Claire pulled the heavy oak door closed behind her and leaned for a moment against the frame, heaving a tired sigh as she let the hush of the empty office fold around her. After a moment, she flipped the switch to raise the sunshades so the early Monday morning sunlight could drift in. She trudged to her own little workspace and tossed her briefcase onto the desk before she was fully through the open doorway. The lingering scent of sesame oil and ginger from Friday night’s family dinner still clung faintly to Claire’s scarf as she hung it behind her office door.

A few rebellious strands of hair escaped from the loose updo she held with a clip; they fell irritatingly in front of her face as she dipped down to take her laptop from the bag. With a mumbled curse, she tucked the errant strands behind her ears and set her laptop on the desk. She sat down and got ready to work. She absentmindedly reached to her right, but quickly realized she did not have her coffee with her.  

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she blurted, folding her arms on the desk and dropping her forehead to her hands.

Last night was one of those rare moments when Claire’s mother didn’t have a double shift or needed to work late. The precious time they got to spend together with friends fueled her sudden need to spend all night on meticulously refining her proposals and risk assessments for the ambitious hybrid fashion show. She desperately needed this project to succeed so she could help her mother stop working so much.

Groaning loudly, Claire lifted her head to stare at the document on her screen with the quiet focus of someone trying to retrieve a train of thought that had gone off the rails. Her eyelids threatened to shut with the force of a garage door.

“I need coffee,” she muttered as she stood up from her desk.

Claire walked out of her little office and meandered to the cozy coffee bar tucked in a corner of Alex’s spacious office. She turned on the coffee maker and shuffled through the cabinets. By the time Claire had her cup of coffee and headed back to her office, she’d been at work for over an hour and a half with nothing to show for it.

Returning to her laptop, she stared at the document once more. She had retyped the same paragraph three times and kept finding herself unsatisfied with every revision.

She brought her eyes up to the ceiling. “I need help,” she finally decided.

Claire looked at the clock: nine A.M. on the dot. Alex was out for an offsite meeting, but it should be wrapping up about now. Claire opened up her email and typed a quick note to Alex: "Stuck on penalty clauses—want to protect brand without alienating partners. Thoughts?"

Her finger pressed send and she returned her attention to the stubborn document. To her surprise, her email pinged less than a minute later. Alex had replied immediately: "Back in 20. We’ll sort this."

“That was fast,” she mumbled, and smiled to herself. She was afraid her email might intrude on his meeting, but his fast reply told her she needn’t have worried. “I’ll keep working on this, but it will be nice to have a different set of eyes on this.” She took a sip of her coffee and sat back down at her desk.

While she waited for Alex to return, her thoughts turned to her chance meeting with Derek. Although brief, their conversation stirred up memories and feelings in her, and those thoughts also made for a slightly sleepless weekend.

“Stop,” she muttered to herself. “Those feelings are in the past. Alex is your boss now, deal with it.” She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but continued her internal scolding for a while longer until she could finally bring her focus back to the problem at hand.

***

The offsite meeting took longer than Alex had expected so when he received Claire’s email, he happily used it as an excuse to leave. He hurried to his car and headed back to the office, stopping at a nearby café for a couple of breakfast sandwiches and a latte for Claire. He still felt drained from his obligatory dinner on Friday night, which made it difficult to focus on the boring budget meeting. He looked forward to forgetting about the drama and responsibility and just catch glimpses of Claire’s bright smile.

Alex pulled into the garage and parked. Breakfast in hand, he strode through the doors to the elevators called one up to his office. When he got off on his floor, he took a brief glance at his reflection in a nearby glass wall that enclosed a reception room. He looked impeccable, his tailored suit perfectly pressed. Satisfied, he gave his receptionist a smile and a greeting before hurrying down the long hallway to his office.

"I come bearing breakfast," Alex said, his voice low and smooth as he entered, his eyes darted to Claire’s smaller office space.

"That was thoughtful,” Claire called out from behind her desk.

He walked to her doorway and gestured to the small glass conference table near the window on the opposite side of the office. "Grab your files, let’s use this space. It’s better for reviewing documents."

They sat at the small glass conference table near the window, where late-morning light cut a warm path across the wood floor. Alex set the breakfast sandwiches and latte down, then sat down and gestured for Claire to take the seat next to him.

"Show me where you're stalled," he said.

Claire sat beside him and positioned her laptop between them.

“The problem I’m having is with this part right here…” she pointed out the paragraph she struggled with, explaining why she was having difficulty.

Alex tried his best to focus on her words, but his eyes kept drifting to her knees that were peeking out from her dark gray skirt under the glass table.

‘Focus, you pervert,’ he growled to himself in his head, tearing his attention back to Claire’s words.

Alex leaned forward and raised his hand to point to a part of the document on the screen. “What if we restate this sentence here…” As he moved, his hand brushed against Claire’s bare arm. It was a light and fleeting touch, but Alex noticed her flinch ever so slightly.

Alex immediately registered her movement and straightened, his eyes instantly shifting from the screen to her face with an almost apologetic expression.

"Claire? I apologize," Alex said softly, a crease forming between his brows. " I didn’t mean to startle you. Did I make you uncomfortable?"

The direct question snapped Claire’s demeanor back to her professional self.

"Oh! No, not at all, Alex," she denied quickly, perhaps too adamantly, a forced smile accompanied her slightly flushed cheeks. "Just a bit jumpy I guess, I saw a spider earlier. It’s fine, really."

He nodded, accepting it, but his gaze lingered a beat longer, searching her face as if to make sure she meant it. But then again, what would happen if he brushed her delicate wrist, trailing his fingers along the lines of her own slender…

Alex mentally shut himself down. ‘Stop that, you pervert,’ he snarled to himself. Out loud he said calmly, “If you see it again let me know, I’ll take care of it for you,” he smiled reassuringly before returning his attention to the document.

As they continued their revisions, Alex carefully answered questions Claire had as they mapped out scenarios that could happen during the event. He noticed Claire relax into the rhythm of their collaboration and he allowed himself to loosen his shoulders. He’d been so afraid to touch her again that his muscles tensed up.

Together they carved language that felt both definitive and elegant and focused on the brand's measured grace. When they finished, the document looked cleaner—leaner and more deliberate. Alex sat back and studied the screen, then looked at Claire with a quiet satisfaction. "This is solid work," he said. "Let's formalize this plan and get it to Amanda for comparison."

She smiled with equal satisfaction. "We both worked hard on this. Thank you for helping me find the right balance."

Alex swore he could hear a softness to her tone that caused his heart to skip a beat. He cleared his throat and tossed the pen he was using to jot down notes on the table, a metallic clink rang off the glass.

Looking at the clock, Alex announced, “Oh, lunch time already?”

Claire looked up in surprise. Sure enough, the clock read seven minutes to twelve.

“Wow, time flies when your stressed out over legal wording!” she laughed, but there a hint of nervousness.

A ping on Alex’s phone reminded him that he had another meeting in an hour. He groaned inwardly, robbed of an opportunity to have lunch with Claire again.

As she gathered her things and started walking back to her office, Alex called out to her.

“Hey, uh, Claire?” he fumbled to get her attention.

She paused and turned back to him, “Yes?”

“I think we need to celebrate, don’t you?” He put on his biggest, most charming smile. “I have a couple more meetings scheduled today, but,” he hesitated a beat before continuing confidently, “I’d love to take you to dinner. You worked hard for this event, and we are in the home stretch. I’d like to show you my appreciation.”

A flicker of unease flashed in Claire’s eyes.  “Well, don’t you think it’s too early? We should hold off on celebrating until after the event.”

“Oh, that’s a different party,” Alex said flippantly, hoping he didn’t sound desperate. “That’s for everyone who worked on this event. What we’re celebrating now is you,” he put his hands in his pockets and took a casual step toward Claire, “helping me create the future of JK Designs.”

Alex watched Claire’s gaze dart from his eyes, to his lips, to somewhere around his chest, and back up to his eyes, all as that seductive flush crept back up her neck to her ears.

‘Please say yes,’ he begged her silently.

Claire glanced sideways, looking momentarily uncomfortable. But then she took in a breath and replied, “Would you like me to make the arrangements?”

Alex nearly jumped out of his skin for joy. “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll return from my last meeting at six to pick you up.”

“Oh, alright.” She blinked at him with cautious acceptance.

“Just finish things up on your end, and I will see you later this evening,” Alex grinned broadly as he grabbed his jacket and briefcase before sauntering out the door. He was already thinking beyond the upcoming meetings to his dinner date with Claire as he headed to his first appointment.