Sally turned off the overhead light to her office and closed the door. She was in such a hurry to leave, that she almost forgot that the front door to the building where she worked had a double-keyed lock, and that it was always locked promptly every Friday at 5 p.m. It was now going on 6:30, and she could hardly wait to get home and set into motion the special plans which she had made for herself and her husband. So, she turned around and walked back up the hallway in search of Sam the janitor, who was the only one left in the building with a key to the door.
As she approached Jill's office, she noticed its light still on.
"You still here?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah," said Jill, "just finishing up some work. What time is it?"
"It's almost 6:30," said Sally. "Go on home. That can wait till Monday."
"No," said Jill, "I want to finish these last few folders. No sense in letting this linger over the weekend. I won't be much longer."
"O.K.," said Sally, "but don't forget to let Sam know, so he can let you out."
"I will," said Jill. "See you Monday. Have a good weekend."
"Oh, I will," said Sally. "And I hope you do, too. Just don't forget to tell me all about it on Monday." Sally winked at Jill, but Jill just rolled her eyes, shook her head and waved her hand as if driving Sally away.
Sally, not finding Sam at the upper end of the hallway, proceeded back toward the front of the building. She found him emptying the trash at the receptionist's desk.
Jill was thumbing through a folder, when she heard Sam's voice from down the hall.
"Good night, Miss Sally," Sam said. Then she heard the clicking of the door and the jingling of the keys. She knew that now there was no one left but her and Sam, leaving her to continue uninterrupted with her review of the files before her.
It had been almost a month since Jill's divorce. So it was that, with the pain of the experience still lingering with her and the thought of an empty apartment waiting for her, she felt no need to rush out of the office so soon. Actually, it was immersing herself in her work that sustained her, that kept her from thinking about how much she missed being with a man. She had fallen out of love with her husband long before the divorce, but she could not deny that he had given her the best nights of pleasure that a woman of her sex drive could ever have. She had tried to find substitutes since, but even masturbation did not give her the same thrill anymore. She had also started to wear more daring undergarments, like a low-cut bra and lace stockings with garters instead of pantyhose, anything to make herself feel more sexy. But she had not yet met the man who could give her back the thing she was missing the most.
Jill heard a squeaking sound from down the hallway. She recognized it as that of Sam's cleaning cart. The sound grew louder as the cart approached the open door to her office. Sam stopped in front of her door and peered in.
"You still here, Miss Jill?" Sam asked. "I thought everybody had left."
"Yeah," said Jill, "I'm just finishing up some work. I'll be leaving shortly though."
"Alright then," said Sam. "I'll be back later to empty your trash can."
"Thank you, Sam," said Jill.
Jill turned back to the papers on her desk. The squeaking sound of the cart told her that Sam was on the move again. She was starting to get restless, and the paperwork was a long ways from completion. She stopped, took off her glasses, and rubbed her eyes to relieve the tired sensation they felt; however, the kind of rubbing she really needed would have to wait until she got home. She straightened up the papers and closed the folder. After stuffing it and the remaining folders into her briefcase, she turned out the desk lamp, picked up her purse and the briefcase and headed for the door. Seeing the cleaning cart a ways up the hallway and the light on in a nearby office told her where she could find Sam. When she entered the doorway to the office, she found Sam bent over, replacing the trash bag in the can he had just emptied.
Sam was a young black man, probably in his early thirties, she guessed. His skin color always reminded her of dark chocolate. He sported an even darker colored beard and mustache and wore a blue jumpsuit with a white T-shirt showing from behind the partly zipped-down collar. The jumpsuit fitted against his body in such a way as to reveal its lean and muscular nature.
"Sam, I'm ready to go now," said Jill. "Could you let me out?"
"Sure, Miss Jill," said Sam.
Jill walked ahead of Sam down the hallway and toward the front door. She stood to one side as Sam fitted the key into the lock. He held the door open, and out she went.
"Good night, Miss Jill," said Sam.
"Good night, Sam," Jill said over her shoulder, as she walked toward her car.
Sam continued to hold the door open, watching her walk across the parking lot. His eyes were focused on her well-rounded rear-end and the way her stockings hugged the sleek curves of her legs.
"Mmm Mm," murmured Sam to himself. "It's a shame such a pretty thing has to go to waste. That guy she was married to sure doesn't know what he's missing." Sam shook his head, then closed and re-locked the door.
Jill had seated herself in her car and had placed the key in the ignition, when a funny thought crossed her mind.
"Oh no," she said, "not Sam. Not a black man. That would be the height of desperation. But, I must admit, he doesn't look bad, for a black man."
She was about to turn the key, when it dawned on her that she had left her cell phone in the office. She would certainly need it, considering that it had already begun to turn dark outside. She took the keys from the ignition and dropped them in her purse. Taking the purse with her, she walked back to the front door of the building. When she pulled on the door, it would not open. So she knocked on its glass window, hoping Sam was not too far down the hall to hear her. Sam poked his head out of one of the office doors, and upon recognizing her, came down the hall, removing the key ring from his belt.
"Sorry, Sam," said Jill, after Sam had gotten the door open. "I left my cell phone in the office. I'll only be a minute."
"That's quite alright, Miss Jill," said Sam, holding the door open as she quickly slipped passed him. He felt her hip brush against the back of his hand. The thought of reaching out and pinching her firm buttocks crossed his mind, but he quickly restrained himself.
Jill found the phone on her desk and slipped it into her purse. Then her thoughts turned to something else: a piece of paper left on her desk earlier that day containing some guy's phone number penned in red. Jill had crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the trash can. The unmistakable handwriting on it told her that it was from Sally. Jill had not liked the way her friends and coworkers seemed to be trying to set her up with one guy or another. However, the old urges were now beginning to creep back under her skin, and she just could not shake them anymore. She looked into the trash can, but found it empty. She quickly walked back into the hallway.
"Sam," she said, spotting him coming out of the storage closet. "I threw something in my waste basket earlier that I really need now. Could you let me have the trash back to look through it for a second?"
"Well," said Sam, "I've already dropped it into my cart. Let me see if I can dig it out for you." Sam remembered that it was one of the last ones he had emptied, as well as one of the lighter ones. So he was able to quickly retrieve the bag of trash from his cart.
"Here you go, Miss Jill," he said.
"Thank you, Sam," said Jill. She tried to undo the knot tied by Sam, but it would not budge for her.
"You want me to untie that for you?" asked Sam.
"Please," said Jill.
Sam easily untied the knot in the bag and set it on the edge of the cart, so that Jill could reach into it. She had always admired how good he was with his hands. She was digging through the scraps of paper, and had her back turned toward Sam, not wanting him to see what it was she was hunting for. Sam stepped back a little to get a better look at the thing which had caught his attention earlier. He figured that, if he was ever going to get a chance, it would be now, and it would have to appear as an accidental gesture. So, stepping toward the cart as if to get something from it, he lifted his hand up and let it gently slide across one of Jill's cheeks. Jill quickly turned around and backed away, letting the bag of trash fall and spill onto the floor.
"Sam!" she exclaimed.
"I'm really sorry, Miss Jill," said Sam. "It was an accident. I didn't mean nothing."
"Well," said Jill, pretending to straighten her skirt. "You'll just have to be more careful. That's the kind of thing that can get you in trouble, you know. But I'll let it go then."