Author's Note: So, this is my story for the Winter Holidays 2014 Contest - better late than never! I'm still relatively new at posting on Lit and I just want to say I appreciate all of the feedback. Just as a heads up, my stories tend to take time and build up to the "heat"... so if you are looking for a "down and dirty" type of tale that jumps right into the sex - this one might not be your cup of tea.
Of course this story includes sexually explicit material and is intended for adults, so if you are not at least 18 years of age or are offended by sexual material, stop now and run - do not walk - to the nearest exit... thank you and if you don't mind, please remember to vote. I hope you enjoy!
Best Christmas Present Ever
Amy finished entering the last of the data points from the invoice on her desk with a final tap of the keys. She leaned back in her chair to take a break from the tedium of the billing screen. The short week before the Thanksgiving holiday was always such a crazy time in the finance department because of the abbreviated month-end cycle. But, hey who didn't enjoy cramming a week's worth of billing into three days? It meant some long hours for her department, but she didn't mind it all that much since the reward was a four day weekend.
Closing her eyes and slowly working her neck in a lazy circle, she almost groaned out loud as her muscles stretched and actually started to loosen. She slipped her heels off under her desk and stretched her legs out straight, wiggling her stocking-clad toes to work some of the soreness out of her thighs. It was during moments like these when she questioned if working out was worth all this pain. She stopped her own mental complaint with a cluck of her tongue. Two dress sizes smaller said it was. Besides, she was proud of the way she looked since she had fully committed to going to the company fitness center every morning...now if only her husband would actually notice.
She sighed. A little encouragement from her spouse would have been nice. She had no doubt whatsoever that Steve loved her, but had they really grown that complacent with each other? How hard was it to notice the person sleeping next to you had been literally working her butt off every morning for the past four months? She even put it right in his face last weekend by stepping out of the shower and "oops, forgetting her towel." Her hopes that he would actually notice the changes in her figure had been met with "hey babe, did you use my razor?"
Ugh...why do men always have to be so clueless?
Amy let out a cute little groan while she slowly extended her arms towards the ceiling. She'd been really pushing herself these last few mornings knowing she'd eat way more than she should on Turkey Day. She was probably overdoing it, but it was a good soreness if there was such a thing. Was it weird that she kind of looked forward to it? It was like this little painful reminder that what she was doing was working. That didn't mean she couldn't use a hot bath though. Hmmmmm, the thought of a good long soak sounded lovely. Maybe she should look into getting a massage... oh, now that sounded like heaven on earth right about now.
She arched her back in one final stretch before settling back in at her keyboard and tried to make a new entry with the next invoice. Nothing happened. She tapped the enter button a few times...still nothing. She tried the escape key. Great, her screen was frozen...again. She sighed and dialed the four digit extension to the company's IT department.
"IT Helpdesk," a radio quality voice answered. "This is Laurel."
"Laurel," Amy began, "this is Amy over in the billing department and - "
"Well, good morning, Amy!" the sultry sounding female interrupted.
"Oh... um, sorry," Amy stuttered as she almost lost her train of thought. "Good morning."
"That's better," Laurel from IT teased. "So how can I help you, Amy-over-in-billing?"
"Yes, sorry about that," Amy was a little flustered at being called out. "Anyways, I'm having issues again with the new billing software."
"Ahhhh," Laurel immediately stated. "That program again. So what did you do to break it?"
"Excuse me?"
"Did you download a virus?"
"No."
"Open an email from a suspicious source?"
"Did I open what?"
"Were you looking at those naughty websites again?"
"What?!?!" Amy's eyes grew wide.
"Kidding," Laurel's smoky voice chuckled in her ear, "just pulling your chain, Ames. You don't mind if I call you Ames, do you?"
"Um," Amy was caught off guard by this woman's forward attitude. "No, that's fine I guess."
"Suh-weet!" Laurel hissed as if she had won a small victory. "Anyhoo, that billing software has caused a bunch of issues for everyone. What's your IP address?"
Amy closed the billing program with a wince realizing the last 45 minutes of work was now officially lost. She opened up the little computer info icon on her desktop and read off her IP address. She took her hand off her mouse and watched as this Laurel person from IT logged on to her machine remotely.
"I just need to change your security settings and then update your version of the software," Laurel advised. There were a few moments of silence on the line as the little arrow icon that was being remotely controlled zipped around her monitor and began opening screens and directories and updating files and typing commands. Amy couldn't quite follow what all was happening to her computer so she just sat and watched.
"And that should do it," Laurel announced as a small display window popped up and began a series of file downloads. The timer at the bottom showed the progress was at 4 percent and had an estimated 29 minutes to finish. Amy sighed, not realizing how loud it must have sounded over her headset.
"Sorry, Ames," Laurel apologized. "I know you have stuff to do, but I guess you can't do it without a working version of the software, right?"
"Yeah, unfortunately that is the case," Amy agreed.
"It won't be too much longer."
"Okay," Amy replied. "And I know this isn't your fault. It's just with the short week the whole software thingy has really put me behind schedule."