“G’night, Chris, see you in the morning,” she smiled and walked toward her bedroom. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said she had a little extra sway in her hips as I watched her walk away.
Usually, my first night’s sleep in a different bed was not good. It seemed every hotel or rental had different sounds and smells that made it difficult for me to get a good sleep for a couple of nights. I slept well that night, awakening to the need to urgently empty my bladder with a case of morning wood that wouldn’t leave on its own. The only dream I remembered was one of Nita but the details were already hazy by the time I put on sweatpants and made it to the bathroom.
After attending to my bladder, I went back and grabbed my shower things. Returning to the bathroom, I met Nita in the hall. She had on an oversized t-shirt, which came down to just about the top of her thighs. I got another full hug and a smile.
“Happy Birthday. You still like your eggs scrambled medium?” She yawned and stretched, raising the hem of her shirt when she tousled her hair into some semblance of order. It wasn’t hard to tell that she wasn’t wearing anything under the shirt. I did manage to keep eye contact, mostly.
“Yeah, I do. If you don’t have real bacon, you don’t have to make any for me, though. I can’t stand that fake turkey shit.”
She had the courtesy to look offended, “I don’t do fake bacon or anything else, for that matter, I’ll have you know.” She slapped me on the ass as I passed her. “Hurry up, I’m not waiting for you.”
I glanced back at her as I entered the bathroom. She was again teasing her hair with both hands, lifting the hem of the shirt so I could see her ass as she walked toward the kitchen. I was still semi-erect from when I woke up and the sight of her ass just made it more demanding. I’d never actually seen her ass in totality before, usually only when encased in tight shorts or a swimsuit. It was indeed a beauty.
After a quick shower, encouraged by a shouted reminder that she wasn’t going to wait, I sat down to a full breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns. Somewhere, somehow, she had finally learned how to brew coffee as well.
We ate, reminiscing about previous birthdays, almost all the memories from before my marriage. She gave me a rundown of the schedule for the day. First, I would be visiting the salon she frequented for a new haircut, which I needed anyway. Then it would be shopping for suitable clothes for the climate here. I had lived in Monterey for a few years, where eighty degrees was summer and nights were much cooler. Everything I owned was heavy fabric. We would come back, freshen up and then get ready for dinner at seven thirty. She refused to tell me where or what was planned afterwards, calling it her birthday secret.
We talked about my new position, Acquisitions Specialist for Briggs International. I explained how the family owned company worked, buying smaller companies with a niche market offering, then rebuilding the company around that or merging it into another company we held. I would report to the CEO, Del Briggs, and would be working closely with the CFO, Ashley Briggs, his sister.
Nita had ownership of a few businesses they had built during the marriage. She had taken a few days off when I told her that I would be coming to Dallas. The restaurant we visited last night was one such business, which is why we received the royal treatment.
One thing I noticed, besides Nita’s lack of underclothing, was how busy her phone was. It didn’t take me long to figure out that one text tone was business and the other personal. She constantly ignored the personal tone while we ate, only interrupting me once to handle an emergent matter with a call that lasted less than thirty seconds.
After four consecutive personal texts, I asked her, “Do you need to take care of that? I can go get dressed or something.”
She picked up her phone and looked at it. “No, just friends wanting to know who the guy is that I was with last night. Apparently, they thought you were a ‘hottie’,” making air quotes around the word ‘hottie’.
That made me wonder a little. Why hadn’t she told friends that she had family coming to visit? Lisa’s friends were like sharks or piranhas when they smelled even a hint of gossip. Blood in the water.
“Well, at least I still got it at thirty seven.” I teased her a little. I had a rule, I wouldn’t date my friends’ sister and definitely wouldn’t date my sister’s friends. Family peace above all.
“You gotta remember, they’re all skanks, they’ll date anybody. Including you.” She teased right back.
“You jealous of the local talent, honey?”
She threw her napkin at me and laughed. “Oh, hell, no. They ain’t getting anywhere near you.”
We cleaned up the breakfast dishes and put them away, continuing to banter about me versus her friend group. It appeared that she was really trying to make sure I got excellent views of her ass as she stretched and bent over, sometimes unnecessarily, to put things away. I did the best I could not to stare but it was impossible. I hadn’t had any female companionship in a few months, too busy with the merger to go on dates, and we were both human adults. I said nothing, not only because I didn’t know how to phrase it but also because I was enjoying the hell out of it.
I excused myself to the bathroom while she finished putting things away. I needed to take care of a problem in my sweats. I heard her pass by the hall bathroom on her way to take a shower, she made a point to tap on the door and ask if I was all right. Not yet, but I was working on it.
After we got dressed, we headed out for our first stop, the hair salon. Nita and the stylist debated back and forth about what to do with my hair, and finally settled on something that was short and easy to care for. I had no say in the matter. Then it was clothes shopping. To tell the truth, I really didn’t even need to be there. She knew my sizes better than I did and she whipped through racks, sometimes it appeared she just chose things at random. That is until I reached the dressing rooms, where it was apparent that none of her choices were made haphazardly. I had a new lightweight wardrobe, not only for work but for leisure. I would get to keep some of my heavier things, since winters in Dallas weren’t always fun, either. By the time she was finished, it was already mid afternoon, so we loaded my take into her SUV and we headed back to the apartment.
We sat around, watched a couple of movies and talked about childhood memories for a while. I napped on the couch for a couple of hours while she watched another rom-com I couldn’t get into. She shook me awake a little after six to get ready.
After showering again, since the Dallas heat and humidity were extremel, I dressed in an outfit she had picked out.
“Are you sure this is going to be okay? Seems a little informal for a birthday dinner, unless we’re talking pizza and beer,” I asked as I came into the living room. I had on a button down shirt, jeans and boots. It wasn’t too cowboy looking but it wasn’t appropriate for the type of restaurant we went to the night before. It was comfortable, though.
She was dressed in a denim skirt, down to mid thigh, with a peasant blouse and wedge sandals, basically the same level of informal wear that I had on. “No, no pizza and beer tonight. You ready?”
When I nodded, she requested an Uber and when it was close, we went downstairs to wait. Her hand found its way into mine in the elevator. I really didn’t think anything of it, we often held hands in public when walking together. After all, we were close.
I recognized the route we took. It was the same as the night before when we went to the restaurant. I started to ask her a question and she cut me off.
“Do you trust me?” I always hated that doe-eyed look. What sucked was that she was really good at it. You could ask my dad.
“Right about now? Not really. Where are we going, Nita?” I’m not big on surprises that involve potential embarrassment. I considered being underdressed an embarrassment.
“Trust me, you’re going to have a good time. Really. I promise.” Again with the doe eyes.
“I’d better or you’re going to pay for it later.” She laughed. The look she gave me was impossible to decode.
The driver stopped in front of the restaurant, Nita closed out the ride, and grabbed my hand. Pulling me away from the entrance, we walked about half a block down and stopped in front of what looked like a service door. An electronic reader was attached to the wall and Nita swiped her wrist over it. There was a beep, a green light came on, and then there was a click as the door popped outward just enough to be able to swing it open. A metal bar had been welded to the inside for closing it.
The entryway was lit with an overhead fluorescent light. A small mirrored window in one wall housed what I assumed to be a camera of some sort. The wall directly across from the door held another metal door with a reader on the wall. Again swiping her wrist over the reader, the door clicked and swung inward. I belatedly noticed that none of the doors had mechanical opening mechanisms, just a red button on the wall, probably as an emergency release.
Passing through the second door, we were met by one of the largest human beings I had ever seen. He had to easily be six foot six. It wasn’t the height that got my attention, it was his build. Calling him muscular would be insulting. For his size, he was amazingly fluid in his movements as he walked around his little podium desk and embraced Nita.
“Hey, Nita. You look great tonight. We have a good crowd, almost everybody showed.” His voice was exactly what you would expect from somebody that size, deep enough to make your chest vibrate when he spoke. Looking at me, “You must be Chris.”
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