by K. Anderson
Warning
This book contains explicit content intended for readers 18+ years old.
If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with adult content, please close this book now.
Chapter One
Anna got back home from her dull nine to five job at the office and kicked off her shoes. She’d bought them especially for work, when she was first awarded the job after her successful interview two years previously. She’d imagined that she’d get used to wearing them, that they’d ‘break in’ or whatever it was her mother told her. And yet, somehow, two years down the line, she still found them painful and almost intolerable to wear. The skirt and suit jacket too, weren’t exactly her style. The fabric itched at the back of her neck and her tights always seemed to end up hanging halfway down her legs by the end of the working day, to the point where she couldn’t wait to get changed and into something comfortable and relaxing once she got home. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy dressing up and wearing feminine clothing occasionally, just not itchy skirt suits that made her look about ten years older.
Arriving home at her small but cosy city apartment that Friday night, she immediately kicked off the heels at the door and then padded through to the bedroom to get changed. She didn’t have to go to work the next day, so she hung the suit up in the wardrobe and put it away, glad to get it out of her sight for the next two days until Monday. She tossed her shirt, bra and panties into the wash and then fumbled around naked, searching through her cupboards and closets until she found something clean and comfy to put on – her favorite onesie.
With it zipped up right to the top and feeling like a cute little teddy bear, Anna went back into the main living room/kitchen area and grabbed herself a can of coke from the fridge before carrying it over to the couch and sitting down. She wasn’t planning on doing very much for the next couple of days. The weekends were her time to herself. She didn’t really have many friends outside of the work environment, and she wouldn’t even call her work mates ‘friends’ more just…colleagues. They never saw each other on weekends or in the evenings but had a civil and friendly relationship during office hours. Anna didn’t really mind. She didn’t even know whether she had anything in common with the people at work and she wasn’t prepared to find out.
A couple of them had occasionally asked her to go for a drink with them, but Anna had been unsure whether she was being invited in just a friendly capacity or whether it meant more than that. She’d heard plenty of bad things about office romances and wanted to try and avoid them wherever possible. There were one or two guys who were relatively good looking, but the majority of them just weren’t her type at all, and then she had to cross off all the ones who were already married, or had a girlfriend, or ones who were gay. It didn’t leave her with many choices.
She did want to find a partner at some point; someone to fall in love with, settle down with, have a family with. The dream.
But Anna wasn’t entirely sure that dream actually existed. Certainly not for her, and certainly not in that office she worked at.
So, being cautious about getting drawn into a disastrous office romance, and only seeing potential in one or two of the guys anyway, she had avoided all requests to go out for drinks after work, even if there was a group of people going. Partially, that was her own anxiety beginning to kick in, and part of her felt as though she was using the office romance thing as an excuse. She’d always found it difficult to socialize in large groups and occasionally felt crowded or stressed in crowded bars and clubs, so the majority of the time it was just easier to say no.
This did mean, however, that it was especially hard for her to make actual friends outside of work, even girlfriends. She missed having someone to just pop out to the mall with and do some shopping, or to talk about guys, or have movie nights. She’d lost touch with everyone from college after they all graduated, got jobs and settled down with their partners. Anna had done the first two, but had spectacularly failed in the latter.
Now, at 28, she was starting to doubt her choices in life and wished she’d settled down with her long term boyfriend at college when she’d had the chance. Perhaps they’d still be together now with a couple of kids. He’d always wanted to go in that direction but she’d been reluctant to commit, wanting to put her career first and focus on that, and had broken it off. She’d dated one guy since, for about six months, but that was it. It was hard to establish relationships with her schedule. It was hard to even meet anyone in the first place seeing as she never went out. The only people she interacted with were her work colleagues and the cashiers at the store where she bought her groceries once a week.
Anna sighed and took a sip of her coke. She turned on the television, switching off her mind a little as she changed channels and tried to find something to watch. There was a documentary on about adopted kids and she ended up leaving it on. She’d considered adoption before now, but it’d be hard to fit a child in with her schedule without someone else to support her. Her dreams of having a family were on hold, probably indefinitely, seeing as she was never going to actually meet someone to settle down with.
She watched the adoption programme, ending up with tears in her eyes. She’d always been really soppy when it came to things like that. Then she changed channels and found a movie to watch, getting up to make herself some food and continuing to watch it from over in the kitchen while she cooked up something simple.
The rest of the evening passed by in a similar, relaxed manner and she went to bed around eleven thirty, tired after a full week at work and looking forward to a lie in.
Every Saturday was the same for Anna. Saturday was her shopping day. She would wake up around ten and laze in bed for half an hour or an hour, until she was really hungry and couldn’t wait any longer. Then she’d get up and go through to the kitchen and make herself some breakfast while writing down a list of things she needed to get from the store.
After breakfast, she would shower, get dressed and head out to the store. She had such a routine going that she even knew some of the staff by name, because it was the same people that worked every Saturday. She recognized them, smiled at them. She wandered around the aisles picking up everything she needed, and always bought a state newspaper at the counter on the way out so she could try and keep up with everything going on.
When she got back home, she would unpack the food, make herself a cup of coffee, then sit down and read the paper. Because she’d had a late breakfast, she normally skipped lunch on a Saturday in favor of having an early dinner around 5.
That Saturday was set to be no different to any other.
Everything had gone exactly the same as it always did, and Anna settled down with her newspaper, curled up on the couch with some quiet music on in the background, and she started to read.
She had almost finished the paper when she saw it. She’d gotten right through all of the main headlines and stories and articles, and was at the back near the sports pages. That was the point where she normally folded it up and put it down, as she wasn’t that interested in sports.
The adverts page.
She nearly always had a glance through it, just to see if anyone was selling anything cheap that she might be interested in, although she’d never actually ordered anything. This one time someone was advertising for a housemate in an apartment closer to her workplace than the one she was currently occupying. She’d been tempted to contact them, but again, her social anxiety had gotten the better of her. What if they had nothing in common? What if they were horrible?
The same thoughts ran through her head as she stared and stared at the words of the advert now held directly in front of her eyes, her hands gripping the newspaper tightly and somehow unable to tear herself away even though she told herself she was stupid for evening considering it.
‘Wife Wanted’ said the little headline at the top in capital letters.
Chapter Two
That had definitely caught her attention, but then th
e rest of it even more so:
34-year-old widower seeks new wife to help raise my son.’
There was a phone number and e-mail address underneath.
She giggled slightly as she re-read it. It was very forward of the man, asking for a bride straight away like that. Why didn’t he just ask for a nanny? But then, she supposed, he wanted a partner too…someone to live with him, take care of him, like his previous wife had. A part of her felt a little sorry for him too. He’d lost his wife. That must have been hard, especially if they’d just had a kid together.
Anna sighed and folded the newspaper in half, tossing it onto the coffee table. Who was she kidding? There was no way she’d ever have the confidence to reply to an advert like that, let alone go along and actually meet the guy and marry him. Marry a complete stranger? What if he was a psychopath? Even if he wasn’t, he probably wouldn’t like her anyway. He probably had loads of replies from much prettier, more confident girls whom he’d much rather make his wife.
She sipped her coffee and put the whole thing out of her head, or at least, she tried to. She tidied up the apartment a little then made herself something to eat seeing as it was nearly 5. She ate in front of the TV and spent the remainder of the evening there, relaxing and watching films.
When she went to bed that night, her conscious mind had pretty much forgotten about the advert, but her subconscious mind apparently hadn’t.
She fell into a restless sleep where she imagined her arms around a small baby boy, singing to him, feeding him, changing his nappy and putting fresh clothes on him, all while a tall, dark handsome man watched over her smiling. Then, when the baby was asleep in bed, the two of them ate dinner together, with candles and wine, looking across the table into each other’s eyes.
He was gorgeous, this man of her dreams. He didn’t have a name, but he had a deep, sultry voice and he told her how beautiful she was.
After they’d eaten, he literally swept her into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom, laying her down on the soft, silky sheets and making love to her, in a dimly lit room with candles flickering in the background. It was the epitome of cheesy romantic movie sex, but it obviously did the trick for Anna. After her in dream orgasm, she woke up feeling extremely hot and wet between the legs, as well as slightly embarrassed. Still, she ran her hand southwards and spent the next five to ten minutes masturbating and bringing herself to orgasm before she got up out of bed to take a shower.
Unlike the previous evening where she’d managed to push it out of her mind, the thoughts of the advert and the mysterious 34-year-old widower who’d placed it were now firmly at the forefront as she ran through all the pros and cons and tried to convince herself that it would be a good idea to reply, whilst simultaneously telling herself it was the worst idea ever, arguing silently inside her head.
Her entire Sunday was taken up with it.
She picked up the discarded newspaper from the previous day and read through the small advert at least another four times, probably six or seven realistically.
By lunchtime, she had opened up her laptop and was sat on the couch carefully typing in the man’s e-mail address into a brand new, as yet untitled, e-mail.
It never got a title. It went in the trash.
By mid-afternoon, she’d started another e-mail. This one made it a little further. She actually gave it a title – ‘hello’.
Then that went in the trash too.
There were several more attempts. Each time she backed out and lost her nerve at the last minute, although each time she got a little bit further. A better title. An introduction. Giving her name, telling him about herself, asking a couple of questions.
The final occasion, she’d written out pretty much the entire e-mail before scrapping it. This time it didn’t get deleted entirely though. It got saved in the Drafts section.
Then, at around 8pm while she was finishing off her dinner in front of the TV, she dragged over the laptop again and opened up the draft to re-read it.
‘Mail order bride??? A response to your ad!’ was the title. She was trying her best to keep it light hearted and fun, hoping he had a sense of humor.
It carried on:
‘Hi there!
I saw your ad in the newspaper yesterday and it definitely caught my attention. ‘Wife Wanted’, wow, what a headline! Are you planning to marry the said person immediately or is there some kind of trial period first? What if the person replies and you don’t even like each other and then you’re already married and stuck?! Sorry, I just have so many questions, but I find it really interesting!
Anyway, I should probably start by introducing myself. My name’s Anna and I’m a single girl from New Jersey. I’m 28 and have always wanted a family but have never been able to find the right person to settle down with, probably because I don’t really go out much except to work and I can be kind of shy sometimes, and awkward! You can probably tell that by reading my e-mail.
I really love kids and have always wanted one – or two! I don’t know how this works but…I guess I’d like to apply for the position! I’d like to know a little bit more about you first though, if that’s OK.
Lots of Love,
Anna.’
She read it through a couple of times. It was clunky in places and wasn’t perfect, but then, she wasn’t sure she wanted it to be. She wanted to give an accurate portrayal of the person she was, so that he could decide for himself and not be under any illusions about her.
By this point in the evening, she’d had a couple of glasses of wine with her meal and was feeling a lot more confident and relaxed. Her finger hesitated over the enter button, knowing that if she pressed it, the e-mail would get sent and she wouldn’t ever be able to retract what she’d said. It was a big decision. Still, she could always say no at the last minute if she changed her mind and didn’t like the guy. No one was forcing her. This was a free country.
She bit her lip and aggressively pounded down on the enter key, hitting send and watching as the e-mail was dispatched into the ether of the world wide web, wanting to just do it and get it out of the way before she had another loss of confidence. It was too late now; it was gone.
Her heart skipped a beat and she felt a rush of excitement and adrenalin. This was insane. What the heck was she doing? Her mother would probably say she was mad, if she was still around, and a part of her did feel kind of crazy, but it was also thrilling. She’d never done anything like this before. She’d always been the sensible one; the one who came home first, who didn’t get too drunk at college because she had lectures in the morning, who always tidied up and kept the place looking nice. Perhaps she finally needed to do something a little wild, something that was purely for her and not for anyone else, something she wanted, something fun.
She finished off the bottle of wine and was in a good mood for the rest of the night. There was a high probability that he wouldn’t even reply anyway so she was trying not to get her hopes up, and she certainly wasn’t overly worried about it anymore.
She checked her e-mails before bed but nothing had come through, so she crashed out around half eleven, remembering to set her alarm for work in the morning.
Chapter Three
As usual, she woke up feeling as though she hadn’t had nearly enough sleep, and rushing to get ready, grabbing a shower and forcing herself into her scratchy, dull work clothes, the falling down tights and the awkward, uncomfortable heels, not having time to check her e-mails before rushing out the door. She didn’t even have time for breakfast, but that was normal for her. She always grabbed something when she arrived, from the work canteen, along with her morning cup of coffee that would keep her going until lunchtime.
She said hi to her work colleagues as she came in and sat down at her desk in the shared office space, everyone chatting and gossiping and catching up about what they’d been up to at the weekend. Anna stayed quiet, like she usually did, just listening in to what was said and laughing at the appropriate moments or givin
g an appropriate responsive comment back in return, such as ‘oh gosh’ or ‘that sounds amazing’ or ‘how funny’. She generally much preferred to listen rather than to speak, and her ‘friends’ at work had gotten used to that.
The majority of the time, they didn’t even bother asking Anna what she’d been up to at the weekend, as her answers were always the same. ‘Oh, nothing much’, ‘this and that’, ‘just watching TV really’.
This time, she actually did have something interesting to tell them, but she couldn’t. Of course she couldn’t. ‘Oh yes, I replied to an advert in the paper. Some guy was looking for a wife to raise his kid.’ So once again, she stayed silent and just listened, occasionally responding with the odd word to join in the conversation sufficiently. Then she offered to refill everyone’s coffee cups and conversation turned to sport, again something else that Anna wasn’t really interested in.
She returned with the coffees a few moments later then sat down at her desk and logged onto her computer to check her e-mails.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She’d had a reply. From him. The man from the advert, who’s name was Carl, apparently, according to the name that came up on the ‘sender’ section.
‘Re: Mail order bride??? A response to your ad!’ said the subject matter.
Anna looked around her, glancing over her shoulder and checking no one was watching. By that point, most people had finished their morning natter and had started their work.
She clicked on the e-mail and opened it up.
‘Hi Anna!
I’m so happy to get a response from you. The advert hasn’t really been as successful as I might have hoped. Perhaps I was being too forward by asking for a wife like that or maybe I scared some women off at the mention of a child. Either way, you’re in with a very strong chance of becoming my wife if things go well between us!
