She stepped forward and held a hand stiffly to me in greeting. I shook it and she said, “Pleased to meet you," in a slightly scratchy voice that was somehow familiar.

I held her hand for just a second longer, staring at the cheekbones.

“Have we met before?"

Alicia cocked her head to the side, I assume studying my features since I couldn't see her eyes, "Perhaps," she said. Her chin dipped just a bit as she evaluated me up and down, and I noticed her hip drifting slightly to the side as she shifted her balance, causing her pose to become rather sexier as she also put one hand on a hip.

I smiled. Getting attention from a beautiful girl was always nice, but I had a party to help run. I turned my attention back to E-Beth.

“So, are you ladies hungry?

“Sure! As long as YOU weren't the cook." “Hey! I protested as we all headed back out to the backyard.

After retrieving our calorie-laden meals, I spent some time relaxing with E-Beth and Alicia. We found a few patio chairs and wound up sitting in a semi-circle with me in the middle. In the beginning, I sort of ignored Alicia in favor of catching up with E-Beth, finding out all the little things going on in her life since last we saw each other.

But E-Beth kept Alicia involved, constantly side-stepping my conversation to include her friend. For her part, Alicia kept leaning towards me in her chair, more than once putting her weight onto the armrest, which caused her to lean over and show some very nice cleavage to me.

I smelled a setup, and did my best not to openly gawk at Alicia's hot body. Every time I looked over, my eyes were drawn to her well-rounded chest and I would quickly orient my conversation towards E-Beth. I'm certain Alicia noticed where I kept glancing, but she made no mention of it and instead just leaned over further give me a better look.

A few minutes later, the setup was made obvious when E-Beth excused herself to get another drink, even though her glass was still half-full.

That left me alone with nothing to do but talk to Alicia, and for the first time, I stopped to really look at her.

I'd already felt a very, very strong physical attraction to her. I couldn't really explain it, but in a way, she embodied everything I loved in a woman's body. Her legs were long and lithe, flexing nicely as she sat with one leg crossed over the other. Her skirt, already short to begin with, had hiked up further while she was sitting and showed a long expanse of firm, creamy thigh. With a nice tight waist, her belly was toned and led up to a perfect pair of tits, high, round, and somewhat out of proportion for her otherwise model's figure.

I already had a tent in my shorts that I was trying to hide with my plate, and somewhere in the back of my head I already decided that if this girl was really coming on to me, I wasn't going to push her out of my bed.

We continued our conversation, exchanging flirty remarks left and right. Her speech was a little stilted, almost as if English wasn't her first language. But I detected no accent. On the whole, the little hesitations in her speech were actually a little endearing.

My gaze went along her graceful neck, and perhaps for the first time I let myself linger on her very pretty face. Wonderful bone structure, pleasantly puckered lips without being too big, and a dainty nose. She looked so beautiful, and so familiar. I knew I had seen this face somewhere before.

And then it hit me. I stopped mid-sentence. My back stiffened, my breathing quickened, and my eyes went wide. I reached up and took off my shades, trying to get a better look. And in a shaky voice, I stated, “Take off your sunglasses."

Her breath caught in her throat, and then in an all-too-familiar voice she asked, "why?"

"Please."

She sighed, looking down and reaching up with both hands to grab each side of the frame. And when she pulled the black Chanel plastic out of the way, she blinked against the sunlight and her pretty face was revealed to me, even more beautiful than I had thought. The girl before me had sparklingly eyes made more alluring by heavy eyeshadow, clearly green in color.

And yet, despite the red hair and green eyes, I felt who she was deep in my gut. And so I asked, “Amber, why?"

“I'm sorry. I don't know who you're talking about. My name is Alicia

I gave her The Look. She returned my gaze oddly, as if I was crazy. Her mouth twisted in confusion. I kept glaring at her and from the way she held my gaze, I was actually starting to think that I was going crazy, that I was projecting Amber onto another pretty girl who looked similar to her. After all, I'd only seen her twice since her return, and I'd been projecting Amber's face onto a lot of women for three years.

But no. It was her. I knew it was her. The body, the height, the nose, the cheekbones, the whole picture coalesced for me. She'd cut and dyed her hair, maybe even put in color contacts, but it WAS Amber before me, I was sure of it.

And so with a totally relaxed demeanor, I leaned in and said, “Well then, Alicia, would you like me to give you a tour of the house?"