Thank you so much to my wonderful story consultant, Qetesh, for advice and to avarramarie for close detail editing that pointed me to errors and clumsy language that needed fixing.
The German version of this story is posted in German Literotica as Ãœberbordende Gerechtigkeit by Egon Hoppe.
Raven was waiting in the line to check out at the front desk when she saw him get off the hotel elevator.
She left her suitcase and ran to him so fast that she almost knocked him over.
"Thank you for yesterday, Mr. Harper," she exclaimed breathlessly. "I'm still on cloud nine."
At first, he looked confused. Then he remembered.
"No need for thanks, Ms. Miller," he said. "I didn't do anything."
"Yes you did. And you did it in front of everybody. I'm still walking on air."
"I'm glad you're pleased. Have a good flight home."
He gave her a slight nod and continued across the lobby. She stared after him for nearly a minute before looking around and running back to her suitcase.
***************
"Tell me about Harper," she asked after they stowed their carry-ons and settled into their seats.
"A lot of people are talking about you and him," Mary said. "Word spread like wildfire."
"Does he do that kind of thing often?"
"No. That's why they're talking."
"I didn't do anything special. He asked a thoughtful question, and two other people answered before me. He just said thanks to them. I don't know why he made such a big deal out of my answer. When he told everybody that they could learn a lot from me, I got all red."
"Did you ever speak to him before yesterday?"
"No. He didn't even know my name. I saw him squinting at my name tag before he called on me."
Mary laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"The word is you know him very well."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know his reputation."
"I don't know anything about him."
"He's married to a beautiful woman, but the word is he plays."
Raven thought a moment.
"I can understand why women find him attractive. I usually wouldn't look twice at someone his age, but he gives off a special vibe. He seems to be dashing and sophisticated, with just a touch of melancholy - you know, intriguing!"
"Watch out! The word is several married women at work thought the same thing, and it didn't end well for them. The word is all of them transferred to other cities."
"Did they get divorced?"
"Nobody knows. But either he has an open marriage or his wife is stupid."
"What does he do? Does he flaunt the other women and humiliate her?"
"No. He's discreet. As far as I know, nobody has any proof. Every time he's seen with another woman, it's someplace public. It could be an innocent business lunch or dinner because there's no touching. But the word is there's got to be more to it."
*************
Raven told Brian about being praised by one of the executives at the company retreat. She didn't tell him her impression of Bennett Harper or what Mary had told her on the plane.
She had joined the import/export company as a clerk. She had worked on large trade accounts at her previous job but had been out of the workforce seven years to have Brady and then Samantha.
Now she was back. Once her superiors had recognized her talents, she had risen quickly and within a year was at nearly the same level as she had been before her temporary retirement.
She was ambitious, and Brian supported her. They found a wonderful nanny for the children. In addition to her regular shift, she would cover for them whenever something urgent at work came up.
They tried and usually succeeded in spending most evenings and weekends with the children. The only thing that suffered was their time alone, but they worked hard to get away together for three or four days every few months to recharge their relationship.
Raven noticed Harper at the office now that she had met him. Each time she saw him, she wondered about him. Other women confirmed that he was the subject of a lot of gossip, but no one had firsthand knowledge about any of his conquests. For her, the mystery heightened his aura of danger.
He never spoke to her and didn't seem to know she existed. That bothered her. She exercised, watched her weight and always took pains to look her best at work. She had always been proud of her good looks and body and was accustomed to men's second takes when they spotted her. She reveled in their attention and never did anything to discourage it. But she got no attention from Harper.
One morning while she was getting dressed for work, she decided she needed to get on Harper's radar. There might come a time when he could put in a good word for her. She had impressed him once, but he seemed to have forgotten. She needed to find a way to remind him.
When she came downstairs, Brian, who was about to leave, took one look at her and whistled.
"Where are YOU going?" he asked.
"Work."
"Like that?"
"Like what?"
"I don't think it's appropriate, but I don't have time to argue. I suggest you look at yourself in a mirror before you leave. Goodbye."
After he left, Raven did look at herself, and she smiled at what she saw. She unbuttoned another button on her blouse.
At work, she was the talk of the day, and there was a lot of traffic by her desk, both familiar and not. Harper was not among those inspecting her cleavage. She left the building for a solitary lunch. While eating, she thought of something, decided against it and changed her mind back and forth a few times.
She came back to the office early, took the elevator to her floor, put her purse down on her desk, marched to the stairs and quickly walked down to the floor below. In another minute, she was standing in front of Harper's secretary's desk.
His secretary was still at lunch. Good. She had heard he often worked through lunch. She peeked in. He was sitting and looking at some papers on his desk. She took a breath and flounced into his office.
He heard her and looked up as she walked up to his desk and leaned over it.
"Mr. Harper. I don't know if you remember. I'm Raven Miller. Your praise at the last retreat meant a lot to me.
"I was thinking that I've never properly thanked you for your kindness, so I just stopped in to tell you that if there's ever anything I can do for you, please let me know."
As she said the last few words, she leaned over even more. Then she straightened up, turned and quickly walked out of his office. Once she was in the hallway, she began walked quickly to the stairs, ran up them and barely slowed down until she got to the women's lounge and closed the stall door behind her. She sat down and tried to think as she began buttoning up her blouse.
She was out of breath, and her heart was going a million beats a second. She couldn't believe what she had just done. Nobody but Harper had seen her, but what if he told someone? Why had she put her career in jeopardy? Worse yet, what if he took her invitation seriously?
Gradually, she relaxed enough to leave the stall, go to the mirror, freshen herself up and go back to work. She tried to put her escapade out of her mind the rest of the day. On the way home, she wondered what Brian would say if she told him what she had done. Of course, he must never know.
**************
Harper never spoke to her about the episode, but she noticed he was now aware of her. Whenever they saw each other, he smiled at her. She smiled back and tried not to blush. She now dressed more conservatively than all the other women in the office.
A few months later, her supervisor told Raven that she would be her department's representative on a new informal committee that was looking into ways to smooth interaction between various branches of the company. It didn't mean any more money, but it was considered an honor.
When she showed up at the first session, she was startled to find that Harper was the chairman. He nodded at her and smiled when she came in. She wondered if he had asked for her to be on his task force.
He told the committee that they would get no time off from their regular duties to work on the committee, so if that was a problem, they could bow out. The only reward for the members would be in their personnel files, but he would be generous with any necessary expenses.
"That means if a subcommittee needs to get together, it can arrange for a private room at a fine restaurant, and whoever pays the bill for everyone will be reimbursed."
That ended the grumbling and started some whispering conversations about which unaffordable restaurants people always wanted to eat at.
*************
Raven pushed to have most of her committee work done over lunch at nearby restaurants because she didn't want to get home late, but some of the single men and women wanted to enjoy fancy dinners, so sometimes she had to give in and miss supper with Brian and the children.
The restaurant meetings never involved the whole committee of eighteen. Usually, they were subcommittees of three to six working on a part of the process. Harper was at some of her lunches and dinners. In the smaller groups, they began interacting more.
The more she saw and heard him, the better she liked him. He had a good sense of humor and could take a joke as well as make one. None of his jokes, or those of the others, were risqué. The ambitious members of the committee knew they were being looked over. Even mild flirting might ruin the good impression they were trying to make.
One night, she was at a dinner meeting with Harper and another man on the committee when the man's cell phone rang. He looked at it, got up and walked to a quieter area. In a minute, he was back and excused himself. There was a family emergency and he had to leave.
