A long lane at night

2.12. WORK BITCH Part 2

About an hour later, we were lying half naked on his office carpet and he was playing with my hair.

'I want to give you a present for your office,' I said, looking round and feeling glad I'd be able to go forward with my plan.

'I really appreciate it, Sunbeam,' he said, 'but the place is pretty much finished already. Oh, by the way, there's one thing I need to discuss with you.'

'Shoot me.'

'I'll naturally collect lots and lots of files over time. I do intend to hire some storage along the way, but—'

'I thought our new house had enough rooms for you to have a home office in it,' I said.

'That's what I was hoping you'd say,' Nate sounded glad I seemed to be on the same page as him. 'I was thinking maybe to keep my most recent files here, say up to one or two years, then start moving them to our home office. That will save us many good years of not needing to spend with storage.'

'Talking about saving,' I was trying to go back to what I had in mind, 'I know what your present will be. And you'll have to accept it without arguing. Promise.'

'Is it even a present I'll like if I have to promise to accept on those terms?'

'Oh, I'm sure you'll love it. And I'm also sure you'll want to thank me multiple times for it, especially after a busy day.'

'Oooh, is it a card that will magically move me up the queue in court?'

'Do they even exist?'

'In my dreams, they do.'

We both laughed.

'It won't be that, I'm afraid,' I said. 'I want to, I mean, I will pay for your secretary. And a decent one, I don't want you getting all worked up because of a temp.'

'Jack, —'

'Nah ah, I said "accept without arguing".'

'But that's—'

'No arguing.'

'You'll need the—'

'Nate, stop it. You're starting your own office, you'll need your time and your energy and your skills to make this place grow, bring in more clients, provide a good service for the ones you have. You won't have the time, or the luxury to waste the little time you do have, to do all this bureaucratic work.'

'I don't know what to say.'

'Don't say anything, Munchkin. Just be a grateful fiancé and have sex with me twice more before we head back home.'

Because Nate is an incredibly grateful fiancé, we spent the entire afternoon having sex in his new office.

'Hey, look at that!' I said when the sun was starting to set and we had at last left his office building. 'There's an ice cream parlour across from you! Now I'm jealous.'

'Four kinds of chocolate with salted caramel syrup and a single cherry?' Nate asked invitingly, already taking me by the wrist and guiding me to the shop.

Life during these months being Nate's fiancé was full of these little moments, where I realised many of the small hints that I've missed all those years, showing me that he was already in love with me. Feeling confident, I stopped outside the door and took my chances.

'Only if this time around we actually order a double and eat together from the same bowl, fulfilling your deepest infatuated teenager fantasy.'

'Did you know?' Nate looked and sounded crestfallen.