Innocent Office Plaything (Closed)

[asetikish]

Deanne Lees looked at the photo of her favorite hentai hero one more time. Soma Mizuno was certainly not one of those lanky, boyish 2D Japanese hentai characters that pretended to be men. And in this photo, he was naked with a very seductive expression on his face.

And looking at the photo she had commissioned that she had just received through the mail, her mind went to overdrive thinking about herself and the hunky firefighter in compromising positions. The speech bubble that said, "I love you Deanne" only served to fuel her fantasies more.

Deanne wasn't really into the weird tentacle thing or the orc gangbang thing. She was more into intimate and...well, romantic stuff. Like any other normal girl, she wanted a guy in her life to call her own. But as life would have it, she had never even had a fling, especially since she wasn't courageous enough to have one.

Real relationships scared her, though she desperately wanted to be in one.

Licking her lips, Deanne wrote a bit about her favorite fantasies that were common in hentai themes.

1. Being groped in a crowded public transportation - or an elevator.
2. Someone having control of a vibrator inside her while in the office
3. A secret office quickie in the middle of the workday
4. Being groped during a meeting
5. Someone visiting her in her office to get her wet and then leaving her wanting more...

Deanne paused and looked at her list. Most of them were office fantasies. Ugh...she couldn't let her two personas come together. She could absolutely not let her personal life bleed into the successful person she set herself up to be.

She was feeling dampness between her legs, setting her pen down to start writing more of her fantasies when her alarm went off. She groaned and squeezed her legs together before sighing and shaking off all illicit thoughts. Her personal time was at an end and she needed to don a mask that would be more acceptable to society.

At 28, she had a great career as a business analyst and was one of the fastest workers in her company. She also got along well with so many co-workers, that any rivalry she had with others, if existing, were merely friendly competition. To anyone who met her, she was the epitome of a modern, successful career woman who had everything in life.

Outside her private life, she was known as Dee. It was a friendlier name and a more powerful one that Deanne. And she often used that to her advantage.

But there was one thing missing. As Deanne got into her car she sighed, not for the first time during her drive to office. She might look put together, but she felt empty and alone inside. It was why she turned to 2D men for comfort.

If real men weren't interested in her, at least she could pretend the hentai men were. As pathetic as that sounded, at least it gave her comfort.

What would it feel to be in a man's arms?

28 years of virginity--well, if playing with herself didn't count, and she definitely did not count that--was just sad.

As she parked her car, she took a deep breath and started her daily mental exercises to start the day, pumping herself up.

She would never again be the wallflower everyone ignored--or the nerd who was bullied.

She was Dee Lees. Business analyst extraordinaire and a devil's advocate to business strategists. The more private Deanne was going to sleep for as long as Dee worked and would wake up again once she was safely alone in her apartment.

With her game face on, Dee got to her office all smiles as she waved to the people she recognized as she walked to the elevator. One of the men, thankfully holding the door open for her as she ran inside.

"Thanks Pete!"

"Anytime," Pete grinned. "Hey Dee, thanks for pointing out the problem in our operations cycle, by the way. We could have lost millions in a year if you didn't figure that out."

Dee laughed. "It's part of the job. Oh! 28 please."

"Heading to marketing?" Pete pressed the flor number.

"Yeah. They need to see which campaigns are doing better where after their A/B tests. They're on the right track, but there are a few things they missed."

"Good thing you saw that."

"If I didn't, I would be out of the job." She grinned at Pete as the elevator stopped on her floor. "See ya!"

Dee headed to the marketing floor and with people just coming in, she made a bee line toward the lead for the campaigns. Her smile broadened.

Tyler Jensen was one of the people she loved working with. Not because he was easy on the eyes--that was just a bonus--but because the guy was a brilliant and quick on the uptake. That he didn't put up airs about his competence was one of the reasons why Dee almost always volunteered to be assigned to marketing. The guy knew he was good but he didn't throw it in everyone's faces. He knew what was right, but didn't shut down everyone who had a different view.

"Hey Tyler!" Dee walked up to him with a smile handing him a folder. "Here are the reports. The whole strategy is good, but there are a few variables here that you might have missed. They can be huge game changers if you take them into consideration too. Marty and I have a few suggestions for tweaks, but it's entirely up to you and your team. You know promotional themes better. But yeah, other than that, everything's airtight.

"Call us again anytime you need help."

The small talk was short, but that was how Dee rolled. She didn't want anyone to get to know her deeply or risk the fact that she was a virgin freak behind all her trappings.

She left him with a smile and headed up to the 36th floor to get more work done behind her desk. It was a good start to her day.

Or at least it would have been if she was aware that the picture and her list were included in Tyler's files and had been quick to take them out before handing the files to him.

Dee was blissfully typing away on her desk as Tyler turned to the last two pages that revealed her hidden fantasies, showing Tyler a glimpse of Deanne Lees.

 

[Gr8chtr]

Tyler Jensen loved nothing more than his morning, leisurely stroll to work. The 17 block, nearly one-mile hike included his daily visit to a genuine Jewish deli where he purchased a bagel and cream cheese and a large double-shot espresso while reading the news on his phone. Having finished his spare breakfast, there was still plenty of time for him to ponder thoughts that flowed through his creative mind.

On this particular, lovely June morning his mind wandered to an instructor’s comment in Tyler’s undergraduate psychology class. The professor said that Freud had claimed that life was all about only three things: love, work and play, not necessarily in that order. Tyler had two of the three well in hand.

Work: An MBA from one of the nation’s top graduate programs in marketing on his resumé had potential employers practically falling all over themselves in an attempt to sign this hot prospect. That allowed Tyler two years ago, at age 25, to land a job at his current workplace with a starting salary in the low six-figures, plenty of money for a young, single guy with no dependents. Besides that, his marketing department included only three other co-workers, two of whom were well into their 60’s. And, the remaining 40-something coworker was dedicated to finding a job in a small town in her home state before her oldest kid started high school, all of which meant that there was a very good chance that Tyler would be the marketing director in no more than 6 – 8 years. More importantly to Tyler, though, was that he not only really liked the projects that he worked on, he really liked all of the people in the company that he worked with on a daily basis.

Play: An affable extravert nearly to a fault, it took little time after moving to his present location for Tyler to find lots of ways to play. Wednesday nights featured the dart-game tournament at his neighborhood’s Madigan’s Irish Pub; Tyler, of course, was the team captain. Most months during “the season” he was involved in some fashion with whatever show the Uptown Players Community Theatre was doing, often as a “techie” but sometimes with a small part of his own. As someone who always liked sports and was at least average in athletics, it wasn’t hard for him to find a pick-up soccer game on weekends.

Love: Well…this was not his strong suite. To be sure he was nowhere close to being a virgin. Tyler had had sex with six different women in his lifetime, about average for an American man of his age, but four of these were little more than hookups, although multiple times each. The other two were full-blown dating relationships but neither lasted more than a few months and the last of these was nearly two years ago. Tyler hadn’t had sex in a year and a half, not counting solo flights with Ms. Hand. Had his co-workers or his dart-playing friends known about his private life, they would scarcely believe it. But, it was not a mystery to Tyler himself because he was the rare combination of being a shy extravert. And, intimacy did not come easy.

Although in the fast-moving, urban business world with lots of 20- and 30-somethings there were lots of office romances, Tyler thought his options were limited. Hitting on one of the firm’s clients had the potential to be disastrous if the move was unwelcome. His shyness prohibited him from flirting much; hence, he didn’t have any idea of which of his women co-workers were available. He had focused his thinking on one coworker: Dee Lees but deemed her to be unattainable. Tyler liked Dee very much, always enjoyed and looked forward to their interactions, and never failed to notice how hot she looked in her tight blouse and form-fitting skirt – hoping, of course, that she didn’t notice his noticing. But Dee was the epitome of self-assurance, competence and savvy. For a guy like him, Tyler reasoned, attempting to date Dee would be like the leader of the campus debate club coming on to the homecoming queen who was currently seeing the captain of the football team who had just been accepted to medical school. Out of his league by a very long stretch.

Tyler ended his reverie as he entered his 28th-floor office. No wonder, he thought, that his thoughts had turned to Dee Lees; he expected to see her first thing this morning with the analytics that he had requested. He was not disappointed; Dee was there five minutes after his arrival. Tyler returned Dee’s cheerful greeting with one of his own. He expressed his appreciation as she handed him the report. Pleasant though their interaction was, as usual Dee was gone before Tyler could attempt to start any small talk.

Tyler read Dee’s one-page executive summary immediately, vowing to read the rest of the report before lunch. In shuffling the papers in the file that she had given him, two pages, one a picture, slipped out. Because they clearly were not a piece of the report narrative, they immediately caught Tyler’s attention. He started to peruse them, assuming that they were scrap paper of some kind.

Tyler’s jaw literally dropped. What the fuck?! He had briefly heard of hentai porn and that it might even be possible to “commission” one just for oneself, but he was not even sure if that was true. Here was evidence of some secret part of Dee’s life that seemed remarkably out of character. He tried to think of what the implications of this were, and they were myriad. Dee and some romantic partner could both be into some weird porn as a part of their sex life; stories of such were well-known. Or, Dee might be having a private life of her own of which her partner(s) were unaware. Or, even more intriguing, perhaps porn was her sex life with no partner in the picture.

What to do? Tyler managed somehow to get some critical work done during the day despite the morning’s revelation that never left his mind. A plan struck him. He was well aware that although Dee was one of the workers who was most conscientious about getting to work on time or even early, she also seldom stayed beyond 5:00. Dee was not one to linger around the workplace unlike so many others. Tyler inked a hand-written note on office stationery with the simple message, “Thank you for the data analytics. As always, they were very helpful. If you want to discuss this or other matters further, just send me an email and we can meet in your office.” He put the note, the picture and Dee’s fantasy list in an envelope sealed and marked “CONFIDENTIAL”. Waiting until 5:30 Tyler ventured to the 36th floor and, not surprisingly found her office suite still open with other workers still there. Tyler quickly placed the sealed envelope on Dee’s chair and left quietly.

 

[asetikish]

Dee went on her usual rounds through the different departments and gave an impeccable report to her manager and mentor. Well, at least she thought it was impeccable until he gave her feedback on the things she could do better. They were, to be honest, nitpicky, but she always believe that there are always things to improve on. This was why she was in business analysis. She was thankful for the fact that her manager never failed to give feedback.

"So, Dee," he said when their formal business was finally over. "I'm thinking of treating the whole department to a nice dinner and drinks on Friday. You think you can skip whatever commitment you always have on Friday nights and join us? Everyone's dying to get to know you more out of the office."

Dee gave him the most apologetic smile she could muster. Deeper interactions with people? Uh...scary? So, no. Of course, she couldn't tell her boss that. That would be career suicide. "I'd really love to. It's just...these things happen on Friday nights and that commitment is rather...sacred to me." Well, duh! Personal time was a sacred commitment to her. "Would be great if it were any other day, but Sunday is a family day for you and who knows if we need extra hours to get the job done on a regular weekday?"

Her manager chuckled and shook his head. "Ah, it was worth a try anyway. I really hope you can join us one of these days. Even once."

"I'm sure it would be really fun to be there. I'd really love to if it were any other day," ...NOT! How can these people go on and on talking with so many people? Don't they ever get tired? Apparently not.

"Clocking out then?"

Dee nodded. "Just taking a few stuff home and continue some stuff there. Wouldn't want the company to think I'm abusing overtime rules and I don't want you to keep making formal requests. After all, more money for the company and more savings from our division makes us look good and gives us more reason to get a bigger budget. And we all know what that means."

They both laughed. Of course, that also meant bonuses, aside from better places for "team building" vacations.

Dee said her good-bye, got her things and headed to her car. As soon as she shut the door, she sat back and gave a huge sigh. She loved her job. She really did. But there were just so many people to talk to, by the end of the workday, she was exhausted from all the socializing.

As she drove home, she knew she could delay her section on the report for the C-suite presentation so she could have her alone time with her Soma commission. But that would be totally irresponsible.

Soma needed to wait for her tomorrow. Yet another reason why her imaginary men were better. They weren't selfish for her attention. They understood, they could wait and she could still believe they loved her.

Oh, she didn't mind if a real man could be a little selfish, but he should also know where to draw a line and let her do the things she needed to do and understand it. Not that she had any real experiences, but some of her girl "friends" often complained. She knew they were just complaints and people were more likely to talk about their complaints than what they were satisfied about.

Heck, Christina was even married to the guy she always complained about. Married 5 years. Still complaining, but very, very happy.

She sighed. She wanted to get married too.

Parking, she headed to her apartment and grinned at the Soma poster in her room--the one with only his shirt off, smirking--and sighed. "Maybe I'm just setting such high standards because I'm scared, huh?"

The poster didn't answer and she frowned. A real person would have answered her, maybe even soothed her and listened to her complain. But she was alone. With imaginary men who can never respond to her.

Clicking her tongue she made dinner and went to work. It was no use getting herself depressed over her loneliness. After all, it was her choice to avoid socializing with people.

Avoiding them was safe.

Safe meant not getting bullied.

It was 10pm when she finished and promptly went to bed. And as her body clock went, she woke up at exactly 5 in the morning went on her usual morning rituals and checked the work she did the night before. After a few tweaks, she still had thirty minutes before she had to leave for work again.

She smiled fishing out the new commission...wait...where was it? And for that matter, where was her unfinished list? She set about looking for it calmly in the first ten minutes, but as the clock ticked, panic started to well up in her.

Where was it? Surely she couldn't have just lost it.

But what if...

No. No no no no no no!

Her alarm had five minutes left before it rang, but she picked up her things and left for the office in a rush. She didn't spare the time to psych herself up for the day as she rushed from the parking lot to her office, praying that the photo and her list were tucked away in her drawer without anyone seeing it as she gave a smile and a nod to those who recognized her.

She barreled into her office and saw an envelope she didn't remember when she clocked out. Her palms began to sweat and her lips dried even as she licked them reaching for the envelope.

CONFIDENTIAL.

That should signal corporate secrets. Right?

She opened the envelope and crumpled on the chair as her knees gave way seeing the contents. Her face felt drained of blood as her breathing shallowed.

"Other matters" she was sure did not refer to the data she gave.

A million curses flew by her mind as she sat there fearing the worst. Would she be blackmailed? By whom? There was no signed name at the bottom. And she had at least three people who she gave reports to yesterday.

It definitely couldn't be her manager. She was there when he rifled through the papers. Could it be Jen from Accounting? No. The woman told her to stay to verify the contents before she told Dee she could leave. Which meant...

Oh god...Tyler!

She heard the elevator door ping and quickly stuffed the contents back into the envelope and slid it into her desk drawer. She should go to her door and shut it, but she still felt weak knowing that someone else knew her secret.

Someone knocked three times on the frame of her door and she looked up to see her coworker Marty.

"Hey, you okay Dee?"

She gave him a pained grin. "Just a little headache. I just need to pace myself today."

"Did you stay up all night finishing the report?"

Dee just grinned neither denying nor confirming. Of course, she didn't have to stay up all night. She was quicker than that.

"I swear, stop wearing yourself out, okay?" He sighed. "Here, give it. I'll see if I can get our benevolent manager to take it easy on you."

Dee took the report out of her bag--checked it--and handed it to Marty with a smile. "Thanks. Sorry about this."

"No problem. Just take it easy, okay? I don't want my favorite partner falling flat on her face on me."

"Thanks. Close the door when you get out, please."

As soon as the door shut, she opened her PC and hesitated before writing an email. She needed to deal with this quickly. And Tyler, wasn't a bully, right? He wouldn't blackmail her to ruin her career just for sexual favors...would he? He was one of the nicer guys she'd ever met. But what if he had a dark side. Now that he knew she had one too, what if he's not afraid to show his? But he returned everything and there was no threat in the note. But what if he took a photo of her stuff and kept a copy?

Oh shit...what had she done? But it can't be helped. The email had to be sent.

Dear Mr. Jensen,

I received your message. Please see me at the earliest possible convenience so we can quickly settle the matter in the most favorable way possible for all parties.

Thank you for letting me know my lapse in judgement.

Regards,
Dee L.

Send.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Dee tried to get work done, but every moment that ticked by made the dread in her grew, distracting her, unable to get a simple e-mail done. Thank goodness she decided to finish the report last night!

As she stared at her screen with but a few words, she jumped hearing a knock on her door.

She took a deep breath and gave herself a quick mental exercise. Stay calm. Be focused. You can get through this.

"Come in."

 

[Gr8chtr]

Typically, Tyler’s walk back to his apartment after work was just as leisurely and pleasant as was his morning walk to work. Not tonight. As he walked, he began to re-think what he had just done. His mind had swirled in all kinds of directions when he first saw Dee’s (or should he now think of her as “Deanna”?) hentai picture and her list of fantasies. During the day as he turned all of this over in his head, he had convinced himself that it would be kind to her to keep his finding completely confidential and to quietly return the private materials to her with a brief note. Now, he was beginning to question his own motives.

Why did he return the materials in a way that made Dee realize that he had seen them? Wouldn’t it have been better for her if he had simply run them through the office paper shredder and never let her know that anyone had seen them? She might just assume that they were lost somewhere. Or, given his plan to put the sealed envelope on her chair involved going into her office after she left, might it not have been more kind to just slip the materials themselves into one of her desk drawers or under a stack of papers so that Dee might think that the photo and fantasy list had never been found by anyone?

“Shit!”, Tyler actually said out loud to no one as he walked, “I wanted her to know that I knew.” “Why?”, he kept asking himself repeatedly, at least this time not out loud. The first, and disturbing, thought that came to Tyler was the he was feeling bad about his own sex life or, rather, the complete lack of one. One of his grandmother’s favorite phrases, “Misery loves company” echoed through his mind. Did he, in some way, want Dee to feel bad just because he was? Was he actually that so self-absorbed?

While contemplating his possible narcissistic motives, another possibility emerged in Tyler’s mind. Simply put, he was horny and had not outlet. Four of the five fantasies on Dee’s list involved some form of sexual encounter in the workplace. He hadn’t had any immediate erotic images in response to seeing her materials, but might his subconscious have been stoking his libido? Was he hoping that letting her know that he knew would lead to something?

Tyler’s second thought led to a third one that was so stunning that he had to sit down on a bench to think this through. What if Dee subconsciously wanted the photo and list to be found, maybe not by him, necessarily, but by someone who would come on to her? If so, was it kinder to her to just quietly reassure her that he would keep all of this confidential or might she like it if he pushed them toward making one of her fantasies come true? Tyler realized quickly that this line of thought was very self-serving but perhaps should not be dismissed.

The “she wants to be found out” thought led Tyler to the next obvious question. Of the fantasies that she listed, which might he pursue most safely so that she wouldn’t likely claim harassment and that they could both back away from while saving face. The answer was obvious: Somehow stimulating Dee erotically in her office at a low level that left her perhaps wanting more might be relatively safe for both of them.

But, how to do so? Then Tyler remembered something that his graduate school apartment mate, a law school student, once told him. Many years ago there was a high school kind named “Freer” or “Fraser” or something like that who made a nominating speech for his friend who was running for the school council that didn’t include any offensive sexual terms or phrases but that was so laced with double entendre that the intent was obvious. The student had described his friend with phrases like “he takes his point and pounds it in” or “he’ll take an issue and nail it to the wall”. Whatever his name was, the student had taken a risk in the service of a goal. On the one hand, according to Tyler’s former apartment mate, the student speaker got suspended from school, on the other his friend was elected by a huge margin. “Risks”, Tyler concluded, “are sometimes worth it.”

Tyler now had at least the outline of a plan.

Arriving at work the next morning, Tyler again tried with limited success to focus on his work. It didn’t take long before he received Dee’s “Dear Mr. Tyler” email. The greeting line alone took him aback. They were consistently on a first-name basis. “Boy,” Tyler thought, “Dee is really anxious.”

He waited a few minutes before walking to Dee’s office and knocking on her closed door. Her obvious phrase, “Come in”, suddenly took on more than one meaning. Tyler offered a cheery “Good morning, Dee” as he quietly sat in the chair at the side of her desk, facing her. “I saw from your message that you wanted to engage with me but I didn’t want to come too quickly.”

“This conversation,” Tyler thought, “is going to be really interesting…and, maybe, fun.”

 

[asetikish]

It was Tyler after all! Ah, shit...Dee hadn't even planned on what to say, much less how to go about this whole debacle. She could be straightforward, but that could trigger a host of problems.

"Good morning, Dee."

"Good morning. Please lock the door." Dee surprised herself at how calm she sounded, which was the opposite of what she felt, like a graceful swan frantically paddling as it glides through the waters.

Thankfully Tyler obliged. If anything compromising was said, she didn't want anyone to be in hearing distance--

But could that have been the wrong move? What if he planned to blackmail her? If he did though, what would an unlocked door do but to exacerbate the situation if anyone came in. The more she thought about her situation, the more she realized how hemmed in she was.

“I saw from your message that you wanted to engage with me but I didn’t want to come too quickly.”

Was there an insinuation in that? Maybe? Maybe he was just being considerate? After all, he never showed any bullying tendencies even with his subordinates. If that was the case, there could be a way to solve this without it getting out of hand. After all, finding solutions and weak points in problems was her job. She was a bloody good BA and she was going to use it to solve the problem that Deanne brought her.

Not that Deanne was another person, but for now, she had to treat herself as two separate people with different problems if she were to be successful in navigating this. In the office she did not have any sexual desires. The office was all about work.

This was just that. A problem solving job at the office.

"At your earliest convenience, of course," Dee tried to give him a smile, but it couldn't come. Even the forced smile felt like it was going to be shaky so she went for her most passive expression. "Thank you for bringing back the errors. Did--"

Dee bit on her lips. Even her words had to be carefully said. What if he turned on the voice recording on his phone? She had to be careful.

"I assume there are no other copies of the errors? That would be problematic, wouldn't you agree?"

Dee listened to his response, her thoughts running a mile a minute. She couldn't calm down--couldn't completely separate the different faces of the one she showed to people and the one she hid.

He certainly saw it, but what did he want? For that matter, what did he think? Her fantasies had been laid bare to him. Did he plan to do them with her--No! No, don't go there, Dee! Sure he was hot and smart, and quite well off, but that didn't mean he wanted to do it with her. Besides, a man like him likely has a girlfriend. Not having one seemed impossible. After all, who could refuse a nice, handsome man with money?

Not that she was hunting for that sort of man, but really? Who could refuse?

Well, now that he knew her secret, how could she even work with him? It would just be too embarrassing.

If he had asked her out, she might have said yes. There was no reason to say no. He is pretty likeable after all.

No! Wait, focus!

Yes, the girlfriend angle. She could use that.

"I appreciate your honesty in the matter." Since when had she ever talked so formally with him? Damn she was uptight and it was so hard to let go. "By any chance, would you have any reason to give them back? You could have just shredded the errors and left everything be. I'm certain we could simply forget the matter and move on."

She licked her lips feeling the fluttering of her stomach and the heat on her face intensify. She wished she wasn't showing any outward signs, but she was sure she was blushing like crazy. "I'm certain you cannot expect anything from me but an apology. I...I'm sure I don't have any skills or knowledge that would compare your team member. You would find my skills lacking in your department."

She took a deep breath wanting to hide under the desk from embarrassment and it was all she could do not to do exactly that. She had basically told them that she was an unexperienced virgin who could give him no sexual pleasure unlike his significant other.

Where were natural disasters when you needed them the most?

 

[Gr8chtr]

No sooner had Tyler spilled out his intended double entendre, “I saw from your message that you wanted to engage with me but I didn’t want to come too quickly”, then he had second thoughts about it. Driven by some erotic stimulation created by having seen Dee’s list of fantasies and the sudden realization that she might possibly not be out of his reach he had glommed on to the idea pursuing her fantasy of “…get[ing] her wet and then leaving her wanting more…” through the creative and repeated use of sexual innuendo. But, his opening salvo had been weak and there was no immediate indication that Dee had recognized it for what it was intended to be. She had just moved on methodically to asking the critical question about the privacy of her materials. Whatever else he might try to do, Tyler knew that he had to put any of Dee’s fears about privacy to rest.

“No, Dee,” Tyler said both honestly and as calmly he could given the situation, “there were no copies made of the extraneous materials that you accidentally included in the packet. Nor, did I show them or mention them to anyone else. Nor, will I ever. You simply accidentally put some personal – well, very personal – papers in with your report to my department. We all make mistakes; others don’t need to know about them.” Tyler could see the relief in Dee’s face as he finished his declaration.

Then she dropped a bomb that almost made Tyler’s jaw drop yet again: By any chance, would you have any reason to give them back? You could have just shredded the errors and left everything be. I'm certain we could simply forget the matter and move on.

Fuck! She had just asked the critical question that Tyler had asked himself – and could not satisfactorily answer - as he sat on the park bench on his walk home last night. How could he provide an answer that he didn’t even himself know? But, even more amazingly, she rescued him from his dilemma before he even had a chance to speak with an even more provocative statement.

I...I'm sure I don't have any skills or knowledge that would compare your team member. You would find my skills lacking in your department.

What the fuck!? Was she engaging in inuendo? Shit, was she implying that she wasn’t a good sex partner? Her? The brilliant, apparently self-confident business analyst with a stunningly hot body to boot? God, maybe Dee’s love life wasn’t going any better than his. Maybe she was lonely.

Tyler decided to mostly ditch his original plan and go straight out for a date and see what happened.

“Well, as to whether your skills are anything that I might need or that they might not be adequate for my needs is, as I believe you business analysts would say, an empirical question. We can only find out by collecting data. That leads me to a proposal. Today is Wednesday. Tonight features my weekly participation in the darts tournament at Madigan’s Irish Pub. As it turns out, one of our team members texted us this morning to say that he can’t make it. So, I’ m our team’s captain and I need a partner. Why don’t you join me as my partner for the night and we’ll see how our skills mesh? We meet at 7:00 so that we can order a sandwich and some beers, eat dinner and be ready to start the tournament at 8:00.

What do you say?

 

[asetikish]

Dee expected the worst as soon as the words came out of her mouth, but she didn't expect his response.

“Well, as to whether your skills are anything that I might need or that they might not be adequate for my needs is, as I believe you business analysts would say, an empirical question. We can only find out by collecting data. That leads me to a proposal. Today is Wednesday. Tonight features my weekly participation in the darts tournament at Madigan’s Irish Pub. As it turns out, one of our team members texted us this morning to say that he can’t make it. So, I’ m our team’s captain and I need a partner. Why don’t you join me as my partner for the night and we’ll see how our skills mesh? We meet at 7:00 so that we can order a sandwich and some beers, eat dinner and be ready to start the tournament at 8:00.

"What do you say?"

Dee's thoughts ground to a halt. What? He was inviting her to a...darts tournament? At Madigan's Irish Pub...and he wanted her to be his partner. What? And...was that a dinner invite?

Was she missing something? None of it sounded like blackmail or a hidden message. All the details were too precise and as far as she knew, there were dart tournaments at Madigan's. Not that she ever went or knew when it was, but there were a few people she knew in the office who went there.

Well, what else could she say to that. In all of this, it seemed like he was letting her off the hook for a pub night.

Ugh...after work socializing. But if that was the price to pay for him to let go of the whole debacle, it was a miniscule price.

"Alright." As soon as the words left her mouth, she visibly relaxed. "I've never thrown darts either before so you have to carry the game for us. So...should I change or is this fine?"

Her agreement to his offer would be the first time she ever agreed to an after-working hours social. Of course, she also went to the team building excursions, but she often had a habit of disappearing right after dinner to recharge herself for the next day. This was most certainly a first and she didn't know what to do. At the very least, she could take cues from Tyler.

There was no other insinuation or hint at her personal stuff. Did that mean things were looking hopeful for her and her stupid blunder? She hoped so.

"I'll be there at seven then." Her face involuntarily smiled as she felt ease envelope her. Tyler, really was a nice guy.

But...wait. Why would he invite her for something that seemed so important. For that matter, if he would invite someone like her who had never even played darts before, did that mean he did not have a girlfriend? What?

That was...surprising. He didn't seem the type to cheat on a girl. Although she could be wrong since she didn't even know what types cheat on their girlfriends. But...it was safe to assume he was single. After all, if he had a team it would not be easy for him to cheat since he would have brought her along once or twice. Bringing her to meet his team would mean he was safely single. Wasn't he?

Ah! She had no idea. After all. He really didn't say it was a date...although it kinda felt like one...

Stop. Over. Thinking! She watched him exit her office and she sighed slumping against her chair. Well, that went well. Too well. It wasn't like things went her way that easily. If she looked back on her life record, it was nothing but struggle after struggle. From being bullied for not being in the in-crowd and liking things different from others, to struggling to get good grades and failing to enter the universities she liked, to applying to this company four times before being accepted, nothing ever came easy for Dee.

Was she using up all her good karma all at the same time? She didn't know. But what she did know was that she was thankful Tyler did not have any copies and he didn't embarrass her for the things she hid from the world.

Her lips quirked up in a tiny grin. Well, good karma was always welcome. She needed the respite, after all. And Tyler was a good guy to have that karma with.

 

[Gr8chtr]

As soon as he invited Dee to join him for the darts tournament at Madigan’s, Tyler’s head began to spin. He started off thinking that he would at least scratch the surface of one of her office fantasies by using a lot of clever inuendo but, instead, more or less invited her out for a date. He surprised even himself. He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted her to say “yes” or to decline.

Alright. I've never thrown darts either before so you have to carry the game for us. So...should I change or is this fine?

Tyler smiled in agreement to her acceptance. Her question about how she should dress began to fuel his fantasies. He was sure that she would look hot in anything that she wore but he responded honestly, “Whatever you wear will be fine but we all usually dress very casually. You know, jeans, sports shirts, whatever.”

I'll be there at seven then.

Tyler thanked Dee and left her office. He took just a few steps, though, and returned briefly as a wicked tease crossed his mind. Sticking his head around her door he grinned and said, “Given that you are new to darts, you should know that in the darts world there are ‘thrusters’ and ‘lobbers’. We’ll just have to see what style works best for you. Myself, I’m a pretty big ‘thruster’ and I’m pretty good at it too.”

Once again Tyler had difficulty concentrating on his work, but he managed to at least get something done. He intentionally left a little early. Somehow, he didn’t want to run in to Dee prior to seeing her at Madigan’s. Hurrying back to his apartment, he showered and settled in to watch part of a video. Tyler realized that he was feeling pretty nervous. “Shit,” he thought, “Dee is having some effect on me.”

Tyler arrived a bit before 7:00 and chatted with his buddies as they began to filter in. He explained that he had found one of his co-workers as a temporary replacement for his partner. He tried to phrase his explanation so that his friends wouldn’t think that he had brought a date. After all of the time when he was clearly unattached, he didn’t want them to start teasing him over having a new girlfriend.

As he chatted with his buddies, Tyler couldn’t take his mind off of what Dee might decide to wear. He was now sure that however she looked, he would find her very attractive. As he turned and saw her walking in off the street, Tyler was not disappointed.