She hung up the phone debating whether or not to go home early. But she couldn't. The monthly update was due.
"What did Valerie say?" Mike asked.
Mae didn't glance at him as she sighed, "She's sick." She pretended to be more interested in whatever her screen was displaying instead of Mike's 30 second pause from typing.
"Oh, that's too bad," he muttered. Then he resumed typing whatever program he was working on.
Mae tapped her screen to pull up the next program that she needed to run, briefly glancing at Mike's profile. A decided rakish curve to his lips promised all that she feared. It was just the two of them.
Over the next several hours, Mike passed close enough to touch her desk, her chair. Mae shivered wondering whatever possessed her to hire her ex-boyfriend in their small three-person operation. Bringing up the next program, one that was crucial to their calculations and discovering the worst bugs were gone, she was reminded precisely why she hired him. He was the best. And she needed him. And dammit, he knew it. Hell, she hadn't actually hired him. She'd set up a double-blind with an exam, and he smoked the application process. Her HR office placed him in the clear lead among the candidates. When she saw who it was, her stomach had dropped, and her hands shook as she'd signed the offer letter. His counter-offer and acceptance had been received with a softly murmured, "Shit."
When lunchtime arrived, Mike put a menu in front of her on his comm, "Circle what you want. I know the report's due today, so I'll grab lunch for us."
"Okay," Mae lifted the sandwich shop's familiar repast and made her selections. As she handed the comm back to him, he snagged her wrist as he took it away and kissed her knuckles.
As she lifted her perturbed gaze to his, he commented, "I'll be back." She froze recognizing the expression in his eyes.
For the short period of time that she had, she frantically typed working her way through her report's checklist, muttering, "Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap." Their breakup had been basically a messy get-together in the first place. He was engaged. They were friends, and she tried to tell him that she was in love with him. It didn't go well. He had feelings, too. And his fiance was having none of it. That they ended up separated meant nothing. To Mae, he'd chosen. Then Mike reemerged in her life. He hovered on her social fringe. When he'd taken the job, she'd felt hunted. Now it was just the two of them. "Dammit, Valerie." She'd been the firewall protecting Mae as Mike's increasingly barbed language showed he was working there with a purpose. Claiming Mae.
She was in the midst of correcting an error in her spreadsheet when he returned. And kicked the door stop out of the way letting the door slide shut. Mae shuddered from the sound and looked up, "C'mon, Mike, leave the door open."
"One of the offices next door is having a party. The fridge is full of bottles of beer. Trust me," he answered, depositing their food on his desk. Mae looked at him quizzically that he'd not given her her food as he marched up to her.
Gasping in surprise as her chair was unceremoniously yanked backwards pulling her away from her machine, she looked up at him as he wheeled her over to his desk and settled her next to his chair. "Mike! I'm working. What the hell?"
"You can't eat and work, love," he replied with a sharp edge to his voice.
Mae stopped mid-reach to her sandwich and swallowed nervously, "Uh, Mike. I told you..."
"Unprofessional, blah, blah, blah, yeah, I know, love," Mike replied throwing an arm over her shoulder and squeezing. Then he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "But Valerie's not here to witness anything. So I suggest you listen as you eat that sandwich and know that we're talking after you're done with that update." Trapped by Mike's arm over her shoulders, Mae took a bite of her sandwich as he continued talking, "Our friendship at first seemed really one-sided. I couldn't miss that with just a kiss you'd be mine back them." Cringing, Mae couldn't chew fast enough. Frantically, she grabbed the cup of water and drank, returning to chewing. His painful monologue continued unabated. "When you reacted to my engagement with a proposal, I was surprised. You weren't as malleable as I'd thought. You wouldn't let me walk all over you. But it was too late. I hadn't known it was too late. Truly. You remember." Mae stuffed the last of the sandwich in her mouth and drank at the same time. "When you're done working, get ready to talk. Because we're talking..."
He removed his arm as Mae pushed away from him sliding her chair away back towards her desk. As she kicked her chair back in place she answered, "I heard you..." She couldn't finish. He hadn't exactly chosen. She'd been late. Or something. It was a mess. "Wait a minute. You trailed off. What else were you going to say?"
He didn't respond immediately. He raised his eyes, dark with intent and desire, then looked back down at his screen. Shaken, she returned to linking the spreadsheet's output into the update. "Let's just say I learned something, which you're going to find out soon."
Three hours later, while Mike was using the bathroom down the hall, she uploaded the report. Shaking her head, she glanced at the door realizing that if she wanted to avoid the coming showdown, her opportunity to escape was right then. Slumping her shoulders in defeat, she sighed. The tension in the office was reaching explosive levels. "Why is he so pushy?" she asked the empty space. The weight of eons of evolution responded in silent testimony.