"You're late," Emily said. "That's not like you."

She sounded concerned rather than angry. Despite rumors to the contrary, I knew her to be a kind and forgiving person. She was a diligent boss, though, which always rubbed people the wrong way.

"I'm sorry, Em," I said. "It was a long night. I almost called out."

"Well, you look like crap," she said. "How about I give you the day, and you can get some rest. We don't need you spreading the flu or whatever around here."

I stood up and wobbled a little. I managed to catch myself and avoid face-planting right in front of my crush. Boss, I meant boss.

"You don't look fit to drive," she said. "Let me get some things settled, and I'll drive you home."

"It's okay; I'll be fine." An impressive yawn and another wobble gave truth to that lie.

"I can see that," she said. "Just sit back down, and I'll be back in a bit."

I watched her walk away with more than a little interest. Her tight ass was probably the only thing keeping my eyes open. Its sway hypnotized me. I let my gaze wander up and down her retreating form, drinking in every second of it. I wouldn't be able to get as much of an eyeful when she came back.

It wasn't like she didn't know I was interested. It’s just that I didn't want her to catch me gawking at her in the office. I honestly think if she weren't my boss, we'd be together. But, isn't that what all creepers believe?

A light tap on my shoulder woke me up.

"Huh," I said, my intelligence on full display.

"Um, you've got something going on there," Emily said.

I panicked and tried to look at my groin covertly. Nope, no boner. Of course, Emily noticed.

"Your mouth, silly.” Her voice was musical. "you were drooling."

"You could have worded that differently," I said.

She puckered her lips. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, I like to see you squirm."

"So," I said, "you were going to take me home?"

She laughed and looked around the small office. "That's the worst pick up line I've ever heard. You'll have to do better next time."

"Okay, am I dreaming? What's going on with you?"

Emily's smile faded a little. "Let's talk about it when we get to your place. I've taken the rest of the day off as well."

She helped me gather my things, and we walked in silence to her car. She'd bought another new one. It was some sporty thing that you'd expect a midlife crisis divorcee to drive. Not a well put together, twenty-something, rising star programmer that also happened to be the first female project lead in the company.

She drove us to my apartment. We didn't' speak or listen to the radio. At least I don't think we did. I was pretty out of it. The previous night's events had just about shot my mind into space.

"You coming?" Emily said.

I opened my eyes and realized we were in the parking garage. Emily stood next to my open door with her hand out to me.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I spaced out again." I let her help me out of the car.

My apartment wasn't anything special. It had two bedrooms, one of which I'd converted into my office. If one was generous, the living area could be considered spartan. A kind of post-modern minimalist. The kitchen was small and had little in the way of cookware. If I couldn't make a meal in a crockpot, microwave, or a single pan, I had no use for it. It wasn't that I didn't know how to cook, or was some troll shut-in. Work took too much of my time, is all.

"You look dead on your feet," Emily said. "Go get some sleep and we'll talk later."

I mumbled something as I trudged to my room. "Wait," I said, stopping in the small hall. "What are you going to do? Just sit there until I wake up?"

She pulled out her laptop. "No, I was going to get a little work done. The main UI coding is almost done, and I want to go over the bug log."

I gave her a weak wave. That sounded interesting, but I was in no condition to get excited over anything more complicated than my bed.

"Mmmm," I groaned. "That feels really good." I bolted upright. "What are you doing?"

Emily snatched her hand away from my back. "I—I'm sorry," she said. The hurt in her eyes was evident. "You were tossing and turning and mumbling in your sleep. I was just trying to help."

"It's fine," I said. "I was just startled."

Okay, this wasn’t happening. I'd known Emily since before she was my boss. She graduated a couple of years ahead of me, and she'd been the one to get me the job at Dev-Tech. We'd had our share of close calls while in school that never went anywhere, but here she was, in my bed. The way she had the covers pulled up to her neck told me she was likely naked under there. We stared at each other for a long while. Her expression was neutral.

"So," I said, "get tired of working?"

She tilted her head. "I don't need to spell this out for you, do I?"

My two heads went on high alert. One was more than ready to go, but the other hesitated. "Can't you get into trouble?"

"God Dammit!" she screamed. "It's always something. I mean, when we were in school there was too much work. When I graduated, I had to focus on my job. I thought, finally, when I got you on at Dev-Tech, we'd have a chance, but then I got promoted and became your boss. Why the hell didn't you make a move sooner?"

She breathed hard and crumpled into me. I could feel her shaking as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I wanted to," I said. "There just never seemed to be a right time."

What the fuck? I knew I'd told her I was interested before. Maybe not, like, asked her out or anything, but I just assumed she knew. It's not like she gave me any encouragement, either. I wanted to throw this shit right back at her, but technically, she'd just made it apparent what she wanted. Something I suppose I'd never actually done.

I leaned back and looked into her brown eyes. Her black hair mostly covered them. I ran my hand along her cheek and tucked a few strands behind her ear. She looked back at me hungrily.

"I'll quit if you ask me to," she said.

I jerked my hand back. "What? Even if you're serious, there's no way I'd ask you to do that. We've never even gone on a date, and you're ready to dump your career for me?"

This turn of events scared me more than a little. Something had to be going on. I waited for her to speak, but she just looked at me with a stern expression.

"Okay," I said, "let's back up. You said back at the office there was something you wanted to talk to me about. What was it?"

"This, you idiot!" she shouted. "I wanted to talk about this!" She let the covers fall, revealing that she was, indeed, undressed. She had an athlete's body. Her breasts were, perhaps, a little smaller than average, but that wasn't an issue for me. I never really was a boob, or butt, or whatever kind of guy. What was important was that everything fit together. I've seen some genuinely gorgeous heavy women and some genuinely ugly skinny ones. An idealistic sculptor suffering from OCD could not have done more with Emily's body than nature had, however.

Game over. I smiled, letting go of the last vestiges of my resistance and pressed my lips to hers.

"If any one's going to quit," I said when the kiss broke, "it'll be me."

She let out a seductive moan. "This would be so much easier if I wasn't your boss. I wish I weren't."

That's when the fucking cock blocking universe turned my raging hard-on into a limp sock. I felt a jolt as a golden rope of energy formed between Emily and me.

"As you command master," I said.