Rob Thompson - Summer 2024
Wednesday felt like any other boring day at work, but the anticipation bubbling underneath was hard to ignore. Terrence's call from Sunday replayed in my mind, his voice calm, but the request clear. "Can you take Karolina out for me? I've just got stuck another day away for work and she's been alone with the kids all week. She needs a break."
We both knew what he expected his wife and I to do if I followed through. I had glanced at Nora, lounging beside me on the couch, her eyes brightening as soon as she overheard the conversation.
"Why don't we invite her over?" She had said, her tone casual but her gaze unmistakable, which made me grin. "She can spend the evening with us. I'm sure she'll enjoy it."
Karolina was bisexual, but had very little chance with women ever since Terrence and her had opened their marriage. As soon as Nora's offer was relayed to her, she had accepted.
The following hours had been spent following Nora around various shops, as she fussed over scented candles, fuzzy blankets, massage oil... Her eagerness was fascinating to see. But I knew that this was not just about creating the most relaxing evening possible for the young mother.
Nora expected to watch me fuck Karolina.
So here I was on Wednesday, typing away on my keyboard in one of Rockedge's main building's open workspace, watching the minutes on the clock drag by. But it was not just the anticipation of the evening that had me so distracted.
Between my legs, Nora's metal cage rested heavily against my skin, a constant reminder of her control. She hadn't taken it off since she had first locked it in place on Saturday night. Only for hygiene breaks did I get a brief reprieve, and even then, it was under her watchful eye. The constant need for supervision meant that I had spent every night since in her bed.
As a result I kept being sent back into a delicious submissive state of mind, Nora ever present in my thoughts. I could not believe how much closer this one toy had brought us, a nice recovery from my anger-fueled romp with Lydia during the housewarming party.
My job was pretty low intensity as of late, so I had spent much of the morning just reveling in the weight of the chastity device on my crotch.
A call from reception pulled me from my reverie.
"Mr Thompson? I have a certain Miss Dunn here, she says she knows you."
Leslie? I'd sent her a brief congratulatory message on social media the week before, congratulating her on her dissertation. It had been a polite, professional gesture, at Nora's suggestion, no less. We had not talked to each other in years apart from that. What was she doing here?
"I'll be right down."
Leslie had been Jeremy's roommate back in college, my boyfriend of almost three years. A shy, quiet, mousy girl who rarely said much unless spoken to directly. We had shared a few classes, but after I got dumped, I had lost touch with her like most people from that chapter of my life.
I was not ready for the vision that stood next to the front desk when I got off the elevator. She had cut her red hair shorter, to frame her face more nicely, cleared her skin and had picked thick framed black glasses that complemented her eyebrows. Combined with clothes that flattered her slight silhouette, calling this a glow up would barely give it justice.
"Hey Les'!" The smile on my face was genuine, she looked like she was doing well. "Or should I call you Dr. Dunn now?"
She let out a cute giggle. "Hi Rob! So nice to see you! Sorry to barge in like this.."
The blush on her cheeks betrayed that despite her appearance, the old Leslie was still in there. "It's okay." I reassured her, glancing up at the clock above the reception desk. I had forgotten to bring my phone down with me. "Wanna catch up over lunch?"
She blinked, probably surprised by the straight forward offer. But I knew that if I did not make a first step to move us along, she would be happy to shyly chitchat in the hall. "Yeah, I'd love that."
We walked to a nearby coffee shop, one of my favorites due to its quiet atmosphere and decent sandwiches. The room was drenched in sunlight when we sat down, the smell of fresh coffee and sugar filling the air. It was not busy yet; we had arrived just before the rush.
"So," I broke the silence. "What brings you here?" I could not keep my eyes from her stunning face, had she always been this attractive?
Once again she blushed before talking, sounding like she was justifying herself. "Well, after your message last weekend I looked you up and saw that you worked in the city. I moved here for a post-doc just a few days ago..." She paused, not meeting my eyes. "I've been... pretty much working up the courage to come talk to you ever since."
"Well I'm glad you did!" It was hard to contain my enthusiasm, this was such a nice surprise. "Do you know anyone in the city?"
"Uhm, not really, my coworkers at the university are nice I guess." Once again I could see her physically bracing herself before talking. "I'd love to hangout with you..."
"That's great, I'll show you around. I know all the cool spots."
Her smile widened, and for a second, the nervousness I'd seen earlier seemed to melt away. "Yeah that, or you know, playing video games and stuff..." She was such a blast from the past, it warmed my heart to hear how little had changed in that sense.
From there, the conversation flowed effortlessly. We shared so many nerdy interests that there wasn't much work involved in keeping it going. She seemed genuinely impressed by my job at Rockedge, which I guess I had gotten a bit blasé about. But a question was burning my tongue and I hoped to sound casual when asking it.
"By the way, have you kept in touch with Jeremy?" I had no idea what he was up to, having him blocked pretty much everywhere, for the sake of my mental health.
"Oh yeah, we kept living together for a while when I was doing my PhD. He got a place with his husband now." Our conversation had been so relaxed that she had not noticed how on edge I was at her words. I tried not to let that revelation sour our shared mood.
"Nice, good for him."
After what seemed like hours the place started to pack up, and I figured I would have to go back to work. I made sure to give her my number, and right before we left I added.
"Hey, I'd hate myself if I didn't say it." I did not want her to think that I was crushing on her as hard as I was, while still leaving the door open. "But you look gorgeous. What an amazing glow up."
If she had been blushing before, she was burning up now. "Thanks." Her voice was slight, but her wide smile made me certain my tone had landed. "That means a lot coming from you."
We shared a hug before going our own way, and I walked back to the office with a spring in my step. I realized that for the entire lunch I had not thought about Nora's cage weighing me down even once.
When I got back to the open pace, Josh, the personal assistant to the head of our department, sought me out.
"Rob! Where have you been! People are looking for you, emergency meeting in the conference room." This was accompanied by plenty of sighing and eye rolling. Clearly he had not gotten over our drunken hookup almost a year ago.
I gingerly rushed to the room he had indicated and was shocked when I got in. Claire, our VP and Josh's boss, as well as Dan, my own manager were already in the room. But more surprisingly Kyle, my old boss from Wearstone, as well as some more people I recognized from my time there were also around the table.
My heart skipped a bit when my eyes fell on Nora. She was looking at me with a mischievous smile, clearly entertained by my sudden entrance.
"Ah Rob's here, finally." Dan's voice cut through the room, laced with frustration. I didn't need to read between the lines to feel the rebuke. "Please take a seat, we'll go back to the top for you."
It looked like everyone had been waiting for me, which put me on the spot. I awkwardly slinked on the seat next to Nora. She leaned in to whisper to me.
"Fashionably late, as usual."
"Do you know what's going on?"
"I've barely been briefed before I was told to come here. Where have you been?" She sounded more amused than accusatory. She had no way to know about Leslie.
"Uh... lunch."
Once I was settled Kyle started to talk, his tone serious as he explained the situation. Wearstone manufactured a range of wearable electronic devices for professionals. Chief among them was the line Nora was the head of sales for. A few days ago they had learned that the provider for their operating system was going under.
This was where we, Rockedge, would step in. The idea was to iron out a deal for us to replace the third party software with a new solution coded from scratch by us specifically for Wearstone, before the news of the provider closing shop went public.
I felt a knot tightening in my stomach as the magnitude of the task became clear. This was not just a routine project; this would be a race against time to save a critical part of Wearstone's business.
Apparently, execs from both companies had already agreed to the deal during a golf game the day before, and it was up to us to come up with a proposal and start the work.
"So this is where you're going to be crucial, Rob." Dan cut in. "You've worked at Wearstone, on this line of products before, and you know Rockedge's internal tools. From now on you're dedicating one hundred percent of your time to our new wearable OS."
Under the table Nora squeezed my leg. She knew how much I disliked being in the spotlight like this.
"Uh yeah, I worked on the integration of the third party OS with Wearstone's hardware back when I was there. I know how it works."
That seemed to satisfy everyone around the table, Kyle shooting me a warm smile. From there the meeting turned into a review of all we needed to agree on before sealing the deal and preparing the announcement.
