Next Door Neighbor

she did; and to see if I had any ideas on what to do. Now, before you get your knickers bunched up' – they were getting visibly agitated – 'I want to tell you that Lucy, herself, isn't in any trouble. The trouble would be for her company's client. Again,*Lucy* isn't in trouble.

She's the one finding someone else's problems, and she's trying to decide what to do about it to make it as small of a problem as she can. That's why she wanted to make sure that you two little sex maniacs didn't bother me while I was trying to think about her problem: so that I would be able to give her the best answer I could.

From what she told me about what's happening there, I wouldn't be surprised if she calls again tomorrow, needing some more help. If she does, I'll need to be able to concentrate on what she tells me, okay?

You're both cute as can be, sexy as hell, and fun to be with – and all of that makes you a lot of distraction when you aren't behaving yourselves. Okay?'

Both of them smiled at the compliments, and nodded solemnly at the admonition to behave when I was on the phone.

That settled, Robyn got up and moved over to sit in my lap and cuddle, with Sandra watching in approval. Again, they decided that they'd rather talk than do anything else, so we spent the rest of the evening discussing things that they were curious about. Perhaps halfway through the evening, Robyn declared that she was hot and uncomfortable, and climbed off my lap long enough to strip. When she was done, she stood there staring at me until I followed her example.

A bit later, Sandra followed suit, so that the three of us were naked. Again, the subject of sex was the main topic, but certainly not the only one.

That night, when we went to bed, Robyn and I bracketed Sandra; there was a fair amount of groping and fooling around, but I think all of us needed to finish resting up from the previous evening.

The next morning, I awakened to the smell of fresh coffee, and if my nose didn't deceive me, French toast. After a quick pit stop, I grabbed a robe and headed for the kitchen, where I found the two of them just finish the process of making a healthy pile of – sure enough – French toast. They shooed me out of the kitchen, telling me to have a seat in the living room – breakfast was casual this morning. I barely had time to get seated in my chair, than Robyn handed me a cup of coffee before saying 'Breakfast will be another couple minutes'. I thanked her, and took a sip – they'd done a fine job on the coffee, apparently grinding some of the beans that I kept around for when I wanted*fresh* coffee. A couple minutes later, as promised, Sandra appeared with a plate of food for me, with Robyn right behind her with a tray to sit it on. As Sandra was getting me set up, Robyn went into the kitchen and came back out with a couple more trays for her and Sandra. The two of them disappeared again long enough to get their own plates before sitting down to eat. After the previous day's breakfast, I was a little more confident of their abilities in the kitchen, but I was still surprised at how well they'd done with the French toast; it's entirely too easy to either under- or over-cook it, but they'd gotten it almost perfect. Robyn got the TV started, with the volume low so that we could talk without shouting, if we wanted to.

When breakfast was over, they teamed up again to clear the dishes and trays; this time it was apparently Sandra's turn to load the dishwasher as Robyn and I cuddled on the chair. When Sandra made her appearance from the kitchen, Robyn got up from my lap, and they let me know that they were planning on spending a little time at the pool, but also there in the apartment that day. I agreed to their plans, and they headed into the bedroom, where I found them spread out on the bed with some teen magazines a few minutes later. I got dressed – with the two of them unashamedly watching – and went back into the living room to go to work. The rest of the day was nearly a repeat of the day before – they would come and go, stopping to ask if I needed or wanted anything, but always careful to avoid disturbing or distracting me. When lunchtime approached, they asked me what I wanted, and I suggested something light. A half hour later, when they told me it was ready, I was pleasantly surprised that they'd decided on peanut butter and jelly, with chips on the side. It had been a LONG time since I'd had a PBJ, so it was a light, pleasant treat.

Despite their protests, I cleaned up, and went back to work as they retreated to change into their suits before heading for the pool.

I got sufficiently wrapped up in what I was doing that I didn't notice the time until they came back in late afternoon. Surprised at the time, and pleased with how much progress I'd made, I offered to take us out to any place of their choosing for supper. They quickly decided on a fast-foot chicken place, and went into the bedroom to change – coming out in the shorts-and-halter outfits they'd first put on the day before. I looked at them, and Robyn firmly informed me 'It's too hot to dress up any more. Besides, we just want to go through the drive-up window, and take it to the park, so we can sit in the shade.' It was a plan that I couldn't argue with, really, so that's what we did – except that at the park, the girls gave a fair number of French fries to the squirrels and birds that congregated around us. Even after we'd finished our meal, it was pleasant to sit there and enjoy the scenery and weather.

Eventually, though, the heat started to get to us, and we elected to head back to my apartment to cool off.

We hadn't any more than gotten in the door when the phone rang – I quickly answered it, finding that it was Lucy. When they heard me use her name, the girls started to go into the bedroom.

'So, how did it go today?', I asked.

'Not so good. First thing this morning, I got our accountants together, and asked them to try an be a little friendlier with the people that they had to deal with; then I got the company's people together, and talked to them like we discussed last night. They took it well enough, but it didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference – at lunch, the accountants told me that they were still having problems in every office. So I told about half of them to go ahead and start on the managers. When we left today, they told me that absolutely nothing had changed. As I asked, they were a little more descriptive in their reports, so then I had something I could use as 'ammunition' to take to my boss. I told him what we'd run into, and what I'd done and why. He said it sounded like I did exactly the right thing. Then I told him what I thought it meant, and said that if I was right, getting proof of it was more than I or the accountants could do. He understood that, and told me that he couldn't send any of our computer people because it would look like a conflict of interest if they found anything. I told him I'd thought of that, and wanted to hire a consultant for a couple of days, to see if there was anything to my suspicions. He had to talk to our client, and that he'd call me back in a few minutes. When he did, he told me that the client was*very* worried about the situation, and had okayed a consultant.'

'So I take it you need me to give you some names, then?'

'No, actually, I told my boss that I knew someone that was very good with a computer, and could let us know if there was anything to our suspicions for a reasonable rate. Think you could spare two or three days of your schedule for say, five thousand bucks a day?'

It took me a second to realize that she was offering me the job, before I could respond, 'I could make the time, and would, except for a couple of things.'

'What are those?'

'Robyn and Sandra', I told her.

'Oh, pooh. Bring them. It's been a couple of days since I've seen them, and a change in scenery would probably do them some good.'

'Fine – but with me gone, who'd be there for them if they needed something?'

'I'm sure that between me, my assistant, you, and the hotel staff, we can figure*something* out.'

I could tell that she'd thought this through, and was determined to get help – preferably mine.

I finally told her 'Okay, I'll do it – but for a flat rate of ten thousand. That way, there's no reason for me to milk the job, and if there's anything I can do to help, you'll get your answer that much sooner.'

'Deal.'

'Okay, let me make a couple of calls and see when I can catch a flight out there.'

'Already done. You've got reservations for business class leaving at 8:30 tomorrow morning.'

'Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?'

She laughed, and said, 'That's why they're gonna pay me the big bucks. Here's the flight info…', and went on to tell me the airline, flight number, and terminal, finishing by saying 'I'll be there waiting for you when you get in. And*please*, make the girls wear decent clothes!', making me laugh.

'Hell, tell them yourself. I know they want to talk to you, but we had another talk last night, and they understand how important this is. I don't think they're going to give you any argument about flying out to see