"Call me later, if you are not too busy. I have something I want to ask you," she said as we ended another long telephone conversation. It had become a routine over the last few weeks especially with all the project related issues that we had to discuss.
"Sure." I said, with the affirmation that she liked. She knew I would have kept my promise and it was one of the many traits that she had fallen in love with. It did not matter that we had not discussed at anytime our emotional or physical inclinations. We were able to relate very comfortably at the professional level and it was assumed that it would not have been hard to transfer that respect into romance.
As promised, I made the call and as if it was a major event Theresa had already showered and was relaxing, watching TV, waiting on my call. It wasn't normal for her to tell me all the preparatory activities, but today she did. I did find it a little odd that she did, but without taking too much notice, I went off into our professional discussions about the communications plan for our fast approaching conference. I was president of the local chapter of the professional development association, which was host for the regional conference aimed at making the issue of professional development a moot point for economic development. In addition to my day job and the overall operations of the association, I was responsible for overseeing the process of getting the news to the wider public. It meant being on the talk shows and in the newspapers.
Theresa was a senior account executive in a major communications firm, which allowed me, and the association, to capitalize on her many contacts in the media. She was also very sharp in finding opportunities that would allow us to become more visible as the event drew closer. In the process we grew closer as well, often sharing lunch or breakfast to review plans and as fillers, talk about our personal lives. Her life was rather interesting, especially when it came to sexual exploits. For someone who was very involved in the church for many years, she had a lot of steamy, adventurous encounters to report. At first, I was a little surprised as to how much she was willing to share; after all we had only been professional colleagues. There was little doubt after a few similar meetings that she really liked talking to me; I did enjoy her company, although I was rather slow to react to the chemistry.
I did the usual when I got home. Stripped to the nude, had a sandwich and a drink, showered then took my lounging position on the couch to watch TV. The life of a single male tends to be like that. Not that I did not get my fair share of action, but there were times, like today, when the option was to take a rain check and have an easy night, so to speak. After catching up on the news and my favorite reality program, I took some time to review some of the plans for the conference. In the process I remembered my promised call to Theresa. I was a little wary, since I was not sure what exactly she wanted to talk about. Deep inside I was hoping that it had nothing to do with her past relationships, as I had no desire to become a relationship counselor for her. It was fine to talk about professional issues but I had just gone through a mutual break-up and would prefer not to be engaged in that type of discussion.
Our chat was going great. She sounded very relaxed, and as always, the crispness in the way she enunciated making her sound more proper than she really was. Her tone was mellow and sexy which made it very desirable to have phone conversations with her. We chatted about the plans for the conference, her projects at work and, eventually, my own plans. I had just bought a house and was doing renovations. After about twenty minutes, in the middle of a thought, the question came.
