Just Business

Tina shuffled her papers together and slid them into her bag. She had a new tutoring client, an unusual one, and she was interested in seeing how the session would go. She ran her tutoring business herself and distinguished it by tutoring one-on-one at clients' homes. Since most of her students were in middle school or high school, the parents appreciated not having to drive their kids to one more activity. The idea worked well and she was able to make quite a lot of money just from tutoring on weekday afternoons and Sundays.

But this new client was different. A week ago she had been posting a flier at the local library and a man had come up and asked her with a arrogant grin if she did any non-traditional tutoring. She assumed it was a pick-up line and had given him a nasty look and told him firmly that she only tutored students in math, science, and standardized testing skills.

He had laughed gently and explained that he was getting ready to take the LSAT--the law school entrance exam--and he was looking for someone to give him some guidance and assistance. It had been quite a while since he had taken that kind of test and he figured a little structure and some studying techniques might be helpful. So they had chatted a few minutes and had finally agreed to meet at his office building on Thursday morning and see what they could work out.

Now it was Thursday morning and she was preparing to go meet him. Scott was his name, she recalled, and he had a business in the city. She stacked together the LSAT materials she had collected and walked to her bedroom to finish getting ready. Usually she dressed fairly casually for tutoring because she didn't want the students to feel intimidated. But she figured a business-like outfit was more appropriate for this particular client.

She was wearing a deep crimson, sleeveless, V-neck top and a dark gray business skirt. The matching jacket was lying on the bed next to her briefcase. She checked her reflection to make sure there weren't any spots or hanging strings. The red of the top contrasted nicely with her honey-toned skin. Was it too tight? she wondered. With her particular proportions, it was often difficult to find tops that didn't emphasize the large size of her breasts. It'll have to do, she thought, she didn't have time to change. Besides, the jacket would help cover her up a little.

She pulled a brush through her long, dark hair and tried to decide what to do with it. Finally she pulled it back and twisted it up into a black clip-casual, but out of her face, she thought. She outlined her deep, brown eyes with dark eyeliner and smoothed some subtle, red gloss over her full lips. She added a pair of gold-toned hoops at her ears and her watch and then slipped on the suit jacket. Not bad, she thought, as she picked up her case and headed for the door.

*****

It was an impressive building, she thought when she pulled up to the address Scott had given her. Elegant and classy. Her first impression was confirmed when she walked into the foyer of the building and noted the plush carpeting, the subtle wood tones, and the efficient, but friendly receptionist who pointed her towards the elevator with instructions to get off at the seventh floor.

When she reached the seventh floor she realized that it was devoted entirely to Scott's graphic design business. Again impressed, she crossed to the receptionist and left her name and then sat in one of the richly upholstered chairs to wait. She was early--as always. But before she'd even settled back in the chair, Scott was walking up to the reception desk, engaged in conversation with another man. He shot her a quick smile, but continued talking with the man he had walked out with. Tina took advantage of the chance to check him out more carefully.

He was clearly a very attractive man. He was tall, probably six-two, with strong-looking shoulders and an athletic build. He was wearing a navy suit and a light blue shirt, which he had left unbuttoned at the collar. She noticed that he had magnificent-looking hands--smooth, strong, large. He glanced over and when she realized that he had noticed that she was staring so intently at his hands, she blushed. He shot her one of his smug smiles but kept talking to his client. His hair was dark and casually styled. His eyes were deep green and very intriguing. His lips were firm and looked smooth and soft. She wondered how they would feel against hers.

She realized then that he had stopped talking to the other man and was smiling at her. He had caught her staring again. He said good-bye to the man and walked over to her and held out a hand. She stood and held hers out to be caught in a firm handshake. "Ms. Hudson," he said. "How delightful to see you again. I apologize for keeping you waiting."

She took a quick breath to calm the nerves and desire that had begun stirring inside of her and was able to give him what she hoped was a casual, professional smile. "Not at all, Mr. Griffin. I have a tendency to run a little early, so I didn't expect you to be ready."

"Well, I'm ready now. Shall we have a seat in my conference room?" He motioned to the left and she brushed by him to walk in the direction he indicated.

He took the opportunity to enjoy her delightful figure as she walked in front of him. He loved the way she walked--efficient, but sexy, with a nice sway to those wonderful hips. Her hair was bundled up at the back of her neck and his hands itched to pull out the clip and run his fingers through the dark wonder of it.

"It's the second door on the right," he said as they walked down the corridor. He reached in front of her when they got there and pulled the handle of the heavy, oak door to hold it open for her. She smelled like exotic flowers, strong and sweet.

"Thank you, Mr. Griffin." Tina set her bag down on the large table and crossed to the window. "Wow, what a magnificent view! You have a beautiful office here," she said as she turned back to him. He was staring at her with a very satisfied look in his eye. It made her nervous.

"Thank you," he said as he motioned for her to sit. "But please, call me Scott. 'Mr. Griffin' makes me feel old." He laughed as he pulled out a chair for her.

"Whatever you prefer," she said with a smile as she sat.

He watched her sit and cross her shapely legs and he noticed that when she leaned over the desk her shirt pulled down a little and exposed the top of her breasts. He felt his blood heat as he imagined what it would be like to pull it down further and take a little taste of her. He wondered if her skin would taste as soft and sweet as it looked.

"May I call you Tina," he asked, "or do you prefer Ms. Hudson?" He sat in the seat to her right.

"Tina's fine, of course." She smoothed her skirt down and tried to ignore the way her pulse jumped when his leg brushed against hers. She pulled out some papers and started sorting them. "I collected some materials on the LSAT for you." She pushed them in his direction, careful to avoid direct eye-contact. "The test doesn't seem to be too difficult. I'm not sure you need a tutor. Probably some vocabulary flashcards and a couple of practice tests would be all the help you would need."

"Thanks," he said, as he began looking through the papers. "But, to be honest, I am very poor at disciplining myself about this sort of thing. I was hoping we could work out a regular schedule and that you could keep me on track and make me study." She met his glance with an amused twinkle in her eye. "Ahh," she said knowingly. "So you need a babysitter." He grinned back at her. "I suppose so. It sounds like this won't be the first time you've been hired to baby-sit one of your students." She laughed lightly. "Nope. Not the first time. Actually, being a babysitter for a student is a lot easier than being their punishment, which happens just as often." He leaned towards her and locked her gaze with his. "Trust me, Tina. I am definitely not thinking of you as a punishment."

Her laughter faded and she forced herself to take a deep breath. She felt trapped in those sharp, green eyes. She cleared her throat. "Um... well." She pulled her eyes away from his face. Her heart was pounding in her chest. "So, uh... When were you planning to take the test?" She had to get a grip on herself. She was acting like a teenager.

His tone was light and casual when he spoke, and disguised the longing that was building inside him. "I was thinking about the August test, two months from now. Does that give you enough time to whip me into shape?" That image appealed to him, although he thought it might be even more fun to whip her into shape.

She smiled again and forced herself to relax. "My guess is that's plenty of time. But why don't I give you this practice test and we can see where we're starting from." She held out a packet of papers. "It will take you about three hours to take, and I strongly suggest you do it all at once and time yourself, so we can get a feel for how the real test will go." He nodded. "OK," he said. "I could probably do that tomorrow afternoon. Could we get together again on Saturday to go over it?" He glanced up to meet her eyes with his and imagined peeling her out of that professional suit and feasting on those glorious breasts.

"Um, I don't usually tutor on Saturdays. I give myself that one day off." Tina cleared her throat again and pulled out her calendar. "We could try for Sunday, if you want. I have an appointment at 10am and one at 4pm, but we could meet at 1pm or so if you wanted."

"Hmmm... Sunday's bad for me. I'm driving out-of-town to visit my sister and won't be getting back till Wednesday night. I don't suppose you could make an exception to your Saturday rule this one time, could you?" Tina considered for a moment, but decided that it would be unprofessional to bend her rules just because he was so attractive. "I'm sorry. I can't. Umm... I suppose we could get together tomorrow evening if you wanted. Are you available then?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." He smiled and began to enter the date into his Palm Pilot. "Could we say 6:00? I could probably take the test after my lunch meeting, so that should give me enough time."

"OK," she agreed. "I'll meet you here at 6:00 tomorrow." She began to gather her things.

"Actually, if we could meet at my house, that would be great. If I try to take the test here, I'll never get it done. Besides, I usually work from home on Friday afternoons." He glanced up at her. "Is that a problem?"

A problem? Tina thought. The two of them alone together at his house? Yes! It was a problem. But she had already told him no about Saturday and she was feeling guilty about forcing him to meet with her on his afternoon off. "I guess that would be OK," she said reluctantly. "I'll just need the address."

He scribbled it down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "I'm looking forward to it," he said, and gave her another one of his arrogant grins.

*****

As she climbed into her car in the parking lot outside his building, she started to wonder what she was getting herself into. She sat in the car for a moment, while the air conditioning worked at top speed to push the hot air out of the car. His house? I must be crazy, she thought. I could barely handle being in the same room with him. She took a deep breath. It was just business. Just business, she kept telling herself as she pulled out of the lot.

*****

She was still chanting that in her head the next evening as she drove towards his home. Just business, just business, just business. She had dressed carefully, not wanting to give off the wrong impression. She was wearing a skirt suit again, black this time, with a more conservatively cut jacket. The buttons came practically to her neck. The skirt hit below her knee, so even if she sat and crossed her legs, they would still be fairly well covered.

Underneath the suit her clothes were somewhat less conservative. Expensive, sexy lingerie was her secret vice. She smiled to herself as she thought of the lacy, low-cut camisole top that was the color of violets, and the matching panties and garter belt. The garter was actually practical, she assured herself, since it was a hot day and it was nice to have on thigh-high stockings instead of pantyhose. The lingerie she wore today and every day was for her own satisfaction. She just felt sexier and more confident when she had on pretty things, even if she was the only one who knew it. And she had a feeling she would need all her self-confidence to get through the next couple of hours.

His home was beautiful, nestled at the top of a little hill in the midst of a grove of trees. She parked her car behind his and walked briskly to the door. He opened it a moment after her knock. "Welcome, come on in." He smiled and took her hand to draw her inside with him. Her skin was as soft as silk.

She smiled warily at him as she walked through the door. He was wearing khaki shorts and a navy polo shirt. She felt overdressed and a little ridiculous in her conservative black suit. "Hello," she said politely. She tried to keep her tone professional even though her hand was tingling in his. She pulled it gently away. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great. What a fun test you had me take." He laughed as he gestured towards what looked to be the kitchen on the left. "My favorite way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon."

"It was good for you, I'm sure," she said with a smile as she followed him into a beautiful kitchen and breakfast nook that faced out to the trees.

He smiled back. She was captivating. There was something about her. All that efficiency, and yet an underlying shyness that he didn't quite understand. She was beautiful; surely she had men hitting on her right and left. But he sensed that he made her nervous, and he hadn't even made a move on her--yet.

"Can I get you some lemonade or something?" he said as he turned towards the fridge. "I'd offer you a glass of wine, but I have a feeling you're a strict teacher and you would frown on that." She did frown a little when he said that. But just a little. "Lemonade would be nice," she said. "And alcohol probably isn't the best path to acing this test." She grinned when he turned to her.

He smiled. "Yes, ma'am." He got a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge and pulled two tall glasses from the cupboard. "I thought we could work in here, since it's the coolest room in the house. I'm afraid my AC is on the fritz," he said apologetically as he handed her a glass. He looked over her outfit and said, "I'm sorry. I should have called to let you know." He grinned again. He imagined ripping that prim suit off of her and pulling her to the ground. "Do you want to borrow something cooler to wear?"

She cleared her throat and set her glass down at the table. "I'll be fine, thanks." Already she could feel drops of sweat sliding down her back under the jacket. This was going to be a long evening. She sat down and tried to stop thinking about his lips and how they would feel on her skin. "Are you sure?" He asked. "That jacket must be hot." She smiled at him. "Yes, I'm positive. But thanks for asking."

Scott shrugged and sat next to her at the table. He gestured to the test that was sitting there. "Well, let's see how I did." She got out the answer key and started marking the test. He had done fairly well, but it was clear they would have to drill with vocabulary and probably review a few math concepts. "You did well," she said and looked up. Scott had scooted his chair closer while she was grading and when she lifted her head, it almost bumped against his. "I'm sorry," she said quickly as she pulled back.

"It's OK," he said and smiled. Yes, he definitely made her nervous. "So, how'd I do?"

"You did really well. There are a few areas we should work on. That is, unless you've decided you'd rather work on it yourself, in which case I can leave some study materials with you." She picked up her glass and took a long drink of lemonade. The heat was beginning to feel unbearable, and she had a feeling it wasn't all because of the weather.

"Not at all," he said. "I definitely want to work closely with you on this." Very closely, he thought.

She gulped. "Hmmm, OK. Well, why don't we go over a few of the ones you missed?" She indicated the test and kept chanting to herself: just business, just business.

"Sounds good," he said. He reached across her and his arm brushed up against her breast. She looked up at him with wide eyes, startled by the touch. "My pencil," he said with a smile as he held it out.

She was humiliating herself, she thought. This was a STUDENT. She needed to focus. It was the heat that was making her head spin and her vision blur. It was hot and stuffy. She blinked her eyes and forced herself to focus. "OK, let's look at this one." She started to review a math problem with him. He began to rework the problem on the paper and she reached over with her own pencil to add something he forgot.

"You smell fantastic," he said softly. She quickly pulled back from him.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yes, yes. Uh... where is the bathroom?" she asked as she stood up. If she could just take a minute to herself to calm down, she thought to herself, maybe she would stop being so jumpy.

"Down that hall," he pointed. "First door on the left."

"Thanks, I'll be right back." She hurried to the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind her. She locked it and then stripped off her coat. Leaning against the counter, she turned on the cold water and bent over to splash some on her face. There was a little stool in the corner and she plopped down on it to catch her breath.

What was wrong with her? She was acting like a fool. He had paid her an innocent compliment and she had jumped up and run away like a scared rabbit. She rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror. She almost never dated, and certainly not a man as attractive as Scott. She was just imagining that he was interested, there was no way he really was. It was her own repressed desires that were causing her to feel this way. She was a professional and she was damn well going to act like one. After another moment, she stood up, dried her face, and pulled her jacket back on.

Scott stood in the kitchen wondering if he should check on her. She had looked kind of pale. If she would be reasonable and take off that jacket, maybe she wouldn't be so uncomfortable. In fact, he grinned to himself, he would be happy to relieve her of it, and that skirt as well. He wondered what she wore beneath.

She walked back into the kitchen to find him leaning against the island in the middle of the room. She remained standing and leaned against one of the side counters. "I'm sorry," she said. "I guess the heat is getting to me a little."

He walked slowly over to her and watched her eyes turn wary. "Why don't you take off your jacket?" he said, and stood directly in front of her.

"Uh... That's OK. I feel better now." She tried to move past him to return to the table, but he lifted an arm to grasp the counter behind her and blocked her way. She looked at him questioningly.

"Look, don't be silly," he said with exasperation. "If you're feeling warm, just take off the stupid jacket."

"Excuse me?" she said primly. "I said I was fine." She tried again to move past him, but he didn't budge. "Maybe I should leave," she said coolly.

"I don't think so," he closed a hand around each of her wrists, pressed her body back against the counter with his own, and brought his mouth within a breath of hers. He watched as panic and desire clouded her eyes.

"Let go of me," she said weakly, trying to twist her arms to get out of his hold. His hands were like clamps on her wrists. He squeezed tighter and she winced a little from the pain. His mouth was close to hers and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.