The Friday before a long weekend was a hell of a time for Brad's boss to drop a last-minute deadline in his lap. As he rubbed his hand through his hair in exasperation, he looked to see if any hairs fell on his desk. Stress in his job was a daily reality and it was taking its toll on his body.
He had once been a regular at the gym. Working hard he had managed maintain a level of tone that had escaped him in his college years. Now, he was working so many hours, he was starting to backslide.
"Hey Brad, you wouldn't happen to have a copy of the Phillips presentation?"
He was surprised to see Amanda standing at his cubicle doorway.
"How come you're still here? I thought I was the only one left."
She was a grad student working on a special project for Brad's boss as part of a program that the company had with the local university.
"I said goodnight to the cleaning folks half an hour ago." she said.
To say Amanda was not wearing office appropriate attire would be accurate.
Brad tried not to avert his eyes from hers. The tight black miniskirt she was wearing was making that a difficult proposition, however. Amanda normally dressed very conservatively so her current appearance was a big surprise. In addition to the skirt, she wore bright red pumps and a white blouse that he could see her black lace bra through.
"I know Friday is casual day but do those pumps meet the dress code?" he said with a slight grin.
Amanda laughed s little.
"I don't think so but aren't they cute?". She stretched her foot out so he could see.
He took the opportunity to check out her legs once again. She had once mentioned that she was an avid runner and she had athletic toned legs. His mind flashed a fantastical image of lightly running his fingers up her calf as he moved his hands up her leg.
She was looking at him expectantly.
"Oh yeah, they're great. I should get myself a pair." He blushed slightly as he knew that he had been caught.
She giggled: "I really don't think they make them in your size and I'm not giving up my pair."
"Far be for me to separate a woman from her shoes. I'd probably break an ankle anyway."
"Now that would be a sight!"
"Now what were you looking for?" He decided to change the subject. The sight of her legs was causing things to stir. He didn't want to further embarrass himself by putting a strain on his khakis.
"The Phillips account presentation. I'm doing a piece of the presentation and Mr. Roberson wanted me to make a few changes to the Power Point deck. He emailed me the slides, but I can't open them up."
"Ohhh, let's take a look at your laptop. I think I know what the problem is." He had gone down this road with his boss before. More than likely, her version of PowerPoint was a different version of what Mr. Roberson was using. The company often was a few versions behind what was commercially available though his boss insisted on using the latest and greatest. He wondered how many people had been traumatized by this incompatibility in the past.
Following behind her to her office cubicle he admired her toned legs some more. He tried not to notice the short skirt that strained to cover her butt. Once he looked, he found he couldn't look away. All the running she had done to this point had sculpted a beautiful heart shaped ass. He held his notebook in front of his crotch as he walked. An old schoolboy trick for sure, but he needed to do something to cover the tent pole straining against the fly of his pants.
"Welcome to my little slice of heaven." She said as she entered her cubicle.
Brad couldn't help but notice that she was sharing her cubicle.
"Two of you work in here?"
"Yeah it's pretty cramped. At least Corrine is pretty cool. Good thing since we pretty much sit shoulder to shoulder."
"I don't think I've met Corrine yet. "
"she just started 2 weeks ago. She's blonde, short hair, not very tall."
"Oh yeah, I've seen her around." He had seen her in the cafeteria. She was very a very pretty and had a pretty smile. Brad had been looking for an excuse to talk to her.
"Let's take a look at your computer." She gestured towards her seat indicating he should sit down.
He took her seat taking notice of the PC on the desk.
"They don't exactly give you interns the best of equipment. I think this PC has been hear longer than the company CEO."
"I know right? I think they cobbled it together with spare parts. I do a lot of stuff at home on my laptop. Some of the stuff is too sensitive to bring home though."
"Can you put in your password?" he asked.
"Oh yeah sure."
The confines of the cube caused her to reach across him. He tried to give her space but there was just no room. Her breasts rested lightly on his forearm. She was close enough that he could feel the warmth of her skin and smell the shampoo she used on her shoulder length dark hair.
"All set" she said as she finished typing in her credentials. She turned to face him, realizing suddenly how close they were to each other. To his surprise, instead of pulling away, she paused and smiled impishly.
"I hope we can figure this out."
"Don't worry," he said, "I won't leave you hanging."
Much to his chagrin, she took up a position behind him to allow him to work. Brad began to investigate the problem, unfortunately, it seemed his original assertion was proving to be correct: the PC was not up to task.
"Did you get invited to Mr. Roberson's party this weekend?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah, he throws these parties once and a while to 'build morale'. These things are essentially mandatory. They're really a pain in the ass."
"I didn't know what the deal was. I was kind of afraid I'd get there, and he's be the only one there."
"HA! That would be creepy." Brad continued to tap at the keyboard.
"Well, he did ask me out."
Brad turned to face her. "Really??? He's a married man too."
"He explained to me that he and his wife had an 'arrangement'. Essentially, their marriage was open."
"Hmm, interesting. Are you going to go to HR about it?"
"I wasn't planning to. He was actually kind of a gentleman about it. I do think he is kind of a creep though. That slicked back hair and self-important attitude aren't things that I consider endearing in a man."
"Really? I was thinking of slicking my hair back too." He gave her a smile an d a quick wink.
Amanda giggled. "That's not a look I can see you having. Besides, I like your hair." She reached forward and gently messed his hair up.
He laughed, inwardly thinking 'she likes my hair!'. "Alright, maybe I'll skip that look. I wouldn't know wear to get that hair slick stuff anyway."
Amanda giggled again. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle a little when she laughed. He liked that.
"This PC doesn't have the right version of MS Office. You're not going to be able to open this presentation here."
"Oh no! I couldn't open it on my laptop either. What am I going to do?"
Brad thought for a minute. " We could try the PC in the conference room. They have sales people come in and do their pitch. I think they have to have the latest and greatest version of the software. We could save it as an earlier version, so you can work on it using your laptop."
Her face brightened. "Do you think that will work?"
"Let's go check."
They got up and walked across the dimly lit office. Vacant cubicles stood in quiet testament of the weekend exodus. They were the last people left on this floor of the building.
Reaching the conference room, he opened the door for her. She brushed close by him as she entered the room allowing him to catch the scent of her hair causing him to momentarily forget that he was at work much later than he needed to be.
The conference room was a large rectangle room. Windows lined the far wall giving a beautiful view of the city skyline. A large oval table, constructed of warm dark wood, took up the bulk of the space. A smaller utility table held a PC. The utility table was partially obscured by a lectern with a small microphone. The far end of the table, at its head, sat a large chair, professional yet more opulent than the other "business" chairs that line the edges of the table.
Brad looked around momentarily as Amanda moved towards the PC. He remembered being in here for his job interview. His time sitting uncomfortably in one of those chairs, as Mr. Roberson, occupying the head seat, grilled him mercilessly, seemed both like yesterday and long ago. Brad had been in here a few times since, mostly for departmental meetings, but the grilling was still fresh in his mind. Mr. Roberson had sat at the head of the table presiding over the events like the king he aspired to be. There were a few occasions where presentations had involved the higher ups. Brad had been forced to stand along with all the other worker bees. On these occasions, Mr. Roberson sat at the table but not at its head. Brad's boss, much to his satisfaction, had behaved more like a whipped dog than the despotic ruler in those meetings. The culled look in his boss's eye made standing for an hour or so worth it.
