Free Chemical [se]X by Anthology Page B

sexy line of chocolates that was reported to have aphrodisiacal effects. Employees were strictly forbidden to eat that chocolate during working hours; however, they were allowed to take a box home.
    Her box was still unopened.
    Lotte got up now, caressing the silver key necklace encrusted with diamonds that dangled about her neck, and walked to the goodie closet to pull out a box of cookie dough bonbons. She popped one in her mouth immediately—it was almost lunchtime, and she was ravenous.
    She cradled it with her lips to slowly suck the thick, dark chocolate covering, before letting it enter completely in her mouth.
    It was right then that Rupert walked into the reception area, and stared at her mouth. Lotte stopped sucking the bonbon, licked the melted chocolate off her lips, and hurriedly chomped down on it to swallow.
    His eyes lingered on her mouth, and then he proceeded to berate her about something she had not psychically known.
    “The next time you get coffee for me, and I say black, I mean black. Nothing. All this extra stuff you gave me was a waste…”
    He dropped all of the sweeteners she had gotten for him on her desk, and even with the leftover taste of cookie dough she tasted bitterness. She had gotten all the sweeteners, because he had said he wanted it black but had not indicated if he wanted it sweetened. She had gotten raw and actual sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, and agave syrup, which were now all in a pile before her. If she had not caught a glimpse of her coffee cup on the desk—that he had treated her to—she would have burst into tears.
    “I am sorry.” She looked down at a packet of agave syrup.
    “What did you say? It sounds like your mouth is full…”
    Lotte looked up at him, swallowed.
    “I am sorry,” she enunciated, she hoped clearly enough for him this time.
    “Okay,” he said, and stalked off.
    Sherilyn was standing behind him, slack-jawed. Lotte didn’t have to wonder how much her friend had overheard when she saw the way Sherilyn’s burnt umber lips twisted.
    “Are you okay?”
    Lotte nodded, grabbing her bag. “Let’s go to lunch! I am dressed in chocolate, like you asked me to!”
    Lotte’s bag and velvet skirt were chocolate brown, and her top was the color of chocolate nougat that would be covered with caramel inside a chocolate covered bar.
    She did not want to talk about Rupert. It was odd—he was abrupt and tightly wound, but he did treat her to coffee every time he sent her to buy his. He asked her to do a lot of work after hours, but he bought dinner and ordered her a car home. Yet every time she was not perfect, he verbally attacked her and almost made her cry.
    And she was embarrassed that he saw her with the cookie dough bonbon. The way she savored it. She was afraid he would start to see her like the other men in the office—George Moore in particular, who constantly circled her desk like a pesky flying insect. Other male coworkers told her that she looked more delicious than Acme chocolates. Since they felt she was dispensable as a temp, some of them came onto her hard and with little innovation.
    But Rupert… Secretly, she would not have minded if he paid attention to her. The fact that he just stared at her lips made her feel sexless. She usually felt confident and attractive in the impression she created—she was sure, for example, that’s how she got this job. Not that she used her looks all the time, but she could usually rely on them when she needed to.
    Not with Rupert…
    No, she did not want to talk about him with Sherilyn or anyone.
    “I should have chocolate-covered lips like you,” she said to change the subject.
    Sherilyn smiled. “Well, when you come to a chocolate-making company, honey, you have to look as good as the chocolates!” Sherilyn swung her hips and pursed her lips as if for a kiss, taking her lipstick out of her purse—and indeed it was called “chocolate covered.”
     
    Lotte was happy she had had a large lunch