Sean's company had been hired to help Millennium Corp move all their associate's computers, printers, and other miscellaneous peripherals into their new headquarters in a complex called the Crystal Palace where a lot of modern buildings were clustered together to make one large complex. The job involved several nights and weekends to get everyone moved in without any disruption in business. Although Millennium Corp had a fairly large staff of help desk and computer support people, it required a much larger group to physically move, setup, configure, and test all the equipment in the new site. That's where Sean and his group came in. Most of the guys in his group were overqualified for this type work, but the extra money would come in handy, so he accepted.
The first and second parts of the job were boring, disconnecting and setting up the equipment. The fun parts were testing everything and setting up the software and connections to the new LAN and printers. This is where everyone got to use his or her knowledge and skills to make everything work. This is also where René first appeared.
Sean first glimpsed René over in a corner cubicle with a laptop PC, where she was busy doing whatever it was she was doing. It was a Saturday, so he guessed that she was probably one of the IT people from Millennium. Later, the groups were all introduced to each other and his guess was confirmed. She was, indeed, one of the administrators there and a primary contact for Sean's people to take issues to work out.
'Well, I hope I have a lot of problems,'
Sean thought to himself.
Things went smoothly for a couple of hours, and then Sean had a problem mapping a printer on an associate's computer. He went straight to René for help. He had seen her only from some distance, and never up close, but he could see that there was something intriguing about her. She was in her mid twenties, about 5'6", and didn't have a bit of makeup on that he could tell. Her long brunette hair fell to a wide "V" between her lower shoulder blades. She wore baggy pants and a loose-fitting shirt covered by a sweater in the early morning chill that day.
"Hi, what can I help you with, Sean?" she smiled as he came into the cubicle.
Her face was like an angel's, pale and slightly freckly. Her long, smooth neck met wide shoulders held back with the grace of a model, as she looked up at him with her disarming smile. The sweater had been removed, showing her bare arms flowing down from the loose short-sleeved blouse. Sean had to mentally jog his brain to pull himself back to reality and speak.
"Hi, René. You remembered my name! I'm impressed! I have this color printer that I can't seem to get mapped to one computer. Can you help me with it?"
"Sure, have a seat and I'll check it out." She said, already typing in the user's name to search for the problem. "Let's see if this user is set up properly first."
"Ah ha! There it is. This user is a lower level associate and doesn't have permissions to use a color printer. Only managers and certain users with an approved need can use the color printers. They are very expensive and we can't let everyone use them who want to. Just set her up for a black and white and tell her she'll have to get approval from her supervisor if she still really needs the color one."
Sean barely heard what she was saying, as he was watching her long fingers type, and noticing that there didn't appear to be any bra lines under her shirt, but it was so loose that it was hard to tell. He could tell that she didn't appear to have any excess flab that she was trying to hide under the baggy clothes. In this job, on this day, comfort was most important to her, he assumed.
"OK, I see what you mean. I'll leave her a note explaining that to her. Thanks for your help."
"No problem. That's what I'm here for. If you have any more trouble, just come back and see me any time," René responded, smiling again and looking him right in his eyes.
Wow, was she cute! He had never seen a woman in the business world who had such natural physical and inner beauty. Most women here in California wouldn't even go out of their houses to pick up the newspaper without putting on makeup or fancy clothes, especially one this pretty. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was.
'How could she not know?'
he thought. She wasn't wearing a ring, or any other jewelry, for that matter.
'She must have a steady boyfriend, or maybe girlfriend?'
He had known many lesbian girls who dressed and looked this way in public, not concerned with what guys thought about them.
'Hmm, that could be it. I wonder if she likes guys? She treated me very nicely, at least. So that's a positive thing, even if nothing else happens.'
And he returned to his work.
Over lunch, Sean had an opportunity to talk to one of the guys she worked with about her status.
"Hey, you know that woman, René? I think she's very pretty. Does she know it? She seems to be so down to earth and plain, but under it all is a beautiful person." Asked Sean.
"Oh, yeah, she knows! Guys are hitting on her all the time. She has to fight them off with a stick. But she is a great person to work with. Real sweet, and smart."
