"Oh, God. Another meeting." That was my initial reaction when I looked at my afternoon schedule. Another boring discussion about where the company should be headed. As a mid level secretary, my opinions or suggestions were unimportant; my skills at recording all of the "shared information" would be the only reason I was included in the meeting at all.
I knew I would never make it through the afternoon without another cup of coffee. As I walked past my co-worker's workstation, she reminded me that a new consultant was making a presentation at the meeting. "I better get a double espresso instead," I thought.
I got into the conference room early, making sure I had a seat near an outlet in case my notebook battery failed. I could take notes by hand, but it was faster, and easier, to record notes on the electronic notebook. Besides, then I could hide behind the screen when I started to roll my eyes.
The team members started to fill in the seats at the conference table around me. We were all engaged in the usual small talk when Mr. Richards, our boss, walked into the room. He was accompanied by an attractive gentleman, who I had to assume was our "new consultant."
Mr. Richards walked to the head of the table. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet Brad Matthews. He is going to help us with our group consolidation. He has some common sense ideas. So let's give him our undivided attention, please."
Everyone turned to look at "Brad". "Well groomed," I thought. "Neat. Organized. Somewhere in his mid to late 40's, maybe. Married, 2.5 kids, drives a sedan." I put him in the pigeonhole where guys like him belonged.
But then he started to talk. His voice was softer than I expected. "As Mr. Richards said, my name is Brad Matthews. Let me tell you a little about myself before we get started," he said. "First off, I'd like to thank you for remembering to get me a cup of coffee." As he said this, he reached over my right shoulder and picked up my coffee cup. He took a long sip, and as he turned to walk away, he looked at me and winked.
"Seriously?" I thought. "Who does this guy think he is?" I added "pompous asshole" to his pigeonhole.
I struggled to keep up with Brad's presentation. Without my coffee, I was losing focus. And his voice was almost hypnotic. Finally, he wrapped it up, but asked me to stay behind so he could punctuate some of my notes with more detailed explanations. It was all I could do to keep from falling over on my keyboard.
After everyone else left the room he walked over behind my chair and leaned over my right shoulder, replacing the coffee cup from where he had taken it earlier. But instead of standing back up, he remained leaning over me, his lips close to my ear. "Sorry about your coffee," he whispered. "It just smelled so good, I couldn't help myself."
I turned toward him, and came face to face with the most incredible light brown eyes I had ever seen. "That's okay," I managed to croak as I looked back at my notebook.
"No, it's not," he answered. "At least let me take you somewhere to replace it. It's the least I can do."
He had to stop whispering in my ear. It was making me a little crazy. "It's just coffee," I said. I turned toward him again. He was still leaning over me, his face just inches away from mine. It was at that moment that I made the mistake of looking at his lips, then back up into his eyes.
He caught the glance, and he moved his left hand onto my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of his fingers through my blouse. I began to wonder what it would feel like to have those fingers exploring my flesh. My breathing was becoming shallower by the moment. "Meet me for a drink after work," he suggested. "Even if it's just coffee."
A million scenarios began swimming through my head, all of them ending up in the same place. I couldn't understand it. I just met this guy, and all of a sudden I'm having fantasies about him? What was happening? I kept thinking to myself, "It's just coffee. It's just coffee." Like I could fool myself.
"Sure. That would be great," I told him.
5:00 rolled around, and he appeared at my desk. My heart was pounding through my chest. I hadn't felt so nervous since my senior prom, and that was a long, long time ago. He patiently waited while I finished clearing off my desk and locking up.