She said sure and after checking, I ordered kirs for both of us. As I started to enjoy the wine cassis combination I became very aware of Ann's presence next to me. I noticed her fragrance. In close proximity there was an unmistakable and memorable scent of her perfume. I was also conscious of the pressure of the side of her right breast resting and pressing against my left arm. As intimate as our earlier dealings had been, this was the first physical contact between us and it did not pass unnoticed by me.

I realized that there was very little I knew about Ann. The profile I had received from the personnel agency was less informative then others had been. I remembered that she had gone to college at the University of North Carolina and I seemed to recall that she lived in Manhattan as well. I knew about her previous two jobs, but not much else. So I asked Ann to tell me a little about her background. The question was too vague for Ann.

"What do you want to know, Bob?" Ann asked.

I was a little taken aback that Ann parried my question with a question of her own. I explained:

"Ann, I realized that in some ways when I told you about the job and the reason that I was starting my business I was telling you my life story and since you are going to be managing a lot of my business, I really don't anticipate that I will have many secrets from you and I just thought that I really don't know all that much about you."

"Now Bob, you really have gotten to know things about me much better than you had any reason to expect" Ann replied with a distinct grin.

As the truth of that statement registered, I realized that Ann was not leaving the matter rest there with that clever riposte. "It's certainly fair for you to know about me, Bob, so see if this helps to fill in some of the details."

Ann then went on. "I was born and raised here in New York. When I got out of college at Chapel Hill I enrolled in Katherine Gibbs' program and started out as a secretary in an ad agency."