In Bad Faith

Chapter 17

The deep, rhythmic dial tone sounded as I held my desk phone to my ear, while I kept my gaze directed at Misha, who was still working at his desk behind the glass partition that separated our offices. Normally the glass sliding doors remained open, so we could freely talk if needed, but since he had a few phone calls and Zoom meetings he had to catch up on after our lunch together, they stayed closed for the remainder of the day.

"It's twenty past six. What are you still doing here?" I spoke as soon as Misha picked up his phone, and grinned as he averted his gaze to me when he realized that I was the one calling him and that it wasn't a transfer call.

For a moment he was silent, as I saw him starting to shake his head, grinning. "I didn't plug my phone back in for this.." he said softly, but in a joking manner. And even though I saw his lips moving, instead of hearing his voice sound through the office, I heard it sounding right at my ear. There was something about hearing his voice through a phone. As if it was just a little bit more raspy and deep, and as if he needed any more of that. "For the same reason as you, probably. Working hard," he followed, more seriously this time.

"Well, I am actually about to leave, so I don't know about you.." I told him suggestively while I kept my gaze directed at him, and he also kept looking at me. There surely was something about this. But that was good, right? That was what I wanted. "As much as I'd love to go home too, I still have loads of work to catch up on," he answered, almost sounding a little sarcastic. "So I'm staying a little longer today," he followed, as our eyes were still locked. This man was obviously done with being at his million-dollar penthouse, since before he'd regularly just finish his work at home.

"I'll leave the lights on," I told him, as I leaned over my desk a little, revealing just a bit more of the skin on my chest, and I was well aware of that. I didn't even mind. And while I did this with the words of Floyd playing in the back of my head, the rush it gave me was not feigned. "I'd appreciate it," Misha answered, with his slight grin still curling his lips. I could tell that his eyes were taking me in.

"Oh, by the way, I just ordered the suit for you," I spoke, as I saw Misha leaning back into his chair a little more. "Great, did you include that we need it by the twentieth?" he answered, and I could tell he was at least trying to sound businesslike. But I noticed he was distracted. "I did. I included the date, your sizes, the fabric, the color.." I started naming, as I saw the grin slowly return to his lips. ".. Should I continue?" I followed, teasingly. Misha just softly chuckled.

"See you tomorrow, Nadya," was his simple answer. Now it was my turn to lean back in my chair again, as we still held our gaze through the glass. "See you tomorrow. Don't overwork yourself," I told him, after which I lowered my phone to then put it back in its holder. We didn't break our eye contact just yet, as we shared one more smile. And god, his smile. I averted my gaze back to my computer to then turn it off, and without looking back at Misha, I grabbed my purse and walked to the coat rack to grab my coat. And I knew that there was no possible way to know for sure, but it was like I felt him looking at me this whole time.

After I put on my coat and grabbed the door handle, I did decide to look back at Misha one last time. And that's when I saw that he was looking at me. I immediately felt this sort of electric shock rush through my body, as I knew I now had him right where I wanted him. Misha Zaveri could play with my head, but I could play the same game too. I directed my gaze back to the door handle I was still holding, after which I opened it and made my way out of the office. I was feeling a sense of accomplishment, and how the tension was still lingering in my body.

Today was a great day for gaining his trust. Not only did I find out that he didn't not contact me because he got cold feet, we also had lunch together, and the atmosphere was just generally good. Different, but good. My hard work was paying off.