Chapter 5
Stella really needn’t have worried about any awkward early morning contact with Logan though. As Stella made herself a morning espresso in the kitchen, she could clearly hear the sound of Logan’s loud, super-charged snores coming from the guestroom.
‘Same old Logan,’ Stella chuckled, momentarily forgetting the awkwardness from the previous night.
But despite knowing that Logan was fast asleep, Stella had still pressed ahead with her plan to get out of the apartment quickly and head into work.
She had a lot on at EcoPlay and knew that every single minute of extra time she could put in would be worth it in the end – especially if she was able to seal the deal for the VP position that was coming up.
As Stella finished responding to emails that had come in overnight, she took a moment to cast her eyes around her office.
‘Not bad. Not bad at all,’ Stella said as she reclined in her mushroom-leather office chair and surveyed her minimalist but super-chic office room. ‘And how about you Huggle?’
Stella smiled and looked over toward her stuffie who was taking his usual little seat by the window.
The office walls were all glass but had a touch-sensitive function that allowed Stella to immediately make the room totally private. To say that this feature had been present in some of Stella’s most explicit late-night fantasies would be something of an understatement.
Ever since the office was upgraded to have the new hi-tec glass, Stella had been using it to indulge in one of her most prominent kinks. Public nudity with a little hint of humiliation on the side was something that really got Stella’s juices flowing.
Maybe it was a submissive thing linked to being a Little, but for as long as she could remember, Stella dreamed of going to a nudist beach and letting her body do the talking.
The idea of walking up and down a hot, sandy beach with nothing but sunscreen to protect her was enough to get Stella as horny as all hell in no time whatsoever.
As Stella developed her public nudity kink, she had started imagining what it might feel like to be naked around clothed people. The thought of it would send Stella wild with desire, and especially the idea of being pointed at and even made to perform and pose in various positions.
But Stella being Stella, this kink was confined to her fantasies.
Stella was far too risk-averse to ever look into exploring the nudity kind for real. In some ways, the mere presence of the new controllable glass walls was enough for Stella as it meant she could fantasize to her heart’s content without ever having to worry about doing anything for real.
Stella broke away from thinking about exactly what kind of exhibitionism she could get up to in her office and realized that she had made herself very horny indeed.
‘It’s way too early for this,’ Stella giggled, looking over at the clock on her iMac and seeing that it wasn’t even 7:00AM yet. ‘If I’m this horny now, I’ll never make it until lunch.’
But try as she might, Stella couldn’t keep her mind off kink, fun, and fooling around with Logan the previous night. Kissing Logan had felt so good, and as far as Stella was concerned the level of chemistry between her and Logan was as on-point as it had ever been.
Stella thought back to how much kinky fun her and Logan would have in college when they were going through one of their numerous friends-with-benefits phases.
Spanking? Yup.
Paddling with ping-pong bats? Oh yes.
Streaking naked around campus after dark? Hell yeah!
As she thought about it, Stella realized that Logan was the only man who she had ever been able to truly relax with when it came to sex.
It wasn’t as if Stella hadn’t dated some decent guys, she definitely had. Most of the men who Stella had been with were good guys who were honest and kind. But none of them brought about the kinky side of her desire like Logan did.
And, most importantly, none of them had that truly irresistible masculinity that a Daddy like Logan possessed.
Maybe that’s why I’ve never truly gotten over him?
SIGH. Logan makes me so mad.
Why can’t Logan just be the Daddy I need him to be?
What Stella really wanted was a man like Logan in every way… except for the clear and time-tested inability to grow up and commit.
Stella wondered whether there were enough days in a year to ever change Logan or whether he would always be the same loveable, unreliable, charismatic but totally wild guy he always had been.
But the more Stella thought of Logan, the less time she spent focusing on her presentation.
Stella was due to present some new leads and ideas she’d been developing recently, and even though she had done the research to a good standard Stella didn’t feel entirely comfortable with how the presentation was shaping up.
It was time to do some serious work.
This presentation needed to go well.
‘Okay, so, that’s me done,’ Stella said, her voice wrought with uncertainty. ‘Any questions?’
Stella looked across the room toward the four senior directors, each one with a facial expression that was either bored, non-plussed, or just blatantly unimpressed.
To say the presentation hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped would be a titanic underestimation on Stella’s part.
After getting off to a decent start, Stella became conscious of the fact that Lauren Treen seemed to be doing just about everything she possibly could to throw Stella off her rhythm.
There was no way of proving it, but the sight and sound of Lauren relentlessly fidgeting and coughing had really gotten into Stella’s head and did seem like a deliberate ploy on Lauren’s part.
But Stella felt that if she brought this up in front of the directors, she would get accused of blaming her own failings on others.
With a disconsolate feeling, Stella took her seat and watched as Lauren got up to deliver her presentation.
Lauren’s presentation was nowhere near the same level of innovation and forward thinking as Stella’s had been, but the big difference was that Lauren delivered her words with flair and panache.
Stella could tell that Lauren was loving every minute of it, and it appeared that the senior directors were too…
Bleurgh. This sucks.
Lauren is a stinky douchebag.
But it doesn’t matter what I think, it’s the senior directors who count…
Lauren eventually wrapped up her presentation and the general vibe in the room was that she had done a good job. Certainly, Stella felt that her efforts had not been taken on board as positively as Lauren’s.
‘I think you have some decent ideas,’ Lauren said, leaning over and whispering in Stella’s ear. ‘But… maybe you’re not quite ready to step up yet.’
Stella blushed with anger.
But not wanting to fall into Lauren’s trap and start a scene, Stella simply got up from her chair and walked back to her office. It was time to pack up her stuff and take an early exit from work.
Stella was getting more and more suspicious about Lauren’s motives.
They’d never been friends, going back to when Lauren arrived at EcoPlay a couple of months after Stella. But this went beyond a normal level of competition that you could expect to exist between coworkers with similarly keen ambitions.
Stella suspected that Lauren would stoop to the lowest levels to quench her thirst for success, and she knew that from here on in she would have to keep an eye open for any moves that Lauren might be making.
However, Stella was determined that her entire day wasn’t going to be ruined. The presentation may have been a washout, but Stella had an appointment on the other side of town that was sure to improve her mood…
The sound of a cacophony of dogs barking and howling was like music to Stella’s ears as she stepped inside The Dog Den dog center.
‘Stella!’ Kim cried, excitedly walking over toward Stella and offering her hand for a high-five. ‘So glad you’re here. We’ve got a new arrival called Sweetie who I think you’re going to love.’
‘I can’t wait to meet her!’ Stella replied, happy to see Kim’s friendly face.
Kim was only a year or so older than Stella and had recently come out of a long-term relationship with her ex-forces Daddy. It was a sad break-up, but Kim was on the road to recovery and happiness again, even without a new Daddy in her life.
Kim worked full time at The Dog Den and with her blonde surfer hair and year-round tan, she was always a pleasant sight to be welcomed by.
‘Okay, well let’s go,’ Kim said, cheerily bouncing along in her lemon-yellow The Dog Den t-shirt and black skater shorts. ‘Before we get to Sweetie, there’s someone I want you to meet…’
‘Huh?’ Stella said. ‘If it’s another property developer trying to buy this place, I’m more than ready to tell them where to go.’
‘Ha! No, not this time,’ Kim said, her eager smile putting Stella at ease.
As Stella followed on behind Kim, she felt the good vibes and sense of relaxation she always felt when she arrived at The Dog Den.
Sure, it was time consuming being a volunteer here. And cleaning up dog poop wasn’t exactly a highlight of the job, that was for sure. But there was something so incredibly rewarding and fun about being around so many wonderful dogs who wanted nothing more than to find their forever home.
Stella had a secret dream that one day she would be able to officially make a sizeable investment into The Dog Den.
With her knowledge of local government sustainability policies and access to plenty of extremely wealthy individuals, Stella knew that there was potential for The Dog Den to expand its operation to take in even more dogs that needed a comfortable home as they waited for adoption.
But all of that could wait.
In that moment, all that Stella was focused on was meeting this mysterious person that Kim was teasing.
As Kim opened the door to the break room, Stella almost turned and walked straight out of the building.
But she didn’t.
And in fact, as soon as the shock passed over her, Stella felt a surge of sheer happiness.
‘You’re late, honey,’ Logan laughed, looking as macho as ever despite wearing a spare The Dog Den t-shirt. ‘You’re lucky this is a volunteer position or Kim would dock your wages…’
The three of them laughed.
Stella looked at Kim and could see that Kim was into Logan. After all, who wouldn’t be? But rather than feel any kind of jealousy, Stella was just happy to be at The Dog Den with two of her favorite people.
Not to mention the dozen or so dogs that were eagerly awaiting Stella’s arrival in the playroom…
Kim, Logan and Stella walked from the break room and into the large, half-indoors, half-outdoors playroom and were immediately greeted by a bevy of enthusiastic and boundlessly energetic dogs.
‘Let the games begin!’ Logan bellowed, immediately announcing his arrival as the new top dog. ‘Watch out, Logan the Alpha Dog is about!’
Stella laughed uncontrollably as Logan began rampaging around the playroom, a pack of dogs following him and immediately showing him their respect.
‘I can see why you like him, Stella,’ Kim said, noticing how happy Stella looked. ‘He’s hot as hell. But don’t worry, I’m taking a serious break from Daddies.’
‘I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to date Logan,’ Stella said, trying as hard as she could to sound even remotely convincing. ‘Um… I mean… I guess I’m happy that you’re not though?’
Stella and Kim laughed and started laying out a fresh set of water bowls for the dogs.
‘Guys, you go and have some fun. I’ll do this,’ Logan said, running over and immediately throwing himself into the task. ‘Seriously. Go! I might even grab a doggy drink myself. Being chased by a pack of goofball mutts is thirsty work.’
Stella took a moment to herself as she watched Logan stay busy with the water bowls, taking care to fill each one to just the right level.
There was something so wholesome about seeing Logan give himself so fully to a task that was only going to be of benefit to someone else.
Logan might only have been at The Dog Den for a few minutes, but he genuinely looked right at home.
Over the years in college, and then sporadically since then, Stella had never really seen Logan look so full of contentment. It was like working to help the assortment of homeless dogs was giving Logan a sense of tranquility and purpose that had eluded him for most of his life.
However Stella didn’t have too long to sift around in her own thoughts…
‘You must be Sweetie!’ Stella laughed, wrapping her arms around the huge mastiff dog that was sniffing and licking in and around her neck. ‘Kim said I’d like you, but I think this might just be love!’
What had looked like being a pretty disastrous day had actually turned into something else altogether.
Thoughts of the badly received presentation at work were long gone, as was any lingering awkwardness with Logan from the night before.
Stella and Sweetie the mastiff glanced over at Logan and watched as he helped an older dog climb up onto the super-comfy beanbag.
‘Yup. Logan’s as hot as hell on a super-hot day, isn’t he Sweetie?’ Stella said. ‘And maybe, just maybe, we might have a future together after all…’