The more she listed her rules, the less he liked them. Any of them, really. Because while sneaking around might be erotic as all hell, dragging her into an empty office to have workday sex - he didn't think he'd had workday sex before, come to think of it - why shouldn't he be able to be open with it, and let the press get a few pictures of her looking spectacular at his side rather than in his shadow?
He knew it was a bad idea. He just could find several good reasons to counter her arguments...except for the one where it wasn't what she wanted. And where she was probably right and there would be an endgame to consider, because he tended to fail miserably at long-term relationships. It would be much better for her if they didn't consider attachment as part of this, or at least recognized that any such attachment was the normal sort between them.
"Normal," he repeated. "As if nothing has changed." Was it a surprise that he was thinking through the twists and turns of this when he didn't do well with that concept in general? "How about we enjoy the moment and destroy that bridge with an impressive explosion when we come to it?" he suggested.
"I can indeed imagine the Board," he agreed. "I can picture five of them having spontaneous heart attacks. Maybe an aneurysm in there." He considered a moment, then grinned at her, "Can we please tell the Board just to watch them turn the pretty colors?"
She was really the only one calling for boundaries in this, but then, she'd always been one to draw boundaries and enforce them. If she hadn't, they would have slept together long ago. "And everyone knows that if we don't start our day as usual, I'll get nothing done." He needed her to drag him out of bed or the lab at seven and nag him about his schedule, or he'd just stay there all day. Which would make him happy, but would be bad for the company.
He was going to negotiate more on the rules, but with them both out of the water and in the secluded cavern, nothing around them but the ghostly light of the arc reactor reflecting off the water, he was going to wait for a more opportune moment. Besides, he had something else to do.
"Just this," he told her, and sealed their bargain by leaning forward and kissing her; a bare brush of his lips against hers, a slow exploration of the terrain...but mostly because he really wanted to.