Turq Ch. 01

I felt privileged to have shared those moments and still have the memory of her hand moving in circles beneath her light blue panties.

When I went off to the State University, I took her memory with me and I had no shortage of fantasies...with Dannie in the starring role. We had another date during summer vacation, a movie at a drive-in theatre. We necked in the front seat of my old Plymouth and to my surprise, she let me take her shirt and bra off as well as her jeans and pull her panties down to her knees. But I acted more like a boy scout than a boyfriend and probably let that opportunity slip away too. We wrote to each other occasionally while I was at school and on a couple of occasions I managed to burn up a fair amount of an employer's long distance telephone budget calling her.

"I'm writing to you lying on the bed wearing the same clothes I did when we went to that Drive-in, she wrote, except this time they are all on...or maybe they aren't...wink."

"It's nice you have your own apartment now. I'd give my ... for an apartment of my own" she wrote in another letter.

Once her letter arrived with a small school picture, a "SWAK" written on the reverse side and the red lipstick mark of her lips.

I was never at ease with her plethora of boyfriends. She was a hostess in an Army Base USO Club, where she got more than her share of male attention and where she evidently planned to meet Mt. Right (in uniform). When she thought I was getting too serious about her once, she told me she liked "go-getters." We continued to see each other from time to time but finally tired of being teased, I almost ignored her for a whole afternoon at an amusement park and it was a long time before we met again.

Annie and I had a late Sunday breakfast downtown at our favorite diner, an aluminum and glass building shaped like a big travel trailer, square at one end and streamlined in the back. I'm waiting for pancakes and eggs with bacon. Annie ordered a single scrambled egg, bacon and toast. We are both downing hot coffee. Annie is doing something with her cell phone and I'm reading the Sunday newspaper.

"What are doing?" I asked

"Checking email and messages. Sandy was gonna send me new pictures of the family and I haven't seen them yet."

"I always liked your sister... and her husband too," I said.

"His name is Roger."

"I knew that. I just couldn't remember it. It's too early in the morning to remember anything," I said.

"You're staying up too late on that computer every night. That's your problem. You left it on all night the day before yesterday. I couldn't shut it down right without the password."

"The password is real estate. It usually is."

"Do you want to go to the Mall?" I asked.

"No, not today...the Thrift Store though, and you always like to look for books there"

The waitress is spreading plates and saucers on our table. I am starved and start spreading butter on the pancakes before they cool off. Annie is still playing with her cell phone.

"Dottie sent me a text", she said.

"You mean Dottie from the Office?"

"Yea...that Dottie."

I wasn't too pleased to hear this news, as you can imagine.

"How is your egg? It looks overdone," I asked.

"It's fine. Can I have a piece of your pancake and the front page section?"

We finished our breakfast and the waitress refilled our coffee cups. We lingered over the coffee and finally left for the Thrift Store. It was like a Salvation Army outlet for used stuff and Annie liked to look for unusual bargains, in a place filled mostly with someone else's junk. I headed for the book section and found a rare treat...a recent physics textbook, one of the Halliday and Resnick versions and only one dollar , over two inches thick. I snatched it up.

Later, we sat at the kitchen table, drinking more coffee and emptying plastic bags. The kitchen TV has a Pro football game just beginning.

"Do you ever read those books?" Annie asked.

"I don't from cover to cover...no...Technical books, I mean. This is a later edition of one I already have. For one dollar, I couldn't resist. Even in a second hand bookstore, it's easily fifty dollars."

"I'm not complaining. I just haven't seen you read anything in weeks," she said.

"I've just been busy with other things."

"And that's my point. I thought when you hired that new girl you would have more time." she said.

"You mean Turq?"

"If that's her name."

"It's short for Turquoise."

"That's nice. I'm gonna take a nap and try to get rid of this headache. She gave me a pretend frown and then a quick half smile. I watched her leave the kitchen, staring at her backside as she did. She filled her jeans out better now than years ago, I thought. How many times had I had my hands on that wonderful bottom, I wondered? How many Sunday afternoons have I undressed her on our bed? I felt my arousal grow as a slow ache. Her "headache" told me to leave her alone for the afternoon, whether it was real or not. I did, but memories flooded my mind...lazy afternoons making love here and there...her place...my place...the car parked in some wooded area, our anticipation growing as we drove around looking for a private place. We had discovered that the risk of being seen heightened our arousal. A couple times we came dangerously close to being caught...once in the car in a public parking lot. We were momentarily panicked and covered up in a blanket, burying even our heads.

I never asked her what Dottie said in her text message.

While Annie slept, I thumbed thru the pages of my new physics book. Boring, you think, because you already told me that. Physics and math too (to some extent) help keep me grounded. All day long I deal with people, it seems. While I generally like most people easily, dealing with them constantly wears me down. As customers, they are always right and I try to adapt to them individually...a personality juggling act that often leaves me emotionally tired. Science doesn't care about personality and opinions. Data that is correctly measured has its own truth, regardless of theories or who does the work. I am always amazed that theories about how physical processes work can often be expressed mathematically and be good enough to send people to the moon and back. These things aren't discovered under rocks. They are products of human intelligence, hard work and a lot of trial and error.

I start to pass Annie, still asleep on the couch as I move into another room and stop for a few seconds. Memories come to mind from a few years ago. I start my day with a shower while she makes coffee. Then, she goes back to sleep on the couch while I read the morning newspaper. On some occasions I have sat with her on my last cup of coffee and moved by desire I pulled her nightgown partly up, slipped down beside her and took her, barely awake, her body feeling unusually warm and relaxed as she accepted me into her.

But not now. She didn't feel good and she was, in fact, asleep. I didn't have the heart to disturb her just for my own pleasure. But I knew she would accept me if I did. The song "Afternoon Delight" came to mind and I continued into the den where my computer was and turned it on. Opening Yahoo and letting it connect, I wondered whether you were home. Yahoo told me you at least had your computer on and I stared for a while at your name, before opening an Instant Message window with you and typing a simple "Hello."

It was a good 20 minutes before I got a reply.

"Hi, sorry I away from the computer."

"No problem...just curious if you were on the computer."

"I was for a while but then started reading a book."

"About what, if I may ask?"

"It's a romance novel."

"About what?" I persisted.

"Romance ...silly...Lol."

"You said that...sticking my finger in your ribs."

"No no...I'm ticklish...stop... Lol. It's about a woman's encounter with a masked stranger. She is at a costume party when she is pulled into a dark room by this stranger. The man kisses her passionately and they begin to make love. That's as far as I got."

"But do these things ever really happen?" I asked.

"Well, some women have these kinds of fantasies or they wouldn't write the books."

"Yea, I guess Turq. But what do the masks and costumes have to do with anything?"

"She will probably let her hair down and say and do anything because she can't be recognized. I haven't got that far yet."

"Oh...ok... Is this a fantasy for you too?"

"I'm reading the book, dear...smile."

We continued to chat on Yahoo but didn't return to sexual topics, maybe because I couldn't think of exactly what to say. It was only sometime later that I realized I had missed an opportunity to get closer to you and mentally kicked myself. Don't try to match wits with a woman I thought to myself. You don't have enough ammunition. But, if faint heart ne'er won fair lady, maybe planning and patience will. The seed for an unusual encounter was planted.

The beginning of the week brought sunny if cool weather and we both were out of the office quite a bit. I left a sticky note of a heart with Cupid's arrow on your desk and you returned it the following day with a "Me too" written in longhand below it. I sniffed it and wondered if I really did detect a tiny trace of your scent, the same scent detected by my nose receptors weeks ago, converted into electrical impulses by the brain and stored somewhere in my brain...to be reproduced now as a memory of a real scent. How did nature create this wondrous design and how many millions of years did it take?

On Wednesday morning I set my plan into operation. First of all, a type-written note...anonymous of course, left on the seat of your jeep.

"I've admired you for many months now, never having the right excuse to approach you. I think of you constantly and cannot get your image out of my mind. I am not a stalker or anything like that, so don't worry. I just wanted you to know.

Signed by,

Your Secret Admirer"

Next I bought a cheap cell phone from a display at a drugstore, activated the account, tested the phone by calling the Office and sat over coffee in a diner, planning my seduction. I needed to call you at night, perhaps when you were asleep, taking a chance that your cell phone would wake you. I needed a plan for what I would say and having never done phone sex before, I thought for a long time about how to begin this adventure. The very thought of what I was planning aroused me and I fantasized about you and the delicious things we were headed for. It was far from certain you would leave your phone on or that you would hear it. Also, I worried you might recognize my voice or just not be in a mood to listen to a stranger on the phone. That night, I waited until long after Annie was asleep, parked myself in an easy chair in the den and dialed your number.

Your phone rang and rang until I almost hung up. Then I heard your voice, asking who was calling and what time it was.

"It's 1:30 AM and this is your Secret Admirer."

"You've gotta be kidding...At this hour? Who is this?"

"There's a reason for calling you so late, and you'll probably never know who I am."

"I'm listening, and it better be good."

"Pretend for a minute, Ms. Mammoth. It's so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. You hear my steps as I approach your bed."

"Maybe I'd just scream."

"You could, but you don't. You feel my weight as I sit on the edge of the bed. Then, in one quick movement I pull the blanket and sheet down."

"I'm still wearing pajamas...Ha-ha."

"I don't care. I've wanted you for months. You feel my lips touch yours and you begin to relax. My kisses are quick and tender, barely touching you. I kiss your top lip, your bottom lip, the corner of your mouth...just barely touching before moving."

"Umm..Listening."

"Your instinct is to kiss back but as you try, I withdraw and kiss you again...always changing."

"You're teasing me,"you said.

"Oh yes, trying to make you want more and more..."

"I do..I am..Oh my!!...arms around your neck."

"Feeding on your lips...tongue playing with yours now" Rolling over to pull you on top of me...whispering to you.

"Whispering what?"

"Whispering all the delightful things I will do to you."

"Tell me."

And so I do...tell you everything...how your body feels on top of mine...how I have watched you from afar...how aroused you have made me for so long. And I begin to caress you now...feeling every inch of you thru your pajamas. We roll around on the bed...you on top...then me on top. Intertwining arms and legs...prolonging the feelings of urgency till we are breathless and can barely stand the wait. It is almost painful now.

And then suddenly you feel the cool air on your body as I pull your pajamas off and we begin again...both naked this time. It being too dark to see you naked anyway, I pull a blanket over us and the warmth returns. It is so hard to hold back...I want you so badly...but I do. I tell you instead and we share our innermost sexual thoughts. Your hands grab mine and press them to your breasts...between your legs... and always you feel my hard shaft pressing against you somewhere.

Finally, with a "Now baby...please." I am between your legs and I enter you...the very core of you I have dreamed about so long and feel your legs tighten around my back. We did everything we had ever dreamed about and finally just collapsed into each other's arms and lay there...and with nothing else to want, we were speechless. You dozed off and when you woke, I was gone into the night...still nameless as I knew you wanted it. And did you ever suspect who I was? Maybe you did, but you couldn't know for sure. As I left I wondered if I dare do it again. The thought occurred to me that maybe I wasn't even talking to you. All I knew for sure was that I had dialed the right cell phone number.

I didn't sleep at all that night. I made a pot of coffee and had breakfast. My memories of you began merging with the phone fantasy until I could barely tell one from another. Sleep was what I needed most and I left Annie a note that I had gone back to bed. Undressing, I slipped in beside her and was lost for the next half day.

Being in no mood to work the afternoon, I called the Office and told Dottie I wouldn't be in today, learning during the call that you were also out the whole day. Dottie was no fool and my spirits sank. Why didn't I think of the possibility we would both be out the day after? It too late to fix now, I thought and went outside to hit some golf balls in the side yard. Winter was here and the NW wind from Canada was in my face and blustery ...too cold to enjoy hitting golf balls for long. The day was just too cold. I couldn't concentrate and the cold golf ball felt like a rock when I hit it a little off center.

Entering the kitchen, I found Annie ladling out tomato soup and a pile of grilled cheese sandwiches on a plate.

"Bless you for the soup", I said to her.

"How can you hit golf balls in this cold? And if you're not feeling well, you shouldn't be outside anyway"

"I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep last night so I slept in this morning and called it a day."

"Dottie sent a text, asking about you. I said you were asleep"

"I think she just learned how to do that and looks for reasons to do it. What else did she say?" Annie was tearing pieces off her chess sandwich before eating them and then sucking the butter of her fingers.

"Nothing really. She said the flue must be going around. That girl you hired is not in today either."

"Turq"

"If that's her name"

"It's short for Turquoise."

"If you say so."

"What is it about her you don't like?"

"I think you spend a lot of time with her, is all"

"I think I've spent ten minutes with her in the last week. She does a lot of property pictures and outside work and I do the rest. We're seldom together. I had to teach her a lot in the beginning."

"I think your girlfriend called this morning"

"I don't have any girlfriends...Just you."

"She said it was a wrong number. I might get jealous if you have bimbos in the Office."

"I don't have bimbos in the Office...or anywhere else," I was quick to add.

"I know which side my bread is buttered on," I said, with a smile, I made sure she caught. "And speaking of butter. The grilled cheese tastes like you used real butter."

"It is. I know you like it."

"You're a sweetheart."

"So you say" she said with a quick grin that disappeared a little bit too quickly for my comfort.

"I'm gonna take a nap," I said.

"Maybe I'll be in later," she replied. I felt a little stir in my stomach hearing that. "Afternoon Delight" came to mind as I lay down on the bed, but I was soon asleep. She woke me later as she lay down, moving her lower body against mine. I acknowledged her by pressing back, but I was soon asleep again.

That evening I went downtown to buy King crab clusters at a seafood store and we ate them with cold beer at the kitchen table.

"I love these things," you said.

"So do I and they're big enough you don't starve to death trying to get the meat out. I've had one beer too many. My head is swimming."

"Me too...it doesn't take much. I'm a cheap drunk," you said, smiling.

"Careful... or I'll take advantage of you."

"You know you can do that anytime you want...well...almost."

I waited until we had finished the crabs and tied the shells into a plastic bag for the garbage. Then I took her hand and led her into the bedroom. We undressed quickly and as always I loved to watch her take her clothes off. How many times had we done this exact thing? And yet, I never tired of seeing her nude body.

It was familiar in all aspects but never failed to excite me. My T-shirt was the last clothing I removed and I pulled it up over my head slowly and deliberately, giving her a view of my erection from across the bed. As usual, she looked for a few seconds and I pretended not to notice.

We knew each other so well, words were often not needed, but the alcohol had its usual effect and I led her into erotic, teasing word-play, my arms wrapped around her from behind until she ached to be touched and grabbed my hand to show me what she wanted. This was one of our bedroom games and she loved it too...being teased to the point of uncontrollable need. That night we were very explicit about what we were feeling and wanted and those short, sharp Anglo-Saxon "four letter words" expressed everything perfectly. Getting inside her head in such moments was such a privilege, I treasured her.

Chapter 3

I beat you to work the next morning and started on my first coffee, waiting for you behind my desk. I was determined to do nothing that would tell you for sure it was me on the telephone two nights before. You could be pretty certain it was me but not one hundred percent positive. After all, I could have just asked someone else to call you. In fact there must be several businesses in town which provided pay for phone sex. The germ of an idea began growing in my head when I heard the front door open and a couple of seconds later you were hanging up your coat. You looked at me with just a tiny smile, but I played it straight, trying to act normal and you set about your work.

I searched the internet for phone sex providers and found a phone number. A woman answered, of course, but I explained to her I wanted a man to call a woman I knew. She transferred me to a man going by the name "Rock" and I explained to him too what I wanted, gave him a credit card number and sat back to enjoy the show. It wasn't long before Dottie hollered: "Line six, Turq...a man asking for you."

I left my chair and went to a gray file cabinet that was in your view, made enough noise opening a drawer to attract your attention and pretended to look through a manila folder while you took your call.