My Girl Next Door

The music wasn't really dancing music, but it was slow and soft. We sort of rocked back and forth because I didn't really know how to do much else. Natalie kept looking up at my face and grinning.

That song ended and I let Natalie go.

"I don't really know how to dance, but that was pretty nice"

Natalie put her arms around my neck and pressed her breasts into my chest.

"That's how I danced with all the men except Jack. I danced with Jack this way. Put your arms around me and I'll show you."

Half-way through that song, Natalie pulled her body a little closer to mine, close enough I knew she had to feel the erection in my jeans. I couldn't help it. Natalie's breasts were mashed flat against my chest, and I felt her thigh moving between mine as we danced. She didn't say anything, but she didn't pull away either.

When that song ended, Natalie looked up at me, and there were tears in her eyes.

"Mark, this was so nice. I feel almost like I did dancing with Jack years ago. I didn't think I would, but I do. You're so much like Jack. I wish..."

Natalie put her cheek on my shoulder then and hugged me. I held her gently and stroked her back.

"What do you wish?"

Natalie didn't say anything. She just looked into my eyes for a second and then raised up on her toes and kissed me. It wasn't a friendly kiss. It was a kiss that sent a tingle all the way from my lips to my cock. When I felt Natalie's tongue licking my upper lip, that tingle raced through me again. It was instinct, I suppose, that opened my mouth a little and let the tip of my tongue touch Natalie's. She purred a little moan, put her hand on the back of my neck, and made love to my mouth with hers for a few seconds. Then, she broke the kiss, slipped out of my arms, and hung her head.

"I'm sorry for doing that, Mark. I'm ashamed of myself for getting carried away like that. It's just that thinking about how it used to be and then having you here, well, it's a little like it used to be except for one thing. When all our friends went home, Jack and I would clean up a little and then we'd sit down on the couch for a while. He'd hold me and then we'd..."

Natalie looked up then and I saw tears streaming down her cheeks. She sniffed, and then wiped her eyes with her hands.

"Oh damn, I told myself I wouldn't let it get this far. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to feel like I used to feel. You made me feel that way and I didn't want it to stop. Just go home, Mark. I don't feel much like doing anything else after what I just did to you."

I'm still not sure why I said what I said then. It was crazy, it was probably stupid, and it wasn't like me at all, but I said it.

"Natalie, I don't think I can go home, not after this."

"You'd want me?"

"If you still want me, I do."

Natalie was special to me that night, and she still is. Because of that, I'm not going to write down every intimate detail about her and what we did. I'll just say Natalie was my first experience with a very real and very erotic woman. Feeling her press her clothed body into me was exciting. Feeling that same body, naked and soft pressing into me was more exciting than I'd have believed possible.

Natalie wasn't tight everywhere like girls my own age, and her breasts weren't firm and perky. Instead, Natalie was softness that tightened at the gentle squeeze that ended up with my fingertips holding her nipple. That nipple swelled taut as Natalie moaned and pulled my mouth down against her other nipple.

Her hips and thighs were even softer, and the full bush of dark brown hair between her thighs brushing my cock took me to a level of needing her I'd not felt with any woman before. It wasn't the hair or that her soft hand found my cock and made it twitch with her gentle stroking. It was the feeling that Natalie was more woman than I'd ever met, and that she was making me feel something for her I'd never felt before.

I thought she'd probably lay back on the couch when she was ready. She didn't. Natalie gently pushed me down, straddled me, positioned my cock at her entrance, and then murmured as she sank down over my length.

"Oh God...I've missed this so much."

I'm not sure how long it took. I know I didn't want it to stop. Natalie pulled my hands to her breasts and then rode me slowly. It was like she knew how much she was exciting me and wanted me to last until she was there too.

From time to time, she'd lean down and kiss me, an open-mouth kiss that made my cock throb and made me lift my hips. She'd moan into my mouth, then raise back up and keep the rise and fall of her hips going and taking us both to that final end.

That end came when Natalie gasped, "Oh", and then rocked her hips down over my cock. I felt her shudder a little and a tightening around my shaft. Natalie raised up and then dropped her body down and gasped, "Oh...now". I don't remember much after that. Natalie started rocking her hips up and down so fast I couldn't hold back, and everything sort of became a blur of the sensations racing from my cock and the sight of Natalie holding my hands on her breasts as she arched her back and drove my cock inside her a little deeper. She eased down on my chest a little later, still panting, and then kissed me.

I woke up the next morning in Natalie's bed. I woke up because she was stoking my forehead. When I opened my eyes, she smiled.

"I'll make us some pancakes for breakfast. Would you like that?"

I grinned.

"It won't compare to last night, but pancakes would be great."

Natalie snuggled up close and draped her bare thigh over mine.

"Do you want your breakfast right now?"

I stroked the side of her breast.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Natalie kissed me and stirred my cock half hard, then found it with her hand and finished bringing it to life.

"Just one."

Natalie's pancakes were pretty good. Laying on my side with Natalie's thigh across mine and making love to her before the pancakes was a lot better. Like the night before, we went slow, but slow was fantastic. It ended with Natalie panting and writhing on my cock, and me groaning as I filled her with four deep strokes that left me gasping for breath.

Natalie fixed us dinner every Friday and Saturday night after that. Somehow, we'd always end up downstairs in the "Wade Inn" and having a couple beers and dancing a little. I never asked her to do anything else and she never asked me for more either. It would just happen naturally. We'd be dancing to some slow jazz and Natalie would put her cheek against mine and nibble my earlobe. I'd slide my hands down and cup her ass cheeks. She'd kiss me then.

Sometimes it was on her couch, but usually, Natalie would smile, take me by the hand and lead us to her bed. Those nights were always an experience in how erotic and absolutely impossible to resist a woman can be. The next mornings were the same. We'd end up still tied together, our hearts racing from the orgasms, and holding each other tight.

One Saturday the next spring, I got my mower out, checked everything, and then pushed it around to my front yard. Out next to the curb in Natalie's yard was a realtor's sign that said "For Sale". It wasn't there when I went to the office that morning.

I'd finished my front yard and was mowing my back yard when Natalie came out of her house. She went to her garage and came back pushing her mower. I stopped mine and walked over to help her. After checking the oil and filling the tank with gas, I pulled the starter rope. Natalie's mower coughed once, but started on the second pull. I let it run for a few seconds, then shut it off and turned to Natalie.

"Natalie, I saw a realtor's sign in your yard this morning. Why are you selling your house?"

Natalie looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"I couldn't figure out a way to tell you. It'll be in the papers as soon as the company release goes out, but my store is closing. I'll still have a job, but I have to move to Knoxville. I don't want to leave, but..."

With that, Natalie put her arms around my neck and pressed her cheek to mine.

"What I don't want to leave more than anything is you, but I know I should. You need to find a woman your own age and I'm stopping you from doing that. I hate leaving what we have, but it's for the best even if it hurts me a lot."

"When do you have to go?"

"Next week. I have the week to find another house and get settled in. I start at the new store the next Monday."

Natalie started to sniff then, and a few seconds later, she was crying on my shoulder. I didn't cry, but I felt like it. Natalie had become a part of my life I didn't want to give up. I loved her. I know now it wasn't the same kind of love I found with Nancy, but I did love her.

Natalie stopped sobbing and wiped her eyes with her hands.

"Promise you'll miss me, even if it's just a little?"

I hugged her tight.

"Natalie, I'm going to miss my girl next door more than just a little. I'm going to miss fixing things for you and I'm going to miss your hamburgers and I'm going to miss our nights and mornings together."

Natalie smiled.

"Mark, I'm not a girl."

"I know, but that's how I think of you. I have since that first night."

I couldn't give up Natalie all at once and I didn't even try. Once she got settled in, I drove to Knoxville every Friday night after work. Her new house was in a newer subdivision and it didn't have a bar in the basement, but it had a patio in back. It also had a bigger yard, and Natalie had bought a small riding mower. She said it was easier to use, but she missed having me check it out before she started it. After we ate the hamburgers she cooked on her grill and the potato salad she fixed, we'd go inside and she'd show me how much she missed the other things we'd done together.

I'd been looking forward to the Fourth of July for weeks. I had three days off, and I intended to spend them with Natalie. Reading the letter I got in the mail a week before the Fourth was like feeling a knife in my heart.

My dearest man next door,

Mark, I tried to call you a lot of times, but I always started crying before I could get the number dialed, so I wrote this letter. I met a man who works in the same store and he asked me to go out with him this weekend. I don't know how this will turn out, but he's a nice man and I like him. He's my age and we like the same things. I hope you can understand that it's for the best for us both if we stop seeing each other.

It really hurts to write that, but you can't find the girl who's right for you if you keep spending all your free time with me. I'm old enough to know that's what you need to do, even if you don't think it is. What I'm doing is right for me too. It hurts a lot right now, but it's right. I won't ever forget you, not ever. You'll always be the man next door who helped me when I needed help and who gave me what every woman wants, the feeling that she's needed and desired.

Well, this isn't a very good way to say goodbye, but it's the only way I can without crying on your shoulder and then not really saying goodbye. Just don't forget me, and treat the girl you find the same way you've always treated me.

Your girl next door.

Men aren't supposed to get emotional about things like that, but I did. I moped around the office for two weeks. I did my job, but I didn't talk to anybody much. The girl who took care of our IT network noticed and asked me what was wrong.

"Mark, you've been just going through the motions for the last two weeks. What's wrong? You having a problem with somebody here?"

"No, it's nobody here. You probably wouldn't understand."

Nancy smiled.

"It's for sure I won't if you don't tell me. Wanna get a cup of coffee after work and tell me then?"

I said no that day, but for some reason, Nancy wouldn't let it go at that. After three days of her playful nagging me about it, I agreed so she'd leave me alone with my misery.

I suppose most guys would have made up a story that sounded plausible, like they'd been dating some girl who was doing one of their friends on the side. I couldn't do that. At a table in a coffee house that afternoon, I spilled everything to Nancy. She listened until I was finished and then smiled.

"You must have loved her a lot and I think she probably loved you too. I also think she was thinking about you when she broke it off. No woman would give up a man unless she thought it was best for them both. I sure wouldn't."

"I just haven't figured out if it was love or sex or what the hell it really was. All I know is I miss her."

Nancy touched my hand.

"Well, you should miss her, but that doesn't mean you have to keep walking around like a zombie. Women understand these things a lot better than you men think we do. You should do what she said you should do."

"How can I do that? Every time I look at a woman, I'm comparing her to Natalie, and they're not the same."

"Mark, every woman is different. You'll never find another Natalie, but you might find a woman who means as much to you if you keep looking."

"Where would I even begin to look?"

"Well, you're looking at me right now, and I kind of like that. Maybe you should look at me a little harder."

Nancy wasn't Natalie, but when I did look at her harder, I saw some of the same things. Nancy wasn't very good at fixing things other than computers. She was happy when I fixed the leg on her desk so it didn't wobble. Nancy wasn't shy about asking me if I'd like to go to the lake for a picnic that Saturday. Her chicken salad sandwiches were great, but I found out she was pretty great herself. Nancy was down to earth about things, and she wasn't bashful about telling me what she thought.

Two weeks later, I asked her out to dinner. I don't even remember the restaurant now, something Nancy is fond of reminding me about. What I remember is slowly forgetting that I wasn't sitting across from Natalie and realizing I liked sitting across from Nancy and watching her smile.

It was six months later I got another letter from Natalie. It was an invitation to her wedding and she said if I had a girlfriend to bring her along too. I asked Nancy if she'd be comfortable going and she just grinned.

"I'd like to meet the woman who made such an impression on you. Maybe she can give me some tips."

Natalie was beautiful, more beautiful than I'd ever seen her. When Nancy and I went through the receiving line after the wedding, Natalie hugged me and then smiled.

"Is this beautiful girl with you? You need to introduce her to me."

I did and then we went to the reception. I saw Natalie and Nancy talking while I was getting our cups of punch and when we started home, I asked Nancy what they'd talked about. Nancy grinned.

"She said I should hold on to you and never let you go because you're a really good man. She didn't say what you were so good at, but the way she was smiling, I can guess, and I don't think she was talking about her lawn mower."

"Well, I fixed her washing machine too."

Nancy reached over and squeezed my thigh.

"Maybe when we get back to my apartment, you'll show me what else you fixed for her. I think I'm ready to find out."

That was a lot of years, four different jobs, three kids, and two houses ago. My little house is still there as is Natalie's, but the area isn't quite the same. It's full of young couples who are redoing the houses with vinyl siding and additions at the rear. It seems a shame in a way, but I guess that's called progress.

Nancy and I lived there for two years after we were married, but with a baby on the way, it wasn't going to be big enough. After Nancy told me she was pregnant with our third and that we'd need four bedrooms, the second house wasn't big enough either. All three kids have gone off on lives of their own now, and living in that big house by ourselves is kind of lonely but really nice on Saturdays and Sundays.

This Saturday I'll climb on my rider and mow the grass. Once I'm done, Nancy will bring her chicken salad sandwiches and tossed salad out to the picnic table on the patio and we'll have lunch. Usually, our neighbors will be outside doing their yard or working in their flower beds. Bethany is about twenty six and has a body that would make any man drool. She also wears tiny little bikinis so I think she likes men to look.

Nancy will grin and ask me if I'd like taking Bethany to bed. I'll just squeeze her heavy breast and smile.

"No, I don't need the girl next door. I have you."