60
The next morning, Eric and I arrive at the office separately. He’s very emotional because of my impending transfer to Germany, as am I. Luckily, I have clothes at his hotel, and I’m able to dress there and not go to the office with the same clothes from yesterday. I haven’t yet explained to him what happened with those women the other day and have now decided to keep it to myself. In fact, nothing happened, and if I tell him, he’s just going to get angry.
As we do every morning, Miguel and I go have our coffee before starting the workday. I’m in a good mood, and I decide to sit by the door. I know that Eric will be here any minute and he will search the place for me. Ten minutes later, the man with whom I’m completely in love comes through the door and looks for me. He then takes a seat across from me.
Miguel and I continue chatting while I sneak peeks at Eric having breakfast. The elegance with which he butters his croissant has me totally hypnotized. Our eyes meet a couple of times. I know he’s happy with my decision to go live with him in Germany, and I have to try really hard not to laugh like a fool.
When we finish, Miguel and I get up; Eric does the same. I see him leave, and when we get to the elevator, he’s waiting with his hands in his pockets and a very serious and inscrutable expression on his face.
“Good morning, Miss Flores, Mr. Morán.”
“Good morning, Mr. Zimmerman,” we say in unison.
The elevator doors open, and the three of us step inside. We push the button for the seventeenth floor. Suddenly, I feel Eric rubbing his knuckles against mine, and I smile. It is harder and harder to be together without touching.
When the doors open on our floor, the three of us step out, but Eric takes a different route than we do.
“Do you think the Iceman ever smiles?” whispers Miguel as soon as he sees Eric walking away.
“Ha! I don’t know.”
“What that guy needs is a good fuck.”
I crack up. If Miguel knew what I know, he would die. I decide to go along with him.
“I’m sure you’re totally right.”
That’s when we run into my supervisor.
“Judith, I left various folders on your desk,” she says in her screechy voice and in a bad mood. “I need you to photocopy everything and bring it back to me. Miguel, I think they’re looking for you in your department. Come on, let’s get to work!”
I continue my walk to my desk alone. I see the folders my supervisor left and head toward the copier. I do as she has requested and then answer several emails from the branch offices. At about eleven o’clock, I go into the archive room. I need a few documents the branches have asked for. I find myself really engrossed in them, and then I hear a voice at my back.
“Mmm . . . finding you in the archive room stirs up a thousand desires.”
It’s Eric, watching me from the door.
“Mr. Zimmerman, do you need anything?”
He very shamelessly checks out my body.
“How about a little spin? I love how you look in those slacks.”
I indulge him and do as he’s asked.
“Happy now?” I ask.
“Yes, although I’d be happier if you would undress and . . .”
“Eric!”
He grins, hands still deep in his pockets.
“If you provoke me . . .”
“That’s pretty nervy of you!” I laugh, and when he steps forward, I hold out a hand. “Stop!”
Eric stops.
“Get out of my archive room. I’m working, and I don’t want to get fired for doing things during work hours I shouldn’t be doing, OK?”
Eric takes another step toward me.
“Mmm . . . but you’re so beautiful when you work. Come here and give me a kiss.”
“No.”
“Come on . . . you want it as much as I do.”
“Eric, someone could see us . . .”
He tries to give me a mock innocent face and makes a gesture with his hand.
“A little kiss?”
I sigh . . . I step up to him and give him a kiss on the lips. Immediately, Eric grabs me by the waist, leans me against the file cabinets, and jams his tongue in my mouth. He devours me, and I surrender.
“God . . . sweetness, what am I going to do with you?”
“Well, right now, let me go,” I say in protest. “The doorknob is up my ass.”
He releases me in a flash.
“Are you hurt?” he asks, worried. “Did I hurt you?”
“No . . .” I laugh. “I only said that so you’d let me go.”
I see the amusement in his eyes. He licks his lips and takes a step back. “Let this be the last time, Miss Flores, that you incite me to do something I don’t want to do,” he says, wagging his finger at me. “Get to work and stop fooling around.”
I watch him leave the archive room, and I smile. The way Eric makes me happy doesn’t compare to anything in the world. After I return to my desk, I see him on the phone. When he hangs up, he walks by me, and although he doesn’t look at me directly, I know he’s looked at me.
At one o’clock, I get a call from the lobby. There’s a delivery person with a bouquet of roses. When the young man comes up and announces that the beautiful long-stemmed red roses are for me, I’m speechless. I take out the card and read the note: As our song says, “I have you on my mind, desperately.”
I’m stunned by the card and the bouquet in my hands. Reading that message delights me. Eric is so romantic, and I would love for the whole world to know. At that moment, my supervisor comes by and notices the flowers.
“How wonderful. Who sent me those beautiful things?”
“These are for me.”
She flinches when she hears that, turns around, and walks away. I pull out one of the vases we keep for when we have flowers in the office, fill it with water, arrange the roses, and put them on my desk.
When Eric leaves his office, he’s wearing his usual serious expression, but he pauses to look at them.
“Pretty flowers.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.”
“A secret admirer?”
I smile like a fool.
“My boyfriend, sir.”
This evening, when I get home, Eric arrives fifteen minutes later, and with joy and vigor, he makes love to me.