Endless Obsession

We both laugh. “What did he say?”

“We just talked about what happened on Saturday. While he explained a few things, he really didn’t give me much. He did reiterate that I was his, and was willing to do whatever he needed to do to make it so. Said there were some things I didn’t need to know yet.” I roll my eyes, still not too keen on him keeping stuff from me, but I’ll let it go for now. Not for long, though.

“Has he said when you’ll meet?”

“No,” I say with a huff. “But he said it’ll be soon.”

“Damn. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for you or ask what your secret is.”

I wrinkle my nose.

“Believe me, you don’t want to be in my shoes right now. I hate not knowing who he is. I hate thinking there’s something wrong with me because I’m not more worried about what all this could mean for me.” I glance down at my phone and notice the time. “Crap, we’ve got to go.”

I gather our trash and walk it to the bin. Before we walk out the door, Liv pulls me in for another hug.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Pop. You can’t help that you feel a connection to this guy. Even if it doesn’t work out, don’t ever think there’s something wrong with you.”

I look into her eyes, seeing she truly believes what she says. I smile and give her a kiss on the cheek.

“What would I ever do without you?”

“You’d completely fall apart and turn into a hermit crab inside your lonely house.”

I laugh, not because her visions of me without her are ridiculous, but because they are probably true. Liv has been good for me in so many ways. She’s taught me how to stretch my legs and show me it?

??s okay to let go of the past.

“Thank goodness. I’ll never have to find out if your assessment is true or not.”

“Hell, no. You’re stuck with me for life, babe,” she says with a wink.

Later that afternoon, I’m sitting at my desk, sending the last few “ping” emails for the day. When a client signs on with Silver Technologies, they not only get the server protection they pay for, but also a monthly “ping” report. We implement the firewall and put in place the security measures to keep hackers out, but we also put up something that’s sort of like an invisible force field. When hackers try breaking into a client’s server, their signal bounces off the force field and leaves behind an imprint. This imprint has the name, location of the attempted breach, date, time, and IP address of the hacker. We give this information to the client and they do with it as they choose. Some choose to report it, some don’t. That’s completely up to them. But at Silver Technologies, we feel the client has the right to know who is trying to break into their system.

I shut down my email program once the last of them are sent out and turn off my computer, just as Mr. Knight and Eric walk out of Mr. Knight’s office. Both set of eyes immediately turn to me. Eric gives me a smile and a wink, while Mr. Knight watches with his penetrating green eyes. I have no idea why, but I’ve noticed several times this week he’s had his eyes on me. Just watching, like he’s assessing me or something. Each time I notice, it sends a zing through my body.

He breaks our stare by looking down at the folder in his hand. My eyes move back to Eric, who is approaching my desk.

“Hey,” he says softly. I don’t know if he’s trying to be quiet so Mr. Knight doesn’t overhear, or if he’s just talking low because he’s right in front of me.

Red creeps up my cheeks as his eyes briefly run over me. Not lecherously, just appreciatively.

“Hey.”

“Are we still on for today?” he asks, leaning a hip against my desk.

“Yes. I just finished up with everything.”

I’m still unsure how I feel about meeting up with Eric for dinner. As much as I like him and the fact he’s been so nice to me, something doesn’t feel right. I’ve made no promises to Sterling, but it feels like some sort of betrayal to him. I never told him about my dinner plans with Eric. I don’t know if I should have. But then again, it’s just a simple dinner. It’s not like Eric and I are now dating. It’s just a couple of coworkers going out after work to relax and enjoy each other’s company, nothing more.

So why do I get the feeling I should have told him?

I push the thought away, not ready to examine it further. There’s no way I could cancel on Eric now, not when we’ll be leaving soon. I’ll go, enjoy myself, and politely let him know that it can’t go any further. I just hope it doesn’t interfere with our working relationship.

I feel a sense of déjà vu, and think about my date with Marc. This is definitely not the same. It’s stupid to even think about my date with him.

“Great,” Eric says, bringing me back to the present. He leans away from my desk and takes a step back. “You go ahead. Give me about ten minutes and I’ll be right behind you.”

“Okay. See you soon.”