Working Desires: A Dirty Office Romance Boxset

by Hazel Keys

  She was the kind of person who kept a journal of ideas for work on her bedside table, something that she had hesitantly shared with him around the time of their six-month anniversary. He had been sworn to secrecy about it, Isabella having found her dedication to work to be a cause of embarrassment, even though Amun had tried to assure her countless times that he saw it as a strength. The commitment that she would put into each aspect of her life was half of the reason why he was so happy with her. She constantly poured effort into keeping their relationship on good terms, which was honestly the best part of everything. He didn’t have to question what she was thinking when she was with him, and he knew that she was just as devoted to their relationship as he was.

  “Honestly, Ryan, I would be hard-pressed to tell you who deserves that kind of reward over everyone else. As you mentioned, we all work really hard to keep this company running the way it has been, and to say that I deserve the award more than anyone else would just feel kind of shallow to me. I hope you can understand,” Amun said, having chosen his words carefully, speaking slowly and deliberately.

  “That is quite the humble attitude that you have there. I cannot say that it does not impress me since I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say something like that before. Usually, people are in a hurry to have their own accomplishments acknowledged and will not pass up opportunities that allow that to happen. The fact that you are doing exactly that is nothing short of bewildering, but I respect you all the same,” Ryan finished smoothly, his hand reaching into his pocket so that he could fish out his phone.

  “I think that Isabella would be a good match for the first Employee of the Month. She might not have sales records like I do, but she definitely holds her own on the job. When I found myself overburdened with callers she assisted me, and we got through all of the new customers in what I would consider a respectably small amount of time. I couldn’t have done it without her, and I would be remiss if I didn’t admit to the fact that my sales wouldn’t have been so high that day if she hadn’t helped with the phone traffic. I might even go so far as to say she deserves half of my pay from that,” Amun added in a slightly joking tone, though he was now feeling nervous about just how much he had revealed to Ryan.

  “How many times have you had Isabella help you?” Curiosity was evident in Ryan’s voice, though Amun couldn’t detect any tone of annoyance or disapproval in his voice.

  “Not often. I could probably count on one hand a number of times that I’ve actually had her help me, and those would include simple office-related stuff as well as her helping me with my workload. Even now that we are a couple I respect the fact that our workloads are our own. I do my best not to abuse the ability.” Amun hoped that he didn’t sound too defensive, the fact that he wasn’t telling Ryan anything that wasn’t true helping him to feel better about the whole situation.

  “Well, I thank you for being honest with me. I’m not going to say anything about you guys sharing work because you are technically part of a team. All I will ask is that you continue to keep the times that you assist one another to a limited number. I will keep the fact that you have recommended Isabella for the award in mind, and I will have an announcement made about who the winner ultimately turns out to be when I’ve come to a decision. Thank you for your time. You can head back to your duties now,” Ryan said, the smile on his face communicating that their conversation was over at that point.

  “Alright, thank you for accepting my recommendation,” Amun said professionally, bowing slightly before he let himself slip out of the room.

  That was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. It was always intimidating to be faced with your boss, particularly when they called you to their office under mysterious reasoning. He was glad to have left with his job intact, though in all honesty, he hadn’t been expecting anything else to happen at the meeting. If anything, he thought that he was going to be asked to join a new project. He was somewhat grateful that he hadn’t received such an invitation since his current workload was right on the threshold of crossing over into unmanageable. Aside from the occasional flood of calls he never really had many issues keeping up with his workload.

  He slipped into his desk chair and sat gazing at the screen of his laptop for a moment. He had been gone so long that the computer had gone into sleep mode, though a few quick keystrokes brought the computer blazing back to life. He pressed his finger against the fingerprint scanner built into his keyboard, grinning as he watched his home screen blip into sight on screen. He had been a lover of spy movies ever since he was younger, so the fact that he owned an electronic that seemed like it was right out of a spy flick was enough to always give him a small amount of almost childish delight each time he used it.

  He allowed himself to fall into his work while doing his best to keep the tumultuous clamor in his mind to a dull roar. There were so many conflicting feelings running through his mind about how he had handled his talk with Ryan, the fact that he might have just given away the award bothering him a lot less than he originally thought it would. If anything, the fact that he had given up a prize that didn’t really mean much in the end seemed like not that big of a deal. Sure, he might score brownie points with his girlfriend if she ever found out about it, but aside from that, it didn’t mean much to him.

  At least, that is what I am going to tell myself if Ryan does choose to follow my advice. The last thing I want to do is become jealous of my girlfriend’s success at the workplace. Her success should be my success, so no matter what happens, I will try to stay positive about it. I won’t let her know that it bothers me.

  “Hey, Amun, you were gone for a while. What did they need you upstairs for?” Isabella asked, her head sticking out of the door of the office she currently shared with Bella.

  “Oh, nothing important. Just getting an update on my sales numbers,” he lied smoothly, a small smile on his lips as he moved towards the door of his office. “I’ll tell you more about it later if you really want to hear it.”

  Chapter Six

  Isabella

  She could tell that Amun was keeping something from her. Exactly what he was keeping from her she did not know, but there was definitely the telltale sign of him holding something back in the way that he had been acting since the day before. He had seemed surprisingly withdrawn when the two of them had hung out at his house after work the night before, seeming like he was distracted and often allowing the conversation to lapse. That wasn’t like him, so she was understandably worried. She wondered if his actions were the result of the mysterious circumstances that caused him to go up to the upper floor of the office yesterday, the feeling that something was being kept from her driving her slightly crazy.

  She took her own car to work that day because she felt like it had been a really long time since she had actually taken her stylish Audi out for a drive, and something told her that Rachel was going to find some way to make it so that she would need to leave work right away with Brad like she usually did. If that happened she would at least be able to know that she would be able to get herself home. She was planning on going over to Amun’s house later that night, but she had a few errands she needed to run before she headed there. Since she didn’t know how long her running around was going to take, she figured it would be simpler for her to just go over to Amun’s when she finished.

  It had been surprising enough when she walked into the office that morning that she found herself walking in at the same time as Ryan, who was carrying a large briefcase in his hand that clattered gently as he walked. Isabella arched her eyebrow in surprise, the rarity of actually seeing the young president of RushIt! still a novelty to her, her curiosity instantly blazing to life inside of her. It wasn’t every day that Ryan would show up to the office, the formerly hands-on president having taken multiple steps to limit his time so that he could focus on his daughter in the aftermath of a rather sour divorce. She wasn’t actually supposed to know all of that, and she gave herself a mental reminder to
not mention anything about it. It would make her life much simpler if she kept her nose in her own business.

  “Ah, Isabella. Just the person that I was thinking about,” he said cheerfully, his perfect white teeth glinting brilliantly in his mouth as he smiled. “You are the person who I needed to talk to next.”

  “You were thinking about me? Do you have something that you need to tell me, Ryan?” Isabella asked, a small smirk creeping onto her face despite her efforts to keep herself in line. It was just too good of a moment to pass up, planning to not push her luck too far with teasing her boss but figuring there was no harm in the playful comment.

  Watching the blush that crawled across his face was enough to almost make her lose her cool, managing to retain her poker face as she prevented herself from jumping to conclusions. She didn’t want to read into Ryan’s reaction for more than what might actually be there, and she certainly didn’t want to let thoughts about other men creep into her mind. She was more than happy with her relationship with Amun and had no interest in doing anything that could jeopardize it. When he attempted to steer the conversation back to the matter of business she wisely decided to not broach the topic further.

  “I am sure that Amun must have told you by now that I wanted him to come meet me upstairs yesterday,” Ryan said simply, peering at Isabella with an almost knowing look. “Surely you two are at the stage in your relationship that you freely discuss such things with one another,” he added somewhat probingly, Isabella choosing to attempt to duck around his insinuation rather than trying to outright deny it.

  “He told me something about getting updated on his sales numbers yesterday. He didn’t mention the fact that he had met with you,” Isabella said quietly, biting her bottom lip nervously as she cast a glance toward Amun’s office.

  He wouldn’t be in the office for at least another half an hour, Isabella fairly certain about that fact thanks to her familiarity with her boyfriend’s usual morning schedule. He was the kind of guy who always seemed to show up at the last minute despite the fact that Isabella knew for a certainty that he woke up early in the morning for work each day. She didn’t know why he wouldn’t have told her about something as important as him having a chat with the company president, particularly when it included him coming to talk to her as well. Maybe he just forgot about it or thought that it wasn’t overly important. He could have assumed that Ryan would be talking to me soon and wanted to not scare me by making me overthink the reason as to why.

  It would have been a highly thoughtful action on her boyfriend’s part, and she couldn’t entirely put it past him. She forced herself to focus on Ryan once more, noticing that his mouth was now moving and catching the tail end of his comment. “-I just wanted to congratulate you on being selected to receive the first incarnation of the Employee of the Month award here at RushIt! It is to commemorate your hard work and dedication to the tasks that you have been asked to complete over the years. I went around and talked to a couple of the other employees and asked them who they thought should receive it, and your name seemed to keep coming up. So, I am happy to let you know that you’ve won that.,” he finished, moving toward one of the nearby desks so that he could set his suitcase down and pull it open.

  “The award will include a $5,000-dollar check that you can spend as you see fit, so I do hope that you go out and buy yourself something nice as a reward for your success. However, I can’t ultimately tell you anything about what you could do with the money since that would go against company policy. It’s a real bureaucratic nightmare I would like to avoid, so let me suffice it to say that the power is yours in this decision. I have to get to my office right now, but your picture will be put up in the lobby upstairs and downstairs here with a copy of the Employee of the Month plaque, so everyone will be able to see your achievement,” he looked towards her as he handed her the check, his eyes twinkling slightly at the look of surprised delight on her face.

  “I really don’t know what to say about this. It is so unexpected, but I am certainly grateful. Thank you, Ryan,” she said breathlessly, accepting the check from him and gazing down at it, disbelief still clearly etched on her face.

  “You are quite welcome. Be sure to thank your boyfriend the next time you see him. He was singing your praises,” he said gently, leaving her standing there speechless as she watched him walk away.

  She made her way back to her office once Ryan had stepped onto the elevator, his words ringing in her ears. There was a smile stuck to her face that just wouldn’t go away, though there was also a little bit of regret mixed in with it. She couldn’t help but worry about what Amun might say when he received the news, especially with how he had been acting the last time he had heard about someone other than him getting recognition at work. She also had this nagging feeling like something wasn’t quite clicking into place, something about the whole situation seeming like it wasn’t entirely on the up and up.

  She wasn’t going to let it get to her, and instead decided that she would choose to allow herself to enjoy the fact that she had, in fact, received the award. It wasn’t as if she was entirely undeserving of such a prize, and the fact that she had apparently been chosen above anyone else was enough to make her feel a little smug. She promised herself that she wasn’t going to boast about it. She was going to do everything that she could do to stay humble.

  Once she finished up running her errands Isabella found herself pulling up in front of Amun’s house, parking next to his car in his driveway and giggling gently to herself as she killed the engine. She hadn’t told Amun that she planned on coming over, wanting to surprise him with the check she had received. She was planning on taking the two of them out to eat to celebrate, figuring that allowing him to enjoy the benefits of the award would help take some of the sting away. Her heels clicked on the blacktop of his driveway before it gave way to the sidewalk, her finger pressing lightly against his doorbell. She listened as it chimed merrily, the sound of footsteps approaching the door barely audible through the heavy wood.

  “Surprise!” Isabella called out excitedly when the door swung open, her arms held out for him in preparation for a hug.

  “Hey, I didn’t know you were swinging by,” Amun said with a laugh, not seeming to mind the fact that she had chosen to turn up unannounced.

  “Well, something amazing happened to me today and I figured that as my boyfriend you should be one of the first people to know,” she said, walking past him into the house and dropping her purse onto the table in his living room.

  “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What happened,” Amun asked good-naturedly, moving over to the kitchen so that he could pour the two of them a glass of wine.

  “I got the Employee of the Month award,” she said excitedly, taking the glass that he offered her and taking a quick sip, the familiar taste of the strawberry wine that she loved so much causing her to let a satisfied sigh slip past her lips.

  Amun seemed almost dismissive of the news at first, no response immediately coming out of him. Isabella turned her head to look at him, calming immediately when she saw that he was in the middle of taking a sip of his own wine. It was hard to categorize the expression that was on his face, but the smile that quickly rushed onto his face made it so that she didn’t focus on it quite as long. He walked over to her and clinked his glass against hers gently, sitting next to her and leaning over so that he could press his lips lightly against hers.

  “Congratulations,” he murmured against her lips, allowing their kiss to deepen for just a bit, their tongues swirling against each other. “That’s got to feel really good.”

  “It does, but I have to admit that I kind of feel like I didn’t earn it. I mean I think that I work hard, but I don’t think that I work harder than anyone else, you know what I mean?” she asked, her emerald green eyes glowing a little bit in the light of Amun’s living room lamp as they looked into each other’s eyes.

  “I have had times where I’ve felt that way, so I can definitely say
that I understand the sentiment,” Amun said hesitantly, the sudden deliberateness of his speech causing Isabella to become slightly suspicious. He was taking more time with his responses, something that Isabella had more than enough experience in knowing that it meant that he was hiding something from her.

  “Were you one of the people who Ryan talked to about who should get the award?” she asked suddenly, setting her glass down onto the living room table and turning so that she was faced fully towards him.

  “I was,” he admitted after a moment, Isabella’s piercing gaze still fixed on him. She could tell that he had more on his mind, but she was being careful to prevent them from arguing.

  “Ah, that makes sense,” she said casually, wincing slightly at the somewhat forced tone that she heard her voice come out in, knowing that it probably sounded like she suspected him of hiding something. “I wonder who else got interviewed about it,” she added, happy that her voice sounded a little more natural that time around.

  “That much I honestly don’t know. I never thought to ask Ryan who else he was asking about that,” Amun admitted bashfully, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips that made Isabella’s heart flutter rapidly inside of her chest.

  “Well, I can’t say I was any different. I didn’t think to ask him who else he talked to either. I kind of thought he was just saying that so that he could sound more boss-like, but if you ask me the whole thing sounds kind of like something that he came up with on the fly. It’s going to drive me crazy not knowing what the real reasoning for the award to be instated was,” she said with a sigh, setting her now empty wine glass on the table next to his and watching as he carefully refilled their glasses with a surprisingly steady hand.

  “You know, I had a similar thought like that when he first called me into his office,” Amun said slowly, handing Isabella her glass once more before taking a sip of his own. “When I asked Ryan about why he was even instating such a reward seemingly out of nowhere, he said that it had been something that was suggested to him by Brad. Whether or not that was true or Ryan just trying to cover himself I didn’t know for sure, and I still really don’t, for that matter.”