And I don’t—Erik sucks my soul out for the second time in twenty-four hours, and I’m surprised I don’t crack the tiles with how hard I dig my fingers into the ledge. My legs turn to jelly as I come hard, barely keeping me stable.
Erik cleans himself off as I recover, giving me an eyeful of shiny, flexing muscles.
“I don’t think I ever want you to leave,” I say weakly.
He hums in agreement, squirting conditioner into my hair and rubbing it in with strong fingers, and then I stand up to rinse everything out. This was fun, but I shouldn’t waste too much water.
We dry ourselves off and get dressed before leaving the steamy bathroom. Erik settles on the couch with his phone and I head to my office, a silly grin spreading across my face.
A message from Jake arrives right when I get to my desk. Way to bring me down from a high.
WHITE, JAKE
Where is the August report? Was expecting it on Friday.
Uh oh.I frantically check my sent folder, skim the send list on the final report and… there’s Jake White. Frustrated, I screenshot the entire email, passive-aggressively highlight Jake’s name, and send him the picture.
You were included in the distribution list on my end. Not sure what happened
WHITE, JAKE
Pls send again because I do not have the email.
I hit forward on the email and send it to Jake, again, and then I wait. A minute later, he messages back.
WHITE, JAKE
My VPN was off. Emails now received.
Now if only he’d tried thatbeforeasking me. I feel a bit jealous of Erik because at least in his job, you can chirp people and fight them without immediately getting fired.
My entire team is still offline, which gives me courage to sit down next to Erik on the couch. Something compels me to lean into him, and his arm wraps around my shoulder. This is very couple-y, especially for someone I met for the first time on Friday, but I don’t mind at all.
“Are you taking the day off?” Erik asks.
“Oh, I wish. But it isn’t a busy time of the month, so there isn’t much to do.”
“Huh, okay.” Erik pauses, fiddling with his fingers. “What exactly do you do?”
I rattle off my rehearsed line about how I support executive decision-making and corporate strategy by providing monthly reporting, forecasting, and comparisons. Erik tilts his head, as if to remind me that my jargon-filled spiel is completely incomprehensible to anyone outside my industry, so I change tactics.
“Basically, I prepare a lot of Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides about the same thing every single month,” I say instead.
Erik nods, I ask him about hockey, and he gives me a series of shrugs with short answers. It’s clear he’s good at what he does, but it’s competitive as hell, given how often the coaches shift him and the other forwards between the lines.
I might have to check out his stats later. For science.
“So,” I start, clapping my hands on my knees and standing up, “do you want breakfast? I won’t go back to work for another hour, at least.”
“You’re offering to cook for me? I might need you to reconsider your no-roommate policy.”
“Hey, I already said I’d make an exception for you,” I reply, pulling a carton of eggs out of the fridge.
“Sounds good, hopefully your cargo lift isn’t booked today.”
“Shouldn’t be. I’ll even give you my spare key.” I freeze, a little shocked at how I offered my spare key to someone I haven’t even known for a week, even if I meant it as a joke.
Still, I wouldn’t mind Erik coming and going. Somehow, I trust him already, and if we keep the good vibes going, he can get the spare key.
