Strictly Business - 1. A Fresh Start

“Good morning,” Sam greeted his colleagues as they entered the elevator with him. He had just started working in Stein & Burns, a high-profile financial institution, so he wasn’t familiar with most of the people there yet. He only knew the names of some of them and wasn’t sure how friendly they would be. They all seemed to be much older than him (he was 29), and business was usually the main topic of their short chats.

Sam was highly intelligent and observant, although a man of few words, especially when around strangers. He would often feel uncomfortable when around people he didn’t know well, he just couldn’t relax and show his true self. However, when he was with friends, he’d constantly crack jokes and make people laugh with his often sarcastic and dry humor. His pitch black hair was always cut short and he looked younger than he was. He was not buff by any means, but he did work out regularly and had a fit, tight body. He preferred running and swimming than the gym, and his body was in quite a good shape.

Fortunately, in this brief time at Stein & Burns, Sam managed to make a new friend and was quite pleased about it. Maggie was ten years older than him, but he could swear she was around his age. Youthful, loud and blunt, she was the perfect complement to Sam. The two hit it off from the start, but the best part was that they shared the office, which meant that they could chat about whatever came to their minds all day. In fact, in just a few minutes after they met, Sam discovered how much they had in common. Maggie managed to inform him all about her favorite TV shows, movies and restaurants. They had similar taste in movies, sharing a passion for comedy and indie dramas. However, Maggie was much more open to going out and trying out new restaurants and bars, while Sam preferred staying in with a good book.

A few days after Sam got the job at Stein & Burns, Maggie tried to take him from office to office to meet their colleagues. She grabbed him by the hand and tried to get him up from his desk, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Come on, we’re just gonna say hi and introduce you,” Maggie said, waving her arms around, as she usually did when talking. “It’s standard practice here.”

“No,” Sam insisted, frowning. “I’ll meet them in time, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other constantly around here.” He thought he’d feel like a circus animal, being dragged around for people to look at. Besides, there’s hardly anyone interesting to meet here, he thought. At 29, he was pretty sure he was the youngest person in the company; everyone else seemed to be in their 40s or 50s. “Other than working here, I don’t have anything in common with them,” he thought. Also, everyone looked like proper businesspeople, wearing smart business suits and pencil skirts. “Well, at least this will give me a reason to update my wardrobe with some fancy stuff,” he thought, though he knew that he hated shopping for business clothes. Men had such a limited choice – pants, suits and shirts, while women could be much more creative.

“What’s the big deal?” Maggie asked, laughing. “Come on, you have to be more assertive.” He hated when people gave him advice about his behavior. He liked the way he was and didn’t want to change just because of some irrelevant social standards.

After Maggie’s persistent nagging, he agreed to go around the few neighboring offices and meet the people working there, as they were all in the same department, so he knew he’d be seeing them frequently and cooperating with them. He was pleased to find that they were all just regular, friendly people, not some workaholics who live and breathe their jobs and take everything seriously.

After one or two weeks, Sam was confident he had met (or at least seen in passing) most of the people at Stein & Burns. Even if he didn’t, Maggie was there to tell him the latest gossip on everyone, whether he knew them or not. Most of the time, he would just nod and chuckle at the right places, pretending to know who she’s talking about. Frankly, he was awful with names and would usually remember people’s faces, but couldn’t connect them with names. He was still fresh and didn’t want to compromise his new job, whether through gossip or otherwise, so he was still reserved when it came to making witty remarks about his new colleagues. Still, he was sure Maggie wouldn’t rat on him.

Their friendship quickly blossomed and Sam started to consider Maggie his “best work friend”. The role of his “BFF” was already taken by Clara, a girl he had known for much of his adult life. The two of them would often joke that they are soulmates, even though there was one small problem – the fact that Sam was gay. This is something he was still debating whether to share with Maggie or not. He was certain that she’d be completely fine with it, as she already told him a few times that her best friend was gay. Sam even considered asking her to hook him up with said friend, but when she added that he was a “diva and a drama queen”, he quickly changed his mind. Still, he wanted to keep his private and professional lives completely separate and didn’t think that anyone in the company needed to know about him being gay. That is, until just a few days later, when out of nowhere, someone caught his eye.

--

As Sam walked out of his office to go and copy some documents, he saw several guys standing down the hall and talking. Nothing out of the ordinary, just three men in business suits (which all looked identical to Sam), probably talking about boring business stuff. The shortest guy in the group was facing Sam and politely smiled as he talked to the other men. When they finished, he headed toward Sam, who quickly turned his attention to the copier, pretending he wasn’t looking at them.

“Hi,” the man said, smiling.

“Hello,” Sam responded, looking up from his papers and making eye contact with the other man. He was obviously older than Sam, as his head was sprinkled with some grey hairs here and there. Still, he had a very handsome and pleasant face. Also, Sam couldn’t help but notice how nicely his beefy chest and arms filled out his tight shirt. He was rather short, about 5’7, but Sam didn’t mind it since he was about the same height.

“You must be our new colleague, I haven’t seen you around?” the man asked in a pleasant tone.

“Yeah, I just started a few weeks ago.”

“I’m Brian, nice to meet you,” the man said, extending his hand and making a smile that warmed Sam on the inside.

“I’m Sam, nice to meet you. So, do you work on this floor too?” Sam responded politely, shaking Brian’s hand and smiling back at him. There was something about that man that made Sam comfortable and happy, as if he was radiating warmth and kindness.

“Yeah, in that office just down the hall,” said Brian, pointing to the door on the right side at the end of the hallway. “If you ever need any help, feel free to come.”

“Ok, thank you,” Sam responded, nodding and smiling. He realized he couldn’t help but smile when he was talking to Brian. After a few seconds of sifting through his papers, he suddenly stopped himself and pointed at the copier. “Oh, I’m sorry, do you need to use this?”

“Yeah, but it’s no problem, take your time,” Brian said gently. At least it sounded gently to Sam.

“Sorry, I’m all done. Here you go,” Sam laughed and moved a bit, allowing Brian to place the papers he was holding in the copier. “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Sam added.

“You too,” said Brian, nodding, still with a faint smile on his face.

“OK, maybe there IS someone in this company worth meeting,” Sam thought to himself as he walked back to his office. As soon as he entered, Maggie raised her head and looked at him.

“Spill it, what happened?” she asked, playfully raising her eyebrows after seeing Sam come in the office with a big grin on his face.

“What?” he asked, furrowing his brows.

“What’s so funny? You just came in smiling, something must have happened,” Maggie insisted.

“You’re imagining things… As if anything even remotely interesting could happen at Stein & Burns,” he quipped.

“Good point!” she responded and laughed loudly.

--

Sam spent pretty much the rest of the day thinking about Brian. He wondered what was he like as a person, how old was he, what were his hobbies, and most importantly, was he gay and available? He knew he’d had to be a bit of a detective, but in this time of social media, that was a piece of cake. At the first opportunity he got, he went to the door of Brian’s office to see his last name so he could look him up online.

“Brian Carlton,” he mouthed as he read the name engraved on a small nameplate on the door. “Sounds hot,” he thought. Just a second later he realized it was really an ordinary name, and he found it hot just because he visualized Brian, his beautiful smile, handsome face and what looked like a sexy body.

As he was standing there, lost in his thoughts, the office door opened and Brian appeared. Seeing Sam standing there, he quickly stopped, looking surprised.

“Sam, hi,” he immediately greeted his younger colleague.

“Oh, hello,” Sam responded, startled.

“Did you want to see me? I’ll be back in a few minutes…” Brian started to say, motioning to his office as if he wanted to invite Sam to wait for him there.

“Oh, no, I was just on my way to the bathroom,” Sam said, hoping that he sounded convincing enough and that he didn’t blush. Once again, a smile appeared on his face involuntarily. He just couldn’t help it whenever he was in his presence.

“OK, bye then,” Brian waved as he went downstairs.

“Bye,” Sam said, his eyes scanning Brian from behind, going from his broad shoulders down to his tight butt. “He can crush me with that body anytime,” he thought, with a smirk on his face, before returning to reality.

Luckily, it was a slow day, so Sam was able to do some snooping about his crush. It turned out Brian was 39 years old, which Sam had no problem with. In fact, he preferred guys older than himself because they were usually more mature and knew exactly what they wanted. Also, they were usually mostly interested in something serious, just like he was, rather than just some casual sex. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but it just wasn’t what Sam wanted. One night stands gave him momentary satisfaction, but he wanted something lasting – a loving relationship with a guy he would shower with love every day.

Unfortunately, that’s about all he managed to find out about Brian from his Facebook profile. The relationship status was empty, and the pictures were hidden from non-friends, so he couldn’t snoop around and try to find if there were any photos with his family. “Maybe he’s got a wife and kids. I mean, it’d hardly be surprising if a woman has snatched him up,” he thought.

This was one of the moments when it was frustrating not being out to Maggie. If he was, he’d be able to ask her about Brian right now. In all honesty, he never liked talking about his crushes or the guys he was seeing, not even with his best friend Clara. His dates and the few brief relationships he had never worked out, and he just didn’t want any pity or compassion from people. That’s why he decided to keep his love life (as dull as it is) to himself.

While Sam was pondering about his new crush and whether or not he might be interested in him, Brian was standing outside of his office.

“Sam White,” Brian whispered, his gentle eyes focused on the nameplate on the office door. After a few seconds, he turned and walked away with a gleam in his eyes.

Please comment and suggest what you would like to see next! (Although I already have the next few chapters planned out, any suggestions or comments are welcome!)  Oh, and this is my first story, so I really hope you enjoy it.