"Hold that elevator!"
The doors were just beginning to slide shut when I heard the sound of fast-moving high heels on the lobby's marble floor, and a breathless female voice calling out to me to hold the doors. I reached down and jammed my thumb on the 'open doors' button, just in time to prevent them from closing. As they jerked back open again, the woman stumbled into the elevator with me:
"Thanks!" she said, " I thought I was going to break my goddamn ankle running in these heels!"
She was breathing hard, her face a little flushed, as she reached up to fix her hair. She was a good fifteen years older than me; a slim brunette with shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes. Brushing her hair back from her face she flashed me a smile, and the elevator started to move.
"Which floor?" I asked.
"Same as you." she replied, looking down at the button panel and seeing that I had selected '17'.
I looked over at her again, studying her a little closer this time. "Do you work for Chadwick Associates as well? I don't think I've seen you before."
"Well," she explained, "I'm actually just starting this week. I'm Suzanne Lee, the new Regional Account Manager." She extended her hand, eyebrows raised in an inquisitive 'and-you-are?' expression.
"Ben Stephens, Associate" I said, "Which is actually a glorified term for 'Office Slave'."
She laughed, "Yeah, I think the guy flipping burgers down at Wendy's is an 'Associate' as well." She paused and looked me up and down. I straightened my back, subtly drawing myself up to my full 6'2", my broad shoulders widening and filling out my Kenneth Cole suit. "Office Slave, huh? Well, well..." Subtle smiles crept across our faces as the elevator slowed and we arrived at the 17th floor.
"Give me a shout if you need me for anything." I said as we stepped out. "I'll be right here playing Minesweeper and checking my email." She winked and disappeared round the corner into her office. I sat down at my desk, switching on my computer and radio, settling in for another long day of menial office labor.
After half an hour, I got up and walked round to the coffee machine. Partly to get a cup of coffee, but mostly because the machine was located just outside Suzanne's office. Placing a cup under the spout, I glanced over my shoulder, peering between the slats of the venetian blind in her window. She was hanging up her coat, and as she stood, reaching up to hang it on the rack behind her desk, I was able to look at her a little more closely. She was a petite woman, narrow-waisted with a tight, firm ass wrapped up in a tight, gray, knee-length business skirt. As she lowered her arms and turned back to her desk, the fabric of her white shirt moved across her chest, allowing me to see the outline of her firm breasts. My eyes lingered there for a little while, before moving up her neck to her face, and I jumped a little when our eyes met and I realized that she had been watching me watch her. She narrowed her eyes a little, and tightened her lips feigning a kind of seething rage, and I raised an approving eyebrow in her direction, pouting and stroking my chin, cartoonishly seductive. We held each other's gaze for a second before her eyes flicked down suddenly. She raised a finger and pointed at the coffee machine. I looked down and emitted a small cry of surprise when I saw the coffee running down the side of the machine and pooling on the carpet at my feet. Blushing, I switched off the machine and fumbled with a fistful of napkins. As I threw the soaking mass of brown tissue into the trash, I glanced back through the blind. Suzanne was now on the phone, but she gave me a 'Dear me, how disappointing' look, shaking her head slowly at me, rolling her eyes and fighting back a smile.
I took my coffee back over to my desk and sat down. "Slick, real slick..." I thought to myself. I was just about to start a spreadsheet task I had to do, when my extension rang. I picked it up and leaned back in my chair.
"Hello?"
"Hi Ben, Suzanne here."