Darkling Tower

Two attractive women in short skirts showed up suddenly in the hall, and one gently took his arm.

"Hello, Mr. Aronson," one of them said. "May we talk to you?"

He didn't respond, except to continue looking at me, eyes wide and twitching. Then he began moving in the direction the woman with her hand on his arm pushed him in. As the three of them walked away, the other woman turned to me and waved at me.

"See you later," she said.

It was very strange. Two strange encounters in one morning. When I reached my apartment, I shook them off and got to work, calling clients and helping them manage their finances.

October 20.

Two days later I was in the gym, lying on a bench and doing dumbbell presses. I had been working out for half an hour and sweat was pouring off my body. The only other people were another man, near my age, and two gorgeous women in form-fitting lycra, spotting each other doing squats. I had had no further sexual encounters, but the eye candy was amazing.

My phone, lying on the floor next to me, buzzed. I picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Pierce?"

"Yes, that's me."

"This is Anna, Ms. Darkling's assistant. Ms. Darkling wants me to ask you if you can meet her in her office in two hours, at 11 a.m."

It was a weekday, and I had clients to talk to and work to do, but I could juggle them. The chance of meeting the alluring and mysterious Charlotte Darkling again was too good to pass up.

"Sure," I said. "I can do that."

I finished one more set of presses, exaggerating my movements to attract the attention of one or more of the women in the gym who might look my way. Sitting up, I saw that my efforts had not worked. I walked out of the gym and hurried to my apartment. I wanted to make a few calls before meeting with Charlotte Darkling.

Back at my apartment, I showered and dressed before picking up the phone. I scrolled to Raul's name and hit "enter." The phone beeped for a few seconds before I heard his familiar voice.

"Darren," he said. "It's been a while. Why such a stranger?"

"Has it been a while?" I could not remember. My memory of the last few weeks was fuzzy. I thought I'd seen Raul but couldn't pinpoint the date.

"It sure has, buddy. You said you'd invite me to your new place, but I haven't seen it. How is it?"

"It's amazing, Raul," I said. "The apartment has the most incredible view. And the women - this building is crawling with the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

"Now I'm definitely mad at you," he said. "All those beautiful women, and you're keeping them to yourself. You need to invite me over."

I assured him I would, and then we talked business for a while. Before we hung up, I told him I'd call him to invite him over.

A while later, I found myself staring out the window, looking north to the bay, blue under a cloudless sky, with the phone in my lap. I shook my head. I could not recall when the call had ended. The phone said it was 10:50. It was time to see Charlotte Darkling.

A few minutes later I stood before the desk of Charlotte's assistant, Anna, who greeted me with a toothy smile and a mane of straw-blond hair. She buzzed her boss, and I heard Charlotte's voice over a speaker say, "Show him in."

I entered her office, and I was struck again by its palatial size. A vast expanse of empty wood floor surrounded her enormous desk. Charlotte stood facing me, arms crossed, her rear to the desk. A heavy chair stood on the floor in front of her. I walked slowly and uncertainly to the middle of the room. Charlotte watched me the whole time. I stopped when I reached the chair. Charlotte gestured with one hand but didn't say anything, and I sat in the chair and looked up at her.

She wore a tight-fitting midnight blue wrap dress that molded to her body. I could tell from the loose swell of her breasts and the prominent nobs under the blue fabric that she wore no bra. I felt a twinge between my legs as I sat down, staring at her. She stared back. Neither of us said anything for a full minute. The silence unnerved me. At last, she spoke.

"I understand you had an encounter the other day with my security personnel."

"I'm sorry about that," I began. "I was just wandering around the building and--"

She held up a hand, interrupting me. I stopped talking.

"No need to apologize, Darren. The apology is mine. They should have been more courteous to you. I value my privacy, and I pay people to protect it. But I do not authorize them to be rude."

Her eyes stared, unblinking, at me, and I tried to figure out what color her irises were. They were dark, barely lighter than her pupils.

"I heard you had another encounter," she said, breaking my focus on her eyes. "In the elevator. Dan Aaronson."

"Oh," I said. "Yeah. That was nothing. He seemed spooked by something."

"His wife died on Halloween last year," she said. "He hasn't recovered. He obsesses about Halloween. I'm sorry if he spooked you."

Her eyes bored straight into mine, unwavering. Some sense of alarm, deep inside me, roused itself. Her eyes were wide and captivating and reassuring, but I felt they were holding something back.

"You look like someone who likes to exercise, Darren," she said. "Have you used our gym?"

"Yes," I said. "The facilities are great. I use it at least four times a week."

"I'm glad to hear it. The exercise seems to do you good. You are very fit. You're an attractive man, Mr. Pierce."

I liked being complimented, but the directness of her statements was unnerving. I hesitated before saying anything.

"Thanks. I enjoy working out." I paused. "Do you?"

"I do. But I have my own workout regimen and my own facilities."

She kept staring, before starting again. She uncrossed her arms and held her hands against the edge of the desk. I could have sworn she pushed her chest forward, her tits more prominent under the thin blue dress than before.

"Do you think I'm attractive, Darren?"

I thought she was beautiful, but I didn't know what to say to my landlord.

"You're a very pretty woman, Charlotte," I said.

"I'm glad you think so," she said. "I've noticed you've been sneaking glances at my breasts. You've noticed I'm not wearing a bra and you like the way my nipples look in the dress without a bra. That's true, isn't it?"

I had noticed her breasts, of course, but I thought I'd been subtle, and I was unnerved by the way she called attention to my ogling her.

"Don't be embarrassed," she said. "I consider it a compliment. I enjoy dressing this way in front of you." She swayed in her tight dress, and I couldn't help but notice the way her body shifted under its fabric. Her tits now were hard points. I noticed the hem of the dress, stopping just over the knee, and for the first time I noticed the smooth, supple skin of her legs.

"You're aroused, aren't you?" she said. Her eyes moved from mine to my lap. I looked down, and, sure enough, a low thick arch bulged under my pants.

"I'm sorry -" I started.

"No need to be, Darren," she said. Her voice had a quality I couldn't put my finger on. She spoke with perfect precision, and no accent or dialect. Her voice was high, but it had depth and timbre. It was mesmerizing. I shook my head, but I never took my eyes off hers.

"I'm flattered, Darren," she said. "I like to see that you find me attractive. You can't hide it, and you shouldn't try. It's one of the appealing traits of a man - his obviousness. I can see you getting harder. I like that."

Sure enough, the bulge in my lap had grown. Charlotte's words, and hypnotic tone, and the luscious curve of her body in the form-fitting blue dress got to me. I couldn't help myself. My cock was growing harder and longer and trying to find somewhere to go under the confinement of my pants.

"Why don't you take it out?" she said.

"Take it out?"

"Your cock. It looks uncomfortable. Take it out. I'd like to see it and I think it would appreciate the freedom. Show me your cock, Darren." Her eyes, wide already, seemed wider still, like pools I wanted to dive into.

"I -"

"Don't think about it, Darren. Just do it. Show me your cock. I'll bet it's a nice one. I'll bet you take pride in it and like showing it off. I'll bet the girls you fuck smile when they see it the first time."

I was flummoxed and speechless. The fact was, girls did like my cock. It wasn't huge, but it was longer and thicker than average, and I'd seen girls' eyes sparkle with hunger when they first saw it. But I was accustomed to being in control, in setting the pace and in controlling the place and manner in which I revealed it to them. I was not accustomed to being talked to the way Charlotte Darkling talked to me. A spark of resentment and resistance fired up inside me, but it died away as soon as it arose. I was flattered by the way she talked to me. I was turned on. I wanted to please her.

I unzipped my fly. With a moment's fumbling I released my cock from the confinement of my briefs. The head and shaft popped up above my lap.

"Oh, that's nice," Charlotte said. She reached thin, elegant fingers forward, and they clasped my length. I grew harder still.

"You have a beautiful cock, Darren," she said, as her hand began to stroke me.

"There's nothing like a man's cock. All of a man's hopes, dreams, and vanity, concentrated in one slender tube of flesh. Or not so thin, in your case." She winked at me, her hand stroking me. The sensation was beyond pleasurable. I groaned.

"What's this?" she said. She touched a finger to the tip of my cock head, where a shiny pearl of pre-cum had gathered. She scooped it up with her finger and put it to her lips and sucked it off, with a smack of her lips and a flash of her eyes.

"Mmmmm," she said. "That's delicious. Savory. Unusual. My compliments."

Charlotte walked backward, sitting on the desk behind her. Her hands went to her waist and unclasped something, and before I knew what was happening her dress opened and fell back to either side, exposing her nude form.

Her body was exquisite. Her skin was pale and unblemished. The contours of her figure were lean and feminine and youthful. She pulled the dress back farther and revealed full breasts, raised high, with startlingly pink nipples, hard and pointed straight at me. She opened her legs, too, revealing her vulva: a sparse, manicured patch of fur above, and a long, thin slit below it, framed by succulent lips.

"Do you like what you see, Darren?"

I couldn't speak. I was struck dumb by her loveliness, by the cold pale flower of her nudity opened to me. I'd lost count of the women I'd undressed, but none had struck me with the sheer force of their beauty as Charlotte did now.

"Stroke yourself, Darren. Look at me and stroke yourself."

She put a foot, clad in a midnight blue high-heeled shoe, on the desk. Her fingers found her sex and opened it. I stared at the pink, sparkly flesh between her outspread lips. I couldn't resist her instructions. My hand found my cock and began pumping up and down with fury.

Charlotte smiled at me, with sparkling white teeth and thin red lips. I stroked myself and my eyes ran with greed and hunger over her nude body, taking every curve and inch of her in - breasts, thighs, mouth, pussy, hips. The smooth expanse of her belly. Her fingers moved in rapid circles over her clit.

After several minutes of our stroking ourselves that way she threw her head back and let out a cry, so loud it echoed throughout her office. Her body shook. That did it for me. The surge came from inside me, my hips bucked off the chair, and I came. In three quick spurts, thin ropes of my cum burst forth, arcing toward Charlotte but falling before they reached her and splattering the wood floor between us.

My legs shook. I hadn't come like that in years.

As soon as I was done, I was embarrassed. I sat in front of Charlotte, with my cock out, and my cum all over her floor.

"Sorry," I said. I didn't know what else to say.

"Ha!" she said, her head snapping back toward me after her orgasm. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

I didn't know what to do. I started to zip up and rise.

"Stop," she said. "Stay where you are and leave your cock out."

She hit a button on a console on her desk.

"Anna, would you come here?" she said into the console.

"At once, Ms. Darkling," I heard Anna's voice say.

I didn't turn around, but I heard the door open and then the sound of heels moving briskly over the wood floor. In seconds, Anna stood to the side of me, looking at Charlotte. She paid no attention to my cock, still outside my pants and now flopping over.

"Anna, do you see what's on the floor?"

"Yes, Ms. Darkling."

"You know what to do."

"Yes, Ms. Darkling."

I saw Anna kneel on the floor, where my cum lay spattered in irregular patches and drops. She put the bottom edge of her hand against the floor and scraped it against the wood, scooping up most of the cum until her palm was covered in it. Anna stood up. She stepped closer to Charlotte and held her hand forward.

Charlotte grabbed Anna's wrist with her hand, and she pulled it to her face.

Then she licked my cum off Anna's hand. She did it slowly, deliberately, tasting it and swallowing it after every few licks. When she was done, she turned Anna's palm toward me so I could see it was licked clean.

"Anna, clean up the rest," Charlotte said.

Anna knelt on the floor again, this time getting on her hands and knees. She put her face to the floor and began licking my cum off it. I didn't move. After another two minutes she finished.

"I'm done, Ms. Darkling," she said.

"Very good, Anna. You may go."

Charlotte remained exposed and nude to me the entire time, until I heard the door close behind me. Then, slowly, she wrapped the dress around her again and tied it closed. She hopped off the desk.

"Time to zip up, Darren," she said. "I want to give you something."

She picked an envelope off her desk and handed it to me after I'd finished putting my limp cock away in my pants.

"What's this?" I asked.

"An invitation to my Halloween party. I wasn't sure before whether you had the right qualifications to be a guest, but I'm sure now."

"What do I wear?" I asked.

"A costume will be delivered to you earlier in the day of the party. It's all taken care of."

She stood over me, until I stood up from my chair. I was tall, but I wasn't much taller than she was.

"The party is at my penthouse. You'll get to see it for the first time. Make sure you bring this invitation with you when you arrive at the elevator. I would hate for my security guards to shoot you if you didn't."

She smiled, but I felt a chill run through my body.

"Good day, Mr. Pierce," she said, and she turned away from me, walking around her desk.

I took my cue, turned, and walked out of her office.

October 24.

Several days later I completed another vigorous workout in the gym. I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall and liked what I saw. I was leaner and more defined than ever. I raised my shirt to get a glimpse of my abs. They looked good. In the mirror I caught a woman, who looked younger than I, staring at me.

When I left the gym, I decided to go to the lobby rather than my room. A coffee vendor stood behind a cart in the middle of the lobby. I bought a latte. After doing so I looked at the front doors of the building. I crossed the lobby, toward them. I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air. But I stopped ten feet away from the door. I got no closer before I changed my mind.

"I can do that later," I thought. "I have work to do."

I took the elevator back to my apartment. In the hallway I passed a beautiful redhead I hadn't seen before. Her hair was thick and wavy. Its color was like fire. She smiled at me.

I could not get over how beautiful the women in this building were.

When I entered my room and closed the door behind me, I thought about why I hadn't left the building. I had decided I didn't feel like doing so. I could do that later. But I couldn't remember the last time I'd left the Darkling Tower.

October 31.

The morning of Halloween, I sat at my kitchen counter, a cup of coffee in one hand, and a client file laid out before me. I was preparing for work that day.

The rich, sharp smell of the coffee filled the air. I had been getting it from the coffee vendor downstairs. They even prepared a special blend for me, and it was delicious. I couldn't imagine starting the morning without it.

The doorbell rang. I was surprised, because of the hour. Outside my door, a young, pretty woman with a pixie haircut held out a box. I'd seen her before, and I vaguely recalled her name was Stephanie.

"Good morning, Mr. Pierce," she said, handing the box to me. "This is from Ms. Darkling. It's for the party tonight." I hoped to flirt with her, but she turned right away and left.

I took the box to the kitchen and opened it. A note card lay inside. In perfectly formed, elegant handwritten letters, it read, "Darren - Please wear this to the party tonight, and only this. Arrive at the elevator to my penthouse at exactly 10 p.m. See you then! Charlotte."

I'd never seen a party invitation that specified an exact time to arrive, but I figured since it was my first invitation to Charlotte's home I wouldn't disobey.

I spent the better part of the day calling clients and working on files. At some point I looked up from my work at the clock. It read: 5:11 p.m. I was startled. I had no idea where the time had gone. Before I could think about it more my phone rang.

"Darren Pierce."

"Stranger, where have you been?" It was Raul.

"Busy, man. Sorry about that. I owe you a squash date."

"That you do. I've been looking forward to kicking your ass on the court and you've denied me. What is it? Can't tear yourself away from the beautiful women you've been telling me about at the Tower? You can't keep them to yourself, you know. You have to invite me over to see the new place."

"You're right, Raul. I will. How about next week?"

"That sounds great. When?"

I hesitated. I wasn't ready, for some reason, to name a day and time.

"Let me check my calendar and get back to you."

He paused.

"Darren, are you OK?"

"Sure, why do you ask?"

"I haven't seen you at the club in weeks. You were a regular. We played at least once a week, and you've disappeared ever since you moved into the new place. Are you getting out at all?"

"Of course, I am. I've just been terribly busy. Listen, I'll have you over. I promise. I'll check my calendar and call you. I've got to go now. I have a call to make at 5:30. I'll call you!"

"All right, Darren," he said over the phone. "Take care, man."

"I will."

We hung up. I didn't have a 5:30 appointment, and I wasn't sure why I told him that. I thought about what he'd said. I could not remember the last time I had left the building. I was sure I had. I couldn't possibly have stayed in the building for weeks. But I couldn't remember leaving. I tried to recall going outside, but it was like trying to open a door that my mind kept shut. I couldn't see behind the door no matter how much I wanted to.

What had I been doing the past few weeks? I had worked a lot. That much was true. And I'd been spending lots of time at the gym. The Darkling Tower's impeccable facilities had done wonders for my fitness. And I'd had sex - lots of it. Since my encounter with Charlotte, I'd met two more young, beautiful women - a slender redheaded yoga instructor at the gym and a silky-haired Korean accountant at the bar. Both had gone back to my apartment with me, and both had been spectacular. The redhead did things with her tongue I'd never seen done before.

But beyond sex and work and weightlifting, my memory of the past week was a blur.

I got frustrated trying to figure it out, so after a while I settled into my sofa with a glass of Pinot Noir and watched baseball playoffs on TV. The Giants had been knocked out of the race months ago, so I was only half-interested. But it was a way to pass the time until the party started.