It's always a little difficult to make friends at a new office, but Jake was one of the people who went out of his way to make me feel at home. Even though he was more highly placed in the company than I was, we seemed to have a connection right from the beginning. We frequently had lunch together, and he was so easy to talk to that we'd have long conversations about everything and nothing. I never thought there was anything other than friendship building, even when one day our conversation turned to sex, because we were still discussing our spouses. It could have headed into dangerous territory when we both expressed disappointment that our spouses were not as orally inclined as we would like, but I never got a vibe that he was attracted to me, and I usually pick up on that sort of thing easily.
One day Jake stopped by my cubicle while I was touching up my makeup and putting on a little more mascara, and he stopped and said, "You have pretty eyes. They have a fiery intrigue to them."
"Wow," I said, laughing, "thank you! I like 'fiery!'" But on the inside I started to wonder if something was happening here. He was sexy and attractive, no doubt about that—dark hair, sparkling eyes, an athletic build—but he always seemed to go out of his way to behave properly around me (he wouldn't even repeat dirty jokes in front of me!), so I didn't think the attraction was mutual. Personally, I don't think extramarital sex is a bad thing, as long as you're not taking away time or attention from your primary relationship, but I know a lot of people don't share that opinion, and I had thought Jake was one of those. I started watching him a little more closely, to see if I could pick up on a look or a gesture that might indicate that he was thinking about more than friendship, but I never saw anything, so I just chalked it up as an innocent compliment.
About a week or two later, he caught me at my desk reapplying my lipstick after lunch. I always wear bold colors, it's sort of my trademark, and bright red is my favorite. "I love the red lips," he said. "Very yummy."
Well, there was no mistaking that! I looked right at him and said, "Thanks, I'm glad you like it." I kept looking at him, waiting to see if he would follow up, and he maintained eye contact with me for a minute, but then walked away without saying anything else. I thought about what had passed between us for the next couple of hours (in fact, I hardly thought about anything else), before I decided what to do next. It's against my nature not to speak my mind, so I decided to go for broke. I knew I might be running the risk of ruining our friendship, but if the gamble paid off we could become friends who had incredible sex on the side!
I took a deep breath and walked down to his office. His door was open, but I just stuck my head in at first. "Jake, do you have a couple of minutes?"
"Sure," he said, "come on in."
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, pausing for a moment with my back against the door and my hands behind me on the door handle so I could gather my nerve. I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. He was looking at me a little curiously, but obviously he knew something was up, so he waited for me to speak first.
