It took longer than I had expected to upload all of my changes yesterday. I made myself a few minutes late to dinner. George and Al, my friends from Minnesota were waiting in the lobby, with Roxy, an engineer I'd seen at some of the sessions. Oh, and they're not from Minneapolis. They're from St. Paul. Sorry!
We took a taxi to the South Beach and ate seafood. Roxy grilled me with questions until George claimed he'd had enough business talk... though, predictably, we still talked about little else. But it was less focused, less demanding after that.
They're all a little older than me, mid-thirties, I'd guess. Al may be in his early forties.
There was a rumble of thunder while we ate, but it passed us by. The skies had cleared when we got back to the hotel, and Roxy suggested an evening swim in the ocean. We could officially claim to be tourists, she said.
As a tourist I decided it would be okay to wear my other swimsuit, so I changed into that, and took a towel and a thin coverup with me to the beach.
We swam for an hour or so, then adjourned to the beachfront bar. Roxy's swimsuit was perhaps not quite as revealing as mine, but it clearly showed the tan lines from what must be her regular swimwear. And how do you get a tan that deep in Minnesota anyway?
I hadn't bothered with my wrap, Roxy's attire seemed to make it redundant, but Ken found us at the bar, and I wished I had covered up more. He bought us all drinks for a time - apparently my three friends are with an important customer - then headed in after dark.
Al and Roxy decided to swim in the brightly-lit pool for a time while George and I talked. He was wishing he'd been able to bring his kids. When the others returned, we had another drink, then Roxy claimed that we needed to see her room, that she had one of the best views in the hotel.
We followed her back to her room, but as dark as it was, all we could really see was the pool and bar, and I really didn't get an idea of how good her view was. I didn't stay long, and when I left, George came too, and I said goodnight to him at his floor in the elevator.
Today, as I'd hoped, I went down to the beach. Ken was there, with the sales people. He congratulated me on my session, which apparently was well-received, and we talked about the conference for a while.
When George wandered by, I left my things with Ken's group, and we walked for a ways, then swam for a time. Al and Roxy turned up later, and I went back to get my camera... Brian's camera, actually, which he loaned to me for the trip. Roxy took some photos of me with the guys, and I took some of them that I'll email to her.
I've started work on two more stories. I don't know why they seem to occur to me in pairs, but... Last Saturday was the anniversary of our engagement. Not that we seem any closer to being married that we were then, but we've been committed to it for a year, and we decided to celebrate Texas style.
We took a taxi to a local steakhouse. This is a great place which has live music every night (though the best acts are on Friday and Saturday) and a large dance floor in the center. It's huge. 'Course, you'll never hear anything but country music. I don't much like country, but it's good for dancin' :-)
So we ate plenty, drank more, and danced more still. The idea for one of the stories came to me while we were sitting watching the cowboys on the dance floor.
Actually, it's a story I'd been thinking about for a few days. It began life as an interest shared by a woman and a friend of her husband, which grew into something much more than an interest. I played with using golf, a dog show, and even a string quartet, but nothing really worked. Then at the steakhouse something clicked, and I set her in his band.
As always, the characters developed minds of their own, and the fact that he's a friend of her husband is almost irrelevant now... I might even drop that part of it and use it for a different story.
But back to the steakhouse. I was picturing the situation, and finding it was making me hot. I did something I'd never done before... I told Brian about the idea while it was still forming. Told him a story, while we were slow-dancing. And I could feel that it was getting him pretty turned on, too.
So we got our return cab, and held each other tightly until we got home. Brian snuck his hand under my blouse and played with my nipples, which was deliciously frustrating. I wasn't frustrated for long after we got back home, though :-)
And that, the next day, was what gave me an idea for a second story. I'd already made notes on "The Ropers", but hadn't begun to write, when I started thinking about the taxi ride. And, specifically, about Brian's fascination with my breasts.
It isn't unusual, in my experience, and there isn't anything wrong with it - God knows I've always been very happy with the interest my boyfriends have had in my boobs - but I don't completely understand what it is about breasts which fascinate a man. Not as much or as deeply as it usually seems to.
Brian and I have been living together over a year now. He sees me naked every day. He could probably draw every whorl and line from memory. Certainly I'm sure that he could identify my boobs from any other girl's by touch... not that I'm ever going to give him the chance :-)
But still, if I wear a loose top, I see him trying to catch a peek if I bend over, or watching the way they bounce. Or becoming instantly hard if I'm taking off a bra.
By now they should be familiar territory for him, but still, they turn him on. I don't understand it, but I love it.
So I started another story built around not any strong emotional ties, or even a situation, just a guy's desire kindled by seeing more than he expects of a girl's breasts. Working bent over in the yard just seemed a natural, and I had almost finished "The Garden" when I finally got back to writing "The Ropers".
They're both about ready. I'll upload them in the next couple of days.
6-15-00 Thursday
Work has gotten back to fast-paced normal. I've spent a lot of the time since I returned from Florida working with Susie to get the network re-designed. It isn't my job, anymore, but she's short-handed, and software development is steaming along nicely. Everything was in a complete mess in IT. I think if Darrell hadn't been fired when he did, we'd be close to meltdown soon.
Anyway, Susie's interviewing now. Karen and Kelly are working together well, finally. Relieving the stress of Darrell's management must have helped. And I saw Larry and Kelly leaving together the other day... Hmmm. I thought Larry was married.
Ken warned me that I may be going to Vancouver next month. A major customer's deploying, and he wants me to be on site. I've never been into Canada. I should email Keith and find out what's to do up there. He's in the Seattle area, which isn't far from there.
I decided to keep the friend-of-the-husband aspect of "The Ropers". The plot point it allows isn't important, but I like it.