"Hello, I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Peter Nathan. No doubt you've been hearing a lot of new names lately." He had seen her around the office for a few weeks. He thought she was kind of attractive; tall, about 5'7" with small breasts and a lean build. He shook those thoughts from his head.
He usually didn't bother to meet new people for a while but he seemed to be walking by her fairly often, either on the way to the rest rooms or coming back from the coffee shop. He didn't want to feel awkward so he decided to say "Hi" to her.
"Hi Peter, I'm Karyn Baker, it's nice to meet you. Yes there have been a lot of new names and faces, along with so much to learn. It will take a while before I feel like I'm doing anything more than treading water." She was feeling relieved that a few of the experienced people were finally introducing themselves to her. Everyone had seemed very much into their own business and not all that welcoming.
"Yes, I remember those days, even if it has been fifteen years or so. It was easy to feel lost back then so I know how you feel. Karyn, it's been nice meeting you. I'm running a bit late for a meeting but I'm sure we'll be talking more soon." He said, politely, then turned towards his office and walked away.
She thought he was reasonably attractive, though only a few inches taller than she was. He had a compact, strong looking build. She sighed and ignored that thought.
When they first met he had been divorced only a year, though he and his wife had separated almost three years before that. He really didn't think much about her. He thought she was a few years older than he was, and she was. She had a nice face, somewhat narrow with lively green eyes and a quirky smile that gave her an "I'm in on the joke" look.
He noticed too that she had very good legs and he guessed that, when she was younger, they were spectacular. If he had a weakness, good legs would be it. He wasn't concerned about big boobs. The slender look, however, whether it was trim and athletic or a lean elegant look really caught his eye.
The main reason for ignoring her was that she was new to the business and most new reps didn't last. They usually had no market, couldn't sell or simply couldn't adjust to the uneven income of living on commission. For that reason, he generally ignored all newcomers until they were no longer new . . . at least six months or so. After all, they'd be gone by then anyway.
In truth, she didn't think much about him either. She was far more concerned with learning her new job, and being able to make a living, to think much about the polite but unsmiling younger man.
Several months passed and she was still there. In a reorganization of the office space, she was moved to a cubicle across the aisle in front of his own private office. He could now hear her voice as she spoke on the phone. It had a soft girlish (though not childish) tone to it that made him smile. He also could see her, through his open door, as she would whirl around in her chair to reach her file cabinet, her skirt pulling up to mid-thigh level, revealing her long slender legs.
Now in closer proximity, they went beyond polite hellos to friendly greetings and short conversations. As someone new to the business, she had questions to ask that he didn't mind answering. She was intelligent and talkative, which boosted his mood. He hadn't completely regained his bearings since his marriage ended.
She was glad she had someone to ask questions and who could help her overcome her own lack of experience. He was a bit younger, she thought and, though he seemed a bit aloof and reserved, he was willing to help her when he could. Their first conversations were work related: "How'd that meeting go?", "What do you think I should do with this guy?" and "How much does she have to invest, when will she use the money?", or "God! He's dumb as a bag of hammers!"
They began having lunch in the building cafeteria, though they only went to outside restaurants with coworkers. Later they talked about their children (her son was eighteen) and more personal subjects. For quite a while he didn't really see her as a potential lover. He harbored fantasies about someone who was, well, a bit fresher and younger, in addition to not wanting to date someone from the office. He had met his wife at a previous job, after all, and look how that turned out.
Still, he enjoyed her intelligence and sense of humor and that soft girlish voice and warm laugh. After months of a gradually deepening friendship, he admitted to himself that he was seriously attracted to her. The idea of seeing someone from work still unnerved him. What if it didn't work out? What if it did?
Karyn had found herself drawn to the somewhat shy younger man. From the beginning she could tell he was very smart, though he made no effort to make it obvious to those around him. He spoke about his divorce, which had shaken him severely. She could tell from their conversations that he deeply loved his young sons. One day in August she told him about a campaign party she had hosted for a district judge candidate. It had been a morale boosting party for the campaign workers, mostly family, friends and work acquaintances of the candidate.
"I've got some leftover chocolate cake." she said. "Would you like to come over and have some? I really don't eat desserts very often." He thanked her for the offer and delayed giving her an answer.
"Can I get back to you on that?" he asked. "How long does cake last?"
The invitation drifted through the back of his mind. Like cake, the offer had a limited shelf life. Late afternoon of the next day he called her at home. "Do you have any cake left?" he asked, after he said hello.
"Peter, I'm so glad you called" she said brightly. "Why don't you come over about seven-thirty or eight?"
As he hung up the phone, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. Unless he had been misreading things completely, there had been a gradual increase in sexual tension between them. He knew he felt it. They were certainly friends by this time. By then they had gone to lunch at restaurants away from the office, so it really wouldn't even be a first date. Alright, it would be a first date.
They had also been on a couple of joint business appointments together and, after a meeting that had ended after normal working hours, they stopped for a drink to discuss the meeting. They laughed and joked and had a very good time . . . the kind of time that sometimes happens when good friends add alcohol to the mix. They already liked each other but each now felt a warmer affection for the other. Not just affection but lust, at its beginning stages but lust nonetheless. Something could have happened then, he thought. Drinks with her had been fun. As they had walked out of the restaurant and across the parking lot, he could have taken her hand, pulled her towards him and kissed her with no resistance at all. He thought.
Since his separation he had dated several women, most with whom he had nothing in common and two that he had slept with a few times. They were both recent divorcees having their first post divorce sex, as was he. They were nice women but nothing had come of those relationships. He hadn't dated for several months. He hoped he wasn't imagining her attraction.
He was still hesitant about getting involved with someone from the office but his feelings of loneliness and his need for female companionship were starting to overcome that concern. Also, he needed someone intelligent to converse with. He loved talking with bright people and, looking back, he realized what he had missed so much during his marriage. His ex-wife wasn't at all stupid but they had never connected well intellectually. She seldom got his jokes and he sometimes believed her next abstract thought would be her first.
When Karyn greeted him at the door she was wearing a lightweight knit tank top and loose casual shorts. He thought she looked great as she stepped out into the still bright sunlight. She had a faint sheen of perspiration on her face and arms from the last minute clean-up she had been doing. It was over eighty degrees and her house, though heavily tree shaded, was not air conditioned.
Her hair was a light golden brown, a couple of inches off her shoulders. It was a bit sun bleached and worn casually with a part in the middle. It shone in the early evening sun. He liked the casual look. When she fussed with it she looked older. Her legs were tanned and sexy in a coltish, athletic sort of way.
"It's good to see you Peter, I missed you at the office today" she noted. Their comings and goings had not coincided during business hours. "Let's go in and have a drink."
"Hi Karyn, that sounds great." he said, feeling a bit anxious and wanting to take the edge off. Now that he was there, he was again torn between his now certain attraction for her and his fear of an awkward situation at the office.
She offered him a choice of vodka, bourbon or some of the inexpensive boxed wine left over from the campaign party. He chose the wine, since he wasn't much of a hard liquor drinker. She poured bourbon on the rocks for herself.
"I like your place." He said.
"Thank you. I like it, but there are some things I need to do with it. I suppose there always are, right? She replied.
At first she looked a bit over-caffeinated but the drink gradually calmed her. "I haven't finished cleaning up." she said. Then she swept through the living room doing some final tidying up, fanning the magazines on the coffee table, then straightening and precisely positioning each lamp and knickknack. She took occasional sips of her drink as she moved. She slowed gradually, scrubbing off energy like the space shuttle hitting the upper atmosphere.
"If you want another, help yourself. It's in the fridge." she said as she made a final swoop through the dining room, which opened to the kitchen. He had finished his first glass in about three minutes. Thirst and nerves were to blame. He calmed a bit midway through the second glass and strolled around the room as she did the last bit of organizing.
She gave him a brief tour of the house and invited him out to the patio. Her patio was really a very low, house length deck. An outdoor table and cushioned iron chairs sat outside the glass patio door. It was a beautiful, mostly wooded, lot. Tall trees were scattered across her yard with smaller trees and larger bushes all but obscuring the neighbors to the rear. The sun would soon be sinking behind the neighbor's trees.
