The following is the first of a ten-part story I collaborated with AmericanDreamgirl on. We hope you enjoy this story as much as we did in working on it!

Charlotte sat in the reception area of Mr. Peckerwood's office waiting nervously for her interview. She hated these interviews - they made her nervous and self-conscious of herself.

Charlotte had always been shy and introverted growing up. She had been a military brat and as such had moved around a lot growing up - never able to stay in one place long enough to make friends and have a "normal" childhood. It seemed like she spent her entire youth trying to fit into the crowd at the time. And just when she started to feel comfortable, her father would get orders and they would have to move again.

She survived her childhood, but it had its effect on her. She was distant and withdrawn, almost standoffish in her personal life. At work, she did her job and didn't participate in any social settings. She didn't get involved in the watercooler gossip; didn't go to any company parties or get-togethers. She was there to work and go home and that's the extent of it.

Charlotte was driven - her father's military experience had shown her that to advance meant to succeed. She wanted more than anything to make her father proud of her. The only child, Charlotte had to be Daddy's little girl and the son he'd always wanted. So his approval of her was of paramount importance. Charlotte was always looking to advance and to better her position. To succeed in everything she did. Work was all she had and the only real reason for her to leave her house every day.

It was this drive to succeed, this relentless need to climb ever higher, that had brought her to the interview today. She had come across a notice on the company bulletin board of an opening as Mr. Peckerwood's secretary and personal assistant. Charlotte figured if she couldn't be the boss of the company, then being right next to the boss was a pretty good position. She would have the perks and benefits of the top office, but without the responsibility, he had to shoulder for the company!

As she sat in the waiting area fidgeting with her fingers and watching the receptionist go about her work, Charlotte went over the interview in her mind, trying to formulate good answers for whatever questions Mr. Peckerwood might ask. 

Charlotte had been to a few of these interviews and she had learned that each one was different. There was really no way for her to accurately predict what he would ask her or how to answer. So she would have to be prepared for anything.

As she sat there nervously waiting to see the boss of the company, the door suddenly opened. "Thank you, Sir, for this opportunity and if I am selected, I will do my very best to be a good secretary and assistant to you!" the woman said. Then she appeared around the door - it was Beverly Wilson, another of the candidates for the position, apparently.

Charlotte's heart sank a bit. Beverly was a very highly qualified secretary and Charlotte knew she would be stiff competition for this job. Beverly had the training and experience for this position and Charlotte would have to do very well at this interview if she was to have any chance at all of getting it.

Mr. Peckerwood had wanted these interviews to be "blind interviews" - meaning that none of the candidates were supposed to know who else was applying so no one could get an unfair advantage over another candidate. But Beverly's comment upon leaving the office had tipped the scales in Charlotte's favor. Beverly (or any of the other candidates) had no idea that Charlotte was applying, but Charlotte at least knew of one of her competitors - and it so happened to be her biggest rival!

Charlotte's seat in the reception area was such that Beverly left without seeing her there waiting for her interview. Once Beverly had left Mr. Peckerwood's office he turned to Charlotte. "Please come in," he said. Charlotte got up and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, she thought to herself and strode into his office behind him to her interview.

"Please have a seat, Miss..." he said.

"Sintallie, Sir... Charlotte Sintallie," she said.

"Very good. Please," he said, indicating the chair in front of the desk. "My name is Peter."

"Peter Peckerwood?" she said with a smile.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I got quite a lot of teasing growing up with that handle. I've thought about changing it more times than I can count but I decided instead to reach a point in my life that people didn't make fun of my name. And now that I run one of the most successful investment firms on Wall Street, people don't make fun of my name anymore," he said.

"No Sir, I don't imagine they do. I know everyone here at Silver Hill Securities respects your name. Of course, I don't know anyone who calls you Peter here. Usually, it's Mr. Peckerwood or Boss or something," she said.

"Well this is a business and we do have to maintain a professional air about us. Using first names is usually reserved for people of similar ranking in the company and even then only in the break room or bathrooms out of the client's eyes," he said.

"Yes, of course, Sir," she said.

"Now then Miss Sintallie, I have looked through your file and I see you have been with us for two years now. Working in the secretarial pool is that correct?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. I will have my three years in, come September... about four months from now," she said.

"And you never tried to become a broker here? Never went for your broker's license?" he asked.

"No Sir. I'm not really comfortable... in front of people. You know sales and promoting products. I'm more of a behind the scenes kinda girl. I'm not much into the spotlight or getting attention Sir," she said, looking down.

"I see. Well, this position would require a certain amount of spotlighting... you would be working alongside me in pitching our products to potential clients and going with me to business meetings and so forth. Yes, you would be doing office type work, but you would still be in the client's presence. Would that be a problem for you?" he asked.

Charlotte felt the interview slipping from her hands as he talked about putting her in front of the clientele. She did not want to blow this chance. "Sir, I would very much like the opportunity to work alongside you here at Silver Hill Securities and if that means that I occasionally have to be up front and in the spotlight, then I will get used to that. I know I can do it, Sir and I know that I can be a good secretary and assistant to you. I have some experience in being a personal assistant working with my father - in an unofficial capacity of course. 

"My father was a military man, a Brigadier General, and I would come in and help organize his files and keep his appointments and meetings straight. I also learned how to take care of his personal needs - things like making sure his uniforms were perfect and that he had coffee and cigars at the ready when he needed them.

"My father's office had a hard time keeping a decent secretary in it - it seemed like he'd just get one trained and they would take her off to do some other job someplace. So I was called on to help him out fairly often. He taught me how to be punctual, precise, and persistent - those were his keywords," she said.

"Your father was a wise man. Those are very good keywords and actually, they translate to the business world very well. I do value punctuality, and in this business especially, precision is very important. One decimal point out of place could be catastrophic! Persistence pays off in just about every endeavor, and when you are trying to win over a new customer or client, being persistent means the difference between growing the company or letting it stagnate and maybe even fail," he said.

"Thank you, Sir. Yes, my father kept those three words carved in a wooden plaque on his desk," Charlotte said.

"Well, I will tell you that so far I have interviewed six girls for this position. You are the last one on the list I needed to see. I can tell you that right now that I'm probably going to narrow it down to you and one other girl. the girls were okay, I suppose, but nothing spectacular. And for this position I need spectacular.

"I will be honest with you, however - the other girl is very highly qualified. She has the training and the experience that I could really use for this position. But you have something... I can see a lot of potential in you. I am going to think this over and look into it more. You can expect another interview in a few days so I can learn more about the both of you. This is a very important position and I don't want to rush things and maybe make a mistake in hiring the wrong person," he said.

"I understand, Sir. If you can't trust your personal secretary and assistant, who can you trust! That's quite all right," she said.

Charlotte thanked him for the interview and said she looked forward to meeting with him again in a few days. She felt a little better about the interview, knowing that she was one of the two girls going forward to the second one. She also felt good about his comment regarding her potential - she still had a shot at this!

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It was Monday the following week and Charlotte was at her desk as usual when her supervisor, Mrs. Haskins, came to her desk. "Charlotte, I just got a call from Mr. Peckerwood. He would like to see you in his office first thing after lunch. When you come back from lunch, just go straight up to see him instead of coming back here,"  Mrs. Haskins said.

"Yes Ma'am," Charlotte said. This was the second interview that she was waiting on! She went to lunch but she couldn't eat, she was too excited. Instead of taking her lunch, she ran home to get ready for her meeting with Mr. Peckerwood. 

She dashed into the bathroom and quickly put on the makeup she wanted to use. Charlotte rarely wore makeup in her regular daily routine not wanting to draw attention to herself. But this was one time she wanted attention - from Mr. Peckerwood to be more precise. 

She had watched several YouTube videos on how to apply the kind of dark smokey-eye makeup that the porn queens wore, thinking that it would make her sexier and less plain looking. She applied some cherry red gloss lipstick and added a bit of rouge to her cheeks. 

Then, because she had read somewhere that men liked the smell of baby powder, she powdered her tits a bit with it, feeling very naughty as she made up her intimate areas. Charlotte had decided over the weekend that when this interview came up, she would pull out all the stops. She wanted this job and she was going to get it one way or another!

She looked at herself in her full-length mirror. She wished she had something sexier to wear, but she didn't. She didn't have any reason to look sexy or anyone to look that way for. Besides, she would have to go back to "plain Charlotte" after the interview anyway and wiping off excess makeup was one thing - a complete change of clothes was another!

Still, there should be something she could do to get her point across. She looked at herself while she thought about it - and then it hit her. And with a naughty smirk and a blush, she reached under her skirt and took off her panties! She stuffed them into her purse for after the interview and then straightened her dress and left to head back to work and the interview.

The shock of cool air on her exposed pussy made her gasp, but once she got used to it, it felt rather sexy and erotic and she could feel herself getting moist from the naughtiness of her plans.

As she drove back to the office she went over her plan in her head - partly because she wanted to "rehearse" and partly because she needed to psyche herself up and get over her nervousness. She knew this was a very risky move - it could mean her career if it didn't work. But it was a last-ditch effort to get to where she wanted to be, and her father had always said that there can be no reward without some risk.

She pulled up to the building where she worked and she quickly got out of her car and rushed into the building and straight to the elevator all the time praying that no one she knew would see her. She needed to get up to the 4th floor and Mr. Peckerwood's office without being seen by anyone she knew from the secretarial pool. It would be too embarrassing explaining why she looked like a slut coming back to work after lunch. She just needed to get to the elevator and get headed upstairs and she would be okay. The secretarial pool was on the second floor so once she was passed that she would be relatively safe. 

She got into the building without a hitch and stood waiting very impatiently for the elevator. She looked around as nervous as a cat in the dog pound as people started coming in and out after lunch. But being a wallflower for so long had taught her a few tricks on how not to be seen or noticed and after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator doors opened. 

Charlotte slipped inside quickly and waited with bated breath for the doors to close. Only two men came into the elevator with her before the doors closed and they were too busy talking to each other to notice her. The elevator started up and stopped on the third floor so the two men could get off.

They must be stockbrokers, she thought to herself since that was the floor that their individual offices were on. Now alone, and headed to the fourth floor finally, she took off the scarf she had worn to conceal her telltale flame-red hair and stuffed it into her purse next to her undies. She shook her hair loose and let it fall its full mid-back length.

Then the elevator door opened and she saw the receptionist. She had made it! She relaxed a bit knowing that no one from her work area would be here. She strode more confidently off the elevator and went up to the receptionist. "Hello, I'm here to see Mr. Peckerwood. He called to see me," she said to the girl behind the desk.

"Just a moment please," she said and she got on the intercom. "Sir, you have someone here to see you - a Miss..." 

"Sintallie," Charlotte said. The receptionist nodded.

"A Miss Sintallie Sir," she finished.

"Ah yes, send her in please," the man's voice said over the intercom. 

"Right through that door, Miss Sintallie," the receptionist said, pointing to the door. Charlotte opened the door to Mr. Peckerwood's office... and hopefully, her future as well!

"Miss Sintallie, please come in. I'm so glad you could come. I interviewed the other candidate this morning so hopefully, we can get this whole process over with soon. I looked through your personnel file again and I am impressed with what I have seen. You have no notable marks or comments against you.

"I also see that you haven't been sick or missed work an unusual amount. And you haven't taken any vacation time since you've been here. While it's admirable that you enjoy working here so much, you should really take some time away from the office once in awhile, Miss Sintallie. We can't have our employees burning out - it isn't good for our clients!" he said.

"Yes, Sir. It's just I really had no reason to take a vacation. Where would I go? And with whom - I have no family and no real friends. I'm kind of a loner... it's a long story. But I would just be going by myself and that seems to be a waste of money!" she said.

"I see. Well, that answers a couple questions for me. You see, this position would require a fair amount of travel to meetings across the country. We have clients all over the United States and in some foreign countries as well So there's a good bit of travel involved. One of the pre-requisites of this position is that you be available to travel. I can see you meet that requirement easily. You may not like to travel for vacation but you would be traveling a lot for work if you got the position!" he said.

"Yes, Sir. I don't dislike travel, I actually find it exciting. Going to see new places and meet new people has always fascinated me. It's just who would I tell about my travels. And why take pictures if it's all right up here anyway," she said tapping her head.

"Sir, being a military brat and moving every couple years I got to see a lot of the world. Of course, that wasn't always fun leaving the friends I made in school and things like that. At times I hated the fact we were military. But traveling now, with you, would be totally different. I would be taking my 'friend' with me! And I wouldn't be moving, just traveling. It would be like a vacation - a working vacation! " she said.

"Well if you get the job you will be accompanying me on my travel to these meetings and conferences and such. So you'll have someone to talk with and reminisce with!" he said smiling.

"Oh, that would be wonderful Sir! I would like that very much!" she said, perking right up.

"Well, Miss Sintallie, everything looks in order. I will let you know my decision by the end of the week, and whoever gets the position will start next Monday. Since Friday is the end of the pay period, that works out perfectly. Now before we conclude the interview is there anything else you feel I should know in order to make my decision? Any other things you would like to bring up to help sway my vote in your direction?" he asked.

This was her chance! She couldn't have asked for a better segway into her plan. "Well Mr. Peckerwood, since you asked, there is one thing I'd like to 'bring up' if you don't mind..." she said, standing up and walking around his desk to his chair...