Office Advances Read online

  A Total-e-bound Publication

  www.total-e-bound.com

  Campus Cravings: Office Advances

  ISBN # 978-1-906590-00-0

  ©Copyright Carol Lynne 2008

  Cover Art by Anne Cain ©Copyright January 2008

  Edited by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

  Total-e-bound books

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-e-bound eBooks.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-e-bound eBooks. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2007 by Total-e-bound eBooks 1 The Corner, Faldingworth Road

  , Spridlington, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, LN8 2DE, UK.

  Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated Total-e-burning.

  Campus Cravings

  OFFICE ADVANCES

  Carol Lynne

  Dedication

  For Drew Hunt

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Pixy Stix: SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE S.A. CORPORATION

  Harley: H-D Michigan, Inc. CORPORATION

  Grease: Paramount Pictures Corporation

  Chapter One

  “Have you seen Sam?” Tony Bianchi asked.

  Charlie looked towards Tony and shook his head, “So not funny.”

  “Sorry,” Tony walked into the common room at BK House and sat on the couch. “Liam said he might be interested in a part-time job.”

  “He’s in the computer room, I think.” Charlie said, munching on another handful of popcorn.

  “What’s wrong with the one in his room?” Tony asked. He tried to sneak a few kernels from Charlie’s bowl but he got his hand slapped.

  “Ask.”

  Tony rolled his eyes. “Can I please have some of your popcorn?”

  Charlie grinned and passed the bowl over. “See that wasn’t so hard. And there’s nothing wrong with Sam’s computer. His roommate, Lark Wilsher, is meditating. He does it every evening at this time. Something about cleansing the negativity he gathers during the day.” Charlie shrugged like he didn’t believe in any of it.

  “Whatever floats his boat,” Tony said, handing the bowl back.

  “Thanks, I’ll stick my head back in before I take off,” Tony said as he rose off the couch.

  Tony found Sam right where Charlie said he’d be. He knocked on the glass door before entering. “Okay if I interrupt?”

  “Mr. Bianchi,” Sam said. He saved his work to a jump drive and turned in his chair to face Tony.

  “I won’t take up much of your time. I was talking to Liam earlier and he said you might be interested in a part-time job.”

  “Sure, would I be doing the same thing Liam does for you?”

  “Not exactly. I need someone on site for a few hours a day. I’ve acquired a new company and their files are a mess. I need someone to go through and scan the appropriate documents into the computer. Sorry to say it’s a boring job, but it’ll pay more than you can make working part-time anywhere else.”

  Sam seemed to hesitate momentarily. “Who would I be working for?”

  “Me,” Tony replied.

  “I’m out of classes by two. Would that give me enough time?”

  “Yeah, it should. If you can get there by two-thirty it’ll give you three and a half hours a day. So can I count on you?” Tony stuck his hand out.

  Standing, Sam nodded and shook Tony’s hand. “Thanks, Mr. Bianchi. I won’t let you down.”

  “Tony, please. Can you start this week?”

  “Yeah, that would be perfect. We’re out of class this week for Spring Break.”

  Shaking his head, Tony chuckled. “I should know that. Hell, I live with a teacher. But in my own defence, Daniel works five days a week regardless if class is in session or not. Why aren’t you taking off like most of the college kids?”

  Sam grinned and pulled out his empty pockets. “It’s the reason I need a job.”

  “Come in any time. You can work as many hours as you have time for until classes start up again.”

  “Thank you, Mr…Tony.”

  Tony shook Sam’s hand again and thumped him on the back. “Good to have you on board. Come see me when you get there.”

  “I will,” Sam said, with a wide grin plastered to his face.

  The next morning, Sam took extra time with his hair, but his unruly curls refused to be tamed. He wondered if he should get it cut. Giving up, he found an elastic band and pulled it back at the nape of his neck. At least from the front he’d look somewhat professional.

  Looking at his shirt, he tried to smooth out the wrinkles. “Who am I kidding? I’ll never fit in.”

  “Who’re you talking to?” Bear asked walking into the communal bathroom.

  “Myself,” Sam answered. “I start at Bianchi Bytes in an hour. I couldn’t look any less like a corporate employee if I tried.”

  Bear smiled and pulled the end of Sam’s short ponytail. “You’ll be fine. Tony wouldn’t have offered you the job if he was worried about you fitting in.”

  Sam shrugged. “I guess so.” He took one last look at himself and dug some gunk out of the corner of his eye. “Wish me luck.”

  “You don’t need it,” Bear replied, dropping his towel and stepping into the shower.

  Blushing, Sam quickly looked away. “I’ll see you later at dinner.”

  “Bye,” Bear called out.

  Sam ran down the steps and down to the corner. He hoped the busses were running on time. He had to transfer at Jacobs Street

  , but it shouldn’t be that long of a ride. He’d plotted it all out on the computer after Tony had left the previous evening.

  He still couldn’t believe he would be working in the same building with Jace Rawlings. Hopefully they wouldn’t run into each other much. He doubted he’d ever feel comfortable around Jace again.

  The bus pulled up to the curb and Sam hopped on, depositing his money before finding a seat. He knew he hadn’t been crazy. Jace had definitely been giving off attraction vibes in the car the day they went to find Bear.

  While they waited for Liam to retrieve his wayward boyfriend, they’d finally started talking. Then he did it. He had actually asked Jace out. The reaction he received had been like a slap in the face.

  Sam still remembered Jace’s words exactly. “I don’t date kids.”

  Hell, Sam hadn’t thought of himself as a kid since he was thirteen. Being the man of the family, he’d gotten a job at the age of fourteen. It may have been back breaking manual labour working at the grain mill, but it helped pay the bills.

  Jace was what, around thirty-six, thirty-seven? Older yes, but in no way was he too old for Sam. Thoughts of that day had Sam completely depressed as he pushed open the door of the glass office building.

  Walking up to the information counter, Sam gave the woman his name and asked for Tony. She smiled and pointed towards the bank of elevators. “Mr. Bianchi is expecting you. His
office is on the fourth floor. Turn to your right and you’ll find him.”

  Sam thanked her and stood in line with a group of people in front of the elevator. It seemed to take forever for the doors to open. He made a mental note to take the stairs in the future. Although his knee was too shot to play soccer, he could still make it up four flights. Maybe he’d get lucky and would be working on a lower floor.

  As the elevator stopped at the individual floors, people trickled off to their day of work. Sam wiped his hands on his khaki trousers. He was a little surprised by the apparent dress code. Unlike most offices he’d been in, this one appeared a lot more casual. That was a good thing because he only owned a single pair of khaki’s and a couple of button-up shirts.

  The ding announced his arrival on the fourth floor. Taking a deep breath, Sam stepped out and made a right hand turn and ran into a solid wall of muscle. Surprised, he jerked back. Two strong arms reached out and caught him before he could do something totally embarrassing, like falling.

  He didn’t need to look up to know who had a hold of him.

  “What’re you doing here?” Jace asked, releasing his grip on Sam’s arms.

  Sam’s mouth went dry as dirt. Shit. “Tony hired me to work part-time,” he managed to get out.

  “I was just in his office and he didn’t mention it.”

  Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry.”

  Jace crossed his arms, causing the material over his chest to strain at the seams. Sam averted his eyes. Don’t look. Do not look. When Jace didn’t say anything more, Sam chanced a quick glance at his face. He was met by a pair of the prettiest brown eyes in the world.

  It looked like Jace wanted to say something, but instead gave his head a slight shake and walked around Sam without a word. Great, it was his first day and he’d already had a run-in with the object of his fantasies. It didn’t help that Jace was the Vice-President of Bianchi Bytes.

  Sam turned and watched Jace enter an office and shut the door. Closing his eyes, Sam sent up a quick prayer that he wouldn’t be working on the fourth floor.

  It was the end of the day before he knew it. Sam had gotten his wish. He was about as far away from Jace as he could get and still be in the same building. Ensconced in a windowless supply closet on the first floor, Sam had spent the day organising. If he was going to spend his time in here, it needed to feel less cluttered.

  Tony had ordered a small desk and the necessary computer equipment be brought to him which had arrived about an hour after he did. The boxes piled around were his first order of business. Getting a permanent marker from the supply clerk, he started thumbing through the boxes, marking dates on the outside. After they were all labelled with the appropriate dates, he organised them into groups.

  After setting his last cardboard monstrosity into place, Sam stood back and surveyed his work. He had a lot more room and was eager to get started the next day. He decided he enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment after a job well done.

  He felt a little lighter as he pulled on his jacket and picked up his lunch bag. Sam dug the small piece of paper out of his pocket and stuck it into his billfold. His ‘new office’ had a security lock and he’d need the combination to get back in. Once the code was tucked safely in his hip pocket, Sam pulled open the door and turned off the lights.

  He was rounding the corner when he spotted Jace stepping off the elevator. Phone to his ear, Jace was laughing like he didn’t have a care in the world. Sam wished he knew who could make the six-foot-one-inch man smile like that.

  In a split second, Sam’s mood went from up to down. Not wanting to be seen, Sam sighed and stepped back around the corner. He counted to one hundred before re-emerging into the lobby.

  With a heavy heart, he walked to his bus stop, crumpled brown bag in his hand.

  Chapter Two

  “Mr. Bianchi would like to see you in his office,” the woman at the information desk told him two mornings later as he passed.

  “Oh, okay,” Sam said. He veered off course and headed towards the stairs. He was half-way up before he realised he should have put his lunch in his office first. Oh well, too late now. By the time he got to the fourth floor his knee was starting to hurt. He stopped just inside the hallway and bent over to run his hand over the swollen joint.

  “Problem?”

  Sam’s hand stilled. Standing upright he looked into those dark chocolate eyes of his dreams. “No.”

  Jace gestured to Sam’s leg. “Did you hurt yourself?”

  Sam shook his head and clutched his sack lunch in his fist. “It’s an old injury. I guess I should’ve taken the elevator instead of the stairs.”

  Jace looked him up and down. He felt Jace’s gaze like a caress against his skin. What the fuck? “The stairs are better for you. Just take them slow,” Jace said in that deep whiskey voice that Sam loved.

  “Uh, yeah, thanks.”

  Jace gave him one last look before turning and walking away. Sam exhaled and leaned back against the steel fire door. God he hoped Jace hadn’t noticed the rising bulge in his khaki’s.

  Once his body was back under control, Sam headed for Tony’s office. To his surprise the door was open. Sam knocked on the door jam. “You wanted to see me?” He hoped he wasn’t being fired so soon. He really needed the money. His sleep had suffered since taking the job, but that wasn’t Tony’s fault. It was Jace’s. Damn him and that sexy voice and body.

  “Come in,” Tony said, rising to greet him, before sitting back down.

  Sam took a seat in one of the expensive-looking chairs in front of Tony’s desk.

  Tony rested on his forearms and studied Sam for a few seconds. “I have a favour to ask.”

  Sam’s eyes rounded. The boss was asking him for a favour? “Okay,” he said.

  “Don’t agree until I tell you what it is,” he grinned.

  “Okay.”

  “The company we bought found another storage facility for files. I’m sending Jace down to Florida to help deal with the transfer, but I’d like to send you as well. I think you’ve gone over the files enough to know if the boxes contain useful information, or if they are simply garbage. I don’t really want to ship an entire truckload of boxes only to find out they are useless.”

  Sam felt his stomach drop. “Uh, have you talked to Jace about this?”

  “Not yet, why?”

  “Well, he may not want to have me tagging along. I’d be more than happy to help you out, but I’d prefer you speak to him before I give you a definite answer.”

  Tony seemed a little surprised. “There shouldn’t be any problem. Jace gets along with everyone.”

  “Except me,” Sam mumbled too low for Tony to hear.

  “Still, I’ll talk to him and let you know in a couple of hours. I’d like to see the two of you fly out this evening. That way you can get an early start in the morning and be back in town before classes resume on Monday.” Tony stood indicating the meeting was over.

  Sam picked his brown lunch sack up from the floor. “Thank you for asking me.”

  Tony clapped Sam on the back. “I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”

  Jace had just ended a call when his secretary’s voice sounded over the intercom. “Tony called while you were on the phone. He’d like to see you in his office.”

  “Thanks, Janet.” Jace stretched and looked out the window. His life had been turned upside down lately, and it was starting to affect his body. He needed to get back into the pool.

  As he walked out of his office, he stopped by Janet’s desk. “Is there a health club in town with a pool?”

  Janet shook her head. “There’s a pool at the college, but that and the pool at the Windsor Hotel are the only indoor pools I know of.”

  “Thanks,” he said, walking towards Tony’s office.

  Maybe it would be worth the money to spend the night at the hotel? Until he’d moved to Idaho, he’d swim daily in his backyard. Maybe the college had an open swim.

  With a knock, J
ace entered Tony’s office. “Can you do me a favour and ask Daniel if the college has open swim times?”

  “Sure,” Tony said. “Maybe you could swim in the ocean. How about a trip to Florida?”

  The thought of once again swimming in the strong waves of the ocean was a dream come true. “Sure, what have you got for me?”

  “I need you to go down to Miami. Phil Johnson called to tell me they found another storage unit full of old files. I’d like to send you and Sam Howard down to look them over.”

  “What? Why would you send Sam?” Jace felt his palms begin to sweat.

  “He’s the one who’s been scanning the files. He’s already organised our existing boxes. I thought he’d be the best person to send, but I don’t want to send him alone. Why? Do you have a problem with him?”

  Shit. Jace didn’t know what to say. Hell yes I have a problem with him. I can’t seem to keep my mind off his ass. “No. No problem. Separate rooms though, right?”

  Tony looked confused. “Of course, when have I ever made employees bunk up?”

  “Just checking,” Jace said.

  Tony tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Is there something going on between you and Sam? I already spoke to him earlier and he said to ask him again after I’d talked to you.”

  Jace exhaled and slumped into a chair. “He asked me out and I made a fool of myself.”

  “Oh?”

  “I told him I didn’t date kids.” Jace ran his fingers through his hair.

  “I would hardly call Sam a kid. What’s the real problem?”

  Jace shrugged. “I just can’t do it. I’ve got too much on my plate as it is.” He didn’t like discussing his private life, even with one of his best friends.

  “Kade?”