Corporate Gestures - short story

Tall and broad shouldered, Mike stood beside the waiting car that hummed anxiously, awaiting its passenger, ready to be on the move.
“Mr. Dumont, your appointment is for eleven.” The young attaché fidgeted with his briefcase, flooded with notes, and files, as looked at the ground rather than make eye contact with her boss who didn’t take kindly to reminders, especially those chastising him for tardiness.
“We’re waiting!” he growled, but his fingers beat an angry rhythm on the roof of the large black automobile. His mood didn’t lighten, nor did his deep brown eyes show much in the line of relief when a tall, blonde strolled calmly through the doors of the luxurious hotel and up to the open door of the waiting machine. “What the devil took so long?” Mike demanded to know as he swung the door shut without even a glance to the small, brunette still standing on the sidewalk beside the car. As an afterthought he rolled the window down part way and practically screamed into the morning air. “Are you getting in or do we leave without you?”
Karen jumped and dived into the front seat of the car as its driver smiled knowingly at her. It gave her some comfort to know that she was not the only lackey that her boss bestowed his graciousness upon.
“I just never know what to do. If I tell him he’s late or needs to be somewhere, he practically jumps down my throat. If I don’t tell him, and he’s late and gets a dressing down from a suit behind a desk, I loose my job.” She wasn’t even looking at Derek who was steering the car out into the late morning New York traffic, she was looking down in to her upturned palms that were still shaking and fighting the tears that always followed the sharp words from her boss. “Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” Her following remark wasn’t much more than a mumbled whisper but she felt Derek’s hand touch hers and had to fight the emotional outbreak even harder. If ‘he’ caught her crying, he’d take her to task even more.
They pulled up alongside an indefinably tall building that housed Mega Record’s New York offices, and Karen found herself left behind once again as Mike jumped from the car and bolted to the doors before anyone could see him and register his identity. The tall, blonde accompanying him however, was still seated behind her in the car, applying an even thicker coat of red paint to her pouty lips.
Karen turned and smiled bravely, thinking about making some form of small talk with the woman who accompanied her boss, but found her gaze met with a glare that would melt a glacier, and definitely made her turn back to the front of the car without comment.
“How long is he gonna be here?” The shrill, irritating voice from the rear screeched to the front of the car. Karen looked at Derek and smiled, shrugged her shoulders as if answering the voice in the back and remained mute. “Well? Are you going to do your job? How long is he gonna be here?” The voice demanded once again.
“I’m not really sure, ma’am. These things take time and he could be here for several hours. Is there someplace we can take you in the meantime?” Karen knew full well that she should report upstairs to the meeting where her boss was now ensconced, but found herself hoping that this shrill, viper in the back would want to be taken somewhere, anywhere, giving her an excuse to have left, at least momentarily.
Those were the orders, as she knew them. To see to Miz Thing’s every need while she was here with him. Karen wasn’t really sure which was worse, but at least she didn’t feel the emotional destruction when the witch in the back of the car yelled at her. She didn’t care for the over-done beauty with the bleach bottle hair and chalkboard voice. The problem with her boss yelling at her is she wanted so badly to be the assistant he wanted, but never seemed to be able to fulfill his desires in that area.
“Take me to Bloomies.”
That reply hardly came as a surprise to Karen, in fact, she had almost ordered Derek to head in that direction before the words were out of her leggy charge’s mouth. Once in the store however, Karen was shocked to watch how, with devilish glee, the ice queen charged about grabbing every item in site and tossing them to the nearest available clerk, shouting orders at them like they were trained puppies awaiting her command, and then, had the unbearable audacity to look over at her and demand that she charge Mike’s account with the purchases.
“But. Excuse me ma’am, but I haven’t cleared this with him.” Karen felt herself beginning to stutter once again, not fearing the glare or the screech of the woman in front of her, but the glare and momentous roar that would surely accompany her boss’ reaction to this demand. And, she knew full well that Miss-way-to-much-lipstick, wouldn’t hear a word about it, just her, she would have to listen as Mike demanded to know why she had allowed this to happen and why and if she had any brains at all in her thick skull.
“Take me back to the hotel; and I expect to see these packages there within the hour.” Blonde hair flew as the woman who had issued the order swung around, bumping into Karen and knocking her into a nearby counter. “Get outta my way you little… little… nothing.”
Karen winced, not at the words which we not to unusual coming from her employer’s women, but from the sharp pain in her side where the edge of the counter had caught her in her off-balance stumble.
“Yes ma’am.” With resignation Karen sighed and handed over the corporate credit card to the clerk behind the counter who was busy fighting the pile of purchases that were heaped upon the top of the counter by the register.
Karen breathed a sigh of relief when they finally pulled up in front of the regally appointed Hyatt, turning she began to ask if there were anything further that was needed, but found herself facing an empty seat as the door swung shut and her ride walked briskly to the door of the hotel.
“What a relief.”
Derek nodded but remained silent as he drove back in the direction of Mega Record’s headquarters. Not for long, she thought, now she had to deal with the really difficult one.
“She did what?”
Karen’s eye’s squeezed shut, trying to block out the image of her boss pacing the floor of the empty office where the meeting had only just recently adjourned. She waited for the anger, the yells, the in-your-face barrage.
Nothing.
She opened her eyes slowly to find the liquid brown eyes that millions of women the world over screamed for staring directly at her, and he was smiling.
“Why are you always so… tense?” He knew that wasn’t exactly the word he was looking for, but it worked for now. “I’m that bad, huh?” He didn’t really need an answer to that. He knew he was. He reached out to wipe the wisps of hair that had fallen across her eyes, and she ducked…. “Wow! I didn’t think I was that bad. Come on, you know I would never hurt you.” He smiled and pulled her over to him and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry that Camile was so hard on you, she is a handful sometimes.” He looked down to see if she was relaxing at all, her body was still tense in his arms. He was used to that though, most women were overcome and tense when he first held them, he was used to it and knew how to deal with it… but that was the one plus to women like Carmen, they were not in the least overwhelmed by him, they were to busy being overwhelmed by themselves. On the other hand, there were women like Karen, soft, sweet, un-assuming, they looked at him like a god and there were benefits to that too, really nice benefits. He smiled and shook her gently. “Loosen up, girl, you’re gonna break right in two in a second.”
Karen looked up and her lips trembled, this was just too much. In the six months since she had first come to work for this man, this was the first time he had so much as touched her, now here she was in his arms. When she had interviewed for the job, she vehemently denied any crazy fan-ship, or overwhelming desire to be madly in love with Michael Dumont the entertainer.
It hadn’t been true, but it had been necessary, she would never have gotten past the first interview with the anonymous employment company if she had admitted any fanaticism, definitely not a good thing for someone working so closely with the star himself. To top it off, during the last few months, in spite of the angry words and the occasionally harsh attitude, she definitely found herself attracted to the man in front of her. Not the entertainer…the man. Now, she stood there, in his arms, and she felt weak in the knees and unable to respond. Where was this supposed to go? What would happen to her job if she responded the way her body told her to--begged her to.
Mike walked over to the large, over-stuffed chair opposite his desk and pulled her along. Sitting down, he pulled her down on top of him and hugged her. She was warm, and smelled faintly of an inexpensive perfume, but it was a pleasant fresh smell. He ran his fingers through her hair that fell back across her shoulders and looked into her timid eyes. “Are you okay?” He felt her shake slightly, he was pushing the limits here… Visions of possible lawsuits ran through his mind… sexual harassment. He breathed in deep and reached up to kiss her. Okay, too late to take it slow, his mind raced with how to avoid any ramifications of this action, but his body kept going in the other direction, ignoring his minds plea to stop before he lost control and became yet another headline on the worlds news page.
Then it happened. He felt her relax, join into the kiss, her hand move to his chest, settling there to feel the beat of his heart beneath the smooth cotton shirt. Without stopping the kiss, he caressed her. He moved his hand up the smooth nylon of her stockings and up to the edge of her skirt. Again, she tensed beneath his touch. Slow, his mind screamed, again his hands had a different agenda than his mind and his fingers slid beneath the heavy material of the very tailored, neat, business cut skirt, sliding up to the apex of her thighs, feeling the warmth.
He could feel his own excitement and was pretty sure that from her vantage point on his lap, she could too, then he felt her hand move slowly, unsure, questioning, down towards his waist. He was hitting home now, and he moved his hand from her thighs to her hand and helped her with her indecision. He undid the buckle at his waist and she popped the button on his trousers. Suddenly her laughter pealed out and broke the moment and for an instant he thought it might all be over.
“This is not funny!” he admonished as he picked her up and sat her down on the edge of his desk. This time her eyes met his with a devilish glare, her hair framing her features softly. He pushed back the jacket from her shoulders and ran his hands over her silk covered shoulders, feeling the outline of the straps beneath it, she was sexier than any woman he had ever seen right at that second and he felt he might explode with the excitement of the vision in front of him before he even had the chance to examine the situation further.
As his hands ran down her sides, she moved hers up to the buttons on her shirt and slowly undid each one. Mike watched with hungry anticipation then reached out to touch her, and slide his hands around her hugging her closely, feeling her breath on his neck, he pushed her down onto the desk top, feeling his own excitement no long containable, he pushed up her skirt, as more articles of clothing fell to the floor, she giggled at the absurdity of the situation.
“You really need to stop laughing, you’re giving me a complex.” But with that final exclamation, he pushed himself into her and she groaned, her back arching on the brown oak desktop.
Karen reached up, pulled his shoulders closer to her and kissed him hungrily… The hell with employment, it’s highly over-rated anyway she thought as his body tensed for the next thrust. He moved into her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling herself closer to his thrusting hips, and ran her hands down his chest, brushing away the beads of sweat that were beginning to form. At the peak of climax they grabbed onto each other and he kissed her, thrusting his hungry tongue into her and she felt like he would swallow her whole as his body rocked with the explosive orgasm.
Sitting up on the desk, her legs still wrapped around his waist as he pushed himself back off the desk and smiled at her. She looked at him, suddenly shy again, unsure now of her position, never mind that physically she still had her legs around him, that he was still more than partially undressed in front of her, and that her clothes were definitely not in traditional business position. “I’ll never be able to look at this desk again with the same attitude.” She whispered and smiled, hoping he would respond in a positive manner. As her legs released him from their grip, he bent and retrieved her panties and stockings that had been flung to the floor, handed them to her. Then he smiled, and its warmth lit the room and her fears began to subside.
“I’d like you to take a memo, please.” He walked around to the chair behind his desk and sat down, his hands clasped in front of him confidently waiting for her to prepare herself to take his dictation.
He must be kidding, she suddenly felt like a twilight zone participant, take a memo. Just like that? She hurriedly grabbed a pad from the desktop and a pen from the drawer in front of him. She thought she saw the beginnings of a smile on his face as she hustled in an attempt to prepare for his coming words. Sitting on the straight-backed chair opposite him that she always used, it seemed impossible to believe that the desk in front of her had only moments before held them in a passionate embrace. “Okay…. Ready when you are.”
“Okay, now, write this down. I love you.” He stood and walked around the desk and grabbed her again. She giggled and the pad fell to the floor as she flung her arms around his neck and sighed with relief. The complications of the world around them and the people in it would wait, now there was nothing but the tenderness of their embrace and the comfort of his love.