He was a regular at the restaurant, having started coming after Saphira began dancing there.
She had danced at a local street fair, an annual event held in mid June to celebrate the coming of tourist season. She was a great success, drawing curious onlookers from throughout the festivities during the three days the event was being held.
One of the people that had come to watch her dance was an older gentleman, rather short and round who took a very keen interest in her. It was the last day of the festivities, about 2 hours before scheduled closure.
He stood there watching her, totally involved in her, watching her every movement, his eyes glued on her -- nothing else. Watching him watching her, she was amused by his trance-like state as she swayed and shimmied, dancing close to him at times, arching her back, doing her figure eights and belly rolls. Although amused at first, she found that she enjoyed his interest in her, performing the movements that she thought he would enjoy.
Afterward, she began to pack up her things as the band members bagged and cased their equipment, carting them off to the various vans and cars.
He came up to her afterward, with halting, embarrassed steps, unsure of how to approach this obviously very stunning and erotically, sensuously talented individual. With a sheepish look on his face he complemented her on a very beautiful performance. Although he felt awkward, he smiled a big, warm smile at her through lowered eyes, which had the desired effect of causing her to smile back warmly at him, thanking him for his enjoying her dancing. She also noticed that he would occasionally, hesitatingly look down at her navel as if embarrassed to admit that he enjoyed looking at it.
She had a rather large navel, deep and oval, softly curved with a soft, rounded "pillow" that it sat on -- reminiscent of a ruby sitting on a page's pillow, being carried in a procession -- a very sexy navel, or so she hoped. She loved having her navel gazed at, and admired. She got the distinct impression he would have loved to have seen more of her navel. In response to his obvious enjoyment of her "attributes", she tossed her head, causing her lovely cascade of dark hair to move like a field of wheat blown by a soft summer breeze. Then, arching her back, her hands behind her head, she began to shimmy her belly slightly, her hips swaying slowly, watching his reaction.
His eyes glued on her belly, she watched as his mouth dropped open, absent-mindedly holding his stomach, his body shuddering as she swayed slowly before him, her eyes twinkling in satisfaction at his obvious pleasure. Her waist, her belly -- shaped like a "bell".
The little "dance" finished, she smiled at him again, winking at him. Then, just as he was about to turn and leave, she reached over, grabbing a card from her bag and handed it to him.
"Here," she said, smiling, "This is the restaurant that I'll be dancing at, come this Friday. I've just been hired on there. You can come and watch me dance."
Thrilled beyond words, he beamed at her -- his whole body reflecting the joy glowing from his face. His voice stuttering, he thanked her for the card -- enraptured by this "goddess". Slowly, he backed away from her, not wanting to leave her, wanting to stay with her, wanting to watch her as she moved, as she walked, as she stood there smiling, wanting to enjoy her very sensuous, perfect waist/navel, wanting to listen to her belly "ring" like a bell, as he kissed it.
Not realizing it was there, he almost tripped over the railing along the waterfront. Recovering just in time to avoid falling into the bay, he stood there, panting, still miraculously grasping her card. She, laughing with a laugh reminiscent of bird song, caused him to blush as he hid his red, glowing face from her at his dimwitted, adolescent clumsiness. This in no way detracted from endearing him to her, however. Giggling, she came over to him, taking his face in her hands and kissing it softly.
"I'm glad you're ok" she said to him. "I'm glad we didn't have to fish you out of the bay," she said, giggling, her hands holding her tummy.
"Me, too!" he said, laughing with her. "It's too early in the season for a swimming date, wouldn't you say?"
"Not a bad idea!" she said, winking. "I'll take a rain check on that."
He went home that evening, dreaming of watching her swimming and moving through the water in her skimpy bikini; her lovely, deep navel winking back at him as the water sparkled and flowed across, caressing her lovely, sensuous navel/body. He experienced the sweetest of dreams that night, waking to find that he had been holding his pillow, his arms wrapped around its "waist" with a wet spot on it where he had been kissing its "navel."
She found him to be a regular at the restaurant -- just about every Friday, from 6:00 to about 8:00. He was out in the front row, watching her dance, involved in her every movement, shivering and excited as he observed her doing her back bends, her navel prominent, her back well arched, her hips shimmying and moving gracefully as she skillfully drew in her audience, her biggest fan sitting before her.