“It's not fair. You shouldn't make me feel better. I deserve to feel bad. I should feel bad,” she stressed. He spooned up behind her and wiped her hair out of her face. Her tears from her eyes.

“I could never stand by and just watch you hurt. It kills me,” he'd replied.

Then he'd undressed her, and she was high all over again, forgetting everything but his drugging touch.

Mischa bent over, fighting with the bottom drawer of a file cabinet. Her boss had just left, taking their Italian associates out to lunch. She'd been ready to go with them, but then they'd gotten a call – the main offices back in the U.S. were missing some of the permits required for the office to be opened in Italy. They needed that paperwork, pronto. Mischa had to stay behind and send it.

“Piece of shit,” she swore, yanking and pulling at the handle on the drawer.

“Nice language, babe.”

She actually screamed, leaping upright and spinning around. Tal stood on the customer side of the counter, smiling at her. All the lights were off in the front of the office, just sunlight spilling in from the front windows and light leaking out of the back offices. Misch pressed her hand to her chest.

“Don't ever fucking do that to me!” she yelled at him, trying to catch her breath.

“Oh, feisty,” he teased, then he came around the counter and walked towards her.

“What are you even doing here!? How did you know where I was?” Misch asked, staring at him as he slowly moved her to the side.

“I wanted to see you. You said you were at work. Kinda seems like a no brainer,” he told her as he bent down and jiggled the handle of the drawer.

“Yeah, but how did you know where this place was? I never told you. What are you doing?” she demanded as Tal squatted down in front of the file cabinet.

“This is locked, you dork, that's why you can't open it,” he pointed out.

“Huh?”

He ignored her as he pulled something out of his pocket. It kinda looked like an Altoids tin, but without any label on it. He opened it, and it seemed to be full of wires, or paperclips that had been bent and unwound. He fingered through them, then pulled one out. She wasn't sure what his choice was based on, they all looked the same to her. He snapped the tin shut and put it away.

“No key, right?” he double checked.

“No. What are you doing?” she asked again. He bent the wire, then inserted it into the drawer's lock.

“Opening it.”

And as if he'd said the magic word, the drawer popped open. There were a bunch of empty folders in it, and one at the very back that was full. He grabbed it and held it out to her, smiling.

“How do you always know what to do?” Misch asked, her voice full of suspicion.

“Man of many, many talents,” he replied saucily. She narrowed her eyes and took the folder.

“Seriously, Tal, your man-of-mystery routine gets old,” she told him as she walked back into her office.

“Pffft, bullshit, my mystery is what you love best about me,” he laughed as he followed her.

She was in the middle of faxing the paperwork, so her back was to him when he spoke. She was glad, because she instantly blushed at his words.

Love!?

“Not hardly,” she managed to say back, trying to clear her throat.

“You look amazing, by the way,” he commented, then she felt him right against her back.

“Thank you.”

“Red is a great color on you.”

His voice had gotten husky, and they'd spent enough time together for Misch to pick up on his little tells.

“Behave yourself,” she cautioned. He ignored her and his hand was suddenly on her hip.

“Kind of a racy dress, for just a day in the office,” he said, pulling her back into him.

“It's a dress, Tal. Nothing racy about it,” she told him.

“Oh really?”

His free hand was suddenly at her chest. Her dress had a deep v-neck, and his hand took advantage of it, diving into her bra without having to fight its way through any material. She gasped and reached out to grab some shelves, bracing herself.

“Only you would see a v-neck and equate it to easy access,” she managed to laugh as he rolled her nipple between his fingertips.

“Me and every other man. You shouldn't dress this way in front of your dick-bag boss.”

Tal's voice was almost a snarl, and it kinda surprised her.

“You've never met the man, why are you calling him names? He's always been nice to me, he -,” her voice caught when his rolling fingers turned to pinching

“I can just tell these things, I'm very observant, and I don't like the idea of some jackass staring at your tits, storing that image away so he can jerk off over it later,” Tal told her. She snorted.

“I seriously doubt that's going to happen.”

“Shut up. You're so fucking clueless, you have no idea how sexy you are,” his voice was a growl against her ear, and his hips rolled against her ass. “Feel that? How hard you make me? Every time you doubt your sexiness, remember this. Remember what you do to me.”

Mischa moaned and let her head drop back to rest against his shoulder.

“Tal, we can't do this in here,” she whispered as his free hand began lifting the back of her dress.

“Why not?”

“Because it's inappropriate. It's where I work. My boss could be back at any moment,” she explained. His fingers snapped the edge of her panties, and she bit into her bottom lip.