Swing Both Ways

At twenty-eight,Jenny Wilson was beginning to feel like an oldmaid.In the years after college,she struggled to make ends meet and maintain a social life,but the parties dried up when she landed a well-paying job as the office manager at a local architect firm.Now her weeks blurred together in the same,unending routine.Up at six in the morning to eat a hurried breakfast—one of those Special K egg sandwiches she could microwave while she showered—then a good half hour primping infront of the mirror,make-up and hair and jewelry,everything perfect.She was the first face everyone saw when they entered the lobby of Anders and Associates,and she wanted to make a good impression.Not just on the clients who visited,either.There was a certain coworker whose eye she’d like to catch.

Eric Thomas was gay,she knew that.Hell,everyone in the office knew it.He was in a committed relationship with a hot construction foreman named Mike Lewis whose photo sat front andcenter on Eric’s desk.A candid snapshot of the two of them hugging in front of the rapids on the James River was the background image on Eric’s work laptop.Every time she asked Eric how his weekend went,he invariably started his sentences with,“Wonderful!Mike and I…”

She’d even spoken with Mike a few times,when he called the main office number and she had to patch him through to Eric’s line.Mike had a deep voice that sounded incredibly sexy in her ear,gruff and grumbly.It sent shivers up and down her spine.He knew she and Eric were friends,and even knew her name,apparently,because when he growled,“Hello,Jenny,”her knees quivered and her pussy clenched,and her whole body filled with a warm glow.God,what she wouldn’t give to wake upnext to a man who sounded like that every morning!

In photos,though,Eric was more her type.Mike had muscles and brawn from working construction,but Eric was trim without being athletic,one of those guys who was just naturally slim,with a narrow waist and long legs that seemed to stretch for miles.He had a perpetual tan,a quick grin,and dark hair he couldn’t seem to keep out of his chocolate-colored eyes.When he smiled,he had a dimple to the left of his lower lip,halfway between his cheek and his chin.More than once Jenny poked that dimple with her finger playfully,just to see him duck away,thin color rising in his cheeks.That was the type of relationship they had.Easy,flirty.

Safe.

God,she wanted more.

****

Though Jenny had known Eric for more than six months now,she could still remember exactly what he said to her the first time they met.It had been on her first day of work,shortly before noon,after she’d finally finished all her new hire paperwork and was straightening up the front desk in the lobby that was tobe her future work station.The HR woman,Delia,had left her toher own devices,and for the first time all morning,Jenny felt she had a chance to sit down and take a deep breath,take it all in.The new hire handbook sat on one edge of her desk,intimidating.Beside it,equally as scary,was the twelve-line phone she was expected to learn how to handle.Beside that,her computer monitor stared at her,the Windows logo bouncing merrily across the screen,waiting for her to get to work.

She heard footsteps approaching behind her desk and turned,half-expecting Delia with one more thing she needed to know.All morning long,it’d been,“Oh,I forgot to mention…”

But no,this time it was a handsome man Jenny’s own age,maybe a few years older.Careless hair,olive skin,a sexy smile that broadened when he caught Jenny’s eye.Coming up to lean against the side of her desk,he drawled,“Steve said the new office manager was cute,but he says that about all the ladies,so I had to come see you for myself.”

Her face flushed.“I’m Jenny.”

“Eric.”He held out his hand and Jenny took it,surprised he wanted to shake hers.But instead he flipped it over and kissed the back of her hand,as if they were a couple meeting a century earlier.She could feel his grin against her skin.“And I’m betting Steve put the moves on you,am I right?”

“I wouldn’t call it that,”Jenny hedged.

Eric covered her hand with both of his and gave her a smarmy look she’d last seen on the overweight guy with the comb-over from the graphics department who had introduced himself as Steve“For a Good Time Call”Johnson.“Jenny,is it?”Eric asked,his voice patronizing and a touch condescending.It was obvious he’d worked with Steve long enough to have the other man’s obnoxiousness down pat.“Well,little lady,what say you and me head out around noon to grab a bite to eat?I know a nice quiet place downtown where we can get to know each other without being bothered…if you know what I mean.”

The bawdy wink he gave her was over the top.Jenny started giggling,and had to cover her mouth with her free hand to keep from losing it completely.“God!You’re dead on,”she said,breathless with laughter.“I take it you’ve seen his act before.”

“Every woman who walks through that door,”Eric said.“Client,coworker,maid,he doesn’t care.That man is trying his hardest to get laid before he turns into the forty-year-oldvirgin.”

Jenny’s giggles threatened to overwhelm her.She was well aware of her hand still tight within Eric’s;her flesh was warmed in his,tingling against him,and she didn’t know whether to pull back or close her fingers around his.If he was trying to hit on her,too,he was doing a hell of a better job than Steve had,that was for sure.

“Hey,wait a minute,”Jenny said,catching her breath.“Wasn’t the actor in that movie also named Steve something?”

Eric’s smile widened.“I can tell we’re going to hit it off just fine,you and me.If you didn’t accept his lunch date,howabout coming out with me instead?”

Then it hit her.Nothing she could put her finger on,nothing hesaid exactly,or even the way he said it,but something made herthink,He’s gay.Just like that,out of nowhere,clear as day.She knew.

Damn it.

Giving his hand a slight squeeze,she matched his smile.“Lunch sounds great.”