[heartfire05]

Within half an hour Royce was trying to arrange another encounter with Lana. He started with a completely unnecessary trip to the office. But this time Lana wasn’t out tending her plants, the patio door was closed and the curtain drawn. Disappointed, he offered the apartment manager some silly excuse for his visit and quickly departed. The trip back to his apartment only produced further disappointment. Still no Lana.

Before the afternoon was half over he made two more trips to the office until he ran out of even the most ridiculous reasons for coming, and the manager was starting to give him funny looks. After several minutes of frantically pacing up and down in his living room punctuated with frequent side steps to open the door and look out he settled on a different tactic.

The apartment complex was constructed with four main buildings arranged in a rectangular pattern. In the center of that rectangle was the complex’s oval shaped swimming pool surrounded by a lounging area. All four buildings had two stories with several apartments on each level. The office was a converted apartment on the ground floor of the building on the deep end of the pool.

Royce’s apartment was on the upper floor of the building which contained the two bedroom units. This was located on the opposite side, near the shallow end of the pool,. Lana’s apartment was on the ground floor of one of the side buildings. And that was why Royce would always pass by her place on his trips to and from the office provided he chose as he now always did to take the walkway on that side of the pool.

So for his new tactic Royce strolled down to the pool area and just casually loitered about, trying to project the image of the newly arrived resident checking out the recreational facilities. But even if he succeeded in projecting a convincing image there was no one else in sight to admire it. Not a single other person was stirring in the pool area. There was no sign of activity in the surrounding apartments Those other residents with daytime jobs had not yet come home. And most importantly, not a glimpse of Lana.

After several wasted moments Royce returned to his apartment in defeat. He made one more effort. Another trip to the office just before it closed. This time he didn’t go in. He just walked as far as the door, paused for several seconds as if he were changing his mind and then turned around and went back. But it didn’t matter. There was still no sign of Lana.

The next day he waited until mid morning when it was starting to get hot outside and then he put on his newly purchased swim trunks and went down to lounge beside the pool. Royce had not utilized the pool before but over the week he had been a resident he had noted that on Saturday and Sunday the pool area had been quite crowded. But weekdays, working days were a different story and although it was a pleasant sunny day Royce felt the depressing loneliness of being the only person there.

Still his goal was to position himself to see Lana if she made any appearance at all. So he stuck it out until a little past noon when he returned to his apartment for a quick and unsatisfying lunch. Afterward he went back to the pool but with the pessimistic feeling that he was just wasting his time. Another hour went by and Royce had just about given up. He wasn’t even looking toward Lana’s apartment and with the warm sun shining down was about to doze off when suddenly the sought after voice roused him.

“Hi neighbor.”

Royce whipped his head around to see Lana, bikini clad as usual standing next to his lounger.

“Hi,” he cheerfully responded. “You here to soak up some rays too? Pull up a lounge.”

“No,” she replied. “I need a pair of strong arms.” And a slight smile played on her lips as she noted his reaction.

“I got a real nice mirror at a garage sale last weekend,” she furthered explained. “I need help putting it up. It’s heavy.”

She noticed Royce was stealing furtive glances at her legs and she casually shifted position to give him a better look.

“So would you like to step into my place and give me a hand?”

“Sure I would,” Royce quickly replied as he practically leaped off his lounger.

“Just follow me,” Lana said and she wiggled her butt as she led the way to her apartment.

“This is my place,” she announced as she shut the door behind Royce. “Not as big, not as nice as your place.”

It was small. But the furniture although old and slightly worn looked invitingly comfortable.

“One hundred percent furnished from garage sales,” Lana informed him noticing his interest.

“I’m curious,” Royce inquired. “Do you have a job? I mean how do you…?”

“I get a small monthly check from a divorce settlement,” Lana explained. “And I was in an accident a few years ago. I invested the insurance payment and get a little bit of money from that.”

Her smile warned Royce not to inquire further. “Does that answer your questions?”

“I didn’t mean to pry,” he quickly replied. “I’m sorry if I…”

Lana stepped closer to him. “You’re cute,” she interrupted. And fingering his swim trunks commented, “Men’s swimsuits are so bulky and boring. Ever thought about wearing Speedos.”

“Speedos?” Royce responded uncertainly. And then realizing what kind of swimsuit a Speedo was the legacy of his strictly repressive upbringing kicked in and his face turned red.

“Some people love them,” Lana remarked smiling at his embarrassment as she tightened her grip on the leg of his swim trunks. “Some men want to wear a suit so tight on their crotch people can tell their sex.”

She paused to let Royce absorb that before continuing.

“Now I think men should wear their suits so tight people can tell their religion. If they need to wear a suit at all.”

And then she pulled the leg of Royce’s swim trunks all the way up to his hip and stared with delicious admiration at his now exposed leg.

“But this isn’t getting my mirror up,” she remarked with a grin as she released her grip on his swim trunks. “Let’s go to my bedroom. My one bedroom.”

As soon as Royce saw the mirror he realized why Lana needed help. What she had purchased was not merely a piece of reflective glass. The mirror was encased in a massive, ornately gilded frame.

“I want it hung on the wall. Over there,” Lana explained.

Royce lifted the mirror. It wasn’t too heavy to lift. It wouldn’t do any damage to his back, but it did have an uncomfortable amount of weight. He carried it over to the indicated wall and hoisted it into position.

“Here let me help,” Lana offered. Royce lowered the mirror to the floor. “Now put your arms around me,” Lana commanded. And she slipped into his grasp.

She turned toward the mirror and gripped the top of the frame.

“Put your hands next to mine. Move them closer together. Now lift.”

With Royce supplying the brute muscle and Lana the fine tweaking they lifted the mirror and shifted and shifted it until she was finally satisfied.

“There. That’s where I want it.”

Throughout her preoccupation with the task of positioning the mirror in exactly the right place Royce had been free to enjoy his embrace. The way Lana had insisted on placing his hands next to hers had resulted in his arms passing snuggly around her upper body. With each breath she took she pressed more tightly against him. And with a slight bit of extra pressure he could feel her boobs against his arms.

“Set it down,” Lana instructed. And when the mirror was back on the floor she released her grip and turned around to face Royce. She made no attempt to remove herself from his embrace.

“Think you can do it?” she teased with a smirk as she swayed against him pressing her tits to his chest.

“Sure, I can do it,” Royce replied. “But I’m going to need the right kind of mounting hardware. Tools too. I want to find some studs.”

Lana chuckled and grinned when Royce mentioned finding studs.

“Well, I don’t have any of those things so I guess that means a trip to the store. But I’m not sure what exactly to get.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Royce offered.

“I have an idea,” Lana responded, pressing herself more firmly to his chest. “Why don’t you go to the store and get what you need to fix that mirror. And I’ll fix dinner for just the two of us. Tonight. How does that sound?”

She punctuated the offer by rubbing her tits against him.

“Sounds great,” Royce enthusiastically agreed. “I’ll get right on it” But he made no move to disengage himself from holding Lana.

She smiled and then slowly released herself from his grip.

“Come back about seven. No, seven thirty. We’ll have dinner first, and then…”

She grinned as she touched a finger to his lips. “Dress casual.”