The Message: At Work

Karrie received the message -- she always thought of it that way afterwards: 'the Message' -- as a text. After the initial shock of the message had sunk in, she was for a few moments really, really angry.

"God damn!" she almost yelled to whoever might be listening, in this case she later hoped that no one had been listening, "He did it by a text! A god damn text! A fucking text!"

Then she cried!

The text message was concise and unemotional: "Karrie: got a new job offer in Seattle; leaving this afternoon. Cases packed; don't need any stuff.Thanks for letting me stay. Jeff"

Through her tears she was berating him: "Letting him stay; we were living together damn it! And now this! A fucking text and he's off to Seattle."

The uncomfortable reality sunk in rather quickly: she'd been jilted; dumped by that shit Jeff Norman! Dumped! Jilted! It resounded through her mind, as she looked at the text again.

Karrie, Karrie Ransome, had 'lived' with Jeff for about a half a year. It wasn't the greatest relationship. Jeff was pretty closed off and not overly communicative at most times. But living together had had its pleasant sides. The availability of sex, at times great sex, had been a plus. It left the internet scene and the bar scene behind, and for that Karrie had been certainly grateful. And right then she decided that she didn't even want to think about it, about those things. This major 'bomb' was just beginning to settle in.

He was, by then certainly, actually gone, packed up and gone! That was the reality that was screaming at her from the phone text page. And her tears were flowing, maybe as much for the loss of the comfort of a relationship as for anything else. Karrie, right then didn't feel like looking at it any further, any deeper.

(Karrie Ransome, actually baptized Karen Mae Ransome, was just then 33 years old. She had been in a position with her life where she really liked the way things were happening. She was a member of the management team at work, Rennert & Co. She had her years of struggle behind her, she thought. She'd put herself through school and grad school, business school by the very sweat of her brow, as she was fond of putting it, and her position at Rennert was a result of all of that. The relationship with Jeff Norman had fit into that comfortable life style, after they'd dated for about a month and then began to talk about living together.

"Not staying with me! Damn it!" she almost shouted to the desk.

Her present life was such a kind of triumph for her, for Karrie. She'd been a fat girl in high school and as she went away to school. But it was then that she had grown a few extra inches and had discovered a vein of very strong determination within. She devoted herself to exercising and made herself over. She stopped using the name Karen, which she associated too easily with her 'fat self', as she termed it, and became to friends and associates 'Karrie'. It seemed to have worked, for not too terribly long after she began her work at Rennert, where she'd been for over two years now, she met, at a party, Jeff Norman and they struck up a relationship. Things were falling into place for Karrie Mae Ransome, so she thought.

Of course at that point she shouldn't have been terribly surprised, for her working out and watching her diet had certainly paid off. With her newfound growth, Karrie stood not 5'9" and had shaped herself down from her adolescent fatness to a lovely 130 lbs, which she carried very well. As she arrived at adulthood, full adulthood, she became busty and we rounded in the butt, all of which pleased Karrie no end, who felt that her 'time' was coming. The way that Jeff Norman had reacted to her just proved the truth of that kind of feeling for her.)

She let some of it go then, still staring at the text message, the finality of it:

"The shit! The dirty sneaking shit!" she almost intoned. "Jilted! Damn, damn jilted via text! Shit! Shit!"

(Karrie, at that point, had been working on the draft of a new proposal that they were working on at Rennert. It was an important document, proposal for their move into the future, and Karrie was pleased to have it to work on. There was to be a meeting with the 'boss', Victor Rennert, about the proposal that afternoon.)

It was only then that Karrie, still crying and cursing and swearing at the text on her phone, realized that Mr Rennert was indeed standing in the doorway, watching, witnessing her almost total melt down.

"Karrie?" Victor said, the concern in his voice total and real.

"Ohhhhh!" she groaned, when she realized that she'd been doing all of this spouting and crying with the boss, of all people, as a witness.

(Victor Rennert had inherited the company from his late father; he was just then 40 years old, he had come to work for his Dad and enjoyed the challenges of the kind of engineering business that they ran -- quite successfully. Over the years, it had become obvious that Victor's dad was counting on him to take over the business, and by the time his dad had died of a heart attack about five years before, Victor was ready for the business. He had some new ideas and they'd proven to be good ones, and the business had prospered. In the meantime, Victor had taken care of his aging and ailing Mom, who had also died eight months previously.)

He'd come into Karrie's office, they worked well enough together that they felt fee to come into each other's office, when there was a need, because they'd decided to look over the proposal that afternoon in detail. Now Karrie had it just about finished, when the text had arrived.

"Karrie!" he said again, and she looked up at him, the tears staining her face and simply handed the phone to him.

"Jilted!" she said, her voice sounding totally, completely lost. "I've been jilted! He simply sent me a text! The shit! A text!"

It might have been having someone else there at that point to share in her grief or just the quality of the relationship between the two of them but Karrie broke into real and prolonged crying then.

Victor moved over to where she was, set the phone down on her desk, and without another thought, pulled her head to his stomach. She, for her part, put her arms around his waist, right about at his belt and simply held onto him and cried.

"Ohhhhh!" she moaned.

When she finally calmed down just a bit she spoke, almost as though only to herself: "He wasn't that great, not to live with or anything, really, and it's probably for the best but a text! No dignity! No gratitude! Just a damn text!"

She moved her head away from his stomach then and put her hands on her desk top.

"I'm sorry, Mr R ... uh ... Victor, for falling apart at work like this..."

She never got to finish the sentence, he never let her: "Not a word about it. The proposal gets to wait until tomorrow. We'll take care of this now! That's all, just take care of this."

Karrie simply repeated the phrase after him: "Just take care of this now, yes!" She looked at him then, her eyes shining with tears and said simply: "How?"

It was as though she were putting herself into his hands and letting him make decisions for her.

"I know of a method of clearing your head that can't fail!" he said.

"Yes?" she said in a small and weak voice, still letting herself be taken care of.

"Come with me!" he said. He told their executive assistant/secretary that they were leaving for the day and walked Karrie out of the office part of the building.

He took her by the hand down to the corporate garage, and over to a corner of the garage that was for his private use. There stood his Harley.

"Ohhh," she said, as he took a leather jacket from the locker that stood there and a helmet.

"We're going to blow out the cobwebs," he said.

"Yes, she said, almost in a trance, "Blow out the cobwebs!"

He gave her a leather jacket from the locker also.

"My skirt?" she said, realizing that he was going to take her for a ride.

"Don't worry," he said, I'll get on first and won't be looking, when you get on!"

It made her giggle, which was the first sign that she was coming out of the reaction that she'd had to the text message.

Victor did get onto the motorcycle and then Karrie clambered up behind him, giggling again, when she realized how much of her pantyhose covered thighs were showing, as she climbed aboard.

"Helmet?" she said.

"Optional in the state," he said, "and I want to blow the cobwebs out of your mind. So, let's start this way. As soon as it's too much, simply lay your face against my back."

Then he roared off, with Karrie shrieking her joy at the sensations of it. Karrie's shrieking continued. The wind and the speed and the sensations of it all were overwhelming her and she was simply sunk in the joy of what was happening. It was, as he'd said, blowing out the cobwebs.

Karrie held onto Victor tightly. The leather jacket was unzipped and Victor was very aware of the pressure of Karrie's breasts against his back. She had her arms wrapped around him and her face buried in between his shoulders. She was cuddled up to him and the wind was blowing her skirt up so that she fairly had her stomach and pussy pressed against his hips. Victor as acutely aware of that sensation also.

The ride was as therapeutic as Victor had planned. Karrie was grinning, giggling and laughing, when they were finally finished.

"I'll hold it here, so that you can get off!" Victor said.

"Miss the show then!" she said and quickly corrected herself: "Oops, sorry Mr R!'

"You know it's Victor!" he said, "We're friends here, Karrie!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, friends!" she said, getting off the cycle.

She laughed then and said: "You should have turned around! Wind had my skirt up around my waist!" She giggled then.

He laughed and said: "Well it all felt nice enough to me!"

She put her hand over her mouth and giggled again. Then she launched herself at him for a hug.

"Oh, you make me feel so much better!" she said, hugging him, allowing herself to be plastered up against him.

"What I had in mind!" he said.

Then, while hugging him, and always holding on, Karrie did a little soul searching: "He wasn't that great a partner really. He was cut off from me and fairly cold. We didn't talk much and weren't really friends, I'm afraid. I can admit it now but before, while he was around, it was too frightening to see or admit."

Victor simply held her and let her talk.

"You're so much more of a friend to me than he ever was!" Karrie said finally, sighing, as she said it. "I'll be so much better off without him. Thank you, Victor!"

She sobbed then a little bit more and then accepted his handkerchief to dry her face.

ARRIVING AT A PLAN:

"We need to talk about what you're going to do," he said.

"Don't know," she said, "Hate, kind of, to go home."

"Okay," he said, "Here's what we'll do, if you want," he began. "We have two apartments in the top of the office suite. I use one of them and keep them both up and clean but the other you can use. I mean for tonight or as long as you need it."

"Oh, that'll be such a help," she said.

"It has towels and all," he went on, "So, it's equipped."

"Need things from home," she said ruefully.

Then a thought struck him and he said next: "Well, if you trust me, I can go there and, with a list from you, get what you need."

"Oh, you're so nice!" she said, hugging him again. Then she giggled, as a thought crossed her mind.

"What?" he asked with a grin; then he noticed that she was blushing. "Oh, this is going to be good!"

She laughed outright and said: "You just want to go and play with my panties!"

She put her hand over her mouth immediately and began to apologize to him but he stuck up his hand and said: "No, don't apologize; in fact, you're right and I'm counting on it!"

She giggled then behind her hand: "Terrible man!" she said and began to apologize for calling him that.

"No," he said again, "I'll wear that name like a badge of honor!"

They were both laughing by then.

"Okay," he said, "Let's go and I'll show you that apartment."

They went upstairs and he gave her the key that he used to get into the apartment. She loved it. It was smallish but well appointed and just a treat.

"This is so nice!" she said.

"Let me go and get something," he said, going next door to the apartment that he used.

When he came back, he had a tee shirt for her and a pair of running pants.

"Here are these, if you need them and want to clean up, after I get back with your panties and stuff!"

She put her hand over her mouth and giggled again then. She took the tee and running pants and then plastered herself against him again, holding on and returning to sobbing.

"Oh, this is being so nice!" she said, "Sorry for being inappropriate!"

"Heck," he interjected, "I'm the one who's going to be playing in your panty drawer in just a little bit! So, that'll be what's inappropriate!"

"You are! It will!" she said with great élan and smiled at him, still not letting him go.

It was at that moment that they both realized that they needed to break the hug or kiss. It startled her a bit and she let her arms drop and said a soft: "Oh dear!"

He simply nodded in agreement. Without saying it to each other, they both decided to think about this just a little bit.

"I'll get you that list," she said, returning to giggling.

"Any druthers about what undies I bring?" he asked with a grin.

"Terrible!" she said.

"Yep, that's who I am!" he crowed.

"No, you just enjoy yourself and play!" she replied.

"This will be like a kid's greatest fantasy: playing in the panty drawer!" he said with glee.

"Well, enjoy it!" she said and then she turned serious again: "Victor," she said softly, "This is so nice! So nice of you!"

He gave her a hug and said softly: "It'll be fine; you'll see. He's just gone and you're fine!"

"Yes, fine!" she repeated, hugging him.

"Shall I bring something to eat back?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, that'll be great!" she said.

He left then and she settled down in the apartment. She decided to take a shower, and took that opportunity to wash out her panties and hang them on the shower bar. She thought and it made her giggle:

"He's probably playing with my panties now!"

(Karrie realized in a rush that she even liked that idea. She chided herself quickly: "Get a grip, girl; your emotions are not to be trusted right now." She decided to simply let things happen though.)

She had her shower finished and her hair done up, wearing the tee shirt and running pants that he'd left for her, by the time that he returned. She'd also taken time to wash her bra with her panties, putting them on the bar too. It left her without a bra, and her large breasts were pushing against the thin fabric of the tee shirt. It made her giggle.

He had a bag of food in one hand and a small suitcase in the other.

"Here I am," he said, "Clean undies and all!"

He stopped at that point and stared, simply stared.

"Good," she said, "I need them: the food and the undies!"

"Victor, you okay?" she asked.

"Don't think so," he said, shaking his head and taking in her beauty and statuesque fineness.

It made Karrie laugh. "Earth to Victor!"

"Hmm," he chuckled, shaking his head, "Our girl, Karrie doesn't have any panties, I bet! I know she doesn't have a bra!"

"Are they questions?" she quipped at him.

"No, more like statements," he said, "Deny it, if you will!"

She held up her hands and said: "No denials here!"

"Thought not," he said, and she giggled.

"You have me giggling, Victor!" she said with a bit of wonder in her voice.

"Making you feel a bit better, I guess!" he said, trying to get his mind and eyes off of the view of her breasts through the fabric of the tee.

"Oh, it is!" Karrie admitted, both to herself and also to him.

She took the suitcase into the bedroom and quickly put on a pair of panties but still no bra. She was smiling, when she went back into the kitchen area, where he was spreading the food out.

"Know what you just did!" he said.

"Now don't you go making me blush!" she said with mock asperity.

"But you're so pretty, when you blush!" he said and she giggled behind her hand again.

"This is so nice of you," she said softly then.

He turned to her and she hugged him again.

"Karrie," he said softly, "I'm only trying to make you feel a little better here. This is not my chance to try to seduce you! At least I don't think it is!" He had uncertainty in his voice at the end of that sentence.

"Oh," she said softly, "Sleeping with the boss! Hmmmmm! What an idea!" (Picking up on his obvious mood.)

"Now who's terrible?" he asked.

"Goodie," she said, "We can share that epithet!"

"Yep!" he said.

"Besides," she said into his ear, "You've already been mucking around in my panties drawer!"

He laughed a kind of dirty laugh and said: "Yes, and I found the pictures there of you doing dirty things!"

She hooted!

"Didn't either!" she crowed. "Don't have any!"

"Too bad!" he said.

"You searched?" she asked, grinning.

"I did!" he said.

He had a bottle of wine that he opened and they toasted: "To friends!" he said.

"Yes, to friends!" she said, agreeing with him.

As they sat and ate, she said to him: "Sorry, Victor, that the proposal got side tracked today."

"Well, it's so well along," he commented, "That getting to it tomorrow will be just fine. You do have some clothes now for tomorrow."

"Yes," she said, lapsing into a grin at him again.

"And some panties too!" he said, "I made sure of that!"

She giggled behind her hand.

"Okay," he said, with his hands up in the air in a defensive position: "I'll behave."

"Really wish you wouldn't!" she said quietly, "Jeffery was such a stick! And I'll try to not keep bringing him up!"

"You bring him up as often as you like," he said, "We're just getting through this."

"Yes," she said, sighing, "Getting through this."

GOING BACK HOME WITH A DIFFERENCE:

It was right about the time, when Karrie was alone and dressing in her own clothes, that she started to give herself messages, severe messages about how her behavior was damaging her prospects at work. By the time she was fully dressed, and went back to where Victor was, she was convinced and knew that she needed to say something.

He noticed the look on her face, and was wise enough to realize that she'd had some kind of setback in the interim.

"Probably giving herself messages," he speculated.

"Um, Victor," she began. "I need to say something, I believe."

He nodded his head and let her get on with it.

"I realize that I'm being almost teenaged here, at least adolescent in the way that I've been reacting to what's happened to me..." she began.

He held up a hand and said: "Okay, stop right there."

She got a surprised look on her face and just let him talk.

"Karrie, I know you; we've been together for a couple of years now. I know your value, your worth here at the office. I know how much you are one of the prime persons that anyone in the company can 'go to' for problem solving and issue handling. I've seen constantly how up-beat and positive you always are and this is the first time that I've seen you 'in the dumps'," he took a breath then but she knew he wasn't finished.

She, by then, however, had tears in her eyes, as he went on.

"What happened to you is one of the cruelest, and most selfish things that I can possibly think of. You share your life and your home with someone; you become, in fact a partner in the special sense of that word and what happens. You are abandoned with only a text message to warn you. Nothing else. No preparation; no consideration; no thoughtfulness; no love or concern! It's enough to turn anyone's 'adolescent' type emotions on. I think that you're judging yourself too harshly, and I believe that he is either stupid or just blind!"

"Ohh," she moaned and began to cling to him, and cry.

He kissed the top of her head and said: "Karrie, this in no way impacts my thoughts or estimation of you as a person or as a valued member of the management team that we have here at Rennert. That's just not going to happen."

"Oh, why ... why couldn't it have been you instead of that shit Jeff?" she wailed.

Then she looked up at Victor and said a soft: "Sorry!"

"Shhhhh!" he said, quieting her declaration of being 'sorry'.

"Okay," he said, "Day's end. We've eaten. Gotten clean clothes, top to bottom..."

She giggled behind her hand then, as he reached out with a handkerchief and wiped her tears away.

"Top to bottom," he repeated, "And now we maybe need to look forward a little. You can use the apartment as long as you wish but maybe, just maybe it should be like getting back on the horse that has thrown you."

"Yes," she said, nodding her head too.

"Going back to your apartment; making sure that his stuff is just gone and it's all yours again; I mean, even if you intend to move to another place that will be more your own in a special way," he concluded. "You can still use the apartment but maybe looking around at home right now is important."

"Yes, I think you're right," she said bravely, the sobs not too far away.

"And if you wish;" he said then, "Karrie, if you wish, I will go with you and we'll look the place over together."

The light lit in her eyes and she gave him a huge smile: "Oh, will you? That would be so nice!"

"Of course," he said, "Karrie, we're pals here!"

"Yes, pals!" she said, not completely sure if she really liked that analogy of what they were to each other.

"Also, I threw your panties all over the bedroom in my delight," he said with a wicked grin.

She giggled and said: "If you did, I'll bite you!"

"Aha," he said, "She's fierce also!"

"Definitely!" she said grinning.

They went together then to the garage. Victor said that he'd drive. When they got to his car, Karrie found it to be a silver gray Mercedes.

"This is beautiful!" she said with some true enthusiasm.

(For Karrie the issue of a car had been put on hold, while she devoted time to the relationship that, she thought, was growing with Jeff. It was down on the list of things to think about. Her sensible Toyota was positively drab in comparison to this lovely Mercedes. These were the thoughts that were flying through her head, as she saw the car and approached it. She was enchanted by it, and its loveliness.)

"One of my indulgences!" he said.

She smile and said: "Only one?"

"Yes," he said, "My home is mainly the other one!"

"Sounds nice!" she answered.

"I'll show you some time," he replied.

"I'd like that," she answered, settling down in the car an running her hand over parts of it with more soft sounds of pleasure.

It wasn't a long drive from Rennert's to the apartment, and Karrie was silent most of the way. It was obviously being a struggle for her.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," she said softly.

Victor put his hand over hers and said: "We'll do this together!"

"Oh," she said squeezing his hand. "I don't know what I'd have done, if it hadn't been for your help and concern. I truly appreciate that."

"We're pals," Victor said.

"Yes," she agreed, "Pals!"

They got to the apartment building and went in hand in hand.

"Shall I go in first and pick up the panties that are strewn around the bedroom?" he asked politely. She giggled and said: "I'll get you, Victor Rennert!"

"That's the way you should be," he said, smiling back at her.

She was quiet as they moved around the apartment. It occurred to her that Jeff really had very little there, to call his own. He hadn't made much of an imprint at all on the place.

She also found herself saying the same to Victor.

"It's so obvious that he's gone," she said softly, "And we're here and it seems to make it different."

"Yes," he said, "Different."

"And better!' she said with a loud sigh.

A thought had been forming in the back of her mind. She knew it was outrageous and maybe, just maybe totally the wrong thing for her to do but the more she thought of it, the more she wanted to do it, was determined.

"Uh, Victor," she said, "Can you wait here for a moment please. I need to do something. I'll be right back."

"Not going anywhere," he said.

She reached up then and stroked her hand along his cheek: "You're so nice to me!" she said with great appreciation in her voice.

He smiled, and watched her go into the bedroom.

(Victor realized then the truth of a thought that had been growing in his mind. He was becoming truly attracted to this woman. He had, for the longest time, only had periodic flings and had not been serious about any woman but he found himself over a time period truly attracted to Karrie, the way she cared, her obvious competence at work, and her sensitiveness. That was all, in his mind, strengthened by the way they were sharing this 'crisis'. They were impressions that were simply piling up in his mind. It was these thoughts that were swirling though his mind, as he waited for her.)

But nothing really prepared Victor for what was about to happen. When Karrie came back, which she did fairly quickly, she was now wearing only a pair of thin, fairly transparent black panties and her black heels.

"Ohhhhh"! He said, and simply gaped at her.

"Victor," she said softly, "If this is a bad idea, or one that isn't proper, please tell me right away, and I -- we'll deal with it. Please!"

"Good idea!" he said hoarsely, "Proper! Wonderful! Enchanting! Absolutely perfect!"

By the time he'd gotten to 'perfect', she'd crossed the room and was reaching out for him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! For being the way you are and, especially for being the way you are with me!" she said quietly.

She took in a breath, as he held her, his hands lingering only for the time being on the middle of her back.

"Please do this with me now and make it all different here!" she asked fervently. "It will be the very thing that I need!"

"Of course," he said, "The very thing!"

She grinned up at him then and said: "Do you like my black grannies?"

"Of course I do," he said, "I stole all the sexy things earlier!"

She giggled then but at the same moment he moved the situation along in the direction that both of them wished by kissing her.

She made throat noises, as he kissed her, and those noises only increased through the kiss, when his hands reached down and encompassed her butt cheeks, through her panties.

"Oh, doesn't that feel nice," she said, sliding her tongue out and licking his lips with it.

"Yes," he said, "We're going to do this!"

"Oh, yes," she agreed, but made a little squealing noise, as he reached down and grabbed her under the knees and across the back of her upper back and began to carry her into the bedroom.

She put her head against his chest and said what was on her mind: "You are so strong!"

"You are so beautiful!" he countered and she reached her face up for another kiss.

"Wonderful!" she commented, and he smiled at her, laying her down on the bed, where she lounged, making no attempt to shield her pubic hair from him, poking against the nylon fabric of the panties, or to hide her puffy nipples either.

She lay there and watched as he took his own clothes off.

(Victor Rennert too was a devotee of working out. He had the bad example of his Dad, who'd died from a heart attack, fairly early in life -- his 60's. He kept in good shape, alternating between his cardio workout and working on weight machines. The broadness of his shoulders and the solidness of his chest were not really apparent, until he had his clothes off.)

In this situation, as Karrie watched him undress, she was super pleased with the way that he looked, once he'd taken his shirt off.

"Oh, you're wonderful!" she said.

She reached down then and pushed her panties down and off, taking them and throwing them to a grinning Victor.

"You get these for being so nice to me and being so spectacular without your clothes!" she said, smiling as he caught the panties.

"Keeping these!" he said, "At least for a few days."

"Eventually," she said, giggling, "I won't have any panties! You'll have them all!"

"Then you'll have to come to my house to get them!" he said, grinning.

"It's time now," he said, moving toward her.

"Time?" she answered, realizing that she'd initiated this but was letting the carrying through up to him. "Good, then do something to me!"

"I intend to!" he said, but took her by surprise by grabbing her legs and pulling her down so that her legs were now off the bed, her feet on the floor, which left him kneeling between her legs and he began to alternatingly kiss the inner part of her left thigh and then her right.