Preface
Her back pressed against the wall, all Tabitha could manage to do was laugh. As tears streamed down her cheeks she couldn't help but grin and laugh. Several conflicting emotions coursed through her but the dominant emotion that was taking hold was relief. She had done it. She had beaten him and freed not only herself but everyone. The laughter and the tears were the elation of relief and they continued even as she felt her knees go weak, her back sliding down on the wall until she was sitting on the floor. A knock at the door to the room gave her a start, silencing the laughter immediately.
"Ma'am," the muffled voice of the officer on the other side of the door, "we're all done taking statements. Are you alright?"
Tabitha used her sleeves to dry the streaks of tears from her cheeks and took a few deep breaths to steady herself. Then, getting up, she crossed the room to the office door and opened it, facing one of the officers.
"Yes." Her voice was a bit hoarse, and despite her best efforts to hide it the redness of her cheeks and eyes made it apparent there had been crying in her short private moment. No longer having to portray the strength she had needed to work through this ordeal. The act temporarily went back on though as she spoke again to the detective. "Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit overwhelmed that this is all over. Thank you, detective."
The man nodded and once again asked her to stay in touch, guaranteeing charges and his best efforts at bringing justice to all the victims. Tabitha barely heard him, though. A small, dull ring in her ears. The emotional high was starting to cause her to be quite exhausted. She merely repeated back assurances and gathered her coat and purse up. Eager to get home. She needed to. It was something that just came over her in the moment. The need.
Several people were still in the office whispering but for the most part it was empty. Tabitha walked down the rows of desks with the detective and then out the door and after one last cordial interaction, she got in her car and drove home. The relief was swelling in her now. The sense of victory. Nobody else had figured it out. She was the smart one. The bright one. The best one. She hoped...someone was happy? Who? The glare of the street lights started to really hurt her eyes as she drove through the dark evening. Luckily, she lived quite close to the office.
Once in her home, she kicked off her shoes. The tiredness and emotional exhaustion seemed to ebb away. She should change. The thought gave her just the slightest pause. Change for what? For bed, she supposed. She didn't normally do much to be ready for bed. Going up the stairs of her condo she stepped into her closet. Normally she would pull out some pajamas or another, she had several sets. None of them were very flattering, though they weren't meant to be. She undressed and stood naked in front of the mirror for a brief moment, admiring herself and how smart she was to have beat him again.
A smart girl should look smart. She should change. Again the thought felt foreign but at the same time familiar. Not really giving it heed this time, she rummaged in some drawers and pulled out a pair of black bikini style panties with a lace waistband and then a matching lacy bra that clearly showed her nipples beneath the fabric. She looked so smart. She looked like a winner. The expression on her face changed as she looked in the mirror at herself. Why was she wearing this?
The realization washed over her and tears again came to her eyes. Even in victory, had she really won?
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Part 1
The office was a bustle of excitement. They had been working for months on finalizing projects. Graphic design, copyrighting, writing, editing, putting their best foot forward as a marketing company for their small pool of clients. The firm didn't have a long list of customers so when a larger Fortune 100 client had reached out to them, the message had been pumped up from the top down that this was the opportunity to really grow the business.
Tabitha was one of a few project managers, and she was the newest member of the company. It had been an opportunity she had fought hard for being that this particular firm was woman owned. Very few such companies existed that had at least gotten to this level. With the looming potential of larger clientele it was almost too good to be true. Tabitha had gone through several rounds of interviews with the female COO, VP and finally an interview with Samantha, the Chief Executive of Sekhem & Sceptre.
"As you may have noticed while you were touring through our offices, roughly 95% of our staff is female. There are a few key members who are male and that is entirely due to their skills. Primarily Scott Farsand, our Financial Officer, and Liam Townsend who is our Chief Technical Officer. Though, I will point out that all of the web developers and coders we have are female. We go to great effort to scout top female talent directly out of universities."
Samantha had a million dollar smile, with cheekbones to die for and lusciously full blonde hair that had a slight curl to it. She exuded effortlessness in her appearance but Tabitha knew it was probably highly polished and effort driven. That said, she was a gorgeous woman and probably knew that for herself. With Samantha's sign off though, Tabitha had been brought on specifically to spearhead their chance at the big-time.
After showing Tabitha to her office, Samantha had even insisted on being called "Sam" and before leaving Tabitha's new office she had even reached out and hugged her new employee. Tabitha had been a bit taken aback. Nothing in their interaction up to that point had led to the belief that Samantha was particularly affectionate, but Tabitha chalked it up to trying to win over a new employee early.
The first week went by like a blur. Introductions to the dozen or so people on the project and some of the department heads. For the briefest moment, Tabitha's suspicions were aroused around the women working in the office. While they were all women, she couldn't help noting that there wasn't a single woman who could be classified as unattractive. None of the women were overweight, though some were more hourglass than others, and though some were more modestly pretty, several were stunningly gorgeous.
Though Tabitha was attractive by her own estimation, she was far from supermodel level of hot. It was almost intimidating how attractive the office was as a whole though. There were fifty women in the office and none was less than cute. Tabitha didn't meet a man in the office until the end of her second day. There was a small knock and a face poked through the crack of the office door.
"Hey, Tabitha, right? I'm here to get your office online."