Page 29 of IRL: In Real Life
Three dots.
Then…
Micah: That sounds like I still got a chance.
I set the phone down again and tried, for a full four minutes, to be a serious woman with a serious calendar and a realistic relationship to deadlines.
Then the screen lit.
Micah: Or maybe I’m reading you wrong.
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling and failed anyway.
A soft knock hit the glass.
Mariah stood there with one brow raised, coffee in hand, enjoying herself far too much.
“You are obsessed with me.”
“No,” she said, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe when I waved her in. “I’m obsessed with movement. Yours is funny right now.”
I ignored her, and instead, I picked up my phone and typed.
Me: What exactly are you doing right now besides interfering with a woman’s workflow?
This time, the pause lasted long enough for my imagination to get disrespectful.
Not fully. Just in flashes.
That blue shirt from the mixer. The watch. That quiet little curve of his mouth when he liked where a conversation was going. Probably sitting at a desk looking expensive and far too composed while he typed something that would ruin my concentration again.
The message came through.
Micah: Trying to see if you’re as good at 1:47 on a Tuesday as you were in that dress last night.
My thighs pressed together under the desk before I could stop them.
Mariah was still standing in the doorway watching me.
I cut my eyes at her. “Say one thing and I’ll report you to HR.”
“You smiling like your lower back hurt and your day got better at the same time. I don’t even have to.”
I turned back to my phone because prison was too good for some people.
Me: That sounds rehearsed.
Micah: No. If I rehearsed it, it would’ve been better.
That made me laugh, low and helpless enough that Mariah pushed fully into the room and dropped into one of the guest chairs like she had every intention of staying.
Me: I appreciate a man with self-awareness.
Micah: I know a few things.
The next message came right after.
Micah: I know you looked at me like you were still deciding whether I was worth the trouble.
