3:30pm

...

He wasn't sure how long he'd been here, sitting in the central control room, reviewing reports. Oh, who am I kidding, he thought. He hadn't reviewed a single report. He'd been there for at least an hour and the pile was no smaller than it had been when he sat down. He'd constantly been distracted and was becoming quite frustrated, but he couldn't get mad at anyone but himself.

He'd been distracted by her.

She was furiously typing something, going back and forth between the different keyboards and screens, completely immersed in what she was doing. Whenever she was that wrapped up in a project, he could really watch her and she'd never notice. Stop it, he chided himself. She's too young and sweet for you and you can't get involved with someone you work with. Her hair gently moved as she glanced back and forth between screens and he could see an expanse of creamy thigh below the hem of her mini skirt, which only grew larger as she crossed her legs. Oh God, those skirts… they drove him nuts and caused unending problems for him, such as the distraction he was currently experiencing.

Not to mention the other problem… he thought, as he felt his pulse speed up and his blood begin a southerly trek at the thoughts his all too vivid imagination conjured up every time he looked at her. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm and control himself, but his situation was only made worse as his mind suddenly projected the image of her half naked in the control chair, flushed and panting, her mini skirt shoved up around her waist and his head between her legs. He gasped as his eyes opened and he shook his head, trying to clear the absurdly erotic image from his mind. In fact, he was so distracted trying to get her out of his mind that he didn't realize she had been standing beside him for a moment, calling his name.

"Becker! Are you okay?"

He looked at her and jolted to awareness, slightly shifting on his stool to readjust his semi-inflated cock and hoping the slight bulge in his pants wasn't too noticeable.

"Yeah, Jess, I'm fine. Did you need something?"

"Actually, I do. I'd like to invite you to a party. My best friend, Elsie, is celebrating her birthday and recent engagement tonight and she's rented out a club and everything. It should be fun and I thought you might like to get out for a bit. Connor and Abby are going, a few other people who work here and I even think a couple of your men may stop by. Matt said he has other plans and Lester just gave me a withering look when I asked him. Anyways, here's the information if you decide you'd like to go." She handed him a piece of paper with all the info neatly written out in her feminine print.

"You said it's at a club? Like a night club?" he asked warily, holding the piece of paper gingerly, as though it would bite him at any moment. He had never been great with crowded social events like that, but the thought of seeing Jess all dolled up for a night on the town was extremely tempting. That same thought made him growl internally, thinking of how she'd probably have the attention of every man there. He knew he had no right to have such possessive and jealous thoughts about her, but so far he'd had no luck stopping them.

"It's actually a dance club. I know, it's probably not really your thing. Quite frankly, it's not really my thing either, but Elsie's my best friend and she knows a lot of really interesting people, so her parties are always amazing. Also, it's been a long time since I just cut loose and had some fun. The kind of fun that doesn't have dinosaurs involved." She grinned at him, obviously excited at the thought of a night out.

"Well, I'll see if I can stop by. Assuming no anomalies open, I'm free tonight so I'll do my best to be there. And thanks. It has been a while since any of us really had a night to relax."

"Brilliant! See you tonight!" She was almost skipping as she brought some papers to Lester that needed to be signed. Becker couldn't help but smirk at how happy she was. Her upbeat and bubbly attitude was one of the things he liked most about her and on the few occasions he'd seen her upset about something, it had felt as though something was breaking inside him. All he wanted to do in those situations was pull her tightly into arms, holding and kissing and touching her until she forgot about whatever had upset her. Once again, he felt Becker Jr. begin to swell at that thought. Get a hold of yourself, man. You can't have her and that's final, so pull your head out of the gutter and get back to work! Glancing at the clock he saw that he only had an hour left to finish the reports, so he redoubled his efforts, turning his back to where Jess sat at the ADD.

...

4:00pm

...

She settled back into her control chair at the ADD, trying desperately to get her rapid pulse and slight flush under control. She didn't want Abby to tease her about "looking a little flushed" again, not with Becker so easily within earshot. She had finally got to a point where she could be around Becker and not babble endlessly, stumble over her own feet or blatantly throw herself at him. She was comfortable with him and genuinely enjoyed his company, joking and teasing him when he got too serious or full of himself. She had always enjoyed making people smile, but she had never felt the kind of satisfaction with anyone else that she experienced when she was able make him smile, even if it was just the corner of his mouth quirking up or a quick twitch of his lips.

Yet even with the newfound comfort level, she had been nervous all day about inviting him to the party. The more she thought about it, the more personal and intimate it began to seem. This morning, her plan was to just stop him, hand him the piece of paper with the info and say "Party tonight if you'd like to join", but instead she had rambled on and on about who would be there so that he didn't think she was trying to get him alone or single him out and force some kind of awkward date upon him. Not that she wanted to date him. Or be alone with him. Or touch him.

Oh, who am I kidding? she thought to herself, continuing her project of backing up the files for the day while she mused, the constant typing and movement helping to calm her nerves. Of course she wanted to date him. She had practically been throwing herself at him since "the chocolate bar incident", but it didn't look as though she was making much headway so she decided to back off and simply let their friendship develop. Every now and again (alright, it was more like several times a day) she'd slip up a bit and suddenly find herself standing much too close to him, drawing in his body heat, or looking a little too intently into his eyes as she spoke to him, drowning in their warm depths. Once or twice, she could have sworn she saw something as she looked into those eyes, a moment of weakness or curiosity that mirrored her own eyes, but it was always gone before she could really determine what it was or if it had even been there in the first place. He's just not interested in you. Stop reading into it. He is NOT paying you special attention or looking for subtle ways to touch you. He's just being a gentleman and doing his job. That's all. So let it go!

Still, she couldn't help wondering what he'd think of her outfit for the evening. Would he like it or would he tease her relentlessly about how impractical it was, just like he always said about the "torture devices" she called shoes. She glanced over at him to see him reading reports, extremely intent on what he was doing. Probably trying to finish them before he leaves, she thought, never having a clue about what was really running through his head and forcing the extreme focus. She glanced at the clock, suddenly eager for the day to be done so she could head home and get ready.