"Jamie! Pages seven through nine came without numbers!" Melissa cried. Her blazer shifted as she gestured, and I was sort of trying to figure out if she had anything on underneath it.
"On all three copies?" I asked.
"Yes!"
"Oh hell," I said, rubbing my face. As head of the admin team, it was my job to come up with a solution. Janice, my boss, stood in the doorway of my office watching Melissa fret and me ponder. Janice was wearing one of her dresses, this one purple, with purple stockings and matching shoes. She was real petite and had short blonde hair. She was very pretty but I'd never really considered her in a sexual way before, but that was going to change.
"There's no way we can get new copy from the printer! These have to go out today!" Melissa was in full panic mode. I was trying to think, and two attractive women in my office, one my boss, were not helping. Then it came to me.
"Do this," I said. "Open a word doc and print out numbers 7, 8, and 9 down the left column. Each number three times. Then use a hole punch to get them out and use a glu-stik to put them where they need to be. Okay?"
"Okay."
Melissa bustled off.
Janice said, "You run a tight ship here."
"Thanks."
"Ready for lunch?"
"You bet. Melissa! You got it?"
"I got it."
"I have my cell if you need me."
Janice and I walked out to her car. "What do you feel like?"
"How about Mexican."
She nodded and we got into my car, a politically incorrect'69 Dodge Charger, forest green with a black vinyl top. I drove to the restaurant and we sat down and ordered.
I started to give her a status report. "So, the VA is pretty calm. Order processing is going smoothly."
"I know. Jamie, this isn't really a work lunch."
"No?" I asked, an eyebrow going up. "What's up?"
"I want to talk to you about something personal. It doesn't have anything to do with work or your job. I want you just to listen, okay?"
"Uh, okay." I was suddenly nervous, and so was she. She glanced around at other tables, her green eyes never staying on one spot for long. Her being nervous actually made me more comfortable for some reason.
"I've been watching you for over a year. I think you're the right guy for this. In control, confident. I think I'm right. I hope I am." She took a breath and looked right at me. Her look was so sudden and direct it surprised me. She said, "I want you to control me."
"What?"
"I'd still be your boss, and it could never interfere with work," she said, giving her head a slight shake for emphasis. "But outside of work, I'd basically be yours. Completely." Her fingers twirled her napkin around, and she was blushing hotly. I looked at her and she at me. She held my eyes but her cheeks were turning redder by the second. She said, "You know what I'm talking about."
I thought maybe I did. "So I could...I could....
She nodded. "Call me any time for anything. Come over at any hour of the day. Ask me to do anything." She said again, "It just can't interfere with work, and no one at work can find out. It could mean both of our jobs."
If she was serious she was right, and she was taking a hell of a risk. "Why? Why are you doing this?"
"Because," she said in a low voice. "I need it. I crave it. I crave being controlled and dominated. I feel lost, like I'm just drifting without someone who can do that for me."
"And you think I'm the guy because...what because I'm confident?"
"Yeah. No." She said, "It's more than that. But yes, I think it's you." She was calmer now that it was on the table.
I looked at her. I didn't know what to say. It had to be a joke.
She must have seen me not quite believing it. "Test me," she said.
"Here? Now?"