As she inspected herself in the mirror, she had to be her own harshest critic. Sure, having a child had not left her body without changes, but some of them had been more welcome than others. Wearing just a bra and panties, she criticized her hips and thighs for the hundredth time that day. "Ugh" she said out loud, frustrated that she did not still have the lean, toned figure of ten years ago. Fortunately, the increase in breast size that had come with nursing had left her a full cup size larger. Her husband constantly assured her that she was beautiful, especially when he was focusing on the new enjoyment that he got from her full C cups. She squeezed them together, pushing up cleavage that was not there in her pre-pregnancy days and sighed.
At nearly 5'8", she was still far from overweight. Much to the contrary, as men gave her much more than a passing notice, and her husband could barely keep his hands off of her. In most meetings and around the workplace, she was the woman that the other women envied, but she never saw herself that way.
At least she had finally managed to settle her schedule to the point where she had been able to get back into the gym regularly. Her work schedule was hectic, and juggling motherhood with a career was tough, but her husband was handling child pickup duty on a daily basis, and she had to admit that her training sessions were leaving her looking and feeling better. After just a month of cleaner eating and hard exercise, she was losing pounds and inches. And her breasts seemed to be staying put. She smiled and turned away from the mirror, looking at her outfit for the night.
After almost a week away from home on travel, she was ready to get home. Just a few more days of the crappy food that came with eating out all of the time, plus the issue of being away from her trainer and her gym. The travel was a typical week-long seminar on financial policy. As a financial analyst, she ended up at a few of these a year. They usually were in fairly nice places, or else companies would never send their people away from productivity. This one was in Charleston, SC, and Michelle was having a good time, despite the somewhat secluded location of the conference center.
Fortunately, her per diem left her enough money to cover the unbelievable $15 per day that the hotel charged to use the fitness center. After another day of hard gym time on the road, she was going to splurge on a nice dinner at a restaurant that knew how to cook a proper fish and the accompanying veggies. Her meals this week had almost negated her efforts in the gym this week, but tonight she'd get ahead. After 4 days of the chain restaurant food in the area, she was starved for a good meal.
Knowing that her biceps and shoulders were toning up quickly, she had decided to take advantage of the warm spring weather and show them off a bit in a ribbed tanktop with a swirling, paisley-like print. It had a slit at the low neckline that allowed her to show just the right amount of cleavage to draw a glance without looking like she was putting it out for all of the world to see. With a pair of denim capris and some strappy sandals, she felt good about her outfit and the work that she had put into her body to look as good as she did. She finished her makeup and hair and shouldered a new designer purse (her one indulgence was always carrying a nice purse, even if the rest of her clothes were not flashy) and was off to a nice local seafood place that she had heard talked about during her training.
She caught a complimentary shuttle from the front desk and got the return phone number, then entered the restaurant alone. The place was nice but not pretentious, with a long wooden bar with a fairly heavy crowd stacked up around it. The plan was a couple glasses of wine, a meal, and then back to the room to hit the sack early.
Happy hour was in full swing and the tables were nearly full, plus there was a 20 minute wait, even for a table of 1. She had intended to eat at a table, but when a group of guys left their barstools, she gladly took one in front of a TV that was tuned to a college football special on ESPN. Figuring that it was better than staring at other patrons and eating alone, she decided to just eat at the bar.
The bartender in her section of the bar was a cute 20-something college girl with one button too many unbuttoned. She leaned in with a smile that revealed a pair of dimples that were sure to earn her an extra buck tip from every guy and asked Michelle what she could get her. Michelle asked for a merlot and a menu, and asked the bartender to have her name taken off of the waitlist. The bartender replied with a smile and a reassurance that she'd be well taken care of at the bar. Pushing away from the bar to get the wine, her squished up breasts were right there for Michelle- and anyone else- to admire. Michelle was sure that men came around regularly for a view like that, and the bartender probably loved the attention. Michelle remembered those days well and leaned back in her seat to watch ESPN.
A few moments later, the remaining vacant seats at the bar had been filled with what appeared to be 3 single guys drinking draft beers. Behind her, the male half of a 30-something couple leaned in between Michelle and the closest guy and ordered 2 glasses of wine, telling the bartender that they were going to wait for a table. The guy beside Michelle introduced himself and began to ask her inane questions about the sports show, but Michelle was saved by the arrival of the glass of red and the menu. She pretended to be engrossed by the seafood offerings while they guy spouted off all kinds of odd and incorrect "expert" opinions on the upcoming football season.
After ordering a salmon, salad, and steamed vegetable side, Michelle had finally decided that she could no longer take the rantings of her neighbor, so she proceeded to debunk several of his more inaccurate assertions with anecdotes from the previous seasons. When the couple behind them began to snicker, the guy's friends joined in on the fun and the "fan" threw a $10 on the bar and stalked off. His buddy turned to Michelle and said with a laugh, "Thanks for shutting him up. Neither of us care about college football so we never know when he is full of crap. You put him in his place."
"No problem- he was just getting on my nerves. I hope that you don't think I was being a bitch."
"No, not at all. Can I buy you another glass of wine? We are going to our table, but it is the least that I can do."
Michelle mulled over the fact that she was not driving and relented, figuring that it would go well with the fish. He got the bartender's attention, paid for their remaining tab, and left with a wave. The couple behind her heard their name called and exchanged a quick glance.
"Do you want for me to pay the tab and I'll meet you at the table?" the man asked his partner. "Sure, or we could just eat here. Those guys are gone, and she seems like good conversation...plus we can save her from the next jerk who decides to hit on her," his female companion replied.
Michelle was slightly embarrassed. "I am sorry, I did not mean to be rude to him. Did it offend you guys?"
"No, not at all," the woman replied. She was shorter than Michelle, with short brown hair that fell to her chin. She was dressed in a white button-up shirt that was open in the front and wore a beige camisole under it. It was topped with lace, but was low-cut enough that her cleavage was clearly visible popping out the top. It was not the "look-at-me" look of the bartender- a more elegant display of her assets. Her tanned legs were covered- partially, at least- by khaki skirt that hit just above the knee. "I'm Katherine, but I go by Katie. Nice to meet you. Do you mind if we sit?"
"I'm Michelle- and please do- I could use some company. And like you said- you can protect me from the wolves. After another glass of wine on an empty stomach, I might need it!"
"This is my husband Josh. We're here for a conference, but wanted to get away from the resort. His company is here and all that they want to talk about is work. Are you local?" Michelle looked at Josh and noticed that like his wife, he probably stayed in pretty good shape. She smiled and shook his hand, feeling how soft his hands were.
"No, I am just out here for a conference as well. I'm here for a financial services conference- what about you guys?"
Josh replied "Pharmaceutical sales- mostly skincare, but my company deals in a lot of different medicines."
With the wine taking hold of her usually reserved demeanor, she blurted "That explains your soft skin." Immediately regretting it, she apologized to Katie. "I'm so sorry, that came out wrong!"
