I interlaced her fingers in mine. “We’re not perfect people, we know that much. We’ll just have to learn how to keep all of the noise out, and keep the two of us in.   Right here, just you and me.” I waved my free hand between her and me.

She kissed our joined hands and whispered, “Until we find out who we are in this relationship? Who we can be?”

I nodded.

“Can we kiss later to seal the deal?”

I kissed our hands also and gave her a wink. I answered, “I sure hope so.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Aerin sat patiently in the waiting area outside of our glass-walled conference room, flipping through magazines while I met with Mr. Desmond.

By the time we’d gotten to the office, most of the partners had left either for cocktails with clients or had gone home. The other senior associates who remained chatted with Aerin for a bit, and slowly gave up on trying to cajole her from the waiting area.

Mr. Desmond had cast a few interested glances at the ruckus Aerin was causing amongst the remaining male partners and senior associates, and soon they finally realized that they were causing a distraction to our meeting so they left Aerin alone.

Mr. Desmond cut himself off at mid-sentence, and nodded his head in her direction, asking, “Is she your next client?”

I smiled, glanced at Aerin, and then looked again at him. I shook my head.

“Then why is she waiting there?”

I kept smiling. He frowned slightly and stood with hands on hips, “She waiting for you?”

I nodded.

“She’s driving me, so she can’t leave. Not really!” I exclaimed softly.

He tapped his hands on the conference table and then said, “Hmm… an elegant driver, Harley.”

I smirked. “No, not a driver.”

“More than a driver, as I suspected,” he started to say, and then he asked hesitantly, “Is she your … um …”

I gave him a small smile, “Seriously, I don’t know what we are yet. But there’s definitely something special between us, so …”

He held the webbing of his thumb and forefinger against his chin, and I could see he was thinking carefully about what he was going to say.

“Harley, it’s none of my business,” he started to say. “But I thought for sure you were straight. I mean, from what I understand a lot of the single men in this firm alone carry one torch or another for you. And the other day, Philip had mentioned you’d likely bring this guy you’ve brought to other functions for the dinner I’m planning next week ….