"I can only stay for one drink. The nanny agreed to stay an extra hour, but I don't want to push my luck." Maryann pulled open the door to the dive bar, the warm air a welcome after their brief walk across the crunchy snow.
"No worries. I think it's more perfunctory than anything. The company is trying to encourage us to mingle in hopes that we'll bond and naturally want to make our hybrid work environment more in-office." Veronica unwound her scarf from her neck, scanning the dim lighting for anyone they knew.
"Good luck with that." Maryann laughed. "Oh look, there's Jesse."
The two women made their way to a corner booth where the vibrant redhead from Legal was waving them down.
"Thanks for coming out, ladies. Good to see you. Here let me slide in. It's tight, but we should all fit." Jesse grinned, sliding his drink in front of his new seat.
They sat down, untangling themselves from their coats. Veronica was happy for the end seat at the already cramped table as she busied herself looking at the drink menu.
"Hey guys, room for one more?"
Veronica looked up to see Ryan, the resident IT guy standing at the edge of their booth.
"Of course! I think we can squeeze one more in." Jesse answered for everyone, encouraging Maryann and Veronica to push in further to accommodate the newest guest. "Anyone else comes and we'll have to grab some chairs."
"Hey," Ryan smiled as he pushed in next to her. "Sorry for the tight squeeze."
"No worries," Veronica smiled. She hoped the dim lights made her blush less obvious. Why, of all people, did she now have her leg pushed up against Ryan's?
She was still embarrassed from the day three weeks ago when he came up while she was in a meeting to fix a cable under her desk. She hadn't been paying attention and sat down, effectively trapping him under her desk.
"Umm, excuse me." His voice had come from under her desk, startling her back to the point where she had almost fallen back out of her chair. She yelped, flailing in the air. Still crouched on the ground, Ryan put his hands on her knees as a counter balance and preventing her from tipping out of her chair entirely.
They composed themselves in a flurry of apologies, him standing as he explained her printer should work better now. She felt embarrassed and foolish all day.
That was, until she got home. As she sat alone on her couch and she remembered the feeling of his hands on her legs. Those cool, steady hands. She imagined him staying under that desk and using those steady hands to slide her knees open. She imagined him sliding his hands up her thighs and pulling her to the edge of her chair. She could almost feel the cool of his fingers as he slid her panties to the side to give his tongue access to her clit.
Her hand was in her panties there on the couch, stroking herself in the same rhythm she imagined his tongue would work her. She imagined sitting at her desk and seeing nothing but his dark tousled hair and horn-rimmed glasses between her legs. She came with that image in her mind, blinking back stars as she thought about mischief in his green eyes.
It wouldn't be so bad, but she had gotten herself off to variations of that fantasy at least a half dozen times since then- including one that ended with her bent over her desk as he took her from behind.
And now here she was trapped in a booth next to him, their thighs pressed together and his arm rubbing against her.
"And for you, miss?"
Veronica had been lost in her head and hadn't noticed the waitress arrive to take drink orders.
"Old fashioned, please." She tried to sound casual, and not like she was sitting here with slightly damp panties.
Get yourself together.
"I didn't peg you as a whiskey drinker," Ryan raised an eyebrow at her, a smile on his lips that exposed his dimples.
Too late.
"Really? What were you expecting?"
He shrugged, those dimples still visible. "You seemed like more a white wine sort of woman. Maybe a vodka cranberry if you were feeling a bit wild."
She laughed. "I mean, I will drink both of those as well. But after this week, I need something stronger."
"Tell me about it," Maryann chimed in. "I thought we were never going to make it through that presentation."
"Hey, no work talk! This is happy hour." Jesse playfully chided.
Veronica threw her hands up in mock protest. "Don't blame me, all I did was order whiskey."
The table bubbles in laughter before people started returning to their individual conversations.
"Is your printer working better?" Ryan turned back to her, his green eyes glinting under his glasses.
She felt herself blush, worried he could read her thoughts. He looked so nice, like someone she could take home and introduce to her grandmother. And here he was staring in her dirtiest fantasies. "Much better, thanks for fixing it."
"No problem, just doing my job. Sorry again for startling you."
"If it makes you feel better, I have checked my desk before sitting down every time since," she smiled at him. She wasn't kidding.
He gave a warm laugh. "I promise I'll wear a bell if I have to go under there again. I'm not going to lie, I momentarily felt like Bender in the Breakfast Club. Although hopefully less predatory."
She remembered the scene of Bender under the desk, looking up Claire's skirt. She hadn't considered what he might have seen, but now she was wondering if he had seen her panties too. The thought made her more wet than she would like to admit.
Thankfully the waitress arrived with their drinks, preventing her needing to respond.
"I wasn't being nosy, but I noticed a picture of you in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on your desk. I'm going out to San Francisco for a friend's wedding next month. Do you have any can't-miss recommendations?"
"Yes! So many. I went to college out at SF State and lived there for like 5 years after." She began rattling off her top 5 favorite taquerias in order.
They fell into an easy conversation, so much so that Veronica was startled when Maryann nudged her. "I'm sorry. I've got to go relieve the nanny."
Veronica glanced down at her phone. Had it been an hour already?"
Ryan stood to allow Maryann to get out. The warmth of his thigh was gone. It surprised her how much she missed it as she stood up.
"You need a ride back?" Maryann asked her as she slipped back in her coat.
Veronica shook her head. "I think I'll hang for a bit longer."
Maryann gave her a smile that told her she knew what was going on. She threw an arm around her shoulder in a half hug. "Okay, text me to let me know you got home safe." She added in a low voice only Veronica could hear "and give me the dirty details."
Veronica shot her a look, the blush rising back up in her cheeks. Am I that obvious?
She took her place back in the booth, sad that she did have an excuse to be pushed up against Ryan and his woodsy cologne, but she did feel a flutter of warmth as his knee found hers under the table.
"Do you need another round?" He pointed to her empty glass.
She couldn't help but notice how long and slender his fingers were. She reflexively wondered how they would feel pushed inside her, that graceful thumb working her clit. "Yeah, I think I need another."
One by one, colleges peeled away. Jesse finally said his goodbyes, leaving Veronica and Ryan by themselves in the booth. She knew she should wish him goodnight. Or at very least move her leg now that they had no pretense for touch in this oversized booth.
Instead, she felt his hand gently brush her thigh. "I'm glad I got to talk to you tonight. I've been hoping to have a chance since the whole under the desk thing."
She leaned a bit closer, smiling sheepishly. "I hope I didn't look too chaotic, flailing around like that."
"Not at all." He leaned in close, his voice hot against her ear. "Although, I have to admit something, and I hope I'm not being too forward. I haven't been able to stop thinking about your legs in that skirt ever since."
Her nipples hardened under her shirt, and she was thankful for the thickness of her sweater. "Not too forward at all. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that day either." She felt a heat deep in her panties that she knew meant she would have wrapped her legs around him here at the table if he asked nice enough.
He rested his hand on her knee. She cursed the fleece-lined leggings she was wearing under her dress. She suddenly craved the feeling of her fingers against her skin.
"You have incredibly sexy legs," his voice was thick like honey as his lips brushed her ear, sending tingles through her scalp and down her spine.
Lust clouded her mind, officially punching any good sense off the clock. She smiled wickedly, pushing up the hem of her dress up her legs, letting it come to rest dangerously close to where they met. "These?"
His breath came out in a low hiss. "Fuck, Veronica."
It was the sexiest anyone had ever said her name before, and she felt herself almost quake with lust. She wanted to make him say her name like that again. And again.
"I only live 2 blocks from here, if you want to see them without the leggings." She couldn't contain the wickedness in her voice.
