She closed her eyes and took a long breath through her nose.  I saw the corner of her eyes fall as the edges of her lips rose to a curious smile.  She must have caught another scent when I moved - the cologne she loves.  She opened her eyes and stared at me.  I couldn’t deny that I wore this just for her; to tease her the way she teased me.  As we stared for what seemed like minutes, I searched through her dark brown eyes that almost never revealed what she was thinking, always a mystery. 

We stared at each other for a few more moments.  I wanted to lean over and take her in my arms and bring to life all the pleasures of lust in my head.  I wanted to pull her up against me and break the aura around her while slowly moving in and pressing her lips against mine.

“Gray,” she said. “Where did we…”

I couldn’t let her finish her sentence.  Something about this was wrong.  I’m supposed to hate her, remember!  Why is this so complicated?  Thoughts rushed through my head: lust, pleasure, fantasies, but most of all guilt.

“It’s nine already…” I said, interrupting her, and walked to my left and towards the front door.

I watched her head sink into her chest as I walked away.  She sat there as I began to close the side security gates, not moving.  I took my time setting up the locks, noticing she was still sitting there, staring at the ground.  Finally, she hopped off the counter and turned my way.

“There are a few items that need to be wrapped up.  I’m gonna finish those up while you close up here.”  She turned towards the back door again.

I looked at her as she slowly walked away.  I stared at her perfectly formed legs fitting tight underneath her black skirt.  She must have known I was watching each of her steps.  She stopped at the door and stood still for a moment.

“Let me know if you need me,” she said and disappeared in the back.

Her tone was a bit lower, almost like if she was forcefully keeping herself busy.  In fact, I knew she was.  She hates our wrapping machine.  She couldn’t wrap up merchandise to save her life.  Instead of leaving items straight and firm, her wrappings were always loose and wrinkled.  She usually left all the wrapping to me since I did the best job out of anyone in the store.

I finished up filling out our check out reports at the register when I heard tussling coming from the back.  I could tell she was struggling with what she was doing.  The constant crunch of plastic wrap being thrown into the garbage along with deep sighs gave her away.  I felt sorry for a minute, thinking about what she might have said earlier.  She was about as stubborn as I was, she wouldn’t ask for my help back there, yet she was so close on opening up to me.  I filled in the last line and turned to walk towards the back area.  Walking up, I stopped at the door and turned to look into the corner that housed our wrapping station.

“Need help?” I said