A Window of Opportunity

This story is pure romance with no cheating; it's intended for a special audience. The sex is there, but you've got to read for a while to get to it. This is a story of love denied for many years but ultimate a story of very special love finally shared. I had real trouble editing this story; my eyes kept filling with tears as I read it over and over again, because so much of it is very personal and very close to reality.

The meeting was just beginning as new arrivals greeted old friends and met new ones in the reception area while many waited for their rooms to be ready for occupancy. The three most interesting women in the company were sitting together at the same table.

There were over five hundred employees in attendance at this national sales meeting. Thanks to an aggressive recruiting policy, aimed at bringing more talented women into a traditionally male dominated industry and organization, there were now almost a hundred women; a decade earlier there had been only a handful. Many were relatively new hires--- young, recent college grads from top schools with top grades.

While the old timers often joked about how much the scenery had improved over the years, there were only a few true head turners. The three in question were more mature, all having passed thirty and all having achieved marked success in a very competitive and demanding field. These women were aggressive, achievement oriented and tough business people. They had gained the respect of their peers, male and female. They had moved up quickly in recognition of their superior business acumen and, "take no prisoners" attitudes.

Certainly these three were the most desirable women in the room. They were very attractive, with very well maintained hard bodies; they were also very interesting, intriguing, challenging and almost certainly unattainable.

So many of the men in this room had wives and girl friends who neither understood the business nor really cared about it---and seldom wanted to talk about it. The divorce rate in the company was significantly higher than the norm. Second marriages between members of the sales group had become a more common phenomenon.

This group worked very hard; few succeeded without long hours, numerous overnights and weekend work. Mediocrity didn't survive; you were either successful, pulling in a healthy six figure income, or you were gone.

Many wives or girl friends at home increasingly resented the, "first family" which was the company and the business---and too often lost sight of the fact that their significant other's hard work and long hours provided a life style far better than their friends enjoyed.

As a result, these three women were never without male company. Simply having an intelligent dialogue with a very attractive and desirable woman who could hold her own with any man in the room was an almost erotic experience. And one could always fantasize.

And fantasy was about as far as it would ever go. None of these three beauties had ever had a reputation; if you were married, you could forget it. If you were a very senior executive looking for a young consort, you could definitely forget it. If you were single, confident and successful and looking for more than a fling, there was a window of opportunity.

Two of the three had engaged in very covert relationships within the company---so covert that few, if any, had a clue until the day their engagements were announced. If either had engaged in indiscretions prior to their nuptials, no one had a clue. Marriage had taken two of them completely off the market, to the chagrin of the hopefuls who could now only imagine.

Jan and Toni were now married and seemingly very happily so; both had two children. Both were married to attractive and successful men a few years older who were also on the fast track to the top. Only Kay remained single; in her nine years with the company she had only met one man who rang her bell. She had never slept with him. He had been happily married and was no more inclined to cheat on his wife than she was to sleep with another woman's husband.

It had been an odd, platonic relationship. She had missed her window of opportunity with Brien; she had met him very soon after his second wedding to another similar young woman within the company family. Brien was absolutely devoted to his second wife; they were very best friends and madly in love. Kay and Brien's second wife Mary weren't peers; Mary was, at the time a couple of rungs higher on the corporate ladder, several years older than Kay but younger than Brien. Mary had unofficially mentored Kay and helped her career considerably…as had Brien. She owed the couple no small measure of her success.

Kay had often been the third wheel with Brien and Mary. She had, on occasion, mildly flirted with Brien, but generally only when Mary was present. It had never caused offense; Mary was a very confident woman who had absolute and well founded confidence in Brien's fidelity. Brien and Mary adored each other and neither were the type to jeopardize a perfect relationship with a casual dalliance. In any event, Kay's relationship with Brien was decidedly more like older brother and little sister.

There had been one evening at a dressy awards dinner at a meeting just like this one. Mary and Brien worked in different groups within the organization and would thus be sitting at different tables. Mary had asked Kay to sit with her husband during dinner and the long, tedious string of big wig speeches which always accompanied these meetings.

It was dress up night; Kay had chosen an astounding red silk evening dress which perfectly complemented her trim young form. She had even gone to the hotel/resort hair salon for that special cut and look, even allowing the attendant to do her makeup. Kay didn't really need makeup and seldom wore it. On the other hand, careful application of blush and eye accents turned an already stunning young woman into the number one head turner in the ballroom. And then there were the shoes…

Her sorority sisters back in college at one of the top ten universities in the nation---she had graduated Magna and been a cheer leader---called those shoes, PFMPs---"please fuck me pumps". Finally she had gone to the resort gift store and purchased a bottle of one of Brien's favorite perfumes. Mary had told her that she never wore it for work but only when she wanted Brien to fuck her---now.

That night, Kay was the most gorgeous woman in the room. The red silk number with the provocative slit only accentuated her already exceptional legs and revealed a healthy expanse of creamy young thigh as she walked and when she sat down. Model thin at the time, Kay wore good clothes very well. The simple diamond choker made her Audrey Hepburn neck even more alluring. She was the envy of every woman in the room and desperately desired by every man.

Brien was chatting with his wife when Kay entered the room; as she approached the couple, she sensed just for a second that Brien saw her in a different light; the look was gone in an instant as Brien tenderly kissed Mary and the couple prepared to go to their respective tables.

"Wow, you clean up pretty good for a hick from Indiana!" Brien exclaimed.

Mary greeted Kay warmly and also commented on how stunning she looked, even joking about how busy Mary and Brien would be following the ceremony. Kay and Mary had never discussed Brien's sexual proclivity. Brien had never acted like the typical macho stud; she assumed that her two friends had a satisfactory sex life and left it at that.

Brien was exceedingly handsome in his custom made tuxedo. Kay had a moment of wistfulness as she thought about how lucky Mary was. Brien was just a great guy, a good guy who was married to a friend and who had never behaved inappropriately to her or any of the other women in the company. He was that special man that you wanted to snuggle with in from of a crackling fire and grow old with. Kay had never had sexual thoughts about Brien but he had become a very special friend and she certainly, "loved" him as a friend and big brother.

As is often the case, the dinner chairs were very close together as the caterers tried to get a few too many diners at each table. At numerous times during dinner, Kay and Brien touched…hip to hip and thigh to thigh.

Brien was very much the leader at this particular table, engaging everyone in conversation and drawing out the new hires. He was, as always, charming but unmistakably genuine. Brien didn't have a fake bone in his body; he was a straight shooter who made other people feel special. After dinner and desert, the ceremony began and conversations were restricted to one on one whispers during applause with the person closest.

Brien put his arm on the back of Kay's chair, occasionally touching her shoulder; his lips were scant inches away from her ear. He made delightfully irreverent comments as each speaker rose to the dais; Kay had to bite her tongue to avoid laughing out loud.

On more than one occasion Kay grabbed his thigh and squeezed, very hard, in a vain attempt to punish him for trying to make her laugh. Kay felt very privileged; Brien seldom showed this irreverent side in public. She had seen hints of it when she had spent time with Brien and Mary but never to this degree. She realized that he and Mary kept their mutual irreverence between them and that she was getting a special intimate glimpse of the real, private Brien that only his wife got to see.

On more than one occasion Brien touched her head or neck softly, moving his lips closer to her ear in an effort to share a particularly scathing comment about one or more of the blow hard senior executives. His hot breath on her neck excited her; when Brien's lips inadvertently brushed against her skin at her hair line, she felt the electricity of arousal and a distinct moistness between her legs. As the final speech ended, the lights came up and a band began to play; couples moved to the dance floor. Brien asked Kay to dance.

He was a perfect dancer, gently leading her with the firm pressure of his strong hand resting just above her exquisite little rump. They danced together twice, then switched partners as Mary and one of her peers came into view. Just before releasing her from his strong arms, Brien kissed her softly on the forehead, tightening his embrace for only a second.

It was at that very second that Kay fell head over heels in love with Mary's husband Brien and knew that just being very good friends would never be enough.

Mary and Brien danced together a couple of times and then disappeared. Kay danced a few more times, resisted a couple of clumsy passes and then used the excuse of a trip to the ladies room to sneak back to her room. Throwing herself on the bed, Kay cried, completely spoiling the carefully applied evening makeup. Crying herself to sleep, Kay made the decision she knew she could not avoid.

The following morning, as tired and hung over revelers were gathering their luggage and checking out, Kay caught the eye of the senior vice president of her division.

"Ben, I need fifteen seconds of your time!"

"Kay, I'm all yours; take as long as you need."

"Ben, I've thought about it. I'll take the job."

"Kay! I'm shocked and thrilled, but I thought you were absolutely not interested in leaving the field for a corporate, 'face' job…what changed your mind?"

"Oh, I guess you were more convincing than you realized. I know I've got to do a stint in the corporate office sometime…now is as good a time as any."

Kay was gratified that the VP didn't push her on the subject. She would miss her friends; she would miss being where the action was, down in the trenches. Returning home later that day, she began sorting through her things, anxious first thing Monday morning to contact the relocation office and get things moving quickly. By the end of that week, Kay had moved into temporary accommodations a couple of miles from the company headquarters many miles away.

Mary took a lateral move to another division so that she could stay in the same geographic area her husband worked in. He had children from his first marriage and his responsibilities toward his kids increased dramatically as his first wife quickly remarried and became less interested in raising her children.

The three friends fell out of touch. Kay saw Brien once over the ensuing eight years at a national trade show; they embraced affectionately. Without even thinking, she called him baby, as in, "I've missed you baby." They talked about getting together to talk over old times. They never did.

So here she was at the age thirty two sitting together with two good friends at the beginning of another meeting much like the one eight years earlier. Kay had gone through a couple of relationships that didn't pan out for one reason or another. Her career had flourished; she was now back in the field organization as a director, within a year of making VP.

Her two friends showed her pictures of their beautiful children. She worked hard to hide her envy. They had great husbands, gorgeous kids and solid careers. She had the solid career and yearned for the missing pieces. Brien…he had to be just short of forty. She had occasionally viewed his name on some company, "atta boy" list. He had continued to excel. She had totally lost track of Mary and wondered if she would be in attendance.

Totally out of character, Kay blurted out what was on her mind.

"I'm jealous, ladies, damned jealous. Since it's very unlikely that I'm going to find my husband to be at this meeting, I at least need to get laid---desperately! No married men, no senior executives, something discrete and hard. Any suggestions?"

Jan and Toni both laughed so hard they almost fell over. Toni addressed the issue first.

"Kay, I'm really surprised at you! This is so unlike the girl I used to know---you've turned into a slut!"

Jan chimed in. "Kay, Toni and I have been out of the loop in that area for several years, but if truth be told we both spread our legs once or twice at one of these meetings…hell that's how we both found our husbands. But now, we're virtuous old married women with too damned much to lose to even think about fooling around. Are you looking for a fuck or a man for the ages?"

"Both…either…I just need to be held and screwed---beggars can't be choosy. Look, I love good sex as much as the next girl; right now I'll settle for okay sex. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I want a man to grow old with and if I ever find him and make that walk down the aisle, I'll be a very happy little girl even if the sex is just okay. But right now, I desperately need to get boned."

Toni spoke. "Well, this is a far more married company than it once was, other than the young kids we're hiring and I'm sure that would not be appropriate---hell one of the little bastards would probably file a sexual harassment suit if you came on to him---you are pretty senior now, and most of them are, well, not your type."

Jan added her thoughts. "There are a couple of recently divorced ones but they're either still in that vulnerable, fall in love with the first woman they fuck stage, or they're complete ass holes who are divorced for good reason. There are a couple of never married, "confirmed bachelor" types who are reputed to be pretty good in the sack and discrete but they have that, notch in the bed post attitude and every intention of fucking a different woman every night."

Toni interrupted. "No, Kay, I think I have just the answer to your prayers and he just walked in the doorway---and I believe you know him."

Kay looked up and her body froze. It was Brien…her Brien…Mary's Brien.

"Ladies, that is one of my favorite men in the world and last time I checked he was very married to a wonderful woman who was one of my very best friends when I was just starting out."

Toni and Jan were silent, fixing Kay with a quizzical gaze.

"You don't know, do you? Brien's a widower. Mary died in that airplane crash in Minneapolis almost three years ago. He took it very hard; it almost broke him. He had two kids to raise and buried himself in that responsibility and his work. Brien married his first wife pretty young, when he was in the Army, I think; his youngest just started college and his oldest is a sophomore. Mary was the absolute love of his life. I've, ah, well heard that he hasn't really even dated anyone since Mary died, other than a couple of meaningless flings."

Kay was wordless for a minute. "They were such a great couple; he was like a big brother to me. I always felt so safe with him. I never really thought of Brien romantically…well maybe once or twice…he was, still is, cute."

"Well, sweetie, I don't know that Brien is looking for wife number three but he's a neat guy and I'm sure he'd enjoy spending time with an old friend, and if you play your card right, you might just get a good romp in the hay." Jan said.

Taking the bull by the horns, Toni, stood up and went over to greet Brien and exchange a professional hug, then guided him back to the table. Brien and Jan exchanged a similar if slightly more familiar hug and then he came to Kay as she stood also.

Kay felt those strong arms go around her lithe body and it brought back the memory of that last dance. She felt so right; she fit so perfectly. Brien's lips brushed her ear. "It's been a long time, baby." He whispered softly, and all those feeling that had begun so many years before came rushing back.

Toni and Jan saw it and sensed it and decided wordlessly that it was time to depart. As the two women walked toward the door they chatted conspiratorially.

"Do you think they've ever fucked before?"

"Not a chance! It's just not who they are. Brien was devoted to Mary and Kay wouldn't think of jumping in the sack with someone else's husband. They obviously haven't seen each other since Mary died...on the other hand, there did seem to be some sparks between them."

"Do you think she knows?"

Knows what?"

"Stop being obtuse, Toni, we've both fucked the man, you more recently than me. I did him just before he met Mary---hell I introduced them. I would have strolled down the aisle with that guy in a New York minute, but I wasn't his type---Mary was. You fucked him more recently, after Mary died and before you hooked up with your husband; you're more his type…what happened?"

"He wasn't ready and we both knew it. He hadn't remotely gotten over losing Mary. Plus, if truth be told, he wasn't---never would be---ready for me."

"Well, then you don't think she knows."

"I think she knows that he is one hell of a great guy, a straight shooter to the core and one of those special men you'd give up almost anything to spend the rest of your life with."

"Is he the best man you've ever known?"

"Yea, he is. My husband is a great guy…I love him…but guys like Brien are one in a billion."

"The best lover---best fuck---you've ever enjoyed?"

"Oh my God yes! Brien…no contest…it blew me away...a nice guy whose also a great fuck…the daily double!"

"Yea, same here. Do you think it might work out between them?"

"Time will tell; they're both great people…the last of the old fashioned straight shooters. It'd be pretty neat to see two people you really care about find real happiness...with each other."

Meanwhile back at the table, Kay and Brien were bringing each other up to date. Kay expressed her regret and sorrow over Mary's tragic death, telling Brien that she had only just found out a few minutes earlier. They moved on quickly, easily sliding back into the light hearted banter that had once been an integral part of their relationship.

"Babe, I was sure you'd have joined the Jan and Toni wives club by now. Other than the fact that your hairs a little longer…very nice, by the way…you're still the most beautiful girl in the room."