At first, when I opened that little white envelope, I thought it must be some kind of joke. A silly gag gift, given to maybe make fun of me; and for an office party it was certainly in bad taste. I mean who had ever heard of a gift card for an erotic website?
Turning it over, I had seen a full set of instruction on how to use it. Simple to follow. In fact, maybe too simple. A scam? A gift card that was an internet scam? Well, that would be not only in bad taste but just plain mean! My mind had raced through everyone in the office, trying to think who I might have made mad enough at me to do something like that to me.
Nothing.
Could it be real? Not a scam? Well, possibly but this would have to take the cake as the weirdest gift card I've ever heard of.
When I'd gotten home from the Christmas party I had immediately gone to my laptop and done a quick search, using the Logo on the card, for scams. Nope. Humph, curious, curious.
Ignoring the card for the moment, I went to the bathroom and got out of my long-past-the-point-of-uncomfortable party clothes. Leaving behind me on the floor by the laundry room a discarded pile of red silk bra, the matching panties, my long red "Christmasy" stockings and that silly party dress; I headed for the shower. I barely turn on the cold water at all, I want it brutally hot. Scalding.
"I'll have to take my dress to be dry-cleaned." I thought as I wait for the water to steam. My dress reeked of the "Axe" cologne of the men I had to dance with, to simply be sociable. I climb into my shower with a pleasure moan as the hot water hits me, taking that scent from my skin. Scouring it off my body to vanish where it belongs, down into the sewer. Pulling my long hair out the way, I let the so very hot water pound the back of my neck. "Another Christmas party survived." Moving my neck, the flow of water moved to the front of me, sending scalding rivulets across by breasts, painfully stinging my nipples with the heat. Then down across my nearly flat belly it flowed in cascading rivulets of heat to find and burn every nook and valley.
I slowly shook my head.
"What the hell is wrong with those idiots I work with? I never bring a date. They've never seen me with a guy, so why do the young men all seem to think I'm the one to make passes at? It's not like I flaunt myself at them, certainly not the way Suzy Carson does. I ignore them! Maybe that's what it is. They can't take it when they're not the center of attention from everything female in the room. Why...? Oh, Enough! Enough is enough, is more than enough! The party is over, I've slogged my way through three endless hours of it yet again, and now it is time for me.
It's "me" time now!
The towel had tumbled for too long in the dryer, it was too soft. That was the only thought I let myself entertain as I dried off and slipped into my comfy pants. I pulled on my favorite, washed till it is getting soft and is nearly see-through pink tank top, and headed to the kitchen. Absently giving the smelly dress a kick as I passed it. A bottle of very oaky Chardonnay, a bag of my all-time-favorite Archway Wedding Cake cookies and I went to burrow myself into the huge nest-o-pillows that I use for a couch. Sipping, munching, I pick up my latest novel ready at last to just read.
Or so I though.
After reading the same paragraph four times without taking in a word, my eyes slid over to my laptop. And that shiny gift card lying next to it. With a shake of my head and a large gulp of wine, I went back to reading ...
...nope.
Pulling the computer over to me, I opened it and reading the site, typed in the name. Then I entered the code on the card. What? Wait a minute..."Oh, MY GOD!" This was not an erotica site, this is an escort site! Who the hell would give
this
to me? I spent only a half second looking at the opening page before I fled from the site. I set my computer to running all of my anti-virus programs while I went and deleted my history and cookies.
"Who the hell?" Furious, I refilled my glass and steamed while the computer ran its scans. I tried to go back to reading my book, but couldn't. "Why? An escort service gift card!"
** ** ** ** ** ** **
The next few days at work were filled with me doing my Olivia Benson impersonation. I hunted the office for clues to who had been my Secret Santa. The problem was the only person that knew who all the Secret Santa gifts were from, the company VP, had taken a vacation till after New Year's. From what I could discover from my sleuthing no one else at the party received anything weird as a gift, well no weirder than usual for a company party. It was also while I was at work that I began to think more and more about that card. About what it must have cost financially. Hundreds? Thousands? Well, certainly a lot more than the twenty-five dollar spending limit...also about what it "meant" that someone had given it to me. A gift card for an escort, no for a prostitute! Who would think I wanted or needed something like that? Who gives away something like that as a gift? Who...
...knew me so well? Knew that unspoken fantasy?
That night, when I got home, I went back to my computer...back to that escort site. Just to look at the women, not to cash in the card. That night I looked, and the night after that, and the next night after that as well. I read what was available, what services, what...forbidden impulses could be indulged in.
Oh, and indulge I did.
Only privately.
Personal parties, where the wine did flow, and I let my imagination take me to places where only books had taken me before. Places where soft feminine fingers, silky lips that tasted of lips gloss, smooth skin would meet mine in soft caresses. And those lovely ladies had all of that. Sexy Emily with her delicate chin, or Corey with lips I wanted to kiss so badly. The flirty pictures of Amy and Judy kissing had me always on edge. A sweet and bitter edge, an edge I could not get over, no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I tried. I think it was that more than anything that got me to thinking about really cashing in that gift card. That want...desire...need to feel just a little bit more...of even one of those fantasies...come to life.
And for more than a brief moment of unsatisfactory pleasure.
I even went so far as to enter the redemption code only to wipe it and leave the site. Till New Year's Eve...
** ** ** ** ** ** **
Lonely, more than a little drunk, I sat burrowed in my pile of pillows, listening to the distant echoes of parties. Fireworks. Parties I hadn't been invited to. Fireworks I didn't want to go watch. In fact, There were no plans for this night. Just like last year, and the year before that, and far, far too many years before that. All a tumbled mess of drunken memories. Just me and empty bottles of wine and a book for company. Maybe my fingers for a good time.