Why in this empty room is my body shaking?

[axeslade]

Next part of the werewolf thing, yay! (there should be a transition between this and the last bit, but I'll fill that in later) Damn this thing really needs a real name...hmm.

“Morning Pauline.”

Brielle smiled over her shoulder at Alec Lancaster, nodding.

“Morning Alec.”

Alec grinned, reaching around Brielle to pull open the door for her. “Ladies first.”

Brielle laughed, stepping through and then hanging back so she could keep talking to Alec. “You’re such a gentleman Alec! I can’t believe some girl hasn’t sunk her teeth into you yet.”

Alec laughed softly. “Yeah, well…”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure the right one will come along.” Careful Bree, she warned herself. He’ll think you’re flirting, and you don’t want that, do you?

Alec’s bright blue eyes seemed to grow black for a moment, then he laughed quietly. “Heh. Yeah, suppose so. Well, see ya.”

“See ya,” Brielle said weakly as she watched Alec walk to his office. Damn. He was so nice. Every other guy around this office always whistled and said rude things when she passed by because of her more-than-ample form. But Alec, he was different. He told the other guys to quiet down and get to work, even though he had absolutely no authority over most of them. He was careful to not even touch her hair when he opened the door for her, which he always did whenever he was nearby. Helped her when she had to carry boxes or coffee. Always said ‘good morning,’, ‘have a nice day’. Sometimes he even insisted on escorting her out to her car. That made Brielle smile more than any of the other things. Even as a human, she looked like she could take on anyone who messed with her, but Alec would still say that ‘you never know what crazies might be waiting for a nice lady on a night like this’, and would stand there until she drove away.

Stop it! her brain snapped. You can’t have him, so stop it. So he’s nice, so are lots of women, but you don’t-

Not wanting to hear the rest of what her bitchy mind had to say, Brielle hoisted her purse over her shoulder and walked towards the office.

Once he was in his cubicle, Alec flopped into his chair and tilted his head back, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes as he mentally kicked himself for being such an idiot.

Pauline was a nice girl, there was no denying that. She was sweet, and smarter than her voluptuous figure would lead most people to believe. But it would be too dangerous to fall in love with her.

Not for him. Hell, nothing really made him fear for his life anymore. No. For her. He knew from watching her that she thought herself tough. She thought she could take on the world. And, for the most part, she could. But even Superman had a weakness.

Chole had found that out the hard way.

At the thought of Chole, Alec dropped his hands and grabbed the wastebasket, hunching over it for several minutes, sure that he was going to bring up, if not bits of his broken heart, then at least his breakfast. But he just coughed and heaved air, and then his stomach calmed and he sighed, shoving his dark hair away from his face as he sat up again. He knew from watching her for so ong that Pauline was fighting some sort of feelings for him. For everyone’s sake, he hoped she won the battle. As long as she held back, he would be able to do the same and just act as a nice gentlemanly friend who looked out for her because all the other men looked at her. But if she caved, Alec knew without a shadow of doubt that he would follow suit.