Damn, it was going to make things worse for me but just then Bill spoke up, “Uh, Tank, just so you know, it is rather common, actually it’s almost expected, uh, that the first few times guys are here they get, uh, shall we say, a bit excited. Don’t let it bother you.”
“Thanks, Bill. I, uh, we’ve got the measurements we need and I’ll shoot you a preliminary estimate within a day and if it seems to be in the ballpark, I’ll draw up a formal proposal within three days. Does that work for you?”
“Sure, great. You can drive yourselves out but don’t forget to get dressed at the delivery shed. You’d be surprised how many of our members get so used to being naked that they drive right on out forgetting to get dressed until later. Can be embarrassing!”
Lucy piped up, “I don’t think we’ll havethat problem, now will we Tank?”
Lucy
Tank was quiet on the way to the delivery cabin where we pulled over and got dressed. Once back in the rig we both heaved a big sigh of relief almost exactly at the same time. We looked at each other and began to laugh.
“Can you believe what we just did?” I asked him.
“No. Can you?”
“Tank, are you interested in the job? I mean, if it wasn’t for the nude thing, it’d be right up your alley.”
“I know. It’s a nice size job and we could stand to make a nice little profit on it.”
“You always have stressed safety on the job. How can we do that and be nude?”
“Bill told me once we’re inside the cabin when we’re doing our work we can wear clothes and protective gear.”
“Easy to say, but what about when we’re bringing in supplies? Clothes off at the door, get the sheetrock, then clothes back on inside. Doesn’t make a lotta sense to me.”
“Yeah, me neither. I guess I could tell him the clothes on and off thing will waste quite a bit of time. Either he can pay us more or allow us to wear clothes once we’re on site.”
We talked some more about the logistics as we drove back to the shop. Once we were there he started to work on the estimate while I called for price quotes for the raw supplies. Once we had all the data, Tank came up with a rough estimate for supplies. He looked at me and said, “Should we charge a premium for labor, you know since we’ll be in and out of clothes a lot?”
I personally don’t like to gouge anyone and believe an hour’s worth of work should be the same no matter who’s paying. But I could see us losing a lot of time due to their rules so I suggested he boost his labor costs by ten percent. Once the final amount was on paper, I could see we’d be doing pretty well with this project. I was looking forward to a little more money with the next paycheck and so I turned to him and said, “My treat for a brew at the Dart Room, OK?”
“Sure, sounds good. See you there.”
Tank
At the local pub we sat at a private table and talked about the job in more detail. We agreed it would be a good one in spite of the nudity thing. Our conversation moved on to talking about stripping down in front of each other. It was a lot easier to talk about it when we had clothes on, that’s for sure. I admitted I was embarrassed about my ‘male response’ and she tried to reassure me.
“Tank, I know guys don’t have control over their response. Hell, we women don’t either, it’s just that you can’t easily see ours. If I had to admit it, I would say I got a little turned on also.”
I pretended I had not seen the moisture between her lips when we were measuring and said, “Yeah, I know. I hope you don’t take it personally that I…”
“Hell, yes, I take it personally. And I liked it. It lets me know I’m attractive to someone so I probably won’t go to my grave a spinster.”
“Oh, I doubt that will happen. Anyway, what about your boyfriend?”
“Uh, you know he’s moved over to Lewisville so we are pretty much doing the long-distance thing now.”
“Oh? I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, he got a good job and keeps bugging me to move there with him, but…”
“But what?”
“He’s nice and all, but I don’t see us together for the long haul.”
“I see. I would sure hate to see you move,” I said.
“Yeah, me too. I like this job, Tank. The best I’ve ever had. We’re seeing how things go over the next several months. We’ll see. What about you and Linda?”
“Ahh, Linda and I aren’t really a thing.”
“No? She sure seemed to act pretty possessive at the Fourth of July picnic.”
“Look. Here’s how it is. We have an arrangement. We’re friends with benefits, nothing more.”
“Really? You might want to review that with her ’cause she was sure acting like you two had a pretty strong thing going. She made it a point to tell me at the picnic.”
“Huh. Thanks for lettin’ me know. Maybe I should talk with her.”
“Tank, look, from a girl’s perspective I can see how she might be thinking what you two have is more than what you think you two have. She’s probably is looking to settle down some day and you’re a catch. Nice guy, nice job, decent money; a girl could do a lot worse.”
“But I never promised …”
“It doesn’t matter what you promised. She’s hoping to make it more, that’s all I’m saying. Another beer?”