Dandelion Lover

"No thanks," he replied curtly while gesturing shortly towards the glass in his hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked because it's been weeks since I saw him smile or joke around. He was usually a serious man but he knew how to have fun from time to time. We all felt that he was stressed about something but no one knew what happened to him.

"Yeah." and the silence had once again taken hold of the atmosphere, pushing me to say something, but I didn't know what. I was never good at consoling people since that meant I had to understand what they were going through, and sometimes I just couldn't.

I smiled automatically as I always did and looked over at him as he was swirling the dark brown drink in his glass with a slight move of his wrist...

"Is this new project going to be hard?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. Gray wasn't really a talkative person but he would always answer my questions about anything related to work.

"Not really, just a simple design for some events taking place at one of the companies. Even a total newbie could make them," he grumbled obviously annoyed at the simplicity of the task while moving his unlit cigarette around in his hand.

"I'm sure not anyone can do it." I tried to make him feel better by complimenting him, that much I could do. He turned and stared at me for a moment then a slight glimmer passed over his green eyes that were usually darkened with worry, enlightening them for just a second before it disappeared again.

"Want to try?" he simply asked and I could feel my mouth opening and closing like I was a fish gulping for air. "I'll teach you!" he added almost enthusiastically and entered the office.

I didn't really have time to process what he said as he gestured for me to follow him into his office and used his hand to gently sit me on the chair in front of his computer.

"This is the program I use and although it has many functions you will soon see it's easy to understand." he started patiently explaining to me how to do the most basic of operations, the cutting and resizing of a picture. I looked at him amazed and amused at the same time.

"I know how to do this much." I chuckled as he looked at me with a weird look on his face. "I'm not really an expert but I can crop and resize a picture at least." I continued as his frown softened and a smile appeared on his lips.

"Of course you would, sorry, I've seen too many people who didn't even know the most basic of the operations, I just assumed..." and he looked at me almost ashamed of his thoughts.

"It's fine, I'm used to people thinking I know nothing about computers, even though I spent plenty of my free time on them." I almost felt sorry for the way I was making him feel but the fact that he showed a smile after such a long time made me feel it was worth it.

"Then let's see what you can do." I could see a mischievous grin flash over his lips as he took the mouse from my hand and opened a folder on the desktop.

"There is going to be a seminar at this company and they need us to design their banners with the same colors and logo as we did their website. Here are the dimensions, now show me what you can do." and as he said that he left me sitting at the desk while he poured himself another drink and got comfortable on the sofa.

About half an hour passed and I was already running out of ideas, or better said knowledge on how to make the program do what I want. I glanced over to Gray and became transfixed when I saw him looking at me, brushing the empty glass on his lower lip which had his mouth slightly open and in his eyes, there were strangely bright lights I had never seen before that deepened his stare more than I ever thought possible.

His coal like hair was messy and falling slightly over his eyes giving him an almost ruthless look. I could feel him looking at me, observing my every move and I shivered under his intense stare.

I was not sure whether it felt good or bad to be watched like that but I couldn't move my own eyes away and the words I desperately searched for were stuck in my throat.

"Yes?" he asked in a husky voice and it was enough to make me snap out of my trance.

"I'm not sure how to change the fields here..." I managed to say with a raspy voice and took a sip of coffee to wet my throat. He placed the empty glass on the floor and stood up from the couch, then he approached the desk positioning himself behind the chair, looking lazily for a few seconds on what I'd been working on.

"You want to make a transparent background for this right?"

"Yeah. I want to crop the logo and place it on the right of the image, then place a thin frame to keep it all in place." I tried to explain and he listened without saying anything. I suddenly felt his breath near my neck and heat emanating from his body that was now next to mine making me squirm in the seat.

He used his hand to grab the mouse over my own hand and our skin touching made my heart race a thousand miles per hour, the close proximity to each other kept me unable to move or breathe properly much like I was enchanted. His other hand was pressing on the side of the chair supporting himself while he was looking over at the computer screen.

Using his slightly damp hand to guide the mouse, he moved over from one side to the other of the screen showing me things I couldn't even understand. I was becoming dizzy from all the feelings that were suddenly overwhelming me and suddenly a warm hand was softly touching my forehead.

"Are you okay? Your face is all red, did you catch a cold?" he asked his voice resounding closely to my ear making my face feel even hotter, I could feel the alarm going in my head, I needed to get away, I couldn't resist facing the turmoil in my heart.

I turned to get up and leave but the sudden movement of the chair made Gray lose his balance and lean over to me where his lips touched the corner of my lips. My mind was screaming to get away but my heart was stuck looking at him. He looked confused for a second but the glint in his eyes quickly turned into something more, something I was scared of but at the same time attracted to.

He smoothly passed his hand at the back of my head, lightly entangling his fingers through my unraveled hair and softly grazed my lips with his own before retreating a bit to look at my expression, sending chills of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e down my skin.

I could only stare back at him, unable to do or say anything and before I knew it, he had firmly clenched the strands of my hair in between his fingers and pulled me slightly towards him, his lips rushing to grasp mine in a savage kiss that ravaged all of my senses.

I could feel the bitter taste of the alcohol lingering and the faint fragrance of the cigarette together with the warmth emanating from him. It never happened to me to not be able to control myself, but this time I was beyond salvation.

I closed my eyes to savor his essence as our kiss grew deeper and rougher, making my lips experience a bit of pain together with the sweetness of the wanton action. I could feel his hand guiding my head to better position ourselves, it was still tangled in my hair keeping it in a tight grip that only made me feel like I had to comply to his every move.

His mouth finally lifted from mine and we both took a while to try and normalize our own breathing while our eyes were once again looking at each other.

"Shit!" I heard his gruff voice and I suddenly felt a chill go through my whole body as his hands stripped me of his warmth and it was exactly what woke me up. I got up and turned without saying anything and rushed out of the office.

I had lost to him and to myself and I knew that! It felt so good and yet so scary at the same time, I never tasted such passion in my life and I thought I was unable to feel such a hypnotic attraction towards a man, but I was just proven wrong...