My Promotion

It was going to be another late night at the office. We had to have everything working in the next two days so we could present it to the client on Monday. We were getting through the list of issues, and I felt pretty good that we'd be ready.

We'd worked late every night this week, but I didn't mind. I enjoy my work, and if the client likes what we show them, it will be good for the company. But more importantly, I love the group I work with.

First, there's Bernie. The guy is a technical genius. He's been with the company for 15 years, way longer than the rest of us. He knows the core product better than anyone with the company, and he's a key asset. Because he knows that, he pretty much just does whatever he wants. It's not like he says, "they can't fire me", but he knows they'd do anything to keep him around. The guy is hilarious and has absolutely no filter; I can't believe some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth. When I see him in the same clothes two days in a row, I'm never sure if he worked all night, just slept in his clothes at home, or just decided they looked good one day, why not put them on again for another day. I love Bernie.

Randy has only been with the company for six months. He's another technical guy and is supposed to be learning the product from Bernie. He seems reasonably intelligent, but it's hard to tell since he rarely talks. He seems harmless except for his screen saver, which has pictures of skeletons and daggers with blood. I THINK it's from some video game... at least I hope so. If not, he's planning to kill us all and keep us locked up in some basement. That's why I hope it's from a video game. I try to engage him in conversation, but it's not easy. I THINK he'll work out here, but I'm not ready to bet the farm on that.

Erin is also relatively new, but she's shown to be a fast learner. She's in the company's hotshot program. I don't remember the real name for it, but they take a few hotshot new hires each year and move them around to different groups every nine to twelve months. She recently completed her MBA with an undergraduate degree in IT, so she's got a perfect background. Some of the folks in this program are real assholes; they make sure you know they're a "hotshot". But Erin is different. She certainly knows she's good, but she doesn't act like she's any better than anyone else.

Erin is currently working on testing. Because of her IT degree, she understands how to write test cases and is good at testing for the situations that many people forget about. She also is a good writer, so she has also worked on the Help section of the system to explain how the new features work.

Erin got into the hotshot program based on her smarts, but it doesn't hurt that she is also funny, friendly, and beautiful. I almost hate mentioning that she's beautiful, because some people will think that's how she's gotten where she is. But the fact is it's impossible to meet her without being struck by her looks. Large, blue eyes, straight blond hair that goes half-way down her back, small breasts, flat tummy, and a constant, huge smile on her face. She's got the full package, and I'm glad her hotshot rotations have included our team.

Erin is currently working for Natalie, the Team Leader for the Testing and Documentation Team. Natalie and I both joined this team five years ago, and we hit it off immediately. She's hilarious, a tiny bit naughty with the things she says (which I love), and great at her job. She refers to me as her work husband. In fact, the only thing wrong with Natalie is that she's married. If she wasn't, I would have asked her out years ago. She's a tall woman with an exotic look. Her mother is Brazilian, and she clearly passed her looks on to Natalie.

I'm the Team Leader for the Requirements and Implementation Team. Technically, Randy, Bernie and a few others work for me, but we all know Bernie will do whatever he wants. He occasionally pretends that he's listening to me when I try to set his priorities, and then he goes and does whatever HE thinks is important or whatever he thinks will be fun. But the truth is, even when he changes the priorities to suit himself, he always gets the tasks I've requested done in time. Like I said, I love Bernie.

Natalie and I, and really the whole team, report to Diane. Diane is... different. She's four years older than I and has worked at the company since graduating from college. Diane is not mean, but she certainly doesn't exude warmth. But if you ignore her lack of social skills, she's actually a very good manager. She doesn't micromanage, she listens to our suggestions, and she follows the golden rule (in my mind) of "Praise in public; criticize in private." She's always been fair on her reviews of me, and, more recently, she has been very supportive of my application for a job opening at her level.

"So, for dinner tonight," said Bernie, the official meal planner when working late, "I thought we'd do fried chicken. Everyone okay with that?" Bernie considers fried chicken a health food.

Everyone nodded.

"Is Ice Lady still here?" Bernie asked, using his favorite nickname for Diane.

"No," I said, "she left a few minutes ago."

"Okay," Bernie continued, "everyone is good with spicy except for Mr. Wimpy here, right?"

Again, everyone nodded.

"Just why ARE you such a wimp with food, Ron?" Natalie asked.

"I'm sorry," I replied, "I just don't like spicy food."

"Jesus Christ," she said with mock anger, "you're like a little kid. I bet you still wear underpants with pictures of Mickey Mouse on them."

This caused Erin to quietly laugh while not lifting her head from her screen.

"Actually," I replied, "they have the Superman "S" logo on them. You know, so women know they're dealing with "the man of steel" down there."

"Oh, right," Natalie said. "I thought it was to let them know any action down there would end faster than a speeding bullet."

Erin laughed out loud and covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. Erin, would you please call HR on your boss?" I asked.

Everyone laughed for a few seconds, and then we all just went back to work.

After a quick break to eat dinner, everyone jumped right back into the task at hand. Things were going quite well, and around 11:00, I decided we should quit for the night.

"Let's call it a night, folks. Things are looking really good. We should be able to finish up everything tomorrow during the day. Thanks to everyone for busting ass this week."

I walked over to Natalie's desk.

"I need to make just a couple more changes to the PowerPoint deck, but I think the presentation is going to be great. The client's going to love what we show them. You and Erin really nailed the deck."

"Thanks," she said. "Erin is really good. I gave her some high-level ideas of what I wanted, and her first draft was way better than I expected. You know, I said something to Diane about what a good job Erin's doing, and Diane made a point of stopping by Erin's desk to tell her she heard she's been doing a bang-up job. I was impressed that she took the time to do that."

"Why don't you believe me when I keep telling you that she's a good manager. Perhaps," I said as sarcastically as possible, "not the most huggy-touchy-feely person in the world, but she's good to her people."

"Yeah," she said, "I know you keep saying she's good, but I thought that's just because you've got the hots for her and want to get into her pants."

I laughed loud enough for everyone to turn around and look at me.

"Yeah, that's it," I said. "I want her to feel my man of steel."

Now Natalie let out a loud laugh.

The fact is that Diane actually is a very nice-looking woman. I'd be lying if I said I never thought about what she looked like naked or never fantasized about her.

Everything went well the next two days, and we were ready for our trip. Diane, Natalie, and I were going to the client site for the presentation. Natalie and I were flying out Sunday night and planned to stay until Tuesday night. Diane was flying in Monday morning and leaving Monday night. Natalie suggested maybe Diane was afraid she'd break out in hives if she had to spend too much face-to-face contact with her team members.

Monday morning, Natalie and I set up everything in the conference room, ran through the demo to make sure everything was working, and checked in with the rest of the team back at the office to make sure they were on standby in case we needed anything. Diane arrived at 9:30 stopped by to check on everything before going to see the client. At 10:25, people started shuffling into the room.

The demo went really well. Everyone seemed pleased with what we showed them and thought we really nailed most of the requirements. We reminded them that this was not yet a production system, so there was still work to do before we could actually implement everything for them, and they seemed to understand. Of course, they requested various changes, some of which we could accommodate and some of which couldn't be done because of how the base product worked, but Diane did an excellent job explaining this to them and convincing them it wasn't a critical requirement for them.

As cold as Diane could be with her co-workers, she was almost warm with the client. Natalie was amazed to see this side of Diane; I had seen her with other clients and knew she could turn on the charm. I was never sure which was the "real" Diane - the client persona or the co-worker persona.

After the client left the room, Diane was still smiling.

"That was great, guys," she said. "I'm sure they're going to buy the full product. This is a big win."

Then she reverted to "normal" Diane, and the smile left her face.

"Okay, I'm flying out tonight. I know you're staying a couple more days to work with them on some other projects. Please go out and have a fancy dinner tonight. Don't worry about the normal meal allowances. I'll approve it. See you back in the office later in the week. Please express my thanks to your whole team."

And then she left.

"Wait a minute," Natalie said to me. "What just happened? First, who was that person that dealt so well with the client? And who was that person that told us to have a really nice meal, even if it exceeded the guidelines. I'm so confused!"

I started laughing.

"You see?" I said. "I TOLD you she can be a good manager. She said nice things to us, she rewarded us with a nice dinner, and she told us to thank our teams. She actually appreciates us. As for the person who deals so well with clients, I can't explain that. I've seen it before, and it surprised me the first time, too, but that's what happens when she works with clients."

"Wow," Natalie said, "she's a fuckin' nut-case!"

We both laughed as we shut down our computers.

"We should definitely go to that restaurant on Fourth Street across the street from the pizza place," she said.

"Ooh, good idea. We'd never get away with that on normal travel rules. Let's head back to the hotel and meet for dinner in the lobby at 6:30. Does that work for you?"

"Sounds good," she replied.

Dinner that night was fantastic! We ordered a bottle of wine, had appetizers, a great meal, and then split a dessert - not because of cost but because we were both incredibly full. Besides the great food, anytime Natalie and I spend time together we always have fun and always laugh a lot. This night was no different.

"Remember this meal the next time you bitch about Diane," I said with a laugh.

"Okay, okay, I see her in a SLIGHTLY different light tonight. But it's probably the wine talking."

We finally left the restaurant and headed back to the hotel. We agreed to meet in the lobby at 7:30 in the morning to head back to the client. As we got in the elevator, Natalie asked, "Can you stop by my room? I've got a question about that big spreadsheet I'm working on."

"Sure," I said, not thinking anything about it.

As soon as we walked in the room, Natalie said, "I gotta pee!", and she ran around the corner to the bathroom. I sat on the couch and started browsing on my phone. I heard the bathroom door open, and Natalie said, "Hey, Ron?"

"Yeah?" I said, without looking up from my phone.

"As long as you're my work husband, don't you think we should have business-trip hotel sex?"

THIS got my attention. I looked up, and Natalie was standing by the bed wearing nothing but a pair of red lace panties. She was beautiful. She had smaller breasts with very dark areolas. Her nipples were thin but very hard and long. She had a flat stomach and, with her dark, long hair and darker skin, she looked like a goddess.

"Natalie, what the fuck?"

She walked toward me.

"Tell me you've never thought about me."

I didn't know what to say or do. Of COURSE I had thought about her. I loved her as a person, and I could tell she had a hot body. She definitely was a fantasy of mine.

"But you're married," I said, not really wanting her to change her mind.

"Not tonight I'm not," she said as she got right in front of me. "Fuck me, Ron."

I stood up, and she walked into my arms. I hardly had to bend over at all to put my mouth on hers and kiss the sweetest, softest lips I had ever felt. She slipped her tongue in my mouth and we kissed like we were young lovers who were seeing each other again for the first time in weeks. I could not get enough of her mouth - she was a wonderful kisser.

My right hand slid up her body and onto her perfect breast. She let out a soft whimper; my groan was less subtle. Wrapping my hand over her firm, soft breast and feeling her hard nipple push against my palm sent electricity straight to my already-hard dick. I reflexively pushed my pelvis into her, and she responded by pushing harder against me. She subtly rubbed her body against my dick and was driving me crazy.

Without releasing my hand from her breast - I NEVER wanted to move that hand - I broke the kiss and moved my mouth to her other breast. I gave a very soft kiss just above her nipple. Then a soft kiss below and on each side. Then I took her entire areola in my mouth and flicked my tongue quickly across that beautiful, hard nipple. I had never been so excited from a pair of breasts in my entire life, and Natalie's cries made it clear she liked it, too.

I continued caressing and licking her breasts for quite a few minutes until finally, reluctantly pulling away. I kissed my way down her chest to her stomach, her belly button, and right above her panties. I was now on my knees as I slowly pulled down her panties, kissing each new section of her body as it came into view. She had an erotic landing strip, with the edges flared out, and kissing it sent shivers through both of us. I licked her hood-covered clit, and she yelped as she thrust her pelvis against my mouth. Her lips were open, and I could see her glistening juices.

I delicately pushed Natalie toward the large chair, and she sat in it. I knelt in front of her and lifted both of her legs, placing one over the armrest and the other over my shoulder. I smiled at her before lowering my head and sticking my tongue into the sweetest-tasting pussy I had ever licked. Although my groan was unintentional, I was glad Natalie knew how much I was enjoying myself. The noises she was making were much more delicate than mine but indicated an equal amount of pleasure.

Natalie had large lips, and I took one in my mouth and gently squeezed my lips together. Her moaning let me know she enjoyed it. I switched to her other lip and did the same thing. I used my thumbs to open her up as I licked from bottom to top, and she thrust into me as my tongue went over her clit. I did this a number of times, generating the same response each time. I concentrated on her clit for a minute or so, and I could tell she was getting close. Not wanting this to end, I backed off and started sucking on her lips again. I also reached up and squeezed one breast while pinching the other nipple. I don't know if Natalie could hear my moaning above her own whines, but we were both really enjoying this.

I was ready to make Natalie explode. While continuing to squeeze one nipple, I removed my other hand from her breast and slipped two fingers into her soaking pussy. I started tapping on her G-spot as I started flicking my tongue over her now-exposed clit over and over. Natalie was getting louder as she now cried out with each lick of her clit.

"Just. Like. That," she managed to grunt between shallow breaths. Then she repeated herself. "Just. Like. That."

I was careful not to change anything. I continued squeezing and releasing her nipple at the exact same frequency. I continued tapping her G-spot at the exact same frequency. And I continued flicking her clit at the exact same frequency. It only took another 30 seconds before she let out a long, soft cry and shoved her pelvis hard into my face. Her butt fell to the chair and then she shoved forward again. This continued for almost a minute. I was almost as excited as Natalie, knowing how much pleasure I had given her and from having my fingers and tongue in her most intimate areas.

When she finally collapsed to the chair, I pulled away, removed her leg from my shoulder, and let it drop softly to the chair. I continued kneeling in front of her without any other movement while she sat in the chair with her eyes closed, breathing heavily. After almost two minutes, she opened her eyes, looked down at me, smiled, and closed her eyes again. Less than a minute later, she opened her eyes again. She had the biggest, sweetest smile I had ever seen.

"Holy fuck, Ron. That was incredible!"

I smiled back her, a combination of my own enjoyment at what we did and maybe just a tad of pride at my pussy-eating ability.

"For me, too," I quietly responded.

Natalie leaned forward and brought her mouth to mine. We kissed softly, and Natalie quietly moaned as she tasted herself on my tongue.

Natalie pushed me back enough so she could stand up, and she grabbed my shoulders to indicate she wanted me to stand up, too. She gave me a short, little kiss and started unbuttoning my shirt. We both finished the task, and I slipped off my shirt. Natalie walked over to the bed and opened it, and I quickly pulled off my shoes, socks and pants and walked over to the bed. She rubbed my very hard dick through my underwear and then pulled them down. She smiled when my dick popped out and gave it a quick rub.

She crawled onto the bed and spread her legs wide. I got on the bed between her legs, and just as I was about to stretch out above her, I paused.

"Natalie, you have no idea how much I want to make love to you." She smiled. "But I can't."

Her face quickly changed to one of confusion.

"You're married. I can't do this."

"It's okay. I want you to," she almost begged.

"I know. I want to, too. But I can't. I don't want to be the one to cause you to cheat. You may want it now, but I think you'll regret it later. This is really hard for me to do, because I DO want you, but I can't."

"Shit, Ron, stop being such a nice guy for once. Please fuck me. I really want you to."

I moved from between her legs and sat on the edge of the bed. We were both quiet for a minute.

Finally, Natalie got off her back and sat next to me.

"You DO remember that you already stuck your tongue in my pussy and gave me an incredible orgasm, right? So haven't we already kinda' crossed the line?"

"We crossed A line," I said. "But it's not the same as fucking. You can still say you've never slept with anyone besides your husband."

Natalie laughed. "Okay, I get it. I don't think I'll mention to him that you went down on me, but I guess it's different to go all the way."

Again, we sat there quietly for a few minutes.

"You're gonna' have a bad case of blue balls tonight," she said with a laugh. I laughed, too. "At least I can help with that," she said, as she started stroking my deflated dick. I looked at her with a combination of confusion, appreciation, and begging. "Lie down," she said.