Catherine's beautiful face moved closer and closer, her eyes shutting in anticipation. Her features filled his vision, blotting out the rest of the room.

Then her lips parted slightly, getting ready.

Aiden put his hands on her waist.

"Oh, yes, touch me," she said. He could feel her trembling. And then she said, "What?" when he lifted her off him and placed her down on the cushion next to him. Aiden then did his best to stare at the wall next to the door, fixing on the pattern of the paint, on the baseboards, on anything that wasn't the semi-naked woman sitting next to him.

"Aiden, what's wrong?" Catherine said.

"This. This is wrong. I'm getting married to Gwen. You know that. I love her."

"Are you sure about that?" she replied.

Aiden shook his head. Why did so many people in his life presume to tell him what he did or didn't feel? Henry did it, Judith was doing it. Now Catherine, a person he'd known and respected for years, did it too. "Of course I'm sure about it. I'm so sure that I put a ring on her finger to seal the deal."

"Oh..." Catherine said, her confidence fading. She looked down at herself and saw the poor excuses for underwear she wore. She crossed her legs and covered herself with her hands. "And you're sure that you're sure?"

"I am. What is it about me that makes people think I'm not?"

Catherine shrugged. "I think people are sensing the tension between you two. I know I did."

"So you figured you'd come by and sit on my lap the moment Gwen was gone?"

"No... It's not like that, you don't understand," Catherine said. She got up and started pacing in front of the couch.

If she was basically naked in front, the back was even worse. Aiden swallowed against the lump in his throat and again fixed his eyes on the wall. He still managed to catch the sway of her hips in his peripheral vision, so he turned his head. Why did Gwen have to go on so much about how beautiful Catherine is? He was going to strangle that girl when she got back.

And then another terrible thought occurred to him. One that squeezed his stomach and left his skin prickling. What if Gwen comes back with Catherine still here, still walking around in her underwear?

"Then please tell me what I'm not getting here. I thought we were friends, Catherine?" Aiden said. He eyed the door and prayed that Gwen wasn't about to walk through it.

"That's right! You always thought we were friends. Ever since college, you thought we were friends. You think this and you think that. Well, did you ever stop to wonder if maybe you were projecting those thoughts onto me? Did you ever even ask yourself what I might be thinking?"

"I... I suppose not. I'm sorry," Aiden said. "Do you think that maybe you could, I don't know, put on some more clothes?"

"I'm not finished!" Catherine said. She planted herself in front of him, feet set wide, hands on hips. Mostly naked hips. Her body blocking his view of the wall, Aiden concentrated on her face.

Anger flushed Catherine's cheeks, and before Aiden could stop the thought from occurring, he wondered if the rest of her body had become rosy like that as well. He did manage to keep his eyes from confirming or denying the hypothesis, thankfully.

Aiden squeezed the couch cushion mercilessly, his knuckles taut and white.

"You never noticed, did you?" Catherine said, "You never noticed the way I always tried to be around you at school. You never noticed how I always joined your study groups, how I made friends with your friends..."

"I thought we were friends. I thought you were just going the same direction as I was," he said. Look at her face. Her face! That's not her face. He pulled his eyes back up.

"And you never even thought twice about it when I got a job at Carbide Solutions, did you?"

Aiden shrugged. It was getting easier not to pay attention to her body. It helped to think about Gwen, and how much he wanted to see her again. "I knew that you were a good student, and that you had potential. Carbide Solutions might not have been the most ethical company, but I knew they always went out of their way to hire the best. So I really wasn't surprised when I learned you were brought on board. I figured it was just the headhunters doing their job."

Catherine gave him the same sigh as he'd heard from Gwen many times. Aiden had a theory about that sigh. It was about frustration, of course. But a specific variety of frustration. Namely, frustration at a man they liked who wasn't getting some point they were trying to make.

Gwen usually followed said sigh with a comment along the lines of, "You're lucky you’re so good looking."

"I made sure that I got that job. To be close to you. Do you see things clearly now? Or should I submit a report on company letterhead?" Catherine finished.

Thankfully, she also moved away from him and sat down in the opposing wingback.

"I see," Aiden said, "But there's still something I don't understand. Why now, Catherine? Why here? I just got engaged. It doesn't exactly seem like the best moment to throw yourself at me."

"It's really hard to get out of the friendzone, for one, which I didn't expect at first. Normally it's the guy who's stuck in it, not the girl. So it's not like I had a lot of resources to draw on..." Catherine said, "As for why now? Desperation, I suppose. As soon as I heard about the engagement, I could see my chances with you swirling their way down the drain. I knew it was now or never, and that I'd never have a chance again if I didn't go for it."

"Well, I have to say, that's quite the eleventh hour move. And I am sorry I didn't know," Aiden continued, "Maybe if I had, things would have been different. But you can't change the past. And I'm in love with Gwen. And she's in love with me, too... At least, I think she is."

Catherine nodded. She stood, and Aiden averted his eyes again. "I'll be right back."

She returned a minute later, once more wearing the dress she'd had on before. Aiden stood when she came back into the room. "So should we go over those acquisition documents?" he said, motioning towards the folder that she'd left on the table.

"Actually, I've already taken care of all of that. Those were just an excuse for you to let me in," she brushed some glossy black strands of hair out of her eyes and smiled. This wasn't a seductive smile though. It was bashful and apologetic.

"Oh. Well, then. Are there any other business matters that we might discuss?" Aiden said, immediately giving himself a mental kick thereafter. Why are you trying to keep her in the room? Let her go! It was that doing the right thing part of him again, he knew. He didn't want to be cruel to her.

"No, that's it. Not exactly, actually. I'll have another document needing your signature on its way to you. It should be here sometime tomorrow." Catherine collected the fake documents and started for the door, her footfalls sharp and decisive.

"Oh? What is it?" Aiden said, instinctively moving to show her out, despite the way his anxiety went from a simmer to a boil when he closed the distance between them.

"My resignation from Carbide Solutions..."

"Catherine! You don't have to do that. We can work something out. I thought that's what we were doing here, right now?"

She grabbed the door handle before he could and pulled the door open, but didn't step through. Another sweet, apologetic smile graced her lips. "No, Aiden, my failed attempt to seduce you is what happened here. You know how I feel now, and I can't just stop feeling that way after one brief conversation. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can work with you anymore."

"Are you sure? We can be friends," Aiden said.

Catherine chuckled, and then gave him another one of those sighs that he knew all too well. She reached up and cupped his cheek. He didn't stop her. "No, we can't be. We never were just friends. It's just not possible, not for me, anyway. Besides, you don't need me around when you and Gwen try and make this work." She let her hand drop. "You already have a lot to deal with there. She has those contracts. You have your grandmother."

That caught his attention. "Wait. You mean she has that contract. Just the one."

"No, she definitely mentioned more than one. And I can't see why she would have lied to me then, when she thought we were just a couple of strangers who'd never see each other again."

"What were these contracts for? Do you remember?" Aiden said.

"Sorry, she didn't say. I guess that means you guys have some more things to work out than you first thought... Look, I really wanted to make this dramatic, sexy exit and you're kind of ruining it. Goodbye, Aiden."

"Bye, Catherine," Aiden said. He started to add something about keeping in touch, but stopped himself. This wasn't a keep-in-touch kind of goodbye.

"See? You're finally starting to learn something about women," Catherine said. She slipped out through the door. Aiden watched it shut behind her, listened to the latch shoot back into place.

This time, he knew for certain that he shouldn't chase after the girl.

Now, he thought, if only Gwen would come back from wherever she's run off to. He walked over to the window and looked out at the jagged array of mountain peaks.