It takes everything she has not to run. She refuses to run—though everything within her wants to. Her heart is pounding and she can feel sweat on her upper lip. She'd gotten the last word in, and there was no way she'd ruin it by running.
Except...except you were supposed to flee temptation, weren't you?
A surreptitious glance behind her showed that he had moved on. She sighed, relieved. The next moment she was kicking herself. What if he hadn't moved on? What then?
She quickly slid behind the protection of the tall reception desk. She'd despised it when she'd been made de facto receptionist in the midst of their office-move, but now she found it a comfort. The actual receptionist had gone ahead with the President and senior level staff. She'd hated the implication that her duties were so inconsequential that they could be put aside to answer phones all day, until she realized how little volume they would get now that most of the office had gone. Another comfort. No one was likely to call while she was still hyperventilating.
She reached into deep bottom drawer where she kept her purse, and fished out the spare bag of candy stored near the back. A few minutes routing around produced three chocolate kisses, a mini Crunch bar and two mini Three Musketeers. She was frowning at the silver-wrapped candy bars when she sensed someone standing very near her.
Take a deep breath. “Look...I was serious the first time,” she said to the candy in her hand.
“And I thought you did a great job.”
Surprised, she looked up into the warm brown eyes of her coworker—a married woman with whom she'd shared a cubicle wall before the temporary job change. “You told him off and you stuck to it.”
Slumping with relief, she beamed. “You really think so?”
Her coworker nodded, reaching out to pluck one of the Three Musketeers from her hand. “Absolutely. Especially since I know how much you like him.”
She shrugged. “Like to look at him.” She passed the other candy bar to her coworker. “Otherwise he's a jerk that chases anything that looks at him twice.”
“And yet who doesn't want to be admired by the person they admire. Yet you resisted his charm.” Her coworker took the candy-bar then rubbed her arm with the back of her hand. “I'm proud of you.”
-Fin-
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