Mr. Ferndale's office was empty, and Gus was nowhere to be seen.

As work and conversations resumed, Max leaned over to whisper, "Don't chew your lip off, Lari. He'll be back."

Clarissa gave a weak smile. The good thing about envelope stuffing could also be a bad thing: it wasn't challenging mental work which left lots of time to banter with colleagues, or to let you mind chew on problems like 'Where was Gus?' 

Fifteen minutes later, her shoulders relaxed and a smile spread over her face when Gus pushed through the door, followed by Mr. Ferndale. Clarissa blushed as she felt several pairs of eyes cut over to her immediately. Did she even want to know what kind of bets people were taking on the outcome?

Mr. Ferndale stepped forward. "There's a special project upstairs we need a few people for. Toby, Sandy, Clarissa, Marjorie, Beth, Tom and Ari. Follow Gus and he'll take you where you need to go."

With a nervous smile at Maxine, Clarissa joined the small crew assembled around Gus. She kept her eyes on the floor, and followed Toby's sneakers out the door and into the elevators.

"So, what's the project?" Marjorie asked.

"Stamping," came Gus' reply from directly behind Clarissa. The hair on her neck rose at his proximity. Although there were eight people crowded in the small space, she could feel Gus' body heat warming her. "There's an order that got messed up. There are only a thousand or so. We should be able to finish it today."

"No chance of stretching it out, is there? Sounds a lot better than stuffing envelopes," Sandy said wistfully, getting a few nods of agreement.

The elevator doors slid open, revealing a long carpeted hallway with several doors leading off both sides. Gus led them down to a room on the right. Several stacks of papers were spread out in intervals around a long, oval table.

As they entered the room, Gus ushered the others to spots around the table and held out an open palm inviting Clarissa the option of the spot at the end - where there was no one across and would be only him beside her. She stepped forward and caught Beth twitching her head to get the others to look at her and Gus.

"It's a straight forward job." Gus stepped up beside her and demonstrated how to stamp the address on. "One person stamps, the other folds and stuffs." Sandy groaned good-naturedly and picked up the stamper before Ari could get to it.

Turning to Clarissa, Gus smiled down at her. He gestured for her to choose folding or stamping.

A fine sheen of sweat broke out on Clarissa's palms as she picked up the stamper. I've worked next to guys I'm attracted to, she chastised herself. She took a deep steadying breath, then held it when she peeked over at him shifting the stacks of envelopes into neater piles and saw muscles rippling down his arms with the simple actions.

Good God, he's amazing.

She jumped guiltily when Gus said, "Shall we begin?"

Not wanting to screw up due to nervousness, Clarissa focused carefully on stamping. After ten minutes, her body knew what to do and her mind, and eyes, wandered back to Gus. She covertly observed the muscles flexing in his arms as he folded papers and stuffed.

As she watched him run his fingers through his thick wavy hair, she wondered if it felt as silky as it looked.

Gus said, "So, I hear you're pretty good with plants."

The statement caught her completely off guard. "Say what?"

"Plants. I hear you're good with them."

"Uh, yeah. I guess so. I'm going to school for horticulture."

"Really! Where do you go?"

Clarissa blushed. "Just the city college." She wasn't sure if she was blushing because she had to admit she went to the city college - Gus definitely looked like the kind of guy who got a scholarship at a big university - or because of how intently he was looking at her. "Who told you I'm good with plants?"

He waved his hand noncommittally."Oh, someone mentioned it."

"Oh."

"What got you into horticulture?" he continued.

Clarissa bit her lip when she realized she actually wanted to tell him the truth. Very few people knew she'd found her green thumb in an effort to supplement the limited social support money her mom received. She'd first learned what wild edible plants she could collect, which led to a small indoor garden in any container she could find and seedlings she prepped to sow in the nearby forest. The patches were successful, even if a lot got eaten by animals.

Her real break came from a fluke part-time gardening job that revealed how lucrative tending people's gardens could be - one that gave her the flexibility to care for her mother while doing something she loved.

"Oh, well, you know..." Clarissa stalled. "I just really like to grow things."

"What's your favourite plant?" Gus asked.

It was a common question in her field. She shrugged and gave him the first ever relaxed smile. "That's a tough question. I mean, how do you choose? There are just so many that are amazing for so many different reasons."

"So, you have several dozen favourites then?" His mouth twitched up in a teasing grin.

The sound of Clarissa's soft laughter got the attention of their co-workers who didn't try to hide their outright stares. "Getting me started talking about plants can be dangerous. Most people's eyes glaze over when I start gushing over how beautiful their rhododendrons or freesias are."

"What's your favourite flower?" he asked.

Clarissa could never lie without blushing. So, even though after so many years she still felt a nasty little hook pull at her heart, she told the truth. "Gerbera daisies."

One of Gus' eyebrows rose. He intently searched her face which contradicted the joking tone of his question, "Gerb what? Doesn't Gerber's make baby food?"

Clarissa laughed. "Ger-ber-a daisy," she enunciated carefully. "You'd think they're in the daisy family, like the name suggests, but really they're in the sunflower family. They look kind of like the regular sunflower, but they're smaller. They have lots of little petals in a few stacked rows."

The warmth of Gus' smile enveloped Clarissa. "Why that particular flower?"

Her mind flashed to the small pile of framed flowers carefully hidden under her bed. Her father had given her one each birthday until his death. The ten boxes were the only surviving presence of her father in their apartment. She watched her hands as she gave her canned response, "When you frame them in a little wooden box with a glass front, they're really beautiful."

Years of flying under the radar of social services to hide her home situation had ingrained the habit of deflecting interest in herself. "So, do you go to college or anything, Gus?"

"Actually," he replied with a satisfied smile, "I just graduated."

"Congratulations! That's terrific. What did you study?"

"Business. Marketing, in particular."

Of course, Clarissa's mind supplied. "And why business?"

"Well, it's kind of a-"

"Gus! Can you come and look at this?" Toby called.

Clarissa never found out what it was, because after fifteen minutes of sorting out the printing problem Toby identified with his stack of papers, Gus forstalled her question by asking, "So, are you going to the Christmas party this weekend?"

Clarissa blinked up at him blankly.

"You know, the company Christmas party? Happening tomorrow at the Railton Hotel? Starting around seven?" His eyes twinkled again, teasing.

"Uh, yeah, sure. I forgot it was this Saturday." She had forgotten because she had no intention of attending. Going to the Christmas party meant losing out on an entire shift of work she might pick up under the table at one of the restaurants she had deals with.

"I hope you can come. It'll be more fun if you're there." His tone was teasing, but his eyes smoldered into hers. Her stomach contracted. Her heart began to beat faster. She didn't think reactions like this actually happened in real life.

"Yeah, uh, I'll try to make it," she stammered and tore her gaze away.

"Got another hot date already?" he said, attempting lightness with a chuckle.

Is he nervous? she wondered, looking back at him.

"Nothing like that." She smiled briefly. "I've just got some family stuff to take care of." There, that left her an out, without revealing that if her mom was managing the latest bout of depression, she'd be trying to get a shift of work.

Concern creased Gus' brow. "Oh, what's wrong? Nothing too serious, I hope?"

"My mom has a bad cold." The cold was true enough.

"My grandmother's recipe for colds is to mix two tablespoons each of honey, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice in a cup of hot water. Oh, and cinnamon. You should drink it twice a day. It really works – but it tastes horrible!" Gus' deep throaty laugh rippled her insides in delicious ways.

She wrinkled her nose in agreement. "Yes, it sounds like it would be awful."

They relaxed into companionable silence as they worked for several more minutes.

"I'm glad we don't have to lick these envelopes," Gus said.

Surprised at how comfortable he made her feel, she flashed her own hesitant teasing grin. "We could just SWAK them."

Gus quirked up an eyebrow, perplexed. "Smack them?"

"No, SWAK them." Lifting an envelope, Clarissa dramatically kissed the flap. "Sealed with a kiss!"

"A kiss, huh?" Gus' eyes dropped to Clarissa's mouth. Her breath caught in her throat at the hungry look in his eye.

"Or, there's always glue stick!" She quipped to cover her self-consciousness. She laughed nervously as his eyes lingered on her slightly parted lips for another long second before flicking back up to hers. Only when she picked up the stamp again did he turn back to stuffing.

As the pile of sheets got lower and lower, Clarissa was torn between wanting to get away from Gus and the nervous feeling he aroused in her, and wishing this project would keep going forever so she could stay near him. He managed to keep conversation easy between them, with a healthy dose of unmistakable flirting on his part.

She wouldn't see him again until work resumed after New Year's – unless she went to the Christmas party tomorrow night.

At the end of the shift when Clarissa went to the locker room, Maxine pounced on her. "Let's get a coffee, Lari. I need to hear every detail!"

Clarissa sighed. "I can't. My mom's sick. I've really got to go home and make sure she's alright." Maxine's pout of disappointment made up Clarissa's mind. "I'm going to the Christmas party tomorrow though. I can catch you up then."

"Christmas party? You!?" Maxine rubbed her eyes as if to clear them. "Wow! What happened up there? Did you get body snatched or something?" She made a show of patting Clarissa to check if she was real. With a wink, Maxine flopped down on the bench. "Okay, let's meet up an hour early at Java Joe's, just in case he monopolizes you at the party. I'll buy the coffee. You bring the details."

A warm glow bubbled up in Clarissa's chest and erupted in a delighted smile as she imagined Gus monopolizing her time. An entire evening, without work between them. She thought of his long look at her lips. That was supposed to be what happened when someone wanted to kiss you. Was that what he'd been thinking?

By the time Clarissa had visited the bathroom and gotten her coat and hat, everyone else had fled to their cars and left to enjoy whatever remained of Friday night.

Clarissa stood just inside the door absently playing with the oversize black buttons on the old wool pea-green coat she'd found at a charity shop. She always delayed going out to wait for the bus in the freezing December air as long as possible. The buses didn't always run on time in the winter, and she knew her feet would be frozen in a few minutes waiting in just her sneakers.

Steeling herself for the cold, she muttered, "Can't miss the bus."

Clarissa reached back for the hood of her coat, but before she could raise it, the hood lifted of its own accord and settled over her head.

The stab of fear of an unknown assailant was replaced by thrills of pleasure as Gus' chuckle sounded behind her. He walked around in front of her to adjust her hood. "There. Nice and cosy warm."

Leaning back against the door jamb with his arms crossed, she could see the swell of muscles across his chest and his sculpted arms under his tight T-shirt. Her fingers ached to run her hand up his arm like Jocelyn had.

"I'm sorry, what?" she stammered, aghast that she had been so absorbed in his physique that she hadn't even realized he was talking.

"I just said it was fun working with you tonight."

Heat rose in her cheeks. "Yeah, me too." She felt herself drowning in his hazel eyes and wrenched her gaze away to the floor, acutely aware of how close he was.

Their earlier easy banter collapsed into an awkward silence as Clarissa examined her scuffed old running shoes. Although leaving was the last thing she wanted to do, the thought of missing her bus prompted action. "Well, I'd better get going. I've got, uh, stuff to do."

Gus didn't move from partially blocking the door. "Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

Her stomach turned sour at the thought of Gus knowing that she lived in the worst neighbourhood in the city. "Thanks, but I'm okay to get home."

"I'm going over to Park Lane. Are you headed that way?"

Park Lane was just around the corner from her house. She looked at Gus again, reappraising. His clothes were in good condition, but she didn't see any designer labels. His shoes were regular Nike runners.

Don't be quick to judge! Why can't he come from your neighbourhood? she told herself. She curled her fingers into balls at the thought of him being her neighbour and running into him on the street.

"Actually, I live just around the corner from there. It would save me a bus trip - not to mention freezing at the bus stop waiting," she said with a rueful grin.

"My pleasure." He reached out and touched her arm gently for a mere second. "Just let me get my coat."