Both of Victoria's secrets began life as a single 750 word project, but that proved too short even for my own tastes... Like Topsy, it grew and grew, so I hope they're worth the time I took in re-writing it.
My husband George and I had a hotel reservation at the venue on the night of the company's Christmas party; it's invariably a boozy evening and more than one colleague had already lost their driving licence to the breathalyser test that year. In the event, I was to be alone for the night; George having suffered a flight delay in Spain, where he'd gone to investigate a takeover-opportunity for a rival company.
This year's event proved to be no exception and after a good meal and far too much wine, I was on the dance floor with an equally inebriated colleague when I recklessly invited him to join me in my room. In my defence, that was unusual, in fact unheard of for me; this wasn't just another case of 'when the cats away, the mouse will play'. Or perhaps it was?.
The company is my father's, but since his retirement, my husband George has been the MD, while I notionally head up the company's Sales and Marketing Department. Though I only took up that post once our three boys had gone away to boarding school and I only work three days each week anyway; it helps to keep me out of both mischief and the town's more exclusive clothing stores.
Gary, my... paramour, on that fateful evening was our recently appointed Production Manager and from conversations overheard in the office, I wasn't the only woman to have noticed him; though I'd kept my own attraction very much to myself. It would be difficult not to notice, Gary, he's a powerfully built and ruggedly handsome young man.
More pertinently, to me at least; Gary's disposition is so very different to any other men that I've known. My life's been one of relative affluence and privilege: Harrogate Ladies' College followed by Newnham College Cambridge, with a social life that revolved around pony clubs, tennis clubs, house parties and Hunt Balls; the men I've dated, including George, have all been from a similar background.
Gary meanwhile, had grown up in far less salubrious circumstances; not exactly from the 'wrong side of the tracks', but rather too close to them for comfort. After being none too successfully educated at the local comprehensive school, Gary left there at sixteen to take up an Apprenticeship on our factory floor.
Gary's appointment had been one of the last that my father had made before retiring. Daddy having apparently 'seen past' Gary's below-par educational and disciplinary records, not to mention his juvenile criminal record, to spot the 'Engineer who lay hidden beyond'. Ten years later and Daddy remained smug about that decision.
Until Gary's recent promotion to Production Manager, he'd been no more than a name to me; though one which in recent years has often been mentioned. Gary had proved to be a talented engineer and had attended the local technical college one day each week, along with any and every other training course that he'd been offered.
Gary passed every one of those courses with flying colours, usually at the head of his class; but beyond those qualifications, Gary possessed a gift which my father had seen in him as a sixteen year old. Gary saw solutions to problems which nobody else could visualise; indeed, there were times when no one else had yet even spotted the problem!
Ten years down the road and Gary was our new Production Manager, respected by both Management colleagues and the work-force alike. The latter especially seemed to love Gary, perhaps in part because those ten years hadn't knocked any of the 'rough-edges' off him; he was still 'one of the lads' a mainstay of the local rugby team and always up for a beer.
So how did Gary get from the factory floor to my bedroom? I'm still not altogether sure myself; though for me and I suspect perhaps for us both, there was a touch of the Lady Chatterleys about it? I found Gary attractive in a 'rough and ready' sort of way, while to Gary, as I've since heard him say himself, I was a bit of seemingly unattainable, 'Posh-Totty'.
I'm sure that Gary was to some extent in awe of me; in our few conversations prior to that evening he'd only ever addressed me as Mrs. Hamilton and on one occasion even called me Ma'am, did Gary think I was the bloody queen? Over the course of that evening however -- as the drink took hold? - I'd managed to get Gary to call me Victoria and once or twice even use my preferred diminutive of Vicki.