As always, I'd like to thank Dr. Bob for his fine insights in editing this story. LeftyLoo always gives his support, too. This is a little story of seduction and the surprising places that love can be found. Please enjoy.
*
It was a Friday just like any other Friday. I went to work and spent all day every day staring at my computer screen. I am a CPA with a tax law degree and my days are filled with tiny numbers filling computer screens. The tiny numbers belonged to other people doing whatever they did. What they usually did was screw up my meticulously planned and executed budgets, forecasts and conclusions. When they did, as they
always
did, I sighed and fixed it with more meticulously planned and executed budgets, forecasts and conclusions. While my job paid extremely well, at times it got to be repetitive, frustrating and boring. While it was each of those things at different times, all three rarely coincided on the same day. Today was a significant coincidence day. A major client had gone off the deep end and spent something with at least two commas and six zeroes on a
ridiculously
oversized yacht that he thought could be a tax write-off and/or be chargeable to his corporation. The repetitive and boring part was poring through the tax codes and his business bylaws trying to find, what I already knew to be, a nonexistent loophole for this jackass. Of course, I never displayed my disdain for his idiotic behavior, hence the frustration. Several times today, I went to the ladies room, pulled a handkerchief out of my purse, stuffed it into my mouth and screamed into it. The respite from the buildup of the anger and frustration, each time, was welcome, but all too brief.
My boss was sympathetic, but she said to exhaust all possibilities before telling the jackass that what he wanted couldn't be done. Sometime well after five she came into my office and laid a compassionate hand on my shoulder and told me to go home. "Cassandra," she said, "it'll be here on Monday. Go home, take a long hot bath, have a glass of wine and forget it for the weekend. You'll never find it tonight, anyway."
I sighed, "Thanks Margaret, I think I will." She patted me on the shoulder and left my office.
I shut down my computer, packed up my briefcase, my laptop and all of my other stuff and headed toward the door. Margaret was turning out lights, so I helped her, then she locked up and we rode down to the parking garage together. She sympathetically patted me on the shoulder once more before I climbed in my car, drove home and parked next to my apartment building. After gathering my things, I walked to the building and rode the elevator up to my floor. When I got out, there was a girl in front of the apartment next to mine, struggling with grocery bags, a laptop case and keys, with everything seeming in immediate danger of falling to the floor. She seemed to be stuck so I rushed to her side.
As I set down my things, I asked, "What can I do?"
She looked up and smiled at me gratefully, "Could you grab my keys and open the door?"
I took them and opened the door. She rushed in and dropped everything on the dining room table. When her shoulders sagged in relief I giggled to myself and thought,
'Been there done that'
. I picked up my things and stood at the door. I hadn't paid really any attention to her until she turned around. I saw that she was tiny; maybe five foot one or two, slender with long, thick, shiny, blue-black hair with random streaks of lavender running through it, combed tightly to her head and pulled into a high, tight ponytail. I found the streaks to be very appealing and disturbingly sexy. The ponytail flipped up at the end and swung and bobbed cutely behind her. She was Asian and very pretty. She wore a black London Fog trench coat that she had tied loosely with the belt. Hers looked a whole lot better on her than my matching grey one did on me. Of course, on mine, the buttons were all buttoned and my belt was done up properly, so the difference in appearance was probably in presentation. I was stiff and proper and she was anything but.
She pulled off her coat and draped it casually over the back of a chair. She was stunning in a black, form hugging, long-sleeved, knee length knit sweater dress. The neckline was a loose turtleneck that left just her pretty little face, her hands and little else uncovered. Her feet and legs were covered with soft, black leather boots with a two inch heel that came to just below her knees, leaving about two inches of black stocking covered leg showing. Overall, it was a breathtaking presentation. She stood by the chair for a moment steadying herself as she pulled off the boots. As she stood without the boots, I realized that she was five feet tall at the most, tinier than I first thought. I felt like an Amazon next to her.
She finished with her boots, and after pulling the tie out of her hair and shaking it out, walked up to me and stuck out her hand, "Thank you so much, I'm Mashita Reiko. Please call me Reiko." Now that we were calm, I noticed her accent and it startled me. Maybe it was a little bit of stereotyping rearing it's ugly head in me, but the last thing I expected was a southern drawl. I giggled, the unexpected accent throwing me off.
She tilted her head and grinned, "It's the accent, isn't it?"
I reddened and nodded.
"My father was one of the first executives to come over from Japan when Toyota bought land in Kentucky for the auto plant there." She said smiling, "I was born and raised in Georgetown, along with my three brothers. We all have dual Japanese and American citizenship because my parents wanted us to be part of this country and culture. They were both raised very progressively and don't follow the more restrictive parts of the Japanese culture very closely... actually, they don't follow any of it at all. They tried very hard to make us part of the community and now my brothers and me sound very much like what we are: natives of Georgetown, Kentucky." She grinned, "It drives my parents' nuts."
She was still standing there with her hand out to be shaken and when I realized it I reddened again. I took her small hand in mine and shook it. "I'm sorry, I've been so rude; my name is Cassandra Davis."
Reiko came closer to me, pulled me down to her and kissed me softly on the lips, startling me once again. It surprised me that she kissed me, but what stunned me was that it felt so good. Her lips were soft and sweet and her touch was feather light. It was a brief kiss, but it was full of wonder for me. I felt my heart flutter and suddenly found myself short of breath. I didn't close my eyes, but she did and then when she opened them as we parted, I saw the deep richness of her dark brown eyes. She smiled a little when she saw me staring. Pausing, as if to consider what she would do, she closed her eyes and leaned back in to kiss me again. I closed my eyes and allowed her to kiss me again. Her lips touched mine with the tenderness of an angel's kiss and I melted a little with the longer, yet still too brief, kiss. She pulled away slightly and opened her eyes. I sensed her looking at me and opened mine, too. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was dizzy, breathless. The smile was still in her eyes and I decided that I liked it, I liked it a lot. I closed my eyes again and leaned forward. I lost my balance, stumbling a little because she wasn't there, she had withdrawn. I was confused for she was still holding my hand in hers from our handshake.
I opened my eyes and saw that she had stepped back a half-step, creating some space. Evidently, she read my disappointment and said, softly, sympathetically, "Come, sit with me." She drew me to the couch.
I put my stuff down, sat with her and she took both of my hands in hers. She looked into my eyes and asked something that I totally didn't expect, "Do you prefer Cassandra or Cassie?"
In my completely fluid, elegant, Ivy League educated conversational style, I responded eloquently,
"Huh?"
She smiled softly and repeated patiently, "Do you prefer Cassandra or Cassie?"
I regained a measure of my composure. "Uh, Cass or Cassandra, Cassie reminds me too much of my childhood."
