Chapter 1

It was hot. "Sweltering", as my father used to say. The sun was relentless and the humidity was in the 90's. According to Mannix, the weather guy on channel two, "Another hot and humid one on tap today folks ... a good day for the beach." I chuckled at this as I sipped my coffee at 5:30 am, thinking about how just two years ago we would have decided he was right. After all it was Sunday, why not? Let's pack a picnic, grab the beach blankets, some towels, two canvas folding camp chairs, sunscreen, and the portable CD player and a selection of music that would, of course include Marley, Buffet, and Van 'th Man Morrison, and head to the beach for the day. Heh ... those days were over. To start with there was no more "we". She had decided that at age 50, she was missing too much, and she was in danger of losing her "cool quotient", so it was time to try a new path in life. Meanwhile, back here in reality, the grass needed mowing, and the garage needed to be swept out and my workbench organized. I sighed as I realized that I didn't represent much in the line of "Mr. Excitement". I thought, "I guess my 'cool quotient' was akin to the current temperature." That being hot and steamy, rather than cool and hip, never the less, I slipped into my favorite summer work clothes, a ratty pair of shorts, an old gray t-shirt with a few stains, a couple of small tears, the sleeves long since ripped off, making it more of a tank top now.

It was faded but one could still see the motto for the 2001 North American Blues Festival, and if you squinted real hard, you could make out the line-up of bands featured that year, and my "work Teeva's". I headed to the garage to get that done while I waited for the morning dew to dry before I mowed the lawn. The garage took about two hours to sweep and tidy up, and then I grabbed the push mower and hit the front lawn first.

I had a rider, as I had close to an acre and a half of lawn, but I had vowed to myself to push mow the lawn this year as a form of self imposed torture, uh ... I mean exercise. Still, I was in pretty good shape for 52, still lean, still had my hair, my teeth, and somewhat surprisingly to me, I still got a few "looks" on occasion from the fairer sex. Not that I paid much attention to them, I was still healing, I told myself. Maybe I was just afraid of being single again ... I mean it had been 25 years since I had been in the dating pool ... I had no idea how to go about it anymore. Ahh, the thoughts that runs through one's mind as he is pushing a mower and sweating like a dog in a Chinese restaurant while the temp was already approaching 90 degrees at 10:30 am.

Finishing the front and side lawns, I moved to the back of the house where the deck is, and proceeded to do all the trim first, then concentrated on cutting the grass at 45 degree angles, just for shits and giggles ... a different pattern."Damn ... aint I just the artistic one eh!". I finished mowing and put the mower in the garage ... it was just about noon, and I was drenched in sweat. I figured, what the hell, it's Sunday, and it's hotter than the hinges of hell... , so, I grabbed an ice cold beer out of the box and headed to the front porch where there was shade and a wicker rocker to sit in while I "rehydrated". Although I lived on a remote dirt road, not far from town, it was remote enough that there was very little traffic, Still, I liked to sit on the front porch and watch for the occasional passer-by. I was surrounded by woods, front, back, both sides of my house, and couldn't see or hear my nearest neighbors.

Secluded and peaceful, but also sometimes quite lonely. As I stepped out from the house onto the porch, I heard a mournful "Oh shit!". My eyes followed the voice and I saw a car across the road, with the hood up, and steam bellowing out of the engine compartment. Standing in front of the car, leaned over ... getting a steam bath, was a woman in a tight clingy summer dress. I realized it was tight and clingy because it was "plastered" to her body ... she was also drenched in sweat due to the steam and heat of the motor of her car, as she looked the sad situation over. The dress did little in this state to hide any part of her ... it was almost translucent in the sun.

I could see the curve of her hips and the cleft below her lower back separating the cheeks of an outstanding "backyard". "Must be wearing a thong", I thought, then chided myself for being such a pig. I called out as I walked towards her. "Looks like your car has over-heated Miss, maybe I can help." I wondered if the car was the only thing "over-heating"..."Stop It!" I told myself..."the poor woman is probably pissed off and likely a little afraid ... be a good little boy scout and help her out instead of going all x-rated on her.", The sound of my voice startled her and she turned and backed away from the front of her car a few steps. I could see that she wasn't wearing a bra as her nipples were prominent in her drenched form fitting summer dress. Her hair, though wet with sweat and plastered to her scalp and face, I could tell, was thick, richly auburn colored and tawny and would usually be a feature that would be most attractive under normal circumstances, but it was her eyes that captured me ... her eyes were luminescent as they studied me, her mind analyzing whether I was a friend or foe. Her eyes, almond shaped, had equal parts blue and green, with flecks of gold that glowed ... even through the brilliant noon day sun.

Keeping my eyes on hers, and trying a crooked grin, I let her study me, and said "Looks like you could use a hand."..."I live right there", pointing at my house on the other side of the road, "and just finished mowing the lawn outback ... otherwise I probably would have noticed you sooner ... it's OK, you're safe." I held my hands up in front of my chest, and continued to smile. She took a deep breath and then let it out, and she smiled, relaxing a bit..."Yeah, this damned old car is becoming nothing but a constant problem ... and me, not much of a mechanic." She eyed the beer that had drops of cold condensation dripping down the can ... I could see that she was probably as parched as I was. "Please", I offered the can, "why don't you step over on to the porch and sit in the shade and cool down with this, while we wait for your car to cool down ... then I'll take a look at it and see if I can help..." ... another friendly smile. She considered it for just a moment and nodded. "OK, thank you ... your very kind." And she smiled in return.

I tilted my head towards the rockers on the porch and said, "Make yourself comfortable while I grab me one of those ... I'll be right back out." When I stepped back onto the porch with my beer, in a "cuzzi", offering her one for her can, she had settled into one of the rockers and was trying to use her hands to wipe the sweat from her face ... I handed her the cuzzi, set my beer down on the little table between the two rockers and said, "Be right back." ... I returned a minute later with a cold washcloth and a towel, passing them to her. Her eyes told me how grateful she was for this small act of kindness. "Thank you so much, I'm sure I am just a sight ... and this dress is ruined ... what a mess." I smiled and sat in the other rocker, took a pull of the ice cold beer ... oh my, it was so good hitting the back of my throat. I had forgotten just how hot, sweaty and thirsty I was. She used the face cloth to bath her face and neck, and the towel to wipe her arms and tried to fluff her hair ... she grinned as she watched me watch her, and I noticed she was looking me over ... hmmm...

I decided it might make sense to know her name, so I stuck my hand out and said "Hi, my name is Mike, welcome to Casa Bucolic." She giggled at my "out in the sticks" reference and took my hand, "Hi Mike, I'm Lori, and I think you have a piece of heaven out here ... I wished I could afford to have a place in the country." She gave me a laconic smile and added," I can't even afford a decent vehicle." She went on, "That's why I happened to be out here when my stupid car decided to shit the bed ... I love to drive through the country, on older roads like this, check out the land and the houses and sort of dream about having a place of my own out here..." We sipped our beers and chatted, laughing at the absurdity of her situation. She intimated that being a Sunday it would be hard to find a tow truck and garage, and if she did, the cost would likely be double. I told her that before she called someone, to let me take a look, and we both sauntered back over to her car to make a diagnoses. It didn't take long, one of the rubber hoses going from her radiator into the engine block was split open. I told her that this in itself wasn't particularly problematic to repair, or even that expensive...

"The problem is here in rural Maine, the auto parts stores are not open on Sunday afternoons, so it's likely that it will have to wait until tomorrow to be repaired". I assured her that it wouldn't be all that expensive, and I would be happy to do the repairs myself. I would run into town in the morning, I had the day off, grab the hose from the local NAPA, and repair the car, and get it running for her ... the cost would be just the price of the hose. In the meantime, I offered her my hospitality ... use of the bathroom to freshen up, perhaps a bit of lunch and another cold beer, or an iced tea if she preferred. I told I would then be happy to give her a ride to wherever she needed to go if there was no one she could call. She looked at me and said, "You really are a very nice guy ... I can't thank you enough. The problem is there is really no one I can call who can drive all this way to pick me up, I live in Portland, and that is almost two hours away, on top of that, I would need to find someone to bring me back tomorrow ... a work day, and I will not ask you to drive that far."

"Well Lori, I understand, you are kind of caught between a rock and a hard place ... It probably sounds crazy to you, but you are welcome to stay here until tomorrow, or if you feel more comfortable, there is a motel a few mile beyond town on the main route...", She looked into my eyes and I could see she had made her decision, "Mike, my instincts tell me I was a very lucky lady to have had my car breakdown where it did. I feel like I am being such an imposition on you, yet I feel that I am safe, and I could sure use the money it would cost me for a motel for the car repairs ... are you sure you don't mind?" ... then as an after-thought she asked, "Will your wife mind?". I smiled, "It isn't an imposition on me Lori, and there is no longer a wife ... so, just make yourself at home. If you don't mind, I'm going to run through the shower so I don't continue to offend you with what I must smell like with all this sweat and grime ... then, if you want you can use the shower and freshen up while I make us some lunch."

She gave me a full wattage smile, "Actually I do have my bathing suit in the car, and if you don't mind, a shower would sure feel wonderful ... and perhaps you would let me wash this rag that used to be a nice dress?" I grinned and nodded, "Let's get your car into my driveway first." We walked over to her car, she got in behind the wheel turned the key to the on position so she could turn the steering wheel and shifted into neutral, while I pushed from behind and got her rolling enough to have her steer the car into my driveway. I said as we walked into the house, "Really Lori, make yourself at home ... look around the house and get acquainted while I shower ... I won't belong ... and if you need anything just holler" She smile and nodded, "OK, thanks again Mike." As I was turning to walk upstairs to my bedroom and the bathroom, even though the sweat had dried, and her dress wasn't as plastered to her body any longer, her nipples were still protruding and it made me catch my breath. Smiling and shaking my head at my school boy lust, I trotted up the stairs knowing full well that she had seen me checking out her body several times over the course of the past hour as we chatted and got to know one another a little.

I suspected she was used to it ... she was a beautiful woman. I stripped off my shirt and kicked off my Teeva's in my bedroom, depositing my shirt in the dirty laundry hamper, turned and walked out of my bedroom towards the bathroom down the hall and ran right into Lori. "Oh, I'm sorry Lori, I didn't know you were there." She had instinctively put her hands up when I plowed into her, and her hands remained on my chest, which was still covered in sweat. "Mike, I didn't mean to surprise you", as she looked into my eyes, "but I really need to use the potty." She smiled into my eyes and let her hands linger a moment on my chest. "Well", I said, "you should probably do that before I go in for a shower." Our eyes were locked on each other. She pulled her hands away and said, "I'll be just a minute, OK?" I kind of stuttered, "Uh, OK ... I'll ... ahh ... wait here for you." Did I notice a slightly exaggerated swing to her hips as she walked the five feet to the bathroom? "Behave yourself you meat head."I admonished myself, yet I could feel the sexual tension and I was getting excited ... well, "junior" was getting excited. It had been a long time since I had the pleasure of being with a woman, and my hormones were kicking in.

I heard the toilet flush and then the bathroom door swung open and Lori was standing there in just her thong. Her eyes were blazing as she displayed herself to me with a bright smile. She was absolutely beautiful, her breasts, grapefruit size, stood out from her body and her nipples protruded like a pair of rose- colored diamonds, she again flashed that mega-watt smile and slowly peeled her thong off, showing a well manicured auburn bush. "I thought since you were being so kind, Mike, the least I could do was help you conserve water and shower with you ... besides, we can wash each other's back that way." I stood mesmerized, my eyes drinking her in and junior was making my shorts into a tent. She walked over to me, her breasts swaying slightly, reached down and unsnapped the button of my shorts, reached in and I felt her hand around me as she used her other hand to pull my shorts off. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open, as she stepped back and we looked each other up and down. We both murmured "Mmmmm" at the same time and it made us both giggle. She turned her back to turn the water on in the shower, bending at the waist to reach the knobs and giving me a view of her ass with her lips visible ... I could see the wetness between them at the apex of those incredible legs. I thought I was going to orgasm right then ... oh my, this woman was a goddess. I mentally told junior to take a deep breath ... there was more to ... ahem ... come.

Snapping out of my trance, I stepped over with junior nestling between the cheeks of that incredible ass, and my hands stroking up and down her back and offered, "Is there anything I can do to help?" She again giggled, "Oh yes sir, there surely is ... let's step into the shower.", taking my hands and placing them on her breasts, as she pressed her ass against me. A moan escaped her lips as I cupped her breast and gently tweaked her nipples between the knuckles of my fingers. Her nipples were puckered and as hard as diamonds and she writhed her body back against me as I massaged her, sliding my hands down her sides, over her pubic bone and up her tummy to recapture her breasts in my hands. I was throbbing against the crack of her ass, sliding my cock over the wetness and realized the moans I was hearing were mine as well as hers. She turned and melted into my arms, both of us wrapped around each other finding each other's mouth and tongue.