The accounting firm we use has a pretty young CPA named Maria. Maria is married, about 35, 5'7" with raven black hair. She always wears a suit with a skirt or pants, always with heels. She is pleasant, but very formal and business like. When we interviewed her firm several years ago, she was dipping in and out of her shoes the entire meeting, and I got a more than a few chances to glance at her stockinged feet under my desk. Naturally, I decided they were the right firm for us, and asked the managing Partner to assign her to our account. Maria comes to our office 3-5 days each quarter to review the work of our bookkeeper. I have seen her dipping many times and once, I saw her sit with one shoe off for several minutes when she thought no one was looking. One day last year, I returned to the office from downtown just as my secretary was leaving for the day. She told me that everyone had gone except that Maria was still in my office working. Perfect! From the front conference room, you can look right in through my office door. Quietly, I went into the conference room and looked down the hall hoping to see some shoeplay. Like winning the lottery, Maria was sitting at my desk, one leg pulled back under the chair sporting a 2-3" heel, dark brown shoe with the clunky heels that are popular these days. Her other leg was extended forward under the desk, showing off dark brown nylons, and no shoe at all! Her foot was pointed with her heel off the floor and her toes just touching the carpet. She didn't appear to have seen me so I moved in for a closer look. As I walked toward Maria, I could see that she had very nice feet, small, with a high arch, and pretty toes. She was rubbing her bare stockinged foot on the carpet in a distracted way, and was completely focused on the computer screen. I noticed that her shoe was not anywhere near her wandering foot, and as I got closer, I didn't see it anywhere under the desk. I got within twenty feet of the office door and I was staring at her foot when she noticed my approach. Startled, she immediately pulled her exposed foot back and tucked it under her leg in the oversized chair. "Busted" I thought, but decided to play it cool anyway. "How's my favorite bean counter?" I asked, and sat in the guest chair across the desk from her. "O.K." she said, and relaxed a little, putting her foot back on the floor tentatively. I could tell she was unaware that I could see her toes when I leaned back in the chair. We talked about business stuff for a few minutes and I pretended to look at her reports, actually looking past them, and directly at her beautiful exposed foot. "Your working late", I said. Maria seemed very nervous. There was no sign of the missing shoe, but she didn't search around for it either. Maria kept glancing at the large oak lateral file cabinet next to the wall. After a few minutes more of business talk and glances under the desk, the answer came. "My shoe got locked in the file cabinet", she said, so softly that I hardly hear. I laughed out loud and she was not at all amused. "It's not funny", she said. "I have been sitting here for hours with one shoe. I couldn't go to lunch, I couldn't even go the the ladies room because you have to walk through the front office and out into the hallway to get there. I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life!" She was very agitated now. "Your secretary said you would be back right after lunch, and that you had the only key." "Did you tell her your shoe was locked in the file?" I asked, still laughing. "I would rather die," she said. "I told her I needed to see the 401K reports, and she said they were in the cabinet, and that you have the only key." "How did your shoe get locked in the file cabinet?" I asked, pretending to be calm. "Can you please unlock it?" she asked, ignoring my question. I went out to the front office and got an enormous ring of keys, knowing for certain that none of them would open the file. Returning, I slowly began to try each key. I repeated my question again. "I was talking on the phone and leaning back in the chair," she began, "and the file drawer was open a few inches. I rested my heel on the edge of the drawer. I must have leaned back too far, because I almost tipped the chair. As I scrambled and pulled my leg down, my shoe caught the lip of the drawer and it fell in just as the drawer was closing. "The cabinet is always unlocked," I said foolishly. Maria flushed and stammered. "I was rubbing my toe on the lock button, and I probably pushed it by accident," she said, looking at the floor. Maria stood anxiuosly by the file cabinet and said nothing more. She was balanced on one shoe with her bare foot hidden, wrapped behind her ankle. Minutes passed as I slowly tried more keys, stretching the time. Maria shifted until she was balanced on her right shoe, ankles together, her left foot bare with toes lightly brushing the floor. She kept her left hand on the cabinet for balance. As I continued to try keys, my face was no more than 3 feet from her beautiful stockinged foot. The time passed very slowly as I lost myself in the beauty of Maria and the situation. After long minutes of trying keys, and gazing at her incredible bare foot, one of the keys got bound up in the lock. I made a great show of shaking and pulling trying, not too hard, to remove it. Maria looked worried. I went to the utility room and returned with a pair of pliers. Maria was sitting in the chair again, foot tucked under her, and looking very unhappy. I crouched by the file with my back to Maria, blocking the keys from her view, and purposely twisted the key off in the lock. Maria lept from the chair at the sound. "No, oh no, oh no,no,no,no!!!!" she nearly screamed. "Please get my shoe back!" Maria started to pace back and forth furiously, bare heel held high, balanced on her lovely silky toes. Each time she changed direction, she would grind her stockinged foot into the carpet displaying her toes in every pose imaginable. "I could call a locksmith," I offered weakly. "There isn't time," she said angrily. "I have to catch the train at 7:20 to meet my boss and some clients downtown at 8:00! What am I going to do?" "There is a shoe store in town right by the train platform," I said. We nearly ran to my car, Maria striding along still on her bare toes. It was cold out side and I noticed a condensation print of Maria's toes on the pavement as I closed the car door after her. Several minutes later, we pulled into a parking space in front of the shoe store. CLOSED the sign said, and there was no sign of life through the window. Maria looked close to tears, sitting silently for a long moment. I really felt terribly. "I'm just going to go," she said, and got out of the car, crossing the street in one shoe, heading for the train platform. I followed her, still feeling bad, but excited by the image of her walking with one shoe through the cool night air. We waited silently. Maria stood balanced on one foot, bare toes hanging in the cool air. Several people looked at us but no one said anything. The train came and went, taking Maria and her one shoe toward the skyline of Chicago. I went back to my office, and after some effort, removed the broken key and opened the lock with the correct key, which had been sitting on my desk with my car keys the entire time. I held her empty shoe in my hand, and imagined her, sitting nervously on the train with her exquisite stockinged foot on public display. As I shut down my computer, preparing to leave for the day, my eye caught something in the documents list of the start menu. I clicked on several filenames and saw jpegs of shoeplay that I had downloaded long ago. Someone had been veiwing them recently, and it wasn't me! On balance, I don't feel too bad about the incident. I think that Maria was snooping on my hard drive, and decided to try a little shoeplay. I doubt it occurred to her that her shoe could be lost for such a long time. I am sure that she could not have imagined going downtown to meet her boss and some clients, barefoot on a train when she came to work that day. Maria came in the next month as scheduled and I discreetly returned her shoe to her. She said that her boss had been angry that she arrived to meet new clients wearing only one shoe, but she had told him her heel had broken on the walk from the train. She also said that by the time she met the clients, her stocking had worn through and her bare toes were completely exposed, which was even more embarrassing to her. On the bright side, she said the clients were Japanese men and they seemed very amused by the one shoe thing, and her firm got the account anyway. Her boss drove her home so she didn't have to ride the train barefoot again. Maria is still my accountant. We never talk about the incident but we both know. She does take her shoes off sometimes, but she never mentions it or makes eye contact when her shoe comes loose. I shot some under the desk video, that she may or may not have known about. I would love to talk with her about shoeplay but it's not the kind of subject you bring up with your accountant. After all, business is business. .