"Earth to Sparky."

Natalie shot around to tell Jared to stop calling her that, but the look on his face was saying something else, "What?"

"I've been calling your name for half a minute-where is your head today?" he asked as he walked towards her desk. Looking into her eyes he saw confusion and he wondered-was making her think he was her Uncle a good idea?

"My head is in this important proposal we have to have ready for the rest of the board tomorrow-where else would it be?" she scoffed, trying to ignore the mental image of John's hands on her body last night-making love to her with a tenderness he rarely did.

"Well, considering your mind just started to go there again I don't buy that. Let's go to lunch-we need to talk," he said-finally deciding he'd end this farce and tell her the truth.

"I'm not hungry," she said, breaking his gaze and starting to rummage through papers on her desk.

"Fine," he said-giving up and walking out the door.

Natalie finally sat down in her desk and was able to focus on the proposal. She felt her stomach growl and wondered if it was safe to sneak out for a quick bite to eat without Jared catching her. Better yet-she wondered if it was safe to go to Rodi's and be sure that John wouldn't be there. She couldn't talk to him about last night-not now, not ever. They could just ignore the giant elephant in the room like always.

The page from her assistant made her jump and she answered, "Hello?"

"Natalie-there's a delivery out here for you. Do you want me to let him in?"

"Please," she said, curious as to what type of delivery it was. She stood up to greet him and felt the blood drain from her face as she saw John walk in and close the door behind him. "John—what are you doing here?"

A smile crept up his face at seeing her reaction—he'd caught her off guard by showing up here, but it was a good thing—he had the upper hand and could call the shots, even just until she got her footing and shooed him out the door, "I brought lunch," he said, holding out a to-go bag from Rodi's.

"I—I'm not hungry," she said, though the smell was already making her hungrier.

"Suit yourself," he said as he took a chair and pulled it up to her desk before opening the bag and pulling out the burger he'd gotten for himself. He took a moment to look around the office—it was large, well furnished, and completely ostentatious—nothing like he'd expect Natalie to have. He looked at her and could tell she was starving—she probably hadn't stopped for a bite to eat after their encounter the night before—just ran home, showered, and came to work—throwing her mind into it hoping it'd erase the memory. "You sure you aren't hungry?" he asked, as he took a bite.

Natalie shook her head, "Why are you really here, John?"

"We need to talk," he said, as he leaned back in the stuffy chair—nobody had actually ever tried to relax in this chair, he thought.

"We did—earlier."

"No," he corrected. "Earlier you woke up, grabbed your clothes, ran into the bathroom to put them on and then ran out of my apartment, the whole time apologizing. Now, I want to sit here, eat lunch with you, and talk about what happened—and why it did."

"It happened because we were drunk, John. It was nothing more than a drunken booty call. Now if you don't mind—I've got a proposal to work on."

"Ok, but maybe later you'll meet me for a game of pool—say sixish? That's all—I swear," he said as he stood up, showing the palms of his hands as if in defeat and turned and walked out of the room.

As he closed the door to her office and gave her assistant a nod he wondered if this would work—if they weren't so separated from each other that they couldn't get back what they once worked so hard to have.