After the storm

Natalie Harding can't believe that her absolutely gorgeous work colleague Stephano Romano is attracted to her.  But after one unexpected, totally hot Friday evening encounter on her office desk of all places, she's convinced that maybe he returns the feeling she's harboured for him in the fifteen months they have worked together. Her euphoria doesn't last for long, though. The very next Monday she watches in shock as he kisses the young woman who drops him off to work at the office and then saunters in looking as though she had kept him up all night. Is there an innocent explanation for the kiss and Stephano's bleary-eyed appearance?  Did his father suffer chest pains and have to be rushed to the hospital where the doctors kept him in all night for close monitoring?  Or is it just an excuse Stephano's using to cover his night of pleasure with another woman? This novella is 30,136 words in length.