"Hi, wann'a go to a party?"
I barely looked at her when I said, "Sure!" I would never turn down an invitation from a pretty woman and she was all of that and more. She slid into the vacant chair beside me in the lunchroom.
She was smiling when she said, "You don't even know who I am, do you?"
"Yes I do, you are Pat from drafting." Unfortunately, that's about all I knew but I wouldn't tell her that. I had seen her in the break room and even remarked to one of my co-workers how attractive she was. He was the one who told me her name was Pat something-or-other and she worked in the drafting department of our engineering firm.
I was an electrical engineer, specializing in the outdoor lighting of freeways, stadiums, shopping malls and other large complexes. She had done the drawings for some of my designs and I liked her work. It was accurate, complete and included every specification and detail that I listed, in other words, very professional. She appeared to be in her mid to late 30s, perhaps 10 or 15 years younger than me. Although I had seen her in the break room many times, the other eye candy was younger, with overpowering physical attributes and usually got more of my attention. Whoever was in charge of hiring for our company had an eye for young, attractive, tall, big-breasted women. Few of them stayed with us very long so there was a constant change of scenery. Every day at noon all the men in the firm lined up behind the tables against the wall of the lunchroom and watched the constant parade of sex on the half shell as it undulated by.
She was looking straight into my face and smiling when she said, "Don't you want to know anything about the party? Like where it is, what it's for, and who's throwing it?"
She was really far prettier than I had noticed. "That's not too important as long as I get to go with you."
I think she blushed a little. "Why, thank you, I like that, I think. Anyway, the party is for the new vice president in charge of the drafting division. You know my old boss retired and they transferred in this new guy in from the San Francisco office. He wants to be brought up to speed and has asked the single people in his department to invite other single members of the staff from other departments to a get acquainted shindig. It's going to be a pool party at his house Saturday after next, starting around 2 PM with a barbecue late in the afternoon."
"I'm honored, and would love to go with you but what made you select me?"
"I asked around. I know that you are single, having been divorced for five years. Besides, all of the other single man are either pimply faced kids or old geezers that play grab-ass every chance they get. Also, I know your work and know that you are a professional. I shouldn't have to fend you off."
Damn! Did I really look that safe? "You never know, I may be all hands outside of the office."
"Well, I don't think you will be dangerous." I think she winked at me when she added, "Besides, the proper hand in the right place at the right time is not necessarily objectionable."
She gave me her address and, since the new boss's house was quite a way out of town, I made arrangements to pick her up before noon and have lunch in route. She told me to be sure to bring a bathing suit and a change clothes for the evening because there would be dancing on the patio later.
The rest of the week went by fairly fast. On Thursday I became aware that there was a buzz in the office concerning the party. It seems that mostly senior, mature people had been invited and a lot of the junior, male employees had their noses out of joint. It was a disappointment to me because I figured that there would be quite a few of those young hard bodies there. I was kind of looking forward to dancing and maybe playing a little grab ass myself. Oh, well.
As planned, I picked Pat up just after 11 AM on Saturday. When she bounced out of her apartment house, I quickly revised my estimate of her age. Clad in white tennis shorts, a sleeveless blouse, her hair held back with a pink visor and almost no make-up she looked to be in her mid to late 20s. The outfit only went to accentuate the length and symmetry of her well-rounded arms and legs and show off her tan. Every part of her body seemed to be just the right size and in just the right place. She was no longer attractive, she was beautiful. She brought a small rolling case like the one you carry on an airplane and a garment bag. This we stowed it in the back of my Lincoln Navigator next to my stuff. She made some casual remark about the way the vehicle was rigged and I explained that I was an avid fisherman/hunter and often used it as a base camp. She didn't comment on my remark that it slept two very comfortably.
We stopped in a little roadhouse on the way out to the party. Over lunch I found out a lot about her. She was also divorced and a lot older than she looked, 38, just 8 years my junior. Her daughter was away at school, one of the prestigious women's colleges in Virginia. Like me, she was also divorced but had been for 15 years. When I remarked that it was uncommon for a woman as attractive as her to remain single so long she put me straight in a hurry. "I don't need a man to take care of me. That's the problem, they all want to smother you and refuse to realize that I am just as capable of taking care of myself as they are. Besides, I'm liberated and like to be free, to do what I want, when I want without having to answer to anyone."
That kind of set me back but then I thought, what the hell, that's very close to my own philosophy nowadays. In truth, I admired her for it. We've talked on and on about work and lots of other things. The more we talked more I was drawn to her. By the time we left the diner about 1:30 I was completely infatuated with her.
We pulled up in front of the address to find a very large, country style, manor on at least 30 acres of rolling lawn, surrounded by a security wall you couldn't see over. The only entrance was through an iron gate that was manned by a uniformed security guard. He opened the gate and directed us to some parking spaces along the circular drive. I retrieved the bags from the back of the car and then did something uncharacteristic for me. Pat was just standing there so I gathered her in my arms and kissed her. At first, I thought she was going to rebuke me when she pulled back a little, but then she surrendered and kissed me back with far more vigor than I had any right to expect.
We broke and she was taking deep breaths when she said, "Lets go inside if we are going to. One more of those and we won't make it."
I was more than willing to give her one more of "those" but she grabbed me by the hand and headed for the house.
The front door was standing ajar and you could hear the sounds of a party coming from the rear. A very pretty young woman in an incredibly brief server's uniform greeted us, took our bags, and directed us through the house to French doors opening onto the pool.