"Hello. Hello. I'm home."
My usual greeting went unanswered, so I tossed my jacket on a chair and made my way through the house looking for Barbara. Maybe she was napping. Or out in the yard.
"Sweetheart, where are you?"
No answer, only silence. Then I noticed the house was buttoned up, windows shut, doors locked, and I remembered she told me this morning that she might be late tonight.
I was a little disappointed, and a little relieved. It had been a long day to end a long week and I was bushed. I could use a little time alone to unwind. I kicked off my shoes and hung my slacks and shirt in the closet and flopped on the bed in my boxers.
"Ahhhh!" The soft bed felt great. I plumped a pillow under my head and groped for the remote, flicking on ESPN to check the scores. Then I just let the day drain away. It went in a flood and I drifted into a dream before I even realized that I had closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, the room was dimmer. How long had I slept? As I tried to focus, I noticed a subtle, sweet and spicy fragrance and felt soft lips on my cheek.
"Are you asleep?" a quiet voice asked.
Barbara was home.
I turned my head and returned the kiss.
"You're home."
I reached up to hug her tightly and welcome her with a deeper kiss. I could smell cigarette smoke in her hair and a hint of wine on her lips.
"What time is it?" I asked as we broke the kiss. She began to unbutton her white cotton blouse. It was already untucked and her shirttails hung down over her short, tight denim skirt.
"It's about eight," she said. "Sorry, I'm so late. We were having fun and I sort of lost track of time."
"We?"
"Yeah, you remember, I told you this morning we were having a little going away party after work for Bill. We went to Logan's -- that little place around the corner -- and had a few drinks. Everyone was there."
That's right, I remembered. Bill worked in the production department and had gotten an offer to manage production at another company across town. Barbara said everyone hated to see him go. He was a good man, intelligent, hard working and easy to get along with ... a rare combination.
He was also good-looking, tall and slender with sandy hair and blue eyes and I thought Barbara was going to miss him more than most. She had a bit of crush on him.
He was just her type and from time to time she would laugh about flirting with him at work. She was a free spirit who had an easy way with people. Everyone liked her and I was sure that her sometimes-ribald wit had roused some attraction from Bill. But always the professional, he had never ventured beyond mildly suggestive chat. I always wondered what Barbara would have done if he had.
She continued to talk about the party as she unhooked her garters and peeled her stockings down her tan legs.
"It was fun. Everyone got pretty loose after a couple of drinks and let their hair down. A couple of them surprised me. It's funny that you work with people for years and think you know them, but at a party like this you find out they aren't exactly who you thought they were.
"Like Alice. She always seemed like such a prim little tight-ass, but she was the one who pumped the juke box full of quarters and pulled my boss, Tim, up from the table to dance. That was a sight. He was stiff as a board, but that didn't stop Alice. I never would have thought she could move like that."
"Did you dance?" I asked. I knew she loved to dance and I often felt bad that I never did. I was self-conscious, but I always told myself I just liked listening to the music. I felt a little guilty about that so I hoped that she had a chance to dance and had a good time tonight.
"Not at first," she replied. "I was talking to a couple of the guys from work and I was just taking it all in. It was interesting watching everyone."
"Not at first?" I asked.
Barbara finished slipping her bra off from under her blouse and turned to look at me. She had a shy, but mischievous look on her face that hinted at something naughty, and as she stepped closer to the bed the dangling sides of her blouse shifted and swayed to reveal the rise of her breasts while the thin material slid across hardening nipples. She had my attention.
"Well, Bill asked me to dance," she said.
"And?"
"And nothing really," she said. "We just danced and talked. And, well, we flirted a little bit."
"That's nothing new, you're always flirting with him. Why so coy?"
She bit her lip lightly and lowered her head. Then looking up at me through her eyelashes, she answered.
"It was different this time."
"What do you mean different?"
"I think he wants to sleep with me."
I started to sit up a little straighter in the bed, but she moved over me and held me in place as she climbed on to the bed. She straddled me and bent down to kiss me, her lips soft and wet, her tongue gently tracing my lips.
Her blouse hung wide open and for a moment I could see her full breasts and swollen nipples before the blouse fell back in place barely concealing them again. Her tiny denim skirt had ridden higher and I could tell she wore nothing beneath the skirt. I hadn't noticed her pulling her panties off. Had she been wearing them?
And where our bodies met I could feel a heat rising in her.
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"He told me."
"He did?" I wasn't surprised that he wanted to sleep with Barbara, lots of men did, but I was surprised that he told her. "That's certainly different. He has always been so proper and professional."
"This was his going away party, remember," she said. "We don't work together anymore. He doesn't have to be professional anymore," she said. "Actually, he said that in a small way it was one of the reasons he took the new job. I mean, it is a better job with more money and all that, but he said he knew he wouldn't have to hold back anymore. He said I have been driving him crazy and this gave him the chance to find out if I was just flirting, or if I wanted something more."