Co-Workers

"Well if you can't, I guess you can sleep in the bed," she said, no longer sounding at all conflicted. "I can't make you spend the whole night down there."

"Really?" I asked, opening both eyes.

"Yeah," she said, "come on."

Not wanting to seem too enthused by the idea, I sat up slowly, grabbed my pillow and crept at a snail's pace over to the side of the bed. I looked down at her for a moment, clad simply in a t-shirt and shorts; so simple, so unglamorous and yet still so sexy somehow. It took all my willpower not to smile widely.

As I sat down, she grabbed some of the extra pillows and began to place them down the middle of the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" she said, as she continued to build her wall of pillows.

I laughed, "do you have that little faith in me?"

"I'm letting you sleep in the bed. Don't complain."

"What do you think I'm gonna do, start groping you in your sleep."

"I dunno, maybe."

"Throw those pillows away. You know you can trust me."

She stared at me for a moment. I could tell that she briefly regretted giving me the invitation. But nevertheless, she relented and deconstructed her pillow barrier, unceremoniously throwing them on the floor.

"Alright. You're right, I trust you," she said.

"No funny business I swear."

"Goodnight," she said tiredly as she turned off the light, before I even had the chance to lie down.

She immediately shuffled onto her side so her back was to me. I looked at her for a moment, so close it was almost painful. Despite my words, I almost instinctually reached out to touch her. Instead, I just lay down and put my head on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling.

"Goodnight Michaela," I said quietly,

"Goodnight."

Half my body was laying on a part of the mattress that was still warm to her touch. I reached across the mattress with my hand until I felt it sink under the weight of her body. I was mere inches from touching her. Even now, with both of us underneath the quilt, I could feel the warmth radiating from her. I felt myself grow hard and wanted nothing more than to push her flat on her back and take her. Instead, I just contented myself with a longing gaze at her from behind.

As if she could feel my eyes on her, I saw her crane her head back; not far enough to look me in the eye, but enough that she could probably see me in her periphery. She didn't say anything to me nor I to her.

"Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember that time we slept together?"

I burst out laughing and she soon quickly followed. She turned around to face me and we looked at each other in the darkness, laughing.

"I'm glad you said that and not me," I said through laughter.

"I had to. So it wouldn't be weird anymore."

"I dunno, it's still a little weird."

"Just a little. Of course, if you tell anyone about this, I'll kill you."

"Cone of silence."

"Especially my husband."

"I've never even met your husband!" I laughed.

"I'm just saying, in the event that you do."

"What do you think I would do. 'Hi I'm Nate, I'm the guy who slept with your wife that one time.'"

"I'm regretting this already," she chuckled. "Go to sleep Nate."

"Goodnight Michaela. Again."

She went to sleep for real that time. She turned back around, closed her eyes and within minutes, she was asleep.

I didn't sleep though. At least not at first. I just lay there, listening to her softly breathing, and watching her silhouette.

I thought about all the ways I could make my dream scenario come true. I could shuffle closer to her. Roll her over to me. I could pretend to wrap my arm around her in my sleep. Or I could just feel her up once I was sure she'd lapsed into a deep sleep. I thought about all my options. But ultimately, I just lay there, until the sounds of her soft breathing sent me to sleep.

***

I half expected for her to pop up in my dreams. She had before. My infatuation with Michaela was not helped by her loose lips after a few drinks. She would occasionally reveal something deeply personal. She was once drunk enough to tell me her favourite sex positions. She never struck me as the type of girl who enjoyed a little bit of 69, and truth be told, it was not a position that ever really appealed to me. But the night she told me that, you better believe she popped up in a particularly memorable dream doing just that.

And yet this particular night I didn't dream. It seems almost wasteful to have spent all night in bed with a beautiful woman such as her and have nothing happen either in real life or in my dreams, and yet that's what happened. And so when I woke up the next morning, those pent up sexual feelings had not abated in the least.

I woke up to find the room bathed in the soft morning light. The sun shone directly into the room from the balcony through the thin curtains that rustled silently in the breeze, bathing the room in an ethereal, evermoving light.

I lay on my side, watching the play of light for a moment as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

After a moment, I rolled over and suddenly heard a soft moan, and felt the sudden withdrawal of a hand. I turned around to see Michaela, curled up beside me, much closer than she had been when we fell asleep last night, but still far enough away not to be touching.

I rolled over in bed to face her. We were face to face. So close I could almost feel her breath on me. I was close enough to see every pore, every line, every imperfection on her face. Even after a night's sleep and with no make up on, she was still beautiful.

A couple strands of her hair had fallen across her face; they hung there, teasing me. Almost instinctually, I reached across and tucked the strands behind her ear. It was all I dared to do. I knew what I wanted to do of course. But I couldn't begin to comprehend how badly things would do if I began to run my hands all over her body, or steal a kiss or any number of the other things that crossed my mind.

And yet here I was, my hand slowly creeping underneath the sheets, across the bed towards. My mind was shouting "stop" but my willpower had completely broken down. I needed some contact, any contact. Something to bridge this distance between us. Some kind of glimpse into what it would be like to be with her.

At last I felt the tips of my fingers touch her body. But where I was expecting to brush up against the fabric of her shirt, I found myself touching bare skin. I ran my fingers ever so slightly along what I now realised was her stomach before I could feel my knuckles brushing up unmistakably against the underside of her breasts. Her shirt must've hiked up her chest sometime during the night, but I couldn't see because of the sheets.

That briefest of touches acted like an electroshock to me. I recoiled almost immediately and basically leapt out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror. The face that looked back at me was a curious mixture of shame and horniness. Placing the toilet seat cover down, I sat down on it and composed myself.

It was one thing to find amusement in the ridiculous situation I was in. It was quite another to molest a co-worker and friend in her sleep. I then noticed she had left her wristwatch beside the washbasin. The time read 5:45. It was still early. She probably wouldn't be up for a few hours yet. And I couldn't exactly hide in bathroom the whole time. And I was still feeling tired.

I knew I wanted to return to bed. Though I didn't know if I'd have the strength to restrain myself with her.

It was a few more minutes before I felt comfortable enough to leave the bathroom. I walked out with trepidation and found her exactly where I had left her.

I stood beside the bed for a moment, looking down at her before I dared to climb back in and underneath the sheets. I lay down and put my head on the pillow and turned to see she remained facing me, still inches away. She was basically laying in the middle of the mattress. I debated whether or not to nudge her back onto her side, but before I could, she stirred in her sleep and suddenly wrapped her arm around my chest and pulled herself close to me so that our bodies touched.

"Oh fucking hell," I muttered under my breath.

A number of things happened at once. Her right leg began to rub up and over mine and entwined itself between my legs; I felt the unmistakable touch of her breasts press up against my arm and she moved her head to rest against my shoulder.

I froze for a moment until I was sure she was still asleep. And even then, I dare not move. After what felt like an eternity, but what was probably only a minute or two, I felt the sudden desire to free my right arm from between us. I debated in my head whether or not this was really a comfort thing or whether I just wanted to take this ridiculous situation a step further. I convinced myself it was purely for comfort, and gently removed my right arm from between us so as not to wake her. Almost instinctually, she moved in her sleep to position her head nearer to chest, and my arm had nowhere to go but to wrap itself around past her shoulder, down her back with my hand resting on her waist.

Call it spooning or cuddling or whatever else. Either way, this is not a situation I had expected me and Michaela to find ourselves in. So many of my fantasies involved this but in none of them was I so frozen with fear of making the wrong move. I pictured her waking up, screaming and running for the door.

Suddenly I felt her hand slip under my shirt and began slowly stroking my abdomen. Her hand on my bare skin. I allowed myself to move my leg ever so slightly and felt the sensation of her silky smooth leg rub up against mine.

Not being able to help myself, with my arm still wrapped around her, I allowed myself to lay my hand flat against her lower back and caress her ever so slightly over her t-shirt. At the same time, I tucked a couple of strands of her hair that had been bothering me behind her ear.

To make matters worse, Michaela let out a contented purr as she slept. I'm not sure how long we remained like that. It could've been two minutes or twenty; either way it was simultaneously bliss and pure agony. Being able to live out an impossible fantasy while at the same time being so horny it almost hurt and not even being able to rub one out.

The spell was broken however when almost at once, I felt her entire body tense up. Her hand by now was lazily stroking my chest under my shirt when it suddenly frozen in place. Her leg tensed up against mine before slowly retreating back to her side of the bed. And I could've sworn she even stopped breathing. Almost on instinct, I did the same and feigned sleep. She hadn't moved an inch in almost 30 seconds as I did my best to pretend to be a asleep.

After a few more moments, undoubtedly spent trying to figure out if I was asleep, I finally felt her whole body relax again. And to my surprise, she remained exactly how she had been; that is, curled up against me in a warm embrace. Her hand slowly but with definite purpose began to stroke up and down the side of my torso. I wasn't exactly out of shape or anything, but in that moment, I did wish I was more fit.

Suddenly, almost at once, she froze again. It took me several moments to realise why. He hand was resting on the left-hand side of my chest. And for someone who was suppose to be asleep, my heart was going a mile a minute.

"Are you awake?" she whispered.

I hesitated briefly before answering, "Yeah."

Suddenly her hand slipped out from under my shirt and she awkwardly shuffled back over to her side of the bed, neither of us making eye contact.

"Sorry, I uh-" she stammered.

"It's alright, it was nice."

"Nice?" she asked, as she cleared her throat and ran all ten fingers through her hair.

I turned to face her and she did the same.

"I should've listened to you. We should've just found another hotel," I muttered.

"No Nate, stop," she said. "I'm glad we didn't."

She smiled at me and I instantly melted. I assessed the situation in a split second and then decided to go for it. I leaned in and kissed her.

She was clearly taken by surprise and lay there unmoving for a second. The sheer ecstasy of feeling her soft, moist lips against mine was quickly overcome by the wave of terror that overtook me as I felt her lips and her body were unmoved and I feared I had misread the situation. But as I was just about to pull away, her lips parted ever so slightly, I felt her hands on me and we pulled each other close.

The sensations were almost overwhelming. I was still coming to terms with the fact that Michaela and I were actually kissing when her hands were all over me. I quickly realised I could do the same and hastily slipped a hand underneath her shirt and grabbed her right breast in my hand, giving a quick squeeze of her wonderful perky breasts before grabbing hold of her nipple between my thumb and forefinger and pinching it ever so slightly.

It acted almost as an electroshock to Michaela who suddenly pulled away from the kiss and from me and voiced her protested in a stream of mumbled nonsense.

"I'm sorry, I can't, I can't, I can't," she stammered. "I'm married for crying out loud. I'm married. Oh God, I'm married!"

If my heart were racing before, it was practically on the edge of a coronary right now. I held my hands up close to my chest, almost like a criminal submitting to arrest. I didn't dare touch her in that instant. Michaela simply closed her eyes and had both hands over her face.

We both remained frozen in place for a few seconds before I took the initiative and sat up and began climbing out of bed. Unexpectedly she reached over and grabbed my thigh to stop me from leaving. "Stop, don't leave."

"What?" I exclaimed incredulously.

"It's still so early, don't wake up on my account."

"What? You want to stay in bed together?" I chuckled nervously.

"No, of course not. Well maybe, I don't know," she stammered before choosing her words carefully. "It's still so early, and we had a late night. If you want to stay, I trust you."

"Well I don't."

"You don't trust me?" she asked confused.

"No, I meant I don't trust myself. Especially with you."

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. You know I'm crazy about you. I mean, fucking hell Michaela, I've never been subtle about it. But you're married, so I'd never act on it, and I know you wouldn't either. This was just a stupid, clumsy mistake, and we don't have to mention it ever again. But if we stay here in bed together, I'm not gonna be able to help myself."

"And what if I wanted that?" she said, almost without hesitation.

"What?"

"For you to, you know, 'help yourself'," she said slowly.

"If that's how you feel, what the hell was that reaction just now?"

"I... it's... I'm a girl, what do you expect? We can be confusing."

"So..." I started nervously.

"Come here," she said softly.

And there it was; the green light.

Against all odds, we found ourselves in this preposterous situation and of all the ways it could've gone, she's now offering herself to my against all odds. I'm not sure when if what I said next was me simply trying to be "the good guy" or just pure stupidity, but I said,

"I don't have a condom."

Michaela sighed loudly and turned away from me and lay on her back again and stared at the ceiling. I was still sitting up at this point, with half my body out of bed. Reluctantly, I decided to finally get out when without warning, she reached between my legs and grabbed at my crotch.

I inhaled sharply and all I could muster was, "What are you..."

She began to rub my crotch, her fingers running up and down my shaft before gently cupping my balls. I took this as permission to lie back down on the bed beside her.

I turned to look at her but her reaction was completely impassive. It remained that way when she ran her hand upwards to the waistband of my shorts and slipped her hands inside. She fumbled around for a moment, and with a little help from me, I found my shorts and underwear around my ankles as she wrapped her hands around my penis.

"Jesus..." I muttered.

The sensation of her hand on my penis was almost enough to cause me it to become erect almost instantly. She then applied a bit of pressure and slowly began to stroke my penis up and down. I didn't think it possible but I grew even harder. Michaela, feeling this, took it as a green light and began to jerk me off.

I craned my head to look down and I still could barely believe it. Almost instinctively, I turned to one side and moved my heads towards her to plant a kiss on her lips. She subtly, but unmistakable attempted to move away, planting her free hand gently on my face and turning it back to the ceiling.

"It's alright, close your eyes. I've got ya," she said casually.

I could hear myself beginning to breath heavier and heavier and she moved faster and faster. As hand-jobs go, it was fine. But the fact it was Michaela doing it made this more enjoyable than any other.

As this was occurring, I blindly moved my hand across and felt it graze against her hip. I followed the curve of her body until I could feel the waistband of her shorts beneath my fingers.

Michaela cleared her throat and quietly said, "It's alright, you don't need to-"

"Shut up," I replied equally quietly.

I watched as her eyes drifted downwards momentarily before landing back on my own eyes. Neither of us looked away as I slipped my hand into her shorts, and then further down into her panties. As my breathing increased, hers came to a standstill as I felt my fingers run through a tuff of her pubic hair before I felt the tip of my middle finger starting to run down the length of her slit.

With her eyes still on me, unblinking, she inhaled sharply. Her hand suddenly slowed down on my shaft but she gripped it tighter.

All it took was one finger to slip inside of her and she suddenly pulled away. I was about to ask her to explain when suddenly she sat up, swept aside the sheets before reaching down to the hem of her shirt and casually pulling it up over her head. Having been taken by surprise, I gawked at her bare breasts for a moment, before kicking my own pants and underwear away. She similarly reached down and took off her shorts and panties, albeit significantly more gracefully than I did.

In no time at all, we were both sitting up naked in bed together. We stared at one another for a moment. She stared down at my erect penis before letting her gaze wander up to my chest. I admired her perky, ample, though smaller than expected, breasts. I also noted for the first time, her bush which was unexpectedly though undeniably neatly trimmed.

I began to shuffle towards her when she reached out and lay a hand on my chest and pushed me back down to the mattress. Silently, she leaned forward, took my penis by the hand and wrapped her lips around it.

"Oh fuck," I groaned in pleasure.

Almost instantly I could tell she wasn't particularly use to this. She initially recoiled ever so slightly as her tongue ran across the tip of my penis. But nevertheless, she returned and took more and more of me inside of her warm mouth. Her tongue nervously brushed against my penis, merely teasing it at first.

I moved my hand down to the back of her head but almost as soon as I did, she grunted in protest and I instead lay a hand on her bare back and simply lay back and enjoyed the sight of her, crouched over me with my penis in her mouth.

With every passing moment, she took more and more of me inside of her. It was a nervous, clumsy blow job, and yet the excitement and pleasure I got from it was greater than any other I could recall.

Up and down her head moved. Her tongue moving more and more confidently up and down my shaft. It felt good. It felt really good. And yet somehow on this occasion, because it was her, it wasn't enough to receive it.