Under My Boss's Desk - Under Him

Hearing the elevator’s arrival tone, Tory took one last look at Harlan switch position to burn his triceps before ducking out of sight. Trace came out of the elevator in a bold cable knit sweater and bright red trunks from another era. As soon as Trace entered the Rec Center, she dashed over to the elevators.

Back in her room, Tory paced the small distance thinking then would pause to look at every item of clothing she had with her laid out on the bed. Her mind flashed again and again on the idea of wearing the sexiest things she had with her, just in case but it would never be mistaken for actual swimwear. In no version of her indulgent projections did she see herself strutting into the pool or Rec Center in panties and pumps like a prostitute if Trace and or Dan were around. Pacing ensued once again until there was a knocking at her door.

Very much as she did back at the W, Mahira barged right into her room the moment she opened the door. She had a shopping bag with her.

“You went out?” Tory asked.

“Yeah. So did Dan,” she told her.

“What’s it like out there?”

“Bargains and deals,” Mahira said, pulling three different swimsuits out of the bag.

“Oh my god. You’re insane,” she teased.

“Right, you’re not standing here wondering what you’d look like in a sports bra and a thong”

They laughed a moment.

“Choose your weapon,” Mahira announced, holding up the bright latex swimwear.

***

The pool was not only heated, but it was also lit from within. Bouncy blue light was thrown all over the modern white room, lending its somber hue to the partially translucent glass partition separating the pool from the corridor and the gym.

When Mahira and Tory walked in, they froze for a practically imperceptible moment as they noticed Harlan Dawes at the opposite end, setting up a stand for his tablet near the pool’s edge.

He turned and saw Tory. He waved politely at them then set up the tablet on its stand. With a touch the tablet brightens. Harlan pulled off a brightly hued polo shirt displaying a ripple of tanned muscle before lowering himself in the water nearby. Harlan exhaled then sipped something from a mug near his shoes and shirt as he glanced up at the series of icon designs advancing in Slideshow.

As the young women watched him, Mahira stripped down to a white one piece, in striking contrast to her tan skin. She jumped in with a bold splash, then lapped the pool.

Harlan didn’t look up from his work. Mahira called Tory to join her. Tory seemed hesitant. Harlan noticed. He finished his drink and submerged.

Under the water, he swam to the other side where Tory waited, hardly able to breathe as she watched him approach. Harlan came up from the water, glistening.

“I’m Harlan Dawes. This is my pool. As soon as this the COVID thing started, I ordered twice the chlorine be put in this water. Nothing could live in it,” he assured her with a grin.

Tory took off her glasses and loosened her hair. Out of modesty, she turned away from Harlan, lifting her oversized shirt over her head and didn’t notice his jaw practically drop as he gazed upon the faintest blonde fuzz above her tailbone.

Mahira swam up to him and put her hand on his shoulder as she introduced herself, but it was clear to her that Dawes had become transfixed watching her new friend adjust the slightly small top over her very ample young breasts.

“She’s from Wisconsin,” Mahira said, as Harlan turned to her for the first time.

“Yes. I know. I’ve taken an interest in all the contest winners, Ms. Shah, and I’d like to take a moment to apologize to both of you for missing the award ceremony. We had a number of issues that sprang up here that required my personal attention,” Harlan explained while looking directly at Tory as she lowered herself in the water.

Tory’s eyes seemed to glow in Harlan’s attention, Mahira thought, or perhaps it was the light in the water. A warm fuzzy sensation embraced the trio as pheromones danced magnifying the intensity of an agreeable silence between Haran and Tory that immediately made Mahira very envious.

For Tory the real world crashed down upon her enchantment as Dan burst through the door, clearly intoxicated, before leaping in up into the air with enough buoyancy to yell “Cannonball!” before landing in an awful, percussive belly flop that not only drenched everyone but sent the water lapping up over the edges of the pool on both sides.

Dan emerged from the water face first and spat a burst of water out his mouth as if trying to mimic a whale surfacing to clear his blow hole and began to giggle until he saw who was with the women.