Chapter 1

Geraldine Harcourt passed her job interview with flying colours. She was perfect for the job, of senior sales assistant. Or so Mike believed at the time. Later, thinking back over it, he tried to convince himself that his judgment hadn't been swayed at all by her incredible breasts or those lovely baby blue eyes. But there certainly had been flaws in her presentation. The main one was an unexplained gap in her résumé, in which she claimed she had spent the last six months on a working holiday in Europe, and had returned only a few days ago.

The problem was that when Mike asked her where she had gone, she described places in Italy and France well enough to suggest she was probably telling the truth, but the time line just didn't seem to add up. He asked her how long she had spent in each country and her answers were contradictory. Mike suspected the girl had met some lusty Italian and spent a month in his bed sampling unbridled fornication, and his cock hardened at the thought. But the girl exuded sweet innocence, and he couldn't believe she was really lying to him!

Anyway he hired her, and her first couple of weeks in the office were a great success. She arrived each morning looking just as smart and sexy as she had been at her interview. Short skirt above long legs, a pert bottom, big breasts, and the most beautiful face. Black hair in a page boy cut making her look even younger than she claimed to be, and above all those lovely eyes. And she was clever! She quickly mastered all the computer systems that she would be using, and learnt the office procedures. She worked happily on whatever tasks Mike allocated to her, even doing filing, whereas the previous girl in her position had resolutely refused to do such things, saying they were clerical work and not her responsibility.

Mike couldn't believe his luck, the girl was everything he wanted in an employee. He was so happy that at the next group sales meeting he just had to tell everyone how lucky he had been. When he mentioned the girl's name, there was a moment's silence, then laughter! "My god, is she still around? Really, Mike, what were you thinking of? She won't put out for you, if that's what you were hoping."

Mike blushed, he had been hoping vaguely for just that, although it was not why he had recruited the girl. He asked why they were reacting this way. He was shocked when one of them said, "I only sacked her four weeks ago, when did you pick her up?"

"She said she had just come back from six months in Italy! There's no mention of you on her resume."

It turned out that Geraldine had worked for three of the offices represented at the meeting, all of them during the time she had said she was traveling in Europe. They all refused to say why they had sacked her, claiming fear of defamation because nobody had been able to prove anything. One gave him a hint by saying, "Keep your petty cash tin locked up, and keep track of your cameras. If you can, tell the other girls in the office to keep an eye on their purses. But don't you dare quote me."

Mike left the meeting depressed, and drove back to his office wondering what to do. The girl was beautiful, fun to work with, efficient, punctual, yet those who had employed her in the past wouldn't tell him what she did wrong, why they had sacked her, except for that clear hint that she stole things. He wondered what she could steal in his office, and tried to match the loss of her doing that against the gain of her working for him so well. If it was only a few dollars a week, it was insignificant against the bonus he would otherwise have paid her for working so efficiently. What to do?

In the office, he did check that the petty cash tin was secure, and looked around to see what could be stolen if Geraldine was in fact so inclined. There was nothing very significant that she could walk out with without being noticed. Anyway the concerns about her were just rumors. Maybe the truth was that the men had tried to hit on her and she had rejected them. Girls did get fired for turning down their boss's sexual advances, and maybe that was what they were trying to warn him about.

Mike watched Geraldine as she stood at the copying machine, her delightful bottom bulging out behind above those fabulous legs. The skirt was so short he had to accept she was wearing tights not stockings, but he did fantasize about her underwear. He realized that working with such a gorgeous girl would drive any normal man towards the point where he might do rash things, even just stroking her bum as you walk past her, or veiled innuendos when you talk to her. Things that any brave girl would object to but that most would accept as an unattractive but unavoidable part of life in the office. He had to accept that Geraldine was the sort of girl who wouldn't accept it. That was okay, he had never yet embarrassed any of his female employees by any such improprieties.

He thought about it. Suppose he now went over there and stood behind her at the copying machine, pretending he had a paper to copy, and as he stood there behind her, suppose he allowed his hand just lightly to rub over that glorious ass. Would she ignore the touch, or would she press back against his hand, hoping for a bonus in her pay packet next week? No, Mike was quite sure how Geraldine would respond. She would turn and slap his face, and probably walk out of the office and not return. Or, if she stayed, the average boss would sack her, finding it too embarrassing to have her stay in the office.

So Mike convinced himself that it was his male colleagues who were at fault. The lovely Geraldine had probably been fired just because her bosses couldn't keep their hands to themselves. He would give her the benefit of the doubt, just keep an eye on her and try to prevent her upsetting other office staff.

One day in Geraldine's third week with the office, as people were leaving at the end of the day's work, Mrs Gladys Arbuthnot, one of his most senior and elderly staff, came to see him, complaining that fifty dollars had gone missing from her purse during the afternoon! She had drawn the money from an ATM across the street at lunchtime. She left her purse beside her desk while she went to the ladies' room, and the money was gone when she checked it as she got ready to go home. Geraldine had been doing filing in the woman's office, Mrs Arbuthnot said pointedly, clearly implying the only possible conclusion!

Mike was pale as he contemplated his options. First, he gave Gladys fifty dollars of his own money, and asked her not to tell anyone about it. He promised to deal with it, and to make sure it didn't happen again, and would tell her later what action he had taken. He walked to the room where Geraldine worked, and was surprised to find her still sitting in front of her computer. Everyone else had left, the building was very quiet.

"Why are you still here, Geraldine?"

She looked up, startled, and just for a moment he thought he saw fear on her face, not just surprise. But quickly that look was replaced with her normal eager and sweet smile.

"Hi, Mr Wilson," she said in that delightful sexy voice. "I'm just finishing off something; I will be leaving in a few minutes."

Mike left her and walked through the nearby offices, and found that he and Geraldine were alone in this part of the building. He went back to her, and found her tidying her desk and preparing to leave.

"Geraldine, we need to talk."

The girl looked nervous, but she still managed to smile as Mike took a nearby chair, reversed it, and sat down straddling it, with his arms on the chair back. He took a deep breath and began the conversation that he assumed would be the last time he talked to the girl.

"You haven't been completely truthful with me, have you, Geraldine?"

Geraldine gulped, lowered her eyes, and said nothing.

"You lied to me about what you were doing over the last few months, didn't you?"

Another gulp, and tears forming on her pretty face. She very slightly nodded her head.

"Would you allow me to look in your purse?"

Geraldine's face turned pale, and she looked up into Mike's eyes, and from the expression there he knew his fears were valid. She had taken the money. If she let him look in her purse there would be a fifty dollar note in there. But how could he prove it was the missing money? And what could he do if she refused to let him look? Better to do what the other bosses had done, tell her she was still on probation and that she was hereby sacked. Escort her to the door and send her away to mess up some other poor sod's life.

Fortunately he didn't have to push the issue. Geraldine started to cry softly as she whispered, "I'm so sorry Mr Wilson."

He was surprised, this was too easy! "You admit you took the money? But why? Am I not paying you enough? Don't you like working here? I will have to sack you, you must realize that? And you have only been working here for two weeks!"

"Please, you can't sack me, please, I don't know why I do it, I just can't seem to help myself, I do try not to steal, really I do, but all my life I just get these urges."

Mike was shocked. He had never imagined there might be more to Geraldine's disgraceful behaviour than that she was just a greedy thief. Was it something deeper in her makeup? Something from her past? But did that matter? He couldn't let her stay in the company if she was going to steal from his employees. What to do? The only option seemed to be to keep her talking, find out more.

"How did it start?"

"When I was a kid, I started taking things from my mom's handbag. Whenever she caught me she would tell my dad and he would spank me. That made me stop for a few weeks then I would do it again. But dad left home when I was fifteen and mom just kept her purse locked away after that."

"All those other places you worked recently? They all fired you because you were caught stealing?"

She nodded. He wasn't quite convinced she was telling him the whole truth, but he now had enough evidence to go to the next meeting and demand that his friends tell him all they knew. He was beginning to believe that he might not sack Geraldine after all.

"Can you explain why you do it? Is it just the excitement, the fear of being caught?"

Geraldine nodded, and sat silent for a few minutes. Then suddenly she looked up into his eyes again, her face animated now. "Yes, Mr Wilson, that's exactly it. My life at home is boring, the work that people have given me to do has been boring. Before you that is, you've been different, you've given me fun stuff to do. But yeah I suppose where other people break windows or drive dangerously, my thing has been to steal. I guess if someone had reported me to the police, and I had been locked up for a few months, I might have been too scared to do it again. But they never have, they just chuck me out. It's the same with boyfriends, I am just getting on well with some guy when I get the urge, and I take something from his bedroom or something, and the guy stops phoning me."