Something Wild
Contents:
1
Meet me tonight. Ten o'clock. Corner of Fourth and Walnut.
And be ready for anything.
Penny
P
enny Halloran released a nervous sigh as she peered down at the note she'd just penned on a plain white card bearing her business's logo. She wished she'd had something more romantic to write on, perhaps scented stationery, something with flowers or hearts. Or maybe something sexier than that—animal print came to mind, then leather, then lace—but she doubted stationery had made such leaps yet. She read the words once more and wrinkled up her nose. What she'd written them on was irrelevant. What mattered was, could she go through with this?
She wasn't usually an impulsive woman, and if her plan could wait, she'd let it. This was the sort of thing that needed weeks of preparation to make sure it came off without a hitch. Even the note seemed lackluster; she wished she'd had time to think of something more clever, playful. But it couldn't wait—Martin was going out of town tomorrow, and when he returned in a week, he expected an answer to his marriage proposal. Tonight was the night for action.
Swallowing her fears, Penny reached for a stapler and attached the card to the bag containing Martin's sandwich—ham and Swiss on rye, light mayo—the same kind he ordered every day. Then she gathered the bag lunches that had to be delivered to Schuster Software Systems upstairs. "Be back in five," she said to her sister, Patti, who stood working the bar of the Two Sisters Restaurant and Pub as the lunch hour started. Exiting the restaurant into the building's lobby, she headed for the elevator.
This is really quite simple,
she lectured herself as the elevator climbed toward the eighth floor of the downtown Cincinnati office building.
I'm just going to seduce him, that's all. Nothing to be nervous about. Men love this sort of thing,
or so she'd heard.
Martin will love it, too.
And as for why her heart was beating ninety miles an hour and her stomach felt as if it had been left back on the ground floor … well, that was only because she'd never seduced a man before. And maybe it was also because Martin's expressions of affection so far had been … less than enthusiastic. Good-night kisses at the door that often felt more obligatory than passionate. And hand-holding, Martin was big on hand-holding. But nothing more.
Oddly, that hadn't bothered Penny in the three months they'd been dating. Martin was everything she wanted in a man—ambitious, dependable, sensible and smart. Tall and lean with trim brown hair that never touched his collar, he was even somewhat handsome in a simple yet classic way. On top of that, he owned his own company, so they shared an entrepreneurial spirit, too. And at twenty-eight, Penny was mature enough to know there was more to life than sex. She enjoyed his companionship; they liked the same movies and had the same tastes in restaurants, and they loved spending lazy weekend afternoons picnicking at EdenPark, then meandering through the art museum afterward.
A few days ago, however, Martin had taken her hand in his and said, "Penny, I'm in my thirties now, and I want children before I'm too old to enjoy them. I think you and I make a good team. Will you marry me?" It had been an unexpected turn of events, all things considered. And although it hadn't been the most romantic proposal in the world, Penny couldn't deny that Martin was right. They made a good team; they were well-suited. Still, it was only now, with a marriage proposal on the table, that she'd come to realize sex
was
important, and she just didn't think she could marry him without … taking a test drive, so to speak.
In fact, in the three long days since Martin's proposal, Penny had done a lot of long, hard and rather
disturbing
thinking about herself. Disturbing because, not only did sex matter to her, and not only did it suddenly matter a lot, it was also beginning to matter in ways she'd never even imagined before.
After several stops to let other passengers on and off, the elevator finally opened on a crisp, contemporary lobby. Grace Davis, the receptionist, sat behind her round desk with a phone receiver tucked beneath her chin. "Mmm-hmm … mmm-hmm…" she mumbled. She shoved back a lock of wispy red hair that had fallen from the bun at her nape, and rolled her eyes at Penny from behind her small, gold-framed glasses as if to say the person on the phone wouldn't shut up.
"I'll just go on back," Penny whispered, pointing. Then she padded toward the hallway that led to the private offices, her heart rising to her throat. She was about to do this, about to deliver this crazy, demanding note to sensible, undemanding Martin, who would likely think she was off her rocker the moment he saw it.
Don't think like that, she commanded herself. You've got to do this. And maybe he'll even like it. Maybe it will even
unleash
the animal hidden inside him. If there
was
an animal hidden inside him. Oh please, Penny thought desperately, let there be an animal. Even if it's just a little one.
She prayed she was right because the startling fact Penny had figured out about herself over the past few days was that an animal lurked inside
her.
Okay, so it was a slightly timid animal at this point. Yet when she'd realized she might soon commit herself to one man for the rest of her life, it had dawned on her that not only did she have sexual desires that were going unfulfilled, but they were sort of
wild
sexual desires. Dating a guy without passion … that was okay. But when she imagined getting
married,
the package came with great sex.
She'd never known that before now, but maybe she'd always just been waiting, assuming that part of her life—a true, maybe even hedonistic sexual awakening—would come along later. She'd meet some perfect man who would set all her inhibitions free and lead her through the thrilling, reckless affair of a lifetime…
But it hadn't happened yet, and if it was going to happen with Martin, she would clearly have to give him a push in the right direction. It would be worth it in the end, she promised herself as she stuck her head into his corner office to find it blessedly empty. It'll be worth it tonight when she swept him off his feet and
he
loved it and
she
loved it and a whole new sexual landscape unfurled before them both. Actually, just thinking of the plan she'd formulated this morning was enough to leave her mildly aroused. Oh yes, she thought, suddenly imbued with a sexy new nip of confidence, this was going to be good. This was going to be very good.
Her heart actually pumped with more excitement than fear as she lowered the bag onto Martin's desk in the middle of the scattered papers and folders. Her little surprise would be the perfect thing to take his mind off business, and it would be a wonderful, even generous way to send him off to his software conference in Las Vegas.
Turning the note toward the desk chair where he'd see it first thing upon sitting down, Penny pivoted and scurried from the room. Then she went about the business of distributing the rest of the sandwiches to the appointed offices, finishing with the new guy, Ryan. He didn't have a nameplate outside his door yet, but had been occupying the tiny office next to the conference room for the past week.
Heading back toward the elevator, Penny re-immersed herself in thoughts of the night to come. When she returned to the restaurant, she needed to call the limo service, then break it to Patti that she was leaving early to shop for something special to wear.
She flinched to a stop just before barreling head-on into the dark suit and bright tie that suddenly loomed before her. "Oh!" She lifted her eyes, expecting to find Martin, relieved to see that it was only Ryan, who was taller and considerably broader in the shoulders than she'd realized before. "Hi."
"Hi," he replied, although his smile looked a little off-kilter, questioning, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why; Penny probably looked as nervous as if she'd just made off with the petty cash drawer.
"I, uh, was just…" What was she thinking? Was she going to explain that she was busy preparing to ravish his boss? "Enjoy your lunch," she said instead, then skirted past him toward the elevators without sparing him another thought.
She had more important things on her mind, after all. She had a seduction to orchestrate.
* * *
After grabbing a soda from the machine in the break-room, Ryan Pierce slid into the big leather chair in his new boss's corner office, ready to get back to work. He wasn't sorry Martin had left town a day earlier than planned; it meant a quiet first Friday on the job, and it gave Ryan a lot more space to spread out, not to mention a much better view.
Martin had suggested Ryan study some of the premiere software applications the company had created over the past few years, the ones they used to showcase their wares to potential clients. Only Ryan's computer hadn't arrived from Martin's wholesale supplier yet, leaving Ryan to work from his own personal laptop, so Martin had offered up
his
computer for viewing the programs while he was away. He'd also asked Ryan to keep a check on his e-mail; if anything came in that sounded urgent, Ryan could make sure someone dealt with it.
Forcing his gaze from the bright, sunny downtown streets, he spun the chair toward the desk where Penny the Sandwich Girl, as he thought of her, had left his lunch. Reaching toward the brown bag that bore the same Two Sisters logo on it as the baseball cap she always wore, he noticed something extra today—a company card stapled to the top of the bag.
His mouth fell open as he read it.
She wanted him to meet her? Tonight? And she wanted him to be ready for
anything?
He was a sharp guy and it generally took a lot to baffle him, but at this, he literally reached up to scratch his head. Then he read the note again. And ripped into the bag.
Unwrapping the sandwich, he flipped through it as one might a stack of papers to confirm that
he
had the right sandwich and
she
had the right guy. Sure enough, ham and Swiss on rye with mayo. This was too weird.
After a moment's contemplation, however, Ryan could only conclude that this was her slightly offbeat way of asking him on a date. It was an unusual approach, to say the least, but maybe she was just too nervous to ask in person. Come to think of it, she'd
seemed
pretty nervous when he'd passed her in the hallway a few minutes ago, and now he knew why. She'd just dropped an invitation sandwich on his desk. He'd also noticed she was sort of chummy with Grace, who must've told Penny he was working in Martin's office today.
Leaning back in the large chair, Ryan couldn't help feeling just a little arrogant. Less than a week in a new city and a cute girl had already asked him out. And she
was
cute. He'd noticed the delicate face and big blue eyes underneath that baseball cap, not to mention the pretty swath of long sandy-blond hair cascading through the hat's back opening. She generally wore a loose T-shirt and shorts, so he hadn't exactly gotten a look at her shape, but he knew she had nice legs. Appearance aside, she was friendly, too, always ready with an easy smile, and he'd heard her giggling good-naturedly with Grace more than once as they'd stood chatting in the lobby.
Granted, he and Penny had never actually shared a one-on-one conversation other than the awkward enjoy-your-lunch exchange just a minute ago, but suddenly that "enjoy your lunch" had taken on new meaning. Maybe her friendly smiles were more than friendly. Maybe her easy hellos were attempts at flirtation, only he'd had his head buried too deeply in his new job to notice.