13TomI woke to the sound of the shower running and my body immediately reacted to the knowledge that Amanda would be naked under the spray. The very thought was enough to make my stomach churn and my cock twitch.
In order to try to brush the thought of water drizzling down her naked body, I sat up and grabbed my laptop, pulling it onto my lap. I opened the browser tab, and as usual the only page open at all times was my email. I began to do the daily routine of browsing through the various questions, complaints, and reports that filled my inbox to the brim every morning.
I was in the midst of a particularly mind-numbing report when my phone buzzed on the dresser beside me. I opened the lock screen to see a text from my PI.
Call me, it read.
I was just about to press the call button when the bedroom door opened across from me, and Amanda walked out in nothing but a towel.
My mind stopped operating, at least everything other than my eyes burning the image into my brain. Her hair was wet, and long strands whipped over her shoulder as she saw me and let out a little yelp. She grabbed at the towel, pulling it higher over her cleavage, and I noticed her skin was redder, flushed by the hot water. A droplet fell between her breasts, and I suddenly realized I needed to look away. I averted my eyes behind the laptop, pulling my knees up so it blocked my view of her.
“Oh, God,” she said, backing up to the bedroom. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were still asleep.”
“It’s fine,” I said, as she ducked back into the bedroom. Suddenly, her head popped around the doorframe and looked into the room and then to me.
“Umm,” she said, and I dramatically closed my eyes.
“Go for it,” I said and listened for the patter of her feet across the room and back. I wanted, with everything in my body, to open my eyes and watch her, but I held true. When she was back in the bathroom again, she closed the door and I let out a breath.
After staring at the closed door for a few moments, I swallowed hard and tried to regain my composure. I looked down at my hand and noticed the phone sitting in it, my thumb still in the lower center of the screen. It dawned on me I’d been about to make a phone call.
The fan in the bathroom went on and soon after, the hairdryer, so I figured I had a few minutes. I hit the Call button and sat back. The PI, Dallas Patterson, answered on the first ring.
“Tom,” he said, “glad you got back so quickly.”
“Yeah, I’m eager to hear what you’ve found out, Dallas,” I said.
“Before we begin, I do want to warn you that the information I am about to give you is not enough to get an official look by police yet. This is all public record and speculative information and should be treated as such.”
“I know the spiel, Dallas,” I said, motioning with my hands for him to get on with it even though he couldn’t see me.
“So a strange bit of information popped up on Danny’s history when I was running it through some other state records. Were you aware Danny owned another bar in another town?”
“No, I only knew about his current place. From the looks of it, he has had that place since Nixon was in office,” I said.
“Yes, well, almost. But before that bar, he had a place a few towns over. Very curious situation there. Apparently, there were two neighboring bars, much like in your situation, and they had a rather intense competition for customers.”
The door opened across from me again, and Amanda came out of the room. I could hear Dallas’s voice droning on, but my mind went blank. Even with her hair still slightly wet, and fully dressed in a black blouse and slacks, my mind filled with the vision of her wet, covered only in the towel. I shifted uncomfortably on the couch, moving the laptop to cover myself a bit more modestly. She didn’t seem to notice and went to the table where her laptop sat, opening it up and sitting down in front of it.
“Tom?” Dallas said in my ear, and I suddenly snapped back to reality.
“I’m sorry, I think my connection cut you off for a second there. I didn’t hear a word you said after the two bars were competing,” I lied.
“Right, well, the competition got rather heated, if you will excuse the pun. One day, the rival bar went up in flames,” he said. “And it too was found to be arson.” There was a pause as I processed it, and then Dallas spoke again. “Did I lose you again?”