Vesper Stories

Some of you may have read my erotic MM Romance Master's Boys Stories. In book 3, "Kaden", we meet Zachary Teak's newest secretary, Vesper. I decided about a year ago to write Vesper's story down as a series of free shorts and post them on my blog. This is the first installment called "Dinner with Frankie". Please check back to read more of Vesper's stories each month and thank you for tuning in :)

DINNER WITH FRANKIE

Vesper’s Story

Vesper Cosgrove stared into the mirror, leaning forward as she put the final touches on her scarlet red lip stick. Frank Ciarello, her beau, would be at her office to pick her up very shortly. She was so excited to have her own man, if she could honestly call Frank her man. The very thought of it had butterflies swarming in her tummy. The Italian American pastry chef was a handsome man, standing about five foot ten inches tall, with coarse, curly, salt and pepper hair. Vesper towered over the man, at six feet five inches tall. Of course, Vesper’s plumbing was still male, but as she examined her face in the mirror for any trace of stubble, she was pleased that the electrolysis that she had painstakingly endured had done its job and the months of treatments had resulted in a hairless jaw. The hormone therapy that she had been on for over five years had resulted in nicely shaped breasts and a higher voice than she’d had as Lester Cosgrove, the name she’d been born with.

Vesper had lived as a woman for the last five years though she’d emotionally identified as a woman for most of her life, deeply hidden and trying to find her way in a homophobic world. Back in the day, there was no such thing as transgender. It took the notoriety of the brave Billy Jean King and her homophobic rival, Bobby Riggs, that eventually brought the words  transgender and transsexual to the 1970’s dinner table. Yeah, right… not in Lester’s conservative home. The word ‘gay’ was a slur to be thrown around by her homophobic dad.

Once her father had passed away, Lester had come out to mom, trying to explain who she was yet, her mother was one of those 1950’s Ozzie and Harriet moms who was left clueless by her husband and his aerospace career, which was thought to be so exotic by the whole family. Lester’s little brother Scott, the only sibling, hadn’t wanted to understand and had distanced himself from Les since then. Vesper’d decided at age thirty, that she was finally going to leave the male persona behind and become completely female. Five years into her transformation, her wardrobe was strictly female, though finding ladies shoes to fit her size thirteen feet was always a bit of a challenge. She looked into the mirror one last time and picked up a small rectangular box. Opening it, she picked up a Q-Tip and selected a tiny black heart shaped beauty mark and lifted it to her upper lip. She dabbed it onto her skin and smiled as the final touch to her makeup was applied. Satisfied that she looked as good as she ever would, she closed the box and stood.

Vesper glanced at the clock which was hanging on the wall of her office and noted that she had only a few more minutes before Frank would arrive. Once again, excitement pounded through her veins as she thought about the man she was going to meet. Vesper still found it hard to believe she was about to go out on her first date as a woman. She shied away from men who gave her notice. Her stature and the size of her hands as well as her still somewhat masculine facial features, generally made her the object of ridicule. Someday she hoped to be able to afford plastic surgery which would soften her jaw and brow line, finishing her transformation once the gender reassignment had been completed.

Vesper thought back over the last year and how far she’d come. The economy was terrible and when Bertha Meadows, the elderly lady that she’d been a companion to, passed away, Vesper had no income and nowhere to live. She’d lived with Bertha for almost twelve years, seeing that she ate nutritional meals, taking her to her doctor’s visits, and doing all of the cooking, shopping, and general house cleaning. In the end, Vesper had taken great care to make sure that Bertha’s passage into the next world was as comfortable as possible, decorating her sick room with fresh cut flowers, and playing soft music for her. She bathed her and dressed her and always made sure that she got an hour’s worth of sunshine every morning, rolling her wheelchair onto the back patio and reading to her. When Bertha’s son offered to let Vesper stay at the house in exchange for a reasonable rent, Vesper counted herself blessed. Securing an income would be her next priority. Grieving from her companion’s death, Vesper was reeling and terrified for her future before answering an advertisement for a receptionist at a gay sex club called DOMZ.com.

Vesper had always been painfully shy and mortified by a terrible speech impediment that she’d suffered since her father had verbally abused her almost since birth. When she walked into her boss’s office and Zack Teak had hired her on the spot, her joy almost couldn’t be contained. From that moment forward, Vesper made it her goal in life to please everyone that she worked with. She often prepared little treats at home to bring to work and share with the Doms and submissives that walked the halls of the online BDSM sex club. She made sure that Mr. Teak had his favorite coffee prepared just the way he liked it every morning. She cut up little Danishes in geometric shapes and served them to her boss on her own bone china plates with lacy paper doilies underneath. Mr. Teak seemed appreciative with her work but one day, he called her into the office to tell her in the kindest way possible, that her speech impediment was hurting his business. He’d been getting complaints from the submissive members of his online website, that when they called in to book appointments with one of the in-house Doms, they couldn’t understand her. He’d told Vesper that he had to make a change.

Vesper remembered the chill that passed through her at the thought of being out on the street, homeless. It was not a pleasant thought and it terrified her. Then, miracle of miracles, Mr. Teak had looked across the desk, his brow furrowed with sadness, and come up with an alternative. When he offered her the job of concierge, Vesper had nearly flown across his desk and kissed him right on the mouth. Though no position of concierge had been filled at DOMZ.com before, Mr. Teak had assured her that she could make the position what she would and left the job description quite loose. Vesper had taken the reins and decided that it would be her responsibility, as it always had in the past, to take care of people. After all, it was what she did best.

Vesper was on pins and needles when her cell rang.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Magpie. I’m out in the reception area and there’s no one here to let me back,” Frank said. After six, when Logan went home, the submissives who had appointments were shown back by Frederick, the nighttime security man at DOMZ.com. The overnight webmaster worked from home. It was strange to Vesper that Frederick wasn’t at his post.

“Oh, thath thrange. Frederick thould be there,” she said. “I’ll be out in jutht a minute, Frank.”

“Okay, Magpie. I’ll be waiting impatiently.” She smiled and hung up. She was very excited about their date. She really liked Frank a great deal. She took one last look in the full length mirror and picked up her handbag, letting herself out of her office. She nearly ran into Mr. Teak and Frederick who were walking down the corridor, speaking to each other.

“Oh, there you are, Frederick. Hello, Mithter Teak,” she said to her boss.

“Were you looking for me, Vesper?” Frederick asked.

“Oh, no, my date ith here. He jutht called from retheption,” she said.

“Did you say your date, Vesper?” Mr. Teak asked. Vesper smiled, shyly.

“Well, yeth. Would you like to meet him?” she asked.

“But of course,” Mr. Teak said. He looked very intrigued.

“Well, thith way, then,” she said with a grin. They walked out into the reception area and Frank stood next to the reception desk holding a clear plastic box with a wrist corsage. Her heart fluttered for a moment when she saw the loving expression in his eye. He smiled at her and stepped forward, looking so handsome in his three piece suit. He stretched up on tiptoe and she leaned down so that he could peck her on the cheek. She must have been seven or so inches taller than he was. She turned to Mr. Teak and Frederick who stood behind her, smiling.

“Mithter Teak, I’d like you to meet Frank Thiarello, my date. Frank thith ith my bothe and thith ith Frederick our thecurity guard,” she said. Frank smiled and shook their hands.

“Nice to meet you, both. Vesper talks about DOMZ.com like it is her family,” Frank said in his thick Brooklyn accent.

“You too,” Zack replied.

“Frank ith the baker who made Ivan and Wadeth wedding cake,” Vesper said.

“Oh, so that’s how you met,” Zack said. “Well, it was both a beautiful and a delicious cake,” he added.

“Thank you but the best thing that ever came out of that job is my little Magpie,” Frank said. Vesper blushed. “Come on, honey. I made dinner reservations; nice meeting you both,” Frank said. He took Vesper’s hand, and she wiggled her fingers at Mr. Teak and Frederick and walked out of the room. Before the door closed, Vesper heard the muted conversation.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” Frederick said. Zack laughed.

“Looks like love is in the air,” Zack said happily.

                                                                      ****

Frank took Vesper’s hand and wrapped it around his arm before pushing open the exit door to DOMZ.com. Vesper had told him that she had shared a small bungalow in Glendale with a long term elderly companion who had recently passed but since it was their first date, he hadn’t wanted to ask for her address and instead had insisted on picking her up from the office where he knew she felt safe. Though she was a big woman, the vulnerability that she exuded was surprisingly sweet. She looked to be about thirty but he expected that she may be a little older than that but he didn’t care. Her innocence was one of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place. There was something special about his Vesper that was very special and getting to know her better was going to become his top priority.

Tonight, Vesper was dressed in that pretty 1950’s style dress and platinum blonde wig that he loved so much. He remembered his own mother and his aunts dressing the same style when he’d been just a boy. He noticed the small things about her that reminded him of the ladies in his vast Italian family… the way she put on white gloves, the way she giggled when he’d put the wrist corsage on her, and the way her big blue eyes glittered when she smiled shyly afterward, batting her long false eyelashes. He’d thought she was just lovely.

“I had planned on taking us to my favorite restaurant and then catching the late showing of the movie if that’s okay with you, Magpie?” he asked, as they walked toward his vehicle. She looked over and down at him, a small satisfied smile playing upon her pretty lips.

“Of courth, Frank, that thoundth wonderful,” she lisped. Many men may have been put off by her speech patterns but Frank had been charmed by it from the moment he’d heard her sweet voice over the phone.

“Good. It’s hard ta find good Italian food in this town, but Evangelina’s is my favorite.” They walked up to his classic 1964 Chevy Cavalier and he immediately went to the passenger side, putting his key into the lock and turning it, opening the long door on the shiny yellow and white car. She slid inside onto the white leather seats and then he closed the door, walking around to the driver’s side, and climbing in. Vesper sat daintily on the long bench seat, which he’d pushed back to allow her long legs to fit. She grinned over at him, flashing straight white teeth.

“Thith ith quite a car, Frank,” she said, reaching out to admire the dash with a gloved hand. He was quite proud of the classic car which had been parked in his father’s garage for almost forty years before Frank decided to move out to California and expand his very busy cake and pastry shop to the west coast. He started up the powerful motor and grabbed the wide white wheel, backing out of the parking space.

“Well, thanks, hon. This usta be my dad’s ride. I was the only boy, surrounded by six sisters, so my pops willed the car to me,” he said, hearing the Brooklyn boy accent coming through. You could take the boy out of Brooklyn but not the Brooklyn out of the boy.

“Well, ith lovely.” Frank watched as Vesper continued to look around the car, seemingly admiring all of the fine details that he kept in pristine condition.

“So, you like Italian food, Magpie?” Frank asked, beginning to feel the butterflies for the first time. He wanted to make a good impression so badly.

“I love Italian, Frankie,” she said and then she giggled, probably realizing that the answer had more than one meaning. He grinned at her before turning his attention back out through the wide windshield as he drove down Santa Monica Boulevard. He liked the nickname she’d used for him. His mother and numerous aunts and uncles had all called him Frankie. It made him feel like he was at home. He stopped at a light and looked over at her. She held her white patent leather purse in her lap and covered it with her large hands. The fact that Vesper was taller and broader than Frank really didn’t bother him a whole lot. He was comfortable in his own skin, and after one marriage failed disastrously, Frank was anxious to find a companion. He and his ex wife had split up nearly ten years before, and he had buried himself in his business, leaving little time for any kind of social life. He was just smacked on the side of the head when he’d met Vesper and for the first time in a long time, he was anxious to dive into the dating pool again.

The place Frank was taking Vesper wasn’t too far away and he was anxious to sit down and talk with her over a glass of their best Chianti and bread sticks. They drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes until he spotted Evangenlina’s and he turned into the drive. A valet rushed up to the car and Frank got out, taking a ticket from him before walking around to the passenger side, where Vesper was being helped out by a second valet. As soon as she stood, Frank was there, grinning like a loon as he took her hand and led her to the front of the restaurant.

“Oh, thith thmellth wonderful, Frank,” Vesper said as the scent of delicious garlic, roasting peppers, and marinara gravy hit his nostrils. The Maître’d stepped up to them, dressed sharply in his black tuxedo, holding two thick menus.

“Good evening, Sir, Miss. Do you have reservations?” he inquired with a goateed smile.

“Yes, Frank Chiarello at seven-thirty,” Frank answered as the waiter nodded, stepping up to a podium before making a note on the chart there.

“Very good, Sir, this way,” he said, turning and leading them through the dark restaurant. The deeper they got into the dark place, the better it smelled, and Frank found his stomach rumbling as they were led to a booth shaped in a half moon, near the back of the restaurant. A red jar candle sat on top of the table, providing just the right traditional Italian restaurant atmosphere and Frank took Vesper’s hand as he helped her to take her seat before walking around and taking his own across from her as a waiter arrived with menus and a basket of bread.

“This is William,” the Maître’d said, introducing the waiter. “He will be serving you this evening.” Frank was thrilled with how elegant the service was and proud that they were so solicitous in front of his pretty date. The waiter handed menus to them both and took their order of a fine Chianti which Frank selected off of their wine list before departing. He looked across the table. In the muted light, his Magpie looked beautiful, her eyes twinkling the way that they had from the first time he’d met her. She smiled shyly back at him.

“The atmothphere in here ith tho wonderful, Frank,” she said, reaching one gloved hand across the table to him. He grasped it, loving the feel of the smooth white fabric and catching a whiff of the corsage on her wrist.

“Oh, I am so glad ya like it, Magpie. I wanted ta make a good impression on youz,” he confessed, feeling somewhat self conscious because her speech, though interesting in its pattern, didn’t sound like some Guido right off the Jersey Shore. He looked down at their hands, still clasped across the table. “I… I hope ya don’t think of me as just some schmuck from Brooklyn. It’s hard tryin to make an impression on a real lady,” he confessed. He glanced up when she squeezed his hand.

“Frank, can I tell you a thory?” Vesper asked. He brightened a bit, looking into her compassionate eyes.

“Of course, Magpie,” he said and then he noticed the waiter coming back.

“Are you ready to order, Sir, Miss?” William asked. Frank hadn’t even cracked open the menu but he knew what he wanted. He looked across the table at Vesper.

“Magpie, can I order for both of us?” he asked. She vigorously nodded, closing her menu and handing it off to William, the waiter.

“Of courth, Frankie,” she said and he smiled, handing the menu to the waiter.

“Great, well, let’s see, start us off with a Caesar salad, oysters Florentine, and then the veal with bacon wrapped scallops and angel hair pasta with the basil marinara,” he recited.

“Very good selections, Sir,” William said and then closing his pad, he left them alone. Frank watched as Vesper removed her gloves, setting them aside, before picking up a piece of the rosemary bread and swirling it into the olive oil that William had poured for them while Frank ordered. She put the fragrant piece of bread into her mouth and sighed with what could only be joy. Frank tore a piece off for himself and repeated the action, slightly embarrassed by how clunky he must appear to such a delicate creature.

“Please, Magpie, you said you had a story,” he ventured. She smiled shyly and his gaze was drawn to her perfect lips. She was enchanting.

“Thith thory ith of a little boy who wath born to a middle clath family in the theventieth. He alwayth felt out of plathe. Hith father wath a homophobe and he boathted about it openly every night at the dinner table. The little boy knew he wath different from otherth from an early age. He worthiped Dolly Parton and whenever he could, he would thneak into hith motherth bedroom and try on her clotheth and heelth. One day, he got into her makeup. He put on a fathe that he knew he wanted to wear every day for the retht of hith life.” Vesper stopped and her eyes glittered as she looked over at him. He suddenly knew just how important this moment was and exactly where this was going. He was falling for this woman and falling hard. He knew at that moment that she was one of the most courageous people he had ever met. He smiled at her and reached back across the table reaching for her ungloved hand. Her nails were painted bright red and she was soft and beautiful.

“Magpie, I understand. Nothing youz said changes anything about the way I feel about ya. I think youz are the bravest most beautiful person that I’ve ever met and I want you ta know, we’ll take this just the way youz wants it,” he replied, putting as much of his heart into the words that he could. He wouldn’t trade this woman for any other woman in the world. He watched her eyes become shiny and she dropped her gaze, looking down at their joined fingers.

“Thank you, Frankie. I hope I never dithappoint you,” she said, her voice becoming thick. She chanced a glance up and he cocked his head and smiled.

“No chancha that, baby. No chancha that.”

The End