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the work ahead of us flowed from his lips.
    Yet through it all, I didn’t dare look up.
    Instead, as Gabe spoke, I scribbled in my planner, taking notes about things I didn’t yet understand and would have to ask Colin about later. But as the seconds ticked by, I noticed him circle around behind the people seated across from me until he stopped in place.
    Swallowing, I drew my eyes up towards Gabe without lifting my head.
    Without so much as an awkward pause, the icy blue of Gabe’s eyes locked mine for a fraction of instant. In the very next, he glanced down towards my planner, then back towards me with a slow nod.
    And if I wasn’t mistaken, he winked.

    GABE
    A few hours after my meeting with the lab team, I sat in my office thumbing through a stack of briefs related to the Link Protocol.
    Still, she kept popping into my head.
    I smiled at my good fortune she’d interviewed for a lab position. Not that it would have mattered much. I would have spent time in pursuit no matter where she worked, but with everything going on right now, I would have been delayed at a minimum.
    But no matter. The way was clear now.
    And the look on Fiona’s face when she sat at the conference table. I have to say keeping my identity a secret had been well worth the wait. I’m sure if anyone noticed me noticing her, she would have been mortified.
    The idea of it brought a smile to my face.
    But as I sat there thinking about the situation, it occurred to me I hadn’t gotten Fiona’s last name yet. Not only that, but I really didn’t know anything about her beyond our brief interactions. And when it came to my romantic interests around the office, I preferred to have every bit of information at my disposal.
    You see, the restraint I applied to Holly didn’t apply to everyone else.
    In other words, I fished in my own pond on occasion.
    And why not? After all, I’m single. They’re single. We’re all adults.
    I had some rules of course, boundaries if you prefer. Most of them revolved around the woman’s expectations. I mean, I enjoyed an office dalliance as much as anyone, but the last thing I wanted was to get embroiled in some big misunderstanding or even worse, deception on her part should she try to ensnare me.
    Even so, in spite of making my terms clear, some of them lied to me along the way. And lying, well, it’s just not something I can tolerate. The results of those situations resulted in termination. Like I said, I make my demands well known. In the end it’s up to them to decide whether or not they want the same thing.
    The best thing about being lied to by a woman is it helps you understand what you really want. You know? In a way, it makes you smarter about people and in the position I’m in, being knowledgeable about the people around you is a must. And while I’d gotten smarter about liars and catching them, I still wanted to know as much as I could without having to depend on the words coming from the woman’s mouth.
    Trust but verify, as is often said.
    And so with that in mind, I took a short walk down to Human Resources to see what information I could gather about my latest addition to the lab team. I visited Mrs. Jameson, the head of the department, to get the help I needed. After a brief greeting, we got right down to the reason for my presence.
    “What can I do for you Mr. Hawkins?”
    “I’d like to see the file on a new hire in the lab.”
    Mrs. Jameson nodded as she grabbed her tablet from her desk. Swiping it on, she continued, “Certainly sir. One second while I open the database. What’s the employee’s name?”
    “Um, Fiona is the first name. Don’t know the last one. As I mentioned, she’s in the lab and reports to Colin Doyle.”
    Mrs. Jameson pursed her lips for a moment as she typed and just then her face lit up as she remembered something.
    “Oh yes, Fiona Matthews. She completed orientation this morning. One moment…”
    I preferred pretty, smart women. And the prettier and smarter, the