A woman with short, jet-black hair cropped close to her scalp swore at a huge computer monitor while an early twenty-something associate ran from the conference room lugging a laptop, tablet, and stack of files thicker than the entire Harry Potter series.

Aldo, the calm in the storm, approached.

Oh, God. He was wearing a tie. The sleeves of his sexy as hell button-down were rolled up to his elbows. She really liked that look. A lot. Attraction was a vague memory to her, but the biology of it was waking the hell up inside her, setting her sensible underwear on fire.

“Hey,” he said, giving her that dimpled grin, his brown eyes warm on her face.

“Is this a bad time?” Always apologetic. Always worried about being an inconvenience.

“Son of a motherfucking shitass mess!” The Halle Berry-lookalike slammed a palm down on her table. Gloria jumped.

“You fix it?” Aldo asked pleasantly.

“I fixed it,” she said, rolling her shoulders, showing off toned arms that spoke of hours spent in the gym.

“Gloria, this is my partner Jamilah Lewiscki. She’s a structural engineer by trade and a database engineer for funsies,” Aldo said, making the introductions. “Jamilah, this is Gloria, my lunch date.”

Jamilah, unburdened from whatever thing she’d fixed, threw up a friendly wave. “Gloria, do me a favor and get this guy out of my space so I can get something done.”

Infinitely mature, Aldo stuck his tongue out at her. “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.”

“Probably won’t even notice,” Jamilah sniffed. She snuck Gloria a wink that said otherwise.

“Come on,” Aldo said in Gloria’s ear. “I’m starving.”

“What about your corner office?” Gloria asked.

Jamilah snorted. “That’s what he’s telling his lunch dates these days?”

Aldo grinned and waved grandly toward the U-shaped command center in the back, wedged in between a restroom and the water cooler. It was the only spot in the entire office that maintained any semblance of organization.

“Fancy,” Gloria said.

“Yeah, only the best of the best for us managing partners,” Aldo said, flashing her that devastating smile.

“Don’t forget you’ve got a three o’clock,” Jamilah said without looking up from her screen.

“Yeah, yeah,” Aldo said as he guided Gloria toward the door. “Let’s go before they decide they can’t live without me.”

It was the quintessential kind of spring day that had bodies waking up after a long winter and feeling that burst of energy that came from that yellow sun warming too-long-cold skin. Gloria fell into step with Aldo, and together they walked down the block. She was careful to keep her distance. She’d cried on the man only days ago and was nervous that his inherent goodness would have the same effect on her again.