16. Iris
Chapter sixteen
Iris
T he conference room has a slight whiff of Meyer’s geranium cleaning spray from last night’s housekeeping visit. The sharp morning sun is just catching the aluminum backs of the conference chairs.
“Make sure you put any supplies that they might need out on the table,” I say. “I definitely don’t want them to find us.”
Sebastian sets out a pile of notepads as I add more pencils and pens to the leather cups on the table.
“And what are we going to tell them if they do?” Sebastian asks.
“That we’re dating, having a tryst in the closet, and we were too embarrassed to come out and get caught. That’s if they catch us. Otherwise, if they seem to be coming towards the closet, I will exit and tell Kevin what I found and say I was in the room and ran into the closet because I wasn’t ready to face him yet with my suspicions.”
It’s 8:50.
Go time .
We walk into the closet. It seemed a lot more spacious when we weren’t inside it together.
“Maybe we should move this easel closer to the wall.” I brush against Sebastian as I move it closer.
“It’ll be worse if it falls and makes a noise,” he says.
“Where’s it going to fall?” I ask. “There’s no space.”
I’m standing in the front, and Sebastian is behind me. He’s so warm. It’s like heat is radiating off him. I’d fan myself, but that’s hardly going to decrease the temperature in here. I unbutton my sweater.
We shift so that we’re facing each other, Sebastian closer to the door opening.
“We should switch so I’m closer,” I say.
“I’ll go out first,” Sebastian says. “I’ll tell them I came in here for a legal pad. You stay here.”
“And you didn’t come out?”
“Because I was suspicious after finding the hacking agreement that the cybersecurity team didn’t know about.” He stares at me as if daring me to force him to move. Somehow, I don’t think wrestling for the position closest to the door is a smart idea in this tight space.
The conference room door handle clicks.
“Turn off the light. I hear them.”
I switch off the light. Our breathing sounds very loud.
My eyes adjust to the darkness, and Sebastian puts his finger to his lips. My heart races. It’s not his proximity. It can’t be. It’s the fact that I’m spying on senior management. He’s so close. That broad chest and those shoulders. And he’s tall.
“Do you think France is still deciding between the two locations?” Kevin asks.
“Of course they are,” Colby says. “Why else would they want another presentation?”
“But it’s movie content. There’s nothing we can do. It’s up to Xavier,” Kevin says.
“They want to know if we have any good ideas before they close us down,” Colby says. “Maybe they will even take our ideas and shut us down anyway.”
“Our presentation was clearly better than New Mexico’s.”
“And we need to make sure this one is also better. She needs to get their draft,” Colby says.
“We can’t. She’s not going to want to do it again. She was suspicious the first time. I think she talked to Raphael. And the site is mined with traps and honeypots. The cybersecurity team is watching twenty-four-seven.”
“Can’t is not an acceptable answer. Figure out a way,” Colby says. “Find some other urgent project for cybersecurity to work on. You keep telling me we’re short on resources, so tell them this isn’t the priority. I thought she was one of the best white hat hackers. She should be able to get around a few traps.”
Kevin mutters something I can’t hear. I move closer to the door, closer to Sebastian. My body brushes up against his.
“Stop moving,” Sebastian says in a low, deep, strangled voice.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
Silence on the other side. I tense. Sebastian’s body tightens next to mine. Did they hear us? Did I mess it up?
“What about replacing her with that guy Hank?” Colby asks.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“You do that,” Colby says.
“Hi. I thought we had the conference room for 9:30. Should we find another room?” It’s Jazmine.
“We’re leaving,” Kevin says.
“How’s everything going?” Colby asks. “Great work the other day on finding that hire.”
“Thank you. I didn’t realize you knew about that.”
“I pride myself on knowing what’s going on in my company. Who are the stars, who are the shirkers. In fact, I just learned a Swedish word for it: maskning , which means foot dragging or working very slowly. I know who is doing what at Dream.”
My eyes widen. Does Colby know we’re in the closet? I glance up at Sebastian.
The door clangs shut. Hopefully Colby and Kevin left.
My chest touches his. I pull back quickly, standing up straight, the shelves hard in my back. My head hits some pencil boxes, and Sebastian quickly reaches out to hold them in place. His arm is by my head. I swallow. He’s so close. His breath brushes against my cheek. And I’m trying to press back and basically not breathe so I don’t touch him, but it’s like my body won’t listen to me and keeps leaning forward. Sebastian’s body is equally rigid.
His face looks pained.
“Are you and Aaron dating?” a woman’s voice asks. She sounds familiar, but I can’t place the voice.
“He asked me out yesterday after the ice skating event,” Jazmine says. “He’s so sweet. I swear, he moved closer to me yesterday when we were drinking hot chocolate. And then we took the subway home together. And it was so crowded that we got squished together.” Jazmine giggles. “He had his arm by my head against the metal door, trying to stop his body from being pressed into mine.”
I stare up at Sebastian. He pulls his arm back. I look down at the carpeted floor.
Jazmine sighs. “He’s such a gentleman. He even got off the subway to walk me home, and then he asked me out.”
“You’re so lucky. I can’t find any good guys. I had a date the other day. I thought it went well, and then he called me and told me he wanted to remain single. Why did he go out on the date in the first place, then?”
I look at Sebastian and tilt my head.
Sebastian shakes his head.
The initial personal chitchat over, they get down to the serious business of their meeting.
Sebastian tilts his head back and swallows. And oh, his Adam’s apple.
This closet is way, way too small. And we’re way too close. And I’m afraid to move and make a noise.
Our glances meet again, and he takes a deep breath. I can smell the peppermint of his toothpaste. His gaze travels over my face, and it’s almost as if he’s touching me with it. My whole body is flickering, my senses are buzzing. Must squash down these feelings of desire.
“Great. That’s all settled,” Jazmine says.
There’s a slight tap as if they’ve picked up their laptops. And then the door creaks as it opens and clicks shut.
“We’ve got to go before someone else comes.” I reach to open the door.
“I can’t leave yet,” Sebastian says, his voice low and tight. “You go.”
Sebastian is attracted to me.
Or he is just a guy in a tight space with a woman.
I open the door just a bit and slip through the space, closing the door behind me.
And out steps Xavier from the opposite door—the door that leads into his office.
“Eavesdropping?” he asks.