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Shena smiled at the text that came in as she stepped off the elliptical. Derek was right on time as usual. She had just been thinking about him during her workout. Admittedly, she had been thinking about him all day. She had never expected a little harmless flirtation between coworkers to turn into a full-fledged romance, but that was exactly what was happening. They had met at work about six months ago, and honestly, Shena wasn’t initially interested in him. Although he was handsome, she had thought he was a little too silly, and too flirtatious. Besides, she had no intentions of dating anyone that she worked with. It was a small office supply store, and everyone gossiped like middle schoolers. She actually hated the place, but she had been there for two years because they worked around her school schedule, and although graduation was approaching, she intended to go straight into law school so looking for another job seemed a little pointless.

Now that she was thinking about it, Derek had ended up winning her over because he made work a little more bearable for her. She had started looking forward to the days that they were scheduled to work together because she knew that he would make her laugh and find just the right things to say when she was fed up with the office politics and the incompetent management team. They had started going to lunch together after a couple of months, and he expressed a sincere interest in her long-term goals and in her life in general. She learned a lot about him too in those quick, half-hour escapes. He had graduated from college recently and was in the process of starting his own business. He hated their job just as much as she did, but he needed the extra income to pay off school loans and invest in his business. He also revealed that he had been engaged, fairly recently, but was adamant that the relationship was broken beyond repair. So broken, in fact, that he was ready to move on.

Shena hadn’t been able to deny the fact that she was attracted to him. Physically, he was everything she could have asked for: tall, athletic-build, smooth chocolate skin, and deep brown eyes that always seemed to be focused in her direction. He always smelled amazing too, which she knew because he was constantly leaning in close to her and whispering things in her ear. Most times, it was just a joke or a compliment. He had never been shy about his attraction to her. Sometimes, it would be something so sexually explicit that she could feel her face turning red as he casually walked away to help a customer with a satisfied smirk on his face. They had definitely grown closer, but still another month had gone by before she had agreed to see him outside of work, and even then it wasn’t a date. About three months ago, Shena had decided to move closer to the law school she would be attending the next fall, which also put her closer to their job. Derek had offered to help her move and the rest, as they say, is history.

Shena drove home with that same silly grin on her face. She was surprised that she was still so excited to see him, even though at this point they were seeing each other outside of work at least two or three times a week. Between finishing up her last few classes of the semester, prepping for graduation, working full time, trying to keep up her with her fitness goals, and squeezing in time to see Derek, she was actually stretching herself pretty thin. She didn’t mind though. She enjoyed his company. Derek kept her laughing, but more importantly he challenged her. He challenged her to think differently, to explore new things, and to speak her mind. Not to mention that the sex had been consistently mind-blowing. In all honesty, sometimes she gathered up the energy to see him after a long day just because she knew how heavenly he could make her body feel before she drifted off to sleep. This was definitely one of those nights because it was going to take a miracle for her to stay up and wait for him. As she was walking into her apartment, a second text had come through telling her that it would be a little longer than he thought but that he would be there as soon as possible.

It used to bother Shena that they always spent time together either at her apartment, or near her apartment. She had moved into one of those “work, play, live” developments that were popping up in every city, so they usually found themselves at a restaurant or bar within several hundred feet of her place. She wasn’t concerned about not going to his place. He didn’t have one, and he had been upfront about that. He had shared with her pretty early on that he’d moved back into his mother’s home to help with household duties and expenses, and to help with his younger sister after his father passed away unexpectedly. Knowing that he had willingly, and immediately, taken on that responsibility made him all the more attractive. She had brought up the fact that they had only ventured further than her development once about a month ago, but then when they sat down to try and schedule something they both just became overwhelmed with each other’s busy schedules and gave up. She was looking forward to the summer to see how things developed once she had more free time.

While she did hear from him and see him often, there were things about their budding relationship that made her apprehensive, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She had begun to wonder if the rumors that started up a few weeks ago that he had gotten back with his ex were true. He had denied them so vehemently when she brought it to his attention, not to mention how irritated he was that he was the subject of the rumor mill at work, that she decided not to bring it up again even though it had been on her mind the past couple of days. Besides, she had asked herself, between work, his family, and me, when would he have time to have a whole other relationship?

Finally, Derek knocked at the door and Shena let all of her worries go as she walked to the door. “Hey,” she greeting him with a little bit of annoyance in her voice. She had been expecting him two hours ago after all. “I missed you,” he said as he held out a bottle of her favorite wine. An unspoken apology for his late arrival. Once he closed the door behind him, Derek scooped her up in his arms and held her like he hadn’t seen her for months. Shena melted. She couldn’t help herself. She was falling for him, but she couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that she shouldn’t be.

TO BE CONTINUED

Written By: SM Grady

© 2018 SM Grady