impressed. That pleased Laura – it was impressive. Stohlman was known for being very, very competitive for jobs, and it had been hard to break in to the world’s third largest media company.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been there well, since I graduated college.”
“Really? What your degree then?”
“IT – Information Technology.”
“But you’re a business analyst?”
“Yeah, I work with the tech side of things.”
He leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, clearly making himself comfortable, and gave her a mirthful look. “So what do you do ?”
She laughed, feeling her face relax, feeling her cheeks spread and match his mirth. “Do you really want to know? ‘Cause it’s awfully technical.”
He leaned forward on his elbows, propped his chin in one hand and said, “Yeah, I do want to know.”
She studied his eyes. He meant it – he really meant it. Oh, man, was this really the whole package? Did she really get a gorgeous, ripped firefighter who gave a shit about what she did for a living as a business analyst for some nameless, faceless, mega corporation? If so, she didn’t want to pinch herself, ‘cause this might be a dream. Then again, there were parts of her that she certainly wanted him to pinch.
Clear the mind. Whoa there, Laura .
“Well, I work in healthcare IT, and what I do right now is work on a large project for one of the state governments, making sure that their old medical records program for children who get health insurance is compliant with new federal guidelines.”
He nodded. Made an expression with his mouth that indicated that it was interesting and then said, “You lost me at children’s health insurance…” and he grinned.
She chuckled. “Enough about my job. What do you do? You’re a firefighter, right? So you pretty much save damsels in distress from burning buildings and rescue cats out of trees? I don’t have to really know more than that,” she teased.
He laughed, bright teeth gleaming, straight and perfect, speaking to orthodontia many, many, decades ago. His eyes twinkled a bit as he fingered his empty sake glass and said “It’s a little more complicated than that, but you got the gist of it.”
“Aw, come on. Tell me more. How is it more complicated? Are there, like, different levels of fire fighting?” The words came out of her mouth and she felt a slow, electric feeling creep up her spine as his fingers crossed the table and reached for hers, his fingers clasping hers, the warmth shaking her, going all the way up her neck, through her hips, into her belly.
Rendering her completely speechless once again.
“Well,” he said, peering down at her hands and then looking at her with raised eyebrows that asked an obvious question. She grinned back. He softened and clinched her hand just slightly more, and the added pressure was like having her hand turn into one big, giant, throbbing clitoris.
“I do plenty of shifts where I rescue cats from burning buildings and help damsels in distress out of trees,” he joked, “but mostly, these days, I am in charge of fire management safety protocols for large corporations like yours.”
“Really?”
“Pretty much. After 9/11, we had to really tighten up on how you empty out a thirty or forty floor building, especially in the face of a disaster, or in the face of massive, multi-level, widespread fires.”
She could feel the blood drain out of her face. He has just, without knowing, dredged up her biggest fear. Something in his face said that he knew it. “Oh god, I am so sorry, really. I did not mean to upset you. Did you lose someone in 9/11?”
She shook her head. “No, no, actually I, it’s just that – ” She took a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. “It’s just that it’s one of my biggest fears. I’ve always been afraid of a fire in my building, and I work on the thirty-second floor.”
He took his hand away form hers and clamped it over his mouth, shaking his head