Jason sat on the edge of the bed beside her to put his shoes on. “Can I never walk away from you without a tent in the front?” Claire tried to contain her amusement as she looked down at the front of his pants. “Think it’s funny huh? You aren’t exactly getting off lightly either.” At his pointed gaze, Claire saw the clear outline of her hard ni**les against the front of the night shirt. Claire crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out at him. With a chuckle, Jason tapped her playfully on the nose and said, “I’ll call you later, be careful on your errands today.” Another quick kiss and he was gone.
Claire laid back in bed going over the previous night in her mind. Jason was an exceptional lover. He only took his pleasure when he was sure that she had hers first. His self-control seemed limitless. She’d expected the sex to be hot but was surprised at the tenderness that had been so much a part of it. In her limited experience, sex had never been that enjoyable.
Even when Suzy was raving about it, Claire wondered what all the fuss was about. Now she knew she’d never been with anyone who actually cared about her pleasure; Jason had dedicated himself to it. Just thinking about it made her core ache with need. Maybe it’s time for a cold shower and a towel to wipe the drool. Claire still had the desire to pinch herself to make sure she was awake.
~~~
Claire called Louise and explained she was going out of town on business again. Even if Louise wondered why she was suddenly traveling a lot, she didn’t ask. Claire quickly wrote down a list of supplies she needed and promised her she would be over after lunch. She was driving downtown when a store caught her eye. Claire pulled into a parking space in front of a thrift store that Suzy often frequented. Excited about the week with Jason, she decided to do something she hadn’t done for pleasure in years; go in a store to shop for herself.
She knew there was something ironic about buying clothes a couple of days after taking out a loan to fix her mother’s roof, but for once she wanted to think of herself. For the first time in so long, she wanted to feel young and carefree for just this week. Reality would come crashing down soon enough.
Claire entered the store and was excited to see all the beautiful clothing filling rack after rack. A pretty girl around her own age came up to her as she was looking through some dresses. “Hey there, I’m Ashley, what’re we looking for today?”
Claire smiled at her and said, “I’m going to Charleston for the week, and I would like some casual clothes, something different.”
With a wiggle of her eyebrows, Ashley asked, “For business or pleasure?” Taking note of Claire’s blush at the question, Ashley smiled and said, “Ok, pleasure.”
Soon Claire’s arms were loaded with colorful sun-dresses, Capri-pants and sleeveless tops. Claire modeled each selection for Ashley. Finally, she ended up with a short yellow sundress with multi-colored flowers on the bottom of it and another sundress in turquoise. Her favorite was a halter dress in a beautiful emerald-green color that made her eyes sparkle and put her br**sts proudly on display.
Ashley matched the sun-dresses up with cute strappy sandals and the halter dress with high heeled wedge sandals that laced up her ankles. She also selected some shorts that showed entirely too much leg and a few pairs of Capri linen pants with matching silk tanks. Ashley even matched up costume jewelry that complimented each outfit.
Claire cringed as she waited for Ashley to ring up her purchases. She was relieved and surprised that the total was far less than she could have hoped for or expected. She thanked Ashley profusely and assured her she would be back. With a spring in her step, Claire left the shop humming.
So this is what being in love feels like. Wow! Where had that thought come from? It was more like being in lust. Sex with someone hardly qualified as love. Still, it was such a great feeling to have someone to want to look attractive for. Claire hadn’t felt that way since college. The few people she’d dated since then never filled her with the desire to buy different clothing, or want to look more feminine.
Until Jason, Claire had never noticed anything lacking from her wardrobe or her social life. There was a nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her that this couldn’t last, but for once, she was going to live in the moment. No matter what happened between them, she knew she would be better for having this time with Jason; even if it was only brief.
Claire checked her phone to see if she’d missed any calls while inside the store and saw that she had a new message. Eagerly playing it, hoping it was Jason, Claire was disappointed to hear Pam’s voice. She wanted Claire to know that she had hired a new girl for the bachelor parties. When Claire had weekends available again, Pam would try to schedule some work for her. She made it clear though that Claire's days of having all the weekend parties were over.
Maybe it was for the best. She could probably pick up a weekend clerical job at one of the area hospitals, the difference being it would require more hours than Partiez Plus had. Next week she would sign up with an employment agency and see what they had to offer.