The Office Party

Part 36

It doesn't take me long to get ready, and when I get back downstairs I find Diana has put some more coffee on and started making fried eggs on toast. I pour myself a mug of coffee and top hers up, then lean on the side to watch her. She glances over. 'Do you want to do this? Instead of me taking over your kitchen?'

I wave a hand. 'No, you carry on. I'll lay the table in a minute.' I gather my hair up and twist it round into a rough bun, holding it in place with some pins and a chunky plastic grip.

She grins and goes back to the eggs. 'I thought we could eat outside, it's so nice.' Another glance back. 'If you like.' She looks a little worried when she looks at me, as if conscious that her natural bossiness might just look like rudeness in my house.

I smile at her, and like the way that, however much she feels she needs to watch her step, she makes no effort at all to hide her approval of the short-sleeved blouse and denim skirt I've chosen to wear. Enjoying the feel of her gaze on me, I turn and get the stuff to lay the little table on the patio. 'Good idea, Diana.' Glancing back from the back door, I notice her blatantly eyeing me up – the skirt is quite short, to be fair. I chuckle to myself. If she wants to tease herself by waiting until tonight, fine, but I'm not going to make it easy for her.

***

After breakfast, we wash up. She mutters about getting a newspaper, so I give her directions to the local paper shop and generally tidy up after ourselves while she's gone. I put a load of washing on, as I've been letting it pile up a bit while I've been spending weekends at hers, and like it that when she gets back she's happy to sit around in the garden with the paper while I potter. In fact, I get three loads done and am starting to peg out the last lot when I feel her behind me again.

She takes a dress out of the basket and rummages for some pegs in the bag hanging from the line. She nudges me with her body. 'I'm sorry, I should have offered to help before.'

'It's fine. Thanks, though.' I watch her peg the dress to the line, relieved that she does it the same way as I would – or maybe she's just been observant and seen how I prefer to do it, without having to be asked. I decide I like that explanation. 'This is the last lot for now, I promise.'

She turns and bends down to the basket to pick up a blouse. 'It all needs to be done, though, doesn't it?' Her free hand, as she straightens up, casually strokes my back, drifting down over the curve of my bum in my skirt briefly, before she reaches for some pegs. She glances along the line to check how I hang out my blouses, then asks, 'What do you think about taking a trip into town this afternoon?' (In our town, “into town” always means into the nearby city where there's more to do.) She goes on, 'There's a new exhibition on at the gallery, that might be interesting to have a look at.'

Diana and I have been into town a few times before, and it's always been nice. 'OK,' I say. 'Good idea. We could stay up there and go out for tea, if we want.' At the back of my mind, I think that there's the Smutty Duck as well, and I wonder if Diana might be persuaded to go there. She didn't mind the gay bar here, after all, and it would be lovely to sit with her somewhere public and make no secret of how I feel about her. Lovely to hold her hand in public, kiss her, cuddle against her and maybe even enjoy the envious glances of other women as they realise she's not looking at them any more. And especially to do all that now she's promised that tonight will be the night.

She reaches down into the linen basket and comes up holding a pair of my knickers. They're not awful – in fact they're quite nice: not special occasion ones but just about cute and pretty enough to be interesting – but I blush heavily as she holds them up casually. She glances at me as if she's imagining them on me, cocking one eyebrow quizzically. Then she grins and turns to peg them on the line. I think I see her lick her lips quickly and swallow a little, but that could just be wishful thinking. The fact that she makes no overt reference to them at all is actually surprisingly sexy in itself. Instead, she says, 'I thought you might want to do a bit of shopping.'