I was just getting back to the condo after work on Friday when I saw my neighbor from the running group, as I now thought of him. I hadn’t thought about his invitation at all during the week, but he held the elevator for me and we talked as we went up. I felt like I had to agree to go, but really, I had nothing else planned, and wasn’t I supposed to be doing things differently? He looked different to me today, although th...

The personnel changes went smoother than anticipated, as one accepted the move to marketing with some enthusiasm and the person we let go acknowledged she needed to do better. I liked her and probably violated some employment laws giving her honest feedback. I didn’t think her future was in sales, but she was good at project management. I encouraged her to think about certification. Finding a trainer was somewhat more dif...

I didn’t see him for weeks. It crossed my mind that he was avoiding me after pulling a no-show that night in Portland, but ultimately that was his call, not mine. I had other things on my mind, like “was I going to have to replace two of my sales people?” and “was my wife going to divorce me?”  The answer to both was yes, and dealing with the first, while unpleasant, was better than thinking about the second. Neither of t...

She paused; taking in the sight before her.    There he was, that face that she knew so well. His eyes. Sexy, intelligent; a deep chocolate brown with hints of hazel. They were the kind you could get lost in, and she regularly had. They also had a scarily accurate knack of reading her so well that she didn’t stand a chance at hiding how she felt; how he made her feel. They were the highlight of a face she had come to know...

It’s never one thing that seemingly sends you over the line; it’s far too easy to put the blame on your partner, no matter who he or she is.  But if I was honest with myself, even a little, I knew it wasn’t her. Not really. It was too easy to just let things slide or to swallow my desire after a number of rejections. If I had been able to put my supposed needs or fetishes aside, I wouldn’t be here, in the office, on my kn...

My classmate and I were studying biology when the topic shifted to sex and reproduction. “I’ve had too many pregnancy scares,” I joked. It was normal for my classmate and I to discuss raunchy topics like this. “I’m so glad I’m on birth control now. How about you?” He looked up from his paper. “What?” I repeated, “How about you? How many times did you have a partner with a pregnancy scare?” “Oh, I’ve never actually… had se...

That night I found myself tossing and turning, wondering what exactly Lincoln had meant by those words. It’s a date. Romantic or not, this would probably be considered my first proper date. Sure, I had hung out with guys occasionally during high school… but I wouldn’t consider awkwardly making out with a guy at a party while he pawed at my chest a date. Rolling over towards my nightstand, I glanced at my phone. 2:15 AM. S...

I’d been building a dungeon in my house for my new girlfriend, being that she was leading me down the decadent path of a little light BDSM now and again. Nothing heavy or brutal, just some fun bondage here, a little spanking there, and a lot of hot, steamy sex everywhere. The tricky part was hiding our little den of debauchery from my eighty-five-year-old mother who was a full-time resident in my home. Fortunately, my aun...

The year Donald turns fifty-eight, his academy from when he was young, asks him to attend their upcoming reunion day at the school.  Since leaving that part of his life behind forty years ago, Donald has never returned for any of the annual gatherings.  But the school presses him to come as they wish to present Donald their distinguished alumni award, for all of his accomplishments. Emma urges him to go.  They will be abl...

The story begins with Jessica. I first met Jessica when I worked in Manchester in the UK on a scientific research project. I was a postgraduate at the time, just finishing my thesis. I felt the need to escape to the countryside for a week and volunteered to help out on a fieldwork exercise based in a farmhouse in an isolated village in The North Pennines, a range of mountains and hills to the east of Manchester.  Jessica...

Raina watched Michael march naked through the kitchen of her restaurant with smug satisfaction. It would be a cold day in hell before he pulled another stunt like the one that just earned him a blistered bottom. When Dominique returned on Friday, he would still be sporting the marks of her spatula. The sight of Michael standing before Alicia and apologizing was a reminder to call Dominique. It would not be proper for her...