"John, look at the time! You better git right now, or you'll be late. Annie would be pissed!" It was Arlene, the office-manager-secretary-exec/assistant, speaking. Annie was John's wife.
John - the business owner- glanced up. It was 4:45. He stood, said to Jason "Damn it, she's right. I have to get the kids from gymnastics. Gotta leave right now - you two will have to finish up. See you again next week!" He grabbed his jacket and almost sprinted out of the office, then sprayed gravel enroute to the street in his big crew-cab pickup.
Jason, a consultant, had been spending gradually increasing amounts of his time with them - now he drove in from home 90 miles away about two days per week, did other work remotely. He and John and Arlene were all friendly and informal, got along and worked well together.
She shrugged, grinned at him and said "Guess it's just you and me, partner. Gotta clean up and get out ourselves. At least we got most everything done that we needed to! You just driving home, your usual so-called dinner at some fast-food place on the road?"
He nodded, retrieving their jackets. Cleanup was one long swipe across the big table: napkins and lunch-trash cascaded into the wastebasket. She unplugged the ever-full coffeepot.
They left together: she checked the door lock, set the alarm, killed the office lights.
Outside it was darker than the inside of a dog - dead midwinter at high latitude, no city lights anywhere nearby, and clouds to stop any skylight. The single parking-lot bulb came on when the motion sensor found them.
Their cars were side by side beneath the bulb. Arlene's auto looked odd: she stepped over to it muttering "What the heck...?" Then "Phooey! Jason, I've got a completely flat tire here! And I know for sure I don't have a spare. Damn!"
Jason was in no hurry to get on the road, and offered to take it off the car, then they could get it fixed at the closest service-station. She shook her head, said "No, no need but thanks anyhow, that's what AAA is for. They'll come fix it. But could you give me a ride home? I'll call from there. It isn't far, about five minutes max."
It was actually about ten minutes - two to get out of town, eight more down a sparsely-populated macadam road, then a long gravel drive to an isolated and thoroughly-dark house. Jason pulled up, stopped beside the stairs with his headlights pouring their output uselessly into the void, muttered "Man and boy, it's DARK!"
Beside him she rummaged in her purse, said "I've got the remote for the outside lights here somewhere." He looked over at her - the blue-green lights from the dash were the only illumination in the car. Her teeth and eyes, reflective surfaces, glittered. She looked up at him and took him by surprise. "Jason, I do believe you were a naughty boy today at the office, weren't you?"
He had no idea what she was talking about, managed only an intelligent "Huh?"
She smiled at him - he could see that much but no more. In the absolute dark below the dash, her left hand settled on his knee. "I do believe I caught you more than once looking down my blouse, Doctor Jason. Naughty, naughty."
It was true: she'd worn a boat-necked thing and he'd taken as much advantage of it as possible without being overtly obnoxious or (so he thought) obvious. After all, he did find her totally worthy of such attention - a sort of "plain-attractive" woman, stunning smile, smallish but with a good figure, short curly brown hair, and saucy. Indeterminate age, probably middle thirties. And a considerable if low-key flirt. He'd gotten several good glances at the tops of her bosom today. He blushed into the dark, muttered "Sorry. Hope I didn't embarrass you. Nice boobs, though!"
She turned to face him even more directly, only her eyes visible, and said "No embarrassment caused. And thank you for the compliment. But Doctor, I'd have a great deal more faith in your compliments if I knew that you'd actually seen what you're talking about."
She took a long, slow breath and finished almost silently "Care to come inside and see?"
He was instantly both horny - a condition that was never far away anyhow - and on guard. His hand found hers atop his knee, his fingers located the heavy old-fashioned wedding set, twiddled it gently for a second. "How about this?" he asked softly.
"My old man left for Florida for two weeks yesterday. A business trip. So he says. Hubby goes to Florida too much to suit me. I suspect he has a girlfriend down there. Combines business with monkey business."