Pauline Orr - The Ultimate Erotic Short Story Collection 18

“You look as lovely as your profile picture Bernie, even lovelier in fact,” he said with a smile once they were settled at their table “I’m so glad we agreed to do this.”

“You’re exactly how I pictured you,” Charlotte said quietly, sipping her water “I’m glad too, I’m so happy we decided not to wait any longer.”

“So…” Bruce began, leaning on the table and looking at her “How am I doing so far?”

“Wonderfully,” Charlotte said with a giggle “For one thing you were early! You’re the first man I’ve met from that site who understands the meaning of punctuality.”

“Tell me about it,” Bruce said “I was in the area doing some errands and I finished sooner than I thought. I remembered you saying that it really annoyed you to be kept waiting so I figured bugger it I’ll go early and surprise you.”

“It was a very wonderful surprise, one of the best yet,” Charlotte said quietly.

Bruce smiled at her and reached for her hand. The rest of the date passed in a blur for Charlotte, she had so much fun. Bruce was the perfect gentleman, making sure she was happy with everything they did, he held the door for her, helped her into her seat. His good manners made her think for a moment about Percy and she dared to ask Bruce where his mother was.

She breathed a sigh of relief when he explained that she was still in New Zealand and had no intention of coming to the UK any time soon. Charlotte couldn’t stop smiling as Bruce insisted on paying for everything, the first of any of her dates to do so. She was reluctant to end their date, slowly meandering through the streets talking as they returned to her bus stop.

Bruce wouldn’t leave her there, he waited patiently with her for her bus to arrive and when she was about to get on he gently pulled her towards him and kissed her softly and chastely on the lips. She had smiled the whole way home. Although the entire date Bruce had found ways to touch her in some way she had delighted at that first hint of proper physical contact.

Even as she lay in bed that night she could remember the feel of his smooth lips on hers, the heat that came from him and the spark she had felt low in her gut as her desire for him flared.

The next day she was ecstatic as she walked into Sylvia’s house for their weekly meet-up and as soon as her friends saw her face they began to quiz her. She told them everything, every minute detail of her date with Bruce and the girls all cooed with excitement at the news.

“There was something a little odd that kept happening though,” she said hesitantly. The girls all looked at her with worry.

“He didn’t creak when he moved did he?” Beth said worriedly “Because if he creaked he was probably wearing a latex suit. I don’t think you’d be in to that kind of thing Bernie. If he creaked chuck him immediately.

“He didn’t creak,” Charlotte said with a laugh “It was more about how some people reacted to him…”

“Well the man is gorgeous,” Sylvia said quietly, sipping her wine. The girls turned to look at her. She shrugged “What?! I’ve seen his profile picture, Bern showed me!”

“It wasn’t that.” Charlotte said shaking her head “There was… no I’m just being silly, never mind.”

Her friends demanded she tell them, insisting that she wasn’t being silly and reluctantly she told them everything odd that happened.

“There was this woman that came up to him as we walked towards the park. He likes walking you see and you know I love the park,” Charlotte explained. “Anyway, this woman was shouting at him for ages, walking behind us. I thought she was shouting someone else at first because she kept calling out the name Graham but she wasn’t she was shouting at me and Bruce, well, Bruce at least.

She must have thought he wasn’t paying attention because next thing I know she’s ran up to us and has Bruce by the elbow. She starts talking to him about some woman and calling him Graham but he tried to stop her. Finally he managed to get her to shut up long enough to say she had the wrong person. She didn’t think so but he insisted so much that finally she gave up and walked away. She looked so confused though.”

Sylvia, Beth and Chloe all looked at each other in confusion before turning back to Charlotte.

“And then it happened again!” She cried out. “We stopped for a coffee in a little cafe off the high street and this man walks by our table. The guy did a double-take and I mean a double-take, walking backwards and everything.

Then he starts talking about some woman to Bruce again, the same woman that the lady from earlier mentioned. Bruce managed to get rid of him eventually, insisting he had the wrong person but the guy wouldn’t listen and kept going on and on about some woman.

It took the owner of the cafe and three customers to get him to shut up and leave. He was getting very angry and I swear I thought he was going to punch Bruce in the face or something. It was so scary.”

The friends all looked at each other, confusion written all over their faces. Charlotte watched them, her heart sinking again as she thought through the less than brilliant parts of her date. Maybe Bruce was another dud guy. She said as much to her friends but they immediately jumped in.

“No Bernie!” Chloe cried out, placing a comforting hand on Charlotte’s wrist. “It happens all the time; people think someone’s another person.”

“Yeah,” agreed Beth, “It’s sounding like something bad is happening between the woman and this Graham bloke and obviously anyone involved is all upset. No one thinks right when they’re upset do they?”

“What was the woman’s name that they kept mentioning anyway?” Sylvia asked.

“Jennie or Jessie or Jasmine maybe?” Charlotte said hesitantly. “I’m not sure, the people were both speaking so fast and I was so uncomfortable I didn’t really pay attention.”

“And he’s sure he doesn’t know anyone by that name?” Sylvia said quietly. Charlotte nodded and Sylvia smiled “Well then I reckon there’s nothing to worry about. Just chalk it up to a case of mistaken identity and arrange the next date!”

***

On Monday Charlotte did just that. Bruce had been apologetic when she first called him, saying sorry over and over for the events of their date. She shushed him immediately and asked when he’d like to go out again.

He couldn’t believe it she could tell that much from his voice and she wasn’t surprised when he asked if she were sure. She’d laughed and assured him that she really did want to see him again. He happily agreed and they made plans for the following Friday.

Date after date followed. There were no more interruptions by people insisting that Bruce was someone called Graham although for their second date both Bruce and Charlotte had spent a large portion of the time looking around, expecting someone to appear and start harassing Bruce.

They had laughed as they had caught each other doing it and fear assuaged they continued the rest of the date focused solely on each other. Charlotte began to feel a deeper and deeper connection to Bruce, her thoughts began to focus on him more and more when he wasn’t around.

Bruce admitted to the same when she told him and their conversations grew more and more intimate, focusing on a future together, holidays, a house, maybe even a wedding and some children. They spoke every night before they went to sleep, even on the evenings that they spent together on a date.

It wasn’t just their conversations that changed. The kisses that Bruce insisted on giving Charlotte every time they parted ways at the end of an evening began to evolve too. What had started as chaste loving pecks on the mouth soon changed to prolonged kisses and then tongues got involved. Each kiss got steamier and steamier, the contact between their bodies becoming less and less as they pressed closer and closer together.