Page 9 of Out of the Shadows
The clean, fresh scent of soap and shampoo, of a light citrus cologne… I breathe in not just the aroma but the memory. It’s how he smelled when I’d stop by his desk and lean down to see what he was working on. He’d look up at me and smile, his green eyes filled with bright eagerness as though anything was possible. It caught at my chest then, and sent warmth coiling in my stomach, and it does it now.
“… if you look at it in conjunction with this point here…” He turns the page, and his hand glances mine. I don’t just jump, but lurch backwards as though I’ve been shocked with a bolt of electricity.
The paper lays abandoned on the desk between us.
I swallow, and clear my throat.
“Some good points, but it needs working up. Put a bit more meat on the bones. Back it up with hard figures, and have a revised version sent to me by close of play on Monday. Emailed this time.” I don’t just look at my watch but make a show of it, but I have no idea what the time is.
Cosmo nods and gets up. His face is closed off and blank, all his enthusiasm of moments ago gone as though it had never been. He leaves the office, quietly closing the door behind him.
I fall back into my chair, and stroke my thumb over the patch of skin where we connected, trying my best to pretend I can’t still feel the burn that seared through me, as I refuse to ask myself why.
