Chapter 2

"Hi, I'm here to pick up Caty's usual?" I asked the man behind the counter.

The shop owner was a large man himself, though not in the same league as my new colleague, and he smiled and nodded as I gave him the twenty pound note.

"Just a moment," he said, and disappeared through the open doorway behind the desk.

I glanced about, idly inspecting the shop's wares and picked up a Mars Easter egg packed full with small balls of nougat, apparently. I assumed this meant only a handful or so, but for five quid, you get what you get.

"Here you go, sir," the shop owner said, handing me a carrier bag that surprised me in its weight as I took the handles.

I peered into the bag and saw eight four-hundred gram bars of Cadbury's white chocolate. When I looked up, the man was smiling.

"The price says three quid a bar, but there's eight here?" I asked.

The shop owner nodded. "Caty's a great customer and as I can order in bulk, I share some of the wholesale discount with her."

I nodded, wondering just how much chocolate 'in bulk' could possibly translate to. Turning to leave, I suddenly remembered I was still holding the Mars box.

"Oh, sorry, and this," I added, handing him a fiver from my own pocket and showing him the Easter egg before slipping it into the bag.



As I walked through the office, I couldn't help but catch Chris' eye. He saw the carrier bag swinging from my hands and puffed up his cheeks. I smiled weakly and increased my pace.

Upon entering her office, I was hit by the smell of the hot chocolate, though as I approached Caty's desk, I could see her mug was already empty.

"Here you go," I said, placing the bag next to the golden bowl, which I realised was also empty.

My eyebrows raised of their own volition and Caty, meeting my gaze, blushed slightly. "Thanks a bunch!" She replied, grabbing the bag and sliding it as hastily as she could into its drawer.

It was as though she thought that if she was quick enough, I would somehow forget just how much chocolate was in that bag. Except that the drawer wouldn't close, because the bag was too bulky.

"What the?" She grumbled, trying to push it closed for the third time before patting the bag down to reveal the Easter egg.

"Oh, yeah," I said, "it was on offer. I just wanted to say thanks for training me, you know, even though we haven't started yet, but yeah, you're going to train me, so..." I realised I was blabbering. "So yeah. Thanks. In advance, I guess."

Caty took it out of the bag and set it atop the desk. The drawer now closed without a hitch. She turned to me, smiling.

"That's very kind, Matthew, thanks! It's not Easter for a couple of weeks yet, but it'll be something to look forward to for sure."

"You're very welcome," I responded, smiling.

"Well, come on then," she said, her attention turning to the computer screens, "I guess we'd best get to it now. Bring your chair around so you can see."

I did as she instructed, rolling the seat close to hers. As I sat down, I saw just how wonderfully she filled her own, much wider chair, her hips lightly brushing each side. The mass of her bottom made her appear much taller than me when we were sitting down, but that was far less distracting than seeing how her huge stomach bulged out across her slightly splayed, rotund thighs, supporting the weight of her heavy breasts. Her desk was curved slightly inward to accommodate her mass, and it looked to me as though this was a rather DIY emendation to the wooden surface. She smelt fantastic, which did not help matters. If I wasn't distracted enough by the sight of her huge arms quivering as she moved the mouse, or the way her whole body heaved forward, making her sturdy chair creak quite loudly, as she reached for the keyboard, then the heady scent of a slightly apply perfume mixed with chocolate was impossible to ignore.

"Are you alright, Matthew?" I heard her ask.

I swallowed, blinking. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."

"No problem," she replied. "Like I said, there's no reason to be nervous. If you have any questions, just let me know."

"Yeah, of course. Thanks."

She smiled at me. "Oh, would you just grab me a milkshake from the fridge?"

I pushed my chair across the floor to open the fridge. Inside, I found, was nothing but row upon row of chocolate milkshakes.

"Just the one?" I asked.

"Yes, thanks."

I slid back over and placed the cold shake on the desk, watching as she refilled the golden bowl with crisps.

"Just some snacks to keep us going," she explained, pointing at the bowl. "Feel free to help yourself."

For the next half an hour or so, she showed me the ERP system, displaying an impressive knowledge of the more complex parts of the system. I tried my best to remain focused on the task at hand, but every time her thick forearm reached into that bowl, I was propelled as far away from the world of IT as I possibly could be.

"Oh," Caty announced after placing her hand in the bowl and coming up empty. "We polished those off pretty quickly, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," I agreed readily. I had not eaten a single crisp. I was too in awe of this woman, and I had absolutely no appetite whatsoever.

And so the morning passed. After another bowl of crisps, Caty moved onto the first of the white chocolate bars, once again placing it between us so that I could 'help myself'. I didn't. And once again, she'd almost sounded surprised that we'd managed to polish it off so quickly.

By the time lunch arrived, I could not imagine that Caty could possibly have been hungry, but I probably should have known better by now. She downed the last of her current milkshake, which I believed was about the fourth that morning, and took a final snap of white chocolate from the current Cadbury's bar before indicating we should head toward the canteen. She did not eat the chocolate square by square, I had noticed, but simply snapped off much larger pieces with an impressive deftness that told of habit.

What did surprise me, however, was that while Caty probably ate twice as much as everyone else at lunch, it was no more than that. She had piled up her plate and taken a lot of white bread and butter, and Nutella, of course, but somehow, having spent the entire morning with her, I had expected more.

"I know what you're thinking," Chris had said to me as we'd met each other on the way to the toilet. "Where does she put it all, eh?"

"In her drawer and fridge," I answered innocently, pretending not to get the joke.

"Sure," he said, grinning, clapping me on the shoulder.

I rejoined Caty in her office after work and the kettle was boiling once again. Having seen the effort it took her to lever her bulk from her chair to her feet, I offered to make the hot chocolate when the kettle clicked.

"Oh, thanks, Matthew," she said, smiling. "That would be great."

"How many spoonfuls is it?" I asked. "Six?"

"Uh, eight, after lunch. I need a bit of a pick me up, you know?"

I smiled at her as I counted eight, heaped spoonfuls of cocoa powder into her mug. "Sure thing."

The afternoon began to pass in much the same way as the morning, with Caty devouring snack after snack, while I did my best to pay attention to what she was showing me on the screen, and not the way her stomach bulged into the edge of her desk.

After a while, the huge woman sighed, bent her head to one side and rolled her shoulder.

"Sorry, I just need a minute."

"What is it?" I asked.

"My shoulder sometimes gets tired in the afternoons," she said. "I just need to relax it a bit. It'll be fine."

"Is it always the same one?"

She glanced at me, the current snapping of white chocolate partially forgotten in her other hand. "Yeah. Always the left."

"Hmm. Mind if I take a look?"

Without waiting for a response, I pushed my chair away and stood up, moving to stand behind Caty's chair so that I could see the desk as though from her vantage point.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously.

"Just checking something," I answered. "I did a side course in physio therapy while I was at uni. They taught us about stuff like this."

"Oh," she said.

"Would you just carry on working for a bit, so I can get a good read?"

"Sure."

And Caty resumed. It was, I must admit, difficult to remain objective, as her wondrous scent filled my nostrils even more readily as I stood above her. The lavender conditioner of her hair mingled with chocolate and I had to shake my head to clear it. At least her blouse was not too revealing, the frill around the collar exposing no cleavage, but it was still impossible to not see how the fabric clung to her massive bosom, which in turn rested atop her protruding stomach. And then there was her width, from her shoulders to her buttocks, she was comfortably more than twice as wide as I was, her round, softness expanding beyond anything I'd ever before witnessed.

"Yes," I said, clearing my throat. "Your posture is skewed by the positioning of the keyboard. It puts additional strain on your left side because you have to lean over to be able to type."

Caty paused, and put her left hand on the keyboard. Even as she did so, she had to shift her bulk slightly, pressing her elbow up against her breast in order to reach.

"Oh," she said quietly. "Is that it?"

"Well," I began, "it might be. Here, let's try this."

I leant over her to move the keyboard, even as Caty kept her hand on it. She smelt amazing! And the warmth emanating from her was almost overwhelming. I kept an eye on her round elbow, and when the strain was removed, I straightened up, albeit reluctantly.

"Try to touch it with your other hand," I instructed.

The problem became clear immediately as her right arm was now forced to compete with her breasts. Caty was too fat.

"Uh, I don't think that that's solved the problem," she said, "I can already feel my other side is stretching too far."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Might be you should look into getting a new keyboard, one that's a bit wider, so that you don't, well, you know, have to bunch up together so much."

Her cheeks went ever so slightly pink as she slid the keyboard back to its original position. "Yeah, I'll have to look into that. Thanks for trying though."

"Anytime," I said, weakly, and returned to my chair.

But after just a few minutes, Caty muttered something and began rolling her shoulder once again. This continued for a little longer, but she tried to persevere. I wondered if she now felt embarrassed and was trying to pretend that it wasn't a problem, just because I was here.

"Is it hurting again?" I asked, sympathetically.

"Yeah," Caty said, sighing and leaning back, grimacing. "It really is."

"Well, we can't do anything about the source right now, but perhaps I can help with a corrective action? Only if you want, of course."

"Uh, no. No, no," Caty answered, her round cheeks reddening once again. "I don't think that's necessary. Look," she flexed her plump fingers, "I'm good to go again now."

And she was. For another two minutes.

"Here," I said, once again standing up and moving behind her. "Hold your arm up and out to the side."

She complied without question and I grasped her thick wrist in my hand. I am not a small man, being about six feet tall, but I could not get my finger and thumb to close around Caty's wrist. Not by a long shot. I quashed my amazement at this revelation, and placed my other hand onto her shoulder, slowly rotating the outstretched arm as I did so. I pressed my fingers lightly into the softness of her neck and upper shoulder as I did so, but I could feel nothing out of order. I then moved my hand down, pressing into the expanse of her shoulder blade, after struggling to find it, and there I found the problem.

"Ah, you have a knot, right here," I explained. "Feels like an old one. Put your arm forward, touch the desk and lean a little forward too."

Caty did as instructed and I began massaging the knot with my thumbs, struggling with the ever growing urge to let my fingers wander and explore. The packed softness of this woman's back, the way her bra strap cut into her flesh and created rolls of fat both above and below it was almost too much to resist, but I did. Just.

And then Caty moaned. Only softly, but moan she did. I bit my lip and tried to think of anything else. She moaned again, and I tried to pretend it didn't sound like she was saying Matthew, but that was hard to do, because it really sounded as though she was saying Matthew.

I continued for a few more minutes, until I felt the knot had been worked away as well as it possibly could for the time being, and, reluctantly, I removed my fingers from her round, soft shoulder.

As Caty leant back in her chair, I saw her blinking her blue, twinkling eyes. "Thanks," she muttered, rolling her shoulder. "Oh, it feels so much better now!"

I smiled at her. "You're welcome. I'm just glad I could help!"

Whatever Caty had been about to say in return was lost as the room went suddenly dark and the computer screen turned off with a little 'pew' sound.

"Argh," she complained. "The power's gone again!"

"That happens a lot?"

"More than it should," she grunted a response.

A few minutes later, our collective boss, Jannick, came into the room.

"You alright, you two?" He asked.

"Yeah, any idea when it's coming back on?" Caty asked him.

"Out for the day, apparently. Those bloody builders." Jannick rubbed his chin. "Any chance you can continue from home today? You can just leave early if you'd like." That last was directed at me.

"Yeah, sure," Caty answered. "Oh, no, sorry. I can't. They're doing repairs in my apartment."

"You can come to mine, if you want," I offered, before I'd even had time to think.

"Good man," Jannick said immediately. "Thanks very much for this. I don't know if Caty's explained already, but there is an important deadline coming up. Chances are this will be an all nighter."

I nodded. "Yeah, she told me that."

"Are you sure, Matthew?" Caty asked.

I glanced down at her and shrugged. "Sounds like you need a place to work, and what else am I doing?"

Jannick barked a laugh. "I like this one. Alright, then, that's you two taken care of, I'm going to go and make the rounds."

And with that, he was gone.

"Typical that such a thing would happen on your first day!" Caty exclaimed. "I hope you don't think too badly of us!"

"I don't think I could," I murmured.