In 1964, the legendary Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown published a book called Sex and the Office that encouraged women to liberate their libidos and saddle up a supply of willing male colleagues. She recommended using flattery to get ahead, keeping a bottle of booze in a desk drawer and viewing lunch breaks as a way to tackle hungers that can't be sated with a simple Cobb salad.

Times have changed, of course, but the office affair is still far from uncommon. According to the 2008 Harlequin Romance Report, 33 percent of men and 32 percent of women surveyed admitted to having slept with a co-worker. Whether you work in a tall tower in Toronto or a boutique in Vancouver, the work environment can provide an assortment of potential mates. "Love is very hard to find, and the workplace is a common source of talent," says Fiorella Callocchia, president of HR Impact, a human-resources consulting firm in Oakville, Ont. "It beats the heck out of a bar, and usually you're sober when you meet somebody at work." 

Well, one would certainly hope. That was the case for Penny Staznik, 36, who works in human resources for a large financial services firm in Toronto and met her 33-year-old accountant husband while on the job.

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