Meltdown

10. The elevator stopped, and the doors began to open. It didn't look like anyone was standing in the hallway.

The doors opened fully, and still the hallway looked empty. Kate strained her ears for sounds of footsteps or conversations, but heard nothing. She stared out through the open doorway and into the hall, not willing to move.

Soon, the door would close, and the elevator would go somewhere else. Someone else would definitely get on then. Kate had to avoid that. But the only way to do so would be to run out into the hallway on this floor, where anyone might see her.

Kate had been worried before about how much of her body she could hide with her blouse, but now there was no way to cover anything, besides her arms. All she had on her person was the small flash drive clutched in her right hand.

The elevator door began to close. Adrenaline spiked in Kate's veins, and with an immense effort of willpower, she forced herself up and out, again just managing to squeeze through the doors.

The hallway was as empty as it had looked from inside the elevator, but there was no guarantee that it would stay that way for long. Kate needed more than ever to get to the supply closet with the overalls. Hoping that she remembered the direction correctly, she turned right down the hallway and sprinted.

Kate's bare feet flew across the scratchy office carpet. Her running was awkward and halting, as she held one arm across her breasts and the other down to her crotch. A few of her fingers where all that separated the flash drive she would be delivering to Ron from her naked pussy.

At a junction in the corridors, Kate heard voices. She crouched down and hid behind a potted plant, willing herself not to make a sound, not to even breathe.

"Gotta finish these damn TPS reports, what a great Friday..."

"Tell me about it..."

The voices passed, traveling through the hallway adjacent to Kate's hiding place. One of them, a woman in a light sundress, passed only a few feet in front of her, but was too absorbed in her conversation to look over at the naked woman behind the pot plant. She passed close enough that Kate could read the hands of her watch. It was ten minutes to twelve o'clock.

Kate let out a sigh of relief as the voices disappeared into the distance. Up ahead, she could see the door to the supply closet. Across from it was the door to her boss's office. Both were closed.

Reaching the supply closet, Kate grasped the handle and turned it as quietly as she could. She opened it just enough to fit through and slipped inside.

As the door quietly clicked closed, shielding her body from the eyes of the outside world, Kate felt a sense of pride. She had done it. With a bit of bravery and quick thinking, she had made it all the way here without being seen, and with enough time to deliver the flash drive. She smiled to herself, stood up straight, and turned around.

The closet was empty, save a few dusty hangers. A hastily scrawled sign stood up on one of the shelves read, "MOVED TO FLOOR 8."

Kate felt like screaming. Not a single pair of overalls, nor even so much as a towel or a handkerchief remained for her to cover herself with. There was, however, a clock on the wall, taunting her. Five minutes to twelve.

This closet didn't have any clothes for her, but it was also unlikely that anyone else would come in here. Maybe Kate could spend the rest of the day in here, wait for everyone to go home, and then sneak out and find something to wear. It would be a lot easier to get around in an empty office on a Friday night. While her blouse was probably destroyed, she'd at least be able to find her jeans and blazer again, and her bra was probably in Steve's desk drawer.

There was just one problem with that plan. Kate still had an important job to do for her boss. The flash drive clasped in her right hand was the only thing she'd managed to hold onto today, and his office was only a few feet away.

Moreover, there was only one flash drive, and it was the one she was holding. If she stayed in here for the rest of the day, Ron would have to get Steve to put the important files on another flash drive, and then deliver them. Would that even be possible after they'd had to shut down everything in the server room? At any rate, it wouldn't make Ron very happy with her.

Neither would showing up in his office naked. Well, actually that might make him very happy, but Ron was married, and Kate didn't need people accusing her of sleeping her way to a promotion.

Two minutes remained. Kate really wanted to keep her job, but was it really worth walking into her boss's office naked? Surely that could get her fired as well!

Maybe it would be fine if she just explained everything. Bad luck can happen to anyone. She just had to make it clear that she wasn't naked for any other reason than a string of ridiculous accidents. And, perhaps, some poor judgement. That was the truth.

Knowing her luck, if she stayed in this closet, someone would come in and find her. Then she'd be caught, seen, embarrassed, and neglecting her work to boot. It was better to be embarrassed on her own terms, and get the job done for Ron.

With one minute to go, Kate had made up her mind. She took a deep breath, pulled herself up straight, and draped her arm across her breasts. With her free hand, pulled over the door of the supply closet. Then, before she could convince herself not to, she strode into the hall and knocked on her boss's door.

"Come in," said Ron.

After another deep breath, Kate turned the door handle and stepped into Ron Booker's office.

"Hello K--woah!" Ron's jaw dropped at the sight of totally naked woman entering his office.

Blushing furiously, Kate willed herself to continue walking forward. Legs shaking, she pressed one arm tightly over her breasts and held the hand of her other arm over her crotch, desperate to preserve what little dignity she had left. She was trying to look even more embarrassed than she felt, lest Ron get the idea that she was propositioning him.

"I--I had a few, uh, wardrobe malfunctions on the way over here," she said. "But I've brought the flash drive, just as you requested."

Standing in front of Ron's desk, Kate realized that she would have to remove her arm from her breasts in order to hand the drive over. She bit her lip as she wrenched her arm out of place and held the drive out to Ron, who now had a front-row seat to the view of her full, round breasts and stiff nipples.

A moment passed without either of them daring to move. Kate could feel her blush deepen.

"Thank you, Kate," Ron said, forcing his eyes to her face. He took the flash drive from her, their fingers touching briefly. "Right on time."

Kate returned her arm to its position across her chest and nodded. "I hope your boss's boss is happy with it."

"I'm sure she will be," Ron said. "Listen, why don't you sit down?" He motioned towards the chair Kate was standing next to, and Kate dutifully took her seat, keeping her hand in her lap. Her bare ass made direct contact with the chair's soft cushion, but Ron didn't seem to mind.

Ron smiled at her and adjusted his glasses. "I've just got off a call from Steve Bunten," he said. "He was debriefing me on the server room incident earlier today. I'm sure you already know, but he managed to get everything started again after maintenance fixed the aircon, and he's impressed on me the importance of having a redundant system in place."

Kate nodded. Ron seemed to have slipped right into work mode, and he clearly expected her to do the same, regardless of her current state of dress.

"He said you were instrumental in getting everything shut down safely," Ron continued. "That you got into the server room when he couldn't and diligently followed his instructions to shut everything down, as temperatures soared to insane levels. It must have been quite uncomfortable in there!"

Kate nodded again, smiling bashfully. Ron appeared to be quite impressed with her, but she found herself wishing he could skip the praise and just offer her something to wear already.

"You're looking quite red, so I imagine the heat must still be affecting you. Steve said you had to take some clothes off to keep cool, which is commendable. You've really gone above and beyond today, Kate. Steve says he couldn't have done it without you. If you hadn't helped, we'd have lost weeks of data, and had to replace thousands of dollars of server equipment!"

Kate really hoped that all this talk would translate into a raise, promotion, or at least a towel or something.

"And if that wasn't enough, you rushed all the way up here to deliver the flash drive to me in time! I take my hat off to you, Kate, I really do."

Kate squirmed in her seat. Ever since she'd started working here, she'd been hoping for a conversation like this with Ron, but she'd never expected to be naked for it.

"I'll admit I was a bit shocked when you showed up at my door like that," Ron said. "I didn't know what to think at first. But I totally get it, after all that heat in the server room. Your clothes must have been ruined with sweat, and obviously you needed to cool down a bit more before you put anything else on."

Kate nodded vigorously. Her boss was proud of her, and also didn't think she was a pervert.

"I wouldn't have expected you to come all the way here to deliver that drive after what you've been through, you know," Ron said, smiling sympathetically. "But you did it anyway, without even taking the time to cool off and get dressed. I knew you were punctual, but this is something else. You're going places, Kate."

"Thank you," Kate said, almost more embarrassed by the fulsome praise then by the way Ron's eyes kept dropping to pass over her body.

"No, thank you." Ron picked up the intercom phone on his desk. "Listen, you probably don't want to walk around the office like that, so I'll have someone bring up your laptop and you can work from here for the rest of the day. My secretary's off today, so you can take her desk." He indicated a separate desk at one side of the room. "I won't even make you put any clothes on. Not until some of that redness dies down."

Kate blushed even redder. She had a slight suspicion that Ron didn't fully believe his own rationalization of her nudity, but it seemed better to play along. She'd probably get to put her clothes back on. Eventually.

The End