"Love in an elevator,
Livin' it up when I'm going down
Love in an elevator,
Lovin' it up 'til I hit the ground..."

Aerosmith, 1989

I work in the IT department of a large financial services company in the city, on the 27th floor. It's a long ride up from the lobby, and it's an even longer ride down. Especially when you're in a hurry to get away for the weekend.

Most of my work has to do with maintaining the company's computer software systems and managing database integrity. Put into english, that means I basically keep people from complaining about their files being 'eaten' or this program or that program won't open right. Sometimes our department will take on special projects, like integrating data files whenever we buy out another company (more often than I'd like, I might add) or doing mainframe virus scans. They even have me doing the branch web site updates, since I spent three years chugging out HTML at my former job. I guess I'm your typical jack-of-all-trades techie, really... Overworked, underpaid, you know the deal.

Now don't get me wrong... I'm not a computer geek like most of the guys in my department. While they're salivating over the latest PC Magazine or defragging their hard drive, I'm at home benching 175 in my home gym. Sure, I'm not a muscle-head either, but I keep fit and live well, which gives me an edge over the guys I work with. I'm pretty sure that 6'1" with spiky black hair, brown eyes and bronzed skin beats out the pasty, white look any day of the week.

Anyway.

Five o'clock came way too fast that Friday afternoon, and it found me scrambling to finish a building-wide e-mail about the software upgrade we were doing the following week. I would have waited until Monday, but our department head had wanted to give the grunts down on the floor below 48 hours notice that the network was going to be down. Seeing that Wednesday was the big day, I had no choice but to get the memo off before I left the building.

Typing furiously to beat the clock and make it out to my train on time, I completely missed the light sound of footsteps leading up to my desk. Sensing someone, I turned as a familiar face popped above the edge of my cubicle.

"Hey there, you!"

Her name was Rebecca Monaghan, but everyone in the office called her Becky. She worked in the payroll department on the other side of the building, and was the object of desire of no less than a dozen guys on my floor alone. Including me. Every day, whether I was passing her in the halls or the company lunch room, I took an extra moment to gaze across at her long, brown hair, and soft, ivory skin. And, of course, more than a few carefully hidden glances at her slim, sexy body. I especially liked watching her walk down the halls. her curvy ass shaking from side to side and bouncing ever so slightly beneath her thin skirt.

But unlike most of the guys chasing her, I had developed a good rapport with Becky ever since the day she started at our company. We usually grabbed lunch together when we weren't too busy, which led to a lot of great conversations. And through those talks, I learned a lot about her. She was twenty-four - just a year younger than me - a graduate of West Virginia University, and an accounting major at that. It's not too often that you find a smart girl with a knockout body and killer eyes, but that was Becky. She had the whole package.

My thoughts dissolved back to the sexy face above me.

"Heya, Beck! You ready to get out of here?"

"Just as fast as my little legs can carry me!" she said, grinning. "What about you?"

"Nah. Hold on a second," I said, finishing the last strokes of my e-mail and hitting "SEND". "Let me just shut down here and I'll ride down with you."

"Sounds good!"

She came around the corner and stood in front of the cubicle entrance. I clicked around on the XP taskbar and found the shutdown menu after a couple of long moments. Over my shoulder, I could feel her presence, making a very large and visible bulge begin to rise in my pants. No matter how much I tried, I could never ignore her body, and it always sent me into a minor trance of arousal. Of course, from the way I was turned in my chair, I couldn't see most of her shapely body. But the gentle curve of her breasts outlined in a thin, cream-colored shirt caught the corner of my eye, drawing my gaze sideways to her lightly rounded form. That in itself was enough.

As the computer screen turned black with a light spark of static, I stood and turned my back completely to her, hiding my obvious erection. Pretending to search for my keys, I made a quick adjustment and thanked the fates that we had casual Friday at our company. If I had been wearing dress pants instead of loose-fitting jeans, I wouldn't have stood a chance. I whipped back around and faced Becky.

"You okay?" she asked, with the faint trace of a smile on her lips.

"Of course!" I replied, grinning sheepishly. "Shall we go?"

We trotted down the corridor separating my department's end of the building from the rest, headed toward the main hall with the elevators. I trailed a step behind her, just enough so that I could gaze over at her curvy bubble butt swinging beneath her knee-length jean skirt. Silently, I hoped that she wouldn't notice, but even if she did, I knew that I couldn't take my eyes off her. Something about her was radiating waves of energy that I found impossible to ignore, turning me on beyond belief.

"After you," I said, grinning and motioning to the open doors with a half-bow.

"Ooh, Jason," she purred, stepping in front of me. "You're such a gentleman!"

"Only when I'm sober," I said, as I winked and followed her in.

She caught the joke and laughed out loud, a soft lilt that echoed off the metal doors as they closed. We both turned and stood there facing the shiny wall in front of us as the computerized display beeped and we started to slide downward.

"So what're you up to this weekend?" Becky asked, turning towards me with a grin on her lips.

"The usual hellraising," I said coolly, grinning back. She laughed.

"That's about what I expected from you," putting a strong, playful emphasis on the last word. Her eyes were dancing in an almost mysterious way.

I chuckled back, flashing a grin. "Nah, seriously, I'll probably just be hanging around the house, sucking down drinks and watching sports until the wallpaper peels. Or Sunday night. Whichever comes first."

"Ahhhh," she said, nodding in mock agreement. "So just your typical male-pattern weekend, then?"

We both laughed. "Male pattern" was a private joke we'd developed over the past couple of months. If something was typically grunt-male, like downing beers, or driving fast cars, or eating junk food til you retch, it was definitely "male pattern" to us.

"Yeah, basically!" I chuckled. "What about you?"

Becky smiled. "Well, I-"

Suddenly, the elevator lurched with a rumble, a brief but earsplitting metal screech that rang through my ears. The bright lights that filled the small room disappeared in an instant, leaving us completely in the dark. Before I could figure out what had happened, we were stopped. Thrown off balance for a long second, we both wobbled slightly until we got our footing. I leaned back against the wall-mounted railing as I realized that we were stuck in there.

"You okay?" I asked Becky, half-guessing at where she was standing.

"Yeah, I think so," I heard her reply. "What happened?"

"Don't know. I think we're stuck."

After a few moments, a small, dim light popped on above, bathing us in a soft illumination. I blinked a couple of times, my eyes adjusting to the sudden intrusion, and saw that Becky was doing the same. I gazed at her face for a couple of hot moments, stealing glimpses of her rounded cheeks, milky skin and soft-looking bangs hanging just above her hazel eyes. The light shone down on her, making her look even more irresistible than usual.

As I looked away for a moment, a crackle of static loudly hissed and a disembodied voice came from the speaker under the blank digital display. It was a man's voice, gruff and sounding like some sort of building tech.

"Hello? Anyone up there?"

"Yeah, we're here!" I called back, leaning over to speak into the panel. "Two of us."

"Sorry about that, folks. Looks like we've got a tripped sensor somewhere in the shaft. We should be able to get someone up there in a few minutes to check things out, but it might be a while before we find the right one."

I groaned. So much for getting home on time.

The man continued. "I'll keep you all updated. If you need to talk to anyone, just press the red button next to the speaker and we'll hear you."

"Right," I replied with a touch of annoyance. "Thanks."

A squawk of static ended the transmission. I slid back against the wall, finding a seat on the hard floor next to Becky.

"Well, I guess we're in here for a while," she said quietly.

"Yeah."

"Did you see what floor we stopped on?"

I paused, trying to remember. "Twenty-one, I think, but I'm not sure. The lights went out too quick for me to see."

Listening to myself, I realized that my voice revealed a touch of annoyance and that I was extremely impatient, even for the situation. Maybe it was that I knew I was going to miss my train, and have to battle the crowds at the station for the next one. Maybe it was the cramped quarters of the elevator, knowing that we were stuck. Or maybe it was the tension that had been going on between me and Becky since before I could remember when. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that one part of me wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, while the other wanted to never leave and just eat up every last moment with her.

A seemingly endless silence hung in the air between us. I wanted to come up with something witty and daring to say, something that would attract her to me like the hero of a million romance novels. I knew this was the perfect situation - alone, in the dark, with all the time in the world for whatever to happen.

But before I could find the right words, she spoke out of the blue. And sent me reeling.

"You know, I saw you checking me out back there," she said into the dimmed void between us.

Her words caught me off-balance, and I stumbled to come up with a decent thought in my mind. Blood drained from my head, it was all I could do to stutter back a meager response.

"Ah, look, Becky... I'm real sorry about that. It was totally unprofessional of me to... uh..."

Before I could say another word, I felt her cover my lips with her index finger, a totally foreign but very pleasant sensation in the dimness. Her skin was cool and smooth, and I could feel her faint pulse through it.

"No, no, it's okay," she whispered. "I've... well, I've had a thing for you ever since we started getting lunch together and all. So I'm glad you were looking."

Stunned, I sat there as we lapsed into an awkward, yet tingling silence. Not even in my wildest fantasy did I imagine that Becky was actually attracted to me. I mean, I'd had the usual male daydreams at work, at home, on the train... but I'd never thought it possible that could be real. Yet, there it was, exposed for both of us to see plain as day. Alone in the gloom together, things became hazy as my mind stopped and my hormones took over.

Finally, I spoke. "Well, yeah, I was. And I'm glad, too... 'Cause you're quite a hottie. You know that, right?"

Becky emitted a short, soft giggle that radiated femininity. "Thanks! You're not so bad yourself," she remarked slyly.

I slid over next to her, and we lapsed back into silence for a few long moments. Our bodies glanced together in a soft touch, with mine at an angle to hers. I cocked my head and looked at her, trying to figure out just what in the hell I would do next.

Just like every other business out there in corporate America, our company frowned upon office dating. "Frowned upon" meaning "don't do this or we might be liable for a sexual harassment suit, schmuck." I'd been to enough of HR's seminars to know that. But at that moment, I couldn't care less. She was pulling me towards her with her very presence, and I couldn't do a damn thing to resist.

Aw hell, I thought, You only live once.

Feeling like it had a mind of its own, my arm slid around Becky's shoulders in a smooth and swift movement. I felt her respond instantly, a pleasant reaction that caused us both to turn toward each other and complete the hug. She was warm all over, and I could feel the soft thumping of her heart through her chest. Nestling my head against her silky hair, I picked up the faint scent of lavender. It was sweet and pleasant, and set my senses on fire. Suddenly, she felt softer, more feminine. More real.

After that, everything was different.

I didn't know exactly what it was for or what it meant, but our hug just seemed right. Like nothing else in the world could possibly be better at that shining place in time. My mind whirling like a top, I could sense that we were both spiraling completely uncontrolled into some unknown, exciting abyss together.