Is there anything better than having the office to yourself on a Friday afternoon? Smiling contentedly, I turned up the radio on my desk and danced around a little to the lively beat. I mused over how lovely it was to be left alone with my work. "At this rate, I'll be done soon enough so that I can sneak out early, with no one the wiser," I thought to myself.
Updating the physician data files was a task I usually saved for times when our office was quiet and things were slow. Frequently things were so hectic that I didn't get around to this mundane task, but with few distractions that afternoon, I was whipping through a few weeks worth of work in no time at all.
I stepped to the break room to retrieve another pack of hanging folders from the supply cabinet, and didn't hear the door to our office suite open. The noise of someone approaching startled me. I gasped involuntarily, even though I recognized my visitor as soon as he rounded the corner. "Oh my gosh, you SCARED me!" I chided, grinning.
It was the company's in-house courier, John, with a package under his arm. He laughed at my intake of breath and greeted me, "The cat must be away, since the mice are at play, huh?" he commented, motioning toward the music blasting from the vicinity of my desk. My heart still pounded from the sudden shock, as I laughed with him. His friendly demeanor always served to put me at ease, and that day was no different. We continued to banter as we left the break room.
"Yes, no bosses here today," I walked to my desk and turned down the volume on the local rock station. "Just me, but look at this mess! How can you say I'm playing?" I kidded him, gesturing toward the pile of folders on my desk. "They keep me plenty busy, you know!" I admonished.
John sat the box he held on the floor beside my desk and kidded me some more, "Oh yea, I know how they work you to death around here." He rolled his blue eyes exaggeratedly, then winked at me. "Poor Shannon never gets a moment's rest, not even when she's sitting around surfing the net, right?"
I blushed, remembering the time he'd walked in and caught me playing mah jong on my PC, which of course was a big no-no on company time. I held my finger to my lips in a shushing manner and giggled, embarrassed to have him remind me.
"Oh, don't worry, I'd never rat you out, girl. People do much worse than that when they think nobody's looking," he chuckled, secretively. "I could tell you stories that would curl your toes," he intimated, playfully touching my shoulder.
Feeling suddenly nervous standing so close to him, I retreated behind my desk and sank into my chair, thinking he would take his cue and leave. Instead he strode to the chair on the far side of my desk and made himself at home. He smirked at me and crossed his legs, looking relaxed, as if he was planning to stay a while.
Puzzled over his decision to linger, I glanced toward the package he'd brought. "Is this the new stationary I ordered last week?" I asked, trying to make small talk. I was unused to this intimate little setting. John had never hung around when delivering things, before. Then again, he'd never dropped anything off when I was alone in the office.
We'd always been friendly, in a casual kind of way, exchanging pleasantries about the weather during his brief visits to deliver or pick up packages to and from our office. It would have been impossible for me not to have noticed his muscular build and warm smile – and that adorable curly brown hair, but since dating fellow employees was not permitted, I'd never really allowed myself to pursue those thoughts very far, or very often. Sure, I had checked out his butt a time or two, but that was pretty much the extent of it. Didn't everyone drool over hunky delivery guys occasionally?
He was staring at me across my desk in a way that indicated he had something on his mind other than stationary, however. I shifted in my chair and played with my pen, waiting for him to say something. He continued to sit, gazing at me and smiling, making me ever more self-conscious. The phone rang, startling me for the second time that afternoon, and I nearly dropped the receiver in my haste to answer it.
I felt John watching me as I spoke to the headhunter on the line. Very aware of his attention, I stumbled over my words a couple times – something completely unlike me. I normally dealt with such calls several times a day, and had a pat speech I could recite in my sleep, but somehow that day I couldn't get my thoughts straight. I quickly ended the call before I made a fool of myself in my nervousness. My cheeks were burning as I became more flustered over John's tenacious study of me.
"You're really sexy when you blush like that, you know?" he flattered me. Much I tried not to, I giggled dorkily. "And even hotter when you act like you don't know it." His eyes bored holes into me, as I looked anywhere but at him. From my reaction, you'd have thought I'd never been hit on before.
