Between Bosses Read online

  Between Bosses

  by Angela Rey

  Copyright 2012

  The party was winding down.

  She watched Jay across the bar making small talk with the manager of another department. She knew the conversation couldn't go on much longer, and then she would make her move.

  This can't be good bye. Now that you're no longer my boss I hope we can pursue a friendship, at the very least...

  She startled at a hand on her shoulder.

  "Pam..."

  She spun around on the bar stool.

  "Evan! Hi!" It was Jay's boss -- or rather his former boss.

  "Good turnout," he said.

  "Yeah."

  "I'll miss him."

  "We all will," she said.

  Evan looked troubled. "Sorry to talk work, but I saw your project plan for the M.L.M. migration and I had some questions."

  "Yes?" she said, feigning concern. But her heart sank. Evan was to be her boss until they found a replacement for Jay, and it was not a good sign that he wanted to discuss work at a bar late on a Friday night. He proceeded to ask her many picky questions about the project plan. She did her best to gather her thoughts and answer intelligently, fighting the vodka-induced jumble in her head.

  Pam stole a glance at Jay. To her horror she saw him putting on his coat and giving his final good bye hugs. Evan was speaking rapidly and at length, and she was not able to break in. At that moment Jay looked straight at her with a slight smile on his face. But Evan commanded her attention. The next time she looked in Jay's direction, he was gone.

  She cursed ferociously inside and wondered how she would ever see Jay again. She lost track of what her new boss was saying to her.

  "...and I think we should go over and do it now, just get it over with."

  Evan looked at her as if expecting a response. Confused, Pam said, "Do what?"

  "I said we should go back to the office and finish the M.L.M. project plan."

  "Now?"

  "Yes, now."

  "At this hour?"

  "I want to have it done this weekend so I can send it up the chain. I think if you and I just sit down together we can get it done in half an hour."

  "I don't know if I--" She wanted to say, "--am sober enough," but thought that would reflect poorly on her. To compensate she became over-enthusiastic at the prospect of returning to work drunk at eleven o'clock at night.

  "Let's do it!" she said.

  They put on their jackets and left the bar.

  She hoped to find Jay still outside, but he was gone. Dejected, she followed Evan in a daze. As they walked through the darkened industrial section of town, Evan talked a lot about what a great guy Jay was. Pam agreed and began to tell the story of a particularly heroic action of Jay's: Pam had come in to work one Saturday to catch up, and Jay showed up to help her, though he didn't need to. He showed great patience and kindness towards her as they worked together to finish the project.

  That day had particular significance for Pam because it was the day she first realized she had a real crush on Jay; she didn't tell Evan that part. It was the first time she saw him wearing jeans and a tee shirt, and she stole many approving glances at his compact and well-defined body.

  In the midst of telling the story she tripped on the curb and began to fly forward. Evan was in the path of her fall, and her upper body struck him as his hands flew up to catch her. When her body stopped moving she was leaning into Evan, her breast pressed into his upper arm, his hand at the side of her stomach. They remained frozen in place like that, for a moment longer than appropriate, it seemed to her.

  "Whoa!" she said.

  Evan helped put her back on her feet, using the hand on her belly to push her up. In the process she thought she felt his fingers press briefly into her flesh, as if gauging the definition of her abdominal muscles.

  "You okay?!" he said, smiling.

  "Such a clutz!"

  They continued walking. She tried to follow the conversation but was distracted, thinking of Evan's body, how stable it was when her body knocked into it. She now had a sense for his mass, how much give and take his bones and muscles had; Evan's body felt like a good counterpart to her own.

  And then there was Evan's hand, which had pressed somewhat intimately into her belly and rubbed -- it was exactly three times, she could still feel it -- enough movement to establish a rhythm, a pattern. And the rhythm for some reason suggested to her the rhythm a man might use if massaging her privates, and doing so just right.

  She was not certain the hand motions were accidental. This was Pam's first intimation that her boss of less than an hour was coming on to her. And she could not deny feeling intrigued by the prospect, despite herself and her deep misgivings.

  After a final deserted block they reached their workplace, an old mill converted into modern office space. No light shone from any window. The cleaning people usually left by ten o'clock, and no one else was likely to be working at his hour.

  Evan used his card key to unlock the main door. As they walked through the building, lights popped on automatically, triggered by their motion.

  When they reached their department on the second floor, Pam said, "Do you want to do it in your office or in my cube?" She bit her tongue for unintentionally using words that could be construed as provocative.

  "Let's go to your cube," he said, seeming not to notice. "I'll be right back. Why don't you bring up the project plan."

  As she entered her cubicle her shoulder struck the gray fabric wall hard, and she yelped in pain. She sat down at her computer and flubbed the password twice before getting in. She eventually found the document and opened it. The words and numbers in the boxes seemed very abstract, to the point of meaningless.

  After a futile attempt at parsing a sequence of dates, her thoughts drifted to Jay -- lurid thoughts, of them copulating freely, in some mythic future time when they were beyond the point of getting to know each other, and were confirmed as lovers.

  She tried to banish the fantasy from her head. She looked at some more dates...

  And then thoughts of Evan -- Evan and his sure fingers -- intruded. Most of her female colleagues considered Evan more attractive than Jay, and with a more engaging personality as well. She felt confused.

  She heard Evan leaving his office and she redoubled her efforts at understanding the document. She lost track of where Evan was, until suddenly he was standing behind her, having said not a word.

  "Okay," she said, pointing at the screen without turning to him, "you wanted me to move this date by two weeks?"

  After a long pause she heard him inhale, and then swallow with a faint glug glug. She swiveled in her chair to see him removing a pint bottle from his lips.

  "Want some?" he said, offering the top-shelf vodka. He noted her incredulous look. "It's for when I work late. Why should I skip cocktail hour just because I'm stuck here?"

  "That's fine!" she said.

  "So you want some?" he said, extending the bottle almost to her lips.

  She smiled, took a quick swig and swiveled back to the computer. As she spun in her chair it felt as if part of her lagged behind the rest, then caught up, overshot, and bounced back. She grabbed the desk edge for support, wishing she had not had more vodka.

  "I'll move the date," she said, and started clicking around ineffectually. She heard another glug glug glug from Evan's throat, followed by a long silence. She sensed his breath quickening.

  She felt a warm hand on the side of her neck. Not on her shoulder, where it might be interpreted as a friendly touch, but on the sensitive skin of her neck, where it's intent was unmistakeable. Instantly her body filled with not unpleasant tingling.

  She knew what was expected of her at this point, to act shocked and
to object. She allowed herself to enjoy the touch for a moment more before she said, "Evan..."

  "We're alone," he said.

  As she prepared her objection she felt his fingers rub her neck with just the right amount of pressure, creating a new tingle that ran down her spine to her pelvis.

  She said, "I can't..."

  His other hand slid up her arm, crested her shoulder.

  "Why?" he said. "It's midnight and not a soul but us."

  She lowered her hands from the keyboard to her lap. She felt his hand slide down the front of her neck and briefly touch her collar bone.

  He said, "No one now exists but us. No one."

  "You're my boss."

  "I'm nothing. We're two people -- alone, attracted." He ran his fingers towards the notch at the base of her throat. She reflexively squeezed her legs together.

  "I don't know," she said, with genuine uncertainty.

  "You are free to leave, and I swear I will never hold anything against you," he said. "But..." He slid his other hand beyond her shoulder to the top of her blouse and tugged the fabric gently. "But anything that happens tonight, will be forgotten tonight. I give you my word. Monday, none of this ever happened."

  He seemed earnest, and his touches, combined with the danger of the situation, made her unbearably aroused. One more easily dismissed pang of resistance passed through her soul, and she let go. Slowly she tipped her head back until it rested on his stomach, her long red hair falling across his belt buckle.

  "Good," he said, "good..." He worked his hands lower into her sheer blouse, just reaching the swell of her breasts. "That makes me happy."

  He suddenly pulled his hands off of her. He sat on the desk beside her and took another swig from the bottle. She looked at him, uncertain why he stopped.

  "Work is idiotic, Pam -- don't try to pretend otherwise, it's too late to pretend. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is people like you. You make me want to come to work."

  She could think of nothing else to say but, "Thank you."

  "Do you ever have sex thoughts at work?" he said.

  She thought, 'All the time,' but said, "Sometimes."

  "Sex is the exact opposite of work." As he pondered his utterance he took another quick swig. "Do you ever think about how everyone around you is a sexual being, and what if you had sex with them right then and there? At any given instance you are just moments away from having sex with them -- right there, you could do it, if you both wanted to? Does that make any sense?"

  "Yes. I have thought that."

  "Good!" he said, genuinely pleased. "That's good." He ran his hand through the hair that fell along the side of her face, pushing it back over her ear. "That makes me happy that you think that." He leaned in and kissed her deeply. They were both so drunk that neither could smell the alcohol on the other.

  He took her by the shoulders. "Let's try it, Pam!"

  "What?"

  "My fantasy! You go off. Pretend you're at work -- well we are at work -- I mean, go about your work day, like now. I'll find you, and when I do, we instantly become those beings that are the opposite of work beings -- sex beings!"

  She looked at him densely.

  "Do you understand me?" he said.

  "Maybe."

  "Go! Go off! Go wherever you want. I'll find you. And when I do, you'll know what I mean."

  "Go where?"

  "It doesn't matter!" He pulled her up from the chair by her hands. "Just go!"

  "But--"

  "Go!"

  She finally was compelled to move and left her cube and Evan behind. Once in the main corridor she selected a direction at random and started walking at a brisk pace. After three bays she turned right and sat down at someone's desk. She swiveled in her chair in a tight back and forth, wondering about Evan's plans for her, and also considering the possibility that he was a crazed drunk.

  Evan gave her a head start of a few minutes, then followed. The motion-detecting lights, tripped by the passage of Pam, conveniently identified the path she had followed, and he quickly found her.

  He stared at her. She turned in her chair to face him directly. "Hi Evan," she said, with false bravado.

  "Hello Pam." He said it in a tone and manner reminiscent of a boring Tuesday afternoon at work. Which made what followed all the more shocking.

  She held his eyes as he walked up to her with a hand slightly extended. In a sudden delirious instant his hand was on her breast and his mouth on her open mouth. She emitted a small startled moan, and let him kiss her all over her face and neck. She felt his hand on the back of her neck, and then between her knees, parting her legs with some insistence. She did not resist as his hand climbed up into her skirt, stroking her inner thigh. A deep current of sexuality passed through her and overwhelmed her.

  This was a good idea that Evan had, she thought.

  But just as suddenly, he took his hands off of her.

  "That was exactly how I thought it would be," he said, smiling crookedly. "Finding you. Grabbing you."

  "Yes." She reached out and grasped his hand, trying to pull him back into her.

  "Not yet," he said. "I want to find you again."

  "No!" she said. She brought his palm to her cheek.

  "Yes, please," he said, pulling his hand away. "It would make me so happy. Go! Run off again! Please..."

  She had enjoyed her time in the chair and only reluctantly raised herself. "Okay... But more next time!"

  "Yes, I promise! Go!"

  She fled to the stairwell and descended to the first floor. For her next spot she chose the office of a female manager, Susan, whom she detested. She ducked in and stood behind the desk with her hands on the back of the chair, waiting.

  She heard the stairwell door open in the distance. Evan's steps drew nearer, reaching her bay. Her heart thumped. The carpeted wood floors creaked very nearby, then his face popped into the office.

  "How ya doin', Evan?" she said in her best Susan voice.

  Evan smiled. "Susan?" he said. He, like every other male at the company, found Susan to be both incredibly annoying and incredibly hot.

  "If you want me to be," Pam said.

  "Just the part with the legs."

  He guided Pam backward until her body leaned against the white brick wall. Dropping to his knees before her, he removed her shoes and tossed them aside, lowering Pam's feet to the short, rough office carpet. He glided his hands across her calves, behind her knees, up the backs of her thighs and into her skirt, just reaching her panties.

  Pam involuntarily shivered as Evan's cool fingertips brushed against her warm skin. She felt his strong fingers pushing through to her leg muscles, giving her a tingle in her back and crotch. Evan unzipped her skirt and worked it down over the curve of her ass, while Pam popped the buttons of her blouse. Soon her clothes her a heap on the ground.

  Evan took a moment to admire Pam in her underwear. Her panties were pale blue cotton, and her bra a non-lacy white. The fact that she was wearing an everyday set of underwear -- not some gaudy, "sexy" pair -- gave him a pang of lust. It seemed more intimate, as if he had stumbled upon her half-naked. On a whim he leaned in and kissed her belly more than once; Pam doubled over in sudden pleasure, pushing her breasts into his head. He turned his face upward to rub against her breasts, the stubble of his cheek lightly scratching her skin. She thought she heard him say, "Oh god...," the words felt as two little gusts of warm air on her skin.

  He stood up and kissed her deeply, pushing his still-clothed body into hers, nearly naked. She reached behind her back to unhook herself, but he suddenly pulled away.

  "This is good," he said.

  "Yes?" she said, confused, her hands dropping to her sides.

  "Do you want to try it?"

  "What?"

  "To come upon me. To find me and to take me."

  "We don't have to do that!" she said.

  "Please, I really want to."

  "What we're doing is great!"

  "You'll se
e. You'll love it. Give me a few minutes then come find me!"

  Before she could protest further he left the office.

  After a frustrated interval, during which she couldn't help putting her hands on herself, Pam set out to find Evan. Walking through the familiar workplace corridors wearing nothing but her underwear, she found herself less embarrassed than she would have imagined. She loved the cool air wafting across skin that was never exposed in this setting.

  She longed for Evan, picturing him around every corner. She tried to get into the spirit of their little game, pretending she was seeking him out on some minor work matter, but in her heart resolving to attack him on sight.

  Crossing into the next lit up bay she found him, standing nonchalantly with his back against a cubicle wall. His face wore the same bored expression he presented throughout the workday. The only thing out of the ordinary was that he was not wearing his shoes or socks; somehow Pam felt a twinge of arousal at his incongruously bare feet.

  When she reached him she surprised herself with her own horny directness.

  "Hi, Pam, what's up?" Evan said in his work voice.

  She put her hand in his crotch and covered his mouth with her lips. She felt his erection straining against his pants. Evan let out a guttural sound.

  As they kissed she undressed him down to his shorts. Her kisses descended his neck, across his chest and stomach, until she was kneeling before him. She ran her fingertips lightly across the front of his shorts. She looked up into his eyes. Evan's face bore an expression of intense curiosity as to what Pam would do next.

  She decided to exact her revenge on him for his prior teases and torments. She gave him a squeeze through his shorts, stood up, and walked away.

  "Where are you going?" he pleaded.

  "You know the game," she said over her shoulder. "See if you can find me."

  With effort Evan remained in place, watching her panties depart around the corner. He set out after a brief interval and quickly noticed that the main conference room was lit up, though dimly. He looked inside.

  Evan never would forget the scene that greeted him. Upon the long mahogany table lay Pam, sprawled on her back, her legs spread. She lay diagonally across the table, with her legs along the side and her head by the narrow end. Her bra was loose, the cups just resting atop her flattened -- though still shapely -- breasts.