Chapter 1

Rebecca sat for a while in the car. As the garage door slammed shut behind her she at last felt safe and alone. It had been an exhausting night and she'd longed for the solitude.

Eventually she opened the door of the Mercedes and eased her long legs out from under the dash. Her heels reverberated as she made for the private lift that would take her back to her apartment.

Her exhaustion couldn't be put down solely to the drink. She hadn't had that much, being well used to pacing herself at these functions. The talk around the table had been business and she'd set up a couple of planning meetings.

That hadn't been the reason she felt so tired. She could take all that in her stride. It was grist to the mill for executives such as her.

The social had finished with a dance and she'd found herself hooked up with the only other person who hadn't a partner.

It was logical, she thought, and it didn't really concern her overly. The board chairman had brought him over and he wasn't someone you could easily ignore. The man was a new appointment, the chairman told her, an engineer with the roading division.

Rebecca was put out. What did one talk to a roading engineer about? The poor man looked out of his depth, nervous and fidgety, and who could blame him? This engineer was suddenly thrust into the company of the top echelon of the corporation. She'd imagined that was enough to send anyone trembling.

And if Rebecca had to be honest, the roading engineer made her feel uncomfortable and out of her depth. It had been a good while since she had to converse with someone so, well, unrefined.

The engineer, Bradley - such a silly name, she thought - was at least 15 years her junior. If the man was thirty, he'd be lucky, and she felt ill-matched and uncomfortable.

Rebecca walked slowly into her lounge with her mind in overdrive. Her limbs ached from fatigue and she knew she needed to lie down, but her head wouldn't let her. Instead, she set some coffee on to brew and flicked the channels on the television.

Her cocktail dress now felt uncomfortable and her heels were making her ankles throb. She kicked them off and went into the bedroom to change.

She could help but catch the full length mirror before she threw on her nightgown. At 45 she was no longer a spring chicken, she thought, but she wasn't that badly preserved. Looking around at some of the wives tonight, she thought she compared favourably with the overdressed and underweight trophies.

Rebecca had a struggle to be taken seriously, like many women in business. She'd acquired the skill to discourage unwanted sexual advances tactfully, but, at the same time, to use her femininity when it was to her advantage. It was a tough game and one needed to strike a balance. She'd achieved that over the years and now she was at the top.

She smoothed the silk gown over her hips and twisted slightly so she could examine the swell of her breasts in the mirror. 'Not bad, ' she ventured a smile, 'not bad at all - for her age.'

Rebecca flopped back down on the sofa and idly watched some atrocious, late night, game show. Her focus struggled until the grinning bimbos on the screen became fuzzy and the inane chattering wafted out of her consciousness. This guy, this Bradley, replaced the flickering eyewash in her vision.

He'd dance too damned close to her, she thought. She tried to keep a good distance, but decided she was being silly. The slow dance had demanded some physical contact and even the chairman had got to snuggle with someone's wife.

A little flirting was part of the game and she'd sure as hell played that game before. By tacit acceptance it never led to anything - especially in the fragile atmosphere of boardroom politics. An indiscretion was always liable to end badly.

Bradley, however, was not part of the politics. He was far too down the totem pole for there to be much concern. He was a simple engineer - the kind of guy who wore overalls and drove around in a company truck. He was a nobody and what he was doing at the social was a mystery.

She wondered whether the chairman was playing some sort of game with her. If so, it was so subtle she couldn't see the point. Perhaps he was tossing her a bone out of some misplaced generosity? It wasn't like the old goat to mess with people's lives in that fashion, she concluded. He simply didn't care enough to want to fix his executives up with dates.

Bradley was hot, she was forced to admit. He was tall, well muscled, handsome with a rustic five o'clock shadow. He was reticent to the point of shyness, or, more probably, stuck for something to say.

But he said it all with those eyes and his damned smile, Rebecca thought. That, and his body he so innocently pushed at her on the dance floor. His arm had encircled her back and she still felt where his hand had held her.

Her insides had slowly turned to mush, but she knew how to keep her composure. Her dress had been too thin for the situation - every light touch felt like a caress across her bare skin. Would Bradley have invited her to the washroom, she wondered? In other circumstances, would she have meekly followed to be screwed mercilessly in some smelly stall? Out of the question, of course. She couldn't possibly allow such a thing to happen.

Rebecca's hand rested between her legs as she lay back on her leather sofa. She realised with a start that all these recollections were making her horny. In some perverse way, she regretted not having the freedom to seduce this engineer.

Making up her mind, she turned off the TV and walked slowly through to the bedroom. Once in bed her hand, again, found its way to her crotch. She was sticky with lust and her nipples tingled. With the bedside lamp off, Bradley's face remained, boring in with those eyes and charming her with his smile.

Easing her legs slightly apart, she slowly began to rub over her panties. It had been a good while since a man, any man, had done this to her.

Her mind harkened back to when she was fourteen and Bradley's shining eyes began to merge with that of her first true love. James had been her brother's best friend and the same age, 19. He was a frequent visitor and she developed a crush the moment his eyes fell on her's.

The two friends had been home on holiday from university and James stayed over weekends, playing music and smoking dope in her brother's room. Rebecca sometimes would hang around, waiting for an invitation to join them. Persistence paid off and one night, when their parents were out to a show, her brother relented and said she could stay for a while.

Both had been drinking and smelled of beer. James was not drunk, though, but her brother was getting carded. Soon he flaked and James turned down the music to let him sleep it off.

James then rolled a joint and offered it to Rebecca. She wanted to prove how grown up she was so she took a toke or two.

Although James was a little stoned, he wanted to talk and told Rebecca about his hopes and dreams. He wanted to be a scientist, he said, a marine biologist and she explained about her ambition to be an accountant.

"Why? he'd said in surprise.

"Because I like maths," she'd told him.

She could've told him of her desire to be Prime Minister, but, in those days, it would've made her sound like a nut.

Rebecca increased the pressure on her pussy as she ran through her favourite scenario. She liked to delay herself as much as possible - it made her come harder. The way she felt tonight, she knew she'd pop the minute her fingers found their way into her panties, but that seemed a waste. She'd hold that off until she got to the good part with James.

That night, she remembered, her and James found themselves leaning into each other. Rebecca recalled that, at fourteen, she had a tight little teenage body. Her breasts were high on her chest and pointed - her hips flared nicely around her small bum.

She knew James was eyeing the goods - she sensed his attention on her boobs. She tingled with anticipation and uncertainty. Was this just in her mind or did James really fancy her? Even when his arm seemed to naturally find its way over her shoulders she was still unsure what he would do.

"I think we should leave him to sleep," he told her, nodding towards her brother. "Don't feel like crashing yet," he continued, "wanna go into your room and rap some more?"

'Hell, yes!' she thought, but she just nodded with the right amount of decorum. He took her hand and led her down the hall. Her heart was pounding in her chest. The way she was feeling she could let him do what he liked tonight.