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On Friday, her friends bought her a farewell lunch, and she had stopped at home afterward and changed out of her business suit into a casual jersey dress and jacket. When Steve got off the plane that evening, The Suit was gone, replaced with a relaxed shirt and slacks. Sara was waiting for him with a kiss and a hug.
“I´m a free woman tonight, Steve,’ she said as they walked to her car.
“I always thought you were pretty free, myself. That´s what I like about you,’ Steve replied with a leer.
“Pig,’ Sara replied. “Well, what I mean now is, I´ve finished up my job and turned in my keys and the movers are coming on Wednesday. By next week I´ll be working at the club.’
“No time off? No vacation?’ Steve asked.
Sara looked at him, astonished. “You know, I traded a week´s vacation to get out of that place fast, but I never thought about it. Not for a moment. It sounds like a good idea. Where do you want to go? We could probably get a good deal from one of the hotels you use, or I might be able to scare up something from a friend. How long do you want to take?’ The car was winding its way out of the airport, heading for the city.
“Well, I can´t take too long, but maybe a long weekend – what do you think? And, as for a place to go, what I´d really like is somewhere where we can sit naked in the sun all day, like one of those places on Martinique. But, you can´t do that on a weekend,’ was Steve´s reply. “Let´s not worry about it now, we´ve got all weekend to figure it out.
“What are we doing tonight?’ he asked.
“I´m taking you to a place around the corner from me. We can have dinner and catch up.’ Sara drove through the familiar streets and parked in her building.
They strolled in the cool evening to a small, storefront restaurant down the block. Inside, they walked past a long bar at which men and women were going through the traditional routines of deciding with whom they were going to spend the evening and perhaps the night. The front of the place was packed, the tables at the back still half-empty: negotiations were just beginning.
“What was the name of this place, again?’ Steve asked, as Sara spoke in passing to several men standing at the bar. Each of them eyed her hungrily.
The owners call it ‘Herbie´s Heaven´ for some reason, but I started calling it ‘The Meat Market´ when I first came here. Some of the other regulars call it that, too. If you want to sample some of the merchandise, just belly up to the bar.’
They sat at a table where Steve could watch the action. Sara sat in front of him, her back to the crowd, and took off her jacket. Her jersey dress had a deeply scooped neck. It clung to her breasts, showed her erect nipples and gave Steve a long, deep view down her cleavage.
“Certainly is an apt name,’ he said. “No, I´ll wait and see what else you can show me.’ He smiled when she writhed her shoulders and made her breasts heave. “Like the menu,’ he smiled, “I´m hungry.’
They ate a good dinner, drank a nice house wine, and talked about what each had done that week. Sara told Steve about her talk with Charity, and explained that, in her enthusiasm for their new life together, she had almost forgotten about the club´s need for a working, functioning manager. “I almost put my foot in it, Steve, really.’
“Well, it sounds like Charity really likes you and is willing to give you a little leeway. I´m glad, of course. But, I suppose she figures I´m pretty much an unknown quantity, too. I think you´re right about the timing of things. I don´t expect stuff to get really crazy for at least six months. That´s when we´ll need your skills.’
Steve´s eyes followed the action at the bar, where one pretty blond was pressing her breasts against her companion while he, in turn, stroked the buttocks of the dark-haired woman on his other side.
“Uh, just a thought … Do you suppose we could take a few days at the club as a vacation before you actually get down to work? I mean, you say the movers are coming Wednesday, so how long before your stuff gets there? Could we camp out, or something? And that way, Charity could get to know us both a little better.’
Sara sat back in her chair and spread her arms wide. The motion brought her breasts to a full rise. “Great idea. The house is pretty well furnished as it is – my stuff should take about a week. And the price should be right, too, a lot cheaper than Martinique. I don´t even have to make an issue of it, since I´ll be settling in and really just looking around. But, what do you plan to do about moving yourself?’
“I´m just going to move the office right now. I figure you have all your stuff going out there, so I´ll put my furniture in storage until we decide what to do with it – or until we decide what we´re trying won´t work, or something. You see, I´m keeping my options open, too.’
“Fair enough,’ Sara said. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned forward.
“There´s something else to talk about for tomorrow. And Sunday. I´ve told you about my old buddy Ralph ...’
“He´s the guy you have on Saturday nights, right? Wasn´t he one of your first conquests?’
“Yeah, almost six years ago, right here in this bar. Boy, was I horny.’ She told Steve about that first weekend of recovery and wanton return to her real self. “Anyway, what I thought is, if you don´t mind, I´ll let Ralph come over tomorrow morning anyway. We can spend the day together. I know you´ll like him.’ Her face was hopeful, questioning.
“All right with me,’ Steve said, smiling. “Any lover of yours is a friend of mine. At least to start with. I assume he knows I´ll be there and that he´ll stay the night?’
Sara beamed. “Oh, yes, he knows, I talked to him about it this week. Thanks, Steve, I really like Ralph a lot. I´ll miss him, but if you two get along all right, perhaps he can visit us sometimes.’
“Well, we´ll see, won´t we? And as long as we´re on the subject, what´s on for Sunday?’
Sara´s face clouded; her nipples went flat for the first time in Steve´s memory. “Yeah, Sunday. That´s the day Teddy comes over. I don´t know what to do about him. He´s good in bed, but he´s mad about me – I mean, he said he doesn´t have any other girls but me, that I´m enough for him. It really worries me what´ll happen when I´m gone.’
“He knows you´re leaving, doesn´t he?’
“Of course. I told him straight out and I also told him I´ll really miss him and I will. He was really broken up when I told him. It bothers me. And, I haven´t told him you´re here this weekend.’
“I´m sure he´s grown up enough to handle you leaving, Sara. You don´t take up with mama´s boys or basket cases. He´ll be fine. And, if you want, I´ll either meet him with you, any terms you like, or I´ll spend the afternoon at a museum – you do have museums here, don´t you?’
Sara giggled in harmony with Steve´s wry grin. She shrugged her shoulders; her nipples rose again. “Oh, Steve, I love you so. Thanks. I guess I´ll just play it by ear. See what happens.’
“Now, fill me in on Ralph, Sara. Tell me a little about him so I´ll know what to expect.’
And, Sara told Steve about her long friendship with Ralph, the silly things they did together, the fun they shared. She told him about their skirmish outside her apartment. By the time she was finished, they were both laughing hard. “But he´s never been a candidate for a serious relationship, Steve. I don´t know why, exactly, but that´s how it is. Neither one of us wants it, I guess. Just fun and sex and being together every weekend, lots of bare ass and lots of loving.’
“There´s a lot to be said for a relationship like that, Sara. Open, honest, just what it is and nothing more. I hope that´s what we´ll have, too.’
Sara´s gaze was direct. “If it isn´t, Steve, it won´t last. I love you, but I´ve learned how fragile love is. It breaks real easy, and the rocks it breaks on are expectations that no one knows about or no one tells about.
“I´m going to do my best to spare you that, Steve. That´s why I´m telling you this tonight, and why we´re here in this meat market. I want you to know where I come from, what to expect.’
“Expectations are something we all have,’ Steve replied. “I love you. But we need to let each other know what those expectations are. I expect you to be absolutely honest with me about what you want from me, what you want from life. About sex and other men – and other women, too. I´ll try to do the same. Now, if you want to play coy about what color underwear you like, well, that´s not all that important. But, when it comes to the serious stuff, I want it straight.’
Sara reached across the table and took his hand, placing it under her breast. “What you see is what you get, Steve. I´m putting it right in your hand. It´s yours, all of it. I love you.’
They paid the check and walked home, arms around each other´s waist.