Before getting into the story, I should state that although I have enjoyed reading stories on this site for many years, this is my first time writing. Whilst feedback is appreciated, I am a virgin author so please be gentle with me.
What is in the following story is based on real events, but there are almost certainly some factual errors due to the almost 20 years that have passed between the time of them occurring and the time of writing. Names may also have been changed to protect the not so innocent.
It was the Spring of 2003, building up to a particularly hot summer in the UK as I recall, and as a single 21-year-old I was working for a small engineering consultancy in a small town in England's West Midlands, having just completed an Apprenticeship to qualify as an engineer. The world of building services design was an opportunity to work in construction, which had been my ambition for as long as I could remember, and whilst not as glamorous as Architecture, the opportunity to create great effects with lighting design (when client budget allows) was always something I enjoyed.
Towards the end of my apprenticeship, I had started to take on my own designs, rather than just assisting the other engineers with elements of theirs. This involved meeting with clients, producing the designs, supervising the construction through site visits every few weeks, and dealing with any unexpected problems on site as they arose. It was a steep learning curve, but I'd been trained by some good people, and I enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the office and see things.
The office I worked in was an old building, converted for office use some time in the 90's. The engineers occupied the open plan first floor (in the UK we call the upstairs the first floor), with the ground floor comprising a meeting room, kitchen, toilets, reception office, and admin office. At the time it was all male engineers and CAD staff (not usually the case these days, but at that time there weren't as many female engineers in the industry), with three girls -- Paula, Claire and Claire - working in the admin office downstairs. I say girls, the youngest was a couple of years younger than me, the office manager Paula mid 20's, and the older Claire approaching 30.
I quickly realised the importance of a good relationship with the girls in the office. Keep them on side and they would go the extra mile for you, and on occasion your work would magically jump the queue ahead of work for someone they didn't like, so I made it my mission to be friendly, polite, take an interest in what they were talking about, and making my writing legible so that any letters or documents would be easier for them to type, and also less likely to have any errors when it came back to me to check. I also quickly discovered what dirty minds they had, and it is fair to say that I learnt a lot from their conversations. Where most of the other guys in the office would walk out of the room at hearing stories about how their boyfriend's cum was "still dripping out" from the previous night, I laughed along and joined in with the smutty talk.
While I was single at the time of this particular story starting, I had been in a couple of relationships since starting work there, as well as a couple of one night stands, and the girls always claimed they could tell when I'd had sex the night before and demanded to be told the details.
Whilst I was always happy to flirt with the girls, and they were attractive enough, there was never any thought of a relationship with any of them. Paula was recently married, the older Claire was in a long-term relationship, and the younger Claire was a lovely girl, but just wasn't really my type.
When Paula became pregnant one Spring, the growing bump would regularly be referred to as my baby. It wasn't my baby -- indeed, I never slept with her -- but after I had said it as a joke one day early in her pregnancy, she kept the joke going throughout the pregnancy (and after the baby was born, jokingly referring to him as my little boy for a few years afterwards).
Paula's pregnancy meant changes in the office were inevitable. A larger company may have been able to cope with being a member of staff short for a few months, but it was clear to everyone that the other 2 girls wouldn't be able to cope with the increased workload. The solution that management came up with was to temporarily promote the older Claire into Paula's role and bring in a temporary admin assistant to help with the filing, some typing and answering the phones, and so they advertised for temporary staff and set up a day of interviews for their shortlisted 3.
The interviews involved 2 of the directors, Paula and Claire, with Claire then giving a tour of the office to the candidate while Paula and the 2 directors discussed what they thought of the candidate's suitability for the role. The tour also gave the opportunity for myself and Dan, one of the CAD guys of similar age to me, to give our own appraisal of the candidates.
The first girl to be shown around looked rather shy and timid and was a little chubby -- nothing wrong with that as such, and I wouldn't say she was overweight -- with short dark brown hair. Nice cleavage was the one positive I could see, probably at least a D or maybe a double D cup I thought, but although I don't mind a decent set of boobs, it wasn't enough to overcome the fact that she just didn't seem my type. "Not a great start" I thought to myself, mentally giving her a 5 out of 10.
Girl number 2 was quite an improvement. A little taller and slimmer, probably about a C cup breasts that looked round and firm and were framed nicely by the dark blue low-cut dress that she was wearing, long brown hair with a cute smile. "About a 7/8 out of 10" I thought to myself.
Then came the best of them all in my opinion. Girl number 3 was of similar height to girl 2, blonde medium length blonde hair, slightly slimmer than girl 2 and with slightly smaller boobs that I estimated to be only a B cup or at a push maybe a C, but such a cute smile that captivated me instantly. Add to that an amazing firm round ass that I couldn't take my eyes off as she turned to go back downstairs, the sway of her buttocks imprinted in my memory. My recruitment decision was made, bum edged out boobs for me -- girl three was the one I would have hired.
5 minutes later, both Dan and I received telephone calls from Claire, asking us to go downstairs and give our verdicts as she knew we were both scoring them.
"Definitely the second one" said Dan, who always preferred brunettes. "She was so fit, she's got to get the job!"
"No way" I responded, pleading the case for the blonde goddess that I simply couldn't take my eyes off earlier. "the third one, the blonde, she was much nicer. Her smile and that ass! A definite 9 out of 10 at least!"
"But number 2 had bigger tits!" argued Dan.
"Not by much! Besides, girl 3 looked like she'd be better in bed!" I argued back.
"Well, I'll see what I can do" laughed Claire, "but it's not my decision. I can give my opinion as it's me that will have to work with them, but ultimately it will be Paula that has the final say."
And so, all I could so was wait and hope. I wasn't sure what I was hoping for. Even if girl 3 was chosen for the role she would probably have a boyfriend already, or not be interested in me. Plus, there was the added complication of having to work with her until Paula returned from maternity leave, and the other girls beyond that, and the risk of being humiliated if I tried to make a move on her and was rejected. In a larger company it might be easier to hide away, but in such a small office everyone would know and there would be no hiding. However, I still hoped that she would get the job as if nothing else, at least I would get to see that smile every day, not to mention that ass that I knew I would fantasise about.
Fast forward a few days, and out for lunch with Claire. With the office being in a village on the outskirts of town, the internet being somewhat slower and less developed than it is today, and smart phones still several years in the future, there wasn't really much to do at lunch time, so for three of us lads in the office it became a regular occurrence to get a lift into town with one of the girls, whether to shop, or just for something to do to get out of the office. This time was just Claire and I, and on the drive into town she gave me the news.