𝐀𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐲𝐚
I'd sworn off of love and men after the fiasco that was my last relationship. Until I spent one steamy and passionate night with a dark haired stranger. A man that I thought I'd never see again. Until I found out that he was my new boss...
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It had been exactly two weeks, four days and seventeen hours since I'd landed in Seattle after a very exhausting flight. And two weeks and two days since I'd noticed Aaliya's weird behavior. Minimal eye contact, almost always running in the opposite direction from me, keeping communication to a minimum. I mean, it wasn't like we were best friends and talked every day. But it had also never felt quite this distant before. I didn't know what was going on. But it wasn't my responsibility, right? We worked together. All that I should be concerned with was that her quality of work wasn't being affected - which it wasn't. So then why couldn't I get her cold shoulder to not affect me?
"Hi," I rapped my knuckles on the door of her office. "We have a meeting at 3pm with a client. Just thought I'd remind you."
"Yes, I remember." Aaliya replied, without looking away from her screen, laser focused on whatever she was doing. "You sent a reminder email last night and I duly noted it down in my calendar." Her brown eyes lifted to mine, something inscrutable in them as she looked at me. What's going inside of your head, woman?
"Great." I responded with a smile I wasn't really feeling. "We can get lunch together and head over to the location together in my car."
"Um, actually..." Aaliya bit her lip as she looked to the side. "I've already made plans for lunch. And as for going together...I can get there myself. Just send over the address, please."
"And how exactly do you plan to get there by yourself?" I leaned against the door, shutting it behind me as I air quotes those words.
"I'll take the metro."
"You'll take the metro." I repeated blandly as she nodded along. "Why would you do that when we're going to the same place anyways? I can drop you off at home later on, if you'd like."
"Neil," she started as she stood up, bracing her hands on the table. "I really don't think that's a good idea. We've already tested the limits of our professional relationship as it is. Let's not test it further."
"What? You think we're going to jump each other all of a sudden?" I scoffed. "Like we can't keep our hands to ourselves just because we've slept together?" I bit out, irritated by her constant habit of pushing back. I instantly winced at my tone and words, knowing that that wasn't the way I had wanted them to come out. "Aaliya, I didn't -
"You know what? You're right. We can't keep our hands to ourselves. And I am in no mood to risk my job here. Do you know how long I've dreamed of working for this company? Years, Neil, years. No way in hell am I about to ruin that." She said icily, grabbing a folder off her desk before sauntering over to me. "But don't you worry about me mauling you just because we've slept together twice." She snarked as she paused beside me.
"I'm sorry, Aaliya. I just..." I ran a hand through my hair, messing it up. "I've had a long couple of weeks and I didn't mean to take it out on you. I promise I didn't mean for it to come out that way. And I understand how much this job means to you." I assured her as her face softened up a bit. "Let's just go together to the meeting, yeah? I'd feel bad if you had to take the public transport because of me. And I swear to god, I'll be a good boy. I won't do anything." I raised my hands in mock surrender as Aaliya fought a smile.
