I spend all day watching her from my station behind the counter.

She has an impressive little camp setup. Little dome tent, little backpackers stove, little folding chair, little tarp stretched out over the front of her tent that keeps the sun off her while she sits in the chair all day reading a book.

There for a minute I thought things were going OK between us. Like we were actually getting along. Maybe we could even end up being friends or-- since she doesn't have a husband or a boyfriend, maybe more than friends.

Of course, as soon as I brought up the subject, she went all man-hater on me again. And what's with that "I'm not a princess" shit she threw at me?

Just because I dared suggest that maybe she was worth a guy's attention? Like maybe there might be a man out there who can tolerate her attitude and might actually be into her? That's an insult?

Shaking my head, and pulling my eyes off her for a minute, I try to concentrate on entering these receipts into the ledger. Might as well get some of the paperwork for this place done while business is slow.

Problem is, I can't stop watching her.

As the afternoon warmed up, she pulled off the black pants and thermal shirt and replaced them with a tank top and a pair of shorts. She wasn't modest about changing either, standing beside her tent without much concern for who might see.

I mean, I'm the only person around, and it's not like she showed anything off that was indecent-- much to my disappointment-- she did one of those girl things where she managed to put on the new shirt without taking off the old one. Always freaks me out the way chicks can do that.

Still kinda hot though, watching her out there changing like that, even if I didn't catch a glimpse at those braless tits.

I did get a peek at the little black panties she's wearing though. Not that they're anything fancy, not even a fucking thong. Just plain, black panties. Still gave me a good look at her legs though. The contrast of her pale skin against the black material, the shape of her thighs as they flare up to meet her ass, the toned calf muscles.

Definitely too long since I got laid. I should not be getting distracted by a look at a little leg.

It's just so damn easy to imagine those legs wrapped around my neck, or my waist, or straddling my hips.

Damn! I gotta stop looking at her. She made it pretty clear that she's perfectly capable of handling herself before she stomped out of here this morning. She's got her little camp all set up and she can stay there for the next two weeks for all I care.

Ninja's been out there with her all damn day too. Stretched out on the grass without a care in the world like they're old friends.

As the sun starts sinking behind the store, I notice my guest has put her thermal and her sweats back on.

As darkness starts to creep over the store and across the parking lot, I look up and watch her crawl inside her tent. I can see her slip another layer on over her thermal shirt and then inch her way into a puffy sleeping bag.

She doesn't zip up the door of the tent, though. I watcher her pet Ninja as my dog decides not to join her inside the tent. Instead, Ninj curls up just outside the open nylon flap and I see the chick reach her arm out and drape it across Ninja's body.

She can't be all bad the way she's taken to the mutt.

Ninja's character judgment, however? I don't trust that dog's opinion at all.

I'm moving through the store, cleaning things up, getting fresh coffee ready to go in the morning, turning off lights and getting ready to lock up for the night.

Standing at the door I can see her with her sleeping bag pulled up around her shoulder as best she can get it while still petting Ninja. A soft glow lights up the inside of her tent and I can see her book sitting on the floor of the tent near her head. Looks like she's got her motorcycle jacket spread out over her too.

She's gotta be cold in there already and it's barely 8:30.

Not my problem.

I open the door up and call for my dog, a little surprised when Ninja's head perks up and she comes running my way on the third call.

Locking the store up behind the little black mop that hurries past me and heads straight for the back stairs up to the apartment, I cast one more look at her.

She watched Ninja run inside and now I swear she's watching me as I lock the door from the inside and switch off the last light in the place.

From the darkened interior of the closed store, I see her shoulders shiver before she zips up the door of her tent and is gone from sight.

Back in the apartment, I turn on the heat. It might be August, but the temperature drops at night enough that it's nice to kick up the thermostat a little bit when I close the store up.

I trade my jeans out for a pair of sweats and head back to the kitchen to figure out what's for dinner.

"What?" I ask Ninja.

She's laying on the kitchen floor with her face between her paws looking up at me pitifully.

"No, no, no," I answer the dog. Because I know exactly what she's thinking.

"She says she doesn't need rescuing," I remind Ninja as I open cupboards and slam them shut again without taking anything out. "She's not a princess, she got her ass stranded here, she can stay camped out there for a few days."

Ninja moans, a long, mournful noise that sounds like she's dying.

"Really?" I stop my pointless rummaging and stare at my dog. "It's not that cold out there," I tell her.

OK. Maybe it's not that cold out there, but it's just Ninj and me up here in a 2 bedroom place. There's plenty of room for one more. With a warm bed and running water.

I turn away from Ninja and look out the kitchen window at the little camp under the big cottonwood out front. The tent is dark. For all I know, she's sound asleep out there. Warm and cozy in that sleeping bag.

Ninja whines and heads toward the door to the outside landing.

Maybe we aren't destined to be friends, maybe I'm not going to get my dick inside the sweetest piece of ass I've seen since Tanya Becker in the 10th grade, but dammit-- I reach for my jacket and slip on my house shoes, grabbing a flash light as I open the door and follow Ninja down the back stairs-- my mother raised me better than to let a lady spend a night sleeping in my driveway.