Impromptu Attraction Ch. 02

The car slowly backed out of the driveway, leaving the neighborhood for the main road that would eventually lead to the interstate. Julia turned to her boyfriend in the driver's seat. "How do you think it went?" she asked.

Ben smiled. "I think it went very well."

They were making their way back after a weekend at Ben's parents' house, and Julia had been nervous about meeting them for weeks. In the three months that they'd been dating Julia had met Ben's sister on several occasions, but this was the first time she had met his parents.

"They're very nice, I'm just never sure if parents like me or not," Julia confessed.

Ben gave her a quizzical look. "How many boyfriends' parents have you met?" he asked.

She started counting in her head. "Well, technically this is my fourth time. But the first two were before either of us could drive and it doesn't really count if you meet them by getting a ride."

Ben considered this as he merged onto the interstate. "So that's two boyfriends before you were sixteen?"

Julia blushed. "Two whose parents I met anyway."

"Right, now I'm suspicious. Would you mind telling me all about your sordid past while I have you trapped in a confined space?" He tried his best to ask the question with a straight face, and very nearly succeeded.

Julia feigned exasperation before detailing her past relationships. "Well, first there was Colin in eighth grade. He asked me to go to the Valentine's Day dance with him, so naturally I just met him there. At some point his parents called my dad and offered to give me a ride home afterwards."

"Sounds very romantic," Ben said with a grin.

"Oh yes, we were the talk of the eighth grade the next day. Technically we dated for a few weeks after that, though we never actually went out anywhere together." Julia thought for a moment before continuing. "Boyfriend two was to the spring dance. Same situation as the first one really: carpooled to the school, shared a few very awkward slow dances at arm's length, then claimed to be dating for a while without actually going anywhere."

"You were a very popular thirteen-year-old," Ben said.

She ignored him and continued. "Boyfriend number three was Alex, freshman year of high school. I was a freshman, he was a senior, it was all very scandalous."

Ben couldn't keep the laughter out of his voice when he replied, "I can't believe the two of you aren't still together, you sound like such a nice couple."

"It was more a case of him not wanting to go to prom without a date and me not being picky as long as I got to go. We were in the same Spanish class and he asked me to go with him, so we did the whole taking-pictures-in-front-of-his parents'-fireplace thing."

Ben considered this before asking, "You were a freshman in the same class as a senior?"

"Like I said, I wasn't picky as long as I got to go. He was a nice enough guy and we went out a few times, but there wasn't much interest there."

"OK, so three boyfriends by your freshman year of high school. All dance-related I might add, should I be worried about that?" Ben was doing his best not to laugh, and failing miserably.

She rolled her eyes, but continued. "I went on a few other dates in high school, but never more than once or twice with the same guy," Julia continued. "Got to college and dated a few guys, nothing very serious. Then my junior year I went out with a guy named James for about a year."

"Then what happened?" Ben asked.

"I met his parents and they absolutely hated me," Julia said. "And I had no idea until he broke up with me a few days later."

"He broke up with you because of his parents?"

Julia shrugged. "Now you know why I was so nervous about this weekend."

Ben took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "You have nothing to worry about." He brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. "They said of all the girls I've ever brought home, you're their favorite."

She gave him a worried look. "How many girls have they met?"

"Well, you're only the second. But the point is you're their favorite," he finished with a smile.

"Go on," Julia said, a little relieved, "let's hear about all your paltry affairs."

Ben cleared his throat, and Julia settled in for what she was expecting to be a long list. "Let's see, there was Becky in the seventh grade. We were together for about three hours before we decided to see other people."

Julia burst out laughing. "Three hours?"

"Hey, that's a long time when you're twelve. We flirted all during Social Studies, I asked her out at the beginning of gym class, and we were very happy together during lunch. But things got a little rocky during recess, and by English we thought it was best to go our separate ways."

"And you made fun of me for my school dance relationships," she teased. "So three hours in the seventh grade, what else?"

Ben thought before continuing. "In high school I had a summer girlfriend two summers in a row, but that was pretty much it."

"Really? I'm surprised you didn't get out more," Julia said.

"I was on the swim team and ran track, so I didn't have a whole lot of free time. That and I was kind of a nerd and most girls didn't talk to me," he admitted. "But over the summers I was a lifeguard at a pool, so I dated one of the other lifeguards."

"Sounds sexy," Julia said, imagining him in his swim trunks. "Ever have to save a damsel in distress?"

"It may sound sexy, but it really wasn't. And the only person I ever had to dive in the pool for was a middle-aged man with a hairy back." Ben shuddered at the memory.

"But more importantly, you managed to be a nerd who played two sports," she laughed. "Prom date?"

"Went with a group, but I had the last laugh. Once all the girls got there and realized their dates wouldn't dance with them they all came and danced with me. I don't think I sat down all night," he said with a smile.

She made a mental note to go out dancing with Ben sometime. "OK, that takes us through high school, how about college?" she asked, then immediately wished she hadn't. Ben's face turned serious, and he let go of her hand and put it back on the steering wheel. He kept his eyes on the road as he spoke.

"I met a girl at the end of my freshman year, and we were together for three and a half years before we broke up." Julia waited for him to continue, watching his expression. She had never seen him look upset, but a strange look had crossed his face.

"What happened?" she asked quietly. It was a while before he answered.

"She met someone else," he said simply. "Except she didn't wait very long to start dating him, so they were together for about a month before I found out what was going on."

Julia was stunned. Ben was the sweetest guy she had ever met, and she couldn't imagine why anyone would ever cheat on him. Just the thought of it made her angry, but she decided to keep her opinion to herself. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Ben sighed. His face had relaxed back to his normal expression. "Could have been worse. At least I hadn't proposed to her like I'd planned."

Julia felt sick that someone had done that to him. She knew that if it hadn't happened then she might not be with him today, but she still felt horrible for him. "Girls are bitches," she said.

Ben laughed and took her hand again. "Not all of them."

The rest of the drive passed quickly, and before long they were parked in front of Julia's apartment building. They spent an increasing number of evenings a week together, alternating where they stayed and who was in charge of cooking dinner. Every morning Ben would drive them both to work, and each day seemed to bring them closer together.

They climbed the stairs to Julia's apartment and settled in on her couch. She sat on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder before asking him one last time how he thought the weekend went.

"Let me put it this way," he replied, "they're well on their way to being as much in love with you as I am."

Julia's heart skipped a beat at his words. She raised her head and looked into his eyes. "You're in love with me?"

"Yes, I am." His reply was matter-of-fact, without the slightest hesitation or doubt. Julia was still searching for a response when he leaned forward and gave her a long, soft kiss.

She sighed as he trailed his lips down to her neck. His hands circled her waist before creeping up the back of her shirt, playing across her soft skin.

Without another word they undressed each other, taking their time and paying attention to every part of each other's bodies. Ben seemed to kiss every inch of her skin, sending shivers down her spine in the process. When his lips made their way between her legs she moaned with pleasure, and he used his tongue to bring her to her first orgasm.

Eventually they would move from the couch to the bed, where they made love at a slow, gentle pace that lasted late into the evening. He drove her over the edge more times than she could count, and he held off as long as he could before allowing his own orgasm to take over. They spent the night curled up in each other's arms, and Julia had never felt as content as she did when she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning they got up and ready for work as usual. They had gotten used to spending nights in each other's apartments, and each had a growing collection of clothes in both places. Julia was glad the weather was warming up, and as they drove to work the March sun shone brightly.

While their relationship was still considered a secret in the office, it was a fairly well known one. If anyone asked why they tended to arrive at work together they would say they were carpooling, but few people paid that close attention to them. Just in case they spent their days avoiding each other to prevent any suspicion, and no one seemed to notice their relationship was flourishing.

The same could not be said about the magazine where they worked. Circulation and subscriptions had gone way down since the new editor-in-chief began work in December, and the prospects for the future were not looking bright. The optimistic estimates calculated that they would be bankrupt by the end of the year, while others predicted they would not last to the end of the summer.

As Ben and Julia took the elevator up to their floor, they gave each other one last kiss before stepping out into their office. They immediately sensed the buzzing tension, and soon found the source. They each had a memo sitting on their desks about an emergency staff meeting set for later that morning.

"Hey honey, did you have a nice weekend? Mine was just fantastic!" Julia heard Marilynn's voice over her shoulder before she finished reading about the meeting. Monday mornings were usually greeted with a recap of her coworker's escapades with her latest boyfriends, who tended to be at least thirty years her junior. Today was no exception, and Julia politely listened to a story full of thinly-veiled innuendo and knowing looks.

"How was your weekend, do anything exciting?" Marilynn eventually asked after she caught her breath.

"Met the parents," Julia said with a smile.

Marilynn beamed. She was the only one in the office to officially know about Julia and Ben, and for once she managed to keep a piece of gossip to herself. She glanced over her shoulder at Ben before giving Julia a big hug.

"Are you worried about this meeting?" Julia asked. She had only been working for the magazine for six months, but this was the first time an emergency meeting had been called and it sounded serious.

"They'll either tell us we're screwed or we're saved, but I guess we're about to find out." As she spoke their coworkers started moving toward the conference room, and the two of them joined the small crowd congregating there.

The staff was small enough to fit around one table, and everyone took their seats when the editor came in. The normally relaxed atmosphere was tense, and they all sat in silence waiting for him to speak. He cleared his throat and addressed the group.

"There's no gentle way to say this, so I'll just come out and say it: we're in serious trouble," he began. No one was surprised by the news, but it still wasn't very comforting to hear it from the boss. "Sales are down, some of our biggest advertisers are pulling out, and at this rate we'll be out of business in a few months."

The room was still silent, so he continued. "I'm not going to pretend this has nothing to do with me. I've made a few costly decisions, and it's ultimately my fault we're going under. Big changes need to happen, and they need to happen fast. That said, I'm resigning as editor as of the end of the day tomorrow."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth a flurry of questions erupted from the staff. The most prominent was who would take over as editor, and everyone was asked for silence for the explanation.

"I've made some calls, and I have good news. It seems the best person to get us out of this mess is the one who kept us out of it for so long. Starting Wednesday, Mark will be back as editor-in-chief."

A roar of approval went up from the staff, and a round of applause spread through the conference room. Everyone was overjoyed to have their fearless leader back at the helm, and excited chatter filled the room.

Only three people sat frozen in their chairs.

Julia sat in stunned silence at the news. In the past three months she had barely thought about Mark, and the feelings she used to have for him. It had been easy to keep him out of her mind when she didn't see him every day, but that was about to change.

She looked over at Marilynn, who was giving her a sympathetic look from across the table. Marilynn knew how Julia had felt about Mark, and seemed to understand the impact the announcement had. Julia gave a weak smile before casting a sideways glance at Ben.

He was sitting very still, looking down at the table while everyone around him talked excitedly. Ben was usually quiet, but his complete silence amid all the commotion made her uneasy. She had never told him about her feelings for Mark, but from the looks of it he already knew.

The meeting came to an end and everyone filed back to their desks. The tense atmosphere had been replaced with a buzzing excitement, but Julia still had a sense of dread. She sat at her desk and tried to make sense of her feelings.

The first three months she had worked in the office, she had been completely infatuated with her boss. She had never acted on her feelings, and was devastated when he left the magazine to get married and settle down in a different country. That was when her relationship with Ben started, and she had been falling in love with him ever since.

While she was happy with Ben, she didn't like the way things had been left with Mark. She had no idea what she would feel when she saw him again, and she wasn't the only one.

"You OK with all of this?" Marilynn asked. She had made a quick circle of the office looking for gossip before coming to Julia's desk.

Julia glanced across the aisle, relieved to see Ben wasn't there. "I'm happier now than I've ever been, I can't see myself giving that up," she answered. "Besides, he got married. As far as I'm concerned that's the end of it."

Marilynn hesitated. "Actually, he didn't. They broke up, so now she's staying in Europe and he's coming back here."

Julia sat down heavily in her chair, taking a moment to process the information. Her former fantasy was returning, and he was single. Her mind raced at the implications, and panic started to rise in her.

She remembered all the times she had fantasized about him, all the dirty thoughts about what she wanted him to do to her. She thought of how devastated she had been when he left, and how she had regretted not telling him how she felt. Then she saw Ben sit down at his desk, and her mind raced in a different direction.

She thought of everything they had been through, and everything they meant to each other. She remembered how Ben had taken care of her when she needed it the most, and how he had unknowingly picked up the pieces when Mark left. She remembered how happy she was to be with him, and how less than an hour ago she never could have imagined anything getting between them.

She was still unsettled by the news of Mark's return, but she started to calm down. She breathed a sigh of relief and gave Marilynn a confident smile. "Thanks for the concern, but I think I'll be just fine."

Marilynn seemed satisfied with the response, and gave her shoulder a squeeze before leaving. Julia glanced back at Ben, and saw he still had the same downcast expression on his face. She had made up her mind: whatever she had once felt for Mark, it was no match for how she felt about Ben.

She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote him a short message, then crumpled it up and threw it across the aisle to him. As soon as Ben unfolded the note a huge grin spread across his face. He looked around the room, and when he saw everyone else was on the other side of the office he crossed the aisle to Julia's desk. He gave her a deep, passionate kiss before whispering in her ear, "I love you, too."

Julia's face flushed as Ben returned to his desk, and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. The excitement from that morning meant her emotions were on high alert, and her body was following right after.

She felt like going outside and running laps around the building to ease some of the tension. Actually what she really felt like doing was dragging Ben straight to bed to work off the stress, but she would have to wait for that. Or so she thought.

A few of the writers felt bad about their reaction at the meeting that morning, and had decided to take the boss out to lunch as an apology. The whole office was invited, and at noon nearly everyone grabbed their jackets and headed for the elevator.

Julia was expecting a call and declined the invitation, and when she saw that Ben was also staying behind she got an idea. As soon as the elevator doors closed she stepped out of her cubicle, told Ben to follow her, and headed down the hall.

When they got to the door of the ladies' room, Ben stopped and gave her a confused look. "I don't think I'm supposed to go in there."

Julia rolled her eyes. "Speaking as 50% of the people who use this room, I say its fine." She quickly glanced around to make sure no one was there, then grabbed the front of Ben's shirt and pulled him in.

She backed him against the door and kissed him, pressing the full length of her body against his. She could feel his body responding beneath her, and as their lips parted she brushed her hand against the front of his pants. He groaned his approval, rubbing his hand up and down her leg.

She locked the door, then with a coy smile sunk to her knees in front of him. Before he could protest any further she got his pants and boxers down around his ankles, and she heard him gasp when she took his stiffening member into her mouth. Julia ran her tongue up and down his shaft, lightly grazing her teeth against his skin. She glanced up to see him leaning heavily against the door with his head tipped back, clearly enjoying himself.

She took a deep breath before taking his entire length in her mouth, watching as his eyes opened wide. The tip of his cock pushed into her throat, and he gripped the edge of the sink for support. She tightened her lips as she moved him in and out, pressing her tongue hard against him. His free hand rested on the back of her head as she picked up the pace, her head moving faster and faster. As his grip tightened, she slowed down again and got back to her feet.

He pulled her against him, probing her mouth with his tongue as his hand slid up her skirt. He seemed surprised at how wet she had become, and pushed her underwear aside to slip a finger deep inside of her. She let out a small moan as he rubbed his thumb against her clit, working a second finger in and out of her dripping pussy. She gasped for breath as she leaned against his hand, and buried her face in his neck to muffle the sounds of her first orgasm.