Cat-like reflexes.
AUSTIN
“He’s not taking meetings right now sir,” I look up as Elizabeth tries to run interference.
“He’ll take one with me,” my back stiffens as my dad says this and appears in my door. He continues walking in and stands in front of my desk. “Good to see you working late. What are the AIM numbers?”
I share the report that I had gotten from Kevin fifteen minutes ago.
“That’s fine for the first day, but you better 20x that by Friday.”
“Yes sir,” I reply and then I stop myself from asking him how he’d do it.
The outcomes of this project are riding on me. And me alone. His expectation is that I will blow this away.
I had thought joining the company would improve my relationship with Dad. That he’d enjoy taking me under his wing.
It’s been the opposite experience. I shadowed him and then he threw me into the deep end and set huge revenue targets. He’s in his sixties and I expect him to retire soon. He hasn’t talked about it but I don’t see why he wouldn’t start transitioning responsibility to me next year and then fully step back the year after that.He’s the same age as Grandpa when he stepped down.
After Dad leaves my office without so much as a goodbye, Elizabeth sticks her head in checks on me. I give her a reassuring smile and she nods.
“Greg is waiting to take you to yoga. I have a change of clothes for you and your mat.”
“Thank you Elizabeth.”
I change in the bathroom in my office and sit quietly while Greg drives me across town to the yoga studio. The evening class is a hot, isometric hold focused class where we move slowly but hold each pose for a full minute.
It sounds simple but it is a brutal workout. And it is exactly what I need after a surprise meeting with Dad.
◆◆◆
I'm wiping sweat from my brow when I spot Maggie Collins across the street. I almost didn’t recognize her in leggings and a cropped hoodie with her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, but my attention was magnetically pulled to her form. She’s jogging along the river path that will pass my condo building. Does she live nearby? It's funny how she was a stranger no more than two days ago but now I seem to see her everywhere. And when we got the contract signed with the senator's office this morning I realized I'll be spending much more time with her.
Without thinking, I make my way to the corner and start to cross. I've got the walk signal as I move towards her. She isn't slowing down or looking to the left or right as she approaches the bike path crossing and I can see a group of riders on road bikes headed straight for her .
I pick up my pace and get to her just as she's about to find herself in the middle of the peloton. I sling my arm around her waist and pull her back against my chest.
My body ignites at the contact. Warmth and electricity race through my bloodstream and instinctively I flex and hold her even closer.
"The fuck!" She yells right before pain radiates up from my foot to my leg, followed by a sharp sting at my ribcage. I stumble backwards, grabbing my side as she spins around and pulls her leg back.
"Back off asshole!" She grunts as she lands her sneaker to the side of my knee.
I collapse, my yoga mat unrolls, and I reach up to grasp anything to help me win this fight against gravity. As I fall, I latch onto something soft and I open my eyes to find I'm pulling Maggie by the hip down on top of me.
Her arms flail out to the sides as she tries to catch herself but it's too little too late. My face is sandwiched between the sidewalk and her ass.
Maggie scrambles up, rights her clothing, and stares down at me. She's pulling her leg back to kick me while I’m down and thankfully my brain kicks in.
"Maggie, whoa, stop!" I beg as I curl up into the fetal position and place my hands up in the air. "It's me, Austin."
"Why are you attacking me, Austin Thorne? Is this why you wouldn't share dating advice? Because your advice is to grab women from behind and try to pull their pants down?"
“Hey now. No. No. That's not what happened." I grunt as I stand up. My left leg is in serious pain. I look up at her and see the hurricane brewing in her ocean blue eyes. The crossed arms. The hip popped out to the side. I can still feel her on my palm but that's probably not wise to dwell on at the moment. "It was an accident."
"Grabbing me was an accident?" She asks with an eyebrow raised.
"No, that was to prevent you from getting run over by a bunch of middle aged men in lycra. The almost pulling your pants down part was the accident. I'm sorry."
"Oh,” she says quietly as she looks at the pack of bikes that are almost out of sight, “well, okay," she says quietly. I brush my hands off on my shorts and when I take a step, I immediately limp. My knee is already swollen.
"If you ever want to change jobs, I hear the Secret Service is hiring." I say as I start to rub my knee.
"I took a self defense class when I first moved to D.C. and I watch a lot of action movies. You are lucky I didn’t go full S.I.N.G. on your ass like Sandra Bullock taught the women of America in Miss Congeniality . "
"Well watch out Kill Bill . You did a number on me."
"Sorry," she winces as she looks down at my knee. "That looks bad."
I take a step to retrieve my yoga mat and inhale sharply with the movement to try and sooth the sting.
"Here," she says as she steps next to me and picks up my mat. "Were you at yoga?"
"Yep," I point across the street to the studio. "I practice there and when I came out I saw you trying to play real-life frogger and thought I could come to your rescue."
"I usually pay better attention," she admits. "But I was distracted by the fact that I'm going to have to compete with a computer to do my job for the next four weeks."
"Ah, yes, big bad technology," I tease as she hands me the rolled up mat.
"You know what, I can't with this.” She waves a hand in my general direction. “I can't go another ten rounds with you only to hear that the human brain is trash. Some of us try to make the world a better place and that requires some bravery and putting our neck on the line."
At the mention of her neck I immediately drop my gaze to it. The slender column holds her head strongly and the nook of the hoodie looks like a place I could get lost in.
"Do you need help or can I go now?" She asks, drawing my attention up to her face. Her jaw is clenched but her blush betrays her. She caught me looking and liked it.
"Where are you headed?" I ask, not answering her question and standing at my full height. Her gaze follows and I like the view of her looking up at me.
"I've gotta make my way home."
"Shame, I figured you would at least buy me a drink to make up for the fact that you've sent me to physical therapy with your attack tonight."
"I did not attack you," she shrieks and I can’t hold back the smile that breaks across my face after riling her up. She sees it and narrows her gaze at me. I want to keep sparring with her. "You'll be fine," she says after a deep breath. "Big strong man like you can handle a little kick to the side of the knee."
"You think I'm big and strong?"
"That's what your pretty little brain heard?"
"You think I'm pretty?"
"Fuck off Austin," she says but I can hear the laughter in her tone. She locks eyes with me for one last beat before turning, checking for traffic, and jogging off.
◆◆◆
The soft curve of Maggie Collins' hip is my first thought as I wake up. I've positioned a pillow next to me in my sleep and even though I can't remember my dream, I am guessing it featured a tight blonde who filled my world with feeling.
Pain in my knee, but energy everywhere else.
I wonder if she is thinking about me this morning. We're set to meet at nine to begin working on Senator Quinn’s private database. I'm bringing a few team members along since they understand the tech much better than I do. I’m more than a pretty face, but not when it comes to programming.
After my shower, I carefully dry my hair, shave closely, and moisturize. When I’m done, I like what I see. Maggie will too. I stand at my closet with my towel slung low on my hips and Brinkley struts in. His big cat on the prowl energy is contagious. I select a dark olive, almost gray, suit and a crisp white shirt, classic but the modern cut turns heads.
"Whoa, hot stuff!" Elle says as I head to the kitchen and pour myself a coffee. "You're all dressed up?"
"Am not, I wear a suit everyday."
"True, but you don't spend extra time primping in the mirror and working pomade through your hair."
She has a point but hell if I'm going to admit it's for a girl. One who I might put out of business and who, rightfully, hates me because of it.
This is the thought loop I'm caught up in on the drive to the Dirksen building. And no matter which way I look at it, I can't solve for the fact that I find Maggie Collins attractive. I want her in a way I can't describe. But she hates me because of who I am and the business I run. We’re destined to be enemies no matter how much I want her.
◆◆ ◆
"Mr. Thorne, welcome, right this way." The receptionist at Senator Quinn's office leads me, Kevin, Javé, and Tyler, into a conference room. I had Elizabeth send over a breakfast spread so the table is covered with trays of pastries and cut fruit. There is a carafe of cold brew and a box of hot coffee on a little table along the wall. We don't wait long for Maggie and her team to walk in.
Maggie is back in her power suit and I miss the sliver of skin I could see under her cropped hoodie last night. Her hair is pulled up in one of those claw clips and there's a wayward line of ink on her jaw. I want to reach out and rub it off.
"Did anyone see you come in?" Maggie asks as she sets down a stack of three binders, two legal pads, and a notebook.
"Well we tried to lose the photographers on motorbikes but it was difficult," I respond and I catch Kevin’s smirk.
"Funny Austin, I'm serious. I'm still not convinced this partnership is a good idea and I'm not even close to admitting that the senator is using this technology on her campaign. I don't want this information getting out."
"Well TMC and AI Media want this partnership announced as soon as possible."
"Well Senator Quinn wants to win the presidency," she retorts and I see the eyebrows of everyone else in the room shoot up.
"Let's see what we can come up with," I say with a wide grin I know is grating on her nerves.
◆◆◆
"Well if we consider ," Maggie sneers, "the fact that the presidential debate is next week I think we need to wait to announce the partnership. I don't want the news cycle to be dominated by this story."
"It'll be dominated by this story no matter what. It's best to get it out now and let everyone ask their questions before the debate," I reason as I pull my glasses off and pinch the bridge of my nose. We've been going around in circles for 45 minutes. We haven't even begun to work on the content we need to. "Let's take a break," I say as I stand up from my chair and slide my glasses back on.
The rest of the room files out to the reception area leaving Maggie and me in the room together.
"Maggie," I interrupt her frantic scribbling on a legal pad. "Do you want to announce this partnership at all?"
"No! I don't!" She practically yells. "I cannot for the life of me understand why Melissa wants to do this and I cannot see how this could be anything but bad for her."
She stands and starts pacing the short wall of the conference room. Maggie reminds me of a caged animal. She’s backed up against the wall and using all her restraint to stay composed. What I wouldn’t give to see her unravel.
"Senator Quinn is running for president of the United States and we have worked, I have worked, tirelessly to make the fact that she's a single woman irrelevant. To make the fact that she can think for herself her top asset as the leader of the free world. Now she's gone and hired an AI service backed by the sleaziest media company in the country that is well known to steal from peter to pay paul and pocketing plenty in between."
"Nice alliteration," I joke and she storms over and gets in my face.
"Are you going to keep making jokes or are you going to help me figure out how to tell the American public, tell the whole fucking world, that my boss is using a computer to write her speeches and that it won't effect her political decisions?"
Maggie's chest is rising and falling and there are only inches between us. The air crackles and before it can explode, I grab her face in my hands and pull her mouth to mine.
My fingers curl around the back of her head and I hold her there as she opens her mouth to me. Everything else fades away as I taste her. The bitter tang of her iced coffee softened by a hint of vanilla floods my senses and I crave more. My body hums when her hands dig into my ribcage holding me to her.
I spin us and prop her ass against the table and she lifts her leg to hook it around my hips. I grind my growing erection into the space between us and swallow her moan in my kiss.
Before I completely lose my mind I break us apart and rest my forehead against hers. Slowly she slides her leg back down to the floor and her hands grip the side of the table instead of me. Both of our chests are heaving like we just raced the 100m.
That kiss was pure passion, energy, connection. I don't know what to do with this newfound craving. I roll my head and peck one last kiss to her lips before stepping back and walking out of the room.
I rake my hands through my hair as I walk down the hallway to the elevators. Kissing Maggie Collins was not on my agenda today but fuck me, that was incredible. As I step into the elevator I turn around and look back toward the office. Maggie is standing in the doorway watching me. Her arms are crossed but one hand is up near her face and her thumb is brushing across her soft pink lips as she studies me. The doors close leaving me with the image of her and her mouth.
Impulsive physical interactions are not my M.O.. Usually PDA is limited to a hand on the small of a girl’s back as we walk into or out of an event. And that is less about wanting to be connected with my date and more about the optics. It’s polite.
As the elevator descends my entire body pulses with energy. Maggie’s lips, her soft core, her taste, her sounds are imprinting themselves on my brain. I savor each for a moment before I start to plot ways to kiss her again.