My hand dropped from William's shoulder while my eyes sharply turned to the door. I sank back in relief. It was still locked. But Lilian was currently on the other side of it. Without sparing William a second glance, I moved to the door and quickly unlocked it.

"I figured you were in here trying to rectify your mess. Have you been able to rinse the stain out of the shirt?" Lilian asked as she walked in holding a shopping bag.

"That's what I was just doing, rinsing the shirt." I pointed to said shirt on the sink then scurried over and placed it under the tap again.

"Okay, good." I heard her reply. "I had the items delivered from a nearby store sir. I believe they will fit well."

I looked up to see if my cheeks were still red but met William's eyes through the mirror instead. He grinned and I started coughing. The jerk was clearly unfazed. If the door hadn't been locked and Lilian had walked in... I shuddered just thinking of the outcome.

"They should, thank you Lilian. And by the way, HR sent a report this morning. Taylor McKenna filed a complaint about you two bullying her?" He said and I glanced at Lilian through the mirror.

"That intolerable woman," she scoffed, "who was bullying her?"

I silently laughed.

"This is your third issue with her this year."

"She is completely insufferable sir." Lilian made a small noise of disgruntlement.

He smiled, "HR won't see it that way. I'll be fine Lilian, I can handle myself. So try to get into less headbutts with her, okay?"

"Okay sir." She nodded resignedly then turned to me, "you are going to rinse that shirt to fibres, let's take it out to dry and we can leave Mr Illston to change."

"Oh, yeah sorry." I smiled a little too enthusiastically then handed the wet, unsqueezed shirt to her.

"I did not mean you should not squeeze it," she sighed, "you are quite full of it today miss Duhamels."

"I think I might actually be coming down with something." I faked a cough. The sound of a small chuckle reached my ears and if Lilian wasn't, at that moment, eying me doubtfully, I would have glared at the source.

"Well, I guess that explains your flush."

"That is totally it." I chuckled. "I'm going to go now." I smiled wobbly and passed by William who sent me one last wolfish grin. His plan was clearly to get me sent me to an early grave. Thankfully, Lilian's focus was on the shirt she was now squeezing.

Out of the restroom, I happily welcomed the cooler temperature. I patted my cheeks then sighed.

"I'll take this to spread, you can go sort through those design templates on my desk." Lilian said as she too came out of the restroom, holding the well squeezed shirt.

"Okay."

She was soon gone and I turned to face the restroom door, staring intently at the handle. A not-too-deep part of me was now nettled remembering the trajectory William and I were heading down before Lilian's timely arrival. If only her timing wasn't so impeccable. I stared at the handle once more but shook my head and turned away, returning to my desk instead.

***

"Hey—"

"I just punched your landlord."

"What? Why?" I opened the door wider, letting an annoyed looking William into my apartment. It was still a few minutes to noon and I was in the middle of deciding whether to tie my hair up or leave it down when he knocked mere seconds ago.

"He saw me and started talking shit about how my blondie girlfriend would be next to be killed." He flexed his fingers.

"He's been saying stupid stuff like that all week." I left my hair down. Jiggy's crude words still made my skin crawl and I steadfastly tried to evade him but the man was a boisterous pestilence.

"And that doesn't seem suspicious to you?"

"It does, it's extremely creepy too but you saw the man, he's barely ever sober. Could someone like that really commit a crime and not get caught immediately? He has like zero coordination."

"Don't completely overrule it and remember that night," he looked around my apartment. "I'm glad you're moving out of here soon. Are you ready?" With his question, his dark eyes landed squarely on me and I consciously smoothed the front of my skirt down.

"Um yeah. Let me go grab my purse."

Red bricked and many storeys high, the Illston tech apartments building stood located in a somewhat busy area of Brooklyn. The neighbourhood was a far cry from my potholed and grime filled one. I mentally laughed at the irony I was now faced with. The apartment I'd fervently declined when William first proposed it was now looking like some sort of saving grace.

"How'd you come up with staff apartments anyway? Seems more common with academic staff."

"It was actually Mark's idea to start investing in real estate. And when we bought the building, it was only meant to be leased out to whoever but I noticed a few staff struggling and decided to ease things a little and turn it into staff living for those who really needed it."

"How noble of you."

"Here I thought you'd be a tiny bit awed." He grinned.

"As if." I rolled my eyes but smiled. As if I'd let you know.

We entered the building through the double doors and the interior was even nicer than the exterior. The lobby was wide with various sitting and waiting spaces. William walked straight to the dark wood front desk that matched the brown and cream tones of the rest of the lobby.

"Afternoon Cheryl," I heard him say before I delved further into the lobby, viewing it with keen interest. My current apartment's lobby was quarter this size and the reception desk had been vacant since I moved in and probably since the day it was first brought in. This place certainly wouldn't be a bad place to live in.

Other apartment options were available. But, I was only slightly shameless and the idea of not paying rent for the first three months was amazing. Also, I had a plan. In a year, I'd be out of here. Out of this apartment and out of this job. I glanced at William who was still talking to the receptionist. I'd be faraway from the debacle I somehow found myself in since seeing him in that boardroom months ago. I had to be out of here.

"I'm done, we can go up now." William appeared at my side breaking my chain of thoughts.

"How many apartments are there in here?" I asked as we entered the elevator.

"About two hundred, give or take. I have keys to empty apartments on the 8th, 14th and 16th floor." He held the keys up to my face. The elevator stopped on the eighth floor and walking straight down, we stopped at the fifth apartment on the row.

He unlocked the door and I almost instantly fell in love with the cozy, white brick walled apartment. It was completely empty but I could already imagine it decorated with different furniture. Venturing further in, I entered the kitchen first, eyeing all the cupboards and drawers. I left the kitchen and returned to the expanse space that was the living room, walking towards one of the large windows. I stared out, trying to make some random deductions from the street below.

"Do you like it?"

"So far," I bobbed my head, "what about the bedrooms and bathroom?"

He pointed to two different doors which I eagerly moved to check. The rooms were spacious as well with great views to go too and the bathroom was perfect. There was even a little storage room. I was sold.

Leaning against the kitchen counter a few minutes later I started contemplating, "I'm guessing all the units are like this or similar anyway. And if they are all like this then the big question for me is do I want to stay on a higher floor because I'm sure the view will be even better or down here because it'll be less ground to cover but the thought of the view seems quite tempti—"

"Ophelia?"

"Hm?" I turned to William who suddenly cut me off. I didn't expect to find him standing closer than he was just moments ago or for his hands to slide around my waist and pull me against him or for his lips to meet mine.

That last occurrence was definitely the least expected one.

William's warm and incredibly soft lips slowly moved against mine but I stood completely still. His eyes flickered open and that was when the initial shock wore off. I didn't even think of pushing him away. Just closer. It only took a second to close my eyes, wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back, hard.

He backed me to the counter, swiftly lifting me on it without our lips pausing or breaking away. His hands stroked the sides of my waist as our tongues collided while mine greedily ran through his soft dark hair, pulling and tugging in different directions. A soft moan sounded from somewhere in my throat when his fingers moved, going under my shirt, teasing my skin then the next second into my hair, tilting my head back and deepening the kiss. This felt like bliss.

I don't know how long we stayed in our frenzied lip lock but when we finally pulled apart for the obvious need of air, my heart was racing faster than normal. I blinked twice letting the reality of the moment sink in. William and I just kissed. Oh boy.

His eyes, slightly hooded now, carried a spectrum of emotions I couldn't place. Feeling unnerved and unsure under his blatant scrutiny, I swallowed and said the first thing that came to my mind.

"You've finally avenged yourself."

"Avenged myself?" His right brow arched perfectly and I found it unfair how sexy the simple action looked on him.

"You said you'd avenge yourself for what I did and attempted to do." I diligently explained like I was talking to a toddler.

"My revenge," he now slowly nodded, "because what else could kissing you have meant?" He chuckled but it almost seemed dry.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Then," one of his hands rested on my thigh playing with the hem of my skirt. I bit my lower lip, trying to focus on only his face instead. "why did you kiss me back?"

"It's been over a year since I kissed anyone, imagine drinking water after a dry spell." And because I've been daydreaming more often than I should lately.

His lips quirked up, "then you wouldn't be so responsive anymore if I kissed you again? Because your thirst has been quenched?"

His hand disappeared into my skirt and my breath caught. I clenched my thighs. He was testing me and I was going to fail.

"I wouldn't know until you tried," I whispered.

"No, you wouldn't." He said directly against my lips. My eyes closed while my mouth slowly opened, ready for the contact but felt only air. My eyes flew open and saw William leaning away. "Too bad we still have all those apartments to see." He smiled coolly and stepped back again.

A protest nearly formed on my lips but I clamped them shut on time. He probably wanted me to beg but I still had an inch of sense within me. I wasn't entirely putty. Because this was William. William my boss, William, my ex. Oh God.

"We should definitely get going." He helped me down from the counter, his hands slowly sliding up my sides and lingering longer than necessary. I shuffled away from him.

"What were you saying about views?" He glanced at me over his shoulder.

Perhaps, we'd gone and unknowingly opened some kind of pandora's box this afternoon. Testing fate. Or, it was just what it was.

"The higher the nicer?" I asked more than said and he smiled.

Again, perhaps we were really screwed.

***