“I’m pretty confident with what we’ve got, Jesse, but I appreciate the thought. I know I’m not going to be able to keep you away from beautiful twinks, but I have a feeling you have a thing for an olderman.”
“Oh,really?”
“With tats and scruffand…”
I laugh as I enter the break room and head for the espresso machine. “Anyway, I’d better get off the phone before I wind up saying something super inappropriate and totally unprofessional for theworkplace.”
“I’d rather swing by and we do something superinappropriate.”
It reminds me of the day when he burst into my office, took me by surprise, and then, well, took me by surprise. Oh, the fun we had that afternoon. Some days, I muse on the experience just to help make the day that much morebearable.
Eric adds, “Works out better that you can’t make it home, because as much as I want to spend the night claiming that hole again, I have some tax stuff I need to comb through before we make quarterly payments this year. Just don’t be too late. I still want your octopus tentacles around metonight.”
“They’ll be around you before you knowit.”
“I love you.” His breathy words hit my ear the way they might when he’s whispering them against the side of my face during more intimatemoments.
“I love youtoo.”
We hang up, and I feel like such a sap for how much I’m already missing him. This must’ve been what Alanis Morissette meant by “head overfeet.”
After I finish making our coffees, I return to my office, and we push our way through the workload, then run a practicetest.
“And now we wait…” I say, as we have a thirty-minute to an hour scan ahead ofus.
I’m confident with the changes we’ve made, though, and if this works, it won’t take us as long to fix the crash over at Kendall Inc. We’re both on our phones in notime.
“That guy Herman’s still texting me,” heannounces.
“The one you said is all about playinggames?”
“One and the same.” With his thumbs bouncing across the screen, he’s clearlyreplying.
“That doesn’t seem to discourageyou.”
“I like games. They’refun.”
“I don’t know that the kinds of games you’re playing with this guy are all that fun,” I say, giving him an incredulouslook.
“Point taken, but he’shot.”
“Is that goodenough?”
“You wouldn’t do a lot of crazy shit for that hot EricWestright?”
“You got methere.”
“I’ll admit, Herman’s notthathot, but I’ve been in a bit of a dryspell.”
“Seriously? You’re always talking to me about guys you’reseeing.”
“But I haven’t done much of anything. Been too busy at the office. I suppose there’s something to be said for not having to play games or worry about when you’re going to meetpeople.”
“I can’t really say I know what that’s like. Before Eric, I was with my ex for five years, and then with him shortly after that breakup…and I sure wasn’t looking for anything when I ran intohim.”
“How’d you guysmeet?”
I tense up at the thought of having this conversation with a coworker, especially considering how complicated our situation is. “Through a friend…my bestfriend.”
