It was love at first sight. I got off the elevator and she was sitting behind the reception desk. The term drop dead gorgeous didn't even begin to do her justice. Her beautiful face was surrounded by a mass of honey-blonde hair, and breasts, oh God did she have breasts - thirty-eights at least. The rest of her was hidden behind the desk, but there was no doubt in my mind that what I couldn't see was just as perfect as what I could. She gave me a dazzling smile as I came off the elevator and said, "Good morning, can I help you?"

I smiled back, "I work here" and I extended my hand. "Manny Grotz. I work in marketing."

Her handshake was firm and she told me that her name was Shelly Byrns.

"Welcome to the zoo Shelly. Hope you stick around."

She gave me an odd look and then turned to answer a ringing telephone and I managed to get a look at her left hand - no rings. Of course a girl like her would have guys standing in line to ask her out, but a guy can dream, can't he?

I worked late that night and she was gone when I went home, but I did get the dazzling smile again when I came in the next morning. Julie from the steno pool was behind the desk when I went to lunch and I hoped it was only because Shelly was out to lunch. I was sitting at a table in the restaurant just across the street from the office when I saw her come in. She had a shopping bag so I guessed she had done some shopping before coming to eat - big mistake! If you didn't get in the restaurant by ten to twelve you were not going to find a seat. The place was packed and she couldn't spot a place to sit so I stood up and waved to get her attention and as she walked over toward me I saw that what the desk had been hiding was indeed every bit as spectacular as what could be seen above the desk. I helped her with her chair and we made small talk as we waited for our order to arrive.

"Can I ask you something? What did you mean the other day when you said you hoped that I would stick around?"

I smiled and said, "Two things actually. We seem to have a relatively high turnover rate on the reception desk. I guess it's just the kind of job you take while you look for something better. I hope you stick around because I love that dazzling smile I get when I get off the elevator and two, I'm hoping you stick around so that I can get to know you better."

She laughed and said, "Guilty! I'm looking for something better."

We exchanged the vitals - on my part unmarried and a workaholic, on her part single, a recent college graduate with a degree in Business Management and new to the city. Seizing the moment I asked her to have dinner with me that night, "I can show you around and help you get a feel for the place."

She frowned, "I don't think that would be a good idea. Work place relationships just never seem to work out for me."

I said, "That shouldn't be a problem here. By your own admission you are just passing through and as charming as I can be I still can't see a serious relationship developing between us all that quickly."

She looked at me for a minute and then smiled, "I suppose your right, but I can't tonight. How about tomorrow?"

That date was the first of many and I found that besides being easy on the eyes she was also charming, witty and intelligent. One night at dinner I asked her how the job hunting was going and she told me that it wasn't going well. I asked her what the problem seemed to be and she said "Me!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that if the personnel manager is a woman she's afraid that having me around will be a distraction to all the male workers or too much competition for the other girls. If the personnel manager is a man he sees the blond hair and big tits and thinks I'm an airhead. Either that or he offers me a job if I'll have sex with him."

"Isn't that being a little general?"

"Honey, I spent four years in high school and four years in college fighting the stereo-type. Believe me when I say that my 3.8 GPA doesn't get near the attention that my thirty-eight inch chest does."

"That doesn't seem fair"

She gave me a rueful look and said, "It isn't, but it's my burden to carry unless I'm willing to turn myself into a hag."

Driving her to back to her apartment I finally worked up enough nerve to try and kiss her goodnight. I had been on my best behavior around her because I didn't want to scare her off and I hoped that I wouldn't fuck things up. I walked her to her door and she turned to face me, "Have I got bad breath?"

Caught by surprise I stammered an "Of course not."

"Then why haven't you ever kissed me good night?"

Before I could answer she stood on tiptoe and kissed me on the mouth. Her tongue started probing as soon as our lips touched and after a seconds hesitation I let mine do a little exploring. It was a long kiss and when we broke it she gave me that dazzling smile of hers and said, "You show promise baby. See you tomorrow."

I was six blocks away when the cell phone rang. I answered it, but it kept on ringing and I finally woke up to the fact that it wasn't mine making the noise. On the passenger seat I saw a phone almost under the back cushion and I leaned over to grab it but it stopped ringing as soon as I picked it up. It must have fallen out of Shelly's purse. I hung an illegal U-turn and headed back to her place and I pulled up in front just in time to see Shelly open her door and let the two guys standing on the porch come in. She had been stark naked. It was a very long drive home for me and I knew that the night was going to be a very bad one.

The same glorious smile greeted me when I got to work the next morning and I returned it with a somewhat weak one. I took her cell phone out of my pocket and gave it to her; "It must have fallen out of your purse last night."

She took the phone and said, "Thank you. I wondered were it had gone."

I headed for my office and buried myself in the work piled up on my desk. About ten there was a knock at my door and I looked up to see Shelly standing there.

"Can I come in?" I waved her to a chair.

"I wanted to thank you again for returning my cell phone. It's the only connection I have to the places I sent resumes. You tried to return it me last night, didn't you?"

I nodded a yes.

"I saw you out front. I guess you saw me too."

Again I nodded a yes.

"I almost waved for you to come up, but at the last second I chickened out."

"Why?"

She looked like she was trying to make up her mind about something.

"It's a long story and not a very pretty one. What are you doing for dinner tonight?"

I shrugged, "Work here until I finish my project. Catch a bite on the way home."

She said, "Would you have dinner with me tonight at my place? I'm a pretty good cook."

I was torn. On the one hand I wanted to scream out "Oh God yes!" but on the other I saw her naked and welcoming two men into her apartment. That image pretty much shattered the image of Shelly that I had built up in my mind over the last couple of weeks.

"Please? I need someone I can talk to and you are the only real friend that I've made since I've been here."

That almost made me laugh. I mean I would have to consider letting two men into my apartment while I was naked a pretty damn friendly thing to do. She saw the indecision on my face and said please again and I caved.

She was an excellent cook and after we ate I helped her with the dishes and she poured us each a tumbler of Bailey's Irish Cream and we sat down in the living room.

"This is going to be hard for me so please hear me out before you get up and leave. It is going to be hard because I like you. I like you very much. So much in fact that I don't want to hurt you. When I saw you last night I knew that you saw me and I almost called for you to come up - why not, the damage was already done. But at the last second I said maybe he was looking the other way and didn't see you naked and staring hungrily at those two guys. What makes it really hard for me is that those two guys you saw last night don't mean a damn thing to me and yet they got to fuck me while you, who I do care about, didn't.

"I have a problem. I am as close to being a nymphomaniac as you can get without really being one. I think I am one, but my doctor says I'm not. Sex is like a drug to me and I have to have it, and not just some, but a lot. There never has been a man in my life who could take care of me by himself. A lot have said they could and a lot have tried, but no one ever has. I know you wonder why I'm not married. I'm good looking, good company, a good cook and a great piece of ass so I shouldn't have any trouble finding a man, right? Well I don't, it's just that I can't keep them after I land them. I was married once, but he took off when he got tired of the parade of men who passed through our bedroom. I loved him and I thought he loved me, but I guess he just didn't love me enough - and he knew going in what I was and what I had to have and said he was man enough to handle it.

"Its the story of my life baby. I meet a man I like, some one like you, some one that I'd like to spend time with and then my jones rears its ugly head and the guy is history. I can't help it baby, I've got to have it every day. I had two guys in here earlier tonight to take the edge off so I wouldn't get all antsy and stupid while you were here. At least not until I had a chance to tell you how sorry I am that we can never be."

She looked at me sitting there, silently taking in every word. Finally she seemed to run out of things to say and sat there looking at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

"What? You expect me to run screaming for the door? Not all men are assholes you know. Some of us can be kind, nonjudgmental and even understanding. So what is it you want from me? What are you expecting?"

She gave me a sad smile, "I expected you to be up and gone by now so I never considered that you might ask me what I wanted. But to answer your question what I'd like is for you to be my friend. Someone who will like me for what I wish I could be and not just think of me as a piece of meat."