Chapter 15

Brenda walked to her car and hesitated before getting in. She put her hand on the door handle and looked at Ron. Ron knew that she was still not sure of his feelings toward her and she was afraid to pressure him.

"Brenda, your not going to chicken out on me are you?" he asked. "I want you to spend this week with me and I really don't think I can sleep without you next to me."

Brenda broke out in a big grin and said, "Follow me to my place."

Brenda led the way through the traffic to her condo. Ron went in with her and was impressed with her décor. He told her to bring enough clothes for a week and to be sure to bring some clothes for nighttime and a bathing suit. Brenda rushed around the condo gathering the clothes that she would need for a week and packed a bag with her cosmetics and toiletries as her overnight case was still in Alaska. Ron again warned her to bring clothes suitable for going out to better restaurants. Ron took the bags down to his car and stashed them as she brought them into the living room. They took Ron's car as his was a Ford Expedition and it would hold the considerable amount of clothes that she had packed.

As they were driving she asked Ron where he lived and he refused to tell her. He told her she would just have to wait and see. He started telling her that she had to be careful and keep the car windows locked as his place was in one of the rougher parts of town. She looked at him and saw the smile on his face and knew that he was kidding her. They drove north on Interstate Route 5 through part of Seattle and Ron got of the Interstate at exit 168 and on to Interstate Route 90 and started to head east. Brenda's eyes started to widen because she knew where this road led. Ron started across the Mercer Island Floating Bridge and she turned to him.

"You don't live on Mercer Island?" she asked incredulously.

Ron just smiled and continued driving. Brenda knew that Mercer Island was one of the upscale communities in the Northwest and she had never even been on the island in all of the time she lived in Seattle. The homes were in the $2,000,000 plus range and the homes were well kept and the community demanded that you keep your home in top shape so home values would be maintained. Mercer Island sits in the middle of Lake Washington and is connected to Puget Sound and the Pacific by the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Ron turned onto Mercer Way, which ran around the east side of the island and continued for a way. He pulled into a large modern home and up to a two-car garage. Trees on three sides of the home shielded it from the neighbors and the street. He pushed the button on the garage door opener clipped to the visor and the garage door opened. Ron pulled into the garage and shut off the engine. He pushed the button again and closed the door. There was a car covered in the other bay.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A Corvette," he said as he unlocked the door to the house.

Brenda shook her head, "Boys and their toys."

She followed Ron into the house and was amazed to find that it was professionally decorated and was neat as a pin. Ron showed her around the house. The house was a brick and wood house with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. It had huge rooms and she saw that it had a large porch. She suddenly realized that the house was on the waterfront and she saw a boat tied to the dock jutting from the shoreline. Ron took her out on the deck and she saw the porch went the entire length of the house. At one end of the porch she saw a large hot tub. Ron went over and turned a couple of knobs on the hot tub and she could hear the pumps start.

"Ron, this place is beautiful," she said. "Is that your boat, it's huge."

"Yes. It's mine. Its only 36 feet," he told her, "The dock is 60 feet long and sometimes a neighbor will tie a boat here if he is having a party."

"I didn't know that Howell paid this well," she said.

Ron walked over behind her and put his arms around her and kissed her neck, "They don't. When my parents died they had considerable assets. When Sam was appointed my guardian he liquidated everything and set up a trust fund for me. He never took any money from me for college and I didn't even know that I had a trust fund until I was 30. When I was given control of the trust fund I bought this house and a few toys. There's still quite a bit left.

Ron led her back into the house and started bringing her clothes into the house. He set the clothes on the living room floor and went back until he had everything out of the car. He started back to the bedrooms and stopped in front of the master bedroom.

"This is my bedroom, you can sleep in either of the other ones," he said with a grin.

She punched him in the arm, "I don't think so Mr. Simpson."

Ron put his arms around her and hugged her to him. He kissed her and let her go. He took Brenda's things and put them in the master bedroom.

"How about you get dressed real nice and I'll show you a nice restaurant in Mercer, he said.

Brenda used the master bathroom and Ron used one of the other bathrooms to get ready. She took her shower and dried her hair. She laid out a clingy, black dress that she thought would be suitable for dining in a nice place and found her lingerie and put on a bra and matching panties and garter belt. She put on a pair of stockings and clipped them to the garter belt. She put on the pair of black high-heeled shoes to match her black dress. She looked in the chest of drawers and saw that there were a few drawers that were not being used. She started to put some of her clothes in the drawers. Ron walked in to get his suit coat.

"You are one beautiful woman," he said startling her, "If you want, you can leave the dress off and go like that

She smiled at him and walked over to him. She loved his compliments. She put her arms around him and looked into his eyes.

"If you're real nice tonight I'll let you help me take them off," She smiled.

Ron kissed her and told her that she had better get dressed or he would go without her. She stuck her tongue out at him and started to put her dress on. Ron got his suit coat and went into the living room and sat down. He marveled that this was an entirely different woman than the Brenda Acton he knew a couple of weeks ago. Brenda came out minutes later and Ron just stared at the beauty in front of him.

"Are you going to stare all night or are we going to go out," she smiled. "This man was great for a woman's ego," she thought to herself.

Ron took Brenda to a local restaurant in Mercer. Ron had made reservations while Brenda was getting dressed. They had a cocktail at the bar before taking their table. The restaurant is a four star restaurant and has what they classified as an international menu. They made their menu decisions and Ron ordered coffee and Brenda decided the have the same. Their conversation was their lives before they knew each other. Brenda seemed especially interested in Ron's childhood and his college exploits. Ron enthralled her with tales of his wild college days. They finished their meal and ordered coffee while they continued their conversation.

"If I would eat like that everyday, I'd weigh 400 pounds by the end of the year," she said as she put down her fork.

She looked at Ron, "I am having such a good time. I don't go out to dinner much except on business. Thank you for the excellent dinner and the pleasant conversation."

The pleasure is all mine," he replied. "I don't often have such beautiful company dining with me."

"You're a flatterer," Brenda said, "But please don't stop, I love it."

While they were finishing their coffee, several people stopped by their table to say hi to Ron and he introduced Brenda to each of them. The two women that stopped at their table were obviously checking out Brenda. Brenda got the impression that the women were checking out the competition. A man came over as Ron was asking for the check and Brenda thought that she recognized him but she couldn't place him.

"Howard this is Brenda Acton, a vice president of Howell, " he said, introducing them to each other.