Chapter 1: The Beginning
About ten years ago my husband and I were fully entrenched in the American way of life. David was a couple of years older than me, had a great middle management job with a software firm that employed about 200 people, we had a two year old son and a nice home in a really great neighborhood. I had been able to quit work and stay at home. The problem was we were fully extended and was totally dependent on all of his income.
When the firm lost one of their larger accounts it was no secret that something had to happen personnel wise. It wasn't so much that there were to be layoffs, but more that somebody was going to have to step down a little or be transferred out of state. Either one would have killed us. I felt that with his education and track record he didn't have to worry. He reminded me that he wasn't the only one with those credentials and that all of this would eventually come down to something personal with the owners of the company rather than job performance. I realized he was right. This company was loaded with talent.
Danny, the owner of the company, was in his early forties and had a wife that looked 10 years younger than him. They were very wealthy from hard work and his brilliant mind and were both the nicest and most attractive people you would ever want to meet. Very generous with pay and benefits, they almost doted over their employees and were very quick and generous with hugs and kisses. Everybody absolutely loved them and turnover in the company was non-existent.
We think the owners could feel the tension in the middle ranks about the job situation, so they threw sort of a "we're all okay" party at a nice local hotel. Their functions were always super and expensive in a down home sort of way. They were quick to be part of the service rather than king and queen of the ball. I got myself ready that night all the way to the point of actually putting on my clothes. We had a young babysitter coming in and I got her situated before I finished dressing. Due to our financial instability, I had opted not to buy anything new, but instead found a real nice dress I had in the closet for several years that I didn't think anyone had seen. It was light green, had a low cut neckline that fit pretty tight so there was not much to see down, and a loose skirt that fell about four inches above my knee.
When I started to put it on I discovered that I blew it and had no panty hose to wear. We were pressed for time by then and I surely didn't want to expose the natural color of my legs since it was early April. After a quick digging through my room I came up with a pair of thigh high light brown hose that would do. I was a little concerned about the top of my hose being too close to the bottom of the skirt, but my choices were nil. Since I wasn't wearing pantyhose I chose to wear a real nice pair of black tap pants instead of panties that were very comfortable and made me feel sexy.
When we arrived at the party it was pretty well in full swing. It was in a large covered patio area with a small stage set up for some reason in front of dining tables. Way in the back there was a small horseshoe bar almost chest high to me that had only a very small side entrance area to it. They were only serving beer and wine and you can guess whom the bartenders were-the owners. I think they did it to make sure they could at least say hello to everyone. I would like to tell you that I really stuck out from the crowd but I didn't. There were lots of attractive employees and spouses there. If you were to have to name the company for a town it would have to be "Yuppie City." They all looked good, but certainly none more than Marty, the boss's wife.
After I had my glass and we had made a few rounds visiting, Marty quietly waved me over and motioned for me to come behind the bar. She gave me a big hug and asked me to do her a big favor.
"All of this bartending seemed to be a good idea at first but it's a big mistake. It's all right for him to be here, but I need to be out milling with the guest and making sure the proceedings are on schedule. Could you do me a huge favor and work the bar for a while."
"Sure, I'd love to." I'd given a hand at some of their events in the past and besides, what was I to say?
"There's nothing to it. All you're going to do is fill some glasses and greet people you already know." With that, she apologized for intruding on my evening and went into the crowd. She was right. I knew I would see everyone and my husband was already circulating with the men so I didn't mind it at all. Besides, it just wasn't a real prime time to say no.
"Oh, I can't believe I got so lucky as to share duties with you." Danny acted like he was thrilled to see me, gave me a big long hug and a quick soft kiss on the cheek. I gave it little thought, started serving and had a really great time.
Dinner was actually a wonderful finger food buffet. He was very gracious and brought us both plates back with way too much food. We had one small bar stool which I could hardly sit on and still see, but he could with his shoulders coming above the bar. I stood while I ate, but that was okay. It was a small space and very shortly after I had gone in there he started touching me casually, an arm around the waist, a hand on my hip as he had to reach around me, ever now and than a slight brushing of my breast. It became more evident as it went on, but I chose not to pay a lot of attention to it. I knew he was a touchy kind of person and it would have been awkward to say or do anything.
I just made sure I didn't do anything. It came to the point that when there was nobody around his arm was always around me, his hand constantly on my hip, and when I sat on the stool his hands were on my knees, sometimes massaging them slowly. He never said anything off color or made a gesture that frightened me, just small intimate stuff. Even as concerned as I was, it got to the point where I'm not too sure I wasn't starting to enjoy his attention.
After everybody ate and the place was clean, the personnel director got up on the stage and made a few jokes, recognized the owners and a few others and said there was a surprise. And there was. They had brought in a magician that was wonderful. Everybody had pretty well filled their glasses or stopped drinking and moved close to the stage and sat down.
"I hope you don't abandon me back here by myself. I still need to man the bar even though I think business is dead. We can still see good from back here." Marty was laughing, but I took it pretty seriously. We were way in back of the area and the touching had become more frequent. I was hoping to be rescued by my husband, but I noticed he managed to sit at the table with Marty, so things were going good for him.
"Sure, I won't desert you at your time of crisis." I laughed with him. What else was I going to do?
The guy on the stage was really good and captivated the audience. I stood behind the bar and watched while Danny sat on the stool. I don't think anybody that bothered to look could see anything lower than our shoulders. About five minutes into the act and when everybody was obviously not going to move, he moved down off the stool and the gently touching resumed. It was around the waist at first, just rubbing the lower part of my back, sliding his hand down on my hips some, back up the full length of my back, and so on. It actually felt good, but I was really starting to wonder where this was going and was preparing myself to stop it somehow.
Sure enough, he slipped his hand around the front of me and gently started touching my stomach. I pulled away slightly, and he stopped. I assumed he had the idea and that it had come to an end. Instead, he took advantage of the very confined area, which kept me at an arms length. Again he made an advance, running his hand slowly up and down my leg outside my skirt for a few minutes, not roughly but very casually. Then the hand dropped below the hem to touch my legs. I knew for sure then I had a situation and didn't know what to do.
"Danny, please." I whispered to him quietly. I tried stepping away but his left arm was around my waist and he didn't let go. However, he did cease touching me elsewhere.
My relief was intense, but temporary. To my dismay his hand slowly returned, rubbing my right leg. His hand moved down my leg and touched my knee at first but then started to move up. He was in no hurry and may have been trying to not alarm me any more than I was. My heart was beating like crazy and I could tell he had become intense. I took his hand and removed it from me, stepping away as far as I could in the confined space.
"Stop, Danny. I think I should go." I was hoping the look I gave him was enough to end it.
It took him less than a minute to react. Never taking his eyes off the proceedings going on in front of us, he carefully slid his stool over next to me. Unwittingly, I had trapped myself in the small confines of the bar. The only way out was to go over the top of him.
His arm went back around my waist and this time he didn't try to mask his intentions. He went straight down to my knee with his hand. In order to grab it I had to lean over slightly. I kept looking around to see if we were being watched but all attention was on the stage. Feeling like a trapped animal, my heart was beating fast and tears began to form in my eyes. How had I gotten into this? What had I done or said that would make him think I would allow him to do this?
