[heartfire05]

Royce woke in the morning to the jolting impact of Lana shaking his shoulder. She was standing next to the bed, still naked and the first thing he saw as his blurry eyes opened were her swaying tits.

“Hey Sleepyhead,” she greeted him. “Time to get up.”

“No,” he moaned in weak protest. “Do I have to?”

“Up!” she insisted. “Seriously, I’ve got things to do today and I’m sure you do too.”

“Rats! I could stay in bed with you forever.”

Lana yanked back the covers and again commanded, “Up!”

Royce slowly staggered to his feet. “Worse than boot camp reveille,” he muttered.

“You know where the bathroom is,” Lana said. “If you want breakfast you’ll have to make it yourself. Back at your place.” She put a slight emphasis on that last sentence and drowsy as he was Royce got the point.

After taking care of his immediate needs Royce stepped out and found Lana in the living room. To his disappointment she was now wearing a dowdy house coat.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” he told her.

He gave Lana a warm hug and she allowed it but rebuffed his attempt to also kiss her. Royce tried to squeeze her ass but that effort was spoiled by the bulkiness of her house coat.

“Well,” he sighed, “I’ll go now. Hope to see you again, soon.”

He stepped toward the door hoping Lana would call him back. And his heart leapt into his throat when she said, “Royce.”

But whatever fantasies he entertained were immediately dashed.

“Aren’t you forgetting something,” Lana laughed. “It doesn’t matter if you want to leave your work tools here, but I really think you ought to take your clothes.”

Royce’s face flushed in embarrassment as he realized he had almost walked butt naked out into the open pool area of the apartment complex. And without his keys either to get him back in his own apartment.

He returned to the bedroom and quickly threw on his clothes.

“I’d wash those clothes if I were you,” Lana suggested as she blew him a farewell kiss.

“Oh, I really do have a lot of things to do today,” she added as he opened the door. “I’ll be gone all day and probably won’t be back till late. So if you have to make any more trips to the office today and don’t see me, that’s why.”

And now it was the following morning. Royce was on an emotional high. Yes, there were a couple of gaffes at the front door and that business of his inexperience with female anatomy was certainly jarring. But for all that he had had a really incredible night with Lana and none of the glitches seemed to bother her. And when he was washing his clothes as she had suggested his thoughts followed up on her parting words and he realized with a start that she had been noticing him all those times he walked by her patio.

All through that frustrating day he had been day dreaming about her, and visualizing another night of sexual ecstasy in her arms. Of many more nights. Today was Thursday. He had four more days of freedom until beginning his new job. Four nights to spend with Lana although with a regretful sigh he remembered he would need some rest that fourth night to be fresh at work the following morning.

Royce waited impatiently another hour before making another trip to the pool area. But this time he didn’t even pretend he was going to the office. Lana was on her patio in her bikini and tending her plants.

Her back was to him so he announced himself with a cheery, “Hi, how are you.”

Lana turned to look and Royce said, “You’re going to have to tell me what all these plants are.”

Lana responded with an amused smile. “I would if I thought my plants were what brought you over here,” she chuckled. “But unless I’ve lost my talent for judging people, you’ve never struck me as being into flora.

“Here, I can do this later,” she remarked before Royce could respond to her comment. “Let’s go inside and put on some music.”

Royce didn’t reply but his face lit up at the invitation.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Lana said, gesturing toward the sofa. And Royce eagerly sat down leaving room beside him.

“I like music in the background,” she explained. “Sometimes I tape my favorite songs.”

But for this occasion Lana put on an LP record not a tape, turning the volume down so they could talk comfortably.

“Mood music,” she commented.

Royce didn’t take any notice of the music. What did grab his attention, what disappointed him tremendously was that Lana didn’t join him on the sofa. Instead she settled herself casually in her easy chair. It was positioned at an angle on the other end of the sofa.

But if denied the pleasure of sitting next to her, of being able to make contact with her nearly naked body, at least he had her more directly in his line of sight. Lana did not have a coffee table or any other furniture in front of her sofa, and as she lounged back in her chair her bikini was the only obstruction to his view.

For a few moments they sat with only the soft and unheeded music breaking the silence. Lana was well aware of Royce’s inspection of her body and she reacted to it with no response at all. She made no move either to cover or to expose herself more fully than she already was. She simply sat back in her chair, arms resting on the armrests and legs slightly spread as they stretched out before her and let him look all he wanted.

“So what does bring you over here?” she finally asked, as if the answer wasn’t obvious with her magnificent body clad only in a bikini on display.

“I, uh thought I’d ask you out to dinner tonight,” Royce stumbled over the words he had so carefully rehearsed.

“Have to take a rain check on that,” Lana replied. “I’m having company over tonight.”

Royce’s face fell as he absorbed this double whammy of his invitation being declined combined with the thought of Lana entertaining company that didn’t include him.

Lana noted his distress and smiled. “How about Saturday night? If you’re still interested. I’m free that night. Want to take me out then?”

“Do I?” Royce practically shouted. “You bet I do.”

“Well then, consider it a date,” Lana replied. “I’ll be looking forward to it. But now, if you don’t mind…”

“Of course,” Royce laughed, now recovered from his previous disappointment. “I’ll let you get back to your plants.

“I, uh enjoyed the music,” he added, having of course no idea what had been playing.

Lana just laughed and they both stood up together. “See you Saturday,” she said and as she tended to do she made her point by placing just the slightest emphasis on that last word.

Royce hugged her and Lana returned the hug pressing herself closely to him. But as before she didn’t let him kiss her. However this time there was no bulky house coat to spoil things and Royce grabbed a quick squeeze of Lana’s butt.

Just as he was about to close the door behind him he remembered an important detail. “What time should I pick you up?”

“About seven will do,” Lana replied.

If Royce had been on an emotional high in the morning he was practically walking on air for the rest of the day. He had to force himself not to go back to Lana’s apartment and sometimes it seemed like it would be forever until Saturday. But as he debated the pros and cons of the matter he realized he didn’t want to make a pest of himself.

He had a definite date with Lana on Saturday and if he could call Tuesday night a date too that would make two dates in one week. And he had only met her Monday morning. All day long visions danced through his feverish mind of all the dates that must surely follow. The one fly in the ointment came as afternoon gave way to evening and the fading daylight signaled the approaching sunset.

Lana was having company over. Some other persons unknown to him would be in the intoxicating presence of this stunning beauty he wanted to keep for himself. New visions danced through his mind of fully and completely making Lana his girl, the two of them so bonded together that there could be no social function for one without the other being invited too.

Royce smiled at the delightful thought. But then the remembrance returned. Lana had other company tonight. He tried to busy himself with other things. He tried to watch his new color television but in his present mood whatever program was on it was more irritating than entertaining.

It was now well past sunset. Aside from the apartment lights it was quite dark. Royce paced up and down his living room a couple of times and then with sudden decision strode over to the door. He couldn’t see Lana’s apartment from his but as he stepped into the pool area he was pleased to surmise from the amount of light emanating from her patio that the curtain wasn’t drawn.

This time he took the walkway on the other side of the pool. He tried to not be obviously snooping in case someone was watching from any of the other apartments but he kept his eyes turned toward Lana’s place. As he came into line of sight he confirmed that indeed her patio curtain was open and the lights in the living room were on. And he drew up in shock at what he saw. Lana had one guest, a man who looked to be about her age. No other people seemed to be present. The man was sitting on the sofa and Lana appeared to be changing records on her player.

Royce forced himself to keep walking, all the way to the building beyond the pool where the office was located, and then through the archway that led out to the street that fronted the complex, before he turned around and came back. Again he kept to the walkway on the far side of the pool. And as he passed by he saw Lana and the man sitting together on the sofa. If there was any consolation to the sight it was that they both at least were fully dressed.

He didn’t even make it through the next half hour before he was back outside taking another trip through the pool area. And this time he noted glumly that Lana’s curtain was fully drawn.