Chapter 1
Her hips swayed, and she curled her finger, beckoning me to join her.
The lights in the club were drawn to her, showing off her dress, which was so tight it could have been honey dripped over her bare skin.
I was straight, why was she looking at me? My thighs twitched, the urge to feel that silky smooth dress rubbing against me. What was this feeling?
But there was no music. There had been music. I couldn’t remember which song had been playing.
Damn.
I opened my eyes, and the office lighting returned.
‘You okay, Natasha?’
I looked over my monitor at Dan. ‘Yup. Just lost myself in a daydream there.’
‘All right, well let’s focus up a bit. The customer needs these reports tomorrow.’
‘Working as hard as I can,’ I muttered.
I hadn’t wanted to go out last night, but Jess had forced me. I hadn’t even been drinking because I knew I was going to have a tough day at work in the morning. But she had stood out like a beacon. Now every time I closed my eyes I saw her standing there again, in that spotlight.
‘Natasha?’
‘Yes, Dan, I’m working, don’t worry.’
We’d both mastered our passive aggressive tone. Dan and I couldn’t stand each other, but we were both the best at this job, so management always stuck us together. Apparently the rest of the office had somehow managed to convince the higher-ups that using a spreadsheet was a real challenge. If only I had done that. I wouldn’t have to deal with Dan. Dan who ran his hand through his hair compulsively every five seconds, and insisted on leaning back and tapping his chest like a drummer whenever he needed to think. If that wasn’t enough, he’d click his clicky pen and roll it up in his tie like a child.
The worst part? How damn hot he was! Honestly, why this company was hiring male models, I just didn’t know. He and Matt Bomer were carved from the same stone. And the suits he wore? Every single one was a tailored masterpiece, somehow giving him just enough flexibility to be able to bend over and make every man, woman, and inanimate object stop and take a look. Dan knew it, of course. When it wasn’t crunch time, he’d be walking around, flirting with anything that walked and could vaguely classify itself as female.
I hadn’t liked him from the moment I saw his smug, chiseled jaw. Let’s be clear – not jealous.
Dan leaned back in his chair and started tapping his chest. If I could roll my eyes any harder I’d be looking at my own brain. You know when someone just pisses you off by breathing? Yeah, well he was breathing.
‘Hey, Natasha? How about some coffee?’
‘Could use some myself, thanks.’ I countered.
I could see him grimace over the top of my monitor. ‘You know how it is, though. If I go and get the coffee, I won’t be back for an hour as everyone stops to talk along the way. Why don’t you make it? No one talks to you.’
That prick. I mean, it was true, but still.
‘That’s efficient thinking, Dan. How do you take it?’
‘Black, no sugar.’
I stood up and winked at him. ‘Gotcha.’
I left the crunch office, the one that Dan and I got locked in when the deadlines got tight, and headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, no one said anything to me. I got out two mugs – one slightly larger that would be mine, obviously – and as I followed standard Dan procedure and stirred milk and sugar into both of them – because fuck Dan, am I right? – my mind wandered back to last night.
Jess had forced me out to some new club called “Velvet”. She was recently single and insisted that we should go on the hunt together. I had just wanted to wrap up with a hot drink and a book, but sometimes you have to do what your one and only friend wants. I guess.
Jess and I had caught up – she’d complained about her ex still texting her, I’d complained about work – at that point she’d been drunk enough to start dancing. I hadn’t been drinking, and really didn’t want to tire myself out. I stayed at the bar.
The first guy to interrupt my quiet contemplation had been cute, but I wasn’t looking, so got rid of him quickly enough.
The next guy had bought me a drink even after I’d refused.
The third had been a real charmer and even got a laugh out of me, and who knows, maybe he would have been fun. But that was when I’d seen her.
Why did I care? She was just another woman dancing in the crowd. There had been dozens. Sure, she was hot, but lots of them had been. She wasn’t anything special.
Okay, that’s kind of like saying that the Mona Lisa is just another painting. But why did I care? Why was I hung up on her? Then I remembered that finger curling upwards, telling me to come. Those hips swaying out of time with the fast paced music, but in time with my heartbeat. And those eyes. A deep green, beneath her dark brown hair. The light had swirled around her, highlighting parts of her, but never all of her at once. Her legs were first, and I couldn’t help but think of them wrapping around me, then her hips and the fun I could have with them, and then her face, and the rest of the club dissolved away.
‘What do you think?’
I snapped back to myself, still stirring the coffees in the kitchen. Two older men were talking about something and were apparently trying to include me in what was probably something far less interesting than my memories of last night.
‘The benefits of using open source software in the company? You use the spreadsheet package, right?’
‘Oh. Umm, yeah. I mean, increased flexibility and security, but only if you pay the higher upkeep costs, you know?’
They both nodded in agreement, and continued talking as I made my excuses to get back to work.
I carefully placed Dan’s coffee down next t him. ‘There’s yours, cream and two sugars, as you asked.’
He clicked his clicky pen furiously for a few seconds. He picked the coffee up and took a long sip. ‘Thanks, that’s perfect.’
I was pretty sure that one of us was going to escalate this passive aggressiveness to murder in a few month’s time.
The rest of the office started packing up, and the shouts of people arranging plans for the weekend could be heard loud and clear, and each one sounded like they were rubbing my nose in their freedom.
Right on cue, my boss stuck his head in the door. ‘Doing great work in here guys. You’ll be ready for the hand over tomorrow?’
We both nodded enthusiastically, and the boss left.
‘Dan, will you actually be ready for tomorrow?’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘I’ll be as ready as you are, sure.’
I narrowed my eyes in return. ‘Yes. Good to know.’
Oh data entry. The bane of my existence. It was going to be a long night.
My phone buzzed. Tash, let’s go out again. Velvet yeah?
I bit my lip. Damn it, Jess! I had work to do. I couldn’t just drop it all and go out. I’d be fired faster than Hillary Clinton’s emails got deleted if I didn’t deliver this project by tomorrow.
Why did she want to go out again, anyway? She hadn’t met the sexy Goddess of her dreams. Okay, that was a weird thought. I wasn’t even into women!
Why? What’s up? I replied.
A girl can’t want to go to the same place two days in a row?!
Oh jeez. You got some, didn’t you?
Hehe. No, but I really need a duck tonight! Then a second later. Autocorrect. You know what I meant 😉
I didn’t have much left to do on the report. I could finish it up tomorrow. I mean, I didn’t want to go out, but maybe I’d see her again. I’d just go for an hour. Yes, a quick scan of the dance floor, make sure Jessica was safe, and then a good night’s rest, into work tomorrow to finish up, and that would be it. I could go to Velvet on an existential quest to figure out just what I was feeling, and still get my work done.
I could have my cake and eat it too.
You’re on.
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TO READ MORE, click here for the pdf for Chapters 1-3 Dress Like Honey