Optimism that did not last long, I might tell you.
Even if the suspicion she was sexually attracted to me remained, at least.
And with what I knew of her husband and their own relationship – and from her own lips – I felt certain she had something more in mind during my stay in her home than a simple employer/employee association.
“How may I be of service, Malkin?” the words fell from my lips as she ended her phone call and fixed her gaze upon me; words I could never even have imagined coming from me not long before – especially now I was aware of exactly what “Malkin” signified in her native tongue.
But then, repeat a behaviour or action often enough and it soon becomes second-nature; even when one has become aware of just how demeaning either can be.
Even if repetition showed no sig
