There is a strip of shared land between our property and that next door. Lisa thought it would be great if we could extend our wildlife area up to Owen's garage and driveway. As I worked from home and saw more of Owen, Lisa nominated me to do the negotiating. We were friendly, as neighbours are, but not that close. He seemed to live on his own and could be on the grumpy side.
The next time I saw Owen, I brought up our idea of extending the wildlife area.
"It's an interesting idea. Do you want to come in to discuss the details?" It would be the first time I had been in his house and happily accepted. He got me a tea while I explained our vision.
"All seems fine. But what if you tire of the idea. You'd leave me with a bit of work to do to get my area back to a proper garden."
"Oh, we're committed to this. You can see what we've done to our gardens."
There was a pause while he thought. "I'd like to see proof of that commitment for my land."
"Sure, but sure what I could offer. Some kind of written commitment? Do you have any ideas?"
"I do actually. Take off your clothes."
That came out of the blue! "What?"
"Take off your clothes," is all he replied.
"That's what I thought you said. How on earth does that show commitment? It more shows... well (I had to be careful.) something perverse."
He smiled. "No, I'm not a pervert! I just want to see proof of your commitment. You'd have to be pretty committed to stand naked in front of me to ask that, wouldn't you say?"
"Yes, I certainly would!!! But no I certainly won't. Thanks for the tea." And I made my exit.
That evening, Lisa asked if I had talked to Owen. I said I had but not gotten agreement. "Anything in particular he wants? Maybe I can help."
I didn't want to tell her of the proposal as I was too embarrassed for Owen. "Oh, he needed a few things that he needed help with."
"Well, help him, silly. It won't really take that much of your time, I'm sure."
It wouldn't take any time but it sure would take some guts. I fobbed her off that day but she kept asking over the next few days. I usually give into her as she is the more dominant one in the relationship. So it wasn't long before she wore me down. I headed over to Owen's with as much courage as I could muster.
He opened the door with a smile. "Yes?"
"I've come to talk about wilding the strip of land." I was trying to say this with as much conviction as I could.
"I thought you didn't have the necessary commitment to do that." He smiled.
"Well, Lisa and I have discussed it. And well, she's convinced me to reconsider. Can I come in to discuss the details?"
He smiled again and welcomed me in.
"Look, do you really need me to strip? Surely, having comeback knowing I'd have to do that shows commitment enough?" He just stood their silently. "Look, can't you ask something else of me? Work around your house? Anything?"
I got the message. Off came my clothes. It was a very odd feeling and rather demeaning. He smiled. "Okay, now you can ask what you want." I went to pick up my clothes. "No, no, you stay as you are until I say so. Go ahead. Explain what you want to do."
"Again?"
"Yes again."
I didn't know why he wanted me to do this. But in for a penny in for a pound. So I went over again how we wanted to use the joint strip for a wildlife area. "So, I don't now doubt your commitment. I'd like you to seal the deal by kissing my cock." I looked at him in horror. "Oh, I don't need you to do it in real. Just kiss here." He pointed to his groin area.
"That's humiliating! How can you ask me to do that?"
"That's what I'm finding out. I think it's a show of trust. I'm not asking for a legal document or anything. Just for you to provide a kiss to seal the deal."
Well, I had come this far. Being naked must have put me in a subservient frame of mind. I found myself walking over to him, kneeling and kissing his groin. "That's wasn't so bad was it?"
I wasn't sure if I had ever done anything as bad. But it was over and I had his permission. "Can I get dressed now?"
"Certainly. When do you think you will start?"
It was if nothing so humiliating just happened. Well, I guess it didn't for him! So I tried to act as normally as I could getting dressed and answering his questions.
Lisa and I worked over the next few weekends removing the grass and preparing the ground. Owen was reasonably friendly and never mentioned the arrangement. This made me feel a bit better. Lisa decided that she wanted to remove an ornamental bush and replace it with a more insect friendly bush. "I think we best ask Owen first. I explained that we would be working on the ground. I didn't mention anything about removing bushes."
She agreed that was best and we left it hanging there. Owen passed by one day while we were working and Lisa brought up the subject of the bush. "Don't know about that. I quite like the looks of that bush. Had it for years. I'll need to think about it. Ben, why don't you stop by in a couple of days? I'll have had time to think about it by then and can give you an answer."
Lisa quickly agreed. So a few days later I knocked on his door. "Come on in."
"Thanks for your time. Have you come to a decision?" He just looked at me. "Don't tell me you want me naked again?"
"Of course. Anytime you want to be asking permission you need to be naked."
"And if I don't?" I was trying to stand my ground.
"Then you either don't ask or accept the answer will always be NO." Knowing Lisa she would not accept NO, off came my clothes. He smiled. "Before, you said that you'd help around the house or do anything I asked?"
"Yes," I said slowly and with concern. "Within reason, of course." Though I did think my reasoning was becoming a bit warped giving I was standing naked in my neighbour's house.
"My cleaner has gone back home for a bit. What do you think about taking over her role while she's away? It is the usual stuff: hoovering, dusting, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. Nothing special."
I was so relieved I immediately agreed.
"Great. So we can seal it with another kiss." I got down quickly to do the dead. "However," my heart sank as he spoke, "this is a bigger commitment and I'm losing something I like. So I need a bit of compensation, not just commitment. So to start with, this time you need to kiss my actual penis."
I immediately stood up. "Never. It's bad enough being naked and kissing your groin area." I went to get my clothes. "This 'compensation' as you call it is pushing things too far." I threw on my trousers, scooped everything else up and stormed out. I was so flustered that I didn't realise I left my shorts and a sock in his living room. I decided I'd wait for another day to deal with that.
Lisa wasn't impressed when I told her Owen had said NO about the bush. "He likes the bush and wants compensation for its loss."
"Did you tell him the new bush will be lovely too?"
"Yes, of course."
"And what compensation is he asking for, anyway?"
I sure wasn't going to give her all the details! "He wanted me to clean his house while his regular cleaner was away." I couldn't bring myself to say I had left my shorts in his living room because I had to ask him in the nude and kiss his penis!
"What's the problem with that? Okay, it will take a bit of time. But you take the lead in cleaning our house. And women do this all the time. I can't see anything wrong with you doing his cleaning for a short period of time. That's a pretty lame excuse in my book."