The Return of Carolyn Lord

It was the night before her first day at the new job, and 30-year old Miss Carolyn Lord was feeling extremely nervous about the whole thing. It was very late, yet Carolyn still remained in her tub of now-tepid bath water. It was so comforting and peaceful just sitting there. The world outside had become just too confusing for her to ever willingly leave this tub again.

To make herself feel better, she thought about her new well-paid position working for the unusual Mrs. Stevens, but it did not really help.

Mrs. Abigail Stevens was a company's representative at a disastrous conference which Carolyn had attended two weeks ago. Of course, she was aware that Mrs. Stevens had nothing to do with those terrible things that happened to her that fateful day at the hands of her former co-workers.

Yet, it was still with extreme misgivings that she had accepted the position so strangely offered that Saturday by Mrs. Stevens to be her executive secretary. She didn't entirely trust the woman, for reasons she couldn't exactly explain, but she was between jobs at the moment and that always made her feel very insecure.

The way the woman kept staring at her the day of the conference!

With all that had happened, she could still feel Mrs. Stevens' eyes burning into her own. Weird!

But then, after that one terrible weekend she didn't feel very secure about much of anything. Except Tamiko, of course. The small Japanese exchange student currently staying with her was the only person Carolyn felt she could be sure of not to try to take advantage of her. She knew she could trust the girl implicitly.

She thought of others who had deliberately violated her trust in them. She had worked diligently as a paralegal in the same law firm for five years, and had earned a position of respect. Her recent betrayal and humiliation at the hands of her supposed co-workers had destroyed her ability to have faith in anyone else, for the moment anyway. It was only Tamiko who had somehow always managed to be present whenever she was needed the most, to rescue her from whatever mess she had gotten herself into at the time.

In fact it was only through the gentle urgings of Tamiko that she had considered the job offer at all.

After that disastrous last Saturday at the firm, Carolyn had wanted absolutely nothing to do with her former co-workers or anyone even remotely associated with them. That next Monday she had mailed in her carefully worded resignation, saying that for reasons of a personal nature she was quitting the firm and for them to box up her personal belongings and leave them for later pickup at the receptionist's desk. She also mentioned she was entitled to the firm's standard package of two-months' severance pay.

It was Tamiko who, by checking with her college professors, discovered that Mrs. Stevens' company was a highly regarded manufacturer of furniture, among other things. The general consensus was that anyone who had a chance to work there should do so, as it was a profitable company with excellent prospects and had an honest commitment to worker satisfaction.

So Carolyn called the number Mrs. Stevens had left for her on her home answering machine, and arrangements were made to begin the formal process of recruitment. But first, she knew that before she could do anything, she had to finish with her former employers.

As Carolyn had vowed never to set foot in her old firm again, it was of course Tamiko who called to make sure that all was ready and later went to retrieve Carolyn's things from that hateful place.

Carolyn looked uncertainly at the cardboard box now sitting on her small kitchen table, before she reluctantly began to go through the contents. Aside from her personal effects, in the box Carolyn found a large sealed envelope. It contained a letter of regret for her sudden decision to depart the firm, and a second letter to be used as a reference as needed for her future employers. It also contained a photo taken at the last Christmas party, signed by all the firm's employees who wished her well on her new endeavors.

The photo she immediately burned in her sink, then flushed the still-smoking ashes down the garbage disposal.

After going back to the envelope, a surprised Carolyn noticed two checks. One was a severance check for six times the amount to which she knew she was entitled. The second was a bonus check of ridiculous size for her efforts in bringing about such a successful conference.

A sudden flash of anger passed through her, then faded to nothing. "Successful!" she muttered. "Successful!" The humiliation of that day came back with a terrifying suddenness, and Carolyn felt faint. She collapsed on one of the two kitchen chairs with a sigh. Carolyn fought to retain her composure as she looked at the two checks in her shaking hand. Tamiko came up behind her and started massaging the tense muscles of her neck.

Carolyn was too tired and too unsure of anything any more to do something as drastic as to follow her first impulse, which was to send both checks back and demand what little was really due her. Setting aside the checks, Carolyn looked over the reference with a grim satisfaction. She then raised it over her head to show it to an eagerly awaiting Tamiko.

"How many ways can you say 'excellent'?" Carolyn asked her friend dryly.

"How wonderful for you," Tamiko replied. "But, it is only what you truly deserve."

"Are you sure?"

Tamiko looked down from the glowing reference to see her beautiful Carolyn sitting before her with silent tears running down her cheeks. Tamiko carefully replaced all of the documents in the envelope and returned it to the box.

Holding her by the hands, the Japanese teenager raised the quietly weeping woman to her feet. Carolyn stood pliantly as Tamiko held the distressed woman tightly in her arms. Carolyn circled her own arms around her friend's slender waist. She was wondering what would become of her, when Carolyn was startled to suddenly feel Tamiko's plush lips on her own, while the girl's hands had begun to knowingly knead Carolyn's firm buttocks through the fabric of her thin summer shorts and tight panties.

Even with Tamiko's distractions, Carolyn still felt haunted. She could never get over the disturbing fact that the outbreak of sex-madness which inexplicably erupted throughout the office that horrible Saturday, coincided with the one day she had to go to work without wearing any underclothes at all. She didn't even have a blouse on with her suit.

Her clothes were not available that day because of an amazing set of circumstances. She had spent the night before at Tamiko's apartment, following the strange initiation of someone from her old firm into an unusual group of Tamiko's friends. In the process of the initiation, her own clothes had somehow become so soiled, even damaged, that she had nothing for the office that next day.

She had also experienced some of the most bizarre sex fantasies of her life that strange Friday night. It all seemed so real, too! Thankfully, as Tamiko had explained to her the next day, it was just her own imagination running wild.

It was her secret belief that she herself and her own slutty nature were really to blame for what happened to her at the office on Saturday, that she was the unwitting cause of her own downfall. She couldn't deny that she had secretly felt deliciously naughty being in the office like that, at least in the beginning. Was that the trigger? She wondered. It was a miserable thought, but one which followed her around her apartment like a dark cloud. It was all her fault!

Even now, with someone who was just staying over a few days trying to comfort her, she guiltily felt a familiar sweet melting sensation begin to penetrate her grief, a slight trembling of anticipation in her belly. Why did she keep reacting to people in such harmless situations in this unnatural way? What was wrong with her?

She knew she felt deeply about this mere girl who was proving to be such a comfort to her in her time of troubles, yet she also knew that Tamiko, like any child, could get a little overly demonstrative at times and this caused Carolyn to get very nervous indeed.

When she felt Tamiko's tongue start to work its way between her teeth Carolyn felt an urgent need to break off the delightful kiss.

"Tamiko, please!" the blushing Carolyn said. "You know I don't like it when you do that." She gently pushed the girl's hands away from their embarrassing grip on her sensitive behind.

"Yes, I know," breathed Tamiko as she clamped her mouth over the protesting Carolyn's once again, her hands returning to the woman's enchanting buttocks. Tamiko's tongue dueled with Carolyn's before taking possession of Carolyn's moist mouth, running freely inside the woman's oral cavity before pulling out again.

Tamiko's sudden assault on her mouth left Carolyn shocked and gasping for air. Tamiko's kisses always had that effect on her. From the moment their lips would touch, it wouldn't matter where they were or what they were doing, but Carolyn could feel this electric charge surge through her entire being, and she would go positively limp. No one had ever had that effect on her before and she just did not understand it!

Of course, there was quite a few things going on in her life right now that she found absolutely baffling. Normally a very decent person, Carolyn knew that her young friend had this strange habit of taking her completely by surprise with some childish routine (like just now, when the teenager was so freely touching her), leaving her feeling very embarrassed and usually quite breathless. Yet, Carolyn was always surprised to find that, after being agitated by Tamiko's astonishing behavior, whatever black mood she had helplessly found herself drifting into would completely vanish. It was one of the things that made her care for the Japanese teenager all the more.

The woman looked upon her young guest with a constantly growing sense of affection. Tamiko, wise far beyond her years, had proved to be a God-send to the troubled Carolyn. The events of that horrible weekend had severely shaken her self-confidence, not to mention her self-respect. Nothing in her previous experience had even come close to those astonishing, even bizarre few days. Oddly, her nipples became terribly erect just from her thinking about the still hazy events which had altered her life forever.

Something happened to her that weekend. It spite of all the horror and humiliation she had endured or even just imagined, something fundamental had been changed inside of her. There now existed a weird burning deep in her, a burning which had never existed before. She had become obsessed with thoughts about sex. Everything around her seemed to assume a strange erotic glow. The oddest things now affected her. It was as if a fire had been lighted deep within her, a fire which she certainly did not want but which she knew was now a part of her all the same. A fire which threatened to burst joyously out of control at any moment.

But burst joyously at what?

Carolyn Lord was a woman who believed in absolute self-control at all times, and the existence of the fire scared her.

"Thank God for Tamiko," she thought. "Thank God."

Although a solitary person by nature, without the calming presence of the Japanese girl living with her, Carolyn didn't know how she would have survived the last two weeks. The girl was her rock. She could go to the teenager for comfort and understanding of her recent tumultuous, confusing life whenever she felt the need, and the girl would always be there for her, never fail her in her time of need. It was a debt she knew she could never repay.

Even her most private, intimate thoughts could be shared without risk of embarrassment or shame to either of them. Tamiko even encouraged her to do so, to always tell her of such things for her own good. And it was good, Carolyn knew, being finally able to really talk about the important things with someone who cared about her as a person.

Yet, she knew she could not tell her friend about the fire. Her own recent slutty behavior disturbed Carolyn bad enough, but the fire was something else again. She did not want to lessen herself in front of her friend any more than she probably already had done. Even though much of what Tamiko unknowingly did around the apartment seemed to encourage the fire, Carolyn knew that it was up to her fight this thing within her. It was not young Tamiko's problem at all, but Carolyn's.

The Japanese girl was too fine a person, Carolyn knew, to even realize that she was bothering her in such an unusual way. Her guest was very polite, fastidious, intelligent, and possessed of an oriental loveliness that Carolyn found strangely compelling. Yes, Carolyn found her friend to be a perfect companion for her. Well, almost perfect anyway.

"If only she didn't act so damn peculiar all the time," Carolyn thought. It was just the way her luck had been running lately that her new best friend happened to be something of a nudist.

Oh, Carolyn could understand quite well all about cultural differences, about doing things in a certain way about the home. Her own way of living, learned from her Greek-American background, could be considered by many to be very unusual indeed. But still! Some things just were not done!

Tamiko insisted on doing practically everything around the apartment stark naked, from her college homework to the housework. It always proved highly embarrassing for the very proper Carolyn as she tried not to watch as her friend flittered unconcernedly about the small but comfortably furnished apartment, the girl's supple, athletic body so proudly on display.

Strangely, Carolyn found her friend's body unusually fascinating. She could hardly take her eyes from it. If she looked for too long a time, she would suddenly find her heart pounding and her mouth very dry. How odd!

Carolyn sometimes found herself trembling uncontrollably whenever Tamiko's nude form would accidentally brush against her own properly dressed body. Carolyn would pretend not to notice, of course, but it was clear that Tamiko felt at liberty to act with an astonishing familiarity with Carolyn's body that had the woman in quite a spin. She was always touching her in some way, quite innocently of course. Still, in Carolyn's confused state of mind it was just another thing that Tamiko unknowingly did that fanned the flames burning within her.

Even the smell of the girl's glorious sun-bronzed flesh (with not a single tan mark!) would frequently send Carolyn tumbling into a giddy mental whirlpool.

Regardless of her own discomfort over the idea of a naked guest, Carolyn still had her duties as hostess to perform. The fact that her casual nudity made Tamiko feel very much at ease (as much as it made Carolyn feel nervous) was enough to convince her not to make too big a deal out of it.

However, whenever Tamiko suggested that she, Carolyn, should "get comfortable" as well, Carolyn could only politely decline.

It wasn't just her strong natural modesty. It was the growing realization that whenever she was undressed around Tamiko, for whatever reason, certain...things would happen. Her normally well-disciplined body would suddenly develop a mind of its own and before she could prevent it, she would find herself...reacting. She would react to Tamiko just as strongly as she would to any of her recent dream lovers. The burning within her would reach epic proportions and she could hardly think.

Reacting to Tamiko, of all people. It was ridiculous! She knew it was quite insane, yet there it was for her to plainly see anytime Tamiko was even just close by her.

It was all far beyond her understanding of what she knew to be right and proper. It was also far beyond her understanding of herself as a person, as a woman.

Yet, the disturbing fact remained that her new friend could affect her in the most unseemly manner. It was absolutely crazy, of course, for such a thing to happen, but this girl could reach her very soul as no one else.

They had been staying together for only a few weeks, yet it was obvious that Tamiko had some kind of weird effect on her. She had never touched her in that special way after that strange incident in the kitchen, which occurred during their first Sunday morning together. Yet, in spite of all that happened to her that weekend, that was the one incident which she could remember with crystal clarity. It still brought peculiar tingles coursing through her body at the very thought of that first Sunday.

Nights proved the worst. That first night, Tamiko insisted on sleeping in the same bed as Carolyn as her only condition for staying with her.

"I hate to be alone," Tamiko had told her with tears forming in her black, almond-shaped eyes, and that was enough for Carolyn.

Carolyn found it touching that the worldly Tamiko, now living far from her home in Yokosuka, could still retain her childhood fears. She didn't hesitate in allowing Tamiko to share the sacred privacy of her double-size bed whenever she wished.

The fact that Tamiko, naturally, insisted on sleeping in the nude shouldn't have really surprised Carolyn, yet she still found the sight of the lovely naked oriental slipping under the sheets close beside her somewhat disquieting. Even in her usual comfortable, long flannel nightgown, Carolyn could still feel the heat radiating from all that naked flesh lying right there beside her.

Carolyn could only hope that Tamiko's need for company at night was very temporary at best, because she wasn't at all sure if her nerves could take anything longer.

Two weeks later Tamiko's nude presence in Carolyn's bed was now taken for granted, and had acquired the force of habit. Fortunately, she proved such a steady sleeper that Carolyn was hardly aware of her close presence after a while, although she did have to be careful with her hands, so she wouldn't accidentally touch Tamiko, especially in one of the beautiful girl's more private places.

It was her own sleeping habits which were causing Carolyn trouble at night. Her dreams had started to assume a weird, erotic aspect she had never experienced so constantly before. They were so vivid, so real. It was as if someone was actually making love to her every night!

When Tamiko finally got Carolyn to tell her about them, she rightly explained that they were just a temporary reaction to her bad weekend, and were nothing to worry about. The dreams continued however, building in intensity. She grew extremely restless at night, so much so that she would occasionally wake up feeling suffocated, only to find that her long nightgown had somehow worked its way over her head.

She finally agreed with Tamiko to do something about it, especially after seeing the effects her restless nights were beginning to have on her guest. Although she denied it, Carolyn could tell that Tamiko's sweet face was also showing the effects of long, sleepless nights, and what else could be keeping that dear child up late at night but Carolyn's own unusual restlessness?

Before she even had a chance to decide what new dressing gown to buy, Carolyn found that a few days earlier Tamiko had already gotten her some T-shirts to sleep in. Tamiko said they had to be T-shirts because Carolyn still foolishly resisted Tamiko's practical suggestion that she simply sleep in the nude like her. The T-shirts proved to be very short, much shorter that Carolyn would have considered, even if she wasn't sharing her bed with someone at the moment. She looked with misgiving as she held one up to her body. It barely came to her upper thighs.

"You can always take them back," Tamiko told her, with a hurt expression in her voice. Tamiko's reaction again reminded Carolyn about how sensitive the Japanese girl was in matters concerning manners and protocol. She resolved in the future to accept whatever Tamiko gave her, regardless of how suitable Carolyn herself felt about it. It was, after all, only the polite thing to do. After a few embarrassed nights in her T-shirts, Carolyn was astounded in the difference it made. Her sleep was finally restful for a change, although still strangely erotic.