“If you want to come in for a bit, I’ll drive you home later,” I said.
“Luce, it’s getting fairly late.”
“Tank, it’s only ten forty-five. Come on. I’ll promise not to talk business. I might even have a beer waiting.”
He finally agreed and once the Uber left, I walked with him up to my door. “It’s kind of a mess, but I was running around trying to make this dress work.”
“The dress worked,” he admitted, “At leastI think it did.”
“Aww, thanks Tank, you’re so sweet,” I said teasingly. “Beer?”
“Actually, I think I’ll pass, thanks. Can I have a glass of water?”
“Sure.” Once I got us both water, I sat down on the little couch next to him. I had to hike the dress up a bit to turn and face him. We chatted about the gala and the people there. I pointed out we would probably see a lot of business from the connections we made. We began to talk about the prize I’d won. He wanted to know who I’d go with and I told him I had no idea. Since I had months to decide, I was in no rush.
“Maybe I should take you. You never vacation and you need it,” I said.
“Oh, I can’t go with you. How would that look?”
“Sure, you can. It’d look fine. We could enjoy a little time off together. I’m sure there are plenty of things to do. Here, look at the brochure. Wind surfing on the lake, hiking, golf, tennis. The list goes on.”
“Yeah,” he admitted, “It would be nice to take some real R and R.”
“OK, it’s a deal. I could out our calendars for a week in September and you’d come with me.”
He paused for a second before he asked, “Uh, Luce, about the arrangements, uh, you know, at the place…”
“Arrangements? What do you mean,” I asked, knowing fully well what he meant. I just wanted to see him squirm.
“Uh, where would we sleep? You know…” he blushed.
“Tank, are you worried something could happen?”
“Well, no, I know it wouldn’t, but what would it look like?”
“Who’s gonna know? Anyway, we could order a room with two doubles instead of a king. OK?”
“I’m not gonna say yes. In fact, I’m saying you need to try to find someone you can go and have fun with, like a relative or a good girlfriend. OK? Uh, hey, look, Luce. I should be going. Could I get that ride you promised?”
“Sure, let me get out of this dress.” As I walked down the tiny hallway to my bedroom I forgot I could be seen from his end of the couch. I reached down and pulled the dress up and over my head right as I turned to go into the bedroom. In the room I put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before heading back to the living room. Because Tank was standing there looking a bit surprised, I figured out what had happened. I didn’t say anything about it and asked him if he was ready to go.
Tank
I was absolutely speechless. Right as Lucy was turning into her room, she pulled off her dress and I saw a thong-clad side view of her for half a second. She looked absolutely great. I was stunned she’d expose herself like that and when she came back with jeans and a T-shirt with no bra, I could barely say anything.
“You ready?” she asked.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
On the way home she chatted a bit talking about the gala and our business. She had some plans to improve our efficiencies by using some more computer programs and went on about those. After we pulled up to my house, she killed the motor and turned to me.
“Tank, I need to tell you something. I, uh, I really appreciated your support tonight. There are times I think a woman should be able to take care of her own problems but tonight proved we can’t always do that. And you were a great guy. So, thank you.”
“Oh, Luce, it wasn’t anything. Glad to have been there.”
“Well, I’m glad you were there also. Take care. See you Monday bright and early. You’re working for me on the Silvers property,” she said.
I nodded yes and as I went to open the door, she grabbed my left arm and tugged me towards her. Her right arm slipped behind me and she gave a tiny one-armed hug and reached up with her face and planted a tiny kiss on my cheek. “Thanks again, Tank.”
“Yeah, sure. ‘Nite, Luce.”
I got out of the car and watched her drive off. My mind was completely confused. There had been several things which were weird about the night. First was the erection. It was embarrassing but she didn’t seem to mind. Then she practically stripped in front of me. I figured she didn’t think I could see her and it wasn’t a tease or anything. But why, why did I find a one second sideview of her wearing only her thong so damn exciting? After all, I had seen her completely naked on more than one occasion. And why did she kiss me, even if it was merely on the cheek?