Jane pulled up her black stockings and slipped into her black patent stilettos. She smoothed the black sleeveless Prada dress over her hips. With her shiny red hair and fair skin, the ensemble was quite striking. She looked fabulous, but she still had no desire to attend her company cocktail party this evening. Her accounting firm, Wentworth, Adams and Howell, had just landed a major new client, Farmington Industries, a large pharmaceuticals manufacturer. Jane had already met many of the company's top executives, and some additional personnel would be attending the party tonight.
Jane glanced at her laptop on her nightstand and smiled. A few months ago, a girlfriend at work had told her about a racy website that featured erotic stories. One night when she was bored, Jane had gone to the site and had read several stories. She was amazed at how turned on she got by some of the fiction. Normally, it was numbers that got her excited. One story in particular had gotten her so aroused that she actually sent feedback to the author. To her surprise, he answered her email.
They began emailing each other every day which soon turned into instant messaging each other every night. A month ago the phone calls started. Their conversations were polite at first. They conversed about the weather and their careers although they were careful to maintain anonymity. Then he asked her about her fantasies and the conversations quickly turned into hot, lusty phone sex. Jane became so aroused during their talks that she had to use her vibrator. It certainly sounded like Grant, her partner in lust, was equally excited on his end. Jane looked forward to getting home each evening, eating a quick dinner and crawling in bed waiting for the phone to ring or to make the call. At first she felt a little weird about giving out her number to a total stranger, but after all their conversations she felt that she knew Grant.
Jane picked up her evening bag and keys, locked the door to her apartment and headed to the garage. Jane slid behind the wheel of her Mercedes and slowly exited the garage and headed to the restaurant downtown where the party was being held. She pulled up in front, put the car in park and handed the keys to the valet. She absolutely hated work events like this one. She loved her job, enjoyed her co-workers most of the time and wanted her downtime to be hers. She was fun and normally social, but she was irritated that she was going to miss her call with Grant. Well, technically she wasn't really missing it because Grant had told her he had to be out of town on business this evening.
Jane walked into the elegant restaurant and a hostess guided her to the room where the company party was being held. Jane saw many of her fellow co-workers and several people whom she did not know. She assumed they were from Farmington Industries. She saw her boss over in a corner talking to several men who appeared to be from the new client. Wanting to make a good impression, she walked overly confidently. Her boss, Henry Adams, saw her coming and announced, "Gentlemen, please let me introduce Jane Hairston. She is my Vice President of Account Services and she will be managing the team that will be handling Farmington Industries. Jane let me introduce you to Peter Boswick, Vice President of Operations, Herman Snood, Vice President of Manufacturing and John Pressman, Vice President of Supply Chain. They are our distinguished guests tonight," said her boss.
With each name called, Jane extended her hand and shook the guest's hand firmly. She heard someone approach from behind when her boss said, "And last but not least, meet Grant Thomas, Vice President of Human Resources."
Jane turned to greet the last guest and her face froze for a second. It was him! Phone sex Grant. They had exchanged pictures and she would recognize him anywhere. He was tall, broad shouldered with salt and pepper grey hair at the temples and the greenest eyes she had ever seen. She quickly regained her composure and extended her hand. If he was surprised it did not show on his face. He shook her hand and greeted her warmly.
"Jane," said her boss, "since you are going to be managing the team that will be handling Farmington Industries, I thought you could spend some time with Grant here and give him the lowdown on who you have in place to handle the account on a day-to-day basis. You know a little about their backgrounds and experience."
Jane nodded and quickly found her voice, "that's a great idea sir. Mr. Thomas, what would you like to know?"
"Why don't we step over here so we don't bore everyone with the gory details and please call me Grant," said Grant seemly enjoying the charade. They moved off into a corner of the room where they could be by themselves to talk freely.
"What are you doing here? Are you crazy?" hissed Jane under her breath.
"Look, I told you I had to go on a business trip. I had no idea it was with your company. You never said you were in accounting with one of the big eight firms. As I recall, you said you were in management," said Grant as he stirred his vodka tonic.
"Pharmaceuticals? You said you were in manufacturing!" exclaimed Jane.
"I am in manufacturing. My company manufactures pharmaceuticals!" said Grant. He looked at her from head-to-toe as he sipped his drink.
"You are even more beautiful than the picture you sent me. You are absolutely stunning Jane. I am glad that you at least told me your real first name," said Grant.
"I am sorry. It really is nice to see you. I was just so taken aback. Never in a million years did I think I would meet you at a work function," said Jane sheepishly.
"Well, we have a chance encounter. We should look at is as a gift from fate," said Grant as he gently touched Jane's elbow. They continued to talk animatedly for almost an hour. They did cover some work issues, but they spent most of their time talking about themselves. At a lull in the conversation, Jane looked around and saw that the party had begun to thin out and only a few people remained
"What should we do?" asked Jane. As if on cue, her boss approached them.
"Jane, we seem to be a little short of cars this evening. Would you mind giving Grant a ride back to his hotel? He is staying at the Marriott just down the street," asked her boss Henry.
"Of course, I would be happy to," replied Jane. She and Grant said their goodbyes and left together. They rode the elevator down to the lobby in an awkward silence. The valet handed Jane her keys and they quickly got in her car.
"Nice car," said Grant. "I hope you are not really taking me back to the hotel. Can we go to your place?" he asked.
"Sure," said Jane somewhat reluctantly.
"Okay, are you really married and you don't know how to tell me?" asked Grant grinning.
"Of course not, it's just that I wasn't expecting company," replied Jane as she steered the car back to her home.
