Dear Readers, finally here's my twentieth story in a twenty year span on Literotica. Thanks to all of you that have read or commented on them, along with your words of encouragement.
****
We had had a busy day, all told. I'd found Katie Ann a harrow over in the next county at the start of summer. I'd replaced a gang of bent discs on it today and adjusted the hitch to work with her tractor better. Next year, working the garden would be a lot easier.
She'd worked in the loft, pulling hay bales over to one side so we could begin reflooring a section that was soft from an old roof leak. Together we put the new boards to be used up above, passing up all thirty of them one by one.
It had been smart to wait until lumber prices fell. My business had tailed off, what with the virus and now real estate plummeting. People were still getting married, but Kate's wedding planning business had taken a hit too. In the mountains, things normally ran at a slower pace, but ominous clouds always seemed to be on the horizon now.
On the other hand, her farm was the better for it and I enjoyed coming over and doing simple things that actually mattered. The sun still shone, like it did today, dappled light on Kate's hair, smudge on her cheek, sweat on her brow. It was easy to imagine her as a frontier woman, toting firewood, a shawl over her shoulder, cabin in the background. There'd be venison for dinner, straw ticking for a mattress for when night fell, lovemaking as the cicadas sang...
"Bunkie, hey. Did you hear me? I said do you want leftovers or we'll clean up, go into town for dinner. I need to know what you feel like." Modern Day Frontier Woman was speaking, knowing I was daydreaming, as is my wont.
I pulled off my mule skinners and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. We were beginning to act like old marrieds. It takes time to get all the hints and signals down, years mostly. It helped that we'd known each other a long time, lunched together, laughed together before the hidden parts of our souls came out to play.
"Stay in, maybe?" I asked, "As long as it's just something simple to warm up?"
"We'll dig around in the freezer when we go in. Just remember, I've got a peach cobbler for dessert, Okay?"
That was a relief. Kate had gotten a battery operated car, (read small) and I'd come over in the Jeep which now was not a good match for my achy back. I latched the barn door and put my arm over her shoulders. She snuggled in and for a few moments we watched the breeze blowing the laurels and the weeds along the fence. Shadows from cloud frigates ascended the mountains, bluish in the distance and a neighbor's dog barked.
She looked up at me, her brown eyes calm and peaceful. "What were you thinking about inside the barn?"
"You. I dunno, the you of maybe two hundred years ago, a settler clearing the woods. You had a smudge on your face like you do right now."
"I do? Well. It gives me character, I say." In a softer voice, "I think you looked very studly working on the plow thing and handing up the lumber. It's nice to have a big man around to do things, especially you."
She patted my arm, watching me grin. "C'mon, let's dig in the freezer."
****
We were at the stage where we had stayover clothes at each other's houses, toiletries and necessities for most occasions. I was shaving in the upstairs shower, letting the water beat on my back and smelling pasta wafting up from the kitchen.
There is something so settling, so comforting existing in spare moments like that. You know you'll always want to treasure them and to draw on them in trying times or even in mundane moments.
She yoo hood up the stairs, breaking my reverie, me still half shaved.
Leftover lasagna is better than firstover lasagna sometimes. It depends on how starveling you are as to how much better the food tastes.
Katie Ann still took bubble baths and liked to soak. She liked to be read to, just a chapter or so. Tonight it was Byron instead of Bronte, something in keeping with a claw foot tub, tiled floor with the windows propped open with dowels. Millars and moths banged against the screens, attracted by the candles near the stool I sat on.
An arm would emerge out of the foam from time to time, loofah in hand. Her eyes were dark in the dim light by the tub, the mass of her auburn hair pinned up, shoulders sometimes bared, but never more.
It's not that I hadn't seen her nude, but not here. She had called me in after arranging herself in the suds, not before. I liked the fact that she had modesty. I had learned that getting every stitch off of her required ambition and lots of passion.
"You quit reading sir. Can't pronounce a word, huh?"
"Dead to rights, girl. I was just thinking..."
"No, you were off in Bunkie-Bunk land. But they know you there. But do tell!"
``Well, the fact of the matter is, er, ahem, that I've never seen you in less than dishabille in daylight."
"Was that in the book, or are you really talking like that?" She frowned, concentrating. "What was that dish word again?"
"I was caught up in the book, sorry. But I meant I've never seen you starkers, I mean nude in the daylight."
"Starkers? STARKERS? My God, you're a SCREAM." Katie whooped, laughing so hard that the water slapped in the tub. She gasped out, "Off to Windsor with you, my dear man. (Pointing to the door) Let this auld dowager emerge and attend to her toilette!" She whooped again. "So starkers is it?"
Sometimes I don't know why I say or do the things I do. I did know we were going to have to find American literature for the main floor bath.
****
We'd ended up in the den, on the couch across from the old upright piano standing by the window. An evening breeze had picked up, swaying the curtains and letting the pulls bang against the sash. I'd just put on a light robe and was musing over the day's events when Katie came in carrying a pillow to prop up with. "Do you want dessert now or after while? I'd need to warm it a little."
"Oh hon, I don't think you need any warming. You'll do just as you are." Indeed, Katie Ann had selected a silk teddy under a light cotton robe.
"That's sweet M'lord. (Sly grin) In which case I'll put the cobbler back up. Maybe a brandy?"
I'd finished pouring the snifters when she reappeared, not wearing the robe. I asked if the sleepwear was new and that I liked it.
"Oh, you noticed," she took a sip, "This one's new. I took a chance and bought it online. I have some others but they've been in a drawer a long time and don't fit right anymore."
"Over time, things shrink," I smiled.
She looked pointedly below my waist. "Hopefully not everything, but thank you." She patted her belly. "I once was a skinny thing, but time and three kids...you know. I think staying active all the time plus working sometimes like I did today keeps me from blimping out."
She paused, settling on the couch opposite me, swinging her legs up. "Anyway, enough of that. I do want to tell you something, something that happened in my past. It's not something that I'd forgotten, but it came back up in my memories after your comment in the bathroom." She stuffed the pillow behind her and wiggled around.
I felt awkward in that perhaps my comments had made her uncomfortable even though she'd burst out laughing. Nonplussed was the word I was looking for for how I felt. "Katie, I'm sorry if I got out of lane there. I was just kinda, I dunno..."
"Absent?" She chuckled, "No, I'm good with all that, believe me. You can be so hilarious sometimes and you're best at it when you're not even trying. I have to say, starkers really got me. You're just a big goof." She took a draught of brandy. "Ah, that's better. I have a little story for you, a true one that happened a long time ago. Comfy?"
I nodded, wondering what was to come. Outside, the crickets were chorusing now that night had closed in and the moon began its travels.
Katie Ann's Story
"After my husband got more religious, (And furious when I cut my hair) he moved me out of our bedroom and that was that. My boys were puzzled but young and they got used to the new normal faster than I did. I would have taken them and cleared out, but Ray was a good father and that counted.
In those days years back, we had lots of livestock and Ray started breeding certain cattle lines and doing well. We were able to afford some help to keep it a going concern. A young man named Hansa worked at some of the farms as needed and was known to be a good, reliable worker. He put in that fence behind the smokehouse when we expanded the side pasture."
She stopped, collecting her thoughts. "Oh, that fence. The boys were off at school and I was cleaning the upstairs when I glanced out the window and saw Hansa using post hole diggers, working hard. He'd stripped off his shirt and I could see the top of his red boxers above his jeans. His hair was tied back and his muscles just rippled as he worked. I got caught up watching him. Ray and I hadn't been as one for nearly two years by then and suddenly it just came over me like a wave! My heart was beating hard and I was actually gasping while I watched from the window, looking down at him. People know when they're being watched. He stopped to wipe his face and glanced up and saw me before I could back away! Our eyes met and he waved. God, I was so embarrassed! I turned and rushed out of the room.
I felt so perverted for lusting. I was flushed and aroused but scared at the same time that Hansa would say something to Ray and I'd never hear the end of it.
I thought about that boy at night and I thought about him when I took my bath. The only time I almost came was there. I'd leaned my head back, (Oh yes!) soaping myself and thinking about sex with Hansa and I felt myself starting to come. Cody, my youngest, banged on the door. He needed to go pee, so that ended that."
Katie Ann twirled her snifter, lost in reverie.
