(Author's Note: Thank you, Steve, for the support and inspiration. Remember: you promised the first one would go over my head!)
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"Ah, Traci, you are SO sweet," Amber said with her normal engaging smile. She opened the neatly wrapped gift and removed the colorful bottle inside. Amber held it up and peered at the label.
"Oh, wow. I LOVE this stuff," she said, opening the cap and smelling the bubble bath.
"Well, you did a lot for me during the year. I really appreciate it," Traci told her co-worker as they hugged.
The girls worked in a large companyโTraci as a new computer techie and Amber as an executive secretary, or administrative assistant as the company liked to call it.
Traci was 23, well liked by nearly everybody in the building and a good computer troubleshooter. The most common description employees used for the "new girl" was "cute." If she had detractors, they were the older women who may not have approved of her tight sweaters, loose fitting blouses or short skirts.
On the other hand, men of all ages in the company seemed to have no problem with the young girl and her shoulder length blonde hair, nice tits and tight ass. Welcome to the corporate world, Traci.
Never at a loss for drop-in friends at her desk, Traci was rarely bored at work. Her energy and openly friendly attitude gained her instant credibility.
When she returned to her desk after visiting Amber, she saw the message light on her phone blinking. She listened to the message and sighed.
"Oh, geez. Not Simmons again," she mumbled. "Moron."
Traci headed back out the door and down the hall to the executive offices. Mike Simmons, VP for Marketing, was a fifty-something, balding, rotund gentleman of questionable morals. As with all VPs, he had been promoted from a manager's position and now held a position beyond his actual capabilities. With eyes toward promotion, he would be lucky to last another year as VP. Traci and the rest of the building had come to learn that his administrative assistant, Kelli, in fact, ran the department.
As Traci approached Kelli's desk, the AA offered a knowing, evil smile. Traci stuck her tongue out at Kelli and knocked on Simmons' door. When the obligatory "Come in" was uttered, Traci entered, dreadfully closing the door behind her.
"Hi, Traci," the VP offered, swinging around in his chair to face her. "It's my PC again. I can't access the database from last year."
"OK. Let me have a look at it," Traci said as positively as she could.
"Here, sit down," Simmons said, rising from his chair.
If Traci had any guts, she would have declined. But then, it was all a matter of choice. Not sit down, lean over the PC and offer him a look at the back of her thighs under the short denim skirt. Or, sit down and let him gawk down her blouse.
She sat.
As usual, the man took up station behind the chair. Traci began combing the files and adjusting network rights and permissions. Meanwhile, Simmons watched the top of the girl's breasts appear, then hide again, inside her thin blouse. Quick glimpses of her black bra were considered a bonus.
Traci could feel the eyes boring down on her. She crossed her legs, causing the skirt to ride higher. "Damn it, that was dumb," she thought to herself. "Wasn't thinking." In five minutes the job was done. She would get up, smile at the man, accept copious "thank yous" and leave the office, eyes glued to her ass.
Steve put his head in his hands. It had been a long day. Earlier in the week he had traveled all over the state in his position as regional sales manager for a small, growing company. All he wanted now was to go home and have a drink.
Single, 32 and built like a linebacker, Steve was mostly interested in gaining fame and fortune early in life before retiring to a seaside resort. It's not that he disliked women, but time was precious and work normally beckoned. Dates are hard to find while traveling in your car.
As he drove home that evening, listening to smooth jazz and drinking a decaf mocha, his mind was on a girl he had recently met on an Internet chat. She intrigued him. Intelligent, witty, sincere. The kind of woman that might make him settle down. The kind of woman he'd love to roll in bed with all night.
Steve pulled into the apartment complex's parking lot and drove around to his building. He REALLY needed to get a condo, he thought to himself for the millionth time.
He parked next to an SUV, grabbed his laptop and got out. The headlights blinked in the darkness and the doors locked at the click of his key chain.
"Don't turn around. Walk to the SUV and get in the passenger side, back door," a voice said. Instinctively, he began to turn his head. "I said DON'T turn around. Walk. And I'm armed."
The voice was soft, almost soothing. Feminine.
Steve's mind was spinning. What the hell was happening? Who was this? He walked around the front of the SUV, the sound of steps behind him in the darkness.
"Get in."
Steve opened the rear door on the passenger side and crawled into the SUV, laying his laptop on the floor.
"Sit down."
He plopped down in the seat nearest the door and finally had a chance to see his captor. Traci wore a ball cap and dark jogging outfit. Her hazel eyes shown in the vehicle's interior lighting. The gun barrel reflected the same light.
"Put your right hand in the handcuff on this side," she ordered. Steve complied.
Traci laid the gun on the floor behind the seat, leaned across quickly and fastened the left hand to another set of cuffs. She picked up the weapon and looked at Steve intently.
"If you make a sound, I will shoot you. Swear to God."
Steve believed her.
Traci walked around the vehicle and got in the driver's side. They pulled out of the parking lot and headed into the night.
Twice during the ride, Steve debated with himself about offering his wallet to the girl. He decided both times that silence was probably the better choice. If she wanted the wallet, she'd take the wallet. What DID she want?
Soon, they pulled into the driveway of a small ranch home. The garage door opened and Traci slowly pulled in. The door closed behind them and Steve looked around at the otherwise normal, American home garage. Except it wasn't his, he was in it and he was handcuffed to the seat of an SUV driven by a strange young woman he didn't know.
Traci opened the door opposite of where Steve sat. She climbed in, removed a key from her pocket and began to unlock the handcuffs on his left side from the seat, but not his wrist.
"Do NOT try anything. Is that clear?" she said firmly.