STORMWATCH

A Blizzard In Buffalo

It was a cold, dreary December day, gray, damp, slightly foggy, one of those days where it seems like everyone and everything is dreading an upcoming funeral. Yesterday was cold but sunny, the breeze scattered the dry leaves that danced across the street, the sound of their moving filled the air. Today was damp and foggy, the moisture gluing the leaves in place. A Jeep Gladiator pickup pulled up to Dr. Paul Jarecki's cabin on Trevett Road. It was a green truck, that odd color of olive green that made it look like a military vehicle, unless you've been in the military and know what kind of green they use. It even had decorative stencils to add to the military look, but the stencils miss that one thing that would make the stencils look authentic: over spray. It was painted a semi-olive green; the stencils were perfect and straight and the finish was buffed to a gloss. This was not a military vehicle, and the driver was not military, not anymore. United States Air Force Master Sergeant (Retired) Josh Gravely stepped out of the truck, walked up to the barn shaped cabin and knocked on the door, then entered without waiting for a response from inside. "Hey Doc," he said.

Dr. Paul Jarecki looked up from the document he was reading on his laptop. The scent of smoke from his pipe and bacon from the morning breakfast filled the air. It was a manly cabin filled with mementos of hunts and fishing expeditions, photographs of Paul Jarecki and friends, including Josh holding up fish, or ducks, or deer. At one side of the cabin was a wood stove that warmed the cabin with a snap and crackle. The flames seen through the glass door moved in slow motion from the controlled intake of oxygen. A covered iron pot on top of the stove was slowly coming up to heat. There would be beef stew for dinner tonight. "Heading out?" Paul asked without looking up from the document on the screen. "I thought you had the rest of the week off."

"I did, but Mark called and asked me to come in, he thinks there's a storm coming and we have a new hospital to bring online," said Josh as he reached into Paul's fridge and grabbed a bottle of Genesee beer, pulled up a chair and took a drink. Josh worked at an up-and-coming data storage and networking company and owns the property across the street for recreation, but he lives in Orchard Park, about 25 miles away.

"That's the problem with you former military types, sergeant," said Paul. "They call, you haul. You should learn to relax." The doctor glanced over the top half of his glasses and wrote a note on a legal pad on his desk.

"Said the lieutenant colonel who is reviewing his patients records on his day off," said Josh. "Here's the key to my cabin, if there's a fire you know what to do," and he rose and hung the key ring in Paul's key rack.

"I know, save the rifles, clear your browser history, then fight the fire."

Josh placed a fresh beer on Paul's desk for his friend, then took a sip from his own beer and said, "Clear the browser history first. I don't have a barn full of hot chicks to keep me company."

"My hot chicks are keeping you in eggs. Besides, don't you have a secretary named McRooster or something like that to drool over?"

Josh sat back down. "It's von Köster and she's the boss's executive assistant. She is keeping this company together."

"I'm just saying," Paul took a sip from the beer that Josh set in front of him, "she's a neighbor of mine. I could put in a good word for you."

"Thank you, Doctor J, but we are definitely in different leagues. She's starting pitcher for the Dodgers and I'm a benchwarmer for a pre-school T-ball league."

Paul took another drink, then said, "Don't put yourself down like that. You'll be starting as center fielder for the local Ace Hardware T-ball team soon... with practice."

Josh rose and zipped up his jacket and moved toward the door. "See you Saturday?"

"Roger that, the Bills are playing the Broncos, it's going to be a good game." Paul then noticed that Josh was still holding the beer bottle as he opened the door and called out, "That's a nickel!"

"Is this how you made your first million?" Josh groaned and finished the beer, then set the empty bottle on the table so Paul could collect the deposit. Paul did indeed have a million dollars; in fact, he was worth almost 200 million dollars.

"Do you think it's going to snow?" Paul asked after a swig from his 'Genny.'

Josh looked out of the door at the lead gray sky and shrugged. "Nah, probably not."

"Same here. Bring some beers on Saturday, I'll put on some venison sausage and sauerkraut."

Josh backed out of Paul's driveway, then stopped to check his mailbox and double checked the gate on his property then headed to work. It was annoying to come in on a day off, but he wanted this project to succeed, so he headed in. The run down to his office in Orchard Park was about twenty minutes, and by the time he got to the office, the snow was soon flying. It looked like this storm grew some teeth and didn't warn anyone.

The snow drifting downward from the sky in huge wet flakes were actually massive collections of individual flakes that grouped together to go on the attack and attack they did. The snow started at eleven AM and by the time Josh got to work, nearly half a foot had fallen on Western New York in the area south of Buffalo known as "The Snow Belt." By the time Josh made it to work, it looked like the snowfall had stopped. "TA-DA! I'm here!" Josh called out to nobody in particular. He stepped into the "mudroom" and hung up his parka and kicked off his boots and pulled on his loafers. A peek out into the hallway showed business as usual. Nobody was running home because of the storm. He headed toward his office and saw that the supervisor of the field technicians, Eli Goldman, was hard at work at his desk. There were two monitors showing spreadsheets that Eli was working on.

"Elijah," said Josh as he tapped on Eli's door.

"Ephraim, how is it out there?" Ephraim is Josh's first name, Ephraim Joshua Gravely, but he insists everyone calls him Josh because he hates it when they mispronounce Ephraim. He and Eli found a brotherhood in their ancient given names. Eli was raised by orthodox Jews who would have preferred that their youngest son had become a doctor or a lawyer instead of a "Computer Nerd." Josh was raised by strict southern Baptists who named their children from the Good Book and would roll over in their graves if they knew that their baby boy was now living in New York by choice. Explaining that Western New York isn't New York city would fall on deaf southern ears. New York is New York! He could picture the conversation:

"But ma, it's country where I live, farms and cows and logging trucks just like home. We just eat oatmeal instead of grits."

"Your father and I didn't raise no son of ours to become a jaded city boy!" they would shout, ignoring the fact that a much bigger city than Buffalo, Jacksonville, was just a few minutes away from them up US 1.

Eli finally looked up from his paperwork. He had curly black hair, a thick mustache, and he was wearing a yarmulka. He probably won't be coming over for Easter dinner. But Eli brought his wife and two kids over to Josh's place for Christmas dinner last year, as Eli said, nodding to the nativity on Josh's side table, "He was a good Jewish boy." They had a good rapport and became good friends. While Eli oversaw the field technicians who worked out in the customers' offices, the server team was Josh's job. He was the data hardware manager. In other words, those stacks and stacks of three to eight RU high servers busily churning up the Western New York air and spitting out binary data in the server room were all his children.

"No storm," said Josh. "It was looking bad down south when I left however."

"Thought so. It petered out here about eleven thirty," said Eli without looking up from his spreadsheet. He was doing the man-hour report that Mister Friedman demanded every Thursday. "The storm moved south and is hammering Springville." That's where Josh just came from.

Such is the way of Western New York lake effect storms. They come off of Lake Erie in a long, narrow stream. Anything underneath that stream will get pummeled with snow. Anything north and south of that stream probably won't get a flake of snow. However, sometimes those storms move north and south, like a huge meteorological windshield wiper and they 'spread the wealth' from Niagara Falls NY in the north, down to Bradford PA in the south.

Usually, Orchard Park is right in the firing line for a lake effect blizzard. It normally happens just before a big, important Bills game. The Buffalo Bills home stadium, Highmark Stadium (also called The Ralph), was just a couple of miles due west of the Andalon Data Systems building where Josh and Eli were working.

Josh then stuck his nose into his own boss's door. Mark Post was an intense genius who was about half of Josh's age, but many long years in the military taught Josh that age is often just a number. Mark had an intellect that went far beyond his years. He knew every part of this network because he designed it and built it and when Josh was hired, he put the server room he built in Josh's hands just as he put all the sites out in the field in Eli's hands. "Hey Mark, how's it going?" said Josh as he stepped into Mark's office.

"Ready for St. Agnes tonight?" Saint Agnes was a hospital near Rochester that they were going to bring on-line that evening.

"The sanity check I ran yesterday came back perfect, the VPN is clean, and the remote desktop system is perfect." The remote desktop lets a doctor or nurse access their desktop on any PC, laptop, tablet, or cell phone on the hospital network or Virtual Private Network. It gives a doctor or nurse full access to the hospital's data from anywhere.

"Ok. I'm heading home before the roads close," said Mark. He lived in Boston, NY, a small village about halfway between the data center and Springville and it was getting snow. Mark's wife was expecting their first child and if he was nervous, he didn't show it. Lately, Mark did most of his work from home.

He headed over to his office and popped a k-cup in the machine, added some water from a bottle and brewed a passable cup of coffee. Only then did he start looking at his email. Most of it was updates from the software development team reminding him of the upcoming updates to the servers. There was one from his "daughter" Terri McCarthy, wanting to know when he was going to teach her how to drive a snowmobile. Terry was a cute emo chick that worked in the field for Eli, and she loved to torment Josh. She was bucking for a position in the server room, a nice job that would keep her indoors out of the rain. He answered that quickly with, "You're a Canadian. You should be teaching ME how to drive a 'motor toboggan.'"

Josh had three guys that worked for him. Their primary job was lifting those one hundred fifty-pound servers into place on the racks, building cables, labeling and routing cables, and swapping out bad hard drives. Most of their time was verifying the spreadsheets that Mark Post generated by the dozens. Terri would go out of her mind with boredom.

As he read his email, he took a bright yellow Nerf pistol out of his desk drawer, loaded a Nerf dart with a suction cup "warhead" and cocked the lever setting the spring. The trigger word this week was "leverage." The minute he finds the word leverage in an email, he fires. He read through a half dozen emails until he hit one from Brandon Mitchell, vice president in charge of Sales and Marketing.

"The current forecast looks bright, as long as we continue to leverage..."

LEVERAGE! The moment he saw that word, he drew the pistol and fired. POP - SMACK! A Nerf dart sailed across his office/work room and smacked into the picture on the wall. The portrait of a beautiful Mexican woman, his ex-wife Yesenia, now had another Nerf dart stuck to her face. He reloaded the gun and cocked it.

"What's the word of the week?" asked Nick Taube, one of Josh's workers. Nick was reviewing a checklist for an upcoming server update.

"Leverage," said Josh as he returned to the emails.

"I hate that one too, should shoot the guy who used it," muttered Nick as he went back to his task.

As he read, a voice interrupted him. "Anything else for us today?" asked Cole Reagan, another one of Josh's 'worker bees.'

"Go ahead and unbox that C420, put a dozen drives in it and get it loaded up with VM ware," said Josh. Cole didn't look happy. He was a big fellow who lifted a lot of weights and that's why Josh hired him. Those servers are heavy. "You were expecting me to say 'go home?'"

"Well, that would be nice," said Cole. "There's a storm and all..."

"Cole, you live in West Seneca, that's thirty miles north of the snow. It's only one o'clock, and you know what I always say... right?"

Cole sighed. "Get to fucking work."

"Right, now git. As soon as you have that drive volume built you can boogie." Cole looked disappointed, so Josh gave him an alternative option. "Or you and Rasheed can straighten up the warehouse."

Cole didn't bother to consider that option. "Twelve drives, got it. I'll have the serial numbers for you in a few minutes." Rasheed and Cole hate working in the warehouse.

Josh went back to his emails and Yesenia sprouted two more Nerf darts. As Josh opened a spread sheet a message notification popped up:

Come see me.

Ant

Oh hell, now what happened? Ant was Anthony Friedman, the Founder and CEO of Andalon Data Systems. Ant was a great guy and Josh really liked him. He even came out to Josh's property in Springville and spent a relaxing day fishing and drinking beer, but he never tells people "Come see me" without cause.

He went over to the work bench where Rasheed Davis and Cole were unscrewing the cover from the big server. Their first task with bringing a server online is to upgrade the cooling fan control board deep within the server. Rasheed was reading the checklist for the task, while Cole did the job. Rasheed is a black guy who is a bit smaller than Cole, but he can help lift those big servers. Rasheed is funny. He can (and will) recite the entire script of most Mel Brooks movies, but he's also smart. He's working on his Computer Science master's degree. The kid wants to go to Texas and write code for SpaceX, but being a foaming mad Buffalo Bills fan, he refuses to leave Western New York. "I'll be over in Ant's office for a few minutes. Please don't find some weak-ass excuse to come interrupt, I'm sure Miss von Köster has enough people drooling over her."

"Awww," groaned Rasheed, who wanted to go gaze at Miss von Köster. Supposedly, the stately blond was a past Miss America. "Killjoy. Just what did you do in the Air Force?"

"Kill people." That left Rasheed standing with his mouth hanging open, but that summed up what Josh did. He left the "Bobbsey Twins" to tackle their server, and he headed out. From the maintenance world, where the actual devices needed to run the Andalon network were built and maintained, through software development, where code writers worked on Ant's next big idea. Through the sales bullpen, where salesmen made calls to businesses throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Southern Ontario, advertising Andalon's perfect track record in the data management community.

He entered the beautifully furnished reception area where the main entrance was, and on the far wall of the reception area were the four offices, Anthony Friedman CEO, Veronica von Köster Executive Assistant, Brandon Mitchell VP of Sales and Marketing, Stanislaus Dombrowski VP of Financial and Accounting, and Emmit Katzman VP of Legal. Josh walked up to Mr. Freidman's office, and the door was half open. He knocked and Anthony called out, "Come in Josh!"

"How did you know it was me?" asked Josh as he walked into the office.

"You're the only one in this building that knocks," said Ant. "Everyone else just barges in and grabs something to drink." He then gestured to his Trophy Wall. "Check it out!"

Mr. Friedman's Trophy Wall was covered with Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Firefly models, memorabilia, and signed portraits of the stars of his favorite shows. Josh couldn't help but see something new. A new piece of artwork was large. It dominated the wall. Framed it was an enlargement of an animation still frame, it showed the cast of an animated movie.

"Is that Babylon 5, the Road Home?" gasped Josh. "Is it signed?"

"Take a closer look," said Ant with a Cheshire Cat smile.

"Oh my god, they're all there!" Josh saw the animated images of the cast and each was signed. Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Peter Jurasik, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins... and, "Patricia Tallman!" Josh gasped. "God, I loved her. I think she helped me through puberty." Josh heard a woman laugh, but he didn't turn. He knew Ant's wife, Marj's laugh. He noticed her sitting on the couch when he came in. "Did JMS sign it?"

"Check the monk in the background," said Ant. And sure enough, in the back was a Techno-mage in a black cloak and hood. The mage had a silver beard and mustache, glasses and a knowing smile and was adorned with the signature of the creator of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski.

"Amazing," gasped Josh. Like many veterans, he was a fan of TV shows that depict units in action, like Star Trek and Babylon 5. "It's incredible that you keep all this here."

"He doesn't want the kids touching them," said Marj. She and Ant had seven children, all rambunctious and curious, and they'd probably tear through Ant's collection in a matter of minutes.

"So, what's up? Did you call me in to brag... uh... sir?"

"Of course," said Ant. "But there's more. Sit." He pulled the cap from a whiskey decanter but then remembered that Josh doesn't drink anything more than the occasional beer and put the stopper back. All Josh would say was, "Too many bad memories," and refused to expound on that. When they worked on rebuilding a log cabin on Josh's land last summer, his neighbor, Paul, kept track of Josh's drinking and cut him off at four beers. "Let's talk about that idea of yours."

"Which idea? My latest idea to put cots in the break room so Vinnie's snoring won't bother the other programmers?"

"Uh, no. The other one where..."

"Where we send Terri McCarthy to a Sha-Na-Na concert so she can learn what proper music is all about?"

"No, the one where we have a supervisor monitor the building during storms," said Ant.

"Oh, ok, how did you know that was my suggestion? They're all anonymous."

"You're the only one that uses the suggestion box," said Ant, which caused Marj to howl with laughter.

"Sit, let's talk." When Josh was seated, Ant said, "What makes you think that a random supervisor, let's say Neil, can repair a server issue?"

Neil was one of the managers in the Sales Division and was mechanically inept. "They don't have to know how to fix anything," said Josh. "All they have to know is how to identify an error or a problem, and dial a phone. If they see a red flashing light in the server room, they call me. If a customer calls and says they pulled a cable out and the end broke off, they call Eli. That kind of thing."

"That's it?" asked Ant.

"Keep the exits unblocked in case the fire department needs to respond to an alarm in the building. Maybe once an hour do a walk around the building and make sure nothing is burning, leaking, freezing or collapsing," said Josh. "It doesn't have to be a supervisor, but they'll need access to all rooms so they have to be someone you can trust. You can give them a cell phone with everything forwarded to it, fire alarms, that kind of thing."

"I like it," said Ant. "Let's give it a try next blizzard. Care to be our guinea pig?"

"It's not like I have much of a life outside of work so, sure."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The storm buried the Springville area, but that was twenty miles south. Orchard Park got a few flurries here and there. It must have been bad because Miss von Köster always finds a way in to work when the storms are bad. She went to her home in Springville that first day and spent the long five-day weekend working from home. When she finally came back to work, she was happy and chipper.

Josh used to eat lunch at his desk at work until Anthony practically screamed at him back in September. "That lunch time is your lunch time, not mine. Go somewhere else to eat."

"Where?"

"Gee, we have these things called restaurants," said Terri McCarthy, who was passing by. It looked like Josh was getting his ass chewed by The Big Boss, and she couldn't let an ass chewing slip by. She had to watch. Terri is a young Canadian girl of medium height and average weight, with straight jet black hair cut at shoulder length. She says she's such a badass that she cuts her hair with a chain saw, and the jagged edges of her hairline make that claim seem plausible. She's a brilliant technician, but she will say the strangest things just to get a reaction out of people. With her narrow eyes, pointed nose and slight buck teeth, she has the look of a mouse about her. She makes Josh crazy, but he enjoys having her around. She reminds him of the airmen he used to lead.

Ever since that day, Josh ate his lunch in the break room. Terri usually has lunch with her colleague Jennifer Combs, another field technician, and often they invite themselves to eat with Josh. Occasionally Veronica von Köster joins them, and when she does Josh finds himself tongue tied and embarrassed about his upbringing in the deep south. Josh usually just listens while the three girls chatter, and Veronica enjoys these lunches. She's not expected to be some incredible business tycoon, or some elite snob. She can just be what she wants to be when chatting with Jen and Terry and Josh. But everything changed that Tuesday after the storm. Veronica was in a happy, joyful mood when she sat down with Terry, Jen, and Josh.

"Look at that rock!" gasped Terry. "You could throw that through a store window and break in!" The rock that Terry was gasping over was a 2.5 karat diamond ring on the third finger of Veronica's left hand.

"Jameson and I finally set the date, we're getting married on Valentine's day" said Veronica, and the three girls squealed.

"I wish you all the happiness in the world," said Josh. "That's quite a..." just then his cell phone rang, and he picked it up. "Gravely... it what?... No, don't touch anything, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and began packing his lunch away. "Sorry ladies, duty calls. Miss von Köster, I wish you all the best." He went straight to his office and found Cole and Rasheed loading VM Ware on a new server. "Hey guys, I have an appointment, my doc had a cancellation and she can get me in, see you tomorrow."

Why did he suddenly feel so empty? There was nothing between Veronica and him. They occasionally ate lunch where he stuttered and stammered through a conversation like an idiot and it's probably best she has a man that can at least speak to her. He got home and locked the door to his apartment, then opened a locked cabinet and pulled out his emergency stash, a bottle of Black Velvet Canadian Whiskey. He poured about six or eight ounces into a drinking glass, locked the bottle back up, then sat down in the recliner and let the News Reel play in his head.

The AC-130J Specter Gunship was an agent of death. The nose art on Josh's ship was a cartoon Arab riding on a camel that was sprinting. The name of the gunship was "Why Die Tired?" from the gallows humor, "You can run, but why die tired?" The cabin was filling with smoke. Some goat fucking asshole down there shot them with a stinger. That horrible night over Buttfuckistan coming back, one bloody moment after another. He sipped his cheap whiskey until the glass was empty. He got up to get some more, but he had locked it in the cabinet and he was too blurry eyed to thumb in the combination.

Josh stumbled to his recliner and sat down, then grabbed his phone. He didn't get a call earlier at lunch with Veronica and the girls. He just had his smartwatch locate his phone, which caused the phone to ring. The rest was play acting. This time, he made a real call. When a woman answered, he said, "Hello Hellinore."

"You sound drunk, are you drunk Bounce?" asked Ellie.

"No. I'm fucking plastered."

"She dumped you, didn't she. That bitch!"

"No, I never got a chance to ask her out. The man of her dreams finally set a date to marry him.

"So just go out and have dinner like buddy-buddies," said Ellie.

"You know I don't work like that," slurred Josh.

"MREs in a field hospital recovery room are not dinner, besides, you were single," said Josh.

"So were you. You just didn't know it yet," said Ellie.

"Fuck me," groaned Josh.

"Josh, you and I both know this isn't the way to handle this. You gotta get back on the wagon, this isn't helping you."

"I locked it up and I can't see the numbers on the lock to open the cabinet. I just took my last sip."

"You need to find help Josh."

"Who cares? Jus' another soldier fucked in the head. It's our job to die, right?"

Ellie hates it when Josh gets drunk. "I'm not going to argue with a drunk. Go sleep it off and call me tomorrow."

"I will. I love ya Hellie."

"Love ya Bounce."

<><><><><>

Josh normally gets an update from his buddy Paul on storms that hit Springville, but he didn't hear anything from Paul during this last storm and he began to wonder if Paul 'ate his gun' in a fit of loneliness, but then out of the blue, Paul called and invited him to dinner. It was a good thing that Paul waited until Thursday. If he asked Josh yesterday when he was hung over, he would have puked. "Sure, see you soon."

Josh had been to Paul's cabin scores of times. After a long day of work on one of Josh's cabins or in Paul and his brother John's huge garden and everyone was too tired to cook, they would go into town for dinner, but he's never been to Paul's house. He's seen it through the trees from the parking lot of Worzil's Bar and Grille, but he's never been to Paul's house.

That evening he drove out to Springville and damn! They got buried in the weekend storm! Easily four feet of snow was over the entire village, which somehow still got dressed up in its Christmas best. Evergreen wreaths and red ribbons decorated every lamp post in the village and garlands of lights were strung across Main Street. Johnson's Feed Store was lit up like a Christmas tree and a few blocks up Main Street was Worzil's Bar & Grille. As usual, Ayato Tanaka, owner of Worzil's decorated with decorations left over from the 1940s. He turned there and up Howard Avenue a couple of blocks to that huge Victorian mansion that Paul had been dumping money into.

This was Josh's first visit to Casa del Jarecki, and he was shocked at the size of the big, beautiful house. The huge Victorian was lit up with beautiful multi-colored Christmas lights that twinkled, flashed, chased each other, then rested on warm gold before starting over. The ornate iron fence that surrounded the front yard was decorated with evergreen garland and lights that were synched with the lights on the house. In the huge front window, a stately blue spruce stood, decorated to the nines. With a gentle snowfall drifting down from the heavens, the house was a Christmas fantasy.

Josh parked in front of the garage behind the house, got out, and walked past the hot tub. It sat under a canopy and had been shoveled out so obviously it's been used recently. "I shoulda brought a swimming suit," said Josh with a sigh. A soak in the hot tub would help with these residual aches. Somewhere under that field of snow called a back yard was a built in pool. Paul Jarecki's brother John had invited Josh to a few pool parties held by his church, but Josh wasn't a "joiner." Alone was his natural state of mind.

As he approached the kitchen door, the flap on the dog door exploded outward and Paul's beautiful chocolate lab, Wonka, burst out and dashed up to Josh. Wonka had half a dozen stick-on Christmas ribbons stuck to him here and there. "What's going on, boy? Is Paul wrapping you up for Christmas?"

Wonka reared up and put his paws on Josh's chest and looked into Josh's eyes, then with a 'Woof!' he dashed back into the house. Josh chuckled and stepped up on the back patio and Wonka poked his nose out the dog door clearly checking to see if Josh was following, then ducked back into the kitchen. "I ain't never seen Wonka actin' like that," muttered Josh and he walked into the kitchen. Paul once told him, "No need to knock, just walk in."

"Who are you?" demanded a tiny blond girl.

Josh looked down at the tiny girl standing defiantly in front of him. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I asked first!"

"I am Prince Ephraim Yashua Gravely, lord of all I survey," said Josh in a deep voice that he hoped would terrify the urchin. "And who are you?"

"Sandy. Now take those snowy shoes off!"

"Yes ma'am." Josh took off his boots, and when he stood up, he saw that there were two of them. "Who are you?"

"SANDY! I told you!"

"No, the other one."

"She's my sister Madeline but she doesn't talk to strange people."

"Are you saying I'm strange?"

"Yes."

Josh switched tactics. "Is there a doctor in the house?"

"Yes," said Madeline. She looked up at Josh in what could only be called awe.

"Which one?" demanded Sandy.

"There's more than one?"

"Mommy's a doctor," said Madeline.

"So is poppa Paul," added Sandy.

"Poppa Paul?" asked Josh, completely startled. "I would like to speak with Doctor Poppa Paul."

"He's upstairs playing' with mommy," said Sandy, then with a squeal, the two little girls ran off through the enormous house, Wonka tagging along with them, barking happily.

Josh tried to let that sink in. "Poppa Paul?" Doctor Paul Jarecki's wife died almost ten years ago. If they had any kids, they'd be much larger than those two. Maybe Paul is a fast worker. His father left him a handful of car dealerships and he's up to a dozen now. Maybe he's renting a few kids to impress a client. Nah, if you could rent kids, Josh's folks would have rented him out on a long-term basis decades ago.

Josh poked around the kitchen; it was huge. Paul loved to cook, and he bragged about the appliances he put in the kitchen as he and a local contractor Gus Didomissio rebuilt the enormous palace. Everything was restaurant quality. The stove was bigger than Josh's first car; the refrigerator was larger than his first apartment. He inspected the side-by-side ovens. One had a roast cooking nicely, the other had potatoes baking. A plate covered with a paper towel hid a few slices of cooked bacon. As he poked around, he would occasionally see a tiny face and a mop of blond hair peer at him from a doorway.

As Josh inventoried the fridge, he pulled out his phone and made a call. "Paul! It's Josh. I'm lost in this kitchen of yours, can you text me a map of how to get out of here?"

Paul chuckled. "I'll be right down."

"Paul, I don't know how to tell you this, but you have children. I warned you to spray the house for them."

As he spoke, Paul appeared from a doorway behind him, and with him was a dazzling little woman. She was everything Josh could want in a woman, but economy size. Her face was almost as beautiful as Veronica, with large breasts, an hourglass figure and a luminous smile. "Josh, this is the future Mrs. Jarecki, Doctor Adrianna Robertson."

"Call me Andi," said the tiny woman as she shook hands with Josh.

"Uh... when did you guys meet?" was all that Josh could say.

"A week ago," said Andi with a beautiful blush.

"About two hours after you left," said Paul. "The snow really started to come down and she went off the road trying to turn around."

"In a ditch!" cried a blond munchkin, who immediately disappeared.

"Right in front of Gerry and Irma Hirsh's farm," said Paul.

"Oh wow, the ditch is deep there," said Josh.

"Josh owns the property right across the street from us," Paul informed Andi. "This is Josh's first visit here, why don't you give him a tour of your home while I see to dinner."

"Ok, right this way," and she led him from the kitchen to the French Victorian formal dining room, which looked like it was ready for a magazine shoot. The large table was set with crystal, china, and silverware, all arranged perfectly along with holly and pine boughs. Behind the stately table was a large fireplace with a gas fire insert. The mantle was decorated with candles, an evergreen garland with tiny white lights twinkling in the branches, and potted poinsettias on the hearth, along with a couple of Barbie dolls that were basking in front of the gas fire.

"This is beautiful," said Josh.

"This is all some designer that Paul hired, we generally eat in the kitchen. Paul says he invites clients over and shows off with this house and will hire a caterer to serve dinner, clean up, and reset the table. He lives in the basement."

"Why?"

"That's where the big TV, his ham radio, and his gym is," said Andi. "This is the parlor, which I just love. I can't wait for the dinner party on Christmas!" The parlor continued with the French Victorian decor. A fire crackled in the glass insert in the fireplace, stockings hung from the mantle and mirrors abounded, making the room look even bigger. A tremendous blue spruce stood in the front window.

"I take it that they don't have any houses like this back in Kansas?" asked Josh.

"We're from Denver, and yes there's plenty of houses like this," then she turned to Josh and said, "but just not for me." She let that sink in then drew Josh's attention to the fourteen foot tall tree that dominated one end of the room. "Paul and his brother John are very proud of their Polish heritage..."

"Tell me about it," muttered Josh. He was afraid to come visit here because he was sick of the perogies Paul serves at the cabin.

"Every glass ornament on this tree is from Poland, all are hand crafted," she continued.

Josh looked at the beautiful, hand blown ornaments. They weren't the boring American spheres. Each ornament was an individual, brightly colored piece of art. Many bells covered the tree, and all were covered with bright colors. Some had beautiful paintings of Father Christmas or a peaceful, snowy village. Some ornaments were nativity scenes, some of those scenes Josh could only describe as Byzantine.

As he considered the tree, Andi asked Josh softly, "Why do you hate me? Is it because we're rushing into this?"

"No, I don't hate you. Look, if Paul's happy, I'm happy," said Josh. "Paul is not an impulsive guy. If he asked you to marry him, he thought it out, no matter how long or how quickly he came to that decision."

"Do you hate me because I'm taking Paul away from you?"

"Ma'am, I don't rightly know you enough to work up a good hate, and no, you're not taking Paul away from me. There's better fishing in my pond than yours so Paul will still be over."

"You're lonely, aren't you."

"No," Josh lied. "I have an entire company of co-workers to amuse me." And when I get home, I have a picture of my dead cat to keep me company.

"Paul is proud of this living room," said Andi as she led Josh into a living room which was decorated in the style of the 1950s.

"That's definitely period furniture," said Josh as he admired the aluminum Christmas tree. The silver tree slowly rotated on its stand next to the floor council TV. A floodlight illuminated the tree, a color wheel in front of the flood light changed color, and the tree was decorated with construction paper chains and construction paper gingerbread men.

"The girls have adopted this tree as theirs and their little projects get hung here." Then she turned to Josh and said, "The furniture was first owned by Paul and John's parents, they gave it to John and Macy when they got married. When Paul bought this house, he purchased the furniture from John and Macy, had it rebuilt and reupholstered for his parents and this is where they spent their last years."

"I know," said Josh. "I remember the funerals," he added softly. Why does he remember the horrors of life and never the joy? He felt a weak excuse to leave welling up when John and Macy made their appearance.

"Ephraim!" said Macy Jarecki as the twins tugged her into the living room, Paul's sister-in-law, wife of his brother John. John Jarecki is shorter than Paul, but he doesn't have the hawk nose of his older brother. Both have dark hair, dark blue eyes, and a similar sense of humor. While Paul studied medicine and became a doctor, John studied theology and became a pastor. His wife, Macy, is also a preacher. She has a doctorate in theology and a doctorate in psychology. She's tall, slender, black, and incredibly beautiful.

The twins led their Aunt Macy into the living room, chattering about the stranger in the house. "Oh you sillies, that's not a stranger, he's Mister Josh! He's a neighbor. He has the cabin across the street from Poppa Paul's cabin."

"Where momma plowed the driveway?" asked Madeline.

Josh turned to Andi, and she shrugged. "I like plowing."

"I can't picture you on that big old Ford tractor of Paul's," said Josh. Paul had a 1953 Ford 8N tractor that he rebuilt from the wheels up. It wasn't a really big tractor, but Andi was only four feet nine inches tall.

"I prefer the Kubota," said Andi.

Josh's jaw dropped. Paul also had a brand new four wheel drive Kubota tractor with all the bells and whistles, mower deck, front end scoop, backhoe, brush hog, and three-point hitch for the older implements. The Kubota was his baby; nobody touches the Kubota. "You drove the Kubota?"

"Uh huh," said Andi cheerily. "I asked and he said, 'Sure!'"

"My God," gasped Josh. He turned to Macy and said, "That is love."

"Mm-hmm, it sure is," said Macy, trying to sound southern like Josh, which is not easy for a French Canadian girl.

"Gus is here!" called Paul from the kitchen. "Get to the table!"

Reassured that Josh was not a strange man or a stranger, Sandy and Madeline led him to the kitchen through the big spooky library, a huge, mostly empty room with a huge spooky fireplace and bookshelves covering the walls. "This is where we do our running," said Sandy.

"Yeah, we don't need a tremmel," agreed Madeline.

"Tremmel?" asked Josh.

"Treadmill," translated Andi. "Paul and I work out on his exercise bikes or treadmills in the basement."

"We don't eat in the dining room," said Sandy. "That's for ghosts and guys with cameras."

"That keeps them out of your kitchen I suppose."

"Not always," said Madeline. "A ghost keeps eating my Froot Loops."

"Yeah that's bad for ghosts," said Josh. When they got to the kitchen, Paul's best friend, Gus Didomissio, was there, and he greeted Josh with a hug and back pats.

"You know him?" said a shocked Sandy.

"Josh and I are old buddies," said 'Uncle Gus.' "We go hunting together, and fishing, and he's got lots of cabins that we help him rebuild."

"If you're really good for your mother and papa Paul, I'll let you go camping in one of my cabins," said Josh.

Sandy and Madeline looked at each other, their eyes wide at the thought of having a cabin all to themselves. "I don't know," said Paul. "Mister Josh's cabins are out in the woods where the deer and the unicorns live and they're pretty big."

"Can we? Can we? Can we?" begged the twins as Andi and Paul got them into their highchairs.

"Troublemaker," said Andi to Josh.

"Yes ma'am. That's me."

Josh felt good to be among friends, Paul, John, Gus, and Macy. He felt a genuine affection for Andi, but the twins were becoming his little buddies. The girls told him all throughout dinner of their exploits being stuck in Paul's cabin during the storm and how they convinced their mommy to marry Paul because of something they called Missile Toast.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Come see me.

Ant

Josh sighed. Now what? Doesn't Anthony know that the chain of command goes in two directions? He finished up the inventory he had been working on, grabbed a notebook and tried to lock his computer before Terri could read over his shoulder and...

"You're in trouble now!" gushed Terri.

Too late, Josh groaned inwardly. Terri had seen the direct message from Anthony. "I got called into his office once," she gushed. "It was for dancing on the tabletops during the office Christmas party last year."

"Oh, you had? I must have missed it." Actually, Josh was there. He was new with the company but he was there and he remembered seeing Terri dancing away and he thought he didn't have to put up with 'moonbattery' like that in the civilian world. Then they met the next day at work.

"You were too busy making goo-goo eyes at Miss Veronica."

"We talked for a few moments," said Josh. "She was hanging out with much more important people than me." Being both gorgeous and intelligent, Veronica spends most of her time at these functions buttering up clients.

Josh grabbed a notebook and headed over to Anthony's office, one of the few rooms in the building that wasn't covered with Christmas decorations. He stepped in and saw that Anthony and Veronica were in the room and God; she was more beautiful than before. Even her hands were beautiful, long, delicate fingers. Her nails were perfectly shaped and colored. What he would give to have her hand caressing his cheek, her fingertips sliding over his chest, getting lower and lower... her right hand, not her left hand. Her left hand is adorned with a giant rock that shows she's betrothed to another man, so all Josh could do is daydream.

"How can I help you Chief?" asked Josh as he tried to stay as far away from Veronica as he could. He knew that one whiff of her perfume would toast his brain and he'd be useless for the rest of the day.

"Marjorie is starting to firm up an adoption advocacy organization, and Miss von Köster is planning some activities for the older children we would be servicing," said Ant. "We were wondering if we have a little campout on your property this summer, around July 15, maybe a night in a cabin, a splash in the pond, a hotdog cookout over a fire sort of thing."

"I don't see why not," said Josh.

"Fine. Can you work with Miss von Köster and make this happen?" asked Anthony.

"I uh," Josh looked at Veronica. "Sure, let me call Gus and see if we can get another cabin finished by mid-July. The organizers will have to haul out trash and if they want better sanitation than what is available, they'll have to rent a porta-potty."

"Not a problem," said Ant. "Miss von Köster, anything else?"

The beautiful woman sighed. "He's gone. Why does he hate me so much?" she looked absolutely heart broken.

"He doesn't hate you, in fact I think there's just one thing that's setting him off."

"What? We were friends, we had lunch together two, three times a week, and now he won't even speak to me."

Ant sat down next to her on the couch and took her hand in his. "I know Ephraim. I know his history. Because of that history, they told me that hiring him would be a mistake, but he has never given me reason to doubt my hiring him."

Veronica shook her head. "You can get anyone with a two-year degree to do that job."

"Honey, he's running that entire side of the building. While Mark and Eli are reviewing every receipt and document looking for that leak, he's been doing it all, scheduling the work, following up on the field techs, doing a full quality inspection of new installations, plus his own work in the server room, keeping it up and running, even designing new installations."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Nothing, it has everything to do with his loyalty to this company and you and I."

"But why doesn't he like me?"

"He cares for you very much. Maybe too much."

"He won't even talk to me," said Veronica.

"He has his reasons," said Ant, and he turned her hand over so she could see her diamond engagement ring. "He's a man of honor and principals. You are betrothed to a man who isn't here, so he's not even going to appear to be interested."

"Why?" she asked, but she was sure she knew the reason.

"How would you like it if you got phone calls stating that Jameson was seen spending time with a woman who just claims to be a friend?"

"But we're not doing anything like that," said Veronica.

"And neither, God forbid, is Jameson. But people talk. Ephraim is a southern man; he says yes ma'am and no sir and opens doors for you and he doesn't associate with engaged women."

"So what do I do?"

"Go talk to him, take Marj with you. He's going to relax with Marj there and you'll be able to feel him out."

Ten minutes later, Marjorie and Veronica walked into the Server Room and Josh was at his desk going over the duty schedule for the next few weeks when Veronica asked, "Can we talk?"

Josh looked up and saw that Marjorie was there with Veronica, even though she was standing back a few steps. "Sure," he said, and he locked up his PC. Veronica took another chair and wheeled it up to Josh's desk and sat close to him. "What would you like to talk about?" asked Josh.

"We have this project but I think we should clear the air first," said Veronica.

"Oh, what do you want to know?" asked Josh.

"Why don't you like me?"

Josh looked at her, then at Marj, then back at Veronica, then back to Marj. "You put her up to this, right?"

"I don't know what you mean," said Marj with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What are you saying," asked Veronica so quietly he could barely hear her.

"You're the second engaged woman that asked me that in the past few days. I met a friend's fiancée the other evening and she asked me the same thing. I'll tell you what I told her that evening." Josh pointed to the portrait of a beautiful Mexican woman on the wall. "When we were engaged, every time I came back from a mission, I heard rumors. Rumors like she was hot for a sergeant in the avionics shop, and she was having an affair with a married captain in the Osprey squadron. Crap like that. I still remember how painful that was and I swore that I will never be the cause of a rumor like that and bring such pain on anyone else."

"I didn't realize..." started Veronica, but Josh stopped her from continuing.

"I like you, Miss von Köster, probably more than I should, but engagement is a very important time in a relationship. It's when you should be at your most open and honest with your man so both of you are prepared for your life together."

"So you're willing to work with me?" Veronica asked.

Josh softened and smiled. "Yes, I can't wait to get going on this project, but we're going to need someone with us to insure no wicked rumors get back to Jameson."

That was so sweet! She worked with so many high-powered men that would jump at the chance to jump in bed with her, and here was a guy who was telling her why he would not consider a dinner alone with her, for purely romantic reasons... for her romance with Jameson! It was at that moment when their friendship blossomed. "I think we can arrange that," said Veronica. From that moment on, they became good friends. Josh could still be tongue tied when talking with her, but Veronica thought that was cute. Here was this big, strong, handsome war hero stuttering like a schoolboy.

Every day at lunch they would meet and discuss plans for the kids' campout. Josh showed her on his laptop what his property looked like on Google Earth. "This used to be a scout camp," he said. "There's been some vandalism over the years, but I'm rebuilding with some friends."

"Can I come help?" asked Veronica.

"Can you swing a hammer? Cut with a chain saw?" asked Josh.

"Yes to both," said Veronica. "Daddy also taught me how to weld."

Josh looked at her with a newfound admiration. "You're on the team. Ok here's the pond, the main driveway is here, and on the other side of these trees is my main cabin." He pointed out the driveway that went back to the east side of the huge pond and went around a big loop in the forest. "This is Ant and Marj's cabin, and here is my future main cabin," he said as he pointed out a small cabin right on the north-east edge of the pond.

"It looks like heaven on earth," sighed Veronica.

"We think so," said Marj. "Those cabins are huge. One will do it for us if we can get enough cots and picnic tables."

"How big are these cabins?" asked Veronica as she slipped Josh a folded post-it note.

"There's three sizes. There's small cabins which are fine for six to eight, I call that a patrol cabin, the big cabins can hold up to three patrols of scouts, I call those troop cabins, then there's a couple that fall in between. There's only one of those currently standing and it's where I stay. There's also spots for tent camping along the loop, I'm thinking of making those RV spots."

"You're going to make an RV park?" asked Veronica.

"Yep. That's my retirement. Baiting hooks and helping with water hook-ups," said Josh. "No more high pressure bullshit. Pardon my French."

That entire idea appealed to Veronica. To retire in the woods and help novice campers get their start with the hobby. "My dad used to take my sister Magda and me camping all the time," said Veronica with a happy sigh. "He loves fishing in a rowboat."

"You and Jameson will have to bring him for a visit."

While Marj was describing to Veronica the forest that Josh owned, Josh opened the folded post-it note and, in Veronica's calligraphy perfect handwriting, was:

Be honest,

How much do you like me?

1 - 10

Josh wrote his answer and folded the note back up and slipped the post-it note into her purse.

<><><><><>

On Christmas Eve, Josh went to the Springville Congregational Church for the first time and sat through the candlelight service. He was impressed with John's sermon. It was both inspiring and educational, and Josh liked it more than he would admit to himself. Josh was brought up in an old school hell fire and brimstone style Baptist church, and after that, any other church he went to worked so hard to distance themselves from that format they ended up sounding like over saccharinated kindergarten teachers. He actually liked John's sermon. And Macy's singing was incredible! She sang Oh Holy Night in French (Minuit, Chrétiens) and it sounded as sweet as the angels that Josh imagined. The entire congregation was waiting for that and for what came next.

Veronica herself was there for the same reason. She used Paul Jarecki's library to practice ball room dancing, and she just adored Paul's fiancée, so she too was in John's church for the same reason. When she saw Macy, she thought the elegant black woman looked familiar for some reason. Neither Josh nor Veronica knew each other was there. They were sitting on opposite sides of the church.

Like many people in the church, Veronica chuckled in delight as Paul's dog, Wonka, led the tiny blond moppet ring bearers to the altar. Josh was shocked to see Gus in a tuxedo, but then the incredibly plain looking maid of honor was in a matching tux as well. Then came Andi's spectacular entrance, where she cast off a white shawl and revealed that she was getting married in a beautiful red dress that matched Macy's green dress. The guys all wore matching black tuxedos with red or green lapels and ties. Veronica almost stood and applauded Andi's brave choice of a red dress, because with twin girls, nobody is going to believe a white dress anyhow. Wear what makes you and the groom happy!

After the ceremony, Veronica went directly home. Josh, however, stayed for the reception in the church's fellowship hall and gave Andi a kiss, overjoyed by the joy his friend Paul was feeling at that moment. "You are coming to dinner tomorrow, right?" the tiny bride demanded.

"Tomorrow's Christmas, doesn't Paul have the big shin-dig on Boxing day?"

"There's a Bills game on Boxing day, they're playing the Dolphins," said Andi. "I'm not missing a moment of that game." Josh chuckled and gave Andi another kiss on the cheek. Paul found himself a good one. Then Josh did what he always did on Christmas eve, he headed for a bar.

He was still at Worzil's Bar and Grille swapping Air Force stories with the veteran proprietors Ayato and Julissa Tanaka when Gus Didomissio came in with Andi's matron of honor. Both were still in their tuxedos.

"Gus, when the ceremony is over, you can let go of the Matron of Honor."

"I don't think so," said Gus. "This one might be a keeper." He introduced Josh, Ayato, and Julissa to Andi's best friend, Lucy Kosis. "She's the real reason why tonight happened," said Gus happily.

"Andi traveled out here to visit me, and she made the wrong turn getting off the 219 and got stuck in the blizzard," said Lucy. "Paul dug her and the girls out and they've been crazy for each other ever since."

Ayato poured out five liquid candy canes (a shot of red dyed peppermint schnapps) and they toasted the new couple's health.

Meanwhile, at home, Veronica was dressing for bed. Jameson was supposed to call at midnight, but like usual, the hour came and went with no call from him. She took off her engagement ring... then put it back on. She'll confront him later, after the company party. She turned off her cell phone and headed upstairs. While she was digging her work cell phone out of her purse (she never would turn that one off) she noticed the folded post it note. She opened it up and saw that it was the note she had passed to Josh days before. She was feeling schoolgirl giddy when she did that, and she's embarrassed that she did it. And thank God Josh never said anything! Then she saw what he wrote.

Be honest,

How much do you like me?

1 - 10

15

The next day, Andi Jarecki was hosting her very first major dinner party, an enormous feast that had become a "Must Attend" event for many of the people of Springville. Veronica had been there several times. It was always hosted by Paul and John Jarecki along with Gus Didomissio and volunteers from Springville Congregational church, St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, and Trinity Lutheran church. Several times during the evening, Veronica saw Josh, but it was like he was avoiding her as much as she was avoiding him.

15

That number popped into mind every time she saw Josh that evening. She even admired the fun when he pretended not to know that Paul and Andi had gotten married just to drive Dianna Clemmons, a mutual neighbor, crazy. In the end he had Andi laughing so hard she almost wet herself. "Well... Miss Dianna wouldn't pull ma leg. Ah'll take her word for it, you and Paul jest might be married. Welcome to the family, ma'am." Then he leaned over and whispered in Andi's ear, "Thank you for loving my friend." Then he turned to Andi's friend Kat, took the beers she was holding and walked away, leaving Kat confused and all the women laughing.

Most of the time that evening Josh was reading books with Andi's daughters. Veronica tried to talk to Father Juan, but he was having a good time with the people of Springville, so Veronica walked home.

That Monday at work, she steeled herself to confront Josh. "Fifteen? Are you crazy? I'm getting married!" No, that was harsh. She asked him to be honest, and if that was the truth, then it's Josh with the problem, not Veronica. In the end, she chickened out, and she left Josh alone. He was having a problem with something and was desperately working on a device called a CAM-72 in the server room all day. It must have been important because his supervisor, Mark Post, was in there as well.

"What am I going to do?" She moaned to her dancing coach/partner, Mitch, that evening as they practiced one last time before the big party on Wednesday. The Jarecki Family was on a family cruise/honeymoon and they took the entire wedding party to the Bahamas on the yacht Andi's Dream that Paul gave her for Christmas. Veronica had agreed to help keep an eye on the place and Wonka for them.

"Talk to him girl," said Mitch. "I may be gay but I'm not stupid. You have to talk out matters of the heart or they'll explode in your head."

"He won't talk to me unless there's someone there so it doesn't..."

"I will be there with you tomorrow, remember? After we dance you can talk to him at the party and I'll pretend to be interested," said Mitch.

"Yeah, that's it," she said and her heart felt light. The fact that she hasn't heard from Jameson in a week isn't bothering her at all now. She's going to straighten things out with Josh, then take a couple of days off and go to Manhattan and demand that Jameson shit or git off the pot, as Josh would say. After that, it's anyone's guess what Veronica was going to do next.

She spent the night in the spare master bedroom in the huge soaking tub parked next to the main bed. She found that she could watch her favorite Netflix show from the warm, soapy comfort of the bathtub. Such an indulgence! Her hands moved up and down her soapy, smooth skin as the rom-com she was watching got hot and sexy.

Before she realized what she was doing, she was pinching and tugging at her nipples. She wasn't ashamed of masturbating. In fact, she was quite good at it, and it beat the hell out of dragging some random guy home whenever you felt the urge. In fact, when it got bad, she had a female lover for those rare occasions when her fingers, or Bob (her Battery Operated Boyfriend) wouldn't do.

She pinched and squeezed a nipple while her other hand traveled lower. She imagined herself in a log cabin, in front of a warm fire, with a vigorous man taking the lead. The moment her fingertip touched her clit, she gasped, "Oh Effy!"

Effy? No! It was Jameson! Not Effy. Effy was her pet name for Josh. Shaken, she sat up in the tub like a shot. She meant to use Jameson's pet name...

But she didn't have a pet name for Jameson. One never occurred to her. She decided she would not wait for the party. She would talk to Josh tomorrow at work. With luck, she could get him angry at her and that would drive thoughts of him out of her mind and she'd be done with it. This entire episode would be over, and she could take a few days off, fly to Manhattan, and slap some sense into Jameson's head.

She arrived at the Andalon building and pulled into her parking space just as Ant pulled in. "You're usually earlier than this," said Veronica as they walked to the main entrance. It was a half hour before they opened it to the public, so Anthony and Veronica had to swipe their badges to get in.

"I just dropped Josh off at the train station."

"Where's he going?"

"Chicago. We had a big crash last night and almost lost West Rochester Emergency clinic. He's going to spend time with the manufacturer and figure out a solid solution."

"Train?"

"Josh doesn't fly," said Ant. "Didn't he tell you that?"

Veronica sputtered. "He didn't call... it's not like... we don't..."

"Relax sweetheart, he left a note for you on your desk."

Veronica entered her office and logged into her computer. She set per personal status to "IN - BUSY" which caused the status sign on her door changed from OUT to IN - BUSY. The outer door latch was disabled so she couldn't be disturbed, but the inner latch worked so she could exit. This did not disable the latch on the door to Anthony's office. Ant was free to enter any office he wanted to. And the boss was right, Josh had left a note for Veronica.

Dear Nica,

I am so sorry I'm not there to tell you this personally, but the CAM-72 bulk storage system crapped out again. West Rochester Emergency couldn't access their data for hours and I've been working this since nine AM yesterday. Luckily, we came up with a work-around to get West Rochester back up, but it took all night to come up with something that would keep them up. I got with the manufacturer and we might have a solution. I'm going to Chicago's Microelectronics Park to work with SenCorInc engineers to test their solution.

I didn't want to leave so abruptly without talking to you, but the first train to Chicago leaves at six thirty AM from the Depew station and luckily Mr. Friedman was available to give me a ride. I'm exhausted. It's been a while since I've pulled a 24-hour shift, so this letter may sound punchy. I love sleeping on the train, it's relaxing for me. Luckily, the train leaves when it does. If it left any later, I'd have to take the bus. I don't fly unless it's unavoidable, I've had enough flying.

I regret that I'll be asleep for most of the trip to Chicago (I love riding the train!) but mostly I am sorry for not communicating with you for the past few days. I wanted to sit down and chat with you face to face, long happy conversations about anything but once started, it's heartbreaking for me to stop. Regarding our project, I could talk about taking you camping in my forest all day. I'll bet your eyes look spectacular in the light of a campfire.

I wish I could have approached you at the wedding. Andi looked so cute in that red dress, I saw her later wearing reindeer antlers. She and John's wife Macy fell in love at first sight and are best friends. Paul found a cute one! Then again, at their Christmas dinner, I wanted to sit with you at dinner so much, but I will keep our relationship professional. Besides, this was Christmas. I love the Christmas Holidays but I don't do the holidays very well alone, so it's best that I stay removed from people that I have an emotional connection with before I soak them in beer tears. Us country boys take the holidays a bit seriously. Lucky for me, Andi's twins were there to keep me entertained.

My biggest regret is not being able to see you dance at the party tonight. I remember last year like it was yesterday and I play that back in my head over and over. You are so beautiful in that white dress, and some day I will gather up the courage to ask you to dance with me. Maybe at your wedding. Maybe?

My only salvation is that soon you will be married and we will be able to become friends without ruining your romance with Jameson. You and Jameson can come out to Camp Cyryl and spend as much time as you want in a cabin, and we can have a grand time teaching your city boy how to shoot a bb gun and fish for bluegill, any time you want, just as long as I get to see the light of the campfire in your eyes.

You are in my heart

Effi

Veronica sat staring at the letter on her desk. "What did I do?" she gasped.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Josh Gravely shook off his coat in the "mud room," the maintenance entrance of the Andalon Data Systems data center where he stomped the snow off of his feet then put his coat back on. The snow was really piling up out there and there's still a lot of cars still in the parking lot at 2:00 PM. Don't these people understand the meaning behind a Lake Effect Storm Warning? He headed toward his office and saw that Eli Goldman was still in his office.

"Get your people out of here Eli, it's a shit storm out there," said Josh, knowing that Eli hates people swearing in his office.

"Welcome back," said Eli as he folded up his laptop and stuffed it into a messenger bag. "I have all my people either finishing up jobs or heading home. How far north does this go?"

Lake effect storms are weird animals. They sweep up and down the eastern shore of Lake Erie like a giant windshield wiper from hell. They rarely hit the city of Buffalo itself, but when they do, it makes national headlines. They normally hit south of the city, often in Orchard Park, where Josh and Eli were standing. "We're the center of the storm. The further north you go, it gets easier. Once you get north of Williamsville, it's dry as a bone." Good news for Eli, he lives far north of Williamsville, he won't have to shovel his driveway, but Josh will probably be stuck in this building for a couple of days "minding the store," but that's what Storm Watch is all about.

Josh came in late because he had just returned from a week in Chicago, and he had scheduled work that can only be done at night when this storm whipped up. Ant reminded Josh that he volunteered to take the first Storm Watch to see how it goes. Storm Watch is the guy who waits out the storm, keeping exits clear of snow in case of a fire and can handle a server breakdown should one happen during the storm, and most important can ensure the backup generators are in working order.

Eli nodded. "Good, we have to work up north in Niagara Country tomorrow. I'll be at the old office on Ridge Lea Road tomorrow unless this blows over..." The old office Eli mentioned should be spared from this storm. He spread the slats on the venetian blinds and looked outside for the first time since the storm started, "Oh yeah... this is not going to blow over anytime soon. Are you set for food and water?"

"I'm good. I have a sack full of frozen food and Ant is going to give me the key to his office." Josh was talking about the Storm Watch security badge that the engineer on Storm Watch carried. It can open any door in the building and was controlled by Ant himself. Anthony had a sweet suite with a fold out couch, 85-inch QLED with every streaming service known to man, all the finest sci-fi on blue ray, a private full bath, and a kitchenette. Mr. Friedman said that he practically lived in his office when he built Andalon Data Systems. If he has to do it again, he's going to do it in comfort. "Get going," Josh warned. "The 219 is probably packed right now." That's how they talk in Western New York. US Highway 219 is "The 219" US Highway 33 is "The thirty-three" and US Interstate 90 is "The Troo Way."

"Ok, I'm outta here," Eli announced. "Call me if you get lonely." He zipped up his jacket, wound a scarf around his neck, added a fedora for effect, and was out the door with a wave.

Josh then stuck his nose into their boss's door. "Hey Mark, how's it going?" said Josh as he stepped into Mark's office.

"The CAM-72 is holding up perfectly, thanks for going to Chicago." Then, without looking up from his four monitors, Mark held up a bright orange security badge on a bright orange lanyard. "The boss dropped this off for you."

"You need to get going Markie." Josh put the badge lanyard around his neck, "That snow's a' comin' down!"

"Is that how you say it in Georgia?" Mark asked, still without looking up from his myriad of computer screens.

"No, in Georgia we'd say 'Gawd Dawg! Ah'm sho glad Ah ain't in Buffalo!'" Josh took the clipboard off the wall marked "Shift Turn-Over" and started looking over the to-do list.

"That bad hmm?" Mark never looked up from his monitor.

"Look, I am not going to explain to Darcy why her daddy isn't coming home tonight. You gotta get going." Just then, a flash of light from outside was followed in a few seconds by a roll of thunder. Thunder Snow is a real thing, and they get it in Western New York. This one had perfect timing.

Mark was slowly getting up without tearing his eyes from the four monitors on his desk when the flash of lightning changed his mind. Normally Mark would stay for another hour or four, like Josh he lives just a couple of miles away, but Thunder Snow is wet, nasty, heavy stuff that clogs highways and makes side roads impassable. He started for the door as fast as he could get organized. "Ok, Saint Benedict hospital number three billing server has a drive going, also your tape monkey won't be in tonight, she already called in, so you have storm watch all to yourself," called Mark as he headed for the door pulling on his parka. "I'll be working from home tomorrow!" he yelled as the door slammed closed behind him.

"Crap," muttered Josh. He knew that there would be no "tape monkey" but he was hoping there would be a chance. It would be nice to spend a storm watch with another human being in the building. A tape monkey is a low-level employee who insures proper backup of all servers and documentation of the backup. Most of the servers backup their data to a storage server, but many clients still require backup to tape and it's the tape monkey's job to catalogue and store the tapes. It's an important job, but it's long, involved, and boring as all hell. The name comes from days gone by when mainframe computers backed up to huge open reel tapes and someone had to wrestle those tapes into a vault for storage. Josh left the clipboard on his desk, then walked through the building, urging stragglers to hurry.

The programmers were long gone before he came in. Their bull pen was dark. Who was left? He walked into the sales and marketing area and there were quite a few salesmen finishing up their daily... whatever it is they do on a daily basis. Andalon Data Systems offers a variety of computer services, from office network management to large-scale data storage and wide area networks. What Josh was hired for was hospital imaging and records management, the bread and butter of Andalon Data Systems, and since that time he's become the jack of all trades in the server room. Hopefully, these marketing guys were selling the hell out of their services. This new data center was a tremendous risk on Ant's part and a bad financial quarter could end it all for them.

His last swing through the building took Josh past Executive Row: three VPs, Ant's office, and Veronica. The VPs were gone already, but Veronica was still in her office, clattering away on her keyboard. He tapped on her open door, "You really should go Miss van Köster, the snow is getting bad," he said softly. He scolded himself inwardly for behaving like he has a high school crush whenever he sees her... but he probably has a crush on her. Then he remembered his answer to her question - 15. Yep. Crush city. But he's punching 'way outside of his weight class. This girl had looks, smarts, elegance and a Rock on her finger that's worth more than most of his possessions combined.

She gave Josh a sweet smile, "I will Effy, I'm just finishing up." Then, noticing the bright orange badge that he had slung around his neck, she added, "I hope you don't get stuck in here tonight."

She called him Effy. The thought brought a smile to his face. She found out that Josh's grandmother called him that when he was young and now, when no one is around, that's what Veronica calls him. If one of his maggots in the USAF had ever called him Effy, he would have popped their head like a zit, but from her, it's sweet. Veronica von Köster is Anthony Friedman's executive assistant, but the grapevine says that she's the driving force in this company and that Ant is just her front man for business meetings. That comes from people who don't know Anthony.

Josh still thinks back to seeing Veronica at the Christmas party last year, long white dress covered with silver sparkles, plunging neckline that gave a breathtaking hint of her beautiful breasts, thick blond hair cascading over her shoulders, a smile as wide as the Niagara River. When she danced with that fellow in the Army costume that she never introduced to Josh, the light reflecting off her dress sequins blinded the entire audience. But the way they danced! Just the memory caused stirrings in Josh that he needs to suppress right now. Oh well, don't stick your nose into private business here on Executive Row, he told himself.

He peeked into Ant's office. Anthony Friedman was a nice guy; he lets an old ramp rat like Josh call him Ant and to Josh that is real class. He's met far too many phonies in the military and civilian life, jerks who acted with an authority they didn't earn or deserve. Ant wasn't anything like that. Ant's mind was always spinning with business ideas. That's why he has three vice presidents. Their job is to take those ideas and turn them into money, then it's Miss van Köster's job to make sure that those three VPs don't stab Ant in the back. Ant saw Josh as he approached the office door and, before Josh could say a word, he raised the TV remote control. "I know, I know," he groused and turned off the TV. He was watching Dr. Phil.

"You really need to get going sir," Josh said as he helped Ant with his overcoat, "it's really starting to pile up. And take Miss von Köster with you, she's still working."

"Wouldn't I like to," he said with a sideways sneer and a wink. There's no doubt about it. Veronica von Köster is a knockout. She has a breathtaking beauty that reminds men that God still likes them. That's why he lets men see his finest workmanship. Ant tapped on her door and leaned in. "Come on Veronica, you need to go now."

"Yes sir, but...uh... the internet is out at my house, I can't work from home and you, and Mr. DePaul need to review these letters ASAP. I'll finish them up and you'll have them in your inbox before you get home." She really looked worried; these must be important letters.

"Ok, but if you're not out of here five seconds after you click send, Mr. Gravely has my permission to take you across his knee."

To add emphasis, Josh pointed to his eyes with two fingers, then pointed them at her to let her know he was watching her. "That's a deal sir!" she called and gave him a bit of a smile, then went right back to work.

As Ant walked to the exit door with Josh, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Veronica's half open office door. "That's why we're a success."

"How's that sir? This entire company is your vision, you're our success."

"Oh, that's bullshit, and you can't bullshit a bullshitter, pardon my French." he said, poking Josh in the ribs. "I spout ideas all day long, so what? You do too, I've seen your suggestions, this storm watch thing, that's your idea. It's a great idea! You come up with ideas, you give them to me, I make them work. What good is an idea if it goes nowhere? My talent lies in finding the people we need to make those ideas work. Take Stanislaus Dombrowski..."

"I'd rather not, sir."

"I understand, Stan is a fucking asshole, pardon my French, but he is. And he'll admit it. But as VP of finance, he's saved this company from bankruptcy nearly half a dozen times just since you were brought on." That's not long. Josh has only been here a little over a year, one Christmas Party and one summer picnic... two chances to see Veronica dance and he missed his third chance to see her dance when he went to Chicago. Ant continued, "Veronica runs this company, she's the mayor of Executive Row, we report to her, and she knows it, but she doesn't lord it over a soul. Just like you."

That made Josh pause. "Just like me what? ... sir."

"Just like you being Sergeant Josh. Before you started, my tech guys were like... kindergarteners. They were all over the place. They were doing what needed to be done, but they were scattered, there was no organization, they were doing what needed to be done but they were also causing more work for Mark and Eli than they could handle and making work for them is my job! You came in, got them settled down, work is fully documented now, productivity is through the roof, and Mark and Eli can work on the projects we need them to complete."

"It was super easy sir, barely an inconvenience. You just have to stab one of them, the rest see the blood and they get the idea pretty quick," Josh said that with a straight face and for a moment he was afraid that Anthony would take him seriously. They got to the door, and the snow was getting really heavy. "You sure you can make it? I'd love to drive you but I'm on storm watch tonight and I can't leave," Josh said as he held the door for Anthony.

Ant tapped Josh's bright orange card on the bright orange lanyard around Josh's neck. "I'll be good," said Ant, "I can make it home ok, but are you good? Do you have food in there for a couple of days?"

"I'll be fine, I've got a shit stack of MREs just in case I get stuck, the generators are fully gassed up, and I have the key to your liquor cabinet." Josh grinned, but he realized Ant knew that Josh knows where the key was, and he'd use it if this storm gets worse. Josh also knows where Ant keeps the mixer.

"I told you about that talent of mine," he grinned. "I can find the right man for the right job. You just take care of business and I'll see you when this is over," Ant said as he headed off into the swirling snow to find his car.

Josh headed back to his cubbyhole, logged in to the network with his laptop and checked the Saint Benedict number three billing server and sure enough, drive #16 was getting ready to go. "I love hot swappable drives," said Josh as he put the bad drive in the replacement mode remotely from his laptop, then he grabbed a replacement hard drive from the parts locker.

He entered the server room and was met by the whining of over a thousand little cooling fans keeping their respective servers cool, and a blast of arctic air from the air conditioning unit. The air conditioning unit here is immense. If that goes out, these servers will melt down, especially in a hot muggy Buffalo summer. The servers are almost identical to each other, which makes a neat and orderly looking server room investors love to see. In fact, Ant had Mark design the server room with a wall of windows so he could lead prospective clients and investors past the server room for their viewing pleasure. One of these servers had a hard drive with a flashing ID light above the bad drive, and that was his target. He simply popped the old drive out, slid the new drive in, then went back to his desk to finish the job.

As he worked, there were a few more rumbles of thunder. The storm was the talk of the local radio station, now he heard that Erie County Sheriff's department and the State Troopers had issued a travel ban for any road from the south of West Seneca to the Pennsylvania state line, which put Josh inside that zone. Josh chuckled, remembering Ant call this building the Buckle of the Snow Belt. He's not going anywhere for sure. Back to work, he logged into the server and started up the hard drive replacement routine; the server formatted the replaced drive then starting writing to it. It should be fully up in under an hour with no loss of productivity to Saint Benedict hospital over a hundred miles away. Josh has just enough time to verify the building was empty one last time before calling this job done and closing out the paperwork.

One last walk through the building showed that sales and marketing were all gone, all outside doors secure, all offices empty, and all lunches left in the fridges are now property of Josh Gravely. He went to the main door and looked out; it was really coming down, big wet flakes. The sky now had a tan look to it which told Josh that these were low-hanging clouds, the kind that dump actual tons of snow. Roof collapsing snow. God, how he hates lake effect storms. It's January but Lake Erie hasn't frozen over yet so this storm is picking up a LOT of moisture from the lake. There was a background hiss just at the edge of audibility, which was the sound of millions of wet, heavy snowflakes hitting the ground.

Josh grabbed a shovel and began to clear the sidewalk. He didn't expect anyone to come in, but if there was a weary traveler caught in the storm, he wanted a safe haven for them and a clear entry way. Primarily, though, he wanted a clear exit in case there was a fire. As he scraped the snow, he saw the imprint of small high-heeled boots in the snow. The tiny prints were heading to the parking lot; they had to be Miss van Köster's footprints because all other footprints were long since filled in from the storm. He paused and looked off towards Five Rod Road to see if he could see any traffic out there, but the only thing that he could see was Miss van Köster's Lincoln Navigator SUV in the parking lot.

Josh had shoveled another ten feet of sidewalk before his brain kicked into gear. Her office was empty, her footprints were here, her car was there... SHIT! He better check the car. Josh hoped against hope that she didn't want to drive and had someone come pick her up. It happens all the time, but he had to check. He kept saying that to himself while he walked through the foot of snow to the beautiful SUV, the perfect machine for the perfect woman. When he got there, Josh wiped the snow off the driver's side window and peered inside, and there she was.

She was staring at the steering wheel, but she had that look that Josh had seen in the face of men before, it was as if she was looking at something a mile away while her eyes were locked on the steering wheel in front of her. In World War Two, they called it the 2,000 Yard Stare, looking 2,000 yards in a 20-foot room. Josh remembered some dumbass movie where a character practically bragged about having the 2,000-yard stare. If you can say you have the 2,000-yard stare, then you don't have it, and that's a fact. If you have it, you are incapable of doing almost anything else. Josh lifted the door handle, but the door was locked. He knocked on the window and called "Miss van Köster!" but she didn't answer. He knocked with his bare knuckles and still no response. "Nica!" he shouted, but she remained impassive. He needs something harder to tap on the window.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy brass coin. One side showed the specter of death, pointing two swords downward at a thirty-degree angle. The other side showed an AC-130 gunship in a thirty-degree roll to the left, the left side of the plane bristling with guns. The top of the coin said "Ghost Riders." Below that it read, "Only the dead have seen the end of war" and below that was engraved his call sign "Bounce 27." This coin is never looked at, never taken out, but always in his pocket. He blinked and his head, shoulder and arms were covered with snow. How long did he lose himself staring at the past through the lens of this brass coin? Shaking himself, he returned to Orchard Park NY and the problem at hand. He raised the coin and banged the edge of the coin on her window. It hit with a resounding crack! But she didn't move. Josh began banging the coin in a rhythm he thought he had forgotten, but his hand remembered how to tap the coin... How many bar tops and beer-soaked tabletops has he tapped out that same rhythm?

Slowly Veronica came out of whatever waking nightmare had her in its grasp, and she turned toward the source of the sound that roused her and there was Mr. Gravely. Josh saw the look of relief that washed over her as she recognized him. Her door opened a little, and she leaned toward the door, "I don't know what happened... it won't start, can I get a jump from you?" She sounded scared and embarrassed.

So many bad comeback lines were available to Josh, but he didn't utter a one. "No ma'am, the county has banned travel, looks like we have to wait this one out."

Veronica took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Ok, but no more 'ma'am,' please Effy?"

"Ma... uh Miss van Köster, my momma would reach out from her grave and slap my mouth if she would hear me call you anything but ma'am."

The window closed, and the door opened a bit. "That Miss von Köster stuff has to go too." She took his proffered arm as she got out of the SUV. The sidewalks were shoveled, but that's when they're at their most slippery as the falling snow melts and turns into a slippery coating of half frozen slush.

"What should I call you?"

"Anything but Betty," she replied, but she looked at his face and didn't see a glimpse of recognition. "You know Betty from the Archie comics... Betty and Veronica?"

"Oh, I get it now... but I thought Betty was the blond..." Josh was feigning ignorance, trying to get Miss van Köster's brain going and off of the predicament she was in. She must have been freezing out here. Her legs barely kept her up, and he put his arm around her narrow waist to steady her as they walked up the slippery sidewalk. "Isn't Betty the nice one?" he asked, getting one more poke in before they got to the door.

"You must be thinking of a different Betty," she said as they got to the door. By now, she was shivering violently. "I'm sorry for being a burden, I'm so cold," she said softly.

Josh's hands were full of Veronica so he couldn't easily pull out his storm watch badge to scan and unlock the door, and she made no move to pull her badge out, in fact her foot slipped a little more and she held on to Josh tighter. He finally got his badge out with his left hand, then the door opened, but her legs gave out. In a flash, he scooped her up and carried Veronica into the warm building. He took her to the reception area, more reminiscent of someone's living room than a networking company. It has comfortable couches and chairs arranged around coffee tables where salesmen could set up their laptops and start their presentations. Josh often called it the furniture store.

Josh eased Veronica into a couch, then he stood, kicking himself. He had a slice of heaven in his arms. She could be sitting on his lap right now, but he set her down and stepped back. That's what you get for being raised a gentleman. "Ok," he sighed, "If you're ok, then I suppose I'll get back to work," and he took off his jacket and hung it on the antique coat rack near the door. There goes spending the night on Ant's hide-a-bed watching Jackie Chan movies. As a gentleman, he knows he's going to give up that bed for her.

"Effy, please, I'm freezing. Can you get me a blanket from my closet in my office?"

"Sure ma'... I mean Veronica, I'll be right back." Josh headed over to executive row and used his storm watch card to get into Veronica's office. Her office was a buffer between Ant's office and the VP's offices. He had to use the card to get into her closet too, which turned out to be an executive office supply depot, a storage spot for Andalon Data Systems swag, and a storage area for a couple of outfits, coats, shoes, cosmetics, and a few blankets. He grabbed what appeared to be a handmade quilt and headed back to Veronica. As he passed her desk, he saw neatly laid out on her desk was her security badge, her handbag, and the starter fob for her SUV. He considered those items for a long time before returning to Veronica.

On the couch, she had taken off her quilted coat and was using it as a blanket. "Grandma's quilt! I forgot I had it here!" she gasped as Josh spread it out on top of her.

"Would you like me to hang up your coat?"

"No thank you," she said as she shivered, "But could you please help me off with my boots please?"

Josh smiled and sat down on the coffee table and lifted a foot into his lap and pushed up her pants leg. Her boots were nearly equivalent to Go-Go boots, they were just about knee high and skintight. "Do these count as compression stockings?" Josh asked as he slowly pulled down the zipper on the first boot, "I ask because my Doc mentioned compression stockings and these are awful tight," he eased the boot off of an elegant leg and held it up, "and I have something that would go with these."

Veronica looked at Josh for a moment, then realized he was kidding, and she burst out laughing. It was a beautiful, musical laugh. Josh thought that if angels laugh, this is what they would sound like. She was still laughing as he eased off the second boot, the thought of a tough, bearded, ex-military guy saying he's got an outfit to match high heeled women's boots... "I'm sorry," she finally said through tears of laughter. "But that was the first good laugh I've had in a long time." Her delicate little feet were still on his lap, and they were covered in black nylon stockings. "Do you need compression stockings?" she asked as he began to massage her feet. Her laughs changed to little mewling sounds as his strong hands massaged the aches of the day away.

"My doc seems to think so and... oh shit!" He suddenly realized where he was and what he was doing and who he was doing it to. "I... I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be doing this... I didn't mean... it was just..." he struggled to get away, but he was tangled in the quilt.

"No!" she gasped, "It's ok, I don't mind." she reached forward and captured one of his hands and patted it, "please don't stop, it's just what I need."

Josh relaxed and went back to work, massaging her feet. "I'm sorry, but I'm a guy. We walk into HR, and they say 'GUILTY! Now... what is it that you were accused of?'"

"We don't do that here," she said indignantly. "where did you come to us from?" Her eyes rolled back in her head as he hit a spot on her foot that felt sooo good. Yeah, he'd be in HR if he did this to someone during office hours... Lacy in HR would want a foot massage, too.

"I came from XCom," he said. "They were pretty vicious."

"Oh yeah, them." Veronica sighed sadly. Those giant multi-nationals were meat grinders. They snagged up the brightest and the best and spit out shell-shocked animated corpses. Bodies were stacked up as sacrifices to the unholy goddess named 'Restructuring' whose appetite was ravenous. Veronica eased her happy, tingling feet to the floor and patted the couch next to herself. "Do you mind? I'm still freezing."

Josh sat down on the couch next to her and she threw the quilt over him, then snuggled up next to him, basking in his bodily warmth. He nervously put an arm around her, still terrified of the dragon that lurks in each HR office, but she snuggled closer with a happy purr. "Why do you need compression stockings?" she asked.

No harm in answering, Josh thought, they know all about me any how... here goes... "I was on a plane that was in pretty bad shape. It hit the runway kinda hard and I wasn't secured. I bounced around some, and my innards got shook up..." He cannot forget that night. A nasty mission in Buttfuckistan and their AC-130U was on target. He was forward working a jam on the 25mm gun when they took ground fire and a shell hit the rear ramp blowing half of it away and knocking out the gun crew on the 105... their blood was everywhere... he got his injured crew members bandaged and strapped in on that mad dash for home. He bandaged Ellie and when he was done, the runway came up and slammed into them and he bounced around that cabin violently. He spent one year in Korea, then they promised a career working on computers for Uncle Sam, but they lied. He found himself back in the civilian world, in pain, and had not a clue how to spend his early retirement. Somehow, he went to school and ended up with a job at XCom.

It felt so good to Veronica, just snuggling with this man. He's not grabby, he's not looking down her blouse, he's not planning to show her off like a deer he just shot. It's been a long time... "Let's play a game," she said, "tell me where we're going on our date."

"When? now? I guess we'll go to Ant's office and play Red Dead Redemption on his Xbox."

"How about after the roads open," she said, wondering what a Red Dead Redemption was, "where do we go?"

"Hmmm... ok, I got it. Friday afternoon we go to Chestnut Ridge Park and go tobogganing. The toboggan runs are so incredible there, and when we're done with that, we upgrade to the inner tubes. That's some serious fun. Hot apple cider with maybe a splash of schnapps between runs, then we go to the Ellicott Manor in Lancaster for fish fry."

"What's on their fish fry?" she asked. Fish fry in Buffalo was almost a religious experience. It's everywhere and everyone has their favorite place to enjoy it. Her favorite was four blocks from her front door - Worzil's Bar and Grille.

"Halibut," he started, "beer battered and deep fried to perfection."

"Of course," she nodded.

"French fries, cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, and apple slaw."

"French fries and potato salad? That's a mighty bold choice!" she chuckled, but Friday fish fry made keeping trim such a chore.

"Yep, that's me, always looking for the avant garde to impress the ladies." That caused her to smile and hold back a giggle.

"What about after?" she asked.

"I don't know, what we're doing right here is awful nice, I think after dinner I'll let you drive. If we wind up on the couch watching old movies, I'm down with that." That surprised the hell out of her. Guys always want sex, and she said a brief prayer that it wasn't a lie intended to get her off her guard. Then he asked, "What's your idea of the perfect date?"

She thought for a long time, then finally said, "I don't know, I've never had one." Guys were always trying to impress her. She remembered one guy who flew her down to Miami for dinner prepared by an executive chef in a roof top penthouse garden overlooking the ocean. A delightful dinner was followed by some really disappointing sex. Another guy flew her to Paris, and they took in the sights, strolled through museums, had a nice dinner, and the hotel was beautiful, but he got so stoned he couldn't get it up and blamed his impotence on her. Right now, tobogganing and apple cider sounded better than Miami or Paris.

"Humor me," he said.

"You know what? I've haven't been on a picnic in ages. I want to go on a picnic, under a tree by a lake or a stream," she said. "A real picnic, with cold fried chicken and homemade sides, not grocery store sides, and cold beer not some pretentious bitter wine."

"That sounds like heaven," said Josh. "Maybe a drive-in movie later?"

"Yes!" she gasped, "With something good, classics like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Smokey and the Bandit." She was quiet for a long time dreaming about a picnic, then she finally asked, "How did a southern boy like you end up in Buffalo?"

"My granddaddy used to work for Fisher Price, and I would come up in the summer to visit. We'd go to Niagara Falls and fish on Lake Erie, and to me it was heaven. So, when I got out of the military, I had an opportunity to work for XCom in their West Seneca office..." and that's when Josh discovered she had fallen asleep.

Veronica woke from the best nap she's had in ages, but she was alone. She was curled up on the reception area couch with her head on a pillow that Josh provided, and the lights were down dim. She noticed a note on her boots, which were standing on the table.

Veronica -

You were asleep so nicely, so I didn't want to disturb you. I went back to my office to finish some work and get ready for tonight's maintenance at midnight. Let me know when you're hungry and I'll make dinner.

Josh

Veronica walked barefooted back to the tech area and found him in the server section's work room. He had a server laying on the work bench, a monitor and keyboard connected to it, but he was also accessing it through a laptop that was plugged into one of the network ports on back of the server and he was monitoring something on his desktop PC. He was idly watching the screens waiting for something to happen, such is the life of a server technician. On a third screen, he was reading his email. He leaned forward and shouted, "PIVOT!" He whirled as he raise a pistol and yelled "Bitch!" and fired off a round in Victoria's direction.

She gasped when she saw the gun come up and almost screamed, even though she saw it was made of bright yellow and orange plastic. As if in slow motion, she watched the foam tube spring from the Nerf gun and sail toward her, then strike the wall just a foot from her head.

"Oh God I'm so sorry!" gasped Josh as he came around the corner of the desk. "I honestly didn't know you were there. It's Office Lingo Bingo."

"Don't apologize to me, Effy," then she said, "Office Lingo Bingo?"

"Yes, Ma'... uh... Nica." He pointed to a dart board where thirty-two annoying office catch phrases were listed, from Circle Back, through Sacred Cow, to Gain Traction. "On Monday Terri throws a dart at that board to see what the target phrase is for the week. Whenever it pops up in an email you get to shoot at your favorite target."

Veronica looked at him like he was crazy, but Josh shrugged and said, "It gets these guys to actually read their email, not just skim through it."

Veronica pointed to a picture taken in profile of a buxom Hispanic woman on the wall with a suction cup Nerf dart stuck to her tit. "Anyone we know?"

"Yesenia," he said, frowning. "My ex."

"I'm sure you have a story," said Veronica as she inspected Josh's Night Strike Blaster Nerf pistol. "I'm acquainted with things, exes and office warfare; we all have stories." She handed him back his toy gun and said, "You promised to feed me?" her perfect eyebrows raised up, waiting for an answer.

Soon they were dining in the empty lunchroom, Josh had grabbed a couple of frozen meals from his hidden stash and combining some of their contents with other frozen dinners that he "procured" he came up with a surprisingly acceptable Chicken Parmesan on spaghetti with a drink that Veronica loved which turned out to be Sprite mixed with lemon aide served in a margarita glass. They chit-chatted about life at Andalon Data Systems until Veronica said, "So what about your ex... Yesenda?"

"Yesenia," he corrected mildly. "Please, not on first date,"

"This is a date?" She raised one elegant eyebrow.

"Well, yeah! Not exactly what we were aiming for, but you have your chicken, we're in a nice, secluded spot - nobody around for miles!" he gestured to the windows, which showed nothing but snow piling up by the foot. Then he gestured to the TV on the wall. The sound was turned down, but it was a nature show featuring a swamp somewhere. "And there's your body of water."

Veronica looked at Josh and shook her head. "Ok, it's a stretch but I'll go as far as saying this is a date, but this is no picnic. You owe me a proper picnic, on the ground, Scotch plaid blanket, near a stream."

"Deal. I know a magnificent spot on Trevette road, right where Cattaraugus creek passes under Zoar Valley Road..."

"I know that spot!" cried Veronica. "It's perfect!"

"How do you know that spot?" he asked.

"I've gone fishing there, it's beautiful!" She was so excited! She looked like she was offered a new Mercedes or a vacation in Europe.

"You like fishing?" Josh asked, astounded. He was actually more surprised that a brilliant fashion model turned executive assistant enjoyed fishing in a creek more than finding out she knew his favorite fishing hole.

"Why? I'm not supposed to like fishing because I'm a girl?"

"No... it's... you're so... elegant." She glared at him until he added, "It's hard to picture you in cut offs and a t-shirt, I mean... you're in this business suit and you look so beautiful, fragile yet powerful at the same time... and ... I... I'm digging myself deeper, aren't I?"

She nodded her head, "When you find yourself in a hole, the secret is to stop digging, but you're right, I guess that's how people here see me." She frowned and sighed. "It's better than being seen as the boss's kept woman."

"I haven't heard that one," said Josh. "I mean I've heard a lot of rumors about you, but not that one."

"Like what?"

Josh thought for a moment. His next statement wasn't exactly a rumor he heard. It was a fishing expedition. "I heard you were Miss America."

Veronica snorted a laugh. "Miss America? Hardly!" then she softly muttered, "I was barely in the top ten."

"HA! I KNEW IT! I knew you were a beauty queen!"

She suddenly realized there was no rumor that she was Miss America. He merely said that to find out if she had been in beauty pageants. "Ok, yes, I was Miss Ohio many years ago, I was in it for the scholarship money and the modeling contracts. What does that have to do with fishing?"

"Beauty queens don't go fishing." He had a smug smile of superiority.

"Where is that written?" she demanded with a laugh. "I can fish with elbow length silk gloves and a tiara in hip waders and a torn crop top if I want!"

"I dare you!"

"You're on southern boy!"

There was no anger in their "argument," it was all good natured getting-to-know-you banter. He moved to the chair next to her and they chatted, enjoying the evening as the snow piled high in the darkness outside. Josh kicked himself inside for all the time he wasted not getting to know her better in their meetings over Ant and Marjorie's campout planning meetings. Their smiles were genuine, and as they discussed the life of a former Miss Ohio, they leaned closer and closer to each other. Somehow their lips got into that range, the range where you're either going to kiss a person or bite them, but Josh stopped and backed away. "What's wrong Effy? What did I say?"

"No, it's not you, it's ... I ... Look, I really, really like you, you know that, right?"

"Fifteen," she replied.

"I can't think of another person I'd rather spend an evening with... but I don't sneak into another man's hen house if you catch my drift."

"Henhouse? I don't understand... I guess I don't speak country." She looked genuinely sad that he pulled back.

He gently took her slim, elegant hand in his big, rough hands and cradled it like it was a newborn kitten. He stroked her palm gently, causing shivers to coalesce in areas that haven't shivered in a long time. He then sadly turned over her hand, exposing that 2.5 carat Rock on her ring finger. He sadly shook his head as he touched that magnificent ring. "This is what I mean by being in another man's henhouse. I've admired you from the day I was hired and Anthony introduced me to you, but there's boundaries I cannot allow myself to cross."

"Because of this ring?"

"Yes ma'am," he sighed sadly. "Another man put this on your hand, so it's not my hand to hold." He hated being raised a gentleman, but that's all that his parents could afford to give him, so he hung tight to the teaching of his parents in their memory.

"Effy honey," she said sadly, then she scoffed. "This is my right hand."

He paused for a very long time then he finally said, "Then... that's not an engagement ring?" he looked sincerely astonished.

"No! ... well, I mean it used to be, but not any more..."

"But Jameson..." said a confused Josh. He remembered her practically glowing when Jameson set a wedding date.

"Gone."

"You mean all this time I was looking at that ring and I could have been looking at your boobs?"

That flustered and amused Veronica to no end. She couldn't believe a man said to her face that he wants to look at her boobs! "Well, yes! I mean no, I mean you can... you weren't?" her sputtering was cut off by his lips pressed against hers. It was a brief kiss, but it was her first kiss in such a long time. He had come around to her side of the table and gently held her face in his hands and they kissed. It was a short, sweet kiss that held so many possibilities. Just too soon, it was over.

As she sat gasping, he waited and looked her in the eye, his ice-blue eyes waiting for a reaction from her warm hazel eyes. "If I owe you an apology then feel free to throw me to the dragons in HR, but I just couldn't..." This time he was cut off by her lips. This kiss was longer, hungrier than his kiss. Their tongues touched briefly, gently, and then their lips parted. Josh looked into her eyes as he tried to get his breath back. It looked like her eyes were spinning.

"No dragons," she smiled.

He took a deep shaking breath and said, "I'm going to go shovel the exits, would you like to pick out a movie for us to watch when I get back?" She nodded breathlessly and, like Josh, she wondered what had just happened.

Josh cleared the table of their dishware, washed the silverware and tossed the disposable plates, then left to clear the exits of snow while Veronica fanned herself with a report she was supposed to be reading. She didn't know what was hotter, the kiss? Or the fact that he made her dinner and cleaned the kitchen.

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The movie was Overboard, an 80s rom com starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, a movie they both enjoyed and ignored at the same time as they spent most of the movie talking. Josh wondered if she chose the movie as a hint, an upper crust woman falls in love with an average Joe kind of guy, he couldn't help but seeing a parallel in their social positions, if you ignore the fact that he doesn't have any children.

Eventually, they left Goldie and Kurt in the background to sort out their own relationship. Josh listened with pleasure as Veronica spoke of her childhood in Erie, Pennsylvania, not far from where they were right now. "I had dinner with Bob Costas once," she said.

"How did that go?"

"I don't really know. At first, I thought he was searching for a chief of staff to run a little sports empire he was planning, then I though he was digging up material for an expose on beauty pageants, but when he found out that I'm the daughter of a man who built railroad locomotives for a living, that's all he wanted to talk about. I guess he's a train nut."

"Nothing wrong with that," said Josh. "I love to travel on the train. After my bounce I quit flying, if a train don't get me there, I don't go."

"Bounce?"

He dug his Specter coin out of his pocket and handed it to her. "My plane was hit, we made it back to base, but we landed hard. I wasn't strapped in, and I got bounced around the cabin pretty good; my guys said it was real entertaining to watch. That's the call sign they gave me, Bounce Two Seven because it happened on my twenty seventh birthday."

"Wow, what did Yolinda say?"

"Yesenia" he corrected, "she had other issues on her mind, like how do you tell your husband who has been deployed for a year that you're six months pregnant?"

"I'm so sorry," Veronica gasped.

"I came home and she's living with the guy, in our home in base housing." Josh stared at the coin she handed back. It was an ugly scene when he got home, best left forgotten, but the scars have lasted years. "I'm over all that... I mean I'm over most of it... ok, I'm still fucking pissed at her for selling my truck." He put the coin back in his pocket and hugged Veronica tighter. "I hope you didn't have to go through something like that," then he thought... that Rock that she moved to her right finger... "You have, haven't you."

She nodded; her face buried in his shoulder. She looked at the ring and said softly, "While you were in Chicago my sister Magda announced she couldn't be my maid of honor because she's moving to Hawaii with her new husband..." and she went silent.

"Tell me it wasn't your fiancé." But she didn't look up. "It was Jameson, wasn't it?" She nodded sadly. Josh could barely imagine the emotional wreckage that would cause a woman. How do you tell everyone that your husband-to-be run off with your kid sister? He held her right hand and considered the Rock. "Why do you still wear this?"

"Lots of reasons," she said. "It's worth almost as much as my Navigator so it's nice to have an emergency stash."

"That's a good reason not to wear it, y' know lock it up somewhere. Tell me why you wear it."

"For one thing, it's my stone, I saw it and fell in love with it and bought it hoping to be able to wear it on my left hand someday... I owned that stone for about five years before I met Jameson, my fiancé... brother-in-law now." Her voice trailed off into silence.

"But why wear it?"

"It's pretty... I love this stone... I'm probably going to have it set in a necklace but until then, it's a reminder," and she went silent for a while.

"Is it reminding you to run away right now?" he asked quietly.

"No, it's not, I think it's leaving that decision up to me right now."

"The one ring of power," Josh chuckled.

"And it's a good shield," she continued. "Really dumb people see it and think I'm engaged, and they leave my boobs alone."

"It's hard to believe some people will fall for that old trick," sighed Josh, causing Veronica to break out in laughter. "What else?"

"That is really it, but... I have a silly romantic notion that someday some man will take it and put it on my left hand... for real and it will never come off."

"Could I do it?"

She held out her hand, admiring the ring. "You can try."

"Maybe I could do this in stages, I could move it here," he nibbled on her earlobe, and she gasped at the sudden sensation. "It would make a cool earring, you just wear one like a pirate... yar! Then as things got better, I could find other, more creative places to adorn your body with that ring," and as he said that, he placed her diamond adorned hand against her breast. He expected a shocked expression and maybe a slapped hand or face, but instead he received the same sweet smile he gets whenever in the past he would pop his head into her office to say hi.

"That's one way of doing it," she said, then laughed at the thought of a nipple ring worth more than her car.

"Personally, I'd find a new setting for that pretty stone before putting it on your left hand for real," he said, gazing into those warm hazel eyes. Then, before either of them realized what was happening, their lips met again. This kiss was so beyond their previous pecks, those were little exploratory smooches. This was a kiss that left no doubt in either mind that they had found someone. Someone to lean on, someone to hold each other up, to confide in and to care for.

While he basked in the touch and smell of a woman whose heart was there for him to take, her head swam with the utter 'maleness' of him, so confident in who he is, strong and real. His arms circled her, and he pulled her in close, holding her tight, both claiming and protecting her at the same time. Their tongues caressed each other, exploring, seeking more, and suddenly her clothes were too tight.

She worked her way on to his lap facing him, their lips still together, her hands now fumbling with the buttons on her blazer, ripping it off, now at the buttons of her blouse and now... now he was stopping her? He had her hands in his, keeping her from continuing. "Nica, wait," he said softly.

Now she felt mortified, "Oh God! I'm sorry, I thought..."

"Shhh," he placed a finger on her lips, "and you thought right. Nica darling, I want you more than I've ever wanted a woman, but we can't, not now..." She looked at him hurt and confused, but he continued "It's after eleven, I have to go clear the exits of snow before I start a maintenance at midnight."

"That's the only reason why you stopped?" she asked suspiciously.

"The one and only reason. I want to do this right," he said softly and earnestly, "I don't want our first time to be a quicky, I want to take my time and make it a treat for us, something really special."

She looked at the wall clock with disbelieving eyes, it seemed like it was only an hour ago he was banging on her car window to get her in from the cold, yet at the same time it felt like they were here for days talking and learning about each other. She let herself sag against him. "I'm sorry, I made a fool of myself."

"No, you didn't Nica, I should have been more vigilant about the time. At least I know you like me now," he grinned.

She saw the taunting behind those little boy eyes and she nodded, then said, "Sixteen," and they were kissing again. Why couldn't they have met years ago before they both learned what heart ache was all about? She put her hand on his cheek, her thumb tracing his lip and asked, "How did you know about calling me Nica?"

"From the same conversation we had when you learned about calling me Effy."

It happened a year ago at the company Year End Party. He was new to the company, and he didn't know a lot of people, but there was one bright shining moment he would replay in his mind over and over...

It was a splendid party, and it was held at the Fox Brook Country Club and Josh, the newest employee of Andalon Data Systems, could not believe what he saw. Having come from a tight ass multinational juggernaut whose only concern for employees was for those whose names ended with the letters VP, this party was the height of holiday decadence to Josh. It looked to him like a New Year's Eve/Christmas/Hanukkah mashup. The enormous ballroom was decorated in white and gold and silver. Flocked Christmas trees were covered with silver garland and ornaments, live music along with streamers, confetti, and laughter filled the air. Couples danced, people sang, food was eaten, gifts were exchanged, and toasts were raised. The room was a swirling mass of smiling people that were happy to be with each other, the exact opposite of life at XCom.

Ephraim J. Gravely stood on the sidelines watching and wondering when the axe was going to drop. That's how it works at XCom, one week after any employee party came a round of layoffs. He was actually feeling nervous about the whole thing, but then she took to the dance floor. It seemed to be something that the long-term employees were waiting for, and many clapped when Veronica van Köster was led onto the dance floor by a man in a uniform. To this day, Josh has no recollection of the uniform or the man in the uniform. He was later informed that the man was a major in the NY National Guard, but Josh's eyes were only on Veronica when they started dancing. When she danced, he was transported to days gone by when ballroom dancing was popular, and people lined up to watch it in flickering black and white images on the big screen. Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Cid Charisse and a thousand others...

It was magic; every step, every swirl, every flicker of light reflecting off the sequins on her dress. Her moves were silky smooth as she danced, and the twelve-piece band played "Fly me to the Moon." She and her partner danced a foxtrot to the timeless tune that Sinatra made a million dollars with. They had the floor to themselves, and Josh found himself jealous of that man who stepped and swirled with the tall athletic blond. When the music stopped and her coworkers applauded, Josh realized he had been holding his breath the whole time. With her dance over, she came off the dance floor and began going from table to table, greeting all the employees just as Anthony was doing on the other side of the room. She looked up and saw Josh standing on the sidelines and she made a beeline for him. To Josh the room suddenly became empty, and he could only see Veronica as she approached him, her smile leading the way, lighting him up like a deer on a dark country road. He fumbled through his mind for an appropriate greeting, but she opened with, "Ephraim! How are you enjoying the party?"

"You pronounced it correctly!" He was shocked. Most people pronounce it "F-raim" or "F-ree-am" or "F-rum", but Veronica pronounced it "e'Frame" which was almost perfect.

"Of course," she smiled, "e'Frame Ya-shu-a Gravely, shalom!" her smile was warm, touching, it flooded the room with light and Josh was caught in its radiance. His breath caught in his chest and time stopped as he basked in her presence.

Finally, his tongue became unstuck. "Ah'm sorry ma'am," he said letting his South Georgia accent have free rein for the first time in years, "ah'm from the deep south, mah momma an' poppa jes named us from the good book and we were never chirrin' of Abraham. Ah was raised Southern Baptist from day one. You can call me whatever you want but to everyone I'm just Josh."

Her musical laughter tickled his ears and danced in his heart, "I'm not Jewish either, but our boss is, and he tries to evangelize me, so I'm sorry if I offended you, does anyone ever call you Effy?" she asked.

"Just my grandmother."

"That's sweet! My grandmother called me Nica." She looked at the little plate Josh was holding, there were a few Christmas cookies on it, but it contained several of his absolute favorite, frosted corn flakes that were colored green and frosted into clusters with a couple of tiny red candies frosted in place to make the snack look like a cluster of holly. "My favorite!" she gushed. "May I?"

"Of course," that's what he hoped to say, but he was so tongue tied he wasn't sure what actually came out. He felt like an awkward nerdy freshman in high school, and the homecoming queen just graced him with her smile. "This doesn't happen, not at my age!" he thought.

Veronica took a dainty nibble of the Christmas holly she picked up and her eyes rolled with pleasure. "These are so good! Enjoy the party and if you have any questions, I'm here for you," she said with that angelic smile. Then she bit off half the treat and popped the rest of the holiday treat into his mouth and swirled back into the crowd, leaving Josh breathless in her wake.

And now, a year later, she was right here in his arms, warm and receptive, and leaving this cozy nest is the hardest thing he has ever had to do. But duty calls so Josh departed with a kiss and a promise to return at seven AM and hurried off to shovel the emergency exits clear before starting work. Safety first!

The snow had lightened up and only a few inches fell in the last couple of hours, but the wind was picking up and the snow was blowing off the roof and drifting up on the downwind side of the building which made shoveling out the exits on the east side of the building difficult. However, if he didn't ensure that the snow was clear, opening these doors would be impossible if there was a fire or emergency.

Veronica was still tingling from the thought that he remembered her grandmother's pet name for her because she honestly didn't think she was that memorable; Josh would be shocked to find out that Veronica had a fairly low opinion of herself. She walked over to her office and sat down to watch Josh shovel snow on the security cameras via her PC. Just like clockwork, her cellphone chimed, and Anthony Friedman's number popped up on the screen. "Hello Mr. Friedman."

"I called your house, and you didn't answer. I take it you didn't get home, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I never made it out of the office before the county closed the roads. Josh is out shoveling snow, he has to do it every two hours or so to keep the exits clear, then he has a maintenance to do tonight."

"That's a relief, I was afraid you were stuck on the road. That job he's doing tonight is part of the imaging upgrade for Gates Center Hospital."

Veronica now wishes she hadn't approved Mark Post's schedule for that work tonight. If she hadn't, she would still be in Josh's arms. "So, what is up sir? I know you didn't call just to see if I was here."

"Actually, that is exactly why I called, you know I lean on you, and I worry about you."

She rolled her eyes and almost laughed. Anthony treats her like a daughter, even though he's only a few years older than her. He's so protective. "That's sweet but I'm fine and Mister Gravely is being a perfect gentleman, he even made me dinner tonight."

"Good, I'm glad you're safe and unmolested... or is that a bad thing?" he teased.

"I haven't quite decided," she said dreamily. "Tell Marj she was right about everything."

Anthony chuckled and said, "she already knows that. Look dear, I need you to let the folks that work out of the Orchard Park office know they're working from home until travel is allowed, and I want you to forward their desk phones to their cell phones, can you do that?"

Veronica's perfectly formed fingers danced on her keyboard for a few seconds as she logged into the office telephone control server and completed her boss's requests as they spoke, "The message is... sent... and the forwarding... iiiisss" Anthony could hear her clicking away with her mouse, "... done. Anything else?" She switched back to the security cameras and there by exit #5 she saw Josh pause shoveling as he checked the message on his cell phone, telling him that his desk phone was now forwarded to his cell. He looked up and waved at the security camera before going back to work. Without realizing it, Veronica waved back.

"No, you get some rest, and don't forget our 9:00 AM video conference with Key Bank."

"I won't forget, good night."

She could see on the screen that Josh had finished with the last exit door and had retreated into his office. She signed out of her PC and walked over to Ant's office. There she put some music videos on his TV and walked back to the luxury full bath and turned on the shower. She took off her business attire and stood in front of the mirror in just her plain-Jane panties and wondered what Josh saw in her. She saw in the mirror the same tired old blond that she saw when Jameson and her sister Magda ran off to Hawaii, leaving her with a shattered wedding costing tens of thousands of dollars in non-refundable deposits, and a career in shambles. She had given up everything for Jameson...

She looked at the crows' feet, the gray starting to infiltrate her hair, the wrinkles at her neck, even her boobs were starting to sag. Her phone chirped and with a sigh, she picked it up and saw that Josh had texted her.

**I miss you**

He was only gone an hour, and he misses me? That silly goofball! He's clearly deranged. He just wants... He wants what? Her beauty pageant days are in the long past, as are her modeling days... when they talked. He was more interested in her college career and the classes she took than the glitzy fantasy world she used to live it. She was about to laugh then the realization crept into her mind that he doesn't miss some ditzy cover girl for a magazine he's never read or a cosmetic he never purchased, and not some executive, he doesn't even know her real position in the company, and certainly not Miss Ohio of prehistoric days, but me!

And now her reflection didn't look so bad. The hair is easily salvageable; her sagging breasts were mostly due to an increase in cup size from her twenties, nothing wrong with that. Those wrinkles might be laugh lines, her tummy is still flat... She started to like what she saw for the first time in a long time. She picked up her phone and replied,

**I miss you too. Hurry back**

His reply was almost immediate.

**At the next Christmas party, I want to be the man that you want to dance with**

Her breath caught in her throat. She has had so many men want to bed her; they wooed her in a thousand ways, but she has never had a man say that he wanted to be wanted by her. Maybe the distinction is silly, but it meant so much to her. And he knows that dancing is so important to her. It was a big part of her life. It was her talent that got her to become Miss Ohio, and now he wants to be a part of it... Her reply was equally quick...

**I think you already are**

A glance back in the mirror and she noticed that her reflection was smiling. It hasn't smiled at her in ages. She thought of Josh's silly idea of moving the ring from her right hand to her left incrementally. Could it be possible? She took the ring off and held it up to her ear lobe. It would make an awkward-looking earring.

An idea came to her. Her nipples were as hard as erasers from all the touching and kissing this evening, so she hung the ring from her right nipple and looked at it in the mirror. It looked so silly dangling from her nipple, but it felt sexy and her nipple was growing harder because of it. On impulse she took a picture of the reflection, zoomed in close so all that could be seen was her dark pink areola crinkly from excitement and her nipple decorated by the ring. Then, checking repeatedly that she had the right phone number, she took a deep breath and texted the photo to Josh's personal cell phone.

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On the other side of the building the first portion of the maintenance that Josh was doing was a "hurry up and wait" sort of thing, so while the server he was taking offline swapped over to the emergency backup server he was able to let Veronica know that he missed her. And he was a bit surprised to realize how much he really misses her. He works overnight jobs because he has no one in his life. There's no one to miss and no one to miss him, not since his cat Sphinx died, so being alone in a building full of heartless machines was no big deal. But now there's an aching for someone he cares for, a feeling that hasn't been there in a very long time. Now she said that she wants to dance with him. He hoped and prayed that she can do a country two step.

Before he realized it, the backup server was online, and it was time to earn his pay. He wheeled the new server into the server room with a handling cart, taking only his work phone and a screwdriver. The text message with Veronica's photo hit his personal cell phone, which was sitting on his desk just as the doors to the server room slid closed behind him. As usual, he left his personal phone outside of the server room; he didn't want to accidentally drop it while he was wrestling these heavy machines into the rack. Normally, he would lock the phone in his desk, but no one else was in the area to go through his phone like his Canadian nemesis Terri McCarthy, so he left the phone on his desk. Right now, he wanted to hear from 'Nica' more than anything else on earth, but he was entrusted to do this job and he can't afford to be distracted.

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Veronica stepped out of the shower panting; it felt like no other shower she had ever taken. Her skin and body were alive with sensation, and the act of washing became a sensual experience. Everywhere she ran her soap slickened hands was alive with pleasure, every square inch of her skin was demanding attention and it seemed like her own fingers weren't enough to please herself. When she took her razor and quickly ran it over her armpits, she felt like she found a new erogenous zone. Shaving her legs wasn't bad, but when she began to shave around her Kitty, she almost set herself off.

She pulled on an oversize t-shirt and, walking out into Mr. Friedman's office, she folded the couch flat and tucked a sheet onto it. A couple of pillows and her quilt and she was ready for the night, but the effort of making up the bed did little to distract her from the lonely aching she was feeling between her legs. She started to berate herself for how she had acted this evening; she has known Josh and silently watched him for a year, but to be honest, their relationship was just hours old. Or maybe weeks. It was Ant who picked Josh to work with Veronica on the kids' campout project, and Ant never does anything without alternative reasons for his actions.

She reminded herself that every time she has been swept off her feet by a man in the past, everything ended in tears. She argued back that Josh was different; he was not arrogant and self-absorbed like every man she has run into in the beauty pageants, the modeling industry, and the business world. Never once did she feel like a piece of meat. No, Josh made her feel like a treasured doll, a princess.

She lay on the bed, trying desperately to think of something else, hoping to keep her hands above the covers. For some reason she thought of Terri, One of the girls that works for Josh. Terri often comes over when she's bored and sits in Veronica's office and chats with her like they're old friends, even though they hardly know each other. Terri was barely old enough to go to a bar, while Veronica was somewhere between too old to be her sister and too young to be her mother. "You should ask Josh out, he's pretty awesome and he's boring like you," said Terri one day. Then she went on to list a series of things that Josh doesn't do, like rave parties, mosh pits, recreational hallucinogenic drugs, and outlaw drag racing.

"He sounds like quite a catch," Veronica said, not looking up from the spreadsheet that was dominating her life at the moment.

"He is! He's got a Jeep and he takes the top off. He took me down to Ashford Hollow on the back roads, it was so cool! but he made me keep my shirt on." Terri leaned over and in a conspiratorial whisper said, "nothing feels better than the sun and the wind on your boobs."

Damn it! Now all Veronica could think about was sitting topless in a jeep traveling down a hilly, winding country road on a warm afternoon with the sun and the wind caressing her bare breasts and Josh's hand reaching over to... "Damn you Terri!" she cursed Terri who is probably passed out at some guy's apartment in the Allentown district right now. She reached over for her purse and dug in it, searching for something without looking, and soon she found it: Bob. Her Battery-Operated Boyfriend.

Except for Jameson's rare visits to Orchard Park, Bob has been her only lover for a long time now, and unlike most of her former lovers, he has never failed her. Bob is a shiny gold plastic six inch long "personal massager" and he's been on business trips and vacations with Veronica and explored her body willingly since she received him as a "gag gift" from Ryan. Ryan was an investment banker with a firm that tried to lure her away from the company that eventually lost her to Anthony Friedman. Like many of the men in her past, Ryan was gracious and attentive in public, but in the bedroom, he was selfish and unimaginative, and to be honest, he was hung like a hamster. The only time she ever saw a cock that was smaller was changing diapers.

Ryan didn't believe in foreplay other than a blowjob. He had a 100% failure rate in satisfying Veronica and he decided their problem was that she was frigid. One night at dinner at Le Parisien in mid-town Manhattan. Veronica was trying to decide between the Atlantic Salmon or the Trout Almondine. "That's a whole fish you know," said Ryan.

"It had better be," Veronica replied.

"Some women find that icky," he responded.

"Their loss, the cheek is delicious."

Ryan then produced a gift for Veronica. "This will break the ice," he said, and he handed her Bob with a card that insisted the dildo will cure her frigid nature. Veronica held the gold dildo up, in full sight of the restaurant, and said, "My god, it's twice as big as you!" She ceremonially dropped Bob in her purse and walked out of the restaurant, dropping Ryan at the same time, and never looked back.

Now Bob sprang to life in her hands. She ran the buzzing little toy over the earlobe that Josh nibbled earlier. It felt good, but nothing like the simple attention that Josh had given her. She knew that plastic would not replace a flesh and blood man, but Bob is all she has right now. She touched Bob to her nipple and the sudden explosion of sensation startled her.

Bob has three settings: Low, Medium, and Oh My God. She had it set to OMG when touching her earlobe and neck, but when she touched it to her nipple, the blast of sensation was much higher than she was expecting even through her t-shirt. Her startled gasp was so loud she was sure that Josh heard it on the other side of the building. She turned Bob down and the lower vibrations felt nice, but they were not what she wanted. Nipples are made to be sucked on by a human mouth, something she wanted so much right now and unfortunately, she's not built like those girls that can suck on their own nipples.

While she stroked Bob over her nipple, her other hand gently slipped under her panties and began rubbing her swollen labia in lazy circles. Oh, that was so good! The sensation that she felt when sitting on Josh's lap and nearly raped him was returning. The need, the want. It was all so new to her. She never had a dearth of men in her life, but she never had an abundance of love or even affection. She was arm candy for so many years and she played the role exquisitely, the men that wined her and dined her were no more real to her than she was to them, until she realized how empty her life was and cast them out of her life. Now she has a chance to fill that void, yet she was terrified of the feelings that were rising unbidden. What if Josh finds out about all the skeletons in her closet? What will he say about her occasional lover, Rhiannon?

Veronica's worries normally would have extinguished the need rising inside of her, but the need for release was more powerful. It became a delightful ache, a pleasurable fire that demanded extinguishing, yet prolonging the agony was an option as well. Her left hand continued to pleasure her pussy, her clit tingling and starting to swell as her right hand directed Bob from one turgid nipple to the other. As the fire in her pussy grew hotter, she kicked off the quilt and hoisting her hips; she slid her panties down her long, shapely legs and then with her t-shirt bunched up around her waist, she brought Bob to her pussy.

With the fingers of her left hand, she spread her nether lips, and she brought Bob close, his vibrations set to low. The gentle buzzing cause waves of pleasure to radiate from Kitty as she slid Bob up and down between her lips, picking up her moisture that was flowing now. Up and down, she moved Bob between her lips, its plastic shell sliding against her clit feeling marvelous. A male organ felt even better sliding there and Veronica wondered if women's bodies were intentionally designed for a cock to feel incredible sliding up and down her crease, stimulating the clit directly.

Normally this is where Bob would stay, sliding up and down her crease, teasing and pleasuring her clit and labia, buzzing her to oblivion, but not tonight. Tonight, Kitty was hungry. She wanted penetration; she wanted a man. Unfortunately, Josh was working, so if Kitty was hungry, Bob would have to do.

Veronica held herself open with her left hand and placed the gently vibrating toy at her entrance and she luxuriated in the feelings Bob was eliciting from her pussy. Now it was time to ease Bob inside and the sensual bliss increased as he slid into her cunt. Bob isn't very big around, but Veronica hasn't had a man in a long time, so he felt big to her. In and out she slid him, a little deeper with each stroke, pushing her a little closer to release each time. She began to gently strum her clit with her wet fingers as Bob now began to possess her pussy. "Ggg!" she grunted through clenched teeth as Bob slipped in deeper. "Ggggaawwd!" it felt so good to have something sliding in and out. More and more of the shiny gold plastic cylinder slipped into her depths with each stroke and her clit was erect now from the attention of her fingers.

"Uunnnnggghhh!" as Bob finally slipped all the way in, just the very end protruding from Kitty was clasped in her fist. Veronica's legs were splayed wide open, her t-shirt bunched up under her chin, her chest and pussy lips now flushed a bright red with excitement, her nipples rock hard, aching for pinching fingers, nipping teeth, sucking lips, anything! She would have invited a clothes pin to bite down on a nipple and add to the maelstrom of sensations that were assaulting her. She was teetering on the edge of an orgasm. She was dying to cum, but at the same time she didn't want to go over, not yet... not alone.

"GOD!" she cried out as a particularly heavy spasm shook her. "Ffffuuuukkkk meee..." she gasped as Bob became a golden blur, sliding in and out of her moist, trembling pussy.

Her abdominal muscles bunched up, causing her head and shoulders to lift off the couch, her legs raised, toes curled tight, her body taut as a bow string as she quivered on the verge of the most powerful orgasm of her life. "Please, please, please, please," she begged no one in particular and Josh primarily, her eyes screwed tight, tears of excitement leaking out. Then, with a silent BANG, it hit. An explosive wave of sudden release and all the tension built up in her body shot outward from her core. Her feet dropped and planted on the couch, and her ass rose up to meet Bob. "UUUUNNNGGGHHHH GOD!"

Unconsciously she slammed that vibrator into her pussy over and over, her fist that clutched the end of Bob striking her labia with a wet slap, slap, slap. Her hips jerked upward with each wave of blessed relief that shook her psyche to meet her invisible lover, her pussy and ass clenching in time with the rhythm of her orgasm. Her mouth and eyes were open in a silent scream of pleasure as her left hand grasped a breast and pinched her nipple.

Soon the waves of mind shattering bliss slackened, and she relaxed and dropped to the mattress in boneless ecstasy, her body and mind more at peace than ever. She lay catching her breath, then finally she weakly pulled her t-shirt down and pulled her quilt up to her chin as a well-earned sleep crept up on her. One last thing, however, she looked at her phone and saw that she had a response from Josh to the picture of her nipple; it was simply a heart emoji followed by an exclamation mark. She was soon curled up in a blissful sleep; her phone next to her pillow and Bob still clutched in one hand.

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Around three AM the new server was in place and now came the long boring part, waiting for the database to populate onto the new server. While it did that, he had just enough time to finish up the tape monkey's job. A quick peek outside during that task showed that the snow had stopped, and it felt kind of warm out. Maybe all the way up to twenty and no shoveling was needed. Thank God for small favors! He checked his server again, 75% done. He had enough time to go peek in on Veronica before coming back for the "Sanity Checks." He strolled over to executive row. The only lights in the building were exit signs. It's kind of spooky when the building is this dark.

He found Ant's door open slightly and peeking in, he saw the light of the moon filtering between the slats of the blinds which showed Veronica sleeping, a hint of a smile on her face. He kissed her forehead, and she didn't wake, so he headed back to the server room to finish up his job, but as he left, he noticed a glimmer of gold on the floor.

Around 6:00 AM Josh finished up a letter to his supervisor Mark letting him know that last night's work appears to be a success and he plans to bring the new server fully online tonight, but right now he's going to scratch up some breakfast and catch some sleep. He stumbled his way back to executive avenue by way of the break room. In there, he found ample supplies for breakfast. Once preparations for breakfast were made and coffee brewed, he headed over to Anthony's office for what he hoped would become a morning ritual.

"Good morning beautiful," he said softly as he leaned over the sleeping blond.

Veronica smiled without opening her eyes, but she held her arms out for a hug. "You're real," she said softly. "I was afraid it was all a dream."

"If it is, I don't want to wake up either." He leaned in for a kiss and she hugged him tight.

"What time is it?" she asked as they broke their kiss.

"Six thirty, we're serving a continental breakfast this morning and I have coffee for you," he lifted her cup from the end table to show her.

"Mmmmm, I slept better than I have in ages," she began to stretch and sit up, "Oh! thank you for the coffee!" she sat and took a sip and Josh moved up next to her and they kissed.

He produced a gold object and said, "I found this under the couch, I don't think we want Mr. Friedman to see it."

At the sight of Bob, her blood ran cold. "Oh God!" she gasped, and she covered her face in embarrassment. "What you must think of me!" She was near tears and her face was beet red as she reached for Bob, but as she grasped it, Josh gently wrapped his hands around hers.

"It's ok," he whispered, and he wouldn't release her hand. "I just wish I was here to hold you and share that moment with you."

"You... you what?"

"It would have been beautiful," he gave Bob a long delicate lick before releasing it to her. His face showed pleasure in what he tasted. He then twisted a little and pulled her back, so she was leaning back against his chest, his strong arms wrapped around her holding her tight. "I would have held you like this and whispered encouraging things in your ear."

He would do this? She couldn't conceive of such a thing, but maybe it would be nice. Her jolt of embarrassment started to ebb. "You don't think I'm a pervert?"

"I think you're a person. Nica darling, at our age we all have baggage, our job is to help each other carry the load. Besides, I wanted to do the same thing all night long myself."

"You're not mad or disgusted?"

"Disgusted? Oh hell no. Mad? I'm sorry I missed it; I would have loved to join you... that would have been fun."

She sighed and let the tension flow out of her body. God, it was good to have someone who understood! Then she started laughing. "I was just wondering what Mr. Friedman would say if he saw us like this," she gestured with Bob in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"I think the panties make the entire ensemble," he said. She craned her neck and sure enough, her panties were still wrapped around one delicate ankle.

Later, they had breakfast in the break room. Their meal was simple, left-over bagels from yesterday's staff meeting with cream cheese, coffee and orange juice. Veronica had dressed in a simple white cotton dress that flattered her figure and it was quite obvious to Josh that she was not wearing a bra underneath. "So, what was it like living where you grew up?" she asked Josh.

He smiled. "Two words, hot and sweaty. St. Mary's Georgia is on the ocean, right across the river from Florida. We were surrounded by pine forests and shrimp boats, and the area was home to a million sailors. You wouldn't want to wear that dress near the naval base when a boat prepares to leave."

Veronica looked perplexed. "You mean when it returns, right?"

"It's a submarine base," he said, "one hundred and sixty men go out, eighty couples return."

He had paused, and she gave him a confused look, then she saw the smile spreading on his face and realized she had been had. "You're horrible!" and she slapped his wrist lightly. Then she asked innocently, "What would happen to me before the boat goes out?" She pulled her shoulders back to tighten the dress fabric against her unrestrained breasts.

"Almost everything that I am thinking of doing to you right now," he grinned, his blue eyes locked with her soft hazel eyes.

"What might that be?" She innocently twirled a lock of hair around a finger.

"I can't say right now, you're going to start work soon," he leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered, "and it would break Bob's heart if he heard, 'cause I'd put him out of a job."

She leaned forward as well. The neckline of her dress was deep, and looking down, he could see her perfect breasts. Compared to Yesenia's fleshy mountains, they're not large, but on her slim frame they look perfect. Veronica's breasts were about the size of a softball and looking down her dress he could see both erect pink nipples, her areola were darker than the pink of her breasts and they're circled by enticing little bumps. He was counting those bumps when she snapped her fingers and said, "Hey, my eyes are up here."

Busted! He slowly looked up at her eyes, which were filled with sly humor. "I know," he smiled, "I was saving the best for last."

"Oh, that's good sergeant," they kissed long and sweet. "Did you learn that in the Air Force?"

"Of course, we were schooled on etiquette and tea ceremonies in basic training," and he raised his coffee cup, pinkie extended. She chuckled that melodious laugh and they kissed again.

"Ok you," said Veronica as their lips parted, "I've got work to do, and you look like you're falling asleep. Go take a shower and leave all of your clothes in Anthony's bathroom, I'm doing a load of laundry today, I'll find you a sweatsuit to wear."

"You don't need to do that..."

"Yes, I do," she stifled his argument, "You have been shoveling snow for a full day now, you're starting to get a bit gamy."

"Yes dear."

"And honey, you need to rest up, we have a lot of practicing to do if we want to look good dancing at the Christmas party." Just then, she received her morning call from Anthony. Veronica put in her earpiece as she shooed Josh off to the shower. Cleaning up their breakfast mess, she answered the call. "Good morning Mr. Friedman... yes we're fine, we're just finishing up breakfast and after that I have a call with Key Bank... Mr. Gravely? He was up all night working, he's sleeping on your couch this morning..." she tried to shoo Josh away again, but he crept up behind her and took her in his arms and held tight, which caused her to lose her concentration. She reluctantly twisted free and shooed him away one more time, and this time, she blew him a kiss.

She got tied up on several conference calls that went a lot longer than they should have gone because everyone was talking about the snowstorm. It happens every time there's a storm, especially one with thunder snow. When she broke free from the calls, there were letters that needed to be sent out. Then Marjorie Friedman called. That was about the adoption support agency she was planning, and for a "snow day" it was hectic.

When Veronica was finally able to push back from her desk, she remembered Josh's clothes and her own laundry; she forgot to gather them up and wash them. She stepped into Mr. Friedman's office and discovered Josh asleep on the couch. She quietly gathered up his clothes and ran off to the utility room. In there was a washer and dryer used by the building maintenance crew to wash their coveralls, rags, mop heads, etc. She put Josh's clothes, including her underwear and blouse, from yesterday, in the machine, started the washer, then headed back to her office.

Veronica never made it back to work. She had all her reports up to date, no more calls or appointments scheduled. Why not take an extended late lunch break? She crept into Mr. Friedman's office, pulling her dress over her head and dropped it at the door. It felt so naughty to walk across the carpet in her boss's office completely naked. Her nipples hardened at the thought of her forbidden actions and Josh slept through it. She lifted the quilt, finding him equally naked, then remembered that she had forgotten to bring that sweat suit.

Veronica eased under the cover with Josh and curled up close. He was nice and warm, and he felt good against her skin. She had felt truly comfortable snuggling nude with only a few men in her past, but nowhere near as comfortable as she felt at that moment with Josh. Her past lovers all smelled of exotic product: aftershave, rare colognes, hair styling jells and the like. Josh smells of soap and himself, nothing else. She felt safe to be lying next to him, but she felt excited too, and both safe and excited enough to do what she wanted to do all night long.

She rested her head gently on his shoulder and ran her hand down his chest. He had chest hair but wasn't 'furry.' Her hand traveled lower and reached between his legs very gently. She hefted his balls and found that they were good sized, and she wondered if they were swollen from all the teasing and petting from last night. Now she began to explore his cock with her fingers. It's circumcised and showing no signs of life. He was so tired at breakfast; he's probably exhausted from all that shoveling and overnight work. She didn't have the heart to tell him it was snowing again. Throwing caution to the wind, she eased back the quilt and knelt next to his hip to inspect the goods.

His pubic hair was just as dark as the hair on his head, face, and chest, and down here he again smelled of the soap from Anthony's shower and manliness. Before she realized what she was doing, she was kissing and licking his cock and it was slowly responding. This was something her girlfriends in steady relationships spoke about - coaxing their lover's cock to life. This is something that Veronica never had the opportunity to try due to the spurious nature of past relationships.

She took his cock in her mouth and suckled gently, urging it to life, when she heard Josh groan. "Oh Nica," he moaned. Veronica stopped and looked at Josh and found that he was still asleep and realized that he was dreaming of her. A sense of excitement coursed through her body, and she went back to loving his cock with a new sense of delight. Soon it was fully engorged and stretching her jaw open. She's had longer, but she's never had one this thick before, and she began to feast on the challenge that Josh presented.

At some point Josh's eyes fluttered open, and he saw Veronica kneeling bent over him, one hand cupping his swollen balls, the other hand holding the base of his cock as her mouth rose and fell on his cock. He could die happy right now! He cupped her dangling breast and found it a perfect fit in his hand. Not a cubic centimeter of tit went unsqueezed. When he did that, she captured his shaft in her teeth and began swirling her tongue around and around the head of his cock. The sensation was tremendous.

His back arched as a constellation of sensations flooded his mind and body. Never in his life has he experienced such pleasure. He's had blowjobs before, but never one with this much warm wet friction. This woman knew exactly how to please a man! He couldn't bring himself to move, he could only luxuriate in the erotic bliss that was crashing over his mind. She finally caressed the hand he was teasing her breast with. "Nica," he whispered.

Hearing that, she paused and looked at Josh. Taking his cock out of her mouth, she smiled. "Good morning," she whispered, then she took a deep breath and did something she normally didn't like to do, but right now, she wanted to do it. She took his cock back into her mouth and slowly lowered herself, taking that thick, hard shaft deep into her mouth and down into her throat. She almost had his entire length when the head of his cock hit that spot in her throat, causing her to gag around his cock.

"Stop," Josh gasped. He was concerned for her and when she gagged, he felt sorry for her, but she didn't stop. He didn't want to cum just now. He wanted to make love to her first. "Nica, please..."

She shushed his protests with a finger to his lips and began a slow, full-length suck, her mouth sliding up and down his length, driving him out of his mind. She had become used to his girth, so she had no problem with the sweet torture she was inflicting on the man who has fascinated her for a year. For his part, the sight of such a beautiful woman, a person he thought was unobtainable, swallowing his cock was beyond incredible. The sight of that alone was stimulation enough.

Without taking his cock from her mouth, Veronica shifted to between Josh's legs, which put her tongue on the most sensitive portions of Josh's cock. More importantly, it allowed their eyes to meet and lock on to each other. "Nica please," he gasped between volleys of pleasure, "you're going to make me cum."

In response, she simply nodded her head and did everything she could to cause that to happen. Her tongue slithered over the hypersensitive underside of his cock, eliciting a pleasure he's never known before. He was quite a mouthful for her. Her jaw was starting to ache, and the back of her throat hurt where his length beat against it. But he didn't force it. He didn't grab her head and try to fuck her throat, as some men did in her past. They seemed to take a sick pleasure in hurting her. But Josh let her drive, and it felt nice to feel in charge of something like this for once in her life.

"Oh my God Nica," Josh gasped, "I'm going to... I'm almost..." In response she held his cockhead in her mouth and swirled her tongue over it, she grasped his spit slick shaft and twisted her hands around it. The added wet, gentle friction over the full length of his cock, which sent Josh over the edge. He felt his body tense up, his hips rising and shuddering, "I'm cummmmiiinnnggg!!!" he roared. Explosive waves of blessed relief coursed through his body as he shot spurt after spurt of semen into her mouth.

When he exploded in her mouth, it startled her at first, but she asked for it. He had warned her, and he delivered. Veronica nursed at his shaft, drinking his cum. His cock pulsed and jerked as it spit gobs of semen into her mouth. She's had a lot of men cum in her mouth. The modeling world and the executive world both seem to depend on it, but she never had a man cum that much before. It surprised her, but she handled the flood as spurt after spurt of his sperm filled her mouth and she eagerly swallowed every drop.

The orgasm seemed to go on forever for Josh. His body shook and jerked from the intense sensations that Veronica caused with that marvelous mouth and tongue of hers. When Josh was finally able to open his eyes, he saw Veronica kneeling between his legs, and somehow, she was smiling at him even though her mouth was full of throbbing cock.

As she released his softening cock, she looked at him with a surprised look and gasped, "Oh my God, that was so much!"

Josh chuckled and pulled her up to him. "It's been a while." He cuddled her close and, to her surprise, kissed her deeply. In her past, Veronica found that men loved it when she swallowed their cum, but hated kissing her afterwards, but Josh loved it. Her mouth was so warm and inviting, her lips still soft and warm from her efforts. "Mmmm, you are so awesome," he growled softly, raising a happy sigh from her.

"I could stay here like this forever with you," she sighed as she snuggled close, and Josh pulled the quilt up over them.

"I could do the same," said Josh as they sealed their desire with a kiss. "But what is Anthony going to do when he comes back to work and we're still cuddling here?"

"I'm hoping we're done by that time," she laughed.

"I don't know if I can ever get enough of you," he replied, causing Veronica to smile contentedly. "I want to cuddle with my Nica for a long, long time."

That's when Veronica decided to take a chance. Most of the men in her life have been demanding and didn't take well to requests on her part. Fearing the worst, she said, "I don't know how much cuddling we'll have time for Effy." He suddenly looked disappointed, but she continued. "I have a list of things I'd like you to do... I hope you're up for a rodeo, cowboy."

Josh immediately cheered up. He held her close and started nibbling at her neck, his hand gently stroking her narrow waist and her round, tight ass. "I may need some recovery time, but I'm sure I can rope any calf you may have in the chutes."

So far, so good. She was no longer afraid he was going to act like most of the assholes she has had to sleep with. Now she aimed the car right at the cliff and hit the gas. "I want to drive," she whispered in his ear. "I want to be the one who..."

Before she could say anything more, he silenced her with a gentle kiss. "Whatever my lady desires," then kissed her again tenderly.

"Let's start with my hand," Veronica said. She had decided to start with the tough one. He had mentioned that he could get into Anthony's liquor, but she's never found a way into what she thought was the boss man's liquor cabinet. Let's see if he's full of shit or not. She held her hand up like a hand model would, which was not a stretch. She has done hand modeling in the past. "I think this hand would look much better with a drink in it. Don't you agree?"

"What would you like m 'lady, possibly some wine? Our employer has an outstanding chardonnay."

"Maybe something stronger... I would dearly love a vodka tonic."

"Perfect choice, Mister Friedman has a bottle of Gray Goose that seems to be calling to us," said Josh as he climbed off the couch. He went to a large ornamental globe of the earth that was built to look like a globe from the 17th century and opened it up. It was split along the equator and hinged. When opened, it revealed a collection of glassware and cutouts to hold bottles, a nice little home bar that was popular in the 60s and 70s.

"There's no booze in there," said Veronica. "I've looked before."

Josh merely reached inside the upper section of the globe and pulled out a key that was hidden in the lid of the globe. He took the key to a section of the wood-paneled wall, moved a chair aside, opened a small panel hidden behind the ornate molding revealing a keyhole. Using the key, he opened a section of the paneled wall revealing a glass front wine cooler and a rack containing a nice collection of liquor. Soon they were snuggling naked under Veronica's quilt, sipping their drinks. "So, you said you want to drive?" he asked.

She looked nervous, but nodded. "If you don't mind..."

"Not at all," he smiled. "It will save me a lot of guesswork. If you want to be in charge, then take charge! Now try it again."

"Ok, yes." She nodded her head affirmatively and in a hardened voice said, "I want to be treated like a goddess! I want you to make love to every inch of my body, I want you to love me like your life depends on it!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about," grinned Josh. He set his drink on the end table next to the couch and started to crawl under the covers, but a sudden thought sprang to mind. "Ummm, ma'am, about those dragons in HR... are you sure?" Josh loved his job. It's the first job he's loved since he flew gunships, and he didn't want to jeopardize it.

"Of course," she said, a bit confused. "Why are you so worried?"

"The employee handbook says that employees of Andalon Data Systems are not allowed to..."

"Darling, I thought you knew!" she pulled him close, her smile of amusement glowed. "I'm not an employee of Andalon Data Systems," she held Josh's face in her delicate hands and explained, "You're an employee of Andalon Data Systems, but I'm not, I work directly for Anthony and Marjory Friedman." When Josh looked even more confused, she said, "Mr. Friedman and his wife have several business ventures and I am their executive assistant and help them manage all of those businesses. The only thing our jobs have in common is the building we work in."

Josh was overwhelmed with relief. He gave her a kiss that left both of their heads spinning. When they broke their kiss, Josh smiled a bit ruefully and said, "And the fellow in the army uniform? He's not going to mind if you dance with me?"

Veronica actually laughed that silvery, musical laugh. "Mitch? He's my dancing coach. He trained me to dance in my pageant days and we've been dancing together ever since. He won't mind at all. And neither will Frank."

"Frank?"

She laughed again. "He's Mitch's husband." She turned and set her glass next to Josh's glass on the end table. "Now Mr. Gravely, you've got a task assigned to you... I'm waiting."

All of the questions that have been nagging Josh were now answered and with a smile that he could barely contain, he began with her earlobes. She was wearing diamond studs, and they helped transfer the sensations as he began to kiss and nibble at her earlobes. The tingling sensations reminded her of days long past, necking with Jimmy Donahue in the back row at the Cine 7 in Erie PA on a Friday night, it's been that long since a man paid attention to her sensitive earlobes and neck but this time it's even more exciting because she was in charge now. "Let's head lower," she suggested and then moaned in complete bliss as Josh's teeth and lips moved down to her neck and found a spot behind her ear that seemed to be connected to her entire body. Her nipples hardened, and she gasped a little bit from the pleasure.

Josh felt Veronica take his hand and move it to a breast and she whispered, "Lower." He kissed his way down to her breast and delighted in the roundest, firmest breast he's had the pleasure to please since his days as a young airman chasing beach bunnies at Panama City. He squeezed both breasts and kissed around the nipples, then looked up at Veronica. She smiled and said, "Yes, they're real."

"I wasn't going to ask that," he said with a puzzled look. "I know an augmented boob when I see one, and you are perfect." He squeezed her breasts, kneading them firmly. "I was going to ask," then he pinched both nipples quite hard, "how sensitive are we?"

Veronica's eyes opened wide in a combination of shock and delight. Her back arched as lightning bolts of painful ecstasy radiated from her nipples. "Harder," she gasped, "pinch harder..." Never has a man got it right on the first attempt. Yes, sucking feels sweet and nibbling feels nice, but to pinch her nipples hard enough to make her asshole clench is what Veronica really loves.

For his part, Josh pinched her just to see her reaction. Plenty of women like the intense pleasure of having their nipples pinched and bit. His ex-wife Yesenia loved to have her nipples bitten hard, so hard that Josh was terrified of doing bodily harm, so he didn't do it that often. He wondered if that's why the bitch fucked around behind his back while he was busy getting shot out of the sky in some third world shithole. But Veronica, she was different, even though she's "in charge" she's not demanding. He began to nibble on one hard nipple while rolling the other one between thumb and forefinger, causing Veronica to mewl in pleasure.

Veronica was adrift in a world of carnal bliss, just by pleasing her neck and breasts this man as elevated her to a level of excitement most men rarely achieved after a full night of what they considered being foreplay. Heck, she realized that she's close to an orgasm and Josh has not come close to 'the good stuff' yet. She knows that she was going to have to tell Josh about her past, about her past lovers, but not now. Now she just wanted to enjoy this man she's been secretly admiring from afar for a year.

And now she wants more.

"Effy babe..." How do I say this? She thought. She's never had to ask a man to go down on her. In her past, by this time in the evening, the man is usually zipping up his trousers and saying endearing things like "I'll have my people contact your agent." Even though it advanced her modeling career, which paid for her MBA, she regretted every single lascivious liaison. "Lower please." But he remained at her breasts, sucking, nibbling, tweaking, twisting, switching back and forth from one perfect tit to the other, doing everything she loved, but she wanted more. She tried pushing on his shoulders, but he didn't move. "Darling please!"

He finally stopped and looked at her with those blue eyes. Releasing her breast from his mouth with a pop, he said, "Yes dear?"

"Lower please," she was practically whimpering. He had her so wound up.

"Yes dear," he said in a voice an octave lower, and went back to suckling her tingling nipple.

"Effy!" she practically shrieked in frustration, not amused in the least by his joke.

"Yes Nica?"

"I don't know how to say this," he had her shaking. She didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or finish the job herself.

"Just tell me what you want. You can't offend me or scare me; you don't have the ability to..."

"EAT ME!" she yelled in frustration, then softly "Please, before I go out of my mind."

"That's all you need to say," he breathed with a wink and that boyish grin that was becoming a form of foreplay by itself to Veronica. Josh kissed his way south, pausing only to tickle her belly button with the tip of his tongue, causing her to giggle and writhe like a little girl. Then further down until he found her pubic mound covered with a patch of fine dark blond hair, soft and surprisingly straight, just inviting his kisses.

Her legs fell open in surrender without any conscious effort on her part, allowing him to reach her pussy, a delightful little "innie." Her outer labia were pudgy and covered her inner labia completely, the only part exposed was her swollen clit. He gave her clit a little lick, causing her to gasp then moan "Yes Effy!" He spread her lips with his thumbs, revealing her inner labia, and she was extremely wet. He licked gently to taste her, and she rewarded him with a hand laid gently on his head, holding him to his task.

Josh basked in her scent. She smelled of the perfume that she daubed there earlier and that wonderful smell of new mown hay that Josh so loved. Her aroma filled his head and swirled through his psyche. He could feel his cock growing harder with each pulse of his heart. As he licked and suckled on her clit, he heard her gasp and sigh in encouragement. She swiveled her hips upward, giving him free rein on her pussy, and he took full command of her vagina.

He lay between her legs, licking and sucking on her pussy lips and clit. His arms reached up from under her slim legs and cupped her breasts, his thumbs and forefingers rolling her nipples. The assault of the mouth and tongue on her clit and both nipples being rolled and pulled had Veronica babbling in joyful surrender. It was like a live wire was strung between her breasts and her pussy, sending erotic lightning between her erogenous zones, causing her to moan and whisper, "Yessss Effy... oh Yesss Effy... oh God! So good..." over and over.

Never had a man spent so much time and paid so much attention to her pleasure. She felt her orgasm building, and she tried to push it back; she didn't want this to end. She was almost scared of the heights of sexual release she knew was waiting for her. Her fingers wove through his hair, his trimmed beard rubbed against her soft inner thighs reminding her constantly this wasn't Bob or her fingers or some pampered, arrogant executive looking for some quid pro quo sex, this was a man who knew how to please a woman.

Josh could tell she was close. Her body was taut as a bow string and trembling like a leaf in the wind. He wanted to hear that musical voice of hearts sing out when she came. Releasing a breast, he eased two fingers into her warm, wet pussy and found her pussy holding his fingers in a surprisingly tight grip. He slobbered and sucked on her clit as he finger fucked this beautiful woman into insensible quivering. She gently grabbed his head with both hands and tried to push him away. The sensation was too much. But at the same time, she held him in place because she wanted more.

And then, with a silent explosion, her mind and body were wracked with an orgasm the likes of which she has never experienced. "Eeeeeefyyyyy!" her musical voice rang out her pet name for him, "Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! I'm COMING!" Her thighs slammed closed on his ears and held him in place as her body convulsed through the maelstrom of explosive waves of relief that coursed through her. Josh held on as she shook and screamed through the tsunami of pleasure that scrambled her brain. Her entire body shuddered violently. He tried to breathe, but she held him so tight it was nearly impossible. Then, with a little sigh, she went completely limp.

When Veronica's eyes fluttered open, she found Josh lying next to her, his face filled with worry. "What... what's wrong?" she asked.

"You fainted; I was a little scared."

"Fainted? Are you sure?"

Josh caressed her cheek as their eyes searched each other's, then gave her a gentle kiss. "You've been out for about five minutes."

She stifled a little laugh. This had to be a joke on his part. "Stop, you're kidding me..."

"You were out Nica, you came pretty hard, I've never heard you swear before..."

Looking back, she realized how hard she came. Her mind was still spinning from the explosion, but she still wanted more. "You should talk mister!" She pulled Josh close and gave him a firm kiss. "You damn near drown me. How long were you storing that one up?"

Josh chuckled, "Longer than I dare admit."

"Me too," she sighed as she snuggled her head on Josh's shoulder. Suddenly, her eyes popped open. "I swore? You must be hearing things, I don't swear." She rolled over so she was on top of Josh.

"I heard you say 'oh fuck' three times."

"That must have been on the TV or something," she said as she ground her pelvis into his and grinned a saucy smile as she rolled his hard cock between them, but it appeared to Josh that she was genuinely embarrassed that she swore. She pushed up and sat straight up, looking down at him with a smile that held so much promise. "I'm still driving," she said as she towered over Josh, "but I'll let you decide what is next." She reached back behind her and felt his cock. It was as hard as when she gave him that blowjob. It appears that he's fully recovered.

Josh looked up at the most beautiful woman he's ever met, her skin now glowing from her recent orgasm. Her breasts, so round and full, her nipples prominent and casting shadows, her beautiful flaxen hair askew from their lovemaking but still full and beautiful, those full lips, that wise smile, her tiny nose and her hazel eyes dancing in amusement. All the while, he could still smell that intoxicating, maddening smell of her pussy, and he wanted more. His cock was aching and throbbing. He was dying to fuck this woman... no, not fuck. He respects and admires this woman and, if he was honest with himself, he would add that he loves her. But he wanted something else. He wanted to inundate her with pleasure. "I'm going to treat you to a mustache ride," he said with a smile.

"What?" she laughed. "are you crazy?"

"Come on, you'll love it," he said with a smile. She rose up on her knees and straddled her lover, but was timid and moved slowly. "Come on, slide forward... that's it... almost there..."

"This is insane," she muttered, then she gasped as her lover's tongue reunited with her pussy. "Oh my God that's incredible," she panted. His tongue began slithering in and out of her weeping pore and she froze. Josh made sweet love to her Kitty with his mouth and tongue once again. She's never done anything like this, the men that went down on her in the past only did it long enough to get her damp. They never did it to orgasm and never twice in a row and never with her on top, not even a 69. Now she was enjoying Josh's oral skills again, and this time, she was completely in charge. She remembered enough of her high school wrestling to know that she had him pinned. He was going nowhere without her approval.

She looked down at him and found that his eyes were seeking hers, and when their eyes locked, they were gazing at each other for what seemed like an eternity. While he suckled and licked her pussy and clit, she stared at those beautiful blue eyes.

Most of the time when she saw him moving about the building, his eyes were either full of mischief, or deadly serious about something. Now they radiated passion and the moment she recognized that passion was directed at her something happened, her heart cracked open and allowed whatever it was she was feeling for him flow out while absorbing the kindness and tenderness he's shown her for the past 24 hours.

A dark thought from the depths of years of self-doubt crept into her head. It told her that this has to stop. If it goes on any longer, something bad is going to happen that she will have no control over. "Please don't Effy," she whispered. She tried to lift, but found that he was holding her in place. Another orgasm was building, barreling down on her with the tenacity of a freight train. She's never had two in one evening, ever. This can't be happening. She looked down at him. It was hard to focus. Were those tears in his eyes or hers? "Effy, please stop!" She tried to get up again, but she couldn't. She tried to roll to the side, but her body rebelled and refused to obey. And now her nipples were being squeezed and pulled, but it was her own hands doing it.

Suddenly she was cumming, just as hard and long and powerful as before. Her hips jerked, dragging her pussy up and down over Josh's face, and he hung on to her hips for dear life as she screamed herself hoarse, shrieking over and over again. Veronica's voice filled Anthony's office with unintelligible grunts and cries of passion and lust. And love.

She felt herself falling, but Josh was there for her. He rolled her to her back and as the spasms and shudders of another intense climax shook her body, Josh climbed on top of her and lined his cock up with her pussy. Her eyes flew open wide as the head of his fleshy cudgel pressed against the lips of her cunt. He paused and whispered, "I'm driving now."

Veronica mentally said "fuck you" to that specter of self-doubt that tried to ruin this. She grabbed the cheeks of Josh's ass and nodded. "I know." Her eyes were wild, and Josh wasn't sure that she realized what was going on, but he thrust inwards, edging into her tight, wet depths. "OH MY GOD YOU'RE HUGE!" she shrieked as he slid into her slowly, allowing her to get used to his size.

"You say the sweetest things," he said with a grin, and he continued to ease into her.

"Shut up and fuck me," she groaned.

"You say the sweetest things," he whispered into her ear.

"Just fuck," came out as a sigh of pleasure and Veronica wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling his lips to hers as she wrapped her legs around his and urged him in deeper.

Josh wanted to take it easy; he wanted to let her get used to his girth before going crazy on her, but that game plan went out the window almost immediately as he felt her warm, wet walls suck him into her cunt. "Oh God you're so tight!" he growled as he tried to hold back, but his body rebelled and he began thrusting in her hot, wet pussy.

"No, you're too big," she gasped into his ear, then slipped her tongue into his ear before nibbling on his earlobe.

He paused and pushed up on his hands. "Do you want me to stop?"

"What, are you crazy?" she demanded. "Sometimes too big is just the right size," her grin was wicked perfection.

Josh grinned in return and began a series of short, easy strokes. "Oh God, I love you," he growled.

"I love you too," she gasped before she could stop herself.

Veronica began pinching his nipples. Her grin matched his as he began fucking her with deeper and longer strokes. The sound of their bodies slapping together filled the room, as did their moans and cries. Soon they were both lost in the intensity of the best sex either of them has had in ages. She was shocked that she found herself coming again in just a few minutes. She felt like she was a bug pinned to a display board as his cock skewered her, plunging into her womb over and over. Waves of pleasure crashed over her again, "Oh baby," she groaned, "don't stop, don't stop..." she gasped over and over She couldn't move, the slapping of their bodies was sweet music as her third orgasm of the evening rapidly approached. She just let Josh fuck as he wanted, "So good... keep fucking... oh baby..."

Her eyes became unfocused. She was trying to concentrate on Josh's face, but he could see that she was nearing the edge. "Cum for me Nica," he encouraged, "you're so beautiful when you're hot." He was still propped up so he could watch her excitement build, and she was beautiful. Her neck and chest were bright red from her excitement, her eyes unfocused, her hands gripping his forearms tight. He watched as her breasts shook from the pounding he was giving her pussy, causing her nipples to describe circles as her body shook.

"Cum with me Effy... cum in me... She pulled him close and wrapped herself tight around Josh. "I need your cum. Cum with me." Her body tightened and her pussy clamped down on Josh's cock, he could barely move but he kept trying to drive his cock into her sheath. Suddenly she tightened up even more which drove him over the edge. "CUM WITH ME," she cried hoarsely. Her legs wrapped around his and urged him on, her fingers clawed his back and her mind exploded with pleasure. "OH GOD I LOVE YOU!" she shrieked.

Josh couldn't stop if he tried, and he couldn't pull out either. She gripped him as her orgasm crashed over her body. "I'm cumming Nica!" he roared as his cock fired volley after volley deep into her pussy. Quenching relief washed over him as his orgasm raged. For her part, Veronica's orgasm coursed through her, making her groan in the most unlady like way. Somehow, in the midst of their mutual ecstasy, their lips found each other, and they kissed furiously.

Finally, their passion spent, they lay next to each other, cuddling close, breathing heavily and kissing gently. Veronica said softly, "We have to talk."

"Nica, I know what you're going to say, but I'm still driving right now, let me start, is that ok?"

She pulled the quilt up and snuggled close. "Ok," she said, but she didn't sound sure.

"Ok, we both said I love you in the heat of the moment," Josh said softly. "Was it just the heat of the moment? was it real? who knows? Was it love? Or just the sex?" He kissed her forehead and picked his next words carefully. "All I know is that I've had a rough past and I'm just happy to find someone. I don't know what we have but I don't want to throw it away." She looked at him questioningly, and he kissed her again. "If we end up lovers, I'll be the happiest man on the planet. If we end up fishing buddies, I'll be happy with that too. Let's just enjoy each other and let the chips fall where they may, because I don't want to go back to being alone."

His last words really got to Veronica. She loved her house, and she loved her cat, but being alone every night caused an ache in her soul that she hated. Veronica realized that he may have saved her from a huge mistake. She almost called everything off, like so many former lovers did to her. Would this work? What will the office say when they found out? She asked with a worried smile, "can we keep it secret?"

"Of course, it'll be fun. It will be our little secret," and they sealed it with a kiss.

"You started it," muttered Veronica. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. What he said wasn't close to what she wanted to talk about, but they can always talk about it later.

"What do you mean I started it, I was sound asleep and the next thing I know some beautiful crazy lady is sucking my cock."

"No," said Veronica, "I was worried about you, I was checking your pulse and suddenly you came in my mouth."

When he finished laughing, he said, "Come on, let's go shower, we made a mess."

After a warm, loving shower where they continued to explore each other's bodies, they dressed in the sweat suits that Veronica found and had dinner from the frozen entrees stashed in Anthony's freezer. Following their late dinner, they cuddled and watched Young Frankenstein before making love one more time, then Josh had to go and perform his evening maintenance and his "tape monkey" backups and... more shoveling, damnit.

"You're just like all the rest, seven or eight quickies and you're off with the boys to boast and brag," said Veronica, mimicking Madeline Kahn's line.

"I love a woman with a sense of humor," said Josh as he kissed her good bye and rose from the couch.

She was still glowing from five orgasms and knew there were more in her future. A guy who loves her AND silly old movies? Life is good. She responded the only way possible. "I love a man with an enormous schwanzstucker... voof!"

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"Good morning, Anthony," Veronica whispered softly into her phone, not wanting to wake up Josh. It was Anthony's normal 7:30 AM call.

"You sound happy, I'm not used to hearing you happy, is this you happy?" her boss teased.

"Mmmm... deliriously!" She looked at her ring, the one with the Rock, now perched on her left hand. Josh slipped it on to her left hand when he returned to bed at four AM. They decided to call it a promise ring, and should they decide to make it permanent, they will set her stone in a new ring.

"You guys doing ok in there? Do I need to air-lift in supplies?" Anthony continued teasing. He knew that Josh had packed away enough supplies to feed the entire workforce for a week if needed.

"We're fine, your wine cabinet is taking quite a hit, but we're ok. I talked to our plow company, we should be out of here by Thursday evening, Friday morning at the latest. We'll be open for business by noon Friday," she whispered.

"As soon as you guys can move out of there, head home and take a nice long weekend, you earned it," said Anthony. "We'll see you next Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" Veronica was shocked at her boss's generosity; it was a whole new year, and they had so many plans...

"Ok, have it your way, Wednesday." It's easy to be generous when he knew his company was in expert hands when Josh and Veronica were "minding the store." He's got a talent for finding the right people.

"Aye, aye, sir," she answered. She wondered if she and Josh would be able to go tobogganing on Friday, and maybe get a fish fry later. Now they have nearly a week off.

"Are you going to be ready for our nine AM video conference with Plexus Financial this morning?"

Just then, Josh snuggled up behind her. He brushed her hair out of the way and began gently kissing the back of her neck, hitting all the right spots. Her eyes rolled back in her head as his hand reached around and cupped her breast, squeezing gently, his hard cock pressing against her sensitive butt cheeks. "I will need to put my face on..."

"You just do what needs to be done," said Ant.

Veronica rolled over to face Josh, who peppered her forehead with little kisses. "I plan to sir."

"I told you about that talent of mine," Anthony said. "I can find the right man for the right job."

"Yes, you can," she sighed, and as she hung up, Anthony was sure he heard her laugh with joy.