Jessica had been in the SAS for 3 years and had remained in service but only in a training capacity after a gunshot wound and being held for two weeks as a prisoner of war during a skirmish in Iraq nearly ended her life. She was able to run her own business which allowed her the freedom to work as she pleased. Her most recent assignment called for her to deliver a review, analysis and update to a prestigious combat training college on the outskirts of London. The building she was in sprawled across four floors encompassed by the misty, grey sky; the first floor containing a swimming pool for physical endurance training of instructors and trainees, the second and third floors consisted of lecture halls and the fourth floor was the office hub for instructors, receptionists, and management. The parking lot formed the entrance through a large electric gate which was manned by security staff. Behind the car park, open fields and physical training areas with monkey bars, barbed wire, mud and other gruelling activities were in place which were used to break new instructors and trainees.
Her job involved daily verbal conflict which she hated, but it was just part of the job. She liked the money and did anything it took to ensure her lifestyle needs were met. She fixed businesses and would weed out the liars and thieves. After being at the facility for three weeks fixing the dishonesty, conflicts, and staff nonsense, she had begun reviewing customer satisfaction. She read through the comments which one of the instructors had received, she found him online and saw he was previously in the Royal Marines. Every evaluation that she read was positive. His admin was atrocious but the comments from the people he had trained pushed her to give him an opportunity to explain himself before raising it to management.
She stood in her combat boots with a light jacket on, staring at the roads into the city that were growing busier in front of her, the peace of the early morning was her favourite time of the day. She sucked on her cigarette as she filled her lungs with the nicotine she was craving. Jason arrived as she exhaled the smoke through her mouth, he climbed out of his silver BMW after parking someone in, and they locked eyes for the first time. She switched hands of her cigarette, freeing her right hand for the impending handshake.
"You must be Jason, I'm Jessica, nice to meet you."
He looked her up and down, shook her hand and took a sip from his takeaway coffee, "Nice to meet you, sorry I've been slow on the emails."
"Don't worry, we've got time." She motioned her head towards his car, "Please move your car, that's not permitted on site. Safety requirements need every person to evacuate swiftly, if you're dead that person isn't getting their vehicle out of here."
She walked off and watched him get back into his car to move it. He was annoyed, he had been parking there for over 5 years. After he moved into a designated space, he headed towards the building feeling her eyes on his back. After the business of the morning was over, she walked up to him, "When you have time, we need to fix your admin."
"I, ahh. I have time now."
"Good, come with me." She walked him to her designated office space and pulled out his files, "I have reviewed all of these, every single one has deficiencies for processes not followed. I haven't raised it to management yet. What is the problem?"
"I apologize, I think it's just been my attention to detail, I'll make sure it doesn't happen going forward."
She appreciated his honesty. A week passed and their interactions were minimal but randomly flirtatious. She sat in the receptionist's office completing paperwork. In the short time she had been there she had become part of the family and furniture. She was always on site except for Sundays which she used to keep herself fit. Jason's joyful spirit walked through the door, he came up behind her and began tickling her sides. She laughed when she saw it was him and playfully resisted. He removed his hands and placed one on her shoulder, "How is Miss Difficult today?"
"She'll be a lot better if you carry on right there," she said as she placed his other hand on her shoulder, "My neck is so damn sore."
He rubbed her neck in front of the receptionist and spoke to them about trivial matters as if the neck-contact wasn't out of the norm. Jessica felt a surge of wetness soak her lacy G-string, and a lightning bolt go through her body from his touch. The receptionist was next to enjoy a few shoulder squeezes, "Normally I have to go to a strip club before I get this lucky." He removed his hands from her neck, winked at them both and continued with his day.
He was a gentleman, but even a gentleman has desires.
Jessica turned to the receptionist when he left, "What's his story?"
"Ahhh. His charm has struck again," she smiled at Jessica, finished typing her sentence and continued, "he's been here since we started. He got divorced 3 or 4 years ago and has been alone ever since. He enjoys the ladies, but he's never been in love."
"Why hasn't anything happened with you and him?"
"It did. We had a beautiful night together and I've regretted it ever since."
"Why?"
"He fucked me like a woman should be fucked. The next day when I woke up, he wasn't there. When I saw him making coffee, I went to talk to him, he went on with his life as if nothing had happened. It's taken me a long time to be in the same room as him without doing or saying something."
Later that afternoon they sat across the table from each other as Jessica verified his admin from the previous batch of trainees, "Come on Jason." She pushed an incomplete signature across the table.
His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he teased her, "Sorry Miss."
