"We're just too embarrassed to say the nice things that we think…Or to hear them."
This just seemed to me to be a strange thing to say. Nikki said this to Leo at the beginning during their office talk and I interpreted it as something that had perhaps happened before, made her say this. Perhaps she's learned from it. Sounded a bit regretful to me.
Now, tell me Dr A…He was being a wind-up again. She had known him long enough to tell by the way he held himself; chair back right back, legs crossed, an ankle resting on the opposite knee, hands clasped at his groin…How on earth do you get your hair to look that gorgeous?
Despite your smirk, you had rolled your eyes, though you had swung your hair slightly as you sat down, allowing your hair to gently bounce from one shoulder to another as you settled opposite him. You asked, cynical as ever, What are you after?
He had scoffed at this. Feigning hurt. What? He exclaimed. Isn't a man allowed to pay a young lady a compliment from time to time?
This time you couldn't repress a giggle. Young? You questioned, raising an eyebrow. You must be really after something!
You're right. He said. Can I use your stapler?
After last time? You quipped. Certainly not.
He fell silent after that, but you could feel him looking at you, that expression; somewhere in between lustful and playful and just loving. He had looked at you in that way many a time and you never missed an opportunity to bask in it, running a hand through your hair, probing lips with a pen, or simply revelling in the heat of his eyes. But his gaze was too intense and you slipped up, your eyes involuntarily drawn to his own.
And he didn't break the stare.
So, What? You had asked.
He had seemed to inhale, quickly, mulling the oxygen around in his blood, before speaking again.
If I were to ask you, he said in a voice barely above a whisper, to come somewhere with me, he eyes had seemed to become darker, would you?
You had remember the intensity of the atmosphere around the two of you. It changed twice in a few short moments. The first was when you had burst into a fit of giggling and shook your head at him, choosing to focus, not on the way he had said it, or the way he had looked at you, but at the sheer ridiculousness of his outburst.
God almighty, Harry. Nonchalantly, you brushed off anything remotely uncomfortable. You really should have been a comedian. Do you still want that stapler?
When you had reached across to hand it to him, is when the atmosphere had changed again. You look him dead in the eye once again and didn't quite understand what you saw. He looked suddenly depressed, hurt, disappointed.
No. He had almost barked in your general direction before standing and marching from the room. You had thought no more of it of course. It was certainly not the first time this enigmatic man had confused you beyond belief.