Part 1
It happened because she was so flustered. She had spent the weekend with her family, and they had driven her nuts.
Her father was always giving her a hard time about money and boys. Her younger sisters were always pestering her for advice and money and tips on how to look more like her. Her younger brother seemed to just stare at her all the time, an Internet fantasy come to life in his house.
Her mother was the most aggravating, always pestering her about finding a husband, even though she was only 20. Her mother was worried that men were only interested in her for her looks, which were, to be fair, stunning. She got lots of attention for her long, flame-red hair. She got even more for her 36D breasts, which looked spectacular and would have under any circumstances. They looked even better in the low-cut T shirts and tank tops she preferred on warm days like today.
But she got the most attention for her ass, which was curvy and shapely and firm and seemed to dominate a room. Even men who weren't especially into asses found themselves watching her. She favored jeans and shorts that showed off her heart-shaped assets, but she was never trashy about it. It wasn't her fault that she had a body that stopped traffic.
In truth, her mother was worried about the wrong thing. While men paid attention to her for her body, once she spoke they became enamored of her other charms. She had a sultry voice that invoked whiskey and cigarettes that she had neither drunk nor smoked. She was witty and unflappable and could handle everything from the most sophisticated to the clumsiest come on with grace and humor. So men weren't just interested in her body; they were fascinated with her.
And, despite the statistics and her parents' deepest fears, she was no easy mark. She had slept with exactly three men, starting on her 16th birthday and always with a steady boyfriend. She had been single for six months and was really getting to regret her attitude toward sex outside a relationship. Her favorite toys were starting to feel like boyfriends and she found herself fighting with them and then withholding sex. It was turning into a real relationship.
So as she left to head back to school, she had all these things on her mind. Her parents. Her siblings. School. And, more than she cared to admit it, sex.
Which is why she forgot her wallet.
She was rushing to get packed and make the last train of the night, an overnight from Seattle back to Chicago. She had made a reservation online but had arranged to pay cash at the station (she already had too much on her credit card), and she would have had time if there hadn't been traffic from a Mariners game. As it was, she made the train with seconds to spare and ran right to the first empty compartment she saw. She settled in, her bags on the floor next to her, and let out a long sigh of relief.
About an hour later, as her sleep had just turned to a recurring sex dream involving Justin Timberlake and a large bathtub, she heard someone talking to her.
"Miss? Miss?"
She opened her eyes and tried to focus. She wasn't sure where she was, because her mind (and her pussy) were in the tub with JT.
"I'm sorry to wake you. Do you have a ticket?"
She was finally able to focus. The conductor was standing in front of her. When did their uniforms get so form-fitting? He was probably in his early 40s, but he looked good. Solid, muscular build. Salt-and-pepper hair cut short and stylish. A stubble beard that actually reminded her of Justin in one of her favorite videos. Kind brown eyes and a very sexy smile that seemed to wake her up gently, like a lover's hug.
"I didn't want to wake you, but there was no ticket on the door or the seat. I need to see your ticket, please."
She nodded, thinking about his smile and his arms and the vague outline of a bulge in his pants. She didn't want to speak, for fear she would tell him about her dream. She fumbled in her bag and pulled out the printed reservation. She handed it to him with a smile. He looked at it, puzzled.
"I'm sorry, miss, but this is just a reservation. Did you actually purchase the ticket at the station?"
Her mistake was instantly apparent to her. Her face fell.
"I was in such a rush, I would have missed the train. I'm so sorry."
"That's no problem. I can process it here."
She went through her bag again, once, then a second time, then more urgently a third time.
"I can't seem to find my wallet."
He looked a little amused and a little put out. She wasn't sure which was more prominent. He looked at his watch.
"I have to finish my rounds. I'll be back in about half an hour. Perhaps you will have found it by then."
Then he smiled that killer smile and let himself out.
She spent the first 15 minutes confirming that her wallet was nowhere to be found. She remembered having it on the kitchen counter at home, which is probably where it still was. She spent the last 15 minutes practicing apologies and promises to send the money right away when she got to Chicago.
When the conductor returned, she was sitting in the compartment looking sad and contrite. She explained the problem in a rush of anxious sentences and finished with a promise to pay the fare and any penalties. He listened with a look on his face that she couldn't read. When she was done, he was silent for a few moments.
"Miss, Amtrak policy says that I am supposed to report you to the authorities when I put you off the train at the first available stop, which would be," he consulted his watch, "Minneapolis in 8 hours."
"Oh no, please don't do that. I can't be in trouble. And I have to be in class tomorrow in Chicago."
"You really should have thought of that back in Seattle."
"Please, isn't there anything I can do?"
He looked her up and down. He had spent a few minutes watching her when he first woke her up, and thought she was the most attractive woman on the train, maybe the most attractive he had seen in a long while. He was wrestling with his ethics and morals. And losing.
"I don't think you can. Or, I should say, I don't think you would."
"No, really. I would do anything. I just need to get to Chicago."
She had seen him look her up and down. While his eyes were on her, hers were on him. She was powerfully attracted to him, and the power relationship between them at the moment did, if she was being really honest, turn her on even more. She knew precisely what she was saying, even if she couldn't bring herself to give him one of those porn actress, fake come-hither looks.
"If you mean that..."
"I do." Her eyes were mostly cast down, but they snuck up now and again to read the look, now open, on his face.
He looked at her hard, for an uncomfortably long time. Then, slowly, he reached his hand out toward the door and locked it. He pulled the screen on the door closed.
Part 2