A major thank you to Molly Cactus for her inspiration and her help in completing this story. She is the best!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, merchandise, companies, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All characters are 18 years or older when in sexual situations.
Prologue
Cold, late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue
You know, I could not run away it seemed
We'd seen each other in a dream
Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me, yeah
"Come on home, girl" he said with a smile
"You don't have to love me yet, let's get high awhile
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, I'm a magic man"
Heart, "Magic Man," from the album "Dreamboat Annie"
Chapter One
"Magic," one whispered.
"Mystical," another chimed in.
"Cathartic," a third murmured.
Who was this mystery man? He'd joined Adrienne's department three months ago but she'd only spent a few minutes with him. He seemed like a regular guy to her, medium height and build, dark brown hair and blue eyes, and didn't seem to have an over-sized personality.
Adrienne was normally on the road and didn't have time to associate in the lunchroom with members of her department but she had a couple of meetings cancel and took a long break with them. Of course the conversation among the girls eventually turned (devolved?) to relationships, and the three women Adrienne was talking to all mentioned being bedded by Garrett.
And they all had the same story. It started as an innocent first date, and somehow by the end of the evening they were asking -- no begging -- for him to use them in any way that he pleased. And all of them said they wouldn't hesitate to let him use them again in any way that he wished. They didn't give her more details (he forbade it) but assured her that they were willing participants.
Adrienne shrugged it off as idle talk. No one was that sexually persuasive. Of that she was sure.
Self-confidence had always been her strong suit. It served her well in her ascendancy through business school and in the world of finance dominated by men. She was the youngest female executive in the company, and at 35 was one of the youngest CFO's in her company's industry. Of course there was collateral damage on her rapid ascent to the top. There always was. Unfortunately, in her case it was her marriage. She got married to her high school sweetheart and the turbulence of her career eventually shook him loose. Too many long business trips, late nights at the office, and obligatory social engagements eventually wore him down. Jeremy and Adrienne parted amicably, and the last she knew of him, he'd gotten engaged to a teacher in their hometown and appeared to be quite happy. Adrienne thought he was a good soul and deserved to be happy.
In Adrienne's case, happiness wasn't one of the adjectives to describe her life, and in particular her love life. Even though her physical appearance was not rough on the eyes, to the contrary, she was able to turn heads, the same reasons that chased Jeremy away also kept all potential suitors at arm's length. She hadn't gotten past the first date in the two years that had passed since Jeremy and she parted ways.
The salacious lunchtime shop talk did pique Adrienne's curiosity. She went to HR to review Garrett's file. She justified the probing, telling herself that he was a member of her department and that she should make an effort to know him better. Deep down, though, the talk of his sexual prowess was too tempting for a woman that hadn't had sex in months. The HR manager Christine was eager to accommodate Adrienne's request for his file as her visits to her department were few and far between, and she relished any opportunity to kiss up to a member of upper management. Christine confirmed that she'd handled the intake interview but didn't have more to add other than her recollection that he had a solid resume and a pleasing demeanor.
The file wasn't any more revealing; Garrett D'Arnaud: attended a well-known business school, became a CPA and spent several years at a Big Four accounting firm. Specialized in software integration project management. Single, 35, and a sailor and car enthusiast. The file photo wasn't much help either. It was a head shot taken at a prior job. He was a handsome man with wavy brown hair, piercing blue eyes and a cute dimple on his chin. But not movie star good looking and certainly not the kind of man that would've had Adrienne dropping her panties on the first date.
Adrienne went back to her office and re-immersed herself in the maelstrom that was her life. Garrett was forgotten by her second phone call, and with the late night announcement of a major acquisition by her company of a competitor, a distant, then forgotten, memory. It was off to New York City for a month, holed up with investment bankers, lawyers and accountants, working out the details of the acquisition (it was touted as a 'merger of equals' but we know that's never true. The bigger company is always more 'equal' than the smaller company).
After a month of windowless conference rooms and late night room service meals she was ready to go home. The six hour flight to San Francisco somehow became eight, as there was the usual two hour delay out of Newark (her least favorite airport). On the final approach to SFO she looked out the window to see the twinkling lights of the Bay Bridge and the fog rolling in from the ocean, slowly enveloping the downtown skyscrapers. She was home.
Adrienne's needs were modest. It was a sinful pleasure just for her to sleep in her own bed, and it took a force of will to get out of it the next morning so she could make her first appearance in the office in a month. She dreaded opening her office door and seeing the clutter of correspondence, memos and assorted junk mail that undoubtedly littered her clean desk. She looked at herself in the mirror, hoping to see a fresh face, but instead seeing her limp blonde hair and shadows under her eyes, the ravages of a month of no exercise and poor eating. She needed a vacation -- desperately.
Instead of a vacation, she donned a silk blouse, black pencil skirt and black pumps, and went back to the office. She parked in her assigned spot in the garage and walked to the front lobby. Frank, the lobby guard, waved her through to the bank of elevators that serviced her firm's floors. She slid into an elevator with ten other people and made the silent ascent to her floor, with everyone (except her) checking e-mails and texts on their phones. She thought to herself that she could've dropped dead of a heart attack on the elevator and no one would've noticed. The elevator finally reached her floor and the receptionist spotted her before she'd even exited the elevator cab.
"Adrienne!" she cried, as she waved.
Adrienne waved to her and then lowered her head and focused on the path ahead of her. A detour to her receptionist's desk was a ten minute sentence to purgatory. She had nothing in common with Kathy, the receptionist, and knew she'd be facing a shit storm swirling around her desk.
She plodded past the rows and rows of cubicles to the back wall that housed the enclosed offices for the executives. Her assistant, Greta, was standing at her desk with a cup of hot coffee in her hand. She held it out in front of herself and the tall blonde gratefully took it, taking the first sip before she said hello.
"Not bad, Adrienne. It's 9:02, so only two minutes late after a month away from the office," noted her red headed assistant.
With the hot coffee sliding down and warming her insides Adrienne felt a semblance of humanity coming back to her. "Hey, Greta. What's new?"
