Of Lust and Love

Author's note:

Here we go again with a short romance of roughly 15k words. Have fun and please don't forget to vote or even make my day with a comment, be it positive or critical but please be polite.

My thanks go to my editors. Stattion for his help to make the storyline consistent and fluent and Joffa for his spelling, grammar and punctuation expertise. I can't stress enough how valuable their input and effort is. Most of the perceived improvement from my early stories is down to them.

*****

Chapter 01

During the final weeks of my studies at university, I had received an offer for the role of a junior manager in a precision engineering company's Research & Development department, subject to my successful completion of both Masters I was vying for. As I had been on course to successfully finish close to or even at the top of both the IT and engineering classes, I never doubted meeting this stipulation.

On top of what felt like an insanely high starting salary, but wasn't unusual in that industry, I was allowed to hire a personal assistant. The standard procedure was that at first, employees from within the company could apply for the job and only if none of them met my needs, the job would be advertised in a paper. The applicants would be assigned testing periods during which they would introduce themselves and show what they were capable of. On my first day at work, I had eleven applications from ladies currently working in the secretary pool on my desk. Human Resources, which was responsible for the process had prepared the order in which the candidates presented themselves, based on the date of receipt of the application.

Each one would stay with me for a week before the next one would come. I could put a stop to this at any time if I came to the decision that I wanted to employ the one currently with me. As the advancement from the pool to a personal assistant was accompanied with a substantial pay-rise I was promised that they would all do their very best.

I would later jokingly accuse Debbie, the head of human resources, that she had consciously sent me the worst candidates first. Because they were terrible. Really dreadful. The stuff that horror movies are made of. Only in a company of this size could employees get away with that sort of performance. In smaller companies, they were usually weeded out quickly.

The first girl, barely out of high school, was more concerned with keeping up with her friends than her work. I sent her back to the pool when her testing period was over because she was busier texting on her mobile than doing any of the actual work I asked of her. She had obviously been hired for her looks, not her brains.

The next one was so busy flaunting her admittedly ample female attributes in front of me and making sure I understood that her focus would be on 'personal' if she got the job that I barely got any of my work done. I didn't touch her, though, as I was afraid of both blackmail and a sexual harassment suit. At least, she seemed somewhat competent when she actually did something work-related.

The third one boasted about her achievements for half a day before I found out that she was seemingly incapable of handling the documentation system, even after I had explained it to her repeatedly during the week. Whoever had hired her for the pool had clearly been deluded by her vapouring.

When I asked the fourth to type up a test report I was told by her that it would have to wait until her nails had dried as she had just applied a fresh coat of polish. I ordered her to let them dry on the way back to the secretary pool. She hadn't even lasted a full day.

Debbie made it possible that her replacement, candidate number five, started her testing period the next day. When she made more typos in the report than I thought possible with today's autocorrecting and spelling support options, I was getting impatient and maybe a bit louder than necessary when I sent her back to her desk to set up a meeting with Debbie during which I expressed my dissatisfaction about the quality she had sent me so far.

News of my complaint leaked out and caused me to get the reputation of a stickler, something I really didn't feel I deserved. I didn't think that my demands were outrageous and had always thought I was easy to get along with. Rumours started to spread that, apart from being impossible to please, I was also gay. Apart from being totally irrelevant, the gossip was also false as several ex-girlfriends would have been able to confirm, but four of the five girls had obviously expected me to hire them based on their looks. This notoriety caused all but one of the remaining candidates to withdraw their applications and I had resigned to having to place a job advert to fill the vacancy.

When I arrived at the office the following Monday at seven thirty I was greeted by a woman three or four years my junior, I was twenty-six at the time, who introduced herself as 'Sarah, with an h at the end'. She was very shy, dressed conservatively to the extreme with grey slacks and a long-sleeved white blouse which she had buttoned up to the top. My very first impression of her was that she probably wouldn't speak loud if her life depended on it.

"I was told you take your coffee with lots of milk and three sugar cubes. Is that right or were the other girls trying to put one over me?"

I raised an eyebrow. A girl capable of critical thinking? That was a clear improvement over the previous candidates.

"They tried to play a prank," I replied pointing to the machine. "Just get me a regular with a splash of milk."

I went to my office intending to sort through my mail which, of course, Sarah - with an h at the end - had not yet delivered to my desk. I sighed and started up my computer in order to check my calendar. It was still booting when Sarah entered my office with a tray in one hand and a folder in the other. She put the folder down in front of me before intuitively placing the coffee in the spot I had reserved for it and then laid her hand on the folder.

"You're meeting James Mettle from Sales at nine and have a working lunch appointment with Jim Raider from finance. I don't know what the meeting with Mr Mettle is regarding but the figures that Mr Raider wants to discuss are in the first compartment. I have divided your mail into three groups, important, nice to see and what I thought was rubbish. I'll have the report I found on the desk typed in maybe half an hour. Is there anything else?"

I looked at her, my eyes wide from surprise. In thirty seconds she had done more and better work than any of the other candidates had managed over their entire testing periods.

"What's your family name?"

"Mason. But I'd prefer it if you called me Sarah."

She didn't look at me while she spoke or rather she didn't look me in the eyes. Her gaze was directed somewhere between my chest and my nose. I smiled.

"Is there a reason for that?"

"Yes, Mr Bergman," she replied in that quiet, wallflowery voice of hers.

"One you don't wish to share. Right?"

She smiled back, shyly. It didn't change much, she was still a plain Jane. She wasn't ugly but she wasn't beautiful either. She kept her eyes downcast and had a very unobtrusive personality. Her whole body language seemed designed to her being overlooked. I barely heard her when she replied.

"Right."

I clapped my hands which caused her to jump a little.

"Great. Let's get going. I have a busy day ahead."

I opened the folder Sarah had presented to me and was impressed by the preparation she had invested. Within fifteen minutes I was up to speed and had just sifted through my post, her categorisation was impeccable, when my desk phone rang.

"Mr Bergman, I have Mr Mettle on the line. He wants to discuss the upcoming meeting."

"Good, thank you. Put him through, please."

A few seconds later I had him on the line and he informed me what he needed from me when we met in roughly an hour.

"We may as well just cancel the meeting. I won't be ready at such a short notice."

"Just bring what you have. Then we'll decide on the next steps."

"Ok. Bye," I said as I angrily slammed the receiver down on the phone.

The meeting would be a typical inefficient get-together where one person tried to get another one to do their work. After taking a moment to regain my composure, I called my current assistant.

"Sarah!"

Seconds later she appeared by the open door.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You have an hour to collect as much information as you can on valves and valve control. Ask the team leaders. It doesn't matter if it's incomplete but I need an overview before the meeting with James."

She had already turned and was on her way out of the office when she replied, "Yes, Sir."

I heard her talk to various people on the phone, some of it sounded very intense which surprised me a little because it didn't seem to fit her personality. I didn't really have the time to check on her as I also had to catch up on a change request on a customer project. It was a quarter to nine when she ushered all five team leaders into my office who then proceeded to give me two-minute-elevator pitches on the current situation and handed me a printout of the presentation afterwards. When they were done, they left.

Totally stunned, all I could do was to look from Sarah to the five printouts and back to Sarah.

"Stay there. Don't move," I said, pointing at her with my left index finger while picking up the phone and speed-dialling Debbie with my right hand.

"Debbie? Hi, it's Robert. As of today, Sarah Mason is my personal assistant."

It took a few moments until my words registered with Sarah. The fearful look was slowly replaced by surprise and then by joy. For the first time, I saw Sarah shine and got a glimpse of the beauty she possessed.

"Ok. I'll change her details to become your full-time assistant after her testing period is over."

"No. Not after the testing period. Now. Immediately."

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the line.

"Can I ask why? I'm a bit surprised, neither her appearance nor her performance reviews indicate her to be PA-material."

I laughed out loud, causing Sarah to flinch a little. I assumed it would take some time for her to come out of her shell but if she continued to work as effectively as she had so far, I didn't really care.

"Because she's bloody brilliant. When she signs her new contract, you can ask her what she just achieved in the last hour. I've got to run now, I have a meeting with James. Bye and thanks."

No sooner had I hung up when Sarah started babbling excitedly.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr Bergman. I promise I won't disappoint you."

"Welcome on board. If you keep working as efficiently and effectively as you have so far, I'm sure we'll get along splendidly. Now, as we're going to work closely together, you'll have to call me Robert or Rob from now on. I'll be back in an hour."

I shook her hand. I would have preferred to give her a hug as she looked like she needed one but I wasn't sure how she would feel about it and I didn't want to start off with a lawsuit for sexual harassment.

+

Over the next few days, I had to endure the taunts of many of the manager's all over the company about Sarah. Most of them had put as much or more emphasis on the looks as on the skills when they had hired their assistants and many claimed to be having sexual relations with them.

But their mocking didn't matter to me because I quickly realised that I had uncovered a gem. Sarah was very perceptive, studious, intelligent, and hardworking. On top of that, she proved to be very organised, focussed on her work and was polite and friendly at all times. She always arrived in the office at seven, was never late, unfailingly had my post sorted and the coffee machine preheated by the time I came in at seven thirty. She started my day with an overview of my meetings and any deadlines, just like she had on the day I hired her. Her contribution soon had a very positive impact on my sub-department's performance as I was totally relieved from almost all administrative work and was free to focus on things that actually earned the company money. Being able to fully concentrate on developing products to meet our customers' needs, I soon gained the reputation of a prodigy. Within weeks, my team came up with a new type of valve which would later become the major reason for the company's improved performance on the stock market. I was always well prepared for meetings, never forgot any birthdays, neither of my superiors nor of my subordinates, and all paperwork was handed in on time. Fortunately, I was smart enough to understand that Sarah's effort was a decisive factor in all this.

As punctually as she started the workday, she ended it. She left the office every day precisely at a quarter to five, dropping whatever she was busy with. After a few weeks, I asked for the reason. I learned that she was taking care of her mother who was wheelchair bound. During the day, she used a nursing agency which came to serve lunch but she couldn't afford for them to come in the evening as well.

Bit by bit, I learned more about her past. The woman she called her mother wasn't really her mother. She had been put up for adoption but nothing had ever materialised until the woman she now lived with took her in as a foster child. Sarah felt she owed her for the twelve years during which she had lovingly cared for her before a stroke had forced her into the wheelchair. I learned about her time in the children's home, the hardship of growing up without parents and the teasing she had to endure in school.

She also learnt about me, my parents, my sister, and my friends. I had been fortunate to be born into an upper-middle-class family and had never had to worry about who paid for my education or help if I had difficulties in understanding something at school. Coming from very different backgrounds, it was a surprise we got on so well.

Chapter 02

I met Francesca Totti at a party my parents had organised roughly three months after I had started my new job. Francesca was of Italian descent and there was no mistaking that. She had dark, almost black hair which flowed over her shoulders and framed her beautiful face, worthy to be immortalised by one of the great Italian artists of the past. She was dressed in a white gown which did its best to present her generous charms. When I first laid my eyes on her it was as if lightning had struck. Being the only singles in their twenties we quickly gravitated towards each other and spent most of the evening together, chatting and flirting. When the evening drew to a close, we exchanged our contact details and promised to stay in touch.

I won't lie and talk about love at first sight but from my side, it was certainly lust at first sight. So while I was still trying to come up with an activity to get Francesca into my bed preferably yesterday, Sarah beat me to it.

"Robert, for your date on Saturday a bouquet of flowers for Francesca will be delivered to your door at four in the afternoon. I've made a reservation at the seafood restaurant you like so much. You need to be there around six in order to make it to the theatre in time for the performance of 'Phantom of the Opera'."

"Sarah, Phantom of the Opera! That's a brilliant idea! Thank you!"

"If this doesn't get you into her pants, nothing will," she smiled back sweetly.

I laughed at that.

"I'm not that single-minded, am I?"

"No, usually you're not. And once you've bedded her, you might even remember that."

+

I was lucky to find a parking space right in front of the apartment building where Francesca lived.

"Oh, Robert. That was simply fantastic! The music! The ambience! The love story!"

"I had a feeling you'd like it," I replied with a smile while silently thanking Sarah for the idea.

"Would you like to come up for a coffee?"

I know they say there isn't a stupid question but that one came as close as it was possible. Did I want to join this goddess in her apartment? In the two weeks since I had met her, her looks hadn't lost their appeal to me, rather the opposite, and the small touches and the hand-holding in the theatre hadn't reduced that attraction either.

"Sure. I'd love to."

Francesca was waiting patiently while I got out and walked over to her side where I opened the door and helped her out of her seat. She hooked her arm in mine as we walked to the entrance of the building. As we entered the elevator, Francesca smiled devilishly.

"I'm not sure if I have any coffee around. Is that a problem?"

"I wasn't expecting any," I replied, playing her game.

The elevator arrived at her floor and she pulled me towards her flat. Once inside, she found a bottle of white wine in the fridge and poured us a glass each. As we clinked our glasses, she leaned towards me to lightly kiss my lips.

"To the 'Phantom'," I stated.

"Let me go slip into something a bit more comfortable. Why don't you remove your jacket and your shoes and have a seat for a minute? I'll be right back," she said in a seductive voice.

She sure knew how to make an impression on a man and after a failed attempt to reply and a strong cough to clear my throat I managed to agree to her proposition.

It took Francesca less than two minutes to return. I had expected her to peel out of her evening dress, its style was comparable to what she had worn at my parents' party, and put on a negligee or something but she decided on a more direct approach.

She came back from what I assumed was her bedroom naked and walked towards me in a straight line. Her breasts, sitting almost unnaturally high for their size, pointed forward, her nipples were hard and enticing, and her sex was shaven bare. She didn't waste any time and straddled my legs leaning forward for a deep and fiery kiss. At first, I was overwhelmed but soon I was fighting back, refusing to roll over and let her solely define the pace.

I grabbed her ass and pulled her up close to get her breast within the vicinity of my mouth and started feasting on her nipples and the wobbly flesh. My fingers pushed ahead and approached her pussy from behind, only to find a hot and wet mess which I immediately started to massage. She pulled her upper body back and started to unbutton my shirt, heavily distracted by my ministrations of her folds. I eased a little on her to give her time to undress me. Once my shirt was discarded, she slipped off my lap, kneeled down in front of me, made quick work of my belt and pulled my pants off, making sure my boxers joined them at the same time. As soon as I was naked, she took my by now hard cock straight into her mouth and set out to make me cum as quickly as possible. Her obviously well-trained technique of combined sucking and bobbing got me there fast and when I tried to get her to ease off, she only intensified her efforts. My warning that I was about to explode was acknowledged with a grunt but no reduction in her efforts and a few seconds later I came in her greedily sucking mouth. She made ostentatiously sure that she didn't want to waste a drop of my load and swallowed the last remnants with an exaggerated gulp.

"Yummie," was all she replied, while I still tried to recover from the unexpected act.

Fortunately, I soon had my mind together again and pulled her up by her hands, only to throw her over my shoulder and carry her to the bedroom where I tossed her on the bed, accompanied by her laughter. Without speaking I turned her on her back, grabbed her ankles and pushed them upwards, effectively folding her in two, with her glistening folds exposed to my view and tongue. I put my weight on my hands holding her ankles, making sure she was helpless and launched myself at her defenceless pussy, licking her labia, pushing my tongue as far into her opening as I could go and rubbing my face all over her exposed sex. I didn't take long before she was thrashing her head, shouting all kinds of obscenities and encouragements at me and when she came, she came hard. There wasn't a slow build-up or a teasing or an easing off only to restart. I pushed her relentlessly to the edge and over. I didn't stop when she came but kept it up. I wanted her to beg for mercy. Her entire body was shaking from orgasm followed by orgasm until I finally heard the words I had been waiting for.