A necklace on a man is all kinds of sexy.
The gold chain was the first thing I noticed about him, even before seeing his muscles ripple as he flexed under his tight t-shirt. The bright white cotton a beautiful contrast to his Hispanic skin accentuated by days spent working in the sun.
My first few hours as the office secretary of Construction Corp hadn't even passed and already my breath had been taken away.
He was beautiful.
The next several weeks were a whirlwind, as I learned the ins and outs of my new position. I easily fell into a routine. I was there before first light to open the office and there after sunset to lock up before heading to the gym for an intense workout and then crashing into bed for a few hours before beginning the cycle again.
Although we were introduced on the first day and I knew a lot about him from his personnel file, Raphael and I were both shy and it took a while for us to even begin wishing each other a "Good Morning" and "Buenos Noches".
Sometime during the middle of the summer, he was promoted to shift supervisor which called for a couple hours of paperwork every night once he had finished on the physical job.
Being the one with the key to the office, I always hung around until he finished. He would walk me out and wait while I set the alarm and locked up for the night.
Slowly, we shyly began sharing our stories.
He had immigrated from Mexico with his wife and her family, living in California for a few years until her untimely death. He had taken his two children and moved to the Southeast to squelch the haunting memories of their love. He talked about his children with such love and was always eager to get home to kiss them goodnight, but as the weeks passed, we began to linger near the door in conversation long after I had locked up for the night.
We talked about everything.
Our childhood, our past, our dreams, religion.
He was Catholic, I discovered, once I had built up the courage to ask about the pendant hanging from the gold chain that never left his neck.
A saint.
Being interested in religions and believing in some sort of higher power, I was intrigued with his story and his devotion to his faith.
One night, as I took the key from the lock and turned to face him, he hadn't stepped away from the landing and we were suddenly only a breath apart.
I felt the air rip from my lungs even as he made a dark, low sound deep in his chest. I called up my courage and tentatively brushed my fingertips down his hand, then up his arm, reveling in the hard, hard muscles beneath them. Abruptly, he got that 'deer in the headlights' look, turned, rushed to his truck and drove away.
I felt inexplicably bereft in the absence of him as I went about my evening routines.
The next day, he avoided me. I felt broken.
How could I have been so stupid?
I knew he was conflicted, after all, fornication was highly anti-Catholic in every sense, but he had invaded my space first!
Had I read the signs all wrong?
Later that night, he emerged from his office, signaling that he was done for the night. Instead of opening the door for me as he usually did, he stopped and turned towards me.