To this Layla, who had a teenager of her own, had sniggered, “You have no idea”
The self-doubts had pursued Leander right to the card table the next day, and true to expectations, had translated itself into a very bad game; He had lost almost every hand, to the obvious amusement of his card buddies. In a final show of bravado he had bet his car, believing if he upped the stakes he could up his game. Not long after, he had been left only with the martini at hand. The dealer gave him the bottle.
Too proud to accept a ride even from Alexander Yashin, he had set off towards the bus station.
Presently, Leander lay silent in Mary’s bathtub, listening to Mary put away his dirty clothes. He found the warm bath she had drawn for him highly therapeutic, clearing his head, and easing his tensed up muscles. He had been in there for the better part of thirty minutes now, and needless to say, he was still in the bath as much for his embarrassment as he was there for his need.
He had been sure he was been followed, but now on hindsight, he was not so sure. It could have easily been alley cats or his shadow. He had heard a noise and he had run like hell. Now after the fright came the embarrassment. He had run from shadows straight to a stranger’s house, at 2a.m in the morning!
“New towel for you” Mary announced, opening the door just for a tiny bit, and tossed something in.
Leander sank deeper in the tub, the smooth soapy water sloshing over his tipsy frame, and he wishing that these were waves of the ocean about to swallow him and put his cowardly frame out of its misery.
Mary on her part was undecided about her motives for helping this random stranger. As she went about being as good a Samaritan as she could possibly be that night, she could not silence the loud voice in her head which screamed for the umpteenth time, “What is wrong with you?”
A few minutes later, Leander emerged, casting an uneasy figure, holding the new, but rather short towel about his waist. Mary was reassured by his embarrassment; it meant he was a regular guy more or less, because regular guys did not find themselves in this kind of situations. The short, barely adequate towel which he had to hold about his slim waist was partly a precaution that would ensure her a precious few seconds to reach the door if he turned out to be dangerous.
Mary had to admit to herself, however, that precaution was not the only raison d’etre for the towel. Her lonely self after taking one look at Leander’s fine –featured face had succumbed to a very naughty part of her that was becoming less and less easy to control had cooked up the idea of the skimpy towel to see if he had the body to go with that face. Now as Mary took in Leander’s fine chisel chest over his deliciously toned abs, a wave of desired washed over her, hotter than the bath she had prepared for him. As she pretended to be busy in the dim light of the house, she inwardly marveled at the physical perfection of the man, and wondered what it would feel like to be trapped in a loving embrace by such finely formed arms.
“Uh-thanks” Leander said, catching the amused look in her eye even in the dim lighting of the room he now stood in. He was inwardly grateful that nature had given him a relatively strong make up, and he had not thrown up on the floor or anything like that given the amount of alcohol he had downed on his “way” here. He observed the rather large woman, full breasted woman walking about in the bedroom before him with only a scanty silk nightgown on. She did not seem like the one to be pushed around, much less clean up after a random stranger.
“There is a hot plate in the kitchen to help absorb some of that alcohol for you if you would like” she said to him, forming a silhouette between the door posts. The light gave a clear picture of her voluptuous outline in the night gown.
It all seemed so unreal to him or was it she who seemed unreal, standing in the doorway like that all angel like. Leander felt an excited tingle grow from his head and all the way to the pit of his stomach, and he turned away to hide the growing bulge underneath the towel she had given him.
“Yes, I would like that very much.” He mumbled.
Mary did not know that butts came in such perfect shapes and sizes and she had to literally drag herself away from the door post and the titillating view of his firm posterior.