Office Play: Freaky Geek Series (9 page)

Chapter Nine

After the meeting, Jeanette walked back to her office with a couple of the ladies from the art department. They were making a big deal of her going off to Paris, and telling her what to do, see and where to shop. She later found out they always made a made deal of someone going to the Paris office. Like one lady said: ‘It’s Paris!’ The copy department also gave her a list of things to bring back. They loved it when someone went to the Paris office, and her being new, they got a double treat in the gossip department.

Working was not on the agenda.

Once she got into her office, she called the travel department and followed the instructions Sam gave her for making the arrangements.

While she was on hold, she heard a knock on her door. She looked up and there stood Adam. She came to the conclusion that he could be caught up in a tornado, plopped down in a muddy riverbank and still look absolutely breathtaking. It was sickening.

She waved him in and pointed to the chair in front of her desk. He sat down, never taking his eyes off of her. She turned her chair slightly to get out of his gaze.

“Travel, this is Shelia.” The person on the other end said.

“Hi Shelia, this is Jeanette Foster, from the L.A. office. I need reservations for Wednesday. I need to leave early morning; my final destination is the Paris office. I want a direct flight, if that’s possible.”

“Okay, did you fill out form 850?”

“Yes.”

“Email it to me and we’ll get the ball rolling.”

“Sending it now.” She clicked the appropriate boxes and clicked send. “There you go.”

“We have to do this just to make sure not just anybody is making travel arrangements. I need to hear a voice,” Sheila chuckled. “Someone made travel arrangements through our system to New York and stayed at the Waldorf. Didn’t even know about it.”

“Wow!”

“Okay, You’ll be getting your confirmation and itinerary by the end of the day.”

“Thanks.” She hung up the phone.

“I know you’re looking forward to this trip,” Adam said.

“In a way, yes.”

“In a way? This is Paris we’re talking about. I don’t care how many times you go there,

it’s still a different and wonderful experience.”

“This is true and it’s on the company’s dime. I take it you’ve been there many times.” Jeanette leaned back in her chair. She figured she’d keep him talking about this trip and the task at hand, that way the conversation wouldn’t stray to other areas.

“Yes, I have and it’s all been work, you know setting up systems and teaching new software hands-on. This time I plan to have a good time.”

“What do you have in mind? You know as soon as we get off the plane, we have to hit the ground running.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you also know that to prevent jet lag, we need to stay up as soon as we arrive. We’re not expected to work the first day.”

“Great.”

“You’re not looking forward to this trip are you?”

“It’s not that, it’s just that I am up to my eyeballs in purchase orders, checking and cross checking them. Then looking over the company’s books. That in itself is all time consuming. I’ve only been here for a few days, and already I’m being sent half way around the world.” She shook her head, grabbed her purse looking for her cell. “Crazy.”

“Tell you what. When we get there I’ll show you a good time. I’ll make sure you’re not overworked.”

He winked at her. Jeanette had the cell phone in hand about to call Renee, but couldn’t seem to dial a number.

She didn’t know what he had in mind when they got to Paris, but having a party everyday was not on her itinerary. Even though the girls in the office were giving her a list of all the things she should do, her main purpose for the trip was to work. Naturally, she wasn’t going to get all giddy about this trip. She was excited, but she didn’t want Adam to know.

If he knew how excited she really was, he would take advantage of that and who knows what they would be doing.

Jeanette looked into Adam’s greenish gray eyes. They were dark and dilated. She knew what they would be doing and she was trying to avoid it. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll pace myself like I do here in the states. I’ll find time to do extracurricular activities.”
Oh hell, why did she say that?

“Speaking of which. I would like to show you some of my favorite spots, when you have time of course.”

“Oh, of course. I’m a foodie.” She chuckled.

“You too? Great, then we can indulge on the rich fattening delicacies of Paris.” Adam smiled at her and got up from his seat. She watched him as he walked to his office.

She let out a breath. Being in the same room with him was a challenge. Especially being in the same room they had wild sex in.

She could tell that Adam was really looking forward to this trip, and it wasn’t because of work.

When Sam mentioned that she was sending her to the Paris office, she was thrilled. She didn’t want too show it however. Didn’t want to give the impression that she’s never be anywhere before. The fact is, she’s been to France many times and she was super happy that this trip, someone else was picking up the tab.

But when Sam mentioned that Adam would be joining her, she wanted to fall out of her chair. And it wasn’t necessary a good thing.

A week alone in Paris, with a man that looked like that, and made love like a damn porn star. This was not a good combination. Especially since she wanted to cool things off between the two of them.

She resigned in the fact that she wanted to keep their relationship strictly platonic and work related. Yes, it meant sacrificing great sex. But one could not live on sex alone.

Jeanette took off her glasses and threw them down on her desk. Who was she kidding?

She could be stranded on a desert island, and live off that kind of sex for months!

***

Adam almost ran to his office. He needed to call the travel department before they sent Jeanette her confirmation and itinerary. He wanted to add a few things to it before she got it. This wouldn’t be too hard to pull off. Shelia owed him one anyway.

He walked straight to his office, barely acknowledging his co-workers, and shut the door. He immediately got on the phone.

“Travel, this Shelia.”

“Hey Shelia, it’s Adam.”

“Long time, no hear. How are you?”

“Great, couldn’t be better. I’m going to the Paris office, leaving Wednesday early morning.”

“Cool! So is the new girl. That reminds me, let me send her confir—.”

“Don’t!”

“Plans have changed? She’s not going?”

“No, she’s going. I just need to rearrange a few things.”

“Like what?”

“For one, I want first class tickets. Two, I want the same hotel, same suite. I prefer the Shangri-La Hotel Paris.”

“Adam.” Her voice was reprimanding.

“I know, I know. I’ll pick up the difference, don’t worry.”

“Not worried ‘bout that. What’s this with same hotel suite? Who is this Jeanette? You never did anything like this. She’s having your baby or something?” She giggled.

I wish.
“No, but I am interested in more than a co-worker relation, but don’t let word get out.
She seems to have reluctance anyway. I’m trying to move things along and get her to see things my way.”

“Be careful Adam.”

“I will.”

“Wait a minute. How am I gonna explain her itinerary? She’ll surely look this over with Sam.”

“Got that covered. Send it to me only, I’ll take it from there.”

Shelia sighed. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Me too.”

It was an hour later, when Adam’s email beeped him. It was the confirmation and itinerary. Fantastic. He looked it over making sure everything was in order. He smiled to himself when he saw where they would be staying. Yep, it was the Shangri-La Hotel Paris. How she pulled that off with such short notice was beyond him. But he wasn’t going to argue. Good job Shelia. Not too romantic to suggest anything, but elaborate enough to suggest that this was no ordinary business trip either.

Adam printed out the confirmation. He looked at it again and tried to think of his next move. He told Shelia he had a plan. In actuality, he was flying by the seat of his pants. The good thing was, Jeanette would not get anything from travel; it was all on one ticket.

After trying to figure out his next move, there came a knock on his door.

“Come in.”

“Dude, word has it that you and the hot new lady are going to the Paris office. Wink, wink.”

Oh brother.
Adam couldn’t get away from the fact that this office was a hotbed of gossips. “Wink, wink nothing. We’re there on business. We found out that the mysterious purchase orders are coming from that office.”

“Ahh. But you two will still be there together…alone.”

“Whatever, Erick. Is that what you came in here for.”

“Of course. What did you think? Something work related?” he chuckled.

Adam ran his hand through his hair. The CIA couldn’t make a move in this place without someone knowing about it.

Suddenly, Adam got an idea. “Say, did you and Jake check those motherboards that came in two weeks ago. We need to know if those are compatible with the media department’s new computers.”

“Yep, all done. Want me to get you the results?”

“Please. Go find Jake and get on it.”

Erick left the room. That gave Adam a chance to put the other part of his plan into action. He called travel again.

“Travel, this is Sheila.”

“Me again.”

“I’m not getting you guys a private limo. Use the company car.”

Adam laughed. “No, it’s nothing like that. If Jeanette calls you wondering where her confirmation is, tell her that there was a little hang-up, but you’ll have it to her late Tuesday afternoon. Sam is leaving early, so you can send her what you’ve sent me. It will be too late to say anything.”

“You’re dangerous when you put your mind to it, you know that?”

“Thanks hun.”

Satisfied with his plan, he got up to take care of someone’s laptop issue. Apparently, a porn site popped up at the most inconvenient time.

It was time to call it a day, and Adam was beat. Some maintenance people were doing things to the main fuse box and all the computers, and telephones shut down for two hours. They had their laptops, but some were not powerful enough for some of the heavy graphic stuff. He had to laugh to himself. If he knew that was going to happen, he wouldn’t have put Shelia in such a precarious position with the travel arrangement issue.

Adam sat down and turned his chair to face the window. It was a cloudy day but to him, the sky was clear with birds singing happily. Okay, maybe that was a bit much. But he couldn’t help the way he was feeling. He had some more planning to do before Wednesday morning.

This Paris trip was thrown in his lap by the relationship gods, he wasn’t going to screw it up. Right now, he needed to think of answers to questions that he knew Jeanette would have for him.

He heard his email beep. It was Henry, from the Paris office, it read:

Heard you were coming with the new person. Wishing you a safe trip. Maybe we can get together and paint the town. Wife back from her mother-in-law. Good to have a couple more Americans in this Paris soufflé. Later.

Henry was one of a few Americans sent to the Paris office after it opened a few years ago. He wasn’t happy. He was at first, but his wife soon put a damper on that when she basically became a frequent shopper at all the exclusive shops along the Champs Elysees.

Ironically, Adam
wanted
Jeanette to do a little shopping. He was going to treat her to the best time in Paris a woman could have.

And that included romance.

Chapter Ten

The week seemed to have flown by. It was already Tuesday morning, almost a full two weeks on her job. Tomorrow late afternoon she would be flying to Paris. Jeanette was thrilled. The first thing she wanted to do was go to her favorite lingerie store—Vannina Vesperini. Nothing like custom fittings.

She checked her email as soon as she got to her desk. Nothing from travel yet. They were kinda pushing it with time. Shelia knew she was to leave tomorrow. Jeanette just wanted to make sure that everything was in order and if there was a problem, she could change it.

Feeling a bit uneasy, she walked to Adam’s office.

She peaked her head in and saw that he was on the phone. He made eye contact with her and pointed to a chair next to him.

“I’ll be off soon,” he mouthed to her.

She sat down and took a good look around his office.

It was a mess. How he worked in these conditions she didn’t know. There where computers all around—loose, not plugged in. Boxes of computer parts strewn all over the floor. Bunches of wires, either in a tangle mess or coiled and tied together.

This was definitely geek territory.

“Okay dear, what can I do for you?” Adam was hanging up the phone when she turned her attention back to him.

“Did you get your confirmation back from travel yet?”

“Uh, no, I was going to ask you the same thing. I know they’re very busy. They’re down two people.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll definitely get it before departure.” He smiled at her. God, his face was absolutely breathtaking.

“I’m not really worried about that. I wanted to make sure they got everything right. I don’t even know what hotel I’ll be staying at. Oh! I forgot you’ve been there. Is there a particular hotel they use? Is it nice?”

“Yes, it’s very nice. And don’t worry, they can crank out itineraries with their eyes close.”

“Alright, then. I’ll let you get back to your work.”

“Stay for a minute, unless you’re busy.”

Adam’s gaze was soft, sensual and penetrating.

“I have to meet up with Sam before she leaves. She’s going to show me how to fill out my timecard.”

“Ah. Then after you’re done, come back here. I forgot I have to give you your company phone. You’ll need it in Paris, because I’m sure you don’t want to use your own.”

“You got that right.” She laughed.

“So make sure you come back here. It’s going to take a while to program your phone.”

He kept smiling at her. It wasn’t a smile that was between friends or co-workers, it was a smile that held a secret. What that secret was, Jeanette was dying to know.

Jeanette politely smiled back and left the room. She spotted Sam coming out of the office break room with a cup of coffee in her hand. “Hello Sam. Do you have time to go over the time sheet with me?”

“Good morning! Of course. Let’s do it now. I have no meetings or calls to make. One of those rare days.” She chuckled.

“Um, I’ve been meaning to ask you. I notice that you get the coffee from the break room instead of going down stairs to the deli, like everyone else.”

“Oh yeah.” She laughed. “The coffee down there is good, but it’s not strong enough.”

They walked into her office. Jeanette thought maybe Sam should start drinking the deli coffee; kinda wean herself off the strong stuff.

“Now, let’s see. Bring that chair around here,” Sam pointed to the area next to her. “Let me bring up the timesheet screen. I know you’re wondering, why do I need to show you how to do a timecard.”

“Well….”

“The system that is in place now is much more complicated than the one we had before.”

“Why was it changed?

“The Paris office. We needed to make sure everything was the same, including hours and have them match when they got to payroll. So timing was everything, plus we needed to do everything in English code and so on and so forth.” Sam took another swig of brew. “Technology, gotta love it.”

“But you know we can’t live with out it,” Jeanette said, as she looked at the screen. The timecard did look a bit complicated.

“True. Speaking of which, have you gotten your confirmation and itinerary from travel?”

“No, neither has Adam. I was just asking him about it.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. They are down a few people, but they always come through even with such short notice. And I’ve been meaning to tell you to have Adam set you up with a company cell.”

“Thanks, he told me.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been so busy with the purchase order situation, plus other stuff. Glad you’re here to pick up the slack and solve this mess.”

“Glad to help and glad to be here.”

“And just think, your first business trip is to Paris and with the handsome Adam”

Sam turned to her and grinned a stupid grin.

What was that suppose to mean? “Yes, well, too bad we’ll be doing just work. I was hoping to hit as many shops as possible,” she said, trying to laugh off Sam’s last comment.

“That could be fun too.”

Jeanette decided to let that comment go. If Sam, as professional as she was, was teasing her about the fact that she and Adam were going to Paris together, she could only imagine the rest of the office.

Jeanette tried to concentrate on what Sam was saying regarding the timesheets. But mentioning Adam got her imagination, hormones and anything else that made her stupid, start up again.

“Oh, before I forget. I went over the books the other day, just for the one quarter,” Jeanette said getting up from her seat,”

“Oh dear. Give it to me straight,” Sam sighed.

Jeanette told her in detail what she found. She also mentioned that she would be going over the books for the quarter before and after the one in question.

Sam buried her head in her hands. “What a tangled web.”

“Don’t worry, Adam and I will solve it.”

“Keep the fait,” Sam said, raising her head and trying her best to smile.

Jeanette left the room, feeling a bit sorry for the petite blond. Someone was causing a lot of drama. She couldn’t wait to catch them.

Now she had to go see Adam about the cell. Hopefully the rest of his crew will be there. They had a tendency of going in and out of his office unannounced. So maybe he’ll behave.

It would also keep her in check.

***

Adam was leaving his office for Laura’s, when he heard his email.

He checked it. It was from the art department. Five orders for white boards seemed to have disappeared. Adam checked the p.o. numbers. Again dummy numbers.

For the past couple of days he’s been beating his brain, trying to figure out the glitch in his program. No, that wasn’t true. He’s been thinking about Jeanette. He was thinking about all the fun they were going to have. More specifically, the love they were going to make.

First things first however. She asked about the itinerary, and he knows she mentioned it to Sam. He needed to time this right. Sam would be leaving in the next hour. After that, he’ll call Jeanette and let her know that he got the travel arrangements. Then he would have to have a damn good explanation of why they were staying in the same hotel suite.

He was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of this plan. Too late now, he had to roll with it.

He headed towards Laura’s office. The door was half open and he knocked.

“Come in.”

“Hey there Laura.”

“Hello. I know you’re on cloud nine.” She put down whatever she was doing and leaned back in her chair.

“Really? Why?”

“Going to the Paris office.”

“How many times have I been there? Nothing new and it’s all work.”

“But you’ll be with
her
.”

“Her?”

“The new lady, Janet.”

“It’s Jeanette.”

“I see you remembered her name. Took you two weeks to remember mine.”

“It was a week, and who’s keeping score anyway. I don’t know why this office is making such a big deal about this business trip. Do you know how many business trips we’ve all been on?” Adam sat beside her desk.

“Yeah, but it was never with someone that just arrive at the company and no one that ever looked like that,” Laura said, pointing with her pen in the direction of Jeanette’s office.

So that’s it. Here we go again. Just because two attractive people were going on a business trip that happened to be in Paris, doesn’t mean that any hanky panky was going to take place.

Okay, he didn’t buy that either, even if it wasn’t him and Jeanette. But that was neither here nor there; he was going to nip this in the bud.

“Jeanette is no more interested in me than I am of her. True she’s very beautiful, but she is my co-worker and you know how I feel about that.”

“Yes I do. Just wondering if you made an exception.”

“Why the interest in my love life Laura?”

“No interest.” Laura sat up straight in her chair and typed some stuff on her computer. “I was just hoping things got a bit interesting around here, that’s all.”

“I prefer not to experience any excitement at the office, thank you very much. Been there done that.”

“Oh, yes, I almost forgot.”

“How? Your best friend was transferred to the Alaska office.”

“Um…I know. It happened so long ago, it’s…well never mind. You came here for something? Oh, you found who was taking the orders?”

“No, but we’ll find out once we get to Paris, I’m sure of that.”

“I hope so, it’s costing this company money. It could be overlooked if it were a pen or pencil or an occasional notepad. But we’re talking computers and servers among other things.”

“I know. Jeanette calculated over three hundred thousand dollars in loses already since last September.” Adam stood by the door when Jeanette stayed in Sam’s office. He just wanted to make sure she didn’t change her mind about the trip. When he heard that figure however, he cringed. Not good.

Laura shook her head. “And you know this is going to come out of our salary one way or another,” she said, with a smirk.

“Please, I just finished paying for Christmas gifts. Here are copies of all the purchase orders that we found with dummy numbers. These are what we’ll be looking at in Paris. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way.”

“Thanks. Hey, do you think this is a glitch or someone from inside the company?”

“Don’t know yet. But if it is an employee, their ass is grass.”

Adam arrived back at his office. He almost walked into his door, when he noticed Jeanette sitting in his chair. She was chatting with Jake.

“Hi, I hope you don’t mind me taking your seat. I was waiting for you and Jake told me you went to purchasing.”

“Yeah, don’t get up,” Adam said, when she was rising out of his chair. He was more than happy to have her sit there all day if she wanted. That way he would have her scent with him, even while working in his office.

“I’m finished with Sam, so I came by to get my phone set up.”

“Jake go see Kim, I think her laptop froze or something,” Adam said waving his hand in dismissal.

“Okay chief.” He left the room.

“Cool. Now, lemme get your phone and we can get started. Oops, it’s in my side desk drawer.”

He walked around his desk, and before she could get up to move out of his way, he blocked her. “It’s right here on top. Sorry, ‘scuse me.” He leaned across her and felt her breast brush against this head. He was in heaven.

“Kinda tight here,” she said, nervously.

“Nothing like a little closeness in the work place.” He grabbed the phone, then sat on the edge of his desk, still blocking her. “This is your one and only communication with us. We discourage people from using their personal cell, for obvious reasons. Passwords, contact list and such. We would put it in a cloud, but the last time we did that, it too was compromised.”

“Wow.” Jeanette shook her head.

“Just remember, the criminal element is always three steps ahead of the newest technology. Sometimes I wonder if they invent this stuff themselves, hoping you’ll buy it and make it easier for them to tap into it.”

Jeanette snickered. “That’s a thought.”

“Okay, dear. So this one will have the phone directory for all our offices, plus each individuals phone.”

Jeanette scooted her chair up closer. He bent the phone down so she could get a better look, but not far enough that she wasn’t touching him in some way.

“So the company picks up the tab on this.”

“Yep, but don’t get too happy. You can’t call you mother in New York and if you do, it comes out of your paycheck. They allot so much for each phone according to the position you hold here. The more responsibility you have, the more people you have to talk to, the more money they put on the phone.”

“I see. Makes sense.”