Lunchtime Arrangements

I asked Ann whether she preferred a nearby seafood restaurant or a less than
pretentious french restaurant that I had frequented.  She said I should make the
choice and thinking that I was in the mood for an omelet I steered us towards the
french bistro.

The maitre'd recognized me as we walked in and gave me a warm greeting and
promptly ushered us to a banquette where we were seated side by side.  I am sure
that he assumed our lunch was a social, not a business, meeting.

I asked Ann if she would join me in a drink.  She said sure and after checking, I
ordered kirs for both of us.  As I started to enjoy the wine cassis combination I
became very aware of Ann's presence next to me.  I noticed her fragrance.  In
close proximity there was an unmistakable and memorable scent of her perfume. I
was also conscious of the pressure of the side of her right breast resting and
pressing against my left arm.  As intimate as our earlier dealings had been, this
was the first physical contact between us and it did not pass unnoticed by me.

I realized that there was very little I knew about Ann.  The profile I had
received from the personnel agency was less informative then others had been.  I
remembered that she had gone to college at the University of North Carolina and I
seemed to recall that she lived in Manhattan as well.  I knew about her previous
two jobs, but not much else.  So I asked Ann to tell me a little about her
background.  The question was too vague for Ann.

"What do you want to know, Bob?" Ann asked.

I was a little taken aback that Ann parried my question with a question of her
own.  I explained:

"Ann, I realized that in some ways when I told you about the job and the reason
that I was starting my business I was telling you my life story and since you are
going to be managing a lot of my business, I really don't anticipate that I will
have many secrets from you and I just thought that I really don't know all that
much about you."

"Now Bob, you really have gotten to  know things about me much better than you
had any reason to expect" Ann replied with a distinct grin.

As the truth of that statement registered, I realized that Ann was not leaving
the matter rest there with that clever riposte. "It's certainly fair for you to
know about me, Bob, so see if this helps to fill in some of the details."

Ann then went on.  "I was born and raised here in New York. When I got out of
college at Chapel Hill I enrolled in Katherine Gibbs' program and started out as
a secretary in an ad agency."

"Pretty quickly I realized that I wasn't going to be content with a 9 to 5
existence typing away and waiting to meet Mr. Right. So I have changed jobs as I
have looked for employers who would give me more latitude to use my brains and
when I interviewed with you I thought that we could be very helpful for each
other.  You seem  to have no artificial limits on where I can go and I think you
will be giving me a chance to give you more than you expect."

I wasn't sure what all that meant and so I am sure that I had a pretty blank
expression.  But Ann continued:

"I live by myself here on the East Side.  I'm not married although I was engaged
once but thank God I realized what a disaster it would have been if we got
married."

For all of that I didn't think I better understood Ann and her unique approach to
her job and her relationship with her employer.

The omelet I had ordered arrived as did Ann's broiled sole. I thought it was time
to direct the conversation to the work tasks at hand.  I told Ann that I wanted
us to hire a receptionist who would also answer the phones.  I suggested that Ann
take care of the interviewing and screening for that position.  I said that I
would be looking to hire an analyst who would help do some of the leg work in
investigating and following the investments  that I would be making.  I did not
expect this to be the subject of much discussion but Ann had a point of view.

Ann was quite happy to deal with the receptionist position but to my surprise she
also strongly insisted should screen the financial analyst.

"We're all going to have to get along here and I really think that I can make
sure that everyone who works for you will be the type of team player and have the
type of cooperative attitude that you want and need."

That was a little oddly put and I was surprised about how emphatic Ann was, and
although I was skeptical that Ann would know what to look for in a financial
analyst ( I wasn't totally sure myself) I wasn't all that anxious to do much
screening for that position and it seemed expedient to acquiesce to Ann's views.

We talked a little about the need to be looking for permanent office space and
Ann made the important suggestion of having the architect I anticipated using to
design my office brought on board to check out the space we would be considering.

I paid the bill for our lunch and we walked back to the office exchanging
thoughts about what area of the city to locate in and the pluses and minuses of
different phone systems.  We arrived back in the office and as nonchalant as
could be, Ann flipped the latch on the door behind her and without comment or
evident self consciousness casually removed her sweater baring her marvelous
breasts once again.  Without any comment in my direction, Ann went to her desk
and phoned the agency which had referred her to me and advised of the
receptionist opening she would be looking to fill.

That afternoon I had a visit to my dentist scheduled and I left the office at
about 3 p.m.  As I walked out and bade Ann goodbye, I told her I would see her
Tuesday and asked her to lock up.  She waived goodbye and as I left she was at
her desk, cradling the phone to her ear looking for all the world like the
efficient assistant I had hoped for; except of course for the fact that she was
nipples bare.

Tuesday

I beat Ann to the office on Tuesday by about five minutes. Ann showed up at work
in a cream colored blouse over a red skirt.  She told me that she expected to
spend the day interviewing prospective receptionists and that she had invited an
office space broker to visit her at 2:30 p.m. and that she thought it would be
useful if I sat in on that meeting.  That was fine with me.  I retreated to my
office expecting that I would spend the day watching Ann at work.  Ann busied
herself at her desk and to my chagrin she remained fully clothed.  I realized why
pretty quickly when the door to the suite opened and the first of the candidate
receptionists arrived.

For probably the umpteenth time in the past day or so I tried to take stock of
what was going on.  I had set out to start my business and somehow got hooked up
with this person who I was wildly overpaying to handle day to day administrative
matters.  Ann seemed perfectly competent in that respect but she had the out of
left field and remarkable penchant for mesmerizing me through the brazen display
of her breasts.  Where were we going and why wasn't I talking to her in explicit
terms about what was going on?  Obviously Ann had struck a responsive chord
tapping into a voyeuristic streak I had.  For the moment I continued to think
that I would play along to see where things were headed.

That day Ann interviewed about four or so candidates for the receptionist's job. 
When I asked her how things were going she said that she hadn't yet met anyone
who seemed quite right for the job, but if she did she would bring the person in
to meet with me too.  We also met with the real estate broker and described the
space we were looking for.  We thought that about 4,000 square feet would do and
described the layout we had in mind.  Ann was quite emphatic that we were looking
for space that we would could remodel to suit our needs and that we needed to
have the flexibility to do tear down and rebuild  walls to get things in order. 
We had not discussed this and I assumed that Ann had something particular in
mind.  I did not press her on the point however.

Ann left at about 5:30.  I thought we had a relatively "normal" day and that did
not bother me.

At the time I was living in a two bedroom apartment in a highrise on Central Park
South.  I  had sweeping views of the park to the North.  Initially my habit was
to have dinner out with friends, catch a movie or a ball game or go to a club or
a bar and wind up home (generally alone but sometimes not) at about midnight or
1:00 a.m.  I had arranged through the superintendent of the building for someone
to come in three days a week to keep the apartment clean and to tend to details
like dropping off and picking up my laundry.

I had started to give thought to buying a new apartment and to changing my
domestic arrangements.  I wanted an apartment with more space and I fancied the
elegant pre-war apartments along Manhattan's Park and Fifth Avenues.  I also
thought that I would like a live-in house staff who would keep my residence in
order and who would prepare meals so that I could eat and entertain more readily
at home.  I decided that I would give that project to Ann to supervise.

Wednesday

I arrived at my office shortly after nine on Wednesday-- Ann's third day on the
job.  Ann was at her desk opening the morning mail.  I looked to see how she was
attired.  She was wearing a navy print dress which, unlike previous day's attire,
was not particularly clingy or formfitting.  She greeted me pleasantly.  I asked
her into my office as I wanted to describe the apartment/staffing project I
wanted her to undertake.

Ann was delighted with the assignment.  She said that she was glad I was trusting
her to give her another part of my life to run.  She promised that she would make
this another priority effort.  I told Ann that I had a meeting that morning
concerning a commercial real estate venture I was contemplating, that I would be
out of the office from about 10:00 a.m. and that I would be back at 2:00 that
afternoon.  Ann told me that she had other receptionists scheduled to come in and
that if anyone were promising she would have them back to see me.

I spent that morning with a potential investing partner looking over a series of
storefront properties in Yonkers which were for sale. We talked to the
storekeepers who were in the buildings to gauge their sense of the neighborhood,
its prospects and the physical conditions of their stores.  On our way back to
the city, we stopped at an Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for
an enjoyable lunch.  Our conversation ranged over such subjects as politics, the
financial straits in which New York found itself and the investing climate
generally.  Over lunch Richard told me that he too had practiced law but that he
had started investing in deals with some of his clients and that he found that
acting as a principal was much more satisfying than as an advisor.   I had known
Richard only casually before this day (we had both been partners along with five
others in owning and leasing some property in Brooklyn) and we seemed to be
hitting it off well.

As we got up from lunch Richard asked if I would want to bring my wife and join
him and his wife as their guests the next evening at the Opera.  I told Richard I
wasn't married but that I'd be delighted to join him that I would bring a date
and that I would insist that dinner afterwards be on me.  Richard said that he
was sure that would be fine and that he looked forward to introducing me to his
wife Ellen.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon when I got back to the office.  Ann was at her
desk and I noticed that a young woman was seated in the reception area.  Ann
introduced me to Allie and told me that Allie had met with Ann in the morning and
that Ann thought I might want to meet with her and consider her for the
receptionist position.  Ann indicated that she wanted to speak to me in my office
first.

"How long has she been waiting for me?" I asked Ann as we entered my office.

"She's been here since 2:00 because that's when I thought you were due back."

"Oh that's terrible" I said. "I feel badly that she's just had to sit around here
and wait."

Ann would have nothing of it. "Bob, forget about it.  We are here to accommodate
you.  You don't have to hurry on our account and if you keep us waiting, that's
up to you."

"Anyhow" Ann added "We've had a chance to talk more and I really think we have a
winner here.  I am anxious for you to meet her.  But there is one thing."

"What's that?"

"I told her the position paid $45,000 a year plus we will lend her $10,000 so she
can rent and furnish an apartment here and buy other necessities."

"That's way more than double the going rate in salary alone."

"Just meet her.  If you don't want to hire her, then all that's happened is that
you've taken twenty minutes out of the day. Should I bring her in?"

"O.K."

Ann left to get Allie and moments later returned.  I introduced myself to Allie,
shook her hand and gestured that she should sit in one of the chairs across from
my desk.  Ann set down on the couch in the corner of my office.  I asked Allie if
Ann had explained the nature of my business, the fact we were planning on moving
and hiring more staff.  Allie said that Ann had told her about the job and its
requirements.  Ann interrupted and suggested that Allie tell me about herself. As
Allie started to comply, I looked at her more closely. Allie, it was plain to
see, was beautiful.  She had jet black and thick hair which she parted in the
middle and which fell behind her shoulders.  A few wisps played across her face. 
Allie seemed about 21 or 22 and was about 5'3" tall.  She was trim, but not too
thin.  Allie's voice had the vague hint of an accent which I could not place. 
Allie was telling me that she had moved to New York from Houston where her family
was now living; that she had hoped to enroll in Eastern's flight attendant school
but that there was then a hiring freeze and that she had almost accepted an offer
to be a sales trainee at Saks when one of the other people Ann had interviewed
the day before told Allie about the opportunity here.  Allie's friend was not
interested in the job you see because she was married (that did not make
immediate sense to me) but Allie continued to explain that she very much was
interested in the job.

When Allie finished speaking, she looked over at Ann as if to silently make
inquiry.  I was puzzled.

Ann spoke and all she said was "Go ahead Allie."

With that statement and clearly following some prior instructions to which I was
not privy, Allie stood and then stepped to the side of the chair on which she had
been sitting.  I noticed that she first unfastened the buttons at the ends of the
sleeves on her blouse and then after pulling the hem of her blouse out from the
waist of her skirt, starting from the bottom she carefully and slowly unbuttoned
her blouse although once open she left it on.  Reaching toward her hip, Allie
unfastened the clasp to her skirt and, after stepping out of it, she folded it
neatly over the back of the chair.  Still with her open blouse I could see that
Allie was wearing a white bra of a fabric with a sheen to it. Allie also had
gunmetal grey stockings on supported by a garter belt of the same color and
matching bikini panties.  Allie then removed her blouse and I was taken in by the
classical perfection of her figure.  The garter belt only served to emphasize the
narrowness of her waist.  Her thighs above her stockings were ivory colored and
looked incitingly smooth.  Allie reached behind her back and released the clasp
to her brassiere which she shrugged off and placed on the chair with her skirt
and blouse. Allie's breasts were high and firm and topped by lovely little brown
nipples no bigger than quarters.

I was transfixed by Allie's display and thought that I was tumbling to Ann's
modus operandi.  But I was not prepared for what happened next.  Allie walked
over to where Ann was sitting and took her by the hands and motioned for Ann to
stand.  Ann rose.  Allie then, as slowly and as carefully as she had to herself,
unbuttoned Ann's dress unfastened the belt and the clasp at the waist, and helped
Ann step out of her dress.  Barely pausing and facing Ann, Allie reached behind
Ann and released the hooks which were closing Ann's bra and then eased it off her
shoulders. Then, standing face to face, Allie gently pulled Ann to her and as
they each had their hands resting lightly on the others shoulders with their
breasts pressed lightly against each other's, Allie gave Ann a gentle, tongue
twirling kiss.   After holding each other like this for what  must have been only
5 or 10 seconds, Allie stepped away from Ann but holding hands, side to side,
turned to face me.  I then saw a new aspect of Ann.  Without her dress and bra,
Ann only was wearing her shoes, beige stockings and a white garter belt.  Ann
wore no panties and as I looked at her I saw for the first time that Ann was
shaved quite smooth.

Allie, who by contrast still wore her panties, left Ann standing and facing me
and walked over to me where I was sitting behind my desk, my jaw slackened, eyes
wide opened and obviously affected by what I had just seen.  Allie took my hands
and as she had with Ann, drew me to my feet.  Holding my hands now at her sides
she pressed against me, as I felt the top of her thigh insinuate itself between
my legs and confront the evidence of the powerful effect her actions had
generated, she turned her face up to mine, parted her lips slightly in plain
invitation for me to kiss her.  Our kiss was a mirror of that which she had just
shared with Ann, who stood a few feet away watching us closely.

Our lips parted, Allie released my hands and she took a few steps back so that
she was now equidistant from Ann and myself.  Allie then dropped to her knees and
with her gaze focussed alternatively at Ann and myself spoke:

"I could think of nothing I would like better than to have the opportunity to
work here and please both of you."

Ann looked at me and I nodded.  Ann then told Allie: "Be here at 9:00 a.m. Monday
morning and we'll get you started."

Allie smiled, shyly it seemed.  She then gathered her clothing, dressed quickly,
and saying "thank you, I'll see you Monday"  she left.

I sat back behind my desk and Ann said she'd be right back. She left my office
proceeded to the office door and flipped the latch so that a visitor couldn't
simply barge in.  Ann returned to my office and sat down where Allie had been a
few moments before.  Facing me, Ann made no effort to cover herself in any way. 
Her legs were parted slightly so that her bare sex was visible, though not
gynecologically spread. "What did you think of Allie?" Ann asked with a grin.

"How did you find her?" I said by way of non-response.

"One of the girls who was in yesterday after hearing about what the job entailed
said that she had a friend who might be interested."

"Just what are you telling people about 'what the job entails' ?" I asked as I
was concerned that Ann might be saying things about me that I would not welcome
in the public.

"Don't worry, Bob."  Ann said.  "All I told the people during the interview is
that from time to time your work requires staying in the office late to meet
deadlines and sometimes trips out of town to make deliveries  of important papers
and that if they had jealous boyfriends or husbands  who would be uncomfortable
about their wives or whomever working  late hours with you, they might prefer a
different job."

Ann continued: "Then depending on their reactions I tell them why I am happy to
work with you."

"What do you say about that?" I asked with no little curiosity as I posed this
question to this incredibly pretty woman sitting, but for  stockings and garter
belt,              absolutely naked across my desk.

Ann shifted in her seat and crossed her legs. "I say that you are very generous
and that you appreciate women."

I wasn't troubled by anything Ann had said.  In fact I admired her tact.  "How
did that lead to Allie's -uh uh -"  I was having a little trouble finding the
words to describe just what it is that Allie had done to get the job.  Ann knew
where I was headed.

"When I was interviewing Allie I had an instinctive reaction that she would work
out well here.  I told her what I thought the base pay could be if you were
anxious to have her work here which was more than double what she had asked for
and when she told me that she was new in New York and having difficulty making
ends meet, I added the $10,000 loan just to give her a sense of the real
possibilities.  And as I was explaining this to her I put my hand on her knee,
all as a way of seeing how she would react.  When she seemed not uncomfortable
with this contact I told her that it would be up to her to convince you that she
should be hired and then I added that when you and I are alone in the office I
sometimes go without my top."

Ann chuckled to herself.  I gave her an arched look as if to ask what was so
funny? Ann motioned at herself and then said: "I guess topless doesn't describe
it all."

It was getting towards five o'clock and I thought I ought to call Saundra (the
girl I was then dating) to make sure that she could join Richard, his wife Ellen
and I the next day for dinner and the Opera.  Recognizing that I had things to
do, Ann picked up her things and returned to her desk.  Closing the door to my
office I picked up the phone to call Saundra.  She was at work. Saundra was an
account executive at a public relations firm that was attached to an advertising
agency in New York.  We had met at a dinner party a five or so months earlier and
lately had been seeing each other several times a week.

"I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth"  was the friendly but
pointed reproach that reminded me I had not yet called her this week.

"Everything O.K. with you?"  was the best non-reply I could muster.

"Sure, I am absolutely buried in this dog-and-pony show we are putting together
to try and get this new account" , Saundra said.  We chatted about nothing in
particular for a few moments when Saundra asked: "When are you going to show me
your new office?"

Click.  Not quite alarm bells, but some sort of warning registered in my
consciousness. "I really want you to see it when it's all set up" I demurred.

"Well how are things coming along?"

"O.K., but slowly" I said, suddenly being a little non- communicative.

"When will I see you?" Saundra asked.

"Let's try and do something Saturday," I said.  "We can take a drive in the
country and find some place to go for dinner.  I'll call Friday with the
details."

"Fine.  Call me soon" she replied.

"Bye" and then I hung up.

For reasons that were not clear to me then I had chosen not to invite Saundra to
dinner and the Opera with Richard and Ellen and I sensed that there were going to
be some not so simple consequences to my new work environment and its impact on
the rest of my life.

I opened the door to my office just as Ann was in the process of putting her
dress back on.  She looked at me and smiled.  I saw that she had left her bra off
and it had been placed on top of her handbag.  She stopped what she was doing and
faced me with her dress on but unbuttoned above the waist.

I realized then what I wanted to do.  "Ann, one of my partners in one of my deals
has invited me to the Opera tomorrow night.  He's going to bring his wife and I
was wondering if you were free to join us."  As I spoke I felt my heart racing
and I hoped that my voice hadn't betrayed my nervousness.  I was concerned that I
was bumping against a boundary.  I needn't have been.

"Bob, that would be great."  Ann spoke with evident enthusiasm.  "I love the
opera, which one is it?"  "Il Trovatore," I answered.

"Oh that's great, I love Verdi."  Ann continued "And by the way, I am available
to you whenever you need me.  A little advance notice for after-hours would be
helpful, but that's my problem, you just tell me when you need me and you can
count on me."

"Terrific" I said now a bit more confused than ever.

"How would you like me to dress tomorrow night?" Ann then asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Tell you what, what time are we supposed to meet them?"

"Ten 'til eight right outside the opera house at Lincoln Center.  We're going to
have dinner afterwards."

"Why don't you come by my apartment about 6:30 or so and you can decide what I
should wear, you can have a glass of wine and then we will go."

"Fine, glad you can come."

Ann asked if I had anything else for her to do because if not she was ready to
leave.  I said no, I'll see her tomorrow.

Ann gave me a blazing smile, gathered up her things and headed for the door. 
"Ann" I called out.

"Yes."

"Better button your dress."

Ann looked down and realized her dress was still open to the waist.  "Thanks" she
said as she closed things up.  It seemed to me that she had blushed.  Slightly.