“Happy Valentine’s Day!” said Jim as Helen walked into his office for her monthly sales meeting. “Have a candy!” He indicated the big, red heart-shaped box on his desk. Helen smiled and took a seat, then reached for a chocolate from the box.

She’d had a great day so far — the husband she loved, and who loved her, had sent flowers, she’d made an unexpected and large sale which would take her over her bonus goal just an hour before, and she was looking forward to a night of dinner, dancing, and romance with her husband after work. She’d bought a new, very revealing, and sexy nightie she was really looking forward to showing her beloved Mark, and so he wouldnt see it before her big surprise reveal, she’d been keeping it in her office.

Getting a babysitter for their four-year-old daughter on Valentine’s Day had been difficult, but her husband Mark had made an offer of $100 for the evening with their third-preferred sitter, and Nisa had finally accepted. It was a hard-won deal, but worth it, Helen knew. She’d been anxiously awaiting the big night for weeks, now.

Jim sat behind his desk and smiled at Helen. “You have been having a great first quarter this year! “ he said. “How can we get your numbers even higher?”

By the end of his question, Helen began to feel slightly odd, and Jim’s voice seemed to sound like he was talking down a tunnel. Then the room rushed in on her, and she lost consciousness.

She regained consciousness about an hour later, lying on the couch in Jim’s office, feeling woozy and nauseous, and with a terrible headache. She stumbled out to see Kaley, the receptionist, looking at her with sympathy and concern.

“You feeling better?” Kaley asked. “You’re still looking pretty rough. What happened?”

“I don’t know. We started our meeting and then ... I guess I fell asleep?”

“That’s what Jim said,” confirmed Kaley. “You were sawing some serious logs in there! We thought we should let you nap, and see if you were feeling better when you woke. Are you?”

“I think so. Maybe I should get a cup of coffee.”

“‘Kay. Jim’s in with Laura doing their meeting. He should be out sometime soon.”

Helen went to the coffee station and brewed herself a cup, then carried it into her office. She sat at her desk, opened the top drawer to take out a bottle of aspirin, and took three to counteract the monster headache she had. What the hell had come over her? She hadn’t been that tired! In fact, she had been up and excited for the coming night with her husband. Sadly, she wasn’t feeling so excited now.

The rest of the day passed, almost in a trance. The afternoon both flew and crawled by, and when she got in her car to drive home, she felt sad for no reason of which she was aware.

She came into the family home after fixing a smile on her face, pretending like she felt happy to be home and going out for dinner and dancing with Mark. She went to kiss her husband, and her stomach heaved.

“Honey? Are you okay? That was an odd look!” asked Mark as he embraced her in a hug. Suddenly, she wanted to be anywhere else but in his arms, but she forced herself to relax and hug him back, as letting Mark know how she felt was wrong, somehow.

“Oh, yeah ... I just had a spell at work today. Maybe I’m coming down with something?”

“A spell?”

“Yeah. I got dizzy and had to lie down and take a nap, at work! Good thing Jim was okay with it!”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry! Are you feeling better now?”

That son of a bitch wanted to know if he’d wasted all that money on tonight! she thought to herself, very uncharacteristically. Well, fuck that! She was going to go and enjoy herself. She deserved an exciting night out! Then she paused — no, wait, she had campaigned for a wonderful Valentine’s Day evening out, and Mark had moved heaven and Earth to make it happen. He was just trying to make sure nothing went wrong, that she was actually okay. What was she thinking?

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine, now! I’m going to go up and shower and get dressed, so we can go play!” Helen said, faking enthusiasm pretty darn well.

When she came down the stairs, Nisa had arrived from four doors down and was bouncing their baby daughter on her lap, laughing and smiling to keep little Emily occupied and engaged.

“Nisa! Thank you so much for taking care of Emily tonight! We very much appreciate it!” Helen greeted her.

“My pleasure, or at least my college fund’s!” Nisa joked.

“For tonight, it’s worth it!” Helen assured Nisa.

The problem was that she now felt that it wasn’t worth it, but she knew she was going to have to fake it. She turned her smile on her husband as he came into the living room and put his arm around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss in a gesture of love they’d shared since their fourth date. She fought to keep herself from breaking the embrace and hurrying away, and forced herself to relax into it. The kiss was lips-only, which was fortunate, because she felt her bile rise at the contact, threatening to make first a mess and then a scene.

She was going to have to avoid kissing Mark tonight, she thought. Fuck! On Valentine’s Day? She couldn’t imagine a scenario that didn’t have them soul kissing on the dance floor during a slow one. She tasted bile and felt her stomach churn again, and knew she was in trouble.

The next day, Helen went to work and rattled around her office, feeling an incredible surge of sexual need mixed with romantic feelings for Jim. After accomplishing nothing all morning, she found herself playing with the nightie she’d bought to surprise her husband and forgotten to take home the night before, but it was not Mark that was on her mind. Reaching an impulsive decision, she changed into it, and then pulled her dress back on over it.

Helen found herself knocking on Jim’s office door on their lunch break, and when Jim opened it, Helen went wet to the knees. She pushed her way in, forcing him to back up, and closed the door behind them. She climbed into Jim’s arms and planted the deep soul-kiss that she had planned on giving Mark (ew, ick!) the night before on Jim’s lips.

As things heated up higher, she moved back and slipped out of her dress, showing off the nightie, and a lovely view of her hody, for Jim’s approval. Jim dropped his pants, sat down and back in his chair, and Helen moved to mount him.

Afterwards, just before everyone would get back from lunch, she scampered back to her office naked as the day she was born, with her dress in her hands. She was pulling it on and adjusting things as the front door chime rang — the rest of the office was getting back.

The following days and weeks held more of the same, but as that time passed, her sexual adventurousness and need increased. Keeping the rest of the office in the dark was challenging, but she enjoyed the game. She told Mark that the office was extremely busy, which caused her to spend more time than usual there. He wasn’t thrilled, but said he understood, and couldn’t wait for things to go back to normal.

Three months after that fateful Valentine’s Day, Jim’s car exploded in the parking lot outside the office. The front windows shattered and the door swung wide as a result of the pressure wave.

Employees staggered out of their offices and gawked at the flaming wreckage across the parking lot. Nobody ever parked that far away from the building, and the vehicle was twisted and blackened beyond recognition.

The Fire Department showed up seconds before the police, and the flames were extinguished. Everyone in the office were interviewed by the police, and during hers, Helen realized that she hadn’t seen Kayley for an hour or so. She mentioned this to the police officer, who noted it on his pad and told her that they were able to get the VIN from the wreckage, and it was revealed as Jim’s car. It had been discovered that there had been two burned bodies in the car, and the second body was suspected to be Kaley’s.

The positions of the bodies in the car informed the police that Kaley had been giving oral sex to Jim when the car exploded. A portion of Jim’s penis was found inside Kaley’s mouth, suggesting that the blast had resulted in her jaws coming together like the blades of a tree trimming tool on a thin branch, not that either had still been aware when that happened, as they had both been killed instantly.

The police had closed off the parking lot while search warrants were filed for all properties on the property, meaning all the cars and offices at the location. While all this was going on, Helen found her emotions extremely hard to control, as they swirled in a raging storm in her heart. Tears flowed down her face constantly, as they did for most of the women in the office. Jim had been a much-beloved boss.

Her phone rang, and she answered it as she sat at her desk. “Jim Nichols insurance.”

“Sweetheart, are you okay? There’s news of an explosion near your office! What happened?” came the voice of her husband.

“Someone’s car exploded in the parking lot,” she answered shortly, though not unkindly.

“Oh my God! Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?”

“It looks like Jim and Kaley were caught in the explosion coming back from lunch.”

“Lunch? It’s 10:30!”

“I don’t know!” Helen growled, “It looks like Kaley was in Jim’s car when it exploded. They’re both ... unaccounted for, and there are two bodies in his car. Happy?”

“What? Happy? Of course not, honey! It just seemed odd, the timing, is all. If they eat lunch at 10:30, who am I to question? I’m sorry to hear that your boss and co-worker may be dead! Was he in trouble with someone? Was some customer denied a claim and took it way too personally?”

“No one knows.”

“Okay, well, you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. I will see you at home.” She wasn’t fine. The man she loved, the lover whose touch she craved constantly, had been killed getting blown by his receptionist, not Helen! There was no ‘fine’, anymore, but she couldn’t let her husband know that. She buried her face in her hands.

After a few minutes, a detective knocked on her office door, while two patrolmen stood outside it. “Mrs. Adams? I’m Detective Simpson. We have a few questions we’d like to ask...”

“Yes?”

“Where were you when the explosion happened?”

“I was here, in my office working on a quote for a customer I need to call sometime soon, I guess.”

“How long have you been having an affair with Jim Nichols?”

“Wha ... what?” She stammered.

“There’s video footage from the security cameras that shows you and he in some compromising positions.”