“Sometimes I feel like if I blink for a minute, someone will knife me in the back and I’ll be gone. I just don’t want to live like that anymore, no matter how much they pay me. I want to be treated like a human being.” As she said it, she reached past him to take a plate out of the sink, and brushed very close to him. She could feel his warmth, and without thinking, he gently touched her cheek with his hand. He had never wanted to do that before, and she felt a current of electricity run through her. She looked up at him, and as their eyes met, she completely forgot what she’d been saying and so did he. He had felt it too. He didn’t know if he should apologize or ignore it, and Blaise went back to loading the dishwasher as though nothing had happened, so he took his cue from her. But it had been an odd feeling wanting to touch her, and he couldn’t stop himself.
Blaise had noticed more and more recently, that the age difference between them didn’t seem to exist. She looked up to him as a man, and shared many of his values and opinions, and he thought of her as a woman his own age. It had been so long since she’d had a man to share her thoughts with, and it suddenly seemed normal to talk to him about everything. He made so much sense. And he loved the absence of drama in her life. For three years, every day had been a roller coaster with Megan, as they hid from her abusive alcoholic husband, which had begun to seem normal to Simon. With Blaise he felt sane again. The fifteen years between them didn’t matter anymore. It was an odd but endearing friendship for both of them, which crossed the boundaries of her being his employer and the difference in their age.
She never mentioned how much time they spent together to anyone, or how impressed she was with him. All she ever said was what a terrific job he was doing with Salima. And she had said it to Mark several times. She never said anything else about him, and all Mark knew was that Abby’s replacement was working out well.
Blaise was on an all-day trip to Washington to interview a freshman senator who was making noise about running for president when she realized she had forgotten some papers at the office that she would need when she got back that night, and she called Mark to have him drop them off at her apartment on his way home.
“I’m sorry to do that to you,” she apologized. “I was so tired when I left yesterday, that I didn’t even notice they weren’t in my briefcase till I got on the plane today.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a cab and drop them off after work. Can I leave them with the doorman?”
“They’re a little sensitive. There’s a report on the senator who just got outed for having an affair with a fourteen-year-old. Do you mind leaving them with Simon?”
“Sure, no problem.” And it would give him a chance to see Salima, which he hadn’t done since she got home. He hadn’t seen her in a year. They only talked on the phone, and he was one of her biggest fans.
Mark rang the doorbell when he got there, and he had the cab waiting downstairs. The papers Blaise wanted were in an envelope marked confidential. A man opened the door. Mark found himself looking at a tall handsome man with his shirtsleeves rolled up. He was wearing jeans and cowboy boots and had dark tousled hair. Simon looked at Mark and immediately guessed who he was. He matched Blaise’s description of him to perfection. Short, bald, and slight, he looked like a bundle of nerves, and he was wearing a blazer and an Hermès tie. He dressed for work every day. And Mark thought Simon looked like a movie star. He was tall, dark, and sexy, and suddenly Mark wondered if there was more going on with him and Blaise than what she said.
“I’m Simon,” he said, holding out a hand to Blaise’s assistant with a broad smile. “Come on in. I’m sure Salima would love to see you. She talks about you all the time.” Mark could hear her singing in the background. She was having her lesson with Lucianna.
“I don’t want to disturb her,” Mark said, looking nervous, just as Blaise had said he would. He handed Simon the envelope and quickly moved toward the elevator and rang. Simon looked disappointed and as though he were afraid he had said something to offend him. He hadn’t, but Mark had been so totally unprepared for his looks and the aura about him, and the ease Simon obviously felt in her home, that he was embarrassed to come in. The elevator was there in an instant, and with a wave and a smile he was gone. “Faster than the speed of sound,” Simon said to himself, closed the front door, and went to put the envelope on Blaise’s desk. She found it there when she got home. And she asked Simon about it when she had a cup of tea with him in the kitchen. Salima had already gone to bed, after a long, exhausting lesson. Lucianna was demanding a lot from her, but she loved it.
“Did you meet Mark today? He’s such a nice guy. He’s the best assistant I’ve ever had. I hope he stays forever.”
“I did meet him,” Simon confirmed with a puzzled look. “For about fourteen seconds. I was afraid I did something to upset him. I shook his hand, he looked panicked, and then he rang for the elevator and left.”
“He’s like a hummingbird,” she said, the perfect description of the man he had met. “He’s always in motion, and I told you, he’s very nervous. But he gets everything I need done.” Simon already knew how much she relied on him, and had been looking forward to meeting him. They had spoken many times on the phone.