Chapter 1

I was waiting to board an airplane that would take me from Atlanta to home. I'd been sitting and people watching when she came into the boarding area and took a seat. I recognized her right away even though it had been twelve years since I'd last seen her.

Shayleen Murphy had been my fantasy girl from the time I'd first laid eyes on her the first day of class at the start of the eighth grade. As she sat and fiddled with her cell phone I watched her. In fact I could not take my eyes off of her. She noticed and after maybe five minutes she got up and came over to me.

"Why are you staring at me? Do I have something in my hair?"

"No. I was just admiring your beauty. I thought you were perfection in high school, but I was wrong. Perfection means as good as it gets, but you are definitely much, much better now."

"High school? Do I know you?"

"Maybe know of me, but you didn't actually know me."

"Care to explain that to me?"

"I was just one of the 186 in our class. I was around and you would have seen me, but I don't remember you ever speaking to me from the eighth grade on."

"You're kidding me."

"Not in the least. You were the most popular girl in our class and you ran with the cheerleaders and jocks. I was with the nerds and geeks. The two groups never socialized and even if they would have I wouldn't have been there. I had to work in the family business after school so I never was wherever it was that you went to socialize after school."

She took a step back and looked me over and then said, "You have to be pulling my leg. If you were really in my class I would recognize you even if we never socialized."

"Try to imagine me with coke bottle lens glasses, forty pound heavier and with a hair cut that looked like a bowl had been placed on my head and all the exposed hair had been cut off."

She stared at me for a bit and then said, "Frank. Frank Dalton."

"Close. Frank Denton."

Before she could say anything the announcement came that they were boarding rows ten through fourteen.

"That's me" I said as I picked up my carryon bag. "Nice seeing you again Shayleen" and I headed for my seat.

The airplane was only half full and I had the window seat. We were at altitude and I was looking down at the ground through breaks in the clouds when some one sat down in the aisle seat. I looked and saw Shayleen sitting there, Since rows one through eight were first class and I hadn't see Shayleen walk past my seat when the plane was loaded I assumed that she was sitting in first class. She saw the question on my face and said:

"Tell me more about my having improved on what you originally thought was perfection."

"What can I say? You were my dream girl. The girl all my fantasies were built on."

"Oooooh, that sounds good. Tell me more."

By the time our flight had landed Shayleen and I had exchanged our vitals. She had finished college and had gone to work as a CPA, gotten married and then divorced. She was currently single and not looking. From me she found out that I was twice divorced and was running the family business that my grandfather had started and where I had worked since I was fourteen. As we taxied to the gate I asked:

"Would my dream girl have dinner with me some evening?"

"I'd like that. I'm usually free most nights except Wednesdays. That is the night I play cards with some of the girls who were in my sorority.

"Would this Friday work for you?"

"Yes it would."

We exchanged phone numbers, she gave me her address and I told her I would pick her up at six-thirty.

As I drove home from the airport I was thinking about the odds of my ever getting a date with Shayleen Murphy. It was a given that the teenaged goddess would never have given the teenaged geek a second look, but laser surgery had eliminated the coke bottle lens glasses and my first wife Glenda had been responsible for all of the other changes in me.

I met Glenda during my freshman year at State. She had the seat next to me in Introduction to Business Law and we started talking while waiting for the instructor to show up. Later that day I was in the student cafeteria and she came in and saw me and asked if she could join me. We talked and got to know each other. I liked her and she seemed to like me and we started spending time together. Not dates, but things like joining each other in the cafeteria and studying together in the library.

By the time I met Glenda my eye problems had been taken care of, but I was about forty pounds overweight and I had absolutely no sense of style. My mother had taken off when I was about six leaving dad to raise me. He did his best, but he was busy trying to run the business that my grandfather had left him and I had a succession of nannies and baby sitters until I was about twelve. He put in late hours and I was pretty much left on my own.

By the time I was twelve I was fixing my own breakfast, making my own lunch and more often than not I was handling dinner also. Quite naturally I was eating what I liked and, also quite naturally, what I liked was fattening and not really good for me.

Dad gave me a pretty hefty allowance and it was understood that I was supposed to take care of things like clothes and haircuts with the money. I learned early that in order to have spending money for the things I really wanted I needed to buy the cheapest clothes I could find and wear then until I had absolutely no choice but replace them.

Tommy was my next door neighbor and one day I was bitching to him about the high cost of haircuts and his mother overheard us and she told me that she would cut my hair for a third of what the barbershop charged. She did Tommy's hair and it looked okay to me so I jumped at the chance to put more spending money in my pocket. My haircuts looked okay to me, but some of the kids laughed and told me that I looked dorky, but I didn't care. I might have looked dorky to some, but I was still able to get dates and the girls I dated made out with me and after Pauline French took my cherry as an eighteenth birthday present and I was getting laid on a fairly regular basis I didn't care one whit about what others thought about my hair. Of course I found out later that I got the dates because I had the money to spend and a lot of other guys my age didn't.

Anyway, back to Glenda.

After three weeks of spending time with Glenda I asked her out. I was pulled up short when she told me that I needed to make some changes before she would let herself be seen with me on a date. She was uncomfortably blunt about it.

"You dress like you get all of your clothes out of a rag bin and your hair looks like you stuck your head in a fan to get it cut."

She saw the look on my face and said, "No one else ever told you how you look?"

"Not really."

"Who buys your clothes?"

"I do."

"Figures. I'll bet that you don't go to a real barber either do you?"

"No."

She contemplated me for a bit and then she said, "I'm appointing myself your style coordinator. Think of it as my being your personal trainer for clothes and appearance."

She took me in hand and in our free time she drug me around to stores and picked out things for me to buy. She forced me to go to a regular barber and after a week or so she was done with me and she said:

"You'll do. Where are we going on our first date?"

We started making out on our third date and a month later we made love for the first time. Glenda wasn't my first piece of ass, but she gave me my first blow job and I ate pussy for the first time. Glenda was really into oral and sixty-nine became a regular occurrence when we made love. Glenda was also the first one to do anal with me.

After we had been making love for a couple of weeks Glenda told me that I needed to lose some weight.

"No girl wants to have a big belly lying on top of her. I guess it is time for me to go back into personal trainer mode."

She came up with a program for me that included running every day and she was ruthless in making me follow it. Follow it I did and the pounds came off. Slowly, but they did come off. I fully admit that I did all of what Glenda wanted because I was pussy whipped. We were making love four and five times a week and we were doing it all. Glenda was especially into oral and anal and I was getting as much as I could handle.

Just before finals in our freshman year Glenda came to me and told me that we had a problem.

"I'm pregnant Frank."

"I thought that you were on the pill."

I am, but I think that the medicine I took when I had the flu screwed things up. What are we going to do about it Frank?"

"We will have to get married."

My dad's response to that was, "I think that you are too young to be getting married Frank, but then I guess that you do have to accept the responsibility. I was your age when I married your mother and look how that turned out. There is one thing though. Your lady is going to have to sign a prenuptial agreement exempting the business in the case of a divorce."

"I don't know if she will do that."

"Then I won't leave the business to you. I'll leave it to your children. It is going to stay in the family. All of it."

Glenda did sign the pre-nup and we were married in a civil ceremony.

Three months after we were married Glenda miscarried. She had gone to Michigan to visit her sick grandmother and had fallen down some steps. Two weeks later I found out that it was all bullshit.

I had purchased a digital voice activated recorder for taping classes since it was easier for me than taking notes. I was sitting at the kitchen table in our apartment listening to it when the phone rang and I pushed the stop button and answered the phone. It was some guy trying to drum up support for someone running for office.

When I hung up the phone I looked at the clock and saw what time it was. Glenda was bringing her friend Tara home with her and I had promised to take care of dinner. I had intended to order pizza, but had forgotten. I called the pizza place and placed an order to go. I was leaving to pick up the pizzas when Glenda and Tara came into the apartment. I gave Glenda a quick kiss and then left to go pick up dinner.

We ate and socialized with Tara and after she left Glenda and I went to bed. Glenda was really horny that night and I was exhausted when I finally was able to go to sleep.

The next day I had a thirty minute break between my first and second class so I went to the cafeteria, got a cup of coffee and a sweet roll and sat down at a table to review the recording of the last class. I didn't fully rewind because I still had yesterday's last class on it. I rewound to where I thought the start of the day's class would be and hit play.

" ... did you get Frank to believe that you were at your grandmother's?"

"He isn't too bright. I mean he did buy the phony pregnancy."

The first voice was Tara's and the second was Glenda's. Phony pregnancy? Not too bright? I must have left the recorder on and their voices had activated it. I kept hitting rewind and play until I got to where the two of them came into the kitchen. I heard the front door close behind me and then Tara said:

"You did a good job on him. I'd probably even date him now."

"Oh no you don't you slut. He's my gravy train."

"Listen to you. Calling me a slut. The girl who spent a full week in Roger's bed. How did you get Frank to believe that you were at your grandmother's?"

"He's not too bright. I mean he did buy the phony pregnancy. I needed an excuse to be gone a few days so I could have my miscarriage without anyone seeing that it was phony. Besides, Roger has a great cock and I love fucking him."

"The plan still the same?"

"Yep. Wait six months and then get pregnant for real. Either by Frank or Roger; it doesn't really matter which one does it. Then Roger sees to it that Frank's old man passes on and leaves the business to Frank. After a decent interval Roger will see to it that something happens to Frank and I'll inherit. Worst case is that Frank's father's will will be written to leave the business to Frank's kids, but as their mother I'll control things until they are old enough to take over. I'll never be poor again."

"There are a hell of a lot of 'what if's' in there. You getting caught cheating on Frank with Roger for one."

"Never happen. I'm way too careful for that."

The rest of it was them talking about other things until I got home with the pizzas.

Well 'Way too careful Glenda' I thought, one of those 'what if's' just bit you on your ass.

I skipped the rest of my classes that day and went to see my dad. I played the tape for him. He called our attorney and I went to see him and played the tape for him and he called an assistant district attorney that he knew and we played the tape for him. The net result? After everything was over and done with I had an annulment and Glenda was doing a year and a day in the can. Roger was arrested, but made bail and skipped town.

But I did owe her for my makeover so I sent her a carton of cigarettes. She didn't smoke, but I'd heard that cigarettes are used as currency in jail.

Friday I picked up Shayleen at six and asked her what her preference was when it came to eating out and she said anything but oriental so I took her to Carl's Chop House.

Over dinner we talked and she told me the sad tale of her marriage. She had married Todd Lucero who had been the star quarterback at our high school. He had gotten an athletic scholarship and had gone off to become a stand out college quarterback.

Shayleen had gone to the same university and they had hooked up, gone steady and gotten engaged. They got married when they graduated. Todd was drafted by the Denver Broncos and he looked like a sure bet to make the team as a starter. He did start the second game of the pre-season. But a hard tackle had blown out his right knee and his career was over before it even got started.

He became a bitter and abusive drunk and the second time he sent Shayleen to the emergency room she got rid of him.

"Since then I have dated some, but have devoted most of my time to my career. What's your story? Two ex-wives already and not yet thirty? Should I even be out with you? Were you some kind of monster to those two girls?"

She said it with a grin, but I knew that for her it was a really important question and a lot hinged on my answer. I told her about Glenda and how that had turned out and then I had to tell her about Gloria.

When I graduated with my Bachelor's in Business Management I did not go into the family business right away. It pissed off my dad no end, but as I told him I had never worked any place other than the family business and I wanted to experience a few other things. I would try a few other things and after two or three years I would join the family business.

I sent out a couple of dozen resumes and when Apex Industries offered me a position I took it. I was in my second week there and I was sitting in the break room having a cup of coffee when a very good looking redhead came over and asked if she could join me. We introduced ourselves.

"You must be new. I've not seen you before."

"I started two weeks ago."

"Where do they have you?"

"I'm in Asset Management. What do you do for the outfit?"

"I'm in Accounting."

I glanced at my watch and saw that it was time for me to get back to my desk so I told her that it was nice meeting her and that maybe we could have coffee again some time.

Over the next couple of weeks we ran into each other several times in the break room and either I joined her or she joined me. We had coffee and talked and then one day I asked her to have dinner with me and she accepted. We had a fun date and I asked for another and she again said yes. The second date led to a series of dates. We had been dating for two months when one night when I brought her home she gave me a kiss and said:

"It is time for you to fish or cut bait Frank."

"What does that mean?"

"You either like me enough to take things to the next level or you don't. Which is it?"

We took things to the next level and then again three or four nights a week for the next three months. Then I asked her to marry me. She said yes and again my father insisted on a pre-nup and Gloria signed it without saying a word.

We were married and I thought that we had a good and strong marriage. Silly me.

After two years I left Apex and went into the family business. Six months after joining the business I went out of town on a buying trip. I was supposed to be gone three days, but I managed to get everything done in two and the evening of the second day I caught the late flight home. I called Gloria to let her know I'd be home early, but got the recorded message. I tried to get her on her cell, but it went to voice mail.

I got home and let myself into the house and before the door even closed behind me I knew what was going on in the bedroom. I knew what I was going to find so I put my cell phone in picture taking mode and walked into the bedroom. I got three shots before they noticed me and another four while they scrambled to separate.

I put the phone in my pocket, picked up the man's pants and took out his wallet and read the information off of his driver's license. I dropped the wallet on the floor and waited to see what Barry Wasour was going to do. He looked ready to fight so I said:

"This is the way it goes down asshole. This is her house as well as mine so she has every right to invite people in. If I attack you I go to jail for assaulting you in a place that you had a right to be. You can hit me if you want to and I won't even defend myself until you get two punches in and then I'll half kill you and you will be the one going to jail for assaulting me.

"That does not mean that you will get a free ride out of this. What it means is that I know your name and where you live and I'll be seeing you down the road somewhere. So either get dressed and get out or take your best shot."

He hesitated and then shrugged, got dressed and left. While he was dressing I told Gloria to get dressed and get out. She dressed without a word and then left.

I saw an attorney the next day and filed for a divorce and Gloria didn't fight it. Three weeks later a man in a ski mask beat Barry Wasour so bad that he had to go to the emergency room at County General. The police paid me a visit, but fortunately for me Josh Barnum was able to tell them that Mike Mattson and I were helping him change the engine in his truck at the time of Barry's assault.

I told the story to Shayleen and added, "I never spoke with Gloria after she left the house that night so I have no idea of the why of it or how long it had been going on."

Shayleen smiled and said, "Would you like to know?"

"Not really. I don't think my ego could handle it if the reason was that I wasn't getting the job done."

"I don't think that was the reason at all. I told you on the plane that I was a CPA but I didn't tell you that I was the head of Accounting at Apex. Gloria Marcella worked in my department. For some reason known only to God and the Human Resources department all the employees in Accounting are women and women are terrible gossips when there are no men around.

"Gloria was engaged to be married to Barry Wasour and whenever the girls talked about men Gloria positively gushed over Barry. He could do no wrong. He was perfect in every way. He was the love of her life. As far as she was concerned their love was planned by the Gods.

"One month before the wedding Barry told Gloria that he wasn't going to marry her and he left town. She was devastated and was pretty much a basket case for the next couple of months and then suddenly her mood changed. She had met another man. You, being a man and not used to noticing such things, probably didn't notice that you and Barry look a lot alike. Same size, same hair coloring, close to the same features. You got Gloria on the rebound and most likely it was because you reminded her so much of Barry. Then she got married and we didn't hear about Barry anymore.

"About two years after she got married she came into work in a really bubbly mood and when one of the girls asked her what had her on such a high she said, and as I recall it, these are her exact words."

"My Barry is back and he wants me."

"Two weeks later she was telling every one that she was getting divorced so she and Barry could be together again. So two weeks is probably the answer to how long and the fact that you weren't Barry is probably the 'why' of it. She is still at Apex. She isn't a very happy lady. Barry dumped her and she realizes she screed up the good thing she had with a man who loved her in order to be with a man who didn't."

I shrugged and she went on.

"What seems odd to me is that you and I never saw each other. I was in that break room two or three times a day. You would think that we would have run into each other at least once in the hallways, lobby or parking lot."

"I guess the fates weren't ready to put us together at that time. They must have wanted me to be rid of my baggage before they put us together.""

"The fates? You think we were fated to meet in Atlanta?"

"Absolutely. What are the odds on my fantasy girl showing up in the boarding area where I was sitting and then getting up and coming over to me because I couldn't take my eyes off of her? How many times have you gone over to talk to men who looked at you because they were so taken with your beauty that they couldn't take their eyes off of you? I'll bet that the total would be one and that one was that day in Atlanta. Am I right?"

She smiled and said, "I'll never tell."

After dinner we went to The Boom Boom Room for drinks and dancing. Dancing with Shayleen was a dream come to life. She fit. It sounds simple, but it was true. She fit into my arms like she was made for me. It was a great evening for me and as I drove her home I told her how much I had enjoyed her company and that I hoped we could do it again. I was stunned when she said that she hoped so too.

Consider my mindset at the time. Two disastrous relationships with the opposite sex. I was probably the most insecure man in a six state area and the girl I had dreamed about all the way through high school just told me that she would like to go out with me again. Add to my insecurities that I considered Shayleen to be way, way out of my league and it was no wonder that I was stunned. I stared ahead at the road as my mind raced and then Shayleen said,

"Well say something."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Do you like classical music?"

"As long as it isn't opera. Why?"

"There is an all Beethoven concert at the Civic Center Auditorium Wednesday evening. Would you like to go?"

"I would indeed."

I was walking on air as I escorted her to her door ad then said goodnight. She went up on her toes (I was 6'1" and she was 5'2") and kissed me on the cheek and I felt as if I had just won the lottery. I slept very well that night.

We had a grand time at the concert and when I took her home I asked her to go out with me on Friday and she said yes. That began a relationship that had us dating two or three times a week.

On one of those dates I picked her up from work because her car was in the shop. As I got out of the car to open the door for Shayleen I saw Gloria come out the front door of the building. She stopped when she saw me holding the door for Shayleen and she stood there and stared. I maybe wrong, but I thought the look on her face was one of sadness.

After the second week the kisses were on the lips instead of the cheek. I ached for Shayleen. I wanted so badly to make love to her that it was driving me crazy, but I was always conscience of the fact that I thought that Shay was way out of my league and I didn't want to do anything that might scare her off. And to be absolutely honest in the back of my mind was the thought that I'd had two wives and something had to be wrong with me because both of them had gone to other men. Roger in Glenda's case and Barry in Gloria's. What if I tried with Shayleen and disappointed her and she wouldn't see me again?

I was driving Shayleen home from an evening of country/western dancing when she said:

"Are we going anywhere?"

"Just home unless you have somewhere else you want to go."

"That isn't what I mean and you know it. Is our relationship going anywhere or are we going to be just friends?"

The question caught me flatfooted and I didn't say anything.

"Talk to me Frank."

I took a deep breath and then said, "I want it to go somewhere. God knows that I want us to last forever, but I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"That I won't be man enough for you."

"And why would you think that?"

I explained my fears and she said, "Those stupid girls really did a number on you didn't they."

I shrugged and said, "Girls are always joking about how fragile a man's ego is, but even though they are joking it is still a truth. Between what Glenda did with Roger and Gloria did with Barry my ego is so low that it is keeping company with whale shit and as you know that is on the bottom of the ocean. If I were to be a disappointment to you I don't know that I could ever recover from it. With those thoughts on my mind I've been afraid to try and take our relationship any farther."

"If I am understanding you right you are saying that you want me, but are afraid that you won't be man enough for me right?"

I nodded a yes.

"Well it might just surprise you to know that I have the same fears. I'm afraid that I might not be woman enough for you. The only way either of us is going to find out the answer is to make it happen."

She said that just as we were pulling into her driveway. I parked and looked over at her and asked:

"Are you sure?"

"Come on in and find out."

I can't speak for Shay on my performance, but she was more than woman enough for me. We made out like teenagers on her couch until she pulled away from me. Took my hand and led me to her bedroom. We undressed each other and then she got on the bed and waited. I saw her face register surprise when instead of mounting her I settled in to eat her pussy. I munched on her until she panted:

"I want you in me Frank. Please Frank. Please make love to me."

I moved up and slid into her and then made slow gentle love to her until she cried out:

"Harder. Fuck me harder."

I did as she asked and I was rewarded for my efforts when she had a screaming orgasm. An actual loud screaming orgasm. Glenda and Gloria had orgasms when we had sex, but never loud screaming ones. I came and held myself in Shay until I softened and then I rolled over and settled in beside her. She rolled onto her side, put her arms around me and held me tight. After a bit she murmured into my chest:

"If you don't ask me to marry you after that I'll kill you."

I held her tight and said, "I'm too young to die so I guess I'll have to do it, but I won't ask until I have the ring and can do it in the traditional way."

"We can shop for the ring in the morning."

She slid down, took my cock in her mouth and we made love twice more before falling asleep in each other's arms.

I woke up alone, but I smelled the coffee and I got up and followed my nose into the kitchen. Shay smiled at me, poured me a cup and told me where the cream and sugar were and then asked me how I liked my eggs. I told her scrambled and then sat down at the kitchen table to sip my coffee and watch her work. After a minute I asked:

"Did last night really happen or was it just a dream?"

"You bet your sweet ass it did and I'm holding you to it. The malls open at nine and we are going ring shopping."

One the way to the Miracle Mile Mall I asked Shayleen, "Why on earth were you afraid that you wouldn't be enough for me?"

She was quiet for several seconds and then she said, "If I was woman enough I should have been able to pull Todd through his depression and give him a reason to work at keeping me happy. I couldn't do that and I finally had to give up on him.

"After my divorce I dated several guys, went to bed with a few of them, but after a couple of times they dropped me and moved on to other women. I became the female version of how you saw yourself. Always asking myself what was wrong with me/"

"All I can say is that if there was a problem it was with them and not you."

She looked away from me and stared out the passenger side window for about a minute and then said:

"I'm not being completely honest with you."

"What are you not being honest about?"

"Let me ask you a question. If you had feelings for a woman wouldn't you fight for her?"

"Of course I would."

"Well apparently I wasn't woman enough for the guys I was interested in to want me enough to fight for me."

"I don't understand what you are trying to tell me."