Chapter 6: Taking Ashley
It always felt a bit strange to come back to the home office after being in San Diego for a week. Kyle couldn't help but feel like he was a bit disconnected from his office and that he was that guy who goes there, not one of the day-to-day-ers.
Kyle's boss, Linda, organized a bit of an office outing each month to make sure everyone was socially acquainted and aware of the big projects that were going on all over the organization, but he really wasn't looking forward to it.
He hadn't had much sleep during his latest trip to San Diego. In fact, his last two trips to San Diego were surprisingly tiring. Trying to socialize with a bunch of people he barely knew didn't seem like fun. It seemed like more work... and he still had a whole day of work before that.
Thankfully, as he walked through the doors, Ashley was there at the receptionist desk, smiling, happy, cute, and pleasant in a sea of stress. She was one of the only people with whom Kyle could be comfortably friendly at his office. Ashley's job was a bit of a catch-all. She helped run numbers, played gopher for Linda, organized travel arrangements, and did pretty much whatever she was told; the typical fresh-out-of-college job, even if she had been doing the job for three years.
Ashley was something Kyle liked to think of as nerd-hot. It wasn't just the glasses. She never dressed up for work, preferred a pair of beat-up converse and a girly t-shirt to what women usually wore to work, and her red hair always seemed like it had been pulled up in a rush. She was into rock and action movies but managed to avoid the tattoos and piercings that so often seemed like the uniform of her generation. Her body was fleshy enough to accentuate her youthful curves, giving her a chubby, but not plump look. She never seemed to mind, to stress about dieting or exercise. Still, Kyle found something sexy in how she behaved, and how she mock-flirted with him.
"Heyyy, handsome," she smiled. "Welcome back."
"Thanks, Ashley. Everything fall apart while I was away?" Kyle winked.
"Only my dreams," Ashley giggled before giving him an actual hug.
Kyle tried not to drop his suitcase, brief case, and coat as he struggled to keep his balance. "How are the wedding plans going?"
"Weeeell," She half-smiled as she let him go, "they're not going. You know?"
Kyle regained his balance. "I'm sorry to hear that, Ashley. You okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. But if I ask you to fill out a few forms later, don't think I'm hitting on you or anything."
"Oh, don't worry," he smirked. "You can hit on me if it makes you feel better."
Ashley laughed. "In that case, drop by the west conference room at five, and I'll hit you with a stack of documents. How about that?"
"Five? Can it be earlier?" Kyle asked. "Doesn't Linda's big outing start at five over at McMillen's?"
"Linda has me finishing a bunch of reports for her until then, so it has to be five o'clock," Ashley replied. "Don't worry. It's just a few forms and questions. No one's gonna care if we're fifteen minutes late."
Kyle adjusted the strap of his briefcase. "Okay, that's cool then. See you," he said as he began to head for his desk.
"Welcome home," said Ashley.
Kyle smiled, set his stuff down at a workstation he never bothered to decorate, plugged in and reviewed his notes.
- - -
That was a week ago.
Kyle leaned back in bed, lit only with the glow of suburban San Diego houses seen in the distance through a floor to ceiling window that looked out on a backyard pool. The satin sheets of the bed covered the lower half of his naked body.
"So," he said. "I almost forgot to tell you what happened to me last week, back home."
The muffled voice of someone trying to sleep managed to sound out "Mmm-hmm."
Remember that girl Ashley from my office I told you about?"
The soft sheets against his skin made an erection a near certainty as he began to tell what had happened at the end of that first day back home.
- - -
Kyle had almost forgotten about his meeting with Ashley until he was packing up his computer. He set his jacket back down and headed down to the west conference room. Sure enough, Ashley was setting out some papers on the conference table.
It was mostly the usual stuff, expense reports and account documentation. He gladly filled them out as he and Ashley joked and she filled him in on all of the office gossip.
