Workplace Opportunities

Nolan turned around and smiled when he saw her. "Hey Tessa."

"Hi Nolan, what brings you down here?"

"Oh, I finished a job and thought I'd take a quick break before going on to the next. I know you've said that there isn't much to do so I thought maybe you'd like a little company."

"That sounds good, I'll come and join you."

Tessa checked her computer and phone for any emails or messages before picking up the headset and joining Nolan in the kitchenette during his break.

When Nolan went back to work and she was sitting back at the reception desk Tessa thought about the photo shoot that was to take place the next day. It wasn't going to be anywhere near what she had imagined today but it was sure to still be an interesting experience.

Riding the elevator up to work on Thursday, Tessa had a slight feeling of deja vu with her being dressed up all professionally and feeling nervous about the day. This time though her nervousness was related to the photo shoot she had felt obligated to agree to taking part in. She trusted Jasper's photography skills and was sure that the photos would turn out great but there was still a part of her that was on edge, urging her to not mess things up or disappoint anyone.

Even though Jasper didn't expect the photo shoot to take all that long, he had scheduled it for the afternoon when it was less likely that they would be interrupted. For Tessa that meant she had to endure her nerves and uncertainty all through the morning. There were periods where Tessa was occupied with a delivery, email or a phone call but as usual there was a lot of time with nothing much to occupy her but her thoughts.

At lunch time as had become the habit she sat with Nolan and talked with him as they ate. Nolan asked Tessa why she was all dressed up and she told him about the photo shoot. He looked interested and even asked if they would need his help. His transparent interest gave Tessa a smile as she shrugged and told him that he would have to ask Jasper.

A bit over an hour after getting back from her break Jasper walked into the reception area holding his camera. "Are you okay to get started?"

After quickly checking her emails and the schedule of deliveries Tessa set the phone to go to messages and then grabbed her handbag. "I'll just go and freshen up my makeup."

When she returned she was surprised to find Nolan talking with Jasper. She smiled, thinking that Nolan had actually gone ahead and offered to help Jasper in order to watch the photo shoot. It was a surprise for Tessa to learn that Jasper wanted to include Nolan in some photos. His explanation was having Nolan there would prevent her from being the sole focus and having only one person would probably highlight the emptiness of the space more than if there was no one in the pictures at all. Whatever the reason Tessa was glad that Nolan was there.

The first picture Jasper wanted to take was of Tessa and Nolan standing together in front of the reception desk. Standing there looking at Jasper pointing a camera at her felt awkward. Having Nolan standing next to her was also distracting her. Tessa was keenly aware of his physical presence and her attraction to him. She did her best to look relaxed and normal and then smiled for the camera.

She saw Jasper lower his camera and reveal a frown. "This isn't quite the image that I'm looking for."

He thought for a moment. "Tessa. Could you unbutton your blouse please?"

The question shocked Tessa out of her awkwardness. "Sorry, what?"

Jasper chuckled. "Not completely, just the top few buttons."

When Tessa had dressed with the photo shoot in mind she had been aiming to look highly professional. As part of that look she had buttoned her blouse all the way to the top. Now Jasper was asking her to undo some of them. That wasn't as bad as her earlier impression that he wanted her blouse fully open but she still questioned whether it was necessary.

Jasper noticed her sceptical expression. "We need to sex things up a little, you'll still look professional but showing a bit more skin will make you seem more approachable and friendly."

While Jasper's choice of words was odd, his explanation sounded reasonable to Tessa and it wasn't like she would be showing anything so she went along with his request. She undid the top two buttons of her blouse and opened it up a little. "Is this okay?"

Jasper nodded. "Yeah, that looks good. Now can I get the two of you to make some funny faces and do some goofy poses? You're both looking a little stiff, hopefully we can have some fun and get you comfortable."

Tessa and Nolan looked at each other and they both shrugged. Following Jasper's instructions they made funny faces at each other and then to the camera. When Jasper showed them the pictures on the view screen they both laughed. After taking his camera back Jasper looked at Tessa and Nolan. "Do you two think you're ready to start for real?"

Tessa could feel that she was a lot more relaxed, she hadn't realised just how tense she had been. She nodded, "I'm ready."

Beside her Nolan also nodded, "I'm good too."

Jasper smiled, "Great. Let's get things going."

Tessa and Nolan moved in close together and smiled for the camera. As Jasper took photos he guided Tessa and Nolan to make a few adjustments to how they were posed. Tessa was impressed by how professional Jasper was, he seemed different from his usual casual jokey attitude. His instructions were clear and he was patient when things weren't quite as he wanted.

The photoshoot turned out to be more involved than Tessa had thought. Jasper ended up taking quite a few photos, some with Nolan, some with just her in them. After taking photos of her and Nolan in front of the reception desk Jasper took some of her sitting at the reception desk. They then went on a mini photographical tour of the meeting rooms and the kitchenette. It wasn't all serious though, Jasper would occasionally ask for some goofy or over the top poses that had everyone laughing.

After the photoshoot Nolan went back upstairs and Jasper went to his office to review the photos and curate a selection to send on to Jennifer. Tessa spent a bit of time at the reception desk checking emails and forwarding some queries to Andrew. Soon though there was nothing else for her to do and it was late enough that it was unlikely that there would be many if any calls.

She knew that Jasper would probably be busy with reviewing the photos so she didn't want to go and bother him. It would be up to her to find something to occupy her time.

While she was thinking of things she could do Tessa went to the bathroom and when she was washing her hands she realised that her blouse was still unbuttoned. She smiled at the memory of Jasper telling her that she needed to "sex things up" a little. After drying her hands Tessa was about to button up her blouse but paused with her fingers on a button. She moved back in front of the mirror and studied her reflection for a second before unbuttoning a couple more buttons on her blouse. Tessa then opened up the sides of her blouse so that her bra was visible. Her appearance was no longer professional looking but it also wasn't particularly sexy either. Tessa undid the remaining buttons that were visible and pulled her blouse wide open so that her bra encased breasts were fully in view. She put on a sultry look and pouted her lips for the mirror. She came across as being more sexy but inside she wasn't feeling it.

As Tessa was about to do up her blouse she stopped again. She had an impulse to try and make herself look as hot as possible. Something that if it was put on the company website would give the entirely wrong impression of what services were on offer. Tessa paused, wondering where that idea had come from. She thought that yesterday's adventure would have satisfied any urges to engage in risky behaviour. Apparently not, but it wasn't like there would be much risk undressing in the bathroom, she was the only lady around.

Due to not having any work to get back to and there being very little chance of being seen and getting embarrassed Tessa couldn't think of a reason not to do it. Before she could rethink what she was doing Tessa took off her blazer, pulled her blouse out of her skirt and undid the last few buttons. That wasn't enough though, having her bra and stomach exposed would have made for interesting photos but it wasn't the look Tessa was going for.

Tessa thought for a moment about what she should do next. Rather than just showing more skin she wanted to be playful, a tease. While her bra was a little more fancy than what she had on yesterday it still fully concealed her breasts. Without stopping to think about it Tessa took off her blouse and then undid her bra.

As she slipped her bra straps off her shoulders Tessa kept her eyes from her reflection. It wasn't until she was pulling the bra away from her breasts that she looked at the mirror. She was struck by how utterly bizarre it was to be standing half naked in the bathroom at work. Tessa noticed her nipples were beginning to harden, mostly from their exposure to the cool air. She got her blouse and put it back on but left it completely unbuttoned. After carefully positioning her blouse so that her nipples were covered but the inner curves and a portion of the undersides of her breasts were visible Tessa looked up at her reflection.

Despite nothing particularly private being exposed, her appearance was wonderfully inappropriate. Her pleased grin made her look like even more of a tease and added to her sexiness. While her blouse wasn't sheer, focusing on her chest Tessa was certain that she could see a hint of the darker colour of her nipples through the material. It was definitely easy to see how hard they were with the way they were poking through her blouse.

Tessa retrieved her blazer and put it on, she took hold of the front sides, holding them close to her body so that they pressed against the outsides of her breasts. That pushed her breasts inward, giving her more prominent cleavage. The sight of herself doing an overly sexy pose was a little absurd but she was having fun and a genuine smile appeared on her face. Somehow her grin made the image in the mirror appear more playful and appealing.

Tessa put some more thought into how she could make her appearance even sexier. The only thing that really jumped out to her was her skirt. With the skirt she was wearing there wasn't much she could do with the waist, her only real option was to shorten its hem. She folded the hem up until her skirt now went down to just above her mid thigh. She posed again and was actually surprised at how well she was pulling off the sexy look. The strip of bare skin running from her neck down past her belly button to the waist of her skirt was an enticing tease, especially when it came to the inner curves of her breasts that had been emphasised by Tessa pushing them inward.

She studied her reflection for a good while. Tessa had never deliberately tried to dress in such a provocatively sexy way before and was finding that besides being fun she liked how she looked. Tessa released her pose, satisfied that she had gone as far as she could in making herself look sexy without revealing too much of her body.

Not ready to end the fun she was having Tessa decided to try out some looks that were a bit more explicit. Smiling, she did a minor striptease for the mirror as she took off both the blazer and blouse. Tessa draped her blouse up over the door of a stall before putting her blazer back on. It felt weird to be wearing the blazer only but Tessa couldn't deny that visually it was pretty hot.

She again started by covering her nipples but drew the sides of the blazer back so her breasts were effectively framed by its lapels. There was just something about the contrast of a professional looking blazer and her bare chest with her hard light brown nipples pointing out that really made her feel sexy. The thought of Jasper photographing her like this sent a small shiver of arousal through her.

Tessa would have liked to have a photograph taken of how she currently looked but she had left her phone at the reception desk and there was no way she could go out like she was currently dressed to fetch her phone. Dressing back up, going and getting her phone and then coming back to attempt to recapture her sexy look was also out of the question.

Tessa sighed, gave her reflection another look and put her clothes back on so she once again looked professional. As Tessa inspected herself to make sure everything was in place she couldn't help feeling like she looked boring now. A part of her wished that she had the courage to go back out to the reception desk with even a halfway sexy appearance.

On Friday morning Tessa felt like she had reached a milestone. At the end of the day she would have completed a full week in her new job. She knew that it had been an easy week but she still felt like it was an accomplishment after the long period she hadn't worked. More importantly, she would be getting paid early next week which would alleviate a lot of the financial pressure she had been under.

At lunch Tessa mentioned her milestone to Nolan and he responded by smiling and congratulating her sincerely. There was a pause and from his expression Nolan had thought of something and was deciding whether he should share it with her. Tessa waited with a patient but expectant look on her face. Eventually Nolan decided to go ahead and say what he had on his mind.

"Do you want to get a drink after work? You know, to celebrate completing your first week."

His question had been tentative, clearly worried how she would take it. Tessa felt a little warm inside at just how endearingly nervous Nolan was. She would have liked to accept his offer but she didn't really have the money to spend on going out for a drink or two.

Tessa smiled wistfully, "That sounds good, but I can't really afford it at the moment. Anyway, are the bars even open again?"

Nolan looked crestfallen but then perked up again. "How about I go buy some drinks and we have them here?"

That sounded good to Tessa but she was wary of whether that would be allowed here. Unlike her little adventure around the office area, there was a security camera in the kitchenette and they would certainly be seen drinking. "Is that going to be okay?"

"Yeah it will be fine. The last couple of Fridays Jennifer arranged drinks for a bunch of us here. We had some wine, beer and snacks. It was actually pretty lively. She also said that her plan was to have little networking events for the tenants once this place was set up and the people moved in."

Tessa was convinced that there wouldn't be any trouble and so couldn't see a reason not to agree. "Well, in that case I'm in. Thanks."

Nolan seemed pleased with her acceptance. "What would you like me to get you?"

"I don't need anything fancy, some beer would be fine for me."

"Okay, cool. I might get us a six pack."

Nolan ducked out for a bit before returning with a six pack which he put inside the fridge. As he passed by the reception desk he called out to Tessa. "See you after work."

That afternoon Tessa received a call from Jennifer. In a moment of coincidence Jennifer apologised for not being able to come over and celebrate the end of Tessa's first week. When Tessa mentioned that Nolan had got some drinks for after work Jennifer sounded happy that something had been organised and promised that she would arrange for everyone to get together once the office was officially open.

Jennifer also mentioned the photos taken from the previous day and gave Tessa a compliment on how good she looked in them. Tessa was ecstatic to hear that she and Nolan would be getting paid a small bonus for their modelling work as the company saved money by not hiring actual models.

After the call Tessa took care of some emails and when Jennifer sent through some of the photos Jasper had taken. She opened them up and was impressed by how well they had turned out. Wanting to compliment Jasper, Tessa left her desk, went to his office and knocked on the door. When he opened up Jasper smiled when he saw Tessa.

"Hi Tessa, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Hey Jasper, Jennifer sent me some of the photos from the shoot yesterday. The ones I saw are really good. You did a great job of making us look good."

"Thanks, I think part of the credit should go to you and Nolan. Both of you were very photogenic and you took directions well."

He looked at her with a smirk, "Do you think I could convince you to do some more modelling for me?"

Tessa thought of the sexy poses she had tried out later in the bathroom and blushed. She hoped Jasper just thought she was embarrassed out of modesty. "Maybe, but only if you pay me a lot. Modelling seems like a massive step down from the glamorous job of being a receptionist."

Jasper laughed, "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime do you want to see the rest of the photos I took?"

Tessa nodded and followed Jasper back into his office where they looked at all the pictures that had been taken. After that they chatted until it was time for Jasper to leave. He was heading off early so that he could get ready for a dinner out with friends. When Tessa returned to the reception desk she found she hadn't missed any emails so she settled back and browsed the internet on her phone while she waited for the day to end.

Just after five o'clock Nolan arrived from upstairs having finished for the day. He accompanied Tessa on her quick walk around to check the offices were all secure before they both headed to the kitchenette for drinks. Nolan fetched a couple bottles of beer and opened them before handing one to Tessa. Nolan held his own bottle up toward Tessa.

"Congratulations on getting to the end of your first week."

Tessa clinked her beer against Nolan's. "Cheers."

They both took a drink and Tessa sighed with satisfaction. It had been quite some time since she'd had a beer and its taste reminded her of better times before everything went to shit. Reflecting on her situation Tessa was feeling a lot better. She had completed her first week of her new job and was going to get paid soon with a bonus on top. While the work had been satisfying, she also had some fun experiences and now she was enjoying a beer with a good looking and interesting guy.

She smiled gratefully at Nolan. "Thanks, this is really good. Now if only we had some snacks, this would be perfect."

In response Nolan reached down for his backpack before pulling out a bag of corn chips and a jar of salsa. Tessa laughed and nodded her head in acknowledgement.

As Tessa and Nolan relaxed and enjoyed their beer and corn chips they chatted about things they were looking forward to doing now that the pandemic was starting to ease. Their discussion then went on to more personal topics. Both of them admitted that the lockdown had really cut down on their social life. While Tessa had given online video dating a try, it was just too artificial and she found it draining. Nolan hadn't bothered with dating, instead he focused on keeping in contact with his friends through gaming. Tessa was pleased to hear that Nolan was single and couldn't help kicking her flirtation up a notch. They ended up staying at the office for a good while until the cleaners arrived and burst their little bubble. After tidying up they left the building together, saying goodbye as they each headed in different directions.

Arriving at work on the following Monday, Tessa found she was actually looking forward to the day. Despite there being only enough work to fill about a third of her day she was being paid pretty well for it. Plus there were other things here to occupy her time. Not least of which was lunch with Nolan.