James' field of expertise was contingency planning; drawing up emergency plans which could be used by his clients to minimise the impact of negative events on their future business. His background was in the emergency services, but the principles of such planning were relevant across all sectors. He had 20 years of experience behind him, and now, in his early 40's he was putting it to good use and making a very good living from it.
His company was bidding for another very lucrative contract and time was short. He had been putting in a lot of extra hours in his own time, something which he had done for years and enjoyed, but this approach had, at the very least, been a contributing factor in the demise of his marriage. There had been other factors of course, but he and his ex-wife had grown apart and just didn't want to live together any more. The world is full of such stories and James bore no grudges. His divorce was behind him and he was very much focussed on his future, his job for sure, but he hoped to find a love interest, or maybe just a sexual partner if the opportunity arose.
The office, as those who work in that environment will know, is not necessarily the best place when it comes to mixing business with pleasure. Depending on the number of staff, there may seem to be plenty of opportunities, but gossip and jealousy can quickly become destructive. For this reason James had always resisted any thought of becoming involved with any of the staff. As the boss he had to maintain a bit distance and respect, in contrast to some guys who appeared to feel that any female member of staff was fair game. His approach worked, and he was pretty universally regarded as a nice guy who treated people respectfully whilst demanding high standards.
Recently however, his attention had been drawn to one of the researchers, with whom he had previously only had limited involvement. Her name was Rachel, and for this particular contract she had already been really helpful. Her background, after university, was in the oil industry, and she knew the business well, something James knew would give him an edge when bidding for the contract. Rachel had been quite a high flyer for a dozen years or more, quickly rising up the promotion ladder of the company she then worked for, but similarly to James, her marriage had suffered and eventually broken under the strain. She re-evaluated her life, moved to a different area and took a less stressful job, quite content to be meaningfully occupied, earn reasonable money, but have more of a life to do the things she enjoyed.
She was an athletic woman, immaculately dressed, also in her early 40's, slim, pale skinned, with a well-toned body that curved in and out in all the right places. In spite of this she was very much more comfortable these days taking a quiet, professional, industrious role and not drawing attention to herself.
In recent weeks, James had sought Rachel's opinion on a few detailed points in connection with his current project. She had provided some valuable insight and had also demonstrated a cheery light-hearted side, often adding funny little comments to the numerous e-mails they had exchanged. It was obvious the two of them shared a similar sense of humour.
It was Thursday afternoon and James knew he had a full schedule of meetings on Friday. He realised he would have to put in more of his own time over the coming weekend to really try to polish up his proposal for the new contract. It still needed some refining in both the content and the presentation. He could do the basic word processing, but certainly lacked the skills to produce a finished document. He decided to seek further help and knew exactly who to speak to. He dialled Rachel's extension number and asked her to come through to his office.
A couple of minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Rachel came in. She was, as usual, wearing a smart business suit (she always felt this was appropriate in the office), and had her long fair hair tied up neatly. James smiled at her and thought, not for the first time, how attractive she looked. Rachel smiled back in her customary warm yet slightly demure manner. Although she very much kept her thoughts to herself, she found James attractive, both physically and in his personality. He was pretty fit, without looking as if he spent too much time at the gym, lightly tanned and had a friendly smile, particularly in his twinkly eyes.
She sat down and James explained his time constraints. His request was a simple one. Was Rachel prepared to come in at the weekend and work with him, one to one, to try to put the contract bid to bed once and for all? She smiled at the terminology and was happy to say that she would spend as long as was needed. After all she had nothing else planned. They agreed to meet at 9.30 am on Saturday in James' office. He would ensure they had plenty of refreshments to keep them going.
Saturday, and promptly at 9.30, Rachel's red Mazda MX5 pulled into the car park. James was waiting at the main entrance and watched her walk briskly towards him, admiring her easy, fluid movement. She was wearing a simple but elegant summer dress, nicely fitted to her curves and fairly modest but still showing off her shapely legs. It was, after all, a lovely sunny, warm day. James approved and felt that his selection of pale chinos and smart polo shirt had been a good choice. Rachel smiled warmly at him and felt a little flutter inside. He was a good looking guy.
James let them into the building, locking the main door behind them, and they made their way up to his office. He led the way which gave Rachel the opportunity to check out the shape of his bum. Nice and firm, clad in the chinos, which were just tight enough to show the lines of his body.
James' office was quite spacious, without being too grand. He had a large desk complete with desktop PC and several mail trays. There were some smart filing cabinets and a couple of cupboards, one of which had a coffee maker on top. On the other side of the room was a coffee table with 4 comfy chairs arranged informally around it. A few paintings dotted the walls and there was a mirror to one side of his desk which allowed him to check his attire before he entered into an important meeting. There was a conference room across the corridor for larger meetings, but this was a less formal space for private conversations. Rachel had never really spent more than a few minutes in the room previously.
James thanked her for giving up her weekend to help and outlined what he hoped to achieve, at least from a work point of view! He made it clear that he very much valued Rachel's frank views on both the content and the format of the finished document. She should feel free to say whatever she thought. Rachel nodded her agreement.
James logged in to the system and opened the set of documents he had been working with, then gave up the main seat to Rachel. After all, she would be doing all the creative formatting and hopefully making some other useful changes as well. He pulled up a second chair and sat next to her, perhaps a little closer than was strictly necessary.
They quickly settled down to the task in hand, working through the lengthy document which Rachel was already familiar with having contributed to earlier versions. James was impressed with the effortless way she turned the rough presentation into a professional-looking format. In addition her knowledge of the subject matter resulted in some useful amendments and additions.
As they worked James quickly found himself attracted to Rachel's smooth skin, her silky long blonde hair, worn loose for a change, and her wonderful perfume which he recognised as "La Petite Robe Noire". They worked well together, reviewing the wording, discussing some of the technical detail, and would sometimes find themselves brushing against one another as they pointed to the screen. They both found it a surprisingly intimate process.
After about an hour, James wanted to review the work they had already done. They started at the beginning again with James standing at Rachel's shoulder looking down at the screen. He quickly realised that the angle gave him a clear view down the front of Rachel's dress. He wasn't in the habit of "down-blousing", but felt he could safely have a good look given that Rachel's eyes were firmly fixed on the screen. He liked what he saw. Rachel's breasts were bigger than he imagined, held firmly by an attractive, lacy, nude-coloured bra. He imagined she must be a D or E cup, although her boobs looked nicely in proportion with her trim figure. He leaned slightly forward trying to get a peek of her nipples, but the bra was a well-fitting one and that wasn't going to work. He found himself strangely aroused, after all he was a mature man, not a 14 year old, but he definitely felt a distinct stiffening in his pants. Sometimes the imagination can work wonders! He shifted his position slightly so the growing bulge in his chinos was not quite so obvious. It was time for a break!
"That's great so far" he said. Let's have a cuppa".
James selected the capsules for the machine and prepared the coffees before carrying them over to the table. He had thoughtfully brought in a couple of croissants, Danish pastries and some biscuits. He wasn't sure of her taste after all. Rachel settled into the chair opposite James and selected a croissant. Somehow he guessed she would go for the less sweet, arguably more refined option. They chatted away in relaxed manner feeling good about the way the day was turning out.
