I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.
-Marilyn Monroe
More than half the office was out on vacation for the week after the Fourth of July.
When Karma returned to work on Tuesday morning, she sat in a veritable ghost town. Don was out. Jolene was out. Lisa was out. All but two members of Sales and Marketing were out. A quick trip through the war room, where the project teams worked when they were in the office, revealed that only Jasper and Courtney were working in the office this week. The rest who hadn’t taken time off were working from home.
Karma meandered back to her desk. As she passed the conference room, she flicked a despondent glance at the empty chair where Mark usually sat when he was there.
But he wasn’t this week.
He, too, had taken the week to work from Chicago and finish getting his affairs in order after the break-in.
Tuesday remained quiet all day. She made major headway on the upcoming quarterly presentation, but by the end of the day, she actually got a little bored. With no one in the office, the workload was lighter than she thought it would be.
Wednesday was more of the same, and by the end of the day, she was finished with the presentation and had cleaned out her files, her e-mail, and had played with some ideas for a new presentation template for October’s quarterlies.
On Thursday morning, she stopped at the store and bought a smattering of magazines, The New York Times, and the local newspaper before heading in to the office. She needed something to keep her mind busy, and since she was all caught up—a rarity to be sure—having some reading material on hand was a must.
Feeling like a whole lot of ho-hum-I-wish-I-were-in-Chicago, she made her way up the stairs to her desk. At the foot of the hall, her steps faltered. Something was different this morning. The air held a different spark. A familiar scent, ever-so-subtle, touched her nose. Trying not to appear overly eager, she hurried down the hall and came out on the other side just as Mark emerged from the conference room as if he had felt her presence, too.
They both stopped, and she sucked in her breath. He was beautiful, as always, even though he was only wearing simple charcoal grey trousers and a dark blue pullover.
“Can I see you for a minute, Miss Mason.” He turned back around and disappeared inside the conference room.
She dropped her bags and magazines on her desk and tamed her excitement enough that she didn’t fly into the room behind him.
“Yes?”
“Close the door,” he said without looking at her.
She did as he said, and the door latched quietly.
He turned around, and she couldn’t quite place the look in his eyes, but it caused her heart to race.
“Lock it.”
Obediently, she did as he commanded. The week had just gotten very interesting.
In four long strides, he was on her, his hands lifting her skirt. “How has your week been, Miss Mason?”
“Boring.” She loved when he called her Miss Mason. It made her feel like they were strangers or mere acquaintances, and in light of how familiar they were with one another, his using such a formality often added to their intense chemistry.
He pulled off her panties. “Boring?”
She nodded as cool air washed over her bare flesh. “Until now.”
His lips quirked and the jangle of his belt preceded the sound of his zipper opening. “Lesson,” he said.
Already flooded with desire so intense she could barely stand, Karma could only nod, ready to learn. But, clearly, this was a very specific lesson, with hands-on application.
A square cellophane packet appeared in her hands as if by magic.
“Office sex can be a good thing,” he said. “Under the right circumstances.” He nodded toward the condom. “Put it on me.”
She had never put a condom on a man before. Mark had always taken care of that. “I don’t—”
He shushed her as he backed her toward the wall. “I’ll help.”
She tore the packet open and took out the latex sheath.
He flipped it in her fingers. “It goes on this way, so that it unrolls down my cock.” He helped her position it. “Leave a little at the tip and gently roll it on me.”
She did as he instructed, then he lifted her up and pressed her back against the wall.
And then he was inside her.
Oh God. She was hot. So hot. So needy. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him until just now.
“Office sex must be fast,” he said, grabbing her hips and taking her harder than he had last weekend. “And quiet.”
“Uh-huh.” She clung to his neck, already feeling herself climbing toward release.
“Can you be quiet, Miss Mason? Can you come without screaming my name?” He sounded just as close as she already was.
With a shuddering breath, she nodded.
“This is not making love, Miss Mason.” He grunted between clenched teeth as he drove into her. “This is fucking.”
Just hearing him growl the dirty word pushed her toward climax.
“There is a time and a place for both.” His fingers dug into her flesh.
Hell yes there was!
The whole act lasted maybe three minutes from start to finish. Quick, dirty, hard, and furtive. As she came, with her lips against his in a silent kiss, she shuddered violently and whispered his name at the same time he sighed hers on a tense breath and climaxed.
Still breathing heavily, he quickly pulled out, peeled off the condom, and pulled up his pants as she straightened her skirt and blouse as if they had done nothing more than run through a sales report, except her legs were still trembling and her insides were still pulsing through the tail end of her orgasm.
She had never had office sex, so dirty and almost panicked in its pace. At any moment, someone could have knocked on the door and discovered them. But that hadn’t happened. They had done the deed and no one was the wiser. Not that there were many in the office to interrupt them. Which had made this the perfect time for such debauchery.
Mark had defiled her, corrupted her innocence, and seduced her into the most depraved act she had ever committed.
A smile crept over her lips as she took her panties from him and pulled them back up her legs.
“Why are you smiling like that?” he said, stepping close and wrapping his arms around her waist as she finished situating her clothes.
“I was just thinking about how fun that was.”
“I thought you would stop me.”
She laughed. “Are you surprised I didn’t?”
“Yes, but glad.”
“Me, too.”
With an affected shake of his head, he said, “You continue to surprise me, Karma. Just when I think I know how you’ll react, you go the complete opposite direction.” He kissed her. “I like it. Keeps me on my toes.”
“It’s your fault. I was never like this until you came along.”
“Well, I’m glad I came along then.”
After another quick kiss, he pulled away, ran his hands down his shirt and gave her the once-over to make sure she was put together before unlocking the door. As he opened it, he said, “Thank you for getting right on that, Karma.”
That was her cue to pull the façade back into place. “Absolutely.”
As she was leaving the room, he stopped her. “Could you grab my coffee, please?”
She looked around. It was just the two of them. Casting him a coy look, she leaned close and whispered, “Get your own damn coffee, Mr. Strong.”
His hearty laughter as she spun and sashayed away on unsteady legs was like a symphony, and a moment later, as he passed her desk with his mug in his hand, heading in the direction of the coffee station, their eyes met. Amusement lit his face.
“Just you wait, Miss Mason. I’ll make you pay for this.”
“Ooo, promises promises.”
He winked and disappeared around the corner.
Thursday was looking up. And so was Friday.