Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:48:27 -0400 From: numlfl Subject: The Spanking Club This story is the property of the author. You may keep a copy on your computer for personal enjoyment, however if you wish to publish or distribute the story then you must get the permission of the author. The Spanking Club By Chris Zoe entered the large dining room for lunch and saw that, as always, it was packed full. This was one of the largest office buildings in Atlanta and there was but one dining room so one could expect to be full every day. She got in line and went over what she had to do during the afternoon in her mind as she worked her way forward. The line moved fairly fast but then these were all executives and they didn't like to waste too much time eating, they all had money to make. Zoe was one of the few places in the building that wasn't out to make their owners or shareholders money. She worked for the FDIC so her job was to make sure that the money that the others were making was safe. She had to several banks that she had to get her auditors prepared to audit and that required a lot of prep work before they even started the audit. Before she knew it, it was her turn to choose what she wanted for lunch. She got her food, paid for it, and then went looking for a table to site at. She looked around and she saw several men in expensive suits trying to catch her eye but little did they know that had no chance of ever getting into her panties. She looked over the men hoping to find an empty table. She was about to give up when a table opened up near the back. She hurried toward it hoping to make it there before anyone else did. She had just picked up her juicy cheeseburger and put it to her mouth when she noticed a tall woman who appeared in her late thirties or early forties at her table. "That looks a lot better than my fruit salad." The lady said smiling down at her. "Mind if I join you?" Zoe nodded her head as she quickly tried to get the bite of the cheeseburger chewed and swallowed. "I normally eat a salad but I was late and missed the bus so I had to run twenty-two blocks only to find the elevator was down again. So that meant running up thirty two flights of stairs to get to work on time. So I figured that I earned this cheeseburger." Zoe said smiling. "Yes you did, I'm just glad that I'm on the fifteenth floor." The lady said before introducing herself, "I'm Alexandra, but I go by Alex, less of a mouthful." "Hi, I'm Zoe; I'm the manager for the FDIC office here in Georgia." Zoe told her as she shook her hand. "I am the V.P. of Finance for FeFo Medical Distributors. And please don't make fun of the name of the company, I just work there." Alex said with a laugh. "I won't as long as you don't blame me for all the financial trouble that the banks has gotten us into. I just follow the policies that congress makes for us." Zoe told her. "That's fair enough and now that we have got all the preliminaries out of the way, we can talk and have a nice lunch. Well you'll have a nice lunch; I'll have my fruit salad." Alex said laughing again. "Well tomorrow it will be back to salads for me too." Zoe told her with a laugh as she took another bite of her cheeseburger enjoying the flavor and all the bad calories. "So I haven't seen you here before, have you been here long?" Alex asked. "A few months, I was up in the Boston office but when Manager's position opened here, I put in for it. I got tired of all the traveling and this was a nice promotion." Zoe told her. "Are you from originally from Boston? Your accent sounds more southern?" Alex asked her. "No I was born and raised in good ole Austin, Texas but I have moved about every couple of years since I got into the FDIC so I have adapted a little of the accent of every place I have been." Zoe told her. "Well that explains your accent or rather lack of a real accent." Alex told her. "So you lived here all your life? You do sound southern to me." Zoe asked of her. "Yea, I was born in a small town just south of here but once through college, I wanted out of such a small town so I came to the big city and I don't plan on ever moving back, which displeases my mother greatly." Alex said with a laugh. "Yea, my mom wants me to move closer to home but I like it here and do plan on staying for a while. I'm tired of moving around. Beside it is just a couple of hour's flight to home, so mom is okay with that." Zoe told her. "Yea, we got to keep our moms happy, don't we?" Alex said laughing. "Oh god yes or we'll hear about it for years." Zoe replied laughing too. She was beginning to like Alex and her sweet laugh. She seemed like a nice woman and she was enjoying talking with her. "So how long have you lived in Atlanta?" Zoe asked and about that time a young women in her early twenties wearing a short tight skirt and a form fitting knit top that showed off her nice firm breasts walked past their table. Zoe's eyes followed her as she went past, she got a nice view of her ass enclosed in that tight skirt. "I wouldn't mind getting that young filly in my bed for the weekend, wouldn't you?" Alex asked. Zoe turned her head back around to see Alex smiling at her and she hesitated for a moment trying to determine if Alex was sincere or was just trying to get Zoe to admit to something that maybe she shouldn't so someone she had just met. Zoe looked into Alex's eyes and thought that she could trust this lady or at least she hoped so when she said, "Yes I would, though I like my lovers a little closer to my age." "Me too, however I might make an exception in her case." Alex told her with a smile. "Yea I think an exception would definitely be in order." Zoe told her and they both laughed. Zoe felt a little more at ease now that they both had told the other that they were lesbian. "And back to your question, I have lived here for about fifteen years, I moved here right from college." Alex told her. For the first time since she had been there, Zoe was enjoying her lunch and the cheeseburger was just a small part of the enjoyment. Zoe went a little longer on her lunch but it was worth it getting to talk to such a nice lady. However the lunch ended much too soon for Zoe as they both go up to go back to work. "Maybe we can meet for lunch again." Zoe suggested as they left the dining room. "Oh I'm sure that we will." Alex told her. Then she gave her a smile as she turned to the left as Zoe went to the right to go to the elevators which were now working. Zoe entered her office with a smile on her face thinking about Alex. She was a nice lady who was very knowledgeable and funny, someone that she might just like to get to know better. The following day, she tried to get to the lunch room at about the same time just so that she could sit with Alex again. However one of her auditors was having some issues with a bank that he was auditing in northern part of the state; so she was stuck on the phone for a couple of hours and thus missed lunch entirely. As much as she would have loved to tell him to call back in an hour, she knew that she couldn't. This was her job and she prided herself in backing up the auditors that she was now managing. That was how she had earned their trust when she got the position and it was how she planned on keeping their trust; unfortunately that meant that she missed her opportunity to meet with Alex again. The following day, she found herself driving up to northern Georgia to help her auditor. He found some problems with the bank's assets and she had to find out what was going on. Her first job was to protect the depositors of the bank and ensure that their money was safe. So she spent the day helping with the audit and while the bank was on shaky ground, it wasn't insolvent yet but she had to put them on the watch list which meant that there would be frequent audits of the bank until either they got it together or she had to close it down. So two days after their first meeting, Zoe was finally able to get back down to the dining room. She left the office early getting to the room a little before noon. She got a salad this time and as she turned from the cashier, she began to look for Alex. She hadn't seen her when she first entered the room but it was a large room so she could have easily missed her. She took her tray and started to go through the room looking first for Alex and then an empty table. She was about to give up on finding Alex when she saw the back of Alex's head with her black hair that had just a bit of curl in it. She hurried toward her table and was about five feet away when she saw a girl in her late twenties sit down with Alex. She had short bright red hair that was obviously colored that way. Zoe felt extremely disappointed as she so wanted to get to know Alex better and she wanted to do so alone and not with someone else there. She had just started to turn away when Alex turned in her seat. "Zoe, come and sit with us." Alex called out to her. "Sure," Zoe replied as she came on over and sat to the other side of Alex. "Zoe, this if my friend Faye, she's a graphic artist and works on the forty-first floor. Faye, this is my new friend Zoe that I have been telling you about." Alex said to them both. "Nice to meet you Faye," Zoe said as she held out her hand and she looked into Faye's dark blue eyes and her pale complexion. She found that Faye was quiet attractive despite her bright red hair. "It's nice to meet you Zoe, Alex has said so many nice things about you including that you were quiet attractive, I see now that she wasn't lying." Faye told her giving her a cheerful smile. Zoe blushed at the attractive comment and was compelled to reply with, "Well I don't know about the attractive part, but thank you." "Faye wasn't supposed to tell you that I said that and she will pay for that remark." Alex said as she pointed her finger at Faye who just laughed at her. "So are you two together?" Zoe asked feeling a bit disappointed that she had gotten her hopes up about Alex only to have them dashed. "Oh no, we're just good friends who have a lot of common interests." Faye told her and that earned her a frown from Alex that Faye paid no attention to. "And what interest would that be?" Zoe asked as she took a bite of her salad. "You know that Faye is a great artist, you will have to let her draw you sometime." Alex told her thus changing the subject rather quickly and that just made what Faye said about she and Alex having common interests a little more curious to Zoe. "Oh I would love to, I make my living doing drawing for businesses, but my love is to do sketches of people, especially lovely women like you." Faye said with a wink and thus confirmed to Zoe what she already knew that being that Faye was also lesbian. "I would love that, I've never had anyone do a sketch of me though I would have one request." Zoe said. "What's that dear?" Faye asked. "Make me as attractive as Alex made me out to be and not how I really am." Zoe said with a little laugh. "I can only draw what I see but you have no worries, it will be beautiful just like you are." Faye said giving her a little wink and Zoe knew that Faye was flirting with her and Alex didn't seem to mind. Whatever their relationship was, Alex didn't seem to mind Faye flirting with her. As the lunch went along, Zoe found that both Alex and Faye both seem to be flirting with her. It was a fun lunch and Zoe enjoyed the attention from both women. While she was at first jealous of Faye, she began to really like her and couldn't help but to do a little flirting herself with both of them. Again, Zoe went back to her office feeling good and she wasn't sure who she liked more, Alex or Faye. They were both nice women who she could see herself getting to like and maybe date. Faye was a bit wilder and be more fun however Alex was more knowledgeable and thus would make for a good companion thus they were both attractive in their own ways. The next day, Zoe found Faye sitting by herself and she joined her for lunch. She asked where Alex was and Faye just said that she was tied up that day and wouldn't be joining them for lunch. So Zoe had a nice lunch with Faye learning a little about her. She was born in Nevada and while she loved it there, there were no jobs to be had for a graphic artist so she eventually found her way to Atlanta. Once she had established herself, she joined several other independent graphic artist and they founded a little corporation. They each were independent but worked with each other as they each had their strong points and weak points. If one of them didn't get a job, they steered the customer to one of the others so that they kept the business within their little family. Zoe thought that this was a smart idea and while it wouldn't work for most people, it seemed to work for Faye and her little group. Since it was a Friday and it had been a couple of months since she had been home to see her mom, she caught a late flight to Austin spending the weekend with her parents. It was an enjoyable weekend, however she was glad to get back to work and back to Alex and Faye, her two new friends who both had the possibly of becoming more. Monday turned out to be a typical Monday in that nothing seemed to go right that morning. She had an early conference call that seemed to go on forever with nothing really being said. Then she had one of her auditors needing to meet with her. She was afraid that today wasn't going to be a day that she wouldn't be able to meet with either Faye or Alex, if either showed up at the lunch room. She was a little late getting to lunch however she did make it. As soon as she entered the large room, she was searching for Alex or Faye and her eyes found Alex rather quickly. She got her salad and headed over to Alex's table. "Hi there, mind if I sit here." Zoe asked before sitting. "But of course, I was hoping that you would make it today." Alex told her and that made Zoe smile. "Oh you know how Monday's are." Zoe said as she sat down. "Tell me about it. I hate Monday's; I've had two meetings already this morning and have three more this afternoon." Alex said giving her a smile. "God and I thought my two hour conference call this morning was bad. I feel for you." Zoe told her putting her napkin in her lap and picking up her fork. "Yea and I'm going to have to rush so that I can get ready for my next meeting." Alex told her "I hate that, I was hoping that we could have a nice relaxing lunch." Zoe told her showing her disappointment which seemed to please Alex. "I'm sorry but maybe I can make it up to you by taking you to dinner tonight. Maybe have a nice dinner and some wine?" Alex said. "I'd love that." Zoe replied with a smile. "Great, how about we meet at Georgieo's at seven?" Alex asked. "I'd love too, I have always wanted to eat there, I've heard that's it's so great but hard to get reservations to." Zoe told her. "It is but I got my contacts." Alex told her giving her a wink. "But I'm afraid that I'm going to have to finish my salad at my desk. I hate to run but work calls and I have to answer." "I understand, I'll see you at seven." Zoe told her. "Seven it is, see you then sweetie." Alex said getting up and giving her a smile before hurrying off. Zoe felt her heart pulse as she thought about eating at Georgieo's with Alex. She also realized that Alex was only there today to invite her to dinner and that made her so happy. It meant that Alex was truly interested in her. She was so excited that she could hardly eat the rest of her salad. Her mind was already on what she was going to wear that evening. She wanted something sexy yet something that she could wear to such a high classed restaurant. She had trouble keeping her mind on her work for the rest of the afternoon and for the first time in a while; she was out of the office on time. As soon as she got back to her apartment, she shed her work clothes and jumped into the shower. She washed then shaved her legs and arm pits before putting her razor to her pussy getting it nice and clean. She wasn't sure that she and Alex would end up at either of their apartments but she wasn't going to take a chance. She then went to her bedroom to pick out a dress to wear. At work, she mostly wore pantsuits but she loved to wear dresses, they just made her feel sexy. She went through her closet looking for her little black dress that she had decided to wear. She didn't wear it often but she loved that dress. It was tight fitting on the hips and bust and the length was mid thigh. She put on a light bra and panties that wouldn't create any lines in the dress. She didn't have a lot of time to spare so she quickly did her hair and put on some of her favorite perfume before heading out the door. She caught a cab to the restaurant getting there just a few minutes before seven. There was a marble stairway leading up to the entrance to the restaurant. As she entered, she saw a lot of leading politicians and business people waiting to be seated. When she got to the maŚtre d, she gave him Alex's name. He smiled though he didn't say anything. He just looked over at one of the waitresses that seated the customers and she led her through the restaurant. The main seating area was rather large and she noticed that there were several smaller seating areas along the sides and back of the main dining area. The waitress took her to one of the back rooms leading her at a small table that would sit up to six. The waitress took away the other four placements, and then she left without even taking her drink order. A couple of minutes later, she reentered with a bottle of white wine in an ice bucket. The waitress took the bottle out, opening it and pouring Zoe a glass. "Alexandra is going to be a little late, please enjoy the wine as you wait." She said and she was gone again. Zoe took a sip of the wine and found it to be wonderful but she was sure that it was way overpriced. She tried to be patient as she waited but with nothing to do but sit, she found that she was sipping the wine a little too heavily, and as soon as she finished her glass, the waitress appeared to refill her glass. Zoe was just finishing her second glass of wine when Alex finally appeared. "I'm sorry that I'm late but the CEO decided to drop in just as I was getting ready to leave and he was in a talkative mood. I couldn't just kick him out of my office as much as I wanted to." Alex said as she sat down. "Oh I understand; things like that happen to me too." Zoe told her giving her a smile. She was just thankful that Alex was there as any more of this wine then she would be out like a light. She loved wine but she wasn't that much of a drinker so it wouldn't take much to put her under the table. "I went ahead and ordered for us on my way back to our table, I hope that you don't mind." Alex said as the waitress poured her a glass of wine before leaving them alone. "No that's fine, what did you order us?" Zoe asked as she could at times be picky with what she liked to eat. "I'll surprise you, but rest assured that you will enjoy it." Alex told her. "So how did your day go?" Zoe went into what she had done that day and the problems that every Monday brought to her. Then Alex talked about her day and all that the CEO had to talk about when he arrived at just the wrong time. She talked until their food arrived. Zoe watched the waitress come in with their plates being anxious as to what Alex had order for them. She was quiet surprised to see that it was a steak and baked potatoes with a side salad. "They make the best steaks in the city. I hope you like steaks." Alex asked of her. "Hey remember I'm from Texas and my father raised cattle on the side on our little ranch so I was raised on steaks." Zoe told her. "I didn't know you were raised on a cattle ranch?" Alex asked as they began to eat. "We didn't really have a ranch per say, my father was a plumber but he had a few acres that we raised some cattle on. My father always wanted to be a big cattle rancher but my mom didn't want to be a cattle rancher's wife. So she let him have his few heads of cattle and they were both happy." Zoe said with a laugh. "She was a smart woman, give him something to fulfill his dream and she got to avoid having to live on a big ranch and having to do all those chores that comes with a ranch." Alex said. "Yea, but my mom did have one problem with the cows." Zoe told her giving her a little smile. "What the smell of the manure?" Alex guessed. "No she got attached to each and every cow that we had. As soon as a calf was born, she was out there helping the mother care for it, so when it was time to send it to the butcher; she would try to talk my father out of sending it and then cry all day when he hauled it off." Zoe said laughing a little as she remembered her mother crying over the cow. She left out that she too got attached to the cows too and cried along with her mother. However she went a step further as she refused to talk to her father for a couple of days thereafter. "For someone who didn't want to become a rancher's wife, seems like she loved the cows as much as your father did." Alex told her. "Oh she did, it was funny." Zoe told her and then she began to tell her some of the funnier stories of her days on their little ranch as she grew up. This took them through their steaks which were as good as what she had growing up. Then once the plates were cleared, the waitress brought another bottle of wine taking the empty one away. Alex then talked a little about her work and what all she had to do as they VP of Finance. It wasn't all about numbers as Zoe thought it would be. However, as the wine bottle went down and Zoe was feeling the effects, Alex changed the subject on her. "So you are seeing anyone at the moment?" Alex asked her. "No I haven't found anyone yet, since I haven't been here long and then trying to get the office organized so I haven't had time to look." Zoe said then she asked hopefully, "So what about you?" "I'm more or less free..." Alex said leaving Zoe unsure just what that meant as she always thought that either you were available or you weren't. Then before Zoe could follow up, Alex asked her a question that threw her off a little, "So what are you into sexually?" Alex asked. Zoe hesitated a moment trying to figure where Alex was coming from. She didn't look to be the type to be too kinky so Zoe answered with, "Oh I'm open to most anything as long as it doesn't get too weird." "I'm the same; I like things to be fun and interesting." Alex said smiling as she poured Zoe another glass of wine which she really didn't need but took anyway. "I done some bondage with one girlfriend I had in Boston. We even did a little light spanking for fun." Zoe lied a little as she had done neither with her friend, she just felt the need to say something and that seemed to be to her a little wild but not too much. She then saw Alex let out a smile as if that was what she wanted to hear. "That's cool, anything to make things fun and enjoyable. I'm all for that. I like to a little spanking myself." Alex told her. Zoe felt herself getting a little excited with this talk of sex but before she could ask Alex if she wanted to try some tonight, Alex asked, "So what happened to your friend in Boston?" "When I got the job offer here, she wanted me to turn it down and I wanted her to come with me." Zoe said. "So why didn't she? You're well worth following." Alex told her making Zoe blush at the compliment. "She had all her family there and she didn't want to leave and I so wanted this job. It kind of drove a wedge between us that neither of us could overcome. So we parted ways as friends and I packed up and moved here." Zoe said a bit sadly. "You'll find someone here soon, I'm sure. She might just be right around the block, you never know." Alex said smiling at her which gave Zoe some hope that Alex would be the one right around her block. Alex then went on quizzing Zoe about her past relationships and Zoe had just enough to drink to talk freely not that she had that much to hide. Alex knew she was a lesbian and she had admitted that she was also a lesbian so neither had much to hide. The only problem was that Alex would switch the conversation back to her when Zoe tried to ask her something about her own relationships. She did so politely but all the same, Zoe didn't get much information from her. They stayed at the restaurant until eleven or so when Alex put her into a cab and sent her home with only a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Zoe went to bed wondering just what the date was all about. It was fun and all that but she was hoping for the start of a relationship with Alex and that wasn't what she got. The wine put her to sleep long before she could come up with a logical answer. The next morning she woke up with a slight handover from the wine. She took a long hot shower and a couple of aspirin with her light breakfast to try clear her head. She didn't find Alex at the lunch room the next day at lunch but Faye was there and this week her hair was a dark bluish color. It was a color that Zoe would never try however with Faye's personality, it seemed to work. "So how you doing this morning?" Faye asked her as she sat down at Faye's table. "A bit hung over, I had a wee too much wine last night." Zoe told her leaving out who she was with when she drank that wine. "Yea you got to watch Alex and her wine, she can drink wine with the best of them and have no after effect." Faye said giving her a big smile. "You know about Alex and me going to dinner last night?" Zoe asked of her. She was surprised but not surprised that Faye knew already. "Yea she told me that she was going take you to dinner. So did you have fun?" Faye asked of her. "Sure it was very enjoyable, she very intelligent and fun to talk to." Zoe told her not giving her much information. "That's good, I'm glad that you had a good time." Faye told her. "So did she tell you about it this morning?" Zoe asked out of curiosity. "No I haven't talked to her today. I think she had to go out of town and will be gone for a few days." Faye told her. "She didn't mention that last night." Zoe said. "I think it was a sudden thing that came up this morning." Faye told her. Zoe didn't quite believe her but she went along. "So how you been doing?" Zoe asked her getting the conversation off of Alex as she needed to think about that for a bit. They talked about Faye's latest project that she was working on which was interesting and kept the conversation going for the rest of their lunch. The next day, Zoe was feeling much better when she met Faye for lunch. Faye had put some highlights in her hair and Zoe commented on that as she sat down. She just had to ask Faye about her changing hair colors and wondered if it damaged her hair. Faye then let her in on a secret; she used a new brand of coloring that while it didn't last for long, it also didn't do much damage to her hair. This fit her perfectly as she loved to try new things. She liked to make things interesting. Faye was in the lunch room waiting for her all week, even on Thursday when Zoe was a half hour late getting there. Then on Friday, Faye asked her over to her place for dinner on Saturday. Zoe thought for a second and seeing how Alex didn't seem as promising as she did before, she gladly accepted. "Welcome to my humble abode." Faye said as she opened her apartment door. "Thank you for the invite. I brought a bottle of wine for dinner." Zoe said as she came in. "Well thank you, let me put it into the fridge to chill as I finish dinner. I'm vegan so I hope that you don't mind that there'll be no meat with dinner." Faye said as she was taking the wine into the kitchen. "No that's fine, I like about anything." Zoe said, "So what are we having? It does smell good." "It's a pasta dish that I came up with. I'm a full Italian so I got pasta in my blood." Faye said with a laugh. "That works, I love pasta too." Zoe said as she came into the kitchen were Faye was. "You have a nice apartment, so homely. It makes me feel right at home." "Well thank you. It isn't a great place but I tried to put my mark on it." Faye told her. "So does that mean you paint it every week?" Zoe asked smiling at Faye. Faye laughed, "No it's a lot easier to change the color of my hair than repaint the apartment. I only repaint once or twice a year and I use tamer colors. That way it has a calming effect on my psyche when I come home at night." Faye told her. Zoe started to help Faye cook their dinner as they talked. By the time that the dinner was finished cooking, the wine had chilled enough for them to drink. It was only then that Zoe realized that there was no kitchen table in the apartment. Faye got them a plate of pasta as Zoe poured them a glass of wine. Zoe then followed Faye to the living room where she sat down cross legged in the middle of the floor with her plate on legs. Zoe joined her on the floor sitting in front of her and they began to eat their dinner. During dinner, Faye told her about her being into yoga and how it helped her to relax and thus recharge her creative juices. So after they had digested their dinner, Faye took her to where the kitchen table would normally be and she rolled out a rubber mat. Zoe was glad that she had worn loose clothes as Faye took her through some of the simpler and easier moves. Zoe had always thought about trying yoga but never got around to it. She wasn't so sure that it would really work on her but it did. She felt her muscles relaxing and she told Faye that she would have to try this more often. Faye seemed happy to have a new recruit and she promised to have her over more often to teach her more about yoga. After they finished their yoga exercises, Faye got them both another glass of wine and they sat on the yoga mat talking. It was just general talk until they got to their third glass of wine of the night when Faye began to get a little more personal. "So have you had much of a chance to meet women here?" Faye asked. Zoe had a feeling that Faye already knew the answer to this question from Alex but she answered it anyway. "No not yet but have met a couple of women recently of interest." She told her. "Cool, maybe it will work out with one or both of them." Faye said with a little grin. "Have you ever had a threesome?" Faye asked. "With a woman and a man?" Zoe asked cringing her face up. "No silly, with two other women." Faye said laughing a little. "No not yet but I'm not opposed to it. But I tend to be a one woman, woman." Zoe told her. "Well a threesome or more can be fun as long as everyone is into it." Faye told her. "So have you?" Zoe asked her. "A few times, it can be a lot of fun, you should try it sometime." Faye told her. "Maybe I will..." Zoe told her. "I even had a foursome a few times and we got into a little bondage and spanking. Talk about fun, I don't think I have cum so many times in my life." Faye told her with a shy grin on her face. Zoe could tell that Faye was looking for a reaction from her either good or bad. "I'm all for having lots of orgasms, a girl can never have too many." Zoe told her smiling thus telling Faye what she figured that she wanted to hear. "Very, very true," Faye replied then she changed the subject to more mundane things just as Zoe was feeling a bit aroused by their conversation. They talked for another hour or so before Faye sent her home with another kiss on the cheek. When Zoe got home and was lying in bed, she began to wonder if she was being tested for something by Faye and Alex. She lay there for a while just thinking but she couldn't come up with an answer. She did feel like she could trust Faye and Alex as she had checked them out when she had met them and they were who they said they were. When Monday came around, she entered the lunch room finding Alex already there. Zoe got her lunch and made her way to where Alex was sitting. However before she could get there, a woman with red hair cut short sat down with Alex. They seemed to be friends and Zoe stood there for a moment wondering what to do when Alex turned around seeing her. She motioned her over so Zoe went on to the table. "Zoe, this is my old friend Rose, Rose this is Zoe." Alex said. "Hey watch that old stuff, I'm younger than you sweetie." Rose said to Alex then she said to Zoe, "It's nice to meet you dear." "I stand corrected, Zoe this is my young friend Rose whom I've known for a few years." Alex said. "Much better," Rose said as she laughed and she had a nice laugh that made you want to laugh with her and Zoe did. "It's nice to meet you young Rose." Zoe told her making Rose laugh again. "See now this is a smart YOUNG woman Alex; you could learn a few things from her." Rose said sticking it to Alex who was smiling as she was enjoying the banter. "So what do you do Rose?" Zoe asked her. "I'm the Chief Creative Officer at Blanch and Green ad agency. I've been there a few short years and am the youngest Chief Creative Officer that they have ever had." Rose told her as she glanced at Alex who was laughing at her. "That's great; I am the youngest manager at the FCID office here in Atlanta." Zoe told her making Rose laugh and Alex frown. "What is this pick on Alex day. I didn't see the memo if it is." Alex said with a sad smile. "Ahhh... poor baby." Rose said as she leaned over and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek. "Feel better now?" "Yea a little bit." Alex said as she looked over at Zoe who smiled as she leaned over giving Alex a kiss on the other cheek. "Now I'm all better." Alex said with a laugh. "Good now we can get on with lunch, I'm starving." Rose said with a laugh. And so the lunch went on and Zoe found that she liked Rose as she was entertaining to listen to and she seemed to be able to know when to listen and when to talk. Zoe paid attention to when Rose and Alex talked and she found that they seemed to be very familiar with each other and were good friends. Zoe suspected that Rose was also was a friend with Faye and that turned out to be true when the following day, Faye was there with Alex and Rose. They all included her into the conversation like she was an old friend with them all. And so the rest of the week, Rose was in the lunch room with either Faye or Alex and Zoe got to know her as well as she did the other two. The following Monday when Zoe got to the lunch room, none of her three new friends were there and she was disappointed. She had come to enjoy their company and looked forward to it each day. Zoe found an empty table and was about to put a forkful of her chicken salad sandwich into her mouth when she heard a familiar voice. "Would you like some company?" the voice said and she looked up to see Rose standing there. "I would love it and you don't have to ask, just sit." Zoe told her. "Thank you and you are welcome to do the same." Rose told her as she sat down with her pasta salad. "So where are your friends?" Zoe asked though she pretty much knew the answer to her question. "I don't know, but it gives us a chance to get to know each other." Rose told her. "Yes it does." Zoe said having her feelings confirmed. This week would be the week for her and Rose to get to know each other. Alex and her group had now grown to three and she wondered how many more she would have to meet before they let her in on their secret. She had obviously passed Alex's and Faye's test so now it was Rose's turn to get a look at her. "So did you have a good weekend?" Rose asked her as she took a bite of her pasta salad. "Yes I did. I went over to Faye's apartment and had dinner." Zoe told her. "She didn't feed you any of her tofu loaf did she?" Rose asked with her laugh. Zoe laughed, "No we made pasta salad with her special sauce, and it was very good." Zoe told her. "Oh yes, that is good. I think she could be a vegan chief if she wanted to, but then she is a great artist." Rose told her. "She also showed me some of her yoga exercises. I have always wanted to try it but I really didn't believe that it would do much for me but it did. I'm going to have to have her show me some more." Zoe told her. "She would love to and maybe you will eventually be as flexible as she is. She can put her body in positions that makes me gasp." Rose said with a knowing smile. "I bet. So has she shown you any yoga?" Zoe asked of her. "Some but I'm not as flexible as she is. But she did teach me how to meditate and that does work for me. I find myself using it more than I would like." Rose told her. "So what things are you interested in?" Rose asked and the polite questioning began. They talked all through lunch and then the next day too as none of the others showed up. Wednesday and Thursday Alex and Faye did grace them with their presences but Friday it was only Rose. Zoe had to wait until they were leaving the lunchroom for Rose to ask her to accompany her to an art showing for one of the artists that had once worked at her firm. Zoe was tempted to say that she was busy just to see what would happen but she was too caught up with all these games that the women was playing with her. So she gladly accepted. She met Rose at the gallery and they went in. Rose first took her over to meet the artist who Zoe was figuring to be young but instead was closer to middle age male. He was very nice and he seemed to think a lot of Rose who had obviously encouraged him to go out on his own and make a go at it. After meeting him, Rose began to take her on a tour of the paintings and water colors. They were all very beautiful, with the artist showing off his skills going from landscapes to portraits to nudes. He seemed to be at home doing any of these and he didn't go for these weird things that you didn't know what the fuck you were looking at. "So did you enjoy the art works?" Rose asked her as they left the gallery. "Yes I did, I would love to have a couple of them but they were all out of my price range." Zoe told her. "I know, I got lucky in that I got a couple from him long before he had made a name for himself." Rose said with a laugh. "That was smart, that could prove to be a smart investment one day." Zoe told her. "It's a nice night, how about a walk?" Rose asked her. "Sure I would love to, it is a beautiful night, warm and a beautiful moon to guide our way." Zoe told her. "I see I got a romantic at heart, I love that." Rose told her as she took Zoe by the arm and began to walk away from the galley. Zoe blushed at the comment so she was glad that it was dark outside and Rose couldn't see her blush. Rose then took over the conversation as she talked about herself. Her father had been in the military and so she had lived in six different countries by the time that she had gotten to high school. Her mother had wanted Rose to know about each country that they lived in and that meant learning their language. She could speak five different languages, six if you included the British accent she could do to perfection. Zoe kept waiting for Rose to get to her sex life but that part was never mentioned. They just talked as they walked getting to know each other better. By the time that they had parted, Zoe felt like Rose could be just as good a friend as Rose's two friends were. The next week, Zoe was scheduled to be in Washington to get trained on the new regulations and policies that they would have to start enforcing. Zoe had given Alex, Faye and Rose her cell phone number though none had called her until Monday night when Alex called her and they talked for a couple of hours. Then Faye called her on Wednesday night and Rose Thursday. So Zoe knew that they were keeping track of her and wanted to stay in contact. Zoe enjoyed the attention from the three women but none had even suggested anything more than being friends. Monday she had lunch brought in as she was busy training her auditors on the things that she had learned the previous week. She hated missing the girls but she had told Alex that she would be doing this so they would not be expecting her at the dining room. However Tuesday she made it down to lunch a little early. She got a table near the back and sat so that she was facing the entrance, that way she could see who would be joining her that day. Alex was the first to enter the lunch room and after getting her food, she came right back to where Zoe was sitting. Zoe began to tell her about her trip to Washington when Faye and Rose came in together. When they sat down, Zoe started telling them all about her adventures, first about getting lost in Washington as she came in from the airport. She had just finishing telling her story when a rather tall brown hair woman who appeared to be in her early forties, slightly older than the rest of the women at the table who ranged from their mid thirties to late thirties. The woman was very attractive with her shapely hips and full breasts and she looked to be a woman who kept herself in great shape. "Oh Wilma, have a seat. Zoe was just telling us about her trip to Washington. She has just as great a sense of direction as you do." Alex said and the rest of the women laughed. "You make one wrong turn with these women in your car and they never let you live it down." Wilma said with a laugh as she sat down. Zoe now knew that the group of three was actually a group of four and she wondered if there were anymore. "It's easy to get lost in a strange city." Zoe said trying to come to the woman's defense. That set off Alex, Faye, and Rose into a fit of laughter that even had Wilma laughing. Alex was the first to get her laughter under control and she said, "It was here in Atlanta where Wilma grew up and we could see the interstate from where we were parked and still it took her three hours to get us back to it." "Hey seeing the interstate and finding the damn entrance ramp to it is two wholly different things." Wilma said defending herself. That just set Alex, Faye and Rose off again so as they laughed, Wilma said to Zoe, "It's nice to meet you, my name is Wilma. I've heard a lot about you and it's great to finally meet you." "It's nice to meet you too." Zoe said then she said a little louder, "Maybe we should get a table to ourselves until these women can get their laughing under control. That way we can talk without hearing the cackling of these old hens." "Good idea," Wilma said as she got up picking up her tray and Zoe did the same. "Hey you two, sit down, we'll try to behave for the rest of the meal." Faye said as she got her laughing under control. "Well I guess we can give you silly women one more chance." Wilma said giving Zoe a wink before sitting back down. "So what did they have to say about me?" Zoe asked Wilma putting the other three on the spot. "Oh nothing bad, they just said that you were a very nice woman, who was sharp as a tack, although I have to wonder about your judgment since you picked these women to be your friends." Wilma told her making Zoe smile at Wilma's wit. "You know that we are your friends too so what does that make you?" Rose asked of Wilma. "I never claimed to be smart." Wilma told Rose making Zoe smile at their banter. "Actually she is very smart; she has her own consulting firm dealing with personnel issues. She has companies from all over the globe consulting with her and her firm." Alex said as Wilma blushed a little from the compliment. Zoe talked for the rest of the meal about her trip as the rest listened. She noticed that everyone seemed to be looking at Wilma a lot as if they were trying to see what Wilma thought of her. Zoe began to suspect that Wilma was the last piece of the puzzle for this group of professional women. On Wednesday, Zoe wasn't too surprised to find that it was only her and Wilma sitting together for lunch. It seemed that the others had something pressing to do. Wilma talked about herself but she also prodded Zoe a little to talk about herself as the others had done. She used her own style but the result was the same, she wanted to get to know about Zoe and she wanted Zoe to learn about her. Like the other three, Zoe found herself liking this woman as she did the others. They each had their own style and their own good and bad points. All the same, she found that she liked Wilma and she enjoyed talking to her as they did for the rest of the week. By Friday, Zoe had decided that it was time to go on the offense and find out what was going on and just what these women were doing. She waited until the end of their lunch and she could see that Wilma was about to ask her to go somewhere with her when she went into action. "How would you like to come over for dinner on Saturday? I have yet to have a friend over to my place and I think now is the time." Zoe asked and she saw that she took Wilma by surprise but Wilma was quick to recover. "I was about to ask you the same, or rather to go out to dinner with me. But coming to your place works for me. So what time?" Wilma responded. "How about seven, I should have dinner prepared and ready to eat by then." Zoe said. "Sure, so where do I go?" Wilma asked. "I guessed that would be good to know." Zoe said with a laugh. She then gave Wilma the directions to her place before they went their separate ways. Since she was only making a slight change in Wilma's plans, she hoped that Wilma wouldn't tell the others about this. Zoe went on back to work and in her quiet times, she finished out the details to her plan. Saturday she got up early and went over her apartment with a fine tooth comb, making sure that there was nothing out of place and that everything was spotless. At two, she took a break and began to put her plan into motion. She first called Alex and invited her to dinner at six. She just told her that she got up and felt like having company and Alex was the first one she thought to ask. Alex gladly accepted which told Zoe that Wilma's plans had been for Friday as she had hoped. She talked for a few minutes before hanging up and calling Faye and asking her to come to dinner at six fifteen. Next on the list was Rose of course. This she had to do a little talking as Rose did have plans but Zoe was able to talk her into canceling them as she really wanted to have her over for a visit. She was feeling a little lonely and wanted to have a good friend over for dinner. Rose finally relented and agreed to come over. Now that everything was in place all she could hope for was that these ladies were professionals and would show up at their scheduled times and that they wouldn't talk to each other before getting to her place that evening. Zoe put on a pot roast and let it slow cook as she finished cleaning the apartment and then got ready for her dinner guests. She set the table for two before taking a shower and getting ready. She put on a little dress that went to mid-thigh and had a bit of a plunging neckline. She wanted to look great for these ladies and make them think that she had dressed up just for them when she answered the door. At a minute to six, her door bell rang and Zoe took a deep breath before going to answer it. "Hi there, I'm glad you could come over on short notice." Zoe said as she opened the door. "Well I'm glad that you thought to invite me. I brought us a bottle of wine; I hope it goes with whatever you're cooking." Alex said as she entered the apartment and giving Zoe a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you and tonight I'm not going to let you drink me under the table with your wine." Zoe said with a laugh. "Who me?" Alex said innocently as she laughed. "Yes you now come on into the kitchen and you can help me with our dinner." Zoe told her as she took the wine that was already chilled from Alex. "What? Invite me to dinner then make me help you cook it. What kind of hostess is that?" Alex asked. "A smart one," Zoe said with a laugh. "Got me on that one," Alex said laughing as they went into the kitchen. They got to talking as they sat in the kitchen sipping Alex's wine when the doorbell rang at about twenty after six. "I wonder who that could be." Zoe asked as she left Alex in the kitchen to get the door. "Hi there, I'm pleased that you could come." Zoe said as she opened the door to Faye who was sporting a blond look. "I please that you thought to invite me." Faye said as she handed Zoe a bottle of wine. "Well I have wanted to invite you over but haven't had time to get my place ready for visitors until now." Zoe said letting Faye in. She was taking the wine from her hands when Alex came in from the kitchen. "I didn't know you were coming." Alex said with a surprised look on her face at seeing Faye standing there. "Nor I you." Faye replied and they both looked at Zoe. Zoe just smiled and said, "Alex put another place at the table, looks like there will be three of us eating tonight." Then she said to Faye, "Come on and let me get you a glass of wine that Alex brought. It is fabulous." She then pulled Faye into the kitchen. Zoe dominated the conversation keeping both Alex and Faye from asking the obvious question. "Why they were both here?" At about twenty to seven the doorbell rang again and Zoe said, "I wonder who that can be?" as she left the kitchen to get the door. She heard Alex say to Faye, I'll bet you twenty that it's Rose." Upon which Faye replied, "No way am I taking that bet." Zoe just smiled as she opened the door to Rose who was holding another bottle of wine and some flowers. "I brought you some wine to mellow you up and some flowers to cheer you up." Rose said as she came in giving Zoe a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, that was sweet." Zoe said returning the kiss and taking the bottle of wine as Alex and Faye came in from the kitchen. Rose's jaw dropped upon seeing her two friends and she said to Zoe, "I thought that you were lonely and needed some company." "I was and now I got some." Zoe said as she pulled Rose into the kitchen and getting her a glass of wine. Alex went ahead and set out another place setting for Rose. Zoe went to talking away as her three new friends stood there trying to figure out what she was up to. Then a couple of minutes later the doorbell rang again. Before Zoe could even say, "I wonder who that is?" Alex said. "I bet you a million that it's Wilma unto which Faye replied, "I didn't take your bet when it was at twenty and I'm definitely not taking it at a million. I know its Wilma." Zoe was smiling from ear to ear as her plan was working out perfectly. She opened the door to see Wilma standing there with yet another bottle of wine. Zoe just knew that she would have the hangover to end hangovers in the morning. "Hi there, I'm glad that you could make it." Zoe said pulling Wilma into the apartment and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You know I saw a little Spitfire that looked exactly like..." Wilma was saying when Alex, Faye, and Rose came in from the kitchen. "Like mine?" Alex asked. "Yea, like yours." Wilma said as a smile came to her face and then she looked at Zoe who saw that Wilma was impressed. "It looks like the gang's all here; I guess we can eat now." Zoe said as she went off into the kitchen to put the wine up and start getting the food off the stove to put onto the table. She heard the four women talking in the living room. She knew that they were all questioning the other about what she was up to but she could tell that they didn't have a clue. "A little help would be nice." Zoe called out breaking up their little gathering. It took a moment but soon they were all in the kitchen helping out and getting in each other's way which caused them to fuss at one another, which was fine as they weren't asking her what she was up to inviting them over as she had. Once the food was on the table and more wine had been poured, Zoe got them to start eating and got the conversation started. Soon it was as if they were when they all met for lunch, with one or more conversations going on at once and usually it was more than one. Zoe watched her consumption of wine as she wanted to be on her toes for later though she made sure that the rest of them had plenty of wine to drink. They ended up sitting at the table for a couple of hours talking and sipping their wine before Zoe suggested that they go to the living room to talk where it was more comfortable. Zoe made them all go as she alone as she put the food away. Now she did want them to talk among themselves before she came in. When she did come into the living room, Alex and Faye were sitting on opposite ends of the couch with Rose in the middle. Wilma had chosen the other chair which was to the right of the couch. Zoe brought in a kitchen chair sitting it to the left of the couch but more in front of it than to the side. She wanted to make sure that she had their attention and her placement was meant to show that was what she wanted. They were all quiet for a moment until Alex finally spoke up, "You have obviously brought us all together for a reason, and so what is it?" Zoe thought first to be cute and just say that it was just for dinner but decided the game was over and she needed to get to the point. "Actually I was wondering just what you all were up to." Zoe said and before anyone could respond, she went on. "I didn't think anything about after meeting Alex that she was asking me some personal questions about my sex life and what I was into. I just figured that she was interested in me as I was her. However I began to wonder when she introduced me to Faye and then she disappeared for a few days while Faye and I got to know each other. I really became curious when Faye seemed to be following up on Alex's inquiries about my sex life. A pattern began to emerge and that was confirmed when Rose appeared and Faye and Alex disappeared. Rose didn't get into my sexual life but by then I figure that she knew whatever she needed to know from Alex and Faye. She just wanted to get to know me and see if she liked me and I liked her which we both did. I figured that maybe they were a threesome looking for a forth but then Wilma appeared, and the pattern repeated itself. So I knew something was going on and you were all part of a group of some type. I didn't see any of you being in some kind of a cult, you're all too smart for that. However, you are a part of something and you are considering me to be in your group. So before Wilma, who appeared to be the leader of this group, could ask me to dinner or a gallery opening, or to a home cooked meal, I would just go ahead and ask you all here and find out what you're up to and what this is all about. I do like you all as friends but I need to know just what you're into before we go any father and I have to be judged by any more of the group if there is any more which I doubt there is." Zoe then sat back and waited as they looked at each other. She could see them trying to decide what to tell her or if to tell her. She had obviously pushed them before they were ready but she had played along long enough and she needed to know if these were friends that she really needed to have. After a moment, Wilma spoke up, "First off, I'm not the leader, I just happened to be the last one to be introduced to you." "No one is the leader that is." Alex added. Then no one spoke for a moment and Zoe was about to tell them to either shit or get off the pot but she didn't have to. "Ah hell, we need to just tell her before she kicks us all out and we lose her as a friend. And I like her and I want her to be a friend even if she chooses not to join us on our special weekend." Faye said then she scooted forward in her seat. End of part one. To be continued... Please let me know what you think of my story. I welcome all comments good or bad. You can email me at numlfl@hotmail.com