Angel with a Blue Dress

Shit, of course, she's going to be sensitive about her breasts, I thought. It was time to move right past that.

I put my finger under her chin and looked directly into her eyes. "Claudia, I'm not a man who thinks that beauty can be measured with a tape. Beauty comes from within. From the moment I first saw you, I knew that you were a true natural beauty."

She stared at me, her eyes suddenly all soft. Then she shrugged out of her shirt. I helped her remove her lacy, white demi-bra. Then I looked at her again. "You're absolutely exquisite," I whispered. She sighed.

"I... I'm nervous, Michael."

"So am I. That's not going to stop me from kissing every part of your body that I can reach."

"That sounds so hot..." she whispered. She undid my buttons and I pulled off my shirt as she pressed against my crotch.

I moved my hand to her hip and unzipped her skirt. She stepped back to let it fall to the floor as I cupped her cheek. We kissed again, then I guided her down onto my bed against the pillows. I climbed onto the bed and lowered my mouth to her breast, its dark pink nipple so hard and erect that I could see the puckering in her areola.

"Aahhhh... " she whimpered as I softly kissed her there. I ran my tongue slowly around her nipple as she stroked my hair. "That feels so wonderful..." I turned my attention to her other breast, stroking the first with my fingertips as she continued to make soft sounds of pleasure. I had long felt that smaller breasts were actually easier to arouse, though I had no hard knowledge concerning that. I did realize that Claudia was more responsive to my attentions than any woman I had known. "Please, Michael, keep doing that, it's so good... "

Finally I raised my head from her breasts. "Claudia, you are one incredibly sexy woman." I trailed kisses down her stomach, feeling the muscles twitch in response. I lowered her lace-trimmed panties, already damp with her excitement. She kicked them aside with one foot. I ran my fingers through the soft blonde curls above her cleft as she sighed and whimpered. Her scent was heavenly. I stroked a single finger along her slit and noted how wet she was.

"Michael," she whispered, "I'm certain that you will do amazing things to me tonight. But right now I just need to feel you inside me."

She reached to open my belt and then unzipped me. I quickly pushed down my pants and shorts to free my trapped erection and then moved on top of her. She was stroking my back gently. I felt as if I was bathing in a warm pool of shimmering eroticism as I nuzzled her neck. I felt her pushing against my straining cock, her heat surrounding me.

"Please, Michael..."

I missed on my first try. But she simply raised her hips a bit and I slid easily between her labia into her warmth. I moved slowly and felt her pussy opening for me. She was well toned but also very wet, and soon I bottomed out in her as she let out a gasp.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm absolutely wonderful. Just go slowly at first... I need to get used to you, you feel so nice and thick in me."

I began with long, slow strokes. Claudia was biting her lip and running her hands down over my back and butt cheeks. She felt so warm, so tight, just... so right.

Time ceased to have meaning. I was only aware of Claudia, and how our coupling was ramping us both up the ladder of pleasure. She now had her legs wrapped around my butt. She was murmuring and sighing with every stroke.

"Ohhhh.... ohhh.... Michael.... Ohhh....please... I'm so close, I want to feel it... pleeease!"

The pleasure was now almost unbearable as I thrust in and out of her. Her hands kept stroking my back, urging me on, on, on... Finally, we both cried out as her muscles clamped around me, and then I shot my pulses deep into her, again and again...

As we quieted we lay side by side on my bed for some time. Eventually Claudia turned to me. "Michael?" She spoke very softly.

"Yes Claudia?"

"I feel that I owe you an explanation. Please... bear with me." She took a deep breath.

"I told you that I'm thinking of moving on from Nydek. I've also been thinking about you, and how much I've enjoyed being with you, the truly nice times we've had together. I just feel... have felt for a while... that you and I have some kind of deep fundamental connection. I...I'm not doing very well putting this into words." She sighed. "Anyway, I got it into my head that if I didn't want to forever regret it, I should find a way to sleep with you." Her eyes looked deep into mine.

"I decided when we were having ice cream that tonight was the night. I'm having some serious doubts about Denny and me these days. Frankly, I'm not absolutely certain that he hasn't been up to a few things during his trips. That's the reason I got tested." She reached out and touched my cheek.

"I don't know if we can ever go further than this. I just don't want you to think that I'm some kind of easy tramp... " She trailed off, waiting for me to speak.

"Claudia, I would never think such a thing. I figured that you had your reasons for being here with me tonight. Please understand that I respect you completely."

She looked relieved. Then she smiled, her eyes teasing mine. "Only respect? Even though I'm an incredibly sexy thing?"

"Well, you definitely are that!!"

She rolled over and kissed me again. I was hard in record time. I urged her body atop mine. "That didn't take long," she teased.

She reached down and gently stroked my shaft. She leaned in and ran her tongue around the head as I gasped. She lowered her mouth and soon had me moaning with pleasure. Then she raised up and straddled me, adjusted her hips, and lowered herself over me. I thought that our first time had been incredibly good. Claudia simply took that as a challenge for us to be even better.

This time was different. We both knew that we could pleasure each other, and as they say, knowledge is power. Claudia's pussy muscles were doing amazing things to me, and as I thrust upward into her, she ground intensely against my pubic bone. I caressed her nipples with my thumb and finger, and she clearly loved that. We moved together over and over again, panting, heaving, until she at last cried out "Aaahhhh!!" She clamped on me and I again lost all control, filling her with my seed, and clutching her down to me to ravish her smooth flesh with my lips.

Eventually sleep took us both.

*******

I woke up to find that I was the big spoon. Somehow Claudia's slight height advantage had come to mean very little to either of us. I listened to her slow, even breathing. I couldn't resist running my fingertips along the ridge of her shoulder, over the fine hairs on her wrist, and then I caressed her neck near the jawline as she finally stirred.

"Hello there, beautiful."

"Good morning, Michael." She rolled over to face me; she had her wide smile now.

"I'm really hoping that I didn't just dream all of that."

She took my hand in hers. "If you did, it was a shared dream, and a lovely one."

She started to lean in for a kiss, then stopped herself. "Michael, would you happen to have a spare toothbrush?"

"Well, aren't you the thoughtful one! Third shelf down in the linen closet. I'll take a turn cleaning up when you're done in there."

When Claudia returned from the bathroom it was apparent that she had also freshened up elsewhere. I jumped up to do the same. When I came back she had her arms outstretched for me. I snuggled into her embrace.

"I really wouldn't have minded, you know."

She smiled and kissed me. "I just wanted to be nice and fresh for you. Since I'm not at all sore, I thought we could have a little morning wake-up session?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

We kissed some more, then I reached for her nipples, She moaned softly as I teased them. "Suck them," she gasped, and I quickly obliged. "God, that's so good!" I reached down and drew a finger along her labia, finding that she was more than ready.

She rolled over and raised her shapely ass. "Can you still find me from this angle?"

I kissed her round globes and smiled, "Let me know if I'm getting warm or cold."

I adjusted my angle and slid my stiff shaft back and forth along her now well lubricated slit.

"Oohh! That's getting pretty goddam warm!"

I continued to excite her for a few minutes. Then she groaned, reached back under herself and neatly tucked my head up into place. "There. Now you're hot!"

It was my turn to groan. "Not nearly as hot as you, Miss Claudia!" Soon we were gasping at each thrust, the sounds of our bodies driving us on. Claudia had one hand working her clit as I tweaked her nipple. Her legs were shaking, then she cried out and her warm discharge ran down along my cock. I thrust into her as far as I could and at last shot my load into her warm depths.

We spent a long time just cuddling and stroking each other before finally rising to make breakfast. Then I walked her to her car and she drove home.

*******

At the office Claudia was her usual poised, composed self in the weeks after our liaison. I still got an occasional ride to work, and our conversations still flowed easily. At first I made no attempt to pressure her into another rendezvous, and neither did she. I figured that she was trying to work out exactly where she and her boyfriend stood. The only hints of anything different were her holding my hand occasionally in the car, as well as her constant presence next to me at the Friday Billy Goat outings. Finally I resolved that I would have to push the issue of our potential future, and I waited nervously for her next offer of a ride. I knew she wouldn't want to have such a personal conversation at the office.

When Claudia hadn't called me in over a week, I called her on Thursday night. It was torture to listen to the sequence of rings. What would I say if Denny answered? Click. Her voice came on. "Hello, we can't get to the phone right now..." I hung up. Maybe I could convince her to have lunch with me on Friday, separate from the gang.

We didn't know it at the time, but unfortunately, everything was about to change.

Everyone in the office knew the country was still experiencing economic jitters. The managers seemed nervous, and I found myself actively sniffing around the client offices trying to pick up some leads for new work. Then the axe fell.

It was Friday morning, and I had been waiting for Claudia to arrive when Ron came into my cubicle. "Gary called a staff meeting. Right now, Conference Room B." He looked grim.

Gary gave us the bad news. The Chicago Nydek office let a dozen people go as the company struggled to survive. More than a tenth of the office staff was suddenly gone. Glen, the oldest engineer in our group, was on the list. He wasn't in the meeting so I assumed he was packing up. I knew he had the largest salary in the group next to my manager. Gary told us that Claudia had volunteered to be one of the layoffs. She wasn't in our group but most of us worked with her regularly. Finally the miserable meeting ended. I hurried to Claudia's cubicle only to find that she had already packed her things and left.

The news had hit us all like a thunderbolt. Crushed by the turn of events, I went back to my desk to brood. By afternoon no work was being accomplished anywhere in the office. All around me the survivors were glumly planning to drown their sorrows at the bar downstairs. I followed the group down, feeling resigned to the saddest drinking session I had ever experienced with my office mates.

The next day I certainly paid the price. Three cups of coffee were barely sufficient to stir me into action. But I had to go into the office because I promised my neighbor that I would get him some boxes. Their oldest was moving out that Sunday, one of those bittersweet parental milestones.

The office felt like a morgue. No one else was there. I gathered and broke down ten boxes and prepared to leave. Then I noticed the corner of an envelope poking out of my desk drawer. I pulled out the note and read it carefully:

Dearest Michael,

I want you to know that the night we spent together will live on with me as some very precious memories. I am taking my chance now to move on to something new. I regret that I cannot move on with you right now. I hope there will be an opportunity for us to meet again.

Love, Claudia

Tears came to my eyes. She had already told me her path forward was a job that would allow her to travel, but that didn't make it any easier for me to face the outcome. I sighed and left with my pile of flattened boxes. I realized later the note had not been visible in my drawer the previous day.

*******

Nydek managed to survive the economic dips of the early Reagan years. By 1983 the recession was officially declared over, but in our sector it was not until the autumn that we all in the Chicago office breathed a bit easier, as more business finally flowed our way and our staffing levels rose for the first time in many, many months. Unfortunately much of that new business required traveling to client sites, and I was often a road warrior living out of hotel rooms for the next couple of years. I heard a rumor that Claudia was now a flight attendant but neither I or my colleagues had encountered her during our constant travels.

I also took up with a new secretary in the Chicago office, one of those relationships that began on such a high note that you can barely believe it when it all comes crashing down. In my case it ended with a broken engagement and some bitter feelings, then over the months that followed, a dawning realization that I had almost certainly dodged a very large bullet. I actively avoided dating, or even more casual interactions with women, for a few months as I tried to heal my wounded psyche. But once I started dating again things went from bad to worse.

The wives of a couple of my friends would shake their heads over my single status, and try to set me up with completely incompatible women. Or, I would go out with a promising woman twice and then get a call saying it just wasn't going to work. My ex even made overtures about getting back together. Fortunately I shut that door for good.

I still thought of Claudia, sometimes wondering how I could have influenced a different outcome. After all of the turnover in the office, it seemed that no one was still in direct contact with her. So I flogged along aimlessly through work and more work.

I was boarding yet another flight, this one from Columbus back to Chicago. I had survived, barely, one of those painful meetings that resulted in generating twice as much work for me to accomplish as I had on my plate going in. I lugged my bag from the jetway into the plane aisle and past the galley.

Then I heard her voice. "Michael???"

"Claudia!!" We were immediately hugging in the cramped galley as other passengers rushed past us to find their seats. "It's so good to see you! I heard the rumor that you ended up at United, and here you are!"

Claudia was as warm and animated as ever. She also looked freaking fantastic, even in her fairly simple flight attendant uniform. She beamed at me as we finally broke the hug. "You look great! Where are you sitting?"

I waved toward the back. "I'm in row 22, back with the other cattle."

She checked a clipboard. "The last two rows in First Class are still open. Are you a Mileage Plus member?"

I nodded. I was in all of the major airline mileage programs now, it seemed. I thought it odd that no passengers were in those seats since First Class had boarded before the cattle. But they were smoking seats so maybe that explained it.

"Then put your bag in the overhead here and pick a seat!" I didn't know if she was bending some rules, but I did not protest. Looking down the aisle, I saw my manager trudging to the rear of the plane. As I watched Claudia bustling about the cabin with her customary poise, I felt my spirits soaring for the first time in months.

Claudia and I did not have much time to chat for most of the flight. At one point though, she walked back to my seat with a rather lumpy pillowcase. "Here's the pillow you requested, sir!" Her eyes were dancing. I felt the distinctive shape of a wine bottle inside my pillow. I managed to slip the bottle into my expandable briefcase. One of the other flight attendants was smiling at me. The other attendants realized that we were well acquainted, and I had extra attention even considering it was the First Class cabin. There were hurried "How do you guys know each other" and "You must be really good friends" snatches of conversation. Everyone was all smiles. Apparently Claudia's fellow crew members all liked her. Seemingly, they liked me as well.

The flight to Chicago was a fairly short one and was nearly full, so the attendants were hopping to serve everyone and clean up. At her final check in the First Class cabin during descent, Claudia leaned down.

"Can you wait for me after you deplane?" I nodded.

I watched all the other passengers file out of the jetway into the terminal, managing to turn my back and slip behind a column just before my manager went by. I didn't want to deal with the inevitable questions. Finally I saw the pilot, co-pilot, and crew coming through the doorway.

"There he is, Claudia!" said one of the attendants as she spotted me. She waved at me. The crew continued down the terminal with their luggage as Claudia came over to me. "We have a lot to talk about, Michael."

"We do. Where do we even start?"

She continued, "I'm really, really sorry about the hasty departure. I just knew that I would break down completely if I had to face people that day. Especially you."

"I understand completely. That was a bad day for all of us. But thank you for being so thoughtful and leaving me the note."

"I have the weekend off. It's like a miracle of good timing. Can I see you tomorrow? Tonight I need to tackle a small mountain of laundry."

I laughed. "I'm kind of accustomed to that situation myself these days."

"Are you still living in the same place?"

I nodded again. "My landlady refuses to raise my rent up to market value. She just wants to cover her mortgage, and doesn't want to lose me."

"I can hardly blame her." Claudia's expression turned a bit sheepish. "I'm afraid that I lost your home phone number. I was so agitated when I left, and then things got really busy when I had to begin training. It must have been in a purse I threw out."

It had seemed like a good idea to have an unlisted number to cut down on the solicitation calls, but now I was regretting it. I took a business card out of my wallet and wrote my home number on it. She looked at the card.

"Your office number is different too! I tried the old one a couple of times, but always got a recording."

"We got a whole new phone system, all of the numbers changed," I explained. "Where are you living now?"

"I kept the same apartment after... after Denny moved out. I make enough now that it's within my means, though my parents had to help me through the first several months. I can't believe you and I are still living that close to each other. When I got my wings I was just a reserve, on call to fill in wherever, but now I'm mostly flying legs to the east coast and back."

"That's crazy, I've flown to Washington and Boston a lot!"

She shrugged. "It's just bad luck then, I suppose, that we haven't run into each other. But today more than makes up for that." She grinned. "By the way, I quit smoking for good when I joined United."

I looked at Claudia's big blue eyes. Lord, how I had missed them. "I know you have things to do tonight. Can you come over to my apartment tomorrow afternoon? There's a new Italian restaurant called Via Veneto on Peterson. Mike Royko recommended it in his column. It's really quite good. We can walk up there from my place."