Hot and Sweaty

The whole thing with Jess and Rheece made me feel uneasy for the next couple of days. I felt like I should help but I didn't know how, and also didn't want to put myself in a situation where I could be hurt. Confrontations, even when I knew I had done nothing wrong, always make me feel super shitty and I couldn't help but take them to heart.

Luckily work was super busy which kept my mind of things. And Katie had convinced me to sign up for a hot yoga class with her. I had done yoga regularly over the last couple of years but after hot yoga I was exhausted and so dehydrated. On the plus side this was a yoga class that had a lot of cute guys in it so we had some eye candy while we sweated our asses off.

On Thursday, after an especially hot class, Katie and I decided we deserved some deliciousness from Alive Juice Bar. We went in all of our attractive sweatiness, complete with messy buns and tight yoga pants. As we were leaving I grabbed Katie's arm.

"That's Mr. Steel's assistant! Remember the hot guy I told you about on our drive to the farm?"

He was just getting out a sleek sports car, and opened to door for a gorgeous, long-legged brunette. He was impeccably dressed like the first time I had seen him and my brain cells all melted into one big puddle (and not from hot yoga).

"Holy shit, he is gorgeous." Katie openly stared at him. "The way you described him did not do him justice."

"I know, I know." Suddenly my brain powered up again. "Let's go this way so he doesn't see us."

The door had barely closed behind us when I heard his voice.

"Ms. Young."

Damn it! I turned around and I swear my heart was beating ten thousand beats a minute. "Oh! Hello! It's Skye. This is my friend Katie. Katie, this is...." I trailed off. I had no idea what his name is.

"Nathaniel." He supplied, shaking Katie's hand while she practically swooned beside me.

There was an awkward silence as I waited for him to introduce us to his companion, but the introduction never came. He simply looked at me with his intense blue eyes, and I stared right back. His lady friend finally cleared her throat pointedly and pulled us out of the trance.

"Uh, we were just heading home. We did a hot yoga class so we just stopped here." I rambled on. "It was great seeing you!"

I pulled Katie with me. "Could I be any more awkward?" I said the second we were out of earshot.

Katie swung her arm around my shoulders. "You were fine. He looked like he was going to eat you alive. Seriously he is gorgeous. And his eyes! I almost fainted when he shook my hand. I am extremely jealous that you get to work in the same building with him."

Too bad office romances were taboo, and he was obviously taken already. But having him around would certainly keep things interesting.

I checked my phone when we got into Katie's car. I had a couple of texts from Mike (Katie and I sent him a picture of us earlier when we were heading to yoga), one from Kathy asking for my coffee order for tomorrow morning (love!), and one from Jess.

"Jess sent me a text." I said before I opened it.

Katie slammed on the breaks a bit harder than she should have. "What?! Why??"

"I don't know. I almost feel like just deleting it but I'm worried about her."

"Well, see what she said, you don't have to respond."

I opened it.

I'm so sorry. Rheece was just having a bad day.

I read it out loud to Katie.

"What the fuck?! He sits there threatening you and obviously controlling her and she goes along with it because he has a bad day? There are no days bad enough for a person to act like that. I don't buy it at all."

I totally agreed and ended up deleting the message. I was loving being in Seattle so much, and the last thing I wanted was for Jess and her psycho boyfriend to ruin that for me. Deep down inside I was still worried for Jess though but unless she wanted help there wasn't much I could do.

I was tired and sore the next morning when I headed into work. This whole yoga thing was reminding me how out of shape I was. I swiped my card at the elevator to get in, and it got denied. I frowned and tried it again. The person behind me huffed impatiently.

I turned around and apologized, then went to the security desk.

"My card isn't working." I explained to the buff man behind the desk.

"The security has been updated in here. You're going to have to take it up with your supervisor. Can I see some identification?"

I dug out my driver's license and handed it over. He was taking his sweet time looking it over and I was getting anxious. I dislike being late for work and this was making me late for sure.

"I'm going to need to check your purse." The security guard said grimly.

"Seriously? I'm in this building every day. I know you're just doing your job, but you're making me late for mine."

"Ma'am." He held his hand out with the expectation that I would put my bag in it.

"That's not going to be necessary." A deep voice came from behind me.

Although I had only heard it once before, I immediately recognized it. "Nathaniel."

The security guard nodded and stepped back.

"I'll take you up." Nathaniel took me by the elbow and led me towards the elevator. "There have been issues with the cards, I'll make sure you get a new one right away."

"Thank you."

We were silent the entire ride up to the 7th floor where I worked. I mainly concentrated on not staring at him and keeping my jaw from hitting the floor. Seriously, that man did something to those suits. You could have cut the tension in the elevator with a knife, and when the doors opened at the right floor I jolted.

"Have a good day, Skye."

Thank god for my tan or I would be blushing hardcore right now. He had the faintest hint of a smile on his otherwise serious face as the elevator doors closed and took him up to where, I'm presuming, Mr. Steel had his offices. My heart thudded as I walked to my desk. The thoughts I was having about Nathaniel at that moment were so not office appropriate, but I couldn't wait to fill in Katie on this latest encounter. Who knew HR work was going to be so interesting!