Getting To Know The Neighbors Ch 01

I allude to my previous story INTRO TO THE NUDE BEACH in this tale but this is a stand-alone story. People seemed to enjoy the other story quite a bit and I hope this one will entertain you as well. I always appreciate feedback.

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I was finally getting back to the beach. I'd been gone far too long, though the time had been well spent. The wealth generated from those years of hard work would afford me a great deal of flexibility for the rest of my life if I played my cards right. Those years of riding a desk had taken a toll on my body, though. I'd gotten far too thick around the middle and that probably took away some of the pleasure of being at the beach as well. Fortunately that changed...the thick around the middle, not the pleasure at the beach.

I worked for many years as a business consultant which had provided me a comfortable living but nothing extravagant. Then I got the opportunity of a lifetime. A good friend of mine from college had started a business. He was a brilliant engineer but had no business sense at all. He found a niche supplying a test product for semiconductors that really became an industry standard. I started out advising him informally and then joined the company full time. Like most startups, meager salaries were traded for stock in the fledgling company. When the business took off, the value of the stock grew rapidly. After a few years my buddy got bored with the business hassles so he decided to sell the company to one of the big boys. This would allow him to chase whatever tech projects appealed to him. I stayed long enough to help with the transition but then I got fed up with politics of a bigger company and left.

Our company was small by Silicon Valley standards so we'd been bought out for cash rather than stock. After sending off an obscene amount to Uncle Sam I was left with a tidy sum that, properly invested, would yield a very comfortable though not extravagant way of life. Fortunately my wants and needs are few and simple.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with all my free time but getting back in shape was high on my list. I started eating right and spent more time being active than sitting on my ass. Being fit was simple, but not easy. It was gratifying to see the steady progress. The extra weight was disappearing so I turned my attention to toning up the muscles that had been neglected for more than a decade. I didn't want to bulk up; some nice definition was what I was looking for. It felt great to be lean and fit again. The time I'd spent jogging helped me get firm but I didn't care for the farmer tan so I decided to balance that out. I remembered the weekends of my early twenties that I spent at a nude beach. I tan quickly and was always a deep bronze.

I started spending about an hour or two a day lying out in the back corner of my yard knowing that my tan would even out. I selected this corner of my yard for its privacy. While I enjoy being nude and love being seen by women, I recognize it's not always appreciated. Most of the homes in my neighborhood were single story but one of my neighbors decided to add onto their home and built a second floor. Much of my yard was clearly visible from the upper rooms but this one corner was hidden by a tree and the fence. I wasn't happy about their addition but Steve and Nancy were a nice couple. They had a daughter, Samantha, who was about eleven when they first moved in. I would exchange pleasantries with Steve and Nancy when we'd see each other out front on the weekends. Steve and I would discuss the usual sports and work topics while Nancy and I seemed to gravitate towards yards and such. She was quite conservative so while she displayed a quick wit we never got flirty. Early forays towards even mildly risqué comments generated no response so I abandoned that area.

Sadly, about three years ago Steve was killed in a car accident. A trucker fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the center line and hit Steve head on. Nancy was devastated and I'm sure Samantha struggled with it as well, though I seldom had much contact with her. I felt bad and wanted to help out where I could. There wasn't much I could do for Samantha who was fifteen at the time. Nancy asked me for financial advice, which I gladly provided. Steve had a life insurance policy to go along with their savings. There wasn't a great deal there but it could have been far worse. Also, there was a lawsuit pending against the truck company so there would be more coming but just how much was anyone's guess.

We talked when we ran into each other out front and I made a point of stopping by every couple of weeks to see if she needed anything. Sometimes there was a task that Steve used to handle that I would help out with but Nancy kept pretty much to herself. I often saw her leaving for a walk each morning, though. She was an avid walker and an early walk was part of her routine which kept her nice and trim.

If I ran into Samantha we'd talk about school and such. She was on a local swim team that competed year round so that always gave me an easy topic to ask about. That was a blessing because otherwise I would have been lost trying to talk to a teenager. I remember a couple years later I think I earned "cool old guy status" when I brokered a deal between her and her mom when Samantha got her first car on her seventeenth birthday. Nancy wanted to buy her a tank and Samantha wanted a sports car. Having lost her husband in a car accident, Nancy was determined to keep her daughter safe. Since I was offering advice with finances I was drawn into the battle. Samantha lobbied me hard and I assured her that I would see what I could do but I also explained to her where her mom was coming from. It always turned into a screaming match when the two of them discussed the car and they never touched on the real issue. It was too painful. Ultimately they both were happy when we settled on something rather sporty that had a great safety rating. I was a bit manipulative, though. I had convinced Samantha that her mom had dug in her heels and insisted on an old boxy Volvo. I assured her that I would try one more time to sway her mom. Of course, Nancy had already agreed to something sportier but Samantha was a teenage girl and would always push for more than what her mom wanted. I can still remember the look on Samantha's face when she saw her new car. I felt a little guilty when she shot me that grateful look. Her mom deserved the gratitude but Samantha thought I'd delivered her from years of four wheeled shame.

That was a year ago and I had little enough contact with either of them during that time. Nancy and I would chat when we ran into each other doing yard work in our front yards or if I happened to be out when she took her walk. Nancy rarely smiled but the obvious pain of losing Steve had clearly dulled. I'm sure that Samantha had her moments of tears but I never saw them. Our contact was limited to getting an enthusiastic wave and a big smile each time she got into and out of her car.

That was also the year that had turned my physical condition around. I looked even better than I did when I first started going to the beach in my early twenties. Back then I was trim but didn't work out at all. As I'd shed the extra pounds over the last year I found it very gratifying and pushed myself far more than I did as a kid. I couldn't claim a six pack but there was clear definition in my torso. I don't think I looked like a forty three year old man.

It had probably been fifteen years since I was last at the beach. I locked my car and headed down the path to the coast. I smiled as I looked off to the left and remembered my first trip here to our local nude beach to meet Jean. That day was burned into my memory. Nothing like that had happened to me since and I doubted it ever would. I no longer used the area off to the left as it was more exposed to the wind. I'd found that the bluff on the right side of the beach provided shelter from the wind and yet also afforded a view of the path from the parking lot. This allowed me to get a sense of people arriving. You weren't close enough to recognize anyone but you could tell if you hoped they would settle near you or not. Sometimes an attractive female would venture to the left and I'd be able to see the general area where she did settle on the beach so I could pass that area on one of my walks to the other end of the beach along the water. Yes, I know...the nude beach is not supposed to be a sexual thing. It's about freedom and being comfortable with one's own body and blah, blah, blah... I suppose there are some more advanced individuals in this world but I just like to see naked women...so sue me. I was cool about it and never stared and I certainly wouldn't approach any of them. I had trouble enough approaching women when I had clothes on. Being rejected while naked wasn't my idea of a good time.

In any case, I moved off to the right and took up a position in the shelter of the bluff and set up my blanket, towel and beach chair. Even though it had been years there was no hesitation as I removed my shorts and t-shirt. The farmer tan was gone and I looked pretty good. Besides I had arrived early enough that the beach wasn't crowded. I always let fate determine who my neighbors would be rather than arriving late and trying to pick a spot. I popped in my ear buds, grabbed a book and settled into my beach chair to see what the beach gods would bring me.

I watched the beach fill up as the day progressed. The demographics of the beach hadn't changed over the years. About a quarter would turn out to be young and fit people under thirty. Fully half of the beach population would be between thirty and fifty in varying shapes and sizes. Some were very good looking and some would have been better off keeping their clothes on. Up until two years ago I would have counted myself among those who should have stayed dressed. Finally there was the over fifty contingent and even within that group you could find some women who were striking. When I frequented this beach in my twenties I usually would have focused on that under thirty group. Now that I was forty three I was willing to cast a much wider net. Of course I doubted that any of the ladies in the under thirty crowd would give me the time of day. I could hardly expect them to feel differently than I did at that age, though my experience with Jean and Beth certainly expanded my horizons.

Somewhere around two o'clock I saw two young ladies coming down to the beach. They were both very slender, one blonde and the other had dark hair. I couldn't tell at that distance if it was brown or black. They were wearing t-shirts and shorts and carried beach bags with them. They stopped briefly at the snack cart that positioned itself between the parking area and the beach proper. An enterprising young woman set up there each weekend selling sandwiches and sodas. Everyone had to pass it on their way down to the beach and it was easy for people to come up from the beach to buy stuff. The two young ladies completed their transaction and turned left, heading for the other end of the beach. I knew that I'd want to walk past them later to see if I could get a closer look. As I watched them move down the beach they stayed away from the water and remained up near where the scrub bushes met the sand. I made a mental note and knew that I would look their way when I made my final walk down the beach.

I always hated traffic so I came to the beach early and left early to avoid the crowds on the highway. Leaving around three o'clock gave everyone a chance to arrive but I was long gone by the time they all piled into their cars to head home. It was about time for me to leave so I started my final walk to the other end of the beach. My pattern was to hug the waterline as I walked out but moved up the beach on my return. Using my peripheral vision I could see who was where. This allowed me to not appear to be taking that walk purely to gawk. I could always try to get a better look on my return trip. I suspect that I wasn't fooling anyone but the rationalization was important to me.

I was able to spot those two young ladies on my trip out. I could see that they had taken their tops off but were still wearing bikini bottoms. They had very slight builds but looked like they could be cute. I planned to get a better sense on my return. It wasn't terribly long before I reached the far end and turned around. There's always a transition line where the sand remains firm because it gets soaked at high tide and just beyond the sand easily gives way beneath one's feet. It's very laborious to walk through the dry sand. If you're trudging through the dry sand it's obvious you're just checking people out so I keep just to the edge. As I neared the girls again I could see that one of them was kneeling behind a cooler considering its contents. She was wearing bikini bottoms with no top. Her friend was lying on her stomach. I was still looking straight ahead and my sunglasses hid the fact that my eyes were working overtime to look to my right. The kneeling girl selected a soda from the cooler, looked up and saw me walking. She looked very familiar and I soon realized that she was one of Samantha's teammates on the swim team. Her eyes were wide as if she didn't believe what she was seeing so I knew she recognized me. Suddenly I'm torn by the "normal" reaction to cover oneself when you're caught naked by someone you're acquainted with and an incredible thrill at being naked in front of her. Somehow I was able to not react and kept walking. At first she raised an arm to cover her breasts. The fact that I didn't appear to see her must have set her at ease as she lowered her arm. A moment later she stood up and appeared to even raise her shoulders and thrust her chest out a bit. Her tits weren't large but they were perky and she seemed very proud of them...rightfully so. If I could have thought of a way to approach her or even remember her name I might have wandered over. She never said a word as I walked past though I thought I heard some giggling as I moved off into the distance.

I was certainly surprised that girls as young as Samantha were at a nude beach. I wondered who her friend was but I knew it wasn't Samantha as this girl was blond. I began to wonder if she would tell Samantha about seeing me. I guessed that if she recognized me she likely would. How would Samantha react...and how would I react the next time we saw each other. I certainly wasn't going to bring it up and I doubted she would either. By the same token, how would Samantha's friend react if I saw her again? It was entirely possible that she didn't know that I'd seen or recognized her. All of these thoughts swirled in my head as I drove home. I was more than a little uncomfortable on the drive. I had a hard on that wouldn't quit. I couldn't wait to get home get home, strip off my gym shorts and get off.

Nancy was working in the front yard as I pulled into the driveway and waited for the opener to finish raising my garage door. I gave her a quick wave and then pulled the car in and started to get out. I figured that I had satisfied the norms of polite society with my wave and wanted to head right in. That hope was dashed as I heard Nancy call out my name as she came over onto my driveway.

"Hey Bill, I know you're just getting home but could you give me a hand for just a minute? It really won't take long."

"Uh sure, what do you need Nancy?"

"I'm planting a new Crepe Myrtle and I want to make sure it's straight before I fill in the hole. Can you come hold it in place?"

"I can do that," I replied.

It dawned on me that I still had an erection and that I was better off being hunched over filling in the hole than standing straight up with her on her knees next to me.

"Why don't you get the tree lined up the way you want it and I'll push the dirt into place?"

"Nonsense, my hands are already dirty and I'm sort of picky about how I want the soil," she replied.

I sighed in resignation and joined her next to the young tree. It was already resting in the hole that she'd dug though it was listing a bit to one side. She got down on her knees while I grabbed the trunk. I looked down and saw that her head was only about eighteen inches from my crotch and my gym shorts weren't hiding my erection very well. I looked skyward to try to distract myself from the mental image of Nancy on her knees in front of me. While she was attractive, I had never allowed myself to think of her in that fashion. In light of her and Steve and the way that she'd reacted in any conversations that touched on anything risqué, I'd just never gone there.

"Pay attention. You're not holding it straight."

I looked down and could see that she was indeed right and she had a mildly exasperated look on her face as she looked up at me. I apologized and then she moved to resume her work. As she lowered her head I could tell that my crotch fell into her field of view and she stopped momentarily. First there was a look of shock and she quickly looked down at the ground. A moment later she glanced up again. There was still shock registering there but that soon morphed into a faint smile. She didn't linger long and she returned to scooping dirt into the hole to cover the root ball.

She was far from finished when she exclaimed, "That should hold it for now."

While I had been anxious to obscure my erection and rush into the house, Nancy's reaction to spying my hard-on amused me. If her reaction had just been one of shock I would have scurried off right away. The faint smile encouraged me to stay.

"Are you sure? You're not done filling in the hole and I wouldn't want it to fall over."

I had a brief thought about trying to make a comment about keeping it up or staying erect but thought better of it. Nancy had never provided any encouragement when I'd made even benign suggestive comments in the past. The faint smile as she stole a glance at my bulge and the fact that she had a daughter was the only evidence I'd seen that she wasn't asexual. That's not to say she wasn't attractive. It just seemed that sex didn't play much if any of a role in her life.

"No, no...I'm sure it will be fine. Besides, I caught you just as you were getting home and I'm sure you have other things to do."

"It's no problem. I could stay"

She glanced back again from her work. She didn't make eye contact. Her gaze stopped at my crotch again for a long moment and then turned back to the ground.

"Really, it's fine. I'm just going to pop into the garage and get a bit more fertilizer before I finish up. You go ahead."

She did look towards me at that point and she was rather flustered. I couldn't tell you what kind of look was on my face as I'm not quite sure how I felt. It only lasted a second as she said thank you once again and hurried off to her garage.

"See you later," I called after her.

I turned and headed into my house at that point. Under normal circumstances I would likely have pondered that exchange far more than I did. However, my erection was proving to be quite a distraction as was the memory of seeing Samantha's young friend on the beach. I suppose her seeing me might have been a more accurate statement as I had made a concerted effort to not look like I was looking and she made no pretence what so ever of not seeing me.

I climbed into the shower to wash off the sand from the beach and soon found myself stroking my dick. For a short time I struggled to decide upon a visual image for this masturbation session. I'd just seen a perky, nubile friend of my young neighbor standing on a beach wearing only a tiny bikini bottom. Christ, I don't even know if she's eighteen. Samantha had turned eighteen in late February. Was this girl older or younger? Minutes ago, my neighbor was sneaking glances at the erection my gym shorts were struggling to contain. She was on her knees less than two feet away with her eyes at cock level. I'd never thought of Nancy in a sexual way but I'd enjoyed that interaction. Testosterone overtook my need to work through which situation was less morally reprehensible. In the end I fused the two fantasies together.