She had met him several times as the project began its roll out across the US. He was the lead IT guru that was to make all of Nina's past 9 months of preparation and development come online in a rolling series of launches from NY to Chicago to LA. Relations between them had always been cool tending towards cold. He was a well-trained British male who maintained the proper distance and professionalism that was expected of his rank and class. Nina was by far more of an open book and enjoyed flirting and hanging out with her teammates long after a project deadline or presentation had passed.
Their final launch in LA went off as planned. Paul's steely precision made sure of that while Nina made sure that all local support felt congratulated and empowered by the new system that did require their buy-in and ownership. She could tell Paul was impatient to get out and back on his flight to London and she consciously ended the meeting early -- thanking people and turning down invitations for drinks.
"When are you headed to the airport?" Nina asked as she packed up the last of her notes.
"In 15 minutes. I know that doesn't leave a lot of time for us to debrief but what can't be done via email would require another face-to-face meeting." Paul responded, looking like he was about to run out the door.
Nina couldn't stand the fact that he used the word "via" in everyday conversation. She wondered about the urgency to get back home -- did he have a hot wife he needed to go back and fuck? Was he having an affair and couldn't wait to get back to have his cock sucked off? She stood there daydreaming until the wave of a hand right in front of her nose startled her.
"Sorry Nina, you looked like you were a million miles away." Paul said as he moved back to his polite 4 feet of distance. Nina blushed 4 shades of red when she realized what she had been thinking about.
"That's ok, I'm just exhausted and my mind was drifting. I'd like to catch an earlier flight back to NY -- can I catch a ride with you?" she looked at him, half expecting him to give her a lame excuse why she couldn't catch a ride. He was already halfway out the door when he turned his head back and said, "Not a problem, I'll pick you up in the front in 5 minutes."
"Wow, what a generous guy." she mumbled as she finished wrapping up. The head of the LA office came up behind her and gave her an unexpected hug from behind.