A Christmas Party Surprise

"Wow," she said and suddenly looked terribly wrought, like she had not realised any of that was possible. Maybe I was doing good by giving her some insights which, who knows, may improve her.

Michael from Accounts picked that moment to come over. "You're Marnie McIver, right?" he asserted strongly. She nodded. "Brett here says that you've got a dungeon and we're all going over to your place after this for an orgy. You've got a dungeon," he repeated in case she didn't realise the first time.

He looked rapaciously at her oblivious of any horror on either of our faces. "You can tie me up and do anything you want with me," he asserted. "I've always wanted to try that sort of thing." He grinned at me as if this sort of banter was doing me a favour.

Marnie glared at me. I smiled. "Marnie, this is Michael from Accounts," I advised, "He's a bit of an idiot." Michael grinned wide to assist with the point I was making.

"I can see that," she sneered.

I shrugged and scuttled over to talk to the office rugby players.

+++

After the rugby players, I was filling up my punch glass when I felt a presence behind me. I turned, it was Marnie.

"What the fuck was that about?" she demanded.

"You do have a dungeon, right?" I tried weakly.

That didn't help. "Ah, this is the sort of fun that I'm not participating in around the office?"

"No, that is the sort of fun that happens when you don't participate around the office."

"It's demeaning."

"It's not as if you actually have a dungeon."

"Oh, ha ha."

We stared at each for a moment. She broke first. "What you said about me not sharing..."

"Oh, let's not go there."

"So now you don't want to go there. Why were you saying it to me 'at the office Christmas party' then?"

I nodded. "Fair point." Something in me stirred. Was this a connection? Since I had started it, I decided to continue. "I have a lot I could say to you about how you act in the office. But if you're interested in a serious conversation, this isn't the place." And as if to prove it the rugby boys began making loud animal noises together. "Are you interested?" I probed. "I wasn't pleased about that project, and I've been keeping half an eye on you since. There's a few things I'm happy to unload on you."

She nodded. "We don't really know each other, you and me. And I don't have any reason to trust you. But one thing I think I can say openly to you is that no one in this office gives you honest feedback. They just let you go on doing what you're doing and so long as it's acceptable you get the bosses' vague praise and you keep on doing it. I know I'm not easy going at work. But you're the first person here to give it to me straight." She seemed to relax a little from having expressed all that out loud.

I smiled and shrugged. "Are you interested in continuing this now?" I asked. Of course I was planning not to leave the party with Leila given our subterfuge. So this would provide a useful smokescreen if there were any suspicions about the two of us. And honestly what was going to happen between me and Marnie. In response Marnie shrugged. So I continued. "We can either leave the party together now and all the tongues in here would wag. Or you could leave now, wait for me and I'll leave in about five or ten minutes and we can discretely meet up outside with your reputation as the office snob intact."

Marnie smiled at the thought. "And what about your reputation?" she asked slyly.

"Enigmatic," I shrugged. I could put any spin I felt like on it later.

"Let's leave together," Marnie decided. "I guess I could do with an image makeover."

So we left together. I forced myself not to look to see if Leila was watching us or what her reaction might be.

As Marnie and I stepped out of the building, we established that she had driven to work and I had caught a train in, so I was going to get a lift with Marnie. To my surprise she drove a Lexus. She could tell I was impressed.

We drove in silence for a while. Marnie spoke up. "I do have a dungeon."

"Of course you do."

"And I live not too far from the office so I can show it to you."

"Well, I'm game," I admitted. Marnie smiled a little too eagerly, I thought. Well, I thought about it for an instant and then put the notion away.

Her home was one of those modern, beige façade townhouses with shuttered windows that gave no idea to the street what may occur inside.

"A dungeon?" I asked Marnie as we climbed the six steps to her front door having left the Lexus secure in the garage below. She nodded in a way that didn't let me in to the truth. "You're full of surprises," I tried.

"Oh yes," she smiled. "Surprises." I looked at her, trying to read her. She looked firmly at me as she checked her bag for her house keys. "There will be surprises."

I wondered for a moment how it had come to be that I was entering the house of the woman I liked least at work with a heavy dose of euphemism between us suggesting that there was a possibility that we would engage in some level of bondage. I was alarmed for a moment. This was all too easy and something didn't seem right although I had no idea what that might be. But we were inside and the door was closed.

"No one can hear us in here," Marnie warned.

I probably should have paid attention to that. "Yeah, sure," I replied casually.

"Try screaming," she responded flatly.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary."

"As you wish," she sighed like I was about to become another corpse buried in her back garden or something. Was I too confident that people would notice if I went missing? "Now, what were we going to talk about?" She posed a little coquettishly, a finger to her lips. "Oh yes, you were going to give it to me straight."

I laughed.

"Let me organise a drink while you get comfortable," she ordered. "Make yourself at home in the living room. I'll be there in a moment."

She indicated which direction I should go. So I walked into a relatively small and cluttered room that like the Lexus reeked of money. Two plush lounges were too close together because of large full display units against the walls that seemed filled with bric a brac that had been purchased by someone with an eye for quality and class. There was no theme to the various glass statuettes, vintage vases, abstract art and a few standout pieces that looked occult. Mounted on the walls were two Joseph Cornell boxes or something very similar. I went over to admire them.

Marnie came up silently behind me. "You like them?" she asked me suddenly. When I turned to see her she was smiling, close behind me and holding out a glass of red to me. She had changed into a stylish short black dress.

"Are they Cornells?" I asked, worried that that they might be the genuine article, putting me further in my place.

"If only," she laughed. "I had a friend knock them up in the style."

She sat relaxed on the lounge facing the one that I had occupied. Around her, the cultural clutter that she had curated seemed to amplify a presence of character that I had not expected. I knew it was going to make the discussion harder for me and I suspected that she knew that too. I looked around, admiring what she had done with the décor. "I take it you don't bring your work home?" I tried, admittedly weakly. The ambiance suggested that this was not the place to be worrying about monthly reports or the latest message from management about departmental restructures. And I started to wonder about how to improve the bland utilitarian décor of my own home. Was I finding this threatening?

She smiled. Of course she didn't. Marnie held up her glass for a clickless toast. "Merry Christmas," she intoned strongly.

I raised my glass in response. "We're being very cat and mouse," I noted. I then noticed that Marnie was barefoot. Her feet and legs were bare. She flexed them at me. Well, okay.

"So hit me with it," she shrugged.

"When you say something, the message works if it is understood the way that you meant it by the audience."

"But I am always very clear."

"I was at your presentation. After you had rehearsed your message with me. I spoke to the boss after. You weren't. They didn't get it."

Judging by her look, she was about to tell me that was their problem when she had the realisation. "What sort of message am I sending to you now?" she pivoted.

I took a moment and made a point of looking around the room then at her. "You're showing off your wealth and your good taste, trying to impress me."

"And why would I do that? So I can dominate you? We could fuck?" She clearly was used to being in charge.

"Well, you said that. Is that what you want?" I tried.

She didn't reply, tried to give nothing away.

"Well, it is Christmas," I reminded her, to end our heavy silence

"What does that mean?" She crossed her bare legs which meant that the dress rose up, revealing her to the top of her thighs. She fingered the hem of the dress but did not bother to cover up.

"It's a time when people do things that they wouldn't do otherwise, the rest of the year." I was staring at her legs. Until I looked her in the eye.

Marnie licked her lips.

"Is there a dungeon?" I teased.

She smiled seductively. "Do you want to see it?"

I looked at her. She looked serious. Um.