“Oh, for goodness sakes! Wake up, Jon!”

With a jerk Jonathan Elders woke up. Looking around wildly, he struggled to sort out the darkness and the loud ringing from the nightstand next to him. Finally catching his breath his eyes focused on the bright glowing screen, flickering with a number and a face. Groaning, he reached out and picked up the phone to answer the call.

“Kara, why are you calling me at five in the morning?” Jon asked, his irritation and sleepiness sharp in his voice.

“Aren’t you usually up, sir?” The voice on the other side of space was not as chipper and bright as normal. Yet it was unmistakably young Kara Dance, just brought on to his team. Brunette, short, and full of life. Yet until this morning, she had seemed rather staid and stable, not prone to taking risks for her job. Which was likely the problem this morning.

“I have another thirty minutes before my alarm goes off, thank you very much,” Jon replied gruffly. In fact it was only five more minutes, but he was not going to give his interruption the satisfaction of being correct, not at 4:55am. Instead he turned the conversation back at Kara. “So again, why are you waking me up?”

“I can’t get it, Sir.” Kara’s voice dropped, edged with defeat. “I haven’t found a way into the place. I don’t have the connections to get an invitation.”

Jon rotated the phone up and sighed. He glanced over at the source of the voice that woke him up, the hand that shook his shoulder. Green eyes were barely visible in the faint light from the phone, yet their irritation was clear in the darkness. Lips frowned, then smiled and a tongue stuck out at him. Jon smiled back and brought the phone back to his mouth.

“Kara, you’ve been up all night again trying to get in the club, haven’t you.” It was not a question. Jon didn’t raise his voice, instead he softened his tone before continuing. “Go home, Kara. Get some sleep. We’ll go over the assignment when you get in. You’ll get it, you were born to do this. Be back by two thirty, okay?”

“Okay, boss,” Kara replied, a slight lift to her voice.

“See you soon.” Jon hung up the phone and shook his head. When he got to work he’d probably find her asleep on the couch in the employee lounge. The young woman was not suited for the job. At least not the job he’d been given, the toughest assignment of his career. The last assignment of his career if she couldn’t come through for him.

“Was that your girlfriend again?” the shadowed figure next to him asked, a hint of acid edging her tone. The woman sat up in bed, leaned back against the headboard. Her long red hair, dark blood in the gloom, flowed down over her shoulders to modestly cover her upper body. The faint light from between the curtains glinted off the diamond on her finger. Jon reached out, took the star between his hands. He remembered the day he’d placed it on her finger, surrounded by their friends and family. It was the best day he’d ever had, and he’d been happy ever since.

“Why yes, yes that was, hon,” Jon replied lightly. Two could play at this game. He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissed her fingers. “If you can count a new reporter who can’t get into a club and needs reassuring a girlfriend, Heidi.”

“Oh, Jon, I need your help!” Heidi exclaimed mockingly. Then she flicked her hair out at her husband, baring herself to his eyes. “Oh, please help me, boss.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” Jon frowned but his eyes weren’t into it. Instead they were relishing the bounty that was his wife’s body. Despite the faint light he could see the curves of her breasts, her pale skin glowing lightly. His memories filled in all the details he couldn’t see currently.

“You stare at her, imagining her bare breasts, don’t you?” Heidi asked, teasing instead of accusing. She’d met Kara a few times. She knew how well endowed the young lady was, small, yet curvy from her shoulders to her feet. Ever since, whenever Kara came up in conversation, Heidi couldn’t resist teasing Jon, implying how much he was attracted to his young reporter. Jon repeatedly refused to take the bait. Kara was attractive, yet she was his employee, not a date or a random strange woman, and definitely not his wife.

“You know I don’t,” Jon replied testily. He began to turn to get out of bed but Heidi’s hand on his thigh stopped him. Delicate fingers stroked up his skin, rubbing the short hairs of his legs the wrong way as she moved towards his stomach.

“I know you think about her, about how her tiny little fingers would feel upon you.” Heidi continued matching her actions to her words, eliciting a jump out of Jon. “Touching you, exploring you, pleasing you, her implacable boss.”

“Heidi, I have to get ready for work,” Jon pleaded, yet made no further attempt to leave the bed. Instead his legs opened wider for his wife. She got to her knees and straddled his thigh. The light from outside danced across her pale skin. During the bright day she never let the hot sun touch her sides, her hips. She barely ever wore a swimsuit outside, instead only showing that much skin at indoor pools. The curse of the redhead, the instant sunburn, had her in its clutches. Instead she wore long skirts or pants, and lots of sunblock on her arms and face. But at night, or in the early dawn, she could reveal her full body to the world, and this morning her skin was uninterrupted by clothing from her neck to her toes.

“Kissing you, taking you,” Heidi continued. She leaned forward, kissed his chest, and then ran her lips down his body until her mouth filled with him. Jon leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. His hands found the curly red hair that splayed across his thighs and he wrapped his fingers in the strands as his wife gave him shivers of pleasure. Yet she continued her act for instead of doing what she knew he liked best, she played the new explorer, a newcomer to oral performance. Finally she lifted her head and looked up at him.

“Is that the right way, boss?” Heidi asked, her voice imitating Kara’s cheerful lilt.

“You naughty little girl, we shouldn’t be doing this at work,” Jon replied, finally joining into the play. “Use a little more teeth and I’ll give you an ‘outstanding’ on your next review.”

Heidi grinned, displaying her white smile, then her head descended again. Tiny shocking flecks of fire travelled up Jon’s nerves and his back arched as his breath caught. Heidi prolonged his exquisite agony a few more moments then she lifted her head again.

“I need more than an ‘outstanding’, Sir.” Heidi rose to her knees and spread her thighs. She took his hand and guided it underneath her. Soft fur met his fingers as she leaned over him. “You are going to tell your fellow editors all about me, aren’t you, boss? And make sure I’m the next one promoted, right?”

Jon could feel the heat of Heidi’s desire. Carefully he explored her, running his fingers across her flower just as he did when they first lay together, continuing their game. Just as his wife had done with her mouth, Jon didn’t act on his knowledge of what pleased her best but instead took his time. Finally he made her gasp, then moved on until he made her hips shake. Then, after a moment of fun and fast breathing Jon slid down the bed until his waist was beneath Heidi’s hips.

“Show me exactly how much you want that promotion, Kara,” Jon whispered, crossing the final threshold of their role playing, calling his wife by a name not hers.

Heidi’s breath caught, but above him she smiled. She began her descent, and Jon carefully guided himself into his wife. As she settled onto him Jon set his hands around her waist, resting on the tops of her hips. Slowly she began to roll forward and back, but this time instead of playing the innocent new lover Heidi went straight to the moves that gave them both the greatest pleasure. Within seconds Jon was feeling the flame deep within him, and above him Heidi was breathing heavily with the effort and with her own delight. Neither of them lasted long, not after the teasing before, and as the beautiful afterglow filled them Heidi collapsed onto Jon and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him.

“Kara could never do what you do for me,” Jon whispered into Heidi’s ear. “She’s nothing next to your fire.”

“Liar,” Heidi replied playfully, then kissed Jon deeply. “But thank you. Now go to work and let me get some more sleep!”

Jon checked his wristwatch. Time drawn in angles and directions, a message clear and shining in the early morning streetlight. An hour when few others wait for public transit, before the pressing battle for seats and inches of personal space. The sky above showed the colors of night, but golden lacquer spreading across the upper stories of the buildings around the bus stop signaled the arrival of the sun. Above, a hint of pink, a cloud bravely standing its ground in the wide sky. Another dawn Jon shouldn’t have seen, another checkmark on the mental wall of discipline and initiative which has marked the rise of his career.

With a shiver in the cool morning air Jon looked back at his small, two story house. A small lawn, tidy shrubs around the old fashioned porch. In an upper story window a drape shook. Jon smiled and waved, knowing why he saw nothing more. His adorable wife, Heidi, knew not to scandalize the neighbors. When he left she was wearing nothing more than her beauty. Heidi didn’t have to be at work for another three hours, and her head was already returning to her pillow. Yet she stayed by the window to see her husband off, to show her last sign of loyalty before he disappeared into the sea of temptation that was the modern world. Jon smiled. She had shown him how well she knew the pitfalls of his job, playing the role of his newest reporter, teasing him as if he was her boss, showing him what young Kara could do to him, all the while reminding him that he had a wife who would do anything, absolutely anything for him. Jonathan counted himself a lucky, lucky man.

The bus stop is lonely. A single metal pole, dull in the melting gloom. The garbage can nearby was mostly empty but the leftovers of late night travellers sat on the black plastic liner, large beer cans too light to push down into darkness. A candy wrapper sat, forlorn at the base of the can, fluttering gently in the breeze. As Jonathan watched the sky turn from gray to blue he kept re-running the lovemaking earlier. Heidi was remarkably skilled in showing him how much she appreciated everything he did for her, and he enjoyed reciprocating. It wasn’t the first time they had played around with roles. One time he’d borrowed the office’s UPS driver’s spare uniform to make a ‘delivery’, and Heidi had met him at the door naked. The playful banter, between a wife deliberately cheating on her husband with the delivery guy, and the husband, playing a stranger, had been hot, wildly erotic, and had led to a wild twisting of limbs and unusual activities on the living room furniture. She later washed the uniform and Jonathan had bought the driver a round of drinks at the local bar. Heidi and he still laughed about it.

This morning’s play was different. They had never played around with a figure that was close to either of them. He’d never played a coworker for her, and neither had she. It was a line Jon had never thought of, yet now he realized they’d crossed it. An anonymous lover was one thing, imitating a real person was another. And the big difference was that whenever he saw Kara, or spoke to her on the phone, she was now associated with sex. Though he may have checked out her body once or twice, he’d never wondered what her breasts looked like. Now he couldn’t keep from imagining her naked body, or what she could do to please him. Jon almost missed the bus he was so wrapped up in the thoughts, and the ride into the city center was a missing chapter in his life, replaced by a mouth and body he’d never touched but was now intensely curious about. Jon cursed silently that the morning’s exertions hadn’t sated his needs, but instead inflamed them and given them a new target.

After a short walk from the bus station Jon arrived at work. He paused on the sidewalk, stared up at the old building. Light brown stone, carved into ornate leaves and arches, an edifice of a long lost age of wealth and ostentatiousness. The senior editor had proclaimed that the building had once been a courthouse, yet where bold letters carved into the front should proclaim it’s origin a large sign hung declaring its current occupant. “The Nightly World.” World famous, providing critically acclaimed reporting on the dark side of society. The motto “no secret is safe” was spelled out below the black, bold lettering of the name. Once a newspaper, now a website with offices throughout the country.

Inside the building, within the warren of offices flickering with monitors and smartphones, awaited a desk with a block of plastic on it. White lettering spelling out “Jonathan Elders, Ethics Division”. A coffee maker on the corner counter, sugar and powdered creamer standing ready to be drunk. A fireproof filing cabinet, with a heavy lock Jon changed twice a week. A fancy leather office chair behind the desk, a plastic folding chair in front. And a mirror to sit in front of instead of a window. A home away from home, yet in that moment it was his individual cell in a prison of suits, pencil skirts, and electronic reports. The security guards at the building entrance reinforced Jon’s impression.

Arriving at the door to his office Jon surveyed entrance to his domain. In a fit of sarcastic rebellion he’d had the janitor paint the door black with grey stripes, and he’d hand written a sign above the door. “The Dungeon.” The heavy padlock completed the image. After unlocking the door handle, for the padlock was ornamental only, Jon settled into his office to begin the day’s work. The coffee pot finished its work a short time later and the daily regimen of caffeine treatment began. In the silent morning Jon went through his emails, reviewing the reports his various reporters sent in. Several of his agents, as Jon called them, hadn’t shown their faces in the building in months, deep undercover and reluctant to even use phones. The newest hire, Kara Dance, was actually the only reporter assigned to Jon that was based out of headquarters. And once she finished her current assignment, she would be released into the wilds, and tempt him no longer.

As the clock crept towards noon Jon finally admitted to himself that he was tempted by Kara. That he’d been tempted for some time. The irony was that it was his wife and her teasing response to Kara’s early morning call that had awoken him to his adulterous thoughts. Now Jon was intent on assisting Kara from afar, keeping her away from him until she turned in her article. He now had another reason to need her to finish the assignment, urgent in its personal nature, just as the other need was urgent in its professional nature. And incoming nature. Jon noted the figure standing in front of his office door on the inconspicuous security camera he’d installed in the hallway. Jon steeled himself for the incipient conversation.

“Good afternoon, Jonathan.” Jon declined to correct the editor in chief of The Nightly World as he rose to greet the thin, gray haired man. It was neither good, nor, for another five minutes, after noon, but it would be very impolitical at the moment to even make a joke. “Thank you for meeting me.”

You didn’t give me a choice, Jon didn’t say out loud. Instead he smiled and shook Robert Asher’s hand. “My pleasure, sir.”

“How is the commissioner investigation going? How’d the interview go?”

“Unfortunately we haven’t gotten any audio yet, Sir,” Jon said, stuffing his reluctance and frustration into his shoes and waded forward. “Miss Dance is still in the process of getting to Big George.”

“That’s very unfortunate,” Mr. Asher said quietly. Very unfortunate, Jon agreed silently. When the guy three levels above a person goes into their office, gets bad news, and says “that’s very unfortunate” it’s a bad day. That Jon was reporting to Mr. Asher was bad enough, but now he was unhappy. The only saving grace was that he’d come down to Jon’s office instead of summoning him to the executive suite. Jon wouldn’t have bothered locking the door in that case.

“You gave me a deadline, it’s still two days away.” Feeling the blade above his head descending, Jon felt being bold was the best option left to him. In a whirlwind instant Jon wrapped Kara’s inability to get inside the club with his own dilemmas of his attraction to her and his imperiled job into a single, coherent plan. “Miss Dance will get the audio tonight. I will personally coach her on getting into the club.”

“That’s good, Mr. Elders, that’s very good.” Mr. Asher turned to go but paused and turned back slightly. “See that she gets the audio, and I’ll put in a good word for you down the road.”

Nodding silently Jon watched his boss’s boss’s boss’s boss leave his office. Settling back into the cushy comfort of his chair Jon looked at the small portrait of Heidi he kept on his desk. Two days. One way or another, he would no longer have to endure Kara’s delightful beauty. Mr. Asher made that clear. Jon would either be fired or be allowed to quit, depending on the outcome of tonight’s foray into the city nightlife. And further than that, Jon’s next job was in question. Fail, and Robert Asher would ensure he never worked in journalism again. Succeed, and another job would find him. Yet the critical piece to Jon’s dilemma was, until this morning’s bus ride, unthinkable. He stroked the glass covering his wife’s face. Green eyes and freckles surrounded by curly red hair. Delicate red lips, revealing white teeth as she smiled out at him from their past.

In the silence of his office Jon pondered the choice he’d made. He’d declared to Mr. Asher that he’d get the job done. Yet to do that job the only avenue he saw was crossing the line of professionalism with Kara. He’d never told her, waiting for her to figure it out herself, but her ticket into that club was sex. She’d never dressed provocatively around him, yet he was sure she could make herself desireable when necessary. But if that hadn’t worked yet, only one more step could be taken. But could he push Kara into doing what she apparently wasn’t willing to do, all for a story? All to save his own butt, his life from being ruined by her failure. In that instant before Mr. Asher Jon had decided to seduce Kara, take her himself, then push her into using her sexual abilities to get into the club. Yet now, looking into the green ink that simulated his wife’s loving eyes, Jon’s confidence disappeared.

A knock on the door interrupted Jon’s thoughts. He glanced at the screen as the door opened but didn’t have the time to prepare himself before Kara entered. The clock said it was just after 1pm, she was early. As she strode into his office Jon took a fresh look at his reporter. Her brunette hair was tucked back behind her ears, and her blue eyes were bright in her tanned face. Jon resisted the temptation to stare lower, yet he did notice with a quick travelling gaze that she was wearing a knee length flowing black skirt and a tight button up shirt. The white fabric did not hide her underwear, also white against her tan. The summer heat demanded such casual clothing, but it was unusual for a professional office. As Kara flopped down onto the chair in front of him Jon could see her exhaustion and defeat in her body language and her face. He was still on the fence with his newest dilemma, but he let himself be professionally unprofessional.

“Well, hello there, Kara, I wasn’t expecting you yet,” John said quietly. He raised an eyebrow and ran his eyes down her compact body and its thin covering. His eyes rested on her crossed knees, her skirt clinging to her thighs, before returning to her face. “I’m surprised they let you in here dressed like that.”

“Oh, Mr. Elders, they didn’t bother me at all.” Kara smiled, though the expression did not banish her overall air of defeat. “It’s so hot out there, they were very understanding.”

“They might have, but the senior staff of The Nightly World will not.” Jon sat forward, leaning his chin on his fingers. “As soon as we’re done here, get going. Besides, it’ll give you a chance to get some sleep before tonight. You’re going to need it.”

“You’re sending me back?” Kara sat up with disbelief spread across her face. Her legs came uncrossed and Jon had a momentary glimpse of bare skin running into shadow. Shaking her head Kara snarled. “I came up here to tell you I can’t do it. I just can’t do it, Mr. Elders. They won’t let me in.”

“They won’t let you in, or you won’t do what they want to get you in?” Jon regretted the question the moment he asked it. And the hurt, the disgust on Kara’s face was all the answer he needed. And it was the answer to his dilemma. He stood and started going through his desk, pulling out various personal items and piling them in the center of the dark wood.

“What are you doing, boss?” Kara asked with alarm. Jon glanced up but didn’t focus despite the ample cleavage her shirt showed in his direction. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, that’s what’s happening.” Jon let out some of the growing frustration and bitterness he felt. He slammed the center drawer shut and opened another. “Nothing is all that’s left to me now. If we don’t get that audio the story is finished. If we don’t get the story I’m finished. And you won’t do what it takes to get inside, thus, I have nothing left here.”

“That’s insane.” Kara looked horrified as she sat, watching Jon take a few more things out of the desk. Finally she stood and stepped up to the desk, grabbed his hands to stop him. She looked up at Jon, sadness mixing with her frustration. “I’ll get the audio, boss. I’ll do what it takes.”

“No.” Jon spoke quietly, nearly whispering. He didn’t look up, instead picked up the picture of Heidi. “No, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth the story, it’s not worth saving my job. Sit down, Kara.”

“Why isn’t it, boss?” Kara looked defiantly at Jon. He could see the fire in her eyes, the fire he’d seen when he’d hired her. A refusal to lose that had been ground into the depths of her psyche by the demands of her job, the story, and the security at the club. The fire that had been the seed of his desire for her. He owed her an explanation, for why he was quitting, why he was endangering her job as he threw away his.

“Let me tell you a story, Kara,” Jon said, sitting back down in his chair. He looked at the brunette from across his pile of flavored creamers, unmatched pens, and packets of gum. A squeeze ball had rolled to the edge of the desk, and from Jon’s view it sat right between Kara’s legs. Jon fingered the polished metal floral frame around his wife. “This morning, I was not awoken by your call. I was awoken by my wife, after she’d woken up to your call. Then, after we spoke, my wife took on the role of you, and made love to me.”

“Umm, Sir, that’s very personal.” Kara looked away, her shoulders shrugged up in embarrassment. Jon smiled, knowing he’d made the right decision. Kara would never had been a willing partner. He likely could have seduced her, but it would have been breaking a fine china teacup. She looked back at him and continued. “And it's very awkward knowing she was playing me.”

“We like to play games, Heidi and I,” Jon replied, flashing Kara a smile. “Yet ever since that I’ve been agonizing over a realization, that I am attracted to you. On the bus ride in, I wondered what your skin feels like. As I walked through the metal detectors downstairs, I imagined the taste of your lips. As I made my coffee this morning, hearing you moan in pleasure was all I could think of.”

“This is becoming very awkward, sir.” Kara got to her feet. Jon didn’t look up. He’d already memorized the curves of her waist, her round butt. It would be all he would take out of the office, other than the insignificant pieces of his professional life that sat on his desk. “I think I’ll be leaving now.”

“Please stay, Kara. Only a few moments more.” Jon looked up, smiled at her. She didn’t sit back down, instead turning around and leaning back against the door. Her legs were tight together and her face was coldly impersonal. As to be expected from her attitude towards the club security.

“And then, just before noon, Robert Asher came down to my office.” Kara’s facade warmed a bit, her surprise widening her eyes. Jon continued without emotion. “Mr. Asher conveyed how important this story is to my career. Not my career at this paper, for that is over. My career going forward. And in that moment I selfishly declared that I would ensure you get the story. I suspected what you just confirmed, that the security guards asked for sexual favors. You are a very pretty young lady, Kara, and I was confident you had already used sex appeal to get in. My intention was to seduce you to fulfill my own desires, to break you and show you exactly how to get into the club, get the interview, and finish the story.”

“That’s despicable, Mr. Elders.” Anger was growing on Kara’s face. Inwardly Jon rejoiced. He had no intention of guilt tripping her into fulfilling his needs, both physical and professional. His confession was his seal, his protection against his own weakness and the need to save his job.

“Yes, it is.” Jon smiled up at Kara before sweeping his pile into his briefcase. “That’s what I realized, sitting here, waiting for you to come in. Yet I still went back and forth, one moment choosing to be virtuous, loyal, and putting your self-worth and my marriage ahead of my job, and the next moment planning on how to get you out of your clothes. You came in on a moment of virtue, and I made the proper choice.”

“If I’d come in a moment later, would you have gone the other way?” Kara asked acidly, remarkably mirroring Heidi’s tone after the phonecall this morning ended.

“That we’ll never know.” Jon stood up, wrote two words on a piece of paper, and let it drift down onto the desk. “The decision has been made. The story has died a death it deserves, your virtue is intact from both your job and your story, and I have a job search ahead of me. Kara Dance, I would suggest heading up to HR to be reassigned to a new editor. If you would be so kind as to let me out that door behind you, I won’t trouble you again.”

“A white knight trying to wash clean the stains from his armor.” Kara looked up at Jon. “I’m not sure I buy it, boss.”

“I’m not your boss, Kara, not anymore. Just Jon will do.”

“No thank you, Sir, I’ll decline such familiarity.” Kara stepped aside and opened the door, standing stiff and unforgiving. Jon flashed her a crooked smile, then walked out the door into the uncertain future he’d chosen.