Smoke from Annika's cigarette curled upwards in that peculiar way that it does when the air in a room is perfectly still; rippling slowly at the base from the heat, then straightening into a long, twisting line until it permeates the atmosphere, ceasing to exist.
She sat in the dark, staring at the computer screen, one hand on the mouse, the other holding an empty wineglass on her leg, palm covering the top, rocking the base in circular motions into the fleshy top of her thigh. She was still wearing her work clothes, a grey business suit and a silk blouse, black hose, shoes kicked off in the corner. The only sound in the room was her old alarm clock, ticking off the seconds as the time passed two a.m.
For nearly five weeks she had been corresponding by e-mail with a person she'd never met face to face. It could have been a regular man, as he purported to be, or it could have been a lesbian who got off on imitating men, or just some freak in cyberspace looking for something to do, or someone's head to fuck with. She didn't care; she was riveted. Despite her better instincts, she had become addicted to his daily messages.
The exchanges had started out as a casual response to a personal ad she had put up on Yahoo; no picture, just a description of a young female accountant seeking a man who could take her mind off of work at the end of the day. The responses she got were not encouraging until one day a man calling himself Antonio sent her a note she couldn't refuse to answer. And soon, he, and the e-mails he sent, were controlling her life.
It wasn't that Annika wasn't pretty; she was, by any standard, a naturally good looking woman. She had a pretty face and olive skin, with strong dark eyes surrounded by shoulder length black hair. Her figure was naturally slim, and she had no trouble attracting men. She rollerbladed, spent time with her one or two close girlfriends, and tried to improve herself by taking Italian lessons and visiting museums.
Annika had, in fact, dated many men, nearly all of whom had she had judged as ultimately not worth her company. As an accountant for Big Six firm in Manhattan, Annika spent most of her evenings working late, keeping her boss happy and earning herself a reputation as a career woman. What little free time she did have she didn't feel like wasting in smoky bars, talking with drunk men who were more interested in getting into her panties than into understanding who she was. She simply couldn't seem to find that special guy who could take her mind off of work when she came home from the office, and inspire her intellectually.
That is, until she found Antonio on the internet. His nightly missive started like this:
"I'm on my hands and knees, naked, my bronzed skin covered in the humid heat of a hot summer night. My head is hanging between my arms, blindfold on. I am exhausted from your beatings, my back and ass red with pain, my breath labored, eyes watering with pain.
You are sitting backwards on my spine, also naked except for a leather bustier and black stiletto heals. Your labia lips are straddling a particularly large vertebra in my backbone, your clit on the top of its highest point, being pressed into your vagina with constant pleasure. You are oiling-up a huge, black-flesh colored dildo with your hands, stroking the fake cock up and down with the saliva-like lubricant."
Annika immediately began to feel her vagina moisten. It had gone on like this for weeks. He had first written to her, explaining that to find excitement at the end of the day, she could not expect an ordinary man to fulfill her extraordinary expectations. She needed intellectual excitement, not long walks in the park and honesty.
Antonio continued.