“It’s got to be finished by lunch break,” Melissa said from above her. “That gives you an hour.”
Head down, and trying to block out all thought, Kristin set about her meaningless task. Painstakingly, she picked up the clips and dropped them into their respective cups. She had no way of knowing how many there were, but the pile was quite big and it was going to take some time. She would have to pick up the pace if she was to make the deadline that Shepard had set. There was also another, more immediate problem. Because she was forced to kneel, the mini-dress kept riding up over her buttocks, revealing her skimpy thong to the people in the adjacent cubicles.
With one hand holding the hem of the dress down, she hurriedly sorted through the pile. After ten minutes or so, a pair of feet appeared next to her.
“Hey, Kristin. Whatcha doing?”
She recognized the voice as belonging to that smug idiot, Roger Levine. There was no love lost between them. He had actually been on her redundancy list before all this had happened.
Her face turning bright red, Kristin attempted to ignore him. She could smell the leather and polish of his shoes, inches from her face.
“That’s a nice pile of paper clips you have there. Red ones, blue ones, very pretty. Should keep you busy for a while.”
She wanted to tell him to fuck off, and the old Kristin would have, but once again she bit her lip. She didn’t know what she was afraid of. None of these people had any hold over her, and yet she somehow felt compelled to continue with her subservient role, even when Shepard was not present. Yet again, she picked up the general change of attitude towards her and now she really wondered if Shepard had actually told them about their agreement.
She listened to the whir and click of the copy machine and then heard Levine say, “Nice thong,” as he walked away.
She managed to complete her pointless task by one o’clock and carried the filled cups back to Shepard’s office. He was putting on his jacket when she came in.
“Where would you like these, Master?” she asked.
“Tip them on the floor,” he said.
“Master?”
He reached over and knocked the cups out of Kristin’s hands. Then with his feet he spread the paper clips around until they were mixed up all over the carpet.
“I’m going out for lunch,” he said. “I expect them all to be sorted into the cups by the time I get back.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kristin scurried around the office on all fours, picking up the paper clips whilst simultaneously attempting to arrange her increasingly muddled thoughts. She could hear a little voice telling her that this was a golden opportunity to sneak into her office and access her files. Finally, Shepard had left her alone. She could think, without fear or torture to distract her and she would, very soon, but first, she knew that she had to finish this chore. To fail to do so would mean punishment, and that was to be avoided at all costs. Her knees chafed on the carpet and she allowed the dress to ride up over her bottom, gathering around her waist. No matter, she was alone.
It had taken approximately an hour to sort the clips the first time, so if she hurried, she would still have some time to check her computer before Master got back from lunch.
Kristin stopped, sat up with her buttocks resting on her feet and stared into space. Did I just refer to him as ‘Master’? she thought, with a jolt. That’s just a charade, isn’t it? To humor him, while I keep my identity intact?
The voice again nagged her to sneak into her own office. She might not get a chance like this again.
But, she argued, what if one of the staff sees me? They might tell him. Maybe that’s what he wants, maybe that’s why he left me alone, to catch me out. She couldn’t discount the possibility that somebody else was keeping an eye on her.
Then she made the connection. Miles! The nervous little creep who had twice defiled her. A spotty geek who she wouldn’t ordinarily have given the time of day, but who had actually succeeded in bringing her to orgasm the previous night. He had to be involved. She closed her eyes and shook her head to eradicate the memory. Her escape plans would have to keep for now, she decided.
She had just completed her trivial mission and was placing the filled cups on the desk, when Shepard came back from lunch. He held up the bottle of gin which he had retrieved from her office and said, “Take a swig.”
Kristin’s dress was still gathered around her waist and his eyes dropped to the leopard skin triangle covering her crotch. Fearing the implied alternative, Kristin pulled down the dress, accepted the proffered bottle, and took a swallow. She immediately felt giddy and put her hand on the desk to steady herself.
Shepard walked around to his chair and indicated for her to follow. When she was seated at his shoulder, he clicked the mouse on his laptop and turned the screen towards her. Kristin found herself looking at a video frame containing a high angled view of a familiar-looking room.
“This is a live CCTV image,” Shepard explained. “Do you recognize where it is?”
The picture was a little grainy, but she could see that it wasn’t her apartment or her parent’s house. Then a man appeared from a side door and sat in an armchair. Brian! Shepard had rigged up a camera in his office!
Kristin looked at him quizzically.
“Your next job,” Shepard said, “shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Master, I don’t understand,” Kristin stammered.
“I think you do.” Shepard gave her a meaningful look. “You’ve spent the past year expertly wrapping him around your finger. You know exactly how to play him. The subtle innuendos, the physical proximity. Always implied, never delivered.”
“No, it’s not like that! He’s my boss, he has a wife,” Kristin protested feebly.
“Well, we’re about to find out,” Shepard said, “because you’re going to take it a step further. In a moment, you’re going into Brian’s office and you are going to tell him that you are in love with him. You’re going to say that you’ve always had a crush on him and you can’t keep it to yourself anymore.”
“Master, please, no!” Kristin gasped.
“And I’m going to be watching your every move. However Brian responds, you will pursue this. Even if he rejects you - which I strongly doubt - you’ll persist. He must believe that you are besotted with him.”
“Master, he’ll fire me!”
“That’s a chance we will have to take. But I think you’ll find he’ll be quite responsive once he gets the idea. I don’t think our gentle old boss is quite as virtuous as he appears.”
Shepard’s eyes roved over Kristin’s bare thighs for a moment.
“And I want this to be extremely intimate, not just a little chit chat. By that, I mean you will have at least removed your dress before you are through.”
Oh God, Kristin thought, he wants me to have sex with him in his office.
“But if he refuses, Master?”
“Then you will have failed, and the consequences will be worse than you could ever imagine. I will make your life a living hell. Last night’s experience will seem like a kiss on the cheek by comparison. So if I were you, I’d give it everything I had.”
Kristin looked back at the image on the screen. Brian was reading now, and she felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the unsuspecting old gent.
“Just do what you do best and let nature do the rest, sweetheart. There are just two rules that you must follow. First, you will remove that dress in front of him. And second, once you have made your advances, you will do whatever Brian asks or suggests.”
Fleetingly, Kristin wondered if he had already briefed Brian about this, and Shepard read her thoughts.
“No, he hasn’t got a clue. Right now, he’s far more concerned about your mental health than anything else. But he’s only human, and with a face and body like yours…”
He shoved the bottle closer to her.
“Take one more swig,” he said mockingly.
“To get in the mood.”
Kristin allowed the burning liquor to run down her throat, and actually welcomed the slight numbness it brought on.
“Off you go, now,” Shepard smiled. “Have fun, and remember, I’ll be watching.”
Kristin slowly rose and left the office. In the passageway, she stopped and leaned up against the wall. She was a little drunk, but not enough to stop her being paralyzed with fear. She had never tried to seduce a man before. She hadn’t needed to because they always came on to her. Shepard had surmised correctly of course, that there was a sexual charge between her and Brian, but it had always been cloaked by a buffer of innocence. That was the way she had always manipulated him.
She went to Brian’s office and knocked on the door. She heard him call, “Come in,” and heart pounding, she went inside.
He was still reading in his armchair and he looked up at her with a mixture of affection and concern. To Kristin, he looked more like her father than ever before.
“Kristin,” he said. “Is everything okay?’
Kristin stood in the center of his office, her bare feet sinking into his plush carpet, and well aware of how revealing her short, tight dress was. She’d had many meetings in this office over the past year and never had she been as dumbstruck as she was now.
Brian put down his magazine.
“Kristin?”
She took a couple of tentative steps towards him and clasped her hands together in front of her. She could feel her cheeks on fire.
She figured there was no easy way to do this, so she decided to get straight to it.
“Brian, I…um, I have something to tell you.”
“Yes? Well, what is it?”
“I…I wanted to let you know…”
He waited patiently while she took a series of deep breaths.
“I came here to tell you…”
She couldn’t say it, and remembering Shepard’s warnings about the consequences of failure, she suddenly burst into tears.
Gentleman that he was, Brian guided her to the sofa, sat next to her and handed her a Kleenex.
When she had suitably composed herself, he said gently, “My dear, you’re going through a very difficult time, I understand that. As I keep saying to Henry, you really should take some time off.”
“No,” Kristin sniffed into the tissue. “It’s not that.”
She realized that he had his crusty old hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t interpret it as a sensual gesture. He really cared about her.
“Then what is it?”
She turned her damp face towards him and said in a quavering voice, “I’m in love with you.”
Brian took his hand off her shoulder.
“Oh.”
They had been sitting very close, but now he shifted a couple of inches away from her. Although Brian’s initial reaction made her feel safer, on a deeper level she understood that this was not good. Shepard was watching.
“I hadn’t realized…” Brian said awkwardly. “I mean, when did you…?”
Then he abruptly stood up and walked over to his mini-bar, shaking his head.
“No, no, Kristin,” he said, his back to her as he poured a neat glass of cognac. He turned to face her.
“I’m married, Kristin! You know that.”
Through the mild anesthesia the alcohol provided, Kristin recognized that there was something not quite right in Brian’s reaction. What he was saying and what he was doing, didn’t match. His body language was giving him away and with a dreadful flash of understanding, Kristin knew that Shepard’s instincts were right.
“Please, Kristin,” Brian was saying. “You should go.”
“I don’t want to go,” she whimpered. “I have to stay with you.”
Brian, of course, misconstrued her words. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to fly out of the door.
He came and sat next to her again.
“Look,” he said softly. “You’re probably confused because of whatever has been distressing you. I’m old enough to be your father. In fact, I am older than your father. I have a family, and you and I are fellow professionals.”
Brian sounded as if he was quoting from the employee handbook and Kristin sensed that he was trying to convince himself as much as her. She realized that she had been wrong about him all the time. Maybe he hadn’t realized it, but deep down, he lusted after her, the same as the rest of them.
Having come this far, it was pointless to retreat, so Kristin put her hand on his thigh and Brian covered it in a paternal way.
“You poor girl,” he crooned. “I had no idea.”
Feeling sick to her stomach, Kristin turned her head and leaned towards him. She looked into his blanched eyes and at that moment, in spite of Shepard’s threats, wished with all her heart that he would tell her to leave.
But he didn’t.
Incredibly, Kristin found herself kissing the company president. It was an awkward, juvenile kiss at first, both of them uncomfortably aware of the taboo they were breaking, but soon his thin lips parted and his tongue was inside her mouth. She put her hand to his saggy cheek and then his hands were caressing her arms. With disgust, she felt his breathing rate increase as he expelled his hot, brandy-breath into her mouth.
Next, they were crushed together, her breasts squeezing against his chest, and again her body took over and her nipples strained against her dress.
They broke away and Brian said, “Oh, Kristin, this is so terribly wrong.”
She stood up and faced him, and then before she had time to change her mind, swiftly pulled the dress over her head and dropped it on the floor.
There she stood, in just the leopard skin thong, allowing him to gaze upon her breasts before the reality of what she was doing hit her. Now it was all down to Brian. She had done her part and now she had to follow his lead, Shepard had been clear about that. Brian moved towards the door, and for a second, she thought he had pulled himself together. Instead of leaving however, he turned the lock and returned to her, taking her near-naked body in his arms.
“Oh, Kristin,” he said, kissing her eyes, nose and cheeks. “I never dreamed that this would ever happen. Please forgive me.”
His hands shaking with lust, Brian hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her thong and slid them down to her ankles. Then he unbuckled his pants and stepped out of them, followed by his underwear, while Kristin kept her wide eyes locked on his face the whole time.
She allowed him to guide her like a mannequin over to the coffee table, and he laid her on her back. He lifted her legs, holding her ankles and positioned himself in front of her. Still Kristin avoided looking at his dick, not wanting to see his erection, not even imagining that he could have one. But he most certainly did. The old man was actually panting as he prodded against her opening.
Kristin closed her eyes as she permitted the fourth employee of OFS Software in the past two days, to breach the sanctity of her body.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Henry watched on his monitor as Brian slowly slid his dick in and out of his vice president. All of this was being recorded, which meant that he now had something on the old man. Not that he intended to use it unless absolutely necessary, but it could be a handy persuader in case Brian wasn’t receptive to his next idea regarding Kristin.
For now, Henry sat mesmerized, as he surveyed the act of copulation which, even he hadn’t been certain would actually take place. Kristin was on her back on the coffee table, her arm thrown across her face and her legs spread wide while Brian steadily worked on her. Henry leaned closer to study the scene. The old fellah was taking his time and had a contorted expression on his reddened face. After about ten minutes, his body stiffened and he appeared to shout something before slumping forward and squashing Kristin against the table.
They remained in that position for so long that for one awful moment, Henry though he might have had a heart attack. But Brian finally pushed himself up an
d took Kristin by the hand over to the couch where they sat close together. Suddenly, Kristin’s shoulders shook violently as she broke down into tears. Brian put his arm around her and stroked her hair. Henry would have loved to have heard their post-coital conversation.
Eventually, Kristin got herself under control and Henry watched as she gathered up her dress and headed towards the bathroom. She came back into view fully dressed and Brian drew her towards him and they engaged in another long passionate kiss. Passionate for Brian, at least, Henry thought.
They broke their embrace and he watched Kristin walk to the door and a few seconds later she was back in Henry’s office with a wretched look of desolation on her face.
“I don’t know what you’re so upset about,” he taunted her. “You’ve been cock-teasing him all along. Now he’s finally getting to live out his fantasy.”
Kristin stared at the floor without answering. She looked very small, like a lost little girl and Henry felt himself getting aroused.
“Anyway, you’d better get used to it. You’ll be servicing him on a regular basis from now on.”
Kristin looked up at him, aghast.
“Master?”
“Oh yes. Did you think that was a one-off? No, no, little Miss Hartman has fallen head-over-heels in love with her boss. She’s going to bring him flowers and she simply won’t be able to get enough of his sixty-seven year-old cock. This is going to be an on-going office romance, my dear. We’re going to get sweet Brian totally under our control.”
She looked at him imploringly, her lips slightly parted.
“People will notice of course,” Henry continued. “But it won’t really come as a surprise that your endless flirting has escalated into a lascivious affair.”
“Please no, Master!” Kristin begged.
“What? Are you worried about your reputation? I think that’s already become a little frayed around here, don’t you think? Haven’t you noticed that the staff are no longer afraid of you?”
Kristin didn’t respond.
“This is the next part of your development, my dear. Already, most of the office has figured out that you are no longer your normal arrogant self. Over the next few days, I will subtly disseminate the idea that you have worked yourself to the point where you have had a minor breakdown. Instead of fear, your co-workers will view you with a kind of amused sympathy. They’ll understand that Brian is keeping you on as a gesture of kindness for your previous accomplishments - and also of course, because you are his new mistress.”
Kristin's Demotion Page 17