When Cress got to work on Monday, her office was boarded up for repairs. Jerry put her in a storage closet without windows for the time being, apologizing about the lack of light but saying that it would only be a temporary situation. Someone had also installed manual locks on the door beyond the regular security codes.

She had a smaller desk, but brand-new hardware and her old, gigantic monitor. It wasn't a terrible workspace, though slightly introducing of claustrophobia and in far, far back of Satellite Technologies. She missed being able to see everyone walk by, especially when she had arrived early in order to be present when Thorne came in.

She did not get any work done before the 10 a.m. staff meeting. That was because she was suddenly the most popular employee at Satellite Technologies. Apparently, it was no secret where Cress's new makeshift office was located, nor that there had been a break-in on Friday. Employee after employee streamed into her closet unannounced, asking her all sorts of personal questions.

"What was it like to be held at gunpoint?"

"Did your life flash before your eyes?"

"Have you figured out who it is? Jerry won't say, but I know you've already figured it out."

And then there were the questions about Thorne.

"What's he like under duress?"

"I heard he was the one that was held at gunpoint, not you. Did he try to sacrifice himself for you?"

"Julian said Carswell threw himself on top of you. What was that like?"

The last question came from Luisa in the marketing department. She had meandered into Cress's closet space very casually, unlike the other employees who had rushed in without even saying hello. Luisa was sitting in the tiny chair in front of Cress's desk now, blinking innocently but very, very curiously.

Though she had received a series of similar questions just within the last hour, she got a strange feeling that she needed to be careful around Luisa. She had not yet told anyone except Julian that she had spent Saturday with him, and it seemed to be the only information that Julian had not shared with the entire company.

"I don't really remember," she said. "It all went so fast."

"Really?"

Cress regarded Luisa suspiciously. "Really."

"Huh."

Now it was Cress's turn to blink, as Luisa was watching Cress with disbelieving eyes. "What?"

"It's nothing."

"Okay."

Luisa folded one long, spidery leg over the other. "It's just he's so hot." She waited, as if expecting Cress to agree. When Cress just sat there, trying to think of the best way to respond, Luisa added, "I'd love his body on top of mine."

Cress drew back, startled at the Luisa's abrupt and inappropriate confession. She was used to Julian joking about these sorts of innuendos, and she could not argue that her fantasies had taken her there a few times, but Luisa stated it as if it were as common a thing to say as anything. Cress had heard some of her college friends speak about guys this way, but it was usually after they had had a bit to drink and their inhibitions about their true feelings were removed.

In some of the shows she watched, girl talk often included this type of frank conversation as well, but Cress didn't want to have girl talk with Luisa. She didn't even know Luisa.

And in this small space, she was starting to feel like she was in a cramped investigation room.

"Oh. That's what you mean," said Cress. "I think that if you were in a stressful situation that would probably be the last thing that would come to your mind. Survival instincts take over."

It was not entirely true, because Cress had replayed the moment on Friday night when Thorne had held her close under the desk over and over in her mind. But hearing the way Luisa mentioned closeness under those circumstances made it feel cheap. She hadn't wanted more from Thorne in the moment, she told herself, it was just the concept of having him so physically close to her.

And then there was the almost-kiss. Thorne had been so physically close to her then, too, and it had not been because they were about to die or because she was shaking so much that he needed to console her and keep her quiet. She had thought that he had wanted to kiss her.

But he hadn't.

He also hadn't called her later that night or the following day.

Not that she was expecting him to call. She had been hoping that he would call, because if he had called then that would have meant that he really had wanted to kiss her and might be calling to find out if she might be interested in going on a date with him.

Something simple like that.

But it was not simple at all, and in reality she didn't even know if Thorne had her phone number. She had his business card, but she had never bothered to give him hers. Not that she had one that listed her personal number, which was actually the same number that Jerry would call if he needed something, as she was not in the business of client relations like Thorne. There really was no way for Thorne to call her even if he wanted to.

But maybe he didn't want to. Maybe she had imagined the entire thing. She was doubting herself this morning especially, because unlike everyone else, Thorne had not stopped by her "office" to wish her a good morning. She wondered if he was being bombarded by questions too and simply hadn't had the time.

Guys had three days to get in touch if they were interested, right?

Or was that after a first date?

Stars, why had she not bothered to go on at least one date this year, if only to just keep up with the current ways of dating?

She realized as she thought these things—and tried to act natural around Luisa—that she was probably going a little crazy.

"Survival instincts, hmm." Luisa ran a hand through her hair, thinking. "Did anything happen between you and Carswell after your survival instincts died down?"

"What…what do you mean?" she stuttered. Had Julian to hold everyone that she had slept over at Thorne's?

"Let me be blunt, Cress. In my experience, when two people go through a...a scary event like that…and those two people are—attractive, let's say, why it's easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment, isn't it?" She tilted her head knowingly at Cress.

"N-no, there was no, um, heat."

Luisa finally smiled and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, thank the stars. Carswell and I had a date planned for Saturday, you know." Her smile turned haughty for an instant, but then she settled her shoulders. "He called me abruptly beforehand to say that he couldn't go anymore, indicating that he was rather shaken up after Friday's events. It was quite rude, as I had already booked a reservation at Peronini's and everything, but I suppose after the ordeal he went through I can't blame him. When everyone was talking about your daring brush with death this morning, I had to come see for myself whether or not he had canceled on me for another reason."

Cress nodded, trying to convey with her eyes that the situation had indeed been traumatic. She did not want to convey, however, that Thorne hadn't really seemed too shaken up on Saturday, nor that the reason he canceled the date may have been because of Cress herself.

"Do you think you and Carswell have gotten closer because of this incident?"

She did not like the way Luisa said the name Carswell, as if she was above calling him Thorne. It was possessive but also confusing: Thorne had said he liked to be called Thorne. Was that only true for people he wasn't romantically interested in?

"Oh, yes, well, there's nothing like being nearly killed to bring two people together. But I mean together as in, um, collegial-like togetherness…you know."

"Of course, of course. That would make you instant buddies, I'm sure."

"Buddies. Right…"

"Given your new friendship with Carswell, then, I don't suppose you could remind him to give me a call when he's feeling better?"

Oh.

She had not been expecting that, not after everything that Luisa had said. There was no way that she was going to encourage Thorne to go out with Luisa after the amazing day that she had had with him on Saturday. Now she felt like she had lied to Luisa, when really she hadn't. Luisa had not asked if she had a crush on Thorne. It was true that nothing had happened between them.

She did not need to know that something almost had.

That is, if Cress had really picked up on Thorne's flirting, and had not been imagining it.

"I don't think I'm that close to him that my suggestions would hold any weight," she hedged. "If he asked you out then I'm sure he would want to ask you out again."

For the first time, Luisa's confidence seemed to wane. She pulled on her hair again, this time to flip it over her shoulder. It was black and raven-like, probably dyed, but wondrously shiny, like in a commercial. "He didn't ask me out. I asked him on the first day before anyone else could do it. You know a guy like that is not going to remain single for long."

"I suppose not."

Cress had to admit that she was pleased that it was Luisa who had asked for a date and not Thorne.

"Us women have to look out for each other, don't we?" Luisa got to her feet. She drew herself up with a renewed sense of confidence. "Well, thanks for the chat. I'll see you at the staff meeting at ten."

Cress watched Luisa and her legs leave the room, wondering if this was the type of woman that Thorne usually dated. Since Luisa had said that she had asked Thorne out already on the first day, then Thorne certainly hadn't had much to go off besides her looks. It was certainly the impression that he had given off when she had first met him, with his whole Greek God look, so she didn't know why she somehow expected more of him now.

With a sudden realization, Cress grabbed her phone and began to scroll through her conversation with Julian. To her dismay, she remembered that she had deleted all of the previous messages they had exchanged while she was at Thorne's house on Friday. Julian had sent her a picture last week when they were at the Electric Mirage. If she remembered correctly, the picture had showed a blurry Thorne dancing with someone. Julian had said that could have been her.

Had that been Luisa? Maybe Thorne really had gotten to know her more that night.

She considered hacking into her own phone records to retrieve the picture. It would take a bit of effort, but it could certainly yield some results if she put her mind to it.

She drummed her fingers along her desk, feeling creepy. She might have been blessed with technology skills that classified her as a prodigy, but she had never abused those skills. At least, not since college or high school, where she may or may not have been involved in more than a few all-night hacking competitions.

They were all for good Samaritan purposes, though.

Of course.

This was not. This was on par with stalking.

She could casually ask Julian if Luisa had been the one to dance with Thorne that night. Julian would be more than happy to share that kind of information. He would certainly be on Team Cress over Team Luisa, after all.

The large meeting room was abuzz at 10 a.m., unlike normal Mondays when the employees at Satellite Technologies tended to be rather subdued from the weekend. Cress had her tablet in her arms, trying to keep her head down to avoid more attention. She just wanted to find Julian and go back to being mostly invisible at work.

The second she entered the room, Ryan was in her face. "Cress! How are you? I heard about everything. You should have called me! You know you can call me if you ever need to talk, right? I'm available if you ever need a friend, or a shoulder to cry on, or—"

"Excuse me, Cress and I have very important date with that chair over there," said Julian, grabbing Cress's arm and pulling her away without another word. He held her arm firmly and dragged her to the conference table, where Cress's eyes suddenly landed on Thorne, who was sitting at the far end of the table. On one side was Luisa, but there were two empty seats on the other side of him.

He looked way too attractive for a Monday morning.

"Sorry I didn't come say hi this morning," Julian whispered, "but I've been doing some recon work on your behalf. And guess who saved us some seats?"

Cress had to stop herself from smiling. Thorne had saved the seat! For her!

Thorne only offered a polite nod, however, and kept talking to Luisa when Cress sat down next to him. A small feeling of dread washed over her as she took in the back of his head. She swallowed hard and turned to Julian instead. He merely raised his eyebrows at her.

"Good morning, everyone," came Jerry's voice. "Let's all have a seat. I know you've all heard the news about the terrible events that occurred on Friday night by now. Let me assure you that we will find out who is behind this attack. Luckily for us, only a small portfolio of notes was stolen from the property."

His eyes fell on Cress and Thorne, as if to remind them about confidentiality, and Cress nodded once. She wondered if Mrs. Williams, who was also from corporate, had been briefed by someone about what really had been stolen. Jerry had said that she knew about the project as well, after all.

Jerry continued to point out some of the new security measures they were taking.

"How are you, Cress?" Thorne whispered suddenly, leaning casually to the left so his head was not far from hers, but still facing forward.

Cress felt a deep blush begin on her neck. "Good," she whispered back.

"How was the rest of your weekend? Any nightmares?"

Luckily, Cress had not remembered any of her dreams except for the one where she had kissed Thorne. Her blush intensified. "None."

She caught him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, a small smile forming on his lips. "Glad to hear it."

"Cress!" said Jerry loudly.

Cress jumped. "Yes?"

"I said, is there anyone you would like to work with as we begin our own investigation as to who this masked woman was? Mrs. Williams, perhaps?"

Cress glanced at Mrs. Williams, knowing that she was the one Jerry wanted her to work with. Since Mrs. Williams knew about the secret project, she was the best choice because she also worked in tech support.

"I'll work with Julian," she said instead. Julian didn't need to know what the moon portfolio was or why the woman had been there. All that mattered was that he would certainly help her track the woman down. She trusted Julian's skills, and not Mrs. Williams's.

Jerry frowned, but seem to accept it, and moved on with the meeting.

Cress leaned back in her chair, hoping that Thorne would continue to whisper to her, but he was now leaning to the right, probably whispering to Luisa.

She did not see Thorne for the next two days, except for the casual nod of a hello when passing each other randomly in the hallways, which wasn't often. Cress spent the majority of her time with Julian, as Jerry had given her special permission to ignore the government project and try to find out who had breached Satellite Technology premises. Jerry was extremely frazzled over the entire thing, and sweating much more than usual, if that was possible.

The only headway that Cress made, however, was to discover that Thorne had danced with many women that night at the Electric Mirage. Julian could not remember if one of them had been Luisa, but he had confirmed that she had been there that night.

"Don't worry," he said on the second day. "Straight guys have trouble expressing their emotions. He spent all of Saturday with you when he didn't have to, Cress. And he canceled his date with Luisa because of you. I'm sure of it."

"It was a crazy weekend. That situation would never have happened if this woman wouldn't have broken in."

"But it did happen."

She shook her head. "You only think that he likes me based on what I told you."

"No, honey, I saw the way that he watched the door in the meeting room on Monday morning. He couldn't wait to see you."

Cress just shrugged. "Let's keep working. Jerry says I have to go back to regular work tomorrow."

On Thursday morning, Thorne was waiting for Cress in front of her closet office. By that time, she was feeling slightly resentful towards him for not saying more than a word to her all week. Despite that, she had accepted that he was not interested in her at all and that she had clearly misread any signs on Saturday.

"Oh, it's you," she said, brushing past him to type in her security code and beginning to open the four locks that Jerry had installed.

"Hey," he said, leaning against the wall. "How are you?"

"Fine." She wished she could open the locks more quickly, but supposed that this was the point of them. She opened the door and sped across the five feet that separated the door from her desk.

As she sat down in her chair, Thorne entered behind her, letting the door swing shut and enveloping them in darkness.

"I forgot to turn on the light," she squeaked.

There was the distinct noise of Thorne's hand rubbing across the wall to find the light switch. Oh, how she missed her office where she could command the room with a swipe across her keyboard.

The lights turned on, revealing Thorne standing there, looking as perfect as ever. She tried not to stare at him.

"I know it's only been a few days, but I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," he said.

He remained standing in front of the door, and she wondered if he also realized just how small and intimate this space was.

When Cress didn't say anything, he added, "I was sort of hoping you would stop by to say hi. I would have, but I know you've been extremely busy with trying to track down that woman. I didn't want to bother you, and I figured if you had time, you would've stopped by for some chocolate." For a minute, he looked extremely small in front of the door, but then straightened. "I saw Julian just now so I figured I'd catch you before you get back to work."Any leads?"

It had not occurred to Cress that Thorne might be waiting for her to acknowledge him first. If he was, that did not seem very fair, especially when she had no idea that this was his line of thinking. Most of her resentment fell away, though. His words made so much sense, especially when he had been the first to say that his whole reason for being in San Diego was to support her work.

"No, but I will find her. That's a guarantee."

Thorne smiled. "I wouldn't expect any less of you."

Their eyes clashed and held for far too long, and Cress hated that moments like this made her believe that Thorne was interested in her. During these moments, she didn't feel crazy.

"Jerry told me to go back to working on the government project," she said quickly, looking down at her desk. "That's my primary focus at least, even if I'm going to keep looking for that woman without Jerry knowing."

"Great. Is there anything I can help you with? For the project?"

"Not at the moment."

He nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well then, I'll leave you to your work. I hope you'll stop by sometime if you get a craving."

He grinned his dimpled grin and Cress melted all over again as he left the closet. She definitely had to stop by his cubicle now. Only her craving was not for chocolate, but once again for him.

As the door swung shut behind him, Cress imagined pulling him back into the closet, shutting off the lights, and kissing him the way she had in her dream.