Brian's return to work on Monday was filled with mixed emotions. He was looking forward to seeing both Evelyn and Maria, although he felt more than a little ambivalent about both of them.
The first one he encountered was Maria. She walked into the office kitchen while he was warming a cup of coffee. When she entered the room he looked her way and gave her what he thought was a friendly smile that did not betray their intimate knowledge of each other.
"Good morning," she said as she placed her boxed lunch into the refrigerator.
"Morning," he said as neutrally as he could.
She grinned at him and went to the door where she looked both ways before returning her gaze to him.
"Stop worrying," she said with a chuckle. "I told you already we're good! You don't have to look so guilty!"
"I look guilty?" he asked with concern.
She laughed softly and shook her head a little.
"Not really," she said. "You just look like you're afraid of what I'm going to say; or do."
"Oh," he said as he usually did when he was uncomfortable.
At that moment Evelyn walked in wearing her fall full-length coat. Like almost everything she wore, it was high-end and looked great on her.
"Morning!" she said as she went briskly to the refrigerator.
"Hi," Maria said happily and then left the room.
"Morning," Brian said with half an eye on Maria as she left.
After she finished placing her own lunch in the chiller she went to the doorway and looked both ways.
"Maybe sometime later today we could chat?" she asked in a whispered voice.
Brian's heart immediately started to race. He always became edgy and fidgety when he spoke to her. When she said she wanted to chat, his stomach went aflutter.
"Sure," he said as evenly as he could manage. "Let me know and we can meet, well, somewhere."
"The back office?" she suggested.
"Great!" he said as his mind began to wander.
She knew he had written several steamy passages about the character from his story named Yvette that took place in that room. She also knew he had modeled Yvette after her.
She smiled and a warmth that began in his stomach spread through his whole body. Ironically enough, that warmth made his nipples pucker into hardness and made his penis shrivel right up into his scrotum.
He blinked to bring himself back to reality and watched her for a little too long as she walked toward her desk.
"She's really something to look at isn't she?" a voice behind him said.
He turned to see Mike, the shop foreman grinning at him.
"Yes she is," Brian agreed.
"You think she's wearing a mini-skirt under that coat?" Mike asked lecherously.
"Is today a weekday?" Brian replied straight-faced.
Mike grinned and walked toward the door leading to the factory.
Brian sighed and went to his own desk.
************************************************************
The entire day passed without him receiving a message from Evelyn. By quitting time he decided they would not have that chat today after all.
He gathered up his belongings and left through the side door to the parking lot. As he passed the big bay doors he saw that the factory was mostly quiet. Only a skeleton crew worked the afternoon shift and they usually confined themselves to the far side of the building.
He meandered on toward his car when he heard a hissing from behind him. He turned and saw Evelyn standing in the deserted back office with the door half open. She was beckoning to him and hissing to get his attention.
He turned back and entered the office. She swiftly closed the door and locked it behind him. The lights were off so the only light came through the window from the westering sun. She wore her full-length coat still but it was unbuttoned to show her beige sweater and black suede mini-skirt. She was also wearing black suede boots that came almost to her knees.
"I'm so glad!" she said breathlessly. "I was afraid I would miss you before you left!"
She looked at him anxiously and had a wide-eyed expression on her face he hadn't seen before.
"Me too," he said as he tried not to let his imagination run away with him.
She softened her expression a bit and then bit her lip. She glanced at the floor for a moment and then back at him.
"What's wrong Evelyn?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
She gritted her teeth a bit and glanced to the side for a second.
"Yes," she said, looking him in the eye once more. "I'm fine, I just have, well, I need to, uh, tell you something. It's just really hard because it's, well, it's kind of embarrassing."
She turned to the side once more and a worried look crossed her face.
Brian decided not to speak. He thought she would have an easier time of it if he didn't interrupt.
"You see," she began in a little girl's voice, "I did something; something that I really shouldn't have."
She had been looking at the floor throughout that whole sentence and she looked up now with hopeful, almost pleading, expression.
Brian simply looked her in the eye and tried to look supportive.
"You know when you told me you were getting some late night phone calls?" she asked in a tiny voice.
He nodded, trying to look like he did not already know what she was about to say.
She continued to look at him but she looked like she might be fighting back tears.