(This story employs the age-old death-to-rebirth archetype.)
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When Brad first saw Ginger, he knew that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had a lovely model's face that clearly required little, if any, makeup. It was enhanced by a truly warm smile that lit up her whole face. He immediately loved that smile, but he was very impressed with all of her: Dark ruby red, shoulder-length hair. Sparkling, very expressive green eyes. An almost perfect hour- glass figure, with a thin waist that was complemented by full breasts and a round, pleasantly curved ass. And, finally, her long, perfectly shaped legs.
He immediately realized that he was attracted to the new member of his department. It had been quite a while since he had been attracted to any woman, not since the devastating divorce that had been finalized twenty months before. He still found it hard to remember the day that he had discovered that his "perfect" wife had been cheating on him, with several different guys.
What had especially hurt was when she scornfully told him that he was "an unattractive nerd" who knew nothing about how to satisfy a woman's needs. Suddenly, he had realized how embarrassingly naive he had been, always assuming that his wife had been as happy and faithful as he had been for those three years. And even as he recognized how much he was attracted to Ginger, he knew that he wasn't ready to trust any woman again.
During the first few months on her new job, Ginger had only a casual relationship with Brad. Both realized that the other was quite dependable and capable. They would always exchange greetings and sometimes talk for a couple of moments, but that was it. Brad was aware that his initial attraction was shared by other guys in the company, as they would often talk about how much they would love to "make it with that gorgeous babe."
But it was obvious that she was not interested in any of them. In fact, since she always dressed so conservatively (skirt just above the knee, high buttoned blouse) some even ventured the suggestion that maybe she "likes other women or is frigid or something." All agreed that nobody in the office knew very much about her.
One day, the manager called Ginger and Brad into his office for a private conference. Basically, he praised both of them for their work and suggested that he wanted the two of them to work on a project for him. The project required both a man and a woman, and he made it clear that he believed that, even though she had worked there for only half a year, Ginger was his most capable female employee, even as Brad had been his best male employee for several years. It was an important project, and they were to work together on it for six to eight weeks before reporting back to him.
As a number of days passed with their working many hours together, the reticence that had characterized their relationship slowly broke down. They discovered that they liked to talk to each other. As he became comfortable enough in their conversations to lose the mask that had developed after his divorce, he gradually told all of the traumatic details of his wife's betrayal.
He learned that Ginger, too, had experienced a divorce, but after only one year of marriage, and she had now been single for over five years. She was not quite as candid about her divorce as Brad, but did share that it involved a terrible "traumatic betrayal." They both were glad that no children had been involved in either marriage.
After he had worked with Ginger for three weeks, Brad, found her such a delightful person to be with that he overcame his qualms and hesitantly asked if she would like to have dinner with him some night. She looked almost frightened and said, "Brad, I am so sorry. If I were to accept an invitation from any guy, it most certainly would be you. But, I. . . I just can't." And, of course, Brad gracefully accepted her rejection.
Two weeks later, realizing that he not only found her beautiful but really enjoyed her company, he asked again. Knowing that she was a baseball fan, he this time invited her to a baseball game. "Just a meeting between friends, nothing more." She started to say "no," but seeing how anxious he looked, she said, "Well, I do like baseball. And I would like to see tomorrow's game."
When he picked her up the next day, she was absolutely devastating in a blue jersey and white shorts. "My God," he thought. "She is just incredible. Just incredible!" How in the world would he ever be able to keep his eyes on the game?
When he walked her to her door after the game, she thanked him for a wonderful time, but she neither kissed him nor invited him in. However, they went out many more times: dinners, baseball games, concerts, bike riding, dancing, tennis, museums. Their conversations were spontaneous, their laughter deep and genuine, and their respect for each other's ideas and values obvious.
In all of the various settings, they clearly enjoyed each other. But there was always the very proper goodbye at her door! Then one night, after he became even more aware than usual how incredibly gorgeous she was, he moved forward when she was about to say goodbye and hesitantly put his mouth down to kiss her.
She seemed at first both startled and frightened (the proverbial deer caught in the headlights), but then she awkwardly allowed him to take her into his arms and kiss her. Soon, she was pressing up against him and pulling him into her, even as their tongues were beginning to dance together. Their breathing was clearly increasing and the age-old signs of awakened passion were obvious.
