With a fluttering heart at the thought of seeing him twice this week, Elissa placed the list of missing files in her bag. She checked messages again before turning off her computer for the night. Ami had agreed to pick her up after work and look at old Bertha. It was going to be a long night, but tomorrow morning was looking bright.
thirty
quite the mouth
For the first time in weeks, Ryan looked forward to work. Not the work itself, of course, but who he would see today.
He pulled into the parking lot a half hour early and her ancient Beemer was already parked in a visitor spot. A smile planted itself on his face as he removed his helmet and hurried to the doors.
Elissa stood next to them, staring down at her phone, but looked up as he approached. A flush painted her cheeks the perfect shade of pink, highlighting her freckles, and she grinned at him as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Good morning”—he stopped himself from calling her beautiful by the skin of his teeth—“Ms. Wright.”
“Good morning, Mr. DeMarco.” Her voice was husky. He did that to her.
Ryan unlocked the door and held it open. Elissa walked through and stopped at the reception desk. He locked the door behind him. Nobody without a key would arrive for another twenty minutes. He dropped his stuff at his desk.
“I didn’t expect you so early. Can I get five minutes to start the coffee before we pull what’s missing?”
“Sure. Sorry, I guess I take ‘first thing’ pretty literally. I can wait here if?—”
“It’s just coffee. And I’m glad you’re here. Come on.”
She followed as he led the way. Elissa’s subtle perfume wafted over to him, invading his personal space and filling his thoughts with things that didn’t belong in the workplace. He tried taking a deep breath to clear his head, but it only further suffused his senses with her. Shit, this wasn’t working.
“Did I thank you for being so understanding and helpful on Thursday?” she asked as he loaded grounds and water into the machine.
“I believe you called me your ‘knight in shining armor,’ but I could be misremembering.”
“Ah, yes, now that you mention it, I do recall saying something to that effect. It shouldn’t have happened, though. Leo’s old enough to take his medicine without anyone making him.”
“Trust me, I know from experience. Teenage boys are stupid. They resent anything they have to do and will gladly suffer any consequences. The more my parents pushed me to get good grades, the fewer homework assignments I turned in.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I hated they didn’t trust me. I wanted to be different. Hell, I still don’t know all the reasons why. I was stupid. Once I got to college and they were no longer breathing down my neck to get things done, when I was doing what I wanted, I did fine.”
“Makes sense. I was terrified to disappoint mine. They had their hands full with Leo being sick and Ami being a brat. I tried hard not to be a problem.”
“I can see that.”
Elissa’s spine straightened, and a cloud flowed over her open expression. He’d said the wrong thing. Shit.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. Let’s find these files.”
The file room was at the far end of the hall, and Elissa followed in silence.
“I’m not insulted,” she said quietly as he unlocked the door. “It’s just…I kinda wish I had screwed up once in a while. I feel like I missed out.”
“Maybe you did. But I missed out on lots of things after getting grounded for my screwups, so we’re even. You got a list of what we forgot?”
They entered the file room, and he turned to find her holding out a piece of paper. He took it with a smile, one she returned.
“Silly of you to assume I wouldn’t.”
“I did not assume, I was being polite.”
“Sure you were.”
