Tech Support (Working Stiffs Book 4)

by S. L. Carpenter

  She rolled her eyes. “What are we today, twelve?”

  “I’ll have you know I mastered that trick when I was nine.”

  “A child prodigy, I see.”

  He opened his mouth to respond when the pager went off. His eyes dropped to the buzzing rectangle with its flashing red lights.

  “Aha. Our snark fest has been terminated. The summoning box of infinite wisdom is calling.”

  Merry sighed as he rose and headed to claim his reward. Obviously one too many games on the old PlayStation. However, she realized she was chuckling, and—to her surprise—enjoying herself. It had been a long time since she’d felt like this only ten minutes into lunch.

  Being with Chad was fun.

  She watched him as he threaded his way back through the tables with their tray balanced on one hand.

  And blushed as she found herself wondering if he’d be as much fun naked…

  Chapter Four

  Chad would have been astonished if he’d known the lovely woman across the lunch table was trying to imagine him naked.

  The fact that he was doing the same thing was irrelevant, since he was a guy. Some things go without saying.

  Regardless of the subtext running through his mind, he found himself enjoying the time with Merry, and disappointed when she glanced at her watch and sighed.

  “Gotta go. Lunchtime’s over.”

  He stood. “You get a detention if you’re late?”

  She shot him a quick look. “Back to high school, are we?”

  “No, but you do seem to take the concept of a lunch hour very literally.” He held the door open for her as they left the café.

  “It’s not me, so much as it is the general office environment.” She picked up her pace, heels clicking on the pavement as they walked back toward the TechNow offices.

  “Hmm.” Chad thought about that. “Your bosses? That would be Matt and Kevin? Jovial lads?”

  One of her eyebrows rose. “One might think so.”

  “Would one be wrong?” He pursued his thought, finding her reaction intriguing.

  “One should keep an eye open, Chad. That’s all I have to say about that.” She opened the door and walked inside, leaving him with a puzzle on his hands.

  Something, as the great Mr. Holmes himself might have said, was afoot.

  Over the next couple of weeks, he had chance to observe it for himself. And what he was seeing…well, it wasn’t what he’d call pretty.

  Unless he was looking at Merry, of course. She was unquestionably pretty. And also intelligent to the point where he began to eagerly anticipate their lunches. She kept him on his toes conversationally, argued technology with him as a fearless equal, which she was, and overall impressed the shit out of him.

  The office atmosphere had ratcheted up several notches, since the Double Duet debut was drawing ever nearer, and tension was thick around each and every desk.

  Except, of course for the massive desks that occasionally served as work surfaces, or coffee holders, for the two idiots who allegedly ran the department.

  It hadn’t taken too long for Chad to get a good feel for both of them, and he realized they lived up to their names.

  One was a dick and the other definitely an asshole. Which was which seemed immaterial. They were equally matched shitheads.

  And one more fact was becoming clearer every day. Chad worked hard on finalizing the design for the double-D housing and presentation package. He was very proud of it and found himself checking with Merry on the specs.

  The one time he’d asked Matt…well, he soon discovered his mistake. If the man knew what it did, he’d be surprised. If he had the faintest idea of how it functioned, then Chad would eat his top-grain leather laptop messenger bag.

  If either of them had any part of the project which they so readily claimed as their own…hah. Then the lobsters were walking out of the water onto the Maine coast and jumping into cooking pots all by themselves.

  Schwanz and Stronzo were taking credit where none was due.

  Merry, who Chad suspected was the motivating force behind the Double Duet, got none of the credit at all. It pissed Chad off, not just because they were dishonest, greedy, arrogant assholes, but because they were depriving Merry of her due.

  He’d conferenced Denise one evening and filled her in on what was going on.

  “It happens, Chad. You and I both know that.” She was watching him, relaxed at her desk as they shared some quality face-time.

  “Yeah, but I don’t like that it’s happening at one of my companies. And I’m mad as hell that they’re taking Merry’s device and claiming it as their own.”

  He hadn’t noticed the little blink of interest or the slight curl to Denise’s lips as she hid a smile.

  “Meredith seems very capable,” she ventured.

  He nodded. “She is. Not only in the basic tech, but in the concepts involved. She’s got a real sense for it, a gift for development. And she isn’t afraid to take something abstract and see if it might become a real project.”

  “And you admire her mental acuity,” answered Denise.

  “Very much.”

  “And her tits?”

  “Them too.” He frowned. “Goddamn it, Denise.”

  “Gotcha.” She grinned, an obvious ear to ear smirk. “Gonna sleep with her?”

  Chad straightened. “I’ve only been here a couple of weeks.”

  “I can count. And that’s not what I asked.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll let you know, kiddo. Best I can do for now.”

  They finished up their video conference, blew sloppy kisses at each other, and Chad disconnected, still grinning.

  But the echo of Denise’s question rattled around his mind.

  He was very attracted to Merry, but he wasn’t too sure if she was interested in him that way. Certainly they interacted well, they flirted a little, and she’d blushed when he told her he liked the way she wore her hair.

  All fun, all very innocent, but there was something…something between them when they met.

  He sighed.

  Who the fuck was he kidding?

  Yeah, he wanted her. It was just that he wasn’t quite sure how to get her. Mostly because she had no idea who he really was.

  And that, he knew, would put the proverbial kitty slap into a whole mess of shrieking pigeons. So he’d better stop thinking about pussies and get back to work.

  *~*~*~*~*

  “Everything set for the party?” Schwanz leaned over the top of Merry’s monitor and leered at her. “Got a pretty dress ready?”

  She glared back. “I doubt my choice of clothing will be of much interest, Kevin. But I look forward to seeing what Mrs. Schwanz will be wearing. She is always on the forefront of fashion.”

  He blinked and drew back a little. “Well…yes, of course. Ah yes. She’ll be here.”

  “How lovely.” Merry gave him a smile that was all teeth and nothing else. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few last-minute details to finish up.”

  “Yeah. Make sure you get plenty of those cheese things we had at the Christmas party last year, will ya? You know, the crispy ones with the little shrimp on top of ‘em?” He smacked his lips. “They were damn good.”

  She wouldn’t dignify that with an answer, since she was neither the caterer nor responsible for setting up the party. Her task was to approve the PowerPoint presentation that would be running in the background on the wall monitors.

  It featured many alluring graphics of the Double Duet device, along with a number of attractive people, doing amazing things with it.

  All of which were quite feasible, except for the fact that the attractive people were models, not technically adept professionals. It had been a bit of a task to educate them as to how to actually use the damn thing.

  Merry’s patience had worn thin the fourth time she had to correct a model’s tendency to try and shove the tiny thumb drive into the power slot.

  But once completed, it was
a sleek and professional video, with an awesome sound track and a flourishing finish that would absolutely attract every nerd with a need for a new gadget.

  She was hoping this would go live on an assortment of streaming video channels, and had already talked to the ad agency about cutting pieces for a real, honest-to-God tv commercial. All that information had been passed along to TechNow’s advertising division.

  It had been heavy burden on shoulders that really didn’t care about what covered them at the debut party.

  She shrugged. A party was a party, even though she was going to have to stand there and watch the Dick and the Asshole beam and accept the gratitude of the company.

  The thought soured her stomach and she reached for her bottle of water.

  “That should be champagne,” a voice murmured next to her ear.

  A little shiver ran down her spine at Chad’s voice. “Later. I’m pretty sure there will be some at the party.”

  “You don’t sound as if you’re eagerly awaiting the chance to kick up your heels, pop balloons and bubble along with the bubbly…”

  She turned and gave him a long look. “At this point, Chad, I’m more likely to kick some other heels, pop a couple of folks in the nose and burst even more bubbles. Especially if I have champagne. I have a tendency to lose a few filters.”

  He looked interested. “Remind me to set a couple of bottles aside and we can discuss which filters you drop by the wayside…”

  She couldn’t help a chuckle. “Go away. I have to finish this before I can think of anything else.”

  “All right. But I mean it about the champagne.”

  She nodded, that tiny shiver having become flutters low inside her. He really was a great guy.

  And a hell of a distraction, since although she turned back to her monitor and ran the video once again, her thoughts weren’t as focussed as they should have been.

  Should she take this new thing, whatever it was that seemed to be growing between them, any further? She really liked the guy, no question. He was fun, charming, intelligent and definitely a high eight, maybe even a low nine, on the attractive scale.

  Drop dead handsome? No. But the warmth of his personality shone through, making him very good looking to her eyes.

  She’d always been a sucker for someone who could make her laugh. Life was serious enough without the angst that came with more than a few relationships. Plus, Chad seemed a lighthearted kind of guy and thus unlikely to dump all his problems on her shoulders during a first date. If he had any, that is.

  Probably a gentleman, too, she mused. Considerate in bed, hopefully making sure she came first. A kind and considerate lover, most likely, and probably one who would leave her satisfied. How could a woman ask for more than that?

  Would a night of sweetly gentle sex be so bad? He was a contractor, so she wouldn’t run too much risk of any kind of inter-office sex rule-breaking, since his time there would be limited, although she’d have to get an oath out of him about being discreet.

  But odds were good he was local, even though he’d not mentioned where he was living, so at least he wouldn’t vanish the next morning. She couldn’t actually remember if she’d asked him, since once they sat down for lunch, or coffee, as they’d done numerous times, there always seemed to be something that they wanted to discuss.

  Maybe it was that mental connection that she’d found so pleasant. Having a man talk to her, listen to her and treat her with affectionate respect.

  By the time she hit the Save button for the last time and declared the presentation ready for the world, Merry had pretty much talked herself into having a fling with Chad.

  Now all she had to do was make it happen. Or not, if she changed her mind at the last moment.

  That was the nice part about making such decisions. She was the only one who knew about it, so it wasn’t like she’d break his heart if she chose not to go through with it.

  The only thing left? Finding the right outfit to wear. Something feminine and sleek, but not screaming in-your-face sex. Something that said, “I’m interesting, come find out why,” rather than a blatant “Let’s fuck.”

  Merry sighed. Men had no freakin’ clue what women went through at times like these. All they had to be was clean.

  Lucky bastards.

  Chapter Five

  The music was loud, the dance floor was filled, and the monitors ran the video praising the Double Duet flawlessly.

  Kat had apparently found herself a new conquest from another division and they had burned up the dances since the dude from distribution had taken over the music.

  Debbie was wandering around, smiling, chatting, and glancing at her watch now and again. Chad guessed that she’d be the first to leave, since her priority was at home with her family, not with the debut of a tech product, even though it helped pay her kids’ dental bills.

  He absently ran his tongue over his teeth as he sought for a certain woman amongst the crowd of revelers.

  And there she was, a vision in something blue and softly feminine that drifted over her body and suggested curves he’d like to explore.

  As the event had progressed, he’d become more and more impressed with Ms. Meredith. She’d listened politely to all the speeches, applauded at the appropriate places, and even risen to her feet with the rest of the crowd as Schwanz and Stronzo had taken their bows.

  He’d been close enough to see the tiny muscle twitching in her cheek—her teeth must have been grinding like hell—but she’d kept up her façade of cheerful support.

  She really was one hell of a woman.

  He’d debated long and hard with himself about tonight, and had ended up long and hard at the visions conjured in his mind. A shower had taken care of the worst of it, but he had to face the inevitability.

  He wanted Merry.

  He wanted her naked and beneath him, on top of him, wherever. He had a severe case of lust, mixed with desire and seasoned with the pleasure he knew he’d find once he got her where he wanted her. He liked her, for God’s sake. And that was a dangerous feeling when combined with all the above physical needs.

  He watched her, smiling quietly as the first glass of champagne disappeared, and staying close as she embarked on the second.

  By the third, they were dancing, and she was in his arms, swaying to “Heaven”, the perfect snuggle song by Kane Brown.

  It was time.

  He’d kept to seltzer, putting it in a tall glass with a slice of lime. Nobody would guess he was completely sober if they’d watched him laughing and joking with anyone who crossed his path. But tonight, he felt it was important to keep his head.

  And hope Merry lost hers.

  “Hey.” He tightened his arms around her. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes interested, her lips twitching into a smile. “You and me?”

  “I don’t think we need Dick and Asshole with us, do you?”

  She snorted. “Very funny.” She leaned back against his arms and met his gaze. “Come home with me?”

  His world shifted and he took a deep breath. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  *~*~*~*~*

  She couldn’t really recall driving him to her apartment, but since she also couldn’t recall anyone asking for her license and registration, she guessed she hadn’t violated any traffic laws.

  Most of her awareness was focused on the man beside her and the sensual emotions his presence was arousing. By the time she parked, she was shivering with need, and the seconds it took to find her house keys seemed like an eternity.

  But then…then they were inside with the door slamming shut behind them, and without a word he took her into his arms.

  The kiss between them was intense enough to make a raging fire jealous and their tongues danced, slowly tangling and sliding against each other.

  As their mouths parted, Meredith bit on Chad’s bottom lip, letting him know she wanted more. She moaned when his hand slid up her outer leg and lifted her
skirt.

  He pushed her back against the wall just inside the door with a thud, and leaned his weight against her. She gasped at the feel of him.

  All their teasing and flirtatious talk had led to an inferno of lustful passion building between them, which had risen to the point of erupting.

  Chad pulled back and stared into Meredith’s eyes. “Maybe we should...we work together, you know… Should we not do this…?”

  Meredith reached down and began to stroke his already-swollen cock through his pants, keeping her gaze steady on his face. “I’d have you fired in a heartbeat if it was the only way to get you to fuck me.” She tightened her hold on him. “But you’re a contractor, not a full-time employee. That makes it all right in my book. You got any objections? Just as long as we keep this between us…”

  “It’s already between us,” growled Chad pushing himself into her hand.

  He grabbed her waist, spinning her around to face the wall. She braced herself with her hands as he pushed his body against hers. Their curves fit together, and he breathed hot and soft into her ear. “ For the record, if anyone’s going to be in charge, it’s me. Don’t make Daddy angry, baby girl.”

  Meredith’s knees buckled as he found one of her two very private weaknesses. The desire to obey a man who took sexual control.

  Her other weakness was chocolate-covered almonds, but he didn’t need to know that. He was doing just fine right now.

  She bit her lip, fighting the urge to moan as he rubbed her inner thigh and pulled her panties across her pussy. It was teasing her mind and making her wet and very wanton. She needed this, needed his tantalizing touches, his demanding moves. She wanted him to take her, in any and every way.

  “Mmm, you’re already warmed up.” His fingers brushed the thin fabric covering her pussy. He ran them along the edge and slipped them under the silk, against her bare flesh. “Nice, all shaved and clean, just the way I like it.”

  Her breath quickened and she began to ache for Chad’s touch.

  He leaned against her again, his hardened cock fitting into the crease of her ass. The sound of his deep breathing against her neck only excited her more.