Finding Charlie

I woke to the sound of my front door closing a little before six. I tried getting back to sleep, but still couldn't believe how well that date had gone and figured I should get a jump on the day.

Whilst I was showering something didn't feel right. It wasn't until I was brushing my teeth that it clicked. The bathroom was tidy. Really tidy. Fresh hotel room tidy. The towels weren't just on the rail, they were folded neatly and hanging at the right level. The soap was aligned, the toilet paper folder to a point. "She's tidy." I shrugged to myself as I brushed my teeth.

The trend continued as I worked through the house. I'd expected to find ash and cigarette butts, instead the rooms between my bedroom and the front door were spotless. I found the rug in the washing machine in the right setting. On the island in the kitchen was a note:

"That was fun. I'll be back xx"

No phone number.

I did a much better job of focusing on work than I was expecting, but by four pm the fight was over, and I went for a run around the neighbourhood. For the first ten minutes or so I was able to just focus on how much I hate the first ten minutes of running, but as the moving meditation took over I started to think about how I could get in touch with Charlie. Was it ok to just show up at Lynn's? Could I phone them and ask for a Charlie-to-go? Was it uncool to do that after one date and less than 24 hours? Eventually, the plan emerged. Play it cool tonight, and get a sandwich for lunch tomorrow and hope that she's working.

That plan lasted until I got to the end of my driveway and found Charlie on my porch swing, reading a book and smoking a cigarette. She was still wearing her "Lynn's" uniform of jeans, a grey long-sleeved tee covered by a purple tee emblazoned with a bass swallowing a sub sandwich that had the effect of completely covering her extensive tattoo collection. Her piercings had been taken out, and the large backpack had been recovered from the bar and was neatly stashed next to the door.

"Hey!" she beamed at me.

"Hey yourself!" I replied just as I had last night. She looked like she got the reference, but this time didn't open her arms to hug me.

"You need a shower." she admonished me. Then casually let herself into my home and gestured me in. One of the many things I enjoyed about Bass Harbor was that almost nobody locked their homes. When I'd bought my house my wife and I had been horrified to find out that the keys we'd been given didn't fit the doors, and I'd rushed out to buy locks, but now I just kind of went with it.

"Can I get you anything?" I asked, trying to remind myself that I was the host.

"Would you grab my bag?" she asked before turning to realize I'd already picked it up, for which I was rewarded with a smile. "Let's get you into that shower" and she started to walk towards the bedroom.

"This way." and gestured towards the deck.

The deck was a relic of the previous owners and 1980s south shore, middle class luxury complete with adirondack chairs, hot tub, wine fridge, and an outdoor shower. The shower was little more than a shower head poking out of the wall that drained through the deck. It had been a cool day even on the best of days the shower took a few minutes to warm up.

"How big is this place?" Charlie asked, gesturing at the yard and the rest of the house. It was a common question. From the street, the house looked like a standard cape, but a hundred plus years of swamp yankees had added to it over the years and it now had what amounted to another, larger house hidden off the back. I had neighbours, but I also had enough trees and bushes between us that our privacy was complete.

"Around 4000 square feet, on 5 acres."

"So you own the woods?"

"Sure, some of it. It eventually turns into town land" I wasn't getting the normal blasé reaction I got from friends and family who I'd shown the place to. I grew up working class in England, we'd still owned our own house, it just wasn't this large, but then the houses were smaller in the UK. I'd done well in the states, but everyone I knew had similar properties or larger, or lived in apartments in the city. Charlie looked like she'd wandered into a different universe.

"And it's just you?"

"Well, the kids stay here as well, but most of the time it's just me."

"And you have how many kids?" there was a tone to this question that was slightly charged.

"Just two, a few years ago we'd talked about having more, but we didn't want to move." Now Charlie was starting to look irritated and began to light a cigarette. I wasn't entirely sure what I'd done. I didn't think I'd been bragging. Not knowing exactly what to do, I dropped the bag by one of the chairs, and started the shower.

"You should have seen the place where we raised our boys" the first couple of drags of the cigarette seemed to have taken the edge off, and she smiled at the memory. "The yard was about the size of this deck."

"I bet the boys loved it!"

"Still do. My ex still lives there. Still has the small flower garden I made."

"You like to garden?" It had taken me a long time to realize that for Americans in this region a garden was where the flowers were, and that a yard was what the Britons called a garden.

"These didn't give it away?" and she gestured to, well, all of her which I understood to mean her tattoos even though they were covered. As I'd been shown last night, her collection was extensive, fully covering her back and then flowing down her arms and thighs, across her chest and her stomach. All botanical and elegantly styled. I smiled, both because of the realisation and the pleasant rush of memories of last night.

"Take a look around. I've never been much of a gardener. Maybe you can give me some pointers?"

I tested the shower water and it was about right. I suddenly felt self-conscious about getting naked in front of a woman I barely knew. Five minutes ago I'd thought this was going to turn into a shower 'quicky', but now I felt like I'd begun to upset Charlie. I watched her take up my offer and wander somewhat aimlessly off the deck towards the nearest bed. I knew enough about gardening to know that the best of the year was behind us, but Charlie quickly seemed to lose herself inspecting each plant. I took the opportunity to strip and begin to shower, gaining a little privacy by facing the wall. Why an outdoor shower is infinitely more refreshing than an indoor shower remains a mystery to me. The luxury of having the sun warm your skin as the water cools you down never failed to relax me.

As I was washing the soap from my hair, I started to smell tobacco smoke.

"Clean enough" she purred and I turned to find Charlie completely naked, her clothes neatly piled next to one of the chairs. Before I had a chance to marvel at how quickly she'd disrobed she took a long drag on her cigarette, flicked it away, and jumped into my still soapy arms. I struggled to find purchase but it didn't seem to matter as she'd jumped high enough that her legs were wrapped firmly around my hips, realising that my role was to support and not to take her weight, I held her too me, with my forearms against her scapulars and my hands resting on her shoulders.

We kissed and she exhaled gently into my mouth as our tongues met, her smoke rolling out of my nose. This was the first time we had kissed without her jewelry, and I found myself missing the subtle punctuations it had provided, but not enough to ask her to stop and wear it. Through the corner of my eye I could see the fistula of her nostril piercings, and ears as I kissed her neck and found that I liked them almost as much as I liked the jewelry she had worn. As our kiss deepened, Charlie started to twitch her nose, and then pull back.

"Sorry, septum is getting loose" and she started to push her ring back up.

"Flip it down." I requested, and she complied. The ring was huge, around a quarter of an inch thick with two balls at either end of the horseshoe. Very different for the small subtle rings she's worn at the bar and easily reached her top lip.

As we rediscovered each other Charlie pulled our heads together, running her fingers through my hair. Finding confidence in the strength of her legs, my right hand started to explore her body, pulling her hips towards me, sliding up her slender waist, my thumb finding the curve of her breast. As my hand worked around her areola I found her left nipple ring and pulled on it firmly. I don't know if it was the deep, sexual groan that Charlie made, or just knowing that the woman I was with had pierced nipples, but my cock surged to attention. Charlie noticed immediately and gracefully guided me into her heavily pierced pussy. She began to grind, but I needed more. I turned us around and held her against the wall, shifting my grip to the top of her tattooed thighs, each thrust now taking me deeper, her labial rings clattered against me.

"Fuck me" she purred, and I took her a little harder, still very aware of how precarious our balance was. She bought her hands from my hair to my cheeks and forced me to look her in the eyes. "Fuck me!" she commanded and I let all the animal desire I'd been burying to the surface and fucked her like the animal I was.

I gradually became aware that she was getting lighter, and found that she'd reached above us to hold onto the showerhead, I took a small step backwards so she was free to move. I heard her getting closer to climax, I felt her pussy starting to engorge and found that her nipples were now close enough to my face that I could reach them with my mouth, and I did, flicking the barbell and top of her nipple with my tongue whilst I sucked them into my mouth. Her whole body tensed, the pulsating of her pussy pulling me to climax and I held her tightly to me as I filled her up.

As the moment passed, Charlie's tattooed arms dropped to my shoulders and she let her hips drop, still keeping me inside her, bringing her face level to mine. Despite the water from the shower, her eye makeup and lipstick were still intact. Still breathing heavily, her tattooed chest heaving next to mine, we stared at each other. For my part, I was a little surprised I had that in me, and I think Charlie felt similarly and I started to appreciate the depth of the connection I was forming with this remarkable woman.

I tried to kiss her, and she pulled away, taunting me with her eyes, I tried again, again she fainted away. Finally, I took control by pulling her hair tightly into my hand, and felt her melt into me mirroring my affection with each osculation. I carried her over to one the adirondacks, careful to stay inside of her, still impossibly hard for having just come inside her and gently slid her off me and onto the chair. I was then surprised to find her grabbing me by my arse and proceeding to lick our cum off of my cock, ultimately sucking it clean, her septum ring tracing along my shaft, and then finally relaxing back into the chair. Falling into the chair next to her, spent, I proceeded to blissfully wonder if I was really any cleaner than when the shower had started and we sat hand in hand, Charlie smoking as we watched the sunset over the trees.

Charlie finally broke the silence. "When should we talk about me not being on birth control?"