Kelly Jamieson: All I Want for Christmas

She stuffed her shopping bag and her purse back into her desk.

"Did you get the presents?” Kayla, manager of organizational development and her best friend at work, appeared in her cubicle.

"No,” Erin sighed, not looking up from her computer. “I'll go tonight.” Except tonight she had to try to find presents for her family—besides the dumb socks she'd just bought. Socks. She shook her head in disgust.

"Oh. Is there anything I can help with?"

Erin looked up at her friend, small, cute, with long red hair. She smiled. “Thanks, Kayla, but I know you're swamped, too."

Mother of three young boys, Kayla looked impossibly young for that. She nodded. “Tonight is the Christmas concert at the boys’ school. It will be hectic getting home, getting some food into them and getting there on time."

"So leave early,” Erin said. “Everyone else is."

Kayla grinned. “Great idea."

"Hey, Erin.” One of her coworkers, Cheryl, appeared in the door of her cubicle. “I have a little problem. I was supposed to take all the door prizes to the hotel tonight, but my boyfriend just got invited out to a Christmas cocktail party at his boss’ house, and I really have to go to that."

Erin sighed. “Can't you drop them off on your way? It won't take long."

Cheryl shook her head. “No. I made an emergency appointment to get my hair done, so I'm going to leave a few minutes early."

"But you took a long lunch!” Erin pushed her long hair back off her face. “And what about those reports on the training outcomes for this year? They have to be to the executive team by January second."

"I'll get them done, no problem,” Cheryl said cheerfully. “There's still all day tomorrow."

"But...” Erin gave up. “Never mind. I'll take the prizes. Where are they?"

"In the cupboard in the staff room. Thanks, Erin! You rock."

Erin grimaced and turned back to her computer where numerous emails had accumulated even in the short time she'd been gone. If she was the only one working, which it certainly seemed like, who was sending her all the emails?

Apparently the executive team was still working and still had questions about the big presentation they were doing for the Board of Directors early in the new year. She sighed but decided she needed to deal with her persistent headache before she got into replying to them.

Erin was just popping more painkillers into her mouth when she looked up into the amused eyes of Dex Mitchell. Again. “So, anyone here that can help me out now?” he asked, eyes glinting.

She almost choked on the pills and took a big gulp of water, which of course dribbled down her chin and onto her silk blouse. She wiped ineffectually at it as she felt her cheeks grow hot and no doubt red. “Jason is back from lunch,” she told Dex, swiping at her boobs. “He does the payroll. He's just around the corner.” She flashed a smile that she hoped looked helpful and confident, praying that Jason wasn't sitting there with his feet on his desk eating chocolates and wearing the plush Santa hat he'd had on earlier.

She heard Dex go around the corner and start conversing with Jason in a low voice, and she slumped back in her chair. Why, why, why did he always have to catch her at her worst?

She was scrawling her signature across some vendor invoices a few moments later when Dex returned.

She looked up at him inquiringly.

"I hear you're in charge of the party tomorrow night,” he remarked.

"Yes.” She was almost reluctant to admit it. What if the whole party bombed? It would be all her fault. No, it was not going to bomb. She'd checked and rechecked every detail with her usual thoroughness (or was it paranoia?). “Did you have a last-minute addition to the guest list?"

He shook his head, a smile touching his mouth. “No. I'll be there, but I'm coming alone. I just wondered if you'd arranged for taxi service to take people home."

"Of course!” The company provided taxi vouchers for anyone who wanted them to make sure that nobody drove home after drinking.

"Perfect. Don't want any unfortunate incidents at the holiday party."

Erin shook her head. “No, of course not."

At that moment, Erin's phone rang. She grabbed for the receiver.

"Good afternoon, Human Resources, Erin speaking, can I have you?"

There was silence at the other end of the line, and Erin closed her eyes rather than face Dex. “I mean, can I help you?” she gasped.

A laugh came over the line. “You can have me any time, honey. My wife might not like it, though. It's Carl in Research."

"Hi, Carl.” Her cheeks burned.

"Just a quick question about the party..."

She dealt with his question then hung up and looked at Dex, still standing there, looking very amused.

"So, I guess I'll see you at the party then,” he said.

She stared at him. Why was he making small talk with her? She smiled brightly. “Absolutely. I'll be there. I'm going alone, too."

Shit. Why had she said that? It sounded so lame. She turned back to her work again with flaming cheeks and bent her head.

"Hey!” Kayla whispered seconds later. “What did Dex Mitchell want? I saw him talking to you!"

Kayla was the only other person who knew Erin thought Dex Mitchell was a hottie. She looked up at her friend and grinned.

"He came to talk to Jason about some payroll stuff, and then he was asking me about the party."

"Really."

"He told me he's going alone to the party."

"He told you that? Just out of the blue?” Kayla's brows rose almost into her hair. “Hmm."

"But look at me!” Erin whispered, dipping her chin. “I was just downing Aspirin when he arrived, and he made me slop water all over myself. Then I answered the phone, and I said...” She paused, closed her eyes again in mortification. “'Can I have you?’ instead of ‘Can I help you?’”

Kayla's eyes widened, and then she collapsed against the wall of the cubicle in laughter. “Oh, my God!” she cried a moment later, wiping her eyes. “That is so funny! I can't believe you did that!"

"Har,” Erin said, a bit miffed at her friend's enjoyment of her discomfiture. She sighed. “I'm such a loser."

Kayla stood up straight and rolled her eyes. “As if,” she said dryly, trying not to smile. “You're gorgeous and smart and funny ... we all want to be you."

Erin snorted. “Well, he's never seen that side of me.” She picked up some papers and shuffled them in her hands. “Hey, you'd better get going so you make it to that concert on time."

Kayla left with a quick wave of her hand, and Erin turned back to her desk. She really needed to get one more report done before she left. She glanced at her watch. But the liquor store was miles from her home, the hotel was not even close to there, and she still had to hit the mall.

Feeling guilty, she decided to leave, too. Although why she felt guilty when the office was deserted she had no idea. Even her boss was gone.

Dex took the stairs from Human Resources on the twelfth floor to his office in Finance on the tenth. How many more excuses could he make to go to HR? The payroll questions had been completely bogus. Maybe he could have some kind of staffing issue. Or maybe he needed advice about a performance evaluation.

Yeah. Erin was the resident expert on their new performance evaluation system. He could have lots of questions about that.

He grinned as he remembered watching her dab at her breasts. The thin silky red blouse had done little to cover their round shape and tight little nipples as she'd tried to swipe the water away. It was just lucky for him that she seemed to be especially klutzy when he was around. But he didn't want to embarrass her. He just wanted to look at her, undress her with his eyes while his imagination had him doing more than just watching.