They had known each other for over a year, but had never actually met in person. This wasnât an Internet romance, per se. It was, however, a fairly serious Internet relationship. For nearly nine months now they had regularly chatted with each other via instant messenger software. Only recently had their relationship blossomed into something of a romantic nature and neither was certain this was what they wantedâŚbut it wasnât a completely distasteful thought either. They were uncertain of the impact it would have on their friendship, but their relationship was mature enough that they had been able to openly talk about this.
Vince Darner loved intellectual women, and Olivia had this trait in spades. A real freethinker she was. Philosophy, science, intelligent film, insightful poetryâŚyou name it. She had a real thirst for knowledge, mostly because she desired to better herself. Her mind worked in marvelous ways, and he loved this about her. In fact, this was the initial attraction to her when he had first started paying attention to what she was writing in a chat room for philosophers.
Vince is fairly peculiar when it comes to relationships with women. He refuses anything superficial, desiring to get to know the woman for who she really is. In fact, when dealing with potential friends and associates on the Internet, but especially women, Vince always refused to look at any pictures of them until he felt ready to do so. Sometimes that was never. One just never knows with Vince.
He had discovered that most women generally donât know how to react to this type of behavior, often relying on their looks to get the attention of men, or worse, only having men notice them because of their looks. He found this reprehensible, and always told his female friends their looks were ultimately of no concern to him. It was their intellect he found sexy, and was extremely interested in how they thought about thingsâŚthought about the world. This was no come-on line. He was being very truthful. He loved intelligent, savvy women. The more sophisticated women he had met understood this approach. In fact, it became a real turn on for most of them. Many had told him it was refreshing.
Olivia Brewster loved that he was interested in her. Interested in here as a woman, as a student, and as an intellect, not as an object. She had every right to feel that way too. Olivia was blonde and drop-dead gorgeous (something Vince had only discovered a handful of days ago when he finally agreed to look at the picture she had emailed to him) and had dealt with superficial men her entire life. She was no fool. She understood she was good looking by anyoneâs standards, and of course there was nothing she could do about that other than to be comfortable in her own appearance and to take care of her body. She enjoyed being attractive. However, it was obvious to her (and to anyone who actually knew her) from a very young age she was quite gifted intellectually.
She discovered throughout her life she had to work extra hard to get people to notice this about her, rather than looking at her tits all the time, or glancing at her ass as she walked past them. As a woman she felt like her life was already an uphill challenge, but add to that the blonde hair, the silky skin, perfect teeth, gorgeous face, and what really was a glorious body, and she sometimes felt it was nearly a straight-up incline. Give Olivia credit though. It never deterred her from her intellectual pursuits and she never once used her good looks or her great body to get a âfree passâ in life.
She had been drawn to Vince because of the poetry he shared on the Internet. It was offbeat, smart, sometimes dangerous, and certainly not run-of-the-mill. It was probably that last feature that attracted her. She hated anything âaverageâ. She had quickly discovered they had a lot in common and the more they chatted with each other, the more she realized he was something far from ordinary. He was, as far as she was concerned, extraordinary, and she had told him on more than one occasion how highly she thought of him.
All of this was very appealing for her, and when coupled with his real desire to get to know her as an actual person instead of working from some pre-conceived notion of her picture and appearance, she felt she had finally met a true friend, mentor, confidante, and all-around good guy. Romance with Vince had not even dawned on her, mainly because he was such a gentleman and had always interacted with her in a respectful and proper manner. If Vince had romantic designs on her, he had never really tipped his hand. Also, Olivia was in grad school right now and was very tied up with her workload. She took her schooling very seriously and really had not even allowed for the possibility of any kind of romantic relationship until she was done. Less than a year to go and then, maybe then, she would consider romance.
* * *
Vince and Olivia had made the occasional risquĂŠ comment to each other in instant messenger chats, but nothing had ever materialized and they usually just ended with a âLOLâ or âhahaâ comment from one or the other. However, Vince was no saint. Truthfully, Olivia had never thought he was, but she also had never really stopped to consider that he wasnât either. What she did know was his poetry was too rich and too complex and too full of sordid details to suggest he was a white lily.
One day he had asked Olivia if she would like to read something he had been working on. Vince had been trying for a very long time to become a professional writer, and he had talent galore, but had just never gotten that one break he felt he needed to jumpstart his career. Perhaps he wasnât working as hard as he could at getting his work in front of the right editors and publishers. He was a better writer than businessman, and often felt his skills and talents should be enough to get his work published. However, he never let that deter him, and he always pressed on, writing and writing and writing to hone his skills.
Olivia was thrilled to read something he had written. Actually, she was always game to read anything he had written, but to this point it had all been poetry. She was ready for something other than his poetry, which she truly adored. She was certain he had depth as a writer. Their conversations let her know he was not intellectually lightweight, and if his prose was anything like his poetry, she felt she was going to be in for a real treat. She wasnât prepared for what he sent her, which had not been sent without a little reservation on his part.
Vince was taking a risk with their relationship when he had sent her this particular manuscript, and honestly wasnât sure how it was going to turn out. Would she be turned off? Appalled, perhaps? Would this serve to smash her opinion of him as a gentlemen and all-around decent guy? He didnât know the answer to this, but he certainly didnât think Olivia was a prude and felt the risk would be worth the reward.
Vince had wanted to further their relationship and felt this might be a good way to indicate to her that he desired more. This was so like Vince, too. Rather than tell her his desires, he chose to show her. He wanted to expose more of who he really was to her, which was a writer of red-hot erotica. Mostly short stories, but a couple of novellas too.
When it was all said and done, Vince truly was a good guy, and was very respectful of her, and everyone else for that matter. He cherished Oliviaâs intellectual side and loved the long talks theyâd had on ethics, and peace, and history. He just also happened to be a steamy romantic, capable of writing eloquently and passionately about things that most other âwritersâ simply turned into smutty, cheap, and clichĂŠd junk.
