"God Damn It Roger! You can't keep doing this shit, I'm calling my attorney," Becca practically screamed into her cell phone as I sat on the couch in her office.
Becca is the CIO at our company, and we have been working together for five years now. You could say I'm her right-hand man and also her best friend. The asshole on the other end of the phone is her ex-husband Roger, who from the conversation I am overhearing has just told her that he's canceling taking the kids next week for spring break.
Becca and I met on the job five years ago when I started here. She was just a senior manager then, and I came in as a second senior manager. Things were a bit of a mess here, as the previous CIO had just left and taken two other managers and a bunch of staff with him. Turned out it was probably a great thing for the company because the projects they were responsible for were all disasters, except for the one led by Becca.
We ended up putting in a lot of late nights those first few months and quickly became friends. As we worked through the problems, shared Uber deliveries, and worked to find and hire a completely new team.
Three years ago now her now ex-husband a true piece of work got caught in their bed with a barely legal woman. The divorce was nasty and it took a toll on her. It didn't help that he fought so hard to keep the kids half the time just to reduce his child support, and then proceeded to constantly cancel his time to keep them.
Two years ago when the company finally decided to hire a new CIO, we were both in the running. I made a decision to remove myself from the running and let her take the position. I can't say it was entirely altruistic. I didn't want the position. More work, more stress, sure more pay too, but money isn't everything. But Becca? She took the reigns and took control like the natural-born warrior she is.
So while she is now technically my boss, we've still maintained our friendship.
Tonight we had been finishing up our last-minute responsibilities before we both headed off to a week-long conference on advanced AI agents in the workplace. It's a Friday night and we were flying out in the morning to get to Vegas in time for some of the pre-conference events on Sunday.
Roger is supposed to be taking the kids for the week as it's spring break and he had promised to take them down to South Padre Island for the week.
"Well fuck you Roger, I hope a shark bites your dick off," she said as she tapped the screen to end the call and practically threw her phone onto her desk.
I let out a laugh at that last statement which promptly earned me a death stare. "What did he do this time?" I asked, already knowing the gist of it.
"He's decided to take his latest plaything to Cabo this week and so now he can't watch the kids. I've already given Isabella the week off to spend with her own kids, so now what am I going to do? There is no way I can find a new sitter this late on a Friday, especially not one I can trust them with for a week," she said as her head hung low in frustration.
She stood at her desk for a few more moments, then came over and plopped hard onto the opposite end of the couch.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes. I knew it wasn't that Becca would have to spend the week with her kids. She adored them beyond belief. It was that she had been looking forward to this conference and she was leading one of the breakout sessions. Becca would take a cancellation this late as breaking her word, which was something she never did.
In five years I had never seen her cry, but sitting here looking at her, I could tell she was about to. I scooted over next to her on the couch and on instinct put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. "It's going to be ok, we will figure something out, let's just think for a moment," I said.
She nodded and then patted my leg. "Yeah, it will be fine. I'm sure I won't be the first speaker to cancel, maybe I can do it remotely," she said.
I took my arm back and played with my phone for a moment. Then an idea came to me. I pulled up my contacts and made a call.
"Hey Grace, how's it going?... That's great, hey you are back in town for spring break this week right?" I asked into the phone. "Do you have any plans this week?... Would you be interested in babysitting my boss's kids for the week?... Ok, let me put you on speaker," I said as I lowered the phone and turned on the speaker.
"Becca this is Grace of my cousin, she's in her third year of getting her bachelor's in child development. She lives here in town and is on spring break this week, she says she would be happy to watch the kids for you..." I said and then we all talked for a few minutes.
I hung up the phone when arrangements had been made. Becca and Grace had both heard about each other several times through me, but not previously met. So it wasn't as hard a sell to Becca as it might have been for someone else. She was pretty protective of her kids after all.
"You are a lifesaver Matt!" she exclaimed as she leaned over a placed a kiss on my lips.
My brain instantly froze and then just as quickly went into hyperdrive. Becca and I weren't completely devoid of physical contact. Shoulder bumps, hugs, little things that are acceptable between good friends. Kissing was not something we had ever done. Oh sure, I'm a guy, I can't say I haven't ever thought about it. She is after all a beautiful single woman, and I am a single man. But she's also my best friend and I've never considered her more than that. She's never shown any interest in more than that either. But in this moment, for whatever reason, my brain overrode common sense and in the few milliseconds of her lips touching mine, it decided to kiss her back.
My lips parted and caught her lower lip between them, a gentle suck, a caress of my tongue. Sparks flew in my brain... Just as quickly her hands pressed against my chest and she pulled away hard.
"What the hell Matt!" she exclaimed a look of shock on her face as she looked up at me.
"I...." Oh god, what had I done! My brain completely locked up as I stared into her eyes and watched her face as she clearly went through a cascade of thoughts of her own.
I never finished my sentence as just as quickly as she had pushed me away her hands grasped the sides of my head and pulled our lips back together.
We kissed with such passion, such hunger. Years of repressed feelings, feelings I knew I was denying, and I am sure she was too, rushed forward. She held my face as our tongues began to dance. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her over so she was straddling my lap.
She tasted of strawberry, why I can't say, but she did, maybe it was whatever she had been drinking a little while ago at her desk. But she tasted great as we explored each other's mouths.
My hands caressed her back, and one of her hands fell to my stomach and began pulling my polo from my waistline. Then I felt fire as her hand found the bare skin of my stomach and then pushed under my shirt to my chest.
I let go of her and lifted my shirt off tossing it to the side. She in turn unbuttoned her blouse and let it drop off her shoulders before returning to my lips. My hands returned to caressing her now bare back and hers found the tufts of hair on my pecks.
We kissed with such passion, such desire, I could feel my rock-hard cock pressing against the front of my trousers, right into her thigh. She must have felt it too, because soon one of her hands slid down my belly and stroked me through my pants. My breath caught and our lips parted.
She stared into my eyes for a moment. I could see the want, the desire, the lust in them. I am sure she saw the same in mine.
