”At then of the wing, an open door poured light out into the hallway. She felt her body tighten, anxious of what was to come. She drew a deep breath...to settle herself, let her arms fall to her sides, straightened up, and looked ahead with whatever confidence she could gather.There were several maidens in the room, dressed in similar gowns to Rosalynne’s, but red in color. Two were attending to a bed, straightening the blankets. Another was setting a table with fruit, cheeses and several kinds. "For now, you are the mistress of the house." Mistress?" Certainly. The reigning female, if only by default." Oh. Fer a minute there, I thought you meant— something else." Such as?"Oh, here we are. Your room." Wow! Place like this, I could be a mistress, just like in them romance novels!" A veritable paperback princess, eh?" Cranston chuckles."Girls down home used ta read them things all the time."Pass 'em around I school 'til they plumb fell apart."An this, this place is just like one of them. We were pretty strict about not working late. In fact most people were gone by 5 nearly every day. We got our work done, but Tochukwu didn't see any reason for people sticking around just to put in time. I told you he was a good boss. So I stayed a little late. There was one project I could work on to get a little ahead, and before I realized it, it was nearly 5:30. Everyone was indeed gone, and I thought maybe Tochukwu was as well. I walked over to his office and knocked on the door.."Come. "That's not a confession by the way." She smiled at him over the rimof her glass, the bitterness gone.She looked beautiful but also vulnerable. There was something abouther; like she'd been wounded and needed to be cared for but also like awounded wild animal she might bite. Steve couldn't understand hisattraction to her.There was no doubting that she was beautiful and sexy but he knew thatshe was a trans woman and previously that would have repelled him. Notrepulsed him, he wasn't.