Bookstore Girl

"I'll be at the book store to pick you up."

She had a sexy walk as she went to the door to her building. When she got there, she turned and smiled at me, then waved. I waved back at her and she flipped her skirt up to give me another glimpse of her panties as she went inside. I had to laugh to myself. She pretty clearly got flirty when she felt safe, but got distant if she felt she might be called to act on her actions.

I drove home thinking about Zooey and her ambivalence. It would certainly make dinner at my place far touchier than might otherwise be expected. I could feel certain that she would not spend the night that night and since I was picking her up would likely have to take her home that evening. I'd have a bottle of wine but couldn't drink much since I expected to drive.

Did I think she would eventually end up in my bed? Most likely, but it would take some time and patience on my part to get there. Would it be worth it? It's hard to say. I'm not sure she could ever commit to a real relationship with me. On the other hand, she did keep showing interest in me. Maybe that was just her being bi-curious, but we would see.

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I had a couple of urgent projects so I was up to my ears in it working for the next two days. I frankly didn't even think about Zooey -- at least until she texted me, which she did a couple times each day. I sent her a brief but positive reply when she texted me, then went back to work. I'm serious about my work and however cute she is, that's not going to interfere.

In spite of the interruptions, I made good progress. I had two zoom meetings with stakeholders to clarify some potential issues. Those were fairly brief and I was really cranking out the work -- at least during the day. The first evening, after I finished working, I went to the site she told me about and read some of her work. It was decent but not earth shattering.

I'd have to say her writing was better than average, but not among the best I'd ever read. I didn't want to be negative to her, but texted and told her what I'd read, and told her it was good. What was never stated was that it was good but not great. It was clear she had some talent for writing, but wasn't likely to win a Pulitzer any time soon.

There's an old phrase, 'damning with faint praise', and I tried not to do that. I sent her a text that her stories were good and well above average. Someone had criticized the actions a character in one of her stories. I told her I disagreed with that and thought that's what people sometimes do, and that it was a valid character choice that worked for the story.

She seemed ecstatic over that and told me that she'd told several other people she knew about her stories and never heard a word from them. So the fact that I read them and liked them was far better than she'd gotten from other people who said they were interested in her work. I suppose that is a point in my favor -- not that I think that will get her into my bed -- nor was it designed to.

She wasn't making any money off her stories, and I know the book store could not be paying her much above minimum wage. I'm not sure how much she was making from editing or proofreading, but if it were a lot, she wouldn't be working at the book store. Since I make a decent sum off my contract work, though I have no benefits, I figured she was unlikely to make more than a third of what I did.

Given that, I decided I would pay for the ingredients for dinner, but make her do the work. I picked her up after work at the book store and drove to the grocery store. We got a box of spaghetti, a jar of sauce, a loaf of French bread, a small jar of garlic butter, two pieces of cheesecake, and a bottle of wine. Honesty, it was far less than I'd spent on dinner a few nights previous.

"Maeve, you'll have to take me back to my place after we have dinner."

"Of course, Zooey, I never expected otherwise."

"I mean, I like you, but -- "

"You aren't there yet. I still expect a good night kiss though."

She kind of sputtered for a few seconds. "Once you get me back to my place."

So she had no intention of any intimacies with me at my place. I had to smile. Again she was flirtatious when it was safe, but cool when she thought she might have to come through. I drove us back to my place and put her to work in the kitchen. She did seem to be rather at a loss when it came to cooking. Still it isn't that hard to make what we were having.

I made her fill a pot with water and put it on the stove. Once it boiled I had her put half of the pound of spaghetti in. I had her nuke the sauce, which even she seemed able to do. Then I had her cut the French loaf in half, put garlic butter on both halves, then put them in the toaster oven. I made sure she put in on a setting where she wouldn't burn it than talked her through checking the spaghetti for doneness.

I opened the wine, an inexpensive chardonnay, after chilling it, and poured us each a glass. I put some upbeat music on -- no need for soft romantic stuff -- that might frighten the poor girl. Sure, she might be playing me, but I was enjoying the game, and in no hurry to bed the woman, so no loss whatsoever. We had a nice inexpensive dinner, which she made, under my supervision.

We chatted pleasantly over dinner, though Zooey was decidedly not flirtatious. She said she liked the music I was playing, and I suggested that maybe sometime we should go dancing. She had a flash of a smile, then turned sober. I guess she was concerned over how I might take that. She said we'd have to see about that -- perhaps some other time.

During supper, we talked about her stories. I told her which ones I had read and discussed the characters in those stories and the choices she had them make. I told her what I'd liked about them, particularly since I wanted to keep it positive and upbeat. She seemed very pleased about what I said, and I told her that I'd try to read more of her work.

As I said, I had a bottle of wine, and I drank only a glass, figuring I'd have to drive Zooey home. I noticed that she was drinking more than I was, in fact, she polished off all the rest of the bottle. I found that kind of odd, but said nothing to her. After we had finished eating, including having the cheesecake, I rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

Zooey definitely seemed under the weather, and was sitting on my sofa and appeared to be falling asleep. I came into the living room and spoke with her.

"You said I needed to take you home after dinner."

"I think we drank too much. It might not be safe."

"I only had one glass and it's largely worn off."

"I'd feel terrible if you got a ticket or had an accident taking me home."

"That's not very likely."

"I could sleep on your sofa, as long as you promise not to take advantage of me."

"I'm not going to try to seduce a drunk woman, and you can sleep on my sofa, but you're not sharing my bed."

"If I was sure you wouldn't -- "

"You can sleep on my sofa, if you insist, but you aren't sleeping in my bed."

"I thought you -- "

"I like women, but not drunk women who aren't sure what they want."

"So I can sleep on the sofa?"

"Sofa -- not bed."

"Okay. Well, you're sure you're safe to drive?"

"I really am."

"Then I guess you can drive me home."

If Zooey were sober and willing, I'd take her to bed, with no regrets, but not drunk and ambivalent. I packed up the leftovers from dinner, along with the uncooked spaghetti and the rest of the jar of sauce for Zooey. I poured her into my car and drove her to her place. As I pulled up in front, she seemed kind of depressed.

"You said something about a kiss, Maeve."

"And I intend to get that kiss, unless you tell me you really don't want it."

"Since you brought me here, I didn't think -- "

"When you're drunk and not sure what you want, I'm not going to invite you to stay at my place."

"But you do like me?"

"I do, and I'd like to go out with you again -- sometime when you don't drink so much."

"I drank because I was nervous and -- "

"And not sure if you wanted me to do things to you."

I got out of the car and opened her door and helped her up to the door to her building. Once there, I took her in my arms and gave her a passionate kiss. She held me tight and kissed me back, just as passionately. She held the kiss for longer than I'd have held it, but I was okay with that. As she broke the kiss, she looked at me, then buried her head in my shoulder.

"I have to work tomorrow night, Maeve."

It was Thursday, so she wasn't available Friday, but that meant she did want to go out with me again.

"How about Saturday?"

"I don't work that night."

"A bite to eat, and then either a movie or dancing?"

"If we go dancing, you have to promise to slow dance with me, holding me tight."

"Aren't you afraid I might do something, Zooey?"

With that, she reached behind her, grabbed one of my hands and moved it down onto her ass. Then she pulled me tight and rubbed against me.

"I was hoping you would."

She does blow hot and cold, and right then she was blowing very hot. If she had been largely sober and done that at my apartment, she'd be heading to my bed right then. But she hadn't, so instead we were standing outside her place. My hand was still on her ass, where she'd put it, so I gave her ass a squeeze. She giggled and squirmed against me once more, before turning me loose.

She gave me a shy smile, then a quick kiss, before darting in her place. I had to laugh after she left. Now my book store girl was back to being a flirt. I guess come Saturday, we would see which Zooey showed for our date. I whistled as I drove home, and it was happy songs that I whistled. Once I got home, I finished cleaning everything up and went to bed.

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I put in a full work day on Friday, making excellent progress. I did get several texts from Zooey. She seemed interested in one new movie with a female lead. It was playing at a couple of theaters, one close to where she lived and another closer to where I live. She felt we should see the movie at the one closer to me. She said the start time was better and it was a cinebistro so we could eat there too.

Now honestly, we could have eaten at a restaurant then caught a later showing at the theater near her, but somehow I thought she had visions on me not taking her back to her place that night. Mind you, I knew I could very possibly be wrong and she did swing between cool and flirty. We'd have to see which Zooey showed up for that date.

I read a few more of Zooey's stories, and still felt they were good, but not great. Still when I texted, I told her about the good parts of the stories. By praising the good, I hoped that meant she'd try to do more of the good stuff. She decided that I was her greatest fan, though there were many others who seemed to like what she wrote.

Come Saturday, Zooey worked the afternoon, so I chilled out and tried to catch up on my regular reading. I did some social media things and had previously sent a friend request to Zooey, which she'd approved. I spent some time looking at her profile and posts. She was a bit coy about things, but there were few if any pix of her with guys -- nearly always with other women.

Clearly there were no guarantees, but to me that was a sign that she preferred women, though she was still somewhat coy with me. That was fine -- I was happy to be patient for a while and let her get used to the idea of being my lover. As tempting as it might be, I really wanted more than just a hookup, though I was hardly ready to promise forever or anything like that.

I went online and checked out the menu for the cinebistro. They had a nice variety, though a bit pricy, still not much more than a lot of restaurants. We had to get there thirty minutes before show time to order food, but that shouldn't be a problem. Zooey got off work about an hour before the movie was to start, so we had time to get there and order.

I put on nice slacks and a cute top, but wore a sports bra instead of a standard one, since it's more comfortable to me. I did use a little makeup, mostly some base and a little eye liner, with a light lipstick. Sometimes I don't bother with those things, but this looked more like a serious date. I drove over to the bookstore shortly before Zooey was to get off.

She wore a cute skirt and a low cut top, which kind of surprised me. Depending on how she moved, one might get a brief glimpse of cleavage. I had waited for her by my car, and as she walked up, I opened the car door for her. As she came up to me, she gave me a quick kiss before sitting down. Unlike one previous time, she didn't give me a glimpse of her panties as she sat.

We talked as I drove to the cinebistro. Zooey had gotten two nice proofreading projects that would have a nice payday. She was exciting to be working on them and told me a little about the one she had started. Apparently, the writer would accept other editing changes and she had already found a few things that she felt would make the work better.

It also looked like if those two projects went well, that she might get a ghost writing assignment. That really thrilled her and she was working her hardest to get that as well. I told her how my projects were going. I was actually part of a team on one of them and had been assigned one piece of the work, as well as reviewing the work of some other team members.

Mercifully, everything I was doing could be done remotely, though I had regular phone conferences and zoom meetings on the work, along with a raft of emails. Zooey seemed as happy for me as I had been for her. We more or less celebrated together during our ride. We got to the theater and I opened the car door for her again.

She still was a little more modest getting out of the car, though the low cut top was enticing. I offered her my hand and she took it and we walked in together. I'd bought tickets online ahead of time, so that was no problem. We ordered a glass of wine for each of us. I knew what I wanted to eat and ordered it, but it took Zooey a bit longer.

We got our seats in the theater and Zooey immediately put the arm rest up and out of the way, then snuggled up closer to me. As they brought us our food and drink, the waiter gave me a sly smile. Once we had finished eating, Zooey told me I could put my arm around her, so I did and she put her head on my shoulder as we watched the movie.

Once the movie was over, I asked her what she'd like to do, whether dancing or something else.

"I could really use one more glass of wine."

"Here, or a restaurant or bar?"

"We could go to your place and have a glass of wine and talk."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do, Zooey?"

"I promise not to get drunk this time."

"You're cute and flirty when you're drunk, but drunk is a problem."

"I don't want to be a problem."

I wasn't sure whether I was walking into an opportunity or a problem. I might not know for a while actually. Sure, this could blow up immediately, but it might also take a while to blow up. Then again she might really be interested in something like a relationship, though many relationships are not forever either. As any rate, I guessed we'd see exactly where this might go.

I drove us to my place, which was close by. Again I opened the car door for her. She seemed to wait as if she expected it of me. Many women will simply enter or exit on their own, but Zooey seemed to like that little touch. After she got out, I put my arm around her and walked her to my door, She seemed happy for me to do that.

We came in and she sat on the sofa, while I got us each a glass of wine. She asked if I could put on some music, so I put on the upbeat stuff I'd played the other day. She got up and we fast danced to that for a few songs before we sat back down to sip our wine. I still wasn't sure where she wanted this to go, but decided to let her pick the direction. We got up to dance a few more times, until we had emptied our glass of wine.

"Should be have another glass, Maeve?"

"Not for me, Zooey. If you keep drinking, I'll need to be sober enough to drive you home."

"So you aren't going to get me drunk and take advantage of me?"

"I don't do drunk girls, so if you get drunk, I'm taking you to your place."

"I guess I'll have to stay relatively sober if I want you to take advantage of me."

"And do you want me to take advantage of you?"

"I guess you'll have to see, won't you?"

She asked if I had some slow jams we could dance to. I put on some slower music and she got up and wrapped herself around me. I wasn't sure just how far Zooey intended to go, but she seemed to be pushing the boundaries. Hell, a couple nights ago when she was drunk, she all but invited herself into my bed. Was that only because she was drunk? I guessed I'd find out.

She held me very tight as we moved to the music. I guess you'd call it dancing -- we had no pattern of movement, but we moved, more or less in time with the rhythm. She had her head on my shoulder and we must have swayed together through about three or four tunes in a row. After a while, she paused, pulled back slightly, then leaned forward to kiss me.

Now I enjoy kissing, and I liked kissing Zooey. We kissed all the way through at least one song and maybe two. She wasn't wearing a bra and as she pressed herself against me, I could feel her very hard nipples against my chest. I knew my nipples were equally hard. When she finally came up for air, I steered us over to the sofa where we sat down.

Actually, I suppose I sat on the sofa, while Zooey sat on my lap. She began to kiss me even more fiercely than when we were standing. I responded, though I don't think any of my prior girlfriends had been quite so fierce. As we kissed her skirt began to ride up and it became obvious that in addition to being braless, she also was without panties.

That made me think this girl was serious -- at least about tonight. As to tomorrow, who knows? She shifted, so instead of simply sitting on my lap, she was now straddling me. That caused he skirt to ride up fully uncovering her nether parts. She was not shaved, but had a short soft patch of hair mostly above her spreading labia.

She was clearly quite wet and as she pressed against me I could feel it beginning to seep though my clothes. If there was ever any question as to her intentions, that pretty much settled it. I still had to wonder how serious she was. Was this just some lark with her? Was she just exploring some bi-curious feelings with me? Did she have any idea what she was getting into?

I pulled back for a second. "Zooey, are you sure about this?"

Her reply was to unbutton her top and take it completely off and toss it onto the floor. Rather than immediately return to kissing me, she began to pull up on my top, so I lifted my arms and she took it off me. Then she did the same with my sports bra. She then put both her hands on my boobs and began to fondle them as she leaned forward to resume kissing me.

By this time, her skirt was bunched around her waist. I reached down and unbuttoned and unzipped it so that it would fall off once she stood up again. There was a large wet spot on my slacks from her very red and very wet pussy. I had held off on touching her intimately up until then, but with her attacking my bosoms, I figured I might as well do likewise.

I could feel her squeezing and caressing both of my breasts, as I put my right hand on her left titty. My left snuck around and began to stroke her ass, before I slipped a finger in her backdoor. She gasped and squirmed as my finger insinuated itself deeper into her anal cavity. She began to move her hips, humping me, which spread the wet spot on my slacks over a far larger area.