Scrubs

"Hi," Piper said to him and her sudden smile almost dimmed the sunlight.

"Erm, hi?" he managed to say. "I didn't think..." He tried to keep his gaze on her eyes.

"I forgot my phone when I went home last night, so I came in to pick it up," she explained. "And then it was lunchtime and I thought..."

She let her eyes sweep down his bare torso, giggled. Her breasts jiggled slightly in the light and Damon lost his struggle for an instant.

"And I recognized your shoes at the entrance. I hope you don't mind?"

"Mind?" he stammered. "Why would I mind? But..." Damon ran out of coherent words.

Now the woman laughed openly. Not moving to cover herself, she explained, "I'd expected to just join you, but imagine my surprise to find you..." she waved her hand at his naked form. "I didn't want to just walk away and it wouldn't have been good manners to have you wake up with me still dressed, so I, um, took the plunge."

To Damon's surprise, Piper blushed, as if expecting a challenge or reprimand.

"I'm good," he replied. What else could he say?

"Thank you, she said, reassured. She had been nervous,  she realized.

A faint smile still on her face, Piper reached over to the pile of clothes and picked up a very ordinary, very everyday brassiere. Damon felt a sudden pang of disappointment when she leaned forward and fitted her breasts into the cups. Sitting up, she reached behind her for the clasp, adjusted the straps.

She looked up, saw him watching and, blushing slightly, smiled a bit more.

"Sorry," he said, not particularly meaning it.

"Don't be," she said, laughing now. "You could hardly ignore them, could you?"

He joined her in laughing.

Still dressed in only her bra, she started to rise. Slightly embarrassed by his own reaction, not wanting his interest to be obvious, Damon rose, went to his own clothes and dressed hurriedly with his back to her. Finished, he turned to see Piper also dressed, but this time in a very feminine pink blouse and a calf-length grey skirt.

There was a relaxed smile on her face, but otherwise Damon couldn't make out her emotions.

She looked at him. A head taller than she, his eyes were fixed on her. His arms were crossed lightly, almost defensively.

Whoa!  she thought to herself. Have I upset him?

She stepped forward, put a hand on his forearm.

"I'm sorry, Damon," she said gently, "Have I offended you? I didn't mean to embarrass you, but when I saw you sitting there like that, it just felt like the most natural thing to do. Please forgive me." To him, her blue eyes seemed to be growing in size, larger and larger. He felt himself drifting downwards into them.

To her astonishment, the man shook his head for a long moment, like a dog coming in out of the rain. He lifted his head and looked at her.

"No, no," he said, slowly. "You didn't embarrass me. I was surprised, that's all. But it was," he smiled, "a very nice  surprise."

"OK, then," she said, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "I'll see you Monday."

Looking at her watch, she again touched his arm.

"Come on, doctor," she smiled, "I'm on days-off, but you're going to be late."

Today was not yet done with surprises, for, as they walked together up the path towards the hospital, Damon felt a slim hand slip into his. After a moment, he gave a gentle squeeze and the two of them walked hand-in-hand to the doors. Today, he was disappointed to not get a kiss. He did catch a knowing glance from one of the nursing students in the screening line.

+

The weekend passed, with both of them doing a lot of thinking.

That was... weird?  Damon thought, lying on his sofa, well into a six-beer introspective. OK, Oz, you're 28 years old, a doctor. You've been around the block a couple of times. What happened back there? On one hand it was just meditation. Nude meditation is legit, yes? It doesn't have to be about sex. On the other hand...

He took another deep gulp.

I wonder what she thought when she first walked in - and what she expected me to think when I first saw her like that?

Puzzled, his mind veered in another direction. Again.

Hot,  his malebrain told him. Who says older women can't be hot?   His mind lingered on how her proud breasts had looked in the sun, the way they'd hung as she put on her bra. Damon admired all aspects of female beauty, but, yeah, it was a very, very fine rack.

He smiled at the image, thought for a while, then grinned. Beats the hell out of those egocentric brats you dated in college.

.

Piper had not slept very much.

What were you thinking?   she demanded of herself. Yes, it was 'spur of the moment' and yes, it felt good. And no, it wasn't about flirting or sex - except that everything is about flirting and sex when you get right down to it. And 'au naturel'  in front of a man half your age? OK, not quite half, but...

Her thoughts grew tired of chasing their own tails. She got up, went to the full-length mirror, turned back and forth. Not bad for 41,  she thought, but, still...

What had he been thinking when he first saw her?

On impulse, she shed her nightgown, hefted her breasts, turned back and forth to inspect them. He did seem to like these.   She smiled at the memory of his bewilderment, smiled more brightly at the clear approval she'd seen in his eyes.

Then the hard question hit her. What do I do Monday morning?

Sleep came late.

+

Monday morning passed very slowly for Damon. The sorrows, fears and 18-hour-days of the plague months had mercifully passed and business was slowly returning to a wary normal. He'd been kept busy with quite routine cases in the ER, nothing any rookie couldn't handle with ease. They'd left him a lot of time to think.

Should I go down there at lunch?  he wondered. Actually, that question was easy enough to answer, even if it kept recurring.

Larger questions loomed however. What in hell do I say to her? Do I apologize? For what? What do I say if she apologizes? And, again, for what?

"Are you OK, doctor?" the nurse at the nursing station asked.

"Mmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Daydreaming, I guess." He pushed himself up from where he'd been leaning on the counter.

"OK, you just looked a little distracted." Damon liked her voice and her eyes. It occurred to him that he'd never seen her without a mask.

"I'm fine, really. But thanks for asking." Looking at his wrist, Damon shrugged, took the time on his watch face for a decision. "We're not busy. I think I'll take an early lunch."

The nurse watched him as he left. "I wish he'd get distracted about me, someday," she said to the woman beside her.

Young Doctor Ozarowski was a not-uncommon topic of discussion among about half the hospital staff.

Her friend nodded, turned back to her computer screen.

.

Damon arrived at the maze, meandered down the path. He wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't have come, but a pair of small shoes he thought he recognized was barring the entry. Putting his shoulders back and taking a deep breath, he stepped over them.

Piper was there, in a half-lotus position.

Nude.

"Hi," she said, almost shyly.

"Um, hi," he replied. For this he found himself unprepared; he had a hard time deciding where he should be looking.

He shrugged and gave into the inevitable. Taking off his scrubs took but a few seconds and he lowered himself to the grass directly opposite her before turning his face to hers.

"How was your weekend?" he asked, trying to look at her face.

"Confused, Damon, confused. Yours?"

He thought for a moment. "'Confused' is a pretty good way to put it."

The woman smiled and he felt his heart leap just a little.

"Um, Piper..." he began before she cut him off by raising one hand.

"Stop, Damon." Her voice was firm, but soft. "Nothing happened, Damon. We did nothing to be ashamed of and neither of us have anything to apologize for."

Those two lines had taken her about two hours of pondering and rewording before they didn't seem too stilted and another hour of practising to be able to get them out without stammering or blushing.

Seeing some of the tension lift from him, she grew more confident.

"So?"

Faced with the choice of looking at her eyes or at her breasts, Damon chickened out and closed his eyes. A deep breath...

Piper smiled to herself and began her own meditation.

+

It became a routine over the days that followed. Nudity was the new norm. Neither had made any moves to move past that, not so much as an invitation to meet for a coffee sometime, although both took the odd surreptitious - and admiring - glance. Knowing that a younger man still found her desirable, Piper had become more confident in her own appearance. Damon in his turn had begun to fully appreciate that beauty never really fades. Both had become accustomed to seeing and being seen without embarrassment.

It was normal.

As was Piper's reaching out to take his hand on their way back to the hospital each day. It was a symbol of friendship, nothing more.

Normal.

Then one afternoon, Damon arrived to find the expected shoes. Stepping across them and entering the glade, he was surprised to find a bare Piper sitting beside a checkered tablecloth spread across the grass. The cloth was covered with food -- fruit, rolls, cold cuts, pickles, chocolates and a bottle of designer fizzy water.

"Um, wow!" he said in astonishment.

The woman gestured at the water. "Sorry it's not real bubbly," she said, "but we both have to go back to work later."

Damon sat down on the grass, opposite Piper. Smiling she shook her finger at him.

"Wrong, Damon."

His eyebrows went up.

"By now, doctor, you should know the dress code here." Her own eyebrows went up in amusement.

"It's a fair cop," he smiled. He rose, slipped out of his scrubs and tossed them to one side.

"Better?" he smiled. "Or should I go looking for a tie?"

"Much better, thank you."

He went to sit across from her, but she patted the grass beside her, half invitation, half command. Sitting where she indicated, he felt his hip brush hers. He felt his member stiffen slightly and slid an inch away, hoping that she hadn't noticed.

"So," he said, reaching for a napkin, "what's the occasion? Not that I mind."

"National Nude Day," she said softly. Her words were distinct, but her eyes wouldn't meet his.

"Seriously?"

To his amazement, she blushed. There was a lot of skin to be seen and a lot of blush.

Piper hadn't had a lot of recent experience in 'daring' and these past couple of months had been a revelation to her. After the stresses of the pandemic and her husband's death, she had found the nudity of the past few weeks both constraining and liberating. She had to work at it, overcome her shyness and life-long inhibitions -- work at being casual, she thought amusedly. But priorities were clearer, if nothing else. Pretense had become both less necessary and less possible, with modesty exposed for the sham it had always been.

Or so she had thought. Now, face and torso scarlet, she'd lost confidence in that notion.

She summoned her courage, turned back to him.

"It's a thing!" she declared. "You can look it up.

"Besides," she continued, a bit more confident now, "like I said the first time, there's been nothing here for us to be ashamed of."

At those words, to her amazement, she felt a small tear start to form in the corner of one eye. For the life of her, she couldn't think of why. She tossed her head back, continued.

"I've been thinking about this a lot, Damon. I've been thinking about being ashamed and why I should even be embarrassed by nudity."

"And?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely there yet. I do know that I would never have dreamed of this 20 years ago. Imagine, spending my lunch hours outdoors with a naked stranger half my age!"

He interrupted softly. "Not quite a stranger, Piper. And not 'half your age'."

"Don't quibble, Damon. You know what I meant. My point is that it's been good for me, being in here like this. Fewer expectations, maybe?"

Not quite sure how to respond, Damon turned away, helping himself instead to the food in front of him.

He found himself thinking the entire situation was surreal. Here he was, again, naked, with an attractive woman - not his lover - in an almost-public park, a picnic spread in front of them. On 'National Nude Day', whatever that was.

Most importantly, he realized, he hadn't a clue of where this was going.

A hand touched his arm, slid down to hold his hand. He turned to see Piper looking up at him.

"Thanks for helping, Damon," she said gently. She squeezed his hand, but all he noticed was her eyes. Again, he seemed to be caught in them, out of his depth.

Damon blinked; suddenly he knew. He leaned in towards her, just a little. And watched those blue eyes close as soft lips moved in to touch his. Her lips have no age,  he thought to himself, No more than Eve's.  He leaned in further, swept her lips with his tongue and felt his heart leap when they opened for him.

.

In her turn, all Piper had intended was a reassuring gesture, but as she felt her body responding to Damon, she knew, deep inside, that this was right. His hand cupped her chin and she let her face be guided. That too was right, as was the sudden tautness in her nipples. And his long fingers leaving her face, softly sweeping over her shoulder to enfold her breast - that was right, too, as it should be. And so was Damon's emphatic manhood, now thrusting upwards; that too was appropriate, perfect.

Damon's breath caught at the feeling of soft fingers on his knee, tracing their way up his thigh. His hand swept over to Piper's other breast, squeezed tenderly. His uncertainty vanished when Piper reopened her eyes. The look in them was ageless, assured. He could see yearning in them, too, a need not just for him, but for his approval, his acceptance of her as she was. His breath caught again as her hand moved further, as if in confirmation, grasped his sac. Her tongue met his, teased and played as her fingers rolled his balls between them.

Damon began to turn towards her, but the woman was faster and he found himself pushed onto his back on the grass with Piper lying half on top of him. Her lips crushed his, her tongue probing deeper into his mouth. His hesitancy gone, he kissed back, his own hunger now open and clear.

Piper's fingers trailed lightly up and down the length of his manhood before returning to his sac, pulling it gently away from his body. She held it there for a moment, released it, began to roll his balls again. Damon had never been so hard, so aroused. His eyes closed as he focused on her light, deft touch.

Piper smiled to herself, happy at Damon's obvious pleasure. Experience tells, she laughed inwardly.

Piper in her turn gasped softly as Damon's hand squeezed first one breast, then the other, lifting, weighing them, mounding them. His hands drifted, began to roll and pull her long nipples; she sighed at the sweet sensation flooding through her body. It was clear that Damon, too, knew what pleased a partner. His patient, loving working of her nipples continued even as she shifted, moving to lie on her side, facing him. Piper shuddered, gave a slight cry as he lightly pinched a swollen nub, leaned down and began to tease it with the tip of his tongue. She felt her labia swell, sensed her dew on them, felt her clitoris ease out from under its hood, hard now, expectant.

Her hand moved from his balls to his cock. She slid her hand over it, up and down, thumbing its swollen head at the top of each stroke, laughed as it twitched in her hand. Squeezing harder, she began to drag the velvety skin back and forth over its iron core, slowly at first, then faster and still faster.

Piper gave a low moan as his hand moved down her body, caught her pubic hair, pulled it gently. She could feel the air on her wet sex, moaned again as a long finger traced the length of her pussy.

So good!  she thought, delightedly.

She moaned again as the finger probed her opening up to the first knuckle, began to turn and twist within her. She could feel an orgasm building within her as the young man's foreplay fanned a fire unfed for far too long.

She sensed that he too was very close.

Piper gave a strong push, rolling the young man onto his back, his engorged organ swaying for a moment in the sun. With a soft chuckle, she straddled him, reached down and slowly guided herself down onto his length. She paused for a moment, sitting upright, her eyes closed, allowing herself to enjoy the feeling of being filled, happily stretched by Damon's manhood.

Damon lay still, his eyes sweeping back and forth between Piper's eyes and her breasts. His hands rose up over her waist, fell to seize the tops of her hips. He smiled at the sight of Piper's figure beginning to sway and rock on his cock.

Piper's eyes were closed and there was a happy smile on her face, one of pleasant concentration perhaps. The sun shone through her blonde hair. Damon thought that he had never seen so lovely a sight, so desirable a woman. With each roll of her hips, her soft breasts swayed, the ends of her hair drifting across his face and chest.

Damon slid his hands lightly over her thighs, came to rest on her bum. Piper's weight was on him and he couldn't move his hips.

He found himself longing to pull her down, to crush her lips on his. His hands rose, hesitated.

Instead, he settled them on her waist, squeezed, pulling her body against his. Her skin was warm, soft, with toned, firm flesh underneath. His hands swept up to recapture her breasts, took her swollen nipples between thumb and forefinger, pulled gently, twisted.

Piper drifted in a wave of sensation as she rolled up and down on the young man's cock. The taut rim of its crown pushing back and forth across her velvet lining fanned her arousal, each millimeter of motion like gasoline on a fire.

For the first time in months, the woman was allowing herself to be happy, to enjoy herself without guilt. She began to give short cries as Damon's fingers gripped her nipples more firmly, pulled them and turned them.

She shifted, grabbed Damon's wrists and leaned forward, pinning them to the grass over his head. She could feel her nipples brush across his chest hair every time her hips drove her torso down.

Damon, for the first time in his experience, was not controlling the lovemaking. It was a strange thing for him -- exciting, but very different. Looking up at Piper, he could see that she'd caught her lower lip between her teeth. Her eyes were closed as she focused on the happy lust blooming within her.

His hands held against the grass, Damon could do little but enjoy the sensation of her working herself over and along his cock. After a moment, he bent his legs, pushing Piper further up his body. She opened her eyes, smiled at him briefly before changing her rolling to more of a plunging motion.

Her heavy boobs swayed and swung as she bounced up and down; her soft buttocks slid up and down along his thighs.

Damon found that he could lean his head forward and almost reach... He pulled his feet in closer, raising his knees, pulling her closer still... and found his mouth could now reach her nipples when she came close enough. She gasped in surprise the first time and, still biting her lip, moaned in appreciation.

Damon's cock felt enormous to him. He could feel a fiery pressure building behind his balls.

Piper dropped all of her weight onto her pussy, ground her pelvis against his. She went rigid for a moment, crying out at the explosion of joy, her orgasm possessing her, controlling her.