Anastasia adjusts her ponytail and grabs her housekeeping cart like every other day, yet today there is no spirit in her movements. Tiredness is weighing her down, and her stomach is burning, as she hasn't digested the spicy food, or more exactly everything that has happened yesterday.

Like always, she looks down at her headphones placed on top of her cart, yet her hand stops before reaching them; it's useless anyway.

She doesn't even know why she has gone to class all day. Well, actually she knows: because she still has a crumb of foolish hope. She can never give up on her dreams, those precious words are still resonating in her head and in her heart.

She takes out her phone, also remembering her mom's advice, who has suggested inviting Fergus to dinner to try to change his mind. Anastasia is not sure it will work, but this dinner has to happen anyway with the wedding getting closer.

So after a second of hesitation going through her contact list, she quickly types a nice and as-affectionate-as-possible text to her future husband, forcing a 'xo' at the end, and then, she focuses back on work. For now, it is the only thing she can do, and her headphones are left on top of her cart, as she enters another room she has to clean: room 666.

The faint energy she has managed to find to push her cart is instantly stopped with her steps. This room is so different from any other rooms she has cleaned before.

First, it is quite dark, and the few blue lights are such a contrast with the bright lighting of the hallways; they bring a secret feel in the air, which is arousing goosebumps on her skin. Though they disappear once her eyes start to adjust to this new lighting and make out the inanimate forms of some pieces of furniture: shelves and cupboards she will have to clean no matter what they contain, a table, lit screens, and... a moving figure in something that resembles a spacesuit. 

The gooseflesh is back on her skin with the jump she makes before she catches her breath and concludes that it is just someone, who has already been in the room.

"Oh, sorry, I thought this room was unoccup–"

The goosebumps were in fact well justified, just like the impression that this room is special, and they come back with familiar warm shivers when the mysterious person turns around and lifts up his helmet.

"Nathaniel?" A big smile stretches her lips before she can even control it.

"Hi." He returns her smile, easily lighting the room, and maybe also her mood.

"Sorry, it was written that this room was empty. I can come back later."

"No, it's okay. It's my fault! I'm late because my teammate, who was supposed to test the gadgets with me, is sick, so I have to do it all alone." 

The curse words he's muttered towards his friend have suddenly disappeared, the thought of being late not looking so bad anymore, and when she nods, already grabbing the handle of her cart, he rushes to add, "But you can stay. I'm almost done. You can start your work, and I'll stay in this corner." He points to a corner full of gadgets of various shapes and types: glasses, watches, clothes, and guns, all lying on a simple table.

Though the whole room is full of the same objects stored in see-through cupboards.

"You're sure?"

"Yes." He knows he shouldn't be, yet once again, something feels so right around her, shutting down his conscience's voice.

Anastasia is still hesitating, and the sensible thought to walk away and come back later is crossing her mind again. Yet her hands are swiftly taking the cleaning products and a rag, and she convinces herself that it is because this room will be a lot of work to clean, even though she is conscious there is more when she heads for the opposite corner of the room, where there isn't much to dust except a light switch.

She can't think about it now, as she is still overwhelmed with yesterday's rollercoaster of emotions, or maybe that day has resembled more a ghost train: dreams-shattering, terrifying, horrible, and unknown, yet mystic, thrilling, beautiful, almost hypnotizing for the moments with Nathaniel.

Anyway, it is safer to not risk another adrenaline rush, so she keeps her focus on her rag, and what she has to dust in front of her, at least until she is done with the small square that is the light switch.

Then, she has to turn again to search for something else to clean, and it is just the moment Nathaniel chooses to take off his spacesuit, revealing his perfectly toned chest. 

She almost drops her cleaning products, and it isn't only adrenaline that surges through her veins at the sight of all these lines and edges highlighted by the intimate blue lighting.

Though his eyes are even more distracting as he looks at her with this heart-melting darkness.

"Are you feeling better today?"

How does he expect her to answer this question when his godly body and tender gaze are exposed to her that way? She is feeling too many things in this instant, and she needs a few seconds to reply,

"Yeah... well, nothing much has changed since yesterday... but I'm not one to give up that easily."

That's for sure! Despite her delicate and angelic looks, he can see now in her eyes that she has a fire of determination and toughness inside, and it's as hypnotizing as flames dancing in the dark.

"So you're testing new gadgets?" she asks as his gaze is boring way too deep into her soul, even in the distance separating them.

"Yes, but it's less fun than it seems!" He smiles, putting his T-shirt back on, and despite herself, she still catches the last glimpse of those dangerous V-lines before they disappear under the gray fabric.

"So it's not an invisibility suit?" She gestures to the clothing in his hands.

At this point the dusting is forgotten; she is already trying hard to stay unaffected by the spectacle of him taking off and on his shirt, which has left her legs wobbly.

"No, it's just a temperature-impermeable suit!" he laughs, her humor tickling his stomach so sweetly.

He isn't usually so open and cheerful with people he doesn't know for a long time, but she has a way to always make him at ease, yet tense at the same time, like right now when she playfully pouts, throwing him a twinkling glance with too much complicity for his well-being and self-control.

"Oh, that's disappointing!"

"And it doesn't even function!" He has noticed that the moment she's walked in this room, and he's started burning inside that suit.

He still is right now, and he's starting to get used to this warmth all over his skin and deeper every time she's around. It makes all those high-tech gadgets appear so cold and dull in comparison to the woman full of life in front of him, and it makes it harder to avert his gaze down to the task he has to finish. 

"Can you guess what's its use?" The words are out before he can even think and before she can go back to her chore, her hand still hanging in the air with the dust-cloth.

He, who is always so serious in his work, is the troublemaker today. If Darrell wasn't throwing up his guts at home right now, he would probably be with eyes like saucers, asking him who he is and what they have done to his friend.

Maybe he should ask the woman catching all his attention as she squints her eyes at the eyeglasses he is holding, two little creases appearing between her eyebrows with a look she always seems to get when she is thinking.

"A micro-computer," she replies rapidly and naturally.

"Yes!"

"Infra-red camera would be too obvious. Things are never what they seem." She shrugs, probably noticing his awestruck expression and large eyes taking her in. "And the large sides are giving away that there is a complex system."

Only professionals would pay attention to these details. Nate shakes slightly his head, trying to stop himself from staring, yet it's impossible as this girl keeps amazing him.

She is thankful for the blue lighting in this instant because her cheeks are getting warmer and warmer under his gaze, and it isn't the only part. Warmth is springing in her chest at the way he is looking at her. 

No one has ever gazed at her that way; it is so pure, and it isn't at the same time, as he is pulling his lower lip between his teeth, the intense chocolate shades magnetized to her, and magnetizing.

Before she knows it, she is walking closer to him, slowly like a snake called by a charmer or a moth attracted by the heat of the flames, and either way, she is well aware that the dangers are even bigger for her. So when she reaches the cold table standing between them, she averts her gaze away, finding interest in the gadgets, or more exactly, trying to distract herself from what is really calling the attention of each of her nerve-endings.

"An earpiece?" she passes her fingers on a tiny device.

"Mhm..." he nods, watching her delicate fingers slide on some objects, and the mild gesture is holding something so sensual in the silence of the room.

He notices how her hand stops and avoids the dangerous weapons, her fingers pausing, hesitating, and shivering for a micro-second before resuming their run, and his breathing becomes more difficult each time. 

The lightness is gone, the air thick with something not so friendly, and the tickles are now arising somewhere else as his eyes go up her slender arm, tracing the outline of her silhouette. He takes this as a dangerous sign.

"No, don't touch this one! It will explode!"

She is brought out of her absent-minded daze in the most abrupt way possible– if it can be called 'absent-minded' when she has been too well aware of his discreet uneven breathing and his gaze burning through her, but anyway, she once more sees the end coming, and this time, her wide eyes flash up to him as, through the jumps of her heart, she is already counting the 3-2-1 before the big bang.

Yet all she is met with is a large grin breaking through his handsome face, his eyebrows lifting up.

"Oh mon dieu! This is not funny!" she gasps, although a smile is tickling her lips.

If it had been anyone else, she would probably be lashing out at them right now for almost making her heart stop, but his laugh is wrapping around her irritation and suffocating it.

"I think it is!"

The way his eyes sparkle like shooting stars, as he smiles smugly, is so adorable that she can't fight it; she bursts into laughter too.

"You really thought it would explode?"

"Of course!" Her eyebrows come down into a frown, though her smile is still playing on her lips and in her eyes. "We're in a room full of dangerous weapons."

"Don't worry. There is nothing in this room that can explode," he replies, his tone turning softer with this urge to reassure her, to protect her.

"Well, you never saw me when I'm angry!" She smirks, and actually, he might be the one who will overheat and burst out as the image of her all worked up comes rushing to his mind upon her words; he would really love to see it.

"You should be careful because I might get back at you, Nathaniel!" she adds, unaware of how she is haunting all his fantasies lately and how she is just creating a new one as she playfully threatens to punish him.

He can only gulp, trying desperately to erase the forbidden thoughts coming with her impish smile and innocent threat.

"Why do you always call me Nathaniel? You know... everyone calls me Nate." It's the only thing he's found to change the subject as her voice pronouncing his full name is still resonating in him.

"Er... I don't know... it's your name, I mean... I didn't know if I could... if we were close... But if you want, I can call you Nate?"

Here she is again, rambling and stuttering again, losing her composure, and losing her words to put a name on what they are. She looks down, trying to not make more a fool of herself and not make this situation more awkward with her flushed cheeks.

"No, I like the way you say it... with your accent..." he replies softly, barely above a whisper. "That you're the only one calling me like this."

She isn't sure what it makes of the situation, but it makes her look up despite the warm rush to her cheeks, and she hasn't expected to find him so close. He has been leaning down to catch her gaze, and he has definitely got it, along with her breath, as she gets lost in his tenebrous gaze, his intoxicating perfume, and the warmth of his body drawing her in.

So much trouble to wipe away the tension in the air, and it's back stronger than ever. It's like trying to keep an anchor floating; he may have lifted it up for a few moments, but the thickness is falling back, and Nate is drowning with it, her doe eyes and parted lips tempting him to surrender.

Slowly, so slowly,  the attraction is submerging each of his muscles, and the few inches separating them diminish.

Their lips brush in a feather-like touch for a micro-second, or maybe he's dreamed it? No, because the electricity it has sent through his bones cannot be imagined, only felt, and like a defibrillator, it wakens his dazed brain.

"We can't." He pulls away abruptly, his body shaking from the jolt. "We can't," he repeats lower.

He can't; he can't do that to Pamela. Yesterday's night is still so fresh in his memory, how considerate and caring she is. She is giving him everything a man can wish for, yet he keeps wanting the one he can't have.

His chest grows so tight on that thought, which makes it impossible to breathe when the air is scarcer the farther he is from Anastasia.

We can't, he repeats in his mind, battling his own body and the pressure pulling him towards Anastasia. 

He can't. He's pronounced vows two years ago, and he has to honor them. He still hears them echoing inside the narrowing space of his chest, the breaches he's already made weighing down on his ribcage. He's a horrible husband.

And the oppression only worsens with the broken look that crosses Anastasia's eyes for a second and crashes straight to his chest before she shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have..." She rushes to her cart, looking everywhere but in his eyes. "I'll finish later."

"No, I–"

But she has already exited the room, once more disappearing like an angel and leaving him here, breathless and crippled.

The only thing he can do is throwing his head back and taking big uneven breaths, which do nothing except making him feel even more horrible. Horrible for betraying his wife, horrible for making Anastasia feel guilty, and each thought is worsening the other.

Anastasia leans against the cold wall as soon as she is safe and alone, in another room, on another floor. Now she can breathe, well at least try to. Nathaniel has taken her breath away when his lips have grazed her, but since he's drawn back, she can't breathe.

She feels so stupid and thoughtless. This is safer. They are just friends; they can't. He has a gorgeous wife; she has Fergus. Yet repeating all of this doesn't steady the erratic beats of her heart. It is like her heart has been pulled in every direction, up and down, and now, it is bouncing painfully against her ribcage.

***

Another door, another empty room, another day without seeing her. It has been four days since that kiss, that almost-kiss – Nate doesn't even dare to put a name on it. Four days, and he hasn't found her anywhere. He could text her, call her, but what can he say?

He knows it's better to not talk about it, yet the look he's seen in her eyes after their 'almost-kiss' is replaying over and over in his head. 

He just needs to make sure she is fine; he doesn't want her to feel guilty when she is already haunted by too many worries. And these are too many questions that he can't ask, that he shouldn't have. So he just keeps staring at her name on his phone screen: Anastasia. 

He lets out a big sigh, shaking his head. Between that and exploring too many rooms in the hope of finding her somewhere, he is acting ridiculously.

Let's put that on the tiredness of the past days, he tries, rubbing the tensed muscles of his neck. The mission has left him empty once again. He should head home to rest, but despite the tiredness weighing him down, he isn't really eager to.

The last detour and then he goes home. 

He takes another turn in a hopeless attempt, and he almost drops his phone when his mindless thinking is interrupted by a small crowd in the usually empty at this time hall.

He isn't sure why, but he gets closer, trying to see what is gathering so many people: some of his colleagues, office workers, cleaning ladies, and in the center, attracting everyone's attention, some of the superiors and... His heart jumps... Anastasia.

Trouble... What do you think is happening? Is Anastasia in trouble? You gotta wait for next chapter to know... 😉

In the meantime, what do you think of this 'almost kiss' between the two 'friends'? 😉 And this new playful side of Nate pulling pranks? 😁

Let me know what you think (I LOVE to read your little comments!) and vote if you like the story so far ❤