Last Chance

Author's Note: This story is the first I've ever published, and I really appreciate the comments, views, and votes. I thought the story was too long so I cut the ending, but from the comments I can tell that a less rushed ending would have been better. This edited version adds to the previous story and does not take away from the original. I hope you enjoy, please let me know if you want to see more from me and what you think would help me improve as an author. I'm open to all comments. Special thanks to my editors mymariamaria and gustavca.

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LAST CHANCE

It had been nine months since Zach had been promoted and transferred to a new division of the company. In his short time there, he managed to earn the esteem of his colleges and superiors alike. His reputation was that of a smart, hardworking, and determined manager constantly exceeding company expectations. Last month he was offered a packaged deal of promotion and relocation, this time to company headquarters, far from his current job on the west coast.

Zach was ecstatic and quickly accepted the offer; today was his last day at the office. Accepting the offer made him the youngest employee to reach such a position, but for all the accolades and congratulations he received, he still felt a dull, almost overbearing, sense of melancholy; he would have to part company with Heidi, the one person whose presence he really felt in the office.

"Wow, he's on his way to the top, I hope he does well at corporate," said Heidi, taking a bite out of her salad, as she responded casually to Jen's apparent astonishment at Zach's promotion, and then quickly changed the subject of conversation to her big meeting later in the day. Jen had just had a conversation with Zach to say goodbye and wish him luck at his new job.

In truth however, Heidi's feelings about Zach were anything but casual. She didn't know quite how she felt about him, but she knew she did feel something; she was attracted to him. Their relationship could only be described as professional, Zach was always pleasant and cheerful to her when he passed her in the halls, and she always felt his intense brown eyes on her when they saw each other. Were anybody else to look at her in that manner she would find it strange, but when Zach did, she never felt any agitation, just an overwhelming feeling of what could be described as genuineness from him.

She didn't understand why he didn't befriend her like all the other women in the office; yes, he was cordial with her, but he would never come over and banter with her like he did with Jen and the other girls at their desks. It was like there was an invisible barrier between them. Whenever she eavesdropped on his conversations, they were always of subjects she was interested in and he seemed to be very well versed in them, his personality was just as attractive as he was. Once, in need of an intelligent and witty discussion, she decided to join in on a conversation Zach was having with Ally; although she used the pretext that she needed to ask Ally a question about her upcoming vacation to enter the room, when she thought the time was right.

As she nonchalantly walked in on their conversation, Zach quickly gave her a warm greeting, "Good morning Heidi," and smiled at her, plainly happy to see her. He then looked to Ally. "Sorry for taking up so much of your time. I'll come back tomorrow and we can finish up then. I'm sure Heidi has more important things to discuss with you," he said as he walked out, leaving Heidi with Ally.

Such an abrupt departure would have been awkward with anybody else, but somehow Zach's charm found a way to make it casual and cheerful. Both women wanted him to stay, and Ally clearly resented the interruption of their conversation.

Heidi didn't understand why he didn't carry on the conversation, it was apparent Heidi was in no hurry and in fact interested in the conversation when she interrupted, what was the problem? The ambivalent signals she received from Zach always left her bewildered and upset.

"He has such a crush on you," Ally said, clearly observing Zach's nervousness around Heidi.

Heidi had quickly brushed off Ally's comment. Zach never made any gestures to her implying he felt that way. Plus, he was a grown man and made it clear he knew how to talk to women in the office he was interested in. Although, if he ever did approach her, she wasn't sure what exactly she would do.

Boxing up his office supplies, Zach took moment to think about life in a new city with new people all around him. Would any of them possess even half the beauty of Heidi? He doubted it. None of the women he'd met in his life compared. He wasn't a playboy, but he did go out with his fair share of women, and none of them seemed to compare to her. It wasn't just a physical attraction; it was beyond that. She was the ideal woman, with respect to all characteristics he considered essential.

She was beautiful and cute (the two traits being distinct in Zach's mind), and she was well educated, he thought her his intellectual equal or superior. He knew that she was an athlete in college and still took very good care of her body. She was also sociable -- not aggressively, but in a reserved manner, which made her all the more adorable. Finally, she had a smile that seemed to stop time around him. But there was only one problem with Heidi. She was engaged.

He had made the right decision. He had to move on and forget about her, he resolved as he put the last of his belongings in the box. He could not have her, and being around her was pointless. He wasn't going to risk his career and emotions by entangling himself with somebody who was clearly in a relationship. She was his only distraction in the office, and perhaps the only person ever to make him nervous. It was a wholly unfamiliar situation to him. He was used to being in control of himself all the time, but around her he would lose himself at times; distancing himself seemed the best course.

He recalled the first time he saw her, he was walking to his first meeting down a long hall when a woman darted out of her office in front of him and started down the hall. Immediately, he noticed her figure. Her short auburn hair fell gently on her collar. She wore a silver blouse, exposing her slim naked shoulders and soft delicate hands. Unlike the other women in the office, she didn't wear heels or a skirt, but what she wore suited her figure very well.

Most of all he noticed her ass. It was beautiful. It was not large or small, but just right to him. Her light grey pants clung to it naturally, they were neither too tight nor so loose so they did injustice to her beautiful figure. She wore her clothes in a manner that did not flaunt the beautiful proportions of her backside, but only gave hints that it was there, beneath a layer of shyness and modesty.

Seeing such a perfect ass, Zach had to imagine what it looked like without the pants. It was sort of a habit he had whenever he saw a beautiful woman. But Heidi's modestly made this very difficult, as the first step in imaging a woman's ass was to determine what type of underwear she was wearing. He could not figure out what kind of underwear she was wearing, as the pants were too loose to give any hints. This irritated him. He was a pretty good judge of ass, and, by proxy, the underwear that went with it. He decided she must have a thong on, as is usually the case when he didn't see visible panty lines (spotting them was a guilty pleasure of his as tight cotton panties were a big of fetish for him).

As he walked behind her, imagining her ass with just a small pink thong on (pink was the default color he choose when imagining thongs, which was inferior to the cotton panty, but still attractive), he heard somebody shout his name, which caused him to look behind and lose the image of her perfect ass in his mind. It was Gary calling him to inform him what to expect at the meeting before entering the room.

"Today's meeting is just for the managers to get on the same page before starting the week. You'll probably have to introduce yourself, and maybe give a short address to the rest of the team," Gary said.

Acknowledging Gary, and turning back around he noticed the magnificent ass, with the still unknown face, had disappeared when his attention was on Gary. Disappointingly, he followed Gary into the meeting room at Gary's much slower pace.

The meeting went well, Zach introduced himself and gave a clever little anecdote about who he was. Many in the room found him very articulate, intelligent, and humorous. It was clear he would make plenty of friends in his new workplace. After the meeting, everybody came up to greet Zach with a handshake and few words of welcome. As he struggled to remember all the names and exchange pleasantries, he met her.

The most beautiful face he had ever seen approached him. She had short auburn hair, a silver blouse, and light grey pants. It was the girl with the magnificent ass, except her figure from behind paled in comparison to her full frontal beauty, especially her face. She had a very pleasing set of lips, adorned with nothing but chap stick. A natural blush filled her cheeks, and seemed to arise from her bashfulness in meeting him. She didn't have large or amble bosoms, but small subtle breasts that were the perfect shape and size for her body. Her small cute nose, and large beautiful brown eyes combined with her smile were so overwhelming his heart skipped a beat when he first saw her.

It was love at first sight. She was perfect.

She held out her delicate hand and said with a radiant smile, "Hi, I'm Heidi. We won't be working in the same section, but I'm glad to meet you."

As he shook her comparatively small hand and touched her for the first time, they both locked eyes. Something happened. They both felt a pleasant shock, enjoying each other's touch. He was determined to get to know her better, and he felt she enjoyed his company too.

In a nervous voice, he responded, "Hi, Heidi, very nice to meet you, look forward to seeing you around the office."

"Me too," she responded and moved on as Jen and Ally came up behind her to introduce themselves. All three of them had just introduced themselves to him when his supervisor grabbed him and took him to meet the company CEO, who was about to depart the room.

As he went to meet the CEO, he stole a glance at her beautiful ass as she walked out of the room. After meeting her, it looked even more attractive. He instinctively knew she didn't have a thong on under those pants. Something about her said she was wearing panties, maybe it was her shy reserved manner, but he pushed thoughts of Heidi out of his head to focus. He needed to concentrate when meeting the CEO.

It was only after casually bringing her up in conversation with Gary, did he get the awful news that she wasn't single. Zach was determined to keep his distance from Heidi, being so near someone he could not have would be difficult to say the least. She was a distraction. She caused the few mistakes he did make at work in some fashion or another. Seeing her in the hall would always cheer him up, he couldn't help it when he saw her beautiful frame walking towards him. Often, after these encounters, he would forget what he was doing or where he was going.

He learned she had many of the same hobbies and interests as he did, which only magnified her allure to him. He'd often go over to Ally's cubicle to talk just so he might see her walk by at chance. He always brought an interesting topic, so if she ever were to listen when walking by, she would be impressed. Why he was doing all this escaped him. She was not for him. This would only lead to anguish on his part, and he was woefully unprepared to do more than exchange greetings with her if she joined the conversation.

Having cleared out his office, with the exception of this computer, Zach was in a very apathetic mood. He still had many loose ends to tie up on his computer before leaving for his new job the next day but was feeling a little sleepy. He decided a soft drink would help him get through the rest of the day.

When walking by the copy room on his way to the employee lounge, he stopped when he heard a large shuffle of papers. Peering inside to see what the fuss was about, he immediately noticed Heidi facing away from him and standing over a large pile of disorganized papers on the floor. Just as he was about to leave to avoid any possible interaction with her, she bent over... her firm beautiful ass was straight in the air as she grappled with the papers.

He gasped silently when he realized he could clearly see her panty lines as she unknowingly presented her amazing ass for his inspection. He quickly walked away, unable to remove the image of perfection in from his memory. Not being productive at work because he was drowsy could be ameliorated with some caffeine, but being unproductive because the pristine image of Heidi's ass destroyed his concentration would be a challenge. He was elated to find his hunch about her wearing panties was right, but now with that image burned in his mind, it would be a long day.

Heidi was not having a good day. She thought she loved her fiancée, but sometimes he could be very insensitive. She called to let him know she was getting home late and that he would have to see about dinner for himself. He was irate. This was the fourth night in a row she would miss dinner. He demanded she come home and then hung up. Dinner wasn't the issue for him. If she came home late, she would not be in the mood to fuck him when she got home.

She wasn't sure why she was with him. He had an overbearing personality, and was hard to say no to. She sometimes used work as an excuse to avoid being with him. "No relationship is perfect," she thought as she accepted his proposal not knowing if anyone better would come along. Arguing with him always left her in a bad mood, somewhat angry, and feeling rash.

She slammed down the phone receiver and grabbed the stack of papers on her desk she needed to make copies of before her meeting in ten minutes. She quickly ran into the copy room and put the papers on the side of the copier, so she could dial in the number of copies she needed. As soon she let go of the papers she had a feeling of dread as she hadn't placed them securely on top of the machine, and they slid to the floor in slow motion.

They had been in order in her hands, but on the floor they were the picture of chaos. She quickly bent over and began retrieving them and putting them in order, silently cursing the laws of nature for the ever increasing entropy in her life. By the time she was done and had made enough copies, she was late for her meeting. It would be a long day.

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All the other workers had left work long ago, it was a Friday and many left early to get started on the weekend activities. Zach looked outside his window, it was dark outside and he had finally finished his work and was ready to leave. Satisfied as he walked out, the thought occurred to him that he would likely never see Heidi again, and he never even said goodbye to her, his melancholy returned. At least the mystery was solved. He considered the picture of her ass bent over, with her visible panty lines on display, a good consolation.

Reaching the building exit, he flipped the master light switch off and started to walk out the door, but then he heard a voice calling.

"Wait! I'm still here, please turn the lights back on!" said a muffled voice he immediately recognized as Heidi's.

Quickly turning the lights back on and walking towards her voice he responded, "I'm sorry Heidi, I thought I was the last one here. What are you still doing here?"

"I really got behind today after a terrible meeting and wanted to be ready for the Johnson presentation on Monday," said Heidi as she realized it was Zach she was talking to. "Isn't this your last day? What are you doing here so late?"

"I got really distracted by... something today and didn't finish all my work as quickly as I though I would, and since I won't be working here anymore, it had to get done today." He reached her office; Heidi was sitting at her desk facing him. He leaned against her doorway.

She wondered how he could look so good after such a long day. His eyes were bright and his voice had bore no trace of haggardness. The only clue he'd been working late was the manner in which he wore his clothes. His shirt's top button was undone, tie hung loosely around his neck, and his sleeves rolled up. It was incredibly sexy. As for herself, she thought that she was a mess, if only she had a chance to fix herself up before he walked in. "Fix her self up for what?" she thought.

"So you were going to leave without saying good bye?" she asked with a sly smile as she brushed a lock of her hair from her face, exposing her beautiful face. She wasn't sure what was coming over herself, or what she was expecting. She stood up.

"I didn't think you cared if I came by or not, I mean, we didn't talk so much while I was here," replied Zach, as he noticed the disorganized papers on her desk, and the disheveled state of her hair. She looked incredible sexy to him.

In a tone more assertive that normal for Heidi she said "Why didn't you ever talk to me like you did with everybody else? I always wondered, and I guess this is my last chance to find out. Did I do something to upset you?" she said with a carefree smile, but she was afraid of what the answer might be.

Zach was a little taken back. He's never heard her speak so forcefully, it turned him on. "No, no... it's nothing like that. I... I'll be honest since I'm leaving. I really like you. I think you are beautiful. I just didn't want to get involved with somebody who was already engaged," he said as he looked at her left hand. "Seeing you in the hallways when we had our chance encounters was always the best part of my day."

She was silent for a moment, and surprised, this was not what she was expecting. "I don't know what to say," she said blushing. "I always liked seeing you too, and I really enjoyed the conversations you would have with Ally next door. I think we could have been good friends."

He looked down at his shoes, "I know we would have been great friends. That's exactly why I avoided you. I would never be satisfied with just a friendship with you." When he looked up from his shoes, he saw her looking right at him, her eyes dilated. Both of their faces were crimson now, and neither knew what to say next.

It was taking every fiber of his being to keep from just walking up to her, putting his hands on the small of her back and neck and passionately kissing her. Just kiss her, and be with her. "I guess I'll be leaving then, it was nice to work with you," said Zach as he slowly began turning away.

"Wait! Won't you hug me before you go?" Heidi exclaimed as she saw him turn towards the door. "I could really use one today, and I'm really going to miss you, even though we weren't the best of friends, I really like you too."

He turned around with a smile, "Absolutely," he said and walked towards her with his arms out.

When they embraced they both felt the same shock they felt when they first shook hands, but intensified. He gripped her tightly, and she held him surely too. He was intoxicated by the smell of her hair and body and she was excited when she felt his hard muscles against her soft body.

They held each other much longer than a normal hug, neither wanted to let go. It was a magnetic attraction. As they neared the end of the embrace and began to separate their bodies from one another, they locked eyes again. Her hands were on his shoulders, his hands on her back. They gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed an eternity. He knew she was perfect for him in that moment, and she just now realized how perfect he was for her. They both kissed each other at the same time.