I smiled at him, that earlier excitement buzzing through my veins again.
“I feel so special!” Damn my mouth!
Harley chuckled, guiding me to the chair, and easing it out for me to sit. It was even a proper office chair, so I could adjust it for comfort. It was like he’d thought of everything.
He tucked the chair back in as I sat and leaned close, his lips close enough to my ear that I felt his warm breath against my skin.
“You are special, Caroline, so you deserve to be treated that way.” I gasped, spinning the chair and nearly knocking him back a few steps.
“Dammit, sorry!”
“You two want a minute or something?” Rocket was suddenly looming over me, too close, and I tried to scoot the chair away, but before I could, Harley’s palm pressed him back firmly.
“Don’t stand over her like that. Give her the folder and fuck off back over there.”
“Aw, you say the sweetest things,” Rocket joked, setting the file down on the desk.
“Thanks for this, Caroline. You’re a lifesaver.”
He backed up and Harley crouched beside me. “Want me to help you set up?”
I shook my head, already reaching for my laptop. I was looking forward to setting up my desk and getting to work, even though this was far from being inside my comfort zone. It wasn’t terribly outside of it either though. Comfort zone adjacent, maybe, with slight overlap.
Harley felt like my safe place, and he clearly meant to keep Rocket far enough back that he couldn’t scare me.
“Thank you for the coffee and cake, Harley. That was really sweet of you.”
He shrugged, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, and looked relieved when the shop phone rang, and he disappeared off to answer it.
As I set up my laptop and scanner, Rocket crouched down and took the power leads as I extended them, plugging everything in for me.
He stayed down low, and glanced at Harley before he spoke.
“I’m sorry if I unnerve you, love. I’m a big, noisy fucker, but I’ll try to keep it down when you’re around. And thanks again for doing this. I swear, you’re getting a free spray, because this really means a lot to me. I’m shit at the organising side of things.”
“Rocket? Everything okay?” Harley had reappeared already, and Rocket stood up, smoothing his hands down his jeans.
“Yeah, I’m going away now. What time’s Grease getting here? I need to limber up before I kick his ass.” I started giggling, despite how terrifying the idea of a fight was, and I saw Rocket relax a little.
“You’ll let him do his thing, and keep it shut, okay? We both need this overhaul, and Grease and Jamie are the best. I know you two need fucking marriage counselling or something, but I have no idea why.”
Rocket snorted and disappeared behind his counter, grabbing his mask and ducking under the sheeting around his spray area.
“He gives you any trouble, you tell me.”
I tried to tell him that Rocket wasn’t being unpleasant or intimidating, but Harley just nudged my coffee closer to me, and backed up, leaving me to it.
Chapter Thirteen
ONE THING I SHOULD have figured out about Caroline was that once she was in the zone, she worked without breaks, and if I didn’t keep putting mochas next to her, I don’t think she’d even hydrate. And let’s be clear, chocolate coffee monstrosities were not the right thing for her to drink all day, but I had nothing else in. I should have planned better, because something about her made me want to look after her. To protect her and nurture her, and not in a creepy way, which was how I was worried it was coming across.
It was approaching two in the afternoon, and she still hadn’t taken more than one toilet break, and it was starting to bug me. Everyone knew that eye breaks were recommended in computer driven jobs. I mean, hell, we all started somewhere in our working lives, right?
“Caroline, shouldn’t you take a break? It’s after lunch.”
She didn’t even lift her eyes, sliding the next picture into the scanner, and setting it running.
“I’m fine,” she murmured distractedly, watching the image appear on her screen, and saving it to wherever the hell she was saving it.
