----- Chapter 5 -----

      We talked a bit more before heading back. Elaine was wonderful company, and my selfless actions at work had greatly endeared her to me. She chided me for being foolish, but I could tell she secretly admired me for sticking up for her. Me, I was just wondering where this sudden burst of confidence had come from. Apparently, I could stick up for someone else, but when it came to myself I turned into a puddle. It was a bit perplexing.

      As we pulled into the library parking lot, the conversation turned back to Elaine. I asked her about her past, and she elaborated a bit. She had been married to a selfish piggish man who had left her after several failed pregnancies. Elaine had wanted badly to be a mother, but found it difficult to trust men again. Before long she was in her 40s, and she had lost confidence in herself. She wasn’t sure she’d even be able to reenter the dating game.

      “I’m not so sure about that. I think you could definitely do well for yourself. You’re a nice lady.” I stated truthfully.

      “Thanks dear, but I’m afraid I’m probably too old to have kids now. Besides, most men don’t like women who are taller than they are.”

      I was beginning to see the value of tall women myself. They were hot!

      “That’s not true. Lots of guys like tall ladies.”

      Elaine turned to me, reminiscing. “If I could only go back and do it again. I was only six foot when I first got hired. Now I’m a freak.”

      “How old were you when you got hired?” I was a bit intrigued.

      “28. That was several years ago.”

      “But you said you were six foot. You’re a lot taller than that now. Women don’t normally grow much past 18-20 years old.”

      “Yeah that’s what I thought too. I went in and the doctor just said it was a late growth spurt.”

       I was still interested, but I decided to leave it at that. Besides, we had been sitting in her car for several minutes. I needed to get home eventually.

      “Hmm. That’s weird. Well, Elaine, it’s been really great, but I’d better be getting home.”

      I opened the car door and stepped out, and she followed. We both walked to my car. As we got there Elaine put her huge hand on my shoulder.

      “Hank.” She said, her eyes filled with concern.

      I turned.

      “Don’t provoke Shari again. I really appreciate you doing that for me, but you need this job.”

      I laughed. “Ok Mom,” I joked.

      Elaine beamed and grasped me in a tight embrace, delighted. “Gosh, you’re so adorable!” she said as she nearly buried me in her voluptuous bosom. I felt my feet beginning to leave the ground as the woman swayed side to side. I was about to protest, but then thought better of it. Instead, I simply enjoyed feeling her warm loving breast flesh against my chest and closed my eyes. Her chest was so expansive that I felt like I could swim in it. As she held me to her breast I began to picture what she would look like without clothing, and my penis responded accordingly. Lost in her womanly cleavage, I felt all my cares and troubles melt away.

      I suddenly realized that she had been holding me off the ground for a while. I opened my eyes just as one of her hands slid across my lower back. Her long nails dragged across my sensitive skin lightly, sending tingles down my spine provoking my erection even more. To my horror, she pulled me in even closer and my now solid erection brushed against her massive leg. There was no way she couldn’t feel it. I winced, expecting her impending reaction.
 She held me there for a bit longer and then set me down on the ground. Embarrassed, I shifted into an awkward position, trying desperately to hide the monstrous bulge in my pants.

      “Well, thank you dear. I’ll let you get on home.” She winked and turned to leave. I watched her as she left, her hips swaying with each stride. I was suddenly filled with a lustful desire that I knew wouldn’t be satisfied that night.

      …….

      That night my head was swimming with the events of the day. Lying on my bed, I struggled to fall asleep. Yet thoughts of Jodi, Elaine, and Shari kept me from rest. I began wondering what it was about them that made me so attracted to them, because I had been. I couldn’t deny it any longer, those women were hot. As much as I tried to be professional, and would remain professional, their bodies secretly drove me insane. And they certainly didn’t do things that made me easily forget about them.

      I knew what it was about them that I liked so much, and I was having trouble admitting it. There was one feature that all those women had in common- they were freakishly tall. A few internet searches earlier that night had confirmed my fears. I was someone that had a thing for tall ladies. And now, with my new job, I was the luckiest man alive.

      But, I still didn’t want to confess to the world my secret. There was no way I was comfortable with that. People would think I was weird, or perverted, or worse. I thought about potentially dating someone like Jodi. What would she think if she found out, being rather tall herself? She would think I was only dating her because she was tall, which wouldn’t be the case. Alternatively, if I was dating a short woman who knew, she would think I didn’t like her because she wasn’t tall enough, which also wouldn’t be true! It was an interesting conundrum, and I decided the best course of action would be to not ever say anything.

      ……

      The next several months at work went smoothly. Eventually, I learned how to do my job well, which pleased Shari and kept her off my back. My relationship with Elaine grew, and before long we were very good friends. However, my relationship with Jodi was the most dramatic. We instantly hit it off as friends, and maybe even more than that. Before long Jodi was confiding in me some very personal things. She was smart, funny, and I greatly enjoyed being around her. I tried my best to hide my attraction to her, and it worked for several months. However, eventually Elaine saw through me, and confronted me about it. I admitted to liking Jodi that day after work. The next week I noticed that Jodi seemed much more open and even flirtatious. I knew Elaine must have had something to do with that. However, now Jodi and I were walking a fine line. We couldn’t do much more without disrespecting our jobs or her engagement. I made a regular point of cutting things off before they got too far. As great as it would be to date her, I had a job I needed to think about. And she had her fiancé. Any romantic encounter between us was doomed, and for that very reason pursuing one became even more alluring.

      However, my relationship with Shari was changing as well. As Jodi and I began to get friendlier, Shari began to get more assertive. Undoubtedly, Shari had noticed our budding attraction, and wanted to put an end to it. I began to receive tasks that kept me away from the front desk for long periods of time.

      One day Shari caught me talking with Jodi during some down time. She was not pleased, and she sent me on a job to go to the mailroom upstairs and fetch the mail.

      As I got the second floor, I realized that I hadn’t been in the mailroom since I’d been hired, and that was several months ago. In fact, the entire upper administration was alien to me. When one looked at the St. Acre library from outside, there was clearly room for many offices on the second floor. Yet I never saw the people who worked in administration. As I grabbed what I needed from the mailroom, curiosity got the better of me. I needed to explore the off limits administration area.

      I snuck down the hallway to the large steel door that would take me to the administration offices. As I tried the handle I realized it was locked. Stupidly, I had forgotten that a key card was needed to enter the door, and somehow I had missed the black blinking card slider that would have tipped me off to that little fact. Suddenly, I heard heels clacking down the hallway. Shari was coming!

      I knew I wasn’t allowed to go near administration; Shari had made that pretty clear during my orientation. In addition, it was situated in a dead end hallway, leaving me nowhere to hide. Thinking quickly, I bounded as far away from the steel door as I could before dropping to one knee. I grabbed the laces of my shoe just as Shari rounded the corner and spotted me.

      I stood as she eyed me suspiciously. I really hoped this would work, but I was beginning to have doubts.

      “Hey Shari, just tying my shoe. Here’s those letters you needed.” I quickly handed her the letters she’d asked me to grab from the mailroom before briskly jaunting off. I was attempting to make it look like I was super busy.

      “What were you doing back here? The mailroom’s over there.”

      “Had to tie my shoe.” I spurted as I rushed past her. “Now I got to go shelve holds. Too busy to talk!”

      My diversion did little to save my reputation, but the confusion it caused did allow me to make an exit. Shari simply explained that the administration offices were off limits, and that I would be in trouble if I was caught back there again. She hollered this at me while I jetted down the stairs.

      I actually went and shelved holds like I said I would. However, I didn’t see any problem with working on the ones that needed to be shelved near the front desk. As I wheeled the cart out of the workroom door I spotted Jodi helping some patrons at the desk. I pulled up alongside her and began doing my job.

      After a few minutes she was free. As she had nothing to do when there were no people that wanted to check out books, she came over and assisted me in my job.

      “Hey there.” Jodi walked up to me, her hips swaying. She looked a bit concerned, like she was lost in thought.

      “Hey Jodi. What’s up?”

      She grabbed a hold and put it away. “You’re a pretty smart guy Hank.” She said matter-of-factly.

      “Thank you.” I had a feeling this was going somewhere important.

      “I was wondering if I could ask your opinion?”

      “Shoot away friend, I’m all ears.”

      She bit her lower lip, and avoided eye contact. “Well, it’s about my engagement.”

      I paused, simply allowing her the time to formulate her thoughts.

      She sighed. “Have you ever felt rushed into things?”

      Ah, she was getting cold feet. Due to my romantic interest in her, I was not the friend to be asking what to do for that. The thought of her breaking it off with her fiancé secretly delighted me on the inside. However, I needed to put my own selfish interests aside and actually be her friend right now. She had come to me with a problem thinking that I would be some assistance. I had to give it my best shot.

      “I have felt rushed into things at times, yes. Are you feeling rushed into your engagement?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and offering her my full attention.

      “A little, yeah.” She rubbed her neck sheepishly. “It’s just that I’m suddenly not sure if this is what I really want to do.”

      She looked nervous, like the very fact that she was second guessing her engagement made her uncomfortable. I could tell that she felt guilty for being unsure about this.

      “What do you mean?”

      She sighed again, preparing to bare her feelings. “I’m afraid I may have lost heart in the whole thing. I’m not sure he’s the kind of man I want to marry, yet I know I’m not getting any younger. I’m worried that I might be settling, but I’m also worried that before long I’ll be too old. I don’t think women are supposed to second guess their marriage like this, unless something is wrong.”

      “If you’re worried about settling, there are a lot of other people that would gladly marry you. Don’t do something you might regret just because you feel you should. You’re not that old.” It was a good thing for a friend to say, but I really just wanted to tell her to leave the bum.

      “What should I do then?” She looked at me for the first time in the conversation, a deep longing gaze. Her large blue eyes pleaded with me to help her.

      “Hmm. Well, maybe you should postpone it. Things that are rushed rarely work out well. If “it’s supposed to last forever”, then why rush it?” I suggested.

      She thought about that for a second, biting her lower lip. “You’re probably right Hank. I’m glad I talked to you about this. You always have such good advice.”

      I merely watched her out of the corner of my eye. She was so beautiful. Her fiancé was a lucky guy. I had a feeling that he didn’t even realize that fact.

      “I’m glad I could help you. What are you planning on doing?” I asked, perhaps a bit more curious than I should have been.

      Her shoulders sagged. “We’re supposed to go out on a date tonight. I don’t think I can say anything just yet.”

      “But you need to say how you feel. Relationships depend on good communication. If he’s truly willing to be your partner he’ll listen, and understand. If he’s really the one, he’ll be more than willing to wait for a bit.”
     

     She smiled a cocky smile, before throwing a long arm around me. “You sure know a lot about relationships for one so small,” she joked, ruffling up my hair. “Thanks so much, Hank,” she said in a moment of seriousness, “you’ve really given me a lot to think about tonight.”

      “Glad I could help.” I was happy I was able to give her some piece of mind, but deep down I just wanted to say my piece, to let her know how I felt about her. Circumstances don’t always allow for feelings though, and this was one of those unfortunate circumstances. I sighed as she walked back to her desk.