He'd phoned me at the office this afternoon and I was in a meeting. But I'd told my secretary to interrupt me if he called. She did. I excused myself with "a family problem, I'm sorry..." and left the room.
I closed my office door and got the receiver into my hand.
"Eric, it's Mark Fitzgerald... I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time...?"
"No, not at all... Mark. What's up?" I found myself imagining him on me, his body on mine -- both of us lying together. How could I go from remembering our New Year's kiss to this? I suppose I was still dizzy from our last meeting, dizzy from my rising emotions.
"I spoke to Andrew -- he's very upset."
"Well, you just have to convince him to go forward with the lawsuit, Mark. You have to impress upon him the danger he could be facing if he lets this continue."
"I did all of that, Eric. He's adamant about not wanting to see me or talk to me or have me involved in this in any way."
I'd stopped listening. I was behind my desk now, sitting in my big, warm leather chair. Without even thinking of it, I'd kicked off my loafers and was curling my toes back and forth-- misplaced sexual energy?
"Eric -- I really feel he should go forward with this... don't you agree?"
"I think we should all go forward with it, Mark."
There was a long pause. A long, long pause.
Then he answered me,
"I don't want to cause problems, Eric."
"You aren't Mark. This is strictly professional."
Oh, God... I thought. Oh God, why am I doing this? I love Drew. In the back of my mind I knew it was wrong, and I knew that's exactly why it felt so exciting. It was bad.
Mark continued talking but I was no longer listening.
I knew what he was doing-- talking to keep me on the line. Did he feel what I did?
"You're good at your job, Mark. I'll talk to him. He knows his life is in some danger right now."
Pause. Longer pause.
"Is this what you want?" he asked. I sighed and answered, "yes," it's what I want.
We continued talking until he had to take another call. As I hung up the phone, I realized I wanted more.
So much more.
