by Alice Bright
“It’s okay,” he cut her off. “I just want to make sure that you’re ready to get up there and make us look fantastic.
“Yeah,” she told him assuredly. “I’m ready.”
“Good.” Brian returned to his seat.
A few minutes later, the current speaker finished and the audience clapped loudly. Rebecca’s name was announced and she made her way quickly to the stage amidst her own fans’ applause.
As she looked out into the crowd, she found herself giving a moving speech about the importance of green living and eco-friendly companies. She talked about what organizations need to be doing to change things. She offered some basic ways to implement changes in the office. Then, Rebecca explored what her own company was doing and started talking about their project.
She focused on Mr. Montgomery the entire time. He had helped her so much with the speech. He had helped her write it. He had even offered pointers and tips when she had rehearsed it in his office. Yes, Mr. Montgomery had been a great help, but that was all he had been. As Rebecca spoke, she focused on Brian. She pretended that it was just the two of them in his office, alone. She imagined that this was just another practice session.
And she imagined, above all else, that it ended with a kiss.
The applause sounded and she knew it was time to step off the stage. As Rebecca made her way back to her company’s table, Calvin shot her a questioning glance, but then congratulated her on a good speech. She thanked him politely, then settled back down to listen to the next presenter.
Soon it would be time for lunch.
The day was halfway done.
Five
“Can I buy you a drink?”
The man at the bar was taller than Rebecca, and older. She guessed he must have been 45. His graying hair betrayed his young-looking skin and eager eyes.
She had been at the hotel’s tiny bar since the conference ended for the day. Retreating to her bedroom only to change clothes, Rebecca had sworn to take advantage of the night.
But is this really what she meant?
“That’s okay,” Rebecca commented politely. “I’m doing alright for now.” She nodded to her glass, which still held most of her rum. She had barely touched it. She didn’t know why. What she did know was that she didn’t need another glass from a stranger. She didn’t feel like owing anyone any favors tonight.
The entire weekend, she’d felt lonely and sad. Now that she finally had the chance to unwind at the hotel bar, she was feeling anxious. Her speech had gone well. The rest of the speakers had also given well-prepared speeches. The smaller conference-room style presentations had been informative, but boring, and Rebecca was stuck daydreaming about her ex.
And her boss.
And her colleague.
She felt bad for all of her thoughts, wishing for the millionth time that she could wrangle them under control.
But here she was: alone in a bar.
And now there was a guy here who didn’t feel like leaving her alone.
“A woman who gets her own drinks. I like it. Is this seat taken?” The man persisted.
Realizing she wasn’t going to be rid of him anytime soon, Rebecca waved her hand toward the barstool. “Nah, it’s free.” There was no use in fighting it. She didn’t have to be nice to him, but there was no reason to be a heinous bitch, either.
“What brings you to Denver?”
“Business.”
“Ah. A traveling business woman. Impressive. How do you like the city so far?”
“I just got here.”
She somehow found it in her to lift her glass to her lips and sucked down half of the drink. The rum went down smooth: smoother than she had expected. She stared at her drink for a much longer time than she thought possible, finally realizing that the man with her was still talking.
“I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I’m Hank,” he tells her. “I’m here for the conference.”
“Angie,” she lied, extending her hand. She wondered if he recognized her from her presentation earlier, but quickly put the idea out of her mind. There had been over a dozen speakers in that event alone. Plus, she had changed her clothes, hair, and makeup before going out. Maybe he actually was here for the conference, but just didn’t know who she was.
Then again, maybe he was a weirdo.
“So what do you do, Hank?” She asked, finishing off her drink.
“I’m in international business,” he told her. “But that’s not important. What do you say you and I get out of here?”
“What?”
“Let’s go somewhere we can be a bit more alone.”
“That’s okay, I’m having a nice time here,” Rebecca told him.
“Come on, Sweetie,” Hank leaned in closer and tried to touch her hand. Rebecca instinctively pulled her hand back. "What's wrong?" Hank asked. He seemed genuinely confused.
Before Rebecca could answer, she felt two arms wrapping around her from behind.
“Hey, Pumpkin,” she heard a familiar voice say. “Sorry I’m late.”
Rebecca looked up at her hugger and grinned. It was Calvin. He’d come to rescue her from the creeper at the bar. How romantic.
She hugged him back and kissed him on the cheek.
“Oh, that’s all right. I was just talking with Hank for a minute while I waited for you.”
Hank looked disappointed.
“Good night, Hank.” Rebecca waved as Calvin slipped his arm around her and led her out of the bar.
“You’re welcome,” he told her once they were in the lobby.
“Yes, I know,” she playfully stroked his arm. “Thanks for saving me. You’re my knight.”
“Woah, how many drinks did you have?”
“Two. Or four. Two. Maybe.”
“Let’s get you upstairs,” Calvin told her. “You look like you could use some down time.”
Without protesting, Rebecca allowed herself to be led to the elevators. She punched the button and as the doors closed, she realized that Calvin’s arm was around her again.
But she didn’t much mind.
Six
Calvin walked Rebecca to her room.
“I’m not trying anything,” he assured her. “I just saw you in the bar and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Oh, I know.” She told him. “Thank you again. I really can’t thank you enough. I just wasn’t sure how to leave that weirdo without being rude. I guess it doesn’t matter about that, though. I probably should have just told him to scram.” Then she asked, “What were you doing out?”
Calvin opened up his shoulder bag and pulled out a bottle of vodka.
“Decided it would be more budget-friendly to head to the liquor store than the bar.”
“Let’s try it out.” Rebecca grabbed a couple of glasses from the room’s mini bar and poured a shot for each of them.
“Cheers!” The glasses clinked together and the shots disappeared.
“Another?” She asked.
Calvin nodded.
This time he poured them. The vodka went down smooth.
“This is good stuff,” Rebecca told him, taking a look at the bottle. “I’ve never had vanilla-flavored vodka before.”
“It’s pretty amazing,” he agreed.
“So how are you enjoying the conference so far?” She asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.
Calvin laughed. “Worst small talk ever.”
“Hey! I’m trying. And I’ve been drinking. I can’t be held responsible for anything that I say.”
“How are you enjoying the single life?” He asked her.
“How did you know I’m single?”
“Um, two weeks ago all of your cubicle photos were in your trash can and you’ve had a gloomy expression on your face ever since.”
Rebecca blushed. Had she been that obvious? Damn.
“Except,” Calvin added, “for this week. There are two particular gentlemen who seem to be making
you very happy.”
“Oh?”
“So tell me, Miss Becky, how long have you had a crush on Brian Montgomery?”
“What? No. Noooo. What? What makes you say that?”
Calvin just smirked.
“Okay,” Rebecca finally admitted. “Is it that obvious?”
“You do kind of drool over him a little bit.”
“You said there are two guys who make me happy. Who’s the other one?”
Calvin sat next to her on the bed, leaned in, and kissed her. Then he pulled away.
“Me.”
His lips had been soft. Maybe it was the liquor, but she felt like she’d never been kissed by such soft lips before. Had Calvin always been this attractive? Had he always been this masculine? Rebecca found herself biting her tongue, itching for him to lean in and kiss her again.
“Oh? You think you make me happy?” She asked coyly.
“Judging by the way you kissed me back, I’d say I make you very happy.”
“Mmm.” Then it was her turn to be the one to kiss him, but Calvin stopped her.
“I probably shouldn’t have,” he admitted. “We’ve been drinking.”
“I like you a lot. That's not the alcohol talking. I really like you."
"I like you, too, Rebecca."
"And I don't see a point in waiting to say anything." That part was the alcohol talking. "I don’t want to be alone anymore,” she told him, surprised at her honesty.
He seemed surprised, too. They had never been particularly close at work, nor had they spent a lot of time flirting. While Calvin had always been handsome, Rebecca hadn’t spent a lot of time focusing on other men when she’d been with Dennis. She had poured her entire heart into her relationship, but that was gone now.
“Me neither.”
“You’re single?”
“Divorced,” Calvin nodded toward his ring-less finger. “It’s been a few months now, but I still miss her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“What happened?”
It was late. The digital clock on the nightstand blinked, but Rebecca didn’t notice what time it was. All she noticed was that there was someone with her who made her smile. There was someone with her who made her feel alive. There was someone with her who made her feel that she was special, if only just for this moment in time.
This didn’t have to last forever.
It only had to last tonight.
Seven
“So why did you come to Denver?” Rebecca asked, referencing the fact that the conference had been optional. Their company had requested seven volunteers. She and Calvin had both been fast to raise their hands.
“I needed to get away, to escape.”
“I get that. Me too.”
“I feel like everywhere I look, I see her. It’s just,” he paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “It’s just nice to be somewhere that people don’t look at me and know what I’m going through. I don’t know if that makes sense. I just don’t want to be ‘the guy with the failed marriage’ or ‘the guy whose wife left.’ Even if it’s just for a few days, that’s really all I need.”
“I understand. I feel like everything in my life is tied to Dennis,” Rebecca admitted. “All of my clothes, all of my things. Hell, even the restaurants I eat at remind me of him.”
Calvin nodded. “It’s amazing how intricately we weave our lives together with other people.”
“Or how quickly we are to let that become unraveled.”
Calvin rose and grabbed more vodka, bringing it back to the bed and pouring them each another shot.
“So tell me a secret,” he said to Rebecca.
“Hmm, what kind of secret?”
“Tell me what you’ve been thinking about our good friend Brian.”
Rebecca blushed harder and faster than she ever had before. Brian? Mr. Montgomery? Shit. What was there to say? Had her feelings toward him been so obvious to Calvin?
“It’s not that I like him…”
“I’ve seen the way you look at him. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen the way you look at me, too. I’m just not so naïve as to think you can’t be attracted to two people at once.”
“Well, you wanted to know a secret. I guess my secret is that I’ve had kind of a thing for Brian for awhile now. Like, since I was with Dennis.”
“You thought about Brian while you were with Dennis?”
“Sometimes.”
“What did you think about him?” Calvin placed his hand on Rebecca’s leg and slowly slid closer to her. The feeling was comforting and quite welcome. She could smell his cologne and the scent of liquor.
“I sometimes used to think about him…you know.”
“During sex?”
She blushed harder. “Yeah. I know it’s weird. It’s weird to fantasize about your boss, right? I always kind of wanted to like, try role-playing or something. I could never bring it up to Dennis, though. He’d freak out.”
“What about with me?” Calvin asked without hesitating.
“With you?” She was surprised. Calvin didn’t seem like a prude, by any means, but would he really want to role play that he was their boss? During sex? With her?
“Why not? I’m very good in bed.”
“But are you a good actor? That’s what I want to know.”
Calvin put the shot glass on the table and turned back to Rebecca. “Miss Winchester,” he said in a serious voice. “We need to talk about your spreadsheets.”
Okay, so this was happening.
A shiver shot down her spine.
Calvin was going to be her Mr. Montgomery. He was going to do this for her. He was going to do this and it was their first time.
He had balls, if nothing else.
“Mr. Montgomery,” Rebecca jumped right into character. “There is nothing wrong with my spreadsheets. I filled them out exactly as you requested.”
“I can see from right here that your sheets are not, in fact, spread.”
Rebecca stifled a giggle, but was determined to play the scene out.
“Miss Winchester,” Calvin continued. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to recommend a leave of absence without pay. This type of mistake cannot be tolerated.”
“But Mr. Montgomery,” she insisted. “Surely there must be something I can do to fix this. I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?”
Rebecca nodded demurely and fluttered her eyelashes. “Anything. Surely,” she stood up and walked toward Calvin, “there’s something you’d like.” She traced her finger up his arm slowly. She felt goose bumps begin to form on his skin and knew that he was getting just as excited as she was. The wetness in her panties was growing. It was almost time to take them off.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well,” she ran her hands up his chest now and scooted closer. Her breasts were pushed up against him. She leaned up and kissed him softly at first, slowly nibbling his lip. “I’m really good at blowjobs. Maybe you should let me suck your dick.”
Calvin said nothing as Rebecca slid her hands down to his pants, quickly undoing his belt and zipper. His pants fell to the floor, revealing his tight boxer-briefs and growing wood.
“What do you think about that, Mr. Montgomery?” She asked sweetly. “Should I blow you in the middle of your office?” Then, Rebecca leaned in to his ear and whispered, “No one ever has to know.”
“You can’t tell my wife,” Calvin made her promise.
“Oh no. Mrs. Montgomery will never find out. This will be just between the two of us.”
“Okay,” Calvin agreed. “Suck it.” He pushed his boxers down and Rebecca quickly slid his cock into her mouth. Taking the entire length in slowly, then sucking on the end, she looked up at Calvin. He was watching her with lust in his eyes.
He was loving every second of this.
She could tell.
It had been a long time since she'd given head, but Rebecca was just as confid
ent in her abilities now as when she had been a teenager. The key, she thought, was enthusiasm. No one likes getting head from a girl who isn't having fun. Lucky for her, she found sucking dick to be incredibly cathartic.