I was plenty pissed at Lisa for the stunt she pulled. I mean, she was the one who set this up. She assured me she would take care of everything and play hostess for our "guest". Then she copped out on me claiming she had an out of town emergency with her mother. Lisa told me this woman was a friend of a friend of a friend of her boss and was putting her up as a favor to her boss and it would mean a lot of Brownie points for her.

There were no hotel rooms available for love or money because the Comic Con was in town. I wondered what idiot would show up in town the same week as the Comic Con. It turned out our guest intended to go to that mob scene but couldn't afford the outrageous prices being demanded by our hospitality industry. Still, if I wanted a guest in the house, I could have charged a pretty penny. I felt like a sucker because Lisa didn't even live with me. She had her own condo further out of town, but my condo was right by the trolley stop and was convenient to the convention center.

Lisa assured me I wouldn't be inconvenienced in her absence. Our guest would probably be spending all day and half the night at the convention center and I wouldn't even see her. It was the principle of the thing as far as I was concerned, but Lisa had a way of twisting things around and making me feel like a jerk for opposing her will. Still, I loved that gal and I'd marry her if she would only set the date. We had on again-off again engagement. We'd bicker then break up. We'd get back together when I started jumping through her hoops again.

I heard the doorbell and went to answer it. Standing before me was a not unattractive brunette wearing nerd glasses. She was about 5' 2" tall, was a little overweight but had a nice rack on her. I preferred tall willowy blondes like Lisa. She was definitely not my type.

"I'm Jane Gray. Lisa's expecting me."

"I'm Tom Hadley. Lisa got called out of town suddenly."

"Oh dear," she replied. "I hope that won't cause a problem."

"It's a problem only if you'd feel uncomfortable spending three nights alone in the same house with a strange man and no chaperone. There's no lock on your bedroom door." She laughed pleasantly.

"I'm sure you'll be a complete gentleman." I helped Jane with her suitcase and showed her to her room. I gave her a key to the condo and told her I had to go to work. I work at home but when I shut the door to my office, I'm not to be disturbed. It's too easy to get distracted otherwise. She assured me she'd find her way around and would stay out of my way. I wished her a pleasant visit and left her to her own devices.

I took a break at midday to grab a bite to eat. Jane was gone by then. I realized there wasn't much left to munch on in the kitchen. I don't cook much at all and I always eat out. Lisa doesn't cook either. I decided to invite Jane out to dinner if she hadn't already eaten by the time she returned. About the time I was ready to go back to my office I received a call from Lisa's mother wanting to know where her daughter was because she couldn't get hold of her on her cell phone.

"I thought Lisa was with you."

"Why would you think that?"

"No reason," I replied. "I'll tell Lisa you called the next time I see or hear from her." Well, I wondered why Lisa found it necessary to lie to me. It would be interesting to hear her explanation. I got busy again and didn't think about it for the rest of the day. It wasn't until I opened my office door that I caught the aroma of something cooking in the kitchen. It smelled delicious. I was drooling already.

"Where did all this come from," I asked.

"I picked up some groceries on the way home," Jane replied. "I hope you don't mind me using your kitchen. I'll clean up afterwards."

"I don't mind at all, but I was going to ask you to dinner with me."

"No, thanks. I have this meal all prepared. There's enough for both of us. Would you like to join me?" There wasn't any way I was going to turn down a home cooked meal. It was pretty simple; spaghetti with marinara sauce, green salad and a red wine. It was delicious. We ended the meal with coffee and conversation. Jane told me she was a librarian.

"What's a librarian doing at a comic book convention?"

"I try to find out what's popular out there. We then buy the titles we think our patrons will read."

"You buy comic books for the library?"

"We buy graphic novels. That's popular now. Children, teenagers and even adults prefer them. It's better than buying titles which will just gather dust on the bookshelves."

We talked about books while we cleaned up. There were a few authors we both liked. We talked about relationships. Jane didn't have anyone at the moment. I kept my comments about Lisa pretty neutral. I didn't like to listen to people complaining about their relationships and I assumed Jane felt the same way.

Jane said she was pretty tired from traipsing the exhibit aisles so was going to clean up and turn in early. I wished her a good night. Later on that evening on my way to bed I saw her in the hall just coming out of the bathroom. She was wearing a terrycloth robe and her nerd glasses. On impulse I kissed her. The lady responded positively so we kept on kissing. I opened my bedroom door and silently invited her to join me. Jane seemed to have her own internal debate and then walked past me into my bedroom. We wound up on the bed kissing, caressing and undressing each other.

"Let me put your glasses someplace safe," I said.

"I can't see much without them," Jane replied. "Can I keep them on? I don't want to make love to a blur. I hope you don't mind." I didn't mind. In fact it looked kind of sexy. I admit to enjoy looking at pictures of anime girls online. They're the images of impossibly beautiful women created by Japanese artists. The girls usually wear nothing but a smile but sometimes they wear a pair of eyeglasses with that smile. I started to get a rock hard stiffy thinking of Jane as a true to life anime girl.

"Should I wear a condom?"