After all, I didn’t want my projects falling to shit.
“Things are good,” I said, smiling and meeting his eye. He blinked but didn’t turn away. His shirt was rumpled a bit in the front, and I saw that he had a cup of coffee going, even though it was late. “I just wanted to check in, see if there was anything I could do to support your team.”
“I appreciate that. I think we just worked ourselves out of a knot, actually, but I’d love to circle back around later. Maybe even bend your ear about some of our projects?”
I thought about pushing him a little and asking about the Baker project but decided to keep my mouth shut. It would be much better to keep my cards close to my chest and work with him a little. If his projects were corrupt and he realized I was onto him, he would just withdraw, and I’d be left back at square one.
“Just let me know when. I’ll be here,” I said, offering him a friendly pat on the arm. Just as quickly, he hurried away, leaving me alone in the corridor.
I returned to my office, passing rows of glass walls on the way. Leaving my door open, I plopped down at my desk and felt a wave of exhaustion land on me. It felt like crashing from Xavier and crashing from work at the same time.
Sugar high, I thought to myself and chuckled at the bad joke.
Just for a minute, I let myself linger over the memory of him. With my fingers poised over the keyboard, I thought of how perky and round his butt was, like two pieces of fruit, cloven together. I thought of the feel of his bare skin on my hand, like an electric snap.
Like heat.
I swallowed and narrowed my eyes.
Tomorrow night couldn’t come soon enough.
