Chapter 4

We had finished the bottle of wine and Annie picked up the empty and grabbing me by the hand headed for the kitchen. As she had said it was huge. There was a giant island in the middle with four bar stools on one side and a work area on the other. Below the counter top on the sides were wine racks with at least fifty bottles. Annie selected one and placing the top against a large devise pulled a handle down then up and the cork came away cleanly. Annie turned and poured us both new glasses.

"How about a steak, Harry? I can fix us steak and salad in a jiffy"

"Sounds great," I said beginning to feel the effects of the wine.

Annie fired up a gas grill and the broiler to get hot while she raided the refrigerator for filets, romaine, red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and an open tin of anchovies. Taking down a large wooden bowl she crushed an anchovies with a fork against the sides of the bowl then added pulled romaine, sliced cukes, separated slices of the onion and halved the tomatoes and tossed it all with wooden tongs. Next she seasoned the steaks and placed them on the grill. While the steaks were cooking Annie hacked a baguette in half then split it open and spread on softened butter and sprinkled garlic power.

While we waited to turn the steaks Annie poured more wine.

"God you are amazing the way you fly through getting everything done."

"Why thank you Harry. This is the simple stuff real cooking requires a little more skill than I possess I'm afraid."

"Well you couldn't prove it by me."

"Time to turn the steaks and set our places I'm just going to serve at the bar tonight," Annie said as she turned the meat, put the bread under the broiler and got out the plates, silverware and napkins. Then she put the dressing on the salad and tossed it again and portioned it on our plates. Next she removed the bread from the broiler and brought it to the counter on a separate plate. She took our plates to the grill to serve the steaks.

"Dig in. It's not much but it should hold us for tonight. If we need a snack later I'll think of something. Here let me give you some wine and break off a piece of that bread. I'm not going to be only one with garlic breath."

The steak was cooked to perfection. Grill marked surface and pink in between. That and the salad was more than enough for me. I had had so much that even the meal didn't take the edge off and I suspected the same with Annie. When we had finished our meal we sat and Annie told me generally what she planned for me. How she thought magazine pieces at first until I had a following. She told me that with rare exceptions people my age didn't have enough life experience to tackle a novel but that if I wanted to put something together feel free.

When we drank the last of the wine Annie said, "Time to go upstairs. Leave the dishes I'll get them tomorrow."

As I followed her up the stairs I couldn't take my eyes off her swaying hips. I was a little drunk, as I'm sure Annie was, and I was beginning to think evil thoughts but when we got to the top of the stairs Annie turned and said good night and closed the door to her room.

I don't know what I was expecting but it was different than this. That night I jacked off for the first time in over a year.