She smiled to herself as she logged off the computer and shut off the desk light. Everyone else had gone home and the office was quiet as she gathered her belongings and searched for her keys. Maggie decided to forgo the sneakers she usually changed into for the long walk to the car, feeling sexy in the black stilettos she was wearing. She wasn't in a hurry anyway. Smoothing her skirt over her hips, she brushed her hair and quickly reapplied her lip gloss. She had no plans for the evening, but she'd spent the last hour flirting over email and was feeling very sexy.
As she closed the door to her office and headed out to the parking lot, she played back the conversation in her head. Maggie knew she had crossed a line somewhere in there, but had she gone too far? She hoped that she hadn't. She always pushed her limits, and that's what she liked about him – he was the first man she'd met who really pushed his. They had joked around as colleagues for almost a year, but mostly it had been sarcastic commentary back and forth, with no more than a healthy dose of innuendo. But something about that day was different, for each of them. They stepped farther over the line than they ever had before and it had gotten personal.
Just as she was getting into her car her phone rang. "Hello?" It was him.
"Hey Mags. After I hung around so long chatting with you, I missed my train. A buddy of mine on the watch offered to drive me home since I don't have my car here, but he's on a crappy shift schedule and doesn't get off for another couple of hours. I thought maybe I'd take you up on that happy hour invitation, if you're still interested?"
"Right now? Sure! Where can I meet you?"
"How about McCool's? I'll walk over and Tony can pick me up there when he's off."
"Sounds great. I'll see you when I get there."
Her heart had started beating faster. This was it – they'd talked about going out for a drink for months but it had never materialized. He had a wife and kids and a train to catch everyday, and she wasn't the kind of woman to mess with that. But today things were different. Nearly giddy with anticipation, she headed to the pub.
He saw her when she walked in and immediately waved her over to a tall booth in the corner.
"Hey! Thanks for meeting me. I just couldn't stand the thought of staring at that computer until Tony got off and I besides, I knew you had already left and wouldn't be there to entertain me."
"Well, I'm here now! …And always happy to entertain!" she smiled.
"Yeah, I'll bet you are. So… you had to leave just when our discussion was getting interesting…"
She sighed and smiled that deviant grin, "Well, you know Jack, there's some things that are just too hard to explain without a drink."
"Oh, indeed. Let's do something about that, by all means!" He ordered a pitcher and smiled, "I'm thinking you'll have plenty of explaining to do."
He had picked a rounded booth in the corner and sat along the back wall, so no matter which side she picked, she would be next to him, instead of across from him. She sat down with little distance between them and the feel of him so close to her was intoxicating.
"So, where were we exactly? What was it that you had wanted to know?" she asked.
"I was asking about your type of guy… until you threw me that curveball with the sorority girl comment," he said.
"Ahh. Right. Well, it's not too complicated, really. And for the record, I do like men. I like smart guys. I like men that think, that laugh, and that wonder. I'm not sure there's anything sexier to me than intelligence, humor, and confidence. That's key. I hate wimps. I don't know what to do around quiet people and indecision drives me crazy."
"I can understand that. So you like guys that are smart and funny and have balls. Okay. What else? What does your ideal guy look like? What does he say? What does he think?"
"I'm not too picky actually, the other stuff is more important to me…"
"BUT???" he prodded.
"But if it was totally up to me," she conceded, "He would be full grown, in every sense. I can't stand guys that have no life experience… that don't know who they are or what they want. They have to have lived a little and been around the block. It makes them more interesting," she smiled, "…and I want him to be tall enough for me to wear heels and still be no more than eye level – I like to play rough sometimes and I don't want to worry about throwing him around. And he shouldn't be too pretty, or too perfect. I like a guy that's not afraid to get dirty."
He raised his eyebrows as he poured more beer for each of them. "Dirty huh? I agree," he grinned, "Something tells me that you could probably be dirty as me."
"Oh, I bet I could give you a run for your money, that's for sure," she said, leaning a little closer and flashing that same devilish 'I dare you' smile that told him she was up for anything.
