Evil Woman

This time it was I that got up first, found the bathroom, removed the condom and cleaned up. I brought another wet towel out to the living room where Julia was still slumped, legs still spread, on the edge of the couch.

I cleaned her off, lifted her nude body and carried it into what I correctly deduced was her bedroom. I gently laid her on the bed.

"There's no way you're leaving," she told me.

I happily laid down and soon we were both sound asleep.

I woke up early, my body clock not realizing it was the weekend and watched Julia sleep. I was happy thinking of our evening together. The sex was great, and beyond that I started to really like her. She was good looking, smart, and certainly sexy. I hoped that this was the beginning of a relationship.

We ended up taking a shower together and this time without a condom I slipped it in her. She held firm to no internal climax. I got a nice blow job instead.

Since she paid for everything last night at WindFire, I assumed on her expense account, I insisted on taking her out for breakfast. Through the meal I began to wonder what the next step in this friendship, relationship, whatever you call it, might be.

As we exited the breakfast place we paused on the sidewalk. My car was one way, her condo the opposite.

"Um, I'd invite you back to the condo," she began, but then she looked around and whispered, "but I'm too sore."

We both laughed at that. I then looked at her a bit more seriously.

"Julia," I said. "I'd like to see you again." I told her.

She nodded with just the slightest hesitation and told me that she had a work trip to Northern California this week but what about next weekend? I got her contact info and told her I would call her later in the week. She gave me a quick lip to lip kiss goodbye, and turned to walk home. I stood and watched her leave. I really liked her, I thought.

That week at the office I got a mild teasing from Neil and Tim, implying something went on after they left, between Julia and I. I, gentlemanly, denied anything, but I was finding myself growing excited by this new friendship.

I texted her Wednesday inquiring about this weekend. I didn't hear back from her immediately but I knew different people had different communication etiquette.

Finally I heard from her Thursday evening.

'Friday night - Newport Beach? I know a great place there!'

I agreed and we made arrangements to meet at 6 PM. I got there fifteen minutes early and she was twenty minutes late. Promptness was important to me and I had to tamp down my irritation.

We had a drink and a walk on the beach and then our dinner reservations were at 8 PM. The dinner was delicious, expensive, but delicious. Afterward I was invited back to her place. I was hoping this would happen. This time I brought the condoms.

We had another fun, sexual evening trying a few more things and I felt that she was satisfied sexually. This time she didn't insist I stay, it just kind of evolved into us both falling asleep. I was hoping for a little shower sex in the morning. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

"Oh my god," suddenly Julia exclaimed. "What time is it?" She said as she sat up in bed.

It was 7:24 AM, I told her. She dashed to the bathroom, I heard the toilet flush, she dashed back out still naked from last night. She looked great and my erection began to emerge in full glory. She glanced down at it.

"Kevin, sorry," she began, "I've got to be somewhere by 9 AM. I hate to kick you out after such a great night, but I've got to get going."

"Don't we have time for a quickie?" I asked. "Maybe I could join you in the shower?" I proposed.

She smiled and looked at my fully engorged cock.

"I would love that normally," she said, "just not today. Now I've got to shower, and you need to go."

She walked over, gave me a kiss and a firm grope of my erection. I reached for her naked body and she squirmed away. I sat there naked as she showered but had the good sense and self control to leave her alone. I slowly dressed, knocked twice on the bathroom door, and left.

On my drive to Buena Park I thought about Julia. I liked her and when we were together we had a great time. Particularly sexually. I also think that she liked me. She would say things to me that made me believe we had a growing relationship. I hoped it would work out.

We continued to date, normally on the weekends. More times than not I would end up staying at her place. We seemed never more connected than when we were making love.

At this point, after dating for about two months neither had spoken about commitment, exclusivity, or any type of formalization of our relationship. I thought it was time for that discussion.

Not unlike my dreams of a longer term relationship with Taylor Pilkington in high school my mind began to wander and explore ideas of the direction that this relationship may take. But different from Taylor in high school, this seemed to me to be a real relationship with substance.

I told myself when the time was right I was going to bring up the subject of exclusivity and a deeper relationship with Julia.

We got together that Friday night and several times I tried to bring up the subject of our relationship. But each time there was some type of interruption and we never quite had the discussion.

That night I received a text, 'thanks for last night' and a heart emoji. Well that was encouraging I thought. For sure this coming weekend when we got together we would have our talk.

I texted her Tuesday about our plans for this coming weekend. Once again no reply until Thursday night.

'Hey a bunch of us are getting together at H2O in Laguna Friday night, you should come, 7 PM' the message said.

Not quite the reply I hoped for but still okay. I got there a little after 7 and saw Julia with a group of four guys and two other girls. Julia introduced me to all of them. It sounded like they were newer acquaintances of hers. Everyone was nice and I was polite.

As the evening wore on, my desire to spend some intimate time with Julia seemed less and less like a probability. In fact one of the guys, he looked wealthy, seemed to be getting the same focused treatment I got that first night I met her.

Throughout the night I chatted with the others but had far less interaction with Julia than I had hoped for. At one point I trailed her to the bathroom and made sure I was close by when she emerged.

"Hey you," she said, "having a good time?" She asked me with a big smile.

I moved close to her, embracing her and lightly kissing her neck

"I can think of a way that we could really have fun," I said to her with my mouth next to her ear.

"I know what you're thinking," she said to me and playfully pushed me away. She then walked back to the group. I disappointedly followed.

It was getting late, after 11 PM. I couldn't rely on bunking at Julia's and I had a 20 minute drive home to Buena Park. I stopped drinking. All of a sudden it looked like the group was breaking up. My hopes for intimacy were rekindled.

But just as quickly these thoughts were doused.

"Kevin, James knows where there's a party. Please come with us." Julia asked me.

At this point I'd had enough of the evening. The people were all okay, but I wanted to spend time with Julia. That certainly did not seem like the way this evening would go. I declined. All I got was a tight but brief hug from Julia, and then they were gone.

During the drive home I became a bit angry at Julia, but then I thought it through. I clearly wanted a different relationship than she did. That wasn't her fault. We didn't have any type of exclusivity understanding yet. I hoped it was more than just friendship with a couple of satisfying sexual encounters.

With those thoughts in mind I drove back to my apartment disappointed in what may be the end of this brief relationship. I guess, I decided, that like a lot of guys, Julia enjoyed playing the field.

I kept hoping that I would hear from her. This week I felt like the ball was in her court. It was her turn to call me. And though my phone vibrated regularly it was never Julia. And for the first time in nearly two months I spent the weekend without her.

Over that weekend during one of my runs I chastised myself about letting my romantic fantasies get ahead of me. It happened with Taylor in high school and now it happened with Julia. At least with Julia, I thought we had a real relationship. But I guess we both just viewed it differently. I vowed to myself to manage my expectations with any future dating experiences.

Once again I was at work early Monday morning. Thoughts of Julia still present, but receding. I saw Henry and several of the others start to arrive closer to 8 AM. I was deep in my work when Henry approached my desk.

"Kid, you got a passport?" Henry asked.

"Uh, no," I replied.

"You're leaving for Brazil in seven weeks. You better expedite that." He told me.

All of a sudden the sad thoughts of Julia were pushed aside. I was traveling out of the country for the first time. I needed to get the passport and I decided to do some deep research on the geography and people in the area we would be traveling. I also called one of our senior product managers from headquarters to get as much information as I could.

I learned that we would be based in Paranagua and venture deep in the rainforest by vehicle and boat. We would meet with the owners of the plantation. Part of the ownership was made up of the indigenous people of the area. The people were from the Tikuna tribe, and I learned that some of the Tikuna spoke Portuguese and English.

I knew we sourced tropical hardwood from Brazil and it was a sought after commodity in the building industry. I also knew there was environmental pressure relative to the deforestation of the tropical rainforest. There had to be a way to balance the timber harvest and with a long term environmental plan I thought.

As the time approached for the trip to South America I continued my schedule of long hours at work and evening research about the environment we would be visiting.

One day a few weeks before we were to leave I was reading an article on the Tikuna when all of a sudden I sensed someone standing in my cubicle.

I looked up and saw Julia.

"Hey stranger!" She greeted me with a wide bright smile.

She looked good. Her mini skirt was short and for a moment my mind flashed to our sexual experience together.

"Hi Julia," I said after a moment's hesitation.

I then stood and awkwardly reached my hand out to shake her hand. She ignored my hand a gave me a hug.

"Well I was just in, talking to the guys about some new stuff we're launching and I wanted to say hi," she said. "It's been too long!" She emphasized and gave me a look.

"I know," I said. "I'm heading out for some travel week after next and we've been busy." I said in an excuse.

"I know," she agreed, "I think we all are."

I just nodded looking at her, agreeing.

"Well," she said, "call me sometime!" She added as she began walking away.

"Will do," I answered, immediately doubting any intention of doing so.

She looked back at me with an odd expression. I interpreted the expression as saying 'I thought you liked me, why are you brushing me off?'.

I did like Julia but my desire for an exclusive relationship seemed to be a different goal than she may want.

I scolded myself to not let my insecurities get over-expectant too soon when I started dating someone. I vowed in the future to slow down on expectations when I start a new relationship. Maybe just play the field.

All too quickly I found myself on an Avianca flight to Brazil. It took all day to get to Paranagua. I knew the following day we would travel up river to the plantations. There were a total of four of us from Van Duzen. Myself, two senior buyers from headquarters in Tacoma and a veteran product manager from Denver, Martim Francisco. Martim spoke Portuguese and had contacts in Brazil.

The first several days were touring the various plantations. We stayed in nice but semi-primitive housing. One of the buyers from Tacoma became ill with some type of gastro-intestinal affliction. He was sent back.

I loved it. It was so interesting to learn about the new products. I also absorbed this new culture and scenery. The tropical rainforest was such an interesting environment. I tried to gather as much information as I could. I had been warned about the harshness of the rainforest and the primitive accommodations. None of it bothered me. I loved the experience.

On our next to last day we ventured deep into the forest and were in the territory of the indigenous people, the Tikuna. I noticed the Tikuna were small and darker than the other Brazilians we had met. They were clothed but it was an odd mish-mash of what looked like hand-me-down clothing.

That night we stayed in the Tikuna village. There was a dinner that night in one of their large meeting structures. I learned that the hardwood sourced from the Tikuna plantations was a more desirable species, but it cost more to harvest and ship. It was considered a premium product.

That night at the dinner we all sat around a large table. The three of us from Van Duzen, our Brazilian agent, and about a dozen Tikuna, all male. I sat next to Martim and on the other side of me was a Tikuna. I learned his name was Mafii. I later learned he was one of the elders.

I introduced myself and the smiling Mafii grasped my hand and with a single shake, and with great delight reciprocated.

"I am Mafii!" He told me, with a wide smile.

His English was broken but for the most part I was able to follow him.

Mafii spoke of his world and how things are changing for the Tikuna. Development is coming and the Tikuna needed to balance what these changes meant and at the same time maintain their heritage and customs. He told me of this struggle.

"Big problem," Mafii said, "offums", He told me.

"What are offum?" I asked.

Mafii tried to explain but somehow I just couldn't quite understand.

"After feast," Mafii said, "show you." He told me, his head bobbing up and down in excitement.

After the dinner Mafii and two other Tikuna led me out of the large building where we'd had the dinner. We walked a path that roughly paralleled the river. On the left, through the bushes, was a large structure. There were children playing happily all around the building.

We walked up the steps and Mafii opened the door and showed me in. All I saw were rough mattresses and bedding all over the floor. There was a large curtain down the center of the room.

"Girl, this side," he pointed. "Boy, other side," he explained.

Suddenly I got it. All these children with few adults. When Mafii was saying 'offum' he was trying to say to me, orphans.

"Mafii," I asked, "why are there so many?"

Mafii sighed, exhaled, and for the first time the broad smile receded.

"Kebin," that's what he called me, "Tikuna life, dangerous. Father and mother die too soon. We need take care of children." He told me as he looked upon the Tikuna 'offum'.

As we walked back Mafii spoke of how they needed more resources to take care of the children and their own village. The sale of timber was one of their few sources of hard currency.

"Also need to re-plant," Mafii said, "need tree for children future."

I nodded and thought about Mafii and the Tikuna. I also couldn't help thinking of the joy and happiness of the 'offum' as they laughed and played despite their situation. This gave me a lot to consider.

As we got to camp Mafii showed me his own small house. It was cramped but very clean. There, Mafii gave me a slip of paper with his email and phone contacts. I was surprised he had internet access. I asked Mafii about that.

"Internet cafe in Obidos," he told me, "down river." He said and he pointed east.

I reciprocated and gave Mafii my Van Duzen business card. He embraced me goodbye and I made my way to my lodging for the night. I stayed awake for several hours thinking about the Tikuna, Mafii, and the 'offum'.

Before I knew it we were back on the jet heading home. It was a wonderful experience from a business standpoint but I still couldn't forget the human side of the whole journey. I made myself a promise to try to do something, somehow to help the Tikuna.

My job at Van Duzen continued but suddenly I was being asked to be on more committees. I was invited to more customer meetings. I guess you could say my stature at Van Duzen Forest Products had elevated. I felt proud of my hard work and enjoyed my job. The recognition was a bonus.

One day, unexpectedly, Henry invited me out to lunch. I rarely ate lunch anywhere but my desk, and Henry and I did not really socialize. He drove to Billy's Ink Spot, a restaurant he was familiar with. It was dark with a large bar. The emphasis at Billy's was the bar, but the food was actually not too bad.

"Kid," he still called me that, "I'm hearing some things about you." He added.

"What!?" I asked, "who's saying what?" I was slightly alarmed.

"Calm down, calm down," he replied, "I'm hearing good things." He told me.

"Don't be surprised if you get a call from Jack Valentine about an opportunity at corporate." Henry said, "they like you kid, they want to get you on some type of fast track."

I sat and absorbed what Henry was saying. I mean, I knew I was doing well, but I was surprised that I may get a promotional opportunity this soon.

I thought about my career. I liked the company and most of the people. I was beginning to like the building products industry. And I was particularly interested in the international aspect of my job. I continued to think about the trip to Brazil and meeting Mafii and the Tikuna.

"Well," I said, "thanks Henry for all you've done for me so far," which in truth, wasn't all that much, but I'd never say that, "I'll be eager to hear from Jack." I stated.

The idea of a promotion was interesting. Now every time I received a phone call or an email, I thought it could be Jack Valentine with some fantastic opportunity.

That Friday our corporate office sent out a company wide email. The message was that Van Duzen was committing to help the environment. The presentation on PowerPoint contained images of leaves, the ocean, and vast forests of trees.

The objective was that our company wanted to do more, and market that fact. Helen Stacy, from the marketing department was asking for ideas to help Van Duzen further the companies 'green' position.

Ever since the trip to Brazil I had been formulating an idea. What if we paid the Tikuna to replant native hardwood trees. This would solve several problems. It would insure future supply of desirable tropical hardwood. It would provide much needed income for the Tikuna. And it would be right in line with what we were trying to present to the marketplace on an environmental level.

Over the weekend I worked out a plan for this. I even threw in a dollar for dollar match to support the orphanage. By my calculation the total cost to us would work out to be just over 5% of our cost. I felt this small increase could be absorbed..

Sunday night I emailed my presentation to Helen Stacy. All that week I heard nothing about my proposal. And I still had not heard from Jack Valentine. My excitement about my plan and the possibility of hearing from Jack faded away, I thought for sure I would hear something from someone this week.

The following week I received a phone call from corporate, this had to be Jack Valentine, I thought.

"Hello Kevin?" It was a female, obviously not Jack, "this is Helen Stacy from marketing. How are you doing, young man?" She greeted me.

She went on to say that she had taken my Brazilian reforestation plan to management and got approval. Next step is to present the plan to the indigenous tribe and reach an agreement.