. I'm not sure she had looked my way at all. She certainly gave no sign she recognized that I was sunning naked. It seemed as though she really didn't want to call any attention to herself.
After a while I needed to stand to go get something to drink, and my neighbor now looked my way and was visibly startled by my naturist attire. When I came back out, she looked again, more deliberately this time and I made eye contact with her. To my pleasant surprise she smiled brightly and waved to me, so I returned the gestures. While I was now standing in full view, she didn't seem at all annoyed or offended as she willingly took in my nudity, so I didn't feel any pressure to put my suit back on.
Our cottages were only about 25 feet apart and the deck railings had thin spindles, so we were quite visible to each other if you chose to look. I adjusted my lounge chair to better face the sun and was now at a 45-degree angle to her and could see her very well. She was still laying perpendicular to the cottage and without much effort could turn to see me too.
After a while I needed to put more lotion on, and my movement again caught her eye as she watched more intently while I applied the sunscreen, paying particular attention to my parts not usually seeing the sun. When I was done and had relaxed for maybe a half hour, I discovered that my neighbor had taken off her top and was exposing her very lovely bare and quite untanned breasts. They clearly hadn't seen the sun much if any at all.
She was no more exposed than hundreds of women I'd seen on any number of clothing-optional beaches in Florida, California, and the Caribbean, but this was a staid and time-honored resort in Vermont, and the context was quite different. She both figuratively and literally exuded that exceptional "girl-next-door" appeal. It was her middle-aged, likely grandmother status with its expected regular body shape that made her bare breasts so exceptionally and surprisingly appealing. She was stunningly more beautiful even half undressed.
I didn't want to show too much recognition of her being topless, for fear it would make her self-conscious and possibly send her inside or at least lead her to putting her top back on. I hoped my nudity would be a good role model for her to remain topless. It did, and she soon was putting more lotion on her breasts. This was a good sign she was planning to be in the sun for at least a while longer.
I appreciated every minute of my view. While again thinking of the times Joan and I had spent on clothing-optional beaches, there's something so much more erotic in seeing a woman even half-naked in her regular surroundings. By 4:00 she went inside, giving me a coy smile as she went by, still top-free. I decided I'd had enough sun too. Joan was due back any time and we needed to get ready for dinner with her colleagues and any spouses accompanying them.
When Joan returned, we each took a glass of wine out on our deck, and she told me about her day and asked what I'd done all afternoon. I told her I'd laid in the sun and read most of the time, leaving out my lack of attire and the lovely and unexpected attraction next door. She told me about the group dinner coming up tonight and warned me I'd be on my own all day tomorrow while she was in meetings. No problem, I assured her, as I thought about another day in the sun, and maybe with our neighbor getting even more uninhibited. We showered and got dressed for the group dinner.
When we got to the main building, we were escorted to our private dining room, and the 4 or 5 spouses were being introduced as we mingled about. Joan caught her counterpart from Illinois, Randy with his wife and I was speechless as he introduced me to Leeann whom I knew immediately was my sunbathing neighbor. As we said our "hellos" I half expected her to say something snarky about not recognizing me with clothes on. But with our spouses and others present, neither of us likely wanted to admit to seeing each other in some stage of undress. Given we were in neighboring cottages; we certainly couldn't likely deny having seen each other during the day.
We acknowledged each other from being on our decks, and conversation moved on as others in the group arrived and joined in the introductions. It seemed all the other spouses present were women, reflecting the fact most of Joan's colleagues were men, and the spouses of the other women rarely, if ever attended. Leeann had joined the three other women spouses and they clearly knew each other very well, which really didn't surprise me. They must have constituted the group of spouses affectionately known as the "auxiliary." As the four talked they seemed to be very discreet, suppressing occasional chuckles while subtly looking in my direction. I feared the nature of my sunbathing attire had been shared with Leeann's "sorority sisters."
At the end of the evening, we were all saying our good nights, and Leann said to me with a coy wink, "I do hope to see you again tomorrow." I replied, "That would be nice." Joan clearly knew Randy well from previous meetings and seemed to have a close personal relationship with him.
Back in our cottage, Joan asked me if I'd met Leeann earlier today, and I told her we'd both been outside on our decks reading and acknowledged each other but had no idea we were both spouses of their association members. Joan just said, "Maybe you two can do something together tomorrow."
I replied, "Yes, maybe we can, but she may be getting together with the other wives, plus
I've had a good time just lying in the sun and reading on the deck." She seemed to accept that as an open-to-all-suggestions response.
In the morning, Joan left early for her meetings, and I went outside to have coffee on our deck. Leeann soon came out with her cup and announced to me that the four wives were going to Burlington today to shop, sightsee, and have lunch, and they'd love to have me join them. I really had no good reason to say "no," and there was something especially appealing about Leeann, as well as the three other women. So, we agreed to leave in an hour, and I volunteered to drive.
We used the drive-time to get to know each other, and learn about our families, careers, and interests. Each of us wanted to see the University of Vermont campus, shop in that area and find a fun collegiate place for a leisurely lunch.
We had a great time, and I found myself liking each of them, and bonding as a group. They were fun, intelligent, and independent feminist women; and each had a provocative if not outright sexual playfulness about them. I loved their company. The day sped by, and we all joined the full group for dinner.
On Wednesday, the "auxiliary" agreed to go to Montpelier to see the state capitol at my suggestion. They all were interested in history, politics, and geography, all of which I loved, so I found myself easily fitting into their social circle. That night we had another group dinner, and steered our spouses into sitting at the same table so we could continue our coalescing. We didn't make any plans for the spouses' group on Thursday, which would give me some welcomed sunning and reading time on our deck.
Thursday morning, Joan went to her meetings at 8:00, and I took my time having breakfast in our cottage and getting ready for my day. I went out to sun again mid-morning, and hoped I'd see Leeann on her deck again. I was pleasantly surprised when she came out in her two-piece suit, clearly planning to sunbathe. She paused to look at me, saw my nudity, and broke into a playful smile and almost seemed like she was blushing before lying down. Before long she looked my way and hesitated only a second or two before taking off her top and took her time lotioning-up her breasts. This looked like well more massaging than needed for sun protection alone. At least I was hoping this was the case.
Maybe 15 minutes later, she stood to face me, gave a slight shrug, a shy smile, and to my surprise took off her suit bottom allowing me a great view of her fully naked body. I found myself again admiring this middle-aged, every day, mature-proportioned woman, who now that I knew her had gotten incredibly more captivating. While men are indoctrinated to think a woman's perfectly "flat stomach" is the gold standard for sexual appeal, Leeann's more angular and shapelier figure was incredibly arousing. I was viscerally reminded that there is definitely more than one template for sexual attractiveness. I was totally and unexpectedly immersed in recognizing and admiring the special loveliness and allure of mature women.
She now lay down to sun her backside and soon must have felt the warm sun working on her unprotected skin. She stood again, came over leaned on the railing, giving me a magnificent view of her breasts projected downward to show their provocative and pointed shape. After a few seconds, she said playfully, "Hey, Dave, could you come over and help me out by putting some lotion on my back?" She obviously was no longer embarrassed at all with my seeing her totally naked, and now open to my touching her too.
