Don't Start What You Can't Finish Ch. 02

From one perspective, it was unfortunate that daydreaming was all I had for a couple of days. We both had our kids, and so needless to say having no-holds-barred, screaming orgasm sex was kind of out of the question. And we missed each other when one was running out to pick up a kid or to head to work or school or whatever. Pretty typical - sometimes we ran into each other a lot, other times we'd go several days before running into each other.

A slightly different perspective was that it was probably a good thing, because we were both totally worn out after Saturday night and Sunday morning. And for my part, I didn't know where that night put us - we hadn't had any kind of dating relationship before spending Saturday night/Sunday morning together having (for me) absolutely mind-blowing sex.

Monday was a typical office day - I worked on an appellate brief that was coming due, reading a lot and scribbling some ideas on paper. Well, on a laptop, but you get the idea. My son and I then had a nice quiet night at home, with nary a peep from downstairs. Jeannette and I had texted a couple of times, but nothing serious - the typical "how goes your day" stuff we exchanged anyway.

So I was glad when we ran into each other again as we were picking up mail. It was another beautiful, albeit hot, day, and there were beads of perspiration on her brow.

"Hi Mark!" she beamed.

"Hi there!" I said back. "Enjoying the heat?"

"Hardly. You?"

I laughed. "Hardly - anything above about 80 is too warm for me."

She laughed in turn. "I know what you mean - that's partly why I moved here. Want a beer?"

"Sure - that'd be great. No Brandon?"

"Mom picked him up - he's staying with them for dinner and then she's bringing him back."

"Gotcha." By now we had made it back to our building and were walking into her apartment.

As I glanced around, her apartment looked the same. Same pictures, same furniture in the same location, etc. It was tidy - probably more tidy than my apartment upstairs, though I had managed to get more artwork up on the walls. She dropped her mail on the table in the hallway and kicked off her heels, depositing them on a mat under the mail table.

She was wearing an ivory colored suit of what looked like linen - a nice, light fabric for the heat. It was just the right complement to her skin, and it let you know she had a terrific figure without being forward. "Flattering" would be a good description. She had her hair pulled up, and as she walked into the kitchen area she undid it and let it fall to her shoulders.

"What would you like? I've got . . . "

"Whatever you grab first is fine." From experience I knew it was likely to be a Blue Moon, which was fine. Not one of the craft beers Colorado was known for, but nice and refreshing on such a hot day. And I wasn't terribly interested in the beer in any event. She opened two and handed me one.

"Long day?" I asked.

She nodded as moved to her couch and sat down, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "Oh yeah. Thought we had a client signed, and they want more information."

I had to smile ruefully. "I know exactly how that goes. Story of my work life." As an appellant consultant, lawyers always wanted to know if they were going to win or not. Since it was impossible to say, they had to be satisfied with "You never know what an appellate court will do, but . . . "

She laughed softly. "Yep, I bet you do! How about you?"

"Oh, it was fine. Started working on a new case. I'd like to think they have a pretty good chance - but who knows."

Jeannette looked over at me - I was sitting on the same couch, but not too close, as I didn't want to assume anything. "And it's hard getting Saturday night out of my head . . . "

We locked eyes. "I know what you mean. Do you think that counted as finishing what we started?"

"Was that the finish? Or was that just the start?"

I had wondered that myself. "Tell you the truth, I don't know. I'd like to think that wasn't the finish - but I had no idea what you thought."

She nodded slightly, her bell of dark blonde hair jiggling just a bit. "I was a bit overwhelmed, and didn't know what you thought either. What DO you think?"

"Well, there's a wide range of possibilities."

Jeannette nodded again a bit, with a "keep going" gesture.

"One would be to pretend it never happened and to keep going as we did before. Not sure how well that would work, but it is a possibility. I suppose the opposite of that would be to run down to the courthouse and get married."

She was looking at me intently. "Are those it?"

"Oh, hell no. We could say it was the beginning of a romantic relationship, building on the friend relationship we already had. We could also keep each other as FWBs . . . "

Jeannette interrupted, "Oh, like fuck buddies?"

I nodded. "Yep. 'Friends with benefits.' Or we could act like we've been doing that all along, or pretend it never happened and go our separate ways. A lot of it depends on what you want - this is not a one-person decision."

She smiled a bit at that. "What would your preference be? I kinda doubt you want to run to the courthouse, and it seems silly to try to pretend like it never happened."

My turn to smile a little. "Yep. You might find that you don't like how I roll the toothpaste tube, or how I make coffee, or something silly like that. What about you?"

"Hmmmm. Well, definitely don't want to pretend like it never happened - I've never had a night like that before. I'm not ready to go get married again - no offense - so something in the middle."

"The good news is that we get to decide what we want it to be. So what would it look like for you?"

She paused thoughtfully, sipping her beer as she did. "I have to ask - did I ask if you'd take Rachel and let me watch? I think I remember asking you that and then really wishing I hadn't."

I nodded. "You did, but I kinda chalked it up to sex brain. I get the same way."

She plowed on. "Well, I do like watching, and didn't know how you felt about exploring and didn't want to cross a line."

"Oh, don't worry about that - I like exploring and am hard to offend. I also didn't know if you were still going out with . . . was Mike his name?"

"Yep, that was him. No, I let that go a little too long. Funny thing is that we were supposed to go out Saturday night and he cancelled via a text - said he had a family thing come up. I sent it on to Rachel, and she was the one who put Saturday night together, and who suggested we invite you."

"Ah! So that was part of what was going on?" I asked.

"Yep, I thought she was going to hook up with you, especially when you went out to 'rescue' her from her ex. Tracy and I were going to push you out of her car when we got back here. So Rachel was disappointed - to say the least - to go home alone."

"Did you fill her in on the rest of the night?"

"We're girls. Of course - though not in the details." She smirked just a little bit. "And now Mike, of course, wants to go out again."

"I bet he does! What'd you tell him?"

"I just said maybe and that I'd get back to him." She sipped again. "I'm not that into him - nice enough guy, but a bit . . . flaky even if he is pretty. And the family thing that came up - who knows? He hasn't said anything about what that was about."

I digested all that for a minute. "So you haven't said your preference, or if you even have one."

She grinned. "You haven't either, buster!"

"True that. I'd vote for saying it's the start of something. We've been friends for a while, and if it starts to get too weird we'd have a chance at falling back to that."

She cocked her head at me. "Would you want to be able to date other people? Because I know a couple of women who want to."

"Hell, I don't know. I've never been here before. It seems silly to date anyone else, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but since we're not running to the courthouse . . . I don't know. I've never been here either, and having just gotten divorced I haven't been looking for any kind of serious relationship, which is what I think we'd be diving in to. And I'm not good at dating more than one at a time, unless I'm sharing, and even then I still know who I'm with."

She drained her beer and got up to get another. "Ready for another?"

I tipped my bottle up and finished it. "You bet."

She brought a pair over and sat down, closer together this time.

"Cheers!" She clinked her bottle against mine and took a sip. "It might be Coors, but this is still pretty good."

I nodded. "I like it, but then I drink Dos Equis because their radio commercials are THAT good. I think you know I'm far from a beer nerd. Coffee, yes. Beer, not so much."

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do know that. Didn't mean to get so serious on you - it's not like either one of us have never gotten carried away and had sex before. Even if that was the single best night I've ever had." She tilted her head inquisitively as she looked at me.

"Well, can't argue that! Any of it, actually." I emphasized "any" just a bit.

"Yeah, right - I bet you tell all the girls that. It's OK, it's what guys do." She laughed.

"You laugh. Ha. But it's true. That was truly spectacular." Another thought occurred to me. "Hey, while we're being serious, it never occurred to me to ask if we're protected. I don't know how much I came, but it was way more than I ever have before. I'm sorry I didn't even ask or do anything before we got so far."

"Oh, I think we're fine. I'm not on anything, but I should start my cycle any day. So time-wise it'd be a miracle - and it was hard for me to get pregnant in the first place. Oh, and you DID come a lot - I was leaking for days." She gave a sly grin. "I rather liked it."

"Oh, naughty girl!" I smiled. "I love hearing that . . . very hot imagining you giving a presentation to a COO and feeling something leaking and running down your leg . . . "

We'd moved closer together so we were now almost touching - but not quite. And my body was wide awake and ready.

"I'll start the pill again - I've got a stash and it works really well for me. I know you're a great dad, but let's not go there, at least not accidentally."

"I'd say I'm happy to use condoms, but I'd be lying - I don't know anybody who likes them. But I'm more than willing if you'd prefer."

"Oh, hell no - I hate them. Sounds like we've at least decided we're open to a repeat, eh?"

"Evidently! Not that I was ever opposed . . . Oh, here's another very un-romantic thought - do you want me to be tested for anything? The military tests for some things, and I'd be happy to go get those results. Think about it and let me know - I don't have any problem doing that."

Jeannette put her head back and laughed. "You know, that's actually one of the more romantic things I've heard. No, don't worry about it - and the same goes for me - happy to be tested for anything. Believe it or not, I'm very careful with who I sleep with. As long as my cycle shows up I think we're fine."

She glanced over at the clock. "Brandon won't be home for a while - want to go get some dinner?"

"Sure - where? The Pub?" The Pub was a well-known local place that had pretty good food and was a five minute walk away.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me change, though - I don't want to walk over there in this."

"Ah, but it looks SO good!" I gave her a fake leer as she headed to her room.

She laughed again. "I'd ask if you'd like to help, but I doubt we'd make it out the door."

"Yeah, that's a safe bet. Probably a bit early for Brandon to get home and find us naked."

"Tempting to think about, though!" She called through the doorway.

I resisted temptation. "Damn right it is! That's why I'm staying out here."

"Pity! Well, maybe next time."

"You can count on it!"

She came out of her room in a pair of shorts and a moderately tight blouse that showed off her form without shouting about it. She pulled on a pair of sandals, picked up a small purse, and said "Ready?"

"Yep, let's go!"

We headed out and had a good time. We didn't have a lot of time, since Brandon, her son, was due back around 7 or 7:30, so we just had a quick bite to eat and then headed back. It was a nice time, and it felt good. It was the kind of good you usually only reach in a relationship when you're past the point of wondering if you'll go out again, and start to build some confidence that it really is something. And while we flirted, we didn't talk about a whole lot of importance. It was your basic comfortable night out.

We got back before Brandon did, so we kicked back on the couch and chatted while she waited for him to get there. At some point she put her foot out toward me and plopped it on my leg - the implicit request being pretty obvious. I massaged her foot and ankle for a while as we talked, switching to the other and finishing right before we heard her mom and Brandon arrive and open the door (her mom had a key).

My being there was hardly a surprise - her mom and I had met several times - but her mom gave us both a piercing look as she came in and reported in on how Brandon had been.

I made my excuses and headed upstairs, leaving the three of them as I thought about what we had talked about. I put some music on and sat down, getting up to replace the Stone Roses first album with something instrumental, which turned out to be a Bill Frisell album. So it sounded like we had managed to avoid getting pregnant, though her not being on anything surprised me a bit and my failure to stop to at least look for a condom bothered me - I'm usually far more responsible.

Beyond that, it sounded like we were both kind of fishing around, each wanting the other to make the first declaration that we were either on the way to being a couple or already were. Then again, that's what I think I was hoping for. I had chalked up the entire Rachel discussion to sex brain, which I know has made me say some strange things. Then again, she had mentioned liking to watch. I let my brain churn on it for a while and then drifted off to change the music and answer a couple of phone calls.

In the midst of one call, a text from her came in. "Saturday? Same group. In?"

"Duh. What time?" was my response.

"B rdy!" was what I got back.

I still wasn't sure what we had decided - if anything. I didn't know if we had decided to start being a couple, or just dating, or just friends who had a spectacular night together. And she wasn't helping much - our conversation had been pretty inconclusive, at least to me. We didn't get a chance to talk or visit much the next few days - my son was with me and he kept me busy, as did work. He was flying off to visit my folks in California for a couple of weeks starting Friday, so I didn't have to think about a babysitter for Saturday.

For her part, she had her son Brandon, and we just kept missing each other outside of texting and randomly running into each other while picking up mail. We'd both wink at each other when we ran into each other, and she did grab my butt one time when Brandon wasn't with her, but I was a bit disappointed we weren't able to connect, either with kids or without.

I think we were both driving the other just a bit crazy knowing how close we were and not being able to do anything about it. I know that was true for me - and I still didn't know what would be happening Saturday, if anything, or even where we were going. Ah well! Whatever happened, it would probably be fun. And if I really really hoped we wound up together again, well, it was a great thing to daydream about. One of the more vivid memories I had was seeing her lying nude on her couch as I reached down to start sucking on her nipples and teasing her clit. Just gorgeous!

Friday came and went, with my son flying off to California without a hitch and my folks picking him right at the gate. I knew he'd be having a fantastic time - he had a couple of cousins out there also who were close to his age, and they all got along well. The weather even cooperated - we got a break from the high 90s we'd been having, with temperatures falling to the lower 80s with some afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

Saturday finally arrived, and I spent it doing a group bike ride of about 65 miles. The cooler weather helped a lot, and we took our time, getting back to the bike shop we left from before it got too hot and before any storms brewed up. I spent part of the rest of the day cleaning and doing laundry - if we wound up back here I figured I should be ready. Hope springs eternal, you know!

I also ran out and met a friend for a quick dinner, getting a good size beef tenderloin for the protein I hoped I'd need later. Then it was time to head home and get ready. Jeannette had finally told me where we were planning on going - it was a techno club downtown called Pulse, which I'd been to in one of its former iterations. It had a well-earned reputation as a meat market - it was one (arguable) step below the area's swing club in terms of what you'd see happening on and off the dance floor. It was an interesting choice.

We had all agreed that we'd carpool together again, with Rachel driving Tracy's car since it was big enough for us to fit in comfortably. I went down to Jeannette's a few minutes before we were supposed to be picked up, and as I knocked on the door I wondered what she'd be wearing. I didn't have to wait long - she answered the door almost instantly, like she'd been waiting.

"Hi! Ready?" she burst out.

I was dazzled. She was wearing what looked like a skintight black shiny dress that looked like leather, but wasn't. It absolutely hugged her form, and definitely drew attention. And that's before I noticed she was quite a bit taller and looked down to see matching black shoes with a good lift. Set against her pulled-back glowing dirty blonde hair and fair skin, she was a knockout and It took me about two seconds to give away that I was enormously turned on. I wanted to crush her in my arms and take her right there.

"Wow - you look awesome!" I managed to say. She did her little pirouette, letting me see there wasn't much back to the dress, and that she wasn't wearing anything under it.

"You like?"

I pulled her to me and crushed her lips to mine, feeling her body responding against mine and her arms wrapping around me as we kissed fiercely. Right as she started to grind into me we heard a knock on the door. Both of our eyes opened - I hadn't even realized we'd closed them - and we heard her phone go off as a text arrived. We broke apart and she picked up her tiny purse - just big enough for a phone and a couple credit cards - and opened the door to see Tracy standing before us.

"Hi guys! Ready?" I've said before that Tracy was pretty but not quite my type. I had to revise that - she was a vision in a form-fitting navy blue short dress that really teased you with her cleavage and showed off a perfect ass - tight, round, and just the right size.

"Or should I leave you two alone for a while to get your freak out?" Tracy grinned - Jeannette and I were standing next to each other, each with an arm around the other, and it had to be obvious we'd just been kissing hard. In case anyone missed it, I was totally turned on, which was painfully visible, and Jeannette was breathing heavily and her nipples were poking through the thin material of her dress.

"Nope, we're ready!" Jeannette said as her breath returned. She bent down to pick up her purse and gave me a great view of her breasts as she did. Tracy saw and just smirked.

"Tracy - I gotta say: you look fantastic!" I said, figuring it would be a good diversion.

"Thanks! You think so? Not too tight?" She smiled as she said it.

"Hell, no - you should wear that anytime you want to raise the temperature in a room."

Tracy laughed. "Thanks - I figured with where we're going it'd be appropriate. Probably would have been thrown out of the Rose. C'mon - Rachel's waiting - and probably very impatiently. She doesn't wait well."