Making Work a Better Place Ch. 02

Here I am, my own favorite office drone and I'm not droning like I used to. My personal assistant insists that I circulate among the workers in my section before I can sit down in my office and blow off the rest of the morning. I thought this would be worse than it is. It started with me stopping by Paulette's desk. Seeing me appears to make her happy, which is a plus in my book. Suddenly, other office workers were saying 'hi' to me as well so I feel obliged to talk with them. (Sigh) Next thing I know they are asking me to look at all kinds of work they are doing and are asking me my advice. That kind of weirds me out.

Peggy has prepared me for this eventuality though. She's really smart that way. All I am required to do is remember what time of day it is. In the morning I say: I will review this and have a response by noon. If it is in the afternoon I say: I will look this over and have something back to you by start of business tomorrow. I have no idea what any of that stuff means. I certainly don't see any extra work coming my way, so I'm happy. Peggy does have me sign off on a few extra things though plus she uses my computer to type some e-mails. I don't know why she can't use her own, but since she doesn't mind me watching girls' softball on ESPN while she works, I don't worry about her using my mailbox for whatever she's doing.

I have actually gotten a smile from Peggy though I'm not sure why. I decided to get a new coffeemaker for the employee's lounge plus a month's supply of my favorite blends. I'm also having a fruit basket delivered there daily so I can always find those little oranges I like whenever I want them. Peggy did all the real work like locating the vendor and placing the order, but it was my idea and I'm very proud of that. I think Peggy is proud of me too.

Peggy comes into my office after I've made my rounds and have settled into a tough game of Angry Birds. I put my phone down and look at her expectantly. She doesn't say anything and after a second I realize that something is wrong.

"Tell me what's wrong," tumbles out of my mouth. I'm not sure why I said that. It isn't like I can do anything.

"Oh, it is nothing. I have a few more things for you to sign," she sighs. As she comes around the desk I notice that the middle button on her blouse has fallen off. I do notice cleavage; I am a guy after all. Peggy looks at me, looks down at her blouse and bra (lacey magenta) and covers up the gap with one of her hands. I look into her eyes trying to figure out what to do or say next.

Her eyes are slightly watery and I figure I've screwed up.

"I'm sorry," I mutter. Saying 'you have great ta-tas and I can't look away,' doesn't seem right for this situation. Her eyes go from sad and upset to bright and glowing.

"You're brilliant!" she blurts out, "fucking brilliant." He leans in and gives me a kiss on the top of my head. I have nothing to say. She just shoved her D-sized breasts in my face. Her husband is one lucky guy.

Only after she sprints from the room does it occur to me I haven't a clue what I've done. This is not usual for me. Being called brilliant is new. Something else now occurs to me; I've dodged doing some work and gotten a peek at Peggy's desirables. This is turning out to be a great day. Peggy ruins that by telling me I have a working lunch with Mr. Dewitt from Quality Control. I've never had a working lunch before and didn't know it was going to be in my office. How can you have lunch if you don't leave the office? Peggy assures me that other people do this and survive.

Malcolm Dewitt is a nice guy, 32 years old, not married nor any serious prospects though he is good-looking; he's a slave to his job (I've seen his overtime reports – Peggy insisted that I do). He owns a small townhouse and had a cat that ran away. No friends or family close by. He's in my office, eating Italian takeout with me, going over compliance regulations for the upcoming year. I'm not sure what that means. I nod and look serious, just like Peggy told me to.

"So sir, you see why we need a new junior compliance officer," Malcolm finishes up. "The new work load will come out to around fifty man/hours and the current staff can't handle that."

"What does HR say on the matter?" I say. I always try to 'pass the buck' whenever possible.

"They tell me that it isn't in the budget," he gripes. "We are going to get killed with the overtime, sir." It is past noon. I know what to say.

"I will look this over and have something back to you by start of business tomorrow."

"Thank you sir; I'm sure you will do the right thing." He stands up to go, "It is good to see you taking a hand in this matter. It means a lot to the crew to see that Upper Management is listening to us." It belatedly occurs to me that by Upper Management he means me.

"I'll take your paperwork and review it. This is my first thing to do as soon as I clear lunch away." Honestly it is the only thing for me to do after lunch and all I have to do is hand it off to Peggy, but if it makes him feel good I'll act like I know what I'm doing. Speaking of the Devil, the door opens and Peggy walks in with Briana Sinclair. I stand up.

Briana Sinclair is from our legal department, age 30, no committed relationships, and a workaholic like Malcolm here. For some reason her overtime reports has crossed my desk too. It is like Peggy has ESP or something. She rents uptown, which is probably too expensive for her salary and this most likely explains her drab clothing. Her body looks nice enough, but she could work on her hair and makeup.

"Mr. Townsend, a problem has come up that needs your immediate attention." The first thing that occurs to me is that the building most be on fire and we need to leave right away. Then I realize we don't hear any alarms.

"Sure," I smile, "what can I help with?"

"A compliance issue has come up that our legal department is looking into, but we aren't allowed to take action without executive authorization," Peggy explains. I am now totally confused; who here thinks I have executive authority?

"Great. I have Malcolm here from Compliance. Why don't you explain the issue to us both and let us brainstorm a solution?" I grin. Thank God Malcolm's here. Otherwise I would be totally lost. Man, I am lucky he just happens to be in the right place at the right time. For some reason Peggy is giving me an 'atta boy' smile.

"Brianna, why don't you sit next to Malcolm and I'll pull a chair over by Mr. Townsend and we can work this out," Peggy says graciously. We all take up our assigned roles and I quickly learn mine. I sit back, nod a few times, and occasionally bounce an idea off Peggy. I haven't a clue what anyone is talking about and I have to resist the urge to tidy up my office while everyone else does the work.

I come back to the world with Briana asking me,

"Will you do this sir?" I look to Peggy who stares back at me. I think and think and think ... Peggy biting her lip means something bad, so not biting her lip means it's something good.

"Peggy," I say decisively, "Clear my schedule. I'm not going to stop until these two matters are adequately resolved."

"Right away sir," Peggy responds by jumping up. I love the way her breasts bounce. I try not to ogle them too much.

When Peggy ushers those two out of the office they are in animated conversation. Peggy looks inordinately pleased with herself. She comes over and gives me a peck on the cheek.

"What was that for?" I ask bewildered.

"For being you sir," she grins.

"Now, how am I going to get out of this," I look at her timidly. "Who in the hell do I go to?"

"Your Father," Peggy beams. I groan. My Father doesn't hate me, he loathes me. He thinks I'm a totally worthless nitwit, and I tend to agree with him.

"Dad will toss me out on my ear," I explain.

"Not if you are going to save him half a million dollars he's not. All you have to do is memorize forty lines and don't panic. Can you do that?" Reluctantly I nod.

"For you I'll do it," I smile. She reaches up and strokes my chin line.

"Thank you," she says, "for re-affirming my faith in you." I have no idea what she's talking about, and I really don't care. Her touch feels really nice. I'll worry about Dad later.

(After surviving Dad's office)

"Well," Peggy whispers as I walk out of my Father's office. I must look like a punch-drunk sailor.

"He approved it. He told me it was good work. He even looked at me funny, like he'd never really seen me before. I've never been so afraid in all my life," I manage to finally say. Peggy circles my arm in hers and we head for the elevator. We are on the top floor of the building where all the final decisions are made. It occurs to me that except for my first day on the job, I've never been up here during business hours.

"Let's get you back to your office and make some calls. Certain people are going to love this," she tells me.

"Did I really save the company money?" She squeezes my arm in response.

"Yes you did. How many of those lines did you have to go through?" Peggy asks.

"Thirty-eight," I sigh. "It was a close thing. Honestly I think he was surprised to hear your ideas coming out of my mouth. You must be really smart."

"Are you going to hold that against me?" Peggy replies seriously. I don't think that question makes sense.

"Why? You have always looked after me," I look down at her. Peggy and I are from different worlds. She comes from a broken home, a poor background, and has had to fight for every scrap of advancement she's ever gotten. Only now does it appear to me that she doesn't know how I feel about her.

"I doubt I could come to work without you, Peggy. I know I'm not the brightest guy in the company, but you don't treat me like I'm a moron. I like that. It makes me feel useful. I like you Peggy." She squeezes my arm even tighter.

"I like you too, Joshua," she sighs. "Joshua, what is my name?"

"Penelope Anne Fark, but you've gone by Peggy since the fifth grade."

"How come you can remember that, but not a compliance report?" she wonders.

"I only remember the stuff that no one else values," I respond. It is my gift.

"I value it, Joshua. Now I need you to do something for me; two things actually."

"Sure," I reply, "what are they?"

"I want you to play along no matter how weird it gets and I want you to forget that I am married for the next twenty-four hours. Can you do that?" she inquires.

"Does this mean we are going to sleep together?" I ask hopefully. She giggles.

"Don't press your luck."

(That evening)

Peggy tells me the plan is simple. I think we have different definitions of the word. Malcolm and I are going out to a bar to get some drinks to celebrate our/his good fortune on his proposal. I am to drive. Peggy and Brianna are going to show up a little later and we will all have some drinks together. She will be driving for the girls. I am not to drink too much. Peggy will remember some work at my office that we absolutely need and the four of us will go there.

Now it gets weird. Peggy and I are going to go into my bathroom and pretend to have sex. She didn't exactly explain how we are going to do this. I get a feeling it won't be as fun as real sex. Brianna and Malcolm will be excited by our actions and have a bit of a fling themselves. I repeat; Peggy's idea of simple and my idea of simple are totally different things.

At the bar our conversation goes something like this.

"Malcolm, do you like Briana?"

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, sort of."

"Well, she's really in to you. If I was you and I had a chance, I'd make a move on her."

"What?" he asks. "Are you into her too?"

"No, Peggy and I are having an affair and we are going through insane hoops to cover it up." I like the insane hoops angle. I've waited years to put it in a sentence.

"So why are we here again?"

"Peggy can't make out unless someone is making out in the next room next door apparently, so do me this favor and make out with Briana tonight," I lie to him.

"Are you for real?" he gawks.

"She makes the rules, I don't," I confess. Technically we are playing by her rules.

"But how is this going to happen?" Malcolm finally manages to say.

"Peggy is going to claim she forgot something at my office and encourage us all to go there to get this thing. We go there, she takes me to the bathroom, and once you two start getting it on, she will be happy." That's not a total lie. I will be the only one unhappy.

"Why Brianna? I mean, how did she get dragged into this?"

"She likes you. She likes you enough to go along with this insane plan. She will probably act like she doesn't know, so you shouldn't either. Act like it is all happening naturally."

"How far should I take it?" he inquires.

"Do you have a condom?" I ask.

"No," he sighs. I pull one out of my pocket and hand it to him.

"Have one of mine. I always come prepared."

"Okay, I'll do it, but only because you helped me out today," he says.

I take a sip of my drink and smile. What's so hard about convincing a guy that he likes the girl he likes and that she will do to him what he will do to her; simple. If I was smarter it might actually occur to me that I have better people skills than Peggy does. Thankfully thinking is not something I've ever encouraged in myself.

Peggy and Brianna arrive. I smile at Peggy who smiles back. I note that Brianna has a far better bra on than she had on this afternoon, plus heels, and a touch more makeup. She's even fixed her hair in a looser style which looks nice on her roundish face. Malcolm's shyness is gone because like most guys when you know you are going to get laid, everything else is gravy.

They seem to be hitting it off very well, so much so that Peggy shoots me a glance that says 'what have you done now'. I look like I don't know anything. Funny how easy that is for me. By the time Peggy 'remembers' what she's 'forgotten', the two victims of our conspiracy all but tumble out of their seats dragging us to the door. As we are walking back to our respective cars, Peggy pulls me back.

"You told him," she states.

"You told her," I respond.

"But of course I told her," Peggy snaps. "One of them had to know what the plan was."

"Did you tell her to act like she didn't know?"

"Yes ... did you tell him to act like he didn't know?"

"Yes." She punches me in the arm and storms off toward the car.

On the drive back to the office I try not to grin like the village idiot.

"So, you two are getting along alright?" I start.

"Great," he grins. "We have so much in common and did you see how great she looks?"

"Make sure you tell her that. In my experience woman like to be told how pretty they are. It helps when it is true."

"Well, I have your back tonight. I think I'm going to make a move on her," he confesses.

"Nah," I shrug. "Do something simple like putting a hand above her knee, but let her make the first move. She has experience attacking things."

"Does she?" he wondered.

"She brought the problem forward when she didn't have to. Trust me I've spent a lifetime avoiding things I had to do. The very idea of doing something I don't have to do makes me queasy," I say. He looks over at me. I imagine he thinks I'm joking.

"You are a funny guy. I never knew you could be so ... helpful."

Oh God, now someone thinks I'm helpful. How in the hell do I get out of this? If this impacts my vacation time Peggy and I are going to have words. Besides, if they think I'm doing something, they will promote me to the fifth floor and then they will ... like ... expect things. Doesn't anyone understand that Girls Volleyball season is almost here?

We get up to the office with Brianna and Malcolm shooting each other furtive looks. I'm starting think I should have given him an extra condom so I palm one and slip it to him as we get out. It takes him a second to realize what it is. They guy has certainly never been in a fraternity that I'm aware of. Once in the office, Peggy makes a show of getting some file off my desk and heading toward the bathroom. I count to fifteen and then she calls me over. I don't say anything; I walk. Peggy makes sure the door doesn't shut all the way.

"What now?" I whisper.

"Grab me by the hips and put me on the sink," she responds quietly. Wow, I'm grabbing her ass and it feels great. I slide her up on the granite surface and she wraps her black stocking-clad legs around me pulling me in.

"Act like you are kissing me on the neck and start unbuttoning my blouse." Really all she has to say is 'undress me', but if she wants to stretch this out, who am I to complain. I start working her neck and I 'accidently' start kissing it very lightly. Instead of stopping me, she pushes my head into her a bit. She moans from deep within her chest. As I work her buttons down, I brush the frilly fabric of her new purple bra. I elect not to stop there, but continue on down.

She leans back, propping herself up with one hand while keeping the other one in my hair. I keep working the buttons down until I have to pull the shirt out of her skirt to finish the job. She's looking at me funny. I lean in and her lips part slightly.

"You need to keep moaning," I whisper. Her eyes widen a bit, she nods and moans again

I think she needs help, so I put one hand on the small of the back and push her into me. That earns me an 'ugh' followed by an 'aaahhh'. My other hand moves along her belly until it is right beneath her left breast. I look at her, waiting for her to tell me to stop. Instead she closes her eyes and tilts her head toward the ceiling.

I start to rub the fabric of the bra over the nipple and watch it harden into a tight, thick nub. She spasms against me. She's moaning so much that I have to admire her acting skills. I imagine she's thinking about her husband right now, lucky bastard.

"Tell me what he does for you, if that helps you imagine better," I tell her. She lowers her head down and gives me another strange look.

"Kiss me here," she says softly as she takes her hand from my hair and puts it to her lips. I respond as directed. "And here," she points to the corner of her mouth, "and here," so I follow along. She starts purring. Soon she stops talking. I kiss along the line she draws with her finger. I nibble her ear, throat and down to her breast. For a time I kiss through the bra until she reaches under her bra cup and pulls the upper half of the breast and nipple out.

I begin to work it hard with my lips. I stop pretending to kiss and begin to suckle. Her hand reaches back to my head and pulls me in. Her breathing becomes more difficult and labored. I hear louder noises coming from the direction of my office sofa. I pull off her nipple fighting her insistent pressure.

"We can stop now," I tell her surprised eyes, "I think your plan has worked."

"Huh?" she murmurs, "oh, I see ... and hear ... thank you for noticing," she responds with a bit of confusion. "You can get your hand off my breast now," she adds.

"Your husband is one lucky guy," I tell her as I slip my hand away.

"Yes," she laughs bitterly, "he's one lucky guy." I pull her down, letting my hand slide off her ass. She looks at me with curiosity. I pad over quietly to the door.

"Why didn't you keep at it? I didn't hear them," she continues.

"I would never do that to you Peggy. You are too important to me," I whisper back with a smile.

"Who else would book your vacations?" she responds as she comes up to where I'm peeking through the door.

"Who else can I trust?" I reply quietly. "Otherwise I could end up stepping out of a plane in Anchorage with nothing on but a swimsuit and a smile."

For some strange reason she hugs me and wiggles around so she can see through the crack in the door as well. Malcolm and Brianna are going at it, or truth be told, going at it as much as their clothing allows.