Liquid Productivity; A Tale of Lust

Continuing with my seven deadly sins series, here’s round two of Lust featuring Veronika (who is new to this blog).
. . .

Secret organizations, especially those located in underground bunkers, didn’t tend to afford their staff a lot of free time. This particular underground office was luxurious enough that Veronika could almost forget she was sealed inside several solid feet of concrete, until she glanced up looking for a window. At some point in the recent past, several of the people with whom she shared office space had hung posters depicting rainforests and wide, sprawling green plains, but they were hardly a substitute for weather patterns, even if her real view would only have included the city’s traffic.

At least there were no burly guards with guns waiting to bark at the clerical staff the moment they stepped away from their desks, and the coffee never ceased to flow.

Speaking of coffee; her last cup had gone cool while she was absorbed in the latest financial reports and a single glance was enough to inform her it would not be salvageable. It would have been all together easier to re-heat her coffee if she didn’t include a generous helping of milk in every cup, but she needed something to cut the bitter taste, and she wasn’t overly fond of sweet drinks.

She set her document folder aside, locked her computer screen monitor and took the half-full mug to the sink to dump it. A quick hot-water rinse and it was ready to be refilled. She’d try to go a little easier on the milk this time; that might preserve the cup a little longer. And while she was thinking of adding milk to coffee, there was someone else in the office who might just enjoy another cup.

Unable to resist, her gaze shot to the closed door not far from her desk, behind which the department head was no doubt engaged in an important meeting. It wasn’t unusual for them to go the entire day without hearing from him, though Veronika always made sure to take him drinks and snacks. She still insisted, silently – since no one had ever directly confronted her about the practice- that she wasn’t being nosey. She genuinely wanted to insure Rune Falkoner’s health. And if she happened to overhear a bit of his business at the same time, it wasn’t really her fault.

Besides; lately she took him coffee so she could see and speak to him rather than trying to overhear his conversations. Especially since he was finally in the habit of answering.

Veronika practically pranced to the coffee pot, fetching a clean mug on the way. She laid the two side by side, ready to receive portions of the precious liquid productivity, but the moment she reached for the coffee pot, her lips twisted with disgust. Someone had forgotten to rebrew after draining the carafe. They hadn’t even bothered to switch the hot plate off, leaving a thin skin of brown caked to the bottom of the pot.

With a soft grunt, she marched back to the sink, sprayed the pot with a fresh round of hot water and scrubbed until it looked usable again. Three minutes later, the coffee pot gurgled as water began to dribble through the fresh grounds.

Veronika crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her toes, but gave up her vigil after thirty seconds. She didn’t sit that far away from the coffee pot. She could easily see when it was ready and return to fulfill her duty.

Unlocking her computer as she settled back into her chair, Veronika tapped the edge of her keyboard as she tried to remember where she had left off with calculations. Strange to think that just three months ago she had despised this office and everything she did in it. She had spent those days longing for the evening and the evenings dreading the arrival of morning. In part, it was the change in tasks that had spurred her interest, but she’d be lying if she said it had nothing to do with the company she kept outside of work hours.

The coffee pot released its last loud gurgle and Veronika sprang to her feet, hurrying to claim the first two cups from the fresh pot. She added a small measure of milk to each of the mugs an stirred vigorously before depositing one of them next to her desk. On her way to the door she paused long enough to grab a plate and fill it with the bulk of a cream cheese-iced scone. They were left-over from yesterday, and it hadn’t been long since Falkoner’s breakfast, but she happened to know he was fond of these particular scones.

She knocked, waiting for his soft call before she entered.

Rune Falkoner’s office was strangely spacious considering the building it occupied. The floor was covered with lavash red carpet. The desk and furniture were all finished with a dark stain, and it always seemed to her like the mirrors behind the desk reflected light like rays of the sun to silhouette the office’s sole occupant.

He lifted his head when she entered and his hair seemed to fall away from his face, revealing the bright blue-green of his eyes. It wasn’t hard to notice them, considering the permanent pallor of their owner’s face, both framed by wavy locks of snow-white hair. But she only noticed his eyes until he smiled and then she couldn’t help but notice the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

She slid the door closed with her foot as she advanced toward the desk. Steam rose from the mug of coffee as she set it down in front of him.

In such close proximity, it was impossible to ignore how attractive Rune’s features were; the precise and delicate cut of his cheekbones and the elegant jut of his chin. His frame was slender, rather than muscular, but she knew the kind of power that lurked beneath his clothing.

At the moment, he was wearing only a bathrobe and, as he reached for her arm, the soft fabric of one sleeve slid free, revealing his shoulder and half of his bare chest.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he murmured as his graceful fingers closed around her wrist. “Why did you keep me waiting so long?” There was a sort of hunger in his voice, and it wasn’t the kind that longed for a scone.

Veronika pushed the scone-bearing plate and coffee mug aside so that she could slide onto the desk, perching on the edge like a bird ready to take flight at a moment’s notice.

“I had to brew a fresh pot of coffee,” she protested. “I can’t just barge in here whenever I want. What would people say?”

Probably whatever they would say about Rune Falkoner wearing a bathrobe to work anyway. She didn’t have much time to contemplate the question, as Rune rose from his chair and pressed his pale lips against hers. Already his tongue slid between her lips, and soon she would lay prostrate across his desk…

“Veronika?”

A high-pitched squeal escaped her lips before she could stop it. Veronika’s lips flamed red as her fingers shot to the proper place on her keyboard, but it was too late to pretend she had been working all along.

“Y…yes, sir?” If only she had something to hide her flaming face behind. How many times had Mister Falkoner tried to get her attention? He rarely called her by her first name at work.

There was an odd, amused expression on her boss’s face. His head was tilted slightly, as if he could see straight through her embarrassment to its cause. He wasn’t wearing a bathrobe; in fact he was wearing a business suit with a heavy jacket over top, clearly on his way up to the surface.

“Everything all right?”

“Oh… Yes, of course. I… I was just waiting for the coffee to finish brewing and I got distracted.” Her cheeks burned brighter.

Veronika swiveled her chair under the pretense of checking on the coffee pot. Half the contents were already missing. The two mugs she had set next to the brewer were still waiting to be filled.

Was there some way she could sink into her office char and disappear? That would be far preferable to facing her boss.

But when she finally swung the chair back in his direction, he was smiling. “I wondered if you might like to get some lunch?”

Veronika’s eyes flicked toward the clock on her monitor, but she didn’t really want to know how long she had been daydreaming. The less spoken about that, the better.

“I would love to,” she agreed, reaching for her jacket.

“And if there’s time after,” Rune’s smile became a wicked grin, “we could… exercise a bit before we return to the office.”

Veronika almost choked, though she managed to hide her wide-eyes momentarily in the hood of her jacket. It would be some time before her blush faded enough to look him in the face again.