Author's Note and Warning:
This story crosses categories. There is a
Mature
relationship here. There is (hopefully) some
Erotic Coupling.
There is a strong thread of
Taboo.
Ultimately, I chose to publish this one under
Loving Wives
because ... well, you'll see. But please be aware that this story could have fit under other categories. There is also a very slow burn in this story; the explicit sex happens well towards the end. Also—and because I'm striving to be a
nice
author—I should warn you there are references in the story to a past non-consensual and traumatic sexual assault. If any of the foregoing is not for you, or causes emotional distress, best to move on now before reading further.
Chapter 1: Meet-Cute
Do you know what a "meet-cute" is?
It's a thing in movies, where two strangers—typically the leads—meet in humorous or quirky circumstances. They hit it off, of course. Maybe there's a moment where time freezes and they stare into each other's eyes. Then—like a bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky—they realize they are
meant for each other.
You know what I mean. You've seen it a million times, especially if you watch Hallmark movies. (And who doesn't watch Hallmark movies?)
The woman who would become my wife met me in a meet-cute thing. Only she arranged it. It was totally premediated. I was being manipulated before we even introduced ourselves to each other.
I was in my early twenties, a recent college graduate, and I was already a workaholic. Working was my focus, first and foremost. What I did was hard, demanding work. After work was done, I hit the gym. Then I went home to a microwave dinner and a Hallmark movie. That was my life.
I told myself I didn't have time for dating, even if I could have found a young woman who would put up with me and my weird job. I was a loner, which was a good thing as far as my employer was concerned; me not dating meant fewer background checks to run.
Working and working out was pretty much all I ever did. After a couple of years of doing nothing but that, I got a little bored with my life, so I decided to join a wine-tasting club. I joined just to add some variety into my life. I didn't join the club to meet girls, or because I was lonely. I just needed something to do—other than watch Hallmark movies—after I finished my daily workout at the gym. That was my only reason to join the club, I swear.
I worked about 60 hours a week, on the average. Where? None of your business. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. That is not really a joke.
What I am allowed to share here is that I am an analyst. I analyze things. What kind of things do I analyze? See previous paragraph. The place where I analyzed things at the time I met the woman who would become my wife was near Washington, D.C. It's called the "national capital region" and it encompasses a great deal of land and a great many Federal agencies. So, when I tell you I am was analyst for an agency that was located in the national capital region, I'm not really telling you anything. Which is exactly why I can share that piece of personal information in this epistle.
I can also share that, at the time, I had been employed for just over one year. I had graduated college with a liberal arts degree from a fairly prestigious private institution. I thought I was going into law but the agency had other plans for me. It turns out that I ticked a lot of their boxes, including attention to detail and an ear for languages. I guess I should mention that, by the time I was 24, I spoke four languages fluently and could muddle through another three or four if I had to. Being polylingual is a good thing, even if most of the languages I speak aren't especially popular, except in national security circles. A lot of my working days in those early years was taken up with language study.
I rowed crew in college, so I was in decent shape. Not that my shape mattered much. I spent 95% of my day sitting at desk in a SCIF. (That's "sensitive compartmented information facility" in case you don't know your acronyms. I should warn you that I tend to use a lot of acronyms; it comes with the job. You might want to have Google open while you read this, because I'm not going to explain them all to you.)
At this time, I was 24 and in decent shape. I am a hair under six feet tall and weigh about 180 pounds. I have dark brown hair and eyes to match. I had a college degree and a job that paid pretty well—at least for a government job. I was never going to be rich like a Beltway-bandit lawyer but I liked my job. I liked making a difference, even if almost nobody outside the Beltway understood exactly what difference I was making.
That was my situation when I showed up for the next wine club event.
The wine club met about once every six or eight weeks. I was there because it was something different to do, and also because I was interested in learning more about wine. At that point, I knew what wine I liked to drink but I didn't know why I liked it or why I didn't like another kind of wine. So, it was fun and educational at the same time. It beat working late in my office or staying home and streaming the Hallmark channel.
That night the wine club met at the French embassy, which is located in Northwest Georgetown. I didn't know much about French wine then, so I was really into the tasting and the commentary from the sommelier. I mean, French wine in the French embassy? Served with French cheeses and baguettes?
Yes, please.
The fact that the club's membership was nearly 70 percent female didn't hurt one bit. I wasn't there to meet women but there was a pleasant ambiance, if you know what I mean.
The downside of tasting French wine in the French embassy was that the event was popular. The tickets had been sold out months in advance. I showered after the gym; the taxi dropped me off 30 minutes before the event started, but there was already a line of really thirsty people ahead of me.
Inside it was a madhouse. A completely full house. People were everywhere, trying to taste as many wines as they could. Lines were really long at the serving stations. The scene reminded me of the event a couple of months before, where we tasted tequila at the Mexican embassy. (Tequila is like wine, right? Just go with me on this.)
I was in line when somebody bumped into me. I could feel the wine hit my suit jacket and trousers.
Damn it! I hope that's not red wine!
Then I saw who had bumped into me.
She was saying something about being
so sorry
and
I'm so clumsy
but I didn't hear anything because I was looking into her eyes. They were gorgeous. Dark chocolate with warm brown highlights. Then I noticed the rest of her, which was every bit as beautiful as her eyes. She was about a half-foot shorter than I was but she filled her dress well. Her breasts threatened to overflow from the top.
You might think that I would have focused on those beautiful breasts but that was not the case. Sorry to disabuse you of your male stereotypes.
After her eyes, the next thing I noticed was her hair. She wore it long. Her hair fell below her shoulders and was the color of an old copper penny: somewhere between brown and red, with beautiful highlights that reflected the ceiling lights.
First, I noticed her eyes; then her hair. Then I noticed the rest of her: she was fit with firm breasts that rose up proudly on her chest. Under her mid-length skirt her legs were long and shapely.
Yep. I was smitten at first sight. Just like in those Hallmark movies.
I got my wine and I got her another wine—both white, thank God—and we sat down to chat. I found out her name was Kate—short for Katherine—and she found out my name was Neil. She worked as an Executive Assistant for an SES civilian in the Pentagon and I told her I worked at an OGA, which was technically true if hella vague. She nodded knowingly and I didn't have to say anything more about
that.
She changed the subject from work and we talked about what we liked to do when we weren't working or drinking wine. As it turned out, we both shared the same extra-curricular interests: nothing much. She rode bikes with a group on the weekend and that was about it. She liked to read. She kept to herself when she wasn't working—a quiet life.
A woman after my own heart!
We got up several times for refills. I moved on to the Bordeaux (both banks), but she stayed with the whites. She seemed to like the Sancerre. Then we got to the Burgundies and we both found our passions—she loved the Chardonnays and I fell in love with the Pinots. We kept going back to the Burgundy line over and over.
By the time the event ended, we were both halfway hammered—but we'd exchanged contact info. She gave me a peck on the cheek and that was the end of that.
It was a meet-cute, and she'd arranged it to happen. She didn't just bump into me on accident; the wine didn't just spill itself. The entire episode had been planned.
I learned about her manipulations after we were married.
*****
I reported the contact. Of course I did! I wasn't allowed to go waltzing into a foreign embassy just because I had a ticket to a public event. If I had a significant interaction with a stranger while in a foreign embassy, that needed to be reported as well.
Hello!
—honeytrap? I needed to be sure Kate was who she said she was before we took another step.
Fortunately, Kate's background check came back clean. She was who she said she was; she did what she said she did. And the best part was that she already had a TS clearance, because of what she did and who she worked for. As far as the agency was concerned, I had a green light to proceed.
So I did.
*****