Ned left his office about six. It was a pleasant night. He thought he'd go to the saloon himself and see what was going on. He walked across the park and 15 minutes later was seated at the bar talking to the bartender, Nick. There were a few people there, none of whom he particularly knew.
Then Marie came in with Brian. They said hello and Marie gave him a "don't butt in" look. He smiled at her and watched as they went to the other end of the bar and claimed two stools.
"Who's that with Brian,” said Nick. “Good looker."
"My secretary, believe it or not."
"No kidding. Nice."
"Yeah. Good thing I don't believe in office romances."
"You better believe it. Deadly."
He finished his martini and ordered another. He was watching the news as a woman came in and sat on the barstool next to his. He turned to look at her. Well-dressed, dark pageboy haircut, bright red lipstick, Asian, with beautiful eyes. He had seen her before.
"Hello, Ned, remember me?" she said.
"From here, sure… everything but the name, I'm sorry to say."
"Sue. As in SueLing."
"Right. Sue. How are you."
"Fine. Stood up for a date. Want a date."
"Sure. What were you going to do."
"Meet here for a drink and go see the new show at the Kennedy Center."
"No kidding. Which is that."
"It's called Swing. Broadway tryout musical. Supposed to be good music."
"Sounds like fun. Do you have tickets already."
"At the box office. Friend of mine got me comped. She's married to the guy who is and plays the drummer in the show."
"Even better."
"Thanks. I want to see it and I didn't want to go alone."
"Me neither."
They had another drink and decided to walk to the center since it was a warm night. On the way they talked about each other and Ned was amazed at her history. Daughter of a Chinese mother and a Caucasian father, she had a degree from UCLA in history and worked at the International Monetary Fund as a researcher. She was bright. And for an oriental woman, she seemed to have big breasts.
"You like Washington." he asked.
"Not as well as L.A., but it's where the action is in my career field, I guess. Or Europe."
They saw the musical. The music was wonderful but the story line was weak. On the way out they met the woman who had gotten SueLing her tickets and said hello.
"There's a cast party at the Channel House down the street. Want to come."
Ned and SueLing looked at each other.
"I do have a pretty easy day tomorrow," she said. "Why not."
The three of them walked to the restaurant, known as a haunt for cheating people and was called the Carnal House by locals. Ned told the two women this and they laughed.
"I didn't know Washington had hideaways," SueLing said.
"See what you think," Ned said. "The place is so dark you can barely see."
They arrived and groups of actors and musicians from the play began to arrive. Ned remarked that the women looked much different from they way they had on stage. They were casually dressed and seemed not to care much about their appearance. He gathered that most of them were from New York.
SueLing and he sat at a table with the woman Laurie and her husband Butch. Butch was a professional drummer as well as actor and had traveled all over the world with various bands, including Dave Brubeck and Count Basie. He had a musician's sense of humor, meaning to Ned that the sicker the joke the better he liked it.
After about an hour SueLing said she wanted to go home. Ned was glad to go and he walked her to her apartment near Washington Circle.
"Want to come up for a minute," she asked
"Sure."
They entered her apartment and she made coffee. They sat on her sofa and talked about the show in a desultory way. He could sense something was coming. Then it did.
"Are you by any chance interested in having sex? Like sort of right now?" she asked suddenly, looking at him.
."Ah, well..." he said.
"Good. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and led him to her bedroom and began undressing.
"You're serious."
"Absolutely. Old Chinese custom. Sex on the first date."
"Really."
"Not really. Just one of my Chinese customs. No strings attached." As she said this she kicked off her shoes and unzipped her skirt. Turning towards him, she lowered it slowly, revealing see-though pantyhose that showed her copious vaginal hair. She removed the skirt and left her pantyhose on while she undid her blouse. He had thought she had small breasts but realized she had a tight athletic bra. After she took off her blouse she unhooked the bra between her breasts and slowly pulled the two cups back. As she did so her breasts seemed to grow out towards him, her nipples fetchingly dark and erect.
"I got these from the American side of my family. I think they're nice, don't you?"
