Cross the Line

Part Five

She nodded, “I think we have a clean slate.”

And she was right. They spent the next two weeks working diligently together. They found an easy symbiosis, working well as a team. This didn’t mean they didn’t have arguments, battles over decisions and topics, but Naomi found that healthy, she even enjoyed them. Neither mentioned Maisy again, though on occasion when their arguments strayed in to personal territory rather than remaining business, there was often an awkward silence as they both remembered why they’d started arguing when they first met.

But as time went on those moments of animosity and anger became a distant memory, and Naomi found it hard to be anything but nice towards him, he was charming, fair, considerate and she loved the way his chin dimpled when he smiled. She found herself sitting at her desk watching his face as he spoke animatedly to his young nephew on the phone, or his mother, a woman who phoned him most days.

Tapping her head with her hand, she stood to rifle through one of the filing cabinets. She had to shake herself out of all this doe eyed devotion, following him visually as he moved around the room. It was unhealthy and as unprofessional as hating him, she never acted like this, she didn’t do relationships, preferring her own company, and only ever relying on herself. But this man was starting to drift past her heavily erected barriers.

Each day in the office he was watching her too, but a little more discreetly, and shook his head gently as he saw her bottom lip tighten and her head flip up in annoyance at something on her computer screen. He was already recognising her moods, and was amazed at how quickly they changed. She was like the sea, calm and enticing one minute, aggressive and dangerous moments later. And he found that exciting. As assistants went, she was one of the best, whenever he was stressed, coffee appeared on his desk, her filing system made sense, she was more than efficient with everything thrown at her. Even his mother! She called most days and Naomi was always pleasant, and she remembered facts adn details from earlier conversations, in the same was she did with the clients. Soon to be divorced Mrs Owens couldn’t speak more highly off her, and the elderly Palmer couple gushed over her when they came to the office the previous week. But that was after Naomi had quizzed them in great detail over their new grandchild, and murmured appreciateively over the photos they produced.

If he could write down the attributes of the perfect assistant, the words would spell Naomi Young, and he cursed Simon’s good fortune in finding her.

Gloria was due back after the weekend, and Conor wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It would be great to have some more practical help, and it would free up Naomi to actually do more of his workload, but they’d got used to just the two of them, or rather he had. He was comfortable in the office, they worked well together, though the presence of the older woman would also mean he’d be less tempted to spend so much time gawping at her.

He was more than a little aware that he’d spent far too much time watching her, when she didn’t know he was looking.  Gloria may well diffuse the situation. He didn’t do relationships, hadn’t since Orla...and he had no intention of complicating both his work environment, and his relationship wiht his good friend. Especially after the way Maisy had reacted to him, he felt more than an obligation to do the right thing by SImon. Nope, he and Naomi were not an option, and he had to use Gloria’s reappearance to stop his straying mind and wayward thoughts.

                “I’m in court all day tomorrow Naomi, will you be able to deal with everything here?” he asked looking up when she brought him in a cup of coffee. Laughing at her indignant look, she could more than handle the office, he added, “I won’t come back before the weekend as I have a lot on. But you can message me if anything crops up, ok?”