Short Story | Erotica

Zoom Me, Baby — an excerpt

A business meeting turns into a salacious Zoom show

Another lockdown inspired short story. Cassandra has an early Zoom meeting with her colleagues. Afterwards, her boss Jonathan asks her to stick around. She’s not going to get fired, is she?

(excerpt)

I often found myself realising that he’d been directing me unconsciously too. Somehow, he made us all feel independent and free to do our jobs in our own way. And we all craved his approval. I always felt that, in past times, he would’ve been an enlightened king, loved by the common folk and untouchable to any envious gentry. Or maybe someone like Socrates. Although I didn’t see Jonathan as being prone to covet handsome young men.

‘It’s tough yes,’ I confessed. ‘I feel like a Dickensian widow cooped up in a cobwebbed castle.’ The apt description of my situation came out of nowhere. It made Jonathan smile wryly. He knew that Eric had left me two months before the lockdown started. After eighteen years of marriage, my husband had decided to morph into a total fuckwit and leave me for a younger model. It hurt terribly, not just because he was my true love but also because of the cliché I’d never thought would define my life. If it hadn’t been for the agency, the work and the people there, I’d probably have spun into a cycle of manic depression, like my mother often would. A chaotic maelstrom of low self-esteem, a loathsome view of the world, and ecstatic energy, alternating, spiralling me into an abyss. I was never good at it, but these days, it was even harder to talk about my emotions, let alone on Zoom.

‘If I can do anything, somehow, some time, just let me know, okay?’ Jonathan said in a soft-spoken manner that warmed me. I felt silly to have ever thought that my job had been at risk.

‘Thank you. Just keep the boat afloat and all of us merry sailors on it.’

‘I’m sure we’ll survive, Cass,’ he said. ‘Thanks for your incredible work.’

‘We’re all making an effort.’ As always, I countered a compliment by downplaying my role. Jonathan knew this and never insisted, which I appreciated.

‘So, are you wearing any pants?’ His sudden change of subject took me by surprise and made me blurt out the truth.

‘No.’

‘Nothing?’

‘Not nothing.’

He smiled and the familiar twinkle in his eyes put another familiar tingle in my tummy, one which threatened to descend quickly towards my scarcely covered crotch.

‘You shouldn’t be inquiring about my morning dress code. You’re my boss. It’s unethical.’

‘I was just curious. I won’t pry any further.’

It had been nine years since Jonathan and I had succumbed to our mutual attraction. We’d won our first international award with a campaign in my portfolio. The high of winning and the free booze at the after party had turned us into the weak sinners that we ultimately are. Eric and I were going through our seven-year-itch, and Jonathan had not even met his wife yet. We’d booked rooms for the entire company at a four-star hotel. In those days, money was no issue. We shared the elevator to our floor, and when Jonathan had shown me the bottle of champagne he’d swiped from the party, I knew we’d fuck that night. In his room, he popped the Moet & Chandon, and with it, our desire. The bubbly liquid prickled on my bare skin, trickling across and around my tits, then down my belly, reaching my cunt, where Jonathan was waiting to eagerly lap it up. It was all a bit silly and mostly driven by intoxication. But also, it was, I admit, very delightful. Waking up in the wet mess we’d created, we knew this would be a one-off. The innocent flirting that had come to characterise our interactions remained, but it never led to a similar night. Over the years, the memory of it became nothing more than just that — a memory. Like a snapshot in a holiday album.

‘Curious why?’ I couldn’t resist asking.

‘During the meeting, I noticed you were sort of wiggling in your seat. I wondered about the reason.’

He was right. I had been wiggling in my seat. And yes, it was triggered by the fact that the only thing between my bare bum, my cunt and the ribbed corduroy fabric of my chair’s seat was my cotton hipster. It must’ve been the after effect of the bottle of Shiraz and the lack of sleep, but I had been a bit frisky when the Zoom meeting started. Now that Jonathan was hinting at it, I became aware of how sultry I actually was. It prompted me to be bold. Certain inhibitions seemed useless, as the pandemic had changed our concept of normalcy.

‘I can show you the reason,’ I said firmly. Jonathan only lifted an eyebrow. Amused, he waited for the punchline to present itself. I stood up and watched how my image on the screen exposed my midriff. I lifted my blouse to reveal my loins. As my briefs came into view, I observed Jonathan’s attentive gaze.

‘Are you wet?’ His question made me swallow hard. We were heading in a direction that could turn out to be quite consequential. Where were his wife and his children? I wondered. He was at home, in his study, and any one of them could walk in at any moment. I sat down again.

‘Yes actually,’ I said. ‘But it’s got nothing to do with you.’

‘Fair enough.’ He paused, clearly having something else to say about it. ‘It’s a good sign though, being aroused.’

I laughed. He was right. With all the misery that defined my current private life, feeling sexy and enticing was admittedly a great sensation.

‘Do you normally use any toys?’ he asked. This was typical Jonathan. Coming up with something you didn’t expect. It sounded like he was asking about a quotidian habit.

‘Normally?’ I said, teasing him to elaborate.

‘Well, when you masturbate, do you use vibrators or dildoes?’

‘Do you?’ I was not yet letting him get what he wanted. Although I wasn’t quite sure about what that was.

‘I have a prostate stimulator. But I don’t tend to use it when I’m on my own.’ He took me by surprise again. I hadn’t seen that one coming. I decided to reciprocate.

‘I bought a necklace last week.’

’What’s that?’

‘It’s a vibrator, about the size of a pen, that you can wear around your neck. People think it’s a pendant, but you know it’s not. That’s how they market it, as a dirty little secret.’

‘Did you buy it because of that?’ he asked. It felt like we were shop talking. Assessing the value and merits of a product to outline the concept for a campaign.

‘No,’ I said, ‘a friend of mine recommended it for its intense vibrations.’

‘Was she right?’

‘Definitely. One of the best mini-vibrators I’ve ever had.’

‘Sounds like you have quite a collection.’

‘I have an assigned drawer, and there’s still some room for future purchases.’

‘Will you show me?’ He looked serious about it. I still couldn’t quite figure out what he had in mind.

‘Where are we going with this, Jonathan?’ I asked.

‘It’s sort of our anniversary today,’ he said. ‘You probably forgot the date, but exactly nine years ago, we were staying at the Radisson Blu Royal Viking Hotel in Stockholm.’

‘You’re kidding me?’ I had indeed completely forgotten the date of the award night and certainly the name of the hotel. It struck me as a weird coincidence that I had been watching ‘Vikings’ all night.

‘I thought it appropriate to celebrate it in some way. I just didn’t really know how. But that drawer of yours gave me an idea.’

My body responded with a trickle of bodily fluid oozing out of my cunt and into my knickers. My breath quickened, and I knew I would go along with Jonathan’s proposition to celebrate our ‘anniversary’ as he called it. I thought it was endearing that he considered our drunken romp worthy of commemorating after nine years.

I moved my laptop to the bedroom and held its camera above the open drawer to show off my sex toys. It wasn’t a very surprising collection, although Jonathan was intrigued by the Ruby Glow, a small vibrating device you can straddle while it stimulates your clit and vagina.

‘You just sit on it while you’re working?’ he said with a hint of envy in his voice.

‘Yes, if you like. You can even use it with your pants on.’

‘Fuck, that’s not fair.’ He was clearly jealous and seeing his face drop made me laugh.

‘You should buy one for Melissa,’ I said teasingly. The image of his wife being clitorally stimulated flashed through my mind and my own clit twitched, obviously begging to be touched. I took a finger vibrator and the larger phallic-shaped Rabbit from the drawer. I put the laptop on my bed and positioned myself in front of it. It crossed my mind that Jonathan’s family was probably safely out of the house for some time. He hadn’t mentioned them and wouldn’t be setting up this Viking celebration of ours if they could just walk in at any moment. So, I settled down, becoming more comfortable, and began my salacious Zoom show.

‘Zoom Me Baby’ is part of ‘Queen without Clothes and Other Steamy Stories. Available at your favourite ebook seller.