After having graduated from college I went to work for a company doing applied research in the city. I had been working there for about three years and during that time I had been living alone.

As I was living alone I would get up each morning and make my own breakfast. After my breakfast I left for work in time to stop at a nearby coffee shop to buy a cup of freshly brewed coffee to take back to my office with me and I would sip on it as a continued wake-me-up.

Every morning when I stopped by the coffee shop, I had been served by a very pretty older lady. One morning after about the first six months and I had become a regular, the older lady appeared to be working in a different part of the shop.

The older lady had been replaced by a much younger lady or actually a young woman. She appeared to be about my own age and she was very pretty and very shapely. She had a bright cheerful personality when she took my order, my payment and served my coffee order to me.

On entering the coffee shop one morning when the young lady had taken my order and served me my coffee, she had a quizzical look on her face. As she was giving me my change she said, “You look very familiar to me. Is your name Sonny Gotta?”

Responding, I said, “No, my name is Michael, Michael Mitchum and my family all call me Mike. Some of my buddies have nicknamed me Mitch for short since we all referred to each other by our last name rather than our first names. I have worked in this area for about four years and I have seen you here for several months but, I don’t know your name, Miss.”

“I’m happy to meet you, Mike. My name is Ashley, Ashley Nelson.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, too, Ashley. Needless to say I have seen you here since you started working here and I’m really happy to finally get to know your name, Ashley.”

From that day forward each morning when I visited the coffee shop, Ashley cheerfully greeted me saying, “Good morning, Mike. What can I get for you this morning?”

I’m sure she was told to use that greeting for each customer even though she knew what I usually ordered. Her cheerful greeting complimented her bright sweet personality. Each day I responded, “You can get me the usual coffee with cream and no sugar, please, Ashley.”

After about a month toward the end of the week when she brought me my coffee I asked her, “Ashley, would you like to go out to eat with me tomorrow evening?”

Immediately responding she said, “I can’t go tomorrow night, Mike, since I already have made plans but, I can go with you Saturday night if your invitation still stands.”

“Sure, it does but, I’m going to need your home address and phone number if you will, please? I dug into my wallet and gave her one of my business cards for her to write her information on the back. I wrote my phone number on the back of another of my cards and we exchanged the cards.

As Ashley handed me her information she said, “Mike can I expect you to pick me up at about six o’clock Saturday night?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there at six and there is a nice Italian restaurant near downtown that I’d like to take you to if you like Italian food, Ashley.”

“Yes, I do like Italian food, Mike, and I’ll be ready for us to leave at six when you get there.”

Saturday evening came and I drove over to Ashley’s place to pick her up. Ashley opened the door and greeted me very warmly as she usually did. And Lordy did she really look nice?

Ashley was wearing a light brown sweater that complimented the color of her hair and her eyes. She was also wearing a darker brown color straight skirt and her whole outfit celebrated her very shapely figure.

She turned momentarily to pick up her purse and we left for the restaurant. Once we got to the restaurant and after we placed the order for our meal I asked the server to bring us a bottle of wine. On placing our order, Ashley asked me, “Mike, I saw on your card that you are working for a research company. What do you do there, Mike?”

“I’m a Research Engineer doing applied materials research for the company.”

“So I presume that you have a college degree in materials research, Mike?”

“Yes, I do. I got my advanced degree in Materials Engineering over three years ago from State University and have been working here ever since. I know you have only been here a little more than six months. What have you been doing before the time you came here to work in the coffee shop, Ashley?”

“I graduated from State University, too, about a year ago and have been living with my roommate. I hadn’t been able to find a job until I came to work for the coffee shop. It is easy work but, I’m on my feet a lot and it doesn’t pay all that much either. It pretty well pays my portion of the rent but, that is about it.”

“If you graduated from State University why haven’t you been able to find a better paying job then, Ashley? It seems that you should have been able to find a better paying job with your degree?”

“Mike, I got my degree in ‘Women’s Studies’ and like most Graduates that get their degrees in the ‘Studies’ programs there just aren’t many companies who are willing to bring me on board with that kind of a degree.

It’s kind of like the ‘Liberal Arts’ program.” Most companies are looking for more than what those disciplines have to offer. If I had it to do all over again, I’d go into Accounting, Finance or Business that are much more useful and the college graduates in those disciplines are in greater demand.”

“I don’t know how much you are being paid for working at the coffee shop, Ashley, but, I’d think that a receptionist’s job or a business assistant job would pay you more than that.

You have such a cheerful greeting and such a pleasing personality I’d think that most employers would love to have you in one of those jobs. I’ll look around for something and if I see or hear of anything I’ll let you know about it immediately.”

That would be wonderful if you can find something like that for me, Mike.”

“In the meantime, it’s still early would you like to go to a movie or to a dance club after we leave here? I don’t really want to go back to my apartment this early especially on a Saturday night.”

“There is a movie I’d like to see and it’s playing down at the FiveCinema. It’s a romantic drama and it has a good rating. Would you like to go see it with me tonight, Mike?”

“Sure, I would, Ashley. So let’s finish the last of the wine we have here in the bottle and we can go see this movie.” We finished the wine, I paid the check and we left for the FiveCinema.

We were a little early for the start of the movie but, that gave us our first choice of seats. Ashley chose our seats about half way back from the screen and in the center of the row of seats.

Ashley and I sat and chatted until the movie started showing and when the movie started she took my hand in hers and she held it very possessively. As she took my hand she turned and looked into my eyes with a look in her eyes and a sweet smile on her face like she was asking for my permission. I looked back into her eyes and smiled with a slight nod of my head giving her my unspoken approval.

A little while after the movie had started I draped my arm over her shoulder and I pulled her to me. I looked at her and smiled when she turned her head to look back at me with a smile of approval on her face.

Then she cuddled up as close as she could get to me. That made my little soldier become a bigger soldier and come to attention. I just had to wonder if Ashley was having an analogous reaction in her lower tummy and between her thighs with some of her love fluids seeping into her panties.

A couple of times when I thought we were both intently watching the movie Ashley turned her head to me and kissed my cheek. I thought, ‘Hey, I can play that same game.’

I whispered her name into her ear. And when she turned her head to me I kissed her tenderly on the lips. I could feel a little shiver go through her and she just wiggled a little in her seat showing me just how much she liked our little game. Then I pulled her even tighter to me.

We continued to play our little games occasionally during the movie and I’m not so sure that either one of us got the full enjoyment out of the movie. But, I know that we both got the full enjoyment out of the little game we played during the movie.

At the end of the movie we sat and talked until the crowd had mostly left the theater. We sat and chatted with one another and Ashley softly said to me, “Thank you, for a great meal and thank you for bringing me to this movie, tonight, too. I have really enjoyed it, Mike.”

“I have really enjoyed having you with me tonight, too, Ashley. I don’t want tonight to end but, I think it’s probably time I took you home.”

“Yeah, I think we need to be on our way to my home, Mike, and I’d really love to ask you to come in with me but, I know my roommate will be home when we get there. It’s best that I don’t ask you to come in with me tonight.”

We left for her home and I took her to her door where I pulled her to me and kissed her very tenderly. Having her warm soft body in my arms kissing her was very arousing and my little soldier stood at full attention until after I had left for my own home.

The next Monday morning when I stopped in the coffee shop, Ashley was there and when she saw me she had a bright smile on her face as usual. When she looked into my eyes, she very sweetly greeted me and said, “Good morning, do you want your usual coffee this morning, Mike?”

I replied, “Yes I do, Ashley and good morning to you, too.” as she ordered my coffee to be prepared for me.

When she brought my coffee to me she quietly said, “I enjoyed going out with you this past weekend. Maybe we can do it again, soon, Mike.”

“I’d like to do that and as soon as I get back from my business trip I’ll talk to you here or give you a phone call.” I was scheduled to go out of town on a business trip for two weeks and when I was there my boss called me and asked me to stay over for an additional two weeks. I was really looking forward to getting back home to see Ashley but, I really didn’t have any choice if I was going to protect and keep my job.

After I got back to town, the following Monday morning I stopped in the coffee shop as I normally did. And as usual Ashley was there and she greeted me very welcomingly. She said, “Good morning, Mike. We haven’t seen you for a while. It’s good to see you this morning. Welcome back.”

“Hello, Ashley. Thank you for your warm welcome back. It’s good to be back. I was scheduled to be out of town for two weeks and while I was there my boss called me and asked me to stay an additional two weeks. Now I’m going to have to catch up on all of the other work I haven’t done in all of that time. My boss is probably going to want me to work a lot of overtime to catch up, now.”

It took me about a month to get caught up on all of the work that had accumulated when I was out of town for those four weeks. Of course, I stopped at the coffee shop each day and got my usual morning cup of coffee.

Needless to say, I saw Ashley there each morning as well. Each day, Ashley greeted me very warmly when I arrived and stepped up to her work area to order my coffee. I sure loved to look into her pretty brown eyes and see her beautiful face each day.

I think that Ashley looked forward to seeing me each morning, too. Later, I got to thinking, ‘Although I have been pretty busy the last couple of months I ought to ask Ashley to go out with me again now that I was caught up with my backlog of work.

A few days later when I came into the coffee shop, Ashley was there but, she wasn’t her normal cheerful self. It was evident that something was bothering her. I asked her, “Ashley, are you Ok? Something seems to be bothering you?”

“I can’t talk about it here, Mike. Maybe we can get together after we both get off of work this evening.”

“Ok, Ashley. This evening after I get off of work, I’ll come by your place and we’ll go out to a restaurant close by and I’ll get us something for our evening meal. We can have something to eat and talk about what is going on that is bothering you.

Is six o’clock convenient for you?” She handed me my coffee and my change nodding her head Ok and I left to go to my office. I thought about her all day at work and wondered what had her so upset and if I could do anything to help her.

That evening I left work and went directly to Ashley’s place to pick her up. We went to a small restaurant to order our meal. Once we were seated and ordered our meal I looked into her eyes and I could see that she was still being bothered by something. Then I asked, “Ashley, I can see that you are still upset over something. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you and maybe I can help you?”

“Mike, over the weekend my roommate told me that she was going to be moving out at the end of the month. In order for me to stay there I’d have to pay the entire cost of the apartment rent and an extra month security deposit, too.

I don’t have that kind of money because what I make there at the coffee shop barely covers my half of the rent. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she moves out. I’m going to have to move out but, I don’t know where I can go to live then.”

“Ashley, I can help you if you will let me. I have a two bedroom apartment and I can let you stay in my extra bedroom if you are comfortable enough to trust me. Right now I only use that bedroom for other people who want to stay there overnight with me.

And I have some of my extra clothes stored in there with some other things, too. I won’t even charge you rent for staying in that bedroom, Ashley. It has a lock on the inside of the door that you can lock when you don’t want to be disturbed in your room.”

“Mike, I only agreed to meet you and talk about this because I felt like I owed you an explanation of what was happening. I didn’t meet you to ask you to take me in to live with you. I couldn’t ask you to do that for me rent free and I know that I can’t pick up half of your monthly rent anyway.”

“Ok, Ashley. Let me run this by you. Whatever the rent payments are that you’re making to your roommate you only have to pay half of that to me in rent. Will that make you feel better about moving into my spare bedroom?”

I didn’t need her money but, I didn’t want to see her living some place that only God knows where she could end up. Or even worse yet, she could end up living on the streets. “Would you feel comfortable with that arrangement, Ashley? I sure don’t want to see you living on the streets.”

“I think I could do that, if you will let me pay you what rent I can, Mike. Are you sure that half of my present rent payment is enough?”

“Yes, Ashley, it’s plenty since I’d know you’d have a safe place to live. When do you want to start moving in?”

“I’d like to start moving my things in this weekend and move a little over the remaining days until the end of the month?” I nodded my approval, paid for our meal and we left to return to her apartment.

When we got out to my car Ashley threw her arms around my neck, kissed me and said, “Thank you for helping me out like this, Mike. I really didn’t know what I was going to do if I couldn’t find some place suitable to live.”

Saturday and Sunday I helped Ashley move some of her things into my spare room and she started staying with me that day. The next weekend before the end of the month we moved the remainder of her things into my apartment. Ashley was very happy to have another safe place to live and she put her arms around me, kissed me and told me how happy she was with our living arrangement.

Since Ashley had to be at work an hour before I did, she had to get up an hour earlier and she left our apartment in order to be at work on time. By the time I got there she was hard at work tending to her job. When she handed me my coffee she quietly said, “I have some news to tell you, Mike. But, I’ll let you know about it this evening after we both get home from work.”

That evening when I got home from work, Ashley was waiting for me to tell me her news from work. She said, “When I got to work this morning, Mrs. Carlson told me that since I had been there over six months she was going to increase my pay by $2.00 an hour.

So I’m going to be making a little more money. She also told me that she wanted to teach me how to make the various types of coffee she offers in her shop. I think she has increased my pay to keep me working there, Mike.”

“Well, Ashley, if she teaches you how to make the different coffees would she increase your pay any more for doing that job?”

“Yeah, she said she could pay me another $2.00 an hour over what I’m making right now. But, that wouldn’t be enough for me to find and rent my own apartment though, Mike.”

“With what she is planning to pay you is good but, I think you still need to look for a better paying job, Ash. I have been looking for something for you but, I haven’t seen anything yet. If I do find something for you I’ll be sure to let you know when I do.

Until you find another job you can continue to stay right here with me. And you can still live here with me if you feel that your new job doesn’t pay you enough to afford your own apartment, Ash.”

“Thank you, Mike. You have been so good to me and I need to find a way to repay you for what you have done for me. Now, I have something for our supper cooking in the kitchen so, I need to go see about it.”

A half an hour later, Ashley called me into the kitchen to set the table for her while she finished up making our supper. I pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured each of us a glass of wine to have with our meal.

After our meal I helped Ash clean up the kitchen then I refreshed our wine glasses and we went into the living room to relax and watch a little bit of TV. As we were relaxing and talking I took the time to really admire Ashley’s pretty face, her shining eyes and her beautiful smile.

Her smile was enough to overcome me and I just had to pull her across my lap and kiss her very tenderly and very passionately. “You are so pretty, Ash, I just had to do that. Your smile is so charming, you make me want to hold you and kiss you like that, Honey. I can see the sweetness in your eyes, too, when you look at me.”

Ashley put her arms around my neck, pulled me to her and kissed me back just as tenderly and passionately as I had just kissed her. Then she said, I have been waiting for you to show me that affection since we introduced ourselves to one another, Mike. I want even more of that tonight, too, Sweetie.” as she pressed her soft breasts into my chest and asked, “Can I sleep in your bedroom with you tonight, Honey?”

As we each finished our glass of wine, we got up and went into my bedroom. In my bedroom we undressed one another. Ashley laid down on the bed pulling me down between her thighs. While kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her eyes and her very sweet lips I knew I needed to check and see if we needed protection. I stopped and asked her, “Do we need protection, Ash?”

“Yes, we do, Mike. Do you have something here we can use to protect us?” I got up and fished in the drawer, found a couple of single packages of condoms and laid them on the night stand. Getting back into the bed I reached over to the night stand, grabbed one of the packages and handed it to her. She tore the package open and rolled it onto my hard dick.

Rubbing my condom covered dick up and down inside the length of her love cleft. We were ready for me to slowly start slipping fully inside her. Ash nervously said, “Don’t tease me anymore, Mike. Make love with me now, Honey.”

Putting my arms beneath her legs, I raised them high enough to easily slip my hard-on deep into her slippery wet love treasure. Slowly slipping deep inside her I saw an expression of pleasure slowly spread across her face and I could see it deep in her pretty eyes.

On slipping into her warm love flower to the depth of her love passage, Ashley very softly purred to me, “Oh, Honey, I have been needing you inside me making love with me like this for such a long time.

I really love this. Now bring us to our climax, Sweetheart.” Her sweet words of encouragement made my dick grow some and get even harder. I slowly started my repeated penetrations into her sweet love passage increasing my rate of penetration with each thrust.

The expression of her pleasure grew on her face and her breathing began to get quick and shallow. At the end of each of my thrusts Ash responded with an audible utterance of her building passion.

She was gasping for her breath and she cried out to me, “Don’t stop, Honey. Don’t stop and make us both cum.” as she raised her hips to each of my hard thrusts into the depth of her love passage. A few moments later she squealed, “You’re about to make me cum, Baby. Make me cum for you and cum with me, Honey.”

Moments later she squealed very loudly, “You’ve made me cum, Honey. Cum for me, Mike. I wish I could feel your hot love cream squirting deep inside me.” Just after she began to say that, I squirted my entire load of hot cream into the condom.

Then she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me down over her and collapsed on the bed still gasping for her breath. I laid there over her with my weight on my elbows until my member softened and I slowly slipped out of her sweet love flower.

I laid down beside her taking her in my arms to hold her soft titties tightly to my chest with her head on my shoulder. A few minutes later after we both had recovered our normal breathing rate, I kissed her very passionately.

I had not understood just how sensual and loving this young woman I had laying there by my side could be. I realized that I wanted her to continue to stay with me and live with me. I knew I would surely miss her if for some reason she was no longer with me and making love with me.

Ashley partially sat up and then she laid her soft titties on top of my chest and kissed me so lovingly. She whispered to me, “That was so beautiful to have you inside me, Mike, and bringing me to such a fantastic orgasm. I want us to make love like that again and again, Honey. I just wish I could feel your hot cream squirting deep inside me each time we make love like that, Sweetheart.”

“I’d love to squirt my hot cream inside you, too, Ash, but, you know that you would end up having our little one growing inside your tummy. I think we would both like to have that happen but, you couldn’t even support yourself or our little one if I wasn’t here to take care of you and our little one.

It seems that we are best served to put that off until you have found a job that will support you and our little one if I’m not here to help you both, Ash. I don’t ever want you to become a single mother.”

I could see the sadness on her face and feel her spirit begin to gradually leave her. We made love the remainder of that week but, she just didn’t seem to have the same passion for our love making as she did the first night we made love.

For two weeks following that we made love but, it quickly dropped off to every other night and then once a week as she told me she really didn’t feel like making love. That went on for about six months.

At the end of six months I heard of an office assistant’s job and I was excited to tell Ashley about it that evening when I got home from work. I excitedly walked in the door looking for her and I began to call out her name, “Ashley, Ashley where are you?” I poked my head in the kitchen thinking she might be in there fixing some supper for us. I didn’t see her but, I did see a piece of paper laying on the table.

I picked it up and it was a note from Ashley. It said, “Mike, I have to leave. Ashley”. She didn’t say why or where she was going or with whom she was leaving. I felt like someone had driven a stake right through my heart to think she would leave without so much as saying anything to me in person that she was dissatisfied with staying with me.

When I went to her room I found that most of her clothes were still in the closet and most of her things were still in the drawers. Only a few of her clothes were gone. I missed Ashley so much that I had to get out of the apartment but, I wanted to feel next to her.

I was hungry and I knew I needed to eat so I went to the restaurant that we had eaten at several times and had my evening meal. All the time I was there it made me miss Ashley even more.

After my meal I went back to my apartment and drank a couple of glasses of wine before I went to bed. I really had a restless sleep and I got up at the time Ashley normally did in order for her to get to work on time.

Leaving my apartment in time to get to the coffee shop as it opened I asked Mrs. Carlson, “Is Ashley going to be in for work this morning, Ma’am?”

“No, Mike. She came in yesterday morning and told me she was leaving.”

“Did she say why or where she was going or even with whom she was leaving? Or did she even say that she would be coming back anytime soon.”

“No, Mike, she didn’t. She just walked out the door and I haven’t seen her since. I do have her week’s pay that she didn’t wait to take with her.” I paid her for my coffee where I saw a help wanted sign on the wall over her shoulder. I had turned to leave the shop when she called to me, “Mike, if you know of anyone who would like to work here send them my way would you please?”

“I’ll certainly do that, Mrs. Carlson.” as I started to walk out of the shop to walk to work.

I again started for the door when she called to me again. “By the way, Mike, I don’t know if this is any help or not last week I saw a guy who looks a lot like you talking to Ashley taking up a lot of her work time. He came in every day and talked to her. I was about ready to tell him to move on because he was keeping her from doing her work. And I haven’t seen him since.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Carlson. I have no idea of who he was. Maybe he was someone Ashley went to college with.” I turned and went to my office. It kind of unnerved me that she may have gone with another guy.

But, I thought, ‘She could do anything she wanted to do. We weren’t married and I didn’t have any claim to her even though I loved her. I guess I never told her that and maybe she found someone who did tell her that he loved her.’

I knew I was going to continue to miss her and I was going to love her for a much longer time after that. But, I was not going to sit around and feel sorry for myself that she skipped out on me like that.

I was just not going to mope over her. I had a job to do and I couldn’t let my memory of her get in the way of doing my job. If I did that I could be in Mrs. Carlson’s coffee shop serving customers like Ashley had been doing. I came to realize in the words of Lee Greenwood’s song “Going, Going, Gone”

It’s over; I left the door unlocked again

But this time someone new walked in

While she was all alone

Over the next year and a half I submerged myself in my work to help keep my mind off of Ashley. It worked pretty well except when I was at home alone or when I went to the coffee shop where I had met and seen her every day.

Every once in a while Mrs. Carlson would stop me on my way out of the shop and ask if I had heard from or seen Ashley. And I always had to tell her, “No, I haven’t had any contact with her since she left.” While I was alone the words of the song would flow through my mind

I should have paid attention, there were many warning signs

But I just never thought she’d walk away

Here I stand in silence, just an echo of the words I heard her say

She said, it’s over and much too late to change her mind

I’ve lost her all the way this time

She’s going, going, gone

Then about a year and a half after Ashley had been gone it was a Friday evening. After I’d had my supper and I was relaxing in my apartment. It was just before dark when I heard a soft knock on my door.

I had not been expecting anyone to visit me but, I went to the door. There to my immense surprise stood Ashley. Seeing her I just blurted out her name, Ashley? I kind of thought my eyes were deceiving me but, my heart started to pound in my chest over seeing her there at my door.

I just stood there for a moment looking her up and down like I really couldn’t believe my eyes. I think I was stunned to see her there. Her hair was just a little longer and her face looked a little thinner but, she was still just as pretty as she had been.