Lesson 6-6 Final Exam: Taboo

Stephanie Williams had been temping in the construction office since May and soon she would be leaving to finish her last year of school. It was her dream job working closely with the firm’s project manager, Charles Bryant. She had a huge crush on him but was too mesmerized to notice his attraction to her too. A romance would be totally inappropriate for the both of them as he was twenty years her senior. What would her co-workers think? What would her family think? Besides, her work experiences so far had taught her that fraternization between co-workers was definitely frowned upon.

Many an office meeting caught Stephanie deep in a fantasy about Mr. Bryant. She had imagined many romantic scenarios with him. Her favorite daydream involved a night of dinner, dancing and a hotel room with warm chocolate. She didn’t know much about him because they had just met when she joined the team in May. But what she did know gave her encouragement. She knew he was not married nor in a relationship because she had overheard some other ladies talking about him in the break room. Which brought her to the second thing she knew about him. She knew he was a hot commodity with his chestnut brown eyes and close cropped curly brown hair. The greying at the temples revealed a man wise beyond his 49 years. And she knew at 29 he might not give her the time of day but her youthful heart hoped anyway.

Stephanie had always been a late bloomer. It wasn’t until her 25th birthday that she had finally decided she wanted to go back to school. She figured she had experienced enough of life to know that she wanted more and in order to get more she would have to return to school to prepare herself for the next phase of her life. Her father had taught her early to build things and she always enjoyed working with her hands. But it wasn’t until her father died when she was 22 that she began to give construction serious consideration as a career. Her immediate goal was to work in project management with her ultimate goal being to own her own construction company. So Mr. Bryant became her inspiration as well as her muse.

And Stephanie had good reason to be enamored with him. He was tall with rich, velvety, brown skin. His athletic frame revealed that he liked to play as much as he liked to work and was very much into health and fitness. His long, muscular limbs allowed him to move with an easy grace. He was always impeccably dressed yet casual enough to be approachable.

Stephanie often wondered if he could be attracted to someone like her. She was average height with creamy, brown skin and shoulder length curly, brown hair that was always pulled back in a neat bun. Her curves filled out her dresses and casual pant suits quite well and did not go unnoticed by the many men she came in contact with. Still, she didn’t know exactly what his “type” was so she always felt a little uneasy in his presence.

Mr. Bryant had always been nothing but professional and a gentleman toward Stephanie. He was kind, thoughtful and patient with her questions. She was learning a lot from him and appreciated that he had become her unofficial mentor. She was looking forward to her last year of college but was dreading leaving Mr. Bryant behind. She, at the very least, wanted to continue the professional relationship she had developed with him. More than that however, she dreamed of getting to know him better. She wanted to know what motivated him professionally and personally and what kind of things he did for fun. Was he spiritual? Did he ever envision himself married with children? Did he even have any children? She had never heard him mention any and if he did have them they would be close to her in age. What would that relationship dynamic be like? She had so many questions as so much about him intrigued her.

Once, Mr. Bryant had caught her deep in thought about him and asked her what she was thinking about as he had just spent the last 10 minutes updating her on a project.

“Stephanie, are you with me,” he asked bringing her attention back to the moment?

“Oh, I’m sorry sir,” she blushed crimson red. “I missed that last statement. Can you repeat it?”

“Stephanie, I’ve just spent the last 10 minutes talking about the clinic project. Did you hear anything I’ve just said? Are you ok? Do you need to take a break?”

“Oh, no sir. I’ve just had a few things on my mind lately.

She wasn’t sure if he had bought that excuse but he didn’t indicate otherwise as he began telling her about the project again with a sigh. Stephanie made sure to nod attentively this time and made a mental note not to try his patience again. The last thing she wanted to do was get on his bad side or have him question her commitment.

Stephanie tried to be more professional going forward. She struggled hard not to day dream in his presence. She would have to save her reveries for her private time. She was committed to her career and was hired for her knowledge and potential. She would not let Mr. Bryant, or herself, down. She would allow any romance between the two of them to develop on its own, if it was truly meant to be, and without her coming off as a love struck teenager.

So this is how Stephanie managed to survive the hot summer days at Smithfield Construction Company. She poured herself into her work and saved her dreams of Mr. Bryant for evenings and weekends. She so engrossed herself in her work that she didn’t notice Mr. Bryant’s feelings for her too. The way he often stared at her with his own level of admiration. How he always made sure to open the doors for her and pull out her chairs. She thought he was just being the polite gentleman that he was. She never paid attention to him always being in the hallway when she passed by or in the break room when she was there. So she never expected the pleasant surprise waiting for her one very warm Friday afternoon.

It was a hot August day and although the air conditioned office was usually a respite from the summer heat, today however, there was no escaping the hot, humid air. It was as if the sun had followed her into the office when she came back from lunch. She found an empty conference room and sat down to cool off a bit. She unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse and massaged her moist neck and shoulders. She thought she was alone and was totally unaware that she was being watched.
“I should be doing that for you,” a husky voice from behind startled her. She spun around in her chair to find Mr. Bryant staring at her.

“Oh…I…I’m sorry sir,” she stammered. “I didn’t think this room was being used this afternoon. I’ll just go back to my desk.” She jumped up and gathered her things not noticing that Mr. Bryant had closed the door and was now closing the window blinds too.

“No need to hurry off,” he said with a wry smile. “And stop calling me sir. Call me Charles. Anyway, most everyone is off on the job site this afternoon so we have the office all to ourselves.”

Stephanie froze for a moment. She was finally alone with Mr. Bryant, or rather Charles, and the realization set her on fire. Heat pulsed through her body as she was sweating now more from desire than from the hot afternoon temperature. This was her chance to show her object of affection that she was a worthy conquest. She looked up into his hungry eyes and witnessed a longing she hadn’t noticed before. Could he have the same feelings for her that she had for him? The thought surged through her and filled her with the courage to seize her moment to shine. She reached up and pulled her hair from its tight bun as soft curls cascaded to her shoulders. In one swift movement Charles was standing before her. He wrapped his massive arms around her tiny waist and pulled her to him. Stephanie yielded completely as she tilted her head back offering him her full, moist lips. He devoured them like a ravenous lion as he forced them apart to taste the sweetness of her tongue.

Stephanie melted into his body. This was the moment she had been waiting for all summer and so far it was everything she thought it would be. Charles pushed aside the chair she had been sitting in and lifted her onto the conference table. He unbuttoned the rest of the buttons of her blouse and pulled her full, round breasts from their restraint. Stephanie threw her head back and moaned with pleasure as he suckled first one nipple then the other. He smothered her face, neck and shoulders with steaming hot kisses and tickled her navel with his coarse, wet tongue. Stephanie gasped as he slid a rough, calloused hand between her thighs and teased her treasure. She wanted him. Oh, how she wanted him inside her right now.

He pushed up her skirt revealing the lacy, thigh high stockings she silently applauded herself for wearing this morning. Sliding her red, satin panties down her curvy legs he tossed them aside as he wrapped her legs around his waist. Stephanie gasped in approval as he pulled his throbbing manhood from his pants. He stopped for a moment to pull a condom from the wallet in his back pocket. She watched with wide eyes as he slid the sheath onto his engorged member, then arched her back and pushed herself forward as he in turn pushed himself inside of her. Stephanie sighed, a euphoric smile spreading across her face. She gripped his strong shoulders with her delicate hands and settled in for the ride of her life.

Charles thrust upward pushing deeper and deeper into Stephanie. She let her head fall back as a cloudy haze covered her eyes. The strong scent of desire and sweat filled her nostrils as the heat of the day fused with the heat of their bodies, threatening to consume them both. Her body melted around his firm, quick strokes. She was as soft as clay and he was as hard as steel. She was a willing sea of emotion and euphoria being overcome by her master. She opened her throat to allow a guttural moan to escape inspiring Charles to thrust even harder and faster. Stephanie was at the height of her pleasure and could contain herself no longer. She cried out in ecstasy as her body vibrated with delight. Charles followed suit as fell to his knees in exhaustion.

Stephanie struggled to catch her breath as she tried to compose herself. As Charles began putting himself back together also she broke the silence between them.

“Charles, I really didn’t know you were even attracted to me. This is all such a surprise.”

“I’ve been crazy about you since I first interviewed you to work here and I could sense your attraction to me too. I just didn’t want to breach any protocols, but I’m glad I finally took a chance. I’m glad you were so open to my advance. I’m hoping this can be the start of something great.”

“But what about our colleagues? What will they say about this escalation in our relationship? And you know that some people are going to talk about me being too young for you.”

“We’ll have to be very discreet about it, of course but I’ll handle the waging tongues if they start to figure things out. For now, I’d just like us to spend time together and develop our relationship. We can start by having dinner tonight, if that’s ok with you.”

“I would really like that Charles. I think this is the start of something great too and I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”

Word Count: 2,049