Sharon was working late one November night and the month was a grey and drizzly month in the year.
Everyone else had gone home but she had to finish some research on a new investment programme they were working out for a big pension fund.
She stopped to massage her eyes, Chinese fashion, her elbow on the desk and her palms pressed into her eyes, shutting out light and easing the strain on the iris, at the same time, letting her mind go blank. When she was very tired, this often helped to revitalize her for a while.
She was totally unaware of Bryan's approach until he touched her shoulder.
Then she whirled round, her gree eyes in shock.
'Oh! It's you. Don't creep up to me like that. You nearly made my heart stop'
'Snd we wouldn't want that, would we?' he said dryly and she felt herself flush. You have to be on your toes when you talked to him, he used double meanings like thorns under the skin.She let that one go by without comment.
'Why are you still working? You've got a long flight tomorrow, you should get an early night'.
'I shall', he said I'm just off but I saw your light on and came to say goodbye. I'm sure you will be relieved to see me go'.
She would and yet she already felt a grey depression settling down over her like a mist of winter. She was going to miss him badly but she wasn't admitting that to him before he made fun of her and her emotions.
One black brow curved sardonically. 'No comment? Well none needed bit I shall miss the Christmas office party and all the fun and games under the mistletoe which I understand goes on.....'
He bent very fast, before she had time to realise what he intended,and kissed her, his lips hot, compelling, waking the sleeping passion always curled inside her body whenever he was near.
It only lasted a moment then he stood up breathing thickly, darkly flushed, his eyes hostile.
'You can slap my face when I get back! Don't marry David while I am away or you would be sorry you did', he said and walked out, leaving her trembling, frustrated, on the point of tears.
It seemed to rain everyday after he was gone.She couldn't get him out of her mind especially at night, in her bed, when erotic fantasies about him kept her awake for hours.
Those nights, she would remember the taste of his lips, the smell of his sweat, of his cologne, his hard masculine body.
She would remember how he moved inside her and with her and she would moan wanting him terribly. Then her hands would creep to her most intimate parts and while still thinking about him and the way he loved her in bed, she would satisfy herself and only then would she be able to fall asleep.
She had experienced loneliness but this time it was loneliness with a plus. This was really what it felt like to be lonely.
It rain most everyday that one day, looking out the window, David commented, 'Lucky Bryan, of it weren't for the exhausting flight, I'd have gone myself but I couldn't face the journey'.
'I've never been to Australia's, Sharon said wistfully.
'You should have said something and maybe the both of you could have gone.
'I didn't want to', she erupted and then catching David's eye, she flushed. 'Well, you wouldn't want both of us gone at the same time, would you?'
David frowned. 'That's true but I just realized that you can't stand him, can you? Odd, I find him likeable, a brilliant mind too, very shrewd. I wonder why you don't like him?'
'I can't like everyone!' she protested,then tried to change the topic. 'Whether like this makes you want to take a holiday somewhere hit and sunny, doesn't it? The Caribbean would be nice or Florida'.
'What about Germany?' David said and she gave him a startled look.
'Germany? That's not sunny. I remember Gerhard telling me about winters there when he was a child. How he skied to school and went skating on frozen lakes'.
'Yes, I know but Gerhard did invite us to visit the German bank and the diary is pretty empty for the start of December'.
Sharon thought about it, chewing the end of a pen. 'Both of us?'
David looked pretty mischievous. 'I think Gerhard would expect you to be there, don't you?'
Sharon smiled. 'I don't know what you mean!'
'Oh yes, you do, he fancies you', David lifted his eyebrows. 'Oh come on, you like him!'
'Of course I do'.And it was true that the first ten days in the month of December was a blank space in her diary. Layer, there would be alot of Christmas Parties both private ones and office parties.
'Abd while we're over there, we could do some Christmas shopping's, David said cheerfully. 'After we've had our discussion with Gerhard in the German bank, we'd stay for a couple of days and go to one of the wonderful Christmas fairs they have in Germany, this time of the year'.
'Yes, that would be fun'.
'I suppose you'd be spending Christmas with your family as usual?' David asked.
'I'm not sure. I often go home for Christmas as well as a week in the summer. It's much to far to go home at the weekends. I'd no sooner get there than I'd be ony way back. I always love to have a week at least before I go'.
'Do they come to London often? Where do they go for their holidays?' David was always interested in other people's lives. It was one thing about him that made him a good boss and a good friend.
Sharon sighed. 'My father hasn't had a day off in years. He works three hundred and sixty five days a year on the farm and so does my mother
Sharon had kept trying to convince her parents to come away with her to some exotic place for a holiday but they wouldn't bulge and it had never happened as a result.