I was up bright and early Monday morning, going over and over things on my mind about how I would settle in at my new job, and hoping that I would fit in seamlessly as a woman, tidied up my hair and carefully did my makeup and was about to get dressed when Jenny came into my room and handed me a package.

“A present for you Jane from the girls, a lacy sexy lingerie set for today. If you have any worries or doubts about being accepted as Jane, just remember what you are wearing, and think ‘I am an attractive sexy woman’, shoulders back, push out your chest and act like you did on Saturday with the girls.”

We had chosen a fairly basic outfit for me for the office, a coral half-sleeve blouse, a cream above-the-knee A-line skirt with matching bolero jacket, and comfortable 2” cream block-heel court shoes. I was soon dressed and ready to go.

“ Good luck Sis, I’m sure that you’ll fine, just behave like you have been doing with us and forget about Jack, Jane is who you are now, or at least for the moment.”

I’m going to give it a go, after all the time you and the girls have spent on me I’m sure I’ll be ok, but I’ll only relax once I get settled in. The first day in a new job is always stressful, just multiply that by 2 for me today.”

I grabbed my bag, quickly admired myself in the hall mirror, said goodbye to Jenny who was enjoying a leisurely breakfast, and drove to the offices of Cartwright Projects.

I took a moment to compose myself, worried that despite all the efforts of the girls that I would still not pass as a woman, but I had committed to do this and had spent a lot of time for me and the girls. I took a deep breath, forced a friendly smile, and walked in to the reception area.

“Hello, I'm Jane Harrison, I'm starting here today and was asked to report to Sally Chisholm, who I am temporarily replacing while she is on maternity leave.” I had decided rather than using my real surname to use my mother’s maiden name instead, and that if anyone asked I was her niece and Jenny’s cousin.

“Hi, we’re expecting you. Pleased to meet you, I’m Angie, the office junior and general dogsbody. I think you have arrived just in time, Sally does not have long to go now before her baby’s due and needs to start taking it easy. Good luck today, and if you need to know where anything is, or get lost in their conversations about the projects we are working on, just give me a shout, and I’ll try to help.”

“Thanks Angie’ speak to you later” I replied, hoping that the others were as friendly and helpful as her as I spotted a rosy-cheeked heavily-pregnant, but still very attractive woman waddle across the reception area to greet me.

“Hi Jane, welcome to Cartwright Projects. First things first, let’s get you settled in my, or should I say your, half-partitioned corner that acts as our office, with coffee and we can then sit and chat about everything you need to know about what I do and for which you will be responsible from Wednesday.”

“You’re joking about leaving tomorrow aren’t you?” I asked with a worried frown after we had settled in at her work station.

“I’m serious, I should have packed in a few weeks ago, but needed to stay until we got a suitable replacement. Thank you for now letting me go to get ready to enjoy, if that is the right word, the big event in a couple of weeks. Obviously James, John, and Darren will give you their priorities and you can call on the other girls to help if you need it, but there is a lot of admin that I do without the involvement of anyone else, you have a lot to learn in two days. First though, let me introduce you to the others and then I can tell you all about them, what they are good at, what they are bad at, and how far you can trust them to do their jobs efficiently.”

First on the list was Darren’s Uncle James, and when we walked into his office there was a look of amazement on his face as he knew who I really was.

“ You’re not quite what I was expected.” he said cryptically, giving me a close visual inspection from top to toe, seeming to dwell on my bust-line a little bit longer than elsewhere. “Welcome to Cartwright projects, I’m sure that you will soon adjust to your new situation and that we will work satisfactorily together. I’ll leave you in Sally’s capable hands for the moment and we can catch up later.” I was sure that he was toying with me for having agreed to work for him as Jane, but he seemed pleased with how I looked and the general impression I gave.

The finance director, John Chisholm was a lot more professional and straightforward. “Hello Jane, welcome to the team, when Sally has shown you the ropes pop back in here, there are a couple of things I need to go through with you.”

Maggie and Carl, John’s two assistant accountants in their late 20s or early 30s, seemed friendly enough and suggested catching up over lunch. which seemed a good idea, I had to start with somebody and they seemed as good as any.

Jo, Becky and Liz in the general office were a lot more wary of me as I was being brought in over their heads and I could feel their eyes boring into me, checking out my hair, makeup and clothes, looking for any flaws that they could exploit and gossip about.

Angie, last on the tour, was more welcoming, pleased to see me again, and seemed to want me to stay to chat longer, but Sally led me away back to her office.

“Before we get started on what your job is I’ll fill you in on the gossip about the others, you need to know who you are working with and what to expect from them.

James is a very good boss, fair but determined, you get what you see with him, he should not be a problem for you. Generally when he gives you something to do, he just leaves you to get on with it, he doesn't believe in looking over your shoulder to make sure you are doing it right.

John is very staid, concentrates on work, is not very sociable but is polite and not too demanding. He runs his own little empire of Maggie and Carl who tend to look after themselves, the workload for you from him and his team is minimal.

Maggie is very ambitious, to be honest I think she considers the role beneath what she expected when she qualified as an accountant, but is pleasant and friendly enough and seems good at her job.

Carl is a bit of a plodder, dull but reliable, I think he is not too ambitious and is just looking for a nice safe career, and he tends to follow whatever direction Maggie is heading in.

Jo is a single mum, not particularly pushy, just looking for a decent income to keep her and Billy, her 8 year old, but is probably the most capable of the girls, but does not want to take on more responsibility that will affect her family life.

Becky is divorced, quite flirty and is a bit of a cougar, she has a liking for younger men and, as you have seen, dresses a bit ‘mutton as lamb’ as part of that. She plays Carl up quite a lot and makes him very nervous. You can rely on her as long as you can put up with her sense of humour.

Liz is not looking for a career, working here is just a job for her, a way to get money to help the family finances which are quite stretched.

Angie is young, a bundle of fun, but don’t be fooled by her bubbly image, she has a sharp mind and in a few years will be doing my job, if there is anybody you need to trust and confide in, Angie is your girl.

Darren and Bill are not in the office today, they are out at meetings on one of our projects, in fact they are out most of the time at site meetings or design meetings.

I understand that you have already met Darren, he’s young, very enthusiastic, but is quite sharp and will take over sometime from James. Most of the girls think he is a bit of a hunk, but he keeps his distance, much to the disappointment of Becky.

Bill is mid-forties, very experienced and is left to his own agenda most of the time. He is usually out and about meeting designers and contractors on site, he usually does all his own reports and correspondence, so you will not have too much work from him.

That should set the scene for you, we’ll leave it there for the moment, you can fill in the gaps yourself as you get to know them better. Now for the formal stuff, I’ll go through what is routine for you and what you can occasionally expect.”

The rest of the morning Sally talked me through all of her normal duties, showed me where everything was kept, she was so well organised that I had no problems following her guidance. We chatted a lot, about her background and family, telling me all the problems of her pregnancy and leaving me knowing more about women’s medical problems than I had learned all the rest of my life. Luckily my times out with the girls and their open discussions with me included had prepared me for a lot of this and I was able to discuss things without any of the embarrassment that I had felt the first time intimate discussions came up with them.

When she asked me for more details about myself, family, schooling, previous jobs, relationships, I already had a potted history planned out which was based on my actual life as Jack with bits obviously amended to a female perspective, with some characterisation added in from what I knew about Jenny and her friends and she just took it all in without any problems.

At lunchtime, I quickly freshened up my makeup and hair and, as promised, went to meet Maggie and Carl for lunch. As I had been told by Sally, Maggie was the more dominant of the pair, Carl just joining in the conversation when he was directly asked.

“It has been good to get to know you Jane.” She forced a smile, “ Of course we have different roles from you and we look after ourselves in the accounts section, so we won’t be working together too much.” which sounded to me to be a polite warning to keep my nose out of their business.”

“ Do you enjoy working at Cartwright’s then Maggie?”, I thought that this was as good a time as any to try to probe her loyalty.

“It’s alright, I am learning a lot about how things work in practice rather than the theoretical ideals that you get taught at university, but in time I will be looking for something a bit more challenging and with more responsibility, meanwhile it pays the bills and will look good on my CV.”

Irrationally and probably prematurely, I decided that I was not at all keen on her, that she was pushy and couldn’t be trusted, and that I would keep my distance from her. Maybe it was bit of posturing for the position of alpha-female in the office, but at least it assured me that I was totally accepted as a woman.

Carl was totally different, quiet and shy and a bit of a plodder, so I felt that if I wanted to know anything about the company finances that he was the better bet, and besides, I caught him a couple of times giving me a good look over, obviously quite pleased with what he saw, land I thought that later when I could get him away from Maggie’s influence, it might be worthwhile to turn on my feminine charms and get him to loosen up a bit.

I had just settled back in the office when I got a call from James Cartwright. “Please come into my office, there are a few things I need to discuss with you.

“Should Sally come too in case there is something she can add to the conversation, I’m still finding my way around your systems?”

“No, just you.” He added in quite a forceful tone.

I fluffed up my hair, redid my lips, smoothed my skirt and went to his office, unsure as to what to expect from him, but was immediately put at ease by the friendly smile on his face, as he gave me an intense look up and down, eyes particularly again lingering on my bosom.

“Good to see you here Jane, you don’t mind if I call you Jane do you?”

“I would rather that you did. While I am working for you, it’s best if that’s how you refer to me all the time, that way there is less chance of a slip up questioning my identity, and please treat me in exactly the same way you treat Sally and the other women. As long as I am needed here I am living as Jane 24/7, that way I will not get confused.”

“ I must admit that when Darren told me what he had planned for you, I thought it was a harebrained scheme that would never work and that there would be no way that you would be convincing. However, I am astounded at how you have turned out, attractive, elegant, stylish, you just blend in with the other girls and will fit in well.”

Surprisingly I found myself blushing, one thing that I hadn’t yet totally got to grips with was getting used to receiving compliments. Girls from a very young age constantly receive compliments about how pretty they are and how lovely and cute they look, I had grown up seeing and hearing Jenny get all the comments, but things like that were not said to me along with most boys, I just had not learned over the years how to react, so just sat there saying nothing.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to settle in with Sally as I am sure that there are a lot of issues she needs to advise you on. I wasn’t sure whether to ask you this, but now I have seen you and heard you I’ve decided to ask anyway. It is the Rotary Club Ladies Night dinner-dance a week on Friday and as President I will be expected to attend and act as host. You probably don’t know but my wife Helen died two years ago and since then Sally has graciously undertaken to be my ‘plus-one’ at the event. Obviously this year she will not be available, and I am asking if you would be willing to take her place.”

“You can’t be serious, I can get away with being presentable and in control of myself in the office, but a social environment is totally different, drink relaxes you, and I am worried that I will drop my guard when making small talk chatting with the other women. Besides if it is a formal occasion, I don’t have anything suitable to wear, the only female clothes I have are work outfits and casual clothes.”

“You are definitely falling into your role, that is the sort of comment that I would expect from a woman. Have a talk to Sally, she can explain a lot better than I can what will be expected, buy whatever you need and charge it to the company, Sally has a corporate credit card which she can let you have until the one ordered for you arrives. Talk it through with her, I’m sure that she will tell you that you will enjoy yourself and will fit in. If you think that it will be too much, let me know and I will arrange something else. I was going to ask Maggie, but somehow I never feel comfortable with her, she can do her job ok but I can’t relate to her personally.”

“I know what you mean, I get the feeling that here is a hidden meaning and agenda in everything she says or does. By the way, I don’t know if you have long-term plans for her, but I would make sure that you have another string to your bow, she effectively told me that Cartwright’s are just a stepping stone on her career path.”

“ Thanks for that, I keep an eye on her. The other thing is that on Wednesday, I am having a meeting with the Chief Planning Officer, Andrew Hargreaves, at the Town Hall about one of the projects we are currently working on. Most of the detailed stuff is done by Bill Miller and the project design team we use, but occasionally things need a bit of a nudge from top-level. I would like you there to take notes to pass on to Bill, and besides it will do no harm for you to meet Andrew, he often calls here and he and his wife Helen will be at the Ladies Night, so at least there will be another face there that you know.”

I could hardly wait to get a chance to talk with Sally about the invite to the Ladies Night, and what would be expected from me. Despite the reassuring attitude of James I was a bit worried about accepting his invitation.

“Don’t worry about it, I have been to it with him a couple of times and he was the perfect gentleman, it is not a ploy to make a play for you. Most of the people I’ve met there are friendly and pleasant and you will be made most welcome. It is a formal dress-up event, some of the ladies will be in expensive elaborate designer full-length dresses, others will be in cocktail dresses. Go in whichever makes you feel more comfortable, but if James has offered to pay, why not go for something you would not normally be able to afford, I’ve got quite a nice wardrobe with all the stuff I needed for the various receptions I’ve had to accompany him to.”

“ He did offer that and said I should borrow your corporate credit card, if that is ok.”

“ Fine with me, after tomorrow I will not need to use it anymore anyway, it’s all yours now. Use it freely, but don’t go too mad and you should have no bother with the accountants.”

“It would be good if you were able to come with me to help me choose, you know the type of outfit that will be expected, but I’m sure that you don’t feel like going traipsing around the shops so near to the birth date. I’ll get my cousin Jenny to help me choose.”

Sally fished in her purse to get the credit card and as she pulled it out a small photo dropped to the floor. As I picked it up for her, I couldn’t help but notice that it was a very smart attractive man, that I took to be her husband, before passing it back to her.

The rest of the day was just routine, Sally showing me where everything was, telling me about the various clients, investors, and consultants that I would be dealing with, and all the routine duties she carried out. It was a shame that we only had two days together, she was easy to relate to and someone that I felt I could be good friends with.

Back at home later I told Jenny about the invite to the dinner dance and that we would need to go shopping.

“ I never thought that I would be having a conversation with you about going out together to get you a fancy party frock, but I’m looking forward to it. It sounds like a big occasion so we need to get you something stunning and expensive. Now tell me about the people that you are working with and what you will actually be doing.”

I gave her a quick description of the office staff, mainly from Sally’s advice but some of my own instant reactions to the people too

Darren’s uncle seems ok , he was pleasant enough, but when he met me he seemed fixated on my breasts, he tended to not look me in the eye but always a bit lower down.

“ Welcome to the world of women Jane, you’ll find that a lot, but in your case it was probably as much in wonderment at your transformation as being lustful.” Jenny giggled at the image in her minds eye of James staring at my boobs.

Tuesday was a bit of a blur, there was a constant stream of phone calls and visitors to wish Sally all the best for the birth and they all hoped that she would come back to work again sometime. At the end of the day all the team from the office went out for a meal and a drink to wish her well, except no drink for Sally of course nor for me as I had agreed to drive her home. Everyone seemed sorry to see her go, she was obviously very popular and good at her job and reven in her very advanced stage of pregnancy still came across as stylish and elegant.

Sally lived in a detached Victorian house with a large garden backing onto woodland which was very tastefully furnished and decorated in an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional styles, which she delighted in showing me as she invited me in for a coffee afterwards.

“Good luck with the new job Jane, I was worried that they were not going to find someone suitable, then you suddenly appeared out of nowhere. James interviewed several people and rejected them all, so you must have made a good impression on him”

“I’ve known Darren through friends of my cousin Jenny for many years and when he heard that I was returning to town after university he got in touch with me, told me about your job and that you were leaving. He had been told that while at university I moonlighted with a secretarial agency and worked spells at several medium and small companies. He discussed me with James before asking if I was interested in taking over temporarily as a trial to see if I fitted in and for me to decide if it is somewhere that I wanted to make my career.”

“You could do a lot worse, Cartwright’s has always been good to me and paid me well, along with the income Harry, my partner, gets as a financial consultant we are able to live quite comfortably, as you can see. Anyway, good luck and don’t be afraid to give me a call, at least for the next week or so, if there is anything you need to ask.”

I was surprised when I got back to the apartment to see Jenny holding up a bag for me to take from ‘Foundations’, a local expensive lingerie shop which some of the girls had mentioned that they visited to get speciality stuff before their weddings. “I bought a present for you today Jane.”

“Oh thank you very much Jen, what have I got?”

“Open it up and see, I am not sure whether you will be thanking me when you try it on, it’s just a little something to make your figure a bit more convincing.”

At first glance it looked like a soft satin chemise, but soon realised that it was effectively a very firm corset-like lace-up waist cincher.

“If you are going shopping for an expensive posh frock you really need to reduce your waistline. You have just over a week before the dinner/dance, so you are going to have to wear that all the time, even overnight, to give you a better shape. With the stiff boning, it will also help your posture and encourage you to keep your back arched and shoulders back. There is no time like the present, go and put it on and I’ll then tighten up the laces for you, which will get a little tighter every day until we are happy that it has gone far enough.”

I was soon stripped to my bra and pants and was pulling on the cincher when Jenny came in with a big grin. “Ok Jane, up until now you have enjoyed the best bits about being a girl, the clothes, hair, and makeup, now you are going to learn how we all have to suffer in order to look our best. Let me tighten it all up a bit.”

She started at the top where there was not much scope for pulling things in due to the rib bone structure, but as she worked her way down things got tighter and tighter until I could hardly breath when she got to a high waistline, but then eased off a bit as she reached the lower back and hips.

“I think that will do for now, That shape is much better, it’s pulled you in at least 2 inches, let’s hope that your body adjusts to it. I’ll have another go in the morning to see if we can go a bit further, just put on something loose for the moment, until you get used to things.” I was dreading the thought of any further tightening, I could only breathe shallowly in short breaths, every time I moved I could feel the grip of the cincher, and she had told me that I had to suffer this for the next week or so.

“I’ve only done a light meal tonight, a chicken salad, until your body and internal organs sort themselves out you will not be able to eat much anyway, your stomach will be a bit squashed., anyway you need to get used to eating smaller more lady-like portions and lighter food.

I struggled to get comfortable and sleep that night, between the physical constraints and the mental worries about what I was doing, I found it difficult to relax enough to drop off.

To be continued