The Man

The Man

Mike Ledur

All Rights Reserved

In April 2025, people throughout the world were celebrating the end of Covid-19. We'd had moments like this before, in 2022, when people assumed there was no need for masks, only to be followed by an eighth wave and a new round of cases and deaths. But this time, the experts told us it was really over. The case numbers dwindled to almost zero.

But that was followed in May by some really bad news. A new variant had been identified, and it was spreading much faster than the old variants and was fatal to far more people. I worked from home, had groceries delivered, and never left my apartment.

Of course the careless and heedless, the listeners to Rumor Radio and the members of the Divine Will churches, the defiant, and those who mistrusted expertise of any type - all those who'd scorned the warnings for the past few years - continued to ignore the warnings. The result was that by the end of June they were all dead.

The initial challenge was to dispose of the bodies. Every available truck and hauling vehicle was pressed into service, and many people pitched in to help with home-made stretchers. (Defiance had been rooted out of the population, replaced by cooperation.) By most counts, 95% of men, 80% of women, and 90% of children had perished.

Why the difference in death rate between men and women? The reason might have been biological, but more likely because that fatal combination of defiance and carelessness had affected more men than women.

There were also many nonfatal consequences. Many people had long Covid, and the majority of the men who survived were impotent and asexual. I was left in a tiny minority and wondered what the consequences would be.

Governments throughout the world, and finally also the American government, recognized that the sudden collapse of the population posed a threat to the continuation of humanity. To encourage women to have children, they offered significant financial incentives to women, including unlimited childcare and monthly financial support for 18 years. They could easily do this because of the number of people who'd died intestate or with no surviving beneficiaries. As the probate cases were processed, vast amounts of money were transferred to state governments. People were given the right, within strict limits, to claim the cars and other property of those who'd died if no relatives came forward.

Maybe because of those subsidies and all the extra money in the economy, at some point after the pandemic was all over, people seemed to get fed up grieving. A new mood of lightheartedness seem to take over. The survivors wanted a fresh start.

Soon laws were passed, or at least there was social pressure the equivalent of laws, requiring men to be tested for impotence. Sexual health centers sprung up, staffed by lighthearted, hastily trained women, to identify and label people with sexually transmitted diseases. People with herpes or AIDS found themselves with small tattoos on their foreheads. In fact most of those who'd been careless about sexual health had also been careless about health in general and had died in May, so very few forehead tattoos were seen.

The real reason for some of the laws was so that the women could identify impotent men. But instead of labeling them, the sexual-health authorities required non-impotent men to wear badges. The women at the centers would basically perform some seductive maneuvers and then check the status of the men. The men who showed normal reactions were given a silver badge about an inch and a half high in the shape of an erect penis and ordered never to go out in public without it. (They were modeled after similar badges worn by women in the Middle Ages.)

The women staffers also tried to pick up those men, asking them for dates and offering to take them to nice restaurants, and showing them pictures of themselves in sexy evening gowns that they promised to wear to the date. When I got such a proposal, it was too sudden, and I declined.

Before the events of May, there was a young woman I'd had my eyes on and who I'd hoped would be my girlfriend, but she was seeing another guy. Both of them had died. I was in mourning for her, I guess. One day when I happened to visit her family's house, her sister Elly - who previously had barely bothered to take her eyes off the TV when I visited - showed a sudden interest in me and turned off the TV as soon as she saw me and noticed my badge.

She told me, in front of her parents, that she'd always liked me a lot and had been so jealous of her sister for being my friend. (I was skeptical, but Elly looked enough like her sister that I played along.) She said she'd like to offer me some photos from her sister's room and invited me there to look at the photos and choose my favorite.

But that turned out to be a pretext, because as soon as the bedroom door was closed, she hugged me and started kissing me. She even took off her top, revealing her bra, which she invited me to touch. With no experience resisting such a strong come-on, I gave in and touched the bra, which she'd apparently outgrown, and when she unclasped it, I caressed her lovely breasts, to her great delight. I closed my eyes and thought of her sister. It all happened so fast that soon both of us were naked on the bed, and before I knew it, the deed was done.

At that time, I had almost no context for what was happening, but I definitely knew I enjoyed it and wanted to do it again some time. Elly confirmed that she'd like that very much, and asked me whether she was now my girlfriend. I thought that label was a bit hasty, since I was still in mourning for her sister, so I didn't give her a direct answer. When we left the room, it was clear that the parents had been paying attention, and there were smiles all around, with the father telling me I was such a nice guy and he hoped to see me again.

As I was driving home, I was surprised to be pulled over by a police car. I'm a very careful and law-abiding driver, so this had never happened to me before. A policewoman got out of the car and asked for my driver's license. I handed it to her, and she took it back to the cruiser, apparently to verify it.

When she came back, she handed it back to me and asked defiantly, "Where's your badge? Don't you have one?" Maybe my badge wasn't very visible, since it was partially hidden by my jacket lapel. I pushed back the lapel and displayed it. She then had me get out of my car while she forcefully rubbed her breasts against my chest. She let me off with a verbal warning: "That badge must be clearly displayed at all times. Next time I'll take you down to the station." She gave me a quick smile and told me I was free to go.

Before May, I'd been a software tester, but that job ended since the business was considered nonessential. I'd been watching to be called to a new job, and I knew it would be in infrastructure, since workers were desperately needed there to keep the power on and the water flowing. When I got home after visiting Elly, I found that I'd been called to interview at an electric utility for an essential job there. I went downtown for the interview and was taken to the office of a human resources employee.

Trudy, the HR lady, with her dark hair in a bun, was super nice and friendly after seeing my badge and said they had an urgent need for linemen. I asked her very nicely if they could consider my fear of heights and put me in a different position. "We might consider that, if..." And with that, she asked me to pull my chair away from the desk, sat on my lap, and started kissing me.

After about ten minutes, she went back to her chair, looked at her screen, and said, "How about a position in line monitoring? With your software background, you should be able to learn that." I thanked her, and she gave me the details and start date. As I started to leave, she said, "Remember, I'm always here for you, working in the same building, so please stop down and visit sometime." I gave her a quick kiss and left. I reflected that I was lucky to have dodged the lineman job, and after all, it's always nice to have a friend in HR.

I wanted to get a haircut before starting the job, but my usual barbershop had closed. The new one I found in my neighborhood looked like any other barbershop. Once inside, though, I found that it was divided into private rooms. The bell attached to the front door alerted one of the barbers, and mine turned out to be a young woman. She guided me into the room and closed the door. She then took off her lab coat to reveal that she was wearing a bikini only. She said, "It's a little too warm in her to wear that coat all the time."

I agreed that it was warm. As I sat in the chair, she clipped away, but in a rather hesitant manner. I was beginning to wonder whether she was a real barber when out of the blue she said she was still too hot and took off the bikini top. She continued clipping away, sometimes moving her breasts very close to my face. She noticed that she had my full attention, and at one point when I opened my mouth to say something, she quickly placed one of her nipples in it. I was amazed and delighted. She then told me she was done with the haircut, brushed me off, and invited me into another private room, this one with a bed.

There I let myself go and gave myself over to my instincts, imagining she was the HR lady. She was very enthusiastic throughout and told me I was wonderful. When I got home, I looked at my haircut and noticed it was a mess, but I had a nice feeling about it. The next time I went out in public, I noticed messy haircuts on other men as well.

Wondering how safe it was for me to go out in public, even though the streets were nearly deserted, I decided to spend most of my free time in my apartment. I watched more TV news and documentaries than usual and learned some interesting things. Sales of weight-loss programs had skyrocketed, as well as sales of dressy clothes, lingerie, and perfume. Fitness centers were flooded with new women, and many more women went out for walks in the neighborhood. Sports programs on TV were now all reruns, since the teams had been disbanded. They'd mostly been replaced with soap operas or psychologist-led talk shows.

There was a lot of talk about how to manage without a man or how to find a man. Some women on the talk shows said they were fine without a husband but needed to learn home-repair skills. Some said they'd be satisfied with an unbadged man, but others said frankly they hoped to snag a badged one.

I started my job a few days later, and it began with a month-long training program. The instructor was a man, a long-term employee of the utility, who said he hadn't done this specific job (monitoring power lines) but was pretty sure he could train us how to do it.

There were five other trainees in the class, with me being the only man. I had my badge on my jacket when I entered the building, but I took off the jacket and carried it folded up. The women in the class seemed like serious students, but maybe a little distracted by my presence. When I came back from the first break, I noticed that my jacket, on the back of my chair, was in a slightly different position, telling me that someone had likely moved it to look for a badge. I guess word had spread quickly among the five women, and the mood in the class changed quickly.

The next morning when I came into the room, I first thought I'd wandered into the wrong classroom. The women were wearing dressier clothes, and the air was filled with perfume. They all seemed very friendly to me, and although I sat in the same seat as the day before, the seat next to mine now had a different person. When it came time for lunch, my new neighbor asked me if I'd like to go out for lunch instead of going to the cafeteria with the others. I shouldn't have said yes, but I didn't want to seem disagreeable, so I accepted.

At lunch Lucy was very pleasant and engaging. She talked a little about her late husband, but mostly she wanted to know about me. I told her I was an amateur musician and had studied languages and didn't miss the sports programs that used to be on TV. I also said I didn't like perfume very much. She seemed genuinely interested. She became flirty in subtle ways, occasionally touching one of my hands or playing footsie with me. She smiled a lot and paid constant attention to my reactions.

Before she left, she said she hoped we could do this again soon and said she hoped she could see me outside work sometime. As we left the restaurant, she gave me a very nice but discreet kiss. I admitted that I had a nice impression of her.

The next morning, thank goodness, the only perfume smell in the class was what was left over from the previous day. I sat down in my usual seat but found a different woman in the seat next to me. That was Cecile, and she was wearing a nice black dress and a little makeup. I wasn't surprised when she invited me to lunch. She talked a little about herself, saying for example that she wasn't missing the TV being on every evening with football, basketball, or baseball games, but admitted that in some ways she missed her late husband.

"He was basically kind to me, and we were a good couple," she said. Then she asked me about myself, and I told her that I didn't have a girlfriend before May, but I had a good friend who I was considering asking out. I explained that she'd died during the sixth wave of the outbreak.

"Then you're in mourning, too," Cecile said. After we left the restaurant, she said, "I'd really like to see you some evening. Are you free tonight?"

She really did seem nice, but with so many competitors, I couldn't decide. I said, "I'm not free tonight, but maybe some other time."

That evening I reflected on my situation in a world turned upside-down. Previously my attitude had been based on an imaginary scarcity of women; now I had to adjust to the opposite, since it was the women who had to face a real scarcity of men.

Apparently so many women wanted me, and I didn't know what to do. Previously it seemed that none had, and I'd spent weeks trying to get up my courage to ask Elly's sister for a date, fearing that she'd say no and say she just wanted to stay friends. Maybe I missed that situation, since it at least allowed me to spend time with a woman I really liked. Now I went around confused. If I said yes to one of the women at work, I had an idea of what would follow, since things with women nowadays happened faster than I was prepared for. Should I just get to know a few women and make a decision?

But why was I so worried? Maybe I should enjoy the present circumstances. It was clear from my experiences with Elly, the barber, and the HR lady that I could have a different woman every day, and without much effort could choose the sexiest or the most pleasant. That seemed like a sensual paradise, and yet it was easily attainable. Was it that simple?

In the midst of those reflections, I realized I'd forgotten to pick up some groceries for breakfast. Even though it was already dark, I decided to walk to the nearby convenience store. With so few survivors, my city was safe at night, or so I thought. I was most of the way to the store when suddenly a car door opened and a woman dressed in black pushed me into the back seat. I tried to get out, but the car doors were locked. So I was now sitting next to the woman who'd forced me in, while another woman drove.

To my surprise, the woman in the back seat started talking to me in a very sweet way. "You should know it's not safe out there for you, honey. We've just rescued you from a very dangerous situation. There are some scary people out there."

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, obviously frightened.

"Just to a visit to our home," the back seat lady answered calmly and sweetly. "Don't be worried. We'll take you back to your place after the visit."

Then I got a better look at her face, and she looked as sweet as she sounded. She had a nice complexion and a very pleasant, benign look. I was still worried, though.

After a while, the lady driving pulled into an attached garage and closed the garage door. I walked with the two of them into the house, which seemed tidy and normal. In the kitchen, the back seat lady opened a bottle of wine and offered me a glass of it. We chatted for a moment, and then the driver lady came back into the room wearing just bra and panties. I chatted with her for a bit, and then the back- seat lady came back into the room, also wearing a bra and panties. "Let's go into the living room," they said.

Both women looked very, very appealing in their undergarments, and I was beginning to warm to the idea of spending some time with them. They had me sit in the middle of the sofa, and they sat on either side of me, so close that I felt a little crowded. One of them started kissing me a little, and the other started touching my chest and then my legs.

We had a little chat about safety in the neighborhood, and they assured me it was dangerous out there but that I was perfectly safe with them. They really were charming and attractive, and I decided to relax and enjoy myself. They offered me some cheese and brought out an unopened box, opened it, and served me some. The back seat lady introduced herself as Julie, and the driver introduced herself as Marie. It seemed that we were off to a pleasant evening.

Julie asked me whether I liked her outfit, and I answered honestly that I thought it was very nice and that she looked lovely in it.

"It doesn't need to stay on all evening," she said as she loosened the straps and placed my hand inside, touching her left nipple.

"Mine doesn't either," said Marie, who did a similar gesture, gently taking the same hand from Julie's breast and placing it on her own. By now the fear had vanished from my mind, and I found myself going with the flow. So I wasn't too surprised when Julie started taking off my shirt and Marie undid my belt buckle and removed my trousers. They noticed my excitement but didn't say anything and kept removing my clothes.

"They don't give those badges away for nothing," I said, trying to break the ice, but realizing immediately how stupid my joke was. But they ignored it and proceeded to touch me everywhere, apparently very absorbed.

Finally Julie said, "Let's go into the bedroom." I quickly took one more sip of the wine and went with them.

We sat down on the bed, and Marie said, "Wouldn't you like to take off my outfit?" I said I certainly would and removed both parts very easily, touching and caressing as I went.

"And how about mine?" Julie said, so I did the same for her. Then we all three lay down on the bed, kissing intensely and occasionally moving around.

"Now I'll let you focus on Julie for a moment," Marie said, "but then it's my turn." Julie lay on her back and opened her legs, and I came inside. She seemed to be enjoying it a lot, but I sensed some anxiety from Marie, who finally asked for her turn and told me she'd like for me to finish inside her. Instead of lying on her back, though, Marie asked me to do that while she came on top and straddled me. She moved up and down while I caressed her lovely breasts while Julie held one of her hands.

After about ten minutes, we switched positions and they encouraged me to come to a climax. Julie was still holding Marie's hand when I finished up, and we all three lay there sighing. I'd never imagined having two women in bed, but the experience with them seemed wonderful.

"Next time we'll reverse the order," Marie said.

Julie added, "Now aren't you glad we captured you?" I had to admit I was.

A while later, we got dressed and they drove me home. Marie handed me a slip of paper with their home address and email addresses. I kissed them both and said goodnight.

In class the next day, as expected, a new woman sat next to me. By then all six of us were on friendly terms. Rosie seemed younger than the others, and she wore a silk blouse with apparently no bra. She asked me out to lunch of course. On the way to the restaurant, she pulled me into an empty doorway, put my hand on her breast, and gave me a serious kiss. Doing this with a badged man in public was obviously dangerous, but I don't think anybody saw us.

At the restaurant, she asked me some questions about myself and seemed to hang on every word I said. I asked her some questions, and she seemed to give interesting answers. Finally she blurted out, "I want you so much. Can I come to your place tonight?"

I hesitated, not knowing how to respond. Finally I got my thoughts together and said, "I'm not ready to settle down, but if we're talking about one evening, then yes." I gave her my address and told her 8:00 pm.

She appeared at my door exactly on time, and when she came in, she gave me a hug and said, "Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm so glad it was my turn to sit next to you today, and I'm glad you invited me."

I asked her to sit down with me on the sofa.

"Please don't tell anyone else," I said, "but you're the first one I've invited from the class."

"Oh," she said, delighted. "And I thought you accepted the others' invitations, too. I can't believe my luck, sitting here in private with a badged man, and a very nice one at that."

I offered her some wine and cheese, and she seemed happy to talk about herself and learn more about me. As at lunch, she focused on my every word and gesture.

Finally I put my arm around her and gave her a kiss. She kissed me back very passionately, which confirmed that we were in for an exciting evening.

I then started unbuttoning her blouse, which made her kisses even more enthusiastic, but I decided to go very slowly, and stopped after the first two buttons and touched her thighs. She was relieved when I resumed unbuttoning. I found that her breasts were wonderful, perfect in size and shape, and exclaimed how beautiful she was. I fondled them and gently kissed her nipples, which seemed to inflame her even more. She then took off my clothes, took off her slacks, and we went into the bedroom.

Sitting on the bed to have a talk seemed superfluous with Rosie in her current state. We simply got into the bed and started kissing and touching each other. Her excited state turned me on, and I think the energy went both ways.

I couldn't get enough of her breasts and spent considerable time kissing and caressing them. When I came inside, she started moaning loudly, which continued until it was interrupted by shouts when she came to a climax. She begged for other positions, and I gladly obliged. When I finally climaxed, she seemed to find it as fulfilling as I did. We had a wonderful conversation, and she stayed overnight.

Having accepted Rosie's invitation, I wondered whether Lucy and Cecile would also accept under the same conditions. So when they invited me to lunch, I also explained that I wasn't ready to settle down but could invite them for the evening.

Both said that they understood my situation and would be very happy to spend the evening with me. Neither one had Rosie's energy, but Lucy was so beautiful in bed and so kind and gentle that the phrase "ideal woman" came into my mind. And Cecile was so classy that the same phrase came to mind.

With these successes in mind, I made an appointment with Trudy, the HR lady. I told her I was doing well in the training class and reminded her of some of the things she'd said during my interview. At first she thought I was going to cause trouble for her, but then I asked her whether she still meant what she'd said.

She said of course and very gladly accepted my invitation for that evening. I met her for dinner, and she showed up dressed in a beautiful and sexy gown, wearing makeup and lipstick, with her hair still in a bun. When we went into the restaurant, by the way, I hid my badge so as not to attract attention.

Apart from her outfit, Trudy talked and acted exactly like she had when she'd interviewed me. Instead of sitting on my lap, she took both of my hands across the table and said in a soft voice, "I'd love to spend the evening with you." This was surely a woman who knew how to seal a deal.

When we got to my place, I realized that I'd forgotten to put on clean sheets, so I excused myself to do that. When I came back into the living room, she had removed her lipstick and makeup and unfastened her gown, revealing a gorgeous, slim body. I rushed over to her and told her how beautiful she looked and how much I appreciated having dinner with such a glamorous woman.

We chatted over wine and cheese for a while, and then she undid her bun to let her hair flow down, and we got into bed. She was all I hoped she'd be, and we had a wonderful time. "You know," she said, "I've heard stories about some badged men being rude to women and mistreating them, but you're not like that at all. You're wonderful."

"It's just a reflection of how I feel about the women," I said. "I love beautiful, classy women."

"And they love you. I bet you have a steady stream of them."

"I've had a few," I said, "but I'm confused and finding it hard to choose."

"You should get in touch with the agency," she said. "You can't imagine how in demand badged men are. They'd treat you like a king." She gave me the web address and told me she was registered there but hadn't had any matches yet.

After we kissed goodnight and told each other what a wonderful time we'd had, I brought up the web page and entered some basic information about myself. I had a very enthusiastic email back from them the next day, offering to set up a Saturday appointment if that would be convenient for me. They asked me to bring a current health card, my driver's license, and of course my badge. It seemed reasonable.

On Saturday afternoon I showed up at a mostly empty two-story office building. At the main door, I rang and got buzzed into the building. Then I found the door to the agency's suite and knocked. After a moment, an attractive young woman opened the door for me. She was wearing only a big smile and a teddy. She looked really enticing. She introduced herself as Dorsey, and she took me into Michaela's office, where Dorsey handed me her business card, showing her title as account executive, and Michaela's card, showing that she was a senior account executive.

Michaela, a little taller than Dorsey, was wearing a nice skirt, stockings, and a single-buttoned buttoned blazer with apparently nothing under it except her skin. Dorsey brought in an ice bucket with a small bottle of champagne, opened it, and served us each a glass. There were smiles all around, and I could see that my visit was a festive occasion.

Michaela welcomed me and asked first what my goals were. I said I wasn't ready to settle down yet and for the moment wanted to play the field. I also said I was here because I didn't like my current method, which left too much to chance. Michaela smiled and said, "Perfect. We have a great solution for you." She explained that the women pay for the service, but there was no charge for badged men and that under certain circumstances they could earn bonuses. She went over a summary of the service and then went through the contract. Dorsey didn't say much but seemed very cheerful and pleasant.

"What about if I find a woman I want to settle down with," I asked Michaela.

"We'll deal with that when we come to it," she answered.

"I mean, wouldn't that end my activity with the agency?"

"It's not like the old marriage idea," Michaela explained. "Nowadays no woman expects an exclusive relationship. After all, we're dealing with the future of humanity. In some cases the man offers the main woman the ability to help him choose an occasional woman from the agency lists."

"By the way," Michaela continued, "almost all of the women you'll see on your list are divorced or widowed. Only a few have eunuch husbands, and they've signed a waiver that they accept it. None have badged husbands. We take care of these things so you don't need to worry about them. The women also sign waivers agreeing that neither the agency nor you have any responsibility for children that may result from the encounters."

"One of the problems that plagues this business," Michaela said, "is that people misrepresent themselves. That's why we have the reviews and the in-person interviews."

"Once you sign up and go through a couple of other procedures," she explained, "you'll start getting lists of members who match your preferences."

"The ones I entered on the website?" I asked.

"Yes, but you can modify those at any time, and your list will be refreshed."

Michaela also said that my identity would be protected and suggested I go by "Mike Brown." She also said that because of some recent violence against badged men, I shouldn't take the women to a restaurant but rather meet them in a hotel room, which the agency would reserve and pay for.

She went through the contract, pointing out that meeting with a member woman on my own was a violation of the agreement, but that the agency had no control of my activities with non-members. The agency would follow up every encounter with a review by the woman.

She told me that when I looked at the list of possible matches, I should notice that some had entered specific dates for their encounters. "If you accept those women on their preferred day," she said, "you'll get a $100 bonus for each one." She also took me into another room, with a colored background on the wall for photographs, and took several head-and-shoulders pictures of me to use online.

She had me fill out some more forms and answer lots of personal questions, and said there were just two more steps. First I had to do a test date with either her or Dorsey. Even though her friend Trudy had given me an excellent referral, it was company policy to have a staff member do the test date. She said that based on my questionnaire responses, she thought I'd prefer Dorsey but the choice was entirely mine.

She then pulled out some photos showing each of them topless in sexy poses. Dorsey gave me a smiling, encouraging look, and I chose her. If the test date went well, Michaela would forward the application to national headquarters and could expect to hear back in a few days. "Everything here tells me you're a top candidate."

Dorsey asked me if I was free that evening, and I said yes. She said she could come to my apartment, even though I wouldn't be meeting with the members there. I said that would be nice and gave her directions, and she said she was looking forward to it. I picked up some nice wine and cheese on my way home.

At 7:30 that evening, Dorsey showed up wearing a very elegant dress, makeup, and lipstick. We sat in the living room enjoying the wine and cheese, and I was pleasantly surprised at her frankness about her situation. She said she'd recently joined the agency and that Michaela had prepared her thoroughly for this evening, which was her first test date. Then she said, "I've had boyfriends, and I liked them a lot, but they died in May and I've been alone since then, so I'm really looking forward to tonight."

"I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to it," I said. "That takes some pressure off the performance test aspect of it."

"I think you're a really nice guy, so just do what you like, what you usually do, and you can forget that it's a test."

"As long as we're on the subject," I said, "maybe you can give me some feedback, like some tips, afterwards, since I always want to improve." That turned out to be the right thing to say.

"The main point of the test," Dorsey explained, "is to filter out the guys who are rude, careless, in a hurry, or who turn over and fall asleep immediately afterwards. They think that since they're in such demand, they can be arrogant and treat the women badly. Even if they make it through the filter, they'll get bad reviews and we have to drop them. I definitely don't see that happening to you. In fact I predict that you'll earn some good bonus money."

Then Dorsey went into the bathroom for a moment and returned with her lipstick and makeup removed. "You don't want that all over your face, do you?" she said with a smile.

She sat very close to me on the sofa, and I put my arm around her and kissed her. We did that for a while, and I was convinced that her enthusiasm was genuine. Finally I started undoing her elegant dress and found that she was wearing frilly panties and a frilly, barely-there bra. I admired those items and spent quite a while toying with them before removing them. Her breasts were beautiful, and I expressed great admiration for them as I touched them gently.

In fact, throughout this whole time I went much more slowly than usual, mainly because I wanted to take time worshiping every part. And when I finally found myself pushing inside her, I went on much longer, and in more positions, than usual. After a long while we were both satisfied. She was very affectionate and told me I was wonderful, but I wasn't sure if that was just exclamatory or my official test result.

She said she couldn't give me the final test result, since she needed to have Michaela review it with her before submitting it. "But I can guess at Michaela's reaction as we go over the scoring segments," she said. "She'll be really wishing that you'd chosen her."

"You mean she'll be jealous?" I asked.

"Yes, but there's a solution for that. She'll call you back for a recertification in a few months, and at that time you should choose her."

"That sounds good," I said. "By the way, do you have any feedback for me?"

"Yes, and I'm glad you asked," she said affectionately. "I think I have an excellent bottom, and you barely touched it except when you came in from behind."

"Turn over and let me have a look," I said. Surely it was a magnificent bottom, and I touched and kneaded it a little.

"Ah, she said, "that's perfect."

"I guess I was distracted by your breasts, hips, and stomach," I explained. "You're so beautiful."

"Here's the problem," she said, "when you're in bed with a woman for the first time, how can you know what she likes? Maybe the only way is to tell her beforehand that if she particularly likes something you're doing, she should ask you to do that some more. And try out lots of different things."

"That sounds like a really good idea," I said. I'd never thought of that.

On Monday I stopped in HR to talk to Trudy. As usual I closed the door and she sat on my lap. I told her that my application at the agency was in progress and that my registration should be complete in a few days. (She was a member of the agency, but she hadn't had any encounters through them yet.)

"It sounds like I have two days left to have a free encounter with you," she said, putting things together.

"Right," I replied, "and I'm free this evening, in every sense of the word." So once again I got to see her bun come undone and her flowing locks on my pillow.

I would like to say that the training class was going well, but in fact the students were getting more and more confused, and it became obvious that the instructor didn't really understand the job he was training us for. We had to monitor the electric transmission lines and shift loads from one line to another to match power produced with loads.

We had some near misses, which would have brought down parts of the transmission system, and got a couple of letters from power plant managers explaining the consequences. It was a really uncomfortable situation.

I was routinely having lunch with the three fellow trainees, but near the end of the four weeks another member of the class sat next to me, probably encouraged by the three. She had a pretty face but was overweight. Anyway, she was surprised when I accepted her invitation to lunch.

Margo was a nice person to have lunch with, with lots of pleasant topics of conversation. She also said she was disappointed in the training class and felt we were headed to disaster. Near the end of the lunch, she said, "I don't think you'd accept my invitation for a date, so I'm not going to ask. But what do you think about this proposal? If I lose twenty pounds in the next four months, could I ask you then?"

"That sounds like a good idea," I said, but I doubted she wouldn't be able to do it. We went to the fitness center, weighed her, and wrote down the number in an email. Margo, by the way, looked fine to me; her hesitation was all self-generated.

The next day I got a congratulatory call and email from Michaela saying that my registration had been approved and that I should be able to access a list of women who the system had decided best matched my preferences. She said she'd created a profile for me, and we worked together on my self-description, which specified that I preferred no silicone and no tattoos.

She also said that I might be called in for recertification and testing in about a month. In the meantime, if I had any questions or concerns, I should let her know. She also asked me whether I'd seen the news reports about violent attacks on badged men, warning me that I should be very cautious when I was out in public. I told her I was staying inside as much as possible.

That evening, as I was looking forward to seeing the list of women for me, my doorbell rang, and I pressed the button to communicate with the person at the front door. It sounded like a child's voice that I couldn't understand. When I opened the door, in burst Julie and Marie telling me in a rough voice, "This is a home invasion."

Then they changed their manner and became their nice selves, and Julie said, "We brought you some groceries, dear. It's not safe for you to go outside." Then they brought in a couple bags of groceries and put them away for me. I was touched that they would think of me. We sat down on the sofa and watched the news reports, and they started kissing me and taking off my pants and shirt.

Suddenly, "How about if we take off each other's clothes for you?" I could see that they'd rehearsed this, and I was eager to see it, so I said that would be really nice.

They took turns taking off one article of each other's clothing at a time, swaying to the saxophone music they'd brought on a cell phone and allowing plenty of time to pose and show off. I told them it was wonderful, and when they finished we went into the bedroom, where they finished undressing me.

They made it clear that this time I should start with Marie, so I complied, kissing and caressing her and finally pushing inside her. After a while Julie said it was her turn, and I finished inside her. In the end they were both very happy, and I said my experience was more than twice as good as with one woman alone. They loved that.

Finally my list appeared, and I focused my attention on the top three. As I looked at the descriptions, I could see how they matched the preferences I'd chosen on the online form. I wondered whether those preferences were granular enough or whether they really asked the right questions.

I guessed the only way to find out was to dive in and try an encounter with one. I also kept in mind the problem that Michaela had mentioned about people misrepresenting themselves. The online photos certainly helped, and I figured that it was hard to lie about your figure when posting a bikini photo.

After some hesitation, I posted a proposed date for Amy. (Members don't need to use their real names.) She was 25 - my age - and had a pretty face, nice figure, and had an interesting description of herself. I got the impression of someone who was cautious and conscientious, but mostly I liked her bikini photo. I selected a proposed date and time, which would be communicated to her. An hour later I had a response that she had accepted and that a room had been reserved.

As I drove downtown, I put my badge in my pocket to avoid danger. Anyway, I had heard that the police had stopped enforcing the law requiring badge display because of the danger to wearers.

I made a point of getting to the room beforehand so I could welcome Amy when she came in. She let herself in, and I introduced myself and gave her a little kiss. My first impression was that she was beautiful, close to the ideal woman. I'd brought a bottle of wine, which I opened and poured into two glasses. I suggested that we sit on the sofa and relax.

Maybe she noticed that I wasn't very relaxed, so she told me this was her first encounter through the agency. I admitted it was mine, too, and I said that was perfect and we could figure it out together. I asked her to tell me about herself, reassuring her that everything she told me, as well as the encounter itself, would be kept absolutely confidential. She said that her husband had died in May and that she missed him and missed having a man in the house and in her bed. I listened carefully and held her hands.

I said a few things about myself and explained that I'd gone to the agency because it seemed like a sensible way to meet some really nice women. I said I was very happy to meet and be spending some time with such a beautiful woman and hoped we could get over our awkwardness. She appreciated hearing that, and, after a glass or two of wine, we relaxed a bit and felt more comfortable.

I kissed her a bit until she returned my kisses, but we continued talking. I told her to let me know if there was anything I did that she didn't like or wanted me to do more of. Our kissing got more intense, and we started touching each other. She asked me to turn down the lights, so I did that and started taking off her blouse. All this was done in slow motion, which seemed to be what she needed. As I touched her lacy bra, she started sighing and really seemed to enjoy it when I took it off.

I asked her to start taking off my shirt, and she seemed a little hesitant but happy to do that. I took off her skirt and then slowly, gently removed her stockings. Then I opened her legs a little and started touching her thighs. I took her hand, and we went to the bed, still in slow motion. There we took off the rest of our clothes, and lay on the bed touching and kissing.

"I want to do this forever," she whispered, so we did it for about another half hour. I touched her bottom for a while, and she said she loved that, so we did it for another while. Then I reached down to her thighs and touched her there for a while until she started moaning. Finally I pushed inside her, and her moaning got louder and continued for about the next twenty minutes until I finished up.

After that I used my fingers to bring her to several climaxes, which made her so emotional she started crying. She kissed me and told me I was wonderful and way beyond her expectations. I told her that she was beyond mine as well, and we lay there in bliss.

Two days later I picked the second woman on my list, Sophie, and met her in the same room. She seemed to be more energetic and more comfortable with the idea of meeting with a man she found through the agency. She was shorter and had lighter hair than Amy, but also had a beautiful face and wonderful figure.

Sophie didn't expect much talking, but I slowed her down and we did it anyway. She made a couple of jokes, and I joined her in that and we laughed together. She asked me to touch her feet, so I massaged them for a while, and she really seemed to love that. She got going much faster than Amy, but after that the experience was similar. "I've heard so many bad things about badged men treating women rudely, but you're not like that at all," she said afterwards.

Finally Saturday came, and I picked a woman (one of the many) who said she liked to go for walks. Her name was Giselle, and she was almost as attractive as the first two. I had taken off my badge but jokingly showed it to her when I met her. We went for a two-hour walk, during which we talked normally and got to know each other. Afterwards she didn't seem tired at all.

We then went to the restaurant at the hotel and had dinner. She dealt with her unease by talking, and she talked a lot. Finally, maybe as a result of the drinks I poured her, she slowed down and asked me about myself. I told her a few things, like about my job and how I'd studied languages and worked in software, and with that she finally started paying close attention to me, almost as close as Rosie had. At one point I reached across the table and touched her arm, and that seemed to attract her attention even more.

When we got to the room, she said she needed a moment in the bathroom. When she came out, I gave her a kiss, and she kissed me back. She then asked if I'd like for us to take a shower together, and I said yes and took off her jacket, kissing her before and after. Then I took off her slacks, and she took off my shirt. When I took off her casual blouse, I was shocked to notice that she wasn't wearing a bra.

She noticed my surprise and said, "Do you think I need a bra?"

I answered, "No, your breasts are perfect without one" and noticed that even though her breasts were larger than average, they had a very youthful shape. She was a phenomenon, and I told her I was very impressed. We finished undressing and had a long shower. I made sure she was perfectly clean everywhere. We dried each other off, got into bed, and had a wonderful energetic session, which left us both satisfied. Afterwards, her talking slowed down and we lay peacefully side by side.

The encounters with the next two women also went extremely well. After five encounters, I checked the website but couldn't find any reviews. I wrote to Dorsey, who called me to tell me that I'd get to see the reviews (without names) after I had ten encounters. This was to prevent me from seeing who had written which review.

Dorsey said, "Also, Michaela and I have read the reviews and they're really, really favorable, so favorable that headquarters is wondering whether they're manipulated. To tell you the truth, Michaela and I were getting rather hot reading some of them. Michaela is saying she needs to investigate and find out for herself, so don't be surprised if she calls you in for recertification."

With first-person testimonials from Trudy and Dorsey, I suspected that Michaela's real motivation was personal, so I prepared for her call, which came that evening as I was in my apartment.

"Mike, headquarters is saying your reviews are so good that they're wondering whether they were manipulated. I think I'll need to provide some first-person experience to convince them. Are you free on Friday evening?" I wondered whether that was true or a pretext, but I decided it didn't matter. The important thing was to have her in my bed.

"Sure," I answered, "as long as you'll wear the same outfit you wore when I interviewed." This time I'd get to put my hand inside the blazer, which is what I had my mind on during the interview.

I phoned Dorsey the next morning to let her know about the call and asked her if she had any idea of Michaela's personal preferences. To my surprise, Dorsey knew: "She likes to be touched."

When Michaela appeared at my door the next evening, I was a little disappointed to see that she was wearing a raincoat. But really, it was a cool, damp evening, and when I took the raincoat off I found that she was wearing the same outfit as before, with a blazer over skin. This would be interesting.

Michaela was fairly tall, probably in her early thirties, with dark hair, clear skin, and a great figure, as I soon learned. She seemed to have two sides, both of which I'd seen during the interview: a seriousness and attention to business details, and a smiley, sensuous side, which I hoped to engage this evening. I was not disappointed. I gave her a kiss and offered her some wine and cheese, which she said she enjoyed. We talked about the encounters I'd had, and I said that I'd found all the women beautiful and pleasant and had a great time with them and hoped they'd enjoyed it as much as I had. We sat very close on the sofa during that conversation, sometimes touching each other's hands, arms, or shoulders.

After a while, we were both more relaxed, and I said, "I'm so glad you wore the same outfit tonight as you wore during the interview. I have to admit that during the interview I had a hard time taking my mind off the idea of reaching inside your blazer."

She smiled and said, "That's what I suspected. Then why aren't you doing that now?"

"Because I have so much more to touch first." I began by touching and holding her hands and then putting my palms gently on her cheeks, kissing her lips, and moving my hands down the side of her neck. I then unbuttoned the blazer's single button and reached inside, not to her breasts but to every area I could reach between the blazer and the skin.

After all that was thoroughly done, I started touching her breasts, very gently at first and then more firmly. She was very engaged with every detail of what I was doing, and I could tell I was on the right path.

Leaving the blazer on, I unfastened her skirt, slowly removed it, and then started on her stockings. I was in slow motion as I removed them, touching her legs as much as possible as I went, and I could tell she was relaxed and enjoying the feel of my fingers. Finally I got her to lean forward a little to allow me to remove the blazer, and then I touched and kissed all the recently exposed skin, little by little.

I invited her into the bedroom, adjusted the light, and then asked her to take off my clothes, which she did slowly and carefully. With her panties removed, I had her lie on her stomach while I touched her back and then her bottom, gently massaging as I went.

I said, "If there's anything you really like, let me know and I'll pay extra attention there." She answered, "It's all so nice." I covered the back of her calves with my fingers and then moved up to the thighs, and after asking her to lie on her back, spread her legs apart a bit to get more access. I also kissed her thighs for a long time. Then I moved up to caressing her breasts, once again starting gently.

Finally I opened her legs some more and put a finger inside her. At that point she started sighing, which changed to moaning when I pushed inside her. She moaned for the next ten or fifteen minutes until we changed position, then moaned again. Then I stopped for a moment and used two fingers to touch her vulva area, which led her to a climax and then another one. I came back inside and finished off, which also excited her.

With the tip from Dorsey and following my instincts, I felt I'd done a great job in finding what Michaela enjoyed. We lay there together without talking for a moment, and then she showered me with kisses and said I was wonderful. After we talked for a while, she said she couldn't tear herself away from me and asked if she could stay overnight. I said that would be lovely.

As we had breakfast the next morning, Michaela wore only her blazer. She was glad to see that turned me on, and we went back to bed for another hour.

Meanwhile at work, the situation was getting even more dangerous than before. We felt that a major failure was inevitable, since the six of us still didn't really understand how to do our jobs and we had an idea of the consequences of failure. Electric power production needs to match demand (load) at all times, and routing the appropriate amounts of power to the right transmission lines - our job - was critical. As in so many areas, all the experts had died in May.

Finally one day the failure happened, and our department caused it. Because of a mistake that we never understood, some equipment overheated and failed in a nearby city, leading to a four-day outage. Groups of unbadged men then went on a rampage of looting and vandalism, and the police lost control. Chaos and anarchy took over that city and surrounding area.

One good result, though, was that our department's troubles finally got management's attention, and they sent some experts in to help us understand how to prevent future failures. But the experts turned out not to know much more than our original trainer.

One day over lunch with Lucy, we were talking about this problem when she said, "I wonder if our predecessors had some written material, like a training manual, that they left behind." She decided to work extra hours to search through old storage cabinets in search of such a manual.

She was just about out of places to look when, two weeks later, she found an old manual that seemed to be just what we needed. It was out of date, but she managed to identify the obsolete parts, decipher some obscure sections, and come up with a very useful manual. She then trained the rest of us, and we gradually came to understand how to do our jobs and keep the power routed correctly.

Lucy was a star, a heroine, who saved the day through persistence and intelligence. That made me see her in a different light. Over the next few days, every time I saw her I pictured her in bed, so when we had lunch, I invited her for another date. She gladly accepted.

A couple days after that, one Friday morning, I got a call from Michaela saying that she had some things to talk to me about and asking if she could come by that evening. I said yes, of course, eager to hear what she had to talk about and to see her in her blazer-on-skin outfit again. I was disappointed that she arrived in ordinary office clothes, but I noticed that she brought a big purse with her. She wanted to talk first.

"There's a big demand out there for your services among the women who specify a day on the calendar," she started. "There's a lot more money at stake with them, and we're going to increase your bonus for those encounters."

"I've been neglecting those," I admitted. "I'm a little suspicious that they might not be up for the kind of encounter I enjoy."

"But they're very motivated," she said, "and I think we need to respond to that need. You enjoy spending time with motivated women, don't you?" She gave me some kisses and was very persuasive, and I agreed to accept an encounter with a "specific calendar date" stipulation.

"And here's another topic we need to talk about," she continued. "After our recertification encounter, my report really got noticed at headquarters. They're wondering how to spread your knowledge and attitude to other badged men in the system. You're a star, and they wish they could clone you."

"Do they want me to write a manual?" I asked.

"That's what they thought of at first, but they decided, if you're willing, to ask you to do some instructional videos. They'll send someone to help you write a script, and after that's approved, work with videographers in town to help you make the videos. Dorsey has agreed to appear in the videos with you."

Now that things had settled down at work, I thought about taking a week's vacation for the videos, but the first step would be to write drafts of the script. Michaela agreed to help me with that, starting with experience and observation done that evening. At that point, after sitting next to each other sipping wine, we both had a clear idea of what we wanted to do next. Michaela took her purse into the bathroom to freshen up.

She emerged wearing a very attractive and sexy lingerie outfit under a semi-transparent robe. But she said she wanted to continue discussing the script while we started, mentally taking notes. As we touched and kissed, she asked me lots of questions about my attitudes and goals regarding my encounters. After a while, she said she had enough answers for now, started taking off my shirt and pants, and asked coyly if I could help her remove her outfit.

As I followed the same procedure that I used with her before, I started to realize that there was something unusual and wonderful about the feel of her skin. It's hard to explain, but there seemed to be a kind of soft magic to it that charmed me.

She certainly enjoyed my attention and I could feel some moistness on the bed even before I started touching her vulva. We had a wonderful session. Pillow talk was mostly ideas for the script. Just as we did the first time, she stayed all night and we resumed in the morning.

I hadn't rushed into my list to select a "specific calendar date" encounter, but I finally got around to it to please Michaela. I chose a woman with a nice bikini photo, but only a short description. I accepted, she responded a few minutes later, and the system reserved the hotel room.

I got to the room early, as usual, and you can imagine my surprise when a couple appeared in the room. At first I thought the hotel had made a mistake, but the husband explained that he wanted to wait in the room while we "did it." Fortunately I controlled myself and was able to give a civil response, explaining that it wasn't that simple and that there was no way he could stay in the room. He finally agreed to go for a walk or find something to do until his wife called him. I told him that it would be an hour or two, which surprised him. I also said that his wife would keep her cell phone at hand to call him if needed.

I was glad to have that hurdle out of the way, but now I had to deal with a similar attitude from his wife, who expected me to "just do it." I smiled and said, "It doesn't work that way. I can't go to bed with a woman I don't feel romantically attracted to or who hasn't seduced me."

She said that sounded very old-fashioned, and I apologized and said, "I'm sorry, but that's the only way I can do it.'' I opened a bottle of wine.

"Well, isn't this a bit awkward?" she asked. "Two strangers drinking wine in a hotel room before they do it?"

"You could look at it that way, I guess," I said. Or you could also think of it as a moment to relax, to get to know somebody interesting, and maybe do something they'll both enjoy. Then we won't be strangers anymore."

"The other problem is that I don't want any sentimental attachments," she said.

"I don't think we're talking about attachments. But we might be talking about a nice memory, something nice you could recall in the future." I don't know if she really listened to what I was saying, but maybe the tone I used had an effect. Between that and the wine, she ended up putting her head on my shoulders.

"You can trust me on this," I said, "because I love women, and I think I love you."

I think she finally decided to trust me and surrender to the moment, but I knew I'd still need to go very slowly. There might also be the issue of shyness, of not wanting to be naked in front of a stranger.

"Look at this situation," I said, "and think back. Has there ever been a moment when you imagined something like this? How did you imagine it? What would you like to do, now that you're here and can trust the stranger?" To my surprise, that seemed to hypnotize her.

She got dreamy (maybe it was the wine) and said, slowly, "I would imagine that he would slowly undress me and touch me all over before anything happened."

"That's a great feeling to imagine that, and if you'll trust me to be slow and gentle, we can make it happen just like that. Just let me know if I do something that doesn't seem right."

With that, she let me kiss her and take off her blouse. I noticed that the dream segment she shared was completely passive, so I kept that in mind. I took off her glasses, shoes, socks, and jeans and walked her over to the bed, where she lay down waiting for me to continue. I spent a long time touching her, softly telling her how nice she was. I took off her bra and panties so slowly and gently that she barely noticed (although I did, because she was really attractive naked). Then I lay down beside her and gently kissed and touched her for a long time.

Moving gradually down to her thighs was a natural progression, and she accepted it all. By the time I started pushing inside her, she was completely ready to enjoy it, and I went on slowly for as long as I could. After that, I returned to her vulva for a while and brought her to climax, which made her finally start kissing me passionately. I lay beside her for about half an hour, making sure she stayed on her back. And I had her stay on her back with a pillow under her feet for another half hour.

I think she understood why, and finally she asked me to bring her cell phone to her. But I reminded her that we still had another fifteen minutes, so she decided to wait till the two-hour mark to call her husband. Just before that, she told me, "This has been like a dream. I couldn't have imagined it would be so nice." I left the room before her husband arrived so we didn't have to meet.

The next day I sent a message to Michaela about the specific-calendar-date encounters. She asked me if I was free that evening so she could come to my place to talk about that and something else. She arrived in jeans and a tight sweater with no bra. The thought of being in bed with her distracted me a lot, but I was able to talk about what had happened during the last encounter. "They were not prepared at all for a date," I said.

"Really?"

"Yes, she came with her husband," I explained. "I had to shoo him off and convince her that I could only 'do it' with a lot of preparation."

"But she gave you the usual high review," she said.

"I had to practically hypnotize her."

"Anyway," I continued, "maybe we need to inform those women that it's a romantic encounter, not an impregnation session."

"But those people are a very lucrative part of our business. It seems like you handled it perfectly."

We agreed that I would select more of the specific-calendar-date women.

"There's something else I want to tell you about, Mike. I've sent our drafts to headquarters, and they've only made a few small changes. They want to send a professional video script writer to work with us and shadow you for a few days. Can you take a couple of vacation days next week?"

"Yes, I guess so. Things have calmed down at work."

"Great. Her name is Sandy, and she seems totally professional. She'll want to stay here at your place. I told her you don't have an extra bed, so she's bringing her own mattress. She wanted to be present during a member encounter, but I told her that would be impossible, so it'll be me and Dorsey."

"Shadow me? Sleep in my apartment? Sounds pretty intrusive."

"They'll make it worth your while," Michaela said. I didn't argue, because by then I was looking forward to removing her sweater and getting drunk on her skin. We went to bed.

Sandy the script writer arrived at my place in the evening a few days later, having driven all day from New York City to Columbus. Ohio, where I lived. (Commercial aviation was no longer safe.) It was 8:00 in the evening, but she didn't seem tired at all. She was somewhat short, thin, and very serious.

She brought in her mattress and set it up in the living room. She then explained about herself and said she was an independent script writer with experience in many fields. She said she knew how to not interfere with the action but would ask a lot of questions before and afterwards.

Sandy then asked me if I was free to answer some questions. I said yes, and she pulled out a great list, all based on the draft script we'd sent and what she'd heard about the agency.

"Do you live here alone?" she started.

"Yes, but I have visitors. I almost never invite agency members here, though. We try to hide our real identities."

"How long have you been working for the agency?"

"I don't work for the agency. I work at an electric utility. I'm a member of the agency, and I have encounters with other members. That's the terminology."

"How did you learn to do what you do as a member?"

"It seemed like a natural extension of my activities with women since the end of the pandemic. Before the pandemic I had no activities with women. Now I'm in demand."

"Didn't you get any specific training from the agency?"

"No, but I did have to pass a test. Dorsey gave me the test. I guess you'll meet her soon."

"Tell me about your first encounter with another member of the agency. Was it awkward?"

"Yes. It was the first such encounter for both of us. But we relaxed and had a wonderful time. She was beautiful, and I was swept off my feet."

"Do you ever have a bad encounter?"

"Occasionally I have one that starts off uncomfortable, but they always end with both parties happy."

"I think I know the answer to this from reading the draft script, but how do you manage that?"

"I love women. I think they're beautiful, and I love exciting them and making them happy. I'll do what it takes."

"It's nice to hear that from you. I hope to find out more about that in the next few days."

"I'm happy to cooperate with you," I said. "I look forward to the finished script. What kinds of scripts do you usually work on, by the way?"

"All kinds, really. A lot of industrial training nowadays, since companies are trying to revive expertise."

Sandy made herself at home, opened her suitcase, and slept in the living room. I think she kept working on her notes after the interview. We had breakfast together the next morning, and after coffee she asked me questions from another list. She read some sentences from her notes and asked me if they sounded right.

At about 6:00 pm Dorsey came around. She and Sandy introduced themselves, and Dorsey told her that this evening she'd play the role of the member during her first encounter with Mike. We started at dinner in a nice restaurant. Sandy sat with us, but she mostly kept quiet, observed, and took notes. I tried to make it as natural as possible, treating Dorsey exactly as I would a member. Dorsey's role-play acting was so realistic that I was almost convinced. (She later explained that she'd taken a couple of acting courses in college and loved throwing herself into roles.)

As we drove back to my apartment, I explained to Sandy that I normally met with members in a hotel, so she'd have to imagine my apartment as a hotel suite. Dorsey and I sat close on the sofa, while I served her some wine and cheese. Sandy sat quietly in a corner and took notes.

Dorsey and talked and did a little touching as I would with a new member. By now I'd been through this a number of times, so it was easy for me to do a typical seduction. Dorsey did a great job of role-playing the anxious new woman who gradually relaxes. We talked, touched, and kissed.

I told her the usual things about letting me know if there was something she didn't like or felt uncomfortable with, but added my new statement (inspired by Dorsey's tip) that "If there's anything I do that you particularly like or want me to do more of, please let me know." I'm sure she was happy to learn that I'd added that bit.

After a while, I slowly removed her blouse and then her slacks while we kissed. Sandy kept writing but didn't look up, or at least tried not to. I removed Dorsey's frilly bra and gently caressed her breasts and clear, fair skin. No role-playing there; Dorsey's breasts were full and extremely beautiful. After she removed my pants and shirt, we went into the bedroom. Sandy followed us and once again sat in the corner taking notes.

There we spent a long time on the bed kissing and touching. I used my fingers to bring Dorsey to a climax and then started pushing inside her. She had some more climaxes after that, and we did a couple of other positions - her on top, then doggy-style. I guess during most of that time we forgot about Sandy and just did what we normally do.

After I finished, Dorsey gave me a lot of kisses and told me I was wonderful. I'm pretty sure that was genuine rather than role-play. We had a long chat, a combination of genuine and role-play, and we finally got up and left the room. We went into the bathroom and then got dressed. Sandy stayed in the room for a few more minutes and then got up and joined us in the living room. Even though it was clear that the role-play was over, Sandy said she preferred to sit on the floor.

After I kissed Dorsey goodnight and she left, Sandy said she had some more questions for me, but she didn't get around to asking them and retired to her mattress, where I believe she continued to work on her notes.

The next morning at breakfast, I was surprised that Sandy showed up wearing her pajamas. The top was just a T-shirt, which showed she wasn't wearing a bra. Anyway, as soon as I served her coffee, she brought out her notebook and had a lot of questions for me. She wanted to clarify some things from the evening before to find out whether they were typical. One of her best questions, I thought, was "How natural was the role-play? To what extent can I assume it reflects what usually happens?" I answered that it was very natural, that Dorsey had thrown herself into the role in which she had first-hand experience, and that we'd managed to ignore her presence.

Sandy worked very hard on her notes the rest of the morning, writing out a list of phrases. In the afternoon she read the phrases to me and asked me if they were phrases that I'd feel comfortable speaking in the videos. I gave her several small corrections.

I wondered whether she'd been told about the purpose and background for the videos. I said that the agency always had an issue with misrepresentation but that right now they were having a hard time finding badged men who were good candidates. I said, "You probably know that most badged men these days have so many women to choose from that they tend to be rude and inconsiderate."

"I can see that you're convincing the women that you're the opposite," she said.

"Exactly. Sometimes it's challenging to persuade them that I'm not a typical jerk. But so far I've always managed."

"And yet it's not a put-on. I love women, and I love turning them on, so I'm just doing what comes natural to me."

"The question in my mind, though," she said, "is the extent to which we can communicate that to the other men in the agency."

"I guess the agency thinks we can," I said, "otherwise they wouldn't be paying us to make the videos."

By the end of the afternoon, she had developed some more phrases that she said offered various strategies. I said I liked them a lot, and I told her I was impressed at how well she did her job, immersing herself in the situation.

Michaela came around at 5:00, and she, Sandy, and I discussed the phrases and strategies. On the way to the restaurant, Michaela informed Sandy that she'd be playing the role of a challenging first-time member. I was eager to participate.

While Sandy ate her dinner quietly, occasionally taking notes, I enjoyed Michaela's playing the role of the hesitant, fearful new member. I was my usual self in that situation, making an extra effort to be kind, patient, and very attentive. A couple of times I reached across the table and touched Michaela's hands, and the electricity of that was not wasted on Sandy.

I did not declare victory yet, though, as Michaela continued her hesitancy while, back at my apartment, we sat on the sofa. At one point I started touching Michaela's face and hands, moving on to other body parts. She finally responded to my touching and kissing and started taking off my shirt. But when I went to unbutton her blouse, she feigned modesty and held the buttons against her chest to stop me. (Excellent move, Michaela!)

I knew the game was slowed but not over, so I continue touching and kissing, and a few minutes later I tried again to unbutton the blouse and succeeded. Finally, after I removed her slacks and bra, Michaela and I went into the bedroom. As before, Sandy followed and quietly sat on the floor.

But I forgot all about Sandy and focused on Michaela's lovely soft skin. We let ourselves go and had a wonderful session, followed by a nice conversation. After that we kissed some more, went to the bathroom, and got dressed. After a little while, Sandy came into the living room and stayed quiet even though it was clear that the role-play was over and we were out of character. After Michaela left, Sandy said she had some new questions but didn't ask them.

The next morning, after I made coffee, Sandy again came to the table in her skimpy pajamas. She had some more questions, once again asking how typical and true-to-life the simulation was.

"Very realistic, except for one detail. I haven't seen quite so much resistance when I started to unbutton a blouse. I'm usually slow and skillful enough that I do things without meeting much resistance. But I appreciated Michaela's test, since it gave me a chance to show how I'd handle it."

"I'd say you handled it wonderfully," she said.

"I hesitate to ask this," she said, "but how do you really feel about these two women? How do you feel about the members you encounter?"

"I worship those two women. There's nothing feigned about that at all. But it wasn't always that way. At the beginning we were almost strangers. We'd had one conversation before I went to bed with Dorsey, and maybe a couple of conversations before doing it with Michaela. So we had to start somewhere, and that was with courtesy, kindness, self-confidence, and a general attitude of 'I think you're really sexy.' I guess that's how I start with a first-time member."

Sandy wrote that down and said, "I think that's the most important thing you've said. It's wonderful to hear that. I think that saying that in a slow, sincere way in the videos will be the key, so I'm trying to figure out where to put it."

She got up to get another cup of coffee and sat down closer to me.

"I've been meaning to ask you about confidentiality. Are you good at keeping secrets and maintaining the anonymity of the women?"

"Personally I'm very, very good at keeping secrets," I said. "It's one of the keys to this whole business. I think I can spot a blabber-mouth, and I watch out for them."

"Could you keep any questions I ask confidential?"

"Of course. Any question at all or anything you tell me," I answered.

"What do you think about me?" she asked.

"I think you're a very dedicated and productive worker," I said. "And I think you're a true professional. I'm really, really impressed with your work, and I understand why you got the contract."

"I also think you're very honest," I continued. "You're a person who does what they say. And I also think you're very pretty, to tell you the truth. Even though we've only known each other for a few days, I feel like we've been through a lot together, and I really like you."

"I'm not as attractive as those other two women," she said softly.

"Oh no? You're different from them, and I like different." I put my arms around her and said, "My question to you is whether you're ready to really immerse yourself in this assignment."

With that, she kissed me and said, slowly but with determination,"I am."

We kissed passionately, and she told me she was crazy about me and wanted me to take control of her. I slipped off that pesky pajama T-shirt and kissed her lovely nipples over and over. Then we went into the bedroom for the next hour or two. Afterwards she told me she'd taken courses in Greek mythology and now knew what it felt like to be ravished by a god. It was the most spontaneous episode I'd experienced since Elly, the sister of my would-be pre-pandemic girlfriend.

I heard from Sandy a lot over the next week, as the script was finalized and approved. She called me occasionally also, to tell me how happy she was with her experience. Now that the script was approved, the headquarters staff were looking for a director and editor for the videos. I told them I had a strong preference for a female director.

A few days later I realized I hadn't heard from Julie and Marie, in a while, so I emailed them and asked them if they'd like to get together. I liked them a lot and always wondered what they'd come up with next. They answered saying they'd love to see me but needed a few days "to get something together." I assumed they meant some tricky sort of naughtiness. A few days after that they messaged me back that they were ready, and we set a date for them to come by.

What would they come up with this time? Maybe the secret was in the bag they brought with them. We sat on the sofa enjoying some wine and crackers for a moment, and after that we turned to kissing and touching. I took off their slacks and tops to reveal very cute sets of bras and panties. Maybe just to confuse me, each set was split between them, so Julie wore pink panties and a blue bra, while Marie wore the opposite.

When we went into the bedroom, Julie brought the bag and Marie turned down the lights. "Now we have a challenge for you, and you need to guess which one is which.

They took off their bras and panties in a sexy way for me, and Marie said, "First the clue." And they lay down side by side and had me come inside each one for one minute. (They had a timer on a cell phone.) I was beginning to suspect what the game was, so I paid close attention to how they felt inside. I mean, more attention than usual. The clue, I guess, was that when I was inside Julie, she used her Kegel muscles to give me a couple of quick squeezes.

Then the challenge. They blindfolded me, tied my hands together in front of my chest, and had me lie on my back. Then one woman (which one?) came on top of me, squatted down, and mounted me. She slowly moved up and down for a minute, but I didn't feel the squeezes. I said, "Marie," but they didn't tell me whether I was right.

Then another woman (I assume, but they could be tricking) came on top and did the same thing. This time I felt the squeezes and said, "Julie." They changed once again (I think), and I said, "Marie." And yet again, and I said, "Julie," even though the squeezes were rather faint.

Then one of them lay down, helped me inside her, and I said, "Marie." After the next switch, I said "Marie" again since I wasn't sure. After three more switches, I told them I couldn't go on much longer, so they did a final switch, I said, "Marie," and came to a climax.

After they both kissed me on my face and body, they were delighted to tell me that I was correct seven out of nine times. "Very good," they said together. I thanked them for a wonderful time, and they congratulated themselves on coming up with such a good game that had truly challenged me. After they left, I wondered about their motivation and strategy. They wanted to have sex with me, but I guess they figured they were up against so much competition that they needed to provide transgressive fun and novelty.

A couple of days later, I accepted another specific-calendar-date appointment, which of course I wasn't looking forward to. But this one turned out to be very different. For one thing, she didn't bring a husband.

When she walked into the hotel room, we mentally reviewed each other and compared each other to the photos we'd seen online. She turned out to be as attractive, but more lively, than the impression I had from her photos. I greeted her with a kiss and opened a bottle of wine. "I've been really looking forward to this, since I read your reviews," she said. I reflected that as more women read the reviews, their enthusiasm snowballed.

"I try to be really nice to the women," I said.

"How long do you usually take with a woman?" she asked.

"Usually an hour or two for the whole session," I answered.

"Really. That's amazing."

"That includes get-acquainted time, like now," I clarified.

"How much time actually having sex?" she asked.

"Oh, that depends. Maybe or fifteen or twenty minutes or so, but it can be longer."

"Amazing," she said, "because I've never had a man last more than about two minutes. And not much warm-up time."

What was amazing was that she was talking about it so frankly and so specifically. I'd never heard a woman talk that way before, but it was good information.

"If you're frustrated about that, maybe you're in for a treat," I said. "But slow down and tell me about yourself."

"My husband passed away in May," she said in a different tone, and I've been alone since then. I don't like being alone, but I don't think I'd be happy with an unbadged man. It's so frustrating for women nowadays."

"What are you looking forward to this evening?" I asked.

"This sounds sad, but I want to be held and kissed by a badged man and maybe get pregnant." (Such a bald statement really hit home for me, and I thought about it a lot later.)

"I can guarantee you'll get the first two, and we can try for the third one."

"Would you like me to take off my clothes?" she asked.

"Not yet. Let's pretend this is a date. Let's pretend we've been going together and finally decided to take the relationship to the next level."

"That sounds so lovely," she said, almost weeping. "So lovely."

"And maybe exciting, too," I said.

"Yes, but mostly so lovely."

Since this woman accepted imaginary scenarios, I thought I'd add some details.

"Now, suppose we're in the middle of some serious kissing, and I start unbuttoning your blouse, what will you do? Assuming we've been going out for a while."

"At first I might put up some resistance, but if you kept kissing me and tried again, I'd probably let you. I might even like it."

"And what if I touched you right here?" I asked, putting my hand on her thigh.

"I'd probably like that," she answered, "especially if you did it gently."

"And what if I did this?" I asked while putting my hands on her face and giving her a long, gentle kiss.

"Can we do that some more?" she asked. So I continued. Then I asked her to stand up, and I gave her a long, tight hug. I unbuttoned her blouse, and she asked, "Can we go into the bedroom?" I led her to the bed and turned down the lights.

After that I slowly undressed her and then myself, and we touched and kissed for a while before I came inside her. I guess, with all positions, I managed about twenty minutes. After that, I asked her to stay lying on her back, and I used my fingers to bring her to a climax. She cried in joy, amazement, and gratitude. After that I guess we stayed on the bed talking for another hour. When she left, I reflected that even though my first specific-calendar-date encounter had been challenging, maybe some would be much nicer.

I helped interview video directors over Skype, and, partly because I requested it, they hired a woman. She would do all the directing and oversee the editing. Audrey lived in Dayton, forty miles away, and I asked her privately if she'd like to stay at my apartment overnight for the four days set aside for shooting. She accepted. Most of the shooting would be done in a studio and at a hotel, with some segments done in a restaurant. Sandy's script also contained a basic storyboard, so everything was planned. I spent every available moment the week before memorizing the script, often practicing with Dorsey. Michaela had a small role as well.

When Audrey arrived on Monday morning, the first thing I noticed that she was be rather loud and outgoing and made lots of jokes to make us feel at ease. We did some test shots in the studio, and Audrey had lots of acting advice for me. She was pleasant about it, but I had a lot to improve and a lot to keep in mind. We fell a little behind the first day, but basically we felt encouraged that we could do it and come up with professional results.

The decision had been made, by the way, to have nudity and implied nudity but no genitals visible. We started the shooting with the camera on just me in the studio, but we soon included some of Dorsey's parts. Her acting ability was more important than mine, and Audrey praised that ability.

We ended the first day's shooting exhausted at 7:00 in the evening and went out to eat. Afterwards Audrey came back with me to my apartment.

She pretended to be disappointed to find that there was only one bed: "I don't sleep with just anybody," she said with feigned indignation. She looked serious for a moment to see my reaction and finally hugged me and said she was kidding. "After directing love scenes with half-naked actors all day," she said, "of course I'm turned on and want to be in bed with you."

She brought in a small suitcase and made herself at home. We enjoyed a couple of drinks in the living room, where we started touching and kissing. After a long day of shooting, we felt like we knew each other well. We showered together and went to bed. She was loud and outgoing in bed as well as during the day. (Loud was OK, since I had no neighbors in the building.) Afterwards she was very happy and also said that interacting with me in real life would give her a better idea of how to direct certain scenes.

We got up early the next morning, and Audrey put my makeup on at home over breakfast. She and Dorsey complained that I looked sleepy in the first take, but I soon recovered. We wet to a restaurant and shot some scenes there, and the rehearsals in front of Sandy helped a lot. "I almost thought that you two had rehearsed these scenes many times before," Audrey told us after one take. Fortunately we finished all the restaurant scenes before 11:00 that morning, just in time for the restaurant to open for customers.

Then we went to the hotel room for some seduction scenes. I was a little camera shy when undressed, but Dorsey had no problem with the partial-nudity scenes. The script called for simulated sex, but Dorsey and I agreed that that would be awkward and carried on with the real thing, distracted by Audrey adjusting some discreetly positioned pillows and blankets.

We stopped shooting at 5:00 and spent an hour or so in the studio reviewing the takes. Audrey identified one scene we'd have to reshoot but was satisfied with the rest. Watching Dorsey's topless and implied-nudity scenes made me realize how lucky I was to be working with her. I couldn't quite believe my good fortune to be doing intimate scenes with such a beautiful and skilled actress.

Back in my apartment, Audrey spent a couple more hours reviewing the takes. We were more adventurous in bed but didn't take as long as the previous night. Audrey enjoyed it but also said she enjoyed the real-life performance of her actor.

The morning of the third day was taken up with hotel scenes, and we also did some more studio scenes, where I and then Dorsey addressed the camera, solo and together. The fourth day was dedicated to some more shots in the hotel and retakes. Finally, Audrey was confident that she had enough good material, and we all congratulated each other on completing the shooting on schedule. Now we had to wait for the editing to see the finished product.

That evening, after Audrey had left, I watched a current-events documentary and learned some interesting things. People around the world had become alarmed at the low birthrate and wondered whether humanity could continue to exist if current trends continued. With so few people, the experts pointed out, it would be hard to continue food production and maintain the technical expertise needed to keep the infrastructure usable.

To respond to this problem, governments around the world, and finally the American government, initiated public-information campaigns. Since the defiant members of the population had all died, the survivors were compliant and reasonable. Compliance with these points became part of the basic behavioral norms.

1. To encourage badged men to impregnate more women, they were relieved of all liability for raising and supporting the children they fathered. However, they would be encouraged by the government and the women to sign acknowledgments that they'd slept with the women on certain dates. This was mainly for record keeping.

2. Contraception was discouraged except for teenagers and in a few cases of genetically transmitted diseases.

3. Fees paid directly to badged men were forbidden, but small gifts were acceptable.

4. Badged men were encouraged to work with agencies to meet women or to use networks of personal friends or acquaintances. Monogamy was discouraged.

I thought about these new guidelines and the problem they were intended to solve. And I also thought about the agency members who set up specific-calendar-date encounters. On the one hand, I'd never been interested in fatherhood; but on the other, I recognized the need for new people, and I also sympathized with the women who really wanted children but couldn't find partners.

Given all this, I resolved to sign up for more of the specific-calendar-date encounters on the agency site and to give the women in my circle the ability to set up dates with me on their best day of the month. At the same time, I still wanted all my encounters to be romantic in spirit and not production-oriented.

I started with Lucy, partly because I admired her so much, since she had almost single-handedly saved the electrical grid. When we went out to lunch on Monday, I explained to her that I'd never been interested in being a father but that the new laws and the needs of the human race had made me rethink my attitudes.

I told her I'd be happy to invite her for a date and that she could choose whatever day of the month she wanted. "Just let me know a week or two beforehand." She immediately understood and, with moist eyes, told me she was very grateful. In those days, there was lots of talk about women's most fertile days and instructional videos on how to identify them.

"The only problem is that I might be about to be promoted to supervisor, and then I'd be sleeping with one of my reports," she said. But as soon as she said that, we realized that all such restrictions were being lifted and that nothing that discouraged procreation was still valid under the new sexual morality.

After lunch I stopped by Trudy's office in HR. She said that apparently I hadn't noticed her profile on the agency's website and she was disappointed that I hadn't offered her any encounters. I guess there were so many women on the site that I hadn't noticed her there. I apologized and said that she could set up a specific-calendar-date encounter request and then send me an email drawing my attention to it. She closed the door, sat on my lap, and showered me with kisses. I told her I looked forward to undoing her bun and seeing her hair flowing on my pillow.

A couple of the women I made this announcement to asked about whether the offer would apply to their friends. I said that I preferred to meet them over Skype first and that they should keep in mind that they should provide me a "full romantic encounter," for which they should allow three hours. I had a strong preference for meeting women through the agency and through connections rather than at pick-up bars. (By the way, I visited a pick-up bar once to see the new environment. The rules had changed so that the women customers wore skimpy tops - or no tops - to indicate their availability and would accept practically any badged man. What was the world coming to?)

Finally I got a message from Michaela saying that the videos were in and awaiting our comments and approval. She, Dorsey, and I would meet on Saturday to review them. What we found was that the editing had made a huge difference, transforming the clips into a professional-level production.

I wondered whether Dorsey's beautiful skin and breasts would distract the viewers, but the audience, after all, was badged men. And at the point in the video where I said, "The rewards for using the right attitude and approach can be very great" over a clip of topless, smiling Dorsey, it really hit home. We approved the videos enthusiastically.

After that meeting, I talked to Michaela privately, and she thanked me for selecting more specific-calendar-date encounters: "They're important for the agency and important for the world," she said seriously.

"There's something related to that I've been meaning to bring up," I said. "I wondered whether you'd be interested in setting up a specific-calendar-date appointment for yourself."

That made her hesitate, and finally she said, "That's very, very generous of you. Of course I would. You may have noticed that I didn't feel free to initiate with you without a reason like recertification or for training Sandy. But your offer changes everything. We'll need to do it off the books, so I'll figure out my best day and send you an email to set it up." Then she gave me a tight hug.

The next day I got a call from Dorsey asking me if I was free that evening to talk about something. I checked my calendar and said yes. She invited me to meet at a restaurant. She told me she was so happy to have worked with me on the videos and that she loved making them with me as her costar. "Really? I asked. "You were so beautiful, I congratulated myself on how lucky I was to appear with such a beautiful, accomplished woman. You were a star!"

"I'm really glad they turned out good," she said, "but what I wanted to tell you was how turned on I got while I was making them. Something about being on camera naked with you really got me going."

"I couldn't tell if you really felt that way or were acting."

"No acting was needed," she said. "Can we go to your place after dinner?"

She was very emotional, and I was convinced that she was genuine. Sometimes I'd had my doubts about her sincerity, but not now.

It seemed like an awkward time to mention it, but I wanted to offer her a specific-calendar-date encounter off the books. She said she appreciated that, but for right now she had to turn it down and let me pick the date. "This is top secret," she said, "but nowadays I'm on the pill because of my job. One of us needs to be available to do the tests," she said. "And speaking of the test," she added, "I've administered it twice since you, and both candidates failed. That leaves me with an unpleasant feeling."

When Dorsey and I got to my apartment, she kissed me passionately. I felt like I was with a woman on fire. Then she said she wanted to reenact some of the scenes from the video. I agreed.

First we did the scene sitting on the edge of the bed in which I take off her bra. We performed that exactly as Audrey had directed us, but this time Dorsey reacted more strongly. When I caressed her breasts and kissed her nipples, she seemed to go into a frenzy with loud moaning. Then she lay down on her stomach to reenact the scene where I massaged her bottom. I told her how lovely it was, just as I had in video, and she loved it.

Finally was the sex scene, and we performed it just as directed by Audrey, but the reenactment lasted much longer now than in the video. Now Dorsey moaned much louder, shouting when she came to a climax. After her climax she came on top of me, as she had done in the video, only now she waved her arms around and screamed with joy. Finally I came back on top of her and finished off, which she also celebrated loudly. I told her that she was a great prize and that it was a wonderful experience to be in bed with such a beautiful, sexy woman, with so much personality, energy, and enthusiasm.

Afterwards she calmed down and told me she felt so much better now and hoped to get back to her normal self. We agreed that we'd see each other more often. We'd have to do so secretly, because we knew that it was a big taboo for a badged man to have sex with a woman on the pill.

At work I sometimes felt some tension in my interaction with Cecile, who I sometimes had lunch with but never slept with. I asked Lucy if something was bothering Cecile, and she said, "She likes you a lot, but she's disappointed that you've never asked her out."

So finally at lunch one day, I invited her on a date, but left the day up to her. She understood immediately what that meant and gladly accepted. She held my hand as we walked back from the restaurant. Later that evening I got an email from her asking if I was free the following Thursday. I accepted.

Apart from her pretty face, Cecile was not outstanding physically. But the way she expressed her feelings made up for lack of a shapely figure. She was an exemplar of feminine charm, and I felt a little ashamed and regretful for having ignored her. I realized later that she had guided me with subtle expressions and movements.

In very subtle ways, she took control and got me into bed at her own pace. I felt that I'd never been so enchanted by pure femininity, and when I came inside her I felt that she'd enticed me into doing it. It was a very special experience for me. She stayed in bed for half an hour afterwards, lying on her back, and we had a nice conversation, with her telling me how lucky she was to work with me and go to bed with me. As with the other women, I encouraged her to remind me of her next ovulation date.

We continued that conversation at lunch the next day, and she generously brought up the subject of a couple of her friends. I asked her to send me their pictures and copy me on her emails to them recommending that they set up Skype sessions with me.

Calista, the woman on the first Skype call, seemed very pleasant, and I told her about my expectations: "I expect a full romantic encounter," I said, "and you should allow at least three hours. Of course there's no exchange of money, but I wouldn't turn down a bottle of wine." She had a day already chosen, and we agreed to meet at my place a week later.

The second Skype caller, Caroline, was very different, and I got the impression she was aware of how competitive the situation was. She wore a lingerie top, and occasionally she moved around so that her breasts were faintly visible. I fell for it and loved her strategy. Something troubled me about her, though, but I went ahead and accepted the date, for three days later.

In the meantime, I did some internet research on Caroline and confirmed that she'd been in my class in high school. She'd been one of those pretty, cliquish girls who were rude to everyone except the football players. I'd secretly lusted after her, with her pretty face and wonderful figure. But she'd been gratuitously rude to me on a couple of occasions, and I carried the hurt with me for a good while.

Now, eight years later, with her former-football-player husband in a mass grave, she'd be lying naked in my bed, begging for me to love her and impregnate her. My mind reeled with the possibilities of revenge. Should I have mean sex with her? Tell her my story and insist on a tearful apology? Find some other way to hurt her? I tortured myself and couldn't sleep.

Finally the next day I came to my senses and realized that revenge was useless and wouldn't accomplish anything and that just having sex with her would offer me closure. Besides, I had a reputation that would be spoiled if I gave her a bad experience. Caroline, like all the other women, would have to leave happy.

Did she remember me? If she did, she didn't give any indication of it as she entered my apartment. She was even prettier and more shapely than I remembered. And now, after eight years, her presence reignited my lust. I'd set the tone by asking her in the Skype call to provide me with a full romantic encounter, and now I assumed she would have a plan for doing that.

We sat on the sofa, talked as though we were complete strangers except for mentioning our mutual friend Cecile, and started kissing. After a while she moved my hand to her breast, and I wished intensely I could send that feeling back in time to when I'd dreamed of it. Then she picked up her bag and went into the bathroom to freshen up.

When she came out, she smiled and showed off her lingerie outfit. She really was enticing, and once again I wished I could transfer that image back to myself in high school. She seemed to have a scenario in mind, and I was happy to follow along. As we continued kissing, I touched her breasts, stomach, shoulders, and thighs, feeling her lovely skin, and putting my hand under the waistband of her panties. She slowly undressed me, and we walked into the bedroom.

There I finished undressing her and touched her exactly as I'd imagined eight years before. I spent a long time caressing her breasts and kissing her nipples, when it occurred to me to gently bite her nipples. She moaned when I did that, so I did it just a little harder, and she moaned louder.

That's when I wondered how hard I could bite without injuring her. So I continued to bite, and she continued to moan, and I realized that I didn't mind hurting her. After all, she was still moaning and apparently enjoying the roughness quite a lot. Finally I let up and gently touched her nipples with my fingers. By then she was practically crying in pain.

When she stopped, she said, to my great surprise, "Oh, that's wonderful. I love that so much." I continued touching her in other places, now more roughly, which she appreciated. I put my finger inside her slowly but moved it around roughly, shaking her up and down, which seemed to drive her crazy and made her say in a loud, excited voice, "Now. Come inside me now."

I complied but stopped after a minute or so and touched her vulva until she climaxed. Then I came into her from behind, roughly, pushing very hard. She couldn't get enough and continued moaning loudly. Finally I resumed the original position and finished off. That excited her, too, and I lay on top of her for a while thinking a strange mixture of thoughts, mainly that eight years later I had fulfilled every wish I'd ever had about her.

Afterwards she knew to lie on her back for a while. She asked me to keep my palms on her nipples to soothe them. She told me I'd driven her insane and she'd never had such an experience before. I imagined a tunnel that allowed me to send her words and the satisfied feeling in my body back to myself in time. As far as I could tell, she didn't remember me, and I didn't bring the subject up.

A week later, while Cecile and I had lunch, she mentioned that she'd talked to Caroline, who described her experience as incredible. "I really enjoyed it, too," I said, "but in a different way from how I enjoyed my experience with you."

Meanwhile I got an email from Margo, quoting the email she'd sent me four months before and inviting me to visit the fitness center with her during our break. I had a good look at her on our way down there, and she looked much fitter and more appealing. She got on the scale, we looked at the number, and sure enough, she'd lost 22 pounds.

"Congratulations. I think it's time we had a date," I said. She seemed thrilled, and I proceeded to tell her that I'd changed my policy. "Now I don't choose the day; you do." She immediately understood what that meant and said she'd send me an email that evening proposing a day.

On her day, Margo had gone home after work to change into an elegant dress before appearing at the restaurant. Of course I'd had lunch with her, but not with the plan of an encounter afterwards. She said that knowing what would come afterwards changed everything, and I could see that even though she was her same cheerful self, she was also a bit anxious. She said she was looking forward to it, but I suspected that she didn't know what to expect.

But how could she? She'd worked with me, had lunch with me a few times, and maybe heard something about me from the other women in the group I'd slept with; but apart from that, I was unknown territory. And maybe all men were. She told me, "I feel so lucky to be having dinner with a badged man" while giving me an admiring look.

And I answered, "You've worked really, really hard to get in shape these past four months, and I'm happy to reward you for that." That wasn't very romantic, really, so I needed to lead her in that direction.

I complimented her on her dress, which she said she could finally fit into, and she said this was the first time she'd worn it. I leaned forward and said softly that I looked forward to taking it off, but she didn't quite know how to react. At least that was good information.

When we came into my apartment, she made small talk about it and asked me how the neighbors were. I explained that they'd been fairly quiet, but they all died in the seventh wave, and now I had a very quiet apartment with no neighbors. She said that was often the case nowadays. I poured some wine, and we sat down on the sofa. I started touching her a little as we talked, lightly touching the top of her thigh as I told her I got rent reduction for looking after the other units.

Then I gave her a kiss and asked her whether she'd imagined any nice things that might happen this evening.

"Mostly that we'll kiss and you'll take me into the bedroom," she said.

"That's a pretty good start," I said. "And I can pretty much guarantee those things will happen," I said with a smile. Then I put my arm around her waist, gave her another kiss, and asked her to lean over and put her head on my shoulder. We stayed like that for another few minutes, and she seemed to relax a bit. I could tell she was getting more comfortable with me.

Finally I broke the silence with "I've imagined some things about this evening, too. I imagined everything I like about you - your competence at work, your sociability, and your cheerfulness - and having all those just for me, just for me. Do you see what I mean? All your good qualities make a really nice package, which is perfect for me to enjoy this evening."

"That's so nice," she said. "Do you really want that package?"

"I sure do, and I also want to enjoy unwrapping it to find the real you. Can you give me that package?"

"Yes," she said. "I want you to have it."

"But I want to unwrap it little by little, so I hope you're not in a hurry," I said.

Then I kissed her some more, and she finally kissed me back. As usual, I worked hard on getting my words right but wondered if it was really my tone that mattered.

We sat there for a while longer kissing, while I touched her in more places. Finally I could feel that she was getting more serious in her kisses, and I unbuttoned the top two buttons on the front her her dress. She seemed comfortable with that, and I kissed the exposed skin and undid a couple more buttons.

"When you put this dress on this evening," I asked, "did you imagine that I'd be taking it off?"

"Yes, but I didn't want to think about it in case it didn't happen the way I imagined," she admitted softly.

"I want to do it the way you imagined," I said, "so let me know if I do something that doesn't seem right. And let me know if you want me to do something more or something different."

"What you're doing right now is fine," she said. "It's lovely. It shows you want me."

I unbuttoned the dress all the way down and said, "You're lovely. Even lovelier than I imagined." I then started touching and caressing her bra, which she filled out nicely. But before continuing with that, I reached down and touched, almost massaged, her calves and thighs. And then I kissed her thighs, which I think surprised her. I took off my shirt and pants and had her lie down on the sofa and lay partially on top of her and we kissed in that position. I could see she was ready, so I led her into the bedroom.

There I had her stand facing the bed while I stood behind her. I unclasped her bra, reached around, removed it, and held her breasts in my hands. "Your breasts are so soft and wonderful; they're going to drive me crazy." Then I gently pulled off her panties and touched her bottom for a while. "And your bottom is also so wonderful." I asked her to finish undressing me, which she did in an awkward way. Then I invited her to touch me wherever she wanted. She hesitantly touched me, starting with my chest and working her way down. When she reached below my waist, she asked if it was OK, and I said, "Yes, but just gently."

Then we got into bed, and I started caressing her large breasts and kissing her nipples. She sighed and said, "Oh, that's so nice."

"Did you imagine me doing that?" I asked.

"I was afraid to imagine it, in case you didn't do it," she answered.

"Then I'm going to do something else you were afraid to imagine." I reached down, kissed her thighs, and slowly put a finger inside her.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd do that, but I'm so glad you are," she said. "I'm so glad it's you."

I had to put on some lubrication before coming inside her. When I did, she sighed and sighed. I then told her to switch positions and squat on top of me. She managed to do that, and asked her to sit up so I could touch her breasts. I asked her to move up and down slowly, and she understood why and got to like it.

Then I had her lie on her back while I touched her vulva. That surprised her, I think, but she let me do it. I continued until she climaxed a couple of times then came back inside her and came to a climax. When I came out, she wanted to turn toward me, but I asked her to stay on her back. I leaned over her, and she gave me kisses and told me I was wonderful and told me I deserved every woman I got. I told her I hoped she enjoyed her reward for getting in shape.

"It was worth every minute in the gym," she said. I asked her to tell me when she lost another ten pounds and we could do on another date." "Oh, you're so cruel, but that's just the encouragement I need. Thank you so much."

Occasionally I looked at my reviews on the agency website. So far every woman had given me a perfect rating. Here are some excerpts from the comments:

"Mike is not particularly handsome, but..."

"After two or three hours with Mike, you'll feel like he's your long-term lover."

"I was hesitant at first, but he seemed to hypnotize me and I melted in his arms."

"Looks and acts like an ordinary guy until you get him in private. Then wow."

At one point I got an email from Gail Panucci, the marketing director at the national headquarters in New York, congratulating me on having the highest review scores in the country.

About three weeks later, two of my colleagues at work told me they might be pregnant but weren't sure, and then I started getting emails from others with the same news. Every one of them was thrilled, and I was very happy for them and satisfied that I'd done a good thing for humanity, but I've never been interested in being a father, so I didn't feel any personal joy. At that time, I was very busy with friends of friends and specific-calendar-date encounters through the agency, so I focused on that.

I wasn't too surprised when one day I got a call from Michaela asking me if I was free that evening at 8:00. When she came into my apartment, she seemed to be in a strange emotional state, and I gave her a hug and asked her to sit down.

She held my hands and said, "I'm not sure about this at all, but I thought you should be the first to know that I may be pregnant." I thought she was going to cry, so I gave her a tight hug.

"There's other news too, but I don't know any details. Gail Panucci is coming to talk to us, so clear your calendar for next Sunday and Monday."

I knew that Gail was the marketing director and that she'd sponsored the videos, so I guessed that it was about a follow-up to the videos. Anyway, Michaela said she didn't know more than that for now. We kissed for a while and made our way to the bedroom, where we had a wonderful, emotional session.

The next evening we had a Skype session with me, Michaela, Dorsey, and Gail, but still no big announcement, just a confirmation that she'd be in town on Sunday evening and meet with us at a restaurant. After the call, I got a private call from Gail saying that if it was OK with me, she'd plan to stay at my apartment instead of a hotel. I said that would be fine. (She looked very attractive on the Skype call.) And she added, "I know your profile says you prefer no tattoos, but mine's so small I don't think you'll notice it." Good grief, I thought. I'm going to sleep with the national marketing director.

Even though Gail had driven all day, she seemed fresh and energetic when she met us at the restaurant. She was wearing an expensive-looking black outfit with flat shoes. Her conversation was mostly congratulatory, saying our office was one of the most successful in the country and that her plan was to spread that success to other locations. But she didn't give any more specifics, promising to provide the details of her plan at Monday's meeting. (I'd taken a vacation day for Monday.)

After the meal, Gail came to my apartment, and she once again talked about the success of the videos. I told her that Dorsey and I had really enjoyed making them and were happy with the results. In person, as on the Skype call, Gail looked like a beauty queen without the smile, and I felt a little intimidated that she was interested in staying in my apartment. But I decided to serve her some wine and cheese and treat her like any woman who I'd planned an encounter with.

While we were chatting, I started gently touching her and then gave her some light kisses. After a while, she started returning my kisses, and we then got more serious, with heavy kisses and touching. Then she asked me if I'd like for us to have a shower together, and I said that was a nice idea. We took off each other's clothes and had a slow, romantic shower, with me complimenting her on her skin, breasts, stomach, and thighs. I guess she was about thirty-five, but a very beautiful and young thirty-five. I was so glad to be in the shower with her, and I was really eager for the next step.

We dried each other off carefully, but then she pretended (I think) to hesitate and said she wasn't sure and wanted to just talk for a little while. So we sat on the edge of the bed, chatting and gently touching. I really wanted to get busy with her, but instead I found a reserve of patience and kindness and used that technique. It took about half an hour, but I managed to get her back on track. I caressed her and touched her everywhere, including a lot of time with her thighs, and finally she begged me to come inside. We did four basic positions, plus one that was new to me, all taking about half an hour. Finally I finished up and brought her to a climax with my fingers.

"God, you're even better than I thought after watching the videos," she said a couple of times, and she told me I was wonderful. We lay there for about half an hour in bliss, making small talk. "There's an emotional dimension with you that doesn't come out in the videos and that I wasn't prepared for," she said.

Finally, still under the influence of our love-making, that she would give me a preview of the news.

"The Department of Health has sent us an advisory," she said, "that some men are fathering children at a rate that may have consequences for health and society. How many women would you say you've impregnated?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe between twenty and forty. Just a guess."

"For a city this size, that's probably close to the limit for one father, according to the advisory. But we're definitely not asking you to stop. In fact, your activity level and especially your ratings are excellent for the business. We need to send you to some other cities to continue there. We'll take care of all the details, and we'll invite Dorsey to go with you if you like."

"If I have to go, I'd be very happy to have my costar with me," I said. I didn't sound enthusiastic, because I dreaded the thought of leaving Michaela, Trudy, Lucy, Margo, Cecile, Julie, Marie, Calista, and the dozens of women I'd encountered through the agency. I loved them all and would miss them terribly.

"I'm terribly attached to all those women," I said, "and I'd hate leaving them." Gail saw that I was getting moist-eyed. She was a little surprised at my reaction and put her arm around me.

"We can arrange for visits back here," she said, "and you'll have Dorsey with you. We'll talk more about the details tomorrow." I didn't want to say it, but I especially wanted to be with Michaela during her pregnancy. The thought of missing her finally made me unable to hold back my tears.

At the meeting the next morning, as Gail, Michaela, Dorsey, and I sat around the table, I think Michaela and Dorsey had a sense of foreboding as they noticed my expression. Gail started by talking about the state of the business.

"We've been going through a very tough period these past couple of years," she said, "but now we're seeing the light at the end of tunnel. And with the way the videos were received, we think we've found a path to corporate success by replicating what's been happening here."

"How do you propose to do that?" Michaela asked.

"Based on a directive from the Department of Health, we think Mike is at his limit for a city of this size," Gail answered. "We need to listen to the department and do what's right for the health of his offspring."

"So Mike has to leave town?" Dorsey asked, obviously distressed.

"Yes, at least for a few years," Gail answered, "but we'd love for his costar to go with him. Think of it as a long book tour," she said.

I couldn't hold back my tears, and after I started weeping, Dorsey and Michaela started, too. Gail seemed really surprised and unprepared for our reaction.

Dorsey spoke through her tears, "How do you think we'd manage to do this work if we didn't love each other?"

"The way we work, it all depends on love," Michaela added, barely able to speak.

"We all need to think of the business," Gail said, "and of the future of humanity."

After a while, with Michaela, Dorsey, and I still sniffling, Gail thought we'd calmed down enough to give us some more details. Dorsey would travel with me as my costar as we gave presentations to groups of badged men and I'd handle as many encounters as possible. Dorsey would work with the local staff but wouldn't be administering any tests.

"We found that a lot of unsuitable candidates were signing up after seeing Dorsey in the videos, just to sleep with her, so we've tightened up the selection criteria," Gail explained. "We'll take care of all your living expenses. Plus we'll pay for you to keep your houses and apartments here and allow for regular trips back here."

"I think we all need some time to think this over," Michaela finally said, speaking for all three of us.

"If you can think of anything else I can do to ease the transition," Gail said, "please let me know."

"I'm not saying this as a threat," I said to Gail, "but honestly, I'm considering the possibility of not accepting the offer so that I can stay here with Dorsey and Michaela."

Gail reacted very calmly and laid out the reasons I should accept. "But if you stay here, you can no longer impregnate women. You have a strong social responsibility to continue doing that, just not here. I'm talking about social pressure, government advisories, and the health of future generations."

"Also," she continued, "you're phenomenally good at making women happy. If that skill is transferable, we want your help in transferring it. You've made so many women happy here, but that has to end, and you need to do it somewhere else. Think of yourself and a champion athlete who refuses to travel. Most people with a phenomenal skill level can stay in their hometown and apply that skill, but some, like you, need to travel. I know you love women, but you need to go somewhere else now to continue doing that. Dorsey will be there with you."

"What you say makes sense," I answered, "and I'll weigh all that."

After Gail left, Michaela, Dorsey, and I met in Michaela's office. We were calming down by then and able to face the facts needed for a decision. Michaela said that if Dorsey and I left, she'd just be back where she was a year earlier, having to train a new account manager.

"The difference would be that now I'm pregnant by a wonderful man." Dorsey, who hadn't heard that yet, went around and gave her a congratulatory hug. "And professionally," Michaela added, "for me to be pregnant is an honor to the agency and puts us in a good light." Dorsey understood when I invited Michaela to spend the night with me. Michaela needed comforting, and she was grateful that I was available.

Two days later we received an email from Gail with a specific proposal. Dorsey and I would move to Cleveland for four months. We could keep our apartments in Columbus and come back for frequent visits. The agency would find us a place to live, probably in a downtown apartment, and pay all expenses.

Dorsey would do a similar job to what she was doing currently, but help in rescuing the Cleveland branch, which was doing poorly. I would be paid a generous salary for spending 50% of my time counseling men around the country on how to improve their low ratings, with the rest of my time (officially unpaid) helping deal with the backlog of encounter requests.

Dorsey and I discussed it, and finally accepted.

Moving day arrived, and Dorsey and I met the relocation representative at the entrance to the apartment building in downtown Cleveland. He showed us two furnished apartments on the same floor, both of which seemed spacious and tastefully furnished.

The senior account executive for the Cleveland branch, Shelly, was also there and was proud to show us around the luxurious apartments. She pointed out that the big, three-bedroom apartment was for us and that the smaller one was for encounters. Dorsey and I were impressed and said it all looked very nice.

After the relocation agent and Shelly left, Dorsey and I moved in our things - just a few boxes - from our cars and sat down on the sofa. Gail and Shelly seemed to have assumed that we were a couple and lived together. It felt like an arranged marriage. We didn't know what to think or how to talk about it.

Finally Dorsey started: "I've been in love with you since we made the videos," she said.

And I said, "And I've been in love with you since you administered my test, so we should be able to get along and live together, I guess."

Dorsey had almost always seen smiley and cheerful, and she was no different now. "Let's try out the shower and talk about it afterwards," she said. So we tried out the shower, went to bed for an hour or two, and had a long get-acquainted conversation.

"Can you cook?" I asked.

"Just basic things," she said. "I've been living with my mother, and she did almost all the cooking, but I can learn."

"I can bake potatoes, steam vegetables, and fry hamburgers," I said.

"Are you messy, or tidy?" I asked. "I'm basically messy, but I've kept my place tidy enough for guests."

"I'm pretty tidy," she answered.

"What temperature do you like?" I asked.

"On the warm side," she answered.

"Same here. It sounds like we're compatible," I said, jokingly.

"I think we can work this out," she said. We hugged, got dressed, and continued exploring the apartment. Thanks to Dorsey's cheerfulness, my reasonableness, and a long series of compromises and small favors, we gradually found that we'd be fine together and enjoy each other's company. I started going to live theater with Dorsey, and she started listening to classical music with me.

Out of curiosity, I got out my laptop and signed in to my agency account to check my messages and the list of women requesting encounters. All the women were in the Cleveland area. I wondered whether Dorsey could truly accept that part of my job, so I thought that I'd offer to let her help me select the encounters. She gladly did that; in fact, she took over the selection process, leaving me veto power. I was glad for her to do that, since it gave her some control.

Then we got the keys and went to look at the small apartment. It was like a luxurious hotel room, with a nicely furnished living room, small kitchen, and full bedroom. "I want to be your first encounter here," she said smiling.

The next morning we went to the office and talked things over with Shelly, who made us think of a tall, less competent version of Michaela. When Shelly explained how she handled things, we had a feeling that she really needed to make some improvements. Michaela's procedures were superior in every way, and we felt that Shelly had a lot to learn. But Dorsey later told me that we'd have to introduce all that later.

Besides our private offices, there was another office set up for Skype calls, and that's where I'd do my coaching of the men with low ratings. In one of our meetings that day, Shelly said she'd admired the videos and was glad to have the stars working with her. She wondered about my perfect ratings and hinted that I must be manipulating them.

"How do you coax the women to write favorable reviews?" she asked. My response was, "I've never mentioned the reviews in a member encounter." She had a hard time believing that, since she'd assumed that all the men did.

Fortunately there was no need for Dorsey to administer tests. As Gail had indicated, the agency had worked with a psychologist to improve the questionnaires. But also, Shelly told us, she had a few outside women who'd volunteer to do the tests, using a performance questionnaire that she supplied, "But even that method isn't foolproof," she admitted, "since we have to drop half of the men who pass it." Dorsey said she had experience in that area and would like to work with the outsiders to improve their observation methods.

Shelly also had problems with the backlog of unfulfilled encounter requests, especially the specific-calendar-date requests. "Do you handle those differently?" she asked me.

"Yes, but I still insist on a full romantic encounter," I said. "I emphasize that from the beginning. But, for example, afterwards I ask the woman to stay on her back for half an hour. That tells them I'm aware of their need."

Shelly said something about wishing she could see me in action. I said, "You have. It's all in the videos. The only thing that's different in real life is how long things go on. Of course I handle every woman a little differently depending on her needs."

When we talked about it that evening, Dorsey told me that Shelly really wanted an encounter with me.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked her.

"I think it's too soon," she said, "unless she insists on it. Make her work for it and see how seductive she gets. Of course we need to be careful, since she's our boss."

"Good advice," I said.

That evening Dorsey had selected my first Cleveland encounter for me. So I went over to the little apartment, waited, and buzzed her in.

Afterwards, when I came back to the big apartment, Dorsey asked me how she was.

"She was a rather sad 22-year-old woman married to an unbadged man," I said. She thought she could be happy with him but wasn't. She was very appreciative."

"How was she physically?"

"Pretty and shapely, but not as much as you. Not even close." Dorsey gave me a hug.

The next day I had a couple of coaching sessions with men with low ratings. We went over each review comment, and I asked them why they thought the woman had reacted that way. After a number of such sessions, I felt I could identify the source of the problem in the character flaws of the men: instead of keeping the satisfaction of the woman as their constant and unique goal, as they pretended to, they acted as if they had other priorities: being right, being in charge, being admired, being in a hurry, and showing off. They argued with the women and told them to be reasonable.

I tried to convince them that those were fatal errors and they should make sure, absolutely sure, that the encounter never got to that point. I often felt like scolding them but instead chose to set an example of kindness and understanding while setting them on a better path. That was the story of that part of my job for the next several years.

Dorsey, meanwhile, managed to shape up the outside women who were doing the testing. Before, they'd been impressionistic, but now they had the checklist in mind and had it filled out and ready to discuss with Dorsey afterwards. Shelly greatly admired her work and the resulting improved filtering process.

A few weeks later, Dorsey suggested to Shelly that Shelly might be able to persuade me to accept an encounter. Shelly turned out to be more competent in bed than in the office, and we repeated every month until she became pregnant.

At the agency's annual convention that year, Dorsey and I were the keynote speakers. All the attendees had seen and admired the videos. After Gail's glowing introduction mentioning the inspirational effects of the videos and my review scores, I spoke for a while about my conclusions in coaching the men, and Dorsey spoke about her experience starring in the videos and working with the women doing the testing. We got a standing ovation afterwards and were treated as the people who could rescue the company.

Every six to twelve months, depending on the size of the city and the estimated number of women I've impregnated, Dorsey and I are transferred to a different city. The agency thrives, and Dorsey and I live as a very happy couple. I consider myself the luckiest man in the world and congratulate myself on having stayed home during the pandemic.