Chapter 24

When I woke up, I called Julie and let her know that Monday was the start date on John and Krystal's house. She confirmed that everything was set and ready for it. I then called Ashlee and asked if she would like to come to dinner at my place, or just to hang out.

She accepted and that afternoon she came right over.

knock knock

bow wow roof roof -dog alarm

"Something is different about your house. What did you do?" The first thing out of her mouth once she arrived.

"Hello to you too." I leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Did you get hard wood floors?" she gasped. Then started looking around some more. "Wasn't there a walkway through there? And a wall here by the stairs?" She then walked into the kitchen and just stopped and looked around. "Wow! This is amazing! I can't believe this." She then went to each cabinet looking them over, opened and closed the fridge the oven and touched every surface. "Who did this? It is so beautiful!"

I stood there. My arms crossed across my chest with a grin on my face. "It is nice isn't it?"

She then came to me with her arms crossed across her chest and looked me over. "Why didn't you tell me that you were redoing your house? I could have suggested someone to get this done for you or been part of designing it... " I then stepped forward and pulled her into a hug and put my lips on hers to get her to shut up.

"It was not your responsibility to work my house. I am glad that you love it that is very important to me. It makes being with you easier if you are happy. Now, let me show you the backyard."

I walked her outside and swept my arm across my body showing her all of the work that was done. "Take a look, what do you think?"

She walked out onto the patio and looked around. She took a tentative step onto the fresh sod and then with some more confidence walked to the side of the house and look down from the top of the wall. "This is really something. How did you get this all done so quickly?"

I walked up beside her, "I just hired the right people to get the work done."

She turned from the wall, and looked toward the old shed I had. "Is there a story with your shed? It seems a bit out of place with the rest of the work that you have done around here. Are you going to change it any?"

I looked at my shed with her. It is white, plain, with a slant roof hand built by my father-in-law and a couple of brothers of my wife's and I. It took us a long weekend to build, but we got it done. Sure, the shed is nothing but a shed, the doors don't close straight, there is only one window, no power and we didn't put very many shelves in it, but it works. "I hadn't really thought about it. What do you think I should do with it?" I had to gauge her reaction to this. I didn't want to tear it down immediately, but something could be done with the space. Our relationship was still new and I wanted to see if she was going to be a demanding girlfriend who made a lot of decision for me or if she would be willing to work with me on things.

"I suppose you should keep it if you need it. What do you have in it anyway?"

We walked over to the door which I opened and watched as the bugs that have taken up residency in my shed scurry away from the door. "EWWW! What was that?"

"Just bugs." I opened the second door making the opening in the side of the shed big enough for a riding mower. I didn't have one, but I could park one in here if I wanted. "Here you go, the inside of my shed."

Ashlee took a tentative step inside the door and looked around. There were shelves against the side wall, a small shelf in the back corner, a big blue barrel in the corner and the rest of the space was take up by several bikes, a lawn mower, a snow blower, bike trailers and other stuff; nothing impressive here. "How much of this stuff do you use?" She started moving things around and looking at it and what-not.

"I use the mower during the summer. I use the snow blower during the winter and the bikes when I feel the need to get out and ride."

She managed to work her way through the bikes and stopped at a bike that was obviously a girl's bike. "Was this one your wife's?"

"Ya it is."

"Did you guys get out much and ride?"

"We did. Not as much as we should have but quite a few times when the weather was nice."

"That's good. I don't have a bike of my own, but I used to love it when I still lived at home." She turned to me, "Do you think we could get me a bike so that we could go for a ride together?" She seemed very excited by the idea and wasn't bouncing like a kid, but seemed genuinely excited.

"Sure. We can get you a bike if you want. If you are going to spend any time with me then you are going to need one." I joked.

She got my joke and we both laughed. However, she got quiet and looked me in the eye. "How much time am I going to spend with you Paul? What are your intentions for my Mr. Johnson?"

I put a smile on my face, and then stepped inside the shed. "I intend to spend a lot of time with you. I may even convince you to love me, but that is going to be your decision. All I can do is treat you the best I know how. How does that sound?"

"That sounds pretty good. Pretty good in deed." She managed to get back out of the shed without much trouble considering she had managed to get to the back of the shed past all of the bikes and tools and stuff. when she joined me at the door she pulled up next to me and gave me a rather passionate kiss full of tongue and hands on my chest then around to my rear-end. We parted breathless and I was a bit more erect than before.

"That was nice. I do believe that I enjoy kissing you very much and would like to do more of it." I said to her.

"I agree." She smiled.

"Come on, let's get inside before we do something crazy out here." I said to her while ushering her out of the shed and then closing and locking the door.

She agreed with me and we went back inside and then to the living room where we sat on the couch and talked. The conversation was easy going and I learned a few more things about her that I didn't know before. She is not bisexual but has had several experiences, as she put it, with other women and found it very enjoyable. She prefers men but being with another woman is not something that she is going to go out and look for. If it happens it happens.

Her daughter is sexually active which is causing Ashlee to worry about her getting preggers, which is why they are both taking birth control pills. Ashlee is willing to have more kids, but is waiting to get married first. She thought that one of our co-workers was the right guy a few months ago, but they broke up and haven't been out together since then. All he wanted was sex and wasn't really the commitment type of person. He had strung her along for about a year and never really made or did the right thing about a commitment. If she and I could handle traveling together and being together 24/7, then we could potentially be a very good couple. She went on to tell me that one of the things on my list troubled her, going to a brothel. She was concerned about what others would think of her if her friends found out about going there with me. I did remind her that unless she knew anyone there that no one would know a thing about it. Also, if she saw someone there she knew they would probably be just as embarrassed as she was. She calmed down about that topic and I thought a moment, and then suggested that the help me choose my date. I thought that it would give her a chance to participate and if she wanted, she could join us and make a three-some out of it. She didn't object, but got a sly smile as she thought about it as well.

When we finally finished our talk, we also covered topics dealing with Italy, our living arrangements while traveling and how she didn't want me to have sex with her daughter, but wouldn't be surprised if we saw each other naked all the time. Ashlee and Brenda don't dress up when home alone and most of the time just wear comfy clothes which most of the time constitutes t-shirts and loose shorts without the hassle of undergarments. I told her that I loved the idea and couldn't wait because I didn't wear very much around the house either. I even went as far as to tell her that I didn't wear anything to bed at all so if we had a visitor in a bed we were sharing, they were going to get the full Monty. She laughed at my joke and then blushed a very deep red, she confessed to also not wearing anything to bed either. Now it was my turn to smile and blush.

"What would you like for dinner? Since you are here may I feed you?" I asked her after our talk ran out.

The first thing out of her mouth was, "What do you have?" Isn't that always the way it works out.

"I don't know, let's go and find out." I took her to the garage where I keep the deep freeze in case there was something there that suited her. We looked over the frozen pizza, the ground beef which could be made into a bunch of stuff but we didn't really get any ideas until we checked out the second fridge in the laundry room. When I opened that the crescent rolls jumped out at me and I got an idea. I handed the rolls to her then went back to the freezer and got the ground beef. "Ok, I've got it. How about a hamburger casserole? I made it for my family and they all loved it. Doesn't take long to make and makes a lovely meal."

"Sure, that sounds fine." So we went back upstairs and I started cooking. The first order of business was to get the meat thawed out then cooked.

"Would you like veggies to go along with it?"

"Sure that would be fine."

I moved around the kitchen and had to really work to find everything. The pots and pans had moved so did all the spices and the mixing bowls so finding everything took some effort. Ashlee moved off to the side then moved to the booth against the wall to watch. She sat there with a smile on her face as I cooked. She didn't have a skirt on, but she didn't bother to close her legs either so every time I turned her direction I was greeted with a clear view between her legs. I am sure she was just toying with me but who am I to complain?

One thing that I didn't order from the contractors but I am glad that they made was a TV mounted on the wall behind cabinet doors that would fold out of the way when the TV was used. While the meat was cooking, I went to the cabinet doors opened them and folded them away and turned the TV on then pulled it out of the cabinet so that it could be seen. One minor problem, it could be turned toward the booth or toward the prep area, but not easily seen by both. I turned it toward me mostly but it was still close enough to her that she could see it if she moved to the correct spot in the booth.