All characters are over the age of eighteen.
It's embarrassing to remember just how green I was back then. Twenty-three years old, newly minted BS degree and a job in IT right out of school.
I'd been working for a pharmaceutical company for about a year when I got reassigned to provide VIP support for Mahogany Row. I was good technically but, more importantly, I'd learned at a young age how to talk to people.
The people you needed to impress on the C-suite floor were the admins. The CxOs were mostly not that hard to please as long as their admins were happy. So I schmoozed, I asked them about their kids, I brought them little gifts and fixed their (mostly easy) problems quickly and efficiently.
That attention to detail got me kudos and a nice big bonus after a few months, then a promotion not long afterwards. And it brought me to the attention of a couple of the leadership members, including the chief legal counsel.
David Jennings was an older guy, at least compared to me. He was in his late 50's, with a serious number of years of tenure and a corner office that was only rivaled by the CEO and the COO. After I was able to quickly address a calendar problem he was having with his iPhone, I became his go-to guy for anything tech. Sometimes I think he listened to me more than he did the CTO sitting next door.
My boss told me to just keep the guy happy, which meant doing some off-book stuff from time to time, like setting up his home network when he replaced his DSL with cable. He had this amazing house out on a nearby lake, with a big pool and this huge party patio overlooking the water.
That's when I met Francine. I called her Ms. Jennings then, of course. She was a stunner -- and probably only a few years older than me. Mr. Jennings was definitely doing all right. She was polite but cool to me, but I thought I imagined her glancing over at me as I installed the new modem and the router.
I speculated (in my head of course) that she must have been at least wife number 2, given their age gap. Maybe number 3. She was a tall stack of pale-skinned blonde beauty and I resolved to get my work done quickly and get out of there before my body revealed the effect she was having on me.
I didn't think much more about her until a few months later, when Mr. Jennings called me into his office. "Kevin, I need a favor from you. I left some signed contracts on my nightstand that I have to have this afternoon. Oh, and I forgot to leave my wife's birthday card -- you might as well take it back since you're going. Here are my keys. I'm pretty sure she'll be out."
It was a gorgeous late-spring day, and I was more than happy to have an excuse to blow off work and take a ride over to the lake. I put my jacket on and grabbed my knapsack and helmet and headed out to the motorcycle parking lot and my Suzuki.
I marveled again at the size of Mr. Jennings' house when I pulled up. There were no cars in the driveway, but I guessed that his three-bay garage was probably able to actually house cars instead of the accumulated junk that most people had in theirs.
Remembering the layout from my last visit, I had no trouble finding the master bedroom. No, that's not where the trouble started. The trouble was the gorgeous blonde lying on the king-size bed, wearing nothing but a sexy red bra and panty set and a sleep mask over her eyes.
I clamped my eyes shut and slammed a hand across them for good measure as I tried to slowly back out of the room without being heard. But the zipper of my knapsack scraped across the door and all hell broke loose.
My eyes were still closed but I heard, "David? AIIGGH!! What the fuck are you doing here!"
My brain decided that it was a good time to totally lose control over my mouth. "Ms. Jennings I'm so sorry your husband asked me to bring your birthday card over he didn't think you would be here I'm so so sorry I'm leaving please don't tell him please -- "
"STOP! Just stop. Kevin, right? Give me the card."
I carefully made my way to the side of the bed, never opening my eyes. I was sure that if I looked at her, I would be turned to stone. Part of me already was.
I felt her pluck the card from my hand and heard the card slide out of the thick paper envelope. "You can open your eyes, Kevin."
Ms. Jennings had covered up to the waist, but her gorgeous breasts, barely covered by her lacy bra, were still capturing all my attention. It took every bit of my willpower to look up at her face, which was smiling slyly up at me.
"Would you like to know what the card says?"
I nodded. "Uh, sure?"
"You are apparently my birthday present. And I am part of your bonus for..." She glanced back at the card. "...excellent service above and beyond the call of duty."
I stood there, gawping like an idiot.
