When he met her eyes in the meeting and used her idea, something in her slid sideways, or rotated, or changed, because suddenly the way he looked at her with the smallest of smirks made her feel warm, free, alive. When everyone started to leave for the day, he appeared at her desk, leaning over it slightly to grin at her. “That was…wow. Good thinking.” He didn’t need to clarify for her to know what he meant. She was oddly happy that he didn’t tap his fingers against the desk as he walked away, and the sharpness in his eyes and his smile relieved her.

By the time she got down to the parking lot, he was finally waving Kelly goodbye as she drove away – Pam knew it took him at least 15 minutes everyday to get the girl to let go of him and climb into her little car. With a look around to make sure the rest of the lot was empty, she walked up to him and kissed him. Just like that – pushed him against the car slightly, and then further when he responded in kind. She had never done anything quite like it, but she knew when she pulled away that the adrenaline wasn’t the only thing that was making it hard to catch her breath.

“Do you have plans for dinner?”

“Oh.” He hesitated for a minute then, his hand still on her waist. “Uh, yeah. With…” It was the second time in twenty minutes that he didn’t have to elaborate for her to understand. But she didn’t want to think about it anymore, so she just kissed him again, harder this time.

Then his cell phone buzzed, and he pulled away, climbing into his car as he flipped the phone open. Pam turned to walk away, willing herself not to look back, but the way that she could still feel his eyes on her back didn’t help.