Chapter 62

Amber was the first one awake and came into the living room and gave a small yelp when she found me on the couch. I didn't hear her luckily or I would have made a bigger yelp which would have led to everyone in the condo hearing us.

"Paul. What are you doing on the couch?" She asked me shaking me awake.

"She is too hot to sleep with."

"Too hot? The condo is the perfect temperature. How can she be hot?"

I sat up and stretched and yawned. "Not hot temp, but hot like I want to make love with her hot."

"Oh." understanding coming into her face as she understood what I was saying. "That makes sense."

I sat there rubbing the sleep from my eyes and explain it to her. "She has taken to the idea of being a new creature to heart and told me last night that she doesn't want to make the same mistakes she made before. So, I moved myself out here so that we wouldn't in a moment of weakness make those same mistakes."

Amber sat down next to me and put her hand on my knee. "That is a good idea and I admire you even more. Though you should find something better to sleep on other than this."

"Yup, maybe I'll sleep in the guest room after you leave. That way, I'm close to Ashlee without sleeping with her and not forcing her to break any commitments."

She changed her position and put her arm around me. I patted her on the knee while she one arm hugged me.

"Hey, get your own man." Ashlee joked when she entered the living room. She came over to me and sat down next to me. "Good morning my fiancé." she said while pressing her body against me. I turned toward her and we exchanged kisses. At least until she got a whiff of my morning breath. "Ug, you need to go and brush your teeth." Ashlee said holding her nose and leaving for the kitchen.

I got up, went to my bathroom and did my duty.

The girls were talking about what we were going to do tonight. Oh yes, it was New Year 's Eve and we had agreed that we were going out. But, where to?

I went to Ashlee, pulled her to me and planted a right proper good morning kiss. "Yup, much better." she said.

"So, what were you ladies talking about?" I asked them after letting go of her and heading for the fridge.

"We were talking about where you are taking us tonight so that we can ring in the New Year."

"Oh, so where am I taking you?"

"We don't know yet. One thing that we do know is that we need to go and get our hair done and our makeup done up and make sure we are dressed properly."

"Awesome. What am I going to wear?"

The girls looked at each other and then Amber said, "We will put something out for you to wear."

Ok. My fiancé plus 1 are going to make sure I'm dressed correctly. "Good." I smiled and we all went about getting ready for breakfast.

thumpbumpthumpbump

"Good morning." the three adults said to the daughter as she hobbled into the kitchen.

"Are you three always going to be so chipper?"

We laughed at her. She scowled and went for the coffee pot. I asked, "Are you going to do anything tonight?"

"Yes." sip "Oh that's good." sip "I'm going to go to my friend's house, they are having a party and I was hoping to go. Is that OK?"

Ashlee spoke first. "Sure honey. Which friend?"

"Susan, one of the cheer girls."

"Ok honey. Please take your phone and leave Susan's phone number with us so that we can keep in touch. The three of us are going out tonight as well."

"Which reminds me, are you driving or is someone going to come and get you?" I ask.

She stops in mid-sip and thinks for a second. "I don't know. I don't really have a car for winter time driving and with this damn cast, driving will be a pain in the ass. Sorry. Rear end."

I smile at her. Little by little, her decision is changing her. Good.

Breakfast is eaten and the four of us split apart. I go and play WoW, Brenda actually goes with her mom and aunt. Caesar and I have a nice quiet day alone. I manage to get into a RAID and I pick up two pieces of gear for my rogue which is awesome. He is my third level 90 toon and has the worst gear.

My time flies by and before I know it, the girls are back and after saying hi, they disappear into the master bedroom and start getting ready. I go back to my game, switch toons and work on my dailies before getting called to the bedroom.

"One minute. I have to park my toon." I warp back to my safe harbor and log off and head to the bedroom.

The three of them are all dressed alike. All of them have on the classic little black dress. Ashlee's is a halter top, Amber is spaghetti strap top and Brenda is like Ashlee's but I have no idea how to describe it. They all look fabulous.

Ashlee and Amber have their hair up in some sort of complex twisty thing. They have simple diamond earrings and very lovely necklaces. Brenda has her hair partly down but pulled up on top of her head so that you can see her ears, her neck and shoulders. She has on dangle earrings and a simple pearl necklace. "WOW! You three look great." is all I can say.

Ashlee comes to me and wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. "I'm glad that you think so. We found these dresses at a little shop on the plaza and we found our jewelry at another shop. Do you like it?" I reach up and touch the necklace. Then finger the earrings.

Amber comes over and I take a look at hers also. Brenda shows off her jewels and again I say, "You three are just beautiful. However am I going to keep the other men off of you?"

Ashlee with one arm on me turns to Amber. "Well, all I have to do is flash my ring at them and then point you out of the crowd and most of them will just slink away into the night."

Amber comes to us and says "I'll just have to hang close to you big guy and you can protect me." She then steps back, "However, maybe I want to find a nice guy. Maybe someone out there is ready for all of this." She motions her hands up and down her body asking us to look at her figure. She is still slender with breasts that look just the right proportion for her body. She then turns and we get a look at her back side. High and tight.

"Yup, you will definitely attract attention." I say to her.

We come together for a four way hug and Ashlee is first to remind me to get dressed. I didn't even notice the clothes on the bed which are simply a new pair of jeans, a very nice shirt and my sports coat. Classic.

The girls leave and I hit the shower, then shave and get dressed. "Which shoes am I supposed to wear with this?" I hollar through the closed door.

"They are out there."

So, in sock feet I go to the living room and find a new pair of dress shoes set out for me. I slip them on and then do a model walk for everyone. All three of them hoot and holler for me. We all laugh as I try to strike a pose but fail miserably.

Dinner is out with just Amber and Ashlee. Brenda called her friend who came and got her. We saw her off and made sure she knows to behave and be back after the party.

We go to the plaza and go to our favorite Italian place. No one has the kitchen table at the moment and so we chose to use the kitchen table which was the inspiration for the table I made in my house before it was burned to the ground. The only problem, both Amber and Ashlee have on dresses with short skirts. So, once we get seated, they use their coats to cover their laps so as not to give the kitchen staff a free show up their dresses.

"Good evening, what can I start you all with?" The waiter asks us.

"How about a bottle of wine to wet our pallets and water all around?" I ask.

"Very good sir." he goes off.

Ashlee then leans over, "Why did you order wine?"

"Yeah Paul, what are you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it would be nice to have wine with dinner."

Ashlee then came back. "Isn't that a sin?"

Amber, having been Christian longer than her sister didn't answer, she just shook her head and I answered her. "Only if it becomes a problem for you. Jesus had wine with dinner while he was here on earth; he even made wine for a party."

Amber backed me up, "If you become an alcoholic and see wine as your new god, then it is a problem. Otherwise, enjoy it."

"Ok."

We opened our menus and tried to look them over, but the wine steward came over with three different bottles. "Good evening. I have three wines for you to choose from." He showed us a red which he suggested for dinner, a white that would make a good dessert wine and a blush to get us ready for food. I accepted his suggestions and he poured us all a glass. I sniffed, not knowing what the heck I was doing and thanked him for the help. The waiter poured us each a glass and we each took a sip and nodded our heads saying that it was really good. "So, what can I get you for dinner tonight?"

I asked Ashlee and then Amber, "Do either of you know what you want?"

Both of them were like, "no, anything would be fine."

So I addressed the waiter, "Is the chef over there busy?"

He turned and hollered, "Chef, you busy?"

A voice behind the counter said back, "No, be right there."

Moments later, a portly man wearing a chef hat a clean apron along with the checkered pants and white coat came over to us. "How can I help you fine people?"

"Chef, my name is Paul, this is my fiancé Ashlee and her sister Amber. We have no idea what to eat and defer the decision to you to make us something awesome." He shook my hand and then turned to Ashlee, kissed her on the knuckles and welcomed her to his kitchen. He then went to Amber and did the same, but stopped while looking at her.

"Do I know you Miss Amber?"

"You might. Do you read Sports Illustrated?"

"I do sometimes. Why?"

"Well, back in the 90's, I was on the cover a few times."

The chef, whose name none of us got from him, stood up straight while still holding her hand and you could see he was thinking. At last, his eyebrows shot up and his eyes opened real wide, "Amber ... Patterson? You couldn't be her. She's like dead or something."

"No, I am indeed Amber Patterson and I am most certainly NOT dead."

"M'Lady it is an honor to serve you tonight. He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles again and then patted her hand. "A true honor. I saw your pictures in the magazine and you are truly one of the most beautiful people in the world."

"Thank you very much sir. My sister and her fiancé seem to love this restaurant and brought me here for dinner and for the New Year. What do you suggest for dinner?"

Well, the idea of making dinner for her brought him out of his admiration of her and he went back to 'chef' mode instead of love struck teenage boy. "For you, I will make a meal that will blow you away. It is not on the menu and I will make sure that you have the best meal in the world."

"Thank you kind sir." Amber said tilting her head toward him.

The chef went away and soon the waiter who was helping us was sent away by the chef to fetch a package in his office. Soon the waiter came back carrying a wooden box and set it down and the chef opened it up and brought over the bottle it contained to us. "I was in Italy last year and I met a man who has a small vineyard. He makes his own wine on his land and has done so for a long time." He set the bottle in front of us showing us the label. "The wine in this bottle is 5 years old and completely useless as a drinking wine."

All of us gasped. "Why do you have it?" Ashlee asked him.

"Oh it sucks as a drinking wine, but if you use it for cooking, it is amazing!"

"That is great to hear. Why are you telling us?" I asked him.

"I want to use this wine for you. Will you let me use this wine to prepare your meal?"

"Chef, please, don't waste the good stuff on us." I said. Ashlee mirrored what I said and so did Amber.

He just waved us off, "I have been looking for an excuse to open this bottle. To use it and I would be honored to open it and show you what it and I can do."

We all agreed that we would be honored for him to open it. "Excellent." He turned carrying the bottle and we all heard the POP of him taking the cork out. Soon, he was talking loudly and the pans started moving around and people working while chef was directing traffic.

"Do you think the wine is valuable?" Ashlee asked me.

"Well, considering the amount of money he would have paid to get the wine here, sure."

"What do you think he is going to make for us?" Amber asked.

"I have no idea. I am sure that whatever it is will be perfect."

Well, no sooner had the words come out of my mouth than the waiter came to us with salads. He put them in front of us and then took a bottle of dressing off of his tray and put some on the lettuce in front of us and stepped back. We took our forks and took a bite. Well, the girls took a bite, I moved my lettuce around getting the dressing on all of the leaves then took a bite. It is hard to describe the flavors that EXPLODED in my mouth. There was a hint of garlic, vinegar, wine and more spices than I could name. All three of us 'mmmmd' and 'so good'. All of us were blown away.

I picked up my wine glass and spoke loudly enough for the chef to hear us. "To the chef!"

The girls cheered "To the Chef!!"

We took our sips of the wine and the waiter left us to finish our salads.

Bread was brought out along with olive oil and spices for dipping. I took a hunk of bread, dipped it in the olive oil and took a bite. Num, Num, Num. The girls did the same and they too said 'num, num, num'.

Well, once the salads were done, an appetizer arrived, stuffed mushrooms with crab meat. Classic. More num, num, nums and another toast to the chef and more cheering from the girls.

We were served a small dish of sorbet to cleanse our palates. It was oh so cold and luckily we only took a small bite each.

The waiter took away our dishes and replaced our wine glasses with new ones then the dinner wine was opened. A dark red liquid was poured out and each of us took a sip of the tart red wine. I didn't know any better, but it tasted good to me. If memory served, it would be considered 'dry' since it was not sweet. No matter what you call it, it was very good.

The chef came to us followed by our waiter and another man carrying three bowls of food. "For you, I have prepared three different dishes for you to have." The bowls were placed in front of us, one had a classic spaghetti with meat sauce but the sauce was not what you would expect. It had what looked like whole tomatoes mixed with the ground beef. The tomatoes were not in a sauce, but just cut and cooked along with several other color of grape tomatoes all mixed with angel hair pasta.

"Ohhh." we all said when we saw it.

"Next, I have taken steak and gave it a twist." The second bowl was thinly sliced steak with sautéed veggies next to it along with a bowl of sauce next to it. "The sauce is a special creation that I make with the wine I showed you. I am sure you will like it."

"Awww," we said when we heard about the sauce.

"Finally, I have a seafood risotto that I am sure you are going to love." The seafood dish was simple, but it was all colored red.

"I can't wait", "Everything looks so good," "Where do we start?" were the comments that the chef heard from us while we sat there looking over the food.

"Here, let me help you." the chef took a plate from the waiter and dished out the meat dish the poured the sauce over the top. The veggies were put on the side then he dished out a serving of the other two dishes. When he had served us all, we picked up our forks and took our first bites.

ONCE AGAIN, the flavors EXPLODED in our mouths.

I picked up my wine glass and held it high. "To the chef!" The girls followed me and we all took our sips and then gave him a round of applause which I am sure was heard all the way in the main dining room.

Wow, what a meal.

The manager actually came in to check on us and he recognized me. "Mr. Johnson. So good to see you. How is your meal?"

I took his hand and shook it. "The chef made us something special and we were just starting to eat."

"Good. Who did you bring with you?" he asked.

"This is my fiancé Ashlee. You met her a while back when we came here with the radio station."

"Oh yes, Miss Ashlee, so good to see you again."

"This is Amber, Ashlee's sister who we brought with us from Kansas."

"Ms. Amber, so good to meet you." He didn't peg to her. I guess he doesn't read Sports Illustrated. "Enjoy your meal. Let us know if you need anything."

"Will do." I shook his hand again and then went back to my meal.

Everything was excellent. The wine went so well with each dish it was a joy to eat.

We didn't even come close to finishing the meal. There was just so much to eat that we would of needed a much larger group to finish it all. The waiter came over and asked us if we were going to take the leftovers with us. "Of course." Ashlee said. "I'm not going to let this go to waste. I am going to eat it for the next week and enjoy every bite." She took her last bite with a smile on her face.

"Excellent. I'll be back with some boxes and your desert."

Amber was pushing her plate away saying that she wasn't sure if she could finish another bite. I did the same but Ashlee finished her plate then sat back and let out a large burp. It caught us all by surprise and everyone within earshot started laughing. She blushed but took a sip of wine and wiped her mouth. "It's a compliment in some countries."

I laughed again at her comment along with Amber.

The waiter boxed up the untouched food and set it aside then left and came back with desert. Tiramisu. One big serving and three forks. We ate it up but skipped the wine when the waiter asked us. "This was enough for us."

Dinner ended with three adults with full bellies and smiles on our faces. The waiter brought the check and the three digit number I found was not shocking. I put down a three digit tip for him and then handed the manager a couple hundreds and asked him to make sure the chef knows how much we loved dinner. I would have given it to the chef directly, but he was busy and I didn't want to disturb him.

"Paul, you have a good night. Happy New Year to you and your family." I shook his hand and the girls gave him a polite hug in thanks.

The night had turned cold so we each wrapped up in our coats while the car hop went to get our car out of the garage. I wrapped my arm around both women and held them close to me. "Where to next?" I asked them.

Amber, managed to say after taking her face out of her jacket collar, "I want to go and dance the year away."

Ashlee did the same thing, "Me too."

"Well then, to the Westport we shall go." I said with enthusiasm. Westport is a restaurant and bar district in Kansas City. A bunch of bars are all located in a four block area just north of the Plaza where we are currently standing. It is a short drive north of our current position and then take your pick of the bar and the music coming from it. There is a cigar bar with jazz playing. A rock bar. Many restaurants to choose from. We didn't know if there was a place to dance there, but after doing a quick search of the internet, there was one dance club and we all decided that this was our destination.

The car hop brought the Porsche around and I helped the ladies into the back seat and I got in behind the wheel. I wasn't drunk, so don't worry about that. I hardly finished one glass during the entire meal. I was too busy eating to drink the fine wine.

I was able to get us to Westport. The parking was the only problem we faced. I got us into the only parking garage after giving the guy at the gate a twenty. I had to drive us to the top to find a parking place. I helped my ladies out of the back and we got to the elevator. Once on the ground, we walked along the street passing by the rock bar, but when I paused to ask them if they wanted to go in, they said no and turned up their noses at the thought. We continued to walk down the street then crossed over passed the cigar bar and they grabbed my arms and pulled me passed the door. They said that they were not going to go in there and come out smelling like a cigar.

We got to the dance club and after tipping the guy at the door, we got in. They had a lady taking coats which we gladly handed over. It was warm in the bar so the girls quickly started to warm up.

We moved through the crowd to find a table where we could park our butts. A scantily clad waitress saw us and asked us what we wanted. I ordered a beer, the girls both ordered appletini. The waitress walked away showing us her half exposed rear end. Hot pants pulled up in the back and a short t-shirt tied in knot in the back. The girls both hit me in the arms and Ashlee put her hand on my face and got me to look at her. "Don't even think about it."

"What?" I said in my defense.

"I know you are looking, but just remember I am your woman and you are my man we may be waiting for our wedding, but you will get your reward when the time comes." She said with her mouth close to my ear. With her hand on my face, her mouth so close to my ear, it stirred my loins. "We will be right back so save our seats." She then kissed me and got up.

Amber followed her through the crowd and shortly thereafter, the waitress came back with our drinks. I took a sip and licked my lip. I looked around the crowd. So many different faces, so many different races, so many different things going on. The DJ was starting his gig and many of the people moved toward the dance floor. I couldn't wait to get close to my fiancé. She was the most beautiful woman I had known. Yes, Sam was beautiful in her own way. She had a curvy body that she would hold against me. She was soft at the time of her death, but she was working on slimming down. She was completely different than Ashlee. Ashlee was tall and slender with long blonde hair. Sam was shorter than her with brown hair that fell just to her shoulders. She was curvy and loved to have me make love to her with me on top. She would hook her legs behind mine and pulled me close. Of course that would flex the muscles in her vagina and that would cause me to come before I wanted, but she never complained. I think she did it on purpose, but I didn't bother to accuse her of it. She would have an orgasm before she did it anyway, so she was happy, I was happy. No one complained.

"What are you thinking about honey?" Ashlee asked sitting down next to me. I must have been far away and had that look on my face of someone not in touch with reality.

"I was just thinking about Sam."

"Your wife?" Amber asked.

"Yes."

"Well, let me take you mind off of her and focus on me." Ashlee took a big gulp of her drink, grimaced, and then shook it off and dragged me to the dance floor.

We dance, or what could be considered dancing. I stood in place while Ashlee rubbed her body against me. Her skirt was too long for her to rub her panty clad pubis against me, but she has a lovely ass and that she used to rub against me getting a rise out of her favorite play thing. I kept my hands on her trying to rub everything that could be touched on a dance floor. She finally spun around to face me and put her arms around my neck so I pulled her to me and we stood together swapping spit moving to the music.

"I love you Ashlee." I said into her ear loud enough for her to hear me.

She wiggled against me and said that she loved me too.

The song changed. A fast one. We moved apart and put our hands in the air like we just didn't care and jumped around moving to the music having a good time.

When that ended, Ashlee wanted to go and sit down. We were both getting hot and I had sweat rolling down my back. I took my sports coat off and hung it on the back of my chair. I checked my pockets. I had my car key, my phone and a wad of money from my wallet (which was locked away in the car). The girls had their phone with them and nothing else. No reason to carry a purse if no need arises.

"Excuse me, would you like to dance?" A young man came to our table and spoke to Amber. He was tall, curly hair and not bad looking. He was dressed similarly to me with a dress shirt on with dark blue jeans. Amber looked him over and put her drink down and got up with him. She took his hand and they ended up on the dance floor.

"I'm so glad to see her out there." Ashlee said while holding my arm.

I agreed with her. We sat there sipping our drinks as the two danced. We would see them lean into each other to say something to each other. He didn't make any moves on her but when the song slowed down a bit, she allowed him to put his hands on her hips as they moved together to the music.

I put my hand on Ashlee's, holding it. She looked at me and I just smiled at her. She smiled back and then leaned to me and we exchanged kisses. "Do you want champagne for midnight toast?" I asked her over the music.

She nodded her head. I checked my watch and it was just 11 o'clock. We had an hour to wait.

I motioned with my head to the dance floor but Ashlee shook her head and then leaned to me, "We should wait until Amber gets back to watch our stuff."

"Do you want another drink?"

She looked at her glass but shook her head no.

"How about a coke?"

She said yes and I looked for our waitress and signaled her to come on over. "Whatcha need?"

"Two cokes and at midnight, we want three glasses of champagne."

"Be right back."

She walked away and I purposely looked at my fiancé making eye contact with her while she was in eyesight. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Ashlee mouthed, thank you, without speaking.

I said back to her 'I love you.'

She said the same back to me and we ended up just looking into each other's eyes.

Amber came back and bumped into the table to get our attention. We looked at her in surprise. "You two need to get a room."

"Ha Ha!" Ashlee said loud enough for all of us to hear.

"This is Alex. Alex, this is my sister Ashlee and her fiancé Paul."

I stood up as best I could considering how many people were around us and that I'm a fairly big guy you know. I held out my hand to him "Alex. Good to meet you."

He shook it and said hi to me then offered his hand to Ashlee. She shook it and took a seat with us. The waitress came over and he ordered a mixed drink. Amber took her phone out and started texting. All of our phones beeped so we looked it over.

Amber text - guys, Alex works for the city as a police officer. How cool is that?

Alex - Yes I am.

Me - Why aren't you on duty? Isn't this day busy for you?

Ashlee - Glad to see you found a guy with a job.

Alex - I asked for this night off months ago and we aren't really that busy. There are a few check points around but I don't work the streets anymore.

Me -?????

Ashlee - why is that?

Alex - I got shot in the leg a few years ago and don't run very well. I have a desk job in the armory.

Amber - He plays with guns all day long. Cool huh?

Me - Yes it is. You and I should talk more.

Ashlee - good, officers don't get shot working behind a desk.

Alex - Yeah, they don't get any excitement either.

Ashlee, Me, Amber - LOL

Me - Are you here with anyone? They could come over and join us if they wanted?

Amber, Ashlee - Yeah, let them know.

Alex - A couple of the other guys who were off today from the squad are with me. BRB

Alex got up and went to find his friends.

Me - Amber, nice guy. Glad you said yes to the dance?

I sent the message to Amber and Ashlee only. I didn't need him to know this part of my conversation. He would find out soon enough if he played his cards right.

Amber - Yes I'm glad I said yes.

Ashlee - Keeper?

Amber - So far yes.

Ashlee - on the surface I say keep him.

Me - Yeah, let's see what kind of people he hangs out with, that may tell us something else about him

Amber - ok guys. I'm not going to marry him tomorrow. Ease up please :-/

Alex came back with three people following him. Two men and one woman who were hanging off one of the guys quite firmly and based upon her walk, she was schnockered. The men didn't seem to be too far gone. But wow, that girl was going to feel it tomorrow.

Alex verbally said, "Guys, this is Amber, Ashlee and Paul. Guys, these are my coworkers Brad and Brian and Brian's girlfriend Tiffany."

Handshakes were exchanged all around and Brad after shaking Amber's hand kept looking at her while we were talking. He even pulled out his phone and based upon his actions, was doing a search for something.

We kept talking about this and that, but Brad interrupted us all by yelling "HOLY SHIT!!!!"

Well that brought all us to a halt and we focused on Brad for so rudely interrupting our conversation. "YOUR AMBER PATTERSON!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!"