Free IllicitImpulse by Alexa Day

you might have an easier time
being impartial. You know, you might even like each other. Wouldn’t it be
easier to be impartial if you don’t hate him?”
    That made sense. Dammit.
    She looked up at the ceiling. “Oh come on. It’s not like I’m
suggesting a threesome or something.”
    John focused on the space between two words in his tangle of
notes. A threesome. If he so much as glanced up, she’d know she’d gotten his
attention and then she’d never let go of it.
    She giggled. “I should have though. I bet you’d be more
likely to agree to sitting down if I had.”
    He started to draw a line along the margin, still not
looking up.
    “You’d get to observe all this in person.”
    She was trying to convince him. Did she think he was really
considering it?
    Was he considering it?
    “Come on,” she said. “I dare you. You’d satisfy all your
curiosity. No holds barred and no questions asked.”
    Satisfy all your curiosity. No holds barred.
    No questions asked.
    It was a good opportunity to see how this worked.
There was so much to gain, and now, with Impulse, there was nothing to lose. It
was just observation. It didn’t have to come to any more than that.
    John shook his head. It didn’t have to come to any more than
that. But it probably would, one way or the other.
    “I’m not having a threesome with you and Tal.” John laughed.
“And I can’t believe I just said that out loud.” He had to be in a dream, the
very realistic kind that came with a clear moral.
    Grace shrugged. “Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
    John turned off the recorder and wondered whether he should
erase their conversation when he reviewed the tape.
    * * * * *
    Drained after their long conversation, John didn’t have much
to say as he and Grace made their way out of the interview room. Their
companionable silence only made the building’s quiet more noticeable. A vacuum
cleaner whined in the distance as they walked up to the reception area, where
the cleaning crew had left the lights on.
    At the front doors, he took her coat and held it so she
could slide her arms into the sleeves, all the while so close that he could
catch the scent of her glossy hair. “Can’t walk you to the car this time,” he
said. “I’ve got some stuff to handle downstairs first.”
    Grace turned to face him, replacing her purse on her
shoulder. “Same time next week?”
    He nodded. “Sounds good.”
    She stepped toward him, as if she were about to give him a
hug, but he backed just out of reach and offered her his hand instead. Before
she could protest, he lifted his chin slightly and glanced away from her,
toward the ceiling, where the security camera watched them, and then back down
at her.
    Grace’s conspiratorial smile accompanied a firm handshake.
“Okay then. Thanks for everything.”
    “See you next week.”
    John unlocked the door with a twist of the thumb switch and
held it open for her, taking another breath of her fragrance as she went by
into the chilly air. He closed and locked the door behind her but didn’t move
away, watching the shape of her moving down the stairs and into the parking
lot.
    “Man. Girls like that make me want to play a more hands-on
role with all this testing. Know what I mean?”
    The sound of his boss’s voice just behind him made spines of
ice race over his skin. Neil had a talent for sidling up behind him, making him
wonder how long he’d been hanging out and watching before revealing his
presence. With no way to tell how much he’d seen, John was forced to play it
casual and hope that all Neil had wanted was to make politically incorrect
observations about the evening’s last interview. He looked over his shoulder
and offered Neil a neutral glance. His boss generally needed little
encouragement to start a conversation.
    “Oh come on.” Neil lowered his voice, as if to protect them
both from another unseen eavesdropper. “Like you’ve never thought about that.”
    John shook his