It was the Thursday almost a week since our Friday session at my house. I was getting worried, Sophie went home on Saturday afternoon. Then she called in sick on Monday and had not been at the office since then. All my WhatsApp and SMS messages showed ‘read’, but unanswered, and when I called, the calls all went to voicemail.

It was crazy at the office without Sophie to manage bookings and stuff, but somehow I managed. I was worried about Sophie, not about the office management. I had grown to love Sophie, even as I love Tessa and Tarryn too. All three made me realise that love is not zero-sum.

On Wednesday I had called Tessa and Tarryn to ask if either of them had heard from Sophie. Both said the same thing: WhatsApp messages go through and get read, but not answered.

I asked around and finally got Sophie’s address. I had not realised how far out of town she lived. I sent her a WhatsApp.

“I got your address at last,” I typed. “I am going to come by after work.”

“I’ll cane to year horse at 6,” came her reply, a bit garbled.

That was strange. She was normally a spelling and grammar nerd. What was going on?

“You’ll come to my house at 6 PM?” I asked.

“Yea, swat I sad,” she replied.

“You drinking?” I asked.

“Fuck off, see you sex,” came the reply.

Yep, Sophie has been drinking, I thought. I wonder what happened. It is just so not like her.

Somehow I made it through the day. It was 5:45 when I finally left the office. I had taken the motorcycle to the office, so I jumped on it and hit the road home. I put the bike in the garage and was locking up when a car pulled up outside, and I saw Sophie get out of what was thankfully an Uber.

She stumbled up the walkway and then saw me standing in the garage door. She walked over.

For one of the most beautiful women I know, she managed to look terrible. Her hair was all tangled up, and she had lipstick on the side of her mouth, but none on her lips.

“I fucking hate being ughly,” she slurred her words. “Fucking hate it.”

“Sophie, you are beyond beautiful,” I said. “What happened? Let’s go inside, and you can tell me.”

Inside the house, I wrapped my arms around Sophie, and she burst into tears. We stood there for a long while, with Sophie sobbing into my shoulder.

“You made me feel beautiful,” she said, her words still slurred. “Why did you do that, when I am so ugly?”

“You are not ugly,” I said. “But why do you think so?”

“Fucking Ignatius,” she said.

“He told you you were ugly?” I asked. “He must be totally blind.”

“Arrested,” she mumbled. “In Saska-fucking-toon. For rape. The fucking bastard is in jail.”

“Oh my beautiful Sophie,” I said. “I am so sorry, I love you.”

She went all tense at that. She pushed away from me and went to the couch and flopped down on it.

“Why did you say that?” she asked. “Just because you feel sorry?”

“No, you know we all said that to one another last Friday,” I said. “I came to realise the truth that I love you so incredibly much this week in the office.”

She burst into tears again.

“How can you love a married woman who is so ugly that her husband doesn’t want to fuck her and then does what he did?” she asked. “I must be worthless.”

“Because you are one of the smartest people I know, because you are beautiful, because you are sexy beyond what any man could hope for,” I said. “You are far from worthless.”

“I closed the fucker’s bank accounts,” she said. “He called to beg for bail money. I told him to go fuck a knothole in a fucking tree if he could find one small enough for is squishy little cock.”

I could not help but smile at that.

“You control the bank accounts, that’s cool,” I said.

“Fucking prick was living off me for years,” she replied. “I have an inheritance.”

“Oh, same as me then,” I said. “You see this house, and you have seen my income from the office, so you know I could not afford this place. It was my grandmother’s. She designed and built it. She was an architect in Toronto.”

“Oh wow,” she said. “We are both lucky that way.”

“Indeed, it seems so,” I replied.

“Fucking prick thought he could get Algema Chemicals,” she said. “That’s what the fucker probably thought.”

“May I sit next to you?” I asked, bringing a glass of water from the kitchen.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Sorry to be so fucked up.”

She drank the water, put her head on my shoulder and was instantly asleep. Within a few minutes, she was in deep sleep. I lifted her up carefully and carried her into the downstairs spare bedroom. I turned down the bed and carefully undressed her down to panties and bra. Then I covered her up with a sheet and put on the fan on a low setting.

I sat there watching her sleep, and I loved this strange and mysterious woman who was my receptionist more and more by the minute. She was beautiful, perfect sexually, smart as they come, and I could not help but think that she was way more educated than she let on.

After some time, I got up and went to the kitchen, still thinking about Sophie and wishing it was me who was her husband. I made a quick stirfry and put some aside for Sophie to eat later. Then I went to my study and did a bit of work on a paper that I was writing with a colleague at the university. I must have been there for three hours, concentrating on the research results, and re-running some of the data analysis just to be sure. My butt was getting sore, so I stood up, and there was Sophie, standing in the doorway in bra and panties, watching me.

“My goodness,” I said. “You are beautiful when you wake up. How are you feeling?”

“I’m sorry for being all fucked up,” she said again. “I feel better now that I have sobered a bit and had a sleep. I have been unable to sleep, and I think I was drunk for two days.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You are much better off without that man.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “You know, I was never drunk in my life until this week.

“I must stink, can I have a shower and borrow some mouthwash and even a toothbrush?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said. “Let’s go upstairs. I have a jacuzzi style tub there if you want to use it. And a shower too.”

I held her hand gently and led her up the stairs. She looked at the tub and said, “That looks interesting, I love jets, but I will stick with a shower now.”

“Okay, here is a towel and facecloth,” I said handing them over. “There is soap and shampoo in the shower, and there is body lotion on the shelf there if you want it.”

“Thanks, Stefano,” she said. “You are a good person.”

“Aww,” was all I could think of to say.

“Stay with me,” she said. “Please.”

“Alright,” I said, sitting down on the chair that was in the corner.

“Pull it closer,” she said. “I want to feel you there.”

It felt strange pulling the chair up to the shower, watching her drop her panties and bra and get in the shower.

Sophie scrubbed herself with soap, and the face cloth, and washed her short strawberry blonde hair with shampoo. I could not help but tingle when I saw her wash her pussy, but I put those thoughts aside for another day. It would be disrespectful to think of sex when she was so vulnerable.

She began drying herself off with the towel, and she looked up at me.

“Stefano, did you really mean what you said?” she asked. “That you love me?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation, never more certain of anything.

“I think I love you too,” she said. “But I am confused. I think I love Tessa too. And I probably love Tarryn a little bit too. All at the same time.”

“Same here,” I said. “Love is not a zero-sum game, where you have a fixed amount to distribute, and in which a quantity of love given to one person must be taken away from another.”

“Really?” she asked. “Ig always said love of a woman was love not given to God.”

“Ig is a fool,” I said. “And now he is a fool in jail.”

She chuckled at that.

“Stefano, I am so glad I know you,” she said. “My sexuality was making me so unhappy until you came along and just made me feel normal.”

“You are normal,” I said. “And even if you are not, you are fucking awesome.”

She chuckled again.

“I wish I had come to see you earlier,” she said. “I was so lost and so down.”

“Well, just take things one step at a time,” I said. “But I am here for you, and I am sure Tessa and Tarryn will be as well.”

“Thank you,” she said, hugging me despite being naked and fresh out of the shower.

When her bare breasts pressed into my chest, I got an almost instantaneous erection. She felt it.

“Sorry,” I said. “My body has a mind of its own.”

“I like its mind,” she smiled for the first time in a while.

"You want a long tee shirt?" I asked. "You can wash your clothes and I will throw them in the dryer."

“Okay,” she said. “Damn, I’m hungry now. Don’t know when I ate last.”

“You are in luck,” I said. “I made a stirfry, and I left some for you.”

“That is nice of you,” she replied. “No man ever cooked for me before. Well, I only knew one man, the one who is in jail.”

I got a guest toothbrush out of the cupboard and gave it to her.

“In case you want to brush your teeth,” I said.

“Are you planning to kiss me?” you asked with a wink.

“Erm, ahem, erm,” I said. “Caught.”

“It’s okay,” she said smiling. “I was hoping you would. Even in my distraught state, I kept thinking about kissing you. Not sex. Kiss.”

“Let me get you a tee shirt,” I said, going to my bedroom closet, leaving Sophie to brush her teeth.

I came back with a long tee shirt for her.

“Sorry, I don’t have any panties,” I said.

“Too bad,” she said. “You would look cute in panties.”

We both had a giggle, and I was so glad to see her feeling so much better.

“Come and hug me before I put it on,” she said. “Please!”

She almost looked ready to cry when she said “please”, and I grabbed her and pulled her close. Her naked skin against me was amazing, and I rubbed her back a little.

“Come, let’s get you fed,” I said.

She put on the shirt and we went back downstairs. Somehow, her wearing the shirt with nothing underneath it made her look sexy and vulnerable. Yet I knew that there was nothing about her that was vulnerable most of the time. She was a strong woman.

I dished the stirfry for her and warmed it in the microwave. I gave her a glass of sparkling water to have with it and sat down at the table with her.

“Would you like some coffee?” I asked.

“Oh, that would be orgasmic,” she said with smiling eyes. “Yes, please!”

I got up to make some coffee and returned a few minutes later with two cups. I handed her one along with a little jug of milk and a sugar bowl.

“Thanks, Stefano,” she said. “For everything.”

“No, Sophie,” I said. “Thank you for being exactly who you are.”

“Can I keep you?” she said by reply.

“Yes, please,” I said, and I was not joking.

After eating and drinking coffee, we went back to the living room. Sophie sat on the couch and had one leg up. I was sitting in the chair opposite, and I could see underneath the shirt. Of course there were no panties there, so I could see her pussy lips.

We talked for a while about lots of different things, and as we talked, I could not take my eyes off her pussy.

“I should call Tessa,” she said. “She has been calling me all week. She is a sweetheart like you.”

“She can wait a little while,” I said getting up and moving to the couch. “I want that kiss first.”

She put her arms around my neck and pulled herself into my lap, trying to find a way to kiss me. Eventually, she straddled my lap and put her lips against mine. The kiss was perfect.

I felt all flushed as soon as her lips were on mine. Our tongues intertwined, and I felt like I wanted to swallow her. I nibbled her lips, and soon I was kissing her neck. I whispered in her ear as my tongue probed it, “I love you, Sophie.”

She started to grind her naked pussy on my leg.

“Oh fuck, Sophie,” I said. “I am sorry, but I want you with every fibre of my being.”

She reached down, undid my zip. She pulled out my cock, and with my pants still on she straddled me, opened her pussy and slid slowly down over my cock. She was soaking wet, and I slid into her all the way to the base of my cock.

Kissing me deeply, she began a slow, sensual up and down motion, riding my cock with perfect sensuality.

We broke off the kiss, and our eyes locked. It was so beautiful seeing Sophie feel pleasure, and to be so sensual about it, riding my hard cock slowly, feeling every sensation.

Suddenly, and unexpectedly, she burst into tears. I kissed her eyelids, drinking her salty tears with love. She didn’t stop her sensual sliding up and down my cock.

“Are you okay?” I asked with a mixture of pleasure and concern in my voice.

“I am just happy,” she replied. “I have never done this. Ig would never allow it, but I fantasized about it often when I masturbated.”

“My sweet Sophie,” I said. “There is nothing that you cannot do with me. If it gives you pleasure, don’t hide it. I want to feel what you feel.”

She kissed me then. A deep, hungry kiss that was so full of passion and love that it almost overwhelmed me.

Her tears dried up and we continued like that, our eyes locked, sharing sensations and feeling through our eyes. I have no idea how long she continued riding me like that, so slowly that every movement was intense.

I watched the intensity grow in her eyes, saw the orgasm start to form, and I allowed mine to build with hers. I saw her reach the edge, and slowly she continued her movements. I saw the orgasm reach her eyes.

“Cum, Sophie,” I said. “I ... love ... you.”

“Cumming,” she moaned. “Love you, everything, all of us.”

The orgasm took her off into that pleasure place, and I wrapped my arms around her. My orgasm wrapped around my love and it was just so intense that way, and her slow movements made it last much longer than usual.

Slowly, we came down.

“You continue to amaze me,” I said. “That was incredible.”

“So fucking happy,” was all she managed.