"Here's my address. Come a little early and bring the beer and wine I put in your trunk. Just pretend you bought it."
"And what? Flirt with her?"
"That's up to you. You're the one who was so confident she'd fuck you. This is your chance."
******
Bella was still tidying and shifting the outdoor tables in her backyard when the taller, bearded young man came through the gate. Bella, ever a fan of muscular arms, noticed how his bulged under the weight of the wine boxes he carried.
"Hello! You come bearing wine!" she rushed to greet him and went to take one of the boxes. He shook his head.
"No, I got 'em. Sorry for showing up early. I'm such a bonehead I forgot to chill the beer. I'm Danny."
"Danny?" Bella searched and found the memory. "You work with Brian?"
Danny laughed, easy and inviting. "With Brian. For Brian. Something like that. Your husband is a good boss."
Bella remembered Brian talking about the new guy, a younger man who'd joined the warehouse team a few months ago. She'd even seen him briefly at a company outing, now that she recalled. She knew she recognized those arms...
She looked at the wine boxes and remembered he had beer in the car too. He caught her looking.
"My uncle runs a distributor. I get an amazing deal on booze so ... share the wealth. Beside, it's the best way to get the most out of the discount!"
"Still, this is a lot! Thank you!"
He set down the boxes on patio bar and turned to really face her for the first time. He gave her a quick but obvious look up and down and grinned as if at his own transgression. "Sorry, sorry ..."
Bella grinned and blushed. It felt good to have this hot younger guy check her out. "It's ok. I guess the dress was a good choice." She tip-tapped in a circle on her chunky wedge heeled sandals. She'd bought the sundress specifically to host the big neighborhood barbecue. It was floral and green, and short. As the early summer breeze grazed her thighs it felt even shorter. Or maybe that was the gaze of the cute guy in front of her.
Danny let out a low whistle. "It's working!" He nodded appraisingly. Then he shifted subtly, tugging just a tad at the leg of his shorts. "Really working..."
Holy shit! Is he getting turned on? Bella felt a little thrill and then a pang of guilt. Flirting with her husband's young coworker? Sure she'd been aching for a little excitement but she should be ashamed.
But he broke the reverie. "I should get this beer on ice. I know I'm early. After I do I can just split or ...?"
"No! Stay!" she said. "It's fine! I'll put you to work ..." She blushed again, her words taking on a dirtier meaning in her mind. To his credit, Danny didn't tease her about it. He just smiled and said he was happy to help.
"Shit! Babe! I forgot the damn peppers ..." Brian burst out of the back door just then carrying his car keys. "Oh! Danny! You're early."
Bella's husband Danny had been cooking all morning. Well, really since last night if you counted the overnight smoker time. She loved seeing him in his element but he got tunnel vision at times like these. He hadn't even noticed her dress.
"Beer. Ice."
Brian nodded like he understood perfectly. Must have been the tight work dynamic, Bella figured.
"Do we need the peppers?" she asked. "You don't really want to go out now do you?"
"Do we ...? Babe! It won't be the same without the charred peppers."
"Ok, ok! Go!"
He kissed her cheek and then he was gone, leaving her alone with Danny. It seemed he wasn't worried about the young man at his home ... so that was reassuring.
Danny was finishing pouring ice over the beers he'd brought. He stood up and huffed. His sexy arms shined with a sheen of sweat.
"Only problem is I worked up a thirst but now I have to wait for them to get cold."
"Oh! We have a bar in the house. Come in. Make yourself at home." Bella led Danny into the house where they'd stocked the bar for the occasion.
"This is good tequila!" Danny hefted a bottle. "Would you like a margarita? I make a mean margarita."
She smiled and said she'd loved one. Then she busied herself tidying things to give herself some slim cover for watching him make the drinks.
He certainly seemed to know his way around. His arms flexed and his face took on a very sexy look of concentration when he shook the shaker and poured the cloudy drinks over ice.
Bella was just openly staring by the time he handed her the rocks glass and clinked it with hers. "Thanks for having me over. Cheers."
She watched him take a sip before remembering to try her drink. It was good! Or maybe she just wanted it to be.
"Mmmmm!" She let a little more ecstasy creep into her moan than she really had too. He grinned.
"Good, right?"
She sipped and sipped again. It was good. Not even too strong. Reassuringly easy on the tequila.
"It's actually really good. Did you bartend?"
"Only at parties!" he quipped back. They shared a laugh and another sip.
"Beautiful..." he uttered, looking at her.
She couldn't stop her grin but she cocked an eyebrow.
"Your home. The bar. Everything. It's beautiful. Your touch I take it? Has to be."
Bella warmed at the compliments. "It's true. Brian's not much of a decorator."
Danny shrugged. "It just feels like you in here." He wandered the room, touching a few things around the room -- bits of nature like rocks, crystals and feathers nestled amid unique pottery and framed art photos. "I just want to ... explore it. You know?"
He turned back and she watched him hear himself and look a little bashful at his own words. "You know what I mean!" he hurried to add.
Bella found herself really curious about what exactly he meant, and that brought her guilt back. But she couldn't stop smiling.
"Back outside?" he suggested. She nodded and they returned to the backyard. She could feel his eyes in her behind as she led him out and she might have put a little more swish in her step because of it.
Once they stepped outside he said, "Hold up! Stop there." Bella's pulse quickened at his command but she froze. She was standing in a ray of late afternoon sunlight. Danny took a walk around her before returning to his original point of view.
He took out his phone and pointed it at her. "Step forward with your right leg. Ok, turn a little toward me." He snapped a couple pics, then reached forward and moved her hair. She could smell his deodorant when he got close. Then he stepped back and took a couple more.
"Look at this." He showed her his screen. She saw herself and she looked amazing! Her never liked her smile in photos but her look was so natural and amused in the photo she almost didn't recognize herself.
Then she saw what might have caught his eye to begin with -- the sun was shining through her dress, silhouetting her thighs and the gap between them. Stepping forward had made it more apparent, and made her ass flex to show off her firm peach of a bottom.
"Send that to me!" she said, loving the pic but also kind of loving that he'd noticed her body and wanted to take one for himself. Was he ... into her?
"Number?"
She gave it and felt her watch buzz. "Got it!"
And now he had her number.
******
Guests started to trickle in while Danny and Bella chatted -- flirted? -- in the backyard and Bella had to play hostess. Brian returned and completed whatever elaborate dish he had been preparing.
Throughout the night she couldn't help but keep an eye on Danny. In doing so she noticed more than once that he had his eyes on her. It made her smile every time she caught him and he would smile back and give her a "can you blame me?" shrug.
As evening fell into night and the backyard was lit only by the tiki torches and strand lighting, Bella caught back up with Danny as he said goodbye to someone from work.
"Having fun?" she asked.
He turned and laughed as if caught eying a cake he'd been told not to touch. "Yes! A lot. I feel bad, a little, for all the people I've been talking to. I've been ... distracted tonight."
"Oh?" She feigned innocence. "Distracted? By what?"
More nervous laughter from him. "I can't seem to take my eyes off the hostess."
Bella was brought up short by his boldness, but it also drew her in. "Wow, well ... that's ..."
"Let's go over there." He pointed toward the outer corner of the yard. There was a willow tree and the light from the party tapered off under its pruned limbs.
"Yeah, ok," she agreed, stepping in that direction before asking, "umm, for what?"
In response he took her hand and laced her fingers with hers. He gave a brief, very firm, very insistent squeeze and said, "Do you want to?"
She followed.
Once under the willow he pulled her to him and kissed her. She found herself kissing him back before even questioning if she should. His tongue made darting forays against her lips until hers came out to meet it. Her hands traced his shoulders and arm muscles -- she'd been thinking about them all day!
She felt his hands grip her waist like she might fly away and she groaned at his need for her. But when he reached down to grip one firm ass cheek that she gasped and broke the kiss.
"What about Brian?"
His hand stayed in her ass and kneaded enticingly. "I don't think my boss has anything to say about who I hook up with," he said. "Do you?"
He entered for a kiss again and she didn't stop him. He backed her against the tree and lifted her, pinning her there. She squealed when he did and glanced over his shoulder toward the party to see if they'd been heard. The crowd was thinning out and people had been drinking a little. No one even glanced up.
