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Fingers splayed as I put her palms against the glass, stoking my burning need to touch her, into urgency. I pressed my chest against her back as I cup hers with one hand while the other holds the heat between her legs. We are so close to the same height that it enables me to completely enclose her body to mine. In this position it felt like her body was mine. This moment, I owned this woman. Passively she tilted her head offering more of herself to me. The sight of her long slender neck, the feel of her shaking with pleasure beneath my hands was the final thread snap of my self control. I tore her blouse open as I dragged my teeth along her neck. I yanked it off and threw it on the floor beside us. I slid my hand in one motion down the front of her; from her chest to the frilly tops of her underwear. I molded myself to her again; only this time we began to move in a slow and shaky rocking motion. At the end of each hip thrust it sent a building of pressure. The need for release. Our breaths were becoming ragged with that need. Feeling desperate to fill...
Lillian!"
Opening my eyes I saw the end of a yellow tie and a man's crotch covered in grey tweed, the puffy kind where it hides the shape and size. My eyes followed the tip of that tie to the end. My own personal yellow brick road. 'Jesus, snap out of it Lily' I thought to myself. The top of the tie led to a genuine look of concern on the face of a generically handsome guy. The kind you would expect a successful, wealthy, yet humble man of thirty-five to have. One hand was on his hip while the other ran through his hair. He looked stressed out. I wondered just how stressed out he would be if he knew he had just interrupted me remembering fucking his lively wife on his desk on Tuesday.
"Mr. Swanson, how may I help you?" I said, my tone guiltless as a Nun with a dripping candle stick. Inside, I was feeling rather sheepish.
"I need you to get a hold of Ranes and tell him I won't make it. He'll just have to take care of his own mess. That's my final word. See that he gets it. Oh, and Lily, come into my office in five," he said. He walked into his office closing the door behind him. 'Shit, shit, shit!' I looked around tugging at my ponytail nervously. 'Did Sherry tell him?' All I could think of as I panicked was her whispering in my ear in a husky breathy voice as she drove two fingers inside me saying 'I wanted to beat him to the punch.' My afterthought was, 'What the hell was that anyway? Do they have some competition going?' My mind was racing. I dialed Ranes' number while thinking to myself, 'Worst case scenario is he knows, I lose my job, I find another way to meet my deadline. Or, he could have a contract put out on me. Swanson has the money.' The phone was ringing. 'Come on, Ranes! Answer!' I tapped my pencil against my bottom lip. 'It would be a terrible inconvenience for my future plans if I had an assassin after me.' The phone clicked into his voicemail.
"Hi Ranes, it's Lily. Swanson says you're your own man. If you need help let me know. I think I'm getting fired so call my cell." I hung up. My intercom lit up. Mr. Swanson stated coolly, "It's been six minutes."
Swanson was sitting at his desk when I walked into his office, clutching my note pad as if it would stop bullets. His blue eyes were burning a hole into me as I was looked in them for a clue as to what he knew. It was a bit of an awkward moment, though not quite as awkward as my mother walking into my apartment while I was fucking her yoga instructor with a strap on while wearing a cowboy hat. Being my Mother, she didn't yell or cry or scream running away covering her eyes. She laughed. An unrestrained laugh. The kind where you hold your sides, eyes shut tight, while a tear falls down your cheek because you are laughing so hard. I had to give away the hat.
I cleared my throat to stifle the chuckle that was creeping out of my mouth. "Is something funny?" Swanson asked breaking the silence. I shook my head.
"I fired Cameron today." He paused when I didn't say anything. "She told my wife I slept with her at work. If I had I slept with her I wouldn't have fired her if that's what you're thinking." I shook my head no. He gave me a strange sideways glance. "So, Tuesday I let Sherry go through the security tapes to find out if I had been with her. She told me she accused you of the same I thing. She sends her apologies. She had no right to take you into my office, to attack you like that."
I was completely dumbfounded as to whether or not he was bluffing to see if I would confess. I hadn't a clue if we were playing a mental game. 'What could he possibly benefit from that? If so, 'Game on' I thought to myself.
"Did you watch her attack me on the tape?" I asked, calling his bluff. He leaned into his desk straight backed, folding his hands on the top of his desk. His eyes were searching my face.
"No," he said. "I hadn't thought to. Is it that bad?"
He frowned deeply, looking concerned. Not concerned for me or his wife; he looked concerned for himself. I was continuing to give him my straight up, stone cold face.
"Not at all. If I had a woman like Carmen supposedly confessing her sins, my spouse's secretary who I think is attractive would be the next logical assumption. I told her the truth about what I think of you." I gave a half smile of apology. It didn't that he didn't know why. I just felt I should apologize for something.
He stared at me, mouth open slightly, "Really?" He questioned. "What are your thoughts of me Ms. Scott?" I shook my head and wondered if his comment was a pass. He frowned. "Tell me what you told her." He gave an odd smile of encouragement.
"All right Mr. Swanson. I told Sherry that as long as I have worked here I have never so much as received a phone call from a potential mistress asking for you. That as far as Carmen was concerned, she's an opportunist. I have watched her make passes at you—sometimes they were subtle, sometimes they were bold. I told her that when they were subtle compliments and flirtations that you ignored them. When they were not so subtle or physical, you had seemed to be annoyed and more bored than anything." Wanting to know what he was thinking I stopped myself from elaborating. I could see him digesting my words. He was breaking them down as if he was searching for what was not said. His facial expression showed he knew I was hiding something. Isn't everyone?
He straightened in his chair. "Lily, your job is not on the line. I'd like to know everything that you said to Sherry. Please." He gestured for her to go on with his hand, "continue." He folded his hands again. I think he did it when he was unsure of what to do with them. I was more than positive he heard the breath I was holding as I released it with quiet relief. I felt that he should know. I was a lot of things. I knew who I was even when I did things the general public would see me punished for, but I was honourable. This man had a right to know his beautiful Sherry was a vengeful bitch who felt she had been betrayed and felt she needed to retaliate. It was the very least I could do before his end.
"I'll tell you the rest under one condition." His eyebrow twitched slightly. He was not a man that took no for an answer, ever. "I want you to write on this piece of paper," I slid my blank note pad and pen to him, "that you will not, under any circumstances or by any means, have me killed or harmed or harm me yourself." He stared at me. He simply just stared. He was either very good at deception or he was thinking nothing at all.
'Why am I telling him?' I asked myself. 'I am one of the good guys, that's why.' I felt my resolve whenever I t had this thought. He picked up the pen and rolled it in his fingers while staring into my eyes. I felt the smallest rush of adrenaline as if my body was preparing itself for absolutely anything. He put the pen to the paper and scribbled on it. He paused to read it again, and then signed his elegant signature. After replacing the pen on the paper he flipped it around then slid it back towards me. I tilted the paper so I could read it and still see his hands in my peripheral.
I Derek Swanson will not have Lillian Scott harmed or killed by any means in any way.
Derek Swanson
He reached into desk to offer me a Virginia slim. I took one and he handed me a crystal ash tray that was a sparkling rainbow of colors in the sunlight that beamed through the windows of his all-glass corner office. He offered his lighter to me. I leaned in. I love it when men are chivalrous.
"I explained to her that I had slept with Carmen." His face remained neutral, much to my surprise. "I also explained that she was the type of passionless woman who was a terrible kisser and was an even worse lay. She is the lay-down-and-take-it sort of woman. Even if she had weaseled her way into your pants I was certain her looks were the only thing going for her." I had already figured he would see the tapes and what Sherry had done and reacted, so why the hell not go all the way. "I told her that Carmen's perfect tits were bought and that I would rather have a spitfire in my bed like Sherry rather than Carmen any day. I'm positive you felt the same. I reminded her that you are a powerful and intelligent man who does not put up with shit." I took a deep drag of my cigarette as though it would be my very last.... "I had my way with your wife for the first and only time that day in your office. She loves you very much and believed you were sleeping with another woman. She said she wanted to beat you to the punch."
I gathered my things as I put the cigarette out and stood chest forward and chin up. "I'll clean out my desk and be gone by the end of the day. I won't insult you by apologizing because I'm not sorry. You're wife is a delight and you're a lucky man. You should try to fix things and make it work. She's worth it." I waited at the door to see if he would, or even could, reply. I also did not want him to think I was running away. For the first time since I stepped into his office his eyes left mine to look at his wedding ring. He spun it on his finger. I slipped out because I sensed his need to be alone with his thoughts.
I walked to the supply room to find an empty box to put my things in. 'I'll just have to find another way to finish.' I thought to myself as I shuffled through the empty boxes in the corner of the storage room. I picked up one with a lid only to turn around and crash into the IT guy Josh, who got me this job.
