"Morning, Kay!" Mack said cheerfully from her office doorway, giving her a bright smile that made her feel exhausted just looking at it. "Busy morning, huh? You already look like you're having trouble keeping your head up, and it's not even ten o'clock yet!" Kay glanced up at him, grateful for the chance to get her eyes off of the endless columns of budgetary data that were already beginning to swim and dance in her bleary vision. She had a ginormous mug of coffee, but short of putting it straight into her veins intravenously she didn't think it was going to help.
But for all that he was friendly and sweet, Mack was technically a few notches higher than Kay was on the org chart and she didn't have the luxury of asking him to come back later. Their daily meetings were too important for that, even if lately Kay didn't feel like she even retained half the information the lanky African-American man shared with her when he stopped by. "It's, um, it's been another rough night," she muttered, gesturing to him to come in and close the door behind him. "I don't know why, I just can't seem to get enough sleep lately."
Kay found her gaze lowering to her desk, a tell she hoped was concealed by her general weariness and slumped, languid demeanor. Despite herself, though, she could feel the faintest stirrings of a blush on her pale, expressive cheeks, and she felt distinctively and uncomfortably seen by Mack's friendly grin and hazel-eyed stare. Because she did know why she couldn't get enough sleep lately, and it wasn't a reason that was appropriate to discuss at the workplace. Especially not when she was technically Mack's subordinate. Especially not when he was a... well, a very handsome man, not to put too fine a point on it. Mack wore a tailored suit to work every day, and it wasn't hard to notice the lean, wiry muscles beneath it.
If he noticed the heat pricking at her cheeks, though, he gave no sign. Instead, he simply clucked his tongue at her and said, "You need to take better care of yourself! You know what I always recommend, Miss Durleigh?" Kay was so tired she honestly didn't, or at least she couldn't bring it to mind, but the last thing she wanted was to admit as much. So she forced a chuckle and a nod, giving him a rueful smile that she hoped would suffice to give the impression of an agreement without the awkwardness of having to get into any of the specifics of what she was agreeing with.
But of course that approach had its risks too. "Excellent!" Mack said boisterously, clapping his hands together in excitement and sitting down across from her. "Then let's get started. I think we'll both be a lot more productive with a few minutes of guided meditation clearing our heads." Too late, Kay remembered Mack's near obsession with using all sorts of 'focus techniques' to help improve concentration and clarity of thought in the workplace. Sometimes it was guided meditation, sometimes it was creative visualization, sometimes it was just a power nap... because the regular kind that Kay so desperately needed wasn't good enough, apparently... but he always loved dragging her into it right along with him.
And naturally Kay couldn't even begin to explain why she didn't want to. Because telling Mack what they reminded her of would involve getting into the same territory as describing what kept her up late at night, and Kay had already pretty emphatically decided she wasn't going to do that. Even if Mack wasn't shocked or upset... and every once in a while, she found herself imagining that maybe he wouldn't be if she gave in to her private impulse to overshare and let him in on her little secret... it felt like it would cede a lot of power to her nominal boss to give him that kind of information.
So with nothing else to do but accept her fate, Kay reached across the desk and put her petite hands in Mack's big mitts. Kay squirmed awkwardly in her chair--ever since she was a teenager, attending slumber parties and listening to the breathless, giggly conversation of other girls who had no more experience with boys than she did even though they pretended otherwise, Kay had enjoyed something of a thing for men with big hands. Despite learning the hard way that it didn't mean what people said it meant, it was still just one of those things she noticed about a guy. Especially a guy like Mack.