I'd intended to publish this at the beginning of June 2019, to get 13 stories in my first year of publishing on this site. Unfortunately, and despite pressuring Xpoerotica to edit it quickly, I got sidetracked and it's sat untouched for a few months. However, now the nights are drawing in, I should get back into finishing off the stack of stories I have waiting.
This story is about an older man meeting a younger woman, and their subsequent risky anonymous adventures. Special thanks to Xpoerotica for feedback and support.
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The Grotto
It all started over a piece of land.
For whatever reason, the plot of land next to my home has never been developed, and in the subsequent 40 years, it has laid a wasteland of stunted trees, brambles, and ferns. Across the middle is an unofficial footpath, acting as a shortcut through the neighbourhood. I know it is unofficial as I had it checked out before I purchased it.
Not that I planned on anything specific for the land, I'd only bought it, as it had suddenly come on the market and I didn't want additional neighbours.
I returned from the lawyers with the deeds in my hand and a deep hole in my pocket from paying commercial prices. Walking into the centre, I surveyed my new purchase. Decades of rubbish from schoolchildren's pockets had gathered on the spines of thorns and brambles. I suppose my first job is to try to clean it up to see what I've actually got.
"Excuse me." From a polite female voice behind me, and I step to the side of the path to let a young dog walker pass.
"Sorry, miles away," I reply and notice the woman, I'd guess to be mid-twenties, which is around half my age. She's walking a Jack Russell puppy and stands next to me looking into the mess of chest-high weeds.
"I hear this land is up for sale." She comments.
"Just been sold," I answer, but I don't mention I'm the one who bought it. It would only produce a shower of questions on what my plans were. And to be honest, I've no idea yet.
"What a shame, I suppose they'll want to build on it."
"I wouldn't be so sure. I don't think the new owner will."
"Wanna bet? For the money, they were asking, whoever bought it must want to build on it."
"How about £100 that they won't?"
"That's too steep for me. How about if I just flash you my boobs?" That caught me by surprise.
The woman is rather plump with very large breasts, noticeable even through her coat. Then I realise I'm staring at her chest and look up to see her grinning at me.
"It's a bit disproportionate, isn't it?" I scratch my chin thoughtfully. "I'm sure your breasts are amazing but are they really worth £100?"
"Not so certain of your wager now? How about if you get a chance to see them for a full 10 seconds?" she asks playfully.
"Ten minutes." I counter, trying to make it sound light and jokey.
"One-minute topless and that's my final offer. However..." she reaches down to scratch the dog behind its ears. "As we haven't set a time limit, how could we ever know who won?"
"True. But how about this..." I pull the deeds from my pocket and hold them out for her to read the cover. Then raise my hand in salute.
"I own the house next door, and I promise on my boy scouts woggle, that I will not build on this land anytime for at least ten years?"
She bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.
"OK, you got me. I suppose I should pay up on my bet now."
"It's OK, I'll let you off. I had you at an unfair disadvantage from the outset."
"Are you saying you don't want to see my boobs? That's a first."
"No!" And I realise I've walked into a trap. "I mean, I'd love to see them, but it's unreasonable for me to expect it in the circumstances."
"OK, how about a rain check?"
"Fine, I'll hold on to the wager until I'm sure my old heart can take it. Five minutes naked, wasn't it?" I query.
"One minute, and only topless." She replies and grins, then continues to walk the dog.
The next day sees me dressed in my old motorcycle leathers; I'd got rid of the bike years ago, but kept the leathers. They are a bit snug and rather warm, but ideal for pushing my way through the undergrowth. I have small pruning shears in one hand and the long handled 'grown up' version in the other.
I begin to clear a path about two feet wide along my property line. By the time I reach the corner, I have a mountain of cuttings and the beginning of RSI from the pruning shears. Taking a break, I leave to purchase a little incinerator, a galvanised bin on legs with holes in the sides and a short chimney in the lid.
I set up the incinerator and start to burn off the cuttings. This is very smoky and I have to limit it to a few hours at a time to avoid pissing off any neighbours with their washing out. Still, it gives me an excuse to reduce the hours I spend clearing up the plot.
Over the course of weeks, I bump into people who have been neighbours for years and most stop to chat about the land and my plans for it.
I don't see the Jack Russell woman again until the day I made a discovery. I'd dropped my pruning shears and, as I was bending to pick them up, I noticed a gap in the undergrowth. There was almost a little tunnel leading deeper into a thicket. Lying down, I could see the passage went almost straight for nearly ten feet and opened into a larger space.
I realised it corresponded with the base of one of the larger trees which seem to have a defence mechanism that kept the undergrowth thinner around their base.
Curious, I crawl on my stomach down the tunnel and into a little grotto under the tree. Patches of sky are visible between the brambles overhead and they are just high enough to allow me to sit up, in a space about eight feet by four. Obviously it took more than nature to make this space. I can see cut marks on many of the bigger creepers. The earth is compacted and mostly plant free.
Then I notice something pushed under a rock and pull out a plastic bag. I can guess the contents immediately, and a peek inside confirms my suspicions. Someone has rather cleverly wrapped a bundle of magazines in clear kitchen film to keep them dry and, for the most part, it has done the trick. When I was a kid it wasn't usual to find stashes of porn magazines in hedges or tree stumps. If you didn't want your "dirty magazines" found by your parents, you'd hide them in places like this.
It is impossible to guess how long this has been here, but I don't want children to find it, so I crawl out again, with the bag in my hand.
"Jesus Christ!" exclaims a voice, and I look up to see the Jack Russell lady holding her chest as I emerge as if from nowhere in front of her.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Why does each of our meetings begin with me apologizing?"
"Because you're a guy and a well-trained one. It's better to get your apology out early than wait until it's too late. What's that?" She asks, pointing to the bag. Should I tell the truth or pretend it is just rubbish?
"And where did you come from?" She squats down to peer into the tunnel.
"It's a little grotto under the tree. I just found it and then found this bag of porn in there."
"Really?" She asks, "Why?"
"Why what? The grotto or the porn? When I was a kid, it was common to have a stash of porn hidden in places like that."
"Wow, I suppose I'm so used to the internet. I can access porn for free anytime I like."