Best Friends

Katie lifted the final bag of groceries out of the back of her car, balancing them on her hip. She blew her dark hair out of her eyes, the heat unrelenting. She looked across her lawn, hoping that it would rain soon, she hated the extra expense and waste of having to water it. Her husband, Phil, was meticulous about his lawn.

At 34, Katie was more meticulous about her health. She practiced yoga daily and took classes twice a week. Phil and Katie went jogging or hiking every weekend. Phil was much taller at 6'3", while Katie barely reached 5'4". She often wore sky high heels to keep up with him, Phil liked told her many times he liked the way they made her ass look.

Looking across the street, Katie noticed a moving van having pulled into the driveway. "They finally sold that house," she surmised. While the economy had recovered, the real estate market was still sluggish. As she looked, the garaged door went up. Standing just inside was a slender man, with inky dark hair and glasses. From what Katie could tell, he had the sort of nerdy good looks she usually found to be irresistible.

Catching her eye, the neighbor smiled and waved. Katie lifted her hand in a wave of her own, then feeling embarrassed at having been caught staring, she walked into her house to unpack the groceries.

About an hour later, she had a salad tossed and a couple of steaks finishing on the grill. It was her go-to meal when it was too hot for anything else. She had a pitcher of iced tea in the fridge and decided it would have to do for tonight. She had her long dark hair up in a ponytail, braided, and was in her yoga shorts and top. She smiled when she felt a kiss on her bare shoulder.

"Hello gorgeous," a deep voice murmured in her ear. Phil, his blond goatee tickling her skin, was home. He ran a successful construction business and had built the home they lived in, including most of the others in their neighborhood. Thanks to his success, Katie could work part-time at the local library and otherwise content herself with her photography and yoga. She lifted her lips for Phil's kiss, giggling as he tugged on her braid. "You know it drives me crazy when you wear your hair like this."

Katie smiled. "Oh, I know." She winked. "Go change, I have dinner almost ready." Sure enough, the timer went off. Phil ducked into their bedroom and came out just as she was setting the steaks on their small kitchen table, the place they usually ate when it was just the two of them.

His hazel eyes considered her blue ones, his own crinkling as he smiled. He was one of those men who smiled often and with his whole face. "I was hoping for steak," he said, slicing into his meat, sighing with pleasure as red juice filled his plate. "God, I love rare meat. You get it perfect every time. I swear you just hold it over a candle and call it good."

Katie preferred her own steak medium-well and had left it on just a couple of minutes longer. "I don't know how you eat it like that, Phil. It's got to be like chewing on a cow's tongue."

"Hey," Phil said suddenly. "Did you notice that the house across the street has people moving into it?"

Katie chewed and swallowed her meat. "Yes, I think I saw the new owner. He was in his garage and waved."

Phil waved his fork as he talked, "Yeah, I did more than that. I walked over and said hello. His name is Mike. His wife's name is Misty. They are newlyweds and just moved into town." Phil had a habit of introducing himself to just about everyone in the neighborhood and remembering their names. Katie supposed it was good for business. "Misty is a doctor, she's going to be starting at Memorial soon." Phil named one of the local hospitals. "Mike is a writer." Phil waved his fork dismissively. He had a low opinion of anyone who didn't do anything with their hands. Katie, being a photographer, was the exact opposite. As with most of the other things in their odd coupling, they managed to make it work.

"A writer, hey?" Katie grinned, the dimple in her left cheek appearing. "I can't wait, a neighbor who might actually like to talk about books!" She speared some lettuce and munched on it. "We'll have to have them over for dinner."

"I'm way ahead of you, babe." Phil laughed. "They are coming over for dinner on Friday night." Phil winked at her. "And get this? They are vegans."

Katie groaned. "The hell?" She and Phil were committed paleo eaters, consuming a lot of meat. She went over to her cookbook shelf and pulled down a thick volume at random. "What can I cook that has no carbs, no meat and actually tastes good?"

Friday night arrived. Katie had decided on Thai. She figured the flavors would balance the limit on ingredients. She had sliced some tofu thin and marinated it overnight in a homemade sauce. She then made a curry to go with it and a salad with a coconut dressing. She had splurged on a few bottles of wonderful Spanish wine that she loved and they were chilling in the refrigerator.

She checked the mirror a final time, turning to check her outfit. She wore a tight white denim skirt and camisole that showed off her light tan. She had her dark hair hanging loose in waves over her shoulders and kept her make-up simple. She slid her bare feet into simple flat sandals and headed out to the kitchen to check on her curry.

Phil arrived home with minutes to spare. "Fuck me, it smells good in here," he yelled as he all but sprinted into their bedroom. "Give me five."

He had no sooner disappeared when the doorbell rang. Katie dried her hands that had been washing dishes on a towel, then answered the door. The man who had been in the garage was standing there. Seeing him close-up, Katie's initial opinion of him was confirmed. He was tall, although not as tall as Phil. Katie guessed he was about 5'11" or maybe 6 feet. He wore glasses and had warm brown eyes, dark hair and the sort of chiseled cheekbones one saw in fashion magazines. Despite those, his looks were approachable rather than intimidating. Katie laughed inwardly. "If Harry Potter's dad could come back to life, he would probably look just like him."

Mike smiled. "Hi, you must be Katie. I'm sorry, Misty is running a little late, she will be here shortly."

Katie remembered her manners and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Katie, come on in!" She led him into the house towards the kitchen. He sniffed the air appreciatively. "Is that Thai? Kill me now, I love Thai."

Katie laughed. "I'll wait until you've tried my food before I decide if I'm going to kill you." She lifted the lid off the curry to give it a stir. "Do you want a taste?" She held up the wooden spoon. Mike stepped closer and leaned over, his lips parting. She gave him some of the curry to sample and was rewarded with a deep moan of appreciation.

"I've changed my mind, Katie. Don't kill me. Divorce your husband and marry me instead." He grinned easily.

"I heard that!" Phil laughed easily, coming into the kitchen. He and Mike shook hands. "Nice to see you, Man. I'm glad you could make it." Phil looked around the room. "Where the wife?"

"Emergency at the hospital," Mike said with a grimace. "Get to know us long enough, you'll get used to it. Misty is the sort that feels strongly that no one can take care of her patients better than she can. She's really dedicated. I'm proud of her, naturally, but it's hell on a social life."

Katie intervened to break an impending tension or brooding. "Well, there's no reason we can get the evening started." She went over to the refrigerator and retrieved a bottle of the chilled wine. "Phil, can you grab some glasses? We may as well give this a try." She looked at Mike. "We eat paleo, so wine is a bit of an indulgence."

Mike took a glass from Phil and held it out for Katie to fill. He held up his glass to her. "To indulgences," he said, clinking his glass against hers, his eyes fixed on hers. There was a moment of understanding between them, that moment between a man who finds a woman attractive and a woman who acknowledges it. Katie lifted her glass slowly, letting the wine dance on the edge of her lips momentarily, not breaking the look she was sharing with Mike. She finally took a sip, but let the glass linger on her lips as she considered him.

Phil intervened. "Here, here!" he said enthusiastically. He clinked his own glass against Mike's breaking the spell. Katie shook her head almost imperceptibly. She turned and got busy with the dinner, getting ready to serve it up. "Do you want to call your wife?" she said, just as the doorbell rang.

"Saved by the bell" Phil said cheerfully. He strode over to the door, opening it.

A tall woman stood there, her short blonde hair curling around her ears. She had the easy good looks that screamed "California!" She had the good manners to look embarrassed at being late. "Hi, I'm Misty," she said with a throaty voice. "I'm so sorry I'm late, you must be Phil." She took his hand in that firm manner that doctors probably learned in medical school.

"Come on in," Phil said. "Come meet my wife." He led her into the kitchen by the arm. "Misty, this is Katie. She gets full marks for the dinner, I can't cook to save my life." He extended the wine bottle, "Care for some wine?"

Misty grimaced. "I would love to, but I've got early call in the morning."

Mike sighed. "Misty, for god's sake, I thought you had the weekend off."

Misty looked sheepish and defensive. "Dr. Mitchell's wife gave birth, he went out on paternity leave early. No one else was available. I'm the new kid on the block, I had to take it."

Phil nodded. "You got to do what you got to do, Misty." He poured her a glass of iced tea instead. "I have things come up with work all the time. Construction isn't the 9-5 job you would think it would be."

Misty nodded. "I decided long ago that my patients were going to be a priority in my life. You know, how medicine used to be, when this was all the wild frontier and one doctor would go around in his buggy tending to his neighbors. I never want to sell out and be in it for the money. I want to help."

Katie could tell that this whole issue was a sore spot for their new neighbors and leaped into the breech. "Let's eat," she said with forced cheerfulness. She gave Phil "the look" that indicated he should take their guests to their rarely used dining room. She had set the plates earlier. It was a simple thing to carry the curry and salad out to the table. She returned to the kitchen for the wine, then came back out and sat down. "So, Mike, I hear you are a writer? What kind of writing do you do?"

The rest of dinner progressed smoothly. Katie quickly discovered she had nothing in common with Misty and had it not been for Mike, she would have considered the meal a disaster. Phil, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy talking about career-driven issues. Katie preferred Mike, talking about his writing, art, music and other pursuits. By the time their neighbors had left, Katie felt like she had made a new friend.

Her initial thoughts proved to be the case. Mike wrote at home, so he and Katie could hang out fairly frequently. Make was game to try yoga and Katie enjoyed their drives to and from class. They also spent a lot of time at the local park, Mike bringing along his laptop to write while Katie would wander close by, taking photographs. She would send some of the better ones to him later and he would give her his honest opinion. He had gone to a smaller liberal arts school and taken several art classes. She valued his opinion and found her style slowly changing to obtain his good opinion.

It progressed from there. He complimented her hairstyle one day and she found herself repeated it whenever they were going to hang out. She started cooking more vegan, learning more about this way of eating. She still made steak for Phil, but found herself reaching for beans, tofu and other vegetable sources of protein.

For his part, Phil didn't seem to mind his wife's new friendship. A new phrase entered his vocabulary. "Just Mike." Everyone from his mother to his barber would mention seeing Katie with another man around town or at the park. "That's just Mike," he would say with a laugh. He would describe his own friendship with Mike as "cordial." He preferred Misty's company when she was around, which was rare.

Time passed and summer turned into fall. It was one of those rare midwestern days in which it started out warm and turned cool by the end of the evening. Phil had gone out of town on a job and Katie had the place to herself. She discovered that Misty was on call, so she invited Mike over to hang out. They had a large fireplace in their den and a supply of wood laid in. On impulse, she asked Mike if he would start a fire.

Mike knelt in front of the fire. "I know I'm a man and my DNA alone should tell me how to do this, but I honestly have no clue."

Katie laughed. "It's not that hard." She took some smaller bits of wood and laid them down with some paper for kindling. She took some newspaper and rolled it up tightly. She tapped him on the shoulder. "I dub thee Sir Mike of the Subdivision!"

His eyes twinkled and he was immediately in on the game. Grabbing his own sheet of newspaper, he rolled his up in a similar fashion. "Ahoy, thee scurvy knave" he chuckled, batting against her "sword" as if he were challenging her to a duel.

Katie laughed uproariously. "You're a knight, not a pirate. You're a writer, get in character!"

They played the silly game for several minutes, then Katie put her makeshift sword in the fireplace and lit it. She then added a larger log once the kindling had caught. She then laid down in front of the fire, grabbing her glass of wine and sighed, loving the heat and light of the fire. She turned and looked towards Mike, seeing him watching her closely. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing, I just like looking at you," he murmured. He laid down next to her and their faces were close. "You have one of those faces, Katie. Everything you're thinking is there for everyone to see, so long as people take the time to look." He gave a slight smile. "Never play strip poker with me, you'd be naked in no time."

Katie took another sip of wine. This was her third glass and she was getting a little tipsy. "And you, my friend, look like Harry Potter's dad."

Mike laughed. "That does it!" He grabbed the wine glass out of her hand, set it aside and started tickling her. She screamed with laughter, both loving it and hating it. He was a slender man, but wiry and strong. He used one hand to hold her hands over her head and tickled her with the other one, wrestling with her flexible body until they both realized that he was partially lying on top of her and his mouth was inches from her own.

Mike cleared his throat. "What would it be like," he wondered aloud.

Katie swallowed. "What would what be like," she asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

Mike leaned closer, his mouth so close she could feel his breath on her lips. "I wonder what it would be like to kiss you." He paused, before continuing. "We're such good friends, would it feel like an extension of that? Or would it be something more?"

Katie stared into his eyes, the firelight dancing in them. She could feel the pull, the desire, wanting his kiss and yet not wanting it at the same time. She turned her head away, looking over at the wine. "I'd really like another glass." She turned back and found Mike still staring at her. He hadn't moved an inch. She felt her lips part involuntarily. Her own breath mixed with his and her heartbeat sped up. "Are you sure we should do this, Mike? I don't want to screw up our friendship."

Mike looked away next, his thoughts guarded. He looked back at Katie, a wry grin on his face. "What does it say to you that you thought of screwing up our friendship first, instead of our marriages?" He leaned closer. "I think we should try this, just once. Just so we'd know."

Katie lifted her head a little, an invitation. Mike saw it, accepted and slid his hand behind her head, then lowered his head slowly. "Last chance to change your mind, Katie." His lips reached hers and brushed them softly. Once. Twice, Three times. Then he kissed her, really kissed her.

Katie groaned. Her lips parted immediately and her arms snaked around his shoulders, holding him close. Mike took her tongue and the kiss deepened. Katie had two thoughts. First, this was the most perfect first kiss she had ever had. The second? This wasn't like making out with a teenage boy when she was younger. Mike was a man, she was a woman and their bodies were used to kisses like this meaning sex. She rubbed her leg along his, her pelvis coming up to grind against him and she moaned when she felt his erection pressing into her hip.

Mike pulled away finally, his breath heavy and rapid. He gasped, looking away for a second, then looking back at this woman, his friend. He sighed. "Katie, it would have been better if that had been bad." With a look of determination, he pulled off his shirt. He then tugged Katie's over her head. Only her bra stood between their upper bodies as he lowered himself to her again, kissing her, his hand moving up and down her body, finally cupping her breast. He kissed her face, her neck, tasting her ear lobe, feverish in his desire for her. He discovered her bra opened in front and made quick work of it.

Katie watched Mike as he saw her breasts for the first time. Katie was proud of her body, she worked hard to maintain it. Her breasts were small, 34 C, but well-shaped and topped with rosy pink nipples. He lifted a hand to one and toyed with a nipple with his thumb, then lowered his head to her and suckled like an infant, pulling it into his mouth and flicking it with his tongue.

Katie gasped his name, her hips pushing against him again, her hands buried in his thick dark hair. She was growing wetter by the second and didn't know what she would do if he kept going. She didn't want him to stop either. Her body was on fire and the only thing that would quench it was his cock inside her tight sheath, fucking her like there was no tomorrow.

As if he could read her mind, Mike made quick work of her pants and his own. She saw his cock for the first time. It was like the rest of him, long and slender, perfectly formed with a head the shape of a mushroom on top. It was fully erect and resting against his stomach. Mike laid back on his stomach and invited her closer. Katie smiled and got between his legs, licking the length of his shaft. "Mike, you're perfect, and I love this." She gave him another long lick, then took his cock into her mouth.

"Fuck," he murmured. Katie was enthusiastic about his dick, almost worshiping it with her mouth, sucking deeply, using her hand at the base of his seven inches where her mouth couldn't reach. She had a way of looking up into his eyes while she gave him head that drove him wild. He grabbed her hair and pulled her towards him, fucking her mouth, the first time he had ever dared try that with any woman, but finding himself unable to stop with Katie. She palmed his nuts with her hand, swirling his balls through her fingers. He grew more frantic, being rougher than he intended, but wild in his need.

Katie couldn't believe she was sucking Mike, but she loved it. The taste of his precum in her mouth was intoxicating, more than the wine she drank earlier. She even loved that he was so forcefully fucking her mouth, gagging on him from time to time, her saliva pouring out of her mouth, knowing she must look terrible, but not caring. She slid her hand down from his balls, past his taint until she reached his asshole and played with his pucker, feeling it open and close as she moved her knuckle gently against it, Mike's groan telling her she had aroused him with this simple, yet dirty gesture.