Fantasy Friday, Challenges

I'm really happy to be able to post another great story from Sunnygirl. If it weren't for her we would be knee deep in reruns. I'm trying to do some rewriting on something I'm working on and the slow process there deepens my admiration for Sunnygirl and her ability to do such wonderful writing.

I'm posting this one in two parts too. The second part will be up tomorrow. For now enjoy...

Challenges

Shelly Robinson woke this morning with no idea that her life was going to change forever.

The alarm went off at 6:00 as it did every morning. She got up, put on her sweats, grabbed her tunes and phone and set out for her morning exercise jog. She was about two miles into it when she sensed rather than heard someone coming up behind her. She was on full alert because there were not many people around at this time of the morning. She grabbed her phone and punched in 911 but did not hit the send button. It was better to be safe than sorry. Then for the first time she turned around to get a look at who was behind her to find that he/she had disappeared. What a silly I’ve been, she thought. She relaxed and once again began enjoying the solitude.

Suddenly, she felt an arm grab at her from behind and pull her down. “What the f*** are you doing?” she screamed out. There was no response – just a tightening of arms around hers, keeping her pinned. She kept kicking and yelling to let her go. Her assailant was a man of about thirty with dark hair and eyes. Oh my God, she thought, he is not wearing a mask. This was not a good sign because now he could be easily identified. She tried to concentrate on his face and clothing and look for any identifying characteristics that might make him easily identifiable. She was scared and her mind was desperately trying to remember what she knew about being attacked and how to act or react. It was no use. He had her overpowered. She couldn’t even reach her phone because she had put it back in her pocket.

A voice penetrated her senses – “Calm down I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Stop kicking and yelling. You are going to attract attention.”

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do you idiot. You have to be the biggest moron on the planet. You attack me and are holding me and you want me to stop yelling and kicking.”

“I did not attack you” the voice said. "I just tried to stop you and you fell down.” He said as he released his hold.

“What, said Shelly, that’s bullshit.”

“It’s the truth”. You dropped your phone and I was just trying to stop you to let you know.”

“I did not drop my phone, its right here in my pocket.” she said reaching into her pocket. It wasn’t in the pocket. She reached into her other pocket. No phone. Now she was perplexed and a little contrite.

“When I went to put it back in my pocket, I must have not pushed it all the way down and it fell out.”

He reached down and picked up the phone where it had fallen and handed it to her.

“This is yours, isn’t it?”

She took the phone, looked closely and acknowledged that yes it was her phone.

“Thank you” Shelly said. I’m sorry if I hurt you while I was kicking. I was sure I was being attacked. Just before you stopped me I had the sense that someone was behind me but when I looked back they were gone. Probably took the cut off trail. Anyway, I was a little frightened.”

“You didn’t hurt me and you are welcome. I did pass somebody on the cutoff trail as I was moving onto this path, that’s probably who was behind you earlier. I am sorry if I frightened you.”

“I’m Brady Quinn.” said the man.

“Well, Brady Quinn, I am Shelly Robinson and I want to thank you again. I wouldn’t have realized I had lost my phone until later and then not known where it was lost. You saved me a lot of headache.”

She reached out to shake hands and said that maybe they would run into each other again.

She put the phone securely in her pocket and resumed her jog.

~o~

When she let herself back into the apartment, she immediately went to turn on the shower. While she was waiting for the water to get to her desired temperature, she relived the run from which she had just returned. She was still a little wobbly after that jarring experience. She started to think about the Good Samaritan who had retrieved her fallen phone. He was a nice looking man, not handsome but there was something about him that would make you notice. She actually hoped that maybe she would “run” into him again. By now the shower was more than hot so she hopped in.

She was really running late today and if she didn’t get a move on she would not get to work in time to make the 9:00 meeting. No time to stop off for a Starbuck’s today. She would have to make do with the office coffee.

Shelly’s job as an Account Executive with the firm of Culpepper & Associates was one that paid her a good salary and benefits plus the occasional satisfaction that she helped a client. Often though, she worked very long hours for naught. She did not feel as though she was appreciated, either by her associates, her boss or many of her clients. She worked hard but the work was not very gratifying. This was not what she expected when she earned her degree in business. But, there were very few jobs available in her field here in Davenport and when Culpepper & Associates offered her a job she jumped at it. She figured she would stay here until something better came along. It was hard to believe she had been there five years already and so far, nothing better had come along.

She got to the office, stopped by her cubicle to pick up any messages and preceded to the conference room. She just sat down when her boss, John Murray, walked into the room. He took his chair at the head of the table.

“Good Morning everybody. I trust you all had a good weekend. Good”, he said as everybody nodded their assent. “Now down to business. As you know the economy has been in a downturn mode for the past couple of years. We at Culpepper & Associates have so far been able to weather the storm but we are going to be making some changes. However, we do not anticipate any downsizing at this time. We are merging with another firm that will increase our client roll."

John said “I know everyone is anxious to have all their questions answered. I will get to all of them in time but right now I wanted you all to know what was going on. There will be a team from our new partners, Billings, Rogers and Quinn, coming in later today to begin the assimilation process."

Shelly had never heard of Billings, Rogers and Quinn and thought how ironic that she had heard the name Quinn twice in the last four hours. She began to get up and go back to her workstation not giving it much more thought.

~o~

Later that afternoon, Shelly was called into John Murray’s office. She knocked at the door and John called to come in. He was sitting at his desk and across from him was another man. The man got up and turned to Shelly. It was Brady Quinn.

“Well, we meet again. When I was going over the employee list I saw your name and wondered if it was you. I didn’t think we would run into each other so soon.” Brady said.

“You two already know one another" said John.

“Sort of,” said Shelly. "Mr. Quinn and I actually ran into each other this morning on the path in Centennial Park. He was kind enough to retrieve my phone which had fallen out of my pocket.”

Brady smiled. “That is the condensed version.” John Murray said that he would like to hear the whole story someday.

“Now that we have established you two know each other, let me tell you that Brady here is a Vice President at Billings, Rogers & Quinn. He is part of the team that will be working to complete the merger.”

“Welcome," said Shelly. "I look forward to working with you”

Brady said “I look forward to working with you also. When John and I are finished here I would like to stop by your workstation and to over some things.”

“Okay, I will get my files together and be ready for any questions you may have”.

“I’m sure I won’t have very many questions and any I may have that you will be able to answer.” Brady said.

When Brady came to Shelly’s cubicle, she picked up her head and acknowledged his presence and asked him to sit down.

Brady just sat down and looked at Shelly.

“I certainly didn’t expect to run into you so soon, but I’m glad I did. I didn’t have the opportunity to pursue a personal agenda this morning. Don’t be angry with me but I asked John Murray more questions about you than anyone else. I’m sure he is a little suspicious especially after learning that we had already met each other.”

“You have the advantage to knowing more about me than I do about you.” Shelly said.

“What would you like to know Shelly?”

“For one, why are you so interested in me? I’m just one small cog in the Culpepper & Associates wheel?”

“My interest in you has nothing to do with Culpepper & Associates. I’m interested in getting to know you outside of business. Are you free for dinner Friday evening?”

“I make it a practice to not date anyone with whom I work. I did that once and it didn’t work out too well.”

He explained he was only working at Culpepper & Associates until the merger was complete. He was part of the Mergers & Acquisitions team and only worked with new firm until the merger was complete and then he went back to being a vice president in his own firm.

Shelly thought about this for a minute and responded that she would be happy to do lunch but there would be no dinner dates until the merger was complete. He chuckled and accepted her response and said that lunch on Friday it was.

~o~

Brady was the first to arrive at O’Shea’s. He took a quiet booth toward the back. Shelly was about five minutes late and apologized. “I was with a client and it took longer than I anticipated.”

“I appreciate your business ethic but this is lunchtime – no more business. So Shelly, tell me something about you that I couldn’t find out from your personnel file.”

“That’s not fair, Shelly said. You already know more about me than I know about you.”

“Are you telling me, Shelly Robinson, that you haven’t googled me?”

Shelly blushed and smiled. “Caught.” she said.

Brady’s eyes crinkled up when he smiled. “I haven’t seen anyone blush in a long time. It kind of surprises me.”

“Why?” asked Shelly.

“You don’t appear to be the blushing type. Your behavior the other morning was pretty aggressive. Your language alone would put a sailor to shame. Your kicks and screams were nothing to be ashamed of either.”

Shelly giggled. “I grew up the youngest in a family of four brothers. There was a lot of testosterone in that house and I couldn’t help but absorb some of it much to my mother’s chagrin. I would like to think I toned down my behavior as I’ve gotten older but apparently it still surfaces at times.”

“Yes, it does.” I hope I won’t be the target of the aggressiveness any time in the future.

“That depends on your behavior, Brady. I don’t make any promises.”

Brady chuckled.

“I don’t make any promises either but if we continue to see one another, I must tell you I won’t tolerate that kind of language. It’s awful to hear coming out of that beautiful mouth. I might have to take you over my knee if I hear those words again.”

“You’re serious, Brady, aren’t you?"

"Yes, I am."

“Then aren’t you glad that we won’t be working together. What you will or will not tolerate is no further concern of mine. It was nice almost getting to know you. This lunch is over. See you around the water cooler, maybe.”

She slid out of the booth and walked toward the door. He watched her retreat and enjoyed the view. She had legs that went all the way up to her neck and a pretty fantastic butt. He would like to get his hands on that butt in more ways than one.

Her reaction surprised him; he usually didn’t get turned down. He was not a bad looking guy –he had good manners, a great condo downtown, drove a nice car and was a junior partner is his father’s firm. He was usually the pursued not the pursuer. This was going to be new territory.

Shelly left the restaurant thinking “what a jerk”. Who did he think he was, her father? She should sic her brothers on him. As a matter of fact, she just might do that. She would go visit her brother Tom tonight.

~o~

She called Tom on her way back to the office. Tom picked up.

“Hey, sis, what’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you are going to be home tonight. I want to stop by on my way home from work and talk to you about something.”

“This sounds serious, Sis. Sure I’ll be home about 6:30. Should I ask Davy and Mike to come over too? Petey’s out of town."

“No, I just want to run something by you. If you think we need Davy and Mike too we can give them a call.”

~o~

She stopped off on the way to Tom’s and picked up a pizza and a six pack. She knew Tom’s house and didn’t expect to find any dinner waiting. The six-pack was for her. Tom didn’t drink and she thought she might be in need of some fortification for this conversation.

Tom greeted her at the door with a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi, Sis. I see you’ve come bearing gifts. Thank you. I was going to call out for food once you got here”

He offered her a beer, and walked out on the deck and took a seat. Shelly followed.

“So, Sis, what’s going on?”

She told him what had happened in the park. She may have embellished a little bit, but not much. She went on to explain how Brady Quinn was part of the company that was merging with Culpepper and how he had asked her out on a date and then proceeded to tell her that her language was unacceptable and that he would not tolerate it. She said he even threatened he would take her over his knee in the future.

Tom said that was harassment and it was illegal.

“No”, Shelly said, he wasn’t talking about work. I told him I wouldn’t date someone I worked with and until the merger was complete I would only do lunch. That’s when we had this conversation. I walked out on him.”

“Shelly, what exactly do you want me to do”. “Are you asking my opinion? just relating the story, what”’

“I want you to do what big brothers do and protect me”

“Shelly you know I would do anything for you but I don’t see that you need protection from Brady Quinn. He may have threatened you but that’s all. If you are not going to date him, I don’t think you have anything to worry about”.

“Won’t you at least have a talk with him?”

“You mean I should go to his company, introduce myself and tell him he better not spank my sister. Get real."

“Oh, I should have known you men would stick together. I suppose Davey and Mike would have the same reaction.”

“I’m pretty sure of it." said Tom. "Especially because I know that Davey has spanked Ava. He let it slip one night when he had one too many beers. So I don’t think you can expect any help from that quarter. As a matter of fact he might encourage Brady.”

Sue drove home thinking what was the point of having big brothers. Here she thought Tom would be all riled up and instead he wasn’t going to do anything. Well it was worth a shot. She would just have to handle Brady Quinn on her own. The funny thing was she kind of liked him. He was attractive and there was something about him that made her body tingle.

When she got home, Brady was sitting outside her apartment.

“What are you doing here? I thought I made it pretty plain that I wasn’t interested in you or anything you have to say.”

“I’m interested in you though,” said Brady, “and I am not used to being turned down”

“That’s too bad but you are going to have to learn to live with it.” said Shelly.

“Maybe, maybe not, but it won’t be for the want of trying”. With that he put his arms around her and brought her to him and gave her a very passionate kiss. She tried wriggling away but he started nibbling at her lips and pressing himself closer. He could feel her beginning to respond. He deepened the kiss and moved his right hand down to cup her butt pressing her in even closer. There was no way she couldn’t feel his erection. She jerked away and gave him a stinging slap across the face.

“How dare you? You jackass."

“It was a risk I wanted to take. You liked it, I could tell. I want to give you a lot more of them too. I want you next to me in bed so that I can smother you in kisses and caress that curvy little derriere.”

She raised her hand to slap him again. He grabbed her arm mid way to his face.

“I wouldn’t suggest you do that again. You would not like the consequences.” With that he turned and walked away.

“Goodnight Shelly. I’ll see you Monday at the water cooler.” She heard him chuckle after that last remark.

She unlocked the door, went in and slammed the door behind her. Just who does he think he is that he can treat me that way? I’m not some 2 bit whore that he can just do anything he wants. And he threatened me again. She was really working up lather about someone she supposedly had no interest in. What was that about? She ran the water in the tub, poured a glass of wine and went in for a long soak and to calm down before going to bed.

When she finally got into bed, she tossed and turned, kept thinking about that KISS and how wonderful it felt. She thought about what else he said about having her in his bed. She finally fell asleep sometime after 1:00 am. Only now instead of thinking about him – she was dreaming about him. She couldn’t escape. She was going to have to figure out what to do about this situation.

~o0o~

Sunnygirl, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the stories you send. You are truly keeping us going. If you are a fan of Fantasy Friday you need to thank Sunnygirl. But I'm telling you she can't do it alone. I need more stories! Please help. Send any stories to elisspeaks@yahoo.com