Knock knock knock

Wow, that was fast. That's such a good smell…

"Hey, Kristoff. Is now a good time?" She's laughing at me...

"What's so funny?"

"It's your sweater. You're gonna win the contest."

You know what? I am going to go the stupid party. If nothing else, so I can vote for her in the ugly sweater contest. But she's right, I'll probably win anyway.

"Well, my mom will be excited to hear she won, but I think I'll leave out the ugly part when I tell her."

Shit. Anna is horrified. It's true, but it was also meant to be a joke.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea. I'm really sorry, Kristoff."

"What? No! No, it's ok. It's fine. I was just joking."

She doesn't believe me, but that's ok. Maybe I'll tell her it's ok again before she goes back to her cubicle.

I have dozens of empty flash drives since companies always send them with promotional materials or as thank yous for continued service, and I don't mind parting with one for a noble cause.

"Oh, really? It's so cute!" I knew she'd like it. It's bright orange and it says, "We take security to heart" in hot pink writing. For some security company we didn't end up using. I mean, there's pink hearts all over it. They didn't even make the short list.

I stick the flash drive in the printer and turn away so she has some privacy and so I don't stare at her boobs. Her perfume fills the room. Ok, this is a little embarrassing, but when I went to Bath & Body Shop for my mom's gift basket, I may have smelled all the lotions and found one that smelled like Anna's perfume, and it was on sale, and I may have also thought about doing number 17 with her… Yeah, I should have gotten the full size bottle of lotion, because oh my fucking god did it turn me on…

"What are you doing here?" Gina asks, as she pops her head in. What bad timing! But now I can stop thinking about how awesome it would be to do no. 17 on my desk with Anna.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." That came out more defensively than I meant it to. See? Anna's going to get me sent to HR. "What are you doing here?"

"The ugly sweater contest is about to start."

"Ok. You can start without me."

"But you're sure to win with that hideous sweater. We'll just wait."

"My mom made this sweater for me." Usually her sweaters would be saved for Christmas mornings and snow days, when no one could see me wearing them. This year, though, I guess I'm just feeling a little more festive than usual.

Gina has this shocked look I've never seen before. Priceless!

"We'll just wait for you. Try not to be too long."

Wow, Gina really is too much. Hopefully Anna won't think I'm too mean. But I don't want her to think I'm actually interested in Gina. She's not my type at all but I don't know how else to get the message across that I'm just not interested. She really won't take no for an answer.

Wait, did Anna just snort? She's bent over in laughter. Wow, am I really that funny? I mean, I know I am, sometimes anyway. But I wasn't trying to be.

"Are you ok?"

"It's just that it's sort of a shame she's not entering the contest."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?"

"I only have a few more to scan. You can go ahead if you want."

She's the only reason I'm even going to that stupid thing. And anyway, I have to lock my door when I leave.

"That's ok. I'll wait. Aren't you going to compete? Your sweater's pretty ugly, too."

Wow, she really just stuck her tongue out at me. Who knew she was that feisty?

It's really way more cute than ugly . It's blue and white with lots of snowmen, each a little different but with large carrots for their noses. Some are wearing top hats and some have three dimensional scarves poking out. And it looks so soft. Not to mention how tight it and thin it is. I think she wore it last year, too. Or maybe the year before that.

"Ok, it's a cute ugly."

Damn it! I shouldn't have said that. Wait, is that a blush? And a smile? I don't care about HR. I'm just gonna ask her out. I don't care that I work with her. She just stuck her tongue out at me and she blushed.

"Hey, um, Anna…" How are her eyes that blue? It must be because of her sweater. But still… "Do you, uh, want to head over now?"

"Yeah, let's go find out if you're the winner and I'm the loser!"

It's not like I'm never going to see her again. Plus we're colleagues and it's so inappropriate.

I try not to stand so close to her, but we're all crammed into the conference room like sardines. And I really can't help but talk to her and smile. And I can see people whispering and looking at us. But Anna doesn't pay attention to anyone other than me.

"Ok, people! Let's get started on the contest," Olaf announces. "Then we have eggnog and some treats so we can all pig out before our long holiday weekend.

"What did you bring?" I whisper.

"The chocolate chiffon trifle."

Oh boy.

"I used to make it with my mom every year."

I obviously have to eat it. There's no way I'm getting out of this, since I can't just tell her about my "diet". It's not exactly a turn on.

"Sounds amazing." Sounds like a diabetic coma.

Great, now she's smiling at me. She's gonna put me in a diabetic coma. I mean, I've seen her smile before. So many times. But I always just turned my head and walked away. What was the point?

Even the thought of having to tell HR and fill out some form just so I could go out with her makes my head spin. My mom and Sven are already way too invested in my non-existent love life as it is. Well, maybe not so non-existent. You saw that smile, right? Anyway, I don't need HR to be involved, too.

I could vote for Anna's sweater, even though it's cute ugly and not ugly ugly. It would be nice to see her win. I probably would have, in fact, except that Gina somehow needs computer help right now.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do, Kristoff! I need your help."

No, she wants me to stop talking to Anna.

"Did you try opening your task manager to restart the program?"

"What's a task manager?"

She fucking knows what the task manager is.

"Ctrl+Alt+Delete?"

"Oh, right! Yes, of course! That's what you always tell me."

"Did you try restarting your computer?"

"Of course, I did! Now, would you please come take a look?"

I really don't want to leave Anna. What if I don't get another chance to talk to her before the holiday? I have all of next week off. I wouldn't be able to see her again until after New Year's. No. I have to ask her out today, otherwise I'll be miserable the whole week. And Sven's gonna tease me about it and he'll just make it so much worse…

Anna's avoiding eye contact. This must be awkward for her since I usually ignore her help requests. And now I'm just going to drop everything to help Gina? That makes me want to help Gina even less.

"Fine. I'll look at it after the Christmas party. You won't need to use it before then anyway."

"But then it's going to take a while for it to come online again, and if you look at it now, it can process while you're at the party."

Ok, that does make sense. I quickly write my vote down and put it in the bowl. Anna still won't look at me. Shit.

I wonder what's taking Kristoff so long. Gina must have actually had a problem. I'm just going to take him some of my trifle before it's gone. He seemed really excited about it, which is kind of odd because I really didn't imagine him having quite the sweet tooth that I do. But I definitely don't want him to miss out on the trifle because Gina made him work.

Well, he's not in his office, but the light's on. He's not by Gina's desk. Of course! The server room. The door's open.

Knock, knock

"Hey, Kristoff."

"Anna? Whoa, no, you can't bring food in here!"

"Oh. Right. Sorry. I didn't think..."

"Wait, did you save that for me?" He doesn't seem to be too upset about it. "Can you just hold on to it for me a little longer? I'm almost done in here."

Definitely not upset. He sounds sweet, like he thinks I did something sweet for him. Well, I did, but I didn't expect…

Suddenly the door shuts. I try opening it but it won't open.

"Shit," he says.

"Are we locked in here?"

He felt around his chest and his pockets.

"Do you have your phone?"

"No." These pockets are way too small for my phone. Duh.

"Then yup. We're locked in." He's so cute the way he raises his eyebrows so they disappear under his floppy fringe and jams his hands into his pockets to push his shoulders up.

"Someone had to have shut the door on us." Probably Olaf. I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow rigged the Secret Santa. Can't be too upset about that, though.

"Well, at least now I don't have to talk to Gina for a while." He motions for the trifle.

I didn't actually think he liked her, but the way he ran out of the party had me worried. I laugh as much out of relief as him being funny. I hand him the trifle and say, "You know… Gina actually won the ugly sweater contest." That came out so much more coy than I intended.

"What?" he almost snorts that last spoonful of trifle. That's right. He ate it all!

"Yeah, you got three votes, in case you're wondering. But Gina got four!"

"Huh. I wonder who voted for her?" Kristoff asks.

I guess he did. Of course I voted for Kristoff. I voted for him, really, and not his sweater necessarily.

I don't know what else to say, and neither does Kristoff…

So, darlin' when you're near me, Darlin' can't you hear me SOS?

"Yeah, I guess Gina's having a rough day, though. She spilled Diet Coke on her desk and it leaked into her computer. I have to get her a new one."

"All due respect to Gina's sweater and computer, but she's not the one locked in a closet with no escape plan."

"I could think of worse places to be." Oh. My. GOD! It is not ok to feel like this at work! I turn away from him so the color in my cheeks dies down. It's freezing in here and either I shouldn't be blushing at all or it should be doing something to warm me up, which it's not.

"Yeah, we have to keep it below 50F in here because of all the power. Are you cold?"

"No..." My teeth are chattering and I'm shivering. I do not like the cold. But I also don't want him to feel sorry for me.

He puts down the empty bowl on the floor, and says "Here," as he pulls off the ugly sweater his mom made him. I catch a glimpse of his hairy skin just above the waist of his khakis as he stretches up. I did not need to know all that. His chest is probably even hairier. Do not think about that, Anna. Just don't.

He's so gentle! Why is he so gentle? He even moves my hair from under the collar after he helps put his sweater on me. Jeez... what am I going to do?

I kiss him. That's what.

Fuck. That wasn't right. He's backing away because I just sexually harassed him. Fuck!

"I'm sorry. I just… Sorry…"

But now he's touching my hair. I'm confused.

"Anna, is this what you want?" He kisses me now, so I guess it's ok. Mmmmm… He tastes like chocolate!

I can't even tell him that there isn't anything I want more than this because his tongue is definitely where I want it to be but didn't know it. I think I could kiss him forever.

"Wait, Anna. Wait," he pulls back just as I grab his butt. Oh, that wasn't ok? I thought…

"Kristoff, is it what you want?"

"Yes! Yes, it's definitely what I want. But…"

Fucking "but"?

"I just don't want a fling or a one-time thing or like a just sleeping together sort of thing. I mean, not that I don't want that part, I mean…" He's having so much trouble right now!

"Yeah. I agree." I say it as sweetly as I can.

"Yeah?"

"I really like you, Kristoff." I didn't even really realize it before, but I've had a crush on him for a really long time.

"I like you, too. Well, you know, I mean, obviously."

Awww! Kristoff thinks it's obvious. And he's even blushing! I can't help but smile at that.

"I always thought you didn't, though. I mean, you pretty much ignored most of my help tickets until a week or two later when it was too late, and you always help Gina the second she asks."

"That's because you never actually need my help."

That's not exactly true... "Does Gina ever actually need your help?"

"She definitely takes advantage, but I've also gotten written up for not getting to her tickets fast enough. So, it really doesn't matter since I have to help her anyway."

"Oh."

"Plus, this is kind of embarrassing. But I sort of wanted to stay away from you."

"Wait, what? Why?" For some reason, this makes me laugh.

"I kind of… oh, this is so embarrassing!" he says with his hands on his face.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

"I mean, you're just so pretty, and-"

"Aww, thank you!"

He smiles at that, probably not expecting me to appreciate it. "and like unbelievably hot-"

Wow...

"and you smell so good - you're perfume drives me crazy... what is it?"

"It's just lotion. It's True Love from Bath & Body Shop."

"Really?" he raises his eyebrows again and blushes a little.

"What?"

"Nope, nothing. Just, I really like it."

"You were saying?"

"Right, and that first day…"

"You mean, like seven years ago?"

"Yeah. I accidentally, you know…" He's really suffering.

"Touched my breast?"

"Fuck, you did notice. It was an accident! I swear. I didn't meant to."

"You mean that's why you've been ignoring my help tickets this whole time? It was an accident. I know you didn't mean anything by it."

"I just didn't want you to think I was the creepy IT guy, you know?"

Poor, sweet Kristoff!

"Oh, Kristoff! I never thought that." I have to move the hair from his face so I can see his eyes better. He's still worried.

"I'm so sorry, Anna."

I take both of his hands and place them on my breasts. My nipples are already hard and sensitive because of the cold, and I have to move his away hands quickly because he's making my panties wet. Cause we're at work. Yeah, I'd really love to do no. 21 from the advent calendar Olaf gave me as a joke with him right now. Yeah, I'm using a lot of self-control.

"So," he holds my hands. "Do you have plans for Christmas Eve?"

Not at all what I thought he would say. When he said this is what he wanted, I didn't think he was that into it. He's going from 0 to sixty and I am so here for it!

"No, I don't have any plans. My sister's not going to be able to come home til New Year's." I smile as demurely as I can considering he's about to ask me to spend Christmas with his family. I'm practically screaming inside!

"Do you wanna have Christmas with my family? It's nothing special, but I hate the idea of you being by yourself. Plus, I think you'll love my mom. She has a sweet tooth, too," he says mischievously.

Oh. My. GOD! Kristoff is 100% a mama's boy! He's brought her up several times today. And now he wants me to meet her. This is adorable. What other mysteries are hiding behind those overgrown bangs?

"Mhmmmm!" I can't use my words because he would probably take his invitation back. Instead, I grab onto his neck and pull him down to kiss me again. I miss his tongue already.

"Kristoff? Are you in-" Gina starts as she swings the door open.

"Ugh. Wait a second. No way. Ugh." Gina has such awful timing. She catches us mid-kiss and runs off, probably to cry in the bathroom, most likely. I should feel sorry for her, but I don't really.

"You know, I've known from the first time I saw you that I was gonna be sent to HR because of you, sooner or later." He's not mad, he's teasing. "Is this still what you want?" he asks. "Because there's no going back now."

"I don't want to go back." I want to kiss him again, but…

"God, I don't want to stop kissing you, but I still have some stuff to do before I can head out. And then I have to pick Alice up from school." To that's why he always leaves early.

I peck a kiss on his cheek. "That's ok. We can make up for it later." Then I wink! I can't believe I just did that! But he's blushing and it's sooooo cute!

"Yes, so, later tonight?"

"Yes." He makes me smile so much!

I try to be sexy when I take off his sweater, but it's an ugly Christmas sweater, so… Oh, he certainly thinks it was sexy.

"Why don't you just keep it, Anna?" he says with a shrug.

I smile back at him and hug Secret Santa's ugly sweater. I'm gonna keep him.

Ctrl+S