The first date

Is this too much? Or not enough? God, I haven’t been this nervous since my wedding day.

Standing in front of my bedroom mirror, I checked my appearance once again. The royal blue button up, black slacks, and black dinner jacket looked good on me. My dirty blonde hair, parted on the side, and freshly trimmed beard added a sense of maturity to my otherwise average face. I didn’t work out per say but working in construction left me a pleasant muscle mass.

“How the hell did I get myself in this predicament again?” Just thinking of my date sent an electric shock throughout my body ending on at my stiff erection. “She is way out of my league. It can’t be the money, she probably makes as much as I do. Its not the looks, she is a 12 out of 10. I guess it’s the personality she mentioned she needed.”

The thought of my last meeting with Erica brought another smile to my face. Feeling guilty, I quickly look at the picture on my nightstand. Amber, my deceased wife, and I looked so happy on our honeymoon. This is part of the reason I agreed to this date. I knew she would not want me to slump around feeling sorry for myself. She might not have wanted me to find a date so quickly, but she would understand that I had to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I love you babe” I whisper to the picture. Then with a quick chuckle I add, “And you would be proud of me, my date is fucking hot.” This brought back all the times we leered at hot women together. She really was the perfect woman for me.

“Well this will have to do, wish me luck dear.”

*************

Did I mention she was fucking HOT. I had arrived at the high class restaurant downtown 15 minutes early to ensure my table was ready when Erica got there. Sitting so I could see the entrance, I watched as the epitome of feminine sexuality strutted into the room. She was sexy and she knew it. An uneasy silence swept over the restaurant as men and women alike looked at this beautiful creature that just walked in. With a half wave, I caught Erica’s attention and the attention of many guests around me. The toothy smile she gave me as she walked toward our table was enough to give me butterflies, or stop my heart. Not really sure as I think I blacked out as well. I was able to recover just in time to stand up and return her embrace and pull out her chair. After I pushed her chair in and returned to mine, I lost all my carefully nurtured gentlemen traits and just goofily smiled at her.

“You know that goofy smile is cute, but I already told you I want personality as well.”

“Well if you wanted personality, you can’t walk around wearing that. That is how you get brain dead guys who can only think of one thing.” She definitely had a preferred style as she was in her signature full length high cut dress, although this time it was a navy blue. “Besides, I think we are already pretty intune” I said as I motion to my shirt and her dress.

“So have matching colors makes us intune?”

“Well the only people I see who wear matching colors are older couples and sports teams. And considering I have the hand-eye coordination of a nat, I can only assume we are an old couple” I laughed.

“My my, presumptuous aren’t we" she cooed with a slow wink. After a long moment of silence, we both failed to contain our laughter. The sounds of our laughter were enough to shock the other guests back to reality as the noise level went back to the low drone of couples talking about their days.

With the light and playful mood already established, our conversation picked up from where we left it a few days ago. We shared a bottle of some expensive sounding red wine while we discussed entrée options. “Nothing against vegetarians, but I need some meat in my life” she said with a cross of a smile and sexy lip bite. “And it would seem you do too.”

Sensing the joking nature of the comment “Nice, piss off vegetarians and call me fat in one sentence. It's there anything you can't do?”

“Well, I can't get you out of my head. After meeting you at the bar, I felt like we connected really well. I don't think I have ever connected to someone like I did with you. And in such a short time.” The predatory look of desire in her eyes would have been scary if I didn't have the same look in mine.

My entire body was tingling from excitement at this point. How can this sexy goddess have eyes for me? It was both intimidating and empowering at the same time. A mass of confused butterflies fluttered in the pit of my stomach. Glancing around, I noticed the leers of a handful of men, jealousy imagining themselves in my shoes. With a sheepish smile, I looked back into her beautiful eyes and told her the truth.

“I couldn’t stop thinking of you either. I didn't think I would be able to find someone I could connect with again. I was really nervous today as this is my first date since my high school, but being here with you is a lot easier than I thought.”

Erica smiled as she lightly squeezed my hand. We shared another moment of silence before returning to our menus.

**********

I have to remember to give this place a 5-star review. That was a delicious dinner with a friendly and attentive waitress. Erica and I chatted like old friends while we ate and drank. It reminded me of days long ago, which brought a welcome warmth to my soul. Or was that the wine?

“So I told him he had two options, neither he would like. Either pay up or…” ZZZZZZZZZZ my phone vibrated angrily in my pocket. Damn, worst timing ever.