Working Desires: A Dirty Office Romance Boxset

by Hazel Keys

  “You look like you’ve been through the wringer,” Rachel said gently, gazing at her friend with a small, concerned smile.

  “Do I really?” Isabella asked incredulously, fishing into her purse in order to pull out the small makeup mirror that she usually carried. Popping it open she gave herself a look over, noticing that her eyes looked slightly weary. “Ah, I guess I see what you mean.”

  “Busy day?” Rachel inquired as she leaned against the nearby wall, crossing her arms in front of her body gently.

  “Oh, horribly busy. I don’t think I spent more than an hour of my eight-hour shift off the phone. I can’t believe how many people were calling us today. I’m not used to being so overwhelmed. I wonder how Amun managed on his end,” she continued, gazing over Rachel’s shoulder in the direction of Amun’s office.

  “It wasn’t easy, but I like to think I made it through alright,” a voice from behind her said, spooking Isabella slightly and causing her to whirl around quickly, soon relaxing when she saw that it was only Amun. He had probably just come out of the bathroom, a paper towel that he seemed to be in the process of wiping his hands off on still held loosely in his hands.

  “Must have been a great day for sales, though,” Isabella said, leaning over to give Amun a quick peck on the cheek. She wasn’t technically supposed to show public displays of affection while on company property, but since it was the end of the workday she didn’t think that anyone would care. They were all more concerned about making their way home for the evening, each employee having something clear in their minds that they were eager to get to. In her case, it was a fun-filled date night that had been promised to her almost a week ago.

  “Yeah, if days like today keep up you will probably be able to retire in only fifteen years instead of twenty,” Brad said as he headed towards the trio, Rachel’s boyfriend having just stepped off the elevator and apparently having heard her comment from across the room.

  “Hey there, Brad,” Amun said casually, smiling as he gave his friend a firm handshake as he walked up, their hands pumping up and down a few times before they let go of one another. “What kept you so long on the upper floor?”

  “I was just having a quick word with Ryan before he left for the day. He is apparently planning to go to a movie tonight, and he wants to hit one of the early showings. I imagine that he has some woman that he plans to take with since he seemed to be in a really good mood when I left his office just now,” Brad replied casually, smiling gently towards his girlfriend as he leaned over to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

  “Do the two of you have any special plans?” Isabella asked as she looked between Brad and Rachel, feeling slightly jealous at just how close the two of them seemed. Their relationship was obviously going well, the two of them seeming to get along way better than they had originally, and Isabella couldn’t help but wistfully wonder what it would be like to be able to have that kind of connection with Amun. They had already been dating for almost a year now, the next approaching Valentine’s day going to serve as their one-year anniversary.

  “Nothing particularly special. We started watching Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on Netflix recently, so we’ll probably check and see if any new episodes have popped up. Brad bought one of those Amazon Fire TV Sticks for his house recently, so we’ve been basically playing movie roulette for the last few weeks. We’ve seen some pretty good movies in that time, but there were a couple that were complete wastes of time,” Rachel said mildly while Brad chuckled gently, nodding silently in agreement.

  “Well, that sounds like fun,” Isabella said warmly, her excitement from earlier beginning to slowly grow inside of her as she thought of her own plans for the night. “I’m going over to Amun’s tonight. He promised to cook me dinner before we watch a few movies. Spend some quality time together, you know?” she asked somewhat rhetorically, slipping her arm through Amun’s and letting her head lean against his shoulder gently.

  “It’s good to see that the two of you are still so eager to spend time together,” Brad said gently, his own arm moving to wrap gently around Rachel’s waist. “You remind me of us back when we were just starting to date.”

  “Yeah. You know, except for the part where the two of us couldn’t stand one another for the longest time,” Rachel said playfully, looking over at Brad with a smug smile on her face. “Though I do admit that you chasing after me when it seemed like we might break up was really nice.”

  “That sounds so romantic,” Isabella said dreamily, her hands moving up to her cheeks as she felt a gentle blush spreading across her own face. She could easily imagine herself and Amun doing such things, which was the cause of her sudden bout of embarrassment, the power of her desire to have similar experiences causing her just a little bit of discomfort.

  “I think I prefer the way that we met. A lot less drama to contend with,” Amun said, a small tone of playfulness obvious in his voice.

  “Oh, I definitely agree,” she said enthusiastically, her almond shaped green eyes gazing back into her boyfriend’s darker brown hues as she spoke. “I don’t think I would be able to deal with you if you acted the way Rachel used to.”

  “I don’t think I could deal with myself,” Amun said with a playful smile, sticking his tongue out at Rachel as he spoke.

  “Oh you,” Rachel replied in an exasperated tone, shoving him playfully. “Why you have to give me such a hard time all the time?”

  “If I didn’t tease you every now and then I wouldn’t be a good friend,” Amun said lightly, laughing gently as he took her shove, setting his feet so he wouldn’t fall backward. “That’s what all those sitcoms we watch have taught me, anyway.”

  “I really hope that you haven’t been trying to pick up dating advice from The Big Bang Theory,” Isabella remarked, a small smirk playing at the corner of her lips as she spoke. “You might look a little like Raj, but I assure you that what worked for him is not going to work for you.”

  Amun looked slightly cowed at that, though Rachel and Brad seemed to have found her comment highly amusing. Isabella did her best not to laugh outright at her own quip, noting the slight look of embarrassment that had crossed against her boyfriends’ features. She reached over and took his hand in hers gently, squeezing it lightly as she stroked a hand through her hair. Her fingers caught gently on some of her brunette locks, the streaks of blonde mingling throughout her hair causing it to glint in the light of the luminescent bulbs that the office used to light the building. She gave Brad and Rachel some time to compose themselves before speaking again.

  “Anyway, isn’t it about time for us to head out? We still have to hit up the grocery store to pick up the stuff that we are going to make for dinner tonight,” she reminded him, hoping to give him an out of the somewhat uncomfortable situation she seemed to have unwittingly put him in.

  “I guess you are right,” Amun said, looking over at her with a silently grateful look on his face. “We should probably get to that so that we can actually watch our movies, huh?”

  “Yeah, I’m ready to be away from this place for the day. It would be nice to be able to unwind after that barrage of callers,” Isabella said sweetly, nuzzling her head against Amun’s lightly.

  She said goodbye to Brad and Rachel before she and Amun began to walk towards his car. Isabella usually carpooled with Rachel or Bella for work, so she didn’t have to worry about parking her car at home before she and Amun could go anywhere. She loved the fact that he always went around to the passenger side to hold her door open for her before he would climb into the car himself, the gentlemanly action one of many that she had come to enjoy from her Indian boyfriend. At least he had been raised with those positive habits, Isabella having been with her fair share of men who seemed to have missed that particular lesson.

  They sang along to one of Amun’s random CD’s, her boyfriend having an unusual taste in music that usually fluctuated between oldies and some of the more current Top 40 hits. Riding with him had almost become
a game to her, and she would always guess what sort of music they would be listening to that day each time he slipped one of the disks into the CD player. As she sang along to Shaggy’s famous song “It Wasn’t Me,” she couldn’t help but look over at Amun, taking a moment to appreciate his features. She had never dreamed that she would end up with someone of Indian heritage, but every time she looked at him she couldn’t help but be overcome by how handsome his features were.

  She looked away from him quickly when she realized that she had been staring at him for a while now, a sheepish smile spreading across her lips from the realization. Amun must have noticed her actions out of the corner of his eye, and she almost jumped again when she felt his hand gently move to rest on top of her thigh.

  “Something on your mind, Isabella?” he asked softly, turning the music down using the control panel on the steering wheel so that they could hear one another better.

  “Nothing in particular,” she said quickly, playing with her hair nervously. “Was just thinking about a couple of things, that’s all.”

  “Oh? What sort of things?” Amun had a mischievous grin on his face now, which slightly unnerved Isabella. She could only imagine the kinds of things that were going through his mind right now.

  “Like how much I love you and how greatly I’m looking forward to our date night,” she said truthfully, both of those things having been on her mind. She hadn’t told him everything, which made her feel slightly guilty since there wasn’t really any reason to keep it from him, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to admit to him that she had been checking him out. Despite the fact that it was harmless since they were dating, it was still mildly embarrassing for her to have to admit.

  “Aww, I love you too,” he murmured, squeezing her thigh lightly before returning his hand to the steering wheel, turning the car so that they could exit off of the highway. “Have you given any thought to what you would want to eat for dinner?”

  “Well, given the fact that we had Chinese a few days ago I’d like to shift gears and eat something a little different. I wish I could say I’d like to make Indian food, but you know what that does to my stomach,” she said quietly, casting an apologetic look in his direction.

  “I admit, it is somewhat saddening that you cannot stomach the foods that I grew up with, but at the same time, I can understand why you wouldn’t be able to. Some of our spices can be a little overpowering,” he replied as he pulled the car into the parking lot of a large supermarket.

  “A little? Last time we tried to have Indian food I couldn’t enjoy our night together because I spent most of it in the bathroom. And believe me, it wasn’t because I enjoy the sight of the blue flower-print tiles in your bathroom, cute as they are,” she said petulantly, the bitter memory of the night in question still fresh in her mind.

  “Well, let’s do our best not to have a repeat of that night. That sounds like a plan, no?” he asked casually, switching off the ignition and quickly climbing out of the car so that he could move around to pull the door open for her. “Tonight, I intend to be able to fully enjoy my time with you,” he murmured, a slightly seductive tone having slipped into his voice that made Isabella shiver slightly.

  “It sure does sound like a plan to me,” she said sweetly, taking his offered hand as she gently climbed out of the passenger’s side, closing the door softly behind her.

  The two of them walked into the market together, their hands separating only long enough for Isabella to grab a shopping cart that they could put their groceries into. As they walked through the many aisles Isabella found herself being drawn towards the more Hispanic foods, tossing the ingredients that she would need for her pollo pinchos, or chicken kabobs, into the cart. Amun simply watched in mild fascination, occasionally asking a question about one of the items she dropped into the cart, which Isabella was more than happy to answer. It didn’t take long at all for them to get all the things that they needed for the meal, and soon they were waiting patiently in the checkout lane.

  When they got back to Amun’s house they immediately got to cooking dinner, the two of them standing side by side as they set about preparing the food. Isabella ultimately ended up doing the actual cooking, but Amun did contribute to helping her prep the different ingredients. Their cooking got slightly sidetracked when Amun “accidentally” started a food fight between the two of them after having playfully smeared a small bit of sour cream on her cheek. The two of them ended up covered in food, which interrupted their cooking for a bit because they had to quickly go shower and change clothes. The temptation to have sex was strong, but their hunger served to be the more pressing matter that needed to be taken care of.

  Once they were clean once more they returned to the kitchen so that they could finish cooking. The smell of the seasoned chicken was enough to make Isabella’s stomach rumble with desire, and she could tell from the way that Amun was looking at the food that he was excited for it as well. It was gratifying to know that she had found a man who wasn’t afraid to try the foods that she had grown up eating, even if she did feel a little guilty about not being able to return the favor. Once everything had finished cooking and they prepared themselves each a plate, Isabella led the way into Amun’s living room. She took a seat on his large and comfortable couch, setting her plate on the glass table that sat in front of it in order to give it time to cool.

  “Which movie did you want to start out with?” Amun asked her as he walked over to where his DVD collection was waiting, his hand gesturing passively towards the myriad of movies that he owned.

  “I was hoping that we could start with a comedy. I could use a few good laughs to help unwind from the day. Couldn’t you?” she asked innocently, leaning against the arm of the couch lightly.

  “I sure could,” he replied simply, joining her on the couch and smiling as he wrapped his arm around her lightly.

  Chapter Three

  Amun

  The next day proved to be just as busy as the previous day had been and it took everything in Amun’s power for him to keep his cool. It wasn’t the fact that people were calling to place orders since it was his job to take care of that. It wasn’t a problem that many of the people who were calling didn’t exactly know everything about the products that they were trying to enquire about since the catalog only provided a basic description of each item and he had to spend extra time explaining certain aspects of the product to the customers. That was all just fine, and he had no issue with helping people make a decision.

  What he did have a problem with was people who would call who seemed to not have even taken a look at the catalog or the company website. He had answered so many basic questions that anyone who had taken the time to look over the company web page would have already gotten the answers to, not to mention the fact that some of the customers would repeatedly ask the same question even when he had just finished explaining the answer to them only moments before. By the time that he was allowed to take his lunch break he was already quite steamed, something that even Isabella noticed.

  “Seems like you didn’t have the best morning,” she said softly as she sat down across from him at the small diner that they had chosen to have their lunch at, her hand reaching over to gently take his in hers.

  “That is an understatement,” he said gently, sighing as he scratched the back of his head lightly. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a more frustrating series of calls in the entire time that I have been working for this company,” he added, taking a sip of water from the glass that their waitress had been kind enough to leave him.

  “If you need some help dealing with the calls I would be more than happy to assist you,” Isabella said as she pulled the wrapper off of her straw and dipped it into the glass of Pepsi that she had ordered to go with her lunch. “I don’t want you to try and deal with the whole burden on your own. It isn’t going to be any fun for me to have to spend the rest of the night with a crabby boyfriend, after all.”

  He smiled lightly at
that, the look wistful as he allowed his eyes to fall to the menu that was sitting in front of him. He kept his hand in hers as he used his free hand to flip through the pages of the menu, the contact with her serving to somewhat soothe his annoyance from earlier. He breathed in deeply, allowing himself to slowly exhale. That served to make him feel a little better, and when he opened his eyes once more he decided to change the subject. It was his lunch break, so he may as well enjoy that time to not have to think about work. He would be back to the stresses of work soon enough, so he may as well allow himself to enjoy lunch with his girlfriend.

  “What are you going to have?” he asked curiously, his eyes peering over to where Isabella’s menu was sitting on the table in front of her. He noticed that she seemed to be debating on something light since the page that her menu was open on only seemed to have sandwiches and appetizers on it. This didn’t surprise him too much, though, since their dinner had been rather heavy the night before and Isabella was a stickler about not gaining weight.

  “I haven’t decided yet. I’m debating on having one of their sandwiches. Rachel tells me that their Philly cheesesteak is pretty good, so I admit that I am somewhat tempted to try it,” she said, her teeth glinting pure white in her mouth as she smiled mischievously over at him. “What about you, big boy? What are you planning on eating?”

  Amun couldn’t help the small grin that spread across his face at the sound of her calling him a pet name, something that he had always looked forward to in a relationship. All of the sitcoms that he had seen told him that the use of pet names was a surefire way to ensure that couples remained close, and if the fact that the two of them had been going out for almost a year now was any indication, they must have been onto something. His eyes moved to meet hers, the two of them making eye contact for a moment before he shyly looked back down at his menu. There was just something about the intensity of Isabella’s gaze that made it hard for him to look into them for very long.