Part One - The Business Transaction.
Angela Carter was concerned. The company had to cut costs, she understood that. Recession was looming and business was hard to get. Even harder to retain. Insurance was an easy commodity to buy and smaller brokers like this one, even with its extensive online presence struggled on the comparison sites.
Angela was in a difficult position. She couldn't afford to be one of those unfortunate sacrifices for the benefit of the others. She had a mortgage to pay.
Her boyfriend brought in a wage, which was probably the only reason she stayed with him. But it wasn't enough to keep them both. She needed to bring home decent money if they hoped to keep the small house they'd taken on just six months ago.
He was a cheater. She knew that. She didn't when they bought the house. But now she did. She just chose to ignore it for a comfortable life. Unlike him, she didn't have a family to run back to. And now this added headache.
Of course, she'd looked for other work, but times were difficult. Few firms were taking on and she couldn't be sure of a future in this current one. Now it was review time. Something which would play significantly into deciding whether she was kept on.
Angela was comfortable that her figures were good. Not outstanding, but good. And of course, timekeeping and attendance were excellent.
But others in the office were as good or better at driving sales and most had been with the company a lot longer. Longevity counted when these things were being decided. Always cheaper and easier to let go of someone like herself with under two years of service. It cost the business nothing.
There was also the matter of the vacant Office Manager role that needed to be filled. She'd apply when it was advertised, assuming the rumoured restructure didn't see her on her way. No matter how she looked at it, her position was precarious.
Angela did understand the one thing she had going for her over the others. She was young and pretty. The Centre Manager, Logan Taylor certainly seemed to appreciate that of her. She'd caught his eye, seen him looking. And she was well aware that he always made a point of talking to her when he was in the office. He'd made it more than clear he had a soft spot for her with his little touches and standing close.
She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she'd always flirted with him in return. That was something that annoyed some of the other girls. Sarah especially. But was his appreciation of a pretty girl barely out of her teens enough when he had to make harsh professional decisions?
Angela had been worrying about this for weeks and had concluded the only way to keep her job was to use what she had and offer to take the flirting a little further.
She wouldn't be the first young girl to fuck her boss to keep her job and she wouldn't be the last. Okay, it wasn't professional and it probably wasn't fair on Craig. But obviously, she wouldn't be telling him. Just like he hadn't told her about the slut he'd been doing behind her back.
To her thinking, Either she did this, something she had to admit wouldn't be so hard for her, or she would be unemployed and she'd lose her home. Angela was in no doubt their relationship, already on rocky ground, wouldn't survive if money pressures drove them back to living with his parents. That was assuming she even wanted the relationship. She didn't. It was just the financial situation and having nothing to fall back on that kept her pretending.
Of course, deciding to seduce your boss wasn't a decision to be taken lightly. It also wasn't the easiest thing to initiate despite the fact it seemed such a prevalent event in offices up and down the country. Angela was no 'goody two shoes' but it most certainly wasn't the sort of behaviour she made a habit. It was, however, something she could live with.
It helped that Logan was good-looking. He was a lot older, but he was still fit. A big man. Not overweight or anything. Just big. Tall and solidly built. He'd probably have made a good bodybuilder if it had been his sort of thing. To be fair it wasn't her sort of thing either. Angela wasn't that keen on extreme muscles and all the preening that went with it. Craig was annoying enough with the time he spent fussing over his appearance. Just a shame it didn't seem to be for her benefit any more. If it had, she might not be considering this.
Logan was fine as he was, and if it helped keep her in employment then it wouldn't be so hard to fuck him. It wasn't as if she didn't enjoy sex. She loved it. There was nothing better than that slow loss of control as a man teased you towards orgasm. In fact, she was more than happy to do that on her own. Craig wasn't so great at it so that was more of a regular event than she wanted to admit.
No. This wouldn't be hard at all.
What was hard was turning the plan into reality. It'd been so easy thinking it through between calls at her desk. All those imagined conversations where she planned out how to initiate a connection. All useless when it wasn't so easy to find an opportunity to put them into practice. Wrong time of year for office parties, and it was rare to have him to herself in private. She just wasn't important enough.
But today was different. Right now she had one of those opportunities. She was sat opposite Logan in an annual review with the door safely closed on prying ears and interrupting calls. It had to be today.
What he wrote on her appraisal would determine her whole future. Either she accepted her fate, or she took the only action she could to direct it. If this worked, great. If it didn't, then there would be some awkward embarrassment and she'd be going home without a job a few weeks earlier. Not a lot to lose really.
After nearly an hour of boringly discussing key performance measures and reviewing the status of current customers, Angela was beginning to fear an opportunity still wouldn't present itself. There was only so much flirting, so much brushing of hands and coy smiles she could do. But without the right question, she couldn't suggest she was open to other activities.
As Logan put his pen down and leant back in his big chair Angela resigned herself to failure and glanced out of the window. Autumn was closing in now, more rain than sunshine. Dreary weather reflected the mood coming over her.
The carefully chosen blouse and skirt to accentuate her figure, the time taken applying her makeup just right, all seemed wasted. Then unexpectedly he opened the conversation up.
"So what else can you bring to the table that makes you a valuable asset?
I'm thinking, about interests, outside activities. Things that although not directly part of the role could enhance it in some way.
The kind of things that the business would be the poorer without?"
And there was the implied threat. Offer something or she wouldn't be part of the company.
Angela glanced down for a moment, she had her window. A question she could answer that didn't involve facts and figures.
This was her moment. But with it was that rush of panic that came with adrenaline pumping through her veins. Not for the first time that day her stomach twisted and turned summersaults as though infested with a thousand hummingbirds taking flight. She knew she'd gone bright red and realised it was now or never. She took a breath and steadied her nerves.
"It's not always the monetary value I can bring to the company that's important."
She looked up and held his eyes with her own.
"I mean. Sometimes it's about working relationships... or at least... I mean... relationships in work."
Her voice was trembling and all those carefully prepared words were coming out in a jumble.
"What I can offer makes working... more fun..."
She tailed off giving what she hoped was a sexy smile, praying he would just get the hint and save her from spelling it out.
Logan shifted in his chair and leant forward, propping himself on the desk with his elbows. He was a big man and dwarfed her petite frame.
Suddenly she felt as though she was under a microscope.
"Relationships? Like in the office?"
He looked bemused.
"Yeah."
