Excerpt:

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Mia Bruce’s day simply went from bad to worse.

To start with, somehow, she’d set the wrong button on her alarm and it woke her at four in the morning instead of seven. When Mia fell back to sleep after resetting it, she slept through three snooze buttons and ended up doing a mad dash to shower, dress, and then race for the bus.

Thinking the worst was over, she got off the bus alongside the large construction site opposite the huge office building where she worked for General Finance Corp. Unfortunately, it had rained heavily overnight and, as the bus pulled away, it drove through a large mud-filled puddle of run-off and soil from the dirty building site. One side of her dress from hip to hem, as well as her legs and shoes, were soaked with dirty brown water and soiled with large clumps of sticky brown mud.

Fuck! Can today get any worse?

“Probably,” she muttered while trying to brush off the worst of the mud. She thought about going back home but today was an important one at work so instead, after sighing, she climbed the steps to the front doors. A very dirty and angry Mia stomped into the office building then entered the elevator and jabbed the button for her floor. Two minutes to nine.

“Yay, made it on time,” she sneered, her voice full of sarcasm as she took the elevator to the thirtieth floor.

Today, the new regime began. The company had been sold to Tower Financials and rumors were rife there were going to be a lot of layoffs. Mia was the assistant to the big boss’s PA—a sort of PA’s A. The PA, Liz Chambers, dealt with the higher-ups while Mia dealt with the lower-downs. Liz’s office was in the breathtaking area with the bosses while hers was downstairs with the minions. Still, she liked the work and the company, having worked for them for the past fifteen years, and Liz was a great friend as well as her immediate supervisor.

Quickly throwing her bag into her bottom drawer when she was in her office, Mia surveyed the damage to her clothes. Damn. The mud and slush on one side stood out against the blue of her dress. Her legs hadn’t fared much better and her shoes were caked. She’d have to try to wash out the worst of the mud, especially knowing she’d have to face the new regime leaders. After making sure there was nothing urgent for her to deal with immediately, she raced into the ladies’ room. If she were quick, she should be able to clean up in fifteen minutes. The easiest thing to do would be to take the dress off, wash the muddy parts, and then dry it under the hand-dryer. And that was exactly what Mia did. Too bad if any of the girls came in. She needed the dress reasonably clean and dry.

Drying it was tricky, but apart from the hand-dryer overheating and smelling quite a bit, she managed to get the iris-blue dress dry. Now for her legs and shoes. Draping the now-dry dress over the paper towel dispenser, she washed her shoes and slipped them back on. Using dozens of sheets of wet paper, Mia began washing her legs. Bending over, her back to the door, dressed in just her shoes, red lacy panties, and matching bra, Mia heard the door open and groaned. Probably Tracy from the typing pool. She seemed to always be in the bathroom. There was a soft cough but she ignored her and finished washing her legs until she heard a much louder, deeper, cough. Looking around her legs without bothering to stand up, she got the shock of her life.

Casually leaning against the wall, arms folded and one leg crossed over the other with the toes balancing him, was a hunk. A fire extinguisher sat at his feet. She stood quickly and faced him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing in here? Get out!”

​© Suzy Shearer 2020

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