Let it Snow

"I'll write this and I'll even hand-deliver them because I want to see Kathrin's face when she reads it. You better tell me what she says when she phones you back about this note, and she will."

I promised, although I had my doubts that Mandy wouldn't stick around to see Kathrin read the note.

It took an hour before Carol sent through a call. This time she left the door open.

"You do know that damn note has been around the bank's personnel twice and shared with half the customers that have been in here."

I felt a little warm around my ears. "It was meant for your eyes only, but I'm pleased to see good literature can be shared."

The laugh warmed my heart. "I hardly think, and I'm quoting here since I have it in my hand."

At this point, she even faked a cough to emphasize the importance of what she said next. I couldn't see why. I dictated it to Mandy so I knew what was in it... unless...

"My dear Kathrin, I'm sorry for being such a shit when we last spoke. You can kick me under the table later tonight to make up for it. See you tonight when I pick you up."

Well, at least the note got me out of jail. We talked times and I hung up and then re-dialed Mandy's flowers. She answered at the first ring, giving me little doubt that she was expecting me to call.

"Well? Did it work?"

"Considering that wasn't the note that was supposed to be with the flowers, yes it did."

She sighed before saying. "Nick, telling her to wear the red dress with the slits up to her thighs on your first date isn't what a woman wants to read when she's holding flowers."

"So if she had read the bottom line, that wouldn't have worked either?"

This time my friend laughed. "No, Nick, if you mean the last line being... 'And back to my place for drinks.' No. It would work for me, and you know that, but not for people like Kathrin."

The pause was unexpected from her. Mandy was a friend at school and we even dated for a while, but she admitted to herself that she was never going to be marriage material. Her motto had always been, so many men and just not enough time. However, we parted on great terms and I would always class her as a dear friend. Hell, she even had my number in case one of her cocks got a little too serious on her.

So, what Mandy said next held my attention.

"Put your A game into this one, Nick. I've had a few conversations with her over the last few days. She's helping me expand the shop via a huge amount of some very sound advice. She's a keeper and from the outside looking in, she's going to be good for you. Go get her, my friend, and you will be amazed at how many people around here want this for both of you."

I felt the softness in my old school friend's voice as we spoke. We both knew that if we were in the same room it would be hug time for us both. The phone clicked at her end and I sat thinking about my friend's advice.

Tony placed her in my care so many months ago and once we had established some boundaries, we actually got on really well that night. It was clear for all to see that she was well educated and way above my pay grade. I was just happy that she was in our circle of friends. It meant I got to talk to her, find out more about her, or rather what she was willing to share with us... although I fully believed that Marlene knew more about her than she was ever going to admit to.

But if Marlene gave her seal of approval, then she was worth it, even as the new member of our group.

*******

On the way home I pulled into the gas station, ran a hose and a sponge over the car and even bribed Mrs. Johnson's two boys from next door to clean out the inside of the car while I got showered and changed. They both sure smiled at my tip for a job well done. I pulled up outside Kathrin's apartment building; she was already waiting for me inside. Her red hair looked fantastic; it was braided in some areas and sat as a bob on the top of her head, exposing a really cute neck for all to see.

The heels were a compromise: at a guess I would say two inches. Both together kept you looking at just how much that knee length dress of hers made her ass look even more amazing. The shawl did its job of keeping her warm, while also showing those who looked her way that she sure had a rack.

We made it to Giovanni's with ten minutes to spare for our booking. Kathrin's smile lit up the room. The women there admired, and more than a few smiled and nodded to her, just as more than a few men looked and drooled, before being kicked under the table to remind them who they came to dinner with.

The meal was nice; the company was stunning and I made sure told I her so, several times in fact. I regarded it as a social experiment. I connected giving her compliments to her neck and her cheeks going a cute shade of pink. It did leave me wondering when the last time was that she had either allowed one or had a compliment meant in such a way that she knew it was the truth.

About an hour into our meal her hand came across the table and gently squeezed mine before saying. "The dress with the slits up the thighs is for the third date."

I choked on my soda water. Kathrin's eyes shone with that "I know a secret" look and knew I was in trouble. It's always amazed me just how much women share.

Thinking bravado would work, I said, "Well, you can't blame a guy for trying."

For a moment my thoughts were that I had said something wrong. Her hand squeezed mine tighter this time and my concentration on this woman was total.

Kathrin drew breath and she smiled. A part of me wondered if her smile was forced, almost like she wanted to have this conversation, but not sure of the answers.

"Nick, we got off to a stuttering start. You introduced me to your friends that night in your truck and over a very short period of time I've been welcomed by the whole town. Either way we look at this, this is my home now. But I have just one stumbling block. You."

Her hand once again squeezed mine, only gently this time.

"Marlene figured it out over time, because I was asking so many questions about you that I couldn't lie about the reasons why anymore. She told me flat out to just ask you, but I'm a female of the species and still believe that's your job."

Her eyes watered right about then, and that's when I had to fight the urge to pull her to her feet and hug her, regardless of the fact we were still sitting slap bang in the middle of Giovanni's.

"Despite what you see, Nick, I'm still a traditionalist at heart, and I need you to do the asking, the talking and you better damned well make sure you lead when we dance."

Eventually, I plucked up the courage and asked, "Kathrin, why me?"

She opened her mouth to answer but I decided to continue.

"I mean I'm nothing special, just a truck driver."

This time Kathrin burst out laughing, causing those around us to look over, stare for a moment before smiling and returning to their own conversation.

"That's what you want everyone to think, and I admire you for that. For instance, you tell everyone that the company is owned by your father. The only reason I know differently is because the bank manages your business account."

Our waitress cleared the table and asked if we wanted desert. Kathrin looked at me and all I could think to say was that we were going dancing. Both women smiled and the waitress told us she would have the bill ready for us when we got our coats.

She raised an eyebrow and the smile followed before she said. "Dancing?"

"Yep, you look like you need a hug and there just isn't enough room here for that. Oh, I forgot to mention. My version of dancing, hold on tight and shuffle."

Just then her eyes lit up. Now I've heard her laugh many times since she had joined our group and yet there seemed to be a kind of huskiness in her voice when she said, "Now that's my kind of dancing."

With coats on, bill paid and a "have fun" from our waitress, we walked hand in hand to the car. Knowing that Kathrin had a need to talk openly, it did seem best to take her back to my place; the lack of interruption was my main reason. The smile from her as we pulled up made me realize that perhaps she had another reason to add to it later.

While I got the drinks, Kathrin walked over to my music station and worked her way through my records, pulling one out every now and then to read the playlist before putting it back. By the time I was walking back into the room, she had some classical music on the system. I put the drinks down and she met me in the middle of the room. Dancing had never been a strong point of mine. All through school I loathed it and would stand at the back while the "gifted" kids showed off for the girls.

Thankfully for me, "Saturday Night Fever" came out after I left school. It didn't stop me seeing legions of men walking around in white suits over the weekends. Every now and then I would lift my eyes to the sky and thank the Gods for their timing.

Kathrin kicked off her heels and met me in the middle of the room. My arms rested on her hips. My hands rested attentively on her ass while I gauged her permission for them to be there. Kathrin retaliated by sliding her arms between mine and wrapped them around me. It was only then I took a firmer hold and she turned her head and rested it onto my chest as we swayed from side to side. The music was on but all I could do was smile and smell her hair, while I wondered if she could hear my heartbeat a million times an hour.

"Thank you," came from Kathrin.

Well, that confused me and, although I tried to look at her, she wouldn't move from her position against me.

The cute little giggle came before she said. "Nope. I've got you this far and I'm not going backwards, Nick. I need to talk and, please, you need to listen so very much."

I'm sure the slight nod of my head on hers was enough.

"I know what I want, Nick. I'm an independent woman, and that's a difficult thing to be in this era. But, saying that I need a man standing by me that has to be as strong as me, to say no when I'm too focused on something, to realize I'm placing myself in danger or that I'm doing something that would make me look stupid."

It seems that losing it with her in my truck pulled her up. It was more the way I did it that caught her attention. Although I raised my voice and she could tell I was real pissed at her, not one swear word passed my lips.

She raised an eyebrow and reminded me word for word, what I had said to her when the frustrations of the evening culminated in her becoming a screaming banshee. With the straightest face I could bring to the party, I told Kathrin that what I said was actually foreplay. I must say, she held it together for a good three minutes before her face broke into a smile and her laugh soon followed.

The banter between us was easier since she had been part of the group for close to a year now. But tonight was different; neither of us wanted it to be, that would feel like starting all over again, and that's something that we were just not prepared to do. We both stood there with a year's worth of friendship between us. Standing in the middle of the room, gently pushing that boundary that only friends have and both wanting to see what was on the other side. That evening caused her to take a real hard look at me.

Getting me to talk about my friends that snowy evening also gave her more insight into why Tony left her in my care. Kathrin made a point of going to the hospital to put a face to a name, and both girls had been firm friends ever since.

More so with the bank closing and all the time Marlene telling her to wait it out, everything was taken care of. As the days passed and Kathrin was included into our little group, her attention turned towards me and, of course, the endless questions asked of Marlene from her new friend.

Marlene wasn't stupid. She knew what was going on in her friend's head, but getting both her friends out of the friend zone and at least looking at dating was worse than root canal work (her words I'm told). Eventually, Marlene had had enough and flat out told Kathrin to get it done herself or she would do it for her.

I could feel her body shudder against mine as she came to the end of her story. I had to stifle a laugh. My school friend was never one to broach any topic with a hint of subtlety. Honesty was Marlene's friend and she sure took advantage of that, getting the rest of us into trouble on many an occasion.

Marlene's insistence on the new inclusion of her friend into our group wasn't met with anything but smiles; to me, we were welcoming the newcomer to our town and making her feel welcome. As the weeks turned into months and Kathrin became firmly embedded into our group, at times it almost felt like she had always been with us.

*******

A memory of a few weeks back seeped into my thoughts. Marlene had a hard rule: all her children were taught to swim, even at an early age. The drowning of Eddie Johnson in eighth grade in three feet of water shocked us all. My friend was making sure that she never lost a child at such a young age. Kathrin joined us at the pool in a one piece and I stared, a lot.

Marlene for her part dug me in the ribs and said, "You never looked at me like you're looking at her."

"That's called self-preservation; at school, Tony was bigger than I was. Now, of course, he legally carries a gun, so you expect me to look at you like I look at Kathrin?" The whole pool heard my friend laugh.

Kathrin's head moved from my chest and I quickly hid my last thoughts once again in the recesses of my memory, when her face looked up at me, the flush of her cheeks made her look a little vulnerable.

"So tonight leads us here." She glanced at our arms interlocked around the other's body, "Like this."

My smile may have given her forewarning. To be honest, though, I think it was more the raging hard-on pressed against her that gave me away.

"Nick, I need to see if this, we work. I want to move us out of the friend zone and into a relationship and if it's even a fraction of what Marlene and Tony have then you're mine forever. But please, Nick, if for any reason it just doesn't get there, then please let me go. I can't do the friends with benefits with anyone."

Her shoulders shrugged as she came to the end of her statement. Kathrin then placed her head once again against my chest. I'm not sure I was meant to hear her say, "I'm just not that kind of girl."

Neither of us realized that the music had ended; we both still shuffled around the floor, content to be in each other's arms. Occasionally her body would do a wriggle across mine to see if my erection was still alive.

"Sorry, it's not my intention to give you blue balls, but this next step is the biggie." Her head once again lifted away and she looked at me. "It's time Nick, please take me to bed."

My first instinct was to ask her if she was sure. That lasted but a second when I thought back through the evening. Kathrin had been building slowly to this point, pulling us both along at her speed. I could see why both girls got on so well; they both had that attitude of all or nothing. Tonight was the culmination of all, from the warm-bodied goddess in my arms at the moment.

Hand in hand I led her into my bedroom, silently thankful that I made the bed this morning.

"Before I let you undress your present, I need to get this out."

Kathrin then pulled at my belt and undid my pants, dropping them and my underwear around my ankles. I'm sure my hard-on thanked her for the fresh air.

"That was two-fold, I've messed with junior for a while now and he needed the freedom. Plus, if I get cold feet, it's going to be hard for you to chase me with your pants around your ankles."

I roared with laughter. In one sentence this woman had just stuck a pin in whatever tension there was left between us. I got to undress my present, still with my pants down and my hard-on showing, and I must say that the one-piece bathing suit she always wore when she came with us to the swimming pool hid her charms well. Her skin was flawless in her antique-colored lace panties and bra. Her breasts were full and sure looked at home in that bra; the slight tremble as I just stood and stared at her only adding to the charm.

We all knew she attended Fat Eddie's Gym on a regular basis. Doreen Mitchell got Fat Eddie's in the divorce. She liked the name, but told everyone that she couldn't afford the cost of a new sign. She even introduced a Wednesday "Women Only" night and it was well attended. The guys complained so they got the Thursday night as "Men Only," and the complaints dropped to zero. More so when Doreen added a few more televisions into the gym, I think.

The gym work showed she had abs. The biggest shock for me was the lack of hair down there; I had never seen that before. Her finger came to my lower jaw and pushed it back up.

"You're drooling. I'm getting the feeling you like your present?"

"What's not to like?" was the only question before I got onto my knees, grabbed her hips, pulled her to me and buried my face into the first hairless pussy I had ever seen.

I knew I was lost to this woman from that moment. She tasted amazing and my mind screamed at my body to never let her go. I drank from the well and when she orgasmed while trying desperately hard to hold onto me, I bathed in the result of her orgasm.

Somewhere in that evening, I do actually remember standing up, taking mere seconds to take off what was left of clothes on me and lifting Kathrin off her feet and carrying a giggling woman to bed with me. She lay on her back and laughed. I parted her legs and dove right back in there and this time her laugh turned to a groan. I'm almost sure she was talking to me at one stage, but her thighs clasping my head meant I had no chance of ever hearing her.

Eventually, she had to pull me off. She twisted away from me and I got a real good look at the goddess lying on my bed. She was gasping for breath, sweat poured from her body so much that it actually looked like she had just come out of the shower. It was her eyes that held me. So open and alive, the smile on her face did the best it could to match her eyes.

"You're killing me, baby. We haven't even fucked yet and I've already lost count of how many orgasms I've had."

I leaned over and grabbed her arm pulling, a giggling woman to the middle of the bed, her legs opened wide as I pulled her towards me. My hands held her thighs and I positioned myself between her thighs, and without much ceremony I sank all of me into her soaked pussy, sharing her own juices with her in the form of a kiss.

That act alone simply ignited the fuse after that, and the sex just got feral between us.

When I woke, she was lying across me, her head on my chest. She giggled again. I don't think I could go a day without hearing that from her.

"I know you're awake; your heart rate has changed."

My hands sought her body and I pulled her up me. We were eye to eye when I said, "When can you move in?"

That smile of hers just got bigger. Damned if I knew how, but it did.

"The lease runs out in six months on my apartment."

I shook my head. "That's too long. The end of the week and I'll pay the penalty on your apartment. Oh, and you girls need to work on wedding plans; I'm taking you off the market. Are you taking my last name or are you doing that stupid hyphen shit with your last name?"

The smile stayed the same, her eyes did that saucer thing again.

"Nope, your last name will be fine."

We made love after that, long no-holes-barred love. I explored the bits I missed earlier and Kathrin found the bits she hadn't soaked with her pussy juices yet.

*******

Marlene knew the second we walked through the door. The smug look and the "I told you so" comment were waiting in the wings, as well. As for me, well, a gentleman never tells. That didn't stop both women hiding in the kitchen while Tony and I took care of the children.