quite attractive and easily charms most of the men who come to my office, and I wasn’t going to let her even have the chance with this stunning creature. I quickly grabbed my legal pad and daytimer and whisked him out of the office before she had a chance to weave her spell.

We walked slowly through the hotel, and I found occasion to touch his shoulder as I guided him to the restaurant I had selected for our lunch; there was a subtle electricity to those touches. We were escorted to a quiet table in the back of the restaurant, and we sat down on opposite sides of the table, laying our work materials aside.

I suggested that we order beverages, look over the menu, and then dig into the business before we ate since it was still early. He agreed, I ordered iced tea and he ordered a coke. As we settled ourselves and looked over the menu, I took the opportunity to quietly watch him. He was, as before, perfectly dressed, impeccably groomed, and seriously studying the menu.

It’s difficult to describe him, actually. He’s not ordinary, not the “guy next door,” but he’s not a gap kid or an A&F model either. I suppose he could be, and in fact wondered whether he had ever thought about modeling. He had a clean-cut approach to fashion and grooming which I found totally refreshing and appealing and he quite looked the part of a technology sales person.

I realized that he was speaking, and quickly refocused my gaze to my own menu. Acting as if I was intensely focused on what I was having for lunch, I looked up and met his gaze. He had caught me staring, I think, and was bemusedly smiling at me, as if to suggest that he totally knew what was going through my mind. If only…

We laid the menus aside, and he made his presentation. He had a neatly prepared document, which actually impressed me more than I had thought it would. What he was selling made sense, and I found myself agreeing with him not because he was perfectly formed and beautifully crafted, but because his product made sense. It took some time to go through the presentation, and I watched with growing interest as his delicately rugged hands moved from one page to the next, punctuating his sentences with gestures and articulations. I was paying attention on two different levels, business and personal, and I found the personal side winning.

As he drew to a conclusion, I looked into his eyes for the first time in several minutes and thanked him for the professionally thorough job he had done. I explained the procedure in our company on how we move proposals and contracts through the maze of committees and vice presidents before decision makers actually saw them, and promised to do my best to get it in the right hands quickly. And then I drew in my breath, and suggested we order lunch.

Time passed, I’m sure, but I was so lost in the moment I had no concept of what was happening around us at all. I began asking him questions about himself, I learned that he was 23, and had been successful at nearly everything he had ever touched in his life. I told him some of my own background as well. It became very clear to him that I was attracted to him, and to his credit, he seemed to nonchalantly shrug