Natural Consequences(7)

He stepped off the elevator to find Shirley back from her lunch break and at the front desk once more. He smiled and waved at the grey-haired receptionist. No temptation to be faced there. Just a warm greeting and a wave on through into the law offices of Keating & Rose.

Alex took the long way around to the file room so he wouldn’t have to pass by the copy room. He turned the corner, and found two of the company’s sharpest attorneys in an office doorway. Whatever conversation Susan had been having with Trinh stopped immediately. His stride faltered. Both women glowered at him, then stepped inside Susan’s office and shut the door.

Oh no, he thought. The last time he’d been in that office, Susan threw him up against a wall, kissed him hard… and wasn’t happy at all to hear that he was seeing someone.

Alex scratched his head and wondered how he could mend that fence as he wandered to the file room. Kat wasn’t back from lunch yet. He sat at his desk and rolled the mouse to bring his monitor out of screen saver mode. He entered his login and password, found it rejected and tried again. No luck. He wondered what he was doing wrong. Was the caps lock on?

“Alex?” asked a cool, confident female voice. He looked up to see Olivia—pretty, older, dark-haired office manager Olivia—standing in the doorway. “Could I talk to you in my office, please?”

“Uh, sure, Olivia,” Alex shrugged. He rose from his seat to follow and found he couldn’t help but look at the sway in her hips as she walked. That skirt wasn’t too short to be professional, but wasn’t long enough to be conservative, either. He liked the stockings, too. And the woman wearing them.

Stop it, he reminded himself. Stop thinking about that. Try something else. Think about math. Motorcycle maintenance. No, baseball! Baseball isn’t sexy! Except for all the innuendos about getting to bases. Dammit!

Olivia shut and locked the door behind him. Her hand came to his chest, gently pushing him backward. The smoldering look in her eyes made her intentions plain.

Aw hell. Not again. Not today. I can’t handle this today.

“Olivia, what—wait, what’s going on?” he asked. The couch snuck up on him, taking his legs out from under him at the knees. He fell back into a seat.

“I think you know,” she murmured. Olivia sat sideways in his lap, bringing her legs across his, not waiting for anything resembling permission. She kissed him hotly, slipping one hand behind his neck and up to grab a little of his short black hair. “I’m all about grabbing opportunities while they last.”

He was stronger some days than others.

When she kissed him again, he didn’t resist. He couldn’t. Justifications filled his mind: She was an adult. She knew what she was doing. This was completely within the bounds of his relationship rules. Somewhere out there, a demon who loved him silently urged Alex to tear Olivia’s clothes off. At least one angel probably had similar wishes with more vulgar expressions for them.

Olivia looked great with her hair down like this. Felt good up against him. Alex’s hands roamed up her sides, leaving him curious about the lacy bra he felt underneath her top.

He didn’t initiate this. He never did. Alex hadn’t even ever flirted with his boss like he had with Stephanie, or Susan…

Wait. No. Susan. Stop. “Stop,” Alex managed to say in the middle of their kiss, then repeated, “Wait, Olivia. Stop for a second.”

Olivia’s hand in his hair took a firmer grip, tilting his head back so she could lick his neck. “Can’t it wait?”

“Did Susan say anything to you today?”

She pulled back. His shirt was already half unbuttoned. Her blazer was off. “You really want to do this now?” Frustration and annoyance replaced the tone of lust in her voice.

“Do what now? What happened?”

“What happened? Oh, nothing, except that Susan found out that you’ve been fooling around with Stephanie.”

“What?” Alex blinked.

“Stephanie left her cell phone out on a countertop in the copy room with a message to you showing. Susan decided that wasn’t okay with her.”

“But I didn’t fool around with Stephanie. Nothing actually happened.”

“Hm. Well, I told Susan that what she saw didn’t sound like conclusive evidence to me, but in the end it doesn’t matter. What does matter is what Susan believes and what I’m left to deal with.”

“Susan filed a complaint?”

“She talked to me as a first step, yes. Next step if I don’t resolve it is to take it to the partners. Can’t have that, can we?”

He didn’t even know what to say. “Then this—what is this? This here? You and me and… what the hell, Olivia?”