Her deepest desire

“Hey Ryan” my brother Zan’s voice comes through the speaker when I answer the phone. I look around the now empty office echoes, it’s 15 past knockoff and I’m still here. My boss would curse me out if he knew I was still sitting here. He is a firm believer in work-home balance. He doesn’t want overworked employees, the thought of anyone working past the allocated working hours hurts him physically. Those are his own words, I am not exaggerating. I work at a tech company as the CEO’s personal assistant. My boss Maximus, but we call him Max is the coolest person I know. He made a fortune creating high-tech security gadgets, he’s a genius and he knows it. But not in an irritating type of way, he’s wealthy and smart but he’s cool. He treats all his employees well. In fact, he treats all human beings well. I love working here and I love my job, which is why I start gathering my stuff so I can leave. I shut down my computer at the thought of having another painstakingly long conversation wit

Thursday is the busiest day of the week and being executive assistant to the CEO means I have to be on my toes all the time. If I’m on a 100 then my boss is on a thousand. It’s halfway through the day and we’ve been in one meeting after another. At this point, we’re ready to pass out but we won’t be doing that. “What time did you leave here yesterday? “ My boss asks looking down at a handful of papers he’s reading through. Clearly, the contents of the documents are not that interesting if he’s asking me about my knock-off time. “A little after 4:30,” I say not even trying to lie. He already knows the answer he just wants me to know that he knows. He frowns as a sign of disapproval. My phone rings at that moment saving me from a long lecture. “Hello,” I answer getting up to get some privacy. “Hi, may I please speak to Ryan?” a deep voice says on the other end of the phone. Chills run down my spine immediately. “This is she.” I reply “Ryan it’s Gabriel your brother’s friend. “ “

It’s been a 5 days since I got back from visiting my parents and tonight is the fateful night. I’m standing in front of mirror staring at my reflection. I am fully dressed and ready to go but I can’t seem to get out the door. I want to go see Gabriel, what would that mean? I get that it’s just drinks but so much goes into hanging out with him. He’s my brother’s friend and that means something to me. But I do want to go see him, curiosity and a whole bunch of stuff are going off in my head. I look at myself even more in the mirror, the flawless makeup, my full plump lips. I smile at myself as if I made the decision already. I turn and reach for my purse. I leave before I change my mind, what do I have to lose? If I don’t like the situation I leave, delete his number, and block him. End of story. I get to the hotel and stand at the entrance of the restaurant wondering what I’m doing here. I start walking into the restaurant deciding not to chicken out. I look around the beautiful and

“Should we go? I don’t want to keep you any longer” Gabriel says standing he takes a large gulp of the rest of his drink. I look at him a little confused, his emotions switch up so much he’s starting to give me whiplash. He walks behind my chair and gently pulls it out gently as I stand up, I reach for my purse and stand next to him. I lean back so I can see his face and I am instantly reminded of how tall this man is. I am wearing the tallest stilettos I own and they are tall and he still makes me look tiny. My eyes go from his eyes to his mouth and for a moment I want to kiss him and I can tell he’s waiting for me to but I chicken out. “I should go, if I want to function at work tomorrow,” I say more to myself than to him. Being around him is confusing to say the least but I like his vibe, there’s something about being around him that makes sense to me. Right here standing next to him I suddenly understand what he meant when he said he’s drawn to me. I can feel the light zap of elec

I resist the urge to look back to see if he left. I walk straight into the living room where Ramie is staring at my brother and Gabriel. “Ramie you remember my brother Zan” I say to her and my brother who is so occupied with making himself a plate of food he didn’t even notice her. And the fact that she went deathly silent since he knocked on the door is unsettling to say the least. What’s up with her, she’s on edge and I don’t appreciate the fact that she brought that energy into my space . And Zan brought Gabriel’s energy into my space as well. As if having him in my dreams is not enough. “Oh, sorry we didn’t see you there. I get like this when my sister cooks. She does it so rarely that when she does people fall over themselves to get a bite.” Zan says walking toward Ramie to shake her hand. “Believe me I know about Ryan’s cooking skills, we used to pay her to cook for us in school. I’m here for the food too” she says smiling at me, I smile back confused by her behavior; my int