And he immediately kisses me back.
Heseriouslykisses me back.
What am I doing?screams a voice in my head.Oh my God what am Idoing…?
But when we move away from each other, just a little bit, I find myself drawing him back towards me, and now he’s kissing me harder, now he’s pressing me up against the wall and my leg is wrapping around his and I can’t stop, I don’t want to stop, but Ishouldwant to stop, I know I should, because this is Art whose hand is in my hair, this is Art whose tongue is in my mouth, this is Art whose leg is pressed firmly between my thighs, this isArt fucking Sullivan…
We finally pull away from each other.
‘I …’ I begin, but I can’t say anymore.
‘Fuck,’ says Art. I’ve never seen him look flustered before. ‘I’m sorry, McDermott, I—’ He grabs his bag and his jacket. ‘I’ll see you on Monday. Sorry. I’m really sorry.’
And then he’s gone.
Chapter Nine
INT: ANNIE AND ROO’S HOUSE / INT: PUB IN GLASNEVIN / INT: MCDERMOTT FAMILY HOME
‘I think it might be a good thing,’ says Roo on Saturday morning. ‘In the long run.’
I stare at her. ‘A good thing? The fact that I kissed my awful officemate? The fact that he then literally ran away from me? How on earth is any of that good?’
Roo was out again last night, at a birthday dinner for one of her college friends, so it wasn’t until this morning that I could tell her what had happened with Art. And now here we are in the kitchen, as she tries to persuade me that kissing the most irritating man I know was a great idea.
‘Wasn’t there tension between you all week?’ she says. ‘It sounded like there was plenty of tension.’
‘Yeah, but it wasn’t, like, sexual tension.’ Roo gives me a sceptical look and I say, ‘It wasn’t!’
‘If you say so,’ says Roo. ‘So did kissing him release any of this tension?’
I get a flashback of Art’s surprisingly strong, hard body pressed up against me, the touch of his hand on my face, the urgency of his mouth on mine. I remember the sound of my breath, still quick and heavy, after he disappeared from the office.
‘Um, I suppose so,’ I say. ‘Maybe.’
‘Well then,’ says Roo. ‘It’ll probably be fine between you on Monday. It’ll be better than fine! All that tension will be gone. He won’t annoy you at all.’
I wouldn’t bet on that. I sip my tea and then a horrible thought strikes me.
‘God, Roo,’ I say, ‘I kissed him first. Apart from the, like, general awfulness of being with Art Sullivan, that wassoinappropriate. He’s my colleague!’
‘Didn’t you do it after he said he liked your face?’ says Roo. ‘That wasn’t exactly professional either. Plus he kissed you back so he can’t have minded too much.’
‘Still!’ I feel genuinely upset. ‘It’s not on. Fuck, I should apologise to him.’
Roo looks a little sceptical. ‘If you’re sure …’
‘Where’s my phone?’ I realise I left it charging next to my bed. And when I grab it I see there’s a new message. Sent about twenty minutes ago.
It’s from Art.
Annie, I’m very sorry about what happened yesterday. It was totally unprofessional and I can assure you it won’t happen again. If you want, I can ask Susan to move me to another office. Many apologies again.
I stare at the message for a long moment. Then I return to the kitchen and show it to Roo.
‘Oh,’ she says. ‘On the bright side, it doesn’t look like he’s blaming you.’
I don’t say anything. I’m genuinely not sure how I feel right now.