(special thanks to Pennlady for editing and to cleaning ladies everywhere!)
*
Steve found himself the last person in the office again. It was another late night, and Christmas was fast approaching but he just had to finish the sales proposal. It was a huge account and could make or break his bonus for the next year. It was all going to be worth it in the end, he told himself.
He girlfriend, Beth, had been bitching constantly about the late nights that Steve was putting in. On that the other hand, she had been pushing him hard all year to go for this promotion. Steve sighed; the holiday season wasn't supposed to be this stressful.
He had met Beth at City College and they had moved in together after they graduated. He was the star football player and she was an aspiring model; everyone assumed that they were meant to be together. Beth had been in a couple of magazines, but was far from famous and her income was minimal. She was amazingly beautiful though, and he often wondered if her constant complaining and obsession with money was worth it. He just knew that this winning proposal would garner him a promotion and get Beth off of his back.
One good thing about staying late at the office was that he got to see the cleaning lady. Her name was Nadine and she was in her early- to mid-fifties, but she looked much younger. She came in at seven o'clock and always greeted him with a big smile and cheerful hello. She had dark hair without a trace of grey, and she was pleasantly plump and very busty. Steve shook his head and silently chided himself for noticing the cleaning lady's chest. Work must be getting to me, he thought.
When it was close to nine, Steve decided to pack it in for the night. He made sure to track down Nadine and tell her goodnight; it was part of his routine. She was so pleasant that it was usually a highlight of his day.
"Alright, Nadine, I'm out of here. You have a great night," he said.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Smith. You, too," she said, smiling widely at him. Her voice had only a slight trace of a German accent, that he found very sexy.
"Please, call me Steve, and I will," he replied.
"Alright then. Goodnight, Steve. Merry Christmas," she said, and then Steve was out the door and heading home to Beth.
As he lay in bed recovering from a hot sex session with his girlfriend, Steve's thoughts turned to the office and to Nadine, the cleaning lady. He wondered if he should get her something for Christmas this year. It would be a nice gesture and she sure did deserve it for all the hard work she did and how pleasant she was. As he pondered gift ideas, Steve fell sound asleep.
It was a week before Christmas and the holiday season was in full swing. There were trees and wreaths everywhere and Christmas music was wafting out of every store and building that Steve passed on the way to the office. He stopped at a little curio shop a couple of blocks from his building and started walking the aisles looking for something that Nadine might like.
When music from the Nutcracker Suite came over the speakers, he realized he had often heard Nadine humming the same music as she cleaned the office. Steve spied a little music box sitting on the counter near the register. It was labeled "Nutcracker." He took a closer look at it, noticing how finely detailed and beautiful it was. Nadine would love it, he decided. His girlfriend Beth, on the other hand, would have hated it. If it didn't have a designer label, then it wasn't worth having in Beth's world. God, he needed this promotion.
"Would you like it gift wrapped?" the clerk asked him.
"Yes, please," Steve said with a smile.
A few minutes later, Steve had the music box wrapped and topped off with a beautiful bow and he was on his way to the office. Once there he placed it in the bottom drawer of his desk and got to work. It felt good to be playing Santa.
It was another long day full of sales and marketing meetings. Steve couldn't remember when he was this busy during the holiday season, but at least he had a job, so he didn't complain. It was going to be another late night, so he called Beth and let her know not to stay up for him. She told him it was ok and that she was going with the girls to her office holiday party.
He was annoyed that she hadn't even mentioned the party, let alone invited him, but he decided it was just as well. He didn't want to hang out with a bunch of people he didn't know. It was another thing that irritated him about Beth. He didn't fit in with her modeling friends and associates and she seemed embarrassed about it. It's not like he was bad looking or anything and he still worked out, when he had the time.
When he got off the phone, he checked his calendar to see when his party was scheduled for. It was Christmas Eve. He jotted down the time and date in his personal planner and then got back to his proposal. It was coming along nicely, but he had so many meetings that it was frustrating he couldn't get more of it done during normal business hours. He was missing so many basketball games, it was making him sick. Thank God for SportsCenter. He questioned himself for a second, wondering why he was missing basketball more then his beautiful girlfriend, but he dismissed it and went back to work.
Steve heard the familiar sounds of nightly cleaning, and glanced at his watch. It was just past seven o'clock. Smiling, he pulled open his bottom desk drawer and took out the package he had purchased earlier that morning. Then he walked out of his office looking for Nadine.
She was out in the reception area dusting the pictures. She was humming to herself and didn't notice Steve standing there watching her. She was wearing snug-fitting jeans that really accentuated her full, wide hips and as she stretched to reach the top of the pictures, his eyes moved up to her large breasts straining against the white blouse that she had tucked into her jeans. He felt a little stirring in his pants as he stood there watching her.
Steve shook his head and cleared his throat.
"Nadine?" he asked.
Nadine stopped her dusting and turned around.
"Hi Mr.... I mean Steve," she said with a smile.
"I hate to bother you while you're working," he said.
"Oh, you never bother me," she replied. Steve thought he detected a slight blush in her cheeks.
"I got you a little something for Christmas," he said and held out the box.
"For me?" Nadine asked incredulously.
"Yes," Steve answered. "You can open it now if you like,"
Nadine reached out and took the gift. Steve noticed that her eyes were tearing up.