WHAM! The force of the impact on the small of his back sent Tom sprawling and landing heavily on the floor.

The young woman carrying several box files and a laptop against her chest, dashed around the corner without noticing him waiting for his colleagues, forcefully bumped into him, catching him off-balance and causing the accident. She paused momentarily to comment, "Haven't you anything better to do than stand about blocking the passageway?" Moving quickly to one side and inadvertently stepping on Tom's spectacles, breaking the frames and popping the lenses, she hurried on. Janice, Tom's PA and secretary quickly knelt by his side and enquired, "Are you okay Tom?" then seeing him fumble for his glasses, she added, "They're broken but I'll get the pieces. That bitch ought to be locked up. I don't know why you put up with her nonsense when she's your junior."

By then his three male colleagues arrived and added their comments as to what should be done with Ms. Lorraine Feldman, the project acquisitions manager, as she liked to call herself, whereas in reality, she only sourced the materials, did the estimates and budgets. Noticing Tom having difficulty in putting any weight on his right hand, Janice asked Len, the workshop foreman to help him. His right wrist had already swollen tightly into his shirt cuff and when she unbuttoned the sleeve, she ordered, "I'm taking you to the nurse to have this looked at. No arguments. The copier should have finished your notes and Len can take them to the meeting. You won't be able to read them without your glasses any way."

"The CEO expects..."

"He'll expect an efficient personal assistant to take care of her boss. The others can explain what happened."

Kathy, the works nurse, examined his wrist and his back and commented on the bruise forming there. "She hit you mighty hard Tom and I guess you'll have a sore back for a few days at least. I think your wrist is only sprained but you'd better get it X-rayed in case there is a break. If there is, the sooner it is treated and set the better. I'll do a quick letter for the hospital doctor. Will you take him Jan?"

On returning to their office to pick up her car keys, Tom wondered how he'd get home, or more especially how he would get his car home. "I'll ask if one of the car-poolers will drive it home for you, I'll email them."

<Help please. We need someone to drive Tom Byers' car to his home tonight. Ms. Feldman knocked him down and broke his glasses. He lives on the Kimberly side of town. If you are able to offer assistance, please contact me, we hope to be back from the hospital before work finishes>

She grinned because she knew there would be much speculation over the phrases, 'Ms. Feldman knocked him down and broke his glasses' and 'we hope to be back from the hospital before work finishes', when all the computers on the intranet received the message. Almost immediately and before she'd helped Tom on with his coat and picked up the items he'd need for the weekend, a reply came from one of the engineers in the architect department and they gave the keys to him before leaving.

Nurse Kathy's diagnosis proved correct and the hospital wrapped it with a crepe bandage and put sling around his neck to keep it raised. "You'll need to rest it until the swelling goes down and it may take a week or more before you can use it. Your back problem is twofold, there is the bruising from the impact and you pulled the surrounding muscles when you fell and they are already stiffening up. You're a big man Tom and when you fell, you fell awkwardly and did more damage to your body than if you were a younger and lighter man. If there is anyone at home, get them to massage your back with a warm oil. Ask at the pharmacy, there's a number of brands but it is the rubbing that does the most good, despite what it says on the box."

Tom's car sat on his driveway when they arrived and the keys were posted through the letterbox; the hospital visit and calling at the chemist's took longer than they anticipated. By then Tom's wrist throbbed and his back sent stabs of pain to his brain with every movement.

"Let's get you undressed now and ready for your massage." They'd been in for an hour and she'd made tea, fixed them something to eat and answered his answerphone calls, like she did at work. Nearly all were from co-workers enquiring of his health but Alec Briggs, the CEO phoned wanting to know what happened and then indicated he'd investigate the matter further on Monday and decide what, if anything, to do about Loraine.

"Okay Tom, I'm putting the phone back on answerphone and we can go into the bedroom and get your kit off ready for a massage without interruption." Finding a large towel in the bathroom, Jan covered the bed and helped him off with his clothes, pausing when only Tom's underpants remained. Knowing that strictly speaking she didn't need to remove them but her eyes saw the bulge in the front and with a sharp jerk, pulled the pants down to his ankles and off. She grinned and commented, "I haven't seen one of those in that state since Ken left me six years ago."

"And it's not felt the inside of a woman since Cleo died several years before that."

"At least it still works ... and maybe it will need a massage too later," Jan added giggling like a teenager.

Tom smiled. Secretly he'd admired the unpretentious woman since she began working for him ten years ago but didn't wish to spoil a working relationship and at the time, Cleo still lived and Jan had a husband. Even when they both became 'free' of partners it took him a long while to get over Cleo's death and now being alone had become a way of life, although more frequently he thought of having a woman's companionship again, but at 45 years old, balding and less active than in his earlier years, he'd resigned himself to not finding anyone and not even looking. Occasionally his thoughts turned to Jan but then he told himself, "Jan is my secretary and a good one too, and I don't wish to alter that by making her a prospective wife."

When she asked him to lie on the bed and stood where he could see her at the bathroom sink to warm the oil, he looked at her in a new light. "At almost 40, she's still an attractive woman, not as skinny as Cleo, a little shorter but she's not fat, and I like her brown hair that curls under at the ends. Sets off her round face nicely. Although I've never seen her tits, she's certainly well endowed. I wonder if she's serious about massaging my prick? I can feel that it's hard at the thought. Maybe even want more except that with this bloody back pain and the aching of my wrist, I won't be able to do much. The painkillers the hospital prescribed haven't eased the pain much, at least not when I try to move. She'll go home later and I'll have to fend for myself until Monday unless..."

His mind returned to the present when Janice came back still giggling and exclaimed, "After all these years I get to see my boss naked and rub his bum!"

"Do I get to return the favour?" Tom teased as she climbed on the bed, straddled his legs and poured a little oil on his spine.

"Oh, I don't know about that, I've nothing that needs a massage and a girl has to protect her innocence," she laughed and spent nearly twenty minutes rubbing the oil into the bruised area of his back.

"Are you going to do the front as well?"

"Not at the moment Tom, maybe when I rub your back again before I put you to bed. I ought to pop home and see to the cat and do a few chores but I'll check on you again soon. If you just put a dressing gown on you can watch TV for an hour, I shouldn't be that long."

Well over the hour later Tom heard her let herself in and go back to the car several times before coming into the lounge carrying her cat. "Hope you don't mind but I've brought 'Tibbs' to save me going back and forth to feed him and he doesn't like being left on his own. I've put his basket and litter tray in the utility room so it's out of the way and, with the boiler in there, it's warm so he should be comfortable. How are you doing?"

"Getting stiff again."

"Front or back?" Jan found herself recalling the banter she'd had with her husband when they'd first married.

"Just the back at the moment, nothing to cause the front to stiffen since you've been gone."

They spent the evening watching TV and intermittently discussing what Alec might do and Loraine's future. Both agreed something needed to be done to curb her arrogance but their views were diametrically opposed. Janice believed she should be sacked because she'd upset everyone in their department; Tom had reservations and wanted to keep her expertise but agreed that a considerable amount of pressure would be needed to keep her tongue under control.

"I think I'm going to lie down, Jan, my back is beginning to play up again. The bed in the guestroom is made up or..." The nine o'clock news had ended so for Tom this would be an early bedtime. He hoped Jan would offer to massage him again and even sleep with him but didn't wish to force her. He didn't need to.

"Or I could rub your back again, then have a shower to get rid of the oil and I could sleep in your bed to save messing up another one." Tom nodded to his bandaged hand. "No problem," Jan still in teenager mood, smiled, "I'll put a plastic bag over that but I expect you can hold it out of the spray while I wash you."

Like earlier, Tom prick rose during her massaging ministrations although she didn't touch it or even see it. "Lie there for a few minutes while I find some hangers to put my clothes on. Are you going to be a gentleman and look the other way while I undress?" Dutifully turned his head. "Silly man, I was only teasing you. I won't be doing an erotic strip tease to music but I saw you undress so you can see me too."

"You realise this will alter our relationship for ever Jan?"

"Yes, I've wanted to alter it for a long while but didn't dare in case it all went wrong. I'm sure we can behave normally at work but for this weekend, I want to remember what it is like to live with a man again. I just hope that my aging body doesn't offend you." It didn't and as soon as she'd removed the last item, her knickers, he carefully and a painfully, stood for a few moments before pulling her close and bending slightly, kissed her fully on the lips.

Their cuddling and kissing continued in the shower, he fondling her breasts and she massaging his prick. Unfortunately Tom had to call a halt before it spurted because of the back pain from standing too long. "Sorry," he apologised disappointedly.

"Don't worry, Ken taught me what to do although its been many years, I doubt I will have forgotten. Sit on the stool and let me dry you and get you to bed and then I'll give you what he called a blowjob." For Tom, having a woman suck his prick was a first. Cleo hadn't wished to even kiss it but Jan took as much of his six inches in her mouth as she could and vigorously worked her hand on his shaft until he couldn't hold back any longer and he warned her of his imminent emission. Jan ignored it and continued sucking even after his spurting ceased and Tom lay satisfied. "Yes," he thought, "Our relationship has certainly changed, and for the better too. Thank you Loraine for unknowingly bringing it about, I can take the pain you caused for this."

Lorraine, sitting unhappily in her nicely furnished two bedroomed flat, reflected disconsolately on the day's events. "If only Tom Byers hadn't been standing doing nothing and half hidden by the corner of the corridor, I would still be in favour with our CEO. Now it's quite likely that I'll be sacked. I'd so wanted to get to the meeting early and have a few words with him, and I did, but they were all nullified when the men from the engineering department came in without Tom and told him how I'd blundered into him and knocked him to the floor and trod on his glasses. I didn't know then that I'd done that. They made a big deal out of the fact that I didn't stop to apologise or see if I'd hurt him. Even Alec frowned at that. When they said his secretary had taken him to see the works nurse, I assumed it was a routine health and safety thing, but later we found out that she'd sent him to the hospital. Only then did I begin to realise the effect it might have on my life."

Alec Briggs certainly wasn't pleased when the engineering team foremen turned up late without their boss and then found Lorraine had caused his accident and, not only didn't stop to apologise her senior partner in the project, but had remarked, "Haven't you anything better to do than stand about blocking the passageway?" "Find out from the nurse how he is Daphne," he brusquely ordered his secretary.

"Sir, I suggest we wait a while for the nurse to examine him, he will only have arrived a few minutes ago and it will be better if I send a girl to find out a little later, Sir."

Alec continued with the meeting and after about twenty minutes Daphne quietly left the room, returning when she'd instructed one of the office girls. A further ten minutes went by during which Loraine stumbled through her report knowing that everyone in the room now thought ill of her and probably were paying scant attention to her words. Daphne answered the soft tap on the door and returned with a note that she handed to her boss. "I've asked the girl, Susan, to wait Sir, in case you wanted more explanation as the note is rather terse," she whispered.

"Fetch her in please."

"The nurse said Mr. Byers has almost certainly sprained his right wrist but some bones might be broken so she's sending him to the hospital for X-rays to check. His back is badly bruised and she thinks he may have pulled his back muscles and again she wanted a doctor to check him as she doesn't have the equipment here and it is beyond the scope of her knowledge as a nurse," Susan explained.

Alec thanked her and thought for a moment. "There'll need to be an accident investigation obviously in case of any litigation. Susan, please go the Human Resources and ask Helen Mathews to start the investigation. She'll know what to do. Tell her what you told us and she can start by interviewing nurse Kathy and by then this meeting will be over and she can talk to the staff here." When she'd left, Alec turned to the group and looking directly at Loraine, went on, "I trust you'll all give Helen your full co-operation."

The staff left but Loraine waited to have a word with the CEO. "I'm sorry Sir, it was an accident and I didn't believe I'd really hurt him and I didn't see his glasses. I should have stopped Sir, but I didn't wish to be late..." but the CEO dismissed her, indicating she could explain it all to the investigator.

"The bitch! That Janice bitch!" Loraine screamed at the computer, "That's why everyone in the whole office block knows and the bitch has made it sound like I punched him and jumped on his bloody glasses. It won't do much good if the report clears me; all the stories will by then have become so exaggerated that no one will believe it. I'm as good as sacked. How will I keep up the payments on my flat without a job? Without a job that pays as well as this? The others don't like me because I'm efficient and get on with the work without standing around yakking and being concerned about their kids and what they saw on TV last night." Depressed, she left early but not before Helen had interrogated her. "Yes, interrogated is the right word," she muttered afterwards, "She only needed a whip and thumbscrews and she would make it to the ranks of the Gestapo." Actually Helen had only questioned her closely not only on what happened but on the reasons for not stopping and apologising and in the end believed that the initial knocking down of Tom Byers was an accident and that she didn't see or feel his glasses when she trod on them. "With the files I held, I couldn't even see the floor," Loraine explained. Helen tried not to show her distaste for Loraine's actions.

"Good morning Helen, sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday evening but I put the phone on the answering machine to give Tom some much needed rest. I want to take him to the opticians this morning to see if they can put the lenses in new frames because he sees better with them than the spare pair he's using at the moment. If you could come round now, that would be convenient but otherwise it would have to be this evening or maybe late this afternoon."

Helen watched as Tom walked slowly down the stairs, one step at a time and trying not to wince as his weight transferred to each foot in turn. "Morning Tom," she greeted him, "How are you this morning, not great by the look of things."

"Well I think I may have to put off doing the marathon for a few days," Tom tried to joke without much success.

"We'll make this a working breakfast," Janice interrupted, "I've done bacon and eggs and toast, there wasn't much else in the fridge. Sit yourself down Helen, I'll pour the tea in a moment. You okay in that chair Tom?" Janice fussed over Tom and cut his breakfast into fork size pieces and buttered his toast.

Helen smiled to herself, "They've been together for one night and now she's acting like a wife of many years," but out loud she explained what happened in the meeting and her role as investigator. After the inevitable questions, she pushed her plate to one side, took out her note pad and asked for their version of the incident, which she found pretty much agreed with all the other witnesses. "Two things Tom. You said the doctor gave you a certificate for a fortnight off work, will you be staying away for those two weeks?"

"Not unless this one decides I'm not fit enough and refuses to drive me to work, but I'll really only be able to give advice and not do anything much. I can't even hold a pencil in my right hand at the moment but with construction on the project due to start in two weeks and many details to finalise, I feel I have to be there."

"I'll make sure he doesn't overdo it and have more time off later," Janice cut in.

"Okay, I'm sure Alec will be relieved to hear that. Second thing, would you object to my photographing your injuries? Purely for the record, you understand." Tom didn't mind and Helen once more noticed the closeness of the pair when Janice undid his belt, lifted up his shirt and pulled the top of his trousers down to reveal the full extent of the bruising.

"We're hoping that as the day goes on and he moves about a bit, some of the stiffness from the pulled muscles will go but maybe I'll have to put him in one of those wheelchairs when we go to the supermarket," Jan commented as she fastened his trousers again and then removed the bandage from his swollen wrist.

Loraine phoned while they were out and left an apology and pleaded with him not to sack her. "It really was an accident Tom, I didn't see you or your glasses and thought you'd just get up again. I'm sorry I didn't stop and check on you but ... No I don't have any excuse for that. Please put in a good word for me with Alec, you know I've done a lot of good work. Please Tom," she pleaded tearfully.

"We're not going to argue over the rights and wrongs of keeping her tonight, Tom. You can do that with Alec on Monday. How about I make us a drink and you take your painkillers? Would you like another back rub and an early night? They seem to be doing a little good as you came down the stairs better than you did first thing this morning."

"Only if I get a front rub too," Tom teased.

When Tom woke on Sunday morning and saw Jan awake, feeling better he rolled over to kiss her but his body told him sharp movements were out, especially when Tibbs lay on the duvet at his feet and held it down. While they kissed, Tom's left hand caressed her tits causing her to giggle and the cat to jump to the floor in protest at the movements under the covers. "Would you like another massage down there, or a blowjob?" Jan asked.

"Yes, but you seem to be the one doing all the giving and not getting the pleasure. Let me massage your clitty for a bit."

"We could try sixty-nining if I don't put any weight on you."

"You amaze me Jan, Cleo never allowed me to do more than rub her mound to get her wet enough for entry, Ken and you must have had a very different sex life."

"Oh we did in the early years until our careers took more time and life became routine and he found another younger woman. Perhaps if we'd continued to make love in a variety of ways, we'd still be together. I hope I won't make the same mistake again."

"Got anyone in mind?"

Jan gave his prick a hard squeeze, "Maybe."

With a minor earth tremor shaking the bedclothes, Jan positioned her cunt close to his mouth and with her tits barely touching his stomach, lowered her head on his prick and began sucking and massaging his shaft. In return Tom felt obliged to tongue her slit and suckle her clit until, sometime later, they'd both climaxed and again rested side-by-side.

They didn't have to wait until Monday to see Alec. Helen phoned him at home the previous evening and gave an outline of her report including the information that Jan and Tom were 'shacked up together like they'd been married for years'. He arrived unannounced about ten a.m. and found them dressed in loose track suits clearing away the breakfast things. "Morning Alec, come in please. Sorry about our dress but I've been oiling Tom's back and didn't want to put good clothes on until later," Jan greeted him when she answered the door.

After discussing Tom's health and the accident, they came to the thorny question of what to do about Loraine. "I don't want her sacked, Alec, although Jan does," Tom stated, "The accident was an accident but I agree, most people would have stopped and enquired of my well being and apologised. Some of her behaviour is a result of my not being a forceful enough boss and curbing her earlier on, but that is part of my nature and usually I get things done without bullying. I've always let women lead me around, from my mother, to Cleo and my secretary," he smiled at Jan, "But their control of me was, and is, generally for my benefit. Not so with Loraine, she wants to be the big boss and control everything to suit her and woe betide anyone who gets in her way. She did so well at university and I suspect her bossiness and determination, got her to the top positions in her classes and on the strength of that we employed her, and at her work, she's extremely good. The problem is that she's never really been the underdog and had to take orders from others. I don't know how we can achieve this but if, when things quieten down and the building project gets underway, she can be put in a lower position for a few weeks, maybe she'll realise what it is like to take orders without question and that others, even the most lowly workers, have feelings."

For a while they discussed the issues without Alec coming to decision other than to keep her on until the design work ended and the construction began. "After that we have a month or so before the site surveys are complete for the next project so we'll have time to either re-train her or find another project manager," Alec stated before taking his leave, "I'll worry over what to do for the rest of the day now! I had thought to give her a fortnight's notice but you've changed my mind at least partway."

"Come in Trevor, don't look so worried, I know it is not usual for the Maintenance Supervisor to be invited to this office but your job isn't at risk," Alec greeted the man. "I'm sure you remember the accident Loraine Feldman caused a week ago and heard the blown up accounts of what happened." Trevor nodded. "Now what I am about to ask you must remain highly confidential for the time being otherwise your job will be at risk. If you agree to take her on, I am going to offer her a position as a cleaning lady on your staff for a period of one month. I think she will be forced to accept that in order to keep her job here but for that month she is to be just another cleaning lady under your control. Would you accept her as a temporary member of your crew?" Trevor had no option but to agree. "Is there someone you could team her up with that won't accept any bullshit from her, someone who will make her clean the toilets or whatever they do?"

Trevor broke out into a huge grin, "Big Bertha." Alec looked at him questioningly. "She's a big, black woman, a friendly soul when you get to know her but she doesn't take any nonsense from anyone including me. I'll have to let her in on it too, but I doubt if there will be a problem and she may well like having a young white chick under her thumb. She works on the architect's floor too and has met the girl and complained about her when she's stayed late in the office."

"I can't believe you suggested that Sir! I've an honours degree and you're asking me to accept a position as a cleaner working under a black woman who is probably illiterate. No way, Sir, not even for a week and certainly not for a month and with only the possibility of getting my job back at the end of it."

"I explained the alternative Loraine," Alec grimaced, knowing this interview wasn't going to be easy.

"I presume Tom Byers suggested this to get back at me."

"He came up with the idea but the placement came from me. I would point out though, Tom was the only one in the department willing to give you a chance, and everyone else wanted you sacked. That's how popular you are. I too wanted you out, but decided to go with Tom's idea. Now it's up to you. Take the opportunity to learn how to work with others instead of treating them as lesser beings or find another position. Think it over and let me know in the morning."

"Hi Lorr-ee, I'm Bertha."

"It's Loraine."

"Not with us Dearie, and you're one of us now. We don't keep no fancy names, isn't that right ladies?" All the others in the maintenance staff locker room shouted comments and emphasised 'Lorr-ee' with their voices rising to a high pitch on the last syllable.

"Okay Ladies, time to get going. Bertha have you got Loraine, Lorr-ee, organised with overalls and gloves?" Trevor asked when came into the room, "Is she awake at this time in the morning?"

"Mopping out the men's bogs will soon wake her up Trev." In truth, although normally asleep at six a.m., in her trepidation at her month long ordeal as a cleaner, she'd been awake for two hours worrying how the uncouth, as she saw them, ladies would treat her. "Come along now Dearie, we have two floors to clean, four and five. I did five on Friday evening with Maisie so we've Four to do before they come into work this morning and you know how they complain if things aren't ready for them." Bertha chatted as they made their way to floor four and continued like a mother showing a child to do so while they worked.

Slowly Loraine realised that Bertha didn't hate her and was trying to be helpful. She also knew that normally Bertha did the floor with another woman who she'd displaced for the month. They cleaned the toilets first. "They're fairly easy," Bertha informed her, "Two cleaners are on duty all day to go round and keep the toilets and washrooms on the first five floors clean. Now we'll do the offices."

Loraine wondered, "Did Alec intentionally select the architects Floor Four for me, knowing my office is there?" but from what she'd heard, that seemed unlikely. Bertha used her passkey to open the main office where everything had been left tidy. Without referring to the occupants by name, Bertha prattled on, "This office is one of the easy ones. Empty the bins, go round with a duster, vacuum the floor and the job is done. No need to tidy anything or straighten the furniture." As they came into each of the rooms, Bertha commented and joked on the way things were left and the amount of work needed. Despite herself, Lorraine began to like, or at least not to dislike her companion. They came to her office, still as she'd left it on Friday. She'd hoped for a last minute reprieve from Alec and when none came, stomped out after shutting her computer down.

"The woman in this office is an untidy bitch," Bertha smiled broadly, "Hardly any of her rubbish actually goes in the bin so we have to pick up the paper from the floor around it before we start and leave the desk alone. Don't tidy the piles of paper otherwise she complains that she cannot find anything or we've hidden something important. Then there's all the bits she leaves on the windowsill that have to be moved and dusted." Feeling angry at the comments her first reaction to swear at the woman failed to materialise and she felt a little ashamed at the extra work she caused and having seen how others left their offices, she muttered an apology. "Not to worry Lorr-ee, that's what we're paid to do. Us lowlife cleaners are just here to clear up the mess made by others." The remark fleetingly made Loraine even more sorry and then she thought, "Yes, that's what they are here for. Why shouldn't I make a mess? I'm not really one of them and won't be in another four weeks," but then remembered that her return to the architects' offices was conditional on good reports of her behaviour. Only on Friday afternoon Alec called into her office and said, "The month you are with the cleaning staff is a sort of probationary period and I will expect good reports from Trevor and Bertha on your behaviour and by that I mean, mucking in with them and working without surliness and bitching." "Well if I keep quiet they can't accuse me of that but I think he wanted more when he said about mucking in with them."