Bone tired, he knew he shouldn’t be driving, but with only a few miles to his home, he wasn’t going to stop now. A lonely two-lane in rural Georgia in the wee hours of the morning had no traffic, its isolation triggering thoughts of how he ended up in such a place after growing up in the bustling city of Atlanta. Initially, it was an escape, not unlike this drive, avoiding the people that had made his life uncomfortable.
When he first came upon the car, it seemed to loom up out of nowhere. The emergency lights were flashing, but so dimly he hadn’t seen them until he was practically on top of the car. As he slowed to pass, a quick glance to the side, showed a woman sitting in the driver’s seat, startled awake by his passing.
Instantly at war with himself, he knew he would stop and offer assistance, but the devil on his shoulder tried to convince him to just drive on. When he finally gave in to his gentlemanly, protective instincts, he was half a mile down the road. It took a three-point turn on the narrow road to reverse direction.
Harper had just fallen asleep again when the car passed, cursing her cousin for not coming to her rescue and suggesting she just sleep in the car until he could come get her in the morning. One would think such a road at this hour would be quiet enough to sleep, and there was almost no traffic, but almost was the problem. Each time she managed to drift off, another single car would appear and wake her again.
Making it even more difficult to sleep were the memories of the salacious weekend she’d spent in her best friend’s college dorm, with all sorts of guys mostly paying her the kind of attention she liked. Near the end of the spring semester, everyone was cutting loose as they mixed studying for finals with the typical college sex shenanigans. It seemed as though she’d be barely through with one guy when another had his dick in her mouth or a hand in her welcoming pants. She’d told her friend she would run out of clean panties soon, to which her friend suggested she wear a skirt and go without. She giggled when her friend added, “Then you only have to take your T-shirt off for the next guy if he wants to play with your cute little titties!”
Returning to her present situation, she also thought about her mom and stepdad, who would be more than pissed at this latest act of teenage rebellion and promiscuity, and returning a day later than the note she’d left said, because of her stupid car’s battery, would only make it worse. Her claims of being almost seventeen and almost a high school senior would be no defense in their eyes.
And then there was her shit-fer-brains cousin, who claimed he just couldn’t take his boss’s tow truck out in the middle of the night to rescue his cousin. And, he actually had to say he expected the usual payment when he did come in the morning, come being the operative word. She was used to making such payments for favors from the men in her life, and this would entail at minimum a blow job, and possibly his grubby fingers in her tight, little pussy.
“Come on, Jimmy?” she pleaded in desperation, “You know my momma ain’t gonna be happy about me getting home so late and even worse if it’s tomorrow! Please!?” She had another ace up her sleeve and decided she had to play it. “I’ll let you fuck me?” she said, cringing at the thought of even his tiny dick in her very well used, and slightly sore, pussy.
“Oh, wow!” he replied, knowing she didn’t make the offer lightly. “You know I’d love to, Cuz, but I just can’t. Can we skip the other stuff and do just that tomorrow?” he countered.
“Nope! One-time offer,” she said, playing hardball.
“I’m sorry! I just can’t do it tonight! I’ll see you in the morning at …” he started, but her phone’s battery, also dead now, cut him off.
She was about to lay her head back to try yet again to sleep when she noticed the last car turning around. With the naïveté of a young and desperate girl, she wondered if help was about to arrive, while still being a bit wary of her vulnerability. The car passed her again, turned around, and pulled to the side of the road just ahead of her. A man got out, dressed casually but nicely, and walked toward her.
“Are you having car trouble, Miss?” he asked through her window, open a crack.
In typical fashion for her, she noticed both his deep, sexy voice and handsome face.
“Yes! I think the battery’s dead!” she exclaimed, cranking her window open a bit further.
“Would you like me to check it?” he asked politely.
“I suppose so, but unless you’ve got some jumper cables or a spare battery, there’s probably nothin’ you can do about it,” she replied, almost sounding like she knew what she was talking about but had reached the limit of her automotive expertise.
She got out of the car, and he immediately noticed her skimpy clothes; a tight top that displayed her small breasts to their best advantage and an ultra-short skirt from which her shapely legs emerged. Seeing him take notice, she worried a little about her lack of underwear. He didn’t take a second look as he got in the car and turned the key, the dimming lights and clicking starter a confirmation of her diagnosis.
“Well, your battery is dead, but they don’t usually die while driving,” he observed.
“Oh, um, I just really had to pee! I wouldn’t make it another mile!” she answered, motioning with her head to indicate using the woods.
“Were you planning to spend the night here?”
“My cousin’s coming in the morning with a tow truck.”
“Can I take you home or drop you off someplace safe for the night?”
“What? And leave my car here? It’ll be up on blocks by morning!”
“I can’t leave you here alone. Better your car gets molested than you!” he suggested, but seeing her doubting look, added, “How far from home are you?”
“Almost an hour,” she replied ruefully.
He looked around as though somewhere out there in the darkness there was a solution. Looking back at her again, he wondered if he was asking for legal trouble with a woman so young. She was cute with her long dyed-blonde hair, but clearly underage, and if anything happened to her by leaving her behind, he wouldn’t forgive himself.
“Have you ever driven a car being towed before?” he asked, expecting a negative answer.
“My stepdad’s had to tow me and this hunk of junk home a couple of times,” she said, and seeing the skepticism in his face, added, “Keep light pressure on the brakes to keep the chain taut. Brake for us both when coming to a stop.” She gave him a cute smile when he looked at her in surprise.
“I have a friend near my home who’s a mechanic. We can tow it there, and he’ll fix it in the morning.”
“Okay, but where’ll I go?” she said, asking a question he’d seen coming.
“You can stay at my house if you behave yourself,” he offered, not up on what kind of mischief teenagers got up to these days.
“Really?” she questioned, wondering if behaving meant the same as with her cousin and others. Thinking it over, she concluded that he was a good-looking, well-dressed man in a nice car, and she could certainly do worse in paying off another favor. “Um, okay.”
He went to his car, opened the tailgate, and rummaged under a hatch in the floor. He found a couple of tie-down straps, stretched them between the two cars, and decided he needed to move his car back a bit. After kneeling behind his car and fastening them to his trailer hitch, he returned to her car, lay on his back underneath, and looped them around something sturdy. Standing up, he was startled by her brushing the debris off his back.
“You can’t get back in that pretty car with all that junk on your shirt,” she explained.
“Oh, um, thank you. My name is Casey, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Harper,” she answered with a cute smile.
“Nice to meet you, Harper. You ready to do this?” She nodded. “With no traffic, we’ll take it nice and slow. It’s only a couple of miles.”
They set off and got to the garage without any problems. He complimented her on her towing skills, then removed the straps and threw them in the back. They got in and headed to his house, less than a mile away.
“Wow! I never been in a Mercedes-Benz before,” she enthused, pronouncing it like Janis Joplin.
She was impressed with his home as well, though he considered it just an average house. They’d agreed on a time to get up and take care of her car, and he gave her a phone charger so she could set an alarm and text her cousin. He showed her the guest room and bath across the hall and left her to get ready for bed, assuming he wouldn’t see her again till morning.
Harper cleaned up in the bathroom and tied her hair back in a ponytail before stripping off her clothes. Rooting around in her bag, she found the only clean pair of panties she had left and put them on. Walking back across the hall, she could hear Casey in his room, sounding like he was brushing his teeth. Creeping down the hall, she stopped at his door, which was open a crack, and peered in from a distance.
Casey finished in the bathroom, got into bed, and sat up for a few minutes checking for client emails. He heard his door creak and looked up to see Harper walking towards him in nothing but a pair of tiny lavender panties. He couldn’t deny that she looked enticing in the tight underwear that clung to her female shapes, and her hair pulled back away from her cute face added to her appeal, but that didn’t change the fact that she was underage.
“Harper, what are you doing?”
“I’m just tryin’ to behave properly,” she replied, accenting the word he used. “I just wanted to thank you properly for bein’ so nice!”
“How old are you?” he asked, chiding himself for even entertaining her offer.
“I’m almost seventeen!” she said proudly, as if it made all the difference in the world.
“As I thought!” he exclaimed, getting out of his bed to take her by the arm and lead her back to her room. “You’re a sweet and very pretty girl, Harper, but I could get in a lot of trouble just seeing you like this!”
“I won’t tell anybody!” she said, now even more interested, having seen him in nothing but a pair of silk boxers.
“Harper!” he shouted in exasperation, “get in bed before I put you over my knee and spank you!”
“Well, I never thanked anybody like that before, but if it turns you on, I’ll let you smack my butt!”
“Ugh!” he cried in frustration as he shut her door and returned to his bed after locking the door.
Harper got into bed and lay there for a while, still trying to figure out how she’d got it wrong. For the first time, she was actually attracted to a man who truly deserved her thanks, and he turned her down. Even the thought of being spanked by this handsome man was arousing, but she put all those thoughts aside and went to sleep.
In the morning, Casey rolled his eyes at the sight of her dressed in white leggings and a tight red T-shirt. Not a bit of flesh showing, but still sexy as hell. They ate a light breakfast before heading to the garage, Casey’s mechanic friend, already alerted by phone about Harper’s car.
“All done, Casey!” he said before seeing the delectable Harper walk in.
“Thanks, Rob!” he replied, smiling and shaking his head at Rob’s reaction to Harper.
“My car is still out front. How long till it’s fixed?” she asked, having come late to the conversation.
“It’s all done, Miss,” Rob said. “Alternator checked, battery replaced, and ready to go!” he declared proudly to the pretty girl.
“Oh! Thank you! Um, Casey? I don’t have any cash, and my credit card is maxed out,” she revealed with embarrassment.
“Of course you don’t!” Casey chuckled and gave Rob his credit card.
“Thank you, Casey. You been so nice to me! Maybe someday I’ll have a chance to thank you properly. Can I at least give you a kiss before I leave?” He pointed to his cheek and smiled when she kissed him with a loud smack.
Casey watched her drive off, thinking that at another time in his past he would have accepted all she was offering and demanded more, but behavior like that had gotten him into trouble, and he wasn’t about to repeat those mistakes.
“More coffee, hun?” the cute waitress said to one of her elderly regulars.
“If I can have you for company!” he replied as part of their usual banter.
“Now, Honey, you know if you really had me, you’d keel over and die right there in the booth!” she laughed in return.
“A guy can dream, can’t he?”
“As long as it ain’t the kind of dream you have in bed at night, cuz I ain’t cleaning that shit up!” she joked, giving him a friendly peck on the forehead, then returning behind the counter.
“Harper, he’s fixin’ to keel over and die just looking at that fuck-me body of yours!” her colleague and boss chuckled.
“Sherry, worse things could happen to him!”
Sherry smiled at the young girl she’d taken in almost four years ago. The poor girl had certainly had her share of abuse from men, so she supposed she was entitled to give a little back, but considering her the daughter she never had, she wished she’d be more careful.
“Ooo, girl! Look at the dreamboat just walked in!” Sherry said, “I wouldn’t mind a shot at him!”
“Keep your panties on, woman; your husband is right there in the kitchen!” Harper replied, glancing over her shoulder at the handsome man in casual clothes that fit his trim physique perfectly. It was a quick glance out of habit, but looked again with renewed interest. “Oh my Lord!” she said, only loud enough for Sherry to hear.
She put the coffee pot back and pushed the button to start a new drip, grabbed a menu, and went to confirm her suspicion.
“Why don’t you have a seat right here, sir,” she said to him, trying to tame the southern accent that four years as a waitress in a mom’n’pop restaurant had allowed to flourish. He only gave her a casual glance as he sat in the booth she’d suggested. “Can I get you a drink? Maybe some coffee?” she asked, studying his face.
“Oh, um, yeah. Coffee, black,” he replied, looking up at her, turning away, and then quickly looking back again. ‘Can’t be!’ he thought.
“Be right back, sir,” she said and turned on her heels. She grabbed a mug and the coffee pot in a hurry, and started back without realizing he’d been watching her.
“Harper, that’s the decaf!” Sherry said in a normal voice, wondering what had her best server so flustered.
“Oh! Yeah!” she replied, switched pots, and returned to his table. “Here you go,” she said, putting the mug down and filling it.
“Harper? Is that you?” he asked, having heard Sherry.
“Hello, Casey,” she replied with a shy voice.
She’d thought about him often as the only man to turn down her attempt to return a favor, seeing him as different from the other men she’d encountered. Life had dealt her several additional staggering blows that made a dead car battery seem like it was a good thing. Meeting Casey had given her a small amount of hope that there was a man out there who would treat her with dignity and respect, rather than a recalcitrant toy to occasionally satisfy their self-centered and temporary needs. That hope faded each time she was used again, beginning with her cousin the following morning, who insisted on being paid for the tow he’d planned for but never gave.
“How have you been?” she asked, hoping he had the time for a rundown on his life since meeting her.
“Oh, you know. Same old thing. How about you?” he asked, seemingly interested.
“Same here. Another day, another dollar,” she said without thinking if the oft-used phrase even fit.
“How long have you been working here?” He asked, noting how her appearance had matured from the teenager he’d met all those years ago. Her hair returning to its apparently natural dirty blonde color, had thrown him off at first. She still had the cute, innocent face, but her body had blossomed further in all the good ways, and he found himself wondering what she’d look like now coming on to him in nothing but a pair of tight, skimpy panties. He’d also thought of her at times, though less frequently than she, but every time he passed a car on the side of the road at night with its emergency flashers on, the image of her getting out of hers that night returned.
“I’ve been here since I moved out four years ago. Sherry took me in, and I’ve been here ever since,” she explained, drastically editing a tumultuous time in her short life. Not sure what else to say to the man she really knew so little about, she took his breakfast order and returned behind the counter, where Sherry was waiting to hear more, her questioning face enough to prompt an explanation. She put Casey’s order in and motioned Sherry into the kitchen.
“You remember me telling you about a man who helped me late at night with a dead battery in my car a few miles from here?”
“Honey, how could I forget! You must’ve told me that story a dozen times,” Sherry greatly exaggerated, but she did remember because he was the one man she spoke of who hadn’t contributed to the sorry state she was in when she first hired her.
“Well, that’s him. That’s Casey,” she replied with a tear trickling down her cheek. When she wondered what would happen should she ever see him again, she imagined a reunion with a rom-com happy ending, not just a simple ‘How are you?’
Their short discussion ended with the quick delivery of Casey’s simple breakfast order. She brought it to his table and served it with a little attitude because he didn’t live up to the unrealistic expectations she had.
He ate in silence, though stealing a look at her whenever he could. He hadn’t considered ever meeting her again, and was now confused by his interest. He barely knew her, and the almost intimate memory he did have of her was only a reflection of her loose morals, which could have gotten him arrested again, this time for having sex with a minor. So why the interest now?
He tried to put the whole thing out of his mind, ate quickly, paid the check, and left a big tip.
“It was good to see you again, Harper,” he said with some sincerity as he got up to leave.
“Yeah. You too,” she replied woodenly and broke down crying in Sherry’s arms as soon as he was out the door. Her mind told her she had no reason to believe seeing him again would be any different than it had been, but her heart told her she was doomed to a life of unrealized dreams and men who didn’t give a shit.
Casey drove on to his business meeting with a client, trying to keep his mind off Harper, but he wasn’t having much success. He knew nothing about her life or the reason she had offered herself to him that night, but he couldn’t shake the image of the new and improved Harper offering herself similarly. With his continued financial success, he had plenty of women at his disposal, but their motives were transparent, and he worked hard not to return to the earlier playboy life that had gotten him into trouble and led him to move out of Atlanta to distance himself from it.
So what was it about Harper that intrigued him so? It was more than her cute face and amazing body; he could have one like her whenever he wanted. Was it because she didn’t know him, wasn’t after his money? All she knew of his career was that he had a nice car and a modest home. Was it because she accepted his rejection of her charms without pushing harder? He recalled the sweet kiss on the cheek she’d given him before driving off. Was it because she looked like she needed saving, and not just from car trouble?
All these thoughts rattled around in his brain for the remainder of that day and into the evening with no resolution.
Harper returned to her crappy, rundown, basement studio apartment and counted her meager tips from the day’s work. When she added the huge twenty-dollar tip from Casey to the stack, her hopeless feelings returned, reminding her of what she thought when she’d found it on the table after he left: that this was all she’d ever get from him now. Added to that misery was the fact that business had been slow for several weeks now, and she dreaded a visit from the ancient landlord who’d be happy to forego the rent again for a feel of her tits and pussy. Sherry would kill her if she knew, but she’d also insist on paying her rent, which Harper couldn’t accept, knowing the downturn would have affected her earnings as well.
In the morning, she tried to assure Sherry that she was okay, but her subdued demeanor, in contrast to her normally flirty nature, said otherwise. Even her regulars noticed, and as the closest thing to friends she had in this town, they were comforting and respectful. She wondered whether this was what a real family felt like, and as the morning rush gradually ebbed, she started to feel better.
It was late morning, with only one other customer in the restaurant and Sherry back in the kitchen, when Harper heard the door chime.
“Welcome to the Last Chance Diner! I’ll be right with you!” she called out with her back to the counter.
“Actually, it was you I came to see!” Casey said, smiling as she lifted her head from her task and turned carefully to confirm that it was his voice.
“Would you like some coffee?” she asked, trying desperately not to read too much into his opening line.
“Not now, but I’d love to have some with you after we have dinner tonight?” he framed it as a pleading request.
“Really? she questioned, still tamping her expectations.
“Yes, really.”
“Why would you want to have dinner with me?” she asked, having doubted herself so long and felt so low just yesterday; she truly wondered why.
“To be honest, I’m not quite sure myself, but I know that I couldn’t get you off my mind all day yesterday and I haven’t had that feeling about anyone in a long time, so I feel it must mean something.”
“Oh. Um. Okay,” she said haltingly with a smile starting to break through her self-doubts.
“What time do you get off today?”
“At five. I’m doing a twelve-hour day because Sherry’s niece isn’t going to be here today,” she replied, not sure why she felt she had to explain.
“So, can I pick you up at six or six-thirty at your place?”
“Six is fine, but pick me up here,” she said, not wanting him to see the rathole she lived in.
“Okay. I’ll see you here at six!” he said happily as he walked to the door.
“I’m … looking forward to it!” she offered, wanting him to know that for some reason as she met him at the door. “Oh!” she squeaked when he put a hand on her cheek and kissed her lightly on the lips.
“See you at six!” he said softly, then turned to leave.
Her smile grew as she closed her eyes, still not quite believing what had just happened. Sherry and her husband, Jake, both watched from behind the counter, and Sherry held her arms out to Harper when her eyes opened.
“He’s taking me out to dinner!” she cried as she fell into Sherry’s arms.
“I know, honey. I’m really happy for you!”
“Oh, my God! What am I going to wear?” she said with sudden alarm. “All my clothes are so slutty!”
“Jake, can you handle the place for an hour or so during the after-lunch lull? We need to go to TJ Maxx!”
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Will Harper finally have a chance to thank Casey or will he turn and run when he learns more about her? I hope you've enjoyed the setup for more to come and will 'Like,' 'Favorite,' and comment accordingly and ... THANKS FOR READING!!
